Thai Pork Chops and Stir Fry Veg

I recently came across this on Smitten Kitchen: http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/07/thai-style-chicken-legs/ and I was determined to try it out. (First I had to get to the Asian grocery store to get hoisin.) I didn't have any chicken legs and while I thought it might be good on turkey drumsticks, I'm saving those for turkey pot pie when it gets cooler. :-) We did have pork chops, and that sounded like an excellent combination. (To preview: it was! I'm practically drooling as I write this, remembering...) I'll repost the Smitten Kitchen instructions here, which we mostly followed, aside from snubbing the oven entirely (particularly at 450 degrees!!) and using a cast iron skillet instead.

for the marinade:

5 garlic cloves

1/4 c cilantro

1/4 c fish sauce

1/4 c canola oil

4 T hoisin sauce

1 1/2 t coriander

1 t salt

1 t black pepper

2 porkchops (we used boneless but bone-in would be fine)

Whirr together everything but the chops in a blender or food processor until it's mostly smooth. Use about 1/2 of the marinade to generously coat the chops and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes. Reserve the rest of the marinade for veggies, see below.

Once pork is marinating, chop veggies:

1 medium onion, sliced

2 japanese eggplants (no need to peel)

1 bell pepper

a handful of shitakes wouldn't be amiss here either

Mix the veggies together with the remaining marinade and throw in the fridge too.

Start rice (jasmine is excellent with this).

Take a cat nap or otherwise occupy 10 minutes...

Then heat a large skillet over high heat with a heavy splash of oil. When the oil is shimmering add veggies and any marinade that wasn't absorbed. Stir fry for 2-3 minutes or until onions are starting to brown, then reduce the heat and add a few T of water, let cook until eggplant is tender (about 3 more minutes).

There are two chop-cooking options:

Skillet: While the veggies are cooking heat a heavy skillet (cast iron if possible) to med-high head with more oil. Add the pork chops and cook about 3 minutes per side-- they should brown and be barely pink in the center when done. If the marinade starts to carmelize in the pan that's fine (in fact, delicious), but if it's starting to char (carefully) add a T of water. Remove chops from pan and let them stand five minutes, then slice.

Wok: Reserve cooked veggies to a plate and add more oil to wok. Slice chops (only boneless work here) into 1/4 in strips and cook over med-high heat (in batches if needed) until slightly browned and no longer pink. Serve immediately.

If the veggies are done and have cooled, reheat them over high heat in the wok. Serve over rice. And HOLY CRAP, this is good. Go make it now. No excuses, just do it. Trust me on this one. (Have I ever steered you wrong?)

Mixed Berry Tart!

I recently made this: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Strawberry-Mascarpone-Tart-with-Port-Glaze-352272 But with raspberries (black, purple and red) and blueberries instead of strawberries. It. Was. Amazing. I boiled a handful of raspberries and a dash of sugar with the port, which made a delicious glaze which would be really amazing on pancakes. (In fact, I saved most of it in my fridge for that purpose.) Oh and I used lime juice/zest instead of lemon because that's what I had. Other than that, I followed the recipe. I took no pictures because I have no camera still/again, but it was beautiful. Go pick some berries and make yourself one!!

Tortilla española in fotos

Start with a few handfuls of potatoes,

slice into 1/4" slablets,

and fry in olive oil

until brown but not crisp.

Chop a handful of green onions

and fry in leftover oil.

Crack 7 eggs for a 10 inch skillet,

add a fair measure of salt,

and beat into oblivion.

Layer potatoes on top of the onions,

pour in the eggs,

And cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until the edges look set. Then broil for 5 minutes (top will become fully set) and let cool for another 5.

(Eat!)

recipe from: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/spanish_tortilla/

Asparagus!

I Poached Eggs

I followed the poaching instructions here: http://almostturkish.blogspot.com/2007/03/turkish-poached-eggs-with-yogurt-lbr.html# but did not have them with garlicky yogurt, I had them with toast and champagne mangoes. The first one went well, the second went okay, and the third one tried to be egg drop soup-- I rescued it but it wasn't very photogenic.

Eggs two and three. Two is on the left, the amorphous blob and general cloudiness of the water is number three...

