I think about food too much

So let's talk about it

Leftover roast salmon and potatoes transform into salmon cakes flecked with cheddar and served with a dollop of tartar sauce

I think about food a lot. Not saying this makes me unique or anything, it’s just a fact. And it’s been more intense lately, partly because I don’t have a good book to read, so I’ve been reading cookbooks instead. Doing this before bed is the worst idea: My stomach starts grumbling, and I can’t wait to get up in the morning and hit the grocery store. Anyways, this amalgamation of food obsession and lack of a quality read inspired this reflection on some recent things I’ve cooked (the good and the bad) and a few things I want to cook.

Things I Cooked

• Andy Baraghani combines the simplest ingredients and makes them transcendent. Take this Soy Butter Fish with Peas. The sauce is just soy sauce, butter, rice wine vinegar, and a few slices of fresh ginger. As it gently simmers around the flaky cod, it caramelizes, creating a sticky, savory pan sauce. Add to it a combination of snap peas and snow peas, and their sweet vegetal crunch lifts and lightens. I served this over some buttery quinoa dotted with golden cooked onion, and it was one of the best meals I’ve made in weeks, and I am not an earthy, crunchy, health food type.

• I think the hot weather has me craving a dichotomy: Clam shack seafood and crunchy vegetables. The latter has me leaning into ingredients like snap peas, celery, and fennel: cooling, crisp, and reviving slivers of green. With this in mind, I tried this recipe for Snap Pea, Herb, and Tofu Salad with Spicy Peanut Sauce. Sadly, it was a dud for me. The fried tofu was deliciously salty and nutty, but the heavy peanut sauce muddied up the delicate vegetal notes of the peas and herbs—it tasted disjointed: a nibble of tofu, a blob of potent peanut, a sweet bite of pea, a whiff of cilantro. I think a thinner sauce that soaks into the tofu and coats the pieces would improve the dish.

• These “deviled eggs” that are actually jello shots (!!)

  Okay, so one of my coworkers shared this reel months ago (she’s a deviled egg fiend), and I was like, whoa, so cool!

verygooddrinks

A post shared by @verygooddrinks

But then, as it is with social media, I moved on. Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I went to a new bar called Club Frills in Providence, and lo and behold, they had deviled egg shots. Looks like someone there saw that reel too! While I LOVED the whole idea and presentation (they serve an “egg” on a bed of pellet ice in a tiny metal cup), the egg white was grainy and super duper boozy with gin.

Then, John had the brilliant idea to make them and bring them to the 4th of July. So I went online, bought some egg-shaped silicone molds, a piping bag and tips, and gelatin sheets, and followed the recipe from Instagram. It was so much fun! The eggs came out beautifully: silky and coconutty and boozy with rum. But the sleeper hit was the mango stabilized whipped cream. The original recipe used passion fruit puree, which they sell at my local Stop & Shop. But when I got there, a worker was cleaning out the section of frozen Goya pulps and purees. I lucked out when I saw a bag of mango pulp shoved amongst the frozen yucca and platanos, and thanked whoever had changed their mind and stashed it there. So mango it was! It was so, so good. Also, if you’ve never made stabilized whipped cream, it’s basically mousse, and you can get creative with it: I’m hoping to make a passion fruit or guava version, pair it with a cream cheese version, and stuff it into a donut.

• Whole Foods had a “sale” on lobster meat, so I plunked down way too much money for two containers and started making lobster rolls for lunch. My justification is that the combined containers were the cost of a single lobster roll on the Cape, and it is summer, so let a girl indulge. Anyways, did anyone ever tell you that it’s stupid easy to make a lobster roll once you’ve wrangled the meat from the shell? Or in my case, purchased it a la nu? Just mix some mayo (I like Kewpie for that lil bit of sweetness), minced celery, chives, lemon juice and zest, and salt and pepper, toss your lobster in it, and scoop it onto a toasted bun. I skip the soggy romaine leaf because who actually wants that? If you really love vegetables (hi Abby) and simply must add leafy greens to your roll, do a downy layer of cool, crisp iceberg.

  

• Salmon cakes, because I had leftover salmon (a challenging leftover) and roasted potatoes (also a challenging leftover). All you have to do is bash it up, add some mayo and egg and seasoning for binding, and sear ‘em crisp. Panko coating optional. Serve with tartar sauce, of course, and peas.

Things I Want to Make

• This Panang Curry: This simple stew of coconut milk, Makrut lime leaf, peppers, chicken, and curry paste is the easy but flavorful dinner I crave on a weeknight. I’d love to eat this with some paratha, but I know that on a boxing night, it’ll probably accompany coconut rice because it’s easy. I’ll scatter a few tears of Italian basil from my garden on top.

• PIZZA: John makes a killer Detroit-style pie in our outdoor pizza oven. It has slightly sweet red sauce racing stripes and crispy, cheesy edges, and now that I’m thinking about it, I’m hungry. This corn and tomato pizza is also on my list.

• I got Ali Slagle’s cookbook out of the library in search of realistic, easy weeknight dinners that I could still get excited about. Twenty earmarked pages later (sorry!!) and I’m starting with the sesame meatballs, a recipe that uses the brilliant trick of broiling the balls with the broccoli for fast browning and minimal mess. Then it’s on to the Black Bean Soup with Lots of Fritos because it’s basically deconstructed Frito Pie, and I’m into it.

Are you hungry now? I am. I’ll think some more about food—until next time!