
Author and Philadelphia Inquirer deputy food editor Margaret Eby joins us to discuss easy meals for a hectic life.
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Alison Stewart
This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart, the deputy food editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Margaret Ebay wrote in her new book, eating is a Basic Need. But by putting things together to make something to eat that has challenges. After going to culinary school and working at a glossy food magazine one day she found herself in a rut. No creme fraiche or herbs de Provence could get her excited. There were other concerns, she writes, the deeper issues of our food system related to climate change, the welfare of the many laborers who pick crops and package meat, the neighborhoods in America where finding fresh food is impossible or ridiculously financially onerous and global food insecurity. It's a lot. It's over overwhelming. No wonder. Sometimes it's just easier to eat a spoonful of peanut butter, provided, of course, that you can shout out the voices telling you that peanut butter is bad for you and you're buying the wrong brand. Margaret took her feelings to the kitchen and came up with a simple slogan that became the mission of her new cookbook, which is titled you gotta Eat. In it, she shares her recipes for how to create good meals but not exhaust yourself doing it. As one reviewer put it, the book is, quote, concise, cheeky, and a reassuring guide for people who want to cook but can't quite manage the effort. Margaret Ebay joins us for our Food for Thought segment. Hi Margaret.
Margaret Ebay
Hi. Thank you so much for having me. It's a delight to be here, listeners.
Alison Stewart
Do you have a kitchen hack that.
Listener
You want to share with us?
Alison Stewart
Do you have a go to meal.
Listener
That doesn't take a long time? Have you been talking to someone from your kitchen and taking something from your kitchen and matching it with something else and getting magic? Our Phone lines are open. 2124-3396-9221-2433-WNYC. You can call or text to us at any time. So while we wait for people to call in with their magic in the kitchen, I want to ask you, what left you feeling meh about cooking?
Margaret Ebay
Various points in my life, I think despite being someone who is so excited about cooking, most of the time I found myself just with no energy. One of those times was during the pandemic and it was post the wave where I had my sourdough starter and I had restarted my scallions in a jar and I was just faced with the prospect of having to make food over and over and over again and it just felt like this kind of Groundhog Day level nightmare. Rather than something I was excited about, I remember buying an economy pack of Bagel Bites, I believe. And that is what got me through some of the hardest weeks of the pandemic.
Alison Stewart
When you sat down to write the book, you kind of learned that easy was a bit of a fungible word, like what makes an easy recipe, but it's actually not so easy.
Margaret Ebay
That's so right. I think when you say something is easy or simple, part of the question is, is it easy or simple for you? Who is it easy or simple for? There are so many wonderful cookbooks out there with quick, easy recipes, but often they're written by people who have more time on their hands to go to the grocery store or to go to the farmer's or, sure, it's a one bowl or a one pot wonder, but then you have all these utensils to clean up and a cutting board and a sheet pan, and so it spirals pretty quickly. So when I was putting together this book, I wanted to be really conscious not just of what things are easy to put together, but what things are easy on your energy resources and your mental health. And also, I know when I'm really exhausted, there are certain things in the kitchen that I just instinctually avoid. Like, for me, I don't know why, but sometimes getting a cutting board and a knife out, oh, it's just torture. You have to clean the knife, you have to clean the cutting board, this whole thing. And I found the solution is kitchen shears.
Alison Stewart
Kitchen shears.
Listener
Explain.
Margaret Ebay
Kitchen shears are wonderful, and you can do so much with them. Like, rather than having to chop herbs on your cutting board, you just snip them off the. Off the bunch with your shears. You can use it to cut up chicken, you can use it to snip little tomatoes in half. I love my kitchen shears. I have two or three pairs always in rotation because I'm always misplacing one of them.
Listener
Well, when you sat down and you started to work on this cookbook, who was it for? Who did you think this is? The person that will pick up my cookbook and feel seen.
