Zoodles Post #2

I posted previously about my zucchini noodles obsession, this is another version, which was also delicious, and is vegetarian if you're into that kind of thing.

 What you need:
-2 zucchinis worth of zoodles
-olive oil
-1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed well and drained
-2 chopped tomatoes (without the slimy guts)
-pesto
- 1/4c chopped basil

Put the beans and tomatoes in a large saute pan with a little olive oil. Cook them until the beans are hot and the tomatoes are cooked down a bit. Stir in a lot of pesto (like, a quarter cup), then add the zoodles. Stir everything around  until the zucchini is soft and everything is hot. If it's not flavorful enough add more pesto. Once it's all generally cooked stir in the basil. Top with Parmesan cheese and serve. Use basil for garnish.

 This was really good- warm and filling and homey tasting, but also a little different. I took it for lunch and it heated up well- the zoodles tend to make a bit of extra liquid when they sit, but in this case, it worked! Give it a try!

Cilantro Lime Pesto- Put This On Everything, Now!

I've had some kitchen issues, all of which were kicked off by a mouse who wanted to come in from the cold, set up camp in my oven, and refused to take any bait from any kind of mouse trap. He was finally vanquished, but had caused oven issues (in addition to the grossness factor), and until this morning when a replacement one arrived, my oven was non-functional. If it actually would warm up like it's supposed to, it might not be a big deal, but it's almost May, it's 45 degrees and raining, and I want to bake things!

The first thing I did to baptize the new oven was to roast cauliflower, which is one of my favorite things. I got the idea for the pesto from a friend, who told me a few weeks ago about a cauliflower-pesto combo that I've been thinking of ever since! I love pesto, normally, but this one is a little different and extra delicious. It also couldn't be easier.

What you need:
-big bunch of cilantro (I used a bunch and a half)
-juice of one lime, and zest
-1c olive oil (except, I used 1/2c oil and 1/2c water, and it worked just fine)
-1/2c nuts- I used 1/4c walnuts and 1/4c almonds
-3-4 cloves garlic
-a little salt
-red pepper flakes (or, jalapeno!)

What to do:
Put it all in the food processor or a really good blender, and push go. See, told you it was easy! Taste it, you want it to be balanced, not overpoweringly garlicky or salty, it should be fresh and bright and tangy. See how beautiful and green it is!

I roasted the cauliflower with olive oil, salt, and cumin, just toss it in those and stick it in a 400 degree oven (turning once or twice) until nice and brown. The beans were just cooked in a pan with cumin and corriander- super easy. I am really looking forward to having this on some fish or chicken, too (or you could do tofu, if that floats your boat).

Honestly, I want to put this stuff on everything!

Easy Tomato Soup + Mini Grilled Cheese = The Perfect Lunch

A few weeks ago I heard a lot about some very fancy grilled cheese (shoutout to YJP!). Let me tell you, you can only hear so much before you have to take action. Fortunately I had a day when I worked from home and was in dire need of a delicious lunch.

I wanted soup but didn't have any on hand so had to put it together on the fly with stuff from the pantry. I started out with a medium sized onion which I cut in slices and caramelized- this took about 20 minutes, so I just kept working and stirred occasionally. I also threw in 3-4 cloves of peeled garlic and let them caramelize as well. Once they were all nice and dark brown, I dumped in a large can of crushed tomatoes, and sprinkled in a little oregano and basil, salt and red pepper flakes. I covered it, and then waited until the tomatoes changed from bright to dark red. Once they seemed well cooked, I used the immersion blender and pureed it. 

Next come the sandwiches....

Usually I am a cheddar cheese on wheat bread grilled-cheese purist. However, this day I had a little baguette and muenster cheese, so that's what I used! I sliced the baguette into small pieces. I also sliced up an apple for crunch. After buttering the pieces with earth balance, I put on the muenster and apple, cooked and flipped.

I have to say, I loved the tiny sandwiches. First of all, they were good for portion control, second of all, they were just fun- they'd be especially good for kids. I also loved the quick and dirty soup- I think that even though there were only 3 ingredients (onion, garlic, tomato), caramelizing the onion helped give it a little extra depth, and since the tomatoes were tart it also helped mellow the soup out a little.

Overall, a perfect lunch on a cold day!

Cheater 'Eggs in Purgatory': Seriously, it Does Not Get Easier Than This!

You may remember this shakshuka (aka Eggs in Purgatory) from a few weeks ago:

It was delicious, and pretty easy, but it did involve some amount of chopping and having the right veggies on hand. I have now discovered a miraculous short cut that will change this from 'delicious brunch item' to 'emergency weeknight dinner'. What is this magical ingredient, you ask?

