Alison Eats...

Black Bean Salsa

2012-01-17T14:30:00.005-05:00

I make this salsa quite often. It is extremely versatile and can be paired with a number of dishes. Here I served it with fish and quinoa. I often use it as a filling for quesadillas or with tortilla chips as an appetizer. It travels well and tastes good at room temperature making it a great dish to bring to a potluck. No one ingredient is essential, so feel free to alter the recipe to your liking.

Ingredients
- Black beans
- Tomatoes
- Green onions
- Jalapenos
- Cilantro
- Garlic
- Salt
- Lime

Things I didn’t add but would be good additions
- Avocado
- Corn
- Mango or peaches
- Bell peppers
- Red onions
- Mint

Chop up all the ingredients and combine.

Asian-style Steamed Fish

2012-01-06T13:07:00.004-05:00

Ingredients

- 1 lb of cod
- 1/2 lb of string beans
- 2 c. of prepared rice
- drizzle of sesame oil

For the sauce
- 1 tbs. of vegetable oil
- 1 tbs. of ginger
- 1 tbs. of garlic
- minced hot pepper (if you'd like)
- 1/2 c. soy sauce
- 1.5 of water
- 1 tbs of cornstarch
- 1/4 c. sugar
- 3 scallions sliced thinly sliced

Combine all the sauce ingredients and pour into a pan. Cook the sauce over medium heat until sauce thickens. Steam string beans and fish. Pour the sauce over the steamed fish and string beans and drizzle sesame oil. Serve over rice.

Pumpkin Pasta Sauce

2011-12-05T21:06:00.001-05:00

It is odd that we use pumpkin, not a different squash, to bake pies because of all the winter squashes pumpkin is theleast sweet. Pumpkin’s lack ofsweetness and the fact you can find its puree in a can is the reason I chose touse pumpkin to make my lasagna rather than butternut squash or acornsquash. If you decide to try thisrecipe make sure you don’t accidentally buy pumpkin pie filling. It is a veryeasy mistake to make and cannot be substituted.

Ingredients

Olive oil
½ Red onion
2 sprigs (or more) of rosemary
1 can of pureed pumpkin (double check to make sure its justpumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling
1 c. of ricotta
Milk or cream if you need to thin out the sauce

Chop red onions and sauté in pan with olive oil until onions are soft and semi translucent. Take the rosemary needles off the sprig and add rosemary to the onions and cook until fragrant (30 seconds or so). Add in the pumpkin and ricotta cooking on medium until mixture starts to bubble. Add milk or cream if you would like a thinner sauce.

Spaghetti alla Puttanesca Cruda

2011-11-07T08:21:00.003-05:00

I'm sure you've heard of Spaghetti alla Puttanesca, but do you know what it means?

Translated into English it's "the Whore's Spaghetti". Yup, that's right. The New York Times recipe for Puttanesca provides a few theories on where the name came from,

"Ostensibly a sauce invented and made by prostitutes, it is said that pasta puttanesca was designed to lure customers with its aroma. Other explanations have more appeal to the minimalist cook: that the prostitutes were too busy to cook much, or that they had no storage for fresh ingredients and cooked entirely from the pantry. My favorite legend has it that it was a favorite not of prostitutes, but of women who wanted to serve a quick meal at home in order to move on to other things. Whatever the origin, no better wintertime pasta sauce has come down to us."

I'm calling my version cruda, because the sauce is uncooked (or barely cooked). Tomatoes are too inexpensive and delicious right now to use a can. Puttanesca is one of those sauces that you can add a million things to- anchovies, capers, basil, onion, tuna, oregano, parsley, cheese. However, there are only a few ingredients that you must add- tomatoes, garlic, red pepper flakes and olives. I highly suggest you also have some red wine and crusty bread.

Ingredients

- 2 lbs. tomatoes roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup black olives, pitted and sliced
- 1/2 cup green olives, pitted and sliced
- 2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and drained
- 2-3 cloves of garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Fresh basil and parsley
- Salt and hot red pepper flakes to taste
- 1 lb. of pasta

Chop all ingredients. Saute the garlic, olives and capers in a little olive oil until garlic is fragrant, not cooked. You just want to take the edge off of it. Turn off the heat, add the tomatoes, herbs, salt and pepper to the hot pan and stir. Let tomatoes sit in the warm pan while you finish up with the pasta. You don't want the tomatoes to cook, just warm them a little. Serve over pasta.

Garlic, Olives and Capers

2 lbs. of beautiful summer tomatoes

Sauteing the garlic, olives and capers.

Fish with Nectarine and Mint Salsa

2011-10-30T11:27:00.001-04:00

I have a huge backlog of posts that I wrote up the recipe and took the pictures, but never edited. So here is a recipe I made back in July - no joke. You don't need to use plums, any stone fruit would work: nectarines, peaches, cherries. You could also add a little minced jalapeno if you are in the mood for something spicier.

Ingredients
- 2 c. of diced stone fruit
- Juice from 1 lemon
- Handful or two of mint leaves
- 3 green onion diced
- Sugar to taste (if the fruit is tart)
- Some type of white fish (I used mahi mahi)
- Olive Oil
- Salt
- Pepper

Mix the fruit, 1/2 the lemon juice, mint and green onions in a bowl and let sit for 15-20 minutes at room temperature. Meanwhile heat up a little olive oil in a frying pan. Season the fish with salt and pepper and saute each side until fish is cooked. A trick to telling if your fish is to apply a little pressure with your spatula and if the fish begins to flake apart is it done. I served it over quinoa, there is something about the combination of fish and quinoa that I love.

Add caption

Vegetable Tian

2011-10-15T21:02:00.000-04:00

Delicious? Yes. Beautiful? Yes. Healthy? Yes. Time consuming? Double Yes.

This recipe comes from my dear friend Elyse. She loves this stuff. Tian is a french way of preparing vegetables. It consistes of baking layered vegetables in a casserole. The vegetables are arranged in a circle and topped with cheese and bread crumbs and baked until brown and crispy.
It is very important to buy vegetables that are all the about the same size. I did not. This resulted in much frustration because I could not get it to look as pretty as I would have liked. Normally I do not care so much about appearances, but the whole point of the tian style is to create an impressive looking dish. Oh the French and their sophistication.

Ingredients:
- Roma tomatoes
- Green Zuchinni
- Baby potatoes
- Thin eggplant (look for Japanese eggplant)
- Gruyere
- Onions
- Garlic
- Thyme

Slice all the vegetables in 1/4" thick rounds. Mince up the garlic and removed the leafs of the thyme. Saute the thyme and garlic with onions in evoo until onions are translucent. Oil the casserole dish with a little evoo. Layer vegetables in a circular manner. After the bottom of the casserole is covered, spread out the onion mixture. Add another layer of vegetables. Add some salt and pepper. Bake in 350˚ overn for 30 minutes. Grate the cheese and after 30 minutes are up remove the tian and sprinkle the cheese over it. Add bread crumbs if you would like. Return to oven for 15-20 minutes until top is golden brown.

Sausage and Peppers

2011-09-07T21:48:00.001-04:00

Sausage and peppers is one of my step-dad's favorite meals. It is also an extremely popular sandwich at street fairs in New York City- there is always sausage and pepper cart. I used veggie chorizo, but you can use any type of sausage you would like. Traditionally hot Italian sausage is used, so I add jalapeno to compensate.

Ingredients

- Oil

- Onions

- Peppers

- Sausage

- Hero roll

- Jalapeño (optional)

- Provolone (optional)

Chop up the onion, pepers and jalepeños and saute until soft (or if you are me until burnt). In a separate pan cook the sausage. Combine the two and serve in a hero, add cheese if desired.

... Capellini with Checca

2011-08-19T17:09:00.000-04:00

This is one of my all time favorite pasta sauces. I first discovered checca when I worked at Figo Pasta. The fewer the ingredients the more important the quality. Ripe tomatoes and fresh basil are essential. Flor di latte or buffola mozzarella greatly improves the sauce, but are not absolutely necessary. When picking mozzarella the best stuff is packaged in water.

Ingredients
- 4 Tomatoes
- 10 oz. of mozzarella
- 2-3 cloves of garlic
- Olive oil
- 1 lb. pasta
- Salt & Pepper

Time: 20-30 minutes.

Place a salted pot of water to boil. Chop up the garlic, tomatoes and mozzarella. Saute garlic for a few minutes in evoo, but do not allow to brown at all. Add pasta to boiling water, if using a long pasta make sure to drizzle evoo over the pasta when it still dry, but in the pot. You know when its half in the water and half out. Add in tomatoes and mozzarella to the garlic. Saute to release some of the tomato juice and soften up the cheese- no more than 5 minutes. Drain pasta and mix with sauce, you might need to add more evoo to coat the pasta. Using kitchen scissors cut up the basil (scissors are the magic tool to cutting herbs). Season with salt and pepper.

... Tomato & Goat Cheese Tart

2011-08-09T17:38:00.001-04:00

It's tomato season! I have been waiting since last october for it to arrive and finally it is here. Tomatoes are hands down my favorite vegetable (or fruit). This weekend I went to a farmer's market in Pennsylvania and got some beautiful tomatoes. Tomatoes that are red all the way through- just like they should be. In celebration of tomato season every meal I am cooking this week features my favorite little piece of produce. We'll see if they make the cut to get on the blog.

If I could follow directions, I probably would have made the crust from scratch. But I can't, so I bought some pastry puff to line my pyrex (I have no pie pans- see above). Served along aside a salad and a glass of dry white wine it makes for a delicious light dinner.

Ingredients
- 5 tomatoes
- Herbs (Whatever you have. I used basil, chives, oregano, parsley and sage)
- 8 oz. goat cheese
- 8 oz. skim ricotta
- 2 eggs (or 4 whites)
- Pie crust

Prep time was about 30 mins and then another 30 in the oven.
Preheat oven to 350˚ - 400˚.
Grease the pan and layout the dough.
Combine ricotta and eggs to make a soupy mixture
Layer tomato, then cheese then another tomato layer. I filled in any gaps with more cheese.
Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or so. I figure out if it's totally cooked by the giggle test. Shake the pan a little and if the center still moves a lot it needs more time. If you find the the top of the tart is burning but it's not fully cooked throw some tin foil on top. This trick works for everything from pies to pizza.

Beautiful Pennsylvania tomatoes

Grease the pan and lay out the pie crust.

I put down a layer of tomatoes, then a layer of cheese and then another layer of tomatoes.

Fresh out of the oven. Let it cool for a little bit before cutting so it isn't a crumbly mess.

... Pickles!

2011-07-06T20:06:00.001-04:00

Half-Sour - Bread & Butter -Spicy Garlicky

Why would you make your own pickles if you can buy them in a jar at the store? Because they taste a whole lot better. I'm not saying that every time you want a pickle you run out to the store and buy some cucumbers, but every once in a while for a treat mix up some of these. Just like store-bought pickles, if properly sealed, they last for months.

Spicy Garlicky

2 kirby cucumbers

3/4 c. water

3/4 c. vinegar

1/3 c. sugar

2 cloves garlic minced

2 tsp. red pepper flakes

Bread & Butter

2 kirby cucumbers

3/4 c. water

3/4 c. vinegar

3/4 c. sugar

1 tbp. mustard seed

1 tsp. celery seeds

1 tsp. coriander

Pretty Sour

2 kirby cucumbers

3/4 c. water

1 1/4 c. vinegar

1/3 c. sugar

1 bay leaf

1 tsp. mustard seed

1 tsp. black peppercorn

1 tsp. coriander

1 tsp. celery seeds

Combine all the ingredients in a jar. Let sit in your fridge for 24 hours. Eat pickles.

Spicy Garlicky

Bread & Butter

... Heathy Banana Bread

2011-06-02T11:43:00.002-04:00

I take zero credit for this recipe. I found it on Epicurious, but it is so awesome that I have to share it. It requires no butter and only a tablespoon of oil! Instead it uses buttermilk to keep it moist. The only down side is I'm pretty sure you have to have an electric mixer to make it.

Ingredients
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup smashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium)
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
- I added some chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly grease 8 1/2x4 1/2x2 1/2-inch pan; dust with flour. Using electric mixer; beat eggs and sugar in large bowl until thick and light, about 5 minutes. Mix in smashed bananas, buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt over mixture; beat until just blended. Transfer batter to prepared pan.

Bake bread until golden brown on top and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Turn bread out onto rack and cool.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Low-Fat-Banana-Bread-4331

Whipped eggs and sugar

Every time I have a banana that is starting to go south I put it in the freezer. I've found the easiest way to get the banana out is to defrost it in the microwave, cut off the top and squeeze it out like toothpaste.

To flour a pan you rub some butter, crisco or other sold fat (mmm) and then sprinkle flour. Then you tip the pan over the sink and gently tap out the excess flour.

About halfway through it looked like the bread was starting to burn so I placed some tin foil over the top. It is a no fail way to continue cooking something in the oven without burning it.

And breakfast :)

... Lemon Arugula Pesto

2011-05-25T20:51:00.001-04:00

Basil is not the only type of pesto that exists. Pesto is actually a method of preparation. The word pesto comes from the Genoese word pestâ which means to pound, to crush. In fact what we know simply as pesto is actually Pesto Genovese, named after the type of basil that is customarily used in the sauce. I’ve made spinach pesto, kale pesto and even pistachio pesto.

I’m a big fan of homemade pesto. I find the store-bought stuff entirely too oily. Instead of adding a ton of oil I use some of the pasta water to liquefy the sauce. Pesto literally takes 5 minutes to make and you probably have most of the ingredients in your kitchen.

Argula Pesto:
- package of arugula
- 2 tbs of lemon zest
- 1/4 to 1/3 c. evoo
- 1 very large clove of garlic
- salt (no pepper, arugula is peppery enough)

- walnuts (pine nuts would be better, but those are expensive)
- water as needed

General Pesto Recipe:
- leafy item
- evoo
- s & p
- garlic
- nut

Directions:

Combine all the ingredients in the blender/food processor adding water as needed to allow the sauce to blend.

... Pasta Primavera

2011-05-22T19:07:00.001-04:00

It is Spring isn't it? What could be more appropriate than pasta primavera. For all you non-Spanish/Italian speaking folks, primavera means Spring. Clearly any cream sauce is not the healthiest thing in the world, but as someone who has worked in restaurants I promise you that anything you make at home will be healthier than what you would order at a restaurant.

Ingredients
- various fresh Spring vegetables (tomatoes, peas, asparagus, spinach, squash, mushrooms, etc)
- pasta (this is a dish that I like to spring for the fresh pasta)
- 4 tbs of butter
- 1 carton of half and half
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 tbs (or so) of lemon zest
- grated parmesan cheese

While you are working on the sauce bring a pot of water to boil for the pasta. Undercook the pasta just a little because you are going to then cook the pasta in the sauce.

Melt the butter in a large saute pan. Ideally the pan is large enough to hold both the sauce and the pasta. I had to use a wok since I do not have a pan that is quite large enough.

Once the butter is melted add the garlic and saute for a minute or two. Just until they are fragrant, you don't want them to brown.

