Tossing Together My Favorite Cold Chili Oil Noodles

July 28, 2020

The longer days of summer have brought new life to the herbs I’ve been tending to by my window. The sweet, fragrant, and somewhat pungent scent of my basil plant has added immense flavor to my margherita pizza. The warming, aromatic thyme plant has infused earthy notes into roast chicken. The once vibrant cilantro plant flowered before I had the chance to harvest some for my summer rolls. With many of the herbs at its peak of flavor, I’ve been able to whip up tons of dishes featuring fresh herbs. The last few months of teleworking has allowed me to test out tons of cooking and baking experiments in the kitchen. Some weeks, I’m eager to experiment in the kitchen with combining new ingredients together to add a new twist on old favorites. Other weeks (in between grocery store trips), I turn to my pantry to bail me out on meals. This week was one of those weeks where I relied on my pantry to create meals. One of my go-to pantry meals over the years has been my cold chili oil noodles. My cold chili oil noodles were one of the first dishes I experimented with making in my early days of cooking. Back when I lived in Chicago, I would toss up a large batch of chili oil noodles early in the week. I would serve some for dinner and then save the remaining servings for lunch and dinner throughout the week. My cold chili oil noodle saved me from becoming hangry on especially long days when I had to teach high school during the day and attend grad school classes in the evenings. The early days of cooking really forced me to get creative in the kitchen as I found ways to cook from my pantry, save money, and have a delicious meal to eat in as little time as possible. I would play around with different sauces I had on hand. When I came across the magical combination of Chiu Chow chili oil, soy sauce, and brown sugar, I knew I had created the perfect base for dressing up noodles. Even after many years of cooking, my cold chili oil noodles are still one of the recipes I whip out on exceptionally busy weekdays. I was craving chili oil noodles last week out of the blue and put a new twist on the dish by adding in thinly sliced scallions, sesame seeds, and red pepper flakes. I usually like to add in tons of fresh cilantro as well, but I didn’t have any on hand. The addition of scallions, sesame seeds, and red pepper flakes really did add an incredible layer of flavor to the dish. I loved the flavors of the dish so much, I made it again this week. The cold chili oil noodles were just the perfect noodles to serve up on a hot summer day. Pair the noodles with a glass of iced tea and the perfect light summer meal was ready to be enjoyed.

Rolling Up Cumin Chicken, Cilantro, and Kale Wraps

July 22, 2020

July 23, 2020

With summer in full swing, it’s been easier than ever to work fresh produce into my meals. My trips to the grocery store have decreased from once per week to once per two weeks. In between trips to the grocery store, I try to work in as many pantry ingredients as possible. I always have pasta, rice, and flour on hand to whip up a quick meal. These three pantry staples have played a major role in many of my weekday meals. When I do make a trip to the grocery store, I try to stock up on as much fresh produce as I can. The moment I return home from the store, I prep as much of the veggies as I can as a way to extend the shelf life of the veggies. Produce with shorter self-life gets worked into my meals first. If I’m unable to use the fresh produce within one week, I freeze the fruit or veggie as a way to extend its shelf life. Produce with longer shelf life gets reserved for meals later down the road. This method has worked exceptionally well in helping me plan my meals throughout the weeks. Breakfast is usually the easiest meal to prepare in our household because Kevin and I have gotten into our routine of enjoying smoothies and toast for breakfast. I love to toss in a combination of fruits and leafy greens into my smoothies. This ensures I start my day off with multiple servings of fruits and veggies. Since Kevin and I have started teleworking back in March, I have been making a smoothie for breakfast almost every weekday. A glass of smoothie with a side of lightly buttered toast has been the perfect way to jumpstart my mornings. Lunch usually features a rotation of my favorite rice or grain bowls packed with veggies and some form of protein. Lately though, I’ve been experimenting with a variety of veggie and protein packed wraps. Outside of fried rice, wraps are one of my favorite ways to use up bits and pieces of produce lying around in my fridge. While experimenting with wraps one day, I came up with a super flavor packed homemade flour wrap filled with seasoned chicken, cilantro, and kale. My cumin chicken, cilantro, and kale wraps feature chicken seasoned with cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, paprika, sugar, kosher salt, black pepper, and white pepper. I like to season the chicken the evening before and cook it the next day for lunch. The blend of spices works exceptionally well in packing the chicken with tons of flavor when cooked. The cooked and slightly cooled chicken is layered in homemade flour wraps with a bunch of cilantro and kale rolled tightly together. The wraps were packed with flavor and made for the perfect satisfying lunch on a busy week. The key to these savory, flavorful wraps is using homemade flour wraps. My homemade flour wraps came about when I made my roasted chicken and hoisin wraps a few weeks ago (loosely inspired by my love for Peking duck wraps). The wraps were so good, I made them for lunch multiple times over the last few weeks. The best part was how easy the wraps were to pull together last minute for a truly satisfying light lunch.

