Hi all, Mod R again. Don’t worry, House Andrews are fine, just deep in the writing cave for Sweep of the Heart, so I get to entertain and make a post about my favourite topic: food!
Since the 2020s are determined to go down in history as The Roaring Whatthefucks, to borrow a Bug-ism, and our collective stress is on the rise, life’s simple pleasures like reading a good book and eating a good meal have become more important than ever.
Food is my love language. You know how people say someone is either a Lover or a Fighter? Well, I’m an Eater! And a food explorer: my favourite dish is always the one I haven’t tried yet, which does mean I sometimes end up on the part of the culinary map where dragons be.
Today, however, I’m sharing trendy recipes of (hopefully) the same yumminess level Ilona has accustoms us all on the blog!
Pesto Eggs
This takes a little trust, but if you’re willing to take the leap, you will be met with great rewards. As our culinary overlord Orro well knows, there is nowhere to hide with the humble egg and that’s where true mastery shines.
The concept is simple enough: instead of cooking oil for frying eggs, use pesto! I’ve also tried it with omelette, both work deliciously.
About ¼ cup of pesto or 2 very heaped tablespoons spread on the bottom of your pan. Heat up the pesto, crack 2 eggs, and sprinkle with your usual seasonings. Cook for 1 or 2 minutes, then put a lid on and make them as runny or cooked as you usually do. Mr Mod R is Italian so I put this on toast spread with ricotta, but avocado toast or plain bread also works wonders. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good here!
As for the pesto, it can be your regular basil pesto, a sundried tomatoes pesto, or my favourite: home made wild garlic pesto. About 6 cups of wild garlic (or 200 grams bunch), 3/4 cup of raw almonds or pine nuts, 1/2 cup of parmesan, a pinch of salt, 1/2 cup of olive oil and optionally the juice of half a lemon. I’m a Lemon Girl, everything is more balanced with acidity for me, but make it your own.
Fare la scarpetta might not be the done thing, but I assure you even Count Sagredo would do this in private if presented with pesto eggs for breakfast hehe.
Green Goddess Salad (credit BakedByMelissa)
Lol, got all that? No worries, me neither the first time around, but breaking the speed of light is not actually necessary for making this salad hehe.
This recipe makes enough for 4 adults, or 2 adults and leftovers- because cabbage is sturdier than lettuce, it doesn’t go all flollopy in the fridge and even people with wilted texture aversion can enjoy it on the second day.
Salad Ingredients: 1 small head of cabbage, 1 large cucumber (what I believe is called English cucumber in the US) or 3-4 smaller garden cucumbers, 1/4 cup of chives, 4-5 green/spring onions.
Dressing Ingredients: 1 cup of basil, 1 cup of spinach, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 small shallot (or onion), juice of 2 lemons, 1/4 cup of olive oil, 1/4 cup of nuts (original recipe calls for cashews and walnuts, but pine nuts or almonds work too if walnuts give you issues), 1/3 cup of nutritional yeast, 1 teaspoon of salt and 2 tablespoons of rice vinegar.
Chop your salad ingredients by whatever tool you prefer into relatively small pieces, as the main method for eating this is scooping with tortilla chip. Add all the dressing ingredients to a blender and blitz until liquid consistency, then mix in a large bowl.
Is it a replacement for guac? Truthfully, no- it’s a different beast altogether. But, especially with the avocado shortages, it’s a good idea to have in your back pocket. The main revelation was adding nutritional yeast to salad dressing- it’s delicious and slightly parmesan-y and I’ve been doing it to other salads ever since.
Baked Feta Pasta
I would call this *the* viral recipe during the main leg of the pandemic, to the point where stores were out of Feta cheese because so many people were trying it. Its origins are lost in the liminal timespace that was 2020, but as far as I can dig, credit goes to this Finish blogger.
Ingredients: 4 cups of cherry or grape tomatoes, 1 block/7 oz of Feta cheese, 1/2 cup olive oil, 3-4 cloves of garlic (peeled and crushed), 7-8 basil leaves, chilli flakes to taste, black pepper. 10 oz of dry pasta, cooked separately* until al dente.
Crowd the tomatoes around the block of Feta in a smaller baking dish than you think you need, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle your seasonings, then bake for about 30 minutes in a 400F oven, until the tomatoes turn jammy and the Feta is golden.
The OG recipe puts the tomatoes with their vines still on, and adds the basil and the garlic in the beginning, then kicks up the temperature for the last 10 minutes. You do you, but I found that burns both the aromatics and I don’t like stems in my sauce ::shrug::. I also found I didn’t need the extra salt.
I only add the crushed garlic and the basil once the my roasting tray is out of the oven and let the residual heat cook them, whilst I mix everything together. Then add the pasta, with a few tablespoons of reserved pasta water if you desire a more emulsified texture.
*Please, for the love of the Italian Grandmother Collective, cook pasta separately! I, too, suffer from Thick Thighs Thin Patience syndrome, but one pot pasta dishes are not worth the time save.
Bon Appetit!
First
This all looks and sounds so good. I’m on a diet and really hating it. I get vegan lentil stew for lunch today (it’s absolutely as bad as it sounds).
Healthy Me was in charge of buying snacks this week ????. I completely empathise.
She thought cacao nibs would be an acceptable replacement for chocolate. I hate her ????
Unfortunately, there is no good replacement for chocolate. I too have tried cacao nibs. ???? They are not for snacking.
I did find that a small piece of really good chocolate (that is savored slowly) with some fresh fruit can work. My problem is that once I start on sweets, I want MORE. Have you done chia pudding? That’s a relatively healthy option.
((Hugs)) We’re all in this together.
I love chia! I even do the new (silly) chia water thing first thing in the morning. Purely for the fun of the frog spawn gel texture lol.
