AmyK, Author at hello kelinda

September 10, 2014

Broccoli and Pecorino Pasta

This past weekend was blazingly hot, like the departing summer sun was leaning in to give Seattle a big ol’ hug before it inevitably ignores us for the fall and winter. As a result, the ambient temperature of my apartment reached levels that were previously only recorded inside of active volcanoes.

And that’s where I ran into this little dilemma — the last thing I wanted to do was turn on my stove, but the only thing in the world I wanted to eat was pasta. That’s how my mind works, folks, like the time I decided to walk in a blizzard because I wanted ice cream. Sigh. Simmering a nice red sauce on the stove was out of the question, but what can be done instead? This can be done instead.

I found this recipe on Epicurious years ago, and it’s something I find myself making over and over again. It’s so simple and easy, and best of all, requires minimal stove time. Just long enough to boil whatever pasta suits your fancy plus a minute more for the broccoli to get all nice and soft, et voilà — dinner is served.

AmyK

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September 8, 2014

Clementine Cake

I love when birthdays roll around — it gives me an excuse to whip up a special cake that might seem too weirdly decadent when the only other occasion is “It is Tuesday.” This month, my wonderful friend Samantha celebrated her survival of another year, thanks in no small part to the absence of overnight zombie apocalypses and/or spontaneous raptor attacks (though I also suspect she’d handle herself juuuust fine in either of those scenarios).

Samantha is also living the gluten-free life, so I made sure her birthday cake was devoid of those pesky flour products. But I didn’t want to just make a cake that tastes good “for a gluten-free dessert,” which is like saying that Leprechaun: In the Hood is good for a movie about a leprechaun in the hood. Just because something is good for what it is doesn’t mean it’s actually good. In my eyes, a truly successful dish is one that is great and wonderful all on its own, to the point where you don’t even notice it is vegetarian, or dairy-free, or is made entirely of kale and corrugated cardboard. Now that is a culinary homerun.

That is why I arrived here at this lovely citrus cake by Nigella Lawson — it is gluten-free, but it isn’t just delicious for a gluten-free cake — it is delicious in general. And that, my friends, is how you do it. And to add to the list of Reasons Why You Should Make This Cake, consider this novel concept: to get all that juicy clementine flavor, this cake uses three entire clementines, peel and all. Whoa.

AmyK

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September 4, 2014

Buttermilk Biscuits

Labor Day weekend has come and gone, and you know, I honestly have no idea what people usually do on Labor Day weekend (buy mattresses at low, low prices, maybe?). I went hiking to Wallace Falls outside of Seattle, and it was beautiful. And also crowded. So I guess what people usually do on Labor Day weekend is hike Wallace Falls. Hmmm…

After the hike, I was completely drained of all energy, and what I could have used was a biscuit. An outrageously buttery biscuit full of carbs and energy and how was that for a segue?

Now, I’m pretty sure it’s a legal requirement to be way into buttermilk biscuits if you were born and raised in the South. But in my two-plus decades in Texas, I had never met anyone who made biscuits from scratch. It seemed like everyone I knew just bought the canned Pillsbury version instead, claiming that proper biscuits are too difficult to make. They talked about having to freeze the dough at random points, or brush layers with butter, or keep the mixing bowls and whatnot in the fridge so it’d all stay cold — what?

AmyK

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August 25, 2014

Challah French Toast

I admittedly have not really been cooking these past two weeks, and I don’t even have a good reason for it. It’s like I had suddenly reverted back to my college self, having nothing but ramen and instant miso soup for dinner and playing a lot of bad acoustic guitar. (You guys should hear my rendition of “Don’t Dream It’s Over,” it’s excellent. And by “excellent,” I do mean “really awful.”)

But yesterday, I broke the streak by making a monstrous loaf of challah.

Breakfast will always be my favorite meal of the day, though I rarely eat it during actual designated breakfast hours (TOO EARLY, PEOPLE). The food served before noon is so delightfully decadent and absurd; we don’t bat an eye to crispy pieces of fatty bacon, or to stacks of flat cakes smothered in syrup. It’s breakfast, after all, the most important meal of the day.

AmyK

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August 11, 2014

Soy Sauce Poached Chicken and Eggs + Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce

This isn’t something you’d likely find on the menu at a Chinese restaurant. It’s too simple, too rustic, too every day. It’s the sort of thing families cook at home, but not the sort of thing they’d whip up to impress paying guests because it’s decidedly not all that impressive.

All the more pity because then fewer people would think of making this when it comes to cooking Chinese food at home, and it’s so easy. This dish doesn’t even involve a wok or a clay pot, and there’s only one potentially “weird” ingredient that you may have trouble finding at a regular grocery store (and even that ingredient is optional, though you really should try to find it. Like, really.)

(REALLY.)

I make this for dinner myself on the regular. Though this is poached in soy sauce, which sounds like it’d be a salt bomb, the soy sauce is actually pretty watered down and further tempered with a bit of sugar. It just infuses the otherwise plain boiled eggs with a savory, salty flavor, and let’s face it, boiled chicken runs the risk of being blander than packing foam, so the soy sauce simmering gives it a much-needed flavor boost.

