Arroz Con Pollo | The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

I'd made him arroz con pollo that night, and I specifically didn't take my apron off when I brought it up. I wanted him to see me as harmless and domestic. I thought I'd get further if I didn't threaten him.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Taylor Jenkins Reed

I loved, loved, loved this book. I think I started it on a Saturday morning lounging in bed and found myself finishing it that afternoon - having not left my bed.

I’m sure I’m not the only person that has been rapidly devouring the works of Taylor Jenkins Reed, and even more so looking forward the television adaptations of both this book and also Daisy Jones and the Six.

There are a few mentions of food throughout the pages in this story, but after looking up exactly what arroz con pollo was it felt like the perfect lunchtime meal on a cold autumns day. This recipe is FAR from authentic, but it is pretty delicious and seemed to disappear from people’s plates quite fast.

*Note: I used a plant-based faux chicken for this recipe and it took a lot less time to brown at the start, so just be aware of that if you’re using real chicken.

Arrow Con Pollo
Serves approx. 4 people
Ingredients
400g chicken *see note
1 brown onion, finely diced
1 red capsicum, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp ground coriander
4 tbsp tomato paste
250ml chicken stock
200g long-grain rice
3/4 cup frozen peas
Flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped, to serve
Lemon, to serve

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet until hot, add the chicken and brown on each side before removing from the heat. Add in the onion and capsicum, cook for about 1 minute until soft before adding in the garlic and cooking for another minute.

2. Add in the spices and tomato paste, letting it cook for around 2 minutes before adding the chicken back to the pan along with the rice and chicken stock. Reduce to a low heat and cover to let it cook for about 15 - 20 minutes, or until the rice and chicken are both cooked.

3. Add in the frozen peas and parsley, stir through until heated and then serve immediately with fresh lemon. Enjoy!

Hot Dogs | A Confederacy of Dunces

'Then why don't we stop and eat something?' Ignatius pointed to the cart at the corner. It was shaped like a hot dog on wheels. 'I believe that they vend foot-long hot dogs.'
'Hot dogs? Honey, in all this rain and cold we gonna stand outside and eat weenies?' '
It's a thought.'
A Confederacy of Dunces
John Kennedy Toole

It’s taken me so very long to finally read A Confederacy of Dunces. I found a copy at a secondhand store years ago, and I’m just slightly disappointed at myself that I didn’t read it the moment I got it. The history of the book is fascinating, only published eleven years after the author’s death - it went on to earn John Kennedy Toole a posthumous Pulitzer Prize. Nearly every list of 100 Books to Read before you die has it appear somewhere, and it’s one of the books that I’ve made more people comment on than anything else, every time I read it in public.

Hot dogs felt like the item I had to create from the pages of this novel - a food item that is referred to and focused upon many times. I really didn’t have the patience to try and attempt to make my own hot dogs for this as well - plus my googling for any potential recipes to see what others had done left me in the possession of far too many pages of ‘carrot’ hotdogs as a vegan alternative. I do love a good carrot, and I’m all for good substitutes but there are so many good plant based hot dogs out there, do we really need to just use a carrot instead?

Instead I decided to make the hotdog buns, and the toppings. I did attempt a mustard but unfortunately it turned out particularly vile and basically inedible. I invited some friends over and we spent a sunny day in the front yard munching on hotdogs as they waited for my approval to take a bite once the photos were satisfactory.

*Note: yes I could have attempted to make the hotdogs but I honestly couldn’t be bothered. I had some plant based hot dogs from Moving Mountain in my freezer and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to use them.

Hot Dogs
Ingredients
Makes approx. 5 -6 hot dogs
Buns
500g bread flour
150ml warm milk + extra for a wash
120ml warm water
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp dry active yeast
Sea salt
3 tbsp butter
Sauce
2kg ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped up
1 onion, roughly chopped, 2 garlic cloves, sliced
10 whole cloves
1 tablespoon paprika
2 tbsp salt
1 cinnamon stick
130g white sugar
500ml apple cider vinegar
+ hot dogs of your choice *see note

Buns

1. Start by preparing the dough for the hot dog buns. Combine the flour, sugar, pinch of salt, and yeast together in a bowl. Add in the warm milk and water and mix together until a dough begins to form. If it’s too dry you can add a little more water as if necessary.

