Patently Delicious

A weekend of Venetian Plaster

2007-04-15T21:49:00.000-04:00

Our friend, BH, offered her knowledge in a technique called Venetian Plaster a few weekends ago to beautify our bathroom. After two full days of work, four coats of plaster, a batch of mac and cheese and a little pad thai, our bathroom was completely transformed. The work was well-worth how gorgeous it turned out. Thanks, BH - we love it!

Here's a before and after picture:

Spicy Cucumber Noodle Salad with Edamame

2007-04-15T21:02:00.000-04:00

It's been awhile...I know. I've definitely been trying out new recipes over the past few months but I just didn't feel that inspired to post. It may have been that I was worn out from my new job (btw, I'm back at my old job again with a new found enthusiasm...and perhaps more time to blog!). Also, between all of my recently discovered food allergies, I guess I was finding cooking a little less fun and a little more of a chore. So I needed to shake all that in order to get back into the groove. We'll see where this goes...

The weather was awful today; I'm sure it was awful in your neighborhood too wherever you may be. So it was a perfect day to stay indoors and cook. I cracked open my Cooking Light magazine on drive to a restaurant last night and found a rather simple noodle salad recipe that had my name all over it. So today, my husband and I set to work on this for a quick lunch and were pleasantly surprised.

Here's the recipe (From Cooking Light):

8 ounces uncooked soba (buckwheat noodles)
1 cup frozen shelled edamame (green soybeans)
1 cup diced English cucumber
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
1/4 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 teaspoons white miso (soybean paste)
1 teaspoon low-sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon chile paste with garlic (such as sambal oelek)
1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
1 1/4 cups fresh bean sprouts

Cook soba in boiling water 2 minutes; add edamame. Bring to a boil; cook 2 minutes. Drain; rinse with cold water. Drain; cool. Place soba mixture in a bowl. Add cucumber and onions. Combine mayonnaise and next 5 ingredients (through oil); stir with a whisk. Pour over the soba mixture; toss well. Top with bean sprouts.

We tend to avoid mayo at all costs but the mayo was a nice balance with the chile paste. If you hate mayo, there's some really good recipes online for tofu-based mayo which tastes pretty similar to the real thing and more importantly provides the needed texture. Next time, I think we'd cut the sauce mixture in half; the noodles were pretty drenched with the mixture and probably unnecessary calories were brought into the equation. Also, I think I'd make an extra effort to aquire the bean sprouts to have that needed crunch. Sadly, our local Harris Teeter only had about 10 bean sprouts to purchase totaling a mere $0.05. We have leftovers for lunch tomorrow which my husband is convinced will even be tastier cold. He loves his cold leftovers.

It's a keeper.

Oh, here's my current blog crush: 28 Cooks
I have yet to cook a recipe from here that I didn't love. Make sure to check out all the hummus recipes!

New Potatoes and Red Bell Peppers in Fresh Green Curry

2007-01-09T20:27:00.000-05:00

The thing I love the most about Thai restaurants is the vast array of curries. Unfortunately, I seem to never be able to bring the love to my own kitchen. I've tried out a few curries over the years and either ended up with too-firey-to-even-get-hint-of-flavor curry or a bland-watered-down-bore-me-to-sleep curry. I must admit - they have all been derived from some sort of paste, powder or package in a language I don't speak. When my friends, LS and FK, came to visit over the 4th of July and brought The Curry Book in tow, I was so impressed by the curry recipes that I thought I'd give making curry another whirl. On Saturday night, we invited our friend, RB, over for coffee from our new Senso coffee maker and dinner. I'm just happy that we can finally offer our friends coffee and not directions to the nearest Dunkin' Donuts. For dinner, we tried out the New Potatoes and Red Bell Peppers in Fresh Green Curry Recipe. Here's a quick summarized version of the recipe:

1 lb new potatoes, quartered
1 red bell pepper, julienned
2 tablespoons shallots, chopped
1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon ginger, chopped
2 fresh jalapenos
3 tablespoons plus 1 cup water
3/4 cup cilantro
1 can of coconut milk
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup fresh basil

The recipe basically calls for blending the curry ingredients into a pasta and mixing it with the coconut milk. The potatoes and red bell pepper simmer in the curry until the potatoes are fork tender. Top with basil and cilantro.

Overall, I think we all enjoyed it. The curry recipe was the right consitency, right level of spiciness but needed a little more of a flavor punch. Maybe a little extra ginger? Or maybe something not called for in the recipe like lemongrass? But with a little tinkering, I think the curry could be a household standard. However, there's way too many yummy-looking recipes in this book to try this recipe again for awhile.

Side note - when I searched to find a description of The Curry Book for the blog, I ran into a limited preview of the book on Google Book Search. Sure enough, the one recipe they have in its entirety is this recipe. So cook it up and let me know what you think! :)

For dessert, we wanted to attempt to be healthy. I think we ended up with a version of healthy. My original idea was to pick up fresh strawberries, whipped cream and those pre-made crepes in the dairy/fruit area of the grocery store. No luck. The strawberries were furry and cost more than the last tank top I bought and crepes were no where to be found. Then we ran into nutella...and it all changed. I think I've had nutella before or at least I seem to have some preconceived taste memory associated with it. So we compromised and found a pack of puff pastry (yes, that's when it became a version of healthy) and bought bananas and nutella for one option and raspberries and cool whip for the other. Thus, Puff Pastry two-ways emerged...

The nutella was so good that the next day AC made a sandwich with nutella, bananas and cool whip. tee hee...

One random thing before I close, I am in the process of getting allergy testing. Last week, I had phase I which I like to call the side dish round and today, the main dish round. I'm shocked how many foods I'm allergic to. I really only went to the allergist so I could be treated for my allergies to cats but I'm really happy now that I'm doing the whole set of testing. So far, I'm apparently extremely allergic to soybeans, lettuce, malt and navy beans with lesser allergies to corn, cane sugar, onion, pork and orange. I'm such a weakling - it's time to start shopping for a human-sized plastic bubble :(

All settled in

2006-12-10T19:19:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to show all of you a few more pictures now that we have been living here for about a week. We are still waiting for our storage bin so please excuse the piles of junk.

Thanks for everyone tolerating us saying our famous phrase "when we move into the condo..." over the past few years. I'm sure some of you were thinking this condo thing was all in our head. If you aren't convinced by the pictures that it actually exists, come visit us! Or just come visit us anyway!

Ok, now that we are all moved in - I'm switching gears pretty much back to cooking. :)

My friends, AS and her husband, gave us a cook book titled "The Curry Book" that I had mentioned around July on my blog. Thanks! I plan to make my next post about one of those yummy-looking recipes in that book. But for now, I must fill my brain with complex math until my final on Thursday.

Stay Tuned!

Time to move!

2006-12-02T06:12:00.000-05:00

Since we have tortured all of you with stories of our condo over the past few years, I feel you are owed an updated. Our closing went well (ok, let me rephrase - it ACTUALLY happened), our keys worked and after a late night of packing up the last remaining things, we are all ready to move! The movers come at 8 - so I'm up now since they have a reputation of being nortorious early.

I hope we can get back to life as usual and start cooking up some interesting dishes soon!

crowns over my hammy

2006-11-29T13:01:00.000-05:00

Crock pot pulled pork!

Thats right, you heard me! I loooooove pulled pork, but for those of us who don't happen to have a smoker handy, a crockpot does the trick preeeety well. Its really easy too! Just get a piece of pork shoulder or pork butt stick it in with some onion and bbq sauce and hot sauce, crock pot it on low for 8 hours and BLAMMO. pulled pork. I made some Cauliflower mash to go along with it and temper the heat from the pork. Here's an estimate of what i used.

Pulled pork
4 lb pork shoulder
1 bottle KC masterpiece spicy bbq
3 tbsp chile pepper
1 tbsp salt
1 large onion cut up

Cauliflower mash
1 large crown of cauliflower
1/4 cup milk
2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup chipotle cheddar
salt & pepper
cook caulilflower until tender, drain, puree, add other ingredients and mix until blended.

Ok, let's try that again...

2006-11-21T18:14:00.000-05:00

Today, we had our official preliminary walk-through of our condo. Overall, we are really pleased and can't wait to move in! We are scheduled to close on Friday, December 1 and move in Saturday, December 2. Keep your fingers crossed! Enjoy the pics!

First view into the condo from front door

Our cozy den

View of the kitchen from the family room (contractor not included)

Bathroom

Family room from balcony with TV ready for many hours of Montel viewing pleasure

Kitchen (already equipped with a dimmer switch! :) )

Kitchen view from family room

Bedroom

View to the north of Washington Monument and exciting office buildlings

View of Route 1 North

View to the east of the Potomac River and National Airport.

View to the west of Skyline and picturesque water-treatment facility

Today's condo walk-through

2006-11-15T14:19:00.000-05:00

...of not our condo. Unfortunately, when AC and I arrived for our walk-through today, the lead sales woman informed us that our walk-through had been rescheduled. Apparently, they sent us a letter (just checked the mailbox - no letter) and left a message probably at my old job. Geez. Apparently, people were either getting 5 phone calls informing them about the change and other people like us heard nothing. So I pulled out my pathetic smile and asked sweetly if we could just go over to the building and take a peek. So we got a walk-through of a - one floor below ours. Here's a few pictures just to give you a taste.

The lobby - they are still painting so no judging on color...yet!

Elevators on the first floor

First view from the front door - we got all wood floors instead of carpet and tile

The kitchen - we got black granite and slightly lighter colored wood cabinets. Love the recessed lighting!

Family Room with background views of DC

View from the balcony via the bedroom - if you squint, you can see Washington Monument. We will probably have that view for a year or so.

Bedroom

Bathroom - the only room that should look exactly the same.

Our walk-through will be sometime next week instead. oh well. Time to see Borat!

