The Cooking Archive
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Below you will find all reading recommendations I’ve made in Stuff & Such since 2022. The full reviews are not included but can be found by visiting the newsletter they were pulled from.
🧁 Pum-Chos (Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins)
My small friend Lea (she’s 8) LOVES these muffins. She calls them “pum-chos” and this notoriously picky eater would eat them for every meal if she could. She hates breakfast food, but eats two of these before school. From Lea and my experience, they are best enjoyed with a glass of milk, friends, and a screening of Halloween Town in the living room. (Newsletter #1, 9/28/2022)
🧁 Holiday Spritz Cookies (Life, Love, and Sugar)
My Auntie Jen makes spritz cookies every year, but this year I didn’t want to bug her for her recipe (I somehow never save family recipes? It’s a problem). So I just clicked the recipe Google suggested, and everyone at the Holiday Party loved them, okay? You will need a cookie press (sometimes called a cookie gun) and you can buy them from any kitchen store like Williams-Sonoma, Sur la Table, or yeah, of course, Amazon. Here are some snags I ran into, however. Learn from my mistakes! ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Put your sprinkles / nonpareils on before putting cookies in the oven (duh, but like, I didn’t know that and honestly there is no shame in not knowing the first time).
If your dough is not sticking to the pan: freeze your pans and do not grease or line them with any parchment paper or anything.
If your dough is not coming out of the press: your dough is too cold. Warm it by putting the bowl inside of a bigger bowl of warm water. If your kitchen is cold or you decided to get fast a loose with the recipe and chill it because you fancy yourself a Great British Baking Show contestant, come back to Earth for a moment and warm up your dough. (I know it’s counterintuitive, but please just trust me).
These cookies bake FAST. So set a timer! Make sure you have extra baking sheets that you are freezing while batches bake in the oven. When you take out the cookies from the oven, press the next batch on the freezing sheet. Once the new sheet of cookies goes in, take the warm cookies off the hot baking sheets, put them on a cooling rack, and plop those hot baking sheets in the freezer. This way, you are always rotating sheets and you are always pressing cookies on COLD cookie sheets.
🧁Tomorrow Bread
I don’t even know what to call this kind of bread? It’s just bread. Like, tale as old as time, bread. Make it today, bake it tomorrow, bread. My dad is obsessed with baking bread and recited this recipe off the dome as I furiously scribed down instructions on the closest piece of paper, so like, it’s not perfect okay?
Materials Needed:
-Dutch oven (I have this one from target, I think it’s 5qts)
-Food scale
-Proofing basket (honestly, I just use a big bowl and it’s fine)
-Towels to drape over the rising dough (I have these ones from IKEA)
-Big Bowl
-A playlist (I usually go for The Parent Trap soundtrack)
Ingredients:
-1000 g flour
-780 g water (at 90°F — apparently not everything is metric)
-1/4 tsp yeast (again, this is a metric & imperial melange)
-21 g salt *NOTE he has since amended this to be 18g salt but you do you, boo boo
Instructions
Tare your scale with your bowl and then pour 1000 g of flour in it
Re-tare your scale with a separate bowl and pour 780 g of 90° water into it
Add water to flour and mix by hand
Cover and let it rest for 20-30 mins
Re-tare scale for yeast, then salt measurements
Sprinkle yeast & salt on dough and fold it in / mix it up a lot. You don’t want pockets of your bread to be salty. If you aren’t sure how to fold the dough, watch this tutorial:
Cover and let sit for 20-30 minutes
Pull and fold the dough a bunch (“but not too much, like, four” according to my dad. I actually don’t really know what that means)
Cover and let sit for 20-30 minutes
Pull and fold the dough a bunch (“but not too much, like, four” according to my dad. I actually don’t really know what that means)
Dust with flour / olive oil & cover. Leave in fridge overnight
TOMORROW
Place your dutch oven in the oven while you preheat it to 475°F. *it is VITAL that your dutch oven be in the oven for the entire time the oven is preheating* 45-60 mins
Flour a surface and fold the dough again
Separate the dough in half (this recipe is enough for 2 loaves) and place each half into their proofing baskets and cover
Now, this part is a little hard to describe, so watch this video — basically you are going to create surface tension on the top of your dough by gathering it from the back and pushing it toward you a few times on an UNFLOURED surface so that it’s not just slipping all over the place.
