buttered noodles for frances

For the last four weeks my son, the child who actually likes and encourages my cooking, has been at sleepaway camp, leaving us home alone with the one I affectionately call Buttered Noodles for Frances. Have you read the book? [Amazon,Bookshop,more indies] In it, a very picky badger named Frances doesn’t want to eat any of the food her mother makes, she only wants bread and jam. Her parents decide to give her exactly what she wants while the rest of the family eats poached eggs, green beans, and breaded veal cutlets. It does the trick — she tires of it and begins to embrace what the rest of the family is eating. Well la-de-da,good for them. Our badger is cut from more stubborn cloth. After the first week of trying to serve regular meals — food with variety and interest, the kind of stuff you might find on any page of the site but this one — I gave up and made buttered noodles every night. I want you to know that on what might be the sixth or sixteenth day, I’ve stopped counting, she has yet to request anything else. We joke that she is the child I had coming. Every recipe writer deserves a child that will simply not participate in their antics; it keeps us humble! It’s the inevitable conclusion of our culinary hubris! But I did not, it turns out, conjure her out of thin air. Once upon a time, I wrote in a cookbook [Amazon,Bookshop,More indies] about my own love for buttered noodles. I mentioned that I’ve been asked a few times over the years what my desert-island foods would be and that I’ve often disappointed people who were hoping I’d say something nuanced or epicurean when I’ve said, instead, buttered egg noodles. I said that it turns out to be a total conversation thudder because you cannot explain the bliss of buttered egg noodles to people who do not derive bliss from buttered egg noodles. But I also insisted, and still insist, that “not all beloved things elicit, or need to elicit, popular fervor.” And so with that understanding, from the depths of the dual midsummer trenches of heat waves and cooking ambivalence, please welcome the recipe I make more than any other on this planet. Because I have yet to figure out how to turn my brain off when I’m cooking, here are a few parameters: 6 months ago:Spanakopita1 year ago:Deviled Eggs2 years ago:Pasta with Pesto Genovese3 years ago:Frozen Watermelon Mojitos4 years ago:Corn FrittersandBourbon Peach Smash5 years ago:Hummus Heaped with Tomatoes and Cucumbers6 years ago:Corn, Bacon and Parmesan Pasta7 years ago:Tomato and Fried Provolone Sandwich8 years ago:Easiest Fridge Dill PicklesandGrilled Peach Splits9 years ago:One-Pan Farro with TomatoesandHot Fudge Sundae Cake10 years ago:Bacon Corn Hash11 years ago:Whole Wheat Raspberry Ricotta Scones12 years ago:Mango Slaw with Cashews and Mint,Thai-Style Chicken Legs,Peach Blueberry Cobbler, andScalloped Tomatoes with Croutons13 years ago:Light Brioche Burger Buns,Blueberry Boy Bait, andLemony Zucchini Goat Cheese Pizza14 years ago:Chocolate Sorbet15 years ago:Double Chocolate Layer Cake