Marcella Cooking Stuff • August 16th - August 22nd
August 16th - August 22nd
My birthday is not until next month but I got a special delivery this week. A Big Green Egg!!!! It was my gift from Marco, my very very nice gift from Marco. I wasn't surprised. I specifically asked for it and went to the store to order it but it was a surprise when it arrived on Tuesday.
I originally asked for a new stove. We have an electric glass top stove. Anyone that cooks knows they are big pieces of crap. It was here when we bought the house and it works so 🤷🏼♀️. I was promised a gas stove will come in the next year or so along with a little kitchen facelift. A good reason to wait.
My second request was an outdoor wood-burning oven. Marco was completely on board with this. We scoped out a spot and started doing research and then decided it was too big of a project for right now. It is still on my wish list.
So, I landed on a Big Green Egg. Let me tell you...it has changed my cooking game!!!!! I am over the moon in love and obsessed with it. We have our gas grill but with gas, you miss out on all the smoky goodness. I have used it every night since it arrived and I want to cook with it every night moving forward.
A personal update: my website is up! You'll be able to find some recipes on there and I'll be adding new ones weekly. You can shop the "things everybody needs" list, as well as listen to my Spotify playlist with all the songs featured in my Instagram videos.
The best part is you can now book Zoom cooking classes! I'm offering challah classes to start and I hope to expand into other dishes. If you want to learn something specific, let me know and I can put together a Zoom class!
Take a look and let me know what you guys think. I was up until 12:30 am working on it but I think it was worth it!
Sunday
Cacio e Pepe + Aspargus and Lemon
Have you made Cacio e Pepe at home before? You should because it is incredibly easy and comes together in no time. I learned how to make it with this Bon Appetit recipe. Now I eyeball it and it comes out great every time. I use GF pasta and all pecorino because...allergies 🙄. It is still just as creamy and delicious.
To make it a complete meal, add some veggies. I blanched some asparagus and tossed them in. My friend Dara added broccoli. Add whatever you think will taste good covered in cheese and pepper. Aka everything.
If you want to add a little more flavor try a squeeze of lemon juice and zest or grab some fermented white pepper and add that!
Monday
Grilled Shrimp Salad + Charred Green Goddess Dressing
Cardamom Pavlova + Figs and Honey
Take a look at that salad. Youll notice the lettuce is in wedges and the shrimp have their tails on. That is a salad you have to cut with a knife...I HATE salads that require knives. I like my salads precut and easy to shove in my mouth.
I assembled it like this to look pretty for the picture. After I took it all apart chopped it up and put it into bowls.
The recipe comes from Food & Wine and you can find it here. The only changes I made were leaving garlic out from the dressing and adding some dill.
A note about the green goddess dressing. It's essentially just herb mayo. We used the leftovers on sandwiches and it was divine. It would also make a good dressing for potato salad. Don't throw the extra away, get creative, and use it in new ways!
OH PAVLOVA! This bad boy was a three-day event. I decided to try making the meringue differently. Swiss meringue is made by heating eggs and sugar over a water bath and then whipping. I did this, the meringue looked great, and I was hopeful. Five hours later when I pulled it out of the oven I knew immediately it was a fail. My oven temp was too low and it didn't pull out enough moisture. The outside crisped up a little bit but then as it cooled the moisture started to seep out. It had a polka dot texture and became soggy.
Sunday I tried the Swiss way again. Meringue looked good, increased the temperature, and I felt good about it again...It was crisp BUT had some weeping. This was either because the sugar wasn't dissolved and incorporated all the way or it was too humid. I think it was the first reason.
Monday I was so fed up with the Swiss technique I went back to making French meringue like I always do. The French way is done by whipping egg whites to soft peaks and then slowly incorporating sugar a tablespoon at a time. This is how I usually make all my meringues.
I have to tell you guys, this was the best pavlova I have made yet. It had some cracking but cracks don't bother me. I actually think they look prettier with cracks. More organic. I did two things differently which I think helped. I happened to see superfine sugar at the store and used it. Sometimes I'll process granulated sugar to get it smaller but this was more consistent. I think it incorporated better. I also added the cornstarch and vinegar in the last minute of whipping instead of folding them in after. I think when I fold them in, no matter how gentle I am, I push a little air out.