Tossing Together My Cheesy Lemon Pepper Penne with Arugula

July 17, 2020

I can’t believe we are half way through July. It seems like it was just yesterday when Kevin and I started working from home. Almost four months later and we are still working remotely. The best part about being able to work virtually is suddenly freeing up all of the time we used to spend getting ready in the morning and commuting to work. Less commuting means more time testing out new recipes in the kitchen for me and additional time catching up on gaming sessions for Kevin. Over the last few months, I have been spending a ton of time brainstorming new ideas, testing them out in the kitchen, and capturing the process of making each dish from start to finish. Some experiments have led to pretty delightful recipes (see my colorful dumplings, pistachio biscotti, and five spice spareribs). Other experiments have led to perplexed expressions on Kevin’s face. No matter how many recipes I’m test driving in the kitchen, one recipe I keep coming back to is my cheesy lemon pasta with arugula. I make it at least once per week whenever I want a quick, super tasty meal in less than 30 minutes. The pasta usually starts off with ½ a package of spaghetti, fettucine, or penne. I grab the first pasta shape I see in my pantry and cook the pasta according to the package instructions until the pasta reaches al dente perfection. Depending on the day, I could be reaching for whatever bits and pieces of leftover pasta shapes I have sitting in my pantry after making baked pasta. I would leave the pasta to cook in boiling salt water while I grated a couple ounces of Parm and zested a whole lemon. Once the pasta was ready, I toss in the grated cheese, lemon zest, and blend of black and white pepper. I would wait anxiously for the timer in my kitchen to notify me when the pasta was done. The moment the timer rings, I drain out most of the pasta water, toss in the goodies, and have my cheesy lemon pepper pasta ready for serving. For some much-needed greens, I drop in some arugula. Violà — dinner is ready! I love making this pasta on days when I’m running a bunch of back to back errands or am just plain starving after a busy day. The best part about this pasta is how simple, tasty, and speedy it really is to pull together in the kitchen. I save the leftover lemon to make some minty lemon tea (or lemonade) for a refreshing drink to help wash down the pasta. The pasta is so good, I usually finish the whole batch in one sitting. If, in the rare instance, I have any left, I just toss the leftovers in a container and save it for lunch the next day. My cheesy lemon pepper pasta with arugula is the perfect quick, tasty dinner to help me wind down after a long day.

Cooking Up Chinese Five Spice Spare Ribs in My Kitchen Oven

July 12, 2020

July 12, 2020

The hot summer July days seem to be flying right by. The sweltering summer heat has made it difficult to enjoy nature without getting sweaty. I’m back at work in the kitchen testing out new recipes and putting spins on some of my favorite foods. While I like to avoid the oven as much as possible during the summer, I couldn’t help myself when my cravings steered me towards five spice spare ribs. Five spice spare ribs is my latest creation featuring Chinese five spice powder, one of the staple spices in my kitchen pantry. Chinese five spice powder features a blend of cinnamon, fennel, star anise, ginger, and cloves. It has a very distinctive flavor and is featured heavily in a lot of Asian roasted meats. Growing up in Brooklyn, my family made and ate a lot of meats cooked using five spice powder. Without five spice powder, roasted duck and char siu would not have their distinctive tastes. When I moved to the Midwest, one of the first spice blends I purchased to stock my pantry was five spice powder. It came in handy when my cravings veered towards braised pork rice. I love to add the spice blend when I want a distinctive layer of familiar flavor in the meats I cook at home. My Chinese five spice spare ribs came about through multiple experiments in the kitchen. I was playing around with finding a new way to make delicious smoked meats right in my own kitchen oven. The experiments led me to the perfect blend of spices for an Asian take on smoked spare ribs. I rubbed the spare ribs with Chinese five spice powder, garlic powder, white pepper, paprika, kosher salt, and black pepper. The spare ribs are then left to sit in the fridge overnight. The next day, I mix together a simple sauce of soy sauce, honey, and white pepper and brush the sauce onto the spare ribs right before loosely wrapping up the spare ribs in aluminum foil and tucking the package into the oven. Halfway into the cooking time, the irresistible scent of the spare ribs wafted through my kitchen. Kevin suddenly popped into the kitchen to check on how much longer the spare ribs would take to cook. The moment I removed the spare ribs from the oven to brush on the second layer of sauce, Kevin is already eagerly waiting for some spare ribs. I quickly brush on the second layer of sauce and pop the baking sheet with the uncovered spare ribs back into the oven to let the tops of the spare ribs caramelize. I also took this opportunity to pop some corn on the cob into the oven. 30 minutes later, the spare ribs have achieved the perfect caramelized crust on top. I remove the baking sheet from the oven, let the spare ribs cool for a bit, and prepare the rest of the sides (including green beans tossed with a simple sesame garlic sauce and tomato basil pasta salad). I bring out a simple fruit and cream trifle and a mint sweet tea I had prepared ahead of time. Our perfect summer meal was complete. Kevin and I devoured the spare ribs and sides in a matter of moments. Shortly after, he retreated back to his gaming station to play Valorant online with the boys. I grabbed my yoga mat and headed back outdoors to soak in some sunshine and catch up on my podcasts. The perfect relaxing Sunday was complete.

