Chickpea stew with couscous, for camping or otherwise

So on the expert and helpful advice of M. Cohen, I planned a few meals for an early fall camping trip (more collected camping recipes and suggestions from M. Cohen forthcoming, ideally in cute zine form). This meal was in the plan, though I believe what actually happened was a huddled dinner of sandwiches and then a quick retreat to the tent to get out of the rain and wind. Fall. It's not like summer. BUT this recipe was just as good cooked in my temperature controlled kitchen the next evening.

Date and Chickpea Stew with Couscous

What you'll need:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 15-oz can diced tomatoes
2 15-oz cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 cup pitted dates, sliced
juice of one lemon
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 cup couscous
1/2 teaspoon salt

The stew:
1. Heat the olive in a pot or large cast iron pan and saute the onion until browned (7-10 minutes).
2. Add the spices and garlic and cook briefly (30 seconds). Then add the tomatoes, chickpeas, and 1/4 of water. Cover and simmer (10 minutes).
3. Add the dates and lemon juice, continue to simmer to taste.

The couscous:
1. Boil 1.5 cups of salted water (you can add stock or bouillon for more flavor).
2. Stir in the couscous, remove the pot from the heat source, and cover.
3. The best part.... fluffing! Use a fork to ruffle the couscous just before you're ready to eat.

Place couscous in bowls and top with the stew and some chopped cilantro. Enjoy!

-Recipe courtesy of Dirty Gourmet.

Lamb-tastic Chops with Rosemary and Garlic

Hey boos!

Wow, it's been a while since I posted too. F-bomb, thanks for your philosophical musings. It sounds very smart aside from the fact that anchovies are mega gross.

I had my friend June over for dinner last night, who is currently on a food cleanse to try and figure out what's irritating her stomach. In any case, I had to meal plan around an extensive one-page document of do's and don'ts, which lead me to just say eff-it, I'll cook meat, even though I'm mildly terrified of doing so given that I've cooked vegetarian all my life. A trip to Blah-blahs (Loblaws) later, I found this recipe, and it was sooooo good. I might have to do it again tonight. I was cooking on the fly so didn't have time to marinate at all, and compensated by just making hella marinade. It worked out just fine. My sides were quinoa, shitake mushrooms, and asparagus salad.

 

The things:

• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary or 2 teaspoons dried
• 1 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
• 18 small lamb rib chop

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Fresh rosemary sprigs (optional)

The actions:

Combine first 3 ingredients in small bowl. Rub about 1/4 teaspoon mixture over each side of each chop. Sprinkle chops with salt; place on plate. Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes and up to 4 hours. 

Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add 9 chops to skillet; cook to desired doneness, about 3 minutes per side for medium-rare. Transfer to platter; cover with foil. Repeat with remaining oil and chops. Garnish platter with rosemary sprigs, if desired.

Courtesy of Epicurious

Polenta lasagna with swiss chard and mushrooms

Last night I made a lasagna for a gluten-free friend, so used rounds of polenta instead of regular lasagna noodles. I adapted elements of this recipe for the fillings. These quantities made a moderately generous four servings for hungry people.

Polenta Lasagna with Swiss Chard and Mushrooms

500 gr tube of polenta (or make your own, let it set), sliced thinly
Jar of tomato sauce (or make your own)
2/3 cup finely chopped onions
2 minced cloves of garlic, separated
8 oz of cremini mushrooms
2 bunches of swiss chard, stemmed and cored
1/4 tsp hot pepper flakes
1/4 tsp nutmet
olive oil
8 oz ricotta
1/2 cup grated parmesan
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375F.

Blanche swiss chard in boiling water for one minute. Drain and squeeze out all the liquid, then chop up. Sauté onions, one minced clove of garlic, and chilli peppers in olive oil until soft. Add swiss chard, season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Heat up more oil in a heavy pan, add mushrooms and last clove of garlic. Sauté for about 10 minutes, or until mushrooms have browned, dried up, released, and reabsorbed their liquids. Season with a dash of nutmeg, salt and pepper.

