02x04 - How 'bout Them Apples

[bunniefuu]

[birds chirping]

[Meghan] So today
we're starting at my house.

It's happy hour.

Yeah, the hummingbirds are...

[chirping]

...everywhere.

Hummingbird feeders around this time,

they are just battling who's--
who's at the pub first.

Look. Hear. Its wings.

And then... [clicks tongue repeatedly]

[Meghan giggles]

♪ Somewhere to go, girl ♪

These trees were here before we moved in,
but they're Fuji apples, Anna apples.

We make a lot of applesauce. [chuckles]

A lot of apple butter,
and share a lot of apples.

♪ ...all girl ♪

My grandma used to make apple butter.

So, for me, once we had
this plethora of apples, it was,

"Can we bring back
some of those small rituals?"

And Samin Nosrat's coming tomorrow.
I'm such a fan.

She's an amazing chef, writer, TV host.

I'm gonna make apple butter for her
'cause I think she'll connect to that...

Hey.

...that same feeling of
what is a family tradition?

What is something that you love?

This for me is part of that.

Come on, Mia. Slow and steady, Guy.

Let's go to work.

[music continues]

Apple butter time.

Since we're really talking
about family traditions and recipes,

and things you connect to,
I wanted to share something with Samin.

I think she'll be happy to have this.
I want an offering for her.

Share something with her
that she can take home.

Apple butter is a great seasonal treat.
Samin loves seasonality and simplicity.

It's one of the easiest things to make,
especially when using a slow cooker.

[cha-cha-cha music playing]

Boom.

Oh, sugar.

I'm gonna put
a little pinch of salt in for balance.

A little bit of nutmeg, tiny bit.

This is clove.
I'm gonna put the teeniest bit in,

and let's have some fun with the cinnamon.

- [Michael] Everyone loves cinnamon.
- [Megan whispering] My husband doesn't.

[giggling]

[laughing]

Um, and then the tiniest splash
of apple cider vinegar.

You don't need to, I just think
something acidic will help to balance.

Teeny bit.

[music continues]

Just right in your slow cooker.

That is it. It's gonna go in
on a high heat level for about an hour,

and then you're gonna
turn it down to slow.

For eight to ten hours.
You can cook it overnight.

Gonna let Guy out.

He's on the go. He's gone rogue.

Come on, buddy, let's go outside.

[music ends]

[jazz music playing]

So it's just cooked so slowly overnight.

Oh, it smells great.

I put jars in the oven just to give them
an extra blast of sanitation.

It's just going to make sure that
as we can these, everything's sterile.

Funnel helps quite a bit,

so you don't have
a lot of drips and messes.

The texture becomes something
that is so delicious and feels decadent.

As soon as you have it in there
when you're canning,

get that lid right on.

We're gonna put a few of these
for Samin to take home.

Then we can use the apple butter
for a little welcome snack.

Tartines are one of my favorite treats,

and they're also a fantastic way
to showcase seasonal fresh flavors.

I'm so excited to meet Samin.

I've heard the best things about her
from mutual friends.

She's an incredible chef.

She wrote the groundbreaking cookbook,
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat,

and I loved her episode
of Waffles and Mochi.

I watch that with my kids.

- [Michael] Right on cue.
- Couldn't have planned it better myself.

All right, what did I say I wanted to do?

I was going to do this first.

It's nice 'cause it will melt into it.

Ricotta cheese or mascarpone cheese.

Samin's all about intuitive cooking,

and so I thought
we'd dive into that idea together,

making use of the ingredients
that we already have.

So, just a little lemon zest
to brighten up that cheese.

Some of this.

And since Samin's
such an accomplished author,

I'm just excited
to show her some bookbinding,

which I used to teach back in the day.

A couple thin slices of apple on there.

So that's just a little bit
of like a lemon thyme stick on there.

Olive oil. Good olive oil.

And then some toasted almonds
and a nice sprinkle of salt.

Okay. We are ready for Samin.

[pleasant music playing]

[Samin & Meghan] Hi!

Oh my gosh. I have heard
the greatest things about you.

Same!

- Thank you for being here!
- Thank you for having me.

