#emmastorch

Earlier this month award-winning author Lidia Yuknavitch could be found in a restaurant basement kitchen, seasoning steak and mashing potatoes. Riverhead Table served dishes inspired by Lidia’s “extraordinary” (Kira Wizner, Merritt Bookstore) and “gutsy” (Kirkus Reviews) forthcoming story collection, VERGE, to journalists, writers and fans at Emma’s Torch, an incredible restaurant and cooking school for refugees in Brooklyn.

We designed our menu to reflect three specific themes from the collection: water, earth and flesh. We feasted on grilled shrimp and cheesy Cepelinai – a nod to Lidia’s Lithuanian background – made from scratch by Lidia; we drank wine flown in from the Oregon Wine Country, curated by our friends at the Willamette Valley Wineries; and we all listened hungrily as Lidia divulged the secrets behind the characters in her stories in a conversation with author and friend Melissa Febos.

We hope you’ll put together your own VERGE dinner party at home! Check out the recipes we used below, along with some photos from the evening. Special thanks once again to Emma’s Torch and Willamette Valley Wineries for partnering with us for this event.

Grilled Shrimp with Oregano and Lemon

This is a super easy dish to make for a crowd. We couldn’t manage to find metal skewers, and we were a bit too nervous to use bamboo skewers over the restaurant’s high-power stove, so we decided to use a good ol’ nonstick skillet and sauté them, just about a minute on each side. Shrimp cook quickly so they really don’t need to stay on the pan for too long!

Lithuanian Cepelinai: Potato and Cheese Dumplings with Vegetarian Gravy

This dish was a challenge. After many demos we simply could not boil the dumplings without them completely disintegrating in the pot! Our last resort method of pan-frying each tennis ball-sized dumpling turned out to be our saving grace. So when you’re trying this at home you can follow the recipe exactly as written until you reach the part where you’re supposed to throw the dumplings into the water—instead whip out a nonstick skillet, add a teaspoon or two of olive oil and pan-fry each side until golden brown. They should look like oversized gnocchi in the end! Top with gravy and enjoy.

Skirt Steak with Chimichurri

This dish was a big hit! It’s tender, flavorful, and kind of pretty to look at. And it’s a great way to serve steak to a whole bunch of people at once.

Roasted Eggplant with Za'atar

Because we had several other hardy dishes on the menu we knew that not everyone would want an entire half of an eggplant for themselves. We decided instead to cut the eggplant into cube, which allowed people to scoop as much or as little as they wanted on their plate. There are a ton of different ways to dress the dish so we went with farro and seasonal tomatoes, with a yogurt sauce on the side for drizzling.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Some people say brussels sprouts are so over, but thank goodness we don’t know any of those folks! This is always a popular option to serve as a vegetable side, and it served us well at Lidia’s dinner.

Fresh Herb Fruit Salad with Honey and Lime

This was a simple, fresh dessert to end a big meal. It’s also easy to make in batches for a lot of people!