In which she comes back to blogging, with steamed eggs

So, I turned 40 last weekend, and have been introspecting more than usual about what I want out of life. I mean, I'm so very happy. I've been married for just over a year -- something this Southern belle thought would NEVER happen -- I like my job, I live in a really cool city, I'm healthy, I have amazing friends... but what do I want to DO with my life sort of introspecting, and I remember seeing a quote from some uber-successful man, maybe Jobs, or similar, saying something akin to make a list of what you love to do and a list of what you're really good at and see where they overlap, and then make a career of it. Sounds so easy! 

Since no one (that I know of, please correct me if I'm wrong and then TEACH ME YOUR SORCERY) has made a living off going to the gym and making dinner every day, I landed on this: I love making food and I love sharing with others how to make food, and not just MAKE it, but make it delicious and beautiful and nutritious and affordable. And I think that I'm good at it, and people all over the web seem to food blog for a living so why couldn't I? I know it will take more than photos and words about recipes but why can't I start here? Just here. I am good at something and I want to share it. HERE.

At any rate, I'm not so naive to believe that I don't have to work first and work hard before income will follow but BUT! I've had two friends in the past week asked me about my steamed eggs so I thought I'd share that first. 

I eat a LOT of eggs.

In the past, I've been a vegetarian. I've tried gluten-free. I've gone (almost) dairy-free. But over the years, over all the fads and diets, I've never, ever given up eggs. What a perfect specimen of food nature has given us. It even comes in its own package! 

At any rate, I eat (what I call) a hard-boiled egg almost every morning. As such, I typically batch cook them. And they are neither hard, nor are they boiled. They are steamed. And they are perfect.

Have a vegetable steamer? A really, really basic one. Maybe one like this. 

Here's what you do.

Bring a medium saucepan containing about an inch-inch and a half of water to a boil. Insert steamer basket and a half dozen eggs. Set two timers for 7 minutes and 11 minutes. (Here's where it gets personal -- I like my yolks a tad creamy. I think it's technically "over medium." If you like yours harder, go 12-15 minutes. Play with it until you find your perfect amount.) When the first timer goes off, make an ice bath. Something large enough to immerse all the eggs with plenty of cold water around them. You want to stop the cooking when they are exactly where you want them. I use a 4-quart container with two full ice cube trays of ice (+water) for 6 eggs. Let them hang out in there until they're cool, maybe 15-20 minutes, then dry off and store in the fridge. (I have no idea how long they will last as they're never around for longer than a week at our house.)

Fun fact -- there are two membranes between the shell and the white of the egg, and they're surprisingly strong. If an eggshell cracks during cooking but the membrane stays intact, the shell will close back up in the ice bath. IT'S MAGIC, Y'ALL!!

magic! aka SCIENCE

Tip: for easier-to-peel eggs, I've tried it all, including that baking soda nonsense. The real trick is... older eggs. Those membranes are no joke, y'all, and the fresher the egg, the stronger the membrane. Let 'em rest a week or so before steaming and you can get the shell off in two easy pieces.

Here's a close-up of the over-medium yolks:

YASSSS. So good. I keep them in the refrigerator is this darling Anthropologie egg crate. I eat one every morning before the gym and at the tune of 70-80 calories, 6-7g protein, 4-5g fat (< 2 saturated), it's one of the healthiest foods around. It's full of choline and other vitamins and minerals and is extremely bioavailable. It's a wonderfood! And I wanted to share it with YOU.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup (with sriracha!)

Y'all, it just tastes like fall.

I love spring produce, with its peas and asparagus and loads of fresh herbs, and the way it melts into the berries and tomatoes of summer, but there's just something so very, very satisfying about FALL PRODUCE: the sweet potatoes, the pears, the brussels sprouts, and all manner of decorative gourds!

I bought a butternut squash the other day and roasted it with za'atar. It was lovely, and then the rest of it has been hanging out in my crisper waiting to be made into something special. And today I decided on soup.

Now, I'm not big on sweets. I love salty, I love sour, I love spicy, and when it comes to my veggies, I love savory, savory, savory. I grew up my whole life thinking I hated sweet potatoes, because I'd only ever had them covered in marshmallows!!! Can you believe that nonsense?

This one is super easy, super cheap, and super satisfying on a crisp fall day. Here's what you do: first, swirl some olive oil in a pot and turn the stove on. While it's heating, chop an onion. Cry. Add the onion to the oil, add some salt, and get that to sweating. While the onion is cooking, go ahead and peel/mince a coupla-three garlic cloves and about an inch of fresh garlic. Then grab a butternut squash-- I only used half, but it was probably 3-4 cups, peel that and dice it into cubes.

When the onions turn translucent, add the garlic and ginger, and stir it around for a minute or so until you can smell it, add some more salt, a generous pinch (or two) of hot chile flakes, a dried chile de arbol, and about 2 tablespoons of good curry powder. I used Madras, but use your preferred brand or your own mixture.

Add the squash, mix that all up, and cover it with a quart of vegetable or chicken broth. I used chicken, because it was on sale this week, but if you use veggie, ta-da! your recipe will be veggie. Cover it, bring it to a boil, then back off the heat and simmer until the butternut squash is very tender (as in, you can easily mash it with the back of a spoon). At this point, text the broth and re-season. I found it to need quite a bit more salt.