Thanks to Lisa for her loan of a camera that actually works-- mine is now doing this:

For comparison, here's the same tree with Lisa's camera:

Easy as pie!

I've wanted to make pie crust from scratch for a long time now...so I did! I had some moral support from here: http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/11/pie-crust-102-all-butter-really-flaky-pie-dough/ and my mother, who was visiting, so I went to town. (She was the photographer for most of this too, after I got flour all over my camera... And she helped with everything else, too!) As the above blog will tell you, it seems to help to have everything really cold. Particularly if you don't have a food processor and pastry blender because it makes everything take that much longer-- I periodically stuck the whole bowl in the freezer for a few minutes to help the butter firm back up. Nor do I have a rolling pin (!) so I used a cylindrical stainless water bottle, which worked great. Despite all that, it was quite easy! The recipe is for two crusts-- if your pie/quiche only takes one crust you can wrap the second well in plastic wrap and a bag and freeze it. I didn't have enough AP flour for rolling out the crust so I used WW pastry flour, which was fine. I wrote a lot of notes on how to combine the dough, but it's really not terribly complicated, I promise!

All-butter pie crust:

2 sticks unsalted butter, very cold

2.5 c. AP flour, plus more for rolling

1 T. sugar

1 t. salt

1 c. ice water

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Place in freezer while you dice the butter into small cubes. Retrieve the very cold dry ingredients and sprinkle the butter lumps over it. Combine with a pastry blender or food processor or knifes or your hands until the butter lumps are the size of large lentils or small peas (in the picture I'm about halfway to that stage). In a food processor err on the larger side. The lumps will be uneven, but that's okay. If you're combining with a processor or other tool it will go quicker than you expect, or so I'm told. If you're combining by hand you'll need to stop periodically and put the whole bowl into the freezer for a few minutes while you rest your hands.

You don't want to butter to melt. Once you have the proper sized butter bits, pour in about 1/2 c. water and combine with a spatula. Add more water, 1 T. at a time, until the dough is in a few large lumps with minimal dry flour at the bottom. Stop and combine the rest of the way with your hands-- you want a lump that sticks together but you should still see the butter bits distributed through it.
Split dough into two halves (should be about 12 oz each) and refrigerate them in a plastic wrap for 1 hour or longer. (If your refrigerator is odiferous you might want to put them in a baggie too.) Go start dinner.
When you're ready to roll out the dough, generously flour a nice clean counter or silicon mat. Also generously flour your rolling implement and hands. Plop one cold dough lump in the middle of your surface and slowly start to roll it out, taking care to roll from the center out towards all directions evenly.
Re-flour the top of the dough and your rolling implement as needed so it doesn't stick. Stop when your dough is approximately circular with a diameter of 12 inches for a standard pie tin. In the picture I was almost done-- the second-to-outer circle is 12 inches.

Then you have a few options for transferring the crust to the pie tin. If you have a flexible mat you can put the tin upside down on top and flip the whole business over, otherwise you can roll the crust over your rolling pin and then unroll it into the tin or carefully fold the crust into quarters and unfold it into the tin. You may need extra flour to coax the crust off the counter/mat; be patient with it so it doesn't tear. If needed, trim the edges that hang over the tin, and crimp the edges as desired. Set the crust in the freezer while you prepare the pie filling. That's it! You've done it!

Just in case you need a filling idea, here's an easy one. I like the apple peels in my pie, but many people don't...

Apple pie filling (adapted from Betty Crocker):

4-6 apples, (peeled?) cored and sliced (try Braeburn, McIntosh and Cameo apples)

2 dashes cinnamon (or more...)

dash nutmeg

dash cardamom

1/4 c. AP flour

1/3 c. brown sugar

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Combine all ingredients and pile into your pie crust. It should mound up pretty high-- don't forget that the apples cook down and shrink in the oven. Top with crumb topping.

Crumb Topping:

1/3 c. butter

1/2 c. AP or WW pastry flour

1/3 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. rolled oats

1/3 c. chopped pecans (or almonds, or walnuts)

Combine first three ingredients with a pastry blender or hands until butter is the size of lentils/oats. Then add oats and nuts.

