I met some of my gaming friends for the first time this past May for one of their graduations. These guys had said multiple times before that they do not like salads. I set out to prove them wrong.
1/2 red onion
1 lemon
1 lime
2 tbsp fish sauce
salad vegetables of choice
preferred: romaine, red leaf lettuce
alternatives: endives, radicchio, iceberg
chili peppers of choice, to taste (optional)
preferred: green Thai chilies (bird’s eye)
alternatives: jalapeno, serrano
protein of choice
preferred: flank steak, flat iron steak
alternatives: chicken, shrimp, fish
pasta (optional)
other salad ingredients (optional)
cucumbers
tomatoes
oranges
corn
chickpeas, black beans, or other legumes
If you’re using steak and broiling it in the oven, heat it up and apply the dry rub to the steak now.
If you’re adding pasta, set the water to boil now.
Slice the red onion finely and juice the lemon and lime. Finely chop the peppers. Combine and let marinate while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Finely slice or dice the salad ingredients. The smaller the pieces, the better the incorporation of the flavors.
At some point during step 4, the oven should have come to temp and the pot should be boiling. Put your pasta and steak in to cook and continue with the other prep.
When your protein is ready, cut it to the desired size and combine with all the other ingredients. Mix well. (You can also have the protein on the side if that’s what you prefer.)
They were all pretty shocked by how good this salad was. My friend’s mom also complimented it. Huge win in my book.
I love to grocery shop, but it’s become a problem. I buy way too much and find myself scrambling to use up ingredients before they go bad. Trying to stay ahead of the curve, last night I made a recipe that is suited for a huge variety of produce: chili.
Starring my failed brioche
Ingredients
1 lb ground beef (85/15) 1/2 large yellow onion, diced 3 large garlic cloves, sliced Veggie medley 2 small anjou pears, diced 2 medium carrots, diced 2 green bell peppers, diced 1 medium turnip, diced about 1 cup carrot tops, chopped Spices 1 tsp paprika 1 tsp cumin 1 tsp gochugaru 1 tsp coriander 3 fresh Thai chili peppers, chopped salt and pepper to taste Liquid juice of 1 large lemon juice of 1 large lime 1 cup decaf coffee 2/3 tbsp cocoa powder 1 small beefsteak tomato about 3/4 cup tomato sauce or 1 cup drained canned tomatoes
Fry the ground beef in a Dutch oven or stockpot over medium-high heat. Make sure that the meat juice evaporates and you’re left with the oil.
Add the garlic and onions. Sauté until fragrant, careful not to let the garlic burn.
Add the veggie medley and toss vigorously until everything in the pot is evenly distributed. Sauté for 2 or 3 minutes, turning often so ingredients at the bottom do not burn.
Add the spices and toss vigorously.
Add the lemon and lime juice and use a wooden spoon to deglaze the bottom of the pan.
Add the rest of the liquid mix and toss to combine. Bring to a boil and let simmer until the liquid is mostly reduced, about 20 minutes.
I’m going to experiment with a similar recipe next time but substituting Guinness in place of the lemon/lime juice. I was having a Kyoto matcha IPA while chopping up a storm when I had this stroke of genius, and now I can’t wait.
I was trying to make sourdough brioche at the same time, but that recipe will have to wait until I perfect it. The brioche came out hard and dense, but the flavor is great. Perfect for soaking in the chili and dipping in egg yolk, anyhow, so I’m not too upset about it.
I had the chili today for lunch, simmered in a small saucepan with a bit of added water because I wanted to steam some broccoli and add an egg. Covered the pan until the egg white was set, about 2 minutes, then removed the lid and cooked off a little of the liquid. Yum!
The first pancake I ever made (not counting crêpes) was a sourdough pancake. It was extremely fluffy and delicious. Of course, I made it again. However, here was my downfall: I never measured my ingredients. I made pancakes time and time again, with increasing successes, but there were some failures. I decided I should probably start measuring my ingredients for extra safety.
In the process, though, I learned a few things:
Pancakes, as with many recipes calling for eggs, are not easily scalable. Nevertheless, substituting milk for the liquid needed from half an egg is completely fine. I would never recommend leaving eggs out altogether, however.
