Category: Food
Lemon-Turmeric Crinkle Cookies-Eric Does It Again

Lemon-Turmeric Crinkle Cookies-Eric Does It Again

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After I recover from the Thanksgiving turkey-stuffing, sweet potato casserole, and pumpkin pie extravaganza, I crank up the Christmas music, which I play until New Year’s Day (yes, I am that obnoxious person who LOVES Christmas music).  I watch The Holiday, in place of Santa Clause (the kids are all grown up now), and patiently wait for…

COOKIE WEEK

Yep, a week’s worth of holiday cookies created by NYTcooking culinary stars like Melissa Clark, Sue Li, Yewande Komolafe, Claire Saffitz, Sue Li, Sohla El-Waylly, and my two favorites, Vaughn Vreeland and Eric Kim.  I peruse the cookies quickly and note which ones I want to try.  Top of the list is usually Eric’s holiday cookie.  For a guy who did not start as a baker, he has a knack for creating the perfect holiday cookie every year.  My favorites, which I have rave about all the time include:

Eric’s Grocery Store Cookie – The supermarket, sprinkle-laden, tooth-achingly sweet Lofthouse Cookie revamped.  Imagine a tender, buttery, not-too-sweet cookie slathered with a buttercream frosting flavored with freeze-dried berries and sprinkles.  The LOFTIER  version of that supermarket cookie.

See that bad boi with the hot pink frosting? Yep, Eric’s Grocery Store Cookie

Gochujang Caramel Cookies – A crisp-edged, chewy-center sugar cookie swirled with sweet & spicy Gochujang (a Korean staple). So damn good.

Matcha Latte Cookie – Make a matcha latte, snap your fingers like Mary Poppins, and turn it into a cookie, that’s this delightful bite. The milk-based frosting is icing on the proverbial cookie, amazing.

And this year, he does it again with his

Lemon-Tumeric Crinkle Cookies

Are you scratching your head?  Thinking what?  The combination of lemon and turmeric works so well.  Eric describes it as “it tastes kinda like Fruit Loops” and I would agree.  The turmeric adds a floral twist to the lemon.  It also adds a vibrant rosy orange hue to the cookie which is simply gorgeous. It is such a pretty cookie with the rosy orange cookie peeking out from under the coat of powdered sugar characteristic of crinkle cookies. Makes me happy.

Let’s Get to the Good Part:  The Cookie

Ok, this is a cakey cookie.  After letting the cookies cool on a rack, I took my first bite…yep, cakey cookie.  In full transparency…not my favorite kind of cookie, give me a good shortbread cookie and I am a happy camper.  But I brought the cookies to a holiday party and they were GOBBLED up.  Folks loved the cookie’s festive color and nuanced flavor.

Meanwhile, a few days later, I grabbed one of the cookies to go with a cuppa tea and immediately remarked to the hubs, “This cookie is better today than the first day”.  The cookies were less cakey, moister, and still very flavorful.  The texture was much more to my liking.  So, note to self.  Make these cookies and squirrel away a couple to munch on a few days later.  Genius.

Pro Tip for Eric’s Cookies

Optimally, make these cookies by hand.  I’ve learned that my Kitchen Aide stand mixer can be a detriment. It’s much too easy to overbeat cookies and cakes when using one.  At the same time, hand-whisking for one minute, isn’t all that easy, lol. SOLUTION: If you don’t want to mix by hand, get a hand mixer!  I did,  it’s a Christmas present from my kids and hubby (although they don’t know yet, shhh).  Make sure to bring the cream cheese to room temp, much easier to beat by hand.

Turmeric

If you aren’t familiar with turmeric, it is a spice in the ginger family. It is widely used and can be found at most grocery stores, especially in Indian and Middle Eastern stores.  Bonus, we are looking at a win-win, turmeric is an anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory.  It may help with arthritis and other joint disorders, colitis, allergies, and infections.  So this is guilt-free cookie consumption if you ask me.

Word of warning, the downside of turmeric’s brilliant color is that it stains.  Avoid getting it on your clothes or counters!

If you have NYTCooking, a video of Eric making these cookies is on their site on YouTube.

Instead of butter, the cookie is made with cream cheese and olive oil.  I love the use of olive oil in baked goods which is saying a lot, I am a BUTTERvangelical, lol.  I made the dough and refrigerated it overnight.  It was still fairly soft and easy to scoop.  Use a #40 or #50 scoop to portion out the dough.  Roll dough balls in powdered sugar,  you want a generous coat of sugar on each one.  During the bake, start checking the cookies at 12 minutes, especially if using a #50 scoop (less dough).  Allow cookies to cool on a rack, store in an airtight container, and place wax paper in between each layer of cookies.

If you are looking for something different but delicious, include the Lemon-Turmeric Crinkle Cookies on your holiday cookie list.

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5 from 1 vote

Lemon-Turmeric Crinkle Cookie

Another winner from Eric Kim for this year's Cookie Week from NYTCooking. Lemon-Turmeric Crinkle Cookie. Made with cream cheese abd olive oil, spiced with turmeric and lemon, it's tender, cakey and delicious.
Course cookies, Dessert
Cuisine Asian-American
Keyword cookie week, cookies, ERic KIm, holiday baking, holiday cookies, lemon-turmeric crinkle cookie, NYT Cooking
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes

Ingredients

Creamed Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
  • ¾ cup granulated sugar 150 grams
  • 2 tablespoons lemon zest from about 2 lemons
  • 4 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
  • 1 large egg at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
  • ¾ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon coarse kosher salt or fine salt

Dry Ingredient

  • 1½ cups all-purpose flour 192 grams

Coating

  • ¾ cup powdered sugar 92 grams

Instructions

  • In a large bowl, whisk together oil and turmeric until combined. Let sit for about 30 seconds to let turmeric dissolve. Add sugar, lemon zest, cream cheese, egg and vanilla. Vigorously whisk to combine and aerate the mixture, about 1 minute.
  • Whisk in baking soda and salt. Add flour, then switch to a rubber spatula and stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate dough until hard enough to scoop, about 30 minutes and up to 24 hours.
  • Heat the oven to 350 degrees and line a couple of baking sheets with parchment. Using a 1½-tablespoon cookie scoop (or two spoons) and working one at a time, scoop out 1½-inch/29-gram rounds and coat them in powdered sugar. Place them a couple of inches apart on the baking sheets and bake until crinkled and no longer wet-looking on top, 15 to 17 minutes. Let cool completely on the pan before eating.

