The Dinner Blog

Mediterranean Chickpea Salad

2011-01-16T17:32:00.001-05:00

Salad
2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 cucumber, diced
Red pepper, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
Chopped parsley
Feta cheese crumbles

Dressing:

Zest and juice of one lemon
1 garlic clove, mashed into a paste
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Combine salad ingredients in a large bowl. Combine dressing ingredients in a small jar or sealed container, shake until well mixed. Pour dressing over salad and toss well. Allow salad to sit in the refrigerator for one hour before eating.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Top Iron Chef Cambridge

2010-12-01T20:21:00.005-05:00

Can I first just say that I am SUPER excited for Top Chef: All Stars to premiere tonight? Top Chef is one of my favorite shows ever. I like to express my inner culinary nerd every once in a while. It's bound to be really dramatic and the food will be crazy - all of the contestants are immensely talented. I recently ate at Mike Isabella's (from the Voltaggio season...is one of them on the new show???) Mediterranean restaurant in D.C. and it was an incredible experience. I feel like maybe I might do some Top Chef analysis in this blog over the next season...how do we feel about that?

Over these last two nights, it was more like Iron Chef Cambridge, and the secret ingredient was 2 small strip steaks I bought on sale one day.

Meal #1

Balsamic Glazed Steak
I marinaded the first steak in a clove of chopped garlic, 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and salt and pepper. I let it sit about 30 minutes, then seared it in a super-hot pan with olive oil and butter. It's so thin it takes only 5 minutes to cook. The sugars in the vinegar caramelize and give the meat a crusty outside.

Arugula Salad with Pears and Blue Cheese
Totally simple and utterly delicious. Arugula leaves, crumbles of blue cheese, diced ripe pears, and a handful of thinly sliced shallots (what I had left from Thanksgiving). Pears and cheese is one of my favorite winter treats. I didn't even make a real dressing - I just sprinkled the salad itself with olive oil, my beautiful 18-year aged balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper. It is sweet, tart, and crispy.

Meal #2

Pan-cooked Strip Steak with Blue Cheese
I didn't fuss with the meat on my second evening. The steak was simply coated in pepper and seasoned salt, and cooked very quickly in butter and olive oil. As I took it off the pan to rest, I sprinkled the steak with some blue cheese crumbles. I covered it with foil and let it sit for 5 minutes. When the foil came off, the cheese had melted ever so slightly. Then I laid it on top of more arugula dressed with balsamic vinegar.

Roasted Dill Potatoes
I love dill - I think its a very underrated herb. It's absolutely delicious on roasted potatoes. Mine were medium size red-skinned, which I cut into quarters. They take 45 minutes in the oven and they are done. Easy as can be. Go heavy on the dill (I used dried but fresh is even better) and salt right as they come out of the oven.

The lesson I learned this week is that buying a set of ingredients that will work in several forms is very smart and very time saving. Pick up small packs of meat when you notice something on sale - steaks, pork chop, lamb chops, etc. all work with this template.

Hearty and Healthy Mexican Lasagna

2010-11-01T20:52:00.002-04:00

For dinner tonight, I brought back a recipe I love that I haven't made in a very long time - Racheal Ray's Mexican Lasagna. This lasagna has two convenient qualities - it's made in no time, and it is huge! This meal could easily feed 4 or 5 people, or if you are cooking for one, like me, feed you for a whole week. I'm not a huge fan of Racheal Ray anymore, though it is true that her 30 Minute Meals was the first Food Network show to really suck me in. I give her credit here - I began cooking at 7:15 and was eating by 7:45.

I, of course, made a few tweaks to Ms. Ray's recipe, but my changes are really just personal preference. I use ground turkey instead of chicken, mostly because I can never seem to find ground chicken in my local stores. I use fire-roasted tomatoes over taco sauce, and to make it a bit healthier, add low-fat cheese and whole wheat tortillas. The result is a yummy casserole full of chunky meat and vegetables. I like to serve mine with a dollop of sour cream, and a sprinkle of hot sauce. It keeps amazingly and like Italian-style lasagna, is often better the next day, once the flavors meld more. I'd imagine it would freeze fabulously as well.

Apple Turnovers

2010-10-24T20:37:00.003-04:00

Fall in New England means apples. It's a yearly tradition for most people I know to go apple-picking at one of the many local orchards. I sound like a snob - but I just can't eat supermarket apples anymore!

This year I headed out late in the season. My good pal Maria and I scored a 1/2 bushel of Cortlands, MacIntoshes, and Romes. With apples in tow, we went back to my apartment to bake up some treats! I'd picked up some frozen puff pastry at Trader Joe's earlier that day, so we decided to make apple turnovers. We didn't really follow a recipe - just chopped up a few apples and tossed them with brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, a bit of flour, and lemon juice. We found out quickly that you don't need much filling in each square of pastry!

Maria and I folded the pastry and sealed it shut using a fork. About 15 minutes in the oven is all you need - the puff pastry browns and crisps up, the apple filling sort of melts. They are so delicious and make you feel cozy! They were so simple, using pantry ingredients and frozen pastry, and took only 30 minutes in total. I can't wait to start my Monday morning with an apple turnover for breakfast!

"My lady, my tuna"

2010-10-17T20:47:00.004-04:00

I have a soft spot for tuna. The number of tuna fish sandwiches I have eaten in my life must be in the thousands. In fact, tuna salad was my earliest specialty, the first dish I can ever remember making on my own. Many Saturday afternoons at home, my mom and I would split a can, and she always had me make it. She told me she liked the way I did it better. I probably wasn't doing anything she couldn't do, but I think she wanted to encourage my budding interest in food. I've made it the same way for 25 years - a can of solid albacore tuna, drained to it's last bit (I hate tuna juice!), then mixed with mayo, pepper, and my secret ingredient, Lowry's Seasoned Salt. If a red onion or bit of celery are around, sometimes I dice it up small and add it. And often, I add a spoonful of pickle relish, my personal favorite. Then I spread it on slices of toasted wheat sandwich bread, and cut it diagonally, always. I prefer a slice of tomato if I can get it, but plain will do.

It's an ultimate comfort food to me and I've tried it many more ways over the years. I always notice recipes with tuna. I've made tuna pasta salad, tuna melts, tuna casserole, and tuna in tomato sauce. Tonight, I tried Campanelle Pasta Salad from Giada DiLaurentiis to sate my tuna craving. It has so many of my favorite ingredients - artichokes, tomatoes, capers, and of course, Italian tuna, kept in olive oil, rather than water. If you think you don't like tuna, try this version. The fishiness is much more subtle after marinating in the oil. It's a richer taste and texture.

During tomato season, this dish would be extra sweet! These little yellow ones were perfect.

The way this recipe is written, it makes a tuna sauce really. The tomatoes (I found cute yellow ones), artichokes, and tuna break down to be much less chunky than I initially expected. Next time, I would probably add another can of tuna. The biggest edit I made was significant - I added about 3 tablespoons of the 18-year aged balsamic vinegar I purchased recently in Portland, NH. It's the most delicious vinegar I have ever tasted! It's flavor is sweet, lightly sour, and so much deeper than a cheap version. It really upped the flavor of the pasta, counteracting the salt of the tuna and capers.

Delicious aged balsamic vinegar in a pretty bottle from LeRoux Kitchen in Portsmouth, NH. They carry an excellent selection of olive oils and vinegars, all of which you can taste in the store. They say this 18-year balsamic is their best seller!

The pasta is just delicious. Sweet, salty, sour, thick, and hearty but light. Giada rarely lets me down. It makes a huge amount of food, and will be great to bring for lunch this week.

On the Fly Stir Fry

2010-10-13T20:10:00.004-04:00

Hello, friends. I'm finally back to the blog after a nearly 2 month leave! Life's been quite busy lately and I haven't had much time for cooking, or blogging for that matter. Unexpectedly, several events in my life converged into a one month window. First, I moved to my own apartment in Cambridge, bittersweetly saying goodbye to my trusty sous chef and best taste-tester, Ken. That aside, I have managed to find the only studio in the city with a bigger kitchen than living space! I've also realized just how many kitchen items I've acquired over the years - by far the most of my boxes!

In the midst of this, I am moving into a different position at my job, which is exciting and overwhelming at the same time. And I've just been accepted to Boston University to start my MBA in January part-time. So yeah...there's a lot going on!

I miss cooking, though, and sharing with my friends. Now, I've returned to action with an on the fly stir-fry - Orange Scented Chicken and Peppers, I call it. I used to make stir-fry almost weekly, usually with frozen mixed vegetables, tofu, and a coating of Trader Joe's General Tso's Sauce. I overdosed on the meal a few months ago but have re-entered it into my menu, since it's an easy dish for one. I changed it up - chicken instead of tofu, fresh red and yellow pepper, onion, and garlic instead of frozen. Though I had my trusty TJ's sauce in stock, it felt too sweet and thick for me on this particular evening. Soy sauce would be better, and I spotted a rogue orange I'd bought for another recipe weeks ago. I added some of the juice, then a bit of zest. What Chinese restaurant doesn't serve a meat dish with an orange sauce?

The result was salty with a little sweet and the fragrance of orange. I served it over brown rice. It was much lighter than the heavy TJ's sauce and ten times healthier! Stir-fry is definitely back for me.

The Yummiest Sauce Ever

2010-08-23T20:58:00.004-04:00

Do you have a steak in your freezer? Do you have access to a store where you can buy a steak? Because you need to go get one now and make this recipe - Hanger Steak with Cherry Shallot Sauce. This is so delicious, I can barely describe it. I saw the recipe made last weekend while on 5 Ingredient Fix on the Food Network, and it was one of those moments where I immediately said - I have to have this steak.

I don't eat a lot of beef but I get a craving for it every once in a while, especially when it's paired with a sweet sauce. This cherry shallot sauce is incredible and true to the name of the show it came from, it has only 5 ingredients - garlic, shallots, olive oil, pomegranate juice, and cherry preserves. The sauce is savory and sweet, but not too sweet. It was all I could do to keep Ken from eating the rest of it with a spoon.

Cherry Shallot Sauce...how could you not want that?

I grilled up a simple steak and finally, I cooked it well for the first time! Cooking beef to the correct temperature is challenging and I've had my share of failures, either overcooking it or having to throw it back on the grill several times to get it right. I covered the meat in tons of sauce, full of the shallots and chunks of cherry. On the side I served some yummy baked sweet potato fries. It was heaven, especially on a cold, rainy night.

That is some good eats.

Get Me to the Greek...Salad

2010-08-10T20:25:00.003-04:00

It's Salad Tuesday again! The best day of the week. Tonight we went Greek! Greek food might be one of my top five kinds of food. I love the vegetables, lamb, and a good rice pilaf. Of course, a simple salad hits the spot and is incredibly easy to make.

Add a warm toasty pita and stuff a bunch of salad in there. It's just so good. Soft warm pita, crunchy cucumbers and red peppers, sweet tomatoes, and the tang of balsamic vinegar. Here's how I did it...

Greek Salad with Yogurt-Marinated Chicken
Serves 4

1/2 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon grill seasoning
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into large chunks
1 bag romaine lettuce
1 tomato, diced into 1 inch cubes
1/2 cucumber, diced into 1 inch cubes
1 red pepper, diced into 1 inch cubes
handful Kalamata olives
1/2 cup feta cheese, cubed
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
salt and pepper
2 pitas

Combine yogurt, lemon juice, and spices in a medium-sized bowl. Add chicken and toss to coat completely. Let sit for 5-10 minutes. Grill chicken until cooked through, about 10 minutes. Shred or cut into bite-size pieces.

In a small plastic container with a sealed cover, combine mustard, balsamic, olive oil, salt and pepper, and shake to combine. Add more salt and pepper to taste.

In a large bowl, add lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, red pepper, olives, feta cheese, and pieces of chicken. Toss with a few spoonfuls of dressing. Toast pitas and split in half, giving each plate half of a pita.

Summer Sunday Brunch

2010-07-11T19:23:00.003-04:00

And we're back! Sorry for the lack of posts lately - unfortunately my real work has not left me with much time for cooking fun meals. That's why it felt like the perfect time to throw a brunch! I had my family come over for frittata with corn, pancetta, and red peppers, cantaloupe salad, and sweet olive oil bread with fresh blueberry sauce. Doesn't that just scream summer?

Frittatas are a perfect one dish main course for a brunch. A frittata is just a method - almost any mix of vegetables, meat, and cheese work well in it. Corn immediately sounded delicious and I'm on a huge kick right now. My original thought was prosciutto but I spotted pancetta and went for it instead. I melted shredded mozzarella cheese on the top after adding garlic, red peppers, and scallions to the dish.

The cantaloupe salad was wonderful. I tossed cubes of cantaloupe with lime zest, lime juice, sugar, and honey. Mint was meant to be added but I was unable to find mint at the store (isn't that ridiculous?). It was unexpectedly delicious.

Finally, I made this interesting sweet olive oil quick bread. I've been dying to try an olive oil cake for a while now and I was drawn in by the ease of doing it as a quick bread (think banana bread). You don't even need two bowls to make this bread! There is no butter at all - only a 1/2 cup of olive oil - though I might add a bit more oil next time to make it just the slightest bit more moist. My only change was to top the bread with crushed almonds rather than pine nuts.

It baked up puffy and golden brown and was quite good. It was similar to a pound cake and lightly lemon scented. The blueberry sauce really took it over the top. For that I used Barefoot Contessa's Blueberry Sauce recipe, using just regular sugar and a touch of vanilla extract instead of vanilla sugar. As I mentioned, the bread was a little bit on the dry side so the sauce was a perfect additive. Sweet and a little tangy with lemon juice. How I love berry season!

Summer Garden Salad with Chili Garlic Shrimp

2010-07-01T20:26:00.002-04:00

We made a really interesting salad this week. Totally different from the types of salad we usually make based on this recipe called Summer Garden Salad with Chili Garlic Shrimp. It started with shrimp, tossed lightly in hot sauce and cumin. Alongside chunks of tomato, avocado, and cucumber, I added papaya, which added a welcome sweetness to the light salad.

In the dressing, I used half lemon and half lime juice because that's what I had, but it was still quite delicious. The sesame oil was the dominant flavor but went really well with the clean flavors of the rest of the ingredients. I also subsitituted basil for mint because frankly, I don't really enjoy raw mint in savory dishes.

In the end, the alterations I made pushed it toward something very Thai - ever had papaya salad? This had a similar theme. It was incredibly light and healthy - there are about 2 entire tablespoons of oil in the whole thing. We made this on a 90 degree day and it was exactly what we wanted to eat!

Chopped Summer Salad

2010-06-01T20:10:00.004-04:00

Once again, my goal tonight was to start with a recipe I liked, and make it my own. We began with this recipe from Martha Stewart for Arugula Salad with Grilled Chicken, Corn, Tomatoes, and Blue Cheese. It finally really feels like summer now and this salad hit all the right notes.

When I'd told Ken I was planning to make this salad he asked if it had blue cheese dressing or just blue cheese. Oooh...blue cheese dressing you say? I decided to search Food Network.com for a light blue cheese dressing - nothing with heavy cream or the like - and stopped on this delicious sounding Buttermilk Blue Cheese Dressing. The dressing was more like a vinegar-based dressing than a creamy dressing, but it has that same flavor and tang of the more generic type.

I made a few additional substitutions. Chopped rotisserie chicken replaced the grilled for mostly convenience's sake. The cranberries were added at the very last minute after the avocado I bought was totally rotten. Sadly, my local store was barren tonight - perhaps due to the holiday. But June means farmer's markets in New England, finally!

It's a quite tasty salad, with lots of different flavors running through it. I would have loved the avocado if it had made it to the bowl - definitely include it. I'm also a huge fan of fresh corn in salads. It's like a sweet little burst.

Chopped Summer Salad with Buttermilk Blue Cheese Dressing
Based on Arugula Salad with Grilled Chicken, Corn, Tomatoes, and Blue Cheese by Martha Stewart

Serves 2-3

4 cups arugula or spring mixed greens
3 plum tomatoes, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 ears fresh corn, kernels sliced off
1 avocado, cut into cubes
1/2 cup dried cranberries
2 cups cubed rotisserie chicken or 2 roasted chicken breasts, cubed
Buttermilk Blue Cheese Dressing (Tyler Florence's recipe)

Add first six ingredients into a large bowl and mix lightly. Toss with dressing, a few tablespoons at a time.

The "Lost" Meal

2010-05-24T19:33:00.010-04:00

I had my sister over on Sunday for the final episode of Lost, and inspired by this post at The Kitchn, I fixed us a Lost-themed meal. Pork, signifying the wild boar the characters hunted, would have to be on the menu. The Losties also ate mangoes found growing in the jungle, and as I am on a huge mango kick right now, a mango salsa sounded like the perfect accompaniment to the pork.

I'd been dying to try another braised pork shoulder since my incredibly successful pork braised in cider over New Years Eve. I wanted an easy recipe with few ingredients to be cost-effective, and simply because I don't think that this type of dish needs a lot to make it delicious. I ended up adapting my recipe from this tutorial How to Cook (and Shred) a Pork Shoulder and Cheater Pulled Pork from The Splendid Table.

Unfortunately I was unable to find a pork shoulder at my local, crappy store, but instead, they had country-style pork ribs, which are similarly laced with fat and very tender. They worked just fine. A beer braise gave the pork a lightly sweet flavor and it pulled apart like nothing. The onions are worth saving and mixing in with the shredded meat - they melt in your mouth.

To make the meal a little fun, I thought I'd be cute to serve it as a rice bowl. I cheated and bought a box of yellow Goya rice but any sort of rice will do. We layered black beans, pork, pickled jalapenos, and mango salsa, topping the bowls with a dollop of sour cream. It was comforting but summery; a mix of sweet, salty, and hot flavors.

I found the mango salsa particularly divine. This Tropical Fruit Salsa was the basis of the recipe. I couldn't find papaya so I doubled the mango. Scallions went in place of white onion (to accommodate the onion-haters I was about to serve), and parsley in place of cilantro (I'm not a big fan of the herb, and I already had parsley). It is colorful and sweet, with a pleasantly strong kick.

This recipe makes a huge serving of pork, probably enough for 6 at one meal, but it's worth it to have leftovers. Tonight, we put the meat into quesadillas, topped with even more flavorful mango salsa, thanks to a night to marinate.

Lost Rice Bowls
Time: 4 hours
Serves 4, with leftover pork

4 lbs. pork shoulder or country-style pork ribs
4 medium onions, quartered
5 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
3 tablespoons seasoned salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
16 oz. bottle of beer - lager preferably but any beer you like will do
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 15oz. cans black beans, drained of most of their liquid
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1 box of yellow Mexican rice (or any sort of rice you like)
sour cream, for serving
Mango Salsa (see recipe below)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Season the pork shoulder or ribs with the seasoning salt and pepper, coating all sides well. Heat olive oil is a large dutch oven, then add the pork to sear, 3-4 minutes per side. You should have a nice crust on the outside.