In a casserole dish, put down a slop of tomato sauce, then put down a layer of polenta. Put in half the mushrooms, half the swiss chard, a few dollops of ricotta, a sprinkling of parmesan, and tomato sauce. Repeat. Put on a final layer of polenta, top with tomato sauce, ricotta, and parmesan.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes with tinfoil covering it. Take off the tinfoil and bake for another ten minutes.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!

the best thing i've made in awhile?

oh, hello you. i'd like to share an excellent winter invention. a delightful treat. comfort food at its very best. it's bit haphazard and wild, but the good news is that there is tons of flexibility in terms of what you have on hand. i hope that everyone makes this because really, since i finished up all the leftovers, i've been dreaming of having more of it.

buttercup squash mac & cheese

you need:
1 bag (regular size?) of any kind of pasta that you like (i mixed farro spirals and regular old elbow mac)
2 cups vegetable broth
1 medium sized buttercup squash
breadcrumbs
3 cups grated cheese (i used smoked cheddar, gouda, and regular cheddar)
milk of choice
spoon of butter

1. slice the squash in half and remove the seeds. roast it in the oven on an oiled pan, face down, at 375 until quite soft (30 minutes, ish). OR you could roast this (as i did) in cubes (peeled, etc) with some sea salt and either sage or thyme. YUM.

2. while the squash is roasting, grate up all of your cheese and boil whatever pasta you've selected. cook til nearly your desired softness, but NOT QUITE! since you will be putting it back in the oven in a little bit. when the pasta is cooked enough, strain and run cold water so that the cooking process is paused.

3. when the squash is done, scoop out the gooey insides into a pot (maybe even the pasta pot that you were using but strained the pasta out of). with an immersion blender, turn the squash into a silky sauce by also adding some of the vegetable broth (saving about a cup for later) and the butter. when this gets a bit silky, add the cooked pasta, and the grated cheese (saving about half a cup of the cheese). add the rest of the broth, and milk. add as much as you need to loosen up the sauce a little, as it will be quite thick because of the squash. i probably added about a cup.

4. when all is combined, scoop out your delicious mixture into a large pyrex. top with the remaining cheese and sprinkle with bread crumbs.

5. bake at 350 for about 10 minutes. then stick your broiler on so that the top gets browned, but watch closely so that it doesn't burn.

TA-DA!
Enjoy this with a side of sauteed collards with garlic, and a bit of hot sauce.

comfort food, cali style

i think that most americans would be horrified to learn that until i moved to vermont 4 months ago, 'shepherd's pie' or 'corned beef hash' were nothing more then culinary mysteries. and while the word 'meatloaf' has been mentioned in my presence, i certainly have no personal experience with it. in california, comfort food takes on a notably more mexican flavor. in fact, i bet that after trying my dad's tacos, the whole midwest would stop stocking whatever meatloaf is made of, and start filling the shelves with beautiful, spicy mexican chiles.

california comfort food a la r. horwitz (and l. brydolf):

1 white onion

2 jalapeno chiles

2 pasilla chiles (these look like green peppers, if unavailable, use green peppers)

kalamata olives

cooked potato

chicken (if desired)

cilantro

avocado

green salsa

corn tortillas

canola oil

feta

1. to begin, a key flavor comes from blackening the chiles over a gas range, or lacking that, broiling them in the oven. either way, wait until the skin is black and bubbled and then remove it with your fingers or a paper towel. mostly it's just important not to involve water because that removes the roasted flavor.

2. once blackened, remove seeds and dice the chiles and the onion and saute them in a pan with some canola oil. add some green salsa to the mixture, and when the onions have been cooked through, add pieces of potato, chopped olives, and chicken (my dad usually buys a rotisserie chicken and adds the already cooked meat).

3. the above makes up most of the taco innards. to complete the deliciousness, saute a corn tortilla in a bit of canola oil, add the chile mixture, top with cilantro, avocado, and if you like, feta cheese and more green salsa, and close the taco.

4. consume rapidly and make more!

the best thing about this recipe, is that if you've done some of the prep work beforehand, or had others do it for you (ex: rotisserie chicken), this meal takes about 20 minutes. plus if you make extra, you can keep eating it for days and days. and let me tell you, 3-day old hot tacos kick 3-day old shepherd's pie out of the water. or kitchen.

