The Food Person Train Chugs Along

Plus: Ricotta Pea Pasta, Brown Butter Banana Bread, and Brunch at Café Kestrel.

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the radio silence! I’ve been a bit overwhelmed by the book launch. Craig’s dad Steve painted the watercolor you see above — isn’t it great? — and that pretty much captures me at this moment in my life. (I know I titled this post “The Food Person Train Chugs Along” and then posted a picture of a plane, but planes don’t chug along, do they? And that’s why I get paid the big dollars.)

In case you missed it, on Saturday I appeared on Scott Simon’s NPR Weekend Edition show:

You can listen to it here:

It was wild to be on NPR from the confines of a recording booth in midtown Manhattan. I basically walked in, put headphones on, and immediately my words went out to hundreds of thousands of people. Thank God for Lexapro!

In other book news, Vulture chose Food Person as one of 6 Great Audiobooks to Listen to This Month:

I have to quote the review by Marshall Heyman:

“On rare occasions, I enjoy a book so much that, while listening to it, I develop an intellectual crush on the author. Then I gently stalk him on Instagram to try and deduce if he’s single. I’ll admit I did this with Adam Roberts. That’s because I fell in love with this very funny novel about Isabella, a boring food writer who tries to ghostwrite a cookbook slash memoir for a washed-up Mischa Barton–like star who barely ever eats but pretends to love to cook. It’s completely charming with on point references about celebrities and the food world. And it’s delightfully read by Hutchinson-Shaw. The author, however, lives in Brooklyn with his boyfriend. Sigh.”

Thanks Marshall! And watch your back, Craig!

Finally, yesterday I appeared on Substack Live with my pal

Jenny Rosenstrach

of Dinner: A Love Story. You can watch us here:

A Chat with Novelist Adam Roberts

This Sunday I’m leaving for L.A. to start my book tour! This will be my first time back in L.A. since moving away almost two years ago.

Come hang with me and Chelsea Peretti on Monday night at 7 PM at Skylight Books:

Or, if you prefer to have tickets in hand, come see me and Ben Mims on Thursday at Now/Serving downtown:

Get your tickets here:

From there, I’m off to S.F., Portland, Seattle, Bellingham, and East Troy, Wisconsin. Get all the info here.

Hey, so what else has been cooking around here?

The other night I found myself alone in the kitchen with ricotta cheese and fresh pea pods, so I set about making a quick and easy pasta:

After podding the peas, I blanched them in salted water (saving the water for the pasta) and put them in a bowl with fresh ricotta, lots of Parmesan, and freshly ground black pepper. Then I boiled half a pound of pasta and when it was cooked all the way through, I added it to the bowl with the stuff, adding just enough pasta water to loosen the ricotta:

It was a creamy, springy bowl of deliciousness and a cinch to make. What’s not to love?

For dessert that night, I made the brown butter banana bread with hazelnuts from Nicole Rucker’s essential new cookbook, Fat + Flour.

It has all the usual stuff — eggs, brown sugar, sour cream (or yogurt), vanilla, bananas — plus the surprising addition of espresso (she has you use instant, but I pulled a double shot), toasted hazelnuts, and browned butter. The resulting loaf was majestic and complex-tasting from the espresso and brown butter.

I brought it to a brunch with our friends Chris, Reid, and John and it was a big hit.

You don’t see it on the table there because first up was a springy lasagna that John made from Meryl Feinstein’s pasta book which I’m tempted to buy right now, it was so good.

It had pesto, provolone, bechamel, and fresh pasta. I want to live between its layers.

Finally, this weekend we went with our pal Diana to brunch at Café Kestrel in Red Hook — a nice walk on an overcast day.

The food was serving Prune-style eleganza. Here’s my smoked salmon with hash browns:

And here’s Craig’s poached eggs with potato pavé:

I wasn’t sure whether to eat it or hang it on a wall. My favorite part was the appetizer of cinnamon toast: just really good bread, butter, cinnamon, and sugar. So cozy and charming and simple:

A perfect brunch.

Hey, let’s look at some links:

• One-pan ditalini and peas from Deb looks like a delightful spring dish (Smitten Kitchen);

• The 22 Best Pizza Places in NY right now (NYT gift link);

• Is this the next bartender flex? An obscure martini from 1903 (Punch).

That’s all for this week, folks!

I have to start doing laundry so I can pack everything I need for my book tour. Excited to meet you all in person!

Until next time….

Your pal,

Adam