Fall fruits and vegetables have arrived at the farmers market: hearty kale, bumpy squash, and crisp apples. This week, I bought home a pair of acorn squash and immediately set about figuring out how to cook them. Roasted squash received the best reviews and so I decided to try a food network recipe for roasted squash pizza with gorgonzola and arugula: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/roasted-acorn-squash-and-gorgonzola-pizza-recipe/index.html
Doesn't that sound like a strange combination? It looks even stranger on the pizza but believe you me. . . it tastes delicious.
(New recipe #I have no idea; I have missed writing down quite a few.)
Showing posts with label recipe resolution 2010. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recipe resolution 2010. Show all posts
Monday, September 13, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Comfort food
We have been trying a lot of new recipes lately. So many, in fact, that they are piling up faster than I can blog about them.
Here are our most recent recipe ventures:
Jeanne Lemlin's Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Dill Dumplings: The title tells you all you need to know. Roasting the red peppers adds a bit of extra cooking time, but the result is a rich, velvety soup that we absolutely devoured.
Sesame Whole Wheat Bread: This was a recipe from King Arthur Flour's baking magazine. I was unimpressed with the result, the bread was much too dry, but am looking forward to trying additional recipes in future issues of the magazine.
Hamburger buns two ways: One way turns out lovely soft rolls, the other turns out bread similar to a doorstop. Your choice!
And now, may I present to you, my new favorite breakfast:
The photo does not do this dish justice. It is a puffed apple pancake, a heavenly concoction of butter, baked apples, topped with a light pancake batter. I think that I could eat this every Saturday morning for the rest of my life, perfectly content.
I have 20 days left in Romania, which is starting to feel like a frighteningly short period of time. Fortunately, I have a welcome distraction this week in the form of my sparkling little sister. Bee worships her. Babycakes coos in her general direction. And I am just so happy to have some sisterly company. We have been cooking all our family favorites, including fajitas for Easter Sunday. (None of us are particular fans of ham.)
We did stick with tradition on Good Friday and made these most perfect hot cross buns. They were so easy to enjoy because you make the rolls the night before. They rise overnight in the refrigerator and are ready to bake first thing the next morning. As a result of this one recipe, I am now a devoted fan of Alexandra's Kitchen.
(Recipes #21-27)
Here are our most recent recipe ventures:
Jeanne Lemlin's Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Dill Dumplings: The title tells you all you need to know. Roasting the red peppers adds a bit of extra cooking time, but the result is a rich, velvety soup that we absolutely devoured.
Sesame Whole Wheat Bread: This was a recipe from King Arthur Flour's baking magazine. I was unimpressed with the result, the bread was much too dry, but am looking forward to trying additional recipes in future issues of the magazine.
Hamburger buns two ways: One way turns out lovely soft rolls, the other turns out bread similar to a doorstop. Your choice!
And now, may I present to you, my new favorite breakfast:
The photo does not do this dish justice. It is a puffed apple pancake, a heavenly concoction of butter, baked apples, topped with a light pancake batter. I think that I could eat this every Saturday morning for the rest of my life, perfectly content.
I have 20 days left in Romania, which is starting to feel like a frighteningly short period of time. Fortunately, I have a welcome distraction this week in the form of my sparkling little sister. Bee worships her. Babycakes coos in her general direction. And I am just so happy to have some sisterly company. We have been cooking all our family favorites, including fajitas for Easter Sunday. (None of us are particular fans of ham.)
We did stick with tradition on Good Friday and made these most perfect hot cross buns. They were so easy to enjoy because you make the rolls the night before. They rise overnight in the refrigerator and are ready to bake first thing the next morning. As a result of this one recipe, I am now a devoted fan of Alexandra's Kitchen.
(Recipes #21-27)
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Mona's Bread
My great aunt Mona made wonderful bread. Her signature loaf was soft, white, sweet and made a perfect sandwich with just a little bit of butter and a slice of cheese. Whenever she gave my family one of her loaves, I was always the first to pull a slice--or three--out of the breadbox.
