Curried Cauliflower Soup

Living Up North and trying to be Northern, we joined a CSA and so weekly we get unpredictable loads of vegetables. Last week a nice head of cauliflower which I decided to curry which turned out incredibly flavorful with a nice thick texture, perfect with crusty bread and cheese hunks.

Ingredients and the order thrown to the Dutch oven:
  oil, curry paste
  onion, garlic, hot peppers, carrot
  lots of spices: curry powder, turmeric, ginger, cayenne, chili, paprika, bay leaves, S&P, etc
  cauliflower (then cooked down til soft)
  chicken broth - 2C

This simmers ~20 minutes then puréed in blender.  Note that in real life, the soup is more visually appealing than in the photo below:

Green Split Pea Soup

Almost too trivial to post as recipe here, this soup is very easy to prep and make, so that it can be made in the evening after work.  The whole process take less than 1.5 hours and makes about six servings.  Once made, it is delicious with crusty bread and a hunk of cheese.  I think the same recipe could be used for smaller types of lentils, but those would not need to simmer as long.

ingredients:
1 onion
1 carrot
garlic
spices: S&P, paprika, turmeric, ground mustard seed, really whatever
1 pound dry split peas
6 C liquid: ~2C chicken broth, ~4C water

process:
rinse the peas clean and drain.
sautee the vegetables (used dutch oven)
add the spices, add the peas, stir to mix everything
add the liquids
bring to simmer, simmer covered low 30-45 mins until peas are soft

homemade yogurt

a few years back i tried to make yogurt in a crockpot using some powdered yogurt starter (and milk i guess). it didn't make because the crockpot on low is still too hot and kills the bacteria that makes the yogurt. i figured i needed a yogurt maker but then an indian friend described how she makes yogurt just by, in the morning, boiling milk, cooling it, adding a little yogurt as a starter, and storing in the oven to insulate until the around dinner time. my first three attempts were utter failures and much too complicated but now the last three attempts, all simpler than i had thought was possible, all made.

ingredients:
4 c 2% milk
2 T yogurt (stoneyfield plain yogurt. i think the greek yogurt doesn't work)
1 T sugar

main accessories:
2 G cooler
2 Q cooking pot
1 Q tupperware
food thermometer
whisk

(1) prep the incubation area. fill the cooler with enough hot tap water to cover up most of the tupperware when filled with water. originally i used a thermometer to get this to 120 but now i don't measure because the tap water gets to about 110 which is fine. shut the cooler off to insulate.



(2) prep an ice bath. fill the sink with cold water and ice. the hot pot of milk will be placed in here later to rapidly cool it. the ice bath can be prepared just before it is needed.



(3) set out the yogurt in a small bowl to let get closer to room temp.



(4) on medium heat, bring the milk to 180-185. it gets frothy around there. stir occassionally, more so at the end. i keep a lid on slightly open so the thermometer can fit in. this should take about 20 minutes- don't draw this process out too long.



(5) take off heat. put pot in ice bath. stirring milk to cool, bring down to about 110.



(6) take out of ice bath. stir in sugar. stir in yogurt. whisk it in so not clumpy.



(7) pour into tupperware. close lid.



(8) put in cooler. leave for about 8 hours. it becomes more sour the longer it incubates (which is not always bad).



(9) take out of cooler. it should be thick yogurt now. stir and put in refri. (i had added 1/2 c fresh blackberries along with the sugar and yogurt before incubation).



(10) eat it after a few hours (maybe wait 8 hours or so).

chicken afritada

i'm pretty sure i've strayed a lot from the original filipino way of making this filipino dish but i'll still call it afritada. it is quite tasty.

prep vegetables:
onion: 1 diced
garlic: 1 bulb
ginger, minced
bell pepper (green or red), diced
english peas: 1c
potato: 1 russett, pealed, thinly diced

prep sauce in large bowl:
soy sauce: 2T
oyster sauce: 1/4c
tomato sauce: 8oz (can)

prep chicken:
drumsticks: 5
rinse, pat dry, black pepper

in dutch oven, heat sesame oil.
add chicken, brown all sides, use tongs, ~10 minutes total.
set chicken aside. cut off skin (i don't like the skin).

