We've been live on the internet for a week now and we've only just got to our first soup-or-stew Sunday post? Impossible. This week's entry is a recipe out of my 1970s era Moosewood cookbook, with only a few minor changes.
1 medium onion
1medium potato
2 carrots
1 stalk broccoli
cauliflower (not in the original recipe, but we had some left over, so why not?)
1/2 lb. mushrooms
1 stalk celery
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen corn
Saute vegetables together in 1/4 cup butter. We added the vegetables in shifts, starting from the top of the list and working down so that the onion, potato, and carrot would have sufficient cooking time. Add seasonings with the vegetables; we used salt, black pepper, white pepper (because Heather was co-cook), basil, and thyme. Our vegetables took about 30 minutes to cook, test for tenderness by poking a knife through an unsuspecting carrot. I added about a 1/4 cup of water midway through cooking to help build more steam to get to the vegetables cooked.
When vegetables are cooked add:
1/2 pint heavy cream
milk (We used a little less than 2 cups, far less that the quart of milk called for the in recipe.)
Heat carefully over low heat, stirring constantly so the milk and cream don't burn on the bottom. I took my cookbook's advice and had the milk and cream at room temperature before adding to the soup; this will reduce cooking time, thus reducing the chance that your soup will curdle (gross). I added more salt and lots more pepper. Cook just until heated through, less than 10 minutes. Soup is best served in front of The Amazing Race.
Very good soup! We added lots of pepper (both black and white) so ours was nice and spicy. The vegetables are a good assortment of colors, making this a very attractive soup. I haven't tried any left overs yet, but I'd wager that this is one soup that will taste much better on the day it is made than it does reheated. This was the first chowder we've done so far. I'd be interested in using the basis of the recipe again, adding in whatever vegetables are in season. Spring's almost here, right? Is it time for asparagus yet?
Monday, March 28, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Pineapple upside-down cake (Happy Birthday, Ben!)
In honor of Ben's birthday, today I baked mini pineapple upside-down cakes from a recipe I found at Salon.com. (See the recipe here.)
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
2 egg yolks
Mix together until fluffy. Hang on to the egg whites. They'll get mixed in at the end. I'm just following instructions here. I have no idea why you need to mix in the yolk and the white separately. Maybe someone (Mom?) will enlighten me in the comments.
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Sift dry ingredients. Add to wet ingredients, alternating with:
1/2 cup whole milk (I had skim milk, so I added a little half-and-half to compensate)
Beat together:
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
And add to batter. My batter was very thick by this time and unlike any cake batter I've seen before. I was beginning to worry...
To make the sauce, melt together in a skillet on the stove:
2 Tablespoons butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
Pour sauce into muffin cups. Add a slice of pineapple to each (Canned pineapple is too wide to fit in muffin tins. I just cut out a wedge of the circle and pushed the ends together to make a smaller circle. Save the trimmed bits to use in the 11th and 12th muffin cup, unfortunately for this recipe there are only 10 slices per can of pineapple.)
Next scoop an equal portion of cake batter over each pineapple slice. The original recipe says to fill to 3/4 full. How they can manage this when just adding pineapple fills the cups to over 1/2 full, I still don't know. Even after adding more cake batter per cup than recommended, I found that I had at least a whole other mini-cake's worth left over. This might not be a recipe to re-use.
Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. And, unless you want to find yourself cleaning carbonized goo off the bottom of the oven an hour later, I'd recommend putting a pan under your muffin tin to catch bubbling brown sugar.
Not too pretty, but pretty tasty. I've done assorted garnishes, maraschino cherries and coconut.
We served our cakes accompanied by fudge brownie ice cream--a delicious, if unorthodox, pairing. We all agreed that the cakes tasted good, but I'm not really satisfied with the end product. Perhaps if they weren't trying to pass themselves off as cakes, I would have liked these little guys better. The cake part was so dense that it was more like pound cake or a scone than traditional yellow cake. Maybe the density of the cake is necessary for the mini cakes to stay together once flipped? Whatever the reason, I won't be trying this recipe again soon... at least not until next birthday.