Overnight oats with chia and coconut or chia bircher muesli are also yum- just not when all you really want is chocolate ????
I cheat and add in a few of my favorite chocolate chips into the chocolate chia pudding or on top of the vanilla one. That way I get some and get the taste, but I don’t eat too many. ????
But you are correct, when all you really want is chocolate, nothing else really works. ☹️
I agree that really good chocolate, and by that I mean a cacao content of 60-75%, means you don’t feel the need to eat as much. If what you really want is chocolate, then something with lots more cacao and less sugar than milk chocolate hits the spot more accurately.
Hahahahaha, I coldheartedly gagged and hogtied healthy me and kicked her out of a moving car. (Don’t worry, she’s ok, but she now has a restraining order out on me, so we stay away from each other.) 🙂
Your healthy me and my healthy me should do lunch. As long as they don’t tell me what they ate.
Add Indian or Ethiopian spicing to your lentils. Both cultures make very yummy lentil dishes. I especially like the Ethiopian berber spice, but you do need to use caution if you don’t like your food “hot”. The only non-vegan thing in misir wat (redlentil stew) is cooking your onions in ghee, but you can easily use any oil of choice. Here’s a website with nice photos.
https://www.daringgourmet.com/misir-wat-ethiopian-spiced-red-lentils/
I eat mine with garlic naan as making injera is annoying at best, and naan is often easy to find. There are huge amounts of delicious vegan veg dishes in both cultures. The Indian dishes will be spicy but less “hot” as they generally use hot peppers, which are easy to leave out.
TY. I will definitely try that.
Lentils – or more specifically indian daals are my comfort food! Especially with a spoon of yoghurt / raita and rice (I sub quinoa if trying to be extra healthy).
Google some daal recipes (like this one). https://www.sanjanafeasts.co.uk/2021/04/gujarati-wedding-dal/
Another alternative is Khichidi – it’s another Indian dish that’s a mix of lentils and rice and is like an Indian risotto. You can use whichever lentils you want but my favourite is the moong Dahl.
https://foodviva.com/rice-recipes/vegetable-khichdi-recipe/
Try adding a bit of chipotle pepper and adobo. I do a good red lentil/veg soup/stew, although there is also bacon involved. But the adobo and chipotle raise it to a tangy smoky different level
You had me at bacon.
Lol, everything is better with bacon!
Try Egyptian red lentil stew if you can! This one is pretty good ???? and it’s still about 100 calories per serving!! Better than the other ones I’ve seen and still vegan!
I accidentally concocted a reasonably good vegan soup the other day with sweet potato, cauliflower, broccoli and carrots alongside leeks a little onion and vege stock.
Certified!
Thank you for “The Roaring Whatthefucks!” That’s is absolutely the best description of this decade I have ever heard. I will be borrowing and joyfully sharing TRW with friends and family.
Bug got there first!
Weirdest pandemic shortages lately.
Two weeks ago the big grocery store was out of capers (this is the states and capers aren’t a big thing).
This weekend, the big grocery store was out of bay leaves. All bay leaves. They stock 4 brands of bay leaves and were out of all of them.
I get the toilet paper hoarding (even if I understand it is irrational), but who the heck is hoarding capers and bay leaves?
Maybe the Puttanesca festival is in town? 😀 That stumped me too lol.
hmm…. they sell capers at costco. (just watch out for the monsters.) i get my bay leaves from penzey’s and they are top quality.
I am a Penzey’s regular, too, but they just closed our local store! I was in mourning because now I have to learn to think ahead so I can order what I need. Aside from Tony Chachere’s Creole seasoning, Penzey’s is most of what is in our spice cabinet… and the second drawer… and the drawer in the rollable kitchen cart…
We don’t have a spices/seasonings problem, do we? =)
Nobody has orzo right now near me… it’s really weird like specifically orzo keeps running out… lost other pastas are their regularly but no orzo shows up???
Oh there are regular orzo shortages where I am too. I always pick up at least 2 bags when I see any!
I have an orzo Christmas salad that is tradition at this point at Casa R and no way am I leaving myself without.
There were out of capers in Canada a few weeks ago too. Back in stock now so hopefully the caper mafia will move on from the US soon too.
A quick prep addition for your list:
1-2 lbs (U.S 1-2 pkgs.) chicken drumettes or legs
1 envelope of your favorite taco/fajita/chile seasoning
1/4 cup lime juice
Rinse and pat the chicken dry
Place chicken in Ziploc bag
Add seasoning and shake
Add lime juice and seal bag
Shake/massage bag and refrigerate for a couple hours or overnight. Periodically turn the bag over to distribute the marinade. No biggie if you forget this step.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Pour the chicken and marinade into an oven proof dish just large enough to hold the chicken
Bake for 45 minutes or until juices run clear or until a meat thermometer reads 165.
Chicken will be tender, favorable and reheats well.
PS: Bug rules!
Yumm!
What would you do for sides? (I don’t know why I am so beholden to only planning meals with sides)
Any kind of vegetable, tossed in similar seasonings and olive oil, roasted. Or, your Green Goddess salad (or any fresh green salad and dressing of your choice). 🙂
I suggest your green goddes salad and chips.
Any vegetable of your choice. Sweet potato fries, cauliflower rice, saffron rice (my favorite), any form of spud unless you are carb conscious. Broccoli with parmesan and a pinch of nutmeg.
The chicken is very, very low to no carb and low calorie. Tasty and healthy, what a concept ????
Sounds good! Saved the recipe to try.
I just got out of a workout and in a meeting. And I read the blog because I am avoiding Fridays (still keeping it in!). And now Im drooling and starved but only for tasty food. No vending machines. Which is my only option for the next 2 hrs. Ugghhhhh. Also, snacks bought by healthy me always just end up inhabiting the back of the pantry. Waiting on sunshine…
Ooh love it. Normally I am all about food, but morning sickness is hitting hard right now and nothing sounds or smells good. ???? I will save these recipes for when I am feeling up to more than just crackers and ginger tea.
