Buckwheat olive oil cake, BBQ pulled pork, fried squash blossoms, & more...
What I cooked in April!
May was a busy month— I turned 29, was bedridden for a week with a nasty virus, and took a trip to the desert with my family. All this to say, I know a post about April is a little late— but, who cares! Time is fake! Anyway~
In an attempt to eat through some of the things that had been sitting in our freezer and pantry, and in an attempt to save some money, Moss and I put ourselves on a no-restaurant ban halfway through April, which meant no restaurants and no takeout until my birthday in mid-May. Here are some of the highlights from the month (and, spoiler alert, we only made it to the beginning of May before we finally caved and ordered sushi after a long day of work).
Farmer’s Market Dinner
At the beginning of April, Moss and I spent a day in Santa Monica and Venice, and we came home with a bounty from the farmer’s market. We had a couple friends over for dinner later in the week, focusing on the fresh produce from our haul:
We started the meal with ricotta-filled fried squash blossoms topped with chopped pistachios. We’ve been making a variation of this dish for the last year or so, inspired by an appetizer we shared at an anniversary dinner at Bacetti last summer.
Then, we moved on to the main course: crispy chicken cutlets on an herby salad with a shallot vinaigrette. This is a classic in our house, and Moss in particular has mastered a crispy and juicy cutlet.
For dessert we had rhubarb upside down buckwheat olive oil cake. I was still recipe testing a buckwheat olive oil cake (which you’ll find later in this post) for a bake sale, and decided to try one in the style of a pineapple upside down cake. Originally, the rhubarb was supposed to be braided on top, but I poached the rhubarb beyond repair and it fell apart upon assembly. Instead, we laid the strips of poached rhubarb on the bottom of the pan and poured the cake batter on top of it. I made this cake a few times throughout April, and I have to be honest— this was by far the worst version. The cake itself was too dense and not sweet enough, and the rhubarb had a stringy texture that was unpleasant to eat. All in all, the cake was still fine, but I wouldn’t make this version of it again.
Dinner For One
On the rare occasion that Moss has to work late into the evening, I make a nice dinner for myself at home, and this almost always means steak night.
I’m still learning how to cook a truly great steak (and I have a ways to go), so I settled for a cheap cut from the grocery store— it was thinner than I wanted and it cooked too quickly (it ended up being medium, while I prefer rare to medium rare), but nonetheless it was enjoyable. I made a quick herby sauce (not quite a chimichurri, but similar) as opposed to an au poivre sauce, which is what I usually go for.
On the side I charred up some broccolini— first a quick boil and blanche, and then into the broiler for a few minutes— and topped it with toasted almonds and plenty of flaky salt.
BBQ Night
I’ve been craving barbecue for a while now— maybe because I started going to Stud Country occasionally, or maybe because I’ve been watching the new season of Farmer Wants a Wife (my guilty pleasure, awful reality TV show of the moment). I’d never made pulled pork before, but I loosely followed this recipe from Instagram. It ended up being easy and pretty hands-off, and the meat came out moist and flavorful. I seasoned and seared the pork shoulder according to the recipe, and then stuck it into the oven to cook for 3 hours, checking it every hour or so to make sure there was still enough liquid in the pot. When the meat had finished cooking, I poured in two different hot sauces (I can’t remember the exact amount of sauce, but it ended up being about 3/4 Salt Lick Original BBQ sauce and 1/4 Kinder’s Hot BBQ sauce).
Along with the pork, I made hatch chile mac and cheese with two types of cheddar; I prefer stove top mac and cheese over baked, so it came together quickly, and was deliciously gooey.
We ate the leftover pork throughout the week, repurposing it for tacos and nachos!
We Have Courage Bagels At Home
In March, I finally tried Courage Bagels— I was a longtime skeptic (dare I say hater) until Moss and I finally popped in on a gloomy Monday morning when the line was short. Moss ordered the Run it Thru the Garden (plain cream cheese, tomato, cucumber, onion, caper, dill, lemon, salt, pepper, olive oil) on a toasted sesame bagel— which I inevitably ended up snacking on, too— while I opted for a burnt everything bagel with scallion cream cheese.
