My mom’s work commute was an hour and a little bit each way. The lunch hour she used for dinner food shopping of that day. On public transportation during the evening rush hour, she would carry home two gigantic grocery bags. Every day.

That’s why the idea of carrying home groceries from Flushing didn’t seem ridiculous to me. Unlike her, I would always be able to get a seat on the subway and on the bus.

This dinner is a result of my Flushing catch. The idea of it pushed off the Restaurant-Style Cauliflower Dry Pot recipe from The Woks of Life and took on a life of its own.

In the original recipe, quickly stir-fried sliced small red onion and cauliflower are mixed with the fat rendered from an optional tiny piece of pork belly flavored with garlic, ginger, and chilies. Then, there are doubanjian, oyster sauce, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, sugar, and scallions. And some red bell pepper for extra crunch and color.

I bought the correct — Chinese — cauliflower. Its florets are not as dense and sop up sauces better than the traditional ones. That cauliflower triggered our dinner plans.

In my version, small red onion became large, optional tiny piece of pork belly became a mandatory pound and some. Instead of 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper, I added 1 lb of sliced fresh broad beans. Six dried chilies turned into a cup of chopped — sort of Chongqing style. Of course quantity of all the aromatics went up. And — cherry on top — I added a full bag of an amazing fried tofu from the New World Mall on Roosevelt Ave.

How’s that for a Chinese Nonna freeform cooking?

And what about the decor where Chinese cauliflower is settled atop Mexican placemats next to Russian napkins and served with an Italian tomato spoon? We’re dining in style.

#food #cooking #chinesefood #cauliflower #onmytable #cookingtherapy #homestyle

Sunday night and Georgia is on my mind. Not the one Ray Charles was singing about.

Lamb lyulya kebab with satsebeli sauce, the best sauce in the world.

Not sure what initiated what. Did I make the sauce because I always crave grilled ground lamb? Or did I make kebabs because I needed a vehicle for the sauce?

Ossetian Khabizdzhin — potato and cheese pie — to round things up and because it is so good for breakfast!

#food #cooking #backyardbbq #georgianfood #lyulyuakebab #cheesebread #cookingathome #cookingtherapy #fooddiary

Might not be the best wrapping technique due to the lack of practice but they held hand to mouth and that’s what counts.

Pork and shrimp garden rolls inspired by Angela Nguyen’s The Pho Cookbook with nước chấm and peanut dipping sauces. Light but filling, crunchy and aromatic with all the fresh mint and cilantro inside — not a bad dinner solution for a heatwave night.

#food #cooking #ricepaper #vietnameserolls #summerrolls #cookingtherapy

Usually not a fan of Persian cucumbers — they seem to be too watery, missing the crunch, and go bad in the refrigerator in the matter of hours. But they seem to work well for smashed cucumber salads prepared to be eaten immediately.

This is a spicy Asian version of smashed cucumber salad from Xi’an Famous Foods:
— garlic puree
— salt
— sugar
— soy sauce
— Chinkiang vinegar
— sesame oil
— chili oil with a nice sediment
— longhorn peppers

…and a nice chef’s knife to create uneven nooks and catch the spices that would otherwise slide off the neat and even traditional slices.

#food #fooddiary #foodie #cucumber #salad #smashedcucumbers #chinesefood #homemade #cookingathome #cookingtherapy

Most Greek restaurants have it on their menu — grilled calamari and dandelion horta. It is one of those things I can’t resist ordering over and over, each time promising myself the next visit to try something new. My favorite restaurant charges for this combo something around $30.

We calculated that at home this plate was under $5. With my eyes closed, I wouldn’t be able to taste the difference.

Dandelion greens are boiled in water for 20 minutes, then, drained. Squid tubes are grilled whole — about a minute per side — then sliced into rings. That’s it.

Bread helps top sop the juices. Portobellos — just because.

TO MARINATE 2 lb SQUID:
— 1/4 cup olive oil,
— 1 tsp salt,
— 1 tsp paprika,
— 1/2 tsp black pepper.

DRESSING TO SPLIT BETWEEN SQUID AND GREENS ONCE COOKED
— 3/4 cup olive oil,
— 1/4 cup lemon juice,
— 1 tsp dried oregano,
— 1 tsp salt,
— 1 tsp black pepper.

#food #greekfood #horta #grilledcalamari #homemade #cookingtherapy #fooddiary

Ćevapčići, Montenegrin minced meat patties shaped into finger length sausages and grilled. Grated onion produced a lot of juice which when emulsified with fat created a nice firm but juicy texture. Smoky meat paired well with Ajvar, a traditional Balkan relish. Unlike others, Montenegrin version has eggplant and some hot peppers in the mix. And a side dish of Kuvana Krtola, potatoes dressed with yogurt and fresh cheese.

This was our dinner, this was my breakfast, this was our lunch. Never got boring. Then I opened the refrigerator anticipating another lunch. Gone. Good thing I wrote down what went in.

Cevapi, Montenegrin Sausages
— 2 lb ground lamb
— 1 lb ground beef
— 1 medium onion, grated
— 6 large garlic cloves, minced
— 2 tsp hot paprika
— 1 tsp smoked paprika
— 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
— 3 tsp back pepper
— 2 tsp salt

Ajvar
— 5 red peppers
— 1 medium eggplant
— hot peppers to taste
— 5 garlic cloves
— 1/4 cup olive oil
— 1 Tbsp white vinegar
— 1 tsp salt
— 1 tsp black pepper

Kuvana Krtola
— 5-6 small waxy potatoes, unpeeled, baked or boiled, halved
— 1 cup yogurt
— 8 oz feta
— salt
— green pepper, like cerrano, minced
— scallions, minced
— dill, minced

#food #cooking #fooddiary #cookingathome #cookingtherapy #homemade #cevapi #balkanfood

There’s a fish store next to my studio where the owner makes a fantastic seafood salad. It’s very simple but so tasty. I’ve been trying to recreate it at home for a long time. Finally, this version came to be so close to the original that I am saving it here for myself with a few adjustments. It was perfect during this heat wave.

