I love the yuba verde sandwich from superiority burger. It’s the closest vegetarian approximation of deli meat I’ve had and also references a Philly Italian Pork Sandwich which is delicious and filled with broccoli rabe. I adapted this from my memory and also the intro paragraph to the Bittman Project’s knock-off, but I haven’t read that full recipe because it’s paywalled. My version adds cheese instead of a bean spread as well as mayo, so it’s def not vegan, but arguably more delicious. I’ve also used kale instead of broccoli rabe which is easier to eat in a sandwich, though I did miss its bitterness.

Ingredients

For the vinaigrette / yuba marinade

• 1.5 cups olive oil
• 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/2 lemon juiced
• 1 tbsp capers
• 1/6-1/4 of a preserved lemon
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2-3 tsp dijon mustard
• 1 cup packed parsley
• salt and pepper to taste

For the broccoli rabe:

• 1 bunch brocolli rabe
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper

For the kale (if using instead of brocolli rabe):

• 1 bunch kale
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/2 lemon
• salt and pepper

For the yuba:

• 1 pack of yuba (5 oz)

For assembling the sandwich:

• kewpie mayo
• cento hoagie spread
• 1.5 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese.
• 2 heros
• other optional goodies (sliced tomatoes, pickled carrots, etc.)

Instructions

Make the vinaigrette and marinade the yuba:

• Combine vinaigrette ingredients in a blender and pulse until its creamy and a nice light green color. Add salt and pepper, blend, and taste until it’s right.
• Pour a bit of vinaigrette in the bottom of a medium-size tupperware container. Separate the sheets of yuba and layer one sheet at a time pouring vinaigrette between each sheet like you were assembling a lasagna. Reserve the leftover vinaigrette.
• Let the yuba marinade in the fridge for at least an hour.

Make the broccoli rabe:

• pre-heat the oven to 400-425
• toss the broccoli rabe with olive oil and salt and pepper
• bake for ~ 20 minutes. you might want to take the leaves out sooner or else they’ll burn.
• before assembling the sandwiches you might want to roughly chop the brocolli rabe so it’s easier to eat.
• NOTE: you can save some time by baking the brocolli rabe with the yuba

Make the kale (if using instead of broccoli rabe):

• cut out the kale stalks
• roll the kale up and cut it into thin strips
• dice the garlic and set aside
• heat the oil (on high) in a pan until it’s smoking
• add the kale and stir for about a minute until it changes color
• add the garlic and stir for 15-20 seconds
• squeeze the lemon juice over the kale and stir to incorporate
• turn off the heat and add salt and pepper to taste
• remove from the pan and set aside

Make the yuba:

• pre-heat the oven to 400-425
• lightly grease a baking sheet (you might need two) and lay the yuba out so no sheets are overlapping
• bake for ~10 minutes until the yuba starts to bubble up off the pan and turn light brown
• finish under a broiler on high until the yuba has some brown spots, but don’t let it burn! this step helps give the yuba the taste and texture of smoked meat

Toast the bread and melt the cheese:

• lightly brush olive oil on each half of the heros
• cover the top half in grated cheese
• place in the oven for 3-4 minutes
• NOTE: You can save a bit of time by doing this while the yuba is browning under the broiler, but just put the bread on a lower rack.

Assemble the sandwich

This is only my suggestion. Assembling a sandwich is a personal journey:

• On the bottom half of the hero, lather mayo and hoagie spread.
• Stack up the yuba on top.
• Place the kale/broccoli rabe on top of the melted cheese
• Optionally add other goodies on top of the yuba (sliced tomatoes, spicy pickled cucumbers, whatever you like!)
• drizzle some of the vinaigrette marinade on top of the yuba and kale/broccoli rabe.
• put the two halves together.

Eat!

My first real job out of college was on 53st and 6th, right across the street from the original halal guys truck and I would eat it all the time for lunch. Even back then there could be a line down the block and you had to show up early to beat the lunch rush.

I made this copycat recipe last night and it was convincingly accurate, maybe even better than the real thing. I was out of cumin so substituted coriander, put less mayo in the sauce than it called for, grilled the chicken instead of sauteed, and used brown rice instead of white basmati in a rice cooker. You could probably make this with tofu or tempeh, too.

Ingredients

For the chicken:

• 2 lbs chicken breasts 900 g, about 6
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon oregano powder
• 1 teaspoon all spice or seven spices
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika powder
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil for cooking

For the white sauce:

• 3/4 cup Greek yogurt 170g (6oz)
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise 115 g
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1-2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

For the rice:

• 2 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1 1/2 cups basmati rice, soaked for 20 minutes then rinsed until water runs clear
• 2 1/2 cups chicken stock or 1 stock cube dissolved in 2.5 cups hot water
• salt and pepper to taste, a pinch of each

To assemble:

• 1 chopped tomato
• handful chopped parsley
• sriracha sauce

Instructions

For the chicken:

• In a bowl, add all the ingredients for chicken marinade, like the olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, garlic cloves, all the spices and the salt and pepper. Combine until well mixed, then add the chicken breast and toss to coat evenly. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and marinade for 1-2 hours. (meanwhile you can make the white sauce).
• Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet on medium high heat, then add the chicken. Cook for 5-6 minutes each side, or until golden brown and cooked through.
• Remove chicken to a cutting board, and let it rest for 10 minutes, before chopping roughly into 2 inch cubes.

