Happy 4th and a couple updates

The thing about change is that it sneaks up on you so quickly you find yourself in the midst of it, head reeling, wondering how "that point in the distant future" somehow became "today."

In December, I found out I'd be moving to Iowa City in the summer for residency. And now, here I sit, in an unfurnished sublet, writing from you from Hawkeye Nation itself. Let me start by saying, I've been so impressed with this city so far - it seems like there are some phenomenal places to eat, I got to go inside the football stadium off-season, and I wandered into a Jazz Fest. I'm also extremely lucky to say that my co-residents are pretty awesome and I think the next two years are going to create some amazing friendships in addition to a wonderful career. 

I made this pasta dish tonight - a simple fettuccine alfredo. The recipe is based off this one by Ree Drummond. I had to modify it for one. I included some suggestions for when I make it again. Let me preface this by saying, alfredo sauce is all fat - there is nothing healthy in this no matter how you spin it. So resolve yourself to having to walk 10 miles after and enjoy it. 

Cook your pasta in boiling, salted water until al dente. Before draining, reserve a cup of cooking liquid to loosen the sauce later if need be. Heat 1 Tbs oil and 1 Tbs butter. Throw in a minced clove of garlic. Add a generous splash of heavy cream (about 1/4 cup) and then a whole bunch of freshly grated Parmesan (a loose 1/3 cup). Season with a bunch of black pepper but hold off on the salt until you serve. Add 1/3 cup shredded chicken breast (I had a rotisserie chicken so I used that). The chicken is optional but I wanted some protein. Toss in your pasta and coat with the sauce, using the reserved pasta water if necessary to create a nice sauce. Sprinkle with a fresh grating of Parm, salt, and more pepper. The sauce comes together super fast so I just make it in the same pot as the pasta after it's finished cooking.

The first time I made this, it was in Richmond as an experiment to impress a boy. The second time I made this was for said boy, and I was so nervous, I shattered the glass lid to my pasta pot by accidentally leaving it on a hot burner. We're still together...but after that disaster I'm not really sure why. Maybe because no glass got into the meal and therefore I did not poison him. Nailed it.

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies have taken the blogging world by storm since the beginning of time. I've probably tried 5 or 6 different variations, some stuffed with nutella, many with browned butter, and usually I have just stayed with a recipe handed down by my aunt. But when Deb of Smitten Kitchen posted this recipe...no...this PICTURE, I literally couldn't get it out of my mind.

It took totaling my car and feeling like absolute crap to actually tip the scales in favor of making them, but I'm glad I did because friends, nothing soothes the soul like a nice, soft chocolate chip cookie. I liked this recipe for a few reasons: the baking temperature is weird and I like weird things, as someone keeps tell me. Or maybe it's more that I am weird. Same difference, really. Anyway...I also liked that she used chunks. I've never used Trader Joe's Pound Plus before, but if Deb says it's good, I am willing to give it a try. I got the dark chocolate (they also have 60% cacao and milk) and really liked it - not too sweet but definitely overpowering thanks to the recipe calling for 1/2 pound of it. Finally, my personal test of whether or not I like a cookie recipe is how they taste the next day: I hate that stale, crunchy exterior-next day-cookie taste. But seeing as I'm sitting here munching on one 3 days after making it, happy as a clam, I'd say we're good on that front.

I didn't change the recipe at all, except I used 2 Tbs granulated sugar in lieu of turbinado (didn't have any: I am a grad student/I am moving/due to afore mentioned car accident I was afraid to go to the grocery store). I also sprinkled with Himalayan pink rock salt, finely crushed, instead of sea salt (see reasons mentioned in last sentence). I liked the added saltiness, personally, but I shared these with some compadres who asked if I'd done something different with them and they asked in that way that really means, "These were a little salty." So maybe I do need the sea salt.

