Wasabi Coleslaw

Summer is finally here! I spent the past week in beautiful, sunny California, but I secretly couldn't wait to get back to my kitchen in beautiful, sunny Chicago. It's not often you hear the phrase "beautiful, sunny Chicago" but it really is now! And what's even better, Memorial Day is coming up on Monday, and we get a 3-day weekend of eating, drinking and relaxing in beautiful, sunny Chicago (I have to keep saying it to believe it). 

If you're going to a Memorial Day cookout this weekend and you want to bring a side dish, may I just recommend this coleslaw? It's quick and easy to make, it can be made ahead of time, and it has a surprising and fresh wasabi kick to it. It's not drenched it sauce, and it's actually tasty and fresh. It's just the right side dish to kick off summer!

Ingredients:

1lb cabbage

1lb carrots

1/2 large red onion

3 green onions

Dressing:

1 tbsp sugar

3/4 tsp salt

2 tsp Dijon mustard

4 tbsp milk

6 tbsp wasabi mayonnaise

juice from half a lemon

2 tsp dried parsley

Directions:

Shred the cabbage and carrots in thin slices. I did the unthinkable and used pre-shredded cabbage and carrots. Oops. Slice up the green onions into bite-size bits and slice the red onion into half-moons. Toss everything together in a very large bowl.

To make the dressing, take out a medium-sized bowl. Add sugar, salt, mustard, parsley, milk and wasabi mayonnaise. (I bought mine from Trader Joe's, but you can replace it with 5 tbsp of mayo and 1 tbsp wasabi paste). Whisk everything together until it's mixed well. Squeeze juice from half a lemon and whisk again. You should have a slightly thick sauce that coats your whisk. You can adjust the consistency to how you like it by either adding more milk or more mayo, but I find this is the right ratio. 

Pour the dressing into the coleslaw and mix everything together well, so that all the coleslaw is coated in the dressing. You can serve it right away, but it's better to let it sit in the fridge for about an hour, so everything softens up a bit. Serve cold with barbecue, burgers or some grilled chicken. And a beer. 

Serves about 6-8 people

Recipe adapted from Kayotic Kitchen

Coconut Macaroons

Wah wah.. I had a flourless chocolate cake planned for you today, but it turned out to be more of a Sad Souffle, so no Chocolate Thursday (wouldn't it be great if that was a thing?!) this week. I'm going on vacation to California in a couple of days, so I wanted to leave you with a sweet treat while I'm gone. I've made these coconut macaroons several times already, and they're such a fun treat for anyone who likes coconut, which is to say, if you don't like coconut, these aren't your thing. But if you do like coconut, these macaroons are a quick afternoon indulgence, just the right thing to go with that second (third? fourth?) cup of coffee.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk

1 egg white

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 tsp salt

3 1/2 cups of flaked coconut

10 oz semisweet chocolate

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, stir together the condensed milk, egg white, vanilla extract and salt until everything is well combined. Stir in the coconut until it's all well blended.

Using a tablespoon, drop little haystacks of dough on the cookie sheets. You can make these macaroons as big or small as you like, but I usually do about a tablespoon-worth of dough for each macaroon. Using your fingertips, shape the coconut macaroons into pyramid shapes, just like in the photo. You may have to frequently moisten your hands with water to prevent sticking; it'll also make the dough shaping easier. 

Bake the macaroons for about 15-20 minuts, until golden brown. Let them cool at room temperature for about 30 minutes, just until they're set. 

Melt 10oz of semisweet chocolate. Holding the macaroon by the pointy end, dip the bottom in the melted chocolate and then set aside back on the parchment paper. Do this with all the macaroons and try not to snack on too many of them; keep some for the guests! :)

Makes ~30 macaroons

Homemade Chili Garlic Sauce

Oh yeah... now we're getting spicy! If sriracha isn't spicy enough anymore and you're looking for something with a bit more flavor, welcome to this blog post! This Chili Garlic Sauce is the homemade version of the stuff you find in the Asian section of grocery stores, but with less preservatives and more garlic! It's also really easy to make, lasts in the fridge for months, and has no harmful preservatives; I'll take this one any day over the store-bought version and I hope you'll enjoy it just as much as I do. Wondering how to use it in your cooking? Just add it to stews, on top of fried eggs and even in pasta sauce.

Ingredients:

2 oz dried deArbol chile peppers 

4 cloves garlic

1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger

1 tbsp white vinegar

1/2 tsp powdered sugar

1 cup of water

Directions:

You can start with any chiles you like (and therefore control the heat of the sauce), but I like to use deArbol chiles. I found dried ones at Treasure Island, although you could also use fresh Chinese red chiles at Asian markets. 

Peel the garlic cloves and the piece of fresh ginger. Add all the ingredients to a food processor and grind until you have a redhot sauce and all the ingredients are chopped up finely. Add the chili sauce to a small saucepan and simmer for about 10 minutes, until everything softens up and the sauce thickens a bit. 

Allow to cool and store in the fridge. 

