A meatloaf from “A Meatloaf in Every Oven” book. This one comes from the chef Michael White whose NYC restaurant Marea on the South side of Central Park is famous for upscale pasta and celebrity watching. For years, I walked by this restaurant several times a week to my favorite barre studio in the city. Never had their much talked about pasta but saw quite a few famous faces hanging around.

This meatloaf definitely has to be baked in a loaf pan, it would not hold the shape on its own. The result is a silky smooth texture with fennel seeds reminiscent of Italian sausage. The loaf is large — 2 lb of meat, almost 2 cups of bread, and a large eggplant — lots of leftovers. But with time, the flavor only seems to improve on the second day and even third.

MEATLOAF
— 1 large eggplant, quartered lengthwise
— 2 slices of white bread
— 1/4 cup heavy cream
— 2 lb ground chicken (dark meat is better)
— 2 tsp fennel seeds
— 2 garlic cloves, crushed
— 2 eggs, lightly beaten
— 1 cup panko bread crumbs
— 1/2 cup grated pecorino
— 1/2 cup grate parmesan
— 2 tsp salt
— 1 cup roughly chopped basil

The process and potatoes are on the blog 👆

#food #cooking #meatloaf #homefood #coldweathercomforts #onmytable #inmykitchen

Anthony Bourdain called Uruguay the apex of sandwich making arts. Fair enough. They all — reuben, Philly cheesesteak, french dip, Cubano, BLT, banh mi, croque-monsieur and madame, muffuletta, pan bagnat — fade next to the mount Everest of Uruguayan Chivito.

Imagine beef, ham, bacon, cheese, eggs, tomatoes, olives, capers, onions with a bunch of other stuff tucked into a bun and held together with a healthy doze of mayo. That’s what chivito is — intimidating to look at never mind trying to open wide. But it fits — somehow it does.

Like any national dish, it has variations — from family to family, from restaurant to restaurant. Whatever I was able to pull together and fit in is in the second picture.

— It sure is filling, — noticed my favorite customer. And tasty.

A word on the buns. There are many recipes out there and if you’re a baker, scroll on — this will probably be nothing new. In Thomas Straker’s book The Food You Want to Eat, there is a recipe for milk bread buns with an amazing rhythm to its steps. What makes it so is the timing:
— the night before, ingredients come together in a bowl of a stand mixer — 30 min tops — and the resulting dough goes into a refrigerator overnight;
— the next day, the dough is rolled out by hand into ten balls — 15 minus — which are let sit at a room temperature on baking sheets covered for two hours, no work involved;
— they are baked 18 minutes and cooled — no work.

Because there is lots of milk and butter in the dough they freeze beautifully. These are buns you want for all your burger-sandwich needs — no hard crust to scratch gums, soft and pliable to flatten under pressure, dense enough to hold the juices, and tasty without overpowering the ingredients. Let me know if you want the details.

#food #sandwich #uruguayanfood #chivito #cookingathome #cooking #onmytable

Another one from my Flushing grocery shopping. The draw was fresh rice noodles that I have never seen in the store before. Couldn’t miss that.

This one went Thai direction — from Phat Kuay Tiaw Raat Naa Muu, stir fried white noodles with pork, inspiration.

Once the noodles are separated — I used a few tablespoons of soy sauce to rub them apart — and sliced, they are softened in a wok and settled on a platter.

For the dressing, I stir fried ground pork with garlic and mixed in soy sauce, oyster sauce, miso, white pepper, and sugar thickened with tapioca.

For the greens — sliced broad beans and home grown shishitos.

What made it more exciting at the table are additional toppings — fried shallots, chopped Thai dragon peppers, roasted chili flakes, and a dressing of fish sauce with sugar and lime juice.

#food #cooking #Thaifood #onmytable #fooddiary #foodieverse #freshricenoodles

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

Polish kielbasa with beluga lentils, mustard crème frâiche, and fried shallots from Ottolenghi’s Comfort.

Some minor substitutions. Beluga lentils for puy lentils because that’s what I had. With celery and onion in sofrito, red pepper instead of green because the flavor of the green is so overpowering. Sliced kielbasa instead of whole because char. And I didn’t pulverize half of the lentils as advised because I so love their chewy texture. Instead, I finished cooking with the lid opened until all chicken stock was absorbed.

Crème frâiche mixed with Dijon and grainy mustards was an incredible final touch. So were crispy fried shallots.

Wilted chard leaves added an interesting textural contrast to chewy lentils.

And the smokiness of kielbasa amplified with an addition of cumin and thyme was how it all tasted.

#food #cooking #kielbasa #lentils #ottolenghirecipe #onmytable #fooddiary #tasty

Planned to take a nice picture worthy of these beef tacos but they turned out to be so good the thought returned to me only when leftovers have already been packed for lunch.

#food #cooking #onmytable #leftovers #lunch #tacos

Dinner on the porch — curry ramen with stir fried bok choi and pork belly — the result of the fridge raid.

Finally some relief from heat and humidity. More fun to cook, more fun to eat. And so nice to be outside.

#food #cooking #ramen #fridgeraid #curry #porkbelly #onmytable

Kung Pao-ish kind of chicken.

No, I am not that confident or experienced to be frivolous with Chinese recipes. But I have quite a collection of Chinese books and every one of them has Kung Pao, Gongbao, Kung Po, Gong Bao recipe — a spicy dish of chicken stir fried with peanuts, chilies, vegetables, and regional aromatics, seasoned with vinegar and soy sauces, thickened with cornstarch. And every recipe is different. Some suggest celery, some — green pepper or mix of different colors, others suggest not to add anything. One book has a version with orange juice.

Using this as an opportunity to mix in everything I have — celery, green pepper, miniature colored peppers. A carnivore, I love lots of vegetables in my dish.

#food #fooddiary #onmytable #homemade #cooking #cookingathome #chinesefood #kungpaochicken

What makes these pearly meatballs from Fuchsia Dunlop’s Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook different?

First, it’s the mixture itself. There is not only ground pork but water chestnuts for crunch, chopped dried shrimp for umami, a lot of ginger for flavor, and egg with potato starch for texture.

Then, the coating that is soaked overnight long grain glutenous rice, mixed with finely chopped ham and shiitake mushrooms.

And a note on ham. The recipe identifies it as dark pink. But the book was published in the US in 2007 and, at the time, not only the cuisine it describes, the book itself was revolutionary. Back then, Chinese food was mostly lumped into chop suey, sweet & sour, and the notorious pu pu platter. Now the complexity of Chinese gastronomy is slowly coming to light. When working on a batch of XO sauce, I learned about Jinhua ham, a salted and fermented pork with a very distinct flavor and aroma that has been a Chinese delicacy for thousands of years. The closest substitute here would be prosciutto or jamòn. Cooked ham will not do.

To serve, the recipe suggests to drizzle the meatballs with sesame oil. However if to mix some hot Chinese mustard into sesame oil, it becomes a dip of the next level.

#food #cooking #meatballs #chinesefood #homemadefood #onmytable #delicious #cookingtherapy