I bought this by accident, and it is now going on my grocery list forever. Here is what I did in version 2:
1. dump can of tomatoes in non-stick pan along with 1/4c water
2. sprinkle with smoked paprika (which is soooooo good) if you have it, or else cayenne. and salt.
3. cook tomatoes until they turn from bright red to darker, stirring periodically
4. make 2 holes, crack in 2 eggs.
5. cover pan and cook until egg whites are firm
(optional- grate some cheese on top)
6. Eat.

2 ingredients, 15 minutes, healthy dinner... this is what weeknight staples are made of!

Eggs in Purgatory

Well, there has been some blizzard cooking going on around here for the last few days. I'm not even going to show you my one millionth attempt to make bread (other than my faithful beer bread). I actually was so irritated that it didn't work (why why why won't my bread rise in the oven???) that I made a second, only mildly better, batch. But, what DID emerge from all of this is what I think will be a new go-to recipe that I'm pretty excited about.

I went to brunch this morning and on the menu was "shakshuka", basically eggs poached in a tomato mixture. The version I had was based on tomatillos (side note: spell check would like me to change 'tomatillos' to 'automatism'), so was green and spicy and delicious. I knew I had to try to make it myself!

I didn't have tomatillos, I actually only had cherry tomatoes, but this recipe does not seem to be very picky.

The stuff (generally speaking):
1 tomato, chopped (or, a bunch of cherry tomatoes)
1/2 bell pepper, chopped fine
onion, chopped (I only had spring onions, and used 2)
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
2 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp paprika
salt to taste
oil for cooking veggies
2 eggs
bread, to sop things up

What to do with it:
This amount of veggie worked for 2 eggs, if you want more eggs, increase as needed.
Pan selection is actually relatively important- since the egg will be cooking in the tomato mixture, not on the bottom of a pan, you want a pan that is small enough that a reasonable amount of veggies will pile deep enough to sit the egg in.  I used my little cast iron pan that I normally use for eggs.

Heat the oil, put in the garlic and onions for a minute, then throw in the tomato, pepper, and spices. Cover, and let it cook together until it tastes like the tomatoes are cooked. Honestly, all of my vegetable volume selection was geared towards filling the pan, but keep in mind they will all cook down a bit too. Once they are cooked, clear a spot for each egg and crack it in gently. Turn down the heat, cover, and heat. You really want to be sure the white gets firm, but the yolk should be soft or runny. I did a lot of poking the white with my finger to figure this out.

What's really good is that the yolk kind of runs into the tomatoes and makes them really rich and delicious. It's also good to have some bread handy, to sop up the tomato and egg.

This is one of those things that I can imagine being really flexible- you could probably throw in almost any choppable vegetable, and I'm sure you could make it with canned tomatoes, which puts it in the magical realm of things you can make on the fly with stuff from the pantry. You can also get away with pretty minimal oil which makes this both delicious and healthy! I'm sure I'll be having it again!

Grilled Pizza- Go Make This RIGHT NOW!

I don't know if it's some holdover from childhood birthday parties or what, but something about pizza is just fun. BUT, as fun as I might have thought it was before, frankly, now that I've made it on the barbecue, the fun factor has gone through the roof.

Now, I'd heard about this whole grilled pizza thing, and to be honest I was a little nervous and was pretty sure that in my hands the result would be a globulous mess that I would never in a million years be able to scrape off the barbecue. Clearly my cooking partner feeesh thought the same thing, because he came back from Trader Joes with a package of pizza dough, plus a backup pizza dough for when we wrecked the first one. But, not only did it turn out, it turned out so well we made them both!

Now, the first thing we did was use pre-made pizza dough because they have it at Trader Joes, it's cheap, and it's easy. We got one wheat and one herbed dough. The first step is to roll it out as best you can- ours were totally freeform. Meanwhile, clean the bbq well and then rub the slats with olive oil. Then, turn it on high and let it get really really hot. Take the flat dough out and toss it on the grill. Try not to freak out, it'll be fine. This part is very quick- you basically just want to cook it for about 3 minutes to kind of seal the underneath side of it.

Bring it in, flip it over, and put the side that was down, up and get ready for the toppings! First, brush the entire thing all the way to the edges with a light cover of olive oil. We made one with pizza sauce and one with pesto and liked the pesto one better, possibly because it was a little moister. Put on the other toppings- both of ours had peppers and onions, and one had pepperoni and the other had artichoke hearts and chicken sausage. 

Add a little cheese and you're good to go!

Now, you CAREFULLY slide it back on the grill, but turn down the heat to low. Let it cook until the cheese is all nice and melty, which will be about the same amount of time it takes for the dough to finish cooking.