Fingers crossed you get over this stage soon!
I am definitely trying the salad!! And I have also tried the chocolate nibs, nope it didn’t work for me! Thanks Mod R!
Shouldn’t this post come with a drool warning? Or am I expected to be clever enough to figure that out on my own?
Thanks for these, Mod R. (Garlic pesto? How have I never heard of this?) The pesto eggs and baked feta pasta are now my to-try list.
Just to be clear, it’s wild garlic! It’s a leaf, looks a bit like Chinese spinach, but has a lovely fresh and subtle garlicky flavour.
Thanks, Mod R. You take such good care of us.
When they are in season garlic scapes work well for pesto, too…. 🙂
I don’t think I have ever seen this in a grocery store in the US. Is there an alternative?
There have been comments calling it “ramps” and talking about sourcing it at farmer’s markets, maybe that’s the way to go for the US?
It has such a unique taste that I don’t know if I would confidently replace it with anything else. You can maybe experiment with other spring greens like lamb’s lettuce or watercress and add an old fashioned garlic clove? 🙂
Sorry! Garlic scapes are the tops of garlic stems that develops the flower. The scapes are picked off before the flower blooms. They are usually available in late spring at Farmer’s Market around here, unless you grow your own
On “Chef’s Life” on PBS this week they were wild harvesting Ramps which is another name for wild garlic. Be sure of what you are picking though. Personally , I think the plant leaves look a lot like Lily of the Valley which is really really poisonous. Vivian Howard was being guided by experts. She made a ramps butter with some herbs with them.
Yes! I was thinking to warn people about Lily of the Valley too.. However, the wild ramps have an intense garlic scent, so if you can’t trust your sense of smell, you’d better avoid harvesting your own.
My daughter’s housemate went foraging for wild ramps. After they all started to get violently ill from the pasta dish she made with her find, my daughter figured out that Roomie had brought home false hellebore instead of ramps. O_O No one died but there were trips to the ER. Alliums should smell like alliums. Be told.
Dear ModR, my Parents have Bärlauch (wild garlic) in their garden so I’m totally with you on the yummy Pesto. Will have to try the eggs version next, only served it with Spaghetti so far- thanks for the recipes!
This was a fun post to read. My #1, favorite food of any type is basil pesto. I like other pestos, but not as much. I have to actively limit myself from eating it every day. I constantly search for recipes including pesto. I may try the egg dish today. Ilona always makes me want whatever food she writes about. The food in her stories always sounds so good, no matter how simple it is. OK, please post more in this vein!! Thanks!
HA food scenes are my biggest Kryptonite. I think I ate nothing but carpaccio for restaurant starters for about a year after Burn for Me.
And Baja tacos are the first thing I go for when I visit Texas!
I am definitely trying pesto eggs at some point.
Hello Mod R,
Thank you for sharing your passion and for teaching me a new word. I can’t believe I’ve gone this long not knowing there was a word for cold meat dishes.
I’m enamored of your pesto egg method! Personally, I make omelets out of leftovers and add seasonings directly into the egg mixture. I beat the eggs & seasoning with a fork while the veggies (or whatever the leftovers are today) warm up in the cast iron skillet and then pour the eggs atop them. It’s easier to flip the omelet like a pancake. Plus, in my square pan I can cut them into fourths and place them on an oblong plate to for a gourmet look. So pretty! So yummy! I can’t wait to try your prestigious pesto eggs, it’s at a whole new level!!
That Green Goddess Salad is a legit banger.
The visuals look very yummy, Mod R! Thankfully I read this post at night time, because I’m fasting during the day *wipes some escaping drool*????
Has anyone tried to feta and tomato pasta bake? I’ve read about it for the past two years but haven’t gotten around to making it. It sounds delicious so I’m wondering about how good it really is?
Thanks, Mod R, you remain a rock star for the BDH!
When I made it I thought the recommended seasoning was a a bit weak to work well with the salty feta. Also the next time I made it I added oregano just because….
A true (northern) Italian won’t combine basil and oregano in the same sauce… but this is the USA and we do it all the time here. My purist husband who lived there for 2 years and cribbed recipes off all the mammas and nonnas gives me side-eye when I do. So add whatever you enjoy eating!
I make the feta pasta bake a lot. It’s really easy which is a plus. I just add way more seasonings otherwise it’s kinda bland.
I made it the other night, and threw in a big handful of arugula at the end. Really good!
My thing recently has been hummus bil lame — basically, hummus with spiced meat. Add some tabbouleh and pita, and I have what I call Lebanese tacos. Yum-yum!!
I had a Lebanese ex-boyfriend and we lived for 3 months in Beirut- best eating I’ve ever done. Hands down.
I love Korean, Italian flows through my veins, there is no better eating than Lebanese. Labneh breakfasts are a core memory!
Everything sounds very tasty – I’m almost sad, that dinners almost ready – German Onion & Bacon Pie. Fresh from the oven for me, cold for my husband who has to work late. Tasty both ways.
I’ll try your recipes next week.
I have recently been served the Feta dish as an appetizer with the addition of Castelvetrano green olives- no pasta. Just crackers with which to dip it up. It was wonderful!
Great sounding recipes Mod R – thanks!
Will have to have a play later after doing some shopping for groceries!
OMG, I’m also a food person, so this is one of my favorite blog posts. I honestly would read nothing except Orro cooking all banquets (this might also be why I marathoned all of Top Chef during the pandemic). I had a dumb question about the pasta (pasta dishes and I do not get along, I can cook meat, but pasta defeats me). Does it matter what top of pasta you use? And then once you cook both the pasta and the feta and tomato dish, do you just mix the two?
