Name: Easy Tomato Sauce Recipe (Plus Tomato Beef Pasta Bake!) @LoveYourFood
Uploaded: 2026-09-20T08:17:00-05:00
Duration: 8 min 17 s
Description: Easy Tomato Sauce Recipe (Plus Tomato Beef Pasta Bake!)

Easy Tomato Sauce Recipe (Plus Tomato Beef Pasta Bake!)

LoveYourFood 2026-09-20 | Easy Tomato Sauce Recipe (Plus Tomato Beef Pasta Bake!)

Delicious Flourless Fruit-and-Oat Loaf Recipe

LoveYourFood 2024-06-13 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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This flourless fruit-and-oat loaf is a bit like a coffeecake or a cobbler with a high fiber and reasonably high protein content and only a small amount of simple sugar. To lower the glycemic index even further, soluble dietary fiber supplements may be added as well. In the video, we use diced apple and some frozen blueberries and strawberries, but the recipe is incredibly flexible and could accommodate all sorts of different fruit: peach or rhubarb could be used instead of apple, and any sort of berries will work in this recipe. One could even use a cup or so of grated pumpkin in place of the apple and a cup of cranberries for the berries, maybe add some pumpkin-pie spices, and end up with quite a fall-themed oat loaf.

This cake comes out moist. If you don’t want to use wheat flour, considering powdering some oats in a food processor and using the resulting oat flour to dust the buttered pan in order to help the cake release. Another option is to line the pan with parchment; if using a loaf pan, orient the paper so that it goes up and down the long sides of the pan as well as across the bottom. This will help to ensure the cake comes out whole.

Once the cake is finished, it may be eaten as it is, decorated with more berries and possibly powdered sugar or whipped cream. Since it is halfway to French toast already, it is also lovely griddled with butter in a non-stick pan. We have had it as part of a breakfast plate accompanied by fried eggs. To get really fancy, serve it griddled with marsala sabayon (zabaglione) and poached eggs, as a sort of fruity Benedict.

Makes enough for 12 slices, one 9x4x2” loaf.

Equipment:
 bread pan or other baking dish, buttered, optionally parchment-lined, dusted with flour
 cooling rack
 large mixing bowl
 scraping spatula

Ingredients:
1 1⁄2 cup rolled oats quick will also work; steel-cut will not
1 cup water hot; optionally sub in 1-2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 ea eggs
2-4 Tbsp sweetener ~2 if using erythritol or stevia; we used 3 Tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup yogurt plain; thicker (strained) may be better
1/4 cup butter half a stick; melted and allowed to cool to room temp
1 ea apple peeled or skin grated off; diced; about 1 to 1 1/3 cup
2-4 oz berries about a half cup by volume
1/2 Tbsp baking powder

Procedure:
1. Preheat the oven to 360F.
2. Add the hot water to the oats and allow to stand for about ten minutes. It is not necessary for the water to be boiling. If the baking powder is added while the oats are too hot, it will be activated which is not desirable.
3. When melting the butter, stop before the knob is completely melted and allow butter to melt while carrying-over from its heating, to avoid getting it too hot.
4. Prepare the apple by peeling (and discarding) or grating off (and including) its skin, then making half-inch dice.
5. Once the oats have stood until hydrated and gooey, stir in the eggs, butter, vanilla, yogurt, sweetener and baking powder.
6. Combine all the batter elements thoroughly.
7. Add in the chopped fruit and berries and stir everything together to distribute.
8. Pour the cake batter into the prepared baking pan, optionally placed on a sheet pan, and into the center of the 360F oven for 50-70 minutes.
9. The cake is done when the top edges are starting to pull away from the pan, and a skewer or toothpick comes out clean: perhaps greasy but not wet.
10. Place the cake pan on a cooling rack and allow to set for 10 minutes, the turn the cake out onto the rack to finish cooling.
11. Slice and enjoy cold, with our without garnish, or griddle in a pan with butter to toast. Store leftovers at room temperature for up to 48 hours, or refrigerated for a week, or frozen for longer.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Crispy Pan-fried Shrimp and Pork Patties Recipe

LoveYourFood 2024-06-06 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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This is a modified version of a recipe we found on a south Asian cooking blog. We cut the recipe in half and omit the sugar. The resulting breaded, fried patties are delicious with the pineapple plum sauce we made in a recent video, and some mango-jicama slaw or other fresh, crunchy salad. Of course they can also be paired with rice, or rice-and-peas, if desired.

When using a regular chicken egg to make this recipe, the meat mixture comes out very loose. The egg might be omitted, perhaps adding a tablespoon of water or milk if the mixture seems too stiff. A quail egg, or a peewee chicken egg, is probably about the right size. Or, if making enough to serve a larger group (of 4-6 people), double everything but the egg. Raw breaded patties may be arranged on a lined sheet pan and frozen for future use, though they may need to fry for an extra minute or two per side.

Makes enough for 6 patties.

Equipment:
 cast-iron or similar pan for shallow frying
 pie tin or similar for breading patties
 cheese grater or (small) food processor

Ingredients:
1/4 lb shrimp peeled, deveined
1/4 lb pork ground
1/2 Tbsp fish sauce
1 ea onion small, or a shallot
2 Tbsp bread crumbs
1 ea egg optional; very small or 1 Tbsp water
1/2 cup panko for breading
1 cup veg oil for frying

Procedure:
1. Set up the oil to warm for low-temp frying while getting the patties ready.
2. The shrimp may be reduced to a paste in a food processor if you have a small one suitable for the purpose, but they may also be minced with a knife.
3. Grate the onion on the large holes of a cheese grater, or use the same food processor as used with the shrimp, after removing the shrimp paste from it.
4. Combine the minced shrimp and ground pork in a bowl with the fish sauce, onion, regular breadcrumbs and optional egg or alternate.
5. Mix everything together thoroughly with clean hands until it is homogeneous.
6. Taking a sixth of the mixture at a time, make patties by dropping the material into the panko and letting it spread, then turning it over. A flipping spatula may be necessary to turn the raw patties over in the breading, and if so, to get them into the hot oil also.
7. We were able to fry three patties at once, for about 5 minutes a side. Using a low temperature ensures that the patties will cook through before the breading takes on too much color.
8. Allow cooked patties to drain on a wire rack. Lightly salt immediately after removing if desired.
9. Enjoy the fried patties immediately with some crunchy salad or slaw, pineapple plum sauce, avocado crema, or whatever suggests itself as a good topping.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Classic Homemade Pot Roast Recipe

LoveYourFood 2024-05-30 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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Pot roast is an American stand-by because it is easy to make with commonly-available tools and because it involves a large chunk of beef. Though we use our roast whole, it is perfectly acceptable to break the beef down into pieces big enough for just one or two portions, in order to have more browned surface area. Traditionally, the browned beef is then braised in a covered pot, along with beef stock, mirepoix, root vegetables, and aromatics. Optionally, red wine, demi-glace, or other enhancements may be used. Any sort of beef which will benefit from slow-cooking is a good option for pot roast.

Because it is pot roast, I cut the carrots into large slabs. Also left large are the parsnips and potatoes. Small enough baby potatoes may be left whole, just make sure to scrub them well.

Like most soups, stews and braised dishes, this one is generally better left over, so make it a day ahead. Warm it in a pan or a skillet. A technique that I often use is to saute some mushrooms, placing just the meat for the evening’s meals into the skillet with everything else. This will ensure the beef is warmed through and it will also impart color to the cut faces of the meat. Once the mushrooms and other late additions are cooked properly, the rest of the pot roast elements such as the gravy and the large root vegetables may be added to the pan to warm before serving.

Makes enough for 8-10 servings.

Equipment:
 large dutch oven
 skillet or saucepan for re-warming

Ingredients:
1-3 lb beef roast blade, sirloin tip, chuck
2-4 ea potatoes or 14-16 baby potatoes; ~1 lb
1-2 ea carrot cut into large pieces
1-2 ea parsnip cut into large pieces
1-2 ea onion cut to half-inch slices
1 ea leek including all usable green parts
2-4 cloves garlic whole or cut in large chunks
1 rib celery
1 quart beef stock
2-4 Tbsp demi-glace optional
1/4 cup red wine optional; something you want to drink; use up to a whole bottle
1/2 lb mushrooms to saute at serving-time

Procedure:
1. Preheat the oven to 275F.
2. Heat the dutch oven over a medium flame with a little olive oil.
3. Season the meat with salt and pepper and brown it on all sides. If you’re using cast iron, searing is a good option. In an enamel dutch oven like we used, lower heat is recommended to protect the finish.
4. Scrub the potatoes and carrots well; it is not necessary to peel them.
5. Clean and peel the parsnips.
6. Cut the potatoes, parsnips and carrots into large pieces. Set aside.
7. If using a fresh leek, wash it thoroughly. Cut it thin across the grain on a cutting board containing nothing else. If it is still gritty after cutting, put it all in a large mixing bowl with water, and use a strainer to lift it from the water, repeating until no longer gritty. Set the leeks aside separately from the root veg; it can go with the garlic.
8. Rinse the celery and slice it thin across the grain. Set it aside with the leeks.
9. Once the meat has been browned on all sides, remove it from the pan temporarily.
10. Place the potatoes cut-side-down onto the fond in the bottom of the pan. Add the onion and the other root veg, putting as many cut faces as possible into contact with the fond on the bottom of the pan, and covering the bottom of the pan so that the meat will be held up by the veg.
11. Toss together and add in the leek-aromatic mix.
12. Arrange the seared beef atop all the vegetables.
13. Pour over the beef stock and optional red wine.
14. Once the broth is a bit warm, add the optional demi-glace and stir it so that it is dissolved into the broth.
15. Bring everything to a simmer, then place the covered dutch oven into the center of the preheated 275F oven for 1.5 – 3 hr.
16. The pot roast is done when the meat is fork-tender, or just shy of it. Leftovers will get a little more cooking; sometimes it’s important to take that into account.
17. Allow the pot roast to cool and then store it in one or more tightly-lidded containers.
18. To serve, slice off an appropriate portion of beef and let it sit in a skillet with some butter and sliced mushrooms, while the mushrooms get a good brown color on them, and so will the beef.
19. Add in an appropriate portion of the root veg and gravy of the pot roast, so it can all warm with the meat and mushrooms.
20. If desired, the broth may be allowed to reduce au sec, with optional cognac, and then made into a butter sauce by the addition of some cold butter, possibly also brunoise shallots and fines herbes. This is delicious but much less healthy and so should be reserved for special occasions.
21. Garnish with chopped parsley (or more fines herbes) and serve with a toasted wedge of campagne, or other hearty bread.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Classic Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing Recipe

LoveYourFood 2024-05-23 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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This is a time-honored classic, and there is a little bit of a variability in how it is made. Like all old recipes, there are a few different interpretations, but on the other hand, this dressing is really only good with spinach, or perhaps with some other green that’s very much like spinach, like young Swiss chard. We use brown sugar, but I’ve seen recipes which use the same quantity of honey or white sugar – anything sweet will work. The bacon pieces, in the warm sour-sweet dressing made from the bacon grease and vinegar create a lovely harmony with the raw mushrooms and boiled eggs. It is not recommended to leave out any of these essential elements.

The bacon will take 20 minutes or so to render over medium-low heat. This method will produce a lovely crispy bacon which still has enough substance to be nice in the salad. The bacon might be rendered in advance, since we sweat the shallot in the grease before adding it to the dressing. For those who really enjoy onion, thinly sliced red onion might be added to the greens without sweating, in which case the grease would need to be warmed on its own before mixing into the dressing.

The spinach and mushrooms should be ready before the dressing is finished, and then it should be poured over the greens so they can be tossed in the warm dressing, and possibly wilt a little bit. Garnish the plated salad with sliced boiled egg to avoid breaking the egg up messily. Don’t try to save any leftovers.

Makes enough for 2-3 people.

Equipment:
 large salad bowl
 glass measuring cup if bowl is metal
 egg-slicer (optional but recommended)

Ingredients:
8-10 oz spinach leaves clean and dry
2-3 ea eggs boiled hard or medium-soft; one per person
4 strips bacon render and reserve grease
3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar
1 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
3-4 ea large mushrooms
1 ea shallot or 1-2 Tbsp red onion

Procedure:
1. Ensure spinach is clean and will be dry by the time it is dressed.
2. Boil the eggs to your taste, whether hard-boiled or with their yolks left a bit jammy.
3. Render the bacon over medium-low heat, taking about 10 minutes per side or perhaps a bit longer, until the strips are crispy but not overly dark.
4. Prepare the base of the dressing in a non-reactive salad bowl or a glass measuring cup by whisking together the vinegar, sugar and mustard. (Don’t let the vinegar mixture sit in a metal vessel for an extended period.)
5. Once it is time to dress the salad, warm up 3 Tbsp of bacon grease and use it to sweat the shallot without getting any color on it.
6. Crumble the bacon, slice the mushrooms and peel the boiled eggs.
7. Pour the hot grease and shallots into the dressing-base and whisk together, then immediately use it to dress the spinach leaves and sliced mushrooms.
8. Season the salad with salt and pepper and toss it with the bacon pieces.
9. Arrange the salad on two or three plates, and then garnish with sliced boiled egg; if the eggs are left especially runny then it may make more sense to cut them into quarters.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Rich and Delicious Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing Recipe

LoveYourFood 2024-05-16 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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Another timeless classic, carrot cake is one of those cakes that get made a bunch of different ways. This version uses rum-soaked raisins and crushed pineapple in addition to shredded carrot. It’s not necessary to use rum to soak the raisins, but for the best results, they should be soaked in something; orange juice, apple juice, vanilla extract (pricy!) or even water can be used for soaking them. Set the raisins up to soak at least 12 hours in advance of making the cake. A good reason to use rum is that it can sit at room temperature without risk of spoilage. In the end product, we were unable to detect any alcoholic flavor from the rum-soaked raisins we used.

Also let the cream cheese and butter used for the icing sit out to come to room temperature before using them to make icing. If the finished icing gets refrigerated after making it, make sure to get it out and let it come to room temperature also before using it to ice the cake. Similarly, make sure to toast the walnuts early enough for them to cool before trying to stick them into the icing, because hot walnuts will cause the icing to melt and that will not work out well.

Because we try to keep our consumption of sweets under tight control, this recipe amounts to a half-recipe of a normal carrot cake formula. If you want to make a complete 9” carrot cake, double this recipe. As written, this recipe should make one 9” cake round, or a pan of 12 cupcakes/muffins, or perhaps 8 mini-loaves if you have a mini-loaf pans like we used in the recipe. The finished cake freezes just fine, as does the icing, so if you want to spread out your carrot cakes over a period of time, just freeze whatever you’re not going to eat immediately. Cakes (cakelets) could even be frozen after being iced and otherwise completed, if desired. The walnuts will suffer a little bit from freezing, but everything else should work just fine.

Makes one 9” round cake layer, or 12 muffins, or 8 mini-loaves.

Equipment:
 three mixing bowls, two should be large if possible
 baking pan, according to desired form factor
 stout rubber scraping spatula
 (mini) offset spatula, optional but recommended, for applying icing

Ingredients:
3 cup carrot shredded
1/4 - 1/2 cup brown sugar or date syrup
1/2 cup raisins soaked
2 ea eggs room temperature
1/2 - 3/4 cup sugar granulated
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup crushed pineapple drained
1 1/2 cup AP flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger dried, ground
1 pinch nutmeg
1 pinch clove
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup walnuts divided; toasted; half go into the cake, half are used for garnish

Icing:
1/2 lb cream cheese one box
1/4 cup butter half a stick
2 cup powdered sugar
3/4 tsp vanilla
to taste salt

Procedure:
1. Shred the carrot and combine it with the soaked raisins, brown sugar or syrup, and the pineapple. Let it sit for an hour to draw moisture out of the carrot.
2. Toast the walnuts to perfection. Set aside up to 16 perfect whole halves of walnuts for garnish, if desired. Chop the rest.
3. Butter and flour the cake pan and set it aside.
4. Preheat the oven to 350F.
5. In a mixing bowl, which need not be large, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and all the spices.
6. In a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs, white sugar, vegetable oil and vanilla and beat the mixture to the ribbon.
7. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture, and fold together. Halfway through, add half a cup of chopped walnuts.
8. Pour the cake into the prepared pan and place it into the center of the preheated oven. Remember to rotate the pan halfway though if your oven heats unevenly (as most do).
9. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
10. Meanwhile, prepare the icing by combining the icing ingredients in a large mixing bowl and then combine using a spatula. This works much better than whipping with a whisk. Set aside the icing or refrigerate it if it won’t be used the same day it’s made.
11. When the cake comes out of the oven, let it rest in its pan for about 10 minutes then turn it out onto a rack to cool completely.
12. Once completely cool, the cake may be iced or wrapped tightly and frozen for future use.
13. Mini-loaves may be trimmed, sliced in half, filled with icing and chopped toasted walnuts, and then iced on top (and even on the sides, if desired) as well. Or, they (or muffins) may just be iced on top.
14. Decorate the iced cake with either chopped toasted walnuts, or some of those reserved toasted walnut halves.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Spicy Tangy Pineapple Plum Sauce Recipe

LoveYourFood 2024-05-09 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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Plum sauce has become a rather broad term generally referring to fruit-based “sweet and sour” sauces. There are a lot of different variations of this recipe, some using salted preserved plums, which is probably where the name comes from. The goal is to produce a sweet, tangy, piquant sauce which will enhance crispy, fried items such as spring rolls, fried wontons or crab rangoon. A lot of different fruit will work; I have heard that a major local brand uses a great deal of pumpkin to make their plum sauce, for instance.

