It's time for ROTD Weekend.I hope you had a lovely Halloween and are having a great weekend.
The weather here in Florida is gorgeous now, and I am excited to say that I am spending the weekend with my 16-year-old knocking on doors for the Harris campaign and for our Democratic Candidate for Senate, Debbie MacArthur Powell.
I don't think I said her name right, but that is what we're doing.My son is going to be with me.It is super exciting.So I will just take this moment to remind you to vote and to text your friends and family members and remind them to vote as well.
It is very important and it's happening on Tuesday.That's the last day.Tuesday is also my daughter's birthday and my parents are visiting from Canada.
So the house is full and there is a lot of excitement going on and a lot of delicious food going on too, of course.I have to say there's nothing quite like having somebody else cook for you in your own kitchen.
My parents have been doing a lot of the grocery shopping And then, especially when my kids aren't here, they cook things that I like that my kids don't necessarily like.
So, well, the first thing that comes to mind is that they bought something that I never buy, but I am, I guess, slightly embarrassed to say that I love, and that's liverwurst.
They got a thing of liverwurst from Aldi and rye bread, and we just had it spread on the bread with mustard, and it was such a delicious treat.I don't know, who else out there loves liverwurst?
It's just a thing that we had when I was a kid all the time.And now I never get it.I think it's probably not that great for me, but they buy it and it's a delicious treat.
And then the other day for dinner, my mom made this big pot of cabbage soup with sauerkraut in it and beans.Oh, and it had rib meat in there and lots of caraway seeds. Oh, it was so good.
And just such a nice thing when somebody else is doing the cooking and I finished my workday and the food is already done and it's something that I love.Such a treat, I feel a little spoiled.So that is what's going on here.
Election, volunteering, and cooking, or not cooking, I guess, since they're doing the cooking, and trying to think of what I should make for my daughter for her birthday.We've been talking about that a little bit.
figure out what favorite foods we can surprise her with.Oh, and my mom's doing a really interesting cake that my daughter has always loved that they used to make when she was younger.Cake is maybe the wrong word.
It's this thing where you just take Oreo cookies and layer them with whipped
and then they go, I think it's in the fridge, but maybe in the freezer, and the cookies kind of soak up the whipped cream and become really soft and cake-like, and you get this like no effort, delicious cookies and cream cold cake concoction.
So I know that is happening for sure.Don't know what we're doing for the actual dinner part, but I am guessing it will involve some combination of smoked salmon, avocado, maybe meatballs, chicken wings,
those are her favorite foods other than candy, ice cream, and cake, of course.
Speaking of cooking with or for family, family food traditions, my guest today is an OG blogger who is sharing a recipe that is related to her family's history and traditions.I am talking with
Ashley Covelli of Big Flavors from A Tiny Kitchen, also from the podcast, Passing the Plate, and Ashley has been blogging for 18 years, even longer than me.I rarely meet these people.
I've known Ashley for a long time online, but we actually met in person this past spring, which was a real treat. and so I am delighted to have gotten to sit down with her for this podcast and talk.I think you're going to love hearing from her.
Now, let's listen to my conversation with Ashley Covelli from Big Flavors from a Tiny Kitchen. Ashley Covelli, welcome to the show.
Thank you so much for having me, Christine.
I am super excited to talk with you for a variety of reasons, but one of them is that you are celebrating a very exciting anniversary.What is it?
Yes, my first child, my website turned 18 on August 1st, which is insane.It can now be responsible for all its own decisions and it can earn some money.
Start taking care of me.Yeah.
So your site, Big Flavors from a Tiny Kitchen, you've been blogging there for 18 years.
Yeah, I like jokingly but not jokingly refer to myself as like a dinosaur blogger because, I mean, things have changed a lot in that amount of time.So yeah, I've seen a lot of phases and a lot of food trends and it's always an adventure.
For sure.And your adventure has been somewhat consistent.So the name in your site says A Tiny Kitchen.Are you still in A Tiny Kitchen?
I am.We were hoping to move to a bigger place and then 2020 happened, so we're kind of sitting tight.I will say if one day I do get a larger kitchen, I will not be changing the name of my website.
But, you know, you really can do a lot with a small space.So I like it.
So I am a blogger like you and I have a large kitchen. I don't even know where to start and ask you questions about this, but are you constantly moving things around?Do you have a strategy for cooking in the small kitchen?Where do you start?
If I'm suddenly in a small kitchen, what do I even start with?
