Delicious snack: no cooking required.
Brie: $4.99/pound
Cherries: $2.99/pound
Figs: $0.79/each
Results: priceless!
Check out what was for dinner
6/17/08
Welcome
Welcome to my new blog! Here I will write about my adventures in the kitchen.
Jewelry making, shopping, travelling and occasional "say what?" stories will be accessible through my original Shopping, Crafts, Travel, etc blog; recipes from Mark Bittman are here.
Have I confused you enough!?
Happy cooking, eating, and blogging!
6/15/08
Eggs A La Edward
Edward (my boss at Sur La Table) loves Indian food. So do I. A while ago he taught me a super easy twist on a "normal" egg recipe:
1. In neutral oil, cook cumin seeds (be careful not to burn them)
2. Add minced ginger and garlic; cook for a few minutes until the aroma of the two ingredients comes out
3. Add chopped red onion and chopped tomatoes; cook for a few more minutes
4. Pour in a few beaten eggs, seasoned with salt and pepper
5. Once the eggs are set, so are you (ha, ha, funny).
This is a super easy and flavorful dish. Top the eggs with fresh cilantro, and you are ready for a breakfast with an Indian twist.
Confession: as soon as I started cooking, I realized I was out of ginger. It was too late to go to the grocery store: I made the same recipe without ginger and it was still great with the flavor from the cumin seeds.
6/10/08
Cold Beet Soup
After buying beets at the Dupont Farmers' Market, I was talking with my dad, and he suggested I make cold beet soup. He then put my mom on the phone, and she gave me directions. Thanks, parents!!!
Note: I am not providing the amounts, because everything depends on how many people you are feeding, and your preference for each of the ingredients: beets, beet greens, cucumbers, green onions, eggs, buttermilk and dill.
Do ahead: 1) peel, slice and cook beets in salted water
2) once the beets are almost tender, add sliced beet greens and cook for a few more minutes
3) let the mixture cool
4) separately hard-boil eggs, and let them cool too
Assembly:
1) Place cubed cucumbers and sliced green onions on the bottom of the bowl
2) Add cooked beets, beet greens, and some of the liquid
3) Add a few pieces of a hard boiled egg
4) Pour in some buttermilk
5) Mix everything, add dill, and season with salt & pepper
6/8/08
Before & After: Orzo Salad
Friday night I worked at Sur La Table’s Greek class. One of the recipes was an orzo salad with snow peas, dill and scallions. During the class I suggested adding lemon juice and lemon zest to the salad to brighten up the flavors: my suggestion was accepted!
Yesterday I updated the above recipe with sliced spicy green olives, thinly sliced red pepper and fresh watercress. You tell me which one you like better!
Note: I used the ingredients I had on hand. Some of the other additions could have been feta cheese, sundried tomatoes, zucchini and of course, my favorite, tomatoes.
This just shows that cooking is about using your imagination and what you have on hand! Don’t be afraid to improvise: unless you are baking, you don’t have to follow a recipe to a t.
Double Mashed Potatoes
I love beets. I love potatoes. I love mashed potatoes.
A few days ago I saw a recipe for Roasted Beet Mashed Potatoes and was quite intrigued. I then remembered that Paige likes adding horseradish to her mashed potatoes. In fact, I had a jar of pink horseradish (made with beets!!!) in my fridge for a while now, and all of a sudden I had a great idea: make double pink mashed potatoes with beets and beet horseradish.
Ingredients & Directions: cook together an equal amount of potatoes (I used Yukon Gold) and beets in salted water until tender (note from Anna a.k.a. CIA girl: don't boil potatoes and beets!). Cool the vegetables slightly, peel and mash with warm milk and beet horseradish (the amount of horseradish depends on the amount of potatoes & beets and how much heat you can stand) and some butter. Season with salt & pepper and top with a dollop of plain yogurt or sourcream. Enjoy!
P.S. I left my double pink mashed potatoes lumpy. Feel free to mash yours as much as you like.
P.P.S. I had my double pink mashed potatoes with hotdogs (a childhood favorite!)
P.P.P.S. Jenny: see anything familiar? :)
6/7/08
Messy Eggs
My original plan was to make "egg-rolls". I was planning on slowly cooking two eggs mixed with milk and salt in a thin layer in my square pan, then rolling the thin layer of eggs with dill, and cutting across the roll like sushi.
Unfortunately, the eggs stuck to the pan. I decided to improvise: I took the eggs out of the pan, mixed in a few tablespoons of fresh dill, a dollop of plain yogurt, and topped this "mess" with some sweet chili sauce. Seriously delicious!!!
6/5/08
Mango Lassi
Rachel at Coconut & Lime is celebrating her 4th year blogging anniversary with a contest. She asked her readers to make one of her recipes and let her know how it turned out. I chose Rachel's recipe for mango lassi.
In a blender, combine 1 mango (peeled and cubed), 1 cup plain yogurt, and 1/3 cup of milk. Rachel suggested using simple syrup to taste, but the mango I bought from the store was sweet as is.
This was a stupendously easy recipe and tasted great. I liked that there was no ice: so the final result was not diluted. I served this delicious drink in my favorite martini glass.
Cheers!
6/2/08
Insalata Caprese Cousin
I absolutely love Insalata Caprese: tomatoes, mozzarella, basil and olive oil (sometimes I add balsamic, but more often I leave it out).
Today I changed a few ingredients and invented Insalata Caprese's Cousin: tomatoes, feta and watercress. Delicious!
I made little Napoleons from the 3 ingredients, but you can cube tomatoes and mix everything into a salad, or make concentric circles on the plate. Go to town!
Pasta with Vegetables and Peanut Sauce
Today was a busy day at work...I know! Seriously, I was looking forward to going home, making dinner, chilling out and going dancing.
The idea for dinner came to me a few nights ago: noodles with vegetables and peanut sauce. Anna recommended soba noodles, but I could not find them in my store, and bought multigrain spaghetti instead.
Vegetables: in canola oil cook minced ginger and garlic for a few minutes. Add pepper, sliced on diagonal, sliced bokchoy, and thinly sliced red pepper. After a few minutes, add cooked and shelled edamame. I like my vegetables still crunchy, and only cooked for a total of maybe 7 minutes.
Peanut sauce: a scoop of reduced fat peanut butter, a few splashes of soy sauce, sweet chili sauce to taste, and a few splashes of white vinegar and oyster sauce. Combine all ingredients until well blended.
Toppings: roasted and toasted peanuts and chopped cilantro.
before mixing
after mixing (also pictured Jenny's chopsticks...but I ate with a fork)
Notes: combine noodles with peanut sauce and vegetables. Add cilantro and peanuts on top. Enjoy!!! (You can use any combination of vegetables you want. Also, feel free to add chicken or beef or shrimp and a few dashes of lime juice).
P.S. TasteSpotting approved my submission of this recipe! Yay, SO happy!!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