2. Bring the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, using the heel of your hand to press it down and away from yourself. Knead the dough for around 10 minutes or until it becomes smooth and malleable.

3. Lightly oil a large bowl and place the dough it in, ensuring that the surface of the dough is also spread with oil. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave in a warm place for around an hour or until the dough has double in size.

   Sauce

4. While the dough is rising you can make the tomato sauce. Place the tomatoes, onion, cloves, paprika, garlic, cinnamon and salt into a saucepan on a medium heat.

5. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer. You want the tomatoes to break down almost completely - this will take around an hour of cooking.

6. Once the tomatoes have broken down into the sauce, you can add in the sugar and vinegar. Continue to simmer until the mixture reduces and thickens into a sauce consistency. Make sure you stir occasionally.

7. When it is ready you can strain the mixture through a sieve to remove the bits of cloves and tomato skin residue. I ended up doing this, getting the cloves out and then blending the tomato pieces in with the sauce I had gotten out, I prefer a much chunkier sauce. Bottle your sauce and seal until ready to use.

8. Your dough should be well and truly ready at this stage. Bring it out onto a lightly floured surface and roll it into a rectangle. Here is a good guide to the various ways you can shape the rolls as well - I ended up just shaping each individually.

9. Place the shaped buns onto a baking paper lined oven tray and cover with a clean tea towel. Leave for another hour to rise again. You can preheat the oven to 180C when you have about 30 minutes left of the second rise.

10. Once the buns have doubled in size using the remaining milk to glaze the tops of them before placing them int the preheated oven. Cook for about 15- 20 minutes or until the tops have turned a light, golden brown. Leave to cool before cutting into them.

11. Cook your chosen hot dogs however the directions say, and enjoy with your homemade buns and tomato sauce! Also delicious with mustard, pickles or onion!

Pâté | The Camomile Lawn

True, he stayed out most days until after dark, but he always came back in time for tea at five and stayed in from then on to talk to her, if she would listen, to Max, if he was home, and tirelessly to Max's musical friends, who frequently stayed to supper, samples the pâtés, compotes and cooked meats with fresh vegetables with which Monika stuffed into the hampers.
The Camomile Lawn
Mary Wesley

My city may be on lockdown but I'm still going to do it in style. And by in style, I mean by eating an entire cheeseboard and drinking excess amounts of bubbly wine. This entries recipe comes from The Camomile Lawn, a beguiling look into the lives of closely connected individuals before and during WW2. I've had this book on my shelf for many months before I finally picked it up to read, and I'm quite glad I did. I've read it more than twice already now since the start of this year - working the characters words and expressions into my mind to think back on.

I'm sure that their meals during WW2 weren't exactly made up of enormous cheese boards covered in fruit and a range of (vegan) speciality cheeses, but oh well. It likely wasn't a mushroom based pâté either - and while I have faint memories of eating actual pate when young and not hating it - these days my tastes run much towards the non-animal based alternatives to classic foods such as these ones. The mushroom is fantastic in it - it has an almost meaty texture and flavour, especially when cooked with the rest of the delicious ingredients.

Pâté
Ingredients
300g oyster mushrooms, roughly chopped
200g button mushrooms, roughly chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp beef stock + extra if needed
2 tbsp + 1 tbsp butter
1 bay leaf
2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
2 shallots, thinly sliced
20g walnuts, crushed
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
30ml tsp sherry
Sea salt
Fresh cracked pepper

1. Melt 1 tbsp of butter in a pan on medium heat - once melted add in the mushrooms and thyme and cook until they begin browning. Add a little salt and pepper at this stage, cook for another few minutes and then remove from the heat and place to the side.

2. Add another tbsp of butter to the pan and add in the shallots, cook until caramelised - around 5 minutes, then add in the walnuts and the garlic, cook for another few minutes before adding the mushrooms back into the pan, along with the beef stock and bay leaf.

3. Leave it lightly simmering in the pan until the liquid reduces down and then transfer to a blender or food processor, remembering to remove the bay leaf and any stems from the thyme. Deglaze the pan with the sherry, cook for a couple of minutes before adding it along with the olive oil into the blender or food processor with the rest of the ingredients.

