Emily's Hot Dish

Typically when I'm doing a large meal like Thanksgiving, I plan out the timing in advance. I start with when I want to serve dinner and work backward. For example, if dinner is at 7:00 then the chicken needs to come out of the oven at 6:45 so it has 15 minutes to rest. This means I need to put it in the oven at 5:15 because it roasts for 90 minutes. If the chicken needs to go into the oven at 5:15, I need to start browning it at 5:00. 

The worst ‘milkshake’ I ever had was in Berlin in 1973.  We were desperate for a taste of home so we stopped at a Wimpy’s Burger.  This was before there was a McDonald’s on every block and the Wimpy’s looked reassuringly franchised.  (Wimpy?  Remember Popeye?  Wimpy was his fat sidekick who would obsequiesly snivel, “I’d gladly pay you Tuesday, for a hamburger today.”  Anyone under 50 may have to Wiki that.)  Anyway, somebody thought that would be a good basis for a burger restaurant and franchised it.  And the burgers might have been OK, I don’t really remember.  What I do remember is that the milk shake came out in a glass.  And it was milk, shaken.  We tasted it again.  It was just milk with bubbles that could only have come from vigorous shaking.  All we could visualize was the night staff standing in the back, poring over a German-English dictionary, shrugging, and shaking some milk for all they were worth.   

Let’s be honest, I steal most of my recipes.  I think we all do.  How many people actually make up something new?  Not many, I’d guess.  (Of course, there was my highly original Pickled Beet Whipped Cream, which, contrary to the scornful derision of my family, wasn’t that bad.) 

Aunt Joyce, a master cook herself, once told me that there were no secrets.  Everything was in a cookbook somewhere.  I mean, with 6 billion people on the planet eating two or three meals a day, that’s a lot of food and people talk.  

But every so often I think I come up with something myself.  Now, this may be a nice bit of self-delusion.  There’s a phenomenon where you get a great idea and a month later read about somebody else with the same idea. Except they market it and make a million bucks.  Did they read your mind?  No.  We’re all subject to roughly the same pool of information.  The same stimulus.  The same events.  The same background knowledge.  That the same ideas would occur to two or more people isn’t strange, it’s almost inevitable. 

Then there’s the Forgetfulness Phenomenon.  You learn something, time passes, you forget that you learned it and it occurs to you seeming like an original idea.  This may have happened when I discovered

The World’s Best Chocolate Malt

It happened at a resort my parents owned back in the 70s.  We were making malts but  they always seemed to lack a dimension.  Fullness?  Richness?   Some were OK but most were disappointments. 

Working  in the resort we had a commercial kitchen and lots of supplies.   At some point I decided to add marshmallow cream to a shake, filled it with chocolate and malt powder, and the gates to heaven opened. 

Really, I mean, this is the malt that your friends will do a double take for.  It’s rich, it’s sweet, it’s creamy/chocolaty/malty . . . it’s really, really good.  It’s so good that we can’t have it at my house.  Once you start making and eating these things, well . . . you gain weight.  It’s the same thing with triple-chocolate cake (cake mix, instant pudding, chips, and yogurt in a bundt pan.)  Good?  Hell, yes.  But just how fat do you want me?  

You will need:
2 cans garbanzo beans
4 cups chicken broth (use homemade if you have it)
1 head garlic plus 4 cloves
2 bay leaves
2 cups greek-style yogurt
bunch mint leaves
¼ cup pine nuts
½ cup feta cheese
2 pita or flat breads

It's been a busy time here at the HotDish HQ - we've had relatives visiting and large-scale cooking and cleaning projects going on, and my motivation to update has been low. I'm feeling more on top of everything, now, though, and posting will resume shortly. A preview of things to come: delicious, easy and cheap fattet hommus, the best milkshake in the world, new kitchen organization, and curried split pea soup. Let's cook! 