Now here's the important part: Let it cool a bit. Otherwise when you inevitably end up wearing it like I did, it won't scald the ever-living $&%*! out of you like it did me.

ouch.

So now that we've let it cool, puree it with an immersion blender. Alternatively, you could move it by batches into a stand blender, but that's a lot of work and you should really own an immersion blender.

Puree until smooth-- believe me when I say this needs no cream to be silky-- and then reheat to serving temperature, taste again for seasoning, and top with a glog of good olive oil (and sriracha, if like me, you want it even spicier). 

like a sweater for your insides.

And here's the other important part: do NOT leave off the olive oil. Fat spreads the flavor across your tongue. Fat lets all that deliciousness get down into the grooves of your taste buds. Fat-free food is gross. So twirl some olive oil on top and enjoy your bowl of autumn.

sometimes curries fail, but okra is forever

Two weeks ago, I presented to you my favorite creamy tahini dressing, and a promise to blog every Tuesday rain or shine. As usual, my grandiose plans fizzled before take 2. Sigh. Whatever; I'm turning 37 next week and clearly this is who I am meant to be. I'm not going to stop making grandiose plans just because I'm a big fat loser!!!

I skipped last Tuesday because I hadn't cooked anything. FOR A WEEK. In my defense I was moving so the kitchen was in complete disarray but really, wow. Then last night, for Meatless Monday, I was super intent on making a lovely chickpea coconut curry to share with you today, and... it flopped. Not a complete flop, but it definitely didn't sing. It didn't sizzle. It was definitely not worthy of sharing. We have leftovers, too, so I've got some major tweaking to do before I can eat it again. 

Nom nom nom.

SO. Let's get to the okra. I found these lovely specimens at the Sunday farmers' market and was thrilled. Now, I love love love fried okra. Fried okra is one of my very favorite things. I'm from the South, y'all. I'd eat fried okra at the movies if they sold it to me in a paper bag with salt and pepper. But I have neither time nor inclination to deep fry at home. What a mess. Boiling/steaming = slime. No time for stewing or pickling. I thought I'd try my tried-and-true method of roasting... but that didn't seem quite right either. That's when my stroke of genius hit: cornmeal.

prep time: 5 minutes

I washed the pods and sliced them on the bias, then tossed to coat with olive oil, salt, pepper, and a mixture of cornmeal and coarser-ground polenta. Into the oven they went, 425, in a glass casserole big enough to give them room to crisp.

close-enough-to-fried

It took about half an hour, tossing every 10 minutes or so, and it turned out par-fried: perfectly done on the inside, not a wisp of slime anywhere, crisp and caramelized on the outside, and crunchy. I can only imagine that it is healthier than its deep-fried cousin, but certainly no less tasty. This is bound to become a staple in my house during okra season.

this helping could have been bigger.

I served them with this chicken from the latest issue of Bon Appétit, and I could have happily gobbled up at least twice the amount I made. I even stole some from the mister when he wasn't looking. And bought more okra this week!

back to blogging, in a creamy tahini-lemon dressing

I've decided to give this whole blog thing another stab. When I started, approximately one million bottles of sriracha ago, blogging was a whole different thing. We didn't even have facebook! I just had to TELL people to read it!! I've always missed having a place to write, which I love, about cooking, which I love even more.

I feel like blogging fell out of style and is making a baby resurgence, so I'm going to try it again. Every Tuesday, rain or shine. In the meantime you can always check out my tumblr and/or instagram links to the left.

Looking back through ye olde food blog, I seem to constantly be on a food journey. I've been a vegetarian, a pescatarian, a flexitarian, and a dainty little carnivore. These days I'm roughly "sometimes" gluten-free and "mostly" dairy-free. The bottom line is that I have always wanted what I want when I want it, as long as it doesn't make me too fat. That's the dream, right?

In my attempts to go dairy-free, I've finally perfected my favorite "creamy" salad dressing. I've had several friends ask for the recipe, and now I'm obliging.

Caveat emptor: I always cook and prepare in VERY broad strokes (partly because I wait too long to eat, get super HANGRY and have to make do with what's in front of me at that very moment, but mostly because I am very, very bad at following directions). So keep in mind when I give YOU directions, you are allowed and encouraged to riff on them how you please.

kale with white beans, quinoa, and a leftover dill/caper/parsley relish

I prefer to build my salad dressing in the bottom of a large stainless steel bowl. It's easier to whisk and then I can make the salad on top, thus dirtying one less dish. Since my dishwasher is my two hands, I always prefer to use as few utensils as possible.

Start with a large spoonful of tahini. If you're not familiar with tahini, it's basically ground sesame seeds. It's thicker than oil, but thinner than a nut butter. It's most often used to make hummus. Here in the city it's at any corner market, but if you haven't seen it before, check the ethnic section of your grocery store.