B-B-B-BAKED BEANS!

here is the best recipe for baked beans on the planet. it makes me feel like i'm 8 years old again because it tastes just like these beans from a deli in toronto that i would order with a side of tiny hot dogs. (in this case, side serving of hot dogs optional).

you need:
1 pound dried great northern beans
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup tomato sauce
2 tbsp dijon mustard
2 tbsp molasses
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tsp cracked black pepper
2 slices of thick cut bacon, sliced into chunks
1/2 dried chipotle pepper (optional)

this takes pretty much all day, so best to do it when you are sitting at home. for instance, i am spending this entire day learning property law / the most boring things in the universe. but i take comfort in knowing that a tasty treat is baking in my oven for later.

first things first. rinse the beans. put them in a large pot (one that is oven-safe, for later. either a dutch oven or cast iron pot or something all metal) and add enough water to cover them. bring to a boil, lower the heat, and cook until they are softened (about an hour).

then, mix up all the ingredients except the bacon in a bowl. add to the beans. it is okay to have leftover water in the pot, since you will be adding water anyway. then, add the bacon, stir it all up, and add enough water to cover everything. cover the top of the pot with aluminum foil and place the lid on top.

bake in the oven at 300F. check on the beans every hour and a half or so to make sure that the beans haven't dried out. if they are dry but not done, add more water as you go. it will take 6 hours for these to cook down into the most perfect, sauciest, tastiest beans in the world.

easy!

in conclusion, after you have made these beans, if someone says to you - 'how you livin???', you will now be able to respond with.....'LARGE!'

mm-hm.

Oxtail Stew

Okay Folks,

This is a serious one. This is ideal if you are unemployed, underemployed, self-employed, or if you spend a lot of time at home for some other reason. It is also good if you are low on cash and have a desire to eat delicious that falls off the bone. This is a good one for getting in touch with the animal spirits. The ingredients are quite flexible, but the proportions and fundamentals are important.

Cooking Time: 2 Days, ideally.
Portions: a small hungry army

Ingredients:

Ox-tail

• You can buy this from an "ethnic" butcher of some sort, search it out, not always in stock. Make this stew when you find it being sold somehwere. You can freeze it and thaw it for later use. Seize the day. It is usually relatively inexpensive, as far a meat goes.
• It is also possible to substitute the meat with another kind, and keep the same idea, but . . . . alas you can not tell people you are making "ox-tail." A good substitution would be stew beef with the bone in or lamb shoulder cut up into chunks. If you are using beef or lamb of a stewing nature, reduce the simmering time to something more like 1.5 or 2 hours. You want the meat to fall off the bone, but you do not want to destroy the meat itself. There is such thing as too much of a good thing, even when that thing is slow cooking.
• You'll find ox-tail either whole (about 1.5 feet long) or cut in half. Ask the butcher to cut your ox-tail up into chunks of a biggish size. If you want to feed more people, buy a big one or two small ones, if you want to feed less buy a small one.

carrots - a bunch
onions - a bunch
fresh thyme - a lot
garlic - a bunch of cloves
tomatoes - a bunch of fresh ones or a big can or two of whole ones)
red lentils - a cup
butter or oil - just a little
light green long peppers (or something similar very mild spice) - three or so
jalapano - one or two, depending on your preference
potatoes - totally optional (I don't really like then myself, but to each their own)
habanero pepper or some kind of intense hot sauce - if it suits you and you want to feel the burn
salt, pepper - not too much salt, be careful, you can't put it back in the jar!
water - various quantities
spices - ideally Jamaican curry powder sold in large quantities (such as Cool Runnings brand)

1. You can also make your own if you know what you are doing: tumeric, cumin, allspice, etc, but I'd trust the Jamaicans to work their magic.

Methodology

Heat up a BIG HEAVY BOTTOM pot to medium. Cut up a whole bunch of onions, very coarsely. Fry them in some heated but not burning olive oil or butter (not too much). Fry on medium for a bit. While the pot is hot add the ox to the onions. Cook the outside of the meat, stirring on occasion. Add carrots and potatoes (in largeish chunks). Make sure not to burn anything, but you want to be getting the heat up and into the ingredients. This whole thing should take a little while (10-15 min.) You can cover it, and it may start to get liquid in the bottom, depending on how it works out. If that happens, cool, great, reduce heat for a while and let simmer. Add peppers. If it is looking dry on the bottom of the pan, avoid burning by adding water, red wine and/or canned tomatoes slowly. Slowly add liquid until you have a saucy thing going on. Take about 20 little sprigs of thyme and strip the leaves off into the pot one at a time, toss the twig bits. Add garlic, crushed or cut up reasonably small. Add A couple of table spoons of spices as we discussed, depending on your preferences. Salt, pepper. Wash your red lentils in cold water, drain, and add. Add more water as needed (the lentils will take water).

