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Archive for the ‘recipes’ Category
Thursday, May 12th, 2011
This is basically the springtime version of my fall mushroom salad. Subtract chanterelles, add green garlic. Voila!
Easy: Spinach…wash it, put it on a plate
Lentils…cook them with a clove of garlic and some thyme. Choose your preferred liquid to cook them in, I use chicken stock.
Green garlic dressing…recipe featured here.
To plate…well, spinach, then spoon some lentils on top, then drizzle some dressing on that. You didn’t need me to spell that out did you? Oh, and if you like, crumble bacon on top. To pretty it up, I added some julienned turnips and chive flowers.
Posted in amateur, bacon, dinner, food, lentils, recipe, recipes, seasonal menu, self pleasuring, spinach | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 19th, 2011
I love the CSA season. I can eat ridiculously healthy with very little effort or thought. When all that is in the fridge is vegetables, lunch or a quick snack is so seasonably delicious whether you try or not! The salad was a mix of lettuces, 2 multicolored carrots thinly sliced and one HUGE radish, also thinly sliced. I tossed it with the following dressing:
Recipe: Green Garlic Dressing
Ingredients
- One green garlic, minced
- 1t fresh thyme
- 1t minced chives
- 3T champagne vinegar
- Enough good olive oil to make it dressing-y
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Let green garlic, thyme and chives “steep” in the vinegar with some salt for at least 10 minutes. It softens the garlic and lets the flavors permeated the vinegar. Whisk in the oil and you’re done!
Microformatting by hRecipe.
Posted in food, organic, photos, recipe, recipes | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 12th, 2011
I was torn between two dishes for dinner. I wanted soba noodle soup but I had all these wonderful CSA veggies to use. So I decided to try introducing two recipes to one another. Turns out they should definitely be friends! I have some of the greens-beef mixture left over today which I’m going to have over rice for lunch. I didn’t, however, take a picture of any of this…it smelled so good I just devoured it!
When I make it again, I’ll try to remember to take one and add it here.
Recipe: Beef saute with soba in dashi
Ingredients
- 4 chopped spring onions
- 2 T minced ginger
- 3 small chilis, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 c. bok choy (or other asian green)
- 3/4 c. minced cilantro
- 1 T fish sauce
- 2 T soy sauce
- 1/4 c. water (if needed)
- 8 oz. thinly sliced rib eye (or other fave cut)
- Dashi
- Soba
- Green onions
Instructions
- Before you start anything else, get your water going for soba noodles and your dashi simmering.
- Saute spring onions, ginger, chilis, garlic, soy sauce and fish sauce until onions start to soften. Add bok choy and cilantro. Add water if soy or fish sauce is getting too sticky in the pan. When everything is desired consistency, add beef and cook until just under your preferred doneness (you will be putting hot broth on this so it will cook a little more).
- Remove greens and meat from pan, leaving liquid to reduce.
- Put soba noodles in a bowl, add a heaping pile of beef-green concoction, spoon some of the reduction on top to add even more flavor, top with chopped green onions and pour dashi over all that.
Quick Notes
Try not to drool in the bowl–especially if you’re serving others.
Number of servings (yield): 3
Meal type: dinner
Microformatting by hRecipe.
Posted in amateur, asian, beef, dinner, flavor, food, recipe, recipes, self pleasuring | No Comments »
Friday, April 8th, 2011
As my son pointed out, “Sometimes experiments fail.” Well, luckily, I think this one worked!
I had quite a few turnips from my CSA. The only way I’ve ever had turnips is roasted in big chunks and I didn’t like them like that. But I do like thin, crispy starchy things with butter sooooo….
I peeled and sliced the turnips into quarter moons if the turnips were huge or half moons if they were smaller. I put some olive oil in my cast iron pan and then started layering them around. After one layer I put some dots of butter and some thinly sliced shallots. Then I layered some more turnips and then topped that with rosemary, butter, and pepper.
I cooked it, covered, on the stovetop on medium heat until the bottom started to brown. Then I put it, uncovered, in a 400° oven for, well, too long for most people, but good for us…until the bottom was almost black. I thought it was great! Hubby was lukewarm on the dish but I really liked it.
I served it with Herb-Roasted Chicken and a salad. I’d just picked up both my veggie CSA box and my CSA chickens so what else were we going to have for dinnner?!?
Along with it I had a beautiful 2008 Robert Denogent St. Véran les Pommards white wine. Everything came together beautifully.
Tags: turnips
Posted in amateur, chicken, dinner, recipe, recipes, self pleasuring | No Comments »
Thursday, April 7th, 2011
One night I opened the fridge to find a wilted (but not rotten) 1/2 bunch of cilantro, some ginger and not much else. I had a rib-eye in the freezer. I always have garlic, shallots, onions in the drawer and chiles from my dad’s garden in the freezer. I threw what I had in the food processor and made this dish that turned out FREAKING amazing. Unfortunately, I didn’t write down what I did.