- It's awesome.
- Also, your dress is so beautiful.

I love you're not wearing shoes. [laughs]

- Barefoot. I have pockets so I was like...
- It's awesome. Gotta be comfortable.

Yes! I'm so thrilled.

- So I was making...
- Gosh, what did you make?

[Meghan] Grandma's apple butter recipe,
but I was like, how do we...?

- Bring it into the new time?
- Yes, how do we bring it here?

And so I just did
some ricotta and apple butter.

- Totally. We'll see.
- I haven't even tried this.

I also love layering two different forms
of the same ingredient,

like the fresh apple and the apple butter.

- Need a napkin. I'm happy with that bite.
- Mm!

- Me too.
- Mm.

Did you say
this was your grandmother's recipe?

- My grandmother's apple butter recipe.
- That's amazing. [giggles]

So when I was thinking about
family recipes and things we passed down,

I decided to make you lavashak.

No way! [laughs]

- And you even rolled it up?
- I rolled it up. It's on parchment.

- Pomegranate and apples.
- Amazing!

- Thank you!
- You're welcome.

I've never made lavashak.

- Really?
- Yeah, no.

- I'll teach you. It's pretty easy.
- [laughs] Awesome!

[laughter]

[upbeat jazz music playing]

Lavashak,
it's basically like fruit leather,

but traditionally very sour
rather than sweet.

And so, because this is
a traditional Persian snack,

I thought it'd be nice
to honor her culture with that.

When you think about cooking
as a love language

and showing up as a host
and in hospitality,

you always want to think
about people's preferences.

You always want
to think about what they love.

We're gonna do one with apples.
I have some great apples.

Pomegranate. We're gonna cook it all down
with a little bit of lemon juice,

bring it to a nice heat, give it a swirl,
pour it all out, and then bake it.

And there'll be
these gorgeous strips after that.

[whispers] Kind of like a Fruit Roll-Up.

Let's get these open.
This is just pomegranate juice.

I mean the color and the smell on that.

- Yum.
- [jazzy music playing]

So we still have
a lot of apples to spare from our harvest.

We're gonna need
about two cups in total of apples.

We'll have a tartness to them,
which is also an important feature.

That's why the pomegranate
is gonna be a part of it.

And we're also going
to put in some of the seeds.

A little bit of lemon.

Salt. That's it.

Mix together.
We're gonna put that in the stove.

[Michael] You're so familiar
with this next step.

[Meghan] How to slowly cook fruit.

We're going to let that come to a boil.
I'll cook it down for like a half hour.

So we'll turn that off.

It has reduced down
into this mushy, gooey goodness,

and cooled a little bit too.

This is a really good texture,
but we still want to make it more silken.

What do we do? We're going to use a sieve.

Okay, now we go
from delicious chunky goodness

to delicious smooth goodness.

[laughing] Is this working?

- [Michael] I think it's a slow process.
- [laughs]

[Meghan] I've never made this before.

[jazzy music playing]

[exhales]

- [Michael] Droplet one has landed.
- Woo!

I've been sieving forever. Come on.

Oh, for the love of lavashak.

Phew!

Oh yeah, look at that.

So now get
this beautiful color and spread.

So one even layer is what we're going for.

And I'm going to try to spread it
in one full sheet,

because if you think about the strips
that you would eat as a child,

you would have
one long piece of fruit leather.

A little bit of a border on the edge
is going to be key as well.

This is one we're gonna do low and slow.

Let's put it in the oven
for about an hour, hour and a half.

It's gonna shrink right down.
All that flavor is going to concentrate.

The texture will change,
and your oven will be around 250.

- ♪ Take it easy, baby ♪
♪ Don’t go too fast ♪

And let's see.

Oh, let's see how we're doing.

So shiny.

We're going to slice it up.

♪ Like Sunday morning ♪

♪ It'll come with ease ♪

[Meghan] Smooth sailing.

Yum!

Here g*ng, everybody.

It's good though, right?

[Travis] Oh, pucker...

- Oh, I'm crossing my fingers.
- Yeah. Oh... it's delicious.

