Recipe: Savory Veggie Cupcakes with Cheesy Cauliflower Frosting

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For this recipe, I partnered with Cabot Creamery to create a savory version of a cupcake! These moist and tender cakes are loaded with broccoli and sharp cheddar and made both flavorful and fragrant with the help of a touch of curry.  Believe it or not, the “frosting” is savory too—it’s actually a smooth cauliflower purée loaded with sharp cheddar!

One of my creative challenges for myself this year is to explore making savory versions of foods that are usually associated with desserts. I’m someone whose taste buds always crave savory flavors over sweet, but I admit that my eyes are so often drawn to the beauty and visual delight of dessert confections. Just looking at a cupcake already brings me joy. But then I realized that there’s no reason for why savory foods can’t get that same visual attention, and that’s exactly what I set out to do with this savory cupcake recipe.

I’m glad that Cabot Creamery was willing to encourage my crazy idea, as their wonderful cheddars have become a regular tactic for bringing richness and cheesy goodness to my savory dishes. Cabot is a co-operative owned by farm families throughout New England & New York and 100% of profits go back to the farmers, which is another reason to love their stuff. I used their Vermont Sharp Cheddar Cheese in both the cake and frosting components of this recipe, which brought such a nice buttery tang that meant I didn’t even need to use butter in this recipe. With Cabot Creamery’s cheddars having 0 grams of lactose per serving, this savory cupcake recipe was developed with my lactose-sensitive pals in mind, too!

I hope you find these savory cupcakes as joy-inducing as I do! Let’s get into the details about these unique baked goodies and the ingredients you’ll need to make them for yourself.

Notes on the key ingredients for the cakes:

• Broccoli: I thought a savory cupcake ought to be veggie-forward to make it something that—unlike its sweet counterparts—could be enjoyed throughout the day while getting some nutritional goodness out of it too. For this recipe, I used the very tops of the broccoli florets only and chopped them super fine (as shown in the photo) such that the cakes would have an even and delicate texture throughout.

• Onion: A must to bring flavor and aromatics to any savory dish, I incorporated onion into my savory cake recipe too. I cut the onion into a fine dice and sautéed it with the broccoli before adding it to my cake batter so that it would basically dissolve into the background and all you would notice is the added flavor complexity from it.

• Cheddar: For me, cheese is what brings excitement to a savory dish; it’s what makes something ordinary feel rich and indulgent. So in order to make these savory cupcakes feel just as decadent and luxurious as sweet ones, I loaded this cake recipe with lots of Cabot Vermont Sharp Cheddar. Its boldly sharp flavor and smooth consistency are perfect for tying together the veggie and spice components of the recipe. I grated the bar using the standard holes of my box grater for this part of the recipe.

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Inspired by sweeter olive oil cakes, I leaned on a high-quality extra virgin olive oil to keep my savory cakes moist.

• Oat Milk: In keeping with the challenge to avoid ingredients containing lactose, I used a full-fat oat milk here. You could definitely sub with your favorite nut milks if desired.

• Curry Powder: This addition is what makes the cake interesting! I just love the combination of curry and cheddar together and I think the curry really takes the flavor profile of these out of breakfast muffin territory and into something more special. I used a Japanese style curry powder which brings a complex blend of spices without adding any spicy heat.

Notes on the key ingredients for the frosting: 

• Cauliflower: I made a cauliflower purée to act as the “frosting” for my savory cupcakes. Boiled cauliflower is easy to get smooth and spreadable in the food processor without adding extra cream and it is also so very foolproof (unlike potatoes that can get gummy if over-handled). I’ve been pretty obsessed with cauliflower lately because it’s light and absorbs other flavors so well. After boiling the cauliflower, you’ll want to squeeze out the excess moisture before adding it to the food processor to avoid your savory frosting being too runny; you don’t want to wring it bone-dry but you do want to give it a good squeeze until water is no longer actively dripping from it. 

• Leeks: These mild alliums will bring a savory-sweetness to the frosting without overpowering the gentle cauliflower. I used only the white and tender light green parts of the leek for this recipe to keep the frosting smooth as well as neutral in color.

• Garlic: I added just a touch of garlic to the frosting for savory complexity. A recipe with just one clove of garlic is unusual coming from me, but in this case, it is possible to overdo it; in my recipe testing I tried raw garlic and more cooked garlic and those tests were  too overwhelming for those whipped, light, frosting vibes. Trust me on this one. You’ll want to gently sauté the garlic with the leeks before combining it with the boiled cauliflower.

• Cheddar: Cabot Vermont Sharp Cheddar is what brings the main flavor here to this frosting. Since the cauliflower’s taste is pretty neutral, it leaves room for the delicious cheddar flavor to shine, so this frosting is very cheesy tasting indeed. I used a grater with small holes to finely grate the bar so that it would incorporate smoothly into the purée.

• Lemon Juice: This brings some brightness to the flavor of the frosting and enhances the buttery tang of the Cabot Vermont Sharp Cheddar.

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil: This helps keep the purée smooth and emulsified.

• Miso Paste: I used a white miso here which is sweeter and milder than other types of miso. It brings an extra umami and saltiness, and it rounds out the savory flavor profile and makes it feel more complete. If you have a different type of miso, I suggest reducing the quantity; if miso paste is difficult for you to source, I recommend just adding a little extra salt, to taste.

Note that this recipe makes more than enough cheesy cauliflower frosting to do a casual coat over the tops of the cupcakes. But if you want to get your piping bags out and pipe a big ol’ swirl, or at least do a nice thick layer that you can decorate with pretty flowers like me, then this recipe will allow for those creative discretions!

How to Make Savory Veggie Cupcakes
with Cheesy Cauliflower Frosting

(Makes 12 cupcakes)

Ingredients for the Frosting

1 head cauliflower, cut into chunks
3/4 tsp kosher salt, divided
3/8 cup + 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 cup leeks (white and light green parts only), roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
6 oz Cabot Vermont Sharp Cheddar, finely grated
2 1/2 tsp white miso paste
1/4 cup lemon juice

Ingredients for the Cupcakes

2 cups broccoli florets chopped very fine
1 cup yellow onion, finely diced
2/3 cup + 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
4 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cumin
3/4 tsp Japanese curry powder
4 oz Cabot Vermont Sharp Cheddar, grated
2 eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cup oat milk, at room temperature

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Procedure

To make the frosting: Add cauliflower to a pot and cover with water. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt and bring to a boil. Boil until very tender and almost falling apart (about 10-15 minutes). Drain and allow to cool.

Heat 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a skillet on medium-low heat. Add the leaks and season with 1/4 teaspoon salt. When they start to become fragrant, add the garlic. Continue cooking the aromatics, stirring occasionally, until they are tender (about 3–5 minutes).

Squeeze out any excess moisture from the cauliflower and add the cauliflower  to the food processor. Add the cooked aromatics. Pulse until the cauliflower resembles a grain-like texture. Add the miso paste and one-third of the cheddar. Process until the ingredients look combined. Repeat with the rest of the cheese in two more batches. Add the lemon juice and the remaining 3/8 cup olive oil and process the mixture until very smooth, using a spatula to scrape the sides as needed. Transfer the purée to a bowl or piping bag and set aside or, optionally, allow to chill in the fridge. (Note: I found it to be easier to pipe/spread after chilling briefly in the fridge.)

To make the cake: Preheat oven to 425°F. Line a cupcake/muffin pan with paper baking cups.

Heat the skillet again on medium-low heat, with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add the onion and salt, and sauté until translucent. Add the broccoli and stir gently, cooking just until it becomes a vibrant green. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, garlic powder, cumin, and curry powder in a large mixing bowl. Add the cheddar and mix until it is evenly distributed.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and remaining 2/3 cup olive oil until well-combined. Add the cooled broccoli and onion mixture and stir to combine.

Gently fold the wet mixture into the dry one, until the liquid seems fully absorbed and no floury streaks remain. Mixture should be very thick. 

Divide the mixture evenly into the paper baking cups. Bake at 425°F for 5 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 350°F and continue to bake for 15–17 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Leave the cupcakes in the pan for an additional 3 minutes to set before transferring to a cooling rack.

Once the cupcakes are cool enough to handle, they can be frosted and decorated as you wish! (The photos show the cupcakes decorated with nasturtium, wild radish flowers, and thyme.)

Thank you so much to Cabot Creamery for sponsoring this recipe! Visit their website to find out where you can get their delicious cheeses—which are naturally-aged and have 0 grams of lactose per serving—near you!

Recipe: Easy Tomato Soup

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As much as I wish it did, soup season does not correspond with tomato season. But it turns out, that’s okay! Because my favorite recipe for tomato soup—one that tastes rich and velvety without any cream and is full of tomato flavor—uses canned tomatoes! Reliable and super-duper easy to make at any time of year, all you need is good canned tomatoes, a blender, and a few other basic ingredients to make that classic tomato soup that goes oh-so-well with a good grilled cheese sandwich (or topped with grilled cheese sandwich croutons)!

Blender soups are obviously my favorite soups to make because they are just so damn easy. And for this recipe, there is something about the onions and butter getting blended together that gives this tomato soup a great creamy texture without pushing the soup into bisque territory. And with a touch of my secret ingredient—fish sauce—to bring some extra umami, it will taste like this soup simmered in a grandma’s kitchen all day when it really takes hardly any time at all to make.

Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make my recipe for this easy tomato soup:

• canned tomatoes: I’ve made this with various brands of canned tomatoes and I am always happy with the results but I will usually go for the San Marzano or San Marzano style tomatoes because they are more dense and have a better tomato flesh to seed ratio. Also note that tomatoes that are packed in puree or a thick puree-like tomato juice will obviously render a thicker, more flavorful soup that the ones where the tomatoes are packed in water. This means you will have to adjust the water-to-tomato ratio a bit as you make the soup, to get the consistency that is to your liking. (After watching this in-depth review of canned tomato brands by Ethan Chlebowski, I typically get the brand Cento.)

• butter: Salted or unsalted is fine. Since canned tomatoes typically come with a considerable amount of salt, there’s not need to fuss over whether your butter has salt in it or not either. This is a recipe where you are going to want to taste for seasoning while you go.

• onion: If I’m lucky enough to find sweet onions at the grocery store, I like to use them when making this soup. But I’ve also made this with regular red onions or yellow onions; any of these will do perfectly well here.

• garlic: Gotta have a little garlic in tomato soup! I usually do about 6 cloves because I love garlic.

• fish sauce: The (not so) secret ingredient! I add fish sauce to any tomato-based soup or sauce I make because I think it really adds an extra depth of flavor and brings out the tomato-y flavors. It will not taste fishy but it will taste delicious.

This soup may be amazingly easy to make but it’s also quite presentable with the help of some little finishing touches. Look at what a glorious blank, vibrant red canvas awaits you below! Some leaves of fresh basil, a drizzle of good olive oil, some cracks of black pepper, or even a little swirl of crème fraîche would make this soup as a much a treat for the eyes as the taste buds.

If you wanna get really crazy, make your favorite version of a grilled cheese and cut it up into little cubes to top your tomato soup with grilled cheese croutons. For the image at the top of this recipe, I made mine with sourdough, white cheddar, gruyere, and a drizzle of sriracha, and used herbed butter to toast/fry it up in the pan.

Note: This recipe makes 2 generous portions that are enough for meals in my household when paired with grilled cheese sandwiches.

How to Make Easy Tomato Soup

Ingredients

4 tbsp (1/2 stick) butter
1 medium onion, peeled and cut into rough wedges
4–6 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
28 oz can of whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes
water
1/2–2 tsp fish sauce (or to taste)

Optional Garnish Ideas

fresh basil leaves
cracked black pepper
chives
crème fraîche
extra virgin olive oil
parmesan cheese
grilled cheese croutons

Special Equipment

blender

Procedure

In a Dutch oven or study medium-sized pot, gently melt butter on medium-low heat. Add onions and sweat them until they start to become translucent. Add garlic and turn heat down to low, stirring regularly until it becomes fragrant and loses its raw bite but doesn’t brown. Transfer to a blender.