Baking Up Batches of Pistachio Biscotti Dipped in White Chocolate

July 07, 2020

July 7, 2020

We are currently in the midst of summer heat here in Ohio. The temperatures have hovered above the nineties over the last couple of weeks. Kevin and I spent the Fourth of July weekend enjoying warm weather and sunshine outdoors. Neither of us realized how much we needed some time to recuperate until the long weekend actually rolled around. Even though we were working from home, the work never did slow down. When the long weekend finally arrived, we were both elated to be able to get an extra day to relax. Kevin jumped at the opportunity to catch up on gaming with his friends. I took advantage of the extra free time to head out to nature to enjoy some sunshine and catch up on my podcasts. I quickly packed a yoga mat, a refreshing drink, and headed into nature. I have been looking forward to just spending time drowning out the noise around me and catching up on the latest podcasts on iHeartRadio. Over the last few days, I’ve been alternating between listening to food podcasts and finance podcasts. My latest addiction has been Freelance to Founder hosted by Preston and Clay. Each episode features a guest who had turned his or her hobby into a business. I loved hearing the different stories and lessons from people who were able to turn their passions into business opportunities. I listened to episode upon episode. Before I knew it, I began to feel hungry again. My hunger usually means it’s time to retreat back inside to start making some food. When I opened the fridge door, I immediately spot some leftover pistachio biscotti I had made earlier last week. I grabbed a piece of biscotti, prepared some tea, and savored the perfectly portioned biscotti. My pistachio biscotti was the perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea. I like to make biscotti when I want a slightly sweet treat to enjoy with a hot beverage in the afternoon. I never thought about making my own biscotti from scratch until a couple years ago when I had the most amazing homemade biscotti from a colleague. She had made a large batch of her homemade biscotti to give away as gifts during the holidays. I remember being super excited to try her homemade version. The moment I took a bite, I absolutely loved the combination of crunchy cookie, dried fruits, and nuts. I immediately made notes of the textures and flavors of her version of biscotti and started experimenting with making my own version once I got home. My experiments led me to create a version of black and white biscotti, loosely inspired by the black and white cookies I was obsessed with eating back in Brooklyn.

Celebrating July 4th with Red, White, and Blue Dumplings

July 02, 2020

July 2, 2020

July 4th is in two days. Kevin and I celebrated early together with some colorful treats. When I thought about what festive treats to make for our upcoming long weekend, pork and cabbage dumplings came to my mind almost immediately. Dumplings were one of the first recipes I worked on perfecting when I first started cooking. I had been eating dumplings my whole life and when I lived in New York City, I was able to easily access them. I could walk down a few blocks around my neighborhood and get phenomenal dumplings. Dumplings were one of the dishes my family and I ate almost weekly. I would travel all the way to Chinatown in Manhattan on weekends just to get my fix of dumplings. It didn’t matter to me how long the train ride would take. As long as the restaurant was a tried and true stop, I would travel from near and far to get there. Kevin, on the other hand, loved soup dumplings. They were his favorite food growing up in Hong Kong. Even now, whenever we traveled to Hong Kong to visit his family, we would always make a trip to an authentic Shanghai restaurant to get our fix of authentic soup dumplings. Sometimes, we would get soup dumplings multiple times throughout our travels to Hong Kong. When we moved to Ohio, I started to recreate all of the flavors and textures I remember in my favorite dumplings. After multiple trial tests and retests over the years, I came up with my absolute delicious pork and cabbage dumplings. My pork and cabbage dumplings are plump, juicy, and packed with flavor. The cabbage releases liquid when cooked and makes for a good soupy dumpling.

