034: April Cooking Notes
Everything I cooked last month
April. A bit of a drag, but also one of the most beautiful times of the year. The magnolias and the cherry blossoms bloom and then get washed away by the rain. Kind of the perfect metaphor for my mixed feelings about the past month. We had the kind of cold weather that chills you to the bone because of that one hot week that convinced you it was basically already summer, making the rest of the month somehow feel even colder than the dead of winter. I suspect that when it finally does warm up it will be too hot too fast (yesterday, when I was finishing this, potentially confirmed my suspicions). But lest we forget that April is exemplified by the abundance of spring growth, whenever it wasn’t rainy and cold, we were outside admiring the cherry blossoms on Liberty Street and I was trying to teach Tycho (my one-year-old) to smell flowers instead of eat them. He laughed harder than I’ve ever heard when I buried my face theatrically in a branch of an abundant lilac tree. By now our yard is covered overhead in a thick umbrella of maple leaves, and I can’t sit outside without seed pods showering down into my water glass (I love it).
Tycho is at the stage where he’s beginning to identify, and vociferously express, his wants beyond his simple needs, so I’m discovering what our days can be like not just on my terms (“ok we’re going to be in the kitchen now because I need to do the dishes”) but navigating what it’s like now that he knows how to tell me he wants to be on the porch opening and closing the door again and again, or exploring the yard (with me trailing him to make sure he doesn’t crawl on something gross or sharp) or climbing endlessly up and down the stairs. I keep reminding myself that what seems like an obsession is just rooted in exploration, and will morph into something else soon—whose to say what (walking for one thing, but I’m excited to see what he wants to do when he’s able to walk), so we’ll probably move past it and when we do maybe I’ll figure out how to fit things in all over again.
Before he began crawling up the stairs I managed to bake a lot from Alison Roman’s Sweet Enough—as you’ll read below, I was as equally frustrated as I was thrilled with my experience of cooking from it (though I haven’t tried any of the savories and only one of the pies and tarts). Otherwise, I made a lot of rice bowls and Mina Stone’s sheet pan veg and sausage dish, citrus-roasted salmon, and of course pasta.
xo AV
The Notables
Bucatini with Sardines, Fennel, and Anchovy Breadcrumbs (Rachel Roddy, An A to Z of Pasta) / A pasta dish to write home about. Beautiful in taste and texture, due to this excellent trifecta of ingredients. I continue to obsessively cook my way through Rachel Roddy’s books and not mad about it.
Lamb Ragù with dandelion greens (Colu Henry, Colu Cooks: Easy Fancy Food) / I made this on Easter, after some very last minute planning, and after seeing it on my friend Amy’s Easter menu (posted on her Instagram). I’m a sucker for holidays as an excuse to plan a meal and this was no exception, despite the fact that we don’t care about Easter (that’ll probably change now that we have a kid). This is such a beautiful dish and the inclusion of the greens (we used dandelion but the recipe calls for pea shoots) is a welcome surprise.
My Sweet Enough bakes / WHAT WORKED: the Seeded Breakfast Cake (perfect amount of sweet and savory, perfect consistency, light, airy—plan to bake again and again); the Chocolate Sour Cream Loaf Cake (so decadent and delish and comforting—ditto, can’t wait to make this again); the Cold Carrot Cake (perfectly moist, love the inclusion of dates!, it’s much better cold than warm—too heavy—hence the title of the recipe); and the Cornbread (I have already made it 3 times, it’s so good; don’t skip the mayonnaise). The Toasted Rice Pudding is a real delight, but perhaps slightly too sweet for me (an easy thing to adjust so I by no means mean this negatively). All excellent and well-worth the price of admission. The Old Fashioned Strawberry Cake, Lemon-Fennel Semolina Cake, and the Raspberry Ricotta Cake weren’t as successful due to my oven temp being unpredictable (yes I have finally replaced my back-up thermometer), coming out either under-or-over baked. I don’t attribute this issue to the recipes—very much a me (my oven) problem! And they were still really good.
WHAT DIDN’T: The Tangy Buttermilk Pie tasted good, but I had some issues with the recipe. If you follow the instructions as is you might destroy the bottom of your crust (as I did mine—there were slices of pie without much crust at all). I suspect that the par-baked crust should cool before the cold batter is poured in, but can’t be sure. The Maple Pancakes also didn’t behave the way they were intended, and there were a few copyediting issues in the book (or perhaps inconsistencies of style is a better way to say it) that screwed me up (for example, most recipes tell you to bring your butter to room temp in the ingredients, and others don’t). Testing a desserts book is no doubt a Herculean task.
