Redhead Spinach

Kimchi Stew

2011-02-12T23:17:00.000-06:00

I LOVE going to Chinatown. We just discovered Chicago's Chinatown last week when we went for the New Year's parade. Of couse we had dim sum and bubble tea. But we didn't get a chance to visit the grocery stores. So I went back this weekend, just for a boatload of Asian produce. I got bok choy, enoki mushrooms, napa cabbage and lots of other things I don't know how to make. My husband picked out a jar of kimchi and I thought of a Korean hotpot. I've had that before in Ktown, but have never attempted it myself.

I started with the Chinese chives, sauteed. Then add kimchi and sauté.

Add water and bring to a simmer. It needed some flavourings. I should have gone with kochujang, but I didn't have any. Instead I added sriracha and fish sauce.

Rehydrated some shitakii and added those (sliced) and the broth as well. Tofu chunks go in as well.

Simmer simmer simmer.

Taste test - slurp... tastes good to me! Add a dollop of rice and good to go. Great for a cold freezing Chicago winter's night. Just the right amount of heat and spice. Love the smooth texture of the tofu, the chewyness of the shitakii and the crunch of the kimchi.

Polenta Cakes

2011-02-12T20:10:00.001-06:00

I've had this log of polenta in my fridge for a while now. I got it at Trader Joe's on a whim. No idea what I wanted to do with it, but I knew I would figure something out. A few months later, it still sat there. The date on the package was still valid so I thought today was as good a day as any to experiment with it.

I've watched enough Food Network to know that I need to slice it and grill it. With a 20º temperature and 2 feet of snow outside, I was in no mood to be grilling. The slices when in my griddle with a bit of olive oil. Sizzle away!

As for the topping, I had very little to work with in my fridge. I dug around. Mushrooms, good. Frozen shrimp, even better. Manchego cheese, great! A quick saute on the mushrooms with an onion and salt-pepper. The shrimp I shelled and sliced in half lengthwise (which turns them into cute curls once they're cooked!). Then doused them with cumin, chili powder and salt and into the frying pan.

Once the polenta cakes were nice and crispy on both sides, I topped them with the mushrooms, a few shrimp and a shaving of cheese. They were almost too pretty to eat!

The polenta was soft and mealy in the middle and crunchy on the edges. The mushrooms had a great earthiness that balanced out the spice from the shrimp. I didn't realize how filling this meal would be, but a good 6 hours later I was still quite content. I'll be picking up another log at TJ's soon enough. I can think of a few more topping variations that would work well. Goat cheese and caramelized onions? Grilled eggplant? Roasted cherry tomatoes and basil with a balsamic reduction? Pulled pork?
Yuma-dum-dum!

Nicaraguan Pork Chops

2010-09-12T21:46:00.001-05:00

My husband has been craving Nicaraguan food for a while now. Particularly nacatamales - these elaborate concoction with potatoes, meat, olives and a whole buch of other things stuffed in a corn meal base wrapped in banana leaves and steamed. I helped his mom make these once - and it took 4 people 3 days to make a batch. There was no way I was going to even begin to attempt making a nacatamal. I promised we'll find some when we go to Miami. We had plans for Miami coming up but I couldn't find a Nicaraguan restaurant around where we were going to be. When we got there we decided to "wing-it" and walked around Calle Ocho looking for a Cuban place (as a compromise). Serendipitously got caught in the rain - across the street from a Nicaraguan restaurant! Imagine that. When you want something really badly, the universe makes it happen. (I'm reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, it has definitely had an affect on me!)

My husband got his nacatamal and it was glorious. He also ordered the Nicaraguan style pork chops. This plate was massive. We could have easily done with just one entree. 2 giant, tender, juicy pork chops smothered in sauteed onions with a side of rice and beans, tostones (fried plantains) and salad. Yuma-dum-dum! I wanted to put aside my own entree and eat his. I just had to taste it so I could reproduce it again in my own kitchen. The onions were key. So here I am, a month later, trying to figure out this chop.

I have a very unique ability to take an awesome piece of steak - and ruin it. I either over cook it, or under cook it. So its either dry or raw. Which is why I like the slow cooked pork recipes. They're hard to mess up. So cooking a chop is always challenge for me. I figured I needed more than intuition on this one - I need a meat thermometer!

I went with a bone-in pork shoulder steak, instead of a pork chop. It looked bigger and thinner (and more do-able) than the bone-in chops. And I definitely wanted the bone, to add to the juicyness.

Wash, pat dry and salt and pepper the steak liberally. Meanwhile heat a pan on high (make sure your exhaust is on!) Lightly oil the pan, and place the steaks in the hot pan. Let them sear on each side - do not move them for at least 4-5 mins. Flip over and sear the other side. I checked the temperature and they were at about 130º - not safe to eat! Pork needs to be at least 160º. Once seared the pork goes into the oven at 375º for about 20 mins. Keep checking the temp, and remove from the oven when it reads 155º and loosely cover with foil. The residual heat will carry over to 160º. (BTW - I don't know why I never owned a meat thermometer before! Those things are steak-savers!)

Meanwhile slice onions, lots and lots of onions. Start caramelizing them on slow heat. I added a thinly sliced jalapeno into the onions for an extra kick. Add a little salt to draw out the moisture. You want the onions to be a golden brown - not dark brown.

For sides, I made rice and beans. Warmed up some frozen tostones in the oven - not the best, but better than none. Also chopped yup some heirloom tomatoes to cool it all down.

Top the steaks with the onions. Serve with the rice and tostones and salad. Then imagine yourself in Nicaragua as you slice into your tender and perfectly done pork. The onions bring a sweetness to the pork, while the pepper gives it a bite. Enjoy!

Drunken Spaghetti

2010-09-05T20:43:00.004-05:00

I've had a half open bottle of Shiraz sitting on my counter for a few days (weeks?) There is no way I was going to drink it. But I felt like it would be a waste to throw it out. I mean, its from the vineyards of Mr. Coppola! So lets cook with it. Watching Food Network all day long has definitely introduced me to a lot of different foods, cooking techniques and ingredients. Cooking pasta in wine is one of them. I've never been a huge fan of pasta. It just seems like something to make when I have nothing else at home. But after last week's spaghetti and meatballs - I might have to change my outlook.

So tonight's "drunken pasta" is a pretty simple. Not a lot of ingredients, but full of flavor. I started out with emptying my wine in a pot. I added a bit more water to make sure I had enough liquid to boil pasta. Salt and bring to a rolling boil. Add pasta and cook to desired doneness.

Meanwhile, chop garlic. A lot of garlic. Saute in butter and olive oil. Add red pepper flakes.

Drain pasta and reserve about a cup of cooking liquid. Add pasta and liquid to garlic/pepper. Mix. Top with fresh basil and parmesan cheese. Enjoy!

That's pretty easy, isn't it? And delicious! I love the color of the pasta, and the taste is slightly like red wine vinegar. Acidic, garlicky and filling. Yum!

Persian "Tahdeeg" Rice and Lamb Kebabs

2010-09-01T21:16:00.002-05:00

I found about this Persian rice by mistake a few years back. I was talking to my friend Aida about these awesome "persian potatoes" I had in Chicago. Aida told me these potatoes are cooked under the rice. What? How? I looked it up then, and then completely forgot about it. Fast forward to last week, and I think about these potatoes again. I figured this definitely needed some re-visiting.

From my research online I found out that a golden rice crust is created at the bottom of the pot called Tah-deeg (literally "bottom of the pot"). This can be made with the rice alone; or pita, lavash or potatoes on the bottom. I'm interested in the potato version. The potatoes are thinly sliced and layered in a heavy bottomed pan with rice on top. The potatoes get crispy on the bottom, while the rice cooks.

I started out by partially cooking my rice in a bit pot of water. Like pasta. Cook for about 12 mins and drain. A lot of the recipes called for saffron, so I busted out my stash. Saffron, ounce for ounce is the most expensive spice. This tiny container of about 1 gram (.035 oz) cost about $10.

But little bit goes a long way. I used about a pinch. Soak it in a few teaspoons of hot water and let it steep for about 20 mins. Pour into the drained, half-cooked rice. I also added a handful of slivered toasted almonds for a crunch. Mix well and set aside.

Thinly slice potatoes on a mandoline. I used the red potatoes I got from my CSA. Any variety should do well here. Liberally oil the pan. I picked my largest non-stick pan for this. Now layer the bottom of the pan in a concentric circles of potato slices.

Season with salt and another quick drizzle of oil. Then pile on the rice. Make holes in the rice with the back-end of a ladle, and drizzle in a bit more oil. Sprinkle about 1/2 cup of water over the rice, cover and set on low.

I kept checking on the rice and potatoes, and for some reason kept drizzling more oil, just to make sure it doesn't turn into a burnt mess. This turned out to be unnecessary. My rice ended up a bit too oily (but still tasty). The oil in the beginning and the non-stick pan would have sufficed.

While the rice cooked, I worked on a few things to eat with this. Lamb kebab, sauteed green beans and a simple tomato salad.

Lamb Kebabs: ground lamb + salt, pepper, garlic, ginger, cumin, chili powder, cilantro. Mix, form oblong kebabs and pan fry.

Sauteed green beans: String beans. Sautee garlic, add beans and salt. Cook till beans are still crisp.

Tomato salad: Chop tomatoes. Sprinkle with salt.

The rice cooks in about 20-30 mins, covered on low heat. You're supposed to flip over the entire pan to have an intact bottom crust. I wasn't confident enough for that yet. We just dug in and made sure we got a piece of the lovely crisped potato crust. The rice was amazing. That tiny pinch of saffron gave the entire pot of rice a wonderful floral aroma. The nuts added texture and the potatoes were delicious.

For next time, I'll definitely cut down on my oil. Cooking the rice a la pasta, made it very fluffy. This kind of rice would taste great with marinated chicken layered in the rice. Almost like an Indian Biryani. Lots of variations come to mind. I'll try it again soon.

Garden Gazpacho

2010-08-27T20:52:00.053-05:00

I've been meaning to attempt to make a gazpacho all summer long. Considering summer is slowly slipping away, now is the time. I read up on a few recipes at epicurious and got a general idea of what should go in it. Tomatoes, cucumbers, tomato juice. But I can do better than that! Especially with this never-ending supply of vegetable that just keep coming at me.

These are all the veggies that went in:

Fennel

Celery

White Onion

Garlic

Cucumber

Red Pepper

Hot Pepper

Heirloom Tomatoes

(We get the most amazing heiroom tomatoes from our CSA. This year is the first time I've ever tried a heirloom and I think I've wasted 29 years eating regular tomatoes. They're juicy, sweet and just the right amount of acidity. Tastes great just sliced with a sprinkle of kosher salt. Also great in this gazpacho.)

I chopped all the veggies (individually) in my food processor to a chunky consistency. Mix together and add the rest of the flavorings - salt, pepper, a dash of tabasco, red wine vinegar and a splash of extra virgin olive oil. Chill for a few hours and grab a bowl.

The consistency of my gazpacho was between a salsa and a soup. I didn't add any tomato juice- it seemed silly when I had so many fresh tomatoes at hand. But maybe that would help it get a bit more soupy. It was pretty tasty regardless. Maybe I'll be able to squeeze out another batch before summer is gone for good!

Spaghetti and Meatballs

2010-08-26T22:55:00.026-05:00

After making all that sauce from my tomatoes, I just had to test it out. Spaghetti and meatballs came to mind - especially since its been a while since I've had it. I've always thought of spaghetti as the red headed step child of pasta. I buy rotini or ziti or macaroni - but hardly ever spaghetti. Plus we never go out to eat Italian food. It feels like a waste to go out and eat pasta!

I might have to give it another chance after tonight's meal though. It was delicious. The meatballs were made of ground pork. Mixed with garlic, basil, salt, pepper, some parmesan, an egg to bind and a handful of panko bread crumbs. Mix, form balls and pan fry. Once browned on all sides, add the tomato sauce and bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti to desired doneness. I don't care for al dente pasta. I like mine cooked all the way through. Not mush though. 10 mins cooks it to perfection. Drain, top with meatballs and sauce. A bit more cheese and basil over the top and you're ready to dig in.

