Chimichurri, I heart you

Gabe and I made a nom the other day with our sad little grill.

sad. wee.

It was very tasty. Menu: grilled pork chops with chimichurri sauce and a spinach salad with feta and warm, grilled peaches. I discovered that I love chimichurri and I will heretofore nom it with everything.

chimichurri. drool.

Ingredients (Chimichurri, adapted from the "SavorySweetLife" blog, here):
- 1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp. water
- 3 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
- dash of red wine vinegar
- 1/4 c. shallots, minced (or onions)
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1/2 c. fresh parsley, chopped very fine
- 1/4 c. (or a little less) basil, chopped very fine
- a couple pinches of dried oregano and thyme
- a couple pinches of salt and pepper

The easy way to prepare this is to put everything in a food processor, instead of mincing everything up. I do not have a food processor though (sadface). Hence, mince-mince-mince-mince-mince-mince-mince-mince-gaahhh...

We rubbed the pork chops with olive oil, dried thyme, salt, and pepper and then grilled them a few minutes on each side.

The salad was yummy. Halve the peaches and then drizzle a little olive oil and salt and pepper on the cut side. Then, grill them up. Perfecto with crumbled feta and spinach. We went with a very simple vinaigrette for the dressing.

Pack rat

I am moving in a few weeks. That means I have to get rid of a lot of stuff. And that means I have to sort through a lot of stuff. Look what I found.....

A creepy drawing I made a long time ago. I almost forgot about it.

Guest blogger! Nick the Dolmas Maker!

Meet Nick P.

He is my friend, and he makes stuffed peppers, too. But not the way I do. He makes them the way he makes dolmas. Apparently, Nick likes stuffing foods inside of other foods. He also thinks it's cool when people teach other people how to stuff stuff. So. Here is Nick making dolmas:

In the fine Greek tradition of stuffing things inside of other things, I bring you....

Dolmas / Dolmathes, a tasty treat. They are grape leaves stuffed with various things, such as meta, rice, pine-nuts, couscous, whatever you happen to have around really. When making these with meat, you can choose any ground meat. When I was younger, we always ate venison, and these are a delicious vehicle for ground venison. Traditionally, you'll often find them made with ground lamg. This recipe uses beef, but you can pick your favorite meat, or you can forego the meat entirely and substitute pine nuts.

We will be using:
- 1 jar of grape leaves
- 1 lb. of ground meat
- 5 stalks of celery
- 2 med. onions
- 3 tbsp. butter or olive oil
- 1/2 c. uncooked rice (I used brown, but you can use white or even couscous)
- chicken stock or bouillon (enough for ~ 1 1/2 c. stock)
- 1/8 c. white wine (sake works in a pinch)
- 4 tbsp. lemon juice
- 1/4 c. parsley
- 1 1/2 tbsp. dried mint
- salt and pepper to taste (a pinch!)

First, let's get that rice going. I'm using a rice cooker because I am lazy and it makes brown rice perfectly. Set up shop and chop those onions with a medium chop.

Add your butter into a large skillet on low heat. Add the onions into your skillet, chop up your celery. Put the celery into the skillet, stir around, and continue to saute on low heat til the onions become slightly translucent.

When your onions get that succulent, clearish color, it's time to add your meat. I like to push the celery and onions toward the sides and make a "well" for the meat. Brown the ground meat and stir. The onions and celery are going to suck up the liquids.

Add in your parsley and mint once the meat has come to a nice brown. Stir, stir, stir on low heat...

Ding! Rice is done! Time to add it into our mix. The rice will generally soak up any remaining juices in the mix.

It's time to get your chicken broth/stock/bouillon going at this point. I usually have some frozen chicken stock cubes hanging around in the freezer (make stock every time you cook a chicken, it's worth it!). In the pot they go! You want to get your chicken broth/stock/broth to boil only for a second and then turn it off.

While your chicken juice is getting ready, go ahead and take your grape leaves out of the jar. You want to drain them of the brine they come in. Some people are adamant about washing them; I think the flavor out of the jar is pretty tasty.

Unroll the wads of grape leaves carefully. Pick a nice, big leaf and lay it out on your work surface. You want the "stem" to point up towards you, with the veiny side of the leaf facing up (the shiny side down.)

