Thoughts on approaching this week’s box from subscriber Conne Ward Cameron.
Am I the only one somewhat nervously eating a bowl of popcorn while watching election returns?
Let’s turn our attention to vegetables. And fruit.
That Napa cabbage, for example. I love what we’ve posted about storing it at https://grassfedcow.com/
There are a baker’s dozen recipes there, of which that slaw with tahini dressing just might be my favorite. I grew up with a mom whose family came from Syria. We were the only one of my friends with a can of tahini in the pantry, but my mom used that exclusively for making baba ghanoush and hummus. There was never a thought of using it in any other way.
Now, I’m baking tahini cookies and making tahini dressings and we’re all thinking of it as just another nut butter. Who’d have thought that tahini would become so commonplace?
I’ve got two recipe ideas for you tonight – both from alexandracooks.com, a blog I find myself going to time after time. Alexandra Stafford wrote “Bread, Toast, Crumbs” and everything I make from her cookbook or blog just seems to turn out beautifully.
Recently I’ve been playing around with her Okonomiyai (cabbage pancakes). I used the bok choy from a few weeks ago in that recipe. Traditionally it would be made with green cabbage, but you know, the bok choy worked perfectly. And I realized this recipe could be adapted to any green or vegetable like sweet potatoes or daikon or mustard greens or kale. You make an eggy, loose pancake batter, then you fill it with whatever vegetables you like. I enjoyed these for dinner but they were just as delicious for breakfast the next day. Here’s the basic recipe.
Okonomiyai (cabbage pancakes)
Her note: Adapted from a recipe on Food52, these pancakes are simple to throw together and make delicious use of an abundance of cabbage. I use 4 times the amount of cabbage called for in the original recipe (8 cups as opposed to 2), and I omit the shrimp, though I imagine the addition of shrimp would be very tasty. I like these with a soy dipping sauce (as opposed to a mayonnaise-based one). The one below is one I’ve been using for years, but feel free to use your own.
For the pancakes:
5 eggs
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon sea salt, plus more for seasoning
1/3 cup flour
8 cups finely shredded cabbage
1 bunch scallions, trimmed and chopped, to yield about a heaping cup
For the soy dipping sauce:
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons mirin
1 teaspoon hot chili sauce or Sriracha, optional
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar
Canola, grapeseed, or other neutral oil for frying
In a large mixing bowl, whisk eggs with the soy sauce, sesame oil, and salt.. Gradually add the flour until incorporated. Fold in cabbage and scallions..
Make the sauce: combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of water. Set aside.
In a large sauté pan, warm a couple tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat until glistening. Pinch batter with hands and carefully drop the mounds into the oil—in a large skillet, you should be able to fry 4 at a time. Lower the heat to medium. Cook on each side for about 3 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a paper-towel lined plate and season lightly with salt. Serve with soy-dipping sauce.
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Those pretty apples make me want to bake a cake and this apple cake recipe has been on her blog since 2009 and has so many positive comments. I’ll bake mine tomorrow. It’s a recipe she adapted from one in the New York Times.
Balzano Apple Cake
1 stick butter, plus more for greasing pan
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean
4 Fuji apples
1/2 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt such as fleur de sel (or 1/2 tsp. kosher salt)
1/2 cup milk at room temperature
powdered sugar
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a nine-inch-circle pan with butter. Cut a circle of parchment paper to fit the bottom of the pan and place inside pan.. Grease sides of pan and parchment round with butter.
Melt butter in small saucepan. Set aside. Beat together eggs and half of sugar in a bowl. Continue to beat while slowly adding remaining sugar until thick — it should form a ribbon when dropped from spoon.
Split vanilla bean in half lengthwise. Scrape seeds into the egg-sugar mixture and add pod to melted butter.
Peel apples and cut straight down around the core into four big chunks. Discard the core then slice the apple pieces thinly.
Remove vanilla pod from butter and discard. Stir butter into sugar-egg mixture. Combine flour, salt and baking powder, then stir into batter alternating with the milk. Stir in apples, coating every piece with batter. Pour batter into pan.
Bake for 25 minutes, then rotate the pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes more, but not for much longer, or until cake pulls away slightly from the pan and is brown on top. Cool for at least 30 minutes, then cut into wedges sprinkling each with powdered sugar if desired.