Minestrone Soup and Beer Bread

Minestrone, like many big pot recipes, is infinitely variable depending on region, seasonality, and taste. So, while there are commonly accepted practices of what a traditional minestrone is, not every recipe is identical.

In an effort to use up spare ingredients and make something that I can eat as a staple in the upcoming week, I've thrown together a gargantuan pot of Minestrone. I read a few recipes, and took ideas from both, but ended up substituting with the ingredients that I had on hand.

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3 stalks of celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 diced tomatoes
1 diced red onion
1 cubed large rutabaga
1 cubed small red potato (accidental addition)
16 oz diced mushrooms
1/4 cup packed spinach
1 cup navy beans, soaked and cooked*
1 cup "pink beans" soaked and cooked*
1/4 cup fresh basil
3 tbs dried parsley
1 4inch long sprig of rosemary
lots of cracked black pepper
1 bay leaf
3 cups beef broth
5 cups water
2 tbs olive oil
1 cup uncooked orzo
grated Parmesan cheese

heat olive oil in bottom of large pot. Add in onions, celery, and carrots, and cook on medium until they are softening and releasing their juices, about 20 minutes. Add the broth, water, beans, potato, rutabaga. Add bay leaf, basil, parsley, rosemary, and pepper. Cook on a simmer until vegetables and beans are soft and cooked through, 40 minutes to an hour.. or longer depending on how large the cubes are. Add spinach, mushrooms, cook for 20 minutes. Add orzo, cook until soft. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. 

*note: I used soaked and uncooked beans, and they ended up taking longer than the soup to finish. Everything else ended up wonderfully juice and tender. Remember when cooking beans, add salt after they are fully cooked, otherwise they end up an unpleasant texture. I'm wondering if the beef broth had enough salt in it to accomplish this task, because the soup cooked forever it seemed like, and the beans were still chewey when I finally decided to serve it.

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Beer Bread (from the Joy of Cooking)

Serve with heart soups or stews and mild or strong cheeses. Slices are good toasted or you can rewarm the whole loaf in the oven for a crisp outer crust. This bread keeps for 2-3 days.

Preheat oven to 400 deg. Grease an 8.5 X 4.5 inch loaf pan.

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup white flour
1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt


Whisk together completely in a large bowl 1 cup whole wheat flour 1 cup all purpose flour 1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda1/2 tsp salt

Add
1&1/2 cups light or dark beer (but not stout) cold or at room temperature but not flat (pretty much a regular bottle of beer in volume. I use the whole beer and haven't had any issues)

Fold just unil the dry ingredients are moistened. Scrape the batter into the pan and spread evenly. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center and all the way to the bottom of the pan comes out clean 25-40 minutes Let cool in pan on a rack for 5-10 minutes before unmolding to cool completely on the rack.

* For the Beer I used an IPA. I really liked how it turned out because the IPA accentuates the wheaty/hoppy taste of the bread. The bread is really moist and dense, and absolutely delicious! 
** I've also been known to add cheese, this most recent time I added about 1/8th cup of Gorgonzola, and 1/8th cup sharp cheddar, finely diced. (It was what I had on hand in the cheese department..) 

Guest Blogger: Quick Pickle

This is from a guest blogger, from Beth, best friend. We frequently discuss home cooking, and she has good recipes a lot of the time. I will let her guest post speak for itself. :D If you have any questions, feel free to comment and I'll let Beth clarify.

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Having recently moved back in with my parents (thanks, big university), I find myself mostly relegated to the role of backup-cook or sous-chef. My mother precariously balances the nutritional balance of four trying-to-lose weight adults with some differently picky eaters thrown into the mix. I don’t really envy her the task, it’s hard enough to just feed my sister healthy, enjoyable food.



A few weeks ago, I house-sat for a lady who grows cucumbers and tomatoes. “Take them all,” she said, and I took her at her word. The tomatoes were easier to use, they ended up as bruschetta and salsa. I had a little more trouble with the cucumbers, and I ended up doing the traditional cucumber salad, also called a quick pickle.



