Hung out with a friend today and we did a bit of cooking as we went.
Lunch was
Banh Mi
from How to Cook Everything Fast
That’s my plate - we each had two because nobody else wanted to join us and the recipe makes four. Sure, technically things can be scaled but, eh. The buns were supposed to be toasted lightly under the broiler but got left in a little long. That’s what’s left after the charred parts were scraped off. I thought about grabbing new ones from the bakery across the street but they closed 40 minutes previously.
Bottom layer is grated (via food processor - 15 seconds of processing, 4+ minutes of washing up after) carrot, cucumber and daikon radish tossed with sugar and salt and left to pickle a bit in a colander in the sink while layer two was going. Namely, a pound of ground pork browned with ginger and garlic and then cooked an additional few minutes with a couple of tablespoons of fish sauce stirred in. Supposed to be half and half fish sauce and soy sauce but I thought for sure I had soy sauce and then didn’t. meanwhile I still have most of a giant bottle of fish sauce bought years ago. Then mixed half a cup of mayo with some sriracha sauce and drizzled that over the top, and finally a few sprigs of cilantro (which doesn’t seem to have registered in the photo but it’s there).
We followed that up with some
Macaroni Salad with Cheddar and Chipotle
from Pasta Revolution
but only a little bit because we were pretty full by then. Weirdly, the giant grocery store we went to was out of macaroni seemingly entirely - not in the main pasta section, not in the expensive organic/gluten free sections. Finally we found a single box someone had stashed as if hoarding it for a later trip in an unrelated area. No idea what was going on there.
But yeah, pretty straightforward. Cook macaroni til tender, drain, rinse with cold water, drain again, and then mix in chopped red onion, minced celery, shredded sharp cheddar cheese, minced fresh parsley, minced canned chipotle chile in adobo, lemon juice, dijon mustard, garlic powder, and cayenne and let sit for a couple minutes. Then mix in a bunch of mayo, cover, and let sit for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper (we forgot to do this, I now realize) and serve. I still have a whole bunch in the fridge, so I’ll have to work on getting through it over the next few days.
Finally, for dinner we had
Blackened Chicken Sandwiches with Pickled Red Onions
from How to Cook Everything Fast
This was my friend’s plate - he’s neater at assembling these things.
You start out by bringing a half cup of red wine vinegar and a half cup of water plus a tablespoon of sugar and some salt to a boil, then slicing a medium red onion. Once the vinegar mixture is boiling you add the onion, submerge as best as possible, turn off the heat, and leave it to sit. We actually did this before starting in on the banh mi and macaroni salad, so it sat for probably 6-7 hours pickling and came out beautifully - the recipe is meant to be fast so only involves 10-15 minutes of pickling usually. Maybe 20. Then you get some oil going in a skillet, put together a spice mix of chili powder, cumin, coriander and salt, cut two boneless chicken breasts in half horizontally to make cutlets, and rub the spice mix into both sides of all four cutlets, then brown both sides of each cutlet, probably in two sets to avoid crowding the skillet. Meanwhile you slice an avocado, strip some cilantro leaves off some sprigs, and crumble some queso fresco. Once the chicken is ready, you put a cutlet in each bun, then avocado, then pickled onions, then queso fresco, then cilantro. Honestly, turned out the avocado, onions and queso fresco were plenty all by themselves. The chicken was nice but not necessary. We were full enough after these (my friend did not even get halfway through the second) to not make it to a second pass at the macaroni salad.
Fun fact about the mayo: as we were looking for the best mayo purchase we saw a brand entitled “Just Mayo” proudly advertising being egg-free. I don’t know what that is but it sure as fuck isn’t mayo.
