Mac and Goat Cheese

Recently, Emily and I have been on a quest for really simple and fast meals.  We're trying to eat earlier during the week, and with my bus-riding ways, this means we have to simplify a lot of the time.  But tastiness cannot be sacrificed!  Here's a neat little adult mac 'n' cheese that turned out yummy and quick.  Asparagus season is probably past by now, but other greens can be substituted.  The goat cheese we used was you typical pyramid of Chavrie, which worked out well.  A stronger cheese would have been good too.

Three Bean Salad

Remember 3 bean salad?  It's a classic American salad - maybe it's out of style, but it's a great idea.  Healthy, filling but light, tasty salad great for hot days or outdoor picnics.  Making your own make it taste fresher and more crisp, but is still easy.  Use canned chick peas, and canned kidneys.  Steam some green beans until just done - still bright green and crisp.  Then mix it all together with your favorite vinaigrette dressing.  Don't forget salt and pepper, maybe a mustard or some herbs.  I like to make a more vinegary dressing than with a conventional salad because the beans soak up the flavors.  Eat with crusty bread.

Ginger-Scallion Noodles

Here's something simple to try the next time you have a craving for noodles or just don't want to cook.  It's a really simple recipe, and it comes from the Momofuku cookbook, and it makes enough to store in the fridge for later.  Basically, it's ginger and scallions.   Here is a link to the recipe.

It's a lot of ginger. It looks like it's going to be overwhelming, but it's not, don't worry.

David Chang recommends serving with a quick salted pickle.  This is basically a sliced cucumber mixed with salt and sugar and let to sit for a few minutes.  I added water chestnuts from a can because we had them in the pantry, or you could try roasted cauliflower.  His suggestion that a dash of hoisin sauce over the top is the perfect finish sounds spot on, but I will have to save it for next time.

Egg Salad

It's warm out and egg salad makes a perfect light picnic.  It's simple, and a blank slate to be creative with the flavors.  This one is fresh dill and sun-dried tomatoes.  When I make it I do everything by feel.  Hard boil the eggs (I like 2 per sandwich) and chop them roughly.  Chop the dill and tomatoes and put everything in a bowl.  Add 2 parts dijon mustard, 3 parts mayonnaise, salt, and pepper.  Mix well.  Taste.  Add a little more wet stuff to get the right consistency or a little more salt and pepper.

Roasted Cauliflower with Fish Sauce Vinagrette

This is the recipe that I mentioned in my Momofuku post.  It is so good that I have actually made it twice already.  Fish sauce is one of those sauces that doesn't smell so good, but when you start eating it it tastes so good you just keep eating.  There are spicy Rice Crispies in here for crunch, along with fried cilantro.  This was totally new to me, but it worked great.  The leaves get crispy almost instantly and make for something interesting in the bowl.  There are a couple ingredients you'll get from the Asian market.  The Shichimi Togarashi, a Japanese chili powder, and the fish sauce.  Chang recommends Squid brand, which I have actually seen in the market but am waiting to use up what I have before trying it.  I gave an easy hand to the vinaigrette when dressing the cauliflower - it needs more than a salad, but less than a total soaking.  Overall this recipe is fresh and new, but comforting.   Here's a link to the recipe that others have posted.

Balsamic Mushrooms and Polenta

This is a great one-dish, satisfying vegetarian meal, one that we have made often on weeknights.  It's slightly modified from Martha's original recipe here to make it fit into what we normally have on hand in the kitchen.  It's got baby bella mushrooms, a lot more greens in the form of spinach, and cornmeal-polenta cooked on the stove and formed into balls with a cookie scoop.  The balsamic sauce and the proper seasoning of the polenta make this tasty and warming.

Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

Eating more super-grain salads is a resolution of ours for this year.  We got the idea when walking by the salad bar at Whole Foods and realizing that there are a million interesting possibilities with new kinds of whole grains.  And by "new," I mean ancient, as many of these grains have been around for a long time and are now making their comeback.  A lot is said about their healthiness, but I am more after their different-ness and the culinary possibilities.  There is a long list of grains to try: quinoa, amaranth, spelt, farro, wheatberry, all kinds of barley, red, brown, or black rice, the list goes on and on...and they make great salads.  We tried this one for quinoa and it's quite good for a one-bowl meal.

