The Food Lab Diet

Cooking through "The Food Lab", as written by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt

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All-American Pot Roast

Couldn’t quite find the right thick-cut of meat, also didn’t think it’d be worth it cooking a huge slab of beef just for myself. But these got the job done. Also, pairs perfectly with a few slices of challah

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Chicken and Dumpling Soup

The first time I read this recipe I was confused where the dumplings were...then I realized it’s really just a ball of dough. Thankfully I already had buttermilk from making biscuits so it was perfect timing to try out this recipe. It came out well - but I think I went a little too dumpling heavy, especially just for one person. I was desperate to get rid of the buttermilk!

When I had leftovers I also had to cook up what I only view as dumplings

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Traditional French Onion Soup - the slow way

I found it pretty amazing how onions can transform in a pot of butter over low heat, cooking in its own condensation. It was pretty cool to see the different stages the onions found themselves in.

Kenji instructs to use a heavy enameled cast-iron or stainless steel Dutch oven...this 10 EUR pot from IKEA actually worked just fine. I topped it with some raclette cheese that desperately needed to get eaten. I didn’t want to risk if any of my bowls are actually broilerproof, so I transferred the soup into a glass container and stuck it under the broiler for a bit. 

All in all, I was again pleasantly surprised by this soup - I could maybe make it again on another rainy, gloomy day. Next time I def need some croutons or stale bread to soak in there.

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Redo on the pumpkin soup, using actual pumpkins this time!

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Pumpkin Soup (but actually...squash and sweet potato)

Just as before..the soup came out quite thick and a little bit chunky since my immersion blender isn’t the sharpest. But it came out as a hearty puree rather than a thin soup, so I was quite happy with it.

At this point I didn’t get pumpkin, but instead used squash and some leftover roasted sweet potato I had on hand. Also added some ginger. Came out very tasty!

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Creamy (but actually chunky) Mushroom Soup

It kind of helps with my procrastination of cooking through this book that the Belgian weather is so mild. It is July and still acceptable to be cooking soups (highs are in the high 60s these days). I made this mushroom soup - not as creamy as Kenji’s pics because I didn’t use a strainer. Also I don’t know why mine came out looking so dark - maybe I cooked the mushrooms too much and also the combo of shiitake mushrooms I used?

Either way, came out delicious. Also I had some stale bread so I made some garlic croutons out of those.

One of my hobbies/activities these days is purchasing things off of Facebook Marketplace so that I don’t have to pay full price for useless things. I got a hand mixer with attachments, and the man who sold it to me was so nice he gave me full disclosure that the immersion blender doesn’t work THAT well. Although he’s happy with it, his wife wanted a new one. I said, no problem-o, I like my soups chunky. It’s true and also proven with my *chunky* and a little bit creamy mushroom soup

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The Best Corn Chowder

I have to be honest, I was not really looking forward to making this. I don’t ever order corn chowder, or crave it at any point. And I thought having bacon in the soup would give it a greasy, heavy feeling.

I was proven wrong because this was so delicious. I used canned corn, because I didn’t see corn in the stores and also didn’t really look for it because I didn’t want to deal with cleaning and cooking it.

Also I thought I’d like the soup chunky so I wasn’t going to blend it, but it was so much better after I used the immersion blender real quick. The consistency was smooth and filling from the potatoes. Would definitely make this again!

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Creamy Broccoli Parmesan Soup

I actually never crave or order broccoli soup. But the celery gave this a nice kick. And the garlic croutons...amazing

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15-Minute Pantry Tomato Soup (with Grilled Cheese)

Added some extra fresh tomatoes to make it even chunkier. Loved the grilled cheese to add some variety 

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30-Minute Don’t Call It Tuscan White Bean and Parmesan Soup

Since I skipped over the soup section last time (due to the summer heat and rationale that no one wants to cook or eat soup in the middle of august), I have come back to the soup chapters. 

I for some reason couldn’t find Kale or Swiss Chard at the Carrefour location, so instead I bought a big bag of spinach. This soup was great and lasted me all week for lunches and some dinners. To switch some of the meals up I added some Cholula hot sauce which gave it a nice kick.

The only downside was I was quite gassy by the end of the work day. But I think this soup did a decent job of bringing me back to eating healthier/lighter after the massive holiday overload.

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Perfect Tenderloin Steaks; Simple Red-Wine Pan Sauce

I’m back from a major hiatus. Updates since my last post: I moved to UWS, moved to Belgium, experience Europe’s record-breaking heat wave. And now I’m ready to cook comfortably in the kitchen without losing my mind.

Next up was the Perfect Tenderloin Steaks - but all I could really find in the Carrefour was roast beef, so I sort of kind of tried to use the same method (baking on low heat, then searing the wides). For the red-wine pan sauce, I used way too many shallots, probably too much wine, and didn’t use flour or stock because they’re too heavy to carry from the grocery store.

