Caroline Hadilaksono

It has been too long, but I finally updated Talks About Food. Do you know what chilaquiles is? If you don’t, it’s so worth trying out. The chilaquiles recipe and (most of the) photos, are both thanks to Ace.

talksaboutfood:

Since we’re talking about getting as many meals out of one grocery trip as we can, all these recipes are related, so that you can use a lot of the same ingredients over and over again. So here are the meals I made: Chilaquiles with Nopalitos, Chicken Tacos with Mango Salsa, Vegetarian Chorizo with Spanish Rice.

My first trip to the store I bought most of the ingredients for the Chilaquiles (minus the seasonings, since I already have those in my pantry). The whole thing cost about $8. From that, I was able to make different variations of Mexican food for the next couple of weeks. I only had to go back to the store and got one or two things, like the Soy Chorizo from Trader’s Joe, and mango and tomatoes for the salsa.

Chilaquiles Verde with Nopales

• 10 corn tortillas
• 1 cup vegetable oil for frying
• 1 pound of small green tomatoes (tomatillos), quartered*
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 green chili peppers (more if you like it spicy), chopped
• 3-4 medium size nopalitos, cleaned and cut into 1/2” wide strips*
• 1/2 cup of fresh cilantro
• 2 cups vegetable (or chicken) broth*
• 1 tsp of oregano
• 1 tsp of cumin
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup Mexican cheese (Monterrey Jack or Cheddar works too)
• one fried egg to top it all off (optional, but definitely recommended!)

* I’m using green tomatoes since we’re making verde chilaquiles, but if you’ve got regular red tomatoes on hand, you can use that, and make chilaquiles rojo instead.

* You can buy nopales or cactus at most grocery stores now. You can buy them already cleaned and precut in a jar, but it’s much cheaper to buy them raw and prepare them yourself.

* I’m going the super-cheap route by making this dish vegetarian. But if you want to add meat, chicken or ground beef or pork, you can. In that case, you’re also welcome to use chicken or beef stock.

To make the chilaquiles

Clean and cut the nopales into 1/2” strips. Be careful if it’s your first time. Those are real cactuses, so they’re sharp! Here’s a tutorial on how to clean your nopales, and another.

Once ready, place the nopales in a small sauce pan cover them with water, and bring it to a boil. Let it cook for 2 minutes, and then drain. Then repeat once more, we do this to get the sliminess out. Drain and set aside.

Fill a small frying pan about half way up with vegetable oil (1 cup or more depending on how big your pan is, the smaller the better, so you won’t have to use up so much oil). Let it get hot, and then fry the tortillas, one at a time, until they turn golden brown. About 2 minutes or so each. Place on paper towel to drain the excess oil.

In a frying pan, heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Sauté the onion and green tomatoes until soft. Add the garlic and the chopped chili. Saute for a minute more until the garlic smells amazing.

Take your sautéed onion mixture, place it in a food processor, let it cool slightly so it won’t explode on you. Then blend them together, it doesn’t need to be super fine, chunks are okay, it’s all about your preference. My food processor was broken when I was cooking this, so I used a mortar and pestel to grind the mixture by hand. I tried getting it as smooth as I can, but there were still pretty big chunks of stuff, but it came out fine in the end.

Return the pureed mixture to the pan, fry for a minute in a table spoon of oil. Add the seasonings: oregano, cumin, salt and pepper to taste. Then add the 2 cups of broth. Stir and bring to a boil. 

While waiting for the mixture to boil, stack the fried tortillas into a neat pile, and cut them into roughly 1/2” strips. Add to the boiling broth mixture. And then add in the nopales too.

Return to a boil once more, and then lower the heat and let it simmer until most of the liquid is gone, about 5-10 minutes. Check the seasoning one more time, adjust to taste.

To serve, crumble some Mexican cheese on top (or other cheeses you’re using). Add a dollop of sour cream on the side. You can fry an egg real fast (I did it on the same pan I used for frying the tortilla, I just dumped most of the oil out) to top off the whole thing. Enjoy your well-earned meal!

From the left over ingredients for the chilaquiles, I decide to make chicken tacos, since I already have corn tortillas, and I’ve got chicken breast sitting in my freezer. Since basically my definition of chicken taco is sautéed chicken breast seasoned with cumin, oregano, salt and pepper, I wanted to add some mango salsa, to make it more fun.

Mango Salsa

• 1 tomato, diced
• 1 ripe mango, diced
• a handful of cilantro, chopped
• half of medium red onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• half of a green chili pepper, chopped and seeded (more if you like it spicy) 
• 1/2 tsp of oregano
• 1 tsp of cumin
• salt and pepper to taste
• juice of 1 lime

Put all ingredients together in a large tupperware and shake until everything is mixed together. Serve with your chicken taco or as a dip.

I made another meal using these ingredients: Vegetarian Chorizo with Spanish Rice. The vegetarian chorizo is basically Soy Chorizo from Trader’s Joe, sautéed with green beans. I just found out about soy chorizo from my friend, for the longest time I’ve avoided eating chorizo because someone told me what gross stuff goes in it. But the soy chorizo has the taste and texture of a regular chorizo, so I’m excited I can finally eat chorizo again!

Spanish Rice

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup uncooked white rice (medium grain)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cups water
• 1 10 oz can diced tomatoes (or 1 large tomato, diced)
• 1 tsp of oregano
• 1 tsp of cumin
• a pinch of salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a deep skillet over medium heat. Saute onion until soft. Add in the rice. Saute until a little translucent.