Delicious.
And it has a really good texture.

- [Meghan] I'm so happy.
- Pomegranate's a nice touch.

The apple sometimes can run sweet.

- The flavor...
- Pomegranate's so Iranian, so great job.

- Yes, exactly! Exactly.
- [Samin laughs]

My mom's side of the family,

my grandparents had a huge fruit orchard
in the north of Iran.

And my grandma was often the one
who'd come back and forth in my childhood.

And so she would make
the most sour lavashak

and bring, like... It would come
on the big, huge pieces of wax paper.

We'd wait for her to open up the suitcase
that smelled like mothballs.

And you're like,
"What treasures did you bring?"

She'd bring this lavashak, we'd eat it,
and our cheeks would pucker so hard.

No one's ever made this for me,
other than my grandmother.

The store-bought ones
never taste the same.

- And there's no mothballs here.
- Yeah, true. [laughs]

This is the perfect.. I can't stop eating.

- Wow. Delicious. Thank you.
- I'm glad. I'm glad.

- So, I roasted a chicken the other day.
- Amazing.

We have passion fruit,
a favorite of yours.

I saw. I almost hopped out of the car
to pick passion fruit.

- [laughs]
- Yes, we're gonna pick one.

But first, let's pop down
to the, um, my crafting barn.

- I cannot wait. I love a craft.
- It's really fun.

- This way. I'm so happy you like that.
- Nobody steal mine.

- You guys eat that one. This one's mine.
- [Meghan] That makes me so happy.

All right.

[gentle music playing]

Oh my God, this is my dream room.

[Meghan] Since you like crafting,
I thought it'd be fun to do bookbinding.

- That's so awesome.
- First things first.

Are you enjoying your tea, or shall I
offer you something more bubbly?

- Oh sure, let's have something bubbly.
- Okay, great.

- [Samin] Thank you.
- We are going to have a grand old time.

- Yes! I love a craft.
- Gosh!

- You're a perfect person to do this with.
- I'm so excited.

I used to teach this. I taught it
in a different way, but honestly, I think...

- To whom did you teach this?
- I used to work at Paper Source.

- Oh yes, of course!
- Classes on gift wrapping, calligraphy.

- I love Paper Source.
- Yeah, it was great. And bookbinding.

You can use your finished book
as a journal, recipe book, whatever.

I can't wait for you to show me.

And then we can bind with either
beautiful cloth paper or something more...

This is a dream. These are so beautiful.

- Isn't that beautiful?
- Really. I think I...

Oh wait, what's this one?
This is my color right now.

- Love it! Happy.
- Citron yellow.

- Yeah, it makes me happy.
- Okay, cool.

- I'll probably do something very neutral.
- [laughs]

If you're a neutral person,
be a neutral person.

Yes, existentially I am a neutral person.

[laughs]

Oh gosh, back to teaching.

- Shall I walk you through the process?
- Show me all the steps.

We're going to take some glue.

First, this side
is going to get glued to here.

- These are when this becomes--
- Oh, they'll become your end papers.

- Yes. Right?
- Yeah.

[jazzy music playing]

Get as close to the edge,
but you don't want it to go over.

And then you can still brush it through.

I love all this nerdy book stuff
because I get to make books.

Right now, I'm, like, in the process
of making the book I'm working on.

I love the parts,
and I'm always learning about the spine.

- [Meghan] Yes!
- The little Collection of papers, like...

Yes, and it's going to be
in someone's hands,

and what's the story that it's telling?

- How many...
- How does it feel? Yeah.

And how does it feel
when you flip the pages?

I used to have a sweatshirt that said,
"Talk nerdy to me."

[laughs]

Okay, so then we go to the other side
and do the same thing.

[jazzy music continues]

Are you still a stationary nerd?

- I love stationary.
- Me too.

I love the lost art of how we used to
connect and communicate with each other.

- I totally understand. I totally--
- Whenever I can, I want to bring it back.

Teach that to my kids.

Would you want to have a ribbon
in the spine of your book?

- So you can have that strip?
- Oh, yes!

Right. I'm going to do this.

