The Blog Archive: 3/28/20-4/3/20

Welcome to The Leftovers, a.k.a. The Blog Archive, a.k.a. the archive for the Serious Eats group blog for these troubling times.

Below you'll find all the posts put up on The Blog from March 28, 2020, to April 3, 2020, with the latest post right at the top.

Back to The Blog.

The Blog Archive: 3/20/20-3/27/20

Chili Crisp Grilled Cheese?!?

Ariel ended up making chili crisp grilled cheese and Kenji's 15-minute blender tomato soup on the Twitch stream, not the roasted potatoes we suggested before. We regret the error. (Not really! We don't regret it! Those potatoes are worth promoting anyway!)

She notes: "Don't have white bread to throw in the soup? Use an English muffin!"

4/3 5:25

Have You Even Thought About Your Poor Desk Plants?

Maggie has, and she trekked to our office to check on them. They're doing fine! Except the snake plant, which is getting a little too much light.

Here's hoping you have someone like Maggie in your office life.

4/3 17:09

Livin' XL

Paul one-upped Kenji's good, really quite amazing (but simple, and nevertheless smart) quesadilla method.

Or as he says: "Threw some cheese on the outside—yolo."

Indeed, P., indeed.

4/3 3:50

Eat Your Mistakes, People!

It's the only way to learn.

4/3 15:36

Post-Shopping Prep

View this post on Instagram

Farmers’ market haul. Been avoiding shopping trips as much as possible, especially supermarkets, but greenmarkets continue to be so clutch while also setting the bar for safe food shopping. Put together a little guide in my stories for processing and storing produce once you get it home. Take care of your veg.

A post shared by Sasha Marx (@sfmarx) on Apr 2, 2020 at 4:32pm PDT

If you plan on stocking up on a bunch of fresh produce on one of your few grocery runs, Sasha has a nice guide for how to immediately prep that stuff so you can be sure you're getting the most out of that delicious, precious, fresh veg.

4/3 14:45

Serious Eats, Live!

We've got several live stream events today. We hope you'll check them out!

Sasha will be doing a stream on Instagram at 2:00 PM EDT. He's going to do a quick kitchen tour to show you all what he's working with, and a brief pasta Q&A.

Daniel will be doing a Reddit livestream about maintaining and cleaning cast iron pans at 2:30 PM EDT.

And Ariel will be back again on Twitch this afternoon at 4:30 PM EDT making one of the recipes on the site (TBD for now, maybe those best roasted potatoes that really are the best).

4/3 12:40

Damn, Daniel!

Daniel DK putting all of us to shame with his creativity. Here's his description:

"Sourdough scallion pancake, chickpea/carrot/chard sauté, homemade yogurt, and salsa verde."

4/3 12:30

Stockpiling Insanity

Sho writes:

"My wife decided this was a perfectly reasonable thing to buy. Although, to be fair, I panic-bought a ton of katsuobushi."

4/3 12:15

Meals Illustrated

Over at artnetnews, Sarah Cascone writes about quondam professional cook and current outsider artist Itsuo Kobayashi, who has been painting every one of his meals for over thirty years. Now he does pop-up paintings!

Also, check out artnet's Instagram, which is good for many, many minutes of not thinking about a dang thing except art.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Artnet (@artnet) on Mar 25, 2020 at 8:27am PDT

4/3 11:30

Bill Withers, RIP

The Associated Press obituary.

4/3 10:55

Free Meals for All New Yorkers

The New York City Department of Education is providing three free meals to any and all New Yorkers who need them, with vegetarian and halal options available. Check out the link for locations near you.

If readers from other states/municipalities find some similar resource, please let us know.

4/3 10:50

Bags of Cheese

User qpalzm147 asks:

Any ideas on how to use a large Costco bag of cheddar cheese?

Quesadillas for days. Not just grilled cheeses, but grilled cheese explosions! Mac and cheese! 'Nduja mac and cheese! Baked mac and cheese! Cheddar biscuits! Cheddar cheese soup! (Oh, we meant "broccoli and cheddar cheese soup.")

What are we missing?