Dear reader, I have been converted. In the month of March alone I think we broke the bank by dining at Courage at least four times, sticking to our previous order, except for a one-off where I ordered the Cream Cheese Tomato (with lemon, salt, pepper, olive oil) on a burn everything bagel. I don’t need to wax poetic about Courage— you know the deal— the bagels are crunchy, fresh, and delicious. We cannot, however, afford to keep eating there weekly; As a compromise, we bought a bag of single (3 sesame and 3 everything) bagels to take home, and immediately sliced and froze them to eat throughout the week.
After reheating them in the toaster, the bagels (almost) returned to their original texture, preserving the shattering crunch. I topped mine with scallion cream cheese, heirloom tomatoes, olive oil, lemon juice, salt + pepper + chili flakes, and dill.
We Have Sqirl At Home
Despite a few bouts of rain, it’s been hot in LA this spring, so I’ve been craving fresh, veggie-forward meals on warmer days. Specifically, I’ve been craving the crispy rice bowl from Sqirl, so I made a version of it at home. I made crispy farro (any grain will work, especially if you already have some leftover from a previous meal, but the original calls for Kokuho Rose brown rice) by cooking it according to the box instructions, letting it cool, tossing about half of the cooked farro (save the rest) in olive oil, and then sticking it in the broiler (on high) for a few minutes to allow the farro to crisp up. Don’t let the farro sit in the broiler for too long or it will become rock hard— take it out when it just about seems ready, and it should continue to crisp up as it cools back down on the counter.
A key element to recreating the dish is the lacto-fermented hot sauce. We have a bottle of Sqirl’s at home, but I imagine you could find a similar hot sauce at the store or even make it yourself.
I tossed together all the farro with herbs (cilantro + mint like the original calls for, plus dill and green onions), cucumber, and fried a couple eggs to add on top.
I could have stopped here and it would’ve been close enough to the original, but we had produce that needed to be eaten, so I added sliced red carrots (which I tossed in apple cider vinegar and let sit on the counter while I assembled the bowls) and raw snap peas.
We didn’t have any goat cheese at the time, but I would’ve added a few globs of that as well if we had some in the fridge!
Bake Sale
In April, Moss and I sold our baked goods at a spring market! As aforementioned, I spent the month developing a buckwheat olive oil cake, and the one I produced for our bake sale was, luckily, the best iteration. I felt like I finally nailed the recipe, or at least got it to a place I was happy and confident with— I can post the recipe another time! For the bake sale, I made two slightly more special versions— one with vanilla bean mascarpone whip, and one with the same whip and a dollop of rhubarb jam (that was my favorite version of the cake, and also the first to sell out at the bake sale!). The buckwheat cake ended up being a light, spongey, and slightly sweet cake that was perfect for snacking.
Strawberry Rhubarb Shrub
I discovered a newfound love for rhubarb this spring— I know, I’m late to the party! I’ve been hoarding rhubarb all month— every time I took a trip to the grocery store, I ended up coming home with a few stalks just in case it’s the last of the season (I will be devastated when that day actually comes). Between the two of us, Moss and I flew through most of our rhubarb by making jams (and we froze a few quarts for future use), but we ended up with a few less-than-gorgeous stalks that began to get soft. So, I decided to make shrub for the first time. I researched a few recipes, and most called for a 1:1:1 ratio of fruit, sugar, vinegar, but I had to adjust it a little based on what I had, which ended up being about 2:1:1. For my strawberry rhubarb shrub, I used
300 grams of fruit
~175 grams of granulated sugar
~175 grams of apple cider vinegar (maybe a little less)
On the first day, I chopped the fruit and added it to a bowl, and then added the sugar— I planned to do a 1:1 ratio, but ran out of sugar at around 175 grams (in my opinion, this worked out just fine because rhubarb produces quite bit of liquid and strawberries had a fair amount of sugar). I covered it with a towel and left it to macerate on the counter for ~48 hours, checking on it once or twice a day to give it a stir.
After two days, I strained the liquid and added the vinegar, and this part is really up to your personal preferences and taste— you can go lighter on the vinegar (I almost wish I added a little less) or go for the full 1:1:1 ratio.
Voila! So far I’ve poured it over a glass of sparkling water to enjoy like a kombucha, and Moss added it to a cocktail.
That wraps up April! See you back here soon for a May roundup~
Are you kidding me?!? This post has it all! Amazing recs, lifestyle moments and even includes a recipe??? shortie going crazy on the stack 🥞🥞🥞💚
Please tell me you’ll be doing another bake sale soon bc I need that buckwheat cake!! Also, pop off chef with all these meals 🤌🏼