Chicken Miso Soup with Orzo

Here's a recipe for a quick and easy take on Miso soup that I made


For 2 people you'll need

1 celery stick, chopped
1 chopped zucchini
2 cloves garlic, pressed
2-3 heaping tablespoons Miso paste
about 1tsp chili paste depending on how spicy you like it (I used harissa)
about 1/2 lb orzo - cooked
3 scallions, chopped
a bit of fresh or dried basil
1-2 boneless skinless chicken breasts which have been pounded down and cubed
2-3 cups water (this is a complete guess)

* Besides for the celery, my vegetable choice was based mainly on what we had in the house and I'm sure lots of vegetables could be substituted or added, though they may change cooking time.

Saute the celery and garlic in a pot with some olive oil until the celery starts to soften. Add the zucchini and cook through. Add in the miso paste, water and chili paste and stir until they have dissolved. Once the water has begun to boil, turn down the heat slightly, and add the chicken, and a few minutes later the orzo, scallions and basil. Once the chicken is cooked through the soup is done. Salt and Pepper to taste.

This is not the most amazing soup ever, but its tasty and can be eaten as a complete meal.

A good start!

I am a huge breakfast person! I mean, whats not to love...cereal, eggs, pancakes, waffles, bacon, fruit...all are excellent foods. This morning though, I had to expand my horizons because we were out of eggs, special K, or anything that would be toast-able. This left me with oatmeal. I am not usually a big oatmeal fan because the instant kind is mushy and too sweet. I was converted when I found the silver palate brand of oatmeal. Because it has thicker grains, it really has a nice texture to it. You do have to sacrifice the microwaveable convenience when you switch from the other kind, but trust me - its worth it!
This morning I put a big scoop of maple butter in the bottom of a saucepan and heated it up until it was a liquid. Then I added some chopped apples, and stirred them in the pan until they were deliciously caramelized. To this I added 1/3 cup of oatmeal, 1/3 a cup of raw milk, and 1/3 a cup of water. Once it came up to a boil, I put it down to a simmer and let it bubble away for about 8 minutes. During this time I was able to get dressed and packed for class - - who said cooking from scratch had to be a big drain on efficiency. This smelled so good (and time was ticking away) so I didn't manage to get a picture, but I did have a delicious breakfast and arrive to psych within plenty of time.

Sometimes everything you want to use up just happens to taste good togther

So Aliza came over last Thursday for dinner right after we received our share from the fruit and veggie co-op. Sarah had also asked me earlier to try to start getting rid of our cheeses, because we had probably 12 different types of cheese in our fridge, and she was afraid some would go bad if we didn't start working on them. Earlier I had also decided that we needed to use nori sheets somehow in our dinner.

The thing that I had been most excited about from fruit and veggie was a leek. I don't know why, but I really wanted to find something interesting to do with it. We also got a big bag of apples, which I thought would go well with the cheese. The only protein we had in the house was a big chunk of tempeh; We decided to combine all of the ingredients into one dish.


We sauteed the leek until soft, and then mixed it in a bowl with ground up tempeh, a mix of 4 different kinds of goat and cow's milk cheeses, and chopped apples with a bit of salt, pepper, and smoked paprika.

This was all put together in a pan with some milk and 2 eggs, in order to make some kind of crustless tart. We shredded and fried the nori and stuck it on top.

It was pretty good, though some of the goats milk cheeses were a bit too smelly for my taste

Pita bread

Emily and I were back a little early during break, which gave us some time to make pita bread. That's right... we came back early from spring break just to make pita. Ok just kidding. Almost.

Anyway, last semester (our pre-blogging days) Emily and Avi made pita but the dough didn't pouf the way it was supposed to, and it wasn't very flavorful. It wasn't until this post on Smitten Kitchen that we decided we gave up too early.