Yes, you just mix!
Spiral pasta ( like fusilli or strozzapreti) would be my choice with this- the OG recipe uses spaghetti though!
Best method for cooking dried or fresh pasta for me is bringing the water to a rolling boil, add 1 tsp of salt, and then add the pasta. 12-15 minutes for dried wheat based pasta, 5 minutes for fresh pasta, 8-10 for gluten free pasta. Pasta should have a firm texture when bitten.
Ravioli and tortellini should generally be cooked for 5 minutes following the same cooking method as above.
I have never had success with adding pasta to cold water and then bringing to a boil. Hope this helps.
I did the cold-cook pasta method for a particular recipe I like with lots of garlic, italian sausage, parsley, and parmesan cheese. It took me like have a dozen tries to figure out the right point to pull the pasta out and move it into the other pan to get it perfectly cooked. Now, however, I have a carbonara variant using Italian sausage instead of bacon, ham, or pancetta. I like it so much and it’s much easier to make.
Now I want to make some wheaten bread to have with sauce and hot with butter. Cold outside which doesn’t help.
It’s SO cold outside (you’re in the UK too, right?). Definitely time for comfort food.
Like many another raised on Doctor Seuss, I like green eggs and ham.
I use pesto to do the green eggs – I’ve never seen any reason to try for green ham.
I can’t say the other items sound very appealing to me. But that’s me.
I see no reason to object to somebody liking something I don’t. Though I was about ready to do murder before my relatives stopped putting avocado in EVERYTHING.
I always figured only the eggs were green!
+1 The idea of green ham would not appeal to many, I suspect, with good reason.
All of the dishes sound good to me, but I can’t do cheese anymore so sadly the feta one is out.
I can’t do cheese from cows milk anymore, but goats milk feta is very good and works for me.
I could do goat and sheep milk cheeses for a decade or so after quitting cow’s milk, and honestly I liked them better than most cow’s milk cheeses, but now even they are off limits.
Most people who served in the U.S. Military and were fed away from the mess hall had scrambled eggs served out of a Mermite Container. The Sulphur in the egg yolks turned green after being heated for a long time. Dr. Suess served in the U.S. Airforce or Army Air Corp, so I believe he may have been introduced to green eggs at that time. When eggs are boiled too long, you can see the gray/green color on the edge of the yolks.
A wild garlic pesto also goes great with very thinly sliced red beets (aka sliced by a mandoline), a drizzle of crema di balsamico and if you want it to be a bit more substantial some goat cheese “breaded” in crushed nuts of your choice and lightly cooked in a pan so that it’s a bit warm and gooey.
Or some wild garlic cream soup with fresh croutons. Such a great herb… especially if you have a garden full of it.
The recipes look very tasty, ty for sharing 🙂
Oh yesss! Beets and goat cheese with the green freshness would be amazing!
I grew up with wild garlic (Bear’s Garlic) in my native country, it tastes like spring to me- and all the claims about it “purifying the blood” meant that I feel especially healthy eating it hehe.
That creamy soup sounds like the one my grandmother made too, I need to dig up.
Yes, it’s all over the place every spring. That’s alwas the final sign for me that Winter’s over here in Germany 🙂 only have to be careful when picking it that there aren’t any lily of the valley mixed in.
The red beet carpaccio worls rlly well with a good olive oil and crema di balsamico as well. It’s a rlly quick and easy appetizer that pretty much goes over well at any dinner party.
well, now i am drooling.
All these sound awesome, but I’d like to mention that wild garlic/ramps are threatened by over harvesting, so a friendly reminder to folks new to foraging: cut the leaves, do not pull the whole bulb out.
https://www.seriouseats.com/ramps-sustainable-harvesting
good info!
+1 with emphasis!
Ooooh! Excellent reminder here!
I acquired some wild garlic a few years ago and planted it in several places in my yard (try throwing the flower heads into your stir fry or salad).
I’m moving in December and the garlic is another thing I need to pot up to bring with me while I know where it is (instead of fruitlessly digging up the general area during a future rainy November day.
PS. I agree with the comment about not over harvesting ramps. I bought mine at the local farmer’s market from a vendor who harvest it on his own property and always makes sure he leaves an abundant supply for the next season.
These all sound delicious. If only I wasn’t such a lazy cook…
LOVE your “edge of the map where dragons be” comparison!! Many’s the time I’ve ended up there after some culinary exploration…
Faith
“The Roaring Whatthefucks”
hahaha… how accurate
Will definitely try the pesto eggs as I often fry an egg and make a sandwich with avocado. That sounds like a great variation!
And I think the green goddess salad will by a nice variation on the “Japanese” cabbage salad main dish I’ve had for years now (add chicken or steak strips, heh). My recipe is really not Japanese, but that’s the name I got with the recipe a million years ago. It’s made with a package of flavored ramen noodles (the ONLY reason those pkgs exist in my cupboard) and if you’re interested there are probably dozens of recipe variations online.
Thanks for the yummies on a gray Monday at work!
I’ve had pesto with eggs (delish!), but never eggs cooked in pesto. Brilliant!!! The salad is now next on my list of new recipes to try. ❤️
Any kind of nut or seed gives me horrific migraines. Does anyone have a substitute for them in pesto or sauces/salad dressings?
Ok, hear me out, dried apricots. You would need to add more of the herbs and parmesan to balance the sweetness, but it’s a very good alternative! And hey, I had pesto with raisins in Sicily, so it’s not THAT out there hehe.
If not, how about chikpeas/ soy beans?
I never would have thought of the apricots (or raisins) but that sounds really good! I have packets of fried mung beans that I was thinking of using but I like both the apricot and chickpea ideas better. Thank you, ModR!!