The "cream" layer was composed of goat yogurt, honey, and vanilla. The goat yogurt that is available at the store is pretty liquidy. I scooped some into a coffee filter and let it strain overnight. This removes moisture and makes the yogurt thick and easy to spread. Similar to how Greek yogurt is made. Fresh figs, blackberries, and honey candied pistachios sat on the top.
It was worth the three days of work. A great learning experience and a tasty treat. Here is the recipe for Cardamom Pavlova with Figs & Honey.
Tuesday
Spicy Honey Grilled Chicken
Avocado Salad
The first thing I made in my egg was Spicy Honey Grilled Chicken (adapted from a recent Brad Leone recipe). I rubbed a spatchcocked chicken with pink peppercorns, black peppercorns, and salt. I let it hang out in the fridge all day and grilled it in my egg with some apple chips for smoke.
I made a honey sauce by adding fish sauce, lime juice, and Fresno chili slices to honey and slightly reducing the mixture on the stove. This sauce got drizzled over the chicken in the last 10 minutes of cooking as well as before serving for extra flavor. This created a crisp, sticky, thick skin. There was great smoky flavor from the grill, sweetness from the honey, a little heat from the chili, and acid from lime juice and fish sauce. It was a well-balanced dish!
Marco rating /10
"This is the best chicken you've ever made. It was divine."
The Avocado Salad comes from this Melissa Clark recipe. It's painfully simple and you can use whatever you have on hand. Gret creative and try different acid, chilis, and herbs. You can't mess it up.
I left out the garlic and jalapeno this time and added chili flakes and lemon juice.
Wednesday
Smoky Teriyaki Salmon
Peanut Broccoli
As promised, here is the recipe for Peanut Broccoli. Yes, I changed the name from warm broccoli salad but it tasted just as good as the first time even with the new name.
My peanut sauce recipe makes 3/4 cup of sauce. I used 1/2 cup for this and it was saucy. Not bad but very saucy. I used closer to 1/4 a cup the first time. I recommend adding 1/4 cup, tasting it, and adding more if you want more.
The second thing I made on my egg this week was Smoky Teriyaki Salmon. This is the only way I want to eat salmon for the rest of my life!!
Teriyaki recipe:
1/4 cup Mirin
1/4 cup Soy sauce/Tamari
1 Tablespoon Seasoned rice vinegar
Traditionally teriyaki would have sake in it but I never have sake on hand. Think of teriyaki as a finishing sauce, not marinade. I combine all ingredients and simmer for a few minutes over the stove to reduce. I like it just nappe, thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, but you can reduce it even more if you would like.
I seasoned this fish with the same salt and pepper mixture as the chicken. Equal parts pink peppercorns, black peppercorns, and kosher salt. I had my egg at a low temperature of around 300. Tossed in some cherry chips for flavor and cooked the fish for 15-20 minutes. I had a 1.5-pound piece. Smaller pieces will cook faster! Once cooked, I spooned a little sauce over the top, transferred it to a plate with rice, and added a few more spoonfuls of sauce.
If you do not have a grill, slow roast your salmon in the oven at 300/325 and finish with your sauce. It will lack the smoky flavor but it will still taste great!
Thursday
Grilled Lamb Meatballs + Spiced Tomato Sauce
Grilled Eggplant + Pepperoncini Yogurt and Sumac
When I stopped into Whole Foods this week they had a HUGE island of tiny adorable local eggplant. I couldn't resist and I bought a bunch of them. Of course, I popped them in my egg. Low and slow for about 45-60 minutes. Cooking them this way turns the center into a creamy custard-like consistency. The best way to eat them is with a spoon and covered in sauce. Bonus if you add a sprinkle of sumac on top for some extra tart flavors.
Pepperoncini Yogurt is just my Pepperoncini Feta but thinned with a little yogurt.
