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Unripe Avocado Success!

I was working from home today, so planned a yummy lunch of an ALT (Avocado, Lettuce, and Tomato sandwich. Alas, after I had sliced the tomatoes, I started in on the avocado and found that it was HARD! It would never mash into a yummy spread. It did seem edible, though, although it tasted more vegetabl-y (like eating leaves and grass) than I was prepared for.

I'm trying to be more flexible with my cooking, so I just started improvising, and the result was awesome. First, I sautéed the tomatoes while adding salt, garlic powder, pepper and dried thyme. If I had more energy, I probably would have put in fresh garlic and thyme, but such is life. Meanwhile, I cut the avocado into rough 1/2- to 1-inch chunks. I added them to the skillet briefly to let them soften a little, and get a little brown. Heck, if I'm eating unripe avocado, I might as well cook it and break all the rules, right? In the end, I used it on my nutty wheat bread and added a little sprinkle of cheese and zapped it enough to melt the cheese (would have been better if I had broken out the broiler...).

And the Verdict - It was great! It tasted vaguely Italian, like a quick vegetable Parmesan or something. The nutty bread really worked out well. Next time, I might use a whole tomato, but hopefully it won't happen again! - I'll post pictures soon :)

2 New Recipes

We tried 2 new recipes this week- Pad Thai from Mark Bittman, and Penne with Ricotta and Pine Nuts from Martha Stewart.

I've tried Mark's Pad Thai before, and am not convinced that this recipe from "The Minimalist" is much different. On the other hand, I was able to get my hands on tamarind from my local oriental market (their wording, not mine) so I thought I'd give it a shot. It has a TON of nappa cabbage in it, and not very much noodles (despite the picture on the article), 4 ounces of noodles, a small cabbage... but it turned out delish. I also skipped the shrimp as we don't love shrimp here too much and tofu generally works out pretty well. In the future, I might batter the tofu before to give it some more crunch, maybe with some sirachi or something to give it some spice....Like most of his recipes, this makes 2 big dinners or 4 teeny dinners. Up to you! I think I might tweak this recipe based on whatever was on hand, and that would probably be ok by MB.

I had second thoughts about the flavor level in the Penne before I even started. So everyone got a spicy italian sausage as well. Of course, it got a little out of control, trying to cook the noodles, sausage and the pine nuts, so I burned the pine nuts. I tossed them rather than have them foul up the whole dish, but we were definately left wanting more. :( Jonathan gave this a 2 on our 5 star system, and he said that without the sausage, it would have been lower. Oh well.

Some Catch-up

Like your average blogger, I've taken some time off. Both from blogging and cooking, actually. I had a very nice vacation in St. Thomas for spring break. Not sure we'd go back there again, but that's a story for another blog.

But! Some recipes that I have prepared in the last couple of weeks with quick recaps:
From Martha Stewart's Dinner Tonight:
Lighter Chicken Enchiladas - Yummy, and pretty easy. I put in 3 whole diced chipotles, rather than 2 teaspoons, so it was EXTREMELY spicy. Still, no real complaints, and I ate my first couple without sour cream, which I suggest as a condiment, especially if you overdo the spice.
Lemon-Roasted Chicken with Arugala Salad and Dilled Orzo - This was all eaten up pretty quickly. It was nice to have a whole meal that really came together nicely and could be done at the same time. Plus it went really well together. The sauce for my chicken poured into my orzo, which I would do purposefully next time.
Crispy Ginger-Lime Chicken Thighs - Despite the deliciousness of chicken thighs generally, these were a little uninteresting. Also, I decided not to run the scallions through the processor and mince them myself, which meant that they were a little big and so didn't get everywhere that they were supposed to go.
Chef's Salad - A pretty meaty salad, but I managed to still make it pretty low-cal for all the bacon etc. in it. I'm not sure the dressing would go with anything else, and it seemed to have forgotten that the recipe called for a lemon, so I just popped the lemon juice in the dressing. Pretty good, too, and a nice hefty lunch to bring in the next day. The recipe also assumes that you will prep everything in the morning, so you could do that if you wanted.
Chicken, Edamame, and Noodle Stir-Fry - I added some sirachi to this and it was HEAVENLY. I didn't realize I had edamame in the pod still, so we skipped that. Also, I bought pre-cooked soba noodles (for some ramen-esque instant soup) so I got to skip the step of boiling it.

