Back to it
Sticky & Sweet Football Sunday snacks, Vegetarian Dinner Inspo, and an Easy After School Snack Cake to share
...aaand we’re back! Thanks for bearing with me while I took a short hiatus. Lots happened on my break: we moved to the suburbs! And I am right at home. I’m loving our (what feels to me) giant kitchen with full sized appliances and the adorable town we now call home. There is a Target attached to a Whole Foods, need I say more? *Figs & Tomatoes in this issue have been provided by two of my sweet new neighbors and their fruitful gardens.
A quick “Hello!” to a bunch of new readers. This newsletter comes out every Friday morning to give you inspiration for the week to come. The recipes are straight out of my actual kitchen where I cook for my hungry husband and hungrier toddler Dean who is currently 17 months old. I’m very into dinners that multitask for the whole family. During the hiatus I turned off the “paid subscription” feature. But we’re up and running again and so is the subscriber-only content. For the cost of 1 latte per month ($5) or 1 cookbook per year ($40) you’ll get a second email about 2 hours later with “subscriber only” content. This kind of support allows me to keep churning out these recipes every week. A huge THANK YOU to all my subscribers. And we love comments here. Drop a line with questions or even what you’re cooking this week. I love to hear it all!
I’m brimming with ideas for all of you. The end of summer produce sprinkled with early fall things popping up at the market are really inspiring. Last week, we were all about Crispy Tofu Rice Bowls. My friend, and uber talented cookbook author, Jenny Rosenstrach of Dinner: A Love Story just came out with The Weekday Vegetarians. Over a year ago, her family decided to challenge themselves to only eat meat on the weekends and cook vegetarian during the weekdays. The result was tons of super delicious, family pleasing dinners that turned into this cookbook. I food styled the book last summer, so therefore I cooked almost every single recipe. I can vouch for how tasty everything is. This is my favorite:
Eggplant & Tofu with Sweet-Hot Chili Glaze
Serves about 4
1 (14-15 ounce) black extra-firm tofu, pressed, drained and cubed (I just pressed some of the water out of the tofu with a clean dish towel or paper towels then cubed it)
½ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 pound eggplants, cubed (go to the farmer's market for these!)
Kosher salt & black pepper
⅓ cup Sweet-Hot Chili Glaze (recipe below)
4 cups of cooked rice (any kind)
Serving:
Chopped scallions
Sliced radishes
Cilantro
Chopped cashews (I used peanuts!)
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Arrange one oven rack in the upper portion and another in the middle position. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, toss the tofu cubes with ¼ cup of the olive oil, the soy sauce and the cornstarch. Using a slotted spoon, place the tofu on one of the prepared sheet pans.
In the same bowl, toss the eggplant with the remaining olive oil, a generous pinch of salt and pepper and whatever remains from the tofu tossing. Place the eggplant on the other prepared sheet pan.
Place the sheet pan with the tofu on the top rack int he oven and the eggplant on the middle rack. Bake until the tofu looks golden and crispy, 15-20 minutes. Remove the tofu from the oven and transfer it to a shallow serving bowl.
Move the sheet pan with the eggplant to the top rack and continue to roast until the cubes look roasted and golden, another 10-15 minutes.
Remove the eggplant form the oven and transfer it to the bowl with the tofu. Drizzle 3 tablespoons of the glaze over the tofu and eggplant, gently toss.
Serve with rice and have everyone garnish with their desired toppings.
Sweet-Hot Chili Glaze (this stuff is addicting)
Makes ⅓ cup
3 tablespoons hot chili sauce (such as Cholula or Petes brand)
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
Pinch of kosher salt
4 tablespoons (½ a stick) of unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
In a small saucepan set over medium heat, combine the hot chili sauce, honey, brown sugar, and salt and simmer until the sugar has dissolved completely. Remove the pan from the heat and while the mixture is hot, whisk in the butter to thicken the sauce. Season with salt & pepper to taste.
Last weekend was the first football Sunday - we’re a Vikings family. I can’t say I’m super into football, but I am definitely into making the snacks that accompany those afternoons. This past Sunday I put out an epic spread that was anchored by these Mini Meatballs Glazed with Gochujang & Honey. You make tiny bit sized meatballs that broil in the oven (easy!) and then glazed until sticky and sweet. Sprinkled with chives and stick some toothpicks in - instant hit. The photo doesn’t even have the chives or toothpicks because people started grabbing them so fast! Then a little boy was pulling at my pant leg and photo op was gone. That recipe will be landing in subscriber’s inboxes later this morning. The leftovers are awesome over rice with chopped cucumbers for dinner later that night.
The other subscriber recipe this week is my Brown Butter & Fig Snack Cakes. My new next door neighbor has, I'm not kidding, about 35 fig trees. One of which is 12 feet tall and over 15 years old. He has been dropping bowls of the most outstanding figs I have ever tasted on my front steps - bless him. I wanted to bake him something with his figs, to say thank you. 1 bowl, no mixer, and muffin pan or regular cake pan works. No figs? No problem. I’m offering lots of great topping suggestions in the recipe. These are moist, not too sweet, perfect for snacking and sharing after school.
What I’m Loving This Week:
Trader Joes Italian Bomba Hot Pepper Sauce: Fire! This little jar has fermented calabrian chilies broken down into a chunky hot sauce. It’s HOT. And I tend to be a baby about heat, but it’s also weirdly super addictive. I brought some goat cheese to room temp, put a big scoop of this on top, drizzled with olive oil and served it with crackers.
Tomato Sandwiches: I’m averaging 1 per 18 hours at this point. Savoring every last summer tomato. My ideal open faced sandwich: Toasted Sourdough, Hellman’s Mayo, thick slices of Tomato, lots of Sea Salt & Pepper. Paper Towel. Done.
Kinto Waterbottles: Imagine the Japanese answer to Yeti. Same amazing yet simple technology of keeping drinks hot or cold, but sleeker and more stylish - as that country does so well. Dean has the kids one with pop up straw - loves it. And I have the “day tumbler”. The price is not inexpensive but I’m telling you it’s a very enjoyable drinking experience. And halfway through the second trimester, it’s shocking how much water is required to keep this bus moving.
I can’t wait to move into fall cooking with everyone. Thanks for reading. See you next week XO Liv