The important thing for this sauce is to ensure that the sourness balances with the sweetness. Put a bit onto a saucer in order to let it cool a bit in order to taste it, and adjust the seasoning as needed, using sugar, vinegar, or fruit juice to get a sweeter or more tangy sauce.

The sauce freezes well, or keeps for a week or two in the fridge. Optionally, its texture can be made silkier and thicker by the addition of about a tablespoon of corn starch, which may be easier to dissolve if it is first made into a slurry with a tablespoon or two of water or juice, and added toward the end.

Makes about 2 cups.

Equipment:
 small saucepan
 immersion blender
 sieve (optional)

Ingredients:
1 cup plums sweet
1/4 cup apricot or 1/4 cup apricot preserves
1/2 cup crushed pineapple drained
1/4 cup pineapple juice
3 Tbsp date syrup or other syrup, or brown sugar
3 Tbsp cider vinegar or white vinegar
1 tsp garlic
1 ea dried chili flaked
to taste salt

Procedure:
1. If necessary, prepare the fruit by washing, drying, removing pits. Cut into one-inch chunks.
2. Combine all but the dried chili into the saucepan and bring to a simmer.
3. Once the elements are soft enough to puree properly, use an immersion blender to make the sauce as smooth as possible.
4. If need be, simmer the sauce a bit longer to reduce it as much as desired. As noted above, cornstarch can be used for a bit of thickness and will also impart a particular texture.
5. In order to get the sauce really smooth, pass it through a sieve.
6. Stir in the chili flakes.
7. Allow the sauce to cool at least to room temperature before using it.
8. Salt the sauce to taste once it has cooled.
9. Store it in a tighly-lidded container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks of the freezer for longer.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Rich and Hearty Spinach Beet Barley Soup Recipe

LoveYourFood 2024-05-02 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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A new approach I’ve taken to daily meals is to try to ensure that I can have soup for the last meal of the day. This is helpful for various things, among them making it easier to get supper together each night, and also keeping my hydration level up. With that in mind, I usually try to make the initial soup very chunky, so that I can take two cups of it and dilute with about a cup-and-a-half of water, and get enough to feed two people. So, this soup will probably come out pretty chunky, and I recommend diluting it with one of water, tomato juice, veg or beef stock before eating it.

Getting a good toast on the barley helps to add depth of flavor to the soup. I find that while roasting, my pot barley grains release a fair amount of vapor, which looks a bit like smoke but does not smell like burning. Also, it would be possible to substitute in Swiss chard or kale instead of spinach with little change in the soup’s flavor profile. If you want to store leftover soup for longer than about a week, be sure to put it into containers that can go into the freezer, rather than into bottles.

Makes enough for 10-12 people, roughly 3 quarts before dilution.

Equipment:
 large soup pot
 sheet pan or pie tin for toasting barley

Ingredients:
1 lb beets red
1 ea onion large
1 ea carrot
2 ribs celery
1 ea shallot
2-4 cloves garlic
1 ea leek optional; use both white and green parts, well-washed
1 ea spring garlic optional; this unusual ingredient is nice to have
1/2 lb fresh spinach thoroughly washed and drained
1/4 cup barley pot or pearl barley will both work
1 quart beef stock or a dark, toasty veg stock
1 can tomatoes 28oz

Procedure:
1. Wash the vegetables really well. In the case of the leeks and spring garlic, sometimes they must be sliced before washing in order to ensure all the sand comes out.
2. Peel the beets, since their skin is very tough. Peel carrots if desired.
3. Cut the beets and carrots to 1/2” dice.
4. Slice the celery and optional leek to about 1/4” wide strips across the grain.
5. Slice the spring garlic and shallots quite thinly.
6. Small dice the onion.
7. Leave small garlic cloves whole or cut each into halves or quarters depending on how large they are.
8. Get all the veg, apart from the spinach, into the soup pot with a bit of olive oil to sweat for fifteen or twenty minutes with the lid on so that all the vegetables can start to soften.
9. Meanwhile, toast the barley until it’s got a nice dark color and is quite toasty. The shade of a light or medium roast of coffee is the goal.
10. Once the veg have sweated sufficiently, so that the onions and celery have become translucent, add the tomatoes and the stock.
11. Allow the soup to come to a simmer, and let it cook for 30 minutes.
12. Add the barley and allow the soup to simmer 15 minutes more, until the beets have softened enough to be a pleasant texture for eating.
13. Cross-cut the spinach leaves at a reasonable width, a little less than half and inch wide, and add them to the soup.
14. Take the soup off the heat and allow it to cool.
15. Store the cooled soup for future use.
16. Soup is nearly always better the next day, but some can be taken out of the pot while still warm and finished in order to eat it the same day it’s made.
17. To finish the soup, dilute some of it nearly half-and-half with water, stock or tomato juice.
18. Taste the soup and season to perfection with salt, pepper, Tabasco, soy sauce (or Worchestershire), possibly lemon juice, until it tastes good to you. I found that with this earthy soup, I did not want to use lemon juice.
19. Serve with a nice, hearty piece of toast.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Easy Delicious Homemade Beignet Recipe

LoveYourFood 2024-04-25 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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Beignets are probably most famous for going with coffee at the Cafe du Monde in New Orleans, Louisiana. They are a simple, rustic French version of donuts. The dough is essentially an enriched, sweet bread dough. It is flattened out and cut into squares and deep fried. Unlike regular donuts, beignets do not normally have a central hole. Properly made they are incredibly fluffy and delightful.

The dough for beignets will be pretty sticky. Once it has had a good chance (2 hours, or overnight in the fridge) to rise, turn it out onto a well-floured surface to work with it. We chose to divide it in half before cutting it into squares, but if your work surface is large enough, cut it all into squares, and freeze those you don’t want to cook immediately. Later, the frozen squares may be allowed to quickly thaw (they are thin so it takes an hour or less), and then be deep-fried whenever one wants beignets. How dangerous!

Beignets are not very good left over, so try to cook only as many as you want to eat. Dust them with powdered sugar immediately after they come out of the oil so that the sugar may form the proper sort of coating on the outside. We have had good luck using a 6:1 powdered sugar / cocoa powder mix; feel free to experiment with adding other fine powders to the coating to suit your own tastes.

Makes enough for 16 people, roughly 48 beignets.

Equipment:
 deep frying setup
 pastry board or clean countertop for spreading out the dough
 stand mixer
 mixing bowl or large glass measuring cup

Ingredients:
3 3/4 cup flour bread or AP
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp instant yeast or one packet active dry yeast, proved w/ water and sugar
3/4 cup water warm (~105F)
1/2 cup milk room temp
1 ea large egg
2 tsp vanilla or sub 1 Tbsp of sugar with vanilla sugar
1 tsp salt added late
4 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup powdered sugar for dusting or tossing

Procedure:
1. If using active dry yeast, combine a tablespoon of the sugar with the warm water and the yeast and allow to sit 5-10 minutes until the mixture becomes frothy, proving that the yeast is alive and vigorous.
2. Place the egg into a mixing bowl or measuring cup and beat it, adding in the yeast, water, sugar, milk and vanilla.
3. Place the flour into the stand mixer bowl, and then add the wet ingredient mix.
4. Using the dough hook, mix at a medium-low speed until the dough comes together. It will probably be necessary to stop the mixer two or three times to scrape down the sides and turn over the material at the bottom of the bowl.
5. Once the dough has just come together, let it sit for 10 minutes to allow the flour to fully hydrate.
6. Add the salt and mix to combine.
7. Add the butter to the mixer a little at a time, letting each addition be incorporated into the dough before adding more. Don’t forget to scrape down the bowl occasionally.
8. The dough may seem very sticky once it is done mixing, but it should be coherent enough to be pulling away from the sides even if it is very stuck on the bottom of the bowl.
9. Allow the fully-mixed dough to rise about two hours at room temperature, until it about doubles in size.
10. Set up the deep frying gear and let it come to 360F while finishing the beignets.
11. Turn the sticky dough out onto a well-floured surface and de-gas it while also spreading it out into a rectangle about 1/2” thick. If need be, divide the dough mound in half and form the beignets in two rounds, or freeze part of it for later.
12. Using a bench scraper or ideally a pizza cutter, cut the 1/2” thick dough into ~2” squares.
13. Line up any extra squares of dough on a parchment-lined sheet pan and freeze them. Once frozen, they may be stored in a bag or similar, in a deep freezer. It’s better not to keep them in a conventional freezer for too long, where they should stay on a pan in order to avoid them gluing themselves to their neighbors during defrost cycles.
14. Drop the squares of dough into the hot oil and let them fry for 30-45 seconds per side.
15. Drain cooked beignets on a wire rack, and dust immediately with powdered sugar, or toss in a bowl of powdered sugar for a more serious coating.
16. Enjoy while still warm, but be careful not to burn your mouth.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Coconut Chia Barley Tea Recipe - Vegan

LoveYourFood 2024-04-18 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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This homemade alternative to bubble tea is delicious and quite healthy. The base recipe contains no added sugar and a great deal of dietary fiber. It’s easy to make and only involves a few ingredients, the most processed of which will be some sort of “milk” – dairy milk or cream will work, but coconut milk is what we choose to use. Other alternative milks such as almond, oat or soy milk will also work just fine. Similarly regular tea will work in place of barley tea, for those who would rather have a caffeinated beverage.

Our drink is pretty simple as presented but it could be modified variously to get different results. Using a milk such as coconut cream or condensed milk will make it very sweet. Egg custard or pastry cream chunks could be added, or cubes of any sort of gelatin including grass jelly.

Once the chia is added to the tea, it needs to soak for at least 24 and preferably more like 36 hours in order for all the chia to hydrate completely, so be sure to make it a bit ahead of when you want to use it.

Makes one quart of chia barley tea, enough for 1.5 quarts of finished beverage.

Equipment:
 quart-sized container suitable for brewing the tea
 quart jar for storing the tea with the chia in it
 glasses and optionally straws

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp pot barley
2 Tbsp chia seed
1 scoop inulin powder optional
1 quart water
1 can coconut milk usually 14 oz
to taste ice

Procedure:
1. Roast the raw pot barley to a lovely dark brown color about as dark as coffee.
2. Coarsely grind the roasted barley in a mill or mortar and pestle.
3. Place the barley (and optionally the inulin) into the brewing vessel.
4. Pour a quart of boiling water over the barley.
5. Let the barley tea stand for at least 30 minutes.
6. Strain the barley chunks from the tea and discard.
7. Place chia seeds into the barley tea and let them soak.
8. Once the tea is cool enough to refrigerate, put it into the fridge to chill at least overnight, but preferably for 36 hours.
9. To serve, combine the tea 2:1 with coconut milk, or if the entire batch is to be served, just mix all the tea with an entire can of coconut milk and divide it up.
10. This beverage is delicious both cold and hot.
11. Please note that once opened, coconut milk does not keep for very long, so be sure to finish it within a day.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Rich and Delicious Wilted Spinach in Lemon Cream Sauce Recipe

LoveYourFood 2024-04-11 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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This simple recipe goes well with rich foods, despite the cream in the sauce, and so is a good option for making plates that seem really luxurious since it will still bring a sense of lightness with its white wine lemon cream sauce.

What looks like a lot of fresh spinach will wilt down to a small amount in the pan, as the video will demonstrate. A half-pound of fresh spinach is enough for 2 or 3 people, but the recipe is easy to scale up. Make sure the spinach is completely clean as it usually comes from the field quite dirty. If it has to be washed, try to get it as dry as possible also before adding it to the sauce.

Any leftovers from this dish are probably best used as part of something else, rather than reheated and eaten on their own. That said, the sauced leaves could be placed on a pizza before baking, or included into saag paneer, or used in any number of creative ways.

Makes enough for 2-3 people, about 2 cups.

Equipment:
 medium to large skillet
 tongs which are appropriate for the skillet

Ingredients:
1/2 pound spinach fresh, washed, as dry as possible
2-4 Tbsp cream
2 Tbsp white wine the good stuff
1 Tbsp lemon juice
to taste salt and pepper

Procedure:
1. Over medium-high heat, bring the wine and lemon juice to a boil.
2. Add the cream and allow the mixture to reduce until the bubbles become large and the sauce is nappe.
3. Add the raw, fresh, dry spinach leaves and allow them to wilt. Salt minimally at first.
4. After a short time, the bottom wilted leaves coated with hot cream sauce may be turned over onto the top of the pile, to encourage everything to wilt.
5. Once all the leaves are wilted, taste to adjust seasoning, and serve.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Easy Homemade Light and Fluffy Lemon Cookies Recipe

LoveYourFood 2024-04-04 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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This recipe makes a lovely, soft, cakey lemon cookie. We don’t like them super-sweet, so we generally hold back in the sugar department. If you make this cookie and think it isn’t sweet enough, then next time increase the sugar by half, up to double what’s written. Also, as you can see in the thumbnail, in order to get a powder coating, the powdered sugar must be applied quite generously; only the few spots with really a lot of powdered sugar show white. In order to spruce up the appearance of the finished cookie, rather than powdered sugar, it could be rolled in sprinkles or sanding sugar. Alternately, an icing may be applied to the tops of the cookies.

This cookie should not take on an obviously golden-brown toasted color in the oven, though having a crispy bottom is quite nice. We found that they took about 13 minutes at 350F. Depending on your oven, it might be anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes. Look for the dough to appear dry just above the pan as a tell that the cookies are probably done. Let finished cookies stand on the pan 2 minutes and then use a spatula to place them on a rack to finish cooling. Wait until they’re done cooling to enjoy them.

Makes 16 to 24 cookies.

Equipment:
 large bowl
 medium bowl
 lined sheet pan(s)
 handheld mixer (optional) – this recipe is probably too small for a stand mixer

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter room temperature
2 ea lemons’ zest
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 ea eggs room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup AP flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
powdered sugar for rolling dough balls; optional

Procedure:
1. Place the flour, baking powder and salt together in the medium bowl and mix thoroughly.
2. Cream the butter, sugar and lemon zest together in the large mixing bowl.
3. Beat in the eggs, lemon juice and vanilla.
4. Stir in the combined dry ingredients, but don’t overmix. The resulting dough will be sticky.
5. Chill the dough, preferably in metal, for at least half an hour, but not overnight.
6. Once ready to roll and bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350F.
7. The batch should make 16 biggish cookies, or 24 smaller ones. Roll either 1.25” balls, or slightly under 1”.
8. Roll the balls in your preferred garnish. Powdered sugar may need to be thick to remain visible.
9. Place the balls spaced out on sheet pans, 8 or 12 to a pan.
10. Lightly squash the dough balls so that they spread out a little. A patterned surface may be used to shape the tops of the cookies somewhat.
11. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes at 350F.
12. Remove cookies from the oven and let them sit 2 min on their sheet to set.
13. Use a spatula to remove cookies from the sheet and transfer them to a rack.
14. Cool completely before serving.
15. Store extra cookies in an airtight container for a day or two. Store unbaked, squashed dough balls in the freezer for 6-12 months. Allow them to thaw fully before baking, or start at 15 minutes baking time.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Homemade Crispy Red Lentil Patties Recipe

LoveYourFood 2024-03-28 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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Lentils are an ancient food from the cradle of humanity and as such humans have discovered many different interesting things to do with them. Red lentils are really the endosperm of the lentil seed, with the skin and other bits removed. Because they lack the rugged tissues of other lentils, they can be turned into a paste quite easily and molded into patties. These patties can be baked or fried; we prefer frying as they can become quite dry and pasty when baked.

