Author: Joanne

Eats All Around: A newsletter by me (Ella Quien Come!)

Published by Joanne

Hello everyone! I’m going to try and keep this quick. This post is about the newsletter I’ve just launched. My life has changed SO much in the past month. I now live in Houston, Texas, most of my routine has drastically changed, and my cooking flavors are wildly different (I’m exploring more Tex-Mex vibes now!). To be honest, I’ve been feeling lazy AF so the blog and my overall creative process has been suffering. I’ve needed somewhere to channel all of that energy, so I created a food newsletter.   I know you don’t come here to read about my personal life and you’re here for the food, so rest assured I got you. Instead of updating the blog once a month (riiight), I’ve opted to start a bi-weekly newsletter where I share short recipes and other food stories. Would this be something that is of interest to you?

Fideuá

Published by Joanne

Summer is almost here and so are the seafood-heavy dishes. Enter fideuá. Similar to paella but with pasta instead of rice. Here’s what you’ll need to make fideuá:  

Thai Red Curry Veggie Soup

Published by Joanne

This can also be called “empty your fridge” soup. There are a few things I always have in my kitchen/fridge: curry paste (red or green), sesame oil, fish sauce, limes, and ginger. You can’t really do much with these ingredients on their own but they sure make a great base. For any curry. So on Sunday afternoon when I was feeling lazy AF and trapped in my house because of cloudy weather, I decided to make a cozy soup with everything I had in my fridge. Lucky me, I had a good base.

Pulled pork steamed buns

Published by Joanne

Long time no blog. As of recently a few of my friends and colleagues have pointed out that I haven’t updated this place in a while. Sorry, been to busy eating and not documenting it. Also, “I just don’t have time anymore”. Queue the eye roll. I decided to make time; I’m currently on a train to Madrid writing this. Hooray, prioritization! Efficiency! It seems like my sporadic blogging days are over. But whatever, let’s talk food.  The other night Marc and I went to our favorite East Asian supermarket. We originally went to buy edamame and sauces to make an uninspired stir-fry. That was when we saw the frozen food aisle. It had frozen bao buns. Immediately a Gua bao craving came over us and we decided to take a crack at making them. It’s quite easy really–you just have to steam them! And honestly, making bao buns from scratch is not on my calendar at the moment. If I ruined the fantasy, just imagine I made them. To go with the buns we made pulled pork …

Lazy pizzas on a Friday night

Published by Joanne

I love cooking. It’s always something I look forward to every day. Breakfast, brunch, lunch, meriendas, dinner, snacks, drunk concoctions—you name it. So when I found myself craving pizza on a Wednesday night I decided to delay my pleasure until the weekend and make the pizzas then. Also, my fridge was empty and only had time to go shopping on Friday night. Wild. Ingredients: Toppings: Shiitake mushrooms Zucchini Onions Mozzarella cheese (grated) Crispy bacon Diced bacon Pre-made pizza dough (I’m lazy) For the sauce: Crushed tomatoes Garlic Dried cayenne peppers (2-3 depending your heat tolerance) Oregano (dried or fresh) Basil (dry or fresh) Salt & pepper Olive oil Method: Chop the vegetables very thin so they can bake quick, set aside. Fry the bacon until very crispy, set aside. For the sauce: Sautée crushed garlic and the dried cayenne peppers in olive oil until golden on a medium heat. Add oregano and basil. When the oil is very fragrant add the tomatoes. Mix. Leave the sauce on a low simmer, add salt and pepper to taste. …

Shakshouka brunch

Published by Joanne

Sunday mornings are always easygoing at my place. No alarms and no rush; just a flow of “do as you please” in the air. Today was no exception. I sat on the couch and with a cup of green tea watched an episode of Chef’s Table. It left me stunned. It features Jeong Kwan, a Buddhist nun who resides in a temple in South Korea and cooks vegan cuisine in the most spiritual way I’ve ever seen in my life. I really identified with her approach to food because of her sense of community and communication. “With food we can share and communicate our emotions. It’s that mindset of sharing that is really what you’re eating. There is no difference between cooking and pursuing Buddha’s way.” Man did this inspire me for today. I embodied her mindset and went off to cook a beautiful Shakshouka brunch with some intimate friends. A few had never tried this before and I was beyond excited to make it for them. Over bloody marys we chopped crisp bell peppers and roasted …

Empedrat: Lentil and codfish salad

Published by Joanne

Okay, before I’m burned at the stake by Catalan cuisine connoisseurs, hear me out: I know what a traditional empedrat salad is, I just like playing around with classic dishes. If you’re not familiar with this dish, I’ll explain: Empedrat is traditional Catalan salad made of ganxet beans (also known as Santa Pau beans), raw (sometimes cooked) cod fish, green & red peppers, tomatoes, onions, and  black olives. It’s juicy, tangy, and very refreshing. And I love it. So much that if I don’t have ganxet or white beans at hand, I’ll use the next best legume. In this case, it was lentils. Making empedrat is pretty straight forward. The veggies included are not exotic or hard to find, and the measurements can be done “by eye”. The key ingredient in it is cod fish. Regardless if it’s fresh or frozen, the briny taste of the cod is the main flavor. I always try to use fresh fish, but sometimes frozen is the only one available and that’s okay. If you use frozen fish I recommend you sauté it in olive oil before …