Margaret Ebay
I have a lot of friends who are incredibly wonderful and do many creative pursuits and just absolutely don't have time for cooking. They love food, and they chat with me excitedly about all my projects, but they maybe are just not kitchen people. And so when I was writing this, it was hopefully in the tone of writing a letter to a friend, writing a long email to someone who's sort of having a hard time just explaining some pretty basic kitchen Things that can help out in some ways. It was also written for me to get through times in my life when it was a little harder for me to get it together to cook. And my hope is that anyone who's going through a bit of a hard time, whether you're too busy or burned out or stressed or whatever else, it'll help you across that kind of dinner finish line so you can get something on the plate.
Listener
My guest is Margaret Ebay. We're talking about her cookbook, you gotta Real life Strategies for Feeding Yourself when Cooking Feels impossible. Listeners, do you have a kitchen hack you want to share with us? Do you have a go to meal that just does not take a long time? Maybe you figured one thing for your kitchen, you can use it somewhere else and it makes magic. Our phone lines are open. 2124-3396-9221-2433. WNYC. See, we have a call from Melissa in Manhattan. Hi, Melissa.
Melissa
Hi. I have a real easy Bolognese sauce recipe that can be used with frozen meat, any kind of ground meat. And you chop up some onion, not very much, lots of garlic. And as that's coming together, just put the meat on top, let the meat wet through the onions and garlic, and chop that up, spice it, put your tomato sauce in, and 10, 15 minutes later, it's ready.
Alison Stewart
Love it. Thanks for the call. Yeah. Let's check in with Ellen from Queens. Hi, Ellen.
Ellen
Hey, how are you doing?
Alison Stewart
Doing great.
Ellen
So nice to hear from you. And I'm happy to call. Listen to Dorie Greenspan's almond cookie recipe. It's like sugar, almonds, egg, and you're done. You cook them and they're fabulous.
Alison Stewart
Love that. Thank you so much. I love that idea of only four ingredients. So, Margaret, when we're talking about the kind of things you can do with your cookbook, it was really interesting because one of the first things it says is that you might not want to use. I get how I put it. You might not want to use measuring cups. You might just use what's available to you. What are some of the ways and what are some of the things we can do to sort of measure using our own hands?
Margaret Ebay
Yeah, absolutely. I think a lot of cooking is a lot more flexible than it might look like. When you're looking at a recipe and it feels kind of daunting, you need to have exactly half a cup or something like that. And truthfully, so much of cooking, if you have a little bit more than that or a little less than that, it's going to turn out just fine. So I like to eyeball things when I'm going around the kitchen. There's a guide in my book about kind of how to do that. Exactly. But I think the real message that I wanted to get across is that it's not a disaster if you have a few fewer noodles or a few more noodles. In some kinds of baking and some kinds of cooking, precision is really important. But the truth is, a lot of it is just very generous and you can add a little more spice or a little less spice if you have an extra carrot, if you have an extra potato, then your soup is just going to have a little extra potato in it and it's just going to be delicious. It's still going to be dinner. And I think that's a big part of what I wanted to get across in the book because I think sometimes you can get so paralyzed wanting to do a recipe. Recipe exactly right. Wanting to make sure that the thing is perfect. The truth is, there's not any such thing as perfection when you're making a meal. There's just something that's going to be delicious and nourishing to you. Unless you're working in a Michelin star restaurant, which most of us are not.
Listener
You have a section titled Open something and you write in the section. Do not be afraid of beans. Beans can be your best friend. What is a simple way to present beans that isn't like beanie?
Margaret Ebay
You know, I really like to toast them. I like to crisp up beans, especially chickpeas, so then they become these delicious little snacky treats. If you're someone who's been curious but also a little bit afraid of them, They A white bean goes really, really well into a sauce and usually kind of folds in there. That's often something I do when I'm making, say a pasta sauce is throw an extra can of cannellini beans in there, particularly if I have no meat around, because it kind of dissolves in the sauce. It gives you a little silkiness and a little extra protein, a little extra oomph to it. There's also a recipe in the book for a very, very easy black bean soup, where you put cans of black beans and a jar of salsa in a blender and let it rip. And you would be shocked at how delicious and easy it is.
Alison Stewart
You know, for fun, you talk about getting out a die, like a dice from a game and you have a list of beans, dressing, vegetables, extra. I throw the dice and what do I do?
