Fresh and Simple

A few days ago I was perusing the archives of one of my favorite blogs, Smitten Kitchen.  I’ll just admit right now that I was at work, and yes, I was procrastinating, and yes, Deb has about a million recipes on her site so I may or may not have been clicking around for oh, I don’t know, the better part of an hour.  Shhhh!!  Now I think at least a few of you will know what I mean when I say that all that clicking around and staring at vibrant photos and thinking about recipes and thinking about how to tweak recipes and trying to remember what’s already in the fridge so that you won’t buy doubles next time you go to the store AND narrowing down the choices for what you might want to make next…(whew!)… well, it can make a girl’s head spin.  (Yes I know that was a run-on sentence, but work with me here, it’s a device, ok?)

So.  I took a step back from the computer, blinked a few times, and clicked one last time, promising myself that I’d make whatever recipe came up so that I could just get on with it and go back to work.  What showed up on my screen was this: Deb’s mother-in-law’s Russian Brown Bread.  As much as I wanted to make that, I needed more of a lunchy type of meal.  Luckily, Deb had included a link to her NPR feature on zakuski, or Russian hors d’oeuvres.  I made the Georgian Kidney Bean salad at the bottom of the page and loved it so much that I made a variation of it for lunch today.

Summer Pasta Salad with Kidney Beans and Cilantro
Makes about 4 cups

1 garlic clove, minced
1 to 2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
1/2 to 1 whole jalapeno pepper, minced*
1/2 red onion, finely diced
1 tomato, diced*
3 tablespoons white or cider vinegar
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

4 oz whole wheat pasta, cooked al dente
1 15-ounce can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
Salt and pepper to taste

Put a pot of salted water on to boil (a very large pinch of salt should do the trick). While the water is boiling, mince the garlic, cilantro, and jalapeno, and place in a large bowl. Dice the onion and add it to the bowl, too. Add the olive oil and vinegar and whisk all ingredients together.

Once the water has come to a rapid boil, cook the pasta according to package directions until al dente. (If you bite off half a piece of the pasta, there should be no trace of white on the interior, but the pasta should not be mushy either). Drain the pasta and add to the bowl with the other ingredients.

Toss the salad together and, if you’d like, let the salad sit for a little while at room temperature or in the fridge. This will give the flavors time to meld and will also cause the onions to soften and mellow a bit. When ready, serve at room temperature.

 *I didn’t have a jalapeno OR a tomato on hand the time I made the recipe for these pictures, but you should definitely include them when you make it!

Results: Make Martha Cringe

I have to admit I’m a little bit sad… I had really hoped that “Make Martha Cringe” would generate a bunch of responses.  I got a few comments and some people expressed interest, but in the end, I only got one (awesome) entry!  Maybe this is what happens when events first start?  Maybe no one wants to be tacky?  Oh man.. I’m still going to try again next month anyway and see if maybe it’s just going to take a little while to catch on.

Well, about the gorgeous photo you see above… My friend Kyle from Kumo-Art made “Shrimp and Fish in an Herb Sauce” and styled it with a decidedly 70’s feel.  I LOVE IT!  Way to go, Ky.   I have to admit though, I was hoping for something a bit more gaudy, but that doesn’t take away from how great this styling job is. 

My cousin also sent me this awesome picture of a “meat tree”, which was kind of exactly what I was looking for.

I hope these pictures inspire you for next month!!

When eating healthy is so, so, good.

Today was one of those days: too many vegetables in the fridge, not too much motivation to cook. What I almost always do in those situations is fire up the oven, get out the cutting board, and get ready to roast. Here’s some of my best advice. If you don’t already oven-roast vegetables on a regular basis, you really should start. It’s so, so easy, as healthy as you want it to be, and always leaves you with the most delicious, crispy edged, salt-kissed, olive oil caressed vegetables that took almost no effort at all. So turn on your oven already and roast something!

Really though, I’m not kidding. Almost every vegetable is good this way. Maybe I’m a bit obsessed but I swear, toss a vegetable with some olive oil, salt and pepper (and maybe some rosemary, or cumin-coriander-turmeric, depending on what you’re going for), put it in a hot oven (I usually do 450), and it will be good, promise.