The order of the actions is not highly important. Onions and meat first for sure. Don't let anything burn. Get the heat up, but do not settle into a rolling boil. Bring down heat once you have everything in the pot. Stir it up. Enjoy the process.

Now, clean up your cooking station, and let the puppy cook for a LONG TIME on VERY LOW. We are talking like 4 hours or more if you like. Add water as needed. Do not burn anything on the bottom. Usually 4 hours will do it good. You can also mess around with getting it up to a boil, and leaving it to cool on the stove for a hour or three while you go out and do something else, and then re-heating it and simmer it again. If you are using lamb on the bone instead, cook for much less time, like one hour of simmering or until the meat falls of the bone. Stew beef with the bone in - maybe 1.5 or two hours of simmering, it depends.

At this point the meat, of whatever sort, should fall of the bone more or less with the use of a fork. You may have somewhat over shot if you can no longer distinguish the meat chunks, but that is not the end of the world. When you are satisfied, stop cooking and let it cool completely. Leave it out on the stove for a while to cool off, then store in the pot, in the fridge, while time passes. When it has cooled completely, skim as much of the of fat off the surface as you can with a spoon or a ladle.

Reheat thoroughly (probably the next day) and enjoy this carnivorous feast. You can serve it with hot sauce and sour cream or yogurt, and definitely something bread-ish like pita or white bread or ROTI in large quantities.

Notes:

The long slow cooking brings out the flavour and turns a very tough hard-assed cut of meat into a soft and tender delicacy. It also semi-liquefies the nutrient-rich bone marrow and some of the cartilage-type stuff (good for those of you with joint problems!) The key here is to cook it on low, essentially for ever. This is an all-day thing, or a least an afternoon thing. It is also good to eat a sandwich while or before cooking, so you don't get hungry and try to eat the ingredients.

Proportionally, you will want it to be heavy on the meat and onions, with lots of taste and sauce. Most of the other vegetable ingredients will become broken down by all the cooking. It can be thick or thin, re water and lentil quantity, as desired. It works well as a thick sludge or as a brothy kind of soup. It works very well to be cooked in large quantity and reheated as needed over the week. Because of the large quantity and all the cooking, this stew will take quite a lot of spicing and not become deadly hot, so . . . hold the course. You can always cool it down with yogurt or sour cream.

Invite a large group of people over. Eat as a soup with a spoon. Encourage the use use of fingers to eat the meat and get at the good stuff. Add hot sauce as needed. Bring your appetite and leave your meat-on-the-bone prejudices at the door.


Dr. Rocker

this is for the professor

dear friends but especially, prof. tata:

long awaited - the recipe for what is commonly referred to as the lentil/rice/onion delight. however, a few people (including my mother and mostly all other lebanese people) called it mujadra.

here is what you need:
2 cups brown lentils (or those small black ones which are really good. i have been using those lately)
1/2 cup rice (i use brown but you can use white)
4 cups water
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp allspice
salt and pepper to taste
about 6 onions (or more if you are feeling really funky)
lotsa olive oil

this is the easiest thing on earth to prepare.

washing the lentils and rice are essential. wash first, cook later.

boil the water. add the lentils and rice at the same time if you are using brown rice. cover and lower the heat. (if you are using white, add it to the pot after 15 minutes). let cook for 15 minutes. add the cumin and allspice and salt. stir and cover, cooking on low heat until the lentils and rice are cooked and there is no water left. (if you find that the lentils/rice arent cooked but there is no water left - do not fear. add a bit more as you go).

here is the trick - IMMEDIATELY AFTER you start cooking, cut all of the onions into thin strips. in a large pan with a bunch of oil, cook the onions on low heat until they are brown and basically caramelized. they should be super soft. this will take awhile (at least 40 minutes). you may even want to start on this first, depending on how proactive you are feeling or how hungry you are.

serve with the succulent onions over top of the lentils.

for the "true experience", serve this with chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, mint springs, pita (for scooping - no forks allowed for this dish) and labne. you could also make a yogurt sauce with chopped cucumber, mint, and black pepper.

there you have it, folks.

this makes a lot of lentils and is good for leftovers. if you want less food (weird?), cut it in half.

