Serves 6 to 8 | Prep Time: 25 minutes | Cook Time: 2 hours 30 minutes | Total Time: 2 hours 55 minutes
Since beef was expensive in Japan when I was growing up, it was a real treat when my grandmother, Hatsuko Ishikawa, invited us over for a meatloaf with amakara (salty and sweet) sauce, made with soy sauce, honey, and vinegar. She made hers in a round cast-iron skillet and always served it with potatoes, which were tossed in the pan (with the lid closed) to make them fluffy. This recipe is enhanced with a miso-infused shiitake mushroom sauce, my own wafu version of meatloaf.
The classic tagliatelle with Bolognese sauce gets a wafu kakushiaji (“secret umami enhancer”)—sake, miso, mirin, and kombu dashi. For an even deeper layer of umami, make this sauce with chicken dashi or chintan dashi. What’s not to love? Serve this sauce over traditional pasta or udon noodles, or use it to make a wafu-ed lasagna
Indulge in the nostalgic flavors of Doritos Taco Salad, a beloved family dish that combines the bold crunch of Doritos with savory taco-seasoned meat and zesty Catalina dressing. It's a dish that proudly veers from traditional taco salad variations, focusing on simplicity and taste. Found on the back of a Dorito’s bag by Jaime’s uncles in the 90’s, this recipe holds a special place in her heart, because when else do you get a recipe that instructs you to “crush the Doritos by punching the bag”? Family food at its best!
Serve with Rice and Tortillas, garnish with cilantro & lime
My mom had a beautiful relationship with her in-laws. That she was neither Mexican nor Catholic was never a problem. She won them over. She told me she would sit down to a conversation about calculus with my grandfather, who also had an amazing mind, and he’d leave her behind in three sentences. Mom learned to cook Mexican food from my grandmother, who was a really good cook.
Ground beef gets a bad rap from snobby foodie types, but since it’s something I grew up eating, I prefer to see the positive—it’s an incredibly affordable and versatile starting point for families looking to save money (aka, all families). It’s all about what you do with it. In this recipe, we’re using it to prepare a version of bulgogi, one of the most popular dishes in Korean cuisine, both in restaurants and in homes. Typically prepared with fancier cuts of beef, bulgogi rests in a mild, balanced marinade for hours (ideally overnight) before getting crispy and caramelized on the grill. This recipe delivers all that flavor on a hamburger budget. Sweet and salty, it’s a flexible base that can be served with lettuce wraps, rice, noodles, or rolled up into homemade Kimbap
My mother often made this kofta during a time when we used to host family dinners for upwards of thirty people. Ground meat—better if it wasn’t too lean—was ordered from the butcher. An enormous dish of meat topped with tomato slices was brought to the ferran, the community oven. This was the only oven big enough for the pan my mother used. She served her kofta with French fries or spicy potatoes, though they are good with flatbread, too.