Does anyone else want to go through people’s homes?

Issue #22, Let's Get Lost, September 14, 2024

A while back, Steve and I were discussing some type of would you rather question that was something along the lines of, “Would you rather have the superpower of invisibility or being able to fly?”

Steve felt the answer to this question was obvious: the ability to fly.

I do see his point. Being able to fly where ever whenever would be an amazing trick.

But my first thought was that I would choose invisibility so that I could go through people’s homes and observe people to my heart’s content without detection.

And yes, I am aware of how creepy this makes me sound. But mygod, people are fascinating.

I am not sure that I can articulate the fascination I have with other people’s lives. I am constantly putting myself in their heads - what is it like to be them? To live here? To be that/ do that/ have that???

Not in a I-wish-I-was-them kind of way. It’s more of a curiosity about the incredible variety of human experiences.

I am aware that no matter what I do, I can only experience this life from my own subjective, inescapable viewpoint of being me. But I would LOVE to experience, for a moment, what it’s like to be you. And you, and you, and you.

I think this is why I want to peer inside people’s homes. I don’t want to BE them. I want to know what it’s like to be them.

Two years ago our youngest daughter came to visit us in North Carolina and the two of us drove to a ghost town with several buildings still standing. There was an abandoned house with peeling wallpaper and I could have stayed inside that house all day trying to conjure the people who lived there in my imagination.

Who were they? What were they like? What were their hopes and dreams and heartaches? What monumental moments happened within these walls?

So much of our life happens within a few small square feet of earth that we call home.

I think this is one of the reasons why I love living as a nomad. In some very small way, I get to experience what it’s like to live in so many different places. I know it’s not the same as actually living there. But it’s a taste of what life is like in whatever little corner of the world we find ourselves in.

If I could, I would live a thousand lives in a thousand different places, as a thousand different people, just for the experience. Since I can’t do that, travel will have to do.

Now, someone who has not already run for the unsubscribe button, please tell me you relate. 😂

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5 recipes to add to next week’s meal plan

1. In March I wrote that I wanted to put this arugula pesto on everything and here it is September and I am still doing exactly that. You’ll see it in the photo above smeared over garlic bread and topped with caramelized mushrooms. I have discovered that it freezes well, so I’ve been making large batches and putting most of it away in the freezer then pulling some out once a week to slather on veggies, sandwiches, roast chicken, or pasta. Make some and just try to not be obsessed with how easily it transforms the simplest kinds of food into something completely delicious.

2. Speaking of things I make a lot, these black bean enchiladas are one of those go-to recipes I come back to over and over again. I made them just last week and they are the kind of easy meal we never get tired of.

3. I know green chili can be made any time of the year, but I mostly crave it when the weather starts to cool. You’ll see it pictured above being ladled over crispy chili rellenos, which is one of our favorite ways to eat it. But, this is the kind of recipe that freezes well, so I generally make a huge pot and then freeze it in smaller portions. Having it in the freezer means we are always only minutes away from really good Mexican inspired food without having to change out of our comfy pants. Also, at my house if there is green chili there are also margaritas. It’s the rule.

4. It’s apple season and that means apple cobbler! This recipe includes saucy cinnamon and clove spiced apples baked under a chewy cookie topping. The gooey brown sugar topping takes about 5 minutes to make and tastes like a soft, buttery sugar cookie.

5. I’m mentioning these easy buttermilk pancakes as a breakfast option but I almost always make them for dinner. Regardless of when you make them, everyone needs a delicious, no-fail, super quick pancake recipe, and this is mine. I hope it will become a favorite in your home as well.

And, if you are a paid subscriber who has not yet made these iced lemon poppy seed scones from Issue #21, make them this week and watch as they magically brighten up your morning.

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Check out the FoodStack library!

Hey there foodies, if you haven’t discovered it already, check out the FoodStack library! This incredible resource is a 100% free labor of love created by

Lynn Hill

and it’s packed with the best food and recipe writers on Substack.

I am honored to announce that I’ve just come on board as one of the FoodStack contributors. Starting TODAY, you’ll see me as the writer and moderator of the Open Kitchen discussion thread where I’ll be doing my best to pose some interesting, entertaining, and possibly thought provoking questions. 😁

Pop over there now to see what my first question is (hint: it’s a heavy hitting question about dessert. That’s right. We are jumping into the deep end and going straight for the important stuff.)

