vaccination station
better deli salads, and the legendary pizza bowl
Hello friends. I don’t know how it’s nearly June, but here we are. I’m thrilled to have received my first dose of the vaccine this week, and I suffered no side effects other than a sore arm and feeling somewhat tired the day after. We’ve also just heard the news that BC is shortening the wait time between first and second doses, so those of us who’ve recently received dose 1 will now be eligible to receive dose 2 towards the end of July instead of the end of September! This news, combined with the transmission rates already being shown to have slowed immensely (close to 99%) in communities with high vaccination rates, like Howe Sound and Prince Rupert, has me feeling genuinely hopeful for the first time in awhile.
This past Saturday was Jeff’s birthday, and it was quite similar to his birthday last year in that all we could really do was order takeout and drink a cellar wine in the yard. The pizza was from Farina a Legna, a local fave, and the wine was a 2012 Seven Stones cabernet sauvignon. Normally I’d also have made him a cake, but his mom wanted to bring by some pie from a local bakery, so I’ll save the cake for next week when we’ve run out pie. Also on the weekend (owing to the un-summery weather) we watched Knives Out finally, which was super fun, and Sound of Metal, which deserved all the hype it got and had me on the verge of tears for basically the whole movie. I’ve been doing a lot of comfort rewatches lately while I knit, so it felt great to be genuinely engrossed in a piece of media I’m experiencing for the first time.
With the long weekend, my vaccine appointment, and general lack of enthusiasm, this wasn’t exactly an exceptional week for my cooking. So I will share with you another of my workhorse meals, something I’ve made easily ten times since this newsletter’s inception: pizza bowl. This is a god-tier Isa Does It recipe, as everyone I’ve made it for can attest to. It’s not exactly a pizza stand-in, more just inspired by the elements of pizza, and it’s filling, nutritious, and incredibly tasty. Brown rice, loads of crisp garlic slices, sausage pieces, and plenty of kale make up the base of the bowl, with a tangy tomato-cashew-red pepper sauce, sliced olives, and fresh thyme to finish it off.
My favourite veggie sausage for this is Trader Joe’s soy chorizo, as it’s a crumble type and blends its wonderful spicy goodness throughout. But since I can hardly hop over the border for a Bellingham TJ’s run these days, a close second is Gusta’s Italian or Spanish varieties (Field Roast’s Italian is also perfectly fine, I just think Gusta has a nicer texture). The book provides lots of alternatives so you can make it similar to your favourite pizza toppings, but for me, every element of it the way it’s written in the original recipe is integral to its magic. Actually, that’s not true: the book calls for oil-packed, high-quality black olives, but using cheap as hell, store-brand sliced black olives is what makes it for me.
It’s difficult to describe the power this bowl has and why it’s so good, so I really recommend you try it. There’s a version here with most of the ingredients, but a different cheeze sauce. I rarely measure the sauce ingredients anymore and it’s always fine, so really all you need is to blend about half a cup of soaked cashews and the same of veg broth, a few tablespoons of tomato paste and lemon juice, a couple garlic cloves, and a roasted red pepper. If it’s creamy and orange, you did it right. Please report back on how much you love it.
With the long weekend marking the unofficial start of the summer, I used the eggplants I got at the farmer’s market to make one of my favourite warm-weather pastas: Smitten Kitchen’s charred eggplant & walnut pesto pasta salad. Eggplant is one of those things that, in my opinion, needs to be almost completely transformed before its uncommon texture becomes truly enjoyable— hence why my favourite eggplant dishes are either blended like baba ganouj, or roasted/charred outside and soft inside, like here. Similarly, a creamy pasta salad has to meet very specific requirements before I’m actually excited about eating it, but a vinegary pasta salad is always welcome. The fat requirement is satisfied by the cheeses: parmesan in the pesto and ricotta salata mixed throughout the salad (I usually opt for feta instead because it’s easier to find). I used orecchiette here because I had the packet open, but I usually like radiatore or fusilli to pick up the pesto really well.