When all sides are seared, add onions, garlic, and beer. The liquid should just almost reach the top of the meat lying flat, so add water if more liquid is needed. Cover tightly and place in the oven.

Braise the meat for 3 hours, turning the meat over once during cooking. When it is done, the meat should break apart easily and the onions will be golden and melting. Shred the meat, discarding any bones, into a large bowl, scooping a few spoonfuls of braising liquid into the meat.

Sprinkle black beans with cumin, chili powder, and a dash of salt, and heat in a pot or in the microwave until warm. Cook the rice as the package instructs.

To put together the bowls, layer rice, beans, and pork. Top with mango salsa and a dollop of sour cream.

Mango Salsa
As adapted from Epicurious.com

2 mangoes, peeled, cored, and diced into small cubes
2 scallions, diced
1 small jalapeno, diced very small, ribs and seeds discarded
3 tbsp. chopped parsley or cilantro (I already had parsley, so I used it)
1 tbsp. fresh lime juice
1 tbsp. fresh orange juice
1/2 tsp. salt

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Salsa is even better if allowed to marinate a few hours.

The Big Salad

2010-05-18T20:41:00.004-04:00

Have you ever thought about what might have made up Elaine's infamous "Big Salad" on Seinfeld? I have. In fact, I imagine it may have been quite similar to the salad we made tonight - lovingly called That Good Salad via AllRecipes.com.

The salad is much like a slightly lighter and more gourmet chef's salad. Chef's salad was my first salad love, even if it was mostly for the pieces of meat and cheese in it. As I child I'd eat it drowned in ranch dressing! This version uses bacon (turkey for us) rather than ham, and leaves out the traditional turkey altogether, though it would be delicious in this salad as well. Almonds add a nice crunch, and we left our Swiss cheese cubed instead of shredded. I love a big hunk of cheese. The light lemon vinaigrette was all the dressing it needed, though I omitted the garlic. There was enough flavor already! We also threw in a bunch of kalamata olives at the last minute while cleaning out the fridge.

Indeed, it was a "big salad." This salad is a true meal all in one with meat, cheese, vegetables, and bread. That Good Salad is filling, but not heavy. Also, do yourself a favor and bake your own croutons! A baguette is barely $2 and they are done after 15 minutes in an oven. You'll notice the difference.

Time Warp Enchiladas

2010-05-15T12:55:00.004-04:00

Enchiladas are one of the first things I learned to make myself. My seventh grade Spanish class had a Mexican food day and I decided to make a whole pan of enchiladas. Admittedly, I cheated, then and now, by using pre-made enchilada sauce, but I think they can be very good. This week, I tried out Trader Joe's version, my "impulse buy" this week while shopping. For years following my enchilada success, I would make the same recipe over and over again with my mom for easy family dinners. It is so simple to make and incredibly comforting.

Start with boneless chicken breasts or tenders and dice them into cubes. Saute the chicken until just barely done with diced onions, garlic, and really any sort of vegetable you have on hand - I often use a green bell pepper. This week, I didn't have anything in stock so I used only the onions and garlic. Once the chicken is done and the vegetables are soft and brown, you're ready to roll up your enchiladas. I just place one 10 inch tortilla in pan (be sure to spray it with some cooking spray), then put about 3 big spoonfuls of the chicken mixture and a sprinkling of shredded cheddar cheese straight down the middle. Next, roll them so the seam side is down. Once they are all wrapped, pour enchilada sauce over the top until they are completely coated in sauce but not drowning, otherwise they can get too mushy. Bake 15-20 minutes until the cheese is melted, and that's it! I almost always serve with either some beans or Mexican rice. This night we ate pinto beans seasoned with a bit of cumin and chili powder.

Italian Chicken Salad

2010-05-12T21:51:00.003-04:00

Italian Chicken Salad is another masterpiece to add to the salad collection, I must say. This recipe is also via Gourmet. I only substituted sliced grilled chicken tenders for rotisserie chicken because it's what I had. This recipe called for home baked croutons to be added directly into the salad but I thought that felt heavy. I preferred the bread served in a hunk on the side, warmed with a bit of olive oil and rubbed with a garlic clove.

How could this possibly be bad? Mozzarella, roasted red peppers, olives...classic Mediterranean flavors. I went a little heavy on the Dijon in the dressing, too.

A Hearty Pasta Dish

2010-04-24T19:17:00.004-04:00

I was craving a hearty pasta. Lately I've been doing many more olive oil-based sauces so it felt like a great chance to change it up and break out the dutch oven. I chose this delicious-sounding dish from Gourmet called Pappardelle with Chicken and Mushroom Ragu.

Sauce...

Plus pasta!

The only change I made was to trade out the rosemary for a bit of oregano and red chili flake because oddly, I hate rosemary. I find the taste too woody and overpowering. I also used regular spaghetti as the pasta because it is what I had, but this ragu would taste good over any sort of pasta, long or short cut. I loved this dish for several reasons:

I adore chicken thighs. While fattier than breast, the thigh is tender and really absorbs flavor. These pieces of chicken just melted in my mouth. Just be careful not to fully cook them as you saute.
I loved the lightness of the sauce with the chunky tomato. This recipe calls for whole tomatoes to break up with a spoon. I was tempted to just buy diced tomatoes but I was smart to choose the whole. I guess that is what makes it a ragu.
Wilting in arugula added a nice bite and texture. I don't use greens enough in my cooking.

The recipe makes food for four at least and is super-cheap, so I'd highly recommend this for a potluck or dinner party! Hearty pasta craving satisfied!

One Pasta, Two Ways!

2010-04-10T19:38:00.005-04:00

Spring always includes fresh asparagus for me. It's prime season is now and it undoubtedly appears on sale at the grocery store, which makes it impossible to resist. I had a bunch calling to me from the fridge! My favorite way to eat asparagus is roasted, but this evening I needed something more of a main dish. Asparagus in pasta is always delicious. As I usually do, I found a recipe to start with and worked with what I had. The dish I began with Penne with Asparagus and Cherry Tomatoes by Giada De Laurentiis.

I chose a whole wheat pasta, which I rarely do, because I wanted to make this super-healthy. I had also been planning to use a jar of sun-dried tomatoes that I'd had for too long in place of fresh tomatoes, but last minute I noticed one single tomato that missed out on Salad Wednesday. Finally, I exchanged white wine and lemon juice for chicken stock -it sounded lighter. Lemon and asparagus work perfectly.

I just loved this. The asparagus stayed incredibly crisp and provided a nice mix of texture with the chewy pasta. I found the wheat pasta to be delicious - a bit nutty and with a firm texture. The peas were great too. And how could you make this any more healthy? OK, maybe I should lay off the cheese a bit but hey, its cheese!

Three nights later, in the middle of the week, I was desiring the rest of the whole wheat penne. I often make impromptu pastas, most often with just some olive oil, garlic, and sauteed chicken sausage. I grabbed whatever I had around - half a red onion, the remnants of a bag of baby spinach after Salad Tuesday, a few extra asparagus spears...and figured I'd just saute it all with garlic and toss with the pasta. Along the line, a few other ingredients were added - a splash of red chili flake, some cubed up rotisserie chicken, and goat cheese.

I recalled a recent episode of Giada at Home in which Giada had made a pasta sauce by simply mixing goat cheese with a little of the pasta water. It acts as a bind for a creamy light sauce. So I did this (in about 5 seconds) and tossed it all together. It was utterly delicious, and dare I say, one of the best pastas I've made. The sauce is delicious and I absolutely loved the crisp asparagus with the wilted spinach. As I usually do, I went heavy on the garlic and made sure to season it thoroughly. It is truly all about making each part taste good!

Penne with Asparagus in Lemon Sauce

8 oz whole wheat penne pasta
1 lb. asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tomato, diced
1 cup peas
1/2 cup white wine
juice of 1 lemon
3 tbsp. basil, chopped
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Cook penne in boiling water until al dente. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet and add garlic. Saute one minute, then add asparagus. Saute 5 minutes, or until just tender. Add peas, lemon juice, and white wine, then simmer about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and taste for salt and pepper. Simmer 3 more minutes.

Add pasta to the pan along with basil and toss, adding pasta water if more liquid is needed to coat the pasta. Toss with Parmesan cheese and serve. Serves 3-4.

Penne with Asparagus and Goat Cheese Sauce

8 oz whole wheat penne pasta
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 large or 2 small clove garlic, chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/2 lb. asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 tsp. red chili flakes
1 cup baby spinach leaves
1 cup rotisserie chicken, cut into 1 inch cubes (can substitute 1 chicken breast, roasted in the oven or grilled)
salt and pepper
3 oz. goat cheese

Cook penne in boiling water until al dente. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet and add onion and garlic. Saute three minutes, then add asparagus and red chili flake. Saute 5 minutes, or until just tender. Add spinach and chicken, and toss until spinach is wilted. Taste for salt and pepper.

Place goat cheese in a large boil and add pasta water, a little at a time, stirring to create a sauce. Add water until the sauce is still thick but will coat the pasta. Add pasta and saute to the bowl and toss together. Top with extra goat cheese crumbles or Parmesan cheese. Serves 2.

Salad Tuesdays (and Wednesdays) in Review

2010-04-07T20:59:00.007-04:00

Oh friends, I have been remiss in not sharing several weeks worth of our newly established Salad Tuesdays, but no longer. Some meals I just have to share! These are recipes you are going to want to try. I must say that the salads that Ken and I have crafted lately (its a total team effort!) have been some of the best dishes I've ever made! A few weeks ago, I posted the recipe for Spinach and Sweet Potato Salad with Bacon and Goat Cheese. Here are the newest:

#1 - Chicken Caesar Salad

No salad effort can go very far without a Caesar in the mix. We used shredded rotisserie chicken, freshly grated Parmesan, and made our own croutons with a baguette. Bake the cubes for 10 minutes at 400, tossed with a little olive oil, pepper, and season salt. We made our own dressing as well using this recipe, including anchovies! The dressing was sour and garlicky, and the homemade croutons really made a difference.

#2 - Italian Chopped Salad

This salad, or a variation on it, is one that is on many restaurant menus in Los Angeles, yet I have rarely seen it in the Boston area. I based this salad recipe on the item of the same name on the menu at Factor's Famous Deli, a Beverly Hills deli that I used to order lunch delivery from when I worked in the area. Romaine lettuce was tossed with diced turkey, diced salami, tomatoes, cucumbers, chickpeas, green olives, and Gorgonzola cheese. Usually this salad contains mozzarella cheese but I had Gorgonzola left over and I felt it would be much more flavorful. I was right. I made a really simple dressing of red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, olive oil, salt and pepper. Delicious.

#3 - Cobb Salad

Who doesn't love Cobb Salad? I certainly do, but I never eat it anymore. Years of reading about food and diet has taught me well that most restaurant Cobb salad's are incredibly high in fat and calories. "A heart attack in a salad," one might say. We tried to lighten it up by using turkey bacon, grilled chicken, a vinaigrette dressing, and not too much cheese. I used this recipe mostly for the dressing but it's basically the same salad we made. I just love the combo of salty bacon, creamy avocado, and tangy cheese.

Salad Tuesdays have truly become one of my favorite nights of the week. Do you have a good salad recipe? Let's share! I can't wait for summer so I have access to farmer's markets for fruits and vegetables. What's your favorite salad?

Spinach and Sweet Potato Salad with Bacon and Goat Cheese

2010-03-15T22:05:00.008-04:00

Some nights, everything just goes exactly right. The rain has subsided, and my window panes are dry! We're now looking forward to 4 or 5 days of sunshine and 60's! I think some of the beautiful weather found its way into my food tonight. Ken and I have instituted Salad Tuesdays. It's very exciting! We're three weeks in and tonight I hit the jackpot with my own creation.

I took inspiration from a very traditional spinach salad (bacon, hard boiled eggs) and this more complex spinach salad with sweet potatoes. This sounded like something I could combine with fabulous results. Fabulous it was! The flavors melded perfectly - the sweet and salty mix of the potato and the bacon was delicious. The dressing was perfect too and I'm really excited to have found this easy to make balsamic dressing. Try this salad. I promise you will love it.

Three main ingredients - spinach, roasted sweet potatoes, and bacon

Spinach and Sweet Potato Salad with Bacon and Goat Cheese
Serves 3-4

2 sweet potatoes, cut into cubes
1 red onion, sliced into 1/2 inch thick half moons
6 slices turkey bacon
4 oz. goat cheese, crumbled
salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
olive oil
1 lb. baby spinach
Balsamic Citrus Vinaigrette (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 425. Toss sweet potatoes and onions with olive oil, salt, pepper, and chili powder on a baking sheet. Roast for 20 minutes or until vegetables are brown on the edges.

While the vegetables roast, brown the turkey bacon in a skillet until crispy. Drain on paper towels and set aside. Let vegetables cool slightly before mixing the salad. Toss spinach, sweet potatoes and onions, turkey bacon, and goat cheese crumbles with a few tablespoons of the dressing.

Balsamic Citrus Dressing
Makes a lot - keep it in a sealed jar or plastic cup for other uses
Adapted from this recipe on Allrecipes.com

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste

Place all ingredients in a seal-able jar or plastic bowl with a lid, seal, and shake to combine!

This salad has great colors.

Beef and Barley Stew

2010-03-15T20:25:00.005-04:00

What else is there to do but cook when you're stuck at home monitoring the steady flow of rainwater through your windows? I needed comfort food, badly. My first thought was - beef stew.

Check out my beef and barley stew! I started with this recipe from The Kitchn for Beef and Barley Stew with Mushrooms. The barley sounded like a hearty switch in starch than the normal potatoes. I lucked out and found a well-priced boneless chuck round roast which I cut into cubes and seared in my trusty dutch oven.

Mmmm...meat.

Mmmm...veggies!

Then I sauteed a bunch of traditional veggies (I added carrots the original recipe) and a big box of cremini mushrooms. I deglazed with some Cabernet and filled the pot with a 3 to 1 combination of beef and chicken stock (the recipe called for 2 and 2). I let it simmer for an hour, then added the barley for another 45 minutes of simmering. My final addition was a handful of leftover frozen peas at the way end because, as I told Ken, it's never bad to add something green.

Ta-da!

The result was incredibly similar in thickness to Chunky Soup, which I have loved since babyhood. The meat turned out very tender and I really liked the use of barley. It's soft and chewy and truly comforting. It's like a savory oatmeal. I was glad I added carrots and would probably add more next time. But this stew did it's job - it warmed me up as the rain continued to pour.

Random Brownies are the Best Kind

2010-02-10T20:17:00.005-05:00

Baking is synonymous with snow. Isn't that what every one did as a kid on snow days? My mom kept boxes of brownie mix and cookie dough in the house for just that thing. We have an insanely small amount of food left in the house, so in almost desperation for anything to eat, I realized I had enough ingredients to bake something. Included in the pantry items was almost half a box of Hershey's Cocoa Powder, which led me to think - brownies!

Bam!

I easily found this incredibly simple cocoa brownie recipe from Alton Brown. It is essentially a homemade box brownie - made in one bowl and using the cocoa powder as the only chocolate flavoring. I had everything in stock and Ken and I whipped this batter up in no time. And scraped the bowl even faster.

Which is better, the batter or the brownie? Hard to say....

I had to go with a 9x13 inch pan because I don't have an 8x8, but it worked out fine. I just remembered to bake it for less time than recommended, since they would be thinner. Magically, at the 35 minute timer I set, they were perfect. Baked solidly through but fluffy and not at burned. They were very richly chocolate and sweet. That's probably from the 2 sticks of butter.

The edges were perfect.

Go big or go home.

New Recipes!

2010-01-25T19:29:00.003-05:00

We now return to your regularly scheduled Dinner Blog...

With the rain outside and having the apartment to myself tonight, I had a great opportunity to cook. Finally! I made my own version of three different recipes, all centered around my winter obsession brussels sprouts. The recipe I took this method from is Pasta with Shaved Brussels Sprouts and Pancetta. I had never thought of pairing this vegetable with pasta, but it looked delicious and colorful.

I made some simple tweaks to this recipe to make it my own, based on two other brussels sprouts recipe that I love. The first was to add a handful of raisins, inspired by Barefoot Contessa's Brussels Sprouts Lardons. The second was to splash the entire dish with balsamic vinegar at the way end, then letting it cook down a bit, the idea for which came from Mark Bittman's Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Figs. Finally, I used less pasta than the original recipe asked for, so that there was about an even amount of shaved sprouts as there was pasta. There is no need to weigh this dish down with extra starch.

I absolutely loved the result. The sprouts were tender, the pancetta was crispy, and the raisins and vinegar added a sweetness to balance the saltiness. It was hearty and filling. Next time I would up the amount of garlic and use golden raisins if I happened to have them around. I think they get plumper when you cook them in some liquid. Here's the real recipe...

Shaved Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta and Pasta

Serves 2.

2 tbsp. olive oil
4 oz. diced pancetta
1/2 yellow onion or 2 shallots, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 lb. angel hair pasta
1/2 lb. brussels sprouts, sliced thin
1/3 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup golden raisins
3 splashes balsamic vinegar

1. Boil water for pasta in a large pot.

2. Heat olive oil is a large skillet. Add pancetta and saute until starting to get crispy, about 4 minutes. Add onion or shallot and garlic, and saute until onions begin to brown. Add brussels sprouts, raisins, and chicken stock, and salt and pepper to taste. Turn heat to low and cook until stock is reduced.

3. Cook pasta until al dente. Add pasta to brussels sprouts mixture and balsamic vinegar, toss. Cook together on low for 2 minutes. Serve hot.

And...I'm Back

2010-01-02T22:01:00.003-05:00

I am shocked at how long it has been since I've written! December has been quite the busy month, interrupted by an extended period of being sidelined with a nasty cold. Now the holidays have passed, quickly, and I finally have a moment to update! I have been crazed but that doesn't mean I haven't had the chance to cook. Here's a bit of what I did in food on my vacation...

First, I helped my mom with our Christmas dinner, which for us Jews more more like a Hanukkah dinner on Christmas Day. Every year, my mom makes her special brisket. She cooks it the night before submerged in this sweet and sour sauce that has things like ketchup, orange juice, and Worcester sauce in it. She then makes my dad slice it and the sliced meat marinates in the sauce all night. It is so delicious. Everyone who's ever had it has liked it. The sauce is the best part. Then it makes an amazing sandwich on crusty bread the next day.

On the side we tried this absolutely decadent twice baked potato casserole. It's everything you love about baked potatoes in one dish. Potatoes are essentially mashed with butter, cream, shredded cheddar cheese, bacon crumbles, and scallions. The mixture is spread into a baking dish, then topped with yes, more cheddar cheese. I don't think I need to say any more.