Then, in October and through the holiday season I’ll be scouring Substack to find the best best fall and holiday baking recipes and creating a monthly roundup of the most delicious treats I can find. Subscribe to the FoodStack library below and you’ll get the roundups in your email in-box.

• Search the recipe stack, the main library, or the FSL Library to discover your new favorite recipe.

• If you relate to my curiosity about how other people live and want to take a peak inside their kitchen, you’re going to love the Other People’s Kitchens column on FoodStack. Guess who’s kitchen will be featured next??? You guessed it! My kitchen! 🎉

• You’ll also find kitchen tips, cookbook recommendations, and so much more. There’s a lot going on over there! Subscribe so you don’t miss any of it.

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Pozole!

We spent most of August in Door County, Wisconsin. The peninsula is peppered with so many charming restaurants - I wanted to try them all! This was impossible of course, but we did make it to quite a few. One of them was Hill Street, where we met up with some friends who live full time in an airstream camper and just happened to be in Door County at the same time!

They had already eaten at Hill Street and recommended the Pozole so that’s what I ordered. It was so good - light and packed with flavor, and exactly the kind of thing I wanted to eat that night.

Pozole is one of Mexico’s oldest soups, supposedly dating back to the Aztecs. Today there are thousands of versions, often with wide variations in ingredients and flavors. But the kind I had that night at Hill Street was old school, with smoky red chili flavor, chunks of tender pork, and plenty of toppings. That’s what you’ll get in this recipe. It’s a delicious example of simple food often being the best food.

Pozole is simple to make and reheats well, so you might want to make enough to ensure leftovers. You wouldn’t call it Pozole without hominy - white corn kernels that have been acidified to soften their casings and give them a plump and chewy consistency. You’ll find cans of hominy in the canned vegetable section of most supermarkets.

Pozole is all about the toppings, which really can be anything you like. I’ve included a list of our favorites, but pile anything you like on there.

This recipe will make 4 generous main dish servings and can easily be doubled to serve more or to ensure leftovers. The pork needs to simmer for 2 hours but the actual hands on time to make this soup is less than 30 minutes.

Pork shoulder is a more traditional cut for this soup, but I prefer pork sirloin roast because it’s leaner. With fatty cuts of pork, it’s important to let it rest for a while after cooking so you can skim the excess fat from the broth. Using sirloin roast eliminates that step. You can also use pork tenderloin but that cut tends to be more expensive than sirloin and sirloin is just as good in here.

Ingredients:

• 1 small to medium size yellow onion

• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed

• A bunch of fresh cilantro, about 8-12 stems

• 2 bay leaves

• 1 1/2 to 2 pounds boneless pork sirloin roast (this cut is also known as loin pork roast, pork hipbone roast, and pork loin end roast)

• 1/2 cup adobo - Lots of options here: homemade adobo, canned adobo (sometimes found in the Mexican food section of supermarkets), or 2 tablespoons of better than bouillon adobo base mixed with water

• 6 cups vegetable, chicken, or beef stock - if using better than bouillon adobo base, use water instead of stock

• Two 15-ounce cans golden hominy 

Topping suggestions:

• Very thinly sliced cabbage

• Very thinly sliced radishes

• Very thinly sliced or diced red onion or quick pickled onions

• Limes - cut in half or quarters

• Chili powder or hot sauce

• Fresh oregano and/or cilantro

• Tortilla chips - crumble the chips over the bowls of soup

1. Cut the onion into quarters and remove the peel. Peel the garlic cloves and use the back of your knife to smash them. Lay the onion pieces and smashed garlic in the center of a piece of cheese cloth and add the cilantro and bay leaves. Tie everything up with a string to create a little sachet. (You can also just dump all of these ingredients into a large stock pot or saucepan and then strain them out later.)

2. Season the pork generously on all sides with salt.

3. Add the adobo to a large stock pot and stir in 6 cups of stock or water. Add the pork and the sachet with the onion and herbs. If there’s not enough liquid in the pot to cover the pork, add some more stock or water. There should be enough liquid in the pot to barely cover the pork.

