Good morning! Today we have for you:
-
The easiest burritos
-
And kimbap that will win the school lunch
Plot twist: I’m here again, filling in for Mia.
Some years ago, when my child was young, I wrote about a warmhearted competition I had with another mom for school lunch supremacy. We both cooked those lunches like we were running a restaurant for one, always looking for a good review at the end of the day. Was the dish we came up lunchbox-worthy?
Man, did I get creamed in the comments.
“This is what happens when helicopter parenting goes wild,” wrote CP Sowell from Des Moines.
“And we wonder why young people are so entitled,” wrote AA Strong from San Francisco.
“Does anything really matter in a child’s life if a parent can’t make it about themselves?” wrote Mary from Wilmington.
Look, I have probably messed up my child in so many ways that crafting a delicious school lunch is way down on the list. For those of us who like to cook (and why else would you be reading this newsletter?), getting creative with a packed lunch can be a pleasurable distraction from the rest of life. And if you spend a minute penciling things out for the week, a solid school lunch rotation can help you run a more efficient kitchen.
Consider these chicken ragù hand pies (above), which you construct from a simple riff on the chicken ragù with fennel that Andy Baraghani came up with for Bon Appétit magazine back in the day. The ragù itself is great over pasta. Then, you can fold the leftovers into some rounds of dough for hand pies. Freeze them after baking, and you essentially have a Hot Pocket but better. (This idea works well with other leftovers, and store-bought pie dough is just fine.)
Featured Recipe
Chicken Ragù Hand Pies
Ali Slagle’s easy burritos are also a filling and portable meal that can be adapted with leftovers. Since she doesn’t add lettuce, guacamole or sour cream, they freeze well and can be wrapped in a damp paper towel and reheated in a microwave.
I promise you will get a lunchbox award if you pack kimbap. Darun Kwak walks you through the process. Not gonna lie: It took me a minute to learn the rolling technique, but it’s a skill that will last a lifetime.
And let’s not ignore people who choose to unleash all their culinary skills and parental codependence on breakfast instead of lunch. For you, I offer Lidey Heuck’s baked oatmeal cups.
If your kids don’t want to eat them, remind them that Nick Saban, the former coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide, eats two oatmeal cream pies for breakfast every morning. And if that doesn’t work, I’m sure you will find a winner on this make-ahead breakfast roundup.
Now that we have worked out all of our emotional needs by making the family breakfast and lunch, dinner looms. I offer you Lidey’s tortellini soup, a surprisingly good vegetarian option built from store-bought tortellini. And the recipe is a great reminder of what a splash of vinegar can do for a soup.
OK, I have to get back to screwing up my child by cooking. If you have comments, send them to me. I’m at [email protected]. If you have technical issues, I’ll be about as helpful as Netflix asking if I’m still watching. Better send those to [email protected].
I’ll be back Saturday. Don’t miss me too much.
Kim Severson is an Atlanta-based reporter who covers the nation’s food culture and contributes to NYT Cooking.
The post A Pleasurable Distraction From the Rest of Life appeared first on New York Times.