Add the vegetables. First add any frozen vegetables (peas), then vegetables that need be sautéed (tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini) and last the vegetables that have been blanched (green beans, asparagus).

How do you tell which vegetables need to be blanched and which don't? Check out my post about blanching vegetables.

As soon as you add the blanched vegetables also add the half and half. Bring the cream to a very gentle boil and cook for 5-ish minutes. While the cream is cooking add the lemon zest and a little salt and pepper.

Toss the pasta in with the sauce and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Serve and top it off with some grated parmesan cheese.

... Honey-Glazed Carrots

2011-05-03T09:45:00.000-04:00

This was an impulse buy. I'm a sucker for heirloom vegetables. Just look at how beautiful the colors are! The only problem is I don't like cooked carrots. I've seen a few recipes for honey-glazed carrots and I figured I'd give them a shot. Most call for butter not olive oil, but melting butter takes more effort than drizzling evoo.

Ingredients
- Carrots
- Honey
- Salt
- Pepper
- EVOO

Steam carrot for about 5 min. Put carrots in a pyrex and drizzle olive oil and honey- I'd say about 1-2 teaspoons each. Salt + Pepper. Bake at 450 for 15-20 minutes.

... Passover Lasagna

2011-04-25T09:48:00.001-04:00

I was absolutely shocked. You can replace noodles with matzoh without noticing a difference. I swear. I challenge you to make lasagna using matzoh, serve it to people without telling them and see if they say anything. I added some roasted eggplant and fresh spinach to the lasagna. It was delicious.

Measurements for a pyrex dish of lasagna:
- 1 tub of ricotta
- 6 pieces of matzoh
- two cloves of garlic
- 1.5 jars of tomato sauce
- 8 to 12 oz of mozzarella
- milk
optional
- a few handfuls of spinach
- some basil
- 1 roasted eggplant

Cut up eggplant and broil in the oven until it looks a little mushy. 20-ish minutes.

This is the most time consuming step. Soak the matzoh in milk until it's its flexible. Take it out right before it gets mushy. You do this so that the matzoh does not soak up all the moisture in the lasagna.

I always put a layer of tomato sauce on the bottom, it keeps the noodles/lasagna from sticking.

Cover lasagna with foil to keep the moisture in and prevent the cheese from burning. Bake for 20-30 minutes. You know its done with the tomato sauce is bubbling up on the sides.

... Quinoa Tabouli

2011-04-24T15:27:00.000-04:00

Traditionally tabouli is made with bulgar, but it's passover so quinoa it is! Honestly, I don't notice too much of a difference. Tabouli is a really quick healthy salad to make and travels exceptionally well. It's usually eaten at lunch or dinner, but I like it for breakfast too.

I think I do about
- 1 medium chopped tomato
- 1 c. (uncooked) quinoa
- drizzle of olive oil
- few squeezes of lemon juice
- several sprigs of fresh parsley chopped
- salt and pepper to taste

Cook the quinoa. Mix all the above ingredients. The amount of each item you add depends on how much you like the flavor. Tabouli often has a lot of parsley.

... Red Sauce

2011-04-12T10:12:00.000-04:00

Everyone has their go-to dish, the one they make when they are too lazy to do anything else or have nothing in their fridge. I almost always have pasta, olive oil, canned tomatoes, onions and garlic in my apartment. It's just how I roll. In fact, every time I use my tomatoes I automatically put it on my grocery list so that I will have them on hand.

Why make tomato sauce when you can just buy a jar and be done with it? It tastes way better, duh. It also freezes really well. When I make tomato sauce I usually use 3 cans of tomatoes, so I don't have to make it next time I want it. This is a dish you can double, triple or quadruple without having it be more work.

Did I mention this recipe takes 25 minutes and most of it is just letting it simmer?

Ingredients

1 can of crushed tomatoes (you can really taste the difference when you use nicer tomatoes. I learned that Muir Glen tomatoes suck. They taste tinny. )
1/2 can of tomato paste (you can use the cheap stuff)
1 minced carrot (more if you use baby carrots)
3-4 minced cloves of garlic
1 minced medium/large yellow onion
evoo
salt
sugar to taste (if your tomatoes taste acidic)

I like my tomato sauce smooth so I usually blend it all together after I finish. If you do that you can roughly chop the onions, carrots and garlic. Otherwise you should mince them.

Mince your carrots, onion and garlic. Saute in olive oil until the onions are translucent and the carrots are mostly cooked. If you are going to add in meat this is the time to cook it.

Dump your crushed tomatoes and tomato paste into the pot and let simmer for 20 minutes. If you want blended sauce do that either before you simmer if you are using a blender (that way its not hot when you blend it) or whenever you want if you are using an immersion blender. Season with salt, pepper and sugar.

Check out my super sad ikea plant in the background. Any suggestions on how to revive it?

... Simple Arugula Salad

2011-03-25T10:44:00.002-04:00

This is one of my favorite appetizer salads. It takes 2 minutes to prepare and is delightfully fresh tasting. Because there are so few ingredients you can really taste the difference when you use better ingredients. I used really old parmesan and you could tell.

In addition to the recipe for this salad I also have some tips about getting the most out of your lemons.

Ingredients
- arugula
- lemon
- coarse salt (wayyy better than using table salt)
- pepper
- olive oil
- shaved parmesan or pecorino romano

Wash off the arugula and pat dry. Add the shaved parmesan. Squeeze some lemon over it, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

The lemon I had was pretty old so I looked on line to get some suggestion on how to get the most out of a lemon.

1. Microwave the lemon for 30 seconds

2. Roll the lemon on a hard surface to break up the membranes

3. Cut the lemon length-wise, instead of cutting across the length and then across the width.

... Baked Polenta

2011-03-22T11:27:00.000-04:00

I love cheese and I love crispy crusts. Enter baked polenta. It's similar to macaroni and cheese or baked ziti only instead of pasta you use polenta.

Ingredients
- 2 c. polenta
- 4 c. water
- salt
- 1 bunch of swiss chard thinly sliced with ribs removed
- 3 c. mushrooms
- 1+ c. low fat mozz
- 1.5 c. low fat ricotta
- splash of red wine if you have it
- red pepper flakes
- onion thinly sliced
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- 2 eggs

Saute chard, garlic, onions, red pepper flakes, mushrooms and throw in a splash of red wine. Cook until 90% of the moisture is gone.

Boil water and polenta. Turn to med-low and stir until very very thick.

Add in ricotta + eggs.

Layer polenta mix, then mozzarella, then swiss chard/mushroom mix. I did it two layers, but if I made it again I'd use a bigger dish and only one layer so I got more crispy crust.

Bake at 450 until top is crispy and golden.

... Fish Cakes with Roasted Red Pepper Aioli

2011-03-08T10:47:00.003-05:00

Crab cakes are amazing, but crab is expensive. On the other hand white fish is not, thus fish cakes it was!

So these might not have been crab cakes, but these bad boys were out of control delicious. I have never seen Susie eat so much food in one sitting. The lemon, parsley and green onion is really what makes these fish cakes special.

Clearly they needed some sort of dipping sauce (what doesn't need sauce?) so I made the roasted red pepper aioli. Is aioli healthy? Nope. Is it delicious? You bet. When I was looking around for an aioli recipe I found a bunch that used mayonaise instead of eggs and olive oil. Please, please promise me you will never make aioli with mayonaise. There is a time for mayonaise and aioli is not one of those times.

I served the cakes with a fennel, leek and lemon salad. The flavors flowed perfectly and balanced out the the fried cakes and fatty aioli.

Fish Cakes

1 pound white fish filets

bunch of green onions, white/light green parts thinly sliced

handful of chopped fresh parsley

2 large garlic cloves, chopped

zest from half a lemon (good lord I love my microplane: where to buy a microplane it makes zesting and grating soooo much easier)

1 c. bread crumbs + more to bread cake

1 egg

oil to fry

Steam fish in an inch of water until fully cooked. Flake fish and mix with green onions, parsley, garlic, lemon zest, 1 c. bread crumbs and egg. Form into cakes. Coat cakes in bread crumbs. Fry both sides of the cakes until golden on both sides.

Roasted Red Pepper Aioli

1 roasted red pepper
salt + pepper
tbs of dijon mustard
1 clove of garlic
1/4 to 1/2 cup of olive oil
1 egg yolk
1-2 tsp of lemon juice

Throw it all in a food processer, emersion blender or small regular blender. Keep in fridge until ready to serve.

... Basa Filet with Moroccan Salsa over Minted Quinoa

2011-03-02T11:46:00.002-05:00

This recipe is absolutely exquisite. Jon and I absolutely loved it. I found the recipe on epicurious. If you look at the recipe on epicurious it looks daunting because of all the chopping and preparation. However, there are a number of short cuts that you can take. For example, instead of roasting the peppers yourself you can buy a jar of roasted peppers or you can buy a can of chopped olives instead of pitting and chopping olives yourself. I used Basa filets, but that was only because that was the cheapest at the store. I'm sure any mild white fish would work.

Link to the recipe: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Sea-Bass-with-Moroccan-Salsa-104331

...Winter Pesto

2011-02-23T10:02:00.000-05:00

This recipe is so easy especially if you have a food processor. Seriously y'all you've got to try it. It takes like 10 minutes and reheats really well. I followed the recipe pretty much exactly but I didn't put in fresh thyme.

This recipe is not an Alison original. I got the recipe from a blog called 101 Cookbooks. It's one of my favorites. It has a bunch of good recipes for healthy vegetarian food- sometimes a little too healthy even for me. It looks like shes has a quite a number of good baking recipes, but I'm not a baker. I'm terrible at following directions, measuring ingredients exactly, etc. etc.

Here's the link to the recipe

link to the recipe

Sorry the photos are kinda eh, I was really hungry and I didn't feel like taking the

The picture is extra crappy because it's really hard to take a good picture with large amounts of steam.

... Thai Curry Fried Rice

2011-02-21T10:17:00.000-05:00

I love Thai fried rice. However, when I order it at a restaurant I always feel kinds greasy afterward. Most likely because they put about 3/4 cup of oil in it, also it is most likely the reason I love it so much. Last week I finally perfected my own recipe that fortunately only involves a few tablespoons of oil.
Now there are two very important steps when making fried rice at home. The first- you must use day old rice. This is not optional. If you don't use day old rice you will wind up with mushy rice, not fried rice. Second let the fully prepared fried rice cook forever. Pretend you are making paella. It tastes so much better if you have the patience to let the rice form a crispy crust. It can be excruciatingly painful, especially if you are hungry, but it's worth it.

Ingredients :

few tsp of curry (you can make your own, or just buy a jar. I used a jar and it turned out fine)
1 can of pinapple
3 cloves of garlic
1-2 shallots
assorted vegetables (I used carrots, peppers and bok choi)
2-3 tbs of oil
1/4 c. fish sauce
2-3 c. day-old rice
1-2 eggs
handful cilantro (garnish)
lime (garnish)

Chop up garlic & shallots. Fry them and the curry in some oil until fragrant.

Add the vegetables that need to be cooked for a while to the curry/garlic/shallot mixture. Cook them until soft.

Add in rice, fish sauce and a little soy sauce if you'd like.

Next add the pineapple and vegetables that do not need to be cooked for a long time. Then let sit FOR-EV-ERRR.

Ta-Da!

...Tortilla Soup

2011-02-14T14:28:00.001-05:00

la obra completa

los ingredientes

This recipe has a whole lot of ingredients, but doesn't mean this recipe is expensive or complicated. I went to the store that night and bought each of the ingredients and my total bill was $13.47, or $2.24 per serving. Granted I did go grocery shopping in Jackson Heights, but either way it's not a pricey meal.

The key to this meal is a food processor. Have I ever told you how much I love my food processor? I use it at least 4 times a week. It is probably the most useful kitchen tool I own. It cuts down prep time sooo much. Instead of standing there and mincing onion, peppers, garlic, etc. for 30 minutes. I throw them in the food processor, pulse it a few times and 90 seconds later its all minced. A small food processor is about $35 on Amazon and if you cook with any regularity it is worth it.

Ingredients

- tomatoes (canned tomatoes work)
- sazafran/chicken stock
- peppers- green, red, poblano, jalapenos- whatever you want
- garlic
- onion
- oil
- traditionally chicken
- dried chilies

Toppings
- tortilla strips
- cheese
- sour cream
- cilantro
- avocado

stewing

... Sloppy Bocas

2011-02-07T10:21:00.001-05:00

When I was a kid I loved sloppy joes so I decided to try making a healthier version. I added some vegetables into the mix and subbed in boca crumbles for ground beef. Perhaps I haven't had ground beef in so long that I don't remember the taste, but I feel like boca is a fairly accurate replacement. Especially in dishes like sloppy joes where you don't even tast the meat.

Ingredients:
- boca crumbles/ ground meat
- worstershire sauce
- ketchup
- tomato paste
- onion
- garlic
- peppers
- carrots
- chili powder
- cayenne
- paprika
- cumin
- buns
- sriracha

... Falafel & Israeli Salad

2011-01-31T10:36:00.003-05:00

Who knew that falafel is incredibly easy to make? Ok, maybe a lot of people, but I didn't. I thought it was some secret middle eastern recipe that was complicated and had a bunch of unusual spices. Nope. Grind up some chickpeas, garlic, onions and if you want to get fancy some parsley. Fry it in some olive oil or bake it in the oven and you're done.

As far as the Israeli salad goes it would have been really nice if tomatoes were in season (insert big sigh). I miss tomatoes so much. If I had to pick one food I wish was in season all year it would hand down be tomatoes. Every time I buy tomatoes I'm disappointed. I say I'm not going to buy them next time I go to the store and every time I pass the tomatoes and I just can't help it. I have to.

Photographs provided by Natalie Hunter

Ingredients
Falafel
2 cans of chickpeas
1 rather small onion
1-2 cloves of garlic
Glugg or 3 of evoo
Salt and pepper
Small handful of parsley
Israeli Salad
- tomato
- cucumber
- olive oil
- salt

1. Put all the ingredients in your food processor (I think a blender
might work too) and pulse until finely chopped. Add water or oil little by little until the mix is moist enough to form into balls.
2. Form into balls. duh
3. Pour a bunch of oil on your pan and roll the falafel until the entire
surface is covered.
4. Turn oven on broil and cook until crispy. Half way through flip them over. It took me about 30 minutes but my oven is absolutely awful. With a decent oven it should take ~15 min

...Beet, Grapefruit & Feta Salad

2011-01-27T10:56:00.000-05:00

This salad was really delicious, however, it took forever to make (~1 hour). Mostly because peeling grapefruit and roasting beets takes a long time. Bottom line: annoying, but worth it.

Also anyone with a blender should really try making salad dressing. It is ridiculously easy, way less expensive and probably better for you.

Ingredients:
Salad:
- greenery
- beets
- grapefruit
- feta (goat cheese would also be good).
Dressing:
- olive oil
- white balsamic vinager
- shallot or red onion
- salt and pepper

You can roast the beats whole, but that takes FOOOR-EV-ERRRR. Sandlot anyone?

I really like my lettuce sliced up very thin, I feel like the dressing distributes more evenly.

This also took FOOOR-EV-ERRR. Fortunately I did not have any cuts on my hand.