Sprinkle generously and lovingly over the apples.

Bake for 40-50 minutes. Check after 30 minutes-- if the top is browning cover the pie loosely with aluminum foil so it doesn't burn. When done the pie filling should be bubbling in the middle and the top should be browned. Enjoy!

Two N.B.s: Yes, I lack both a pastry blender AND a rolling pin. Shameful, I know. Also, sorry about the picture quality-- my camera is REALLY on its last leg and has decided that its new trick is to put horizontal lines through every image...maybe it was a television in a past life. That makes three things for my wish list!

Chocolate Linzertorte

This is the recipe for the linzertorte from this post, which I finally typed up the other day to share with a friend... I transcribed it from a photocopy that came out of some cookbook or newspaper or something maybe years ago...I have no idea what its origin is but I certainly didn't make it up myself! (I did include my notes in the recipe.)

You need: 11in tart pan with a removable bottom.

linzertorte pastry:

1 cup blanched almonds

1/4 c. confectioner's sugar

1 c. sifted AP flour

1/2 c. granulated sugar

1/3 c. cocoa powder

3/4 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. cloves

1/4 t. nutmeg

1/8 t. salt

2 sticks unsalted butter, in 1-T. cubes

3 egg yolks (reserve whites)

2 t. vanilla extract

1 t. grated orange zest

1 t. grated lemon zest

raspberry filling:

12 oz. raspberry preserves (seedless is traditional)

2 t. lemon juice

meringue:

3 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped

3 egg whites

1/4 c. granulated sugar

make "pastry":

preheat oven to 350 F. (If using a tart pan with a "light shiny finish" preheat to 375)

in a food processor combine almonds and confectioner's sugar, process until finely ground. add flour, spices, granulated sugar and salt and process until evenly mixed. distribute butter, egg yolks, vanilla and zest around blade and process 35-45 seconds or until mixture is creamy. press into tart pan in an even layer. bake for 25-30 minutes, or until pastry springs back when pressed lightly. allow to cool briefly while preparing the filling and meringue.

filling:

stir together preserves and lemon juice. spread over baked pastry, leaving a 1/4 in border free along the edge.

meringue:

melt chocolate over double boiler. let cool until tepid. combine egg whites and sugar over a shy double boiler (water should touch bottom of boil but not simmer). whisk mixture constantly until it is white and creamy and hot to the touch/110 F and the sugar has dissolved. remove bowl from heat. using a hand-held mixer, beat mixture for 5-8 minutes until it's a stiff shiny meringue. fold in chocolate. place meringue in a pastry bag and pipe a lattice top over the filing and a line around the circumferece to cover the bare ring. bake for another 10-15 minutes, or until the meringue is firm. let the torte cool fully in the tart pan and then place in an airtight container, it will improve with age.

Pimentón!

I got a fabulous present of some pimentón recently and, well, it's fabulous. (What is it? Smoked Spanish paprika.) I've only used it on one thing so far (turnips), but look forward to such things as pimentón'd chicken paprikash, pimentón'd fried eggs, pimentón'd pork chops, and pimentón'd quinoa with greens... For more ideas see: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/24/dining/24mini.html and http://bitten.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/25/pimenton-junkies-have-your-say/ (Mark Bittman's recipe for pimentón'd swordfish and his call for pimentón ideas from others, respectively.)

Back to the turnips: they were easy. A few handfuls of turnips(chopped)+a few cloves of garlic (chopped)+some onion(chopped)+olive oil(a heavy drizzle)+pimentón(a few shakes)+salt+pepper, roasted in a pyrex dish at 400 for about 35 minutes, stirred every ten minutes or so. I put in some rosemary too (before I remembered about the pimentón) but it wasn't enough to influence the taste at all, as far as I could tell.

No pictures today (sorry), so you'll just have to make it for yourself to experience the beautiful deep orange color the olive oil turns and the golden crispy reddish turnips... Or make something else with it...and let me know!

Cardamom Bread

I might christen this carda-yum bread! It's easy and delicious and it makes the kitchen both warm and wonderful-smelling! (All of these things are pluses.)

