Key limes are delicious, but are also a little bit of a pain. They are tiny, fiddly little limes that you have to endlessly squeeze just to eek out a modest amount of juice. Good luck if you have a paper cut or a hangnail.
Read morecarbs on carbs: potato, arugula & goat cheese lumaconi
I’m having a particularly carb-y quarantine. Something about feeling cooped up in the house makes me want to eat my way through a couple oversized bowls of pasta a day. I’m trying to combat some of these impulses, with mixed success, and trying to eat more vegetable and sensible things. This recipe is the combination of both - lots of satisfying carbs from both potatoes and pasta, and a mountain of greens that cooks down into a small manageable volume.
Read moreDolly's magic bars
These bars are often called Hello Dolly bars, or seven layer bars or magic bars. I never really got the seven layers name - it makes them sound like they are way more complicated than they are. And they are really, really not complicated to make. They take about 10 minutes to get them in the oven and they really have two very simple layers: a graham crumb crust and then a gooey, caramelly chocolate and nuts layer, balanced with some flaky salt on top.
You can put anything you want in these bars. I like to go with lots of types of chocolate, and I think the star touch is the malted chocolate balls. When you bake them, the malty insides kind of vaporize into crispy, melty magic. I’m very fond of this particular combination, but go for whatever you like - often these bars have coconut, or dried fruit.
dolly’s magic bars
1 ½ cups graham crumbs
½ cup butter, melted
1 tin sweetened condensed milk
¼ cup milk chocolate chips or chunks
¼ cup dark chocolate chips or chunks
¼ cup white chocolate chips or chunks
¼ cup chocolate malt balls (Maltesers or Whoppers)
½ cup toasted walnuts, roughly chopped
1.2 cup toasted pecans, roughly chopped
A very generous pinch of flaky salt (Maldon salt is great)
Line an 8” x 8” pan with parchment paper. Combine graham crumbs and butter until evenly mixed. Spread over the bottom of lined pan, and smooth into a uniform layer.
Sprinkle chocolate and nuts over the graham crumbs. Pour the condensed milk evenly over the chocolate and nuts, scraping out as much from the can as possible. Sprinkle a bunch of flaky salt over top (I like to really go for it with the salt - these are very sweet and they can handle it!).
Bake at 350° F for around 30 minutes, or until the top is caramelized and bubbly. Cool bars completely before cutting (chilling them helps even more). These keep well in an airtight container in the fridge (or freezer) if you manage to keep them hanging around.
loaded fudgy brownies
These are seriously gooey brownies. Like, difficult-to-eat-with-any -dignity-but-totally-worth-it gooey. They are crispy around the edges, and super fudgey in the centre. They are also loaded with chocolate chunks, pecans and chewy caramel. Top them with lots of flaky salt to offset the sweetness and richness - really go for it with the salt.
Read morevegan peanut & chocolate meringues
Aquafaba is a kind of bizarre accidental miracle egg white substitute. It’s bean water - specifically chickpea water. The stuff you tip down the drain right before you make hummus. I have seen people try other types of beans, but chickpea water works well and has a fairly neutral flavour. It’s really hard to believe that it will work the first time you try it; it seems impossible. But when you start to whip it, it’s so egg-white like that I don’t think I could tell the difference if I didn’t already know it was aquafaba. It seems to have been first discovered by a French tenor in 2014, and then took off in internet vegan and otherwise egg-averse circles.
Read morepulled pork tacos
I’m not quite sure what happened to me over the summer, I feel like Rip Van Winkle waking up from a long nap. Except not for 20 years, just for a couple months, and not sleeping so much as dropping all my good habits about posting here consistently and falling into lazy summertime fugue state. It was a lovely summer, I traveled to Liverpool (excellent city, strongly recommend!), hosted some friends at our house and puttered around the garden. And really, really procrastinated about posting anything here.
Now I’m trying to snap out of it and actually be a little bit productive. Luckily, these pulled pork tacos that I started working on way back in June, while appropriate for summer, are also hearty and comforting enough for crisper, cooler weather. The pulled pork takes a few hours, but you don’t have to do any work after throwing everything in a big pot and walk away. All you need to make in advance is the pickled cabbage, it’s better a couple days after you make it. You can make the cilantro sauce in 5 minutes, and then everything comes together really fast when the pork is done. It’s excellent for leftovers; pulled pork gets better after a day the fridge.
pulled pork:
2 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, coarsely chopped
1 bulb garlic, cloves peeled and slightly crushed
2 tsp each paprika, cumin and crushed chili flakes
1 can (398 ml/14 oz) plum tomatoes, drained
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 ½ cups chicken stock
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 pork butt roast, about 4-5 pounds
salt and pepper
Heat oil in a large, heavy pot over medium heat. When oil is shimmering, add onions and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until garlic and onions are fragrant and golden brown. Add dry spices and stir through the oil. Cook for 1-2 minutes or until very fragrant.
Add tomatoes, tomato paste, chicken stock, worcestershire, sugar and vinegar. Bring to a gentle simmer and add the pork. Season with salt and pepper and reduce the heat to low. Cover the pot with a lid, leaving a small gap for steam to escape. Cook until meat is falling apart, about 3 hours. Remove the meat and shred with forks.
The liquid should be thickened significantly, but if you wish to reduce it further cook over medium heat until quite thick. If there is a lot of excess fat, scoop it off the top with a spoon. Toss shredded pork with remaining liquid.
Serve on warmed corn tortillas with pickled cabbage, avocado slices, green cilantro sauce and a squeeze of lime juice.