The basics of a cucumber quick pickle is pretty much this: slice and peel your cucumbers (if they are the tiny cucumbers, you can skip the peeling). In a measuring cup, mix together white vinegar, sugar, salt, and black pepper. You want to have about 1/2 a cup of dressing for 4 cucumbers. This is all to taste, but I like about two tablespoons of sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt, and I really just eyeball the pepper. If the vinegar seems too potent, cut it with some water. Stick your measuring cup in the microwave, cook until hot (but not boiling) and pour it over the sliced cucumbers. You can eat it right away, but I like it covered and chilled for about twenty-four hours.



After some feedback from my sister, I found a Rachael Ray recipe that called for adding dill to the cucumbers and garlic and mustard powder to the dressing. I tried that, which is pretty good, and my mom liked it. My sister continued to not be fond of the dish, but at that point, I decided that she could make her own damn cucumbers, and went on to make it to my own preferences. The latest batch has crushed red pepper in it and one green onion sliced up and marinating with the cucumbers.


During the slicing phase, if you find your cucumbers are bitter, don't despair. Take the slices and put them all over the sides of a colander or strainer. Salt them liberally, and let them sit for half an hour or so, and then rinse them off. This will get rid of the bitterness.


Some other variations that would work include using lemon pepper or paprika. Those with a fondness for the flavor of curry could try swapping that for the mustard. What else can you think of?

Chicken and Biscuits

This is an old recipe that isn't my own, but I don't recall where I managed to pick it up from. Its a great cold weather stick to your bones kind of meal, but its also great to throw in a crock pot and forget about. The flavors are rich and delicious, and its one of my favorites. I'm going to prep my ingredients tonight, then get up tomorrow morning and put it together in the crock pot so that I have a nice meal when I get home from work.

Chicken:
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 chicken (about 3 lbs), cut into pieces
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
4 large carrots, peeled and sliced 1" thick
2 stalks celery, sliced 1/2" thick
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp. dried rosemary
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup frozen peas
4 Large cloves of garlic, chopped finely
DUMPLINGS:
1 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. dried rosemary
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
GARNISH:
Fresh rosemary sprigs


Directions

Combine flour, salt and pepper in a bag. Add chicken pieces and toss to coat. Heat oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Brown chicken in oil on all sides (8 to 10 minutes). Set aside.
Put carrots, celery, onion, garlic and rosemary in slow cooker. Set chicken pieces over vegetables. Pour 1/2 cup stock into skillet and cook over medium high heat, scraping up brown bits. Pour pan juices into slow cooker along with remaining stock. Cover and cook on High for 4 to 6 hours or on Low for 8 to 10 hours. Add peas and stir gently to combine.
DUMPLINGS: In a bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, rosemary and salt. In a measuring cup combine milk and egg. Mix well and add to flour mixture. Stir with a fork to make a lumpy dough (do not overmix - lumps are fine). Drop dumpling mixture over chicken pieces. Cover and cook on High for 25 to 30 minutes or until tester inserted in center of cumpling comes out clean. Serve garnished with fresh rosemary sprigs.
TIP: Drop the dough on the chicken pieces rather than into the liquid for fluffier dumplings.
Note: I had to add more stock, but I think it was the difference between a small chicken, and 3 lbs of boneless skinless breasts.. However, the chicken diced and coated in flour was tasty and amazing!
Note: In making it a second time, I added more broth again. I think it may be because I like mine pretty saucy. I used a whole chicken this time, but it also had all its bones. I had my butcher cut my chicken into 8 pieces. I think next time, I will do the same cut, but de-bone the breast/thigh meet before putting it into the crock pot, since the bones displace a lot of the liquid. Not sure.

Kedgeree

According to Wikipedia , Kedgeree is a British Breakfast dish of curried rice and fish, from the original Indian dish Khichri.

Anyway, having stumbled across it in a few books that I have read about regency era Britain, its something that I've been keen to make for some time, and I found myself with leftovers of just the right sort. I found myself pleasantly surprised by the results. I thought the eggs/rice/spices were a strange mix in reading the recipe, however, after eating it, the eggs made a really delicious addition!

I used a 3 grain wild rice mix, and a leftover half of smoked mullet that I got from a hole in the wall place. (It's actually the same place that I get loads of my produce from, they smoke seafood as well.)

In any event, I reduced the recipe to a single serving size.