I compared the cost of ingredients for my fattet hummos recipe at Safeway and Whole Foods. While some ingredients were slightly cheaper at Safeway, the high prices on “premium” items raise the overall tab to over 130% of the overall cost at Whole Foods.

The total cost at Safeway for 4 servings is $16.21, or $4.05/serving. This is more than 130% more than the cost at Whole Foods of $12.07 for 4 and $3.02 per serving. You can save some money by making the chicken broth yourself – it will taste a lot better than packaged broth and save you a few dollars to boot. If you make your own chicken broth, it brings the total cost down to $10.07 for 4 servings and $2.52/serving.

The biggest savings, though, is buying the dairy at Whole Foods instead of Safeway. The feta at Safeway costs twice as much and the yogurt costs three times as much – buying those two ingredients alone at Whole Foods will save you $5.00 over 4 servings.


Once again, Safeway proves to be more expensive than Whole Foods.

This is another of Nadine’s recipes. It’s quick and easy – basically you just throw all the ingredients into a food processor and pulse. It’s a great alternative to tomato-based spicy salsa for people who don’t deal with hot and spicy food well. It has a wonderfully fresh flavor and a beautiful bright green color that will perk up your tacos and tortilla chips. 

You will need:
  • about 1 lb tomatillos
  • ½ white onion
  • ½ bunch cilantro
  • 5-6 cloves garlic
  • 1 anaheim pepper
  • 1-2 tsp cumin
  • juice of 2 limes
  • heavy pinch salt
  • 2 T white wine vinegar 

Remove the outer papery husks from the tomatillos and cut each one in half. Remove the seeds and ribs from the pepper and cut into pieces. Remove the papery skin from the garlic. Wash the cilantro and pick off the leaves. Slice the onion into medium pieces. 

Place the onion, garlic, pepper, cilantro, lime juice, salt, vinegar, and cumin in a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until it’s cut into small bits.


Add the tomatillos and process until they’re mostly pulverized. Taste for seasoning and add whatever you think it needs more of to be delicious – lime juice, cumin, salt, vinegar, etc. Serve with tacos, tortilla chips, enchiladas, or whatever floats your boat. 

This sauce is a lot healthier than many creamy sauces because it’s largely yogurt rather than mayo. It’s great with tacos of all sorts, but I think it would also be lovely with french fries or oven-baked potato wedges. It has a wonderful smokey flavor and a moderate heat that will perk up whatever you pair it with.

You will need:
  • ½ cup Greek-style yogurt
  • 2 T mayonnaise
  • 1 t adobo sauce, from a can of chipotle chiles in adobo sauce

Method:
Place all ingredients in a medium bowl. Mix. Keeps well in the fridge, but will need to be stirred before use. 

Nadine and I first met over ten years ago when she was my 8th grade earth science teacher and I was her 6th period TA. The next year she coached the Science Olympiad team and a few years later, when she left to teach at another school, we continued to be friends. We lost touch when I left for college, but recently reconnected through Facebook. She has always been a wonderful cook – very intuitive and creative. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her use a recipe book, though she does have a couple on her kitchen bookshelf. Hospitality is never in short supply at Nadine’s house; I know when I see her I will leave with a full belly and a warm heart.

On a recent weeknight I visited Nadine and her family and she made these INCREDIBLE chicken tacos for dinner. She says that they’re easy to make. I don’t disagree, but I will add the caveat that there is a fair amount of prep work involved. The great thing about tacos is you can do almost all of the prep in advance (that morning, the night before, etc) or you can farm it out to kids/guests so you can get dinner on the table pretty quickly. You can also buy a lot of the ingredients pre-prepped (like coleslaw mix instead of a head of cabbage, or pre-grated cheese). The upside is that it’s faster and easier, the downside is that it’s often more expensive and may not taste as good or be as healthy. 