Margaret Ebay
Then you assemble whatever the Dice says you can. Of course, you don't have to be as strict with it as that, but I like the idea of having a way of cutting through when you have kind of decision paralysis. You're like, okay, I have all these ingredients. I guess I could combine them. What do I do? Well, if you. Some Dice, I guarantee that beans are very friendly. If you add a dressing, if you add a sauce, if you add some crunchy vegetables, it's a bean salad, and no one can tell you otherwise.
Alison Stewart
Let's take a call. Margaret is calling in from New Jersey. Hi, Margaret.
WNYC Studios
Hi. Thank you for taking my call today.
Alison Stewart
Yeah. Let's hear what you make.
WNYC Studios
I wanted to. Absolutely. I wanted to talk about a way that I ramp up a simple soup and make it into a full meal. So I use any carrot ginger soup recipe. Doesn't matter which one it is. There are a thousand online, and one day I decided to add a protein to it. And I added a.
Alison Stewart
Oh, did we just lose.
WNYC Studios
And it was really tasty. Really tasty.
Alison Stewart
And you just wait. Tell us what you added again. You blacked out for a minute.
WNYC Studios
Oh, I'm sorry. One cooked sweet Italian sausage.
Listener
Oh, nice.
Alison Stewart
Very nice. Actually, you have a lot of soup.
Listener
Recipes, Margaret, in your book, and they're.
Alison Stewart
Sort of along this line.
Listener
You just. You just make the soup like there was a.
Alison Stewart
What is it? Tomato soup you had.
Margaret Ebay
Yeah, there's a. There's a recipe, actually. If you have a jar of tomato sauce, like spaghetti sauce, you can turn it into tomato soup. I love soup, particularly this time of year, because it's so generous and comforting and because you can really use whatever you have knocking around in the fridge. Plus, it is really a good way of zhuzhing it up. Adding sausage is an incredible idea. I also like to find anything that's, like, a little flavorful and crunchy to add on top of the soup. Like if you have leftover potato chips, if you have crackers. I found some toasted coconut flakes in the back of my pantry the other day, and I added them to some lentil soup. It's really a format of meal that you can put together pretty quickly. Typically, often it makes a lot, so you can have leftovers and not have to worry about making food again the next day. And it can accommodate so many kinds of food preferences and eating restrictions. Whether you can't eat gluten, whether you can't eat meat, whether you're trying to avoid certain things. Soup is wonderful.
Listener
Your sandwich ideas are wild, especially around peanut butter.
Alison Stewart
How did you come up with PB and Sriracha.
Margaret Ebay
I would say trial and error. And also being a poor college student, Janice says a lot of those sandwiches, I think some of them sound pretty bleak to other people. Like a chip, a potato chip sandwich. Potato chips on a sandwich, fine. But if that's all you have, it might not be particularly filling. But sandwiches are another wonderful way of putting something in your body when you need food. And you can't figure it out because who's to say what is and isn't a sandwich? Aside from the great is a hot dog sandwich debate, I think you can really make your own rules. And, and there are so many examples in the book of people doing that. The one that I think people are most shocked by is the canned pineapple and mayonnaise sandwich. But hear me out, it's worth trying because the acid in the pineapple and the fat of the mayonnaise and adding a little salt and pepper is quite delicious, particularly when tomatoes aren't in season.
Alison Stewart
And you also have a section in your book about cheese boards. But sort of the kick is you leave the cheese out.
Margaret Ebay
Yeah. I think there are a lot of very beautiful and aspirational cheese boards online. Right on Instagram. That was such a huge trend. But I don't always have an array of gorgeous cheeses in my fridge. That requires a lot of effort and going to the cheesemonger. But no one can really police what you put on a board and call dinner. One of the kind of central motivating theses of the of the book is like, there's a lot of ways we would eat dinner. Like say you're out at a party and you just eat some pigs in a blanket and you eat some grapes and you eat some, I don't know, some dried fruit or maybe some charcuterie. That's dinner. But if you did it at home, somehow it's like a struggle. Meal context is everything. But I think there's no real reason that you can't just decide that it's a party meal at home and put things on a board and eat it.
Listener
Let's take some more calls. Sarah, thank you so much for calling all of it.
Sarah
Hi.
Melissa
Hi.
