18 posts tagged “recipe”

Or, the least healthy muffins ever. But so easy! I had some overripe bananas and caramel sauce I needed to use up, so I whipped together these. The recipe I started with called for baking soda but I didn't have any. I used baking powder and they came out fine. Maybe try baking soda and it will be even better?

3-4 overripe bananas
2/3-3/4 cup sugar (sans caramel, use 3/4-1 cup sugar)
1/3 cup melted butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda (/powder)
pinch salt
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup caramel sauce (more if you want more)

Mash the peeled bananas with the 1/3 cup melted butter. Add in the egg, beaten, the vanilla, sugar, pinch salt. Mix. Sprinkle over the baking soda, mix. Add your flour and mix until *just blended*. It is okay if it is lumpy! DO NOT OVERMIX. Pour the caramel over and gently fold it in, with minimal stirring. You want the caramel more as a ribbon through the muffins and not blended into the batter, so the less mixing the better. Spoon the batter into greased muffin cups (or paper lined) and bake at 350 degrees F for around 30 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

This recipe is also excellent without the caramel, and with 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg.

Yesterday I got home early and, too antsy to try napping (I had a headache) I turned on the television. There is nothing on at four in the afternoon, let me tell you. But I did happen upon Giada DeLaurentis' show, Everyday Italian, on the food network. Generally I try to avoid foodtv, Rachael Ray is annoying, Paula Dean has crazy eyes and wants to make you unreasonably fat, Sandra Lee is desperately nuts, and makes a lot of food I wouldn't put anywhere near my mouth, Iron Chef (America) can't compare to the original - it just isn't the same without wacky, overdubbed Japanese chefs, and Emeril is well, hacky. Let's not even talk about Bobby Flay (doooouche).

I don't mind Giada too much - her recipes are easy and often inspiring. Same with the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten. But I digress - she was making what looked like the easiest gnocchi I've seen. Take a baked potato, add 3 tbl beaten egg, mix with 1/4 cup flour, roll, cut, boil. They looked lovely and light, rustic and delicious. I tried my hand at a variation - replacing the regular baking (russet) potato with sweet potato and making a balsamic-honey-thyme reduction to serve as a sauce (as opposed to the brown-butter thyme sauce that Giada served hers with). Instead of boiling it, I sauteed it in butter, and I ate practically all of it (expecting it to serve me for two days but, alas).

Let me tell you, this is so easy (and really inexpensive). If you are a fan of potato dumplings, seriously, try it.

Sweet Potato Gnocci
Adapted from Gnocchi with Butter Thyme Sauce
Giada DeLaurentis, Everyday Italian

You'll need:
For the gnocchi-
1 (1 pound) sweet potato
3 tbl beaten egg
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt

For the sauce
1/4 cup aged balsamic vinegar
1-2 tbl honey
1 tbl fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried
1 tbl salted butter

Preheat your oven to 400 for baking your potato (or alternately, you can microwave it, find instructions on the original recipe site) and cover your potato in foil. Bake until soft, approx. 1 hour 20 minutes. While your potato is hot, scrape the insides out (I just gently pulled away the sweet potato skin, as it's quite a bit thinner than a russet potato and should come right off)  into a bowl and mash a little bit, breaking up all the big hunks. Add your three tablespoons of beaten egg and the salt and mix into the potato (do not mix too much! Just until it's incorporated). Sift your flour over your potato and egg mixture and knead dough (do not mix too much! the key to light gnocchi is gently mixing until everything is just blended). Flour your hands and your work surface and plop your dough out, divide into four equal parts. Gently pull, stretch, and roll the dough out until you have four long, 1/2 inch diameter rope. Using a knife (butter knife works fine) cut your dough into 1 inch pillows. Roll over tines of a fork to make grooved indentations. You can either boil your gnocchi into salted water for about 3-5 minutes (gnocchi will pop to the surface after about a minute, let boil another 3-4 minutes until tender), or, my way - saute in butter over medium - medium-high heat until browned and tender.

For sauce:
In a small saucepan, reduce the honey, vinegar, and thyme until syrupy. Remove from heat, add (cold!) tablespoon of butter and melt into sauce. Drizzle over cooked gnocchi.