I add the juice of one lemon, one garlic clove, microplaned, a pinch of hot pepper flakes, and a pinch of Maldon sea salt, and whisk in extra virgin olive oil to the desired consistency:

It's perfectly creamy, and coats all manner of things in the best, exquisitely clingy way. I most often have kale around these parts, but you can put it on anything you like.

raw kale, roasted brussels sprouts & broccoli, pre-cooked chicken

Ingredients:
1 TBSP tahini
1 lemon, juiced
1 clove garlic, microplaned
1 pinch hot chile flakes
1 pinch good sea salt
olive oil

Tools:
large stainless steel bowl
microplane
whisk

Directions:
Add first 5 ingredients to bowl. Whisk in olive oil to desired consistency.

baked french toast casserole

Lookit, I love The Pioneer Woman. Truly, I do. Her wild rice and corn casserole is slap-your-mama good. Her stuffed mushrooms? To die for. But I always find myself tweaking her recipes to contain less fat-- not that it's not delicious, but if I ate her recipes as is I would be roughly the size of the Goodyear Blimp. I'd love to know her secret!

When I came across her recipe for baked french toast that contained 2 cups of whole milk PLUS 1 cup of heavy cream PLUS A WHOLE STICK OF BUTTER, my eyes almost fell out of my head. So I gave it a loving revision. And it's still delicious. Lemme tell you how:

the insides:
1 loaf of sourdough (or bread of your choosing, enough to rip up and fill a 9x12 casserole dish)
nonstick spray
12 eggs
1 C buttermilk, I used 2%
4 T sugar
4 T bourbon* (*optional, I guess)
2 T vanilla

the topping:
1/2 C - 1 C pecans, toasted
1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 C flour
1 T cinnamon
1 pinch salt
1/2 stick butter, cubed and very, very cold

Directions: rip up your bread and fill your greased casserole dish. In a large bowl combine 12 eggs, buttermilk, sugar, bourbon, and vanilla and beat lightly with a fork. Pour it over the bread, cover with foil, and stick in the fridge for at least 4 hours (I say overnight. I mean dude, that took what, 5 min? Perfect thing to do before bed on Christmas Eve.)

For the topping, throw the toasted pecans in your food processor with flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt. Add in the cold butter cubes and pulse until it resembles small pebbles. Stick that in the refrigerator too.

The next morning, sprinkle the topping on and bake at 350 for 45 min to 1 hour, depending on if you like yours eggy vs. toasty. I put maple syrup on mine and served it with cayenne & brown sugared bacon.

Serves 12, and if you care: 400 calories, 20g fat, 12g protein, 3g fiber.

gribiche

Seriously, almost a year? I'm so flighty with this thing. But I'm unemployed now so I SWEAR to start posting more often. At least once a month. Will you guys help keep me accountable?

Today I am making a sauce gribiche. In all honesty I am making it because I have an almost limp bunch of parsley that really needs to be used, and stat. But also, because I love it-- it's delicious, and fun to make, and so very, very French. And it's really, really adaptable. I've used it on asparagus in the past, and once in a pasta dish with flaked salmon. Tonight I'm putting on steaks, like this guy. But doesn't it sound great on roasted potatoes?

When I first tried it, I read David Lebovitz' recipe, because I love his style, and also Orangette's, ditto, and since then I've played around with the ingredients, and what I have, what I like, etc, and found my perfect gribiche.

Ingredients: one egg, olive oil, capers, fresh parsley, whole-grain mustard. (You'll notice there are cornichons in the photo above. Now I love love LOVE cornichons, but my personal opinion is that they add one too many flavors to this sauce, so I leave them out now.)

Start by soft-boiling your egg. You want the white firm and the yolk runny. FIRST, make sure your egg is at room temperature so it doesn't crack when you lower it into the boiling water. Bring a pot of water to a boil, turn it down to a steady simmer, and carefully lower in the egg with a slotted spoon. Exactly 5 minutes later, remove with the slotted spoon and run under cool water until you can peel it.

Drop it into your glass bowl with a spoonful of whole grain mustard. Mash around with a fork until the white is crumbled up, and start adding olive oil little by little until it looks sort of like lumpy mayonnaise. Appetizing, right? (I didn't take a photo of that step.)

Next, add chopped capers and flat-leaf parsley. Like, a LOT of parsley. Don't worry. Parsley is delicious. Taste and season to your preference with salt, black and/or red pepper. Keep adding and mixing and tasting until you get it just so. You'll know when it's right.

Feel free to experiment and make it your own. Use a mixture of herbs. Add a clove of minced raw garlic. Brighten up with a splash of acid, like lemon juice or red wine vinegar. It's up to you and your taste buds!

Cover with plastic wrap and it will store for a few days in the refrigerator. However, I like it room temperature, served over something simple. Cold roasted chicken. Poached fish. Leftover steak or potatoes. Scrambled eggs? The possibilities are endless.

skillet carrots

Sweet Lord baby Jesus, you guys. I just ate about a pound of cooked carrots. Truly.

COOKED CARROTS? That sounds deplorable.

But I saw this recipe on Orangette's food blog, and seriously, that girl has never steered me wrong. And I love thyme. So I gave it a shot. Honestly, I think the French (and Orangette) are just genius.

I decided to use a mixture of carrots and parsnips (about 2:1) because the lonely parsnips at the market always make me so sad. Have you ever had one? It's sort of like a carrot, and sort of like a potato, and has that good, solid, earthy feel & taste that we gravitate toward in the foggy winter months. I love them.