add a little more sesame oil.
sautee onion, garlic, ginger.
add back chicken.
add sauce.
simmer ~15 minutes, covered.
add potato.
simmer ~20 minutes, covered.
add bell pepper.
simmer ~10 minutes, covered.
add peas.
simmer ~10 minutes, covered.
simmering longer and slower may be good if time allows.

take off heat . serve with rice. 5 servings (duh).
total time: 2 hours (prep :40, sautee :25, simmer :55)

spaghetti squash!

today i experimented FINALLY with a spaghetti squash! put the oven on 350, cut the squash in half, put them cut side down, and then bake for 45 minutes. that's all you do! and then once they come out and cool some, you can use a fork to "scrape" out the squash strands that really do look like spaghetti.

so here's what i did with what i made:

"spaghetti" with shrimp and vegetables!

here's what i used:

- baked spaghetti squash. i think used about 2/3 of the squash i had? just eyeball whatever you would eat in pasta amount i suppose...
- roasted shrimp. 1/2 pound of shrimp, peeled, etc, and i roasted it on 400 about 5-6 minutes with some olive oil, salt and pepper.
- diced zucchini.
- chopped green onion.
- minced cilantro.
- tomatoes. i decided to use cherry tomatoes that i halved and roasted along with the shrimp.
- salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, and sherry just because i like it.

saute the zucchini, onion, then add the squash, and splash the sherry, and then add the shrimp and tomatoes and cilantro. toss! serve! we garnished ours with some grated parmesan and some avocado and yum it was good! the dish was so colorful and delicious. would have been 100% complete with some crusty bread and a nice glass of wine!

will DEFINITELY be using spaghetti squash more in my cooking!

pictures to come when i upload my camera...

black beans

cooking black beans is always an experiment (especially on how to incorporate the cumin the best way so that it doesn't just float on the top of the broth) but i've more or less settled down on a way that makes pretty good beans.

black beans: 1 pound dry
water: 8 c
onions: 2, halved
garlic: 2 bulbs, pressed
bay leaves: 5
cumin: 1 t
chili powder: 1 t
black pepper
salt: 1.5 t
oregano: 2 t



- soak the beans ~8 hours. put in dutch oven with water and bring to a low simmer, covered.
- add the onion halves.
- prep your garlic, sautee in some olive oil, add to pot.
- sautee cumin, chili powder, and BP in some olive oil, take off the heat, and add some broth before adding to the pot.
- ~1 hour in, add salt and oregano.
- simmer another hour or so (the longer and lower the simmer, the better).
- take off the heat, remove and discard the onion pieces, let sit covered a while and let cool before refrigerating.

this recipe makes enough to have several meals of beans and several of bean soup.

curried pumpkin soup

i guess it's time for a new recipe...

i've recently discovered roasting the various winter squashes to be quite fun and tasty. i started with roasting a small sweet dumpling squash with a bit of salt and pepper, slathered it with some butter, and lo and behold, a tasty side dish! i also procured some small sugar pumpkins with the intent of making pumpkin pie, but then i decided to make a soup with it, much to the delight of H. and it turned out so deliciously, i must share the recipe.

ingredients:

• 1 small sugar pumpkin, about the height of a canned coke or something
• chicken stock (or veggie, whatever you have)
• cream
• sour cream (for garnish)
• 1 yellow onion, peeled and rough chop
  
• cloves of garlic, peeled
  
• 1.5-2 inch piece of root ginger, rough chop
  
• cilantro, minced
  
• red curry paste
• salt
• pepper (i used some black and white pepper)
• red cayenne pepper to taste

first you gotta cook the pumpkin flesh. you can do this in any number of ways...what i did was to cut it into sections, scoop out the seeds (SAVE THEM TO MAKE THE ROASTED SEEDS), and then steam them until a fork easily pierces the skin/flesh. this took me about 10-12 minutes. alternatively, you could roast them in the oven along with the onion, garlic, and ginger (since you have to roast those anyway to get really good flavor). (next time i think i'll roast the pumpkin with the rest of the ingredients, if that helps you decide.) roast the veggies at around 350 for 45 minutes or so. just check them periodically, and when they look good, just take them out!

