Apple Stock

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In an attempt to use up the extremely large bag of apples I bought for the Fall Clafoutis, I decided to attempt something a bit more unique. Soup can be a great weeknight meal, and nothing provides quite so hearty a base as a good, homemade stock. I’m always looking to spice up my repertoire a bit, so I set out on a quest for apple stock. Searching around the internet, I struggled to find a satisfying recipe. There were very few options, and what was available seemed far too sweet. I wanted my apple to be a background note, another flavor layered into a complex, but subtle fall bouquet.

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A few rounds of trial and error resulted in this recipe. Though the apple is the most unique flavor, it’s not at all overpowering. The stock is savory and subtle, with the apple providing a delicate hint of sweetness. The rest of the ingredients provide valuable contributions: the carrots, celery, and onions provide all the umami of a standard stock, while the fennel and sage bring in welcome burst of licorice and mustiness. Feel free to add more or less apples to control for the flavor. Personally, I prefer the apple to be a background note, since it allows for a bit more flexibility in use.

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I suggest using this stock as a base for soups featuring squash, sweet potatoes, or pumpkins, or maybe even some heftier dishes like pancetta risotto. It could even be used as a cooking liquid for some sort of roasted pork dish. The recipe I’ve created is a bit muted, so if you want something stronger I would guess even doubling the ingredients wouldn’t be overpowering. This should keep for a few days in the fridge or a few months in the freezer.

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Ingredients

2 carrots

3 stalks celery

3 fennel stalks + fronds

1 yellow onion

4 green apples

A handful of sage sprigs

Recipe

1. Rough chop everything and place in a 5 quart pot and fill with water
2. Bring water to a boil and let simmer for an hour
3. Strain stock through a fine mesh sieve and discard fruit and vegetables

Fall Clafoutis

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It’s finally getting cozy in my corner of the world, and that means it’s time for baking. I usually spend the chillier months all curled up in a heavy knit with good books, great music, and hot tea, so I’m always looking for a descent food accompaniment. I wanted something subtly sweet with a delicate sort of flavor, with a texture that would compliment whatever sort of hot beverage I happened to have on hand. I was inspired by this recipe at Food52, and with pears in season and apples and ginger starring longingly from the miscellaneous basket of produce I keep on my counter, everything came together fairly naturally.

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The result was this dainty little clafoutis. It’s ever-so-slightly spiced with ginger and nutmeg and has a light, eggy texture that pairs well with the mild flavors. The fruit is sliced wafer thin, with the raisins providing welcomed bursts of sweetness. The cake is quite moist and is the type of dessert that tastes better after a few days on the counter. This should give you plenty of time to nibble at it throughout the week. It’s great as a dessert, a quick breakfast, or even an after work snack.

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Note: when slicing the apples and pears, I would recommend using a mandolin if you have it

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Ingredients

2 pears, peeled and sliced very thin

2 small apples, peeled and sliced very thin

1/2 cup AP flour

1 t baking soda

a pinch of salt

3 eggs

1/4 cup light brown sugar

2 T butter, melted + a bit more to grease the pan

6 T half and half

1 T vanilla

2 t fresh ginger, minced or grated

dash nutmeg

1/3 cup golden raisins

Recipe

1. Preheat oven to 400⁰F
2. Grease a 9×9 inch baking pan with butter
3. In a medium sized bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, and salt
4. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and sugar until sugar has dissolved
5. Add the butter, half and half, vanilla, ginger and nutmeg to the egg mixture and whisk together
6. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until there are no lumps
7. Fold in raisins, apples, and pears
8. Gently pour mixture into baking pan, making sure the batter is spread evenly throughout the pan
9. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until edges are light brown

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Supermoon Black Tea Eggs

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            Who doesn’t love a good midnight snack? Even though I’ve been a full-fledged adult for quite some time, I still feel a little sneaky when opening the fridge so late. The supermoon last weekend was the perfect excuse to stay up late. My rooftop was packed, but it was unfortunately cloudy here in the city. Even so, the views inspired these moon shaped little treats.

