Fall Salad Duet

Yes, a DUET of FOODS.

Warm Butternut Squash and Chickpea Salad + Cabbage Apple Walnut Salad

Both recipes are adaptations from Smitten Kitchen. I was just about to complain about how infrequently she's been updating her blog lately... but then I realized that WE haven't had a new post in three months. So I shan't. Smitten Kitchen is one of my go-to cooking blogs. When I have ingredients I feel like cooking with, there's almost always a recipe on her site that fits the bill, and every single thing I've ever made (and it's a lot) has come out like gangbusters. And she does Jewish recipes to boot! My only complaint is that her directions can be a little finicky. That can be useful for a true baking potchke, but on a regular old weeknight, I can't be tamed.

The recipes:

Warm Butternut Squash and Chickpea Salad

Cabbage, Apple and Walnut Salad

How I kept it real:

- I didn't measure anything. In both of these recipes, you can eyeball basically everything.

- I substituted hummus for the tahini in the squash salad's dressing

- I used regular old green cabbage plus chopped kale in the cabbage salad

- Yogurt instead of sour cream/creme fraiche in the cabbage salad

- Feta instead of goat cheese, ditto

- Didn't peel the apple, ditto

Basically, you can adapt either recipe to your heart's desire and you can't really go wrong. I felt super healthy after eating this for dinner.

BONUS TIP: (Stolen from 101cookbooks.com)

For easy butternut squash prep, first cut off the long neck from the bulbous bottom. Then cut off the top of the neck. Stand the cylinder up straight on your cutting board to slice off the skin, then chop it easily into the called-for chunks. Take the remaining bulb, halve it, and scoop out the seeds, then roast the intact halves with olive oil and salt alongside the chunks. When they have cooled, peel off the skin and save the squash to make soup tomorrow! Pioneer style!

Steak Salad

This is inspired by a salad I ate once with my mom at the Neimann Marcus restaurant in St. Louis. I think it was after I tried on wedding dresses. Not sure. But I do remember that there were ladies modeling fashions while we ate, and I do remember this salad! I'm not going to include ingredient amounts, because you can put in as much or as little of everything as you want.

Ingredients:
steak (not too thickly cut)
arugula
corn (mine came from a can)
red onion
cherry tomatoes
blue cheese
S&P
olive oil
white or red wine vinegar
dijon mustard
honey

1) Prepare the salad dressing-- combine 4 parts olive oil to 2 parts vinegar and 1 part each of mustard and honey. Salt and pepper to taste.

2) Prepare the other veggies-- halve the cherry tomatoes, thinly slice the red onion, and chop the blue cheese. Open your can of corn and drain the water.

3) Season your steak with salt and pepper. Heat a bit of olive oil in a pan. Over high heat, sear the steak for about 2 and a half minutes on each side. You could also do this on the grill. Let it rest for 5 minutes.

BONUS TIP: When cooking meat, I find the best way to check for doneness is by touch. Poke the meat. If it's still super soft, it's still rare inside. If it's very firm to the touch, it's probably well-done. The trick is finding the sweet spot in the middle. It should be firm but soft. Hmm. Does that help? Maybe not. It does take practice. It's best to turn off the heat when it is still slightly more soft than your preference, because it will continue to cook a bit when it's resting.

4) Toss your arugula with the salad dressing and spread it on a platter. Layer the rest of the veggies and cheese on top, then finish with thinly sliced steak.



Potchke level rating: low.

Salmon en Papillote

It's my single-lady treat when Will's out of town! (He's allergic)

Ingredients (for 2):
2 salmon filets, skin removed, if possible
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 lemon
2 handfuls cherry tomatoes
1 bunch skinny asparagus (or fat asparagus, sliced in half longways)
Flaky salt
Pepper

Directions:
1) Preheat the oven to 425.

2) Lay out two large squares of aluminum foil. Break off the ends of the asparagus where they naturally snap and lay diagonally across the foil.

3) Scatter the tomatoes and sliced garlic on and around the asparagus.

