It’s the last day of January and in order to avoid total embarrassment… here is the last cookie to complete my 12 Days of Cookies list. I give you the stupid easy, childhood favorite- Rice Krispy Treats! Wait, do not roll your eyes and think “lame”. This is not your mama’s, on the side of the Snap, Crackle and Pop box, recipe. This is Rice Krispy Treats with a twist that is not for the faint of heart.
Little Crackle
No, there isn’t booze in these treats. The recipe comes by way of Smitten Kitchen (love that site). I had been looking for a way to jazz up this childhood favorite (not just add multi-colored sprinkles) and bring a bit of pizazz to them. I found a couple of recipes that were just crazy, too much stuff, too complicated, just yuk. At the end of the day, a riff on Rice Krispy Treats should still transport you back to the ones you ate as a kid but at the same time your brain should be going “holy cow-what did she do to these!”
The Pop
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you…
SALTED BROWN BUTTER RICE KRISPY TREATS
Yep, the exact same ingredients as the original recipe plus a sprinkle of flaked salt and well, DOUBLE the amount of butter. Yep, mo’ buttah, mo’ betta.
And if that wasn’t enough, you kick it up another notch by browning the butter! Great balls of butter! You end up with a Rice Krispy treat that is gooey, sweet and salty, nutty and buttery. YES, scream it from the rooftops, DOUBLE BUTTER!
Up your Krispy Game, reserve half the salt to sprinkle on the treats at the end. Use Fleur de Sel or grey salt, your hipster friends will ooh and aah. Oh, snap.
That’s it folks, cookie number 12. Drop the mic, done.
These went to a Bake Sale for a Bird Sanctuary that would be obliterated by Trump’s stupid wall. Jason renamed them Double Buttah “R-aah-ce” (he’s from Tennessee!) Krispy Treats.
Salted Brown Butter Rice Krispy Treats (Smitten Kitchen)
Not your mama's Rice krispy treats! Brown butter and more marshmallows madke these devilisly delicious
Course bar cookies, cookies
Cuisine American
Keyword rice krispies
Prep Time 15 minutesminutes
Cook Time 5 minutesminutes
Ingredients
1stick unsalted butter 4 ounces
1/4 -1/2teaspoonflake salt such as Fleur de Sel or Grey Salt or coarse kosher salt
1 10 ouncebag of miniature marshmallowsDO NOT BY FANCYSCHMANCY ONES, they don't work
6cupsRice Krispy cereal
Instructions
Butter a 9x9 inch square pan, set aside.
In a large saucepan or pot, melt butter over medium heat, The butter will begin to foam and the milk solids will start to brown. Watch it like a hawk, you don't want it to burn. It will smell nutty and toasty. Serious Eats has a great tutorial on brown butter
Remove pan from heat, add marshmallows and salt. Stir continuously until the marshmallows melt and blend with the butter into a homogenous mixture.
Add Rice Krispies and stir until well coated.
Pour into 9x9 inch prepared pan and press firmly to compress. If you want, decorate with Sprinkles on top.
Cool, run a knife around the perimeter of the rice krispies, invert pan and tap the bottom. The rice krispies should release fairly easily from the pan. Cut into approximately 2 inch squares.
Do Not Laugh. Yes, this is a recipe for jello, not the boxed Jello you made with your mom when you were a kid (your job-pour the contents into a big bowl), oh no. The Asian version of Jello, Almond Jello. So good, it brings a whole new dimension to Jello. It’s delicious, light and refreshing.
If you have ever had a meal in a Chinese restaurant which served dessert other than fortune cookies, it might have been Almond Jello. Unfortunately, much of the Almond Jello served in restaurants isn’t very good. I have a theory, LOTS of Asians are lactose intolerant so milk is used sparingly. Well, that’s what makes Almond Jello YUMMY, the addition of milk-like the white layers of finger jello or the cream cheese in that funky but delicious Lime and Pineapple Jello Ring that everyone’s aunt (who couldn’t cook) brought to every potluck. Jello with Moo-magic.