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This particular recipe is a more flavorful version of the Momofuku recipe. Mine is a bit more flavorful, and I think they make the perfect midnight snack. They’re salty, sweet, and garlicy with the black tea providing a smoky backdrop. Bonus points for being just large enough to satisfy you until bedtime.

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Here I ate them naked save a little red pepper and some scallions, but they could be folded into anything. A good noodle dish, chopped up in a salad, or diced in fried rice. I definitely plan to toss some in next time I’m making ramen. Or just stash a few in your fridge for your next bout of insomnia.

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Ingredients:

2 eggs

¼ cup hot water

¼ cup soy sauce

2 T black tea

1 clove garlic, minced

½ t cumin

¼ t 5 spice

½ t brown sugar

Handful of cilantro to serve (optional)

1. Bring 2 qts water to a boil and add eggs. Cook for 7 minutes (important!) and transfer to a bowl of ice water to cool
2. Mix the rest of the ingredients together in a bowl big enough to hold the eggs
3. When eggs are cool, peel and place in marinade for at least 2 hours but not more than 6
4. Serve and enjoy!

Rose Garden Sausages

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Like every other millennial, I love a good brunch. Back in college my roommate and I used to wake up at 8 am every other Saturday to prepare dramatic themed brunches. We’d spend hours crafting place settings and baking French toast, all the while drafting plans for the next weekend. I’m aware that it’s weird.

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These days I’m not quite so ambitious. My boyfriend and I like to roll into the kitchen around noon, scrounging around our fridge for whatever sort of leftovers we can scrape into something involving lots of eggs and bacon for a technical lunch. I shouldn’t undersell it though, as this forced creativity has definitely led us to some gems.

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              This recipe was created with some of the simplest pantry staples: a dash of cumin, some onion, ground pork, garlic, ginger, salt, and a single egg are all that you need. They’re a bit more work, but definitely worth the effort. The sausage itself is mouthwateringly savory, but the onion is what makes it a bit special. Crunchy, sweet, and unfairly aromatic, they contrast wonderfully with the denseness of the meat.

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           Harking back to my school days, I decided to name them after roses in hopes of inspiring some sort of garden party brunch. I think they look like little roses lined up, and if you’re bright-eyed and youthful like I once was, you could use them as a meaty side at a garden themed brunch. Throw in a pretty bouquet, lavender based cocktails, and some rosewater pancakes, and you’d attract all but your most hungover of friends. I would love to do it myself, but I’ve lost the ability to wake up at a productive hour on the weekends. If you decide to make something this involved, please let me know so I can live vicariously through your experience. I’ll just be here, nibbling on sausages and sleeping through breakfast.

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Makes 10-12 patties

Ingredients

1 egg

1 lb ground pork

1 T fresh minced ginger

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 T cumin

1 t salt

1 small yellow onion, sliced as thinly as possible into circles (I used a mandolin)

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NOTE: The egg whites are really necessary here. I tried to make a few sausages without them, and they wouldn’t properly attach to the sausage. I’ve posted a picture so you can all learn from my failure.

Don’t be like me.

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Recipe

1. Separate the egg yolk and whites, discarding the yolk.
2. In a separate bowl, mix pork, ginger, salt, garlic, and cumin.
3. Use meat mixture to make balls one inch in diameter. Smash balls into patties about three inches in diameter and ¼ inch thick. This can be adjusted depending on the size of your onion.
4. Brush each patty with the egg whites on all sides. Place slice of onion on top of each patty and press down. The onion should be slightly small than the patty, since the patty will shrink in size quite a bit.
5. Place sausages in covered frying pan onion side up, and cook over medium low heat until sausages are nearly completely cooked through and the bottom is dark brown, about 8 minutes. When the sausages are nearly done, GENTLY flip so that the onion is facing down. Cover, and let cook until onion is caramelized, about 4 minutes.
6. Carefully plate and serve.

