Hey there all! This is the first post of 2012. To kick off this momentous occasion I am bringing you a quick and delicious dinner idea. I made a pasta salad last night and it was damn good, so you should eat it too. Below are the details. Enjoy!!


What you need:

Salt and pepper

1/2 box of rigatoni
8oz black eyed peas, frozen


I large shallot, or two small, diced
1 large garlic clove, or two small, diced
a generous handful of sundried tomatoes in oil cut into bite sized pieces
6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon of lemon juice

1/3 cup of mix of red and green sweet peppers diced
1/4 cup of cherry tomoatoes quartered
a handful of basil leaves
1/4 of pine nuts
1/4 of pickled banana peppers, slice
1 tablespoon of parmesean cheese
4oz package of salami

Italian salad mix


Step 1
In a large pot boil water, generously salted. In small pot add the peas and cover with water and add salt.

Step 2
Meanwhile, dice the shallot and the garlic and place in a bowl large enough to hold the whole salad. Cut the sundried tomatoes into bite sized pieces,then add to bowl. Add the vinegar and the lemon juice and then slowly blend the olive oil into it, season with salt and pepper. Let this sit.

Step 3
Check on the beans. They will be tender when ready. If ready turn off heat. Add pasta to the large pot when it is at a rapid boil. It will take about 14 to 15 minutes to cook the pasta. Do not cook al dente. Cook until the pasta is fully tender. This is important.

Step 4
Chop the peppers and the tomatoes and set aside. Check on the pasta. When ready ladle the pasta out of the water with a slotted spoon. You want a little of the pasta water to drip into the bowl as you transfer it from the pot to the bowl. You don't want to pour the pasta water in, but as you transfer the pasta from one to the other, just enough will fall into the bowl. Then laddle in the peas as well. You want to Gently fold in until all is incorporated. Then you will put plastic wrap on top. Put in fridge for 30 minutes.

Step 5
Cut the salami. Toast the pine nuts and set aside. Chop the basil and put on top of the cut peppers and place plastic wrap over them until the pasta is ready to be taken out.

Step 6
Take the bowl out of the fridge. Fold in the peppers and tomatoes. Then fold in the salami. Then fold in the pine nuts and the parmesean cheese. Taste it. It may need a dash of salt and pepper.

To serve: I served this dense salad with undressed italian greens, which balanced out the meal. Eat it!!

Crazy Tuna Sandwich!!!

I am eating a yummy tuna fish sandwich! You want to know what's in it? Ok cool, I will let you know.

Crazy Tuna Sandwich


For Tuna salad:
Tuna fish
Two teaspoons of capers
A little minced Spanish onion
A little fresh basil
A little fresh cilantro
Tablespoon of pesto
A splash of apple cider vinegar
A dash of sea salt
A serano chili I pickled a few weeks ago (because I am awesome like that)

You'll also need:
Sprouts
Mayo
Rye

I put a little mayo on one slice of bread, then added tuna salad then a layer of sprouts. It's like a party in my mouth.

Pasta Inspiration

Although I could have let the sauce reduce a bit, the flavors were spot on.

What I made earlier this week was based off of this recipe from Jamie Oliver's website. I did not have time to get into pasta making that evening, especially without a pasta machine, a food processor, or even a rolling pin, so instead I made sauce.

When I finally do make pasta, I might actually buy the rolling pin, but I will probably hold off on buying the other two things. I can't wait for that day! I would love it if you joined me.

For this particular night I just used store bought pasta. I bought five boxes on sale a few weeks ago, so I have to use the reserves. I also set aside the excess basil, wrapping it up and putting it in the freezer.

I did make some slight deviations on the sauce. I bought whole tomatoes because they were on sale and I used crushed red pepper flakes because I could not find a fresh one, and lastly, I stuck a bay leaf in the sauce while it simmered because I have a huge container of bay leaves I need to use up. I also used mozzarella balls, because I love them with a spicy sauce. In the end, it was a quick awesome meal. Try it, and you will see.

Tomatillo Salsa

picture sourced from Thedailygreen.com

Did you go to the market last week to get things for a special dish and now you're stuck with a bunch of some kind of herb you don't know what to do with? Last night, having to use up some cilantro, I was inspired to make a salsa, which Joey and I ate with grilled cheese. It was so good, I can't wait to make it again.

