[Molly] I'm hosting a baseball tailgate on the farm
with tons of Asian-inspired treats.
-[cheers] -Home run!
[Molly] Like my creamy peanut noodles with bok choy
that are oh-so slurpable.
If you need me, I'll be on the bench eating these.
[Molly] Thick and juicy lion's head meatball burgers topped with fried eggs.
-Mmm. -[lion roars]
[Molly] Crunchy Asian coleslaw on the side.
And for dessert, my ooey gooey mochi chocolate chip cookies
are a home run.
These knock it out of the park.
Look at these beauties.
[Molly] Hey, this is me, Molly Yeh.
This is my husband, Nick.
This is our growing family.
And this is our farm on the North Dakota-Minnesota border,
the place where I eat, sleep and breathe food.
Nick and I are hosting
a baseball tailgate on the farm,
complete with Asian-inspired tasties
and a semi-outdoor batting practice,
because in Minnesota there is snow getting you down.
For a handheld dessert, I'm making my mochi-stuffed chocolate chip cookies
which are a classic gooey chocolate chip cookie
with chewy surprises of mochi in the centers.
A cookie with a curveball.
See? I know sports.
For my mochi,
I'm starting with half a cup of glutenous rice flour
which is the key ingredient in mochi.
If you can envision a gummy bear that's a little bit softer,
that's what mochi is.
And it's common in Asian desserts.
Oftentimes, you'll see it in little bits
sprinkled over ice cream or frozen yogurt or shave ice.
Or sometimes you'll see it wrapped around balls of ice cream.
That's the best.
I'll combine it with three tablespoons of sugar.
For a hint of sweetness.
A pinch of salt.
Give it a mix.
And then bring it together with half a cup of water.
I'll cook this over medium-low heat for a few minutes
while I stir and scrape the bottom of the pot continuously,
until it forms a very sticky dough.
A while ago, I was doing all these chocolate chip cookie experiments,
because I wanted to incorporate glutenous rice flour in
with my standard cookie dough
to create a slightly chewy texture.
I must have gone through 20 different variations of recipes.
I could never quite find that balance.
But I started seeing all of these cookies where,
rather than mixing the mochi in with the dough,
they incorporated it inside of it,
like a dumpling, [chuckles]
so you bite into it and you get the cookie
and then you get a piece of mochi in the center.
And I thought, that's a brilliant way to get the texture of mochi
with the flavor of a chocolate chip cookie.
When it pulls away from the sides
and it kind of balls up into a dough,
that's how I know it's done.
I'll remove it from the heat and then let it cool into a pancake,
and it will get chewier as it cools.
but because it's so sticky,
I'll first dust my counter with potato starch.
You can use corn starch,
but I find that potato starch gives a slightly more pleasant mouth feel.
I'll dust the top with more potato starch.
If you're a textures person, mochi is for you.
I'll gently pat this out,
just so that it can cool quickly.
I'll set this aside and make my chocolate chip cookie dough now.
I start with half a cup of melted unsalted butter.
And I like melted butter in a chocolate chip cookie
because it yields a denser, chewier texture.
I'll combine it with three quarters of a cup each
of brown sugar and granulated sugar,
and I like the combination of white sugar and brown sugar.
You get some molasses flavor, but it's not overpowering.
I'll whisk this to combine.
Smell good.
And then crack in two eggs.
We'll add them one at a time to ensure that they're fully incorporated.
I feel like no summer is complete
without going to at least one baseball game.
I used to be spoiled, growing up in Chicago,
we had not one, but two major teams.
And so, we went to baseball games frequently,
usually with my sister and my dad.
And these days, though,
we're five hours away from the nearest professional baseball team.
But we still do make it down there
around once a summer and it's awesome.
And when the stars align,
my sister-in-law and brother-in-law are there too
and it's so much fun.
So, they're coming over today
because they're also baseball fans.
And my niece and nephew, Cliff and Betty, are coming too.
I think Cliff is gonna be on a baseball team this summer for the first time.
He's four, so right around the same age as Bernie,
and the cousins have so much fun when they all get together.
This is super smooth.
Splash in two teaspoons of vanilla.
I like a vanilla-heavy chocolate chip cookie.
For my dry ingredients,
I'll get two and a quarter cups of all-purpose flour.