Banana Walnut Bread

Banana bread is nothing to write home about, but this one is the exception. Banana bread tends to be pretty bland, but this loaf has 6 (six!) bananas in it; we're browning butter, which is basically the best baking trick ever; we're adding a ton of walnuts; this is going to be flavorful, moist and nutty. It's so fantastic and delicious and my new default quickbread that I just had to share it. Go ahead, make it a day ahead of time and serve it for brunch this weekend. I promise you'll love it!

Ingredients:

6 large bananas (about 2 lbs)

8 tbsp unsalted butter

8 3/4 oz all purpose flour (1 3/4 cups)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 large eggs

5 1/4 oz brown sugar (3/4 cups)

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup walnuts

1 tbsp granulated sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Peel 5 of the bananas and put them in a large glass bowl. Microwave them for about 5 minutes, until they get soft, mushy and release some liquid. Discard the banana liquid at the bottom of the bowl and mash the bananas. They should have the consistency of mashed potatoes and still be quite moist, but not too wet. Set aside.

In a large pan over medium heat, melt the stick of butter. Now, this next part is tricky. As soon as the butter melts completely, it will start splattering because the water is evaporating. Keep watching it closely, don't go away from the stove not even for one minute! As soon as it stops splattering (after maybe 3-4 minutes), it will slowly start browning. Keep watching it, because the difference between browned butter and burnt butter is a matter of seconds! Just let the butter brown in the pan for about a minute or two, until it turns into a deep amber color. Immediately remove from heat and set aside! The butter should be a light brown color (not black and burnt) and should smell almost like caramel. 

Add the browned butter to the mashed bananas and whisk in the brown sugar, eggs and vanilla. Set aside. This is your wet ingredient mix. 

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the flour, baking soda and salt. Whisk together. As with all baking, I strongly suggest you use a kitchen scale and measure your ingredients by weight. It's the best way to ensure you have the right ratio of wet to dry ingredients and the perfect moisture level every time you bake. 

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk with a stand mixer. You can, of course, do this by hand also. Fold in the walnuts. Scrape the batter into an 8x4 inch loaf pan. 

Peel and slice the 6th banana. Shingle the banana slices on top of the batter in 2 rows down the middle. Sprinkle the top of the batter with a tablespoon of granulated sugar. Bake the loaf for about 55-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean. If you're baking this in a 9x5 inch pan you may need to reduce the baking time by about 5 minutes. Allow to cool for about an hour before serving. 

As the loaf is cooking, it's rising and pushing aside your 2 rows of sliced bananas. In the picture above, you can see right at the edges of the loaf that there's a few slices of bananas. The granulated sugar should also caramelize and create a crunchy, sweet topping. 

The banana bread should keep at room temperature for a few days, just make sure you wrap it tightly to keep it moist.

Makes 8x4 inch loaf
Recipe from The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook

Spicy Three Bean Chili

It's been so dreary this past week -- all the thunderstorms and chilly weather -- that I was really in the mood for a hot, hearty dinner. Something spicy, home-y, but healthy too: bean chili of course. Now I know that some of you in some parts of the country are screaming "beans in the chili?!" or even worse "tomatoes in the chili?!" and probably "no meat in the chili?!", but it's not that weird anymore to see bean chili, right? If we get past the semantics, I promise you will find here a good bowl of beans that will warm you to the core, literally and metaphorically. This is my new favorite way of making chili, especially now that I'm eating spicier and spicier food. If you like milder food, start with half the chile peppers, but don't leave them out completely: they add a smoky, deep flavor which is essential for a good bowl of chili.

Ingredients:

1 (100g) can of chile peppers in adobo sauce

3 tbsp corn meal

2 tsp oregano

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp cocoa

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1 large red onion

5 garlic cloves

28 oz can of diced tomatoes

4 cups of vegetable broth

3 (15.5 oz) cans of beans: black beans, red kidney beans and pinto beans (recommended)

cheddar cheese

sour cream

fresh cilantro

lime

Directions:

Chile paste: To the bowl of a food processor add the chile peppers, corn meal, oregano, cumin, cocoa, salt and paprika. Puree all the ingredients into a paste and set aside. You can also do this by hand in a bowl, just dice up the chile peppers with a knife. 

Finely chop the onion and garlic cloves. Wash the beans until they are clean of that canning goo. 

Heat a large pot over medium heat and add a little bit of oil. Sautee the onions for about 2 minutes, until they get translucent and start browning a little bit. Add the diced garlic cloves and sautee for another minute. Add your chile paste and keep stirring for about 2-3 minutes, until the whole mixture warms up and gets really fragrant. Be careful not to burn it! Add the diced tomatoes and vegetable broth and bring everything to a boil. As soon as it starts boiling, add the beans (I recommend black beans, red kidney beans and pinto beans, but of course you can choose your favorites) and turn down the heat to low. Simmer the chili for about 30 minutes, until the liquid reduces to a consistency you like. Keep in mind that the cornmeal thickens the chili as it starts simmering. 

Serve hot. Top with shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, fresh cilantro and lime juice. 

Serves 6-8

Recipe inspired by Cook's Illustrated