When her son was about two, Austin-based Love & Lemons creator Jeanine Donofrio found herself in a rut many parents will recognize: less time in the kitchen, the same handful of dinners on repeat, and a growing sense of boredom.
Her way out was small and delicious. A sauce, a dressing, or a pickle made earlier in the day could pep up whatever was for dinner. That idea became her new cookbook, Pop of Flavor (out October 13!), a collection of saucy, spicy, crunchy, herby, tangy finishing touches that make simple meals feel exciting. To celebrate, she shared one of its recipes with us: carrot bowls with crispy feta and pistachio dill pesto, styled in her own Casa Zuma pieces.
We asked Jeanine to walk us through the book, the carrot bowls, and what gathering around food looks like in her house right now. Her answers, like her cooking, are friendly, practical, and full of ideas you can use tonight.
Pop of Flavor grew out of needing a new approach during a chaotic season of parenting young kids. What did your cooking actually look like in that rut, and what was the moment you realized sauces and finishing touches were the fix?
This cooking rut started when my son Ollie was about 2 years old. I had less time to spend in the kitchen than I did before we had kids. I know it’s a common problem, but as someone who loves to cook, I felt like I was making the same go-to dishes over and over, and I was getting bored with them.
I wanted to figure out an easy way to mix things up and make meals exciting again. I’m not a big mea- prep person, but I found that if I took a few minutes earlier in the day to make a sauce, a dressing, or a pickle, I could easily pep up my meals when dinnertime rolled around.
The book is built around base recipes with multiple ways to use them—three developed variations and five ideas for improvisation. How did you land on that structure, and how do you want home cooks to actually use it: start with the base and experiment, or treat the variations as the real recipes?
I came up with this structure because it was the easiest way for me to get myself out of that rut. If I have an exciting sauce or pickle on hand (or stock my pantry with condiments I know I’ll use again and again), dinnertime flows better and our food is more flavorful. Plus, when I have a component left over, I can use it again in a completely different meal and end up eating something different all the time.
I think home cooks can start with whichever recipe looks good to them! For those of us who like to follow exact recipes, there are plenty of those. And for those of us who like to improvise, flip to the “More Ways to Use” section for ideas on how to make flexible meals with whatever you have on hand.
Your Carrot Bowls With Crispy Feta and Pistachio Dill Pesto feel like a perfect example of the book’s whole philosophy. Walk us through it! What’s the base, and what makes the pesto and crispy feta the kind of “pop” that could go on five other things?
The Pistachio Dill Pesto gets used in two ways in this recipe: I mix it with the rice to create a really flavorful green rice base, and then drizzle more on top. The salty, crispy feta complements the sweet roasted carrots and the herby flavors in the bowl. A pop of pickled onion takes it over the top. It’s such a delicious combination!
The pesto can be used any way you’d use basil pesto: tossed with pasta, spooned over eggs, or drizzled over roasted vegetables. And the crispy feta pieces would be delicious in place of croutons on a soup (imagine tomato soup with crispy feta croutons!) or on just about any salad. They’d also be great tucked into a taco or wrap.
You’ve described this book as being about keeping a well-stocked pantry of culinary flourishes so creativity is always within reach. What does that pantry actually look like for you day to day? Any sauces or condiments you always have on hand?
I always have tahini for making quick, creamy sauces, chili crisp, harissa, capers, a few good vinegars, and lemons, of course!
You shot the carrot bowls using some of your own Casa Zuma pieces. What drew you to them, and what’s it like photographing food in a bowl or dish you genuinely love versus one that’s just a prop?
The bowls are gorgeous! I love the irregular speckles and the soft, earthy tone, which complements the natural colors of food so beautifully, especially colorful vegetables. They have such an organic, handmade feel that adds warmth and texture without taking attention away from the food. I love pairing them with the rustic Hand-Thrown Antipasto Bowls and the Recycled Glass Petite Goblets in my photography and on my dinner table.
The texture and weight of these pieces also just feel good—which not only makes a photo come together, but also makes the meal we get to eat afterward feel more special.
Austin shows up a lot in how we talk about food and gathering on this site. How has cooking in Austin, and being a parent there, shaped the way you think about weeknight meals versus the kind of cooking you do for Love & Lemons?
Well, every Love & Lemons recipe, whether it’s for the website or a cookbook, makes its way to our dinner table—whether it started there or it’s leftovers from the seventh round of recipe testing. No food ever goes to waste!
In Austin, with our warm climate, I love making recipes that feel fresh. These carrot bowls are a good example. I’ll assemble the bowls fully for myself and my husband, but serve the components separately to our five-year-old. He loves carrots, and he ate so many of the crispy feta pieces the other night that I had to pick the remaining ones out of my own bowl to give to him!
What does gathering around food look like in your house right now, given how young your kids are? Is there a meal or ritual that’s non-negotiable, even on the busiest nights?
Dinner at the table is non-negotiable (even if Ollie only “sits” for a few minutes!). We also sit down to breakfast together every morning, without devices. It’s a nice time for us to connect without distractions.
Our kids are still very young, so we don’t have too many evening activities yet, but I hope to keep the ritual of family dinners together as they get older.
If someone’s intimidated by the idea of “elevating” a simple meal, what’s the lowest-effort entry point from Pop of Flavor you’d point them to first?
Make the very first recipe in the book—the Red Pepper Tahini Chickpeas! The sauce comes together in just five minutes, and the whole recipe takes less than 30 minutes. If you like that sauce, flip the page and make the next recipe!
Sweet roasted carrots, a green rice base stirred with pistachio dill pesto, salty crispy feta, and a pop of pickled onion—these bowls are the whole book in a single dinner. The pesto does double duty, mixed into the rice and drizzled on top, while the feta brings crunch and salt in place of croutons.
Carrot Bowls With Crispy Feta and Pistachio Dill Pesto
Crispy Carrot Feta Bowls
- 1 bunch medium carrots (about 12 ounces), trimmed and halved lengthwise
- 8 ounces feta cheese, roughly torn into1/2- to 1-inch pieces
- 11/2 cups cooked chickpeas, drained, rinsed, and patted dry
- Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 3 cups cooked rice
- 4 soft Medjool dates, pitted and chopped
- 1/3 cup Pickled Onions
- 2 tablespoons crushed toasted pistachios
- Chopped fresh dill, for garnish
- Fresh parsley leaves, for garnish
Dill Pistachio Pesto
- 1 cup fresh dill
- 1 cup fresh parsley
- 1/4 cup shelled raw pistachios
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plusanother
- 1 tablespoon for the rice
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt, plus another 1/4 teaspoon for the rice
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
