Julia Turshen Won’t Make Lasagna for a Meal Train

We chat about her go-to recipes, the best post-Thanksgiving breakfast, and how to make dinner easier

This week’s podcast guest, the beloved cookbook author Julia Turshen, says she lives “for the morning after Thanksgiving. I look forward to this breakfast all year long.” 

Wherever you are for the holiday, I hope you find a moment today—while you’re cooking or cleaning up, or maybe on the journey home—to listen to my wide-ranging conversation with Julia. 

She walks us through her ideal post-Thanksgiving breakfast, plus some more options for this week’s leftovers, and shares some of the thinking behind her fabulous new book, What Goes With What. 

I hate to play favorites, but I must say, this book is just what I’ve needed to cook from lately. I’ve been making her quick gochujang turkey meatballs over and over because they’re such a hit: juicy and savory and spicy and speedy. The recipes are smartly streamlined—she won’t ask you, for example, to measure out a half-cup of hot cherry peppers when you’re making chicken scarpariello. She’s worked out a recipe that uses the whole dang jar, liquid and all. 

If you scroll down, you’ll find one of Julia’s personal go-tos, a minestrone-ish soup dressed up with zesty, crunchy breadcrumbs on top. It leans on pantry staples and can easily be made meatless.

In this episode we also chat about how “giving yourself a jumping-off point” can make the weekly labor of meal-planning easier, and why she doesn’t recommend cooking lasagna for a meal train. 

Please leave a rating after you listen!

Click for gift ideas for the cook in your life.

Useful links from this week’s show

Sadly the gochujang meatballs aren’t online (I promise they are worth the cost of the book) but here are Julia’s Turkey Ricotta Meatballs (from Small Victories excerpted on Kitchn)
Are You in the Portal? (Culture Study)
Julia’s cooking classes
Edna Lewis, The Taste of Country Cooking
Cheryl Day’s Treasury of Southern Baking
Lee Bailey’s Country Weekends 

Win a copy of Julia’s book, What Goes With What

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1. Subscribe to this newsletter.

2. Scroll down and leave a comment on this post telling us about your favorite way to eat Thanksgiving leftovers OR your favorite Julia Turshen recipe.

Rules: US addresses only, 18+, no purchase necessary. Giveaway not sponsored or administered by Substack. Ends Thursday, December 5.

Photo: Julia Turshen

Minestrone-ish

Reprinted from What Goes With What: 100 Recipes, 20 Charts, Endless Possibilities. Copyright © 2024 by Julia Turshen. Reprinted with permission of Flatiron Books. All rights reserved.

This falls somewhere on the soup spectrum between minestrone and pasta fagioli; it’s full of vegetables, with deep tomato flavor from lots of tomato paste, and hearty from a mix of beans and pasta. Topped with grated cheese and a dollop of pesto, it’s a satisfying vegetarian soup. But if you want to make it extra special, try Haley’s Savory Sprinkles, which are the most delicious lemony breadcrumbs (see below for the recipe).

Makes about 3 quarts (serves about 6 to 8)

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
4 carrots, peeled and chopped
Kosher salt
6 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 pound green cabbage, roughly chopped (about 8 cups chopped cabbage)
One 15-ounce can beans (I recommend cannellini, chickpeas, or small red beans), drained and rinsed
One 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
6 cups chicken or vegetable broth (or boiling water mixed with Better Than Bouillon)
1 cup small pasta (ditalini, orzo, orecchiette, elbows—whatever you have! Regular or gluten-free!)

For serving: Grated Parmesan cheese, freshly ground black pepper, and pesto (homemade or store-bought), and/or Haley’s Savory Sprinkles (recipe follows)

Method

1. Place the oil in a large heavy pot (such as a Dutch oven) over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, and a large pinch of salt and cook, stirring now and then, until the vegetables are beginning to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, tomato paste, and dried oregano and cook, stirring, until very fragrant, about a minute.

2. Add the cabbage, beans, diced tomatoes with their juice, and the broth, turn the heat to high, and bring the mixture to a boil. Season to taste with salt. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, until the cabbage is softened and the flavors are very well combined, at least 30 minutes (but it’s fine for up to an hour or two over very low heat, if that helps to know).

3. Just before you’re ready to eat, add the pasta and cook until softened, about 10 minutes or so.

4. Serve the soup hot with lots of grated cheese, freshly ground black pepper, a spoonful of pesto, and/or a shower of Haley’s Savory Sprinkles in each bowl.

Haley’s Savory Sprinkles

Place 2 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add a cup of coarse fresh breadcrumbs (or panko) and cook, stirring, until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let the breadcrumbs cool for a couple of minutes, then stir in the finely grated zest of a lemon and ½ cup of grated Parmesan (or ¼ cup nutritional yeast, if vegan). Season to taste with salt and pepper.

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