sides Archives - hello kelinda

May 2, 2017

Pan-Blistered Shishito Peppers

The first time I ever had charred shishito peppers was at Umi Sake House in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood, and it blew my mind. A friend had ordered it to share, and when it arrived, I definitely looked at the small pile of peppers with a great deal of skepticism.

Peppers? As an appetizer? Wouldn’t that, you know, hurt to eat? But you guys, it… well, it does hurt. Sometimes. I wouldn’t lie to you. This is a place of honesty and trust, after all. But mostly, the peppers are an insanely addictive combination of sweet and bitter, with just a small dose of heat. Except for sometimes, like I mentioned, when it is a large dose of heat. But they always seem to be the minority, and in any case I think it just heightens the experience when you have no idea if you’ll come across a “surprise pepper” that lays on the napalm inside your mouth. Does that not sound great to you?

No? Just me?

Fine.

AmyK

Poached Turnips

Turnips. No one gets excited about them. Whenever someone says they’re bringing turnips to the company potluck, no one shouts “AWESOME!”, and approximately zero spontaneous rounds of high-fives break out. Turnips just don’t elicit the kind of yearning that vegetables like potatoes do. Turnips don’t even grace pre-packaged vegetable platters like carrots and celery, nor are they used as ornamental garnishes in fancy salads like radishes. Poor turnips.

But why? Why is it neglected and so often overlooked? Turnips, after all, are packed with vitamins, are entirely edible from bulb to leafy greens, and may I say, they’re even a little bit sexy.

So shapely, oh myyyyy.

But most importantly, they are tasty. That is, as long as you stick with wee, tender little bebbeh turnips.
Read more

AmyK

Roasted and Charred Broccoli with Peanuts

Do you guys subscribe to food magazines? Or pick any up from the grocery store check-out? Do people even read things on paper anymore? I somehow found myself with a subscription to Bon Appetit, though I don’t remember signing up for it. I can’t complain — I much prefer getting that in the mail each month as opposed to my light bill or those AOL subscription CDs if this were 1999.

But even though I get Bon Appetit in the mail and usually pick up Saveur and Lucky Peach each month, I have a habit of bookmarking recipes and then forgetting about them. Whoops. So to remedy that problem, I figured I’d share at least one recipe from them each month as a way to actually use them. Hooray!

AmyK

2 Comments

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