I'm going to put this somewhere there
and put this on top

because it's going
to be anchored on both sides.

- [Samin] Okay.
- [Meghan] Got it?

- [Samin] There should be plenty.
- [Meghan] Great!

Oh, thanks.

[Meghan] So what's one
of your favorite dishes to make?

Oh, I really love salad, frankly.

In Iran, there's a Shirazi salad.
You eat it every meal.

- Oh!
- It's tomato, cucumber, onion...

- Yeah.
- Which I love so much.

That was sort of my entire experience
of salad until I started cooking.

- That okay?
- [Meghan] You'll glue those down.

I want to glue those down too.
At Chez Panisse, I learned so much.

I fell in love with salad
in a way I just never understood.

Kind of like the toast you made.
It's balancing texture and flavor.

I cook a lot because my kids are young,

but I want them to explore flavors
in a different way.

But at the same time,

I think the trickiest piece is trying
to appease lots of different palates.

- Yes.
- Which I'm sure you find.

So I have a weekly dinner
that I make with my friends.

- It's called Monday Dinner.
- Is it like a potluck?

- Sort of.
- You cook for everyone?

No. We all share in the responsibility.

I have lived by myself for a long time,
but I love cooking.

[Meghan] Mm-hmm.

Often the things I want to make
are things I want to share.

And sometimes it doesn't make sense for me

to cook a whole side
of king salmon for myself.

- Fair.
- Or a first Dungeness crab that comes in.

At this point, it's been four years,

and so we all are pretty good
about knowing who likes what

and how to cook for each other.

So much fun that you've maintained
the tradition of it.

Always the same people every week?

It's a group of friends I've known
for probably 15 years,

but we were not the closest of friends.

And then we started these dinners,
and now they're my family.

- Like, uh, it's just become this--
- This core group.

We've grown close--
I think proximity and time has, like,

created a depth of the relationship
that I don't know I could've imagined.

I think a lot of people are craving
something like that in their lives.

For sure.

[Samin] And I think once upon a time,

religion was a really reliable source

for that kind of ritual
and connection and community,

but not everyone is religious these days.

And so this has become--
We call it our religion.

[Meghan] That's amazing.

I love that you've nurtured
a community through food.

I wonder for you, though,

do they get nervous
having to cook for you?

Everyone asks them that and, um...

They must get nervous. I can't just
bring up this Stouffer's macaroni.

I think they know I would happily eat
a Stouffer's frozen macaroni. [laughs]

- I have one in my freezer.
- [laughs]

So I think the meal to me
is way more about what's happening...

With each other and the connection.

You know, who's around the table
rather than what's on the table.

[jazz music playing]

- [Meghan] What we're gonna glue down are...
- [Samin] The outside pages. Great.

- Oh, it's so lovely.
- Classy little thing.

- Yeah.
- [Meghan] Smooth it out and secure it.

[Samin] And up. There we go.

Oh my gosh. It's beautiful.

- It's very fun. This is the funnest.
- [Meghan] So good!

- Okay.
- [Samin] Oh my gosh.

- [Meghan] Right?
- I've never made anything so nice. [laugh]

- Do you let it go an inch or two?
- I would have it go a bit longer.

And then to let it rest,
if you put one of these down...

[Samin] Okay.

And then, we're going to weigh it down.

- It's like making a brick chicken.
- [Samin] I was gonna say. Yeah. [giggles]

What's the next stop?

[Meghan] To the garden.
We'll whip something up.

- Shall we?
- [Samin] Yeah.

[playful music]

[Samin] It does feel like a nice treat
to be able to go outside

and sort of create the menu
based on what I have and what we have.

What you see, what you have.

- Do we need anything to harvest?
- [Samin] So beautiful.

Should we make a little salad
with these beautiful lettuces and herbs?

- [Meghan] À la Alice.
- [Samin] Mm-hmm!

I roasted a chicken so we can pull that,
tear it up a little bit.

[Samin] Yeah, I mean,
who wouldn't want to?

- This is such a beautiful garden.
- [Meghan] Isn't it pretty?

One of the things I love about gardening
is discovering what to plant together.