Sarah
I'm so excited to talk to you. I wanted to call and share an almost embarrassing meal that I make with my 5 year old. My partner and I both work when we have two kids and very frequently dinner. I like to cook, but I'm not good at it and I don't have time to do it. So my husband's Korean, so we Eat a lot of stews and things like that. And we started making this soup that is, you know, you throw, you get a big pot out. We put some beef broth in there. We put in some frozen mandu, like frozen dumplings. We put in some frozen veggies. We might put in tofu, we might put in some tofu. And we cook it all and we make some rice on the other side of it. And my kids call it soup rice, and that's a staple in our house and they love it. And actually my 5 year old can basically make the whole thing himself because we've done it a few times. So that's our. That's our basic meal. And I'm loving this conversation because it makes me feel less bad about it.
Listener
I'm so glad you're liking the conversation. Let's talk to Cliff from Staten Island. Hi, Cliff.
Cliff
Hello. Great show. I have a tip, I guess you'd call it. And like your guest, if someone doesn't want, like to chop up vegetables and so forth, they sell pre prepared fresh vegetables that are already cut up in a lot of markets, such as the onion that you don't want to chop up makes you cry. And you can get a little bucket of chopped up onion, or you can get garlic that's already peeled or already even cut up and minced. And you can probably make a whole spaghetti sauce like that without ever bringing out a cutting board.
Listener
Love it. Let's talk to Minette. Hi, Manette.
Ellen
Hi.
Listener
Hi.
Ellen
I want to talk about Filipino dish that I just made. It's called arras caldo and it's a Filipino congee. It's chicken and rice, and you make it by sauteing garlic and onions and ginger, putting chicken in, putting the rice in some water, and then just letting the whole thing cook. And it jumped to my mind when I was listening to this episode because I made it Sunday and I've been sick the past few days and that's all I've been eating.
Listener
Oh, well, first of all, I hope you feel better as well. My guest is Margaret Ivey. The name of the book is Did I say that right? Margaret.
Margaret Ebay
Oh, you buy.
Listener
Thank you. You buy. How to Eat Real life Strategies for Feeding Yourself When Cooking Feels Impossible. Got a text says my husband's on a PB and pickles kick. Okay. I want to spend some time on ramen. How can I make ramen feel special? Not like a. I just pull it out of my dorm room.
Margaret Ebay
Yeah. I mean, ramen is incredible as a staple, but I understand that if you just make it per the packet directions, you get sick of it. I have. There are so many easy ways to zhuzh it up, though. One of the kind of counterintuitive things that I learned from a Korean friend is just putting a slice of American cheese on top, which you might not think would work, but with spicy ramen, it's so delicious. I would also say if you're cooking, if you're already boiling water, you can probably boil an egg or put an egg in the microwave and add it. And then just, like, hunt around your kitchen and see what kind of interesting things you have. I mean, sometimes I find some, like, wilted spring onions, and I throw them in there. Sometimes I just find a jar of ginger garlic paste, and I can stir some in there. And also, your spice cabinet is like your best friend in those moments, too, because there's no reason you can't experiment. Obviously, there are some flavor profiles that are a little more intuitive than others. You could add a little hot sauce, you can add a little curry powder or curry paste, but, you know, it's an incredible place to just kind of spelunk about and then add things, and you might discover something really delicious that you haven't found before.
Alison Stewart
And also something you spend time on is different preparations than what's on the back. And the example you give is when you realize that ravioli doesn't have to go necessarily in boiling water, that you can fry it.
Margaret Ebay
Yes. This was something that changed my life forever. You can treat ravioli like dumplings, and you can treat dumpling like ravioli. As our caller just rightly noted, I love to just singe ravioli a little bit in a pan so it gets brown. And then add frozen peas and a little bit of water and let it steam out and then put it in a big bowl with salt and pepper. And if I have some sour cream, it's very delicious. If you have bacon, and if you eat bacon, chopping up a little and cooking it in the pan before you put in the ravioli is so good. And then you have like a beautiful, like, riff on peas and pancetta. But it takes about 10 minutes and it really does only take one pan to do the whole thing, which is fantastic.
Alison Stewart
This text has so appreciated this approach to cooking.