My dad isn't really a potato fan (rare, I know) so we made him a special request - farfel with mushrooms. This recipe is a very traditional Jewish dish and the recipe comes from a Jewish cook book I got for my bat mitzvah. Farfel is a small round pasta, sort of like pearl couscous or pastina. In fact, since my mom couldn't find farfel at the local market, we used pastina. This is one of those dishes that is so simple you assume it will be bland, and then its so very not. The farfel is mixed with sauteed mushrooms and onions, parsley, and just salt and pepper. It's very wholesome and especially good when soaking up stray brisket juices.

This was just the first of my holiday meals. We hosted our very first dinner party on New Year's Eve! Stay tuned...

Chicken Stew

2009-12-03T20:15:00.003-05:00

Giada De Laurentiis' Chicken Stew is one my absolute favorite comfort foods. It's simple, but delicious, filling, and warm. It's perfect for a winter night...except that it happened to be a day of record heat here in New England. Who cares?

I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying my new dutch oven. This stew was another example of a dish that was both easier and better tasting when cooked in the correct pot. With this stew, the chicken is cooked on the bone submerged in the stew's broth of diced tomatoes, aromatics, and chicken stock. The chicken breasts cooked much more evenly and quickly than when I'd been preparing the stew in a stock pot. I make only a few adjustments to the recipe - I add a can of chickpeas and use oregano instead of dried thyme. I find the dried thyme too overbearing.

The best way to eat chicken stew is with a dusting of Parmesan cheese and a big hunk of warm, crusty bread. Eat one bowl of this dish and I promise you won't be hungry for quite a while. It also freezes well for an easy future dinner.

Thanksgiving and More

2009-11-30T20:13:00.005-05:00

First, Thanksgiving. It was amazing. Perfectly roasted turkey, my grandma's stuffing, Brussels sprouts with bacon and figs, sweet corn pudding, glazed onions, and homemade gravy. Plus berry crisp and pumpkin pie for dessert. Not to mention wonderful company. There were too many pictures to post here, so this is a link to my photo album on Flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39930838@N06/sets/72157622791866185/

I made sure to take home some leftovers too. I must have at least one turkey sandwich after Thanksgiving. I made some turkey salad on Sunday before football, which I had in a sandwich on wheat toast. I used some diced extra celery from the stuffing and some red onion, then just mayo and a dash of mustard.

For dinner last night, I made another smaller batch of the dish I'd made Thursday - Brussels with bacon and figs. I overbought on sprouts and hadn't needed the entire packages of either bacon or the dried figs. It is utterly delicious and very rich. Bacon, figs, balsamic? Yes, please! I also had one large piece of turkey breast left over, so I decided to make a turkey and bacon melt! I melted swiss cheese over the turkey on a soft roll, then topped it with a couple pieces of bacon. How bad can that be?

Pork Chops and Rice Done Right

2009-11-23T20:14:00.005-05:00

I made a great impromptu dinner tonight - grilled mustard pork chops and brown rice with peas and onions. I hadn't made pork chops in ages, but I picked some up on a huge grocery shopping trip last weekend. In anticipation of Thanksgiving and the coming cold month, I grabbed the car my sister and I share in order to do a massive grocery order. I made a list of ingredients for several recipes that could be easily made midweek, and tried to buy a few simple dinner staples like a pack of 4 boneless pork chops and 2 for $5 boxes of brown rice.

I ate out all weekend so I was craving something healthy, light, and homemade. The pork chops were my first idea because of how quickly I knew they would cook. I know mustard goes well with pork, so I decided to whip up a marinade with Dijon mustard, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and some thyme that I had left over from my apricot balsamic chicken. I mixed it up in my mini food processor in no time. I covered the pork chops in the rub and let them sit for about 10 minutes. I then grilled them for just a few minutes.

On the side, I decided to whip up some brown rice. That sounded boring, though, so I checked out the fridge and freezer for things I could add to it. I saw half an onion so I chopped that up and sauteed it in some butter and olive oil. Then Ken helped me add the rice, getting it coated in the onion and butter, and water. Toward the end, I threw in some peas. The problem was, as always, I have a rice problem. I can never make it right. It's so simple but I mess it up. At first it was too hard and there wasn't enough liquid. So I added some, but really too much. We saved it by stirring it over high heat to absorb the water. It was a little mushier than anticipated, but it kind of turned into a risotto. It made the whole thing kind of creamy.

Everything was delicious. The meat in particular was fabulous - you could really taste the mustard, the garlic, and particularly the thyme. It was tender but a little crispy on the edge. It was so simple but so good. Even better, it was super-healthy with lean meat, barely any oil, whole grains, and a little bit of veggie. The cost wasn't bad either, in fact, it was downright cheap!

Second Time Around: Apricot Chicken

2009-11-12T20:47:00.004-05:00

It is really fun sometimes to make something again. I like figuring out what I can do better on the second time around, and analyzing what I liked and didn't like about a recipe. The second time making a dish is where you perfect it. And luckily, I can go back now and see what I thought before! Tonight I decided to make Apricot Chicken with Balsamic Vinegar. This dish was one of the first recipes I wrote about on The Dinner Blog! I really enjoyed it, but one thing in particular that struck me was that it needed to be cooked in a bigger pot, more appropriate for browning meat and braising. Now I have my dutch oven.

As I expected, the chicken (I used boneless skinless chicken thighs instead of tenderloins, its cheaper and more flavorful) browned much more evenly than it had before. Wider shallow shape allowed for all of the chicken to be braised completely covered in sauce, and that in turn, thickened the sauce more as well. I also used about a 1/4 cup more of balsamic vinegar, remembering that I'd felt the sauce could have been more tart last time. It all worked beautifully and the dish produced this evening was much deeper in flavor. The sauce was so rich and the chicken was tender. I served it again over multigrain pilaf that I get at TJ's, but this would also be good over any sort of rice, couscous, or pasta. My only wish is that I'd had some crusty bread to mop up the extra sauce. Next time...

Eating My Way Through Washington

2009-11-08T20:59:00.005-05:00

This weekend I ventured to Washington D.C. to visit my good friend Lauren, a fellow foodie with whom I've been dining for many years now. Among our shared loves are Asian food and Jewish delis. I knew she would take me to some great places.

We started out at Bangkok Joe's in Georgetown. The space is very hip but comfortable, and people seemed to enjoy the bar area too. They're known for their dumpling bar, so we ordered chicken potstickers and pork and crab shu mai. The potstickers were really crispy and the filling actually had flavor, unlike a lot of dumplings you find these days. The pork and crab shu mai

In the morning we hit Luna Grill and Diner in DuPont Circle for brunch. It's a tiny place where you're elbow to elbow with your neighbor. They have a fairly standard menu of breakfast dishes. Lauren had a really yummy-looking bagel and egg sandwich, while I had a huge bowl of very crunch granola with vanilla yogurt and fruit, plus a side of very tasty sausage. It set us up well for a day of shopping!

For dinner, we went to Lauriol Plaza, an absolutely monstrous Mexican restaurant with 3 floors of seating. It was packed with people, and apparently averages a 1 hour wait on any given weekend. It's a fun place, and I could see why D.C.-ers enjoy it so much. Margaritas and sangria flow freely and the atmosphere is bustling. We were magically seated quickly, and ordered up a pitcher of white sangria that was so good. I ate entirely too many chips because I loved the really spicy and smokey salsa that they clearly make in-house. I ordered the enchiladas de mariscos - huge scallops and shrimp and a little cheese stuffed in rolled tortillas with a seafood sauce and avocado. I'd never really thought about seafood in enchiladas but these were so good. The sauce was a thickened seafood stock and very rich. I love Mexican food but I always appreciate a slightly different take on a standard dish.

On my final morning, we had breakfast at Kramerbooks and Afterwords Cafe, also in DuPont. It's a really neat little place - independent bookstore in the front, and cute cafe in the back. The have a great patio, which must be amazing in the summer. I was surprised at how upscale the menu was, featuring some interesting omelets and a cafe-cured salmon that I just had to try. It set me for a long day of traveling so I didn't have to look for food at the airport.

I had a wonderful time and I certainly ate well! Thanks to Lauren for showing me around town - I can't wait to come back! were a softer steamed dumpling with a thicker filling. I think they were my favorite. For entrees, Lauren and I shared Siamese pork noodles (really tender pork over the really skinny rice noodles) and a ginger beef rice bowl. The portions were huge and we enjoyed both dishes, though it was annoying when they charged us $2 to substitute a vegetable.

Perfect Night for a Chili Night

2009-11-01T19:19:00.003-05:00

First of all, it is my great pleasure to introduce to you...my new dutch oven! She's a beauty, a 5.5 quart oval Racheal Ray dutch oven in bright orange. Now onto chili...

Yes, I know, I'm swooning over a pot.

Today is November 1st. It was also the first day of daylight savings time, and it was pitch dark in good, old northern Boston by 5:30pm. It felt like the absolutely perfect night to make this pumpkin turkey chili I've been thinking about for weeks now. Pumpkin, in chili, you ask? Yes! Pumpkin puree isn't as sweet as you think of - its not pumpkin pie filling, its real pureed pumpkin with nothing added. The pumpkin thickens the chili and adds a warmth and bit of sweetness to the smoky and spicy flavors of standard chili. In the post about this recipe on the blog Serious Eats, the writer suggested that a dash of cinnamon would be appropriate, so after I seasoned the chili per the initial recipe, I tasted it to see if the spice would add anything. I decided to try it and mixed in two good shakes of cinnamon. The cinnamon, as well as a slightly heavier hand of cayenne, added a deeper flavor at the end of the bite.

The chili is ready to eat

I served up heaping bowls with a good sprinkle of shredded cheddar cheese and a hunk of multi-grain bread (Trader Joe's Peasant Bread). I have to have something to sop up my chili. It felt like fall and football. It eats like a great traditional bowl of chili, with a wonderful underlying flavor that only enhances the dish. We scarfed it up!

Just about to eat it up!

It couldn't have been less labor-intensive, taking me probably 45 minutes in total, from chopping to serving, and 20 of that is just waiting for it to simmer. Plus you only need one pot. It's incredibly healthy - the meat is turkey, the pumpkin has a wealth of vitamins and good stuff, and there's hardly a bit of fat in the entire thing. Finally, it is cheap and big! I spent only about $10 on ingredients and had all of the spices on hand already. Ken and I had huge portions tonight, and there's at least 3 more smaller servings left. I can't wait to try it again tomorrow for lunch with a big slice of bread. I'll bet the flavors will meld even more in the fridge over night!

A One Dish Meal

2009-10-26T20:29:00.008-04:00

Tonight I tried out a very simple and easy recipe I bookmarked off The Kitchn a few weeks ago, Chicken and Artichokes in Wine Sauce. With a last stop at the market for a lemon, it was a perfect night for a hearty but not time-consuming meal. The ingredients can be mostly found in your freezer at any time and this whips up in no time. On a slightly high heat, the artichokes brown up in just a few minutes, and don't need much tending to, so you can get the chicken cut and dredged in flour by the time they are done. Again, the chicken cooks up fast and the sauce thickens with just the bit of flour off the meat. All it is is wine and lemon (with a touch of butter I added myself).

A one-pan meal is the best.

The dish is a saute, but the artichokes really fill you up. I can imagine this would be really delicious over some orzo, as its origins are Italian. I recommend a heavy hand with pepper and definitely use a decent wine. There isn't much (or anything really) else in the sauce and you want to be sure to have good flavor. The lemon, added right at the end, provides a wonderful tart bite at the end.

The best part? It took barely 20 minutes to make. And, I can toss a bag of frozen artichokes in my freezer so I can make this almost any night. I'm also pretty sure I could use the same recipe with a different vegetable, and it would be equally good. What a great find!

Chicken and artichokes ready to eat.

Apple Crisp in Photos

2009-10-18T20:39:00.003-04:00

Apple crisp is the perfect thing to make when you need to use up a lot of apples...and a lot of apples I have. This apple crisp off AllRecipes.com was excellent. It's not quite as gooey as some crisps can be, which I liked. It was heavy on what you really want in an apple crisp - the crisp part! The sugar-oats-flour-butter mixture gets layered on the bottom and top of the sliced apples. The only change I made was to add about a cup of water. This recipe uses virtually no liquid, just melted butter in the topping, and most of the way through cooking I thought it looked too dry. A little water was all it needed to melt together a bit. On a day where it actually snowed (yes, in October) it was the perfect end to a cold night.

Apple crisp, straight out of the oven.

Look at that crispy goodness.

It was so yummy! It didn't even need vanilla ice cream (though I would have loved to have it, there was just no way I was going out in the snow!).

It's Apple Week at The Dinner Blog

2009-10-11T18:20:00.004-04:00

This weekend I took a wonderful apple picking trip to Red Apple Farm in northern Massachusetts. The foliage is beginning to peak and it was an amazingly beautiful trip. We piled into the car and enjoyed the drive out to the country. We arrived, parked, and made our way into the line for an open air barbeque that they do every weekend in the Fall. We had pulled pork sandwiches made with their own sauce and of course, a big cup of fresh made cider. It tasted like pure liquid apple and was so delicious!

After our hearty lunch, we got our apple picking bags and set off into the orchards. It was quite cold and very windy at first, but as the day passed, the sun appeared and warmed things up. The orchard was so beautiful and full of many kinds of apples.

I tend to like tarter apples, so I went mostly for the Macintoshes and Cortlands.

There were also red delicious - the kind of apples you give to your school teacher - and petite golden delicious, which aren't as popular but I like.

The foliage was out of this world. Some of the colors were so vivid. Mother nature at her best.

After picking more than enough apples, we headed over to the farmstand. Ken and I each bought a jug of apple cider. I got a big jar of apple butter, which I haven't eaten in years, and I can't wait to make apple butter and peanut butter sandwiches for lunch this week! And of course, I had to have some cider donuts. They were so delicious. There is something about cider that makes the donughts so moist and these were covered with cinamon and sugar. Just to die for. In the same veign, the first recipe I can't wait to make with my apples are these fabulous-looking apple cider muffins! They use cider in the batter and shredded apple in the muffins. They sound like a great breakfast.

I ended up with almost 40 apples! I am looking for ways to use them up, beyond obviously eating a lot of them plain or with a scoop of peanut butter! Sweet or savory? Ideas are welcome and I will certainly be posting up the results.

Orchard photos courtesy of Ken - thanks!

You Can Help - Teaching the Next Generations of Foodies

2009-10-01T22:36:00.002-04:00

I wanted to post this great fundraising campaign called the Serious Eats Brown Bag Challenge. Via the website DonorsChoose.org, they are asking you to brown bag your lunch, and donate the money you save to one of these fabulous food and health education programs. You can decide which project to fund, and the money will be directly delivered to the school's hands to get what they need. Cooking teaches incredibly valuable skills and I think, helps to open the minds of young people to different things. Plus, it isn't hard to see how hard obescity hurts a child, so teaching healthy eating at a young age is imperative. We need a new generation of contestants for Top Chef!

http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/10/serious-eats-donors-choose-brown-bag-challenge.html

A Spicy Weeknight Supper

2009-09-30T21:16:00.006-04:00

I decided it was time to make another batch of chipotle pork burgers since they were so successful last time. I bought most of the ingredients almost a week ago, but for some reason, I couldn't find ground pork anywhere. Three different stores didn't have it in stock so I finally caved and decided to try the recipe out with ground turkey. Luckily, it worked beautifully. My burgers grilled up juicy and with a wonderful crust on the outside. Again, I couldn't get over how well the chipotle flavor meshes with the grilled meat.

Burgers cooking away

To go with the burgers, I found the perfect recipe by Mark Bittman in last Sunday's New York Times. It was one of those recipes that I didn't even have to read through to know I would like it. Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Black Beans and Chili Dressing would undoubtedly compliment the burgers fabulously. Once more, Mark Bittman did not let me down. I never would have thought to mix the ingredients that are in this salad - roasted sweet potatoes, bell pepper, black beans, cilantro, and a dressing made with jalapeno - but they tasted like they were made for each other. The dressing was particularly delicious and had a great heat. In fact, I still have a bit of burn in the back of my throat.

A colorful and healthy salad!

All in all, the meal was a huge success! Filling, but not too heavy, and still healthy. It was so good that Ken did all the dishes!

The complete meal

Bacon, Egg, and Cheese

2009-09-27T22:16:00.004-04:00

I can't seem to adjust to my new football watching schedule after so many years of starting the day at 10am on the West Coast. So, football tends to make me crave breakfast food. Very often my friends and I used to get a dozen bagels and a box of coffee, or make breakfast egg sandwiches. Having a couple pieces of the really delicious bacon we'd used for BLTs earlier in the week left over, they seemed to be screaming to be put into an egg sandwich.

And egg sandwiches we made. Big toasted English muffins, scrambled eggs, bacon and muenster cheese. They really hit the spot!

Photo courtesy Ken's I-Phone

Later I snacked on these amazing black grapes. I thought they were so pretty they warranted a picture.

Mmmm Bacon

2009-09-22T22:14:00.003-04:00

BLTs for dinner tonight. Good whole wheat bread, romaine lettuce, surprisingly ripe tomatoes, and thick-cut apple smoked bacon. Yum!

Review: Dorado Tacos & Cemitas

2009-09-20T19:20:00.004-04:00

One of the things I miss the most about California is authentic Mexican food. While there are a fair amount of places in Boston to get a good burrito, there are few true taquerias in the area. Luckily, I've found one in Dorado Tacos & Cemitas. I'd heard only good things about the small restaurant that just opened in the JFK Crossing area of Brookline, so tonight seemed like a good night to take a walk and try it out.

Dorado doesn't have burritos on their menu, just a wide array of different tacos. The best deal is to get the taco plate, which includes any two tacos with a side of decent rice and very spicy black beans. I went with their housemade chorizo and the Ensenada - a more traditional take on the fish taco. The chorizo was well-spiced and sort of sweet, and best of all, not too oily. It came with pico de gallo and obviously fresh-made guacamole. The Ensenada was delicious as well, with a big piece of lightly fried fish, crispy cabbage, pico de gallo, and a very light crema. The fish was delicious and not oily either. The batter reminded me of a tempura. All of the flavors meshed so well, and nothing overtook the other. The whole meal was wonderful, inexpensive, and not heavy like some Mexican can be.

Chorizo taco with rice and beans
(Thanks to Ken and his trusty I-Phone for the photo!)

I'm excited to go back and try a few other taco combinations. I noticed someones shrimp tacos looking really good and Ken loved the swordfish taco as well. Dorado also makes cemitas - which are a type of Mexican sandwich. The ingredients sound similar to the tortas I ate constantly in Los Angeles and miss desperately, so I can't wait to give one a try. I highly recommend Dorado!