We served our cakes accompanied by fudge brownie ice cream--a delicious, if unorthodox, pairing. We all agreed that the cakes tasted good, but I'm not really satisfied with the end product. Perhaps if they weren't trying to pass themselves off as cakes, I would have liked these little guys better. The cake part was so dense that it was more like pound cake or a scone than traditional yellow cake. Maybe the density of the cake is necessary for the mini cakes to stay together once flipped? Whatever the reason, I won't be trying this recipe again soon... at least not until next birthday.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Homemade sushi can be a reality
Like cotton candy or roasted whole pig, sushi is one of those foods that people rarely consider making at home. It appears to be very complicated, time consuming, and requiring special skills to pull off properly. In fact, the most difficult thing about making sushi is the rice. The rest just kind of follows.
Sushi is a 2 stage process: first the rice, then the roll. The rice should be made at least 2 hours in advance. It can be made the day before, if you like. Sushi rice is essentially just cooked rice with a vinegar, sugar, and salt mixture sprinkled over it. The following ratios come from Alton Brown. Thanks Alton! Other sushi recipes call for slightly different amounts of vinegar, sugar, and salt.
Sushi Rice:
1.5 cups of a short or meduim grained rice. We used Nishiki brand purchased from a nearby Asian grocery
An appropriate amount of water for your rice. We used 2 c. Alton says to use equal parts water and rice.
Cook rice however you're used to. We just did it in a saucepan on low heat. Lots of people swear by rice steamers. I'm sure they're great, but you certianly don't need one to make good rice.
Spread rice out on a cookie sheet or similar.
2 tbsp wine vinegar 2 tbsp sugar 1 tbsp salt combine ingredients and heat for ~30 seconds in microwave. Mix some more. If the sugar and salt don't completely dissolve, continue to heat and mix until they do.
While rice is hot, sprinkle mixture on top. Then fold rice together, trying to evenly distribute the vinegar et. al. while not mashing up the grains of rice.
Let sit until cool. No need to refrigerate, but it can be transferred to a bowl and have a damp towel put over top to prevent drying.
Now that the rice is done, the hard part is over. Well, the hard part for me, because I make Carolyn do the rolling of the sushi. There are plenty of guides for rolling up your own sushi, so I'm only going to touch on the
necessities briefly. Others have done it before me better than I could, so why reinvent the wheel, as they say.
Things you'll need: rice (see above), nori (that's seaweed sheets), bamboo mat, and ingredients of your choosing. This guy does a great job of showing you how to roll sushi. Things I like about this video: 1) He rolls the sushi "inside out". Fun fact: this was originally done for California rolls because the makers thought Americans wouldn't like the taste of seaweed. We do it this way because nori from the store is tasteless and chewy. 2) related to #1, he uses half sheets of nori. Since you're rolling it inside out, you don't need nearly as much nori. 3) he gave a neat tip about keeping rice from sticking to your hands. If you don't have gloves or Hellman's, do like we do and keep your hands wet. Keep a dish of water nearby to re-moisten frequently. 4) We also cover our mat with plastic wrap. It's not strictly necessary, but it helps. One thing he does not do that is very helpful: clean your knife with a wet towel between each cut. Unless your knife is sharp in an expensive sort of way, sushi is very difficult to cut cleanly.
So you have your rice and you know how to roll sushi. All you need now is ingredients. Contrary to popular belief, sushi does not mean "raw fish" nor does it need any. Anything will do, but it is common to stick with at least 1 ingredient that has a creamy, fatty texture. Fun Fact #2: Avocado is used in California rolls because it most closely resembled the texture of high end tuna, which isn't readily available in the U.S. I can hear you asking, "Ben and Carolyn, what sorts of stuff did you put in your sushi?" First, thank you for asking. The first time we made sushi, basically stuck to the California roll, with a few avocado-only rolls for good measure. This time, we got more creative.
Carolyn's pick of the night: blackened sweet potato roll. Before all this business, I peeled a sweet potato, popped it in the microwave for a few minutes, cut it into thick french-fry shapes, and fried it in butter. I blackened it a little to give it a bit of crispiness and a burnt edge to the flavor. Turns out, this is fantastic all by itself in a sushi roll.