Red lentils have a mildly earthy flavor of their own, but are basically bland. They can take a lot of seasoning, so we add a number of aromatic ingredients in order to make sure that the patties are tasty. Each cook should think about their own palate and the overall dish and adjust the seasonings accordingly. The use of mushroom powder helps to give the finished product more umami while the addition of inulin and acacia gum powders introduce even more healthy dietary fiber while also helping to hold the moisture of the soaked lentils in suspension; chia meal could be substituted. Flour may also be used for this purpose but it brings nothing advantageous to the party. Chickpea or almond flour may be used, contain more protein, and also contribute something to the flavor of the patties.

After pureeing the lentils, make sure to chill the mixture before forming it. Working with cold lentil paste is much easier than the alternative. Unfried patties may be stored in the fridge overnight between layers of wax paper or foil. Freeze them if you want to store them for longer, and let them thaw overnight in the fridge before frying.

Makes enough for 4 people – 8 patties.

Equipment:
 large mixing bowl
 food processor
 skillet for shallow frying (cast iron is an excellent choice)

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup red lentils rinsed well and soaked 2+ hr in cold water
1 ea shallot
1-4 clove garlic
1/4 cup dried mushrooms reduced to powder; probably 2 Tbsp mushroom powder
2 Tbsp onion powder
1-3 tsp cumin seed
1 Tbsp mustard seed optional
1-3 ea cardamom pods optional; use only the pips within
2-4 Tbsp flour or 1/2 Tbsp inulin powder + 1 Tbsp acacia gum powder
1 ea dried chili optional; chipotle or ancho are both good choices

Procedure:
1. Rinse the lentils thoroughly, until the water pours off clear and with a minimum of foam.
2. Make sure to soak the lentils in advance, well-covered by cold water as they will swell.
3. Prepare the shallot by removing skin and roots and chopping into a few large pieces.
4. Place all the whole dried mushroom pieces and spices into the spice grinder and turn it all into powder.
5. Drain the lentils as well as possible.
6. Place soaked lentils, and all the other ingredients into the food processor and reduce it to a paste. It’s okay for there to be a few whole lentils left, but it should be processed enough to be moldable into patties.
7. Scrape the lentil paste out into a container so it can go under refrigeration to stiffen up before molding. A pie tin is a good choice since it conducts heat well and makes dividing the paste into 8 when it comes time to form the patties.
8. After at least an hour chilling, divide the lentil paste into 8 equal portions and form them into 3-4” patties.
9. Optionally, press a few sesame seeds into each face of each patty.
10. Fry the patties for 3-4 minutes per side in oil which comes at least halfway up the patties – probably about a cup of oil in a 9” cast iron skillet.
11. Drain the patties on a rack or crumpled paper towel. Salt them immediately.
12. Serve with some salad or slaw, hummus or baba ganouj, fermented pickles, toum or basbaas. They’re quite versatile so feel free to experiment.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Fermented Twice-Fried French Fries Recipe - Viral Tiktok Food Hack!

LoveYourFood 2024-03-21 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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Here’s an interesting idea: naturally ferment potato before frying it. The process of natural fermentation consumes the readily-available sugars and simple starches in and especially on the pieces of potato. This means that when they are cooked, they take on color from caramelization much more slowly. It also means that their flavor is enhanced in complexity. A longer fermentation period will lend more ferment-funk to the food, so for those who aren’t a huge fan but still want to try this process for its other benefits, try starting the ferment at room temperature for 24 hr and then placing the culture into the fridge until it’s time to use it. We have let it stand at room temp for up to 5 days and find that the fermented flavors are nearly imperceptible.

As with all naturally fermented items it is important to work with clean hands, tools and materials. It is also of vital importance that at least the minimum concentration of 2.5% salt by weight be maintained across the entire culture. Since we are putting a salt brine around large pieces of potato, we will use a 5% salt brine solution, assuming that it will be about half of the mass of the culture.

When it is time to use the fermented potatoes, rinse them off thoroughly and then pat them dry before placing them into the fry oil. As with normal fries, they turn out better if they are twice-fried – first at a lower temperature, gaining no color but allowing some gelatinization of the starch, and then again (after chilling, ideally) in hotter oil to crisp up their outside surfaces and make them fluffy inside.

Makes enough for 2-3 people, roughly a pound.

Equipment:
 small saucepan
 non-reactive fermentation vessel: e.g. 1 quart glass canning jar(s), pickle crock
 deep frying setup including draining/cooling rack

Ingredients:
2 ea potatoes Russet or similar – starchy potatoes; about a pound
500 ml water or 250ml w/ 250g of ice ready to go
25 g salt close enough to 5%

Procedure:
1. Place salt and water into a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Chill. If using ice, add the ice once the water has boiled and is off the heat.
2. Scrub the potatoes under running water to get the skin really clean. Fermentation works best if the skin is left on.
3. Cut the potatoes to desired size for fries.
4. Store cut potatoes in fresh water while working.
5. Once the brine has cooled to room temperature, drain any fresh water off the potato pieces and pour the brine over the potatoes so they’re covered.
6. Allow to sit, loosely-lidded, at room temperature for at least a day to allow the culture to get going. If you have other naturally-fermented pickles, you may innoculate the potato culture with some of that brine, in order to ensure that LABs get going quickly on the potatoes. This technique also works if you really don’t want potato skin on your fries.
7. Once the potatoes have fermented satisfactorily – about a week at room temp, probably can stand to go for longer in the fridge – drain them and rinse them well, and pat them dry.
8. For the first frying, keep the oil around 325F or so, and fry in batches for about 4 minutes each, or so. You may be able to see evidence of starch gelatinization, but they should not take on color.
9. Allow them to cool completely on a rack.
10. Place them in a sealed container and chill them – refrigeration or freezing are both fine. Some research suggests that freezing results in even-fluffier fries, but chilling of some sort is essential for the fries to have an excellent texture.
11. When you’re ready to eat the fries, fry them again from cold at around 360F or so. This time they should take on color but they will do so more slowly than normal fries, which makes it a lot easier to ensure they’re all properly cooked.
12. Apply any desired seasonings to the fries the moment they come out of the fryer.
13. Serve and enjoy warm, perhaps with some homemade ketchup or spicy mayo made from a fermented hot pepper relish.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Quick, Fresh, and Tangy Avocado Salsa Recipe

LoveYourFood 2024-03-15 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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Perhaps the very best-known avocado sauce is guacamole, which would also work very well in many cases where one might also use a sauce (salsa or chutney) made from this recipe. However, by adding some additional elements we can extend the avocado and create a more complex flavor. The recipes I would normally use for avacado salsa in a Tex-Mex or Cal-Mex context or for avocado-cilantro chutney in an Indian context are so similar that I thought it reasonable to present them as one recipe with a couple of different options.

Generally the chutney would not contain any dairy, and might often contain some other herbs (such as mint) also. Typically I’d use crema fresca in the salsa version, and perhaps omit any hot peppers so that the sauce can be used to cool the mouth down after other spicy food, but each cook is of course at liberty to spice up whatever they like. Either of these sauces can be thinned out with lime juice, and the salsa can have extra crema to stretch it out and make it a little looser.

The sauce lasts a few days in the fridge. Avocado is notorious for becoming colored as it oxidizes. This will be slowed down by the acid in the sauces, but it will probably turn brown slowly and so it should be used up quickly.

Makes enough for 6-8 servings.

Equipment:
 blender of some variety

Ingredients:
1 ea avocado ripe
1-2 ea limes juice
1/2 cup cilantro measured after chopping
1-2 ea serrano minced; substitute fermented green pepper relish if need be
1/4 cup crema fresca for the salsa variant; sub creme fraiche or sour cream to taste salt

Procedure:
1. Add all ingredients to the blender and puree together until smooth.
2. Adjust consistency with any liquid in the recipe.
3. Adjust seasoning with salt, etc, as needed.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Homemade Crispy Mushroom Flautas Recipe

LoveYourFood 2024-03-07 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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The flauta is named for its long, cylindrical shape. They are flour tortillas wrapped around filling and deep-fried. If one were to make one’s own tortillas for this purpose, one might choose to make them elliptical in order to make longer flautas with less overlap of tortilla in the final roll. We use store-bought “flour tortillas” which for us means a product which is labelled as a roti wrap, but which to me is indistinguishable from a decent pre-made flour tortilla. The products marketed in our region as “flour tortillas” are quite inferior.

These turn out better if they are not filled too much. We made only 5 of these with our tortillas and we really should have made six; the first couple were slightly overfilled, which is hard to gauge. They should not be so that the fry oil comes at least halfway up their sides.

These can come out of the fry oil onto a rack or to a wrinkled, layered paper towel to cool. They should be eaten while still warm, garnished with pico de gallo and some sort of interesting sauce, such as our avocado sauce (salsa style) or just excellent crema.

Makes enough for 3-6 people, roughly 6 flautas.

Equipment:
 skillet with half-inch of fry oil
 one toothpick per flauta

Ingredients:
1 ea onion small dice
1-2 cloves garlic minced; optional
1 ea poblano pepper small dice
1/2 lb mushrooms divided; half chopped small, half sliced thick
~6 ea flour tortillas
1 cup pepperjack cheese grated

Procedure:
1. Cut and hot-sweat the onion, pepper, mushrooms and optional garlic until it is soft and at most slightly colored.
2. Push the chopped and sweated vegetables to the side and put the sliced mushroom into the pan to brown over another 5-10 minutes, to get each piece some nice color on at least one side, but not reducing the slices to thinness – the flautas are much nicer if there are some meaty bites of mushroom.
3. Roll a sixth of the cheese and filling into each tortilla, or if that seems like a lot for the tortilla, get a couple more and make 8 flautas instead. Whether to make more (or fewer) flautas may depend on the size of the onion(s) and pepper(s) used. Also, refried beans may also be added to these flautas, which will extend the other fillings.
4. Secure each flauta with a toothpick as you finish rolling it.
5. Fry the flautas in batches in a skillet with about a half-inch of oil in it. After about 3 minutes flip the flautas so that they can toast and crisp on both sides.
6. Allow fried flautas to rest on a rack or wrinkled paper towel stack so the oil can drain and the flauta can cool enough to be edible.
7. Serve with a side-salad and/or other traditional Tex-Mex side dishes, pico de gallo, crema fresca, and perhaps some other more exciting sauce such as avocado salsa.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Need to take a short, unscheduled break! Well be back soon!

LoveYourFood 2024-02-22 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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Sorry we've got to take a short break! We'll be back as usual in a couple of weeks with all new recipes and some amazing food!

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Sweet Crispy Date Pecan Doughnut Bao Recipe

LoveYourFood 2024-02-08 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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I think that the flavors of well-toasted pecans and dates go so well together, and I thought since everything is better deep-fried, why not try making a fried bao, essentially a donut, with a center made from dates and toasted pecans? In the end, I included feta cheese as well in order to get a little creaminess, a little sourness and a little complexity into the filling. For those who’d rather avoid adding dairy, the donuts are excellent without it also. The date-pecan mixture is definitely the star of the show.

The bao dough recipe is included here: youtu.be/ozE6Sh96rjM

It is much easier to wrap the ball of filling in the dough if the balls are chilled, so that they don’t fall apart too easily. For the dough, almost any dough with the right consistency would work, so choose your favorite donut or bao dough as either should work. In our video we used bao dough.

Some effort should be made to try to center the filling inside the dough. One way is, after stretching the dough around and sealing it, go back to the “top” side, and gather dough back in that direction, since often the “bottom” – where the sides of the dough met during sealing – is much thicker after sealing up the filling inside. Be careful in doing this, and make sure that the seal is very good, so that you won’t just pull it apart. Our dough turned out to be really sticky this time so it was no problem, but if yours isn’t that sticky use some water to wet it where it will seal, so that it really glues together.

Makes 8 bao.

Equipment:
 mixing bowl for filling, can be on the small side
 pastry board or other suitable work surface
 deep-frying or basic pan-frying setup

Ingredients:
1 batch bao dough ~2 c flour – if your recipe uses more, it will make more bao
4 ea Medjool dates roughly half a date per bao
8-10 halves pecan toasted well but not burned; should be one good piece per bao
1 oz feta ~2 Tbsp; optional

Procedure:
1. Let the dough come to room temperature if it has been fermenting in the fridge.
2. Toast the pecan halves. In a regular oven at 350F this can take 5-10 minutes. In our new highly computerized toaster oven it takes 2 min at 350 F, but it has such a narrow compartment that the elements are very close to the food.
3. Set up the frying rig so the oil can warm. Depending on your cooking schedule, you may prefer to do it later.
4. Remove the seeds from the dates and carefully mince them in order to get them into small pieces without getting date mush all over your knife and cutting board. Add it to the mixing bowl.
5. Once cool, chop the pecan pieces so that few large chunks remain, but do not make a powder. Add it to the mixing bowl.
6. If using feta cheese, flake it with a fork. Add it to the mixing bowl.
7. Mix the contents of the mixing bowl well. This may require using your hands to avoid getting the ingredients stuck in a fork. There isn’t much of it, so try not to lose too much on the utensils.
8. Make the filling into 8 balls about the size of a large marble. Chill them briefly in the freezer or for longer in the fridge, depending on your scheduling needs.
9. Divide the now-workable dough into eight pieces by successive division into halves.
10. Stretch each piece of dough around a filling-ball, and make sure the exterior is floured enough to make handling easy.
11. Fry them 4 or so at a time until they are golden-brown and delicious on both sides. Drain on a rack.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Homemade Buttery Sourdough Naan Recipe

LoveYourFood 2024-02-01 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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Naan is the very well-known flatbread from the Indian subcontinent which is typically cooked by sticking it to the inside of a tandoor oven. Ours is made with sourdough discard and also yogurt for a double-dose of lactic sourness. The yogurt also results in a lovely silky texture.

It’s a good idea to make sure that your sourdough starter-discard be allowed to come to room temperature before using. If you keep some starter at room temperature at all times, just feed it the night before you want to use it to make naan. If you forget, feeding it early in the morning should also be sufficient. We use 100% hydration starter, which means it is composed of equal parts water and wheat flour by weight.

The recipe is written in volumetric quantities, with weights included as well. Generally, using weights gets a more reliable result. If you need to let the finished dough sit for longer than a couple hours, it is a good idea to refrigerate it so that it doesn’t over-proof. Let it come back to room temp before proceeding to shape and cook it.

Makes enough for 8 small or 4 large disks of naan.

Equipment:
 well-seasoned cast-iron skillet or griddle (can also be made on a grill, of or course in a tandoor)
 stand mixer (recommended) or large mixing bowl
 mixing bowl for dry ingredients
 pastry board or large, clean expanse of countertop for handling bread

Ingredients:
1 cup sourdough starter discard 215 g
1/2 cup milk 115 g; warm
1/4 cup yogurt 65 g
2 cup AP flour 265 g
1 tsp baking powder 5 g; use a teaspoon unless your scale is awesome
1 tsp salt 5 g; again, use a teaspoon for better accuracy for small amounts
5 Tbsp butter melted; paint onto dough before placing into the pan

Procedure:
1. In the stand mixer bowl, mix the wet ingredients together well: starter/discard, milk and yogurt.
2. In a small to medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking powder well.
3. Add the dry ingredients atop the wet and use the dough hook to mix it together into a shaggy dough. It should be fully combined, sticky, not necessary smooth.
4. Cover it (it can stay in the mixer bowl) and let it rest 2-3 hours until it springs back well when poked.
5. Place it back onto the stand mixer and knead with the dough hook for about 2 minutes at speed 4, until the dough is degassed and silky-smooth. It should not take long.
6. Preheat the cast-iron to a medium temperature.
7. Divide the dough into either quarters or further to eighths. If you don’t want to cook all of it at once, wrap the dough balls you don’t need and freeze them.
8. The dough balls which are getting cooked can either be rolled out with a pin, or can be spread out into disks with the hands, a bit like pizza dough. The latter process tends to produce a thinner center and thicker margins, which comes out a bit more like naan made in restaurants, while using a rolling pin produces bread more similar to pita.
9. Coat one side of the dough circle with melted butter and place it butter-side-down into the pan to cook. Smaller pieces need about a minute per side; larger pieces need more like 2 minutes, but this will depend on how hot the pan is, also.
10. Butter the upper, raw face of the dough circle while the first side cooks, the turn it over and let it finish cooking on the other side.
11. Stack up finished naans to keep them warm. If they need to stay warm for longer put the stack into the oven at its lowest setting (ours goes down to 170F which is a good temperature).
12. We’ve never had leftover cooked naan, but it should freeze alright and come back okay in the microwave, perhaps with a short toast afterwards to restore a bit of external texture.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Homemade Black Forest (Mini) Cake Recipe

LoveYourFood 2024-01-25 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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Black Forest cake is one of those iconic, traditional cakes that has a lot of name recognition. Here, we present an approach for making a mini version since unless you have a large family or group to entertain, you may not wish to create an entire full-sized cake. If you do wish to do so, the basic instructions herein will serve as a guide but the amounts will be correspondingly greater. (For instance, you might bake the cake as two 9” rounds, then slice each one in half into two disks half as thick, to get four total layers, and need a full quart of cream to cover everything, 1/2 lb of chocolate for ganache, twice as much cherry jam, etc.)

