We liked it, didn’t love it. So I am not sure if we’d make it again. I think capers would be a really nice addition.
Oh I would definitely pick the blonde puttanesca! We loved that and I have already repeated it.
1 Like
Oh yeah. I’ve been suggesting a spaghetti dish with onions, capers, tuna, mabez even artichoke hearts, but my PIC just immediately says “no hot tuna.” I think it would be a grrrrrreat combo.
He’ll have a tuna salad sammich with a slice of cheese, but no tuna melts. Le sigh.
2 Likes
Cheese on a cold tuna sandwich sounds weird to me, but whatever floats his boat. My sister-in-law apparently likes HP sauce on hers. Takes all kinds, I guess (silently judging).
3 Likes
Always 
3 Likes
SKY HIGH FOCACCIA
One of the signature recipes in SFAH was the Ligurian Focaccia. This recipe makes several changes for a taller focaccia. Lots more steps, and no brine at the end.
There’s a lot of fussing and timing required here — mainly because she has added several rounds of slap & fold to get more height. But I think it will work even with jus 1 or 2 of slap & folds before it goes into the fridge, or after it comes out. Going to try that on the next one — I’ve started dough for another already!
I had to cut short my proving time at the end because I was going to be late for dinner otherwise, so it didn’t end up as tall as she intends, but it was a very good focaccia nonetheless — tender and delicious.
I added rosemary and chilli flakes into the dough for flavor, and some caramelized onions and more chilli flakes on top.
I scaled down to 1 cup flour, which fit into a loaf pan perfectly. 12 mins at 400F.
10 Likes
KUKU SABZI (SFAH)
I love this versatile vegetable and egg dish.
Lots of herbs and greens (or whatever other vegetable you like) are sauteed down, then barely bound by eggs and baked or cooked stovetop gently till set.
I used frozen spinach and scallions this time, with garlic, onions, and red pepper flakes. I realized belatedly that it could have taken even more spinach than I loaded in.
This is delicious warm, room temp, and cold, on its own, or with yogurt / labne, with or without hot sauce, and with or without an accompanying bready carb.
2 eggs fit an eighth pan, but I’ve made mini muffins in the past too.
8 Likes
SKY HIGH FOCACCIA – again, because I gave away the first and still wanted a focaccia sandwich.
The texture is lovely, but I am not getting the height (which doesn’t bother me other than that it is in the name 
), so maybe I will increase the flour on the next try so it’s more dough for the loaf pan. It’s rising beautifully with big bubbles on top, so I am guessing that it must be the proportion of dough for the pan.
6 Likes
What is on that sandwich???
CREAMY SESAME-GINGER DRESSING (Good Things, p. 119)
This is absolutely delicious. Reminds me of the salad dressing we would get in Japanese restaurants in the 70s and 80s (maybe still today, although I don’t usually get salads now when I eat at Japanese restaurants). I used a large measuring cup and hand blender to put this together, as she suggests, and it worked well. Combine lemon juice, rice vinegar, miso, honey, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, and jalapeno (which I subbed for pickled thai chile), then add neutral oil. I loved this, but LLD found it too spicy. I think maybe he just somehow got a chili bit from this or from the larb I was serving it with, because for me this was not spicy, more zingy and fresh, and even a little sweet. I only made a half batch. Given his reaction that is probably for the best, but I’m looking forward to figuring out what to do with it.
8 Likes
LLM, I use my extra as a dip for sashimi or cooked salmon served over rice.
3 Likes
I have some rotisserie chicken that I might mix some of it with. I can also see just eating it by the spoonful!
2 Likes
Burrata and mortadella with some helpers:
I used to make substantially this dressing often – except for the jalapenos, and I’m intrigued by the spiciness in an otherwise mild Japanese dressing.
This is the recipe she says inspired the second book!
I’d use it with chicken – there was a Tokyo Italian spot that served a delicious lunch salad that was largely a cabbage slaw with shredded poached chicken, finished with some cilantro (weird for a Japanese place), and it was completely craveable!
This is also similar to the dressing that accompanies cabbage slaw at my favorite katsu spot here.
Recipe links for the 3 salad dressings in the book:
2 Likes
I think this sounds amazing!
1 Like
CHILE (CHILLI) CRISP CHICKEN SALAD
My usual chicken salad is a copycat of the spicy Asian chicken salad Whole Foods used to make when they first opened near me — adding scallions, cilantro, sriracha, red onion, and sesame oil to a plain chicken salad. So I went “duh” when I saw this and realized I had never added chilli crisp to chicken salad despite consuming plenty of both!
Samin provides a recipe for homemade chilli crisp with Calabrian chillies, but I am working my way through the jumbo bottle of LGM (and like it perfectly well), so that’s what I used.
She uses tahini in addition to mayo, and while I considered using toasted sesame paste, I decided I don’t like the flavor enough to risk it, so I stuck with mayo cut with some whole milk greek yogurt, which is my usual base for chicken salad.
I skipped the lemon juice and used all rice vinegar out of preference for a smoother end flavor.
Other components of this salad: scallions, cilantro, sugar, and sesame oil.
This was tasty, but, on balance, I think I prefer my WF copycat which uses sriracha for the heat — the chilli crisp dominates here in a different way.
The other thing I found interesting was that she says Sichuan Bang Bang Chicken was her inspiration for this, but the mayo and tahini take the flavor and texture both very far from that, as well as using lemon juice instead of black vinegar. (But now I do want Bang Bang / Bon Bon Chicken, so there’s that.)
.
5 Likes
SPICY BRINED TURKEY (chicken) BREAST – from Salt, Fat, etc.
I tried this because she made it sound so good! Scaled the brine amount down to use for 2 fat chicken breasts, the brining time of course was
shorter. And yes, this is something I’d do again without a doubt. The saltiness and the heat were just right for me. I loved the meat while it was still hot from the oven too. When cool I made myself a sandwich.
6 Likes
MISO AND LABNE ONION DIP from “Good Things” on my Kindle
Oh dear, this recipe was not to my liking. It uses miso and sherry vinegar and caramelized onions to flavor the thickened yogurt. But to me it just tasted like I put vinegar in onion dip, the miso sort of made it sweetish, seemed odd, not “truly exceptional” as S. Nosrat wrote.
3 Likes
I feel like I would have the same thoughts.
1 Like
That’s too bad.
I thought the miso would add more depth of flavor (not that caramelized onions need that much more tbh), but sounds like the vinegar threw it off the rails.
1 Like
