Serious Eating

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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!