curry coconut soup with chickpeas and veggies

hey fools,
i made this yesterday whilst in a post-drunk, pre-drunk daze and it was amazing. warm, comforting, interesting -- all that you could want out of a homemade hangover dish.

die zulaten:

• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 medium onion (about 6 ounces), chopped
• 1 medium red bell pepper (about 6 ounces), chopped
• 1 jalapeño chili, seeded and finely chopped
• 2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup chopped tomatoes, seeded and peeled, fresh or canned
• 1 teaspoon mild curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 (14-ounce) can light coconut milk
• 3/4 cup cooked white or brown rice
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro or parsley

das kochrezept:

Heat the oil over medium heat.
Add the onion, bell pepper, and chili; cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. [Note: I think if you wanted to "veg it up" you could also totally add more veggies.]
Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute. [Note 2: I had no garlic and substituted ginger, which I thought was really good.]
Add the broth, chickpeas, tomatoes, curry powder, salt, and black pepper; bring to a boil over high heat.
Reduce the heat and simmer gently, uncovered, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.
Add the remaining ingredients and cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through, about 5 minutes.
Eat.

in lieu of any kind of relevant illustration, i'm posting this flyer i made recently. because, you know, coconuts and dildos go so well together.

love,
prof. tata

spelt + kale stew = a spicy delight

dear internet friends,

today was a day of delicious eating. if you are in the mood for something hearty yet not heavy, spicy but flavourful... here is what you should do. acquire the following:

1 large-ish onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 small red thai chili peppers (or substitute with dried red pepper flakes)
1 tsp chili powder
a couple of fingerling potatoes (the most delicious kind)
1 carrot
1 cup cooked chickpeas
1 cup spelt berries (farro)
4 cups broth
14 oz can diced tomatoes
half bunch of kale
1 cup ish savoy cabbage

sautee the onion, garlic and hot peppers in olive oil. when soft, add the chili powder, chopped potatoes and carrot. keep cooking on medium for another 5 minutes or so. add the can of tomatoes, spelt and the broth and a bit of salt. cover and bring to a boil, then cook on low heat until the spelt is soft (45 minutes ish if you get unhulled, which is healthier). add the chickpeas near the end of that time. Then once everything is pretty well cooked, add the chopped cabbage and kale and keep cooking on low until they wilt.

ta-da!

i ate this with crumbled sheep's feta on top and am immensely satisfied.

enjoy.

Definitely not kosher

This photo pretty much sums up my Uncle Paco. Just back from a weekend with him and his wife Maria in Oviedo, in northern Spain, where I ate very well and took silly pictures. (Apparently Woody Allen said something nice about the city so they made him a statue.)

In casa, I worked hard on my vocabulary. A few choice words and phrases:

• voy al cine de las sábanas blancas = i'm going to bed (literally: i'm going to the white sheets cinema. apparently used only by my aunt's father.)
• no veo tres en un burro = i have terrible vision (literally: i can't see 3 people on a donkey... note that if you can see 4 people on a donkey, you're OK. the donkey probably is not.)
• buzear = scuba diving (necessary for watching the 1980s underwater/alien/Cold War classic The Abyss, starring a young Ed Harris, dubbed into Spanish)
• me estás mimando mucho! = you are seriously spoiling me (literally: me all weekend)

Even though she doesn't like it herself, la tia made a delicious Asturian bean stew for us Allodis and was kind enough to pass on the recipe.

Fabada asturiana

1 kg dried Asturian white beans (longish, but not flat like those from Barco de Avila)
pancetta/tocino entreverado (pig fat from the underbelly with some meat)
lacon (salted pork)
blood sausage (Maria insists it must be Asturian)
chorizo (Spanish pork sausage with paprika)
1-2 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
1 bay/laurel leaf
cuarter onion
pinch of saffron, if you like
some white flour, to thicken the broth

Soak beans overnight. Put them in a pressure cooker or pot, add water to cover plus an inch. Add everything else except the flour. Bring to a boil and skim off all the gross foam. Cook under pressure for 20 minutes, or longer in a normal pot. If you like a thick broth, take out some beans, puree them and add them back. You could also add some flour. Serve beans alone or with meat. MMmmm...

Pink Pasta

Dear Blog Readers,

The other night I made a very counterintuitive pasta dish--pasta with beets! Not only was the whole thing fantastically rose-tinged, it was also delicious. It was sweet and savoury and crunchy and cheesy--what more could you need? I would seriously recommend that all of you make this as soon as possible.

