You may or may not have noticed my love of chicken shawarma here. I have noticed in the past two years I have sought out shawarma locally and on two trips, eating shawarma in Ottawa and Salt Lake City. I have a confession to make though, I have not always loved shawarma. I did not grow up eating shawarma, and only ate it with my high school boyfriend (now husband) and his family. When we ate shawarma, there was always a garlic sauce that at the time I hated. I thought it was bitter and too garlicky. Now though as I have aged, I have grown to appreciate it and as I started making shawarma at home using this recipe (pro tip always cook it in the skillet, it crisps it up and makes a wonderful textural contrast against sauces), I noticed that the sauce was lacking. I searched for shawarma sauce and often found a simple tatziki, which I knew my husband would not think was enough. I found this sauce and trust me when I say your shawarma needs it and it will make all the difference.
The one other area of shawarma making that I have lots of opinions about is the toppings. I like to think of chicken shawarma as the middle eastern taco. Yup, I said it, but here is why. You add all the ingredients to a pita (taco shell) and the toppings make each bite different and unique. My favorite options to have include- chopped tomatoes and cucumbers, hummus, garlic sauce, za'atar seasoning, grilled onions, and feta cheese. Feel free to also include olives or tatziki or baba ganoush if you are feeling fancy, or maybe throw some falafel in to change up your protein. I love the flexibility of eating this way. One of my extended uncles once said that the beauty of home cooking is that each bite tastes slightly different, and I love that, especially with a variety of toppings that becomes quite true.
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Quite a while ago, a friend of mine who is a personal historian asked me to be on her podcast, The Delicious Story. I of course agreed, and now I am sharing with you.
Find the whole podcast here, and enjoy. How do you feel about podcasts? I love them but am picky about what I will listen to. I can share a post about the ones I love if you are interested let me know in the comments. Many months ago, I got my starter ready and raring to go. I woke up the next day ready for bread, the baking of it that is. It started out great. I had just enough flour and it was looking good. I started to knead it and should have realized my mistakes then, but no I pressed on. I tried to knead it into submission, but realized it was sticking so ferociously to the counter that I needed to scrape it off. This would have been fine, but the kitchen scraper was in a drawer and the dough was cemented onto my hands. I should have stopped and washed them off, I should have listened to the bread then, but did I, no, I thought I knew better. I opened the door with a few of my sticky fingers and quickly grabbed the scraper, but it offered no relief. Instead of helping to coalesce the dough into an orderly mound, I had provided the dough another sticky surface to adhere to. Did I stop? I bet you can guess the answer is no. I did not stop. I then continued to put the sticky dough into un-floured containers. I left it to rise and came back to dough stuck in my rising containers, to remove it I lost all the air. I then sat down and gave up. Like I literally gave up and sat on the couch. Eventually my husband was able to convince me that all was okay, he helped me to make order, to buy more flour and I decided to start again. I started again a day later and continued the next morning working on it. It still did not turn out great. The thing about bread and baking, is that it cannot be rushed, it cannot be done thoughtlessly. Bread requires an awareness and a mindfulness. Bread requires time, effort, patience and a willingness to adapt. When I am not able to give it these things, bread shows me so by failing to work. Instead of pursuing it, I should have stopped. Instead of my own pride telling me to press on, I should have slowed down, noticed accepted and made adjustments accordingly.
