The Gingerbread House
plus my wishlist of things I'd like to make this week
Well, the gingerbread tutorial is out! It went out to subscribers yesterday. I will be SO impressed to see someone make a house and PLEASE if you make it you HAVE to email me, instagram me, etc photos. I made 2 houses. One to have as decoration in our house and one for a friend’s five year old daughter. She just about lost her mind when I brought it over yesterday- it was adorable and worth the extra effort. The whole time I was decorating (and sweating) the house this year, I was saying in my head “I’m not doing this next year”. But I’m sure I said that last year. Things like this are a labor of love for sure, but I’ve gotten so into the holidays since Dean was born and I can’t help myself, no matter how wiped I am after. Also, the plan is to NOT be super pregnant next Christmas. If you’d like to get the tutorial, you can subscribe by clicking the button below. Even though it went out yesterday, by becoming a subscriber you’ll have access to all the past content.
What I’d like to be cooking this week:
I saw these Crispy Shrimp Cakes on NYTimes Cooking this week, I think they sounds delicious. I’m planning to make them for dinner one night. My hope is that the funkiness from the fish sauce and the crispy texture will be a hit with Dean. I’ll most likely dial back the jalapeno amount. You have to pay for NYTimes Cooking, which in my opinion is well worth it - I find so much inspiration there. But here is the recipe copy and pasted from NYTimes Cooking (hope I’m allowed to do that!)
Crispy Shrimp Cakes with Chile-Lime Mayo:
3 to 5 large original or lightly salted rice cakes, or 6 to 10 thin cakes (see Tip)
1 pound shelled large raw shrimp (20 to 24), coarsely chopped
¼ cup minced shallot (or use onion or scallion)
6 tablespoons chopped cilantro
6 tablespoons chopped basil leaves, more for serving
3 tablespoons minced jalapeño or red chile pepper
2 ½ teaspoons fish sauce
Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ cup mayonnaise
1 lime
Safflower, peanut or grapeseed oil, for frying
In the bowl of the food processor (or you can use a blender), add the rice cakes and pulse until you get 1 1/4 cups rice cake crumbs. Return 1/4 cup crumbs to the food processor, reserving the remaining 1 cup for coating the cakes.
Add shrimp, shallot, 4 tablespoons each of the cilantro and basil, and 2 tablespoons jalapeño to the crumbs. Add 2 teaspoons fish sauce, and a pinch each salt and pepper. Pulse until the mixture forms a coarse, chunky paste. (Be careful not to overprocess; if using a blender, scrape down the sides frequently.) Transfer to a bowl, cover and refrigerate while you make the sauce (at least 15 minutes and up to 24 hours).
In a small bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, remaining cilantro, basil, jalapeño and fish sauce. Zest the lime into the bowl, then cut the naked lime into wedges and squeeze in some juice. Salt to taste. Reserve extra lime wedges for serving.
Spread remaining 1 cup rice cake crumbs out onto a plate or sheet pan. With wet hands to keep shrimp paste from sticking, form 2 tablespoons of shrimp mixture into a 1/2-inch-thick patty and put it on top of the crumbs. Repeat with remaining shrimp mixture, re-wetting your hands as necessary. Turn the patties over in the crumbs to coat both sides.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Fry patties in batches until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Serve shrimp cakes topped with more basil leaves, with chile-lime sauce for dunking and lime wedges on the side for squeezing.
My plan is serve it with my FAVORITE broccoli salad, which I’ve totally written about here but I’ll give it to you again, because its THAT GOOD.
Chili Broccoli Salad
1 large head of broccoli, broken down into large pieces
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, smashed
Juice and zest of 1 lime (2 if it’s dry)
½ teaspoon kosher salt
4 medjool dates, pitted and finely chopped
¼ cup pepitas, toasted (see notes)
¼ cup shelled pistachios, chopped (peanuts can work too)
1 small fresh red chili or jalapeño, very thinly sliced (see notes)
Handful of cilantro, chopped
Handful of mint, chopped
Steam the broccoli until just fork tender and still bright green- about 1 minute. You only want it lightly steamed, so that there is still a little crunch in the middle. So keep checking it with a fork. Transfer to a cutting board to cool.
In a large bowl, combine the oil, garlic, lime zest and juice, salt and dates. Stir together to let the garlic infuse into the dressing.
Meanwhile, chop broccoli into small pieces. It’s fine to use the stem here. It adds nice crunch.
Remove and discard the garlic clove. Add the broccoli to the bowl along with the remaining ingredients. Toss to combine. Taste for salt and lime juice.
Italian Wedding Soup (AGAIN):
This was requested immediately after I made it two weeks ago. So, this week it made an appearance for dinner and then lunch the next day. The only change I made was I added some chopped basil to the meatballs, because I had it. Very delicious. This was a subscriber only recipe two weeks ago, if you’ve recently become a paying subscriber you can access it through the Substack archives. I love that feature of the paid subscriptions.
What I’m Loving This Week:
Christmas gifts for a local family: Similar to my thanksgiving notions about donating, Christmas is an equally important time for me to give. That same grandmother (my Nonni) always took me to pull a little tag off a huge Christmas tree at our church which had the name and desired gift of a local child. Through my local Facebook group, I got hooked up with a family of 7 boys (!!) ranging in age from 1-8 (!!) whose mother had recently passed. Reading through their interests, hobbies and gift wish lists was so cute. This morning Dean and I wrapped up some gifts for them along with a Target gift card for Dad.
Disposable Piping Bags: If you’re into baking or cake/cookie decorating curious, these are a must. You can buy a big box of these disposable piping bags. Once you’re finished decorating, you snip off the metal piping tip to clean, and then toss the piping bag. Easy clean up. I used to use reusable ones and they are a pain to clean. Good gift idea for a baker! WOW and upon searching an Amazon for a link for you, I found biodegradable ones, even better!
Until next week XO Liv