Notes

To make ahead, prepare cookies then scoop out 1½-tablespoon rounds and set them in a single layer in a resealable container. Freeze the dough, covered, for up to 1 month. When ready to bake, coat frozen dough balls in powdered sugar and bake, adding 1 to 2 minutes as needed.
I prefer weights when baking but without a scale, I would use the scoop and sweep method. Don't pack down your flour.
I’m Gonna Shoyu a New Chocolate Chip Cookie

I’m Gonna Shoyu a New Chocolate Chip Cookie

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I know you all know I am a city girl at heart.  Give me skyscrapers, bridges, cars, museums, and bright lights any day.  Not that I don’t appreciate mountains, forests, and nature, but I prefer the urban jungle.  Whenever we get the chance, we head into The City for the day, Chinatown, the Ferry Building, and Hayes Valley are my favorite areas to wander around.  There is always something going on.  Last weekend we headed to the City for the Hallyu exhibit at the Asian Art Museum.  A look at Korean culture & K-Pop that has taken the world by storm. (Check out my video on IG, for a glimpse at the exhibit).

Lucky for us, the Asian Art Museum also hosted its annual Artisan Fair that weekend.  They had a variety of vendors including crafters, cosmetics, books, and food.  I rarely leave empty-handed.  One of my favorites is the Taiwanese soy sauce from Liv Cook Eat.  Brewed with black soybeans, these soy sauces are sweeter with a nice rounded flavor.  We are hooked on both their Finishing Soy and Delicate Soy.  They’re a bit pricy but we are worth the splurge. LOL.  Next to the soy sauce sat a row of  Soy Sauce Infused Chocolate Chip Cookies by Eating with Edmund.  You know I had to try one.  The cookies were delightful, crispy-edged, buttery, and chocolatey. The flavor was nuanced and subtle.  It leaves you wondering, what is that mellowness in this cookie?  I think it’s the soy sauce.

Soy Sauce Me Up

Soy Sauce:  This is a classic chocolate chip cookie with a tweak, the soy sauce.  Although any soy sauce would work there are distinct differences between soy sauces.  Liv Eat Cook is Taiwanese and is made with black soybeans. It has a richer, rounder flavor than soy sauce made in China or Hong Kong.  It usually has sugar which makes it a touch sweeter.  Chinese Soy Sauces generally have more sodium, so a bit saltier.  Use Dark Chinese Soy Sauce (Lao Chou) which is less salty than the light soy sauce and has a touch of molasses as a sub.  Japanese soy sauces are generally lighter, and a touch sweeter.  I assume that would be fine. Tamari would work also.

Flour:  The OG Cookie from Eating with Edmund was soft and delicate.  I increased the flour by 10% (330 grams) for a sturdier cookie.  If I browned the butter, I would use his original 300gms of flour since moisture is lost when browning butter.  Browned butter would give the cookies a nice toasty flavor, worth a try.  I used King Arthur flour AP which has a higher protein content than Gold Medal. If using GM flour I would increase the amount of flour by 5-10%.

Sugar: Light or dark brown sugar will work.  I used light brown sugar.

Chocolate:  Chocolate chips can be used but I prefer chopping up a bar.  Mainly for presentation, different-sized & shaped pieces seem to look better. Reserve enough pieces to be pressed into the surface of each dough ball right before baking.  Puddles of chocolate on the surface of each cookie, a nice look.

Toffee:  Toffee and soy sauce complement each other.  I used TJ’s Toffee Bars, chopped into pieces for 1/2 of the chocolate.  Delish.

Bang-a-Pan;   A couple of minutes before the cookies finish baking, rap the pan to deflate the cookies to create ridges. Optional.

The Swirl:  Chocolate pieces, toffee, and marshmallows tend to melt and ooze creating funny-shaped cookies.  No worries, invest in a 3-4 inch round cookie cutter (or a glass will work too).  As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, place your round cutter over those cookies and swirl, voila’ perfectly round cookies. Of course, if you don’t mind them not being perfectly round…skip this step!

The Finish:  I love finishing these cookies with a sprinkle of flaked salt like Maldon.

Enjoy!

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Soy Sauce Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Eating with Edmund, Soy Sauce Chocolate Chip Cookies. Buttery, crisp, delicious chocolate chip cookies with a soy sauce twist.
Course cookies, desserts
Cuisine Asian-American
Keyword chocolate chip cookie, soy sauce, soy sauce chocolate chip cookies
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes

Ingredients

Creamed Mixture

  • 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar 150 grams
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar 165 grams
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 tablespoons Liv Cook Eat Finishing Dark Soy Sauce or your favorite dark soy sauce
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract optional

Dry Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I use King Arthur Flour) 300 grams
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Adds

  • 1 cup bittersweet dark chocolate chips, chunks, or chopped
  • 1/2 cup Chocolate Toffee bar, I use TJ chocolate toffee chopped, sustitute for 1/2 cup of the chocolate chips (optional)
  • Sea salt flakes like Maldon for sprinkling on cookies

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 375F and line baking sheet with parchment paper
  • In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda and set aside
  • In a separate bowl cream together the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, soy sauce, and (optional) almond extract
  • Add eggs one at a time to the wet mixture and cream together
  • Add 1/3 of the dry mix into the wet at a time and fold together. With the last third of the dry mix, add in the chocolate & toffee if using. Tip: Careful not to overmix or you’ll end up with tough cookies. You can be a tough cookie, but don't want to eat one.
  • Use a medium cookie scoop (#40) or ~roll 2 tablespoons of cookie dough into balls with spoons and place on a lined baking sheet, min of 2 inches apart
  • Bake at 375F for 8-10 minutes
  • Remove from oven, sprinkle with flaked salt and swirl with cookie cutters to bring them into round.

Notes

Suggestions for best results with more complex flavors and textures:
Chop bars of baking chocolate into chunks
The varying sizes of the chocolate chunks and flakes incorporated into the cookie make every bite unique
Brown the butter ahead of time! Melt the butter in a small pot until it turns a deep amber color. Stir and scrape the bottom/sides constantly to incorporate the milk solids. Let cool and solidify to room temp
The browned butter makes for a nuttier, more complex flavor profile
Chewy Brownie Cookies CTT-Cookie Testing Time

Chewy Brownie Cookies CTT-Cookie Testing Time

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The weather has taken a definite turn so I am pivoting from stress cooking to cookie baking.   It’s windy, cold, and wet, it’s time to crank up the oven and test a few cookie recipes.  Which new cookie will reign supreme and star in this year’s holiday cookie box?  I usually don’t start this early, generally opting to wait for NYTcooking to publish their holiday cookie spread, but a couple of recipes caught my eye, a Chewy Brownie Cookie and a Soy Sauce Chocolate Chip Cookie.  I thought to myself, I might as well start now.

Let the Cookie Games Begin

The first one that caught my eye is from New York Times Cooking, Vaughan Vreeland’s Chewy Brownie Cookies.  Before I sing the praises of this cookie, have you all watched any of Vaughan’s videos? They’re not only instructive but entertaining and downright hilarious.  Check out his wedding cake video, a classic.

The Cookie Lowdown

The cookie batter comes together quickly and is baked right after it is made to achieve the shiny tops.  It’s best to have everything ready before you start combining and mixing the ingredients.  Mise en place pays here.

Measure and pour flour into a small bowl. Set aside.