Salted Chocolate Chunk Cookies (this is Deb's recipe, straight from her blog) with my opinions inserted

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (or, she says, you can use it out of the fridge and beat the heck out of it to make it room temperature. I usually speed defrost it for 10-15 seconds and it's fine)
2 tablespoons (25 grams) granulated sugar
2 tablespoons (25 grams) turbinado sugar (aka Sugar in the Raw; you can use more brown or white if you don’t have this, but the subtle crunch it adds is delightful) - I used white
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (165 grams) packed light or dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
Heaped 1/4 teaspoon (or, technically, 1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon) fine sea or table salt
1 3/4 cups (220 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 pound (225 grams) semi- or bittersweet chocolate, cut into roughly 1/2-inch chunks with a serrated knife
Flaky sea salt, to finish

Heat oven to 360°F (180°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars together with an electric mixer until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add egg and vanilla, beating until incorporated, and scraping down the bowl as needed. Beat in salt fine sea or table salt and baking soda until combined, then the flour on a low speed until just mixed. The dough will look crumbly at this point. With a spatula, fold/stir in the chocolate chunks. 

Scoop cookies into 1 1/2 tablespoon mounds, spacing them apart on the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle each with a few flakes of sea salt. Bake for 11 to 12 minutes, until golden on the outside but still very gooey and soft inside. Out of the oven, let rest on baking sheet out of the for 5 minutes before transferring a cooling rack.

Extra dough can be formed into scoops and frozen on a sheet until solid, then transferred to a freezer bag. I’ve baked these right from the freezer; they need, at most, 1 minute more baking time. You could also form them into a 2-inch log, freeze it, and slice and bake the cookies off as desired. The only difference I’ve noted between the cookies baked right away and those baked a day or more later is that the older cookie dough is less puffy when baked.

Store in a Tupperware with the lid tightly closed for maximum chewiness the next day.

Cleveland Eats: Part One

Cleveland holds a special place in my heart - our family used to trek out to the city (ok, so it wasn't exactly a trek but all road trips seem long when you're 10) to go antiquing. There was this one really cool dude who'd take my parents to the dusty back room of his shop and they'd find treasures like stained glass windows and bronze doors. I am pretty sure my parents rewarded me for this dustmite-invested experience by taking me to an award-winning restaurant where I only ordered mashed potatoes and New England clam chowder.  I asked my mom to confirm this last night on the phone and she couldn't...so, I might be telling tales about that last part.

I revisited Cleveland recently (like, yesterday), armed with a few foodie recs from a friend who's dating someone at Case. While we could't try them all, we did make it to one, Barrio, and it was so delicious I think we might go back a couple times before venturing down the list. We only ordered their special tacos, but when we go back, I think I'l try and create my own. In addition to being dirt cheap, they were so incredibly flavorful and very, very generous when it comes to portions. Below is my breakdown of our restaurant experience - despite the low points, I'd go back in a heart beat.

Barrio, Tremont Location

1) Atmosphere: kinda grunge, cool vibe, hanging bicycle with lights = very good first impression

2) Drinks: I got a traditional margarita which was very delicious, although not filled completely. One was enough for me because once the food is in front of me, I tend to forget about my drink. I also tried the jalapeño variation which was yummy - I think they must make a simple syrup and add that because it didn't taste fake.

3) Extras: It's been a while since I've actually received a starter of chips and salsa for free at a Tex-Mex place, but literally seconds after our margs came, so did these munchies. And they were amazing. The salsa blew my mind - it was on the runny side and had a hint of chipotle. They served a mix of white and yellow corn chips which was kind of cool - I liked the attention to detail.









4) Apps: I was craving guac (actually I was craving falafel but the place was closed hence our trip to this establishment instead, but I digress). The portion was huge and for the price ($6) not unreasonable. I would have liked a little more lime and cilantro, though. Consistency was  chunky but creamy and so thick that the chips had a hard time standing up for themselves when it came to scooping.






5) Tacos: Big, flavorful, great combinations. We only ordered off the suggested specials menu. They have something called a "stoner" shell which is a hard taco smothered with queso and chorizo and wrapped inside a soft shell. I'm not usually a fan of double carb things but the texture and flavor was so, so good. In terms of sides, next time I'll just order the guac with my taco and skip it as an app because they were very generous with the amounts of sides. Here however, was my least favorite part of the meal because one of the tacos was vegan with veggies and it was literally a soft taco shell full of pickled vegetables and 2 tiny strips of mushrooms. This was offensive for two reasons: the veggies were served with the pickle juice so the taco was super soggy and two, I was surprised that a place which seemed really aware of flavor profiles would have chosen such a caustic substance to serve their patrons. The pickle overpowered everything and it was the same as what they offer as a side so I kind of felt that was a cop out - should have just grilled all the vegetables and put some sort of sauce over top. I am selectively going to forget this part of the meal from this point forward because my other taco was heavenly.