We made the dough and let it sit in the fridge for two days before baking it, which gave the dough some depth, but I think next time I will reduce the fridge time to 1 day, instead of two. It was just a little too yeasty for my taste. More importantly, the technique of wetting the dough a few minutes before popping it into the oven worked-- the pitas puffed and made nice pockets.

Then Emily made her fabulous hummus recipe, and the world was at peace.

Paella Risotto and Turkey Empanadas

Tonight we had a pretty large group for dinner, so we decided to go with something quick and easy- risotto. It ended up not being as quick as we thought.

We decided to make a paella inspired risotto since we were looking to incorporate shrimp, one of the few meat options that was acceptable to everyone coming.



To make it we first heated some oil in a pot with saffron, chili powder, paprika, onion and garlic and added Arborio rice to get it lightly toasted. We then slowly added watered down vegetable broth eventually with some peas, cherry tomatoes and the shrimp (unfortunately only precooked is available at Weshop), until all the broth had been added and the rice became soft and gooey. The box told us that this would take around 15 minutes total, which we knew was a lie. What we didn't expect is that it would actually take around an hour.



As an appetizer Xiaoxi made some turkey empanadas, and for dessert we began to work on the Zgougou I made last night. But there's plenty left, so its not too late and come have some for yourself!

Zgougougougougou

Around midnight last night I decided it was finally time to make my zgougou. Zgougou is a Tunisian pudding made with black Aleppo pine seeds. It is usually eaten on Mouled, the prophet Mohammed's birthday. Unfortunately this year Mouled fell during spring break, and I left the Zgougou at school so we had to celebrate a bit late. I had never made it before, and the instructions were all in French and Arabic, but it somehow turned out similar to how I remembered it in Tunisia. Usually people put ground almonds or pistachios on top with lots of pretty decorative chocolates and stuff; I used grated coconut and pine nuts since that what we had lying around at 1 in the morning.



I bough the seeds preground and packaged in Tunisia, and the box I had ended up making over half a gallon of pudding. So come over and eat some!

Doing a little bit of research I found out that there are Aleppo pine trees in California, however I have no idea if it is possible to buy the seeds. If you find them, send me an email, or better yet, the seeds themselves. I can also give you a recipe.

Here's a picture of them so keep your eyes peeled:



And here's a picture of a kitten named Gigi that my friend found on the streets of Tunisia and brought home. (not to the US) For some reason her picture popped up on google images when I searched for "zgougou seed"

Schnitzel Time

So we're back from spring break. Sorry I haven't been posting. I got my wisdom teeth out and have been eating different forms of vegetable mush and ice cream.
I also learned that not everything can be put in a blender with a bit of liquid; my fake meat and spinach stir fry smoothie didn't turn turn out so well.

I can eat more solid food now, and for our first dinner back we made some schnitzel.


To make it we took boneless skinless chicken breasts and beat them (with our fists) until they were somewhat flat.
We then dipped them in egg, and coated them in a mixture of (proportions are really not exact. I don't know if I would even trust this at all)
1/2 cup corn meal
1 tsp chili powder
a large pinch of salt
a pinch of pepper
and 1 tsp sumac - I went on a field trip to Formaggio in Cambridge (which by the way is the best store ever- they have their own cheese cave!) with a friend and went through their spices smelling the ones I had never heard of. Sumac kinda has a woody citrus flavor

We then pan fried them for around 3-5 minutes on each side.

On the side we had creamy orzo cooked with parm and butter, and roasted brussel sprouts.