4/3 10:43

Good Morning! Toaster Oven Salmon Edition

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ariel Kanter (@arielkanter) on Apr 2, 2020 at 2:31pm PDT

4/3 10:16

Tilit, for a Good Cause

Daniel writes: Tilit is selling a cool T-shirt with all proceeds going to NYC restaurant workers in need.

4/2 16:44

What We're Making for Dinner

Here we go again, folks!

• Sho: "Was going to do some lesser form of pasta in our pantry with tomato sauce, but after looking at Ariel's gemelli, we're going to use those (we have the same stuff). Plus sweet Italian sausage on the side and sautéd escarole with garlic and anchovies."
• Kristina: "I'll be a making a call for pizza delivery."
• Paul: "We're going to thaw some soup we made over the weekend (some variation of a Helen Rosner recipe)."
• Ariel: "I'm making salmon (from OurHarvest). Maybe Kenji's 5-minute toaster oven one? Have lots of mushrooms to use so am planning on sautéing them with kale."
• Vicky: "Mom's makin' some roast pork with stuffing and potatoes."
• Sasha: "Dinner tonight: ordering Mama’s Too today-only special lasagne Bolognese."
• Daniel DK: "Jacques Pepin's speedy lamb stew :)."
• Niki: "Tonight is dinner from the restaurant at our corner. We've been trying to order delivery/take-out at least 2-3 times a week to keep supporting our neighborhood restaurants."

4/2 16:15

Just Some Fine Lookin' Pasta

Ariel put some of those home-grown cherry tomatoes to good use in this gemelli with pesto. The gemelli is from Gustiamo, the fine Italian food purveyor we here at SE love, our go-to source for bottarga and colatura, both of which we highly recommend. (Their selection of olive oil is also worth considering—pricey, yes, but well worth it.)

4/2 16:03

I <3 NY

Sure, we're living in the epicenter of the epidemic in the US. But, on the other hand, if you've got the scratch, you can buy fancy food from fancy food suppliers.

4/2 15:30

Diversify Your Hobbying

Apparently the crew has diversified their quarantime activities beyond babying their sourdough starters and making bread. (Above, Maggie's sister, Joann, doing the sourdough thing.)

Vicky has set up a makeshift pottery studio in her apartment.

And Ariel is doing gardening, using a product that was widely derided around the office until cherry tomatoes became a luxury to covet.

How are you all passing the non-cooking time?

4/2 11:50

;-)

Maggie and her sister, Joann, made bread, but only Maggie went full-on fallen Maia.

"The Eye was rimmed with fire, but was itself glazed, yellow as a cat’s, watchful and intent, and the black slit of its pupil opened on a pit, a window into nothing." (From The Fellowship of the Ring (of course!).

4/2 11:11

Behold, the Man

Daniel DK was wondering yesterday what to do with some lamb steaks, which ended up starting a discussion that culminated in someone linking to the Jacques Pepin video below. This is just a reminder that Jacques Pepin is THE MAN and that many episodes of his various television shows over the years are available free to stream/watch from public television YouTube channels.

4/2 10:57

Good Morning! Have a Cookie Edition

Stella's chocolate chip cookies, as made by Ariel on the Twitch stream yesterday. She donated the batch to her local urgent care. Go, Ariel! (Yes, it's safe, but if you want to do something similar make sure to call ahead first to get approval.)

4/2 9:45

Chocolate Chip Cookies! On Twitch!

Ariel is live on Twitch, making Stella's chocolate chip cookies. If you missed it, don't worry! You can always view past streams at your leisure.

4/1 17:21

What We're Eating for Dinner

Again, just to give you all (and us) inspiration, here's what Serious Eats staffers are making for dinner tonight.