Chocolate:  Use your favorite chocolate.  I like Guittard’s Semi-sweet chocolate.  For serious chocolate folks, bittersweet would give a more intense, less sweet cookie.

Cocoa Powder:  I don’t think it matters what cocoa powder dutch-processed or natural will work.  King Arthur’s Triple Cocoa Powder combines Dutch-process, natural, and black cocoa and can be used in recipes that call for either.  My default.

Espresso Powder:  

For the first batch, I used King Arthur’s espresso powder and you could taste the coffee.  I used Medaglia d’Oro for a second batch and could not taste any coffee.  Although the intent is for the espresso powder to enhance the chocolate flavor, I liked the flavor the King Arthur espresso powder added to the cookie.

Once the butter is melted, remove the pan from the heat and add the chocolate, espresso, and cocoa powder into the saucepan.  Let it sit a couple of minutes to melt the chocolate then stir until smooth.

Eggs:  Bring the eggs to room temperature to maximize the air bubbles.  There aren’t any leavening agents so it’s the eggs that provide lift.  Whisk the eggs and sugars together, increase the mixer speed to medium-high, and beat for 3-5 minutes until light and ribbony.  Whisk in the vanilla, then reduce the mixer speed to low  and slowly add the chocolate mixture.  Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.  Beat until well blended.  Add flour and mix until only a few streaks of flour are showing.  Finish folding the flour into the batter by hand to avoid over beating.

Working quickly, plop batter onto a parchment-lined baking sheet using a #40 scoop.  Leave 2 inches between each cookie.  Bake at 350 degrees.  At the 8-minute mark take the sheet out and rap on the counter to create the crackle pattern on the cookies.  Sprinkle flaky salt, like Maldon, on each cookie and return the sheet to the oven for an additional 2- 3 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack.

With crisp edges, a gooey center, and chocolate flavor throughout, this Chewy Chocolate Brownie Cookie is a winner and so deserves a spot on the holiday cookie list. 🎄🎄🎄

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Chewy Brownie Cookies

Chewy Brownie CookiesBy Vaughn Vreeland, NYTCooking
Course cookies
Cuisine American
Keyword chewy, chocolate brownies, chocolate cookies, NYTcooking
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 12 minutes

Ingredients

Chocolate MIxture

  • ¾ cup finely chopped semisweet or bittersweet chocolate (113 grams)
  • ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (42 grams)
  • 1 teaspoon espresso powder
  • ½ cup unsalted butter (113 grams)

Whisked Mixture

  • 2 large eggs at room temperature
  • ¾ cup granulated sugar (150 grams)
  • ½ cup packed dark brown sugar (107 grams)
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Dry Ingredients:

  • ¾ cup all-purpose flour (90 grams)
  • Flaky sea salt for finishing

Instructions

  • Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
  • Melt butter in a skillet or saucepan over medium-low heat until bubbly but not browned, about 3 minutes. Remove saucepan from heat and add chopped chocolate, cocoa powder and espresso over the chocolate mixture. Without stirring, let the mixture sit so the residual heat can melt the chocolate thoroughly while you whip the eggs and sugar. Stir and set aside.
  • Put the eggs, both sugars and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. (If using a hand mixer, a large bowl will do.) Whisk on medium-high speed until the mixture is pillowy and the sugars have begun to dissolve, 3 to 5 minutes.
  • Stir the chocolate mixture until glossy and smooth. (If any solid pieces of chocolate remain, you can microwave the mixture in 10-second bursts until everything is melted.)
  • With the mixer on low speed, add the vanilla extract and then the chocolate mixture. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure the chocolate is evenly distributed, then add the flour and mix on low speed until only a few streaks of flour remain. To avoid overmixing, use a spatula to finish folding in the flour. The dough should be glossy and resemble a very thick brownie batter.
  • Using a 2-tablespoon/1-ounce scoop, scoop a heaping amount of the dough into mounds directly onto the parchment-lined baking sheets, with each portion at least 2 inches apart, yielding about 18 cookies. Work quickly to ensure the cookies stay shiny once baked.
  • Bake for 8 minutes until the cookies have started to spread and take on a shiny outer surface, then remove the pans from the oven and whack them on the countertop a couple times to create a cragged top. (This also helps create a fudgier consistency.) Top with flaky sea salt and return to the oven to finish baking, for another 2 minutes until shiny and slightly puffed. Cool for a couple minutes directly on the baking sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Cincinnati Chili Udon Want to Pass Up

Cincinnati Chili Udon Want to Pass Up

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I don’t hide my political views very well…and I don’t try to.  You googled a recipe and my blog popped up (probably Mochi Muffins, lol) and here you are.  My blog is mostly about food, a little about travel, and the occasional musing on sports, my family, and politics.

Try Not to Skip to the Good Part

Well, you can skip to the recipe with the button above, or take a couple of minutes to read the next paragraph to get to know me and what I believe in.  If you supported he who shall not be named, skip to the recipe.  America just elected a narcissistic, unqualified, amoral, grifter as president of our country, for the second time.  An anti-woke platform that, when you think about it, says, if you don’t look like me, live your life like me, you can’t have a seat at the table because it is only for folks like me.  I am incredulous, depressed, and angry.  Enabled by a cast of bad players, sycophants, and opportunists who care only about power and money, he rides into office intent on destroying democracy.  Once again my hopes of an eminently qualified, lifelong public servant, compassionate WOMAN president were crushed.  We had 3 months of joy, sanity, normalcy, million-dollar smiles, and hope with her and Gov Walz’s campaign.  Now we can only dream of what might have been.

What’s Your Self-Care?

I confess, I go to Cookbook signings, like Kristina’s in Brooklyn!

And I go to cookbook author signings, like Kristina's in Brooklyn!

So, as I think about my next steps as part of the resistance, I turn to doing things that make me feel better and relieve stress.  What do you do? Crafts? Ceramics? Sports? Blog? (lol) I row and play tennis, which helps me keep sane.  And of course, I cook and bake.  Times like now I turn to childhood favorites and dishes that are warm and homey, comfort food to get me through.

Kristina Cho, author of Mooncakes and Milk Bread, and Chinese Enough (highly recommend both her books), posted a recipe for Cincinnati Chili Udon.  I imagine as a native of Cincinnati, Skyline (Cincinnati) Chili is the very definition of comfort food for her.  Her’s has the warm, tart -sweet flavors of Cincinnati Chili from cinnamon and vinegar but then she adds Harissa for spiciness and finishes with soy sauce for an Asian twist.  She serves the chili over Japanese udon noodles topped with an egg yolk and cheese.   It’s delicious.

Prep Time < Cook Time

The chili takes 90 minutes to cook but most of that time is spent simmering on the stove.  While it simmers, kick your feet up, eat bonbons, anything that makes you feel better.  You deserve it.