Bibimbap

I don't get enough Korean food.  I tried going to Woo Lae Oak in Tyson's but I think the sticker shock prevented me from fully enjoying my meal.  I have been waiting to try this place out in Annandale, but in the mean time maybe I can make some simple, tasty bits on my own.  This recipe for bibimbap, essentially rice with vegetables, comes from maangchi.com.   My favorite part about bibimbap is the sesame oil, especially on the wilted spinach, and I will confess adding a little sugar to the mix makes it irresistible.  Shown here, I omitted the ground beef and the kosari - you can essentially put in whatever you want once you catch on to the flavor theme.  I prefer fresh shitakes and would actually increase the amount of them.  Store the cooked veggies in the fridge and you can cook up rice and have a meal in no time when you get home from work.

100th Post Brunch!

Today I am celebrating my 100th post!  That has got to be some kind of milestone when my previous attempts at blogging usually amounted to about three posts before I got tired and gave up. 

This picture is another four-element brunch happily shared with friends.  If you remember the formula, I have got one egg thing, one salad, one fruit thing, and one baked good.  These are omelets (with roasted red pepper and cheese, I think, and made the Julia Child way where you shake the pan like crazy), salad with herbed baked goat cheese rounds, fresh grapefruit, and banana bread.  Winter is citrus season... eat all the grapefruit you can while it's red and sweet.

Dal Makhani

Those of you who know dal makhani probably won't recognize it here- it's normally dark brown.  That's because it uses the whole urad dal - I only had the peeled kind in my pantry so I get yellow.   And you can see that the cumin seeds are a bit overdone.  But my, my is it tasty.  Manjula's recipe is here.

Sabudana Khichdi (Spicy Tapioca)

Manjula helped me find a recipe for these dried tapioca balls that I found.  Think small versions of the balls found in pearl tea.  These were not as rubbery as the large kind - but toothsome.  They get soaked to soften them, then stir-fried with typical indian spices, peas, and peanuts for crunch.  I like it as a quick tasty snack.

Potato Leek Soup

There is not much to say about potato-leek soup - it speaks for itself.  It is wintry, earthy, warm, humble and seasonal.  When you come home and sit down to a bowl of potato-leek soup, you wash away the week and start again.  Any recipe is pretty good, this is the one that we made this week - it has a little spice in it.

White Bean Salad with Roasted Tomatoes and Broccoli

Warm salads are a great way to eat greens in the wintertime.  The slight warmth of the broccoli and the white beans wilts the baby spinach and has a satisfying effect.  We have made this recipe from Martha many times and it is still a favorite.  The roasting brings out the good flavors of the tomatoes and broccoli, and everything melds in the vinagrette, which has a hint of spice.  Serve on a piece of toast if you like.

Wasabi Rice Cakes

Rice, even the picture above, may not excite you until I tell you a little more information.  The rice is sushi rice meaning its mixed with sugar and rice vinegar, it's coated with sesame seeds and furikake, fried lightly in sesame oil, and yes that white sauce on the side is wasabi-mascarpone.  We served this as an appetizer, and it makes a tasty snack.  Like the california roll salad, it is reminiscent of the sushi flavors, but with a much richer, not quite dessert taste that is new but familiar.  The recipe can be found here.

Basta Pasta

This is what happens after you've done too much holiday cooking and just get lazy.  "Pasta Two Kinds."  Leftover fresh noodles come out of the cupboard and are dressed with pesto from the fridge.  Canned crushed tomatoes are cooked into a sauce with onions, garlic, and basil.  Then both are plopped simultaneously into a single bowl for a lazy evening.  Not quite as impressive as two soups in one bowl, but getting there.

