Praise the Braise

It’s rare that you try to use up that head of green cabbage and wind up with something that you can’t stop eating, something that feels like a treat. But that’s what happened yesterday, so I had to force myself to stop eating it and write down the recipe (a riff on a recipe in Hetty Lui McKinnon’s cookbook, Tenderheart. )

I wanted to braise my cabbage—that was my starting point because of a luscious chicken, cabbage, and apple dish that my friend Ariella made last weekend. So I started looking for braised cabbage recipes—and found McKinnon’s tomato and coconut braised cabbage and lentils. I knew Mack would reject the lentils, so I plowed forward without. I ended up with a soft, savory cabbage dish that has more flavor than it has any right to have.

Ingredients
1/2 cabbage, cut into 4 wedges
1/2 red onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 cups stock
1/2 cup coconut milk

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large saute pan. Add cabbage wedges and cook on each side for 4-5 minutes, until charred. Transfer to a plate.

Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to the same pan and cook onions for 5 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, and turmeric, and cook for 30 seconds. Add tomatoes, salt, sugar, and stock and cook, covered for 20 minutes, until tomatoes soften and burst. Add coconut milk and cabbage wedges and cook, covered, for 15 minutes, until cabbage is wilted. Add more stock if necessary.

Serve with chopped cilantro and/or massaged kale.

Dinner Parties

Since moving to the suburbs, I have become a serious dinner-party chef, by which I mean dinner parties have become passion projects and I have started to master the art of prepping early, reheating gently, choosing make-ahead menus, and getting creative with cuisines and cookbooks. Here are details from some of these parties…

May 11, 2024: All Veg/Farmer’s Market Inspired

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Crudite, pickled veggies, and cucumber-yogurt dip
Galette: cornmeal-black pepper crust with a ramp, spinach, and feta filling with oven-roasted tomatoes
Mushroom Bourguignon over cacio pepe polenta, with poached egg
Steamed asparagus with a lemon, herb, cheese and nut relish

New Year’s Eve 2024: Oysters and Bouilliabase

Christmas Eve 2024: Apps and Sides for a Smoked Brisket

BBQ Dinner Party, October 1, 2023

Smoked ribs, charred cabbage with kimchi dressing, tomato tart, cornbread, elote dip

Labor Day, 2024

Grain salad with pickled onions, tomato tart, poached salmon

Dinner Party at the Diamonds, August 26, 2023

Deviled eggs with pickled onions, shrimp, herbs; poached salmon; farro and corn salad

culinary school diaries: why I enrolled

This is a long story about becoming a wife and a mom. The last 13 years often feels like a series of wonderful, meaningful, crucial, beautiful and selfless choices. That includes becoming a stay-at-home mom, moving to the suburbs, losing/finding/losing jobs, trying to find my own space.

For most of my life, that space was writing. I wrote throughout high school, college, young adulthood. It was where I was me. In marriage and motherhood, I lost that thread. I didn’t have the time, the solitude, the stimulation. Instead, I gradually migrated to the kitchen.

It started as a place to own solace when I couldn’t be alone (early motherhood) and became a place I sought when there was nowhere else to go (the pandemic). It became a place where I continuously found myself. I turned to cooking when I wanted to get back into my own head, do my own work, earn my own cred.

The idea of culinary school presented itself after a two-week course I took with one of the ICE chefs. which provided me the opportunity to get out of the house and out of my role there. It was a glorious two weeks—learning, cooking, meeting new people, staying overnight in Brooklyn at the apartment of a friend and regaining some semblance of life as it used to be.

While a full-time culinary arts program is not nearly as luxe as that recreational course — in fact it’s much more strenuous and stressful than I ever expected — it allows me to take time off from home to do the thing that feels most like me these days. It’s a chance to reenter the world, to be in the city, to find my own ground, to reintroduce myself, and to then return to my family with the experience in my back pocket.