after everything's done, puree the whole lot in a blender. or food processor. i don't have one of those, so i used a blender. over medium heat in a pot, put your concentrated "soup" into it. add a cup of the chicken broth and stir. add more if you want thinner soup. i believe i added about 1 3/4 cup chicken broth. then add your spices. i ended up using about 1.5 tsps of the red curry paste, and then i put in some yellow curry powder as well. i like spicy food so i added a lot of cayenne pepper. basically, just add your spices and cilantro a little at a time, taste, and then adjust. i went through multiple tastings before i got it how i wanted, but that's just how soup is.

once everything warms through and just starts to bubble, turn the heat off and add a bit of the cream. the cream really helps to just smooth things out a bit. after you add the cream, you do NOT want to bring the soup to a boil. that is why you add the cream AFTER you've gotten your soup seasoned the way you want.

serve in a bowl. i garnished with a dollop of sour cream and H added some peanuts to his. it was a lovely soup with nice spice and heat to it...enjoy!

braised lamb shank

i had been craving some lamb lately and found myself in fresh market the other day, and voila, they have lamb! of multiple varieties! i decided to try to cook the lamb shank...i knew it just needed some long slow cooking for it to taste good, so why not? i had a few hours to spare...

ingredients:

• 1 lamb shank (a little over 1 lb)
• 1/2 onion, sliced
• garlic, minced
• 1 small apple, sliced
  
• coriander
• cumin
• paprika
• PINCH of cinnamon
• salt
• pepper
• mint
  
• red wine

preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. heat up some olive oil in a dutch oven. trim the excess fat off of the lamb. season the lamb with the salt and pepper. brown the lamb shank on all sides and then set aside. add the onions, garlic, and apple and saute until everything looks good and translucent. add your spices and let cook for a few moments. deglaze the pot with some red wine. bring to a boil. once at a boil, add the lamb shank back into the pot, cover, and place in oven. bake it in the oven for about 1-1.5 hours, or until the meat falls off the bone.

once it was ready, i took it out, carved it, and had 2 good servings of delicious lamb! this method of cooking was very similar to cooking coq a vin, just in case you needed a reference point.

the lamb was served with some of the sauce in the dutch oven, fresh lightly boiled green beans (seasoned with some of the spices used in the lamb), and some oven-baked cheddar mac and cheese. delicious meal, and quite colorful as well.

chicken salad

we all know that it is hard to find a chicken salad recipe without nasty eggs and disgusting mayonaise. this has neither- it's got yogurt. this makes about 3 servings. very good on toasted pita bread.

mix all this together in a bowl:
2 cups cooked chicken *
1 stalk celery diced
1/4 red onion, diced
cilantro, minced
garlic powder
curry powder
paprika
S&P
1/2 c plain yogurt
mustard

*poached, shredded, and chopped (one breast and one drumstick are enough)

bulgogi

bulgogi is grilled, marinated beef strips. along with white rice, garlic, and gochujang (a sweet and picante chili-garlic sauce) beef strips it is wrapped in a leaf of lettuce. the marinade recipe comes from manchi and the assembly comes from how i remember it being done in korea.

=====
for the marinade, mix in a bowl:
1/4 c soy sauce
1/8 c white sugar
1/2 asian pear
1/2 head garlic
1/4 c water

puree then add and puree again:
1/2 T honey

add:
black pepper
1/2 T sesame seeds
5 stalks chopped green onion
1 T sesame oil

=====
for the meat:
1 # sirloin tip
slice long and thin strips again the grain
add to the marinade
refrigerate >= 3 hours

=====
grill meat, flip each strip once (~4 mins each side)
wrap in lettuce as described above
this serves 4. can easily be doubled.

banana choco chip mini muffins

i whipped these up this morning from my brain and they are delicious! i've already eaten 6...but they are mini and yummy and good.