Gin & Tonica (Colu Henry, from her newsletter) / a G&T is my go-to cocktail, and I love getting creative with garnishes (blueberry & basil/a sprig of rosemary/a couple slices of strawberry/etc). This European style G&T that Colu wrote about while on her enviable trip, was new to me and is now my preferred way of drinking one. The short explanation is lemon instead of lime, but I recommend making one to Colu’s specifications, despite how simple it sounds. It’s revitalized my enjoyment of the humble G&T.
Citrus-roasted salmon with millet and a fennel salad (Alison Roman) / This salmon recipe is my go-to (along with Mina Stone’s cumin-roasted preparation that I highlighted in last month’s cooking notes). I served it with Nigella Lawson’s herbed millet and a simple fennel salad, dressed with lemon juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper.
Everything I Cooked
4.1.23 / Gin & Tonicas (Colu Henry)
4.2.23 / Old Fashioned Strawberry Cake (Alison Roman, Sweet Enough)
4.3.23 / Bucatini with Sardines, Fennel, & Anchovy Breadcrumbs (Rachel Roddy, An A to Z of Pasta); Chocolate Sour Cream Loaf Cake (Alison Roman, Sweet Enough)
4.5.23 / Pinto Beans & boiled green beans; Zucchini, cheese & egg frittata on corn tortillas
4.6.23 / Zucchini & cheese scramble; Beans & greens with turkey sausage
4.7.23 / Scrambled eggs & a waffle; Kimchi fried rice (Eric Kim, Korean American); Dilly Bean Stew (Alison Roman); Ruote with gorgonzola, walnuts, & sage (Rachel Roddy, An A to Z of Pasta); Toasted Rice Pudding (Alison Roman, Sweet Enough)
4.8.23 / Kimchi fried rice with eggs and roasted seaweed; Leftover Rice Pudding with crushed amaretto cookies
4.9.23 / Lamb ragu with dandelion greens (Colu Henry, Colu Cooks: Easy Fancy Food); Tangy Buttermilk Pie (Alison Roman, Sweet Enough)
4.10.23 / Gyeran Bap (Eric Kim, Korean American); Cauliflower Pasta (Rachel Roddy, An A to Z of Pasta)
4.11.23 / Tomatoey Pot of Beans
4.12.23 / Boiled sweet potatoes; Spinach with beans & fennel vinaigrette; Tuna-Mayo Rice Bowl (Eric Kim/NYT)
4.13.23 / Gyeran Bap w/ sweet potatoes, gochugaru and roasted seaweed
4.16.23 / Lemon-Fennel Semolina Cake (Alison Roman, Sweet Enough); Gyeran bap with Zhong Sauce; Roasted summer veggies with Italian sausage & oregano (Mina Stone, Lemon Love and Olive Oil)
4.17.23 / Tuna Mayo Rice Bowl (Eric Kim/NYT); Sardine Rice Bowl w/ dandelion greens
4.18.23 / Spinach-mushroom frittata; Turkey-Mascarpone Meatballs with Marinara Sauce (Colu Henry)
4.19.23 / Spinach-Mushroom-Cipollini Onion Omelette; Cornbread (Alison Roman, Sweet Enough); Broccoli Pasta (Carter Were, Carter’s Cookbook 1)
4.20.23 / Spinach & Sardine & Chickpea salad; Raspberry Ricotta Cake (Alison Roman, Sweet Enough); Beef Stew (Carter Were, Carter’s Cookbook 1)
4.21.23 / Tuna Mayo Rice Bowl (Eric Kim/NYT)
4.22.23 / Roasted vegetables w/ Italian Sausage (Mina Stone, Lemon Love and Olive Oil)
4.23.23 / Seeded Breakfast Cake (Alison Roman, Sweet Enough); Gyeran bap; Breakfast cake with vanilla ice cream
4.24.23 / Oatmeal with peanut butter and berries; Tuna on toast w/ arugula; Chili with cornbread
4.25.23 / Zucchini scramble; Raspberry Ricotta Cake (Alison Roman, Sweet Enough); Citrus-roasted salmon (Alison Roman) w/ millet (Nigella Lawson) and a fennel salad
An honor to be at your table. Especially on a holiday. 🩷
Loved this reminder-- “I keep reminding myself that what seems like an obsession is just rooted in exploration, and will morph into something else soon” so true and a helpful reframe with little ones and ourselves :)