Dorado Tacos & Cemitas
401 Harvard St.
Brookline, MA
617-566-2100

Garlicky Shrimp

2009-09-09T19:08:00.003-04:00

I bought some frozen shrimp at TJ's last week and it felt like I better get to using them. I decided to go with pasta and based on what I had in the pantry, whip up a sort of faux-scampi, which in my mind basically just meant use a lot of garlic. While the pasta cooked, I chopped up a massive clove of garlic, then placed it in a skillet with about a half cup of olive oil and some red chili flakes. I started it cold, then brought the heat up slowly, to infuse the oil with flavor.

Meanwhile, I defrosted the shrimp by just running some water over them for a few minutes. To my dismay, I'd accidentally bought unpeeled shrimp but it didn't take too long to peel them. When the pasta was almost done, and the garlic was beginning to brown, I added the shrimp and sauteed them until they were just cooked through. I had a random jar of sun-dried tomatoes in the pantry (bought with a recipe in mind that I'm yet to get to and didn't have the ingredients for), so I mixed in a good helping of those. When the pasta was al dente, I tossed it directly into the skillet, adding a small pat of butter and some salt and pepper. A little parm finished it off.

The result was gloriously garlicky and very tasty. The frozen shrimp isn't anything special, but it is a nice change of pace to chicken or tofu. I have to admit I am getting pretty good at making up dishes on the fly. I used to make pasta often but I always felt like it would end up bland. I am really learning how to make my dishes have a lot of flavor and punch. Here's the recipe as I made it. Enjoy!

Garlicky Penne with Shrimp and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Serves 2

1/2 pound penne pasta
8-10 medium shrimp, peeled
1/2 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp. red chili flakes
1 tbsp. butter
1/2 jar sliced sun-dried tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese for sprinkling on top (optional)

Cook pasta is salted boiling water until al dente. Place olive oil, garlic, and chili flakes into a large cold skillet and turn heat on medium-low. Allow oil to lightly bubble and cook garlic until golden brown. Add butter and then shrimp, salt and pepper, sauteing until just cooked through. Stir in sun-dried tomatoes to heat through, then add drained pasta, and salt and pepper if needed. Toss together and add Parmesan cheese. Serve hot.

Monday Night is Right for Baking

2009-09-07T20:24:00.004-04:00

I was really bored today (leave it to me to have a really busy weekend and get a holiday off and still be bored) so I was looking for a project. Baking seemed like a great project! It didn't take much to persuade Ken to join me in a baking adventure, and we settled on Blueberry Boy Bait from Smitten Kitchen. Smitten Kitchen is one of the most impressive home cooking blog out there, and her photography blows me away. I'd seen this recipe for a fluffy blueberry cake (Smitten Kitchen's Deb shares the story of the original name of the cake) and been instantly drawn to it. It reminded me of one big blueberry muffin! The cake was quite easy to prepare, and it sure doesn't hold back on the butter. I knew it would be good, though! I actually pulled a little of the butter out and added a slightly larger amount of milk. We also realized that I'd only purchased a 6 ounce container of blueberries instead of the 12 ounces that the recipe needed, so instead, we added some raspberries I had on hand. What could be bad about more berries? It smelled delicious and looked perfect!

Oh delicious blueberry cake!

This cake is SO GOOD. I can't say one bad thing about it. It is so moist and fluffy that we actually weren't sure if it had cooked all of the way through while cutting into it, even though we'd tested it before taking it out of the oven. The cinnamon and sugar topping caramelized and made a little bit of a crispy top, and the berries were sweet and tart. I could have eaten the whole pan in one sitting. It would be good with almost any light fruit - thinly sliced apples, peaches, or strawberries - just nothing too heavy or chunky because it would fall straight through the cake. I cannot wait to make this again. I'll be eating it for breakfast all week!

Review: Gaslight Brasserie du Coin, South End

2009-09-07T12:41:00.004-04:00

I visited Gaslight Brasserie this weekend with a group of friends to celebrate two of my dearest friends' birthdays. The French bistro-style food was quite delicious, though I would have appreciated a bit better service and accessibility. Gaslight is in the South End, but all of the way down almost to Boston Medical Center. It isn't very close to any T station, which doesn't make it very easy to reach.

I loved the styling and atmosphere of the restaurant. There is a large bar and then a separate dining room, where we sat at a long dark wood table. It is quite dark inside, but I think it set the mood. I can imagine it would be a good place to go for a romantic date. I was happy to find that their wine list was reasonably priced, but it sure took a while to get it. We did have a couple members of our party arrive slightly late, but our waitress took very long time to take our drink orders, and oddly, didn't take them all at the same time. For the entire time we were there, she seems very disengaged and uninterested. It did look like they were possibly understaffed, but the waitress seemed to avoid us at times. My vegetarian friend asked her very early on about what the chef could make for her, and the waitress didn't really answer her. From reading a few other reviews on Yelp, it seems as though the service has been a constant issue. But, we were having fun on our own, and luckily weren't in a hurry, so we could mostly ignore the bothersome service.

The food, on the other hand, was wonderfully French. We started with cheese plates for the table, and I am such a sucker for bread and cheese. The plates featured a brie, a goat cheese, and an incredibly creamy blue cheese, with both an apricot and fig spread. They gave us 3 warm, fresh baguettes wrapped in paper, just like you would get on the street in France. There is little better than fresh crusty bread with goat cheese and fig.

Almost everyone at our table ordered steak frites - either the traditional with Bearnaise sauce, or what I chose - the bar steak. The bar steak was a strip steak covered with caramelized shallots and a mustard cream sauce, served with delicious skinny french fries. The sauce was incredible and not too rich or thick with cream. I haven't always been a big steak eater but I am happy to be introducing it back into my life more. Turns out you just need to eat properly cooked and seasoned meat. Everyone was pleased with their meals, it seemed, even the vegetarian, who made an easy meal of side dishes, including some really delicious roasted parsnips that I tasted.

We were pretty full for dessert but they did bring us a couple dishes with candles so we could wish our friends a happy birthday. The chocolate lava cake was just fine for me, but the cherry clafoutis was much richer. I would go back to Gaslight again, but probably not with a big group. I would much prefer dinner at the wine bar.

Gaslight Brasserie du Coin
560 Harrison Ave.
Boston, MA 02228

Orange Braised Chicken

2009-08-23T19:01:00.003-04:00

After a weekend full of guests and many meals out, when Sunday night rolled around (all too quickly, might I add) I was in the mood to cook. It had to be very easy, though, I was too tired for anything more. I took a look through my Bookmarked Recipe folder to find a dish that fit the bill, and to knock something off of my never ending list of recipes to attempt. Orange Braised Chicken Thighs with Green Olives sounded perfect. The ingredients would be easy to find and inexpensive, and it didn't require much effort.

Though the recipe calls for skin-on thighs, I went with the boneless, skinless variety because I find they still brown well and you save some calories. I browned up the chicken, then the onions and garlic, and left it to braise in the orange and lemon juices. The only change I made was to add in a smidgen of cayenne pepper because I like spice. The recipe recommended serving the dish over yellow rice, so I bought a box of Goya. I didn't have to use too many tools or dishes and after the initial set-up, I only had to sit and wait for it to be done.

The result was a wonderful comfort food-type meal. The rice cooked up perfectly and the chicken had a ton of citrus flavor. The sauce was a little thin but really tasty and the green olives provided a salty bite through the sweet citrus. Ken had the brilliant idea to throw a little hot sauce over the rice, and it was a perfect finish. I might also increase the amount of spices used next time - I think the sauce could have benefited from a bit of smokiness and some heat. Overall, the dish was hearty but not heavy, and was exactly the type of meal I wanted to eat on a tired Sunday.

Burmese Food - Who Knew?

2009-08-16T00:45:00.003-04:00

A few fellow foodie friends and I (say that five times fast) recently started up a dinner club and last Saturday was our first outing. The idea is for the group of us to go out to eat once a month at an interesting restaurant. We want to experiment and try new types of cuisine. With that in mind, I suggested YoMa, a Burmese restaurant in the Allston area of Boston, for our inaugural meal. I found YoMa via one of my favorite websites, Yelp, and was sold by the endless list of fabulous reviews.

What I experienced at YoMa was no less than one of the best meals I've had in a long time. The restaurant is tucked away in a neighborhood off the T lines, and you would never guess the quality of food inside this little place. Burmese food is sort of a mix of the cuisines that surround it - Chinese, Indian, and Thai/Southeast Asian. There is lemongrass, chili, curry, and coconut. The menu at YoMa is huge and it was pretty difficult to choose a dish because everything sounded so darn good! It was a mix of curry and stir fry style dishes, noodles, and salads.

I decided fairly quickly on the Pumpkin Shrimp (here's a photo via the restaurant's website) and was quite impressed by it. The pumpkin was utilized in a savory was like a true squash - stewed in big chunks. It had a potato-like texture but more of a squash taste. The shrimp were large and very well cooked. The pumpkin and shrimp were cooked in a light sauce of crushed tomato, ginger, lemongrass, and cilantro. The dish came with a large plate of coconut rice (jasmine rice is standard but upon recommendation, I ordered the coconut rice for $2 extra and it was well worth it). The rice was sweet but not too sweet, and light coconut flavor melded well with the tomato and pumpkin. One of the particularly Burmese parts of the meal is that every dish comes with a small bowl of toasted spices - garlic, chili flakes, dried shrimp, and probably a whole bunch of other things that I can't identify. The topping adds a an extra crunchy layer of flavor and heat.

Our meal was just wonderful and everyone loved their dishes. I tried a bite of Ken's beef and potato curry and was amazed by the size of the chunks of beef. The service was also good - our waters were constantly refilled and when we arrived, we noticed that one of the staff had drawn a little name card for our reserved table. Talk about a personal touch! I definitely plan to return to YoMa for the pure fact that there were so many menu items that looked delicious and I need to try more things! The food was simple, fresh, and well-prepared, and importantly - cheap!

YoMa
5 N Beacon St
(between Brighton Ave & Cambridge St)
Allston, MA 02134
(617) 783-1372

yomaburmeseboston.com

Farmer's Market Dinner

2009-08-13T19:49:00.003-04:00

First of all, I wish everyone a happy football season, as the Patriots played their first preseason game tonight. It's an important day.

Thursday is also the Mission Hill Farmer's Market, or what is better known as two random farmers setting up stands in Brigham Circle. I always forget that it's there until I walk in that direction leaving my office and spot it. Today everything looked amazing. It really is peak season and their vegetables were bright and hearty. I spent a good 10 minutes pacing around trying to decide what, if anything, to buy, then noticed the barrels of "just dug" red potatoes. Truly fresh potatoes are incredibly delicious and much more tasty than store-bought ones. I was also drawn to the huge bunches of bright orange carrots, with big bushy Bugs Bunny-like tops. I bought a bunch of those as well. My total was $5.45 for the carrots and about a pound of red potatoes - what a great deal.

Bugs Bunny would be jealous!

My initial plan was to throw the potatoes and carrots together in the oven and roast them until crispy, but my mind ran with ideas on the bus ride home. I decided to do two recipes - plain roasted carrots, and Barefoot Contessa's French Potato Salad, since I also had dill and scallions leftover needing to be used. The potato salad I'll be doing on Sunday, and the carrots became part of my meal tonight. I peeled them, cut them on the diagonal, and tossed them with olive oil, sea salt, and pepper. They went into the oven for about 30 minutes on 400 degrees. With the carrots, I decided to cook up one of the extra ears of corn I bought for my couscous salad this week. I roasted it in the husks on the same tray as the carrots in the oven. It was a cool way to cook the corn but unfortunately, the corn itself turned out to be a dud.

The carrots, though, were incredibly tasty. There is such a deep flavor in freshly picked vegetables - it's like you've never really known what carrots taste like. They don't need much added - the little olive oil to brown them up and simple salt and pepper are enough by far. Last minute, I decided to make a mini cheese quesadilla to top it off. All in all a fine evening of weeknight cooking.

Summer Food

2009-08-11T20:05:00.002-04:00

Last week, my office hosted a very nice luncheon to celebrate the end of a summer student program that we sponsor, and surprisingly, the food was delicious. Normally we are forced into using the in-house caterers at the hospital I work for, but since we had this lunch off-site, we could pick whoever we wanted. We used Rebecca, founder of the small Boston chain Rebecca's Cafe (though she no longer owns it), and she told us upon ordering that she would be choosing some of the menu based off what she found that week at the farmer's market. We had poached salmon with mustard sauce, green beans in a light vinaigrette, and this amazing rice salad. The salad was so delicious, very light and using fresh ingredients, including one of my ultimate favorite summer items - fresh corn. As I ate the leftovers that Rebecca very nicely packed up for us after the event, I tried to figure out what was in it. She'd also added radishes, cornichons, and a good heaping of dill. It was exactly what I like to eat.

Fast forward to Monday night, when I decided to use up the box of whole wheat couscous I'd had for a while as a bed for some stir fry in lieu of rice. I made what I thought was a 2 person serving, but actually it was a 4 person serving. I had quite a lot leftover. That's when I got the idea to make my own version of Rebecca's rice salad with the couscous instead - brilliant! Of course, it was just my inspiration, and I added my own twists. Fresh corn was a requirement though, and I cut the kernels off an entire ear for the salad. Then I added chopped scallions (also in Rebecca's), halved grape tomatoes, fresh dill, and some feta cheese. A little salt, pepper, red wine vinegar, and olive oil was all the dressing it needed.

The result was actually somewhat similar to what I'd had last week but definitely my own. I always forget how much I like dill until I use it in something. The corn and tomatoes are at the peak of their seasons and were perfectly ripe. Today was hot and very muggy, and this light meal was the perfect end to a summer workday. I can't wait to eat the rest for lunch tomorrow! And, I topped off my night with a "healthy sundae" - Greek yogurt, strawberries, and Midnight Moo!

Sunday Treats, Then Healthy Eats

2009-08-03T22:16:00.003-04:00

I took a weekend trip up to Gloucester, MA with some pals and had my first experience at Woodman's, a seafood legend in New England. I'd requested some good, old fashioned fresh fried seafood and this was truly the place to go. They are well-known for their fried clams and other goodies, not to mention the pick-your-own lobster set-up out front. I'm not actually big on clams so I decided to go with the fried sea scallops. I couldn't believe the size of my "fried plate!" Each plate comes with both fries and some of the best onion rings I've ever had (why have to choose, I ask you?) and what must have been 20 huge scallops. As hard as I tried, I couldn't come close to eating it all. But combined with that sea air and the beautiful blue sky, it was an amazing meal that was quintessentially New England.

When Sunday rolled around, I certainly wasn't craving anything heavy. I decided to try my Penne with Chicken, Lemon, and Feta recipe again to see if I could improve it. I made the same recipe but added shallots along with the garlic, and mixed in some shreds of basil at the end. As I expected, the new ingredients added that extra umph and it was yet again quite delicious. Tonight as well felt like a light food night, so I went incredibly simple. I bought one random zucchini at the grocery store, thinking I might put it in the pasta, but I'd decided against that so I needed to use it up. Squash is so summer and I had craved it. I just sauteed some sliced zucchini with garlic, olive oil, chili flakes, salt and pepper, then added some chopped basil. I ate it over some Multigrain Pilaf from Trader Joe's, which is made from soybeans and pearl millet, flavored with a slightly Indian flavor. I never knew what millet was until I looked it up tonight - it is basically an ancient grain used mostly in Africa and India, which explains why it goes so well with turmeric and similar spices. I also use it as a rice substitute under stir fry, and that will be the leftover's job tomorrow!

2009-07-29T22:17:00.003-04:00

Tonight I hosted my parents at my apartment for our very first Boston dinner! It's been quite busy around here so I had to come up with a menu that I could make easily after work and didn't need a lot of prep work. It also needed to be light - no one wants to eat heavy when the air is heavy - and of course, take advantage of the fresh fruits and vegetables that have finally come into season in New England. I am eating as much of it as I possibly can!

The menu I settled on was Chili-Rubbed Steak Tacos with Tomato and Peach Salad. Yum! I used the spice rub from this Food Network recipe on a large steak I'd been storing since buying a double pack a few weeks ago (see Steak Night). I let the rub settle into the steak for about 30 minutes before grilling it. It took no time at all. The salad recipe came from Mark Bittman's 101 Simple Salads for the Season, an article he wrote for the New York Times last week. If you haven't read this yet, read it now. If you have a picnic to go to or you just want to use up the items you bought at the Farmer's Market, you will surely be able to find something delicious in Bittman's list. Tomatoes and peaches are among my favorite summer fruits (yes, tomatoes are fruits) but I'd never thought of pairing them. With the cilantro, lime, and onion, this salad sounded like a perfect companion for tacos, and it really was.

I went family style and let everyone make their own tacos. I wish I'd taken some pictures but there was just too much going on. I put most of the taco fixings on one big platter - thinly sliced steak, red onions, cilantro, shredded cabbage, and lime wedges. These are all of the traditional Mexican toppings like I always ordered in the LA taquerias. I also had some salsa verde and hot sauce. You can't have tacos without hot sauce! I learned from my last experience in grilling steak and the meat was the level of doneness I desired - rare but not bloody. The salad was absolutely delicious, and luckily the peaches and tomatoes were very ripe. With a light Chilean white wine, it was a great summer night meal and my parents were quite happy.

Penne with Chicken, Lemon, and Feta

2009-07-20T19:58:00.003-04:00

After I came home from the gym tonight, I was starving and wanted something hearty but not heavy. But, after a busy weekend I had not had a moment to go grocery shopping, and didn't have much to work with. In my fridge, I noted a single lemon and a hardly used chunk of light feta cheese. Feta and lemon is a quintessentially Mediterranean combination that is hard not to like. I was also craving meat, probably for protein after a good work out, and luckily Ken had just restocked our freezer with boneless skinless chicken breasts.

I made up this quick sauce of lemon and garlic, similar to a piccata, and it worked very well. The sauteed chicken added the heartiness I desired, and the juice of a whole lemon made the sauce just tart enough over penne pasta. I only wish I'd had some sort of herb available - a dusting of basil or parsley would be just the finish the dish needs. I used a bit of pasta water, which helped the sauce thicken up once the pasta was added. I also think this sauce would be just as tasty with Parmesan cheese instead of feta - whatever your personal tastes are.

Penne with Chicken, Lemon, and Feta
(serves 2)

1/2 lb. penne pasta
1 large clove garlic, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1 boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed
1 tsp red pepper flakes
salt and pepper
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup basil, chopped

Cook pasta in lots of boiling, salted water until al dente. Heat olive oil to medium and add garlic. Cook garlic until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add chicken, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes, and saute until chicken is lightly browned, about 10 minutes. When chicken is just starting to brown, add juice of 1 lemon and 1/2 cup of the hot pasta water. Turn the heat to medium-high and simmer for 2 minutes. Add pasta, feta, basil, and toss with sauce, allowing pasta to sit in the pan with burner turned off for about 2 minutes. Serve warm in shallow bowls.