Life is like bread. You need to slow down, think things through, have patience, you must be willing to adapt. Without adaptation nothing works. Without change and shifts you are destined for a sticky messy disaster. I am a person of routine, a person with a rhythm and I like things to go one way, my way, when they don't I continue and assume that effort alone will fix all the mess, but sometimes that effort is just a continuation of a wrong turn. Instead of one wrong turn, I end up taking seven. By the time I finally learn, I am exhausted and it is all my own doing and all could have been completely prevented. Frank Sonnenberg once said "Lessons in life will be repeated until they are learned." Most of my life, I am taught the same lessons over and over and over again. I am stubborn and not always to my credit. I am quick to adapt when I sense the entire situation is changing, but within "my controlled environment" (clearly an illusion) I feel as though change means failure. I refuse to fail and I refuse to change and in essence I guarantee my failure. Sometimes what is needed is perspective, time, and space. We need to slow down and recognize that something isn't working and really take the time rather than spending all of it trying to make a square peg fit in a round hole. Life teaches, I just need to be willing to listen. Salad season has arrived. Spring is happening and we are surrounded with an abundance of fresh produce. The perfect conditions for salads. I eat salads, not to be healthy, but because they are refreshing and delicious. I am telling you right now, the following salad dressing recipe is the epitome of delicious, NOT the epitome of health. My husband and I ate this particular dressing in a chicken Caesar salad. If you want an idea of how to serve it here is what I did. I butterflied a chicken breast, seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic powder. I cooked the chicken in a sauté pan over medium heat with nonstick spray. The chicken breast cooked through in a few minutes, but I needed to cover it to get the inside to cook through without burning the edges. I then proceeded to make some homemade croutons. I had previously chopped and washed some romaine lettuce. I added some sliced cherry tomatoes and a shaved parmesan mix. This salad was yummy and delicious, my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The dressing makes more than enough for a few salads. This recipe was adapted from Chrissy Teigen's Cravings cookbook. Caesar Salad DressingSometimes you want to stroll through the market, leisurely picking out produce and enjoying the atmosphere. For most of us this is not the way we shop, so when we have to shop in a hurry, a few key tips help to keep us less stressed.
Sometimes other people have the ability to see you more clearly than you see yourself. One of these times happened last summer. I had a friend visiting and she was there for our weekly grocery store trip and I realized, I am a little intense when I shop. If I am being honest, I am a little intense about a lot of things. This though might be helpful if you do not enjoy shopping and want to make your trip quick.
I have always loved cooking, but not until we moved into Iowa did I become a person who decided to forgo eating out in favor of eating homemade food. One of the things that Gretchen Rubin says about habits, is that a big change is often an easy time to add or adjust your habits, because everything is changing. I found this to be true. I started cooking the way I previously had and shopping for one meal at a time. I went to the grocery store multiple times a week and only knew the next thing I was making, not much further than that. As I slowly started to meal plan, I heard a podcast say that when you meal plan you are in effect batching your tasks. This means that rather than wasting time wondering the grocery store multiple times a week you just go once, it is more efficient that way. This was obvious to people who are more like my husband, but I am someone who enjoys going grocery shopping and this idea had simply never occurred to me. At first meal planning feels overwhelming, it seems like just another task to complete. There is another way to go about it, and that is to figure out what foods you eat most often and just stock those, that is what I mean when I say find your staples. When I think of our cooking staples, I think of the things I could use to get me through if I was unable to shop or we were traveling and didn't want to buy any more food. They can include a variety of categories and types of food that you often eat. Grains- Beans, Lentils, Rice, Pasta, Polenta, Bread etc. Consider what you like to include in your meals that fits this category. I typically have dried and canned beans on hand, pasta and I always freeze my bread or tortillas so that last for a long time. Protein- This can include beans and lentils, but it also can include nuts, eggs. and meats. This is what in your meal will fill you up. I usually have on hand beans and lentils, nuts (stored in the freezer so that they last longer), frozen chicken breasts, eggs, and many different nut butters. Vegetables- What vegetables do you or your family enjoy eating? My staples include things like potatoes, onions, carrots and celery. I also have frozen corn, and peas, but beyond that I typically buy what I need for a specific recipe. I also have started buying things that are easy to eat without much prep work, based on what looks good in the store these can include cucumbers, snap peas and grape tomatoes, I sometimes will chop up the aforementioned carrots and eat those too. Sometimes I keep romaine on hand and I chop it at the beginning of the week for easy salads. Fruits- My husband is the king of this category. He basically loves all fruits. We always have bananas and frozen fruits for smoothies as well as something seasonal.
