I am a woman of my word, and as promised four months ago, I have posted my first video newsletter! This is a new video series I’m calling Techniques To Know. Paid subscribers, Kitchen Club members, will now get the occasional Friday video demonstrating a technique used in the upcoming Wednesday’s Kitchen Club recipe. My goal is to make short digestible videos showing a technique from start to finish with an explanation of each step. You might see a short clip on Instagram or read a step-by-step in one of my newsletters but some things are easier to understand in full video format.
I made this week’s Techniques To Know video public and available for everyone to view. If you are curious about this new video series, click the video above and check it out!
For the last month, I have felt so blah. Uninspired and unmotivated to do any of the usual things I do on a daily basis. My cooking was for sustenance, not pleasure. Big pots of beans, frittatas with scraps of veggies, and take-out from Vietnam Cafe more times than I want to admit. Luckily, my Kitchen Club recipes were tested and shot in advance meaning all I had to do was put the newsletters together and send them out. But even that felt exhausting and took me longer than it should. Offline, our life has been in a weird limbo state and really dull. Nothing wrong with a little lull in life but it’s hard to create content when you have nothing to share (yet).
I turned things around this week. Do you want to know what I did? I opened a freaking cookbook. For my morning reading, I started a new book and after three chapters I decided I hated it and gave up. Instead of opening another book book I picked up The Cook You Want To Be by Andy Baraghani and read it in one sitting. Just like that, I had recipes bookmarked and was inspired to get cooking. So inspired that I then opened To Asia, With Love from Hetty Mckinnon and read it cover to cover the next day and decided it was time to tackle dumplings.
Hello, earth to Marcella, get out of your head and into the kitchen!
Andy Baraghani’s recipes are always a win for me. They are very produce forward with strong flavors. Bright from acid and heavy on the herbs…two things you know I love. The first recipe I made was Spicy & Sour Cabbage with Chopped Peanut Vinaigrette. That title is a mouthful but the salad didn’t disappoint. It made so much we were eating it for the next three days but even Marco was happily eating it again on day three.
The next day I tackled tahdig. If you have never experienced tahdig, you are truly missing out. Tahdig is a rice dish where the rice on the bottom is scorched to create a caramelized crust. After cooking the pot is inverted and the golden crispy disk of rice is presented on top. Tahdig is one of the best parts of a Persian meal.
In his book, Andy shares that the secret to perfect tahdig is a nonstick pot. I knew with 99% certainty that because I didn’t have a nonstick pot the tahdig would stick to the bottom of the pot…and it did. Hey, I gave it a shot! It stuck badly and actually burnt a little bit but it didn’t stop Marco and me from hovering over it and scraping every last crispy bit off the pot.
Before attempting the tahdig I popped his Tangy Pomegranate Chicken in the oven to go with our rice. This recipe uses pomegranate molasses which I have had a bottle sitting in my pantry waiting to be used for quite a while. No surprise here, it was delicious. The tartness from the pomegranate with the saffron flavored rice gave the same flavor combination as my favorite Persian rice, sour cherry rice. I grew up eating traditional Persian dishes from my neighbors and it is a cuisine I have always wanted to learn more about. His book is a great slow intro to some of the flavors and techniques. It helped ignite a new curiosity in me.
Later in the week, I tackled dumplings, gluten-free dumplings specifically. Dumplings have been on my list of dishes to learn more about forever. The problem is that traditionally they are made with wheat and if I make a giant batch of dumplings, I’m stuck eating them and Marco can’t. Hetty Mckinnon has a solution to this problem with her extremely easy GF dumpling dough recipe.
My day started by making her Everything Oil and three different fillings. Asparagus and feta, pork and chive, and ground tofu with lots of herbs. After I made the dough I spent H O U R S sitting at my kitchen island learning by trial and error how to roll and fold dumplings. I loved every minute of it. As usual with GF doughs, it lacked elasticity and I had a hard time getting it super thin while not breaking apart. Another thing that drove me crazy was the inability to roll it into a perfect circle. My hack to this was to use a circle cutter to clean up the edges after rolling it out.
The whole process was just so fun. I was reminded of how much I love learning. This was the whole reason why I did my Monthly Cookbook Challenge last year. There is always more to learn with food and after tackling a handful of new dishes and skills this week I felt accomplished and beyond inspired. I love cooking so damn much. If you are feeling uninspired, unmotivated, or just blah, open a new cookbook and get in the kitchen!
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Here is an article with great snippets on how to fold dumplings from Hetty herself. Don’t be afraid! It’s easier than you think.
Tell Me 💬
What is a dish, skill, or cooking technique you have always wanted to learn?
I want to learn how to make noodles (udon, soba, ramen) next!
What Kitchen Club ALL subscribers made this week…
This week’s Grilled BLT Panzanella recipe went out to all subscribers. Click the photo below to get the recipe.
Consumer Reports Best Hot Dogs
What do eels have to do with unrest in the street? (Not food-related, very interesting)
Fluffy steamed buns from Lillian Luk of Shanghai Supper Club
Peanut Butter Bacon Burger from Mason Hereford’s cookbook Turkey And The Wolf
Pomegranate-Glazed Chicken *From Andy Baraghani. Not the recipe I made from his book but it uses pomegranate molasses if you want to experiment with it.
I like Susan Kim a lot.
The Cook You Want To Be and Two Asia, With Love. Aside from having excellent recipes and information both these books are stunning. Even if you don’t cook much, these are great coffee table books. You’ll enjoy flipping through them.
As an ode to her father, Hetty Mckinnon took all the photos in her book with one of his film cameras, in her home, with her real plates, and her children eating the meals. It’s simply beautiful.
Lenny looking like a googly guy.
Thanks for reading! Talk to you next week.
Xx M