This recipe comes from the Razor Family Farms blog-- http://razorfamilyfarms.com/cooking/ and has only slight alterations, but I'll repost it anyways...

Cardamom Bread (ala http://razorfamilyfarms.com/cooking/cardamom-bread-sweet-and-rustic/)

4 c. AP flour

1/2 T. cardamom

1 1/2 T. yeast

1 1/4 c. warm milk (soy or dairy) or water or some combination-- I usually use 3/4 c. soymilk and 1/2 c. water

3/4 c. sugar

1/2 c. oil

1 shy t. salt

1 egg, lightly beaten

Mix flour and cardamom in a large bowl (of your mixer, if you'd like). Dissolve sugar and then yeast in warm liquid. Pour into dry stuff and mix until doughy. Add oil and mix until doughy again (and oily--it won't all absorb yet). Cover with a plate and let rest for 20 minutes.

Thoroughly knead in the salt (I use my hands, but you could use the dough hook), and extra flour as needed to achieve the right consistency. (Like most dough, it should feel like an earlobe-- warm and elastic and soft.) Oil a baking sheet. Divide dough into thirds and place far apart on the baking sheet. Cover with a damp tea towel and let rise for 30-45 minutes, or until almost doubled in bulk. (This will take many hours if your house is chilly-- try preheating the oven for just 30 seconds and letting it rise there, with the oven light on-- ideal rising temperature is around 90 degrees F.)

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Roll each dough lump into a long snake and braid together. Pinch the ends together firmly and fold them under.

Brush the braid with beaten egg and bake for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Sometimes I make two smaller braided loaves and they only take about 20 minutes. Let it rest for at least 15 minutes before you cut into it (it's torturous) for best texture later on. Enjoy!

The picture doesn't really do it justice...

Lemon Gruyere Grits and Chili Baked Fish

I just want to say that I LOVE GRITS. Ok now that that's out of the way, I can't believe that our southern roots haven't been more exposed. Well that's going to change. Tonight I was in the mood of something creamy, savory, and all together scrumptious! Also, I had some fish that needed to be eaten. What's the best way to combine those two needs you say? Well I still don't know but I did a pretty damn good job with the following recipe. It may sound a little fishy at first but I urge you to try it. Have we ever disappointed you?

First: The Fish

Alaskan Pollok Fish is a nice, white fish with a firm texture and a flavor similar to cod. It lends itself well to just about any flavor combination and it just happen to be on sale the other day!

To prepare Fish
-Coat in butter milk
-Mix bread crumbs with some chili powder, garlic powder, and salt
-Roll fish in bread crumbs
-Bake at 350 for 20 min (maybe less if the fish is a bit thin)

Next: The Grits

-1 Cup White Corn Grits (not the instant kind, shame on you)
-4 Cups Water
-1 Cup Shredded Gruyere
-The zest of 1/2 a lemon

Preparation
-In a pan combine grits and water. Simmer over medium low heat stirring occasionally. These have a tendency to stick to the bottom so be careful. The grits will slowly absorb water slowly and after about 20mins or so have a 'soupy' look to them. Take them off the heat at this point and add your cheese and lemon zest. If you've timed it right your fish is done too and all that is left is to put it all in a bowl and enjoy!

Sorry of the lack of pictures. My camera is still being held hostage by my parents. It shall return after thanksgiving.

Vegan Mexican Chocolate Pudding

Sounds a bit unappetizing, right? Well it's not. It's amazing. Zero taste of tofu, excellent texture (though admittedly more like mousse than pudding, perhaps), and amazingly rich and chocolatey. Also, super quick and easy.

Mexican Chocolate Tofu Pudding (from NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/dining/201mrex.html?_r=1&ref=dining adapted slightly)

3/4 cup sugar

1 package silken tofu

8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, melted (I used 1 generous cup semisweet chips and 1 oz unsweetened chocolate)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 t. ground cinnamon

1/4 t. cayenne

1/2 t. orange extract

1/4 t. allspice

Heat sugar and water until dissolved. Blend all ingredients until smooth. Chill for 30 minutes or more. Eat.