Seriously, I'm not kidding, your mind will be blown. This does not taste like home made pizza at all, it tastes like something in some restaurant with a huge brick oven. Plus, it's fast, and it doesn't make your kitchen into a sauna, making it perfect for summer as well. 

Don't stop, don't pass go, don't collect $200... just go make this pizza!

Coconut Carrot Curry Soup

This is a really nice soup that you can throw together pretty quickly, but that is really warm and delicous and tastes way more complicated than it really is.

1 can coconut milk (usually I use light, but this was regular and oh, it was so decadent tasting)
5-6c water
2 big leeks
10-12 carrots, chopped
1 tbsp oil
1 inch plug of fresh ginger, chopped
2-3 tsp red curry paste (or to taste)
pinch of salt

Chop everything up, you'll ultimately blend it so don't get too bent out of shape about how they look, but they should be approximately the same size so they cook at the same rate.

Heat the oil in a large pot, toss in the leeks and ginger, and let it brown just a little. Then throw in the carrots. Cook for about 5 minutes. Then pour in the liquid. In general the amounts (like, of carrots/leeks/etc) don't matter so much, it isn't an exact recipe, but you want the liquid to cover the top of the veggies.

Add the salt and curry paste (I use the Thai Kitchen version, which they have in the ethnic section of my regular grocery store). If you like it spicier, add 3-4 tsp, less spicy, add 1. The only thing is, you don't want to overpower the taste of the carrots and end up with what basically just tastes like curry sauce, so I'd taste along the way.

Let it simmer for about 20 minutes, until everything is very soft. Then, blend with an immersion blender or else put it in a big blender. Continue to simmer a bit once blended so the flavors can really combine, then enjoy!

Given that it's basically just veggies and coconut milk it is amazing how rich this tasted, and the color is just amazing and bright. The only work is really the chopping, and then you just let it go- the whole thing takes about half an hour, of which 20 minutes is simmering. Definitely feasible for a nice winter week night dinner!

Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna

This is a nice winter meal that was the perfect thing to have baking and smelling delicious while decorating the tree, and then to be enjoyed while admiring the twinkling lights.

I found this recipe over at Four Corners Foodies but made a few minor tweaks.

Squash filling:
1 butternut squash
1/4c almond milk
pinch nutmeg
pinch cinnamon
salt/pepper
1/8c parmesan cheese

Spinach filling:
1 24oz package frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
2 egg whites
salt/pepper

Bechamel sauce:
4c almond milk (or regular milk)
4 tbsp butter (or butter substance of your choice)
4 tbsp flour
2 pinches nutmeg
pinch cayenne

Misc:
1 package no-bake lasagna noodles (I used Barilla flat noodles)
2/3c bread crumbs
1/3c parmesan
2 tbsp olive oil
optional, about  3/4c mozzarella

The first thing to do is get the squash going- cut it in half, remove seeds, and rub a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper, cinnamon, and nutmeg on it. Bake at 400 until it is very soft, probably about 45 min. Scoop out of the rind into a bowl. Mash the squash, stir in the almond milk and the parmesan. Taste it, it should be very moist and delicious- add more of whatever you think it needs. Remember that the béchamel will also have nutmeg so no need to go overboard on that. I did consider using canned pumpkin in this, and I think that might actually work if you don't want to spend the time roasting. If you do that, I'd recommend the larger sized can, because this was a pretty large amount of squash.

Thaw the spinach and really squeeze all the water out (one way is by putting it in a clean dish towel and squeezing). Mix well with the 2 egg whites and salt/pepper. You could leave the egg whites out, but they do help make it puffier.

Now, this was my first time making béchamel, which was convenient because just that morning we'd watched Top Chef where they had to make the four "mother sauces", of which this is one. At any rate, it turned out to be really easy, and also easy to vegan-ize, if you're into that kind of thing. Melt the butter, stir in the flour, and let it brown a little. In the meantime, heat up the milk so when you add it, it isn't cold. Gradually whisk into the flour mixture and add the nutmeg and cayenne. Bring it to a boil and let it cook for 10 minutes, being sure to stir a lot. Then you can set it aside.

Finally, it's time to assemble. Put a thin layer of sauce, then noodles, then spread with squash and drop spinach all over it. Keep going, I ended up with 3 layers of filling with a layer of noodles on the top. Pour any leftover sauce over the top. Then top with mozzarella, if you like, and then the breadcrumbs and parmesan, finally drizzle the olive oil on top.

This smelled amazing and looked BEAUTIFUL. It is also a really nice and hearty vegetarian main dish. You could make it vegan by making appropriate milk/butter choices, and eliminating the cheese (I'd add extra salt to make up for what is in the parmesan).

I served it with a really simple salad, and it was a delicious dinner!