Review: La Morra, Brookline Village

2009-07-19T20:51:00.002-04:00

I had a fabulous girls weekend this week and happily, it involved amazing food. I am lucky to have some good friends who share my love of food and are always excited to try new places. On the recommendation of my friend Jessica, we ate at La Morra, an Italian bistro in Brookline on Saturday night.

The atmosphere was much cozier than most restaurants can attain - it felt like eating in someone's home. It's candlelit and woody, and we sat in a really lovely table with a bench on one side. When we sat down, our hostess offered us a menu of chinchetti - small tapas-like dishes often served in bars in Italy. We ordered wine (a very crisp Pinot Grigio for me) and the fried risotto balls, which might have been my favorite dish of the night. Risotto is stuffed with cheese and a shredded beef that was smokey and tasted like it had cooked all day, then lightly fried. They were decadent and delicious. I also ate one too many pieces of fresh, warm bread just to have more of the fresh ricotta topped with olive oil, salt, and pepper that was in the middle of our table.

Everyone debated long and hard over what to order as an entree because so many items looked so good! I eventually landed on their lasagna at the recommendation of the waitress. It was a great decision. It was vegetarian - layers of homemade pasta, braised kale, fresh local mushrooms, and ricotta cheese. On top was a sprinkling of garlic breadcrumbs. The flavors were so deep - everything here seemed slow-cooked, which I just love. The mushrooms were incredibly fresh and not overcooked and mushy. I tried a bite of my friend Lauren's tagliatelle with bolognese sauce, and also loved it. You can't get better than homemade pasta and real large chunks of meat.

I didn't have room for dessert but two friends ordered a strawberry-rhubarb compote, saying it was delicious. The service was quite good, though they definitely believe in long, lingering meals at La Morra. Our waitress answered all of our questions and gave us good recommendations. She offered tastes of wines and also poured me a half glass when I couldn't decide if I wanted another one. We just had a wonderful time. It's a great places to take visitors and I would certainly return Village, and enjoyed it immensely.

La Morra
48 Boylston St.
Brookline, MA 02445
(617) 739-0007

www.lamorra.com

The Perfect Summer Dinner

2009-07-09T19:02:00.002-04:00

Supposedly, it's summer. We're almost a month in, technically, but I don't think Boston got the message. June and early July have felt far more like April and it's rained probably 75% of the time, so when the sun actually peeks out, I feel the need to take advantage of it. Today was one of those days. It wasn't exactly the warmest day, but considering yesterday I wore boots to work, it was warm enough. I decided to walk home and spotted the small farmer's market that runs every Thursday across from my office. The weather has certainly affected the New England crops this year because the few times I've been able to actually get to a farmer's market, there was little stock and what they had was expensive. Finally, today I saw some great, inexpensive produce. I wished I could buy more, but I have a busy weekend ahead and know I won't have time to cook much. I settled on just two beautifully ripe tomatoes, and walked home.

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with these tomatoes for dinner, but I knew that I wanted something simple, easy, and that would let the taste of the tomato come out. I thought about just cutting them up and eating them with just salt and pepper, but that didn't seem too exciting. I opened my fridge and magically, there was 5 leaves worth of basil in the drawer, still good! Then I opened my cabinet and spotted spaghetti - sold! Pasta with fresh tomato sauce it is!

I could have easily thrown this together on my own but while I waited for the water to boil I did a quick recipe search on Food Network and found this Bobby Flay recipe for Penne with Summer Tomato Sauce. I happened to have all the ingredients except the fresh mozzarella in my pantry. This recipe has all of the flavors I love with tomatoes and is completely no-cook. I mixed the tomatoes with the rest of the ingredients in a big bowl, poured my cooked spaghetti on top, and gave it a good mix. The just-drained pasta heats the sauce through and allows it to meld together. Finally, I found the small block of cheese left over from last weekend's pasta salad, and tossed that into my dish in place of the mozzarella. The final product was delicious! Fresh, light, garlicky, and slightly sweet from the balsamic vinegar. It was exactly what I wanted. I love when that happens!

July 4th and Food Go Hand in Hand

2009-07-05T12:28:00.007-04:00

What an amazing July 4th weekend I have had! I credit Boston - they really know how to do this holiday right. After spending a lot of Saturday shopping and mastering my black bean burgers, early Sunday was again spent mostly in the kitchen, preparing a picnic for myself, my roomie Ken, my sister and her roommate. We started with sweets, taking on a cookie recipe that looked and sounded so good that I'd decided literally 30 seconds after reading it last week that I'd soon be making them - CANNOLI COOKIES. I discovered the recipe on The Kitchn and absolutely could not resist them. I love cannolis! The cookie recipe is a sugar cookie darkened with brown sugar and flavored with cinnamon, orange zest, and chopped pistachios - all flavors you find in a cannoli shell. You freeze the dough in rolls so that you can easily slice them into thin rounds, then create little sandwiches with a basic cannoli filling of sweetened ricotta and mascarpone cheese. If that isn't enough, we drizzled (ok, tried to drizzle, it really became more of a smear) melted chocolate on top of them. These cookies are a little labor-intensive because there are a lot of steps - making the dough, letting it freeze, making the cookies, the filling, the chocolate - but they are SO worth it.

Just prior to getting their chocolate smears

We brought the cookies and a fresh fruit salad to our picnic, along with a couple bottles of crisp white wine. My sister made an awesome potato salad (actually the same one my mom made a few weeks ago) and her roommate Brittany took on a very impressive strawberry shortcake. Needless to say we kind of had dessert for dinner. Hey, its a holiday! We found a great little spot in the area called the BU Beach, near the river behind Boston University where there is a footbridge to the riverside. We sat and laughed and ate and drank while the sun set. Around 10pm we packed up and crossed over to the river's edge where we had the most incredible view of the fireworks. Amazing, incredible fireworks like I had never seen. The entire city comes out to see them, crowding the Charles River banks and cheering at the display of colors and lights above them. I have never felt so happy to live here.

To cap off the weekend, we went to Chowderfest! People keep telling me its "Chowda" but that's not it's real name, I checked. You go down to the City Plaza and for $10 you get entrance to the festival and includes all you can eat chowder samples. There were about 8 restaurants featured and each passed out small cups of their signature clam chowder with oyster crackers. You try all of them and then you can vote for your favorite. By the time you've tried each one you've basically had a bowl of soup. I had forgotten how awesome good clam chowder really is. It was a beautiful day and a lot of fun. I voted for the Algonquin Club as best chowder - it was very rich and creamy, with a good amount of clams, and a mild bacon flavor in the background. Most of the other selections were very good with the exception of the House of Blues, not surprisingly. House of Blues is basically an overpriced chain restaurant - good for concerts, not for meals. Their chowder was overly herby and didn't actually taste like clam chowder at all.

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend, particularly for food! Tonight, though, I'm ordering takeout!

A Vegetarian Early July 4th Barbeque

2009-07-03T19:02:00.004-04:00

I had the day off from work yesterday, obviously because of July 4th, and days off are great for cooking! Independence Day is synonymous with burgers, but rather than make another beef or turkey burger, I decided to try my hand at something different - a veggie burger! Blame California, but I love veggie burgers, though admittedly it can be hard to find really good ones. They have reputation for being dry and tasteless, and I can see why. Often veggie burgers are made with little actual vegetables and use grains as filler. But recently I've noticed more and more restaurants serving their own housemade veggie burgers with ingredients like beans, portobello mushrooms, and zucchini. A couple weeks ago, I had a great portobello and black bean burger at a pub near the Sam Adams Brewery, and it inspired me to try making my own. I found this great recipe on the Epicurious Favorite Burgers list for Black-Bean Burgers with a slight Latin flavor.

The first big plus for this recipe was the cheapness of the ingredients! Beans are such a great deal - really inexpensive but incredibly healthy and filling. I already had cumin and oregano in the pantry, and I was happy to have an excuse to buy some cayenne. This meal was also so easy to prepare. Everything goes into the food processor. My only trouble was that I have a small food processor, and I probably should have blended the bean mixture in two batches. The processor was so full and the mixture was so thick that the blade was getting stuck. A little shaking and mixing with a spoon took care of it, though. The burgers cooked up very quickly in the pan (don't try to grill these - they need a completely flat surface) and I had no problem with them staying together or flipping. The recipe suggested serving them with lettuce, sour cream, and salsa, but that didn't really appeal to me. Mexican food is a whole other animal. Instead, I made a garlic and chive mayo - mayonnaise mixed with pasted garlic, chives left over from my tortellini salad, and some lemon juice.

The mayo turned out to be all the burgers needed because they had great flavor. The cumin provides a great smoky background flavor to the beans, and I actually loved the cilantro. Yes, I liked something with cilantro in it. The only complaint I had was that the burgers were a little mushy. Although I managed to get a good crust on the outside, the burgers did sort of squish when you bit into them. I'll have to look into how to make them a little firmer. But overall, I loved the flavor and really enjoyed trying something totally new! Ken had never really had a real veggie burger and he fell in love with them. They have already gone on the "Make Again" list.

For a side dish, I made a great pasta salad based on Giada DeLaurentiis' Antipasto Salad. Her salad has meat in it, which was a little heavy for what I wanted, so I just cut that out and put in some cucumbers instead for crunch. The basil dressing was delicious! And we will be eating it for days...I made quite a bit. It was a great meal, and a fun day of cooking! A rare day of baking is coming up tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Spring in a Bowl

2009-06-28T19:29:00.005-04:00

According to plan, I made Tortellini and Spring Vegetable Salad tonight, and totally loved it. It couldn't be any easier. Unlike other salads, this recipe didn't even require a large amount of chopping - only asparagus, chives, and some red onion that I substituted for radishes. I hate radishes! The asparagus and peas blanch in the water along with tortellini, and using the fresh pasta ups the speediness as well. Heck, you don't even have to pre-mix the dressing - just toss the vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper straight into the salad. I also used chopped walnuts instead of pine nuts, and regular goat cheese crumbles instead of the herb and garlic.

It really is spring in a bowl!

Once it is all mixed up, the goat cheese starts to coat all of the salad and melds with the tart red wine vinegar. The group of vegetables really do taste springy. Asparagus, peas, spinach, plus the pesto filling of the pasta makes the salad taste incredibly fresh. It really doesn't feel like you are eating pasta salad, it is salad with pasta. Plus, the recipe is HUGE. I had a small dish for dinner tonight, then packed up 3 separate plastic container's worth of salad. I can't wait to try it tomorrow for lunch when the salad has marinaded longer in its dressing.

Plans for the Week

2009-06-26T21:03:00.002-04:00

There was no actual cooking this week to report, but I thought I'd share some upcoming recipes. I began a new job last week and as you might guess, my focus has been on that and not on cooking. I didn't find much time to plan or grocery shop, except for one quick stop where I bought macaroni and cheese, strawberries, and yogurt. Those items have essentially gotten me through to the weekend. How sad!

I really noticed not having home cooked meals for dinner and not having leftovers or any freshly made food for lunch. Only a little while ago, I virtually lived on Lean Cuisines - my work friends and I regularly discussed which ones were the best. But since I began cooking so much more and making a concerted effort to cut out pre-made food from my diet, I hadn't had a Leanie in quite a while. In my hurry this week I bought some and found them so uninspiring and bland. It felt fake and unsatisfying. It was enough to get me running to the grocery store this weekend!

On the docket:

The Kitchn's Tortellini and Spring Vegetable Salad, made and stored in individual servings, purely for lunch. I've had my eye on this incredibly fresh-sounding salad for weeks now. It is perfect to last a few days in the fridge and hopefully only get better.
Black-Bean Burgers discovered while trolling Epicurious' Best Burgers list. I had a black bean burger at a restaurant last weekend and really enjoyed it. These sound simple and delicious. The trick will be keeping them together while they cook. I'm also planning a garlic mayo and maybe some tomato slices for a topping - the Mexican theme on a bun doesn't thrill me. I'd rather go a little Mediterranean. This will be a dinner for me and Ken one night this week, with 2 patties left over for subsequent lunches.

Check back in a few days for the results of my trials!

An Ode to Brookline Spa

2009-06-19T19:44:00.002-04:00

Friday nights I don't cook. It's a rule of mine. It's my night to really relax and that's how I like it. Ken and I usually order from one of our standard delivery or take out places; this isn't a night where we experiment too often, it's all about comfort. That's where the Brookline Spa comes in. It's a pizza and sub shop right down the road from me, and it is most often where we order Friday night dinner. I decided it was the night to finally try the Spa's Ranch Pizza. Yes, that's right, ranch pizza. I have an unabashed love of ranch dressing, but I have had to almost fully eliminate it in my diet so I don't turn massive. If I have it, I'll use it on everything. It is what it sounds like - basically a white pizza with ranch dressing as the sauce. It is then topped with mozzarella, bacon, tomatoes, and diced chicken cutlet. The crust managed to be both chewy and crispy at the same time. It might be the best pizza I've ever had.

This pizza is a definite once in a while thing - I cringe to think of how many calories I just inhaled. It was completely worth it. It has also affirmed something I have thought for a while now - the Brookline Spa in my neighborhood of Brookline Village is truly one of the best pizza and sub shops I've ever come across. I have sampled a myriad of items from their menu and not one has ever disappointed me. Some highlights include:

The Furio - grilled chicken, spinach, fresh mozzarella, and roasted red peppers with a pesto sauce, all on a soft foccasia - heavenly
Eggplant Parm - HUGE and incredibly comforting - my sister's personal favorite, I have once brought it all of the way to Cambridge to her
Club Sub - literally all of the things on a club sandwich on a really good sub roll - so simple yet so good. It's amazing what really fresh ingredients do to a sandwich.
Bumpy Wrap - my current obsession - grilled chicken, lettuce, tomato, melted American cheese, light bit of ranch dressing - I probably rate this the top thing I've had at the Spa

I live a 5 minute walk from the Spa and it has become the go-to place for me and Ken. Sometimes I wish I didn't live so close to it! If you ever find yourself in the area, stop by. There's no real seating but it's not that kind of place. It would be great picnic food. The only problem is that they are closed on Sundays! When Ken and I first got to Boston and football was still on, we always wanted to get sandwiches and would go to look at the menu and realize, oh no, its closed! They could make a good buck!

Brookline Spa
75 Harvard St.
Brookline, MA
617-566-9446

Steak Night

2009-06-15T20:28:00.005-04:00

Once again a little time has passed since I've been cooking, mostly due to a long weekend in New York, and I definitely had the itch tonight. I bookmarked a bunch of new recipes recently and one that kept sticking in my mind was a steak dish from Epicurious. I was so pleased with my lamb experiment a few weeks ago that I really wanted to try a different meat. I hadn't made steak in quite a while - I don't tend to eat a lot of red meat, which is clear if you read this blog. This recipe for Grilled Lime-Curry Rubbed Hangar Steak with Fresh Melon-Cucumber Chutney sounded great and felt like summer.

Steak cooking away, look at those grill marks!

Ken and I hit the store and I luckily found a package of 2 large steaks, the exact cut of which I cannot recall, but they worked fine. My steak was probably a little thicker than the 1 inch that they recommend. It was on sale and one was plenty for me, Ken, and some lunch. The other went into the freezer for another recipe soon. I let the steak marinate for about 15 minutes while I made the chutney, I figured any extra time is a good thing. I kept the chutney mostly the same except I did not use cilantro or coriander because I just don't like it myself. I used parsley instead, though after tasting it, I think next time I would try out a mix of parsley and mint - mint and melon is a wonderful combination and it would simply add another layer of flavor. I also took the seeds out of the jalapeno and next time I would add them, because you know I love the spice. Cooking the actual steak was a bit of a challenge. Getting steak to the exact right doneness is really something you learn by doing it over and over again, and I just haven't made much red meat. The recipe recommended 14-16 minutes total on an indoor grill pan, but I don't think I took into consideration that my steak was thicker than what they were referring to. I had to put the steak back on a couple times after cutting into it to find it too rare for my taste. Ken commented, and I think he is totally correct, that with our particular grill pan, it is better to start the flame a little lower and then just crank it up at the end to get some crust. But in the end, we got the meat to a perfect spot, still red but really well seared. The steak was incredibly flavorful. The curry is not strong, just adding a bit of heat in the back of your throat, and the lime adds a little tartness. I particularly loved the chutney. It was very light and fresh yet tangy, and it really went well with the steak and the couscous I served along side. My only wish is that I'd had a better melon. It is just not melon season quite yet in New England. If you had a really juicy, sweet melon, that would add a whole other level to the dish.

Mmmm...meat.

I was so pleased. This is a great meal for a crowd, and it's also very pretty! For tomorrow, I made up a bowl of couscous, chopped up steak, and chutney, and tossed it together as a cold salad. It will be just as delicious, and it is always important to have a good lunch when you start a new job!

Pretty!

Cheesy Goodness

2009-06-04T21:49:00.002-04:00

I got a good for you tonight, folks. Pasta, pesto, goat cheese, tomatoes. Need I go on? How no one has introduced me to the concept of mixing pesto with goat cheese, I do not know. It is amazing. The recipe I tried tonight, Fettuccine with Goat Cheese Pesto and Roasted Tomatoes, takes no time to make and is decadently cheesy and tangy. You simply make pesto, and mix it with soft goat cheese. The sauce is creamy and garlicky. Ken took a little taste and said, this would be a great dip for crackers. He was right - it would spread very well. While the pasta cooks, you roast little tomatoes in the oven. Roasted tomatoes get incredibly sweet and they burst in your mouth. I used spaghetti but it didn't matter (that's what we had).

Cheeseburger Update and Pics, Plus More...

2009-05-31T13:37:00.004-04:00

I made the last 3 burgers for Ken and myself today for lunch. They were even better the next day. The spice had definitely incorporated into the meat more. Ken loved them as much as I did, which I always so appreciate. We agreed that these burgers are actually one of the better things I have ever experimented with. This recipe definitely goes into my daily repertoire. The ingredients are so inexpensive, and I also identified a few things I could do next time to make them even better. I think a crustier roll would add something, and I should try the muenster cheese the recipe asks for - it is in there for a reason. The jack was mild and I think I would enjoy a stronger cheese. This sounds like a great summer barbecue!

Oh delicious, juicy burger...

Tonight I made a great spur-of-the-moment pasta when Ken and I both sort of craved it. I had a can of diced tomatoes that needed to be used, and I'd just stocked up on onions and basil. While the spaghetti cooked, I sauteed some diced shallots I'd bought for another recipe that I didn't have plans to make anymore with some garlic. Then, I added the whole can of diced tomatoes, a hefty dose of salt and pepper, and some torn basil. I let it simmer while the pasta finished up and it turned out great. The pasta was fresh and light, perfect for a late spring night with the windows open. And I wondrously discovered, at the end of the night, I'd packed up two whole extra meals for the week - pasta with my tomato sauce for lunch tomorrow at work, and then the last pork cheeseburger and the other half of the pinto beans I'd had with it on Saturday. That's a great accomplishment for the weekend! Ken made out like a bandit - two homecooked meals in one day!