I think part of it is, you know, kind of being careful with what you let into your kitchen, especially like appliance wise and stuff like that.Space is at a premium.
I do have like certain things stored outside of my kitchen, like food processor, ice cream maker, stuff like that isn't even in the kitchen because there's no room.But just trying to be intentional about what I keep on hand.
I still find myself doing most of my work on one tiny portion of my counter, even though I do have more since we remodeled.Just because it's convenient.It's in between the stove, the sink.
So it's like, I'm just really, I'm also really good at Tetris.So I can kind of like get things into the cabinets and find them easily and everything's within an arm's reach. I mean, it's kind of, it's kind of nice in some ways.
I would love more storage space.That's the biggest thing I feel like, like with our pantry, it's literally one cabinet.That's it.Like a small, like from the counter down cabinet, but trying to stay organized with it.
Like I I've started keeping a list and keeping it updated.So I know what I have on hand.So I'm not buying things that are like, well, I already have eight cans of chickpeas.Why do I, why do I need another one?Yeah.
So, okay, I have two things to say.What I find fascinating, even though I have a big kitchen, is that I always stand in the same spot, too.And it is that spot.It is, for me, it's to the right of my sink with my stove behind me.
And then I'm piling dirty dishes to the left of the sink.So that's not a good workspace, like for chopping and that kind of thing.And then on either side of my stove, there's like cabinets over them.
So they're not great for like, I mean, you stand there when you're stirring something, but not for chopping. So even in this big kitchen, you're just using this small spot all the time.So it's not that different.That's really interesting.
I hadn't thought of that before.
Yeah.And then because if you can reach everything you need from that one spot, and you only have to leave that vicinity to go get certain tools or whatever, it makes it more efficient.
So you have this list of what you have in the pantry. Do you end up having to do a lot of meal planning, like very, very diligent meal planning, too, to make sure that you're only getting what you need?
So in theory, yes.And it's lovely when that works out.But realistically, sometimes I'll just kind of look at it and be like, OK, I don't feel like going to the store right now.What do I have that I can work with?
And it's just making sure to update that.And like if I see my husband eating a can of tuna, I'd be like, did you mark that off the list?Because it's a shared thing.So we can both update it.
So that's been handy, but I do try like if I have, especially if it's a package of something that's too big for one recipe, I'll try to find another recipe to use the rest of it so it doesn't like, it's not that thing where you have a half a jar of something and it dies a slow death in your refrigerator because I really try to watch the food waste when I can.
Okay, and then so the title of your 18-year-old fully legally adult blog My young adult.Big flavors.Do you feel like there is a challenge in getting all the flavors that somebody with a larger kitchen would have?You have that smaller pantry.
Do you have strategies for making sure your food is still extra flavorful even though you have fewer things at your fingertips?
I don't think so.I think, honestly, sometimes having some parameters can help you be more creative.It's the same.I have a graphic design background and having somebody tell you, make a billboard for me.It can be whatever you want.
I have no, you know, whatever you want. is maybe a little, gives you too many options, but if they say, hey, I really want a photo of me and this color of blue, but other than that, like, it just gives you a sort of a box to work in.
So if I know that I only have a couple of, I mean, I have a lot of spice, I have a lot of spices in that small space, let's be real.And you know, certain ones pack more potent flavor than others.So I feel like the restraints are actually a positive.
No, that makes sense to me.I feel like, we've probably talked about this before actually, when I work with different brands or sponsors and they're just like, I'm so happy to work with you.
Yes, make a recipe using our product, make whatever you want.I have no idea what to do.
Whereas when they say something like, there was literally, I was working with an olive oil company and they were like, we've noticed that Korean food and vegan food are trending and it's summertime.Can you do a vegan Korean summery appetizer?
And I'm like, I don't know.Yes, I can.Absolutely.
That's the thing.Sometimes it takes you a second.You're like, can I?And then you just like, you just got to kind of like, think it out for a moment.And then you're like, oh, yeah, absolutely.I got this.
And that's actually how we met online a million years ago.We both did sponsored work for the same company.It's true.And we only met in person for the first time earlier this year.
I know.It's so nice.So nice to meet you. in person.Yeah, yeah, yeah.No, that was great.I actually, I don't do very much sponsored or brand work anymore.
And I do, I miss, I miss that, that, that forced creativity like that, because nobody else does that.