What you need:

Enough shucked and washed tomatillos to place in a large microwave safe plate
A bunch of cilantro
Dry oregano to taste
salt to taste
A serano chile
two garlic cloves
a small red onion

Cut four slits into each tomatillo. If you haven't already, remove and discard any part of the fruit that looks bruised or like it's going south. On your plate position all the tomatillos in one layer and add a little salted water to the plate. Cover and microwave for 3 minutes, or until tender.

Meanwhile clean the serano, remove the seeds for a mild salsa,or leave in for fire. Open it lay it flat and heat in a toaster oven until it puffs up.

Clean your cilantro, keeping only the leaves, and set aside in a colander.
Next slice your garlic and onion.

When your tomatillos are done, add all the stuff above and put in food processor. For a smooth salas, process in small batches. We ate this warm, but you can also cool it in the fridge before serving. It was muy rico.

Coming Soon

It's like your eyeballs are in my mouth!

Sometimes it's awesome when you have a messy sandwich and you have to eat in pieces. I really loaded on the chickpeas today and it made my sandwich harder to eat, which made me eat it slower and really savor it. I am telling you, you have to try it out!

Anyway, I wanted to alert you that I came up with a yummy spinach pasta recipe last night and, after a few tweaks, I will post it. The flavor is perfect, but I need to find the right pasta shape and decide how much spinach I want to put in and if I want old or young spinach. Looking forward to working it out.

What did you eat for lunch today?

Success!

You can see the steam swirling off the bowl.

It worked. My instincts were spot on. The stew came out bursting with flavor and texture. I changed some stuff up, but I got the idea to make this from Mark Bittman's The Food Matters Cook Book. The recipe is for Quick Posole, although what I made is not that since it didn't have hominy in it.

This is what I put in my stew:

Three pork loin chops, center cut bone out, about a 1/2 inch thick

2 tbsp olive oil

Salt and Pepper

1 large onion chopped

2 cloves of garlic minced

3/4 tbsp Cayenne powder

1/4 tbsp Mrs. Dash

Large head of kale chopped, stems removed

two radishes and the leaves of five stems of cilantro

1 can of creamed corn

1 heaping cup of cooked beans with broth

Step 1. Brown the pork chops and season with salt and pepper in pan.

Step 2. Remove chops and drop in garlic and onion, saute until soft, then add Ms. Dash and cayenne.

Step 3. Add the corn, beans, Kale and all broth you have. With combo of broth and water, be sure to add two cups of liquid to pot. Leave it alone for a minute.

Step 4. Add the chops and cook until boiling.

Step 5. Remove the chops, cut up return to pot.

Step 6. Serve with chopped radishes and cilantro, tortillas if you wish.

Check out that texture.

I hope that you'll take the time to try this out. I think this is a great thing to make if you have some left over beans in the freezer. You don't need to though, and I know a lot of people don't have beans in their freezer. You could easily throw this together with a can of beans and chicken broth, yum! You could even make posole, if you find that elusive dry corn.

For dessert I made little chocolate cakes, which I have stored for the next dinner party I attend. The cup cakes I made are for Laura's place already, so invite me over! You'll get an awesome treat!!!!!

Crusty Pie

I have made pie at least a handful of times. When I lived in Memphis, I used the food processor as shown in the video below from the NYT. I now, however, use a pastry cutter because I no longer have a food processor and it works just fine.

I don't make pies often and every time I do, I do feel a bit of panic and a need to do research on how to make an optimal crust. This time around I mixed some new knowledge with some old. I had known to roll out the pastry with plastic wrap. Like the video, I had read about flouring the surface I would roll it out on. I picked up the trick of rotating the pastry dough 1/8 each roll. That is a systematic way to ensure your dough doesn't stick. You'll see Melissa advises another way to do that below.

I found that starting with the plastic covering most of the pastry dough was good, and when the dough was pretty large, opening it up so that the plastic wrap is only on one side of it works really well. Basically when the disk is very small, it is in the center of the plastic wrap with two sides folded over, like a book jacket. As the disk flattens out, you open up the plastic wrap entirely. The plastic wrap makes it very easy to transfer the crust onto the pie pan.