Put in about 1-2 spoon scoops of the meat mixture into the center of the leaf. Fold the sides in. Roll up! Congratulations, you've made a dolmas! Now, do it 40-more times and put them in a pan (or 2).

You aren't done yet, though. Once you have used up all your stuffing, wrapped your dolmas, and put them into a pan, you need to pour the chicken stock/broth/bouillon over the dolmas. Then, pour the white wine onto them and then, the lemon juice.

A quick note, you will always have more grape leaves than stuffing, so when going through the grape leave, pick out the biggest ones without holes in them for the actual dolmas. You will use the reject grape leaves to cover the stuffed ones in the pan. Put the pans in a 225 degree oven for about 1 hour.

After an hour, take out the dolmas. Remove the top layer of grape leaves that have now dried out. What you are left with is unadulterated delight. You may have the occasional dolmas that have dried out a big, but no worries, they are still good.

Enjoy!

(Me, again: Thanks, Nick! You are good at exchanging things! Swapping! Barter! Trade! I want to make these and nom them with the wine you gave me for the books I gave you and if you want to make a recipe I gave you and nom that with me with the books I gave you for the.... whoah. I am dizzy. Bye.)

Meow vs. Meow @ Fort Reno

I saw a band called "Meow vs. Meow" play music last night. It was in a park and there were lots of toddler-children and dogs and picnic blankets. What larks!

((In re: "Meow vs. Meow," I am 100% sure that Meow came out on top (hyuck, hyuck)...))

Pics:

Yes. It is true. I have "meow"- appropriate garb.


Yay! There they are! Musical meows!


And then the alien glow worms flew by to listen.

And this is what I look like to alien glow worm eyeballs:

Stuffed peppers = stuffed tummy

I made something tasty that is also inexpensive, easy to do, does not need many ingredients, and is aesthetically pleasing. Holla! (haha, that is the first time I've used "holla'"... I feel weird.)

My recipe is vegetarian, but you can add some chopped steak, ground beef, or left-over chicken if you want. There is no judgement here.

Ingredients:
- 1 Red bell pepper (for 1 person, or a side dish / snack for 2)
- 1/2 medium onion, sliced
- 1/4 green poblano chile pepper, chopped finely
- about 1/2 c black beans, rinsed
- about 3/4 c cooked white rice (ooh, or you could use wild rice)
- 1 roma tomato, chopped
- 1 - 2 cloves garlic, minced
- tabasco sauce
- olive oil
- parsley
- basil
- salt and pepper
- mozzarella cheese (or parmesan -- or! or! ... GOAT CHEESE! nom!!)

First, prepare your pepper-baby by cutting him in half and cutting out the seeds and crap. Then, rub the outside and inside with a little olive oil and put the halves, cut sides up, on a pan in a 400 degree oven ~15 mins. or til he looks kind of steamy, then pull him out and set him aside.

While he is roasting, chop up your onion, poblano, garlic, and tomato. First, caramelize the onion in a small pan - heat up a couple tbsps of oil and add the onions along with a pinch of salt and a tiny pinch of sugar. Stir often til they get nice and tender and darker in color.

While the onions are doing their thing, heat a little oil in a larger pan and saute the garlic and poblano pepper. Add the tomato, rice, caramelized onions, and beans and saute to combine everything, a couple of minutes. Add a little tabasco (Cuidado! Not too much or your peppers will be crazy spicy) and the parsley and basil. If you need to add some moisture (e.g. "It's burning! It's burning! Eeee!"), you can add a little water, broth, or tomato juice. Add salt and pepper to taste.

They call them "stuffed" peppers but this is misleading. "Filled" peppers works, though. Fill each pepper half with the rice mixture. Top everything with some cheese and put everything back in the oven for another 10 mins. or so. At the very end, you can turn the oven to broil, but keep a close eye on him - it will take only a couple minutes to get a nice browned top and roasted outside.

These were so tasty - spicy, but balanced by the sweetness of the caramelized onions and the black beans. I am getting hungry doing this post (looks wistfully, if vacantly, around room). Sigh.

General Tso's Tofu

Do you have a vegetarian girlfriend / boyfriend / housemate / wife / husband / kid / dog (oops. not dog. carried away.) that you have to cook for?