• 1 cup AP flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp veggie oil
• 2 tbsp sour cream + tiny bit of milk to get the batter consistency you want
  
• chopped up choco chips (i used bittersweet chocolate)
• mashed up banana

combine all ingredients. i used a whisk, nothing special. put batter into mini muffin tin...this was enough to make 20 giganto-mini muffins, and they turned out nice and a bit "big", so you could stretch the batter to make 24 nice-sized mini muffins. and if you wanted to do regular sized muffins, this would probably make 6 or 7 comfortably. bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. enjoy!

ragu sauce

all these years when i have made spaghetti and a meat and tomato for it, i have incorrectly called it a "spaghetti sauce". the correct term in the italian culinary lexicon for such a meat-based sauce is a "ragu sauce". there is also a "bolognese sauce" that seems similar but has eggs in it.

vegetables: onion, carrot and celery, garlic, mushroom.
spices: basil, oregano, chili powder, s & p.
meat: 1 # beef
tomatoes: 1 can paste, 1 can sauce, 2 cans (14 oz each) stewed toms (pureed).

cut your vegetables, mostly finely diced.
season your meat, start browning, draining along the way.
start sauteeing vegetables in the order listed above in large pot.
add spices.
(haven't tried this but a cup of red wine could be added now and cooked til absorbed/evaporated).
add paste
add sauce
add pureed toms
when meat is ready, add
add some water if necessary

let simmer low, covered at least 1.5 hours.

chicken enchiladas

12 tortillas (de maiz)
1 onion
garlic
3 c shredded chicken (1 breast, 1 drumstick, 1 thigh)
1/2 c cottage cheese
1/2 c shredded mozzarella
1 can enchilada sauce

warm the tortillas to make pliable.
sautee onion, garlic. add chicken.
remove from heat, add cheeses.
spray casserole dish.
fill tortillas with filling, roll and place in dish.
pour enchilada sauce on top.
bake at 350 for ~30 minutes.

this makes four servings.

* filling could be of spinach instead of chicken.

banana wheat muffins

threw a recipe together on the fly, and whaddayaknow, it's delicious!

• 1 1/2 cups AP flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 mashed banana

bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes. they come out and taste nice and hearty.

notes for next time:
- if i have 2 bananas, i could omit the egg. (1/2 cup mashed banana = 1 egg, for substitution in vegan cooking.)
- i could add 1/2 cup chopped nuts.
- i could add peanut butter.
- i have those frozen raspberries in the freezer...maybe i could throw some of them in.
- add some rolled oats for texture.

turnips

my obsession with turnips goes back several years to when i decided not to eat some heavily fertilized turnips grown in a field as deer bait and instead decided to grow my own (organically). they grow great in mississippi although the root (the turnip itself) never got big enough to eat due to the high clay content of the soil in the garden.

in cooking with turnips, i have learned that are different from potatoes (despite both being roots). turnips tend to absorb a lot of water when cooked with a wet method. boiling them waterlogs them the most. last night i steamed them (two turnips, about a pound between them, peeled, diced) and they were much better. quite plain and mushy- not like the starchy potato in the same situation- but nice and bitter. i went on to add S&P, a little butter, and a tiny bit of milk to make mashies. really tasty (with pork chop and green beans) but without the creamy and cohesive properties of mashed potatoes. in the future, i will experiment with steaming half potatoes and half turnips and mashing them together.

several days ago i roasted the same amount of turnips. this involved tossing in 1-2 T olive oil with S&P, garlic powder, and some other spices then baking at 350 for about 45 minutes. these were delicious and really good with the ham i had from arkansas.

sushi rolls

ingredients:
sushi rice
fish
cucumber
avocado
seaweed
soy sauce
gochujang (korean spicy paste)


process:
-put seaweed piece on bamboo roller
-smush rice onto seaweed
-add fish
-add vegetables
-add gochujang
-roll

-cut into 6-8 pieces

eat with chopsticks, dipping in soy sauce

sushi rice

ingredients:
1 C rice
1 T rice wine vinegar
1 T white sugar
pinch of salt (~1/8 t(?))