Mona was a a gentle woman, ladylike and devoted to her husband and daughters. A teetotaler. Baptist. Her quiet kindness stood out in a family of noisy, smoking, gregarious Danes. Mona was my grandmother's younger sister, one of the last babies born into a family of 14 children.
I always got the feeling that my great grandmother, Anna, was running out of ideas for names toward the end of her pregnancies, having exhausted all the popular Danish monikers of the day. The name Mona was inspired by the Mona Lisa. I don't know whether it was a case of life imitating art or mere coincidence, but my great aunt Mona had a enigmatic smile very similar to that of her namesake. My grandmother, was named Ingse, also an unusual name in Denmark. As my grandmother tells the story, she was very sick at birth and her mother thought that "Ingse" would look lovely on a tombstone. Fortunately for me, my grandmother would survive infancy, immigrate to America and give birth to my father.
My grandmother and aunt Mona could not have been any more different from each other. My grandmother is outgoing whereas Mona was reserved. My grandmother is a classic extrovert, making friends with everyone she meets. Mona was harder to get to know. Despite their differences, both sisters were close friends. About fifteen years ago, they took a trip to Denmark together and bonded over visiting family and eating all their favorite foods. My grandmother was delighted to discover that her proper little sister snored.
Several years ago, I mentioned to my grandmother how much I loved Mona's bread and wished I had the recipe. Somewhat indignantly, and to my surprise, she replied that it was her recipe and that she would be happy to write it out. (My grandmother is a wonderful cook, but I have never known her to bake bread. I'm not one to argue, though.) On the back of a scrap of paper she proceeded to write down a few key words and ingredients. It didn't make a lot of sense. "Milk and butter lukewarm," it read. What exactly did that mean? "Rise one hour," was the other specific instruction. But how? Being polite, I thanked her, and filed the recipe away.
Mona died in the fall, after a brave battle with cancer. Her death has been very hard on my grandmother. I have had her in my prayers and on my mind. Last Friday I decided to try the recipe for Mona's bread, despite the lack of instructions. As it baked, the house smelled wonderful and I grew cautiously optimistic. When I bit into the first piece, warm from the oven, I tasted success. It was Mona's bread.
We live on through the work of our hands.
Mona's Bread
Combine:
2 c. milk
1 stick butter
(both milk and butter should be lukewarm, my butter was soft enough to stir, slightly melted in the microwave)
2 packages of instant yeast
1 Tbs. salt
1/2 c. sugar
Gradually add 4-5 cups flour:
I used a dough whisk, but you could also use a wooden spoon, or the dough hook on your stand mixer. Your goal is to make a soft, not sticky dough. You'll know you have enough flour when the dough goes from sticky, to shaggy, to forming a rough ball.
Knead until the dough is elastic, about 8-10 minutes when kneading by hand.
Place in a greased bowl, cover, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about one hour.
Punch dough down, and knead slightly to degas. Divide the dough into two balls. Place first ball on a lightly floured surface.
Using your hands or a rolling pin shape the first ball into a 9" by 18" rectangle. The short sides should be parallel to you, the long sides vertical. Starting at the top, roll the dough toward yourself, forming a tight cylinder. Once you have rolled it all up, pinch the seam into the dough, tuck the ends under and pinch them into the dough as well. You are "sealing" the loose ends into the loaf. It will look like a log when you are done. Place into a 9x5" loaf pan.
Repeat with the second dough ball.
Cover both loaves with plastic wrap and allow them to rise until the dough just reaches the top of the pan, about 45 minutes.
Bake at 350 degrees until the dough reaches an internal temperature of 185-190 degrees (check with an instant read thermometer)--it took about 50 minutes in my oven.
Enjoy.
(Recipe #20)
Mona was a a gentle woman, ladylike and devoted to her husband and daughters. A teetotaler. Baptist. Her quiet kindness stood out in a family of noisy, smoking, gregarious Danes. Mona was my grandmother's younger sister, one of the last babies born into a family of 14 children.
