Sunday, March 4, 2012

Aaand we're back

So after a four month hiatus, I've finally found the time and motivation to start blogging again! I've been busy most of the winter studying for the LSATs, but at long last the test has been taken (results pending) and I have some leisure time. I have a few ideas for new posts, but I figured I'd start with a roundup of some of the yummier and more photogenic things I've cooked since October. Recipes found online are, as always, linked in the panel on the right.

Roasted stuffed pumpkin on Halloween. My own recipe which came out quite well: a simple mix of roasted veggies (onion, carrot, celery, fennel, sweet potato, parsnip) and wild rice inside a small pumpkin roasted with olive oil and salt.

Savory miso soup with rice and a poached egg, seasoned as you wish with sesame oil, sriracha and soy sauce, from The Kitchn.

A great post-holiday meal, Egg Nests from how2heroes. It looks fancy but it's simple: press leftover stuffing into cup shapes in a muffin pan, then crack an egg into each and bake. It's suggested as a breakfast recipe, but it made a great dinner with coriander and almond green beans.

Mushroom bourguignon from Smitten Kitchen, an outstanding veg/vegan adaptation of Julie Child's famous boeuf bourguignon. Silky, hearty, devastatingly delicious I could barely wait while it simmered. 

For Christmas I decided to give homemade food gifts to friends and family. Everyone got a combo of the different jars I made. They are, left to right, vodka that I infused (all by myself!) with cranberries, cinnamon and pear, cranberry cocoa bread with walnuts, cranberry pistachio biscotti, wild rice and mushroom soup, and a southwestern spice mix. The vodka infusion I dreamed up, and the jar recipes came from a little $5 book I saw in a grocery store checkout line that had 50+ ideas for gifting food jars. They were a hit!

Another winner from The Kitchn, orzo with caramelized fall vegetables. I went through a week long craze for sweet potato and swiss chard, and this fit the bill perfectly. Sweet, soft, and full of earthy heartiness. FYI The Kitchn also has a recipe for orzo with summer vegetables, a cold pasta salad with tomatoes, zucchini and greens, which is also fabulous!

Curried smashed potatoes courtesy of White on Rice Couple, with naan and some minted peas. Creamy, sweet and delicious. If only my photos could be as gorgeous as theirs!

For Christmas GP and I tried something new and made Amazon wishlists that we sent to our families when asked the inevitable "what do you want for Christmas?" Our mothers were very appreciative of how easy this made their shopping, and I'm advocating for everyone to make and maintain a wishlist of their own! Perhaps needless to say, but my list was full of cooking accoutrement: a food processor, a mandoline (squee!), mortar and pestle, and a slew of books by Mark Bittman, namely: How to Cook Everything, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, Food Matters, and The Food Matters Cookbook. Santa was very generous and I received a stack of all the books, so I've been on a Bittman binge since the new year, trying out at least one of his recipes each week. His How to Cook Everything cookbooks are a great resource for the dishes that I've heard of and want to try but don't know where to learn the basic recipe. Ratatouille was one of those recipes (I've wanted to make it ever since I saw the adorable and wonderful Pixar movie), and sure enough, Mark had a recipe for a basic, oven-baked version. I know in the film, one of the chefs calls ratatouille "a peasant's dish", and from the ingredients I think I understand: no meat, nothing complicated, just a mountain of fresh vegetables and herbs roasted until soft and sweet.

(the mandoline was a godsend here, my new favorite toy!)

Paired with a good red wine and rustic bread, c'est magnifique!

Guilty Kitchen's portobello burgers again, on ciabatta bread with plenty of avocado and spinach and a side of Trader Joe's sweet potato fries.

My new favorite things for breakfast! A simple and scrumptious recipe from The Kitchn for a fried egg on toast, topped with lemon-garlic wilted kale. I've been making this every weekend morning for a month - I'm addicted. I've also gone nuts for blood oranges and have been eating them daily for a couple of weeks (I might turn purple). 

Bibimbap. Isn't that the best word? I've only had this dish a couple of times when I discovered it on Korean restaurant menus, and thanks to The Kitchn I now know how to make it at home! Basically, bibimbap is a skillet dish of rice, sizzling at the bottom until slightly crunchy, topped with a mix of soft and crisp fresh vegetables, an egg and seasonings of sesame oil and red pepper paste. I worked off The Kitchn's recipe but made a few modifications. I replaced the tofu with stir-fried shiitake mushroom slices, fried the egg and made a makeshift version of gochujang (suggested in the comments) with sriracha and soy sauce. GP and I inhaled this and fought over the leftovers. We'll definitely make it again soon.

And last but not least, a recent dinner of sweet potato and black bean chili with a side of cranberry almond cornbread. The chili was my variation of this recipe; I took out the carrots and bell pepper, and added a diced jalapeno, lime juice and chipotles in adobo sauce to make it very sweet and spicy. For the cornbread, I used a basic recipe without sugar, and just stirred in dried cranberries and sliced almonds.

So that's a bit of a recap. Like I said, I've got some ideas for themed posts, so I should post again soon!