The panko and cheese made the meatballs very soft and pillowy on the inside. The sauce was delicious and very flavorful. I could taste all my efforts from planting these tomatoes in May till reaping the fruits of our labor! Sweet success.

Homemade Tomato Sauce

2010-08-24T17:37:00.004-05:00

We spent a week in the Bahamas last week and come back to find that all our tomatoes decided that it was time to ripen! Their timing couldn't have been worse. I'd been waiting for them to turn red for over 3 weeks now. A lot of them were rotten by the time I got to them. Its a shame. These are the ones I brought home, I threw out just as many rotten ones. Most of the ones I bought home were overly ripe. There was no way I could hold on to these longer than a day. Turning these into something preservable was crucial.

Tomato sauce. I had home grown tomatoes, onions and herbs. The only store-bought item that went in was garlic. I sauteed loads of finely minced onions and garlic. Meanwhile, the tomatoes went into a boiling water bath for 1 minute, just to loosen up the skin. I honestly got tired of this step and eventually just minced the tomatoes skin-on. So half were skinless, half with skin. It didn't seem to make much of a difference in the taste. All the tomatoes got a whirl in the food processor to a fine mince. Once the onion/garlic was browned, in went the tomatoes, some salt and a bit of sugar. I also added a mix of fresh herbs from my patio - oregano, rosemary, thyme and lots of basil. Bring to a boil and let it cool down before filling up your containers.

I'm not into canning, but I figured freezing the sauce was an easier alternative. I got ziploc freezer safe containers and loaded them up. 6 lbs worth of tomato sauce. This will last a while!

Summer rolls

2010-08-22T15:43:00.000-05:00

Looking for a healthy but tasty summer meal? Vietnamese summer rolls is the way to go. Easy to make, very little time spent over the stove and delectable! There is quite a few steps and assembly required, but its fun.

First, gather all the things you need for these summer rolls. The rice paper and cellophane noodles are the 2 most important ingredients. The rice paper comes in a pack of rounds that look like plastic discs. These will keep in your pantry forever. The noodles also go by bun tau or mung bean noodles.

As for the rest of the fillings, you can put what ever you feel like. Fresh vegetables like cabbage, lettuce, carrots, green beans, cucumbers, daikon, radish, spring onions. Also duck, shrimp, tofu or pork. Anything you desire or happen to have at hand.

I used red cabbage, carrots, cucumber and chili pepper. Slice everything into thin sticks. Toss gently with some fish sauce (nam pla) and set aside.

On to the noodles. These need to soak in boiling water for about 15 mins. Drain and mix with the veggies. Add fresh basil.

I found this can of mock roast duck in the Asian aisle a while back.

I had no idea what to do with it. These summer rolls seemed like a perfect opportunity to try it out. I drained out the can and looked at the contents. I don't know if they are trying to make it look like a plucked duck, or its just the impression left from their strainer. It tasted kinda like soy nuggets. Not bad, but not like duck. Nothing like duck at all.

What else can I put in there? Shrimp! I poached them and then chopped them up into pieces. You can leave them whole too, but I figured chopping it up means I'll get a piece in every bite.

I think I got all my ingredients ready. Now for the assembly line. I moved to the dining table for this one. Get all the fillings, the paper, a cutting board and a wide, flat, deep dish filled with warm water. Something wider than the rice paper. This you'll use to soften up the paper discs to make them soft and pliable. A few min in warm water will do it. Slip the paper in one at a time. Once its soft, pull it on to your cutting board.

It will be very delicate and might rip, so be gentle. Lay flat and pile on the fillings of choice. A bit of noodles, some veggies and a spoonful of shrimp. To wrap it up, it goes kinda like a burrito. Left flap, right flap and roll to the end. The paper with stick to itself when its wet. Keep this in mind when you pile them up!

Keep going on these till you finish up the fillings. I did a few with shrimp and a few with duck. Towards the end there were a couple of mixed ones too. To dip these beauties, I made an asian peanut sauce. Mix peanut butter with fish sauce, soy sauce, sriracha, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil and oyster sauce. Mix, mix, mix. Grab a roll, dip and eat. Its cool, its crunchy and sauce brings in an extra kick. These rolls make a great summer meal. Great for picnics too.

Huitlacoche

2010-08-08T22:43:00.116-05:00

Huitlacoche. Corn smut. Or better yet - Mexican truffles. I'll go with that one. Its technically a disease or fungus living on a corn cob. I rather think of it as a corn mushroom. It is a highly regarded delicacy in Mexico.

I'd heard of this a long time ago. It was in a hilarious article about weird foods like natto (fermented soy beans - nasty, slimy little buggers), pickled pork rinds and silkworm pupas. I wondered about it, but never thought I would actually be holding it one day.

Fast forward to a few years later and here I am on a warm summer day in Wisconsin at our CSA owner's farm taking a tour of their corn fields, and I hear Mike talk about huitlacoche. I jumped on the opportunity and asked if I could have one of those fine fungus laden cobs. Quite a looker.

I read up on it once we got home. Seemed like quesadillas were the most commonly traditional dish to make with this.

I "shucked" the fungus off the cob and chopped it up. Sauteed onions and jalapenos in a wee bit of oil. And in goes the...umm stuff. I sauteed it for about 10 mins, adding a bit of salt.

Unfortunately I only had whole wheat tortillas at home. And cheese choices were asiago and cheddar. So I made one with one, one with the other. It goes tortilla-cheese-sauteed fungus mix-cheese-tortilla. Brown on both sides, quarter, serve.

I made a guacamole to go along with my creation.

And now the taste verdict. I thought it was delicious. It tasted like a very rich and flavorful mushroom. But better. I could have easily devoured another one of these. As for the cheese, I liked the cheddar version at first, but the asiago had a nuttier flavor which went great with the corny-mushroomy flavor.

If you have the means, I highly recommend you picking some up.

Indian Cucumber Salad with Peanuts

2010-08-08T14:42:00.002-05:00

We can't take it anymore. Make the cucumbers stop!

I decided a great way to finish them off was to make a giant batch of cucumber salad for our pot luck today. Just to put a twist on it, I reverted to an Indian styled "koshimbir" - minced cucumbers with peanuts and a hot cumin oil dressing of sorts. I never cared much for it as a kid, but it seems like most of the stuff I hated as a kid actually tastes great now - like eggplants and green beans. I figured its the minced part I didn't like so much. So I peeled, quartered and seeded the cucumbers but sliced it rather thick on my mandoline. Add salt and leave in a colander to drain out the excess moisture.

The "dressing" is tempered oil, known as phodani. Heat up a few tablespoons of oil in a thick bottomed pan, add cumin and simmer till toasted. Remove off the heat and add minced chili peppers and a pinch of asafetida. This is available in Indian stores, but if you don't have any, feel free to leave it out.
Once the oil was cooled down, I added a pinch of sugar, finely chopped onion and lime juice. Mix well and set aside. Meanwhile, throw a handful of roasted peanuts in the food processor and turn into coarse crumbs.

Squeeze out the cucumbers and toss with the dressing and peanuts. Taste and adjust salt. Top off with finely chopped cilantro and basil. Eat immediately. The longer you keep it the soggier it gets. The cucumbers are cooling, cumin is smoky and the peanuts are crunchy. The lime and sugar makes it sweet and sour, while the chilies gives it a kick. Its quite simple, but very flavorful. Dig in!

Guest Series: Jisoon's Korean Bibimbap

2010-08-07T23:34:00.002-05:00

Our friend Jisoon offered to make us bibimbap - a popular Korean mixed rice dish. I've had bibimbap in K-town before, but never attempted to make it myself. Bibimbap is served as a bowl of warm white rice topped with sautéd and seasoned vegetables and gochujang (Korean red chili paste). An egg and meat on top is traditional. We swapped the meat for tofu. And for the vegetables used zucchini, summer squash, cucumbers, carrots, shitake mushrooms, kale (instead of spinach) and gosari (Korean fern stems)

Jisoon was kind enough to bring a jar of kimchi as well. Although it technically doesn't belong in the bibimbap, we devoured it as an appetizer. Crunchy cabbage and radish pickled and fermented in red chilies and fishy stuff - yum!

Here is a play-by-play of Jisoon's culinary creation.

First he sauteed all the vegetables individually with garlic, scallions, red chili powder and pepper. Drizzle in a bit of soy sauce and sesame oil in the end. The zucchini/squash, mushrooms, blanched kale, the fern and the tofu were all done in this manner.

Julienne carrots remain raw. The cucumbers got sliced, salted, drained and then marinated in sugar and cider vinegar.

The rice (sushi grade) made in Jisoon's rice cooker, came out perfectly sticky. This does not happen when I cook it on the stove top. I guess need to get me a rice-cooker.

The veggies got arranged around a heaping pile of rice. Then topped off with an sunny-side-up egg.

A spoonful of gochujang and an extra drizzle of sesame oil goes in.

This red chili paste is quite potent. It has a sweet yet spicy kick to it.

And then we mix. Apparently, this is quite a skill. Mine started to look like a mess. Jisoon demonstrated the right way to do it - spoon down the middle, scoop and flip. Fold it in. Kinda like egg whites. Here he is in action.

This is what the end product looked like. All the veggies, tofu and especially the chili paste made this rice extra delicious. Transported us all directly to K-town.
Thanks Jisoon! What will you make for us next?

Tomato & Watermelon Salad

2010-08-05T22:07:00.000-05:00

Mark Bittman never ceases to amaze me with his ingenious mix of flavors. I had read about this salad a while back in his NY Times blog. A watermelon and tomato salad. I was intrigued, but then forgot about it. Today I got my CSA bounty and found lots of fresh beautiful yellow and sungold tomatoes AND a watermelon - this salad is all I could think of.

Here is his recipe:

Mark Bittman's Watermelon and Tomato Salad

2 1/2 cups seedless watermelon, in 1-inch cubes or balls (cut over a bowl to catch the juice and reserve it)
1 1/2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half
1/2 cup finely diced or crumbled Stilton, Gorgonzola, Roquefort or Maytag blue cheese
1/2 cup minced scallions
Salt
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
Pinch cayenne
1/2 cup cilantro or parsley, roughly chopped

Combine the watermelon, tomato, cheese, scallions and salt in a bowl.
Whisk or blend together about 2 tablespoons of the watermelon juice, oil, vinegar and cayenne. To serve, dress the salad with this mixture and garnish with cilantro. Do not refrigerate and serve within 30 minutes.

I cut out the salt, since my WI blue cheese had more than enough salt in it. Next time, I might use extra cheese though. I might even recommend cutting down on the dressing. Seemed a bit too soggy towards the end.

Grilled tomato, grilled mushrooms, grilled pizza

2010-08-03T22:19:00.003-05:00

One thing I've learned since we moved to the Midwest, other than learning how to drive, is grilling. I never had or used a grill before we won it (yes, we won our grill in a raffle, our first month in Madison). It's a gas grill, much easier and quicker than charcoal. And I love how I can throw anything on the grill and it just tastes awesome. Without heating up the kitchen.

Here is another attempt at grilled pizza. This time I grilled the tomatoes separately, the mushrooms separately, and the pizza base separately. Then assembled it all along with fresh basil (from our patio), slivers of sweet onion and fresh mozzarella.

I cannot begin to explain the taste and texture grilling brings to the base. With a nice crispy char on the bottom and soft melting cheese on top - this creation is one of the best pizzas I've made. Do I say that every time I make pizza? Hmmm...

Double Cheesy Mac

2010-08-02T22:10:00.004-05:00

I've been living in Wisconsin for about 10 months now. Cheese has become a part of my everyday food. And I'm surprised that it took me 10 months to get around to making mac & cheese! Kraft has been my only source of mac all through childhood. I remember going to my friend's place for play-dates, and eating kraft mac & cheese with cut-up hotdogs. Thinking back at those memories, I've tried Kraft again as an adult - and its been so disappointing. I've never made mac & cheese from scratch, but now seemed like a better time than any to try my hand at it.