Roasted Cauliflower and Smoked Gouda Soup... Tastes like Autumn!

The other day, I was in the mood for something hearty and comforting, but still somewhat healthy... thankfully, I have recently become addicted to Pinterest, which you should really check out if you haven't already (let me know if you need an invite! I have more). Some smart person pinned this soup, and I knew I had to make it immediately.

Unfortunately, the original recipe involved a lot of things like egg yolks and heavy cream, so I knew I had some work to do. Here is my version.

-1 onion, chopped

-1 head cauliflower

-1c white wine

-1 clove garlic

-2 bay leaves

-1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (good, but optional)

-1/4tsp cayenne (just a little heat, it is not a spicy soup at all)

-4 oz smoked Gouda (could use cheddar, or other smoked cheese)

-1/2 squeezed lemon

-4c broth of your choice

-1c milk product of your choice (I used unsweetened almond milk)

-salt/pepper

-2 tbsp olive oil

-2 tbsp flour

First things first... the cauliflower. I wanted to roast it. But, it occurred to me that since I was going to blend it, how I cut it was pretty much irrelevant. So, I decided to cut it ~1 inch slices, to make it roast evenly.

The nice part about this is, it just looks so pretty! I misted it with some olive oil and roasted at 400 until it was very soft and looked like this:

It only got prettier! Now I want to find some way to use this technique that doesn't end with a blender.

Next, the soup itself. Brown the chopped onion in the olive oil, then toss in the garlic for a minute or so. Sprinkle in the flour, and stir around to make a paste (this will serve as a thickener. however, while this is already fairly low carb, if you want to make it lower, it will probably be fine to leave it out- just save one of the cups of broth out and add it slowly as you blend the soup at the end to control the texture to make sure it isn't too watery). 

Cook the mixture briefly, then pour in the cup of wine. Cook for a minute, then add the broth, bay leaf, Worcestershire, and cayenne. Roughly break up the cauliflower and add it to the broth. Bring to a boil, then turn down and let simmer for about 10 minutes. (note: if you don't feel up to roasting, you can always just use raw cauliflower at this step, and cook it longer in the broth, until soft. I think roasted tastes better, though). 

Now, the fun part! Turn off the heat, remove the bay leaf, and get out the immersion blender (you can also use a regular blender or food processor, if you'd like). Blend the soup mixture until it's as smooth as you can get it. Then add the grated cheese- don't boil after you add the cheese, but keep it warm so it melts. As the last step, add the lemon juice, and salt and pepper.

It's amazing how hearty this feels, given that it's almost entirely cauliflower and broth, and there is less than an ounce of cheese per serving. But, it was just delicious!

(Side note- the salad you see there is a really nice light fennel citrus salad we learned to make at a cooking class (our first cooking class ever). If you're looking for a good class and live in LA, San Diego, Portland, or Seattle or I want to give a shout out to Hipcooks- we had so much fun at our class last weekend!)

Beet Bonanza

In a recent CSA box, I got a really nice bunch of beets, greens and all. Now, I come from a Scandinavian, beet eating family, but I myself have never been a beet lover. I've never really been sure if that was because I'm just not into pickled beets, or canned beets (I never remember seeing an actual raw beet). So, I figured that this was the time to find out.

My plan was to use both the beets themselves and the beet greens in separate dishes. I found a good looking basic recipe to start from, got a few additional ideas, and went from there.

The beets themselves:
-beets, peeled and sliced (I had 4 beets total)
-olive oil
-fresh chopped rosemary
-salt/pepper
-crumbled feta

Preheat the oven to 350. Toss the beet slices (being careful not to turn yourself and everything around you purple) in the olive oil and chopped rosemary, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven until a knife goes easily through, and the edges are nicely caramelized, about 25 minutes. Before serving, sprinkle with feta.

The greens:
-olive oil (1 tbsp)
-chopped beet greens from your beets
-1/4 chopped small onion
-2 cloves garlic, chopped
-small amount balsamic vinegar

When the beets are nearly done, heat the olive oil in a pan, brown the onion and garlic, and then put in the greens, stirring until wilted. Turn off the heat, and sprinkle with a few drops of balsamic vinegar.

The chicken:
The chicken isn't really the focus of this post, but in case you're curious, I put 2 thawed chicken breasts into a ziplock bag with some chopped rosemary, 2 tbsp olive oil, 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper, and marinated for about 2 hours. Then, I put it on the grill while the beets were roasting.

I have mixed reviews on this- the recipes themselves were good- I liked the greens a lot, and the rosemary and feta really complimented the sweetness of the beets. Unfortunately, I still think I don't like beets- they're just too sweet for me. But, if you do like them, I think this is a unique take and a nice flavor combination.