Macaroni a la Fondue and some grilled stuff

The Food:
Tonight we had a very simple dinner that was much like the ones we used to eat when we all lived at home. The only twist is that this was the culinary adventurous version because me and my brothers can't seem to get enough of cooking. Instead of Annie's, we made homemade macaroni that was inspired by the classic ingredients of Swiss Fondue. In lieu of steaming, we grilled the asparagus to ensure a nice caramelization on the outside. For the flat iron steak, we stayed simple. I am always a no-frills person when it comes to meat. Rob brushed it with a bit olive oil , and then sprinkled it with a red pepper blend. It was absolutely delicious!
The fondue macaroni was something I improvised on the spot, loosely based on a couple of recipes from the food network website. It ended up being very good, something I would definitely do again. Here is the recipe, in case you want to try it.
1) Cook whatever shape pasta you want (I used elbow) according to the package directions. I used a full pound box - I was feeling hungry and you can't beat macaroni leftovers.
2) While the pasta cooks, heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a medium saucepan, over medium heat. When it is nice and warm, I put in about a handful of flour to form a roux. At this stage, constant whisking is imperative! Stir the roux around to allow the taste of the flour to mellow out while keeping it from burning. I did this for about 2 minutes.
3) Start stirring in little bits of milk at a time. I used whole, raw milk, but I suppose that other types would do the trick. To get the richness that made the dish so good, I would hesitate to use a milk that wasn't at least 2% milk fat. I didn't do any measuring, but I thinned it out until it was about the consistency of cake batter. To this I added a half a cup of chardonnay.

4) Into this went the grated cheese. I did about 6 ounces of Gruyere, 4 ounces of sharp cheddar, and 2 ounces of freshly grated Parmesan. Stir until melted, adding more liquid if it seems too thick. Then season with nutmeg (freshly ground if possible), lemon zest, white pepper, salt and ground mustard. I didn't measure, so go forth and experiment to taste!
5) When the pasta is done, drain it and put it into a greased casserole dish. Pour the cheese sauce over the pasta and mix it in well. Sprinkle breadcrumbs on top (we had the bottom of a bag of potato chips left so those also got crumbled and put on top - it added a nice saltiness) and then drizzle with a bit of melted butter.
6) Put under the broiler and cook until the top is crispy and browned.

The Creatures that wished they ate it:
Marley, Misty, and in front, Ziggy!

Brownies Gone Neon

Yesterday, Rachel and I decided to make brownies for our friend Bill from scratch. This was a challenge both logistically (we are spazzes) and emotionally (I've given up sweets for Lent). Nonetheless, we prevailed--despite a fateful vanilla miscalculation that I'll just describe as that classic "oh...a TEAspoon" scenario.

The Food:

We used a recipe from epicurious.com (originally from Gourmet). It involved:

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs

We didn't have brown sugar, or unsweetened chocolate, but we substituted regular granulated sugar and sweetened chocolate. Unfortunately, I can't really tell you if these substitutions worked or not, since I never actually tried the brownies. Anyway, we preheated the oven to 350°F, then stirred and melted the chocolate and butter over low heat on the stove. After letting the mixture cool a bit, we stirred in the (not brown) sugar, (too much) vanilla, and eggs--then beat the mixture until it was smooth. Finally, we stirred in the flour, spread the stuff in a pan, and put it into the oven for 30 min.
We decorated the brownies using frosting (let's pretend it was homemade)--in a ziploc bag, mixed with food coloring. I'm still not sure why we felt the need to spell out "BILL," but I'm pretty pleased that it happened.

And The People Who Ate It (Rachel and Bill):

The People Who Could Only Inhale the Brownie Odors Longingly (Me):


If anyone could take 3+ hours to produce a decent batch of brownies, it's me and Rachel. We were exhausted and Bill was surprised, so all in all, we felt pretty accomplished!

Around the Family Table

The Food:
It is so nice to be back home again! There is nothing like family, good food, and little black puppy dog noses sticking their noses up from under the table hoping for scraps. We aren't supposed to feed them, but how can you resist. I love to feed the dogs, especially Misty who takes things so gently on the tip of her tongue. Marley is much riskier to feed if you value your fingers....Anyway, I digress.
On the menu tonight was spaetzle, salmon, and caramelized leeks. It was a very springy meal to complement the nice weather we have had here. The salmon was cooked rubbed in a mixture of olive oil and soy sauce and then sprinkled with salt and pepper before it was placed on the grill. The leeks were so good, that I will include the recipe below. It is loosely based on a recipe from last year's march issue of Cooking Light, but I ended up changing it up a whole lot.