Revisiting Summer Adventures and Making Blackberry Scones with Lemon Glaze

June 28, 2020

June 28, 2020

Fourth of July is around the corner and I’ve already found myself taking a stroll down memory lane. I thought back to last year when my family traveled from Brooklyn to visit Kevin and I in Ohio. I still remember the excitement I felt while planning out all of the places I would take them to during their visit. The first stop was to experience Red, White, and Boom firsthand in downtown Columbus. The first time I went to Red, White, and Boom, was a few years ago. I could still remember the crowds of people gathering for the festivities, food, and family fun. People traveled from all over the Midwest to attend the event. Vendors would set up their individual food or entertainment stands the night before. Crowds would gather early the next day. Some people even staked out their spot along the river walk early to see the fireworks up close. The festivities would last all day into the evening. I could still taste the lingering flavors of fried carnival food paired with way too sweet lemonade. These were all staples sold by vendors lined up along the river walk in downtown Columbus. No one seemed to mind one bit the heat, humidity, or smoke residue. All anyone cared about was for the scheduled fireworks to begin at exactly 10:00 p.m. For 15 straight minutes (give or take), everyone just watched the fireworks in awe. To this day, my family still raved about the wonderful experience they had at Red, White, and Boom. With fourth of July coming up this year, and every major event pretty much cancelled, I couldn’t help but to think back to the wonderful experiences from past years. This year was different in a lot of ways. Celebrations shifted from in-person gatherings to virtual events. The silver lining with staying at home all of the time is being able to create endless magic in the kitchen. I’ve been cooking and baking up a storm in the kitchen with Kevin assisting me wherever needed. A lot of my cooking and baking is driven by seasonal produce, holidays, and milestones. During my latest trip to the grocery store, I saw some blackberries on sale in the supermarket and just knew I had to make some scones featuring the bursting sweet blackberries. I’ve been in love with scones ever since my first of many experiences eating scones at Alice’s Tea Cup in New York City. I would frequently meet up with friends for tea and scones at Alice’s Tea Cup whenever I happened to be in the city. The aromatic tea and freshly baked sweet and savory scones always seem to hit the spot for me. It never takes too long before my cravings for scones creep up again. Seeing fresh blackberries on sale gave me the excuse to make some indulgent freshly baked scones. The moment I got home from my trip to the grocery store, I rinsed the blackberries and popped them into the freezer to use for scones the next day. Freezing blackberries beforehand makes them a breeze to work with the next day.

Using Leftover Roast Chicken to Make Chicken Soup with Parsley Dumplings

June 23, 2020

June 23, 2020

Whenever I roast a whole chicken, I like to find creative ways to use up any remaining chicken. One of my favorite ways to use up leftover chicken is to toss the meat into curried chicken salad or spicy chicken salad and save the rest for making chicken stock. I like to remove as much of the chicken meat off of the chicken first before tossing the remaining bones into a slow cooker. With just a few aromatics tossed into the slow cooker along with the chicken bones, I know I will have the most marvelous concentrated chicken stock the next day. I have been making chicken stock this way for years as a way to reduce waste. The concentrated chicken stock becomes the perfect foundation for chicken soup. Most of the time, I end up just enjoying the stock as is with a few additional vegetables tossed in for a simple soup. Other times, I toss in some cooked egg noodles to make chicken noodle soup or add in some rolled dough balls to make the tastiest chicken and dumplings. Last week, I had roasted a whole chicken to use for layering into homemade flour wraps. I saved the remaining chicken bones and roasted vegetables to make chicken stock in a slow cooker overnight. The next day, I used the chicken stock to make chicken soup with parsley dumplings. Typically, when I make dumplings for my chicken soup, I just combine some all-purpose flour, baking powder, kosher salt, sugar, water, and herbs to form dumplings. This time around, I added a few ladles of chicken stock directly into the dry mixture and ended up with the most flavorful fluffy dumplings. Adding chicken stock directly into the dumplings was such a game changer. I couldn’t believe I didn’t think of this earlier. Chicken soup with parsley dumplings is one of my favorite dishes to make and serve on cold, rainy days. Sipping on chicken noodle soup always seems to transport me back to all of the moments in my childhood where my mom would make hearty chicken soup as a way to nourish my health. My mom always made the best chicken soup. Her version uses a whole chicken, a few aromatics, and features a clay pot within a larger pot. I remember always watching her rinse the chicken, salt the chicken, and tuck the chicken neatly into a clay pot. She would then add a handful of aromatics, close the lid on the clay pot, and transfer the clay pot into a large pot fitted with a circular rack and tons of water. With a few clicks of the trusty old stove in our home in Brooklyn, the gas fire was lit. The large pot was left to cook undisturbed for hours upon hours. I never knew exactly when the chicken soup would be done cooking. I just followed my mom’s intuition as her internal timer told her when it was time to remove the soup from the pot. As I got older, I strayed away from my mom’s version of chicken soup. I began to taste other versions of chicken soup throughout my college years and into adulthood. Each family seems to have its own version of chicken soup. No matter how many chicken soups I’ve tasted over the years, I keep coming back to a simple soup featuring a combination of onion, carrots, and celery. These vegetables formed the foundation of my chicken soup with parsley dumplings.