Get your seasonings together.  I used TJ’s Harissa paste instead of powder.  Dice onions and mince garlic and saute until lightly brown. Add ground beef and cook until the meat loses its pink color.  Use ground beef that is 15 -20 percent fat, a happy medium for flavor and moisture.  Add your seasonings and water and simmer.  The sauce is ready when it has reduced by about half.  It will look thick and rich and smell incredible.

Top with cheese and the “takes it to another level” egg yolk.  Garnish with green onions and serve immediately.  Mix the egg yolk into the sauce and noodles to give it a silky creamy finish.

It’s delicious served over udon noodles but I think it would be equally yummy over a bowl of rice or as a topping for roasted sweet potatoes.  The chili reminded me of the Afghani dish, Kadoo, cooked pumpkin topped with a meat sauce and yogurt.  Kristina’s Cincinnati Chili with its warm Mediterranean spices would be a perfect stand-in for the meat sauce as would sweet potato for pumpkin.  I’m currently obsessed with Japanese sweet potatoes-indescribably delicious.

So make this chili, throw it over whatever you like, curl up on your sofa, and watch a classic Rom-Com, or maybe a silly, mushy Hallmark holiday movie.  Rest up, the resistance begins tomorrow.

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Cincinnati Chili Udon

A delicious riff on Cincinatti Chili (Skyline Chili) from Kristina Cho
Course dinner, lunch
Cuisine American, Asian-American
Keyword chili, Cincinnati chili
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

Sauce

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion minced
  • 4 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 lb ground beef 80/20 fat
  • 3 tbsp tomato paste
  • 6 cups water
  • 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Seasonings

  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tsp coarse salt
  • 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp harissa powder substitute harissa paste 1:1
  • 3/4 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/2 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/2 tsp sugar
  • 2 bay leaves

Finished Dish

  • 4 bundles of frozen udon
  • 4 egg yolks
  • Cheddar cheese shredded
  • Green onions thinly sliced, for topping

Instructions

  • In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, cook while stirring occasionally until starting to brown, 4 to 5 minutes.
  • Add the beef and break up the meat into smaller clumps with the edge of a spatula. Continue to cook until the meat is no longer pink, 4 to 6 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes.
  • Add the water, apple cider vinegar, and soy sauce and bring to a simmer. Add salt, cinnamon, black pepper, harissa, cumin, cloves, sugar, and bay leaves. Stir to blend.
  • Reduce the heat to medium low to maintain a gentle simmer. Cover with lid but leave a gap for steam and allow the chili to simmer until thickened and reduced by about half, stirring occasionally, 60 to 90 minutes. Allow the chili to cook for a few minutes before serving.
  • Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the udon to warm through (frozen udon is already cooked). Strain the water and divide the noodles between bowls.
  • Top the noodles with chili and add an egg yolk to the center. Sprinkle on cheese and green onions. Toss the noodles to mix the cheese and egg yolk with the chili.

Notes

Serves 4
Easy Peasy Curry Chicken

Easy Peasy Curry Chicken

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One of my favorite “cheats” are the Japanese curry blocks found in most Asian markets.  These little blocks contain the spices and flavorings plus a thickener to make a Japanese-style curry.  It’s an easy weeknight meal that comes together in 20-60 minutes depending on your protein.  These curry blocks are so good you’ll find them in cookbook recipes and most Japanese restaurants, yep.  They add their little tweaks but really, you don’t have to add anything, just follow the instructions on the box, and boom, with minimal work and time, your family will be sitting down to a warm, comforting bowl of curry and rice.

So, Why a Recipe?

Well, someone’s gotta tell you these curry blocks are out there!  There are quite a few brands out there and many come in varying degrees of spiciness, mild, hot… Serious Easts does a deep dive on the different brands, here it is Deep Dive Curry.  Experiment and find the one you like best.  My kids make curry all the time.  That’s how easy it is.

Variations on a Curry

Needless to say, tweak this recipe as you wish.  I often make this with pork.  Ivan Orkin of Ivan Ramen fame has a recipe for a delicious Pork Curry.  Calls for braising chunks of pork in a broth and then adding the curry blocks.  He finishes his curry with honey and milk. To cut the cooking time, use an instant pot to cook the pork.  Instead of 2 hours on the stove, 30-40 minutes in the instant pot should do it.

Add more veggies!  I throw in an additional 2 cups of veggies into my curry. Don’t worry about the curry sauce, there will be plenty.  Cauliflower and bell peppers come to mind first, then squash like zucchini or kaboucha would be yummy.

Looking for a Thai Curry?  The Thai equivalent to Japanese curry blocks are curry pastes in little tubs.  My favorite brand is Mae Ploy, and it comes in an array- red, green, Massaman.  A previous post on curry pastes and a recipe for a flavorful Thai curry made in an Instant Pot is one of my favorites.

So, go get yourself some curry blocks or curry pastes, make your curry,  cook one big pot rice, and spoon it into your favorite bowl.  Eat while curled up on your sofa watching your favorite Hallmark Christmas Movie (yes they are already out), or K-drama (Goblin or My Dearest), or C-drama (Double or Princess Royale).  This is part of your self-care, after all, we could all use some comfort right now.

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5 from 1 vote

Curry Chicken

Curry Chicken, a one pot meal, perfect for the cooler weather. Japanese Curry blocks make this a snap to make.
Course dinner
Cuisine Asian
Keyword 3jamigos.com, Chicken, chicken curry, curry, easy recipe, japanese curry, one pot meal
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 6 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs ~2 lb or 6-7 pieces
  • ½ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 slices ginger
  • 2 small yellow onions 1 lb, 454 g
  • 1-2 Yukon gold potatoes, peeled 6.5 oz, 184 g
  • 3 carrots, peeled 4 oz, 113 g
  • ¼ cup green peas 1.3 oz, 36 g
  • 2 Tbsp neutral oil for cooking

Optional but highly recommended

  • 1-2 cups Your favorite veggies, there will be plenty of sauce to acommodate more veggies. Cut to similar size of other veggies bell peppers, cauliflower!!, squash, celery

Curry Sauce

  • ¼ cup sake
  • 2 cups chicken stock/broth or use vegetable stock low salt or 2.5 cups with 2 tsp chicken powder
  • ½ cup water add more if needed
  • ½ package Japanese curry roux 3.5–4.2 oz, 100–120 g; I like thwe OG S&B brand
  • 1 Tbsp mirin
  • 1 Tbsp soy sauce

Instructions

Prep Ingredients

  • Prick skin of 6 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs or 3 whole legs split with the tip of your knife (so the flavors will penetrate the skin). Cut off the excess fat with a pair of scissors (or knife).
  • Season the chicken with ½ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper on both sides.
  • Cut onions into wedges. The wedge cut adds more texture; however, you can also thinly slice or dice.
  • Peel and cut  Yukon gold potato into 8 pieces.
  • Peel and cut carrots into bite-size pieces. Additional veggies can also be cut into bite-sized pieces. Set aside the vegetables on a tray or plate.

