You should be — because “Black Cod with Hoisin and Ginger Sauces” is one of those gifts of a dish.
It’s incredibly easy, made with a succulent fish that’s forgiving should you accidentally overcook it, and amped up with a compelling sauce that’s a whirlwind of ginger, honey, garlic, chili paste, hoisin and soy sauce.
In short, it eats like classic Chinese steamed fish with ginger and green onions — but has a much more powerfully tasting presence.
A sunny ricotta cake that is so moist, buttery, and rich.
We all grew up seeing our parents and grand-parents, who lived through the Great Depression, wars, and/or famines, take care — to the extreme — to not let any drop of sauce from a can, any heel of bread or any minute shred of fish off the bone ever go to waste.
Not on their watch.
And now, not on ours, either.
With the pandemic creating food shortages — both real and exaggerated ones — we find ourselves looking at food much differently now, treating everything with the reverence it deserved all along.
The very bottom stems of parsley that I once tossed? No more. Now, they get finely diced and tossed into salads and soups. Those radish tops I once never looked twice at? Now, I savor them sauteed in an egg scramble.
The leftover ricotta I had from making lamb meatballs? Not that I would deign to ever throw something like that out, but these days, it takes on an outsize importance. Yes, that leftover ricotta that I once just nonchalantly enjoyed with berries for breakfast the next day, now seemed too good for that. Clearly, it should be destined for something far more special, I thought.
When it comes to cooking, it’s the little things in life that make such a difference now — crunchy sea salt, olive oil with a real personality, and an exceptional cheese with flavor to spare that elevates anything it touches.
That’s why I felt like I had truly hit the culinary jackpot when Humboldt County’s Cypress Grove sent me samples during this just-the-basics-ma’am, hunker-down-and-make-do kind of time.
Because it’s soft-ripened goat cheeses are anything but banal. Since 1983, this Arcata, CA-based cheesemaker has been turning out award-winning wheels. Since 2017, it’s taken a fancy turn each year to its classic Humboldt Fog by making limited-edition remixes that feature herbs and spices added.
This year, Cypress Grove ups the equation by not only adding the familiar ripple of flavoring at the center of the cheese, but also mixing it into the cheese paste through and through. The result is wallop of flavor.
This year’s line-up includes the Dill Remix, which was released in April; the Chipotle Cacao that will debut in summer; and the Haze Remix due in the fall.
Would you believe it only takes 40 seconds from fridge to microwave to dig into this perfect, warm chocolate lava cake?
I’ve made the original chocolate lava cake many times. The warm little cake with the contrasting gooey, molten chocolate center that became a sensation was purportedly invented by Michelin-starred New York chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten when he accidentally removed a cake from the oven too soon.
It’s not a difficult cake to make, but it does take a little practice to know when exactly to pull it from the oven so that the center is not overdone, rendering it merely a uniform chocolate cake through and through.
Pots & Co. not only takes the guesswork out of that, it but alleviates all the work — period.
The London-based company makes Chocolate Fudge Lava Cakes that come ready made. All you need do is pop one into the oven for 12 minutes or into the microwave for 40 seconds to get perfect results.
Melissa Clark’s easy and delicious honey-roasted carrot salad with toasted almonds.
I love carrots — now more so than ever before, too.
That’s because during this unprecedented shelter-in-place mandate, I’ve been relying on delivery services to get all of my groceries.
As someone who’s used to combing through new cookbooks to hone in on an inspired recipe to try, then racing out the door to a grocery store or two to find just the right ingredients called for, this has been an adjustment.
Now, I let the ingredients solely dictate what I make. And because I only schedule deliveries once every 7 to 10 days, it requires a lot more planning. I covet peak-season produce, of course. But because so much of that is quite perishable, I also need a mix of sturdier fruits and veggies that will last at least until the next delivery.
Nantes carrots are worth seeking out.
That’s where carrots are a godsend. They hold up well in the crisper drawer for weeks, and they can be used in so many ways, both raw and cooked.