When I was a kid the fanciest restaurant in Chinatown was The Empress of China. In its heyday celebrities and politicians clamored there. My folks would take us there for very special occasions-birthday dinners for grandparents, wedding banquets and Chinese New Year. High on the 6th floor, it had the most breathtaking views of the City and the East Bay. I loved the Green Jade Mist Almond Delight, their version of Almond Jello. Served in a goblet with a touch of Creme de Menthe it was the glitzy ending to a fancy meal.
Typically Almond Jello is topped with fruit, not creme de menthe. You can use mandarin oranges or fruit cocktail (when is the last time you had fruit cocktail out of a can, strictly nostalgic choice) or Lychees. Use fruit packed in light syrup or its own juice. I add the syrup or juice to the jello so it just slides down your throat, like having jello soup. Confession, I loved pouring milk on my jello, same effect. Canned fruit makes it a great winter dessert when fresh fruit can be hard to find. You could jazz it up seasonally by adding fresh strawberries or blueberries. This recipe makes soft jello which I happen to like. If you like jello that has the consistency of finger jello, reduce the amount of the water in the recipe to 3/4 cup of each and the milk to 2 cups.
When I was pregnant with my oldest, my craving was Almond Jello. I made vats of it, doubling, tripling, even quadrupling the recipe. Seriously, it was like gestational crack.
These days I make Almond Jello when my oldest kid comes home. He loves it. If I don’t steal a couple of scoops before I let him know there is a bowl in the fridge, I will have lost my window of opportunity to have some.
It’s stupid easy, so delicious. Try it, who doesn’t like jello?
When my kids come home I get busy in the kitchen making EVERY SINGLE DISH they love. Their favorites, from soup to dessert/ I usually have a pot of chili or spaghetti sauce simmering on the stove while they’re home and I pull out my Dad’s recipes for down-home Chinese dishes. Wes makes short rib stew and carrot cake. It’s 24-7 cooking and eating. What can I say? The Asian language of love is food.
Like Father Like Son
My dad and grandfather were the cooks in my family. My grandfather cooked for a living. Before going off to work we would often have early dinner with him. Always Chinese food, I was surprised when I found out later he was a line chef at Original Joe’s on Broadway and also at the famed Tonga Room at the Fairmont Hotel. For my Dad cooking was his passion.
Both of them made down-home dishes like Steamed Pork Patty with Salted Duck Egg, Fuzzy Melon soup, Steamed Chicken with Lop Cheung (Chinese sausage) and Black Mushrooms, or whole fish (yes,that means the head too) with green onions and ginger. I loved watching them cook and savored eating these dishes even more. When I went off to school in Los Angeles, I would often call home to ask my Dad how to cook a favorite childhood dish. It was my connection with home and family and a way to keep them close.
A flurry of cooking this past week while the boys were home and the multiple “how do you make” calls from Jamie (who was stuck in Houston) prompted me to add a new section to 3Jamigos. I call it Soul Food. It’s down-home cooking, cherished recipes to share with family and friends. Take a peek, it might bring back some great memories. Or share a family favorite, I would love to post it on my blog.
My inaugural post for Soul Food is a down-home favorite, savory Steamed Pork Patty with Salted Duck Egg (咸蛋蒸肉饼). You can find it in hole-in-the-wall Cantonese (southern China) restaurants or if you get invited over for family dinner at any of your Cantonese friends’ homes. In Chinatown, the best place for this dish was Sun Tai Sam Yuen on Jackson Street in my humble opinion, lol.
The ground pork is seasoned with soy sauce, oyster sauce and topped with the salted duck egg. Think of this as a version of a sausage patty topped with a fried egg. See, not so strange after all. My kids scoop up chunks of the patty and egg and mix it into their rice. Yum.
