Hungry with… Katherine Goldstein

There’s a theme here, and it’s Costco

Welcome to our very first “Hungry with…” Q&A, a peek into the lives and pantries of interesting people.

And by interesting people, we are not talking about celebrities. Celebrities are exciting, but when it comes to food, they are NOT like us. (Witness chef Jean-Georges’ daughter, Ochi Vongerichten, praising a Montauk restaurant that is “very well known for lobster Cobb salad. It’s huge. People make fun of it because it’s a $98 salad, but it’s worth it.” Ugh.)

Our Q&A’s showcase people who really ARE like us, facing up to their food anxieties, time and budget restraints, and still, somehow, getting good meals on the table. We hope they will offer inspiration – and validation.  

Our first guest is Katherine Goldstein, a writer, and the mom of a nine-year-old and a set of “pandemic twins.”  Katherine writes a (truly great) newsletter, The Double Shift, about how we care for our families, our communities, and how to transform our society to prioritize care. She’s also a fellow at the think tank Better Life Lab at New America, and is working on a book about teaching people how to build community. Katherine talked to us from the “she-shed” in her backyard in Durham, North Carolina. 

Let’s start with breakfast: Describe your usual – plus what you consider a treat.

Katherine Goldstein:  After so many years, I’ve cracked the code of what works for me, which are these Veggies Made Great Egg White Frittatas that you can buy at Costco.

I have them almost every morning and you just take them out of the plastic and heat them for two minutes and 40 seconds. It is filling; I like that it has some protein, and I'm not hungry immediately. It's super easy and I basically have not gotten tired of it.

And the treat? 

KG: My “treat breakfast” is two over-easy eggs with these cauliflower hash browns that you can put in the air fryer.  I eat them with this labneh, which is like a cultured yogurt cheese, and maybe a little spicy pepper eggplant from the Middle Eastern grocery store and some za’aatar. Then I feel like I'm going out to brunch.

The cauliflower hash browns are frozen; I don't make them from scratch or anything! They are Strong Roots brand and taste like regular hash browns. But I do put them in the air fryer. 

I love my air fryer!  It is such a trendy tool, but we use ours multiple times a day. We are definitely getting our money out of our air fryer! 

OK, what about lunch?

KG: In fall/winter my go-to is soup. I have really gotten into miso-based soups for lunch.

So I'll pick a filling, whether it's some Costco rotisserie chicken, some leftover brown rice. Maybe I'll have some fresh veggies or maybe I won’t, and I’ll put some frozen veggies in there. Sometimes I even put other frozen stuff in, like frozen Costco chicken dumplings. You may be noticing a theme of Costco here...

Then I heat up some hot water in the water in the kettle, put my stuff in, and mix in some miso paste. And then I'll put it all in the microwave. Before eating, I might add a chili crisp or other kinds of toppings. All in, it takes five to seven minutes. 

This is the antithesis of weekend “batch cooking” which everyone tells us to do. 

KG:  Yeah, no. I'm not going to do that for my lunch. No.

Okay, dream dinner at home… and then the reality of dinner at home.

KG: A dream dinner at home would be a dinner party with a bunch of friends, and we're all having a long leisurely dinner and the kids are playing upstairs and entertaining themselves. (Ha!)  I'm probably serving what used to be my dinner party go-to which is a shakshuka recipe from the New York Times. 

I’ve made it so many times. It's foolproof. It's great for a dinner party because it’s vegetarian, but also hardy. And it's a crowd pleaser among adults – although I haven't ever really gotten kids to eat it.

The reality of dinner at home, with twin four-and-a-half year olds and a nine year old, is we put an array of food on the table and small amounts of food on the kids' plates that they have to eat if they want dessert.

Usually, one of the twins doesn't want to come to the table. Fifty percent of the time, someone complains about the food, even if it's something they like. The twins take turns saying they have to poop in the middle of dinner –  and calling you to help them in the bathroom multiple times. So appetizing! 

We set a timer and they're not allowed to ask for dessert until the timer goes off. But the results are very mixed. Usually, they get up from the table to have sword fights.

And then my husband and I, if we're lucky, will get like 10 minutes of conversation in. But sometimes it's just total chaos. And this is, I would say, the best it's been since the twins were born.

It WILL get better! I promise. But let’s move on. What are your three top grocery store finds?

KG:  I'm suggesting three things that I think can make any sort of mediocre savory food a lot better. 

Number one is Nonna Pia’s balsamic glaze from Costco, which is like a nice tasting balsamic vinegar reduction. You can put it on salads. You can put it on vegetables or meats. If you don't know what to add to something,  you can just put that on top. It's great. 

The second is Maldon sea salt. You can buy it in a small version of the grocery store, but it's expensive. But you can also  buy a large tub of it online. It lasts forever. And if you buy the big tub, it's really not that expensive. If you're buying it at Whole Foods, you're going to really overpay.

The next and final thing is chili crisp. But the kind you at the Asian grocery store that costs four dollars –  not artisanal chili crisps that cost like $19.

The one I buy is Lao Gan Ma. I put that in my soups all the time. It’s also great for stir fries or anytime you need a little spice.

So helpful. I have the big tub of Maldon. LOVE! Do you have a cookbook to recommend?

KG: So never in my life would I imagine that I would recommend a cookbook that is authorized by an appliance maker. But here we are.

It’s called Indian Instant Pot: Traditional Indian Dishes Made Easy and Fast by Urvashi Pitre. It is authorized by Instant Pot.

My husband bought it. I never would have bought this because, also, I studied abroad in India and my standards for Indian food are probably higher than your average Instant Pot consumer. (Although, who knows?) But there are so many good things in there.  We're always just blown-away excited by the food from this cookbook. If you get it, start with the chana masala.

That fits this emerging theory I have that brand-approved recipes are, counterintuitively, kind of great. Because they HAVE to work – unlike a recipe from TikTok. OK, your very last question: What is the last great piece of food advice someone gave you?

KG: I think the best food advice I've ever received is related to children. It was from my oldest son's first pediatrician in Brooklyn when I was, you know, an anxious first-time mom. She said: Don't think about what they eat in a day. Think about what they eat over the course of a month.

And that has been like a wonderful north star now that I'm way deep into parenting with three kids. I am very not uptight about what they eat. I really don't worry about it very much. 

Also: my oldest son was really picky and he's really come around at age eight or nine. And that's very validating. And also probably has nothing to do with me.