Mildly Desperate Dinners

Welcome to Salt Pig! Dinner must be made most nights, but sometimes you have no plan or ingredients lined up. We’re there often! This week, Lukas and Ellie describe some of their solutions to last-minute meals—both the odd and the obvious—and some surprise ingredients that get us over the line. Plus, is it gross or just wildly efficient to squeeze citrus with your bare hands? Asking for a friend. 

Discussed in this episode:

• Lotus Foods Brown Rice and Millet Ramen
• Lukas’ House Slaw and One-Pan Pasta & Beans with Asparagus
• Catherine Newman’s 2-Ingredient Slaw
• The Caramelized Fish Sauce Tuna that Lukas has mentioned before

Instagram | Substack

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:03

Welcome to Salt Pig, where two cookbook writers chat about the ups and downs of actual home kitchen life. What are we talking about today, Ellie?

SPEAKER_00 0:12

We're talking about those evenings when you have to make dinner and you don't actually have a lot in the fridge, or you don't really have a plan going into it, what you can kind of spin up out of your pantry. We discovered there's certain things you can keep in your fridge for an exceptionally long time, and those have really saved both of us on many accounts.

SPEAKER_02 0:32

Like a a dinner SOS sort of episode. It's fun. You can find our new and old episodes wherever you listen to podcasts, and be sure to check us out on Substack2 at saltpig.substack.com, where you can sign up for our monthly newsletter, The Chomp. All right, let's get started. So I wanted to tell you for the longest time I've had this citrus juicer, you know, one of those ones like it hinges and then you cut a lemon in half and stick it inside and squeeze the juice out. And over time, the um the yellow, like I don't know if it's like rubber, plastic, paint, whatever like the metal thing is coated in, it just started to like pull off. And for a while it looked like it was like some kind of I you know when like paint is like made out of vinyl or something and it sort of like peels off in a sheet. It's like that was kind of what it looked like. And I was like, okay, well, that's not gonna like end up in my food. That's just something that'll it's just part of the wear and tear of this piece of equipment. And then eventually I'd start to notice little like flecks of yellow in my like salad dressing or something, and I was like, oh okay, that's really gross. I should, I should probably rip replace this thing. And then anytime I would have people over to eat and I needed to use this juicer, I would like sort of try to like wrap my body around so nobody could see like how gross it was looking, and the and the fact that I was like still using this stitches juicer.

SPEAKER_00 2:02

And like quietly pulling little bits out of your cup of vinegar.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

And it was so gross and it was so embarrassing too because I don't know, I'm I'm a cook. This is like you I if I saw somebody else cooking with this juicer that had paint shreds all over it and was like squeezing it into the aioli, I would uh be a little bit alarmed. And but for some reason I just like couldn't get rid of it. Finally, I was ordering something online. I had like the$25 minimum to reach in order to get free shipping. I was like, it's time to get a new citrus juicer. Now I got one that's like all stainless steel that has none of the like paint or whatever it is wrapped around it. It's heavier, it's more durable, it has a lifetime warranty. I'm feeling really good.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

Oh, that will be very exciting. Have you put it in action?

SPEAKER_02 2:48

No, I just got it today. This all happened this morning.

SPEAKER_00 2:51

Oh man. So what are you what's gonna be the inaugural inaugural squeeze with it?

SPEAKER_02 2:57

Oh, I haven't even thought about that. I put it in the dishwasher because it's dishwasher safe. And I'm like, first time, let's give this a proper clean.

SPEAKER_00 3:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:05

And um, yeah, I'll probably use it tonight to just make salad dressing or something.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

I don't have one of those citrus squeezers. I tend to just squeeze it like with my hands over like another bare hands and catch the seeds.

SPEAKER_02 3:15

Oh, I've done that before, but then people get really freaked out about like I've done that in front of people. Yeah, and then they're like, um, do you want a juicer? Or like, did you wash your hands?

SPEAKER_00 3:27

I'm like, you're like, I get my hands all over everything and then whatever. My hands are all over dinner everywhere, guys. Um but it's true there is something about just like handling every drop of the juice, like as it trickles through your fingers into something that I'm sure people would get freaked out by.