Citrus Mélange Vodka Tonic

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Given that we’re all still roasting away in NYC, a summery drink seemed appropriate. Honestly, I’ve been completely denying that it’s fall. Last weekend my boyfriend and I ventured out to Coney Island for the first time, and I really liked it. I spent the vast majority of my life landlocked on all sides, so the ocean is still really exciting.

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We walked along the boardwalk to Brighton Beach and ended up ordering insane amounts of food and beer at a Russian place near the shore. Along the way we found bouquets of flowers scattered about, which reminded me of this hilarious Amy Schumer sketch. If I’m completely off topic, it’s because I had to taste test a few drinks to make sure I got the recipe right. You know how it is.

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I wanted something sort of swanky and sort of cheap. Think Lucille Bluth without credit cards. Would she tolerate pulp? Absolutely not. Is she above Svedka? Same answer.

Side note: you can use something else, I just had some on hand.

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The result was smooth, tangy, and delicately sweet. I sat on my balcony I made my own grapefruit juice and simple syrup, but it’s not necessary.  Best pared with a silk bathrobe, private balcony, and your most indignant glare.

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Ingredients

1.5 oz grapefruit juice

1.5 oz vodka

3 oz tonic water

Juice from ¼ lime

3 drops orange bitters

¼ tsp simple syrup

1 big ice cube

Recipe

1. Mix everything together. Stir gently. Enjoy.

Homemade No Recipe Ramen

New York has some really crazy delicious ramen. Like I-will-leave-my-apartment-after-dark-on-a-weeknight-in-winter type delicious. I’m a huge fan. I’ve been wanting to attempt my own bowl since moving here, and this Saturday I finally got the chance. Huddled into one of those classically small New York kitchens, my friends and I peeled ginger, simmered stock, and braised meat for roughly six hours. It was totally worth it:

I won’t post the exact recipe that I used for this dish because so much was improvised and really, that’s not why you make something like this. Sure, you can almost definitely get a better bowl somewhere in the East Village, but when you make it at home you get to make it exactly the way YOU want it. To get you started, here are some guidelines:

Broth:

Traditional ramen uses dashi, which is made by letting kombu sit in water for half a day, as a base. Here, I used a mixture of chicken and pork, but feel free to mix it up. Ramen is all about the broth, so you really want it to be flavorful. We also threw in some bonito flakes (dried tuna) for some extra flavor. We were lucky enough to have a Japanese grocery store around the corner, but many of these ingredients can be found online. You’ll want to include plenty of ginger and garlic, but after that feel free to get a bit creative with the vegetables. After everything is in the pot, set it to a simmer, grab a beer, and watch a few rounds of the U.S. Open. When you can identify each player by their signature grunt, your broth is ready. Strain and set aside. Using a standard (i.e. not ramen-at-a-restaurant) sized bowl, you’ll want to end up with about 2 cups of broth per serving.

Meat:

I like my ramen like I like my pork: full of pig. For this dish we made pork two ways: pork shoulder browned, braised and shredded, and pork belly marinated and roasted for hours. It was as delicious as it sounds. Obviously you can use whatever you want, but make sure to keep it tender. Eating should be the easy part.

Noodles:

I prefer mine curly and thin, sort of like what you’d find in those 99 cent cups we all ate in college.

Toppings:

This is the fun part. Pictured here: nori, soft boiled egg, scallions, cucumber, and fried mushrooms, but there are so many things you can try. Bamboo shoots, corn, poached egg, shrimp, sliced naturomaki, bean shoots, tofu, etc. This list goes on. For extra flavor, you can also add any number of different flavored oils and sauces. I recommend something spicy.

Assembly:

After you’ve cooked all the ingredients, it’s time to make it pretty. Reheat the broth in stir in whatever any additional bits of deliciousness (soy sauce, miso paste). Every bowl gets noodles and broth, and then it’s just a matter of arrangement. Approach this stem with the serenity and grace of a Japanese flower arranger. Breathe in. Delicately slip the nori behind the perfectly symmetrical floating egg halves. Breathe out. You have now reached ramen nirvana.