With the seam side down place your first loaf in the dutch oven. (You can line the dutch oven with parchment paper if you want to be able to pull it out easily)
Bake with the lid on for 30 mins and then bake with the lid off for 30 minutes.
Enjoy!
🧁Every Day Butter Cake (Buttermilk By Sam)
I came across buttermilkbysam on Tiktok and made two of her recipes this week! She claims that this everyday butter cake gets its name because you’re likely to have all the ingredients at home already. This, as my lovely Swiss-German friend pointed out immediately, is not true, especially if you are not a dairy girl.
For those of you who know how I feel about white creamy sauces and dips (I hate them), I think you might owe me a standing ovation for working with sour cream in this recipe. I nearly vomited, but I was committed to making this cake! It actually tastes so wonderful (sorry about the vomit imagery, and for mentioning it again now). This is the perfect, sweet, fluffy, and buttery addition to a morning coffee or afternoon tea. Scrum dilly yum yum a burr burrrrrr. (Newsletter #6, 2/6/2022)
🧁Banana Nut Bread (w/ Walnuts and Chocolate)
Okay this woman is so aggressive in her love of banana bread and her insistence that you make it, but don’t let her style intimidate you. The bread rocks! I added chocolate chips and walnuts to the batter because I need those textured surprises, but feel free to leave those out! ‘Tis moist.(Newsletter #6, 2/6/2022)
🧁Lemon Poppyseed Pull-Apart Bread (Buttermilk By Sam)
Okay this is truly my claim to fame this week. I have never once made a roux in my life, and truthfully have avoided any recipe that called for it, but because I love you and because I love bread, I learned how to do something new! I followed this recipe almost exactly, except I added lemon extract to the batter to up the flavor. (Don’t use lemon juice…shit gets weird). Also — this bread requires two separate rises — one after you make the dough and another after you roll out the dough and stack the pieces— so, make sure that if you plan to make this bread to eat, you start the process at least 5-6 hours ahead of time. ⭐️⭐️⭐️for flavor ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for how fun it is to pull apart (Newsletter #6, 2/6/2022)
🧁Dill Pickles (The Rugrats nostalgia is real for this one)
My love of pickles— making them, eating them, talking about them— has increased tenfold since I got on pickletok. This recipe is so easy and so quick and gives you a fun present in 4-6 weeks. (Okay, I know, that’s the down side. So make them NOW, so you can eat them LATER). (Newsletter #5, 1/29/2023)
🧁 Smoothie
My friend Hilary is obsessed with smoothies. I don’t use that word lightly. I’ve known her for three years, and I’m not sure there has been a day during that time in which she hasn’t 1) had a smoothie or 2) deeply regretted not having a smoothie. To Hilary, clandestinely throwing in kale is not the motive of the smoothie endeavor. You will not find her “sneaking” greens in there to “try to be healthy.” In fact, Hilary is unashamed about how much she dislikes kale and is under the impression that anyone who voluntarily eats it and enjoys it is, in fact, delusional. In honor of my dear, anti-kale and pro-smoothie friend, here is a summer smoothie recipe. Measure with your heart.
Ingredients:
Almond milk
Peaches (frozen or fresh)
Strawberries (frozen or fresh)
½ Acai pouch (Trader Joe’s – if you don’t have a TJ’s or frozen acai, use blueberries or blackberries!)
1 spoonful of nut butter (I use peanut butter because it’s my favorite tasting nut, but some people are very anti-peanut so, you do you)
1 Banana
*Pro-tip: if you are blending frozen and fresh fruit, make sure the banana touches the blade first so it all blends easier. (If you have a Magic Bullet from your college years like me, put the banana in last because you’ll flip it upside down, obviously. You would be shocked at how long it took me to learn this technique. I am a slow learner).
