The meals
Eight things to cook in October.
Specific dishes, chosen for this month's basket. Each one ends by explaining how it works — so the next time, you won't need it.
- Fish baked in parchment with ajvar and lemon, and the October salad Salmon or yellowtail sealed in paper, so the smell stays in the packet until you open it.
- Roast pork tenderloin with sweet potatoes and date-feta relish Lean pork pulled while pink; the relish brings the richness.
- Chicken sausages, peppers, and kabocha with ajvar One pan, sausage fat roasting the vegetables, kale crisping at the end. Ajvar on the side.
- Rockfish tacos with pomegranate and lime yogurt Seared fish, cold lime yogurt, pomegranate for salsa.
- Ajvar toast with fried eggs and arugula Ten minutes. The jar turns two eggs into dinner.
- Baked sweet potatoes with black beans, ajvar, and lime yogurt Baked until the sugar runs, then smoke and something cool.
- Orzo salad with roasted kabocha, chickpeas, kale, and feta Make it Sunday, eat it all week. The fresh things go on at the end.
- Seared rockfish, brown butter, and the October salad October's lesson: a hard sear and brown butter.
Mornings, and in between
Small things from the same basket: quick on weekdays, slower on the weekend.
Weekdays
- Eggs and the jar. Boiled eggs, halved and salted, with a spoonful of ajvar and a cold wedge of last night's kabocha. Ready before the kettle.
- Yogurt, pomegranate, date. Thick yogurt with a pinch of salt and a thread of olive oil, pomegranate seeds, and a torn date. The October plate, at breakfast.
- Sweet potato toast. A leftover baked sweet potato, smashed warm onto sourdough, with a fried egg, chile flakes, and lime.
Weekends
- Eggs on garlic yogurt. The Turkish way: soft-poached eggs on salted garlic yogurt, chile flakes sizzled in brown butter poured over, sourdough to drag through it.
- Slow eggs, feta, and the jar. Three eggs scrambled slowly in butter, feta folded in at the end, on olive-oil toast with ajvar alongside.
- Squash hash. Cubes of roasted kabocha or sweet potato crisped hard in a skillet with any leftover pork or sausage and a handful of torn kale, eggs cracked into the gaps, lime over the top.
In between
- Dates and feta. A date split open, a piece of feta tucked inside, a pinch of chile. Sweet, salty, done.
- Pomegranate, lime, chile. Seeds in a cup with lime, salt, and chile flakes — the way San Diego's fruit carts sell everything.
- A bowl of the orzo. From the fridge, with a handful of arugula and a squeeze of lemon.
Or cook by instinct
When something's already in the fridge: what it wants, a few ways to cook it, and the flavors that suit it.
Rockfish A mild fish needs something peppery and something sharp, or it tastes of nothing.
- Tacos. Dry it, sear it hands-off, and flake it into warm tortillas with something cold and sharp. The tacos →
- Brown butter. Sear it and finish it in brown butter and lemon, over roasted squash. The weekend dish →
- Leftovers. Flake it cold onto oiled toast with arugula and lemon.
Best with Cool and sharpBright and hot
Chicken sausage It brings its own fat — let that fat cook the vegetables.
- One pan. Roast it on one hot pan with squash and peppers, then add something smoky. With ajvar →
- Leftovers. Slice it into a skillet with cubed sweet potato until it all crisps, and crack an egg on top.
Best with SmokyBright and hot
Pork tenderloin Lean meat gets its richness from the finish, not the pan.
- Roast. Roast it hot, pull it while it's pink, and cover it in something sweet, salty, and oily. With date-feta relish →
- Leftovers. Slice it thin over rice with ajvar and arugula.
Best with Sweet and saltySmoky
Salmon or yellowtail Rich fish carries smoke, sweetness, and something sharp — and wants gentle heat, so it stays silky instead of dry.
- Parchment. Seal it in paper with a spoonful of the jar and lemon, and bake until the packet puffs. In parchment →
- Over yogurt. Sear or broil it and set it over salted yogurt stirred with garlic, with roasted kabocha, pomegranate, and dates.
- Leftovers. Flake it cold over rice with arugula and lemon. Don't reheat it.
Best with SmokyCool and sharp
Eggs and beans The cheapest dinners want the most flavor — the jar's smoke and something cool.
- Toast. Crisp sourdough in olive oil, spread the jar thick, and top it with runny eggs. The toast →
- Baked. Bake sweet potatoes until the sugar runs and fill them with warm beans. The sweet potatoes →
- Hash. Cube any leftover squash or potato, crisp it in a skillet, and crack eggs into the pan.
Best with SmokySweet and salty
October's four flavors
- Smoky Ajvar + lemon A spoonful of the jar and its oil, lemon squeezed over everything.
- Cool and sharp Salted yogurt + pomegranate Yogurt on the plate first, the hot food on top, seeds over it all.
- Bright and hot Chile-garlic oil + lime Warm olive oil with a grated garlic clove and chile flakes for one minute. Pour it over; squeeze lime hard.
- Sweet and salty Dates + feta Torn dates and crumbled feta, a pinch of chile so it isn't dessert.