Recipes you should know volume 6
All the recipes from the past month that didn't make it to my newsletter
Hi, friends. Welcome back to my monthly newsletter chock full of all the recipes I shared on Instagram that didn’t make it to the newsletter. This month was full of the best of spring, with a springy salmon caesar that so many have already made and loved; a canned cinnamon roll upgrade featuring one of my forever favorite flavor combos, lemon and blueberry; a Niçoise-inspired bean salad that is perfect for meal prep; and more. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.
Springy Salmon Caesar
Caesar salad? For spring? Groundbreaking. But actually, this one kinda is!! Not a traditional Caesar salad by any means, it’s loaded with sugar snap peas, radishes, and cucumber, dressed in a basil tahini Caesar dressing (truly one of my best concoctions ever — double it, because you’ll wanna put it on everything), and topped with a blackened salmon filet. Everything you want in a salad and more.
Serves: 2
Ready in: 30-ish minutes
For the croutons:
1/2 a baguette
1/4 cup-ish olive oil
Salt
Tear the baguette into bite-sized chunks. Place on a baking sheet and toss with olive oil and salt. You want enough olive oil to pretty much fully coat the bread pieces, but not enough to drench them. Bake at 425 for 4-7 minutes, tossing after a few minutes, until golden brown all around. It’s best to use day-old bread for this and I personally prefer a good, chewy, crusty sourdough baguette because I think it makes the best textured crouts!
For the salad:
About 2 cups of sugar snap peas, thinly sliced on the diagonal
3 large radishes, thinly sliced
2 persian cucumbers, thinly sliced
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
About 8 cups lettuce (I used a combo of butter and little gem)
1/3 cup pistachios
For the salmon:
2 salmon fillets (about 3/4-1lb total)
Olive oil or melted butter
Cajun seasoning
Coat the salmon fillets in olive oil or melted butter, then generously sprinkle on your seasoning. Heat a heavy-bottomed stainless steel or cast iron skillet over medium high heat for a few minutes until it’s nice and hot. Add some more olive oil or butter and heat for a minute, then add your salmon. Cook for about 5 minutes on each side until the spices have darkened.
Dressing:
1 cup basil
1/2 cup tahini
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
3 tbps lemon juice
3 + anchovies or 1+ tbsp anchovy paste
1 garlic clove
lots of black pepper
salt
Water to thin
First, blanch your basil. Add to a pot of boiling water for 1 minute and then remove and put in ice cold water. This will make it easier to blend so you have a beautiful green sauce, and will keep your sauce from turning brown. Add this along with the rest of the ingredient to a blender. I start with 1/3 cup water and work my way up from there depending on how thin I want the dressing to be. Blend and pour over salad.
Spicy Citrus Marinated Olives
As you may already know by now, I love olives. And these spicy marinated ones with blood orange, lemon, and calabrian chilis are one of my favorite little upgrades to elevate a humble olive if I’m making a snack plate/charcuterie board/the like. Measure with your heart for the most part — trust me, you can’t go wrong
Serves: 4-ish as part of a snack board, 1-2 if you’re just snacking on some olives
Ready in: About 5 minutes
Ingredients:
1 cup olives
Zest and juice of 1/2 blood orange
Zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 peeled blood orange, cut into small bite-sized segments
1 tsp Calabrian chilis
Black pepper
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Mix all ingredients together. Serve at room temperature. An ideal pairing is with feta cheese, cucumbers, hummus, and some bread or crackers.
Three-Bean Niçoise Salad
I love a classic Niçoise salad, especially in the summertime. This version ditches the potatoes in favor of canned beans, and eschews the typical presentation style of separating all the ingredients in favor or mixing everything together. It’s a super filling, super nourishing salad that is great for meal prep (it keeps for 3-4 days in the fridge) or for a light warmer weather meal.
Serves: 5-6
Ready in: 15 minutes
For the salad:
2 heaping cups green beans
1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
3 large radishes, thinly sliced and each slice cut into quarters
2 cups halved cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup each chopped dill and parsley
3 hard boiled eggs, chopped
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
1 heaping cup olives, roughly chopped (I use Castelvetrano and Kalamata here)
2 cans tuna
2 tbsp capers
To blanch green beans, add to a pot of boiling salted water and cook for 2 minutes. Remove and immediately put in a bowl of ice water for a few minutes. Drain and let dry.
