Miso Sweet Potato Broccoli Bowl

I am a big Smitten Kitchen fan and lots of things I try end up being go-to recipes for me. I first tried her miso sweet potato and broccoli bowl about a year ago when I needed an idea for all of these ingredients I had on hand and fell in love pretty hard. It's filling and healthy and pretty easy to make. The slightly sweet, salty, nutty dressing has an acidic kick and a bit of heat from the ginger that works really well with the roasted vegetables -- it totally makes the meal. My partner loves it too, which is always a plus. :)

I have no complaints, just substitutions/variations based on what I had in the house at the times I made it, all of which have been pretty good:

Grains and veggies
- brown rice and wild rice for the grain
- winter squashes (butternut, buttercup, kuri) instead of sweet potatoes
- wilted kale instead of broccoli (it cooks faster than the broccoli would so you have to watch it or put it in later than the sweet potatoes)
- sauteed leeks instead of red onions

Dressing
- maple syrup instead of honey in the dressing
- hand mixing the dressing instead of putting it in the blender (only if I'm using the store bought minced ginger/garlic)

Topping
- only one color of sesame seeds instead of both white/black

I agree with her that we need to do more of these grain bowls topped with vegetables and possibly a protein -- every single one I've tried so far has been reasonably good and this is one of my very favorites.

RECIPE: Miso Sweet Potato and Broccoli Bowl

Ramen Robstravanganza

I threw a party to welcome Sarah home from her 3 month stay in France. She really missed ramen and had always wanted to try making her own, so I decided to make some from scratch for her. There were also several other recipes she sent me while she was there that I quietly saved and made for the party. Since I was not keen on making the noodles from scratch, I bought some refrigerated ones from the Asian grocery store since they have a better texture than the flash-fried ones in dry packets. We did not put a tare in the broth but I would like to try one of these two next time.

RECIPES

• Ramen components
• Pork Bone (Tonkotsu) Broth -- I used this as a general guide also with some tips from other recipes. I didn't put mushrooms in it but I did use the onion. Definitely rinse the bones. It ended up boiling for about 6 hours and was incredibly rich and lovely. I used neck and leg bones. I made it another time and it wasn't quite as good, so maybe I'll follow the suggestion to also put chicken bones in next time.
• Momofuku Pork Belly (Epicurious)
• Jammy Soft-Boiled Eggs (Bon Appetit) -- I've tried this method several times and they are consistently the perfect texture.
• Ramen Eggs (Just One Cookbook) -- use the jammy soft-boiled eggs you made in the above recipe for this. I prefer making these in larger batches since they take so long.
• Spicy Bean Sprout Salad (Just One Cookbook) -- this was good in the ramen as well as on its own.
• Chopped green onions
• Wasabi Pea Snack Mix (Kendra Vaculin via Food52) -- I did not make the wasabi peas from scratch because I did not have time, and the effort would be wasted on me anyway since I don't really like them. This was sneakily spicy in that it didn't taste very spicy at first but as you eat it a pretty good burn develops. I used less sriracha than was called for.
• Miso Butterscotch Bars (Aliwaks via Food52) -- sweet and salty wins every time. They didn't quite have the texture I was hoping for but they were delicious.
• Peach Rosemary Tea Collins
• Chuhai / Shochu Highball (The Drink Blog) -- chuhai is an incredibly popular adult beverage in Japan, so much so that you can buy it in a can at any time of the day from a convenience store. It's also really easy to make, and versatile in that you can flavor it with nearly any kind of fruit to suit your taste.