11's: Recipes I Actually Make
The restaurant-inspired dishes I turn to when I'm cooking at home
11's: Recipes I Actually Make
I’m back home in Brooklyn after a few weeks on the move — Edinburgh and London, followed by a spontaneous, out-of-my-element camping trip Upstate with Treetops, Camp Singers, and MPC.
For all that I love about traveling — the adventures, scenes, and experiences — I always look forward to coming home and settling back into a routine. A big part of that routine, for me, is cooking: cheffing, slicin’ n’ dicin’, making dinner at home. This might be hard to believe, considering I don’t usually talk, write, or post about these meals — but I promise, they’re happening.
Beyond the obvious sustenance, cooking is one of my favorite outlets for decompressing and spending time off my phone (hot vinyasa being the other). And I really do believe you can’t fully appreciate how special a restaurant experience is without having a meal at home every once in a while.
I consider myself a functional home cook. Confident with a knife in my hand and fire on the stove. I’ve gone through ambitious cooking stints in the past — I still periodically send apology notes to my Chicago roommates for my “peanut butter and jelly sandwich from scratch” phase, which included relentlessly Vitamixing roasted peanuts until they turned silky smooth. But since moving to New York, I’ve kept things fairly simple and nutritious, focusing on low-effort, high-reward dishes.
I have my foundational meals: overnight chia & oats, roasted salmon with kimchi over rice, and a chopped Greek salad with chicken thighs tossed in a big metal bowl. There’s no recipe for these straightforward, un-fuck-up-able dishes — they’re mostly just assembly.
And then there are the slightly more involved meals. Often inspired by restaurant dishes that I’ve had, these are the ones that’ll have me flipping back through my small-but-growing collection of cookbooks, or searching the internet for a dupe to recall and recreate them. A touch more ambitious, but still with tight, familiar ingredient lists, and generally forgiving recipes.
It’s funny. I find myself consuming a wild amount of cooking content online, and I make just about none of it. I’d be fascinated to know the conversion of people who watch Pierce Abernathy turn almost-wilted bitter greens into something majestic, and those who end up cooking the recipe themselves. Don’t get me wrong, there’s value in this content (for me, it’s comfort watching, rather than practical applications). But these are rarely the recipes I turn to.
There’s something wonderful about cracking open a cookbook to an oil-spattered page you’ve read through hundreds of times, parsing the intricate details and techniques that helped craft a certain dish at a restaurant you love — places near or far. That’s the shit that gets me cooking.
Some of these slightly more involved meals serve as Sunday dinner projects; others are my Super Bowl party specialties. But altogether, they’re the collection of recipes I actually make.
I’m linking to the official recipes if they’re posted online, and the best dupe in all other cases. I’d highly recommend Zahav, The Four Horsemen, Gjelina, and Lula’s cookbooks if you’re looking for even more home-cooking inspiration.
11's: Recipes I Actually Make
01] Hummus from Zahav
The signature dish at my favorite restaurant in the world. The creamiest hummus in existence is achieved by using a shitload of tehina. It’s the single most important ingredient (even more important than chickpeas), and the one you should ball out and buy a high-quality version of. Zahav recently launched its CPG line, but honestly, the results are pretty disappointing. For whatever reason, store-bought hummus always has a sour aftertaste. That’s not how it should be!! Making it at home is worth soaking your chickpeas for.
02] Celery Salad from The Four Horsemen
The Four Horsemen cookbook is loaded with hits, but this is the page I turn to most often. Perfect for a weeknight meal, to support a backyard grilling session, or any other situation that calls for something green on the table. Texturally, crisp celery, crunchy toasted walnuts, gooey dates, and creamy piave vecchio work brilliantly together.
03] Pad Krapow from Pumpui
On a frigid winter afternoon, I cozied into a counter seat, looking out at snowy Rue Saint-Zotique in Montreal. Over my right shoulder came a steaming plate of rice and minced pork, topped with an egg fried so crisply, the edges were lacy and golden. Pad Krapow is a common Thai dish, not unique to Pumpui, but their version inspired me to stock up on fish sauce and try it at home. Holy basil is the hardest ingredient to find, but if you do, this dish comes together in under 15 minutes and deeply satisfies.
