Category: Recipes

This is that no knead bread recipe from the New York Times from Jim Lahey/Mark Bittman. It's stupidly easy to make and if you have some of my bread, you're not allowed to put guacamole on it. F'ing avocado toast, gtfoh.

My only variation is 2 cups of all purpose flour with 1 cup of Sonora wheat flour – get from Eatwell Farm if they have it, otherwise Capay Mills or wherever you can find it online. The Sonora wheat makes it a little more interesting and gives it some flavor.

Acme levain bread is like $5. Pizzaiolo's country loaf – which is very good with an almost burnt crust and not quite sourdough flavor – is like $10 and some usual wait time in line. The no knead bread is maybe like $1 worth of flour: it's just flour, salt, instant active yeast, and water (and an oven that can go 500 degrees and a cast iron dutch oven).

Surprisingly easy to make bread and just as good if not better. Now part of my TFL biscuits and skillet corn bread rotation. Next up is dinner rolls and I need to figure those out.

Usual dinner ideas/running list to mainly keep track of recipes we like and what we're eating:

• roasted chicken and chicken stock
• steak frites (hanger steak w/ anchovy butter, arugula, fries)
• buffalo or turkey burgers w/ fries
• pasta bolognese (fine, it's spaghetti)
• beef broccoli
• pork chops (w/ some vegetable and starch)
• tonkatsu or chicken katsu
• shrimp or fish tacos w/ mango salsa (and red salsa)
• ham and cheese quiche, spinach and mushroom quiche w/ salad
• lentil and Swiss chard soup (w/ cornbread)

"Go to" and "to try" recipes, I'll keep adding to this list:

• chocolate chip cookies Keller recipe, my usual go to chocolate chip cookie recipe
• Katherine Hepburn's brownies
• quick chocolate cake, Leibovitz's chocolate cake
• NYT's chocolate souffle
• Williams Sonoma chocolate creme brulee
• pies: Edna Lewis' lemon chess, Milk Bar crack, Chez Panisse meyer lemon meringue, NYT's basic crust

Pizzaiolo's fish stew (via Instagram)

Ingredients/Instructions

– saute until translucent
3-4 tablespoons of olive oil
2/3 cup finely chopped shallots
3 cloves garlic
1 small fennel bulb thinly sliced

– add and bring to boil
1 1/2 cup of sauvignon blanc

– add and simmer covered for 25-30 minutes
1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
3 8 oz bottles of clam juice
1/2 cup of water
2 pinches of red pepper flakes
5-6 fresh sprigs of thyme
1 bay leaf

– finish broth
1 tsp fresh chopped thyme leaves
2 tablespoons of butter

– saute separately and add
1 1/2 lbs of fish, monkfish or halibut (or 1lb of U-10 scallops)

– finish/garnish
1 lb littleneck clams 5 minutes
1 lb of shrimp 2 minutes
1 lb of PEI mussels 1 minute
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley

serve w/ toast and aioli

For my reference, adapted from here.  Easier than I thought

• 1 lb of fresh chow mein noodles
• 1/4 cup, plus 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• kosher salt
• 1/2 cup chicken broth, homemade or low-sodium canned
• 3 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 lb of chicken thighs sliced or small cube (or breast or shrimp or pork)
• 1/2 cup of carrots, small dice
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger (out of tube or fresh)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 scallion white and green minced
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced or 1 cup of leeks
• 10 shittake mushrooms

Directions

Boil/cook the noodles, pat them dry.  Heat 1/4 cup of the peanut oil in a wok.  Fry the noodles until they're fried to your liking.  Transfer noodles to a paper towel-lined plate. Set aside. Discard any excess oil and wipe out the pan.

Mix the chicken broth, oyster sauce, soy sauce, cornstarch, and sugar in a small bowl, and set aside. Season the chicken with the sesame oil, salt, and pepper, and set aside.

For my reference (adapted from here).  Turned out to be very easy.

Shrimp etouffee is one my favorite things too cook and say. Very quick and easy to make.

1 stick butter (unsalted)
2 medium onions
1 tsp celery seed (or 1 celery rib finely chopped)
a few garlic cloves
1 1/2 teaspoon of minced jalapeno pepper
2 tbsp flour
1 14 ounce can of plum tomatoes (San Marzano preferred)
1 tbsp of paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1 to 2lbs of shrimp, shelled, deveined Louisiana Gulf white shrimp preferred
4 scallions
1/2 cup parsley (curly not flat)
rice

1. Melt the butter. Add the onions and celery seed, a little salt, and cook until onions are glossy about 5 minutes.
2. Add garlic, jalapeno and cook for 2 minutes. Add flour and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Rough chop tomatoes and stir in with juice, paprika, salt, pepper, and cayenne. Simmer, cover and cook for 5 minutes.
4. Add shrimp and stir until cooked about 2 minutes. Stir in scallions and parsley. Serve over rice and add a lemon wedge.

Serves 4 – 6.

You can substitute crawfish for the shrimp and also catfish probably. A nice, dry oaky chardonnay or sauvignon blanc; fruity wines, probably not.

I made this the other day for some friends. I saw something similar on Iron Chef and I thought it was too easy not to try it at home. It's a nice and light appetizer and good for the summer.

1/2lb of sushi grade hamachi/yellow tail
3-4 kumquats
shiso leaves
great olive oil, salt and pepper

Thinly slice the hamachi. Get some plastic wrap and pound out the hamachi with a hammer or mallet until very thin. Place slices on a plate. Heat up some simple syrup, or 1/3 cup water and 1/3 cup sugar. Slice kumquats thinly and put them in the simple syrup pan and candy for a four to five minutes. Julienne the shiso leaves.

Place some of the kumquats and shiso on top of the hamachi. Sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper.

A friend made this for me and I recreated.  It's simple and hearty and seems like good diet food.

Ingredients:

• some lean beef, maybe 1/4 to 3/4lb ground, cubed, whatever you have
• a dozen turnips (the root part, can keep unpeeled if you want)
• can of beef stock, 1 to 2 cups of water
• oil, salt, pepper, garlic

In a soup or sauce pot, fry beef and turnips in oil.  Add water and then boil.  Add garlic, salt, and pepper and beef stock.  Simmer until turnips are ready.

I suspect you can add other vegetables like carrots, tomatoes, mushrooms, and celery.  And you can probably swap out the beef with chicken or turkey and chicken stock.

That and roasted sweet potatoes is what I'm digging lately.