Marcella Cooking Stuff • August 23rd - August 29th
August 23rd - August 29th
I am officially ready for fall. Spring and summer bring the best produce, no arguing there, but I'm over it. I have eaten plenty of corn, tomatoes, berries, and melons. I will definitely miss the farmer's markets and abundance of flavorful veggies but how many more tomato salads can I make? We have picked berries and enjoyed them as galettes, crumbles, and frozen yogurt. Now I'm ready for a change.
I'm craving apples, pears, and squashes. Soups, chili, slow-roasted anything. A warm kitchen on a cold day. The smell of dinner traveling through the house. Cinnamon, sage, rosemary, and cloves. I'm ready!
We went into quarantine wearing layers. My outfit rotation consisted of mostly sweatshirts, PJ pants, and slippers. Maybe a cashmere sweater on a fancy day. Those got swapped out for jean shorts, flip flops, and bug spray. Lots of bug spray. Now we are getting ready to pull the cozy clothes back out. I'm not mad about it. From inside our house, we watched nature come alive. The trees in our yard sprouted leaves, tulips popped up, and baby deer came to eat our hostas. Already some leaves have started to fall. They are giving us a preview of what's to come, or as Marco would say "the yardwork nightmare that is to come." Soon we will be flooded with the warm colors of fall.
Brisket, butternut squash soup, apple hand pies, latkes, caramel spice pavlova, and much more to come...
On the topic of change, this newsletter is getting a fun new edition. Each month I am going to be diving in and researching a different culinary item. Most of you know that this month I'm on a mission to find the best grocery store butter!
At the beginning of each month, you can expect the first newsletter to cover the item that I am researching. So far this has been a lot of fun. I needed a new project and I think you guys will enjoy this as well.
Sunday
Sour Crem & Onion Waffles
Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta Salad
I’m not sure why I didn’t have this idea before. This week I used Marco to test a recipe for me! I left the kitchen, set a timer, and let him do his thing. Well, I didn’t leave for the whole time. It was fun to watch him and I tried my best not to say a word.
He successfully made my Sour Cream & Onion Savory Waffles. He helped point out a few details that could be updated in the recipe but overall it was a major success. If you don’t have the recipe from a few months ago it is now up on my website.
Most of the recipes I send out don’t get tested because...I don’t have anyone to test them for me! Moving forward Marco will be trying some of them out for you guys.
"Making this recipe was incredibly easy. If you can read and put things in a bowl, you can 100% make this recipe in under an hour. I'd make these again weekly! I even had the leftovers the next day."
While he made waffles I made nectarine toast and man it was goooood. Instead of roasting, I put nectarine slices in a cast-iron skillet with butter and honey. Let them brown a bit and the juices reduce. Popped on a piece of toast with vanilla honey yogurt. 👌🏼
Later that day I joined Marco for some evening fishing. He fished, I read a magazine. We brought Sun-dried Tomato Pasta Salad along and had a cute little picnic.
Monday
Roasted Shallot & Chicken Salad
I have to be honest with you guys, this salad wasn’t that great. It was good but I had high expectations and it did not meet them.
I was craving, and still am craving, a Caesar salad. Caesar salad = anchovies and garlic. I can’t use garlic so I thought maybe a spin-off using shallots?
There are two parts to this meal: roasted chicken and the salad.
The chicken was covered in anchovy butter and then roasted. I made the anchovy butter by blending these ingredients in a mini food processor. You can also mix everything in a bowl with a spoon.
5 Anchovies
1 Shallot
1 Lemon, zested
3 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon olive oil (use the oil that the anchovies come in for more flavor)
The chicken itself was very flavorful and cooked great. The skin could have been a little crispier but it was fine. I'm the only one complaining.
Next, the salad was composted of kale, honey crisp apples, pecorino, and gluten-free croutons. All great together, no problem there. Croutons were better than expected for gluten-free.
Then we have the dressing. I used a traditional Caesar salad dressing but instead of garlic, I added a mashed roasted shallot. This is where I had a problem. It was lacking. Majorly lacking. It didn’t have that sharp bite that the garlic brings. It was just creamy and kind of bland...I was disappointed.
Will I make this again? Yes. Does it need some work? Yes. I’ll work on it and share the recipe when I get it right. It was a very fall salad anyway. Perfect to work on over the next few months.
Tuesday
Roasted Sumac Strawberry Toast
Baby Back Ribs
Spiced my roasted strawberry toast up this week. Really, I spiced it up with sumac. It added a subtle tartness and made the syrup a vibrant red color. Fresh mint and candied almonds were sprinkled over the berries and everything sat on top of vanilla honey goat yogurt.