Add the can of tomatoes, including the liquid/puree. Fill the can a quarter of the way with water (about 7–8 ounces) and slosh around to incorporate any remaining tomato residue from the can; add this to the blender as well.

Set the blender to liquify all the ingredients together then return everything to the pot on low heat. If the soup seems too thick, add a small amount of water at a time to get the desired consistency.

Stir in 1/2 teaspoon of fish sauce and then taste for seasoning. There’s a possibility that if you had a lot of salt in your canned tomatoes and/or you used salted butter so you won’t need to season any further. If needed, continue to add fish sauce, a little bit at a time, until the seasoning is to your liking. You won’t need to cook down this soup much after it comes out of the blender, so be sure to taste it at that point and add seasoning to your preference.

Keep the soup on low heat, stirring occasionally, until it’s hot all the way through and starting to bubble or simmer. At this point, it’s ready to serve. Top with your desired toppings and enjoy!

Recipe: Rosemary Honey Butter Dinner Rolls

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These pull-apart dinner rolls are fluffy and puffy and soft, just like every good dinner roll should be. But these are no ordinary good dinner rolls! First of all, they are so fragrant from being loaded with fresh rosemary. But additionally, they’ve got a special secret hiding underneath them—sticky, gooey, delicious bottoms where they’ve been baked in a pool of honey butter.

I got the idea of making a savory, rosemary flavored, slightly-sweet baked goodie from Panadería Rosetta in Mexico City. Their bollos de romero were life changing—savory, just a little sweet, and with a beautiful rosemary flavor. I knew I could never replicate this magic at home but I was determined to create a more simple recipe that would be easy to make without a lot of fuss and, when eaten, would at least have enough essence of Rosetta’s bollos to satiate those hungry memories.

I started testing this recipe in 2022, and did a version with some cute Christmas decorations, as seen below. When I posted them on Instagram I guess they sorta went “viral”; or at least it was my most liked post by a landslide. But the rolls I photographed then were not the recipe that I wanted them to be, so I was pretty bummed to not have something to share with others. I really lost momentum with recipe testing after that, and didn’t pick it back up until almost a year later. This time around, I am very pleased to be able to share with you all a recipe that I am very proud of, for delicious dinner rolls that are exactly the way I wanted them to be.

If you have ever had a cinnamon roll or sticky bun with a gooey bottom that’s soaked up a bunch of syrup, these have that same kind of wonderful stickiness on the bottom but they are way way less sweet. The rest of the bun is savory and herbaceous, so they definitely still function as a dinner roll for a festive holiday table but are also plenty good on their own. I brought them to my brother-in-law’s house for Thanksgiving last week, and they got warm praise from grandmas and teenage boys alike, which is why I am so confident in this recipe now!

Notes about the ingredients

• Please use good clover/flower honey. The flavor of the honey is really noticeable here, since there is quite a lot of it for the sticky bottoms. So use one you like. Do not use makuka honey or that thick spreadable light colored stuff. You want the good old fashioned stuff.

• Use good butter. Do not substitute with some kind of fakey crap.

• Use fresh rosemary, not dried. You don’t want to be stabbing your gums or crunching on bits of dried rosemary here, and plus I’ve never tested it with anything but fresh. Leave out any hard or woody bits. You just want the tender leaves here.

Some Notes about Decorating Your Dinner Rolls For the Holidays

Decorating these dinner rolls is honestly completely unnecessary. I have to do it for the ‘gram, otherwise you probably wouldn’t be here reading this blog post right now. But decorating is also fun, and gives these a little extra charm if you are looking to impress someone (though I think the taste is already impressive enough). Here, I will answer some common questions I received about this decorating technique using dill, parsley, carrot fronds, and pink peppercorns:

• Can you taste the dill?: I personally cannot if the dill is just coming along with a normal bite, and I think I have a pretty good sense of taste. The amount of dill is so negligible compared to the flavors that the roll intends to be (honey, rosemary, fluffy bread) and I really think it loses some of it’s dilliness when it bakes, so I don’t think you’re getting a hit of dill unless you pick off all the dill on the whole batch and eat it plain. But if you hate dill that much, fennel fronds could be a good alternative!

• Are you really eating whole peppercorns? Yikes!: So, to every person who made a comment like this, I asked them if they have ever had PINK peppercorns before and guess what? The answer was always no. Look, pink peppercorns are very different from the black peppercorns that people are much more familiar with. Pink peppercorns have a nice fruity flavor and they are much smaller and they are delicate and easy to chew, especially after baking. They are not “spicy” or intense like black peppercorns. Just as every type of chili pepper tastes vastly different, people shouldn’t really assume that all peppercorns are exactly the same. I thought that they added a great spice (NOT spicy) note to the rolls.

• How do the herbs stay green and pretty after baking?: As with any time you use fresh herbs to decorate a baked good, moisture is the key. Use soft, flexible leaves. Brush a bit of honey butter on the dough to act as glue. Gently press them onto the surface of the dough so that they are fully in contact with it; anything sticking up will likely shrivel from the heat of the oven. Then, give them another coat of that honey butter to help lock in the moisture.

You could do this type of decoration with dill, parsley, and pink peppercorns on any dinner roll or bun recipe, really. But I do hope you’ll try this one.

This recipe was adapted from Ariel Lee’s Cheesy Everything Buns recipe, which I also love.

How to Make Rosemary Honey Butter Dinner Rolls

Ingredients for dough

1 cup warm milk or barista style oat milk
1 1/2 tsp dry instant yeast
1 tbsp honey
2 3/4 cup bread flour, plus a little extra
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 egg, beaten
4 tsp fresh rosemary leaves, finely chopped

Ingredients for Honey Butter Sauce

2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup honey

Ingredients for finishing touches

flaky salt
fresh herbs such as sage, thyme, parsley, and dill (optional)
pink peppercorns (optional)

Procedure

Make the dough. Place milk, yeast, and honey in the bowl of a stand mixer and stir gently to dissolve the yeast. Let stand until the yeast starts to bloom (about 5 minutes).

Fit stand mixer with a dough hook. Turn the stand mixer on to the lowest setting (speed 1) and gradually add flour. Add salt and butter and once those are slightly incorporated, add egg and rosemary. Scrape everything to the bottom of the bowl and turn the stand mixer up to the medium setting (speed 5). Knead for about 5 minutes so an elastic dough forms, pausing as needed to scrape the contents of the bowl back down to the bottom. (If the dough still feels very sticky, add an additional teaspoon of flour at a time, kneading in each time, until the dough feels smooth and elastic.)

Roll the dough into a taut ball and return to the bowl (you shouldn’t need to grease it). Cover dough with a damp tea towel or plastic wrap and place in a warm spot. Allow to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Line a 7x11-inch (2 quart) baking dish with parchment paper.

Make the honey butter “sauce” by adding the butter to a small saucepan and melting on low heat. Once the butter is melted, whisk in the honey. Continue whisking on low heat until the consistency is runny and homogenous.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Pour about three-quarters of the sauce into the baking dish and smooth out to an even layer. Divide risen dough into 12 equal pieces and shape into tight balls. Arrange balls evenly in the baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for a second time, for 30 minutes.

If decorating: Brush tops of dough balls with some of the remaining honey butter; note that you may need to reheat the honey butter on low heat to get it to be brushable. Decorate as desired; make sure the herbs come in full contact with the surface of the bun to preserve their color and shape. Brush more honey butter on top.

If not decorating: Reheat the remaining honey butter if needed to get it to a brushable consistency. Brush tops of the rolls generously with honey butter.

Sprinkle a small amount of flakey salt on top of each.

Bake for 25–30 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.

Chinese Sticky Rice Stuffed Mini Pumpkins

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This is a great way to use all those cute mini pumpkins you bought as fall decorations and turn them into a fun fusion side dish. I know you’re gonna ditch them for Christmas decor soon anyway so you might as well fill them with savory satisfying sticky rice, sweet Chinese sausage (lap cheong), and umami-rich salted egg yolks.

If you’ve had the lotus leaf bundles filled with sticky rice at dim sum places, that is lo mai gai. Gai means chicken. This recipe is inspired by the dim sum classics but with a couple of differences: there’s no chicken to fiddle with, so the recipe is a lot more foolproof, and instead of wrapping the rice mixture in lotus leaves and steaming the bundles to give the glutinous rice its addictive, sticky texture, the rice is stuffed into raw mini pumpkins! As the pumpkins roast in the oven, the rice gets treated to a cozy steamy environment that gets the same job done. (Note that you will still need a bamboo steamer setup for the first round of cooking the rice.)

I just winged it when I made the rice mixture for these, but I have attempted to capture the necessary info below for you to replicate this idea yourself. This dish is super flexible, and the great thing about making it at home is that you can adjust it to your own tastes! I, for one, am always bummed that there’s only like one little piece of sausage and not enough salted egg yolk when I order lo mai gai, so I included way more here.

Some notes about the ingredients:

• sticky rice: This is an Asian short-grain rice that is often labeled glutinous rice. (It does not contain gluten!). It’s quite firm and starchy so you’ll want to soak it overnight and wash it thoroughly before using.

• lap cheong: This is Chinese cured sausage with a slight sweetness and visible fatty bits. I like the brand Kam Yen Jan.

• dried shiitake mushrooms: You will need to soak these for a few minutes before they can be sliced.

• salted egg yolks: I buy these ready-made in a vacuum-sealed pouch at the Asian supermarket.

• mini pumpkins: All roasted pumpkins are safe to eat! But they definitely vary in texture and flavor. Play around with what you have and make note of what you liked best for next year! If using pumpkins that you’ve had lying around since fall began, be sure to check that they are still unblemished and un-moldy.

Please note that measurements below are estimates. Taste along the way and adjust to your preferences!

Awkwardly Vague instructions for Chinese Sticky Rice Stuffed Mini Pumpkins

Ingredients

1 cup glutinous rice
1–2 tbsp shaoxing wine, or to taste
1–2 tbsp light soy sauce, or to taste
1/8 tsp white pepper
1 tsp kecap manis (optional)
1 large dried shiitake mushroom
2 Chinese sausages (lap cheong), cut on a bias into 1/8-inch slices
about 4–5 salted egg yolks
1–2 scallions, chopped, whites and greens separated
2 water chestnuts, thinly sliced (optional)
about 4–5 mini pumpkins, gutted and seeded
neutral oil (like peanut or avocado)
kosher salt
thyme, for garnish (optional)

Procedure

The night before, leave the glutinous rice to soak in regular water. The next day, transfer the rice to a fine mesh colander and rinse, using your hand to agitate the rice, until the water that comes out is noticeably less starchy.

Get your bamboo steamer setup ready. Pour rice into the middle of a large sheet of parchment paper. Double up the paper if needed. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of shaoxing wine over the rice. Fold up all the sides around the rice to form a bundle that you can place in the bamboo steamer. Steam rice for 20 minutes.

While the rice is steaming, soak the shiitake mushroom in boiling water for 10 minutes, or until soft. Discard tough stem and slice the cap thinly.

Preheat oven to 400°F.

When rice is cool enough to handle, transfer to a mixing bowl. Add 1 tablespoon soy sauce, white pepper, and kecap manis. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Add sausage, scallion whites, water chestnuts (if using); mix together.

Brush oil all over the pumpkin bases and lids and season flesh with kosher salt. Place on a foil-lined baking tray. Fill each pumpkin with rice mixture then push a salted egg yolk into the middle. Place matching pumpkin lids on top and bake pumpkins for 40 minutes or until tender.