By far the best thing I picked up from my research this time around is to keep everything cold. I mean litterally, put your fat in the freezer for a bit. Chill your tools and bowl, even the flour. It was a great tip that I got from America's Test Kitchen Cookbook. Thanks ATK! They also said to grate the fat, which helped and you can do that very easily when your fat is frozen.

I think that the best tip in this video, is to let the chunks get bigger than pea-sized. I had a bit of a tricky situation gathering it all into a ball b/c the flour and fat were initially not incorporated enough. Lastly, YES! I affirm that the best crust is a pork fat/butter combo, so just do it.

Clickable: Stir-fry Idea

Last Month's Pork Ragu al Maialino!

Affirmative. I was roasting porky at this hour.

Doesn't the rosemary look like seaweed?

You like the look of that pork? I know I do.

This is Joey's plate. I think he liked it!

I got the fabulous idea to make a pork ragu from the New York Times. I did not follow the recipe to the letter, as cooking times varied for me. I had to roast the pork about an extra hour to get the meat to really fall off the bone. I used a small grained Himalayan salt; I believe when you salt the pork, it would be better to use a large grained salt, such as kosher or sea salt. My pork was a bit on the salty side, which in part was due to the salt I used to brine it, but also because I was too zealous when I seasoned the stock. I tend to favor salty foods, so it was still tasty to me, but I will dial back on the salt in the future. Next time I would like to make the pasta too. That would be bad ass!

Creamy Carrot Soup

I wanted to make an Asian inspired noodle dish with chicken, vegetables, buckwheat noodles and an improvised peanut sauce. I felt like it should have carrots in it and I decided to get those huge carrots pictured. It was great because the carrots were so large I was able to slice them into paper thin circles that looked quite fetching in the dish. I saw though, that I would need one carrot at most, so I quickly decided that I would also make carrot soup. I finished making it today and it came out sweet, creamy and subtly spiced.

Here is what I used:

About four cups of cubed carrots, about a 1/4 inch in length

An inch of minced ginger

A serrano pepper, quartered and hulled

A cup of chicken stock

For later:

A pint of light cream

A quarter cup of maple syrup

I am guessing the measurements here, as I eyeballed the whole thing. Basically I prepared the vegetables and cooked them with the stock in the slow cooker for a few hours until the carrots were so tender they offered no resistance to the poke of a fork. In the morning I put the cooked carrots in the fridge.

When I came home I poured the vegetables into the blender and pureed them on high, afterwards blending them on the slow function. I also took out the cream and let it rest outside of the fridge for a bit. I wanted to avoid shocking the cream with the heat when I warmed up the puree.

Then I pressed the puree through a sieve (a.k.a my colander). After that I poured it into a heavy pot and lit a very low flame beneath. I poured the cream over it and then the maple syrup. I stirred it gently until just incorporated, covered and let it heat for about 15-20 minutes. When the center of the pot was just bubbling I turned off the heat. The texture was completely smooth, creamy and sweet, with a savory finish that barely hinted at the bite you normally expect from chillies and ginger.

The idea here is really basic, but no less delicious for being so. I hope this inspires you to make a creamy vegetable soup, whether it is your own or your take on this. Enjoy!

The vegetables before I added the stock and turned the slow cooker on.

Basil Chicken Tacos with Relish and Cream

Do you know how when you buy basil it smells so good and is such a lovely and bright addition to your meal, but a little goes a long way? Inevitably, you put the rest of it in the fridge and two nights later half of the basil is brown and dying? Yeah. I hate it when that happens. Thus, the other day Joey and I blended up the basil with garlic in his food processor. We ended up using it to make Southwest Potatoes with a poached a egg on top.

It was a great meal. We followed Bittman's lead, but made it better by using the basil puree as the oil base and then, also using some fat rendered from a wonderful smokey bacon from the Meat Hook (thanks Sean) to brown the potatoes. At the end, we used the crumbled bacon on top of the dish before finishing with cilantro and lastly the egg. I don't have pictures from that meal, but trust me, It was awesome.