I'm not gonna, I like, I come up with ideas and stuff, but I'm not going to be like, okay, Christine, today, ready, set, go, like, is that I'm on Chopped, right?
Well, can I tell you, sometimes we do this in my house, occasionally, I'll have my husband and my son pick out, like, if I'm just like, I don't know what I want to make.
I'll say, go pick out five things, put them in a box, we'll unveil, and I get one veto.So I get one veto.And then I'll just like, see what I can come up with based on the things that they give me.And that's kind of, it's fun.That is super fun.
But wait, I need to know, are they trying to stump you?Like, are they doing like tuna fish and chocolate sauce?Or are they choosing things that they actually would like to have in their meal?
They've done both.My husband definitely, he likes to be very like minimalist.So he'll be like, what do we need to use up and get rid of?So I know we did one once where it was like ground bison and like fennel pollen and like, you know, jarred okra.
But it ended up being really good, like polenta, a tube of polenta.But I ended up making something like really interesting with it.So that's fun.
I think if I gave my 12 year old free reign over all of the ingredients, it might be a different situation. But yeah, and then they might not eat the dinner.Yeah, you pick it, you eat it.Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
That's great.I love it.Well, okay, so Ashley, have you brought a surprise recipe for me today?
And it's one of my all-time favorite recipes and it's one that I used to make.I did a lot of virtual cooking classes for especially in the 2020 to 2022, 2023 range.And so it's a sheet pan dinner. And it's a, I call it a broiler kebab sheet pan meal.
So my father is from Iran and so I have an affinity for Persian food and a lot of it takes a long time.So I was trying to take the idea of the like ground meat kebabs that he made but make them doable on a weeknight.
Oh, I love that.And it's under the broiler, on a sheet pan, and it's the ground meat kabobs, that kind of.Yeah, not like chunks of chicken or whatever.Yeah, yeah, yeah.I love those.
Yeah, and he always did them with ground beef, so I've done them with beef. We actually really like it with ground lamb.And I've also, you know, in recent years, I'm trying to make more inclusive recipes and just like give people options.
So it's also great with like vegan ground meat substitute.Oh, interesting.I haven't really got that.
Does it does it behave the same way as. ground meat and this sort of thing?
I find that it's great in a place where you would use, yeah, like ground beef.I don't think that it's like when you would use ground chicken, because that's kind of like its own thing.You know, you got to cook it more and all that.
So I think it's a great swap in like chili or sloppy joes or burgers or kebab.OK, well, very cool.So are you telling me about the beef ones, lamb or?You can, this recipe, you can do it with any.What's your favorite of those meats?
You can do it with any of them.Let's go with beef.
That's the OG, how I used to make it.And you're basically saying that it's going to be pretty similar, whether it's the lamb or the substitute.Yeah.
The only swap that you would do, I've done it without an egg, because I use an egg to kind of bind it.I find with the vegan ground, it doesn't need that because it's a little looser.
And then once I made this when my sister-in-law was having some restrictions, she couldn't do eggs for a while.So instead of an egg, I just did a splash of water with the ground lamb, and that was great. Okay, perfect, that's good to know.
Okay, so where do you start for these sheet pan kebabs?
Okay, so I get my broiler preheated, and I know a lot of people are afraid of the broiler, but don't be, it's not scary.If you have a gas stove, which I don't, you can preheat it on high with the door closed.
If you have an electric stove like I do, a lot of times it'll kind of tilt open so that it stays ajar. If you close it, the electric sensor will be like, oh, okay, we're preheated, and it'll keep turning off, and it'll cycle.
So that's something that was useful to a lot of people in my cooking classes to know, is to leave it cracked open a little bit.
And if you have an electric stove and it doesn't tilt open on its own, you can take a wooden spoon, just wood, not one with a plastic tip, and just stick it in between the door and the oven to just give it a little bit of a crack in there.
So the element stays on.I broil things all the time and I don't do any of this.So what is this?So do you have electric or gas?Electric oven and I don't think it tilts.And I actually just got a new oven and I don't think it tilts either.Okay.
Well, it might and you maybe just didn't know.Oh, maybe.Or like, yeah, sometimes they have like, when you go to open it, it'll just like hold itself slightly open.
Yeah, so the electric element, if the door is closed, it just keeps kicking off and on.So you want it to be like constantly giving heat on top, because it's a great way to cook things more quickly.Yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, that would be great.You know what?I have, now I need to go and figure this out.I have a broiled steak recipe on my site that was done by a contributor a long time ago.And when I tried retesting it, I couldn't recreate her results.