At its most basic, the cake is made of layers of chocolate sponge, the fudgier the better. Ideally, kirsch (cherry brandy) is used to moisten the layers. Cherry “jam”, more like a thick sour-cherry compote, is also applied to the top of each moistened layer. Then, the layers are assembled with whipped cream between them and also covering the top and sides of the cake. Once frosted, the cake is frozen so that chocolate ganache may be poured over it without melting the whipped cream. (NB: it is better to make whipped cream from heavy cream for this, rather than using canned whipped cream as it will not hold up as well.) Once completed, the ganache should not be frozen or the chocolate will bloom and lose its shine. The cake may be refrigerated while the layers and cream continue to thaw, and then be served within a day or two of being completed.

Makes enough for 3-4 people, one 4-5” round by 6” tall mini stovepipe cake.

Equipment:
 sheet pan for baking the chocolate sheet cake
 4” circular cutter (or relatively simple shape of your choice)
 saucepan
 metal mixing bowl which fits on top of saucepan (for double boiler)
 offset spatula (small may be preferable for a small cake)
 optional blender or similar for whipping cream; otherwise a whisk

Ingredients:
3 circles chocolate cake from a box is fine; bake as a sheet and punch out circles after cooling
2 cup heavy cream Divided: 1 1/2 cup for the cake and 1/2 cup for the ganache
1/2 lb Ranier cherries “sour” cherries
1/4 cup sugar simmer with cherries until slightly thickened, then cool
1/4 lb Baker’s chocolate semi-sweet or less; bittersweet is excellent
1/4 cup Kirsch or cognac we keep cognac but not kirsch and it worked quite well

Procedure:
1. In advance, simmer the cherries with the sugar to create a “jam” – pectin is not required, but the sugar should be inverted by boiling and the cherry juice allowed to reduce to produce a slightly-thickened cherry compote which will be spread upon the cake layers. Allow it to cool completely before using it to construct the cake.
2. Ideally, to get the cake’s lines perfect, one uses a cake-ring, a metal tube the cake is assembled within. We made one out of paper, and ended up with a slightly slanty cake. Depending on your application this level of character may or may not be acceptable, but the results are delicious in any case.
3. Once the cake-ring is set up, place one of the cake circles in the bottom. Use a spoon or brush to apply a thin dose of booze to the layer before placing it at the bottom. (If you’d rather not use booze, you can thin out vanilla or almond extract 1:3 with water.)
4. Upon the anointed cake layer, spread a thin layer of the cherry jam.
5. Apply a less-thin layer of whipped cream, and then repeat with another cake layer, similarly anointed and be-cherried.
6. The choice of whether to include a layer of cherries atop the final (top) layer of cake is yours. Sometimes the cake is decorated (atop all frosting etc) with cherries. Maraschino cherries might be used if desired; we were content with a lake of ganache.
7. Once the last layer has been applied, remove the ring or paper tube and frost the entire exterior of the cake while the whipped cream is in good condition, fresh from being whipped. We decided to wait and regretted it.
8. Once the entire cake is enrobed in whipped cream, place it on a level surface in a freezer to set up and solidify, in order to be able to apply ganache without harming the cream.
9. To make the ganache, either place the chocolate and cream into a double boiler and let them melt together, or scald the cream and pour it over the chocolate to melt it, stirring until all lumps have gone.
10. Take the frozen cake out, place it on a rack over a pan, and pour the ganache over the cake to cover the top and allow streaks to run down the sides artfully.
11. Maraschino cherries might be applied to the top of the cake after this, or chocolate-covered ones perhaps if you’re feeling extra-fancy.
12. Allow the cake to thaw fully before cutting and serving.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Homemade Restaurant-Style Tamarind Chutney Recipe

LoveYourFood 2024-01-18 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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This is a very commonly encountered Indian dipping sauce for samosa, and probably there are versions of it all over asia as the tamarind tree is widely distributed, having been naturalized into Asia and eventually also the Americas from tropical Africa. Typically, tamarind is commercially available as either packs of “seedless” pulp or jars of an already saucy syrup. The former is harder to work with but tastes better. In order to use it, pour hot water over it or simmer in some water and then strain in order to get rid of any solids which might still be in the puree.

This recipe also contains dates, which can be stewed with the tamarind. Truly authentic recipes for this use an Indian form of lump sugar called jaggery which we substitute with brown sugar because we have that on hand. Other unusual ingredients include “kala namak”, a type of black salt; and asafoetida. If you’re going to use kala namak make sure you get the right kind. Another kind of black salt includes activated charcoal – don’t use that one. Generally eating activated charcoal is a bad idea unless you want to neutralize ingested poisons, as it can interfere with a wide variety of pharmaceuticals. Asafoetida smells terrible, so I keep mine inside a second container to keep the scent in check in the cabinet. If you use it, use only a tiny amount.

This recipe, like many which contain spices, develops flavor as it sits after being mixed, so making it a day ahead is a fine idea.

Makes about 1.5 cups.

Equipment:
 medium saucepan
 mixing bowl or measuring cup and fine strainer which fits in it
 small ladle (or other device for pushing the puree through the strainer)

Ingredients:
50 g “deseeded” tamarind paster
100 g dates Medjool; pits removed
100 g brown sugar
1 tsp cayenne or fermented hot pepper relish
2 cup water
3/4 tsp coriander toasted and ground
1/2 tsp cumin toasted and ground
1/2 tsp powdered ginger
1/2 tsp fennel seed ground
1/4 tsp kala namak or regular salt
asafoetida optional; an invisible dusting, the tiniest amount

Procedure:
1. Toast the cumin and coriander seeds and place them into a spice grinder.
2. Add fennel seed and any other whole spices and grind to a powder.
3. Simmer the tamarind and dates in the water until they soften.
4. Add the spices and salt to the simmering paste, and take it off the heat.
5. Allow it to cool enough to be safe to handle, then start forcing it through the fine sieve into the mixing bowl or (glass) measuring cup. This step takes a while and some patience will be required.
6. Taste the filtered sauce and adjust seasoning with salt, lemon juice, etc, until it tastes right to you.
7. Allow it to cool fully and store refrigerated (or frozen) in a tightly-lidded container.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Homemade Potato and Pea Samosas Recipe

LoveYourFood 2024-01-11 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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These fried dumplings are made in various forms all over southern Asia with most of North America associating them strongly with India. It seems their history may go back almost a thousand years to a baked, pastry-wrapped dumpling from Persia or perhaps the Arabian peninsula. Fillings differ from region to region and indeed from family to family as is nearly always the case with foods like this. We present a simple-yet-delicious recipe for potato-and-peas filling to make what are often referred to as aloo samosas, “potato samosas”, a name which while accurate either overlooks the importance of the pea, or else leaves it as a sweet surprise.

It is best to make the dough for the wrappers the day before attempting to assemble the samosas. It is also fine to prepare the filling in advance and use it the next day as well. This seems like a good idea for various reasons, including the fact that giving the filling a day for the flavors to marry likely yields more delicious samosas.

Let the dough come close to room temperature before trying to handle it. It may help to use a few sheets of wax paper to make a stack of partially-rolled samosa dough circles, allowing them to rest briefly before rolling them all the way out.

Makes enough for 18 samosas.

Equipment:
 large mixing bowl
 saucepan for boiling potatoes
 possibly a second (small) saucepan for heating spices

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb potato Russet or other starchy potatoes work best
1/2 cup green peas if frozen, add water and heat in the microwave to thaw, then drain
2 Tbsp oil neutral; or ghee
2 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp garam masala “curry powder” of any sort will work
1 ea dried bird’s eye chili or 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp green chile relish or 1-3 hot green chilis, minced
2 inches ginger fresh, peeled and minced (or grated)
1/4 cup cilantro chopped; add right before using if that’s practical

Procedure:
1. Parboil the potatoes. Most recipes say to peel them beforehand; I prefer not to because the skin is a source of valuable dietary fiber and other nutrients.
2. Sort out the frozen peas if need be, and toast the cumin and coriander, then grind them with the whole dried chili. Combine all the powdered spices back in the saucepan (or a small mixing bowl) with the oil and stir it all to combine. Set aside until it’s time to season the filling.
3. Peel and mince (or grate) the ginger. The two methods may result in slightly different flavor impressions, with grated ginger being more generally present and minced ginger coming more in occasional bursts.
4. If using fresh chilis, mince them also and combine with the ginger. Whether to leave in the seeds is left to your discretion; typically the seeds increase the spicy-heat level of the pepper.
5. Once the potatoes are fork-tender, turn off the heat and drain them. Allow them to cool until they are cool enough to handle. They will not get very much cooking from the frying process, so it is important to make sure they are done enough not to come across as raw.
6. Pierce it all over with a fork before beginning to flake the potatoes. Then start by flaking off the skin into the smallest practical pieces so that there are not large chunks of skin in the finished product. If there’s no skin, this job is a little less complicated – without creating mush, we want to flake the potato apart into small fragments.
7. Add the peas, the seasoning oil, the ginger and chilis (fresh or relish) and the cilantro, and combine well. (If storing the filling overnight, wait to add the cilantro right before filling the samosas.)
8. Allow the filling to cool completely – this is another good reason to make it ahead. Warm filling will make wrapping the samosas much more challenging.
9. To wrap samosas, roll out golf-ball sized balls of dough to 6 or 7 inches across, then cut in half to form two semicircles.
10. Wet the entire margin of a semicircle of dough.
11. In the center of the semicircle, put down about 2 Tbsp of filling, then fold the samosa closed over the filling so that the cut edge doubles over itself.
12. Starting at the folded corner, fold over and seal the cut edge of the samosa, and then continue on along the round outer edge until the entire pouch is closed and sealed around the filling.
13. Fry these 2-4 at a time depending on the size of your frying setup, in at least enough oil to come half way up them. If using a deep-fryer they will probably still require turning halfway through, allowing 2-3 minutes per side.
14. Rest on a rack so the oil drains properly, then serve while warm with whatever chutneys or other sauces are appealing, such as tamarind chutney, avocado/cilantro chutney, toum, raita, etc.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Homemade Samosa Pastry Recipe

LoveYourFood 2024-01-04 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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Good samosas depend not only upon a good filling but also upon a good wrapper which will become crispy and delicious around the filling. This recipe we got from a friend makes a dough which, though its texture seemed unusual to us at first, ended up making exceptionally good wrappers. We are not skilled at constructing samosas; we were able to use wrappers which we’d had to empty and re-load. We also found that they were quite stretchy and resilient and that they did not break, even when rolled out really thin.

The dough works better if allowed to rest overnight after mixing, so plan ahead. The dough should be on the dry side, but still supple and coherent. Unused dough may be frozen for few months, thawed overnight in the fridge, and then rolled out and filled.

Makes 9 dough balls, for 18 samosas.

Equipment:
 large mixing bowl
 pastry board (or large cutting board)
 small rolling pin

Ingredients:
2 cup AP flour
1/2 cup yogurt
1/4 cup oil
1 tsp salt
as needed cold water

Procedure:
1. Combine flour, yogurt, oil and salt in the mixing bowl. Mixing by hand gets the best results because the dough becomes so stiff. If doubling the recipe a stand mixer and dough hook may also work.
2. If the dough is too stiff to be workable, add a little water at a time until it seems reasonable. Remember to keep it on the dry side, but not flaky.
3. Cover and rest the dough for at least an hour, but preferably overnight.
4. Shape the dough ball into a 4-5 inch square, then cut it into 9 evenly sizes “cubes”. Remember that the center is likely to be a little thicker, while the corners are a little thinner, so when cutting the square into three (twice, orthogonally) remember to make the side pieces a tiny bit wider.
5. We found that the dough benefitted from being rolled to about 5 or 6 inches across, and then allowed to rest under wax paper before being rolled out to the final size of 7 to 8 inches across.
6. Once the dough has been rolled out to a “circle” 7 or 8 inches in diameter, it may be cut in half and each semicircle used to make one samosa.
7. Wet all the outer edges of the semicircle. Place filling in the center of one half of the semicircle.
8. The straight edge doubles over itself to make one part of the seam, and then the circular edge is sealed up to finish closing the samosa. Particular technique will vary from chef to chef or family to family, but as long as it stays closed in the fryer I call it good.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Simple Homemade Chili Verde con Cerdo Recipe

LoveYourFood 2023-12-28 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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Growing up in Texas, I often thought of this dish as “New Mexico chili”, but in truth I do not know where it got started. If I had to guess, I would guess that it did originate north of the border. I have generally known it to be made with pork, but lamb, chicken or turkey would probably also work. Furthermore, though we make this chili from ground pork and use a somewhat accelerated method, it would be possible to work with whole pork cut into chunks and braise them over an hour or two in the sauce, more like the way I make my regular (Texas) chili.

In this recipe, we use the roasted tomatillo salsa we made during the summer, and produced a video about. It makes sense to make lots of the salsa during the summer when the tomatillos and serrano peppers are fresh. Now, in the winter, we can use the salsa to make the chili and have a bright taste of summer.

While it’s not an especially spicy chili normally, your peppers and your palate may vary. If desired, sour cream can be paired with this dish to bring the heat down. A melting of white cheese such as Oaxaca (or its copy-cat, Monterey Jack) can be used for the same purpose.

Makes enough for 4-6 people, roughly 2 litres.

Equipment:
 Dutch oven or suitable saucepan
 spice grinder (optional)

Ingredients:
1 lb ground pork 80/20 ideally
1 batch tomatillo salsa
1-2 ea onion medium dice
2-6 cloves garlic if you like garlic, you can use more
some more green chiles small dice; optional
1/4 cup cilantro chopped
1 tsp cumin toast if whole, then grind
1 sprig oregano or 1/2 tsp dry oregano

Procedure:
1. Season the pork and brown it in the pan with a minimal amount of oil or bacon grease.
2. Don’t rush the browning of the pork; allow it to get some color, but don’t let it dry out into little crispy nuggets.
3. Once the pork has a bit of color, add the garlic, onion and peppers. Both of these last are really optional but adding some onion helps to stretch out the chili. Add more (green) peppers if you like their flavor and/or want more heat.
4. Allow the garlic and other veg to sweat a bit before adding the salsa.
5. Allow the salsa to reduce a little around the pork. If you’re braising chunks of pork and want to allow things to simmer a little while, you may need to add water – possibly an equal volume to the salsa – in order to provide volume to boil off. We found that our tomatillo salsa was very concentrated, your results may differ.
6. Once the chili has reduced to a proper consistency and the vegetables are softened, stir in the cilantro and serve on rice or in whatever other manner you might prefer, such as in the form of tacos. This chili could also be used as a sauce for a cheese enchilada or tamale.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Festive Pine Cone Chocolate Rum Balls Recipe #food #festive #pinecone #rumballs

LoveYourFood 2023-12-26 | Find the full video at our channel! youtu.be/kDBP_jpuP5c

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Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Festive Pine Cone Chocolate Rum Balls Recipe

LoveYourFood 2023-12-21 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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These chocolate pinecones are each meant to be a delicious one or two-bite treat. They are chocolate rum balls, decorated with a staggered-spiral of almond slices meant to look like the open scales of a pinecone, especially once the whole thing is drizzled with a chocolate glaze. Before serving, they may be sprinkled with a dusting of powdered sugar to simulate snow, and make them look even more adorable.

We use coconut oil to make our glaze, which produces something similar to Magic Shell, and melts on contact with skin. It produces a lovely mouth-feel. In order to produce a glaze which is less prone to melt on contact with skin, paraffin wax may be used in place of coconut oil. Food-grade paraffin is, or was, generally available in the canning and preserving section of grocery stores. I have never tried to make glaze with beeswax; I don’t think it would achieve the same gloss. Let us know if you have experience with using beeswax that way.