I always got the feeling that my great grandmother, Anna, was running out of ideas for names toward the end of her pregnancies, having exhausted all the popular Danish monikers of the day. The name Mona was inspired by the Mona Lisa. I don't know whether it was a case of life imitating art or mere coincidence, but my great aunt Mona had a enigmatic smile very similar to that of her namesake. My grandmother, was named Ingse, also an unusual name in Denmark. As my grandmother tells the story, she was very sick at birth and her mother thought that "Ingse" would look lovely on a tombstone. Fortunately for me, my grandmother would survive infancy, immigrate to America and give birth to my father.
My grandmother and aunt Mona could not have been any more different from each other. My grandmother is outgoing whereas Mona was reserved. My grandmother is a classic extrovert, making friends with everyone she meets. Mona was harder to get to know. Despite their differences, both sisters were close friends. About fifteen years ago, they took a trip to Denmark together and bonded over visiting family and eating all their favorite foods. My grandmother was delighted to discover that her proper little sister snored.
Several years ago, I mentioned to my grandmother how much I loved Mona's bread and wished I had the recipe. Somewhat indignantly, and to my surprise, she replied that it was her recipe and that she would be happy to write it out. (My grandmother is a wonderful cook, but I have never known her to bake bread. I'm not one to argue, though.) On the back of a scrap of paper she proceeded to write down a few key words and ingredients. It didn't make a lot of sense. "Milk and butter lukewarm," it read. What exactly did that mean? "Rise one hour," was the other specific instruction. But how? Being polite, I thanked her, and filed the recipe away.
Mona died in the fall, after a brave battle with cancer. Her death has been very hard on my grandmother. I have had her in my prayers and on my mind. Last Friday I decided to try the recipe for Mona's bread, despite the lack of instructions. As it baked, the house smelled wonderful and I grew cautiously optimistic. When I bit into the first piece, warm from the oven, I tasted success. It was Mona's bread.
We live on through the work of our hands.
Mona's Bread
Combine:
2 c. milk
1 stick butter
(both milk and butter should be lukewarm, my butter was soft enough to stir, slightly melted in the microwave)
2 packages of instant yeast
1 Tbs. salt
1/2 c. sugar
Gradually add 4-5 cups flour:
I used a dough whisk, but you could also use a wooden spoon, or the dough hook on your stand mixer. Your goal is to make a soft, not sticky dough. You'll know you have enough flour when the dough goes from sticky, to shaggy, to forming a rough ball.
Knead until the dough is elastic, about 8-10 minutes when kneading by hand.
Place in a greased bowl, cover, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about one hour.
Punch dough down, and knead slightly to degas. Divide the dough into two balls. Place first ball on a lightly floured surface.
Using your hands or a rolling pin shape the first ball into a 9" by 18" rectangle. The short sides should be parallel to you, the long sides vertical. Starting at the top, roll the dough toward yourself, forming a tight cylinder. Once you have rolled it all up, pinch the seam into the dough, tuck the ends under and pinch them into the dough as well. You are "sealing" the loose ends into the loaf. It will look like a log when you are done. Place into a 9x5" loaf pan.
Repeat with the second dough ball.
Cover both loaves with plastic wrap and allow them to rise until the dough just reaches the top of the pan, about 45 minutes.
Bake at 350 degrees until the dough reaches an internal temperature of 185-190 degrees (check with an instant read thermometer)--it took about 50 minutes in my oven.
Enjoy.
(Recipe #20)
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Oddities
I would like to inform you about a few oddities that have taken place in the past week:
First of all, it's snowing. A lot. In the middle of March. It's not just a freak snowstorm we're having, but a week-long event. I would like to think of March as the month that heralds spring. The first buds appear on the trees, early crocuses poke their heads through the slowing warming earth, and little birds begin to build their springtime nests . . . Maybe all these things are happening, but it's hard to tell through the swirling whiteness out my window. The little birds are probably frozen solid to a branch somewhere. Can you tell that I am tired of being holed up in the house?
So in my winter misery I have been baking, a lot. It warms up the apartment and gives us something to do. I have found a new favorite quick bread recipe that everyone needs to make next week in honor of St. Patrick's day: Irish Buttermilk Brown Bread. Please splurge and use real buttermilk. This bread is amazing. I could eat the entire loaf. We served it with garlic lentil soup and successfully fought off winter's icy blast.