First things first, the cheese. Cheddar is the way to go. Its traditional and its what gives it the nice yellow hue. I picked out a nice sharp Wisconsin cheddar. Plus a bit of Asiago for an added dimension. I went with a rotini rather than the macaroni. I don't think it makes a huge difference, but the curves in the rotini will hold the sauce pretty good. Shred the cheese, cook the pasta and have it ready to go. Since you'll be baking it, cook the pasta al dente.

I picked up some Nueske's applewood smoked bacon especially for this. Render the bacon and set aside.

Dice onions and saute in the bacon fat (why waste?) Add a sprig of rosemary and saute til golden brown.

Slowly sprinkle in flour to make a roux. Grab a whisk and keep whisking till the flour is browned and cooked. Add milk, while continuously whisking to make sure you don't get a lumpy sauce. Re-introduce the bacon and add in all the shredded cheddar and half of the asiago. Remove from heat and stir to a smooth cheese sauce. Add in the seasonings - salt, pepper, red pepper flakes.

Add the pasta to the sauce and toss to coat. Transfer it all to an oven-safe dish. Preheat the oven to 375º, set the dish in center rack for about 30 mins.

While the pasta bakes, prepare the topping. Panko breadcrumbs + asiago. After 30 mins, add the topping and bake for another 15 mins or until its nice and golden brown.

The cheesy goodness with a crunchy panko crust is fantasa-blastic! Kraft has nothing on this amazing creation.

Grilled Ratatouille

2010-07-27T21:58:00.041-05:00

I am loving my summer bounty from the CSA. Freshly picked organic seasonal veggies. Not to mention the ones that won't stop growing in our own garden. This weeks box brought some sweet corn, fennel, peppers, eggplant, sweet onions and fresh garlic. It was time to make a veggie loaded dish. Ratatouille came to mind. The dish, not the movie. "Ratatouille. It's like a stew, right? Why do they call it that? If you're gonna name a food, you should give it a name that sounds delicious. Ratatouille doesn't sound delicious. It sounds like "rat" and "patootie." Rat-patootie, which does not sound delicious." Oh Pixar, you are so entertaining!

I didn't need the oven to heat up the whole apartment when its already at a balmy 80º indoors. So I opted for twist on the idea. A grilled ratatouille. Its technically not a ratatouille at all, as there are no tomatoes. But I'll call it that regardless.
I sliced everything quite thick -
Zucchini
Summer squash
Fennel
Eggplant
Sweet onions
Red & Green peppers
Garlic (sliced down the middle)
Corn (on the cob)

Tossed everything with olive oil, salt and fresh chopped thyme and oregano. On to the grill.

Once I had a char on everything, I diced up the veggies into bite-size pieces. Corn got shucked. Garlic got minced. Mix everything a bowl. I adjusted the salt, added an extra swirl of olive oil and topped it with a chiffonade of basil. Summer in a bowl.
Bon appetit!

Braised Cucumbers

2010-07-19T23:04:00.000-05:00

If I thought the zucchini was bad, I had no idea what I had in store for me. These cucumbers are relentless. We're reaping about 12-15 huge cukes every week. I promise I'll only plant one seed next year. One cucumber seed, one zucchini seed, one bean and one tomato. Come next year, if I diverge from this decision, please feel free bring me to my senses.

All these cucumbers reminded me of that part from the movie Julie & Julia, where they mention braised cucumbers. What? Who cooks cucumbers? My thoughts exactly. So I had to look it up, and of course got a whole list of bloggers who had tried making this after watching the movie. How original! Phissh.

Julia's recipe is pretty simple. Chop cukes. Saute in butter. Add salt and pepper and lemon juice. Voila!

I don't know if I liked this or not. It definitely was a very interesting dish. Very odd eating warm cucumbers. Yet, I couldn't form a definite opinion on whether is was good-interesting or bad-interesting. At this point, I think I might have to try making this again, and see if that helps. If only I had more cucumbers...oh wait! If you try it, do let me know what you think.

Grilled Zucchini

2010-07-11T18:16:00.000-05:00

So we know nothing about planting vegetable. We're city folk, we eat what other people grow. But when we had the option to have our own vegetable plot, we jumped on it. And now we're overwhelmed. Apparently we're not supposed to plat the entire packet of zucchini and squash seeds in the same spot. Who knew?

Now we're making zucchini/squashes part of all of our meals. Or making them the entire meal. Grilled. With a bit of olive oil, salt, red pepper, garlic and pepper. Yum.

Guest Series: My Mother's Butter Chicken

2010-07-09T21:08:00.003-05:00

My parents are visiting us from India. And that usually means a whole lot of yummy food that my mom cooks from scratch. She takes requests pretty much everyday and makes sure to satisfy all of our whims and fancies. I haven't been taking any pictures or documenting any of her recipes, since I'm usually too busy pigging out. Why waste time with pictures, when you can be stuffing yourself silly with all this goodness?

As they're packing up they're stuff and getting ready for the long trip back home, one of our final requests was for Butter Chicken. Also known as Chicken Tikka Masala, its a very mildly spiced, but creamy sauce of onions and tomatoes, with succulent pieces of yogurt marinated chicken. It's simple, yet complex layers of flavors are just divine. I had to make sure to get my camera out, get her secret (well, not that secret) recipe and make sure I can make this over and over again.

So without further ado, I start my special guest series with my mom's famous Butter Chicken

Step 1: The chicken

The chicken is marinated in a spiced yogurt sauce and the roasted in the oven. The marinade contains:

Plain yogurt

Garlic paste

Ginger paste

Green chili paste

Cumin powder

Coriander powder

Turmeric

Red chili powder

Salt

Cut up your chicken into bite size pieces and marinate overnight or less depending on your time constraints. The longer it marinates the better it tastes. Although its not going to be terrible if it only sits for 4 hours.

Step 2: The gravy

Meanwhile, get started on the curry part. While we're on the subject, let me clarify some American misconceptions about "curry". Curry is not a dish. Curry not a spice either. Chicken curry is not something you find in India and neither is curry powder. Curry pretty much means a gravy. It means the sauce that the meat/vegetable/cheese is covered in. It could be yogurt based, cream based, tomato based, or broth based. It could even just be water. Nobody in India knows what "curry powder" is. And no Indian (including myself) will ever use it. People in India make their own spice blends while the cook. So stop claiming you make Indian food when all you do is add a pinch of generic curry powder to stuff (you know who you are!)

So where was I...ah, the curry. This is what you'll need:
Sliced onions
Garlic
Ginger
A can of tomato sauce, or peeled tomatos
Turmeric
Chili powder
Cumin powder
Coriander powder
Salt
optional - Kasuri Methi (more on this later)

The curry starts with a pat of butter. Even though its called "butter" chicken, it surprisingly only needs about a tablespoons worth. Add in a bit of oil and start on caramelizing the sliced onions. You want these onions a nice dark brown, without burning then. So keep the heat low.

Meanwhile, get the chicken in the oven. Spread out on a baking dish, a drop or two of oil, just so that it doesn't stick. Set in the oven at 375º for about 30-40 mins. Turn once, about 3/4 way through.

Back to the onions. Once these are caramelized, add the rest of the ingredients - chopped garlic and ginger, turmeric, chili powder, cumin powder, coriander seed powder. Mix in and then add a can of tomato sauce. Fresh tomatoes, canned diced or sauce is also acceptable. Doesn't really matter what kind you use.

If you have it, you may add a generous pinch of Kasuri Methi. Methi is called fenugreek in English. It is a leafy green, used in a lot in India. The dried leaves, called Kasuri Methi have a bitter taste and a characteristically strong smell. It more of an aromatic addition to the dish, than flavor. So easily omitted.

Once everything is sauted, remove from heat and cool for a few minutes. Transfer contents to a blender and blend to a thick paste. Sparingly use water or milk to facilitate the blending.

You'll get an idea of the consistency here.

Transfer the paste to the pan and saute some more. Add a whole pint of cream (!) slowly into the paste and blend in. Let it come to a slow simmer.

Don't forget about to check on the chicken in the oven.

You don't need it to get brown, just soft, tender and cooked through.

In goes the chicken into the gravy. Mix well, and bring to a boil.

At this point you can keep this and eat it the next day. The flavors develop even more. But who am I kidding? How can you possibly resist this yumminess?

Serve with hot-of-the-pan rotis and cool raw onions and lime. Enjoy! And thank my mom for the wonderful recipe.

Banh Meatless

2010-07-01T15:52:00.014-05:00

I had the "Banh Meatless" at the Mermaid cafe and was blown away by its tastiness. A vegetarian take on the Vietnamese Banh Mi sandwich. So instead of the traditional roast pork its marinated tofu. I'm not sure if they then fry this tofu, but it sure has a very meaty texture to it. I always walk in there thinking I'll try something new, but who am I kidding - I just want a juicy banh meatless. Now that I don't get around to the east side as much, I need to find a replacement for my banh meatless fix.

The first step was to prep the tofu. I used medium firm tofu, sliced up in about 1/2 inch thick slices. Place these on a paper towel in a single layer. Top off with another paper towel, another plate and a weight. I used 2 large cans of beans to weigh it down. This should help remove a little extra moisture from the tofu. I left this contraption in the fridge for about 2 hours.

Meanwhile I looked up a few recipes for the marinade. Many had lemongrass as the main ingredient. I had no idea where I might find lemongrass around here, so I just disregarded that step and made up my own mix of ingredients.

Into the blender goes:
Garlic scapes
Garlic
Ginger
Parsley (cilantro would have been better, but parsley is what I had)
Scallion
Green chili

Chop finely, and the add:
Sesame oil
Fish sauce
Soy sauce
Rice wine vinegar

Make a paste and slather it on to the tofu. Let it sit for as long as you can wait. I waited for 10 mins. I'm sure longer would be better. At this point I considered baking the tofu. But I was getting impatient and went with a pan fry instead.

The rest of the sandwich consisted of a toasted a demi baguette and a slaw part was just some shredded kohlrabi and red cabbage with lemon juice.

Next time around I'll keep some marinade for the sandwich. I might even make the marinade a bit thinner. Maybe a dash more soy sauce. Not the same as Mermaid Cafe, but I'm heading in the right direction.

Zucchini Blossoms

2010-06-29T20:09:00.021-05:00

We planted our first ever vegetable garden this year. We obviously don't know anything about planting zucchinis, since we have about 7 or 8 planted within a 6 sq. inch piece of land. A month later, our zucchini plants are growing like crazy! And now we have about 40 blooms. We'll be eating zucchini till the cows come home.

I figured I cut down on the zucchinis by eating a few blossoms. I later realized that there is a male and female flower. The male ones grow directly on a stem, the female has a zucchini attached to it. So I guess the ones I did pick weren't going to turn into zucchinis anyway. Oh well...

I washed out the blossoms and filled them with a mix of goat cheese and ricotta. Twist the petals up top and dip in a slurry of flour and soda water. Then I'm supposed to deep fry it. Supposed to. Instead I attempted to do a "shallow" fry in about 2 tablespoons of oil.

This was the shot I got before the fiasco. It stuck to the bottom of the pan. I ripped the blossoms trying to flip them over. It was a big mess. After a minor hissy fit, I managed to get them all out. It looked bad. But it still tasted quite good. The cheese had soaked up a bit more oil than necessary though.

Next time, I'll just bite the bullet and deep fry it.

Cabbage Slaw

2010-06-27T21:40:00.001-05:00

This weeks CSA box brought us a giant head of cabbage. And I mean huge - bigger than my head. What does one do with cabbage? Slaw was the only thing I could think of. I turned to epi to see if I can find an interesting use for this ginormous space eater. All I found was salads and slaws. I didn't want to make a slaw. I wanted something different. Slaw is not different. But then again, I can make it different. So I grabbed random things from the fridge and made a dressing of sorts.

garlic scape

scallion

jalapeno

parsley

whole grain mustard

salt

honey

cider vinegar

balsamic vinegar

pickle juice

Blend it all in a food processor. Pour over sliced cabbage. I used green and red, since I had both. Toss and chill.