Things They Don’t Tell You in Cookbooks
Although simple to make, there are pearls of kitchen wisdom on how to prepare this dish. First, the pork. My mom would tell me to buy pork butt or shoulder and hand-chop the pork at home, better texture. The pork itself should not be too lean as the fat adds flavor and keeps it from drying out. This primer on pork pretty much holds for any dish that requires ground pork-don’t buy pre-ground (ok, sometimes I cheat-there is a coarse ground version in Chinese markets), and ask for “bun fei sau-half fat, half lean” (半肥半瘦). This is not a health-conscious choice, lol.
Duck, Duck, Go…get Chicken, it’s Ok
Raw salted duck eggs are hard to find. I was really excited when I found local salted duck eggs at Marina Foods from Metzer Farms. Great quality. The eggs are brined in a salt solution for approximately a month. At the end of the month, the yolk has hardened, the white has a gelatin-like consistency, and the egg has a wonderful briny flavor that goes well with pork. You are more likely to find salted chicken eggs which are perfectly acceptable.
When mixing the seasonings and egg into the pork, stir in ONE DIRECTION only. So pick, clockwise or counter-clockwise and stick with it. DON’T ASK ME WHY (ok, I googled it, supposedly it keeps the meat tender). My Dad told me to do it this way.
This is How We Do It
Place seasoned pork in a glass pie plate, smooshing it around the plate. Fill a Chinese rice bowl 1/3-1/2 full with HOT water. Slowly pour the hot water into the pork, stirring and breaking up the pork further. The final mixture will be loose and wet looking. Slice the yolk of the duck egg into quarters or 4 slices. A word of warning, it will be a little slimy feeling. Flatten the pieces of yolk with the side of the knife. Place the flattened pieces of yolk on top of the pork distributed evenly around the patty. Top with green onions. Place in steamer and steam over medium-high heat for about 15 minutes or until the juice runs clear when pierced with a knife or chopstick.
Just before serving, garnish with more green onions or cilantro and a drizzle of oyster sauce. Serve with a big ass bowl of rice!
Microwave Magic
You can also cook this dish in the microwave instead of steaming it! I have Cook Anyday microwave cookware now, but if you have a vented microwave dish use that. I have a teeny 600-watt microwave. Cook at full power for 8 minutes, done! Adjust for your microwave, for example, a 1000-watt microwave, I might just use 70% power and nuke it for the 7-8 minutes. For foods that are traditionally steamed, you don’t want to zap it quickly as much as gently cook it All in one bowl, no messing with a steamer contraption. Mind-blown microwave cookin’.
1/4-1/3Chinese rice bowl of hot waterapproximately 1/3 cup of water
1Egglarge
1Salted Duck EggFound in Chinese Groceries in refridgerator section or with egg, should be uncooked.
Seasonings
2tsp.Soy Sauce
1tspoyster sauce
2tsprice wine or sherry or sake
1/2Tsp.Sugar
1/4tspSalt
Dash of white pepper
Garnish
Green Onions And Cilantrochopped or sliced to look pretty
Instructions
Separate duck egg yolk from the egg white. Reserve the yolk.
Place pork in a shallow bowl or glass pie plate that you will end up using to steam/microwaving it in. Scramble the salted duck egg white with the whole egg, add to the pork.
Stir pork with egg mixture and seasonings, stir in one direction!
Slowly add hot water to the pork mixture, and scrambling the mixture as you add the water. This will make it will look soupy.
Garnish with reserved egg yolk that has been cut Into slices. This is a process. The egg yolk is sticky and ok, kind of slimy (like an egg-duh). Since it has been brined it will be solid. I cut it into quarters and then gently smash it with the side of a knife to flatten each piece. Sprinkle half of the sliced green onions on top.
Steam for approximately 15-20 minutes, when pierced with a chopstick or knife the juices should run clear not pink.
Drizzle with oyster sauce and top with cilantro and the rest of the green onions. If you want a nice sheen, hit it with a little hot oil. (This will also bring out the flavor of the cilantro and green onions when you pour the oil over it.