Rajas Jalapeno con Queso

2006-11-10T13:30:00.000-05:00

A few days ago, I was really craving the Rajas Poblanos at one of my favorite local Mexican restaurants, Taqueria Poblano,, but it was getting late, AC was stuck at work late and my tummy was getting pretty grumpy. So I decided to make a quick run to Giant to pick up the necessary ingredients to make my own version of Rajas Poblanos. You might ask - what are rajas? Basically, it's just julienned chile peppers combined usually with onions and other spices; it's a pretty common dish in Mexico. Here's a cool website that talks more about the joys of rajas.

I drove down to Giant expecting to be able to quickly pick up the necessary ingredients for the rajas: poblanos, yellow onions, a bulb of garlic, a lime, random Mexican spice mix, flour tortillas, cilantro and a pack of Monterrey jack cheese. I went immediately to the produce aisle because I had an inkling that they wouldn't have any poblanos. Sure enough...no poblanos. I went to Safeway - no luck. So I decided just to get jalapenos instead and try that out. Overall, it was pretty tasty and I think I'd definitely make it again. It's pretty easy - just sauté the veggies with spices and a squirt of lime in an oven-safe pan, top with cheese, throw pan into oven until bubbly and then remove and top with cilantro. If you love cheesy and spicy things, it's a great quick meal.

So this brings us to the question of the day - why are some items so hard to come by at the grocery store? Subquestion - Are my standards too high as a grocery store food snob or are the grocery stores around here inferior?

Speaking of grocery stores, I think we should be having some good grocery stores readily available to us in the near future. According to National Gateway Arlington's website, the developer of the area that includes our condo complex, Elwood Thompson’s, Fresh Market and Bloom should be opening over the next few years. Also, a 2-story Harris Teeter will be opening below our condo sometime in the February – March 2007 time frame. I’ve heard lots about Bloom through heavy radio advertising over the past couple of weeks. Apparently, it’s a Food Lion concept store with a new innovative layout. According to wikipedia, Bloom’s layout includes “a TableTop section at the entrance to the store where the shopper can purchase ready to eat foods, deli meats and sandwiches and salads. Next to this is the fresh bakery section which lead to the organic and fresh produce departments. This part of the store provides ingredients which the customer can continue in his/her meal planning. Gourmet Angus beef and meat counter along with a fresh seafood counter occupy the rear of the store. The center of the store offers quality condiments, name brand and Bloom grocery products and household/paper products. The end aisles are devoted to frozen and dairy and a pharmacy occupies the front side corner next to the Customer Service counter.” Apparently, they have little stations to look-up recipes and other computer-integrated shopping features. But my question is, with all this great technology and innovation, will they manage to have poblanos? :) I think I should make a bigger effort actually growing some of my staples next year.

On a side note, we have our condo walk-through next week!

Have you ever made green chile sauce?

2006-09-24T09:39:00.000-04:00

...asked my friend AS in an email last week. In the email, she sent me a link to this blog: Recipes from a [Gluten Free] Goddess . I think she's a regular on the blog but it was the first time for me. After I got over my initial pangs of envy over her gorgeous pictures, I was really impressed with the blog. AC and I really enjoy Mexican/Central/South American food but haven't really explored the southwestern cuisine arena. So one night last week, we decided to try the New Mexico Green Chile Sauce recipe and served it over wild salmon. Overall, it was delicious but I have one issue with the recipe...I really think it would be best run through the food processor. I do love chunky sauces but the addition of the cornstarch almost turned the sauce into something with the consistency of those fruit jello molds...ok, not THAT awful but it wasn't as fresh as I was hoping it would taste due to the cornstarch. Perhaps, we needed to add a little more peppers and tomatoes to the recipe to give it a little fuller consistency. We are going to play with the proportions and see what we can come up with. I would show a picture of our meal but her picture really does the sauce more justice (grrr...) :) AS, did you take a stab at it?

On a side note, I love it when you go to the grocery store and buy something a little out of the ordinary from the fresh fruit and veggie aisle and the cashier doesn't know how to ring it up. 9 times out of 10, I end up getting the item for much cheaper than it truly should be. For instance, I've gotten tomatillos for the price of brussel sprouts and specialty chile peppers for the price of regular green peppers. I always love a good deal :)

One more aside, I found out the Harris Teeter below our condo is more than likely not opening until February! For some reason, I figured the sequence of events would be the grocery store opening first and then we move in. I figure we are built-in customers and plus what grocery store would not want tons of customers around the holidays? My laziness is already setting in and thinking what a pain it will be to actually drive to the grocery store to buy holiday groceries...how in the world am I already so lazy? :) We should be moving in about a month or so!!!

Stuffed Shrooms =)

2006-09-12T18:18:00.000-04:00

My Stuffed Mushrooms
This is something I've mixed and honed over a few years and every year it changes slightly because my tastes change slightly. Sometimes I make it a bit heavier and sometimes a bit lighter depending on what I want. The pic isn't the greatest but I didn't have time to plate it and make a nice picture because I was running late for my friend's potluck birthday party. Everyone always loves them and I always seem to get complimented on them. I usually do things by feel, look, and my mind's tongue. ahha, but this is what I used this time.

60 mushroom caps
50 mushroom stems minced
4 Beer bratwursts without the skin
1 bag of spinach cooked and minced
1/2 solar or vidalia onion minced
8 sun dried tomatoes
4 artichoke hearts minced
2/3 cup feta cheese
about 4 tbsp basil oil
3/4 cup bread crumbs

So sautee the spinach until its cooked, then mince it all up. sautee the mushroom stems with the onion, basil oil, artichoke hearts and sun dried tomatoes. Throw it all in a bowl with the brats, cheese and then use bread crumbs until you get a nice consistancy kinda like soggy bread. Stuff the mushrooms. Cook them in an oven @ 375 for about 30 minutes on an elevated pan or something to let the juices drain. You can use the juices later to make a nice gravy or sauce or something.

Dinner with Friends

2006-08-22T19:15:00.000-04:00

Oops, I forgot to post this!

My story begins with my first friend in Northern VA when I moved here about 4 years go. SMC was one of the people in my initial training for work at the PTO and we clicked pretty instantly. Sadly, he moved to Kentucky a little more than a year ago with his insanely adorable son and lovely wife. It sounds like they have a really good life there so I'm happy for them despite my occasional secret hopes they realize how much they miss it here and drive back one night and move back :) ha ha. I'm happy to say that we've done a good job of keeping each other up-to-date about our lives - especially in regards to food :) SMC messsaged me the other day and told me how he recently decided to start up a group which would meet weekly with some people from his church to discuss various religious/ethical topics. He stressed that, although the formal discussion was important, he also wanted to have everyone work on a project together in order for everyone to get to know each other and get some friendships blooming. He thought cooking would be a great mechanism to achieve this and, as a result, they would have a tasty meal to eat once the meeting gets rolling. So here's my contribution to some soup/stew recipes for his new group. Maybe some other people might want to check these out? My suggestion for the simpler soups/stews is to have a group work on the soup/stew, another group prepare a bread and another group a simple salad. SMC, let us know if you find any other tasty stew/soup recipes since those winter months are just around the corner!

I think you should be able to click on each of the pictures and print from your web browser to get a full page recipe.

Enjoy!

Simple Dinners

2006-08-21T12:56:00.000-04:00

I realize that I've disappeared from the blogging world for awhile. My initial excuse was that I really haven't been making anything worth posting recently due to time constraints but I decided that was a lame reason. I know most normal (and reasonable) people will cook meals that take less than 30 minutes from start to serve. Most people who know me know that I like to do and pick things that tend to complicated (someone unnecessarily) - especially in the cooking arena. I truly know that complicated meals do not necessarily equal good meals and likewise simple meals can be incredibly delicious. So we've made a shift recently to more simple dishes and it's about time for me to sit down and post about them already and quit being such a recipe snob.

You might ask - what's been taking away from my precious and beloved time in the kitchen? Back in May, one of my dearest friends, m-scribbles, convinced my husband and me to join her in training for the Army Ten Miler in Virginia on October 8. We are less than 2 months away so we have kicked up our training and now are working out 6/7 days a week. Wish us luck!

Anyway, here's some simple yet delicious meals we've made recently:

From Real Simple - August 2006, Peach, Mozzarella and Basil Salad. It's pretty similar to A.C.'s mom's pasta salad but instead with peaches - perfect for those afraid of overindulging in carbs. I was about to say "yummo" - but I think I need a less annoying catch phrase :) I'd definitely make this again but try to look for peaches that were a little more ripe and juicy.

From bakingsheet.blogspot.com, Banana Black Bean Tacos. Have I mentioned these before? It's a great twist on normal black bean tacos by adding pan-fried bananas. The caramelized bananas add a nice sweetness to the relatively healthy tacos. Just make sure to get rid of the extra grease by placing the bananas between paper towels after frying. I think we've gotten to the point where we have been making these about once a week sometimes with Dave Lieberman's guac recipe.

Sorry for no pictures...I actually took some but blogger is being stubborn and will not let me upload. So just use your imagination.

Countdown...(an update)

2006-07-20T09:47:00.000-04:00

We rarely have gotten any updates about the progress of our condo but the other day I got an email from our builder with the adjacent photo. Although, I must admit, the condo complex does have a nice view of DC - this picture is way too zoomed in and are the fireworks really THAT big? Regardless, it will be a perfect place to watch fireworks next year...if we move in by then! It's nice that they are attempting to throw us a bone.

Latest update for move-in: mid to late November. I guess we'll be getting our Thanksgiving meal from a Chinese restaurant since we'll be living out of boxes at that point...I can only pray for such a scenario :) Please let it stop being so hot so those workers can finish up our building!!! I'm tempted to take some lessons on putting up dry wall and bricklaying.

A zesty summer salad

2006-07-17T14:59:00.000-04:00

Ok, so this will be my first posting and hopefully not my last. I don't have a picture of this recipe but whipped it up for some friends as a side dish on a hot summer day and everyone seemed to love it. Its kind of a play on a simple tomato basil salad with a little twist (literally!)

