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Friday, February 26, 2010

Spicy Mexican Carrots

I'm making burritos for dinner again tonight! Last time I made them, Lucas and I were eating burritos for lunch and dinner for almost a week! I made real spicy carrots this time though - thought I'd post a picture.

(for about 5 medium sized carrots)
Slice carrots and as many chilis as you want (I use two serrano) , bring to simmer with (about) 3/4 cups of vinegar (any kind is fine), 3/4 cups of water, a couple of bay leaves, 6 or so black peppercorns and salt. Let that simmer for about 3-4 minutes, then transfer everything into a small bowl and chill. These turned out great! The black beans for the burritos are almost ready and I can't wait to give my carrots a try!!

Monday, February 22, 2010

White Bean and Tomato Stew With Toast

I made white bean stew for dinner last night. I've made it a couple of times but this time I added in a few special ingredients that made it even better! The recipe is adapted and inspired from this gourmet magazine recipe that I came across a few months ago.

First thing to do is to let about a cup and a half of dried white beans (navy, cannellini, etc) soak in water over night. About an hour and a half or two hours before you want to eat, bring the beans up to a boil and simmer until thoroughly cooked (this should take anywhere from one to two hours depending on how fresh the beans are).

Next, I sautéed a small onion, 4-5 cloves of garlic, 4 celery stalks and 4 carrots in olive oil. After about five to seven minutes I turned the heat to high and poured in about a cup of red wine. Next I added in about a tablespoon or two of tomato paste, and maybe half a teaspoon each of dried rosemary and fennel seeds. Once the wine cooked off for about two minutes, I poured in a large can of tomatoes and added in about a tablespoon of dried porcini powder and a tablespoon or two of fresh thyme. Let this simmer for 15 minutes, or until the beans are ready, then add the beans right in, salt to taste and let that simmer together for another 15-20 minutes.

Finally, toast up some olive oil and garlic covered stale bread in the oven. Serve topped with parmesan.




Sunday, February 21, 2010

Cookie Mania

It was my friend's birthday this week so I made her a batch of her favorite cookies - macaroons (not the french kind!!!). They turned out great, and although I was unsatisfied with the only kind of dried coconut I could find (It was more crushed than the longer pieces of coconut that I find to really make the texture of macaroons), they were still surprisingly delicious. After I made these, I got an urge to make banana oatmeal cookies... I sort of had to make up the recipe so I used a basic recipe for something else and then played around with what I thought might work. Even though the turned out more like muffin tops than cookies, they were unbelievable! I will definitely make these again as muffins or something like that!

Here's how to make 'em:

Ingredients

-1 cup of flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 tbsp honey
-1/2 cup sugar
-1 egg
-2 bananas mushed up
-3/4 teaspoon baking powder
-1/4-1/2 teaspoon
-same of cinnamon
-1 cup unsweetened coconut
-1 1/2-2 cups rolled oats (I forgot how much it was)
-vanilla

Cream the butter and sugar and salt and honey in a a bowl. Mix in the egg, mashed bananas and vanilla. The add in the flour, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon. Combine all that up, the add in the oats and coconut. Bake in a 350 degree oven. I can't remember how long they were in for, so check them after about 15-20 minutes!








Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Pesto, Spaghetti and Bread Crumbs

I made pesto again, (here's the last pesto post) but this time I made it with toasted buttery bread crumbs instead of roasted potatoes. I could probably be happy eating this meal, lasagna and salad for the rest of my life.

SPECIAL LUCAS EDITION: Jerked Catfish

Lucas made dinner tonight and I made roasted brussels sprouts and potatoes. He used a Deborah Madison recipe for jerked chicken but adapted it for the fish, which included: onion, habañero chili, garlic, maple syrup,lime juice, all spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, olive oil, soy sauce, salt and pepper. It was gooooooooooood.





Saturday, February 13, 2010

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

First, I sauteed leeks in olive oil. Then added a tiny bit of dried rosemary, some chili flakes, roughly chopped carrots, celery, turnips, parsley and garlic (you could use ANY combination of vegetables). After about 5 minutes (when the edges of the vegetables started to caramelize) I added in about half a cup of red wine, cooked that off, and then half a can of tomatoes. In the meantime, I cooked about half a cup each of puy and green lentils in some water. When the lentils were ready, I added them to the rest of the vegetables along with some chickpeas, then topped the whole thing off with buttery mashed potatoes I popped the whole thing in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes. I would have let the top get a little darker but something dripped onto the bottom of the oven and it started to burn! Still tasted super delicious. The chickpeas totally made the whole dish. Next time I might add in some kale.




Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Some of my fav things in my apartment

Cute tiny daffodils that I got today:



A cool bowl that I just got from ebay:



Cute bowls that I got at a flea market in New York last year (sadly, there were only three of them!):



Embroidered radishes:


Vegetables poster:


My 3qt water jar:

Friday, February 5, 2010

Burrrriiitos

Since there are NO good burritos in New York (as far as I know), I decided to make some of my own tonight. Originally they were just going to be bean and cheese burritos but something made me want to add some spanish rice to the mix. First, I soaked the black beans overnight. When I was ready to cook them, I chopped up an onion, added a ton of bay leaves, tomato paste, a tiny bit of olive oil, dried oregano, some dried smoked chilis and then covered the beans with a combination of vegetable broth and water. I let that simmer for about two hours until the beans juuust started to fall apart. For the rice, I sauteed half of a small onion in olive oil and then added about a cup or white rice to toast up. After a few minutes, I added about half of a large can of tomatoes and some water. I also attempted to make some spicy pickled carrots but opted not to cook them first. I chopped a serrano chili, about three carrots, and then added in salt and pepper, a few splashes of vinegar and a bit of olive oil. Finally, I chopped up a ton of lettuce and cilantro and served the burritos with grated cheddar cheese and sour cream. Cholula is my hot sauce of choice. I wish I had an avocado!