That could be why. I bet why.I couldn't get it to brown on top.
Especially if that person had a gas range.
They wouldn't have known.Yeah.Yeah.No.Necessarily.Sorry.I'm going over to my to-do list right now.
Yeah.Love giving other people to-do's.My to-do list is long enough.
No, I love it.This is great.Okay, so you're preheating your broiler with this special new thing.
To high, because some broilers have high or low, so I go on high.You could do low, it'll just take longer.And this is, if you make this just with the stuff on the tray, 20 minutes, like that's it.It's great.So I'll line a baking sheet with foil.
It helps clean up.Like sometimes you'll get a little stuff that you'll have to clean, but it's just, it's great for cleanup and it helps the meat not stick.
And then I'll just give it a little spritz with like, I usually use avocado oil, but whatever cooking spray, or you could rub a little oil on it just to help keep the stuff from sticking.
Then often I'll double this because I love it as leftovers and the meat also freezes well.
So if you want to do two instances of this recipe, line another sheet pan, have it ready, but only cook them one at a time because the broiler is only going to hit that one.And you want the rack like right up on top underneath the broiler.
So then you're going to just grab a large bowl and you're going to add a pound of ground beef, lamb, vegan, ground meat substitute, whatever you want.Don't use poultry, though.I haven't tested cooking times on that.That would be a little trickier.
And there, it's so funny to me.I have this Pork might work, actually.Pork could work.
Sometimes there's a lot of fat in ground pork, so it could be... But my thing with ground... So for the longest time, I thought that ground turkey and ground chicken were interchangeable with each other, and they're not.
I had a ground turkey burger, and I tried... Actually, this is how I ended up with a ground chicken burger on my website, because I had the ground turkey burger on the site, and I loved it.
And then I tried making it with ground chicken one day, and it was a floppy, awful mess.It's just wetter.It just didn't work. at all, and it was so weird.But yeah, their water contents are different.The fat contents are different.
They just don't match, and then they don't fully match ground meat, especially for things when you want to hold them together, like in spaghetti sauce.
COLLEEN O'BRIEN And I feel like ground poultry can really easily get tough if you overwork it, so you're going to have a tough, just fall-apart burger.It's not a good, bad example.
SHANNON No, doesn't sound good.Doesn't sound good.Okay, so we're not using turkey or chicken.We're going to use beef, lamb, or substitute.Got it.
Yeah.Okay.So you have that in a bowl.You're going to add a large egg.I do some fresh parsley, so three tablespoons about.And you can be, you don't have to be like super scientific with this.
If your meat is a little over a pound, you know, sometimes the packages aren't exactly pound.It's great with ground bison too.Oh yeah.Bison is a great one.So it can be a little here or there.It's fine.
And then in a traditional ground meat kebab like this, like my dad would make, he would grate an onion.And so that gives some moisture and onion flavor.
But what I do instead for this kind of shortcut is I use a teaspoon and a half of dried minced onion.And even sometimes I'll use like the dried minced toasted onion.It's like a little, got a little brown on it.It's really good.
So you get that onion flavor, but you're not adding a ton of liquid.And then does it like hydrate from the moisture in the egg and the meat or? Yeah, I mean, it doesn't really, it just, it more like gives it flavor.
You don't necessarily notice it like as pieces of onion, because yeah, in the regular kebab, it's grated, so you don't really notice the pieces really in it.Yeah, no, that makes sense.
Then I just do some salt and pepper inside the mix, about a half teaspoon of kosher salt and a quarter teaspoon of freshly cracked pepper.Again, you do not have to super meticulously measure this.
And then the thing that I think gives it a little bit of Middle Eastern flair that might sound weird, but just try it.Just try it. is a quarter teaspoon of ground cinnamon.
Oh, yes, for sure.Sorry, I just keep interrupting you.I guess that's kind of my job.So literally yesterday I had to retest, not retest, I had to redo a recipe.
Everybody who listens to the show knows that I got a new phone and the color balance is super wonky.I did a whole day of videos with the new phone and can't use any of them.So I had to redo and I redid this chicken shawarma recipe.
And I was like, you know what, it was missing something last time.And I added cinnamon to it and a little pinch of cloves.It is unbelievable.
My kids, I didn't think they were going to like it because it's like cinnamon, chicken, cumin, like whatever.They loved it.We had it for dinner yesterday.It was so good.