Making the Curry

  • In a large pot (I use a Dutch oven), heat 1 Tbsp neutral oil on medium-high heat. When it’s hot, sear the chicken on the skin side first. Do not crowd the pan to avoid steaming the chicken and cook in batches if necessary.
  • Flip the chicken and cook the other side for 2 minutes and then transfer to a plate until the rest is done.
  • Add the onion to the pot and coat with the oil using a wooden spoon/spatula. If there is not enough oil, add ½–1 Tbsp more oil.
  • Add ginger slices and sauté, stirring occasionally, until the onions are tender. If the burnt spots on the bottom of the pot need some scraping, you can add sake here (instead of the next step) to loosen them up.
  • Add the chicken back into the pot and add ¼ cup sake.
  • Add 2 cups chicken stock/broth and ½ cup water, or water plus chicken powder just enough to almost cover the chicken. If you use a larger pot, it may not cover, so please adjust the amount of stock/water. This is not a soupy curry, so we do not need much liquid.
  • Cover the lid and bring it to a simmer. When simmering, skim the scum and foam with a fine-mesh skimmer.
  • Cook covered on low heat for 40 minutes.
  • Add the carrots, potatoes, and any other veggies you like, make sure they are submerged in the cooking liquid. Options include bell peppers and cauliflower or squash
  • Cook covered until they are tender, about 15 minutes.
  • Turn off the heat and dissolve ½ package Japanese curry roux, one cube at a time in a ladleful of hot broth. When the first cube is dissolved, release it to the broth and mix gently without breaking the tender vegetables. Repeat the process until you finish dissolving all the roux.
  • Add 1 Tbsp mirin and 1 Tbsp soy sauce. Mix all together and check the taste. You can add water to loosen the curry if it's too thick. Add 2 Tbsp water. Add more water, if necessary to control the consistency of the curry here. The sauce should be pretty thick though.
  • Add ¼ cup green peas and cook for another minute. Serve the curry with steamed rice.

Notes

Variations:  In place of chicken pork (shoulder or butt cut into bite-sized pieces) that has been simmered until fairly tender before making curry.
In place of mirin and soy sauce: 1-2 tablespoons honey and 1/4 cup milk (added at the end so it doesn't curdle)
Not Japanese but you could add 1/2 cup of coconut milk 
In the Big Apple, Dim Sum & Then Some…Levain Chocolate Chip Cookies

In the Big Apple, Dim Sum & Then Some…Levain Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Yay. Back to my second favorite city in the world…New York.  In the immoral words of Tony Bennett, I left my heart in San Francisco and it will always be first.  But wow, New York, I love you.  Every time I return to this amazing city I am in awe of its energy.  The number of people that converge to live, work and play in Manhattan, all at the same time, is intimidating but oh so amazing.  Blaring horns, wailing sirens, screeching tires, rumbling subways trains, people yelling, music playing, dogs barking, the sounds of vibrant, urban life.

Home Away From Home

We are staying in LES (Lower Eastside) which exemplifies NYC.  We are within walking distance of neighborhoods that represent every economic strata.  Much like San Francisco, it is not unusual to walk a couple of blocks in any direction and see, homeless folks on the streets, millennials with their backpacks or totes making their way to the FiDi, the down and out struggling with addiction, to folks decked out in designer wear enjoying a latte and 8 dollar croissant.

The Daily Grind

We walk Moose to Chinatown to pick up breakfast, rice roll noodles filled with bbq pork and veggies, slathered with chili oil, peanut sauce, and hoisin.  Sitting on a stoop we wash it down with Milk Tea.  The next morning a walk down Ludlow finds us at my favorite spot, BBF. I pick up a coffee and an onigiri (a generous, warm ball of rice topped with pork belly or mushrooms). Our daily walks, navigating the streets through the LES, Chinatown, Ukranian Village, and Little Italy, are all reminiscent of growing up in San Francisco.

Left top corner BBQ Pork Pineapple & Siu Mai Bun Mei Lai Wah 🥟🥟 🥟 🥟 Clockwise dim sum assortment from Royal Seafood, Big Chicken Bun Royal again 🥟🥟 🥟

I LOVE it.  Faced daily with the spectrum of life, good and bad, keeps me somewhat grounded.  I am keenly aware of how lucky I am to enjoy a life built by the hard work and struggles of those who came before me.  Dad, a Paper Son, came to this country at 16.  Gung Gung left his family in China looking for a way to support them.  Mom, the eldest of 6 kids, started her hair salon at 17 but continued to study to become a businesswoman and real estate broker.  All their hard work focused on the future and a better life.

In Search Of…

We headed to midtown today, in search of shoes.  In particular, Hokas. I have developed plantar fasciitis, so to keep doing what I love best in Manhattan, WALK.  I am searching for new shoes. Plus I can hardly shirk my Moose-walking duties since that is my “excuse” for spending time in the Big Apple.  Mission accomplished, my foot feels infinitely better in my new shoes.  This calls for a celebration…we head to the nearest Levain Bakery for one of their scrumdidilyumptious chocolate chip cookies.

On our last visit we sampled CCC in NYC, so you wouldn’t have to (tough job, somebody’s got to do it).  Our winners included Levain’s, best described as a ginormous chocolate-filled, scone-like warm cookie, and Jacques Torres’s, classic CCC and oh-so-delicious. Not surprisingly, the chocolate in his cookies is amazing.

Levain Blueberry Muffin 🥟🥟 🥟 🥟 Chocolate Chip Cookie 🥟🥟 🥟 🥟 +

The hubs tried Levain’s popular Blueberry Muffin to compare it to Hummingbird’s version, which we make at home, and honestly, our homemade one is just as good if not better.  This got me thinking, is there a recipe out there for Levain’s CCC to try so I could avoid spending 5 dollars for a cookie, lol?

Pancake Princess to the Rescue

I turned to a favorite site, Princess Princess to search for a Levain knock-off.  Not familiar with Pancake Princess?  Best described as a one-woman version of America’s Test Kitchen.  She will test a slew of different recipes, in this case, Levain CCC knock-offs, and invite tasters to help her select the best of the bunch.  Her top two included Stella Parks’s from Serious Eats, and one from Hijabs and Aprons.  I perused both and decided to try Hijabs and Aprons as they looked easier and did not require resting the dough for 12 hours before baking (total dealbreaker).

It’s a good thing I picked the simpler recipe…rummaging through our home away from home kitchen, I found a gorgeous red ceramic bowl, one big spoon and a rubber spatula, a small cookie sheet, and a tiny (almost worthless) whisk.  I get the feeling very little baking goes on here.

Tips for Baking in a Tiny, No Baking Tools Kitchen

Here we go, I made sure my butter was room temp soft but not melty since I only had a spoon. Then, ran downstairs for Guittard chocolate chips (ya gotta have decent chips), a tiny bag of Gold Medal AP Flour (4 dollars!), vanilla extract, and dove in.