Serve with rice, lots of rice, copious amounts of rice. Really.
Will Blog for Food (Easy Homemade Cookie Cookbook)
I received an e-mail from a publisher a couple of weeks ago. They had come across my blog and wanted to know if I would like to review a book they had coming out. Me? I was flattered (my aw-shucks, you really like me moment). Wait, this isn’t some ploy to get me to buy another book is it? So I asked “Do I have to send the book back? I hate mailing stuff. I GET TO KEEP IT?! Sure I’ll do it!” The last thing I needed was another baking book as I am the owner of way too many cookbooks. As space on my shelf grows tight I have had to be selective about which books I get and keep. BUT THIS WAS FREE. So what the heck! When I did receive my copy ofMiranda Couse’s Easy Homemade Cookie Cookbook I felt like I was getting an extra birthday gift. I flipped through the book for an initial look just to size it up. I noted the extensive section on essentials, ingredients, and how-tos. Great for beginners. The cookies are organized by types such as drops, classics, brownies and bars, slice and bake and holiday treats. There are tips and variations interspersed throughout the book, very informative. Each page is user-friendly with the ingredients and quantities listed on the left and instructions on the right. Every recipe is preceded by a highlighted box with prep time, baking time, how many cookies and shelf life, love that. There are photos every couple of pages but not one for each cookie. Bummers. But the photos included are well-staged and close-up, you know exactly what the cookie should look like.
Now to the serious stuff. I tried two recipes, the Blueberry Lemon Shortbread and Coffee Cheesecake Swirled Brownie. Both were straightforward and easy to make, especially the shortbread. The cookie is buttery, very lemony which really creates a nice contrast with the blueberries. Dried blueberries are used which I think intensifies the flavor. Really delicious cookie. The brownies were a bit more effort with the 2 batters but worth it. They are decadent, gooey and dense. The sweetness is tempered by the hit of espresso powder. Next time I might add chocolate chips to the brownie batter just to amp up chocolate. Double yums.
Despite having a zillion cookie books, I am making room on my shelf for this one. It is easy, straightforward, well organized and more importantly, the recipes work. I know Jamie is going to love it. Holiday baking here we come.
This would be the perfect stocking stuffer for novice bakers and cookie lovers!
A Cautionary Tale with a Sweet Ending (Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies)
I can’t resist perusing the racks at airport bookstores. Even though I always carry an Ipad, book, or magazine, I still stop and browse. While waiting for my flight to Nashville I flipped through a copy of People Magazine that had an article with Stella Parks of Serious Eats. Her recently published book BraveTart, an homage to iconic American desserts, was already on my radar of course. The article included a recipe for Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies. They looked and sounded delicious. Trying to be as stealthy as possible I took out my phone and quickly snapped a shot of the recipe, mission accomplished I tucked my phone back in my pocket and left to catch my flight.
A bake sale to benefit a bird and butterfly sanctuary directly in the path of that ridiculous wall Trump wants to build was the perfect opportunity to make Park’s Honey Roasted PB Cookies. The recipe called for processing honey roasted peanuts for a minute until finely chopped. Uh-oh, I don’t think so, a minute in a food processor does not result in finely chopped nuts more like pulverized nuts. Quick, to my laptop to fire off a tweet to Stella Parks..please clarify. A couple of minutes later..yay, a response- “should be like flour, length of time variable depending on your processor”. First hurdle cleared. Surveying the recipe I noticed some of the ingredients had weights, some didn’t. Auugh! This started my rant to the hubster on the inconsistencies in the recipe.
Me yelling: Why would you put the weight for butter but not the flour? WTH! This is silly! And the finely chopped nuts, that wasn’t right! Wow, and she writes for Serious Eats?! Boy, this book has been getting a lot of press!
I continued to grumble. After making the dough I decided to look for the recipe online, lucky for me the page for her Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies is available on Google.