1) Take two leeks and cut off the roots and the dark green leaves. Then cut it in half longways so that you can properly rinse the grit out from between the layers. Then you cut 1/4 inch strips down the stalk to create a nice julienne.
2) Melt 1.5 tbs of butter in a deep skillet on medium heat. When it is melted, add about 1/2 tbs of olive oil.
3) Add leeks and let cook for about 3 minutes or until slightly wilted
4) Add a quarter cup of dry white wine (I used a Smoking Loon Chardonnay!) and let cook a few more minutes
5) Add two tablespoons of brown sugar, 1 tsp salt (really to taste), and some pepper
6) Turn down heat and let continue to cook until the leeks begin to brown slightly

The People Who Ate It (Hooray, I finally remembered to take a picture!):
From the left: Brother Rob (19), Brother Jack (15), Mom Lisa, Grandmother Gene, and the dog is Blue who belongs to my grandparents. My dogs are suspiciously absent which is strange considering that there is food on the table!

Vietnamese crab noodle soup

This is from the dinner I hosted at my house a while ago for the Vietnamese student group on campus. The dishes were (from the top left): veggie skewers, fried tofu, crab noodle soup, rice, salsa chicken, bacon wrapped asparagus and fried meatballs.

The only thing that was truly Vietnamese was the "bun rieu cua" (crab noodle soup). I was quite proud of it because it turned out almost like the real thing I get back home.

That's me putting mashed tomatoes into the soup. The white thing in the other pot is rice vermicelli.

And the people who ate:

spring break thank you, part II

We made dinner for Becca's mom, for letting us stay with her and for driving us to the airport. Becca's mom is a big fan of Southwestern cuisine, so we made a polenta gratin with roasted poblanos and ancho puree, and grilled salmon with a tequila-lime spice rub. The polenta misbehaved in the beginning (the grain was too fine and got lumpy), but Becca beat it into submission.
We also made pecan butter, which is just pecans in a food-processor. Pecan butter on apple slices is my new favorite snack.

spring break thank-you gift, and a muffin debate

We baked whole wheat apple muffins for Becca's dad, who was kind enough to let us crash at his beachfront condo in Florida for four days. They turned out great, but the brown sugar topping was a little... eh. I would have made a streusel topping, but Becca and Emily thought that chopped nuts would have been a better idea. Something about preserving the "integrity of the muffin." I don't get it. I think integrity is preserved in a muffin when the muffin is delicious. Not that chopped nuts aren't great, I like chopped nuts a lot and I would happily add nuts to this recipe, as long as it's with streusel.

More Florida, More Feasting

It was another gorgeous day in Florida. I spent the day shelling, reading, napping, and soaking up some much needed sun. There is nothing like sunshine and salt air for the appetite though. Come dinner time, I was ravenous, and luckily I was in for another lovely meal.
Tonights menu was lamb shanks, a white bean side, sugar snap peas and a pear, gorgonzola and walnut salad.

The salad was truly divine! This salad is one of G-pa's favorites so it always reminds me of time spent with my grandparents. It has such a perfect combination of ingredients!

The lamb shanks were also a real treat! I quizzed my grandmother on her method so that we can avoid another night of disasters. She enjoys lamb shanks because they are quite economical. The real trick is to sear them before baking them in order to get a crispy caramelized outer coating. An added bonus is that this cooks off a lot of the tough outer fat. She reccomends baking them at 350 for 45 minutes (or more to increase the tenderness factor!) and then at 400 for 15 minutes. They are delicious atop the white beans (a recipe invented by G-ma herself), but she also says they are good on brown rice.

