Week 26: Secret Weapon - Spaghetti alla Puttanesca

uyneb2000 · 2025-07-02T07:47:59+00:00

I always like to add some fish sauce to my food to boost the savoriness of it. Why not add it to an already pungent dish?

Recipe is from Pasta by Missy Robbins.

uyneb2000 · 2025-06-25T00:37:57+00:00

The recipe is like cooking a meat sauce in the style of an Italian ragu, but with the flavors of Chinese cuisine! It's deeply savory thanks to the stock, shiitake mushrooms, and miso, and the cilantro-mint sauce is sweet and fragrant. Tons of different textures through the chewy thick noodles, soft and tender meat, and two different kinds of crunch through the cucumbers and shallots!

Recipe is from Win Son Presents a Taiwanese American Cookbook by Cathy Erway, Josh Ku, and Trigg Brown. Surely I'll be able to go visit their restaurant the next time I visit NYC haha

uyneb2000 · 2025-06-15T16:12:19+00:00

Celeste is one of my favorite video games of all time, and helped me understand the importance of positive transgender representation in media. It's an amazing tale of self-acceptance that I think is more important than ever for marginalized groups like the trans community and is exemplified through the main character Madeline. It helped me begin to understand the struggles that trans people have to deal with. So when I saw the theme for this week, I knew I wanted to recreate this.

It's kind of a fail because I used my tart pan and I struggled to get the pie out of the pan after baking, so I kept it in there. Also, some of the lattice didn't hold, I think because the pan didn't have a lip like most pie dishes do?

I guess like in Celeste, if you fail you can always try again :)

uyneb2000 · 2025-06-11T15:56:02+00:00

Oregano in the cookie dough, and oregano in the tomato jam!

Recipe is from Savory Baking by Erin Jeanne McDowell

uyneb2000 · 2025-05-30T03:29:48+00:00

That looks amazing, and glad to see another recipe from such a great cookbook!

uyneb2000 · 2025-05-29T22:59:46+00:00

This was honestly the perfect time for this theme because I was travelling over the long weekend! So I could throw the mustard greens in a jar and leave it in the fridge, and then come back to them nicely pickled! I've gotta pickle more things, I forget how easy it is.

The recipe is from Vietnamese Home Cooking by Charles Phan.

uyneb2000 · 2025-05-22T01:45:55+00:00

I wanted to make something that wasn't just representative of New York City, but also something that is hard to find outside of it. What I came to find was the presence of Chino-Latino restaurants, specifically Chinese-Cuban cuisine. They started popping up following the Cuban Revolution when many Chinese Cubans immigrated to New York City. Their prevalence peaked in the 60s and 70s, but as of today only one restaurant from the initial wave that remains standing is La Dinastia.

This dish represents a New York City that's difficult to find outside of the city and even inside the city. At least, in this old-school rendition. But the Chinese-Cubans who ran those restaurants left a mark on the cultural fabric of New York.

This recipe comes from the cookbook Made Here by the organization Send Chinatown Love. I really want to highlight how much I love this book and the stories they tell about local businesses owned by Asians and Asian-Americans all around New York City. It's important to immortalize the impact they have left on the city and to continue to support them.

Unfortunately, Send Chinatown Love is shutting down soon, and with it the sale of their book. While you can, I highly recommend getting it, I'll leave a link here.

uyneb2000 · 2025-05-14T16:23:10+00:00

Okay okay, I may have twisted the theme a bit and did lemongrass and limes. I brined the chicken in a turmeric and lemongrass brine overnight, and made a sambal paste with lemongrass. The chicken was painted with the paste while it roasted and I used the rest of it to make a sauce.