A thicker batter means stronger structure, which results in fluffier pancakes. However, if the batter is too thick, the pancakes will be dense. The weight of itself will dampen the rise.
Flip the pancakes as soon as you can after the bubbles appear. You want to trap the expanding air inside the pancake so that they fluff up. Otherwise, you’ll get dense, chewy pancakes.
I still get it wrong sometimes because I don’t like to measure my ingredients. The nice thing about pancakes, though, is that if the first one comes out poorly, you can adjust the rest of the batter.
My recipe is adapted from CulturesForHealth.com. This is a versatile recipe that works well with different spices. I’ve included my favorite below.
Ingredients
200 g sourdough starter, 100% hydration 80 g all-purpose flour 1 egg 1 heaping tbsp honey 1/2 tsp salt about 1/8-1/4 cup milk 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/8 tsp cardamom (optional) pinch of nutmeg (optional) about 4 tbsp butter, solid or melted, for frying
Combine the starter and flour. Mix thoroughly and cover. Let rise overnight, at least 6 hours.
Add egg, honey, and salt and mix until well combined.
Add milk about 1 tbsp at a time, mixing constantly, until batter is the desired consistency. The batter should ooze but not drip off a spoon.
Add the baking soda and stir vigorously. The batter should expand within about half a minute. If the rise is not evident, add a bit more baking soda and mix again.
Stir in the cardamom and nutmeg, if using.
Heat a pan on medium-low. Add butter and wait until it stops bubbling. Drop a few spoonfuls of batter and spread with the back of the spoon until about 1/4 inch thick.
Flip when large bubbles break the surface. This should be before the edges have set, about 45 seconds max depending on the size of your pancake.
Cook for about 1 min 40 s on the other side. If the bottom is browning too quickly, turn the heat down.
If you want crispy edges, use enough butter to puddle a bit in the middle of the pan and use a bit of a higher heat. If you want soft pancakes, use less butter and turn the heat way down. You’ll have to cook for about twice as long each side or even more. Personally, I like a crunch on my pancakes, so I use medium heat and lots of butter. They’re a not-so-healthy treat for me, I suppose.
I love these pancakes with walnut butter and maple syrup, though they’re great with plain honey and fruit too. I haven’t tried them with whipped cream and berries, but something tells me that would be intensely addictive. Try experimenting with other spices or mix-ins, like chocolate chip and cinnamon or even brown sugar in place of honey.
I love to bake, and you probably can’t tell yet, but I’m obsessed with sourdough. If you don’t know about sourdough, read my explanation and instructions on how to make your own in the post linked below.
Now, my penchant for baking and cooking is in conflict with my inability to consume large amounts of food in a sustainable manner. I recently realized I can get around this by bringing most of what I make to the folks at my office. Two or three times a week, usually, I’ll bring some baked good and/or pancakes (they’re sourdough too! I’ll post a recipe soon) and ping the office Slack. I get introduced to new hires as the office baker now. It’s great, because it means I get to experiment a lot. I’ve pretty much perfected pancakes.
For a while, I’d bake bread and let it cool overnight before bringing it to the office (rather than baking it morning of). This was because if I didn’t let it cool and put it in a bag, the lovely crust would get soft and not be crunchy anymore. At some point, though, I remembered that bread is supposed to be stored in paper. Cue bringing fresh bread to work!
I feed my starter at night. That means it usually reaches the peak of its activity in the morning. However, I missed it Saturday night because of my Halloweekend frolics (I made it back home at around 4 AM, way past feeding time).
My starter’s old enough to last 36-48 hours, so I just fed it when I got up at 11 AM on Sunday. That means that last night, my sourdough starter was extremely active. It bobbed immediately to the surface when I did the water test and I literally squealed in excitement. I had a suspicion because it looked THICC.
I had to make bread. My roommate had some leftover grated parmesan that we needed to get rid of, so naturally I made cheesy bread. It wasn’t very much Parmesan, but it did lend a really full flavor to the loaf. I adapted the olive, parmesan, and thyme recipe from Artisan Sourdough Made Simple. It’s a great, versatile recipe that results in a slightly denser loaf (if you don’t add the olives, which is where the extra moisture comes from). You can also use all bread flour instead of adding all-purpose flour. The AP makes the bread chewier (found out by accident once when I added about 150 g by mistake). This recipe also halves well.