... Fish Tacos

2011-01-24T10:39:00.001-05:00

I love tacos and as non-meat eater my choices are severely limited which makes me incredibly sad. Enter fish tacos. I love fish tacos. When I visited B-Unit in San Diego I ate fish tacos 12 out of the 14 days I was there. Sweet Jesus they were delicious. Don't even get me started on Taco Tuesday. Taco Tuesday really should be a instituted across the country.

They sound easy, but the perfect fish tacos is a difficult goal to attain. Especially, when I have issues with modifying recipes to make it more healthy. Next time I make fish tacos I want to try to do a beer batter instead of corn meal. I might do guacamole instead of just the avocado. We shall see.

Ingredients
- white fish (tilapia, catfish, cod, etc)
- egg
- corn meal
- cabbage
- corn tortillas
- avocado
- sour cream
- jalapenos
- red onion
- lime

The whole wheat tortilla was a mistake. I thought I had corn tortillas.

... Massaman Curry

2011-01-20T13:29:00.001-05:00

This post is for my dearest friend Natasha. This dish has a really interesting origin. It is a Thai curry brought to Thailand by the Muslims (hence the name: massaman). Thai curries are made from all fresh ingredients and they form a paste. Where as Indian curries use a lot dried spices, think garam masala. If you made massaman curry from scratch (which I did not) it uses both fresh and dried spices demonstrating the combination of cultures- which I think is pretty cool. Yes, I am aware I am a huge nerd and yes, I have no shame about it. Additionally, Massaman curries is one of the few Thai dishes you will find potatoes. My guess is that is another Muslim influence, since potatoes are abundant in Indian cooking.

The spice level makes massaman curry great for using light coconut milk. Most other curries you need to use the full-fat kind becuase the coconut cream is neccessary to tone down the spiciness. I'm sure you've noticed if you have ever tried to make green or red thai curry with light coconut milk it is either too watery and has no taste or entirely too spicy.

Ingredients:
- massaman curry paste (the only place I have ever found it is in asian markets)
- starchy potatoes
- peanuts or cashews
- coconut milk
- vegetables of your choice (I used green peppers, okra and string beans)
- extra carbs: naan, rice, roti (I firmly believe there is no such thing as too many carbs)

... Tuna Sandwich with Mustard, Apples & Walnuts

2011-01-17T11:08:00.001-05:00

I have never liked tuna fish. I just don't. I've tried it a million times, hoping that one day I'll grow into it. Nope, it just wasn't going to happen.

It really bugs me when I don't like food. Particularly when that food is healthy. For example, I did not like bananas. Until the age of 16 I did not eat bananas. Every year or two I'd try them again. Eventually I decided enough is enough and in April of my junior year I choked down a banana every single day. At this point you probably think I'm crazy (let's be honest y'all knew that already), but by the end of April I liked bananas. Pretty cool, no?

So I decided this weekend it was time to like tuna fish. I bought the kind that is in olive oil instead of water. How could I not like it, it is in olive oil? I love 95% of food in olive oil. I slapped it on a cracker and much to my surprise I liked it! Awesome, I didn't even have to force myself to eat it! So I gleefully made a tuna sandwich. Throw in a little mayo, so celery and voila. It was disgusting. Absolutely awful. Clearly it wasn't the celery, it was the mayonnaise. I should have realized that I wouldn't like it because I don't like mayonnaise in general. So I gave that one to Jon, my go-to move when I don't like something (I'm such a good girlfriend, no?) and I made myself another sandwich- without mayo. Muuuuuch better. So here is a mayo-free tuna fish sandwich. Recipe courtesy of Almost Doctor Susie Curtis.

(Sorry the pictures are awful. I didn't have high hopes for the sandwich, so I didn't really make and effort to photograph it.)

Ingredients:
- bread
- tuna fish
- sweet crunchy apple
- carrot, cabbage or celery or all
- walnuts
- dijon mustard
- s & p

Cameo, my current favorite apple

When I was making my spring rolls I couldn't find any green cabbage, so I got purple and it tastes exactly the same.

... Spring Rolls & Spicy Thai Chili Sauce

2011-01-14T20:22:00.001-05:00

Bake them or fry them spring rolls are delicious, but I like something other than soy sauce with mine. I forgot to get something from the store, so I decided to try my luck at making sweet Thai chili sauce. Much to my surprise, it turned out great! It tasted just like the one at Thai restaurants. Unfortunately I didn't get any picture of that.

Ingredients to spring rolls:

spring roll wrappers (looking in the dairy section)
carrots
cabbage
garlic
soy sauce
oil
mushrooms (optional)
tofu (optional)

If you are baking the spring rolls be liberal with the oil. Think about how much better for you baked spring rolls are, you can afford it. If you don't they are too dry and taste baked.

Ingredients to sweet Thai chili sauce:

I used this recipe: http://thaifood.about.com/od/thaicurrypasterecipes/r/Easy-Thai-Sweet-Chili-Sauce-Recipe.htm

Very Important: Make absolutely sure you keep stirring the cornstarch, if you don't it will clump.

Cook the shredded carrot, cabbage, garlic and ginger in a little oil and soy sauce.

Make sure to roll them in plenty of oil.

... Spicy Thai Basil

2010-12-17T10:19:00.001-05:00

I was once told by a dear friend (who I will not name) that I could not make Thai food. I wish they could have tasted this, because it was damn good. I got the recipe from the Williams-Sonoma Chicken cookbook (thanks mom). I actually kept all the proportions for the same (except the garlic), but I tripled it even thought I was making the same number of servings. I'm really not sure how the amount they say makes 4 servings- perhaps I just eat an obscene amount of food.

Link to recipe:
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/spicy-chicken-and-basil-stir-fry.html?cm_src=RECIPESEARCH

Tips:

Basil- the dish is best if you use Thai basil. Honestly you can really taste the difference, but it will not ruin the dish if you use Genovese basil.

Tofu- make sure you buy firm tofu, not soft or silken tofu. Then you need to dry the out the tofu. I microwave it until it's dry. I check on the tofu every 3 minutes and dump off any extra water that collects on the plate.

Rice: I like to use jasmine rice, but it's really not a big difference. However, Jon, my official rice cooker, has discovered that if you remove the rice from the pot it tastes a lot better because it doesn't get over cooked.

... Jon's Challah French Toast

2010-12-06T14:29:00.002-05:00

In honor of Jon's birthday I made him his favorite breakfast- Challah French Toast. Using brioche or challah for french toast is soooo much better than regular bread. Not only was this for Jon, but the recipe is also by Jon. I found the tripod David sent me so I went a little crazy with the picture taking...

Ingredients

- Challah or Brioche

- Eggs (you can use just whites, but I can tell the difference)

- little bit of vanilla

- little bit of OJ

- milk

- cinnamon (if that is your thing, I don't like it)

- butter (once again, you can use a healthier option, but I can tell the difference)

Ok this is not food related at all, but I thought it was super cute. I was stretching after sitting for 3 hours straight writing a final and I decided to stretch it out. Apparently Moses thought I was playing.

... Wild Mushroom and Rosemary Pizza

2010-12-02T17:12:00.001-05:00

I think I am finally getting the knack of this pizza making thing. We found this really great pizza dough at the Coop (aka the Park Slope Food Cooperative) called Birrittella's. It only costs $2 and is by far the best tasting pizza dough I have bought. Plus it is wayyy easier than making your own, which I have yet to even come close to mastering. Honestly I'm terrified of yeast.
This pizza was pretty bomb, not going to lie. Then again I love everything that involved a mix of mushrooms. I used marsala wine instead of white wine because that is what I had and we didn't use fontina cheese because I couldn't find any at the coop. Honestly, the mushrooms stole the show so I'm not even sure how much you would have been able to taste the difference between I used mozzarella and fontina the recipe asked for. I also used some cottage cheese b/c that lightens up the pizza.
Here is the recipe I based my pizza off: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Wild-Mushroom-Pizza-with-Caramelized-Onions-Fontina-and-Rosemary-230633

Pizza dough. I really need a bigger pan. I think I'm going to steal my mom's pizza stone when I go home :)

cornmeal is great to prevent the pizza from sticking to the pan.

Cottage cheese is my new ricotta. I like it because it is little bit thicker.

This is the really awesome pizza dough.

... Roasted Pear & Goat Cheese Salad

2010-11-29T09:40:00.001-05:00

I was hesitant of this recipe, it seemed entirely too fancy and healthy to taste good. My fears were unfounded. This recipe rocks and it has the added bonus of seeming super fancy i.e. good to impress people. Shockingly, I actually followed the recipe. The only tweeks I made were to add more evoo & a little bit of water to the dressing. Otherwise it would have been paste. It didn't even matter that the pears I bought were rock-hard!

here is the recipe: http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/11462

... Tomato Soup & Grilled Cheese

2010-11-28T21:43:00.005-05:00

Tomato soup and grilled cheese- a classic combo. Why buy canned tomato soup when homemade soup is ridiculously healthy, takes about 15 minutes and is wayyy better tasting.

Ingredients
- 2 (15 oz cans) good quality whole (or crushed) tomatoes
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 small onion
- 2 handfuls of baby carrots
- 2-3 c. milk
- salt, pepper & olive oil
- maybe sugar

Suggestions for Optional Toppings
- croutons
- grated/shredded cheese
- basil
- cream
- grilled cheese (my personal fav)

Throw garlic, onions and carrots in the food processor and puree until smooth. Dump the mix into a big pot with olive oil drizzled on the bottom. Saute until soft. Blend the tomatoes until smooth. Add tomatoes and milk. Simmer for at least 5 mins. Give it a little taste and if its acidic or tart then add a little bit of sugar. Top with anything you like.

... Portabello, Smoked Gouda and Spinach Panini

2010-11-23T18:33:00.001-05:00

It's official. Portobello mushrooms are definitely my favorite ingredient in a panini. This panini is literally exactly what it sounds like: bread, mushroom, spinach & smoked gouda. The only additional items are evoo, salt and pepper for roasting the mushrooms in the oven. I wasn't super impressed with the smoked gouda at first. In fact, I was pissed because it was twice as expensive as regular gouda and it didn't taste any better. That is until you melt it. Mmmm is it good melted.

One of my favorite things about nyc is you don't have to go anywhere fancy for great bread. Just the grocery store.

Isn't this beautiful looking spinach?

In the oven on 400 for about 10 minutes

Totally gratuitous but I wanted to show off the knives Jon got me for my birthday.

I think I might be the only person who has never used my George Forman for meat. Grilled peaches- yes. Meat- no. Thanks ladies of 13th street for that donation.

Doesn't he look ridiculously pathetic? He cut his foot and would not let it heal so we put a bandage on it. The bandage lasted about 3.5 minutes.

...Larb

2010-11-22T16:43:00.003-05:00

Jon mid-bite

Spicy, sweet, and crunchy Larb is normally served as an appetizer in Thai restaurants. I make it into a full meal by adding delicious delicious carbs (aka rice).

Ingredients
- ground meat- you can use chicken, beef, pork or veggie crumbles

- veggie oil

- 3 cloves minced garlic
- nub of minced ginger
- 1 shallot sliced
- thai chili pepper- if not any hot pepper is really fine
- 1-2 bell peppers
- handful or 2 of shredded carrots
- String beans (or really any vegetable you want)
- diced cucumber
- rice
- cabbage leaves
- soy sauce
- 2 tbs of sugar
- fish sauce
- lime
- optional- thai basil, mint and/or cilantro

Saute the garlic and ginger until fragrant in bit of oil. Add peppers (bell and chilies), carrots and any other vegetable that needs a while to cook. Once the vegetables are mostly cooked add cooked meat, sugar, soy sauce and fish sauce let simmer for a few moments with the vegetables. Remove from heat and let cool a few minutes. Mix in the cucumbers, shallots and herbs.
Traditionally just the meat-veggie mix is used in the cabbage wraps. I add in rice because I love carbohydrates.

Update

2010-11-21T21:37:00.000-05:00

Dear Faithful Readers-

As you may have noticed I have woefully ignored my blog over the last few months. The reason is writing posts takes a tremendous amount of time. In an effort to post with more regularity I will be altering my posting format. Instead of writing an introduction, ingredients, instructions and a picture. I will now only be posting a picture or two and a list of ingredients. If you are interested in the recipe shoot me an email and I will be happy to pass it on.

Love,
Alison

... Black Beans and Rice

2010-11-21T21:18:00.001-05:00

I was first introduced to the miracle that is black beans and rice by my dear friend Moo in middle school. Moo was taught the wonders of this dish by her grandparents who spent a number of years in Miami. As you may know its pretty much impossible to live in Miami without being exposed to this particular Cuban delight.

This was probably the first dish I ever mastered. For better or worse, I still make this dish the exact say way as I did when I was 14. The best part about this dish is it gets better with time, I always double or triple the recipe and keep some in the freezer. This dish is how I made it through freshman hall dining.

Ingredients:
- 1 cans of "no sodium added" black beans
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 small onion, minced
- sazon (a seasoning made by goya, its a saffron substitute)
- 2 toms, diced
- evoo
- 1 c. rice
- salt

Cut up your garlic, onions and toms. In one pot empty the can of beans and half the garlic, onion, tomato, some salt and a drizzle or evoo. Simmer until rice is ready. In the other pot put the rest of the packet of sazon, garlic, onion, salt, evoo, tomato, rice and 2 c. of water. Cook as directed.

... Ziti Zucchini Bake

2010-10-06T09:52:00.001-04:00

Bake ziti was one of my favorite dishes as a child. How could you not love cheesy crunchy goodness? This recipe is a way to get all the cheesy crunchy goodness AND some vegetables. Plus, this recipe has potluck written all over it- it's easy to make, crowd-pleasing and travels well.

Mmmm Cheese

Ingredients
- 1/2 lb. ziti
- 1/2 lb. mushrooms
- 1 zucchini
- 2 medium onions
- 1/2 c. ricotta
- 1/2 c. mozzerella
- 1/2 c. some fun cheese like fontina, blue, feta
- bread crumbs
- evoo
- salt & pepper

Moses looking waiting patiently for something to fall.

Put on a pot of water to boil. Chop up unions, mushrooms and zucchini and throw them in a pyrex. Sprinkle some evoo and salt on it and pop it in the oven until the veggies are cooked

This is when they are about half way done.

While the veggies are cooking, dump in the ziti. Cook it about halfway- its going back in the oven and you don't want the pasta to be mushy.

Boil, Boil, Boil

Once the pasta is done drain it and run it under cold water (so it stops cooking). Mix in the cheeses and the pasta with the vegetables. Also my cheese measurements might be wildly off. Sprinkle breadcrumbs on top for crunch. Cook the whole thing until the top is golden and crunchy.

Finished product

Late Summer Fish w/ Lemon, Tomato, Zucchini & Rosemary

2010-09-28T13:57:00.003-04:00

After a long hiatus, I'm back!

I know y'all have been crying yourselves to sleep.

This is pre-oven. I didn't get a good cooked shot.

I know it's no longer late summer, but I'm in denial. Plus tomatoes and zucchini are still in season. This fish is a super easy, yet impressive looking dish that is great for dinner parties. I served it over orzo which was really nice.