4) Lay the salmon on top, sprinkle with salt and pepper and cover with lemon slices.

5) Fold up the two opposite corners of the foil that are perpendicular to the asparagus-salmon arrangement (you kind of can't fold it the other way). Pinch at the top, then fold and pinch over the foil down along both sides of the triangle so that it's completely sealed. Lay on a baking sheet and cook for 20 minutes, letting it rest for 5 minutes after you take it out.

Like so:

And then dump it on a plate! (Or serve it as-is, and let the eater open it themselves for a fancier presentation)

You might have noticed that this dish has involves no cooking fat! It is extremely healthy-- everything is steamed inside, but it tastes really decadent. The fish is really tender and the lemon, plus the juice from the tomatoes when you stick your fork in them and they burst, really makes for awesome flavor. It's a ritual of mine when Will is out of town to go to the store and go get my single salmon filet and have a little solo omega-3s party. This is really a great thing to make for guests, though, because it's pretty to look at, tasty to eat, and easy to make!

Cold Cucumber Soup

It's the only thing I could bear to make in 90 degree heat with no air-conditioning!

Ingredients:
2 large seedless cucumbers, peeled and diced
1 large onion, roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
3 cups plain yogurt
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
One handful of fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped

Directions:
1) Heat the olive oil in a pan, then sautee the onion and garlic until soft and translucent, about 10 minutes

2) Combine the diced cucumber, onion, garlic, yogurt, red pepper flakes and salt either in a large bowl and puree with an immersion blender until smooth. Or, puree in a blender, in batches.

3) Chill, then enjoy!

Ingredients ready to be blended

And, the finished product can be seen up at the top.

This one's easy! If you feel so bold as to abandon the recipe and eyeball the ingredients, or add them to taste, you might win in the end-- my measurements are pret-ty approximate! Before you blend, it might seem like not enough liquid to become a soup, but the cucumbers release a lot of water when they are pureed. I was also very generous with the red pepper flakes, and the soup had quite a bite. If you don't like spicy, dial the pepper back. Lastly, as far as yogurt, something a little tangy is good-- I used a fat-free greek yogurt that wasn't too thick. It'd be crazy good with something a little more fatty, though!

Slow-Roasted Pulled Pork

Alright, guys. To kick off the revival of KP, I bring you a very, very unkosher meal.

Slow-Roasted Pulled Pork

Ingredients:
1 3-4 lb. pork shoulder (also called "pork butt")
2 cups chicken broth/stock
1-2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (include the sauce)
2 onions, cut in half
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
A few tbs. ketchup
A few tbs. barbecue sauce
Splash of apple cider vinegar


Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

2) Heat up a large Dutch oven on high heat and add enough vegetable oil to coat the pan.

3) Season the pork generously with salt and pepper, then begin to sear in the pan (a good 4-5 minutes on each side for it to get nice and brown and caramelized).

4) Add to your pot the chicken broth (to deglaze), chipotle peppers, ketchup, and barbecue sauce.** Stir! You want the liquid to go about halfway up the meat, so if you are short on liquid you can add some water or more broth.

5) Nestle the onions and garlic around the pork.

6) Cover the pot and roast in the oven for 2.5 hours, until pork is really tender and pulls apart easily.

**Here's where you can get crazy with it. The idea is getting a really flavorful braising liquid, for this will be your sauce later! So, you can feel free to add any of the following items: beer, mustard, cinnamon, tomato paste, liquid smoke, etc. Get creative!

7) Once your pork is out of the oven and cool enough to handle, pull it apart with your fingers or with 2 forks. Ta-da! Now you have pulled pork.

8) Meanwhile, take a look at all that tasty juice in your pot! Remember that flavorful braising liquid? Well, now it's even MORE delicious because it's infused with pork! And pork fat. In making this recipe for the third time, I think I finally settled on using a fat-separator as the best method for getting some of the fat out of this liquid. Just pour all the liquid into the fat separator, let it sit for a while, and then pour out the lean stuff. Alternatively, you could keep all the liquid in the pot and then skim off the fat when it rises to the top. Either way, I highly recommend straining the fat out, or else you'll have a big gelatinous mess the next day after it's been in the fridge, and it's not really so appetizing.