My pick: hard-boiled egg, avocado, and sweet potato roll. When Carolyn suggested hard-boiled egg in the sushi, I must admit I was wary. But this beat out even the plain avocado roll we made, which I happen to love. It turns out the the egg has just the right consistency to work in sushi. Frankly, I'm surprised you can't get it at restaurants. In this picture, from left to right are sweet potato, probably sweet-potato-avocado-egg, and finally plain avocado:
I know this is starting to run long, but there is one more vital element to homemade sushi: soy sauce and wasabi. For those of you who don't know. Sushi is typically eaten by first dipping it into a soy sauce and wasabi mixture, then placing the whole thing directly in your mouth. The great joy of eating sushi is the flavors of the soy, rice, and wasabi hitting your tongue all at once. When you order sushi at a restaurant, you'll get a little bit of wasabi paste on your plate, and a little dish for your soy sauce. You pour some soy into the dish, then add a bit of wasabi and mix it in until it's dissolved. Wasabi gives the sauce a kick, so they let you do the mixing to your own tastes. At home, it's no different, except that you'll probably have to settle for bottled wasabi paste, and elitists will snub you for it. Here's a picture of me poised to enjoy delicious sushi dipped in soy sauce and wasabi:
Whew, another post finished. I hope this will inspire some of you to give home made sushi a shot.
Sushi is a 2 stage process: first the rice, then the roll. The rice should be made at least 2 hours in advance. It can be made the day before, if you like. Sushi rice is essentially just cooked rice with a vinegar, sugar, and salt mixture sprinkled over it. The following ratios come from Alton Brown. Thanks Alton! Other sushi recipes call for slightly different amounts of vinegar, sugar, and salt.
Sushi Rice:
1.5 cups of a short or meduim grained rice. We used Nishiki brand purchased from a nearby Asian grocery
An appropriate amount of water for your rice. We used 2 c. Alton says to use equal parts water and rice.
Cook rice however you're used to. We just did it in a saucepan on low heat. Lots of people swear by rice steamers. I'm sure they're great, but you certianly don't need one to make good rice.
Spread rice out on a cookie sheet or similar.
2 tbsp wine vinegar 2 tbsp sugar 1 tbsp salt combine ingredients and heat for ~30 seconds in microwave. Mix some more. If the sugar and salt don't completely dissolve, continue to heat and mix until they do.
While rice is hot, sprinkle mixture on top. Then fold rice together, trying to evenly distribute the vinegar et. al. while not mashing up the grains of rice.
Let sit until cool. No need to refrigerate, but it can be transferred to a bowl and have a damp towel put over top to prevent drying.
Now that the rice is done, the hard part is over. Well, the hard part for me, because I make Carolyn do the rolling of the sushi. There are plenty of guides for rolling up your own sushi, so I'm only going to touch on the
necessities briefly. Others have done it before me better than I could, so why reinvent the wheel, as they say.
Things you'll need: rice (see above), nori (that's seaweed sheets), bamboo mat, and ingredients of your choosing. This guy does a great job of showing you how to roll sushi. Things I like about this video: 1) He rolls the sushi "inside out". Fun fact: this was originally done for California rolls because the makers thought Americans wouldn't like the taste of seaweed. We do it this way because nori from the store is tasteless and chewy. 2) related to #1, he uses half sheets of nori. Since you're rolling it inside out, you don't need nearly as much nori. 3) he gave a neat tip about keeping rice from sticking to your hands. If you don't have gloves or Hellman's, do like we do and keep your hands wet. Keep a dish of water nearby to re-moisten frequently. 4) We also cover our mat with plastic wrap. It's not strictly necessary, but it helps. One thing he does not do that is very helpful: clean your knife with a wet towel between each cut. Unless your knife is sharp in an expensive sort of way, sushi is very difficult to cut cleanly.