SPEAKER_02 3:43

But though it's acid, it's I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

Well, yeah, yeah. That's a good point. But I was at this friend's house, shout out to Amy and Nat, and they have one of those squeezers. We were making margaritas, so I was like squeezing like a lime after lime after lime. And um, and at some point Nat was like, you know, I have this crazy technique where I turn the juice, the fruit the other way, and then I squeeze it. And I was like, Am I doing this wrong? And he was like, No, no, you're not doing it wrong. He's like, It's just my crazy way. And then it became very clear that I was just doing it wrong.

SPEAKER_02 4:17

And the juice just started flowing out of the job.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

The juice started flowing. I had to like re I've like was like pulling them out of the garbage and stuff. I was like, oh, like all this juice wasted. Plus, we had like not enough lime, so I was like, now I've really screwed it all up. But they were very sweet about it, but it was really especially embarrassing because like I have written in so many cookbooks, like, like, oh, this is the way you put the fruit in. Because it's like people are always debating, is it cut side up? Is it cut side down?

SPEAKER_02 4:42

And I still like it's one of those things I'm just like, which is Wait Wait, what was happening in the did you were you doing it cut side up or cutside up?

SPEAKER_00 4:48

Yes, I was doing it cut side up.

SPEAKER_02 4:50

Okay, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I've always done it cut side because you want the juice to go down. Well, we just it's basically like flipping the citrus in like yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:59

I know. It's why would I think it was cut side up? A lot of people do.

SPEAKER_02 5:05

It's shaped cut side up. Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:08

But what it does is it you put it cut side down, so then it just I mean it's kind of like gravitational pull. Remember those like rubber like half of a of a like racquetball ball that you'd play with and you'd like invert it, you like flip it inside, and it would like and then shoot it across the room. Like that's kind of what you're doing by like flipping the I don't know if that makes any visual sense. That's what I picture, but you want the juice to flow down rather than go up and then have to drain around the citrus inside the room.

SPEAKER_00 5:35

It seems incredibly obvious. And I was just like, I'll just re-squeeze all those, no big deal. But I guess we all had a laugh about it. And now you know. Now well, that's the thing, is I've known all along. I'm like, how what does it take to get it in my head? But oh well. Maybe one maybe if I get my own, maybe then I'll get some muscle memory with it.

SPEAKER_02 5:58

You you don't have anything producing citrus? No, just not even like one of those Ramer things.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

Strong hands, yeah. Sometimes they use a fork.

SPEAKER_02 6:06

Okay, wow, I'm kind of impressed.

SPEAKER_00 6:09

I mean, I don't have a lot of uh kitchen tools, to be perfectly honest. Which is funny because I did write this book about kitchen to say. I know, I know. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 6:19

You wrote a whole book about kitchen tools.

unknown 6:22

I know.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

And I get like the very occasional, you know, like media inquiry where they're like, What are your thoughts on mandolins or what are your thoughts on this and that? And I'm like, I have lots of thoughts. But like it does take like the ultimate kitchen tool to make it across my door. I mean, I have plenty of kitchen tools, but there's a lot of stuff I don't have. I think it just comes from living in New York. You know, you have like one small drawer for all your silverware and all your kitchen tools. So it's like, am I gonna have I mean, I'm you know, I've got nothing.

SPEAKER_02 6:54

Okay, well, I mean it is arguable whether or not you need it. And I've seen lots of videos where like which juice squeezing device extracts the most juice and these types of things never fare in the top. They're like so they're maybe not that effective. I think they're just easy to use. Yeah. But they do leave some juice behind.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

Yeah. I mean the the hand squeezing leaves some juice behind also. And then you're like, yeah, I don't know. They all pros and cons. And maybe the food. That's the real that's the real thing I love about it, is I'm like, nothing to wash except these dirty hands of mine.

SPEAKER_02 7:30

Well, anyway, today uh thank you for indulging me.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

No, no, I love I love a kitchen tool update.