Kedgeree (Single serving)

1 cup leftover rice (packed)
1/2 Filet of cooked fish coarsely chopped
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/16th tsp (hah. "Just a pinch") of Ground red Pepper (this I think ended up being cayenne)
1/16th tsp turmeric
salt and pepper to taste
1 scallion, finely sliced, with the white and green parts separated
2 Eggs Hard Boiled

B ring the heavy cream to a boil. Add tumeric and red pepper, simmer for 2 mins. Add rice and fish, and heat through. Fold in the white parts of the scallion, add salt and pepper.

Pour onto a serving dish, top with green parts of scallions and chopped hard boiled eggs.

Enjoy!

Bulgarian Zucchini Fritata

This isn't my own recipe. Not sure where it is. My mom didn't provide citations to it when she sent it. However, Its a family favorite! This is something I grew up enjoying... so here it is. (Mostly so I don't lose it.)

BULGARIAN ZUCCHINI FRITADA

1 lb. zucchini, sliced thin
½ medium onion
2 TBS butter
8 oz. farmer or feta cheese
2 TBS fresh dill
3 eggs
Salt to taste
¼ cup parmesan or kashkaval cheese

1. Set sliced zucchini in colander for at least ½ hour. Squeeze out as much juice as possible. Saute onion in butter, add zucchini, cooking a few minutes, cool.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
3. Crumble farmer or feta cheese and add to zucchini. Add salt, if necessary. Sprinkle with dill, if using.
4. Beat eggs and add to the above, mixing well.
5. Place zucchini mixture into a greased 9” pie place or casserole. Sprinkle with grated cheese.
6. Bake 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Curried Coconut Chicken

I cooked a curried coconut chicken a few months ago. It was so tasty that I'm cooking it again, and this time remembering to post the recipe here. Its very very mild, and slightly sweet. Its deicious for a hot summer day, the spices in the curry keeping your blood flowing, even with the little bit of heat that it packs.


Ingredients:

1/2 large onion or 1 medium onion (I use half of a huge red onion) sliced into strips
3/4 cup diced fresh pineapple
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
2 small-medium tomatoes, diced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1/2 tbs of fresh ginger, minced
1 8oz can tomato sauce
1 14 oz can coconut milk
2 tbs curry powder *
2 tbs oil
2 tbs sugar

* I like certain curry spices, and am not particularly fond of others. I tend to add extra's of the individuals that I like. Having made this at least once before, I know what I want more of, so I use the 2tbs of curry powder, then add additional single spices vs more of the mix.


Heat the oil in the pan, and add dried spices. Cook for 5 minutes, until the flavors have mingled. Add onions, fresh ginger, and garlic, and cook on medium heat until onions are translucent. Add the rest of the vegetables and chicken, cooking for 10 minutes on medium heat. Stir in coconut milk, tomato sauce, and sugar. Cover and simmer for 40 minutes to an hour. If the sauce is too thin, cook uncovered until the liquid reduces. If you are in a hurry, (whisk 2 tbs water + 1 tbs cornstarch) bring to boil for 1 minute, until thick.

I serve with sticky rice, although I suppose Basmati would be most appropriate. DELICIOUS!

Chili!

This is my recipe for Chili. Lots of the ingredients are to taste, because I think that dishes like chili and stew should be constantly evolving. This recipe is a version from about a year ago, but I just made some last night, and I changed it up a little bit. I've been told my chili is more stew than chili, but wikipedia verified that one can use a multitude of ingredients. Its a clean out your cabinet kind of dish, so if you have things on hand, throw them in!

Ingredients:
1/4 lb bacon
2small or 1 medium onions finely diced
3-6 cloves of garlic
1 can of chili beans ( I normally use mild)
1 16 oz can of diced or pureed tomatoes
1 8 oz can of tomato sauce
1 can of black beans (well rinsed)
1 can of navy beans (well rinsed)
1/2 lb ground turkey
1/2 lb ground pork
salt (to taste)
brown sugar (to taste)
chili powder (to taste)
annato powder (to taste)
1/4-1/2 cup bar b que sauce (I use sweet baby rays Honey barbque)
cracked black pepper (to taste)
oregano (to taste)
1 bay leaf

Optional:
Fresh tomatoes
diced carrots
diced celery

Optional variations:
Use pork/beef instead of turkey/pork
Use maple syrup instead of brown sugar