So you have your rice and you know how to roll sushi. All you need now is ingredients. Contrary to popular belief, sushi does not mean "raw fish" nor does it need any. Anything will do, but it is common to stick with at least 1 ingredient that has a creamy, fatty texture. Fun Fact #2: Avocado is used in California rolls because it most closely resembled the texture of high end tuna, which isn't readily available in the U.S. I can hear you asking, "Ben and Carolyn, what sorts of stuff did you put in your sushi?" First, thank you for asking. The first time we made sushi, basically stuck to the California roll, with a few avocado-only rolls for good measure. This time, we got more creative.
Carolyn's pick of the night: blackened sweet potato roll. Before all this business, I peeled a sweet potato, popped it in the microwave for a few minutes, cut it into thick french-fry shapes, and fried it in butter. I blackened it a little to give it a bit of crispiness and a burnt edge to the flavor. Turns out, this is fantastic all by itself in a sushi roll.
My pick: hard-boiled egg, avocado, and sweet potato roll. When Carolyn suggested hard-boiled egg in the sushi, I must admit I was wary. But this beat out even the plain avocado roll we made, which I happen to love. It turns out the the egg has just the right consistency to work in sushi. Frankly, I'm surprised you can't get it at restaurants. In this picture, from left to right are sweet potato, probably sweet-potato-avocado-egg, and finally plain avocado:
I know this is starting to run long, but there is one more vital element to homemade sushi: soy sauce and wasabi. For those of you who don't know. Sushi is typically eaten by first dipping it into a soy sauce and wasabi mixture, then placing the whole thing directly in your mouth. The great joy of eating sushi is the flavors of the soy, rice, and wasabi hitting your tongue all at once. When you order sushi at a restaurant, you'll get a little bit of wasabi paste on your plate, and a little dish for your soy sauce. You pour some soy into the dish, then add a bit of wasabi and mix it in until it's dissolved. Wasabi gives the sauce a kick, so they let you do the mixing to your own tastes. At home, it's no different, except that you'll probably have to settle for bottled wasabi paste, and elitists will snub you for it. Here's a picture of me poised to enjoy delicious sushi dipped in soy sauce and wasabi:
Whew, another post finished. I hope this will inspire some of you to give home made sushi a shot.
Homemade Oreos
This is a great recipe because the end result is so beautiful and delicious that everyone will assume that the cookies were much more difficult to make than they really are. Picture from the blog Smitten Kitchen, one of the many places I've seen this recipe:
Cookie part:
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used dark chocolate)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter (softened)
1 egg
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used dark chocolate)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter (softened)
1 egg
Stir together dry ingredients then work in butter and egg. I eschewed mixing spoons, using my hands to grind dough together. Final dough will be moist and crumbly, like wet sand. Form small balls and squish flat on a cookie sheet. Bake 9 minutes at 375.
Cream filling part
1/4 cup butter (softened)
1/4 cup crisco
2 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup crisco
2 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Beat together until fluffy. This took me a couple minutes mixing by hand. Spread icing on cookie. Top with another cookie. Yum.
A few tweaks for next time: I thought the cookie part tasted great, but I may reduce the sugar to make them better resemble real oreos; also, I couldn't get my cookies as flat as the ones in the picture, rolling the dough or flattening with something better than the palm of my hand could make a difference. Definitely making these again though. May try peppermint frosting next time. Also, I think the cookie part would work great for ice cream sandwiches... endless possibilities.
Pizza Night
Homemade pizza is an almost weekly occurrence around these parts. This week we were entertaining, so we made three pizzas instead of the usual single pizza. I also tried my hand at making the pizza dough from scratch (with mixed results), following a recipe from my new fancy bread book written by Peter Reinhart.
The fun started the night before, as this bread dough needed to rest in the refrigerator overnight before it was ready to be tossed out for pizza dough.
4 1/2 C flour, chilled (I used all-purpose flour but I think I will try bread flour next time. All-purpose flour is used to make a softer crust, but given our problems tossing the dough, we might need to toughen up with bread flour.)