So you have these marigolds we planted
next to lettuces to help keep bugs away.

One of my favorites
is the porcini mushrooms.

[Meghan] Tell me.

Grow with-- There's a wild mint
that grows nearby called Nepitella.

And all across, like, Tuscany,

you have your porcini pasta
with Nepitella mint.

- Because they grew near each other.
- Oh my gosh.

- Yeah.
- Of course.

- So it's convenient and also delicious.
- Totally.

- Should we get these herbs?
- [Meghan] Absolutely.

[Samin] So much of it really is based
on what grows well together in the forest,

what grows well together in the garden,
at what time of year.

And that's where these traditional dishes
will often come from,

which is wonderful to sort of
connect those dots and realize, like...

- They're next to each other for a reason.
- For a reason. Totally.

Also, my husband said to me,
"If you step on a nettle,

which can really sting,
there's a leaf right next to it

you can wipe on it that will heal it.

- I love it.
- Because, of course.

Like, nature said, "Oh, there's danger,
but there's protection, there's healing."

They're close to each other
if you're looking.

- Oh.
- Oh! Oh my God, here we are.

[Meghan] We just find ourselves
under a beautiful canopy of passion fruit.

It's perfect.

You know, passion fruit to me
is like nature's sour gummy.

My kids are just trying
to crack them open with their hands.

They slurp it out and yell, "Oh!"

A ripe piece of fruit over the sink,
slurping it out is my favorite thing.

- Oh, a ripe one!
- Did you find one?

- Yeah. [giggles]
- Oh, amazing.

[Samin] There it is.
Look under because they all fall.

[Meghan] Great for a vinaigrette.

I think you can make a nice vinaigrette
with just one or two.

- [Meghan gasps]
- Oh my God, they're so delicious.

[Meghan in singsong] ♪ There she is ♪

- Okay, let's go get that roast chicken.
- [Samin] Okay, great.

[swing jazz music playing]

[Meghan] This is a by-heart recipe.

It's a classic, and it's nourishing,
and I have done it so many times

that now I can do it with my eyes closed.

I roasted a chicken
the night my husband proposed to me.

Roast chicken
is what we served at our wedding.

I make it at least once a week.

That's a pretty bird.

[upbeat music plays]

Let's cut some veggies.

My mom loves the flavor of roasted celery,
so I keep that in there for her.

Carrots.

And I will say when I made
a roast chicken for my now-husband,

I was still having a lot of challenges

with the conversion
of Celsius and Fahrenheit.

I made a horrible chicken that night.

I mean, truly terrible.

So the point is,
you can make a terrible chicken,

and someone'll still
appreciate the thought,

but I'm going to show you how to make
a not-so-terrible chicken.

A couple of these onions.

You can use shallots, use a brown onion,
red onion, it doesn't matter.

I'll put lots of olive oil on this.

Salt and pepper. Give it a little toss.

Our chicken
is going to sit on top of this.

Here's our lady.

What are we gonna do to make her
flavorful, delightful, delicious?

Great olive oil. It's such a good fat.

You want to put fat on this
once it hits the heat,

especially with some lemon
and the acid from that.

It's how you're going to get
that really crisp, golden skin.

Generously salting the bird is key.

Inside our lovely lady,
stick half of a lemon in.

Put some garlic in there.

I'm going to put
a little bit of rosemary inside.

I'm also gonna rub some butter on it
before it goes in the oven.

What a glamorous and ladylike shot.

[Michael] Well, you know what? It's...

It's what has to be done.

Really lifting the skin from the bird,
that's how you'll get it extra crispy.

If it's just stuck to the bird,
all the moisture will be against the skin.

If it has a little bit of a lift,
then this is gonna crisp up a lot easier.

Put some butter in there.

Butter on top.

Alright, time to flip our lovely bird over
and do it all again.

♪ If you want to be my lover... ♪

You always want the breast side up

because white meat
will cook a little bit faster.

♪ I will take you up to heaven ♪

The reason that people
tie the legs together

is to help the bird cook evenly.

It also just presents
in a more elegant way.

If you have an aversion
to touching raw meat,

this is not the dish you should make.
You should just...

