When to use fresh vs. dried herbs?

Welcome!

Here is your weekly recipe inspiration newsletter.

As always, our goal is to get your cooking juices flowing and inspire you to try new meals. If you have any ideas/recipes you want us to write about, just reply to this email!

A full grocery shopping list in Notion is linked at the end of this email.

In This Week’s Edition

Try Something New 🤯 — Shallow-Frying Schnitzel

Throwback Time 🍳 — Salsa Verde

The Leftover Shelf 🥡 — Chilaquiles

Extra Helpings 🍽 — Orange Juice Espresso, Fresh vs. Dried Herbs, and More!

Try Something New 🤯

The best thing I ate this week.

Schnitzel

Making schnitzel is basically treating yourself to an adult chicken nugget. It’s the perfect way to learn how to bread and pan fry, and can be made with chicken or inexpensive pork loin cuts. For a balanced weeknight meal, accompany with a roasted vegetable, slaw, or salad.

Components*

• Boneless pork loin cutlets or chicken breast, butterflied

• Whole eggs, beaten

• Flour

• Panko breadcrumbs

• Salt

• Neutral frying oil, like corn or vegetable oil

• Lemon wedges, to serve

*Amounts are not listed because they will vary based on how many servings you are making. Start your breading station with 1 egg, 1/2 cup flour, and 1 cup Panko per 2 servings.

Nice to have equipment

• Thermometer

• Meat mallet

Instructions

1. Prepare your meat: Between plastic wrap sheets, pound out your chicken or pork cutlets into wide, 1/4-inch thick pieces with a meat mallet or the bottom of a heavy pan. Season each prepared cutlet with a thin layer of salt.

2. Prepare your breading station & fry oil: Put flour, beaten eggs, and panko into 3 separate shallow pans or containers, respectively. Over low heat, start heating about a 1/4 inch of oil in a wide, shallow frying pan.

3. Dredge the cutlets: Pass and flip each cutlet through the flour, egg, and then panko, making sure the cutlet gets even coverage before moving on between each step. I shake off any excess flour and egg, and then lightly press the breadcrumbs into the cutlet and flip a few times to ensure full coverage. It’s helpful to use the wet hand, dry hand method. Set each breaded cutlet aside on a plate or parchment covered tray.

4. Fry & serve warm: Once your oil has reached 375 F (190 C), lay in a breaded cutlet (away from you to avoid oil splashing). Fry for 2 minutes per side or until golden brown. Rest on a wire rack or tray with paper towels, and sprinkle with salt immediately. Repeat with remaining cutlets, and serve warm with lemon wedges.

Throwback Time 🍳

If there’s one salsa you need to learn how to make, this is it. Salsa verde teaches you how to balance acid and spice, and can be made either fresh or roasted.

It’s the most popular Mexican table and street salsa for a reason: It’s the perfect balancing counterpart for tacos, quesadillas, and gorditas, yet can also play the main role in saucing enchiladas.

Check out the video, or read the recipe here.

Having a container of this around lets you make up one of Mexico’s greatest breakfast dishes (but one that I actually end up eating any time of day…or night) in under 10 minutes…

The Leftover Shelf 🥡

Leftovers are back in style…if you know how to use them.

This week’s move:

Salsa Verde → Chilaquiles Verdes

If you haven’t had these before, they’re like saucy breakfast nachos, and one of Mexico’s most common dishes. In addition to your salsa, all you really need are tortilla chips, an egg, and toppings like cheese, cilantro, or pickled onions, but anything would work.

Components

• Salsa verde, leftover

• Tortilla chips

• Fried egg

• Toppings to preference: Cheese (my preferred is queso fresco), cilantro, pickled onions, & Mexican table crema or sour cream. Some recipes add in more protein over top, like chicken.

To assemble:

In a frying pan, add a thin layer of salsa verde and heat until lightly simmering. Add in a serving of tortilla chips and toss or stir with a spatula until all the chips are evenly coated. Transfer to a plate and top with a fried egg, crumbled cheese, cilantro and onion garnishes, and a drizzle of crema.

Variations: Any smooth, thinner salsa works for chilaquiles! Check out this salsa roja version.

Soak your chips to your desired texture. They’re often eaten slightly soggy. If you want to retain a more crispy texture, be quick when coating your chips, or use home-fried tortilla chips.

Extra Helpings 🍽

🚀 Viral Eats

The latest cooking trends explained.

Q:What’s up with mixing orange juice and espresso?

A: While it may seem surprising that OJ and caffeine taste good together, citrus is actually a classic pairing for coffee.

Starbucks once served a cold-brew lemonade; Mazagran, an Algerian iced-coffee recipe, calls for a squeeze of lemon; and Espresso Romano, served with a lemon peel or wedge, rose to popularity in the post-WWII era.​

In the case of orange & espresso, the juice provides both acidity and sweetness to balance the strong bitter notes in the espresso, which creates a pleasing, quaffable concoction.

🤔 Reader Q&A

Q: How do I know what spices to cook with? Whole or ground? Pepper or paprika? It’s really overwhelming. Thanks! — Jal H.

A: Great question, Jal.

My advice is to first only focus on mastering how to use salt. A lesson I want all beginning home cooks to learn is that proper seasoning means using enough salt and that all other spices are just flavorings. But you’d be shocked how flavorful even basic vegetables or proteins are once they are properly seasoned — without any added spices. Go try this with some roasted potatoes and chicken breasts, and experiment with just using salt. Once you’ve got that down, start using freshly ground black pepper, and then check out my spice rack and why garlic powder didn’t make my top 5 recommended beginner spices.​

🏆 Dinner Winner! Reader Photo Submission Contest

Reply with a picture of the best meal you made this week for a chance to be featured in a future email.

🤤 More Yummy Content

A Read: The rise of volleyball bars​

In a Minute or Less: A burger for onion lovers​

What We’re Watching: Andong makes scallion noodles​

Food Science: Why cacio e pepe is so hard to execute​

Upgrade your feed: Connect with Ethan everywhere.​

Ready to shop? 🛒

​Shopping List 11/6