Go Meat Yourself

By Jessica | July 21, 2008 | Main Courses, Recipes | No comments

BBQ after BBQ, you start to realize how much meat you eat. So, on Sunday night I thought I would cook fish. I don’t remember where this recipe came from but I been doing it up for a minute now, and it’s one of my staples. It’s cheap, healthy, and scrumptious. Do it. Do it.

Sesame Salmon over Rice Noodles

2 servings of rice noodles, boiled al dente
2 servings of salmon fillet
sesame seeds, white or black or both
sesame oil, hot or not
tamari, or soy sauce
scallions, sliced thin
fresh ginger, chopped small
butter and olive oil

Coat the skin and the opposite side of the salmon in sesame seeds. Cook in a skillet with a little butter and a little olive oil till desired temperature. When the noodles are cooked, drain and throw into a deep bowl. Add one part sesame oil to three parts tamari and toss to coat noodles. Add scallion and ginger. Place salmon on top. Serve with pride.

By Jessica | July 14, 2008 | Recipes | No comments

Another great post from Bittman: 101 20 Minute Dishes for Inspired Picnics

By Jessica | July 14, 2008 | Projects, Recipes, Snackin, Salads and Apps | 1 Comment

It was time to clean out the kitchen and do something with those leftovers. But as usual, I went overboard and ended up cooking all sorts of things to supplement my meal. In the end, B and I ate, what we have come to refer to as, A Little Bit of This and A Little Bit of That. Including, sesame broccoli, sauteed swiss chard with garlic and lemon, heart of palm salad with sausage, and a heart of palm and swish chard dip. I also served goose liver country pate (shut up), marinated mushrooms, pickled curried tomatoes, corn tortilla chips and country sour dough bread. Obvi, there are repetitions of ingredients here, this is because I wanted to play as much as I could. Check the recipes below. They are in the order of what I enjoyed best.

Read on and cook on…

Sauteed Swiss Chard

1 half bunch of of thoroughly washed swiss card
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
fresh lemon juice
olive oil
salt

Toss olive oil into a large sauce pan. Add heat. Throw in garlic and swiss chard. Give a little stir. Add a bit more olive oil on top of the swiss chard. Cover and let wilt. Once wilted, remove cover, stir well. Cook until the stems are chewable. Just a cut a piece and try it. Remove swiss chard from pot, put in serving bowl, and salt and lemon juice to taste. I, of course, add a ton of juice.

The inspiration for this dip came from your traditional artichoke and spinach dip. Thought I would just funk it up a bit and see what happens. I thought it was great, B thought it could use some salt. Try how you like.

Heart of Palm and Swiss Chard Dip

1/2 can of heart of palm, drained and finely chopped
half bunch of heart of palm, steamed
3 heaping spoonfuls of ricotta cheese

After the swiss chard is steamed, squeeze really well so that the loose liquid drains. Chop finely and add to mixing bowl with heart of palm. Add ricotta cheese and mix well. Serve with tortilla chips or bread.

This also is an easy one…

Sesame Broccoli

broccoli, how ever much you want to eat, cut small and steamed
sesame oil, hot or not
cayenne pepper
sesame seeds
salt

After the broccoli is just steamed, meaning, it has some firmness to it still, remove from steamer and let cool. Add sesame oil, and garnish with sesame seeds, salt and cayenne pepper. It’s hard for me to tell you how much cayenne to use cause I’m a freak about spice, so use your best judgment. Just know that most people find it pretty hot, so a slight sprinkling should do it. Serve at room temp. I didn’t add it this time, but some soy sauce might be a good addition to this salad.

I actually found this salad to be a little odd, but B loved it. But then again, you put some sausage in his face and he’s pretty much just going to like it. Fine… me too.

Heart of Palm Salad with Sausage

1/2 can of heart of palm, drained and sliced
1/2 cup of dried Italian Sausage, cubed
handful of fresh flat leafed parsley, chopped

So, since everything that you buy here is prepared already, this is the easiest thing to make. Just assemble the three ingredients, and shiv, you got yourself a salad. By the way, I thought about adding lemon (duh) but doubled back when I thought about the mix with the sausage. Dunno, what do you think? Try it and let me know? Also, I used a spicy dried sausage, but feel free to use a sweet, or even a chorizo. Ooh, that’s what I shoulda done…

Here is what else I added to the schmorgas (say it our loud, you know you want to):

Pickled Curried Tomatoes: By the way, these bad boys came from Rick’s Picks. Def check them out cause their creative blends will make you popular at a bbq.

Pickled Mushrooms: These shrooms came from a whole different pickler (yes, so trendy right now) in the farmer’s market. I can’t for the life of me remember their name. Dr Pickle, Dr Pickler, Mr.Pickleman. If you know, lemme know so I can give credit where credit is due, cause, damn, these were good. (My mouth is literally watering as I type this.)