Spicy Polenta Casserole

My life right now goes something like this... wake up, drink copious amounts of coffee, go to work, run around all day, come home and watch something really educational like one of the many Real Housewives shows or ANTM (and the girl I liked tooooootally won on ANTM last week- woot!), then I hole up in my room and write grants until midnight while Charlotte stares at me balefully, collapse in bed. Rinse. Repeat.

You will notice that description does not include things "make delicious, creative, healthy meals every night, take pictures of them, and write clever posts about them". My actual dinners are focused more on what I can make that I can then microwave servings of for days on end. Fortunately for you, one of these actually turned out to be super delicious and now you get to read all about it.

What you need:
For the polenta:
1c cornmeal
2c milk (I used almond milk)
1.5c water
1/8c grated Parmesan
1/2c shredded cheese (I used the Trader Joes Quattro Fromagio, which is a staple around here)

For the filling:
a whole lotta chopped cleaned stemmed Kale (or, green of your choice)- probably 6 cups
1/4 onion, chopped
a little oil for browning the onion
1 package "Soyrizo" from Trader Joes*
1/3c water
1 tbsp butter (or, butter-like substance- I used Earth Balance)
pinch of salt (don't need much, what with the cheese and chorizo and all)

*now, you could use regular chorizo, but seriously, have you ever read the ingredients in that stuff? I mean, I'm not a vegetarian, but, man, that stuff is terrifying. The soyrizo is actually awesome, spicy, and unless you are a chorizo aficionado I doubt you can even tell the difference (but, your arteries can!). just try it.

Preheat the oven to 400. Grease an 8x8 baking pan with cooking spray.

First, you're going to make the filling.  Heat the oil, and cook the onion until translucent and soft. Then, toss in the soyrizo (don't put in the casing! it's plastic!) and stir it around. Put the kale in, put in the water (so it can steam a little) lower the heat, and cover the pan. When it is still pretty bright green, but is soft, uncover it and let it sit.

Now, you need to make the polenta (my instructions, and general inspiration, came from the Food Network). Boil the water/milk/salt. Turn down the heat, and slowly pour in the cornmeal, stirring as you go. Keep on stirring it, and it will thicken- you want to keep stirring because if it's lumpy, it'll be gross. It'll become kind of like the texture of boxed cafeteria style mashed potatoes (sticks together, but still stirrable), and then you're done. Stir in the cheese and the butter, and really mix it up.

Next, pour half the polenta in the pan, put in the entire kale/chorizo/onion mixture, and spoon on the rest of the polenta, you'll probably need to spread it around with a spoon. Then, bake it in the oven for 20-25min, it should be nice and golden brown. Wait a minute, then serve!

It was sooo good! Something about the cheeziness and the cornmeal and the spicy chorizo.. mmm. It also microwaved really well (which was important because I ate it for quite a few dinners/lunches that week). This could actually work as a breakfast casserole, it might go well with scrambled eggs. Also, if you want to use it as a side dish you could leave out the chorizo (the original recipe didn't have it). But, honestly, it was delicious, and I wouldn't if I were you. Anyways... try it!

Peanut Soup.... Try It. Seriously.

I am always on the lookout for delicious soups. I also have a longtime obsession with Thai Peanut Sauce, which I could probably eat way to often if you let me. Actually, if you expand it to just peanut butter, I could probably eat it daily for an indefinite amount of time. That stuff is delicious (for the record, I am firmly in the camp of old fashioned, peanuts only, crunchy peanut butter. none of that processed junk that doesn't even need go to in the fridge, which is just scary).

ANYWAYS... with my peanut-love, I was very delighted to see this Thai Peanut Soup recipe, which I made pretty much just as described.

The Stuff:
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
1/3 cup finely chopped celery
1/4 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1 tablespoon margarine/butter/oil of your choice
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon very finely chopped lemongrass (white part only) or 1 tsp finely shredded lemon peel*
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper (more if you like it spicy)
1 (14-oz) can chicken broth (about 1 3/4 cups) or veggie broth
1 (13 1/2-oz) can unsweetened light coconut milk (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup peanut butter (obviously I used crunchy)
1 tablespoon soy sauce

optional garnish:

1/4 cup chopped peanut

diced fresh cilantro 

thinly sliced red pepper

sesame oil 

What to do with it:

In a medium saucepan cook onion, celery, and finely chopped red sweet pepper in oil until tender. Stir in flour, lemongrass, and ground red pepper. Add chicken broth and coconut milk together. Cook, stirring, until mixture is slightly thickened and bubbly. Then just cook a few minutes more so it's really thick. When that's done, add the peanut butter and soy sauce at the very end. Then, garnish as you wish.