At home I made my own basil puree in a blender. It is a lot harder to do it in a blender, so if you are going to, put very few leaves at a time and be prepared to use more oil. As a slight aside, Bittman just wrote an article on the wonder and awesomeness of food processors.

The second puree was just basil and oil. Today I finally got to use it and what I made was so good, I am sharing it with you.

Making the chicken

thin cut chicken cutlets (1 per person)

basil puree (olive oil and basil pureed together)

Adobo, salt and pepper to taste

I followed a loose interpretation of another Bittman idea to cook them up, basically using the puree as a moisture seal for the lean meat.

Making the relish

For the relish, and really the whole idea of having tacos this week, I was inspired by a show on the food network. It's one about using just five ingredients to make things. I don't know what the name of the show is. Anyway, the show was more of an inspiration than a directive and I just used what I had.

Equal parts diced yellow onion, green pepper and radishes

Lemon zest and dry cumin

I felt pretty ingenious when I put this together. I knew that I wanted to add a lemon flavor to the relish but I did not want to add a lemon, oil combo to it because the cutlets are packed with an olive oil infused stuffing. Instead I took my peeler and shaved off some zest and diced it up and threw it in the bowl with the vegetables and then sprinkled the whole thing with cumin. I chose cumin because if I had fresh cilantro, I would have put it in.

Making the Cream

This was the easiest part and I also got my inspiration for making this from that cooking show. I took polish cream, which is basically just like sour cream except that the reduced fat version still only had cream in it rather than stuff like corn syrup (yuck Breakstone's). Anyway, I took a spoonful of that and mixed it with a spoonful of Salpica Habanero Lime salsa. Both are really good on their own, so their marriage was the perfect edible proof that opposites attract. The creamy cooling flavors mixing harmoniously with the acidic, smokey ones, perfectly topped my happy little tacos.

Success!

I am posting more pictures on Facebook, if you want to check them out. I hope this inspires some of you to try this at home.

Heaven on Plate, If a Little Late

Back in March I went on a kick where I was obsessed with the tiny slow cooker that Maybelle gave me. Over a three day period I created a simulacra of a meal I had with Joey, or rather that he had on one of our first dates. We went to Mesa Coyocana and I had tacos, he had enchiladas and we shared cactus, which I loved. It was a really amazing night except for when the runner left us guacamole and we decided it was complementary, which has happened to me at the wonderful Mercadito Cantina--only to be later blamed as the cause of our neighbor's delayed appetizer by a catty waiter.

Anyway, Joey gave me a bite of his dinner and it left me hankering for a full plate of my own, so I set out on my adventure. Below is a picture diary of the process.

I started by making a pot of beans with aromatics. Of course, the beans were cleaned and I added salt to taste, but pretty much what you see is what you get. All you need is about a medium low heat and patience. You want your beans to be velvety not gritty, so take your time and taste often.

The next day I cooked a nice fatty pork shoulder in my little slow cooker. It fit quite nicely in the pot. The idea is quite simple here too. I took a generous amount of adobo and applies as a dry rub. Then I cut up green peppers, onions and dropped garlic cloves in. I also added water and covered it. This cooked all day and night until the pork fell off the bone. Before heading to work the next day, I put it in a new container and stored it in the fridge.



The following day I took out my spices to create the sauce for the enchilada. I had done this sauce before and had taken it from one of m cook books. I decided that it was too thin in it's original form so I added tomato sauce to get the right consistency.



The trick to the sauce is too heat all of the dry ingredients until they are aromatic. This whole endeavour is an exercises in patience. Heat oil, garlic and then spices. Then add can of tomato sauce and vinegar. Leave a comment if you want exact proportions.



I then went to gather all my materials to put together the enchiladas, including the pork that gained a nice golden hue over the many hours of slow cooking.



Putting together the enchilada was a cinch. I heated the oven and then dipped tortillas in the sauce and then added beans, pork and finished them with a smoked cheddar.



I kept it simple and just did an overlap wrap. I poured some more sauce over the enchiladas before putting them in the oven.



I had a nice system in place while I was making them. I would pop a few in the oven and then wrap them in aluminum foil. I planned to keep a few and to give some to Joey, since he played a part in my inspiration.