I have also discovered the joy of refrigerator cookie dough. Beatrice Ojakangas in "The Great Scandinavian Baking Book" has an easy recipe for Danish Vanilla Slices. You form the dough in logs and then chill it in your refrigerator, for up to two weeks. Then you can slice and bake (or roll out, cut with cookie cutters, and bake) just however many cookies you plan to eat at one time. I like this concept. More eating, fewer stale cookies.
This weekend my dear husband and I both spent some time flipping through our small cookbook collection, looking for inspiration. We are finally cooking from Mollie Katzen's "Pretend Soup," "Salad People" and "New Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant." The former two cookbooks are for children, but are filled with simple, delicious recipes that appeal to everyone in the family. On Saturday morning we had "Corny Corn Cakes," which was a nice twist on our standard weekend pancake fare. On Monday we made winter pesto, which took advantage of the fact that fresh spinach has arrived at our local market. Hooray for something other than cauliflower and potatoes.
Second of all: That was a long first of all, but really quickly, two more things: Did you know that you can cook tortellini in the microwave? There is a fun way to find this out. First, invite friends (and their new adorable baby) over for lunch. Prepare everything for your pasta salad except for the pasta. Have no other lunch food in the house. Welcome your friends, spend some time chatting and cooing over their baby and then go get ready to boil water.
"Click, click, click, pfft" says the gas stove. Uh oh. Why is my gas out? Turns out, the city had decided to turn it off for a few hours for maintenance. Or perhaps the municipal workers just wanted a half day off? I have no idea why. So I tried not to panic, and put the tortellini in a bowl of water, and microwaved on high for six minutes. To my utter joy and amazement, it worked. I am fortunate to have very understanding friends. Italy suffered a few minor seismic tremors as an entire generation of grandmothers rolled over in their graves. Pasta in the microwave.
Finally, and this is the oddest oddity of all--my dear husband has taken up ironing. I think he has started mostly out of desperation since I avoid ironing at all costs. But he's quite good, so I plan to encourage this new undertaking as much as I possibly can.
So here's hoping that next week is warm, inside and out, as well as wrinkle free.
(Recipes #16-19)
First of all, it's snowing. A lot. In the middle of March. It's not just a freak snowstorm we're having, but a week-long event. I would like to think of March as the month that heralds spring. The first buds appear on the trees, early crocuses poke their heads through the slowing warming earth, and little birds begin to build their springtime nests . . . Maybe all these things are happening, but it's hard to tell through the swirling whiteness out my window. The little birds are probably frozen solid to a branch somewhere. Can you tell that I am tired of being holed up in the house?
So in my winter misery I have been baking, a lot. It warms up the apartment and gives us something to do. I have found a new favorite quick bread recipe that everyone needs to make next week in honor of St. Patrick's day: Irish Buttermilk Brown Bread. Please splurge and use real buttermilk. This bread is amazing. I could eat the entire loaf. We served it with garlic lentil soup and successfully fought off winter's icy blast.
I have also discovered the joy of refrigerator cookie dough. Beatrice Ojakangas in "The Great Scandinavian Baking Book" has an easy recipe for Danish Vanilla Slices. You form the dough in logs and then chill it in your refrigerator, for up to two weeks. Then you can slice and bake (or roll out, cut with cookie cutters, and bake) just however many cookies you plan to eat at one time. I like this concept. More eating, fewer stale cookies.
This weekend my dear husband and I both spent some time flipping through our small cookbook collection, looking for inspiration. We are finally cooking from Mollie Katzen's "Pretend Soup," "Salad People" and "New Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant." The former two cookbooks are for children, but are filled with simple, delicious recipes that appeal to everyone in the family. On Saturday morning we had "Corny Corn Cakes," which was a nice twist on our standard weekend pancake fare. On Monday we made winter pesto, which took advantage of the fact that fresh spinach has arrived at our local market. Hooray for something other than cauliflower and potatoes.