Add in water and tomatoes. Add in the seasonings. Cover, and simmer for 30 minutes, or until rice is cooked and liquid is absorbed.

Read the story behind the recipe: My Favorite Thing About Taxes…

Oxtail? But Caroline, that’s so gross! If by gross you mean delicious, then, why yes it is! I think it’s the shape of the cut that grosses people out, oh and probably the fact that it’s the tail. I guess I’ve never felt like that because I eat all the time since I was a youngen. If you’ve never had oxtail before, I think you really should give it a chance, really, it’s not as gross as it sounds (or looks, for that matter).

Am I preaching to the choir here? I’m not sure, I just know when I told Micah, he had no idea the grocery store sells such things as oxtail, I sent him a picture link, and he said it’s gross, so I just assume, ya know?

Anyways, a few weeks ago I had a bunch of carrots and celery left on the fridge. I wanted to make a recipe I haven’t made before, and I remembered my mom was suppose to make Sop Buntut. It literally translates to tail soup, but we should probably stick to calling it Oxtail Soup, since it’ll be less confusing to most people.

I’ve never made it myself, but I found this recipe here, made some adjustments so that it was more like the way my mom makes it, and it came out really well. I didn’t really follow the measurements exactly, Indonesian cooking is more about tasting anyways. Just keep tasting it until it’s right.

Ingredients:

• knob of fresh ginger, peeled and smashed
• 1 lb of oxtail, chopped
• 3 cloves
• 2 whole nutmegs (powder works too)
• 6 cups of cold water
• Vegetable oil
• One large leek (onion works too)
• One large carrot
• half a cabbage
• 2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
• 2-3 stalks of celery with leaves, coarsely chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste

You start with your oxtails. A little pack like this cost about $8.00, which is pretty decent, it’ll be enough to make a whole pot of soup.

Add the oxtail and scald uncovered for 3 minutes. Drain, discard the water and ginger. Wash the oxtail in cold water to remove the bits of scum. Clean the pot the and add the oxtail back in, along with the cloves and nutmeg.

Add the cold water, bring to a boil, cover and simmer, for about an hour and a half, until the meat is tender.

Chop up the onion, carrot, celery, while you’re waiting.

Sauté your onion/leek, carrot, and potatoes, until nice and soft, then add them into the soup.

The most difficult part of the recipe is just waiting. I’d give it 3 hours at least, before you can actually eat it. Indonesian food is slow food, everything takes time. The longer you let it stew, in really low heat, the more tender the meat is going to get. So I’ll make it way ahead of time, I think making it the day before is the best way to go, because it gets better the next day, all the spices really gets into the meat. I’d just heat the whole pot before serving it.

After the oxtails are really tender, and I mean fall-off-the-bone tender, add in the cabbages. It should take another 15-20 minutes to cook, until the cabbages are soft. 

Serve with rice, of course!

Here in the Hadilaksono house hold, we deconstructed and then reconstructed a whole chicken, and I mean, a whole chicken, head, feet and all!

It’s a recipe my dad got some time ago when he lived in Germany.

He didn’t have an exact recipe to follow, and we couldn’t go out to the grocery store, so we just used whatever we had left on the fridge.

It’s rather a complicated process. You skin a whole chicken without tearing the skin, and then cut all the meat from the bones. You ground all the chicken meat, mix it with some ground shrimp, ground beef, some chopped mushroom, onion, apples, and then you stuff the whole mixture back inside the chicken skin. So it’s like a chicken meatloaf, stuffed inside a chicken’s skin. It seemed a little cannibalistic to me, which doesn’t really make sense cause the chicken is not eating itself, but the idea of taking all the meat out of a chicken and then stuffing it back to itself, just seems barbaric. Which is why there are no pictures of the process. 

Despite all my squeamish reservations, it turned out really good. It was delicious! But then again, why wouldn’t it be? It’s a chicken meatloaf wrapped in chicken skin, for crying out loud!

The chicken we used has the head on (along with the chicken feet), I think it looks quite morbid, my mom thinks it looks pretty. Figures.

So what happens when you go to the butcher at the farmers market, and you get distracted by the boy who looks like Harry Potter working behind the counter, who’s helping another customer? Well, you ask for beef tenderloin tip to make some paella, and ended up with a filet mignon steak instead. 

So that was how ended up with this very expensive cut of meat a couple of weeks ago. I felt kinda silly and blushed for a while, but then I went home and decided to cook myself a real fancy dinner. 

I don’t usually cook or buy red meat, so this was my first time cooking steak, I don’t even order stead at the restaurant, so I was pretty clueless. After some research, I settled on this recipe for Filet Mignon with Rosemary and Mushroom Gravy. I didn’t have any mushroom, so I made it without it, and I used dry sherry that I had on hand instead of the Marsala wine, it came out fine.

I also made some buttermilk mashed potatoes and sautéed veggies for the side.

Filet Mignon with Rosemary Gravy

Steak

• Vegetable oil cooking spray
• 2 (8-ounce) filet mignon steaks
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons olive oil

Gravy

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 large or 4 small shallots, minced
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup dry Marsala wine*
• 1 1/2 cups low-sodium beef broth
• 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves
• 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

*I used dry sherry instead 

Steak: Put an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a small baking sheet with vegetable oil cooking spray. Set aside.