Chipotle Pork Cheeseburgers

2009-05-30T19:25:00.007-04:00

Straight up, these rock. They were so delicious! I found this recipe from Gourmet via The Kitchn and thought it was such a brilliant idea. I love all kinds of burgers and I couldn't think of a time that I'd tried one made of pork. I've eaten beef, turkey, veggie, and even bison burgers, but pork burgers are rare. These are pretty simple - the pork is mixed only with garlic, chipotle in adobo sauce, and some salt. If you aren't familiar with chipotle in adobo, is it smoked jalapenos in a tomato-based sauce. I looked at the ingredients on the side of the can and the best I could get was tomato sauce, vinegar, and "spices." It has become a very popular ingredient in the last couple of years, mostly in restaurants (I blame Bobby Flay), but it is still not in every market. I couldn't get it at Trader Joe's but found it in the Latin American aisle at Shaw's. The chipotles give the burgers a great bit of heat that doesn't overtake the meat, and you get little pretty flecks of dark red throughout the burgers.

I didn't really follow the cooking directions because I was using my trusty grill pan instead of an outdoor grill, but you do have to be careful with how you cook them because pork has to be cooked all of the way through. To facilitate that and not burn them, I tented the burger with a piece of foil for a few minutes. I ended up with a beautiful crust on the outside, and magically, the burgers were cooked through and juicy! Yay!

I had pepper jack cheese on hand so I used that instead of the recommended muenster. Any good melting cheese will do. I topped mine with avocado and red onion. Although the recipe specifically recommends the slice of tomatillo on top, I had to leave it out. Good luck finding a tomatillo in your local store unless you're in Texas, California, or you have access to a Latino market. But I can definitely see what they are saying - the tartness would go quite well with the smokey burgers. I also left off the cilantro because I hate it. But try these, they are delicious! All of the flavors go together so well and it is incredibly easy to make. A side of beans (throw in a bit of the adobo sauce!) is the perfect compliment, and you'll be done in a half hour tops. The best part is, I have 3 more in the fridge!

Darn Good Eats

2009-05-27T20:43:00.003-04:00

Wow...I had not realized it had been so long since my last post! It's been a hectic but fun last few weeks not leaving a lot of time for cooking at home. That isn't to say I haven't been eating well...quite well really! Here are some highlights:

An incredible night in the North End at Cantina Italiana. I hadn't been to this restaurant since 2002 and it was as good as I remembered, though the service was a little iffy. I had an absolutely delicious simple salad of arugula, pine nuts, shaved Parmesan and aged balsamic that I think I literally inhaled. For my main dish I had the same thing I'd had years before and always remembered, the chicken saltimbocca, because I wanted to see if my food memory was accurate. It was indeed. And they make their own pasta. How can you argue with that? All of this was of course followed by a chocolate chip cannoli from Mike's Pastry.
A great new breakfast find in Harvard Square - Zoe's. It's a Greek diner in the purest sense and I don't think it requires any more explanation that that!
The discovery of Pita Pit delivery. Again, need I say more?
Mama's cooking. As she readily admits, none of us ever thought a highlight of being at home would be my mother's cooking but thanks to years of Food Network watching and a great food market (seriously next time I'm home I should count how many times the word "Wegman's" is uttered) she's quite the chef these days. Brunch on Saturday was my personal heaven - bagels, lox, whitefish that my mom picked straight off the whole fish, chocolate chip muffins, and fresh fruit salad. Later we had sausage and peppers and this incredible tomato salad from Giada DeLaurentiis that is probably one of my favorite salads ever. The next day we went to brunch at our favorite local diner (I had french toast, big shock) and then had barbecue chicken and grilled salmon for dinner. We tried a new potato salad recipe from Barefoot Contessa that I think we all agreed was one of the best we'd ever had! High recommendations.

So as you can gage, I am rolling back into home and I'll definitely be hitting the gym a little harder. As for tonight, I just made my basic tofu stir-fry. For dessert, I had a bowl of plain Greek yogurt with a bit of maple syrup and some cranberry nut granola I bought this week at the Copley Square Farmer's Market. Unfortunately it is a little early in the year for produce in New England. But I definitely hope the bakery I bought the granola from is back again! I love fresh granola but I'm not as much of a fan of the stuff you get in a box. Usually it's expensive but this bag was only $4!

Breakfast For Dinner Rocks

2009-05-14T19:19:00.003-04:00

Doesn't it? I have to really be in the right mood to have it but when I feel it, there is something incredibly comforting about breakfast food at night. On the menu tonight was french toast with fresh bananas! I often start game-planning my dinner while at the gym (yes I know...what good does it do one to think about food while working out?) and it just hit me that I really, really, really wanted french toast. We had eggs, we had milk, we had syrup, and we had bread. Plus I knew I had one single banana left from the bunch that was on the verge of going bad, and bananas are my very favorite french toast topping.

French toast is one of my ultimate comfort foods. I like a good pancake every once in a while but I'm much more likely to go for the toast. It absolutely stems from eating many breakfasts with my mother, who I can confidently call a french toast connoisseur. This woman has eaten french toast at more restaurants than anyone I know. If I find a place that has it as a specialty (like 26 Beach Cafe in Venice - Cali peeps do yourself a favor if you like this dish, they have a ton of options!), I automatically want to take her there. We used to make french toast for the random Sunday breakfast or even for dinner, and I always liked being the bread dipper. It was almost always the same way, the way I made it tonight - a couple eggs mixed with milk (and cinnamon and vanilla if I have it), with plain wheat sandwich bread. You would probably expect me to have some sort of fancy bread in the house but no, I had a loaf of Trader Joe's Organic Soft Wheat Bread, which I actually highly recommend. For the first time I tried out the griddle side of my grill pan, instead of using a skillet, and it worked wonderfully. The bread didn't stick at all and it was very evenly browned. I like my french toast soft but with crispy edges. The most important tip I can give for successful french toast making is to not turn up the heat on the stove too high. If you do, the outside burns quickly but the actual eggy bread does not firm up. I personally don't want mine soggy in the middle.

No picture tonight due to my randomly injured knee (I biked for 10 extra minutes at the gym and when I got off of it, the back of my knee had swollen up...great) but my french toast was golden brown and I topped it with slices of banana and maple syrup. Not the healthiest meal but I sure feel better now!

P.S. - A Dinner Blog shout-out to my dear friend Brynne, who left me the sweetest message today, saying that my wrap blog had inspired her to make her own! She wanted to recreate her favorite wrap from her days at the University of Delaware. I hope it turned out well and it is an honor to know I am inspiring you to cook!

The Best Wrap Ever

2009-05-11T20:45:00.002-04:00

I always find it funny how good food can come out of nowhere. Sometimes you toast that bread to the exact right toastiness. Or even better, you put the perfect balance of milk and sugar into your coffee. There is nothing like that. I like to play around with whatever I have in the house, and sometimes you find a combination of ingredients that is so randomly good, it actually moves into your normal food making. Tonight, I made the best wrap I have ever made, and I can't wait to make it again.

It probably sounds like nothing special but there was just something about this wrap that I really liked. A huge part of that flavor was the new peach salsa I bought at TJ's - a salsa I'd heard from multiple people was incredible and probably proving them right, it had been out of stock the last two times I went to buy it. It is delicious - sweet and smokey just like it says on the bottle. The mix of the creamy avocado, the sweet salsa, and the cheese with a little spice is awesome. I made a big piece of chicken and only used half of it, same with the avocado, so I can (and plan to) make another wrap tomorrow night. This is one that can go on the menu of my future cafe/Mexican restaurant. Here's the recipe:

Peach Avocado Wraps
Serves 2

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, grilled and cut into strips
1 avocado, sliced
1 tbsp. Trader Joe's Peach Salsa
1 tbsp. low-fat sour cream
2 slices pepper jack cheese
2 wheat tortillas

In a pan or toaster oven, melt one slice of pepper jack cheese on each tortilla. Toward one side of the tortilla, place grilled chicken and avocado slices on the tortilla. Spread sour cream on other side of the tortilla. Top chicken and avocado with salsa. Pull in sides and roll, cut in half and serve.

Mango Curry - Sorta, Kinda, Maybe

2009-05-10T20:39:00.003-04:00

I've been trying to figure out what to do with some leftover curry powder and when I spotted some ripe mangoes for cheap, I thought I'd attempt to make a mango curry. How hard could it be? I've made curry before by just mixing curry paste with some coconut milk, so I didn't see why I couldn't do the same with the yellow curry powder. I sauteed some chicken, onions, and red bell peppers to go in the curry while I made some brown rice (what is curry without rice?). I poured out about half the can of coconut milk into a small bowl and whisked in some curry powder. I just kept adding it until I could taste it as strongly as I wanted. I poured it into the pan with the idea of simmering the meat and vegetables in the sauce for a little while, and added the mango in then. But when I put it all together, the curry sauce lost a lot of it's creaminess. I didn't want to put too much more coconut milk into it because the taste would be diluted, so I thought maybe it would thicken with some more simmering. It did but it just didn't look the way I wanted it to. It tasted, well, fine, I guess. It just lacked what chefs always refer to as "layers of flavor." I needed some ginger, some garlic maybe. It was good enough to eat, particularly with the very ripe mangoes, but it didn't come out how I planned. I need to figure out how to maintain the texture of the sauce. I'm interested to see what it tastes like tomorrow when I eat the leftovers for lunch. I think that if it has some time to meld and thicken a bit, it might taste better. I tasted a nibble of what I'd left sitting in the pan while I ate and it was already better. But basically, I tried to take a major shortcut and it didn't quite work. Oh well, we learn.

It sure looked pretty

Another thing I learned is that I am completely inept at making real rice. I have a huge bag of brown rice left over from my lentil debacle and I figured tonight I had enough time to cook it. Half of it was stuck to the bottom of the pot, and I can't explain why. I'll stick with microwave rice for now.

Serious Eats Weekend Cook-off: Cheap Cuts of Meat

2009-05-03T19:46:00.006-04:00

This week on Serious Eats, I discovered a new concept they are trying called the Weekend Cook-off. They will be posting a new story each week from a magazine, newspaper, or blogger featuring a certain cooking concept. Then they are asking readers to make something related to this theme, get inspired, then write about what they did and share it with others on the discussion boards. I thought this sounded really fun and is a good way to decide what to cook. I also thought it might be fun to try to this at the same time as my mom, and she agreed. The first cook-off theme was cheap cuts of meat - the more inexpensive cuts of beef, pork, and lamb that are usually just as tasty - and how to use them. Obviously everyone is trying to save money right now, so this is a fun way to still get to eat meat and spend less. I know that I eat a very small amount of meat at home nowadays, and price certainly plays a part.

My initial plan was to make a pork loin, but as I suspected, my local market didn't carry that cut. The problem with the cheaper meats as that they are also less popular, and therefore not all stores carry them. Right next to the pork, however, was lamb and I quickly zeroed in on a pack of two lamb shoulder blade chops for only $5! I love lamb but I've never bought it, and this seemed like the perfect chance to do so. I'm a huge fan of lamb - I go to steak houses and almost always order lamb chops instead of steak. A lamb shoulder blade chop is cut from the area under the shoulder blade I believe, and is a flatter piece with a bone through the middle. I think simple is always better when preparing meat, so I came up with a very basic marinade for the chops, roughly based off of a Bobby Flay lamb recipe I looked at online. I put about 1/2 cup of olive oil, the juice of one lemon, 3 cloves of chopped garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper in a shallow dish. I coated the lamb chops well in the mixture, covered it, and let it sit for about 2 hours. Then I grilled them on my indoor grill pan for about 8 minutes total.

A Sunday dinner in the spring

While I made the lamb, I also roasted some asparagus in olive oil, salt, and pepper. Right before I took them out, I sprinkled just a dash of Parmesan cheese over them. The lamb chops turned out very well. The marinade was subtle but really tenderized the meat and gave it a good flavor, and I think I did a pretty good job of cooking them to the right doneness. Lamb should be on the pink side, just cooked through but not bloody in the middle. The only part of the lamb I would like to get better next time is to get more of a crust on the outside of the meat. But I didn't mind the different style cut. The meat was still tender, and yes, there is some extra fat and connective tissue on it, but you don't eat it, it's no big deal. I couldn't believe how well we ate for well under $10 total! I certainly hope to try some more kinds of cheap cuts in the future!

Serious Eating

2009-04-28T21:49:00.003-04:00

I've been reading a lot more of Serious Eats lately. It's become part of my daily required reading along with The Kitchn. Both of them focus on simple but delicious home cooked food, and are really helping to inspire me more. Instead of going to a recipe website where I had to know what I was looking for, I am going to a site that brings up new ideas and offers an example. Then I can go to a recipe database and find the perfect version of a dish.

The first recipe I tried from Serious Eats was admittedly a failure (see my lentil and sausage dog food) but this blog has a lot of contributors. I wasn't put off by my first attempt. I found this simple recipe for Orecchiette with Broccoli, Anchovies, and Chilies and tried it tonight. I know...anchovies? I'll freely admit that that was what caught my eye. I love anchovies. My mom likes them and when we were young we used to go to this Italian restaurant and order an antipasto salad that they served with optional anchovies. My mom always asked for them (but on the side, my dad won't touch them), and I started eating them with her. I really like the fishy saltiness, it has such a bite, but I get why some people don't like them straight up. But this dish used anchovies in an Italian way, cooked into a sauce, that I'd only seen a few years ago on cooking shows. When you chop up the anchovies and let them slowly cook in olive oil, they break up and almost completely disintegrate. They just blend into the sauce and become deeper and nuttier. You don't really know they are in the dish, you just taste a deep flavor. My mom started doing this a few years ago and has always raved about it.

The recipe obviously calls for orecchette (little ears) but I used whole wheat penne instead. I tried whole wheat pasta a while ago and didn't like it - I didn't cook it enough, though. This time I barely noticed the difference, I recommend trying the better kinds they have now. I melded the anchovies with the oil, garlic, and chili flakes, and added frozen broccoli (the fresh didn't look that good, I didn't notice a difference). It was simple and light, and you really did get the little bump of hidden flavor from the anchovies. It had just the right amount of heat. This dish is one of the better ones I have made lately and it is so easy.

Sweet Potatoes - The Best Deal in Town

2009-04-23T20:43:00.003-04:00

If you're poor, trying to eat healthy, and don't want to take a lot of time to cook, buy some sweet potatoes. I spent weeks avoiding buying a bag of them (my biggest complaint about Trader Joe's - what if I just want one or two potatoes?), mostly because I didn't want to lug them home, but I finally decided to do it. I got them home just fine. Again tonight, as I did last week, I simply baked one in the microwave. It took 4 whole minutes - just don't forget to poke holes in it! I topped it with a little pat of butter and a bit of maple syrup. They are so filling and so healthy, and if you have a little more time, I highly recommend roasting them on high heat with olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Whole baked sweet potatoes always remind me of working at ABC because we used to order lunch commonly from this little health food market called Full O'Life that had them as a side dish option. Four or five of us would often order them. For my meal I used to get this thing they called California Style Veggie Burgers, which was two small veggie patties topped with sliced avocado, cheese, and salsa. It really is something you will probably only find in California - where else do they put salsa on a veggie burger? In my kitchen they do! We had some pepper jack cheese in the house, and that inspired me. It's too early for avocados just yet but I had salsa, so I melted the cheese on the burger and threw on some salsa. Overall, it was a really satisfying, balanced meal, made in 10 minutes max.

I've been reading recipes and food articles like crazy and I am definitely getting the itch to make something big soon. I am not doing too well on knocking things off my food to-do list. It's been busy around here, with lots of guests in and out, but on Sunday I plan to shop and come up with something really good to try out. I feel like I've been eating very carb-heavy lately, so I want to make something lighter or more protein-heavy. After my birthday passes in about a week, I am hoping to finally have my dutch oven, and I pork shoulder for tacos (with fresh salsa!) is the first meal I want to make in it.

Fake Pad Thai

2009-04-22T19:37:00.004-04:00

Sorry I have been off for a bit - I had a busy weekend and people at my house, so there was little chance to cook. I did, however, throw a very nice little Marathon Monday breakfast with some bagels, coffee, and mimosas!

Tonight was rainy and humid, and it just made me tired and hungry. I haven't been shopping yet this week, so it was a night to make do with what you have. My plan was to make fake pad thai - basically noodles and whatever I could find tossed with some peanut satay sauce I have from TJ's. I made some spaghetti, and while the water boiled, I browned some pieces of my new constant protein, tofu, with a mess of garlic. I took that out and did a really quick scramble of the last egg we had, a perfect use for it. When the pasta was done, I mixed it with the tofu, garlic, egg, and about two tablespoons of satay sauce. I tasted it, but it was bland. I am not as big of a fan of this satay than I have been of other TJ's bottled sauces. It needed salt, so I threw in some soy sauce and then a heavy layer of crushed red pepper flakes. The result was fine. It was certainly good enough for 25 minutes on a weeknight, and I unexpectedly made enough for lunch tomorrow. Not exciting, just dinner.

Simple

2009-04-16T20:04:00.002-04:00

Sometimes the simplest meals can be so wonderful. I had a week full of heavy eating so at the store last weekend I tried to pick out the healthiest things I could. Two of those items were another bag of brussel sprouts and some sweet potatoes. Tonight I roasted a handful of sprouts (just like before, high heat with olive oil, salt, and pepper for about 15 minutes) and I baked a sweet potato in the microwave. It was a medium-sized potato and 3 minutes in the microwave was almost all it needed. After that I put it on the cookie sheet with the brussel sprouts for the last 5 minutes so that the skin would crisp up a bit. I cut open the sweet potato and brushed on a little butter and just a smidgen of maple syrup. It was so good...a little hint of Thanksgiving in April! Plus it was such a healthy dinner - lots of vitamins and virtually no fat. Now I can have a piece of cheesecake later....

Don't Even WORRY About It

2009-04-14T22:16:00.003-04:00

I only made some boring quick stir-fry tonight because I had bigger plans.

Yeah! That is the awesome chocolate chip cheesecake that me and Ken made tonight. It turned out great! Except we haven't really tasted it yet, since it has to cool and chill, but we did taste the batter and a bit of the crust (made of cinnamon grahams, sugar, and cocoa powder, a little different) and it was SO DELICIOUS. I know you are jealous. Admit it, you want to eat the hell out of this cheesecake. The occasion is the rare visit of my parents to my new apartment in Boston and along with Ken and my sister, we will have it for dessert tomorrow night. I'll let you know if we have any left.