That’s why I have this site, if I didn’t post my recipes, I could never reproduce anything I cook! So, I tried to remember what I did. And I elaborated on it with the extra items in my fridge (greens and mushrooms). It, once again, was so delish. And I took notes. Having totally improvised this though, I left it open to interpretation with the recipe title.
Recipe: Asian Beef with Stuff
Ingredients
Marinade/Sauce:
- 2T soy sauce
- 2T fish sauce
- 3T canola oil
- Handful of cilantro (stems and all)
- 2t peppercorns
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1T brown sugar
- 2 inches ginger (peeled and roughly chopped)
- 2-3 small chiles
- ~1lb of your favorite cut of beef (I usually use rib eye)
- Big pile of saute greens
- 1 c. chopped shiitakes
- 2 shallots thinly sliced
Instructions
- Put all the marinade ingredients in a food processor or blender. Zap until it’s a soupy paste. Pour that over your steak(s). Let that sit for as long as you have. In the fridge if you have a long time. If I have an hour or less, I let it sit on the counter, covered.
- Once you’re ready to cook, shake some of the marinade off the steak(s) and cook them on the stovetop until it’s the desired doneness. I like mine still mooing. Remove the steak and let it rest on a cutting board.
- Add shiitakes and greens to the pan with a little water, if needed, to loosen the crusty steak-bits. Cook for a couple of minutes then pour in the remaining marinade. Toss once in a while until mushrooms and greens are cooked.
- Remove mushrooms and greens from the pan, squeezing them with tongs or slotted spoon to remove as much of the liquid/sauce as you can. Set aside.
- Add sliced shallots to pan and reduce the remaining sauce.
- When it’s the sauce syrupy and, well, saucy, thinly slice your steak and toss it back into the sauce.
- To serve, put a mound of rice, a scoop of greens/mushrooms and top with the beef.
Quick Notes
I can’t decide if the shiitakes worked or not. Try it both ways and let me know!
Number of servings (yield): 2
Meal type: dinner
Microformatting by hRecipe.
Posted in asian, beef, dinner, food, mushrooms, photos, recipe, recipes, rice, self pleasuring | No Comments »
Thursday, March 31st, 2011
 I don’t cook with an insane amount of cream. I hate cheese. I don’t eat offal. And I wash my mushrooms in WATER…*gasp*! I don’t understand why there is such a problem with mating water with mushrooms. They grow in the RAIN for pete’s sake!!
I went for a little walk yesterday. It’s been raining here for bloody forever it seems. We finally got sunshine on Monday! It’s been gorgeous all week. Yesterday I had time to hike up to my black trumpet patch. I don’t know who designed this mushroom garden but next time, can you not put  it on such a steep hill? The picture really doesn’t have the right perspective. One wrong step and I’m sliding down an awfully long way. I precariously perch myself on the hillside, trying to plant my feet against trees or logs or rocks, some of which slip away since the ground is so saturated and muddy! What I’ll do for these yummy fungi.
I had a wonderful asparagus soup with a couple of little black trumpets as a garnish at Soif over the weekend. I decided to run with that idea and made a potato leek soup to use as my black trumpet medium. The difference here was that I had a big pile of them so there was a huge trumpet in every bite! I love being a hunter-gatherer ;-)
But even with all that washing under running water, there was grit. I tried to fool my mouth by putting a really crunchy salt on as a finisher, but I still knew there was sand and not just salt! I guess getting sand in my soup isn’t that French either.
I’m reading Life, on the Line: A Chef’s Story of Chasing Greatness, Facing Death, and Redefining the Way We Eat right now and could completely relate to Grant’s story of traveling and eating in France and Italy. It took me back to L’Arpege and it was a great meal but I was so uncomfortable I had a panic attack. I would love to have amazing food in a subway station…in a park…in a living room. Anywhere that’s not so stuffy, proper and snooty. I loved Italy for that.
Someone recently told me I don’t even need to post recipes, she likes just reading my blabbing-on posts. But I just grabbed this little plug-in that I want to try out:
Recipe: Potato Leek Soup
Ingredients
- 1/2 stick butter
- 2 large potatoes
- 3 leeks (white and light green parts only)
- 1 cup white wine
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 4 cups chicken stock
- salt and pepper to taste
- Mound of black trumpets for “garnish” (optional)
Instructions
- Melt butter in a pot.
- Add chopped leeks. Cook until they start to soften and barely brown on the edges (just barely).
- Pour in wine and add garlic. Let the wine reduce almost away.
- Add chicken stock and potatoes. Simmer until potatoes are cooked.
- Pour into a food processor/blender and puree until smooth. If you want to be fancy, strain through a chinois or cheesecloth. I tend not to be fancy!
- Salt and pepper to taste. Top with sauteed mushrooms.
Cooking time (duration): 30
Number of servings (yield): 3
Meal type: dinner
Microformatting by hRecipe.
