Week of 1/18
Crispy Baked Kale chips, Rigatoni with Fresh Herbs, Lemon and Peas, Ramen Carbonara, and BBQ Wings.
Welcome to week three of Cooking with Mike! We have two pasta recipes this week, a wings recipe, and a tasty, salty snack. Additionally, we have a first for the newsletter. This week I have included two recipes from outside of the NYT Cooking app. I received a subscription to the app for Christmas, but I want this newsletter to provide recipes, advice, and inspiration for everyone! Going forward I will be trying to include an equal number of recipes from NYT Cooking and other sources. This will make it more accessible to folks that haven’t signed up for NYT Cooking.
This week I have cooked the following:
Crispy Baked Kale Chips
Simple, easy, healthy, and tasty. Similar to the crispy Chickpea recipe from Week of 1/4, this is a great substitute for chips if you are craving a salty snack. As a huge fan of chips myself, this recipe is a life-saver when I am craving some salt and a crunch. I had bought kale early last week, but couldn’t find any use for it until I remembered this recipe.
The other thing about this recipe is that it is entirely customizable, depending on what seasonings you have in your cupboard. Compared to the link below, I used the mixed seasoning that I used on the salmon recipe last week, garlic powder, and salt. Probably could have left out the additional salt in retrospect since they turned out to be a tad salty.
Recipe: Crispy Baked Kale Chips
Pasta with Fresh Herbs, Lemon and Peas
Another relatively easy and delicious dish. This recipe is a choose your own adventure in terms of the herbs that you can add. Mint, Parsley, Chives, Basil, and Tarragon are all options that are laid out in the original recipe. I decided to go with equal parts Chives and Parsley. I LOVE Garlic so I also doubled the amount of garlic compared to what the recipe originally called for.
Overall, the lemon zest and lemon juice used to create a sauce shown through with this dish. Even with a relatively large pasta like rigatoni, the lemon flavor made this light and summery. Lastly, I used parmesan (Trader Joe’s didn’t have pecorino), but in the future, I may make a second trip to find a more exotic cheese to try.
Recipe: Pasta with Fresh Herbs, Lemon and Peas
Ramen Carbonara
An Italian classic mixed with a college classic sounds like a perfect mix to me. This recipe is tasty, but it is heavy. I would not recommend it if you need to do a workout afterward or engage in other strenuous activities. However, if you are looking for a delicious, filling, and easy meal this fits the bill.
The recipe calls for bacon, but I tried to follow the Carbonara roots a little more by using pancetta instead of bacon. I assume that bacon would work fine and is likely a more accessible entry point for most folks. Additionally, I don’t add the fried egg. I can’t imagine who needs that much egg in one meal, but it isn’t me.
Lastly, this is a pretty attractive dish for what it is (pictured below). Noodles, eggs, pancetta, black pepper come together nicely and I appreciate the pancetta pops of color.
Recipe: Ramen Carbonara
BBQ Wings
I love wings. When I worked on a presidential campaign in Iowa, my coworker and I would end many long nights of work at Buffalo Wild Wings. Cooking at home has shown me that there are ways to get similar flavors and textures with less fattening cooking techniques. In this case, I baked the wings in the oven instead of frying them.
Baking does have its downsides, the primary one being that the exterior does not become as crunchy as fried. However, I used potato starch to try and compensate for this. I also soaked the wings in a combination of pickle juice and buttermilk. I had never tried this before, but it left the meat interior juicy and delicious.
The BBQ sauce itself was also homemade, I modified the recipe in the video below to increase the spiciness. Doubling the amount of hot sauce matched well with the brown sugar so that the spice level was not overpowering.
Recipe: BBQ Wings
Week in Review
This week ran the gamut from healthy (kale) to unhealthy (wings) and from light (herb pasta) to heavy (ramen). Overall, I think my biggest takeaway from the week is the versatility of pasta. Both of the pasta dishes this week utilize relatively similar ingredients but result in completely different flavors and textures. I will be taking a break from pasta next week, but I may do a pasta themed extravaganza down the road to explore this concept some more. I also really enjoyed branching outside of the NYT Cooking app to try something I found on Instagram. I plan to take more inspiration from a wide range of sources as this journey continues.
Ratings
Crispy Baked Kale Chips - 4/5
Pasta with Fresh Herbs, Lemon and Peas - 5/5
Ramen Carbonara - 4/5
BBQ wings - 4/5
If you enjoyed this week’s edition make sure to share it with a friend or family member!