Pink Pasta with Beets and Beet Greens

1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
extra-virgin olive oil
2 large onions, sliced into thin crescents (about 4 cups)
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 bunches beets with fresh healthy greens, greens cut into 1-inch-wide-strips
12 ounces farfalle (bow-tie pasta)
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese plus extra for serving

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Begin by putting the beets into the oven to roast. Depending on their size this will take between 3o and 60 minutes, so get started early! When they are finished, peel and cut the beets into crescents.

Next, get to work caramelizing those nice crescent onions. Put a large frying pan over medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the onions, and saute until beginning to soften and turn golden, about 10 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and saute until tender and browned, about thirty minutes longer. (FOR A GREAT PRIMER ON CARAMELIZING ONIONS, go here). Once you are satisfied with the caramelization of the onions, add garlic and stir for 2 minutes. Scatter beet greens over onions and garlic, drizzle on a little more olive oil if needed; cover, and cook until beet greens are tender, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, put a large pot of water on the stove to boil. Once boiling, add pasta and cook until al dente--tender, but still firm to bite. Reserve a cup of the pasta boiling water, then drain, and return pasta to pot.

Stir onion-greens mixture and beets into pasta. Add pasta cooking liquid by 1/4 cupfuls to moisten, if needed. Season with salt and fresh ground black pepper. Stir in Parmesan cheese, and pinenuts.

Serve!

squashed

ahh in the hurried descent of the sun, biting winds, and treacherous sidewalks, young fancies turn to thoughts of squash!


two recipes: spaghetti squash... gratin? and whatever squash you like gratin. the first is a molly kotzen recipe, and the second is the esteemed deborah m.

let's begin the medley with the any winter squash gratin because i know spaghetti squash freaks some people out and we may as well ease into it.

thus preheat the oven to 325 degrees, though perhaps not quite at the beginning since the chopping, dicing really, of the squash can take quite a while. unless of course your kitchen is really cold and you need an excuse to warm it up.

2 winter squash(es?), i have only used butternut, peeled and diced as small as your arm can take
2 cloves of garlic, diced
1/2 cup fresh parsley
some salt and pepper

toss the squash pieces with the above ingredients in a large bowl. then add 3 tbs of flour and toss again. pour/scrape/finegle the mixture into a oiled casserole dish, leaving the leftover flour in the mixing bowl. bake for like 2 hours.
___________________________________________________________________

the spaghetti squash has more ingredients but is faster in terms of from cutting board to mouth time. the temperature suggested is 375 degrees.

halve a spaghetti squash, they are yellow and disguise their inherent freakishness rather well. you can either bake it in the oven for half an hour, or wrap the halves in saran wrap and microwave them, i would say 8 minutes, and then another 5-8. either way when it is done scrape out the seeds and let them cool.

meanwhile combine the following in a pan:
1 cup of chopped onion, you may as well put more
2 cloves of chopped garlic
salt and pepper
some mushrooms, probably one of those blue boxes, or more if you feel inspired
1/2 tsp oregano
some basil and some thyme

when they are sauted, add 2 chopped tomatoes and cook until the t-juices are mostly gone.
scrape out the squash innards and put them in the pan with everything else. yes, i also find them (the innards) a little disturbing.

transfer the squash melange into a greased casserole dish and cover with grated mozarella. if you want less of an upper skin of cheese you can mix it in, but really i don't understand why you wouldn't want a bubbling browning layer of cheese. on top of that add some breadcrumbs and parmesan. bake for about 40 minutes and voila. strange and disturbing but so delicious.

Tortilla Soup and Existential Blogging: Begrebet Angest

I let my first C is for Kitchen invitation expire. I was very overwhelmed by the prospect. As the great Julia Child once proclaimed, you are what you cook! Am I savory or sweet? Sour or bitter? God, Am I Umami?? Am I an anti-animal rights barbarian or a baby-plant pamperer? Soon, posting had become no longer about trivial recipes but my entire self-definition! How could I possibly be expected to create something so substantive in the 14 months before the next blog invitation expired?!?!

And then, the economy crashed and Obama was elected president and I thought to myself, “Yes, I can!”