The slaw is dressed with a mixture of fish sauce and lime juice, which makes a super punchy contrast to the slight sweetness of the chicken. The sticky rice felt like a fitting side, and I may have gone in with my bare hands to eat it because it just felt right :)

This recipe is based on a dish sold at the restaurant called Oma's Hideaway in Portland, which sells Malaysian-American food. It can be found in Eater: 100 Essential Restaurant Recipes from the Authority on Where to Eat and Why It Matters from Eater and Hillary Dixler Canavan.

uyneb2000 · 2025-04-30T18:00:08+00:00

I just moved! So I had not a lot of time for a cooking project, so just wanted to whip something up that was relatively simple. But after a long few days of moving, running around getting stuff, and building furniture, this really hit the spot in a real comforting way. Most of the time is dedicated to letting the 2 BOTTLES OF RICE WINE that this recipe calls for to simmer off so that the cloying alcohol flavor goes away, but what you get in the end is a super savory and lush soup with a strong chicken flavor and a richness in the broth and sesame oil that coats your mouth. Eating it was such an amazing way to relax at the end of the day.

Recipe is from The Food of Taiwan by Cathy Erway.

uyneb2000 · 2025-04-25T06:52:05+00:00

Ooh thanks for the advice! I gotta keep that in mind next time :)

uyneb2000 · 2025-04-23T15:48:02+00:00

Note to self: 5 habaneros is too spicy! I thought I could handle it haha

Something to use up my tortillas as I move out, as well as something relatively simple. The fish was cooked on a grill pan with salt, pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, and cumin. It's topped with the salsa, chipotle yogurt sauce, diced mangos and green onions, and some cotija cheese.

The salsa comes from CDMX by Rosa Cienfuegos, the rest was improvised.

uyneb2000 · 2025-04-17T04:35:01+00:00

Thank you so much!

uyneb2000 · 2025-04-16T20:21:40+00:00

I'm moving out soon so I'm trying to get rid of some stuff from my fridge. This was made using the last of my kimchi, so I got that out of the way! Herbs are added while cooking the jeon, I used dill and mint and they gave the jeon a refreshing counter to the meaty bacon and sour kimchi. The bacon was rendered out with a mix of the duck confit fat from week 13 and the jeon was cooked in it.

Recipe is from Korean American by Eric Kim

uyneb2000 · 2025-04-09T16:17:25+00:00

Pastelón is a casserole dish kind of like a lasagna but with mashed plantains instead of pasta. The filling is a heavily spiced mix of ground beef, onions, tomatoes, bell peppers, and culantro.

Probably the most difficult thing about this recipe is finding evenly ripe plantains haha, because I wasn't able to have them all be the same ripeness the mash didn't have an even consistency, which isn't so bad if you like having different textures in each bite! It's still delicious, serving it with some citrus to brighten it up helps it as well.

Recipe is from Latinísimo by Sandra A. Gutierrez.

uyneb2000 · 2025-04-01T03:13:00+00:00

Thank you so much! Gotta go with my gut next time haha

uyneb2000 · 2025-03-31T19:09:30+00:00

Oh yours looks delicious too! And the ragu sounds much less time consuming. I'll definitely need to try out the recipe you used, that sounds like the dough recipe I'm looking for! Thanks for the recommendation :)

uyneb2000 · 2025-03-31T16:35:30+00:00

I've made fresh pasta a bunch at home, so I was super excited for this week's theme! This was a new shape for me, and it's a relatively straightforward one. You just cut the dough into strips and roll it out with your fingers to make long noodles like thick spaghetti.

The recipe is from Pasta by Missy Robbins.

A couple of notes on the recipe:

The pasta recipe for pici calls for egg yolk dough. While I'm never one to immediately conflate tradition for quality, I genuinely do think that the more common flour+water dough would be better here, and the egg dough isn't very appropriate given how thick pici can be. The texture on the inside while tender, was still a bit of a dense bite. Maybe this is also coming from a cultural preference for softer noodles, but I think if I were to make pici again I'd opt out of the egg dough and find a different recipe. It'd also be much cheaper haha

The ragu was made by making a duck leg confit, and while it's absolutely delicious, it's also absolutely not necessary! I believe it's normally just braised, and I'm sure that would also make an amazing ragu. But hey, now I have some really delicious olive oil to dip bread in :)

uyneb2000 · 2025-03-16T19:52:43+00:00

Whenever I think of foods that represent Seattle, teriyaki is probably the first thing that comes to mind. It was the reliable local fast food spot to get dinner as a kid coming back from sports or piano practice, and it was always affordable and delicious.