Once the rum balls are rolled, they should be allowed a half-hour or so to set up a little, to make them easier to handle while sticking in the toasted sliced almonds. After they are glazed, they will once again need to chill (or at least sit at room temperature) while their glaze hardens. Depending on the room, a coconut oil-based glaze may never harden at room temperature.

Makes enough for 16 pinecones.

Equipment:
 large mixing bowl
 pie tin or similar for toasting sliced almond
 tray for finished pinecones, optionally with rack
 double-boiler (metal mixing bowl atop a pot) for chocolate glaze

Ingredients:
1/2 box chocolate cake half a recipe’s worth of chocolate cake from a box
1/4 cup rum
2 Tbsp condensed milk
1 pinch salt optionally: use flaky salt and attempt to leave it whole
1/4 lb sliced almonds toasted to perfection
1/4 lb Baker’s chocolate semi-sweet or less; bittersweet works quite well
2 Tbsp Coconut oil or 1oz paraffin

Procedure:
1. Spread the sliced almonds into a pan and set them in an oven or on a stove to toast. Keep a close eye on them so they don’t burn, but get deliciously toasty. Then let them cool.
2. Meanwhile, place the cake chunks into a large mixing bowl and stab them with a fork until they come apart into “crumbs”. The texture need not be fine.
3. Pour over the rum and the condensed milk and stir everything together with the fork. It will decrease in volume as the cake crumbs soak up the liquid and start to compress.
4. Once everything is well, mixed, form generous tablespoons of the mixture into balls, about 1” in diameter, and make them somewhat egg (or pinecone) shaped.
5. Once all the balls are formed, let them chill about half an hour.
6. In the interim, the chocolate glaze may be prepared. Do not do this too far in advance lest the chocolate dry out in the double boiler.
7. To get the chocolate glaze ready, heat the coconut oil or paraffin in the double boiler until it has melted.
8. Meanwhile, chop the chocolate.
9. Add the chopped chocolate pieces to the melted oil or wax, and allow it to melt.
10. Stir everything together thoroughly.
11. When the rum balls are sufficiently chilled, take them out and insert toasted sliced almonds into them in a staggered-spiral pattern, like the pattern of scales on a pinecone.
12. Once all the balls have their almonds, drizzle them with chocolate glaze. To get really fancy, they might be speared onto a skewer from below and wholly dipped in glaze, if you made enough glaze to submerge them (which this is not – probably four times as much at minimum would be required).
13. Allow glazed pinecones to chill, optionally on a rack to allow excess glaze to run off (and be re-melted for future use).
14. For service, optionally arrange the pinecones on a bed of shredded coconut, or perhaps just a dusting of powdered sugar, with a bit more powdered sugar dusted on top to suggest snow, and add visual interest.
15. Leftovers, if there are any, will be good for a day or two before storage in the fridge causes the almonds to soften. Don’t plan to keep any one batch around for a long time.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Homemade Buffalo-Style Hot Wings Recipe with Blue Cheese Dip

LoveYourFood 2023-12-14 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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Hot wings, or Buffalo wings, have seen a major spike in popularity over my lifetime. A lot of places make them because there is so much demand, and there are any number of different styles one might find in the marketplace. We present a method for cooking the raw wings sous vide with a little bit of added flavor before frying them. This is very similar to other videos we have done about using sous vide to prepare chicken or turkey for frying.

Hot wings are of course incomplete without some crudite and a creamy, tangy dressing to have with both the crudite and the hot wings. We have presented a recipe for ranch dressing before, and so we present a recipe for blue cheese dressing. And because we tend to use homemade fermented hot pepper relish in place of regular hot sauce, we also make some hot sauce from some fermented pepper relish, to make into wing sauce.

If you’re making hot sauce of course that can be done well in advance. The chicken takes one hour sous vide. Once it has been cooked, it might be stored (refrigerated or frozen) indefinitely before thawing, dredging in starch, and frying.

Makes enough for 2 people, one pound per person.

Equipment:
 large mixing bowl(s), for salad dressing and for saucing wings; one bowl could be reused
 deep frying setup
 blender, strainer and liquid measuring cup for making hot sauce (or just use Frank’s, or your favorite)

Ingredients:
2+ lb chicken wings optionally season; cook sous vide at 165F for 1 hour
1/2 Tbsp salt per 2lb wings
1/2 tsp garlic minced or jarred
2 drops liquid smoke

Hot sauce:
1/4 cup fermented hot pepper relish
1/4 cup vinegar 5% acetic acid or more; we use 7%
2-4 Tbsp dietary fiber e.g. inulin or acacia gum; they help to give a similar body to Frank’s

Blue cheese dressing:
2 oz blue cheese
1/2 cup mayo
1/4 cup full-fat yogurt or up to 1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce optional
Wing sauce:
1/4 cup hot sauce
2 Tbsp butter just melted

Procedure:
1. If you wish to pre-season the chicken during the sous vide process, assemble a seasoning salt such as the one we use: some salt, a little garlic and tiny bit of liquid smoke, in proportion to how much chicken there is. Mix the salt well and then rub it into all the chicken pieces in a large mixing bowl.
2. Pack the chicken about 2lb to a vacuum bag, and cook it sous vide for one hour at 165F.
3. If you wish to make hot sauce from a fermented pepper relish, combine the relish with an equal volume of vinegar, blend thoroughly, and then use a spoon or ladle to press it through a sieve, being sure to collect all the pulp which makes it through the sieve into the final sauce. Dispose of seeds and skin pieces.
4. To make the dressing, add a little buttermilk to the bowl and break the blue cheese up in it. This is especially
helpful if the cheese is sticky rather than crumbly.
5. Add the other, thicker ingredients such as yogurt/sour cream and mayonnaise, stir it together with the now-lumpy buttermilk mixture, and then stir in the last buttermilk along with the lemon juice and optional Worcestershire sauce.
6. Adjust seasoning of the dressing with salt and pepper.
7. Once the chicken has cooked and cooled enough to handle, or thawed and allowed to come up to a temperature suitable for frying, flake off as much of its gelatin as possible as it comes out of the envelope, toss it in tapioca starch (or corn starch, or other favorite starch) and deep-fry it 2-3 min per side, to make sure it’s hot throughout and has a golden-brown, delicious crispy coating.
8. Make the wing sauce by whisking the melted butter into the room-temperature hot sauce.
9. Take the chicken out onto a rack to drain, and sprinkle immediately with salt.
10. Toss the fried chicken wings in the wing sauce in a large mixing bowl.
11. Serve with crudite, typically just carrot and celery sticks, and blue cheese or ranch dressing.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Homemade Crispy and Delicious Springroll Recipe

LoveYourFood 2023-12-07 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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The main difference between fried spring rolls (as ours are) and eggrolls is mainly down to the wrapper, and to some extent the wrapping-method as well. The spring roll wrapper is a bit thinner, and does not get as bubbly when it fries. It does turn out delightfully crispy, however. We use the larger wrappers available for spring rolls, which are still a bit smaller than eggroll wrappers.

The “cabbage plus” referred to in the recipe is basically 2/3 cabbage, 1/3 carrot: essentially coleslaw. Many recipes call for supermarket slaw mix; make your own for 1/10th the cost. Referring to it as “cabbage plus” is also meant to leave open the question of what else might go in there: soybean sprouts and dried woodear and shiitake mushrooms are my favorite adjuncts, but you may have others. Our spring roll filling is vegetarian, though if desired pieces of shrimp or strips of roast or barbecued pork could go in there. The filling is cooked before it goes into the wrappers, so that the deep-frying stage is mainly about getting the skin to be done to just the right degree.

These are best just after they are fried and have had a chance to cool down to a safe temperature. Even cold they are still delicious. It is not recommended to try to save them overnight however.

Makes about 12 large spring rolls.

Equipment:
 skillet for sauteeing the filling
 optional deep fryer for finishing; may also be fried in a pan as long as the oil comes halfway up the rolls

Ingredients:
3 cup shredded cabbage plus carrot, bean sprouts, fresh or dried mushrooms
1/4 cup scallions cut at a high bias
1 clove garlic chopped and smashed
~ same ginger try to use an equal amount as garlic
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil
egg wash will not generally consume an entire egg

Procedure:
1. If you’re shredding your own vegetables, excellent. Crosscut the cabbage wedge to get strings. Slice the carrot into panels and then crosscut them to get julienne (shoestrings). This way most of the elements in the mixture have the same overall long, noodly shape. If you’re using beansprouts, they’re already shaped that way.
2. Get the skillet hot with a tablespoon or so of neutral cooking oil in it (e.g. canola, corn, peanut)
3. Combine cabbage plus with the scallions, ginger and garlic in the skillet, add a little salt and toss.
4. Saute the filling ingredients until they’re just about softened; stopping a little shy is fine.
5. If you’re using soaked dried mushrooms, squeeze them out, cut them into fine strips, and add them to the mixture.
6. Add the soy, vinegar and sesame oil, and mix everything together well.
7. Once the mixture is cool enough to handle, prepare one wrap at a time by peeling it off the stack and arranging it on a work surface in front of you, turned 45 degrees so that a corner points toward you, a “diamond” rather than a “square”
8. Arrange a small amount (1/4 cup or so) of the mixture in the middle of the diamond, parallel to your body, along the line between the two opposite side-corners. The point nearest you will become the inside of the wrap.
9. Wrap the near point of the skin over the filling and tuck it carefully under the filling, then fold the side corners in to the middle, so that the filling is contained in a pocket.
10. Moisten the edge of the remaining (far) corner of the wrap with eggwash.
11. Wrap the eggwashed flap toward you, over the layers already present and further around, to contain everything.
12. Hold gently for a moment while the eggwash soaks in enough to become tacky, so that the roll won’t immediately come undone.
13. You should get about 12 of these rolls. Once they are all wrapped, start frying them in 350F oil. A deep fryer makes this very easy, but they may also be pan-fried in sufficient oil to come at least halfway up the roll, and then turned after 2 or 3 minutes, to cook on the other side.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Delicious and Simple Homemade Crab Rangoon Recipe

LoveYourFood 2023-11-30 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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Crab Rangoon is another lovely asian-esque recipe which was invented in a large American city; in this case, San Francisco, I believe. It is a pretty obviously North American recipe relying heavily on Philadelphia cream cheese as it does. For all of that, it is truly delicious and not that complicated to make, though it is nice if you have a comfy table to sit out to work on sealing up all the little crab and cream cheese pouches.

Allow the cream cheese to come to room temperature overnight or by getting it out first thing in the morning. As for the crab, it is certainly excellent to steam your own fresh crab and extract it from the shell; you need about 250g (or half a pound) of crab meat. We chose to use prepackaged cooked, frozen crab. If you want to use surimi (imitation crab) that also works just fine.

It is surprising how little filling goes into each pouch. This will of course depend on their exact dimensions. In retrospect, I believe I may have bought the wrong skins at the store and that if I had bought the correct, larger ones then my quarter-size sheets would also have been larger and worked better. That said, the “wrong” skins did also produce nice crab rangoon; making the best of what’s on hand is a major part of cooking.

Makes enough for 64-96 crab rangoon pouches.

Equipment:
 large mixing bowl
 optionally a rasp or grater for the ginger
 lined tray for finished pouches

Ingredients:
1/2 lb cream cheese a regular 8oz package of Philly, for instance
1/2 lb cooked crab meat
1 ea scallion or 1/4 bunch of chives
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
1 clove garlic
same amt ginger a lump about the size of the garlic clove, or more if you like ginger
20+ pcs wonton wrappers square; can cut eggroll wrappers in quarters

Procedure:
1. Grate or finely mince the ginger.
2. Smash and mince the garlic, optionally smashing it together with the ginger.
3. Combine all elements (apart from the skins) in the mixing bowl.
4. Mix well to ensure all ingredients are well combined, making sure there are no large lumps of pure cheese or crab left lurking in the mixture.
5. Taking one wrapper at a time, moisten its edges with beaten egg and place a small amount (1-2 tsp) into the center of the wrapper, and then press opposite corners together to seal, forming a sort of plus shape at the top of the pouch.
6. Allow the sealed pouches to dry a little so that the seam won’t come open in the fryer – 5 or 10 minutes is adequate. Extra pouches you don’t wish to fry may be frozen, but should be used in a few weeks (or stored in a deep freeze for up to a year perhaps).
7. Fry at 350F for about 3-4 minutes, until they are golden brown and delicious.
8. Remove onto a rack and allow to cool briefly before enjoying with (seasoned) soy sauce or possibly a piquant gastrique made from honey (or other syrup) and a sour pepper relish or hot sauce. We used a home-fermented hot pepper relish and some date syrup and that worked very well.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Easy Homemade Thai Mango Salad Recipe

LoveYourFood 2023-11-23 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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This salad is often referred to as green mango salad, and indeed it is delicious made with green mango. However, it is also delicious made with a mango which perhaps has had more of a chance to ripen than intended, and is no longer especially green. I encourage you to make this salad with whatever mango you have at hand.

This salad benefits from sitting mixed for a short time before serving, so feel free to make it ahead a bit to make things simpler later. If you’re using cilantro, it’s a good idea to add it right before serving. Because it can improve with age it will keep a couple days, especially if stored without cilantro.

Makes enough for 2-4 people.

Equipment:
 large mixing bowl

Ingredients:
1 1/2 Tbsp neutral oil corn, peanut, canola
1/2 Tbsp fish sauce
1/2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 ea mango of whatever ripeness you prefer
1 ea cucumber Lebanese, like a small English; or ~1/3 of an English cucumber
1 ea scallion sliced into thin strips along the grain
1-2 ea red peppers of whatever heat desired: Hatch, Sheppard, Cayenne, Serrano
2 Tbsp cilantro roughly chopped
2 Tbsp peanuts toasted and chopped
to taste chili flakes or relish, to achieve desired heat

Procedure:
1. Combine oil, fish sauce, sugar and vinegar to make the dressing.
2. Cut the mango, cucumber, scallion, red pepper and combine with the dressing.
3. If a spicy salad is desired, add some chili flakes or relish.
4. At this point, the salad may be stored in preparation for serving later.
5. When serving the salad, rough-chop some cilantro and use it along with some chopped peanuts to garnish the salad. More chili flakes or relish may also be added at service-time to fine-tune the heat to one’s personal preference.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Easy Homemade Beef Satay Recipe

LoveYourFood 2023-11-16 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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Since I first had it sometime in my childhood, beef satay has been one of my favorite things. I have always enjoyed cumin and peanuts and grilled food. We didn’t actually make peanut sauce to go with this batch, but that is a delicious option. Just some chopped, well-roasted peanuts will make an excellent garnish for this grilled beef.

I generally envision satay as a skewered item, as it is convenient for restaurants and food carts to handle it that way, but for myself on my castiron hibachi, skewering is not especially helpful or necessary. If you wish to use skewers that is certainly fine.

As to the cut of beef, I like to use cuts which might usually be thought of as tough, because they typically also have better flavor. For the video we used a blade steak which we pounded thin and cut into strips. Skirt steak would also make truly excellent satay but finding it can be challenging.

Makes enough for 4-6 portions.

Equipment:
 large mixing bowl
 food processor, blender or serious immersion blender (Bamix)

Ingredients:
2 lb beef skirt, blade steak, sirloin, miami-style short rib (bones removed)
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp fish sauce
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 Tbsp shallot minced; or onion
1 Tbsp neutral veg oil
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp coriander ground
1/2 Tbsp fresh ginger grated
1/2 Tbsp cumin ground
1/4 tsp turmeric ground
1/8 tsp cayenne
2 in lemongrass sliced somewhat thin

Procedure:
1. Combine all ingredients except for the meat in the blender.
2. Blend all the non-meat ingredients thoroughly until the mix is as smooth as it can become; the lemongrass will remain spiky.
3. Coat the meat pieces in the marinade and allow to sit for a couple hours or overnight before grilling over high heat to get good color.
4. Serve with rice and ajaad and/or peanut sauce.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Thai Ajaad - Spicy Cucumber Relish Recipe

LoveYourFood 2023-11-09 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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This relish is one of my favorites. A staple of Thai food, it is made from peppers, cucumbers and shallots in a gastrique. It’s not supposed to be especially spicy, but different people have a different idea of what is spicy. I will say that the gastrique seems to have a mellowing effect. We used three home-grown serrano peppers which were generally pretty hot coming off the bush, but the resulting sauce the next day was not especially hot.

Make this at least a few hours before serving, if not the day before. This recipe makes a fair amount of relish, but it does keep for a week or two.

Makes 2 to 3 cups.

