5 dishes keeping me sane during the Pandemic

Like everyone else, I’ve been cooking a lot more during this time.  Before quarantine, I would be testing out and developing recipes, cooking 2-3 meals a day- which is a lot, but now I find myself baking as well, or making more intricate dishes. I’ve found that it takes my mind off things, and at the same time I explore new techniques and dishes I previously might have not made, a win win scenario.

I’ve been making a lot of things from scratch, mostly types of breads and pastas- anything that requires gluten really… I’ve been going through 1kg bags of flour like never before, which is awful because it’s something hard to find in stores.  From all the countless quarantine dishes I’ve made here are my top 5: the ones that have brought me the most satisfaction, been the most fun to make and the most delicious. 

1. Sourdough everything 

I tried out sourdough twice before this time, each time I failed and I threw out all the starter in frustration.  I wish I had the sense to dry some out or freeze it so that I wouldn’t have had to completely restart this time, but the process of building my starter gave me some proper time to sit down and read and watch all things I could pertaining to sourdough.  I finally made my first loaf successfully and since they’ve only gotten better- I haven’t bought a loaf of bread in maybe 1.5 months.  The reason I love sourdough so much is for the ingredients; water, flour, salt, that's all. 

Water and flour are the two components needed to make the starter, and then you use part of the starter in the loaf where you add more flour, water and salt.  It’s going back to the real root of bread.  If you look at the ingredients in a shop loaf, you most likely will find a load of ingredients you haven’t ever heard of, and that really, shouldn’t be there. 

With sourdough you feed the starter everyday or every week, always discarding some.  With this sourdough discard I’ve been making all sorts of things, one of my favourite being pancakes.  The vegan sourdough discard pancakes are incredibly light, fluffy, and the tang that comes with it is delicious.  I make the batter and leave it to ferment in the fridge for at least 2 days.  Then, anytime I want pancakes, I remove the portion of dough I want to use, add a pinch of bicarb, baking powder, and salt, mix it, and cook it in coconut oil (makes a huge difference)- that easy, I have pancakes in less than 5 minutes.  The best part is that the dough keeps really well in the fridge, and the batter only gets better with time- I’ve left it in there for over 1 week...

The second thing I’ve been making with my sourdough discard are crackers. I make a very simple dough, flavour it with whatever I want- my fav is nutritional yeast and paprika, pop it in the fridge and whenever I can be bothered, roll it out and bake it.  I’ve been eating them with tuna salad on top, so so good.

The last thing I’ve made with sourdough discard or mature starter is pizza dough.  I only recently made this but it blew me away.  I have been making pizza at home for over 3 years now, and each time there has been something missing, but after that pizza, I cannot see myself making it any other way.  The sourdough gives off a completely different texture and taste than regular active dry yeast does, and makes it almost restaurant quality.  I still need to work on my pizza shaping skills but it’ll get there. 

2. Homemade Pasta

I started making homemade pasta a few years ago on and off. I was making it with 00 flour and eggs which results in soft, luscious, silky pasta akin to the quality you get at Padella, Bancone... As much as I love pasta, I will say most of the time I would more than happily take boxed dried over 00 flour/egg fresh.  Depending on the shape, the fresh ones can get claggy, and it also doesn’t retain the satisfying al dente bite. With quarantine I wasn’t able to go to the Italian deli where I normally buy my 00 flour, so instead I started experimenting with semolina or hard durum wheat- it’s normally what boxed pasta is made of.  I tried out a mix of all purpose flour and semolina, sticking with eggs as a binder, and the result had a far better texture.  It had a slight bite to it and since semolina is coarser than flour, sauces cling onto the pasta very well.  I have continued experimenting with the semolina flour, adding less flour and swapping out the eggs for water.  This makes for a drier dough, which can be hard to knead, but it’s easier to shape, cooks really well, and if ever, you can dry the leftovers and cook it like you would a  boxed one; it keeps a lot longer.

Homemade pasta is one of the things I feel like will always be a challenge because of the many shapes it comes in, whether it’s filled, twirled etc… 

*homemade egg pasta recipe I use

*homemade semolina dough

3. Ambitious Kitchen Cinnamon Rolls 

These cinnamon rolls are possibly the best I’ve ever had and made.  The dough is what is exceptional; fluffy, soft, light- everything you could ever want.  The first time I made these I did it with the filling from the recipe- delicious. The second time though, I was inspired by Christina Chaey from Bon Appetit Mag, she made the BA date rolls, and filled them instead with a savoury filling. So I made the ambitious kitchen cinnamon roll dough and 3 fillings; date paste with orange blossom and cardamom, sun-dried tomato pesto, and caramelised onion, emmental and cheddar.  I baked them just like Christina did, in a muffin/cupcake tin and I had 3 types of rolls made with 1 dough. As delicious as they were, I don’t think i’ll bake cinnamon rolls individually in a muffin tin again as the result isn’t as fluffy as when you cook them together in a dish, but savoury rolls will definitely be something I’ll make more often. 

4. Crispy Tofu

I’ve been eating way less fish and meats during this quarantine, and a lot more veggies and tofu.  To whoever claims they don’t like tofu or that tofu doesn’t taste like anything, you’re doing it wrong.  Tofu is maybe the best vehicle for flavour. It also comes in multiple textures, so it really can become anything you want it to. I’ve been dredging my tofu pieces in cornstarch and shallow frying it. The cornstarch creates a crackly crust, and it almost mimics chicken nugget texture. I’ve been eating it as is, putting it in sandwiches, maki rolls, and recently glazing it with teriyaki sauce.  

5. Homemade Sushi & Tamagoyaki

Sushi is by far the food I miss the most. I miss going to my favourite restaurant (Kozan) and getting the sushi menu, where I don’t know exactly what nigiris or makis I might get, and being surprised with each bite I take. I’ve been making sushi once a week, nowhere near as good as restaurant quality, but I find it a good way to clear out the veggies I may have.  The whole process of making fresh rice, seasoning it, cooling and wrapping the makis is super therapeutic and eating the messed up or end pieces meanwhile makes me so excited for my meal. I always finished my sushi meal at Kozan with a piece of tamagoyaki- a sweet/savoury Japanese omelette that has been rolled onto itself over and over, creating thin layers of egg. I started making it with my sushi meals as an extra lil something, and it really is a technical dish (harder than a french omelette.) The process of the tamagoyaki is so different from anything I’ve made but the result no matter how pretty or ugly is always delicious.

These dishes all have 1 thing in common, and it’s that they all depend on your sense of touch.  Knowing how much pressure to use, how to manoeuvre your fingers or hands, being able to tell if something is ready… This is what has been keeping me sane during quarantine. I spend hours shaping and re-shaping my pasta, stretching and folding my sourdough, kneading my brioche dough to the point where the only thing I’m thinking about is what I’m making.   

*recipes for the dishes are linked in the article.