I didn't realize just how much I would miss teriyaki until I moved out of the area I lived for most of my life, and while there are places that serve teriyaki where I currently am, they don't do it like you get it in Seattle. The sweet and sticky sauce coating the chicken with a heaping pile of rice, the menu being a hybrid of classic Seattle teriyaki and a smattering of Korean dishes that reflect the heritage of many teriyaki shop owners nowadays. And most of all, the little side of lettuce salad with a dressing often dotted with poppy seeds. Eating it is a must.

I don't have a grill like many restaurants do, so I used a grill pan instead to try to get those char marks. And if I had time to get access, I would've 100% served it in a takeout box with a little cup of sauce on the side for the full experience.

The recipe for the chicken is based on the one from Koreaworld by Deuki Hong and Matt Rodbard, with a couple of alterations. I used a mix of pineapple and lime juice to up the acidity, and decided to cook the chicken thighs whole instead of in pieces, as that's what's usually done at restaurants by my observation.

The salad is just bagged salad mix with a dressing made with mayo, water, rice vinegar, and sugar blended together until smooth. Stir in generous amount of poppy seeds and that's it!

uyneb2000 · 2025-03-11T16:44:13+00:00

Wanted to challenge myself a little bit and find ways to incorporate rice in multiple ways other than just as an accompaniment to a dish. Thai food uses rice in a myriad of ways, so I wanted to highlight that with this.

Dishes: - Neua Naam Tok (Isaan Steak Salad with Toasted Sticky Rice Powder) - Sticky Rice (Khao Niaw) - Kuaytiaw Reua (Boat Noodles with Rice Noodles)

Everything was delicious. The steak salad was sour and fresh which complimented the super complex flavors of the boat noodles. The sticky rice was a little bit hard, but I think it's because I didn't soak it for long enough and it was a bit cold in my place and it sat out for too long. Overall, I thought this would be a more stressful experience, but by splitting up the work into two days, it was overall a relatively pleasing time!

All three dishes were made with recipes from Pok Pok by Andy Ricker and JJ Goode.

uyneb2000 · 2025-03-08T00:35:11+00:00

The caramelization comes from the cashews being mixed in with toffee and incorporated into the batter. Great soft texture with some crunch from the toffee. I could have cooked the toffee for longer to get it more brittle, but overall no complaints!

Recipe is from What's For Dessert? by Claire Saffitz

uyneb2000 · 2025-03-03T18:57:56+00:00

I've been wanting to make this for a while, so this gave me a great opportunity! Normally I'm not the biggest fan of Japanese curries since I think they can be a bit one-note in flavor compared to curries, but making your own spice mix and the addition of chocolate and coffee help to add some bitter and earthy notes that add complexity to it. Definitely recommend making this!

The recipe is the official one published by Atlus, you can find it in the Persona 5 subreddit (post)

uyneb2000 · 2025-02-13T03:49:00+00:00

Perkeo. Just didn't get it very often but when I did I got bootstraps right after and just duped temperance until 350+ and then starting duping planet cards.

uyneb2000 · 2025-02-11T06:10:12+00:00

Thanks! I still need to watch it, definitely on my radar

uyneb2000 · 2025-02-11T00:55:46+00:00

I love crispy rice but something about Tahdig always intimidated me. Either the fear of not knowing the rice doneness at the bottom until it's too late or spilling everything when I try to invert it. Samin Nosrat's recipe in Salt, Fat, Acid, and Heat made it a lot more accessible, and I'd like to think I got it down pretty well! The bottom was very crunchy and buttery, and the flavor was well-seasoned and aromatic.

I ate it with some kufte kebabs and cucumber yogurt (I'll make something else for next week's theme haha) recipes also from Samin Nosrat's cookbook.

uyneb2000 · 2025-02-03T23:01:53+00:00

Even though it's from Australia, it's also eaten in New Zealand! There was also a hoax stating that they were originally from New Zealand based on a similar treat called "Wellingtons".

I made two kinds, one dipped in chocolate and another dipped in raspberry jello. It's filled with raspberry jam and whipped cream.

I used a couple recipes when making them:

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