One Meal Fits All

A few months ago, during the holidays, when my whole family was under the same roof at the same time — a somewhat miraculous feat these days — I told the girls to save the next night for dinner at home. It was December in New York, so we were all being pulled in different directions, and I wanted to make sure we carved out some time to sit down together, eat good homemade food, and be, you know, intentionalabout it. That morning, I pulled up the mega-popular Oven-Roasted Shawarma recipe on my NYT Cooking app, threw some chicken thighs into the two-minute marinade, and went about my day.

Then the texts started coming in. “Mom, is it ok if Frankie comes for dinner too?” Yes of course, I texted back. Remembering that Frankie was gluten-free and dairy-free, I did some shawarma calculations. Yup, she can have the chicken, but not the pita or the yogurt-based tzatziki-inspired salad I was planning to make alongside. I’ll just do rice instead. And maybe I’ll separate the cucumbers out from the yogurt sauce? Yes. Easy. A few hours later, another text arrived while I was running in the park. “Mommmmmmm! Sydney is coming, too.” OK! On the way home I picked up another few chicken thighs, and wedged them into the marinade. But I also had this thought: There are chickpeas at home, and I could very easily chuck those on the baking sheet with the chicken and just go vegetarian myself. I quick-pickled an onion, then didn’t really think about cooking again until close to dinner time.

The meal was a success — owing mostly to the sparkling presence of our guests — but also because it’s impossible for me not to see recipes through my Dinner-A-Love-Story goggles, and as I piled my plate high with goodies, I realized I was in the presence of a spread that checked every box on the Ideal DALS Dinner Party Menu:

Easy to execute, i.e. does not eat up my entire day
Flexible for all diets including vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free
Mostly make-ahead
Visually beautiful, look at those colors!
Comforting, not fussy
Unbelievably high ROI in the flavor department, i.e. stunningly DELICIOUS

Since that night, I have served some version of this dinner to friends at least a half dozen times, rounding out the chicken with my now solidified rotation of salads and toppings based on who is coming over, what they eat and what they don’t eat. All the recipes are included in a downloadable PDF over on Substack, which reminds me of those mix-and-match “Seven Pieces, Endless Outfits” fashion features that use to run in magazines. You can pretty much find a combination that suits anyone for any occasion.