How to break the rules in the kitchen and still make amazing meals

By Karla Walsh, CNN

(CNN) — Julia Turshen wants you to break the rules.

Once she was ruled by weighing or measuring everything to the gram or teaspoon — due to her own self-described challenges with disordered eating and the requirement to be precise in the recipes she has developed for the cookbooks she’s penned or coauthored.

Over time, Turshen has learned to loosen up in the kitchen. And now she wants us to do the same. How? Through a series of charts.

“Keep Calm & Cook On” is the mantra (and podcast/newsletter name) from the Hudson Valley, New York-based author and food equity advocate, who introduced the concept of recipe charts on Instagram and in her Substack in 2023.

“One-pot rice + stuff” was the title of the first chart she shared on Instagram. Take some cooked rice, she coached, then choose a meat, a vegetable, spices, a liquid and toppings. This template style of culinary instruction garnered such a positive response, she followed up with soup, salad and cornbread charts — and quickly realized she had the makings of a book.

“The charts have given me a way to show how I think about cooking rather than tell you how I think about it,” Turshen said. “This isn’t just a collection of recipes but also a blueprint for how the recipes work. Understanding that is empowering and unlocks so much space to explore.”

Turshen’s October 2024 cookbook, “What Goes With What,” includes 20 charts, 100 recipes and “endless possibilities,” with sections that focus on stews (Mushroom Cacciatore), quick pastas (Caesar Spaghetti), fruity cobblers and crisps (Pear, Cherry and Almond Crisp) and more. The book wraps up in fitting fashion with menu suggestions ranging from brunch to a holiday meal formatted in — you guessed it — a chart. Just in time.

You might think charts mean rules and regulations. But with her charts, Turshen said she hopes to create a formula for readers to shift from thinking there is only one way to cook something “right” to a more relaxed, riffable theme. Including measurements such as “a handful,” sprinkling in copious substitutions and suggesting yields such as “serves 6 to 8,” Turshen aims to instill a less rigid mindset when it comes to cooking and eating. “You’re making dinner, not perfecting a code,” she said.

Each recipe comes paired with a photo — all of which Turshen snapped herself after making the dish in her home kitchen. No food stylists, no fussing.

Some people who learn visually have told Turshen that they have never had cooking “click” for them until now. People with autism and other types of neurodivergence have also reached out and mentioned they finally understand cooking in this way, she added.

If you’re stressed out about hosting a complete meal this holiday season or are intimidated by contributing to a potluck, Turshen said you can do either or both. “If you don’t already trust yourself in your kitchen, I think you will soon,” Turshen wrote in the introduction to her new book. “Please know that I already do.”

Giving Turshen’s technique (and a recipe) a try

With Friendsgiving on the horizon, I was lured in by a mash-up dish that feels as warm and welcoming as Turshen’s approach: Twice-Baked Cacio e Pepe Potatoes, a concept featured in the stuffed vegetables chapter.

Take a vegetable with a cavity (scooped baked potatoes), fill it with something starchy (that fluffy potato), add a fatty element (butter, sour cream and pecorino cheese), and a flavor punch (“tons of black pepper”), and you have a stellar stuffed vegetable. It tastes like the classic Italian pasta dish, just infused into potatoes instead of noodles.

When I asked Turshen for advice on how to recreate this recipe, she suggested baking the potatoes a few days in advance. Or she said I could prepare the recipe all the way through the day before; then cool and refrigerate the potatoes overnight before reheating them in an oven set to 300 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes. To trim off nearly an hour of prep time, air fry or microwave the potatoes instead of baking them if you’d like, she advised.

After that, just three steps using three ingredients (not counting salt and pepper), and a little patience, stand between us and a cozy batch of cacio e pepe potatoes.

Fortified by her support, I tied on my apron, preheated my oven and set out to make a big batch of stuffed potatoes to share at my upcoming feast. I stuck to the recipe, save for the sour cream. I forgot that on my shopping list, so I swapped in plain Greek yogurt instead. As the potatoes cooked the second time to reach full golden-brown, twice-baked status, I saw this improv was exactly the point.

“I’ll be thrilled, of course, if you cook directly from the recipes,” Turshen wrote. “But I’ll be even more excited if you riff off them and create your own favorite dishes.”

The finished product still came out crunchy on the outside, fluffy and creamy on the inside and pleasantly peppery. The dish had my fellow Friendsgiving attendees playfully fighting over the last portion.

Even if my cacio e pepe creation didn’t turn out “perfectly,” Turshen tells me what really matters is taking time to gather around the table.

“My parents both worked full time since I was born, so it was very rare that my parents, brother and I were able to sit down and have meals together. It felt very special when it did happen,” Turshen said.

“As I’ve gotten older, it’s the best way I know to spend time with people. My marriage, my family and my relationships are the most important things to me, and food is the social glue holding us all together.”

Twice-Baked Cacio e Pepe Potatoes

Makes 8 potato halves

Prep time: About 15 minutes

Total cooking time: About 1 hour, 20 minutes

Ingredients

● 4 large baking potatoes

● 4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, melted

● ½ cup sour cream

● ¾ cup finely grated pecorino cheese, divided

● 1 teaspoon kosher salt

● 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Pierce each potato in a few places with a fork or a paring knife (to help the steam escape as they cook). Place the potatoes directly on the middle oven rack and bake until they are easily pierced with a paring knife or thin skewer, about 1 hour.

3. Transfer the potatoes to a cutting board (leave the oven on). Carefully cut each potato lengthwise in half. Once they are cool enough to handle, scoop out nearly all the flesh from each potato half, leaving enough in each one to create a sturdy shell (like a canoe), and transfer the flesh to a large bowl.

4. Add the butter, sour cream, ½ cup cheese, salt and pepper to the warm potato flesh and use a fork or potato masher to crush everything together well. Then stir the mixture a few times with a large spoon to make sure all the ingredients are thoroughly combined. Divide the mixture evenly among the potato shells. It’s OK if they seem overstuffed; that makes them fun.

5. Line a sheet pan with foil or parchment, place the potatoes on it and sprinkle the tops with the remaining ¼ cup cheese. Return the potatoes to the oven and bake until the tops are golden brown and crisp, about 20 minutes. Serve hot.

Recipe adapted from “What Goes With What: 100 Recipes, 20 Charts, Endless Possibilities” by Julia Turshen. Copyright © 2024 by Julia Turshen. Published by Flatiron Books.

Karla Walsh is a Des Moines, Iowa-based freelance lifestyle writer with more than 15 years of editorial experience.

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