Snack Time

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Published 2023

About

When it’s almost time for lunch or dinner, and I have no battle plan in place and no time for a grocery run, one of my most oft-repeated templates is what I call the snack meal. It’s a true win for any discerning, but slightly lazy, home cook because it’s an excuse to use up whatever odds and ends you have sitting around your kitchen, along with some tinned fish. And it makes you feel like you’re at a party, taking itinerant jumps from bite to bite.

Toast up some bread from the night before, slather it with Green Anchovy Butter, and stack it with juicy slices of tomato. Or steam some rice and toss it quickly with oily mackerel and plenty of nori and sesame seed–flecked furikake for a batch of fresh, warm onigiri. For an easy snack, toss a tin of amazing mussels in escabeche sauce over a bowl of potato chips, and add a few green olives and a dash of hot sauce. Mix and match a few of these, and then it’s really a party.