So, here’s to more productive moments of procrastination:

“Aztec” Soup or “Mexican Turkey Tor-tila Soup”

2 bunches scallions, trimmed and chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped and kept away from the eyes and nose
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons ground cumin
Many corn tillas
8 cups turkey/chicken/ “vegetable” stock
1 28-ounce can plum tomatoes, undrained
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice (or more)
Salt
2 cups cooked turkey/chicken, a la julienne (optional for an easy plant-pamperer twist)
Numerous ripe avocados
½ cup fresh cilantro
Cheese (cheddar, Monterey jack, anything strong)


Saute scallions, garlic, and jalpeno peppers in heated olive oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add chile powder, oregano, and cumin and cook for one minute. Cut tortillas into small strips and add to the pot. Add stock, tomatoes and lime juice. Season with salt. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, cut more tortillas into thin strips and fry with (lots of) butter or oil until crisp!

Ladle into soup bowls and garnish with turkey/chicken strips (or not), avocado, cilantro, fried tortilla chips and cheese!

Existence precedes essence!

Spicy Chickpeas with Ginger for a Dark and Gloomy Night

A friend came over for dinner tonight, drenched. He warmed his hands over simmering, steamy chickpeas, and I realized how perfect this dish--warm, spicy, delicious--was for a grim night like tonight. It's also a good dish for a dark and stormy night since you probably have most of the ingredients on hand, and can probably avoid a trip to the grocery store. A good recipe to have on hand when in your city of residence every night is a dark and stormy night, or at least between October and May.

Rice, and crunchy vegetables like green beans or broccoli, work nicely as sides.

3 tablespoons mustard or vegetable oil
1 large onion, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons grated ginger
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tomatoes diced
1 1/2 cups chickpea broth or water
3 cups cooked chickpeas or 30-ounces canned, rinsed
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
Garnishes: chopped cilantro, onion, diced tomato, minced jalapeno

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, stirring, until well browned, about 12 to 15 minutes. Lower heat and add the bay leaf, spices, garlic, ginger, and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper, and the tomatoes. Cook for 5 minutes, then add chickpeas and chickpea broth (or water). Simmer until liquid is reduced to sauce-like consistency, about 15 to 20 minutes. Season with lemon juice, and extra salt if you so desire. Serve!

Credits go to Deborah Madison.

Dal a la Joy

So simple! So filling!

1 cup yellow split peas or red lentils, rinsed
3 cups water
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp peeled and minced ginger
½ tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
2 serrano or jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped
1 plum tomato, diced
2 tbsp. fresh cilantro

Add lentils, 2 cups water, onion, garlic, ginger, turmeric to pot. Bring to boil, simmer covered for 20-25 min. Stir in 1 cup water and salt. Simmer partially covered for 20 min. Stir in peppers, tomato, and cilantro. Serve with basmati rice.

Thai Butternut Squash Soup

Recipes are back. This one has been enjoyed by one and all over the last couple of years c/o Moosewood. This version has a few of my own modifications. If you don't like it, type up your own goddamn recipes.

Contents:
1 cup coconut milk
½ teaspoon Thai red curry paste
½ tsp salt
2 cups veggie brother (best without salt)
2 12-oz packages of frozen cooked winter squash or about 1 large whole winter squash
1 lime
2 cups fresh baby spinach
Sugar, to taste
Chopped cilantro

Pan-fried tofu:
8oz (½ cake) firm tofu
1 tbsp soy sauce
½ tsp Thai red curry paste
1 tsp vegetable oil

If you’re using fresh squash, bake whole in oven for 1.5 hours or until poked easily with a fork. In the microwave, cut lengthwise, lay skin side up in ½ inch of water and cook for five minutes. Turn and cook for another 5 minutes or until tender. Seed, peel, and chop squash. In a soup pot, whisk together the coconut milk, curry paste, salt, and broth. Add squash, cover, and bring to a simmer. Cook, covered, 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare pan-fried tofu. Cut the tofu into small cubes and toss with soy sauce and the curry paste. Heat the oil in a small skillet on medium-high heat. Add the tofu and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Set aside.

Lightly grate the lime peel and juice the lime. Add zest and lime juice to taste. Stir in spinach and tofu and cook until spinach wilts. Add sugar and salt to taste. Garnish with cilantro.

