I’ve been wanting to try her recipe for Rissoles, Australian Beef Patties.
I’ve cut way back on beef and pork so this was a special treat. I doubled the recipe, used fresh thyme instead of dried because I had some, added chopped parsley and fresh basil, much more garlic (through the garlic press). I shredded the onion, zucchini, carrot on big holes of box grater. I wish she’d given cup measurements for the onion. I dried off zucchini with paper towels. Since I was doing 2 lbs of ground chuck, I used one big nonstick frying pan. I think the veggies gave out some water so I should have emptied the pan after the first batch. I sprinkled on sea salt after they were done.
I enjoyed these (others did, too) but I prefer my recipe for Italian meatballs, which have a lot more eggs, more moist. Welcome change. Good in a Hawaiian roll!
I served with Serious Eats Mashed Potatoes with russets. Two things I changed: after ricing the potatoes, I whisked in mixer with butter, 8 oz of room temperature cream cheese, then warmed milk. Remarkable how delicious the humble potato can be.
Tonight I made the pad see ew from the blog. I had to make a few substitutions: GF soy sauce for both light and dark, and broccolette instead of Chinese broccoli because that’s what was at the grocery store. The final dish was just meh and I don’t know if that was because of the soy sauce swap - there was definitely something missing. I’ll eat the leftovers but won’t make this again… which is a shame, because pad see ew is one of my go-to Thai restaurant orders.
CRUSTLESS QUICHE - roasted mushrooms, leeks and goat cheese version.
Used 1 heaping cup of grated goat Gouda, 1 cup of roasted quartered baby Bella mushrooms, a heaping 1/4 cup of sautéed slivered leeks, plus the 5 eggs, 1 cup heavy cream, S&P. Dusted bottom of heavily buttered glass pie pan with grated Pecorino and also put a good layer of Pecorino on top but it still didn’t brown on top the way the picture on the blog shows. Added soft goat cheese blobs halfway through cooking. Delicious!! Vastly preferred to the ham and cheddar version. With mushrooms roasted and leeks sautéed ahead of time it was easy and quick to get into the oven when I woke up. Served to guests with baguette, we were all very happy.
I made these as written, but substituting Impossible for beef. Slightly smaller batch as Impossible comes in 12-oz packs. Oh, another sub was GF pretzel crumbs instead of panko, as I currently cannot find a decent GF panko (Ian’s, my previous go-to, has disappeared ). Anyway, these were disappointing. Just kind of bland, compared to other ground beef/patty type things I make, like kofta. Served with Dr. Praeger’s carrot and potato tots (ick, never again) and corn from the CSA. Oh, and kimchi ketchup, which definitely saved the day.
Beef Soba Noodles with Green Beans [sugar snap peas]
This was really tasty. Used a half recipe for one serving. Changes I made: used a very small piece of leftover ribeye, used sugar snap peas instead of green beans, skipped fried shallots because I am not crazy about them so never have them around, used a whole scallion. I did find I enjoyed it more once I sprinkled some very hot Cobanero chili flakes on it so next time will plan to add thinly-sliced fresh chilis as garnish. And there will be a next time.
Note: I think any leftover protein - steak, chicken, pork, salmon, other fish - would work splendidly here. And if you have leftover protein and make the dressing in the morning this would get onto the table very quickly for dinner.
I really love Nagi’s blog and book … I know I’ll be cooking her recipes for a long while. Finally got around to making JAMBALAYA: https://www.recipetineats.com/jambalaya-recipe/ I took a few liberties … increased recipe by 50% for most items, washed the rice in cold water 5 times … been doing that for years, ever since I read about it in China Moon cookbook.
I used Aidell’s Cajun Andouille, chicken breast instead of thighs (I don’t like dark meat) and wild prawns (I wait for them to go on sale at WF. Takes a while to clean a pound of prawns!) I eliminated the bacon here since I think it’s such a dominating flavor.
My daughter eats almost everything but won’t touch bell peppers so I subbed poblano, anaheim and jalapeno. (Nagi just says to cut celery, peppers, etc. into pieces but doesn’t indicate any size.
I made the mistake of shopping late morning, starting the recipe after 3 pm. There’s a lot of chopping (onion + I added shallots and leeks) and a lot of dishes to wash … have to take breaks cause of bad knees. So, was not finished until 10:30 pm! Good thing it tastes great reheated or even cold! Instead of canned tomatoes I added roasted cherry tomatoes and about 1/2 cup Vermouth after adding the rice.
Seasoning mix: I discovered my tin of Hungarian sweet paprika had little black bugs running around inside so subbed a mild Kashmiri chili powder (I’ll but some paprika from Rainbow Co-Op soon!)
Mine was done after 22 minutes in the oven; pretty similar to paella.
I followed the recipe pretty closely but did not use dark soy sauce and the lack shows up in the pale color. Will use it next time. Also next time, for my own preference, will use less noodles, more veggies, a bit more sauce and add fresh chopped ginger in about the same amount as the garlic. But this was very tasty, I am looking forward to the leftovers. Once you do the prep it comes together with breath-taking speed. I can imagine making this fairly often, doing the prep in bits and pieces during the day when I have 5 or 10 minutes here and there (working from home).
I have really enjoyed browsing her blog - she is very likeable! - and have oodles of the recipes marked to try. Very thankful this was a COTM, I might not have run across it otherwise. Her cookbook is on my wish list.
Two follow-ups: this reheated beautifully for lunch today in the microwave on power level 5 (thanks to the current microwave thread). When tossing halfway through I added a dribble each of soy and RedBoat fish sauce and that was excellent.
Also, you could really use any ground protein in this, including Impossible or Beyond. For that matter you could skip it and use several different veggies: lots of comments about adding capsicum, zucchini and other veg.
She does a lot of research, I think she said she ate it on vacation in New Orleans. I’m sure there are a lot of variations. By increasing the recipe 50%, it basically made 4 quarts. I froze one for an Indian friend who lives in Fremont, (she vacationed in New Orleans and I think it will freeze ok) one for another friend who loved it, thought it was perfect, one for daughter, one for me.
Specifically, I am interested in the note she gives about making the recipe up to step 5 and then pausing to store it overnight in the fridge after proofing it once. How long would it need to sit on the counter to come to temp before proceeding if I made it a day or two later? I am having friends over next Friday for dinner (Preeti Mistry’s Tikka Masala Mac and Cheese, and I’m using Cougar Gold for at least part of the cheese) and being able to do some of the prep ahead would be helpful. There will also be a green salad, because…health… My guests are very, very, very much into a menu of cheese and carbs, so balance of dishes is not an issue here. Thanks!
It really depends on the ambient temperature. If my kitchen is cool — or I want to speed things up — I boil a mug of water in the microwave and put the dough in there instead of on the counter.
When I make pizza dough or no-knead bread, this can get the dough to “room” temp in half an hour vs 1-2 (or more in cooler weather) hours.
It’s much faster if the dough is already portioned, so keep that in mind.
Thanks! I was thinking I might portion them ahead too. Can I fill them ahead too (I have visions of stuffing them with more Cougar Gold and some chiles and garlic) or will that impact the rise when they come out of the fridge?
Agree with this and also a lot of recipe testing, which I really appreciate. I feel like her blog and The Woks of Life can always be trusted because of the amount of recipe testing they do.
). Anyway, these were disappointing. Just kind of bland, compared to other ground beef/patty type things I make, like kofta. Served with Dr. Praeger’s carrot and potato tots (ick, never again) and corn from the CSA. Oh, and kimchi ketchup, which definitely saved the day.