This is slightly more flour than I typically use in my chocolate chip cookies.
So it'll create a cakey texture
and then also lend a bit more structure to hold in the mochi.
And I'm combining the dry ingredients
right on top of the wet ingredients.
I love a one-bowl cookie dough.
One teaspoon of baking soda.
This will react with the acidity in the brown sugar,
to help these cookies rise in the oven and get puffy.
And then ultimately they'll collapse and get craggily.
And then a teaspoon of kosher salt.
Before incorporating all the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients,
I'll give them a rough little mix.
Okay, when the dough gets too thick, I'll switch to a rubber spatula.
And now that the flour is mostly combined,
I'll dump in my chocolate chunks,
so that it can incorporate the chocolate
as I'm finishing up mixing the dough.
It prevents overmixing that way.
And this is six ounces of chopped dark chocolate.
I prefer getting the bars and chopping them,
so that you can get a variation of different sizes.
You get the shards of chocolate, you get some bigger bits,
you get pools of chocolate.
It's more texturally exciting that way.
I'll fold this in,
and I'm reserving some chocolate to sprinkle on top,
so that you can really see the chocolate.
Now that I can no longer see any dry bits of flour,
I'm gonna stop mixing, you don't wanna overmix.
I've got two sheet trays lined with parchment.
I'm making nine big, baseball-shaped cookies.
I'll divide my mochi into nine.
One for each inning.
I always love to form my cookies using a scoop
so that they're uniformly sized.
And this is a third of a cup scoop.
I'll make a cookie bowl in my hands.
I'll just stick a piece of mochi in the center.
And then I'll seal the edges,
pinching well, roll it up.
Get it on to my pan,
and then stick some more chocolate on top.
That's purely an aesthetic thing.
And then a pinch of flaky salt
so it'll add a sparkle of flavor on top.
Just like that.
I'll keep on rolling,
and then I'll bake these at 350 degrees for 13 to 15 minutes
until the edges are lightly golden and the centers are puffed.
I'm excited.
I smell a home run in the oven.
[oven door opens]
Look at these beauties.
[oven door closes]
They've baked up gorgeously.
Look at those pools of chocolate on top.
I'm going for this.
[excitedly] Uh, yeah, look at that mochi. Hi.
Mmm. [chuckles]
It's chocolaty, it's sweet, it's chewy,
and then it's chewy again.
These knock it out of the park.
[baseball game music playing]
[Molly] Coming up...
What's better than a bag of nuts at a ball game?
Noodles with nuts.
That's what.
For a tailgate side that features a baseball snack staple,
I am making my bok choy peanut noodles.
They're saucy and salty and sweet.
They are a home run of slurpability.
And who doesn't love bok choy as a baseball snack?
I'm just kidding, I'm talking about peanuts.
[chuckles] For my sauce,
I'll start with a third of a cup of creamy peanut butter.
All the best peanut noodles have a lot of sauce.
And I love peanut noodles because they're great at any temperature.
They're perfect when they're still warm and freshly made.
They're great after they've been sitting out for a while
and that they're at room temperature.
And then they're even better
when they've been in the refrigerator for leftovers
and it's the middle of the night and you're hungry
and you just wanna stand in front of the refrigerator eating things.
Not that I do that. [chuckles]
Quarter cup of soy sauce.
Other than the peanut element,
the best part about peanut noodles is
that they're both salty and sweet.
Two tablespoons of honey.
Two tablespoons of toasted sesame oil.
Adds beautiful richness and those toasty notes.
The juice of half a lime
will balance this sauce out with acidity.
I'll use my fine zester to grate in two cloves of garlic.
And this is a great sauce, you don't have to put it on noodles.
You could do it on veggies. I really like it on brussels sprouts.
And then I'll whisk this together.
The third best part about going to a baseball game is eating peanuts.
when it's the eighth inning,
you've already eaten your hot dog, the first best part.
The curly fries, the second best part.
And now you need something to do with your hands, so,
you just sit there, peeling peanuts...
[whisking]
...waiting for one of the teams to finally win. [chuckles]
Baseball games are so long.
This is looking smooth and combined.
I'll set it aside and get my bok choy.
I love bok choy with these noodles,
because the texture blends in nicely with the chewy noodles.
And also the flavor is mild.
So it's not overpowering the real star of the show, which is the peanut sauce.
