Curried Butternut Squash Soup

About the music: Cooking has its ups and downs in terms of activity and pace, so for this recipe we tried to capture those ups and downs in the music we chose. While you are doing your cutting, chopping and prep we gave you some really nice upbeat nu-disco, such as Aeroplane, to get you feelin’ right. Then, while your relaxing waiting for your squash to cook we let Poolside take over with their groovy Night Mix. Finally, while you get back into the action we pick up the pace at the end to give to the push you need to finish.

Serves:4
Prep Time: 30
Cook Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:
1 medium sized butternut squash peeled, seeded
1-2 sweet potatoes peeled
1 medium onion
1 can coconut milk
4 cloves garlic chopped
2 1/2 tbsp curry powder
3 cups water
2 tbsp fish sauce
salt to taste
pepper to taste
3 tbsp olive oil
croutons or nice hard bread
small handful cilantro

Directions:
Before you do anything just get down on this Aeroplane song for like a half a minute, its the kind of song that just makes you want to be doing something awesome… like making soup. Now you can start making your soup.

Preheat the oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and cut your squash and potato into 1-2 inch cubes. Put the squash and potato in a bowl with the garlic and toss with olive oil salt and pepper. Once everything is coated, spread out on the baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes or until squash is very soft.

Meanwhile, chill out for a hot second and get down on this Poolside mix, it should be getting quite good a this point. Now, chop the onion. Place a large pot on medium heat with olive oil. Cook onion with curry powder until caramelized, 7-8 minutes. Add the coconut milk and water and mix it up right.

Add the now-soft squash and potatoes to pot. If you timed it like we did, you should be getting back into some awesomely upbeat tunes. You know, the kind of tunes that make you wanna just blend some hot soup. Take the circular thing out of the top and cover it with a towel or else terrible, terrible things will happen. Your going to want to do this in batches.

Pour back into the pot and add water if needed to thin. Add some salt and pepper. Pour into bowls, top with chopped cilantro, croutons, and a plop of olive oil. Swill.

Adapted from Joyilicious

Pork Bánh Mi


About the Music: We just recently went to see the Motet play a show covering entirely Parlament Funkadelic on Halloween, and needless to say, we have been feeling a little funky ever since. We chose to ride out this vibe by making a playlist of extra funky edits of some classic jams including Crown Heights Affair all the way to Diana Ross. Oh, and a good friend of mine, Cooper Saver, provides us with the closing track, a smooth little edit of Sade’s Paradise.

Serves: 4
Prep Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:
1-1.5 pound pork tenderloin
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp sesame oil
2 garlic cloves minced
1 tsp minced ginger
2 green onions sliced
salt and pepper to taste
leafy greens
4 sliced jalapeños
Fresh cilantro
pickled vegetables (we used carrots and cabbage
mayonnaise
1 loaf good french bread
vegetable oil

Directions:

Continuing the whole heady sandwich kick, this Vietnamese sandwich is something I have enjoyed at many a food truck in Los Angeles, but never something I have actually attempted to make…until now. It’s really dank. So fire up the tunes and let’s roll.

Take your heady pork log and cut it into 1/2 circles, across the grain. Cover the cut pork with Saran wrap and pound with a meat pounder (I used a rolling pin) until the pork is about 1/4 inch thick.

In a large bowl, mix the fish sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar, maple syrup, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, green onion, salt and pepper, and a couple slices of jalapeño.  Plop your pork slices in the bowl and mix them around so everything is covered by your sweet and savory concoction.  Let sit for about 30 minutes.

Put a skillet on high heat with a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil. Place pork slices on pan and cook until side is caramelized, 1-2 minutes. Flip and cook for about another minute. Try not to overcook them because they are just the pure danks when are juicy.

Stop and take a second to admire just how funky this playlist had been, and how its probably subconsciously embedded in you an insatiable love for the funk. Now assemble your sandwiches. Slice the loaf of french bread down the middle, cover one side with mayo, next some lettuce, then the pork slices, and pile the jalapeños, cilantro and pickled vegetables on top. Munch.

Adapted from Food52

Simple Arugula Salad

About the music: This recipe is outrageously quick & simple. In fact, you’re probably going to finish the salad about halfway through the first song, but nonetheless this is Sandwich Funk, and who would we be if we didn’t offer you the finest tunes to match your delicious offerings. Since the salad is so simple, we didn’t want to get to fancy with the music, so we chose two of the most quintessential jazz pieces around, David Brubeck’s “Take Five,” and Miles Davis’ “So What.”

Serves: as many as you want
Prep Time: 8 minutes

Ingredients:
1 bunch arugula
2 lemons
fresh grated parmesan
Good quality olive oil

 

 

 

 

 

Directions:
This salad is the best, basically impossible to screw up, and can be made in under 4 minutes. First shown to me by my good friend while studying abroad, this salad immediately worked its way into my low budget, high-paced lifestyle while living in Amsterdam.

Just take the arugula, squeeze a generous amount of lemon juice over the leaves, sprinkle the olive oil on top, and add your preferred amount of parmesan. Ya done kid. Now you can go back to doing whatever it is you were doing before you decided to eat something.

  • baz

    I love this salad. less is more.