And for the recipe de jour, here is how to make those beans!
1) Add 1 chopped sweet onion, 3 cloves worth of minced garlic, and 1/2 cup of chopped carrots to a pan in which oil (or ideally some of the fat used for searing the lamb) has been heating
2) Cover the pan and cook over low heat until the vegetables are softened. You may want to add a bit of chicken broth to aid this process. Periodically scrape the browning off the bottom of the pan.
3) Rinse and drain 2 cans (15.8 oz) of Great Northern bean and add them to the pan. Also add a can of diced tomatos (G-ma prefers Del Monte's blend with garlic in it). Next add 1-2 cups of chicken broth, half the juice from the diced tomatoes, salt, pepper and dried thyme (2 tsp).
4) Put bean mix in a 5 x 10 baking dish. In G-ma's original recipe this was to go with lamb shanks (and this is how we ate it tonight), if you are going for this version arrange the lamb shanks on top.
5) Poke a few bay leaves down into the beans. Check the moisture level, you don't want the beans to be swimming but they should be moist enough to avoid drying out. Cook at 350 for 45 minutes and then at 400 for 15 minutes until beans are creamy and tender!

A Floridian Feast

The Food:
Yesterday, Olivia and I were lucky enough to leave behind the dreary New England winter to go to Captiva, Florida with my grandparents. After a very restful afternoon reading and napping on the beach, we were treated to a delicious G-ma supper. Right before dinner we had a sunset that looked almost good enough to eat!

The highlight of the meal was the fresh, local snapper. Apparently there is a technique to making fish come out so tender and moist. G-ma says that you have to cook the fish "very gently". First she coats it with a very thin layer of mayonnaise - the thin part is key, you are to apply it "like you apply cold creme to your face". This is then topped with salt, pepper and lime juice and popped in a 475 degree oven for about 7 minutes. A handy G-ma trick is that you know it is done when it feels like the fleshy part of your forearm, if you let it get to the point that it feels like your wrist you are up a creek without a paddle. When the fish starts to feel done, you turn on the broiler for about 30 seconds to give it a nice top. To top the fish off, G-ma cut up some grapefruit and orange and put it in the microwave for about 30 seconds to take the chill off. What a treat!

This was accompanied by a delicious sweet potato, apricot, and cranberry casserole. We will be very happy to have this recipe next time the fruit and veggie co-op gives us sweet potatoes.
1) Combine 1/2 cup water, 1 2/3 cups chopped dried apricots, 3/4 cups craisins, and a 12 oz. can of apricot nectar in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand, covered, for 20 minutes. Drain the mixture over a bowl, reserving both the fruit and the cooking liquid.
2) Combine sweet potato (about 4 pounds, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick) and 1/4 cup of water in a 3-quart casserole dish. Cover with the lid and microwave on high for 18 minutes, stirring about halfway through. Drain well and set aside.
3) Preheat oven to 350 degrees
4) Arrange half of the sweet potatoes in a casserole coated with cooking spray; top with half of the apricot mixture and 1/4 cup of sugar. Repeat procedure with remaining sweet potato, apricot mixture and 1/4 cup of sugar. Pour reserved cooking liquid over the casserole. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

The meal was rounded out by some nice broccoli.

The People Who Ate It:
We were all too eager to dig in to take a picture, but the meal was enjoyed by Olivia, G-ma, G-Pa, my Aunt Betsy, and me!

Curr-tastic

Another stunning curry happened tonight. I think this might be the best one yet, so I am going to try to make up some sort of a recipe so that we can recapture what happened.

1) Lots of chopping. I chopped up some Tofu Lin, a green pepper, cabbage, and two cloves of garlic
2) Some oil goes into a wok. In go all of the above. They sizzle around for a bit and then in goes a can's worth of chickpeas.
3) Some more sizzling. Then about 4/5's a can of coconut milk is added. After that I added some Tumeric, Cumin, Cardamom, Salt, Chili Powder, and a spice blend from a lady who sells stuff at the Farmer's market (basically a curry powder with some cinnamon in it).
4) Finally I added about a tablespoon of red curry paste and about 1/3 a cup of tomato paste.
5) This hung out on the stove at a simmer for like 20 minutes as we waited on rice and asparagus.