6) Service: For the most part, fine. I felt a little rushed at the beginning to order and the waitstaff didn't seem so invested in chit-chat. But then I reminded myself I was back in the Midwest and polite efficiency is how we roll. One negative here was that the busboy nabbed our guacamole before we were finished with it.

Final thoughts:

- Why did I not build my own taco? That was dumb. I need to do this next time.
- Why did we get an app? Because we thought it'd be teeny, which it wasn't. Do not do this again,  
          Sheila. You will hate yourself.
- When can we go back???

Convo of the evening, said while taking a very short walk because we did, in fact, hate ourselves for the sheer amount of food we'd just consumed.
me: "Ok, I didn't eat that much did I?"
companion: "Babe, you ate a ton. And I ate more than you, so imagine how I feel."
me: "You are rude."

Yep...this is love.

The Soup

I have to preface this post by saying I have no photos of this soup. Which is good because it means I will have to make it again and bad because, of course, we eat with our eyes first and you might not believe that this is seriously one of the best soups I have ever made.

Ingredients:

4, 15oz cans chicken stock
5 cloves garlic, chopped
2 red onions, diced
4 carrots, diced
2-3 potatoes, diced
1/2 can tomato paste
2 chicken thighs, diced (although, to be honest, you could leave this out and only use the sausage)
2-4 links spicy sausage of some kind (I used an all-organic turkey sausage from Whole Foods), largely diced
1/2 cup barley
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp red chili flakes
1 Tbs turmeric
1/2 tsp dried sage
salt, pepper, garlic powder

Start by frying the sausage in a bit of olive oil until it's nice and brown, then add the chicken. Toss in the onions, garlic, and carrots and cook until the onions have wilted a little. Add the diced potatoes and fry those until they get a little color on them. Pour in 2 cans of chicken stock and the tomato paste. Next add the spices. Cook this over medium-high heat until the chicken stock starts to evaporate (about 20 minutes), then add the other two cans of stock. You might want to add more tomato paste to thicken the soup, but if you keep cooking it, it should reduce down. Taste to make sure the stock is flavorful enough - you might want to add more oregano, sage, or turmeric. Add the barley and cook for another 20-30 minutes - the potatoes should be cooked through at this point.

Boston Bites

Gosh, I love alliteration...

Last week I was in Boston for a research conference and wanted - nay, needed - to share a few places with you. If you ever find yourself in Massachusetts (or more specifically Boston proper), get yourself to these locales ASAP:

1) Mistral (pronounced Mistraaaal - okay, I'm not good with phonetics) - pricey but worth it. Here, I had the best mushroom bisque of my life. It was full of wild mushrooms and came in a piping hot crock covered with puff pastry (see below, not my photo because I devoured it too quickly). I died. They also have a pear croustade which was, in the waiter's words "extraterrestrial." It was. I've never had pear caramel sauce but somehow they managed to infuse intense pear flavor without having the caramel seize.

2) Thinking Cup: coolest coffee shop ever and the macaroons are pretty fantabulous. Also located next to Georgetown Cupcake on Newbury Street: Plus. Plus-plus.






3) Finagle a Bagel: The name of course is what got me. Yummy breakfast sammies and super affordable. Bagels aren't as mind-blowing as Bodo's in Charlottesville, but bagel sandwiches are my life so I'm not complaining.



4) Flour: Go. Here. My lovely friend who's an ortho resident at Tufts brought be here and there aren't enough words to describe how much I loved it. With a name like "flour," they had a lot to live up to. We shared a delicious sticky bun and two sandwiches. The filling pairings were unexpected but perfect: think, sweet potato with walnut pesto?? Yes? Yes. By the way, how cute is their logo?