I don't know, order takeout.

I am just going to wash my hands.

Like a lot of salt.

You put this chicken in
at 425 for an hour.

You do not open that oven door.

Don't open it, don't touch it,
and you will have a perfect chicken.

When I put the bird in the oven,

I always put the legs in first
towards the back of the oven.

The back of the oven has more heat.

Middle rack is good.

♪ My girl ♪

♪ If you want to ♪

Goodbye, darling. Thank you for playing.

- [music fades]
- [oven bell dings]

We can smell it now. Guy's cue.

It has been an hour.

That's that amazing smell of a chicken.

[jazz music playing]

That's that golden, crispy,
delicious color we're looking for.

It's a tasty
and just easy weeknight dinner.

And even better, it's great for leftovers.

[music ends]

While you weren't looking,
I went through everything. [laughs]

What did you find?

I just wanted to know what was in here

so we could start imagining
what we're going to put in the salad.

- A lot of stuff.
- Everything.

- Yes.
- It's like a magical pantry.

- It is.
- Yeah.

- We could roast squash.
- Oh, yeah.

- You can raid the pantry and make noodles.
- Well, I saw a little bread.

I thought-- One thought I had was,
we could make like a-

Did you know about the Zuni Cafe
and the classic chicken and bread salad?

- I've never heard of it.
- [gasps] You've never had it?

- Oh my God, it's so good!
- Have you? Have you?

Come to San Francisco.
I'll go to Zuni with you.

We will eat the chicken and bread salad.

It's wood oven roast chicken...

Okay.

and it gets finished over
like a bed of delicious sourdough croutons

that are tossed with currants
and radicchio and chicories.

You have some in there.

And a little bit of a yummy vinaigrette,
so I thought we could make

sort of like our garden version of that
with chicken and crouton.

Like a panzanella
with a passion fruit vinaigrette.

- Easy. We're going to make something.
- It's going to be awesome.

Okay, how can I help? Yes, yes, yes.

Okay, radicchio, lettuces,
leftover chicken. Cheese?

[Samin] Parmesan is my comfort ingredient.

- Do you use it in almost everything?
- Almost everything. [giggles]

Nuts of any sort?

Oh, maybe a pine nut.

- Persimmon vinegar?
- Ooh, perfect.

- Yum. Roast chicken, the best.
- Is just like, you can't go wrong.

In a way, this chicken being shredded,

and it's like, cold,
which I like, from yesterday,

often it needs like a little perking.
A little extra salt and acid.

Mm-hmm.

[playful music]

I love this.
Exactly the chaos of my house.

- Really?
- Like I just--

It's how people cook...

Actually move.

...actually cook, and like, yeah.

That's the thing,
is to just be real about it.

And this is what we have,
as opposed to trying to go,

"Here's a recipe, I have to go
to the store or order all these things."

Or you feel really sad because you maybe
don't have every single thing.

- [Meghan] Right.
- [Samin] So...

The torn croutons, I think,
take around like 20 to 25 minutes.

- It's gonna be quick.
- You already did the hard part. [laughs]

You roasted a chicken yesterday. [laughs]

[Meghan] But that's not hard.

[upbeat music playing]

What kind of music do you listen to
when you're cooking?

- I've been listening to soul music.
- I love listening to soul.

[Samin] Anything that makes me--

I'm a notoriously dorky dancer,
but I like feeling...

[laughs] ...the music.

- [Meghan] Yeah, you groove with it.
- What do you like to listen to?

[Meghan] I love soul.
I love songs that have great storytelling.

I also really like country music.
'70s soft rock.

Oh, me too. Did you get
to wash lettuces with Alice?

- [Meghan] Mm-hm.
- It's so beautiful. The love and respect.

[Meghan sighs]

[Samin] One of the most...

[Meghan] It made me really happy.

...special jobs in the restaurant
is washing the lettuce.

It's the only way
I'll ever wash lettuce anymore.

Okay, how do you like
to treat the radicchio?

I usually do a little bit like this
to just add a little crunch...

- [Meghan] Crunch in that bite.
- Yeah, like a bite-sized piece of this.