Will I become a chef? Everyone asks. Probably not. Will I become an amazing cook? Probably not. But it will lead somewhere else, somewhere new that has flecks of me in the wallpaper. Somewhere other than home, which ironically, will hopefully lead me back to myself.

homemade tofu?

It’s been awhile. And that’s because … I’m in culinary school! I enrolled at The Institute of Culinary Education as a student in the health supportive culinary arts program. It’s amazing, except for the four-hour daily commute. I’ve learned so much (see my IG account @adailydip for details and photos).

One of our classes was “Tofu and Tempeh” (since it’s a mostly plant-based course) and we made tofu from soy milk— and we made that soy milk from soybeans. As I watched chef Jay do his demo I thought to myself, how can I make this easier for myself at home? Now that I’m away from home all day and when I get home there is snack, homework, soccer, dog, dinner, dog, homework, bath and “please go to bed already!” So I asked, “Chef, can you make this with store-bought soy milk?” To which chef Jay answered “Great question!” Cut to me, beaming with pride. “Why don’t you try it at home?” Cut to me, distraught with an extra assignment.

The chef gave me some nigari (the coagulant/chemical which makes soy milk curdle into tofu curds) and told me to report back. I’m sure there are students who would have smiled, pocked the nigari and let it go at this point. But I am a lifelong nerd and so I immediately bought soy milk and started experimenting.

The first two batches were bunk and when I casually reported this back to Chef Jay (who scares the shit out of all of us) he responded in such a way that suggested that 1. he had completely forgotten about giving me the assignment; and 2. he had potentially completely forgotten who I was.

But I persevered. Because, well, see above. I threw out gallons of not-curdled-enough soy milk until I stumbled upon a recipe that clicked. It was an obscure website and yet there were two post-recipe comments that hit home, both of which alluded to the cook failing multiple times (as I did) and then finding success with this particular method.

It worked. I don’t know if it was the amount of nigari, the stirring configurations, the heating method or the fact that the pot was covered during the process. But the store-bought soy milk formed curds big enough to sequester into my tofu mold, and those curds actually formed a rectangle of delicious (creamy, rich!) tofu.

I’m not necessarily saying that I will make my own tofu from now on…but I’m happy that my experiment finally worked and that I can continue being the nerd that I’ve always been.

momofuku ramen

We got the Momofuku Cookbook as a gift and turned to the first recipe. Ramen! We love ramen! Quick noodles in a meaty broth with a soft poached egg? Delicious! Easy! That’s when the nightmare began.

Actually, it was one of those nightmares that ends happily, with a big bowl of steaming ramen. But before you get to the table, you lose your phone and realize you’re naked in the sixth-grade hallway.

“I’ll get the ingredients!” Michael volunteered and then vanished for two hours. He came home with half of what he intended to get—neck bones are hard to find! I went next, hitting H Mart, Whole Foods and Stop & Shop. I started making the broth around 1pm on a Saturday and by 5pm, I had made little headway. I was on step #2 of 40. I’d basically only boiled some water.

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David Chang’s recipe for ramen broth is a fool’s errand. Over forty steps and each step has its own steps. Four pounds of chicken wings and a pound of bacon went into the ramen broth, which I didn’t finish until the following weekend (when I finally found the right cheesecloth for the final strain.) And that was only the broth! There was another 15 hours of shopping, prepping and cooking to prepare the ingredients for the soup, including cured and roasted pork belly, sous-vide eggs and marinated bamboo. And I skipped the make-your-own noodles – after that broth, I couldn’t spend another week in the kitchen.

Was it worth it? Hell no. Was it delicious? Better than anything I’ve made in a long time. But next time, I’ll probably made a quicker broth in the Instant Pot (using pork bones and kombu). I did appreciate the cured and roasted pork and I’ll be sous-viding eggs for years to come. But next time, a bowl of ramen won’t take me three weeks to make. In fact, I might just make Momofuku reservations now.

birria as technique

Birria tacos. Snore, right? Yeah, it’s been done before. But I’m not here to talk about birria tacos—although I did do a very deep dive into the subject for EATNOM.

