“WHAT’S IN YOUR POCKET?”
All by Mackenzie Smith Kelley
In Astoria, a historically Greek neighborhood of Queens where baklava are as common as bagels, Cafe Boulis stands out. Panagiotis “Pek” Peikidis bought the cafe in 2016, but he’s quick to say it really belongs to his mother, Lemona Peikidou. Every morning, Peikidou walks the ten blocks from her home to Cafe Boulis at 4:30. She pulls spanakopita, tiropita (phyllo dough stuffed with cheese), and other pastries prepared the previous day from the fridge and starts her first bake.
This quick, healthy weeknight meal comes together in 30 minutes and brings a lot of color and flavor onto the table. The soup is great on its own, but incredibly hearty when dumplings are cooked in the blue-ish broth infused with garlic and scallions. Top with your favorite fresh herbs and pickles and a hefty spoonful of chili oil.
Last July, I started deleting my instagram account daily. I’d download it in the morning and set a timer for 15 minutes before checking in, post a picture if I had one to share, respond to DMs and comments, comment on posts in my feed, and then delete the app until the evening, when I’d do the same thing all over again.
Can I make a vodka pie dough and use bourbon in place of vodka? The answer is yes. Yes, you can.
The original vodka pie dough recipe, published by Cook’s Illustrated in 2007 (RIP), was created because vodka, with its high alcohol content, adds moisture to the dough without aiding in the formation of gluten.
Less gluten formation = a flakier pie crust. Vodka is also used in place of water (which is very good at helping to form gluten) because it is flavorless, so it doesn’t interfere with the taste of the pie filling.
Where to get the best Chinese dumplings in Austin? The Farmer’s market! Cindy Chee and Leslie Chau are serving up handmade dumplings stuffed with organic, locally sourced vegetables and sustainable meat.
Pupuseria 503 y Mas is located on the corner of Justin and Lamar in Brentwood, Austin. Doris and Victor Monterroso are lovingly serving up some of the best pupusas in Austin.
"Gujiya is a sweet Indian pocket traditionally served during Holi celebrations. Half moons stuffed with chopped nuts, coconut, sugar, and mawa -- gujiya is also a great afternoon snack to serve with chai, or a quick sweet breakfast bite to eat on the way to work.
Here’s the gist: kale and scallions are cooked to a crisp in olive oil or ghee while lemon juice and salt marinate the remaining raw kale in a separate bowl. The trick to charring kale is making sure it is dry when it goes into the pan and leaving it alone for longer than you think you should before stirring it. After the kale in the skillet is plenty crisp, I add a healthy pour of maple syrup into the pan and let the liquid cook down and caramelize onto the leaves. The charred kale reduces to about half its original mass, and when it is added to the bowl with the lemony kale, the uncooked half is ever-so-slightly steamed by the hot kale, offering what looks like a smaller yield overall— a.k.a. the most flavorful way to put two times the kale into my body in just one sitting. A beautiful component to an easy weeknight meal.
Turmeric, black pepper and coriander toasted in hot oil with a lot of garlic and ginger, then vegetable or chicken broth and coconut milk is added to to simmer with hearty greens. Add frozen dumplings to your golden-hued soup and simmer with coconut milk for a very balanced dinner!
We are still figuring out where to set our sights for all of 2019, but we know we’ll be spending some time learning more about the pocket foods from China and Mexico, and the people from there who are making them here in America.
Making stewed black-eyed peas and collard greens for New Year’s this year slipped my mind until midday on the first of January when I realized we had no “good luck food” on the docket for the day. Too hungry to wait for a pot of beans to cook, I grabbed a can of Black-eyed peas from HEB and made a black-eyed pea avocado salsa to stuff into fresh collard wraps with quinoa, chicken, herbs and pecans. So this year we skirted the traditional beans and greens, but still managed to fit black-eyed peas and collards into a fast, good luck meal.
When I was in 6th grade, my grandmother, lured by the tropical climate and a gaggle of widowed friends, moved to Florida. For a number of summers, I joined Mama Min in her high-rise Hollywood apartment, traveling via Eastern Airlines to the land of palm trees and coconut patties. Her kitchen was compact, with just enough room for a slim café table and two chairs. We spent many afternoons sitting out on the shaded balcony, avoiding the blazing sun. The sound of the ocean in the distance was punctuated by the click-click of my grandmother’s knitting needles. It was during these warm weather holidays that I learned the joy of casual dinners and the beauty of the blintz.
Ellen Gray’s recipe for blintzes stuffed with cheese and topped with cherries brings is inspired by summers spent in Florida with her grandma, “Mama Min”. The idea of cheesecake for dinner over a game of Mah Jong, after a day spent swimming on the beach, makes us yearn for simpler times.
Monique Santua was born in the Philippines, and moved to Hempstead, TX when she was 5. At 7, her family made the move from there to Houston, where she spent her childhood. While her mother paved the way for the Santua family here as a nurse to get them to the US, Monique has had the opportunity to feel out a couple of different career options before launching Gastromonique this year as a way to share her love of cooking with the people of Austin.
Turon is a traditional Filipino dessert made of plantains and jackfruit dredged in brown sugar, wrapped in rice paper and fried to a golden crisp. Brown sugar melts into sweet plantains and shredded jackfruit, making for the perfect hand-held tropical dessert.
