Heart Eyes, Vol. 149: Listen to Sassy and Narjissiya with Asparagus, Halloumi, and Sumac
It’s a sunny day here at Heart Eyes: I got my second dose of the Pfizer vaccine this week! I’m celebrating by meeting my mom for lunch and a trip to Costco—truly, the precious things we’ve all been missing during this time. (I will be buying toilet paper, whether I technically I have storage space for it or not, proof that I’ve learned something during the pandemic.) I’m outrageously grateful for the scientists who created and tested these vaccines, and for the infrastructure that got this particular one into my arm; this time has been long and extremely hard, and it’s not over, but this helps a lot. So maybe this is my real Heart Eyes recommendation this week: get vaccinated if you can, with whichever one you can. It’s good for you (you, too, can go to Costco with your mom!) and it’s good for all of us.
Whatever you’re doing on this fine spring weekend, I hope it’s just right. I think you’re doing great.
What To Listen To: Listen to Sassy
So, here’s a question for a very specific generation: were you a Sassy reader? For those not a) born between, say, 1970 and 1977 and b) a certain type of cool, Sassy was the edgier, more feminist late-’80s cousin of teen magazines like Seventeen. It was hugely influential among a particular late-Gen-X population, and I’m really enjoying a new podcast about it: Listen to Sassy, with Tara Ariano, Pam Ribon, and Dave Cole, all formerly of Television Without Pity fame*.
I personally am just a hair outside the target demo for this podcast; I was seven in April of 1988, when the first issue premiered, and I have exactly one memory of reading Sassy myself that I’m pretty sure came well after the glory days. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have known what to do with its alt-teen-mag vibe, had I recognized it as such, which I definitely did not.
That said, the podcast is a thoughtful, funny, endearing listen; even if the details don’t quite translate, the general experience of being a young nerd in the '80s and '90s still resonates. They’re going through the chronological run of the magazine, discussing the features and advice columns, the pop culture, and the fashion (with “slumber parties” for quizzes and the like), and listening to smart old friends talking about their young-nerd-ness is a lot of fun even if you weren’t there for the magazine in print. Maybe you’d like it?
(*It occurs to me now that Pam is basically directly responsible for MUCH of my adult life and many of my choices, having written the perfect TWoP Gilmore Girls recaps in the mid-2000s that led me to, I don’t know, the Internet? Including many of you! Also, this newsletter. So…thanks, Pamie.)
What To Cook: Narjissiya with Asparagus, Halloumi, and Sumac
Every once in a while, the Times Cooking section really makes me feel seen, as was the case this week when they published Reem Kassis’s recipe for Narjissiya with Asparagus, Halloumi, and Sumac, or as I like to call it, “everything I love in the world.” I think you’ll like it too.
First of all, this recipe is very quick and very easy, a one-pan meal that gets a whole riot of flavors and textures out of a minimum of ingredients: it’s fresh and green, it’s creamy, it’s crispy, it’s tart, it’s salty. It helped me singlehandedly eat a giant bunch of asparagus this week. And as it says in the Times recipe header, it’s a flexible template—I can think of a million directions to take this general idea for endless quick, generally healthy dinners.
A few notes on ingredients:
Halloumi is fantastic, and I encourage you to use it if you can, but it’s not inexpensive. I went for it this week and enjoyed it so much, but will almost certainly experiment with cubes of feta or mozzarella and see how that goes. (If you use one of those, you can skip the browning and just add them after the eggs to warm up a little, which has the added benefit of making this dish even faster.)
I was surprised to find sumac in the spice aisle of my grocery store; keep an eye out for it in those little cardboard Spicely boxes, or try a Middle Eastern grocery. If you can’t find it, I think this would also work well with smoked paprika—it’s smoky and savory rather than tart, but would still play nicely with the other flavors. But really, any spice you like will probably be fine.
Kassis also notes that the asparagus-averse could make this with zucchini, green beans, spinach, or pretty much any other green spring vegetable.
Narjissiya with Asparagus, Halloumi, and Sumac
from Reem Kassis at the New York Times
Olive oil
Halloumi cheese, 5 to 6 oz., chopped into cubes or slabs
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/4 tsp. salt
1 TBSP. sumac
2 TBSP. olive oil
Asparagus, 1 bunch, chopped into one-inch segments
1/2 tsp. salt
1–2 cloves garlic, minced
4 eggs
Pita chips (storebought or homemade)
In a cast-iron or nonstick skillet, heat 2 TBSP olive oil over medium and add halloumi in a single layer. Leave it there until it begins to brown; flip and brown the other side. Remove from pan and set aside on a plate.
Meanwhile, mix the yogurt and salt in a small bowl or jar with 1–2 TBSP, until it’s thick but pourable. In another small bowl or jar, mix the sumac and olive oil.
When the halloumi is finished browning, add a little more oil to the pan, then the asparagus and salt, tossing occasionally, just until bright green—about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 more minute. Crack the eggs over the asparagus, put the halloumi back into the pan, and let it all cook until the eggs are as done as you like them, about 3 to 5 minutes.
To serve, divide pan mixture into bowls and top with yogurt sauce, sumac oil, and pita chips.
Blockbuster Review: Australia (2008)
I don’t know that I can exactly recommend Baz Luhrmann’s three-hour love letter to his home continent; it’s a bit of a mishmash, and VERY silly in parts, and butts up against complicated questions about who should rightfully tell stories about Aboriginal people. But I can tell you that it works on me every time, and if Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman being hot and falling in love on horseback is wrong, what are we even doing here?