Second of all: That was a long first of all, but really quickly, two more things: Did you know that you can cook tortellini in the microwave? There is a fun way to find this out. First, invite friends (and their new adorable baby) over for lunch. Prepare everything for your pasta salad except for the pasta. Have no other lunch food in the house. Welcome your friends, spend some time chatting and cooing over their baby and then go get ready to boil water.
"Click, click, click, pfft" says the gas stove. Uh oh. Why is my gas out? Turns out, the city had decided to turn it off for a few hours for maintenance. Or perhaps the municipal workers just wanted a half day off? I have no idea why. So I tried not to panic, and put the tortellini in a bowl of water, and microwaved on high for six minutes. To my utter joy and amazement, it worked. I am fortunate to have very understanding friends. Italy suffered a few minor seismic tremors as an entire generation of grandmothers rolled over in their graves. Pasta in the microwave.
Finally, and this is the oddest oddity of all--my dear husband has taken up ironing. I think he has started mostly out of desperation since I avoid ironing at all costs. But he's quite good, so I plan to encourage this new undertaking as much as I possibly can.
So here's hoping that next week is warm, inside and out, as well as wrinkle free.
(Recipes #16-19)
Thursday, March 4, 2010
"More tofu, please!"
I can't believe it is already Thursday, er Friday. (This post has taken two days to finish.) It seems as though this week has just flown by in a blur of diaper changes, storybooks, and abbreviated nap times. Neither of my little darlings slept much yesterday, and are doing only marginally better today. Oh well.
We have had a good week for eating, especially since it was my dear husband's birthday on Monday. The poor man had to spend the day at work, but we made up for this injustice by ordering copious amounts of food from our favorite Lebanese restaurant.
For dessert we celebrated with pie. Isn't that terrible? I am the queen of cakes. I can make them all: chocolate cake with mountains of sticky icing; soft yellow cake with vanilla frosting and swirling decorations, pink strawberry cake, for heaven's sake! I have a cake for every season of the year--every conceivable occasion. I ask my dear husband what he wants every year, and the answer is always the same: strudel.
Strudel terrifies me. It's a gigantic dish that his family makes every Thanksgiving and usually involves the combined efforts of at least four people. Fortunately, every Romanian pastry shop in Bucharest serves reasonably decent strudel--in single serving portions. So as a compromise this year, he bought himself a strudel after lunch and I served pie after dinner. I will make strudel next year, I promise! (This is because we will be in America and I can enlist the help of my Father-in-law.)
The only reason I was able to avoid making strudel was by suggesting a pie that involved bourbon. Sweet potato bourbon pie, to be precise, except I made an all butter pie crust, to counteract the healthiness of all that sweet potato. Anyway, there are no frozen pie crusts to be had in Romania. I highly recommend this recipe; I thought that it would be very similar to pumpkin pie, and it was, except the sweet potato made for a richer filling.
On Wednesday we tried stir fried tofu with vegetables and somen noodles. It was fine, but despite my dear husband's best efforts, I am not really a fan of any kind of Chinese food that doesn't come in a pretty paper box.
I had quite a shock when Miss Bee's sweet little voice requested "More tofu, please!" I mean, I didn't eat tofu until I was in college. What are we doing to this child? I plan to make it up to her this afternoon when we make vanilla cookies.
(Recipes #13-15)
We have had a good week for eating, especially since it was my dear husband's birthday on Monday. The poor man had to spend the day at work, but we made up for this injustice by ordering copious amounts of food from our favorite Lebanese restaurant.
For dessert we celebrated with pie. Isn't that terrible? I am the queen of cakes. I can make them all: chocolate cake with mountains of sticky icing; soft yellow cake with vanilla frosting and swirling decorations, pink strawberry cake, for heaven's sake! I have a cake for every season of the year--every conceivable occasion. I ask my dear husband what he wants every year, and the answer is always the same: strudel.