I don't. But I still had a block of tofu in my fridge. Hence: this, adapted from "The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch" blog (I... hm. I was going to comment about that title, but I stopped myself in time.)

This recipe is brilliant. Because what is wrong with tofu? Right! It is a little too healthy. (Tofu, you overachiever.) And what is wrong with General Tso's Chicken? Right again! It is most def not healthy enough. (yeah, yeah, General Tso purists... your arteries will thank me later.)

Oh, also, it is delicious.

Ingredients:

- 1 brick extra firm tofu
- 3-4 tbsp. cornstarch
- canola oil

- 1/4 c. brown sugar
- 3 tbsp. hoisin sauce
- 3 tbsp. rice vinegar (or reg. white vinegar)
- 3 tbsp. ketchup
- 2 tbsp. soy sauce
- 1/2 c. water
- 2 tbsp sesame oil
- 2-3 scallions, chopped
- 1 tbsp. fresh, grated ginger
- hot pepper flakes
- 1-2 cloves garlic, minced

First, squeeze the extra water out of your tofu by putting it on a plate between some layers of paper towel and putting a heavy pan on top of it. Let it sit for about 30 minutes while you do other stuff.

Combine 1-2 tablespoons of cornstarch with the brown sugar, hoisin, vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce, and water and set it aside.

To fry the tofu (after the excess water is squeezed out), cut the tofu into cube-y, rectangle-y pieces, coat each piece lightly with cornstarch, and then fry the pieces until golden and crispy in a shallow pan with some canola oil. Put the fried tofu aside and wipe the pan clean with a paper towel.

Make the sauce - saute the garlic and the white parts of the scallion in the sesame oil for 1 minute, then add the sauce mixture. Bring the sauce to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer it for a couple minutes until it thickens. Toss the tofu with the sauce and --- presto! Nom! (Top the dish with the green scallion bits, hot pepper flakes to taste, and nom the tofu with white rice.)

And more weddings!

"Mawidge! Mawidge... is what... bwings us... togethah... today!"

"Mawidge! That bwess-ed awangement... that dweam! Wiffin a dweam!"

My dear fwiend --cough-- sorry, I mean "frrriend," Michi, got married over the weekend. The wedding was in Asheville, NC. Congratulations Michi-n-Rance, Rance-n-Michi!

Drive, drive, drive, drive, drive, drive...


A staring contest. With a raccoon.

Hi, Laura! Neat flower you got there.

Day-before-wedding hike.

Day-before-wedding crouch.

That is one mighty fiiiine pluton.

Cooking, underground

Over the weekend, I attended a very zany dinner. (It was scrumptious, too. But that is only part of the story.) How zany? I'm glad you asked. It was so zany that there was, I kid you not, a Japanese film crew there to videotape it. They were airing footage of the dinner for some television show in Japan.

See? Japanese film crew.

Where was this dinner? Another good question. It was hosted by the culinary genius-men, Michael Cirino and Daniel Castano, of the "underground supper club," A Razor, A Shiny Knife. (You may recall my previous post...) A Razor, A Shiny Knife is founded on the (brilliant) idea that food and its preparation are awesomer when experienced with others. Lots of (sometimes really random) others (see photo above)... From the "invite" to the event:

"As always these events are not only for professional chefs or foodies, but for anyone with a love of food at any level of skill. Our goal is to create a communal environment of social interaction, education and fun with food where people can arrive early to learn and get dirty, while meeting the people they will be dining with that evening."

The place: An apartment in Brooklyn. Michael emailed confirmed guests the address a couple days before the dinner. Then, you just arrive, ring the doorbell, and hope. (I knew I had the right place because it smelled delicious. Like, more delicious than any Brooklyn apartment has any business being.)

The menu: I don't know if I would actually call it a "menu," but we nommed some of the following:

- homemade baguettes with homemade butter
- fresh lobster over homemade linguine
- custard-coated cherries
- pork belly custard (first you have your sweet custard, now you get your savory custard... everyone wins)
- pickles (this is hard to explain but it involved a vacuum machine, some fresh vegetables, and science)
- mashed potatoes with eggs, powdered smoke, and probably other stuff I did not see go in...
- an assortment of cocktails and Miller High Lifes (ohhh yeahh...)