Posted in black trumpets, dinner, leeks, mushrooms, photos, potato, recipe, recipes, self pleasuring | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, March 16th, 2011
This recipe (if you can call it that, it’s so simple!) was spawned from having too little time and energy to make anything else one night and ended up being a favorite dish in the end!
- 1 chicken, cut into 6-8 pieces…I never cook the wings, I save them w/ the back for making soup and stock
- 1 lemon
- A small handful of herbs…sometimes sage, sometimes thyme
Preheat oven to 400°. Put chicken in a baking dish. Pour lemon juice over each piece. Sprinkle herbs over chicken. When I use sage I leave the leaves whole, with thyme I use whole sprigs but crumble some of the leaves off as well. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, grind some pepper on top. Bake until done!
Seriously. That’s it. I’ve had multiple people rave about this from my 6 year old son to my 70 year old dad. It’s a hit!
Posted in amateur, recipe, recipes, self pleasuring | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 8th, 2011
Take the leftover chicken meat, I had 2 legs and 1 breast left, and cut it into chunks. Put it in the food processor with some sauteed garlic and shallots, some chopped herbs, salt and pepper. For the amount of chicken I had left I used 2 shallots and 2 cloves of garlic, a tablespoon or so of chopped marjoram and a tablespoon of chopped thyme. Blend that all together until it’s an incorporated minced up ravioli filling.
This was a quick weeknight meal for me so I didn’t make my pasta dough, I just used gyoza wrappers. They’re quick easy ravioli wrappers and they’re perfectly square so they’re quick to fill and fold! You only have to boil them for about 2-3 minutes on low boil so they don’t break open.
For my husband and I, I sauteed up some kale in coconut oil (a tip I got from a friend, it’s yummy!), sprinkled it with some chili flakes and served the raviolis on top of that with some butter and cheese (on his). For my son i just put butter and cheese on them. Easy for the whole family!
Posted in chicken, pasta, recipe, recipes, self pleasuring | No Comments »
Sunday, January 30th, 2011
 I let my 6 year old son pick dinner the other night. He picked steamed artichokes and grilled pork chops. I love that kid.
This is the first time I’d cooked artichokes since my interview with Jason Webley, and let me tell you, I can’t look at them the same way ever again! I felt like maybe I shouldn’t be having these with my kid!
All I do to make artichokes is to cut the top of the pointiest parts and all but about 1/2″ of the stem off with a bread knife (I find it easier to use the large serrated knife so the knife doesn’t slip). Then I snip all the thorn-tips off with my kitchen shears. Rinse them off and put them in a pressure cooker with a little water. Once it reaches full pressure I cook them about 15 minutes for large globes.
The pork chops were easier than ever since he picked the already marinated ones from the butcher. It was a simple marinade of olive oil, garlic and herbs. But then all I had to do was put them on a hot grill! Easy for mom! They were fatty and completely saturated in oil which made my grill flame up like crazy so they got a bit charred but the flavor was great.
Throw in a little garlic bread and you have a quick, easy and fun-to-eat meal. Who doesn’t like to eat their way through to the heart of a thistle?
Tags: artichokes, barbecue, bbq, grill, pork chops
Posted in amateur, dinner, recipe, recipes, self pleasuring | No Comments »
Friday, January 21st, 2011
It has been like summer here in the Bay area this week. Actually more like summer than our cold summer was!
Inspired by the sun, I thought I’d grill. This was easy and turned out to be great!
First I made a vinaigrette of:
1 large shallot, minced
1 large clove of garlic, finely minced
1/4 c. champagne vinegar
1/4 c. parsley
I brushed that over my snapper fillets (I had about 1 lb of snapper). I let that sit with the vinaigrette marinade brushed on it for about 30 minutes. You can’t do it for too long because the vinegar will cure the fish and you’ll start getting ceviche!
While that was sitting, I cooked the quinoa (1 cup quinoa, 3 cups water, boil then simmer until water is gone and quinoa is tender).
I used the rest of the vinaigrette to make the quinoa salad. I added 1/2 a cucumber chopped into 1/4″ cubes and a few chopped up basil leaves…yeah, basil isn’t in season but I bought some the other day for another dish and had some left over…moment of winter weakness!
Mix the cucumber into the vinaigrette-mixture, add some salt and pepper, and when the quinoa is cooked, mix that in too. I didn’t end up using quite all the quinoa I cooked, the ratio of quinoa to cucumber would have been off. I used probably 3/4 of it.
Brush your grill with olive oil, drizzle some olive oil on your snapper fillets and grill on med-high heat for about 5 minutes per side or until the snapper is cooked through…maybe less than 5 minutes.
Then to plate put a pile of the quinoa salad, place a snapper fillet on top and VOILA!
EAT!
I sprinkled some Kilauea Onyx salt from my newly acquired salt collection on the fish. It had a nice little crunch and also has activated charcoal in it so it went well with the grill flavor.
Posted in amateur, quinoa, recipe, recipes, self pleasuring, snapper | No Comments »
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