Any time I see feta used in a recipe, the first question I always ask myself is “is it Greek feta from Greece?” I had feta from Greece, and it is a lot better than anything else I have tried over the years. I also like Greek olive oil. 🙂
One of my go to recipes when it’s cold outside is my version of New England claim chowder. It’s two clam chowder recipes I combined into one. Instead of salt pork, I use thick cut bacon with a 50/50 meat to fat ratio. I use the fat to cook onions and make a roux with it. It’s not a pastey white chowder. It’s more a beige color because I use two bottles of clam juice and two cans of chopped clams which I strain the liquid and use it along with the clam juice. I use very little milk (whole milk) to give the chowder some smoothness. I boil the potato separately, cut it up, and use the potato starch as another thickener.
I like my chowder thick (meaning if I stick a spoon in it, the spoon will stand up). I have to pace myself when I make it because I can eat the entire pot in one day if I’m not careful. Yummy! 😀
I asked friends of mine who were originally from Louisiana if they had New England clam chowder. Both of them looked at me with blank looks. I told them when it gets cold again, I would make it for them.
Clam not claim…only it could be claim since I claimed the recipe for myself. 😀
I’ve never had clam chowder! I’ll have to go hunt the specialist US stores to see if I can find clam juice!
And the crackers- I understand there’s something special about the ones served with the chowder?
I eat my chowder with club crackers. They are a buttery type of cracker. You can eat it with saltine crackers, but it’s not the same.
Oyster crackers: https://www.amazon.com/Westminster-Bakers-Natural-Crackers-Oyster/dp/B07QXFKJT7/ref=sr_1_3?crid=23KKZ8TM6QIRA&keywords=oyster+crackers+individual+packages&qid=1649097742&sprefix=oyster+crackers%2Caps%2C186&sr=8-3
Tiny puffs of crackers about 1 cm square. In Cincinnati, Ohio we also eat them over Cincinnati’s Greek-style chili.
I’m a New Englander and the above recipe is a winner!!!! The crackers we used with the soup are known as “oyster crackers” and they’re great just to munch on. My dad loved them as well as “Royal Crown Crackers” but the ‘oyster cracker’ was what we all put in the chowder. In the states, I usually find the clam juice near the tuna fish and canned fish. Good luck
Are they called that because you eat them with seafood chowder or because they taste/are shaped like oysters? ????
To me both. ????
Because you eat them with chowders and oyster stew. I’m not a chowder fan, but the rest of my family is. So when a relative moved to a town where clam digging is an option I tracked down the following recipes. Very detailed, to get the chowder just right.
https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-make-real-new-england-clam-chowder-the-food-lab-recipe
and
https://www.seriouseats.com/diy-oyster-crackers-recipe
Thanks Colleen. The two chowder recipes come from the Fannie Farmers cookbook. It was my maternal grandmother’s cookbook. It has my grandmother’s, my mom’s, my brother’s, and my handwriting in it. I love that cookbook.
I hate it when I see clam chowder on a menu, and it doesn’t taste like clams. Ugh!
I agree oyster crackers are the crackers traditional for chowder. I tried them when I finally got my chowder recipe the way I want it. However I couldn’t taste the oyster crackers in the chowder. That’s when I tried the club crackers. To me, the club crackers stood up the the clam taste.
Yum gotta try pesto eggs for lent. Does Ilona have a recipe for Black Russian rye? I love the one from Whole Foods. But it’s to pricey for anything but a rare treat. And a tad salty for my taste
I’ll ask!
A little bit of cocoa powder in your overnight oats with sweetener of choice is nice. Or dried cherries and chopped almo ds with a drop of almond extract for a cherry bakewell. I also make a carrot cake style one with grated carrot, orange zest and cinnamon. Overnight oats are a lifesaver for busy mornings. Loving everyone’s recipes!
Question about overnight oats: I don’t care for really cold foods in the morning but every recipe I’ve seen seems to require refrigerating the mix overnight.
Anyone have a different recipe I can try?
How about baked oats? https://www.savorynothings.com/tiktok-baked-oats/
Unless your kitchen is very warm you should be fine leaving your overnight oats on the counter (assuming you don’t have any furries that would consume it when your back was turned!). We do this and haven’t had a problem even in summer, though that is a UK summer so you may need to adjust accordingly. However if you think this wouldn’t be wise in your household try “defrosting” in the microwave, the defrost setting won’t cook the oats, but does just bring them up to room temperature.
Thank you Jazzlet, defrosting sounds like the way to go!
I do overnight oats- but only ones that have no yogurt because I heat mine up!! I do t like them Cold either????
Newest variation to the feta cheese pasta: Brie, green grapes, walnuts. I haven’t tried it yet, but it looks so good.
OOoh, like a warm, waldorf-y pasta? Interesting…
Yay and yum!!
Man, a cookbook from all the stories and the BDH would sell like, well, hotcakes – just sayin’!
Love the idea of pesto eggs! Along the lines of shakshuka, which I love, so I am all in.
Thank you for sharing!!! Cold and grey and ick in Iowa, so there will be soup for supper.
Oh, if you like shakshuka, have you ever had çılbır? Same family, same hangover curing fieriness, but with a yoghurt base to douse it off https://www.themediterraneandish.com/cilbir-turkish-poached-eggs/
LE YUM! Aleppo pepper is a must!
Oooh!!! Yes! Just scored some duck eggs from the farm stand down the road, so it’s what’s for supper tomorrow. Can’t wait! Thank you!!!
All I can say is YUM! ????Late last summer I made and froze some kale pesto (don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.) Sounds like it’s time to break some out and try it with your eggs recipe. Thank you!
😀 Oh no, you’re not taking me alive! Big Kale shall not have me!