Ingredients
- 1lb mild fish of some sort
- 2 tomatoes chopped
- 1 zucchini chopped
- 1-2 lemons sliced (I think, I can't really remember)
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- few sprigs of rosemary
- 2-3 gluggs of evoo
- s&p

Lay down the fish in a deep pan. Sprinkle the garlic and some salt. Line the lemons on top of the fish to make it pretty. Throw in the toms, zuccs & rosemary. Pop it in the oven
on 350-400(ish) for about 25 minutes(ish) until fish is cooked.

Voila! (I told you it was easy.)

In case you care, here are some of the highlights from my summer:

We watched Chris play several times.

I love this pictures b/c it was supposed to be a nice shot and Jon and I independent of each other tried to ruin it.

Natalie's Toshiba moved on to a 'better place'. It was time.


J went to the hospital with ebola/some unknown illness. No worries he's better now.

Although Moses is not pictured, this was HumpFest 2010 at Tompkins Square Park featuring Mr. Pips and two unknown dogs.

We dressed up Moses for hipsterpuppies.tumblr.com/

There was karaoke...

... but it was emotional.

Moses turned into a bat.

I moved out of my tiny mouse infested overpriced downtown apartment and into a lovely spacious not-mouse infested apartment in Brooklyn (I know, I know I should have a picture of our new apartment. But I don't so deal.)

Douggles came back from officer training and then promptly left for Italy. jerk.

Moses learned how to fly.

We went to Coney Island. It's actually a lot more fun than I expected. The new amusement park is rather nice.

And I went to Prospect Park almost every day!

...Rafetto's and other NYC food discoveries (Joe's Dairy & Pino's Meat)

2010-04-24T10:35:00.000-04:00

So if you couldn't tell, food is kinda my thing. I pride myself in knowing the place to get the best quality ingredients for the best prices. Therefore I was downright embarrassed when I discovered Raffetto's. I have walking distance from this place for over a year and a half and I had never been or even heard of it!

I know food stores are out of the scope of this blog, but sometimes you stumble across something so sensational you just cannot keep it to yourself. Rafetto's is one of those places; Rafetto's is heaven on earth.

I know what you are thinking: Enough already Alison get to why this place is so amazing! Ok, there are a number of reasons but the top of the list is you can get 1 pound of fresh pasta (fresh, as in made that day fresh) for $2.29. Im not talking tasteless buitoni fresh pasta, I'm talking about pasta that tastes like you just made it yourself. Literally the only times I have had pasta that tasted as good as this was when it was legit homemade. It is light, bouncy, full of flavor and 2.29 a pound!!

They have 15 different type of sheet pasta that you can get cut in any width you would like: angel hair, linguini, tagelletelli, you name it. The least expensive was the egg pasta at 2.29 and I think the most expensive was the squid ink at 5 something. They also have 20 different kinds of ravioli which are between $5 & $6 for 48 ravioli. They come stuffed with magical ingredients like gorgonzola and walnuts or roasted red pepper and smoked mozzarella. The wild mushroom were divine. I also bought a pound of spinach and potato gnocchi for $2.30. They were perfect. It wasn't just green pasta, you could actually taste the spinach.

144 W. Houston St. -- New York, NY 10012

The store also has a wall of dried pastas and a refrigerated section with pre-made sauces and microwavable meals. The place has been around since 1906 in the exact same location. Most of its bussiness is generated by whole sale and you can find their products in places like Zabars and Dean & Deluca or at restaurants like Il Mulino and Gotham Bar & Grill.

Now before you go run there right now I must first warn you that 1) Rafettos is cash only, 2) it is closed on Sunday and Monday and 3) its only open from 10am -6:30pm.

If you make it to Raffetto's you without a doubt must cross Houston to visit two other Italian specialty shops: Joe's Dairy and Pino's Prime Meat Market. They are right on the other side of Houston on Sullivan Street. You step inside these places and you feel as if you are going back in time.

Joe's Dairy makes a large variety of hand-pulled cheese on the premise. Specifically their mozzarella (which must be pronounce moo-zer-rell if you are going to order it here) is out of this world. The piece I bought was still warm. Can you believe it? You do not get fresher cheese than that. Pino's is across the street from Joe's and is a meat lovers dream. I am personally not a meat lover, but I was still

extremely impressed. They make about 15 different sausages and will grind any of their meats for you free on the spot.

Here is a link to a video interview of Pino's, I personally think its really awesome, but if butchering meat grosses you out DO NOT watch this.

* Unless otherwise noted the photography on this blog is my own (or J's). The pictures on today's blog are 100% courtesy of the Google Family, particularly map/street view.

... Pancetta Flounder over Garlicky Greens & Creamy Polenta

2010-04-22T09:20:00.002-04:00

Do not be intimidated by this dish. It looks fancy and it sounds fancy, but it is so very easy. Seriously excluding s&p and evoo the entire dish has 6 ingredients. How can something be intimidating with 6 ingredients? It's also deceivingly healthy. The polenta is whole grain, I used less than a tbs of evoo and one slice of pancetta is about 50 calories and 1.5 g of saturated fat.

I'll admit flounder and pancetta are not the most budget friendly ingredients. However this week at Whole Foods flounder and pancetta were on sale. 4 serving of flounder for 7.37 and the pancetta was 2.29- not too bad. If the supermarket sale gods are not smiling on you when you want to make this recipe I'm sure you could sub in some bacon and the white fish of your choice.

It's rather ironic that polenta is mostly found at upscale restaurants and grocery stores given its very humble history. Up until very recently polenta was purely peasant food. Although polenta is just beginning to enter mainstream cuisine, technically Americans have been eating polenta forever. Polenta is just cornmeal. The only difference between polenta, grits and tortillas are how you cook it and what you serve it with. They are all just cornmeal, water and little salt.

You have two options for polenta- you can buy the polenta meal in a bag or you can buy the pre-cooked polenta in a tube. The tube polenta takes less time to cook, but is more expensive. You can make polenta on the stove or in the microwave. Most of the time polenta is gluten free and it can be whole grain (it will say on the package).

Ingredients
- 1 c. polenta
- 4 larger flounder
- 4-6 slices of pancetta
- 1 bunch of swiss chard, roughly chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- rosemary (to sprinkle over fish)
- evoo
- s&p

Cook the polenta as directed on the package. You can add a little bit of milk to the water if you want creamier polenta.

Place the over on broil. On a baking sheet place the flounder, season with s&p. Lay the pancetta on top of the flounder and sprinkle rosemary over the top. Broil for 10-25 minutes depending on your oven and until the pancetta is nice and crispy.

While the polenta and the fish is cooking chop up the garlic and greens. Saute both in a tiny bit of evoo, salt and pepper until they are soft.

Layer the polenta, greens then fish and serve.

...Quinoa Stuffed Peppers with Mint Pesto

2010-04-20T15:11:00.003-04:00

Without the Mint Pesto

This is a severely belated recipe, in fact it's from my Passover Collection (if you will), but between Moses, searching for an apartment and the impending doom which is finals I've been super busy. You will have to forgive me if I am a little behind. Now just because this was originally a P-over recipe does not mean that you can't make it anytime you please.

The origins of this recipe came when I volunteered to host a Passover dinner party. I did not realize how challenging it would be to accommodate everyone's dietary restrictions in one meal: everything had to be k4p Ashkenazi style, it also had to be vegetarian, but satisfying enough for a meat eater. Not an easy task. Fortunately I was not required to cook using only kosher pots and pans, because if so who knows what I would have done.

Another fun part about making this meal was I decided it was a wise decision to go "look" at a puppy I had been eyeing on Petfinder.com at 5pm when people were set to arrive at 7:30pm. The "look" turned into "fostering" and for the first time in my history of dog fostering (its actually quite a long history) I have no intentions of giving this one back...

This is another dish that would work out great at a potluck because it can be prepared in advance, it travels well and can be served hot or cold. When I made this I originally stuffed the mint into the pepper, however after a little experimentation I have decided that it is most certainly best to make a quick mint pesto and drizzle it over the pepper.

Ingredients

- 4 red peppers

- 1.5 c. quinoa

- handful or two of mint

- 2-3 cloves garlic

- salt

- 1/4 c. feta
- toasted pine nuts

- 1 small red onion

- evoo

Preheat the oven to 400. Wash the peppers and cut the top off. Place the peppers in the oven for about 20-30 minutes until they get a little roasty (aka a little mushy and charred).
While the pepper are in the oven make the quinoa as directed.

Then while the quinoa and peppers are cooking chop up the cheese, onion and one clove of garlic. Mix those ingredients + salt + pie nuts into the cooked quinoa.

Once the peppers are a little roasty fill with quinoa mixture (if you have a little left over its really good by itself) and put the pepper back into the oven for about 20 minutes. If the top of the peppers start to burn place some tin foil over the top.

While peppers are in the oven put the rest of the garlic, s&p, mint and evoo in teh food processor and whirr until you have a nice pesto. Once peppers are finished cooking drizzle the pesto over the peppers. They can be served hot or room temperature.

... Cannelloni

2010-04-19T14:14:00.001-04:00

When I was little my favorite dish was stuffed shells. I would always always always ask my mom to make it for it on my birthday dinner. Although super delicious and comforting, stuff shells are not exactly the healthiest dish. So I tried to tried to change that with this dish. I based this off of the "recipe" my mother taught me. I use quotations because I'm pretty positive its not written down anywhere and if it is, I've never seen it.

To make this a wee bit healthier I used fat free ricotta, low fat mozzarella and I added spinach to the mix. Honestly, I didn't feel like these changes really changed the taste much. I made manicotti instead of stuffed shells because I had leftover sheets of fresh pasta from the lasagna I made. The only difference between cannelloni, manicotti and stuffed shells is the shape of the pasta. Cannelloni is flat sheets of pasta you stuff and then roll. Manicotti is a tube that you stuff. And stuffed shells are pretty self explanatory.

Little know Alison-Fact: In 7th grade my Spanish class one of our projects was to teach the class how to do something that required more than 10 steps in Spanish. I taught the class how to make stuffed shells.
Ingredients
- tomato sauce (I used jar, GASP!)
- 1/2 c. low fat mozzerella and then more for sprinkling on top
- 2 c. fat free ricotta
- 1 egg
- giant shells, manacotti or sheets pasta (aka lasagna noodles)
- 1/4 c. grated cheese
- spinach (you can use fresh or frozen)
- garlic, minced

Preheat your oven to 400. Mince up the garlic and saute with spinach until its mushy. Using a sieve press out as much of the water as possible (but don't kill yourself). Chop up the spinach.

If you aren't using fresh pasta, cook the pasta until its very al dente. If its too soft it will be very very difficult to stuff. It is true you don't have to precook the pasta, but I have found that when you don't precook them the pasta draws the water from the cheese and your dish winds up very very dry. Believe me its worth the extra effort.

In a large bowl mix all the cheese, the egg, and the spinach. Throw in some s&p for good luck.

Pour some sauce on the bottom of the pan so the pasta doesn't stick.

Stuff the pasta or roll it up like so...

Cover pasta with the rest of the sauce. Sprinkle over some cheese and cover the pan with aluminum foil (the foil keeps the moisture in and the pasta/cheese from burning). Cook for 30-45 minutes when the sides bubble its pretty much done.

... Pasta with Greens and Cheese

2010-04-18T13:59:00.003-04:00

So Thursday J, Moses and I spent 7 hours, from noon to 7:30 walking all over Brooklyn looking at apartments and different neighborhoods. Seriously, 7 hours. I think we walked like 20 miles (ok that’s probably as an exaggeration).

J thinks it’s a phase, but I <3 Bk. I’m tired of Manhattan and its crowds, pressure and commercialism (not that Bk doesn’t have it, but there is less… I think/hope). Either way this has very little to do with food. My point is that we got home at 8 and we were exhausted. I REALLY didn’t want to cook, but I a whole bunch of food in the fridge I don’t want to let go bad. So I sucked it up and started chopping.

Lo and behold it was a cinch AND it was damn good. I found the recipe on NY Times Food for Health. I love love love this column, you should totally bookmark it- great, simple, healthy recipes.

If you have trouble with dark leafy greens like kale, broccoli rabe, chard, etc. you NEED to try this recipe. It’s a great way into to these type of “super power” veggies.

Ingredients
- 1 bunch of dark leafy greens (kale, broccoli rabe, chard, etc.) coarsely chopped
- 1-2 cups of fat free ricotta
- evoo
- ½ c. Grated Cheese + more to sprinkle
- sea salt (to taste but I like a decent amount)
- rpfs
- 1-4 cloves of garlic, minced (More or less depending on your love of garlic. My family has a traditional of automatically doubling the amount of garlic in a recipe)
- pasta
- water reserved from pasta (who needs to buy another ingredient like stock when you have delightfully starch & flavorful pasta water?)

Boil water for pasta. Chop garlic and greens. Add in the pasta. Heat up some evoo in a large pot. Add in the garlic, greens and a bit of pasta water. Cook until the greens are wilted, but not mushy. Drain pasta, but make sure to reserve some water. Add in the cheeses, salt, rpfs, and the pasta into the pot and mix. If it seems too dry add the pasta water little by little until the mixture is saucy (if you are using a long pasta I suggest cutting it up to make mixing easier).

Serve and season with salt, rpfs and grated cheese to your liking.

... Quesadillas

2010-04-14T10:18:00.001-04:00

Mmmm quesadillas.... melty salty cheese and a crispy tortilla, what is not to love?

Believe it or not, there was a long time during which I did not eat quesadillas. I abstained because I thought of them as terribly unhealthy and void of nutrition. This was a terrible and dark time in my life. Thankfully, I have recovered. Since that time I have learned much more about food and nutrition. I discovered that my beloved quesadillas could be prepared in a manner that would not be considered a splurge meal in any way shape or form.

There are two secrets to making healthy quesadillas, one is your pan and the other is fish. You don't like fish? You will like fish in this recipe. I promise. Is your interest piqued? Well if it is read on and I will tell you how to make healthy quesadillas!

Ingredients
- white fish (I used the delightfully inexpensive tilapia)
- white melting cheese (asadero is best, but monterey jack works just fine)
- whole wheat tortillas (check to make sure they are actually whole wheat, not the fake-out kind that is part whole wheat but mostly refined wheat)
- red pepper cut into matchsticks
- 1/2 lemon

Salsa (can be prepared ahead of time)
- tomato, diced
- onion, minced
- avocado, diced
- jalapeno (or other spicy pepper), minced
- garlic, minced
- juice from the other 1/2 of the lemon
- fruit (mango, peach, pear) diced, if you want a little sweetness
- s&p to taste

Steam the fish, squirting a little bit of lemon juice over it. If you are too lazy to steam the fish you can also pour about a 1/4 inch of water in a pan and cook it that way.

The first secret to making a healthy quesadilla is a nonstick pan. The tortilla will not stick to the pan (ok it might a little, but only if you pan isn't clean) and you do not need to use oil. You can still get the crispy outside, but with out all the bad stuff.

