Turkey Pesto Meatballs and Orecchiette

July 27, 2023July 24, 2023 by akc

I know that not everyone wants to use the oven to make dinner in the summer, but if you’re not opposed to the idea, the Turkey Pesto Meatballs and Orecchiette from the Smitten Kitchen Blog are a great way to use up some of that summer squash you bought at the farmer’s market.

Instead of pesto, I use a homemade basil garlic sauce and just add some additional parmesan cheese as I go. I try to make a batches of that a couple of times during the summer, and then freeze it for use later. So it’s not as much work as it sounds like (at least all on one day). I don’t miss the pine nuts, especially in something like this, but if I wanted that texture I’d probably add some toasted walnuts, chopped fine.

I made this once last summer, and put half of the meatballs and squash in the freezer. They held up pretty well, but for me the 1/4″ thick slices of squash were a little too thin, especially once frozen. They kind of fell apart. This time I sliced them thicker, somewhere in between 1/4″ and 1/2″ inch.

As I did last year, I made the full amount of meatballs and squash, but halved the rest of the recipe to make two dinner servings. I actually knocked the amount of pasta down further, to 6oz, but probably could have gotten away with 4 or 5oz. When I want to make the leftovers, I’ll just heat up the meatballs and zucchini while the pasta boils, and then make the brothy sauce.

This is a light but satisfying summer meal, and it would also lend itself well to being made ahead of time.

A shower of white parmesan coats a pile of lightly browned meatballs, half moons of summer squash, and orecchiette. Everything is covered in green flecks of basil, and there's a small puddle of golden broth at the bottom of the dish. — The Turkey Pesto Meatballs and Orecchiette from the *Smitten Kitchen* blog.

Peach Crumb Muffins

July 22, 2023July 20, 2023 by akc

These weren’t on my longlist of recipes for this project, but at around the same time I had some peaches to use up, the Peach Crumb Muffins recipe from Smitten Kitchen Keepers floated across my radar. I know some folks don’t like to turn on the oven in the summer, but I didn’t really have a plan for those peaches. I could make jam, but that also heats up the kitchen plus adds humidity. And I still have peach jam on hand from the last time I made some anyway.

These are very easy to make; the hardest part is making neat and even slices of peach to go on top of the muffins. I didn’t worry about it too much and just did the best I could without getting obsessive about it. For the filling I used some peaches I’d stuck in the fridge a few days prior because they were bruised and on the verge of going bad. I cut those into smallish chunks for the filling. I used ripe peaches in better shape for the slices. All told I used 5 peaches, but they were not particularly big. I recommend starting with getting your 1.5 cups for the filling, and then just slicing up enough pieces to get two or three on the top.

I almost went off book and sprinkled these with turbinado sugar, a la the Perfect Blueberry Muffins, but decided not to. In the end I wish I had. These are not very sweet at all, but weirdly they also aren’t very peachy, which means there isn’t a lot going on except the occasional sugary bite of crumb. It could just be my peaches, but who knows.

A muffin tin with a lot of brown and yellow patina on it is full of lightly golden brown muffins. Each of them is topped with slightly wrinkled pieces of yellow peach, with pieces of the orange skin, and some beige crumble topping. — The Peach Crumb Muffins from *Smitten Kitchen Keepers*

Side Note: Omsom Thai Larb

July 17, 2023July 31, 2023 by akc

In depths of the pandemic lockdowns, I came across Omsom, a company that creates sauce packets for making absolutely delicious Asian dishes. Our favorite is the Thai Larb, but we also enjoy the Korean Spicy Bulgogi and have tried several others as well.

Cooking with these is super simple. Basically, you prep your protein and then add the sauce. For me the hardest part is usually figuring out what else I want to have on the side, as I’m not a huge fan of cooking multiple side dishes. I want them to be thematic but also simple. Typically with the larb I make some blistered green beans (I do a variation where I skip the shallots and throw in some ginger) and rice.

They have a lot of recipes on their site, at least one for each flavor they offer, as well as recipes for suggested sides. And there are a lot of vegetarian options as well. We really just like the larb with ground pork, but with the bulgogi I usually make their tofu recipe.