Have you tried fresh kale “crisps”, a bunch of us made some on holiday as Mr J had bought along a couple of carrier bags (!!!) of kale he had grown (no I don’t know why either). They were amazing, so much so that over three nights eight of us ate all the kale turned into crisps. And nearly all of us were convinced they’d be horrid too. The exception being a couple whose son had made some for them who pushed the rest of us to “at least try them!”
“Thick Thighs Thin Patience Syndrome”????????
I’m Italian, so thanks for the “cook pasta separately”! I May add: pasta Need water, salted water. It has to be enough to submerge said pasta.
P.S. try the pesto made with rocket, almonds, parmesan, pecorino and olive oil.
Pecorino supremacy!
YES on the salted water and enough of it. It literally saves so many dishes and the need to over-salt the sauces if the pasta is cooked properly! And it’s healthier, because you’re throwing most of the salt away.
Waves hello to fellow foodies! I totally agree with you on the pasta! Thanks for the recipe ideas. It’s spring here and I’m planting basil and other herbs, along with tomatoes, soon to plant cucumbers and zucchini.
The Roaring WTFs is the best term I have ever heard for this decade.
I will definitely try the pesto eggs if nothing else. I have a jar of pesto that I’ve barely made a dent in. This will help tremendously.
I’m sold on pesto eggs and I haven’t even tried them lol. Amazing.
Love you, Mod R. Thank you for Roaring WTFs, I needed an out loud laugh!
In Food discussions I have to admit I currently have an addiction to Hotpot + Korean BBQ restaurants. Florida seems to be the home of hot pot restaurants and we’ve tried about 20 different ones in the past few months. My hubby had mentioned it and I was always kind of leery of a ‘soup’ based restaurant when it is 80F outside. We had a month of cold weather where we were lucky if it hit 50F during the day so I said wth I’ll try it at least once and maybe warm up.
Hubby finds a local place (48 miles to Brooksville) with a hot pot + bbq and off we go. For those that do not know what it is, they bring you a broth and you add meats/veggies you like. Our first adventure had a conveyor belt that has all the veggies, fruits, desserts and noodles that goes by your table for you to pick anything you want.
This was an amazingly fun adventure that we are still doing once a week 11 weeks later! I spent days watching youtube videos on how to best do hot pot and all the places to go.
As I mentioned.. addicted!
The bbq on the table also makes sure you can fill up with the steak, pork belly, squid, shrimp, lamb, chicken and even tons of veggies you can grill.
Hot Pot is an amazing invention! It’s so cold here, I’m daydreaming of a hot pot I could eat from the inside lol 😀
Hot pot is absolutely doable at home! You’ll need a portable heat source and a wide (ideally stainless steel but I’ve used my cast iron with no problems) pot, and ingredients of your choice. You can use water or chicken stock or fancy spicy broth.
This might be helpful:
https://thewoksoflife.com/chinese-hot-pot-at-home/
I didn’t make myself clear lol 😀
I want a hot pot I can eat from inside the hot pot lol. As in floating in a vat of it :D. Now that I spell it out it’s a little bit gross hehe, but just…warm yummy soup bath!
Hot pots are the bomb when it’s cold. They sell these smaller electric ones so you can DIY at home. Or just get a pot of soup base and cook everything in there and slurp it down quick.
Mmm. The last feta pasta sounds delicious! That’s one I’d love to try. Thanks!
The Green Goddess salad is totally my kind of food! Thanks for sharing these great recipes!
Yum! Tried making a version of smashed potatoes last night first for me. Flavor was good but not as crispy as I would have liked. I did them in my oven, I think I will try again and instead of the oven, use a skillet and fry them.
Funny how you said food is your love language. Last weekend We tailgated at our nephews ballgame, I was giving away cookies at the end. This young man asked me why I had baked them and all I could think of was that making cookies was my love language ????
I know exactly which recipe you mean, and mine didn’t end up all that crispy either until I almost doubled the cooking time! And by that point, they tasted like nothing.
I haven’t even tried them since! I’m sticking with my crunchy roast potatoes that I parboil and dredge in semolina flour before I put in the hot oven. Crispy edges and all the taste too.
hold up here! Mod R, please tell us more of these crunchy roast potatoes you tantalize us with…
Gladly!
Diana and I are talking about this smashed potatoes recipe https://www.recipetineats.com/crispy-smashed-potatoes/ which…just doesn’t deliver in my experience.
The roast potatoes however are always a success!
Pick a type of potato that goes a bit fluffy when cooked, like King Edward or Golden Yukon. Peel and cut as chaotically as possible. The more irregular your shape, the more edges you give it, the more crispy!
Parboil in salt water for about 5 minutes until the surface is softened. Drain in a colander and then shake them vigorously until all the edges fluff up, then coat them in semolina flour. About 1 tablespoon for 1 kilo of potatoes, easy to remember.
Then tip in a roasting tin with your oil/fat already hot, season and roast until the edges are crispy and brown ( crispy brown bits are one of the base food groups, as everyone knows!).
Deep bow in your general direction – thank you! These sound amazing!
BCBs: Burnt Crunchy Bits, per Sam Vimes.
Will have to give these a try! Thanks
There are only two type of Italian:
the ones who do “scarpetta” and the ones who LIE!
Thanks!! The pesto thing gave me an idea for tomorrow lunch!
Listen to Mod R, cook the Pasta separately!
#Verità
Sadly, I have to limit my consumption of garlic due to it being a possible migraine trigger (unlike raw onions, where even relatively small amounts will give me a raging migraine, garlic I can have as long as I’m careful about how much. I am VERY careful because it would be a massive tragedy to have to cut garlic out of my diet completely). So the eggs sound delicious but probably aren’t going on my breakfast menu anytime soon.