Okay, that sounds delicious and send that to me because I will take that in a heartbeat. The other thing, I don't put it in this recipe, you certainly could, but I do put it in like a Persian meatloaf, is the leaves from celery.
They have like a really delicate celery flavor without being chunks of it, so that could be a fun addition.I don't usually put it in here, because this one is more of a like things from the pantry type of situation. So I'll take all of those.
Wait, I'm sorry.So you put the cinnamon in the meat mixture.Is that something that Persian cooking has a lot of?Is cinnamon in there savory?Or like, why is that like hitting it right?
They do a lot of kind of like, it's interesting.They do a lot of like fresh herbs as a cooked ingredient.And they have a lot of, yeah, those kind of like warming spices just like kind of show up in various places in Middle East or in Persian cuisine.
And cinnamon is one of them or would it be?It is cinnamon.
My dad never did it but that doesn't mean that it's not.
I know I have a lot of Persian cookbooks and I have one that my grandma had brought to my stepmom when she visited when I was a kid and it's like one side it's written in Farsi and the other side is written in English and she like my stepmom got notes translated from what my grandma was saying like what she does so I like copied those notes into my own copy of the book because I'm like well if my grandma says yeah we're gonna add a
If she told me to add cinnamon, absolutely, I'm gonna add some.
You know?Yeah, yeah, yeah.No, that sounds amazing.Okay, so you've got the salt, pepper, onion, cinnamon, and the meat and the egg.Is there anything else in there?
And parsley.Parsley.And then you just kind of use, hands are the best tool for this.You could use a spoon if you wanted to, but really just to get in there.
And this isn't one that you really have to worry too much about overworking, like if you're trying to do like a really tender meatball or something, because the other style of ground meat kebabs that my dad makes, you really, you really kind of work it in there.
I'll kind of mix it all together, you know, definitely make sure the egg yolk gets popped and combined throughout.And then what I like to do is I kind of flatten it out in the bowl and I just kind of score it with my hands to divide it.
I'll do it in half and half again, and then those halves in half so that I get about eight pieces.You can make them smaller or bigger, really.It's like, you'll kind of figure out what you like.Sometimes I only make six out of this.
Sometimes I make eight. And then you take each of those eights and you kind of pat it out in your hand.You're kind of making like an oval.So if you kind of use like the shape of your palm and flatten it.
So kind of like a burger patty, but more of an oval.You could do round ones.That's fine.You could do meatball shapes.Like it's really whatever you kind of like to do. So then I'll put those on the sheet pan that's already been sprayed.
And then, not touching, you want to like space them out like you're baking cookies or something.
And then I'll take a pint of cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, or you could use bigger tomatoes, cut them up into wedges, and I'll sprinkle those on the sheet pan all around.And then I'll cut up some yellow onions, like
One or two, I really like the extra veggies on the side.Cut those into thin wedges.Sprinkle those around also, not on top of the meat, but just, you know, kind of everything's just on the sheet pan.
Then I will drizzle all the veggies, technically fruit and veggie, with olive oil or spritz them with the cooking spray again, you know, and then season everything with a little salt and pepper on top. That's what goes on the sheet pan.
Pop it into the broiler for eight minutes, take it out, flip the meat patties over, and cook them for about another five.It depends on your preference.
Ground lamb and ground beef are great when they're not fully, fully cooked through, but a lot of people, some people want them fully cooked through so you can cook it longer.
And then sometimes, depending, I might take the meat off and let the veggies get a little more charred because I love a charred onion.
So then when you go to serve it, you can either do, if you didn't want to do any other sides or anything like that, you could just stuff all of that into pita bread.
You could throw some feta in there if you want cucumbers and you have a nice little sandwich. I'll often get some basmati rice started while I'm assembling everything, so they're just kind of done at the same time.
And if you are a fan of yogurt, I love all yogurt-y side dishes.There's something that is a Persian side dish, it's called maskiar, and it's kind of like Persian version of a tzatziki or a raita.So it's got like cucumbers, mint, like dried mint.
Sometimes some versions have walnuts and currants or raisins in them. But just something it's like a nice kind of cool compliment to it.
And then the last thing if you want to do like if you've ever had ground sumac, it's great sprinkled on top of Christine's eyes just lit up.It's a really great kind of like almost lemony spice. It just adds a little something extra.
I sprinkle it on top of everything on the plate, but if you've been to a Persian restaurant, there'll be a lot of times salt, pepper, and then a little container of this brown spice, and that's ground sumac.