In fact, I thought so much about birria tacos, and made so many birria tacos, that I realized that birria tacos are more than a trendy dish. It’s a technique that home cooks can use to make delicious and easy tacos, with or without the traditional Mexican recipe for long-stewed meat.

The technique is the process of “wetting” the tortilla in some kind of broth, stuffing it with a meat-like filling plus cheese, then grilling or frying it on the stovetop. I found that you can even make these tacos ahead of time and keep them on a low heat in the oven to stay warm.

I’ve now practiced this with a variety of tortillas (corn, flour, even low carb), and a variety of fillings (chicken, beef, pork, tofu). It’s the technique of pan-frying the moistened taco that achieves the crispy exterior and melted cheese phenomenon and that makes birria tacos so, well, delicious—and photogenic.

My go-to recipe is usually a small flour tortilla that I dip in hot chicken broth, stuff with shredded chicken and shredded cheese, then pan-fry on a greased skillet. This is the most basic version and it works with so many different ingredients.

Check it out here:

Give it a try! And let me know how it goes.

everybody's got choices

Choose Your Own Adventure Bowl

The Dilemma: Kids won’t eat tofu. Husband won’t eat beef. I have steak and tofu in the fridge. I don’t want to make chicken.

My Bright Idea: Rice bowls with your choice of protein and veggie add-ons. Choose your own adventure!

The Plan: Cook the tofu how I like it—baked and crispy. See this recipe for a best basic tofu. Make rice in the Instant Pot (see this recipe for the best basic rice.) Pickle some thinly sliced peppers, roast some broccoli and sweet potatoes, sautee some mushrooms, cut up some cucumbers and tomatoes. Make some simple peanut sauce: chunky peanut butter, rice wine vinegar, fish sauce, soy sauce, hot sauce, water. Put it all out in a big dish in the middle of the table.

Variations: Mix and match any proteins or roasted/sauteed/grilled veggies (use leftovers!)—swap rice for quinoa or noodles. Choose a different sauce—like soy sauce/sesame oil or a garlic aioli.

The Verdict: Mostly success! Everyone was able to find something they liked. Mack wound up trying and liking the tofu while Nate stuck with steak/rice. With some hot sauce and a nice dose of the peanut sauce, the bowl of different healthy bites was surprisingly hearty and satisfying.

pasta la vista

I hate making pasta for my family, which is a shame because my family really loves eating pasta. To me, it seems like a lot of pots (ie cleanup) for not enough delicious and/or interesting food. While watching Stanley Tucci’s show about food in Italy, I was introduced to the super pasta pan—a wide saucier that can mix pasta and sauce like a pro. I did my research and came across Serious Eats recommendation for this kind of pan, and of course swiftly purchased the $30 pan. I used it to make carbonara which was delicious.

Then today I was thinking — how can I make pasta ahead of time without a huge cleanup? And then I had an idea—I’ll boil the pasta for 6 minutes and then toss it over low heat with some oil/butter (in my special pasta pan); let it sit and then reheat it (in my special pasta pan) with some of the starchy pasta water. I also reheated some meatballs in sauce (which only one kid likes—which is also part of the pasta problem.)

Success! The pasta was easy to gently reheat in the special pasta pan and was not overdone. After serving the picky eater his plain pasta, I could mix in the sauce. It was a relatively easy cleanup and a very good meal that worked for all of us.

carbonara

Have you seen the Stanley Tucci show? We as a family are enjoying its deep dive into Italian tourism, learning a little about the history of Italy and a lot about certain delicious dishes. Most of all we’ve been inspired to cook and eat pasta!

We started with Rome’s famous carbonara—which I’ve only had a handful of times and always get confused with alfredo, which is totally different. Carbonara is like many of Italy’s dishes, so simple and relies mostly on good ingredients and some technique. I researched the hell out of making it and even bought a pasta-pan (a wide deep saucepan for mixing the pasta with the other ingredients.) Serious Eats’ Daniel Gritzer did the reporting for me in his article which directed me to this amazing pan.