Those looking for a healthy snack, one of my favorites is toasted black beans. I take a can of low sodium black beans (or cooked beans), drain and rinse, spread on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with spices (most often ancho chili powder and possibly cilantro, but I just grab what sounds good), and then stick it in the oven until it’s just toasted on the outside. Crunchy outside, soft inside, yum. I salt lightly after tasting if needed.
You can absolutely make/find basil pesto with no garlic! Good luck finding all the culprits, migraines are the pits.
Italians Rule!!! Italo-Canadian here so I grew up with northern Italian food (Friulana) but bc I live in Toronto, as I grew out of kid-dom and spread my wings, I was able to try many, many world foods. So everything looks just great here.
But I still wince when I hear “bru-shetta”. Or, gawdforbid, “g-nocchi” (the latter is to be pronounced a la English).
Eggs shaksuka…is on my top eggs dish.
yuuum yuuum
Avacado shortages ? H‑E‑B. Has plenty. Yum
HEB is using alternative suppliers, but the price hike is “inevitable” 🙁 https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/H-E-B-Mexico-avocado-ban-restaurants-San-Antonio-16918788.php
If any of you still have cocoa nibs hanging around this is a really good use, and don’t be put off if you don’t like stout, I don’t, but this is seriously scrummy if indulgent^.
Per person
1 bottle of stout Guiness will do, but there are far nicer stouts to be found in UK supermarkets (sorry, don’t know about elsewhere).
1 scoop icecream, vanilla is excellent, but chocolate works too.
a sprinkle of cocoa nibs
1 LARGE glass*
Pour beer, add scoop of icecream, sprinkle with cocoa nibs. Drink! Provide a long handled spoon to scoop out every last drop.
^ OK very, very indulgent.
* you need a large glass because when you add the icecream to the stout it will foam up and you don’t want to lose any of the lovely tastiness. Alternatively use a pint glass and half quantities.
The flavour range of this reminds me of Nigella’s Guinness chocolate cake, which is amazing, so I’m trying it at the first chance I get! (here for the cake https://www.nigella.com/recipes/chocolate-guinness-cake)
Yum! Of course the advantage of the liquid version is speed 😉
“One-pot pasta dishes are not worth the time save.” – truer words have not been spoken or typed! Thank you for sharing these lovely recipes!
Pregnant and stuck on a lower than usual carb diet. Since I’m already eating all the eggs I will be trying this pesto deliciousness! Thank you!
Wow, we are getting to fighting words, most one pot pastas are worthless. Some though are good. A select few. Some of the ones from Pressure Luck are decent.
Overall though most decent ones need you to make the pasta separate or to par boil it and then mix it into a casserole dish. Shrimp Mac&Cheese is freaking amazing
One more good thing to do with basil pesto is to use it on toasted bread with spinach, thinly sliced onion, and braunschweiger sausage.
If you are looking for more egg recipes that are both gorgeous and versatile, try Shakshuka
That dressing will become a staple in my home. I love really herbaceous dressing. Thank you! On a side note, I have made the tomato and feta recipe many times and I love it, but the past several times I have replaced half of the tomatoes with pitted kalamata olives. So good!
Olives and capers are amazing additions to this!
OMG, and I LOVE basil pesto, I make my own from scratch. Well, I don’t garden. No plant deserves the suffering it would be put to if given into my care, my thumb is black. I buy fresh basil, and heads of garlic, grate my parmesan reggiano off the block, the whole thing! It’s wonderful stuff! =)
In fact, I am about to make a couple of batches today! I’d love to try a garlic scapes pesto recipe, but I’ve had no luck locating garlic scapes in my area. Maybe I’ll try the the farmers market at Aksarben in Omaha Saturday…
All these yummy recipes!! Comfort food is the greatest!! ????????????
Not trying to be the foodie black sheep— just looking for general advice. I have cross-reactive Celiac Disease, which means dairy is right out. No casein (and I found out there’s more than one type of casein, gasp!). I’ve never even found a safe Ghee at ANY store as they always test positive for casein, though if they’d been properly clarified they shouldn’t. SO, not here to be a downer, I’m here to ask about dairy-free pesto, which I have both made and bought from stores, and how its lack of dairy might affect cooking of the eggs. Does anyone think a dairy-free pesto would cook differently from one with? Any ideas on what I should try differently? Or maybe all will be well? Our eggs are precious and not to waste with my cooking fumbles.
Pesto is an all-time favorite. My mom would grow basil by the mass in our garden and just make huge bouquets of it to smell before use— yum yum. It certainly attracted the right kind of family friends! LOL Also enjoy pesto concept for other herbs and greens. It’s all good!
Hi Avigail,
Have you tried vegan pesto? I can get it fairly easily in stores here.
When I make my own (I really shouldn’t have dairy either) I substitute the cheese with nutritional yeast and lemon juice. About 3-4 tablespoons of nutritional yeast and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice to 2 cups of of basil. Then 2-3 tablespoons of pine nuts, same of olive oil, salt etc as usual. ????
OK, this is good to know for someone who also cannot have cheese, but loves pesto.
I really, really miss cheese though. Especially manchego.
