Gluten-free, dairy-free mac and cheese (jk!)
A few weeks ago after reading my newsletter featuring Nutritional Yeast vinaigrette, a friend reminded me of a delicacy (*sarcasm*) I cooked her many years ago. So in the interest of bringing a little humor to your weekend, and a reminder that we all have cooking flops, here’s the full story:
The aforementioned friend had just been diagnosed with a disease that left her unable to eat a plethora of foods: gluten-free, dairy-free, the whole ordeal. One evening, I made it my mission to cook her something fun despite these new restrictions. Thus ensued a cooking journey to make an extra large pot of sunflower seed, dairy-free, mac and cheese with gluten-free pasta. The base of the “cheese sauce” was blended sunflower seeds and nutritional yeast. Cut to: none of us eating the pasta because it tasted nothing like mac and cheese, and me sending my friend home with a very oversized Ziploc bag of the leftover “cheese sauce” (which she later informed me was not consumed). They can’t all be winners, folks!
Summer Farro Salad
The 411: Definitely not here to convince you that Jennifer Perillo’s salad is the most innovative and marvelous recipe I’ve ever shared. Instead, there are two things that compelled me to share this one: 1) With the amplified desire to spend more evening time outdoors and less time indoors prepping dinner, I’ve been finding that a make-ahead grain salad fits the “I’m-so-hungry-and-need-dinner-ASAP” need. 2) If I’ve not made my love for farro abundantly clear by this point, I’ve failed as a newsletter writer. I find that a lot of summer salads are orzo-based, and while I do love an orzo salad every now and then, I like that farro packs a bit more of a nutritious punch. In this recipe, the farro is made extra flavorful as it’s cooked in a DIY-broth of sorts—red onion, garlic, and parsley. The farro is then tossed with quartered cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, herbs, and a balsamic-honey dressing.
Zoe’s Tips: I’ve got lots of little tidbit tips for this recipe: char the onion before adding in the water and farro; taste first, but I found that the salad needed more balsamic, about a tablespoon total; add in extra herbs (always!); don’t be like me and forget the olives (though if you do, know that it still turns out great); and serve at room temp for the most enhanced flavors.
Taste-to-Time Ratio1: 7:9
Indian-ish Nachos
The 411: I am once again asking you to eat nachos for dinner. Priya and Ritu Krishna’s Indian-ish nachos are such a wonderful medley of flavors. The saltiness of the cheddar is balanced with the sweet and tangy tamarind sauce, which is balanced with the spiciness and freshness of the cilantro chutney, and then that all becomes a home run with the chhonk. Sounds like a lot of work, but I promise you it’s not!
Zoe’s Tips: This recipe is pretty foolproof, including the “DIY tamarind sauce”, which I made and can confirm tasted great. And piggybacking off of TLexi’s note in the comment section, “It was good, but maybe too good.” Listen to TLexi!
Taste-to-Time Ratio: 9:7
The Taste-to-Time Ratio is a ratio that evaluates flavor on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest) with time on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the fastest). For example, our family favorite mac and cheese that requires 2 types of cheese, toasted baguette breadcrumbs, approximately all your kitchen pans, and 2 hours of baking is a 10:3 - insanely delicious, but not a quick weeknight meal.
Nice try Zoe, but I just don't believe that one of your recipes went that awry. But kudos for trying to make the rest of us feel better. Great letter, as always.
I think the Indian nachos are 10!!