I have no recollection of the exact proportions. I think recipes are just a guideline anways. I'm one of those "feely" cooks. I go by taste and feel. As my mood changes, as my tastes change, so does my recipe. I guess its not exactly the most precise method of cooking. I don't always get a fantastic result but with every mistake comes more experience and a better understanding of how much is too much and how little is too little. You can't bake a cake without breaking a few eggs. (ok, technically i guess you could, and this is a bad example anyways since i'm bad at baking stuff, well, inexperienced)

Tomato-Corn Salad
Makes enough for....I'll say 6-8 people as a side.

2 cups of corn kernals. Grilled and cut off the cob is nice, but canned will do also.
6 medium tomatoes, seeded and diced
1/2 lg vidalia onion, minced (prolly about 3/4 cup)
2 limes juiced
1 tbsp lime zest
1/2 cup (unpacked) basil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Mix em all together, let it sit and voila. Simple, refreshing, healthy
I know its not novel, exciting, or complicated...But its summer! who wants to be stuck behind a hot stove!!!

Mozzarella, tomato and arugula sandwiches

2006-07-12T14:09:00.000-04:00

I'm home today studying for my mid-term exam which is tonight. So naturally I'm home taking pictures of my lunch and blogging about it :) However, I must give myself a bit of credit...I did manage to get in several good hours of studying as well.

We are trying to be more budget conscious and, in doing so, we are trying to bring our lunch to work more often. It's easy to make a crappy lunch that by the time lunch rolls around, you really don't want to eat. So I really wanted to find a good recipe that I would not only enjoy but could happily eat for multiple days in a row. When I worked/lived in Crystal City, I used to go to Au Bon Pain and get their Tomato and Mozzarella sandwich at least once every week or two. So I decided to replicate the sandwich but replace arugula (a typically more expensive ingredient) for the romaine and bring that for lunch this week. I'd like to think that making your own sandwiches is always cheaper but the math geek inside me decided to prove this theory and calculate out how much I'm actually saving...

For my sandwich:
$1.29 for the Giant brand french bread loaf - $0.33/serving
$3.99 for the Sorrento brand fresh mozzarella - $1.00/serving (on second look, I realized I said the wrong brand - now corrected)
$1.99/pound for the vine-ripened tomatoes - $0.50/serving
$1.99 for Giant brand baby arugula and lettuce salad mix - $0.25/serving
$3.49/jar for Classico brand pesto sauce - $0.35/serving
Total for sandwich - $2.45

Sandwich at Au Bon Pain:
MOZZARELLA AND TOMATO (V)
Mozzarella, Tomato, Romaine with Basil Pesto served on a Baguette - $4.59

My sandwich is almost half the cost and just as tasty!

I watch Good Deal with Dave Lieberman on occasion and he always claims to make gourmet meals for a fraction of the cost...however, annoyingly, he usually would fail to substantiate his claims! So I felt this burning desire to actually prove that something like a gourmet sandwich can actually proven to be cheaper.

One more thought...The nice thing about this sandwich is that it does use good quality ingredients that can easily be incorporated into other lunches or dinners. So if you really don't want to eat these sandwiches for 5 days in a row, you could make a pesto dish for dinner one night with sauteed tomatoes and topped with fresh mozzarella or make a nice hearty salad.

Ok, I suppose I should study some more...

Countdown...

2006-07-09T20:53:00.000-04:00

We drove by our condo today to check on its progress with the guise of going to Target. Here's some pictures we took from the road:

We marked our condo with an arrow - if you couldn't figure that out :) From what we are told, we are going to move in late this year..whatever that means. And how is this related to cooking, you may ask? I can't wait to cook in that kitchen!!! :)

Zola's Coca-Cola Cake

2006-07-08T20:44:00.000-04:00

I had the honor of making my good friend, EF's, birthday cake for her 30th birthday party this weekend. I am not much of a baker but I was willing to give it a shot since I love her so much! This recipe was passed on from EF's mother...Thanks, Mrs. Frownfelter! The cake turned out SO moist and the coca-cola gives it a nice kick! I will definitely make it again :)

Here's the recipe:

Mix in a saucepan and bring to boil:
1C coca cola
1 stick margarine + a tad
1/2 C oil
4 T cocoa

Remove from stove and add:
1 1/2 C small marshmallows to hot mixture and let melt

Pour this over 2 C sugar and 2 C flour

mix well and add 1/2 C buttermilk
1 t baking soda
2 well beaten eggs
mix well!

bake in greased 9X13 pan
40-45 min @ 350 degrees

Coca Cola Frosting:

3 T cocoa
1 C nuts (pecans- chopped up)
6 T cola
1 stick margarine
1 C small marshmallow
1 t vanilla
1 box (1 lb) powdered sugar

mix cocoa, cola, butter, vanilla and marshmallows.
put on stove and let come to a boil. Pour over sugar and beat with mixer until smooth. Add nuts and pout over warm cake in pan.

I just added the powdered sugar to give it a nice effect in the photo...really not very necessary.

Singapore Curry Noodles with Green Peppers and Shrimp and Curried Cauliflower

2006-07-03T19:20:00.000-04:00

For the 4th of July weekend, two friends from high school came to visit. We had a whirlwind adventure visiting NYC for two days and then driving back to D.C. to go to the zoo and see the 4th of July fireworks on the mall. On a quick side note, we saw Avenue Q on Broadway; if it comes to your city - go see it, it's hilarious. My two friends love to cook at least as much as I do so we had discussed ahead of time what recipes we were going to cook up during their trip. My friend brought this cookbook and we decided on the noodle dish and my other friend decided to make her curried cauliflower dish to go with it. I have to give them credit - they did all the cooking but I did set the table! I LOVE this cookbook - we made two recipes from there for our 4th of July picnic - a curried chicken salad and a curry yogurt dip. If anyone is thinking about getting me a random gift anytime soon, here's a worthy present! :)

Spicy Mamma's Mac and Cheese with Corn bread and Wasabi Green Beans

2006-06-25T21:45:00.000-04:00

I've never been a fan of mac and cheese. *gasp* - I know, it's a sin in some people's books. I'm convinced it's one of those foods you like because you grew up with it. I did not grow up with that or really any dish laden with cheese. Keep in mind I come from a family whose dad is a very health-conscious vegetarian and mom is a picky eater who is lactose intolerant. So basically Kraft macaroni and cheese never made it to the dinner menu. Even throughout childhood when I would visit people's houses and faced with the opportunity to try out mac and cheese, I had already determined it was a disgusting concept and deemed it as one of my least favorite foods. I do realize in my wise old age that I can't decide I HATE foods without ever trying them. I finally broke down and tried mac and cheese at my husband's parents house a few years ago. I must admit I really didn't want to try it but I figured it would be rude to refuse to eat my dinner based on artificial determination I hate all mac and cheese. Man, it was SO good. So now I'm a pretty big fan of HOMEMADE mac and cheese.

We decided to make dinner with a spicy theme - so we whipped up spicy mac and cheese, spicy cornbread and wasabi green beans. The mac and cheese was a slightly altered version of Mamma's Mac and Cheese from foodtv.com. Here's the altered recipe below:

Mamma's Mac and Cheese
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Yield: 6 to 8 servings

1 pound elbow macaroni
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 cups plus 1/2 cup shredded sharp Cheddar
*** add 2 - 3 finely chopped chipotles in adobo sauce

Cook the macaroni in boiling water for about 10 minutes until tender but still firm. Drain well and set aside. In a deep skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour to make a roux and cook, stirring, to remove any lumps. Pour in the milk and cook until the mixture is thick and smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in 2 cups Cheddar and continue to cook until melted. ***Add the chopped chipotles and stir*** Add the cooked macaroni and stir. Transfer the mixture to a 2-quart casserole dish. Bake in a preheated 350-degree F oven for 20 minutes. Remove the casserole from oven, top with remaining 1/2-cup cheese. Bake for an additional 5 minutes until hot and bubbly.

The cornbread was made from a bagged cornbread mix but I added chopped chipotles in adobo to taste and a can of corn. Add cilantro if you have it on hand.

For the green beans, I decided to mix a tablespoon or so of sesame oil with one of those small wasabi packets you get when you buy grocery store sushi and use a pastry brush to baste the steamed green beans. I'd definitely make this recipe again and maybe add some sesame seeds to the top next time.

For the record, to this day, I think I still have not eaten mac and cheese from the box...and after eating this recipe, I probably never will :)

Calling All Fellow Food Artists...

2006-06-25T21:02:00.000-04:00

My brother has recently discovered his love for cooking so he has joined Patently Delicious to post about his own kitchen exploits. So stay tuned for his postings...

On the same note, I know have many friends who also love to cook so if anyone wishes to post here or make a quick comment about one of their latest creations with a link to their own blog, please let me know and I'll make you a member of Patently Delicious! And no need to have any interest in intellectual property to post here! Especially M-Scribbles (she's really making me look like a slacker), Exuberant B, SMC and brother-in-law S.

The Swedish Chef still cracks me up :)

19-2000

2006-06-25T20:22:00.000-04:00

Turning on my stereo in the car, I heard the song 19-2000 by the Gorillaz.

My mama said to slow down
You must make your shoes
Start dancing to the music
Of Gorillaz in a happy mood

Keep a mild groove on

There you go!
Get the cool!
Get the cool shoeshine!

