One Hand Cooking Episode 2: Umami Comfort Foods
illustration by Michelle Lassaline for our book How to Grow a Baby coming September, 2021
Have you ever eaten something that perfectly delivered everything you need in that moment? I don’t just mean nutrition or even tastiness, but something greater—a feeling you might describe as a combination of nostalgia mixed with gentle hope for the future along with a side of calm acceptance of the present moment.
In this episode of One Hand Cooking, you’ll meet my favorite comfort foods: slow roasted salmon and vegetables with seaweed salad, and miso, egg and mushroom bone broth soup.
These foods are loaded with the kind of nutrition you need when you’re pregnant, breastfeeding, or doing the very important job of sustaining your overall health and energy.
There’s glycine in the bone broth (builds connective tissue) omega 3’s and DHA in the salmon (supports brain development) choline in the eggs (helps prevents neural tube defects) and probiotics in the kimchi (supports a thriving gut microbiome). And, above all, these meals are deeply comforting.
Let’s review the three rules of One Hand Cooking before we dive into the recipes.
Safety. Keep baby safe! Otto constantly challenges me on this one.
Let go. Let go of your expectations, of your idea of perfection, of your self-criticisms and comparisons with others. Let it all go in a centering exhale and be here, just where you are in this moment.
Accept help. Give and receive love. Don’t keep score with your partner, rather, build a relationship built on respect and reciprocation. (See this essay on support, it helps).
slow roasted wild salmon + vegetables with seaweed salad
1 lb. wild salmon, skin on
1 bunch carrots, sliced in half and quartered if large
1 bunch radishes, sliced in half, use the greens if the radishes are fresh
4 large sweet potatoes (we used a mix of purple and garnet), diced into fries
Big handful shiitake mushrooms
2 bunches bok choy, rinsed and chopped
1 bunch scallions, chopped
1 garlic clove, sliced
1 lemon, sliced thin
Extra virgin olive oil and sea salt
Spicy kimchi sauce or regular kimchi (I like Mother in Law’s kimchi)
seaweed salad
Seaweed salad mix (I used this one)
1 tablespoon miso paste
1 tablespoon soy sauce or tamari
1 tablespoon coconut aminos, or 1 teaspoon coconut palm sugar
1 tablespoon mirin
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
Make the seaweed salad. Soak the seaweed in water for 7 minutes, then drain. While it soaks, make the dressing. Mix together the miso, soy sauce, coconut aminos, mirin, rice wine vinegar, lemon juice and sesame seeds. Spoon about half of the mix onto the seaweed salad, taste, then add more if needed. Allow to sit at room temperature while you prepare the rest of the meal so all of the flavors mingle and deepen.
To make the salmon and vegetables, heat your grill or oven to 425 degrees F. Place the sweet potato fries on a large baking sheet or cast iron, drizzle with olive oil and season with sea salt and roast until tender, about 35-45 minutes depending on how thin you slice the potatoes. While the sweet potatoes roast, place the carrots and radishes on another baking sheet, season with olive oil and salt, and put in the oven to roast for about 25 minutes, or until tender and slightly crisped. Then, on stovetop or in the oven, roast the mushrooms with plenty of oil (don’t salt yet), then once they are softened and starting to brown, season with salt, throw in the bok choy, scallions, and garlic and stir everything together. Cook until the bok choy is wilted and the garlic is a little crispy.
Cook the salmon. Drizzle oil in a baking pan, season the salmon on both sides with salt, then place the salmon in the baking pan and cover with the lemon slices and another drizzle of oil. Turn your oven down to 325 degrees F and cook the salmon for about 12-15 minutes, or until very tender, still pink, and just cooked through. I just keep all the vegetables in the oven or on the grill so everything stays warm.
Serve it up! Load a bowl up with vegetables, seaweed salad, and salmon. Top with kimchi (we used this spicy kimchi sriracha), this tasty furikake, and a generous handful of cilantro.
miso bone broth with mushrooms, seaweed +
eggs
2 cups bone broth (we either make our own, get it from my mom, or buy it from our local coop. For this recipe I used 72-hour chicken bone broth).
1 handful wakame seaweed
1 handful oyster, shiitake, or other mushrooms
1 teaspoon miso paste
1-2 pastured eggs
Extra virgin olive oil and sea salt
Warm the bone broth in a small saucepan over low heat and stir in the wakame. While the bone broth warms up, heat a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add a drizzle of olive oil and then spread the mushrooms out in an even layer in the skillet. Let them cook, without touching, for five minutes or until browned, then toss, again allowing them to cook for a few minutes. Add a little more oil if needed, then season with a little pinch of sea salt. Cook until nicely browned, then turn off the heat.
In a bowl or mug, add the teaspoon of miso paste. Add a few tablespoons of bone broth to the miso and, using a fork, stir the liquid and paste together until it is thoroughly mixed. Then, pour the bone broth and seaweed mix into the mug. Crack a whole egg (or eggs) into the mug and using the same fork, stir the egg into the broth until well-mixed. Finally, add the mushrooms to the soup and enjoy this umami-packed, super comfort food that’s perfect for any meal of the day.
If you like one hand cooking…
I think you’ll love How to Grow a Baby. The book dives into preconception, pregnancy and postpartum health with so much more information and illustrations about foods that support overall and reproductive health.
There’s shopping lists for hormonal health (and sperm health!), information about how nutrient-dense food supports the microbiome and SO. MUCH. MORE.