YUM!
p.s. We keep forgetting the people who ate it pictures, but I can at least give you an answer. This meal was enjoyed by me, Sarah W. and Olivia on the night before Olivia and I leave for Florida.

Flashback - Election Night

At this point, probably all we remember about election night was the glory of Obama winning (or the sadness at McCain's loss depending on your affiliations). I want to bring your attention back to another glorious happening that occurred that same day - our interactive election map cake!

Sure the state lines weren't too accurate and there were maybe even a few extra states in there, but it was still pretty impressive if I do say so myself. We frosted as we eagerly awaited the returns and then were able to celebrate with a deliciously colorful cake.

A quick refueling

This is Dancemasters Weekend at Wesleyan, a time when various choreographers and dancers come from across the country to perform and to teach master classes. I have just come home from a class with Carla Maxwell, one of the principle dancers with the Limon Dance Company. The class was pretty vigorous and I have returned dripping in sweat and craving a good nap. Unfortunately I am on a pretty packed schedule and soon have to turn around to go to Robert Battle's class. I am beat, but since he is the founder of the amazing company, battleworks, I could hardly skip it. So I found myself needing a refuel...and FAST!
I was ravenously hungry so I knew it had to be carby, but I also needed a heavy dose of protein to sustain me through the afternoon. Peeking in the fridge, I saw we had no quick and easy meat so I started thinking peanut butter. The final dish was highly experimental. It sounds pretty gross and isn't terribly easy on the eye (although the picture doesn't capture the warm curry color - it didn't actually match the table!), but it was absolutely delicious.

First I put some couscous (leftover from the night of disasters - see earlier post) in a saucepan and added a bit of milk. When it was nice and hot I put in about a tablespoon and a half of crunchy peanut butter. Thinking of thai food as inspiration, I added a few liberal shakes of curry powder. Upon tasting, it was missing some tangy-ness. I peeked into the fridge, hoping for sour cream, but only found cottage cheese. I decided to give it a go, so in went the cottage cheese. As it heated up those awkward lumps melted down, and the dish came together nicely. Now I am feeling ready to return to the dance floor! Hooray for experimentation!

Ricotta Gnocchi with Cabbage Sauce

I have always been a big gnocchi fan, but around two years ago I stumbled upon this recipe for Lemon Ricotta Gnocchi and it changed my life:

http://steamykitchen.com/blog/2007/07/09/pan-fried-lemon-ricotta-gnocchi

Before then I thought that all gnocchi was made with a potato or other vegetable base. The great thing about ricotta gnocchi is that there's no vegetable to cook and mash first. Also I find them much harder to mess up. My potato ones always come out doughier than I would like.


I've stopped measuring when I make them, but here is an approximate recipe. The recipe in the link above is a delicious lemony alternative.

1lb whole milk ricotta
2 egg yolks
1/2 parmesan cheese
1-1 1/2 cups flour - the dough should be somewhat firm and dense, but still a bit sticky
a big pinch of salt

Mix everything together is a big bowl, and then make long logs of dough around 3/4 an in in diameter. Now you have a choice, The link above suggests immediately cutting them up and pan frying them in butter. I have also found recipes that call for putting them in boiling water. The third option, which is what I used today, is to do both. I wrapped the logs individually in plastic wrap, and put them in a pot of boiling water for around 7 or 8 minutes. Afterwards, I took them out of the plastic wrap, chopped them into little cubes and seared them. I find the advantage of this technique is that they get crispy on the outside, but you don't need to leave them in the oil or butter for too long to cook and so they're a bit less greasy. No technique is better than the other, its all about what you're in the mood for. I think for the picture behind the title of the blog I skipped boiling and just sauteed them in butter.




I wanted a somewhat lighter sauce, so I took half of a cabbage which we have been trying to get rid of and boiled it till soft with some salt and garlic. I then took out the water, and pureed it with a bit of milk, salt, pepper, basil and garlic powder.