SPEAKER_02 7:36

We're talking about things that we make when we think that we don't really have anything to cook with or anything to eat.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 7:43

And so we're kind of reaching into the pantry and sharing what we do with, you know, the the barest of of options.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

Yes. And I think it's probably worth our discussing our bare options versus other people's bare options. Yes. Because I know when I think the cupboards are bare, I mean, I want to acknowledge my privilege here. The cupboards are not bare. Like I may not have anything in the fridge ready to like roll, which I never really have anything in the fridge ready to roll in terms of like I have all these whole ingredients that aren't. But if I don't have any whole ingredients, I have a very stocked pantry that like, you know, I have tons of canned food, tons of jarred food, tons of dry food that I'm like I crave having that stuff around. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:30

And yeah, same with me. I've oh I feel like it's when I think that like the fridge is bare or whatever, it's like fresh ingredients.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 8:37

Or like things that I can make really, really easily or something.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:41

Um, or not even that. I feel like it really is like about the fresh ingredients. It's about the fresh ingredients. Or having the tofu or the dairy or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 8:48

Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. No meat defrosted, no fresh vegetables around. Um also I like that challenge. There's something kind of appealing if you're just like, I need to make dinner and I don't I don't want to go out and buy a bunch of stuff. I always know I can like reliably find something at home that I can do.

SPEAKER_02 9:06

Yeah. And I feel like it's also i in some ways this is about reframing the empty fridge or cupboard or whatever too, like what are the things that we just always have on hand. I always have eggs. Right. And so this is I be I think this is probably most people, but like if I have eggs, I know that I've got dinner that I can make. And there's like a million different things that I can do with with the eggs.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

I mean, because we eat eggs so much for breakfast, we always have eggs around, but I don't usually make them for dinner. Although I was thinking um breakfast for dinner is sometimes a like there's nothing in the house um to have. So I'll make I often make French toast in that case. Oh, requires eggs. And that is a real crowd pleaser. It's bread, it's eggs, it's milk. I'm like, it's it's wholesome. Yeah. Maybe have a smoothie on the side, like go go full breakfast.

SPEAKER_02 9:56

Oh, you do a smoothie too, wow, at dinner time.

SPEAKER_00 9:59

I mean, in that way I can sort of feel like everyone's eating a vegetable. Like if they have a green smoothie, I'm like sort of like a complete meal. Oh my gosh, I love this. There's a carb, there's a veg.

SPEAKER_02 10:12

That sounds like the most extreme breakfast for dinner I've ever heard of. I'm like my mind went to like bacon eggs, like hash browns.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

Yeah, I mean that's an option too. I have bacon in the freezer sometimes, but I don't always have potatoes around. I don't always have like, I don't know, and again, we just eat so many fried eggs in this house for breakfast that I'm like, if we have I almost feel like it's sort of negligent to give people more fried eggs in the evening because I'm like, I'm gonna give us all cholesterol problems. That's it, I'm like, then put some eggs and some French toast. But um it's maybe less. But yeah, maybe it's fewer eggs, yeah. Yeah, yeah. But breakfast for dinner is a fun one because it it feels also kind of exciting and different.

SPEAKER_02 10:50

Um I would imagine, and the kids get excited about that.

SPEAKER_00 10:53

Oh yeah, yeah, they really do.

SPEAKER_02 10:55

Do you do the stovetop French toast or have you ever tried like the the baked versions?

SPEAKER_00 11:00

I have tried the baked versions and I really like them. Though the kids sort of don't like them as much. I think because they get they're kind of more almost more sort of souffleed, like you know, how they puff up in the in the oven, which I think makes them more delicious. I think the kids like a more straightforward like slice of something that's been pan-fried and it's like theirs. They don't really want like a scoop of French toast.

SPEAKER_02 11:23

Well, and I remember I loved French toast when I was a kid and I'd never make it now, though I should. Um but I never wanted it to be feel like an egg dish. I wanted it and and like I didn't ever want it too wet. I wanted it like a bread dish, basically.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

Exactly. They want basically buttered toast. Yeah. And I'm like, I'll dip it in egg and then we can butter it and eat it. Like that's I mean, if they could eat one thing for the rest of their lives, it would be buttered toast.

SPEAKER_02 11:47

On your homemade sourdough bread.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 11:49

Though have you found sourdough bread is really not good for French toast. At least in my I don't look for it.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

You know, I've never tried it, but I can imagine, especially my extremely dense sourdough bread. Um because it's like it's just would take forever for it to like absorb any um eggs and milk.

