Welcome to the reporting thread for our July 2023 COTM, RecipeTin Eats: Dinner and the RecipeTin Eats blog. We’ll use this thread for all discussion and recipe reports.
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Find links to past months’ books in the COTM Archive, and feel free to keep adding to them.
A recipe on the front page of the blog reminded me of this oddity of Australian nomenclature: what in the US are chicken leg quarters, in Australia are lower-case “marylands.”
I made last night (for the second time) a half-batch of RTE’s STICKY CHINESE CHICKEN WINGS. These are good (but not great). They will never be crispy, so don’t get your hopes up there. It is a a handy recipe when you need something hands-off to round out an Asian-inspired meal, and the timing is reliable, so you can focus on other things while they cook. I’ve decided they need about 2 minutes under the broiler at the end to get a nice char, but in this case watch that parchment - it can burn.
I have made RTE’s THAI BEEF SALAD many times - it is out-of-this-world good. I’ll be making it often this summer, as soon as the cukes and tomatoes are in season.
I really love her blog and cookbook, so many choices!
I think adding a few more green onions and more garlic is a good idea. She states when she boils the noodles, to start the timer, 2 minutes, when you first drop the noodles into the boiling water. For me, they would not have been cooked yet. Package I bought said 2 minutes AFTER water returns to a boil.
EVERYONE loved this. Easy, Fast. Have everything measured out before you begin. Mine never caramelized, I just did the best I could. Boil, drain, rinse the noodles just before you begin.
Here’s another recipe, I posted about it on HO when I made it. I love eggplant but it isn’t very photogenic; she did a great job on her photo … I’ll post mine, too. Eggplant lovers will love this recipe … try to get the curry leaves called for … they add so much. Love her method of roasting the eggplant batons.
Second time I made this I added rinsed fermented black beans, just because…Also, this photo is of two recipes, done one at a time, cause only one wouldn’t have been sufficient for my friend’s family.
He’s going to come to my house for a hands on lesson in how to make it. He’s worried, saying Ranch 99 has so many packages of fresh noodles, how will he find the right one. I said it’s the one that says SHANGHAI NOODLES. (I’m going to take him to a Chinese market too.)
This is a great treatment for any white fish. The fillets, sea bass, in my case, are quick-marinated in salt and lime juice. Meanwhile, an aromatic turmeric paste is made by processing shallot, garlic, fresh turmeric, ginger, macadamia nuts, salt & pepper, fresh makrut leaf, lemon grass, oil, and water. I sub-ed cashews for the macs. The fillets are slathered with this paste, and baked for 15 minutes until cooked through. Mine took closer to 30 minutes, probably due to their thickness.
But wait, there’s more. A fresh tomato sambal topping, the perfect counterpoint to the warm turmeric, goes over the golden fillets. Wow. Divine over a bed of basmati rice.
ROCKET, BEETROOT, WALNUTS AND FETA w/ BALSAMIC DRESSING
In this recipe, a salad of canned beets (I used fresh, cooked), arugula (I used a spinach, chard, kale mix), topped with walnuts and feta (I had queso fresco), is drizzled with a dressing of EVOO, balsamic vinegar, honey, salt & pepper.
I’ll start by saying that this salad, while quite good, is nothing out of the ordinary. The versatile dressing is money, though. I made a double recipe, and will enjoy the sweet, honey flavor over tomato salad, or strawberries and panna cotta.
I made a version of this interesting dish mostly using the cooking technique more than the recipe itself. While I used the proportions of rice and meat, I replaced the ham/bacon with the chinese sausage that is my family’s preference in fried rice and used only peas for the veggies (rather than mixed veggies - I hate cooked carrots). I followed the sauce recipe pretty much, with just a pinch of added sugar (which my dad always adds to cantonese sauces). The rice doesn’t come out quite the right texture - mine was a little softer than I’d have liked and not quite as fatty as you get when you fry it, but this is way faster and a very quick meal all in all. I added a quickly scrambled egg on top and it was quite satisfying. My pic is pre-stirring it all together. Once I did, it was indistinguishable from my normal fried rice.
These noodles are great! I tried this for the first time last week and we all enjoyed the flavors. I used smaller noodles than Shanghai which she lists as an option, however it took 2x the sauce to coat/cover them all. I didn’t get any caramelization either, but that was likely due to the extra sauce. I make and keep ginger garlic paste in the fridge, so that makes this recipe even faster- a super quick, delicious side. The leftovers are also tasty cold
This recipe is RTE’s version of a Nobu appetizer.
Sushi rice is pressed in a pan while hot and chilled. The rice is cut into rectangles or squares, fried, and topped with avocado slices, spicy tuna, and has a canned tuna option as well.
I made this recipe with Dungeoness crab instead of tuna. I also added salt to the sushi vinegar/sugar (which she does not call for in the recipe; I always add some).
These turned out great! Definitely a multi step recipe and you can make a lot ahead. I made the rice, put a pan on top, and stick it in the fridge 3 days ahead.
The sauce for the tuna is a typical spicy mayo; I added a dash of rice wine vinegar. I used crab and can definitely see it working with diced, cooked shrimp, salmon, etc.
The rice cakes were tasty and also a little more work than I thought. But, her time estimates are correct- 4 min per side to get crispy rice cakes. One recipe =2 batches frying. I made 3x that, which is a lot of frying time for a weeknight. If you fry the cakes to golden brown they are REALLY crispy which I loved, but my young teen kiddos declared them “ too crispy (!!)” and preferred them lighter, so 2-3 min per side. I put the lighter ones in the air fryer the next day and they crisped beautifully. These did soak up some oil in frying, and also get very crisp. Many people commented, asking if you can air fry them initially and I think you might get bullets instead of rice cakes. When fresh, they hold well and recross great the next day.
