june noms
ah yes, the time of the month i like to talk about food is here.
june has been so inspirational to me in terms of cooking. perhaps it’s all the fresh produce available… or the retrograde in mercury… or the warm weather! whatever the reason, i’ve finally had a healthy dose of inspiration to make a bunch of fun recipes. all of them were alex tested and approved, and he put up with all this food photography. what a guy.
mushroom & caramelized onion risotto: a healthy favorite of mine made with the two vegetables alex formerly disliked. i used no butter and only a tiny amount of milk to make this, using a small box of fresh crimini mushrooms. it would be delicious using whatever your favorite mushrooms are, though. i took inspiration from both oh she glows and the kitchn for this one, loosely following both recipes.
i’ve been on a major sweet potato kick over the past few months because these healthy taters have only recently been available at the supermarket… so i grabbed two or three! last month i made fries, and this month i tried out a recipe that natayle posted about: sweet potato nachos! they were delicious (served with no cheese but a dollop of plain yogurt).
however, it was a mistake to serve them for dinner. (however with all the time it took to cut the potatoes with my piece-of-crap borrowed knives, it was gonna be dinner, naw mean?) they’d be best served as hors d’oerves or a side, in my opinion. and since i’m much too impatient, i crowded the sweet potato rounds during the baking process, which is generally a big no-no. the rounds won’t become crispy unless given ample room, so they shouldn’t touch each other on the baking tray. sigh. one day i will be patient enough to make crispy tater rounds.
this jap chae, a traditional korean noodle dish, was the big winner of the month. as in, i had no idea i was capable of making something that tasted this awesome and restaurant-worthy. (alright, i had some idea… if nothing else, i can make asian noodles) i followed the recipe to an absolute t, and in doing so everything tasted just right. most importantly, cooking each item separately certainly brings out its best possible flavor. i will be making this again, and again…
recently i’ve invested in an 800g bag of frozen wild prawns. it cost $15 (CZ prices), but i could not have been more pleased about this purchase. i’ve typically felt seafood deprived living in czechland and have always strayed from buying the expensive bags of prawns, but you know what? i’ve earned it! and having ready-to-go lean frozen protein stored away has made so much difference in my cooking. especially in quick meals like a simple vegetable/noodle stir-fry.
and it was delicious when i whipped out these vietnamese shrimp spring rolls for what’s now known as that one week that it was really hot. spring rolls are a fantastic hot weather dinner. light, fresh, raw (mostly), and the only cooking you have to do is five minutes to cook the rice vermicelli and prawns (together, to save time). then in a small dish, i mix up the following ingredients: peanut butter, soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, rice vinegar to taste, to make a fabulous peanut dipping sauce. don’t go without peanut sauce, people!
don’t know how to make the rolls? on a sheet of rice wrap-paper briefly dunked in hot water to soften, place in this order: shrimp, large leaf of lettuce, thin rice vermicelli noodles, sticks of your favorite raw vegetables, herbs like mint and basil, & a sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds. wrap it like a burrito, but make sure all the goods are near the edge of one of the wraps. (that way if it tears, which it will, it will get wrapped over a second time)
this weekend’s been ultra busy: preparing for two consecutive trips & getting ready to depart in a few days (SLOVENIA awaits!), plus finishing up some end of school year things. but of course, there was time for our annual summer solstice/end of school year fried chicken picnic. yep, this is our one time of year to eat KFC, mashed taters and gravy, and coleslaw to our heart’s content and not feel even a little bad about it. (apparently they pronounce it ken-too-key here, so i gave myself away almost immediately while ordering) and happily, all that stuff tastes the same, no matter where in the world you are.
HAPPY SUMMER, my friends.