I decided to heed their advice and make pate choux (basically pronounced Patya AHHH shoe). Me, being the stubborn brother of a GA Tech grad and a Johns Hopkins Attendee, I looked through various recipes and passed up all the easy recipes and went straight to expert. I chose eclairs. Let me give you a bit of background on Pate a Choux. This glob is really just a dough that has a large pocket of air in it after it has been cooked. This magic empty space can be filled with goodness such as concentrated pudding, custard, or even brains for the zombie folk. I heard the contrasted in flavor between the sweet dough and the grey matter really creates a superb dish. After finding weevels in the flour and not having a place to weight dry ingredients, I began this trial. You may think I am being melodramatic by saying it was a trial. But seriously, I had to not only make this hard dessert but I had to deal with my mother also. It was good fun. Anyway, being a man of science, I pretend the only real cook is Alton Brown. He is a true scholar. Bobby Flay is worthless. I used Alton's recipe for eclairs. The recipe can be found here The problem with this recipe is it only tells you how to make the dough shell section of the dessert. You actually have to watch the show to get the whole recipe. So, I will provide the rest of the instructions. Don't worry, you can trust me. I didn't earn the nickname "The mad scientist" from a priest for nothing. (Random info, I know, but I can write anything I want here) After making the doughy shells, you should have a box of your favorite instant pudding. I used French vanilla. Using whole milk, only put in half of milk that the instructions called for. This allowed for a thicker pudding so the filling wouldn't ooze from the dough. So you fill the eclairs and all is well. Lastly, you want to put a small coat of chocolate top of the eclair. To do this, you create a double boiler and place a handful of chocolate chips in the top pan and melt the chocolate. Taking the filled eclairs, you dip them into the chocolate goo and put them into the refrigilizer. You are done. Congrats.

This is the finished product. Yes, I know. It looks good.

Just the eclair shell.

Roasted Mushroom Salad with Spinach and Bacon paired with Grilled Corn

2006-06-04T21:31:00.000-04:00

So we managed to go to the grocery store three times today. First, to stock up at Costco - one of our least favorite tasks because we always manage to spend a ridiculous amount of money and wind up dizzy at the end of the trip. However, today we got to redeem our Costco American Express rebate check so the trip was a lot more like a shopping spree (although we did exhibit some discretion). We kept getting inspired this afternoon after looking at our Mexican cookbooks resulting in multiple trips to the grocery store. Now we have well-stocked kitchen once again (so hopefully stay tuned for more frequent updates) and a pretty full tummy as I type right now.

We decided to go back to one of our favorite cookbooks - Mexican Everyday by Rick Bayless and try out a rather simple salad recipe and last minute decided to grill up some corn because Safeway was having a great special. The main working element behind the salad was making a roasted mixture of chunks of thick-cut bacon, sliced mushrooms and red onions. The bacon does a heavenly (yes, heavenly) job of coating the vegetables with grease to make a bacon-flavored, crispy yet moist topping for a bed of spinach leaves. The salad were then topping with a olive oil dressing containing oregano, lime and minced chilies in adobo. We also used this Emeril Lagasse recipe for corn on the grill. Both recipes were major winners...let me know if you want the salad recipe - it's very easy! Clearly, I was pretty pleased with dinner considering I've already posted about it! tee hee!

Oooh, dessert is ready! Hmm...maybe I can cram in one more thing tonight :)

Tortas

2006-06-02T08:31:00.000-04:00

Last week, AC and I took a trip to visit his brother and family in Salem, OR. Like us, S and his wife love to cook and basically are foodies. We also share a similar love for Mexican/Central/South American cuisines...in fact, I believe this past Christmas we all gave each other Mexican cookbooks :) I can honestly say I ate very well on this trip with minimal cooking on my part. My favorite meal, S and his wife whipped up, was tortas with his wife's, R, famous rice recipe. AC and I are definitely going to need to make this dish sometime soon! Here's the recipe copied from the blog of S. Oh, btw...I think onions are perhaps the best thing ever on the grill because they carmelize perfectly while staying moist. yum!

(Quantities represent what we use to make 2 sandwiches)

Tortas DF

2 bolillos (basically Mexican-style French rolls -- available at most Mexican bakeries and every Super Wal-Mart in the Willamette Valley)
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 large onion, thinly sliced into rings
1 avocado, sliced
queso asadero, sliced thin (queso fresco works as well if it's not too crumbly)
pickled sliced jalapenos
mayonnaise
butter or margarine
salt
pepper
chile powder (I generally use hot New Mexico)
olive oil

Cooking
1. Season chicken with salt, pepper, and chile powder. In the winter I tend to thinly slice the chicken, season it, and then saute it in olive oil over medium to medium-high heat. In the summer, I season the chicken, grill it, and then thinly slice it after it's grilled. You have one of these, right?

2. Thinly slice the onions into rings. Carmelize with olive oil in a pan over medium to medium-high heat.

3. Slice each bolillo lengthwise. Slather the inner surface with butter or margarine. In a pan with enough flat surface (comal, griddle, saute pan -- I use an 8" Calphalon saute pan for my comal duties) over medium-high heat, place the butter side down of each bolillo-half and cook until the butter surface is browned and the bolillo-half is warm. Be careful not to burn them -- watch your heat level.

Assembly
For each bolillo, slather the bottom half with mayonnaise. Put each bottom down, because now we stack. First, put as many pickled jalapeno slices on top of the mayo as you think you can handle. Second, put the sliced chicken on top of the jalapenos. Third, put the onions on top of the chicken. Fourth, put the thinly sliced cheese on top of the onions. Fifth, put the sliced avocado on top of the cheese. Finally, place the top of the bolillo on the stack. If you are brave, cut it in half.

While in Oregon, we also visited Bend, OR and had some pretty good microbrews at Dechutes Brewery. I was surprised that I actually was enjoying the darker beers - perhaps, when you find quality, it's easier to venture outside of your comfort beer zone. I think our next challenge should be to make our own beer :)

Rosemary and Thyme Vegetable and Shrimp Skewers

2006-05-16T13:15:00.000-04:00

Last night, I revisited recipes associated with the South Beach diet. I tried out the diet about this time last year before my wedding and had some pretty good (although temporary) results. One thing I hate about the South Beach diet the lack of inventive recipes. Don't get me wrong - there are some good recipes out there but I think people start getting stuck eating the same thing over and over because they aren't sure what jibes with the diet. I did some research to understand what recipes work with phase 1, got a little inventive and this is what I came up with. I adapted a skewer recipe for shrimp using actual rosemary springs as the skewers and extended it to include some South Beach friendly vegetables. Most of us are used to a bed of some sort of starchy food on our plates so I thought a colorful sea of grilled veggies could do the trick.

The skewers were very simple. Buy jumbo-sized, de-shelled and de-veined shrimp - about 6 - 7 per person, cover with enough olive oil to lightly coat the shrimp and add about 2 sprigs of thyme and 1 spring of rosemary per serving. Reserve the stems from the rosemary to make skewers (keep a little bit of rosemary at the end for a nice visual touch) - soak the skewers in water while letting the shrimp marinate covered in the fridge for at least an hour. Meanwhile, chop up veggies such as onions, bell peppers and squash (the more colorful, the better), lightly coat with oil, add a few springs worth of thyme and rosemary and marinate covered in the fridge as well for at least an hour. I'd personally do them on the grill but a stove-top grill pan worked well as an alternative. Just make sure to use a method where high heat is used to get a nice caramelized surface on the veggies. Top the cooked shrimp and veggies with a bit of sea or kosher salt.

For the mojitos, I used Sierra Mist Free, a few crushed leaves of mint and the juice of one lime per serving. Maybe throw in a bit of Splenda if you want that extra sweet taste. Remember, South Beach phase 1 says no alcohol!

Pleaseeasaur

2006-05-15T10:33:00.000-04:00

No, I didn't cook a extinct animal for dinner last night.

Although I prefer to keep this blog cooking related, I sure haven't been doing much of cooking of interest due to a busy end of the semester for school and my new running interval training. So I thought I'd give you a little taste of what I've been up to lately - well, a taste of the fun stuff. On Friday night, AC and I went to Black Cat, our favorite local concert spot, to see one of his latest obsessions, Pinback. We usually do a little research on the opening band but somehow managed to show up to the concert having little knowledge about what we were about to experience. In short, Pleaseeasaur is freaking ridiculous. The stage was set-up with a little tinsel curtain sandwiched between two projection screens which did not seem anything out of ordinary. Usually, for acoustic set-ups, they might block off the rest of the stage in order to have the other band set-up behind the divider. But no, this was purely there to assist in Pleaseeasaur's gimmick. Basically, a guy named JP Hasson leaps through the tinsel curtains in one ridiculous outfit after another and spews out stupid lyrics for songs titled "Bowl Noodle Hot", "I Hate Dog Shit", "Beef Flavored Island", "Pizza Bros. and Sons Inc." and "No Prob Limo ". The songs are accompanied by graphics from old coloring books in some cases animated by a dude in a booth in the back which correspond with the hard hitting issues of the song. I can't say it wasn't entertaining. It definitely took my mind off the term paper I should have been writing that night...but seriously, I really question the sanity of anyone over the age of 8 who would actually buy their DVD or CD. I thought that Pleaseeasaur got the gig of opening for Pinback because he was one of band member's crazy and clingy brother but no...these guys actually have a multi-album deal with Comedy Central!

Stay tuned...I'm making a South Beach phase 1 friendly meal for a friend tonight who is on week 2 of the diet. Perhaps, I'll be sporting a Pleaseeasaur Pizza Apron :)

Overloaded with Ham

2006-04-18T20:24:00.000-04:00

Things to do with Easter ham leftovers:

Cuban Sandwiches

Honey Ham and Sherried Mushroom Soup

If anyone wants my recipe for a Cuban sandwich, let me know. :)

Also, I am a huge fan of Cuban sandwiches and I'm not always in the mood to make them, any suggestions for a good Cuban restaurant in the area? I am so craving a Cuban sandwich right now! Almost tempted to make a weekend trip to ATL to get a Kool's Korner Cuban. YUM!

Early Easter Feast

2006-04-15T22:00:00.000-04:00

I know it's ridiculous...I'm really slacking on posting these days. Instead of spewing out excuses, I'll just make this short and sweet so I can catch up to my most recent dishes.