To prepare I also watched some videos—every chef has a slightly different way to combine the simple ingredients. Some drain the guanciale fat and add it back in at the end (or not); some combine the eggs and cheese over the heat; some use only yolks instead of whole eggs. But most agree that the authentic recipe is simply guanciale or pancetta (not bacon), eggs, pecorino (with maybe some parmesan mixed in), and spaghetti.

I went to Battaglia Brothers in Dobbs Ferry for my ingredients and then decided on a mixture of 4 yolks/1 whole egg and about a cup of mostly pecorino with a little parm. I used De Cecco spaghetti and boiled it in salty water, while I cooked the diced pancetta over low heat (no oil or butter—another mandate from the authentic chefs), then transferred it to my new pasta pan to cool. When the pasta was al dente I added it straight to the pasta pan with the pancetta and slowly mixed in the egg/cheese combo, then added a little more pasta-water to loosen it.

It was delicious but a little salty so next time I’ll have to adjust the water’s saltiness and the cheese ratio (maybe more parm .) We devoured it though—rich and creamy with chunks of fatty salty meat. It was definitely a good place to start on our Italy journey. One day may we eat it in Rome.

chicken potpie

I’ve always been curious about chicken potpie. You might even call it a fantasy. That gooey creamy American-midwestern Waspy dish that mom NEVER made. With two sticks (plus) of butter, heavy cream and frozen peas. It had no place in our kitchen when I was growing up. Or to be honest, in my kitchen as an adult. Hence the fantasy I guess.

Scrolling through chicken dishes on the NYT website however—which is yes a pastime these days, sadly—I came across Melissa Clark’s “White Chicken Potpie” recipe and thought—white meat, so it must be healthy. Two and a half sticks of butter later I know otherwise. At the time however it seemed doable, and like a good Sunday project. Michael had given it his casual thumbs up and his enthusiasm got me over the indecision hump.

So I bought the buttermilk (white!) and the chicken (white!) and the leeks (almost white!) and set my sights on Melissa’s recipe.

A couple of hours and too many dishes later, it was too late to turn back, and soon I had chicken potpie, an ultimately foreign dish (to me) which was so so delicious. Yes, it was too much butter and too much cream, and I was already thinking how do I turn this into something healthier next time. I mean, I had trouble lifting the dish out of the oven, it was so heavy.

I called the kids into the kitchen for dinner, and I immediately sensed failure. There were cooked carrots, frozen peas and biscuits—something for everyone to hate. Maybe I should have made those tofu tacos! Did I read enough reviews? My Jew-anxiety was on red alert.

Soon enough Nate had snubbed his nose which triggered Michael to double down on his picky eater issues—”But mom spent two hours making dinner!” which then sent Nate into a tailspin and eventually into his room, punished for not even being willing to try a bite. Mack took one bite and politely asked for a bagel. Michael and I ate our share while Nate was in his room and Mack was solemn. I have to admit though—it was delicious. Decadent, yes, but satisfying, especially the biscuit topping. (I’m a biscuit girl—the highlight of NOLA for me is the biscuits and grits.)

Finally, we let Nate out and gave him a bagel too. There was so much cleanup during which time Michael kindly suggested that we didn’t need to save the leftovers. But of course, I did save them—stashed in the fridge in the garage, ready for me to pull out one day and devour. Perhaps alone. Because no one else deserves to relive the trauma of white chicken potpie. The end.

