ND Food & Travel Posts

Meals

Assassin's Pasta (Spaghetti all'Assassina)

https://www.sipandfeast.com/assassins-pasta/

This has been in my todos since it appeared on the Sip and Feast channel, then it recently appeared on Babish's channel / Alvin's series. I had some issues getting browning or char on the noodles in my kitchen. Maybe it was the heat or me using a nonstick pan? I turned up the heat later and it left a coat of charred sauce but the noodles just got a little toasted. Overall it was good with a small amount of cheese. For the spice, I added a tablespoon and a half of calabrian chili paste (for a half pound of pasta) which gives it a small bite of heat without it being intimidating.

Note that the first pan in the recipe is just to keep a bubbling tomato broth, and the second pan is the one where you lay down the noodles.

Butter Masala Stuffed Peppers

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C83ik43sb10/

Made these for family, with just a tikka masala jarred sauce. Some had green onion on top and some had Mexican cheese blend.
The directions are correct to precook the peppers before spooning in rice + sauce mix.

Chili Oil Avocado Toast

I lost the Instagram for this, but it was basically:

• put a pat of chili or mala oil on the pan to fry an egg
• put a slice of sourdough bread, butter side down, on the other side of the pan
• put a drizzle of oil on the bread
• put fried egg and avocado on the bread

The timing was not as magical as Instagram but it was a good combo.

Corn Ribs

https://grillwhatyoulove.com/grilled-elote-corn-ribs/

Many recipes are available, for example gochujang / gochugaru. For family I made an elote style recipe. I had to cut up the cobs a little bit to make them more sliceable. You don't eat the core of the cob but just nibble the corn off of the ribs, makes it more of a finger food compared to a whole corncob. We didn't have cotija cheese so I think it was more about the paprika and the sriracha mayo.

Makhani Mac and Cheese

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8vDY9CyFrU/ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od8weKHB_rU&ab_channel=VijayaSelvaraju

After earlier failures with Indian flavors + mac and cheese, this was more of a hit. I can't say that the difference was so significant.

Taco Orzo

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8cXX5vSmvT/

Liked this, pretty straightforward and you can use whatever spices

Rosa Parks's Pancake Recipe

https://www.grubstreet.com/2011/07/rosa_parkss_pancake_recipe.html

This recipe has been circulating online since Rosa Parks's papers went up for auction in 2011, but it became more visible to the public in 2017 (for an NPR / Sporkful collaboration) and again in February 2024 when the handwritten recipe was shared on social media by the Library of Congress.

The surprise ingredient here is peanut butter. According to the 2017 story, Parks's relatives were unfamiliar with this recipe. It's a little funny for us to make this recipe because she wrote it down once on an envelope without knowing who what where why of it all. I added the creamy peanut butter, replaced milk with buttermilk, and followed advice of the internet and ChatGPT to halve the baking powder. There is a distinct peanut butter taste. Cooking the pancakes, the batter is thick so you have to roll the pan, and they are fragile for a long time before being ready to flip.

Asides

I made the grasspea soup again away from home, but I only had a sheet or prosciutto which charred and ruined the flavor of the soup. Don't do this.