4. In a pan melt the remaining tbsp of butter and place to the side to cool.

5. Season the mixture well with salt and pepper before blending until it is smooth. You can add a little more sherry or oil in during this time if it's too thick to blend properly.

6. Fill a ramekin or container to nearly the top (depending on the size of your container you may have enough for two!), and pour the melted butter on top to seal it.

7. Place into the fridge for at least a few hours to firm up and then enjoy with a cheeseboard, on a sandwich - or spooned directly from the jar.

Clam Chowder | Moby Dick

Oh, sweet friends! hearken to me. It was made of small juicy clams, scarcely bigger than hazel nuts, mixed with pounded ship biscuit, and salted pork cut up into little flakes; the whole enriched with butter, and plentifully seasoned with pepper and salt.
Moby Dick
Herman Melville

I love winters, I love pouring rain that lasts all day, I love thunderstorms that shake the world outside, I love hail that falls and litters the ground white. Growing up in the middle of the bush meant that all of these things were accompanied by the delights that can only be experienced when living in the middle of the trees. The sound of rain on the tin roof, the winds smacking around the tree branches outside and the lighting that would light the room up, unimpeded by buildings or city lights.

I live far away from all those delights now, but I still look forward to winter every year, to don my raincoat and go for long walks in the rain with an audio book or podcast keeping me company. For dinners of stews, curries and soups, anything that will keep you warm inside for the day. A lot of Australia likely don't get to experience the winters that I have, Victoria and Tasmania are really the key states that have such vivid seasons.

While this years' winter has not been particularly rain or storm filled, it has been bitingly cold. The description of the clam chowder inhaled by Ishmael and Queequeg was a delight to read and left me feeling indescribably hungry for something as filling as they had. As people may have noticed, everything on this blog is plant based - I don't eat animal products. The trickiest thing about this recipe was figuring out what to replace the clams with. I landed on shiitake mushrooms, while miso paste and soy sauce likely would not have been used in a traditional clam chowder recipe, it helped to make the little bites of mushroom juicy and sweet and, hopefully, reminiscent of what the clams would have added to the chowder.

*Note: I used just a generic plant based bacon from my local supermarket - if you're using real bacon, no need to add in the butter beforehand - there will be enough fat from it. I also used a coconut cream, but you could use any type of cream or even milk and it would be great. 

Clam Chowder
Makes approx. 2 large bowls
Ingredients
Clams
1 tbsp butter
200g shiitake mushrooms
1 tbsp white miso paste
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/2 tbsp soy / tamari sauce
Soup
2 rasher of bacon, diced *see note
2 tbsp butter1 large carrot, diced
2 lage potatoes, diced
1 onion, finely diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
500ml vegetable stock
3 tbsp plain flour1/2 cup of cream, *see note
Sea salt
Fresh black pepper

1. To make the 'clams', sliced the shiitake mushrooms, if they're quite large I would recommend dicing them a little. Heath the tbsp of butter into a saucepan and add in the sliced mushrooms once it begins to melt.

2. Add in the miso paste, soy / tamari sauce and the rice wine vinegar. Make sure you mix these in well with the butter so that it coats the mushrooms - keep them moving in the saucepan to avoid them sticking. Once they are browned and soft, you can remove them and put them to the side.

3. Add the 2 tbsp of butter to the saucepan, adding in the diced bacon and cooking until it is browned, remove from the heat and put to the side. Place the diced onion into the saucepan with the remaining melted butter and cook for around 1 - 3 minutes or until the onion softens before adding in the carrots and potatoes.

4. Add in the plain flour and minced garlic, stir it quickly so it coats the vegetables and mixes with any remaining butter in the pan. After a minute or so, add in the cream and mix well with the flour and vegetables.

5. Add in the vegetable stock - there should be enough to cover all the vegetables in the saucepan, if not use a little more. Add in the bacon and shiitake mushroom ' clams' at this stage, and leave on the stove to simmer for around 15 minutes or until the potatoes have softened. Remember to keep stirring during this time, as the soup will begin to thicken from the flour. Add a little more stock in if it gets too thick.

6. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Bagels | Sweetbitter

Bagels sometimes work, but not with anything on them besides cream cheese. You think you want lox, but you don't. You think you want bacon, but you don't. Salt will promote your headache.
Sweetbitter
Stephanie Danler

I spent fourteen years working in cafes, bars, bakeries and restaurants. Usually as a role out the front, but occasionally ducking into the kitchens to develop whatever kitchen skills I could. It was only in the previous year that I left that industry, moving to an office job. While I do enjoy my current job immensely, I still think back on those years working in restaurants with an odd fondness. The book Sweetbitter only brought those memories to life again, the after work drinks that inevitably went too long - the hungover chef desperately pleading for a coffee at 6am as they struggled to whip up a hollandaise, and the general camaraderie of it all.

I have to disagree a little with the claim from Sweetbitter's Tess in the quote above - nothing quite fixed my hangover in my barista days quite like a bacon and tomato sauce roll (back before I went strictly plant-based of course, now I'm all about those facon sandwiches). It was common for the breakfast chef in one particular cafe I was at, to make up a plate of them for the front of house staff, a silent exchange for unlimited coffees provided throughout the breakfast service.

The ever delicious 5 & Dime Bagel is amazingly, right near my office - they do vegan cream cheese, vegan lox and are generally all around awesome - they have been a saviour (even before I even worked in the office) in the days where a carb hit was desperately needed. I've been missing them thoroughly during Melbourne's lockdown and  decided instead this past week to make my own - I've tried before, and the result was delicious but not a bagel. It was airy, quite crunchy and not really what you want. I used this great recipe for these ones and adjusted it slightly - I found the first time I made it, the dough wasn't quite right so I've altered the amounts a bit.

Bagels
Makes approx. 5 - 6 bagels
Ingredients
2 tsp instant yeast
2 tsp caster sugar
200ml warm water
4 cups bread flour
Sea Salt
Toppings
Sesame seeds
Poppy seeds
Garlic
Can be anything you like!

1. Combine 120ml of the warm water with the yeast and the sugar. Leave to sit for around 5 minutes or until the yeast becomes a little foamy.

2. In a large bowl mix the flour and 2 tsp of sea salt, make a well in the centre and pour in the yeast mixture. add in the remaining 80ml of warm water and mix the dough together, until it forms a firm dough. You may need a little more warm water during this part if it's too dry.

3. Lightly flour a surface and turn the dough out onto it. Knead firmly for around ten minutes, or until the dough has become smooth and elastic like. If the dough is too sticky, you may need to work a little more flour into it - or a little more water if it's too dry.

4. Lightly oil a bowl and place the prepared dough inside, turning it so all the dough has a light layer of oil. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave in a warm place for one hour or until the dough doubles in size.

5. Once the dough has doubled in size, turn it out onto a clean surface and press it down. Split it into 5 - 6 pieces (depends how big you want your bagels!) and roughly mould each piece into a ball.

6. Making your fingers into a sort of cage around a ball of dough, roll it on a surface until it becomes smooth. Use two fingers to press a hole into the middle of the ball, gently widening the hole until it's as large as you like. Place onto a piece of baking paper and repeat the process with the rest of the dough, cover with a clean tea towel and leave for around 12 - 20 minutes to rise again.

7. While the bagels are rising put a large (depending how many bagels you want in at once, it doesn't have to be that bit) pot of water on and heat it to a boil. Preheat your oven to 180C.

8. Gently - I recommend using a spatula here - place each bagel into the boiling water (you can do multiple or just one at a time), leave in for around 6 minutes, making sure you turn it so both sides of the bagel are at covered in the water. Place the boiled bagel onto a baking paper lined oven tray, while the top is wet you want to sprinkle your toppings on - sesame seeds, poppy seeds etc.

9. Once all the bagels have been boiled and are on the baking tray, place it in the oven to bake for around 25 minutes or until they become golden brown on top.

10. Transfer to a cooling rack or dig into a fresh one straight away!

Pies and Pickles | Five Go Off to Camp

They all sat down to dinner. There was a big meat-pie, a cold ham, salad, potatoes in their jackets, and home-made pickles. It really was difficult to know what to choose.
Five Go Off to Camp
Enid Blyton

I don't think there's much I can say about Enid Blyton that hasn't already been said. Basically every book of hers was my entire childhood and even now I have a vast collection of vintage Enid Blyton books that is growing worryingly large.Famous Five was probably my key story of choice out of all her works. Something about a group of children ruining plots and spending their summers camping by themselves was incredibly appealing to myself (and any young child I'm sure). I have memories of diligently going around and tapping the walls of my aunts old house, positive that there must be a secret passage way hidden somewhere.