Add all your ingredients to a large bowl. Toss with dressing, salt, and lots of fresh cracked black pepper.
For the dressing:
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 garlic clove, grated
1 tsp honey (or more if you want it a lil sweeter!)
Add to a jar and shake to combine
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Lemon Blueberry Upgraded Canned Cinnamon Rolls
I am not a baker, but I am a zhuzher. So while you won’t find me baking cinnamon rolls from scratch, you will definitely find me zhuzhing up a can of cinnamon rolls with some yummy extras. In this case, lemon juice and zest, along with a fresh blueberry compote. Is it healthy? Absolutely not. But is it delicious? Yes, yes, yes. And perfect for Mother’s Day/Father’s Day.
1 can canned cinnamon rolls
1/2 cup cream
1 stick butter
1 tbsp lemon juice + zest of 1 lemon
2 tbsp sugar (better with brown sugar but I was out)
Place your cinnamon rolls in an oven-safe pan. Pour cream around the rolls (you wanna cover the pan). In a separate bowl, melt butter then whisk in sugar, lemon zest and juice, and a sprinkle of salt. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for about 40-45 minutes, until nice and golden brown. Top with the icing that was included in your package and blueberry sauce.
For the blueberry sauce:
1 pint blueberries
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp maple syrup
Sprinkle of salt
Add all ingredients to a pan over medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until blueberries are nice and soft and starting to burst.
Pizza Carrots
This is a recipe from last summer that I reshared because it just felt so perfect for spring and Easter. Roasted carrots over creamy burrata topped with a warm, pizza-inspired oil that’s spiked with fennel seeds, olives, red pepper flakes, and more. Feels like one of those appetizers I’d get at a fancy-shmancy pizza joint and gladly pay $24 for. It was originally a recipe only for paid subscribers, but somewhere along the way I unlocked it for a week and forgot to set it back to paid again, so now it’s available to all subscribers, all the time.
Cara Cara Orange Margarita
Randomly made this marg and very glad I jotted down the measurements because it is simply the best margarita I’ve ever made at home. The fresh orange juice just takes it to the next level! Very fresh, light, not too sweet, and drinkable — beware. (Also, feel free to sub in regular ol’ navel orange juice for cara cara, but I think the fresh OJ really makes a difference!)
Serves: 1
Ready in: 5 minutes
Ingredients:
2.5 oz tequila
1 oz lime juice
.75 oz cara cara orange juice
.25 oz agave
Mexican-Inspired Chicken Soup
After traveling to Oaxaca City for my brother’s wedding in mid-April, I was craving all things Mexican (does this happen to anyone else after they travel??). The weather was super gloomy and chilly here in LA, so naturally chicken soup seemed like the right call. I originally planned to add the enchilada sauce into the soup to flavor it, but ended up serving it on the side so everyone could customize their bowl to their own personal spice and flavor preferences.
Serves: About 6
Ready in: 45-ish minutes
Olive oil or neutral cooking oil to cook
1 onion, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
1.5 lbs chicken breasts or thighs
Chili powder, cumin, paprika, oregano
2 bell peppers, chopped
2 zucchinis, chopped
3/4 cup rice
Salsa, cilantro, chopped onions, sliced jalapeño, avocado, limes, and shredded cheese to serve
In a large heavy-bottomed pot (I used a dutch oven), heat enough oil to generously coat the bottom of the pot. Add in your onions, season with salt, and cook until soft and translucent, about five minutes. Add in garlic and cook until very fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Add in your chicken breast and fill the pot with water (you want about 8-10 cups, at least). Season generously with salt, chili powder, cumin, paprika, and oregano. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook until the chicken is fully cooked-through, about 20 minutes.
Remove the chicken, shred, and add it back in, along with chopped bell peppers, zucchini, and rice. Taste the broth and adjust seasoning. Cook until rice is cooked through, about 15 minutes depending on what type of rice you’re using.
Serve with topping and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.