Strudel terrifies me. It's a gigantic dish that his family makes every Thanksgiving and usually involves the combined efforts of at least four people. Fortunately, every Romanian pastry shop in Bucharest serves reasonably decent strudel--in single serving portions. So as a compromise this year, he bought himself a strudel after lunch and I served pie after dinner. I will make strudel next year, I promise! (This is because we will be in America and I can enlist the help of my Father-in-law.)
The only reason I was able to avoid making strudel was by suggesting a pie that involved bourbon. Sweet potato bourbon pie, to be precise, except I made an all butter pie crust, to counteract the healthiness of all that sweet potato. Anyway, there are no frozen pie crusts to be had in Romania. I highly recommend this recipe; I thought that it would be very similar to pumpkin pie, and it was, except the sweet potato made for a richer filling.
On Wednesday we tried stir fried tofu with vegetables and somen noodles. It was fine, but despite my dear husband's best efforts, I am not really a fan of any kind of Chinese food that doesn't come in a pretty paper box.
I had quite a shock when Miss Bee's sweet little voice requested "More tofu, please!" I mean, I didn't eat tofu until I was in college. What are we doing to this child? I plan to make it up to her this afternoon when we make vanilla cookies.
(Recipes #13-15)
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Good eats
My dear husband has enthusiastically embraced our 50 recipes challenge and so, with his help, I have tried four more things in as many days. We have been leafing through our cookbook collection, skipping over our "tried and true favorites" for something just a little different.I have also continued to delve into "The Bread Baker's Apprentice," holding the cookbook at arm's length due to my continued love/fear of yeast baking. I love to bake. I can bake bread! However, I still find it exceedingly stressful. Part of this is due to the sheer insanity of baking bread from scratch with two little ones around the house. Is it time to shape the loaves? Oh no, it's time to leave them trembling on the counter while I feed the baby.
It doesn't help matters any that Peter Reinhart's baking instructions are extraordinarily fussy. I just keep telling myself that women have baked bread for thousands of years without a spray bottle and three pages of prose. I would like to suggest renaming his book the Bread Baker's Indentured Servant. While the easy solution would be to just shelve the book indefinitely, I cannot escape my servitude. Quite simply, his recipes are a revelation.
For example, pizza:
While it may look like a hot mess, you have no idea how delicious this pizza tasted. Oh, the crust! I will contain myself. I will not wax eloquently about pizza dough because that's embarassing. But really, it has surplanted all other pizza dough recipes in our house. And if you know us, you know we are pizza fanatics. This is one of Reinhart's easier recipes. You mix it up the day before, knead it some, stick the dough in the fridge until the next day. Nothing happens. Then you take it out and it sits on the counter for a few hours before you shape the pizza. Nothing else happens. No rising or bubbling. No telltale signs of yeasty wonderfulness. My husband was convinced the dough was dead until the pizza came out of the oven. But then we tasted it and it was heavenly.Speaking of other celestial gifts, we also made banana bread:
Did you know that Americans eat more bananas than any other fruit? I believe it. And only Americans could have come up with something so sinfully delicious as banana bread. I found a one bowl recipe on simply recipes and threw in two big handfuls of chocolate chips and chopped walnuts. And let me tell you, that was a very, very, good idea.And then on Monday we made pasta with tomatoes, cauliflower, and red peppers from our Jeanne Lemlin cookbook collection. I won't say much about it except that I was surprised that cauliflower goes so well with pasta. We are making the most of the limited in season offerings at the market. ( I also have a lovely cabbage and some potatoes in my fridge.) Thank goodness next month the spinach comes in.
Finally, I completely lost my mind and decided to make Vienna bread from "Bread Baker's Apprentice." Anadama loaf was one of the first recipes; Vienna bread was one of the last. This bread requires a pre-ferment. You make dough the day before and then add it to your recipe the next day. I made one loaf and six knotted rolls. I couldn't wait until dinner tonight and just polished off a big hunk of what you see in the foreground of the below photo. It was my best bread yet.
So yeah, yum. Hopefully more to come.
Recipes (#8-11)
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Full Bellies
So right now I should really be looking for a recipe to fulfill my craving for chocolate chip walnut banana bread, but I wanted to catch up on two recipes I made this week that were both very satisfying, in two different ways.