Some suggestions are:

• Broccoli with rosemary (the edges of the broccoli get all crispy and awesome)
• Cauliflower with CCT (yes ok it’s a little bit Rachael Ray of me but it’s a lot to type out!)
• Carrots with just olive oil, salt and pepper (or with CCT, that’s good too)
• Zucchini (I like it best simple, with just olive oil, salt and pepper)
• Rutabagas or Potatoes (both are good with almost anything, although I especially love potatoes with rosemary)

Seriously, the possibilities are endless.

This time I had rutabagas, red bliss potatoes, spinach, and edamame. I roasted the cubed the rutabagas and potatoes and roasted them with some cumin until their edges were browned and crisp. I sauteed the spinach with a bit of garlic, and just used the edamame as they were. Wanting something a bit more substantial than a side dish, I made some quinoa (one of my favorite grains) and scrambled an egg to add in as well. The only other thing I did was make a quick lemon-tahini dressing and this lunch (with enough leftovers for lunch tomorrow) was ready to go. I highly, highly recommend it.

Quinoa Salad with Roasted Root Vegetables and Tahini-Lemon Dressing
(serves 4 as a small main dish)

1 C uncooked quinoa

2 rutabagas, cubed
2 small red bliss potatoes
1 C edamame, thawed if frozen
4 C spinach, uncooked
1/4 C calamata olives, roughly chopped, or more to taste

One egg (just leave it out if you’d like the recipe to be vegan- maybe add some sesame/soy marinated tofu instead…)

1 teaspoon cumin

1 clove garlic, minced, or more to taste
1T tahini
1T lemon juice and a pinch of lemon zest

1/4 C Marcona almonds, sliced or chopped (for sprinkling on top)

Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil for sautéing

For the Quinoa
Rinse and drain the quinoa. Boil 2C of water in a small pot and then add the quinoa. Let cook, covered, over medium low heat for about 15 minutes or until the water is absorbed and the quinoa grains look like little curly cues. Take off the heat and set aside.

For the Root Vegetables
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees farenheit.
Peel the rutabagas and wash the potatoes (I like to leave the skin on). Cut both into half-inch cubes and then throw them on a heavy pan or cookie sheet with a glug of good olive oil. Sprinkle the cumin on top and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper (don’t go crazy, you can always add more later!)
Let cook until browned and crispy on edges (check after 15 minutes). Toss to get browning on other sides.

To finish and assemble the salad
Sautee the spinach in a small pan with a bit of olive oil and the garlic. Remove from the pan, and just use the same pan to scramble the egg, adding a bit of salt and pepper if you’d like.

Add the spinach, scrambled egg, edamame, olives, and roasted root vegetables to a bowl with the quinoa and toss quickly. Whisk together the tahini, lemon zest, and lemon juice and pour over, tossing again to coat. If necessary, add a bit more olive oil to the salad. Sprinkle the almonds over the top, and serve at room temperature.

Geez I guess it’s been a while…

So, don’t ask me why, but the other day I got a craving for turkey burgers. Now, let me give you a little bit of background. I don’t do regular (beef) burgers any more, and honestly, I never thought turkey burgers were worthy of much praise. They always seemed to be bland, strange-colored, poor-substitute versions of regular burgers. Certainly not something I would order at a restaurant, let alone crave. Well, a couple of years ago, some friends and I went to visit our friend Steve’s parents out in central Pennsylvania. We got to his parents’ house, and his mom had prepared dinner for us. She presented us with a plate of just-grilled turkey burgers. I remember thinking, “Great.. I’ll just eat half of this to be polite”, but upon first bite I realized that I had been so, so, mistaken. These turkey burgers were delicious! In fact, I liked them better than any beef burger I had ever had. I hounded Steve’s mom for the recipe, and although she was very gracious and offered to email it to me, I foolishly never followed through. Now it’s been about two years, and I think it would be a little strange to call up Steve’s mom, who I have not seen since then, and ask her for her turkey burger recipe. Don’t you? Besides, I am a bit of a rogue in the kitchen and can not resist a chance to experiment, even if I really have no idea what I’m doing, and I’ll tell you this: I am a bit less than experienced with meat.