Unfortunately I forgot the people who ate it picture.

Night of disasters

There's this Herb Khoresh recipe with lamb shanks form the New York Times that I've been eyeing for months, and I finally found the time and the lamb shanks to do it... but ultimately it was disappointing. I didn't have dried Persian limes, so I did some research and some websites said that it would be ok if I substituted regular limes. Bad idea. Bad bad bad bad bad idea. It made the braise bitter and limey, in a really bad way. I called Avi in a panic and he suggested making a sauce from the braising liquid by adding some wine and tomato paste. Apparently I neglected to tell Avi/he didn't hear me say that there was a ton of lime in the braising liquid, because the tomato paste and wine didn't work at all. Now what would have been delicious lamb stock is just a big pot of bitter limey liquid and my salty tears (ok not really, but almost).
I rescued it, sort of, by taking the meat off the bone and adding some spices and figs and roasting in the oven, but not as good as I desperately wanted it to be. On top of that, Becca over-salted the cabbage salad.

Still, everything was edible.

The one great thing about dinner was Becca and Emily's curried stuffed sweet potato. It pretty much made up for everything else.

pot-stickers

Last week, at the fruit and veggie co-op, we picked up two giant heads of cabbage. None of us like cabbage that much, but we were determined to use them this time (the last time we got cabbage it ended up going straight to compost after sitting in our fridge for a month). A few nights ago Emily made a lentil and cabbage soup with lots of cumin. Last night we made cabbage pot-stickers.

I called my mom for the recipe, but the conversation went like this:

Mom: "mix some flour with some water and an egg."

Me: "how much flour and water?"

Mom: "some."

Me: "how much is some?"

Mom: "until it feels right!"

My mom can tell when things feels right, but I haven't practiced enough to know when that is. I grew up eating pot-stickers, but I've never made pot-stickers without adult supervision before, and by adult supervision I mean the adults made it and I sat in a corner playing with a lump of dough. Thankfully Becca was there to help. The blind leading the blind.

In the end I think we ended up with three cups of flour and approximately a cup and a half of water and one egg for the dough. The hard part was rolling the wrappers.

Then there was the problem of the cabbage: If it's just cabbage and mushroom and seasoning (as in, no pork), there's not much to hold the filling together in a neat lump inside the wrapper. Instead the filling was loose, which caused our pot-stickers to lose some shape. In the end, though, they were delicious if not entirely attractive.

Buffalo

The Food:
For tonight's dinner, Avi and I enjoyed some buffalo shoulder steaks. The shoulder is a tougher cut of meat, and it is recommended to either braise it or marinate it for 24 hours. We did not do either of those things (we did marinate it, but we were 19 hours short of the target), and the meat was a bit chewy, but not unpleasantly so.
It was served over a fluffy mound of mashed potatoes and beside a medley of steamed kale and cabbage. This whole ensemble was covered with a spectacular pan sauce that Avi made using some red wine, the pan drippings from when he seared the meat, garlic, brown sugar, worchetershire sauce, ketchup and other things that were added in a moment of inspiration and then promptly forgotten. The combo sounds pretty awful when thinking about it, but it was one of the best sauces I have ever had. It complimented the buffalo perfectly.

The Animal it Came From - some fun facts about buffalo and their meat:

• Buffalo meat has 70-90% less fat than beef and half as much cholesterol
• The meat also has more protein than beef
• The Buffalo is the largest land mammal who has lived in North America since the end of the ice age
• They actually aren't called Buffalo, the official name is the North American Bison. Buffalos are only in Africa and Asia.
  
• Bison can run up to 35 miles an hour
• During mating season, you can hear a male bison bellow from up to a mile away
• They can climb over fences up to 7 feet high.
  
• And a cheesy buffalo (sorry,bison) joke for good measure:
  

What does the father buffalo say to his son before he leaves? Bi-son!

