Rad Dishes, Reincarnated. And a Mediterranean Orzo Salad
In which I explain transitioning from blogging to writing a newsletter...
Rad Dishes started out as a blog in late 2015. (It’s still up, for now.) Then a couple of years ago, a series of events happened—I was embroiled in an unexpected kitchen nightmare when I lost cooking gas. I tried to power on, either by blogging recipes I made at a friend or family member’s home, or introducing a series of Instant Pot, slow cooker, and no-cook recipes. But staying motivated was hard, as the problem dragged on. Life also happened: I dealt with changes at work. I got engaged, and I got married, and we finally just up and moved to a place with less issues. These were good things, but I got busy. And the blog felt like work.
The last time I posted on the blog was a year ago. I kept wondering whether to discontinue it, or carry on. Just as I was about to let it go completely, the coronavirus pandemic happened. And like many in this time of social distancing, I found myself experimenting a little more in the kitchen, taking photographs and Instagramming from time to time… and I realized, I do still want to share what I’m cooking. But it needs to be more on my terms. So I’ve decided on this newsletter, which is likely to come out monthly. I’ll lead with a recipe (with much less rambling introductions, I promise), include other quick notes on recipes or food, and may discuss what I’m consuming on the pop culture front (similar to the song pairings I did for many years on the blog).
I don’t want to fill up your inbox constantly and maybe the world doesn’t need another newsletter, but I hope you’ll enjoy what I have to share… and at least be inspired to mess around in the kitchen.
RECIPE: Mediterranean Orzo Salad
My first recipe is one from the blog itself. I’m not going to “cheat” and regurgitate recipes every single time, but I would like to re-highlight some of my favorites, the ones I come back to, especially if I feel comfortable taking down the actual blog someday. Given that we’re entering warmer months, I want to share this recipe that seems to suit all occasions. I’ve made it for weekday lunches. Sometimes it’s dinner (and leftovers). I’ve taken it to picnics and lunch gatherings. We made it this week.
Is this an authentically Mediterranean dish? Not really, but it uses some ingredients that fall into that category and it tastes very fresh. I use chicken broth here, but it can easily be made vegetarian with veggie broth.
Ingredients
Serves about 4 to 6
8 ounces orzo
3 cups chicken broth [vegetable broth if making vegetarian friendly]
1/2 red pepper, diced
1/2 cup red onion, diced
1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives (drained and rinsed), roughly chopped
1/2 English cucumber, diced
About 2 ounces feta cheese
1/2 loose cup basil, chopped
1/2 loose cup cilantro OR parsley, chopped
Juice of half a lemon
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Cook the orzo in the chicken broth. Drain and run it under some cold water when it is cooked.
Put the peppers, onions, olives, and cucumber together in a large bowl. Add the cooled orzo and mix everything together.
Add the basil, cilantro (or parsley), and feta cheese and mix everything up again. Then add the lemon juice, olive oil, as well as salt and pepper to taste, and mix it one last time so that the ingredients are evenly distributed. You can serve right away or even let it chill for a little while in the fridge.
Notes
There’s some versatility involved with the herbs. If I’m out of the fresh stuff or just don’t want to buy any because it will spoil, dry herbs have worked just fine. I usually add some dry basil or parsley in that situation.
Extremely randomly adapted from a site called Work It, Mom! (I can’t hate on it.)
Food for Thought
Here’s another recipe I really enjoyed in recent weeks, a Mushroom and Spinach Frittata via Ricardo Cuisine. I followed it pretty closely, except I used cremini mushrooms because that’s what I had on hand, around half a large onion, and I decided to throw in about a teaspoon of dried rosemary for just a little extra something. It turned out wonderful and I honestly couldn’t feel too bad about the fact that going out to brunch isn’t much of an option these days.
Also! It’s been ages since I made a recipe from Budget Bytes, but this No-Bake Strawberry Cheesecake for Two was a great treat over the long weekend. I wanted a dessert to commemorate the unofficial start of summer, pandemic year and all, and this really hit the spot.
Eater: Alison Roman, Bon Appetit, and the Global Pantry Problem - If you were remotely caught up in the Alison Roman/Chrissy Teigen/Marie Kondo drama of the past couple weeks, and haven’t read this yet, it’s worth checking out. Honestly, it’s worth reading even without all of that because the piece addresses so much more.
Bites of Culture
What I’m Watching:
Even the pop culture I consume these days is overrun by food. I’ve caught up on all the Great British Baking Show episodes I could watch on Netflix. I watched Nadiya’s Time to Eat when those episodes became available. (It’s such cheerful TV!) And now I’m all about binging Chef’s Table, which was languishing in my queue for a while. It’s just the kind of comforting, soothing TV one needs in uncertain times.
I’ve also been enjoying the current season of Insecure, feeling a bit mixed about Killing Eve if I’m going to be honest, and we’re in the midst of our ongoing Marvel movie rewatch. Next up? Ant-Man.
What I’m Reading:
I’m having a tough time focusing on books lately, but I’m managing to dig into Stephen King’s The Stand. (I know. I jokingly talked about finally tackling it when this whole mess started, but it’s been sitting on my Kindle for years and I’ve just needed a compelling read.) I have a terrible tendency to pick it up right before bed, so I’ll eventually get sleepy and put it down, but even though it has some slow patches, I’ve managed to get nearly one-third of the way through, so that bodes well.
Thanks for reading this edition of Rad Dishes! You can follow me on Instagram. I’m also on Twitter and Facebook. The original Rad Dishes still exists here.
Radhika
P.S. Special shoutout to my friend Books on GIF for encouraging me to try this format. If you are seeking fun-to-read, yet thoughtful book reviews supplemented via well-chosen GIFs, his newsletter is just what you need.