3oz Feta
3oz Plain yogurt
1.5oz Pepperoncini
1/2 Lemon, juiced
When searching for recipe info I came across this recipe for Pressure Cooker Lamb Meatballs. I don't have a pressure cooker but I could easily adapt the recipe to be made on the stove and then it hit me, grilled meatballs!
This is how I adapted the recipe:
I used 2 pounds of lamb and added an extra egg.
I substituted garlic powder with asafoetida and 1/2 cup gluten-free panko substitution for normal breadcrumbs. No need to add the water/milk.
My egg temp was around 350 degrees with cherry chips for smoking. The meatballs cooked for 20 minutes. They were large sized balls.
Back inside to make the sauce, I sauteed onion and red bell pepper (instead of green), deglazed with wine, and added all the other ingredients to simmer.
When the meatballs were done I tossed them in the sauce and served right away.
These meatballs were fabulous. They were moist, flavorful, and smoky. The sauce complemented them nicely and we will be making them again soon! I can't speak on the end result of making them in a pressure cooker but I bet they would be great browned and simmered on the stove.
Friday
Churro Challah?!!
Laying in bed this idea came to me...Churro Challah. Churros have a special place in my heart. Fried, crunchy, cinnamon goodness. Challah isn't friend but could it be crunchy and cinnamon-y? You bet!
I used my Honey Challah dough as the base. I wasn't planning on making two loaves but my first loaf wasn't rising well. I had a feeling my water was too hot, because I used it from my kettle, and I think it killed some of the yeast. DON'T use water from your kettle. So I made a second loaf. I was okay with this because I was then able to test light brown sugar vs. granulated white sugar. For both sugars, I added some royal cinnamon and kosher salt.
*Side note about this cinnamon. Remember when I mentioned buying high-quality spices with a short supply chain? This cinnamon is an heirloom verity that comes from Vietnam. The flavor is electric and is like cinnamon on crack. It will change your baking!
Loaf one I separated into seven strands, rolled in the brown sugar mixture, and braided. Loaf two I separated into six strands, rolled in the white sure mixture, and then braided.
The brown sugar loaf I brushed with egg wash before the second rise. The egg and sugar started to pool on the parchment. Instant regret on egg washing this early on. I wiped some of it away, applied a second egg wash after an hour, springled with a little more brown sugar mixture, and baked the first loaf.
As expected, the loaf didn't rise properly BUT the flavor was pretty great. It was sticky, dense, chewy, and crunchy. Almost identical to a cinnamon bun. I wouldn't call this churro challah but I would call it cinnamon bun challah.
Loaf number two I skipped the first egg wash and I still had some weeping. The sugar was absorbing moisture from the dough and air. I think this is unavoidable but not a problem. I wiped the excess away, sprinkled with extra sugar mixture, and baked. This loaf was beautiful. It baked perfectly and was nice and puffy. The inside was sweet and chewy but kept the challah bread integrity. The sugar on the outside created a shell and that crunch was there! This loaf was the clear winner.
I was so excited I ate them warm. It reminded me of the kind of treat that would be eaten on special occasions, like Christmas morning. Straight out of the oven, warm, placed in the middle of the table that everyone starts ripping apart in their PJs.
I made a new recipe for Churro Challah with the adjustments and new steps.
Random thing of the week:
Marco caught this fish on Saturday. He brought it home, filleted it, and cooked it. He also named it Edward and referred to it by name the whole time...
Pet photo of the week:
Josie and my Big Green Egg!
Thing everybody needs:
A silicone basting brush. They call this a basting and pastry brush but I don't like using them for pastries. They are great for adding sauces to meats and fish. I used mine for the chicken and salmon this week. The best part is you can throw it in the dishwasher to sanitize them!
Gnome Update:
The trails in my neighborhood connect to the elementary school. School started this week and I have seen a ton of kids looking at the gnomes. Some kids left this note. They are also leaving supplies for the person that builds the gnome homes.
The excitement from my early birthday gift made me forget that we are still social distancing and I probably won't be celebrating with people next month.
That's okay because I will be able to grill a fabulous meal and you bet I'll be making myself a birthday cake. Loaded with butter, sugar, and lots of gluten! NOT Marco friendly.
See you next week,
Marcella