MIDDLE SCHOOL TACOS
I made these last night- they are a standard in our house. I do ground turkey - I have made it with both beef and turkey and while I’m not a huge fan of turkey, I’m trying to limit cooking with red meat and for me this is an acceptable use of ground turkey. Because this is a weeknight recipe for me and it doesn’t seem to matter, I use ground onion and garlic in addition to the other spices rather than chopped (and I’m also just that lazy). I add in chopped cilantro at the end and serve with guac, cheese, and sour cream on hard taco shells. Great comfort food and delicious with the green rice from earlier in the week, which I spruced up with some salt and lime.
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POTATO, SALMON, AND SPINACH PATTIES
The idea of combining potato, salmon, and spinach was a good base, but this needed a ton of help in the flavor department because the recipe adds nothing to the patties – just dill and garlic in the accompanying sauce, which I didn’t make (the garlic and dill would have been better used inside the patties).
I added minced red onion and a dollop of zhoug. Meant to add mustard but forgot.
Based on the texture of the mixture, eggs would have made it too soft to form patties so I skipped them. Also no panko inside because the flavor was already weak.
Started by pan-frying on the stovetop and finished them in the oven, which crisped up the panko coating nicely.
Most of the comments had flavor additions – onions, scallions, capers, and so on. One that sounded particularly good was to use these in a taco with chipotle mayo.
I wouldn’t have thought to add spinach to a fish cake, but it worked.
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LACQUERED SWORDFISH WITH GREEN ONIONS
made this tonight with my swordfish fish share - multistep recipe that came out very well indeed - served with a Woks of Life cabbage recipe and white rice. I did not need the toasted sesame seed first step - all I could find were black sesame seeds while rushing along and they are a bitch to cook since you cant see a color change. We were very happy with the swordfish, cooked in my ancient aluminum caldero .
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SHU MAI STYLE BURGERS
Original recipe is here but I used the seasoning from the shumai recipe here — gift links.
At the outset let me say – YUM! If you like shumai at dim sum, it’s a flavor bomb as a patty.
I ate the dim sum version earlier this week, so when I looked at the burger recipe again, the seasonings were incongruous. However the actual siu mai recipe looked like the right flavor profile, so I took the burger idea and applied the flavors from the dumpling recipe – ginger, oyster sauce, shaoxing wine, sesame oil, soy sauce, and, perhaps most important – black mushrooms.
I found pork shoulder already chopped into small chunks, so I froze that for a while before processing. Also let the mixture marinate with all the seasonings for a little while before cooking.
I love pork and shrimp shu mai, and this is exactly that in patty form. I ate one plain, and then turned another into a faux banh mi, inspired by the one I ate in Chinatown a while back.
I think this would work with chicken thighs instead of pork too, and I’ll try that another time as I don’t usually eat a lot of pork at home.
(Also inspires me to buy some dumpling wrappers sometime to make the actual siu mai, given that the flavor profile of the filling is spot on!)
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PAPRIKA CHICKEN AND POTATOES
Wow, this was great. Super easy weeknight dinner with a huge payoff in terms of satisfaction. Definitely make the dipping sauce and don’t skimp on the lime. I broiled it for a couple minutes at the end to get some crispy edges on the chicken and potatoes. No notes. Will definitely make again.
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Thank you for reporting back on this one! I will get to it at some point 
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This is a Yotam Ottolenghi recipe and I’ve made it a couple times before. Is it really a Bolognese? No, but it is a very delicious shrimp sauce laced with garlic and fennel that clings well to a long, wide pasta like tagliatelle. We had this over a squid ink tagliatelle I bought at Eataly at some point and then promptly put in my pantry to be forgotten about.
You are directed to chop up about a cup each of fennel bulb, onion, and cherry tomato. Slice up a bunch of garlic. Also chop up some shelled, cleaned shrimp. I skipped pulsing them all together (except the tomato - don’t pulse that) coarsely in the food processor (I just didn’t feel like cleaning it tonight). You cook these together with some crushed red pepper, some strips of lemon zest, and tarragon in olive oil until the vegetables are well sweated and the shrimp have released and then reabsorbed its juices, about 10 minutes. You will panic and think, “why are we cooking the shrimp so long?” Don’t. Trust Ottolenghi on this.
