To Cook a Dream: Hot Cucumbers

One day I was just thinking: can you cook cucumbers? I mean can, duh. But should I suppose was the better word: should I cook cucumbers? I don't remember what happened after that, probably I carried on eating raw cucumbers like a big dumb idiot.

Then, I was in Austin (Texas -- more on that later) and we were enjoying a cappucinno on the patio of the cafe. I was reading Food & Wine, which turned out to be very much worth the $6 price tag I hadn't paid attention to before I got to the check out. And there they were: hot & sour cucumbers. Hot as in spicy, but also as in temperature.

They were SO delicious. Like eating spicy, warm, slightly sweet but definitely tangy pickles. I feel like onions would be a hugely welcomed addition.

I adapted the recipe from Food & Wine, but mostly just based on the things I had in my kitchen. I'll tell it to you like I did it, cause that's how I do:

2 tbsp sesame oil
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 container cubed baby bellas (the mushrooms)
6 slices of pickled jalapeno
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp honey
1 big ass cucumber (from TJs), cut thickly & diagonally
1/2 lemon's juice
cracked salt (as in, not salt you could shake from a shaker)
***
Heat sesame oil. Add garlic until fragrant. Add shrooms & 'penos, til the shrooms soften. Add cukes. Stir in vinegar & honey & 2 tbsp water. Stirrrr. Cover. Cook for 7 mins. Squeeze lemon juice & sprinkle salt. Devour.

I served it with brined chicken breast. The brine was simple, just salt & honey & water. Brined for 4 hours. But it was maybe the best chicken breast I ever cooked. I used this oven baked/under wax paper method, per my new habit. And I was like HELLZYA this naturally bland piece of meat is SO good.

Frankly, darlings, I was amazed at the deliciousness of this simple meal. YES, I brined for 4 hours, which maybe is not so easy for an every night meal, but eff it, it was worth it. SPOILER ALERT: I might make it Sunday to have as part of my lunch salads.

To Reminisce: The April Menus

March 30th

WEEK ONE

Sunday March 29: Brox & Crispy Egg
Monday March 30: Lentils Stir Fry w. Grilled Endive
Tuesday March 31: Frittata, popovers & sweet pepper soup
April Fool's Day: Sakuramen
Thursday April 2: Frittata & Roasted zukes & brox
Friday April 3: Buffalo chicken + salt & vinegar potatoes
Saturday April 4: Passover

March 31st.

WEEK TWO

Sunday April 5: Easter
Monday April 6: Frozen TJs pizza
Tuesday April 7: Matzo ball soup
Wednesday April 8: Pop's Sea Bar appetizer + chicken with creamed kale
Thursday April 9: Arugula ravioli + artichokes
Friday April 10: Oleana
Saturday April 11: Lamb, string beans, roasted potatoes

April 12th

WEEK THREE

Sunday April 12: Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, collards, biscuits
Monday April 13: Tomato juice & blue chips
Tuesday April 14: Spaghetti with meat sauce
Wednesday April 15: Spaghetti with meat sauce
Thursday April 16: Spaghetti with meat sauce
Friday April 17: Sushi take out
Saturday April 18: Zaytinya

April 20th

WEEK FOUR

Sunday April 19: Chinese take out
Monday April 20: Roasted chicken thighs + braised peas
        >>Sausage instead of prosciutto. So creamy.
Tuesday April 21: Maple
Wednesday April 22: Trader Joe's Pizza + Sauteed Artichokes
Thursday April 23: Casserole DISASTER >>> Faux cacio e pepe
Friday April 24: Frittata + Tortellini Salad + Lemon Artichokes
Saturday April 25: Etto

To Healthify: Buffalo Wings & Salt + Vinegar Chips

Chicken wings are the best! And so are salt and vinegar potato chips. BUT, they are not the healthiest. These oven baked buffalo wings were great. Did you know buffalo wings have butter in the sauce? I didn't and that doesn't sound healthy, but in the scheme of things it doesn't add up to too much. And the potatoes taste just like the chips, just meatier and fluffier. The trick with THOSE is to boil them in vinegar. It's pungent while cooking, but worth it. I also added some vinegary salt from Williams-Sonoma.

I didn't have any bleu cheese dressing. But I did have: yogurt, milk, feta cheese & chives. And it was a rather decent if less overwhelming option. And though I hadn't thought of it before, dipping those potatoes in that sauce was pretty glorious.

So, sure, there wasn't as much grease but I was totally licking my fingers so that has to be good.

To FINALLY Try That Recipe: Filipino-Style Chicken Adobo

 

Sometimes, I hear about recipes and put them in my noggin to try and then it takes me forever to actually get around to making them. That's what happened with chicken adobo. So, maybe it was all the hype I had built up in my head, or maybe it's the fact that I didn't care to find palm vinegar like I was told to do. But, eh.