04] Carrots from Gjelina
Gjelina, circa 2012, was the restaurant that changed the way I thought about vegetables. They confidently rolled out oyster mushrooms and summer squash and called them the stars. Much has changed about Venice, CA, since, but the recipes from the Gjelina cookbook are still good as ever — including these slow-roasted, caramelized carrots with a creamy, herbaceous yogurt sauce. I’ll often serve them as a side, but they always end up stealing the show.
05] Chili Chocolate Chip Cookies from Choza
Most of the food at Choza is so layered with flavor and texture that I’d never attempt to recreate it in a home kitchen. But their signature dessert — freshly baked chili chocolate chip cookies served with a shooter of Cinnamon Toast Crunch-infused milk — is something worth making. My fair warning here is that these rich, salty, overnight-chilled brown butter cookies have a not-so-subtle kick from cayenne powder. I love it!! But if you make them for the family cookie bakeoff, the unsuspecting judges might not handle the heat (I came in last place).
06] Chitarra with Sungold Sugo from Daisies
I’ve had many lovely pasta dishes at Daisies over the years, but none come close to the chitarra with sungold sugo. Bright, sweet, and buttery tomato sauce clings to long, chewy chitarra noodles. It’s creamy, yet still light and fresh. Daisies doesn’t have a cookbook (yet — it feels imminent), so we’re working with a dupe for now (Wishbone Kitchen’s gets you in the right direction). Cooking down bursting sungolds with shallot and garlic, blitzing ‘til creamy, and finishing with butter, a blanket of Pecorino di Parco, and a few careful tears of basil, yields a damn good pasta dish — even if it's not a perfect replica.
07] Potato Salad from Olive et Gourmando
Another barbecue and dinner party staple. This warm potato salad from the cornerstone of daytime fare, Olive et Gourmando, is a winner. Yukon Golds are boiled ‘til soft and coated in a creamy, maple syrup-sweetened mustard vinaigrette. They’re finished with tons of herby herbs and toasty everything bagel seasoning (or just poppy seeds in a pinch).
08] Chana Masala from The Spice Room
In early 2020, I was ordering The Spice Room’s chana masala at an alarming rate. I loved having that place nearby — down-the-middle, hard-hitting Indian takeout at a reasonable price. I haven’t found great Indian takeout in Brooklyn (I’m open to recs), so I’ve been making it myself when the chickpea craving hits. Spice Room’s version of chana masala is more gravy-like than tomatoey, which is how I like it. This recipe gets me like 60% of the way there, if we’re being honest. Those deep curries are just so hard to emulate at home. But it does the trick.
09] Onion Dip from Ha’s Dac Biet
Youuuu can buy a small portion of this special onion dip at Rodeo, or you can make it at home!! I choose the latter, because I genuinely love sweating down onions, shallots, and leeks. I really do. This magnificent dip has wowed and will continue to wow for generations to come. It’s sour cream and onion dip in its final form — best adorned with salmon roe for a burst of salty luxury. And best scooped with a sturdy kettle chip. RIP to Ha’s Substack page, but long live the dip.
10] Tehina Shake from Goldie
Specifically, the Turkish coffee version!! Michael Solomonov’s falafel counter, Goldie, was a near-daily hit for me when I was working on a project in Philadelphia. It took major restraint not to pair a harissa-laden falafel sandwich with this creamy, icy, sweet treat every day. Once again, tehina is a magic ingredient in this recipe, which adds a welcome nuttiness to the shake. Textually, you get something that resembles a Wendy’s Frosty (this is a very good thing). I tried adding protein powder to this once, which was a mistake. Don’t protein max the tehina shake.
11] Spicy Peanut Noodles from Lula Cafe
Chilled, chewy udon noodles coated in an umami-packed spicy peanut butter sauce is a bite that never gets old for me. It hits especially hard on a sweaty summer day. Lula gets this dish right — layered with marinated cucumber, pan-fried tofu, and so many fresh, crisp herbs. It’s so makeable, especially with the spicy peanut butter recipe from the Lula cookbook at your disposal (which also powers Lula’s very tasty Tineka sandwich).
Thanks for being here, thanks for reading. If you feel inclined, you can support my creative process by upgrading to a paid Flood’s subscription. You’ll also gain access to Flood’s Worldwide — all my favorite places from around the world, including all the restaurants listed in this piece, in a concise list and Google Map.
100% agree re: soaking chickpeas. Saved so many of these to try in the fall!
yum!!😋