No mayonnaise, no oil. Very light and crispy. Tart and spicy. Great for a light summer meal.

I paired it with pan-fried panko crusted catfish. This would work great in a fish taco too.

Grilled Pizzas

2010-06-27T12:35:00.001-05:00

Now that I don't have easy access to a New York slice around the corner, I've reverted to making my own pies. I haven't yet ventured into making my own dough. But Metcalfes and Trader Joes has great fresh dough in a variety of "flavors" - plain, whole wheat, pesto, sun dried tomato. I've tried all but the sun dried tomato one. Sounds like that should be on my to-do list now.

Today's plan was to grill the pizza. I've watched Bobby Flay make pizza on a grill, and just knew that if I ever put dough on the grill like he does, it won't come off. To my surprise, it was amazingly easy. And so fast! I didn't even have a chance to take pictures till after they were done.

Roll out the dough and break off a piece big enough for your needs. Pull from the center out and keep pulling to make an even (and not necessarily round) base. Carefully place on the center of the grill, without any folds. It barely needs 4-5 mins to start blistering. The dough slipped right off when it was done, with perfect grill marks. Flip over and start topping. Have all your toppings ready before you throw the dough on the grill. Another 4 mins and you're done.

I have two different pizzas going. The first one was a Greek pizza, with a light layer of tomato sauce, topped with fresh spinach, green peppers, onions, tomatoes, olives and feta.

The 2nd one was a mushroom pizza. I had my husband grill a portabella and some fresh oyster mushrooms and garlic scapes on the grill with a dash of garlic powder, Italian seasoning blend and olive oil. All of this got chopped up. The grilled dough got a spread of pesto, the chopped 'shrooms and dollops of goat cheese. (The mushrooms and goat cheese was delectable.)

Breakfast Pizza

2010-06-06T21:55:00.002-05:00

I'm on a pizza roll. I still had some of the pesto dough left. And it was a saturday. Brunch came to mind, and what could be better than a bacony-eggy pizza creation? All that went upon this delicious pesto dough is:

pesto (cause you can never have too much pesto)

fresh mozzarella

bacon

and an egg (well, one each)

I added the egg after the pizza was pretty much done. The egg gets about 5 mins of oven time. The crust is great to dunk into the oozy yolk.

I don't know how I would portion out this though. Good thing it was just the 2 of us, so I just spilt it down the middle. It would be nice to make little individual pizzettes with eggs on top. That would look super cute. Maybe next weekend...

Till then, enjoy this one.

Shaved Asparagus Pizza

2010-06-04T13:39:00.000-05:00

I recently made a trek out to Allen's asparagus acres and learned how asparagus grows. It was amazing. I had no idea the stalks just stuck out of the ground like that. So with a brand new insight for this vegetable, I set out to find some equally interesting uses for it, and found this one at Smitten Kitchen. I was intrigued by the idea of "shaving" asparagus.

I gathered up the ingredients. I didn't realize till later, that all my ingredients are locally made or grown. This makes my pizza even greener!
Asparagus (from the farmer's market)
Scallions (also from the farmer's market)
pizza dough (pesto dough from Metcalfes)
mozzarella (fresh, BelGioioso from WI)
Applewood smoked bacon (Nueske's, also from WI)

Assembling the pizza was quick and easy.
Roll out the dough. I don't have a pizza stone. I use my all purpose baking sheet, lined with foil.
Brush the dough with a bit of olive oil.
Spread on hunks of cheese.

Pile on the shaved asparagus and some sliced scallions.

The bacon is optional, but I highly recommend it.

The pizza bakes for about 20 mins at 375º, or till crust is nice and crunchy.

Voila! This is by far the most delicious pizza I've ever made. The slinky slivers of asparagus are still nice and crunchy and the bacon gives it that extra oomph! The only thing I would change on this next time (and there will definitely be a next time) is to chop the asparagus shavings into 1 inch pieces. That way when I bite into a slice, I don't end up stripping my pizza of shavings and have all of them dangling out of my mouth!

Its a great summer pizza, and as Smitten Kitchen recommends, I wouldn't mind trying it out on my grill someday.

Good Eatings!

Mini Lemon Cheesecake with Lemon Curd and Blueberries

2010-06-02T22:03:00.000-05:00

Following up on my cupcakes...I mean, mini cheesecakes...

After some more google-surfing, and the link Jen sent me - I had enough recipes to finally make up my mind and pick my components. I ended up with Martha all the way, with some tweaks.

For the cheesecake part I went with this basic recipe. I didn't like the idea of a chocolate wafer crust. Graham crackers didn't sound appealing either. I browsed the cookie aisle and came upon Nilla wafers. And not the regular kind - mini Nilla wafers! They're about the size of a quarter. Munchable by the handful.

I didn't measure the cookies. Just dumped a bunch the the food processor. I figured if anything I'll end up with cookie crumbs I can eat by the spoonful. Unfortunately that didn't happen. I blended them up with half of the amount of melted butter (1.5 tablespoons) and no sugar.

Spoon into cupcake molds, press down with a glass (or spoon) and bake at 350º for 7 mins.

For the cheesecake:

1 lb (2 packages) cream cheese, softened

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tbs lemon zest

1 tbs lemon juice

pinch of salt

Reduce oven temperature to 275 degrees. Beat cream cheese with a mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add remaining 1/2 cup sugar, then vanilla. With mixer running, add eggs slowly, scraping down side of bowl. Add sour cream, lemon juice, zest and salt. Pour batter into muffin cups, filling almost to the tops.

Bake until sides are set but centers are wobbly, about 15 - 20 minutes. Do not over bake. Even if it looks like its not done, it is. Let it cool.

Lemon curd recipe came from the link Jen sent me, which essentially is Martha's recipe as well. The curd is very simple to make, and extremely refreshing. You might be tempted to just eat those cute cheesecake on their own, but resist the urge and make the curd! I cut some sugar out of the recipe to make it extra tart. And the butter in the end seemed unnecessary, so that didn't make it in either.

Lemon Curd

3 large egg yolks
zest of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, (from 2 lemons)
4 tablespoons sugar

Combine the yolks, zest, juice and sugar in a medium saucepan.I strain the curd into a bowl before adding the butter. I always seem to overcook the eggs somewhat. No one likes cooked eggs in their curd.

Whisk to combine. Cook over medium heat, whisking continuously, until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, 5-7 minutes.

Press it through a sieve just so it looks nice and smooth.

You're curd it ready. If you're cheesecakes are cooled off by now, go ahead and top one with a dollop of lemon curd. I added a dash of color with fresh blueberries soaked in their own juice.

End result: Delicious!

Pork/Shrimp Dumplings

2010-06-01T21:33:00.000-05:00

These dumplings evolved out of a failed recipe for what I called "shrimp balls". In my head they were going to be delicious pillows of minced shrimp infused with garlic and ginger, crunchy on the outside, mealy on the inside. So I minced my garlic, ginger and shrimp. Rolled it out into little shrimp meatballs, and shallow fried them. It didn't turn like I wanted at all. Not even close. What it ended up being was a big oily mess of extremely salty mush. I had to find another use for all this salty shrimp paste.

I needed to tame down the salt, without adding much more to it. I didn't want to make it into a bigger mess than it already was. So I added a bit of ground pork to the mix. Along with some scallions. Went out and got some won-ton wrappers and decided to make dumplings. Mind you, with all the salt I had added to my first experiment, it was still salty. I figured once the plain wonton comes into play, it should be tolerable.

I proceeded to individually place a dollop of meat-mix on the wonton and wrap it up.

After I had them all done, I set out to steam them. That's when I realized I don't have a steamer. No worries, I have a colander that has holes! I didn't have cabbage leaves to line my make-shift steamer, so I lined it with lettuce. (Note-to-self: DO NOT use a nice powder coated colander as a steamer. Steam and nice red powder coating don't seem to go well together. I ruined my colander. Get a steamer.)

Dumplings steam in about 15 mins. I could have just eaten them as is. But why eat them steamed, when you can pan fry them! So I did.

No soy sauce or fish sauce. I had enough salt to begin with. So just a dash of siracha. I little garnish of scallions, and voila!

Bon appétit!

Cupcake Day

2010-06-01T10:41:00.000-05:00

This week is my turn for our newly formed weekly "Cupcake Day" at work. Jen has already pushed the bar WAY up with a delectable re-creation of Martha's Chocolate Graham Cracker cupcakes. I've been searching and digging around for recipes all weekend long. My idea is to make something light and fruity - considering its in the high 80's outside. My searches brought about plenty of fruity cupcakes and fruit tarts, but nothing caught my fancy. Then I came upon mini cheesecakes! Now that could be refreshing and tart. SOLD! I've built up in my head a picture of a mini lemon cheesecake topped with lemon curd and blueberries. Now I have to find a recipe for this.

Martha has a nice cupcake recipe for mini cheesecake, but I wanted one with lemon in it. I found this one, but again, not exactly what I'm looking for. Great picture though - I want mine to look like that! So I'm just going to mix and match and find two separate recipes: Lemon cheesecake and lemon curd. Then top it off with blueberries. How could I possibly go wrong, right?

Stay tuned.

3 Cheese Stuffed Portabello Burgers with Tiny Taters

2010-05-23T19:07:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was farmer's market day. My finds for the day included (among many other things) teeny tiny taters and hefty sweet onion/scallions. I decided to roast them both together, with rosemary, thyme kosher salt and a splash of olive oil.

Just to give you an idea of how small these were. About the size of a marble. Some even smaller. All of this went in the over at 370º for about an hour.

And whats the perfect partner for potatoes? Burgers! Portabello burgers, since thats what I had in the refrigerator. I marinated the 'bellos in the same spices as the potatoes: rosemary, thyme, salt and olive oil.

I also had a boat load of cheeses, from our trip to the Roth Kase cheese factory in Monroe. So I threw in the smoked gouda, the Spanish style manchego and the havarti in the food processor, along with some scallions, fresh coriander (also from the FM) and a clove of garlic. Process away!

The portabellos went on the grill, gill-side-down. After a few mins, I flipped them and piled on the cheese mix. Grilled for another few mins, and then threw a foil tent over the pan and let the cheese melt.

It turned into an ooey-gooey mess of melted cheese goodness galore! A splash of worcestershire sauce, a toasty bun and a few greens made it complete.

Paired up with the tiny taters, this was an incredible lunch, worth making again and again. Maybe a little less cheese next time, just to be kind to my arteries.

Onion & Mushroom Crustini

2010-05-22T18:30:00.000-05:00

This is something my mom dreamed up. She's been craving "this bread with caramelized onions and mushroom". So I made it for her. It was delicious.

Saute and brown a few mushrooms with rosemary. Set aside.
Slice onions and dice a clove of garlic. Saute until caramelized. Add a splash of balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.
Mix in the mushrooms.
Meanwhile, slice up a baguette and brush with olive oil. Toast in oven until slightly browned.
Top with onion+mushroom mix.
Chomp chomp. Yum.
A little cilantro on top won't hurt. Enjoy!

Soft Shell Crab Sandwich

2010-05-21T23:55:00.000-05:00

I long for soft shell crab season every year. Now that we're in Wisconsin, I had no idea where to find these critters. A little bit of e-hunting lead me to the right spot and some live soft shell crabs.
Just a dredge in old bay & flour and a quick saute make a great pan-fried crab, ready for a sandwich, spider roll or just as is.

Bobby Flay introduced me to my first soft shell crab. Well, not personally, but at his restaurant Mesa Grill. All I remember is that it was the best sandwich I've ever had. Ever! This is my version: bun + garlic-curry mayonnaise + crab + greens = yum!

