Mango & Tomato

6/20/10

Everything but a kitchen sink omelet

I'm so impressionable. Is that a word? Last night I was watching one of Bobby Flay's Throwdown shows: he was making omelets. That's why when I woke up today after a night of dancing, I decided to make an omelet. This would have to be a pretty filling omelet since it was already 11 am: brunch anyone?

Why is this an "Everything but a kitchen sink omelet?" Because you can put anything into it! I used the following ingredients:

red potato
red pepper
shallots
black cured olives
eggs (of course!)
basil
cheddar cheese

All you have to do is cube your vegetables. Check out the mini dice I was able to get: this would allow the vegetables to cook faster.

Here's what you do:
1) Heat a bit of oil in a pan. Add potatoes and cook for about 5 minutes. Then add peppers and shallots, season with salt and pepper and cook for about 5 more minutes, or until all the vegetables are cooked through and browned. Add olives and set aside.

2. Whisk your eggs with a bit of salt. In another pan, heat a bit of oil. Add the eggs and swirl them a bit. Make sure your heat is pretty low: you don't want much color.

3. Once the bottom of the omelet is set, flip it! Ok, I did not technically flip my omelet. I slid it on a flat plate and then carefully flipped it back into the pan.

4. Cook the omelet for a few minutes, then add your filling to one half of the omelet. Top with cheese and basil and fold.

5. You are ready to eat! I could have left the omelet on the stove for a bit longer to make sure the cheese melted more, but it was still good.

Breakfast is ready!

What are your favorite ingredients to add to an omelet?

oh, and HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!! Here's my dad with me (on the left) and Anna.

6/17/10

Mission: My first roasted chicken

I've known Robyn Webb for at least 5 years. Really, has it been that long!? I met her when I started assisting cooking classes at Sur La Table. Eventually I became her recipe tester for the work she does for cooking magazines and also tested recipes for her latest two cookbooks. As of January, I became Robyn's Editor/Photographer/Cook for her blog: Fabulous Food Finds.

What does that entail? It's almost exactly the same as working on Mango & Tomato, but I get paid for it! Each week, Robyn drops by my apartment with two recipes and 3 products she wants to feature on her blog. I then do the grocery shopping, cooking, take photos, edit the photos, edit Robyn's write ups and publish them on her blog.
Through this process I learn about ingredients and techniques that I might be unfamiliar with, get to keep adorable kitchen tools, and get to face my kitchen fears.

One of those fears is roasting a whole chicken. Yes, you've heard it right: I have a fear of roasting a chicken (although I did roast an entire turkey a few years ago when testing Robyn's Thanksgiving recipes). I get squeamish about handling things with skin, bones, and innards. That just grosses me out. My mom has been disappointed in me for a long time because I only buy skinless boneless breasts. Sorry: that's what I like. I'm actually not a fan of dark meat (although I can sometimes eat it cold, but not hot).

So when Robyn decided to show y'all how make a roasted chicken, I was a bit freaked out.

Not only did I have to touch the skin, wash the chicken and pat it dry, but I also had to reach in and pull out the random body parts stuck inside the chicken's cavity. I wish you could see my face as I'm typing this!

The "stuffing" was the easy part. Apples, onions, garlic cloves mixed with rosemary and thyme. Of course you can also go with lemons and other herbs.

I then used the pretty pink silicone ties, that I now own because Robyn featured them on her blog, to tie the legs and the wings together. Talk about recycling: no need to use twine. And who doesn't love pink?

You first roast the chicken breast side up, then turn it upside down to finish the roasting process.

Perhaps my oven wasn't clean enough, but my entire studio apartment started filling up with smoke. And of course I could not open my windows because it was 90 degrees outside. So I just prayed that the fire alarm would not go off. My prayers weren't answered. The fire alarm went off and even after getting a chair and attempting to remove the battery, the sound was blaring louder and louder.

My first concern was that I will set off my entire apartment complex's fire alarm system. My second concern was that if the fire fighters would arrive {and if some of them happened to be cute (as if!)}, I would be unprepared: no makeup, hair a mess, and let's not even talk about what I was wearing.

Luckily, after opening my front door and waving a kitchen towel back and forth, the fire alarm finally shut up!

And minutes later, I took out my roasted chicken out of the oven.

Before you say anything, YES, I realize that I took the picture upside down. Sorry.

The breast meat was juicy, the skin was golden, and my apartment smelled divine. The entire process wasn't as gross as I thought it would be (once I removed the chicken innards). Will I do this again though? Very unlikely. The chicken thighs went un-eaten, and I would rather spend 2 hours (Note: including prep, etc. The chicken wasn't in the oven for 2 hours! This is to clarify after I received a comment from a reader) doing something else than roasting an entire bird. I'm sure 90% of you would disagree with me though.

This experience reminded me of my many Daring Cooks and Daring Bakers posts: I was happy to try out those recipes once, but unless it's flour-less chocolate cake, I'm not doing them again.

