cottage cheese vodka sauce
+ crispy salt & pepper scallions, new cookbooks, and miscellany this month
Can it really be almost summer? Here is a snapshot of our May.
food
I still have never downloaded TikTok, but the viral TikTok food trends that have made their way to my old-fashioned social media, and which I have ventured to try, have not been bad at all. This month, we made cottage cheese vodka sauce, and while it certainly won’t fool you into thinking you’re having regular vodka sauce, I found it a very nice way to serve up kid-friendly pasta with a good deal more protein than usual. The kids loved it. I’m thinking we should try it with ricotta instead, next time.
B2 and I went on our first date in years this month. Hooray! It’d been a long time mostly because of COVID and the circus of having three. We kept looking for the stroller on reflex (and spent most of the night talking about the kids anyway), but it was incredibly lovely to have a night just for us. We went to Perle and it was delicious. Our favorites were the steak tartare and the duck liver mousse.
I recently discovered—while making Hetty McKinnon’s salt and pepper tofu, a perennial favorite—how transcendental crispy fried scallions are all on their own, especially with a little sprinkle of MSG, which I’ve been slowly incorporating here and there. (Hello, timely post from Carla Lalli Music! And one from the Atlantic.) We’ve taken to roasting scallions lately with the same seasoning, and having it as a side or even just a snack. Of course, there’s no match for frying, but roasting is nearly as addictive. Either way, it’s far more complex and deeply savory than you’d guess from the short ingredient list. I’d like to try it with leeks.
SALT & PEPPER ROASTED SCALLIONS
1 bunch scallions, sliced lengthwise 1-2 teaspoons vegetable oil for the salt & pepper seasoning: 1 teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal) ¼ teaspoon granulated sugar ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper ¼ teaspoon five spice powder ⅛ teaspoon ground ginger ⅛ teaspoon MSG (I have Ajinomoto brand, available at most Japanese supermarkets)
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Toss the scallions in vegetable oil until evenly coated. In a small bowl, mix together the ingredients for the seasoning. Sprinkle the seasoning over the scallions (I used only about a third of the seasoning—you will not need it all) and toss until well-combined. You can use the remaining seasoning in fried rice, over scrambled eggs, or over fried tofu as in Hetty’s original recipe.
Spread in a single layer and roast at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes. If you like, you can flip them about halfway through.
When nicely browned, remove from oven and enjoy, as a side or just plain.
miscellany
Two lovely cookbooks are out this month—it’s rare that there’s a cookbook where I want to make every single recipe, but both of these fit that bill. First, Sarah Kieffer has come out with 100 Morning Treats. Sarah’s recipes are always thoughtful and always reliable—you know they will work—they’ve won bakeoffs aplenty, and this one in particular reminds me why breakfast is the best meal of the day. I am certain that one of the pillowy, dreamy roll recipes is going to be our next holiday breakfast.
Speaking of Hetty, she has released her latest masterpiece, Tenderheart. As you can see from this post, I mention Hetty all the time, and I have a feeling that’s not going to change any time soon, because this new book is tremendous. It’s satisfyingly hefty—180 recipes!—and every recipe is vegetable-forward, delicious but also nourishing to the body and soul. On this last day of AANHPI Heritage Month, I must note how much I appreciate that Hetty’s recipes are gently but ever-presently influenced by her family and background, not in a way that is forced, but which is guided by the food. Her books are always full of heart, but never more than this one.
Finally, we have been deep into Tears of the Kingdom this month. My brother and I grew up playing Zelda together, and after I met Andy, it was something all three of us shared in common. It turns out that Nintendo set the release date for Tears of the Kingdom for May 12, two years to the day after my brother passed. Even without that knowledge, I had been dreading this game—it feels unfair that the things my brother loved should continue when he’s not here to enjoy them—and my first reaction was to be upset when B2 first told me about the release date. But slowly I’ve come to find some comfort in it. It feels like he’s saying hello—in truth, the coincidence almost feels like one of his pranks. I’m taking solace in the idea that the uncanniness means he is still here with us, in his own way.
So, we are playing it. I mostly run around and hoard mushrooms and cook things. B2 does all the real work. (Life imitates art.)
Ooh this scallion dish sounds like those roasted giant scallions eaten in the countryside of Spain or somewhere (saw it on a travel show). Also sounds like a great way to quickly use up extra scallions to make sure the rest of the bunch doesn’t die a slimy death after I use the 1-2 scallions that my whatever recipe calls for 😂 I often omit herbs and scallions from a dish because they are so ephemeral and are usually sold in bundles too big to use up in one application. Thanks!
Thank you for your kind words! And so many ideas here. I’ll be trying that cottage cheese pasta for sure. Plus salt and pepper Scallions is genius. Thank you for sharing.