You Could Charge Me $6.95 For That

2009-04-13T20:26:00.004-04:00

My roommate Ken and I met up at Trader Joe's after work to get some things for the week, and at the time I was planning to make a warm spinach salad that I saw on 30 Minute Meals on Sunday. But on the way I home I already wasn't craving it and wasn't sure what to do now. Ken had been at his parents house for Easter and told me that he brought back a bag of tomatoes from home. Immediately I just said, I know what we're making - we're making caprese. It was probably because I had just been eyeing basil, thinking about making more pesto, but I knew Ken was a big fan. I grabbed the basil, knowing there'd be plenty left for pesto, and found this really convenient package of pre-sliced fresh mozzarella.

We got home and I began to make dinner. We had also just bought a new loaf of whole wheat artisan style sliced bread, and I thought, hey, these could be awesome paninis. I made up two big sandwiches with huge slices of tomatoes, a hefty layer of basil leaves, pieces of mozzarella, salt, pepper, and a douse of olive oil and balsamic vinegar from my pantry. I heated up my grill pan and sprayed it with some cooking spray, then placed the sandwiches on it and pressed them with my big pasta pot. It pressed them just enough and we got a great dark toast on the bread. They were amazing! The ingredients were perfect and I think I really got the right proportions. We sat down to eat and Ken just said, you could charge me $6.95 for this at any little sandwich place. I was so proud!

That's a sexy sandwich

My Own Recipe - Cool!

2009-04-08T18:57:00.009-04:00

I think I wrote an actual recipe tonight by accident. It was kind of cool. I started thinking I was really in a cooking mood mid-afternoon, and I tried to think of what I already had that I could make something with needing just a couple extra ingredients. I remembered I had couscous - the real kind - and some dried fruit (both apricots and raisins). Couscous with fruit is a common dish, and is often associated with some Middle-eastern and Mediterranean cuisines. I searched Food Network and All Recipes for a good way to use these things together, and I came across a Dave Lieberman recipe for curried couscous with dried cranberries.

Walnuts, apricots, and raisins, ready to go into the dish

I figured any flavors that went with cranberries would also go with most other dried fruits, and I'd had a dish with my sister that was similar that I'd enjoyed. The curry was another draw, as just a few weeks ago I tried a curried tuna salad sandwich at a local cafe to my office called Flour Bakery, and it had been one of the better sandwiches I'd had in a while. I used to hate curry, but I discovered it first in Asian dishes and grew to really like the slightly spicy but deep flavor. I love how it kind of tickles your palate.

Along the way, I realized I'd made so many changes in Lieberman's recipe that basically it was now a Lisa creation. I've been doing more of this lately - adapting recipes to my own tastes and uses - and I really enjoy it. I think it signifies how far I have come in knowing cooking techniques and developing a good palate. So I will take a shot in writing up this recipe, just to show how I made it different. I call my version Curried Couscous with Tofu and Apricots. When I got home I realized I also had about a 1/3 of a block of tofu leftover, and that I should toss that into the dish. I loved the result - the couscous cooked well, the curry wasn't too strong, and the tofu made it feel more like a main dish than a side. I used a lot less curry powder than the recipe said to because I like a subtle taste. If you really love curry, put in more. The only mistake was that I stupidly didn't write a shopping list and forgot to buy scallions. I ate well and have plenty leftover for a lunch tomorrow. This is also such a healthy dish - there is virtually no oil or butter, all the flavor comes from spice and natural sweet - and the nuts, fruits, and tofu are excellent for you. If you try it, write me a comment about how it goes!

Yummy!

Here is the original recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/dave-lieberman/curried-couscous-salad-with-dried-sweet-cranberries-recipe/index.html

Here is mine:

Curried Couscous with Tofu and Apricots

1 cup whole wheat couscous
1 cup water
8 oz. extra firm tofu, cubed
10 dried apricots, diced
1/4 cup of raisins
1/2 cup of walnuts, chopped
1/2 tablespoon curry powder
juice of 1 medium orange
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
3 to 4 scallions, just the greens, chopped
pepper to taste

1. Toast the chopped walnuts in a dry pan until they are slightly brown and fragrant. Set aside.

2. Spray cooking spray into the same pan, toss in cubed tofu. Saute until lightly golden on all sides.

Tofu getting nice and brown

3. Meanwhile, boil 1 cup of water. When boiling, add couscous, apricots, raisins, curry powder, salt, and orange juice. Stir and cover tightly. Turn off the burner.
4. Allow couscous to cook until water is absorbed and couscous is soft. Add olive oil, salt and pepper to taste, scallions, and tofu. Stir with a fork to fluff couscous. Serve warm or cold.

The finished product!

Cooking is a Learning Process

2009-04-05T14:15:00.006-04:00

It's Sunday afternoon - a beautiful one following an otherwise rainy weekend - and I thought I'd finally get around to making the Lentils with Caramelized Leeks and Sausage I'd been planning for a while. I was watching Food Network this morning and I got the itch to cook. I'd make it and then just put it away for the week and save some time. I finally found the lentils and rice I needed yesterday so I was set to go.

I browned up the sausage, sliced the leeks, and got them cooking in the sausage fat. The smell was incredible. I put the lentils in a big pot with chicken stock, and let them cook for the 15 minutes the recipe told me to do. But here's where things started to go awry. The recipe said to use a 3/4 cup of long grain rice - it didn't specify any more than that. It instructed me to cook the lentils for 15 minutes on their own, then add the rice to the pot and cook 15-20 minutes more. That seemed odd to me though, because I always thought that standard rice took much longer than that and needed more water. After 15 minutes of simmering, the lentils had soaked up most of it. But I followed the instructions anyway, keeping my eye on my leeks that were getting more delicious by the moment. After 15 more minutes, there was almost no water left and it was very clear that the rice wasn't going to cook. The lentils however, were done and getting mushy. This wasn't going well.

Caramelizing leeks rocks.

Lentils boiling away.

Now I have never cooked lentils so I might have messed up. But I am inclined to say that this recipe either wasn't specific enough (perhaps I got the wrong kind of rice?) or it just was wrong. I had an extra pack of lentils because I wasn't sure how much I needed, so I decided to fully scrap the pot of lentils and rice, and re-make only the lentils. It was frustrating but it was better to cut my losses, and luckily, these weren't ingredients that cost much. So, I put another cup of lentils in the pot with half water and half stock, all I had left, and let them cook. By now my leeks and sausage were ice cold. I let the lentils go but apparently too long - by the end they were mushy and sticking to the bottom of the pot. Grrr. I had to get something working so I scraped out as much of the lentils as I could and folded in the leeks and sausage. It definitely needed a good dose of salt and pepper. It was edible, and probably will be better tomorrow after the flavors mix a bit more. Overall, though, it was boring and kind of looked like baby food. I wasn't impressed. It was just a bit annoying to follow a recipe and not have it work. It reminded me that cooking is a learning process for every level of cook, and sometimes things just don't work.

The finished product...looking not so appetizing. Taste's ok.

Highlights in Food Writing

2009-04-02T22:19:00.003-04:00

Tonight's meal was yet another stir-fry, only this time I tried a new Trader Joe's sauce - their peanut satay sauce. It's very tasty but probably meant more to be a dip than a sauce, as it was a little thick. I can't say it was creative, but my meal did the job. With the apartment to myself the last couple nights, though, I have been doing a lot of reading about cooking, and thought I'd take a moment to highlight some new food writing I have discovered. The first is a column on the Serious Eats site called "Meat Lite." It's co-written by one of the restaurant critics in Philadelphia, so I am sure I have read some of her reviews, as that is where my family lives. The concept of the column is recipes using only a small amount of meat. I've never called myself a vegetarian, but I do tend to not eat as much meat as I used to. I'm definitely on a meatless kick right now - in fact today I bought some Gardenburgers and ingredients to make hummus sandwiches this week for lunch (sliced avocado, cucumbers, and feta - so good). Living in California introduced me to tofu and veggie burgers, and honestly I just really like vegetables. I also am watching my spending, and meat can cost a lot. I really like the idea of stretching just a little bit of meat far, which is also what they talk about in the column. I'm trying their Lentils with Caramelized Leeks and Sausage tomorrow night.

Via some links from "Meat Lite" I discovered a new obsession - Smitten Kitchen. This website is everything I would love my own blog to be (maybe I shouldn't be saying that publicly?). I really have to start taking some pictures. The writer is a little more into the baking end of things than I am, but the photography is so impressive. I can bake, I just don't do it that often, I don't find I have the time. I am excited to keep reading though - I want to learn everything I can.

Yes, Brussel Sprouts for Dinner

2009-04-01T19:18:00.004-04:00

Tonight, my plan changed about 4 times. I decided late in the day that I would stop at TJ's after work and very quickly looked up a new recipe I'd just found this week using lentils. At the store, my plan changed. While I surprisingly found the leeks I needed trimmed and nicely packed, when I reached the grain area there were no lentils. Now I am aware at how organic hippie this sounds but, what Trader Joe's doesn't carry lentils??? Really? I'd have to make a stop at Shaw's tomorrow - change of plans. In the lentil area I came upon my beloved real couscous, and I planned to buy that anyway, so maybe couscous? Then, wandering into the vegetable area, aiming initially to get some cut up sweet potatoes, a very small bag of brussel sprouts caught my eye. Now that would be something randomly yummy! I grabbed them and remembering the half of a grilled chicken breast I had leftover from last night, decided I'd make them tonight's dinner.

First, I thought I'd make Barefoot Contessa's Brussel Sprouts with Pancetta, but subsitute a piece of turkey bacon stolen from my roommate. Time, however, got the best of me and I thought, no, let's go simple, just roast them. When I was home in Pennsylvia the last time, I made dinner with my sister and we'd decided to do roasted brussel sprouts as a side dish. I know a lot of people think they are gross but if you can, try them roasted. All I did was cut each one in half, and toss them in a bowl with olive oil, sea salt, and pepper. Spread them out on a baking sheet and put them in a hot oven (400 or so). This "for one" size was done in about 20 minutes. They brown amazingly and some of the outside leaves fall off and crisp up almost into chips. Do yourself a favor and heavily salt them, it is utterly delicious. The little bit of chicken I had in the fridge (pieces that didn't fit into my quesadilla) added the protein I needed.

I love these kind of cooking nights! It is so fun just to grab something, get inspired, and make it good. I was a little cranky leaving work and a good meal just lifted my spirits. I will go to the store tomorrow or Friday and get the lentils for my next recipe. I'll report back on the results!

My Meatloaf Baby

2009-03-25T19:51:00.002-04:00

Yes...it actually was the size of a maybe slightly premature baby. Five pounds of ground turkey! I wanted to make something big I could live off of for a while, and turkey meatloaf was just the thing. I made this recipe once before and ate it for at least 5 days. The recipe is from Barefoot Contessa and I think is probably for a party (it's for 8-10 servings). It's really simple but I think that is best for meatloaf. Just some flavorings and a good douse of ketchup on top. I had most of the ingredients already (conveniently my last recipe, the pasta with breadcrumbs, left me with extra breadcrumbs and thyme). Ken and I split the cost of the turkey and when you calculate it up, we are saving a ton of money.

Since the meatloaf takes a while to cook, I made a quick dinner (tried some Trader Joe's Indian Fare Punjab Eggplant - pretty good) and then made up the loaf afterward. I just laughed when I finally dumped the big bowl of meat and onions on to the pan, it was huge! I told Ken he better be really excited for meatloaf. It cooks at a low temperature for about an hour and a half, but with my crappy oven it took more like two hours. But it is worth the time because the meat really stays tender. We took half of the meatloaf, wrapped it tight in foil and popped it in the freezer. Now in a few weeks when we're starving and don't know what to eat, we can pull it out, have a couple slices for dinner, and let the rest be gobbled up for sandwiches. Meanwhile, I cut a big middle slice to hold for a sandwich in the morning, and put the rest in the fridge. In the morning I made a mean meatloaf sandwich - a thick slice of the meat, a piece of pepper jack cheese, and some extra ketchup. For once I literally couldn't wait to get to lunch! Ken made one for his lunch today too. Tonight I had another slice with a side of rice pilaf.

Barefoot Contessa Turkey Meatloaf:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/turkey-meatloaf-recipe/index.html

Maybe I Just Don't Like It

2009-03-23T20:53:00.002-04:00

Tonight, I was STARVING. Of course I didn't take the chance to go to the grocery store over the weekend (I'm sorry, Target just overtakes all of my thoughts). I had to raid the pantry and see what I could find. Hmmm...random box of Israeli couscous. Israeli couscous is also called pearl couscous sometimes, it is basically larger pasta balls. I bought it once before and used it with a recipe I usually made with orzo. It worked well so I bought it again. I also had a bunch of leftover dried apricots from the chicken a little while ago. Add some feta crumbles and a bit of parsley...ok I can do something with this.

The instructions on the couscous box said to first toast them in some olive oil. I added some chopped onion and apricots, thinking the apricots could soften the way they did in that chicken dish. I added some chicken stock to it all and covered it. Annoyingly, this kind of couscous doesn't cook up like the normal kind, i.e. in five minutes. It takes longer, sort of like a true pasta, and I was very impatient. After cooking for a while, the liquid was absorbed but the whole thing was a bit mushy. And definitely needed a good bit of salt. I also got the idea to throw in some balsamic vinegar, again just thinking about the chicken from last week and hoping to get some more flavor. That helped, plus the parsley and feta. But overall I think I have learned that I don't really like this type of couscous. I am not sure why I keep buying it. I love regular couscous and used to eat it all of the time. I need the real thing. Grocery store tomorrow night - I will remedy this problem.

My recipe of the week is going to be turkey meatloaf. As I've mentioned before, I pick a recipe prior to every grocery store trip and the meatloaf caught my eye tonight. It takes way to long to have for dinner tomorrow, so I'm going to get it in the oven in time for American Idol, then make myself a killer meatloaf sandwich for lunch the next day! I'll report back on how it goes.

Comfort Pasta

2009-03-19T22:04:00.004-04:00

I was really craving pasta tonight. I didn't sleep well last night and it was a gloomy morning, so I was in the mood for something sort of comforting. So, during lunch, I perused Giada DiLaurentis' pasta collection online and figured I could stop at Trader Joe's on my way to home to get anything I needed. I settled on her Orecchette with Toasted Breadcrumbs. It sounded simple and cost-effective.

I ended up stopping at the smallest Trader Joe's I know of and they didn't exactly have the array of ingredients exactly as I needed. I could only find plain breadcrumbs instead of the Italian-seasoned the recipe asked for. They had proscuitto, but seeing as I needed to clearly find some extra flavor somewhere and I find I usually regret using the cheapo kind, I bought some pancetta instead. If you don't know what that is, it's like bacon but not smoked. I also had to go with farfalle (bowties) instead of the little ears.

I cooked the pancetta until it was crispy and set it aside. I threw a bunch of salt, pepper, oregano (I knew I kept that for a reason!), and some red pepper flakes into the breadcrumbs. Tossed all together, it was pretty good. I don't know if it was the best thing I have ever made, but it did the job. The recipe was for the whole pound of pasta so I have some for lunch and um...then some. I do think that maybe I would like it a little better if I'd had really good proscuitto to put in it and the real breadcrumbs. Cooking is a trial by error process they say!

Orechiette with Toasted Breadcrumbs:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/orecchiette-with-toasted-breadcrumbs-recipe/index.html

What's On My Mind

2009-03-18T12:30:00.005-04:00

First a quick word to extol the virtues of tofu. Where has tofu been all of my life? It's becoming a staple of my diet now, particularly since I discovered hefty servings of it at such a low price at TJ's. It is the perfect thing for a quick meal when I don't even have the energy to defrost a piece of chicken. I made a killer tofu stir-fry on Monday with red onions, mushrooms and broccoli. I have half it left over, sitting in a plastic container full of water (kind of looking like a science experiment).

Anyway, I'll admit life has gotten busier and I am finding less time to cook. I've luckily been able to get back into a gym routine, but now I get home later and I am ravenous. That isn't a great formula for cooking meals. But I am doing my best. I am finding so many recipes these days that excite me that I simply have to find the time. My culinary skills are building and so I am hoping to try some more ambitious projects.

Here's my list of cooking goals this year:

Braise a pork shoulder for BBQ pulled pork or carnitas
Make a pizza with actual raw dough
Make really decadent macaroni and cheese - I saw this one made on TV and was practically drooling - Cheese Lovers 5 Cheese Mac and Cheese
Try this fascinating potato recipe (I can't fathom what it would really taste like but I am so intrigued) - New Potatoes with Ginger and Mint
Make sushi (probably a veggie roll first, then get real raw fish involved!)
Cook homemade oatmeal
On the oat theme, also make homemade granola
Make more kinds of pesto (maybe sun-dried tomato next)
Slow-cook a rich bolognese sauce
Roast a rack of lamb
Make bread pudding - savory and/or sweet - I think this sounds delicious, Butternut Squash and Parmesan Bread Pudding
Figure out how to come close to recreating the white bean spread on the bruschetta at Mozza - To. Die. For.
Go to the Coolidge Corner Farmer's Market every weekend while it's open
Host a formal dinner party

Undoubtedly I will come up with more goals along the way, but I think this list should keep me busy for quite a while!

Two Days of Lunch

2009-03-15T20:05:00.003-04:00

I'm trying very hard to continue to make some hearty meals for lunch during the week on Sunday or early in the week. I've been craving a good salad, so tonight I made my own variation on Giada DiLaurentis' Garbanzo Bean and Zucchini salad. I kept the garbanzo beans, otherwise known as chickpeas, since they are so hearty and full of protein - exactly what one needs on a busy work day. The recipe called for raw zucchini chopped into bite size pieces, but I am not a huge fan of it raw, so I decided instead to grill some thick slices of zucchini and red bell pepper with just some olive oil, salt, and pepper. Then I cut them up into pieces and tossed it with the garbanzo beans, defrosted frozen corn, and chopped red onion. Giada then adds chunks of Parmesan cheese to the salad, which I absolutely love, but good parm is expensive and I already had some feta crumbles in the fridge. With the Mediterranean flavors already going on in the salad, I figured the feta would work just fine. I also didn't have lemons for the dressing, so I made a very fast balsamic vinaigrette and tossed everything together. I left out the lettuce completely as there just didn't seem to be a need for the fluff of it. I have to admit, I am not a huge fan of lettuce as a whole. I split my salad into two plastic containers, and with a yogurt or an apple, my lunch will be great. It tasted pretty good right after being made, but I anticipate it will be even better tomorrow after marinading in the dressing. By leaving out the lettuce I could mix it all up, as the vegetables in the salad now can easily stand up to a night in dressing and shouldn't be soggy tomorrow (or so I hope).