Muscle through beating the butter and sugars (unless you are lucky enough to have a mixer handy in which case, don’t overbeat),  Add eggs and vanilla, then sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt over the creamed mixture.  Fold the dry ingredients in and add chocolate chips and nuts last.  Voila’ that’s it. It took significantly longer than if I had a mixer but I got an arm workout, yay. Use classic chocolate chips, not chunks, and don’t bother cutting up a chocolate bar.  These cookies depend on a nice, even distribution of chips throughout the cookie.

The OG cookies call for walnuts but feel free to use pecans or another nut.  If you like that tannic bite from walnuts, don’t substitute.  Best to make these cookies as directed, BIG, 5-6 ounces of dough.  The cookies will be crisp with browned edges on the outside but moist and buttery on the inside.  You can make them smaller but the difference between the exterior and interior won’t be as pronounced.

When scooping out dough, don’t smooth the dough into a ball.  The craggy edges give the cookie character so plop the dough on the sheet, and keep the overall shape round.

Bake until the edges are a nice deep golden brown.  Serve WARM, really, so much better warm and gooey.  I zap next-day cookies in the microwave for a few seconds to warm them up before eating.

These easy-to-make cookies will satisfy your Levain CCC craving anytime!

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Levain Style Chocolate Chip Coookies with Walnuts

From Hijabs & Aprons, a delicious Chocolate Chip Cookie that comes oh so close to Levain's famous Chocolate Chip Cookies with Walnuts.
Course cookies, desserts
Cuisine American
Keyword chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chips, Levain Bakery
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 16 minutes
Servings 8 cookies

Ingredients

  • ½ cup butter, slightly softened 112g
  • 1 cup light brown sugar 200g
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar 50g
  • 2 eggs cold
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2½ cups all-purpose flour, sifted 300g. (Gold Medal works)
  • 1½ tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp fine sea salt or 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 2 cups walnuts, roughly chopped 250g , if omitting walnuts, you can add roughly 50g extra AP flour
  • 2 cups dark chocolate chips 325g Use a dark or semi-sweet that you like, I like Guittard’s chips

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 375ºF. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
  • In a medium sized bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
  • Beat the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until creamy smooth (about 3 minutes).
  • Add the first egg and beat on low-medium speed until fully incorporated. Repeat with the second egg. Add vanilla. MIxture will be soft and creamy
  • Add flour mixture to the mixing bowl. On low speed, pulse a few times to blend flour into creamed mixture. Low speed to prevent flour from exploding in your face.
  • Stir in the walnuts and chocolate chips.
  • Form and place eight 6-ounce rough/messy balls of cookie dough into your lined baking sheet. If you have a scale, weigh the dough then divide into 8-12 cookies. Each one will be approximately 4-6 ounces, as a general goal/guideline. Also, if the edges of the cookie dough ball are rough/not smooth, that’s better. I use 2 tablespoons In my experience, if you like craggly crispy tops, it’s best if you barely mush it together and smack it onto the pan.
  • At this point, if your dough seems like it has softened due to your kitchen's temperature or too much handling with hands, refrigerate the dough-balls for about half an hour before baking. Because of the relatively high flour content in this recipe, the dough tends to be pretty stiff and doesn’t require chilling.
  • Pop the pan(s) into the oven for 12-16 minutes. This time variation depends on your oven (I’m using conventional top and bottom heat, not convection) as well as whether or not you chilled your dough (and for how long). I recommend checking (look, don’t touch) the cookies every minute after hitting the 11 minute mark. Ideally, you want patches of deep golden brown and lighter golden brown.
  • No matter what, you need to let these cookies set! Similar to steak, you’ve gotta take the cookies out while they’re technically a bit undercooked, and let them finish cooking in the still-hot pan in order to achieve the cooked-but-gooey center. The amount of walnuts/chocolate chips will make it hard to really check the inside without just breaking a cookie in half.
  • If you need to reuse your baking sheet for the second batch of 4-cookies, you can do so. Just make sure the pan is clean of grease and has cooled down before you place the dough-balls on it.

Notes

FREEZING DOUGH: If you’d like to freeze the dough for later use, go right ahead! To be completely honest, I don’t know how long the dough stays good in the freezer (at least a month for sure from my own experience). Wrap the dough balls individually in plastic wrap and freeze them. You can thaw them for about 20-30 minutes prior to placing on a parchment lined sheet and baking them.
SMALLER COOKIES: The only alternative size I’ve tried for these cookies is 3oz (half of my original). I would bake them at 375ºF for 10-12 minutes. Again, the time will depend on the oven. When baking a single chilled dough ball in my toaster oven, 375ºF for 11 minutes is perfect. Any more time and the center is overbaked.
Paper Wrapped Chicken (Ji Bao Gai) That’s a Wrap! 纸包鸡

Paper Wrapped Chicken (Ji Bao Gai) That’s a Wrap! 纸包鸡

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This is another dish from the hubster that lands on the favorite list for all three kids and me, Paper-wrapped chicken (纸包鸡) aka Foil-wrapped chicken. Wes learned how to make Ji Bao Gai from his mom during medical school. It’s a dish rarely found in restaurants, a true Cantonese down-home dish.  So, if he wanted foil-wrapped chicken, he had to learn how to make it and that’s exactly what he did.

Cantonese Soul Food (Ji Bao Gai 纸包鸡)

Bite-sized pieces of chicken or beef are marinated in hoisin, sherry, soy sauce, sesame oil, and a touch of sugar. The chicken is then wrapped in foil or parchment into little packets and baked or fried. Think, mini Asian papillotes. The foil locks in the juices and infuses the chicken with flavor. Half the fun is unwrapping each packet and popping each tasty morsel in your mouth. In our house, it’s a race to see who eats the most packets.

This is Where I Come In

Things have come full circle from Wes’s mom teaching him to Wes now teaching the kids. “Dad, how do I make Ji Bao Gai, how do you fold the packets, where’s the recipe?” Whenever they want to make Ji Bao Gai they call Wes (maybe it’s a sweet ploy to talk to us, lol).  They have yet to write the recipe down. All I can say is aiyah 🤦🏻‍♀️.  I guess it must be time to post it on 3Jamigos.  Now the kids don’t have to call each time they want to make a batch.

The Ingredients (as pictured in the banner photo)

Chicken: Use boneless, skinless chicken thighs are perfect for this recipe as they remain juicy and tender, or use chicken breast if you like, but decrease the cooking time a bit.
Marinade: Contains Hoisin, and Chee Hou, umami-filled sauces made from soybeans, soy sauce, oyster sauce, Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry), sesame oil, and a touch of sugar. Add minced garlic and ginger for that extra zing.
Aromatics: Green onions and a few slices of fresh lemon for a hint of citrus.

Optional: Add sliced water chestnuts for texture.  Sprig of cilantro.

Foil: Use regular (Reynold’s)  aluminum foil to create the perfect cooking pouch is fine. Cut into 6” x 6” squares.