My hopes remained high when I was making this marinade. The tomatoes, soy sauce, garlic, bay leaves, and vinegar gave my nose a savory salty rich smell to inhale. 24 hours later the chicken was ready.

Then, we served it over coconut-ginger rice. And, I was so thankful for the sweetness of the rice because otherwise this was an acidic, sharp, almost sour sort of chicken. It wasn't horrible, but duuuude unless I'm eating salt & vinegar chips, I'd rather not have my tongue react to the amount of vinegar in a dish.

Oh well. I wonder if it's me -- did I do it wrong? Am I vinegar wuss? Maybe someday I'll try it in a Filipino restaurant.

To Eat (Healthy) Dinner @ Home: Turkey Meatballs & Broccoli Rabe

blobs & rabe.

The other day I tried on my spring time green jeans, and they were tight. Then, I remembered that time I went to New Orleans and ate myself sick. Putting two and two together, I realized that in order to fit into my jeans (without them digging into my button & causing marks & rashes) I ought to eat fewer items, more greens, and probably, mostly, just fewer items. Tonight I made an old standby (old as in its semi in my dinner rotation since, like, October?)

it didn't twirl.

I love this recipe because it comes together in about 40 minutes and the meatblobs are juicy, herby, and tender. Admittedly, when I pictured the blobs on top of the broccoli rabe, I thought the rabe would swirl like pasta. It didn't. I only boiled the rabe, but next time I think I'd sautee it with lots of garlic. 

BONUS tip: I used a vegetable peeler to carve the Parmesan on top. And, I think it looks gorgeous. Oskar did, too.

friscalating fuzz.

To Eat Dinner @ Home: Tortellini & Spinach in Garlicky Broth

I suck at making soup. It usually ends up flavorless, despite having a lot of ingredients. But this one didn't!

To Eat Dinner @ Home: Chinese Takeout Inspired (sorta)

In a recent (to me) Six Feet Under episode, Jennifer Aniston's current fiance brought one of the ladies some salt and pepper shrimp Chinese take out. I've not had this take out, but it sounded amazing. So I made it for dinner. 

It was easy and scrumptious. Buy peeled shrimp, if you can. But don't worry, peeling isn't too tricky. I added some szechuan peppercorns, cause why not?

I also made spicy Chinese style mustard greens & onions. There were too many onions, but the onions were cooked so well that I ate all the extras anyway. We discovered mustard greens through a CSA a couple years ago. That discovery alone made joining the CSA worthy. They taste like kale with an abundant gorgeous horseradish flavor.

They were easy to cook together and went together real swell. A side of jasmine rice might have been nice, and then we could have stretched the meal over two nights for two people, probz.

To Use Fancy French Words: Fish en Papillote

 

This is a relatively easy & delicious dinner. Relatively because it didn't come out EXACTLY cooked in the first go-round, but with a little help from Michael, things turned out terrifically. I think the mistake was that I used a very thick slab of red snapper, and didn't rightfully adjust the cooking time. I used a new technique "en papillote" which just means in parchment paper. I sauteed some greens then threw them with some fish into the parchment paper and cooked it up real good. It was so nice. And, I'm eager to try again and not eff it up.

To Phyllo: Baklava & "Spanakopita" Pie

Have you ever made something and instantly wanted to become the expert maker of it? Like, maybe picturing yourself at a party and all the guests being all: "Whitney brought the spanikopita pie. It's amazing! We always devour the shit out of it." Or, whatever. Well, that happened this weekend TWICE & both times with phyllo dough. Despite its fragility, its flaky, delicate, breakable thin skin, it's super forgiving.

To be a Cliche: A Bowl of Stuff for Dinner

It's been a while, but when I told my husband I'd be making a "bowl of stuff" for dinner I knew I'd be chastised. It's sort of my go to dinner. I love the freedom of it. It's just so much stuff! In a bowl! It's all together and magically, it always tastes good.

To Review: Menu as of February 6th

I'm a little late on this! But, we had some really good food last week that I'll want to remember.

To Review: Lessons & Menu as of 24 January

Lessons Learned & Arbitrary Points:

• Ricotta should only be drained 20 minutes for my idea of perfect ricotta +10
• Spaetzel recipe can be halved for dinner for 2 +0 (cause whatever)
• Michael does NOT like too much lemon in his salad dressing -8
• Eat lasagna BEFORE going to meet friends & drink the beers (what am I? an amateur?) -4
• Trader Joe's Orange Chicken is so delightful & even better cold the morning after +7

Drumrolllllllll...................... 5 points! That seems a lot worse than last week's 54. I learned fewer important things, I guess.

Another lesson: clementines in bright bowls make winter better.

