"Mama's Famous Pasta," Rejected "Marry Me" Chicken + A Never-Ending Candy Cake

Megan Ferguson's Cub Street Diet

Hi friends,

This week, we’re welcoming actor and writer Megan Ferguson to the stage to recount a handful of days in her family kitchen.

We’ve known Megan for the better part of 20 years and we’re pleased to report that she’s no less chic, hilarious, witty, or impassioned than she was in college. An accomplished actress, her performances have delighted on screens both large and small, from Curb Your Enthusiasm, to the reboot of Gossip Girl, the limited musical series Soundtrack, Joe Swanberg’s Easy and films including The Broken Hearts Gallery, the Coen Brothers’ Suburbicon, and The Fundamentals Of Caring.

Megan also wrote and filmed an eight-episode micro-series called Pat alongside her husband. Released in April of 2020, each two-minute episode followed a husband-and-wife duo living in the “pat-riarchy.” She currently writes a newsletter called “MF” which highlights covetable finds from her proverbial shopping cart, while simultaneously serving as a wry send-up of online shopping culture. You can find and follow her on Instagram.

As always, we would not be here without Megan’s two children, aged 7 and 9. So, without further ado, let’s see what they ate this week!

Greta + Fanny

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Hello!

My name is Megan and I live in LA with my husband Nico, 2 children, 3 dogs and a bearded dragon. The lizard is my favorite roommate, to be honest. I met Fanny and Greta while we were bundled up undergraduates, indulging in the finest pizzas dipped in the finest of ranch dressings. Perhaps that was just me. Greta and I further bonded in Paris on a summer course abroad — a July that saw us possessed by Hollywood apple chewing gum and vin rouge from the supermarché.

I have two children: a 9-year-old who will need to enter a sugar rehab facility in the near future and a 7-year-old who recently ate a mussel for dinner, voluntarily.  If you have been reading The Green Spoon and ever found yourself googling “succotash” or spiraling that you have never even purchased cauliflower before — please take a great big sigh of relief. I am here to make you feel very good about yourself. My pantry is stocked with Annie’s Mac ‘n’ Cheese, Momofuko Ramen, and Dot’s Pretzels. Dot, the power these hold over my family is dark.

I started sleep away camp at 5 and boarding school at 14. Besides being something to discuss weekly with a mental health professional, these jaunts in early independence should have left me completely prepared to feed myself and my family. Not so!  Every time my children tell me they’re hungry, my insides freeze — “So am I!? What are we going to do?! Is the dining hall open?”

We spent a week at a ranch in Wyoming earlier this summer and they rang a bell when it was meal time. My children stumbled into the dining room and were poured mugs of hot chocolate for breakfast along with sides of bacon, fried eggs and oatmeal brûlée. What I would give to have a bell ring and food appear at home!

BREKKIE:

At 6am the 7-year-old wakes up “with the sun” like Anna from Frozen and pops into our bedroom — “Dada I’m HUNGRY!” Luckily, I have trained my offspring that they shall NOT speak to Mother in the morning before they have first brought their concerns to their father. Does anyone need a reminder that I grew two humans in my body and fed them from my once-perfect breasts? I have the monologue memorized in case anyone has forgotten.

Father rises and reheats last night’s pork soup dumplings for breakfast. This child loves a savory breakfast and I am still in an eye mask so I am not here to give notes. 9-year-old will need to be roused to make it to surf camp in time, and we will be in a battle about breakfast. Life Cereal is permitted only after a protein — this morning it’s a scrambled egg:

LUNCH:

7-year-old loves to pack her lunch: homemade brownie, cherries, Justins almond butter packet and dried mango for snacks. Whole Foods cheese tortellini in the thermos and she’s good to go. The Planet Box lunch bag fits the Stanley kid food thermos perfectly fyi.  9-year-old gets to buy lunch at surf camp so god only knows. Yesterday at drop off a 20-year-old counselor had Jolly Ranchers in his fanny pack  “just for the two of them.”

DINNER:

I make Marcella Hazan’s tomato sauce with Rummo Spaghetti which my children call “Mama’s famous pasta” — I think we can just let the idea that I invented pomodoro become a core memory if you don’t mind. Butter lettuce dressed with vinaigrette. 7-year-old eats one leaf of lettuce. 9-year-old does not. We make “honey tea” for bedtime, which is just a big spoonful of Activist Manuka honey and hot water.

BREKKIE:

I was told the 7-year-old made her own avocado toast with a spray of lemon. Our new lemon hack courtesy of Fanny’s instagram discovery — poke a corn on the cob holder into the bottom of a lemon and you’ve got a citrus spray! Side of mango and every dentist’s favorite, a glass of chocolate milk. 9-year-old hopped into the car with a wetsuit, 2 hard boiled eggs and the best intentions.

LUNCH:

Sent 9-year-old to camp with all the protein snacks I can fit into a lunch box — GO Raw Organic Sprouted Pumpkin Seeds, Siggi’s yogurt tube (frozen), Turkey Jerky bites, and strawberries. If these snacks were touched, it is not clear when the lunchbag returns. 7-year-old is going on a playdate at the trampoline park and I receive a text photo of her eating a SALAD for lunch with her gluten-free pal — a miracle of a friendship on many levels.

DINNER:

Hamburgers! Both kids helped and 9-year-old decided we needed to put a slice of butter into the patties a la Top Chef Jr. Sure! This is a pro-butter home. I used to make hamburgers with my mom and it was just meat, salt and pepper smashed into a pan with butter. Still the best to me. Buns toasted and some arugula for color. Adult burgers were seasoned with this divine Basque Espelette salt from Basqueria, a local shop with culinary delights. Success! Camp exhaustion may have helped limit complaints. Dessert is a ration of 3 pieces of sour candy from the epic and never-ending Candy Cake from the 9-year-old’s most recent birthday. It was made by Kimchi Avocado and it is the cake of glucose fever dreams. 3 pieces becomes closer to 6.

BREKKIE: 

7-year-old loves to bake and yesterday we made a Gateau au Yaourt from the fabulous cookbook, Gateau by Aleksandra Crapanzano. It is a perfect breakfast cake. Tart and with more protein than our other breakfast standby, Croissant Toast. Serving this with some sliced nectarines and a smoothie which is just frozen strawberries, ice, water,  Siggi’s vanilla yogurt and scoop of Maker Milk — a powdered oat milk that is brilliant and from my husband’s homeland of New Zealand. 9-year-old is ONLY going to eat Life Cereal and I am going to choose my battles.

LUNCH:

We make icees with frozen strawberries, ice and juice of a lemon — hoping it soothes the itch for more sour candy! My husband picks up takeout from Bui sushi: rice rolls (which are quite literally rice wrapped with seaweed), 4 pieces of salmon nigiri, an avocado roll that sometimes gets dissected and crispy Brussels sprouts. Later, at the beach, it’s chips and s’mores.

DINNER:

Well, The New York Times recipe app has led me astray. I made the gd Marry Me Chicken and it was rejected by EVERY SINGLE MEMBER OF THE HOUSE. Did I use salted chicken stock instead of unsalted? Possibly. In the bin it goes. With no time to spare, we boil water for the Holy Grail of all packaged foods: Momofuko Soy & Scallion Noodles. We fry an egg on top and call it dinner.

Didn’t I promise I would make you feel good about your culinary prowess?? May a dinner bell followed by a prepared meal be in your futures.

Hugs,

Megan