Riff:  Works with beef, use flank steak or skirt steak sliced thinly against the grain.

Prep, prep, prep your stuff

Step 1: Marinate the Chicken
Start by cutting the chicken into bite-sized pieces. In a bowl, mix soy sauce, oyster sauce, Shaoxing wine, sesame oil, sugar, minced garlic, and ginger. Toss the chicken pieces in this flavorful marinade, ensuring each piece is well coated. Cover and let it marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, but for the best results, let it sit for 2-3 hours.

Step 2: Wrap It Up
Cut the aluminum foil into square sheets, roughly 6×6 inches. Regular-weight foil is fine.  Place 2 pieces (if pieces are small, use 3) of chicken in the center of each foil sheet. Add a slice of green onion and water chesnut or a sprig of cilantro (optional).  Fold the foil over the chicken, then fold the open edges over together, approximately 1/8  inch, twice, thereby creating a nice seal and ensuring no juices escape during baking.  Try to eliminate as much air from the packet as you fold.

Step 3: Bake to Perfection
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Arrange the foil-wrapped chicken parcels on a baking sheet. Bake for 9 minutes, then flip packets and bake for 4 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and tender. The foil will puff up slightly as the chicken cooks, creating a steamy environment that keeps the meat juicy and flavorful.  In the good old days, the packets were deep-fried.  This created a crispier exterior on the chicken.  For crispier edges, bake at 400 degrees for about the same amount of time.

I would have taken a nicer photo except the kids ate them all before I could.

Step 4: Unwrap and Enjoy
Once done, remove the parcels from the oven and let them rest for a few minutes. Carefully open the foil, allowing the fragrant steam to escape. Serve the chicken with a side of steamed rice and your favorite vegetables.  Make sure to open the packets over your bowl or plate of rice to catch the drips of sauce.  Yum.

Tips for Success

Marinate for 2-3 hours, not much longer as the chicken will get too salty.
Sealing the Foil: Seal the foil tightly to prevent juice from escaping.
Experiment: Don’t be afraid to add your twist to the marinade. A dash of chili sauce or a sprinkle of fresh herbs can add a new dimension to the dish.

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Foil Wrapped Chicken: A Flavor-Packed Journey in Your Kitchen

This is a classic Cantonese Dish. Bite-sized pieces of chicken are marinated in a sweet-salty sauce, wrapped in paper or foil and cooked. Traditionally, the packets were fried, but baking as become the technique of choice.
Course dinner, One dish meals
Cuisine Asian, Asian-American, cantonese
Keyword cantonese cuisine, chee hou, hoisin, Paper-wrapped chicken
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2-3 Chicken breasts although we prefer thighs or thighs 4-5

Marinade

  • 3 tablespoons Chee Hou Sauce
  • 2 tablespoons Oyster sauce
  • 2 tablespoons Soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2 tablespoons whiskey (Seagrams) or Shao Xing Wine
  • 1 tablespoons Hoisin sauce
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 2 Green Onions diced

Instructions

  • Debone chicken and cut into small pieces.
  • Mix in ingredients and marinate for at least two hours. Wrap in foil to create a closed packet.
  • Deep fry medium-high heat around 1 minute until the chicken packets float OR
  • Bake at 400 for 10 minutes, flip and bake another 5 minutes
Blueberry Cornmeal Tart, Sweet Enough

Blueberry Cornmeal Tart, Sweet Enough

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Yikes!  Before blueberry season ends, make this Blueberry Cornmeal Tart.  From Alison Roman’s Sweet Enough, an easy, absolutely delicious way to take advantage of fresh blueberries. But before we get into the recipe and my notes…I need to address the elephant in the room.  Yes at one time I was ready to burn my Alison Roman cookbooks.  In an interview, she decided to DIS Chrissy Teigen and Marie Kondo as “sell-outs” for hawking products, while encouraging folks to buy her stuff. LOL  Interestingly enough she called out two POC women.  Backlash ensued, she lost her column in the New York Times, had a Twitter squirmish with Chrissy, which she lost, and felt the ire of many POC foodies.  She laid low for a while, started back, and is now back in the good graces of most.

She recovered, but will probably always be under the microscope. Occasionally, controversy rears its head in a damned if you do, damned if you don’t way.  She made a dish, called it Gentle Lentils (LOL), and got called out for Appropriating Daal, an Indian staple. What are you going to do? 🤷🏻‍♀️.  Her personality is up my alley, a bit tongue-in-cheek, snarky, funny AND she is fond of expletives, just like me.

Yes, Another Cookbook

She came out with a dessert book and I caved.  I have made her dessert recipes and they are pretty darn good.  I believe she originally worked in pastry.  Her Salted Butter and Chocolate Chunk Cookies went viral one year (pre-fallout) and are really good. They’re buttery, sandy, chocolatey, and sweet with a surprise pop of salt.  It hits every taste bud, and has a crispy edge from the demerara sugar finish.

This Blueberry Cornmeal Tart couldn’t be easier.  The crust and crumble topping are made from the same dough.  Butter, flour, and powdered sugar go into the dough. The powdered sugar lowers the flour’s protein content to help with tenderness.  Cornmeal adds that characteristic cornmeal crunch to the crust and crumble.  I am not a fan of the grittiness of stone-ground cornmeal.  Luckily, cornmeal comes in a wide range of textures and grinds.  I love the cornmeal from a local family farm in the Bay Area, Tierra Vegetables.  They have an array of heirloom cornmeals that are amazing.  My favorite is the Hopi Pink Cornmeal which is finely textured and adds just a tiny bit of crunch.  It’s perfect in Christina Tosi’s Corn Cookies where you can see the reddish pink flecks in the cookies, so cool.  Use the cornmeal you like.

The Steps

Betcha think the next instruction is to roll the dough out.  Nope, there is no rolling involved in the making of this tart.  Yay.  Reserve a quarter of the dough for the crumble and put it in the fridge to chill. Press the remaining dough into a 9-inch tart pan.  How easy is that?

The blueberries are mixed with a bit of sugar and either vinegar or lemon juice, I prefer lemon juice, I am a citrus kinda gal.   Flour rounds out the filling to act as a thickener and that’s it.

Pour your blueberry mixture into the tart pan and spread evenly over crust.  Press little bits of the dough to form little clumps and sprinkle these over the blueberries.  Bake on a sheet to save yourself from oven cleaning.

Bake until the crumble and crust are a nice golden brown and the blueberries bubbling.  Remove to a rack and let it cool completely before removing.  Serve with a generous scoop of vanilla…cause that’s how we roll!  Enjoy!

