Randwiches by Jenn de la Vega

12/21/2024

Tuna salad and saltines was a lunch I often ate as a kid. It started with the mini portable kits and as the years passed, I would add more complexity. Soy sauce, hot sauce, carrots, snow peas, hoisin sauce—anything I would find in the fridge. You might say this was an early rendition of the random sandwich concept. I haven’t eaten tuna salad with saltines since college!

Thanks to gift, I have a pantry bursting with canned fish. Before I left for the holidays, I wanted to use up the last of celery. I broke up a can of skipjack wild tuna in olive oil and mixed it with buffalo aioli, the celery, Urfa pepper, and fried garlic. I should have made double, it was gone in two minutes!

12/18/2024

A sprawling onion and kale pakora! Adapted from ’s pakora masterclass. It’s very similar to ukoy, a vegetable and seafood fritter from The Philippines (for a cool recipe, try the one in the Filipinx cookbook!). The difference is in the flours, the pakora calls for gram or chickpea flour and ukoy is made with rice flour; or a mix of cornstarch and all purpose in a pinch.

I used a mix of all purpose and rice flour because I’m cleaning out the cabinets. I’m a huge fan of eating fried pierogi with sour cream, so it was a perfect match with the pakora. I also tried it with some buffalo spiced aioli and it was also fantastic. The same fried food rule applies: dip something creamy or tangy to offset the oily, crunchy bite. Gosh, I wish I had some pickled daikon radish banchan!

The next morning I re-fried it and poured egg over it in the style of kai jiao or Thai omelette. I didn’t quite get the timing right, but it was still excellent with fresh scallion and spicy pickled carrot on top.

12/17/2024

Loafpan lamb! Lamb shank braised in a perfect container for two. I later took the meat off the bone and ate it over parmesan polenta, melty onions, and pan juices. Going to write this one up for Patreon. Alternatively, if you already have my Showdown cookbook, I have another lamb shank recipe based on paksiw called “Wham Bam Thank You Lamb!” ⚡️

12/15/2024

There’s something childlike about these sweet rice, black sesame, and longanisa musubi. I could use my rice press to make it perfectly rectangle, but I find it charming that you can see I used my hands.

Using sweet rice reminds me of suman wrapped in banana leaves. I can’t figure out a coconut milk substitute to make it these days, but this fulfills the sensation with a sweet pork pairing like longanisa.

12/14/2024

Plating needs work but this was perhaps the best pasta dish I made all year! Marinated then roasted baby cauliflower head; spaghetti tossed with cod liver oil, thyme, and melted shallot; over garlicky mozzarella fondue 🤭

🍝

12/12/2024

Happy holidays!

12/12/2024

Thinking a lot about grandmas lately, specifically grandma Thelma, who wasn’t my paternal grandma—but as close as I could get. She had a joyful way of moving through the world, she lightly flourished when entering and exiting rooms. She liked to sing and dance so much that at 75 years old, she taught at the senior center in downtown LA. She was very independent and knew the bus system well. I remember coming home from high school and hearing her leave the message on the answering machine that her other half passed away. She kept going, smiling, and offered me miswa soup.

She made it simply, a shredded chicken thin wheat noodle soup, very close to instant Lipton noodle soup packets. I made it a few times when I was learning about patola or luffa gourds. This week, I thought of her and made chicken bola bola (meatball) miswa. I didn’t have luffa, but the next closest grocery store vegetable was zucchini.

The recipe is on my Patreon (in my bio) or be like me and go off what you know about chicken noodle soup and wing it from my description.

12/11/2024

We lived upstate for a summer film shoot and it was so fun! Love my new adventures in crafty with crews who want to eat well while they work. A rare capture of me watching everyone enjoy their meal on the last night. 🫶🏼📸

12/10/2024

Glazed chicken burger with sautéed kale, shaved zucchini, and fried garlic. Would have been good with some cheese, too.

12/09/2024

New blog! A private dining bachelorette weekend 👰

Brooklyn based chef Jenn de la Vega shares a bachelorette party menu with Filipino food, cheese, and charcuterie.

12/09/2024

At home oden! 🍢 I made a pot of rich dashi and kept it on low most of he day until I was ready to eat. Soft boiled egg, cauliflower, and rice stuffed abura-age (fried tofu pocket) with black sesame. I didn’t have any karashi, so I dolloped a little gochujang on the egg. The cauliflower stayed surprisingly toothsome as long as it never came to a boil.

I learned about this dish from Samurai Gourmet on Netflix and One Piece. Bummed I had no daikon radish, because it’s so interesting to prep. You cut thick disks of the radish, shave the hard edges down flat, and score both faces to give it more surface area to soak up broth. I’m going to try a mini version with hakurei turnips I found at the farmer’s market.

12/06/2024

Presenting HOTLINE UMAMI, spicy buffalo aioli and pickled chilies. Now available every night at , while supplies last 🌭

You might initially think of Drake’s Hotline Bling, but Hotline Miami was also a 2012 indie game. The soundtrack was pretty sick with a few favorites like Perturbator, Castanets, and dubmood; plus, some old friends Elliot Berlin, and Chromacle.