Step 8 in the process: relaxing.
Ingredients
The dough
50 g active sourdough starter, 100% hydration 360 g lukewarm water 470 g bread flour 30 g all-purpose flour 9 g salt
The mix-ins
up to 50 g of parmesan 1/2 tbsp dried thyme (or fresh, if you have it) 1/2 tsp cumin
Dissolve the starter into the water. Use a whisk, fork, or your hands.
Add the flour and mix until combined.
Scrape down the bowl and let the dough hydrate for 10 minutes.
Knead the mix-ins into the dough until well combined. It’s better to sprinkle in a little at a time. Otherwise, they’ll be unevenly distributed.
Scrape down the bowl, pushing the dough into one mass.
Cover with a damp towel and put in a warm place (ideally at least 21 C or 70 F) to rise for about 8-10 hours, depending on the vitality of your starter and the temperature. You’ll know the dough is ready when you poke it and impression lingers in the dough without immediately bouncing back.
Pre-heat the oven and Dutch oven, if you are using one, to 232 C / 450 degrees F.
Dump the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Gather the edges in towards the middle until you’re all the way around, then use a bench scraper to flip it over (onto another lightly floured surface) so that the seam is down. Let relax for about 10 minutes.
Using a bench scraper, flip the dough back over, seam side up, and shape. I made mine into an oval like so: starting from the side farther from you, pinch the left side gently and bring it to the middle. Repeat on the right side, overlapping. You’ll get what kind of looks like a zipper. From the bottom, start rolling away from you until the seam is facing down. Flour the top generously, pick it up with your bench scraper, and put it into your floured proofing basket, seam side down. Cover with a damp towel and let proof until puffy (not that long, about 20-30 min).
Flip the banneton over onto a parchment cut to fit the Dutch oven, and score the dough with a lamé or a sharp knife. Confidently!
Lower into the preheated Dutch oven. Bake with the lid on for 20 min. Uncover and bake for 30 min. Bake directly on the rack for 10 min, or until the color is to your liking. Your house will smell AMAZING.
Ready to bake!
I mixed up all the ingredients and let it proof overnight. It could have used a bit more proofing time, but this loaf is suited to being a bit denser anyhow. Shaped it in the morning and wrapped everything up in about an hour and a half. It was still warm when I got to the office about 35 min after taking it out of the oven. Mmmm… fresh bread.
My least favorite thing about hard-boiled eggs is the hard yolk. For the longest time, I couldn’t figure out how to make boiled eggs the way I like them: with runny yolks. I just wrote off all boiled eggs entirely for years. I guess they also reminded me of that stint in high school where I dieted by eating an apple and two hard-boiled eggs for lunch. Bad, bad memories.
Turns out, making soft-boiled eggs is incredibly easy. Literally just:
Bring water to a boil
Put egg(s) in
Set a timer for 5-6 minutes
Scoop your egg(s) out and put in cold water
Peel when the eggs are cool enough to handle
I know the water ideally covers the eggs, but I like to use my small saucepan and just put the lid on. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I’m usually too lazy to set the timer, so I just putter around in the tiny kitchen and watch the clock on the stove top. The kitchen is literally just in the hallway. We’ve got like 4 square feet of counter space. Nice and cozy.
I still haven’t quite figured out how to get the eggs to peel well consistently. I think the water you chill the eggs in has to be very cold, and I just saw a tip about cracking the egg while it’s still in the water. I’ll try that at some point.
After you peel the eggs, you can marinate them to make soy sauce eggs. There are a bunch of legitimate recipes out there for making the marinade for authentic soy-marinated eggs (like this one), but I don’t have mirin (Japanese rice wine). Instead, I combine rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, and garlic to taste. You can even substitute garlic powder for fresh garlic if you’d like. Then just plop the eggs in to marinate. You can marinate them for as little as ten minutes to get just a subtle flavor boost, or in the fridge for up to two days. They’re great just with plain rice or as a topping for noodles. For example, I made a ten-minute soy marinated egg for my ramyun today.