🧁 Blueberry Clusters (via lemonsandlucy on TikTok)
I’m not sure if this counts as a recipe because it isn’t a meal, but this one is for all my sweet-tooth ridden grazers. If you know me in real life, you know I have the world’s strongest aversion to yogurt (and any white, creamy sauce, dip, or dressing for that matter). BUT WILL YOU BELEIVE I am actually considering buying one of those heinous tubs of Strauss Family yogurt just to see if I can stomach it frozen?
PS I looked every where for a digital copy of the Cheddar Friend Eggs mentioned in the intro, but to no avail. If you’re desperate, go get a copy of Tieghan Gerard’s Every Day cookbook from your local library and get to cookin’.
🧁 Banana Coffee ⭐️⭐️⭐️
If you are chronically online, you’ll realize I’m late to this trend. If you are the majority of people in my life you don’t really know what trends are, let alone that Banana Coffee was one of them this past Spring. You know how men use 2 in 1 shampoo-conditioner for most of their lives? This is that. It’s not a great cup of coffee, and it’s not a great smoothie, but it gets a job done if you’re in a hurry and need both at once.
It is exactly what it sounds like. It’s coffee topped with a blended combination of whatever milk you’ve pledged your allegiance to and a banana. Throw it in a blender and drink!
Convenient if you randomly have plums that have seen better days and live alone :)
🧁 Neapolitan Checkerboard Cookies by Sue Li (New York Times)
I haven’t made these yet, but I was wrapped a present with a piece of newspaper and this recipe was on it, and it looked amazing!
🧁 Sun Dried Tomatoes Basil Chicken Meatballs (recipe based on this recipe)
People are obsessed with these meat balls! Hilary popped six cold ones in her mouth on the way home from a horrid day of teaching. Devon took two for the road at my birthday party and put them in her purse. Peter, a man at said concert, ate said meatballs from said purse. I don’t blame anyone — they are really yummy. I first ate them when my step-sister was on Whole-30 and making everything from scratch. She made them as chicken burgers but I’m a meatball girl! I wing the recipe now but that basil aioli is top! Enjoy! (Newsletter #1, 9/28/2022)
🧁 Pasta allá Norma (Cookie & Kate)
This recipe is SO EASY and it’s really good as left overs as well. My friend Hilary whipped this up for me one day and even though I didn’t think I was hungry, I ate two bowls. It’s that good. Though I’m usually a make-it-from-scratch bitch when it comes to tomato sauce, I love using the fancy jarred Rao’s marinara because, though hard to admit, it’s better. (Newsletter #2, 10/13/2022)
🧁 Cast Iron Roast Chicken Dinner + Homemade Broth (Molly Baz)
Devon, Alicia and I, in our complete surrender to our elderly twenties, have begun a monthly Sunday dinner wherein we try a new recipe, catch up, and wine down. We have managed to successfully prioritize this time together with the help of google calendar (not a sponsor) and aggressively kind peer pressure. I highly suggest, dear reader, creating standing times to gather with your girlies to avoid endless rounds of “omg we should get a drink soon!” “yes omg so busy this week but lets try next week?” “omg I wish I could but I’m out of town” “dw we will find a time!” *never finds a time*. Gone are the whimsical days of our youth where we could text the group “what are we doing tonight” because we now live in different cities balancing work, partners, family obligations, travel and of course, mental illness. PUT IT ON THE CALENDAR!
Main: Oh, right, the chicken. Alicia used a recipe from Molly Baz’s Cook This Book but added *🍋LEMON🍋* to the cavity and the pan to retain moisture. Her first roast chicken, armed only with the confidence of “If my mom can roast a chicken, so can I,” Alicia deserves a standing-O[vation].
Sides: Roasted potatoes: Sliced and diced some small, golden potatoes with olive oil / salt/ pepper/ whatever spices she liked, put them in the oven @ ehhh 375? Roasted them until one of us said “uhh…there’s still potatoes in the oven” and we all admitted we had forgotten about the potatoes. Served deliciously crispy and on the side.
