A warm, crispy, delicious welcome
Chicken cutlets with Caesar celery slaw, my perfect dirty martini, and a lil back story.
Hello!! Welcome!! I've been wanting a place of my own for quite some time now, where my recipes and ramblings could live side by side without an algorithm to judge 'em and a like count to give me anxiety (or a boost of serotonin, depending on how many likes we're talking).
About a year ago, I even went as far as buying a domain, website template, and hosting subscription with all the additional bells, whistles, and upsells. I brainstormed color palettes! I looked through near-identical fonts for hours! But you know what I did with all of those website-building materials? Literally nothing. Last week I logged into Bluehost for the first time since signing up and made sure to turn off auto-renew.
You see, coming up with ideas is something I'm very good at. Recipe ideas, business ideas, vacation ideas. I just love a good idea! Following through, though… not so much. (You should see the running lists in my notes app. TikTok isn't ready for my take on that trend.) But that's kind of what I love about a newsletter, ya know? It takes all the legwork that usually stops me in my tracks out of the equation. I don't have to design a website and host it somewhere and figure out Google AdSense and make sure everything is organized by the appropriate tags and SEO optimized and a million other things. I just have to dream up recipes, cook them, share them, and write. Which are all things I love to do.
So, with that, I am officially entering my Substack era.
Before we dive in, let's get a couple things out of the way:
The format of this newsletter may change, because I'm kinda figuring it out as we go. For now, I plan to share recipes alongside recommendations and round-ups of food-related things (recipes, cookbooks, creators to follow, products I'm loving, restaurants that I can't stop going to, travel guides). And perhaps a few non-food-related things, too.
I always love getting to know the people I follow beyond just what they’re cooking in the kitchen, and I hope you feel the same way. My writer-slash-journalist roots run deep (bet ya didn’t know I used to write celebrity fashion news for InStyle Magazine), and I’m excited to have a place where I can share more long-form content. I hope to write about food (obvi), my life, motherhood, traveling – the works! I usually lose a few followers whenever I post my daughter, Sasha, on Instagram, but I literally made her and I'm obsessed with her. So back off. (But also, like, come on in, pull up a seat, this is a warm, fuzzy, safe place.)
Yes, this will be a paid newsletter. To those of you who have already become paid subscribers: WOW, thank you. Thank you for your vote of confidence in me and your support. I do plan to send out at least one free newsletter a month, but more often than not, the bulk of the yummy goods (bonus recipes! travel guides!) will be going to my paid subscribers. I'll try my bestest to make it worth your hard-earned money. If you hate it, then just unsubscribe. But please don't tell me you hate it. I'm fragile.
Parmesan Chicken Cutlets with Celery Caesar Slaw
Now that all of that is out of the way, let's get to the meat of why you're here – or in this case, the chicken of it. My delectably crisp chicken cutlets topped with the most refreshing Caesar celery slaw.
Like most good recipes of mine, this one was born on a night when I didn't have a lot of ingredients but had a very specific craving: a fresh, crunchy Caesar salad topped with chicken. But looking in my fridge and pantry, there was no lettuce to be found, no just-stale-enough bread to make croutons. But I did have breadcrumbs, celery, avocado, mayonnaise, and chicken. This could work, I thought. And it did.
In this recipe, the chicken cutlets serve as a big, juicy crouton for the celery Caesar slaw. The dressing is what I call my "lazy girl's Caesar dressing" because I use mayonnaise instead of going through the trouble of emulsifying an egg yolk with olive oil to make a traditional dressing. You could definitely do the latter if you prefer. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.
Everyone has their own way of making cutlets and mine is not groundbreaking or super special, but it is delicious. I use an air fryer (a piece of kitchen equipment that, if you told me three months ago I would depend on, I would've laughed at you), but you can certainly pan fry or even bake. In fact, I encourage you to try all three – maybe even skip the breading and grill up your chicken instead. Find the cutlet method that best suits your lifestyle, friend. If it's the weekend and I've got plenty of time, I'm frying for sure (in olive oil and butter, thank you very much). But for an everyday crispy-crunchy cutlet sitch, my air fryer is my bestie.
For the chicken cutlets:
4 chicken cutlets (about 1 lb. I usually buy the pack labeled “cutlets” but if your market doesn’t have them, just grab 2 big breasts and halve them crosswise horizontally using your sharpest knife.)
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1 cup flour
2 eggs, whisked
Season the chicken breasts, bread crumbs, flour, and eggs with salt and pepper. If you have parm, you can add some to the panko to give it an extra cheesy crunch. Dredge each cutlet in flour, then eggs, then panko (I know, groundbreaking).
To air fry, preheat your air fryer to 400. Add cutlets (I do two at a time to ensure all-around crispiness), spray with avocado or olive oil spray, and air fry for 7 minutes before flipping and air frying for 8 more.
To pan fry, heat an inch or so of olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the cutlets, making sure not to overcrowd the pan, and cook on one side until golden brown. Flip and cook on the other side until golden brown and cooked through (usually takes me about 5-ish minutes per side).
For the Caesar celery slaw
2 big tbs mayonnaise
1 tsp dijon
1 tbsp capers
1/2 tsp Calabrian chili paste (reduce or omit if you want it less spicy)
1/4 cup chopped parsley
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 garlic clove, grated
Salt and pepper
1-2 tbs olive oil to thin
1 bunch celery, sliced
1 large avocado, cubed
Parmesan cheese for serving
Whisk together the dressing ingredients, then add the celery and avocado. Season with more salt and pepper if needed, spoon on top of the cooked cutlets, and top with lots of grated parm. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.
It’s Tini Time
Launching this newsletter is a celebration of sorts for me, and I think every celebration needs a signature cocktail. Enter: my dirty gin martini.
If you asked me what my desert island drink would be, it would be a dirty tini. My grandma's a dirty tini gal, my mom's a dirty tini gal, so it only makes sense that I am, too. Because we love a multigenerational penchant for ice-cold, briney cocktails.
Speaking of ice cold, I know that the "proper" way to make a martini is to stir, but I am a shaken martini gal, through and through. Those little chips of ice floating on the surface? I live for them. I am also not a filthy martini gal. For me, just the right amount of olive brine is just the right amount. And lastly, you will never hear me ordering a vodka martini. I like mine with gin and my go-to is Plymouth, thanks to a Roman bartender who recommended it on our honeymoon and proceeded to make the best dirty martini I've had to date. Oh, and lastly-lastly, I take mine with olives and a twist.
Without further ado, here is my perfect dirty tini.
3 oz Plymouth
3/4 oz dry vermouth
1 oz olive brine (castelvetrano or the jalapeño & garlic stuffed ones are my go-to’s)
3 olives + 1 twist for serving
First, put your martini glass in the freezer. A frosted glass just makes this taste sooo much better. Add gin, vermouth, and olive juice to a shaker with lots of ice and shake like your life depends on it. Strain into your frosted glass, add your olives and twist, and sip.
Before We Go
I want to end this inaugural installment of the Saturday Table newsletter by saying thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, from the bottom of my heart to each and every one of you who subscribed. Whether you’re going the free route or you chose a paid subscription (extra points for you!!), your support really means the world to me and I’m beyond excited to send this newsletter out to you on a regular basis. You guys are seriously the freaking best.