Of course, the thing that stands out the most from any Famous Five story is, and will always be, the food. How did Blyton make something as simple as fresh bread and butter sound so delectable? I remember vividly wanting to snack on sardines and apricots from tins - because that was the five's meal of choice when picnicking by the beach.

I've gone with something a little less ration like for this particular recipe, and a little more towards the feast they would get at every farmhouse they came across. A large meat pie with some homemade pickles to go with it (I say meat pie - a more plant based version, as usual, is what I actually made).

*Note: I used vegan stewed beef chunks for this recipe - you can find them at most Asian stores. If you want to use actual beef - this recipe will work perfectly fine with that as well. Just make sure to check the meat is properly cooked before you take it off the stove.

Pie and Pickles
Makes 5 pies and 2 jars of pickles
Ingredients
Pickles
1 cucumber, sliced anyway you like
1 cup vinegar (you can use apple cider, white, red wine, rice wine - it all works. I used a combination of apple cider and rice wine)
1 1/2 cups of water
2 tbsp salt
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp black peppercorns
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
Pies
Pastry
450g plain flour
220g butter
1 tsp salt
110ml ice water
Filling
500g beef chunks *see note
2 carrots, diced
1 brown onion, diced
200g button mushrooms, diced
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp oil
3 tbsp plain flour
400ml beef stock
1 tbsp soy sauce / tamari
1 tbsp Worcester sauce
2 sprigs fresh or dried rosemary, finely chopped
Black pepper
Sea salt

1. To make the pickles, combine the salt, sugar, water and vinegar in a saucepan and bring to the boil.

2. While that is heating get two jars ready - make sure they're well cleaned - I can't really say what size they should be considering I just used leftover jars from sauces. Figure out beforehand how much space you need for the cucumber and decide that way.

3. Divide the sliced garlic and peppercorns between the two jars, layering in your slices of cucumber along the way.

4. Using a funnel or a jug, carefully pour the hot liquid into the jars, submerging all the cucumber pieces. Cover them with a clean tea towel and leave them to cool - once done you can place into the fridge. They will take about 12 hours to start to taste good, but will get better the longer they sit. These last around two - three weeks usually in the fridge.

Pie Pastry

1. Combine the flour and salt into a mixing bowl, break the butter into small pieces and rub into the flour mixture until it resembles wet sand.

2. Make a well in the middle and pour in the ice water, mixing the pastry until it comes together with no lumps. Wrap in cling wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes before using.

Pie Filling

1. In a large saucepan heat the oil, adding in beef chunks and cooking them until they're lightly browned. Remove the beef from the pan and put to the side.

2. Add the butter into the saucepan and add in the diced carrots, diced mushrooms and diced onion, cooking until softened. Add the beef chunks back into the pot with the vegetables along with the plain flour.

3. Mix until everything is covered and there are no lumps and then add in the beef stock, along with the rosemary. Add a general amount of freshly cracked black pepper as a good pinch of salt. You can allow it to come to the boil slowly but reduce the heat and cover the saucepan as it does - leaving it on a gentle simmer for about 30 minutes. Place into the fridge to cool properly.

4. Preheat oven to 180C.

5. By now your pastry should have had enough time to chill - divide the dough into 5 even amounts (or if you want to make one giant pie leave as is!).

6. Leaving enough dough for the lid of each pie, roll out each part into a circle - you don't want the pastry to be thicker than a few centimetres otherwise it will end up uncooked in parts.

7. Lightly oil your pie tins, gently pressing the rolled out dough into them, using any scrap parts to press over any holes that may tear in them.

8. Once all the pie shells are pressed into the tins, you can spoon the filling evenly into each. When placing the lids on top, brush the underside of each with a bit of water. Use a fork to poke a few holes into the top of each pie and then place on a tray and into the oven for around 40 minutes.

9. Enjoy fresh from the oven with a side of homemade pickles!