Season the steaks with salt and pepper, to taste. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the steaks and brown on all sides, about 4 minutes.

Transfer to the prepared baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes for medium-rare doneness. I’m a bit skiddish when it comes to raw meat, so I gave mine an extra 20 minutes, to make sure it’s well done and safe.

Let the steaks rest for 5 minutes on a cutting board.

Gravy: In the same skillet used for the steak, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Cook until the shallots are soft, about 5 minutes. Add the wine and scrape up the brown bits that cling to the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Cook until most of the liquid has evaporated, about 2 minutes.

Stir in the beef broth and rosemary. Whisk in the flour until smooth. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until half of the liquid has evaporated and the sauce has thickened slightly, about 10 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the butter until smooth. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Cutting across the grain, slice the steak into 1/4-inch thick slices and arrange on a platter. Pour the sauce into a serving bowl and serve alongside the meat.

I know Thanksgiving was last week, but bear with me, I’ve had dog problems and an unexpected allergic reaction to alcohol (definitely a story for another time), so I haven’t been able to take the time to focus and tell my Thanksgiving tale, until now. So, here it is.

This year was the first time I’ve ever made Thanksgiving dinner, I was really excited about it, and a bit nervous, but I think all in all, it turned out fine. I reasearched a ton of different recipes before finally deciding what I’d have time to make: roasted chicken, cornbread and sausage stuffing, mac-and-cheese, and cranberry pie.

Everyone else brought food too, Dana made her famous cheese potato and she also made mashed potato. Both delicious and won the carb-king award for the night. Jamie brought a giant bowl of salad with lemon and olive oil dressing, it was the only green thing we had on the table, good call! My neighbor, Wendy, brought a fruit salad, it’s got cherry, whipped cream, and marshmallow in it, delicious! My other neighbor Diane, brought a ton of food as well, she made vegetarian stuffing, green beans, biscuits, roasted squash, and garlic mashed potato. It was way too much food for six people, just the way it should be.

After stuffing our faces with two different kinds of stuffing, two different kinds of mashed potatoes, biscuits, salad, squash, mac-and-cheese, fruit salad for dessert, and several bottles of apple cider and wine, the food coma was well on its way. We laid around my apartment floor and played Taboo. It was a good game to play, since there were a lot of people who didn’t know each other, it’s a good way to keep everyone talking, and joking around. By the end of the night, there were tears of laughter, which may or may not be alcohol induced, either way, it was still fun.

And of course, like any other time when I get together with people, I discover how much I don’t know about the American culture. Micah got a card for Hokey Pokey, and I believe the clue that he gave was: a dance that rhymes too much.

Dana immediately said “The Hokey Pokey!”

“What’s that?” I said.

And everyone gasped, “You don’t know what the Hokey Pokey is!? How could you not know the Hokey Pokey?”

Then they all proceded to sing the song:

You put your right foot in,

You put your right foot out;

You put your right foot in,

And you shake it all about.

You do the Hokey-Pokey,

And you turn yourself around.

That’s what it’s all about!

And right at the end everyone, with the exception of me, clapped their hands in unison. I had a what-the-fuck-is-up-with-these-people look on my face, which Dana thought was hilarious.

It just seems that the 12 years that I wasn’t here, I missed out on quite a few things, like the Hokey Pokey, and Fluff (later that night when we were discussing the fruit salad my neighbor brought, I found out that apparently everyone eats this when they were little, naturally, I’ve never had it), and mac-and-cheese.

Well, they always say, it’s better late than never, so here I am at 23, cooking Thanksgiving dinner for the first time, and humbly learning the Hokey Pokey, along with all the other things I missed out on so far life.

If you’re looking to cook your first Holiday dinner (Thanksgiving, Christmas, or what have you), or you just want to have a really huge Sunday night dinner, here’s a walk through of what I did.

The key about making a big meal by yourself is do-aheads! Find whatever you can do the day before, so the day of the big dinner, you won’t find yourself stressing out and running out of time. Also find simpler recipes when you can. Since this is my first time roasting a bird, I went with a small chicken, instead of a full-blow turkey. I figure I wouldn’t be able to lift a turkey into the oven anyways. Out of the whole meal, the stuffing to me is the most complicated, not so much because it’s hard, but because there are many different little steps, but I felt confident that I’d be able to pull it off, because the ingredients are fairly simple, and the each little step is also very simple (like sauteing and whatnot). Lastly, I chose the simplest desert recipe I could find, the Cranberry Pie is basically putting batter on top of cranberries and pecans, and throwing it into the oven.  

So here are my do-aheads: first, I seasoned my chicken the day before, and left it on the fridge until 1 hour before the dinner started, when I started roasting it. Second, I wanted to make my own cornbread for the stuffing, so I made that the day before also, it’s super easy and only takes 20 minutes. And everything else I did the day of. 

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Zuni Cafe’s Roasted Chicken (From Smitten Kitchen, adapted from the cookbook from the Zuni Cafe, San Francisco)

Serves 2 to 4

• One small chicken, 2 3/4 to 3 1/2-pounds
• 4 tender sprigs fresh thyme, marjoram, rosemary or sage, about 1/2 inch long
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 to 1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
• A little water

Season the chicken: [1 to 3 days before serving; give a 3 1/4 to 3 1/2-pound chicken at least 2 days]

Remove and discard the lump of fat inside the chicken. Rinse the chicken and pat very dry inside and out. Be thorough — a wet chicken will spend too much time steaming before it begins to turn golden brown.