I also used white balsamic vinegar because for some unholy reason my pantry is out of red wine vinegar (an injustice that will be remedied on my next trip out the door). It was fine-- the vinegar just sort of brightens the dish, not flavors it. But I think red wine vinegar would have been better. Oh, and while I was cooking, this happened:



So that took some time. And some sweeping. And I'm still crunching sea salt under my feet every time I walk into the kitchen. LE SIGH.

Ingredients:
2 large carrots
1 large parsnip
1 white onion
4-5 sprigs fresh thyme
sea salt
olive oil
1 tsp red wine vinegar

Tools:
Large flat-bottomed skillet with a lid



So you take a skillet, and heat up some olive oil. A little more than you think. Really coat the bottom of the pan. When it's hot, throw in 1/2 a white onion, cut stem to root (like this; as Orangette points out, it's very important to the integrity of the onion). Let the onions soften a while-- she says don't brown them but what is better than caramelized onions? so I just let them go to town while I sliced my carrots and parsnips.

Add the carrots, parsnips, thyme, and a generous pinch (or two) of sea salt. Toss to coat everything well and cover.

Let stew/sautee/steam for 15-20 minutes, stirring every few minutes. Test with a toothpick. They're ready when they reach your desired texture. I prefer them a little al dente myself, but it's totally up to you.

Sprinkle with vinegar, give a quick stir, and remove from heat. Serve immediately.

Note: this recipe should make 2-3 side servings, but I ate the entire thing by myself. Don't judge. At least I'm eating my vegetables.

the lazy frittata

There are many not-so-wonderful things about being single, but there are many wonderful things as well, and since I'm a glass-half-full kinda gal, I choose to be happy about the fact that one of the greatest things about being single is that I always get to eat what I want, when I want it. I don't have to take any one else's stomach, or allergies, or nutritional needs, or whims into consideration except my own, and I, for one, like having complete control over my food and drink intake.

There have been many books written on this subject by far better cooks and far better writers than I-- Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant, for one, and The Pleasures of Cooking for One, for another-- but I'm here today to tell you about the lazy frittata.




The down side of cooking for one is cleaning for one. Sometimes you don't want to make a huge mess in the kitchen for something that's going to last all of 10 minutes and be shared with no one. So I've taught myself some tricks and shortcuts, and this frittata is one of my laziest. As I almost always have leftovers, the veggies and sometimes the cheese are hanging out in the refrigerator already prepared, so besides something to beat the eggs in, I only use one pan and one plate. (And honestly, I've been known to eat it from the pan!)




Ingredients:
olive oil or butter
2 eggs, beaten with a T of milk or water or ahem... half & half if that's what you have on hand
leftover vegetable(s) of your choice
leftover herb(s) of your choice
some sort of cheese
salt & pepper

Directions:
Preheat your broiler. Heat a swirl of olive oil over medium heat, and toss in whatever vegetables and/or fresh herbs you have on hand. Today I used 3 large handfuls of baby spinach and some green onions. Mushrooms and thyme would also delicious, as are zucchini and dill, roasted tomatoes and red onions, or any combination of what you have available. Season with salt & pepper. Once the veggies are cooked through, pour the egg mixture over the top and turn the heat to low. Don't touch!

Let cook until you can slide a spatula around the edges and see that it's done on the bottom. Now, sprinkle the (still raw) top with cheese (today I used a gruyere/emmenthaler mixture left over from fondue night, but anything you have will do) and more pepper, because you can never have too much black pepper with eggs, and pop under the broiler -- ***making sure you leave the handle sticking out or wrap it in foil*** and finish cooking until the top is golden brown and delicious. Serve immediately and then wash your one pan!

preserved lemon vinaigrette

So, I've been in the South for 3 weeks. Chattanooga, New Orleans, Atlanta. And don't get me wrong... I LOVE the South. I'm FROM the South. But I haven't seen a vegetable that wasn't deep-fried and/or drowned in ranch dressing for weeks, and my body could not be happier to get back to California, where the drawstring on my yoga pants seems to have shrunk. :/

So yesterday I made a nice veggie-based soup, a bunch of fruit, and bought salad greens. Hellooo FIBER! Yesssss! I never buy pre-made salad dressing because A) I think it's gross and B) I don't like to eat the same thing all the time and then it goes bad.

I'm leaving in 4 days so my staples are pretty sparse, but there's a lovely jar of preserved lemons in the fridge that I made on a whim last time I was home, when lemons were 5 for $1. You can find the recipe here and I must say that while they turned out deliciously, I don't really know what to do with them since I don't eat chicken and they kind of are made for a tangine.

But I poked around a little and came up with a simply delightful salad dressing that is making my lunch zing. It may me a little on the tart side for some of you (I love my acid) so maybe dial down the lemon juice and dial up the olive oil a tad.




Preserved Lemon Vinaigrette
1 t minced shallot
2 T chopped preserved lemons (recipe here)
1 t whole-grain mustard
2 T fresh lemon juice
1-2 T extra virgin olive oil (the greener the better)
dash of freshly cracked pepper
caveat: the lemons are very, very salty, so don't add any extra until you've tasted it. I didn't need any, and that's very unusual for me.