- I like multiple textures in the salad.
- Me too. Yes.

So if I'm having a bread salad,

I don't want it to all be
too crunchy or all be too soggy...

But I want to have some sog
all the way to crunch.

- Go on a journey of flavor and texture.
- Yes. Exactly.

Do people ever say, "Oh man,
this crouton's soggy, but this one's not."

- And you go, "That's by design."
- Nobody's ever said that.

- They're excited for multiple textures.
- Great.

Also, if you don't like soggy,

avoid that one and have
the crispy crunchy ones, yeah.

[Meghan] We have options.

- And we have your Parmesan.
- [Samin] Yeah, I can show you--

- Can I shave that?
- [Samin] Maybe you have your own.

I have this little nubbin situation
I like to do.

I like to make these funny crumbles.
It's not exactly a chunk.

You just sort of, like,
flick off these little bits on a table.

I might just do little pieces like this
because I feel like in nature,

there's very few straight lines.
If I want my stuff to look like nature,

I want to try and tear the bread.

And the irregularity in that.

- Or even cut the lettuce on an angle.
- So linear.

- How do I mimic that natural?
- We don't need a salad. Let's eat cheese.

- Okay. You know, that's my life dream.
- Great, let's just sit and eat cheese.

Now what are we thinking?

[Samin] Passion fruit vinaigrette.

Oh, these just truly,
it's one of the most heavenly smells.

- Like truly the most floral, heavenly.
- Yeah.

- Flowers are beautiful. Vine is beautiful.
- [Samin] I never understood passion fruit.

I think my relationship to it was like
canned passion fruit juice or something,

which is, you know, like, or POG, like a...

- [gasps] The worst.
- [Samin] Hawaiian POG.

I don't think I had fresh passion fruit
until a few years ago.

And then I was like,
[in singsong] ♪ What is this thing? ♪

- [Meghan] Beautiful.
- [Samin] Isn't it stunning?

- It's amazing. Nature's incredible.
- Nature is incredible.

[Samin] This I think
could be a little sweet.

So do you have some honey
or maple syrup or agave syrup?

- All of it.
- Yeah, it's--

- Honey?
- Yeah, honey sounds great.

- [Meghan] How much?
- That seems good.

[Meghan] I think so too.

Okay. So is it time
to start dressing everything?

Can you talk me through your process?

- I want every bite to be the best bite.
- [Meghan] Mm!

And so I like making sure
that all parts individually taste good.

Things absorb dressing differently.

Like, the right amount
of dressing for the chicken

might not be the same as for the lettuce.

I kind of like building it in layers.

[Meghan] That's very clever.
I've never heard of that.

- Very smart. So then yes, you do.
- Whoops. [laughs]

Do you want an apron? [laughs]

I do not-- Well, also look at me.
I use my hands for everything.

As usual, I'm barefoot.
We just are living like we live.

And this is where you're going
to let these soak a little.

[Samin] Let's take some out.

- ♪ Moving one step at a time ♪
- ♪ Moving one step at a time ♪

♪ Yes, we're moving... ♪

[Meghan] So how should we
put this all together?

[Samin] To me, hands are
your most incredible tools.

I mean, also so sensitive.

So I can feel when the salad,
when the lettuces are dressed.

I can feel sort of every piece of this
in a way that I would never with tongs.

Parsley.

- [Meghan] Then you layer this in.
- Add this.

I think a lot of people have feelings
that it's gross to use your hands.

But to me, there's nothing gross about it.

- We're going to eat it.
- Yes.

And also, I'm maniacal
about washing my hands.

And also, you're connected
to the food in a different way.

[in singsong] ♪ It's gonna be so yummy ♪

[Samin] These are the most beautiful--
I think they're barhee dates.

My Ayurvedic doctor made me eat
so many dates while I was pregnant.

Oh, they have a lot of iron.

- So many dates.
- [giggles]

So then the next layer on top of this,
you would add the greens.

- Some lettuce in. Yeah.
- Yeah.

- Yeah, look at that. It's looking good
- Really.

This is truly, like, if I could eat
a delicious salad every day...