SPEAKER_02 12:04

Yeah, it also just has too much structure, I think.

SPEAKER_00 12:07

Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:09

You want something that's a little bit softer.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

Yes, that's right. So it gets that like custardy, it sort of turn transforms into something else.

SPEAKER_02 12:15

Yeah, exactly. There was a um sorry not to completely stay on the subject of French toast, but in the tartine cookbook, did you ever see that recipe where you basically like ladle custard into the bread as you're searing it in the pan? Oh. So it's like really full of egg. I mean, turns it into practically like a like the bread is this vessel vessel for like a custard or almost quishi or something. Yeah. But kind of sweet. Um, which of course they use their sourdough bread for that, which has more of an open crumb and stuff, so it kind of makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 12:48

Right. That makes sense. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:49

But kind of a fun way to think about it.

SPEAKER_00 12:51

I'm also considering these meals a little bit like you want something kind of quick too. Right, yes. Like desperate cupboard meals. So I was thinking of a lot of pastas that that do that. Like one of one of Tom's and my favorites is like anchovy pasta. I don't know if you ever make that, but I mean it's very straightforward where you like saute some garlic and some olive oil, like quite a bit of olive oil, add like an entire can of anchovies, maybe even two if you're feeling really crazy, and like some hot pepper flakes, and then you add the almost cooked pasta, you add a little pasta water, you stir it around. Um and that's kind of it. And maybe if you if you have some parsley around, that's really delicious. If you don't mind the anchovy and cheese thing, which I love an anchovy and cheese combination.

SPEAKER_02 13:42

Um do people have opinions about that?

SPEAKER_00 13:44

I mean, people have so many opinions about fish and cheese, which I always find very annoying. But how do you feel about the fish and cheese debate?

SPEAKER_02 13:53

I haven't actually thought about it that much. Like I like anchovies, but I do not cook with them that often.

SPEAKER_00 13:58

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_02 13:59

Yeah, I don't know. It just doesn't I feel like it was just my years of not eating much meat that I'd was always like doing the workarounds.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:08

But um I like them and I love when you like go out to eat and get really nice anchovies.

SPEAKER_00 14:12

I really like anchovies. I like them best when they are kind of melted into something. Like uh, you know. Um like do you ever make bagna coda? Oh yeah. I I don't, but I know what you're talking about. Yeah, like where they're really incorporated into the olive oil, they really dissolve. I mean that's what this pasta is about. It's basically like uh aglio iolio or however you pronounce it, a garlic, an oil thing, but you're just like infusing it with these really salty anchovies. Okay. Um but it's not like it doesn't actually have a surprisingly very fishy because they just dissolve into it and it's garlicky and spicy. It just feels like a little umami boost rather than an especially fishy thing.

SPEAKER_02 14:52

Yeah, and it's kind of crazy how they just uh do disappear.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

It is. It's totally crazy, especially like the canned ones that aren't really special, like they really just turn into this sort of sludge but very delicious sludge. So that's that's something I um I really love to do.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

I love along those lines, um I did a recipe a while ago for this like one pan like short pasta and beans and whatever green vegetable you've got laying around. Um so in this case maybe you don't have the green vegetable, but essentially like cooking orzo or like the um what are they called? The little short like tubes um oh like macaroni or something.

SPEAKER_00 15:37

Oh dittlini. Diddlini, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 15:40

Or um is it pastilla? Pasta the small pastina. Pastina, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:46

Um something like that where you like add a fair amount of liquid and a little bit if you have broth, use broth or throw in a little better than bouillon or just a little bit of water or whatever, and then mix in the can of beans with the liquid and just kind of like let it cook until you know it's kind of good when the pasta's like overcooked in those situations. Right. I think it's very comforting. Yeah. And then you can just throw in whatever sort of quick cooking. I love like asparagus coins.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:12

But mix them in. So it's like somewhere between a soup and a pasta, and maybe it has like a little bit of a comforting stewy quality, and it doesn't even really need as long as it's properly seasoned, you don't have to throw cheese in there, but you definitely could and mix in feta or goat cheese and or like grated the hard cheese over it, and it's always really tasty.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

That sounds delicious. And you're just cooking the pasta, in other words, you're not cooking the pasta in salt and water and draining it. You're just cooking it all together in this thing and then just mixing on all your meats.

