The Weekly Recap #52
+ Monthly Cookbook Challenge
Welcome to The Weekly Recap! A lite Sunday read about my life and food. This email is free and if you are not currently receiving them in your inbox, click that subscribe button below.
For 2021 I have challenged myself to cook ten recipes from a different cookbook every month. A recap of my experience + all ten recipes are in this newsletter for you to try too.
This week my OG lifer (friend for life) came into town. We have been friends since kindergarten and even when we don’t see each other for a long time we pick right back up. One thing I love about her is her open mind and love for eating. She will try anything I put in front of her, including sour cream and onion crickets. This has been the perfect opportunity to get feedback on all the recipes I’m currently working on.
I did a few polls on Instagram to get a feel about how many of us have grills at home and what kind. To me, every season is grilling season but we are approaching the warmer months when regular grill action is mandatory. I’m working on a burger (below) and this time I threw the patties on the grill. Marco and I both agreed that we prefer a cast iron burger better. In a cast-iron skillet, the whole surface has contact with heat causing both sides to be golden, crisp, and flavorful. In the future, what I might do is take my skillet outside and use the burner on my gas grill to prevent a smoky kitchen. For science purposes, I might even put it on my Big Green Egg with some smoking chips to see if the burgers pick up the flavor.
A handful of Kitchen Club members purchased tart pans last week to prepare for some upcoming recipes. This week I worked on perfecting my tart crust using no special equipment. No food processor (my preferred method) or stand mixer. All you need are your hands! This recipe, and another future recipe, look fancy and impressive but I’m breaking them down to be accessible to everyone. Tarts are known as those fancy detailed french pastries that only pastry chefs can make and well they are. But they don’t have to be. Everyone can make a showstopping tart and I’m going to help!
Before Kimberlee (my OG lifer) got into town, I made an upside-down cake for no other reason than I had tons of fruit and needed a baking escape. Apricots and nectarines were baked with a honey garam masala syrup under an almond cake. This was just a random morning idea I had and exceeded any expectations. Marco ate it all before Kimberlee got here to try it but it will be made again and eventually sent out to you guys.
If you would like to learn more about any of these recipes and get help from me on making them successfully join The Kitchen Club! Recipes get sent out weekly to paying subscribers.
Pickled
Kelly Carrolata
Although I do not can things, I am no stranger to pickled items. I am a big fan of the refrigerator pickle and the quick pickle, tossing all sorts of vegetables in vinegar mixtures often. I never find the need to properly can anything because most items get consumed within a week or two. To avoid proper canning, because I am lazy and I didn’t want an overflowing amount of briny items laying around, I reduced the volume of the ten recipes I followed.
Pungent Pickled Garlic
Pickled Carrots
Caramelized Red Onion Relish
Spicy Dills
Fiery Pickled Eggs
Preserved Lemons
Corn Relish
Mango Chutney
Pickled Shrimp
Mango Chutney Margarita
Preserved lemons are something I have wanted to try for a long time. I have a friend from culinary school who has a video series on pickling and I told him I would try his recipe many months ago. I have another week or two before I can try the lemons but I am looking forward to it. Onion relish, carrots, and dill pickles are all items I have pickled in the past. I found these recipes to be okay and preferred some of my recipes. I have mixed feelings about the pickled eggs. The smell initially turned me off and then all I tasted was vinegar. I wouldn’t prepare this recipe again but would try another with the hope that more flavors would come through. Kimberlee on the other hand loved them and ate them for breakfast. The chutney was too sugary and I regret not making the recipe in India: The Cookbook when I cooked through it a few months ago. I had it with a pork chop and was transported back to my grandparent's house as a kid. They always had mango chutney with pork tenderloin or chops.
This book is fine and I don’t have much to say about it. If you have never pickled or canned anything it has a detailed and clear explanation of everything, which was also helpful to me. The recipes are not great. They lacked flavor and a handful of the cooking times in recipes were way off. Definitely room for improvement but a good starting place for beginners. There are a few sections of recipes for meals to make using the pickled items from this book. Nothing looked exciting and I didn’t attempt any. I think we can find a more exciting book about pickling.
Marco’s Favorite:
Caramelized Red Onion Relish. He says it was good and it helped level up his sandwich game this month. It added a little complexity to a rather basic unappealing gluten-free sandwich and he wasn’t mad about it.
Marcella’s Favorite:
Spicy Dill Pickles because they are my favorite snack all the time (although my recipe is better) and I’m most excited about trying the preserved lemons.
Grab a copy of Pickled, here.
Stuff to Read
Recipe Inspo
Places I ate
Fox and Pearl is one of the few truly spectacular restaurants in Kansas City. I’m sorry to everyone I have just offended but my standards are high coming from one of the biggest food cities in the country. This hunk of meat below is a pastrami short rib. There was nothing short about it and it fed me for two meals. There are few meals that stick with me forever and this will be one of them. A truly delicious piece of meat that has inspired a pastrami deep dive I am about to embark on.
Thing Everybody Needs
Baby spoons. For adding, string, and tasting just a little of something. Also perfect for coffee and tea but I get the most use out of them as tasting spoons.
Animal Cuteness
Thank you to all the new subscribers for joining us! June’s cookbook is going to be Charcoal by Josiah Citrin. Charcoal is one of my favorite restaurants in LA and I already know these recipes are going to be great.
See you next week, M.