Hot and Sour Shrimp and Noodle Soup

On October 11, 2024October 11, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, soups2 Comments

This week’s Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon takes the recipe from the prior week, Hot and Sour Broth Base, and walks you through one of my favorite ways to turn it into a full-fledged soup. Just looking at the photo makes me want to fix a bowl for lunch today.

That’s easily done: At lunchtime, I’ll rehydrate a couple of dried shitake mushrooms in hot water and thaw a few shrimp in cold running water while I gather the other ingredients. Cubes of broth base and Homemade Shrimp Stock pulled from my freezer go straight into the pot, as do the noodles. A handful of shrimp take seconds to peel, and I’ll add their shells to the bag in my freezer awaiting my next stock-making day. Shallots, garlic, and cilantro also take seconds to prep in such a small amount. By the time my prep is done, the mushrooms will be soft and I can fill the soup pot, with lunch ready in about 15 minutes.
Learn to make Hot and Sour Shrimp and Noodle Soup

Hot and Sour Broth Base

On October 3, 2024October 3, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, frozenLeave a comment

The recipe I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon is all about the balance between effort and result. When you make real meals from scratch, the result can be phenomenal. But those meals usually take more effort than an off-the-shelf substitute.

I’ll always remember one of the comments I saw about my first recipe in the Flathead Beacon, 30-Minute Tomato Soup. Someone was appalled that it would take so long to make tomato soup when she could just pop open a can and heat it in the microwave. She completely missed the point of the recipe—and to this day is likely missing out on its rich flavor.

That reader will likely be just as snarky about this week’s recipe, even though its point is to achieve the equivalent of popping open a soup can by doing the bulk of the work ahead of time and keeping a hot and sour soup base in the freezer. But if you make that advanced effort, the result tastes amazing, even if all you do is heat up a couple of frozen cubes in a mug of stock.
Learn to make Hot and Sour Broth Base

Corn Kernel Muffins with Sage

On September 26, 2024September 26, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, quick breadsLeave a comment

I snuck two recipes into this week’s Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. The main corn muffin recipe has far more texture and flavor than a simple pan of cornbread. The secondary recipe is in the steps that prepare the fresh corn for the muffins: essentially, make creamed corn from scratch.

I like to double just the fresh corn and milk in the muffin recipe, bake it in two pans, and lightly season one pan. That hot creamed corn tastes delicious when served alongside, say, Panfish Piccata and a second vegetable like Bagna Cauda-Style Mashed Potatoes or Maple-Glazed Carrots.

After the second pan of baked, unseasoned kernels cools, I fold these into the corn muffin batter. A little sugar plays on the corn’s natural sweetness, but these muffins remain savory enough to serve with eggs at breakfast or as a cornbread replacement at dinner.
Learn to make Corn Kernel Muffins with Sage

Three-Bean Salad with Fresh Herbs

On September 19, 2024September 19, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, saladsLeave a comment

By the time the garden’s snap beans are ready, many of its salad greens have gone to seed. But that doesn’t mean I stop making salads. Instead, my salads become heartier, with varieties of snap and dried beans and fresh herbs standing in for greens. I share one of my favorite renditions, a three-bean salad with homemade Creamy Balsamic Salad Dressing, this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon.

Like all salads, you can adapt this one to the seasons and the ingredients you have on hand. My favorite cheeses for this salad include Cold-Smoked Mozzarella and Homemade Farmer’s Cheese. When I’ve put the garden to bed for the season, I still make this salad with the Classic Dilly Beans or the Szechuan-Peppered Snap Beans in my pickling cookbook. When even my herbs have died back for the year, my stockpile of homegrown and dried herbs provides plenty of flavor.
Learn to make Three-Bean Salad with Fresh Herbs

Zucchini Bread with Sesame Seeds

On September 13, 2024September 13, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, quick breadsLeave a comment

When zucchini plants are putting out fresh squash every day that seem to double in size if you leave them on the vine just one more night, it’s time to make the quick bread recipe I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. Almost every cook seems to have a favored recipe for zucchini bread, partly because the bread is so adaptable. I base mine on a quick bread ratio that works for all sorts of flavors.

As I mention in my column, the long list of ingredients in my zucchini bread recipe gives my preferred taste and texture to the loaves—and still uses up plenty of the squash. If you compare it to my Ratio Quick Bread recipe, you’ll see that any ingredients that you don’t have at hand can be replaced by other types of flour, sweetener, and add-ins.
Learn to make Zucchini Bread with Sesame Seeds

Green Goddess Salad Dressing

On September 6, 2024September 5, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, saladsLeave a comment

I’m such a lover of all things pickled and fermented that most of my salad dressings start with vinegar and oil. So when I was asked to create some condiments for a large dinner a few years back, I knew I needed to branch out not just with a creamy choice but also one that would appeal to as many dietary needs as possible: vegan, gluten free, keto friendly, and more. That’s why the salad dressing I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon eschews the original mayonnaise and other dairy-heavy renditions in favor of a dairy-free, avocado-based blend.