Here is a close up of the enchiladas when they were done. I really enjoyed them. I will probably make them again when the weather gets cold again. Let me know and I will set some aside for you. For all the work it takes, it doesn't make sense to make a small batch!

D'oh! Donuts are Rad

I made donuts the other day. I was inspired by the memory of walking to the train when I lived in Park Slope. There were two women who sold little donuts in the morning on their stoop. I never bought them, sadly, but they did inspire me to DIY this Homeric delight.

How did I do? I think they came out alright, perhaps a bit better than alright. I will let you know how I made them, but I think there is something missing to really raise them to the level of greatness. I think that they needed something to push against the sweetness to give their flavor some focus. I am thinking perhaps salt, but I would have to test the idea out. If you have suggestions, ideas, or anecdotes of your own attempts to conquer making donuts, please share in the comments.

The recipe is from Donna Hay's Modern Classics Book Two and I will give you a generalization of what is found in that book. If you want specifics, email me. To begin gather your materials:

Most of the ingredients are household staples.

package of active yeast

luke warm water

luke warm milk

sugar

melted butter

all purpose flour

3 eggs

powdered sugar

ground cinnamon

neutral oil

Equipment you will need (what I actually used):

rolling pin (I used an empty tin that was used to package fancy spaghetti; an old wine bottle also works nicely).

spice grinder, if you don't have ground cinnamon (I did not so I put two cinnamon sticks in the blender and hit the grind function then I transferred to a small bowl and then scooped contents into a a metal tea strainer and tapped contents back into bowl, shaking out the finely ground cinnamon and discarding the larger bits. A lot easier, if you have it, is a coffee grinder. Clean well and then grind).

baking paper

bowl

tea towel (I have a lot of dish towels so I used that, but paper towels can work too).

sauce pan (I used a frying pan, but sauce pan would be better)

donut cutter (I used an empty jar and an empty cap, washed of course)

Donuts in three relatively easy steps:

Step 1: Make doug

That knife is your dancing baton, use it well.

This is pretty basic stuff. It's also time consuming, oy! Okay, put the yeast in the bowl with the milk and water at stated temperature and add sugar. Leave in a warm place. I put bowl over an unlit burner. Cover, and let the yeast gorge. Ten minutes later you'll have some happy foamy yeast. FEED THE YEAST! What I mean is add the rest of your materials to make the dough. You're going to add more sugar, flour, eggs and the melted butter. Work it like baby! Use the knife as your dancing prop.

Okay! Cool it. The dough is well combined and kind of sticky. Flour the spot you're going to knead it. Do what you gotta do. place the doug in an oiled bowl and let it rest for 40-45 minutes, basically until the dough has doubled.

This is a great time to tackle those dishes. Double oy!

Step two: Make the tires

Your dough has risen and now you're ready to knead it out and make your donut shapes. You are supposed to leave the donuts alone for 3o minutes before frying. What I found was helpful was to fill a plate and let them rest over an unlit burner. Then I would fill another plate. When I had made all the donuts, which took some time! I started frying the first plate of donuts I had made. Remember you will have to re-roll out all the holes you cut out. You'll end up with about 30 donuts in the end.

Don't they look like they have some doughlicious potential?

Step Three: Fry baby, fry

Ok! So you are at the home stretch. Heat your oil and put a test scrap of dough in there to find out if the oil is hot enough. If the oil isn't hot enough the dough will absorb way too much oil. You want the dough to be lightly golden. Leave donuts in oil for one minute on each side. The virtue of using the frying pan was that I could do four at a time. My sauce pan could only hold two tops. When you take them out, drain briefly on paper towels. After you do that dip them in sugar. I dipped some in granulated sugar and cinnamon and others in just powdered sugar. That's it. Easy as, well, donuts!

Go ahead and grab one!

HOT DOG! A Salad You'll Want to Gobble Up

How could you not love that face?

I am naming the salad below in honor of my favorite little dog Leroy; he's a dog with a lot of love and character and I used to live across the hall from him in Memphis. Today on my way to work I bumped into him and his owner Jeff. They now live in Greenpoint. What a small world huh? It was a great surprise and really made my day.