4. Set the pan over high heat and bring the liquid to a boil. Cover the pan, lower the heat to maintain a gentle simmer, and cook the pork until it’s very tender. This will take about 2 hours.

5. Remove the pork from the braising liquid and let it rest until it’s cool enough to handle. (This is usually when I prepare the toppings.) Remove the onion and herb sachet or pour the broth through a strainer to remove the onions, garlic and herbs.

6. Drain both cans of hominy. Add half the hominy to a blender and puree it with 1 cup of the braising liquid. Pour this back into the stockpot and add the other can of hominy.

7. Shred the pork into bite size pieces - it should be tender enough to just pull apart. Add the pork back to the broth, bring everything back to a gentle simmer and serve with the toppings.

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Apple cinnamon oatmeal cookies

It’s apple season and I am here for it. I LOVE apple everything this time of year, in pastries and desserts and savory dishes like this recipe for chicken and apples and these Spanish pork bites with apples.

And also these cookies. These are soft oatmeal cookies flavored with both apple sauce and chunks of apples, and iced with maple miso frosting. They are one of the few cookies I prefer to eat after they cool. They are good warm, but I think their flavor and texture improves when allowed to cool completely.

It can be kind of tricky to know when these are done baking. If you have the time, it’s not a bad idea to bake one or two and test the timing to get the cookies the way you like them. I like to bake them until the edges are starting to brown a bit. The centers will still be very soft, but if you prefer the entire cookie be soft, you’ll want to bake them a couple of minutes less.

If using miso in a sweet frosting isn’t the kind of thing that sounds good to you, just leave it out. Miso and maple are a delicious combo IF you are the kind of person who likes savory elements in your sweet treats. If not, omit it.

If you leave the miso in and love it as much as I do you’ll also want to try this maple miso brown butter frosting.

Makes 16-20 cookies

• 2 cups old-fashioned whole rolled oats (do not use quick cooking oats)

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour (or another 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour)

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt (or 1/2 teaspoon table salt)

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

• 1/2 teaspoon allspice

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

• 3/4 cup packed dark or light brown sugar

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 1 large egg, at room temperature

• 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• 1 teaspoon almond extract (optional)

• Generous 1/2 cup diced apple (75 grams) - core removed and peeled

• 1/2 cup chopped roasted almonds or any other kind of roasted nut (optional) 

Maple miso icing:

• 1 cup powdered sugar (confectioners sugar)

• 3 tablespoons maple syrup

• 1 tablespoon white miso (optional; if not using, add a pinch of salt)

• 1-3 tablespoons heavy cream

1. Add 2 cups oats, 3/4 cup all purpose flour, 1/4 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1/2 teaspoon allspice to a large bowl and stir with a wire whisk to combine. 

2. In a separate bowl, add 1/4 cup melted butter, 1/2 cup apple sauce, 3/4 cup brown sugar, and 1/2 cup granulated sugar. Use a wire whisk to stir until combined then whisk in the egg, 2 teaspoons vanilla and 1 teaspoon almond extract.

3. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and use a wooden spoon or rubber spatula to stir just until everything is combined.

4. Cut the apple into quarters then peel and cut out the core. Chop it into very small pieces, about the size of a pea. 

5. Fold the apples and chopped almonds into the cookie dough, cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 24 hours. 

6. Preheat the oven to 350°F . Line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper.

7. Scoop the cookie dough into balls (about 2 Tbsp of dough each; I use an ice cream scoop) and place them 3 inches apart on the cookie sheet. Use your palm to flatten the cookies slightly.  

8. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until lightly browned and set on the edges. You want the edges to be a bit crispy - the bake time can vary based on the size of the apples. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before icing.

9. Make the icing: Add the powdered sugar to a small bowl. Add the miso, 3 tbsp maple syrup and 1 tbsp cream to a separate bowl and stir to combine. Stir the wet ingredients into the powdered sugar and stir until it’s a thick icing. Thin with as much more cream as you need.

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Parmesan crusted brussels sprouts and crispy tofu sheet pan dinner

I learned to love tofu late in life after discovering that I prefer to use extra firm tofu that’s been fried or baked until the outside is crispy. Also, tofu in and of itself is bland, making it the perfect vehicle to carry other flavors. When it’s crispy and coated in spices or covered in some kind of delicious sauce, it’s a really delicious meat free way to get some protein into your diet and if you’ve never tried it, let this be your chance.