Oh, I didn't know that. know, so I have sumac here.I took it on a, I was on a news, whatever, interview show a while ago, and I took a bunch of different spices to try.That's the one that blew everybody away.
And it's the one, I will literally, if I end up, like I have people over and we end up talking about like, they always are asking me food questions or whatever.I'm almost always grabbing the sumac and being like, taste this, taste this.
Like it just is. So if you haven't tried it before and you're listening, they sell it at your regular grocery store nowadays, and so good.
Yeah.Be careful with it, though, because I did one time go to make a recipe from a magazine for a sumac-crusted chicken, but a lot of times there's salt in with the sumac, and it was so salty.It was really, really salty.
So yeah, it kind of gives a bright, salty, citrus note to things.It's great on anything grilled.
Maybe slightly floral citrus.Do you know what I mean?It's not exactly like lemon lime.
It's like a little... And there are some things online with things you could substitute for sumac.I have a sumac vinaigrette that I use on a fattoush salad.
And that post has, I think I came up with some things, like if you really don't have this but you still want to make it, you could try this.It won't be quite the same, but it'll get you in the ballpark.
Yeah, it's a very unique one.
Yeah, no, it's good.Well, that's it.
It's like really easy.It comes together quickly.My kid loves it.If you have kids, it's a great thing for them to help, like squishing around the meat, making the patties.
No, that's a great idea.I love that.Yeah.This sounds amazing.And this one is on your website.It is on my website, yep.Yeah, so it is.I will link to that from the show notes.
Big Flavors from a Tiny Kitchen, but I'll link to the Sheephead and Broiled Kebabs. Can you tell people where they can find you?Well, I just said your name and your blog, but where they can find you online if they want to see what you're up to?
Absolutely.Big Flavors from a Tiny Kitchen is at BigFlavorsTinyKitchen.com.I'm on all of the socials, pretty much all the socials at Big Flavors.
And I also have a podcast, me and my friend slash co-host, she is a genealogist and family history expert, and I do obviously food things.So we have a podcast called Passing the Plate that's at passingtheplate.org.
And we talk about community and connections and bringing people together over food and like family history and traditions.
And it's it's a really great way because like with this recipe that we talked through today, I introduced a lot of people to Persian cuisine through a kind of Persian, like kind of dip your toes into a recipe.
So people are able to taste things that I grew up with, but in a way that's accessible to them.So I really love being able to do stuff like that and learning about other traditions and It's a lot of fun.We have a lot of fun.Yeah, I know.
The podcast is fantastic.I don't know how I didn't mention it at the beginning.Passing the plate.And you and Lisa have such a good rapport.I really love listening to you guys.She's she's wonderful.Yeah, I know.It's wonderful.
Well, thank you so much, Ashley.It was so great to do this.Thank you for having me. Oh my god, I love Persian food.I cannot wait to try Ashley's recipe.That I could have all those delicious flavors on just a regular weeknight is so exciting.
Thank you, Ashley and everyone.Make sure you go check her out, Big Flavors from a Tiny Kitchen and the podcast, Passing the Plate.So good.
I'm always looking for new podcasts to listen to and I know you probably are too, so that is definitely one to check out.
As to what is going on in my kitchen this week, well of course as I've said my parents have taken it over for a lot of the meal cooking kind of stuff but I am still doing like recipe testing days and on the schedule for this week I am actually doing a mint jelly recipe.
The reason is that I have a mint sauce recipe on the cookful that people love and I've had questions about Mint jelly, is it the same thing?Is it different?These are traditional things that are served with lamb, especially in the UK, but elsewhere.
And so I've decided to make mint jelly.But what I really want to do is see how it freezes, because a lot of the recipes that I've come across in my research have you either just make it for the day, but the batches are kind of big.
or have you can it.And I'm not big on canning.I also, I feel like this is one of those things that you probably make when you're going to have lamb and not necessarily are in the mood to like do a whole canning procedure or something.
So I want to know if you can just stick it in the freezer.It is jelly and will it freeze?So that is the main testing that I'm doing there.I'm also redoing a lamb chop recipe from Cook the Story Been on the site for a long time, and it's just so-so.
It's actually not one of my favorites, and I have done some things in the last little while.You know what, I'll just tell you, it's so good.
You know how I do a lot of dry brining, so sprinkling meat with salt and then putting it in the fridge for however long?