Seafood & Asparagus Paella

2010-05-21T00:39:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to try out a recipe out of the Paella recipe book my dear friend Tanja got for us. I finally got around to it today. With plenty of tasty sounding recipes to choose from, I had my work cut out. I realized I didn't have the right rice, saffron or the paella pan. But not having the right ingredients hasn't stopped me before.
I went with a basic paella recipe: onions, garlic, rice, seafood and cooking liquids. Since I had some chicken bones in the freezer, the liquid was a homemade chicken stock. The rice was Indian Basmati and seafood was a mix of shrimp, mussels, calamari, scallops and tilapia.

Stock

Chicken bones
Water
Salt
Peppercorns
Bay leaves

Boil. Strain. Keep ready for the rice.

Paella

Sauté finely chopped onions, garlic in olive oil.
Add a can of chopped tomatoes and a heaping spoonful for tomato paste. Saute.
Add paprika, 2 packets of Goya sazon, chili powder and salt.
Add rice, and saute till browned.
Turn heat to a medium and ladle in a cup of stock in the rice mix. Allow it to be absorbed before adding another cup of stock.
Meanwhile add any vegetables if you please. I added peas. (And asparagus, but that comes later)
Once the rice is al dente, add the shrimp, fish, calamari, scallops and nuzzle in the mussels. Top off with asparagus and cover.

Keep covered for about 10 mins. Or till the mussels open.
Stir in chopped tomato and cilantro.
All done. Get a plate and dig in!

Bread pudding

2010-05-20T17:15:00.000-05:00

This was an impromptu pudding. Stale baguette = very yummy pudding.

The hardest part was softening up the rock hard baguette. But I made giant pieces, let them soak in the "custard", fished them out and cut it up into bite size pieces. I made up the recipe along the way so here is all that went into it.

Milk
1 Egg
Sugar
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Crushed Tag-a-longs (I happened to have some)
Semi-sweet chocolate chips
and of course the stale bread cut into bite size pieces

Beat eggs, add milk, sugar, spices. This is the custard
Soak the bread. Mix in the rest. (At this point raisins, nuts or anything else can be added)
Fill up individual ramekins, or a larger baking dish and bake at 350º for about 20 mins.
Serve up.

Cheesy Scallion Cupcakes

2010-05-08T23:22:00.000-05:00

Ming has really inspired me to bake lately. Last week's mango cupcakes were a big hit - and gone almost instantly. I got a mini-muffin pan on my shopping expedition yesterday and was eager to try it out. Today I go for the savory kind - Cheddar Scallion Cupcakes. I used a Wisconsin Colby instead and folded a minced serrano pepper into the mix. Also swapped out the sour cream with yogurt. I didn't bother measuring the cheese or the scallions - so ended up with a very thick batter. I had to thin it out with a splash or two or milk.

For the topping - whip cream cheese and scallions. I piped it on the cupcakes with my very fancy ziploc piping bag. Bon apetit!

Whole Wheat Pizza

2010-05-08T00:19:00.000-05:00

I got some fresh whole wheat pizza dough at Metcalfs last week, and this is what it turned into. Layered with spinach, yellow & green peppers, cherry tomatoes and mozzarella. The crust was deliciously chewy and yeasty.

One Ingredient Ice-cream

2010-05-06T19:21:00.000-05:00

Thats right! One ingredient. Just one. I was stumped and intrigued too when I stumbled upon this site. Bananas. Whipped frozen bananas. Who would've thunk?

People who know me, know what I think of bananas. Last year I gave bananas a second chance after almost 12 years. They're not as bad as I had thought as a kid, but they're still not my favorite. But the idea of turning a banana (and JUST a banana) into ice-cream was too fascinating to pass up.

So I got bananas, froze them, cut them up and put them in the food processor.

Chop. Whip. Puree. Taste test: blah! Tastes like banana mush. Baby food. Yucky. Oh well...

Then I figured I should whip some more and just to see what happens. So I whipped some more, until it actually started to look kinda ice-creamy. Second taste test: yum! Texture very much like ice-cream, creamy, with a slight banana-y after taste.

What if I added some other flavors? Frozen strawberries go in with what was left. Whip, whip, whip. Strawberry "ice cream"! While this is no Häagen-Dazs, it tastes better than I had initially thought it would. A LOT better. Plus its all fruit. No additives, no fat, no sugar. How can you possibly go wrong? Try it. You'll like it. One tip - use ripe bananas.

Bon Apetit!

Spices!

2010-05-05T22:57:00.000-05:00

I got my spices in the mail today! I checked out World Spice for some Hungarian smoked paprika and got sucked into more. I don't know exactly what I am planning to do with any of these, but I'm sure I'll figure it out along the way.

I am especially excited about the Arabic Baharat spice mix. By the smell of it, I'm thinking lamb and maybe some kind of rice to go with it. Stay tuned!

Mango Cupcakes

2010-05-02T20:34:00.000-05:00

I stumbled upon this website and was taken by the beautiful layout, great use of type and of course the amazing pictures of cupcakes. I decided to try out one of the recipes - and since I had a tin of alphonso mango pulp from India, Cupcake #9: mango cupcakes seemed to be the right choice.
The recipe is pretty straight forward.

Mango Cupcakes

1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 cup mango pulp
1/4 cup water

Mix all ingredients together. Beat with electric mixer until well-blended. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

I nixed the coconut topping from the original recipe (not a fan of shredded dried coconut) but made a mango mousse instead. Cream+mango pulp, whip away.
End product - very delish!

Big Break

2010-05-01T22:04:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I haven't been on top of my game lately. But I've been busy. Getting married is no easy feat! But I'm back now, relaxed, married and with a nice new name. Not to mention a nice new husband. So here's to the next phase in life and lots of new food to go along with it. Salud!

Salsa Verde

2010-03-25T09:33:00.000-05:00

Fish Feast

2010-03-25T09:21:00.000-05:00

Miso glazed Vegetables

2010-03-20T00:16:00.000-05:00

Kale Chips

2010-03-07T23:22:00.000-06:00

Who thought of baking kale into crispy "chips"? Whoever did, they were on to something.

Wash kale and tear into bite-size pieces
Pat dry
Toss with a few drops of evoo and sprinkle with a mix of salt, garlic powder, chili powder and cumin powder
Spread out on a baking sheet in a single layer
Bake at 375º for about 10-12 mins, or till slightly browning and crispy
Enjoy!

Slow Cooked Pork

2010-03-03T00:33:00.000-06:00

I realized my pork barely ever makes it to the blog - mostly cause its gone before I realize I didn't take any pictures. Slow cooked pork is great with rice and beans, tortillas, in hamburger buns, tacos, in a pita...pretty much whatever you can think of. And the best part is that it barely requires any effort - yet tastes oh so good.

Picnic shoulder, pork butt or rib ends work best. I usually mix up all my spices and just dump it over the pork in a slow cooker and set it for at least 4-6 hours. I make up my spice mix everytime. I just add whatever I can get my hands on that day.

This one in particular has -
Chipotle in adobo
Cumin powder
Cocoa powder
Tomato puree
Salt & Pepper

A couple of other things I've experimented with are:
Tamarind paste
Red wine vinegar
Brown sugar
Coriander powder
Maple syrup
Soy Sauce
Worcestershire sauce
Garlic

Pretty much anything goes in this recipe. Just mix into a paste and pour over the meat. Come back in 6 hours and dig in!

Falafel

2010-02-27T02:12:00.000-06:00

I remembered the pack of falafel I had in my pantry, on my way back from the outlet mall. I mention the outlet mall so that you know I'd been shopping all day. Which is why I was kinda tired. Which is why I misread the simple directions on the back of the box. Which is why my falafel ball mix looked more like soup.

I misread the directions and added 1 1/3 cup of water instead of 1/3 cup. I realized this 15 mins later, as it wasn't anywhere near the consistency it was supposed to be. In my attempt to fix it, I strained it through a sieve. That didn't quite work. I let the strained liquid settle so I could pour off the excess water. That didn't work either. My last resort was to add a binder. I added spoonfuls of chickpea flower to my slurry. This worked. The texture was a bit smoother than it should be for falafel. But atleast it was the same material - Chickpeas. The batter was still pretty thin, but it worked. I spooned dollops of it on to my pan. They looked more like silver dollars than then did falafel balls. Tasty, nonetheless.

For my impromptu tzatziki - I turned regular yogurt into "greek" yogurt by lining a sieve with 2 layers of paper towel and spooning in plain yogurt. Let the moisture drain and soak up into the towels for about 15-20 mins. Carefully lift and ring out. Don't let the towel rip and squirt (that didn't happen to me at all!) I didn't have any cucumbers on hand for my tzatziki, so I just added some chopped cilantro and a dash of s&p.

Beet salad. I've made a few variations of this before, with goat cheese or feta. This time, no cheese. I added green and red peppers, red onions, cilantro, lime juice and s&p. I can't believe I used to hate beets as a child. They're so delicious. And good for you - high in vitamin B and iron. So eat your beets!

The meal finally came together with some toasted whole wheat pitas, my "silver dollar" falafel patties, black olives, beet salad and tzatziki. Bon Appetite!

Potato Crusted Catfish w/ Lime & Cilantro Oil

2010-02-24T23:04:00.000-06:00

I've been home all day watching day time television. What sucks more that day time television? Day time food network programming. Why? Giada De Laurentiis, that's why. She always on! She annoys me. Its the way she can be speaking normally, but the minute she hits an Italian word, she sounds like she just got of the boat. Gelato! Mozzarella! Risotto! This is exactly what Brain Regan was talking about...

Anyway, Giada was making Purple potato crusted Tilapia, which did look pretty tasty. My refrigerator had neither Tilapia or purple potatoes. However, I had catfish and regular potatoes. So I improvised!

Potato Crusted Catfish w/ Lime & Cilantro Oil

1 med. potato, thinly sliced (mandolin works best, it makes even slices)
Catfish fillets
Fresh cilantro, chopped
Lime juice
EVOO
Salt/pepper

Pat dry your fillets and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Arrange potato slices evenly on the fillets, overlapping slightly

Carefully transfer to a non-stick pan on low heat - potato side down.
Let this cook slowly, adding evoo as necessary. Be careful - it splatters!

Once potatoes are browned, flip the fish very carefully.
Brown the fish side.
To make the lime oil - whisk together the cilantro, lime and evoo with a dash of salt.
Drizzle over the fish and serve.

I paired the fish with steamed broccoli and wild rice (It takes a long time to cook wild rice! I gave up and ended up eating it al dente - not a good idea). I think the fish stands alone pretty well. Maybe a green salad would be a better side for it. Next time.

Ratatouille

2010-02-24T00:29:00.000-06:00

I came across a ratatouille recipe by Mark Bittman in the book I'm currently reading (Food Matters). It intrigued me to look into what a ratatouille consists of. According to wikipedia - its mainly tomatoes, onions, eggplant and zucchini. Bittman added cauliflower and chickpeas instead of the zucchini. I searched online for different recipes - all different. Some slow cooked, some roasted, some spent hours laboring over peeling the tomatoes.

I decided to come up with my own version. Seemed like the recipe is pretty much up for individual interpretation. I didn't want mine turned into a soupy, over-cooked mush. I wanted to be able to taste each vegetable individually. So I lightly roasted big chunks of different vegetables.

I also decided to indulge myself with a glass of wine. A glass of Syrah from the Francis Coppola wineries. 'Cause The Godfather series just wasn't enough for him. Good wine though!

Ratatouille

Eggplant
Tomato
Carrot
Zucchini
Cauliflower
Garlic
Red pepper
Green pepper
Onion (I happened to have a Cipollini, which tastes great roasted, but any kind should do)
Salt
Thyme
Rosemary
EVOO

Cut everything up in big chunks.
Add salt, thyme, rosemary and olive oil and toss.
Spread out in a single layer on a baking sheet (or 2)

Roast veggies for about 40mins - you want them just browned not mushy. Toss once half way through.
Broil for the last 2 mins. Keep an eye on this!!
Toss in some finely chopped cilantro once its out of the oven.
Serve with a nice crusty baguette.

Dig in!

