Wtf should I do with cauliflower rice?
and a recipe for Korean-style Cold Marinated Tofu
HI, WELCOME TO THE FIFTH EDITION OF ✨Needs More Acid - The Newsletter⚡️
I’m back! Sorry y’all, it’s been a sort of doldrum beginning to 2022 and my writing inspiration just hasn’t been flowing. I’m trying to be as consistent here as possible without giving you the true dregs of my mind. And, let’s be real, this past week alone has been a doozy between Russia invading Ukraine, Texas Governor Abbott’s work to implement anti-trans youth rules (affirmed by Texas AG Paxton) which would classify gender-affirming care as ‘child abuse’, and Florida mandating that schools out LGBTQ+ youth to their families without their consent.
So, what’s new in the non-existential dread department you ask? A few highlights from the last two months: I discovered what I’m calling ‘The Great Wall of Olives’ at Zabar’s with my dear friend Maddy in late December (also known as last year - wow, sorry I haven’t called), fell in love with what might be my perfect orange wine - the Les Vins Pirouettes Eros de David 2019 (obnoxious!) - at Queen’s English over dinner with past coworkers, and had the best french fries and tzatziki of my life (BOLD!) at Taim.
More humbly, I took my first, very late-to-the-game foray into cauliflower rice a few weeks ago. Now, as you know, I don’t eat meat. And, I admittedly love my occasional Beyond Burger. But, and maybe it’s my experiences with disordered eating, I’m just really not that into most “substitute” foods. In the spirit of my attempt to try and avoid labeling food as “good” or “bad”, it crossed my mind that I didn’t need to think of cauliflower rice as an alternative to rice - and thus feel deprived that it isn’t ‘real rice’ - rather, I could reframe it as a conveniently pre-diced version of a versatile vegetable. You know I love a good frozen veg!
So, wtf should you do with cauliflower rice? Four quick ideas:
Sautée it in a deep pot (<3 my Lodge Dutch Oven) with your other fave frozen veggies like a package of some sort of mushroom medley, onions, and fresh or dried herbs. pack it up for a hot savory breakfast the next day that you can top with a fried, scrambled, or hard boiled egg.
Stir it into a chunky tomato sauce towards the end of the sauce’s cooking time with any savory herb (maybe just not dill?), olives, and red onions you’ve crisped up and deglazed in a little balsamic vinegar. your sauce will nearly double in size!
Use it to cut down the time it takes to make a creamy cauliflower dish like this caramelized cauliflower alfredo pasta from Liz Moody.
Add it to a dish that doesn’t even call for cauliflower, but won’t be broken by it, for an extra serving of vegetables. Something like Sarah Jampel’s vegan creamy pasta could work well.
What I’m eating:
👩🏻🍳 🤌🏼 HOME COOKING 🔥
Korean-style Cold Marinated Tofu with furikake, gochugaru, dark soy sauce, rice vinegar, fish sauce & sesame oil.
I’m not sure how authentically Korean this is (I do know Gochugaru is). And yes, you’ve seen prior iterations of this recipe in past newsletters. This one is the closest I’ve gotten to recreating my favorite food from a few of the Korean markets my Dad and I used to frequent during our weekend grocery haul ritual. If you haven’t been, the kind of Korean market I’m talking about is similar in breadth and convenience to a NY-style bodega, but features a really great hot and cold to-go bar. Think of a mélange of things like seaweed salad, cold sesame noodles, and sticky sweet & spicy green beans.
Here’s the recipe and a tutorial on my instagram:
press & blot dry one package of extra firm tofu in reusable kitchen towels or paper towels, chop into cubes, & set aside
in a large mixing bowl add 1/4 cup of rice vinegar, 3 TBSP soy sauce, 1 TSP fish sauce, 1 TBSP toasted sesame oil, 2 TBSP gochugaru, 1 TBSP furikake or sesame seeds. whisk all ingredients to combine. taste and adjust if you like.
add in the tofu, toss gently, & let it marinate. keep it in the fridge for up to one week.
no fish sauce? just use an extra teaspoon or two of soy sauce. no gochugaru flakes? use ~ 3 TBSP of gochujang instead and be sure to stir it well to combine.
Cacio e Pepe Tortellini! WHAT. Ok, I can’t take credit for this - it’s a Joe special. To make this you should try using J. Kenji López-Alt’s Serious Eats Cacio e Pepe recipe and swap in Trader Joe’s spinach & cheese tortellini for the typical spaghetti. His recipe touts a few important make-or-break Cacio e Pepe rules at the top and has a comments section actually worth a quick scan for some nearly satirical quips (eggs in Cacio e Pepe - the horror! do you even go here??).