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and build your salad on top. I used mixed greens, thin slivers of zucchini, and an asian pear, because that's what I had on hand, but I think it would really work well with chickpeas, cucumbers, and tomatoes, or perhaps a simple spinach, red onion, and walnut combo. The sky's the limit-- lemon goes with everything.

creamy white bean soup with leeks

I've said it before and I'll say it again-- one of my very favourite things about San Francisco is that it's almost always soup weather! I just love soup. You know what else I love? White beans. And leeks. And my Epicurious app on my iPhone.



"Do you have a kinder, more adaptable friend in the world than soup?" ~Miss Manners


This recipe is super easy and cheap. It was adapted from a recipe I found on Epicurious, which was adapted from a recipe in Gourmet magazine in 1991. I, of course, tweaked it to fit my needs, taste buds, and pantry, the main differences being omitting the dairy and that the original recipe called for tarragon, which I find far too licorice-y. But, if you like tarragon, by all means use it where I used thyme.

Tools:
an immersion blender
soup pot

Ingredients:
2 cans cannellini beans
2 C vegetable stock
2 large leeks, white and light green parts only
3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1 tsp dried thyme
the juice of 1 large lemon, strained and divided
olive oil
hot pepper flakes
salt & pepper




Directions:
Thinly slice your leeks (first make sure then are properly cleaned). Heat to medium a hefty swirl of olive oil in your soup pot, and thrown in the leeks, a couple of pinches of salt, and a pinch of hot pepper flakes. Toss to coat well and then let caramelize, 3-4 minutes. The rings will start to break apart and get nice brown bits on them. Add the garlic and toss well again, to brown the bits that haven't browned yet.

In the meantime, put the two cans of beans, undrained, into a mixing bowl with 2C of vegetable stock, and 1 tsp of dried thyme. Using your immersion blender, blend to a smooth consistency.

Back in your soup pot, deglaze the bottom with half of your lemon juice, scraping up all the little yummy bits of garlic and leek. Add the pureed beans and drop the heat down to medium-low. Heat up to serving temperature (do not boil). Taste and adjust seasoning. Once you pull the soup from the heat, stir in the remaining lemon juice and serve!



Note: I am extremely lazy when cooking for one, but if I was serving this to people I would have pan-fried some leeks on the side and put a few on the top. It would also be delicious with a handful of garlicky croutons.

okey dokey artichokey

I love artichokes. LOOOOOVE. When I saw this big daddy at the farmers' market for $0.99, I pounced. I wanted SO badly to make homemade mayonnaise to dip it in, but sadly, I gave up after reading 30 recipes, watching 7 videos, and 2 actual failed attempts. If I ever figure it out, I promise you guys will be the first to know.

So instead, you get a very, VERY easy lemon-tahini sauce recipe. Which turned out to be just exquisite, and perfect with the artichoke. You could also thin it out with some hot water to make a nice tangy salad dressing.

(PS> to steam an artichoke, cut the bottom off so it will sit flat, cut the top off, and trim any thorns off the outer leaves. Sit in a couple of inches of simmering water for 20-40 minutes based on the size of your artichoke. It's done when a leaf comes off easily. I read to put some lemon juice in the water to keep it bright green but that didn't work for me... maybe next time I'll throw in a half a lemon instead of just squeezing the juice?)

Tools:
small food processor

Ingredients:
about 1/4 C of tahini
juice of 1/2 lemon-1 lemonsalt
1 clove garlic, pressed, grated, or microplaned
pinch of hot pepper flakes (optional)

Directions:
Put tahini, about half of your lemon juice, a pinch of salt, and the garlic in your food processor and pulse several times. Taste, and adjust for lemon and salt, then serve!

how to cook a perfect steak in your apartment (sans grill)

Remember when I taught Tom how to cook salmon? That was like a hundred years ago and now he cooks more than I do! But I liked the idea of laying out the basics so someone can take off and do his/her own thing in the kitchen, so today I'm going to teach y'all how to cook the perfect steak without a grill. It CAN be done in your studio apartment, with just a few spatters.

OK, so yes, I'm MOSTLY a vegetarian. But I have been trying to eat meat once a week, for the iron, and Trader Joe's sells these lovely 6-ish oz filets that are free-range, organic, vegetarian-fed, and affordable.

Tonight's menu is roasted potatoes, kale, and filet mignon-- and BOURBON. God, it's been too long since I've had a bourbon: 2 fingers, on the rocks, with a twist. *sigh*

Tools:
a cast-iron skillet (this is a must-- do NOT use a non-stick skillet)
a splatter-guard
tongs
a kitchen timer

Ingredients:
steak
vegetable oil
BUTTER

Directions:
While your potatoes are roasting, let your steak(s) rest to room temperature, and season liberally with salt & pepper. Heat, to high-medium-high, about 1 T of vegetable oil and 1 T of butter per steak in your cast iron skillet. Make sure you use an oil with a high smoke point, like corn or canola, as you want your skillet screamin' hot. Using tongs in one hand and the splatter guard in the other, lay the steak in the hot buttery oil. Slam the splatter guard down and DON'T TOUCH IT. You want the fat to caramelize the meat. If you're anything like me, you'll be tempted to move it, but DON'T. Timing you will need to play around with-- on my gas stovetop for a smallish steak (6-8 oz) to get rare-to-medium-rare, I do 2 min on the first side and 90 seconds on the second side. Remember you can always cook it more and you can never cook it less, so err on the side of caution at first.