• Yasmine: "Quiche! Broccoli-cheddar, to be specific."
• Sho: "Pork tenderloin medallions with a mushroom pan sauce and some mashed potatoes."
• Paul: "Kale Caesar.
• Ariel: "We're making Jamie Oliver's super green spaghetti because we have soooo much kale.
• John: "I dunno I got some Chapagetti."
• Maggie: "I might do the lazy thing and make a Shin Ramyun with kimchi and an egg. Didn’t prep/think much this morning. Packaged noods unite!"
• Vicky: "i have a bunch of mushrooms and kale I sautéd last night. Gonna use some of my homemmade bread and make an egg toast situation.
• Sasha: "Leftovers for dinner tonight. The pork and bean stew from last night, and orecchiette from the night before."
• Daniel: "I've got bratwurst (really more of a weisswurst) with braised Savoy cabbage and marinated oyster mushrooms, which was dinner last night also."
• Ed: "Maybe an English muffin pizza made with Rao’s marinara sauce and some mediocre mozzarella from Fairway and a healthy amount of Parmesan cheese."
• Daniel DK: "Probably leftover oyster mushroom/bacon gemelli. Maybe also a carrot/chickpea /chard sauté."
• Niki: "Either leftovers of Daniel's pressure cooker chicken curry orrrr lamb meatloaf, with a simple arugla salad."

Good appetite, y'all.

4/1 17:01

Picnic Break

Kristina starts off her tenute at Serious Eats strong (welcome, Kristina!) with this snap her husband took of a neighbor's very nice quarantime project of providing neighborhood squirrels with something to occupy their time.

4/1 16:07

Pet Break

Reader Gloria sends in this snap of Kitty, whose real name is Pans, checking out a tasty spread of "canned tuna, country ham, 3 different kinds of cat treats, and cat dental treats," which she would not eat until the country ham had been removed.

4/1 3:14

Pepys on Plague Times

Lapham's Quarterly has published selections from Samuel Pepys' diaries from the time when London was suffering under the Great Plague of 1665.

4/1 13:51

Pasta Merch

If you're enjoying Starch Madness, or if you just like looking at the beautiful photos Vicky shot of all the pasta varieties, we've set up a wee merch shop with prints and other pasta-themed stuff.

All the proceeds from sales will be donated to World Central Kitchen, the relief organization founded by Chef José Andrés, so it's for a good cause.

4/1 12:56

Celeb-Spotting

Marian Bull over at Bon Appetit: "Celebrities, I’ve learned through this experience, are 'just like us!' in at least one crucial way: They, too, are going insane.."

4/1 12:03

Quarantene

4/1 11:40

That's a Spicy Pizza

Paul made the spicy Sicilian pie. Maybe all of the rest of us should, too?

4/1 11:05

Cronus-virus Content

4/1 10:33

Madness

View this post on Instagram

Filling out brackets! @seriouseats #StarchMadness One pasta to rule them all!!

A post shared by B O B B Y · C A R L S E N (@b.o.b.b.y.c.a.r.l.s.e.n) on Mar 31, 2020 at 6:13pm PDT

Starch Madness is all about pasta, but who says it can't be about family fun, too?

4/1 10:15

Good Morning! SMDH Edition

Of the delicious loaf of banana bread above, Sho writes:

"This is why I do the cooking. My wife decided to make Stella's banana bread with our kid, but she didn't follow the recipe all that closely (?), added chocolate chips (??), and then acquiesced to our daughter's pleas to add sprinkles (???) because "we don't have any cream to make whipped cream" (????????)."

Seems like Sho needs to relax, we say.

4/1 9:50

Crepes! On Twitch!

Ariel went live on Twitch today to make some delicious-looking crepes. She'll be doing these most every day, time allowing, but if you miss out, don't worry! You can always view past streams at your leisure.

Here's the basic crepe batter recipe she used, and here's the easy caramel sauce. And if you want to slice up some apples way before you make the crepes, just to get them out of the way, check out our guide for making sure they don't take on an unappealing brown.

3/31 16:24

Meals for Those on the Front

Maggie’s friend Lena started a fundraiser to help healthcare workers in NYC with restaurant meals. Lena Wu and Tina Xiao, founders of Feed Your Hospital, feed COVID-19 healthcare workers in New York City by supporting local Asian restaurants. They collaborate directly with restaurants to develop new menu options and bento-style menu items, and coordinate delivery to hospitals.

3/31 16:15

Perfect!

Sasha's tri-tip beef roast came out perfectly, and was a great find amidst the grocery store panic from r/seriouseats

Sasha points out: "This is a perfectly executed reverse-sear, and the OP got that whole tri-tip roast for 12 bucks!"