Fluff up rice. Optionally, you could remove the egg yolk and crumble it on top. Garnish with remaining scallion greens and, optionally, thyme.

When enjoying, be sure to scoop the tender pumpkin flesh and eat it with the rice!

Recipe: Cheddar Tart with Beets and Fall Squash

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For this recipe, I partnered with Cabot Creamery to create a cheesy tart that would be lovely to serve at fall gatherings. This tart features Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar in two ways: a snappy cheesy rosemary shortcrust that smells so good when it’s baking in the oven, as well as the filling that goes inside it, which is a flavorful layer of a cheddar and almond spread reminiscent of an old-school party staple, the cheese ball. This smoky, tangy, creamy filling helps to hold in place the topping for the tart—marinated roasted beets and honeynut squash that have been thinly sliced and rolled into rosettes. The edible bouquet in an autumnal palette is likely to impress your guests; but the great thing is, so much of it can be made ahead!

When I was a kid, I remember being completely wowed by the flavor combos from those cheese balls covered in nuts that would always be present at holiday parties with my parents’ friends. So, the filling in this tart is a tribute to that combo. It’s indulgently creamy and tangy from the Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar, super savory, a little smoky with the addition of paprika, and has such a satisfying texture thanks to the inclusion of sliced almonds. 

I think I loved that combo so much because back then, my family did not keep cheese around very much in our fridge. In fact, up until probably middle school, I thought that the powdery stuff in the green can and the plasticky American cheese slices were the only cheeses that could be purchased directly for cooking at home. That’s why it still makes me so excited that, as a grown-up, I can now get Cabot Creamery’s delicious naturally-aged, rich-flavored cheddars to cook and bake with to my heart’s content. Cabot is a co-operative owned by farm families throughout New England & New York and 100% of profits go back to the farmers. Having access to such high-quality cheeses with that level of freshness would’ve rocked Kid Me’s world. Now, being able to make my own cheese spread at home, just how I like it, brings me so much joy—and I hope it does for you, too!

Here’s what you need to know about the key ingredients for making my Cheddar Tart with Beets and Fall Squash:

• Cheddar: The cheddar gets used in both the crust and the filling, so it’s gotta be a great one. I used Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar which is so good for those of us cheddar lovers who enjoy an intense, sharp flavor. I always like to go for their cheese bars and grate the cheese fresh right before I need it.

• Butter: Cutting the butter into cubes and freezing it is a major contributor to keeping the crust snappy and buttery without feeling greasy. I used Cabot Salted Butter for this recipe to bring extra rich savoriness to the tart shell.

• Vodka: Using vodka instead of water to bring the crust ingredients together is my other trick for keeping the tart shell super crispy! I have tested this crust recipe with just chilled water and I do not recommend this substitution.

• Beets: For this recipe, whole beets are first roasted until tender. The skins come right off after roasting. Then, the beets need to be chilled so they can easily be sliced into thin “petals” with a mandoline. The slices get marinated in a simple, bright vinaigrette before being rolled into rosettes. The autumnal colors of this tart are achieved by roasting 1 red beet and 3 golden beets together. The red beet slices are a deep maroon, while areas of the golden beets that come in contact with the red beet become a more vibrant red shade. To keep some slices at their natural bright golden color, keep them separated from the red beet.

• Squash: I used a honeynut squash for this recipe but butternut squash would work just as well. Unlike the beets, I peeled and sliced the squash before roasting. Keep the squash slices separate from the red beet if you want them to stay solid orange.

This recipe is great for gatherings because much of it can be done the night before. In fact, it is even recommended that you get the components prepped well in advance, for an easy low-key assembly when you are ready to serve.

Considerations for prepping ahead:

• For best results, make your pastry dough the night before and let it chill, molded into the tart pan, overnight. Then all you have to do is pop it in the oven the following day.

• The cheddar and almond filling can be made the night before and stored in a sealed container in the refrigerator. The day-of, just take it out and allow it to come to a spreadable consistency while the tart shell bakes.

• The roasted beets need to be chilled slightly in order to be sliced by the mandoline, so do plan ahead for this. I recommend doing all the prep for the beet and squash rosettes ahead of time. I used a mini muffin tin to hold the rosettes together before I arranged them all on top of the tart filling. You could do this the night before so the rosettes are ready to just pop onto the tart before serving!

If you need an additional shortcut:

• This tart can be simplified by using a ready-made pie dough for the crust. The overall flavor of the tart will be less complex and less cheesy but there is still a lot of flavor in the cheese and almond filling and the roasted veggie topping. If you choose to pursue this shortcut, mold the pie dough to the tart container and then follow the package instructions to fully bake the crust before following the recipe for filling the tart.

One thing that can be scary about baking for guests is that a lot can happen in an oven! You put your lovingly-prepared dough, batter, or pastry in but you can’t truly be certain what it will look like coming out. This is why I like to make tarts where the shell is baked completely through first; the filling and topping here do not require additional bake time. The tart can be served at room temperature so it’s one less thing to worry about keeping warm while you are enjoying the conversation of your dining companions.

How to Make a Cheddar Tart with Beets and Fall Squash

(Makes one 9-inch tart)

Ingredients for the Crust*

1/2 cup (1 stick) Cabot Salted Butter, cut into small cubes then frozen
1 1/2 cups AP flour
1 oz (about 1/4 cup) Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar, grated then chilled
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
4–6 tbsp vodka, chilled

Ingredients for the Topping

1 medium (about 1/2 lb) red beet, trimmed and cleaned
3 medium (about 1/2 lb each) golden beets, trimmed and cleaned
1 medium (about 1 1/2 lbs) honeynut or butternut squash, peeled and cored
4–8 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
kosher salt
black pepper
3 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp sugar
fennel fronds, for garnish (optional)

Ingredients for the Filling

4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
2 oz (about 1/2 cup) Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar, grated
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup sliced almonds, roughly chopped

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* For a shortcut version, see notes above about substituting a ready-made pie crust.

Procedure

To make the crust: Add the flour, Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar, salt, and rosemary to a food processor. Pulse briefly to combine. Scatter in frozen Cabot Salted Butter cubes and pulse until the texture resembles wet sand. Add 1 tablespoon of vodka and pulse a couple of times; repeat vodka step, adding 1 tablespoon at a time and pulsing briefly after each, until the mixture looks like it is just barely starting to form clumps. Dump the mixture into a 9-inch tart pan and use a spoon to quickly press the mixture evenly against the bottom and sides, keeping everything as cold as possible. (A sheet of wax paper could also aid in smoothing out the mixture). Chill the unbaked tart shell in the freezer for 20 minutes or in the refrigerator for 1 hour or up to overnight.

To make the topping: Preheat oven to 400°F. (Beets and squash can be baked simultaneously; just keep an eye on separate bake times.)

Coat beets lightly with olive oil and season lightly with salt and pepper. Tightly wrap beets in foil, place in a baking dish, and bake for 1 hour or until tender. (If you wish to keep some of the golden beet completely yellow, wrap and bake those separately from the red beet.) When beets are cool enough to handle, gently rub off the skins. Then, place in the refrigerator to cool completely. 

Use a mandoline to thinly slice the squash. Coat slices lightly with olive oil. Arrange evenly onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and season lightly with salt and pepper.  Bake at 400°F for 15 minutes. 

Slice cooled beets thinly with a mandoline and lay slices out on a baking sheet. Overlap red beet slices on gold beet slices to dye them as desired to create color variation, or keep some gold beet slices on a separate tray to preserve their color.

Whisk together apple cider vinegar, sugar, a pinch of kosher salt, and 2 teaspoons olive oil. Drizzle evenly over the trays of beet and squash slices and allow to marinade for at least 5 minutes.

Roll the beet and squash slices into rosettes. Start with a small slice of squash, and roll into a tight spiral (the squash  can usually be rolled into a tighter spiral than the beet). Fold or cut subsequent slices in half and keep wrapping them around to mimic the appearance of rose petals. For best results, place rosettes into a mini muffin tin to keep them together, and pre-assemble all the rosettes before placing them on the tart. (This can be done a day ahead.)

To make the filling: Add cream cheese, Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar, Greek yogurt, worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, smoked paprika, and pepper to a large bowl. Use a hand mixer to whip ingredients together until combined. Fold in almonds. (This filling can be made ahead. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator and allow to soften outside the refrigerator before spreading.)

To bake the tart shell: Dock the chilled shell with a fork to prevent it from puffing while baking. Line the inside with parchment paper or foil and fill with pie weights (or dry beans). Place the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake in the 400°F oven for 20 minutes. Remove the lining and weights, then bake for an additional 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow to cool slightly before filling.

To assemble the tart: Spread the filling evenly inside the baked tart shell. Gently press the veggie rosettes into the filling; extra beet and squash slices can be used to fill in empty spaces after the initial rosettes are placed. If desired, garnish with a few fennel fronds, or fresh herbs of your choice. Be sure to use a nice sharp knife when slicing, and enjoy!

Thank you so much to Cabot Creamery for sponsoring this recipe! Visit their website to find out where you can get their delicious cheeses, such as their naturally-aged cheddars, near you!

Melt-in-Your-Mouth Chili Garlic Eggplant Salad on Labneh

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Eggplants, aubergines, brinjals. I never understood why people don’t like them. I think people who say it’s a texture thing are eating ones that are not cooked properly. People who say they are bitter must be eating ones that aren’t fresh. When cooked properly and at the right time, eggplants—especially Chinese and Japanese eggplants—shouldn’t be anything but silky flavor sponges. And this recipe features these long eggplants in their very best form, with a completely melt-in-your-mouth texture and a rich, tangy, fragrant, and numbing spicy sauce that is absolutely addictive.

Chili garlic eggplant—as in, the stir-fry kind found on many Chinese restaurant menus in the US—used to be the thing I’d make to treat myself when my anti-eggplant spouse was out of town. He has since come around to admitting that he actually does enjoy eggplant, just not in the crappy eggplant parms he had during his Italian-American upbringing. So I get to have stir-fried chili garlic eggplant a lot more often nowadays. But this is not a recipe for that dish.

I just got back from London where I had dinner at Ottolenghi and every single dish we ordered came with some pool of creamy dippable/scoopable yumminess beneath or next to wonderful soft vegetables, whether it was yogurt, labneh, toum, or whipped feta. It was all so good, and fueled my obsession for serving absolutely everything on a pool of labneh, as if it wasn’t maxed out already (see: here, here, here). So when I got home, I was determined to make my own eggplant-on-labneh dish, but I wanted to put a Chinese spin on it. This is the recipe for that dish.

One thing I was determined to do with this recipe was make sure that the beautiful purple color of the eggplant was preserved and the eggplant did not turn brown when cooked. I was so happy that this cooked eggplant turned out a shade that almost exactly matched the purples I have going on in my garden. Here are some useful resources I came across when I was researching how to preserve the purple color of eggplants after cooking:

• https://noobcook.com/how-to-retain-the-beautiful-purple-of-eggplants-after-cooking/

• https://yingchen.life/2019/06/28/two-methods-to-keep-eggplant-from-turning-brown/

I ended up going with an oil blanching technique because I wanted the eggplants to be ultra silky soft but also have a hint of caramelization from the cooking.

So what does this dish taste like? This dish combines my homemade numbing chili oil + my usual Chinese cold appetizer dressing + silky eggplant + an herby salad + creamy labneh. It’s like the smashed cucumber salad you get at a Sichuan restaurant but with much gentler textures and kicked up a few notches of luxury. It might be the best eggplant dish I’ve ever had and it’s definitely the best I’ve ever made. Note that for experimentation purposes I used a medley of all sorts of herbs (mint, cilantro, Thai basil, Italian basil, arugula, nasturtium, lemon balm) to build out the salad component of this eggplant salad—so that’s what’s in the photos—but I found that the bites with the cilantro tasted far better than the others, so that’s what’s reflected in the written recipe below.