Remove it from the heat and set it aside covered in a foil tent while you finish plating your meal. It needs to rest for a couple of minutes.

My trick for the greens-- steam them lightly on the side while you're searing the steak and while the steak is resting, throw the greens around in the greasy cast-iron skillet. It will make a big ruckus and splatter oil everywhere but it will be totally worth it, and by worth it I mean DELICIOUS.

My roasted potatoes: get the teeny tiny white ones (about the diameter of a quarter), toss with olive oil, salt & pepper, and roast at 400 for about 40 minutes until they are done (test with a toothpick).

ENJOY!~

my post-yoga lunch: Trader Joe's Thai Vegetable Gyoza over a bed of edamame, roasted sweet potatoes, and a side of homemade pickled radishes. NOM.

cioccolato all'arancia gelato

Maybe most of you don't think of making ice cream in December, but in Arizona, there's really no reason to not think about ice cream, ever. We made more than one absolutely DIVINE batch of candy cane ice cream around Christmastime, but I failed to get any photographs, as it was devoured in its entirety practically as soon as it came out of the freezer.

This week, with memories of Gelateria Ponte alla Carraia (revived by a dark chocolate orange tucked into a stocking on Christmas morning) in my head, I decide to try my hand at cioccolato all'arancia (chocolate-orange).

I typically make Philadelphia-style ice cream (no egg, does not require cooking) but that's because I'm lazy. And while Philly style turns out fluffy and snowy and and delicate (and perfectly acceptable for peppermint and fruit flavours), I really prefer chocolate ice cream to be denser and richer and creamier, so I went the custard-style route. I must admit, I was not disappointed. And by "not disappointed," I mean "ecstatic."

(photo credit, Gherkin's Bucket)

Ingredients:
2 C heavy cream
2 C whole milk
3/4 C sugar
2 egg yolks at room temperature, whisked slightly with a fork
3/4 C - 1 C shaved dark chocolate, at least 60%
1 t vanilla extract
1 1/2 T grand marnier or 1 1/2 t orange extract or 3-4 drops orange essential oil

Directions:
In a large sauce pan over medium-low heat, mix milk, cream, and sugar. When tiny bubbles barely begin to form around the edges of the pan, back the heat down (you don't want it to boil), temper the egg, and add back to the pan. Incorporate the shaved chocolate into the warm milk mixture in batches, stirring until completely melted. Remove from heat, stir in extracts, and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, or until completely cool. Then, freeze according to your ice cream maker's directions, and store in the freezer until it's at your desired serving consistency.

Note: I think this dessert would be very lovely if garnished with curls of orange zest, if one can be bothered to serve it in actual dishes rather than eating it out of a coffee mug like we do it at Chez Moi.

potatoes and resolutions

Oh-ho, it's December 30th and I haven't updated since August. As usual, one of my (many) New Year's resolutions is to update here more often. I would like to strive for once a week, but I also want to give myself an objective that I can keep, so maybe I should settle for twice a month? What do you think, dear reader?

I have been spending my Christmas break at my lovely friend Krysten's house in Arizona, where the vodka flows like the sunshine and I'm gaining weight with a rapidity heretofore only reserved for mad dashes to late trains. I honestly think my fat pants are now leaving indentions in my waist right now, but isn't that what the holidays are all about? (On another note, I've been hearing about Kate Moss' "nothing tastes as good as being thin feels" statement, and ... girlfriend is just WRONG. Obviously I am not condoning obesity but indulge yourself every once in a while; can I get an amen??)

Today's recipe comes to you courtesy of my roommate Brian's mother Madeline, with some added flair by me, per usual, this time in the form of a nod to "A Potato Dish for Julia" by Judith Jones (whose book The Pleasures of Cooking for One I received as a Christmas gift this year). The United Nation of Krysten & Jamie single-handedly polished off HALF the casserole dish, but instead of curling up for a carb-coma nap, I decided to drag myself to the computer to share the recipe.

Perfect Scalloped Potatoes

Ingredients:
4 medium potatoes, sliced thinly with a mandolin (about 1/8"-1/4")
4 T flour whisked into 2 C of whole milk
1/2 onion, minced
3-4 garlic cloves, pressed or grated, then mashed with a hefty pinch of sea salt to form a paste
1 C grated cheddar or gruyere cheese, or a mixture
3 T butter, cut into small cubes
1 T parsley,
salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
In a greased casserole dish layer half of the sliced potatoes, dot with half the butter and half the garlic paste, sprinkle with half the onions, salt, and pepper, and top with half of the grated cheese. Repeat with remaining ingredients. Pour the flour and milk mixture over to cover potatoes. Bake uncovered at 350 for 1 hour and serve sprinkled with fresh parsley (and if you're me, a dash of hot pepper flakes).

I dare you to only eat one helping.

black bean soup with corn-avocado relish

Oh MY has it really been 3 months since I've updated? What a shame. I've been cooking, I swear! Just not posting.

At any rate, this soup is the easiest thing to make, and sooooo cheap (I call it "recession soup"), nutritious, and it's so delicious and hearty, but the corn relish still summers it up a bit. L-Ro asked me for the recipe, so L-Ro, this one's for you!