3/31 14:56

Be Humane!

Daniela Galarza over at Grub Street has a reminder for everyone, everywhere, as they try to navigate the current crisis.

3/31 13:24

The Incredibly Versatile Potato

3/31 12:29

What We're Making for Dinner

Some of us, and presumably some of you, have been struggling to come up with dinner ideas, so we thought it might be helpful to figure out what we're doing for dinner early in the day to give ourselves a leg up come suppertime. The best way to always be prepared for what you're going to cook at the next meal is to have thought about it far, far in advance, rather than right at the last minute, but we, like you, have a lot of stuff to do—work, kids, generalized anxiety to nurse and assuage, things other than bare sustenance to think about—and sometimes you forget, at other times you just don't have the energy, and sometimes even with the best effort your mind comes up blank.

To that end, here is what some of our staff are making tonight, with any recipes that might be applicable.

View this post on Instagram

Vegan kale pesto 🍃 For anyone else trying to use up all their bunches of kale, here’s how it goes: Chop and blanch a full bunch of kale in salted water, starting in batches with the stemmy bits, and cooking them the longest. While those are blanching, blend a big glug olive oil and about 1 + 1/2 cups mixed nuts—cashews (my fav for this), pine nuts, pecans, walnuts, along w a few cloves garlic. Spoon a few splashes of the boiling water in too, to cook the garlic. Once that all is creamy, add in your kale, a pinch of salt, a little squeeze of lemon, and blend again. Taste, adjust, blend, voila.

A post shared by Elazar Sontag (@e_zar) on Mar 29, 2020 at 3:45pm PDT

• Elazar: I'm going to make pasta with an amazing kale pesto I made the other day [pictured above].
• Maggie: Roasted fennel and mushrooms, veggie burgers (the winner from Trader Joes!).
• Sho: Chicken karaage and Kenji's truly the best roasted potatoes.
• Sasha: planning on a borlotti bean and pork stew tomorrow night, using leftover roast pork shoulder from last night’s miniature Thai pork shoulder feast for two.

3/31 11:27

Eat the Rich

Jonathan Kauffman over at Eater reports on the plight of the caretakers of the wealthy, like private chefs, whose clients aren't being particularly empathetic.

3/31 11:03

Mutually Beneficial

Pete Wells describes how delivering meals to healthcare workers has become an unexpected lifeline for restaurants.

3/31 10:29

Good Morning! Pancake Edition

Mile High Pancakes from r/seriouseats

Have you been introduced to Stella's magic pancake mix? No? Well, now you have!

3/31 9:51

What We're Making

Really, this might as well be what Vicky's making, since she's been on a tear.

Here's Vicky's simple crusty white loaf.

Her avo-toast situation with an egg.

And Vicky and her mom made Kenji's buttermilk brined fried chicken.

Ariel also chimed in with these perfect renditions of Stella's English muffins.

3/30 17:03

Forever

Wu-Tang Flan from r/funny

3/30 16:10

What You're Cooking

Reader Nancy sends in this photo of leek and potato soup with some salmon and Brazi Bites alongside.

Reader Gigi sends in this photo of her poached eggs in green mole.

And reader Hendrik says: "Back when I was in college, Kenji's pan pizza was a staple of mine, since it was something I could do easily completely from scratch within the limits of a dorm kitchen, and it was also very well suited for my lifestyle at the time. Now that I've been home a lot during the daytime, I realized it should absolutely make a return (I haven't made it in several years), and I was clearly missing it. Difficult times call for comfort foods. The dough and sauce are straight from Kenji's recipes, while the toppings are a riff off of one pizza from a local takeout chain (whose pizzas I'm otherwise not a fan of) with pickled peppers, Italian sausage, and basil."

We love the photos, folks, keep sending them in!

3/30 15:50

Pet Break

Speaking of waffles, reader Laura writes in with an adorable snap of Waffles pawing at a plate of biscotti.

