I don’t listen to the podcast Comedy Bang Bang that much anymore. But when I did, one of my favorite recurring segments was Paul Rust’s New No-Nos where he’d rant about the things that, in his words, ‘cheesed’ him, and come up with new rules for each scenario, i.e., his New No-Nos. Listen to a few choice ones here. I reference it not because there’s something pissing me off that I need to get off my chest but because I think it’s time I’ve come up with a few of my own new no-nos for this newsletter.
I started this newsletter because I wanted to talk about food and share some of the recipes I’d developed over the years, whether from knocking around the kitchen, or for my now-defunct vegan food business Rabbit Food (a story for another time). Of course, I wanted to write about other things, too, but food writing was my main motivation. When I finally launched the newsletter, I was still reeling from the events of June 2020 and dealing with some of the issues they’d brought up in my own life. And that was reflected in how I approached the newsletter.
However, since October, whether it’s from taking on more work in my dayjob or just a general feeling of running out of steam, I haven’t been able to send these out as much as I’ve wanted or had planned to. And to be honest, my irregular publishing schedule felt like another failure to follow through. But it’s hard to write when you’re tired. I’m learning to accept that and not beat myself up about it anymore. So, in an effort to be kinder to myself and still maintain this newsletter, my new no-nos:
The personal essays are going to be taking a backseat, for now. Because no one needs to be vulnerable all the time. This isn’t The Bachelor. Instead, just as I’d initially intended, recipes will take precedence.
Also, no longer married to the “On…” style of titling and will be mixing things up. Even if that means throwing in a Smiths’ lyric or two every now and then.
In a past life, I wrote about TV and movies, so I may be including recommendations, reviews, and peppering in other pop-culture pieces in upcoming newsletters.
They’re not huge changes, just small, but necessary, tweaks to how things will be from now on. Like myself, this thing is very much a work in progress. Hopefully, you’ll stick around.
I’m sharing two recipes this week that work in tandem. If you’re not vegan and can’t be bothered to make the mayonnaise (though I hope you’ll someday try), you can skip it and just use your regular storebought brand and proceed with the miso Caesar.
As I previously mentioned, I used to run a vegan food business from my apartment in Hanoi called Rabbit Food. Our bestseller was our hummus, and a consequence of making heaps of hummus every day was the copious amounts of aquafaba we were left with. (I say we but Rabbit Food was a one-woman operation, which is also the main reason it went kaput, but again, that’s for another time.) Enter: our vegan mayonnaise.
It’s really good, you guys. Even people who say they don’t like mayonnaise like this stuff. And even though Rabbit Food’s been ‘closed’ for almost two years now, I still get messages from old customers asking me to make an exception for them and let them order this. In my humble opinion, it’s as good as the best egg-based mayonnaise you’ve had. Maybe even better.
Vegan mayonnaise
Ingredients:
3/4 cup neutral oil
1/4 cup aquafaba (from a can or homemade)
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp white wine vinegar or rice vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
Note:
If you’re planning to make this with homemade aquafaba (the liquid leftover from cooking chickpeas), after you’ve removed the cooked chickpeas from the pot, let the aquafaba boil a few more minutes to reduce it then store it in the fridge. This will ensure your mayonnaise emulsifies well and is nice and thick.
Directions:
Place all ingredients except the oil in a mason jar or a wide-set 500-ml round plastic container.
Add the oil a tablespoon at a time to the container and blend until the mixture is fully emulsified. Add until you’ve finished the oil and you’ve got a nice thick mayonnaise. You can also drizzle the oil in while you’re blending, though I prefer stopping and pouring it in a tablespoon at a time. The mixture will be runny at first so don’t worry. It will start to come together and get a lot thicker when you’ve got about 2-3 tablespoons left of oil.
Caesar is one of my top two favorite salad dressings; the other is roasted sesame. And as someone who gets excited about salad a lot, I’m pretty jazzed to have added this to my arsenal. It hits all the same notes a classic Caesar does, without the anchovies.
Miso Caesar dressing
Makes one serving, for about roughly 130 g head of romaine
Ingredients:
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp vegan mayonnaise or regular mayonnaise
2 tsp rice vinegar
2 tsp white miso
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp nutritional yeast, plus a teaspoon or so for topping
Salt and pepper to taste
Notes:
Of course you can use whatever lettuce you want with this, but romaine is ideal.
If you’ve never used nutritional yeast, this is a good recipe to start with to familiarize yourself. Compared to a previous iteration of this recipe that left it out, this was miles better. (Bob’s Red Mill is my favorite brand. )
Directions:
Combine everything in a bowl and whisk until fully emulsified. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper. Shouldn’t need more than a small pinch of salt to tie the whole thing together.
Dollop some of the dressing on a bed of torn up romaine lettuce leaves in a bowl a tablespoon at a time and toss well until each piece is coated. Try a leaf and assess if you need more dressing. Top off with more nutritional yeast.
As always, thanks for reading. And if you have any questions about the recipes in this newsletter, you can message me on Instagram or Twitter.