signs of life
summer squash and averting cobbler disaster
It’s been a hectic week as our roommates begin their move-out process. I’m glad for them that they have the ability to move into their new place over a couple of weeks instead of all in one hellish weekend like we had to when we moved in here, but with the little piles of things in various places and other forms of general disorganization associated with moving, I haven’t felt really able to focus or fully relax. And I’m feeling remarkably sad about the cats leaving. I haven’t lived in a pet-less house for so long and I imagine it’ll be a little lonely at first. Maybe we’ll try to butter up our landlord so we can get a dog.
Possibly unsurprisingly, I’ve been alternating this week between distracting myself with food projects, and ignoring everything in favour of knitting and watching tv. I finished making my first-ever top, and I’ve been enjoying finally watching The Queen’s Gambit, which the rest of you all watched last year, as well as savouring the series High on the Hog. I’ve also just about completed my first sock, which is terrifying because when I finish it, I’ll have to then knit a second sock. In the meantime, here are some delicious foods to get excited for summer, and when in doubt, just go ahead and make pasta again.
Yes, it’s true: I make pasta a lot. In my defence, it requires almost no forethought, can be made using just about anything you have around, and generally doesn’t take much time. I made a few this past week due to general chaos; first, a curry noodle stir-fry which I suppose is not technically pasta? But I did make it using spaghetti noodles because I keep forgetting to buy soba or chow mein noodles. This is a Japanese-style curry roux from the Veganomicon, and I love how quick and versatile it is. I made it to use up the vegetables that needed using up: broccolini, a handful of shiitakes and brown mushrooms, half a brick of tofu. It’s so satisfying, and way more flavourful than any of the lacklustre bowls you get at Noodlebox.
I also made a red pesto rigatoni on the weekend, looking for a quick something to make after returning home in the early evening following an afternoon of knitting in the park with some friends. This was a nice variation using sun-dried tomatoes and roasted red pepper, with either walnuts or pine nuts (I used a mix) and some tomato paste caramelized in the frying pan. For substance I blistered a few grape tomatoes and braised half a bunch of kale in the pan, and it was very tasty. I like that it reminded me a little of a spicy tomato sauce, but on a different level of texture and umami. Toasted panko on top put it over the edge.
Speaking of pesto, if you’ve been a regular reader of this newsletter, it probably won’t shock you to learn that I currently have three varieties of homemade pesto in the freezer, which are there to help me when I’m short on ingredients or don’t know what to make. I just take the container out when I start cooking, and when the food’s almost ready, I dig out a tablespoon or two using a hot spoon, and let it thaw either in the still-warm pan, or in the food if it’s hot enough. On Monday I used a mix of both nettle and garlic scape pesto to add to some linguine with lemon and sautéed summer squash (which I’m told is actually different from zucchini, although they can essentially be used interchangeably). I added lemon zest to the leftover panko crumbs from the other pasta to put on top— I can’t recommend this enough for crunch and flavour purposes.
The summer squash was from a bag of assorted vegetables from the dollar rack at my local produce store (it also contained carrots and a beet, and I got another bag full of red potatoes), and they were all in only slightly less than perfect condition. No shade to Donald’s but if you’ve ever shopped the dollar rack there, you’re essentially buying a $1 lotto ticket where the possible prize is edible food, so this place is refreshingly of a slightly higher standard. I was excited to use the squash to try this fantastic-sounding recipe from Smitten Kitchen: crispy fried chickpeas with zucchini, lemon, and yogurt. I had made tzatziki earlier that day to use up some cucumbers, so I used that as the base instead of the garlic yogurt from the recipe.
Similar to frying capers, it’s really important to get the chickpeas as dry as possible before putting them in the pan, and make sure the oil is quite hot. Otherwise you’ll just have browned, extra-cooked chickpeas— they will not be crisp. These came out wonderfully, and I loved the addition of chili flakes and lemon zest to the process of salting them after removing them from the pan. You can then use the same pan to cook the zucchini, and it’s all ready much more quickly and simply than you might expect. We ate this with taftoon from Amir Bakery to scoop everything up, but given the rave reviews from everyone who’s tried it, I’m sure it’s equally good as written: a refreshing and filling summer salad.
Peaches showed up two weeks in a row in my produce bin. But I always forget until the season comes around that I have an oral allergy to stone fruits, so I can’t just eat them fresh (at least, not without mouth and throat pain), which is sad because peaches are delicious. I promised myself I would turn them into some sort of baked good instead of just watching them rot, and when they started to get soft and wrinkly, I finally did, using this brown butter cobbler-cake recipe. Brown butter in baked goods is a good way to take things from regular to special, and I liked the idea of a more structured, cake-like version of a fruit cobbler. This doesn’t have any eggs, so it can easily become vegan by using a mix of nondairy yogurt and milk instead of the buttermilk, like I did, and replacing the butter with a good vegan version (which I didn’t). I also used a bit less sugar, and added cardamom— I think next time I’d add a little vanilla, too.
Unfortunately, after assembling the whole thing in a 10” cast iron (brown butter layer, batter layer, fruit layer, light crumble layer), I realised I’d forgotten the baking powder. So I had to mix everything together in order to add it, instead of having a nice strata of sunken fruit and a caramel-y bottom. Luckily cobblers are versatile, so I sprinkled a small handful of oats and some more almonds on top, and it still came out great! The edges were browned and crispy, and the interior of the cake soft with crunchy bits of almonds and juicy (but not squishy) peach slices. I don’t like to think about the floury hockey puck that might have resulted if I’d put it in the oven without the baking powder.
Media:
I was fascinated by this piece from Bettina Makalintal, about the science of realistic vegan egg yolks. Eggs are one of those things in cooking that feel slightly magic for the way they behave and the number of things they can accomplish, so it follows that a suitable replacement has been somewhat of a holy grail for vegan chefs and plant-based food companies. There are lots of different ways to substitute them in baking and cooking, like flax or chia seeds, applesauce, aquafaba, or various firmnesses of tofu, but the beauty of the whole, cooked egg remained elusive. A vegan fried or poached egg might be similar in taste or basic appearance, but would not have the same feel of poking into a soft yolk and having it break slowly over the rest of the food. The article discusses several vegan chefs who have found success using the process of spherification to create contained, perfect-looking egg yolks using tomatoes, squash, or sweet potato. This is an exciting development in the vegan food world, and I encourage you to click through for the impressive photos alone.
This short article by Nicole Taylor on why watermelon with seeds is good, actually, also hit the sweet spot (no pun intended). As many people return to treasured heirloom fruits and vegetables over whatever is most readily available at the store, this piece gets into the rituals of growing, eating, and preparing watermelon in summer. Personally, I don’t know if it’s superstition or nostalgia or what, but seeded watermelon has always seemed to be juicier, sweeter, and more enjoyable to eat. Temporarily becoming a sticky mess is just part of many a summer food experience, and we should all be so blessed as to spit out a seed or three or ten as the price of enjoying a delicious melon. (And I definitely look forward to making this watermelon panzanella in July or August.)
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, we can’t know for sure that this is how Billy Corgan named his second band, but we can imagine that it is.