This dish shocked me. Really shocked me. I couldn’t get over how delicious it was. I thought about it the next day, wishing I had another pepper so I could make it again. I did… two days later after a trip to the grocery store. However, I couldn’t find the same pepper and tried substituting… oy. Choose your pepper carefully. The jalapeno is much too mild for me, the serrano nearly knocked me out, but that California red chili pepper (no, not Anthony Kiedis) was perfect. I think we might be having this dish weekly.

Spaghetti with garlic, oil, and chili, adapted from Rachel Eats
8 oz. thin spaghetti
4 – 8 garlic cloves, crushed or diced (depending on taste)
4 – 8 T extra-virgin olive oil
1 diced red pepper, seeded if desired (or serrano or jalapeno, depending on taste)
pinch of crushed red pepper
salt and pepper to taste

Garnish
4 oz. bacon, sliced in 1/4 in. strips
4 oz. mushrooms
parsley

While waiting for the water to boil, saute bacon and mushrooms until golden and set aside. Cook spaghetti until just al dente (~ 4-6 min). Meanwhile, saute the pepper, crushed red pepper, and garlic (added 1 min later) in 1 – 2 T of olive oil until fragrant and cooked through. Using tongs, transfer the pasta into the saute pan and toss with remaining olive oil – add enough to coat it thoroughly and keep it moving on the pan. Add in fresh parsley. Salt and pepper to taste. Garnish each plate with a spoonful of bacon and mushroom.

I love banana bread, but I especially love a banana bread recipe that can handle applesauce instead of butter, reduced sugar, and 100% whole wheat. Although not the richest bread, it’s delicious sliced, toasted, and then spread with butter. I know, I know, I added applesauce to make it healthy, but just a tad of some butter/olive oil spread can’t hurt, and all in all, it’s less that the original stick of butter if you go light on the spread. I’ve convinced myself it’s okay.

Whole Wheat Banana Bread, adapted from King Arthur’s Flour
8 oz. applesauce
3/4 C sugar
2 eggs
1 C mashed ripe banana
1 tsp. vanilla
2 C whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 C chopped pecans

Cream together applesauce, sugar and eggs. Beat in bananas and vanilla. Stir in sifted dry ingredients, adding in nuts last.
Bake in a greased 9″ x 5″ loaf pan in a preheated 350F oven for about 60 minutes. Cool for 10 min. before turning it out onto a wire rack.

Coq au vin is one of those French dishes that’s so French, I generally think that I’m not going to like it. Maybe it’s my general aversion to slow-cooked chicken and “wine-y” food, but chances are I’ll prefer my meat flash-cooked in a wok. Still, that shiny new French oven was begging to braise something, and the accompanying insert in the box was right there on the counter.

There were lots of coq au vin variations, and we chose Paul Bocuse not because of that charming smile, but rather there was no call to light anything on fire. Sorry, Julia Child, Hubert Keller, and all the rest of you. I’m not brave enough for that on the first go. The results? Good, but not great. Maybe it was the fatty chicken, maybe I should’ve used Burgundy as recommended instead of the Cabernet that gave us blueberry-colored meat, and maybe I should learn to love slow-cooked chicken. We’ll see. It’s worth another try later in the year.

Coq Au Vin, adapted from Paul Bocuse’ recipe provided by Staub
1 roasting chicken, cut in to 10 pieces (4 breast halves, 2 thighs, 2 drumsticks, 2 wings)
1 bottle dry red wine (Burgundy recommended)
1 onion
1 carrot
2 garlic cloves, crushed
Pinch of thyme
1 bay leaf
Pinch of peppercorns
1 T vegetable oil
1 tsp. salt

Garnish
8 oz. bacon
8 oz. button mushrooms
4 oz. pearl onions
parsley
1 T butter

Marinate chicken overnight in red wine, sliced rounds of onion and carrot, and the herbs and spices.
Remove chicken from marinade and pat dry.
Sear chicken in the dutch oven with vegetable oil, browning it equally on all sides. Remove the vegetables from the marinade and brown them with the garlic in the dutch oven with the chicken. Moisten with the reserved marinade and add salt. Stir, bring to a boil, and then cover and let it simmer for 1 – 2h, depending on the chicken.
Fry the bacon, onions, and mushrooms in the butter in a frying pan until golden. Add them to the casserole immediately before serving with fresh parsley.

I love these little steamed pork buns. A warm pocket of heaven: sweet, salty, meaty… mmm. I never grew up having these Cantonese dim sum dishes, but I can only imagine how happy these would have made my little toddler self given my current state of glee.

I don’t think this recipe is perfect, but I know for a fact that my technique isn’t perfect either. The proportions for the dough gave me such a wet mixture, that I was barely able to fill these buns without tearing, leaking, and screams of frustration. The first two descriptions are for the buns, not me… but almost. So, that could use some work. However, the buns were light, soft, and fluffy — everything a steamed bun should be but often isn’t. Since I halved this recipe originally, perhaps doubling what I’ve listed will give the perfect bun – tasty and easy to work with.

Steamed Chinese Barbeque Pork Buns, adapted from AllRecipes
Dough
1/2 T yeast
1/2 tsp sugar
2 T flour
2 T warm water

Mix and let yeast proof for 10 – 20 min.