SPEAKER_02 16:39

It's like the one pan style.

SPEAKER_00 16:41

Oh, that sounds great.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

Yeah. Yeah. It's really good.

SPEAKER_00 16:45

And very like, I mean, and so flexible too, in terms of like, I'm sure all sorts of different beans work, all those little tiny pastas work. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 16:55

Oh yeah, and it's perfect for when you have you probably don't have this happen because you just dump the whole package in, but you don't get like the little remainders. Yes, the all the little remainders, the orzo, the uh detali, the pastina, all this stuff. Just like throw it in there and someone will get overcooked, no big deal.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

It's like you don't really care. Oh, that sounds good. Yeah, it is good. It's really good.

SPEAKER_02 17:18

And I feel like I'll do that with rice too, if there's like leftover rice. It's kind of the same thing. It's like cover it with broth. Most of these starchy things, you can just like cook it in seasoned liquid and turn it into a meal and then either add an egg, add a can of beans, add beans. We're big on like tinned fish where you know that ends up being a little bit of substance and protein in the dish as well.

SPEAKER_00 17:39

I was gonna ask you actually, I really want to be better about cooking more sardines because I know they're very healthy, but I haven't really found like the the sardine application of my dreams, and I wanted to know if you had any dreamy sardine applications.

SPEAKER_02 17:56

I feel like I've been quite experimental with them and haven't yet had anything that I would really want to like share.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

Yeah, yeah, I get it.

SPEAKER_02 18:03

What we do a lot is like when we have good bread, it's just I mean, this is the other thing. It's like if there's bread, and I always have bread in the freezer, but um toast that rub it with garlic, drizzle a good amount of olive oil on top of it, and then the sardines, like a can of sardines kind of arranged over the top and just gently mashed a touch.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:23

That's pretty satisfying.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

I bet. I bet actually, maybe with a little squeeze of lemon or something.

SPEAKER_02 18:29

Yeah. Yeah. And we'll do also you remember that um caramelized tuna recipe that I I can't remember which episode a few episodes back. But um I've done that with sardines too, where you essentially in the hot pan, you just kind of like cook a tin or tuna or in this case the sardines with I think it's I did look up the recipe and it's not equal parts. It's maybe like one part fish sauce to three parts maple syrup, and it sounds really weird, but it really works, and then you just cook it until all the liquid evaporates and it becomes a little bit sticky, and then just scrape that over rice and it's so good.

SPEAKER_00 19:07

That sounds great. That reminds me a listener who I also went to elementary school with, Jess, and she brought me a package of shelf stable uh short grain rice.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 19:20

And I was like, this is the best present I've I like hadn't seen her in like decades. And I was like, that was so incredibly thoughtful, but I've now I'm like hoarding it. I haven't used it yet because I'm like, I have to wait for this special moment. I could combine like a little caramelized tuna with a little microwave rice, and then I'm really going.

SPEAKER_02 19:39

Yeah, exactly. You're firing on all cylinders there. It's I mean, if you've got any like scallion kicking around in the fridge, or you know, some cucumber you can throw on there that's kind of good. Yeah, so good.

SPEAKER_00 19:50

Um the other noodles that I definitely wanted to bring up was brown rice ramen.

SPEAKER_02 19:56

Yeah, I uh uh Lotus Foods is the brand, right? Yes.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

It's it's kind of a game changer, I feel like, for me. Like the texture I don't think is perfect, but I do um it's I think it's brown rice and millet, and it's not fried. It's like these shelf stable blocks of noodles, but they're not fried. So you boil them in the same way that you would ramen, but it doesn't come with like broth or anything, so you have to come up with your own thing about it. You can cook it with tofu, you can put an egg in it, you can make a soup out of it, you can stir fry it with something. I feel like it's enough of something to build dinner on if it's in my cupboard.

SPEAKER_02 20:32

Yeah, I yeah, I love those. I love the um black rice or the forbidden rice version of them.

SPEAKER_00 20:38

Oh, I've never seen that.