Annnnyyyway… So I had this craving for turkey burgers. It would NOT go away. I tried to lure M into making them with me (I need a companion around when I cook with meat, I’m a little intimidated!) on Friday night, but it just did not happen. We were too hungry and just went to chinatown for a quick malaysian meal which, in retrospect, was not a bad idea at all. So Saturday rolled around and I still wanted those damn turkey burgers! Well, to make a long story short, we made them. I guess that’s that. They were awesome! Of course, M and I are both wannabe gourmandes and can not stop at one dish, so we had to make a full lunch banquet (yes, just for the two of us, I know).

As you can see from the “menu” above, we had:

-Pan-roasted asparagus with lemon and parmesan

-Turkey burgers

-M’s potato salad (without mayonnaise.. yes!)

and… as if that wasn’t enough already

-Nigella Lawson’s Chocolate Ginger Bread (although admittedly, we were pretty full and only ate a few bites)

Well, let me tell you, this was all very good! It was also pretty impressive. M is into Iron Chef and gave us only an hour to make all of this, starting the moment we walked in the door. I have a very small kitchen and a mini oven, so this was quite the challenge. I’m proud to say, we did it! And I am known to be a notoriously slow cooker. Not bad!

I would like to post recipes for this stuff, but we made it up and don’t really remember the proportions. If you’d like the recipe for Nigella’s Chocolate Ginger Bread (yes, you would like this recipe), it’s in her book, Feast. Enjoy!

studying with soba

Well, all of today was devoted to studying. I think I’m in an altered mindset. All I can think about are molecules and reaction rates! My social skills are on hold, my sarcasm detector is temporarily out of order, and, well, I’m just in a bit of a haze. I guess my stomach is still working though, because as I was wading through problem sets and section quizzes I suddenly became very hungry. So… what could I make in 15 minutes or less that would be warm and cozy on this very cold and very un-cozy night?? Soba!

This is hardly a recipe. I mean, I really don’t think I could call it that. I just cooked some soba noodles in broth and then added a bit of soy sauce and just a touch of sesame oil. I also threw in some spinach just to get those veggies in. And because I love spinach. In everything. I’ve never made this before, but I have to say… it’s so easy and satisfying, I’ll definitely be making it again.

Beans and Greens

Beans and Greens Soup:

This was basically my attempt to avoid the inevitable rotting of all my beautiful and potentially delicious vegetables. I love soups and stews like this. When you start cooking, you’re never quite sure what you might end up with, but you tweak, and you tweak, and with any luck, you’re left with a delicious soup that you’ve never had before. If you ask me, that is really the ideal way to cook.

As for next time, I would leave out the speckled beans and use chickpeas or cannelini beans instead, I think I like them better, but it’s completely up to you.

So, here’s what went in:

1T extra virgin olive oil

1 yellow onion, chopped

3 or 4 carrots, chunked

3 stalks of celery, chopped

5 cloves of garlic

2 garnet yams, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 1/2 bunches of green kale, chopped

2 or 3 cubes of vegan bullion

1 bunch of chard, chopped

about 1 1/2 cups of these speckled beans (I can’t remember what they’re called!), boiled to soften

Generous salt and pepper

Warm the olive oil for a minute or so over medium-low heat and then drop in the onions, carrots, celery and garlic. Let them saute and soften for a few minutes. Season with salt and pepper (be conservative, you can always add more later)!

Add the yams and beans, followed by the vegan bullion cubes. Add water to cover, then put a lid on your pot, turn the heat down low and leave it all to chill for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes and beans are tender (I personally like my potatoes a little disintegrate-y).

Come back and add the greens, maybe a little bit more salt and pepper (to taste) and then cover once more and let the greens steam. This should only take a couple of minutes.

That’s it! It really is that simple. Make sure the seasoning is to your liking, and then go to town on this delicious, healthy soup.