quinn's place

here’s a dinner idea that feels like you’re having takeout - but you’ve made it right at home. i love making things that end up tasting like i did not make it, if that makes sense. like when somebody else makes you a sandwich…it’s always better, somehow.

with all this extra at-home cooking this year and staying in as much as possible, it’s nice to have some dinner ideas up your sleeve that are simple, but may not be in your regular weekly dinner rotation.

make it feel new & different by leveling up the quality of your meat purchase. and if you’re real cool, you’d do a combination of ground wagyu and lamb for these. succulent city.

wagyu is very flavorful & tender, but can be spendy - this is a great use of it where the beef is a main star of the show and not hidden amongst too many other flavors.

however, all the accompanying flavors are big, yet so complimentary - they all work together so fantastically.

lemony kale for brightness, tomatoes & cucumbers for freshness, pickled red onions for zing and acidity, homemade tzatziki yogurt sauce for cool creaminess, & warm fluffy naan flatbreads to hug it all together.

i went for quite large naan flatbreads for these, thinking i’d cut them in half for each gyro.

we discovered that we could very much eat a whole one, it’s just a bigggg filling meal.

big fat warm puffy loaded gyros are the ‘salt fat acid heat’ meal of my dreams.

these are great as a weeknight meal for 1 or 2 people, since you can prepare just enough that you’d need made hot & fresh, or just reheat leftover meat another day.

this could also be a great group meal, served with oven fries and a crisp salad.

whip some of these babies up and share the absolute scrumptiousness with the lovies around you. 🤗

Wagyu Beef Gyros with Lemony Kale & Dill

Makes 4 Large Gyro (recipe easily halved or doubled)

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

For the Beef-

1 lb. ground Wagyu beef
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. ground black pepper
drizzle of olive oil

For the Tzatziki sauce -

1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/2 a large cucumber, chopped
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 garlic clove, crushed & minced
2 TB. extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup fresh dill, roughly chopped or torn
handful of fresh mint leaves, chopped (optional)
pinch of kosher salt & black pepper, to taste

For the Toppings -

4 large naan flatbreads
3-4 large lacinato kale leaves, washed and chopped

2 roma tomatoes, chopped
sliced cucumber, optional
lots of fresh dill
pickled red onions
1/2 a lemon
1-2 TB extra virgin olive oil
red pepper flakes & ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions-

In a small bowl, mix all ingredients for the homemade tzatziki sauce, lastly folding in the fresh dill. Chill in the fridge while you prepare everything else.

Chop the kale and gently toss in a small bowl with a drizzle of olive oil, juice of 1/2 a lemon and a pinch of kosher salt. Massage with your hands or toss well with tongs. Chop the tomatoes and slice the cucumbers. Tear the dill and mint off the stems.

Combine all ingredients for the beef in a medium sized bowl with your hands. Form elongated patties. Grill the patties on a barbecue, gas grill or grill pan, 3-4 minutes on each side. Let rest on a cutting board. Roughly tear or chop the cooked patties into chunks.

Grill the naan flatbreads on the same grill, or warm each side in a pan, just until soft and pliable, not crisp. Spread some tzatziki sauce on the naan, a handful of lemony kale, then several pieces of Wagyu beef. Top with extra tzatziki sauce, chopped tomato, cucumber (optional), pickled red onions, fresh dill, red chili flakes and extra black pepper, if desired.

Enjoy immediately!

time to eat our feelings & our nerves, folks. with the 2020 election happening this week, as in TOMORROW, i’ve got nervous energy firing on all cylinders. my back hurts! 😬

thank heavens for food & wine, ya know what i’m saying?

and cookies, of course.

and another thing - just because it is fall does not mean every baked good must be pumpkin spice apple maple butternut sweet potato cinnamon x y z, dammit.

don’t forget about chocolate chip cookies. they are always here for us, year round. let’s hear it for that little nugget of comfort.

these ones are * chocolatey * chip cookies because i simply felt like adding a bit of cocoa powder to the dough. they could certainly be much more * chocolatey, * but consider this recipe one step up on the chocolate scale from a regular chocolate chip cookie. you can add as much or as little cocoa powder as your heart desires.

and they look like cute little scoops of ice cream, so that’s nice.

you musn’t forget to press a chunk of chocolate into the top of the dough ball before baking. this is where the pools of chocolate come in.

