Meals from the week of April 30th
Mmm, hot dog fried rice, pan-roasted cod, waffles, Detroit-style pizza, etc.
Hi, tens of subscribers! One reason I rarely post anything is because I have trouble deciding what recipes to write about. Also, I have no deadlines. Also, I have no focus.
So today I'm trying something different. Instead of writing about one recipe, I'm going to list what I made for lunch and dinner for one week, with links to relevant recipes and extra comments here and there. Because seven days of dishes are easier to write about than one dish! Yeah. Don't do the math. [grabs your calculator, throws it into the virtual abyss]
(Unless otherwise noted, weekday lunches are just for me, while all other meals are also for my husband, Kåre, and our three-year-old daughter, Tilda.)
Sunday, April 30
Lunch: Hot dog fried rice [Just One Cookbook]
Dinner: Pan-roasted cod [NYT Cooking, unlocked until May 26] with roasted potatoes [Bon Appétit] and carrot apple slaw [Kitchen Joy]
Just One Cookbook's Japanese fried rice is my go-to recipe for fried rice. Besides that it's simple, it clearly explains good techniques for achieving fried rice success (that is, more than just pushing stuff around a pan until everything is hot). The first time I made it, I used a chopped-up hot dog because I didn't have the specified ham. Now I always use hot dog (specifically this one). It's become the log meat flavored-rice I crave.
My roasted potatoes recipe goes like this: boil potato chunks, dump cooked chunks on a baking sheet, coat chunks in olive oil, liberally salt and pepper, then roast in the oven at 275°C for 25 minutes. It's basically Bon Appétit's Perfectly Roasted Potatoes recipe except instead of steaming and roasting the potatoes in the oven, I cook the potatoes in a pot before roasting them in the oven.
Monday, May 1
Lunch: Norwegian waffles [MatPrat]
Dinner: Leftover coconut milk chicken adobo [NYT Cooking, unlocked until May 26] and rice with steamed veggies
May 1st was a public holiday in Norway to celebrate International Workers' Day / Labor Day, which means my whole family stayed home and did the opposite of working. Kåre made waffles with Tilda using our Åviken waffle maker while I laid out all the toppings. If you wanna go full weegie, top your waffles with jam and sour cream, or butter and brunost (Norwegian brown cheese). Or try Kåre's fave combo of lemon juice and sugar.
I made a batch of coconut milk chicken adobo three days earlier and it lasted three dinners. A few things I do differently from the recipe: I brown the chicken first, then take it out and use the rendered chicken fat left in the pot to cook the aromatics. I also put the whole peppercorns in a teabag instead of adding them loose to the pot because not everyone loves eating whole peppercorns. And I use one can (400 ml) of coconut milk instead of just one cup.
Tuesday, May 2
Lunch: Leftover coconut milk chicken adobo and rice
Dinner: Detroit-style pizza [Serious Eats], salad [using shallot vinaigrette from Alexandra Cooks], and cocoa brownies [Epicurious]
We had Kåre's parents over for dinner, so I broke out my default "guests are coming and I need to make something mildly impressive" meal: Detroit-style pizza and salad. The pizza comfortably feeds four adults, plus a few little kids, depending on how much they like pizza (Tilda only likes the crust…😭). Invest in a Detroit-style pizza pan, it’s worth it.
Wednesday, May 3
Lunch: BLT
Dinner: Pork bulgogi with spring vegetables [NYT Cooking, unlocked until May 26] and rice
This pork bulgogi recipe is a great way to use up random vegetables. I used a mix of sommerkål (summer cabbage, one of my favorite vegetables), broccoli, and cauliflower. I also used less soy sauce since comments complained about the saltiness, as well as less gochujang because my heat tolerance is pitiful. So for half a recipe (enough to feed the three of us), I used 3 tablespoons of soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of gochujang.
Thursday, May 4
Morning baking: Tangzhong shokupan [Kitchen Princess Bamboo on YouTube]
Lunch: Tuna mayo, kimchi, and rice [mentioned in a previous newsletter]
Dinner: Pork bulgogi with spring vegetables and rice (repeat of Wednesday’s dinner)
For a long time my default shokupan recipe was this milk- and tangzhong-less one by Kitchen Princess Bamboo. I switched to her tangzhong shokupan because I thought it would taste better after having to sit in Tilda's lunchbox from morning to lunchtime. Today Tilda came home with a mostly uneaten lunchbox, so I got to try the bread after it had been aging for about 12 hours. It was still pretty good (for being 12 hours old). Yay! If you don't want to bother cooking the tangzhong, try the other version. The recipe is the perfect fit for my 1.5斤-size lidded baking pan from Japanese baking/confection emporium Majimaya. You need to check out their store if you ever visit Tokyo.
Friday, May 5
Lunch: Roy Choi's perfect instant ramen [NYT Cooking, unlocked until May 26]
Dinner: Pan-roasted cod, roasted potatoes, and carrot slaw (repeat of Sunday’s dinner)
Saturday, May 6
Lunch: For Tilda and me, quick stovetop mac and cheese [Smitten Kitchen]; for Kåre, a BLT
Dinner: Chicken korma [30 Minute Mowgli, recipe at itv.com] and rice with steamed veggies
I often make Smitten Kitchen's mac and cheese as a back-up meal for Tilda in case she doesn't like whatever meal I've already planned. Or in this case, when I also want to eat mac and cheese. I use cheddar instead of parm because it’s cheaper and I like it.
I recently spent €25 on a charity fundraising Humble Bundle of 38 cookbooks (no longer available, but the list of books is here), which is about 35 more cookbooks than I usually buy in any given decade. After making Nisha Katona’s chicken korma from 30 Minute Mowgli, I'm happy I had a reason to buy these cookbooks I would've otherwise never known about. I still have 37.5 more cookbooks to look through.
Wow, you made it to the end!...JK, here’s some more random stuff to waste your time on.
Linky links
AmItheAsshole: "AITA for not warning my hookup about the snake room?"
YouTube: "how I would defeat the immortal snail"
YouTube: "BEST CROISSANT IN PARIS"
TikTok: "I've discovered how my cat gets down from the loft."
Books: Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou. "Without a word, Ingrid got up and piled all the remaining egg tarts onto a paper plate. The least she could do was steal from these fascists."
Books for kids: Is It Just Me? by Shinsuke Yoshitake. "Sometimes I wet myself a little bit. A tiny wee comes out before I go to the loo, or sometimes after. My mummy gets a bit cross." A boy goes on a quest to find out if other people have the same problem as him.
Podcasts: Thanks to Avery Trufelman's fashion history podcast Articles of Interest, I now know that the world of ballet slippers is crazy.
TV: I'm currently watching season 3 of Dave. I don't know anyone else who watches this show. Watch it with me! I swear there's a lot more to it than endless dick jokes.
I love that you cooked adobo sa gata (coconut milk adobo.) Adobo lasts LONG. It stretches into other things like flaking it and toasting it, then topping onto salad. OR, adobo sa gata is great as a pasta sauce! ALSO great as sandwich fillins'