The day before Easter, I picked my brother up in Baltimore after my grad school class lab, stuffed my brother with early Easter dinner and put him back on a train back up to Baltimore all in a few hours. We did manage to get some of the dishes done ahead of time and AC was able to get all the stuff done on my requested to-do list so the major cooking on Saturday really only involved the ham. I have never made a ham before and if you get it already spiral-cut, it's pretty easy to make the glaze that is almost like the glaze on the store-bought Honey-Baked(TM) ham and voilà!

To accompany the ham, we had ambrosia (food of the gods!), scalloped pineapple, roasted asparagus, assorted tasty breads, home-made mashed potatoes...

...and a disastrous caramel crunch and vanilla ice-cream cake.

The apartment was simply too hot to keep the ice cream still on the cake layers. If closed your eyes and ate quickly, it really was a mighty fine cake :)

I'm never doing that again.

Seared Salmon with Tomatillo Coulis

2006-04-12T20:00:00.000-04:00

I really hope that making recipes which incorporate a coulis doesn't make me a food snob. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, here's a definition of coulis (see green substance resting on the piece of salmon).

AC and I have been watching a relatively new reality show (*gasp* - yet a new reality show has made it to the airwaves?) called Top Chef and one of the more obnoxious contestants always manages always to incorporate a coulis into all his recipes. He also is WAY too creative for his own good and the king of crazy fusion - check this recipe he made for a challenge that was aimed at housewives. Ridiculous! But I digress...if any of his famed coulis (how do you make that word plural?) are half as good as this one, then I approve of his snobbery.

Overall, the recipe for Seared Salmon with Tomatillo Coulis was incredible.

I really have nothing to complain about but definitely have learned a few good things from this cooking experience.

#1 - Incorporating fresh herbs into shallow slits on the surface of fish results in an incredibly tasty dish.
#2 - I love my food processor and seriously don't know how we'd cook without it.
#3 - Bring on more coulis!

On a side note, a friend bought me a mini tripod for my birthday and a book on photography to help me out with my food photos. Plus, she knows I've been dying for a SLR digital camera so she wants me to be informed before I make the splurge. I did not get a chance to fully utilize the tripod for this picture because I still need to figure out how to rotate the tripod 90 degrees to get a nice shot from above. I'm working on it though....Thanks again! Very thoughtful gift.

Leek, Potato and Tarragon Soup

2006-04-05T12:32:00.000-04:00

My parents were in town over the weekend to visit me and my brother who is attending school in Baltimore. They have always heard me talk about cooking but I think they had yet to have a full meal cooked by me. I made the snapper recipe which I posted about on February 8 along with a newly found recipe called Leek, Potato and Tarragon Soup. My dad is very health-conscious so I was concerned about making a creamy soup but this recipe smartly uses a combination of plain yogurt and light whipping cream instead of heavy whipping cream. I would have taken a picture of the whole spread but I forgot...but here's picture of the next day's leftover.

Thanks for all the great photography tips. Maybe now that we are in daylight savings time, I can actually cook and photograph a meal during daylight. I took this picture in the kitchen with the flash off - I think I got somewhat better results but my laminate countertop doesn't provide a pretty background.

But back to the soup...I highly recommend this soup but I would add a few more potatoes to make the soup a bit chunkier and more substantial to suffice as a meal on its own. My brother got shipped back up to school the day before so he didn't get to enjoy the food but I'm sure he had some tasty n' greasy college cuisine. Sorry, DB!

On a side note, did anyone actually enjoy their college dining hall food? :)

Not Such a Novel Idea

2006-03-28T15:34:00.000-05:00

I don't know if jealousy is quite the correct term but I'm definitely envious.

Yet another Patent Examiner's cooking blog

I don't know if I should hate her and her perfect photography or meet her and borrow her camera. :)

Pasta with Roasted Butternut Squash and Shallots

2006-03-22T21:07:00.000-05:00

It's official - spring is here. But why does it feel like typical winter weather is just picking up? Well, since it's still freezing out, I think it's totally justified to eat a filling, starchy recipe like Pasta with Roasted Butternut Squash and Shallots. I think the recipe is considered "light" because the suggested amount of pasta is only 4 ounces. Although I decided to throw the entire bag of pappardelle into the pot, I think 4 ounces per 3 cups of butternut squash is totally reasonable. I love the flavor combination of the roasted squash, brown sugar, shallots and sage but the chunks of butternut squash were quite a mouthful. I think making a pureed version of this combination would make a great filling for fresh ravioli...we'll see. :)

Chile-Rubbed Pan-Seared Scallop Salad

2006-03-21T20:00:00.000-05:00

The lesson of the week is don't blindly follow a recipe. I usually do pay attention to the ingredients and usually appropriately choose whether to use fresh vs. dried/canned/frozen, etc. However, one thing I usually blindly follow is the number of servings - I rarely scale anything down. I figure if I'm going to make the effort to whip up a home-cooked meal, I should treat myself to some leftovers for lunch or maybe even a second serving of dinner the next day. The recipe for Chile-Rubbed Pan-Seared Scallop Salad claims to serve four people. Have you ever tried to sit down and eat 1/4 of a head of cabbage? Geez - It's ridiculous. I really didn't realize that I had purchased a crazy amount of cabbage because I just bought one head. But I realized my mistake after cutting the head up into nice little pieces and realized I had 2 large mixing bowls filled to the top with cabbage. I know it's healthy for you and all that but was quite a task to eat my salad which only had about 1/8 of the cabbage. Sad to say, but the remainder of the salad ended up turning all mushy after a few days of neglect in the fridge. I wound up pan-searing the scallops with a few tablespoons of oil rather than grilling because we haven't gotten a gas tank for new oh-so-cute little Weber Q . The scallops turned out perfectly and complemented the lime and ginger dressing. I think I might make the recipe over again but maybe just resort to putting it over a bag of baby leaf lettuce. If you aren't a scallop fan, I would still highly recommend to at least try out the dressing.

Chipotle Cheese Fondue

2006-03-20T14:06:00.000-05:00

I finally have found a perfect fondue recipe that is extremely creamy and packed with flavor. One contributing factor to the consistency of the fondue is evenly mixing the cubed cheese bits with cornstarch in a bowl before throwing it into the pot rather than making the traditional rue in the pot. I'd suggest trying that approach out with any fondue recipe and maybe that will help with minimizing lumps. We dipped the usual assorted goodies into the fondue such as broccoli, crusty bread and tart green apples. I must admit our fondue making experiences have been made simple by this wonderful and surprisingly inexpensive stainless steel fondue pot. If you are a fan of fondue, it's a worthy addition to your kitchen cabinet. I know the previous fondue experience with friends was majorly disappointing so I promise we'll try out this recipe next time. Two thumbs up :)

Yes, that is my lovely hand featured in the picture. Any hopes for hand modeling? :)

Seared Shrimp and Tortellini Salad

2006-03-03T08:00:00.000-05:00

I'm feeling sluggish. Maybe it's because I have been minimizing the amount of meat in my diet, maybe it's due to the fact I consider exercising once a week "regularly" working out or maybe because I haven't been eating the healthiest things. I've been pretty busy with various things over the past few weeks and, when that happens, the first thing that usually suffers is my desire to cook. As you can tell from my lack of posting, that's what's been going on with me. I do love to cook - don't get me wrong, but sometimes it's so easy to fall into the habit of picking up something quick. Picking up something quick usually doesn't involve a well-rounded meal featuring all the food groups. So, to fight this sluggish feeling, I decided I needed a fresh spinach salad. Ever watch Popeye cartoons? All on his own, Popeye could do quite a lot. He could walk and talk and sing and smoke his pipe. But when it came time to deal with his nemesis, Brutus, Popeye just wasn't up to the task...not until he ate his spinach. Yes, I do take health lessons from cartoons. But I have to think there's some truth in it!

My mom described a spinach salad a few months ago that she had at a friend's house. The basic concept was a spinach base topped with chicken and/or seafood, nuts, cheese, fruits (i.e. strawberries, tangerines) and chilled tortellini. I decided to top the salad with sautéed shrimp seasoned with salt and pepper, walnuts, feta cheese, strawberries, orange slices and basil mozzarella tortellini. I don't know if the toppings kind of negated the amazing power of the spinach but I did feel a tiny bit healthier and pleasantly full. I highly recommend the salad - it has a nice balance of sweet and salty and the tortellini helps the salad become a full satisfying meal.

Tomatillo-Sauced Enchiladas: Round Two

2006-03-03T07:56:00.000-05:00

A close friend of mine has smartly decided to move back to the area so I decided to make dinner for us the night of her arrival. I do love cooking for friends but it's hard to find a meal that will appease everyone. For example, A.C. has been having headaches so he's trying to follow a migraine-elimination diet meaning no tomatoes, avocados, onions and as well as about 100 other foods, friend E.F. doesn't like onions and hamburger meat and friend B.H. doesn't like spicy stuff. I figured I should make a dinner with an "assemble it yourself" type concept so each person can customize their own meal. I really enjoyed the enchiladas I made back in January from the Rick Bayless book so I decided to try them out again since I thought it lended itself to customization. So I bought onions, green peppers, spinach, mushrooms and Monterrey jack cheese as the filler and finally found the perfect crumbly cheese for the topping. I also bought a canned red sauce as a back-up in case people weren't feeling too adventurous.

I was pleasantly surprised that everyone went for the green sauce and also licked their plates clean. B.H. actually commented this weekend that the enchiladas I made on Monday were better than the ones she had when we went to Guajillo for a friend's birthday. Yipppee! Unfortunately, I don't think I can quit my day job just yet. :)

We topped off the meal with strawberry shortcakes - simple but yummy. Can't wait until strawberries and other fruits are actually in season.

Welcome back, E.F.!