easy poke

I’m going to tell you a secret—making tuna poke is easier than tuna salad. Seriously. If you can buy some decent raw tuna, you can make this in 4 minutes and it will blow you, and others, away. I made it for the first time from Sam Sifton’s easy recipe but quickly realized it’s basically just raw tuna with some soy sauce and hot sauce. You can throw in some onions, or scallions. Adding a little vinegar or lime juice is nice. A little oil especially sesame oil is great. And then something to add crunch—sesame seeds, crushed nuts, seaweed. You can also add some diced avocado. Taste it and see if you like it. Add salt and pepper. Mix it all up and throw it in the fridge for an hour. You will be happy every time you open the fridge and find that bowl of deliciousness waiting for you. (You can serve it over salad or rice—or just shove some in your mouth as a snack. ) And you’ll have me to thank. You’re welcome.

finally a decent tofu dish

So we’ve been quarantined for…forever now, and I’ve made every recipe you can imagine. In terms of meatless, I’ve enjoyed The New York Times’ tofu with green beans and chili crisp. And their Indian Butter Tofu is incredible but a lot of work. Last night I found a new recipe for Meatless Monday—it’s a sort of sag with tofu and I added roasted cauliflower to it and it was delicious, and healthy and filling! It’s this recipe but I changed it a bit: I sauteed shallots and ginger for 5 minutes then added all the spices. After about a minute, I added baby spinach until it wilted and then pureed that mixture in a food processor. Then I added in roasted cauliflower and the sauteed tofu. See recipe below!

Saag Tofu and Veggies

1 onion, chopped
1 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp tumeric
12-16oz baby spinach
1 package firm tofu
1/2 cup greek plain yogurt mixed with 1/4 tsp cornstarch
Optional: roasted vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, etc.

1. Heat 1 tbsp canola oil in large pot over medium high. When hot, saute chopped onion and minced ginger (or used store-bought minced ginger in a jar). Cook until soft, then add all the spices. Cook for 5 minutes until fragrant, stirring often.

2. Add spinach in bunches. (If pan starts to scorch add a few gulps of chicken broth.) Cook until spinach is all wilted. Add salt and pepper to taste.

3. In the meantime, heat frying pan over high heat and add 1 tbsp canola oil. When hot, add cubed tofu and cook shaking pan until tofu cubes are lightly browned, about 10 minutes.

4. Puree spinach mixture in food processor until smooth. Add back to pot. Then add yogurt-cornstarch mixture and stir. Add browned tofu cubes and taste for salt/pepper seasoning. Optional: add roasted vegetables.

whole30 inspired

So I can’t exactly say that I am doing the whole30 diet but Michael is, which has inspired this week’s pretty awesome menu of dinners. For the most part, we are eating salads and protein (though I’ve had some dairy, bread and a little sugar) but the constrictions of the diet have forced me to try a few recipes that may have otherwise been off my radar. For example…

This Vietnamese Beef Stew (Bo Kho), made with lemongrass, star anise, ginger. It was a lot of work and cooked for three hours but the results were worth it. Rich, buttery beef with bright distinct and unfamiliar flavors of anise and cinnamon. It would be good with rice but we just had it plain—although I have been making cauliflower rice which is really pretty decent. And this week I had some leftover cauliflower rice which I cooked like fried rice (see above), with bacon and a scrambled egg, plus some frozen mini-veggies. Mack loved it.

I also made another Milk Street Magazine recipe, Moqueca, a Brazilian seafood and coconut stew, which was much easier and excellent—creamy and briny, with shrimp and cod. On a side note: Nate has started eating shrimp if I saute it with Old Bay. Mind-blowing. Trying not to get too excited as to scare him off of it but it’s now two in a row and I think it’s here to stay.

Because we are getting sick of Michael’s very good but very much the same every time vinaigrette, I fudged my way through a new recipe with the rest of the coconut milk from the stew and some vinegar, lime, fish sauce and olive oil. It was good, maybe not something I would make again, but a new twist that fit the diet guidelines.

And finally, and most simply, I sous vide some pork chops then finished them on the grill. Next time I would add some kind of sauce but they were good, especially with the fried cauliflower rice and the leftover veggies from this excellent butterflied chicken recipe (which I randomly found online but will definitely make again.)