This recipe was adapted from Brandon Jew of Mister Jiu’s.

Awkwardly Vague instructions for Melt-in-your-Mouth Chili Garlic Eggplant Salad on Labneh

Ingredients

2 Chinese eggplants cut into long wedges
4 cups water
2 tbsp kosher salt
vegetable oil, for frying
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 scallions, thinly sliced, white and green parts divided
1 1/2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp chinkiang vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp homemade mala chili oil, plus more to taste
labneh
cilantro

Procedure

In a large bowl or rectangular tub, dissolve the salt in the water. Add eggplant, and place a plate or something on top to make sure it’s all fully submerged. Let brine for 1 hour.

In the meantime, combine the garlic and olive oil in a small pan and fry gently on medium low, stirring continuously. Once the garlic starts to turn golden, remove from heat and keep stirring to allow the residual heat to cook the garlic through. Then, drain off the oil into a separate bowl and set both aside.

Heat enough vegetable oil to deep fry the eggplant in a Dutch oven. In the meantime, pat the eggplant dry.

Dry off your brining bowl and use it to make the dressing. Whisk together the garlic-infused olive oil plus the white parts of the scallions, sugar, both vinegars, soy sauce, and 1 tablespoon of chili oil. Set aside.

On another burner/hob, get a dry wok ready on very high heat.

Oil blanch all the eggplant by adding it at once to the dutch oven. Once you start to see some browning on the edges, remove the eggplant and allow it to drain well. Then, add it to the super hot dry walk, cut side down. As you start to see caramelization occurring, remove the pieces of eggplant from the wok and add it to the dressing bowl.

After all the eggplant has been caramelized and blistered, toss it around in the dressing.

Coat your serving platter with a thin, swoopy layer of labneh. Add the eggplant. Drizzle on extra chili oil to taste. Then sprinkle on the fried garlic, sliced scallion greens, and lots of cilantro.

Poached Eggs in Burrata and Sambal Butter

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I don’t have an exact recipe for this but it is maybe my favorite breakfast that I have ever made for myself so I had to document it here, if anything so that I could remember what I did. This is another poached egg bowl born out of my obsession for çilbir, which is known in English as Turkish eggs. Çilbir is a dish of garlicky yogurt topped with poached eggs and then drizzled with a chili butter made with a Turkish chili. This one has those general components (creamy base, eggs, spicy melted butter) but done a little differently in favor of some of my other obsessions.

This post is not sponsored but it uses some of my favorite storebought products to bring together a most epic of flavor combos:

• Toom garlic dip: I love this when I am too lazy to make Lebanese toum from scratch

• BelGioioso black truffle burrata: My absolute favorite burrata, I’m obsessed! Great stracciatella action inside with a thin casing and the perfect amount of truffle flavor.

• Azalina’s sambal: A Malaysian company local to me in SF! I feel grateful to have them around to stay connected to the flavors of my heritage.

• Mizkan Sushi Seasoning: This is my cheat for when I want a simple salad vinaigrette and I am too lazy to make one.

This dish also includes a beautiful little salad that I made out of mostly things I “foraged” from my backyard garden. Now that my edible garden is well underway and in full bloom, I love being able to go out there and snip little bits of leaves from here and there to make an herbaceous salad whenever I want to bring some freshness to a dish. This would also be great with a salad of any tender herbs you have remnants of in your fridge, or mild cresses, or baby arugula.

Oh yes, and a delicious bread is an absolute must to serve with this dish, to spoon on all the creamy goodness and mop up the bowl. Here, I had it with slices of a garlic loaf from my favorite Bay Area bakery, Wild Flower Bread!

Awkwardly Vague instructions for Poached Eggs in Burrata and Sambal Butter (with a little herby salad)

Ingredients

2 eggs
white vinegar, for poaching eggs (optional)
scoop of Lebanese toum (garlic dip)
4 oz ball of black truffle burrata
1 persian cucumber, sliced into ribbons with a veggie peeler
4 tbsp salted butter
Malaysian sambal
a small handful of fresh tender greens
seasoned sushi vinegar
chopped dill
chopped chives

Procedure

Make the poached eggs. (I keep wavering between doing the whirlpool method vs not. In this case I thought the shape would be better for the dish without the whirlpool so here’s what I did instead:) Bring about 4 inches of water to boil in a pot. Crack the eggs into small bowls. Turn the heat down to low, add a small splash of vinegar, and slowly tip in the eggs. Turn the heat up to medium-low and allow eggs to poach for 3 minutes. Transfer eggs to an ice bath.

Smear a scoop of toum into the bottom of your bowl. Break up the burrata and add it evenly on top of the toum to form a base for the eggs.

Arrange the cucumber ribbons and poached eggs on top.

In a small pan, melt the butter on medium-low heat. When it starts to foam, add in as much sambal as is to your taste. Break down the sambal paste with a spatula and mix it in with the butter until fully incorporated.

Toss your little collection of greens with a splash of the sushi seasoning.

Pour the sambal butter over everything in the bowl. Add the salad to one side and then sprinkle dill and chives over everything.

Serve with some amazing bread.

Recipe: Chili Cheese Scones

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For this recipe, I partnered with Cabot Creamery to create my version of a baked goodie that I think gets totally overlooked: savory scones! I feel like sweet scones get all the love, but as a diehard member of Team Savory for life, what I like about savory scones is that they can be such a satisfying handheld snack or a way to round out a real meal. 

These scones are filled with a combo of green chilies, scallions, black pepper, and lots of high quality Cabot Vermont Sharp Cheddar. The inspiration for this flavor grouping comes from Indian-style chili cheese toast, which I first experienced at a Bombay-inspired restaurant in London called Dishoom. There, the pairing of chili cheese toast and eggs is called Eggs Kejriwal. I’ll still go to Dishoom whenever I’m in London, but at home, I was happy to find it was easy to replicate the chili cheese toast and was blown away by how good the simple combo of chopped green chilies, scallions, black pepper, and melted cheddar tasted together. It really is an example of the whole being more than just the sum of its parts and I think a lot of credit can be given to the power of a high-quality sharp white cheddar, when it is all gooey and melty, for bringing everything together.

So when Cabot Creamery asked me to come up with a recipe to show off one of their wonderful cheddars, I thought it would be tasty to put the flavors of one of my favorite toasts into the lovely portable format of a scone. But despite the inspiration coming from London, these aren’t going to be the dry, crumbly, or bland scones you might get with an afternoon tea service. These are flavor-packed American style scones and they are super tender and light!

I opted to use Cabot Vermont Sharp Cheddar for this recipe, which has such a nice bold sharp cheddar taste. Cabot is a co-operative owned by farm families throughout New England & New York and 100% of profits go back to the farmers, which I think is so cool for a brand that is so widely distributed. They are also the world’s first dairy co-op to get a B Corp certification. This particular cheese offering from them has a creamy texture and buttery richness to it, and is equally as good for just snacking on alone as it is getting baked into scones—which made it really hard for me to resist eating it while I was prepping the ingredients to shoot this recipe. 

These scones are nice and cheesy, with a little bit of kick from the chilies, and a unique spiced undertone from the coriander seeds and black pepper. I hope you’ll give them a try!

What you need to know about the key ingredients for this Chili Cheese Scone recipe:

• Butter: Freezing the butter and then grating it is my go-to technique for any sort of baked pastry that I want to be airy and flakey. No one wants overly-dense, hard scones. In contrast, the frozen butter, and keeping everything as cold as possible in general, allows for the creation of steam inside the scones as they bake, which form air pockets that keep the texture light. I used Cabot Salted Butter for this recipe to add an extra note of rich savoriness.

• Cheddar: The cheddar is really the star of these cheesy scones! I went for the Cabot Vermont Sharp Cheddar, which I think has a great classic sharp cheddar taste that really holds up nicely mixed into these scones. However, I think that Cabot Creamery’s Seriously Sharp Cheddar would also be great here. Be sure to grab one of their cheese bars and grate it fresh for this recipe.

• Green Chilies: The green chilies are what give the scones a nice little spicy kick. I used a mixture of jalapenos and serranos here (2 very large jalapenos and 1 long serrano) but you could also choose one or the other. I removed the pith and seeds from the jalapenos because I don’t care for the texture but kept it all in for the thinner serrano and this brought a noticeable amount of heat to the scones. If you remove all the pith, the scones will be much milder.

• Scallions: Chopped scallions add a nice savory and aromatic flavor to the scones. They get sweeter when the scones are baked and taste so good with the cheddar!

• Black Pepper: This adds a zingy spiced component to the scones. Please do not use the ground pepper that comes out of a store-bought spice jar. Whole black peppercorns and a pepper mill on a coarser setting, and subsequently nice freshly-cracked pepper, is what will give you the flavor impact you want.

• Coriander Seeds: Sometimes when I make chili cheese toast, I also include cilantro, or coriander. For my scones, I opted to include coriander seeds because I think they bring such a great mysterious and complex spice flavor without adding any extra spicy heat. I measured out the whole seeds first, then toasted them in a dry pan until they became fragrant, then pulsed them a couple of times in a spice grinder. If you have a mortar and pestle that would be even better. You want to crush them up and get them to release their aroma but you don’t need a fine powder.

A couple of other techniques to get the best scones:

• Like I mentioned before, keeping everything cold is what gives you scones that are tender and airy instead of dense and firm. Popping the scones in the freezer while you wait for your oven to heat up will help the scones poof up instead of spreading out.

• Creating letterfolds with the dough before cutting out the scones is what gives them those nice layers similar to an American style biscuit. You can definitely just gather the dough together and cut out the scones right away, but this extra step of flattening it out and folding the slab of dough a few times is a quick trick that makes them extra special.

How to Make Chili Cheese Scones

(Makes 8 scones)

Ingredients

2 cups AP flour, plus extra for dusting
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
1 tbsp whole coriander seeds, toasted and then coarsely ground
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 egg
6 oz Cabot Vermont Sharp Cheddar, grated
1/2 packed cup scallions, chopped
1/2 cup jalapeno or serrano peppers, cut into 1/8” dice (see note*)
1/2 cup (1 stick) Cabot Salted Butter, frozen
1 tbsp Cabot Salted Butter, melted
Cilantro leaves, for decoration (optional)

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Notes

* You can control the level of spicy heat in the scones by how much of the pith you choose to include. The majority of a chili pepper’s heat comes from the pith.

Procedure

Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, pepper, and ground coriander seed in a large mixing bowl and whisk together.

Set aside a few pinches of the grated Cabot Vermont Sharp Cheddar for topping off the scones later.

Into the dry ingredients, stir in the rest of the cheddar, plus the chopped scallions and chilies.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the heavy cream and egg.

Working quickly with cold hands, grate the stick of Cabot Salted Butter into the dry ingredient mixture, tossing together the ingredients along the way to ensure even distribution. 

Drizzle in about one-third of the wet ingredients. Incorporate gently with some of the dry ingredients. Continue gradually incorporating the wet and dry ingredients together, taking care to not overstir. (Mixture can be clumpy and uneven.)

Dump the mixture onto a work surface and gently press together with your hands until it all sticks together. Lightly flour a work surface, then shape the dough into a rough rectangle, about 6x9. Lightly flour the surface of the dough, then fold down the top third and fold up the bottom third (like you would fold a letter). Flip and rotate 90 degrees and repeat the shaping, rolling, and folding sequence. Flip and rotate again, then do the sequence one more time, for 3 sets of letter folds total.

Then, fold the dough in half and shape it into a flat circle, about 7-8 inches in diameter. Cut the dough into 8 equal wedges. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet and place in the freezer for 15 minutes.