I ATE HUMBLE PIE
My rant was misplaced. The recipe in the book contained weights for every ingredient and the description for the peanuts was to grind them until they were fine, like flour.
So naturally, I did what anyone would do in this situation..I started to complain about People Magazine and how they messed up the recipe. The moral of the story, do not depend on a celebrity gossip magazine for a recipe. It also gave me an excuse to add BraveTart to my cookbook collection.
I still didn’t grind the peanuts enough which I believe changed the texture of the cookie…I was fixated on the finely chopped verbiage. The cookies did not spread like traditional cookies and ended up looking like little cracked hockey pucks. I’m guessing too much flour (no weights-grrrr) I was looking for a flat, classic-looking cookie, ironically, like the picture in People magazine.
I ended up smushing each cookie like old-fashioned PB cookies. I will definitely try these again but next time I will grind the nuts longer and weigh my flour and use the book, lol. They are YUMMY and besides, I still have half a jar of honey-roasted peanuts left! Below is the recipe from her book, BraveTart. You should get it, it’s that good.
Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies from BraveTart
Stella Park's Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies, just make them, you'll thank me
Course cookies, Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies, stella parks
Prep Time 20 minutesminutes
Cook Time 16 minutesminutes
Ingredients
Dry Stuff (Flour Mixture)
1cupAP flour4.5 ounces USE Gold Medal flour
1-1/4cupshoney roasted peanuts6 ounces
Next Step: Butters + Leavening Agents
1-1/4cupscreamy peanut butter10 ounces
1stickunsalted butter4 ounces,soft rt cool (65 degrees use an instant thermometer)
1.5cupsgranulated sugar10 ounces
3/4tspkosher salt or half that amount if using regular table salt
3/4tspbaking soda
1/2tspbaking powder
Wet Stuff
2tspvanilla extract
1large eggstraight from fridge, well beaten
3Tbspmilk1.5 ounces
Instructions
Adjust oven rack to middle position. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Sift flour into bowl of a food processor (scoop and sweep method if not using a scale)
Add peanuts and pulse until fine (approximately 1 minute) almost like flour
Combine peanut butter, butter, sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder and vanilla* in bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. I'm lazy, I add the vanilla to the milk and add it later.
Mix on low speed to moisten then increase to medium and beat until soft and light ab out 3 minutes
With mixer running add the egg in 2 additions, mixing untile ach is incorporated
Reduce speed to low and add peanut flour, followed by milk, mixing to form a very soft dough
Divide into 34-2 T (1.125 ounce) portions
Arrange on parchment lined baking sheet, 2 inches apart
Bake until the edges are firm and just beginning to brown but cookies are still puffy and steamy in the middle about 16 minutes
Cool on baking sheet until cookie is set about 10 minutes
Store in airtight container for up to 1 week at room temperature.
DI went to the city to grab a bite to eat with my kid Jeffrey and my Mom. Jeffrey suggested a joint that serves poached chicken and rice. Loves it, goes there all the time.
I said, you’re KIDDING, right? Not that I don’t like chicken but this sounds a whole lot like Chinese White Cut Chicken or Singaporean Hainan Chicken which I make ALL the TIME. Yep, same dish, but served in a hipster space with people willing to wait in line and pay gobs of money to have. REALLY?
Down-home comfort food made by grandma although you can get it at a hole-in-the-wall Asian restaurants or buy it at a Chinese deli to take home (usually hanging in the windows by the neck, lol). But to become the star of a menu and served in a cool space in the middle of Hipsterville? Who would have thought something as simple as poached chicken would become all the rage. Recently opened in the Marina, Rooster and Rice is my kid’s go-to place. Chicken, white rice (ok, you can probably get brown rice) and a dipping sauce. It comes with a bit of broccoli or cucumbers and if you want, a bowl of chicken soup. BUT that’s all. Sheesh.
Why didn’t I think of that?