From Bon Apetit:
Bombay Sliders with Garlic Curry Sauce - These are OK. I'm not 100% they're worth the effort, and they get very slide-y with the sauce, onion and cucumber on top. In the future, I might just make turkey burgers and pop the sauce on top, and spice the meat if I have time. I probably wouldn't make 12 little sliders. Also, I'd skip the 1.5 T of plain yogurt, unless I already had some in the fridge. I'm not sure it makes any difference.

Delicious MYOTO:
Green Chicken Curry
- Recipe and how it went after the jump -

Creamy Polenta with Sausage

Apparently my browser doesn't believe that "polenta" is a real word, but it's a really delicious word. On Sunday we had "Creamy Polenta with Sausage" from Mark Bittman's column in "The Minimalist" in the NY Times last month. I really like both his column and his blog (Bitten blog, there's a link to it on the right), and I used to be able to get the video versions of the Minimalist recipes podcasted, but that stopped working in November.

In general, I thought this was really yummy. I was able to cook some sausage and polenta at the same time pretty easily. I got a little hectic at points when the sausage wasn't browning on all sides so I had to hold it against the pan with my tongs in different angles, and stir the polenta, and check on my pie all at the same time. After the first 5-10 minutes the polenta stopped sucking up as much moisture and it let me just cook it.

Not too surprisingly, I wasn't able to find actual polenta at the store, so I substituted normal yellow cornmeal and halved the time. At 15 minutes I tasted it, and it was the right texture.

Overall, it worked, but it was a little light for a dinner on it's own. in hindsight, I should have prepped a salad beforehand. Instead, we just ate some pie and ice cream. I'm not sure everyone in our house is a fan of the texture of polenta, so I might make it again in a smaller batch for lunches.

In fact, I did save some leftovers and managed to microwave the polenta pretty successfully for lunch on Monday. I'm saving the rest of the sausage in the freezer for "Crazy Pasta" sometime in the future (when I'll define that as well).

Pi Day

Today I made Old-Fashioned Pecan Pie from the finale issue of Gourmet in celebration of Pi Day (March 14 = 3.14, get it?). For the most part it went well, with some unexpected issues and bonuses.



Brown sugar, rather than white sugar, is used in this recipe, which gives it a nice deep taste, and the sugar is cooked a little bit once the butter is melted, so it really draws in the flavor. I accidentally originally melted 1/4 stick butter and then added the sugar, and then realized that it was supposed to be 3/4 of a stick, so the sugar may have gotten cooked longer than it needed to be, but overall it tasted carmel-y, which was a nice addition.

This recipe also uses orange zest, which i honestly could not taste, so I might save the effort/orange next time.

I also realized that I ran out of vanilla (could have SWORN I had another bottle in there somewhere) and tried to substitute with almond extract (2 nuts, right?). It went OK, but i really should have measured. My almond extract bottle has a pour spout and I probably tossed in more than a tablespoon, rather than the teaspoon of extract I was short. I fished some out (luckily it didn't mix into the sugar mixture immediately).

Overall, a little almond-y, but the brown sugar is a winner.

Yet another picture of a pecan pie. I really need to do better photoing things. 

Apparently, I'm very foolish.

So, I have to continue my "going back in time" posts for a couple days. In the next couple of days I'll talk Tuna Buna, bad homemade vinaigrette, and Creamy Polenta with Sausage.

To preface, I love the magazine "Cook's Country." It's by the same people who do "America's Test Kitchen" on PBS and they publish bi-monthly with "Cook's Illustrated" coming on the alternate moths. I feel like generally there are more recipes in "Cook's Country" and they are usually more doable. Every issue has a similar feel.
Kitchen Shortcuts - Dusting flour with a tea strainer
a lightened version of a classic - Strawberry Shortcake
some resurrected classics - Marzetti
eight 30-minute meals in rip out cards - Skillet Pork Tenderloin Stroganoff
A getting to know ingredients page - Spring Vegetables
"Great American Cake" - Daffodil Cake

This month, I failed. The issue promised "Foolproof Chicken Cordon Bleu," which is one of the husband's favorites. Part of what makes it "Foolproof" is that you get the biggest chicken breasts you can (mine were huge, had to go to the kosher section to get non-tiny ones) and to make little ham & swiss rolls and pop 2 inside each breast.

