Marcella Cooking Stuff • May 31st - June 6th
May 31st - June 6th
Hi, I missed you guys. We have had a crazy week. I refrained from posting on social media all week to support all the different movements/blackouts. That doesn't mean we stopped eating. Cooking in our home was light. I used the extra time off social media to organize and work on a website. This week's newsletter is on the lighter side. Next week we will be back to normal. Before we jump in, I want to share one positive personal experience from this week.
In this new world of technology we live in, when people are upset they turn to social media. They post hashtags, photos, videos, share links, and tag friends. People can use it to create their own narrative. We are in charge of what people see and know about us. I'm on the fence if this is a good or bad thing and I often question how much a hashtag really has on our world outside of social media.
One of the biggest things we use social media for is to judge and shame others.
That is my least favorite thing about social media and has been for a long time. We run the fine line of passionately sharing our opinion and putting someone down publicly.
I spent the week signing petitions, donating, and educating. I also spent the week observing people and their posts. Then I took what I always preach and put it into action.
I reached out to old friends, new friends, distant friends, and people I barely knew and had conversations. Open and honest conversations. I dropped all judgment, shared my thoughts, and really listened to theirs. We talked about police, racism, mental health, our future, and our present. I left all but one conversation confident that we both learned something, grew from it, and understood each other.
Everyone is on the same page that what we need right now is growth. Growth in our country, growth in our communities, and growth in ourselves.
As we move forward into these next few weeks, I encourage everyone to reach out to their friends privately. Remember that social media is a fraction of our lives. We have actual lives to live and real connections to make. There are people behind those photos we love to scroll through. Release judgment, check on each other and talk about the difficult topics. This is a time to learn and grow so let's help each other do that. The old fashioned way.
Sunday
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
How do we feel about rhubarb? Marco claims he loves it and strawberry rhubarb pie is his favorite. I have a feeling he just likes the strawberry part. He begged me for 5 years to make one. I have made a few since then. It's good but doesn't do much for me.
*Note from the editor - Marco. I really do love strawberry rhubarb pie. My granny used to make it every year and I love it dearly.
This time I used Chris Morocco's recipe and loosely followed this gluten-free crust recipe.
Making a gluten-free crust has challenges. One of which is that there is no...gluten. It's hard to get that flakey texture. For Marco, I have to also use goat butter. Goat butter has a different fatty acid structure than cow butter and is softer at room temperature. This creates another challenge when trying to roll out the dough. It goes from really hard to completely soft very quickly. And sticks to the counter!
Overall the crust was fine. It was tasty, we enjoyed it, but it was lacking that flakey pie crust feeling. It could have been a little thinner but since it was so soft, I was just happy to successfully get it in the pan. I also wish I spent five more minutes decorating the edges but I was worried about it and rushed.
P.S. No shame in using the pre-made gluten-free crust. Gluten-Free baking is hard! Look for this one at Whole Foods.
The filling was lovely. We didn't wait for it to completely set and ate it slightly runny. This recipe is a keeper. The pie was gone in 24 hours.
Monday
Chalupa
Before every grocery run, Marco has a chance to request meals. He is usually no help and is happy eating anything. Last week he requested a chalupa...
Above is a picture of the only chalupa I know. The famous LAUSD chalupa that we grew up eating. I headed to the Google to research what exactly a chalupa is.
This is what I found on Wikipedia:
"A specialty dish of south-central Mexico, including the states of Hidalgo, Puebla, Guerrero, and Oaxaca. Chalupas are made by pressing a thin layer of masa dough around the outside of a small mold, in the process creating a concave container resembling the boat of the same name, and then deep frying the result to produce crisp, shallow corn cups. These are filled with various ingredients such as shredded chicken, pork, chopped onion, chipotle pepper, red salsa, and/or green salsa. They can in many cases resemble tostadas since both are made of a fried or baked masa-based dough."
So I bought masa at the farmers market with the intention to make a "shallow corn cup." In all honesty, I was just way too lazy to make little cups with masa. We fried one, it tasted like a Frito, and we decided to save the masa to make Fritos another day. At the farmers market, we also picked up Yoli's special batch chipotle tortillas 😍😍. I'm kicking myself big time for not buying 4 more packs of them because, DAMN they are good.
Dropped them into the oil, used tongs to hold the center down, made a little cup shape, and called it a day.
We kept it LAUSD style and topped the fried tortillas with ground bison, pepper jack cheese, and hot sauce. LAUSD was beef and cheddar but same difference. I also added shredded lettuce in elementary school but we didn't have any romaine.
This wasn't healthy, I should have made some vegetables, but this was delicious, comforting, and just what we needed.
Tuesday
Montreal Bagels
Spring Soup
Bagels have been on my list of things to try and make at home. It took me forever to get my hands on bread flour and once I did, I was so sucked into challah I didn't have time to make bagels.
Last summer we went to Montreal. After years of hearing about Montreal bagels, I finally got to try some. Boiled in honey water and cooked in a wood burning oven, they lived up to the hype.
NYT Cooking has a recipe for Montreal Bagels and I was up for the challenge. Overall they were fine but here is my problem...the recipe makes 18 bagels. They rise for 15 minutes, you boil them in honey water, drop them into bowls of seeds, and then bake them on the lowest rack. Well, I could only fit 6 bagels on a tray on the lowest rack. The other 12 sat there and over proofed waiting to go in the oven.
The first batch of 6 was good, the rest was meh. The texture was off. In the future, I may half the recipe and jam as many as I can onto a tray to bake. Or I may just try a different recipe. If you have one you like, please send it my way!
