What's Cooking? Vol. 11
Bi-weekly recipe links, techniques, and more
Happy Friday everyone! I’m pressed for time so I am going to keep my intro short and sweet. The most important thing I have to say is that the other day my husband jokingly called me “Umami Mommy”, and I am absolutely shocked it took us this long to make that connection. It’s my new favorite nickname.
A New Roast Chicken
I actually made this three weeks ago, and I forgot to tell you all about it. This recipe — Roast Chicken with Schmaltzy Cabbage — is from Smitten Kitchen, which is a website many of you may be familiar with already. Deb Perelman, the recipe developer, has been making recipes for decades, but I only recently became acquainted with her thanks to my friend, Val.
The chicken was solid. On a scale of 1 - 5, where 5 is Molly-Baz-status, I'd give it a 3.75. I am always, always down to try a new roast chicken. This one delivered.
I think the true beauty of it is how easy it is. You roast the chicken directly on top of the cabbage, which translates to schmaltzy cabbage. If you have negative associations with cabbage, I think roasted, schmaltzy cabbage just might change your mind. I thought it needed a garlic aioli sauce for dipping, so I made this one. An excellent choice for those nights when you’re trying to get dinner on the table while managing non-stop fire drills.
I have two notes:
As usual, I recommend salting the chicken 24 hours in advance. For my new subscribers, you should be using Diamond Crystal kosher salt.
Deb says to use 3 tbsp of salt for a 3lb chicken. I assume this is a typo because 3 tsp is the gold standard for a 3 lb chicken. Remember 1 tsp of salt per lb of chicken.
One Salad to Rule Them All
My friend, Elizabeth, gets a massive shout-out here. She texted me two weeks ago to ask me if I had made Molly Baz’s Simple Greens with Any Vinegar-ette. Not only had I not made it, I had no idea what she was referring to. My emotions ran the gamut: pure joy at knowing there was a new Molly recipe to make; utter shock and horror at having no idea this recipe existed; and gratitude because I could easily have overlooked it in Cook This Book. I have made this salad no less than 12 times in the last 13 days.
Make it! I make it for dinner as a salad, but I also make it for lunch and top it with whatever tinned fish I have lying around.
Shrimp Fajitas
In my podcast interview with
, I mention a really quick and easy shrimp fajita recipe I make when I'm both flustered after a busy day and trying to keep dinner cheap. I timed it and from the moment I started chopping the bell peppers to the time we sat down to eat it was 25 minutes.
Know Thyself
Shakespeare, right? Regardless, I’ve started my next cookbook review. As a reminder, I'm working my way through 50% of the recipes in Defined Dish's newest cookbook, Dinner Tonight.
I'm going to be unfiltered and perfectly honest because I think that’s the only way to earn your trust. I am not loving it. This is really surprising to me. As I mentioned four weeks ago, I really enjoyed her second cookbook, The Comfortable Kitchen. So, what is it? The Molly Baz effect? The Ali Slagle effect? A totally different stage of life? I don’t know. But, it has me in a bit of a kitchen funk.
I dislike it so much, in fact, that I trudged soaking wet through the streets of Manhattan in the pouring rain this past Saturday to three different grocery stores to find a whole chuck roast so I could make Molly Baz’s most recent Club recipe – Citrus Braised Beef. I made it on Sunday, and it cured my funk, at least for a bit. I mean, look at this beauty.
So, this has me thinking. In some ways, I think my review of Dinner Tonight could end up being a really important review precisely because it’s not working for me.
When I was in grad school I remember really hating a paper I had read. I thought it was poorly researched, poorly argued, poorly written, etc. My professor told me that this was probably the most important paper I had read to date. My criticisms provided an avenue to hone my own intellectual efforts.
When we like things, it’s easy to celebrate our excitement and leave it at that. But, when we don’t like things we can and should offer a reason for why. As a result, we walk away with a better understanding of the topic at hand. I’m still in the early stages of this review, but I think the same thinking applies here. I'm not liking it. It’s prompting me to turn to chicken quesadillas for dinner at an obsessive rate. So, I am asking myself why. Surely this will serve me well in the future, and I hope it will serve you well too.
First, know that even though I'm not grooving with it, I will still be sure to highlight its strengths for those of you who might vibe better with it. Don’t worry. I will still review it! I’m 9 recipes in.
Second, because I am feeling a lot of ambivalence toward the book, I have been wondering how often you, my readers, feel frustration, ambivalence, or outright disdain toward your regular recipes. As I have said before, we all have to cook, so I truly believe it’s in our best interests to be at least marginally excited about it.