- Complexity of flavor makes it exciting.
- I'd eat this every night for dinner.

- [Meghan] Ooh.
- We need the crunchy croutons.

That was what we were saving them for.
We did some sog and some crunch.

"Sog and crunch.
The new cereal sweeping the nation."

[laughs]

[Meghan] Time for our Parmesan.

This looks fantastic.
Deeply nourishing and still indulgent...

But honoring each ingredient.

And I love all the colors.

- I mean, it's pretty straightforward.
- Mm-hmm.

I think anyone could do this.

[upbeat music playing]

You see, I'm the messy maker.
You're the clean maker. [laughs]

- It's a good team.
- Yeah. We need both.

[Meghan] Let's put in
a couple of nasturtiums.

Okay. So we have
our absolutely stunning salad.

We can have a little bite,
put some music on.

Sounds awesome.
And you can watch me dance. [laughs]

Yes! I can do that.

♪ Do you wanna dance the night away ♪

♪ Starting every day... ♪

- [Meghan] Oh, so pretty!
- [Samin] It looks so good.

Oh, yum. Even the bowl wants to dance.

- I know. It's a good vibe.
- [Meghan laughs]

- We had such a nice day.
- It was such a nice day.

[both] Mm!

Great call on keeping the pieces bigger
because it's really held up.

It totally holds up really nicely. Yeah.

- The dates are great in here.
- Mm-mm!

- It's like a love letter to California.
- That is so sweet.

And it is.
It's a passion fruit that brings it home.

- [chuckles]
- Okay.

So for your Monday night dinner ritual,

I'm curious about
how you change the menu each week.

- Mm-hmm.
- [Meghan] Who's in charge of what?

Often it starts with someone's craving
or I have this I need to use up.

A big part of it is the doing
and the making together

and the deciding together.

- A real community.
- Yeah.

That's incredible.

I think we all put it sort of
permanently in our calendar.

It's so sacred to us
that we can invite others to come,

but that's the thing that we have built.

And so how else do we make it special?

We send the kids into the yard
to pick flowers for the table

or use the good ceramics so that we're
actually appreciating and enjoying it

instead of waiting, for what?

This is great because sometimes
you get caught in just the daily rote.

Rinse and repeat. Eat, rinse and repeat.
Go to work, do the thing.

- But how do you make it special?
- Mm-hmm.

How do I make the meal feel more fun
or we call back to something else?

I love the idea of creating ritual
without it being fussy or complicated.

It's a great way to bring people together.

[Meghan] So how about we establish
our own little musical tradition?

[music starts]

[Meghan] And for dessert,
speaking of uncomplicated,

I was thinking
of a champagne sorbet float.

- [Samin] Yes.
- [Meghan] Easy, bright and effervescent.

[both] Mm!

[Meghan] This
is our grown-up root beer float.

Look at that.
Immediately starts turning pink.

- Mm!
- This is so nice.

- [Meghan] It's very good.
- Mm-hmm.

[Meghan] But there's more.
I'll be right back.

Oh, my gosh.

- [Meghan] That. Look at your goodies.
- [Samin] I truly hit the jackpot.

This is so beautiful.
Same color as my water bottle.

- Oh, right.
- [both laugh]

It's incredible. [gasps]
Maybe this is what this will become.

I've wanted to keep like a menu record
of the Monday dinner.

- I love that.
- Now you're part of our dinner.

Part of the dinner!

- No, you're also always welcome.
- Thank you.

We always have room.

I feel you're someone who always has
a seat at the table for who needs it.

I love that. This has been the best day.

[Samin] Thank you so much.
A really lovely day.

A lovely day.

- [laughs]
- Yeah. She set herself up.

I did. I mostly just shimmy.

It's great!

♪ Lovely day, lovely day
Lovely day, lovely day ♪

♪ Lovely day, lovely day
Lovely day, lovely day ♪

♪ When the day that lies ahead of me ♪

♪ Seems impossible to face ♪

♪ And when someone else instead of me ♪

♪ Always seems to know the way ♪

♪ Then I look at you ♪

♪ And the world's alright with me ♪

♪ Just one look at you ♪