Tonight we are going with an Eric Ripert recipe: Cod with potatoes in chorizo mussel broth from the New York Times. It looks complicated but delicious and we bought a beautiful piece of cod at today’s very cold outdoor farmer’s market. It’s not a recipe I would normally turn to so I’m grateful for whole30 for the inspiration and parameters, at least for this week. Next week I’d like to get back to bagels and beer.

weekly recap

Sunday: Leftover Jewish-style Brisket with onions and carrots from our Chanukah party: This was a really easy and traditional brisket which turned out delicious. I made it several days ahead of time and warmed it up at 325 for about 45 minutes before we ate it. We also had the remains of our dinner of sous-vide turkey breast with crispy skin, (see above), which I made for Thanksgiving and then remade a few weeks later because it was so good and so easy. The first time around I made a gravy from Mark Bittman, but this time I bought a house-made gravy from Whole Foods and the whole meal was super simple to make. There wasn’t enough crispy skin, however, either time I made it. But still a keeper.

Monday: We made a delicious and healthy veggie miso soup (with cabbage and shiitakes) from the Milk Street Cookbook. I just gave their new book to a friend for Chanukah so I decided to go back and check out the earlier book, which I love. The soup was light, nutritious and a perfect lunch dish, even though we had it for dinner, with some homemade yogurt pizza.

charred sprouts

Tuesday: I returned to the Milk Street cookbook for a Filipino Chicken (marinated and cooked in a vinegar/soy sauce) which was excellent, and I served with (again) the Milk Street Cookbook’s charred brussel sprouts with anchovies and garlic (see above) which were made in a cast iron skillet. White rice on the side to soak up the amazing coconut-milk sauce for the chicken.

Wednesday: I made chicken tacos for the boys and us — which has become quite easy and a good weeknight staple that I can heat up for lunch.

no-sear beef stew

Thursday: The snow day called for stew so we turned to Milk Street—see a theme here? And made their no-sear lamb or beef stew, opting for beef (see above). Skip the lemon juice at the end—otherwise a straightforward recipe for a hearty and warmly spiced stew served with cold yogurt and cilantro. Perfect for a cold night, and doesn’t require much more than some crusty bread and/or a salad.

Friday: I got my first shipment of Fly by Jing chile crisp so I made this excellent recipe from the NYT for Tofu and Green Beans with Chile Crisp. I’ve made it several times before without the green beans and we threw the tofu on a salad or had it with rice for lunch. But the addition of the beans is smart and with some white rice makes a filling meal.

aunt molly's peanut butter balls

These were perhaps the yummiest thing I ate as a child. My great aunt Molly made them every year for our Chanukah parties and all the kids gorged on them, stuffing extras in Tupperwares to being home and make the ecstasy last just a little longer. I had never thought to make them until my cousin Bess posted Molly’s original recipe (see below) on Facebook. Despite the curly cursive and relative measurements, I followed her instructions as written—except for one thing: I left out the paraffin wax. Yup, she fed us wax every December. Instead of wax, I added some canola oil to the chocolate chips and microwaved them in 30 second increments, stirring well in between. I think this is close to “tempering chocolate” which is the modern day replacement for wax (according to Google, at least.) They are incredible—rich, sweet and peanut-buttery, just like I remember them. Mack has already asked if they can all be for him—all 38 balls.

easy chicken tacos "recipe"

Today I needed to flee and drove to Stew Leonard’s for a break from home. Shopped for groceries and then had an ice cream in the freezing cold, and felt somewhat refreshed. That’s what it’s come to.

As we head into our second quarantine, I’m returning to the blog, getting back to writing about all that I’m cooking, and feeling. These days have been rough—stuck at home without much to do, seeing fewer people and now furloughed from work.

