We have been cooking up a storm here in lockdown. Dinner is a little bright spot: pleasure, variety, and, for me, capsaicin. I think maybe I'm chasing the endorphin buzz. A couple of nights ago Elwood made beef stroganoff, and I spooned a pile of chili crisp on top. That combination of flavors might strike some of you as very odd, but I'm here to tell you it was scrumptious.
A month ago I had never heard of chili crisp. But Sam Sifton wrote a chili crisp paean for the NYT Magazine, and I knew right away I needed some chili crisp to spice up my bland and mealy lockdown life. Amazon delivered the jar on April 25, and I have eaten it all. (Well, my 20yo ate one spoonful, and there is still a tiny puddle on the bottom of the jar. But I will eat that last little bit with my dinner.)
I have also been going to town on harissa. There was a Smitten Kitchen post about pantry staples that mentioned preserved lemon paste from New York Shuk. You guys, would it be insensitive for me to tell you how much happiness I derived from opening that box when it arrived? (I am conscious of the privilege inherent in having two portable jobs and, consequently, the room in our grocery budget to buy some goodies from NYC.) I ordered a jar of za'atar and a jar of harissa along with the preserved lemon paste, and OH it was a delight to unwrap them. I am using them all regularly, but the harissa most of all -- I've eaten about two-thirds of it.
We have also used up all of the chipotles in adobo (they went into the food processor to make a marinade for fajitas) and the last of a jar of sambal oelek (I mixed it with yogurt to coat chicken thighs). Happily we had a second jar of sambal oelek waiting in the pantry.
Alex could not really know that I have been mainlining chili-pepper-based condiments lately, so it's a little surprising that his Mother's Day gift, when it arrives, will be four different jars of spicy goodness. I don't even know what they are going to be, but I am keeping an eye out for the delivery vans every day.
As usual, all of the Amazon links in this post are affiliate links. If you click through and buy some chili crisp of your very own, they will give me a few cents toward my next endorphin-buzz-inducing purchase.
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