Leroy's Salad

What you will need:

Thin sliced pork loin chops
1/3 avocado
a green pepper
mesculen greens
mushrooms
adobo
salt
pepper
cumin
cayenne
salt
black pepper
olive oil
sherry wine vinegar
red pepper flakes

What to do:

First you will put all of your meat in a pan. On one side you will sprinkle the meat with adobo. On the other side you will sprinkle it with salt and pepper. If you only have salt and pepper, use that. Turn heat on medium high and cover. Then wash and slice your green pepper and heat about a tablespoon of olive oil in a new pan. Then throw in the peppers and cover. Clean your mushrooms and also slice. Rinse and dry the salad and set aside. Then put the mushrooms in the pan with the green peppers, add cumin, cayenne and salt to taste.
Next, turn the meat and leave uncovered for a minute or two. Slice the avocado and sprinkle over a teaspoon of vinegar. When chops look about done, then raise the heat very high for a bit over a minute to brown. Don't burn them! Use your nose and your gut to know when to turn it off. While the pork is browning set up your plate: salad greens first, then the avocado slices followed by the sauteed vegetables with their liquid. Leave the plate and remove two chops, or one if you got larger chops, and slice up. Put on top of salad and finish with olive oil and red pepper flakes.

Ladies and gents this is not a side salad

I hope you enjoy it. I sure did and I know Leroy would have gotten in on the action if he had the chance.

Something New from Arletti's Tiny Test Kitchen

The main attraction

Menu:

shrimp cocktail

kale chips

salad

frozen grapes

accompanied by Dancing Bull Sauvignon Blanc

Some of your raw materials

What you will Need:

frozen shrimp

salt*

black pepper

ketchup

horse radish

ketchup

sunflower sprouts

mesclun salad mix

raspberries

avocado

sherry wine vinegar

olive oil

kale

Romano cheese

grapes, placed in freezer earlier

*A short note on the salt: I use gourmet Himalayan salt and I really feel it makes a difference. You don't have to invest in fancy salt, but I think it's worth it.

Prep work:

Begin by setting your oven to 425 F, then boil salted water; you will be steaming the shrimp so don't fill the pot too much. Thaw the shrimp in a colander under running water. peel off most of the shell, leaving only the last segment. Leave shrimp in a bowl until your water is hot enough to produce steam.

Wash and dry your kale. If your kale is small like mine was, you don't have to trim and cut it. If you get more mature kale, remove the tough stem and cut into smaller pieces. Lay out your kale on cookie sheets. Sprinkle with salt and drizzle with olive oil. Finish by shaving Romano over the leaves. If you don't have a cheese grater, a knife works great, especially one with a serrated edge.

I paid too much for this kale

The shrimp and kale will cook really fast, so I recommend making your salad before you put shrimp in pot and kale in oven. Also, if you don't have a device to steam as I do, you can also use your microwave; that's what they do best. If you make shrimp in microwave, just put in a glass bowl and sprinkle with water. I don't know what the time would be, but I would be conservative and put back in microwave if you have to.

For the salad, clean your salad and sprouts and dry in salad spinner. Slice avocado and pour a teaspoon of vinegar over the avocado. Wash and dry your raspberries. Combine everything in a bowl and add olive oil. Grind black pepper over it. I suggest skipping the salt, the other parts of the meal are very salty.

Pretty greens

At this point, if you haven't started cooking the shrimp and kale, go ahead and do that. Both will take under ten minutes to cook. While that is cooking, put ketchup in a small bowl. Mix about equal parts ketchup with horseradish. Scoop mixture onto the center of the plate you'll be serving dinner on.

Check your shrimp. Take them out with a slated spoon and transfer to a container. If you have time, place in fridge for a bit. Take out the chips too and let them cool for a little bit. This is a good time to set your table and pick up some of the mess in your kitchen. Five minutes is sufficient.

Now place your shrimp around the cocktail sauce and then the chips around the shrimp. Serve with a bowl of salad and wine.

This is what it will look like

I hope you enjoy this. I found that frozen grapes with a second glass of wine are a nice palate cleanser. I really had a great time putting this together and now I am ready to head to my pottery studio to conquer some clay and make pretty things to put yummy food in. I sincerely hope you give this a shot. I think it would be a nice meal for a Valentine's date, if you have those kind of plans.

This is what it will look like in the end if you followed my directions