Mango Fried Rice

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I’ve been making a lot of mango salsa these days, which has resulted in a lot of leftover mango. As an avid consumer of pineapple fried rice, I decided to attempt a similar dish with mango. But ultimately this became something different. Unlike most fried rice recipes, there’s no soy sauce. The flavors are a bit Indian and Jamaican inspired, with cumin, turmeric, fennel, and allspice playing considerable roles in the dish. I used red pepper flakes here, but I personally like a bit more heat, so I ended up topping it off with a bit of hot sauce (Cholula for the curious). The cilantro adds a nice pop of color and brings some freshness to the dish. The egg makes the whole thing a bit more filling, but if you’re looking to make it vegan you could sub in some crumbled tofu. All and all it was a satisfying and delicious weeknight dinner.

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Ingredients

1/3 cup jasmine rice

2/3 cup water

1 T sesame oil

½ red bell pepper, diced

¼ red onion, diced

½ mango, cubed

1 clove garlic, minced

1 t turmeric

1 t cumin

¼ t fennel seeds

½ t allspice

½ t red pepper flakes

1 t salt

1 egg

1 T minced cilantro

Recipe

1. Add rice and water to medium sized pot with a lid. Bring water to a boil, then cover pot and reduce to a simmer until rice is light and fluffy, about 20 minutes
2. In a medium sized pan, heat sesame oil on medium and then add the red pepper, onion, and mango. Sautee until soft, about 5 minutes
3. Add garlic to pan and heat until fragrant, about 1 minute
4. Add spices and heat for another minute
5. Add cooked rice to the pan and mix thoroughly with other spices
6. Reduce heat to medium low and push all the ingredients to one side. In the open space, scramble an egg. When the egg is almost cooked through, stir in the other ingredients
7. Remove from heat and top with cilantro

Quinoa Bean Soup

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It was a bit cold and rainy last week, which always inspires soup for dinner.  It took me a few tries to get into quinoa in soup because I didn’t quite like the texture. I’ve since realized I prefer to cook it separately and add it to the soup near the end of the cooking process. This recipe was going to be a vegetarian chili, but my desire for a hot broth override everything else. Another time. When glancing through the recipe, you might notice that it is a bit chili inspired: the cumin, oregano, beans, and avocado all hint at the origins. Combined with some chunky vegetables and a bit of cheese, I think it makes quite a flavorful dish. Here I finished it off with some feta, but it would also be great with a dollop of plain yogurt, a squirt of lime or lemon, or maybe even some cheddar.

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Ingredients:

½ cup quinoa

1 cup water

1 T olive oil

1 zucchini, sliced into quarters

1 large carrot, sliced into quarters

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 T crushed red pepper flakes

3 cups water

1 16 oz can crushed tomatoes

1 T cumin

1 t salt

1 vegetable bouillon cube

1 16 oz can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

4 sprigs fresh oregano, roughly chopped

1 avocado, cubed

Feta to serve

Recipe:

1. Rinse and cook quinoa in water according to package instructions.
2. In a large soup pot, heat olive oil over medium flame. Add zucchini and carrot and sauté until softened, about 5 minutes.
3. Add garlic and red pepper flakes, cook for another minute.
4. Add three cups of water, tomatoes, cumin, salt, and bouillon.  Adjust heat to high and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and let simmer until ingredients are well combined, about 10 minutess
5. Add beans, oregano, and cooked quinoa and let simmer for another 3 minutes, until beans are warmed through.
6. Take off heat. Add avocado and feta to individual bowls when served.