You will need:
  •1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs
  •½ onion, diced (save the other half for the salsa verde)
  •3-4 cloves garlic, minced
  •splash white wine
  •½ head cabbage, finely sliced
  •1 lb sharp cheddar cheese, grated (Nadine swears by the Tillamook Special Reserve Extra Sharp, but I really didn’t taste a huge difference between that and the Organic Valley Sharp Cheddar)
  •18-24 corn tortillas
  •1 avocado, diced
  •½ bunch cilantro, minced
  •pumpkin or squash puree (optional, but delicious)
  •1 lime, cut into wedges
  •salsa verde (recipe will be posted tomorrow) 

Begin by heating some olive oil in a large cast iron pan. When the pan is hot add the garlic and onions. When the onions have softened and the garlic is fragrant, push them to the sides of the pan and add the chicken thighs. When they’re cooked on one side, use tongs or a metal turner to flip them. When they’re mostly cooked through, use a metal turner to cut them into small pieces in the pan. When the chicken is fully cooked, add a good-sized splash of white wine and stir to coat. Remove the chicken to a bowl. 

Add some more olive oil to the pan and put in 3 corn tortillas. Put a few tablespoons of cheese on the inside half of each of the tortillas, and then add some pumpkin puree (if using). 

Let the cheese get a little melty, then add a couple tablespoons of chicken to each tortilla. 

Spoon in some salsa verde, sprinkle on some cilantro, squeeze in a lime wedge, and add some avocado to each tortilla. 

Fold each tortilla in half toward the center of the pan.

When the tortilla is cooked to crispy on the bottom side and the cheese is oozy, turn each taco over by flipping to the outside of the pan. Let cook for about a minute more, then remove to a plate. Stuff each taco with cabbage and eat right away while hot and ooey gooey cheesy. 

I’m always excited when asparagus arrives in the grocery stores and farmers market stalls in the spring. When I was a kid I thought that I hated asparagus, but I discovered a few years ago that asparagus is DELICIOUS and I just didn’t like the way my parents prepared it: boiled and served plain. Yeesh.

Fortunately, it’s easy to make delicious asparagus in about the same time that boiling it takes, and the end result will be both tastier and more nutritious – cooking vegetables in water leeches out vitamins. 

You will need:
  •1-2 bunches of asparagus
  •2 tablespoons butter
  •1 tablespoon olive oil
  •1-2 shallots, minced
  •1 tablespoon lemon juice
  •1 ½ teaspoons Dijon mustard
  •1-2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill or 1-2 tablespoons capers, drained

Begin by washing your asparagus, then snapping off the tough ends. Chop or snap each spear into 2” pieces.

In a skillet or sauté pan, melt the butter and heat the olive oil. When the fat is hot but not smoking, add the shallot and soften for about 1 minute.

Add the asparagus to the pan and stir. Cook over medium-high heat until the asparagus bright green and tender-crisp. Add the lemon juice and the mustard and stir. Cook for about 30 more seconds, then add the dill or capers and stir again. Serve immediately. 

To veganize, replace the butter with olive oil. 

This is a super quick and easy lunch. I really like it because it has lots of deliciousness and no filler – every bite is full of the “good stuff.” It’s not like when you eat a salad and you have to ration the toppings so that there’s a bit in each bite and you don’t end up with all lettuce at the end.

I threw this together in about 10 minutes, including taking the pictures. If you have everything on hand you can be eating lunch in 5 minutes. 

You will need:
  • medium-sized avocado
  • 2 to 4 ounces of cooked salad shrimp
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon lime juice
  • 1 teaspoon honey

Cut the avocado in half and remove the pit. Place the halves cut side up on a plate.

In a medium bowl, whisk the olive oil, lime juice, and honey together. If the honey isn’t whisking in well, stick the bowl (NOT the whisk) in the microwave for 10 seconds, then whisk. When the dressing has come together, dump in the shrimp and toss to coat.

Spoon the shrimp into the hollows of the avocado and pile the rest on the plate. Drizzle any dressing left in the bowl over the avocado. Sprinkle with sea salt and serve.