Hey there! Just wanted to post a quick link to an article I just wrote for Eater: How to Actually Get Inspired by the Farmers Market. In it you’ll find some really easy tips for shopping with flexibility, creativity, and spontaneity. Hope you enjoy it!
All my best,
Kathryn
Here’s the thing about BBQ: really good smoked brisket is too good for this world; but even if smoked meats ceased to exist, I would still go to BBQ places just for the sides. And that’s why I think that if you’re ever planning a menu (ahem… Thanksgiving!), and you’re at a loss what to include, just make a bunch of BBQ sides! Even if you’re not smoking any meats, BBQ sides will make everyone happy. My favorite one? Jalapeño cornbread muffins!
While over-mixing is a much bigger concern for an all-flour muffin, corn muffins still benefit from some restraint in the mixing department.
Why over-mixing is bad: When you agitate wet ingredients + flour by stirring or kneading, you develop its gluten. As gluten develops, it becomes more and more rubbery. This can be a good thing when it comes to something like a baguette. But for muffins (and pancakes, and banana bread, and any other thing that should have a tender crumb), it’s important to mix with restraint.
How to avoid over-mixing: If you just dump everything together in one bowl, it’ll take a lot of mixing to get all those flour lumps totally smooth. That’s why it’s important to whisk or sift the dry ingredients, whisk together the wet ingredients separately, and then bring them all together. By whisking separately first, you break up any flour clumps and you fully combine the wet ingredients. Then it takes much less effort to stir everything together. Less stirring = less gluten development = tender muffins.
If you want spicy cornbread muffins, feel free to leave in all or some of the jalapeño pith. Contrary to popular belief, the heat does not primarily lie in the seeds, but in the white waxy stuff surrounding the seeds. So if you want super mild muffins with just some jalapeño flavor, remove all the white stuff. If you want spicy muffins, chop them up whole (seeds, pith, and green flesh).
Spiciness varies from pepper to pepper, so use your judgment, and feel free to scale things back or add a little extra. Doubling the amount of jalapeño will have a huge affect on its spiciness level, but own’t affect the structure of the recipe.
Whenever I make muffins, I’m tempted to just go for it without the muffin liners because I almost never have them around. But don’t skip the liner step, or your cheesy muffins will stick to the pan like crazy. If you don’t have muffin liners on hand, you can always make your own with parchment paper.
* If you want it to be pretty spicy, only de-rib them partially, or leave the piths intact for a ton of spice. The heat comes almost entirely from the white pith, and less so from the green flesh and seeds.
There are so many different ways to fry a chicken. Want to make some chicken parmesan? Simply dredge chicken in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs, and pan-fry. To make Korean fried chicken, you create an aromatic marinade, dredge the marinated chicken in potato or corn starch, and double fry it. Tempura chicken gets its fluffy-crisp shell from a light and airy batter. And for perfect southern fried chicken, simply marinate chicken pieces in buttermilk, dredge them in seasoned flour, and move them straight into the oil. That’s the technique we’ll be using today for these za’atar chicken and waffles.
If you’ve never tried making the original, I highly recommend trying an excellent classic recipe first. In this recipe, I’ve included za’atar in place of more classic seasonings. And instead of buttermilk, we’ll use Greek yogurt, an ingredient you’ll often find paired with za’atar.
Za’atar is often misunderstood. So I highly recommend checking out this post when deciding what kind of za’atar to use for these za’atar chicken and waffles.
The bottom line: za’atar is indeed a blend of wild thyme, sumac, sesame, and a few other ingredients. But “wild thyme” is absolutely not the same thing as French thyme, which is what you’ll usually find in US supermarket spice aisles. So unless you have some za’atar growing in your back yard, I don’t recommend trying to mix your own. If you mix your own za’atar with French thyme and then use it in this recipe, it will have an overpowering flavor and will taste almost perfumey.
A blend of real za’atar should be very mellow and herby, with a lot of zesty flavor and toastiness. You can use it in pretty vast quantities, and not worry about overpowering a dish. For instance, manakish za’atar is coated in a thick slurry of za’atar, and I still find myself licking my finger to pick up any bits that escape onto the plate. It’s hard to have too much of it.
For the za’atar chicken:
For the waffles:
Make the chicken:
Make the waffles:
* For this recipe, absolutely make sure you use real za’atar, and do not make your own blend with French time.