9) After the liquid has been strained, put it back into the pot and turn up the heat so that the sauce reduces down and thickens. Add your pulled pork to that, and stir. At this point I like to stir in some more barbecue or adobo sauce for flavor.

10) Serve alongside some cornbread with some yummy greens!

Seasoned pork shoulder

Gettin' browned

Everybody in!

I have to apologize for not having a final-product photo. Everything was just so delicious that I forgot to document it! Anyway, this whole pulled-pork shebang is an example of my favorite cooking method for meat: braising. It's all about cooking slowly on low-heat with liquid--and it makes everything tender, juicy, and delicious. I served the pulled pork with cornbread this time around, but the last time I made it I served it as pulled-pork tacos--accompanied with an apple cider vinegar slaw, avocado, cilantro, and lime. Or you could do it as a BBQ sandwich, with grilled corn and potato salad and all those good seasonal trimmings. Oh, summer! You've finally arrived!

Curry Chicken Pita with Cucumber Yogurt Sauce

A summery lunch! Serves 2, with leftovers.

Ingredients:

For chicken marinade:
2 boneless/skinless chicken breasts, pounded to uniform thickness
3 garlic gloves, smashed or rough chopped
2 tsp. curry powder
1/4 c. olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper

For cucumber yogurt sauce:
1 c. plain greek yogurt
1/4 seedless cucumber, grated or small dice
1 shallot, minced
a handful of parsley, rough chopped
lemon juice to taste
salt and pepper

Additional ingredients:
pita bread, tomatoes

Directions:

1) Mix together the garlic, curry powder, lemon juice, and olive oil and pour over pounded chicken. Marinate chicken in the fridge for a couple hours, but not overnight (the acid in the marinade will start to break down your chicken, making it tough and chewy).

2) Meanwhile, assemble your yogurt sauce by mixing together all the ingredients. Let it sit in the fridge for a while so that the flavors develop.

2) When your chicken is done marinating, heat up a good heavy skillet, preferably cast-iron (no need to add oil, by the way!). Season the chicken generously with salt and pepper. Brown the chicken on both sides (about 4 minutes per side, without peeking!), and then transfer to a 350 degree oven so that the chicken cooks through--about 15-20 minutes, depending on the size of your chicken breasts.

3) Slice chicken thinly and let cool.

4) Serve the chicken and yogurt sauce in warmed pita pockets, with a simple Israeli salad (tomatoes, cucumber, parsley, lemon juice, olive oil). Enjoy!

Chicken!

Cucumber yogurt sauce (in ingredient form)!

This is adapted from a recipe I made at work, and it's so good (and also makes great leftovers!). The flavors are so bright and summery and will make you want Mediterranean food all the time. Aaaand, it's pretty healthy! For best results, put your Israeli salad INSIDE the pita pocket. Happy lunching, friends!

Kimchi Soup

Serves 4
Total time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:
2 filets pork loin
2 cups Asian rice cake slices, photographed below (NOT American rice cakes!)
6 cups chicken broth
4 cups kimchi
4 eggs
2 tablespoons gojuchang (Korean red pepper paste)
3 tablespoons mirin
1/2 tube extra-silken tofu, about 6 oz
Vegetable oil
Salt and pepper
Optional: toasted sesame seeds and minced scallions to garnish

1) Toast the rice cakes in a dry large pot at medium-high heat. Stir them around occasionally, but allow them to blister and develop little brown spots, about 5 minutes. Remove from the pot and reserve.

2) Cut the pork into thin slices and season with salt and pepper. Coat the bottom of the soup pot with vegetable oil and heat it until a piece of pork sizzles when touched to the oil. Sear the pork for 2 minutes, stirring once, then remove from the pot and reserve.