Gingered Brussels Sprouts

This dish was once the vegetable of the day at Vegetate, a really nice vegetarian restaurant here in DC.  As one friend described it, it's more of a "restaurant that happens to not have any dishes with meat in them" than a vegetarian restaurant.  According to their website, they are now in the process of moving and their 9th St location is closed.  I hope they open again soon, and in Southwest!  Anyway, these brussels sprouts were grilled and just bursting with juicy gingeryness and were amazing.  So good, in fact that I am working out the recipe.  What follows is my first attempt.  It needs work, but I will refine it the next time I get my hands on some good b-sprouts.

Gingered Brussels Sprouts
First tasted at Vegetate DC

Pick smaller, dark green, tight sprouts.  If you can find them on the stalk, they are probably fresher. Rinse your sprouts and remove any yellowing outer leaves if they happened to get in your bag.  Trim off  just a sliver of stem to remove the dried part but not cut any leaves.  Place them in a medium bowl and microwave for 2-3 minutes.  Move on to the marinade.  In a small saucepan, combine 1/2 cup water, 1 tsp fresh grated ginger, 1 Tbsp honey and bring to a boil.  Continue boiling to reduce by half.  When cool, cut the sprouts in half and dress with some of the liquid.  Heat a small amount of olive oil on high in a pan and toss in the brussels sprouts, cut side down.  Brown for a minute or two, then turn off heat and mix in remaining liquid, tossing to coat.  Serve hot.

I need to try this a couple more times to refine the amounts and get the ingredients and technique better.  I would love to try this on the grill the way it was intended.  I may need a return trip to Vegetate.

Deviled Eggs

When I was a kid, I used to eat only the whites of a hard-boiled egg and throw the chalky yolks away.  Little did I know that like-minded cooks had already invented the deviled egg to solve just that problem.  They are a great app for holding you over rather than just making you more hungry, and you can mix in a great variety of things.  These are a Martha Stewart recipe and use thyme.  You can be free to experiment with the flavorings, slightly more/less mayo, different kinds of vinegars or mustards.  I saw a recipe for roasted red peppers mixed in that looked like a great idea.

Butternut Squash and Chickpea Salad

I wonder if you have gotten all you can out of this year's butternut squash season?  This is a nice little salad that makes a filling winter meal, but is still light.  The recipe is from Smitten Kitchen, and though I don't rave about eating this one over and over again forever, I can see how it would be a good standby.  We actually did the make-ahead directions a little differently - we roasted a big batch of squash and used half of it in another recipe and saved half for this recipe.  When you do that it mixes up very quickly for a weeknight meal.  The salad does benefit from being a little bit warm.

Spinach Mushroom Swiss Eggs

Since the week leading up to Thanksgiving, I have been taking a little break from serious planning and cooking, preferring instead to eat the stockpiles of prepared food in the freezer, or whip something simple up for a quick meal.  I am posting this picture mostly because it is green, and there is too much brown food showing itself recently here, when the truth is that fruits and greens intersperse themselves throughout every meal in this house.  Eggs are my mainstay for times such as these.  The other night I did egg-chorizo-cubanelle tacos.  In Chicago I made tomato-fontina-chicken andouille-spinach for a brunch with friends (the opportunity for which I am most appreciative).  A late brunch this Sunday morning was in sandwich form.  For the mushrooms, saute them in butter and thyme until well browned.  Then cook the eggs, and mix in the mushrooms, swiss cheese, and spinach at the end so the leaves just wilt.

Apple-Onion Tart

I hate it that this recipe is good.  Martha went overboard with the prep time on this.  So much so that Emily gave up ever having dinner the night she started making it.  We put everything in the fridge and waited a couple days to get the strength up to finish.  When we sat down to eat, we were ready to dismiss this recipe to the memory hole... but it was good.  The onion and apple really blended their flavors into something a bit unique, and the butter crust went well with it.  Savory but sweet.  Onion soup lovers might want to give this a try.  But don't wait until after Thanksgiving, because it's some work.  You may have noticed a lag in the postings... just getting my feet back on the ground after the holiday.