** If you’re a really good multitasker, you can make the waffles at the same time as frying the chicken. Get all your wet and dry ingredients ready, and heat up your waffle iron, and then mix the batter together at the last moment once the chicken goes in the fryer. If you’re not such a great multitasker, just make the waffles before you fry, and it’ll be just fine. They get super crispy in the toaster, and it all works out.
I grew up in Chicago, so I consider myself a deep dish pizza expert. And as far as I’m concerned, Chicago deep dish pizza is all about the crust. Giordano’s has a super flaky biscuity crust. Pequod’s has extra-caramelized bits of frico around the edges. And Lou Malnati’s (my favorite!) has a buttery, deeply flavorful cornmeal crust.
Until recently, I was only an expert in eating deep dish pizza, but I tried recreating that iconic Lou Malnati crust, and I finally cracked the code. It took me a long time to get there, but last week I had a major revelation that I probably could’ve gleaned from a cheesy corporate motivational poster: Many paths lead to the same destination.
(Oh! And: adding beer makes most things taste even better.)
What I tried first:
I watched every video of cooks making pizza at Lou’s. I read every interview with their owner. I read every article speculating about how they make their iconic cornmeal crust. Over the years, I tried one or two copy-cat recipes. I tried tinkering with my own recipe, closely following what I had learned. But nothing tasted like the Lou’s I knew.
Then I decided to go a completely different route:
I took everything I knew about the final product, and backwards engineered it, paying less attention to the way it’s supposed to be made.
My ingredients and method weren’t in line with the real deal, but the results were weirdly even more Lou-ish than recipes that stick closely to the original.
So, no—this is not exactly how Lou Malnati’s actually makes their pizza. But here are the main things you can do to end up with a crust (and pizza!) that’s uncannily similar:
For the dough:
For the pizza:
To make the dough overnight, just let it rise at room temperature for 2 hours, and then refrigerate for up to 24 hours. After dough has risen (either at room temperature or in the refrigerator), you can tightly wrap it and freeze it for a few months. Thaw in the refrigerator to use.
* In place of the beer: Measure 10g (2 tsp) apple cider vinegar. Top off with 165g water (to end up with ¾ cup liquid total).
** Can substitute 1 tablespoon (3g) dried basil.
*** If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, use another similar sized ovenproof skillet or pan. Depending on your pan, pizza might get more or less crispy on the bottom, and it might take more or less time to cook.
Rice pudding is too often a stodgy blob. Typically, it bubbles away until it’s the consistency of peanut butter, then you plonk it into a bowl, and it immediately sets up like concrete. But lucky for us, it’s super easy to make perfectly silky, creamy rice pudding instead.
This particular recipe has the consistency of a lovely custard or pastry cream. Pour it into cute little bowls, top it with all your favorites, and enjoy hot or chilled.
There are two secrets to this recipe’s deliciousness:
1) make it creamy by using enough liquid, and
2) make it al dente by adding the rice in two stages.
The secret to perfectly creamy rice pudding? Use enough liquid!
My recipe uses almost twice as much liquid as your average rice pudding recipe. It might seem like way too much when you first throw it together. But after a long simmer, the rice absorbs a ton of liquid, and also gives off a ton of starch. That starch thickens the liquid it’s cooking in, and it all ends up being the perfect amount.
Creaminess is all well and good, but to keep it from turning out mushy (or worse, totally runny!), I add the rice in two stages.
Here’s why that works:
The first addition of rice cooks for-absolute-ever, until it starts to break down and thicken the liquid. You’ll notice slightly bigger bubbles in the milk, and the whole thing will take on an almost creme-anglaise-like consistency. *
You add the second addition of rice once the first addition has done its job. The first batch thickened the liquid, but the second batch only needs to cook until it’s al dente. That way you’ll have some chewier grains in the mix. As these rice grains cook, they give off even more starch, and the liquid thickens further.
And voilà! You’re left with a perfect pot of pudding!
* Note: You could actually stop adding rice after the first addition, let it simmer for a while longer, and serve it as a more Middle Eastern style rice pudding (extremely silky smooth, and not super set).
The recipe below includes 5 ideas of toppings for your rice pudding. But feel free to get creative, or even enjoy it plain on its own. You can’t really go wrong!
The 5 described at the end of the recipe below are:
Enjoy the recipe, and don’t miss my post on creamy oatmeal. Because apparently it’s my mission in life to get people to add more liquid to their puddings and porridges.