3) Pour the chicken broth, and kimchi, along with all the kimchi juice, into the pot and bring to a boil, then keep at a simmer,

4) Stir in the gojuchang until dissolved. Add the pork, rice cakes, and mirin. Make sure to keep the broth at a simmer, then spoon off tablespoon-size globs of tofu into the pot. Then, crack the eggs into the pot one at a time. Don't stir. After two minutes, the eggs should be poached and the pork, rice cakes and tofu will be heated through. When serving, search for the eggs carefully so you don't break them! (They will sink a bit when cooking.)

Toasting the rice cakes

Reserved rice cakes and pork, plus tofu at the ready

Everything in!

Et voila

This is an inauthentic soup. I sorta just took all my favorite Korean soups and combined them in one tasty experiment. Don't be turned off by the weird ingredients. They are all standard items that can be found in Asian or Korean grocery stores, or possibly even your regular grocery store's Asian food aisle, if you are lucky enough. Items like rice cakes, kimchi, mirin and gojuchang will all keep for a crazy long time, at the ready whenever you feel like revisiting these flavors. In fact, the main ingredients you need here are really only chicken broth, kimchi, and mirin. Whatever else you add is just a matter of mood and what you have in your fridge. Dream big!

One could also be so bold as to add a few spoonfuls of gojuchang any time one makes basic chicken soup, and that alone would make for exciting times.

Last but not least, this is the ideal soup for a cold! Really opens up those sinuses.

Bubbie's Cookies - or - The Original Potchke

By Gracie, Molly, Julie, Liza, and Emeline

Bubbie's cookies are a sacred thing in Shore/Friedman history. Our parents and aunts and uncles and cousins all remember these flaky, filled cookies and rave about them. The only problem is that few attempts to make Bubbie's cookies have been made in the past few decades, and a lot of it was based on memory.

This potchke was an attempt to re-create the magic of Bubbie's cookies - working from the following, decidedly un-modern, recipe - in order to save them for posterity! Our additions and clarifications of the recipe will follow the pictures.

Dough--
2 cups (1 lb. shortening – Crisco)
2 cups flour
Pinch salt (?)
Mix into a paste

3 cups flour
2 egg yolks
½ cup vinegar
¾ cup water (about
Make flour into a well, stir and add water (about ¾ cup) add egg yolks and vinegar
Until soft dough is formed

Roll out dough ½ “ thick and spread paste over the dough. Rollup and refrigerate overnight.

Filling--
1 box raisins (white) blend w/water ‘till chopped
Pour off water and strain, a little at a time
Apples (big – ½ dozen) peel and grate, toss out core
Sugar, at least ½ cup
Add not too much cinnamon, (2 tsp.?)
Add pulverized nuts or bread crumbs or both

Grated apple (don't forget to toss out the core!)


Chopping raisins


Adding almond meal to the filling


Dough!


Filling the dough


Dough rolled...


And look at those beauties, about to bake!


Regarding the dough-- interestingly, two cups of Crisco is slightly less than a pound (I think we decided there were about six extra tablespoons in the jar of Crisco). We went by the two cup measurement and everything seemed fine. This made quite a lot of "paste," so I don't think any more would have been needed! We did add the pinch of salt. The second part of the dough recipe turned out to be just about right. Start with 1/2 cup of water, and go slow before you add more. You don't want your dough to be too wet. We rolled the dough out to closer to 1/4", and folded it (letter-style, multiple times, rotating it), rather than rolled it. We refrigerated our dough for about 36 hours. Oh-- and don't be alarmed by the vinegar smell emanating from your dough. You won't taste it!

Moving on to the filling. We used six average-sized apples. The raisins were the most interesting part. We had one 15-oz box of white raisins-- Auntie Gracie remembered her mom, our Bubbie, chopping them in a blender. We tried a mini food processor, and succeeded only in making a mess. Luckily, an immersion blender worked like a charm. You don't want the raisins quite pureed, but you want them slightly broken up-- a few pulses will do it. We also drained off all of the water we could. To the raisin/apple mix, we added the 1/2 cup of sugar, a scant cup of almond meal, and probably almost a tablespoon of cinnamon. Add your almond meal slowly-- our apples and raisins were pretty moist, so we ended up putting in more than anticipated.