Fill your quesadilla with fish and a moderate amount of cheese. This is the second secret. White fish is super light and moist. It blends right in with the cheese and it fills up the quesadilla (and you) without taking away any moisture or flavor of the cheese. You can use way less cheese when you stuff your quesadilla with fish and cheese than when you fill it with chicken, beef, shrimp or even just cheese alone!

Put the quesadilla in the pan and cook until cheese is melty and tortilla is crispy. Serve with your homemade salsa.

... Breakfast Quinoa

2010-04-12T11:54:00.002-04:00

Ever get tired of oatmeal, but you want something filling, healthy and fast for breakfast? I certainly do. Breakfast quinoa is a great way to switch it up. I found the recipe on one of my favorite cooking blogs Food Blogga when I was looking for different ways to prepare quinoa for passover. I adapted the recipe a bit based on my taste and pantry, but it turned out really great. Even J who was very skeptical enjoyed it.

The key is cooking the quinoa in milk and sugar, it gives it more of a breakfasty taste and less of a bird seedy taste that quinoa can sometimes have. The milky quinoa keeps really well in the fridge (without getting mushy) so I suggest making a bunch of it ahead of time. Once the quinoa is cooked the dish takes about a minute to finish.

We also tried bluberry and honey with the milky quinoa (my personal favorite way to eat oatmeal), but it wasn't nearly as tasty as the cranberry pecan. If you try any combos that are good please let me know.

Ingredients (for 2)
- 1 c. milk
- 1-2 tbs. sugar
- 1/2 c. quinoa (rinsed)
- 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp. cinamon
- small handful dried cranberries
- small handful roasted pecans coarsely chopped

Boil the milk. Rinse the quinoa. Add quinoa & sugar to boiling milk and cook until quinoa absorbs all the milk about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile if you pecans aren't toasted, place them in a pan on medium heat until they brown a little further. Be very careful not to let them burn.

Once quinoa is cooked mix in the rest of the ingredients and serve.

... Spanakopita (Passover Style)

2010-04-08T12:30:00.000-04:00

J and I had a passover potluck Friday. The elements to a great potluck dish are: delicious, crowd pleasing yet unique, portable, easy to eat & serve, doesn't require last minute prep. Now I don't know if my Matzoh Spanakopita fulfilled all those elements, but I'm pretty sure it was a success. The best part about the dish is that it's so easy to make and can even be made well in advance.

Traditionally, Spanakopita is made with phyllo dough, not matzoh. I hope the Greeks don't view my modification as an abomination, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Honestly, it would have been better with phyllo dough, but it was pretty damn good without it. So if you need a way to get rid of all your extra matzoh and you're sick of matzoh brie, you know what to do this it.

Ingredients:
- whole wheat matzoh
- bag of frozen spinach
- tub of feta
- cup or two of ricotta
- 1 small onion diced
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- evoo
- s&p
- 2 eggs

Preheat your oven to 400.

Chop up onion and garlic. Saute in evoo until onions are transclucent 1-2 minutes.

Thaw out spinach and press out as much water as possible (colanders are useful for this task).

Blend ricotta, feta and eggs in a food processor or blender. Pour a little on the bottom of your pyrex. Then pour the rest into a bowl and mix in spinach, onions, garlic and s&p

In your pyrex put down a layer of matzoh

Layer of spinach/cheese

Layer of matzoh

Layer of spinach/cheese... you get the idea. Alternate layers until you are done. Make sure to finish on a matzoh layer so you get a nice crunchy crust/top.

[I put cheese on top of mine, but I think it would have been better without]

Let sit for about 10 minutes, so the matzoh gets nice and soggy. Pop it into the oven for about 30 minutes. If the top starts to burn throw some tin foil over it. Cut up and serve!

... Oyako Don Remix

2010-04-07T12:00:00.002-04:00

I go through food phases. I get totally obsessed with one ingredient and I use it unmercifully for months until my intense craving is satiated. At which point the item of obsession enters the regular rotation of ingredients. If you couldn't tell I'm in a serious fried egg phase. Runny yolk is like liquid crack to me, just I can't get enough of them.

One of my favorite dishes I've had with a fried egg was the Oyako Don at Momofuku. I looked it up on the cookbook, there is this blog that is the Momofuku version of Julie & Julia called Momofuku for 2 and its the bomb. However if you care to look up the recipe you will see its a pain in the butt. The chicken part takes FOR-EV-ER and I just don't love meat enough to spend 3 hours on chicken. Especially when I can substitute delicious delicious shiitake mushrooms.

Oyako Don means parent and child (chicken and egg, get it?) in Japanese. Most people only think of sushi (and increasingly ramen) when they think Japanese food, but there is soooo much more! It is rather unfortunate because there is a whole wide world of amazing dishes, like Oyako Don that just don't get enough attention.

Ingredients:
- sushi rice (it really makes a difference, if you don't want to buy a whole bag of it you can get it from the bins at Whole Foods)
- green onion
- egg
- soy sauce
- dashi
- mirin (rice vinegar)
- sesame oil (you can use veg oil)
- shiitake mushrooms (you can use others but I just love the texture of shiitake)
- sesame seed to garnish (preferably a combo of black & white)

Cook the rice as directed. Wash and chop up the mushrooms and green onions.

In a pan saute mushrooms and white parts of the green onion in little bit of oil for a minute or two. Add in 4 parts dashi, 1 part soy and 1 part mirin. It's not in anyway and exact science, and I apologize for the lack of direction. For one person I used about 4 tbs of dashi, 1 of soy sauce and 1 of mirin. Cook with sauce another minute or two until the mushrooms are tender.

Remove the mushroom mix from the pan and fry your egg (make sure to leave the yolk runny it binds everything together).

Spoon rice into a bowl and cover with mushroom mixture. Sprinkle the whole thing with the green parts of the onion and the sesame seeds. Top it off with the fried egg.

... Perch & Plantains

2010-04-05T11:15:00.003-04:00

We're in the final stretch of passover and pickings are getting slim. Don't disown me Kelley, but I am not a big fan of potatoes. I do love quinoa, but there is only so much quinoa a girl can eat in a week. I went to the market last night looking for some inspiration and hoping it would not involve potatoes. I went through the produce section and nothing struck my fancy. I was about to give up when I spotted the golden ticket: PLANTAINS!

How could I have forgotten about the beloved starch of the Caribbean? When I lived in the Dominican Republic I ate some form of plantains at least once a day. Plantains are the potato of the Tropics; they can be served are mashed, fried, roasted, boiled. They can be eaten green or ripe. Fun Fact: plantains are not botanically different from bananas, they are just a different variety (think granny smith vs. red delicious).

Ingredients:
- fish (I chose perch again b/c its cheap, light and buttery)
- plantains, 1 in. slices

- frying oil

Salsa

- 2 toms, diced

- 1/2 red onion, minced

- 2 champaine mangos, diced

- 2 avocados, diced

- 2 cloves of garlic, minced

- juice from half a lemon

- salt to taste

Toss all the ingredients for the salsa. This can be made a day ahead.

Heat up a few tbs of oil. You don't need to cover the plantains, you can, but it's not necc. Once the oil is sizzling add in the plantains. Cook the plantains until they are golden on each side, flipping as necessary. Spoon off the plantains onto paper towels to soak up any extra oil.

Cook the fish as you desire. I pan fried it because I was lazy and already had a hot pan with oil, but, if I wasn't I would have steamed it.

... Filet-o-Fish

2010-04-02T11:55:00.004-04:00

Yesterday I said I was going to make Matzoh McNuggets, Oven Fries and Coleslaw. I lied. However I wanted to keep with the McDonald's theme so instead I made Filet-o-Fish, Oven Fries and Mixed Greens.

Whole Foods didn't have pre-shredded cabbage, fail, so I switched to a mixed greens salad with some homemade salad dressing. However, Whole Foods was quickly redeemed when I saw John Legend with some really hot chick. Then as I took my obligatory glance at the fish counter I saw they had Perch on sale. Personally, I like fish a whole lot better than chicken (disagree if you will) and thus the menu changed.

This meal was inspired by the fact J did not have happy meals as a child. At McDonald's he ate Filet-o-Fish because it is kosher. How sad is that?! I think they should make vegetarian Happy Meals so all the little observant jewish, muslim and hindu kids can get the toys and the cool little boxes. Not that I support McDonald's (in fact I pretty much hate it), but I do remember what it is like to be a 6 years old and dying to get the toy.

Salad Ingredients:
- a touch of balsamic vinegar
- evoo
- juice from a lemon
- mustard (not the plain yellow kind, preferably dijon or the stone ground kind)
- 1 shallot (garlic works too)
- s&p
- greenery (to dress)

The key to making a salad dressing is keeping a 3:1 ratio of oil to acid. So how ever much lemon and vinegar you have, make sure you have 3 times the oil. The easiest way to make the dressing is to put all the ingredients in the food processor and whirr until blended. How much you want of one ingredient wholly depends on your preferences

Oven Fries Ingredients:
- potatoes
- evoo
- s&p

Preheat the oven to 400. Julienne the potatoes (sharp knives make this a cinch). Place on a aluminum foil covered baking sheet. Drizzle evoo and mixed up potatoes. Season w/ s&p or any other spices you'd like (I really like using steak seasoning). Pop them in the oven. It will take about 45 minutes to get them nice and gold and crispy. Make sure you check on them and rotate them every so often so they don't burn.

Filet-o-Fish Ingredients:
- Perch or another white fish such as tilapia, haddock or cod (fyi I really prefer perch or cod over tilapia for this dish)
- eggs
- matzoh crumbs (or cornmeal, bread crumbs, panko, cornflakes)
- oil (pref not evoo because it burns really easily use veggie or grapeseed oil instead)

Heat oil in a saute pan until oil is sizzling. You don't need an inch of oil in your pan, you want enough to cover your pan. If you tip the pan to one side you shouldn't have more than a tablespoon or two of oil pooling up. Get two bowls and scramble an egg in one and pour some crumbs in the other. Dip the fish in the egg and then in the crumbs. Making sure the oil is hot (medium to high heat) place the fish in the pan. Cook it on that side for about 1-5 minutes (depending on how thick the fish is cut). Flip and cook on the other side for 1-5 minutes again. Serve hot and with dipping sauces.

Tartar Sauce Ingredients:
- pickles
- mayonnaise (or yogurt)

Mince up the pickles and mix with mayonnaise.

Passover!

2010-04-01T14:13:00.003-04:00

[Ricotta and Fig Jam on Whole Wheat Matzoh]

Why is this week different from all the others?

Because it's Passover, woooooo!

Not going to lie this is not my favorite holiday, mostly because carbs and beans are some of my favorite things in the world to eat and those are off limits (well actually just off the menu, don't tell J I've snuck some hametz). In honor of Passover and to be a nice girlfriend, I have decided to only cook K4P (Kosher for Passover) meals to make this time a bit easier for J (and so I don't have to watch him eat matzoh pizzas and matzoh tuna melts for a week straight).

I haven't really started my Passover cooking yet, so I can't post my full recipes yet. But I wanted to let y'all know what my plans were in case you are running out of idea on what to serve for passover.

- Matzoh Spanakopita: I got the idea/recipe from epicurious. I'm going to bring it to a potluck on tomorrow so I'll let you know how it turns out.
- Matzoh McNuggets, Oven Fries, Slaw and TBA Dipping Sauces: I'm going to use matzoh meal instead of bread crumbs. Oven Fries are super easy to make and sooo much healthier- only downside is they take a while to cook in the oven.
- Oven Roasted Red Pepper stuffed with Quinoa, Feta, Pine Nuts and Mint: nuff said
- Roasted Chicken with Root Vegetables & Gravy: everything tastes better with a little sauce no?
- Banana "Ice Cream": hametz free & dairy free desert? yes please.
- Pecan, Spice and Cranberry Quinoa: when cooked in milk quinoa is a nice alternative to oatmeal
- Ricotta, Fig Jam and Matzoh: as you can see it's not much to look at, but it is pretty damn tasty

[Check it!! No more refined carb passover! Whole Foods has whole wheat Matzoh. Man, I love that place.]

... Thai Basil Fried Rice

2010-03-31T09:37:00.001-04:00

I normally use fried rice as a crisper cleaner, i.e. all the leftover veggies in my fridge get thrown into the dish. However, this time I set out with a purpose, well as much of a purpose as I ever have when cooking.

After pasta week I had a whole bunch of left over basil... I'm not sure if you can tell, but my posting is not exactly chronological. Anyhow, I feel like I've been making a lot of pestos lately (with is normally what I do with extra basil) so I decided to switch it up a bit. Why not Thai basil fried rice? I always love it at restaurants but I feel guilty ordering b/c a) I know I can make it just as well (I hate paying for things at restaurants I can make just as well) b) the copious amounts of oil they use to make it so delicious. Granted I had sweet genovese basil not the spicier purple Thai basil, but whatcha gunna do?

Thai basil fried fried rice does not normally include a fried egg on top, but I am currently mildly obsessed with fried eggs. Instead of scrambling it along with the rice, I fried it and let the gooey yolky goodness drip though the rice making it oh so much more delicious.

A little tip on fried rice, it works best with old rice. Freshly made rice is too moist. Also because there is so much else going on in the dish its a great time to use brown rice, you barely even notice it. Also this recipe only makes two servings, but it can be doubled or tripled.

Ingredients:
- 2 c left over brown rice
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 2-3 cloves of garlic minced
- little red onion minced up if you have it.
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbs sesame oil
- 1 tbs veggie oil (if needed)
- 2 tbs fish sauce
- at least 2 tbs of soy, up to you how much more
- a good fistful of basil
- sriracha or hot peppers if you'd like

Heat up the sesame oil in a wok or large pan. Saute garlic, peppers and onion until fragrant and soft. If things are sticking add some veggie oil. Add in the rice, fish sauce, soy sauce and hot sauce, cooking until heated all the way through. I personally like my fried rice to be a little crunchy so I cook it for a while, kinda like the soccarrat of a paella. Turn off the heat mix in the basil and dump it on your places. Make sure your pan is still greased (if not add more oil) and fry up your eggs. As soon as the whites are cooked remove from the pan (so the yolks stay runny) and serve on top of your rice.

... Delicious Garlic Roasted [insert Vegetable]

2010-03-30T11:14:00.002-04:00

Fact: garlic, olive oil and salt can make anything taste good.

If there were three foods I could not live without, those would be it. Cook anything in garlic and olive oil then season with salt and pure deliciousness whether it is animal, plant or carbohydrate (carbs deserve their own kingdom).

With that in mind, my go to dish is garlic roasted/sautéed vegetables over pasta. I always always always have garlic, salt, evoo and pasta in the house and I will usually have a veggie or two laying around. So when I'm too lazy or uncreative to cook something this (or beans and rice) is what I will eat.

In this instance I used broccoli, but I also use asparagus, green beans, brussel sprouts, squash, spinach, kale, eggplant, and the list goes on. I serve usually serve it over pasta, but I have been know to eat it with a loaf of bread, polenta, risotto, and mashed potatoes. To cook the vegetable you can either saute it in a pan (which I suggest for the more tender vegetables, i.e. spinach & kale) or roast it in the oven. The key is to get a nice crispy burney exterior without charring your dinner.