Fancy Bread: And finally, some damn good bread B brought home. (By the way, he ate that whole bowl.)

And that’s it folks. But, I’m not going to lie to you. Not all of this was from my cupboards. It all started with the broccoli going yellow. I bought almost everything else. The pate we had, the pickles we just always have, but the swiss chard, sausage, heart of palm, parsley, bread, was all bought for this meal. It’s just that I get so carried away and excited when I get to not only cook, but cook like, 6 different things. Also, you’ll notice I didn’t feature the pate. Mostly cause I feel shame. :(

Anyway.

By Jessica | July 8, 2008 | Recipes | No comments

By Jessica | July 6, 2008 | Projects, Recipes, Snackin, Salads and Apps | No comments

Since R and I spent all our money last week on a new flat screen that we don’t need, we decided on a rainy afternoon to return home to watch a rented movie instead of go to a matinée. That’s good for me anyhow cause you know it means a cooking project at home.

Sahadis it is. Originally, I was going to do a homemade ravioli cause I discovered some dried wild mushrooms in the kitchen but I was too temped by the huge barrel of fresh grape leaves to ignore it. I got me a handful, some rice, a can of Goya garbanzos. On to the Met for some parsley and, of course, lemon.

As usual, I perused the world wide web to check out how others were doing it. Interestingly, most people put cinnamon and/or mint. Both these flavors have their place for me. This, however, is not it.

What turned out was 20 or so delish stuffed grape leaves which we then dragged through salted organic yogurt, drinking Rioja, and watching Jumper. (Keep the food and wine, def leave the movie behind.)

20-25 fresh grape leaves, (you can probably find them jarred if you aren’t spoiled like me who gets them fresh)
1 cup rice
1 can of garbanzos
3 lemons, zested and juiced
1 medium yellow or white onion, finely chopped
1 bunch of parsley, roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
tomato paste
salt and pepper
olive oil, lots

Steam the rice along with the olive oil, garlic, and the zest and juice of one lemon. While the rice is cooking, finely chop the onion and roughly chop the parsley. When the rice is done cooking, cool it by adding it to a wide mixing bowl. Add more olive oil (don’t be afraid), the zest and juice of a second lemon, the garbanzos, parsley, onion, salt, pepper and a TOUCH of tomato paste. I’m talking about half a teaspoon here. It should turn your rice into a light pink.

I learned how to roll a grape leaf by watching a video on line. Here is a video of someone’s mom rolling some leaves. Don’t get confused, totally different recipe, just the same method for rolling. And, I think it’s a cute video.

Garnish with the juice of the final lemon and serve with plain yogurt seasoned with salt and pepper. Goes great with beer and wine.

By Jessica | July 6, 2008 | Main Courses, Recipes | 5 Comments

C came over for lunch cause I wanted to show her my Ramen. I promised her beef to trick her into eating kimchi – totally worked. My obsession for spicy noodles was launched about a year ago, and I still want to eat them all day long. This is also my favorite dish to cook because it is damn cheap (see the receipt below), quick, easy, filling, and CAN BE healthIER when adding fresh ingredients.

The fanciest part of this whole recipe is the poached egg, which for me, has become an absolute essential item. I learned this from David Chang, which I guess everyone knew except for me for the longest. Thanks guys.

Check it. Cook it. Eat it.

3 packets of original flavored Ramen, whichever brand
1 zucchini, thinly sliced
10ish dried shitake mushrooms
1/4 lb slices roast beef from the deli
kimchi (mine’s homemade, that’s for the next post, you can buy it at most specialty food shop these days)
2 scallions, thinly sliced
2 eggs
a dash of vinegar

optional:
snow peas, frozen greens of any kind, bean spouts, cubed uncooked tofu… um, anything you want really.

The longest part is reconstituting the mushrooms. Boil 2 cups of water, add to mushrooms and cover. Let sit for 20 minutes. When done, remove the mushrooms to slice, and reserve the newly created mushroom broth.

Cook the Ramen according to the packet’s directions. For 3 packets, you will need 6 cups of water. Additionally, add the 2 cups of reserved mushroom broth and bring to a boil. Add the Ramen noodles, mushrooms, zuccini and any of the optional ingredients you desire.

Simultaneously, bring a deep frying pan to boil with a dash of vinegar for poaching your eggs. At a soft boil, crack your eggs directly into the water. They should congeal and turn a solid white. After about 2 minutes, the eggs and noodles will be ready.

Add the noodles to a huge bowl for eating lots. With a slatted spoon, grab an egg for each bowl and float on top of the servings. Divide the sliced beef and add to the steaming bowl of noodles. Garnish with kimchi and scallion. For added spice, I recommend using Sirachi, not some vinegar-based hot sauce like Tobasco.

And?.. You’re welcome.