Closing out week 6 here, friends.

This is a sad and scary time. But I refuse to watch the news because I feel like I’m already doing everything that I can do (social distancing, making masks, ordering grocery delivery) so it’s better for my mental health to not expose myself to the 24 hour news cycle of misery and poor leadership.

INSTEAD, I’m watching all the incredible home cooking content on Instagram. I particularly love the Bon Appetit and NYT Cooking stories, as well as David Chang’s personal Instagram. I would love to hear what you’re watching!

Slightly less well known than Bon Appetit is Tina, my friend Danielle’s mom. She has done a couple of cooking demos and I happen to know that she’s an excellent cook so I watched attentively. This egg roll in a bowl was one of her demos and I’ve already made it twice- it is so easy, delicious, and customizable with whatever ingredients you have or however your Instacart shopper interprets what you requested.

I’m not disparaging Instacart shoppers- I think they are heroes. I wouldn’t have even been mad at mine for giving me a bag with one red onion, as requested, and a separate bag with 3 more red onions instead of 3 shallots. More pickled red onions for us, please and thank you, and I’ll make Alison Roman’s shallot pasta another day. But he left our groceries on the sidewalk outside our house without even knocking so… no bonus cash tip for you, sir. Hope you gave Wegmans an air kiss for me.

Egg Roll in a Bowl

inspired by T

2 tbs sesame oil

1 inch peeled ginger, minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 red onion, diced

1 lb ground pork

16 oz bag coleslaw mix (or you can shred fresh cabbage!)

2 tbs soy sauce

2 tbs chili garlic sauce

1 can water chestnuts, drained and rinsed

6 scallions, chopped

sesame seeds, pickled red onions, sour cream/sriracha for serving

Heat the sesame oil in a large pan- I use my wok. Add the ginger, garlic, and red onion and cook until soft and slightly translucent.

Add the pork- break it up and let it brown. Add the chili garlic sauce and soy sauce, then the coleslaw mix and the water chestnuts. Stir to combine and to let the coleslaw wilt down a bit. The first time I made this I didn’t have any water chestnuts and it was still great but they do add a nice crunch!

Tina recommended a mix of mayo and hot sauce, I personally use sour cream and sriracha (I think I should put this in a squeeze bottle so that I can add it more artfully to dishes?), either would be delicious. Plus toasted sesame seeds and scallions. I also added pickled red onions because we are literally putting these on everything. They will be a forever item in my fridge.

The GS also discovered this is a delicious breakfast leftover with a couple of eggs thrown in like fried rice even though there’s no rice in it.

AND I was able to utilize two of my new cooking hacks- peeling ginger with a spoon, and regrowing scallions in a cup of water.

This is the kind of green thumb skill that I can handle.