Approaching from the edge of the cavity, slide a finger under the skin of each of the breasts, making 2 little pockets. Now use the tip of your finger to gently loosen a pocket of skin on the outside of the thickest section of each thigh. Using your finger, shove an herb sprig into each of the 4 pockets.

Season the chicken liberally all over with salt and pepper. Season the thick sections a little more heavily than the skinny ankles and wings. Sprinkle a little of the salt just inside the cavity, on the backbone, but don’t otherwise worry about seasoning the inside. Twist and tuck the wing tips behind the shoulders. Cover loosely and refrigerate.

Prepare your oven and pan: [Day of, total time is 45 minutes to 1 hour]

Preheat the oven to 475°F. Choose a shallow flameproof roasting pan or dish barely larger than the chicken, or use a 10-inch skillet with an all-metal handle (we used a 12-inch cast iron frying pan for a 3 1/2 pound chicken). Preheat the pan over medium heat. Wipe the chicken dry and set it breast side up in the pan. It should sizzle.

Roast the chicken: Place the chicken in the pan in the center of the oven and listen and watch for it to start browning within 20 minutes. If it doesn’t, raise the temperature progressively until it does. The skin should blister, but if the chicken begins to char, or the fat is smoking, reduce temperature by 25 degrees. After about 30 minutes, turn the bird over — drying the bird and preheating the pan should keep the skin from sticking. Roast for another 10 to 20 minutes, depending on size, then flip back over to recrisp the breast skin, another 5 to 10 minutes.

Rest the chicken: Remove the chicken from the oven and turn off the heat. Lift the chicken from the roasting pan and set on a plate. Carefully pour the clear fat from the roasting pan, leaving the lean drippings behind. Add about a tablespoon of water to the hot pan and swirl it.

Slash the stretched skin between the thighs and breasts of the chicken, then tilt the bird and plate over the roasting pan to drain the juice into the drippings. You can let it rest while you finish your side dishes. The meat will become more tender and uniformly succulent as it cools. 

Set a platter in the oven to warm for a minute or two.

Tilt the roasting pan and skim the last of the fat. Place over medium-low heat, add any juice that has collected under the chicken, and bring to a simmer. Stir and scrape to soften any hard golden drippings. Taste — the juices will be extremely flavorful.

Cut the chicken into pieces, spread on the warm platter.

——

Skillet Cornbread (From The Pioneer Woman Cooks)

Serves: 12

• 1 cup Yellow Cornmeal
• ½ cups All-purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
• 1 cup Buttermilk
• ½ cups Milk
• 1 whole Egg
• ½ teaspoons Baking Soda
• ¼ cups Shortening
• 2 Tablespoons Shortening

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Combine cornmeal, flour, salt, and baking powder in a bowl. Stir together.

Measure the buttermilk and milk in a measuring cup and add the egg. Stir together with a fork. Add the baking soda and stir.

Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients. Stir with a fork until combined.

In a small bowl, melt 1/4 shortening. Slowly add melted shortening to the batter, stirring until just combined. In an iron skillet, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons shortening over medium heat. Pour the batter into the hot skillet. Spread to even out the surface. (Batter should sizzle.)

Cook on stovetop for 1 minute, then bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Edges should be crispy!

——

Cornbread Stuffing with Sausage and Apples (From The Pioneer Woman Cooks)

Serves: 16

• 32 ounces, weight White Button Or Crimini Mushrooms
• 4 Tablespoons Canola Oil
• ½ teaspoons Kosher Salt
• 4 cups Cornbread, Cut Into 1-inch Cubes
• 4 cups French Bread, Cut Into 1-inch Cubes
• 4 cups Artisan/crusty Bread, Cut Into 1-inch Cubes
• ½ pounds Italian Sausage
• 2 cups Diced Onion
• 5 whole Granny Smith Apples, Large Dice
• 5 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
• 1 cup White Wine
• ½ teaspoons Kosher Salt
• 32 ounces, fluid Low (very Low) Sodium Chicken Broth
• 1 teaspoon Ground Thyme
• ½ teaspoons Turmeric (more To Taste)
• 2 teaspoons Rosemary, Leaves Minced
• ½ teaspoons (additional) Kosher Salt
• Black Pepper To Taste
• Fresh Parsley, Minced

Allow diced bread to sit out on cookie sheets for several hours or overnight, until dried out.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Wash mushrooms thoroughly and pat dry with paper towels. Toss in a bowl with canola oil and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Divide mushrooms between two sheet pans and roast in the upper half of the oven for at least 20 minutes, stirring once halfway through roasting. Remove from oven when mushrooms are deep brown. Set aside.

Remove sausage from the casing. In a large skillet, crumble and brown sausage over medium high heat. Remove sausage from skillet and set aside. 

Without cleaning the skillet, add in diced onions and brown for five minutes. Increase heat to high and add diced apples, brown sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, or until deep golden brown.

Decrease heat to medium and pour in wine (be careful if you’re using an open flame). Stir and cook to reduce liquid by half, about two to three minutes. Pour apple/onion mixture into a bowl and set aside.

Return skillet to medium heat (again, without washing) and add thyme, turmeric, rosemary, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Heat for a few minutes, then set aside.

Add bread to a large bowl, then add browned sausage, mushrooms, and apple/onion mixture (and juice that might have accumulated.) Next, add broth mixture gradually as you toss the ingredients, being prepared not to use all of the liquid according to your taste.