Arugula Salad: Devon made a side arugula salad with shaved carrots, avocados, and sourdough croutons with a dijon dressing (dijon, olive oil and balsamic vinegar). It was delicious with amazing textures.
Broth: Alicia was tempted to throw the carcass away because making homemade broth seemed too much of a hassle, but I (politely) screamed at her that broth is actually the easiest thing to make and I did it two weeks ago. Empowered by the confidence of “if Montana can make broth, so can I” Alicia made a pot of delicious chicken broth, though wished she had removed the lemons. We just dumped all the chicken bones and scraps into a pot with water and let it simmer while we chatted in the living room for a few hours.
Roast a chicken. Love your friends.
This is basically a kitchen sink soup that I made when my dad told me he was sick. After making it all from scratch, I learned that my dad was not even in the state? His ass was in New Orleans having a grand ole (feverish) time hopping from music venue to music venue letting the sweet rhythms guide his heart. So…I ate it.
My own twists on the recipe:
I used homemade veggie stock & some chicken bouillon because I didn’t have any chicken stock and honestly, this soup did not have as much flavor as I was expecting, but the flavors did bloom over the course of the day and into the next. I recommend fully doubling the garlic & making sure you have way more herbs in your sachet than I did AND adding friend cayenne chickpeas to the soup after. Literally just rinse a can of chickpeas and put them into a skillet thats been warmed with olive oil, cayenne pepper, and salt. They made a world of difference. (Newsletter #4, 1/22/2023)
🧁 Winter Vegetable Salad
Ingredients:
- homemade cheesy cayenne croutons (stale bread tossed with olive oil, salt, cayenne, and pecorino romano roasted at like 400 for like 15-20 mins? Til they are crunchy)
-1 cup cooked quinoa
-salt/pepper/olive oil tossed cauliflower florets: roasted @ 400 until they smell good and get limp (idk how else to say that sorry, but that’s how I like to eat them! browned and sweet and salty)
-baby bella mushrooms sautéed with NO OIL IN THE PAN BC MUSHROOMS ARE A FUNGUS NOT A VEGETABLE, add salt and a teeny bit of oil after water starts to come out of the mushrooms. Chop and add rosemary (a little soy sauce if you’re feelin’ it)
-shredded kale (massaged)
-fried chickpeas (olive oil, garlic powder, cayenne & salt) sautéed on med/high until crispy
Dressing: lemon garlic tahini dressing from Yotam Ottolenghi
- 60 grams tahini paste.
1 ½ tablespoon lemon juice.
1 garlic clove, crushed.
A pinch of salt, or to taste.
3 tablespoons water, plus 1 teaspoon water, or as needed.
🧁 Alicia’s Birthday Salad (Twenty NOINE!)
People freaked out over this salad, so after the 4th person said “wow this salad is really good,” I wrote it down. Also, shout out to Camille, who is a new friend who ate this salad. Camille, I love you. Move to Oakland. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Ingredients:
- homemade sourdough croutons (stale bread tossed with olive oil, salt, roasted at like 400 for like 25 mins? Til they are crunchy)
mixed greens
sliced apples
cherry tomatoes
bleu cheese crumbles
toasted almonds
Dressing: Red Wine Vinaigrette
I use a mason jar and measure on the little lines and then screw the top on and shake it all up.
Olive oil and red wine vinegar (3:1 ratio)
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
Spoonful of dijon mustard
Smaller spoonful of honey
Oregano
Salt
Pepper
🧁 Weezie Beans
Every woman on my mom’s side knows these beans. They are just beans, but they are also a portal to another dimension and make your house smell like 1973. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Directions:
Bring 6-8 cups of water to a boil and add your beans and spices. Let simmer for 3-6 hours. Let the house smell like your grandma and do a crossword puzzle or embroider something. I don’t have exact measurements because I learned how to make these by sniffing and watching. I eat them alone or with homemade bread.
