Recipes & Food-Related Ramblings
It’s cooled down some since we last spoke. Emphasis on “some” because it’s still summer weather incubated in a vast sea of pavement. So, the best cool we can do is 27°C, which is great. I am not complaining about the weather – for once. But even with the slight cool down, I’m still eating like we’re living that heat wave life. We’re talking quick-cook proteins and fresh greens 24/7 over here! And today’s Chilled Soba Salad with Sake Poached Shrimp is just further evidence of that fact.
Heatwave #2 is underway in my neck of the woods, which means my oven and I are not on good terms. My ice machine and I? Well, there’s nothing on-again and off-again about that relationship. While it may be hotter than hell outside (45°C should not be a temperature) there’s no better place to cook. Standing over a hot charcoal grill in the sun for 45 minutes is much more bearable than sacrificing your air-conditioned habitat for a sheet pan dinner. Plus, what vegetable, what hunk of meat doesn’t benefit from a kiss from a charcoal grill? Today’s Korean Hanger Steak certainly did.
Okay, I know the blog has been a little sandwich-heavy lately and I promise I will get over it soon and move onto something else. But I was wondering if you could find it in your hearts to welcome one more sandwich into the fold. These Picnic Sandwiches with Shaved Radish, Poached Asparagus & 8-Minute Eggs to be exact. I mean, this is peak picnic season, these sandwiches were extremely called for, albeit not particularly well-timed. But hey, what can you do? They don’t have anything deep fried in them, which I realize is a bit of a change for me. And they’re hella colorful and loaded with veg. How can you say no?
If you read this blog, you already know I have a real problem when it comes to Vietnamese food. The problem is I can’t stop ordering it. It doesn’t matter if I’m in Spain or France or home and in sweatpants, I will order the crap out of it if I can get it. I don’t have this problem with any other food. I can say no to pizza, pasta, tacos, burgers any other kind of takeout because, really, I’m not a take-out kind of girl. But Vietnamese food? Forget it! It’s my nutritional Achilles’ heel. So, in order to remedy this, I’m learning to cook it myself. You’ve seen some of my past efforts but today it’s all about this Vietnamese Shaking Beef.