SPEAKER_02 20:39

They're kind of I don't maybe the kids would be into them, but they um they have really nice texture, I think. Like maybe it's not as bouncy as traditional ramen noodles are, but there's like um I always want to use the word toothome, and I've been edited so many times to be like, toothsome does not mean what you think it means. And like I think it's like pleasing on the tooth, but that's not what toothy So I was gonna say toothsome and I was like, what's the word that I'm supposed to be using instead of you can cook it kind of al dente? Well, it's not even al dente, but it just like has a sort of formidable texture, formidable texture that is um pleasant, I think. Yeah. Rather than that sort of bouncy, chewy quality that people usually like in in wheat ramen.

SPEAKER_00 21:21

I usually make soup out of it, and then I think it just sits in the hot liquid and gets overcooked, even a little bit mushy, it's very delicious, and it has none of the weird ingredients that a regular shelf stable ramen has, which I also am a fan of. But um but if you want to have something a little bit cleaner, it fits the bill.

SPEAKER_02 21:39

Vincent and I got this is kind of when the ideas for one of my books was born, but snacks, just like all the little setting out all the dips. It was like that we had uh during the pandemic, we would have like the tub of hummus and the little like I was playing around with all these things like the goat cheese or cream cheese and taking all these little snacky things. And like putting them out on the table with a box of crackers and some cut-up vegetables and calling that dinner. And I know that's not like the fridge is bare, but it's it kind of it doesn't look like dinner when you look into the fridge, but then you throw it out on the table and it's actually really kind of fun and interactive and it hits all the important parts of the meal and it ends up being pretty satisfying.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

Definitely. Especially when, yeah, you've got like all these little bits, you get like a thousand or not a thousand, but you get tons more tastes than you do just with like one bowl of something. So I can imagine that was very exciting.

SPEAKER_02 22:33

That yeah, and it ends up being kind of about just like making sure all the textures are accounted for. So you've got something crunchy, you've got something creamy, you've got something starchy, and yeah. It's kind of uh it's kind of fun.

SPEAKER_00 22:46

So another thing it's a special ingredient, but it might be an interesting one for people to pick up if they ever trip across it, are these rice paper wrappers. Do you ever keep those in your house?

SPEAKER_02 22:56

Are those like to make summer rolls and spring rolls and things?

SPEAKER_00 22:59

Yes. Yeah, so because the kids think it's really fun to make them, and you can literally kind of fill them with anything. For people who might not be familiar with them, they're these dried paper, they look like a sheet, a round sheet of paper. Um, and they're kind of transparent and rigid. And then you just dip them in like warm water until they're soft, and then you roll, you know, whatever up inside of them, and you can just eat them as is, or you can like pan-fry them if you want to like make like a little dumpling kind of experience, or they're actually like quite flexible. If you go on like TikTok, there's like a million usages that people are doing with them.

SPEAKER_02 23:36

Ravioli out of them.

SPEAKER_00 23:37

Right, right. But I have to say, even just like at its most basic, if you just rehydrate them and then fill them with like like I fill them with like tofu and spinach, which I like always have tofu and spinach usually around, or cucumbers, or like leftover chicken. They're really handy, and then you can dip them in like soy sauce or you can make like a peanut sauce. And serve them cold, you don't know. And you just yeah, you just eat them right as is. They are one of these things that's really fun for kids. They're not exactly easy to manipulate, but they are customizable in the if an adult is helping, you can be like, what do you want in yours? and you can make it just for them. And that's um I found that to be kind of a fun little treat.

SPEAKER_02 24:16

Yeah, and I feel like the texture is kind of fun too. And it might be fun for kids as well, where it's yes, kind of kind of gooey. Yeah, kind of gooey. In a good way.

SPEAKER_00 24:26

Yeah, chewy.

SPEAKER_02 24:28

I did a recipe with those um not that long ago where I've based on something I saw on TikTok, where you basically dip it into beaten egg and then I filled it with it might have been mozzarella or like a piece of cheese and then some Wait, you dip the rigid thing in egg so that it rehydrates a little? Uh no, dipped in water first and then egg. So m briefly dipped it in water just to make it malleable. Okay. And then I put it into beaten egg, and then I wrapped it over cheese, and I actually threw I was I had like a pizza beans thing happening in my head.