And the way that I like to chop it is,
first, cut off the ends, which separates the leaves.
And then, I like to slice the bok choy
into long, skinny little lines,
almost like noodle shape.
And when they're small, skinny lines like this, they also cook really quickly.
There's also so much nutrients in bok choy.
I feel less bad hoovering up these noodles.
Okay, I'll set this aside for a sec
while I get my noodles cooking.
I have a big pot of salted boiling water
and fresh ramen noodles.
They're treated with an alkaline solution
which makes them have this natural yellow color.
Since they're fresh, they only take about a minute or two to cook.
I'll give these a stir so they don't all stick together.
I'm gonna toss in the bok choy now
so that the bok choy can essentially get blanched right in the noodle water.
And this will soften the veggies
and also make them bright green.
This just takes about 30 seconds.
Got my sauce right next to the pot
so that I can transfer directly from the noodle water
into the sauce.
I love the bright yellow noodles
with the bright green bok choy.
I am completely powerless against these noodles.
Mmm! Smells good.
I'll toss this all together to get everything coated
in that peanut sauce.
Mmm, getting a peanut butter facial.
I could demolish this entire bowl.
I'll get a serving plate.
What is happier than a pile of noodles?
I'll finish with some splatters of sriracha.
Some peanuts for crunch.
I like a lot of peanuts.
And then, I'll nestle in some lime wedges
in case anybody needs added acidity.
[whoops]
I better taste them to make sure they're okay for the cousins.
Mmm!
Those are extra saucy.
And the perfect amount of sweet and the siracha on top.
Okay, if you need me, I'll be on the bench eating these.
Next, a slammin' slaw that's super easy to make.
Plus, a grillable version of one of my favorite Chinese dishes.
For a quick and easy side that's a total catch,
I am making my crunchy Asian slaw
which is mayo-y and fresh,
and it's everything you want with the burgers
that we'll be grilling at the tailgate.
I'll build it all in one bowl, starting with my dressing.
I'm using Japanese mayo
because it's a little richer and sweeter.
I'm just obsessed with it. [chuckles]
The zest and juice of a lime.
You don't wanna go too deep when you're zesting,
otherwise, you could get a bitter flavor that you don't want.
I love this dressing because it's creamy and rich,
but also bright.
And then some fresh ginger, it's punchy and zingy.
And grating it in like this just allows it to incorporate
in the dressing smoothly.
Some kosher salt.
Honey.
I like a little hint of sweetness in my slaws.
Some rice vinegar for more acidity.
A combination of the lime and the rice vinegar
gives a good quality of brightness.
Soy sauce for saltiness and flavor.
Some sesame oil for richness.
And a bit of siracha for heat
that's nice, but not overpowering.
And I'll whisk this together.
Nick was super into baseball growing up,
so much so that his dad built him a batting cage
right here on the farm.
And at some point, they took it down.
So we're recreating that today,
and, you know, I might take a swing,
but I'm really just showing up for the food
and to hang out with the in-laws.
This is looking smooth and combined.
That's it for my dressing, I'll get my veggies.
I've got a big old rainbow of veggies here.
I'll toss them all into my dressing.
Some shredded carrots.
Shredded cabbage.
And sliced bell pepper for great sweetness and crunch.
Some sliced scallions.
Some fresh cilantro.
I love cilantro,
especially with the lime and the mayo.
There are so many beautiful fresh things going on in this slaw.
And then some toasted sesames for added crunch and flavor.
I'll toss this to get all the veggies
evenly coated in the dressing.
The closest I ever came to playing baseball
was when I was probably about five,
and I played tee-ball for one season.
My mom thought I was good.
Okay, I'll stick this in the fridge
to allow all these flavors to huddle together before serving.
For the grand slam of our baseball tailgate,
I am making my lion's head meatball burgers
which are so juicy and flavorful.
They're a grillable version of one of my favorite Chinese dishes.
I'll form my patties and then get them out to the grill.
And then top them with some eggs and pickled cabbage.
I'm starting with two and half pounds of ground pork,
and I'll season it with two teaspoons of kosher salt
and then two teaspoons of Chinese five-spice powder,
which is a defining flavor of lion's head meatballs.
It's anise, cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan peppercorns and fennel.
It's warm, and for me, it's really nostalgic.