Note: You need to sign up for a (free) online account with NY Times to view the original recipe.

No cHard Feelings

No pictures today because I'm tired of arguing with my (5 year-old) camera about its flash settings and what to focus on. I was potentially going to buy a super-spiffy and cheap Canon s3is from a friend of mine, but someone else got it first....drat! Meanwhile, I made a super-delicious pasta primvera-esque dinner tonight, complete with rainbow chard from the farm my sister works on! (It's not too hot to grow greens in the summer in NY state!) But it's not actually springtime, so I dub this:

Pasta Verano (Italian/Spanish meld-phrase!)

Pasta:
1/2 lb. pasta (I used fettuccine)
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste

Veg:
2 T. mixture of canola and olive oils
1/2 onion, sliced
1 summer squash/zucchini, sliced
1 small bunch chard (rainbow or otherwise), ribbed and chopped (reserve greens separately from ribs)
1 handful fresh basil leaves, snipped
1 gorgeous tomato, chopped
2 large gloves garlic, minced
red chili flakes to taste

Saute onions, squash and chard ribs over medium-low heat until almost tender, 5-8 minutes. Add chard greens, basil, tomato, garlic and chili flakes and cover. Cook for 2-4 minutes or until greens are wilted.

CONCURRENTLY:
Make pasta. When it's cooked drain but DO NOT RINSE. Return to pot and crack an egg over it. Stir vigorously for about 75 seconds. The egg will get frothy and then creamy-- it should not turn into little scrambled egg bits. Salt and pepper generously.

Combine veg and pasta and serve hot.

The egg-in-pasta idea came from two sources, one: Make do and make it good and the other: What Geeks Eat.

Rainbow chard in its farm life:

(photo copyright Christina Schubert, 2009)

Vanilla Custard with Cantaloupe and Basil

Over the summer I had lunch at Cafe Gutenberg in Richmond, VA. After an excellent lunch (I had some sort of sandwich as I recall) they happened to have a muskmelon-basil custard for dessert, which had won them some sort of award in a cooking competition the day before. Intrigued, we ordered it. It was amazing! As I recall, the custard itself was muskmelon-flavored, with chopped basil on it (maybe also through it, I don't quite remember). The sweetness of the custard base went well with the sunny melon flavor, and the basil added a nice twist. I recently found myself with an heirloom cantaloupe-of-some-variety and an excess of milk, so I took a stab at a version of this excellent summer dessert.

I remain fairly convinced that you cannot put the melon in with the custard while it's hot-- cooked melon doesn't sound appetizing and would do interesting things to the texture I think. So I made a simple vanilla custard, ala Southern Living, reproduced below. I should have gone a bit light on the sugar, as it turned out almost cloyingly sweet. (Luckily the basil helped cut it a bit.) It didn't set up as much as perhaps it should have, maybe because I halved the recipe and my pot may have been a bit large-- letting it boil too quickly, etc, etc.

It was 10:30PM when I decided to put the melon/basil bits together with the custard, so I simply cut a wedge of melon, spooned on some custard, and snipped some fresh basil for a generous garnish. When I have more time I will consider pureeing the melon and basil together and straining off some of the liquid (to drink, yum!) before mixing that into the custard base. Of course, that would work better if the custard were more firm to start out with-- I may just end up with chilled melon-basil-custard soup! (Of course, that sounds fabulous too...) I'll let you know what I get up to tomorrow in the way of making the three ingredients meld more. As it was, the basil chunks flavored the custard somewhat, and alternating bites of custard with bites of melon did the trick.


Half Vanilla Custard Recipe (reproduced from http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=520254)

1/4 cup sugar--USE LESS!
1.5 T. cornstarch
1/4 t. salt
2 egg yolks
1.5 cups milk
1 T. butter or margarine
1 t. vanilla extract

Bring first 5 ingredients to a boil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat (about 20 minutes), whisking constantly; boil, whisking constantly, 1 minute or until thickened. Remove from heat; stir in butter and vanilla. Chill two hours.

