Mango & Tomato

7/18/08

Bittman's Coconut Butternut Squash

I have made an executive decision to terminate my Bittman in My Kitchen blog and publish all the recipes I either invent or take from cookbooks right here.

and now back to cooking....

I feel like I haven't cooked in quite a while and I really miss it. On Monday Anna and I went shopping and bought random produce hoping that we'll be able to make some meal plans from our collection of fruits and vegetables. I then remembered that I have not made anything from Mark Bittman's cookbook in at least a month, and decided to correct that travesty: thus, Coconut Butternut Squash recipe! Thanks Anna for you help :)

Ingredients:
butternut squash, peeled and cubed into 1/2 to 1 inch size
neutral oil
garlic, minced
ginger, minced
curry powder
coconut milk
salt & pepper
cilantro to garnish

Directions:
1) heat oil in a pan, add ginger and garlic and cook until they turn color and the aroma comes out

2) add curry powder, cook a few minutes

3) add butternut squash, coconut milk, and season with salt and pepper

4) bring to a boil, cover, turn the heat down and cook covered for about 15 minutes, stirring a few times

5) after 15 minutes, take the cover off, turn the heat up and cook till the tenderness you prefer

6) serve with cilantro

Thoughts:This was a very simple recipe to follow. In fact, this was a "complicated" version of a basic butternut squash recipe (garlic, olive oil, water instead of coconut milk, no curry, and parsley instead of cilantro). Bittman said to cook the squash until all the liquid was evaporated, but Anna and I liked the curry broth that was formed and left if. Anna added a squeeze of fresh lime juice to brighten up the flavors. And I think the recipe could have used some heat: chilies or red pepper flakes.

This would be great to make with sweet potatoes or even carrots. Give this a twirl :)

7/9/08

Anna Cooks

When I went to visit Anna in Des Moines for Thanksgiving, we made "French Toast Bites" and they were so good, Anna made the same dish a few days ago for our mom. Deliciousness!

The only credit I'm taking for this dish is helping cut up a watermelon for the fruit salad and taking this picture.

Ingredients and Directions:
1) cut up raisin bread or challah into cubes
2) in a bowl mix together a few eggs, cream, water, vanilla and brown sugar
3) soak the bread in the above mixture and then cook in oil until crispy (the inside will remain tender, the sugar will caramelize on the outside)

Give this a try!

7/8/08

Not too much cooking.....

...but a lot of eating. I feel like I've neglected this blog since I flew to Seattle to visit my family. Anna and I made potato salad with bacon, pickles, red onions, mayo and peas; burgers; and a tomato/avocado salad. Alas, I did not take any pictures.

I've also made a super secret project: you'll have to wait till July 30th to find out what it was.
Other than that, we've been eating out (sushi), eating what our parents prepare (soups, potatoes, burgers, etc) and just snacking on random things.

So I thought I'll just post a few extra pictures from our lunch with Lera today: we ate a lot of food :)

7/3/08

Pesto Chicken Grilled Flatbread

First of all, I did not make this meal! I came home after unsuccessful shopping trip, and just had no desire or energy to cook. I decided to check out a new place, Sandella's Flatbreads, that opened close to my home.

There were too many choices, but I ended up ordering a Pesto Chicken Grilled Flatbread (grilled chicken, roasted red peppers and tomatoes over mozzarella cheese and creamy pesto sauce).

Thoughts: good flavor, white chicken, delicious red roasted peppers, but definitely needs more of the pesto sauce. The flatbread is great! Definitely something you can easily recreate yourself: maybe add some pine nuts?

Indian (sort of) Cabbage

Cabbage was on sale...but what to do with it? Edward, from Sur La Table, suggested Indian Styled Cabbage.

Ingredients:
1 small cabbage, thinly sliced
1-2 tomatoes, cut into big chunks
1/2 inch of ginger, minced
1/2 jalapeno, seeds removed, minced
2 t cumin seeds
a pinch of cayenne
salt & pepper to taste
1 T ghee, or butter, or canola oil
water
Optional: yogurt, cilantro

Directions:

1) heat the oil/ghee/butter in a pan and fry the cumin seeds just until fragrant

2) add ginger and jalapeno and cook for several minutes

3) add cabbage and saute until the desired tenderness (anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes) [if necessary, add a bit of water, cover, and let cook further to soften]

4) season with salt and pepper as necessary, add a pinch of cayenne, tomatoes, and cook for a few more minutes

I served the cabbage with cilantro and Greek yogurt (to cut on the heat).

Thoughts: I had higher hopes for this dish. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't amazing. Anna suggested I add a splash of lemon juice, which did help.

So this was not technically "scrumptious," but I was already using one of Jenny's bowls, so decided why not use her plate too?

6/30/08

Watermelon Salad

After another day of touring DC with Misha: I was hot, tired and thirsty. Watermelon salad sounded great, and I was looking forward to finally trying the purple ruffle basil plant I bought recently.

Salad: watermelon, feta, basil, olive oil, and pepper!

Unfortunately, the basil plant had some little white bugs underneath the leaves, and I was not about to eat that! Instead, I used cilantro: delicious!

6/27/08

They are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TasteSpotting

When Life Gives You Lemons....

Technically, though, life gave me egg yolks. I was testing a recipe for Robyn Webb and had 5 egg yolks left: what to do? Well, lemon curd of course! Okay, the decision wasn't as fast as that, but that was the verdict. Plus, lemons were on sale!

Of course eating lemon curd by itself would be strange, so I had to come up with something...I had blueberries from testing a smoothie recipe and bought shortcakes at the store. Keep reading, or scroll down, to see the final two pictures to find out what I made :)

I found Alton Brown's recipe for lemon curd and went to town! (or to the grocery store, and then home, and then into my kitchen)

1) combine 5 egg yolks with 1 cup of sugar

2) Add 1/3 cup of lemon juice and lemon zest from 4 lemons
3) set the bowl on a pot of simmering water (make sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water) and whisk for about 8 minutes (mine took more like 12) until the mixutre is a lighter yellow color and coats a wooden spoon

4) take the bowl off the heat and mix in 1 stick of butter (!!!!) one piece at a time (I used salted because that was what I had)

What to do with lemon curd, blueberries and shortcake? Make dessert of course!
wow...that was soooooooo reach!

According to Alton Brown, lemon curd should last 2 weeks in the refrigerator covered first directly by a layer of plastic wrap.

Chicken Salad with a Twist

I'm going to NYC tomorrow, and tonight needed to clean out my fridge and make dinner at the same time. Creativity was necessary to achieve these both tasks. And so...

Chicken Salad with a Twist was born.

Ingredients and Directions
Combine in a bowl fresh corn, cut red pepper, chopped red onion, chopped cilantro, broiled chicken and hummus! Yep, hummus instead of a dressing: it was really good. And of course season with salt and pepper.

6/26/08

All You Need Is Juice

Facts:

1) unsweetened pineapple juice in the fridge at home
2) McDonald's was out of icecream
3) not too much time, but really want dessert

Idea: pineapple granita!!!

Directions: just pour pineapple juice, or any other kind of juice you like/have, into a Pyrex container (I used 9x13). Keep in the freezer for 30 minutes. Then every 15 minutes use a fork to scrape down the slushy that will start forming, until it reaches the consistency you want.

Serving suggestion: why not use fancy martini glasses? Really classes this up :)

If pineapple granita is not fancy enough, add some chocolate chips!

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