1 3/4 t salt
1 teaspoon yeast (recipe calls for instant yeast, but I only have active dry yeast, so I added a generous teaspoon with the liquid ingredients)
1/4 C oil
1 3/4 C water, cold (I had to add more water when I was mixing the dough)
Divide dough into six more-or-less-equal balls, wrap in oiled plastic wrap, and stick in the refrigerator. Take dough out of fridge 2 hours before you're ready to make pizza the next day. Press balls out into 1/2 inch thick disks and let them rest on the counter. Toss by hand. Get ready for fun.
Whew. We had lots of trouble tossing the dough. You're supposed to be able to gently bounce the dough on the backs on your hands and then work up to a toss. We found that the dough stretched out too much in the middle while staying too thick on the edges. We also made the fatal mistake of trying to ball up dough that we had already stretched out, resulting in tense little balls of dough that refused to stretch out again--tearing and bouncing back into a ball rather than stretching out nicely. No do-overs for spreading this dough Better luck next time, I guess.
Now on to the pizza sauce. The sauce is Ben's area of expertise, so he'll be taking over for this portion.
Hi all. I'm going to give you a recipe for pizza sauce, but frankly, it's pretty meaningless. Usually I go to the cupboard and just keep tossing spices into the tomato sauce until it tastes like something. Frequently, the result is good. This time, I kept track of all the stuff I added to the sauce, but the amounts are almost all contrived, so do what you like
First, one of the small cans each of tomato paste and tomato sauce. This give a great consistency for the sauce, but Carolyn and I like ours on the thick side.
Roughly equal amounts of the following. I used somewhere on the heavy side of 1 tablespoon:
black pepper
red pepper
white pepper
onion powder
garlic powder
italian seasoning
oregano
teaspoon of fennel seed
salt to taste
Finish it off with 1 - 2 tablespoons of brown sugar (some use honey). Of all the the ingredients, this sweet element is the most important. It cuts the acidity of the tomato and adds a really interesting tone to the flavor.
The further in advance you make your pizza sauce, the better it will be. As with marinades, soups, and other sauces, time allows the flavors to develop and sink into the tomato. Last night, I ended up making the sauce fairly late, so the ingredient amounts are on the heavy side to make up for the fact that the flavors didn't have time to develop. Don't do it this way. Also, if you're only making one pizza, say just for you and the missus, skip the tomato sauce. Instead, use tomato paste and add small amounts of water until the consistency is how you like it.
Finally, the pizzas themselves. Two of the pizzas we made were fairly standard: one with green pepper and mushroom and one with pepperoni (Turkey pepperoni because our friends are cutting back on fats or calories or something. We didn't ask.). The only thing I'll note about these pizzas is: don't use too much cheese. I know everyone loves cheese and thinks more cheese = a better pizza, but it's just not true. The best pizza is the one with balance, where the flavors of the bread, sauce, cheese and toppings all come through. Have some mozzarella on the side, if you must, but leave the pizza alone.
The final pizza was a taco pizza, fast becoming Carolyn's favorite thing. Basically, just make a cheese pizza, light on the sauce and cheese. Pull it out of the oven and let it sit for 5 minutes or so to cool the cheese before the next step. Then spread refried beans on top, crushed chips, tomato, sprinkle on some hot sauce, and finish with shredded cheese. Everyone loved this pizza.
We baked the pizzas on cookie sheets in the oven, as hot as we could go (425). Next time we'll try moving the oven rack to the lowest rung to try to get the crust more done. Not having an oven that cooks to 800 degrees is a real handicap in pizza making.
The Roasted Garlic Experiment
The more you use garlic, the more you want to. As I'm sure you all know, Carolyn and I make a soup or stew on Sundays, and just about every soup starts with some minced garlic. Now, I'm the type of person who likes to know exactly how each of his ingredients works in the recipe as a whole. To that end, I'll snack on just about every ingredient in the recipe while I'm cooking (see, it's for the art, not because I'm hungry). And after you've been frying garlic, it starts to smell so good that you can't believe it won't also taste great. Bearing these two facts in mind, you can probably guess that I have, more than once, attempted to eat raw garlic. For those of you who have also taken this adventure, you know that it never turns out quite right. For those of you who haven't, eating raw garlic all by itself is a lot like eating wasabi paste all by itself: afterward, your sinuses are quite clear, but you still don't really know what it tastes like.