Baking Supplies- Flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cornmeal, chocolate chips etc. If you bake regularly it helps to have these ingredients to be able to bake when the mood strikes you Spice Ingredients- This for me includes both dried spices as well as fresh. We keep on hand fresh garlic, ginger, scallions and usually some form of fresh herbs. Dried spices that are staples for us include cumin, chili powder, oregano, everything bagel seasoning, Lawry's Season salt, and garlic salt. Fats and Oils-These are what you will most likely use to prepare your foods they range from butter to olive oil to coconut oil to many other forms of oil. This can include avocado or nut butters as well. Fats also help you feel full and are good to include in your meals. We usually have many forms of fats on hand typically butter, toasted sesame oil, and olive oil, but I have a nicely stocked pantry so if I run out of olive oil- like I did a week ago, I can just use something else- in this case corn oil. Dairy- Butter, milk, cheese, butter milk, cottage cheese, sour cream. We usually have some form of cheese, Parmesan, milk and butter on hand. I find for me dairy is something I frequently enjoy in my meals. Sometimes thinking this through helps you to be prepared when something goes awry or your plans change. Also I find that these may change as your style of cooking evolves. We are not static and your cooking staples may not be static either, you may buy different things seasonally or you may go through a phase of really using one ingredient and it becomes a staple. What are your cooking staples? Does this help you prepare meals easily? I love pie, as you can probably tell by my banner. One thing I have considered lately is pie derivatives. Foods that are pie like, but not necessarily pie. These include crisps, bars, tarts, and hand pies. All the following is my own thoughts and definitions, I am not describing anything official, just sharing my thoughts and ideas for other pie like ideas to give inspiration for both me and maybe you as well. Crisps usually have a fruit base similar to some pies. Instead of having a crust they rather have a granola like topping that is cooked on top of the fruit. Bars are usually have a thicker crust and a crisp like topping and a thinner layer of fruit or jam in the middle. Tarts in my mind have a thicker crust base and it usually is less flaky they also are shallower. Hand pies are effectively individual pies. They are small and can be eaten by a single person rather than needing to bake in a dish they can usually be baked on a baking tray as the dough encompasses all of the filling.
What do you think? Do you love pie best or one of these derivatives? One of the things I have been realizing lately is that I have a number of cooking tips that I have learned over the years, that make all aspects related to cooking easier, from shopping to actually cooking I know so much about food that it just comes naturally to me to do things a certain way. If you are just starting out, or have just not paid attention, these tips can help you feel more aware and informed and make better decisions that will help you. My first tip is more of a shopping tip than a cooking tip. When buying food, food that is in its more natural state will last longer. For instance tomatoes on the vine will ripen slower then tomatoes that are disconnected. If you buy a single banana it will ripen much quicker than those that are connected like those seen above. Chopped fruit will spoil quicker than if you leave it whole. I find this useful in my purchasing fruit because rather than buy two tomatoes separate, I buy a small bunch on the vine and know they will keep for longer.
Lately I have been baking bread. Like every week. I was inspired by reading the book Sourdough, but then I took it to a whole new level. I went to a website called the fresh loaf and read their handbook. I became fascinated by baking ratios and obsessively checking my dough with the windowpane test. I bought a proofing bowl and looked up what to do if you over proof your bread. I am now immersed in the details the small motions and the way you make bread matters. The ingredients are few and simple but the process matters. How you take flour, water, salt and yeast or starter can have dramatically different results. I have always loved bread and I baked rolls for thanksgiving when I was young. In middle school cooking class, I remember feeling like the ability to make homemade pretzels was just magic. I started baking loaves of bread in college, more out of necessity than by choice. Bread was cheap and could easily be topped with butter and honey for an exciting treat. Also my roommate had started baking bread and it gave me the idea. Sometimes my bread didn't cook all the way through but the mistakes made the successes all the sweeter. When I started hosting Thanksgiving, I made a whole wheat garlic and rosemary focaccia version of bread. Although I determined last year, I think it should be a day before Thanksgiving tradition, because I bake it ahead of time and it is better fresh. My current bread obsession has become more technical and precise. I weigh all my ingredients. I try to ensure I follow the proper steps for bread making. I consider how I do things and why I do them that way. I alter and tweak and make changes. I am not done, and I am not sure I ever will be. After mastering my basic sourdough loaf, I have been moving onto different varieties. I have to say this whole process has improved as I have done it more, you know what they say practice makes perfect. I would say there is no such thing as a perfect loaf, but I am enjoying the dramatic improvement over the past years.