Listener
I'm a single mom with cancer and a small business owner.
Alison Stewart
Cooking for my teenagers.
Listener
Been really hard for me right now. This book sounds like a lifeline. Lately, Hack has been bugogi bowls fast, easy, can use any leftover veg, and my kid loves it as long as there is Sriracha mayo, he'll eat anything. Another message says, you go, you get a grilled chicken breast from your prepared case. You put it on a bag of arugula with fresh cherry tomato, warm the chicken, wash the arugula, drizzle with olive oil. Enjoy. That's another text we got. Okay for you.
Alison Stewart
You say microwave something.
Listener
Microwave can be tricky. What's a good example of something that is microwavable?
Margaret Ebay
I mentioned this before, but making scrambled eggs in the microwave is actually really wonderful and easy because a microwave is basically a tiny steam oven and when you steam eggs, they get gorgeous and fluffy. Think about those McDonald's eggs that you get on a biscuit. My aunt who is a chemistry professor introduced me to this. Basically you just crack an egg into a mug or a Pyrex and you scramble it. Add a little milk, salt and pepper, microwave it for 30 seconds, stir it, microwave it another 30 seconds. Voila. You have an egg.
Listener
And our last question. If you have dessert in mind, what would you pick?
Margaret Ebay
Ooh, gosh, I love dessert so so much. I have a recipe in there for a very easy mug cake. If you want to have some cake. I also really love a s'mores cone which is just when you fill a sugar cone with marshmallows and chocolate chips or whatever candy you have running around and microwave or toast it and eat it just straight from the cone like an ice cream.
Alison Stewart
You have been full of terrific examples. My guest has been Margaret eBay you gotta eat Real life strategies for feeding yourself when cooking feels impossible. Thank you so much for sharing your writing with us. We really appreciate it.
Margaret Ebay
Margaret, thanks so much for having me on and thank you to everyone who called in with their amazing tips.
Minette
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Podcast Information:
[00:17] Alison Stewart introduces the episode by highlighting Margaret Ebay's new cookbook, You Gotta Eat. Margaret, the deputy food editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer, discusses her mission to create accessible and manageable recipes amidst the complexities of modern food systems, including climate change, labor welfare, and food insecurity.
[02:11] Margaret Ebay shares her personal struggles with maintaining enthusiasm for cooking, especially during the pandemic. She recounts how repetitive meal preparation became overwhelming, leading her to rely on simple, comfort foods like Bagel Bites during tough times.
Key Insight:
[03:10] Margaret Ebay discusses the concept of "easy" recipes, stressing that simplicity is subjective. She aims to make cooking accessible by minimizing the need for extensive utensils and reducing cleanup time, thereby making the process less daunting for those with limited time or energy.
Notable Quote:
Kitchen Shears:
Measuring Without Tools:
Bean Preparations:
Microwave Cooking:
Notable Quote:
Melissa from Manhattan [06:30]:
Ellen from Queens [07:06]:
Margaret’s Favorite Recipes:
Notable Quote:
Sandwich Innovations:
Cheese Board Simplifications:
Notable Quote:
Sarah’s Soup Rice [15:44]:
Cliff’s Pre-prepared Veggies Tip [16:45]:
Minette’s Arras Caldo [17:28]:
Notable Quote:
Dessert Recipes:
Ramen and Ravioli Enhancements:
Alison Stewart wraps up the episode by thanking Margaret Ebay for her valuable insights and practical strategies to make cooking less overwhelming. Margaret expresses gratitude to Alison and the listeners, emphasizing the communal aspect of sharing kitchen tips and fostering a supportive cooking environment.
Episode Takeaway: Margaret Ebay’s You Gotta Eat serves as a lifeline for those who find cooking challenging due to time constraints, burnout, or other life stresses. By prioritizing simplicity, flexibility, and creative approaches, the cookbook empowers individuals to nourish themselves without the pressure of perfection.
Notable Quotes Summary:
This episode of All Of It offers practical solutions and heartfelt conversations for anyone feeling daunted by the prospect of cooking, making it a must-listen for those seeking to simplify their culinary routines without sacrificing nourishment and enjoyment.