One disclaimer before we get to the recipe: Frying tofu makes for the crispiest tofu but baking it on a sheet pan gets gold stars for ease. So, let that be your guide. If you need an easy meal with very little cleanup, sheet pan baking is the way to go. If you don’t mind a few extra minutes and another pan to wash, and want your tofu to be as crispy as possible, fry it while the brussels sprouts bake.

To fry tofu, simply add enough vegetable or canola oil to a large saucepan or dutch oven (or skillet) to come about 2 inches up the sides of the pan. Heat the oil to 350 degrees and fry the tofu in the oil, using metal tongs to turn it once or twice until golden brown on all sides. Lay the fried tofu on a paper towel lined plate to drain.

As always with the No Recipe Required series, the amounts below can be used exactly or as more of a guideline. This isn’t the kind of recipe you have to be very particular about. If you’re the kind of cook who likes to throw things together and hates to measure, this is your kind of recipe.

Makes 4 main dish servings.

• 1 block (12 to 15 ounces) extra-firm tofu

• 4 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, divided

• 1 tablespoon soy sauce, plus more for serving

• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

• Salt and pepper

• 1 pound brussels sprouts

• 6 large cloves of garlic, divided

• 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

• 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs 

• 1 cup rice (I used Jasmine rice, but any kind of rice will do)

• 2 cups coconut milk, any kind from a carton or a can

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. To prepare the tofu: Slice the tofu in half lengthwise so you have two thin blocks. Lay the tofu slabs side by side in between several sheets of paper towel or clean kitchen towels and set something heavy on top of it (I used a cast iron dutch oven). Let it sit for 15 minutes or so which will press excess water out of it. 

   

3. While the tofu rests, trim the base of the brussels sprouts and cut them in half, removing any loose, rough outer leaves. 

4. Place the brussels sprouts in a bowl and drizzle with some olive oil (about 2 tablespoons). Peel and chop a few cloves of garlic and sprinkle the pieces over the brussels sprouts. Sprinkle with some salt and pepper and some parmesan cheese and panko bread crumbs (about 1/3 of a cup of each). Toss everything around in the bowl then dump the whole mess onto one side of the baking sheet and spread it out into an even layer. 

5. Stack the two slabs of tofu on top of each other and cut them into 3 long rectangles. Then slice across to cut 5 cubes from each rectangle.

   

6. Transfer the pressed tofu to the same bowl you were using for the brussels sprouts and drizzle with about a tablespoon olive oil and a tablespoon soy sauce. Toss to combine. Sprinkle the tofu with about one tablespoon cornstarch and a little bit of salt and pepper. Toss the tofu until the cubes are evenly coated then tip the bowl of tofu over onto the other side of the baking sheet and arrange the tofu in an even layer.

   

7. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove the baking sheet from the oven and flip the tofu pieces over. Place the baking sheet back in the oven and bake for another 10-15 minutes, until the tofu and Brussels sprouts are golden brown.

While the tofu and Brussels bake, prepare the rice:

1. Peel and chop a few more cloves of garlic and add them to a medium size saucepan along with the remaining about one tablespoon of oil. Set the saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring frequently, until the garlic is beginning to brown. 

2. Add the rice to the saucepan and stir it around to coat the grains in oil. Continue to toast the rice, stirring, for another minute or two. Pour in the coconut milk and sprinkle in a generous pinch of salt. Turn the heat to high, and cook, stirring every now and then, until the coconut milk starts to boil. Lower the heat to low, cover the pan, and let the rice cook for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat but do not remove the lid of the pan. Let the rice rest in the hot saucepan until ready to serve. (*These instructions are for white rice. If you’re cooking wild rice or brown rice the cook time will be much longer.)

To serve:

Spoon the rice into bowls and top with tofu and Brussels sprouts - scrape any loose parmesan or breadcrumbs off the baking sheet and sprinkle them over the tops of the bowls. 

Serve with soy sauce. OR, serve with Aji sauce (spicy Peruvian green sauce) or chimichurri sauce - both sauces are SO GOOD on here.

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