Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Eggnog + Chocolate Variation



I once believed that eggnog had to be one of two varieties: either the sickeningly sweet, slightly bubblegum flavored concoction that lives safely on grocery shelves for the entire duration of the holiday season or the nostalgic salmonella slurry made at home with raw eggs and an entire dairy herd’s worth of cream. Granted, I happily drank the store bought variety for many years, but I began to wonder if there was something better out there.

Disclaimer: this eggnog is much more attractive in real life. Perhaps my new year’s goal will be to learn how to photograph beverages…during the darkest part of the year…

Monday, December 11, 2017

Orange-Scented Brownies

I’m a sucker for orange and chocolate together, from the chocolate oranges my mom would put in the toe of our stockings every year to the Barefoot Contessa’s orange chocolate chunk cake to the chocolate covered “orange sticks” you see everywhere around the holidays. It was really only a matter of time before these brownies happened.

Monday, December 4, 2017

Garlic and Dijon Brussels Sprouts

These sprouts and I go way back. In fact, they were my very first post on Em Hungry 1.0 more than 5 years ago, and they were the second most viewed recipe on the site! (Due to one loyal reader and cook, haha. Moms are the best.) At any rate, I figured it was time to share them here, and with pictures this time.

Thursday, November 2, 2017

Honey Oat Quick Bread



Several weeks ago, I promised you this quick bread recipe, and now seems like the perfect time to share it. The hubbub of Halloween is over, and the thralls of Thanksgiving have yet to begin. My mind is turning from sugary treats to wholesome, tasty food that takes little effort. And speaking in terms of effort, I view this recipe as the cozy pajamas of the bread world: it’s very easy and very forgiving.

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Lentil Stew with Sausage



(For stove or Instant Pot!) There are very few foods that I find as simultaneously delicious, wholesome, and satisfying as beans and lentils. When my husband and I were dating, he was starting to cook for himself more, but he expressed frustration at the difficulty of finding good recipes. My mind quickly jumped to this lentil stew, which I have been making and enjoying for years, so I shared the recipe with him. When he later told me that it was his new favorite food, I knew we had a shining future of culinary compatibility ahead of us.

Thursday, October 5, 2017

Malaysian-Style Tandoori Chicken



My travel ambitions have always been largely based on where I would most like to eat. So of course, stereotypical gastronomic destinations such as Italy and Paris have topped my list for many years. Recently, another country has been racing its way up that list, due in part to the fact that I am married to someone who frequently raves about both Malaysian cuisine and culture (having spent more than two years there) and also in part to a wonderful Malaysian cookbook I found that I cannot get enough of (and which you will certainly be seeing more of).

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Chocolate Cheesecake Frosting & Graham Cracker Cupcakes



After performing the requisite field research, I have aptly concluded that I am a cupcake noob.
Case Study #1: Your standard cupcake tin contains twelve cups, but I had enough batter for thirteen cupcakes. “Wonderful!” I thought to myself, “I’ll just put the extra batter in a doubled cupcake paper and let it bake on the rack next to the others.” Fast-forward ten minutes: I peek in the oven, and the unfortunate thirteenth cupcake has shimmied its way between the wires of the rack to fall directly onto the heating element below. Smoke is beginning to issue from the oven, and I grab a pair of tongs to attempt a rescue mission, all the while hoping our smoke alarm doesn’t go off and having Neal A. Maxwell’s words of “too many anxious openings of the oven door, and the cake falls instead of rising” cycle vaguely through my mind in reference to all of the other cupcakes.

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Creamy Carrot Soup

Other than perhaps my family’s chocolate chip cookies, this is the recipe that I have made the very most in my life. This is one of my favorite soups. And yet, I have struggled to find the words to present it to you properly. This soup is kind of like a favorite T-shirt – a little old-fashioned, maybe, but super comforting and reliable. It’s the soup I go to the most, and unlike my favorite T-shirt, it will never wear out.

Thursday, September 7, 2017

Pulla Bread

I have never been to Finland, but my hope is that each morning, every schoolchild is wrapped in handmade woolen clothing and sent with a steaming loaf of pulla before returning home to relax in the sauna all afternoon. If you know otherwise, please don’t spoil my dream.

Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Big News

Em Hungry has moved. I have a real website now – with a domain name and a logo and an aesthetically pleasing appearance. I hope you like it. I’ve been bursting to tell you about it. This clip sums up my emotions pretty well.

I have no intention of taking this blog down, but all future posts will be at the new site.  Oh, and did I mention that it includes buttons for Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest? Yes, my friends, I have finally begun to catch up with the 21st century.


So without further ado, say hello to emhungry.com!


Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Salsa


 Happy (Re-) Birthday to my blog! Em Hungry is a real website now with a registered domain name and everything, and it feels great! After 5 years of using blogger, which served me quite well, I decided to remodel and turn my hobby into a real site. I’m in the mood to celebrate, so I brought chips and salsa.

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Vanilla Frozen Yogurt


I have this weird habit of doing more than normal amounts of cooking before big life events. The night before I took the SAT for the first time, I was not studying, taking a practice test, or even goofing off with friends. Nope, not me! I was making broccoli soup and chive biscuits. First finals week in college? Stuffed mushrooms and cheesecake-swirled brownies. Month leading up to my wedding? Oh my. Anyway, I think cooking may just be something of a stress response for me. But if cooking tends to cause more stress for you than it relieves, this frozen yogurt is the perfect recipe to have in your repertoire. It takes all of 3 ingredients and 3 minutes to prepare, and yet it is perfectly sweet and tangy and sophisticated all at once. Also, these pictures were taken three days prior to my nuptials, in case you were wondering.