Questions for you:
1) When you are roasting a chicken, what flavoring ingredients do you use?
2) What should I attempt to conquer next in my kitchen?

6/14/10

Stuffed Cabbage

It's incredibly hot in DC area, which makes me very reluctant to cook. Alas, unlike some of my friends who are satisfied with skipping dinner or having a bowl of cereal, I like real food. But in the summer it's not as enticing to make a big pot of soup or chili or bake a batch of lasagna that will last for days. And so, I'm usually left with making omelets, cold pasta salads or sandwiches.

Last weekend, however, I had craving for some comfort food, and an omelet would not cut it. For some reason, I decided to make stuffed cabbage. I have never made stuffed cabbage in my entire life! Instead, I make a lazy version of it: saute carrots, onions and garlic. Add ground beef. Add spices and cooked rice. Add shredded cabbage and cook till it's tender. Serve with sour cream.

Here's my version of Stuffed Cabbage: because I only had brown rice and did not want to use it, I decided to add Israeli cous cous. This recipe is made with ground beef, but you can use ground chicken, turkey, pork, etc.

Ingredients
1 head of cabbage, core removed
salt
2 teaspoons oil
4 carrots, peeled, diced
1 large onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon sage
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 pound ground beef
2/3 cups Israeli cous cous
14.5 ounce fire roasted tomatoes with juices + same amount of liquid retained from cooking cabbage
1 bay leaf

Directions
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Carefully put the head of cabbage into the pot and make sure the water completely covers it. Cook the cabbage for about 5 minutes. Carefully remove the cabbage and let it cool. Once it's cooled, separate the leaves. Don't throw away the water! You'll need about 2 cups of it for this recipe and can use the rest to make soup.

2. Add oil to a heated pan, add carrots, onions, garlic and spices and saute till softened.

2. Once the carrot/onion/garlic/spices mixture is cooled, add it to a bowl with ground beef and cous cous. Mix.

3. Top each cabbage leaf with a few tablespoons of the mixture and roll the leaf like a burrito.

4. In a large pot bring to a simmer fire roasted tomatoes, 1 can of retained cabbage water and a bay leaf. Carefully add your stuffed cabbage, bring to a boil, lower the heat, cover and cook for 40 minutes.

5. Serve stuffed cabbage with yogurt or sour cream. You can also add cheese, salsa, or even cubed avocados.

This dish is great as leftovers, but I'm not sure if you could freeze it.

Please don't forget that you have 2 more weeks to enter my recipe contest for a chance to win $50 in gift cards. Get cooking!

6/11/10

Tomato, Mozzarella, Garlic Scape Pesto Sandwich

Almost exactly a year ago, I made a Panzanella salad from tomatoes, bread basil and mozzarella. Last weekend, amidst cooking and photographing recipes for Robyn Webb, I needed a quick lunch and decided to make a sandwich from the same ingredients you find in a panzanella salad.

Alas, I had no basil. What I did have, however, was leftover garlic scape pesto.

This is definitely not a recipe, but just an idea.

Toast a few slices of bread, spread each slice with garlic scape pesto, place slices of fresh tomatoes and mozzarella in-between the bread slices.

This was a great summery sandwich that took just a few minutes to prepare. You can make multiple variations: use roasted peppers instead of tomatoes, use any other type of cheese, use regular pesto instead of garlic scapes.

6/9/10

Russian Food at Assorti in Arlington, VA

On my first day at my job (years and years ago), one of my co-workers asked if I play chess....maybe because my name is Russian? Another co-worker has been asking me about Russian restaurants in the area for years.

Yes, I'm Russian. But I don't drink vodka, don't really hang out exclusively with other Russians and don't really seek out Russian food, although I do cook it from time to time.

However, when one of my co-workers told me about a newish restaurant in Arlington that serves Russian food, I was eager to check it out.

And that is how my friend Jenn and I found ourselves at Cafe Assorti last Saturday. The place was decorated in sunny yellow and orange colors with hints of green. It was spacious, warm and casual.

We decided to order a few dishes to share.

First on the list: Vegetarian Salad “Vinegret” 4.95 beets, potatoes, kosher dills, marinated cabbage and carrots.

I've made Vinegret in the past but not with marinated cabbage. The salad was fresh, pretty to look at and enough as an appetizer to share.

For our second appetizer, we ordered Borsch for 5.25. I was a bit nervous about trying this beet soup. Why? Because I'm accustomed to my dad's borsch. Any time I visit my family in Seattle, there is a big pot of borsch waiting for me in the refrigerator. My dad spends literally hours chopping, sauteeing, and simmering the soup. We top it with either mayonnaise or sour cream, fresh dill and chopped garlic.

Before ordering borsch at Assorti, I asked if their version was served hot or cold: hot. I would have preferred cold soup since it was 90 degrees outside, but this wasn't my kitchen.