Equipment:
 large mixing bowl
 small saucepan

Ingredients:
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup vinegar
3-6 ea chiles serrano, jalapeno, sheppard, hatch; a mix of colors
6 ea shallots French cut into short segments
1 cup cucumber pieces cut into 8th
wedges and then into thin slices
~1 cup cold water

Procedure:
1. Place the sugar into the saucepan, place on the stove, and pour the vinegar over it. Allow it to come to a simmer in order to make a gastrique syrup. If the sugar won’t all dissolve, add a small amount of water.
2. Clean and cut the vegetables while the syrup is coming to the simmer.
3. If the shallots are large, perhaps cut them in half before French cutting to julienne.
4. Add all the sliced veg into the bowl.
5. Once the gastrique has simmered and the sugar is completely dissolved, allow it to cool.
6. Before combining the gastique with the veg, add the cup-or-so of cold water in order to bring down the temperature of the recently-boiled syrup. It is reasonable to start with 3/4 cup, combine everything before deciding whether more water is needed.
7. Put it in a sealed container in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight before serving.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Sorry, we missed this week, but well be back next week!

LoveYourFood 2023-11-02 | Sorry, things were just a little too busy the last couple of weeks! And I am just getting over a rough case of the flu. We've got videos planned, and we'll be back next week on our regular schedule! Stay tuned!

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Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Homemade Arrabiata Spicy Tomato Sauce Recipe

LoveYourFood 2023-10-26 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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Arrabiata sauce is an Italian, tomato-based pasta sauce made with red peppers. It is typically considered to be a spicy sauce, hence the name which translates loosely to “angry sauce”. We make ours with freshly ripened red padron chilis from our garden. Typically these chilis are eaten green but we often have a handful which ripen further, and then we use them for things like this. If you don’t grow your own chilis, any sort of mildly-spicy red chili will do here, such as Hatch or Sheppard peppers, or even “suntanned” poblanos which have turned red.

The sauce is super easy to make. If you want to leave it rustically chunky, you may wish to do some of the knifework differently so that there is no need to burr mix. I don’t mind burr mixing as I am happy with a sauce that’s primarily smooth, but I don’t go to the extent of running it through a sieve to make it a silky, fine-dining type of experience.

Once the sauce is done it can go over pasta right away or be frozen for 2 months or so. We chose to put our arrabiata sauce over some ricotta ravioli which was incredibly delicious as the cheese would sometimes shine through while other times the sauce was very strong, and both sauce and cheese filling complemented each other well. Other pasta options include penne, farfalle, radiatore, any sort of ruffly or tubular pasta which will hold plenty of sauce.

Makes enough for 6 people, roughly a quart.

Equipment:
 large saucepan or small dutch oven for sauce (with enough room for burr mixing at the end)
 immersion or stand blender, optional

Ingredients:
1 can Canned whole tomatoes the larger format 28 oz can is what we use
1 ea onion
6 cloves garlic peeled, chopped, smashed
2-6 ea hot chili peppers, red use larger chilis rather than small, very hot ones
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 ea bay leaf
1 Tbsp fresh herbs heavy on the basil, with extra chiffonade basil for garnish

Procedure:
1. Roast the peppers at 350F for about 20 minutes, until they have a little color and their skins are ready to slide off.
2. Sweat the onions in olive oil over medium heat until soft and translucent.
3. Once the peppers are done roasting, put them in a mixing bowl and cover tightly with plastic; allow to sit 5-10 min until cool enough to handle.
4. Once onions are softened, add the tomatoes, bay leaves, any fresh herbs on stems, and bring to the simmer.
5. Peel the peppers as best as possible. Include or discard the seeds as you prefer.
6. Add peppers and smashed garlic to the sauce.
7. Allow everything to simmer together briefly, 5 or 10 min, then puree (if desired), pulling out bay leaves and herb stems first.
8. At this point the sauce is done; adjust seasoning with salt, lemon juice, Tabasco, red wine vinegar, etc.
9. Boil pasta and dress it with the sauce. Garnish with chiffonade basil.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Hearty Mushroom Cream Pesto Pasta Sauce Recipe

LoveYourFood 2023-10-19 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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I feel certain that there is nothing unique about having decided to combine freshly-foraged mushrooms with a lovely aromatic pesto, in a cream sauce, on some pasta. In our case, we decided to use some locally hand-made ricotta ravioli. Optionally, add a toasted nut element – almost any nut will be excellent in this: pine nuts, pecans, sliced almonds, walnuts, even cashews will be good in this dish if you care to use them. Also, any mushrooms that you like or can get your hands on will work well in this recipe.

Everything comes together really quickly once the mushrooms are sauteed to your liking. Therefore, make sure that you have the water boiling ahead of time, and the mise en place for the sauce ready by the time the mushrooms are done. This can take half an hour or more – it’s hard to overcook mushrooms though they can burn if the temperature is too high.

Once done the sauce should be consumed right away. Excess sauce is probably still okay the next day, and should probably come back to a reasonable consistency with a minimum of effort – possibly using whole milk or more cream to encourage everything to re-emulsify.

Makes enough for 3-4 people, roughly 3 cups.

Equipment:
 large skillet
 cheese grater for Parmesan
 boiling pot of pasta water (salted, not oiled)

Ingredients:
1 1⁄2 lb mushrooms We used cinnamon caps, pioppino and chanterelle mushrooms.
1-2 ea onions small; we used cippoline onions; shallots will also work
2 Tbsp basil pesto
1 cup heavy cream Do not cook with light cream, it will break.
1/4 cup nuts optional, many varieties will work, toast to perfection
1 Tbsp fresh basil leaves chiffonade
1 Tbsp fresh herbs thyme, rosemary, chives, parsley
1 oz Parmesan freshly grated

Pasta:
1 lb ricotta ravioli or an appropriate portion of your preferred pasta for cream sauces

Procedure:
1. Clean the mushrooms as needed: cultivated mushrooms may be brushed or wiped clean since they are grown in a sterile medium. Forest mushrooms are frequently dirtier and usually require rinsing in cold water. The sauteing process will drive out and moisture added by rinsing.
2. Slice the mushrooms into attractive slices and saute them in butter or ghee.
3. Add thinly sliced onion/shallot and allow the mushrooms and onions to caramelize together.
4. Start the pasta cooking at an appropriate moment in order for it to be ready around the same time as the sauce, perhaps immediately before the next step.
5. Once the mushrooms and onions look well-browned, add the cream and pesto, and mix well.
6. Allow the cream to reduce somewhat and the flavors to marry over medium-high heat. Taste and make preliminary adjustments.
7. Meanwhile, grate parmesan cheese and possibly chiffonade the basil.
8. Once the cream has reduced and the pasta is ready, add the pasta to the sauce in the skillet.
9. Get the pasta coated, and taste. Adjust with pasta water, lemon juice, salt, hot sauce, etc.
10. Plate the pasta and top with toasted nuts and chiffonade basil.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Simple Roasted Tomatillo Salsa Verde Recipe - Vegan!

LoveYourFood 2023-10-12 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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Also referred to as salsa verde, this “green sauce” depends on three main elements, backed up by a few others which are common to salsa in general. Those three particular things are tomatillos, serrano peppers, and cilantro. Like most salsa, it also contains onion, lime juice and salt. Optionally, garlic may be included. My preference is to use garlic only when making the roasted version of the salsa. If you’re making a fresh salsa I recommend using no garlic, or only a small amount to prevent it overpowering the salsa’s other flavors.

If things are to be roasted, roast them. Do not roast limes. Roasted or not, everything goes into a blender or food processor, or el molcajete if you have one. Blend. Done.

Personally, I prefer to leave out the cilantro during the blending stage, and add it just when I want to eat the salsa. I find that in this way, the flavors of the sauce mingle and develop, and then are even better when combined with cilantro chopped freshly when it’s time to eat.

Makes about 1.5 litres.

Equipment:
 lined sheet pan if roasting
 blender/food processor/molcajete

Ingredients:
2 lb tomatillos capes removed, washed until suds gone
1-2 ea onions quartered or cut to eighths
2-6 ea serrano peppers or: green bird’s eye, jalapeno, habanero
1/2 cup cilantro chopped; this is for the entire batch
1-2 ea lime juice; squeeze the lime over the bowl to get some zest-oil
1 tsp salt
1 bulb garlic optional; roasted; recommend 1 clove only if fresh

Procedure:
1. If roasting, preheat the oven to 375F, and wrap the garlic in foil. Set it aside to roast later with the rest of the veg.
2. Prepare the tomatillos by removing capes and rinsing them well under warm water until they are no longer sudsy. The coating is quite bitter and unpleasant.
3. Wash the peppers as well for good measure.
4. Peel the onions and dispose of their roots and cores. Cut them into quarters or eighths.
5. If the salsa is to be fresh, skip down to step
6. Place the tomatillos, peppers and onions onto the lined pan and roast them until they start to brown at the tips and have suitable color for the degree of roastiness you desire in your finished salsa. Place the wrapped garlic either on the pan with the other veg or just onto a rack. Roasting should take 20-30 minutes, or maybe more depending on your oven and preference for toastiness.
7. One way to get extra toast on onions and tomato tops is to allow the pan to spend a brief few minutes at the end under the broiler.
8. When the garlic is done roasting, unwrap the foil and then free each roasted clove from its paper capsule. There is some finesse to this, as the cloves can become sticky. Toss out foil and garlic skin and keep the roasted cloves with the other vegetables.
9. Place all the veg along with the lime juice and salt into the blender of choice.
10. Reduce everything to pulp.
11. If it is all to be eaten at once, mix in all the cilantro. Otherwise, chop up a bit each time you’re taking out some salsa, to preserve the flavor. Enjoy on tamales or with tostada chips.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Refreshing and Simple Fresh Peach and Cheese Dessert Recipe

LoveYourFood 2023-10-05 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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Ideally, the cheese is smooth and creamy and delicious. Straciatella, mascarpone, ricotta or burata (which is straciatella enveloped in mozzarella) are the recommended cheeses to use, with straciatella as the best choice but perhaps the hardest to find. If using an amorphous cheese like ricotta, mascarpone or straciatella, it is possible to season the cheese with salt, lemon juice, and maple syrup or honey. In the case of burata, if sweetness is of particular concern, consider a drizzle of maple syrup or honey over the cheese before anything else goes on top.

Really ripe, fresh peaches will not require any preparation. If you’re using peaches which are a little less ripe or perhaps using a fresh baking peach such as baby gold, it will probably be better to roast the peaches in halves, face down, for about 10-15 minutes at 350F. Let them rest face down until cool enough to handle. Drizzle any juice which comes out over the finished dish, or add it to whatever syrup you may be using.

Plan to portion out all the cheese and peaches as these things are not especially good left over.

Makes enough for 3-4 people.

Equipment:
 optional roasting pan
 mixing bowl for seasoning cheese, if desired

Ingredients:
2 ea peaches
1 ea cheese ~12 oz container, sizes vary
2-3 ea basil leaves chiffonade
1 Tbsp maple syrup or honey optional; for seasoning cheese

Procedure:
1. If desired, season cheese in the mixing bowl by combining it with syrup or honey, and also season with lemon juice and salt to taste.
2. Split the peach in half, and then cut each half into slices.
3. On a plate per serving, arrange some cheese, half a peach worth of slices, and some chiffonade basil to garnish.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Simple and Delicious Garlic Chutney Recipe (in the style of Toum)

LoveYourFood 2023-09-28 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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This sauce is so basic that it pops up just about everywhere in the old world. In Western Europe it might be known as aioli, while in the Levant it is known as toum, a transliteration of the Arabic word for garlic. Toum is typically just garlic with oil and juice; the version presented here was inspired by a hot sauce we encountered at a Somali restaurant in Toronto and also contains cilantro and fresh, green hot peppers. Both are garlic emulsions; Levantine toum comes out with the consistency of mayonnaise, whereas ours is a bit runnier. Thickness can somewhat be controlled by how much oil is added: to a point, more oil will yield a stiffer mixture, until the mixture breaks.

When making this with an immersion blender, it is important that the garlic go in first, and be surrounded by the juice. That way when the blending starts (at the bottom), a garlic-paste slurry is created, into which oil is already slowly being emulsified. The blender may be pulled up to incorporate the oil a bit at a time, and then swept back and forth until the entire mixture is homogenous.

This sauce should keep for a week or so in the fridge. If frozen, the emulsification may break.

Makes 6-8 oz.

Equipment:
 blender or food processor
 flexible rubber spatula

Ingredients:
1 bulb garlic optionally split cloves and remove germ
1 Tbsp lime juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup cilantro chopped
1-2 ea serrano peppers or other green hot peppers
1/2 cup neutral oil olive oil will certainly impart its flavor

Procedure:
1. If using a regular blender or food processor, start with just garlic, cilantro and peppers; add them first in any case.
2. Add the lime juice and salt and blend to a paste.
3. In a regular blender or food processor, drizzle in the oil while blending.
4. Otherwise, add the oil last, and start the immersion blending by plunging the blender to the bottom of the vessel before turning it on, and then slowly allowing oil to incorporate once the garlic is busted up and the emulsification has started.
5. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
6. Serve with falafel, shawarma, lentil patties, souvlaki, lentil soup, etc.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Hearty Red Lentil Soup Recipe - Based on Shurbat Cadas

LoveYourFood 2023-09-21 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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This lentil soup is based on a lovely Somali dish which, at least around here, is often offered as an amuse bouche before a meal in Somali restaurants. A lovely custom and a lovely dish, this vegan soup is extremely tasty, nutritious and also inexpensive to make. There are undoubtedly many variations on this recipe, so feel free to make your own changes to suit your tastes. That said, only red lentils should be used to make this recipe.

Make sure to rinse your lentils well, until the water coming off the lentils is no longer foamy or milky in appearance. The excess starch and saponins present on the lentils will cause the pot to become quite foamy while cooking. Even with thorough rinsing, the boiling lentils may produce enough foam to boil over. For them to cook properly, they should be simmered in pure water, with no salt added.

The caramelization of the onions takes some time, but they don’t have to be chocolatey-dark. Once they’re a nice color, the rest of the veg sweat with them, and then simmer in water or broth until tender enough to be blended. Before blending, the simmered lentils should also be added, so one hopes to start the lentils while the veg are simmering in order to have them ready at about the same time the soup is ready for blending.

Makes enough for 8-12 portions, rougly 2 liters.

Equipment:
 large dutch oven or stew pot
 medium-to-large saucepan for simmering lentils

Ingredients:
1 cup red lentils simmered 10 min in pure water
3 ea potatoes ~3/4 lb
1 ea onion crosscut thinly
1 ea carrot small dice
1 rib celery optional; small dice
2-6 cloves garlic rough chop
1 ea chili pepper fresh; serrano, jalapeno, poblano or similar
1 Tbsp paprika or gochugaru
1 tsp tumeric
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp black pepper
8 cups water optionally replace some or all with stock or broth
1 tsp bouillon optional: chicken, vegetable, or other bouillon powder

Procedure:
1. Warm the stew pot over a low flame while getting the onion peeled and cut.
2. Caramelize the onion in the stew pot in some oil or ghee.
3. Meanwhile, make sure that the potatoes, carrot and celery are clean, using a brush if necessary especially on the potatoes.
4. Due to my unconscious bias against carrot skin, I typically peel the carrots but not the potatoes, whose peels bring a lot of potato flavor. Peel the carrot and potatoes if you want, and cut them into pieces that will cook in 30-45 minutes: carrots minced, potatoes small diced.
5. Either crosscut the celery nice and thin or mince it.
6. Leave the garlic in large pieces, perhaps even whole. The larger, less-cut the pieces are, the more mellow the garlic flavor will be. Since we recommend a very garlicky sauce as a topping for the soup, we also recommend keeping the soup’s own flavor mellow and round.
7. Keep an eye on the onions so they won’t scorch. Once they are a good color, add the spices and stir everything around.
8. Add the rest of the vegetables and about a cup of the water. Place the lid on the pot and let everything sweat steamily for about ten minutes over medium-low heat.
9. Once the carrots and potatoes are starting to look a bit translucent, add the rest of the water and bring everything up to a simmer.
10. Allow the soup to simmer 30-45 minutes, until the carrots and potatoes crush easily into a smooth paste. Remember to start the lentils about 15 minutes before the veg seem to be ready, for instance when they break apart but not smoothly enough.
11. To simmer the lentils, first ensure the lentils are thoroughly rinsed, then cover them with water (about 4 cups).
12. Bring them to a simmer over high heat, watching closely because they will foam.
13. Turn the heat down and let the lentils simmer covered for about 10 minutes.
14. Once the veg are smashing smoothly and the lentils are done, they may be combined. There is no need to drain the lentils, but if the pot is getting full, some lentil cooking water may be drained off first.
15. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup until it is smooth. Keep warm for service or shock and store. This soup, like nearly all soups, is better the next day but it will always require seasoning adjustment before service. Use salt, lemon juice, tabasco sauce to adjust the soup’s flavors.
16. Serve garnished with cilantro, and possibly also spicy garlic-cilantro sauce; our forthcoming recipe is based on the ideas of toum from the Levant, and Somali basbaas. It really helps the soup by providing a sharp element. Another good option would be toasted seeds: pepitas, sesame, sunflower, or pine nuts.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Rich and Hearty Tuscan White Bean Soup Recipe - Vegan!