Reduce 1/4 pound and 1sm to medium onion in a skillet. (normally I finely slice the bacon and then cook it so its in tiny pieces). Once the bacon and onions are reduced and rendered out, add the garlic. Stir for 2 mins. Add the meat. Cook until brown. Set crock pot on high. Add meat/onion/bacon and crusty bits from pan into crock pot. Add the rest of the ingredients. You'll need a lot more chili powder than you expect, maybe 2 tbs. Normally I let it heat up for an hour, then taste it, and add more spices if I find it necessary. It should be rather thick. The chili powder flavor concentrates the longer it cooks, but I add a lot and it only has a low heat. The annato powder is a little bit more heated, but its yummy. Cook for 2-3 hours total, until all the flavors mingle. I typically prepare cornbread biscuits to go with it, or serve it with tortilla chips.

Another option is to cook it on low either overnight, or while you are at work. The ingredients can be prepped the night before, then refrigerate the crock pot, put it on before you head into work, and come home to dinner thats already been made!

Annato powder, as I've said before can be difficult to find at a normal grocery store. I find it in the ethnic spice section normally, and the Publix down here carries it. If you can't find it there, I believe most Latin American Supermarkets will carry it.

Dill.. Dill... and more Dill!

Bought some dill from the farm stand, and in an attempt to use it up, I'm making lots of dishes with dill.

Tonight, Its grilled (ON MY BRAND NEW GEORGE FOREMAN GRILL) chicken, marinated with lemon, red onion and garlic. Its just going to end up being a simple lemon pepper chicken.

The sides are red potatoes with dill and butter, and steamed vegetables with dill and butter.

Chicken -

2 Chicken breasts
1/4 of a large onion, finely minched
1 clove of garlic
the juice of 1 lemon
Salt to taste
a Generous amount of cracked black pepper

Marinate for 1/2 hour. Grill until done.


Potatoes
3 red potatoes diced into evenly sized pieces
1 tsp of fresh dill
3 tbs of butter
pinch of salt

boil potatoes, top with fresh dill, butter, and salt.

For the veggies, I just steamed 1/2 a zucchini, some slices of onion, and some large diced pieces of tomato. I thought that I still had baby carrots but I couldn't find them.

Its a simple, light, summery dinner. Yum!

Black Beans and Rice

I tend to live on a college kids budget, so beans and rice is a pretty huge staple. It's a fix it and forget it meal most of the time, tasty, and very inexpensive. It's also not as bad for you as frozen pizza! This is a recipe that I conglomerated together from a few recipes. It's got a Cuban tilt to its flavor, and the yellow rice recipe is a pretty simple mathematical equation with some spices! Also: Most of this recipe calls for ingredients "to taste" I like a lot of onion and garlic, and I like it zesty, so I tend to be a bit heavier handed with the vinegar/lime. My suggestion is to season lightly unless you know how you like it seasoned, otherwise, maintain the proportions. (Or follow the list and adjust as you like to flavor it!)

Black Beans
Either 1 16 oz can black beans, well rinsed, or the same volume soaked beans.
1/2 medium onion finely chopped
1/4 red bell pepper finely diced
1 tomato, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 8oz can tomato sauce
1 tbs dark brown sugar
1 tbs of olive oil
1 tbs white or apple cider vinegar (or the juice of a lime or two if you have it on hand)
1/2 tsp annato powder
1 tsp chili powder (to taste)
Salt and cracked black pepper, to taste
Chopped Cilantro - as garnish

Combine onion, bell pepper and garlic in sauce pan with olive oil. Simmer until vegetables are soft. Add the tomato and the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a simmer, cover with a lid, and set to cook. Soaked black beans will take a while, be prepared with stock to add to beans to keep them flavorfull if you use soaked beans. Canned beans are done in about 30-45 minutes.

Yellow Rice

My grandmother makes a wonderful spanish rice, which I followed as a recipe for eons, but I've fallen in love with yellow rice, thus the shift to this recipe. This is also great for the rice cooker, but I would suggest stirring once throughout the cooking, preferably early on, which will keep the yellow from the saffron threads more even.