My version of Chicken and Rice
I did a bit of sleuthing (hello Google) and concluded that ground zero for poached chicken rising to rock star status might have been Portland at Nong’s Khao Man Gai Food Truck. Nong P. got her start as a line chef at the popular Thai restaurant Pok Pok. She left to literally go on the road with a food truck serving her chicken and rice. It was wildly popular and she was able to open a brick and mortar place of the same name. Rooster and Rice also serves the Thai version. It’s dipping sauce is bean-based and is sweet, salty and spicy. Delicious. The dipping sauce for Hainan or Chinese white cut chicken is based on salt or soy sauce, includes ginger and scallions and is finished with oil. Yummmmmmm.
I am partial to the ginger scallion sauce which I have posted with my Simple Poached Chicken recipe but I did want to try David Chang’s (Momofuku) Ginger Scallion Sauce. His recipe has made the rounds on Epicurious, Saveur, Bon Apetit’ website, your auntie’s blog, EVERYWHERE. All wax poetically about it. Its good on everything even slathered on your skin apparently. So, I made it and it’s good alright but is it Nirvana? Hm. It is ridiculously easy and extremely versatile. It is lovely on noodles, fish, your kids if they forget their sunblock (I’M KIDDING), on grilled tofu or mushrooms (yay for vegetarians) and of course CHICKEN. It’s the perfect pairing like Fred and Ginger (my fav). Similar to the sauce for Hainan Chicken or White Cut Chicken it starts with ginger, scallions, and salt and soy sauce but unlike mine, the oil is not heated and it includes a touch of vinegar. I leave it to you to pick which is your favorite. Definitely make the chicken (it’s incredibly delicious and easy) and try the different sauces. Love to know which is your favorite.
As you all know Jamie goes to Rice University in Houston. I remember when she first told me she was applying there. What? Where? TEXAS? NOOOO. My diabolical plan to dissuade her involved visiting the campus in the middle of July. It didn’t work. She loved the campus and the vibe despite the heat and humidity. It turned out to be the perfect choice. Over the last 3 years we have visited her on numerous occasions and have come to appreciate not just Rice University but the city of Houston. Gone are the pre-conceived notions I had of Houston-it is a vibrant, culturally diverse, rich, welcoming metropolis.
I watch with a sense of profound sadness and helplessness as Houston and the surrounding areas are being pummeled by Harvey. I thank my lucky stars that Jamie is safe and one of the fortunate ones. Her area has seen plenty of rain but has not flooded. I see the photos and videos of places I now know (I drive the 610 all the time when I am there) and cannot imagine the trauma Houstonians are going through.
Houston Fall 2016
I asked Jamie to write a post for the 3Jamigos blog. It is filled with that carefree spirit one has when they are young and views life through an optimistic lens. Confined to her apartment she has watched the devastation in other areas of Houston much like I have, on TV. When Harvey has passed and she begins to venture out and see first hand Houston in the aftermath, I know she will jump into action to help her adopted city. I will too. She asked me to include this link Relief Efforts-How to Help Houston with her post. Any donation would be greatly appreciated.
Comfort food from Claire’s Mom
Jamie-August 28, 2017
Hurricane Harvey has hit Houston hard. (cool alliteration I know). Luckily, my roommates and I have prepared well for it–we have tons of food to last us for weeks and enough bottled water to last us a month. We are even more lucky because of our location. We are living in West U, which has gotten over 20 inches of rain, but it has not flooded yet. *Knock on wood.* The street next to us is flooded, but our small street has been doing ok. There has been a couple of leaks in the windows of our house, but we are dealing with it. All this time stuck at home has made us a little stir crazy–we alternate between crafting and, you guessed it, baking. My schedule these past couple days have been: get up, eat, run, eat, watch tv and craft, eat, watch tv and craft, bake, sleep, repeat. So far, we’ve made banana bread, crepes, and pumpkin bread. And yes, we’ve eaten almost all of it. This is not to mention the blondies that Claire’s (my roommate) mom made, ice cream, and super delicious quiche. Luckily, Claire’s parents also have a treadmill that I’ve been using to work off all the food. School has been closed until Wednesday night, but I’m hoping it will just get cancelled for the entire week. I don’t want to deal with getting to and from school in the rain and water. Unfortunately, that means a lot more TV movie marathons which have gotten pretty boring. I’m lucky to just be bored, there are a lot of people all over Texas who’ve been forced to evacuate their homes. Will keep you posted! Stay dry!