I love baking bread. I love the way it takes three whole days. I love the slow methodical kneading. I love how it forces you to be present, to think about this loaf as it's own unit. The only downside to my bread obsession is sometimes it is hard to eat all this bread throughout the week. My husband and I have managed it so far, but I am not sure that will keep. Also a side note, almost every book you read about bread tells you to wait for it to cool for an hour before eating it, which makes sense if you want to keep it around in the long term, but I have to be honest, there is nothing better than fresh bread straight from the oven, still warm with a little bit of butter. It never tastes the same the next day even if you haven't cut into your loaf. The one exception is from my current favorite bread book, Tartine, Chad Robertson acknowledges that this is nothing like freshly baked bread. I met with a friend a while ago and told her about my bread obsession and she called it passion. I think this is true, I love the practice, I love the research, I love the repetition and altering small things along the way. I love baking bread and it is something I am passionate about. I care about each loaf. I take the time to be present with each loaf. I enjoy it all. Recently, I have been adapting my bread to test different varieties, today I will be baking two walnut loaves and I am thrilled to see how it goes. I have tested a different walnut loaf before, and I find it interesting because the tannins in the walnuts turn the bread purple, the purple streak looks odd, but also magical. What are you passionate about? Are there any foods you have deep dived into because you love them so much? I like to believe that since Julie and Julia, the fact that I cook through cookbooks in their entirety (seafood excluded) is a dated fact. But, I find when I tell people this they give me an awkward side eye look and say, "Wow, that's impressive", my guess is that in their head they are thinking Wow that is so weird, but are too polite to say that to my face. I have only done this once before and have been jumping around between cookbooks, but I think it is time for me to return to this tried and true method. The first book I cooked through was Giada at Home, by Giada De Laurentis. My husband chose it for me from the many, many cookbooks I own because I like Italian food and he thought well, why not? I did enjoy cooking through it and found that it had some duds and some gems, which I think is most likely the case with any cookbook, some recipes hit the mark and others, well not so much. Next I started to focus more exclusively on my family recipe's because I wanted to keep all my favorites and to ensure I tried them all first. I then moved onto Shauna Niequist's Bread and Wine, a food memoir, and Chrissy Teigen's first cookbook Cravings. I feel like reading a cookbook cover to cover and cooking through it you get to know the person behind the food and from their cookbooks. Shauna seems like the person I am on the inside and Chrissy just seems like a ton of fun. My new cookbook adventures include Barefoot Contessa's Foolproof, Chad Robertson's Tartine Bread, and The Minimalist Kitchen by Melissa Coleman. I have enjoyed most of what I have cooked from Foolproof. Robertson's Tartine Bread is delicious but also labor intensive. I personally love Melissa Coleman's mindset and have only made a few of her breakfast recipes.
The most interesting thing is that by cooking through someone else's cookbook you can see the world of food through their eyes. You learn their go to ingredients, their methods and food become more layered than it has been before. Do you enjoy cooking through cookbooks? Any ideas of cookbooks or food memoirs you would love for me to cook through and test out for you? The picture below shows all of my cookbooks/books with recipes, if you have suggestions let me know. |
About MeI'm Sarah; a wife, traveler, foodie, and adventurer. Archives
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