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6129/5979356621_eb80d600bf.jpg

Chicken Caesar Salad

Different people get fixated on different things. A few weeks ago, I became very curious as to how hard it would be to make Caesar salad from scratch. I'd stopped myself from embarking upon said endeavor multiple times in the last few months, convinced a salad with no actual "substance" would not be filling and that it would be hard to make the dressing without a legit food processor or a wooden bowl to mix everything in. If you've ever seen Ina Garten make a salad, you understand why the wooden bowl is such an important competent to salad making. If you haven't, then you probably are wondering at what age I slipped on black ice and lost my mind. 

Anywhos, the most difficult (if you call it that) part of this was the dressing, but even that was pretty simple. The main way to ensure the salad is super tasty is to mix all the components separately with the dressing, then toss with a little more right at the end. This way everything is evenly coated. And just use your hands to toss - I find that a set of well washed hands is the best way to get that dressing into every nook and cranny of the lettuce. 

Chicken Caesar Salad 

Make croutons but cutting some crusty bread into cubes and frying in a pan over medium heat with a little olive oil and butter at the end. Set aside.

Season some chicken thighs (factor 1/person) with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Then roast at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes. I use thighs because they are tasty, cheaper than the breasts, and almost impossible to overcook. Cut into cubes once they are cooked and set aside.

Chop romaine lettuce (factor one chunk per person) into bite-sized pieces. 

Slice a carton of cherry tomatoes in half and place in a separate bowl. Add the chicken and about 1/2 cup shaved Parmesan. I like shaved and not grated because I personally think the cheese becomes more an ingredient in the foreground than the back as a binder. I actually found a yummy mix of Parm, Fontina, and Asiago at Kroger of all places. And it looked super fresh. A little pricey, but hey, I saved all that money buying chicken thighs.

Make the dressing by combining in a bowl the following: 2 Tbs dijon mustard, 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, 5 cloves super diced garlic, a splash of balsamic vinegar, the juice of half a lemon, and 2 Tbs anchovy paste. I highly suggest getting the paste - especially if you don't have a food processor - it mixes in so smoothly! Mix all this together then slowly and steadily stream in 1/2 cup olive oil, whisking the whole time to create an emulsion. Some people add an egg yolk to help with this. Some add mayo. I like the mustard/oil combination. 

Add some dressing to the tomato/chicken/cheese mix and stir to coat. Do the same with the lettuce then mix everything together with a little more dressing. This amount of dressing gave me enough to feed 3 people, generously. Serve with croutons arranged prettily on top.

By the way...I was 14. And I'm almost positive the effects have worn off ;)

Key Lime Pie: Never Order from a Restaurant Again

Also making the list of "Things I Thought Too Difficult To Make" was key lime pie. Why, I don't know considering it's one of the easiest desserts I have ever made, not to mention pretty cheap since there are only 5 ingredients counting the crust. If you want to impress someone with your culinary abilities, make this and let the compliments roll in!

Couple things: I juiced my own limes. It took a looong time. And my fingers were withered afterwards. But it wasn't that bad - kind of therapeutic actually. Where was I going with this? Oh yes, if you want to release the most juice from your limes (or any citrus), just nuke them in the microwave for a few seconds. Apparently you can buy a key lime concentrate and avoid the manual labor. I can't vouch for this, though and I often find that the bottled lemon/lime juices are overly acidic and have a weird aftertaste. Personally, I prefer to be old fashioned and squeeze them myself. Wrinkled fingers and all.

I used this recipe from Smitten Kitchen, except cut it in half to make 2 mini pies instead of one large one. Mainly because I had no idea what I'd do with a whole pie. Well, I know what I'd do with it and if I want to fit into my jeans, it's best for everyone if I just cut the recipe.

Don't skimp on the mixing and whipping instructions below. I think the key with this pie (hahaha, get it?), is that it's more the technical aspect that makes it special than the ingredients themselves. So get to beating. One final note, it's a good idea to make this the day before you're planning to serve since it's best chilled and needs to set completely.

Key Lime Pie







First, make a graham cracker crust by processing about 1 cup of graham crackers and adding 1/2 stick of melted butter. Mix together, pack into your pie tins (or tin if making a whole pie), and blind bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Blind baking means to bake with nothing in the pie. By doing this, you ensure your crust is nice and stiff so it can handle the pie filling without getting gloppy. Set aside to cool but leave the oven on.