Ingredients:
- vegetable (broccoli)
- garlic minced
- evoo
- kosher salt
fun extras:
- pine nuts
- bread crumbs
- rpfs
- grated cheese

Preheat your oven. Chop up the vegetable and the garlic. Place veggie in caserole dish (lined w/ tin foil for ease of cleaning) and sprinkle the garlic over the vegetable. Drizzle evoo (I try to use as little as possible, but the more you use the better it tastes). Season with salt. Cook in the oven until vegetable is crispy, not charred. Sprinkle any of the fun extras you might enjoy or eat it as is.

... Mushroom Marsala Cream Sauce

2010-03-29T11:00:00.002-04:00

I really do try to be healthy, but sometime you just get a craving and it can not be denied. That was how I felt last week about mushroom cream sauce.

I used to work at an Italian restaurant (Figo, it's pretty good if you are in Atlanta and I know first hand the kitchen are very clean) that had all homemade sauce and fresh made pasta. One of my absolute favorite sauces was the funghi. And suddenly I decided that I needed it, like yesterday. So I set out on a trip to Whole Foods.

I bought some mushrooms, heavy cream and marsala wine from the store. Combined it with a few things I had in the apartment and low and behold I was able to make an approximation that just might have been better than the original!

Side Note #1: I can't believe they do not ask for ID when you buy Marsala wine, it's 17.5% alcohol!

Side Note #2: Mushroom Storage- the best way to store mushrooms is unopened in their packaging or in the fridge (although not in the crisper bin) a paper bag with the top folded over. This keeps the mushrooms free of moisture.

Ingredients:
- 1 lb. of mixed mushrooms (I used shitake, bella, portabello and one other Whole Foods had but I can't remember, you can just pick whatever you like)
- 1 small onion minced
- 2 smaller cloves of garlic, minced
- 3 tbs of dried porcini mushrooms (really useful to have on hand, they give amazing depth to soup and sauces)
- 1-2 tbs butter
- 1-2 tbs evoo
- 1/2 c. Marsala wine
- 1/2 c. beef broth (water or veggie broth can be subbed)
- 3/4 c. heavy cream
- s&p
- grated cheese
- pasta (since the sauce is so delicate I really like using fresh pasta)
- chopped parsley to garnish (if you are super fancy)

Soak the dried mushrooms in hot water for 20 min. Put on the water for the pasta. Wash, dry and coarsely chop the mushrooms. Chop up garlic and onion and heat up the oil and butter in the pan.

Once the pan is hot add onions and saute until translucent. Add garlic and saute a minute or 2.

Drain and chop the (formerly) dried mushrooms and reserve the liquid. Add all the mushrooms to the pan and cook until soft and they are starting to brown (5-ish minutes).

Add the mushroom water, broth and Marsala, cooking until reduced by half. Add cream and cook until sauce has thickened. Cook and drain the pasta. Toss, season w/ s&p and serve. Finish with cheese and parsley.

... Gallo Pinto

2010-03-26T09:45:00.002-04:00

I love beans. I really do not discriminate. I think they are all wonderful and starchy and delicious and healthy. My love of beans is definitely why I love middle eastern and latin food so much. I feel like beans are really underrated, so Im going to try to feature them more on my blog.

Almost every Latin American country has their version of beans and rice. That being said today recipe is Gallo Pinto, the national dish of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Most likely if you have visited either country you will have enjoyed said dish. When J and I visited Nicaragua this winter I made sure we ate it at least once a day. I really can't get enough of this stuff (the always good natured J was sick of it after about 5 straight days of gallo pinto).

Gallo Pinto means painted rooster in Spanish. As you can guess, its named that because of the color of the dish. Gallo Pinto is eaten at every meal of they day. At breakfast with eggs and fruit, lunch and diner with meat and other sides.

In Costa Rica its generally made with black beans and in Nicaragua its made with little dark red beans. It's also made with white rice, but I used brown to be healthy and I really don't think the taste suffered. The dish is also usually flavored with Salsa Lizano, I didn't have that and I was too hungry to go searching for it, so I made my own approximation for it. Salsa Lizano can be found at most latin markets.

Ingredients
- small onion, diced
- cup of rice (medium grain brown or white)
- 1 red pepper, diced
- oil
- can of beans
- Salsa Lizano
- avocado (optional but highly recommended)

Boil the water for the rice, meanwhile dice up the onion and peppers. Saute the rice, peppers and onions with a bit of oil until brown. Add the boiled water to the rice mixture and cook according to package directions. Once rice is cooked mix just the beans into the rice adding the bean liquid and Salsa Lizano* a little at a time to make the rice mixture saucy. Serve with avocado (I personally like to mash my avocado into the rice).

*A good substitution for Salza Lizano is Cholula Sauce with some sugar.

... Ricotta Frittata

2010-03-25T08:00:00.004-04:00

I saw this recipe on Serious Eats a few weeks ago and because it starred one of my new favorite
ingredient (ricotta) I bookmarked it. I had a giant tub of ricotta in the fridge, so I figured now is a good a time as any to try this recipe out.

The fresh herbs are key. I did not use them this first time and it was no bueno. Dried herbs add some color, but absolutely no taste. I loved this recipe because its simple enough for a night when you're home alone, but fancy enough for hosting a brunch. Seriously, add some toast, fruit salad, and mimosas and you've got a nice little brunch.

* This picture is of the eggs scrambled instead of baked because J and I were rushing to catch a bus to Philly

Ingredients

- 6 egg whites
- 1/2 c. fat free ricotta
- small handful of fresh herbs (parsely, basil, thyme, etc)
- s&p
- 1 medium clove of garlic minced very fine (I bet you could sub in a
shallot in a pinch)
- evoo

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Preheat oven to 450. Heat up teaspoon of evoo in a frying pan (easiest if it's non stick pan). Once the pan is warm pour in egg mixture. Cook until eggs on the stove until they are set (when eggs are set its kinda like a custardy texture with some runny still). Then put the pan into oven until top is cooked (5 mins). Serve with toast and some fresh squeezed oj (champange optional, but you know you want to).

* Be careful of putting just any pan in the oven, you don't want it to melt on you. One trick is to wrap tin foil around the handle, but I take no responsibility if this doesn't work and your handle melts ; )

... "Creamy" Cauliflower Pasta

2010-03-24T09:30:00.001-04:00

There are very few foods that J doesn't enjoy. One of them is cauliflower, so I set out on a quest to find a dish where J would like cauliflower (and a dish that doesn't require deep frying or bacon, that is just straight up cheating). So I ran across a few recipes on the interwebs that puree cauliflower into a pasta sauce. They sounded interesting and y'all know I love my food processor so I decided to give it a try.

HUGE success. The sauce was freakin' amazing. J and I were eating spoonfuls of it straight. Not only is it delicious, but its super easy, completely healthy and passes the al dente test (kinda). This is definitely a new favorite.

Ingredients
- 1 large head of cauliflower
- pasta (and a little bit of pasta water)
- 3 medium to large cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 leek, white parts sliced
- 1 c. white wine
- sea salt
- rpfs
- handful of basil
- grated cheese

Place a large pot of salted water to boil. Chop up cauliflower into chunks. Boil the cauliflower until very tender (when you remove the cauliflower put in your pasta). While the cauliflower is boiling chop of the garlic and leek. Saute those with a little bit of olive oil until the garlic is golden. Add a cup of wine to the garlic leeks and cook for a few so you're not eating alcohol. Put the garlic, leeks, wine, cauliflower and some basil in the food processor and puree until smooth. If the mixture seems too thick add in some of the starchy pasta water a little at a time (but be careful b/c you don't want for the mixture to be soupy, it should be thick). Drain your pasta and spoon the sauce over it. Finish the dish off with some sea salt, rpfs and grated cheese.

Note: This made 3 servings for us, but that is because we started eating straight sauce. If you eat like a normal human being it will be 4

... where Bobby Flay has "Throwndown"

2010-03-21T10:28:00.003-04:00

3.15.10:
This week is spring break and since we're spending most of it in New York we decided to go on a few nyc adventures. One of our adventures was spending a day going to as many Bobby Flay Throwdown places as possible before we felt like vomiting. We got pretty far, although SEVERAL places were closed. Not Cool.

I'm writing this post in blue so you can differentiate from the original post. Don't forget to check out the pictures!

Original Post:
I am a sucker for lists. I especially love lists that involve me trekking all over NYC to fill my face with food. After watching an inspirational Bobby Flay Throwdown this evening I decided it would be fun to eat at all the places in nyc that Bobby Flay throws down at. Although to be honest I'll probably skip all the desserts since I don't really love sweets, but if you go to one of them tell me and I can add it to the posting. Also if you want to join me for any place in particular let me know!

Here is a list of the places:

Hurricane Hopeful Surf Bar - Chowder
Michelle Doll Cakes - Wedding Cake
Doughnut Plant - um... Doughnuts
Brother's Pizzeria - (been there done that since I WAS THREE, my step-grandparents lived around the corner, yeah Staten Island. Oh and the pizza is uh-mazing)
A Salt & Battery - Fish and Chips

The fish was good, not exceptional. Then again its really hard to mess up battered and fried anything. The people that worked there were really cool and even took song requests.

Junior's - Cheesecake

The cheesecake was good, but I can see how Bobby Flay won. Probably our least favorite place.

Levain Bakery - Chocolate Chip cookies
Mike's Deli - Eggplant Parm
Melba's - Chicken and Waffles

we tried to go here but they are only open for dinner, LAME.

La Fonda Boricua - Arroz con Pollo

Same as Melba's, what kind of places are only open for dinner!

The Good Fork - Dumplings
Caracas Arepas Bar - Arepas

J and GG were definitely impressed. I love arepas any way you make them so I was really happy. I'm excited to go back because I loved the atmosphere of the place, the menu, and the people that worked there. They also have real empanadas (aka made from corn, not flour) so I'm super excited to go back an try those. BTWs can you tell we are really excited about arepas?

Cakemen Raven Confectionary - Red Velvet Vake
Payard - Buche de Noel
Taim - Falafel

It was good. Really good, but not any better than other good falafel I have had. Although they make a mean platter of 3 types of falafel, hummus, tabouli and israeli salad for only $10. It was definitely big enough for lunch for 2 people. I seem to have lost this picture :(

Desert Truck - Chocolate Bread Pudding
Durso's Pasta & Ravioli Co. - Ravioli
Clinton Street Baking Co. - Blueberry Pancakes
Abigael's - Chicken Matzo Ball Soup

They didn't have any Chicken Matzo Ball Soup! How dare they? Didn't they know we had walked 11 blocks to eat there? The picture is a before and after, it's very sad.

Make My Cake - German Chocolate Cake
Mo Bay Restaurant - Fried Fish Escovitch
Schnipper's Quality Kitchen - Sloppy Joe

This was easily the second favorite of the day. I don't even like sloppy joes (or red meat for that matter) but they were REALLY good. I definitely suggest you go there.

Fish Tales - Manhattan Clam Chowder

Another place we went all the way there and they didn't have any Chowder!

Waffles & Dinges Truck - Liege Belgian Waffle

HOLY MOLY. Hands down the best place of the day. Also the best waffle I have ever had. I don't even know what they do to it. My only theory is that they sprinkle something else on top instead of powdered sugar. Seriously, if you are in nyc you need to try one- so good.

... Eggplant Lasagna

2010-03-17T10:35:00.001-04:00

I have given up on themed food weeks. Its just too much pressure to cook everything in one week. That being said I decided to make this week pasta week. Just to be clear I bought groceries before I made that decision. So as you will notice there will be a lot of pasta in the next few days.

Eggplant is one of J's favorite foods, so I try to cook it every once in a while. This month's Bon Appetit has an eggplant parm that looks absolutely beautiful and inspired my eggplant lasagna. I usually find lasagna to be super heavy so I tried my best to lighten it up without sacrificing taste. And I am definitely going to make it again when tomatoes come back in season... good lord, how I miss tomatoes.

Overall the dish was delightful and a great variation on your typical lasagna. The fresh pasta and buffalo mozzarella is key to the recipe.

Ingredients
- red sauce
- sheets of fresh pasta
- 2 eggplants
- fresh basil
- buffalo mozzarella
- fat free ricotta
- parm

Heat your oven to 400. Slice and salt the eggplant and lay it out on tin foil. It's going to look like a ton but it shrinks

Cook them about 10 minutes per side until they are a bit charred and dried out. Set them aside

Get a big deep dish, like J's pyrex (p.s. pyrex is the most amazing thing ever, I have my great grandmother's pyrex! Thats like 80 years old.) I cheated and used jar sauce and you can too.

First put down a layer of sauce

Then a layer of noodles (the great thing about using fresh pasta is you don't have to cook the noodles beforehand)

Then a layer of eggplant (I like to tear it up so that its easier to cut, you could peel the skin but that where at the good stuff is at)

Then a layer of cheese.
My cheese concoction was very different from your traditional lasagna. I did itthis way b/c I was too lazy to wash another bowl and I didn't want to use my mozzarella yet. I used my hands and scooped out a little ricotta and sprinkled it over the lasagna. Then I sprinkled a little parm (with my hands once again).

Layer of noodles

Layer of tomato sauce and basil

Layer of noodes or eggplant or cheese, I'm not really sure. I doubt the order really matters much aside from the bottom and top layer.

bottom: sauce then noodle (so it doesn't stick to the pan)

top: noodle, sauce, then cheese (so you have a delightful cheesyness on top)

Cover tightly with tinfoil (keeps it most and not burnt). Place it in the oven at 400 for about 30-45 minutes (make sure the sides bubble when you lift the top).

... Beer Steamed Mussels

2010-03-15T09:35:00.000-04:00

My family loves mussels and when we have a big weekend night dinner, my mother will often make a big pot of mussels. My entire family would join in slurping down the little mollusks and sopping up the broth with big crunchy pieces of bread while I sat bored watching them eat. Its not that I didn't try them. Every few years my parents would entreat me to try a mussel and I would indulge them, but mehhh nothing much.

My sophomore year I went out to dinner with a few friends at 2 Urban Licks and I was asked if I liked mussels. I had a reputation as adventurous eater and I was too embarrassed to say I didn't like mussels- all the cool kids were doing it- so I ate mussels... andddd they were uh-mazing.

From them on I liked mussels, especially sopping up the delicious delicious broth. I had leftover mussels from paella so I decided to try and reverse engineer the mussels I had at 2 Urban Licks. They didn't turn out exactly the same, but they were damn good and really really easy to make. So don't be scared of trying to make them and they are much less expensive than other shellfish.
Ingredients:
- 3 lb bag of mussels
- 2 shallots minced
- 4 large cloves of garlic minced
- handful of parsley chopped
- 1 PBR
- glugg of evoo
- shake or two of rpfs
- sprinkle of kosher salt
- crusty bread (absolutely imperative, the broth is amazing)

First you need to scrub the mussels and remove all the beards and stringy stuff. Make sure to do this under cold water. Check all the mussels carefully to make sure that they are all closed and are not cracked. Minced up all the garlic and shallots and saute them in the evoo until fragrant.

Place mussels in the pot, pour the entire beer over it and cover the pot. Steam the mussels for 2-3 minutes until they open. Scoop the mussels out of the pot (make sure to toss all the mussels that don't open- they will make you puke if you eat them). Stir the parsley into the broth and pour the broth over the mussels. Sprinkly rpfs and salt over the mussels.
.