Note-- this is the EXACT amount of filling needed for your Bubbie cookies if you have five people in the kitchen sneaking spoonfuls. Otherwise, you may end up with extra!

We worked with the dough in quarters. Flour your surface VERY well. ExTREMEly well. This dough is super wet, and extra flour won't hurt it. Roll out the dough pretty thin-- close to 1/8", I'd say. You can try to roll it into a long, thin rectangle, but it's no big deal. Any scraps can just be re-rolled later. Make a line of filling down the middle of the dough, and use less than you think. You don't want filling oozing out or making the cookies too mushy.

Fold the dough over towards you, kind of sealing the filling in along the edge with your fingers. Trim off excess dough, leaving only about 1/4" excess. Use a knife to "fringe" the edges, then cut into 2-3" cookies. Form the cookies into a crescent, then bake at 350 degrees for at least 30 minutes (this was a huge shocker for me). You want them to be really nice and golden brown, so you may find yourself going close to 40 or 45 minutes. Sprinkle them liberally with powdered sugar, and ENJOY!

Shore tip: when eating, hold your hand under your mouth to catch all of the flaky crumbs!

Potchke mission accomplished! Generations of Shores to come will be enjoying Bubbie's cookies.

Granola!

This recipe proves it: I'm the laziest potchkyer of them all.


(yields about 4 cups granola)

Ingredients:

3 cups rolled oats
1 cup assorted nuts (I used walnuts and sliced almonds, but you could use any of your favorites), chopped
1/2 cup sweetened coconut (optional, but if you omit it you may want to add a bit more of granulated sugar to your honey/butter mixture)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 stick butter
3 tbs. or so honey (just eye-ball it, don't bother making a mess!)
3 tbs. granulated sugar

1) Mix oats, nuts, coconut, brown sugar, and salt together in a large bowl.

2) Melt butter in a small saucepan and add honey and granulated sugar.

3) Pour the hot butter mixture over your oats/nuts and mix with a spatula until combined.

4) Turn out onto a sheet tray lined with parchment paper or a silpat (if you just try using non-stick spray, as I did one time, then you will definitely be potchkying with clean-up!), and bake at 300 for about 20-25 minutes. About halfway through, take a spatula and mix the granola around. Watch it carefully, because it can burn! I've found that the coconut is a good indicator of doneness; once it has toasted, it's likely that the granola is ready to come out of the oven.

As I said before, this is hardly a potchke! It's infinitely customizable and is a satisfying salty/sweet snack, particularly on top of some Greek yogurt. Make it on a lazy morning when it's raining outside and you don't feel like leaving the house.

Trout Amandine

This whole thing takes about 10 minutes.


Serves 2

Ingredients:
1 filet trout
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup chopped or sliced almonds
2 tablespoons butter
juice of 1/2 lemon
a handful of salad greens
Salt and pepper
a little olive oil for finishing

1) Chop your almonds and toast them in a non-stick pan with 1 tablespoon of butter until the almonds are golden brown and smell amazing. Take the almonds out and set aside.

2) Pat the trout with flour on both sides. My filet had skin, though, so I only did one side. You can also cut it into two pieces so they fit easier in your pan. Season with a little bit of salt and pepper.

3) Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in the pan. Cook the fish for one and a half minutes on each side. You can add some extra butter and let it it melt if you want more "sauce" (i.e. melted butter) on your fish.

4) Put the greens on the plate, dress with some olive oil, salt and pepper if you want, put the fish on top of that, and the almonds on top of THAT. Then lemon juice!

BONUS TIP: Any time you're cooking meat or fish, you want to make sure that the oil and the pan are nice and hot. If they aren't, the meat won't get that nice brown sear. It will cook okay on the inside, but you'll lose the awesome crispy outside, and it will instead be wan and oily. (Gross.) SO-- a good way to check and make sure that the oil is ready is to take your meat or fish and touch a corner of it to the pan. If it sizzles, you are GOOD TO GO.

