I used to be free
orzo for spring, Nutella brownies redux, and hitting a wall
Greetings from another Friday that felt like it took forever to arrive. It’s been difficult to keep my spirits up recently, and I’ve found myself puzzled by it, as if we aren’t still navigating a terrifying public health crisis that precludes almost all forms of fun and social contact. Watching the province fumble the bag with the vaccine rollout isn’t exactly inspiring, and I find myself unfortunately turning to capitalism to cheer myself up: going on websites and adding things to my cart, sometimes completing the purchase in order to enjoy the hit of anticipation as I wait for it to arrive in the mail, but sometimes just imagining having something new and exciting in my life, like a $70 retro-futurist electric kettle or an area rug that the cats have yet to barf on.
I’ve been working on a massive (for me, who has only ever made hats and dishcloths) knitting project since late January, and while it was interesting at the beginning when I was learning some new techniques, I am now, in late March, about 60% through and absolutely desperate for it to be complete so I can move on to something else. I think a lot of us probably feel that way right now about the state of things; not so much a desire to get “back to normal”, because I do think we should be pushing to make our society better than what it was, but to have the ability to do something other than what we’ve been doing for the past six to twelve months. Making food, watching tv, working, going for our stupid little daily walks, all while trying to balance keeping ourselves and others safe against living in all-encompassing fear and rage— it’s all we’ve had during this exhausting winter, and while there’s something to be said for the comfort of a routine, having almost nothing substantial to look forward to is taking its toll.
I’m sorry to make this newsletter start off so bleak, when I know many of you read this to feel inspired, but I also don’t want any reader to think I’m doing so much better than they are simply because I manage to cook five to seven meals a week and write about them here. It’s just been really hard lately to feel like we’re turning a corner when everything still feels so stagnant. Bring on the vaccine, and please let me finish this knitting project soon so I can start making crop tops for my hot girl (read: mid-30s gay auntie) summer.
As you can imagine after reading the above, I’ve been hitting a wall creatively. This week I relied on a few standbys as well as a couple of big batches to get us through (normally I halve most recipes that say they serve 4 so we don’t have to eat too many leftovers). I made the roasted tomatoes and feta with chickpeas again, and we ate it with taftoon from Amir Bakery on Lonsdale Avenue. This is a tiny Iranian bakery that only sells taftoon (and lavash), which they make fresh throughout the day, so if you’re lucky you’ll go in to buy some and watch as it fogs up the bag because it’s still warm from the oven. It is soft, chewy, and completely delicious. Could I have made flatbread myself? Yes, but why bother when it won’t be as good and a bag with two huge pieces costs only three dollars?
As much as I enjoy eating them, I’m still happy that we’re leaving beet and potato season and entering asparagus season. I tried out this lemon-asparagus orzo with garlic breadcrumbs, and it was quick to make and fabulously tasty. Many people in the comments say they made it exactly as indicated and loved it, but I don’t believe in boiling vegetables in most cases, so I made it slightly differently and it didn’t increase the amount of effort (or dishes).
First, I toasted the breadcrumbs and set them aside. Then I sautéed the asparagus in the same pan for about three minutes, so it was bright green and tender but still had some crunch. I put it in the serving bowl and covered it to keep it warm while making the orzo in the same pan: first toasting it in oil for a few seconds, and then adding about 2 cups of broth and bringing to a boil with the lid on. It takes 8-10 minutes of simmering with the occasional stir until the pasta is cooked and most of the broth is absorbed, but it still looks creamy and isn’t sticking to the pan too much. I like this method of making orzo sort of like a risotto, because you don’t have to drain it and worry that you’ll lose a bunch of tiny pasta pieces through the holes in the strainer, and the broth of course adds plenty of extra flavour.
I made the dressing in a measuring cup while the orzo was cooking, a simple mix of oil, lemon juice, and lemon zest with salt and pepper, stirring in the herbs when the pasta was almost done (I used parsley and dill). The parmesan is essential to counter the acidity of this dish, so if you want to make it and don’t eat cheese, I’d recommend a good vegan parm like Violife or Earth Island, or in a pinch, some nutritional yeast and a splash of non-dairy milk. I also added a couple spoonfuls of capers, which are a good friend to both lemon and asparagus, so they were an excellent complement. The breadcrumbs added the perfect level of crunch to make this a really satisfying spring main dish, but I think it would also make a great side for marinated tempeh or tofu, or just about any fish.