Finally Trying Something New

2009-03-11T19:29:00.004-04:00

It's been entirely too long since I have tried a new recipe, so tonight was the night! I have had this huge jar of apricot preserves left over in my fridge (used a little while ago for some incredible crostinis, just for kicks I will put the link in this post as well) and so I wanted to use it up in a creative way. I decided to try a recipe I found on AllRecipes.com called Apricot and Balsamic Chicken. It was very highly rated, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

The recipe method was simple enough - browning up some chicken and then simmering it in a sauce. It called for chicken breast tenderloins cut into bite size pieces, but I decided to use boneless skinless thighs because they have more flavor and they were a bit cheaper. As I cut them up, I realized that I needed a pan with a lid, and my large covered pan had not made the move with me because, well, I bought a cheap crappy one that I hated. So I had to use my pasta pot instead. I browned the chicken but immediately noticed the bottom of the pot was really too small to get a good color on them, and they were building up too much liquid. In retrospect I should have tried to drain some of it out but I didn't. The rest of the recipe was easy, essentially just putting the rest of the ingredients into the pot and letting them simmer. In went balsamic vinegar, onions, thyme, a full cup of apricot preserves, about 20 dried apricots, and some chicken stock.

In about 15 minutes the chicken was done and the apricots had softened and plumped up. However, I noticed the sauce was still very thin, even after simmering for a decent amount of time. But that said, it tasted very good! I spooned the chicken and apricots over some Trader Joe's Multigrain Pilaf, this odd side dish I recently discovered, made up of a lot of random grains that I can't remember. It's good anyway, and really healthy. I gave myself a little extra sauce too. The chicken was really tender from cooking in the sauce and the flavor was a very mild sweet and sour taste. The apricots are what really make the dish, they are soft and just sweet enough. I had plenty for a good dinner and I will bring it for lunch tomorrow too.

If I make it again, I would definitely get a proper pan, because I think getting the chicken really brown would add another layer of flavor. I had a little less chicken than the recipe called for, which might be why the sauce was so thin. I think it would benefit from a little heavier of a hand with the balsamic vinegar and slightly less chicken stock. The recipe also suggested adding a handful of chopped parsley at the end, which I left out because I knew I wouldn't be able to use up a whole bunch in time, but the dish probably could do with a little freshness. Overall, though, it was very tasty, simple, cheap, and easy!

Apricot and Balsamic Chicken:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Apricot-Chicken-with-Balsamic-Vinegar/Detail.aspx

Apricot and Chicken Bruschetta (leave out the chicken, even though it's in the name, you totally don't need it!):
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/everyday-italian/apricot-and-chicken-bruschetta-recipe/index.html

Mmmm...spicey and ricey!

2009-03-09T22:45:00.004-04:00

Last night I took my visiting dad to this great Asian restaurant in Inman Square, Spice and Rice. I will definitely be returning! It was an adorable space, very mod and retro, with silver and bright colors and shapes. They have everything you could need - a full Thai menu, a sushi bar, and also a few Korean dishes. I had mango curry that was some of the best curry I have had in quite a while. Just the right amount of spice and a lot of vegetables, not just the usual mushed up onions and carrots. It was so good I ate it all and didn't have enough to take home for lunch the next day!

Tonight I went to the gym for the first time after work and was starving by time I got home. All the way there I was thinking, what can I make that will be filling enough but fast. And lo and behind, when I walked in the door, my lovely roommate had made a huge pot of pasta tossed with some Italian chicken sausage we'd just picked out at Trader Joe's. It was just what I wanted on a rainy crappy day. Later on, in the midst of the season premiere of Dancing With the Stars, I realized I had planned on having mostly leftovers for lunch this week so I tossed together a quick dish to take to work tomorrow. I made a quick garlic oil by starting a couple crushed garlic cloves in a cold pan with some olive oil and some red pepper flakes for spice. I let the garlic brown up (make sure it does burn!), discarded it, and then sauteed about a cup of frozen broccoli spears with some salt and pepper. Meanwhile I cooked up the remnants of some penne pasta, and tossed it all together. Once it cooled I added a handful of feta cheese crumbles and there's lunch.

http://www.spice-rice.com/

2009-03-05T20:26:00.002-05:00

I'm behind a night so we'll hit two dinners in a row. Last night was stir-fry with my favorite TJ's General Tso sauce, chicken, and veggies. Most nights I make stir-fry with rice but I decided to toss in some spaghetti instead and do some lo mein fake out. It was a big and yummy, just what I wanted at the end of a work day. I will admit I'm lagging behind on trying some new actual recipes, mostly because I was away last weekend and still haven't gone to the grocery store. I've been living off the scraps! But I intend to follow my usual plan and pick a recipe before I finally hit the store this weekend. Hmmm...what am I in the mood to try?

Tonight I have the apartment to myself and the wild card round of American Idol (plus The Office and 30 Rock), plus I'm out of lunches to bring to work. It was the perfect night for Indian takeout - it's always huge and I can get two sizable meals out of it for much less than buying two separate things. My sister recommended a place called Gourmet Curry House in Coolidge Corner, which is plenty good for the price and ease of getting it. She's quite the Indian food connoisseur so I trusted her judgement. I had a combo meal of rice, chicken vindaloo (which I will admit wasn't nearly spicy enough), saag paneer, and a vegetable samosa. It was exactly what I wanted. Now they better not put crazy Tatiana in the Top 12...

Quesadillas

2009-03-03T20:57:00.002-05:00

Tonight just a simple meal. Chicken and cheese quesadillas - sliced grilled chicken and cheddar cheese folded in a wheat tortilla and crisped up in a pan. Some times the easiest simplest things just can't be beat. Though I was missing California and the easy access to my beloved pickled jalapenos that I used to always put in my Mexican dishes. They just don't seem to sell them in Brookline. Surprise, surprise. Put a little salsa and sour cream on the plate and its a Doylestown Friendly's flashback (we always used to order them there on Friday nights or after shows). I also made some microwave rice on the side. Like I said, nothing flashy, just dinner.

Snow Day

2009-03-02T19:13:00.003-05:00

It was a snow day today, as I am sure it was for many of you, and after being away for the weekend, there wasn't a lot left in my kitchen to make for dinner. Then I spotted the frozen container of leftover pesto from last week. Score! This is exactly what that pesto was waiting for, a cold night where a big plate of pasta totally hit the spot. I found the pesto much mellower after it had time to meld.

I'm definitely getting antsy to try something new again. While eating dinner I had on an old episode of 30 Minute Meals and Rachael Ray was making a really simple buffalo chicken pizza that I want to try soon. I've noticed that they sell pizza dough for very cheap at Trader Joe's, but I've never attempted rolling out my own pizza. I also read an article on The Kitchn about savory bread puddings, and picked out a recipe that had butternut squash and Parmesan. That sounds utterly decadent. Got any other ideas? Comments welcomed!

Sichuan with Sissy

2009-02-26T21:28:00.004-05:00

Tonight I had dinner planned with my sister Betsy and she requested something that would be good for her sore throat. We decided to try Sichuan Garden, a very highly recommended Sichuan-style Chinese restaurant just across the street from my apartment, so that she could have some hot and sour soup.

This place was awesome. It was pretty quiet on this night so we got served very quickly, in fact I think the whole meal was 30 minutes. We each had a small bowl of hot and sour soup that was very flavorful and really full of tofu and mushrooms. Betsy said it felt great on her throat. Then we decided to share the dan dan noodles and Kung Pao chicken. Dan dan noodles are something I have only seen at specific Sichuan restaurants but as you'd expect, each time I've had it its been slightly different. The first time it was more like a very spicy version of a pad thai with a peanut-flavored sauce and shredded pork. This time it was a thinner spaghetti noodle with a vinaigrette and very little pork. But both times it was delicious and crazy spicy (which I love). The kung pao was some of the best I've had - not greasy and not too heavy. The restaurant was clearly very authentic, and I've read some Yelp reviews saying so, since I can't proclaim to be an expert in this field. Just don't go here if you don't like spicy food, its what they specialize in.

All together we ate plenty and still had some left over (though it was mostly a plate full of the water chestnuts in the kung pao because Betsy doesn't like them - at least it meant I could take it home!). It was very well-priced and incredibly quick. Check it out if you're ever in my neck of the woods!

http://www.sichuangarden2.com/
http://www.yelp.com/biz/sichuan-garden-brookline

Times Two

2009-02-23T19:31:00.002-05:00

A huge time and money saver for me is stretching one meal into two. I'm running low on take-to-work lunches so I decided to make a dinner I could take with me tomorrow - Tex-Mex Rice Bowls!

This is something I invented a while ago by basically raiding my pantry and trying to figure out what to do with what I had. The basic make up is rice and beans, but I make all sorts of variations. I start with a microwave package of brown rice. These things are a lifesaver! Making real rice takes forever and the rice just re-steams in the microwave and is just as good. Then this particular night I had a can of black beans to be the next layer, mixed with some frozen corn. That also went into the microwave. In the meantime, I grilled two boneless skinless chicken breasts on my trusty grill pan with a little seasoning mix on it. One was for tonight and one was for tomorrow. The rice and beans are always too much for one sitting, so as I assembled my rice bowl, the leftovers and extra chicken went into a separate plastic container. Everything gets topped off with some shredded cheese (always the low-fat kind), salsa, and a dollop of sour cream (also low-fat).

By time dinner was ready, so was lunch tomorrow! It's sitting in my fridge all ready to go, including sour cream in a separate plastic container. I always wondered what I'd use those really tiny ones you get in the Tupperware multi-pack! My dinner was very good and filling, full of healthy grains and lots of protein from the beans and chicken. I can't wait to have it again tomorrow!

Now to Try This Working...

2009-02-21T00:06:00.004-05:00

I started my new job yesterday, so I don't have much interesting to report on the dinner front. On my first night I made myself a very basic meal of a turkey burger, cooked on my grill pan and topped with some Gouda cheese I had left over. I toasted a wheat bun and sliced up some onion for a quite tasty little burger. On the side just some frozen corn from Trader Joe's. I really like the frozen vegetables from Trader Joe's better than the usual Green Giant or whatnot. The vegetables are always really large and fresh tasting, and they have this particular kind of sweet corn that is ten times better than others I have tried. It stays really crisp - I hate it when its soggy or mushy.

It was nice to take a shot at cooking dinner after working all day and commuting home. As strange as it might sound, I have never had a job where I could just leave at 5pm. This concept is so foreign to me I had to ask my co-workers if that's really what they did. Even with the bus and T ride home during rush hour, I was sitting on my couch by 6pm. I think this bodes well.

Cafe Brazil

2009-02-18T12:56:00.004-05:00

I have a strange crazy love of fried plantains. I don't know where it started but they serve them in Brazilian restaurants and therefore, I love Brazilian food. My dad was visiting yesterday and we wanted to go somewhere good to also have an early birthday celebration for my sister. We chose Cafe Brazil, a small hole in the wall in Allston. You would never expect to find such quality in this little place next to a used car lot but it was delicious!

We started with a plate of grilled linguica, a spicy sausage, and a sampling of empanadas, each with a different meat filling inside. They put this hot sauce on the table, and warned us before we attempted it that it was very spicy. They certainly weren't lying - the flavor was intense but only a small dab had a considerable kick! I love spice though so I wasn't afraid. I ordered the Minas Especial - a still sizzling loudly plate of grilled marinated chicken with onions and those plantains I love so dearly. It also came with rice and vegetables. The chicken was so tender and flavorful with garlic and lemon. I had a taste of everyone else's meals, and everything was so good. My sister ordered Sabor Do Brazil, which was just a gigantic plate various grilled meats. It was so much food! They also have a good selection of inexpensive wines and fresh squeezed juices.

http://www.cafebrazilrestaurant.com/

The Pesto Trials

2009-02-16T15:45:00.005-05:00

Homemade pesto trial number one was last night. My dear friend Brynne was visiting and I thought it would be fun to make dinner on Sunday night together. Total dork I am I asked for a small food processor for the holidays and I've been dying to try to make some fresh pesto. I decided to use Ina Garten aka Barefoot Contessa's recipe. It called for pine nuts and walnuts mixed but I chose to do all walnuts since pine nuts are so darn expensive! At least I can snack on the extra walnuts.

Reading the recipe, I was surprised to see it calling for nine cloves of garlic! That sounded insane so I peeled only six. I couldn't really tell if I had as much basil as the recipe required, so I decided I'd just eyeball everything and change it to taste. I started with four cloves, all the basil, and a good handful of cheese and walnuts. I also admit cheating with the crappy canned Parmesan cheese that I already had to save some money! That's kind of an Italian food sin but...oh well. I tasted-tested a few times, adding some salt or cheese or walnuts or oil. Thank goodness I didn't just throw in all of the garlic because the pesto was extremely garlicky with what I put in initially. I asked Brynne if she liked garlic, because if she didn't we were in big trouble!

Brynne made us up a salad of baby greens, dried cranberries, feta cheese, and some of the spare walnuts. I quickly mixed up a lemon vinaigrette. I've completely stopped buying jarred salad dressings. I can make something ten times healthier and just as good in two minutes with some lemons or some red wine vinegar. I then tossed the pesto with some penne pasta and some frozen peas that I didn't even need to defrost - they heated up in the pasta pot. The pesto was a real treat. It's amazing how much more flavorful it is made fresh. The basil's crisp sweetness shines through and the garlic is even better when the heat of the pasta cooks it a bit and makes it fragrant. I have about half of it left and am freezing it for another super-fast dinner soon!

Here's the recipe (just use the pesto part below): http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/pesto-pea-salad-recipe/index.html

Trying Tofu

2009-02-12T20:39:00.003-05:00

Lately I've been on a kick of ordering tofu in several Asian dishes I like to eat, instead of chicken or other meat. I thought maybe I'd take a shot at cooking tofu at home, as it is an inexpensive and healthy protein option. I did a little research on how to cook it and found not too much that was consistent, so I cut it into small slices and let it saute in a bit of vegetable oil. I was hoping the pieces would brown up like you find in the restaurants. It did, but even with sufficient oil it stuck a bit. I'll have to figure out how to fix that for next time, I still have half of the tofu left. I took it out when it was brownish and then stir fried some frozen broccoli with a bit of minced garlic and the rest of the green onions I had left over from another recipe. I when they were cooked through I added the tofu back into the pan, and tossed it all with some Trader Joe's General Tso's sauce, which I have now become obsessed with! It's sweet but not overly, and a little goes a long way. It's very similar to take out I've had. I served it over the rest of a pack of microwave brown rice, also from TJ's. I'd opened that up a couple of nights ago to make a bean and rice burrito. You will soon notice a theme here - since I generally cook most nights for just myself, I try to never let anything go to waste. I hate throwing food away!

All in all, the entire thing took only about 25 minutes, and it was delicious! Though I'm pretty sure that sauce could make roadkill taste good. The tofu was surprisingly close to what I was going for, slightly caramelized and crispy on the outside. It was filling and healthy. Now to figure out what to do with the rest of the tofu...

What To Do With Extra Bacon and Eggs

2009-02-12T20:17:00.006-05:00

A couple weeks ago, I bought a pack of bacon I was supposed to bring to a friend's "Unemployment Breakfast," and forgot to take it with me. Shout out to his amazing banana chocolate chip pecan pancakes! I kept noticing it in the fridge but I never did any thing with it. Finally last week when I was sick, I'd used a couple slices for a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich for dinner, so now the package was open and was going to go bad soon. Watching 30 Minute Meals one night, Racheal was making a carbonara-inspired pasta made with bacon and eggs. Ken and I both were drooling, so I promised to make it or something similar that week. I remembered my mom mentioning a quick pasta she'd made with the same ingredients, so I asked her for the recipe. Fittingly, my first dinner blog comes via my mother and isn't that how all cooking should come?

The recipe is called Late Night Pasta and its from Emeril Lagasse:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/emerils-late-night-pasta-recipe/index.html

It's incredibly simple and I didn't even have to go out for any ingredients (thanks to a random jar of red pepper flakes I tossed in a moving box). The sauce can be made easily in the time it takes the pasta to cook. I didn't have any shallots so I just used a small onion, which I thought worked just fine. I think I actually would have put more onion in than the recipe calls for. I also went heavy on the red pepper flakes, per my mom's suggestion, and it gave the pasta a real kick. The egg and the cheese create a creamy coating to the pasta and no one can ever complain about bacon. It made enough for Ken and I to have hearty portions, and for me to take for lunch the next day, a major plus for anyone who is trying to save money. I highly recommend it!

What am I eating tonight?

2009-02-12T19:15:00.010-05:00

Hello friends, and welcome to The Dinner Blog! I'm a food nerd. I watch a little too much Food Network and I keep a binder full of recipes in plastic covers (its in case things spill!). This is my food story.

My life is in transition. What better time to start a blog (haha)?? I moved to Boston in early December after living in Los Angeles for the last four and a half years. I quit the job I'd once only dreamed of getting (as an assistant in drama development at ABC Network - I worked on shows like Pushing Daisies, October Road, and Life on Mars) and moved myself back another 3000 miles to find a new path that would make me purely happier. After settling into a beautiful Brookline apartment with my good friend Ken, I realized I had a lot of time on my hands and I better find a productive way to use them. I hadn't had a long period of not working full time (plus tons of overtime and one terribly long commute) in five years and it definitely felt strange. Cooking a good meal every night seemed to be a great way to fill my evenings. I was also watching a ton of Food Network shows - some of the only decent programming on in the middle of a Wednesday. Not only that, with no job I obviously needed to pinch the pennies, and cooking at home is one of the best ways to do so.

My dinners are simple. My dinners are usually spent sitting at my small dining table with Ken, watching Seinfeld and Jeopardy. Sometimes they are on my own at my coffee table. So the goal is always quick, easy, and healthy. I have many go-tos, basic dishes that I've been perfecting over the years. Then sometimes I pick a specific recipe to make. I try to choose one recipe every time I go to the grocery store. Since I usually cook for only me, I tend to go for things that will create enough for a dinner and a lunch to bring to work the next day.

As much as I love to cook, I like going out to eat just as much! I now actively use the term "Yelping" to find the best place to out. There is nothing better than discovering a cheap hole in the wall with absolutely delicious food! I've been lucky enough to get to some exceptional restaurants in my life and it is my goal to get to more. Eating at Le Bernardin in New York is definitely on my "To Do Before I Die" list. So here and there, I'll also be blogging about what I'm getting in Boston, and what I recommend.

As I said before, my life is still changing, and I'm about to start a new job in a totally new industry. I'm slightly freaked out, but much more excited, and I don't really know what my life is going to look like over the coming months. In every real job I've ever had, I've been a virtual slave, and doing everything I really wanted to was challenging. Now I have a job where I can leave the office at 5pm, take the T to the gym, and still be home by 7:30. I can cook a hearty meal instead of constantly stopping for take out because its too late and I'm too exhausted to cook. Or so I hope.

There is probably little need for another blog in this world but I hope you'll check it out! Even if its only for me, I'll enjoy keeping track of what I'm doing. I think you'll relate. I'm young, I'm living on my own, I'm trying to save money, and I'm trying to save time. I'll be doing my best to post as many nights as I can, so check back regularly! I hope you'll join me in the telling of my food story. As they say, bon apetit!