In the spirit of More Simple Foods Please™️ I made olive sourdough toast with parsley pesto and goat ricotta spread on top. If you want to know how to make parsley pesto, look out for the recipe in the next newsletter and on the ‘gram soon.
Trader Joe’s Kale Gnocchi, the greener cousin to the ever-popular Cauliflower Gnocchi, with an extremely quick tomato sauce of: diced canned tomatoes, garlic, onions, frozen spinach (always microwaved first in the Anyday Bowl), and red pepper flakes. I topped that ‘ish off with two big tablespoons of my cheese of the season - TJ’s ricotta.
I find these a little less gummy than their Cauliflower counterparts and a little easier to work with.
💁🏻♀️🍸EATING OUT 🫒
I moved Queens English from my “spots to try” to “spots I love” list during a weeknight visit with friends. This husband-and-wife-run entity (so they must be really patient people) features “Hong Kong cuisine with a twist” and is some of the best Cantonese food I’ve had in a while.
In a likely setback for my future budget, their drink list is awesome and turned me onto a Gewürztraminer-Riesling skin contact wine that made all of my Pet Nat dreams come true. It’s tart & a little vinegar-y (acid!), a touch sweet, kind of heavy in the mouth (lol what?), just a touch effervescent (teeny tiny bubbles), and the prettiest orange (wine is fashun).
Their menu is short and sweet and everything is intended to be shared, so be ready to order nearly half of it.
Bun DC is the best Vietnamese I’ve had to date inside the confines of the district. They don’t deliver and aren’t on any delivery apps that I can find, but do offer takeout and a dine-in option at one of their four tables. It’s well worth the trip if you’re not close by to their location in Columbia Heights on the edge of Park View.
Eden Center is still my top destination for all things Vietnamese outside of DC, though my friend Jen tells me I need to go to Annandale ASAP too.
This past month has been filled with not one, but two mediterranean food revelations, both of which are fast-casual formats:
Aladdin’s Kitchen has become a beloved Thursday night post-open mic comedy show tradition of ours. Their falafels are ethereal: perfectly crispy on the outside and really moist inside. Plus, they give you an incredible white sauce to go with it (called “house white sauce”) that I’m 90% sure must be laden with sour cream and/or mayo. ALSO they’re open until 3am 👀💃🏻✌🏼
Taim has stolen my heart. The first few times I tried it out I was kind of underwhelmed, despite Joe insisting it was leaps and bounds better than CAVA, my go-to fast casual these days. Something sparked this last month, though, so I’m convinced I must have been ordering items that didn’t take out as well (like hot eggplant + a hard boiled egg…). The trip that turned me came at the end of a somewhat long day spent trying to get my phone fixed. I tried their Impossible Kebabs, which are shaped into three little patties, on a bowl and added the eggplant, a side of tzatziki, and the fries with saffron aioli. It was all incredibly fresh and surprisingly flavorful. Besides dipping the impossible patties into the tzatziki, the true star was the tahini dressing on the Israeli salad of tomatoes, cucumber, and onion.
They have two DC locations: one in Georgetown and one in DuPont. And, fear not NYC pals - they also have four manhattan spots, one in LIC, and one in park slope.
While we’re on the topic of mediterranean food, we *finally* went to Agora, only two blocks from our apartment, and it was really delightful. Everything we had was easily shared and made for good leftovers the next day, especially the Ottoman Rice.
Do not sleep on the cod roe mousse called Taramosalata (i.e. it’s salty) or the zucchini fritters on labneh called Mucver. Their brunch scene is always popping: I’m excited to check it out in March.
What’s on my mind
A reckoning at one of the most instagrammed food blogs / media publications: the FeedFeed. Rachel Gurjar and Sahara Bohoskey are suing their former employers for racism and sexism.
I’m so sad that Thamee, the nationally lauded Burmese spot on H street, closed before I was able to check it out. Here’s to supporting as many local spots as we possibly can, all of the time.
For something different: how did I totally miss that Christopher Rufo is the lead engineer behind the misguided hysteria around Critical Race Theory? Thanks John Oliver.
I’ve got some exciting food adventures this Spring: a bachelorette in New Orleans, a sisters (grief) weekend at the one-year anniversary of my Dad’s passing in Amagansett, a wedding in Charleston, and another wedding in LA with a possible pit stop in Vegas. Might even add in a quick jaunt to Portland (PDX not Maine). Look out here for traveling report outs over the next few months. And, send me any and all of your food and bev recs for these cities!