In the meantime, place an oven rack one-third from the top of the oven and preheat oven to 400°F.

Brush melted butter on the tops of the chilled biscuits. Sprinkle remaining cheddar on top. If desired, decorate with fresh cilantro leaves.

Bake for 25–27 minutes, or until tops begin to get golden.

Thank you so much to Cabot Creamery for sponsoring this recipe! Visit their website to find out where you can get their delicious cheeses, such as their naturally-aged cheddars, near you!

Recipe: Heart-Shaped Garlic Butter Parm Pretzels

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These cuties are the texture of a soft American mall pretzel with the extra garlicky goodness of a garlic knot. When you typically make pretzels, you would cut slashes in the dough before baking to allow the dough to expand without cracking the dark brown malty exterior you get from boiling in an alkaline solution. However, I did not do that here. The result was this unusual crackled texture, which gave the garlic butter something to stick on to!

These are such a fun treat for your valentine, friend, or galentine, or anyone in your life who appreciates some freshly-baked carbs. And they are also great for when you are looking for a special baking project to do just for you!

Soft pretzel dough recipe adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction.

How to Make Heart-Shaped Garlic Butter Parm Pretzels

Ingredients

3/4 cup warm water
1 tsp (slightly heaped) active dry yeast
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
2 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups AP flour, plus more for dusting
nonstick cooking spray
3/8 tbsp salted butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
garlic salt, to taste
finely grated parmesan, to taste
1–2 tsp parsley leaves, finely chopped

For the Water Bath

9 cups water
1/2 cup baking soda

Procedure

Combine warm water, yeast, and honey in the bowl of your stand mixer and stir gently. Allow yeast to bloom and foam up for 5 minutes.

Add butter, brown sugar, and salt, and stir together. Fit stand mixer with the dough hook and turn on to the lowest setting. Begin adding flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until a dough starts to come together. Use a rubber spatula to scrape everything together. If the dough is sticky, add a little bit more flour.

Turn the mixer to medium high and knead the dough for about 5 minutes until it feels smooth and bouncy. Turn the dough onto a clean worksurface and roll into a smooth ball. Grease the inside of the mixing bowl, and place the ball of dough back inside. Cover with a damp towel and allow to rest in a warm place for 20 minutes.

On a lightly floured worksurface, divide the rested dough into 8 equal pieces and roll each piece into a rope, about 16 inches long.

In a large pot, combine water and baking soda for water bath and bring to a boil. Preheat oven to 425°F.

While waiting for the water to boil, twist and pinch together the ends of each rope and shape into a heart.

Use a pancake turner/spatula to gently place one pretzel at a time in boiling water bath for 10 seconds on each side, then place on a parchment-lined baking tray with plenty of clearance around each. Adjust the shapes as needed. Make a small cut into the inner bottom tip of the heart shape, to help define the point better.

Combine butter, garlic, and garlic salt in a small bowl and heat for about 30 seconds in the microwave. Brush some of the mixture on to the pretzels. Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until they are puffed and a rich golden brown.

While pretzels are baking, add parsley to the remaining garlic butter mixture. Brush more of this mixture on the pretzels when they come out of oven.

Recipe: Mini Frittata Muffins with Lap Cheong and Scallions

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I used to make these mini frittata muffins as a go-to recipe for parties and potlucks when I was in college and into my early twenties. It is a super easy recipe with the help of instant buttermilk pancake mix, and you can add whatever fillings you would normally enjoy inside a quiche or frittata. Over a decade later, and with much more appreciation for the flavors associated with my Chinese heritage, I decided to revisit the old tried and true recipe and incorporate lap cheong (Chinese sweet sausage) and scallions. (I’m actually pretty obsessed with the combo of lap cheong, scallions, and cheese these days. You can find my recipe for stuffed cheesy bread with these ingredients here.) The end result is the flavors you’d expect in a Chinese-American fusion breakfast, in a nicely portable format.

Back when I was making this recipe all the time, I called them “quiche muffins” because I didn’t really understand the nuances of all the different baked egg dishes out there but in reality the texture is much more like a frittata—a frittata that is slightly leaning in the direction of a biscuit, in a muffin wrapper.

About substitutions: Feel free to swap things out according to your tastes or put your own cultural spin on it. Approach the ingredients as you would if you were making a quiche or omelette; if it makes sense to pre-cook the ingredient for one of these preparations, you should do the same here. Any grated semi-soft cheese would work, as well as crumbled chèvre or feta (though you may want to reduce the amount if using a soft cheese due to the added moisture).

Now, about the edible flowers. This recipe is great for the completely unnecessary but very Instagram worthy edible flower treatment because the batter is quite wet. Anything where the delicate flowers petals and herbs are in contact with moisture in the oven is going to help keep their color and shape better (compared to, say, a shortbread cookie). Here, I used calendulas, wood sorrel, violas, wild fennel, lemon balm, and oregano—a combination of foraged and home grown. As these were baking, I also watched over them like a wistful (but much less anxious) Great British Bake-Off contestant. Because the calendula flowers have layered petals, I would gently press down the top layers as they curled up in the oven to stay in contact with the batter, and that’s how I was able to help maintain their shape despite the heat. Here is what these cuties looked like before baking:

This recipe was adapted from Allrecipes.

How to Make Mini Frittata Muffins with Lap Cheong and Scallions

(Makes 6 muffins)

Ingredients

3 eggs
2/3 cup American style dry buttermilk pancake mix
~2 cups grated cheddar
2 lap cheong sausages
2 scallions, chopped
nonstick spray or 6 muffin liners

Procedure

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line or grease muffin tins.

Peel off and discard the outer casing of the lap cheong and cut into 1/8”–1/4” pieces. In a small skillet, fry the lap cheong on medium heat until cooked through. Drain on a paper towel and allow to cool slightly.

Beat eggs thoroughly in a mixing bowl. Stir in pancake mix. Then fold in cooked lap cheong, scallions, and cheese.

Divide the batter among the muffin tins, filling them only two-thirds of the way. If desired, decorate with herbs and edible flowers.

Bake for 12–15 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Allow them to cool and set slightly before removing and enjoying.

These photos were shot in partnership with Pete and Gerry’s. To find their free range organic eggs near you, click here.

Steak and Caprese Toasts

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For when all you want to eat during the summer is caprese made from fresh garden grown tomatoes, but you need some protein too.

I don’t normally serve toast for dinner. I try to cook up a “real” meal for Spouse and I in the evenings but I must say that this toast recipe is definitely dinner status. Maybe it was a little overkill to use such a nice cut of steak for toast, but it tasted really good so I have no regrets. I also didn’t want the risk of us biting into the toasts, and having fatty bits dragging too much steak along with the bite because we couldn’t cut through cleanly with our teeth.

There are a few phases to making these but the good news is that it all gets done in the same cast iron pan. And in the end, you’ll have a world of flavor—tender steak with richness from the butter it was seared in, crunch and carbs from the toast, creaminess from burrata, fresh herbaceousness from basil, and brightness from burst tomatoes tossed in a quick vinaigrette. ⁣

How to Make Steak and Caprese Toast

Ingredients

8 oz tenderloin or filet mignon steak, at room temp
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
4 slices of good bread
lots of olive oil
1 tbsp salted butter
10 oz cherry tomatoes
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp honey
2 tsp white wine vinegar
8 oz burrata
fresh basil leaves

Procedure

Generously season steak with salt and pepper.

Heat a cast iron skillet on medium high. Generously drizzle olive oil. Fry bread in the olive oil on both sides until golden, then remove and set aside.

Add butter to the skillet and then add the steak. For medium rare, cook steak undisturbed for ~3 minutes on each side. Transfer steak to a grooved cutting board to rest for at least 10 minutes.

Reduce heat to medium. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, followed by the cherry tomatoes, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and garlic. Let tomatoes char on one side before turning. Cook tomatoes until they start to burst, about 4–5 minutes total. Shut off heat.

Combine honey and vinegar in a small bowl. Spoon in the charred tomatoes and mix gently to combine.

Slice the steak thinly.

Assemble the toasts. First, divide the burrata among them, then the steak. Then spoon some of the tomato mixture over each. Garnish with the basil leaves.

For more toast inspiration, check out all the posts with the “toast post” tag here.

Recipe: Mala Marinated Tomato Salad (with Burrata)

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This is this one of those recipes that is meant to help off-season tomatoes reach a higher potential but that would also be so good with ripe tomatoes in season. The background for this idea is really not all that complicated: I love the classic Sichuan mala smashed cucumber salad and I also love salads that revolve around tomatoes. So, why not use that same Sichuan-inspired, numbing-spicy dressing for tomatoes instead of cucumbers?

Sichuan cucumber salad is really the only raw Chinese salad I can think of. The cucumbers are typically smashed first, but lately I have been seeing a lot of recipes on the ‘gram where the cucumbers are cut in a special way to make a cool spiraled effect. The dressing typically leans on the classic Chinese vinegars (rice vinegar and black vinegar), garlic, and soy sauce; and my favorite versions are the ones that also include mala, or numbing-spicy, chili oil made with Sichuan pink peppercorns. It is crisp, cold, and refreshing. It appears as an appetizer on Chinese restaurant menus among other cold dishes like couple’s delight but I love making my own version at home as a side dish (I guess like Korean banchan) when I cook up a really heavy and hearty Asian meal of any sort. The tangy, tingly, crunchy cucumbers are a perfect balance to braised or grilled meats.

While cucumbers will always be a sidekick in my mind, tomatoes can definitely be a main character. In adapting my Sichuan-inspired salad dressing for tomatoes, what I ended up with was, I guess, a Chinese fusion version of a caprese salad. I ended up serving it with burrata and basil (yes, the crazy purple leaves you see are a type of basil called “wild magic”!), and Spouse and I thoroughly enjoyed it as a main course, spooning the tomatoes onto crusty bread. But you can definitely skip out on the burrata and herbs, and serve this marinated tomato salad as an appetizer or side dish.

This recipe involves three different stages of flavor building.

• Salting the tomatoes. This is a good practice regardless of the time of year, whenever raw tomatoes make an appearance because the salt really helps bring out the best flavor that your tomato has to offer. Because I tested this recipe when tomatoes were not yet in season, I used more salt than would be needed for really amazing tasting ripe tomatoes. Keep this in mind when you are at this stage of making the recipe. You can use whatever tomatoes you’d like; I recommend a medley of heirloom tomatoes and cherry tomatoes to keep things looking interesting. Just cut them into bite-sized chunks with plenty of open surface area to absorb all the flavors of the marinade.

• Marinating the tomatoes in the dressing. I like to allow the raw garlic and the tomatoes to sit for a bit in a more concentrated vinegar mixture so the garlic has the opportunity to pass on some of its punchy flavor to everything else in the mix.

• Adding the chili oil. This recipe uses my easy mala chili oil recipe, which you can find here; note that my recipe is a lot less salty than many commercial chili oils, so you may want to keep that in mind if you are opting to use a storebought one. This step is very much to-taste, depending on how tingly you want your tomato salad to be. I recommend adding a tablespoon at a time and tasting along the way. If you do opt to make the caprese-esque version shown in the photos, I recommend not going full-blast with the chili oil in the tomato mixture and reserving some to drizzle over the burrata as a finishing touch.

How I Make Mala Marinated Tomato Salad

Ingredients

2 lbs tomatoes, cut into bite-sized chunks*
1/2–3/4 tsp kosher salt
2–3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp Chinese black vinegar
3 tbsp rice vinegar
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp fish sauce
2–4 tbsp mala chili oil
8 oz burrata (optional)
basil leaves (optional)

*If using cherry tomatoes, cut them in half so they can absorb the flavors from the dressing.

Procedure

In a large bowl, add tomatoes and salt and toss to combine.