I did not dress my salad greens. I figured the buttery almonds were enough.

Coq Au Vin

Seriously out of this world!! And this picture doesn't do it justice.


Serves: 6(ish)
Cooking time: 3 hours, give or take

Coq Au Vin, adapted from Smitten Kitchen via Julia Child. A Julie/Liza collaboration.

2 slices of bacon, cut into 1/4" strips.
2 tablespoons butter
1 5 lb. whole chicken, cut into parts
1/3 c brandy
1 bottle of red wine, minus a glass (we used Merlot... because the bottle looked French. And we'll let you decide what do with that extra glass.)
3-4 c chicken stock
1 T tomato paste
2 cloves mashed garlic
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1 bay leaf
3/4 lb mushrooms, quartered
1 bag of white pearl onions (8 oz? I can't remember), blanched and peeled
3 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons softened butter
Sprigs of fresh parsley
Fresh thyme

Place bacon in heavy cast iron pot or dutch oven and cook, letting the fat render. Note-- we needed to add some oil to help the fat crisp up! Stubborn bacon.

Rinse the chicken and pat dry. Season with salt and pepper. Sear chicken in batches (skin side down first), letting a golden crust develop. Set chicken aside.

Add mushrooms and onions to pot and let them caramelize! Season with salt and pepper, and don't stir too often. Don't be afraid to add a little extra fat (chicken, bacon, oil, butter... pick your poison) if the pan seems to dry. Add tomato paste, garlic, and bay leaf and toast until fragrant. Pour in brandy, scraping all of the browned bits off the bottom of the pan (you may need additional brandy for this, depending on how well your caramelizing went!).

Return the chicken to the pot. Add the red wine and enough stock to completely cover the chicken. Let simmer for 30 minutes or so, or until the chicken is cooked through. Meanwhile, mix the butter and flour into a paste. Remove a cup or two of hot liquid and whisk the butter/flour paste into it. Pour this back into the pot, and simmer an additional 10 minutes. Finish with thyme and parsley!

Beautiful prep!


This chicken could have been browner... but we are impatient.


Julie peeling those blanched pearl onions.


Don't you just want to eat that right now!!


Mmmmm, de-glazing.


The whole shebang simmering.


Julie and I started this project around 5:30. It was perfect-- we were able to do it leisurely and it was ready exACTly when we were starting to get hungry, about an hour and a half later. I can't rave about this enough. It was so savory, so rich, so, so, so, EVERYTHING. We served it with a little salad, but I think some nice creamy potatoes would be good too-- you can't let all that sauce go to waste!! Also-- next time I may increase the mushrooms and onions. Though we have a lot of chicken left, we already ate the veggies, my personal favorite part!

Everyone, MAKE THIS! Especially since Winter seems to have come back this week. This will make you cozy AND happy AND full!

Pad Thai

Better-- but extremely not easier-- than take-out.

Serves 4.

Noodles:
8 oz rice noodles

Tamarind sauce:
5 oz seedless tamarind paste
1/2 cup sugar
juice of 2 limes
2 teaspoons salt

Stir-fry components:
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
4 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar, plus extra for deglazing*
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon butter
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
4 tablespoons peanut oil, divided
2 tablespoons minced shallot
2 tablespoons grated ginger*
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb fresh or frozen uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 cup bean sprouts

Garnishes:
1 cup bean sprouts
1/2 cup chopped peanuts
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
3 tablespoons sliced green onion
Sriracha
1 lime, cut into wedges

1) Place the rice noodles in a large bowl and cover with hot (but not boiling) water. Let it soak for at least a half hour, or until the noodles are softened, but have a little bite. Then, drain the noodles.

2) Prepare the tamarind sauce. Add the tamarind paste, sugar, lime juice and salt to a small sauce pan and bring to a boil, breaking up the tamarind with a spoon. It should create a thick, sticky sauce. My tamarind paste was not seedless as advertised, and I had to force it through a strainer afterward. (potchke alert) Set aside.