15 min Chicken Burgers

2010-02-23T01:23:00.000-06:00

This was a quickie dinner. I came home from a long day of work+class. I had no idea what I was going to make when I got home, but I had some ground chicken on hand. Burgers was the first thing to pop in my head.
Here's a list of things that went into the ground chicken:

Indian Chicken Masala
cumin powder
coriander powder
red chili powder
garlic powder
onion powder
salt
fresh chopped cilantro

Mix all the spices into the meat and form patties.
Grill and serve with a toasted bun, and tomatoes.

Enjoy!

Catfish Cakes

2010-02-21T00:15:00.000-06:00

So here is the catfish I had mentioned earlier. I managed to get 4 equally sized thick square pieces out. I saved these for next week. Its the uneven pieces that I used to make catfish cakes. Fish catcakes? Cat fishcakes? Hmm...

My idea for the fish cake marinade was "chimichurri goes to Asia". Chimichurri is an Argentinian meat marinade made with chilies, garlic, parsley, lime and many other things. I swapped out the parsley with cilantro and added some ginger to it.

I need to get a blender. A real blender. A personal smoothie maker is NOT a blender. Although it does come in handy in pinch. It took a while, but it did blend my ginger, garlic, onions and jalapenos into a nice "smoothie". I kept it pretty thick, added very little oil, but lots of lime. It looked more like my coconut chutney than a chimichurri.

I paired the fish cakes with sauteed red chard. I figured we didn't need any carbs. No quiero ningun carbs esta noche. (Did I mention I'm learning Spanish?)

Catfish Cakes

Marinade
Blend the following:
Onion
Garlic
Ginger
Cilantro
Jalapeno
Salt, Pepper
few drops of EVOO
Lime juice (Use the lime juice to turn it into a smooth paste, don't add water)

Fish Cakes

Catfish, cut into small pieces
Marinade (recipe above)
Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs, regular is fine too)

Marinate minced fish with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for about an hour.
Mix in a handful of panko and form into round cakes.
Pan fry in a bit of oil.

NOTE: You can reserve some of the marinade, mix it in with some plain yogurt and serve it as a sauce for the cakes)

Red Chard

Wash Chard thoroughly, chop.
Saute garlic in a pan, till golden brown.
Add chard, add a splash of chicken stock, salt. Allow chard to wilt.
Do not over cook.

Serve with the fish cakes

Bon Appetit!

Clam Sauce

2010-02-20T00:56:00.000-06:00

Neither of us are big fans of pasta, so I don't make it that often. But I was in the mood for a clam sauce, and pasta is a must for that. My clam sauce was purely improvised, I threw in things and hoped it would come out ok. It did. Here's how it goes:

Clam Sauce

1 can clams in clam juice, drained, but reserve the juice
Garlic, chopped
1 small onion, finely diced
1 small tomato, diced
EV olive oil
Italian spice blend (or just basil and oregano)
Salt & pepper

Sautè garlic in a generous amount of evoo.
Add in the onions, and saute till translucent. Do not brown.
Add the tomatoes and the drained clams.
Warm the clams through and add half of the reserved juice.
Simmer while the sauce thickens slightly.
Add the spices.
Add the rest of the juice and a splash of evoo. If necessary a bit of pasta water can help thin the sauce.
Mix in your pasta of choice.

Bon Appetito!

Mussels in Coconut Chipotle Curry

2010-02-17T10:34:00.001-06:00

I had mussels when we were in Paris a couple of years ago. Moules a la Mariniere - a giant bowl full of mussels in white wine, with a side of french fries. I approached the pile picking at the shells with my fork and the fries with my fingers - trying hard to not look like a fool in Paris. Then I noticed how the Parisians were eating - they picked up a shell with their fingers and used an empty shell like "chopsticks" to pick out the meat. Then they used the fork for their fries! Ooh la la! I was way off!

I came across these mussels last night at Metcalfs. This was the first time I'd been there, and I'll be going back! Beautiful produce and fresh meats. I wanted everything. I settled for the mussels and fish (stay tuned for some catfish up here soon enough). I figured I could make a coconut based curry for the mussels. I looked up a recipe on my Epi app (cool app by Epicurious) and gathered up the rest of the ingredients.

Cooking mussels is quite simple, it barely takes 5-6 mins for them to open once you get the liquids to a boil. I served it with a crusty ciabatta to soak up the curry. Next time I might stick to regular coconut milk instead of the lite version the recipe calls for. I would have liked the curry to be a bit thicker and creamier.

Before...
...After.
Bon Appetit!

Belated Valentine's Dinner

2010-02-16T01:49:00.000-06:00

This was supposed to be our Valentine's dinner, but we ended up stuffing ourselves elsewhere on Sunday. This then became our President's Day dinner.

These beautiful Berkshire pork chops came from John Priske of Fountain Prairie Farms. I originally had my eye on their brisket, but a 7lbs brisket for the two of us was way more than we'll ever need. I went for the appropriately sized pork chops instead.

I barely ever make pork chops. I tend to either undercook them, or dry them out. I like to slow cook my pork. Ribs and butts are best for this. But now that I had these chops, I wanted to make sure I didn't ruin them. I found this recipe - and followed along, making a few changes along the way.

I finished my chops under the broiler: 2 mins on each side giving them a nice char. The end result was delicious. The pork was cooked perfectly - moist and juicy. I topped it with some caramelized onions and the left over salsa from lunch. The potato pancakes was a nice spin on the regular side of potatoes. I roasted the carrots separately - with a bit of honey and Italian spices. Next time I'll go for green beans instead of the carrots - as per Ken's suggestion.

Bon Appetit!

Fish Tacos

2010-02-15T16:40:00.000-06:00

My brother is flying out to LA for business today. So we've both been scouring the interwebs to find the best place in LA to get fish tacos. We came across a bunch of places that come highly recommended. We checked out the reviews, the menus and picked out a few that he can check out. But while he gets ready for his flight, I'm left craving some fish tacos! I hadn't had lunch yet, and it so happens I had pretty much everything I would need to make some - so I did! And it only took about 20 mins to make, including the fresh salsa.

Fish Tacos

1 fish fillet, (I had Alaskan Pollack) cut in small pieces
2 corn tortillas
lettuce, shredded
fresh salsa (recipe below)

Dredge the fish in flour and pan-fry with a swig of oil.
Warm up the tortillas in the pan.
Assemble the taco: corn tortilla topped with lettuce, salsa, fish.
Double up on the tortillas if you feel the need. A splash of lime is good too.

Salsa

1 tomato, small dice
1/4 onion, finely diced
small piece of green pepper, diced
5-6 slices marinated jalapenos, chopped
coriander, chopped
salt, pepper

Mix
Pour in a bit of the jalapeno marinating liquid to bring it all together.

Enjoy!

Idlis

2010-02-12T21:53:00.000-06:00

Idli = South Indian steamed rice cakes. These can me made plain, to be dunked in a spicy "sambar" lentil soup. Or rava idlis, which have spices added to the batter and are usually eaten with a coconut and green chili chutney. I'm not adventurous enough to make these from scratch. That requires planning at least 3 days ahead of time: soaking the rice for 1 day, grinding it into a paste, and letting it ferment for another before it is ready for making idlis. Instead, I revert to these "just add water" Gits mixes - available in most Indian grocery stores. Just follow the directions on the box for a delicious and healthy meal ready in about 25 mins.

I have a fancy idli maker from India, but you can just make these in a flat bottomed container and cut it up in squares.

The chutney to go with it is pretty simple:

Green Chutney

Green chili + fresh coriander + coconut + pinch of salt + dash of sugar
Add enough water to blend.

Bon Appetit!

Mjeddrah - Lebanese Lentil Rice

2010-02-10T22:03:00.000-06:00

I made this a while back, but never got around to posting it. But a friend's request has got me digging into my backed up pictures. Good thing I take pictures of pretty much everything I make!
My first time eating mjeddrah was at Layali Beirut in Astoria. Delicious rice, great kebabs and really good hookahs. Here's my version of the rice:

Lebanese Lentil Rice

1 cup lentils
1 cup rice
3 onions, sliced
salt, cumin, chili powder

Start with caramelizing your onions in a generous amount of olive oil. This is a slow process, make sure its on low heat. Add a dash of salt to bring out the moisture. Keep sauteing till it reaches a dark golden color.
Wash the lentils. Remove any floaters. Add enough water to cover the lentils and boil. Cook the lentils half-way till they are al dente.
Reserve half of the caramelized onions.
To the remaining half onions add the rice and saute.
Add the half cooked lentils, salt, cumin & chili powder and stir to evenly mix.
Add 3 cups of water and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat to low and cover.
Cook till rice and lentils are cooked through - add more water if necessary.
Serve with the reserved onions.

I made a quick zucchini side dish to go with the rice -
zucchini + can of tomatoes + salt, cumin, chili flakes, garlic. Saute all. Serve.

Bon Appetit.

Spaghetti Squash

2010-02-10T01:25:00.000-06:00

Doesn't seem like winter is going to be over anytime soon. On the bright side, at least I can enjoy winter squashes some more. Today I'm planning on some spaghetti squash. How awesome is it that you can just "fork" a squash into noodles! I've only tried making this once, but I had no idea what to make of it. I still had no idea this time, but I figured I'll treat it just like pasta. Pesto, ricotta and mozzarella. It looks like mush, but tasted pretty good. Garlic toast completes the meal.

Pesto Spaghetti Squash

1 spaghetti squash
2 tbs pesto
1 cup ricotta
1 cup shredded mozzarella
chili flakes
salt

Cut squash lengthwise and bake, cut side down, at 375º for about 45 mins
Remove from oven and let cool to touch. Shread the flesh with a fork.

In a saute pan saute the shredded squash, pesto, chili flakes, ricotta.
Mix well.
Top with mozzarella.

Bon Appetit.

Chicken "wings"

2010-02-07T23:15:00.000-06:00

Superbowl special. I made boneless chicken breast white meat "wings". They could have used a bit less time in the oven. I might have dried them out a little - but the overall taste was pretty close to hot wings, without the bones.

Chicken "wings"

Chicken breast, cut into about 2 inch long strips
garlic powder
hot sauce
salt, pepper

Mix all and marinate for at least an hour (more if possible)
Bake on an oiled baking sheet at 375º for 20 mins. Flip and bake for 15 more mins, or until cooked all the way through
Meanwhile, in a microwavable bowl take 1 tbs of butter + hot sauce and nuke till butter melts.
Add the baked chicken to the sauce and toss to coat.
Serve with celery sticks.

Go Saints!

Rice & Beans

2010-02-07T00:04:00.000-06:00

A nice and easy meal of rice and beans tonight. Black beans, rice and sazon. I added some chicken & shrimp to the mix. Avocados on top.
Bon Appetit!

Breakfast Souffle

2010-02-01T14:14:00.000-06:00

I got a giant log of goat cheese at Whole Foods the other day. I had already made a beet salad and a filled pastry, and now I'm looking for more ways to consume my creamy goat cheese. Souffle. I've always wanted to try making a souffle - so today's the day. Apparently its not as hard as I've always thought it would be. Prep time was about 10 mins.

Spinach, Artichoke & Goat Cheese Souffle

3 egg whites
2 yolks
Spinach, chopped
Artichokes, chopped
Goat Cheese, crumbled
salt, pepper

Beat the egg whites till they're fluffy and form peaks. Don't overdo this part.
Mix the chopped spinach, artichokes, salt & pepper into the yolks. Add a dash of water or milk if necessary.
Crumble in the goat cheese and stir.
Fold the mix into the white. Do not stir, fold in. Try not to deflate the fluff.
Pour into buttered ramekins ( I used 2 medium sized pyrex bolws)

Bake at 375º for about 20 mins.

Note: Let it cool a bit before you dig in, or that melting cheese will singe your tongue.

These refrigerate well. So if you make them ahead of time, just nuke them when you're ready to eat.