This was really really good... it was hearty and warm and flavorful and absolutely delicious. The original post says you can add chicken, which I'm sure you can  (obviously de-vegetarianizing it along the way), but honestly I don't think it needs it. It is very filling as it is. Try it, you'll like it!



* a quick note about lemon grass... it's one of those ingredients that always foils me- I never have it at the right time, and if I do buy some, I never use it all up. NO MORE! I posted previously about my giant excitement with the frozen herbs, well, someone got in touch with the good people over at Gourmet Garden, who make lemongrass in a tube! They had it in the produce section of my grocery store... this is genius, I tell you, genius!

Super Quick White Beans

This dinner was just a quickie, thrown together out of things that I had on hand, but it was pretty good, so I figured I'd share it just to show that you're never in quite as dire straits as you think...

What you need:

-1 can white beans (cannellini beans or white northern beans, or white kidney beans), drained and rinsed

-a few handfuls spinach, or if it is all you have, frozen spinach

-walnuts (toast them, seriously)

-half an onion, chopped

-1 sausage (I used Trader Joes chicken sausage)

-garlic, about a tsp

-a bit of olive oil

What to do with it:

Saute the onions and garlic in the olive oil until soft. Add sausage and cook until done or heated (depending on what kind of sausage you're dealing with, mine was cooked already). Dump in can of beans after draining/rinsing, including a few tablespoons water. Stir around and heat up. Toss in the spinach, heat until wilted (or melted if it is frozen). Serve, and top with toasted walnuts.

This entire process takes about 10 minutes, which seriously is not bad at all, and very handy for a week night. I think all of it went well together, but toasting the walnuts really makes it delicious and also makes it taste like something that took a lot longer to cook (of course, I'm also obsessed with toasted walnuts right now and am putting them on everything and keeping a big bag in the freezer at all times, so I may be biased, but, still, you should do it). Anyhow, if you have basic ingredients on hand, this could be your dinner! Also, obviously, you can leave out the sausage and vegetarian-ize the whole thing.

Kale Chorizo Soup

This recipe was made by special request of Feesh (my co-gardener across the city), who got extremely excited when kale appeared in my CSA box and immediately requested kale-chorizo soup. And, who am I to deny something that sounds so delicious?

The stuff:
1 onion, chopped
~3 tablespoons olive oil
1.5 lbs white potatoes, thinly sliced
8 cups water or low-sodium chicken broth (I used half and half)
.5 lb Spanish chorizo (spicy cured pork sausage), cut into 1 cm cubes*
a big bunch of kale, washed, with spines cut out, leaves roughly chopped

What to do with it:
In a large soup pot, start the onions, and add the chorizo. Once the chorizo is pretty much cooked, add the potatoes. Then add the liquid, and cook until the potatoes are tender- break some of them up to release the starch and thicken the soup. When everything seems ready, add the kale and just let it get soft. Then, serve!



*Ok, so here is the dilly with the chorizo. Basically, chorizo is not just chorizo- there is Spanish chorizo (which this recipe actually called for) and Mexican chorizo (which we used, because we are in LA, and you can't swing a stick in the sausage section of the grocery store without hitting some Mexican chorizo) and soy chorizo, which you could sub here, but I believe it is closer to the Mexican variety. What is the difference, you ask? Well, I'm not going to claim to be a chorizo expert and I'm certainly not interested in thinking too deeply about exactly what is in it, but I have learned this... Spanish, or Portuguese chorizo is firmer, and can be more easily chopped while Mexican chorizo is ground, has a softer texture and is spicier. Theoretically, you can't normally cross- substitute them (although, I did learn that in a pinch, you can actually chop up ham and season it with smoked paprika to approximate Spanish chorizo). However, in this recipe I'm here to tell you that the Mexican version worked just fine (which I assume means the soy version would also work just fine), so... do what you will!

Baked Squash, Sauteed Spinach and Shallot-Walnut Risotto

I've been posting a fair number of meaty dishes lately, so figured I'd throw the vegetarians a bone. Well, a bone is probably the last thing they want. This is me, throwing them a chunk of tofu. Except, really, there is no tofu involved and I'm out of analogies, so I'm gonna skip to the good part and show you the dinner:

This is definitely a Sunday dinner type of meal... there is nothing quick about it. But, it is a very warm satisfying meal to fortify you as you prepare to head out into the no-man's-land of Monday morning, and I thought it was delicious.