Ingredients:
1 bag of pinto beans (you can soak them or not, my grandma did not give one single damn about soaking)
6 cups of water (add more if you’re cooking longer than a few hours)
1 ham hock (I was too lazy to add this, don’t tell my Auntie Julie!)
2 bay leaves
some cumin
some paprika
salt/pepper
fresh rosemary
🧁Black Bean Sweet Potato Kale Tacos
This is my go-to meal when I have girlsnight sleepovers w/ my one and only, Devon. She met Emmanuel at the farmers market in the Mission in San Francisco and quickly put me on to Bolita, the Bay- Area based wholesaler & pop-up of all things maiz he runs. He sells masa, tortillas, tamales, and salsa, and the masa we get from him makes the best flipping tortillas. He does pop-ups at different stores and markets, and if you’re lucky enough to sign up in time, I’d recommend going to one of his workshops where you can learn to make your own! If you’re in the Bay, you can order for pick-up here
Ingredients:
Tortillas:
1 package of masa dough (2 oz ball of dough - medium tortillas makes 10-11 tortillas )
*If you are making the dough from scratch:
2 cups of instant corn masa harina- flour
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups + 1TBSP room temperature water
Plastic Wrap (to cover your tortilla press)
Tortilla press
Filling:
If you’re not making tortillas from scratch, just get corn tortillas
1 can of black beans
1 can of green chiles
1 head of dino kale
Cheddar cheese (I like extra sharp)
1 sweet potato (you can also use butternut squash if you hate potatoes)
1 avocado, cut in slices
Your favorite salsa (I like a smokier red salsa with these flavors :))
Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Wash / chop the kale
Cut sweet potatoes into cubes
Coat sweet potato cubes in olive oil, salt, and pepper and roast for 25-30 minutes (until crispy or, however you like them)
While the taters are cookin, sautee up your kale with just some olive oil and salt until it stops being so tough (you don’t want it to be super wilted but you don’t want it to be tough, ya know?)
Drain your black beans and rinse them (so you don’t fart a lot) and add them to a pot with some green chiles and whatever hot sauce you like? Or just do them plain, whatever you want. Heat them up over medium heat until they get warm.
Make the tortillas in the pan (or heat them up if you bought them pre-made)
Assemble tacos: kale, black beans, cheese, avocado, sweet potatoes, and salsa!)
🧁Potato Salad (I KNOW I KNOW YOURS IS BETTER BLAH BLAH BLAH Just try it. All my friends are obsessed with it and you probably will be too if you like salty crunchy delicious food). Again, I don’t really measure shit, and I usually am only cooking to feed myself, so use your head and adapt accordingly.
Ingredients:
4-8 russet potatoes
1 jar pepperoncinis
1 jar roasted red peppers
1 jar of dill pickles
1 can of olives
Celery
Yucatan Sunshine Hot Sauce (or hot sauce of your choice)
THE SMALLEST TEENIEST AND I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH TINIEST DOLLUP OF THE DEVIL’S DIP (mayonnaise, my nemesis)
Directions:
Peel your potatoes and think about the person who taught you how to do that, or don’t if that’s not a good memory (maybe play some music? I like Etta James for potatoes, but do you).
Cut your potatoes in half or in quarters depending on how big they are
Place them in a pot and cover with 1 inch of water (salted)
Bring the water to a boil then reduce to simmer (usually 10-15 mins depending on your taters)
Chop celery, pickles, olives, peppers, and pepperoncinis while the taters boil
Test taters with a fork and when they are tender, drain ‘em.
When the potatoes are soft and drained, add all the fun stuff and the SMALLEST amount of mayo (i have a mayo prejudice) and sir mixalot.
Best served cold (IMO) — add hot sauce and eat. (Newsletter #9, 5/16/2023)
This recipe is so easy and so delicious I ate it every day for 1 week and then made it again.