1 cup rice
2 cups stock
3-4 threads of saffron
1 tsp annato powder
1 tsp chili powder
2 handfuls of frozen mixed vegetables
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients together in a sauce pan. Bring to boil. Cover with a lid, reduce to simmer. Cook until dry. (Or..combine all ingredients in a rice cooker. Follow rice cooker instructions.)

* Note Annato powder is sometimes difficult to find. I've been most lucky in the ethnic spice section for finding it. Here's a bit of info on what annato is. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annato

Pineapple Upside-down cake

Made this last night. It's a terribly easy recipe, I've cooked it quite a few times now and its one of my absolute favorite deserts. Sadly, I had a wonderful photo- but it's gone missing. :( The cake I have no has a few slices taken out of it though, so the pictures not as pretty as the full cake!

An interesting snippet of history: According to most historians, the late 1800s were when the term “upside down cake” first began appearing. Up until that time, this type of cake was referred to as skillet cakes. This was because ovens have not always been common or reliable, skillet cakes were born of practicality. Cakes were made in the popular cast-iron skillets on top of the stove. Inverting a cake to reveal a topping was very popular as far back as the Middle Ages.

The first upside-down cakes were not even made with pineapple, but with seasonal fruits such as apples and cherries, as the canned pineapple hadn’t been invented yet. Canned pineapple manufacturing didn’t begin until 1901 when Jim Dole established the Hawaiian Pineapple Company (now Dole Company) and began producing and marketing mass quantities of canned pineapple.

In 1925, the Hawaiian Pineapple Company sponsored a contest calling for pineapple recipes with judgess from the Fannie Farmer’s School, Good Housekeeping, and McCall’s Magazine on the judging panel. It is said that 2,500 of the 60,000 submissions were recipes for pineapple upside-down cake. The company decided to run an ad about the flood of pineapple upside-down cake recipes it had received, and the cake’s popularity increased!

Pineapple upside-down cakes began appearing in magazines, cookbooks, and advertisements. In 1927, a booklet was published called Aunt Sammy's Radio Recipes, Developed by the Bureau of Home Economics, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and written by Ruth Van Deman and Fanny Walker Yeatman. The booklet was a compilation of 70 menus and about 300 recipes broadcast from October 1926 to June 1927 in the "Housekeepers' Chat" programs of the radio service. -- Courtesy of whatscookingamerica.net

I'd also heard it said that the cake was popularized by dole pineapple in order to increase pineapple sales!

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
Adapted from Gourmet, February 2000

Authors edits: The original recipe for this cake had three teaspoons of cardamom in it, alternately loved and loathed by recipe reviewers. Having no interest in a chai-flavored cake, I took it out and was left with the most flawless and easy go-to upside down cake, something I look forward to making every summer.

My Edits: I also added a handful of chopped nuts to the caramel topping. Other than that, and it turned out PERFECT! (I left out the cardamom as well)

Topping:
1/2 medium pineapple, peeled, quartered lengthwise, and cored
3/4 stick unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar (I actually prefer to use extra dark brown sugar)

Batter:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon dark rum
1/2 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
2 tablespoons dark rum for sprinkling over cake

*note: I've used regular Bacardi rum both in the cake, and sprinkled over the top, and its still tasty delicious. (I won't buy anymore rum until I go through the 2 liter I picked up a year ago!)

Special equipment: a well-seasoned 10-inch cast-iron skillet. If you lack a cast-iron skillet of this size, make the caramel in a small pot and scrape it into the bottom of a similarly-sized cake pan.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Make topping: Cut pineapple crosswise into 3/8-inch-thick pieces. Melt butter in skillet. Add brown sugar and simmer over moderate heat, stirring, 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Arrange pineapple on top of sugar mixture in concentric circles, overlapping pieces slightly.

Make batter: Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, then gradually beat in granulated sugar. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla and rum. Add half of flour mixture and beat on low speed just until blended. Beat in pineapple juice, then add remaining flour mixture, beating just until blended. (Batter may appear slightly curdled.)

Spoon batter over pineapple topping and spread evenly. Bake cake in middle of oven until golden and a tester comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Let cake stand in skillet 5 minutes. Invert a plate over skillet and invert cake onto plate (keeping plate and skillet firmly pressed together). Replace any pineapple stuck to bottom of skillet. Sprinkle rum over cake and cool on plate on a rack.