Bon Apetite

Puff Pastry

2010-01-31T23:01:00.000-06:00

I did some puff pastry experiments this week. I had used one sheet for a pot pie earlier, and had one more sheet left. I was dying to make "turnovers" of some sort. I had some of yesterday's beet salad left over, so I stuffed it into the dough, along with some spinach and a bit of chili flakes to make a Spicy Spinach, Beet & Goat Cheese Turnover. I think anything stuffed in a puff pastry shell is delicious. This was was especially delicious with the warm soft cheese. Yum!

Day 2 with puff pastry began with the fact that yesterday's turnovers looked a lot like Indian Samosas. So I started out with the idea in my head that I was going to make samosas. This is what I ended up making:

I figured it was easier to make a "log" than trying to fill tiny triangles. It still tasted like a samosa though.

Puff Pastry Samosas Squares

2 small potatoes, medium dice
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
handful of peas
salt, chili powder, cumin, coriander powder
1 Sheet puff pastry, thawed

Saute onions until soft and golden
Add potatoes, carrots, peas. Cover and let it steam until potatoes are cooked
Add spices
Lay your puff pastry sheet on baking sheet and fill half of it with potato mixture
Fold sheet over and crimp edges
Bake at 375 for about 20 mins, or until golden brown. Flip over if necessary.
Cut into 8 pieces, and enjoy.

Bon Apetit.

Goat cheese & Beets - A match made in foodie heaven

2010-01-30T21:58:00.000-06:00

How could I have never tried this before? The creamy tangy goat cheese is the perfect complement to beets. This quick salad can accompany anything.

Beet Salad

1 can diced beets
goat cheese
salt, pepper, oregano
olive oil

Toss everything
Serve!

Stir fried rice with ginger chicken

2010-01-29T23:14:00.000-06:00

You know what leftover rice is best for? Fried rice. Especially if its been in the refrigerator, and its nice and cold. I had plenty of fresh vegetables so it was perfect.

Vegetable Fried Rice

You can pretty much use whatever vegetable you have for this. I used onions, garlic, red cabbage, mushrooms, celery, carrots and eggs. I sliced and julienned on my handy-dandy mandoline.

This thing is great. Love it! Its my Super Man-doline. Did I mention how much I love it? It is extremely sharp though - took a chunk off my fiance's thumb a few weeks ago. With great power comes great responsibility. I should stop, I'm just mixing up super heroes now...

So back to the rice. The key to good fried rice is to saute all your vegetables separately. do the onions, take em out. Saute the cabbage, take it out. Then the mushrooms, take them out. You get the idea. Add soy sauce to each item individually. Be sparse, you can always add more later. Lastly fried up the rice and add all the vegetables in and mix. Can't go wrong.

Dinner Part II - Ginger Chicken

So what does one eat with fried rice? Ginger chicken of course! For this, I threw 2 chicken breasts in the crockpot and just rummaged in the cabinet to figure out what else should go in here. Here's a list of what ended up in the pot:

Chicken
Soy sauce
Giant piece of Ginger
Garlic
Thai fish sauce
Sambal (red chili paste)
Honey
A bit of water, just so it didn't burn.

5 hourse on medium - and voila!

Bon Apetit.

Mushroom & Shrimp Masala

2010-01-27T15:04:00.000-06:00

This was part of one of my quickie meals. It took a whole of 15 mins to whip this up. Mostly 'cause I still have some masala (spice blend) my mom froze for me on her last trip. Its basically a blend of roasted onions, coconut, tomatoes and a whole bunch of other Indian spices. I honestly have no idea what all goes into this. What I do know is that its delicious. I'll be sure to find out on her next trip, and post it up here. You can just add a heaping spoonful of this to anything and it will taste like it took hours to make. My "things" of choice were mushrooms and shrimp. Just saute a sliced onion, then saute the mushrooms. Add the masala + water. Drop in the shrimp, bring to boil. Done deal.

Baked meatballs

2010-01-25T23:07:00.000-06:00

So much for my vegetarian stint!

I caved. I just like meat too much. I did however switch to organic, hormone & antibiotic free, grass fed meat. So that's my compromise. If I want to eat meat, I pay for the "good-for-you" kind. Much better than giving it up all together.

Oh magical tasty pig, how I missed thee! I got some ground pork and decided to make some meatballs. My usual method of meatballs is to form, boil and saute. Alton Brown convinced me to bake them. Although mine didn't brown too well (mostly cause I was impatient), they were very moist and juicy. Very tasty. I don't think I'll ever go back to my boil & saute method.

I made some pasta in tomato and ricotta sauce to go with the meatballs. And garlic bread, of course.

Baked Meatballs

1/2 lb ground pork
1 egg
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
salt, pepper, itallian spices, chili flakes, garlic powder

Mix. Form. Bake at 375 for about 45 mins.
Flip over half way through.

Tomato Ricotta Sauce

1 onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, smashed
3 cups crushed tomatoes
3 whole (canned) tomatoes, smashed
1 cup ricotta
salt, pepper, itallian spices, chili flakes, garlic powder

Saute onions and garlic.
Add the tomatoes and spices. Simmer.
Add the ricotta and simmer some more. Add water as necessary to get the right consistency.

Once sauce is ready add the meatballs and pasta of choice.
Enjoy with some crusty garlicy bread.

Bon Apetit

Blue Pizza

2010-01-25T01:08:00.000-06:00

We've been surrounded by cheese ever since we moved to Wisconsin. All kinds of local cheeses and fun flavors. Bacon, horseradish, pesto, sundried tomatoes, chocolate fudge!?! The grocery stores here dedicate entire aisles (yes, plural) - to cheese. I've managed to try a few varieties in the past few months, and have so many more to go.

I picked up some locally made blue cheese this week. I don't have much experience with blue cheeses - its soft and kinda stinky. It also doesn't have much of a shelf life, so I wanted to make sure I use it up soon after I opened it up. Pizza was the first idea that came to mind, although I wasn't sure what flavors would combine well with the strong cheese. Food Network brought me to this interesting recipe. Corn sounded good. Pesto not so much. It still needed a 3rd dimension so I went with caramelized onions with a splash of balsamic vinegar.

Blue Pizza

1 pizza base (store bought, frozen, made-from-scratch - your pick)
2 large onions, sliced in rings
1 can corn
blue cheese, crumbled
red pepper, sliced
salt, pepper, oregano
splash of balsamic vinegar

Pre-heat your oven at 375 degrees
"Roast" your corn in a pan with a bit of olive oil
Start caramelizing the onions. Keep your eyes on this. Very easy to burn. Add some salt to the onions, this will help with the process. Once browned add a splash of the balsamic.
Assemble the pizza with onions on the bottom, corn, peppers and cheese.
Bake and enjoy.

Bon Apetit!

Shrimp & Okra Gumbo

2010-01-21T19:34:00.000-06:00

I've made gumbo before. Let me rephrase that. I've made stuff with okra before that I call gumbo. I've never actually eaten or made authentic gumbo though. So I looked up a recipe from Louisiana-man himself, Emeril. I usually don't follow recipes, but I tried to stick to his for the most part (I nixed the sausage).

Mise en place - I rarely do this. I like to chop on the go...

The beginning stages of my roux.

Gumbo on a bed of rice

Savory Zucchini Pancakes

2010-01-20T01:25:00.000-06:00

I was 8 years old when I was first introduced to the "tomato omelette". I thought I was in for an eggy concoction that somehow involved tomatoes. I was way off. What it turned out to be was tomatoes and onions in a chickpea flower batter, pan fried like a pancake. No eggs. I found the name to be very deceiving at the time. But now that I think of it, it does look a lot like an omelette, an Indian vegan omelette.

I remembered this the other day as I was scrambling (no pun intended) to figure out what to make for dinner. I found some zucchinis and tomatoes and the rest just came together. Just to make sure there is no ambiguity, I am calling these savory pancakes. I wouldn't want to scar any 8 year olds out there.

Savory Zucchini Pancakes

1 zucchini, julienned (I used my mandolin on a matchstick setting)
1 small onion, diced
1 tomato, diced
garlic, diced or powder
salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, coriander powder
1 tsp baking soda
chickpea flower (also known as besan, widely available in Indian grocery stores)

Mix together the zucchini, onions and tomatoes.
Add in the spices and baking soda. Mix to coat.
Add enough chickpea flower to heavily coat all the veggies.
Add water, little at a time, to make a batter. Should be about pancake-mix consistency.
Ladle in spoonfuls into a hot oiled pan - just like a pancake.
Flip.
Brown.
Serve.

These will go well with a coconut chutney or even ketchup. I made my own hodgepodge sauce to go with it.

Sauce

1/2 tomato
1 clove garlic
1 serano pepper
1/4 yellow pepper
a hand full of bread crumbs (a slice of stale bread will do)
salt, pinch of sugar

Put everything in a blender and blend away.
Serve with your zucchini pancakes.

Bon Apetit!

Mustard & White :: Greens & Beans

2010-01-19T01:15:00.000-06:00

I've been trying to eat a lot more vegetables lately. I don't want to go gung-ho and become a vegetarian, but just want to cut down on my meat consumption. I bought mustard greens for the first time, and had no idea what to do with them. All the recipes I found were either side dishes, or braised under and pork butt. I wanted to make a meal out of the mustard. I started pulling things out of the pantry and refrigerator and came up with this.

Mustard green & white beans with cranberries

1 clove garlic, smashed
evoo
1 bunch mustard greens, cleaned and chopped
Chicken stock
1 can of cannellini beans
salt, pepper, chili flakes, cumin, nutmeg
a bunch of cranberries

Heat up oil and add the garlic
Add the greens and let it wilt.
Add a bit of stock to help with the wilting
Dump in the can of beans, after you rinse them, of course.
Season and stir
Add the cranberries and let them soak up some moisture and flavor.
Done

I served my creation over a bed of egg noodle. And topped it off with the sunny side egg. Let the yokes run through the warm greens and noodles. I'm sure this will taste just as good over rice or as is.

Bon Apetit

Chile Rellenos - a la Bobby Flay

2010-01-15T09:18:00.001-06:00

In my opinion, Chile Rellenos as stuffed with beef and cheese, then deep fried in lard. Nothing wrong with that. Then I came across Bobby Flay's chile rellenos Throwdown episode on Food Network. The competition were making a vegetarian version stuffed with cactus, mushrooms in a tomato sauce, and not fried! Bobby comes in and whips up an eggplant & manchego beer battered version with a roasted red pepper sauce and a balsamic-honey drizzle. Not only did this sound better, it even looked better than the competition's version. Bobby, however, did lose. I beg to differ. And I'm not even a big fan of Bobby.

I decided to try it out myself. I tried to stick to Bobby Flay's recipe, but made some changes along the way. I switched out the manchego for cheddar. And instead of deep flying it, I dipped it in an egg+beer wash, rolled it in panko and pan fried it in olive oil. I made the sauces exactly according to the recipes though. The whole process was time consuming, but worth it. This might be one of the fanciest looking plates I've ever made. And it tasted the part too.

Kung Pao Tofu

2009-12-23T23:12:00.000-06:00

Sushi!

2009-11-20T10:18:00.000-06:00

Mesquite & Lime pulled pork

2009-11-18T00:23:00.000-06:00

Shrimp and Broccoli

2009-11-16T22:05:00.000-06:00

Gobi Manchurian and Chili Chicken

2009-11-12T21:51:00.000-06:00

Grilled Chocolate Cheddar Samich

2009-11-12T14:45:00.000-06:00

Tofu Veggie Stir-Fry

2009-11-11T23:20:00.000-06:00

Tilapia with Caper Butter Sauce

2009-11-11T10:20:00.000-06:00

Busting out the grill

2009-11-11T09:36:00.001-06:00

Veggie Pot Pie

2009-11-03T23:34:00.000-06:00

Cumin Kebabs with Greek Salad

2009-10-31T00:00:00.000-05:00

Romansco and veggie chips

2009-10-30T01:02:00.000-05:00

Savoury Tomato Pie

2009-10-18T22:27:00.000-05:00

Swedish buffet in New Glarus, WI

2009-10-11T20:12:00.000-05:00

Apple Tart

2009-10-11T18:25:00.000-05:00

Black Bean Soup

2009-10-06T21:20:00.000-05:00

Smart Ones Vs. Richa

2009-08-07T15:18:00.000-05:00

I was watching tv when I saw a commercial for the Smart Ones Fiesta Quesadilla. I'm not completely against boxed entreés, but not a huge fan of them either. They're usually pretty crappy, with very little food that doesn't look anything like the picture on the cover and full of tons of sodium. But I do like the combinations they come up with. So I got inspired to do my own take on a "Fiesta Quesadilla" with what I had in my pantry. I wish I had more cheese, it would have helped keep the two layers together, but it was a tasty and filling dinner regardless.