For the white sauce:

Mix together all the ingredients for the sauce, and store in the fridge until ready to serve.

For the rice:

• Add the butter to a large saucepan over medium heat. Once melted, add the turmeric and cumin, and stir for 1 minutes or until spices are fragrant.
• Add the basmati rice, and toast the rice by stirring around in the pan for 4 minutes. Add the chicken stock, plus a pinch of salt and pepper to season. Stir and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes.
• After rice cooking time, once all the water has been absorbed, remove pan from the heat and set aside for 15 minutes without disturbing. After 15 minutes, fluff gently with a fork.

To assemble:

Place the rice in your serving platter, top with the chicken, the white sauce, and chopped tomatoes and parsley. You can add some pita bread too. Optionally, but recommend, drizzle with sriraracha sauce!

Thank god that Spotify is providing mental health resources to artists who are struggling because they can’t earn a living wage from streaming.

For valentines day, I made ziti for Amanda inspired by Carmela Soprano’s recipe. I found it on this amazing blogspot - imturning60help.blogspot.com - which mostly consists of recipes reposted from a Soprano’s cookbook.

I skipped all the meat stuff and made a simple sauce based on Marcela Hazan’s tomato sauce using a whole bottle of Mutti. I wish there had been a bit more sauce.

I made green curry tonight using store-bought curry paste and following this recipe.

Some notes:

• I minced cilantro stalks and garlic and sauteed them with the curry paste.
• I added a cup of my own veggie broth. I wish I had added a little less as it came out a little watery.
• I included eggplant, red peppers, carrots, and tofu. I should’ve added ingredients in this order:
  • tofu (10 min total)
  • eggplant (5 min total)
  • peppers + carrots (2 min total)
• I also think I should’ve just let the curry simmer for 5-10 minutes on its own to let the flavors develop before adding the veggies and tofu.

When I talk about growing up in Pasadena, I oftentimes relate how, instead of snow days, we had smoke days. Days on which we weren’t allowed to go to school because nearby wildfires made the air too unhealthy to breath. I was, of course, happy to stay home and play video games, but the sense of doom radiated around me: from the TV, my Mother’s face, and the powdered ash that seeped through gaps in our window frames.

When I was 10 or 11, I remember driving east on the 210 and seeing flames creep down the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. These were mountains which we, and the rest of the city, used as a respite from the urban environment: to hike, to swim, to smoke weed and stare at the stars. Each time a fire rolled through the brush-covered foothills and oak-lined valleys, our favorite trails and creeks would be permanently re-routed (I’ve probably walked on six different versions of Millard Canvyon Falls Trail). In the following Spring months, when torrential rains can fall for weeks at a time, debris flows would spill off the charred mountain faces, sending boulders and parked cars down winding streets through people’s homes.

All of this is to say that anyone who grew up under the shadows of the San Gabriels is used to the spectre of disaster. As Mike Davis has written, Los Angeles is an impossible city in the popular imagination: erected on an arid desert, constantly on the verge of various apocalypses. But even though ecological destruction may seem quotidian to most Angelenos, what has transpired over the past 48 hours of the Palisades and Eaton Fires is unimaginably devastating. Altadena, a neighborhood of 40,000+ residents, has been seemingly wiped off the map.

My family is fortunately safe for now: they live south of the 210 freeway, several miles from the fire’s reach. Pasadena, like many American cities, was strategically divided by a highway in the 60s to segregate the predominantly rich, white, and conservative enclaves from the historically black and hispanic areas of North Pasadena and Altadena. Famously, Pasadena’s public school district was the last in the country (west of the Mississippi) to desegregate in 1970. And when it did, dozens of private schools (one of which I attended) sprung up in the south to accommodate the ensuing white flight. 50+ years later, Pasadena’s public schools, largely north of the 210, are still struggling with funding.

Still, until the recent wave of gentrification, these neighborhoods, filled with modest homes originally sourced from the Sears Catalog, represented an achievable American Dream. These were houses middle-class families could afford to own, set on idyllic tree-lined streets, with easy access to the myriad trails and streams that criss-cross the San Gabriels. It’s no wonder so many residents ignored evacuation orders to save their homes. Unlike the Palisades Fire, which has largely displaced the tremendously wealthy, the Eaton Fire has destroyed a racially and economically diverse neighborhood. For many families, particularly those who’ve been in the area for decades, these houses represented generational wealth; resources to help them send their kids to college or retire comfortably. And now they’ve been subjected to the horrible whims of flying embers.

Given all this, it’s been disappointing to see so many people on social media refer to the 210 freeway as some sort of firewall for the “cultural icons” to the south, as it if were a literal red line:

I have more thoughts but I’m too tired and sad to formulate them tonight. I pray that the flames subside and the community, north and south of the freeway, will rally to help the recovery. Climate change is too much for us to handle alone.