Serve cake just warm or at room temperature.

Cake may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Provencal Braised Lamb Chops

Making this tonight. Taken from an online website. I typically make the "Braised Shoulder Chops" recipe out of the Joy of cooking and serve it with mashed potatoes. Tonight however, I wanted to try something new.

Provençal Braised Lamb Chops

Serves4

• Active time:30 min
• Start to finish:2 1/4 hr

November 2008

It might seem like a joke to include a recipe designed to use up leftover white wine (from our Roast Turkey with Black Truffle Butter and White-Wine Gravy)—after all, why not just drink it?—but if you take the time to make this marvelous one-dish lamb dinner, you might find yourself hoarding half-empty bottles so you can make it again and again. Lamb shoulder chops are an inexpensive cut that benefits from braising, and the wine really helps tenderize the connective tissues running through the flavorful meat. Snuggling the lamb between sheets of thinly sliced potatoes, plus scatterings of golden garlic, onions, and thyme sprigs, creates a handsome and wonderfully aromatic dish.

• 4 (1/2-inch-thick) lamb shoulder chops (1 3/4 lb total)
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced lengthwise (1/4 cup)
• 2 medium onions, sliced (4 cups)
• 1 Turkish or 1/2 California bay leaf
• 1 1/2 cups dry white wine
• 1 1/2 lb boiling potatoes
• 3 large thyme sprigs
• 1/3 cup oil-cured black olives
• 1 (14 1/2-oz) can reduced-sodium chicken broth

• Preheat oven to 375°F with rack in middle.
• Pat chops dry and season with 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper (total). Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers, then cook garlic, stirring constantly, until golden, about 1 minute. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a plate. Brown chops in 2 batches, turning once, about 4 minutes total per batch. Transfer to a plate.
• Add onions, bay leaf, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper to skillet and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, 10 to 12 minutes. Add wine and bring to a boil, scraping up brown bits, then remove from heat.
• Peel potatoes and slice about 1/8 inch thick. Scatter half of potatoes in a shallow 3-quart baking dish, then top with half of onions. Scatter garlic, thyme, and olives over onions, then top with lamb chops. Repeat layering remaining potatoes and onions, then pour wine, broth, and meat juices over top.
• Bake, uncovered, basting top with juices once or twice, until potatoes are tender and browned on top and meat is tender when pierced with tip of a knife, about 1 1/2 hours.

Recipe by Paul Grimes

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There was a brief moment of panic when I had to find a 3 qt oven dish. I don't think I have the dish they called for, but I ended up using my enameled cast iron pot, which happens to be 3 qts exactly. (I measured it this afternoon to find out that it is, indeed, 3 qts.) Other than that, the steps are easy to follow and the cooking actually goes as instructed. I'm currently awaiting the finished product, but I've included some photographs of the steps.

Mango Sorbet

Made some mango sorbet!

5 ripe mango's pureed
1/2 cup agave nectar
1 shot of rum
the zest of 1 lime, and the juice from 2 limes

Put together in ice cream machine, then chill for 3-4 hours after words. Let thaw 10-15 minutes before eating. A big mistake I made with this, which while it didn't affect the flavor, definately had an impact on texture, was that I used agave nectar. I guess the simple syrup (the recipe called for 1 cup to 4 mangos) is what makes the sorbet not only sweet, but also maintains its consistency. Mine didn't end up icy at all, but it did end up freezing ROCK HARD, so it needs to be thawed for sure before being eaten. I do like the fact though, that I didn't have to sweeten it a whole lot because of the agave. Its a solid recipe, and I'm planning on doing it again and experimenting with different fruits.

Tuna Ceviche, Thai inspired salad & Miso Soup

Tonights A BIG NIGHT! In an effort to satisfy my raw fish craving, I've decided to try my hand at a really simple Tuna Ceviche. Let me preface this with a tidbit, which is that I very rarely eat Fish. I've got a rant about sustainable farming, wild vs farmed, etc, but as of late I've really been craving it, so I'm indulging in small amounts. I've asked my local seafood counter how they farm/wildcaught and think about sustainability concerns, and I'm satisfied enough to purchase seafood from them occasionally. More frequently I have been getting mussels, farmed in Canada.