I have not had this much fun in a kitchen since that time, in 4th grade, when a neighbor and I decided to combine all the ingredients of two kiddie chemistry sets and then boil everything in a pot. We got grounded, but we also made a satisfying mess that (score!) was highly flammable and pretty stinky...

Thanks, Mike and Daniel!

First, tell Mr. Lobster you are very, very sorry. Mr. Lobster, you are just too tasty.

In he goes.

Out he comes. Poor (scrumptious) Mr. Lobster...

HAPPY 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY, PASTINA!!!

Friends! On this day one year ago, Pastina Roborovski became part of my family - creative muse, friend and foil, little 'Tina is a wee and wonderful part of my life! Here, to celebrate her anniversary, I will re-publish her adoption announcement, sent out exactly one year ago today:

*****

Dear Friends and Family!

I am joyful to announce the arrival and adoption of....

* Pastina Roborovski

* Age 3 mos.

* A very, very wee hamster

* The color of pudding (all kinds)

Please join me in welcoming this tiny new addition to my family! A very short video is attached. You may also view Pastina's Hamster-ster profile at :

http://www.hamsterster.com/?pet=2624

Hooooray for the wee-est of friends!

Love,

Megan

P.S. Pastina is named for the smallest of pasta shapes, the pastina. Definition, from Ronzoni Pasta makers:

Pastina: Italian for "tiny dough" these are the smallest shape we make; if you look closely, they're in the shape of a five-pointed star. Pastina is made with egg.

*****

Chicken pot pie

This was scrumptious.
Which is lucky for me, because I will be eating leftovers for a long time. A loooong time.

I pieced the recipe together after reading a bunch online, like this one. Pot pies are convenient because you can put whatever you want into them. Presto, deliciousness.

Ingredients:

- 1 pkg. chicken thighs (3-4 small thighs)
- 1 frozen pie crust, thawed
- 1 lrg. potato
- 1 c. frozen peas
- 1 carrot, chopped
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- handful spinach
- asparagus, broccoli, green beans, mushrooms - whatever you have around
- 1 1/2 sticks butter
- 1 tbsp. red pepper flakes
- tabasco sauce
- 3 c. chicken stock
- 1/2 c. flour
- salt and pepper
- fresh parsley, if you have it

First, boil a large pot of water and poach your chicken thighs ~10 minutes. They don't have to be aaallll the way cooked through. Cut them up into bite-sized pieces and set them aside.

Now, make the filling. Melt 1/2 a stick of butter in a large pan (I know. This is very rich.) Add the potatoes and the onion and garlic and saute ~5 minutes. Add the chicken and then, the veggies (if you are using frozen veggies, heat them in the microwave first and drain the excess water). Saute everything another 10 minutes or so. Add the red pepper flakes and salt and pepper to taste. Set everything aside.

Now for the sauce! Melt a stick of butter (I told you this was rich...) in a large saucepan and gradually whisk in up to 1/2 c. of flour (it should thicken but not be glue-like, ew). Whisk in up to 3 c. of chicken stock, a cup at a time. The sauce should be the consistency of, oh, New England clam chowder, I'd say. Only smoother. Add the tabasco sauce, salt, and pepper to taste.

Time to fill the pie pan(s)! You can use one very big (deep) pie pan or two smaller ones. Spoon the veggie-chicken mix into the pan(s) and top with sauce. Take one pie crust and cover each pan. Pinch the edges and brush the pie crust with a little bit of milk so it will brown nicely. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven until the crust is golden-brown and the filling bubbles.

Banana muffincakes / cupkins

I had some yucky bananas. I made muffincakes. Or cupkins. You can choose.

They were very tasty - moist and denser than a cupcake, but sweeter than a muffin. I found the recipe here on the "Schweet 'N Savory" blog.

Ingredients:
- 3 c. flour (cake flour might be a good idea, but I used all-purpose because I did not think of that)
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 1/4 c. sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/8 c. canola oil
- 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
- 3 or 4 very ripe bananas
- 1 1/2 c. milk

Frosting:
- 2 (8 oz.) packages of cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 c. butter, softened
- 2 c. powdered sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla

First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a regular-sized muffin pan with paper liners or spray it with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, mix the sugar and eggs. Add the oil, vanilla, milk, and mashed bananas (try to make the bananas nice and smooth). Then, add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients a little at a time. Combine everything, but don't overmix or else your muffincake/cupkins will be too tough. Gross.

