Welcome to the Summer 2025 Quarter for Cookbook of the Month.
This is the thread for the first selection for this COTM – Recipes from JULIA TURSHEN.
(The other thread for this quarter is Meera Sodha.)
As the thread covers all recipes from the author, which is a prolific collection, we will also use this thread going forward as a “Cooking From” thread.
To report on a recipe, please list the TITLE in ALL CAPS.
Please REPLY to a previous report on a recipe if someone tried it before you — that way all posts for a given recipe are linked together and can be followed easily via the helpful linking arrows the site software enables.
Do add a LINK to the recipe if there is one available.
Feel free to list ingredients and summarize method in your own words, but please do not copy the text of a recipe here verbatim to respect copyright.
PICTURES are encouraged, and make the recipe reports come to life!
Eat Your Books indices for each book are linked above. (To search for a recipe online if you don’t have access to the book, use for the exact recipe name (“in quotes”) and you may very well find that the recipe exists on the internet via a publication or a blogger reporting on it.)
Here is the COTM archive and here is the Master List of Cooking From threads.
Just a note for those belonging to public libraries that offer Hoopla, the on-demand digital media app — Hoopla offers Small Victories, Now and Again, Feed the Resistance, and Simply Julia as on-demand ebooks with no wait and unlimited borrowers.
SOY BRAISED TOFU WITH SCALLIONS, What Goes with What, p. 152
I made this about a month ago when LLD was away and I could have all the tofu/vegetarian meals I wanted. I loved this and it is dead easy. Neutral oil goes in your pan, then seasoned scallions, letting them brown in spots. Next add garlic and ginger until fragrant, then soy sauce, water, and honey. Bring to a boil, then let simmer for about 5 minutes. Served over rice. This gave me two big helpings.
I should point out that Lulu and I picked up our favorite New Year’s Eve tradition from a page at the back of Small Victories (LLD usually visits his family over new year’s). She suggests taking plain potato chips, adding a little creme fraiche topping with some salmon roe. It’s a fun little treat.
I immediately thought of Turkish Mucver when I saw this recipe.
I added a bit of feta & parmesan, and doubled the garlic dip using yogurt (because I want to eat all her dips with a spoon in the end).
The nigella adds an interesting flavor twist – I stock it but don’t use it often, so it was nice to have a reason. They’d still be good without, but maybe the mix would need one more flavor booster (cumin?).
I used just enough olive oil enough to brown them on both sides.
Quick and delicious – and don’t skip the garlic and herb sauce, it finishes the dish.
I love this recipe and have made it many times with various meats. It tastes closest to the real thing when made with lamb or beef, but it’s pretty good with ground turkey as well, just needs a bit more of everything. (The type of harissa used determines how much is needed – it takes a lot more more wet jarred harissa than the tube stuff, which is more potent, or supplement with more dried spices and garlic.)
I added some grated zucchini just because, which made them more tender. Formed some into seekh kabab to be eaten in a hot dog roll, the rest into patties (in the past I have done cocktail meatballs, little sausages, etc. – whatever suits the purpose).
The herby yogurt is a fantastic dip on its own, so I usually make a lot of it. My usual herb additions are mint and scallions, sometimes parsley or cilantro too. Don’t skimp on the garlic, and finish with lemon juice or vinegar to taste. Even better the next day.
I ate the seekhs as a hot dog, with extra harissa on the buns.
OLIVE OIL-FRIED EGGS WITH OLIVE & LEMON – from Small Victories
As pictured, this recipe is so simple it’s pretty much done as soon as you assemble the ingredients. And it is so delicious I ate it several days in a row before taking a breather only to start up again, really.
Fry an egg or two in olive oil with salt and pepper (J. Turshen steams the egg in a covered pan to cook the white on top—I just flip.) Slide the egg onto a small plate you’ve spread with a couple few tablespoons of plain yogurt, more salt, and a good squirt of lemon juice. I have this for breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, midnight snack. It’s 5 minutes, minimal clean up, and healthful. Practically a trick recipe.
ROASTED CAULIFLOWER & RED CABBAGE TACOS –from “Simply Julia”
We absolutely did NOT miss the meat in these! Cumin, coriander, and salt season the cauliflower and cabbage, which is tossed well with olive oil and roasted. There is no way to call it pretty, the cabbage does its purple fade-to-gray trick as it cooks, but wow it’s tasty, hearty, and filling and just right with corn tortillas.
There is an avocado/lime/etc sauce to go with these, but my avocados were still rock hard so maybe next time.
This was another recipe that was so easy and so delicious that it went into my regular rotation after I first tried it. Quite often, I would marinade and freeze the chicken for quick eats later.
Been a while since I made it, so it was a happy rediscovery last week.
Recipe is very simple – garlic, mustard, lemon juice & zest, honey, olive oil, s&p, minced herbs of choice (I use whatever’s at hand, and sometimes just crumble in dried herbs if I don’t have fresh, or add a bit of chimichurri or zhoug if I have some around).
I like it best with legs or thighs (this time), and most often pan-roast or bake the chicken, though it’s lovely on the grill too.
Forgot to take a pic, but accompanied by buttermilk-scallion mashed potato and a fennel-orange salad.
CONFETTI MEATLOAF – from Now & Again
A speckledy and tasty loaf, with tri-colored bell peppers, roasted tomatoes, red onion, basil. I used cottage cheese instead of ricotta, so polka dots as well as confetti. Julia T. used dark turkey, mine is ground beef. Garlic, oregano, pepper, Worcestershire sauce-- I’d easily savor this again, even double the recipe. Mashed potatoes alongside.
AVOCADO AND KIMCHI TOASTS (Small Victories, p. 26)
I made this a couple months ago and loved it. Was thinking it will be a great meal on Monday right before leaving on vacation the next day. Put slices of ripe avocado on toast, add chopped kimchi, and drizzle over that a sauce made of mayo and a little kimchi juice. Add sesame seeds. I topped mine with a fried egg. I didn’t have any cilantro, so left it off, but I’m sure it would be delicious here.
SPICY CHICKEN WITH LIME AND CASHEWS, What Goes with What ebook
JT says this is one of her favorites, and you can understand why. It’s quick, easy, and delicious. Bite sized pieces of chicken are seasoned and sautéed in neutral oil. Make a sauce of lime zest, chile paste (I used sriracha), fish sauce, soy sauce and honey and add to the chicken once it starts to brown. Stir in cashews, add juice from the lime you’v zested, and you’re done! None of the Trader Joe’s lime chile cashews here so I used regular, and not quite enough fish sauce, and it was still absolutely delicious. Served with a cucumber salad. Very happy with this.
For whatever reason, I read through this book like a novel (I don’t usually do that), and I remember really being excited to try so many things. This was definitely one of them, and it lived up to my expectations.