3/30 14:51

Necessity Is the Mother of the French Fry Waffle

Better pressure cooker butter chicken on a french fry waffle from r/seriouseats

Here's that butter chicken recipe and a fry recipe.

3/30 14:46

Mindy Kvelling

We have no official position on this provocation other than: Please read the replies!

3/30 14:20

Samin Nosrat's Quarantine Diet

Elazar (proudly) writes:

"In her Grubstreet diet, Samin Nosrat said my cookies (these oatmeal cookies, made gluten free) were PERFECTLY BAKED. That is all. Thank you for coming."

3/30 13:56

The Mailbag

Reader Yae asks:

Listen, I’m loving this blog – both the tone of it and all those great photos and things – but it’s really killing the browser on my poor old tablet (probably because of those very photos). The page is so heavy that it has trouble loading and reacting, and will often crash while I’m reading. Is there some way to move older posts to a different page (like what you have on standard blogs)?

Much appreciated.

Stay safe and happy, as much as possible, everyone!

(P.S. Here in the Jerusalem lockdown I’m planning to try and use the allowed 100m roaming range to forage some mallow leaves from the side of the road. If there are any good ones left, anyway. Mallow leaves sauteed with onion, sumac and lemon are delicious, especially with an egg on top.)

We are going to try to figure out a solution to this issue! We appreciate your patience! (The mallow leaves sound scrumptious.)

3/30 13:38

Have You Made THE Potatoes Yet?

View this post on Instagram

Kenji’s miraculous “ Best Crispy Roast Potatoes Ever”. Perfect way to spend a “Social Distancing” Friday. Very proud. Sent this pic to Kenji: He said I “nailed it.” Do try these at home: www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/12/the-best-roast-potatoes-ever-recipe.html

A post shared by Ed Levine (@seriouseatered) on Mar 28, 2020 at 8:51am PDT

You're stuck at home, potatoes are cheap, they're amazing...embrace the amazing potato.

3/30 12:18

Dinner for Schmucks

The New York Post reports about a festival of fools having dinner parties.

3/30 10:55

One-Upmanship? In This Crisis?

Like, everyone and their sister is making bread for the first time and this guy is making ancient Egyptian bread with ancient Egyptian yeast and milling his own emmer to approximate ancient Egyptian techniques and baking his ancient Egyptian bread with a makeshift oven. Come on!

3/30 10:11

Good Morning! Monday Bad Egg Edition

Sho mimicked an egg dish he saw on some famous cook's Instagram: Poached egg on toast floated in chicken broth.

The verdict: "If you want to eat soup, eat soup."

3/30 9:50

Be Prepared

A useful guide for shopping for East Asian snacks, an installment in a good, new newsletter written by Jonathan Nunn.

3/28 17:00

It Always Was!

3/28 16:38

All Aboard!

Paul is going off the rails on the crazy bread train! (If you want a ticket to ride, see the ticket office, please.

3/28 13:00

Eat Your Greens!

Vicky got her hands on some greens, so into a spanakopita they went!

She documented the process in her Instagram stories, if you're curious:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Vicky Wasik (@victakespics) on Mar 27, 2020 at 4:54pm PDT

3/28 11:45

Our Harvest

Ariel recommends the grocery delivery from Our Harvest. ("The Scottish salmon is incredible.")

The greens and mushrooms are interesting, although as with many of these delivery services, a little pricey. Also, they only deliver to the NYC metropolitan area and Long Island.

If you use/can recommend a grocery delivery service in your area, email us and we'll put it up for readers outside NYC and environs.

3/28 10:50

Foolproof Pizza, a Sourdough Variation

Maggie's sister Joann decided to test the limits of our foolproof pan pizza's foolproofery by using a sourdough starter, and it seems like it worked out wonderfully. Here's what she did:

I modified the recipe slightly to replace the yeast with sourdough starter:

344g bread flour

219g water

112.5g mature sourdough starter

10g salt (same as original)

8g olive oil (same as original)

3/28 10:45

Good Morning! Sourdough Crag Edition

Maggie, who climbs, sends this over: "I am longing to climb!"

Quarantine day 11: climbing Sourdough Crag, Eugene OR. from r/ClimbingPorn

3/28 9:26