Now add some tomato paste and the chopped tomatoes. Also grind in “a lot” of black pepper. Cook another 4 minutes, until the tomatoes break down. In goes some Pernod (I just used white wine). Cook for another minute. Add 2 cups of stock (I used water and BTB vegetable flavor) and simmer for another 15 minutes. Toss with your cooked pasta and a glug of olive oil. Serves 4 (or me and BF).
If you haven’t made this one yet, I highly recommend it!
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Thanks for posting. I’ve had that paprika chicken and potatoes on my “to make” list for ages. Time to get off the stick, I guess…
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Yay! I’d posted it before being familiarized with the rulez, so I’m glad to read it’s a winner. Once I’m back in my own kitchen I look forward to making this
OMG, this shrimp pasta sounds right up my alley and I wouldn’t have looked twice at it given the name. Thanks for the nudge.
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Wow. This sounds like an amazing surprise method for cooking shrimp. I have some squid ink pasta sitting around and will try this…it’s Ottolenghi so I will trust it especially with your endorsement!
Side question: I had a cat friend decades ago who was not interested in poultry or beef of any kind but was absolutely wild about seafood, especially shellfish and squid and most especially crab. Does your cat get excited when shrimp is being cooked?
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When we first got Parker, he got very excited by the smell of tuna and salmon, but when he was offered it, he decided he was uninterested. He has never demonstrated an interest in shellfish either! He loves (and will steal when left unattended): Butternut coating from cake doughnuts, bacon, pepperoni, the coating off fried chicken, and pita bread.
I hope you like the shrimp pasta as much as we did if you try it!
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Would anyone be able to provide a gift link to the NYT Cooking recipe for pickled chard stems? Thanks!
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Thank you!
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BALSAMIC ROASTED SQUASH AND WILD RICE SALAD
I can’t blame the recipe since I made a mistake following it, but I found the textures of this off-putting and the flavor kind of bland. I misread or misunderstood the recipe and didn’t strain the rice - I just let it keep going until the (ridiculous amount of) water was absorbed. So my wild rice is kind of soggy. Pair that with the soft roasted butternut squash and it’s just not great. The celery adds a nice crunch, though, and I added dried cherries for some sweetness and chew. Some nuts may be nice too. I don’t think I’ll make it again.
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Delicious. I also put on broil for a few minutes for crispiness, otherwise as written. Next time, and there will be a next time, I might put the sauce in a squeeze bottle to squeezle over everything.
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Drat, I was looking for wild rice recipes and the title sparked my interest - but thanks for taking one for the team. However… the flavors seem very similar to SK’s butternut squash salad with farro and pepitas - to which I add arugula and more vinegar - and so now I’m thinking of trying the SK recipe with wild rice instead of farro….
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If you can get the cook right on the wild rice I’d guess that it will have a bite like the farro to contrast with the butternut squash.
That said, I think for all grain salads, the grain needs to be seasoned well before mixing with everything else – even if it’s just tossing some of the dressing with it while warm so it absorbs.
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UMAMI GARLIC NOODLES (with Napa Cabbage instead of Mustard Greens)
The NYT version is here and a no-paywall version is here (and previously written up here (and many other times).
MC adds mustard greens, but I usually add whatever vegetables I have at hand, which tonight was Napa cabbage.
I used king oyster mushrooms because I finished my dried shiitakes and can’t find the new package I know I bought, lol.
This is a really easy and delicious pantry dish, and I make it often. Tweak the seasonings to taste – depending on the strength of your fish sauce and other things, you may need a bit more or less to get the balance right for you.
Highly recommend!
(Tonight I ate these with the last piece of Viet lemongrass pork chop, also from Andrea Nguyen.)
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