AmyK, Author at hello kelinda

May 3, 2016

Pickled Jalapeños

I’m not a big fan of pickled things. That puckering sour, vinegar flavor isn’t one that I particularly enjoy, and I’ve been known to methodically extract all evidence of pickled carrots from my banh mis and run away from anyone who even tries to put relish on my hot dogs. Those monsters.

But there is one big exception to my pickle aversion: pickled peppers. I feel like the vinegar in pickled peppers helps make them a sweeter and the heat more tolerable, and pickled peppers sliced reeeeally thin make a great accent to rich, fatty foods (like the aforementioned hot dogs). In this case, I pickled some jalapenos just to use in my Texas-style kolaches.

Make these about a month out from when you’ll want to use them, though these have been sitting in my fridge for three months and are still plenty happy. Also, I usually throw in whatever fresh herbs I happen to have around, which means a sprig of rosemary here and some garlic chives there, though I’ve kept it out of the recipe for you. Just know that’s an option! I’ve also used white vinegar instead of white wine vinegar before and they still came out delicious.

AmyK

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March 9, 2016

Remy’s Ratatouille (aka Confit Byaldi)

What is the best movie Pixar has ever made?

If you answered with anything other than Ratatouille, you are wrong. Sorry, but it’s not my fault you have lived a life built on errors and lies all these years.

Busted.

I love movies about food, like Big Night, Romantics Anonymous, Chef, Haute Cuisine, and on and on. That said, there are also bad movies about food where it seems like everyone involved in the production of the film wouldn’t even be able to undertake the production of a ham sandwich. I’m looking at you, No Reservations. Shame on everyone involved in that sad-sack romcom.

But Ratatouille! This is an excellent food movie, and I love it more every time I watch it. It is far more charming than any story about an animated rat cooking in a professional kitchen has any right to be. It captures the joy of creating something, whether new or from someone else’s instructions, and sharing that creation with the people you love.

AmyK

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March 6, 2016

I’m Aliiiiiiive! And Some Focaccia, I Guess

I’ve had a cold all week, and have made and eaten so much chicken noodle soup that I’m pretty sure all of my blood has now been replaced with broth. Oy. After all of this, if one of my coworkers so much coughs within a 15 radius of me, they are definitely getting Lysol-ed in the face.

But finally, finally, I am on the mend. And the only thing I wanted after days of soup, soup, and more soup was a good piece of bread. I talked about the comfort of sandwich bread before, but this time I wanted something a little more interesting. Something to wake my mouth up from its chicken broth slumber. Something like focaccia!

I love focaccia. It’s fluffy and crusty, fairly simple to make (if a bit time-consuming with all the proofing and whatnot), and you can top it with all manner of delicious things. It also makes a decent “sandwich” bread if you slice it in half, but the fact that it’s soaked in olive oil will make eating that sandwich a messy experience. But I am shameless, so that never stops me, muahahahahahahaahahaha!!!!

AmyK

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February 25, 2016

Pao de Queijo (aka Brazilian Cheese Bread)

“Why do I have so much Parmesan cheese.”

I’m a serial Forgetter of What I Already Have, and Buyer of Things I Already Own when it comes to food items. I once ended up with multiple bottles of coriander seeds because I always forgot I already had it in my pantry, and then there was also the “Three Jars of Peanut Butter” incident. And now I found myself with six hunks of Parmesan cheese.

I love cheese, but six pieces of Parmesan is still a bit… excessive. I knew I had to cull my collection, especially before any of them tragically sprouted fuzzy mold. And after a quick rummage through my pantry rack yielded a bag of tapioca flour, I knew a nice batch of pao de queijo was in order.

Oops.

Pao de queijo is a snack-sized Brazilian cheese bread, which I first had at my (Brazilian) high-school boyfriend’s home. His mom bought them frozen and would pop a few into the oven several times a day so that there was always a supply of them on the kitchen island for snacking. Now fast forward several (okay, many) years later, and I found myself making them in a cooking class, and learning that these are insanely easy to whip up. And also a great way to use up surplus cheese, should you ever find yourself in the luxury of that situation.

These are bite-sized and chewy (thanks to the use of tapioca flour), and though it does use a good two cups of cheese, is actually pretty mild on the cheese taste — though that may depend on what kind of cheese you use. I’ve had the most success using hard cheeses like Parmesan, and I think Parm is the usual cheese of choice for these unless you can get your mitts on more traditionally Brazilian cheeses, though I also like to mix in a bit of Pecorino as well because I just like Pecorino, okay?

Everything comes together in a blender, making assembly and cleanup a breeze. More time for eating, I’d say.

AmyK

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February 21, 2016

Turnip’s Panna Cotta with Roasted Green Grapes in Honey

It has been a rough week. A little over a month ago, I adopted a little green cheek conure named Turnip. He was energetic, sweet, charming, and an absolute weirdo — but long story short, despite the weeks and weeks of working with him (on my own and with a parrot behavior specialist), he was unhappy whenever I’d have to leave him to go to work, run errands, or basically do anything other than be right there with him. He apparently made a big fuss whenever I was gone, and so he had to be rehomed for the sake of his own sanity and that of my neighbors.

We had bonded fantastically, to the point where if he was getting outside time and I left the room to go attend to something else and took “too long” to return, he’d come searching for me. There have been more than one occasion when I was in the kitchen washing up only to find him crawling up my leg like a little feathery Spider-Man. Awwww.