Fill your muffin tins. Bake about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

The frosting is easy. I feel silly explaining. You just mix all the ingredients together until it is smooth and delicious. You can dust the muffincakes/cupkins with cinnamon, too, if you want. I did.

nom!

Cute stuff

My sister got me the cutest book. It is called "Cute Dolls" (see? I told you it was cute) by Aranzi Aronzo. The book is part of the "Let's Make Cute Stuff" series. It teaches you how to make... uh... cute stuff (I have never written the word "cute" so many times in so few sentences before. I wonder if it is bad for me.)

Yes. The book is for children. I know.

Next to the pictures of the lil animals you can make are captions to explain them:

"Munky is a foreign monkey.
It's not Monkey, it's Munky.
He gets upset if you don't pronounce it properly.
Munky likes banaNAS. Not baNAnas.
He gets upset if you don't pronounce it properly."

"Pinkie is pink.
She's plump and flutters her eyelashes.
She loves pink.
She also loves flowers.
Actual gender and species unclear.
'Pinkie is pink.' That's all you need to know."

Weeknight soba supper

"More noodles, more noodles, more noodles, more noo-"

Oh. Hi. I made more noodles last night. Here they are:

Ingredients:
- 1 bundle of soba noodles
- piece of frozen unagi (smoked eel) or whatever other protein you have handy (gotta get your protein, you know)
- 3 scallions, chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- handful thin asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces
- handful of spinach
- 2 portobello mushroom caps, sliced
- 1 tbsp. oyster sauce
- 1 - 2 tsp. sesame oil
- 2 tbsp. soy sauce
- canola oil

(Disregard that egg up there. I found I did not need him. He is still sitting at home, in the refrigerator, being an egg.)

First, bring a large pot of water to boil and cook your soba noodles. Drain them and set them aside.

Heat your wok up, add a little canola oil, and saute the garlic and scallion whites. Add in the mushroom pieces and the asparagus, along with the oyster sauce and soy sauce. Saute this only a couple minutes - just enough to soften the asparagus. Dump in your soba noodles and spinach. Drizzle in the sesame oil. Saute another couple of minutes to combine everything.

Serve topped with unagi and scallion greens. Delish! And so easy (..to think I was going to nom a frozen burrito... ha!)

Jap chae

This is my mom's favorite Korean dish. She could eat oodles of these noodles. It is an easy recipe, and easily adaptable. I made it recently for an impromptu, outdoor dinner party and it was a perfect summer nom. (And it got perfect-er and perfect-er with every blueberry gin & tonic used to wash it down...)

Ingredients:
- 1 pkg. cellophane noodles (aka "glass noodles" - these can also be found labeled "sweet potato starch" noodles or "bean thread" noodles or just "Korean starch noodles")
- 1 block of tofu, drained well or 3/4 lb. thinly sliced beef or pork
- 1 egg, fried
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 3 scallions, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 carrot, matchstick sliced
- 1/2 c. - 3/4 c. mushrooms (shitake perchance?)
- a handful of spinach if you have some, or some other green
- 1 1/2 tbsp. toasted sesame seeds
- sesame oil
- canola oil
- soy sauce
- ~ 1 tbsp. sugar
- black pepper

First, you cook the noodles. If you are using the bean thread variety, I recommend you rinse the noodles in cold water first. Then, add them to a large pot of boiling water and cook them for ~5 minutes. It really does not take long. Drain them in a colander. You will notice that, wow, they are very, very long, these noodles. Cut them with kitchen scissors and set them aside (you can toss them in a wee bit of oil to make them less sticky, too, if you want.)

Then, heat up some canola oil in a wok or saute pan and saute your garlic, scallions (the white parts), and onions. Add the tofu or meat, and saute ~2 mins. Add the carrots and mushrooms and saute until just softened. Then, add the spinach, sugar, soy sauce, and pepper. Saute just to wilt the spinach and then transfer everything to a large bowl.

Add the noodles to the bowl, along with a drizzle of sesame oil, tossing everything together as you go. Sprinkle everything with sesame seeds, and ta-da, jap chae!