In a separate small bowl, whisk together garlic, both vinegars, sugar, and fish sauce. If you are very impatient, microwave the mixture for 10 seconds to help dissolve the sugar. Once the sugar is dissolved, add the dressing to the tomatoes and mix gently but thoroughly to coat. Allow to marinate for at least 10 minutes. (I recommend 20–30 minutes for off-season tomatoes.)

Add chili oil to your taste and mix gently to combine.

For optional “caprese” version: Spoon tomatoes and some dressing into a serving dish. Tear burrata into large globs and distribute amongst the tomatoes. Drizzle additional chili oil over the burrata. Garnish with basil. Serve with toasts or crusty bread.

How I Make Crispy Smashed Potatoes

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Smashed potatoes have become one of my favorite formats of potatoes in my life. And they are super easy to make, though—like all good things—they do take a little bit of time. First you have to boil the potatoes until they are completely soft, then you smash them to expose some fluffy creaminess from inside, and then you roast them until their the paper thin skins and the craggy surfaces created by smashing get browned and crispy. I didn’t realize until I started making these that even though I eat a lot of potatoes, I rarely eat them in a way where I can truly taste the pure flavor of the potato itself. In the photo above there are mini red skinned potatoes and purple ones. Spouse and I found that while we enjoyed every potato on the tray, there was something about the red skinned potatoes that had a little bit of extra something in their natural flavor that we preferred over the little purple ones. I encourage you to get whatever types of tiny potatoes you can find and try making this recipe with them, to see if you can taste a difference—for science.

Below is my recipe for how I make my smashed potatoes, which have become a go-to side or snack on many an occasion in my household. Some suggestions for how to enjoy them are:

• Top them with little dollops of my creamy garlicky whipped feta dip, crispy bacon, and fresh herbs like in the photo above

• Use them in place of croutons for an epic salad, like my BLT salad recipe

• Make them for a breakfast in place of homefries or tater tots; bonus points if you drizzle them with chili crisp

To season the potatoes shown here, I used Spice Tribe’s Haitian-inspired Mama Manje blend and this made the house smell SO GOOD while the potatoes were baking, so I definitely recommend this blend. (I received this product as part of a paid partnership with Spice Tribe but this recipe is not sponsored and I gladly use their products in my everyday cooking). This blend does not contain any salt, so I have control over how much salt I add to the potatoes. However, you can use whatever seasoning blend you want; just check to see if it has salt and avoid oversalting if it does. For herbs, I used chopped chives, oregano, and lemon thyme, but you can use whatever fresh herbs you love; potatoes are great with pretty much anything, after all! The flower petals are dianthus from my garden; they are safe to eat but really there for the aesthetics.

How to Make Crispy Smashed Potatoes

Ingredients

1 pound mini potatoes
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt, divided, plus more to taste
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
1/2 tsp low-sodium or salt-free spice blend*

*I like to use Spice Tribe’s Mama Manje blend or Fly by Jing’s Mala Spice Mix.

Procedure

Add cleaned potatoes to a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and add 1 teaspoon of salt.

In the meantime, preheat the oven to 450°F.

Continue boiling potatoes until very soft and a fork pokes through with no resistance, about 20–25 minutes. Drain and allow to cool slightly.

In a large mixing bowl, combine potatoes, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste), and the spice blend of your choice. Toss to coat the potatoes in the oil and spices.

Dump the potatoes and any excess oil/seasoning onto a large sheet pan. Use the back of a fork to gently press down and smash the potatoes. Drizzle with the remaining olive oil.

Bake for 25 minutes or until you notice some browning on the fluffy parts.

Recipe: Chicken Meatball Skewers with Craggy Crispy Potatoes & Spiced Ketchup

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Maybe this is a surprising tale to tell as a food blogger but my family does not have a bunch of family recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation. There is one cookbook that I remember my mom using, that she brought with her from Malaysia and we have a few tried and true recipes from there. And she also has her famous (among friends) curry puff recipe that I definitely need to get from her. For the most part, though, when I am feeling nostalgic for the food memories that make me feel connected to my family and my heritage, I have to try to recreate them from memory.

But, sometimes, as the great Ina Garten says, “storebought is fine”!

My parents are I are all about using store-bought pastes to recreate our favorite Malaysian dishes sometimes, and guess what? They turn out plenty delicious. A good prepared spice paste will have all the flavor complexity that requires time to develop and will save you the time and hassle of cleaning mortars and pestles and food processors.

Another great thing about a storebought spice paste is that it makes it easy to get creative. For example, I do have my own from-scratch chicken satay recipe but using a spice paste such as Asian Home Gourmet’s Marinade for Meat Satay allows me to easily incorporate those flavors of satay that are so nostalgic to me into other meals. This spice paste can be purchased at Millenniyum.com. (I am really lucky to have access to lots of great grocery stores near where I live, but if you have trouble finding the special Southeast Asian ingredients I use in a lot of my recipes, then Millenniyum is a great place to order them online. They carry a variety of products that I would consider to be iconic to stocking a Southeast Asian pantry.)

A lot of times when I am coming up with ideas for fusion dishes, what sparks the idea is looking at commonalities among foods from different cultures—I love encountering these connections because it further proves my belief that it is through food that people of different cultures can find the best channels of communication. There are many other cultures besides my own that have iconic versions of meat on a stick, and kofta kababs are another favorite example of mine. It may be spelled kofta, köfte, kefta or other variations, but throughout the Levant and Arabic cultures, there is some version of ground meat served molded around skewers—a meatball kebab.

I love that the ground meat mixture is such a wonderful carrier of flavor, so I thought creating a meatball version of chicken satay would be a great, texturally-new way to experience one of my favorite flavor combos. Since I was drawing inspiration from kofta kababs anyways, I decided to combine my chicken meatball satay with crispy potatoes, reminiscent of those Turkish fast casual stands all over Europe that pair shawarma and kebabs with fries. Since I didn’t need the whole packet of Asian Home Gourmet Marinade for Meat Satay in my marinade, I was also able to use some to amp up plain ol’ ketchup to make an incredible dipping condiment for my super crispy potatoes.

This latest culinary fusion of mine is made up of the following components:

• chicken meatball skewers: A cross between Southeast Asian chicken satay and Arab kofta kebabs; ground chicken is mixed with Asian Home Gourmet Marinade for Meat Satay and some binders to create a meatball mixture that is loaded with the flavor of chicken satay. This mixture is quite sticky if you use a 96% lean/4% fat ground chicken like I did; I recommend chilling it for a bit to get it to firm up more and continuously dipping your fingers into some water while you are molding the mixture around skewers, to prevent it from sticking to your hands. The slightly messy process will be well worth it when you end up with an incredibly tender meatball texture for your meat skewers. I cooked the meatball skewers in a pan with a large flat base that could easily accommodate the length of the skewers, rotating regularly with tongs to keep their shape. Satay and kebabs are both typically grilled, but I thought this pan fried method would help make this recipe more accessible, and something that could be made year round.

• craggy crispy potatoes: In place of french fries, I made these craggy crispy potatoes that are so incredibly addictive. First I boil baby potatoes in salted water until they are completely soft. When they are slightly cooled and totally dry, I rip them apart with my hands and that creates all kinds of irregular craggy surfaces, that when crisped up in a deep frying phase turns into all these wonderful crispy edges. Just look at how golden and delicious they look in the photos!

• spiced ketchup: Whisking together some regular ketchup with some of that Asian Home Gourmet Marinade for Meat Satay will transform it into a condiment that tastes so full of complex spices. It is perfect for those potatoes but you may just want to end up getting extra spice paste packets to make this for all your other favorite deep fried carb formats.

• other serving suggestions: I opted to serve my skewers and fried potatoes on top of naan and a big smear of yogurt, and finished things off with micro cilantro and cucumber ribbons. I completely recommend this combo, which further serves to bridge the gap between things served with satay and things served with kebabs. However, these are an optional finishing touch.

How to Make Chicken Meatball Skewers with Craggy Crispy Potatoes & Spiced Ketchup

(Makes about 12 skewers)

Ingredients

1 packet Asian Home Gourmet Marinade for Indonesian Meat Satay

Ingredients for Chicken Meatball Skewers

1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp cilantro, finely chopped
1 lb ground chicken (96% lean/4% fat recommended)
2–3 tbsp cooking oil

Ingredients for Crispy Potatoes

1 lb baby yukon gold potatoes
1 1/4 tsp kosher salt, divided
2–4 cups vegetable oil (or high smoke point oil) for deep frying
2 tbsp ketchup

Ingredients for Serving (Optional)

flatbreads, such as naan
cucumbers, sliced
yogurt
cilantro or micro cilantro

Procedure

Combine breadcrumbs and egg and allow to sit for 2–3 minutes so breadcrumbs absorb egg and become soggy. Then, combine all meatball ingredients and 4 teaspoons of Asian Home Gourmet Marinade for Indonesian Meat Satay. Mix thoroughly until homogenous. Refrigerate meatball mixture to allow it to become more firm while preparing the potatoes.

In a medium pot, combine potatoes with 6 cups of water, or enough to completely cover the potatoes in 2 inches of water. Bring to a boil and add 1 teaspoon of salt. Continue boiling potatoes until they begin to crack, about 25–30 minutes. Drain completely and allow to cool.

Prepare the spiced ketchup by combining ketchup with the remaining Asian Home Gourmet Marinade left in the packet. Whisk until homogeneous. Set aside until ready for serving.

In a heavy pot, heat up enough frying oil to be deeper than the size of the largest potato. Prepare a small baking tray lined with paper towels. When boiled potatoes are cool enough to handle, gently break into large chunks with your hands to create irregular craggy pieces—halves for smaller potatoes and quarters for larger ones. When oil starts to shimmer, test it by adding a tiny piece of potato to the oil; if it bubbles vigorously, the oil is hot enough. Working in batches if necessary to not crowd the pot, deep fry potatoes until golden brown, about 3–5 minutes per batch. Remove from oil and drain on prepared paper towels. 

Once all potatoes are fried, remove paper towels and place fried potatoes directly on tray. Toss potatoes with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt (or salt to taste). Place potatoes in the oven and turn on to 175°F to keep warm while preparing the skewers.

Begin forming the meatball skewers by moistening hands with water to prevent sticking, then scoop about 1/4 cup of the chilled meatball mixture and mold into a long shape around a wooden skewer. Repeat with the remaining meatball mixture.

Use a skillet large enough for the skewers to lie flat or a flat griddle pan; heat on medium. Add enough cooking oil to thinly coat bottom of pan. Working in batches if needed, place prepared meatball skewers in heated pan and cook for 5–7 minutes, using tongs to rotate regularly to maintain the rounded shape. Add cooking oil as needed and repeat until all the meatball skewers are lightly browned on the outside and cooked through.

To make the serving suggestion shown in the photos, spread a thin layer of yogurt over flatbreads, then top with skewers and potatoes; garnish with cucumbers and micro cilantro. 

Serve the spiced ketchup on the side for dipping the potatoes.

Thank you so much to Millenniyum for sponsoring this Asian Home Gourmet recipe! Check them out on Instagram here or visit their website to purchase Southeast Asian pantry essentials.

My Lazy Caesar Salad Dressing Recipe

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Call me basic but I am a sucker for a good caesar salad. I know all about how the dramatic tableside-tossed caesar salad spectacle was invented in Mexico but to me, the best caesar salads are the ones that are served up at nice pizza spots—they have to be good so that people actually enjoy eating them instead of just ordering them out of obligation to have something leafy and green to go with their pizza. I love the ones where a nice, thick, anchovy-based dressing is evenly coating every lettuce leaf before being dusted in freshly grated parmesan cheese, and I actually look forward to them just as much as I look forward to the pizza!