Another serving suggestion (Day Two edit):
Tonight I finely diced the cantaloupe (if you cut a wedge of melon and cross-hatch the flesh with a paring knife you can scoop the meat off the rind in neat cubes!) and the basil, and mixed those in with the custard. After all that stirring the custard had the consistency of yogurt, which was fine. The flavors blended a lot better-- in fact I'd consider doing this with the whole batch of custard and letting it sit in the fridge for a day to marry the flavors. Of course, it's not as pretty of a presentation as custard-with-orange-and-green-lumps. Suit yourself. Also, I now want to try yogurt with basil in it, and raspberries perhaps...

Goulash

It was chilly (only 75!) and overcast today, which made it perfect for stew. Goulash is Hungarian I think, and is essentially oniony, paprikay beef stew. Yum! It also happens to be very very easy to make, as all good stew should be. This is my parents' recipe (if you can even call it that), and they always make it in the pressure cooker, allowing one to go from raw to stew in about 30 minutes. I have no pressure cooker and didn't think far enough ahead to put this in the CrockPot (though you easily could), so I just made it in a pot on the stove, the old-fashioned way. The amount of this recipe is enough for 2 decently-sized portions-- two dinners or a dinner and leftovers-for-lunch!

Start with 1/2 lb stew beef (or lamb I suppose). I cut mine into smaller chunks to encourage it to cook more quickly. In two batches, brown it in a combination of canola and olive oils. You only want the meat to brown, don't worry if it's still raw in the middle. Remove from the pan and add two large handfuls of sliced onions. Brown those also, adding more oil as necessary. Deglaze the pan with a splash of red wine, then add the meat back in, along with a beef boullion cube, 3-4 T. of [mild Hungarian] paprika, 1/2 t. cayenne or hot paprika and enough water to cover. Bring to a simmer and cook until the meat is tender-- about 20 minutes in a pressure cooker, 90 minutes on the stovetop, or 4+ hours in a CrockPot. Keep an eye on it and add more water as needed. When the meat was almost tender I added about an extra half cup of water and when that reached a rolling boil, three handfuls of uncooked egg noodles. 9 minutes later I had a one-pot goulash+noodles dinner! Serve with plenty of freshly cracked black pepper. On a whim I added some fresh basil for garnish and discovered that it complements the paprika and beef flavors excellently! I plan on throwing a few more leaves in with my leftovers.

Golden Key Lime Butter Cookies for Mom's Golden Birthday

09/09/09 is the date of my mother's birthday this year. As my Aunt Debbie recently pointed out, this is her 'golden' birthday. To celebrate I thought I might make some golden butter cookies with key lime icing and send them to her. Butter cookies are some of the easiest cookies to make~they only take 5 ingredients. The following is a set by step picture guide just because I can!

Recipe:
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 cups AP flour
1 cup corn starch
1 tsp salt

Directions:
Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl.


Sift flour, cornstarch, and salt in and use a fork to combine.
*note: using beaters here will over work your flour and make for really tough cookies.


When things are looking well and truly combined start pulling everything together with your hands. You should end up with a crumbly but well formed ball.


Refrigerate your dough for about 20 minutes so it's nice and firm and easy to roll. Then preheat your oven to 325. Roll out your dough on a lightly floured surface and cut cookies till your hearts content.


I didn't have cookie cutters (something I have since remedied) so I used a champagne glass to get nice round cookies.


While the cookies were baking I whipped together some simple lime icing.

Icing recipe:
1/2 cup powered sugar
1 tsp key lime juice
Enough water to get whatever consistency you want

I wanted my icing to be drizzlable so I made it pretty thin

Then I put a thin layer on my cookies once they were cool.


Then I mailed the cookies to my mommy! She loved them! So go do something nice for your mommy, you'll be glad you did.