Risotto:
-1c arborio rice (there was a lot of price variation here, one container cost $8 and one cost $3- obviously I bought the $3 one, but I have no idea if there were ramifications from that.
-.5c white wine (a good tip if you don't want to have a whole bottle open is to use those small bottles at the grocery store for cooking)
-approximately 4c of the broth of your choice (veggie or chicken)
-2 shallots, thinly sliced
-a few tablespoons of the butter product of your choice (I used Earth Balance)
-1/3-1/2c walnut pieces, toasted
-sprinkle nutmeg
-1/3c almond milk or milk of your choice


Squash:
- 1 decent sized acorn or kabocha squash (I used Kabocha), cut into quarters or eighths depending on size
-2 tbsp butter product of your choice
-1 tbsp brown sugar
-pinch ground red pepper
-pinch nutmeg

Spinach:
-a few tablespoons leftover broth
-as much spinach as needed
-half tsp garlic
-few drops balsamic vinegar

What to do:
I'm going to do this not categorized by ingredient, but in the order I think you should do them to actually get this all done around the same time.

1. put the shallots in a large pan with some of the butter, and cook very low, to begin to carmelize- this will take a while
2. after shallots are started, slice up squash

3. Combine butter, sugar, pepper, and nutmeg in a small bowl, and rub onto each slice of squash
4. Place slices in a pan, and bake at 400
5. put walnuts in, to toast- take out when browned (much earlier than squash- watch this)

likely there will be a delay here, while the shallots caramelize and the squash bakes. when the shallots are very soft and brown, keep going:

5. pour broth into a sauce pan, and warm it up, so when you add it to the risotto, it is warm
6. pour wine into shallot pan, and cook for a few minutes so alcohol can burn off.
7. add rice, and cook for about 5 minutes, until lightly brown
8. start the process of gradually adding stock using a ladle, and stirring it until each spoonful is absorbed. I believe it is this slow process that lets the starch come off of the rice and thicken the mixture- you'll notice that the stock in the pan does look somewhat thickened as it cooks
9. keep going until the risotto is soft, but still a little firm. Then add in the walnuts, nutmeg, and almond milk, and stir in.
10. very quickly, use the remainder of the broth in the sauce pan to sauté the spinach-  just toss in a little garlic, throw in the spinach, and let it wilt.When it is wilted, sprinkle on a little balsamic vinegar.

To serve, spoon out risotto, serve spinach, and add the squash... yum!

Afghan Pumpkin- Part II

   I posted a while ago about my first attempt at an Afghan Pumpkin dish... as you may remember, I found it overly sweet and was a little disappointed. Never one to give up on half a pumpkin, I continued onwards... most of the pumpkin recipes I saw online were either the one I initially posted, or this one, which has the same pumpkin preparation, with the addition of lamb in tomato sauce. 

I wasn't really feeling the whole lamb thing, so as usual, hacked something together out of things in my cupboard, in this case, lentils and textured vegetable protein (TVP) which is an excellent substitute for ground meat in almost all contexts.

"Meat" sauce:

1/3c lentils, cooked (boil them until they taste reasonable, not too many directions there).

1/4c TVP, soaked in water to rehydrate

1/2 onion, chopped

1/2 red pepper, chopped (because I had it... optional)

1 small (8oz) can tomato sauce

1/2c water

~2 tsp fresh ginger or ginger paste

2 tsp garlic, chopped

1 tsp coriander

oil for browning

Basically, brown the onion and red pepper in the oil. Toss in the lentils and TVP, then the liquid ingredients and spices. Cook until it makes a nice sauce. If you're in a carnivorous mood, just use ground lamb or beef.

 

To serve, make some brown rice or other grain (I used the frozen brown rice from Trader Joes), heat the pumpkin from recipe 1 (http://yellowfishblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/afghan-pumpkin-part-i.html) and put it over the rice, being sure to get some of the sauce. Then, top that with the yogurt sauce (as a reminder, it was the easiest sauce ever- basically, just yogurt, garlic and salt), and then finally with the 'meat' sauce mixture.

 

This was vastly superior to the first version... it actually was a really interesting mixture of sweet (the pumpkin), savory (the tomato mixture), and tart (the yogurt sauce). I actually liked it, which was a big improvement from Recipe I which was just to sweet for me to eat. The main barrier between me making it again and not is that honestly, dealing with that pumpkin was a giant pain. I think you could probably do something similar with butternut squash, and that I might try. At any rate, its a really unique taste experience, a cuisine you don't run into every day, and in general is worth giving it a shot! 

*this version is vegetarian, if you came up with some replacement for the yogurt, it could become vegan, but I would absolutely not leave out the yogurt sauce entirely, it added a lot to the overall experience, particularly cutting the sweet of the pumpkin.

Weeknight Cooking

This is very exciting, I've added a new tag for your sorting pleasure... this time... week-night dinners, which are things that don't take hours to cook and are well-suited to throwing together on a week night. They still involve cooking, but nothing extensively long. Enjoy!

http://yellowfishblog.blogspot.com/search/label/week-night%20dinners

Some examples of things in this category are...

