Cooking
Bulgogi-Inspired Tacos: the first time I had fusion tacos like these were at Wilbur Mexicana in Toronto. I loved the combo of Korean flavours in a taco form. Since then I’ve been making versions of these bulgogi-inspired tacos. The meat gets tender and flavourful and pairs so well with bright and fresh toppings. The full recipe at the bottom of the newsletter will add to my site soon!
Other things I cooked:
The First Mess Tahini Granola: I’ve been really into yogurt with berries for breakfast lately and was looking for a great homemade granola to top it with. This one was delish - I didn’t have all the ingredients so I used pepitas instead of cacao nibs, dried currants instead of mulberries, and quick oats instead of rolled oats, and omitted the cardamom. It was still sooo good.
Bon Appetit Miso Caramel Salmon: this is one of my go-to recipes for salmon (also for sushi rice!). This time I paired my salmon with smashed potatoes (roasted baby potatoes at 400F with olive oil until fork-tender, then smashed them with the bottom of a glass and tossed with a little more olive oil, minced garlic and salt and pep for 15 more minutes until crisp!), and steamed broccoli tossed with coconut oil and lemon juice (+salt n pep).
Bean Dip: sometimes called Texas caviar, there a million recipes for this online but I will share my version onto the blog soon. One of my favourite appetizers to serve at a party with tortilla chips, but also great as a bean salad for easy lunches.
Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese: I made this old favourite from my site for dinner on Sunday. I only had 300g of macaroni noodles so I saved some of the sauce for the freezer - will make for an easy, quick freezer meal for future me!
Breakfast Sausage Patties: my favourite hack for making easy breakfast sausage patties - buy any kind of sausage (4) you like from the grocery store or butcher, remove from casing and mix with 1 tsp of sriracha, 1 tsp of maple syrup and 2 green onions diced. Form into patties and cook in a pan over medium-low heat until browned and cooked through!
Simple Bites Cornmeal Pancakes: ok I came back to these cornmeal pancakes this weekend and I still found the batter too loose for me. I adjusted the recipe to do ¼ cup more all-purpose flour and ¼ cup more cornmeal and didn’t add the ¼ cup whole milk it called for. They had great texture and tasted delicious.
Simple Bites Honey Orange Syrup: we were low on maple syrup so I made this infused honey from Simple Bites - so good! Paired wonderfully with the cornmeal pancakes.
Drinking
Lake City Cider ‘California Love Red’ - I loved this cider meets red wine beverage. It was quite dry and refreshing but still had the warmth that red wine gives. A nice winter cider combo!
Reading
Listening
Never Really Mine by The Lumineers
Using
Different mustards. Mustard is most definitely my favourite condiment not just on its own, but as a flavour enhancer while cooking. It’s a key ingredient in creating depth of flavour in my mac and cheese sauce linked above, and I love trying new mustards in that recipe to play around with flavours. This week I used a “Smokey Onion and Garlic” mustard, and the smokey flavour definitely came through in the sauce!
Thinking
About how I can’t wait for January diet culture ads to end. I hope that February 1st means some peace from the endless zoom, WW, etc ads. If you need a palate cleanser, highly recommend the Maintenance Phase podcast!
Laughing
Have a great week,
Kaleigh
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Bulgogi-Inspired Tacos
Serves 6-8 people, marinade for 3-24 hours, 1 hour active cooking time
2lb flank steak, thinly sliced against the grain (look for where you see lines running and cut crosswise to these) - as close to paper-thin slices as your knife can go without tearing!
Marinade:
1/2 cup lite soy sauce
3 cloves garlic
2 tbsp ginger (or 1.5-inch piece), peel on
3 green onions, green and white parts, remove the ends
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp white sugar
1-2 tsp sriracha
1 Asian pear grated (or pear or apple)
Topping:
1 green onion, green parts thinly sliced
1 tbsp of toasted sesame seeds
Method:
In a food processor or blender, combine the first seven marinade ingredients (all but the pear) until a loose paste forms. If you don’t have either, you can also mince all of the ingredients by hand. Pour into a large bowl and fold in the grated pear. Add in your thinly sliced steak and toss to coat, ensuring all pieces of steak are well submerged. Cover with saran wrap and allow marinate in the fridge for 3-24 hours.
When ready to cook, heat a cast-iron pan (or non-stick) over medium heat and cook the meat in batches, being sure to not overcrowd the pan. The steak slices will cook rather quickly, about 2 mins per side.
As you work through batches, watch the heat as the sugars in the marinade will burn. A little char is nice, but you may need to adjust as you go. I wipe out the pan between each batch. You can keep the cooked steak warm in a 250F oven while cooking through the rest of the batches. Avoid covering the meat as you don’t want it to steam.
Top the steak with thinly slices green onions and toasted sesame seeds.
Here are all of my favourite toppings to serve with these tacos:
Peppered mango: toss diced ripe mango with lots of freshly cracked pepper, a pinch of salt and the juice of ½ a lime
Cabbage slaw: 1 tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tbsp honey, 2 limes juiced, ¼ tsp kosher salt, 2 cups of thinly sliced cabbage (red or green)
Fresh salsa: 2 tomatoes, diced; ¼ white or red onion, finely diced; 1 garlic clove minced; juice of 1 lime; salt and pepper to taste, ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
Lime crema: 1 cup sour cream, 2 tbsp heavy cream (optional), juice of 1 lime, a pinch of salt
Thinly sliced jalapeño
Avocado slices
I prefer these with corn tortillas, but flour tortillas work as well!