Bow Tie Pasta with Blackened Scallops

2006-03-03T07:55:00.000-05:00

My sister-in-law highly recommended this recipe when we visited them in NYC a few weeks ago. The recipe is from a recipe book called "In the Kitchen with Rosie : Oprah's Favorite Recipes". As described by the recipe, "An extravaganza for the eye and palate, this dish teams spicy blackened scallops with whimsical bow tie pasta in a novel cilantro-walnut pesto. It's topped by a roasted red pepper sauce that's as vibrant as it is pungent.". After a description like that, how in the world could you go wrong? Maybe was having an off cooking day that day but the results were extremely disappointing. First of all, the recipe calls for blackening seasoning for the scallops. I could only find blackening seasoning for use outdoors due to the tendency to smoke. So instead I used Emeril's Essence. Contrary to what Emeril claims on his tv show, Emeril's essence is not meant to go on EVERY dish. I think the flavors of the dish did not mesh. I liked the red pepper sauce and I'm a huge fan of cilantro pesto but they aren't exactly the best together. But if I had a personal chef and nutritionist like Oprah, I'd gladly eat anything put in front of me. This dish claimed to have only 4 grams of fat and less than 400 calories per serving...so the dish does get high marks in regards to the healthiness/flavor ratio.

Homemade Pasta in NYC

2006-03-03T07:50:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, AC and I went to NYC to see Wicked at the Gershwin Theater for my Christmas present. AC's sister, brother-in-law and baby daughter live in NYC so we were able to stay with them rather than have to rent a closet for the weekend. Thanks guys!

AC's sister and brother-in-law love to cook as well but it's been difficult considering they have a little one to take care of now. So we thought it would be nice to make dinner with them on Friday night. As requested by my brother-in-law, we made the Chunky Vegetable soup and we decided to get fancy and make fresh pasta. When I think of making fresh pasta, I think of our manual pasta roller which has yet to be taken out of the box. Although it seems like a good thing to try out one day, it seems like it would be a whole day activity. My sister-in-law and her husband own a pasta roller attachment for their stand-up mixer which literally works pasta miracles. After seeing how easy it is to make pasta with the attachment, I'm all ready to start pumping out fresh pasta all the time (ok, slight exaggeration...but it's definitely doable). I must admit I really didn't participate in the actual pasta-making process but I did play with their little girl and assisted in micro-managing the process.

Here's one picture of my sister-in-law in pasta-making action:

She made a creamy butter parmesan sauce to accompany the fresh pasta. I'm glad we had that the night after Wicked or else I probably would have not fit into my black party dress after such a rich and delicious meal.

I'm sold - fresh pasta is going to become a regular thing in my kitchen (after I buy that time saving attachment). :)

Creamy Corn Soup with Crab, Shrimp and Poblano Chile

2006-02-12T20:27:00.000-05:00

So it's official...I am a soup fan. Contrary to the last post, I've realized that I am starting to not only enjoy soups but crave soups. Maybe it's because we were pretty much trapped indoors today due to all the snow last night and a nice warm soup always seems to complement a cold, crisp day.

We used a recipe from Mexican Everyday by Rick Bayless - a fabulous recipe book given to A.C. by his brother, a fellow Mexican food fanatic. The recipe has a few variations - it is suggested to include (a) chicken or ham for the meat eaters, (b) asparagus or zucchini for the veggie lovers or (c) shrimp and crab for the seafood enthusiasts. We went with option (c) and it yielded very tasty results. I've already finished my bowl but A.C. is busy chowing down on his. Here's his opinion on the soup - he said something about doing inappropriate things to the soup. No one needs to know any details about that. On a more appropriate and internet-friendly note, he said it is "nice and creamy" and the jalapenos (we used jalapenos instead of poblanos) add a "perfect bite" while the "corn bits and crab add a perfect texture to the creamy base". I agree. :)

If you want a copy of the recipe, let me know :)

Oh, if I keep saying "I did this..." and "I did that...", I really should be giving more credit to A.C. He is just as much as a cooking enthusiast as I am plus he probably has watched many more hours of food network than I. He always does half the work of pretty much any meal we make. Thanks, A.C.! btw, he didn't put me up to this...

Chunky Vegetable Soup

2006-02-12T16:43:00.000-05:00

I'll explain about the lack of food picture at the end of the post.

I have never really been a soup fan.

Perhaps, the reason why is because the only soup I experienced up until college came out of the can and had the word Campbell's on it. Granted, some of the canned soups like Wolfgang Puck's or Amy's canned soups can be tasty but you can never top a homemade soup. I love this soup because it's healthy but, unlike many healthy recipes, it's bursting with flavor and very filling.

Oh, for those of you who know about my awful experiences being a chef's assistant, this recipe made all that abuse worthwhile. Shhh...don't tell the chef that I'm posting this...

1 small onion
1 clove garlic
1 large red pepper
2 small zucchini
2 small yellow squash
1 cup canned plum tomatoes
1 pint of cherry tomatoes
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/8 teaspoon thyme
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1 1/2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 1/2 cups tomato juice
1/4 cup olive oil

Coarsely chop all vegetables except for plum tomatoes and cherry tomatoes. Add the chopped vegetables to a food processor or blender and blend until chunky. Heat oil until very hot in a large pot. Add chopped and processed vegetables, plum tomatoes and all spices to pot. Stir and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add cherry tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes. Add vinegar and tomato juice. Puree half of the soup and mix with remaining soup. Serve.

Ok, in all the excitement of making this last night, I forgot to take a picture. Instead, I have posted a picture of the album that we listened to when chopping, pureeing and simmering. We are going to see "Youth Group" next month because they are opening for one of our current favorites "Matt Pond PA". We figured we should get to know this "quietly adored" Australian band so we aren't clueless when we go to the show. I'm still forming my opinion of them...

Beyond cereal and diet coke

2006-02-12T16:30:00.000-05:00

Saturday's breakfast treat

It's been awhile since A.C. and I have had a weekend without morning obligations so we decided to take full advantage of all this spare time. A typical morning for us involves a bowl of cereal with or without milk and a diet coke. Probably not the healthiest or tastiest breakfast but it meets our basic morning needs of food and caffeine. Having a weekend full of free time, I decided to make a more elaborate breakfast on both Saturday and Sunday. One tradition in our family is to make French toast on an occasional weekend. The French toast recipe my mom makes is so rich and filling that we always joke that we can't have any other plans that day because the French toast could potentially immobilize us...in a good way. Maybe you have to be in my family to find something like that humorous...

I did my own variation on mom's usual recipe:

4 pieces of whole wheat bread (or whatever bread you have on hand - even stale can work)
3 eggs
3 teaspoons of milk
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1 cup of canola oil
1 cup of maple syrup

Mix the cinnamon and sugar together and put aside. In a dish, mix eggs, milk and almond extract and blend until uniform. Add half of the cinnamon and sugar mixture to the dish. Poke holes with a fork into the bread and then soak the bread in the egg/milk mixture in the dish. Warm a large skillet with the canola oil. Cook the soaked bread two at a time for a few minutes on both sides. Remove the bread from the skillet and place on a dish covered with a paper towel to help remove some of the grease (this makes it healthy! :)) Top with maple syrup to taste and the remaining cinnamon and sugar mixture.

I'm sure everyone has their own French toast recipe which probably resembles the one I discussed above. I'd suggest putting some excitement into your own recipe by adding vanilla extract or almond extract or substituting the sugar with brown sugar to create a caramelized crust. Even try a new type of yeasty bread like raisin or apple bread. Or just top the French toast with every sweet topping imaginable. I'm even tempted to add some spice like a habanero - maybe now I'm getting carried away. Anyone have any French toast recipe upgrades?

Sunday's blueberry coffee cake

When A.C. graciously went to the store last night to buy food for dinner, I asked him to pick up some fresh blueberries with the intention of making some muffins for breakfast for the following week. The cafe at work has these ginormous blueberry muffins with a crispy sweet topping that sadly is majorly undercooked when you get to the heart of the muffin. In fear of getting a version of food poisoning from undercooked muffins, I decided I better quit wasting my money on these muffins and try to make something on my own. After realizing that our muffin pans are not capable of making ginormous muffins, I went with a coffee cake instead.

Here's my recipe (loosely based on a recipe featured on Epicurious.com)

For cake:
1/4 cup canola oil
1 beaten egg (or 2 tablespoons cornstarch + 2 tablespoons water)
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

For filling:
1/2 pint blueberries
2 ounces of cream cheese, whipped
1 teaspoon of brown sugar

For topping:
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped pecans (or substitute walnuts)
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Reserved 1/2 pint blueberries to add before topping

Combine canola oil, egg or egg substitute, and milk. Sift together dry ingredients and add them to the milk mixture. Mix well.

In another bowl, combine all ingredients for filling and in another bowl, combine all ingredients for topping.

Pour 1/2 cake batter into a greased 8-inch round pan. Spread cream cheese filling evenly over batter. Add remaining cake batter. Top with reserved blueberries. Top that with the cinnamon nut mixture. Bake in 375°F oven 25 to 30 minutes.

With lots of sugar and sweet berries disguised as breakfast, how can you go wrong? If you do decide to make this recipe, keep in mind that the batter will be very thick and sticky. I was tempted to add some water or oil to thin it out but in the end, I'm very glad I didn't. So just work through the thick and sticky batter, it's not a sign that something is wrong.

A.C. liked it so much that he ended up with some of it smeared on his forehead. Yeah, I have no idea how that happened. Maybe that was his weird way of avoiding eating the whole piece.

I hope I have more upcoming weekends like this :)

Falafel with minty garlic yogurt sauce

2006-02-12T16:07:00.000-05:00

One day last week, we decided to go Middle Eastern for a night. The meal really didn't require too much preparation considering we used falafel mix from a box and pita from a bag. I highly suggest the Near East brand falafel mix mainly because it is pretty much the only readily available mix that has English directions on the box. I almost bought a mix over at an international grocery store a few weeks ago that had a yummy-looking picture but was purely in Arabic. Although A.C. knows a bit of Arabic, I don't know if his knowledge of the language could get us through a whole recipe. Back in college, I remember buying a curry mix based on the picture on the package and was totally clueless about making the dish because stupidly I bought something in Hindi (I think). Lesson learned - only buy foods with directions in a language you have mastered. :)

Anyway, so we prepared the mix, chopped up cucumbers and whipped up a yogurt sauce.