I got around to making another recipe that I have had bookmarked for quite some time. Andy Baraghani's Spring Minestrone Verde with Pistacho Pesto on Bon Appetit. I'm a big fan of Andy BUT this recipe had some unnecessary steps. I simplified it.
I skipped the soffrito step. You make about 1.5 cups to only use half a cup and "save the rest for later." Instead, I just sauteed half an onion, one leek, and one celery stalk. Then proceeded to make the soup.
It needed a little more flavor. I added red pepper to the broth and juice from half a lemon. To serve, I topped it with fresh lemon zest, good olive oil, and pecorino. We skipped the pesto entirely because we just wanted soup.
Overall it was good. Great spring flavors but don't bother making the soffrito. Just dump everything into one pot.
Wednesday
Bagels & Salmon
Ribs
Grilled Artichoke
Tato Salad
It looks like I cooked a lot but I really didn't. It was more just throwing things together and using food that needs to be used.
Breakfast was a sesame bagel topped with cream cheese, smoked salmon, dill, capers, red onion, & lemon juice.
Dinner was Ribs, Grilled Artichokes, & Tato Salad.
I used the BBQ Rub I use for everything and followed these steps:
Remove membrane
Rub all over
Wrap in foil
300 degrees for about 2-3 hours
Uncover and broil
Eat
I forgot about them in the oven and I think they cooked around three hours. I usually don't need to go over two and a half but it didn't hurt them at all.
I had leftover Tato Salad dressing from last week. All I had to do was boil potatoes and toss. I made too many potatoes and it was underdressed. I was actually pretty bummed about this.
The Grilled Artichokes were what I was most excited about. The Newsroom Cafe on Robertson in LA had the BEST grilled artichokes. It was really their sauce that you dipped the artichoke in, which was out of this world. They have been closed for some time and I can't find an old menu to see what they artichoke dip description was. So I made something up!
I had made olive oil mayo earlier in the week that needed to be used. If you have an immersion blender, making mayo takes 10 minutes and tastes significantly better.
I use olive oil a lot because I like the flavor. Neutral oils have their place but I can't stand the flavor they bring. It's subtle to most but when it is used, it's all that I can taste.
Mixed the olive oil mayo with some scallions, parsley, and lots of lemon juice. This sauce was everything I wanted and more. Tasted amazing with the grilled artichokes and Marco raved about it on the breakfast sandwich I made him the next day.
Thursday
Spring Risotto with Mushrooms
If anyone has made the Leek Risotto with Bacon and Asparagus...there was a typo 😖. It said one cup of rice and it was supposed to say two cups. If you made this and found it way too watery, I apologize! It has been updated.
This Spring Risotto with Mushrooms uses the same risotto base. I picked up beautiful spring onions at the farmers market last week. I used the white and greens instead of a whole yellow onion. Roasted asparagus is mixed in and the risotto is finished with mushrooms cooked in butter and lemon juice.
Confession: I stepped away from the spring onions and they got way too dark. I started over and saved them for another use. You don't want lots of color, just nice soft onions.
The chestnut mushrooms should have been used a few days earlier. I neglected them in the fridge. Although they looked a little sad they tasted so flavorful and earthy. Earthy is good!
Friday
Lemon Herb Grilled Chicken
Random Friday Salad
Every week I buy chicken thighs and most times I just make Lemon Herb Chicken. I always say I'm going to get creative and I have (Hello Braised Chicken with Asparagus, Peas, and Melted Leeks) but I usually forget about them and just throw them on the grill. There is a reason why I use the Lemon Herb marinade so much...it's good! So no new comments just same yummy grilled chicken.
Random Friday Salad
Grilled apricots
Butter lettuce
Basil
Feta
Pine nuts (butter toasted)
Balsamic dressing
The apricots I picked up were a little on the tart side. I think it's too early for them to be super ripe and I'm trying to find uses for them. Grilling for the salad was a great use. I grilled too long and they got mushy. High heat and just for a minute next time!
Me "Do you think this dressing needs honey?"
Marco "No no, no honey."
*Dresses salad, sits down and takes a bite.*
Marco "This needs honey."
🙃
I'm turning the rest of the apricots into jam or a crumble.
Saturday
Challah Experiments
Taco Bowls
I'm still working on the perfect challah recipe. There were two things I wanted to try. More egg for a richer dough and using butter instead of oil. I made two half loaves to test out oil and butter next to each other.
My thoughts so far are, I like the extra egg yolks I added. It was moister and richer but I still need to work out the new amount of flour to make up for the added moisture. The dough was a bit sticky when braiding.
If you are not keeping kosher...the butter had much better flavor. It was more decadent and more similar to a brioche dough.
My Honey Challah recipe will be updated with the new egg and flour measurements after I make it again to confirm. I will write a separate recipe for Butter Challah. That way there is a kosher and non-kosher option.
My mom has been mailing me avocados from the farmers market in LA. I always have a good laugh when I open a package and see an avocado.
Surprisingly I haven't had a hard time finding good avocados in Kansas City. I know they are not grown around here but I rarely ever get gross ones from the store.
With all these avocados we had to make guacamole. Naturally, we made all the other fixings for a taco salad. The usual components pinto beans, pico de gallo, pickled radish, grilled bell peppers & onions, topped with leftover chicken.
Remember that masa that tasted like Fritos? We made tons of chips. Too many chips. Very fun taco night.
"What is your favorite part of this meal?"
"The chips. Chips with the guac."
Random thing of the week:
Watch this TikTok for instant joy.