... Chipotle Chili Mole

2010-03-13T11:46:00.000-05:00

I saw the name of this recipe and I instantly knew I had to try it. Chili flavored by bittersweet chocolate and smokey chipotle pepper? Yes please. It's a great variation of your average chili recipe.

Also I made the thai lentil coconut soup I said I was going to but it was terrible so I'm not going to post the recipe.

Ingredients
- 1lb. ground turkey (you can use beef or leave out the meat all together)
- 2 bell peppers
- 1 large onion
- 2 cans of beans (I used black and pinto)
- 1 c. okra
- 1-2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1-2 tbs chili powder
- 4 chipotle chilies in adobo sauce diced (look in the "ethnic" food isle near the canned jalapenos)
- 28 oz. can of chopped toms
- 2 oz. dark bittersweet chocolate

Saute the pepper and onion in a large pot for 5-ish minutes. Add the meat and cook thoroughly. Add the rest of the ingredients except the chocolate. Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 1/2 hour. Stir in the chocolate until it has melted evenly throughout the soup. Ladle into bowls and top with cheese, green onion, avocado, sour cream, fritos, whatever it is you like to put on your chili.

... Italian Flag Soup

2010-03-11T10:45:00.000-05:00

At the suggestion of a reader I have decided to make the titles of my posts more... appetizing. I thought Italian Flag Soup is more interesting than Cannelloni Bean Soup. What are your thoughts?

I was very hesitant to make this soup. It seemed so kinda bland: tomato sauce, greens and beans. I read the recipe in one of my favorite food blogs, the recipe sounded bland but she gave it such a strong recommended it that I decided to go out on a limb. I was pleasantly surprised, it has a great depth of flavor and was a snap to put together.

I made a few significant changes to the recipe, perhaps the most drastic was pureeing the greens into a pesto rather than letting them stew in the soup and get mushy. I also used one can of cannelloni and one of pinto beans (i misread the recipe and I was too lazy to go back to the store) and it was a mistake. Cannelloni beans have a very distinct and absolutely wonderful creamy texture that is integral to the dish. Even if you don't make this soup you should definitely buy a can of cannelloni beans. Its also really important that you use a good quality crushed tomatoes. Canned tomatoes are not one of those things you can skimp on. y'all know I try to save whenever possible, but this is one of those times you need to cough up the extra dollar. Good canned tomatoes the juice is thick and slightly sweet and in cheaper cans of tomatoes the juice is watery and acidic.

Ingredients

Soup Base
- 28 oz. crushed tomato
- 28 oz. cannelloni beans
- 1-2 cloves garlic minced
- diced ribs from the swiss chard.
- glugg of evoo
- sprinkle of RPFs & grating cheese (pecorino, parm, etc)

mince up garlic and saute in hot evoo until fragrant. Add in toms, ribs, beans and bring to a boil. Let simmer while you work on the pesto.

Pesto
- 2 cloves of garlic
- glugg of olive oil
- sprinkle of salt
- just the leaves of a head of swiss chard (I chopped up the ribs and put them in the soup)

Place all the ingredients in the food processor and puree. It will be much more watery than normal pesto, but don't worry.

All Together Now
Ladle soup into bowls and drizzle a healthy bit of pesto. Sprinkle rpfs, cheese and s&p as desired. I know this sounds a little intense but the whole thing takes like 15 minutes.

... Kitchen Sink Soup

2010-03-10T14:58:00.000-05:00

Did I get your attention?

This is my leftovers soup and its named so because it includes everything but the kitchen sink. Over the past month whenever I have a little extra of something I have put it in a zip lock and thrown it into the freezer. I figured eventually I'd be able to throw it all together in some sort of soup. I'm pretty proud of this soup because I was able to create a delicious meal without buying a thing! (Not to mention it took about 10 minutes of active time)

Writing the recipe to this soup was incredibly difficult, because I wasn't really paying attention what I was putting in the pot. I was literally just dumping anything I had leftover. And when all was said and done I was terrified to taste the soup. It was the biggest hodgepog of everything imaginable, how on earth could it possibly be edible? But somehow it all worked. I think the soup was successful because there were so many different flavors and they were left to simmer which allowed them to mellow and meld together.

Ingredients

- meat (left over sausages from paella, use anything you have)

- starch (left over potatoes, but you can add any starch, although I hate how mushy pasta and rice gets if you let it soak in soup for a while)

- herbs (anytime I had a little leftover cilantro, basil, parsley, mint, etc I would put the extra bits in a ziplock)

- vegetables (I had left over fennel fronds, the green part of the leeks, baby carrots i froze because they were about to go bad, etc)

- spices (onion & garlic minced and a sprinkling of other spices- what are your favorite? I used a lot of rosemary and oregano)

- 28 oz of crushed toms

- some water or chicken broth if neccessary

- s&p

Chop up the onion and garlic. Brown the meat you want to include (if any). Then dump the rest of the ingredients in the pots and let simmer for at least an hour. Season with s&p.

... Real Popcorn

2010-03-08T15:31:00.003-05:00

[picture coming soon]

As a final post for Snack Fortnight (it just doesn't have the same ring does it) I will include one of my favorite snacks that I have finally mastered after scoarching several pots.* Today I will share the secret of making popcorn.

First of all homemade popcorn is far superior to the bagged kind because you can control exactly how much butter and salt you want. Or you can add other spices (although I guess you add spices to microwave popcorn). I don't know about y'all but it kinda creeps me out to think about what kind of "butter" they put in there that can last in your pantry until the apocalypse. Homemade popcorn lasts for a while after you make it so you are not forced to eat an entire bag of popcorn (God knows what will happen if I waste food). Also a bag of kernels is like two dollars and lasts forever, whereas microwave popcorn is five dollars for 6 packs.

Pretty much every time I made popcorn I would either burn beyond salvage or only pop half the kernels. I knew there had to be special method to pop the kernels in a pot (aka not a fancy airpopper thingy). So here I have your special method.

Ingredients

- glugg of oil (any kind)
- 1/3 c. or so of popcorn kernels
- whatever you want to top it (I usually just do evoo and kosher salt, hot salt is good or dash or poultry seasoning, cardamom and cumin spiked popcorn, rosemary and evoo, really, I could go on forever)

1. Pour oil and and 4 kernels in the pot and heat on high with lid on

2. Remove from heat and pour the rest of the kernels into the pot. Return lid to the pot

3. Swish around the kernels in the pot wait 30 seconds, actually make sure you count it out. This step is key, the oil is heated to the correct popping temp you get all the kernels heated to the same temp allowing them to pop all at the same time so they don't burn.

4. return the pot to the heat and wait until there are two to the seconds between pops. Shake the pot a bit to prevent kernels from burning. Remove the pot form the heat when you don't hear any popping
for about 5 seconds.

5. Season as you wish.

*You probably think J has it made since he gets to eat about 95% of the food you see here, but y'all don't see the giant mess I make when I cook that J cleans 95% of by himself. And sorry J about that pot I completely scorched making popcorn and left soaking for well over a month...

Soup Week

2010-03-08T13:30:00.003-05:00

I really enjoyed the themed week idea. I feel like it gives the blog some much needed focus, instead of the ramblings of what I shove in my face. In honor of the final week of winter I decided to make it Soup
Week. I love soups; they are filling, healthy and are extremely well suited to making double or triple and freezing the leftovers.

Sidenote: in my world once it has sufficiently thawed so I do not have to wear a hat it is officially spring, I don't care what the calendar says. Also I am one week behind on my posts so although last week was the final week of winter and this is the first week of spring but you guys will have to deal with the fact on the blog its soup week.

Here is the menu:

- Spicy Thai Lentil Soup

- Kitchen Sink Soup

- Italian Flag Soup

- Chocolate Chipotle Chili

I also wanted to try my hand at ramen (real ramen not dehydrated fried noodles*), but I decided I should probably do my homework rather than spend 2 hours hunting down the ingredients and 3 hours cooking... Actually I didn't decide this J did and made me feel guilty until I agreed.

Also do y'all have any suggestions for restaurants in the St. Marks areas?

It looks like there are a bunch of neat restaurants, but they also look super kitschy and I cannot stand trendy, over-priced, mediocre food. Seriously, trendy food is a definite pet peeve of mine. Especially in new york when there are so many AMAZING, dirt cheap, hole-in-the-walls! These trendy places are just expensive imitation with better marketing. I think what makes me hate them versus just be annoyed by them is that I fall prey to they savvy marketing skills on a regular basis. I was discussing marketing at brunch with some friends yesterday and seriously it drives me crazy, marketing firms so damn good at what they do. They 100% get into my head and exploit my weaknesses. Ugh! it totally goes against my conservation (both environmental and economical) efforts. I don't need new things, but I want them soo badly. Don't even get me started on brand names; I know its stupid to fall prey to branding, but coach's madison line of purses just speaks to me! I am getting better (I swear, or maybe if I tell myself enough times it will come true). I'm much more able to avoid the "it" brand and instead buy something of better quality for the same money or something that looks the same for less money and I've been trying to buy more stuff from esty.com and flea markets, rather than giant corporations. Ok, I definitely need to stop since this has strayed way to far from my original topic of soups...

Ok so final recap: get excited for some soups, tell me about good St. Marks restaurants and avoid looking at Coach's Madison line (particularly the large leather hippie and cross body purse)

* I am not knocking the amazingness that is packaged ramen, honestly nothing cures an upset stomach like that salty salty broth and springy noodles

... Turkey Apple Sandwich

2010-03-05T11:43:00.000-05:00

When I began Snack Week, it was my intention that it would only be a week long. However, I got really excited and made more things than I could possibly post in one week. Thus, snack week has turned into more of a Snack Fortnight and I am now a week behind on the rest of my posts. I suppose eventually I will catch up, but I have a backlog of about 10 recipes...

Either way this is a nice sandwich its got a great hot-cold, sweet-salty, crunchy-melty combination going on (this description kinda reminds me of the Taco Bell commercials for the cheesy gordita crunch. The sweet and slightly tart apple goes great with the creamy and nutty gruyere and the sage mayo really brings all the flavors together. It's a great sandwich, but I don't suggest packing it for lunch. I just don't think it'd travel very well.

The Final Results of the Sandwich Competition
(bet you didn't know it was a competition!)

1. Portobello
2. Skinny Cappicola
3. Turkey Apple
4. The Pazzo
5. PTLsquared

Without further ado, it is my pleasure to introduce the recipe for the Turkey Apple Sandwich

Ingredients
- hearty whole grain
- gruyere cheese
- tart, but sweet apples like a braeburn (not granny smith tart though, that is too much)
- sage (preferably fresh, but hey I used dried)
- fat free mayo or fat free greek yogurt (but mayo tastes undoubtably better)
- greenery
- the forever present s&p

Pre heat the oven to 400. Places both slices of bread on a tray and layer one with turkey then cheese and leave the other plain. Bake in the over until cheese is melty. Meanwhile slice up your apples (my slices were a bit too thick). Once its out of the oven spread some mayo on the plain toast and sprinkle a little sage and s&p.

... Portobello & Roasted Red Pepper w/ Parsley Pesto

2010-03-04T13:23:00.002-05:00

Out of the five of the sandwiches of Snack Week it was by far my favorite (I still have one more to post). Although it was very good cold as a packed lunch the next day, it absolutely phenomenal hot. As if you couldn't tell, I am really proud of my sandwich so without further ado, the recipe
Ingredients
- portobello mushroom
- evoo
- balsamic vinegar (teaspoon per mushroom cap)
- provolone
- ciabatta
- greenery (here I used swiss chard, because that is what was in the fridge)
- roasted red peppers
- parsley pesto (you can probs sub store bought, but why would you? Homemade is better, super easy and way less expensive)

Heat your oven to 400. On a tray lined with tin foil (make sure you form a lip around the pan so the mushroom juices don't splatter all over your oven) place the mushroom caps gill-side up. Sprinkle a little evoo, balsamic vinegar and s&p over the mushroom and place in the oven for about 10 minutes until its cooked (it should be squishy to the touch). Once it is 95% cooked place a slice of cheese on it and place the bread in the oven. Take it out when the bread is toasted and the cheese is melted. Spread the pesto on one side and then place the mushroom and roasted red pepper on the other bread and you've got a sandwich!

And in case you want to make yourself some Pesto

Ingredients
- 1/2 a bunch parsley
- 2 cloves of garlic
- glugg or two of olive oil
- s&p

Place it all in the food processor and pulse it up, nothing more to it. You can make a whole variety of pestos this way, just change up the 'leaves' you use. I'll definitely have a pesto post later, this is just a quick little bit.

... the Pazzo Sandwich

2010-03-03T17:33:00.002-05:00

Last summer I interned for the San Francisco District Attorney's Office. It was a great experience all around: I met some amazing people, got some legit courtroom experience, and explored a pretty neat town.

I loved San Francisco and I would 100% move there... if it wasn't so damn far. All my friends and family live on the east coast (with a few notable exceptions) and the time difference kills me. I felt so isolated out there. But I liked its yuppie hippy vibe and emphasis on being health and green (figuratively and literally). I loved the ocean, the temperate climate, laid back atmosphere, the ferry building (aka gourmet food court), the farmer's markets (all of them). Ugghhh, I wish I could live there. I know, I know I could live there, but I know I would not be happy out there.

So why on earth am I telling you all of this? I'm not exactly sure to be honest, because I originally set out to tell you about a restaurant we used to go to for lunch when I worked at the DA's office (see there is a connection to SF). The name of the place is Pazzo and it is DELICIOUS. It was always a special treat when I would go there instead of bringing my lunch. I used to force Marc to share the Nancy Sinatra sandwich and the Napa salad. This was a big deal b/c Marc doesn't share food. It was a point of contention in our relationship because I only share food and I have a terrible habit of eating off other people's plates. If I feel comfortable with you I will just take your food, unless you are too far away and then I will just stare at you like a sad puppy dog. My family tells me this started at a very young age when I would go out to dinner with my mother and step-dad when they got home from work after I had already eaten dinner and I would sit on their laps and eat off their plates (yes, I was a glutton even as a baby).

Once again I digress, I'm just going to give the recipe since I apparently am very chatty/ADD and I can't focus on a single story. But just in case you were not sure where I with this I'll give you the take away: Pazzo in SF has a delicious salad and I made the salad into a sandwich. The End.

Ingredients
- bread (hearty whole grain, ciabatta, sour dough, there are many things that it would go well with)
- dried cranberries
- some thing green and leafy (spinach, red romaine, mixed greens, etc.)
- gorgonzola crumbles
- turkey (you could use chicken as well)
- mayo/fat free yogurt

Optionals
- bacon
- walnuts
- balsamic vinaigrette
- toasting the bread
- toms

Toast the bread if you want, and spread a thin layer of mayo or yogurt (this will help the cranberry and cheese stay in place so you get an even amount in each bite). Sprinkle cheese, cranberries, nuts over the mayo-ed side of the bread and then layer the rest of the ingredients.