Cuminy Tofu Stirfry

Tonight's meal is brought to you by both Epicurious and What Geeks Eat. I was wandering around on the internet last night and found What Geeks Eat for the first time, and really enjoyed both the recipes and the quite excellent photos. As soon as I buy more yeast I intend to make her cinnamon rolls and maybe the snickerdoodles too. Yum... Anyways, what inspired me was her marinated, pan-fried tofu recipe. I didn't reference her recipe at all as I was going, but I did remember one very important thing she said, which is to leave the tofu alone. Yes, it's in a pan on medium heat and anything else that size would be burnt to a crisp after 8-10 minutes per side, but just leave it. Don't push it around, and don't peek until at least 8 minutes have gone by. The cumin part of the stir fry is a hold over from when I made "cumin-scented stir-fried beef with celery" a few months ago. I had never considered putting cumin in a stir fry, but it is simply fabulous. Especially if there are mushrooms involved, because they soak up the flavor like nothing else and mmmmmm. I just love the way cumin smells, and tragically the whole house now smells like it! As with all stirfries, use whatever veggies you've got-- I happenned to have green beans, onions, and portabellas. Mushrooms are highly recommended. Anyways, on to my approximate recipe:

Marinade:
1 large splash vinegar (apple cider or white are fine)
1 large splash soy sauce
1/2" ginger knob, microplaned or otherwise liquefied
1/2" t. cumin

Combine ingredients in a shallow dish or ziploc bag. Lay in 1/2 block extra-firm tofu, sliced into 1/2" slabs and patted dry with paper towels. Allow to marinate for about an hour, turning a few times. When you take the tofu out to cook it, reserve the marinade that didn't absorb.

Start water for noodles (I had soba on hand so I had to boil them, not just soak) or rice.

Heat a few generous tablespoons of canola oil in a skillet to medium, then lay in the tofu slabs and leave them be for 8 minutes. Really. They are browning very, very slowly. When they reach a nice deep golden brown, flip them and be patient with the other side too.


Then remove to a plate (perhaps in a warm oven) and cook up:


1 small onion, sliced
1 large handful green beans, snapped
1 large handful sliced portabella mushrooms (about 2 caps)

In the same skillet and remaining oil, cook onions on medium for 2-3 minutes. Add beans and mushrooms and saute for 2-3 minutes longer. Then add:

1-2 t. ground cumin
1/2 T. vinegar
1 T. soy sauce
1/2" ginger knob, microplaned
1-2 cloves garlic, microplaned
1 t. hot pepper flakes
2 T. water
plus the leftover marinade


Allow veggies to simmer in the sauce for 5 minutes or so, or until they are tender. At this point you can thicken any remaining sauce (mix one forkful cornstarch into about 1/4 c. water until smooth, then pour into sauce will stirring) or leave it be. Plate over rice or noodles, with a tofu slab on top.


I have now officially returned from my "I'm too lazy and it's too hot to cook" hiatus!

"Julie and Julia" mini-review

I saw "Julie and Julia" on Sunday and really enjoyed it. Briefly, it follows Julia Child's stint in Paris at Le Cordon Bleu and her writing of "The Art of French Cooking" as well as blogger Julie Powell in present-day NYC as she cooks every recipe from Child's cookbook. Although I had not seen any actual footage of Julia Child previously, I found Meryl Streep to be an excellent Julia-- a bit eccentric and very sweet. And Julie reminded me a bit of myself (yeah, I know, she's supposed to). She comes through as a real person complete with the boring and upsetting parts of her life. Let's just say that I too have had a breakdown over a ruined creation-- most recently a batch of molasses ginger cookies that I mis-read the measures for. The food in the movie looks good enough to eat, as it should, and I simply loved the outfits and hats of the 1950s in Julia's scenes. Aside from the poking of a microphone in the corner of two scenes (tacky, but oh well), it was very well-done and believable on both ends of the story. So, if you haven't seen it yet-- try to do so before it leaves theatres everywhere. But do make sure you go grocery shopping before you go; you'll want a stocked pantry at your creative disposal when you come home!

Extended Hiatus...Ending Soon!

Sorry about the lack of posts recently, all you millions and millions of readers. (Ha.) I've just moved cities and it's been ridiculously hot recently, so I've been eating eggs for dinner and smoothies for lunch. I'll post again soon, I promise! Megan's been having computer issues ALL SUMMER, so that's her excuse. But she does have a gorgeous new camera, so hopefully she will grace us with its pictures soon!

Also, I saw the movie "Julie and Julia" yesterday, and aside from some technical difficulties at the theatre it was a wonderful movie. Mini film-review to follow in a few days...