The original caesar salad dressing allegedly wasn’t all that thick and didn’t even contain anchovies, but for once, I have to argue that time and adaptations have improved the recipe. So, the dressing I’m paying tribute to here is the modern version that most Americans are probably more familiar with nowadays.

The bottled caesar salad dressings from the grocery store just don’t cut it for me, though. They just don’t have the same special umami. So, I always make my own. But keep in mind that I am really quite lazy. Salads are a go-to for weekday lunches at my place but in those instances I am most definitely not busting out a mortar and pestle for pounding an anchovy paste nor any sort of food processor/immersion blender to make a thick emulsion, nor do I wish to clean any of those instruments thereafter. So, this is my lazy cheater version of a caesar salad dressing that I am willing to throw together on weekdays, and I finally really tried to get the measurements right so I could share it with you.

The secret ingredient in my cheater caesar dressing recipes is fish sauce. It’s my secret ingredient in a lot of recipes, really, but I don’t think it could be any more fitting than in this one. After all, caesar dressing gets its distinct umami undercurrent from salted anchovies getting turned into a paste—fish sauce is exactly that same flavor in convenient bottled liquid form! I thought I was pretty dang clever when I first came up with this hack.

Rather than having to worry about combining egg and oil just right to create a thick emulsion, my other cheat is to use yogurt to get a nice thick dressing. Some recipes use a jarred mayo, but yogurt is perhaps a bit healthier (and less off-putting for mayo haters like my spouse). I always have some Greek yogurt in my fridge, and including it in any dressing guarantees a nice creamy and thick consistency. The resulting dressing does not taste identical to the kind I love at nice pizza joints but rather like a good yogurty version of it. For quick weekday lunches, it does the trick and is plenty tasty!

To make the salad shown in the photos, I tossed baby gems lettuce leaves with enough dressing to thinly and evenly coat the leaves and then tossed the dressed leaves with lots and lots of freshly grated parm. I made crispy prosciutto by baking twisted up slices of prosciutto on a parchment-lined tray at 425°F for 10 minutes. Then, I made grilled cheese sandwich with a cheddar and gruyere blend and cut it up into 1-inch cubes to use as croutons. A sprinkle of chopped chives and more grated parm were the finishing touches.

How I Make My Lazy Caesar Salad Dressing

Ingredients

2 cloves garlic, pressed or microplaned
3 tbsp lemon juice (from about 1 lemon)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp Greek yogurt
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Procedure

Combine the garlic, lemon juice, vinegar, fish sauce, yogurt, and mustard in a bowl. Whisk thoroughly to combine. Add the olive oil and pepper and whisk again until homogenous. Finally, add the parmesan cheese and whisk thoroughly once again.

(This recipe makes enough dressing for 4–6 two-person meal salads. Add dressing to prepared lettuce leaves one tablespoon at a time and toss thoroughly after each addition until leaves are evenly and thinly coated. Then toss dressed leaves with extra freshly grated parmesan to taste. Serve with chunky croutons on top, or go crazy and add whatever you like!)

Baguette au Brie with Roasted Tomatoes

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In Berkeley, California, my college town, there is the cutest little Provençal restaurant called La Note where baguette au brie is on the menu. I have many fond memories of eating at La Note, one of those places choc-a-bloc with mismatched wood chairs and vintage French mixing bowls, mugs, and salt and pepper shakers that you would expect to find in some grandma’s country cottage. It was too expensive for us to eat there as poor college students so I never went while I was in school at UC Berkeley. And it is one of those places that draws crowds and over an hour’s long waitlist for their weekend brunch. So, there was only a very specific window of my life when I could have eaten at La Note—one where I was old enough to afford a cute brunch treat but young enough to have the patience to wait that long for a table—and sadly, that window has now passed, in favor of my current curmudgeonly state.

But when I did eat there for brunch, my go-to choice was the baguette au brie and I would never skimp on the buy-up to add roasted tomatoes. I remember the tomatoes being very simply done, maybe not even the most flavorful and just a quick blister with a little sprinkle of herbes de provence. But somehow that combo of the crusty baguette, that rich creamy brie, and the juicy tomatoes translated to perfection in its simplicity when all chewed together in my mouth.

A sad early attempt at food photography, circa late 2013.

What’s nice about such a simple yet perfect combination is that it can easily be replicated at home! I’ve been doing as much for years but now I finally have some nice photos to show for it. I’m also sharing one of my earliest attempts at taking food photography seriously, above, and I hope you can see some improvement has been made since then. Incidentally, that old photo from 2013 was taken with a real DSLR camera, whereas the hero photo on this post was taken with my iPhone (as is my modus operandi these days)—proof, I hope, that it’s not about the equipment when it comes to taking a good food photo. (If you are interested in hearing more about how I shoot professionally on an iPhone now, check out my interview on the My Food Lens podcast here.)

Anyway, about this recipe. Obviously not a “recipe” recipe because toasty bread based meals like these are, I believe, so much more about what feels like the right amounts (or the amounts that fit) verses exact measurements. Just use a good French baguette, the creamiest European style butter, and your favorite brie. For the roasted tomatoes, mine are probably much more time consuming that what they did at La Note, but it shows in the amount of flavor that they will bring if you use my technique—found here.

How to Make Baguette au Brie with Roasted Tomatoes

Ingredients

1 French baguette, halved lengthwise
brie, sliced somewhat thinly
European style salted butter, softened
roasted tomatoes (see recipe here)
fresh herbs, such as thyme or oregano (optional)
cracked black pepper (optional)

Procedure

Slice baguette halves into desired lengths. Generously spread butter over the cut surfaces. Arrange an even layer of brie slices on top. Place on a baking sheet and put under the broiler; watch carefully and broil until the brie just begins to melt.

Immediately place slices of roasted tomato on top of the melted brie. If desired, garnish with fresh herbs and finish off with pepper.

For more toast inspiration, check out all the posts with the “toast post” tag here.

How I Make Roasted Tomatoes (in the Winter)

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I miss tomato season. Seeing piles of heirloom tomatoes at the store and being able to pop down to my backyard to pull off ripe cherry tomatoes from the vine brings me unparalleled joy. But when we’re in the dregs of winter and the piles of (albeit pretty) citrus and root veg are just not cutting it for me, I get my tomato fix by roasting them to concentrate what flavors those crummy winter tomatoes grown who-knows-where have to offer. I go to Costco and get a few big containers of them so I can make a big batch; in past years they’ve been roma tomatoes but this year they had camparis, which looked surprisingly red and vibrant.

The purpose of this post is to share with you how I roast tomatoes in the winter. I am sure there are other ways to do it but I started doing this years and years ago and I have always been thrilled with the results so I haven’t bothered to experiment with other processes. My way—and here’s your warning—takes a bit of time and can get pretty messy. But think of it as a metamorphosis because this process will take your sad, bland, mealy off-season tomatoes and transform them into delicate morsels of concentrated tomato flavor, a little sweet and tangy like the best ripe tomato and with a silky, rich mouthfeel from mingling with all that good extra virgin olive oil. Their flavor is very similar to sun-dried tomatoes but of course they are soft and juicy instead of hard and wrinkly.

There are no measurements for this recipe because it’s the technique that’s important. Season things conservatively to your taste and let the concentrated tomato flavor be the star. Keep in mind that the tomatoes will really shrink down as they get rid of their excess moisture; about 4–6 pounds of tomatoes ends up being only one pint jar full of these glorious bursts of flavor.

The key to my method (and what makes it messy) is having the tomato slices spend some time on a hot griddle before they go into the oven. There will be oil splatter. But not only does this allow them to get a bit of sear right away but more critically, it causes the tomatoes to release their excess water, which you can then drain away (and use in pasta sauce) before placing the slices on a baking tray for roasting. Otherwise, you would end up with tomato slices poaching or simmering in their own juices instead of allowing their flavors to get concentrated by way of roasting.

I like to line my largest metal baking trays with foil for easy clean-up before I add the tomatoes. I’ve read that you are not supposed to cook tomatoes or other acidic things on aluminum foil but I have also read that the reaction is not enough to cause any concern. (I’m still alive!) You are welcomed to try your own large, flat baking vessel and an alternative form of protection like parchment paper, but I have not tried these methods and cannot guarantee the same results!

Here is some visual inspiration for how to use the literal fruits of your labor:

How I Make Roasted Tomatoes

Ingredients

4 lbs (or more!) of firm, off-season tomatoes
extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt
a few garlic cloves, thinly sliced
fresh thyme, rosemary, and/or oregano

Procedure

Cut tomatoes lengthwise into 1/2-inch pieces. Drain off any excess juices and seeds.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Line large rimmed baking trays with foil for easier clean-up.

Heat a large, flat, non-stick griddle pan on high heat. Drizzle some olive oil across the cooking surface, then add as many tomato slices as will fit in a single layer. Drizzle more olive oil over the tomatoes, and season with a light, even sprinkle of kosher salt. (Note: There will be splatter as the tomatoes release juices that get incorporated with the hot oil.)

After 1–2 minutes, regularly check the tomato slices that are on the hottest part of the pan. When some searing is visible, start carefully flipping the tomato slices. When the other sides begin to sear, transfer tomatoes to lined baking trays. Pour away any excess oil and tomato juices/seeds (but save all this to incorporate into a future pasta dish!). Repeat the griddle process as needed until all the tomato slices have been seared.

Lightly drizzle more olive oil over the tomatoes. Place trays of tomato slices in the preheated oven. Set the oven temperature down to 325°F. Bake for 20 minutes.

Remove the trays from the oven and scatter garlic slices and herbs over the tomatoes. Return trays to the oven for another 30 minutes of baking.

Allow roasted tomato slices to cool and set before transferring to a jar. I like to cover them in olive oil before storing them in the fridge.

Recipe: Lap Cheong and Scallion Stuffed Cheesy Bread

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I wanted to test this idea of stuffing focaccia with cheese for another project and I decided to try it out with one of my favorite ingredient combos. To be honest, I can’t think of an exact traditional dish that combines lap cheong (sweet Chinese sausage), scallions, and cheese but they do make me think of the smells of a Taiwanese bakery where you can find hot dog buns, scallion buns, and the like.

Lap cheong can be found at any Asian market. This low sodium option from Kam Yen Jan is my favorite one to get. The casing is very thin and I like to peel it off and crumble the sausage by hand for more organically shaped pieces, but you could also just slice it up. It is a fatty, slightly sweet, and intense savory flavor that tends to be used in moderation in Chinese dishes. But this recipe is not about moderation!

I shared a photo of this in my Instagram stories and got a lot of reactions to it, but I don’t think the photo is quite insta-worthy so I am just going to share the recipe here.

How to Make Lap Cheong & Scallion Stuffed Cheesy Bread

Ingredients

2/3 cup warm water*
1 tsp honey
1 1/2 tsp dry active yeast
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/8 cup olive oil plus extra for drizzling
1/4 tsp kosher salt
3 lap cheong (sweet Chinese sausages)
1 cup grated fontina cheese (or mozzarella or white cheddar)
1 bunch scallions, chopped

* I have found that hot water from my tap works well for blooming yeast.

Procedure

In the bowl of your stand mixer, gently combine water, honey, and yeast. Allow the yeast to “bloom” for 5–10 minutes in a warm place until there is a fine foam on top.

Fit your stand mixer with the dough hook. Set the mixer to low speed and gradually add 1 3/4 cups flour, then 1/8 cup olive oil and salt. Turn up the speed of the mixer to medium-low and allow the dough to be kneaded for 4 minutes. If the dough has not pulled away from the sides of the bowl, add an additional 1 tablespoon of flour. Continue to knead for 1–2 minutes. Dough should be sticky but you should be able to easily remove it from the dough hook.

