Vegetable Beef Bow Tie Skillet

February. Hana is thirteen months old. She is walking confidently now — not toddling but striding, with a purpose and a destination that she selects and pursues without consultation. She walks to the kitchen. She walks to the bookshelf. She walks to the back door and stands with her hands on the glass and watches the backyard, which is bare in February but which she seems to evaluate with future-oriented interest, as though she is planning something for the yard that she has not yet shared with management.

The Wallingford house is becoming a home. The books are on the shelves. The photos are on the walls — Jisoo's hands above the stove, Karen's pie crust beside it (I took the photo at Christmas; Karen's hands are shaking, the dough is imperfect, the photo is perfect). David's mobile hangs in Hana's room — the Korean and Taiwanese birds spinning in the heat vent's draft. The quilt from Jisoo is on Hana's bed. The crib David built is against the wall. Hana has her own room. Her own room, with her own door, which she opens and closes with the solemnity of a person conducting important business.

Banchan Labs: 5,000 subscribers. Five thousand. James presented the milestone with a single slide at our kitchen table meeting on Monday. The slide said: "5,000 families eating Korean food from our kitchen." Five thousand families. Five thousand tables. Five thousand versions of the experience I had when I first tasted kimchi jjigae in college and cried — the recognition, the belonging, the taste of something your body knew before your mind did. We are giving that to five thousand people. The number is not the point. The giving is the point. But the number is nice.

Kevin called Sunday. He said, "Five thousand? That's — Steph, that's real." I said, "It's real." He said, "Bridge City is at twelve hundred subscribers. I am envious and also proud." I said, "You should be proud." He said, "I am proud of both of us. We are adopted Korean kids who started food companies. This is either a beautiful coincidence or a genetic predisposition toward fermented things." I laughed. He laughed. We are adopted Korean siblings who run a kimchi company and a coffee roastery and who express love through fermented and roasted things and who call each other every Sunday and who turned out okay. We turned out okay.

The recipe this week is a simple bibimbap — the mixed rice bowl that is the first thing I cook when a kitchen is new and I need to fill it with familiar food. Rice. Seasoned spinach. Seasoned bean sprouts. Seasoned carrots. Kimchi (from the new onggi — the first batch, ready now, sharp and sour and alive). A fried egg. Gochujang. Mix everything together. The bowl is chaos and color and every flavor at once. The bowl is Korea in a circle. The bowl is home.

The version I’m sharing this week is the one I reach for when I need a kitchen to feel inhabited — something colorful and layered and a little chaotic, everything tumbled together in one pan the way a good home eventually is. When James put up that 5,000 slide at the kitchen table, I wanted to cook something that matched the feeling: abundant, alive, not precious about itself. This Vegetable Beef Bow Tie Skillet is exactly that — beef and zucchini and tomatoes and bow ties, all of it mixed together until the pan is full and the kitchen smells like people live here now.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 35 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

8 oz bow tie pasta (farfalle)
1 lb lean ground beef
1 medium zucchini, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
Salt and black pepper to taste
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Fresh basil for garnish (optional)

Instructions

Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook bow tie pasta according to package directions until al dente, about 10–12 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Brown the beef. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add ground beef and cook, breaking it up with a spoon, until browned and cooked through, about 5–6 minutes. Drain excess fat and transfer beef to a plate.
Sauté the vegetables. In the same skillet, add the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and bell pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3–4 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and zucchini and cook 2 minutes more.
Build the sauce. Pour in the canned diced tomatoes (with their liquid) and add the cherry tomatoes, Italian seasoning, and smoked paprika. Stir to combine and simmer for 5 minutes, until slightly thickened.
Combine everything. Return the browned beef and the drained pasta to the skillet. Toss together over medium heat for 2 minutes until everything is evenly coated and heated through. Taste and season with salt and black pepper.
Serve. Divide among bowls or plates and top with grated Parmesan. Garnish with fresh basil if desired. Serve immediately.

Nutrition (per serving)

Vegetable Beef Bow Tie Skillet — The Meal I Make When a Kitchen Needs Filling