Emily Weinstein's Favorite Recipe

from her new book, Easy Weeknight Dinners

If you like the crisp edges of lasagne, the soaked croutons, the whipped cream that gets icy around the chocolate scoop - you’re in the right place.

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Hi everyone, something different today: Emily Weinstein, the Editor in Chief of New York Times Cooking and Food (and the editor who first hired me at the Times—thank you!), is joining us here in celebration of her newly released Easy Weeknight Dinners.

I’m trying to think back to a time before NYT Cooking became the default recipe destination (and my personal destination for double-checking recipe conventions), and I can barely remember it. Emily and her team have developed a repository of recipes that is as infinite as it is reliable. In Easy Weeknight Dinners, Emily has done what she does in her newsletter, Five Weeknight Dishes, on a broader and hardback scale, sharing her and her subscribers favorite things to make for dinner.

Emily, how do you see your role/NYT Cooking's role in shaping the American dining table? With NYT Cooking, we're there to meet people's very real daily needs while also introducing them to ideas, techniques, ingredients or flavor combinations they might not know — which is to say, the things they don't know they need yet. It's a balancing act. And we want to do this with intelligence and warmth, and it all needs to be delicious. 

What is one of your favorite recipes in the book? Lidey Heuck's Braised White Beans and Greens With Parmesan — which is loved by many people, not just me!

What makes this recipe special? Is there a moment of cooking or step in the method that matters most? This recipe does so much with so little, as the best recipes often do. Dishes like this often start with cooking dried beans, which yes, give you far better flavor and texture relative to canned beans, as well as delicious bean broth. To make the dish work in the moment for busy cooks, Lidey calls for canned beans and boxed chicken broth, and she boosts flavor in the pot in other ways: sautéeing diced fennel with the onion and rosemary; a generous-but-not-outrageous amount of garlic; Parmesan or Pecorino Romano, which convey salt, funk and depth; and a spritz of lemon to wake it all up. It's so smart. 

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Braised White Beans and Greens With Parmesan

By Lidey Heuck (…who is rumored to be joining us on Substack soon)

Julia Gartland for The New York Times (Photography and Styling)

Makes 4 servings

¼ cup olive oil

1 small fennel bulb, trimmed, cored and small-diced

1 small yellow onion, small-diced

2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary or thyme

5 garlic cloves, minced

¼ teaspoon red-pepper flakes, plus more to taste

1 large or 2 small bunches escarole, kale or Swiss chard, stems removed (10 to 12 ounces)

2 (15-ounce) cans cannellini beans, rinsed

2 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth

Kosher salt and black pepper

1tablespoon lemon juice

½ cup shredded mozzarella (optional)

3 tablespoons grated Pecorino Romano or Parmesan, plus more for serving

Toasted country bread, for serving

In a 12-inch skillet or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium. Add the fennel, onion and rosemary, and cook for 4 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender. Add the garlic and red-pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Begin adding handfuls of the greens, cooking and stirring until leaves wilt.

Add the white beans, broth and ¼ teaspoon black pepper, and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat to low and simmer, mashing some of the beans with a wooden spoon, until the liquid has reduced and thickened, 6 to 8 minutes.

Off the heat, stir in the lemon juice, then the mozzarella, if using, and Pecorino Romano. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Divide among shallow bowls and top with more Pecorino Romano. Serve with toasted bread and a dish of red-pepper flakes on the side.

Congratulations, Emily!

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