Scrape the dough out of the bowl and form a ball. Generously coat the inside of the bowl with olive oil. Roll the ball of dough around in the olive oil until coated. Cover with a damp towel and place in a warm spot to proof for 60 minutes, or until it has doubled in size.

In the meantime, remove the casing from the lap cheong and crumble into small pieces. Cook on medium heat in a small skillet until just heated through. Drain away excess rendered fat.

When the dough has had its first rest, gently fold in three-quarters of the chopped scallions and divide the dough in half. Coat the inside of a 10-inch cast iron skillet with olive oil. Use your fingers to gently press down half of the dough into the skillet, forming an even layer. Press the other half of the dough onto a large plate, to roughly the same size as the skillet. Cover both halves and let rest for another 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, place a rack one-third from the top of your oven and preheat to 400°F.

Press the relaxed dough in the skillet so it fully covers the bottom. Sprinkle the sausage on top and then roughly two-thirds of the cheese spread in an even layer. Top with the other half of the dough and pinch to seal the edges together. Dimple the surface of the dough with your fingers, drizzle generously with olive oil, and top with the remaining cheese and scallions.

Bake for 25–28 minutes or until the top is lightly browned. For neater bread sticks, allow to cool slightly before slicing—or, if you don’t care about that and live for danger, cut immediately and enjoy the skin-scalding gooeyness.

Recipe: Eggs in Easy Red Pepper Sauce with Chili Butter

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I love myself some shakshuka but there is just one problem: every time I think about making it, I am hit with anxiety over how the eggs will turn out. Either I make the wells in the sauce too small and the egg whites end up running away all over the surface of the dish or the yolk ends up breaking or getting overcooked. I have tried maybe over a dozen times and getting those perfect sunny-side-up eggs poached in the shakshuka tomato sauce has felt completely impossible (I am now convinced that all those photos online of perfect shakshuka were photoshopped).

So, I started brainstorming ideas for shakshuka-adjacent recipes that are just as big on flavor and runny egg deliciousness without the anxiety. I feel confident in my ability to make regular poached eggs, so this recipe involves making the sauce and eggs separately and then plating them together at the end to form a low-stress dish that you won’t be able to resist scooping into with a nice crusty piece of toast.

For the sauce, I thought I’d go for something as easy as possible, which is one of those sauces where you literally just throw everything in a blender and blitz it together. Since it is not tomato season at the moment and I have been feeling rather uninspired by the winter produce that is in season, it was a good time for me to play around with just using up pantry items. Whether you are still burnt out from cooking up a storm during the holidays or you are just feeling lazy about venturing out to the grocery store in the cold, this is the recipe for you. The sauce is inspired by romesco sauce, a Catalonian roasted tomato and pepper sauce, but it utilizes jarred bell peppers and tomato paste instead. To make up for the sort of one-note flavors of the jarred ingredients, seasoning is everything in a blender sauce like this! I reached for my go-to all purpose seasoning blend—Spice Tribe’s Haitian-inspired Mama Manje—and it instantly transformed the sauce from tasting rather flat and bland to having incredible depth of flavor. I’ve found in general that this seasoning blend is capable of rescuing anything from blandness with its unique combination of green bell pepper, onion, thyme, cinnamon, garlic, ginger, habanero, and star anise.

And then to add a little something extra to the dish, it all gets finished off with my favorite recipe for chili butter. The dish has plenty of flavor already with the romesco-like sauce and the perfectly poached eggs nestled into it, and a sprinkle of fresh herbs and cheese, but a finishing touch of melted butter infused with Spice Tribe Maras chile flakes takes the whole thing from a casual breakfast affair to an indulgent brunch for kicking off a gorgeous lazy Sunday. There is just something about the flavor that blooms out of bubbling together some salted butter and those chile flakes that is so good with those luscious runny egg yolks. It’s the kind of melted chili butter you’d typically find on top of Turkish eggs or çılbır and I started making it when I developed this recipe for Spice Tribe but I find myself finishing off many dishes this way.

This dish is simple to make but it certainly won’t taste like it! It’s also pretty flexible as long as you capture the basic ideas. Here are the different components that make up the dish:

• The sauce: Kind of inspired by Spanish romesco sauce but way way easier because you just throw jarred bell peppers, almonds, tomato paste, good quality spices, garlic, olive oil, and vinegar into a blender and blend until smooth. You can use whatever almonds you have on hand as long as they are unsalted, and you might even be able to get away with salted almonds and just not add more salt. Don’t skimp on the Spice Tribe Mama Manje blend though, or you’ll end up with something that tastes rather flat and boring.

• Eggs: The soft poached eggs with runny yolks that ooze into the yummy sauce are what make the dish, in my opinion. But if you don’t feel confident in your ability to poach eggs, fried eggs would also work great for this dish. Soft-boiled eggs, boiled for 6–7 minutes, would also be amazing. It’s meant to be low-stress so do what is easiest for you.

• Fresh herbs and cheese on top: A little bit of freshness from some green herbs and some extra creamy umami from cheese are not critical, but they do much to enhance the dish in terms of taste, texture, and visual impressiveness. You can definitely use whatever herbs and crumbly cheeses you have on hand.

• Melted chili butter drizzle: The finishing touch, this is what takes the dish to another level of brunch luxury, to see the spicy butter flow and pool in all the swirls of the sauce. And this extra little step is super easy too—just melt some butter, add the Spice Tribe Maras chile flakes, and allow the flavor the bubble and bloom for a bit before spooning it over your masterpiece.

How to Make Eggs in Easy Red Pepper Sauce with Chili Butter

Ingredients For the Red Pepper Sauce

12 ounces jarred roasted red bell peppers, drained
1/3 cup unsalted roasted almonds, roughly chopped
3 tablespoons tomato paste
3 garlic cloves
1 1/2 teaspoons Spice Tribe Pimentón de la Vera
1/2 teaspoon Spice Tribe Mama Manje Haitian Blend
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (or to taste)

Ingredients For the Chili butter

1/4 cup salted butter
2 teaspoons Spice Tribe Maras Chile Flakes

Ingredients to Assemble the Dish

4 eggs, poached
1/4 cup queso fresco or feta, crumbled
Fresh herbs, such as parsley or dill, for garnish
Black pepper, to taste
Toasts, for serving

Procedure

Combine all sauce ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Transfer to a small pot and simmer on low until heated through and slightly thickened, about 5–10 minutes.

In a separate small saucepan, melt butter on low. Just as butter starts to bubble, add the Spice Tribe Maras chile flakes. Stir gently and continuously until foamy and fragrant. Remove from heat.

Spoon sauce into serving bowl(s). Nestle poached eggs into the sauce and top with cheese, herbs, and pepper as desired. Briefly warm up spicy butter again if needed, then pour over the plated ingredients. Serve with toasts on the side.

Thank you so much to Spice Tribe for sponsoring this recipe! Check them out on Instagram here or visit their website to purchase high quality spices and unique small-batch spice blends.

Recipe: Cheesy Prosciutto and Pesto Puff Pastry Tarts

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For this recipe, I partnered with Filippo Berio to share an idea for an unfussy snack or appetizer that is perfect for last-minute gatherings during the holidays. These little handheld tarts capture all the elements of a nibble board—two kinds of cheeses, salty prosciutto, a nice savory condiment, sweetness from the pomegranate arils, and herbaceous basil leaves for freshness—but everything is encased in a lovely, elegant looking puff pastry. 

In no way am I trying to knock nibble boards or charcuterie boards, but have you ever tried actually enjoying one of these at a party? You wait for that break in the conversations when someone else is sharing an anecdote so you don’t have to talk, and—excited to seize the opportunity to enjoy some delicious cheese and charcuterie piled onto a delicious crispy cracker—you take that long awaited bite, only for the cracker to shatter embarrassingly as it makes contact with your teeth, causing all its precariously-placed toppings to fly everywhere. Perhaps I can only speak from personal experience but if so, I am saving you from ever meeting that terrible fate by telling you to make this recipe instead.

I always keep a stockpile of Filippo Berio pestos on hand because they are so super convenient. They are great for when I am too busy to make dinner and need something to toss together with the frozen ravioli I always keep in the freezer and I also find them so useful for when I need a bold tasting condiment for things like toasts, snack or salad platters, and sandwiches.

Much like putting together a nibble board or charcuterie board is choosing your own eating adventure, so are these tarts. Each component could be swapped out for something else in the same category that better suits your tastes. Only one of the cheeses gets baked into the puff pastry tart shells, and then everything else gets added after baking. We’re kind of treating the pastry as a slice of toast, but the delicate buttery layers will feel so much more like a special occasion. These tarts are a great way to upcycle what you happen to have in your fridge, and the pesto will really help to bring all the elements together.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Frozen puff pastry dough: Having a stash of this in your freezer will allow you to make elegant and impressive baked delicacies with minimal effort. I usually thaw mine in the fridge overnight but in a pinch, a brief stint on the countertop should be enough. For this recipe, you just need to be able to easily score the dough, so even partially thawed would be fine if you have surprise holiday visitors; you may just need to add a couple minutes to the baking time.

• Freshly-grated fontina: I love the way the savory, nutty flavors of fontina work in this savory tart, but any smooth semi-hard cheese would work here. Always remember to grate it yourself instead of using pre-grated stuff, for the right kind of melty goodness!

• Burrata: I am obsessed with burrata! There is something about those loose, creamy cheese curds that just feels like such an indulgence to me. If you have trouble finding burrata I would suggest substituting a fresh ricotta, but even a creamy soft chevre would be yummy here!

• Prosciutto: Sliced so thin that you can almost see through it, prosciutto is a go-to charcuterie choice in my household. I think its delicate appearance contributes to the appeal of these tarts. 

• Filippo Berio Classic Pesto: I find that having some kind of tasty herbaceous condiment really helps tie everything together when combining elements of sweet and savory, so this convenient version of traditional Genovese pesto really hits the spot.

• Pomegranate Arils: I love how these let out a nice, juicy, slightly tart burst as they pop in your mouth. Not only are these the sweet component of the tarts, but I also think that adding these plus leafy herbs to any dish instantly makes it look festive, kind of like holly. However, I think swapping in kumquat slices or even thinly sliced pears or apples would work well here if that’s what you have.

How to Make Cheesy Prosciutto and Pesto Puff Pastry Tarts

Ingredients

1 sheet frozen all-butter puff pastry, thawed
flour, for dusting
1 egg, beaten, for eggwash (optional)
1 packed cup fontina cheese, freshly grated
4 oz burrata
2–3 oz thinly sliced prosciutto
4–6 tsp Filippo Berio Classic Pesto
3–4 tbsp pomegranate arils
fresh basil leaves, for garnish

Procedure

Preheat oven to 400°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Dust worksurface with flour and unfold puff pastry sheet. Gently roll out puff pastry dough to smooth out any creases and create an even rectangle about 1/6-inch thick. Cut sheet into 4 equal pieces (about 4” x 5 1/2”). Place puff pastry pieces on prepared baking sheet, at least 1 inch apart.

Using the tip of a sharp knife, score a rectangle into each piece of puff pastry, about 1/4 to 1/2 inch inward from the edges. If using eggwash, brush a small amount onto the outer frames only, taking care to avoid excess eggwash from dripping over the edge of the dough or inside the scored line (which would seal the pastry layers together and prevent them from puffing); discard or store remaining egg.

Divide the grated cheese onto the centers of each piece of puff pastry. Bake for 10–14 minutes, or until tarts are puffy and golden. 

Immediately tear up burrata and divide evenly among the baked tarts, allowing the residual heat to melt it slightly. Roughly tear prosciutto and place onto the tarts, then drizzle pesto over each. Top with pomegranate arils and garnish with fresh basil leaves.

Thank you so much to Filippo Berio for sponsoring this recipe! Visit their website to learn more about their authentic olive oils, made to the highest quality standard of excellence and craftsmanship.