LoveYourFood 2023-09-14 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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This is a staple soup for any repertoire, especially for vegetarians, vegans, and others who have simply decided to attempt to reduce their meat consumption. The soup is very hearty and is one of those traditionally vegan recipes, meaning that within its cultural context it has generally not been made with meat as an essential ingredient. That said, one can certainly make the soup richer with chicken or veal stock.

Beans do not cook properly in the presence of salt, so if you’re using dry beans boil them separately in pure water until they are about ready. While the beans are cooking, the rest of the soup may be assembled and then the beans added to the rest of the soup, already in progress.

This soup may be served as a brothy soup with beans and other veg floating around in it, somewhat like a minestrone without tomato. However, I like to partially puree the soup, leaving some proportion of whole ingredients while blending the rest into a fairly creamy puree. I think that if you can get the traditional large white kidney beans which ought to be used for this recipe, leaving everything whole allows separate enjoyment of each large, creamy whole bean in the final soup. If you’re using navy beans as we did, it may be a better idea to puree the soup.

Makes enough for 4-6 people, roughly 2 litres.

Equipment:
 medium to large saucepan for boiling dry beans
 large dutch oven or soup pot
 optionally a blender (immersion or otherwise)

Ingredients:
1 cup dry canellini beans boiled in pure water ~90 min until tender; or one can 18-24 oz
3 ea shallots
4 cloves garlic
1-2 ea carrots
3 stalk celery
1 Tbsp tomato paste up to 3 if not concentrated
1 ea dried chili pepper or 1/4 tsp cayenne
4 oz greens kale, spinach, tatsoi, mustard/beet greens, etc.
Italian herb blend e.g. rosemary, oregano, basil, thyme(, chives, parsley) dry or fresh

Procedure:
1. Set up the dry beans to boil: rinse the beans a few times to ensure there’s no dust on them, and then boil them in pure water, about 4x volume of water as beans.
2. Meanwhile, set the soup pot over low heat to warm while preparing the vegetables.
3. Peel the shallots, garlic, and carrots.
4. Cut the shallots, garlic, carrots and celery down to small enough pieces to cook at a reasonable pace, and in shapes that will look alright in the final soup unless you plan to puree all of them.
5. Use a little cooking oil in the soup pot and add the cut vegetables to sweat. Salt them a little, stir, put the lid on the pot, and let them cook 5-10 minutes at medium-low heat to soften without taking on color.
6. Chop or grind the dried chili pepper.
7. If using dried herbs, prepare roughly a tablespoon of mixed Italian herbs in your preferred proportions (or use an Italian herb mix / seasoning). If using fresh herbs, they will go in later; preserve them whole until as soon before using them as possible.
8. Once the vegetables have sweated suitably, the beans should probably also be ready. Once the beans are tender, add them and their cooking liquid to the sweating vegetables.
9. Add the chili flakes and any dried herbs.
10. Allow the soup to simmer 15-20 minutes, or more, to ensure that all the vegetable pieces are completely soft and ready to be pureed. Alternately, if everything is to be left whole, you may prefer a somewhat more al-dente texture of the carrots.
11. If the soup is to be pureed, optionally remove 1 or 2 cups (or more) of solid material beforehand in order to add it back afterwards for texture. Then puree the remaining soup with an immersion blender, or in a regular blender or food-processor, possibly in batches.
12. Recombine soup back in the pot, taste and season to perfection using salt, pepper, lemon juice and hot sauce.
13. Serve in wide bowls garnished with a chiffonade of basil, and possibly toasted pine nuts or pepitas. For those who eat cheese, feta is also an excellent choice.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Homemade Fresh Lemon Pesto Caprese Salad Recipe

LoveYourFood 2023-09-07 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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The Caprese salad is perhaps one of the world’s most famous salads. It is generally made from only five ingredients: perfectly ripe tomatoes and lush leafy basil from the garden, creamy hand-pulled water buffalo mozzarella, excellent extra-virgin olive oil, and flaky salt. Rather than try to have perfect slices of either tomato or cheese, we chose to use a mix of our two different-sized garden varieties this year: black cherry and Cherokee purple tomatoes in chunks. We cut the very soft, creamy cheese similarly and toss them together.

We chose to embellish the usual recipe with a lemon-pesto “vinaigrette” – of course it has no vinegar in it. But the pesto holds the emulsion together very well, resulting in a creamy, basil-lemony dressing which brightens up the round flavors of the salad.

The lemon-pesto dressing may be made in advance and stored in the fridge for 2 weeks or perhaps more. Let it come to room temperature before using it. The tomatoes may be cut an hour or two in advance and covered, but they should never be refrigerated. Cut the cheese and toss with the tomatoes right before serving.

Makes enough for 3-4 people.

Equipment:
 large nonreactive salad bowl
 blender or similar for making dressing
 glass jar or similar to store lemon-basil dressing

Ingredients:
2 ea medium tomatoes ours were “Cherokee purple”
8-10 ea cherry tomatoes ours were “black cherry”
1 ball bufala mozzarella bocconcini will also work
1⁄4 cup basil leaves chiffonade fine for garnish

Lemon-Pesto Dressing:
1-2 Tbsp basil pesto
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice one lemon, generally
1/2 tsp salt non-iodized

Procedure:
1. Prepare the dressing as far in advance as you like, up to right before making the salad: place the pesto, oil, juice and salt into the blender and blend until the dressing is as smooth as possible. If desired, strain to remove any lumps or large flecks.
2. When preparing the salad, while the board is dry, chiffonade the basil and set aside.
3. Cut the tomatoes and add them to the nonreactive bowl.
4. Cut the cheese and add it to the bowl. Toss the tomato chunks with the cheese chunks, which will probably be somewhat creamy.
5. Portion the salad onto plates.
6. Garnish each portion of salad with drizzles of lemon-pesto dressing and pure extra-virgin olive oil.
7. Top each garnished salad with a generous nest of chiffonade basil.
8. It is nice to have this with some crusty, absorbent bread such as foccacia to soak up the salad juices.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Korean Pork Bone Soup Recipe

LoveYourFood 2023-08-31 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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This is a mainstay of Korean cuisine, a homey and hearty stew made around large pork spine and neck bones. Aromatic ingredients including a generous amount of garlic, ginger, and Korean seasoning paste gochujang. The final product is a rich and delicious hot and spicy soup that is perfect for the approaching fall weather.

It is more traditionally made with perilla seed powder, but if you can't easily get your hands on that, you can replace it with ground toasted sesame seeds. There is also a fermented soybean product called doenjang which is traditional in this dish, but is a little harder to find than miso. We replace it with a bit of white miso mixed with gochujang. The bean sprout side dish we made last week is a perfect accompaniment to this delicious soup.

Makes enough for x people, roughly n units.

Equipment:
 large dutch oven for the stew
 small stock pot for blanching
 large bowl for shocking blanched cabbage
 small mixing bowl or measuring cup for mixing seasoning paste

Ingredients:
2-3 lb pork neck bones soaked in cold water 30 min
1 lb napa cabbage quartered, core intact
1 oz fresh ginger peeled and sliced thin
2 Tbsp doenjang or 1 Tbsp each gochujang and white or red miso
2 ea dried shiitake mushrooms
1 ea onion medium
1 ea dried hot pepper more peppers = more heat
2-3 ea potatoes medium
1/2 lb soy bean sprouts
5 ea green onions 4 cut to matchsticks; 1 cut on a high bias for garnish
8-12 ea perilla leaves

Seasoning Paste:
6 cloves garlic chopped and smashed
3 Tbsp gochugaru Korean dried red chili flakes, typically not all that spicy
3 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp gochujang Korean red chili paste
1/4 cup perilla seed powder or sesame seed powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup water

Procedure:
1. Rinse the pork bones and soak them in cold water for 30 minutes.
2. Slice the onion and break up the hot pepper(s) if desired.
3. Bring a large (stock) pot of water to the boil, to use for blanching.
4. Blanch the cabbage first, for 90-120 seconds. Remove from hot water and plunge into cold water immediately.
5. Let the blanching water come back to a boil, then plunge the pork bones into the hot water and blanch for 7 minutes. The water will darken and some foam may rise to the surface of the water.
6. Try to get the bones out of the water without any of the scummy foam which may have been created. If necessary, rinse the bones. Place debris-free, blanched pork bones into the cooking pot.
7. To the pot with the bones, add 11 cups of water along with the ginger, doenjang, dried mushrooms, sliced onion and dried hot chilis. Bring to the simmer and cook covered for 90 min.
8. Meanwhile, mix the seasoning paste by combining all of its ingredients together in a bowl.
9. Peel the potatoes and potentially cut them to halves or quarters.
10. After the bones have simmered for 90 min, fish out the mushrooms and slice them thinly. Return them to the pot along with the cabbage (chunkily cross-cut away from the core), bean sprouts, three of the julienne green onions and the potatoes.
11. Add the seasoning paste also, and possibly additional water (or cooking wine) if need be.
12. Simmer 30-40 more minutes, until the pieces of potato are fork-tender.
13. Add perilla leaves and the remaining green onion and stir.
14. Serve next to plain white rice with some side-dishes.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Korean Bean Sprout Side Dish Recipe - Kongnamul-muchim 콩나물무침

LoveYourFood 2023-08-24 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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The Korean name for this is 콩나물무침 or kongnamul-muchim. It is a side dish made from blanched and seasoned sprouted soy beans. Adding too much salt tends to draw out a lot of the moisture, resulting in deflated, flaccid beansprouts. As a result, the finished product may seem bland. Perhaps add a bit of salt when serving, to address this without storing the dish heavily salted.

When I first made this I was surprised by the fact that beansprouts can handle being simmered for 10 minutes without turning to mush. In fact, they retain an enjoyably turgid texture, although they do not stay as snappily crunchy as they are when raw. Raw beansprouts do not have a very long shelf-life, so this dish can be a way to preserve excess beansprouts in a form which makes them easy to add to other meals.

This dish can be served at any temperature, whether freshly made and still quite warm, or cold from the refrigerator.

Makes 4-5 cups of kongnamul-muchim.

Equipment:
 saucepan for boiling sprouts
 large mixing bowl

Ingredients:
1 lb soybean sprouts
1 tsp kosher salt
2 cloves garlic minced
1 ea scallion 2” julienne
1/2 tsp gochugaru Korean hot pepper flakes
1/2 tsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp sesame seeds toasted

Procedure:
1. Boil the beansprouts with the salt in 1/2 cup of water for 10 minutes over medium-high heat.
2. Meanwhile, mix the dressing made from all the remaining ingredients.
3. Once the beansprouts are cooked, drain them well and then toss in the dressing.
4. Serve as a side dish to other elements, usually at least including rice.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Homemade Black Sesame Ice Cream Recipe

LoveYourFood 2023-08-17 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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This is one of those Japanese treats which is iconic in the west. To make it, we use black sesame paste as well as ground, toasted black sesame seeds. The paste is very finely ground toasted black sesame seeds, so it would be possible to make the paste but it is a lot easier to buy it. This is a different product from tahini because the sesame seeds used to make tahini are not roasted first.

Because adding something like sesame paste (or peanut butter, etc) to ice cream is going to make the resulting ice cream more solid, it is a good idea to do some things to try to incorporate air into the ice cream. The main strategy employed in this recipe is to use whipped cream to mix with the custard before putting the mix into the ice cream freezer. Another strategy which might contribute would be to separate the egg, and fold the custard into the beaten white, but for such a small batch it seems like a lot of trouble.

Once the custard is done, plan to chill it in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, preferably in a metal vessel so that it isn’t insulated from the cold. Once the ice cream has come out of the ice cream freezer, it will need another 4 to 8 hours, or overnight, to set completely. Also please note that this is a scaled-down recipe for small ice-cream freezers, and so it has some awkward measurements. The exact values are given, and should be used for scaling the recipe.

Makes enough for 6-12 portions, roughly 3 cups.

Equipment:
• pie tin or similar for toasting sesame seeds
• grinder for sesame seeds
• large mixing bowl
• whisk (or fork)
• glass measuring cup or small saucepan for scalding milk
• ice bath for hot custard

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp black sesame seeds toasted
3/4 cup milk generous (+1 Tbsp, +1 tsp)
2-3 Tbsp sugar 2 Tbsp + 2 tsp
1 ea egg 1.5 yolks
1 Tbsp honey or maple syrup, date syrup
1 1/2 Tbsp black sesame paste
1/2 tsp vanilla
6 Tbsp heavy cream 3 oz + 2 tsp

Procedure:
1. Toast the black sesame seeds to perfection; this will depend on your equipment. For guidance, include a few white sesame seeds to observe how they change color.
2. Whisk together the egg and sugar to the ribbon.
3. Add the honey, sesame paste and ground freshly-toasted sesame seeds.
4. Scald the milk and stream it into the egg mixture.
5. Transfer the egg mixture to a small saucepan and cook over medium-low heat until the custard thickens to coat the back of a spoon.
6. Once the custard has thickened, shock it in the ice bath until it is cold.
7. Refrigerate the custard to chill it thoroughly.
8. When the custard is very cold, whip the cream with the salt and the vanilla, to stiff peaks.
9. Fold together whipped cream and custard, and place into the ice cream freezer to gel.
10. Once the ice cream has gelled, scrape it out into a freezer-safe container and freeze it 4-8 hr or overnight to set.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Homemade Korean Japchae Recipe

LoveYourFood 2023-08-10 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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This lovely noodle dish is often included as a side-dish in Korean restaurants in Toronto, but it can also be made with meat in it and served as a sort of stir-fried noodle main dish. Here we present the room-temperature side-dish version meant to go with tabletop BBQ or other main dishes. When bulking it up for use as a main dish, consider adding strips of meat of your choice: beef, pork, chicken or shrimp will all taste good.

When refrigerated, the cooked noodles become stodgy and unappetizing. Reheating only brings them back slightly. So the best practice is to make the dish shortly before serving it and to make only enough for the occasion.

Furthermore, whereas many recipes (and generally the noodle packaging) suggest boiling the noodles in water, we learned a technique for cooking them only once, in the pan, by first soaking them in hot tap water for 20 minutes. If need be, long noodles may be cut or broken into shorter lengths in order to soak. In the finished dish, they should be in 4 to 6 inch lengths.

Makes enough for 4-8 people, roughly 2 litres.

Equipment:
• large bowl or pot for soaking noodles
• large skillet for sauteing everything
• bowl or liquid measure for sauce

Ingredients:
200 g sweet potato noodles ~1/2 lb; soaked 20 min in hot tap water

Sauce:
1/2 cup hot water
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp sesame oil

Vegetables:
1 ea carrot julienne; about 3/4 cup
1 cup spinach or similar; cross-cut to 1” strips
1 ea pepper julienne; about 3/4 cup
1 ea onion small; cut into half-moons across the grain
on top: green onion and toasted sesame

Procedure:
1. Set the noodles to soak in hot tap water while getting everything else ready.
2. Combine the sauce ingredients, but wait until it’s time to use the sauce to get the hot water.
3. Clean, peel and cut all the vegetables into long, thin shapes which will combine harmoniously with the noodles.
4. If need be, toast some sesame seeds. Cut the green onion garnish before beginning to cook, because once things are in the pan, everything starts to happen quickly.
5. Get a large skillet hot and use it to sweat and/or saute the vegetables, to your taste. Once they are soft and ready for the noodles, remove them from the pan and set them aside (possibly in the serving dish).
6. Once the noodles are done soaking, drain them and cut them to the desired length, then place them in the hot skillet, along with half of the sauce (with the hot water added).
7. Simmer the noodles in the pan 3-4 min until they are starting to turn transparent.
8. Add the vegetables back into the pan along with the remaining sauce.
9. Warm everything through and garnish with green onion and sesame.
10. Serve immediately, or at room temperature.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Homemade Focaccia Bread Recipe - Autolyse Method

LoveYourFood 2023-08-03 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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This is an ancient bread-making strategy. It employs a process known as autolyse, wherein the flour is allowed to sit wet for an extended period of time, during which it develops gluten without kneading. The dough generally remains slack and might seem slightly on the wet side if one were to try to knead it. The dough gets baked in a thoroughly oiled pan, from which it takes its shape. We used a roughly 9x13 pan, a quarter-sheet pan. Using a half-sheet would result in a thinner bread which would probably still make sandwiches, and would definitely be better for making a focaccia with a lot of toppings to be treated somewhat like a pizza.