Check seasonings at the end and add in minced parsley. Pour into a large baking dish and bake at 375 for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown on top.

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Nantucket Cranberry Pie (From The Pioneer Woman Cooks)

Serves: 10

• Butter, for greasing
• 2 cups (heaping) Cranberries
• ¾ cups Pecans, chopped (measure, then chop)
• ⅔ cups Sugar
• 1 cup Flour
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 stick Unsalted Butter, melted
• 2 whole Eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon Pure Almond Extract
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 1 tablespoon Sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Generously butter a cake pan or pie pan. Add cranberries to the bottom of the pan.

Sprinkle on chopped pecans, then sprinkle on 2/3 cup sugar.

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, 1 cup sugar, melted butter, eggs, almond extract, and salt. Stir gently to combine.

Pour batter slowly over the top in large “ribbons” in order to evenly cover the surface. Spread gently if necessary.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes. 5 minutes before removing from oven, sprinkle surface with 1 tablespoon sugar for a little extra crunch.

We were so stuffed, we didn’t have anymore room for the pie, which was kind of a shame. But later that night after everyone else had left, I cut myself a piece, and it was delicious!

Last Friday was Jamie’s birthday, our friend Sasoon wanted to invite a bunch of old Otis friends together so we can all see her new apartment and also celebrate Jamie Day.

I thought about what I wanted to bring, and it took about one and half second to come up with mac-and-cheese. A few months ago, Jamie and I shared a bowl of mac-and-cheese at Luna Park. We died and went to heaven, carb and cheese heaven.

Before then I’ve never had real mac-and-cheese before, I’ve only had it once or twice in high school when they served it at the cafeteria for lunch. I don’t know why I’ve never had or made mac-and-cheese, it sounds like something that I would be really into (pasta & cheese, two of my favorite things in life). I have a tendency of missing out on the normal things that people eat here, for instance this past February I had my very first french toast (also with Jamie). What’s up with that, you say? I think it’s partly because I didn’t grow up here for the first 12 years of my life. And then after that growing up without my parents being around, I just didn’t eat the same foods normal kids do. I “make” my own meals since I was 12 years old, and I didn’t have any adult to teach me what food to make, and I had not yet discovered the internet in those days, so I couldn’t just google a recipe like I can now. So all I can remember from middle school and high school is thawing out little plastic bags of frozen spaghetting sauce that my mom had made whenever she comes to LA for her yearly visits. Yes, she literally made spaghetti souce to last for like 8 months. And she’d put them into individual plastic bags that I would then thaw out and eat with some pasta (which she also stocked up on, we had like 5 months worth of dry spaghetti in our pantry). My brother and I would be able to survive a nuclear attack in a cinch! Another reason for my lack of food experience is probably also due to the fact that I was a loner all through high school and most of college (still am now), so I didn’t hangout with lots of people or eat out. I was too wrapped up in my studies to enjoy real meals, let alone cook. I ate mostly fast Chinese food or whatever they serve at the school cafeteria. It wasn’t until I finished Otis, and I suddenly found myself with time on my hands to do things other than homework, when I finally really got into cooking and eating. And I’m glad that now Jamie’s always around to help me discover all sorts of food that I was missing when I was growing up!

So now that we got that covered, let’s get down to business. I set out on a search for the best mac-and-cheese recipe. I found one from my go-to food blog, Smitten Kitchen. I trust her completely. I basically make everything she posts on that blog, and everything is always delicious. But I also found another recipe for a “fancy” mac-and-cheese from The Pioneer Woman Cooks, and I thought maybe I can sort of combine the two: simple home made comfort food with a bit of a fancy twist. 

It came out really good. Everyone liked it, which I felt a tiny bit bad about, only because I know how much butter and cheese goes into the dish, but it was worth every calorie! The left-over was still good too, especially if you go through the extra trouble of re-heating it in the oven (I didn’t, I just microwaved mine, and still tasted good).

Martha Stewart’s Creamy Mac-and-Cheese With Caramelized Onions (tweaked from Smitten Kitchen and The Pioneer Woman Cooks)

Serves 12*

• 11 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for casserole
• 2 whole medium onions, sliced thin
• 6 slices white bread, crusts removed, torn into 1/4- to l/2-inch pieces
• 5 1/2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons coarse salt, plus more for water
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 4 1/2 cups (about 18 ounces) grated sharp white cheddar cheese
• 2 cups (about 8 ounces) grated Gruyère or 1 1/4 cups (about 5 ounces) grated Pecorino Romano cheese
• 1 pound elbow macaroni

*I suggest to half this recipe, since it’s incredibly rich and filling, just don’t forget to also half your seasonings at the end (1 tsp of salt, instead of 2 tsp). Something I forgot to do, so I ended up having to make a full batch of mac-and-cheese. I’m not complaining, but I’m just saying, that’s a shit load of mac-and-cheese!

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter a 3-quart casserole dish; set aside. Place the bread in a medium bowl. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Pour the melted butter into the bowl with the bread, and toss. Set the breadcrumbs aside.

2. Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a skillet over medium-low heat, then throw in the onions. Cook them, stirring occasionally, for 10 to 12 minutes. You want them soft, golden brown. Set it aside.

3. Warm the milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat, set aside. On a separate saucepan, melt the remaining 6 tablespoons butter in a high-sided skillet over medium heat. When the butter bubbles, add the flour. Cook, stirring, 1 minute.