AmyK

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August 4, 2014

Avocado Paletas

I spent most of last week kicking back in Sunriver, Oregon. You guys, that place is incredible. The sky is vast, and so unmarred by big city light pollution and skyscrapers that at night, the stars look like powdered sugar dusted onto black velvet. And during the day, the sun warms the forests so that everywhere the air smells slightly of pine.

I’ve returned now to Seattle with remnants of many mosquito bites, a wicked farmer’s tan, and a hankering for these avocado paletas (or popsicles, if you will). Something about the high desert climate of Sunriver made me think of these. The hot, arid days there just demand something light and refreshing, but not overwhelmingly sweet like your traditional ice creams and sorbets. Enter the avocado.

I know. Avocado? In a dessert? But trust me, it makes sense. This won’t taste like you just froze some guacamole and put it on a stick. Think about the flavor of an avocado by itself — cool, kind of like a luxurious cucumber. Add in just a bit of simple syrup and lime for tang, and oh my. Summer treat heaven.
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AmyK

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July 21, 2014

Picnic-Ready Pole Beans & Chicken Salad

Ah, summertime. The sun is out and we’re all lying around the beach indulging in glamorous champagne picnics. Or, maybe we don’t live in The Great Gatsby and/or Narnia, so maybe our summer outdoor dining experiences don’t involve butlers and buckets of perfectly chilled bubbly. Booo.

But hey, we don’t need all that. What we do need is excellent company, a venue relatively free of mosquitoes, and delicious, portable food. I’m sure you’ve got the first part covered, so I’ll help out with the third. (And uh, throw me a line when you’ve got the second part figured out because that one I’m still struggling with. *slaps mosquito*)

This luscious bean and chicken salad makes use of the in-season pole beans springing up in gardens and markets everywhere, and it has the added bonus of being more refined than hastily assembled sandwiches. The beans are barely cooked through so they stay nice and crisp, and the garlicky aioli adds a nice kick and binds everything together. The bits of roasted chicken tucked inside… well, who doesn’t love roast chicken? (If you have someone in mind, don’t trust that person.)
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AmyK

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July 18, 2014

Salt & Pepper Tofu

I know plenty of people who find tofu terrifying. It’s this weird, beige, jiggly block of something that smells vaguely like stale water — what are you supposed to do with it? I’ll tell you what you’re not supposed to do: eat it plain, straight from the packaging. I know a few traumatized folks who have done just that, the fools. They’re now convinced that tofu is a culinary abomination, but dear reader, this does not have to be your fate.

So what are you supposed to do? I propose that you fry it. And then dust it in a delectable concoction of salt, peppers, and ginger powder so you end up with a tasty, fluffy nugget of goodness. It will make a tofu believer out of you and it will take less than 30 minutes to put together.

But why tofu at all, instead of chicken or pork, or anything else? Because tofu is an excellent vehicle for showcasing rather subtle flavors instead of overpowering them with its own tofu-ness, is super fast to cook, is vegetarian-friendly in case you’re ever going meatless, and the texture just sings with this particular dish — slightly crisp on the outside, and pillowy on the inside. Oh yes.

AmyK

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July 14, 2014

Light, Fluffy Pound Cake

When I saw Deb’s recipe on Smitten Kitchen for a lighter, fluffier pound cake, I knew I had to give it a whirl. A pound cake that won’t be so dense and rich that it tastes like delicious regret? SOLD. I like pound cake, but I think I’d like pound cake even more if it wasn’t so assertive in reminding me that it contained a approximately a pound each of butter, flour, sugar, and eggs.

Delusion — I like to live my life in it sometimes.

Luckily, a friend’s birthday was coming up, giving me the perfect excuse to whip up a cake. But why is it that you need a reason to make a cake anyhow? Like if you made some cookies just for the hell of it, people would just all agree on the greatness of homemade cookies. But if you made a cake for no reason, all of a sudden it’s like “You’ve got a problem, do you need to talk to someone?” It’s unjust.

This recipe makes one regular-sized loaf of cake, or two mason jar cakes and one adorable mini-loaf. I sent the tagged jar to Atlanta, where I hope my currently sugar-free friend broke her fast for her own birthday or at least was able to give it to a pro-sugar buddy.

AmyK

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July 14, 2014

Challah Bread

Bread is a wonderful thing, and I contend that there are few smells more alluring, inviting, and all-around wonderful than the scent of baking bread. I have made a few breads before, like coconut loaves and dinner rolls, but few things beat the tender, well, breadiness of challah.

Make no mistake, making bread can be a bit of a challenge if it’s not something you do often (or ever), but this recipe from Einet Admony’s incredible Balaboosta cookbook is approachable enough even for total bread newbies. Unlike some other recipes I’ve followed before, there are no starter doughs or anything of that ilk. You just need some brawn for kneading and looooots of time for proofing. Keep your courage! The payoff to your toils will be so worth it.

I made just a few changes to the original recipe. I use olive oil instead of canola because when I first made this, I only had olive oil on hand. The same goes for the honey and brown sugar substitute in place of plain white sugar or honey. All desperate substitutions initially, but I happened to like how it all ended up, so I’m sticking with it.

AmyK

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