In a bowl whip 2 egg yolks until pale and thick. This will take about 7 minutes.

Minute #2

Minute #7 (note how pale and thick the yolks have become)

Add half a can of condensed milk and whip another 3-5 minutes. Then add 1/3 cup key lime juice and mix to combine. You can also add a teaspoon of the zest from the limes, but I temporarily lost my mind and threw away the rinds without zesting them! The end product still tasted delicious.

Pour into your pie tins and bake another 10 minutes, but watch them so they just set. The tops shouldn't be brown at all so you might consider turning down the oven temp if your oven is hotter than normal.

The last thing you need to do is whip up some fresh whipped cream. My mom and I have our own special recipe: heavy whipping cream (make sure it's "heavy" otherwise the cream doesn't have enough body to whip up). Add a couple tablespoons of confectioner's sugar (not granulated, otherwise it'll be gritty) and 1/4 tsp almond extract. I am in love with almond extract - but don't add too much otherwise it'll overpower the cream and add a bitter taste. 

Taste to see if you need any more sugar, then plop over top of the pie and garnish with some zest. At least that's what I would have done in an alternate universe where I didn't pitch the rinds.

Beef "Stroganoff"

Whenever I hear "stroganoff" I think about this song from the animated film, Anastasia (which, surprisingly was not put out by Disney). Fun fact - did you know John Cusack voiced the character "Dimitri." Now whenever I see him in real-people films, all I can think about is this guy:

Last week I attempted to make stroganoff, or something like it. The elements were there, but I didn't do a lot of research into finding an authentic recipe. And I was too tired to look into the best cut of meat to use. I settled on beef stew meat - which, FYI, needs to be cooked for a lot longer than 20 minutes. But I was so dang hungry I really didn't care.

What you need:

5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 onion, finely diced
2 pints mushrooms: I used button and baby bella, chopped
1 pound beef stew
olive oil
flour
salt and pepper
1/2 Tbs cornstarch
1 cup white wine
1 can beef stock (or consume)
1 cup sour cream (I always use light sour cream because, honestly, it tastes about the same to me)

Heat the olive oil and fry the onion and garlic until a light brown, set aside.

Next add the mushrooms to the skillet and cook those as well. They will give off a lot of juice which needs to cook out, so keep frying until they aren't moist. Set these aside with the onions.

Add the meat to the same pot and arrange in one layer. Sear well on one side before flipping and searing the other sides. Sprinkle with a little flour to help with this process. Season with salt and pepper.

Take your mushrooms and onions and add these to the beef, along with the wine and beef stock. Cook down about 10 minutes so the juice reduces by about 1/3. Scoop out 1/4 cup of liquid and mix with the cornstarch, then add this back to the pot. This is called a "slurry" and allows you to thicken the sauce without getting clumps of cornstarch speckled throughout.

Now, I let this cook together for maybe 30 minutes. It tasted fine, so I went ahead and added the sour cream, let it cook together some, and served it up. If I were to do things again I would hold off on adding the sour cream, cover the stroganoff and cook about 1 hour, making sure to keep the liquid content up by adding more wine or stock. This would allow the beef to get nice and tender.

**Serve beef stroganoff with egg noodles which are light and ridgy - perfect for soaking up the sauce

Thank You For Making Me So (very) Happy

Do I love Valentine's Day? Well, let's see. I do not love a day where people are obligated to buy random things they could purchase any other day of the year for their significant others. I do not love going to the grocery store and finding that chocolate chips are out of stock because suddenly everybody had the brilliant idea of making cookies. And I certainly do not love having pink and red everything shoved down my throat. Wow, I sound like a grinch (or something similar).

Here is what I do love. I do love the elementary-kid version of Valentine's Day. You know the one? With little cartoon themed valentines and a big party with those candy conversation hearts (they tasted disgusting but were fun to glue onto construction paper). When I have kids, I am totally taking off work and volunteering to chaperone the VDay party. Mark my words. This type of Valentine's Day touted love that wasn't forced or fake-y romantic. It more was a representation of the feelings we have towards our friends and families. And significant others, every day that isn't Valentine's Day when you're just lounging around, drinking spiked coffee, and perusing the "moods" feature on the Songza app. That type of love I am on board with: grinch status revoked.