I tried it with lamb chops, oh, maybe six months ago, but I had fresh rosemary, and so I actually laid the fresh rosemary branches, twigs, I don't know what to call them, stems, with the rosemary on them.
under and on top of the lamb chops that had the salt on them and put those in the fridge for eight hours and they were amazing but that was just for like a dinner I was making and I didn't take pictures or write anything down or anything like that so I want to have that recipe up on the site and it will have this mint jelly to go with it
So those are two of the recipes that I'm doing this week.Also testing some air fryer roasted red peppers.
I really want to get the kind of like texture and flavor of the roasted red peppers that you buy in a jar at the grocery store, but I want to get them from the air fryer.
Like can you just take a whole red bell pepper, stick it in the air fryer, and does it turn into that kind of deliciousness, right?So those are the recipes that I am working on this week.As to what is going live on the site this week, we have
the pineapple glaze for ham.It is so so so good.You basically get your ham and you score it and then you make this pineapple glaze.It's got chunks of pineapple and pineapple juice or if you're using canned pineapple use the juice from the can.
And that gets all kind of cooked together with nice like cinnamon clove kind of flavors.And then you put a little bit on the ham kind of halfway through while it's cooking with the chunks of pineapple kind of balanced on there.
It's a little precarious at first, but they start to kind of stick as it cooks.And then you just add more and more and they start to caramelize and brown all over the ham. It is amazing.I'm super excited about it.
That is going live on Cook the Story this week.And on the Cookful, we have those mac and cheese cups.I know I told you about these.
So what I really wanted was something to do with leftover pasta that could just be done fairly quickly and then turn into like a snack for my kids or something for the freezer. And what I was thinking about was like mac and cheese.
I kind of make little mac and cheese cups.And I was looking for a recipe online to do something like that.And all the mac and cheese cup recipes that I was finding had you actually make mac and cheese first.And I didn't want to do that.
I have leftover pasta.I just want to like toss it with something or do something and put it in muffin tins. and be done.And so I've come up with it.It basically does use a bit of an egg base.
You put the pasta in the muffin cups with cheese, and then you make this little, I guess, kind of like a custard, and pour that over, and then there's panko breadcrumbs on top, and they bake, and they puff up, and they taste like mac and cheese in little cup form.
Really, really good.So that recipe is going live on The Cookful this week. As to what I am telling you about on this podcast this week, I am helping you get ready for Thanksgiving.We are doing a perfectly roasted turkey.
This is my mom's recipe and I've been like tweaking it and playing with it so I did it again Just recently, you've probably seen the video on social media.So I did another round of testing, tweaked the recipe a little bit.
So I'm telling you about that.We have some whole roasted Brussels sprouts and then something not Thanksgiving related, air fryer chicken tenders. microwaved whole onions, like done as a side dish.So delicious.
And then on Friday, finally, finally, finally, I am telling you about that beautiful festive salmon recipe.I know we're in November, but I really wanted to tell you about it soon.
If you are doing your Christmas planning, thinking, or even your Thanksgiving planning, thinking, you have got to consider this salmon recipe.It is so delicious.So I am telling you about that this week.So much great food coming your way. Stay tuned.
If you're not subscribed to this podcast already, what are you waiting for?You've got to do it.Head to cookthestory.com slash ROTD on your phone, and you will see the little buttons at the top.
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or the other thing to do is, on your phone, open up your favorite podcast app, whichever one you use to listen to podcasts the most often, and while you're there, search for Recipe of the Day, and you should find me like that.I am everywhere.
While you are there, if you are using one of the apps that allows you to do a review or rating, please do so.There's actually a new rating on the Apple Podcast for this podcast.The review is from G.I.Joe in Natick.
says, and they say this is their favorite podcast.It's how they start their day every day.I love that.Thank you so much for leaving that review, G.I.Joe.I appreciate it.And the rest of you, if you love this podcast, go and say so.
Thank you so much for listening.Thank you, Ashley from Big Flavors from a Tiny Kitchen, for being such an amazing guest and bringing us a delicious recipe.Everyone, go and find Ashley online and follow her.And everyone, don't forget to go vote.
Tell your friends and family to vote.It's very important.And with that, I am going to head out and knock on some doors with my son in this beautiful Florida weather.
I am Christine Pittman from CookTheStory.com, TheCookful.com, the all-new chicken cookbook, and from this podcast, Recipe of the Day, I hope you have a great weekend.Let's get cooking.
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