Tanya Sichynsky is not a vegetarian. But she’s very into vegetables. So much so that the hilarious, incredibly knowledgeable, occasionally caustic Sichynsky writes the New York Times Cooking newsletter “The Veggie” (and hosts many videos on NYT’s site, and her Instagram). She’s also the author of Veg Everything: Recipes for Weeknights, Parties and the Bites in Between” (September 15; Ten Speed Press), from Times Cooking. She spoke to Edible Manhattan editor in chief John Ortved about bargain hunting at the Greenmarket, whether or not to peel your vegetables, and the best basil for your buck.
What’s a vegetable?
Wow, today has been nothing but existential questions.
That is the opposite of an existential question.
It’s an existential question because when it comes to produce, people can be really pedantic. I get emails that say “a tomato is not a vegetable.” For the sake of this book, a vegetable is anything that grows out of the ground that is edible.
Is a can of beans a vegetable?
Well, there you go. The bean is a vegetable. The can isn’t.
Do you have any recipes in Veg Everything, or is it just the Times developers?
At the 11th hour, I added one of mine into the book. For Thanksgiving last year, I developed a recipe that is a tofu- and Japanese sweet potato-based dessert pie that is delicious. I’m so proud of it.
If I’m going to the Greenmarket in New York today, what should I be looking for?
You’re getting a tomato immediately. We are in peak tomato time, and this moment is so fleeting. You want to get some peaches. I am a devotee of a tomato and peach salad in the book where instead of anchoring the salad with a cheese, we use a silken tofu. The other thing that I want you to pick up right now is a big bundle of whatever herbs that look most like a wedding bouquet.
Fuck Mary Kill: The peach, a tomato, a handful of herbs.
I’m marrying the herbs. My cooking at home is herb-heavy. It’s a reliance for me when it comes to making something feel greener or fresher than it is. A great tomato is what I’m gonna fuck. Like a generous but fleeting lover, we know it for only a short time, and we’re grateful for the time that we spent with it. And I’m a Georgia peach through and through, but kill the peach. I need everyone to get a little less handsy with the peaches at the market.
What is one of the simplest recipes from the book?
A gem of the market is just the tiniest, twistiest little eggplants. They are beautiful. This weekend, my girlfriends and I were upstate, and I was cooking from the book. There’s a Afghan-style eggplant tomato yogurt dish called Borani Banjan that is so easy to make. I used all market staples, save for the yogurt.
Why can’t I find chervil anywhere in New York?
There’s a category of plants that I will get questions about. That’s one of them. It’s a good question for your favorite farmer. Or you gotta go to Queens.
Do you have a favorite stand at the market?
Admittedly, I’m not farm loyal. I was raised by pretty price-conscious New Yorkers. I’m doing a full lap of the market, looking at what’s good, and making a mental note of prices. And then I’m going back around, and I’m buying what’s cheapest and looks best.
We are kin, Tanya. I do the exact same thing. And if I buy something and then see it cheaper later, it haunts me. It ruins my day.
100%.
Most of us don’t have the time to go to Greenmarkets. If I’m shopping at Gristedes, what should I look for in the produce aisle?
Even at Key Foods, I’m starting to see decent looking heirloom tomatoes in a variety of colors. I also see a lot of these more “locally grown” greens. I’m such a lover of a big iceberg or butter lettuce.
Iceberg might be nutritionally deficient, but you cannot convince me there isn’t a better texture for a BLT.
Oh! And I’m buying Persian cucumbers. My home salad, actually, inspired by my friend Becky, is a ton of cucumber, avocado, really thinly sliced celery, some cilantro, a little bit of sesame oil and a squeeze of lime.
Big question: Do you peel your celery?
I actually don’t peel anything.
What? Not even English hot house cucumbers?
I might peel a hot house cucumber. I’m not too precious about these kinds of things. I eat kiwi with the skin on. I don’t peel my ginger.
You’re a freak.
I am almost always consuming ginger in a grated capacity. And I freeze my ginger, always. So when I take a nub out of the freezer and I’m grating it on a microplane, naturally the peel curls up around the root itself. I don’t pretend to be a scientist or a farmer, but I’m not eating a lot of ginger skin.
I’m going to try it.
I have one more response to your grocery store question: Buy the little potted basil plant. I did this recently at Trader Joe’s. The clamshell packets of basil go bad so fast. They’re a total waste of money. Nobody knows how to properly store basil. That’s fine.
Buy the basil in the pot. One: You’ll get more basil probably for cheaper. Really, you should pot it. All a basil plant needs is a shit ton of sunlight and a lot of water. And they’re pretty hearty. My grocery store plants that I bought a month-and-a-half ago are still going strong on my windowsill. And then I’ll have the aura of summer long after the season’s gone.
Recipes from Veg Everything