With the impending doom of Boards, I decided to finally tackle a culinary challenge which has terrified me literally forever: bread. Whenever I see "yeast" listed as an ingredient I immediately move on to another recipe - I associate it with "long time to make" and "easy to screw up." But like I said in an earlier post, I've been feeling very much in sync and confident lately - I suppose that's what being in a healthy relationship does for a gal. Imagine that.  I have also really REALLY been wanting cinnamon rolls. Yes, it only took 3 paragraphs, but I finally revealed what recipe I'll be sharing this post.

My mom made Nutella rolls this summer with a potato dough and they were amazing. Like, I'm glad I'm moving to Iowa because maybe I can convince her to make them for me in exchange for driving the 6 hours to Michigan on the weekend. Her recipe required the use of a bread maker, which I do not have, so I scoured the web reading different variations of potato dough recipes which only required one's hands and a bowl. I settled on this one - below I've tried to break it down with lots of pictures.

oxoxo,
S

Caramel Cinnamon Rolls (I cut the recipe in half and it made about 12 rolls - more than enough)
*fun fact: the recipe I used was from a lady in Iowa (my future hometown)!!

For the dough

1/2 cup mashed potatoes (I used Russet)
1/2 cup reserved potato water


6 Tbs butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup hot water
1 egg
1 env Fleischmann's Active Dry Yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
4 1/4 cups all purpose flour



One of the most exciting parts about making dough from scratch was that I got to break out my dough hook for the first time!










Take the potato, peel it, then cut into tiny pieces. Cook them in boiling water - if you overcook a little, that's fine. Before draining the potatoes, reserve about a cup of the water. Mash and set aside.









Combine potatoes, potato water, butter, sugar, salt and hot water in a mixing bowl. Stir until butter melts, then set aside to cool.

Combine yeast and 1/2 cup warm water in small bowl.

Let rest 5 minutes. 

In the mixer add the egg, a cup of flour, and the yeast mixture to the potato mixture. Beat until well combined. Continue adding flour, 1 cup at a time until a soft dough forms. This took me about 5 minutes.

                      

 

Put the dough in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and a towel and let rise in a warm area for about an hour - it'll double in size. 

    

Make the caramel sauce (recipe below)

Punch down and roll into a rectangle - about 1/2 inch thick. I rolled the dough pretty thin, actually, so there would be a lot of layers. Melt 1/2 stick of butter and slather it over the dough. Mix 1/2 cup sugar and 1 Tbs cinnamon and sprinkle over the dough. 

   

Start at one end of the rectangle and roll the dough into a log - tightly, so there are lots of layers.

Cut into 1/2 inch slices.

For the caramel sauce (I used Ree Drummond's recipe and altered...nothing)

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup half and half
1 Tbs vanilla
Pinch of salt

Mix everything together over medium/medium high heat.

Whisk gently 5-7 minutes. It'll eventually bubble up a lot, but then it calms down. If you want the caramel sauce to be thicker, let it cook a little longer.

      

Pour the sauce into a cake pan (put a parchment paper liner at the bottom, first- this makes the rolls easy to turn out later.)


Arrange the sliced rolls in the pan with a little space in between them.

Let rise another hour or so until they have, again, doubled in size.

         

              

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Test with a toothpick to be sure the inside isn't raw. You can invert the whole pan for a pretty presentation, or just serve individually.

      

Mediterranean Pasta Salad and Winnebagos

I never thought I'd say this - but I don't want to see creamy/heavy/fatty food ever again. I mean it this time! After Super Bowl parties and random trips for hospital food, I need to eat clean.

I decided to start with this pasta salad, a variation of one I saw on Ree Drummond's website. Normally I'd just skip the pasta and sub out all beans, but I found some super cute ridgy pasta pieces at Trader Joe's and I thought they'd be a fun addition. Ree uses orzo, but I find this type of pasta can get sticky if you overcook it for even a few seconds.