Here's the yogurt sauce recipe:

8 ounces of plain yogurt
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 cloves of garlic, minced
6 mint leaves, chiffonade
Cumin to taste
Salt to taste

Pretty basic and honestly not too exciting. Although if you like getting falafel at a restaurant, I'd highly suggest saving some money and using the box mix because it's usually just as good. I would like to come up with something creative to put on top besides the usual yogurt something sauce. Any ideas?

Snapper with Roasted Grape Tomatoes and Green Bean and Fingerling Potato Salad

2006-02-08T09:10:00.000-05:00

For Monday's dinner, A.C. requested a dinner having some combination of tomatoes and fish. I love to have a quest and search for things - that's probably why I am a Patent Examiner. One of my trusty standby websites that allows for ingredient searches is allrecipes.com although I wasn't too inspired by any of the results. But I do highly suggest this site if you are searching for recipe using certain ingredients - it's a great way to make a meal by cleaning out your pantry.

Instead, I found this recipe (adapted from foodtv website):

2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
Pinch red pepper flakes
Kosher salt
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, torn
4 (6-ounce) snapper fillets, with skin
Freshly ground black pepper

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.
Toss the tomatoes with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, garlic, vinegar, pepper flakes, and salt, to taste. Spread out on a baking sheet and roast until the tomatoes get juicy, about 15 minutes. Transfer tomatoes to a bowl and toss with the basil.

Dry the fish very well all over. To keep the fish from curling in the pan, lightly slash a cross-hatch pattern into the skin of the fish with a sharp knife. Brush the rounded flesh side of the fish with the remaining olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Place the fish, seasoned side down, in the oil, and cook undisturbed over high heat, until the fish turns both opaque along the edges and golden on the bottom, about 3 minutes. Lightly salt the skin side of the fish. Flip the snapper and turn off the heat and let the fish cook in the residual heat of the pan until the fillets are firm but still juicy, about 1 minute more.

Divide the fish among 4 plates. Top with the tomatoes and serve.

****************************************************************

I do realize that the base of this fish recipe does sound a lot like the pasta salad :) ha ha... So that's probably why I gravitated towards it.

****************************************************************

As an accompaniment, I made a green bean and fingerling potato salad.

Here's the recipe (once again, adapted from foodtv website):

2 pounds purple and/or white fingerling potatoes, scrubbed
1 pound green beans, trimmed
1/4 cup chopped mixed fresh herbs such as chives and garlic chives (with blossoms if desired) and thyme, parsley, mint and summer savory leaves
Mustard shallot vinaigrette (recipe follows)

In a large kettle simmer potatoes in salted water to cover until tender when pierced with a fork, about 10 minutes, and drain in a large colander.
In a large saucepan cook beans in 3 inches salted boiling water over high heat until crisp-tender, about 3 to 5 minutes. With tongs or a slotted spoon transfer beans to colander with potatoes and drain well.

In a large bowl toss together warm potatoes, beans, herbs, dressing and salt and pepper to taste. Salad may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered.

Serve salad warm or at room temperature.

MUSTARD SHALLOT VINAIGRETTE
1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon-style mustard
3 tablespoons finely chopped shallots or scallions
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

In a bowl whisk together all the ingredients except the oil. Slowly add the oil in a stream.

****************************************************************

I think A.C. was impressed. I loved both the recipes but I'm not too sure the savory flavors of the salad really complemented the sweet flavors of the fish. I was really craving potatoes so the salad recipe was a good way to satisfy the craving without going overboard on carbs. The salad recipe calls for a ridiculous variety of herbs considering the amount you actually use in the end. I'd stick to two different types unless you happen to grow those in your garden. I decided to go with mint and chives. I only used a very small portion of mint compared to chives because I was afraid the mint would overwhelm the chives. I also have plans with the mint to make a yogurt-mint sauce for falafel later this week...

Enjoy!

Superbowl Sunday - Veg Head Chili

2006-02-08T08:53:00.000-05:00

Forgive me, I'm still catching up from last week's cooking festivities. :)

Let's go back a few days ago to Sunday. As everyone knows, Sunday was the Superbowl. I really don't think anyone was actually too excited about the game but it was a great excuse to get together. Personally, I'm not a huge football fan but two things I do love about the Superbowl: the ridiculously expensive and sometimes entertaining commercials and the perfect excuse to pig out. A.C. and I were invited to a Superbowl party over at our friends' house. They just came back from a ski trip that day so I figured that we should try to help out and bring a main dish to their party. A.C. and I discovered this chili recipe a few months ago on the foodtv website and fell in love. The recipe is very simple (seriously, the hardest and most time consuming part is opening all the cans of beans) and is an overall crowd pleaser. I have a few vegetarian friends and also a few friends that are regular meat and potatoes type people. Although this recipe is purely vegetarian, it really seemed to go over big with everyone.

Here's the recipe:
(adapted from the foodtv.com website)

2 tablespoons (2 turns around the pan) olive or vegetable oil
1 medium yellow skinned onion, chopped
1 large red pepper, seeded and chopped
1 large green pepper, seeded and chopped
1 large jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
1 cup pale beer
1 (32- ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 (14-ounce) can black beans
1 (14-ounce) can dark red kidney beans
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 cup spicy vegetarian refried beans

Toppings:
8 ounces (2 cups shredded) spicy monterey jack or smoked cheddar
Chopped scallions, whites and greens
Chopped cilantro

Over moderate heat, add oil to a deep pot and combine onion, peppers, and garlic. Sauté for 3 to 5 minutes to soften vegetables. Deglaze pan with beer, add tomatoes, black beans, red kidney beans, and stirring to combine. Season chili with cumin, chili powder and salt. Thicken chili by stirring in refried beans. Simmer over low heat about 5 to 10 minutes longer, then serve up bowls of chili and top desired toppings.

My friend, R, made some really yummy chipotle corn bread to accompany the chili. Yum!

Mother-in-law's pasta salad

2006-02-08T08:38:00.000-05:00

A few years ago, before I ever went to visit my parents-in-law, A.C. described to me this incredible yet simple pasta salad that his mom had made for years. A.C. has always had a flair for description; in fact, he intrigued me so much I had a dream about that pasta salad that night. Yes, I'm the only person I know who has had a whole dream about a pasta dish. I finally had the real thing and it did taste just as good as in my dream.

Here's the recipe so you can dream about it tonight:

1 lb short pasta like shells or penne
3 - 4 vine ripened tomatoes, coarsely chopped
10 basil leaves, torn
a couple of oregano leaves
8 ounces of fresh mozzarella, cubed
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 - 3 cloves of garlic, crushed

Combine the tomatoes, basil and oregano into a large bowl. Meanwhile, cook pasta and heat the olive oil and cloves of garlic in a saucepan. Pour the olive oil and garlic into the large bowl. Drain pasta and pour into large bowl. Add the mozzarella. Stir to combine and add salt and pepper to taste.

We made this pasta salad last week with pseudo-fresh mozzarella. It wasn't the shredded stuff in a bag but it definitely wasn't the mozzarella in a little plastic container marinated in its own juices. If you make this, please spend the extra few bucks for the really fresh mozzarella. You simply can't beat the taste and it makes for much better leftovers than the really stringy type of mozzarella.

Five-Spice Salmon with Leeks in Parchment and Sauteed Snow Peas

2006-01-31T17:21:00.000-05:00

It's Monday night again and my turn to cook. I spent some time this past weekend going through old "Cooking Light" magazines searching for some new recipes. AC and I have been trying to incorporate more fish and vegetables into our diet so this recipe was perfect. I have never cooked food in parchment paper before and now I'm hooked. The parchment paper steams the fish very nicely while infusing the spices into the fish.

Here's the recipe:

http://food.cookinglight.com/cooking/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1134087

Halfway through preparing the meal, we realized that the recipe called for a new kitchen appliance - a spice grinder disguised as a coffee grinder. Granted, we probably could have gotten away with a plastic bag and a hammer or maybe our mortar and pestle but I always love an excuse to shop and in particular go to Target. One comment on the recipe...definitely make sure to use the leeks but make sure to slice them very thinly. I just used a regular chef's knife when I probably should have dragged out our mandoline to get the right thinness.

oh, apparently, I kept moaning and saying "yum" as I was cooking and checking on the fish...so clearly I liked it :)

Time to go to the grocery store to get the goods for tonight's dinner!

Ensalada de Nopalitos (Cactus Salad)

2006-01-29T21:56:00.000-05:00

On Friday night, we were pretty wiped out from the week so we decided to make an old quick favorite: Ensalada de Nopalitos.

You might be wondering...cactus? I was a little hesitant when I first tried it. My my sister-in-law and her husband discovered this little tex-mex restaurant and passed on this gem to AC when he was interning in Virginia. We've gone there quite a few times despite it being about 25 miles away. Ever since my first visit, AC would order ensalada de nopalitos for appetizer. My dad grows cactus in his garden so I did realize that people actually eat it...but I never really thought I'd be the one voluntarily ordering it.

If you haven't had this dish, run out to your local tex-mex restaurant and get it...or try this recipe:

Ingredients:
1.5 pounds of cactus (fresh with needles removed) or jarred, diced
4 roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
1/2 small red onion, diced
1 - 2 medium serrano chiles, seeded and diced
2 bunches of cilantro, leaves only
1/2 cup of Cotija or Anejo cheese
1 avocado, diced
1 splash of olive oil
1 splash of red wine vinegar

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl except for the avocado and mix well. Garnish each serving with avocado. Serve with warm tortillas.