This was one of the best roasted berry toasts yet. I think I need to play around with adding more spices and herbs to the fruit for more layers of flavor.
I'm now convinced that everything you put in a Big Green Egg turns out delicious. I always make ribs in the oven and have success. This time I made them in my egg and had even greater success. I used my BBQ Rub that I use for everything and smoked them with cherry chips. I did do one thing differently. I had leftover spicy honey from Spicy Honey Grilled Chicken. I heated that up and poured it over the top of the ribs at the end of the cooking process. It was a smart decision and I'm going to play around with a honey rib idea I have.
"I never want oven made ribs again. These were fantastic and I couldn't stop eating them."
Marco rating 10/10
I cooked some tiny cute little potatoes in the egg as well. Tossed them with leftover anchovy butter and parsley. In the past, I have spread anchovy butter in the middle on baked potatoes but have not tossed them in the butter. I love finding a new use for anchovy butter!
Wednesday
Beet Greek + Chicken
Beet Greek is an OG Marcella salad. Inspired by Jon and Vinny's greek salad, I could eat it multiple days a week. I mix it up and add other ingredients from time to time. I have done white beans before and today we tossed some leftover chicken in there. How ever you spin it, it is always good.
Friday
Garlic + Rosemary Challah
Corn Carbonara
A few weeks ago, I tested out adding garlic and rosemary to a loaf of challah. My house was filled with the aroma of roasted garlic and fresh yeasty bread. Of course, I didn't take notes then so this week I was on a mission to recreate it and write a recipe. I added 2 garlic cloves, about a tablespoon minced, and a tablespoon of minced rosemary. It needed more of both. It could have benefited from some more salt too. For the top, I mixed flakey salt with fresh rosemary and garlic before sprinkling. This worked well and added extra flavor to the outside. This loaf is still a work in progress.
This was, probably, my last corn recipe for the summer. Fresh Corn Carbonara from Anna Stockwell. It was great. Wonderful corn flavor and not too heavy. It was very light actually. I made the usual adjustments of gluten-free pasta, goat milk, and pecorino and it was still tasty. If was so good that Marco ate the leftovers for breakfast Saturday morning and I didn't even get a bite.
Marco rating 10/10
"As far as pasta goes that have a lot of cheese and milk, it was oddly refreshing and light. I loved it."
Saturday
Babka
I had one of those thoughts again. An ah-ha moment that I need to make this. Fig babka...I have leftover figs I need to use. Okay, it needs some crunch...walnuts! I don't have enough figs for the whole thing...caramel filling?! I have an orange, I'll add some zest!
That's how it happens in my brain. I know you were very curious.
Like most things, I just winged it. I added as I went and took small notes. I don't have a recipe for you guys but because it was a success I will make it again and write one then. But I will tell you what I did this time...
I made babka dough and used the zest from a whole orange and lots of vanilla to flavor it. The next morning I made caramel sauce. I wanted the sauce to be on the thick side so I let it boil for an extra 7 minutes for more liquid to evaporate. Next time the caramel needs to be made the first day with the dough. It needs to fully cool before assembling. I made it work by popping it in the freezer but it was stressful.
I had nine figs (not enough) that I halved and roasted with juice from half of the orange, honey, and some salt. When cooled I cut them into jammy little pieces. I followed those with walnuts and roasted them until golden. Some were a little too dark but that's okay.
I layered the filling with 1/4 cup of caramel, a big pinch of salt, 1 cup of chopped walnuts, and half the figs evenly spread out. Rolled, sliced, twisted, and popped in a pan.
This recipe was a success. Sometimes I have ideas that turn out meh, sometimes I have ideas that turn out better than I thought. My only adjustment for next time is to add more of everything. More caramel, more figs, more nuts. This was a good baking day.
While I work on this recipe try Melissa Clark's Chocolate Babka recipe. I have made it and recommend it.
Random thing of the week:
Marco's mom's boyfriend's daughter, confusing I know, made my Churro Challah this week. Look how amazing she did!!
Pet photo of the week:
His favorite part about watering the indoor plants.
Thing everybody needs:
A pastry brush! Last week I shared a silicon basting brush I like to use for meats. This week's brush is a finer, boar bristled, pastry brush that I like to use for desserts. The finner bristles help spread things a little more evenly. It's great for egg wash and simple syrup.
Gnome update:
The gnomes got a drive-in theater this week.
Butter is something we all use a lot more of in fall. Pies, cookies, mashed potatoes...perfect timing for next week's newsletter!
See you next week,
Marcella