Samosas and Beer

Last weekend Emily made samosas wrapped in fillo dough. They were delicious. I lost count, but my guess is that I ate between 12 and 239 samosas. 

Becca made the fresh, garlicky cilantro-mint dipping sauce in the food processor. 

3-4 cloves of garlic

1 one-inch piece of ginger

1 bunch fresh mint

1 bunch fresh cilantro

1 jalapeno, seeds and stems removed

1 teaspoon sugar

salt 

juice of 2 limes

1 tablespoon water

1 tablespoon olive oil 

 

shortbread cookies

For rehearsal last night I made Dorie Greenspan's chocolate-espresso shortbread cookies. Since I've been sick, nothing tastes right anymore, so I can't really tell you whether or not they were any good. However, they got good reviews from everyone else.

Also, the recipe calls for instant espresso powder, which I didn't have. As far as I know, instant espresso is only good for baking the occasional espresso-flavored thing, so it never made sense to have it around. I substituted one tablespoon of prepared espresso instead, but the flavor never came through. What's the best way to convert instant to real espresso in recipes?

( You can find the cookie recipe here. )

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful

The Circumstance:
Today was (in the word montage style preferred by Ms. Weisbuch):
blizzardy
blustery
bone-cold
bundle up
brrrrrrrrrrrrr
fuzzy hoods, falling snow, freeze fest, frigid......
I wanted, no needed, something satisfying and warm for dinner. I had grand plans to make a lasagna, and then brownies from scratch for my dancers at tonight's rehearsal. But, of course, life had to intervene. Its midterm season, and those plans would have been suicidal - yes delicious - but suicidal nonetheless.

The Food:
Avi and I decided that meatball subs would meet the above criteria of hearty, delicious, and most importantly, fast! We divided and conquered. I made meatballs using beef from Four Mile River Farm. I prepped the meat with salt, pepper, herbs de provence, an egg, and some grated Parmesan. Meanwhile, Avi whipped up a fresh sauce using diced tomatoes and green pepper. Once this was done, we assembled (sauce, meatballs, mozzarella cheese, and more sauce on top of a halved baguette) and broiled for a tasty dinner.


The Method/The People that Employed Said Method:
Avi took the classic sandwich eating approach...open wide, bite down, and repeat. Sure it may be messy, but it gets the job done. Favored by speed racers, superheros, and competitive food eaters, this approach had Avi taking his last bite a good 5 minutes before I did.



I took the civilized approach, using a knife and fork to tackle my prize. This is a technique favored by the seasoned procrastinator, it will guarantee that dinner takes up a nice, big block of time (especially if you decide to make a post about it afterward!)

Baby's all growed up.

Apparently some day I will have to feed myself without help from my housemates (and honorary housemates). Rumor has it that day is fast approaching. To prepare for this, I have been under their tutelage since September. A year ago--almost to the day--I took on baking for the first time. With Sarah Jeffrey babysitting, I produced a delicious batch of chocolate chunk cookies to be consumed by this boy I was visiting (hmm how little things change in a year, hmm hmm). I spent the spring and summer honing my baking skills, and I have spent most of this year playing helper to my housemates' (and honorary housemates') cooking endeavors.

So what happens when Grace is in Tahiti (luckyyy) and Em and X are at opera rehearsal? I think to myself, "I am hungry. There is food in the house. I can make that food. Right? I can make it yummy and have dinner waiting when my housemates come home."

And man am I amazing. I did it! A simple meal, but I did it aaaaall by myself. If you don't think this is impressive, ask Sarah to describe my baking efforts a year ago.



Baked tofu, mmmm. Marinated for a bit in some soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, and ginger, then baked for nearly an hour at 375 degrees. Attractive, no, tasty, yes.



And roasted green peppers. Green peppers are boring, but roasting is no-fail. They kept the tofu company in the oven. So apparently it's true: Anyone can cook. Even me. I might make it out there in the world. The food was successful: Em and X tested, Stega approved.