Homemade frozen yogurt is a far cry from the stuff out of a yogurt shop. I’ve never had anything against yogurt shops, but now that I know I can get what tastes like superb, mildly tart cheesecake in soft, frozen form with little more effort than preparing a bowl of cereal, I will never feel the same about by-the-weight dispensed yogurt again.

This recipe is from David Lebovitz’s wonderful book, “The Perfect Scoop.” It does require an ice cream maker, but you can find fairly inexpensive models these days if it’s worth it to you. And oh, it is so worth it. I particularly like this maker because it doesn’t take up loads of space, it’s easy to clean, and I can control exactly how fast or slow I want to churn the ice cream.*

Fun Fact: The amount of air whipped into ice cream is called the overrun. Cheaper ice creams at the store typically have more overrun, or more air whipped into them, which is why they have a light and foamy texture (and also cost less). The more expensive brands, such as Haagen-Dazs, typically have less overrun, which is why their mouthfeel is so much creamier. *This is also why I like to be able to control how much air is whipped into my ice cream at home.



Vanilla Frozen Yogurt

From “The Perfect Scoop” by David Lebovitz

3 cups whole milk plain yogurt**
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Stir all ingredients together until the sugar has dissolved, cover, and chill in the refrigerator for an hour or longer. Pour into ice cream maker, and freeze according to the instructions for your machine. This yogurt is particularly good topped with fresh fruit or berries sprinkled with sugar.


** Or, since grocery stores sell yogurt in quarts, you could just increase everything here by 1/3…I’m sure no one would mind.

Monday, June 26, 2017

In Which an Alaskan Pollock and a Bangladeshi Chapati Travel Together to Latin America and Have a Marvelous Time



I admit I don’t know what to call these. In my mind, they’re Indian fish tacos, being neither authentically Indian nor authentically tacos. So, maybe they’re “Indian” Fish “Tacos” (not Indian “Fish” Tacos) or maybe they’re just Hipster Fish Sandwiches. Whatever. At any rate, please eat them because they are delicious, and then maybe you can tell me what their proper name is.


This dish came about because of a “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade” scenario. Just replace the word lemons with “disgustingly under-ripe papaya” and the word lemonade with “chutney!” and you’ll have a good idea of what happened. So with a large quantity of delicious chutney hanging out in my fridge, I began scheming about putting it on top of a nice mild fish. I was also in the mood for fish tacos. Taking the flavors from the chutney as my cue, I decided to add a twist and use whole wheat chapatis instead of tortillas. I finished my “tacos” off with a toasted cumin and lime slaw, bringing some earthy crunch to balance the sweetened papaya. I hope you enjoy these as much as I do.






Anglo-Indian-Inspired Fish Flatbread Sandwiches of Appalling Inauthenticity

Fish
Three 4-oz. frozen tilapia or Pollock filets
butter, to taste
paprika, to taste
salt, to taste
lime or lemon juice, to taste

Bake fish on an oiled baking tray for the length of time specified on the package, or until the fish reaches 145 degrees Fahrenheit internally. Remove fish from oven, and immediately place a small pat of butter on each filet, moving it around to melt. Sprinkle with paprika, salt, and citrus juice to taste.

Toasted Cumin Slaw
½ teaspoon whole cumin seeds
1½ cups shredded green cabbage
2 Tablespoons mayonnaise
1½ - 2 Tablespoons lime or lemon juice
salt to taste

Toast cumin seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat, tossing occasionally, until golden brown and fragrant. Combine all ingredients, adding more cabbage if too wet or more mayonnaise if too dry. Chill until ready to use.

Chapatis (adapted from Hot Bread Kitchen)
1 cup minus 1 Tablespoon water
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons whole wheat flour

Bring the water and salt to boil in a pot with a well-fitting lid. Once fully boiling, add all the flour, and mix thoroughly with a spoon, wooden or otherwise, to incorporate. Place the lid on the saucepan, and let sit for about 2 minutes so the flour can hydrate.

Place the hydrated dough into a mixing bowl/Kitchen Aid (or continue right in the pot), and mix with dough hook or other utensil until the dough is stiff and resembles cookie dough. (The original recipe states some number of minutes for this, but I find that mine reaches this point almost instantly, and thus I never mix for very long.)

Remove dough from pot, and place on a lightly floured work surface. Knead carefully – it’s hot! – until dough comes together in a smooth ball. Roll the dough out into a log, and divide into six equal portions. Roll each portion into a ball, and flatten slightly.

Place a dry skillet – cast iron works great here, but nonstick works too – over medium heat. With a floured rolling pin, roll each dough disk into a chapati circle about 6 inches in diameter. Cook chapatis one at a time: let cook 15 seconds on the first side, and then flip and cook 45 seconds on the other side. Flip once more, and let cook an additional 30-60 seconds until golden. On this flip, the chapati may puff up like a balloon, filling with steam. If the chapatis are browning too quickly or slowly, adjust the heat accordingly.

A proudly puffed chapati
 Chutney (at least ¾ cup)
You could make papaya chutney from this site* OR you could just buy a nice chutney from the store.

*I used this recipe, heavily adapted. I didn’t have fresh ginger, so I used between ¼ - ½ teaspoon ground ginger. I also substituted ground spices for whole (pinch of black pepper and 1/8 teaspoon or so of ground cardamom, more of both to taste. Finally, I used a bit less vinegar than stated (try ¾ the amount first). And I didn’t wait a month to eat it. I ate it immediately. That’s how I roll.


Makes enough for about 6 tacos.