Black Bean Soup

ingredients:

2 or 3 cans black beans

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2-3 cloves garlic, smashed and minced

1 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt

1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes (I used the fire-roasted ones)

2 cups water or broth

2-3 big handfuls of a big leafy green (chard, kale, etc), rinsed well, deveined, finely chopped

instructions:

heat olive oil in a large soup pot. add onions, garlic, and salt and sweat or sautee to your desired degree of doneness. seriously, you can't really mess this soup up. add beans, tomatoes, and liquid, and bring to a simmer. add the greens and bring back to a simmer, continue cooking until the greens have wilted. then use your immersion blender to puree to a smooth consistency (if you don't have an immersion blender you can use your food processor-- just do it in batches and make sure you cool it first).

Avocado-Corn Relish

ingredients:

1 cob corn

1 avocado

2-3 cloves raw garlic, microplaned or grated

1 generous handful of cilantro, including stems, finely chopped

green or red onions, finely minced

the juice and zest of 1 large lime (or 2 small ones)

generous pinch of sea salt

even more generous pinch of hot pepper flakes

2-3 glugs of olive oil

instructions:

roast the corn in the oven- spray or rub it with a little olive oil, loosely wrap it in foil, and put it in a 450-degree oven for 30ish minutes. you could also do this on the grill, mmmm. to trim off the cob, use a bundt pan or a small bowl inverted into a bigger bowl, and slice it off the cob in vertical strips. some of it will stay in neat little chunks and other kernels will separate.

Note: I find finely chopping herbs for relishes and pestos to be easiest with my Ulu, but if you don't have one you can just chop and drop as normal.

In a bowl, combine the corn, diced avocado, garlic, lime zest and juice, salt, pepper flakes, and cilantro. Fold in olive oil with a fork to desired consistency.

Serve at room temperature over hot black bean soup.

Bonus recipe alert!! Serve over eggs in toast for breakfast:

Double your recession savings! You're welcome.

caramelized cauliflower with slow-roasted tomatoes

As you all know, I really enjoy preparing a little dish I like to call "making do with what you have." As usual, I'm going out of town on Thursday for a couple of weeks, so instead of spending money on groceries, I'm forcing myself to be creative with what lies in the depths of my icebox and pantry. Two very enthusiastic thumbs up to my girl Amanda, who gave me the idea for a sundried tomato pesto which I have eaten at least 3x this week on various pastas and vegetables, and am currently contemplating putting it on eggs for breakfast.

This week I had the great fortune of reading Orangette's new book, A Homemade Life. I loved it soooo much that its only low point was that I devoured it in one sitting, instead of pushing it into leftovers for a week. It has all the wonder of a good dish-- delicate in some parts, meaty in others, and provided me good taste for my heart and nutrition for my soul.

I think Ms. Wizenburg (or can I call her Molly? she seems so personable!) would be proud to know I used not one but two of her recipes last night, and tweaked them to fit my needs. In my crisper sat a lone head of cauliflower, which is a lot for a recipe-for-one, but it really needed to be eaten. I contemplated soup (any excuse to use my immersion blender, you know), but that would have required a trip to the market for at the very least, an onion, so I decided to roast it.

Her recipe for roasted cauliflower (pg 273, or here) pairs with it a salsa verde that sounded scrumptious, but again, a trip to the store would have been necessary, so with Amanda's tomato pesto still fresh in my mind, I turned to a clamshell of sweet grape tomatoes and pg 193 (or here).

I had to go with grape tomatoes instead of romas, and they're so sweet I contemplated adding some vinegar (I have a lovely white balsamic, courtesy of Stonehouse, and my girlies Krysten and Chanelle), but in the end I'm glad I left as is. I had them all sliced and slick with olive oil when I realized I was out of coriander. This recipe notwithstanding, gasp. I adore coriander. But, bygones, not to be daunted by my threadbare cupboards, I settled on 2 huge garlic cloves, pressed, smoky cumin, hot red pepper flakes, and sea salt.

Oven at 200. Generally season oiled tomatoes with garlic, cumin, hot pepper, and salt, and roast for hours. Literally. I checked on them about every hour or so but I think I finally found them at their peak around 3 1/2. When Orangette states "rubies in fruit form," she ain't lying. It took a LOT of willpower not to eat the entire sweet, hot, smoky mess with slightly burnt fingers, right from the pan.

OK, now, oven to 450. Slice your cauliflower in slice in 1/4"-1/2" slices. A good deal of it will crumble away, but that's just snackies while you're waiting. Nestle loosely into a baking sheet, generously coated with olive oil (Orangette suggests using your fingers; I used a silicone brush) and sea salt. Roast 30-40 minutes, flipping once.

I sat near the oven for most of this process, with a glass of pinot grigio, flipping through her book, listening to the hissing, burbling, & popping of the cauliflower caramelizing in the oven. I like it well-done. I threw the pan of tomatoes back in the oven while I plated the cauliflower, just to heat them up, then drizzled the whole goopy mess over the cauliflower.

I fully intended to eat half and save the rest for today... but I didn't. I cleaned the plate and licked my fingers.

portobello stroganoff with sundried tomatoes and spinach

I've been a vegetarian for about 2 years, and every once in a while, I encounter a dish I completely forgot about. This week it was beef stroganoff. I would never have called stroganoff a favourite dish of mine, but I liked it, and when I found a mushroom version on a menu in Austin, TX, I decided I had to make it. Yesterday's cold weather seemed perfect for thick egg noodles with a warm gravy sauce-- but I amped the nutrition with some added veggies.