Ingredients:
Spaghetti or ramen noodles
Carrots
Edamame
Cabbage (I skipped cuz I hate but you do you)
Peanuts (I added cuz I love but you do you)
Bell Peppers
Sauce:
⅓ c. soy sauce
2 tbs. Rice vinegar
2 tbs. Sesame oil
1tbs sugar
1 tbs toasted sesame seeds
1 tbs chili oil
½ cup PB
2 cloves garlic
Ginger (however much you like — I’m a fiend for ginger personally)
⅓ cup pasta water
Blend all the sauce ingredients in a blender then put it over the noods&veg. Enjoy!
🧁 Tabbouleh
Most of my favorite recipes are from my dad — that potato salad one from a while back was his too. I have a story about it, that I will tell one day, but for now we gotta focus on the herbs (which my dad has been doing for breakfast lunch and dinner for the past three weeks). Seriously. I’m sure this man hasn’t consumed anything but this parsley salad for the past 21 days. So, the following tabbouleh recipe is from pops which means there is no recipe, and it’s just a list of ingredients followed by a shrug. That’s it and that’s all! Good luck.
Ingredients:
1 cup bulgur wheat
Cumin (he doesn’t measure it)
4 bunches of parsley
Tomatoes — however many you want diced up
Lemons - squeezed for their succulent juice
1 dried Jalapeño (I know it’s weird but my dad adds it in, and I really love it — Will my Lebanese friends come for me? Maybe. I’m sorry Uncle Khalil! But also, like, you might like it? <3)
Cucumbers all diced up
Olive oil (my dad doesn’t add this but I think that might be a mistake — I’m sorry dad! I’ve somehow upset you and Uncle Khalil with this recipe I’m sure of it).
Salt
Enjoy with flat bread, grilled meats and vegetables etc.
🧁 Chipotle Honey Tacos ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Devon made this for our Sunday Dinner™ last week and reader, I ate past the point of uncomfortably full. There is also something so comforting about a woman who has slow cooked you meat all day? A witch tending to her cauldron. For what is chicken in adobo but a love potion of the highest order?
Pro-tip: make your tortillas from scratch, and if you live in the bay swoop up some masa from Bolita (available in SF and East Bay farmers markets and a select few grocery stores!)
🧁 Copycat Shroomami Bowl ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Sweetgreen has had its way with my bank account ever since my pantsuit-wearing days as a Manhattan paralegal. I would order via the app (which has improved massively since) and walk those blustery eleven blocks to eat a $20 salad that tasted like home. If there is anything that can put a Band-Aid on a California girl’s homesickness during a New York February, it’s Sweetgreen.
However, I am twenty-nine now and begrudgingly reconcile my accounts these days and let me tell you…I have been humbled by how much I spend on take-out. So, in an effort to still eat healthily, but also be able to retire when I’m 70, I am making it at home with Lahbco’s miso ginger dressing recipe. I like a cross between a shroomami and a harvest bowl dupe so mix and match at your leisure!
Ingredients:
kale
wild rice
sweet potatoes / roasted fall vegetables
sauteed mushrooms
apples
avocado
sometimes I add blue cheese crumbles?
🧁 Turmeric Ginger Chicken Soup ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I have no notes. This soup is so good that I made it twice and slurped up every sloppy, soupy bite. 10/10
🧁 Viral Chopped Italian Sandwich ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I combined a bunch of different recipes I found on this “viral” sandwich. I left out coppa and turkey because I don’t like them.
Ingredients:
Provolone
Ciabatta
Iceberg lettuce, chopped
Tomatoes sliced up
As much salami as would make Tony Soprano proud
As many slices of pepperoni as would make Carmela nervous
A bunch of peperoncinis
Italian vinaigrette
red wine vinegar & olive oil in a 1:3 ratio
dijon mustard
salt, pepper
pecorino Romano
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F
Chop up all ingredients
Add dressing
Slice ciabatta roll in half and put a slice of provolone on each side and bake for a few mins until the cheese melts
Pile that chopped salad on high on the bread and dig in :)
🧁 Pastrami Roast Chicken w/ Schmaltzy Onions & Dill (Molly Baz) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A classic that harkens back to my “Wednesday Round-Up” days (RIP to Wednesdays). This recipe is a banger every time, and the only modification I made was that I roasted a 1.75 lb Cornish hen instead of a chicken because I was spending Thanksgiving #alone and don’t like leftovers for days. This recipe is also a really good reminder for me that even though I am by myself, I don’t have to take short cuts in the kitchen or only make “quick and easy” meals for myself. I am worth the time and effort of a gourmet meal, just as any guest in my home would be. I can live and eat well, even if the serving size is one. Lana and I have talked about the loneliness of cooking and eating when you live by yourself on our podcast, and though it can be difficult, I find myself surrendering less and less to the sadness of solitude, and trying harder to romanticize those moments of freedom instead. (Don’t be discouraged — this recipe is actually so “quick” and really “easy”!)