Nope. On the first breast, I could only fit one roll in, and just barely. On the second, my knife sliced right through the back of the breast so it was more like a breast loop than pocket.  Luckily, one of the suggestions was to make most of this the day ahead, and I was actually doing this late on Sunday for Monday. This leads to one of my favorite rules about cooking: Always have a backup plan.

So, I had chicken breasts, ham slices, and about 2 cups of grated swiss cheese. I have a great recipe also from the same people in the book Best 30 Minute Recipes for "Unstuffed Chicken, Ham and Gruyere." I've done it a couple of times before, and it is actually fairly foolproof and delicious. I switched the swiss in for the gruyere (not a big-time substitute), stopped by the grocery store to get some cream, and had a new delicious dinner! Due to fears of copyright, I'm not planning on giving away the recipe, but you basically brown one side of the chicken, turn it, cover it with dijon, ham, swiss (in my case), and crackers, and then cook it on the range and in the oven with a cream-wine sauce. It's great, and after you make it once or twice, it's pretty easy to do without looking at the recipe once. Also, it's very forgiving about any amounts of ingredients and the timing, as long as the cream doesn't curdle and the chicken cooks through. Plus - it makes leftovers!! Yummy!

Onion Bread and Veggie Melts

Ok, I know. I'm way behind. Today's post is actually about Sunday's dinner (and the weekend's baking). I'll get to the Sunday night prep for Monday that went awfully tomorrow -- ooh! a teaser! --

I follow Jorge Garcia's (Hurley from Lost) blog pretty avidly. Mostly because he's a fairly normal dude, and he's  into gardening and cooking more than one would expect. Both Jorge and I got the book My Bread this past December, and he also got Artisan Breads Every Day. After checking it out at Amazon and hearing about his success, I had to get that as well. This weekend I made Onion and Wild rice bread. It was/is DELICIOUS! The recipe makes a ton, and while I could have divided the batch, I just made a bakers dozen rolls for my parents and a huge loaf for us. It's softer than I was expecting (no really crunchy crust like the ones from My Bread) but it would be a great thing for us to have more often. I'm already expecting I'll just make hamburger rolls out of it in the future. I couldn't get a pure wild rice blend from my Target, but I bought a mix of various grains, and it seems to have worked out just fine.

Whenever I make bread, I try to make sure I have something that will go well with it to make the effort worthwhile. This time, it was a recipe from the Martha Stewart "Dinner Tonight" emails that I get sent, and boy was it delicious! We cut thick slices from the middle of the round loaf of onion bread to make Portobello, Broccoli, and Red-Pepper Melts. These could possibly be my new favorite sandwich, plus, they're vegetarian! If you try to make them, some notes:
- You'll want to have 2 broiler-safe(ish) baking sheets covered in aluminum foil at the ready. One for cooking the veggies and the other for melting the cheese on the sandwiches. You can do it with one, but you'll run out of room and patience when you try to transfer bread onto the chock-full vegetable sheet that is scalding hot.
- Broil the veggies as long or short as you like. That all depends on your personal cooked taste. This would be fine with raw veggies (the broccoli might be too crunchy)
- Cut down the veggies if you like. We decreased the broccoli a little, and still had mounds of vegetables loose next to the sandwiches.
- I'd also experiment with other vegetables based on what's in season and sounds good to you. Other peppers and mushrooms would be a start, but in the summer zucchini, squash, and eggplant would be good options.

Sidney's Pasta

The other night we had a pasta dish inspired by a dish from Sidney's Pizza  which may or may not still be around in Minneapolis. It's a favorite here because everything involved is extra delicious.

This recipe is very much up to your individual taste, and involves absolutely no measuring, but I'm including rough estimates of what I included when I made it this time as a guide. Use more or less of anything depending on what you like.

