It’s raining where I am, today, and my muscles and my brain feel sluggish and sleepy. A truly Monday-est Monday. I want to corner up on the couch with a bowl of today’s recipe and a few episodes of a good show (I just finished Ozark - still recovering - any recommendations?). Today’s issue, then, is a shorty: it should only take you 4-5 minutes to read. Enjoy. xo.
Reader Q.
Question: “Every time I try to caramelize onions, I wind up with a tangled, stringy, pasty mess long before the onions start to brown. How am I getting something so simple SO WRONG?” - A.B., Pittsburgh, PA
Answer: Without knowing exactly what your process is, my guess is that you’re actually cutting your onions incorrectly - which is good news, because that’s an easy fix! If a dish (or a preparation method - like caramelization) calls for “sliced onions,” you want to halve your onion lengthwise - cut from root end to stem end, rather than across the fattest part of the onion’s belly - and remove the outer layers of skin from each half. When cutting onions, most people get this part right, but will then proceed to start slicing the halved onions crosswise (which produces ridged, semi-circular slices); you want to keep slicing lengthwise (to produce smooth, thumbnail-shaped arcs). The reason for this is not aesthetics: when you cut across the grain of an onion, you are destroying more cells, and this not only releases excess pectin and water (which inhibit browning), but it also damages the structural integrity of your slices (which is why they’re softening too fast). Cutting with the grain ruptures fewer cells, keeping your slices dryer and sturdier during the long, slow caramelization process. And even if you’re not caramelizing them, any recipe calling for “sliced onions” (like today’s!) should be prepped in this manner; it’s the difference between a slimy, mushy onion and a silky, tender one.
Links.
I am so pissed that I didn’t think of this first, but I will be soothing my internal wounds by serving one of these at every get-together I attend from now until the day that I die. (Instagram, but no account needed to view.)
I thought this story about a farm market run by a 12-year-old was pretty uplifting, given that most headlines about farming these days focus on the practice’s lack of funding, labor, resources, and successors. (Washington Post; there’s a paywall but I am gifting you the link.)
Wegman’s, like Wal*Mart before her, is terminating the use of their self-pay app because… people keep stealing groceries. (NYT, but another gifted link.)
Yet another side-effect of rising inflation: sharp rises in global hunger. (Vox Media, no paywall.)
Recipe: Salmon Makhani with Chamomile Rice.
Serves:4
Time: 30-45 minutes (window accounts for slicing skills & preferred rice method)
Skill: novice; the toughest part is slicing the onions (and if you read today’s Reader Q. then you’re in good shape!)
Why does this work?
By swapping salmon for the more traditional chicken in Murgh Makhani (also known as Butter Chicken), we reduce the time necessary for both marinating and cooking the protein.
Using strong chamomile tea to cook the rice lends the finished dish a floral note that’s nothing at all like the perfuminess of jasmine rice; chamomile’s inherently warm, buttery flavor suits this sauce so well, complimenting its richness while also providing a buoy against heft and weight. It strikes a nice balance - an especially welcome attribute during the seasonal limbo that is September.
What can I change?
If salmon doesn’t do it for you, feel free to use any other type of seafood that you like (hearty fish, shrimp, even mussels or clams), or tofu or paneer, without any additional changes to the recipe. Or, use a land-animal, like pork or poultry (if using these, you’ll need to add 15-20 minutes to the cook time, and will want to marinate your proteins for at least an hour - the longer the better, actually, up to a full day).
This makes plenty of sauce, so feel free to fold in some additional veggies if you’d like to add them: leafy greens, roasted sweet potatoes or hard squash, fresh or frozen peas or edamame, cubed boiled potatoes. I went with grilled corn, sliced from the cob, and the pops of sweetness were a welcome foil against the heat.
If the chamomile step is just too tedious for you today, it’s totally fine to skip it.
Who says you have to serve this with rice? It would be lovely over pasta, with quinoa or farro, or just enjoyed straight from a bowl, chili- or stew-style, with naan or grilled bread (or even cornbread! who says you can’t?).