AmyK

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February 2, 2016

Turkey Lettuce Cups

Like most of the American population, one of my goals for the new year is to make healthier eating decisions. You know, like maybe not eating a dozen cookies a night, as tragic as that sounds. But I also don’t want to hate being alive, so perhaps my new eating guidelines won’t be as strict as someone with more willpower, or who lost their tastebuds in a fire.

I don’t agree with extreme dieting, where you cut out all that is good and delicious from your life and replace it an endless parade of tedious salads and boiled chicken. I mean, what if I get hit by a bus? I don’t want to die at a moment when my most salacious fantasy is of eating a cheeseburger, you guys.

With that said, here is a healthier lunch option that doesn’t skimp on the flavor: tangy turkey lettuce cups. It’s white meat (lean protein!) and there’s plenty of vegetables involved to keep things colorful and crunchy. Also, it reheats nicely so you can pack it away for a not-so-boring desk lunch the next day.

AmyK

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January 31, 2016

Turkish Coffee Brownies

Roses are red
Violets are blue
And chocolate is brown.

Poetry: I am bad at it.

Buuuuut Valentine’s Day is coming up! Or as I like to call it, Discount Candy Eve. And because Chris Evans still hasn’t shown up at my door bearing many treats in his big, strong arms (very rude, Chris, why do you hurt me), I guess I’ll be doting upon the next best Valentine’s Day date: myself. And if there’s one thing I know I like, it is chocolate.

Awww shucks, I shouldn’t have.

AmyK

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November 29, 2015

Chess Pie, Which Isn’t the Same Thing As Simply Playing Chess On a Pie, So Don’t Try That

Hello, friends! I trust all of you spent your long Thanksgiving weekend eating excessive amounts of food (as is one’s patriotic duty on the last Thursday of November). I made five dishes — three of which were potato-based — and spent it at home alone marathon watching The Great British Baking Show. And yes, I planned it that way, and yes, it was relaxing and glorious and no one was around to say anything about the fact that I chose to drink my wine out of a tumbler with a bendy straw.

But now, it’s time to get cracking because the holiday season insanity has begun! If you’ve got many a potluck to attend, consider making pie as your contribution. You can make it ahead of time, transporting them isn’t as precarious as transporting a crock pot full of scalding hot brisket, and there are as many varieties of delicious pies to choose from as the day is long.

Confession: I am not very good at making pies. Or rather, I am not very good at making pie crusts. But I am a firm believer of homemade pie crusts no matter how rubbish they may end up looking (and trust me, I’ve made some pretty rubbish-looking ones) because they will always, always taste better than the premade, store-bought kind. Trust me. You can do this.

This is a chess pie. I don’t know why it’s called that and am far too lazy to Google it myself, so you’ll have to do that investigation on your own. But I do know that it’s something I’ve had a few times when I lived in Texas, where non-fruit pies are commonplace year-round. The filling is a sweet golden custard, with just a little bit of crunch on the top. All of this is cradled inside a thin buttery crust. Yum.

AmyK

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November 23, 2015

Basic Masala Chai

Ah yes, a chill is in the air and the Gray Blanket Cloud of Winter has rolled officially rolled over Seattle, where it will likely remain until May. Hooooraaaaaay.

But what’s the point of shaking your fist at the gloom when there’s nothing you can really do about it, short of dragging the Earth closer to the sun — which, I am told, by the way, would have catastrophic consequences?

On these blue winter days, I like to make a hot cup of chai and curl up by a window to do some reading. Because the one upside of drab winter days is that there is no shame in taking it easy and not even bothering to change out of your favorite cat pajamas for an entire 24 hours. People just understand.

And while I love a sweet Starbucks/coffeeshop chai just as much as the next person, making your own at home is super easy once you’ve got your arsenal of spices at the ready. And in the winter when gingerbread and fruitcakes and pies are getting churned out of nearly every kitchen, it’s likely you already have all the ingredients for a great hot chai.

AmyK

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October 28, 2015

SpOoOoOoky Pandan Chiffon Cake

Okay, that title is only there because it’s almost Halloween. This isn’t that spooky, but what you see here is a green cake, made without dyes or magic spells or any other kind of tomfoolery. That pallor is all natural, baby, thanks to the pandan leaf.

Pandan, also called screwpine, is a common “flavoring agent” (meaning it infuses things, but you don’t really eat the leaf itself — kind of like a bay leaf) in Southeast Asian cuisine, and one of my favorite pandan employments is in pandan chiffon cake. It’s fragrant in the way that excellent Jasmine rice is fragrant, and just a little coconut-y. In fact, cooks often bump up the coconut-ish flavor with additional coconut milk, which I definitely did here.

Cooking with whole pandan can be kind of an ordeal, but it is absolutely worth the effort if you’re always looking for a barely-sweet, light, almost angel food-like cake to have in the mornings with your coffee or tea. If your city has a big Asian grocery store — preferably a Chinese or Vietnamese one because my Japanese supermarket didn’t have this, but the Chinese one did — go there and look around the frozen vegetables section; that’s where I found the frozen pandan leaves I used here. With whole pandan, you can get that beautiful green hue without food coloring! Pandan extract can also work when whole pandan isn’t available, but be warned that it can also be a bit cloying and artificial-tasting. Bummer.

The trick is cut your pandan leaves up into half-inch pieces, then blitz it all in a blender with some water. The recipe I followed (linked below) said to only use a few tablespoons of water, but my blender pitched a fit over that so I ended up using about a cup of water for the entire thing and still got plenty of pandan flavor and green coloring. Read more

AmyK

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