4. While whisking, slowly pour in the hot milk a little at a time to keep mixture smooth. Continue cooking, whisking constantly, until the mixture bubbles and becomes thick, 8 to 12 minutes.

5. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in salt, nutmeg, black pepper, cayenne pepper, 3 cups cheddar cheese, and 1 1/2 cups Gruyère (or 1 cup Pecorino Romano); set the cheese sauce aside.

6. Cover a large pot of salted water, and bring to a boil. Cook the macaroni until the outside of pasta is cooked and the inside is underdone, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the macaroni to a colander, rinse under cold running water, and drain well.

7. Stir the macaroni and caramelized onion (you can reserve some to sprinkle on top if you want) into the reserved cheese sauce.

8. Pour the mixture into the prepared dish. Sprinkle the remaining 1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, 1/2 cup Gruyère (or 1/4 cup Pecorino Romano), and the breadcrumbs over the top.

9. Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Transfer the dish to a wire rack for 5 minutes; serve.

Last Sunday was pretty mellow. After a week of hanging out with friends and not being at home much, things went back to normal on Sunday. I stayed at home for most of the day with no plans other than trying to finish Kavalier & Clay. (Such a good book, but very very intense. I get really sad every time I finish my reading for the day.)

So as part of my lazy Sunday morning ritual, I was perusing through Tumblr and my food blogs, and I ran into Adam’s (The Amateur Gourmet) post on Easy Homemade Granola. I was intrigued, I’ve never made it myself before, but I’ve always wanted to try. And I was in the right mood for granola too. See, hanging out with friends and eating junk foods always comes hand in hand, somehow when I’m around friends, eating fatty, greasy stuff is just so much more fun, and so much less guilty. Since I’ve been hanging out with Teri, Micah, Dana, and Jamie, I’ve been eating out loads, and I think every single time, cheese and butter was somehow involved. It was awesome and tasty, but I think I maxed out my fat quota for the next couple of weeks. 

So anyways… granola is a very welcomed change. And it couldn’t be simpler to make (35 minutes, including doing the dishes!), and taste way better than anything I’ve ever bought from the store. Plus, you can get your hands all messy when mixing the rolled oats and the honey! What could be more fun than spending your Sunday morning getting messy in the kitchen, making granola, filling your apartment with smells of cinnamon and toasted almonds, and eating warm granola right out of the oven, eh, eh?

Easy Homemade Granola (with pantry left-overs)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup whole almonds
• 1/4 cup whole walnuts
• 1/4 cup whole pecans
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup dried fruit medley (apricots, peaches, plums & pears)

This recipe is tweaked from The Amateur Gourmet, who got the recipe from “Baked: New Frontiers in Baking” by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. I used whatever I had on hand (pecans, walnuts, dried fruits medley, some burnt candied orange peels, oh I didn’t tell you about this, well another time then), instead of the things he used (hazelnut, dried cherry). This is why granola is so awesome, it’s a great way to get rid of left-over nuts, and other disasters you may make in the kitchen.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, toss the oats with the cinnamon and salt.

In a medium bowl, stir together the oil, honey, brown sugar, and vanilla. Whisk until completely combined.

Pour the honey mixture over the oats mixture and use your hands to combine them: Gather up some of the mixture in each hand and make a fist. Repeat until all of the oats are coated with the honey mixture.

Pour the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet. Spread it out evenly, but leave a few clumps here and there for texture.

Bake for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven and use a metal spatula to lift and flip the granola. Sprinkle the almonds, walnuts, and pecans (or whatever nuts you’re using) over the granola and return the baking sheet to the oven.

Bake for another 10-12 minutes, then remove from the oven. Let cool completely. Sprinkle the raisins and dried fruits over the granola…

Use your hands to transfer it to an airtight container. The granola will keep for 1 week. I ate all of mine within 48 hours. I sprinkled them as topping to my frozen peach & banana yogurt. I also snack on them right from the container.

It seems that every time I cook I always have leftover ingredients, so usually I end up with an accumulation of little snippets of all sorts of things. This time it was leftover pumpkin puree. I bought a giant can of it, and used only half for the pumpkin pie I made for Halloween.

Dana and Micah were talking about how they got a package of pumpkin bread on the mail while they were in Seattle, and ever since then I’ve been craving some pumpkin bread, so I decided to make one. While I was at it, I also threw in a bunch of random things I found in my pantry that I’ve been accumulating in the past few months

Pumpkin Bread with Chocolate Chips, Hazelnuts, & Golden Raisins (from Orangette)

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup water
• ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
• 6 Tbs unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup pumpkin purée (or cooked, puréed—until very smooth—winter squash, yams, or sweet potatoes), at room temperature
• ½ cup coarsely chopped hazelnuts
• 1/3 cup golden raisins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease (with butter or cooking spray) a 9- by 5-inch loaf pan.

Whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and baking powder until thoroughly blended. In another bowl, mix water and vanilla extract.

In a large bowl, beat butter until creamy, about 30 seconds. Gradually add sugar, and beat on medium speed until lightened in color and texture, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add pumpkin purée, and beat on low speed until just blended.

Add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the water-vanilla mixture in two parts, beating on low until smooth and just combined.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as necessary. Fold in hazelnuts and raisins.

Pour batter into pan and spread evenly across the top.

Bake about one hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan on a rack for five or ten minutes before unmolding to cool completely on the rack.