Homemade Flour Wraps with Lemon Roast Chicken, Hoisin, Scallion, and Cilantro

June 19, 2020

June 19, 2020

I developed my recipe for homemade flour wraps with lemon roast chicken, hoisin, scallion, and cilantro out of an intense craving for Peking duck wraps. I had been reminiscing on some of my favorite foods and thought back to one of my more recent experiences enjoying Peking duck when Kevin and I visited his family in Hong Kong. I can’t remember the exact establishment, but I definitely recall the meticulous serving process. The chef wheeled a cart to our table and lifted up a lid to reveal the glistening crispy exterior of a roasted duck. Each movement was reminiscent of a performance. He lifted his knife and with a few meticulous cuts into the whole duck, a plate of perfectly portioned duck meat along with crispy skin was served. We all watched each and every swift movement with close attention. The chef perfectly portioned out the servings of the duck before moving on to demonstrate the steps for enjoying a properly layered Peking duck wrap. The process starts with a piece of ultra-thin pancake, a swipe of plum sauce, a toss of julienned scallions and cilantro, and a topping of duck meat and crispy skin. I loved watching the process while eagerly waiting for my turn to build a wrap. Even thinking back to the experience made me crave Peking duck wraps even more. It has been almost half a year since we last saw Kevin’s family. The combination of missing authentic, nostalgic Chinese food and not knowing when exactly we would be able to see family again made me miss all of the moments we had connecting over good food. My intense cravings for Peking duck and limited access to groceries the last couple of months led me to develop my latest creation – homemade flour wraps with lemon roast chicken, hoisin, scallion, and cilantro. The textures and flavors of my newest creation was very reminiscent of the flavors and textures of Peking duck wraps. I started by roasting a whole chicken following the same way I season my salt and pepper roast chicken and adding the same aromatics and vegetables I use when preparing my garlic lemon roast chicken over vegetables. Roasting a whole chicken is one of the most versatile uses of a whole bird. I get to enjoy roast chicken for dinner, save any remaining chicken for my curried or spicy chicken salad, and reserve the remaining bones to make stock. The concentrated stock can then be transformed into chicken noodle soup the following day or chicken and dumplings. This time around, I roasted my chicken for just a tad longer in the oven to get the ultra-crispy exterior similar to the crispy texture of Peking duck. As the chicken was roasting away in the oven, I prepared a very simple stack of flour wraps, julienned scallions, and fresh cilantro stems from my herb garden to serve with the chicken. With just a drizzle of hoisin sauce served on the side (since I didn’t have any plum sauce on hand), dinner (and a dose of nostalgia) was ready to be served.

Summer Celebrations, Simple Brunches, and Homemade Granola

June 15, 2020

June 15, 2020

Granola is one of my favorite morning snacks to nosh on either at home or when traveling. My favorite version by far was the one I had at Eleven Madison Park (EMP) almost two years ago. Everything about EMP exemplified hospitality from the host, to the atmosphere, to the food. Kevin’s stepmom had treated us to dinner as a post-wedding celebration gift. We enjoyed some of the best dishes featuring seasonal produce. My favorite parts of the meal were at the beginning of the meal and the end of the meal. The moment we sat down, we were welcomed with a box of the most splendid savory black and white cookies paired with cheddar and apple. Towards the end of the meal, we enjoyed some chocolate covered pretzels, and departed with a jar of granola. The granola had notes of coconut, an array of nuts and seeds, and plenty of dried fruits. Ever since I ate the granola at EMP, I’ve been in the kitchen playing around with making my own granola featuring some of the elements I loved in the granola from EMP. After many variations of granola, I finally decided to share my fragrant, nutty, and just slightly sweet version of granola. I paired the granola with homemade yogurt and jam. The trio of granola, yogurt, and jam formed my morning yogurt parfait and made for a great way to start off a new week.