The soup came accompanied by a bit of sour cream and was made with meat! We usually make our borsch just with vegetables. As soon as I saw mini puddles of oil floating on the surface of the soup, I knew I was onto something good: that's how my dad's soup looks. And I was right! The soup was meaty, the vegetables were tender, and the flavor was rich. Jenn liked it too!

For the main course we ordered Pelmeni 10.95 (15 small steamed dumplings with beef filling, served with sour cream). The beef flavor was dead on, but the dough was a bit thick for my taste. I also asked for a little dish of ketchup as I like to mix sour cream and ketchup together (you can do the same with mayonnaise and ketchup). The other way to serve pelmeni is with oil and vinegar.

The service was courteous, the food was solid good and we were quite full, but decided to check out the dessert selection. Alas, most of the desserts weren't Russian at all, although they were pretty. So we ended up getting what did look Russian: vatrushka.

I asked our waiter to heat up the pastry and he obliged. The sweet cheese has the consistency of ricotta. The pastry was delicious and a perfect way to end our meal at Assorti. I'd definitely come back.

A few administrative notes:
1) Please remember to enter my 2 year anniversary Mango/Tomato recipe contest for a chance to win $50 in gift cards and a set of plates from Marx Foods (the deadline is June 30th)

2) My recipe for vinegret is in the 55 Knives cook book. Check it out ;)

6/6/10

Shakshuka

Shakshuka. Isn't that a fun word to say? But did you know it's even a more fun dish to eat? This is actually an Israeli dish: the basic idea is to cook eggs (to a soft point) in some tomatoes. You can do it either on a stove top or in the oven.

But of course I had to add a few of my own twists to the basic recipe.

Ingredients for 1

1 teaspoon oil
1/4 red onion, chopped
1 can fire roasted tomatoes
1-2 tablespoons garlic scape pesto
2 eggs
cilantro to garnish

Directions
1. In a non stick pan (I use a green pan), heat the oil. Add onions and saute till they are translucent.
2. Add tomatoes and pesto and simmer for a few minutes.
3. Make two indentations in the sauce and carefully break the eggs into them. Cover and cook for a few minutes till the egg whites are cooked through, but the yolks are still soft.

You can eat the dish straight out of the pan! Don't forget to garnish with cilantro! Break the eggs, mix them with tomatoes and pesto and use a few slices of bread for dunking.

Other things you might want to add to this dish: roasted peppers, cheese, garlic, and spices.

But really, the dish was great as is.

6/4/10

Galic Scape, Parsley & Almond Pesto

A few weeks ago my friend Cindy brought me 15 champagne mangoes, baby bok choy and a bag of garlic scapes. Mangoes and bok choy were consumed pretty quickly. Garlic scapes sat in my refrigerator for several weeks. They were headed towards the land of dead produce....

....until I decided to make a fake pesto. You see, regular pesto is made from basil, pine nuts and parmesan cheese with some olive oil. But I'm not someone who must make typical, by-the-book recipes. Instead, I decided to use garlic scapes, leftover parsley from testing recipes for Robyn Webb and some almonds I had in the freezer.

Ingredients
1.5 cups garlic scapes, cut into 1 inch pieces
1.5 cups coarsely chopped parsley
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup sliced almonds
2 tablespoons water
salt to taste

Directions
1. In a food processor combine all ingredients till smooth. Adjust salt levels.

So now you have this pretty green and garlicky pesto...what to do with it? Use it in pasta, in scrambled eggs, as a spread for sandwiches or on top of a pizza. Keep in mind that the garlic flavor in this recipe is through the roof!

You can also freeze this fake pesto without a worry since it doesn't have any cheese.

Stay tuned as I'll be posting a few recipe ideas I made with this pesto in the next few days.

6/2/10

Lunch at Bourbon Steak in DC

A few weeks ago I was invited to a photo shoot for a DC magazine at Bourbon Steak. It had to do with restaurants, technology, and food bloggers. I'm not sure if any of my photos will make it, but I'll keep you updated.

We sipped on alcohol free drinks made by Duane (the grapefruit one pictured below was my favorite!) and noshed on fries. But at the end, I wanted a real lunch!

And so I joined Mary of Arugula Files and Sangeetha for lunch at Bourbon Steak. This was my second time dining there (here's the first).

Sangeetha had an amazing non alcoholic cocktail: Cucumber, ginger, shiso. Mary and I sipped our diet Cokes :)

For food, I decided to try Korean Barbeque Salmon Burger with kimchi, kochujang sauce, jalapenos & shredded carrots and a salad, since I already had fries during the photo shoot.

How can you go wrong with a salad that has thinly sliced and fried potatoes on top of it?

The salmon was cooked medium rare, and its delicate flavor was offset by a punch of cilantro, a spicy glaze and kimchi!

Before we left, we decided to share brownies, but instead got served individual plates of dessert! Oh the horror! What's a girl to do? :)

It was fun chatting with Mary and Sangeetha and sharing a delicious lunch!

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