Rainbow Chard with Sardines and Lemon-Mustard Dressing

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Growing up my grandma grew a lot of chard in her garden, and it has a special place in my heart being the first leafy vegetable that I tolerated as a child. Like most American kids, I went through a phase where I refused to eat “grouchy” food (i.e. anything that wasn’t produced by Kraft) and I found greens especially offensive. Spinach was disgusting, lettuce was boring, and collard greens were far too exotic for a northerner such as myself. But rainbow chard, with its colorful pink and orange stems was always a bit intriguing, and after a decade of avoidance it finally seduced me. Prepared with a little bit of olive oil, salt, and some raisins, the dish was sweet, savory and delicious. Now I’m a complete vegetable nut, and I always make sure to have some sort of leafy green tucked in the fridge. This recipe is a hard swerve left from my first chard experience and between the greens, mustard, and sardines (!) 5-year-old me would have requested a separate dinner. But if you happening to be dining exclusively with adults (or youngins with a more refined palate) it should be a hit.

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I purposely packed this meal with grouchy stuff, because I think a lot of rich dishes can be a bit unexciting. I love rice as much as the next bulk shopper, but sometimes it just needs kick in the pants. The dressing was inspired by this recipe, although I took it down a notch. Side note: lemon slices in dressing? Bold. The chard brings an earthiness to the dish, with the addition of stems providing some interesting texture and color. Everything blends well with sardines, which provide a relatively subtle mix of salty fishiness. Mixed together, these ingredients create a savory, healthy meal that carries a bit of a kick. The rice provides a chewy, light base, but it could easily be subbed for red quinoa or polenta, making sure to account for different volumes when cooked.

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Ingredients

Chard:

1 cup rice

2 cups water

1 T canola oil

1 bunch rainbow swiss chard, destemmed and chopped, stems diced

1 canned sardine packed in oil

Recipe:

1. Cook rice in water according to package instructions
2. Heat canola oil over medium flame and cook chard stems until soft, about 6 minutes
3. Add leaves and cook until wilted, about 5 minutes
4. Stir in sardine, breaking apart with spatula
5. Remove from heat, mix with cooked rice and dressing and serive

Dressing:

Juice from 1 lemon

1 T canola oil

½ shallot, minced

2 t mustard

2 t red pepper flakes

Recipe:

1. Mix all ingredients

Egg and Eggplant Tacos

Egg and Eggplant Tacos

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The probably universal ranking of taco stuffing, from best to worst, is as follows: carnitas, shrimp, fish, beef, chicken. All delicious options, but most of them take a decent amount of time. One of my favorite things about these egg tacos is that they’re quick! No marinade, no slow roast, no apartment filled with dizzying amounts of smoke as pork drippings leak into the oven. While I definitely think that a Saturday invested in cooking large amounts of taco meat is always worth the effort, it’s nice to a have a satisfying weeknight option. And one that’s vegetarian friendly! This one-pan filler is soft and flavorful with a bit of heat. It packs plenty of protein, and cradled in a whole wheat tortilla with loads of fresh tomato salsa and feta it creates a very balanced meal.

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For this dish, it’s important to scramble the eggs over very low heat. Not only does this prevent the already cooked eggplant from burning, but it allows the eggs to develop a smooth, creamy texture. This way everything sticks together a bit better, thus preventing major taco spillage. As far as toppings go, feel free to get a bit crazy. I used this salsa recipe, for the tacos pictured here, but no need to limit yourself! This filling would go splendidly with avocado, salsa verde or some pickled red onions.

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Ingredients:

1 T olive oil

1/2 eggplant, cubed

1/2 t cumin

1/2 t coriander

salt to taste

1/2 t red pepper flakes

2 eggs

2 whole wheat tortillas

Toppings pictured here: salsa fresca, feta cheese, and cilantro

Recipe:

1. Heat olive oil over medium heat until warm, then add eggplant and cook until soft, about 5 minutes
2. Add cumin, coriander, salt and red pepper flakes to the pan and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute
3. In a small boil beat the eggs until the yolk and whites are well combined. Adjust heat to low and add eggs to the pan, stirring continuously. When the eggs are creamy and almost completely cooked, remove pan from heat and continue stirring until eggs are cooked through
4. Place egg and eggplant mixture in tortillas and serve with toppings of your choice