To Cook All Weekend: #MDW Edition

Before Memorial Day came around we decided there all kinds of things we wanted to make. After all, with three days to muck about, why not?

ya, fine. i bought bowls that day just for the soup.

Michael made bouillabaisse. Once upon a time, we went to Marseilles and didn't get to eat bouillabaisse because we didn't know you had to make reservations. So, it's been on the to cook list for a while. We went to the Maine Ave Fish Market (a cement pier settled into the Potomac with 5 or so huge stalls of fishmongers selling fish) and bought clams, shrimp, red snapper & monk fish (probably, one of my favorite fishes).

Maine Avenue Fish Market

Sunday, we went to a picnic with some friends. I had a need to make fried chicken. We had made it before at a class and then tried it one weekend in Boston. This instance was the best we've ever made. I think it was the boneless, skinless thighs chopped into 2-bite sized nuggets that did the trick. We used Roses Luxury's brine recipe (sort of... I forgot to boil the brine; it was 6am before coffee on a Sunday), and then used the technique from our cooking class: flour (seasoned with S&P, cayenne, paprika), buttermilk, flour then fry. And again per Roses, we drizzled the fried chicken with honey & sesame seeds. SO GOOD. Best thing we've ever made. Probably.

asparagus, shrooms & onions.

I also grilled up some veggies for the picnic. That's been a spring time go to. (Grilled on a pan, since we live in an apartment with no real grill access :(

For a Monday morning treat, Michael made buttermilk biscuits to have a fried chicken "sandwich". I had that with a side of fried chicken nuggets. I couldn't stop eating them. I drizzle almost everything with turkish honey these days.

I also made strawberry rhubarb bars & whole wheat banana bread for breakfast for the week. Speaking of honey (like 2 sentence ago)!  Instead of maple syrup in the banana bread recipe, I used honey. Other tips I learned that I should remember: don't put banana bread on the bottom rack; the bottom of the oven is too hot! and if your bananas aren't ripe enough, just go ahead and roast 'em, skin on for 10 mins.

All that + 6 movies made for a stuffed weekend.

To Eat Lunch: Brox Cakes & Cucumbers Edition

I refuse to do any lunch preparation in the morning. I wake up at 5 and depending upon the state of my hair am out the door between 545 and 6. So there's no brain space to be like, "ohhhh what should I eat at noon?" I also really like the rare treat when I can make a lunch once and not have to prep anything during the week. You're like what're you talking about this prep? Like a salad, you buy the ingredients and then every night have to prepare it so things don't get soggy or gooey or gross. 

Anyway, I made these broccoli fritters. EXCEPT, I used 12 oz of broccoli (she used like 7?) and I cut the flour down to 1/4 cup. I did that to use up the whole bag of broccoli and didn't want to dry them out. They're so broccoli-y! Which feels healthy and like the right move. I forgot to add the Parmesan cheese! So maybe they're lacking a little zing. Don't do that. AND, I grated TWO garlic cloves instead of mincing one, DO that. I made a yogurt sauce for the side. DO that, too! As a side dish I had:

I chopped up cucumbers, added some couscous from the other night and threw some cherry tomatoes into that adorable lunch pail my husband bought for me. MEANWHILE, the paprika on the couscous just keeps getting smokier as the days go by! Anyway, it's a nice filling lunch with some crunch, greens, smokiness, and coolness.

To Heartichokes: Loving Springy 'Chokes

I've been obsessed with making artichokes. But I'm a pansy so far and haven't ventured into FRESH ones because what if I don't get the middle out completely (the hairy part that could choke/kill people)? So, I've been taking it slow. I made this pea artichoke salad side dish thingy for a Passover party.

I HATE raw red onions. So I soaked some of them in water and vinegar to both cut the grossness & add some pickling. I also sauteed some of them then threw in the artichokes added a little butter then drizzled lemon juice in the pan. I also blanched the peas then threw it all together with some salt and pepper. If it weren't for Passover I'd have added some feta. It was springy!

Then this guy. Well I just boiled the parmesan + arugula raviolis that I bought at Trader Joe's. Then, I threw that with sauteed garlic and artichokes & some melted butter. Topped it with parsley and parmesan and pepper, because this post is brought to you by the letter P!

To Renew: Happy Spring After Hibernation

At yoga today, the teacher was talking some talk about how astrologers (or at least her friend) believe the dawning of spring to be the real start to the new year. And, since finally it's nice out in DC, I'll take it. I'll believe that this is the time to begin anew, start fresh and to pretend that I was hibernating for a couple weeks from blogging.

So, happy spring! And, as the teacher jokingly said at the end of class: Happy New Year!

Highlights while I've been away (highlights = things I took pictures of)

i like serving fruit when i'm serving a pastry. but those mandarins were lousy.

My parents & cousin came to town to celebrate mother's birthday. So, that morning I had them over to have her open presents while having a small snack of babka. It's chocolatey & buttery and despite its rather intricate looking design, not all the difficult to make. Pretty time consuming. I used Smitten Kitchen's recipe that was adapted from my best friend (unrequited) Ottolenghi.

i forgot to add the yeast at the right time, but i think it was still a-okay!

The next day we had brunch for the family. It included green shakshuka, home cured bacon (by M.) & hasselback potatoes. To me, an egg dish like that (with runny yolk) is superior to a scrambled egg type dish. Plus, with all those greens it's super filling and really healthy. Also, everything was done in like an hour!

For dinner we had my favorite kale salad, Ottolenghi's cauliflower salad with pomegranates & parsley & nuts, octopus salad and fresh salmon. I love having a million flavors, and we did.

During hibernation, it was St. Patrick's Day. We celebrated on Saturday so we could have corned beef hash for brunch the next day. The cabbage was roasted & the brussels sprouts were pan seared with some worcestershire sauce for extra umami. I learned about umami for the first time from Ross Gellar, but now M. is always talking about it.

Hash: potatoes, beets, corned beef, and a poached egg. Duh.

Once upon a time, I made fish in parchment paper. It went pretty well. Then, I saw you can do a sort of similar thing with chicken. I'll want to remember that for some day when I'm wanting to add chicken to my lunch salads. The salad was a take on the wedge but with cabbage AND it was grilled. I LOVE grilled lettucey things, usually, I've had romaine grilled. "It's too fibrous."-M. I liked it.

We took a cooking class! Fried chicken, coleslaw, biscuits, chipotle sweet potato salad & chocolate pie. We're going to try to make this again when we fly to Boston in April. So. More on that later.

Admittedly, this shit was ugly. It also only tasted okay. I'm not super into chocolate. 

avant-garde?