Sunday: Beef Stew in a Bread Bowl (Courtesy M.)
Monday: Pesto Ricotta Spaetzel over Lemony Greens
Tuesday: Lasagna with artichoke hearts salad (Lasagna by M; Salad by me.)
Wednesday: Lasagna with artichoke hearts salad
Thursday: Lasagna out of the pan at 10pm after 2 beers
Friday: Frozen Trader Joe's Chinese Food
Saturday: Pork Tacos (Courtesy of M.)

Eating the same thing several nights in a row is a-okay by me. Plus, it's an attempt to save some ca$h since we're traveling to New Orleans next week for my 30th (!!) birthday. Also, I still don't cook that often.

To Eat Dinner @ Home: Ricotta in Stuff Edition

Do you ever make your own ricotta? I have done it several times, and it's much easier than you might think. There are only FOUR ingredients and it takes under an hour. I use Ina Garten's recipe. Per true Ina fashion she's like, use "GOOD white wine vinegar." She always points out to use good ingredients. Thanks, Ina! But also, you can use less good ingredients with magnificent outcomes. For example, I used CHEAP white (NOT wine) vinegar. And, it produced a delightful outcome. Fluffy, perfect ricotta.

To Begin Anew: Duck Confit with Harissa Carrot Salad

We started a new thing this year. And I liked it, a lot. We made a fancy New Year's Day dinner that incorporated all new things: new meat to cook, new recipe to try, and new technique. Duck, carrot harissa salad, and confit-ing, respectively. It was all so new you guys!

by the way: this is not one serving. we are pigs, but within reason. #weddingplatter

This year, the idea to make duck confit came quite easily. We've never done any sort of confit-ing nor have we made duck.

The duck (which has a HIGHLARIOUS typo result; look to the right of the "d" key) came out perfectly tender. It was a little salty, but that's probably because the salt was too fine. The basic technique of confit-ing is probably a good one to know. PLUS, when you do it the half-assed way that we did, you end up with a bunch of left over duck infused oil. YUM.

More or less: dry brine the duck in salt & herbs over night. Then, cook it for over an hour in a LOT of oil. Then, roast it. I'm no expert on confit-ing. So, I'll just leave that to you. You can ask Mark Bittman. He helped us a great deal. (Actually, just go ahead and buy that book. You won't regret it.)

For a side, I knew we needed to have something with acid, definitely a vegetable, and maybe some greens. I picture restaurants serving duck confit over a pureed potato, or something, but doesn't that just make you think of warm brown on top of warm white and then gag a little? Too much warm neutral colored food. (Though, on second thought, I've had this dish and loved it. Confounding.)

BACK TO VEGETABLES, on Christmas I awoke to Yotam Ottolenghi's  Jerusalem. (!!) I first got to know of him when Lynne Rosetto Kasper (host of The Splendid Table podcast and most rotund, glorious, jovial of all the podcast voices) interviewed him. He focuses a lot on vegetables, and when I (and many) think of him it's like an explosion of flavors. So, there's two ways to look at his recipes:

1. Shit. I can't make this, there are too many spices I don't have/have never heard of!
2. OMG. Now, I can make a list of a million spices to buy and make my pantry a bazillion times better.

I feel the #1 way if I think about making his recipes on a random Tuesday. I feel #2 when I have the foresight to plan. And we had time to plan. So I chose to make his carrot salad. And it was so flavorful: acidic, warm, bitter, sweet. I don't think I've ever had harissa before, either. I bought it this time, but sometime this year I'll make it too. I may have cooked the carrots a little too much because GET THIS. When you use fewer ingredients than the recipe calls for, you might need to adjust the cooking time! I forget that an embarrassing amount of the time. Writing will help me remember.

It was a sumptuous feast and it's a really great tradition for us, I think. Next year may be a bit more challenging to invent all new things because Mauerbaker is convinced he'll cook something new every week. But, we'll cross that bridge on December 31st.

To Eat Dinner @ Home: Caramelized Onion & Feta Frittata, Herb Biscuits, and a Salad

Weeknight meal: frittata, salad & biscuits. Also, lunch for the next day.

I love frittata! Because it's eggs, obviously. But also because it's so easy. Most importantly (?), it's an amazing word to pronounce. I do it like this in my head: "frrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeee- TA TA!" For most accurate depiction, please roll the R, hold the E's and make the T's really tingly, like your tongue is tap dancing. ANYWAY. Normally, I would be content eating the frittata (tonight's version was caramelized onion & feta) with a simple side salad. But since I've promised myself to stop fearing flour, I attempted herb yogurt biscuits. (Recipes below.)

One of the ideas behind the blog is to remember MEALS. Like, the whole thing. Not dishes. But the main, the side, the wine (if I'm drinking it that night). Because lots of blogs have components of meals but then you've got to figure out what goes with it. So here's all of it! One dinner when you've got an hour to spare.

Here's how it went.