Anyway, Carolyn recently got tired of me going through this "it smells good - it should taste good - it doesn't taste good" cycle, and explained that while people really don't eat garlic raw, there is such a thing as roasted garlic. Why she kept this information from me for so long, I do not know. But to make a long story short, we tried making roasted garlic last night. On to this very short Recipe:
Prehead oven at 400
Chop the tops off of your heads of garlic, so they look like the picture below
Drizzle olive oil over head of garlic, use fingers to distribute so that the whole surface is covered. Oil will work its way down into the cloves.
Wrap the cloves in aluminum foil
Roast for ~30 minutes, or until garlic is soft and lightly browned
Remove from oven, let cool, and then you can just squeeze all the cloves out using pressure at the base
mash it with potatoes, mix it w/ butter, or spread it onto toast directly.
Initially, we ate several cloves alone with a little salt. Let me tell you, it is not what you expect. At least it was not what I expected. The smell of raw garlic is nothing like the flavor of roasted garlic. Some people describe roasted garlic as "nutty". That doesn't seem quite right to me, but since I can't do any better, we'll leave it at that. Also, the cloves become soft and spreadable, which is what makes them so ideal for a toast spread. On the whole, eating roasted garlic alone is not as offensive to the sinuses as raw, but it still leaves something to be desired.
Next we tried it spread on toast. This was about the same as eating it plain. Not bad, but definitely could be better.
Mashing the garlic into potatoes was a great success though. We cooked at Carolyn's apartment, and my potato masher wasn't there, so we ended up using a fork. It didn't really distribute the garlic cloves very well, since they couldn't be properly mashed up. Next time, we'll chop up the roasted garlic before mixing it in.
Final thoughts: roasted garlic would be best chopped up and mixed with butter for garlic butter or mixed directly into potatoes. Sadly, popping a piece of garlic into my mouth will just never give me the experience I expect from smelling it.
Anyway, Carolyn recently got tired of me going through this "it smells good - it should taste good - it doesn't taste good" cycle, and explained that while people really don't eat garlic raw, there is such a thing as roasted garlic. Why she kept this information from me for so long, I do not know. But to make a long story short, we tried making roasted garlic last night. On to this very short Recipe:
Prehead oven at 400
Chop the tops off of your heads of garlic, so they look like the picture below
Drizzle olive oil over head of garlic, use fingers to distribute so that the whole surface is covered. Oil will work its way down into the cloves.
Wrap the cloves in aluminum foil
Roast for ~30 minutes, or until garlic is soft and lightly browned
Remove from oven, let cool, and then you can just squeeze all the cloves out using pressure at the base
mash it with potatoes, mix it w/ butter, or spread it onto toast directly.
Initially, we ate several cloves alone with a little salt. Let me tell you, it is not what you expect. At least it was not what I expected. The smell of raw garlic is nothing like the flavor of roasted garlic. Some people describe roasted garlic as "nutty". That doesn't seem quite right to me, but since I can't do any better, we'll leave it at that. Also, the cloves become soft and spreadable, which is what makes them so ideal for a toast spread. On the whole, eating roasted garlic alone is not as offensive to the sinuses as raw, but it still leaves something to be desired.
Next we tried it spread on toast. This was about the same as eating it plain. Not bad, but definitely could be better.
Mashing the garlic into potatoes was a great success though. We cooked at Carolyn's apartment, and my potato masher wasn't there, so we ended up using a fork. It didn't really distribute the garlic cloves very well, since they couldn't be properly mashed up. Next time, we'll chop up the roasted garlic before mixing it in.
Final thoughts: roasted garlic would be best chopped up and mixed with butter for garlic butter or mixed directly into potatoes. Sadly, popping a piece of garlic into my mouth will just never give me the experience I expect from smelling it.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Belated First Post: Hello Internet!
This weekend Carolyn and I were discussing soups with my mom, and she asked which recipes we liked best. It went something like, "Well there was a really good one early on involving sweet potatoes. And I also liked that one with potatoes and carrots...And Carolyn loves every soup that involves lentils." Despite having made a soup or stew nearly every Sunday for the past 4 months, we couldn't really remember how any of them went.