SPEAKER_01 25:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:03

And then so it was like a spoonful of these, like seasoned beans, a piece of mozzarella cheese, and then you like turn it into a little parcel by like sealing it up, and then you air fry it, and it gets well, you air fry it, and then you it gets crispy and golden on the outside, and everything is like gooey and cheesy and delicious on the inside. It's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

I mean, how bad can that be? It sounds amazing. And you could fill it with all sorts of things.

SPEAKER_02 25:36

This woman on TikTok was making like galettes out of it. She was like dipping it in the egg, throwing it on a piece of you know, they make all those like air fryer liners now. It's like a little parchment shaped basket that you throw inside your air. So she was putting it on the parchment and then like she arranged slices of tomatoes and then like sprinkled some and I think she put some shredded cheese on the bottom and then tomatoes on top and then crimped the outside around this and baked it in the air fryer, and it turned into something you can actually like slice into wedges.

SPEAKER_01 26:06

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 26:07

Yeah. I know it's crazy. It was really good.

SPEAKER_00 26:10

Yeah, I can imagine. I mean, what what I I feel like when I dip them into water, they become they go from rigid to like a pile of mush like in a pretty short window.

SPEAKER_02 26:20

The thing with these types of rice paper, it's practice. It's you really it's like a flick of the wrist sort of thing. It's like getting it in there and like you don't want to once it's submerged in the water, it's like don't walk away. You don't walk away, but also like don't actually release them from your fingers because then you're never gonna be able to re-grip them. But it's like then it's like pulling it up in one swift motion while it's like a sheet, and then like laying it down on a piece of a clean towel, and then that's when you put your fillings in, or in this case, then you lay it into the beaten egg.

SPEAKER_00 26:56

Okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 26:56

But it's um it's kind of about moving quickly and confidently.

SPEAKER_00 27:00

Right, right. It sounds fun.

SPEAKER_02 27:05

One of the vegetables that I find to be like particularly valuable when there is not that much um else around is cabbage. Just because of like the volume, like one head of cabbage is just so many meals.

SPEAKER_01 27:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:17

I find that kind of like that pasta dish that I was telling you about the pasta and the beans, it's like if you just cook cabbage with a starch with beans and just kind of like let it cook for however long you've got, like it's gonna it there's just like so much well-developed flavor in it, it's nutritious, it's um comforting. I find that if there's like a quarter of cabbage in the in the in the pantry or in the fridge, I will like turn that into something really delicious and be so happy about it.

SPEAKER_00 27:44

That's a good tip because when a lot of people talk about stocking a pantry, they're talking about keep cans of tomatoes and make sure you have canned beans and sardines or anchovies, that kind of stuff. But if there are certain things that keep in the fridge forever, like cabbage, they can sit in the fridge for weeks. So it is one of these very convenient things when I don't think I really have anything in the house. You're like, there is that old cabbage in there.

SPEAKER_02 28:09

For I love slaw. Like we have slaw multiple times a a week, and I just find it's when you have a good dressing, and there's one that I make that has like tahini and soy sauce and maple syrup in it, and a little bit of olive oil, and you just toss that with the raw cabbage and throw like a chopped date in there and like shredded carrot or some Julian cucumber or radish, whatever crunchy thing, and then some like toasted nuts. It's just like it's slaw, but it is so delicious that like everybody, you know, like there's never leftovers. It's and it's like so crunchy and satisfying in the winter. It's so good.

SPEAKER_00 28:45

Wow. Does the dressing have almost sort of a peanut sauce vibe?

SPEAKER_02 28:48

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 28:49

Yeah, yeah. Oh, that sounds delicious.

SPEAKER_02 28:51

It's really good.

SPEAKER_00 28:52

Um I saw a recent um Substack post, Catherine Newman.

SPEAKER_02 28:58

Oh, he's she's the novelist, right?