I'm sad to say that I don't ever feel like my food blog will take off until I get a decent camera. It's near impossible to take a good detail photo with a digital point-and-shoot in the evening. The ambient light in the kitchen isn't strong enough, and the flash is way too much-- even if I "diffuse" it with a tissue. Any pointers, beyond spending money I don't have, would be much appreciated.







Gravy-based sauces are not quite as easy when you're not cooking with animal fat, but a good roux can take you a long way, and it's definitely a learned skill. This stroganoff is a bit easier because you incorporate the flour into the sour cream-- just remember to temper the sour cream mixture so it doesn't curdle when you add it to the skillet.


This may seem like a lot of ingredients, but assemble them ahead of time-- it all comes together rather quickly.


Ingredients:
4 servings dried egg noodles
3T butter (or olive oil)
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 large portobello mushroom caps, wiped clean and coarsely diced
+ 1/2 C dried creminis or porcinis, reconstituted in hot water and finely chopped
(reserve mushroom liquid for broth)
2-3 huge handfuls of fresh spinach
1/2 C julienned sun-dried tomatoes


for the sauce:
1+ C of veg broth (with mushroom liquid should add up to about 1 1/2 C)
1/2-1 C sour cream
3T all-purpose flour
fresh thyme
1-2T white wine
2-3 healthy dashes of worcestershire sauce
2 T tomato paste


First, set up your pasta water to boil (you'll do it right before you serve) and mix the 3T flour with 1/2-1 C of sour cream in a small glass bowl. Set aside.


In your largest skillet, melt butter over medium heat, and sweat onions and garlic in a large pinch of sea salt. When they start to turn translucent, add both kinds of mushrooms and a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme. Sautee for a few minutes, until the mushrooms are cooked through. Add in the sundried tomatoes, cook for a few more minutes, then add spinach. Once the spinach is barely wilted, transfer to a dish on the side.... you'll add the veggies back to the sauce later. (Don't forget to fish out the thyme stems!)


Deglaze the skillet with a dash of white wine, making sure to scrape up any bit of cooked onion and mushrooms. Add broth, worcestershire sauce, and tomato paste, bring to a boil, and reduce mixture by 1/3. At this point, turn the heat to very, very low, and temper your sour cream mixture. (If you've never tempered a sauce before, it basically means to stir in a ladle or so of the hot liquid to the sour cream to warm it up before dumping it into the sauce, or else the dairy will curdle in the skillet). Pour the warmed sour cream and flour into the broth, and stir to thicken. It will need to cook for a minute or two to avoid the raw flour taste. Once it's cooked through (feel free to take a taste test!), add the veggies back in, and leave on low heat while you cook your noodles.


Serve over egg noodles and garnish with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of fresh thyme leaves or chopped parsley.

Make your partner do the dishes. Delicious!~

"indian" roasted vegetables

Remember my roasted vegetables obsession? Today I made it ethnic. I've been craving Indian food lately, and on my new budget, eating out has been cut way down.



I chopped up a large eggplant, a head of cauliflower, and a red onion, and tossed that with a can of drained chickpeas, a couple of smashed garlic cloves, some olive oil, S&P, and about 3T of some Indian spices. (I was lazy and used a spice mix from Naturally India, which is a mix of coriander, chili, ginger, cumin, garlic, cumin, garlic, fenugreek, turmeric, cayenne, and bay- but you could certainly use the blend of your choice. I like Alton Brown's, which you can find here.)

Roast the veggies at 450 for about 20 minutes, then kick the heat to 500 for another 10 minutes. Toss with a large spoon about every 10 min. In the meantime, prepare some basmati rice. Once it's done, stir in a tsp of turmeric, a tsp of saffron, and a pat of butter (you certainly substitute olive oil to make the rice vegan).

Serve vegetables over rice, and garnish with mint and parsley. Top it off with a nice big dollop of plain yogurt mixed with chopped fresh mint.

roasted winter vegetables

My Vegetarian Times magazine this month was all about roasted winter vegetables. Added bonus of eating locally? Vegetables in season are CHEAP!

A couple of nights ago I made this dish for my roommates:



Basically, it's 1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets, about 10-12 large Brussells sprouts, halved, 2 large carrots, cut into sticks, and 1/2 of a HUGE yam, cubed. (PS> All that was about $4.) I tossed the vegetables with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, rosemary and thyme I had leftover from Thanskgiving (just throw it in there whole; the leaves will fall off during cooking and you can fish the stems out before serving), and 4-5 smashed garlic cloves. Season to your liking. Luckily I had this fabulous alderwood-smoked salt that really added to the depth of the dish. Roast at 450 for about 20-30 minutes, tossing every 10 minutes. After that, turn the heat up to 500 and let everything get golden brown and delicious. Once you pull it out, sprinkle with fresh parsley and lemon juice. I served with black rice, but I think it would be amazing with a hunk of crusty rustic bread.

Tonight I made baby red potatoes and brussells sprouts with thyme and a splash of white balsamic vinegar. I also have plans for a red onion, some chickpeas, and an eggplant. Suddenly my new favourite oven setting is 500!!!