verbs vol. 80
last week's cooking activities
And I’m back! Thank you for your patience as I took a little hiatus during my move. I hope you all had a restful holiday season and I can’t wait to get back to cooking with you!
Cooking
Fennel salad with crispy tempeh: I loved this recipe for a fresh salad bite that feels appropriate for the cooler winter months. I also had never cooked with tempeh and was pleasantly surprised by it.
A few adjustments I made/would make:
I tossed a tbsp of nutritional yeast in with the tempeh when it was done cooking for a punch of extra flavour.
I pan-fried the tempeh because I still can’t figure out how to use my oven (new country problems)
I think I would omit the fresh dill in the walnut cream - I love dill but found it overpowered all the other flavours (and saves you from buying another fresh herb, I focused on fresh mint to mix in)
I don’t have a blender here, just a handheld stick one, so my walnut cream didn’t turn into an emulsified cream. That led to everything being a bit watery for me - I think next time I’d halve the vinegar to cut back on some liquid.
This is not an adjustment, just a reco: this was delicious over a slice of sourdough bread like she suggests.
Other things I cooked:
Gochujang and tomato cream sauce: inspired by @crispyegg420 I followed my usual steps for vodka sauce, adding in a scoop of gochujang before the tomato paste. I omitted the vodka, mainly because I forgot to buy it, and add a touch of apple cider vinegar at the end for some brightness. So yummy!
A lot of pita pizzas: I bought “red pesto” from Tesco (I think it’s mainly sundried tomato), and used that as a sauce on pitas, topped with lots of veggies and some mozzarella.
Greek yogurt, tahini and honey: inspired by @afewfunmoves my go-to breakfast lately has been plain greek yogurt with some tahini and honey swirled in, topped with fruit and nuts. The tahini cuts through some of the tang of the yogurt.
Reading
Throw Away the Sifter Tops from Your Spice Jars and Be Free.
Eating
Ole & Steen. This Danish pastry chain is really popular in London and I see why. I tried their cinnamon swirl which was to die for.
Following
@thenaturalnurtruer - I saved her Carrot Oatmeal Bars this week to make for grab-and-go breakfasts.
Listening
Using
My mom’s knitted dishcloths. One thing I’ve realized is how important it is to bring items that make my flat feel more like *mine*, and that means all the little comforts of home, like my favourite dishcloths.
Thinking
Oof about a lot of things! It’s been an adjustment moving to London - a ton of change really really fast. Cooking is the thing that keeps me grounded and is a big outlet for me emotionally, and it was really tough not being able to cook much during the last two months while I packed up my life in Toronto, and did a couple of trips back and forth to Halifax. I was starting from scratch ingredient-wise in my new apartment, and there are soooo many pantry staples that you forget you need to buy. I feel like I’m 50% there in terms of my go-to ingredients, but each day I feel more and more comfortable in the kitchen. Moving abroad is definitely challenging my resilience but I know/trust that this is the hard part, and it’s going to get easier.
Laughing
Have a great week,
Kaleigh