the unspring
exciting salad, substitutions that work, and how to use a chocolate bar you didn't like
Over the course of the pandemic, I know we’ve all watched many varieties of restaurants close forever. Some, like the sorts of overpriced salad joints which served the now ghost towns of office buildings downtown, we weren’t disappointed to see go. Others, longstanding favourites which may have relied heavily on tourism or foot traffic they no longer saw, we mourned. There’s the rare case of those that opened during the pandemic which are now finding they either aren’t cut out for the business or can’t make ends meet (the beloved North Van pasta truck comes to mind— Erin, if you’re reading, I wish you the best in your future endeavours). And of course, there’s those that we frequented, only to go past one day and find them closed, and later on, replaced by a new but still intriguing restaurant.
Jeff and I were saddened by the loss of Maru, a delicious Korean bistro in our neighbourhood, but like a hydra, apparently, two fast casual places selling Korean fried chicken opened right in the same area a couple of months later. On Saturday we ordered from Chicken Box, and I’m happy to say it was everything I could want. They had all the best sauce options, and the chicken was so tender and juicy inside while being perfectly crispy outside. There’s nothing vegetarian-friendly about this place (the name should tell you what you’re getting), but if you just want a snack, the lightly battered fries are pretty much my platonic ideal of a french fry. And the yuzu-pickled daikon? Thanks, I love it. We got the large sweet and spicy chicken which was plenty for us for two meals— we ate all the fries the first night, and heated it up in the toaster overn and had it with white rice the next day for lunch. I’m already thinking about when I might be able to justify getting it again, because it was just so good.
Also over the weekend, I went out to dinner with my mom and stepdad and two of my brothers, because my second-youngest brother, impossibly, celebrated his thirtieth birthday last week. It just seems wrong that that can be true for someone I remember holding as a baby, but time does inevitably come for us all, so you might as well have a drink and eat some fries about it. Since it was a Sunday and my family didn’t want to get back too late by coming out to Vancouver, we met up at the Barley Merchant in Langley, a taphouse where one of Jeff’s friends is the executive chef (you may remember this from past newsletters).
I love their extensive beer list; there’s always something unique there that I have yet to try, so I can never resist getting a flight. I tried their veggie burger for the first time, and really liked it: it’s primarily black bean and rice and the texture is great, not oversoft like some house-made patties where they basically ooze out of the bun as you eat, nor the dry pre-made pucks vegetarians had to endure ten or fifteen years ago, if a menu even gave you the option of a veggie burger. And while the fries there are good, too, I felt I’d had enough fried things, and got the beet and pear salad as my side instead. It’s got plenty of stuff in it and an excellent dressing, and the candied pumpkin seeds finish it off nicely to make it one of the least boring side salads I’ve had the pleasure of ordering. We also had the London Fog crème brûlée for dessert, and it was rich, velvety, and perfectly flavoured. It certainly fit the mood of the weather that persists: rainy, grey, and unseasonably chill.
It is a testament to my strength of will that in the midst of this depressingly cold and stormy April, I managed to not only make and eat, but actively enjoy, a salad. I’d had this one saved for awhile, but never felt like shelling out for halloumi, but when I saw some on sale, I thought of it instantly, because it sounded amazing. Roasted and spiced cauliflower, fresh greens, browned and salty cheese, and a sweet and tangy dressing? Why not? I changed a lot about it, so I can’t say I really made the recipe, but the notes even within it say that there are plenty of potential changes in order to use what you have or make it more your own.
I used green kale as the base since I had it (it’s a bit early in the season for arugula), and I didn’t have preserved lemon, so I made the vinaigrette using orange juice and zest (I still used the raisins, but increased the vinegar a little, and reduced the shallot to about 1/4 cup). Knowing I’d have leftovers and any avocado in the salad would be disgusting after 12 hours in the fridge, I opted for castelvetrano olives instead— a good choice to make up some of the salt that normally would have been found in the preserved lemon. It’s easy to prep everything while the cauliflower roasts; just make sure to do the halloumi last so that it’s somewhat soft inside at serving time. And use a high heat so that it browns nicely but doesn’t have time to melt! Mine was ready a smidge early and it got a little stiff, but this was still excellent, with lots of texture variety and plenty of all the different flavour profiles. I would definitely make this again using these same ingredients, but I wouldn’t be opposed to trying it as written, either
I had a bunch of fridge garbage to use, as one does at times, and often my default is soup or pasta sauce. Since some of the things were rapidly softening tomatoes and mushrooms that were threatening to become slimy, I opted for this roasted tomato sauce, a recipe of mine which is just as good with elderly vegetables as it is with fresh ones from the farmers’ market. I also added a couple of hot peppers from a bag we got of the dollar rack to make the spicy version. I didn’t really feel like pasta, though, and since we had fresh sourdough that I’d made that morning, I went the poached egg and toast route instead. It makes for a pretty low-effort dinner since all you need to do after roasting is blend the sauce and throw it in a pan to cook the eggs in it.
I added a little broth and olive oil while blending, since it’s usually fairly thick, which is fine for coating noodles, but for poaching eggs, you don’t want it bubbling all over the place as it simmers. I also threw in some greek yogurt, to give it a creaminess and a little bit of acidity. After adding the eggs, I grated parmesan over the top, but ricotta salata or crumbled feta would be good too. And for once, I think I actually poached the eggs correctly: if you think the tops look underdone, they’re probably just perfect, because every time I’ve looked at them and thought “okay, those look great”, the yolks have been too hard. Even when you’ve been doing it for years, cooking remains a learning experience.
The next day, I did want some noodles, and still had more mushrooms to use, so I made a slightly altered version of these dan dan style noodles with chili crisp which I make often. It wasn’t quite as nice texture wise with brown mushroom instead of shiitakes, but it got the job done, and was still plenty flavourful. The crumbled tofu came out nicely crisp this time, too, because I forced myself not to be afraid to turn the heat up fairly high on the wok first (often I get worried about burning things in the thin pan). And I didn’t have cucumber, but I did have radishes, so I used those to make the quick pickles instead, which was just as good. The sauce, in all its spicy, savoury glory, is really the important unifying element for this dish, so I think you could alter the ‘meat’ and the toppings basically however you like and still come out with something pretty enjoyable.
Ritter Sport chocolate bars go on sale at our local grocery place when they’re close to their expiration date, so Jeff will usually pick up a couple so we have a stash, because eating a couple squares while we watch tv after dinner is always nice. He bought a hazelnut one without realising it was a 70% dark version, which didn’t really excite us— sorry for being basic and simply enjoying a nice milk chocolate, is it so much to ask for a treat to be sweet? However, I remembered my vegan double chocolate cookie recipe and thought that would be a good use for it, because for some reason, just eating dark chocolate is whatever, but baking with it is amazing.
While these were technically not vegan because the bar of chocolate still has milk ingredients, the spirit of the recipe (not having to soften butter) remains the same for me. I also learned from the past, and chopped up the chocolate on top of the open wrapper so I didn’t waste bits of it by getting them stuck to the cutting board. The hazelnut is a nice addition texturally, and I also like the mix of small and large chocolate chunks here. I tried this recipe a couple of times before I got it to where I was happy enough with it to share, and making it again, I loved it just as much. Watch me try and fail not to eat three to four of them a day until they’re gone.
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. Anyway, here’s a meme for the medicinal mint haters and the culinary mint likers (I assume that’s everyone who is normal).