3) Whisk together the cilantro, fish sauce, rice vinegar, and sugar. Set aside.

4) Melt the butter in a large pot or wok. Beat the egg with the milk, add to the pan, and cook until scrambled. Then set aside.

5) Clean out the pan, add 2 tablespoons of peanut oil and set it back on medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the ginger, shallot, garlic and shrimp. Cook for one minute, just until the shrimp gets some color. Add the tamarind sauce and the fish sauce mixture, and stir everything together. Add the noodles and toss, stir-frying until they are totally cooked, 5 minutes or so. If things look a little dry, add some extra peanut oil.

6) Garnish and serve!

Ingredients for tamarind sauce

Cooking and breaking down the tamarind

Straining the cursed seeds

Mise en place: drained noodles, peanuts, tamarind sauce, scrambled egg, fish sauce mixture, minced shallot, garlic, and ginger. And-- shout out Rachel Ray-- my garbage bowl!

Everyone in the pool. For more on shrimp, see here.

Finito.

I had a package of rice noodles gathering dust in the pantry for, oh, maybe a year. Then, on a lark, I bought a brick of tamarind paste when I spotted it at a Korean grocery store last week. Pad Thai. It had to be done.

I think this one is pretty self-explanatory. I didn't use any chiles...because I forgot to buy some. But I have to say, the sriracha was key. Personally, I found a healthy squirt of sriracha gave it the perfect amount of heat. Get a big bottle of sriracha! Put it on everything! You won't regret it! Everything else... as usual... is sort about what you have on hand and how much of each ingredient you prefer to use. A little bit more or less of each thing is not going to kill this dish.

* BONUS FACT: Ginger is a lot easier to grate if it's frozen. Bonus bonus fact: freezing things also make them last longer. So, keep a hand of ginger in your freezer and you'll never have to remember to buy it at the store. Slice off one end, and-- you don't even have to peel it-- just grate it right over a microplane. You'll get a perfect, very fine, fresh pile of ginger, every time! Do it!

PS Remember the shrimp-infused peanut oil leftover from shrimp tacos? Use it in the stir fry. Aw yeah.

Homemade Samoas

Cookie Base (from Cakespy)
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons milk or cream

Caramel Base (from Epicurious)
1 cup heavy cream
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 teaspoon fleur de sel*
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup water

1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted

Cooktime: your whole darned day
Yields: 2-3 dozen cookies

1. Toast coconut. Spread in a thin layer on a baking sheet, and bake for 20-30 minutes at 325 degrees. This can take a while, but be sure

2. Beat sugars and butter. Separately, whisk together dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to creamed butter and sugar. If the mixture is dry, add the milk until the dough is soft. Form the dough into a disk, and refrigerate till firm. Roll out to about 1/4 inch thickness and cut into desired shapes. Bake at 350 for 12-16 minutes, rotating sheets halfway. Allow to cool completely.

3. Don't do what I did for the caramel. See additional information below.

4. Melt chocolate in the microwave or over a double boiler. I put the chocolate into a ziploc bag, then piped it out.

Toasted coconut; sugar and scalded heavy cream waiting in the background


Cutting out my cookies


Cookies are baked! (They spread a lot, surprisingly. I was not pleased.)


Sugar and corn syrup bubbling away.


Cream and butter added! Action shot.


Mid-decoration.



I have to be honest. I don't think this potchke is worth it. It took almost an entire Sunday, and while delicious, the cookies tasted nothing like samoas. The cookie base tasted more like a buttery sugar cookie-- I had anticipated something more shortbread-y. Next time I'll just go ahead and make a classic shortbread!

Here's the other thing. 99.99% of people on the internet who have made Samoas from scratch did NOT make their own caramel. I mean, what's the point if you're just going to melt store-bought caramels? So I committed to making my own caramel topping, and it just totally bombed. Maybe I mis-measured my cream, maybe my thermometer is off, but my creamy caramel topping hardened into toffee.

I finally polished these cookies off the other day. I came to really enjoy them and eventually overlooked the fact they were nowhere near Samoas.