There are certain moments in life that don’t include space for a cutting board or focus for a knife.
Like when your kid is staaarving. Thinking about my mom, who can peel and cut an apple in the air or make a sandwich on the plastic bread bag.
Or when you’re camping and your table is wobbly and everything’s at risk of blowing away with the wind.
Or maybe when the kitchen is full of guests and the counter’s of treats and you just want to, got to, eat. Maybe the kitchen is not your kitchen and where the hell even are the cutting boards.
Don’t even worry about it! Hover over one burner, with just a skillet and spoon and grater, and make this.
Spicy, saucy, and meaty, it’s good for breakfast—an Italian sausage, egg, and cheese?—lunch, and dinner. Before a snooze or after sledding. (Your sheet pan makes a great sled…)
Eat it with toast rubbed with a garlic clove, rice, buttered orzo, polenta1, or on its own. It’s even got a vegetable in there, which frankly is just showing off.
Three Hands-Off Main Dishes for a Crowd
While we’re talking about feeding guests, I wanted to share this article [gift link] that published yesterday, which features three new recipes that each serve 6 to 8—or 4, twice—and use just 1 to 2 pans. Besides starting this Substack, it’s the work I’m most proud of this year because…
Feeding lots of people can be a lot, and at least I feel a little more pressure that the food is extra wonderful, so I absorbed all those feelings to create recipes that taste so much more delicious than what they ask of you. You don’t even have to cut winter squash or hoist a huge hunk of seared meat from a pot to a bowl. Sometimes even that is just too much.