... Sexy Salsa Verde

2010-03-03T15:40:00.003-05:00

I wanted to challenge myself to find another way to use avocados in a dip aside from guacamole*. So I created this dip. Don't get me wrong. I love guac as much as the next girl. Actually, probably more than that next girl (I may or may not have eaten an entire avocado's worth of guacamole by myself... on more than one occasion...). The dip is good, really good. And everyone liked it. Buuut I feel like it was guac's lame cousin.

So final verdict: I like guac better. Way better.

What can I say? I'm a purist.

We ate the dip with carrots and wasa, but it can really go with anything crackers, crudites, sandwiches, soups, etc. It also keeps its lovely color even when refrigerated over night (unlike guac) aka its good to make for parties.

Ingredients
- ripe avocado
- cup of plain fat-free yogurt
- s&p
- handful of cilantro
- jalapeno
- small clove of garlic
- half the juice from a lime

Place all the ingredients in the food processor and pulse until throughly mixed.

... Banana "Ice Cream"

2010-03-02T00:35:00.008-05:00

If you thought that Ricotta & Wasa was good, you better sit down. I have a recipe that very well might change your life. This is a pretty big promise I know, but I feel confident this recipe can stand up to the challenge.

This recipe is easy, it is healthy, it is fast, it is delicious and it only has one ingredient: Bananas

You need 2 kitchen tools: a freezer and a food processor

With that you can make an approximation of Ice Cream! I kid you not. I don't even have to tell you how much healthier it is than ice cream- its just bananas, nothing else! I first discovered it on Serious Eats and it sounded like a great idea since I love smoothies. Little did I know that frozen bananas do not act like smoothies, but instead take on an amazingly smooth and creamy texture when blended. Oddly enough, there is not an over powering banana flavor- something about the freezing of the bananas mutes the taste.

I am really looking forward to trying out new flavors: fresh mint + chocolate chips, drizzle caramel, honey or chocolate syrup, throw in some peanut butter before blending, frozen fruit (blueberries, strawberry, mango, peach, etc), vanilla extract, nuts (walnuts, almonds, pistacchio)
Ingredients

- Bananas (the riper the banana the sweeter the treat)
- add milk if you want to get things moving a little faster

Directions
Cut up the bananas and freeze them on a tray. Once fully frozen place a few banana pieces in the food processor and blend until smooth.

Seriously that is all you have to do

p.s. If you try this recipe and you are not obsessed please you need to see a doctor, there maybe something wrong with you.

p.p.s. about the lack of posting
I had a paper due today and it sucked up all my free time. I'll post the rest of snack week asap

... the Skinny 'Spicy Cappicola'

2010-02-26T13:37:00.001-05:00

I was originally going to do Turkey, Mozzerella and Roasted Red Pepper, but then I realized I have a roasted red pepper sandwich planned for tomorrow and that would be super lame of me to have two in a row, so I decided to experiment with what I had.

It reminded me of the spicy cappicola and olive oil marinated mozzarella heroes I used to have when I visited my Aunt's house in South Jersey. They were my favorite sandwiches in the world and a very special treat once I moved to Georgia. Back in the day (aka ten years ago), you could not find spicy cappicola, fresh mozzarella or decent italian bread anywhere in Alpharetta.

I am not saying this sandwich is an exact replica, but considering the reduction in calories, fat, cholesterol, etc. it is damn good. If you make this sandwich you must promise me you will not forget the RPFs, they are linchpin to this sandwich and are not optional in any way shape or form.

Ingredients
- turkey coldcuts
- toms sliced thin
- muhammara
- crusty italian bread
- mozzarella (preferably fresh)
- lettuce (optional)
- RPFs (decidely not optional)

Heat your oven to 400.

Cut the bread in half and place on some tin foil. Spread the muhammara on one side and arrange the turkey on the other.

Slice up some toms and put them on the muhammara side. Pop the bad boy in the oven for about 5 minutes until the turkey is warm and the toms are soft. Remove from the oven and add the cheese.

Put back in the oven until the cheese is melty. Sprinkle s&p and a generous amount of RPFs. Add some greenery if you wish and enjoy!

If you find the sandwich dry add some more muhamarra, rpfs and/or evoo.

... Muhammara

2010-02-25T16:47:00.002-05:00

Try to say that name three times fast! Shoot, I can barely even say it once. Muhammara is a rather delicious and unique Syrian dip made from roasted red peppers and walnuts. It is also a great conversation starter, while I was eating it at school yesterday 4 people stopped to asked me what I was eating. The best part about it is if you have a food processor it takes about 2 minutes to make.

Ingredients
- 4 large roasted red peppers
- 1 medium sized clove of garlic
- a few sprigs of mint (if you have it)
- tbs of lemon juice
- s&p
- 1-2 tbs of evoo
- generous handful of walnuts
- tsp of pomegranate molasses (if not a teaspoon of sugar will work fine, I tried it)
- 1 tsp of hot paprika (or paprika and some cayanne)

Throw all of that into a food processor (no need to chop it up first) and blend.

... PLT(squared)

2010-02-25T12:39:00.003-05:00

So I feel like a total snooty-boot for using prosciutto instead of bacon, but I have my reasons. First, you can go to the deli and ask for 2 slices of prosciutto, but you cannot do the same for bacon. Second, prosciutto has less fat than traditional bacon. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't thrilled with this sandwich, but then again I don't really love BLTs so that probably has something to do with it. Also I used fat free greek yogurt instead of mayo. I still haven't quite decided how I feel about the substitute. I think greek yogurt might have too much of a tang to be straight up supplemented for mayo. I think it needs to be dressed up with something else like garlic, herbs or spices to function the same as mayo. Either way here is the recipe.

Ingredients

- thick whole wheat toast

- fat free mayo

- turkey

- tom

- prosciutto

- lettuce

- s&p

I almost feel silly posting directions, but here ya go. While you toast the bread, heat up a frying pan. Once the frying pan is hot cook the prosciutto until crispy. Meanwhile wash off the lettuce, slice the toms start to assemble. Once the prosciutto is crispy (on both sides) blot the excess oil with some paper towels and slap it on your sandwich.

Also if anyone has any suggestions on photographing food with a point and shoot camera, please let me know. I'm struggling, especially with the close-ups (the camera doesn't seem to want to focus on the closer item)

... Not Your Elementary School Sandwich

2010-02-24T13:24:00.005-05:00

Snack Week poses a major lunch dilemma: if I don't cook for dinner what are we going to eat for lunch if not leftovers from the night before? I always make double what we need for dinner so that we can reheat it and eat it for lunch. I decided to make sandwiches this week.

There was a time when I ate a sandwich at least 5 days a week. Even now, recently I had salami again for the first time in years and I was amazed how the taste immediately (almost violently) brought me back to my elementary school cafeteria/gymnasium/auditorium where I would regularly eat salami, provolone and spicy mustard on honey wheat bread. In middle school I used to make a honey turkey (or ham) sandwich with extra sharp cheddar and honey mustard on a baguette. Now my sandwich intake is limited to 1) times when fast food is my only option and I invariably pick subway/quiznos/jersey mikes/etc. or 2) J wants a sandwich from Murray Hill Market and I am too lazy/indecisive to disagree.

I think I abandoned the sandwich because I ate so many as a child and I viewed them as incredibly bland unless piled with a whole mess of unhealthy stuff. This week I decided to challenge myself and come up with some sandwich ideas that were not boring or bland and still (somewhat) healthy. Here's what I have on the menu:

- Turkey & Apples w/ melted Gruyere

- PLT²(Prosciutto, Lettuce, Tomato & Turkey)

- Turkey, Gorgonzola and Cranberry

- Turkey, Buffalo Mozzarella, Tomato and Garlic "Aioli"
- Portobello Mushroom, Roasted Red Pepper, Provolone and Parsley Pesto

I'll let you know how it goes...

And since I feel bad about leaving you without a visual here is how Liz Lemon feels about Sandwiches: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogpIZvkCc-s&feature=related

btws if you don't watch 30 Rock you should.

... Hummus

2010-02-23T09:32:00.002-05:00

I first discovered hummus when I was a vegetarian in high school and in my opinion I discovered hummus about 15 years too late. Hummus (or hoeh-moose, as J properly pronounces it) the super-star of all dips. It is healthy, filling, fast to make, and cheap. It can be eaten in its most pure form or it can be used as a blank canvas to showcase other ingredients (more on this later).
Necessary Elements
- chickpeas*
- olive oil
- s&p
- food processor (I have tried to go old school and mash it up by hand before I owned a food processor and it was a pain)

*hummus means chickpeas, so you can't have "hummus" w/o chickpeas. However, I will use any sort of bean I have and still call it hummus- I just preface it aka black bean hummus, navy bean hummus, cannelloni bean hummus, etc.

Additional Ingredients
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1/4 c. tahini (I usually leave this out b/c its pretty high in fat and I don't love the taste aka I'd rather use my fat calories elsewhere)
- handful of any kind of nut (pine nuts, walnuts, almonds, cashews)
- handful of any kinds of herb you may have laying around (parsley, basil, cilantro)
- 1/4 c. roasted red peppers (make sure they are totally dried off)
- sriracha/ any hot sauce
- more olive oil drizzled on top
- 1/2 the juice of a lemon
- spinach
- cayanne, paprika, za'atar (other fun spices)

Hummus Vehicles
- spoon/ my fingers
- carrots
- wasa crisps
- whole wheat pita
- tortilla chips
- cucumbers
- carrots
- celery
- naan
- roti
- cold cuts

My go-to recipe for Hummus
This is the basic recipe I use when I'm not being a fancy pants cook and I just want some plain 'ole hummus.

Ingredients
- can of chickpeas drained
- 1 large clove of garlic or 2 small cloves
- 1/4 the juice of a lemon
- s&p
- water
- whatever herb, if any I have laying around

Pour the chick peas, herbs and garlic (you don't need to chop it before hand) in a food processor. Squirt some lemon and sprinkle some s&p over it. To reduce the fat I try to use as little evoo as possible, so I pour a glugg or two in and turn on the food processor. If it will not mix up all the way I alternate a tbs of water and a tbs of olive oil until it will process. Personally, I like to add in as little liquid as possible.

Sorry I don't have a picture, I'll put one up the next time I actually make hummus.

... Snack Week (it's like Shark Week, but better)

2010-02-22T19:53:00.002-05:00

This week J and I have conflicting schedules and we will be eating dinner separately, meaning I will not be cooking. I don't think this is particularly unique to me, but when I'm cooking for others I put a whole lot more time and effort into it. I make a menu for the week, go grocery shopping, i.e. plan out the whole shebang. However, if I'm just feeding myself I will "graze" for several hours. Grazing is a term my stepfather has coined to describe my grandmother and my habit of standing in the kitchen (preferably with the fridge and/or cabinet door open) and eating little bits of everything we see instead of sitting down and eating a proper meal.

Because there will be a lot of grazing this week...

Because the recipe I have gotten the most positive feedback from has been My New Favorite Snack...

Because (the most important because) my dear friend Elizabeth asked for more dip recipes...

Because of all of this I declare this week to be Snack Week! Think of Shark Week, but better because you get to eat, instead of watching giant sharks devour poor little seals.

And because can't leave you a post w/o a recipe watch this video on how to brew up your very own Shark Bait, in the spirit and memory of Shark Week.

... Pad Kee Mao (Thai Drunken Noodles)

2010-02-21T14:05:00.006-05:00

If you frequent Thai restaurants you have probably already figured out that pad means noodle in Thai. Kee Mao means very drunk. There is no definitive reason for this name but there are 3 hypotheses. 1) It's a popular after drinking/hangover meal, 2) It's super spicy so you need to drink lots of water, like a person with a hangover, and 3) It's so spicy it leaves you feeling dizzy and intoxicated. I don't want all this talk of spice to scare you off because you can adjust the recipe for your specific spice tolerance. When I made it for my family I used 2 jalapenos, but normally I will use serrano or thai pepper.

In my opinion the key to cooking Asian food (Thai, Chinese, Indian. etc.) is to use the actual ingredients (fish sauce, oyster sauce, ect.) and ditch the package stuff. This might seem super obvious, but its a mistake I made for several years. It is also extremely important that you use fresh herbs and spices. I know it's super annoying (and expensive) to buy fresh herbs because you rarely get a chance to use all of them and then when they go bad you feel like you are wasting money. But there is absolutely no substitute for using fresh herbs.
Ingredients

- rice noodles, cooked according to package

- 2-3 bell peppers cut into thin strips (I prefer the sweeter red or yellow)

- 5 cloves of garlic minced

- 1/4 c. oyster sauce

- 1/4 c. fish sauce

- 3 tbs soy

- juice from 1-2 limes

- 1 lb of protein (traditionally ground chicken is used, although protein is optional)

- 1-3 hot peppers minced (if you like food mild I suggest 1 or 2 jalapenos, otherwise serrano or thai chilies are best)

- 1-ish c. holy basil chopped (it's the purple asian kind, if you can't find you can sub sweet basil)

- 1-ish c. cilantro chopped

- 2 tbs oil

- 2 tbs sugar (brown is best, but feel free to use white)

- sriracha to taste (in case you want your dish spicier than some of your eating companions)

Cook noodles according to package. Make sure to run under cold water to stop from cooking further (don't worry about reheating the sauce will be hot enough to warm them up before serving).

Heat up your oil in a large pan or wok. Add garlic and some chili seeds and cook until fragrant (2 mins). Add protein and cook until mostly cooked through. Add bell peppers and let simmer about 5 minutes or until soft. Add fish sauce, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, lime juice and bring to a boil. Once at a boil pour the mixture over the noodles in a large bowl and toss with basil, cilantro and jalapenos.

I pulled this recipe from several different internet sources. The more influential ones were chow.com, thaicookingwithjam.blogspot.com and importfood.com

Myra-Puppy

2010-02-20T19:18:00.004-05:00

Disclaimer: This post has nothing to do with food, but instead is about the loss of a puppy who is very dear to my heart.

We all know that bad things happen to good people, but it's really unfair when really bad things, happen to really good people. Seriously, Vickie might just be the nicest person I know. This morning, her amazing dog, Myra, was hit by a car.

Myra was a sweetheart and a scaredy-cat. Although she was terrified the first few times she met you, once she got used to you she never forgot you. Seriously, I didn't see her for like 6 months at a time and she always remembered me. Although she was 100% mutt she was extremely beautiful and she had the most wonderful white plume for tail. She was a master at fetch (seriously the only dog I know who could compete with her was good 'ole Petey). She was my dear friend Vickie's faithful companion keeping her company while Vickie worked at home or while traveling with her to go visit MoMo. Although Myra had a short life, it was a pretty awesome one. Vickie was a wonderful wonderful mother; I can't say I know many people who loved their dogs more or people who took better care of them. Vickie thought about Myra before almost every decision she made whether small (where to eat? a.k.a. could Myra come?) or large (if I take this job will I have time for Myra?).

You could send flowers or a card, but I think the best gift you could give Vickie and the best way to honor Myra is to drive slower and pay better attention to the task at hand. I know I am guilty of rushing around trying to get to places faster or multitasking to get more things done at once, but is it really worth it?

I know that next time I am rushing to class I will think of Myra and slow down.

I miss you Myra