Avocados have grown in popularity as a nondairy fat replacement in baked goods—the same way I often replace oil and butter in quick breads with applesauce. I occasionally use avocados in this way, especially when making desserts for vegan friends. But I typically eat avocados sliced fresh, such as on corn tortillas with Crispy Sprouted Lentils, or turn them into Grilled Onion Guacamole. I even have a recipe for pickling them in my pickling cookbook. If you like tangy salads, try the pickled avocado slices in the green goddess dressing.
Learn to make Green Goddess Salad Dressing

Cheese-Stuffed Grilled Sourdough Breadsticks

On August 30, 2024August 29, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, sourdoughLeave a comment

From the first year of the Twice as Tasty blog, I set aside January as Sourdough Month. The cold winter window after the holidays and before the first seed packets arrived seems ideal for sharing starter and recipes that bake sourdough in the oven. But when the temperatures hit the other extreme, I do a lot of my sourdough baking on the grill. So I decided to share a sourdough recipe this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon.

This grilled breadstick recipe comes on the heels of Grilled Tomato Pizza Sauce, my favorite dipping sauce for these breadsticks—although if you’re a fan of roasted sweet peppers, they’re delicious dipped into Grilled Sweet Pepper Sauce too. The grilled breadsticks start with a ball of pizza dough; you can find my sourdough recipe here if you’re just getting started on your sourdough adventures, or you can swap in your favorite yeast-based pizza dough recipe. For a full mozzarella upgrade, use Cold-Smoked Cheese.
Learn to make Cheese-Stuffed Grilled Sourdough Breadsticks

Grilled Tomato Pizza Sauce

On August 22, 2024August 22, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, grilledLeave a comment

I’m sharing a series of recipes in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon that revolve around grilled tomatoes: first last week’s Grilled Tomato Bloody Mary Mix, continuing this week with a freezable pizza sauce, and next week with a recipe that can be paired with one or both.

We fill a good portion of a large hoop house with tomato plants each year. When the harvested crop starts to pile up in boxes, one of my favorite ways to deal with the overload is to grill the tomatoes. If I’m too busy to process them further, I stockpile the juice and solids separately in freezer-safe containers until I have time to turn them into sauce and more.

In a pizza sauce, grilled tomato solids have a deep, smoky flavor enhanced by grilled onion and garlic, as well as fresh homegrown herbs. I find it most useful to freeze the finished sauce in silicone ice trays that make cubes of various sizes, from a couple of tablespoons to 1-cup portions.
Learn to make Grilled Tomato Pizza Sauce

Grilled Tomato Bloody Mary Mix

On August 16, 2024August 15, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn beverages, ColumnLeave a comment

If you’ve been following the Twice as Tasty blog from the beginning, you might remember how the entire idea of writing a food blog started with my grilled tomato recipes, especially the bloody Mary mix recipe that I share this week column for the Flathead Beacon. The recipe has improved with every season as I fine-tuned a balance between chunky salsa in a glass and thin, overly drained juice. For a long time, I blended some tomato solids back into the juice, but this left slightly chewy bits and too many seeds. I’ve finally settled on using a large-holed colander to separate juice and solids and then pressing the result through a fine-mesh strainer to leave just the seeds behind.

This recipe has also evolved from one I jarred and sealed in a boiling water bath to one I prefer to make in batches from the freezer. The frozen juice tastes fresher, and it keeps the smoky tomato juice on hand for easy winter lunches like Tomato Juice Soup.
Learn to make Grilled Tomato Bloody Mary Mix

Grilled Sweet Pepper Sauce

On August 9, 2024August 8, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, grilledLeave a comment

So many vegetables become sweeter and smokier when roasted or grilled, including red bell peppers, as I explain this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. I grill peppers as they ripen throughout the growing season, both to eat immediately and to gather in a zip-close bag in the freezer.

Soft roasted peppers peel more easily if you move them straight from the grill to a paper bag or airtight bowl, let them steam a bit, and then pull off the translucent skin while they’re still warm. They’re easiest to chop uniformly, either by hand or in a food processor, if you first spread them on a tray and freeze them until slightly firm.

When I have a bumper crop of sweet peppers, I grill and puree them into a sauce to use on pizza, pasta, and more. When making sauce, I still remove as much peel as possible, because it tends to be bitter. But I don’t bother chopping the peppers. A high-powered food processor easily breaks down halves or quarters. I’ve been using this food processor for years to make ultrasmooth Grilled Sweet Pepper Sauce.
Learn to make Grilled Sweet Pepper Sauce