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* A quick note on sugar: I don’t like my rice pudding to be super sweet, so I only add 1/3 cup of sugar. It has a lot of natural sweetness from the milk and rice starches. But if you prefer a sweeter pudding (especially if you won’t be topping it with something sweet), feel free to increase this amount, to taste.
** If you use a very wide pot, you may need to top it off with a little more water as the second rice addition cooks (because more water will evaporate). Keep an eye on it, and if it starts to look too dry, feel free to add a few tablespoons of water at a time. On the other hand if it is too thin (perhaps because your pot is very narrow), feel free to cook it a bit longer to reduce down further.
My favorite ramen is hands-down butter corn miso ramen. I love it so much that even when I order something else, I’ll often order extra butter corn as an add-on. We lived across the street from an Ippudo when we lived in Hong Kong, and I think I’ve tried (some might say ruined) everything on their menu by tacking on butter corn from their menu’s extras. And I don’t stop at ramen—I now add butter corn to pretty much any soup I make at home. It’s got a sweet crunch and silky beads of butter, and it’s just the best topping ever. And in late summer, butter corn is very at home atop a bowl of tomato basil soup.
I developed this recipe using canned tomatoes, but you can absolutely make it with a similar amount of fresh, especially if you’ve got a ton growing in your garden. Use about 6 or 7 medium tomatoes [1kg]. First halve your tomatoes, coat in a thin layer of olive oil, sprinkle with a little salt, and roast your fresh tomatoes cut-side-up at 350°F [180°C] for about 45 minutes, just until they soften and caramelize very slightly. Don’t let them fully dehydrate—you just want a little flavor concentration. Roasting adds a caramelized quality that you wouldn’t get with fresh or sautéed. If your fresh tomatoes are a little on the sad side, you can add 2 to 3 tablespoons [30 to 45g] tomato paste to liven them up.
You can also get away with using dried basil, though the flavor will be different. Substitute 1 tablespoon [3g] dried basil in place of fresh, and add it along with the stock so it hydrates and melds with the other flavors.
Also feel free to use frozen corn instead of fresh. It’ll just take an extra minute or two to sauté if you go straight from frozen. But whether frozen or fresh, tomato corn soup is better than just tomato soup.
Also feel free to cut back on the cream if you’d like, but keep in mind that a little cream goes a very long way in making tomato basil soup delicious. It comes out to slightly more than 1 tablespoon per serving, and makes all the difference. So feel cut back if you must. But don’t forget to live a little! It’s August—time to enjoy that glorious combination of butter fat and late summer veggies.
For the tomato basil soup:
For the butter corn topping:
This sabzi khordan chopped salad could probably just be called “sabzi khordan,” full stop. I mean, sabzi khordan is simply a platter with lots of herbs, sometimes with cheese. But whenever I make it for guests who aren’t super familiar with Middle Eastern food, I tend to do an awkward amount of arm-twisting to convince them that they absolutely must pile their flatbread high with a mountain of cilantro and basil. So I decided that this salad might be a more gracious way of letting guests know that there’s no such thing as too many herbs.
My favorite salads always pile on the herbs with reckless abandon, and this one is no exception. Indeed, it is pretty much just a big mountain of herbs, dressed with a perfectly tangy and rich dressing. You can absolutely feel free to include some of your other favorites—throw in whatever you’ve got on hand. Dill, mint, and tarragon all work wonderfully here in smaller quantities. If you can’t stand cilantro, you can also just add more parsley and basil to compensate. It’s super adaptable, but the idea is always the same: 1/3 herbs, 2/3 lettuce, and lots of good stuff on top.
A few quick notes: The only herbs to stay away from here are the woody/perfumey kinds like thyme, rosemary, oregano, and sage. While you can get away with using as much basil as you’d like, their more intensely fragrant flavors work better in small doses. And don’t miss the note below the recipe on making this ahead. It includes a link to learn to properly store herbs so they’ll last in the fridge.
For the salad:
For the dressing:
Tips for storage: Store your herbs properly for a long shelf life—basil and chives will last for a few days, parsley and cilantro will last for more like a week or two. You can also store greens this way, which will last for about 3 to 7 days. Whole romaine leaves will last longer—if their stems oxidize a little, just trim the brown bit away.
If you want to make this salad ahead of guests, store the lettuce and herbs in one container, the toppings in another, and the dressing in another. Dress the lettuce at herbs at the last moment, then top with the rest of the toppings, and drizzle with more dressing.