Focaccia can be garnished with a lot of different sorts of things. Minimally, it might just be sea salt or sea salt and rosemary. In our video we also used basil, garlic cloves, olives and asiago cheese. Some also use slices of mozzarella, slices of tomato or even tomato sauce.

Leftover bread is generally good for two or three days, considering how much oil is incorporated into the dough. Freeze any portions not to be eaten that day, and they’ll be good for a month or two. It thaws in about an hour.

Makes 8 portions in a small pan, or 16-20 in a large pan.

Equipment:
• stand mixer (recommended but not necessary)
• a large bowl which will fit in the fridge and contain the risen dough (4-6 qt)
• 9x13 metal baking pan, or larger

Ingredients:
5 cup AP flour
2 1/2 cup warm water
2 tsp honey or maple syrup
2 tsp instant dry yeast
5 tsp kosher salt Diamond Crystal; if using Morton’s use 1 Tbsp
6 Tbsp olive oil
4 Tbsp butter
2-8 cloves garlic whole, or cut into large chunks
2-8 ea olives pits removes
1-2 Tbsp rosemary leaves preferrably fresh; other garden herbs may also be used
1-2 Tbsp Parmesan or similar any aromatic hard cheese of your choice will work

Procedure:
1. Combine the flour, salt, yeast, honey and water until thoroughly mixed.
2. Oil the dough with 4 Tbsp of the olive oil and refrigerate overnight (12 hr) until it doubles in size.
3. Butter the pan liberally, and then pour 1 Tbsp of oil into the middle.
4. Punch down the dough by folding it in half in different directions two or three times.
5. Spread the dough out evenly into the buttered pan atop of the pool of olive oil.
6. Preheat the oven to 450F.
7. Oil the top of the dough and allow to double in size in a warm place.
8. Poke down the dough with the last of the oil and apply the garnishes.
9. Bake the bread in the center of a 450F oven for 20-30 minutes.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Sweet Miso Fish Marinade Recipe

LoveYourFood 2023-07-27 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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Commonly found on Japanese restaurant menus as “black cod”, this dish usually is gindara (sablefish) marinated in sweet white miso (saikyo miso) and sake. However, the marinade can be used enjoyably on just about any fish. Here, we use it on amberjack cheeks (hamati kama). The marinade is simple to make but some care must be taken to ensure that the marinated fish will be safe to eat. In particular, it is important to use actual sake or some other form of alcohol.

Since we don’t usually keep saikyo miso, we chose to sweeten some regular white miso with a bit of maple syrup, as seemed appropriate for a Canadian adaptation of this recipe. We found the result to be quite delicious and indeed comparable with anything we’d had while dining out.

The finished fish might be garnished with green onion and ginger relish, or perhaps with micrograted or very thinly sliced radish. We had it atop rice with some wilted greens dressed with gomaae, the sweet/tangy sesame dressing.

Makes enough for 5 or 6 pieces of fish.

Equipment:
• large mixing bowl
• sealing container or large bag for refrigerating marinating fish
• large nonreactive platter or tray
• lined sheet pan or other baking pan

Ingredients:
4-6 pieces fish such as hamati kama, or filets of gindara
6 Tbsp white miso
1 Tbsp maple syrup if not using saikyo miso
3 Tbsp sake
3 Tbsp mirin

Procedure:
1. Salt the fish liberally and allow it to stand at least 30 min, to draw out excess moisture and decrease sliminess.
2. While the fish is standing with salt, mix the marinate in the large mixing bowl.
3. Rinse the fish only with sake, using a thin stream to remove the salt. Pat the fish dry with a cloth or paper towel.
4. Carefully toss the pieces of fish in the marinade, or possibly combine marinate and fish in the zipper bag, but either way ensure that the marinade gets all over each piece of fish.
5. Marinate the fish under refrigeration for 8 hours or overnight.
6. When it is time to cook the fish, preheat the oven to 400F
7. Slick off all the excess marinade possible. Do not rinse the fish.
8. Clean off, then wrap and freeze any marinated fish that won’t be cooked.
9. Bake the fish on a silicone or parchment lined pan for ~20 min in the center of a 400F oven.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Homemade Parker House Rolls Recipe

LoveYourFood 2023-07-20 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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These rolls are named after the Boston hotel where they were invented. Despite being from the north, they make truly excellent rolls for pulled pork (or, I imagine, beef brisket though I have not tried that yet). Properly made, they are light, fluffy, buttery with a delicately crispy crust.

This recipe calls for instant yeast; increase by 25% to use active dry yeast, which requires proofing. If using instant yeast, make sure it is still alive! We made this recipe 3 times before it rose properly because as it turns out our instant yeast had died. Even improperly-leavened these rolls were pretty good, but they’re much more convincingly rolls if the yeast works properly.

The first proofing step calls for 90 minutes, but it really depends on your room’s temperature. We live without air conditioning and the day we shot the video was hot, and so proofing really finished in more like 75 minutes. The dough did not behave as well after overproofing, but a more thorough punchdown might have fixed that problem.

Makes 16 rolls.

Equipment:
• 9”x13” baking pan or quarter sheet pan
• stand mixer recommended, with dough hook attachment

Ingredients:
360 g AP flour ~3 cups; weigh the flour for best results
1/4 cup potato flour or 3/4 cup of flakes
3 Tbsp sugar
2 1/2 tsp instant yeast or 3 Tbsp active dry, but probably 1 packet is enough
1 1/4 tsp salt 3/4 tsp if using Morton’s/Windsor
3+4 Tbsp butter room temperature; divided
1 cup milk room temperature
1 ea egg room temperature; large

Procedure:
1. Combine all dry ingredients together in the mixer bowl and mix well.
2. Add 3 oz of the butter, along with the milk and egg.
3. Allow the mixer to run on its lowest setting until the dough starts to come together, then switch to the next setting up and allow it to knead the dough for 8 minutes, or knead 10 minutes by hand. Don’t forget to flip the dough ball over during mixing and ensure that all stalled ingredients from the bottom of the bowl are incorporated.
4. The dough will become coherent and pull away cleanly from the bowl on all sides.
5. Cover the dough with a clean towel and let it rise in the bowl for about 90 minutes, to not-quite-double in size.
6. Butter the baking pan with some of the 4oz of butter remaining.
7. Turn the dough out, and if there was any chance of overproofing, punch it down thoroughly by folding it in thirds twice, on different axes.
8. Divide the dough in half, returning half to the bowl while working with the other.
9. Spread the dough out with fingers to about 8”x12” and from the last 4oz of butter, apply a thin layer of either soft or melted butter.
10. Cut the dough in half lengthwise, then fold edges toward the center but just shy, leaving the bottom layer slightly exposed.
11. Cut the folded strips in half, and the halves in half, to get 8 total pieces.
12. Turn each piece upside down as it goes into the buttered baking pan.
13. Repeat from step 9, to get a total of 16.
14. Preheat the oven to 350F.
15. Allow the pan of rolls to rise once again, for up to an hour, but for us 45 minutes was sufficient.
16. Place in the center of the oven for 20-25 minutes, turning halfway if your oven requires that.
17. Brush the rolls with melted butter when they emerge from the oven, and then allow to cool fully.
18. Uneaten rolls may be frozen to preserve their freshness.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Homemade Pulled Pork in a Dutch Oven Recipe

LoveYourFood 2023-07-13 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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Pulled pork should normally be made in a hot smoker, but if you lack a hot smoker it is possible to make a very good pulled pork in a Dutch oven (inside your regular oven). The Dutch oven helps to even out the heat and also to keep the meat from drying out during a long, non-submerged cooking period. A little broth or water added to the pot helps to keep everything moist, without making a stew.

We enjoy using whole chilis, so to get smokey flavor in this dish we’ll be using a dried chipotle pepper, ground into powder. Ancho peppers would also work, being smoked poblanos, and they could be combined. The seasoning which goes onto the meat before searing makes it smell and taste pretty much identical to chili. It’s the sauce which takes it from there to whatever your favorite pulled-pork destination is. This recipe for sauce produces a Kansas City style sauce which is probably what most people north of 40 degrees north latitude are going to find suits their palate best. There is also the North Carolina style sauce which is heavier on mustard and vinegar and not as sweet.

The quality of the leftovers is consistent for at least a week if the meat is stored whole, separate from the sauce. Shred whatever meat is needed for a meal, combine with some sauce, and heat. This will ensure that the BBQ stays in good condition until all has been consumed.

Makes enough for 8-10 meals.

Equipment:
• cast-iron or similar skillet for searing
• Dutch oven; preferably enamelled but bare cast-iron will also work

Ingredients:
1 ea pork butt shoulder, or a boneless picnic ham; cut into ~4 large chunks
1 ea onion large; diced
1/2 cup Bourbon or Scotch
1/2 cup chicken broth or water

Spice rub:
1 ea dried chipotle chili or up to 1 tsp cayenne
1 Tbsp paprika or one whole ground ancho
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp fennel

Sauce base:
1/4 cup molasses or date syrup, pomegranate molasses, etc.
1/4 cup white vinegar divided
4 tsp concentrated tomato paste
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp mustard
2 tsp hot sauce exact quantity depends on the hot sauce, and your preference

Procedure:
1. Preheat the oven to 300F.
2. Mix the spice rub by combining all ingredients in a spice grinder and reducing them to powder.
3. Cut the meat into chunks and cover with the rub. Allow to sit during the rest of mise en place, up to two hours on a countertop or even overnight in the fridge.
4. Dice the onion and set it aside for later.
5. In a mixing bowl or glass measuring cup, mix the sauce base using only half (2 Tbsp) of the vinegar. If it is a little too thick, add 1 Tbsp of water or ketchup.
6. In a hot cast-iron skillet, sear the meat on all sides.
7. Remove the meat from the pan and allow it to rest on a plate or cutting board.
8. Meanwhile, sweat the diced onion in the hot cast-iron, using it to re-dissolve the fond.
9. Using some or all of the stock or water, deglaze the onion pan once the onions are translucent, and transfer everything into the Dutch oven, over medium heat.
10. Add the rest of the stock or water, if any.
11. Place the chunks of meat into the Dutch oven, atop the onions, with their fattiest side facing up.
12. Pour about half of the sauce base over the chunks of meat, just to give them a light coating.
13. Place the lid on the Dutch oven and place the whole thing into the center of the 300F oven for about 3 hours.
14. After 3 hours, remove the lid and roast for 1 hour more at the same temperature.
15. Remove the pork from the oven once it flakes easily to a fork.
16. Remove the pork from the Dutch oven and defat the cooking liquid as well as possible.
17. Add the remainder of the vinegar (2 Tbsp) to the sauce base, along with all of the cooking liquid and any fond that can be dissolved into it.
18. Mix the BBQ sauce well. Store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. The unusued meat can also be stored the same way, and both may be frozen for more shelf life. It may be a good idea to portion the meat before freezing it.
19. To serve, choose a reasonable amount of meat for a meal, say 2-3 oz per person.
20. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, shred the meat to be served using two forks to pull the fibers of meat apart.
21. Add about a tablespoon of sauce per portion to the shredded meat, and mix it all together as well as possible.
22. If it is all cold, I cover it and give it about 30 sec at full power in the microwave.
23. Put the hot pulled pork onto a lovely, fluffy, crusty roll along with some raw onion and some dill pickle, and consume before someone else beats you to it.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Twice-Fried Plantain Tostones Recipe

LoveYourFood 2023-07-06 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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Tostones, also called patacones, are one of my favorite snacks from the equatorial region of the Americas. Thick slices of plantain are fried once to par-cook them before they are smashed, shocked in cold salty water for a time, and then blotted and fried once more to crispy/fluffy perfection. In different regions, the people prefer to make these with plantains at different levels of ripeness. For instance, in Puerto Rico it is traditional to use green plantains for this. I prefer the sweetness of moderately-ripe plantains, so we are using “yellow” ones in the video.

The twice-frying process is quite similar to that of making French fries. The main difference lies in shocking the freshly-smashed proto-patacones in salty water, which encourages them to soak up a little salt as they cool, meaning that even if they don’t receive a second seasoning after their last frying they will still have good flavor. Don’t throw dripping wet tostones into the hot oil; blot them somewhat dry with a paper towel (or something similar) first. This will help to prevent dangerous splattering of the hot oil.

Each time the pieces are fried, they need roughly 3 minutes per side at ~350F. It is possible that the first iteration might go a little longer, something like 5 min per side, especially if the pieces go in as the pan is just getting hot enough for the oil to bubble. If you’re using cast-iron for frying, as we did, then just wait until the pieces are ready to release on their own, the first time around. During the second frying, the pieces should not stick to the pan at all.

Makes enough for 2-3 people, roughly 12 tostones.

Equipment:
• skillet for shallow frying
• draining/cooling rack suitable for oily things
• bowl of salty ice water
• optional: skillet spatter-guard

Ingredients:
2 ea plantains any ripeness may be used, but with different results
1 cup vegetable oil possibly less; just enough to have a 1/4” before adding pieces
2 cup ice water
2 Tbsp salt dissolved in the ice water

Procedure:
1. Set up the frying pan with oil and let it start to warm up.
2. Peel the plantains and remove any fraying strings still attached to the meat.
3. Slice plantains on a bias, about 1” thick.
4. Place slices into hot oil and allow to cook until golden brown on each side. Allow the pan to indicate when the slices are done by allowing them to release naturally. Keep the temperature under control; it should not be necessary to have the burner even as high as 50% power.
5. Remove cooked slices from the pan and allow them to drain briefly, then while they are still hot, smash them with the bottom of a saucer (or use the special tool for it, if you have one). Just spread them out; it is better if they do not shatter into multiple pieces.
6. Place smashed slices into the ice water and them them shock for half an hour.
7. Once the soaking is done, bring the oil back up to frying temperature while blotting the smashed slices dry-ish, so they won’t go into the pan dripping.
8. Fry each smashed slice for about 3 min on each side, until they are once again golden brown and look delicious. Optionally apply salt and/or other seasoning to the hot tostones as they emerge.
9. Eat “immediately” but don’t burn yourself.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Homemade Easy Chive Blossom Compound Butter Recipe

LoveYourFood 2023-06-29 | Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood

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I was introduced to the idea of making compound butter from chive blossoms from someone who responded to a photo I posted of my profusely blooming chives one year. I cut down three-quarters of my chive blossoms and turned them into butter, and was surprised by how excellent it really is.

The butter is simple – just chive blossoms and some vermouth for a bit of alcohol extraction, along with the other benefits of vermouth. The resulting butter has a lovely floral quality in addition to the bulby chive/shallot flavor one might generally expect. It is scrumptious just on toast, but could be used in many other ways – in butter sauces, in pats on steak, enrichment of a potato soup.

Once mixed, let the butter sit for some time to allow the flavors to marry. After a week or two, the butter may be frozen if desired to keep it fresh for longer.

Makes a little over half a pound of chive blossom butter.

Equipment:
• large mixing bowl
• parchment or wax paper, and plastic wrap, to wrap up butter

Ingredients:
1/2 lb butter
20-24 ea chive blossoms ideally from the garden; also available in markets at times
1 Tbsp dry vermouth

Procedure:
1. Let the butter come to room temperature so that it is soft to work with. Do not melt the butter.
2. Clean and chop the chive blossoms. The stalks may be chopped and frozen for future use. They are typically a bit more rigid/crunchy/tough than regular chives, so they may not be as useful fresh.
3. Add the vermouth and the chopped chive blossoms to the mixing bowl and mix together.
4. If desired, cover the bowl and let the mixture of vermouth and herbs stand for 15-60 minutes.
5. Add the softened butter and use a fork or whisk to mix everything together.
6. Once the butter is homogeneously combined with the other elements, arrange it in a low, even mound on a sheet of wax paper or parchment, and then roll into a log with twisted ends to keep the butter in.
7. Wrap the log in plastic and store in the fridge for a day or two minimum before use.

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music