Anadama bread: I am slowly but surely overcoming my fear of "The Bread Baker's Apprentice." I mistakenly thought that the breads were organized in order of difficulty, and since Anadama was first, I thought, how hard could it be? (In fact, the author organizes his breads alphabetically. Whoops.)
It wasn't hard, but it wasn't so easy either: a two day process that started with fermenting the cornmeal for 24 hours. The next day, lots of proofing ensued, and the end result was an enriched sandwich bread that tasted somewhat like whole wheat. A lot of work for something I could buy at Harris Teeter. But oh, I am not in the United States where grocery stores are plentiful, and these loaves have grown on me since. They make soft and satisfying peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, are the perfect accompaniment to soup (see below) and spectacular cinnamon french toast.
Split pea soup (vegetarian): I have only had split pea soup one other time in my life. I vaguely remember trying a bowl at my grandmother's house. Hers included ham. This did not. There are a couple interesting things about split pea soup. First, it has a spatter distance of approximately one meter. Second, it completely covered the inside and outside of my soup pot, a feat not replicated by any other dish I have ever made. Finally, it is thick. . . as pea soup. Go figure. However, the good thing about pea soup is that it requires no time consuming vegetable stock, makes enough leftovers for the next day, and is very tasty.
(Recipes #6 & #7)
Monday, February 15, 2010
Recipe Resolution 2010
One of my resolutions this year was to try new recipes. Initially my plan was to try something new every week, but since it's already February, my goal will be to try 50 new recipes in 2010. If you want to read about someone who is doing a better job at fulfilling a similar resolution, check out my doppelganger at A Postcard From. We both fulfilled our resolutions of reading 50 books in 2009 and have since moved on to eating. I am not sure which is more enjoyable, eating or reading, but eating and reading, at the same time, is one of my absolute favorite things to do.
Despite my love of good food, I think too often my family gets stuck in a repetitive dinner rut (spaghetti-peas n' garlic bread anyone?). We mostly cook vegetarian meals, and alternate between Italian (pizza! pasta!) and Mexican (beans, beans, beans!). The problem with this is that by eschewing meat as a main course I feel like we are becoming cheese-atarians. Which, while tasty, is probably not the healthiest way to raise a child. I'm all for cheese and butter and cupcakes too, more on that in a moment, but the idea of vegetarianism is to eat, well, more vegetables. So it's time for some new recipes in our lives. We will defy the quesadilla (or at least find some new veggie/cheese combinations) and embrace variety!
Defying the above principle, we started our quest with Jeanne Lemlin's spaghettini with blue cheese. This was a quick meal: cook pasta, mix some chopped fresh parsley with 1/4 cup olive oil. Toss in the pasta and crumble a few ounces of blue cheese on top. I would recommend it for a quick lunch. It's not the sort of thing you would serve when company is coming for dinner.
For Valentine's Day I decided to try two recipes from one of my favorite food blogs, Smitten Kitchen. "We" (probably not the best choice of subject since my husband really did 90% of the cooking) made her chana masala and indian spiced potatoes and cauliflower. We added in Mark Bittman's recipe for flatbread and had a feast. It was healthy, (except for the fried bread), delicious, and best of all, made so much that we have a whole other meal tonight. And maybe lunch tomorrow.
But let's talk about the cupcakes. I wanted to make something decadent for Valentine's Day so I decided on yellow cupcakes with fudge frosting. Technically, I have made these before, but never with so much butter and so many eggs. I found the recipe on Joy of Baking. Between our overly ambitious dinner plans, cleaning up, and caring for two small children, the cupcakes weren't finished until 9:30 pm. My husband ate them sitting on the couch, half asleep, while trying to convince Baby N it was time for bed and trying to figure out how one actually wins a biathlon (I love the Olympics and all its obscure sports). They were so delicious I had to eat two of them. The best part? My addition of lots of Guittard chocolate sprinkles.
So, ladies and gentlemen, if you were counting, that's five recipes right there. Now, if you'll excuse me, I really need to go eat something.
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