Rice University Spring 2016
I wasn’t going to include a recipe in this post but Jamie said the “pie” (ok, quiche) Claire’s Mom made was from the Friend’s Cookbook (love it) and it was delicious and made them all feel so much better. In times like this we turn to comfort food to share with friends and family.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line pie crust with foil or parchment and weights. Bake 10 minutes. Remove weights and continue to bake for 2-5 minutes until pie crust begins to turn color and is set.
Set oven to 375 degrees.
Melt butter in a large pot, Add onion and cook over medium heat until soft, about 5 minutes. Chop damp spinach and add it to pan. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally until spinach is tender, about 5 minutes. Drain off any liquid in the pot, season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
In mixing bowl, whisk eggs and milk together. Stir in the spinach mixture and cheese.
Pour mixture into prebaked crust.
Place pie on a baking sheet and slide into oven. Bake until pie is golden brown , 35-40 minutes.
Remove from oven and let pie sit for approximatel;y 10 minutes before cutting.
Miss me? I have been on an extended break from the blogosphere. Knocked down by the flu during the holidays, my post-election blues (I promise to refrain) and the wet dreary weather kind of got the best of me. But I’m back! Ready to tackle 2017. This year’s theme will be comfort food from soup to dessert, food for the soul. Food for family and friends-dishes to share, meals that bring us together and make us happy. Nothing better than sitting around the table eating, talking and laughing. What better buffer to our crazy mixed-up world right now. If you have a favorite recipe I would love to share it on my blog and if there is a story behind your dish, I definitely want to hear it.
This first post was going to feature soup. You know how much I love soup, yep I could live on just soup. Not to mention soup is the perfect antidote for cold wet weather and when you’re not feeling 100%. In fact, I had an easy soup recipe in mind, a family favorite that I make whenever my kids are home but a recipe for Chicken Tikka from one of my favorite blogs, Smitten Kitchen caught my eye. I had to try it. It is a one pan meal loaded with flavor from spices like garam masala, chili, cumin, paprika and garlic.
The hard part maybe rounding up the different spices used in this recipe. Fortunately quite a few markets now carry Indian and Asian spices. Try Whole Foods or there is always Amazon or online spice stores like Penzey’s. If you have an Indian market or Middle Eastern market in your area, definitely check them out. Spices are usually very reasonable. Once you have the spices the rest is easy peasy.
Marinate the chicken pieces in the yogurt, cut cauliflower and potatoes into chunks, season and scatter them on a sheet pan. Place chicken pieces in between the vegetables and bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes. Voila’ dinner is ready to be served. With my first bite, I could taste the tang of the yogurt and the kick from the chili and jalapeño. The cauliflower and potatoes, with their crispy edges and smooshy (is that a word?) centers, were the perfect foil to the chicken. I can’t wait to make this again. Added bonus, JUST ONE PAN to wash, uh-huh, uh-huh.
1/2teaspoonchili powder or cayenneor adjusted to taste
1/2teaspoonground turmeric
1/2teaspoonground cumin
3/4teaspoongranulated sugar
1teaspoonpaprika
1teaspoongaram masala
2poundschicken thighsdrumsticks or halved chicken breasts (skin-on, bone-in)
For the vegetables
3tablespoonsolive oil
1 1/4poundsabout 4 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled if desired, cut into 3/4-inch chunks
1 3/4pounds1 small or half a very large head cauliflower, cut into 3/4-inch-wide florets
1/2teaspoonkosher salt
1/2teaspooncumin seeds
To finish, if desired
A few thin slices of red onion
Lemon wedges
Salt
Dollops of yogurt optional
A few tablespoons roughly chopped cilantroparsley or mint, or a mix therof
Instructions
Combine ginger, garlic, fresh chili, yogurt, salt, spices and sugar in a bowl. Add chicken pieces and toss to coat evenly. Let marinate for 15 minutes or up to a day in the fridge.