Solidarity!! Although, ???? to dairy. So yummy… so bad for me, and I’m not alone! Thank you! Oh yeah, all the amazing cheeses out there… *whimpers*
Well, I do have to avoid yeasts, but lemon juice all the way mmmmm. I try to get what I need using different nuts (even cashews) for the replace-yeast-replace-cheese flavor. I usually find that there are enough ways around that I can get a flavor where I want it, but if it’s something to use in a recipe-at-large I always worry. I am so down to cook eggs in pesto, no matter what. My brother and sister-in-law have been cooking theirs in some sort of home made onion masala and, might I say, gently bragging about it, hehehe.
if you need to cook some meat to use later, try this:
in a glass or cast-iron casserole dish with a tight-fitting lid, fill the bottom half with some of those ginormous boneless-skinless chicken breasts you see in the grocery. lay fresh pierced Italian sausages across the top cross-wise. you should need to press down on the lid for a tight seal, without a lot of room in the pan. bake in a moderate oven – 275 to 300 until the sausage renders without the liquid overflowing the pan, but instead soaks up in the chicken. what you end up with is 1. nice sausage crumbles to add to dishes as needed, and 2. Italian flavored confit chicken breast that you can use shredded, sliced or chunks for salads, sandwiches, and anything else that calls for cooked chicken. save the salt and other seasonings for the final dish, as needed.
What is the thick thigh thin patience??
a joke ????. Greedy and impatient.
I’m really enjoying all this deliciousness today. Maybe we can have a BDH potluck sometime, much like we had the BDH tea party last year? As long as there are lots of grills and sharp metal sticks for poking the food we should be able to keep Team Kate entertained long enough to eat.
I would suggest NOT putting the tomato vines, leaves, roots in the baked feta dish. The vines, leaves, roots of tomato plants contain tomatine, a ‘mildly’ toxic substance that could lead to considerable digestive reactions in sensitive individuals. Even non sensitive individuals depending on quantity ingested.
*cough* Nightshade family, anyone? *cough*
Thanks for the yummy food post!
I haven’t tried it myself but somewhere I saw a recipe for eggs that used Lao Gan Ma Spicy Chili Crisp Hot Sauce instead of pesto. Same method, just different sauce.
These all sound amazing and delicious. Thank you, Mod R, for sharing!
Now, please share the dishes that you envisioned from the House Andrews books!! With pictures please! ::wink wink::
Oh, your post and recipes look much nicer in the browser than in my email.
Wow- I am totally double whammied, what with Mod R’s food fun and getting hooked on HBO Max’s new show, Julia (how Julia Child got her own tv show). I so wish I wasn’t the only person who loves eating veggies in our household…a girl can dream and drool, though;) If anyone has any recipes that successfully sneak veggies in, that would be amazing!
Thank you for the recipes- I’ve got invasive garlic growing on our site and am always pulling it out- it can also be used in cooking, but if not bothered finding a recipe… now thanks to you, I have no excuse ????
I know this isn’t the place for it, But I thought Graphic Audio was doing their take on Sweep In Peace – I just cannot find it anywhere. Please help, Obi-One-Mod-R
If you have any info on it 🙂
Thanks
Hi Marc,
GA’s adaptation of Sweep in Peace was released on the 14th of March and can be found here ???? https://www.graphicaudiointernational.net/innkeeper-chronicles-2-sweep-in-peace.html
It should be available for 3rd party stores like Audible and in libraries on the 1st of May.
I hope this helps.
YUM
Thank you, mod R for the post. I agree with you about cooking pasta separately. I love feta cheese and Gouda cheese and ….okay cheese.
A ha ha for you— When I was going thru my vegetarian phase I learned to purée soft tofu in tomato sauce to make a meatless sauce. My family loved it and requested I make for years. Then Mother learned it had tofu in it and refused to eat anything I cook. ????.
I made the pesto eggs and they were a hit with my husband, my 4yo, and me! Thank you for the Tuesday Adventure in Cooking recipe!
Thank you Mod R for the lovely recipes – I am a foodie & lemon girl myself ( now during chemo therapy more than ever – lemons are my savior ). Looking forward to when my body says GO “remember this receipe by Mod R” and I can try them out.
Sending you health wishes and hope you enjoy the food soon ☺️! You got this ????????
Mmmmm, baked cheese, delish
Mod R, I think I finally understand why some people read cookbooks for fun. I have rarely enjoyed reading recipes so much. I would totally buy and read your books inbetween HA releases. Hugs!
Aww, that’s so sweet, thank you so much! And this does give me an idea about a “best cookbooks” post…
My favorite type of pesto is made with parsley. Lately I’ve been making a super easy pesto-like pasta sauce with parsley, avocado, olive oil, lime, and salt. Just throw it all in the blender, and add a little pasta water to help it stick to the pasta if you want. I use one bunch of parsley to two small avocados, and everything else either to taste or to texture. It freezes well, too.
Oh my, that sounds lovely! I’m always looking for another “green” sauce to put on things! Thanks for sharing!
OK, I knew our moderator was stern, and Attentive To Detail….but who knew she had this cruel streak?
Recipes?
RECIPES?!
Recipes, when my discretionary funds have just hit “DON’T TOUCH”.
ModR…you are a cruel, cruel woman, and Ah Is Watchin’ Ya’ll.
Sigh.
At least there were no shrimp.
Best homemade pesto recipe I have made is radish leaves pesto. We used almonds and feta because we didn’t have pine nuts and parmesan in the house that day.
The one substitute for chocolate that works sometimes is bananas. When I want to eat my body weight in chocolate it turns out I am usually low on minerals/vitamins that are in bananas and it stops the compulsion. Doesn’t work when I just feel like a few squares though…
(I usually read the comments before commenting, but here goes..)
Mod R I think I love you. Please don’t let Mr Mod R get in the way of this… or my love for HA and the BDH… I laughed out loud!
Seriously, you are awesome! I don’t like the reasons that you joined the BDH (to combat hosers) but I am glad that you are here for us. Thank you. Seriously, thank you.
Aww, thank you! And if it helps, I have been of the BDH waayyyy before I became Mod R ????, so my reasons for joining are loving ones!
How did I miss this????Making pesto eggs as soon as I get to the store. Doing the baked feta and tomato, too. I already have the stuff for that! And I overbought Coleslaw mix this week, so will definitely make that salad! You’re one of our Kitchen goddesses, Mod R!