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Blueberry Cornmeal TartI

From Alison Roman's Sweet Enough, a simple, absolutely delicious Blueberry Cronmeal Tart
Course Dessert, Pie, Tart
Cuisine American
Keyword blueberry, cornmeal, tart

Ingredients

For the Crust & Topping

  • 1 ½ cups /225g all-purpose flour
  • ⅓ cup /55 grams cornmeal
  • ⅓ cup /50 grams confectioners’ sugar
  • ¼ cup /55 grams light brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon / 4 grams baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon / 3 grams kosher salt
  • ¾ cup /170 grams unsalted butter 1 1/2 sticks, melted and cooled slightly

For the Filling

  • 1 pound /455 grams blueberries or combination of blueberries, blackberries and raspberries
  • ½ cup /110 grams light brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons / 28 grams apple cider vinegar or fresh lemon or lime juice I prefer lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons / 18 grams all-purpose flour
  • Pinch of kosher salt

Instructions

Make the crust and topping: Preheat oven to 350°.

  • In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, confectioners’ sugar, brown sugar, baking powder and salt. Add melted butter, then use your hands or a wooden spoon to combine ingredients until a coarse dough comes together, with a few dry spots.
  • Press 3/4 of the cornmeal mixture into a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom making sure the mixture is evenly pressed on the bottom and about 1/2 inch up the sides. (Using something large and flat, like the bottom of a measuring cup, will be helpful.) Place the shell on a rimmed baking sheet; pop the tart shell and remaining mixture into the fridge while you prepare the filling.

Make the filling:

  • Toss blueberries, brown sugar, lemon juice, flour and salt in a medium bowl. Pour the fruit into the crust.
  • Crumble the remaining cornmeal mixture over the blueberries, pressing bits of the mixture together into large clumps as you go, as you would with a crisp or coffee-cake topping (note that it won’t cover the top entirely, more just create a nice sporadic covering, still allowing the blueberries and their juices to poke through).
  • Bake tart until the blueberry filling is bubbly and thickened, and both the crust and top are nicely browned, 50–55 minutes.
  • Let tart cool completely before slicing into triangles and serving. The tart can be baked up to 2 days ahead and stored tightly wrapped at room temperature or refrigerated (especially if your kitchen is hot or humid).
  • EAT WITH: vanilla ice cream would be too obvious, but I don’t care.

Notes

DO AHEAD: tart can be baked 4 days ahead, stored wrapped in plastic at room temperature, or refrigerated. 
Honey Sesame Tofu Puffs-Perfect for Meatless Mondays

Honey Sesame Tofu Puffs-Perfect for Meatless Mondays

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One of my favorite recipes is Kristina Cho’s Honey Sesame Tofu Puffs.  She included this easy and delicious recipe in her newsletter several months ago and has been on our Meatless Mondays rotation several times.  After finding Tofu Puffs in the shape of stars (so cute!) at Ranch 99, I bought a couple of packs and headed home to make dinner.  I went to my e-mail and clicked on her newsletter to get to the recipe then I freaked out because I thought…

It’s Behind a Paywall Now?

Nooo🤦🏻‍♀️, why didn’t I download that recipe?!  I’m so sad.  I can’t wrap my head around Substack and having to pay for content from each blogger I follow.  I mean I get it, you gotta find a way to put dinner on the table.  But I have this unfounded fear that if I go down the rabbit hole of subscribing to blogs on Substack…it will end up like my cookbook collection…WAY TOO MANY.  I finally weaned myself off of print magazine subscriptions, now is not the time to backslide.

What To Do?

After watching the TikTok video of her making the dish, multiple times,  I got the ingredients, but not the amounts.  Turning to Google, I created a mash-up from recipes for sweet and spicy tofu or chicken and my best guess of her recipe, lol.  It’s pretty darn close if I do say so myself.

False Alarm

Ok, now I feel like an idiot.  Maybe it was sixth sense, but I went to Kristina’s website and looked for the recipe again.  This time, instead of searching her newsletters, I clicked on ARCHIVES and DUH, there it was, Honey Sesame Tofu Puffs.  So, sheepishly I am here to confess that I was wrong, it is not hidden behind a paywall.  I have yet to pony-up for a Substack subscription but if and when I do, Kristina’s will be the first.

Lets Get To It

The hardest part might be finding Fried Tofu Puffs.  If you have an Asian market near you, go there. Find it in the refrigerated section next to the fresh tofu.  This is the shortcut or hack that makes this dish stupid easy.  If you don’t have an Asian store (best bet is a Chinese one), you can fry fresh tofu after coating it with some cornstarch. This is the brand Kristina uses which I also recommend, but pick the one you like.  Tofu Puffs come in different shapes and sizes, for this recipe, select the smaller puffs which give a nice ratio of sauce to puff in my humble opinion, lol.  I even found one shaped like stars, imagine that.

Easy, Peasy

Now that you have the tofu puffs, the rest is easy.  Start your rice first as it is the rate-limiting step.  The sauce comes together in minutes.  Literally, dump the sauce ingredients in the pan, bring to a boil, and reduce a bit which also ensures the garlic is cooked through.  Add the cornstarch slurry and bring back to a boil to thicken.  This will only take a couple of minutes at most.

Add tofu puffs and stir to coat and warm through.  Add sesame seeds and green onions, reserving a quarter of each for garnish.

Serve over rice garnished with remaining sesame seeds and green onions.  A side dish of bok choy or a vegetable of your choice (I like banchan like kimchi and cucumbers) makes this a complete meal.

Enjoy!

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Honey Sesame Tofu Puffs

Honey Sesame Tofu Puffs. A quick and easy one-bowl vegetarian meal, ready in minutes. vegetarian. Serve over steaming hot rice along with your veggie of choice.
Course comfort food, dinner, lunch, one bowl meal, Side Dish
Cuisine Asian-American
Keyword black sesame seeds, honey sesame tofu puffs, one dish meal, tofu puffs, vegetarian
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Servings 3 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 pkg Tofu Puffs approximate 6 ounces

Sauce Ingredients:

  • 1/4 c + 1 T Honey
  • 1.5 T Regular Soy Sauce
  • 1 T Sesame oil
  • 1/2 T Apple cider or rice vinegar
  • 1/4-1/2 tsp chili flakes up to you
  • 1 tsp minced garlic
  • 1 tsp shaoxing wine

Thickener

  • 1/2 T cornstarch
  • 1/4 cup + 2 T water

Garnish

  • Toasted sesame seeds
  • 1 stalk green onions, sliced

Instructions

  • In a medium bowl, mix to combine honey, soy sauce, sesame oil, shaoxing wine, vinegar, red pepper flakes, garlic, and white pepper.
  • In another small bowl mix to combine water and cornstarch.
  • Heat a large pan over medium heat. Add the sauce and stir constantly until slightly reduced and the initial bubbles subside, 2 to 3 minutes.
  • Give the bowl of water and cornstarch a quick stir and then pour in the cornstarch slurry. Continue to stir until the sauce thickens, it should look glossy and leave a trail when you stir.
  • Add the tofu puffs and toss to coat in the sauce. Add the 3/4 of sesame seeds and toss again.
  • Serve over a bowl of rice, garnish with green onions and reserved sesame seeds.