The first time I made this pesto, I wondered why the walnuts don’t get blended with the oil like a regular pesto, and I discovered after trying it that it’s because it turns into a thick, putty-like paste, almost like a nut butter, making it difficult to get good coverage on the salad. So definitely follow the recipe’s instructions, and stir the oil and sun-dried tomatoes in by hand afterwards. I love the potency of the sherry vinegar here so I always add a little more, but if you don’t have it, I think white or red wine vinegar would still be good, or white balsamic. Adding fresh cherry tomatoes to this is also a nice addition. I make this so much in the summer because it’s not only easy and involves little time at the stove, but because its mix of fragrant herbs, salty cheese, tangy vinegar and tomatoes, and char from the grill is basically everything I want from a meal I’m eating outside.
And speaking of maligned deli foods… after being collectively driven away from the beauty of slaw by the too-creamy, weirdly sweet restaurant and deli versions that were ubiquitous in the 90s, allow yourself to give coleslaw another chance. A good slaw should have a vinegar or other sour element, lots of crunch, and a touch of sweetness that doesn’t feel like the main event (though I do still have a place in my heart for White Spot’s sunflower seed-y traditional coleslaw). I wrote about Millie Peartree’s delicious mango slaw previously, but this week I finally tried the sesame slaw from Isa Does It, and loved it (note: this link is also not exactly the same as the book recipe). I’d breezed past these pages when flipping through the book before because I either didn’t have seitan or edamame, or because I just… felt tired by the idea of having coleslaw for dinner. But since I’d made seitan a couple weeks ago and froze it in batches, and since cabbage is the food equivalent of the song that doesn’t end, I was ready this time.
First off, this dressing is fantastic: a well-balanced mix of rice vinegar for acid, miso for umami, agave for sweetness, as well as sesame, hot sauce, and fresh ginger for depth. I would definitely make it again for other sturdy salads, or even cold noodles. Secondly, there is no way the dressing recipe makes even close to enough for 6 cups of cabbage and a pound of seitan— I used a little over half that amount of each and I thought the ratio was perfect, so if you’re making a larger salad, double the dressing. I also chose to mix the green onions and cilantro into the salad rather than use them as garnish, so they’re more evenly spread throughout.
In pan-frying the seitan, I ended up burning the garlic a little and found it difficult to get a good mix of both when putting the mix on top of the salad. I think in the future I might infuse the oil using smashed garlic cloves in the pan before frying the seitan, instead of using minced garlic at the end. The seitan recipe I make most often is the chickwheat shreds, which is what I used here: a chicken-like, versatile meat alternative that pulls apart into nice shreds, made with little effort (but a lot of dishes) using the instant pot. I imagine a store-bought veggie sausage or beef type would work here as well. This made for a more satisfying dinner than you’d think slaw could make, and I had to stop myself from licking leftover dressing off the plate (it’s that good).
Media:
I read this post which nicely encapsulates the rage many of us are feeling now that the return to a more public life is on the horizon and with it, the looming pressure to emerge appearing physically unchanged. As always, the pressure is felt largely by women and people perceived as female. Despite purporting to be talking about everyone, the language and mentality around this sort of beauty standard is heavily gendered, evidenced by this particularly disgusting paragraph from a piece in the New York Times (which interviewed only women):
While some spent the year of the pandemic creating healthy meals or riding their Pelotons for hours, many others managed their anxiety and boredom through less healthy means. They spent the pandemic sitting on their couches, wearing baggy sweatsuits, drinking chardonnay and munching on Cheetos.
It’s never okay to write something shaming people for what food they put into their bodies, the amount that they exercise, or what they choose to wear to feel comfortable, but it looks even worse when you’re doing it after people have spent over a year living with previously unimaginable levels of fear, stress, and trauma. Not to mention how this fatphobia (both external and internal) hurts people who were fat before the pandemic, as if you could be forgiven for gaining weight during the pandemic, but only as long as you were planning to get back to your previous, “healthy” body later on.
In the coming months as we start to see our friends and coworkers again, please be kind to yourself and others— easily accomplished in most instances by simply not talking about anyone’s body. (Anyone who’s ever worked in an office setting knows that this should be easy, but is seemingly super difficult for some people!) I believe most of us know these things, but really internalizing them takes work, so it’s worth a reminder: thinness is not an indication of health, diets don’t work, and your bodies don’t have to be beautiful to be worthy of care and respect.
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. This week, we sadly said goodbye to Eric Carle, the legendary author and artist of The Very Hungry Caterpillar (among others). Let this video of him showcasing his wonderful illustration techniques to Fred Rogers soothe your soul. RIP.