Yesterday, as we were sitting down to cabbage stir fry, I says to Carolyn, I says "We need to start a food diary to keep track of all our meals, because I'm going to want to make this again, and I want to know how to do it properly." One of us or the other said it ought to be a blog, and Carolyn expressed that it would be gross for a couple to write a food blog together. So here we are.
Thanks to these two conversations, you, Internet, are the benefactor of what is sure to be history in the making. That's right, two average people blogging about mundane food; It doesn't get much more novel than that.
Yesterday, as we were sitting down to cabbage stir fry, I says to Carolyn, I says "We need to start a food diary to keep track of all our meals, because I'm going to want to make this again, and I want to know how to do it properly." One of us or the other said it ought to be a blog, and Carolyn expressed that it would be gross for a couple to write a food blog together. So here we are.
Thanks to these two conversations, you, Internet, are the benefactor of what is sure to be history in the making. That's right, two average people blogging about mundane food; It doesn't get much more novel than that.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Spicy stir-fried cabbage (courtesy of the NYT)
Tonight's gem was a Monday night effort to use up cabbage leftover from Sunday's soup. This recipe for stir-fried cabbage comes from the great New York Times feature, Recipes for Health. (View their full recipe.)
Here's the recipe as we prepared it:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (Ben added another tablespoon after we had started and then complained later that the vegetables were too oily...)
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons minced ginger
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Heat oil in large pan and cook seasonings until fragrant.
Half a large head of cabbage, julienne
2 medium carrots, julienne
Bits of cauliflower
Add vegetables. Here we had to break out a second pan. As usual, our stir-fry runneth over. Cook for a minute or so.
Lots of soy sauce, at least 4 tablespoons
2 tablespoons cooking sherry
Mix soy sauce and sherry and pour over vegetables. Cook another minute or so. Spill generous amounts of cabbage on stove top as you flip the vegetables to distribute sauce.
2 tablespoons cilantro
Remove from heat and stir in cilantro. Eat and enjoy!
The cauliflower wasn't in the original recipe, but anytime Ben is sent to the store he comes back with any and all vegetables that were on sale that week, whether we needed them or not. I worried that the cauliflower would be underdone, because this dish has a short cooking time compared to most stir-fries, but it didn't turn out to be a problem.
Dinner was a hit. Ben discovered that he loves cilantro and added about twice the amount suggested in the recipe. This stir-fry was a break from our usual stand-by of stir-fried mixed vegetables. We enjoyed the break from routine, but thought this dish would work better as a side than an entree. We may try pairing with sushi or mixing in with ramen. Stay tuned to find out, kids!
Here's the recipe as we prepared it:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (Ben added another tablespoon after we had started and then complained later that the vegetables were too oily...)
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons minced ginger
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Heat oil in large pan and cook seasonings until fragrant.
Half a large head of cabbage, julienne
2 medium carrots, julienne
Bits of cauliflower
Add vegetables. Here we had to break out a second pan. As usual, our stir-fry runneth over. Cook for a minute or so.
Lots of soy sauce, at least 4 tablespoons
2 tablespoons cooking sherry
Mix soy sauce and sherry and pour over vegetables. Cook another minute or so. Spill generous amounts of cabbage on stove top as you flip the vegetables to distribute sauce.
2 tablespoons cilantro
Remove from heat and stir in cilantro. Eat and enjoy!
The cauliflower wasn't in the original recipe, but anytime Ben is sent to the store he comes back with any and all vegetables that were on sale that week, whether we needed them or not. I worried that the cauliflower would be underdone, because this dish has a short cooking time compared to most stir-fries, but it didn't turn out to be a problem.
Dinner was a hit. Ben discovered that he loves cilantro and added about twice the amount suggested in the recipe. This stir-fry was a break from our usual stand-by of stir-fried mixed vegetables. We enjoyed the break from routine, but thought this dish would work better as a side than an entree. We may try pairing with sushi or mixing in with ramen. Stay tuned to find out, kids!
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