process:
rinse the rice several times.
drain pretty well.
add 1.5 C water.
bring to boil, reduce to low, 20 minutes (don't ever remove top).
remove from heat, let sit 10 minutes covered.

mix vinegar, sugar, and salt.

put rice in large (plastic) bowl, toss around a little to let cool.
add mix to rice, fold in.

this makes enough rice for sushi for 3-4 people and should be used in the sushi.
since it is so wet and sticky, leftover rice is not very good for fried rice.

pink velvet cupcakes

i have been wanting to bake a red velvet cake for a while...so why not do cupcakes instead? i used this red velvet cake recipe and used this recipe for cream cheese frosting. you may notice that my cupcakes are PINK rather than red...this is due to the fact that i did not have enough red food coloring! the pink did not detract from the yummy flavor of these cupcakes though. not one bit.

notes for the cake recipe: this recipe made 24 cupcakes. i eyeballed each cupcake liner to be filled 2/3 high when i put them in the oven, however, when i took them out, they were all different heights! nothing fancy icing tricks couldn't fix though. i baked them at 350 degrees F for about 20 minutes.

notes for the icing recipe: this recipe calls for 1 package of cream cheese and 5 tablespoons butter and vanilla extract and 2 cups + whatever you like powdered sugar. i ended up using about 2.5 cups of powdered sugar and the icing was perfect...i'm not a big fan of super sweet stuff...so this was just sweet enough! an interesting observation...when i beat the cream cheese and butter together, it got very crumbly. i must admit that i got a little concerned that my icing was going to turn into crap. however, once i added all the sugar...BAM! it looked like icing! i don't know what happened, but it turned out just lovely.

and for the icing piping...i have a pastry decorating icing bag that i filled with both colors of icing. (i added a few drops of red food coloring to make it pink.) that's why i was able to do a dual-color icing! but of course you knew that already...haha.

i will DEFINITELY make these again! and once i have more than 1 useable baking pan (i destroyed one of my 9-inch circular baking pans by baking a cobbler in it...so FYI...DON'T BAKE COBBLERS IN NONSTICK BAKING PANS!)...yeah, so once i have more than 1 baking pan i will make a fabulous red velvet CAKE complete with cream cheese frosting and chopped nuts for garnish.

pan-fried breaded tilapia

the recipe for this dish came mostly from a paul prudhomme cookbook though i don't think they used tilapia back when it was published... i fry one fillet at a time.

1. mix some spices together
2. make an egg wash (egg and milk)
3. wash and dry fish
4. start heating skillet with 1/4 inch of vegetable oil
5. rub spices into both sides of fillets
6. dredge in flour
7. coat in egg wash
8. dredge through flour again
9. add to pan when oil is at medium heat
10. cook 3-4 minutes each side

11. place on paper-toweled plate
12. serve

man it is good and crispy and moist and tasty.

beef and vegetable and kale soup/stew experiment

so tonight i made a soup/stew creation from complete scratch, and it turned out GREAT. unfortunately, i did not take a picture, nor is there a recipe, but i'll put down all that i put in it. once i perfect it, then i'll write up an official recipe!

• onion
• garlic
• carrot
• celery
• kale
• can of diced tomatoes and its juice
• chopped beef
• water
• splash of red wine
• salt, pepper, parsley
• rice

basically, i sauteed the beef until just a bit brown and removed it from my dutch oven. then i sauteed the onion, garlic, carrot, and celery, making sure to scrape all the yummy bits of meat brownings. then i added the meat back and deglazed with the wine (basically just splashed wine into the pot). then i added the can of tomatoes + 2 cans full of water. when that simmered, i added the kale and covered the pot and let it simmer on an extremely low heat for a loooong time. i seasoned it to taste and then served it over rice. it was delicious.

thoughts for next time include playing around with sliced jalapeno pepper for spice kick, bay leaves, turnips, parsnips, radishes, tomato paste, starting out with a traditional roux, hmmm...it was pretty good tonight, but since it is my first attempt, i know i can improve upon it until it is perfect. yay.