Heat your oven to 425°F.
Line a half-sheet (13×18-inch) with foil and coat it with 1 T of olive oil or use parchment paper.
Add potatoes, cauliflower, salt, cumin and remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and toss together until evenly coated. I like garlic so I added a minced glove of garlic as I was tossing the vegetables.
Remove chicken from marinade and leave excess behind.
Nestle the chicken pieces among the vegetables throughout the pan.
Roast in oven for 20 minutes, then toss the potato and cauliflower to ensure they’re cooking evenly
Return the pan to the oven for 10 to 20 minutes more (i.e. 30 to 40 minutes total roasting time) until chicken and vegetables are cooked through.
If necessary remove chicken from pan and turn broiler on to crisp the potatoes and cauliflower
While it roasts, if you’d like to use the lightly pickled onion rings that we did on top, which added a nice tangy fresh zip to the dish, separate the rings and toss them in a small bowl with a squeeze of lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Set aside until needed.
When chicken and vegetables are cooked, top with garnishes of your choice.
I used thinly sliced red onions, cilantro, mint and diced scallions to garnish.
This week called for a very large helping of comfort and kindness. Something to soothe our frazzled nerves and temper our anxiety and fear. I know I could use some, I have half a mind to jump on a plane and go hug my kids. I keep reminding myself, they’ll be home in a week, they’ll be home in a week.
What has helped me survive this week? Humor, thanks Sean, hugs from Grandma. Talking to friends (not ranting, that just makes me crazy but yes I have done a lot of that too). Escape from reality movies, we saw Dr. Strange (despite my stand against using Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One). Listening to audiobooks (instead of the news) and to my favorite music. Thank goodness for Motown and K-Pop. Riding my bike and taking Sammy on walks (yep, lucky I live in California). Going to bookstores. I went to a book signing by Dorie Greenspan at Omnivore Books on Foodin the City. That deserves its own special blog post which I will get to very soon.
And of course, Cooking and Baking
Posed the age-old question…If you could pick only one food to eat every day for the rest of your life, (asked by my kid Jordan, the “What if? Kid” right after asking “If you could pick a superpower, what would it be) I think I would say SOUP. I love soup. My Dad often made soup as part of our evening meal. It was amazing, he would start with a pot of water, add slices of meat, and seasonings such as ginger and scallions, assorted vegetables, and voila’, a delicious tasty soup in minutes.
So this week I turned to my ultimate comfort food, soup. I found a recipe for Caldo Verde in Martha Stewart’s book Vegetables and it screamed make me, make me! So I did. A hearty Portuguese soup with potatoes, onions, collard greens, and chorizo or linguica. Delicious. It was warm and filling with a hint of bitterness (appropriate for this week) from the greens and spice from the sausage. I loved it and I think you will too. The recipe fills a nice-sized pot so share with a neighbor or friend…comfort and kindness. It will help get you through rough days.
As always tweak the recipe to your liking. The original recipe calls for kale or collard greens, you can substitute greens with less bite such as chard or spinach. Russet potatoes can be replaced by Yukon Golds giving the rustic soup a smoother less starchy texture. In place of chorizo, try linguica or any spicy sausage. For additional smokiness, saute a couple of strips of bacon along with the sausage and add to the soup. Serve with slices of crusty French Bread slathered with butter (we deserve it).
The hard part maybe rounding up the different spices used in this recipe. Fortunately quite a few markets now carry Indian and Asian spices. Try Whole Foods or there is always Amazon or online spice stores like 