Midweek I was craving some sort of baked good, possibly due to all the vaccine donut discourse, so even though I’m running low on a lot of ingredients and need to go to Bulk Barn, and I’m making a birthday cake for my mom this weekend, I made a pan of brownies. I decided to try these Nutella brownies after my lukewarm results with the Half-Baked Harvest version awhile ago (most probably due to my own sloppy baking, but still, nothing wrong with mixing it up). Obviously, playing it fast and loose with baking recipes is usually where they go wrong, but because my pantry is so bare right now I had to improvise a little. I had only 2 oz of semi-sweet chocolate, so I added a few tablespoons of cocoa powder and slightly reduced the flour and sugar to compensate. I mentioned previously that I’m using Kirkland brand hazelnut spread, which I recommend because it’s a) a good deal, and b) doesn’t use palm oil like Nutella does. I also added peanut butter chips, just to make them completely out of control.
The swirl on the top definitely looks nicer before baking than after because the colour variance kind of disappears, but it’s still worth it for the flavour and texture contrast. I also dusted the top with Maldon salt before baking, which is pretty much a guaranteed boost to anything chocolate. The baking time in the recipe is too low— I understand you want a fudgy centre, but after 25 minutes these were still goop and only set at the very edges. 35 minutes was perfect.
I’d been thinking about shiitakes, and bought some, intending to make fried rice, but then forgot to make rice ahead of time and still needed to use the mushrooms. I looked to the “Asian ragus” section of Lucky Peach’s 101 Easy Asian Recipes, not to follow any one to the letter, which wouldn’t be in the spirit of such recipes anyway, but for inspiration involving shiitakes, noodles, and sauce. I settled on something that turned out to be roughly similar to zha jiang mian, using ground pork, black bean sauce, and lots of garlic. Aside from rice noodles, which I didn’t think would be a good fit here, I had only Italian pasta— I used linguine since a thicker noodle seemed best. While the meat and mushrooms cooked, I made the sauce in a small dish: black bean sauce, hoisin, doubanjiang, soy sauce, and a pinch of sugar with some of the pasta cooking water.
I deglazed the pan with about half a cup of cooking wine and let it reduce, which adds a little sweetness and plenty of acidity— necessary since so many of the sauce elements are quite salty. Stirring in a few dashes of rice vinegar at the end helped too. On top we used thin slices of cucumber and radish which add a nice crunch as well as a good contrast of something fresh and cool against a hearty, salty dish. This was really delicious and very satisfying to eat on a rainy day, but if I made it again I would add even more chili bean paste because I think it could stand to be spicier!
Media:
As a regular user of the NYT Cooking site, I’ve seen the comments, so I can safely say that a facebook group centred around it does not immediately strike me as a fun and respectful environment. So when the New York Times announced that it was passing ownership and moderation over to its users, it was unsurprising and hilarious. This article details some of the controversies, both real microaggressions and racism as well as fun posts encouraging voting being criticized as overly political or what constitutes ‘charcuterie’. This thread is also worth a look if you want an approach that is less news-y and more trash talk-y.
Given the overarching problem of food media in general being largely white and geared toward white readers, throwing this into the toxic mess of Facebook Brain could hardly have resulted in anything but calamity once the group grew past a certain size. The Times claims the decision is not based on any particular set of issues and they just don’t want staff being paid to moderate when they could be doing other work for the publication, but it’s pretty clear: they simply don’t care what kind of nonsense goes on in the group so long as they aren’t the ones responsible for it.
Thanks for reading— if you enjoyed this newsletter, please share it with someone new! I like providing this to you for free, but it does still involve time and effort, so donations I can use towards cookbooks or future treats are much appreciated. Finally, have some vodka and toast or spend $10 on a banana in honour of Jessica Walter this weekend. RIP to a legend who was only getting better with age.