Thai inspired Confetti Salad
1 Roma tomato, chopped
1 1/2 cups fresh green beans, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 cucumber, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 1/2 cups cubed papaya
2 cloves cloves garlic, minced
1 fresh Thai or Serrano chile, finely minced
1 lemon, juiced
2 limes, juiced
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon white sugar
1/2 cup roasted peanuts, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro leaves, chopped

Directions

Combine tomato, beans, cucumber, and papaya in a large bowl. Toss with garlic and chile pepper.
Stir together lemon juice, lime juice, fish sauce, and sugar in a small bowl. Pour over papaya mixture and toss. Sprinkle peanuts and cilantro on top and serve.

* As an aside, I'm substituting Mango for the papaya, and will probably work in sesame oil and soy sauce instead of the fish sauce. (I have the soy/sesame oil on hand.)


Tuna Ceviche
12 ounces sashimi grade tuna
3/4 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 medium onion, finely diced
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger root
1 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
1/4 cup lemon juice, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon soy sauce, or to taste

Directions

Cut tuna into 1/2 inch cubes, and place into a bowl. Stir in the onion, green onions, ginger, jalapeno, lemon juice, and soy sauce; mix to combine. Cover and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours. Taste before serving and add more lemon juice or soy sauce as needed




In hindisght (which is 20/20) --

This adventure was a tasty food adventure, and a bit of a learning experience. I followed the ceviche recipe to a T, and it turned out fabulously. Tuna is such a delicious flavor on its own, and it needs very little cooking to maintain its tastyness. (in fact, its amazing completely raw without anything but a dab of salt) The ceviche was fantastic, and there was enough leftover that I had it for lunch the next day with blue corn taco shells, just cold and everything.

The Miso turned out well, but the mushrooms in it were almost over whelming. I had to go on an adventure to the oriental food store to find the miso paste, and now I have a giant box of it sitting in my fridge. Rewarding trip though. Next time I'll use half the mushrooms, and buy them at the oriental store as well, because they were stupid cheap there compared to the Local Super Market Chain. (The store itself was an adventure because everyone was Vietnamese and they kept taking me to the "instant miso soup" packets vs the actual big stuff of miso to make your own soup with.)

The vegi salad was ok. I ended up not following the recipe at all, and just kind of threw things together. It wasn't that great, and I probably won't do it again, but mostly it was my own fault for not following a recipe.



Miso Soup





























































Main Course Plate

RE: "Mussels Mariniere"

The Mariniere recipe seemed interesting on the surface. (How can anything with garlic, tomato, onion, wine, and mussels be bad?) In any event, I reduced the tomatoes, and mussels, and broth used as well, but it still ended up being almost soupy. I added a slurry to it to thicken it up, which it did very nicely. I also boiled linguini, and made sourdough crustinis under the broiler (Sliced sourdough, salt, pepper, butter, and Parmesan cheese) I also steamed some asparagus

Recipe Follows (From one of the Weight Watchers cookbooks)

1 diced shallot
3 cloves of minced garlic
1 tbs of fresh thyme
1 tbs olive oil
8 plum tomatoes, diced
1.5 cups of chicken broth
.5 cups of white wine
2lbs of mussels, cleaned and debearded
1/4 cup fresh basil


Cook shallot, garlic and thyme in a pan until Shallot is translucent (about 3 minutes). Add tomatoes. Cook for 8 minutes, or until the tomatoes are soft and flavors are mingled. Add mussels, chicken broth and white wine. Cook for 7-9 minutes, until all the mussels are opened and cooked. (Don't overcook those suckers)
Remove mussels with a slotted spoon and add basil, mixing into the sauce. Pour sauce over mussels.

In the beginning

In the beginning...

There was food. I've been cooking as long as I can remember, first in my mothers and grandmothers kitchens, and now in my own. Somewhere along the way, I became pretty good at it. I think it has to do with my obsession with eating what I cook. In any event, I tend to try a lot of new recipes. This is a place for those recipes, failed experiments, and exceptionally successful tidbits and morsels of tasty treats.

In any event, tonight its Mussels ala Mediterranean style. After agonizing over what type of side to serve with it, I think I'm settling on steamed asparagus with hollandaise, and either linguini, or bruschetta. (Or both, since at this point I still can't decide.)