Cozy recipes from Justine Doiron

The popular TikToker knows her way around a vegetable.

Oct 18, 2024

If you’ve spent any time on TikTok, you may have seen Justine Doiron’s videos. She makes pescatarian meals that feel cozy and real and exactly what I want to eat: squash slices fanned out over a pan of spiced chickpeas and rice, all cooked together in the oven; salty-sweet miso pancakes; lots of vegetables topped with crispy crunchy things and easy sauces.

I like having Justine’s voice in my head as I page through her new cookbook, Justine Cooks: Recipes (Mostly Plants) for Finding Your Way in the Kitchen. But even if you’ve never seen her do her thing, I think you’ll enjoy my conversation with Justine on this week’s episode of The Dinner Plan.

Justine shared her favorite meal made from a can of beans, the way she guarantees crispy salmon skin, and how she dresses up torn sweet potatoes with honey and paprika oil and pepitas for crunch (the full recipe is reprinted below).

She also explained why she keeps an inventory of what’s on hand in her pantry—and why it’s sometimes necessary to re-organize your cupboards and kitchen storage until the space will “dance with you as you are cooking.”

Listen now

A few of Justine’s mentioned recipes

Fennel Kabocha Squash Soup
Cauliflower Orzo
Baked kale salads with crispy quinoa, with griddled goat cheese or baked cabbage salad!
There’s a variation of her gochujang beans here
And one riff on coconut braised cabbage
Breaded beans!

Justine’s book recommendations

Salad Freak by Jess Damuck
Weekday Vegetarians by Jenny Rosenstrach
Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden
Ruffage by Abra Berens
Saladish by Ilene Rosen (with watercress salad dressing!)
Neighborhood by Hetty Lui McKinnon
Via Carota by Jody Williams and Rita Sodi

A few vegan creators Justine loves:

Catherine Perez, Plant-Based RD
Richard Makin, schoolnightvegan
Christina Soteriou, christinasots

Send us your fridge!

At the end of every episode of the podcast, my guest helps one listener figure out what to make for dinner based on what’s in their fridge. That listener could be you! Just record a voice memo on your phone, listing maybe a dozen things you have on hand, and email it to thedinnerplanpod@gmail.com.

Crusted Sweet Potatoes and Pepitas

Reprinted with permission from Justine Cooks: A Cookbook Recipes (Mostly Plants) for Finding Your Way in the Kitchen by Justine Doiron. Copyright © 2024 by Justine Doiron. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

As someone with a notorious sweet-meets-savory tooth, sweet potatoes have a special place in my heart. Their only flaw is really bad marketing. There’s a rumor that you can make sweet potatoes crispy, which—I hate to divulge—is a lie. I can hear the counterarguments swirling as I write this, but in my testing, no amount of ice-bath soaking, freezing, frying, or cornstarch can achieve the same crisp that you get with their standard potato counterparts—unless it is a sweet potato waffle fry, which, I’ve determined, is either cheating and/or magic. But why try to make something be what it’s not? A sweet potato’s best quality is its soft, creamy texture, so my answer is to add the crunch directly on top. Here the potatoes are torn, dressed in a spicy, cinnamon-y oil. and piled with craggily pumpkin seed bread crumbs. The heat of the oil is up to you; it gets spicier the longer you let it sit before straining—2 minutes gets it plenty spicy for me.

4 small sweet potatoes (6 ounces each)
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
Diamond Crystal kosher salt
2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds, coarsely chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup homemade sourdough bread crumbs

1 . Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat it to 425°F.

2 . Pierce the sweet potatoes with a fork, then wrap each in aluminum foil and roast until soft and fork-tender, 40 to 45 minutes. Keep them wrapped but set them aside to cool. This makes them extra soft.

3 . Set a small pan over medium heat and combine ¼ cup olive oil and the pepper flakes. Bring to a simmer, then add the cinnamon and paprika, swirl together, and immediately turn off the heat. Pour through a fine-mesh sieve into a heatproof bowl to strain out the pepper flakes. Whisk in the vinegar, honey, and a few pinches of salt.

4 . Wipe out any leftover pepper flakes from the pan and add the pumpkin seeds. Set the pan back over medium heat and toast, stirring occasionally, until they are a shade darker and fragrant, 3 to 4 minutes. Add ¼ teaspoon black pepper and the bread crumbs, drizzle with olive oil, and cook until the bread crumbs are golden, another 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and season with salt.

5 . Tear (yes, tear!—we want the imperfect edges) the potatoes into big, rough chunks. Add these to a bowl and drizzle with the spicy oil, reserving a few teaspoons. Mix a few times to coat, then transfer to a serving dish. Sprinkle generously with the bread crumbs and spoon the reserved spicy oil over the top. A few more cracks of black pepper will live happily here.