SPEAKER_00 29:00

Yes, yes, and I love her novels, and she has a substack that's pretty amusing, and she wrote about a slaw that she makes, and there's two ingredients in it. It is cabbage and it is the brine from pepper and chini, and she just mixes them together and like weighs like like puts a plate on top of the cabbage so it really marinates in there um for like maybe a few hours and then she eats it. Wow. And it sounded amazing to me, maybe because I'm also a brine saver, big surprise. Um but the idea of having a two-ingredient salad all sounds really fun, but also using up these brines that I have kicking around.

SPEAKER_02 29:40

Well it kind of sounds like sauerkraut.

SPEAKER_00 29:43

I think it does because she used a red cabbage by the time she ate it and it's uh through red through and through. Yeah. It was like that. So I bet it does sit there for a while. We can link to it.

SPEAKER_02 29:54

Um well, I feel like there's like two styles of slaw too, where there's like the wet slaw.

SPEAKER_00 29:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:59

That I kind of think of that as a wet slaw where it's a little bit drippy. And then I my preference I think is a freshly cut cabbage slaw where there's still all the crunch and stuff. And so a slightly creamy dressing is what I really like. And not like male-based, more like like this. I this is just like the most perfect salad in my mind, this one with the tahini slaw. I can eat it every single day and I'd be so happy.

SPEAKER_00 30:24

Yeah, and probably your body would be thrilled. There's something about cabbage, especially raw cabbage, whether it's in wet style or dry style, that does feel like your body's just like, yes, this is what I want. Oh, I'll have to try that.

SPEAKER_02 30:38

We can link to the recipe.

SPEAKER_00 30:40

But what are you making for dinner tonight?

SPEAKER_02 30:42

I feel like um all my cooking has been off because my brother's been in town and we ate out um more often than usual. So I'm also like not on top of my shopping.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:50

Um, but I have been testing this recipe. I've been doing these th like um trying to figure out a couple like one-pan meals that involve fish and that can be a little bit um modular with further protein. So if it's not fish, it could be like a slab of feta cheese or maybe tofu or something. And this thing that I just tested out last night, and I may try it again tonight, is um like roasted cherry tomatoes with white beans, so it's like saucy rather than like dry in the pan. And then you nestle the fish fillets, or in this case, I'm gonna try out like feta. I'm gonna see if that works. And then you put a little crumb topping on each one and throw it back into the oven. Um, so I want to see how that works with with the cheese, if it all just kind of like melts into the sauce or if it holds on to some of its some of its integrity. I might like broil it or something.

SPEAKER_00 31:43

Yeah, that's a good idea.

SPEAKER_02 31:44

Now it's cold again, so I think something like that would be kind of good. Yeah, what are your dinner plans?

SPEAKER_00 31:48

I made some broccoli soup earlier today, um, which I was kind of scrambling because I knew I wanted to make some soup and I had some beans and some bean broth. So, um, but I didn't want to make the same thing as always. So I was like, I'll make uh pureeed bean soup with some broccoli. So I cooked the broccoli in there with you know, onion, celery, all that stuff. I was talking with my sister, I was like, this has to go in a direction that's not just beans and broccoli.

SPEAKER_02 32:21

The the baby food direction. Exactly. I was like that.

SPEAKER_00 32:24

Some cultural yeah reference here has to happen. She was like, How about curry? I was like, great idea. Yeah. So um, yeah, it was pretty good. Actually, I had a little for lunch and then maybe we'll have it for dinner. I don't know. The piece of some cheese toast.

SPEAKER_02 32:39

Oh, yeah, delicious. Yeah. I would love to crack a good broccoli soup. Something that feels kind of different, that isn't like the puree and then because I I really like the texture of broccoli. Um and I want to preserve that in a soup.

SPEAKER_00 32:51

Yeah, yeah. The only problem is, I mean, it's hard to preserve that texture in a soup because it does go from cooked to overcooked pretty fast. But this um this did feel different. I added like a little splash of half and half at the end because I had it kicking around. So it felt luxurious, a little spiced, and it was good.

SPEAKER_02 33:10

Yum, that sounds great. Well, and enjoy your soup. Thanks.

SPEAKER_00 33:15

See if I can con anybody into eating it. Yeah, and enjoy a feta feta broil.

SPEAKER_02 33:21

I will. Thanks. Okay. Okay, we'll talk to you soon.

SPEAKER_00 33:25

Okay. Bye.