cooking in quarantine — TIFFANY LIEU

Washington has been under a shelter-in-place order for 8 weeks (and counting), so I’ve been spending all of my time at home. It’s where I work, live, exercise, relax, have fun? It’s a meld of weird boundaries I’m still trying to understand. It makes me overwhelmingly anxious. In an effort to keep my mind preoccupied, I (like many) decided to try cooking a bunch of things I presumably didn’t have time for before. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve witnessed many of those ventures, but here are some if you haven’t. I included little anecdotes and some notes on modifications I made, original recipes are also linked below!

Perfect Scrambled Eggs

Adapted recipe from: Gordon Ramsay
I modified this recipe.

Confession, I’ve made these eggs before. This is not a first-time quarantine cook, like a few other of the recipes you’ll find in the post.

Unlike things like layered cakes or bread, I’ve had a lot of time and practice to perfect breakfast making throughout the years. Breakfast food was one of my favorites growing-up, so I spent many years mastering the art of eggs.

I cook mine slightly more than Gordon does. His appear to be very creamy, almost runny, but I like my eggs to have just a tad more texture. So I cook them for just a bit longer. They’re still creamy and perfect for my personal taste.

Zosui (Japanese Rice Soup) 雑炊

Adapted recipe from: RecipeTin Japan
I modified this recipe.

I’ve made this several times before but this is such a good one that it resurfaced during quarantine. Andy and I enjoy supporting local chefs and checking out the ones who happen to Beat Bobby Flay. Which is how we stumbled upon Shota Nakajima, owner of Adana in Capitol Hill.

We had the Chef’s Tasting Menu during both of our visits and they both concluded with a dish similar to this. It reminds me of congee, though through my research I found that it’s actually considered more of a soup in Japan.

I like this recipe because it’s packed with umami. I made mine with homemade dashi. I used this recipe and often double or triple it. I usually add a bounty of mushrooms and cod and find that I need more broth than specified in the original recipe. Plus, you can use the extra dashi broth for a variety of things, like miso soup!

The original recipe also calls for carrots and shiitakes. I usually leave out the carrots and add a mix of rehydrated dried shiitakes and fresh ones. I also add cod (cut into 1” pieces), and a bounty of scallions. Perfection.

Biang Biang Noodles (油泼扯面)

Adapted recipe from: Souped Up Kitchen
I modified this recipe.

I love this dish. Andy and I order it whenever we come across it on a menu. We’ve had it at several places in Seattle, but my favorite has been at Xi’an Noodles in the University District.

I saw this recipe when I was endlessly scrolling through Instagram and was excited to finally try it. The recipe calls for bread flour, which is essential if you live in the U.S. You can hear why in the tutorial video accompanied in the original recipe link.

Luckily, I had leftover bread flour from that thing I made once that one time (ha). I made the noodle recipe exactly as written but I modified the sauce and toppings, including: using chili oil versus chili flakes, and adding scallions, spring onions, spring garlic, and cilantro.

A few tips!

I found it helpful to read the instructions and watch the tutorial video.
In the video, an oiled dish is used to rest the rolled dough. I found that oiling a small sheet pan allowed me the space I needed without having to stack them.
The noodles are cooked simultaneously while they’re being stretched in the video. I stretched all my noodles first. I let them rest in the same oiled sheet pan, covered in plastic until I was ready to cook them. I checked on them frequently to make sure they weren’t sticking.

Homemade Pasta

Recipe from: NYT Cooking + Samin Nosrat
I made the pasta dough recipe exactly as written.

Andy and I took a pasta making class at the The Pantry last year and the biggest revelation was that he is very good at kneading and rolling out dough. It wasn’t just beginner’s luck either. We took a pizza making class the following night and he was a star baker, ha.

Since that class, I have been itching to make my own pasta. I’m too cheap to buy the Kitchen Aid attachment that rolls the dough for you, so I bought the manual pasta roller and I actually really love it. You don’t have to have a pasta roller, but I’d highly recommend it.

It took almost a year to finally make the pasta. And while during quarantine wasn’t my first at-home attempt, I’ve definitely made it a couple times during. The shaped pasta freezes nicely for later use too.

NYT Cooking* has an extensive section on making homemade pasta that was done in partnership with Samin Nosrat. A complete walkthrough and tutorial on making pasta, including making the dough, forming shapes, creating fillings, etc. There are great videos references too. If you’re just looking for the basic pasta recipe, Samin also has it on her website.

*Once you’ve used up your NYT Cooking free trial, you can access ONE recipe (per device) a day without running into the paywall. So if you’ve already used up your free trial and don’t want to pay for a subscription, access this recipe the day you want to make it or keep open open on your browser until you plan to make it. If you close out of it and try to come back (the same day), you’ll run into the paywall. Alternatively, you can print it if the videos aren’t important to you.

Tapioca Pearls (Boba) with Brown Sugar Milk Tea

Adapted recipe from: EmmyMadeInJapan
I modified this recipe.

I came across this video on Facebook. Yes, I still use Facebook, I use every social media platform because it’s my job. And no, that job is not influencer. Ha.

I’m usually not a huge fan of video recipes that don’t follow any written instructions. While Emmy does provide measurements, I went through the whole process feeling pretty skeptical.

But alas, it turned out really well! The pearls had nice texture and flavor to them. In the video she uses milk and heavy cream, but I used a mix of oat milk and black tea instead. After watching other milk tea videos, I realized it would’ve likely yielded a better result to seep the tea in the milk. Either way, it was good.

This is a recipe I’d definitely categorize as a craft project. While it was fun to make it, I can’t say that I would choose making it at home versus getting it at my favorite boba tea cafe. You know, when quarantine is over. =)

Caramelized Brown Butter Rice Krispies Treats

Adapted recipe from: NYT Cooking
I modified this recipe.

This recipe is a winner. I love that it comes together with just a few ingredients and is oh-so-delicious. Browned butter is all the hype, but it gives the treats a slight caramelized nutty flavor that I am here for!

I halved the original recipe, because I didn’t need 60 rice krispies treats in my two-person household. I also used mini marshmallows instead of the regular ones, because that’s all that was left at the store. I used salted butter as listed in the recipe and didn’t find it to be too salty, but if you’re concerned, you can use unsalted butter and add salt at your discretion.

Fresh Herb Risotto

Adapted recipe from: Ashley Rodriguez
Cookbook: Date Night In
I modified this recipe.

I got really into making risotto when I found the Mushroom Risotto with Peas from NYT Cooking. I’ve made it with a variety of different mushrooms that I find at the local farmers market, but maitake and chanterelle are my favorites for that risotto.

I didn’t think I’d find another risotto recipe I’d like more until I found this one! Ashley’s cookbooks have some of my favorite recipes. Risotto can be a heavy dish, but the bright fresh herbs here make it feel lighter. I had an abundance of amazing herbs from the farmers market that I used, and I modified the recipe slightly by including fresh spring asparagus. I poached the asparagus here, but I think I’d grill them next time.