In “One Good Meal,” we ask cooking-inclined artistic individuals to share the story behind a favourite dish they really make and eat at dwelling frequently — and never simply once they’re making an attempt to impress.
Whereas the jewellery designer Anna Sheffield was rising up in Albuquerque, N.M., within the 1980s, dinner was all the time a delicate time, partly as a result of she thought-about searching and fishing to be homicide. Even her dwelling state’s signature delicacy, inexperienced chile stew, sometimes got here full of beef or pork. After she went vegetarian at 16, she endured a pre-internet period when attention-grabbing, meat-free recipes have been more durable to seek out. “Your commonplace dragon bowl is such a basic vegetarian macrobiotic meal,” Sheffield, 45, says of the dish, which mixes greens, protein and sauce. “When you’ve eaten it for 20 years, you’re a bit of tired of the essential brown-rice model.” Not too long ago, she has remodeled the co-op staple right into a extra stunning, various dish impressed by the juxtapositions of her jewellery.
For her eponymous line, Sheffield mixes metals and stones in uncommon methods, embracing imperfection, typically deliberately setting gems the other way up. “I like enjoying with rule-breaking strategies,” she says. “It’s nonetheless stunning. It’s nonetheless valuable. It nonetheless is sensible. However you’ve accomplished it in a method that nobody else would.” Her dragon bowl follows the identical conceit, combining substances in a spectrum of flavors and hues. “It tastes colourful,” she says. “You might have the sweetness of the orange-yellow squash. After which you’ve the herbaceousness of the jade rice and the contemporary fennel; that’s green-tasting. And you then get a bit of little bit of bitter and funky with each the purple beet kraut and the cabbage slaw.”
Consuming this fashion has develop into simpler for Sheffield since late final yr, when she moved to Los Angeles after spending nearly twenty years in New York. (Her Los Angeles retailer celebrates its second anniversary this month.) Nowadays, when she wants groceries, she both wanders out to her yard backyard in Silver Lake or masses up her Mercedes hybrid with produce from the farmer’s market. Then she cooks, relishing the duty’s ephemeral nature. “It’s not like my work,” she says, “the place I’ve to doc it, {photograph} it, value it, discuss it. It’s such an attractive factor to create one thing that turns into a reminiscence just about immediately.”
For the squash
Slice squash into rings, de-seeding as you go. Rub every ring with a bit of coconut oil and place in a glass baking dish. Sprinkle with salt and mud with smoked paprika. Cowl and bake 15 minutes at 350 levels, then uncover and prepare dinner for an extra 10 minutes or so relying on thickness. You’ll need the squash tender however not mushy.
For the rice
Cowl rice with a cup of salted water. Convey to a boil, then cowl and steam on low warmth for about 15 minutes. Earlier than serving, pinch off the fronds of the fennel and stir into the rice together with a contact extra salt.
For the cabbage slaw
Stir shredded cabbage with three tablespoons olive oil, plus the rice wine vinegar, sesame seeds and dulse. Let sit for 10 minutes or so till it softens.
For the fennel and onion
Halve the fennel bulb under the stalks. Take away core and any powerful outer leaves, then slice into ¼-inch sections. Halve the onion and slice it into rings. Salt the fennel and onion and prepare dinner them in avocado oil over medium warmth till they’re browned. Cowl and proceed till they’re cooked by.
For the jalapeño-pea yogurt
Dry roast the jalapeño underneath the broiler, turning it so it cooks evenly. As soon as the pores and skin is bubbly, take away and let cool — then peel, de-seed and halve. Warmth the peas over medium warmth on the range till they’re calmly cooked after which put aside. As soon as every part is cooled, purée the peas and half the pepper (or the entire thing for those who like warmth) with yogurt, three tablespoons of olive oil, ½ teaspoon salt, the apple cider vinegar and the shallot in a blender. Add salt to style.
To assemble
Pile the parts into bowls, giving every its personal house. End with beet kraut and purple pepper flakes.