a major key to an excellent chocolate chip cookie is room temperature ingredients. making sure all the ingredients (like the eggs) are not drastically differing temperatures when they are combined just ensures they’ll come together more gently - they aren’t all shocked & confused when they come into contact. you want everyone to jive.

additionally, chilling the dough for at least 2 hours and up to one full day before baking the cookies allows everything to co-mingle and more flavor develops. but…if you’re impatient or don’t have that kind of time to wait or you just need the cookie now, absolutely forget that chilling step.

another super important baking tip that i’ve really just starting paying attention to in the last year is either weighing the flour by grams, or scooping the flour with a spoon into the measuring cup. i feel like we were all taught to reach into the flour container with the measuring cup, jam as much flour in there as possible, and scrape the rest off the top, further shoving more flour into the cup. i’ve only recently realized that i have been way over-flouring all my baked goods, resulting in an overly dense or hard finished product. and that’s not what we’re going for at all!

so fluff that flour, scoop it from the spoon to the cup, don’t pack it down, and gently level off the top. or weigh it if you are into that, which i am now into. flour weighing, my new 2020 hobby.

also new-to-me: vanilla bean paste (in lieu of vanilla extract). oooh what a fun ingredient. ya can’t see the flecks in these particular cookies, but i know they’re in there 😉

i made this apple cider donut loaf cake and used the vanilla bean paste in there… so lovely. i can’t wait to use a ton of it in cinnamon rolls.

being able to see the little vanilla bean flecks is very pleasing to me.

not over-baking cookies is also truly one of the MAIN ingredients to a great cookie. this should probably just be the first line of the recipe - it is not an afterthought!

(remember afterthoughts, that store in the mall before claire’s? loved that shit)

you want the outside to be slightly firm, with a substantial layer of chew on the inside.

walnut haters don’t fret - just leave them out.

alright. that will be all.

chocolate chip cookies. they are good. always have been, and always will be. count all those constant comforts in your lives, my people. we need every last one of them! 💝

Browned Butter Chocolatey Chip Cookies

Makes 20-24 Cookies

Impatient Total Time: 40 minutes // Bake Time: 10 minutes

Ideal Total Time: 24 hours, 40 minutes (24-hour dough chilling period)

Ingredients:

14 TB Unsalted butter (1 stick + 1/3 cup), Browned 3-5 minutes & cooled
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 TB vanilla bean paste, or 2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (scooped & leveled, not packed), or 210 grams weighed
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 TB. unsweetened cocoa powder (optional, or 2-3 TB if prefer more chocolatey cookie)
1 tsp. fine sea salt
6 ounces dark chocolate wafers or bar, roughly chopped (about 1/2 cup - reserve several large chunks to place on tops of dough balls)
2/3 cup walnuts, well chopped (optional)
flaky sea salt, for topping

Instructions-

Brown the butter on the stove over medium-high heat in a small pot for 3-5 minutes, stirring/whisking constantly. The butter will turn bright, then bubble, then foam. As soon as you see brown flecks beginning to appear in the bottom of the pot, remove from heat and continue to stir for one more minute as the browning finishes. Transfer to a small bowl and chill in the fridge at least 10 minutes.

While the browned butter cools, chop the chocolate and walnuts, if using, and gather all ingredients.

In a stand mixer with paddle attachment or a large bowl, whisk the cooled browned butter with the brown sugar & white sugar until combined. Add the room temperature eggs, one at a time, mixing until glossy and whipped. Stir in vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract.

With a spoon, fluff the flour in its bag/container so it is not compacted. Scoop from spoon into measuring cup without packing flour down, then level off the top with a knife or your finger. Alternately, you can weigh the flour on a baking scale (210 grams).

In a small bowl, stir the measured or weighed flour, baking soda and salt until evenly incorporated. Slowly add flour mixture into the wet ingredients, mixing between additions until just combined. Do not over mix.

Use a spatula to gently fold in the chopped chocolate wafers or chunks and walnuts (if using) until just incorporated. Cover the bowl and chill the cookie dough for at least 2 hours, ideally 24 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Use 1 oz. cookie scoop to scoop dough balls, placing them 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Press remaining larger chunks of chocolate or wafers into the tops of the dough balls.

Bake each tray individually on the center rack for 9-11 minutes. Check at 9 minutes for doneness - if the cookie seems firm around the edge, but soft in the center, remove from oven - they will continue to cook a bit on the hot baking sheet. Do not over bake!

Transfer cookies to a cooling rack. Enjoy warm! Store in an airtight container for 2-3 days at room temperature for best results.