Oh, also, I’m super excited about how these pictures came out. I’ll tell you why later.

I wrote a post about Mimi’s going away party a few weeks ago, and I totally forgot that I was going to follow up with the 2nd going away party.

We decided to have an impromptu chili night on the following Thursday, you can say it’s a continuation of Mimi’s going away party, basically everyone who couldn’t show up last Saturday, were there: Teri and Dan, Sasoon, and Romina. I’m so glad she got to see them all before she leaves.

It was surprisingly easy to decide what to make. Since I didn’t know that everyone other than Mims and Romina were coming, I didn’t feel any pressure. It was only the day before I found out that more people are coming, but it’s a good thing, really, since I didn’t have time worry so much.

Mimi sent me a postcard during her road trip to Arkansas, it’s got a recipe for the Southwest Cowpoke Chili. I thought it’d be neat to actually use that recipe, and then I saw this beef chili & sour cream and cheddar biscuits recipe from Smitten Kitchen, it was fate. I decided to combine Smitten Kitchen’s chili with the Cowpoke recipe, and I knew I had to make those biscuits to go along with the chili. Since I was on a roll, I decided that I want to make it a complete southwest/mexican theme, so I made a side of taco salad and churros for dessert. 

Southwest Cowpoke Chili

Ingredients:

• 2 large onions, chopped (about 3 cups)
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 carrots, sliced thin
• 3 pounds ground beef or ground turkey (this is what I used, it’s leaner, and can’t taste the difference)
• 1 jalapeno seeded and diced
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon dry oregano
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• Dried red pepper flakes, to taste
• 1 8-ounce cans tomato sauce
• 1 cup beef broth
• 2 bottles of beer
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1 19-ounce can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 green bell peppers, chopped

In a large pot heat the oil over moderately low heat and cook the onions in it for 5 to 10 minutes, until softened. Add the garlic and carrots and cook for one minute more. Raise the heat to medium and add the ground meat, stirring and breaking up any lumps until it is no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Add the jalapeno, cumin, paprika, oregano and pepper flakes and cook for another minute. Add the tomato sauce, broth and vinegar and simmer the chili, covered, for 35 to 40 minutes. Add the kidney beans, bell peppers, salt (about 2 tsp) and pepper to taste and simmer for an additional 15 minutes, until the bell peppers are tender.

Sour Cream and Cheddar Biscuits

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
• 1/4 pound sharp Cheddar cheese, coarsely grated (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 425°F. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Either cut the butter pieces into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or rub them in with your fingertips until well-combined.

Stir in the cheddar and sour cream until the mixture forms a sticky dough.

Pat it out to a 1/2-inch thickness on a very well-floured counter and use a 3 1/2-inch biscuit cutter to cut six rounds, I don’t own one, so I just cut my dough into squares. Square biscuits, my, I’m a rebel!

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, until golden on top.

Do ahead: If you’d like to serve them over a couple days, I recommend freezing already formed but unbaked biscuits until you are ready to bake them — you can bake them directly from the freezer, adding just a minute or two to the baking time.

Taco Salad

For the dressing:

• 1/3  cup  chopped fresh cilantro
• 2/3  cup  light sour cream
• 1  tablespoon  minced chipotle chile, canned in adobo sauce
• 1  teaspoon  ground cumin
• 1  teaspoon  chili powder
• 4  teaspoons  fresh lime juice
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt

For the Salad:

this is more of a guideline, you can substitute with what you have on hand

• 4  cups  shredded romaine lettuce
• 1  cup  cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2  cup  diced peeled avocado
• 1/3  cup  thinly vertically sliced red onion
• 1  can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1  can whole-kernel corn, rinsed and drained

To prepare dressing, combine first 7 ingredients, stirring well.

To prepare salad, combine lettuce and remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Drizzle dressing over salad; toss gently to coat. 

Soft Churro tots (adapted from Amateur Gourmet)

For the dough:

• 1 cup water
• 1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick of unsalted butter
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 3 large eggs
• 2 quarts vegetable oil for frying

For the sugar sprinkles:

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Bring the water, 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar, salt, and the butter to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Remove the pan from the heat, and add all the flour at once. Stir together with a wooden spoon, and return the pan to the stove over low heat. Work the batter back and forth, stirring with a wooden spoon, to dry the batter. When the dough begins to roll away from the sides of the pan, cook another 5 minutes, let cool.

When the dough is cool, drop the eggs in one by one, and mix it well into the dough. Let the batter rest at least 2 hours in the refrigerator before using.

Combine the cinnamon and 1/4 cup sugar in a bowl.

Heat the oil to 350 F on a deep-frying thermometer, or heat a wide pan over medium heat.

My deep fryer is really tiny, so I decided to shape the churros into balls, instead of the usual long stick shape, if you want to do the stick, place the dough in a pastry bag, squeeze 4-inch-long pieces of dough into the oil. Don’t overcrowd the pan; the churros shouldn’t be touching. Fry the churros 2 to 3 minutes, turning them gently with tongs once or twice to brown all sides. 

Drain on paper towels. While they’re still hot, roll each churro in the cinnamon sugar.

So the past week, actually the past few weeks has been about preparing for Mimi’s going away. She joined the Peace Corps and she’s going to teach in Rwanda for 2 years. She’s leaving tomorrow morning. That, coupled with Romina going back to Texas at the end of next week, these past few weeks has been mostly about trying to spend as much time as all our schedules allow, together, hanging out. And when we get together and hang out, inevitably, we eat. So we’ve been eating a lot, and I’ve been cooking, a lot.