Ingredients
1 cup of plain, whole-milk yogurt
1 teaspoon of fine-grained salt, like sea salt or pink Himalayan
1-1.5 pounds of salmon, bones and skin removed, cut into bite-sized chunks
8-10 chamomile tea bags
1.5-2 cups of dry rice (use what you like)
1 large (softball-sized) onion, sliced
4T (half a stick) of butter
a drizzle of oil (olive, avocado, coconut, ghee)
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup of minced fresh ginger (about 5” piece, peeled)
To make the ginger/garlic step easier, feel free to (1) peel both and pulse them together in a food processor, or (2) buy frozen ginger and garlic purees - Trader Joe’s sells both!, or (3) to buy jarred garlic-ginger paste from an Indian market, which is not to be snubbed - it is of much higher quality than jarred options in most American grocery stores.
1T whole cumin seeds
1T ground turmeric
1T (or more) of your preferred chili option: flakes, a powder, minced fresh chilis, or a paste like sambal (I use fermented Calabrian chilis, because I like them) - or, if you prefer a milder curry, just skip this altogether.
2T garam masala or your favorite curry paste/powder (I like madras-style)
2T ground cumin
1 small (14-15.5oz) can of good quality tomatoes (see Butterpat.)
1C heavy cream
1C stock, broth, prepared bouillon, even bottled seafood juice (or, if you must, just water)
Optional garnish: chopped almonds or peanuts, minced fresh herbs, wedges of citrus
Instructions
In a large bowl, whisk together the salt & yogurt, then gently fold in the cubes of salmon and refrigerate until ready to use (up to 8 hours).
Place tea bags (or loose tea in your preferred steeping vessel, if you’re A Real Tea Person) in a small sauce pan with 1 quart of water and bring to a boil, then turn off the heat and allow it to steep for 5 minutes. Remove the bags and discard them. Use the water to cook the rice, in your preferred vessel, via your preferred method and according to package instructions (you may need to add more plain water; that’s fine).
While the rice cooks and the fish is marinating, melt the butter in a large frying pan or skillet over medium heat. Cook until it browns, smells nutty, and stops foaming (stir often to avoid burning), then add the sliced onions, cumin seeds, oil, garlic, and ginger. Stir well to combine and to lower the temp of the butter to avoid burning. Saute, again stirring often, for 10-15 minutes or until the onions have slumped, reduced in size by about 1/3, and started to take on a toasted color.
Add all of the remaining ingredients (save for any optional garnishes, and not including the salmon-yogurt mixture) to the pan. Stir to combine, taking time to scrape up any flavorful browned bits. Allow the pan to come to a simmer, then reduce the heat from medium to low and maintain the simmer for an additional 7-10 minutes. Use the back of your spoon to break up any whole tomatoes.
When the rice is done and you are ready to serve, add the fish and all of the marinade to the pan of sauce, and return the heat to medium. Simmer for 5-7 minutes (reduce heat if it’s bubbling too rapidly; you don’t want to overcook your fish), stirring gently. TASTE FOR SEASONING: add salt and more spice paste until the sauce suits your palate. When the salmon yields to gentle pressure from the back of a spoon, it’s finished cooking. Serve immediately over the hot, floral rice, with extra chili paste and optional garnishes. xo.
Butterpat.
A little something extra.
It is worth the extra effort to source canned cherry tomatoes - often sold as “pomodorini” - and swap them in almost anywhere that canned tomatoes are called for. They’re easy to find in little Italian grocery stores, as well as on Amazon, and they are just so delightfully sweet and fresh-tasting - truly unlike other canned tomato products (even the good ones!). And fortunately, they’re inexpensive; the ones I am linking here are all reasonably priced, but are also about 40% cheaper in my local Italian markets, so there’s no good excuse not to stock up. (Your next batch of Spaghettios will thank you; ‘tis the season.)