1/4 C warm water
3/4 C all-purpose flour
pinch salt
1 T sugar
1/2 T canola oil

Mix together with yeast and let rise until doubled.
Knead in with 1/2 T baking powder and flour, as necessary.
Divide into 12 equal sized rolls. With each roll, flatten the edge to spread the roll into a disc, slightly thicker in the center to support the filling. Pull the edges into the center, turning the bun in your hand as you go and pressing each edge into the fold from the next edge. That description probably made no sense, but this video is a pretty great example of the best technique — Asian background music not necessary.

Pork filling
~ 3in roasted pork shoulder, in 1 cm cubes
1 T sugar
dash white pepper
1 T soy sauce
2 tsp oyster sauce
1 T water
2 tsp canola oil
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1 T dry sherry
slurry of 1/2 T cornstarch with 2 T water

Mix all but the slurry and scallions together and saute in a hot pan. Add the slurry and let cook until thick and saucy. Add the scallions and let cool before filling the buns.

Steam the buns, spaced at least 1 in apart for 15 – 25 min, depending on the size. I’ve heard adding a splash of vinegar to the water prevents a blistered look to the dough due to a baking powder reaction.

You can try this recipe with a tenderloin, but there’s nothing like the flavor and texture from boneless pork shoulder. True, there’s a lot of fat left in the meat, but it keeps it juicy for all the other wonderful things you can do to this pork once it’s roasted and fragrant.

Chinese Roast Pork, from Complete Chinese Cooking
3 lbs. pork shoulder, cut into 2″ x 2″ x 8″ pieces
2 T soy sauce
2 T dry sherry
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ginger juice – I substitute 1 T finely grated ginger
2 T honey
2 T sugar
2 crushed garlic cloves

Marinate pork overnight, turning occasionally. Roast the pork on a wire rack at 350F for 40 – 45 minute or until tender, basting every 10 – 15 min. Our cuts took at least another 15 minutes. This meat goes great thinly sliced over noodles, chopped up into char siu bao, or sneakily nommed while standing by the fridge at 1a.m.

Blueberry Ricotta Breakfast Cake, adapted from The Wright Recipes
1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 C sugar
3/4 C part-skim ricotta
1/4 C canola oil
1/2 C light plain soy milk
1 C frozen blueberries
Sift dry ingredients together. Whisk together remaining ingredients, except for the blueberries. Stir dry into the wet in three batches and pour into a greased tart pan. Drop blueberries atop the batter and bake in a preheated 350F oven for 30 – 40 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

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This cheesy pasta with leftover cremini mushrooms and spinach was the most comforting gut-bomb I’ve had in a while. Mmmm…. reminiscing now.

1 T flour
1 T canola oil
4 T heavy cream or milk + some chicken stock to thin it out
1/4 C shredded mozzarella
dash of nutmeg
salt, black pepper, white pepper, and cayenne powder to taste

Add cooked pasta and veggies of your choice.

This baked citrus goody is absolutely delicious, and the glaze is perfect. It tastes too good for me to imagine having it in a large loaf form. I need strictly enforced portion sizes for this one.

Orange Muffins, adapted from Simply Recipe’s Orange Bread
1/3 C butter
1/2 C sugar
2 eggs
1 orange, zested
2 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 C plain yogurt*
1/2 C golden raisins

Cream room temperature butter and sugar together. Add the eggs and yogurt. Add in sifted dry ingredients. Fold in raisins.
Bake at 350F for 20-25min.

Glaze
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp orange juice
1/3 C powdered sugar

Pour atop cooled muffins. Lick spoon. And bowl.

* I substituted leftover sour cream from the wasabi cream, a 4 oz. vanilla yogurt container, and enough orange juice to thin it out and bring it up to 1 C.

We had a lot of pears. In fact, we still have pears. This was pretty good, but I have to admit, I really messed up this recipe. The applesauce was not working, and the nutty ground almond texture ended up sitting in an overly moist, soggy bed of pseudo-cake-tart-pastry’esque solid. Maybe when I’m feeling bold enough to go the full butter route, I’ll try this again.

Pear Almond Tart, heavily adapted from I can’t even remember where

4 T butter
4 oz. apple sauce, unsweetened
3 large D’Anjou pears
2/3 C sugar
2 eggs
1/2 C flour
3 T ground almonds
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

350F for 40 – 50min.

“You want to make what?” I questioned it, too, as I’ve never liked pea, bean, or other heavily legume-based soups. However, the leftover bag of edamame in the freezer was taking space, so here we are.

The flavors of the ginger, sesame oil, and garlic in the soup itself are great, but the wasabi cream on top makes this recipe even more memorable. I overestimated my sinuses’ ability to tolerate horseradish, but that’s okay… more sour cream! Give it a taste test after 20 or 30 minutes in the fridge, after the allyl isothiocyanate really develops, before adjusting the amount to your taste.

Tastes aside, I also think this looks very pretty.

Edamame Soup with Wasabi Cream, adapted from Phoo-D‘s recipe
1 T canola oil
1/2 T sesame oil
4 cloves garlic, sliced
1 medium onion, diced
1″ ginger, peeled and diced
3 C edamame, thawed from frozen
3-6 C chicken stock
salt and pepper, to taste

Wasabi cream
1/4 C sour cream or creme fraiche
1/4 tsp wasabi powder

Saute garlic, onion, and ginger in the canola oil, until vegetables are softened.
Add edamame and saute with sesame oil for a few minutes.
Prepare wasabi cream and let it sit, covered with plastic wrap, in the fridge.
Add chicken stock, with the amount depending on how thick you like your soup. I used about 4 C.
Let soup simmer at least 20 minutes, until edamame are tender, and then puree in a blender until smooth.
Serve with a dollop or swirl of wasabi cream.