Lately I’m able to get this at a little botiquey grocery store near me, but you can also order online. The first time we tried them I got the Southeast Asian Sampler which was a fun introduction. If you’re at all curious about these I recommend getting a sampler to try them out. If you’re not sure where to start, I’d explore the recipes and see which ones are most appealing.

A shallow white bowl contains a pile of green beans coated in ginger and oil. To the right is a pile of cooked pork mixed with shallots, topped with scallions. The pork has flecks of red seasoning throughout. At the back of the plate is a pile of white rice topped with chili crisp. — The Omsom Thai Larb, with white rice and a side of gingery green beans.

Double Shallot Egg Salad

July 12, 2023June 22, 2023 by akc

I’m not typically a huge fan of egg salad (or chicken salad, for that matter) but I figured the Double Shallot Egg Salad from Smitten Kitchen Keepers was worth a try for lunches. It makes two servings, which is pretty perfect for me as most weeks there are leftovers I can enjoy at least a couple of days.

The name comes from the fact that Deb has you make two toppings for this: diced and lightly pickled shallots, and fried shallot rings. I’ve fried shallots before and it’s not hard, it’s just one of those things where you have to stand by the stove and keep a close eye out. (Usually I make them in a larger batch for this Summer Corn, Tomato, and Salmon Salad with Za’atar Dressing.) As they fry, I recommend trying to pull out the shallots that finish first, otherwise they may burn while you finish the rest. When I make a big batch I hang onto the oil and use it while cooking other veggies; it adds a nice savory note. Just know that your house will smell like fried onions when you make these. Could be worse!

Anyway, the only thing we don’t typically have on hand is shallots, and I figure it would be easy enough to sub regular pickled onions and just take a pass on the fried shallots. (Or get some store bought ones for the pantry.) So the base of this is a pantry meal for me.

I’d meant to prep this the day before I wanted to have it for lunch, but forgot. I ended up hard-boiling the eggs and making the pickled shallots on a break a couple of hours before lunch, and then making the fried shallots and the egg salad itself right before eating. That worked out well for me, but normally I’d prefer to have the fried shallots ready to go.

This is a light lunch, which works well for me as long as I have snacks available for the afternoon. It would also be a great addition to a brunch spread or as a filling for finger sandwiches.

A close up or light yellow egg salad on top of two large rectangular crackers. It's been liberally dusted with red smoked paprika, and topped with brown fried shallots. If you look closely you can spot pink bits, which are diced and pickled shallots. There's a tiny red tomato out of focus in the back. — The Double Shallot Egg Salad from *Smitten Kitchen Keepers*, shown here with a lot of smoked paprika.

Crispy Rice and Egg Bowl with Ginger-Scallion Vinaigrette

July 7, 2023June 19, 2023 by akc

I made the Crispy Rice and Egg Bowl with Ginger-Scallion Vinaigrette on a night when I only had to feed myself. It’s one of those dinners that comes together very easily, and is flexible in that you can just use whatever veggies you have or like. I used carrots and snap peas, as there were some at the farmer’s market that looked good.

Per Deb’s suggestion I made brown rice. I should have paid a little more attention because our brown rice is long grain, and she calls for short grain, which has more starch. This meant that when I crisped it up, it didn’t stick together. It just sort of all got a little dried out, which wasn’t the greatest texture. So make sure you use short grain rice, as that will stick together better and you’ll have rice that is crispy in some spots and soft in others.

I used sherry vinegar for the ginger-scallion vinaigrette, but next time I’ll try rice wine vinegar, as sometimes the sherry felt a little overpowering. I also made a note to scale back the oil in the vinaigrette by about a quarter, as it seemed a little oily to me.

I thought the crispy egg worked really well here. The creaminess from the yolk adds a nice contrast, and the ginger-scallion sauce is really good with the egg. I topped my bowl with a little bit of toasted sesame oil, toasted sesame seeds, and some gochugaru. Despite the weird texture of the rice it was still a pretty good dinner.

I had this again the next day but didn’t crisp the rice, I just warmed it up in the microwave. That was good, so if you only have long-grain rice I’d skip the crisping.

Overall this was a good, if light meal. But that makes it a great entry into the lunch rotation since it leaves room for an afternoon snack break! Plus it would be really easy to do the prep on the weekend, and then lunch would come together in just a smidge more time than it takes to fry an egg.