'move it or lose it' pasta!

dear friends,

many of you who are reading this blog probably know the following two things about me: one, if there's anything i hate in this world, it's wasting food. and two, i am moving out of my apartment soon. so i was perusing the insides of my fridge last night, the anxiety about everything i had to eat before the move on thursday building.... and i ended up concocting a pretty wild and delicious noodle extravaganza.

here's what i did:

boiled a bag of rigatoni pasta until i thought that it could probably use about 3 minutes more cooking time (but you could use any tube-shaped pasta, i would imagine.) drained and set aside.

in a very large and deep skillet on medium heat, i sauteed two diced shallots, three cloves of minced garlic, and a teaspoon of dried crushed hot pepper in something like a quarter of a cup of olive oil until soft and fragrant (about 6 minutes). i found part of a leftover yellow pepper and added it to the mix. then chopped fresh basil (i added the contents of my refrigerator, so you really can put a lot and it is delicious). then about a cup of diced sundried tomatoes (you could also add fresh tomatoes, or whatever you have). black olives and surprise! i found a can of chickpeas, which i rinsed and drained and added to the mix. finally, i incorporated money teph's broth method - i added a bag of baby spinach (about 4 handfuls) along with some vegetable broth and turned the heat up. when everything seemed to be well-mixed and delicious, i added the mostly-cooked pasta and combined with cracked black pepper. now the most delicious part - as much grated cheese as you can possibly find. i had about 150g of gruyere and some parmesan. on low heat, mix it ALLLLL in.

when the stovetop portion is all said and done, place your pasta mixture in a glass casserole baking dish (grease with a bit of olive oil). sprinkle the top with some bread crumbs and remaining cheeses and bake at 350F until the top is crisp and the insides are hot and bubbling - about 20 minutes.

you can use this method with pretty much anything you have in the fridge. the versatility is really the charm..... i'm sure that it would be delicious with zucchinis, tomatoes, pesto, garden gnomes... you name it.

whew! well, don't we all feel better now?!!

(maybe that's just me. but really. i really really do.)

first step bean salad, second step freedom

Do you ever wander around campus (or, if you have graduated, 'the real world'), wishing that you could find something that was tasty yet healthy, crisp but not deep-fried, and cheap? And then, do you accidentally wander into Caferama and accidentally order one of their bean salads thinking how good it could be, only to be deeply disappointed and unhappy because it is none of the above? Although Caferama will soon lose its spot in the SSMU building to some other uninteresting and overpriced chain, the dilemmas posed transcend this specific merchant of unsatisfying food.

Making your own bean salad, and carrying it around with you in a tupperware for all occasions, so long as it is occasionally refrigerated, is a good solution to all of these problems. Although not to the more systemic ones of corporate control and rampant capitalism and poverty wages and world food 'crisis.' But eating (and sharing!) a good homemade lunch is a way to start.

To set off on the path towards utopian living, via the creatively titled "Bean Salad," you will need to accumulate and mix together in a bowl:

1 can of black beans (or you can soak but I don't know proportions)
1 can of corn kernels (or you can use fresh corn in the summer!)
2 bell peppers, diced, perhaps a red and an orange?
a bunch of green onions, sliced
about 1/2 a cup of cilantro, chopped
1/2 a block feta, crumbled
1/2 cup wild rice (when cooked this makes between 1 and a half cups)
1ish tablespoon ginger, grated

When all of this is in a bowl, throw (or pour) on some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste. Toss. Turn. Ideally, refrigerate for half an hour but it will not be tragic if you can't. Eat.

Bonus points: beans and corn, eaten together, form a complete protein!

Moros y cristianos

The handing over of the keys of Granada to Ferdinand and Isabella by the defeated Baobdil. "It is every Granadine's fave," says the BH.

Moros y cristianos
aka racist rice and beans
c/o Joy of Cooking/Spain

olive oil
1 cup chopped onions
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 chili pepper or red pepper flakes
1 cup diced tomato or can of tomatoes
2 1/2 cups water
1 cup rice
1 tsp salt
2 cups canned black beans or 2/3 cup dried

To cook beans: soak overnight, simmer 30 min.

Heat olive oil over medium in a medium pot. Add onion, garlic, chili and cook 5-8 min or until tender. Stir in tomato, water, rice salt. Bring to a boil. Add black beans and reduce heat to simmer for 20 min. or until rice is tender and water absorbed. Remove from heat and let stand 10 min. covered.