You have to love either what you are going to eat, or the person you are cooking for…Cuisine is an act of love.
- Alain Chapel, chef
That being said….if you want to enjoy cooking but don’t — or, better yet, if you like cooking but for whatever reason you dread walking into the kitchen to cook dinner — would you mind filling out a questionnaire of sorts for me? I’m curious how many people experience this lackluster in the kitchen.
As a gesture of gratitude, I will pick three people at random from the list of responses, and we can play a little recipe matchmaking via email. Recipe matchmaking is my specialty!
Technique of the Moment: Fish
I'm starting to realize fish isn’t really a technique so much as a food group. It probably would have behooved me to actually select one technique for these few weeks. Oh well. I want to focus on slow-roasting fish next, so that's what we’re going to do.
As a reminder, we are discussing poaching, which is an extremely easy way to achieve delicate, flaky fish. You effectively cook a filet in a well-flavored liquid on low heat. However, because it is so easy you can overthink and overcook the fish well before you realize it. This is exactly what happened to me earlier this week when I tried to poach salmon in a butter, white wine liquid. I lost patience because nothing seemed to be happening, turned up the heat a bit, and ate firmer-than-desirable salmon for dinner. Then, I attempted to control an internal tantrum that would give my two-year-old a run for his money.
The whole process hinges on the liquid’s heat. A rollicking boil is going to overcook the fish. From the recipes I have made it seems that a low simmer is best. What complicates the process a bit is whether or not you cover the pot with a lid, which traps more heat inside and can more quickly overcook the fish if you aren’t vigilant.
When I made the Mediterranean Poached Halibut two weeks ago, I followed the directions provided here and covered the pot. I was rewarded with fantastic halibut. I also covered the pot when I made Alison Roman’s Tomato-Poached Cod. So, it’s not impossible to do, but if you do cover your poaching fish, don’t walk away…for anything.
I think this is where good directions and a bit of trial and error come in. Because sometimes experimenting is the only answer.
Molly Baz actually has a poached fish recipe in Cook This Book, and because I was trying to climb out of my kitchen funk per the above reasons I made her Poached Fish with Creamed Leeks & Toasty Hazelnuts. I followed her directions, which were to submerge the fish in the liquid until just barely covered and keep the liquid at a bare simmer until the fish is just cooked through (7-9 minutes). The recipe isn't available online, but she credits Andy Baraghani with the inspo for it. Here is his Poached Cod with Potatoes and Leeks. His heat-related directions are the exact same.
Saves the Day
For those of you who are new here, I want to draw your attention to my first cookbook review. I reviewed Ali Slagle’s I Dream of Dinner back in October. I’ve been opening her cookbook up a lot recently. Over the last two weeks, we’ve had a lot of days where things haven’t gone according to plan. I’ve had to pivot our dinner plans midday, and whenever this happens I am reaching for Ali’s cookbook.
To be honest, one of the struggles that I am having with Defined Dish’s Dinner Tonight is the long ingredient lists (Ali keeps her to 10 or less). Some of Defined Dish’s recipes have upwards of 18 ingredients.
Anyway, I wanted to tell you. Some cookbooks I will review and move on from, but others become the crutches I lean on during the crazy times. Such is the case with I Dream of Dinner.
One Non-Food-Related Thought
When we first found out we were having identical twin girls I had an onslaught of emotions. First, was pure joy and excitement. A second, almost immediate, follow-on emotion was concern for my inability to raise multi-dimensional girls who care about more than only dresses, looking pretty, boys, etc.
I feel like I cared exclusively about “girly”, one-dimensional things to an unhealthy degree for longer than I care to admit. I strongly desire to raise girls who have a wide variety of interests and hobbies, but in doing so I don’t want to diminish their femininity. My challenge is how to help form them by providing them with positive messages rather than by pointing out the negative ones. Because some days I only perceive the negative messages directed at young girls.
I could write essays and essays on my thoughts on this topic, but I’ll spare you all. All I want to say is that earlier this week The Word on Fire children’s book imprint, Votive, which is managed by
, released a book called Princess of Heaven: The Flowers. It’s illustrated by a Disney illustrator, and it has all the feels of Disney Princess mania but with a focus on saintly lives. Anyway, I’m excited for it! Pink, flowery covers aren’t really my thing, but still, I will happily get behind it. I already bought each girl a book as a gift for their baptismal day.See you in the kitchen!
Xo,
Rach
I am loving your newsletter!
I've been dreaming of the citrus braised beef all week😍