Lemongrass Turmeric Soba Bowl
perfect as a weeknight dinner or meal prep option, this lemongrass turmeric soba bowl comes together in no time and contains ingredients you can feel good about.
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Pork Chops with Blood Orange Herb Vinaigrette + Roasted Tomatoes
at legacy greens, I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day!
from deliciously plump, greenhouse ripened tomatoes available all year long to their pick-your-own herb station (where you can grab reasonable quantities of what you need), @legacygreens provides a haven of produce when everything else is drab and lackluster.
this recipe features some of the beautiful varieties of citrus available along with heritage pastured pork from @littlefieldscsa!
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Beef Rendang
if you’ve never heard of beef rendang before, let me tell ya - it is going to blow your mind. originating from west sumatra in indonesia, this braised beef dish is simmered in an elixir of coconut milk, punchy aromatics, and fragrant spices until the concoction has reduced enough to fry itself again. yes, you read that right - the velvety and tender beef that took its sweet time to stew begins to fry itself in its own rendered fat and leaves you with an utterly unctuous and saucy beef that is so flavourful, you’ll want to cry. give yourself an afternoon for this one as it takes about 4 hours from start to finish.
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Easy Broiled Sichuan Green Beans
there’s just no way a home burner can get hot enough to produce restaurant-quality-sichuan-green-beans. having said that, there is a way to produce restaurant-quality-sichuan-green-beans with the use of your oven broiler! it’s fast, approachable, and even healthier since you’re using less oil. all you need to do is broil your green beans until blistered and charred, then toss them in a flavourful aromatic paste consisting of garlic, ginger, chili paste, along with the quintessential fermented black soybean. so much flavour for so little work. a great side for any occasion - I could crunch on these any day.
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Roasted Sweet Potato, Brassica and Kimchi Bowl
I used to think that I needed a protein with every meal to make it a substantial one. during my early days of cooking, I would have to plan out exactly what type of meat, vegetable, and carb I had to buy at the grocery store. if I didn’t have all 3 components, the meal was incomplete. it’s been years since I’ve shopped and cooked that way, and now it seems only intuitive to grab what’s fresh and what’s in season.
this bowl is great for this frigid time of year as you can utilize any root vegetable and brassica available. feel free to sub the sweet potato with carrots or squash, the broccoli and brussel sprouts with other brassicas, and the noodles with any other grain. kimchi adds the perfect tang, spice, and crunch to brighten all the deeper notes. if you do want the protein, add a poached or sous-vide egg for extra unctuousness.
with a well-stocked pantry of grains and sauces, plus the addition of well-seasoned vegetables, it’s extremely easy to have super delicious and filling meals at your fingertips! this is just one version of what you can do.
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Grilled Lamb Chops with Minty Nuoc Cham
another favourite from saigon star (see singaporean curry crab post), these grilled lamb chops are served with a minty, sweet, tangy, and punchy dipping sauce. you can definitely change up the protein here, but the classic mint-lamb combo is a classic for a reason as the vibrant mint marries well with the gaminess of lamb. serve as an app, or with some lettuce and rice vermicelli for a more substantial meal.
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Mango Custard with Graham Cracker Crumble
I recently made a mango pie for one of my pop up dinners and ended up with both leftover filling and crumble. I divided the extra filling into small serving bowls and let it set for the same amount of time as my pie. then I thought to myself, why bother with making pie next time if this is 10x easier? there’s no need to prebake a crust, no need to cut out slices. just drop the finicky parts and you’re left with this - a delightfully bright mango custard with a crispy, crunchy graham cracker crumble. serve with coconut whip and mixed berries, and polish that bowl clean! simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
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Gado Gado Bowl
one of the national dishes of indonesia, gado gado is a ‘mix mix’ of vegetables and rice in a thick peanut sauce. I like to use quinoa at times for a lighter option, but you can sub in other grains as well. you can also make it a heftier meal by adding traditional fixings like boiled eggs, tofu or tempeh. feel free to add whatever vegetable your heart desires as the peanut sauce goes well with just about everything.