The fishmonger uses large shrimps and cuts them in chunks. For a cold salad, I like medium shrimp cut lengthwise in half. Once heated during blanching, those slices create a corkscrew shape that not only looks better but also traps more dressing. Squid I cut in 3/4” rings before heating it but that doesn’t matter. It can be cut after cooking if that’s easier.

WHAT WENT IN
— 1 lb cooked squid
— 1 lb cooked shrimp
— 1 lb imitation crab meat
— 1 large red onion, diced
— 5 celery stalks, diced
— 5 medium tomatoes, cored, seeded and diced
— 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
— 1 jalapeño or serrano chili, diced
— 2 Tbsp dried oregano, powdered between the palms
— 2-3 tsp salt
— 1 cup lemon juice
— 1/4 cup olive oil

It takes 40 seconds in boiling water for squid and one minute for shrimp in the same water in residual heat.

#food #cooking #salad #seafood #cookingtherapy #homemade #heatwave

A salad. And a fridge raid.

Lately, I started winging our meals without directions more often. It is good and not. Good because it provides much needed pantry reorganization. Not good because I rarely remember what I did, what I used, and cannot repeat the dish.

This one we wanted to remember. Simple: arugula, beans, eggplant, feta, onions. But that chunky picklish dressing-? salsa-? topping-? made it different and memorable. So here goes…

FOR THE SALAD
— 5 oz baby arugula;
— 1/5 lb beans (a mix of navy and great northern), cooked;
— 10 Japanese eggplants cut into three segments, each then quartered, salt, hot paprika, oil, roasted at 450°F for 15-20 minutes;
— 8 oz feta, crumbled;
— red onion, thinly sliced.

FOR THE DRESSING
— 3 tomatillos, diced;
— 2 jalapeños, diced;
— a bunch of cilantro, roughly chopped;
— 1 cup castelvetrano olives, roughly chopped;
— 2 garlic cloves, minced;
— 1/3 cup lemon and lime juice;
— 1/3 cup olive oil;
— salt;
— sumac.

THE PROCESS
1. On a platter, layer the ingredients in order listed.
2. Mix the dressing ingredients and spread it over the rest.

#food #salad #eggplant #beans #fridgeraid #freeformcooking #cookingathome #homemade #cookingtherapy

Playing Sicily on a Jersey porch.

I grew up on what is called eggplant caviar, a rare delicacy available to a lucky few only a couple of months a year after a lengthy wait in a grocery store line and a laborious process.

Later, I learned eggplant caviar had other names: adjapsandali, caponata, ratatouille, imam bayildi, zaalouk…

On our trip to Sicily, we ordered it in every restaurant. All different — all good.

At home, I wanted to make my own and combine the most memorable elements from the ones we tried. It worked.

Sweet, sour, savory, crunchy, chunky, smooth, oily but not too much, bold but mild, filling but not overwhelming — that was it. I’d say this is my favorite version.

The recipe in Clifford Wright’s Cucina Paradiso was my starting point. Then, I improvised.

WHAT WENT IN
— vegetable oil to deep fry;
— good olive oil to saute;
— 4 large globe eggplants cut 3/4”, salted and sweated for 2 hours, blotted dry;
— 8 celery stalks — tender center ones, cut 3/4” chunks;
— 2 large onions, sliced;
— 4 garlic cloves, minced;
— 1/4 cup double concentrated tomato paste mixed with the same amount of water;
— 6 plum tomatoes, skinned, seeded, chopped;
— 1 cup castelvetrano olives, pitted, quartered;
— 4 Tbsp capers, rinsed;
— 1/2 cup raisins;
— 1 Tbsp sugar;
— 6 Tbsp red wine vinegar;
— 2 tsp dried oregano;
— 1/2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder.

THE PROCESS

1. Deep fry the eggplant and celery in batches in vegetable oil at 350°F and set on paper towels to absorb extra oil. Wok is best for this.
2. In a large braising pan, sauté onions on medium high until deep brown.
3. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant.
4. Add the rest of the ingredients besides cocoa powder — one at at time — mixing in carefully but thoroughly. Cook for about 15 min.
5. Gently fold in eggplants and celery. Cook for another 10 min.
6. Add cocoa powder. Mix in and off heat.

#food #caponata #italianfood #homemade #eggplant #cookinathome #inmykitchen #cookingtherapy

Ma La Zi Ji — Numbing-and-Hot Chicken — is one of the most famous dishes in Hunan province that looks down on its Sichuan neighbor’s affection for those strange peppercorns that “ruin every other flavor.”

The chicken is silkened in the mixture of dark and light soy sauces, Shaoxing wine, and potato starch, double deep fried at 400°F, and finished with red pepper, dried chili, scallions, and, yes — those strange numbing peppercorns.

The thickening sauce is based on a good chicken stock and a bit of rice vinegar.

What can I say? After a dinner at an excellent — to my mind — place, I asked him what did he think about my rendition:
— I don’t know. You kinda spoiled me with all your Chinese cooking.

Self-pat on the back, Julia.

Good job, good job…

#food #cooking #chinesefood #chongqingchicken #hunan #sichuan #deepfry #cookingathome #cookingtherapy #homemade #wok