Sidney's Pasta:
Serves 2
Ingredients:
1 white onion, thinly sliced (2 or more would be good too)
8 ounces mushrooms (we used baby bellas), sliced
8 ounces pasta (usually we use a short pasta like penne)
5 ounces chevre
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:
1. Caramelize Onions:
-This is to be done by taste, but I normally do as listed below. Feel free to add time as you like (up to    1 hr cooking time total for onions)- 
Cook onions on medium in a skillet with a cover (preferably non-stick) for 20-25 minutes, stirring infrequently (every 3-5 minutes-ish). When the onions start getting brown and start to stick on the bottom, add 1 T olive oil. Continue to cook on medium-low, stirring occasionally for 10-40 minutes more.

2. Cook Pasta:
I usually put the water on to boil when when I add the oil to the onions

3. Saute Mushrooms:
When there's about 10 minutes left to cook the pasta, drop the mushrooms into the onions. Spread them out and turn the heat back to medium. Do NOT stir them for at least 2 minutes, to get them started cooking. Once they begin to soften, start stirring them again.

4. Finish:
When pasta is just about done, add in goat cheese to mushroom mixture and let it melt. Stir mushroom and cheese mixture in with cooked pasta and add balsamic vinegar to taste.

Dig in!
 

Blast from my Past week

Hi All (or none)!

Ever had one of those weeks where you just want comfort food? Its easy because you know what to pick up, and you barely have to look at the recipes. That's this week for me. The first meal of the week was Sunday night where we had Lincoln Life Burgers.

I grew up loving these "burgers" which are more like meatloaf patties with lots of onions and sauce. My mom thinks it's because it was one of a couple of things that she ate a ton of when she was pregnant. I think it's due to ketchups "natural mellowing agents" and that everything involved is delicious.

The recipe originally came from a potluck dinner that my grandfather went to when he worked at Lincoln Life Insurance (hence the name). I don't have the name of the cook, so if anyone ever wants to take credit, feel free.

It's really hard to grow up as a kid when someone asks you your favorite foods and you say Lincoln Life Burgers, Tuna Buna and Easy Beefy. We'll get to those others later. (Tuna Buna is slated for later this week!)

Recipe for Lincoln Life burgers follows after the jump.

Classic Kitchen Catastrophe

I didn't cook last night (instead got a cute haircut!), so I thought I could share a cooking disaster that happened earlier, as well as a yummy recipe (or 2).

For my dad's 59th birthday, I agreed to bring dessert. I was still getting some of my cooking bearings, but I've always been best at baking, especially pies, which take the least finesse, I find. I had made a delicious pecan pie for a party earlier in the year, and figured I'd just make it again. You can find the recipe online at epicurious here:
Mocha Pecan Pie with Coffee Whipped Cream

I'm going to back up a little. For Christmas, we had gone to visit my brother and sister in law, and she made for us "Egg Specials". These are super easy.

Ingredients:
Egg Substitute
Pre-Sliced Cheddar
Spinach
English Muffins

Directions:
Scramble egg substitute and spinach (to taste) with salt and pepper until egg is done. Pop cooked egg on top of english muffin in toaster oven with a slice of cheese on top until cheese is melt-y. ENJOY!

I had decided that it sounded like a yummy weekend breakfast (with a non-stick pan, there's no added milk or butter/oil) that was still not too bad for you so had bought some egg substitute. Which brings me back to the pie. Heck, it's egg SUBSTITUTE, why not substitute it for the eggs?

Well, it didn't mix well with the cocoa powder, that's why. So I had to beat it into submission, and it was still mostly yellow with brown chunks. And then I cooked it. Apparently, either the beating or the actual egg substitute itself caused it all to rise about an inch above the rim of the pie plate. It also was mostly yellow with a brown crust on top.

So, went to our local bakery and picked out mini deserts!!

Lesson 1: Always have a backup plan
Lesson 2: Just because it says "substitute" doesn't mean you can just use it willy nilly.

Post Number Uno

Ok, so I've decided to follow in the footsteps of just about everybody and start a blog. Primarily this will be about my disasters (and hopefully successes) in cooking.

Last Night's Dinner:

Sandwiches with goat cheese, apple and bacon

This was roughly translated from Mark Bittman's Kitchen Express (which I love so far) with apples substituted for pears. These are finished with balsamic and go great with a nice little salad.

I made stecca last week and had saved some in the freezer for this. The whole sandwich was a little salty, but the bite of the vinegar and the creaminess of the goat cheese really makes the whole dish delicious.