Also, if you want to join Molly Baz’s recipe club or buy her new cookbook, have at it.
🧁 Redemption Soup (AKA: Butternut Squash Soup w/ Sweet Potato & Roasted Garlic) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I made a butternut squash soup for my friends Pareesa and Lana, and I was lazy and used an immersion blender instead of my Vitamix. With the third bite in her mouth, Pareesa exclaimed “wow…I love this bowl of chunks.” Reader, it was supposed to be a smooth, pureed soup. So…I took time to regroup and hopefully….this redeems me.
Ingredients:
Chicken Broth: I made mine from scratch using the carcass of Molly Baz’s Pastrami Roast Chicken w/ Schmaltzy Onions & Dill with some celery, onion, and carrot.
2 heads garlic
1 red onion
1 Sweet Potato
Salt
Pepper
Butternut Squash
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Slice butternut squash in half and remove the seeds
Slice sweet potato in half
Slice heads of garlic in half
Slice red onion in half
Place all veg on a baking sheet and drizzle generously with olive oil, salt, and pepper
After about 20 minutes, turn butternut squash and sweet potatoes faceside down.
The sweet potato, garlic, and onion will not take as long as the squash, so keep an eye out and remove those bits while the BNS keeps cookin’
Put everything in a blender with like 1.5 cups of broth (I only used 1/2 of the sweet potato because I …well I ate the other half while I was waiting for the squash to be done didn’t I?)
Add salt and red pepper flakes to taste :)
Serve with bread yeeee
🧁 Sophia Roe Pasta (Crate & Barrel) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Alan, Pareesa’s legal husband, made this pasta recipe for us a couple of weeks ago, and there hasn’t been a day since where I haven’t thought about it and wished it were swimming in a bowl of it. Creamy and citrusy, this pasta balances it all: the meatiness of the mushrooms, the flavor of the tomatoes, the fragrance of the herbs. It’s a 10/10 (when Alan makes it). I have messed it up twice but not because it’s difficult. Oh, and it’s vegan!
🧁 Ramen Noodles with Shrooms and Soy Butter by Molly Baz ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Here’s what some of my favorite people have in common: they own Molly Baz’s cookbooks. (Shout out to Alicia for getting me her new one for Christmas and thoughtfully marking so many tried and true recipes). Devon made me this Ramen Noodles with Shrooms and Soy Butter dish for dinner last week, and I think I briefly blacked out with bliss. She added lemon zest, and I highly recommend you do the same. This recipe is best enjoyed with friends you’ve had since you were 13, but I’m sure it’ll taste great no matter the company.
🧁 Sicilian Escarole & Sausage Pasta by Back Pocket Pasta ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Another pasta introduced by Chef Devon. I feel like typing out the recipe here is a semi-legal reproduction at best and a heinous copyright violation at worst, so just click the link. It’s delicious.
🧁 Blistered Broccolini with Charred Dates, Lemons & Sesame by Molly Baz
Disclaimer: I have not actually tasted this recipe, but Scallops Boy says it’s one of the best recipes he’s made this year. “I think I made it three days in a row when Calvin was in town.” So…there ya go! Recipe and instructions are reproduced from Molly Baz’s 2021 cook book Cook This Book here.
Ingredients:
1 pound of broccolini
1 lemon
1 garlic clove
½ cup pitted Medjool dates (about 3 ounces)
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
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