Balsamic Lentils
Peanut Noodles
Squash Soup
Pineapple Chicken Tacos
Apricot Walnut Chicken
Chana Masala
Butternut Squash Pasta
Chickpea Tomato Quinoa
Chicken Chili
French Lentil Salad
Shredded Asian Beef
Rosemary Chicken with Lemon-Almond Bulgur

Some of the things that differentiate these from other recipes are that, for instance, you can marinate meat all day in the fridge (for instance, the Pineapple Chicken Tacos, or the Rosemary Chicken), or, some are slow-cooker recipes (like the Shredded Asian Beef, Apricot Walnut Chicken, and Chicken Chili), others use ingredients like lentils and bulgur that are very quick cooking, or pre-cooked beans (like the Chana Masala). Good luck!

Chicken Adobo, NYT Style

Sometimes I get a bee in my bonnet (yes, thats what I said), and just can't keep going until I make the thing I'm obsessing about. Recently, I read an article on Chicken Adobo with accompanying recipe, and there was the bee.

You can go see the recipe yourself, for once I did exactly what they said to do... but, I was very pleased to see that it actually looked strikingly like the photo in the paper!

 

 We had it with salad, and some roasted sweet potatoes. I think it would be more traditional on rice, but, what can I say, this is what we did- actually, the tangy sauce was delicious on the potato! I highly recommend the recipe...

Pineapple Chicken Tacos

I have developed a bizarre obsession with pineapple lately. I have NO idea where this came from, but its been a few weeks and shows no signs of fading, so I've decided to embrace it. Today's results? Pineapple chicken tacos!

The chicken:
I used my tried and true marinating technique of throwing frozen chicken breasts into a ziplock baggie, putting the marinade in there, and letting it sit there while the chicken defrosts (in the fridge, to avoid food poisoning). I threw mine on the grill, because it I live in L.A. and you can do things like grill in January. You could also broil it.

The marinade:
1/2-3/4c pineapple juice (this could be from the can of pineapple you'll be using for the salsa in a few minutes, mine was)
2 tbsp soy sauce
1tsp fresh garlic
1 tsp fresh ginger
(my garlic and ginger are from a jar. I think it is a good solution- much better than dried, but much less work than cutting things up)
Sriracha/rooster sauce/chili sauce (or in a pinch, red pepper flakes)- this depends on taste- more for spicier, less for not.

The salsa:
half a diced cucumber
half a can of pineapple, diced (or, I suppose, well drained crushed pineapple)
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp sriracha/pepper flakes/etc
optional- diced red onion

I served mine on warmed corn tortillas, with the salsa on top, topped with avocado. Sour cream would have been good, too! This was relatively quick, healthy, and delicious!

Apricot Walnut Crockpot Chicken

I feel like in some ways I should call this "never give up" chicken, because I hate to admit it, but I almost did.

I am trying to learn to use my crock-pot, and there is a lot of variation in how well this goes (I nearly had a Thai-beef-curry induced meltdown a few weeks ago). I saw this recipe, which seemed easy and good, made some tweaks, and gave it a shot.

--11 oz jar of apricot preserves- it took me a while to find one without high fructose corn syrup, and surprisingly the grocery store brand is the one that won out

--1 T dijon mustard

--2 T soy sauce

--2 tsp ginger

--1/4 to 1/2 t red chili flakes, OR 2 tsp chili sauce (like Sriracha)

--6 chicken breast pieces or (thighs would work)

--1/4-1/2 cup walnut pieces

 Throw it all in there, and turn it on. I put it on low, and theoretically it should have taken 5-6 hours, but it took more like 4.5, probably because my chicken pieces were pretty puny.

Now, this is the point where I almost gave up.

My chicken did not look delicious like the chicken in the picture on the blog I read, it looked like flat chicken pieces in thin brown soup. Chicken floating in thin brown soup (chunky soup, because of the walnuts!) actually looks pretty gross. BUT, Charlotte reminded me that I am not one to back down from a challenge, and that cooking on a budget does not allow for throwing away large quantities of chicken, and I continued on. I took all the sauce, put it in a saucepan, and simmered it for a while until it was reduced into something thicker and more appetizing (see below).

It actually turned out! One note is, this was really sweet (I should have known something involving an entire jar of jam would be sweet), I think kids would like it as it is, but if I make it again, I'll double the chili sauce and soy sauce to jazz it up a little. Enjoy!

ps. I'd like to make a shout out to my sister-in-law Carmen, the Christmas-Elf who supplied me with some new and exciting plates to make my blogging photos more exciting... yay!