Ok, once again, we couldn't find the exact cheese we needed so we ended up using the leftover asadero cheese from last week's recipe. It ended up giving the salad a creamy texture. I need to find a good place that sells the usual mexican cheeses besides that Sargento bagged stuff - doesn't count. Although the recipe above does make a tasty dish, the cactus salad at Picante is untouchable. :)

Asian salad with golden shrimp

2006-01-27T12:24:00.000-05:00

So I've been feeling guilty that I've been a.) going to the new Whole Foods for every possible meal imaginable and b.) not cooking this week. Whole Foods is a whole new addiction that seems to be hitting everyone here at work. We really aren't limited with choices for lunch around here but I guess having a high concentration of readily available and pseudo-healthy lunch food all under one roof is very attractive. So, in order that I didn't go to Whole Foods yet again for lunch, I made a simple Asian salad last night for my hubby's and my lunch. I marinated a 1/2 pound of medium-sized shrimp with a mixture of honey and ginger-infused soy sauce for about 1/2 hour, sautéed the shrimp in canola oil (I was too short to reach the bottle of sesame oil) and voilà. I put the shrimp in one little glad container, some chow mein noodles for some crunch in another container and a bagged salad mix in another container. Although the bag came with some salad dressing, the salad really didn't need it because the sauce on the shrimp made its own dressing. I assembled the whole salad at work in the larger container so all the ingredients remained fresh and didn't get soggy. Overall, it was pretty tasty to me and very simple (which apparently has been important the later half of this week). I'd make it again and maybe throw in some other crunchy bits depending on what's available in the cabinet and maybe a little cilantro.

So what does the hubby think about the salad?

Sorry, no picture this time. Just imagine a gladware container filled with green salad, crunchy noodles and golden-colored shrimp. :)

Anyone have any simple tasty lunch recipes for days you eat-in at work?

Big load of nothing

2006-01-26T20:16:00.000-05:00

We've been pretty lazy this week so I don't have any new recipes to report. I don't want you all to think I've disappeared! To be honest, we've gotten take-out the past few days - I'm ashamed. I'm sure we'll concoct something yummy this weekend ... so stay tuned! :)

Creamy Red Pepper Soup

2006-01-23T21:03:00.000-05:00

This week, my hubby and I both are starting up class again for our respective grad school programs. Last semester we both had class on Monday nights from 4:30 - 7:10 so we usually would end up at home by 8 and have to resort to eating something quick and probably rather artery-clogging. This semester we ended up having class on different days so our plan is that each of us take turns making something yummy while the other one is in class so a warm plate of food would be ready when the other gets home.

Monday night was my turn to cook. Apparently, he wasn't big on the idea of beans on toast and requested something warm and comforting like a thick soup. I did a search on the Food Network's website (one of my favorites for recipes) looking for a vegetable soup recipe preferably with minimal starchy vegetables. So that didn't happen but I found this recipe called "Creamy Red Pepper Soup" (as if you didn't already know the name):

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_30747,00.html

I decided to omit the mascarpone cheese, add in a few more carrots and top it with a dash of red chili pepper flakes. The recipe calls for pureeing the entire soup until smooth but I decided to puree only half so it had a nice mix of a creamy broth with some chunks of potatoes, carrots, onions and a few peppers. Next time, I think I'll up the chunkiness by adding a few more carrots and maybe another tater and then maybe only puree the red pepper portion of the soup. I highly recommend this to everyone. It's simple and tastes like a soup you'd find in a 5 star restaurant. Also, overall, it's just a visually appealing soup (although I'm not sure if the picture does it justice).

The recipe comes from a foodtv chef named Giada De Laurentiis who has a show called "Everyday Italian". I've never really been intrigued by many of her dishes but now I might tune in. I figured she was just eye-candy for the male watchers of foodtv but maybe she actually has a tiny bit (not giving her too much credit yet) of talent underneath that way too perfect facade. I guess I don't know if I should trust a skinny Italian chef - something just doesn't seem right.

Beans on Toast - a traditional English dish

2006-01-23T12:31:00.000-05:00

Ok, the vote is in...

The pictures will stay up and keep on coming.

Although, if I make something icky like beans on toast, I'll just leave the picture taking to this guy instead.

http://harvey.nu/beans_on_toast/

We saw pictures of this way too many times in Spain on the menu at various local restaurants. In some strange universe, this might taste good but personally the thought of it turns my stomach.

Spaghetti Puttanesca

2006-01-22T20:46:00.000-05:00

After having a busy day, we really did not feel like going to the store to buy ingredients for a recipe for dinner. So we decided to go with an old stand-by recipe which uses ingredients that we like to keep stocked in our pantry.

Here's the recipe:

1 lb of pasta
2 - 3 cloves of garlic
1/3 cup of capers
1/2 cup of black olives, pitted and halves
2 - 3 teaspoons of dried oregano
1 - 28 ounce can of plum tomatoes, chopped and not drained
2 tablespoons olive oil
a dash of hot pepper flakes, salt and ground black pepper

Cook pasta until al dente. Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a sauté pan. Add garlic, capers, olives, oregano and a dash of red pepper flakes and good on low heat for a few minutes. Add tomatoes with juice, bring to a simmer and cook for 4 - 10 minutes until it has a thick consistency. Remove from heat and add the cooked pasta.

This time we decided to get a little crazy and add sautéed shrimp. Honestly, it was not really a good idea. I like this sauce and I like shrimp but together they really didn't do anything for each other. Pretty fabulous overall but the sauce could have been a little thicker. But it's ok, we were hungry so it wasn't worth the wait this time and it was still tasty. I'm going to get a little nerdy for a second. Rotelle was not the best choice for this recipe. Rotelle is a decent shape but I've realized that it is best for sauces with a thick and sticky consistency like a pesto. Although the sauce is supposed to be thick, it really doesn't take advantage of the pasta shape. I'd go with shells next time. We made a whole recipe and had 2 hearty portions leftover for lunch tomorrow.

Although, not as good as previous times, the recipe overall gets a 9/10.

Oh, if anyone is grossed out by the food photos, please let me know. The last thing I want to do is have a website that resembles a menu from IHOP or Waffle House with pictures of greasy and unappetizing sausage and eggs.

Tomatillo-Sauced Enchiladas with Spinach and Mushrooms from "Mexican Everyday" by Rick Bayless

2006-01-22T20:09:00.000-05:00

Ok, let's back up a day. On Saturday, the hubby and I decided to go to the new Whole Foods in the area. I am in LOVE. It's actually been my third visit to the fine establishment since its opening last week. I don't always go for the high-end grocery stores because many local (and cheaper) stores such as Shopper's Food Warehouse have much better aisles of ethnic goodies. However, one big advantage of going to a place like Whole Foods is consistently fresh products. I absolutely detest going to a grocery store with a recipe in hand and having to weed through a whole bin of moldy onions to find a single one suitable for human consumption. We decided to take advantage of all the incredible-looking produce to make the Tomatillo-Sauced Enchiladas. Although Rick Bayless suggested that canned tomatillos could be substituted for the fresh ones, we decided to pick up the fresh ones. Actually, we decided not to skimp on any of the ingredients and go totally fresh. The recipe calls for 1 cup of crumbled Mexican queso fresco to use as a garnish. I figured the Whole Foods would naturally have this cheese because their cheese section is about the size of our family room. The snobby cheese lady rather rudely informed me that they don't sell that type of cheese implying that it was cheap and almost dirty. I wouldn't mind getting a nicer and classier cheese by their standards but I really didn't want a cheese that would overwhelm the dish. I ended up buying asadero cheese which more of a melty cheese than the recipe called for but it did add a nice creamy texture to the enchiladas. We also decided to add sliced avocados as a garnish as well. It was probably the best avocado I've had in awhile. The recipe was pretty easy to follow and only took a total of about an hour to whip up. The best thing about the recipe (besides eating the food) is that it actually does not require assembling the enchiladas in a pan and baking for a period of time. Instead, it only requires baking the tortillas until warm, then dipping the tortillas in the tomatillo sauce and assembling the enchiladas right on the plate. Overall, I'd give the recipe a 8/10. I think the sauce had more going for it rather than the filling. The filling was spinach heavy which took away from the mushrooms. Next time, I would cut down on the spinach, use a mix of mushrooms like button and an exotic mushroom type and maybe add a little crab meat. Ok, here's my dilemma...I'd like to post the recipe but it clearly has been copyrighted. I know, it's probably not a big deal. But combined with my laziness and the fact I do work in the intellectual property field, I think I'll just let you contact me if you want more details. :)

Oh, this is the recipe which prompted me to want to start up this blog. I always love sharing my cooking experiences with friends and I figured this would be a good outlet to reach more people.

Why have I joined in on blog mania?

2006-01-22T18:11:00.000-05:00

It seems like nowadays everyone has a blog. Some will post about their daily adventures (or more like mundane details of their lives) and others post about the passions of their lives. I really would rather not post boring drivel day after day and instead mainly focus on one topic that I'm really passionate about – cooking. I think the first dish that made me realize my budding love for cooking was a lasagna made in the kitchen of my dorm in college. My roomie and I were tired of eating cake and ice cream for dinner with an occasional waffle in-between so we decided to pool our resources and make a real dinner. I realized that cooking can be fun and rewarding and it is very possible to make something that is multiple times more tasty than something you can get a local restaurant. I must admit I've gotten a lot snobbier about cooking since then so you probably won't see too many lasagna recipes on this site. I personally love cooking all sorts of cuisine but I mainly focus on dishes from Central and South America. I am always searching for a new twist on a traditional recipe and I'm not afraid to try a new, exotic ingredient. I tend to follow recipes but I'm trying to work on my cooking creativity. So that's where this blog comes into play. I want to discuss what I'm cooking, talk about my personal variations on recipes and my experiences related to cooking. What I'm asking from you is feedback and lots of it. So if anyone has a cool new recipe to share or tell me that posted recipe could benefit from more or less fill-in-the-blank, post a comment or email me. I want to use this blog as a learning tool but also as a means to share recipes and cooking experiences among friends.