But the end result wasn’t so bad and was very tasty with my side cucumber/tomato/fennel salad with shallots and white wine vinegar.

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Chile Verde with Pork

I’ve been putting off this next recipe because..would Trader Joe’s really have pork shoulder, poblano peppers, cubanelle peppers AND tomatillos?? I know for sure they would have jalapeno peppers but I wasn’t quite ready to have a dish with just pork and jalapenos...but then a Whole Foods 365 magically opened up and all of these items were conveniently batched together and greeted me in the produce aisle. 

I was nervous about over-charring the peppers and having to fan smoke out of my kitchen to avoid setting off the obnoxious fire alarm while simultaneously following the recipe to finish the slow cooked pork in time before dinner time became midnight. But as my guest and I struggled to peel the skins in the montage-worthy swoops I imagined, I realized I could have gone much heavier on my charring methods. But in the end, I had no complaints. The leftovers also worked as great bribes to myself to make it out of bed and into the office just to scarf it down a few hours later.

Also, homemade brioche bread and a meyer lemon tart, just because.

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Real Texas Chili Con Carne

I finally made the Chile Paste that was in the other recipes but I’ve always been too lazy to make. After scouring a few different grocery stores for the dried chiles and making a dangerous trip to Target to buy an immersion blender among other unnecessary items, I must say the Chile Paste was worth it. 

Although the recipe clearly states that the chili will taste even better after a couple of days, I made the chili Saturday afternoon and had a friend over for Saturday dinner. I must say, the chili tasted significantly better on Sunday when I reheated it for a quick lunch. I had left the pot in the oven for a couple more hours the night before and added rice flour I had in the cupboard to thicken the soup since I didn’t have any cornstarch. Both of these made massive improvements to the dish. Sorry to my friend who had the Saturday night version...but to anyone else coming over, you’re in luck

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The Best Short-Rib Chili with beans

After a long hiatus, I am back to cooking hearty, winter-appropriate foods during the heat of the summer. For the short rib chili, I used half beef chunks (lean cut from trader joe’s) and half chicken breast because I am only cooking for myself and should be living on a budget.

I ended up having guests, so I served this over whole wheat pasta shells alongside a plate of cheese, figs and blueberries (taking advantage of those trader joe’s prices!). Also my sourdough bread did not have much of a rise, so I cut it open, dug out the insides and made a chili bread bowl.

I learned that even during the hot summer days, I very much look forward to sitting down and enjoying a steaming bowl of chili. Also, always wash your hands after handling jalapeno peppers. Those unassuming, innocent looking peppers had my fingers on fire for hours after I was done cooking.

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Easy Skillet-Braised Chicken with white wine, fennel, and pancetta

Skipped a few other recipes to choose a nice hearty meal for Father’s Day - but I might just have to skip most of the soup chapter for now as the weather has been creeping up to 90 degrees and 1000% humidity.

I used Italian sausage (mixture of sweet and hot) because my local grocery store did not have any pancetta in sight. As the name of the recipe led on, this was a super easy meal to make - and extremely delicious. I’ve been bringing leftovers to work this week and fall in love all over again each day. This was my first time cooking with fennel and now I think it’s going to be a new grocery shopping item favorite.

I also made a cucumber/sweet pepper/tomato summer salad with red wine vinegar along with ricotta cheesecake (which collapsed terribly, but the ricotta cheese was made from the previous chapter’s recipe), strawberry shortcake, and chocolate cake.

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Pot Roast for Mother’s Day

Skipped a few recipes ahead for the fanciest meal in the Soups chapter and landed on the Pot Roast page. Making this, my sourdough, and mini schichttortes (courtesy of GBBO Season 6, Patisserie week) took 1.5 days but was definitely worth it. I’m lying on my couch not looking forward to Monday, but at least I have some leftover pot roast to think about to get me through the week

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Lenticchie e fagioli

I was supposed to be making pasta e fagioli, but it’s wedding season and I’m trying to stay away from (pry myself from the tight, addicting grasps of) carbs. I stuck to the recipe of whole canned tomatoes, red kidney beans and onions - then also added carrots, celery and barley (leftover ingredients from last week’s soup) and some lentils because, why not. I enjoyed a bowl for lunch with a side summer salad of cucumbers, bell peppers and tomatoes in red wine vinegar. It was very filling but now at the very end of the day, I am quite gassy.

Also in the reading, I learned that beef stock takes forever to make, so it’s not quite worth the effort as making chicken stock and keeping this on hand. Since it is so time-consuming and thus costly to make, store-bought beef stock was barely made from real beef, but is just a mixture of different seasonings to get this flavor. Not that I’ve ever bought beef stock before, but now I will never buy beef stock.