What You Need:

Grape tomatoes, baby tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes...just get some tomatoes and slice them in half
1/2 can garbanzo, pinto, or black beans (rinse them so they aren't mushy)
1/2 cup cubed feta
4 scallions, sliced
1 Tbs jalapeno finely chopped with seeds and veins removed
1 cup cooked tiny pasta (I used the Rigati from Delallo)
1/2 cup black or kalamata olives
salt and pepper to taste

(mix all these together and toss with the dressing - recipe below)

For the Dressing:

3 Tbs olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
6 sprigs thyme, chopped finely

(put these ingredients in a glass jar and shake shake shake until emulsified)

I'm also recommending a good heist movie while you daintily chow down on your delicious salad. May I suggest "Sneakers" with the hottie Robert Redford? If you're into some good old fashioned hacking, this is the film to watch - it's taken me two hours to write this post because I keep getting caught up in his shenanigans. Although I have to say, I think I love his co-conspirators more than Robbie. Especially Crease. That fella is bada**

(Berry) Cobbler

For years my family has been using this cobbler recipe which is pretty fabulous. Typically our crowd drinks tea after dinner so a good cake-y thing is a nice accompaniment. That's a word, you know..."cake-y thing." This one is super easy to make, really moist, and absolutely divine even if you use frozen fruit instead of ripe. I happened to have a bag of some frozen berry mix so I used that, but you can sub out anything you like. You could even use apples, but I think it's best with some sort of berry or stone fruit (think, peach or plum, or...both!). But my absolute favorite variation is strawberry rhubarb. So that's why my recipe and the pictures don't coincide.

Filling:

2 cups sliced rhubarb (1/2-inch thickness)
1 pint strawberries, cleaned, hulled, and sliced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2/3 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch

Over medium high heat start cooking the fruits with the lemon juice. Mix together the cornstarch and sugar until all the lumps are worked out of the starch. If you don't do this, there will be icky specks of white all throughout your fruit and they neither taste nor look appetizing. Bring this to a simmer, stirring often. The fruit will start to break down and thicken up. Once you see this, turn off the heat and set aside to cool.

Cobbler:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Cut the butter into the flour until it's the consistency of a crumble

Add all the other dry ingredients (baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar)

Add the eggs, sour cream, and vanilla

Grease and flour a 9x9 inch pan if you want a thicken cake, otherwise a 9x13 will work. I did not flour the pan below. So I shall reiterate: grease and flour your pan. Add about 2/3 of the cobbler mix to the bottom of the pan, then all the fruit mixture. Dot the remaining cobbler over the surface of the fruit. This doesn't have to completely cover the fruit - it's actually really pretty to have the fruit peeking out from underneath. I don't have a picture of this...probably because I was licking the spoon with remaining fruit mix at the time...my kitchen, my rules. Bake about 35 minutes for a 9x13 and 45 for a 9x9. The top will be slightly brown and the cake should be cooked through when tested with a toothpick.

Coconut Chili Fish Stew

Want to know a secret? I don’t think I’ve ever actually tasted fish curry. But somehow I’ve been craving it. I’ve been craving seafood in general, actually. I think fish is a simple way to get variety and nutrients into your diet. Kind of like roasted vegetables: spice both up with lemon and fresh herbs and you have an easy, delicious meal.

I made this curry the other night and found it to be quite tasty. Keep in mind that when you use ingredients that are heavier bodied (béchamel, coconut milk), the dish can withstand a little more spice so you might need to add more than the amounts I’ve listed in order to make sure the broth is super flavorful.

Mahi Mahi pieces (I used these from Trader Joe’s)

1 can coconut milk

1 lemon

1 lime

6-7 basil leaves

ginger powder, garam masala powder, chili powder, red pepper flakes (1/2 tsp each)

5 cloves garlic

4 carrots, julienned

½ cup bamboo shoots
*If I’d had them, I would have added 3 curry leaves and a couple kefir lime leaves as well

Marinate the fish in lemon juice for 30 minutes

Fry the garlic then add the carrots and bamboo shoots

Mix in your spices: ginger powder, garam masala powder, chili powder, red pepper flakes, and curry and lime leaves (if using).

Pour in the coconut milk and bring to a boil

Nestle the fish into the sauce, making sure the pieces are totally covered

Season with pepper and salt and add the chopped basil leaves.

Cook 15 min, covered.

Serve over rice or as-is, like a stew but make sure to sprinkle with a few fresh basil leaves and a squirt of fresh lime juice.