Being home has been a lot about cooking, eating, drinking. I’ve covered the world in my food—from Ethiopian Berbere chicken to lasagna to vegetable curry, writing notes in my handy kitchen notebook. Many of the dishes I’ve made have been just for Michael and myself but I’ve also been mastering some family favorites, like chicken tacos—the boys’ new favorites. I’ve got a good go-to recipe for making the chicken filling now, in the Instant Pot. I cook 1-2 pounds of thighs, a packet of taco seasoning, a little salsa and about a cup of chicken broth for 12 minutes (15 if frozen). Then shred the chicken while boiling down the sauce. I return the shredded chicken to the sauce to moisten it but you could also just dump the sauce and keep the chicken as is or add a little bit of the sauce to the shredded chicken.

I keep the chicken in a Tupperware in the fridge for easy lunches: Microwave two tortillas topped with shredded cheese for 30 seconds. Add some chicken and microwave for 30 seconds more. Add whatever toppings you like: guac, sour cream, hot sauce, etc. Then roll it up. It’s a great fast hot lunch for the boys during school days that doesn’t require a lot of cleanup.

Here’s a good video about hot sauces (by Nate)!

cod-tomato curry

I found a recipe in Bon Appetit for a cod curry using cherry tomatoes and made it with some adaptions. I liked it so much that I made it again and again—a rare summer repeat. I also made a few changes along the way (like adding kale) so I finally wrote it down so I would remember it as I like it. it’s a delicious and easy dish for any season and you don’t need fresh tomatoes.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons ghee
2 garlic cloves minced
1 inch piece ginger minced
1/2 jalapeno minced
1 tsp cardamom ground
1 tsp coriander seeds ground
1/2 tsp tumeric
1-2 tsp fish sauce
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can coconut milk
1 bunch tuscan kale blanched for 2 minutes
1 pound cod cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes
1 cup basil leaves torn

Directions

Heat ghee over medium heat add garlic, ginger and pepper for 2 minutes. Add spices cook for 30 seconds. Add fish sauce and canned tomatoes.boil down (adding broth if needed). Add coconut milk and season with salt and pepper. Add kale and cherry tomatoes. Cook for 5-10 minutes or longer until tomatoes explode and flavor is good. Add salt if needed. Add fish and cook for 5 minutes. Add basil.

ziggy's cafe

I have only eaten at one restaurant since March and that was Ziggy’s, the restaurant created for me by my loving family and named after our new rescue dog: Ziggy. As you can see the menu was, um, interesting but the food was excellent and the waitstaff was adorable. I’ll be reserving a table there again whenever it next pops up.

summer picnic at home

One of my favorite meals of the summer was this cold picnic dinner party feast. I made the NYT’s Tandoori-Style Chicken, served cold with some of the unused marinade as a sauce. Then three salads: this Corn-Fregola Salad (from Bon Appetit, without the haloumi but with feta); an amazing Panzanella salad (with anchovies and capers) from the cookbook In Season (by Sarah Raven) and a Zucchini Salad with Herbs, Lemon and Ricotta from Milk Street Magazine.

The joy was making everything ahead of time and just leaving out on a table (indoors) until we were ready to help ourselves and eat (outdoors).

more chicken!

Has anyone seen Padma’s new show on Hulu? It’s pretty good, though very earnest. I think it’s a great fit for kids and I forced my kids to watch one episode—the second one about German food in Milwaukee, and as a result they learned a bit about their heritage (they are 1/4 German) and we made schnitzel ! I had made schnitzel before but I usually relied on a less authentic, more gourmet recipe—think Panko and butter instead of bread crumbs and canola oil. But this time I did it for real—pounded the shit out of chicken breasts then coated in the lightly seasoned flour, egg wash, store-bought bread crumbs then fried in an inch of oil (at 350 degrees) for about 2-4 minutes. The trick is not to over-bread or push the crumbs into the meat—just a light coating and hot oil. And the apparently traditional highlight—a poached egg on top! I have to say, they were a huge hit. Tasty and satisfying. I served with lemon wedges, pureed cauliflower and coleslaw and the kids said it was the best dinner of the pandemic.