We went to Indo Cafe for Mimi’s (first) going away party. I didn’t want to cook, cause I thought there would be way too many people to cook for (though it turns out that half of the people couldn’t show up). So I decided that I’d just make the desert. Mimi loves coconut, and she was a bit sad when she found out that there are no coconuts where she’s going. So I thought I’d make something with coconut, so she can get her coconut fix before she leaves. I had frozen some Pandan leaves I bought a few months back, so I decided to make pandan and coconut cupcakes with pandan ice cream. Pandan and coconut always go well together.

I think the cupcake came out okay. I’m not a huge fan of the icing, but I only put a tiny bit of it, just to make the coconut sprinkles stick on top, cause it looks pretty like that. The ice cream I’ve made once before, and that one was a bit better (well, at least Jamie thought it was good. So good, that there’s no word in English to say it). This time, I accidentally put too much salt on this one, but Mimi ate it anyways.

Pandan Ice Cream

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 6 Pandan leaves, crushed*
• 3 Pandan leaves, each tied into a knot*
• 5 large egg yolks
• an ice cream maker

* Each leaf is about a foot long or so. What’s Pandan leaves? Pandan is used a lot in Asian cooking, in Indonesian it’s also called pandan, in Vietnamese it is la dua. I don’t think it’s very easy to find, even in Los Angeles where there’s a big asian community, I can only find it in one asian grocery store, the Hawaii Supermarket in Alhambra. You can read more about pandan here, it’s got some tips for other ways of using pandan.

Take 6 pandan leaves and blend them into a pulp.

Combine the coconut milk, heavy cream, sugar, salt, and all the pandan leaves in a medium saucepan.  Heat the mixture over medium heat until it just begins to simmer, let it cook for a minute, then cover and remove from heat.  Allow the mixture to steep at room temperature for 30 minutes. The mixture should be slightly green. After 30 minutes, strain the crushed pandan leaves from the mixture, leave the knotted ones.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks until they lighten in color.

Temper the eggs by slowly adding the warm cream mixture to the eggs, one ladle at a time, and whisking continuously.  When about a third of the cream mixture has been added to the eggs, pour the warmed egg mixture back into the saucepan with the rest of the cream.  

Continue to cook and whisk over medium-high heat until the mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon. (You can test for doneness by running your finger across the coated spoon. If your finger leaves a trail on the spoon, then the custard is done. If the trail flows back together, continue to cook the custard until it thickens some more.)

Pour the warmed custard into a large bowl through a fine mesh sieve (this strains out any cooked and scrambled eggy bits). Place the bowl of custard into an ice bath and stir the custard until cool. When the custard is cool, cover and place in the refrigerator overnight to thoroughly chill.

The next day, remove and discard the pandan leaves from the custard. Pour the cold custard mixture into an ice cream maker, and churn.

Pandan and Coconut Cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

• 5 egg whites (at room temperature is best)
• 1/2 teaspon cream of tartar
• 3/4 cup caster sugar (3/4 cup granulated white sugar, processed in food processor until very fine)
• 5 egg yolks
• 7 tablespoons coconut milk
• 5 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup of water for pandan juice
• 6 pandan leaves
• 1 1/4 all purpose flour plus  
• 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the icing (optional):

• 3 tablespoons icing sugar
• 3 1/2 tablespoons butter
• 5 tablespoons desiccated coconut

Make the pandan juice. Crush the pandan leaves, then boil it with 1/2 cup of water, until water turns greenish color. Then remove from heat, and let it steep for 30 minutes, and then strain. Set aside 5 tablespoons for pandan juice for this recipe.



Preheat oven at 350°F. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt.
Beat egg whites and cream of tartar with an electric mixer till soft peaks. Add half of the caster sugar one tablespoon at a time a beat thoroughly after each addition till you achieve stiff peaks. Set aside.
In a separate bowl whisk egg yolks with the rest of the caster sugar till fluffy.
Add coconut milk, vegetable oil, 5 tbs pandan juice, flour mixture, and whisk until combined.
Gently fold the egg whites into the yolk mixture in 3 batches.
Spoon into a lined muffin pan. Bake for about 15 minutes, or till skewer comes out clean. 
Meanwhile to make the icing, mix the butter, icing sugar and desiccated coconut. Spread coconut icing on top of cooled cupcakes, sprinkle with some more coconut.

We went to the lawn outside of my house last Saturday, and picked some figs, which I’ve been wanting to do for weeks. I was too lazy to look up a recipe, and decide to make something up. I foraged my fridge, and with the ingredients I found, I made caramelized fig salad with spinach and goat cheese.

Ingredients:

a couple of ripe figs, quartered

1 tiny bowl of sugar (I used turbinado, just cause I have it) 

a handful of baby spinach

olive oil

balsamic vinegar

a handful of almonds (optional)

Saute the almond in a pan with some olive oil until golden brown, then chop it up, set aside. Then dip your figs into the bowl of sugar.

Add olive oil to the pan, then add sugar-covered figs. Cook until the sugar are caramelized, they should be nice and golden brown all over.

Then on a plate, assemble your baby spinach, crumble some goat cheese, chopped almonds, and top of with the caramelized figs. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and season with salt and pepper to taste! 

Hehe, my very first recipe invention!