Hello and welcome back to Five Things I Ate! This week, we crack bones with our teeth and also bake a lot of cookeis. Check out past posts here, and please follow my Instagram @fivethingsiate. Also, I made a TikTok? Iāll probably delete it.
Bone marrow and daikon soup with radish greens at home
Wherever home is for you.
There is nothing, and I repeat, nothing that satisfies my extremely Chinese soul on a cold, dark evening than slurping down a bowl of murky, earthy beef bone soup with chunks of daikon so soft they practically melt on the spoon. There are cravings, and then there is the primal urge to suck all the marrow out of soup bones like a feral cat that has dragged a rotisserie chicken carcass into the alleyway. Cravings are for a slice of chocolate cake, something that rings of āoh I shouldnāt have,ā for that uniquely human constructed oxymoron, the guilty pleasure. Cracking bones with my teeth isnāt a craving; it is simply something that makes me feel alive. I can only eat like this when I am alone, because, like most human beings, I have internalized a great sense of shame towards the things that remind me that I am an animal. I would share a recipe, but I donāt really have one -- once you obtain the beef bones (for the love of God please do not get these at Whole Foods, or do, but donāt tell me), cook them down with plenty of water, salt, ginger and garlic in an Instant Pot, add cubed daikon, pressure cook for longer, and finally stir in the fresh radish greens (if you got the daikon from a farmerās market). Or, call your mother and ask how to make this.
Corn cookie mix at Trader Joeās
Available at your local TJās.
I am the number one spokesperson for More Corn in Desserts Please. Sweet corn is a beautiful flavor for sweet things. It plays extremely well with both dairy (one of the best gelatos I have ever eaten was corn flavored) and flour (the Corn Cookie is frankly the only thing worth buying at Momofuku Milk Bar). For years, Iāve been meaning to replicate Momofukuās Corn Cookie recipe, but it requires speciality ingredients, which means that of course Iāve never gotten around to it. So, when I saw Corn Cookie mix for sale at Trader Joeās, I jumped at the opportunity. The oatmeal container-esque package yields a surprisingly large number of cookies (24 according to the box but I made more like 32) although you will need not one but TWO sticks of butter. Of course I only had one stick of butter, so I measured out half the container. The resulting cookies are really delicious. This is a humble cookie. Itās not ooey-gooey or shattery-crisp. It has the flavor of a cornbread in the shape of a sugar cookie, and itās perfect with a cup of hot tea (chrysanthemum goes especially well), and even better sandwiched with vanilla ice cream.
Mediterranean salad at Balthazar (the bakery portion)
80 Spring St, New York, NY 10012
I am not a salad girl -- I believe that to properly treat greens, you must keep them warm -- but occasionally Iāll eat a salad that feels like itās really lived up to its full potential. The Mediterranean salad at Balthazar is it. I preface this by saying that Iāve never actually eaten at Balthazar, a somehow always-trendy French bistro that models and people who like models like to eat at, but I do really like the little bakery attached to it. There are several reasons why this salad is Good. The first and most important reason is that the greens, a combination of Boston lettuce and sparingly used arugula, are crunchy and buttery and light. The dressing is an herby vinaigrette that tastes both light and rich, like itās mostly olive oil. Finally, each of the toppings are flavorful on their own, and even better mixed together. Iām not really a fan of chickpeas, because theyāre usually too mushy and bland, but these are drier, snappier, and nutty in flavor. Thereās olives, plenty of feta, red pickled onions (š») and even thin slices of baby pink radish. Best of all, the salad is only $10 -- a steal and so much better than an overstuffed creation from a salad chain.
Pumpkin pie streusel cookies at home
Recipe from the Domestic Rebel.
I have been utterly obsessed with recreating Janieās pie crust cookies ever since I first tried them last week. (As part of that research, I obviously had to go back to the bakery several times to try out other flavors.) As far as I can tell, the cookie is composed of a very flaky and buttery pie crust bottom, a thin layer of pie filling (not enough to make it soggy), and then a thick covering of cookie streusel. The streusel on top has no oats and is thick enough to make the entire top crackly, kind of like a pineapple bun. Anyways, it turns out that itās not so easy to make Life-Changing Baked Goods. I followed this semi-homemade recipe which looked structurally similar to Janieās pie crust cookies, except it didnāt turn out anything like them. Maybe itās the fault of the Trader Joeās pie crust I used, but the resulting ācookiesā were really just mini pumpkin streusel pies. They were delicious, and the oaty crumble was particularly nice (although the recipe yields more than twice as much as you need, see crumble below), but Iāll be continuing on in my quest for the perfect pie crust cookie.
Blackberry crumble with Speculoos cookie butter ice cream at home
From my tiny oven to yours.Ā
Fruit crumble is a glorious treat that never fails me like all my attempts to make pie do. You get all of the good (beautifully, softly cooked fresh fruit and buttery streusel) with none of the pie crust mental gymnastics. Also, you donāt need a recipe to make a crumble. All you have to do is take a pint of fresh berries (blackberries are my favorite), toss them with a teaspoon of cornstarch, a drizzle of honey or brown sugar, and your favorite spices (cinnamon is always a good choice, cardamom or clove if you want a bit of zing), and scoop into a mini pie pan, and pack (and I mean pack it down) with lots of buttery crumble and bake until bubbly. The absolute most important step of the crumble is that you must serve it warm and with ice cream. If you have no ice cream, whipped cream will probably do but I am not sure we can be friends anymore. I topped mine with Speculoos cookie butter ice cream from Trader Joeās and it elevated my humble creation into a showstopper dessert. Because the berries are left mostly unsweetened, as the ice cream melts and the cookie butter softens, it blends perfectly into the soft berries for a spicy, sweet and tart bite with all the flavors, temperatures, and textures coming together. Ā Ā
Stay feral,
Soph
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