If you don’t want to eat the whole salad at once, store the lettuce/herbs in one container, toppings in another, and dressing in another, and assemble smaller portions as needed.
Donut week is coming to a close! But today I’m leaving you with a guide to creating a custom old fashioned cake donut. Get creative with your favorite flavors and mix-ins, and don’t forget to decorate them so that it’s clear what’s inside. The 6 I posted this week are a few of my favorites, but there are so many possibilities:
Try substituting raspberries in my blueberry icing, then make the recipe below with a handful of chocolate chips added to the dry ingredients, and a little bit of almond extract added to the wet ingredients. Or make my cinnamon sugar donuts, but add some lemon and orange zest to the wet ingredients and even more to the cinnamon sugar. The sky’s the limit—get creative, and have fun!
Here’s a quick list of the 6 recipes I posted this week, in case you want to borrow a glaze or some inspiration for your own creation:
* You don’t need to use both dry and wet ingredient flavorings, but you should at least use one or the other.
** Do not knead the dough or incorporate the flour into it, or it will turn out dry—just pat it into shape.
*** To get a really good re-roll out of the scraps, try not to let any flour touch the freshly stamped edges, and compress them together so the bare edges mush together with other bare edges. Try not to introduce a lot of new flour. Feel free to fry the donut holes, or re-roll them with the scraps (if you fry them, they will take about 30 seconds less per side).
Well, the fact that you’re here (hi! 🙋🏽♀️) means that you’ve probably been googling “plain donuts” in search of a perfect recipe. So I’m sure I don’t need to convince you—plain donuts are just the absolute best! Whether you’re into dunking, tearing off bites one piece at a time, or devouring a donut in a few big chomps with a big cup of coffee to wash it down, this recipe has you covered.
Donuts made with this recipe are not-too-sweet, they’re crisp on the outside, tender on the inside, and they have a tiny hint of nutmeg. If you’ve ever had a plain old fashioned donut and noticed a subtly warm flavor that you couldn’t quite pin-point, you were probably picking up on a little hint of nutmeg. To paraphrase Julia child: You should never bake something that causes someone to exclaim “Oh! Nutmeg!” But adding a faint whisper goes a long way in recreating the classic plain old fashioned donut you’re probably familiar with.
Old fashioned donuts are traditionally made with sour cream or buttermilk. But this recipe uses plain yogurt. Buttermilk is one of my all-time favorite ingredients, but nothing beats yogurt’s convenience (it’s in my fridge, and I’m guessing yours).
Tip: If you only have Greek yogurt, you can thin it out with some milk and then measure it for the recipe.
Deep fried donuts are wonderful for a couple reasons. First, it means you don’t need to own a donut pan! I can’t stand having specialty equipment around, so that makes me very happy. All you need is two differently sized cookie cutters. Or if you don’t have pastry cutters, you can even use a thin-rimmed glass for the larger stamp, and for the smaller pastry cutter, you can use the back of a pastry tip or a screw-on bottle cap. Anyone with a container of canola oil and a heavy pan can deep fry, and I love that minimalist spirit.
But deep frying isn’t just great because of its ease. Fried donuts also taste absolutely incredible (and it’s not like any donut is going to win an award for healthiest snack—even the baked variety). Nothing else gets you that authentic donut shop flavor.
These donuts are just sweet enough, but not so sweet that your coffee will taste like you added a spoonful of sugar after dunking. If you’ve got a bit more of a sweet-coffee tooth, you can absolutely sprinkle on some powdered sugar if you’d like to. I, however, will go for one of the un-sprinkled ones at the bottom of the pile. But it’s entirely a matter of preference, and they’re truly wonderful either way.
By the way, this is my last donut post in my donut series! Tomorrow, I’ll be posting a roundup of all 6, with a few ideas of making your own variation (in case you want to branch out a bit—though honestly, I’ll probably stick with this plain donut recipe 90% of the time). In the meantime, put the kettle on, and enjoy this recipe:
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* Do not knead the dough or incorporate the flour into it, or it will turn out dry—just pat it into shape.
** To get a really good re-roll out of the scraps, try not to let any flour touch the freshly stamped edges, and compress them together so the bare edges mush together with other bare edges. Try not to introduce a lot of new flour. Feel free to fry the donut holes, or re-roll them with the scraps (if you fry them, they will take about 30 seconds less per side).