A quarter cup of corn starch will help bind the burgers together.
Two tablespoons each of sambal oelek for a bit of heat.
Soy sauce
and hoisin sauce.
It's sweet, it's sticky, and it's dark and caramelly.
I love this stuff.
There's so much flavor in these burgers.
A tablespoon of toasted sesame oil.
A tablespoon of rice vinegar for brightness and acidity.
And then some fresh ginger, garlic and scallions,
a trifecta of flavor.
I'll get in here with my hands and mix it up quickly.
I wanna be careful not to overmix it.
Lion's head meatballs are named for the way that they're cooked.
So typically, you would braise the meatballs
with some vegetables around them
that sort of look like lion's manes.
I figured this delicious meatball would make a great burger.
And so, even though we're not braising it with vegetables,
I'm still gonna be adding the cabbage
as a pickle on top.
I'll divide this into six parts now
and smoosh into patties.
I think the cousins are really gonna dig the burgers.
These will shrink up a bit on the grill
since they're so fatty.
So press them out until they're wider than my burger buns.
These already smell so great.
Burgers and batting practice, here I come.
Still to come,
the secret to making a burger explode with flavor.
-[Nick] Three, two, one, boom! -[Anna whooping]
-[Nick] Here we go. Boom, baby! -[Anna] Oh, you got it!
The fam is here.
They've gotten started on batting practice already.
And now, I'm gonna finish up our meal
by grilling our lion's head meatball burgers.
-[grunts] -Oh!
-Watch out!
[Molly] The patties are made, I'll season the outside with some salt.
I'll get them on to my grill
and then I'll cook these over medium-high heat
for five to six minutes per side,
until they're fully cooked through.
I'll make sure to salt the other side.
These look so good.
While the burgers cook, I'll fry up some eggs to go on top.
I've got my griddle pre-heating over medium-high.
I love an egg on a burger.
Because then the yolk is almost like another sauce.
And when burgers are concerned,
the more sauce, the better.
I'll let these cook.
I would like mine where the egg white is set, but the yolk is still runny.
The burgers are smelling so good.
I'm smelling that five-spice.
Oh, those are some pretty char marks.
I'll let the burgers cook on the other side
and allow the eggs to finish up cooking.
I'll prepare the burger buns.
I'm going with challah,
because then it's a little bit Asian and a little bit Jewish.
I'll spread the bottoms with hoisin.
And hoisin can be really salty if you have too much of it.
So I'm just doing a little bit all on the bottom.
Mayo on both sides.
Oh! Go, Anna.
[Nick] Yeah!
[Molly] I'll season the eggs.
I'll do one over hard for Cliff.
[Nick] Here we go.
-[Anna laughs] -[Nick] Yeah!
[Molly] I'll get the eggs on to the burgers.
And then get the burgers on to the buns.
He-he.
I love the way these stack up.
Okay, and then, I think that the siracha
looks the prettiest on top of the egg.
And then, for something pickle-y and crunchy,
I've pickled some cabbage with rice vinegar,
salt, sugar, garlic and scallions.
And this will taste really good.
And then it also checks the box of representing that cabbage
that you would typically find with a lion's head meatball.
I'll sandwich these up.
Don't wanna break the egg yolks yet.
Hey, batter, batter, want some burgers?
-Boom, baby! -[Anna laughs] Whoo!
-Did you see that? -Hey, you deserve a burger.
-Did I earn it? -[Molly] Yeah.
-[Nick] Here we go. -[Molly] Come eat.
-[man] Yeah! -[Nick] Can I dish you up, my friend?
Want some nudes?
[Anna] Oh, that's so nice.
-[man] That is a massive burger. -[Nick] Wow.
You looked pretty good out there. I mean, like, okay.
-Like, you're fine. -I mean, I was a little rusty,
-but it was fun. -Yeah. Cool.
-I can't wait to get out there and show you my skills. -Yeah. Yeah.
-I look forward to it. -Because I've been practicing, too.
Oh, oh, mine's oozing already.
Mmm.
How are the cookies, Betty?
[laughs]
-My kinda girl. -You wanna play some baseball?
Okay.
[Nick] Okay, here we go.
[Anna] You got it, Mol!
Here she comes.
[all exclaiming and cheering]
Home run!
Whoo-hoo!