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Ginger Scallion Oil
okay okay, I’ve been slipping a bit with the 2x a week recipes…
but I’m going to say that it’s totally okay to honour my own time and energy with all the movement going on right now!
I’ve been keeping busy with some exciting projects lately, from the launch of my new pop up dinner series (monty’s), to working on a dream-come-true project for a dtk magazine, where I get to eat my way through a ‘spice tour’ of mom and pop restaurants and write about them! I can’t wait to share my discoveries when the article is published and will definitely keep you posted.
anyway, here’s a super easy and delicious chinese condiment that I grew up eating. I recently made it for a cooking class I taught and wondered why it wasn’t already on my blog. so here it is! ginger scallion oil on mybfisgf.com!
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Gluten-Free Dan Dan Mian
‘dan dan mian’, a symbol of sichuanese food, translates to ‘street vendor noodles’ or more literally to ‘carry carry noodles’ as this iconic bowl was sold off of bamboo shoulder poles back in the day.
consequently, it is not a soupy dish and relies on the incredibly savory ground pork for most of its flavour. these are the types of dishes that I want to make more accessible to reid as traditional restaurants will always make it the way its been made. with some minor tweaks to ingredients, asian dishes like this can easily be made gluten free.
we use soba king millet and brown rice noodles as they have the same ‘al dente’ springy texture as ramen.
you can sub the pork for ground round and the chicken stock for veg stock for a vegan version.
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Edamame Hummus
here’s a fun and vibrant twist on your classic hummus recipe. the addition of sesame oil nicely rounds out the bitterness of the tahini while bumping up the flavour of sesame. depending on the consistency of the tahini you have, you can adjust the viscosity of the hummus by adding or omitting water. devour as a snack with a rainbow of assorted veggies and gf crackers (sesame rice crackers are bomb in this context!), or as the main component to a hummus grain bowl with roasted veggies and your grain of choice.
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Thai-Style Chicken Wings
by far my favourite wings in the world, these thai style wings are the ultimate umami bomb. they’re crispy, sweet, sour, salty, not too saucy, and finger lickin’ gooood. serve them as is, or make it a full hands on meal with steamed sticky rice and grilled corn. make a double or triple batch of the sauce as it easily keeps in your freezer for up to 3 months (but probably longer). add to literally any protein (not just chicken wings) and you’ve got yourself a quick meal. be cautious though as a little goes a long way.
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Indonesian Corn Fritters (Bergedel Jagung)
a couple of years ago, reid and I spent 3 months backpacking around southeast asia, planning our days around eating all the food we possible could. our mission was to find locals who could give us lessons on what they cooked at home.
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Leftover Steak and Broccoli
I love the simplicity of this classic chinese dish, and using leftover steak makes it even simpler! if you’re in TO, my favourite version of this is served at maple yip in scarborough where they use fresh chinese broccoli, and the beef slices are the most velvety and tender I’ve ever had. (they are currently in the process of relocating, but my parents will let me know once they announce it on fairchild radio) simple yet flavourful, this dish is perfectly paired with white jasmine rice.
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Fresh Noodle Salad with Tamarind Peanut Dressing
at one point I wanted to serve pad thai for lunch at my work but didn’t have the equipment or time to do it à la minute, so I took out the stir fry aspect and made this version instead! the ingredients are more or less the same, but this version is served cold like a salad.
plus, burners in home kitchens aren’t powerful enough to get the desired char and wok hay anyway (the flavour from the breath of the wok), so save yourself the hassle from ending up with a gloppy and broken pile of noodles.
this can easily be bulked and prepped the day ahead, just toss the salad in some dressing to keep the noodles from sticking together in the fridge. great option as a packed lunch!
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Kimchi Fried Rice
there are a couple of tricks to ultimate fried rice:
1 - use leftover cooked rice rather than freshly cooked rice and store it uncovered in the fridge - the more it dries out, the better the fried rice will be!
2 - use the hottest setting on your stovetop at home
3 - when in doubt, add oil (加油!)
