Cookbook

Here I'm gonna share a handful of recipes I like making for friends and family that are always well liked, making this a kind of digital cookbook of sorts ^_^ I will try to arrange them by category for ease of browsing once I have more of them written out.

I will try, when possible, to include alternative ingredients to the one I used because I know not all products are available everywhere in the world and I already have to make many substitutions in the recipes I make, so it's important to me for these to be accessible despite potential geographic limitations and/or dietary restrictions!

I am italian, so a lot of the dishes I like making are considered kind of elitist due to people acting like you're making it "wrong" if you substitute really niche and hard to find ingredients for more easily accessible ones. That kind of thing really bothers me, so I try to include alternatives whenever possible.

Meat-based dishes

In this section I will put recipes I like to make that have meat as the primary ingredient.

Currently available recipes:

Marinated deep-fried chicken

Marinated deep-fried chicken

Ingredients

amount listed is for 3 people, adjust the quantities as you see fit

ingredients for the marinade:

2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp apple juice (the kind WITHOUT the pulp!)
1 small piece of ginger
garlic powder (however much you prefer, I used about half a tsp)
black pepper (a little bit)

ingredients for the frying

400g chicken breast, cut into small pieces
2 eggs
flour (or cornstarch if gluten free)
panko (gluten free panko or breadcrumbs work great too)
frying oil (I used peanut, but corn oil or any other deepfrying oil alternative also works)

Marinating the chicken

Peel and chop the ginger into tiny pieces and combine into a bowl with the rest of the marinade ingredients, then add the chicken pieces and mix well with a spoon. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and put it in the fridge to rest for about 20-30 minutes.

Breading the chicken

After the chicken is done marinating, we can start breading it. Beat the two eggs in a bowl and prepare all the breading ingredients. Take each chicken piece and coat it individually in flour, then in the beaten egg mixture, and lastly in the panko. I like to do one coat of panko, but for a thicker crust you can roll it in the beaten egg and panko again after you're done with the first coating.

Frying the chicken

Put your pan of oil of choice on the stove and heat it. To know when the oil is hot enough, you can take a bamboo skewer and press the tip in the oil onto the bottom of the pan: if you see small bubbles rising fast around it, then your oil is hot enough to fry. Alternatively, you can toss in a small piece of panko and if you see it start bubbling and sizzling then the oil is ready.

Once the oil is hot enough, you can gently lower in your pieces of chicken. I like to do about 10 pieces at a time to avoid cooling down the oil too much. Turn them occasionally to ensure they cook evenly on both sides.

Once the chicken pieces start turning golden brown, carefully move them one by one onto a rack to cool. I like to use this old oven rack with a paper towel-covered old baking sheet underneath. You can also just put the chicken directly onto the paper towels, but I find that it comes out much crispier and less greasy if it gets to drain of the excess oil onto a rack instead. You can salt your chicken pieces right as you're about to serve them to avoid having the salt draw out moisture from the chicken making it soggy.

Coming soon!

Other carbs

Carbs based recipes that don't fit other categories...

Currently available recipes:

Puff pastry mushroom quiche

Puff pastry mushroom quiche

Ingredients

Amount listed works as a full meal for 3 people (I cut it in 6 parts and everyone eats 2), but if cut in smaller pieces it can also work great as a starter or snack for a bigger group of people.

Ingredients for the mushrooms:

about 500g white mushrooms
150g cream
1 teaspoon beef bouillon powder
1 clove garlic
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Ingredients for the quiche

store bought puff pastry sheet (230g)
bacon or speck
sliced cheese

Cooking the mushrooms

The most time-consuming part of this dish is cooking the mushrooms, but it's not really hard or complicated at all. Also the cooked mushrooms can just hang out in the fridge until you're ready to assemble the quiche, so I typically like cooking them a few hours ahead of time.

After having trimmed the bottoms of your mushrooms, washed them and sliced them up, put them in a pan with a tablespoon of vegetable oil and your whole peeled garlic clove and put them on medium-high heat.

The mushrooms need to cook on medium-high to high heat because they will release a lot of liquid while cooking, and the higher heat will help evaporate the excess moisture. Don't worry if they look super wet like this and just let them cook for a while longer.

Once the water has slightly evaporated, you can add in salt and the small spoonful of bouillon powder. The salt will further help the mushrooms release their liquid. At this point you can remove the clove of garlic.

When the mushrooms turn brown and softer and the excess water has significantly reduced, you can lower the heat to medium and pour in the cream.

Stirring regularly to prevent burning, let the mushrooms and cream mixture simmer on medium-low heat until the excess water evaporates and the sauce thickens. Add black pepper to taste.

Assembling the quiche

Assembling the quiche itself is a really quick and straightforward process, so I recommend preheating the oven to 190°C/374°F while putting all the ingredients together.

Unroll the puff pastry sheet onto a parchment paper-covered baking sheet and start layering the ingredients: First arrange the bacon or speck onto the puff pastry itself, lining the bottom of the quiche.

On top of this layer, pour your mushrooms and cream sauce in an even layer, trying to avoid letting it spill too much towards the sides of the quiche. I find that it's easier to do this step if the sauce got to cool in the fridge for a while before assembling, but it's totally possible to do immediately after cooking it too.

Lastly, arrange the sliced cheese on top of the mushrooms, covering the whole quiche. I prefer to use a mild-tasting cheese like Leerdammer for this because I don't want it to overpower the mushrooms but you can use anything.

Once the oven is done preheating, bake the quiche at 190°C/374°F for 20 minutes or until poofy, crispy and golden-brown. I like to cut it in bigger slices since I usually just cook for my family, but it can be cut with scissors into small pieces and served as a starter or as a snack too.

Coming soon!