Richa's Fiesta Quesadilla

Flour Tortillas
Grated cheese, I used Cheddar, but pepper jack, or any other melting cheese should do fine.

The Filling:
A can on white beans (cannelini)
A can of corn
Green bell pepper, diced
Red onion, diced
Jalapeno, diced (optional)
Juice of half a lime
Salt & Pepper

• Mix all the filling ingredients well
• You are now ready to assemble the quesadilla
• Oil a large non-stick frying pan. Place a tortilla and layer it with an even layer of the bean mix on half of the tortilla.
(note: I tried to do one giant one, and failed miserably. Mine refused to flip over. I lost most of the contents trying. For the next one, I tried puting stuff on half of the tortilla and doing a half-moon - it worked like a charm)

• Evenly distribute a portion of the cheese
• Flip over the other half of the tortilla to form a half moon
• Fry to a golden brown on each side.
• Slice and serve.

Manglorean Lamb Shank

2009-08-05T16:32:00.000-05:00

My first experience with a lamb shank was in Chicago at a Indian-Latin fusion restaurant called "Vermillion". Although I wasn't the one who ordered the shank, I got to taste the falling-off-the-bone tender deliciousness. I've noticed it on a lot of menus and food network lately - and decided I must give it a shot. I looked it up Vermillion's menu which describes is as "Lamb Shank Gassi : mangalorean braised domestic lamb shank, mango panch puran rice" Whhosh! I don't even know what Manglorean means - so I just made it up. Here's my take on it -

Manglorean Braised Lamb Shank

Lamb shank
Sliced onions
mix the rest of the ingredients to make a slurry:
paprika
cumin powder
coriander powder
red chili powder
salt
chopped garlic
chopped ginger
dry mustard powder
fenugreek powder
garam masala
a can of tomato puree
a can of water

• Set the shank in a slow cooker
• Pour above mix
• Add onions
• Set on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.
• Serve on a bed of Basmati rice.

Bon Appetite!

Pepsi Pork

2009-08-03T11:34:00.000-05:00

My inspiration for today's dish came from a "Top Chef: Masters" episode. The one where the quick fire round involved vending machine finds only. Seemed like everyone ended up using Dr. Pepper as an ingredient, and I've been wanting to do that since. I figured pork was the best medium here, as it lends itself to a hot and sweet dish. I started out with some pork medallions and a half full bottle of Cherry Pepsi (Dr. Pepper was not on sale!) and basically ran with my idea of braised pork.

Cherry Pepsi braised Pork medallions

Pork medallions
Cherry Pepsi
Garlic
Ginger
Paprika
Salt
Pepper
Cinnamon (I almost regretted this ingredient later, feel free to leave it out)
Celery
Carrots

• Mix all except the pork and veggies in a mixing bowl.
• Place medallions in a slow cooker, add above concoction, add veggies. Let cook on medium for a few hours, until nice and tender.
• Pick out the medallions, and drain the veggies, reserving the cooking liquids.
• Add a bit of oil to a pan and sear the chops to get some color.
• Meanwhile, start reducing the cooking liquids in a small saucepan.
• As the sauce starts getting thicker and stickier, add a pat of butter and some thinly sliced scallions (optional) and take off the heat.
• Plate your braised pork with a spoonful of Cherry Pepsi reduction glaze and the veggies.

I served mine with an Orzo Salad and a simple Jicama Slaw:

Roasted Tomato and Spinach Orzo Salad

Orzo
Spinach
Grape tomatoes
Balsamic vinegar
Salt
Pepper
Garlic powder
Fresh mozzarella

• Wash, pat dry tomatoes and dress with salt, pepper, garlic and a bit of oil.
• Place in a baking dish and roast the tomatoes at 400º for 45mins to and hour.
• Meanwhile, cook the orzo according to package instructions
• Chop the fresh spinach coarsely, and add to the pasta cooking water, just before take the pot off the heat.
• Run under cold water and drain.
• In a large enough mixing bowl add the orzo and spinach, diced fresh mozzarella, the roasted grape tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste and some balsamic vinegar.
• A dash of olive oil on top to seal the deal.
• Serve with your favorite entree, in this case Pepsi Pork. Works well as a summery salad as well.

Jicama Slaw

• Julianne jicama
• Add lemon juice and salt.
• Enjoy!

Onward and squid-wards

2009-07-30T22:51:00.000-05:00

Seems like its been so long since I've posted anything here. Maybe cause its actually been quite a while since I've posted (or cooked) anything in a while. With my new gig taking over my entire day, its been hard to make time and find energy to cook. But I intend to fix that and get back into the kitchen - with a vengeance!

Squid was my food of choice for today. Most of my experience with calamari is deep fried calamari, which I absolutely love. I've even discovered how easy and inexpensive it is to fry it up yourself at home. But, I had some Spanish-style non-fried calamari recently, and have been craving more of it since. When I finally made my trip out to Fairway and back in the blazing heat, I decided to lighten up my original plan of calamari in a sea of olive oil and spices, to a more summer friendly grilled/sautéed calamari. I did save all the tentacles to fry up at a later date. Stay tuned for that!

After an initial google search - I went with a honey-mirin glazed grilled calamari. As always, I put my own spin on the recipe, when ever I didn't have the requisite ingredients. Here's my version of the recipe:

Honey Glazed Calamari

Honey
Apple Cider Vinegar
Salt
Pepper
Red pepper flakes
Garlic powder
Oil

• Wash and pat dry calamari tubes.
• Slice into rings and coat with salt, pepper, red pepper, garlic and oil.
• Drop into hot pan and "grill" till translucent. (this is where I wish I had a grill, or even a grilling pan)
• Mix together honey and vinegar = the glaze. Nuke it for 10 secs if the honey doesn't dissovle.
• Add the glaze to the calamari and sauté for another minute or 2.
• Remove from heat.

I served this on a bed of Wilted Garlic Spinach:

Fresh spinach
diced onion
diced red pepper
Chopped Garlic

• Drop the garlic, onion and red pepper into a super hot pan with a tsp of oil. Let sizzle for a minute. You don't want to let this brown.
• Add chopped spinach. Turn once and turn off heat. Spinach will wilt almost immediately. You don't want to kill the spinach. This spinach dish shouldn't take you more than 5 mins. The spinach will maintain its flavor, color and vitamins.

Plate the spinach, top it off with the Honey Glazed Calamari. A light summer fare will do you good. Good Eatings!

Pulled Pork

2009-03-12T18:28:00.000-05:00

This was my first time using a slow cooker and I am in LOVE! I still can't believe how easy it was to make pulled pork. I loosely followed Tyler Florence's recipe, but made some changes along the way (my recipe follows). All in all, pork is very forgiving if you don't have all of the ingredients. It gets soft like butter in the slow cooker.

Most recipes I looked up called for a pork butt, boston butt or pork tenderloin. I am not sure what a boston butt is, and my local supermarket only had pork picnic shoulder cut (aka pernil, in spanish). So that is what I used. It came in full size (about 6-8lbs) or half (about 3-4lbs). My 3.2lbs shoulder fed 3 adults and I have enough leftovers to feed 3 again.

Richa's Pulled Pork

Dry Rub

Chili Powder
Garlic Powder
Mustard Powder
Brown Sugar
Salt
Pepper

Mix all ingredients and "rub" on to a washed and patted dry pork shoulder.
Slice up one onion and spread it on the bottom of the slow cooker.
Set the pork shoulder on the onions.
Prepare sauce

Sauce

White Vinegar
Ketchup
Mustard
Chili Powder
Brown Sugar
Garlic Powder
Salt

I eye-balled everything, mixing and tasting along the way.
Whisk everything and pour on top of the pork.
Set the slow cooker on high, and leave it alone!
I left it for about 5 hours.

This is what it looked like after 5 hours in the cooker.

The meat just melted off the bone, with just a nudge of the fork...

Very little effort was needed to "pull" and shred the pork.
We enjoyed our pork in some whole wheat hamburger buns with a quick cole slaw -

Cole Slaw

Shred half a cabbage, 3 Carrots and 1 Red onion.
Make dressing by mixing Mayonnaise, Mustard, Vinegar, Salt, Pepper, Sugar.
Mix, chill and eat.

Hope you enjoy some pulled pork. Total prep time was about 15mins. Cooking time was 5 hours.

Brunch Quiche

2008-12-14T16:26:00.000-06:00

I've never really had a quiche before, I just figured meat + cheese + eggs = yummy goodness. And yummy goodness it was! We had Rachel and Will over and I decided to make a Turkey Sausage Quiche, Rosemary Roasted Potatoes and a green salad.
Since I don't have a pie dish, I made it in a spring form pan (which I LOVE!) It just popped right out.

Turkey Sausage and Cheddar Quiche

1 Frozen pie crust
4 Turkey sausage links (uncooked)
1 Onion, sliced
1 Zucchini, chopped
1 Green pepper, diced
6 eggs
1 cup milk
2 cups Cheddar, shredded

Saute sausage, add onions, peppers, zucchini. Let cool.
Thaw out the pie crust, according to box instructions (or you can make your own). Unroll into spring form pan. Press down around the edge. Prick bottom of the crust with a fork. Fill with the sausage mix.
Whisk 6 eggs in a separate bowl, add milk, salt and pepper. Pour over pie.
Bake at 375 degrees for about 40-45 mins. Half way through, top quiche with cheese. Stick a knife in the center, if it comes out clean - you're ready to dig in.

Rosemary Roasted Potatoes

4 Potatoes
Olive oil
Rosemary
Salt & pepper
Garlic powder
Oregano

Chop potatoes into 1 inch cubes. Mix in the rest of the ingredients and toss to coat. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 mins or till tender.

Octopus with Smoked Paprika

2008-12-12T22:16:00.000-06:00

We got some canned seafood from our Barcelona trip - one of which was octopus. I didn't know what to do with it, so a googled for some recipes and found this recipe.
True to their word, it was very simple, and very tasty.

Turkey Chili

2008-12-12T10:51:00.000-06:00

An honest bowl of turkey chili.
Delivery at 1:00pm. Hope you enjoy it!
Thank's for choosing Redhead Spinach.
Bon Apetit

Christmas Cookies

2008-12-11T00:10:00.000-06:00

Cookie time! This year I don't have any free weekends for my annual cookie swap. But that doesn't keep me from baking cookies. I did my usual White Chocolate Cranberry cookies. Along with Roll-Out Brownie Cookies and some Ambiguous Gingerbread People.
Roll-out cookies take so much more effort! Still worth it though. One lesson I learned - the thicker it is, the softer and tastier the cookie turns out.

Redhead Spinach delivers again!

2008-12-05T13:49:00.000-06:00

With the help of my generous ex-co-workers, Redhead Spinach is back in business!
Hope everyone enjoyed their lunch. Any comments, suggestions, complains, requests etc welcome!

Thank you for choosing Redhead Spinach for all your chicken tikka masala needs.

Indian Stuffed Eggplants (Bharle Wangi)

2008-12-03T23:49:00.000-06:00

Pineapple Pork Fried Rice

2008-12-03T01:23:00.000-06:00

Vegetable Frittata

2008-11-23T20:30:00.000-06:00

Meatloaf Chili

2008-11-23T20:28:00.000-06:00

Rawa Dosa - Indian Rice Crepes

2008-11-23T20:24:00.000-06:00