Wow, it already feels like we're deep into fall in Seattle. Even today, a beautiful, sunny day, had the crisp edge and smell of fall. That, plus the floods of incoming students wandering around campus with half-bemused looks on their faces have conspired me to accept that Summer 2007 is completely over. A little bit depressing, but I get to pull out my sweaters and jackets and coats, my favorite things to put on my body!

Well, maybe it was the passing of summer that inspired me when I was making dinner today. I made crustless vegetable and basil quiche tartlets, and found myself with handfuls of leftover fresh basil. Not wanting it to go to waste, I whipped up a basil simple syrup and knocked out a couple of glasses of this summery pale-green lemonade. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was and how well it turned out, providing just the right amount of basil flavor. Totally recommended for anyone trying to think of new ways (read: sick of pesto) to use that basil from their summer garden.

You're going to need:
A couple handfuls of fresh basil leaves (about 1/2-3/4 cup lightly packed)
Around 3/4-1 cups of sugar
Around 1-1 1/2 cups of water

Lemons
Ice
Water

Put your basil leaves in a sturdy glass or ceramic bowl and pour sugar on top. Using a wooden spoon, work the sugar into the basil until the basil is well-bruised. Add more sugar if it seems like your sugar is getting too clumpy/too green. Pour leaves and sugar into a sealable container and add appropriate amount of water so that the ratio is about 1 to 1. Shake until sugar is dissolved. Strain out leaves.

In a tall glass, squeeze 1 large lemon's worth of juice over ice. Pour in about 1/4 basil simple syrup, add water and/or b.s.s. to get the sweetness level right, stir, and enjoy. 1 lemon should provide enough lemon juice for 1 large glass of lemonade (think 16 oz). Serves how ever many lemons you feel like buying, or however much basil simple syrup you have left.

Ahh, Monday. Looking forward to a week of blzzzzZZZZ. Okay, work is boring. So, about the weekend...

The Great Nabob was a lot of fun, and ended with watching the Mighty Boosh at Eric's house with Devon and Kessler and Kessler's giant giant cat. Also, drinking like 8 rum and cokes and totally regretting it on Saturday. Saturday I was sick pretty much all morning, pulled it together long enough to pick up Betsy and stop by Herb's place, and then go home and nap. The Huskies lost, obvs, to the surprise of zero people. Saturday night I had a mini-Bale-a-thon, watching Velvet Goldmine, followed by Batman Begins (which Casey watched too). I fell asleep on the couch and woke up at nine, crawled into bed-proper, and woke up again at - well, we probably shouldn't talk about that. Sunday was a laaaazy day. Casey watched the game while I slept, woke up, watched Man Stroke Woman, continued working on my back-up computer project (my computer is a mess and in desperate need of reformatting, but it's been a pain copying everything I need to backup to my external) and read. I made a delicious quiche, which turned out quite well though I think I may have added a bit too much milk, Casey ran, and I watched the commentary for half of Pan's Labyrinth and for a couple episodes of The IT Crowd. Graham Linehan constantly called the commentary watchers geeks, which I am, and is fine. But you know, I'm also not a total freak, so it got a little irritating. Also, it's FOX MULDER, not Fox Scully, goofballs. There were a couple discussions about American television where the British actors were like, what is it? Is it [something totally wrong]? We don't know!

I love commentaries, but the best ones are those that are 1. charming, 2. funny, 3. informative, and 4. self-deprecating. And I hate commentaries that consist mainly of complimenting everyone involved in the project, and/or self-congratulations, and/or redundancy, and/or actor jargon/constant references to director's/writer's/actor's past projects.

Quiche. I love quiche, and I really think the best quiche is the most basic quiche - cheese, bacon/sausage/ham, spinach/broccoli, bake it up. I made a fairly complicated quiche (caramelized onion/ham/swiss/apple/spinach) over the weekend (I still have Yakima apples to use up), and though it turned out well (I should have used more salt) I am anxious to try a tomato/mozzarella/basil quiche next. I have never found a quiche recipe that I love, but I think staying basic is better. I don't use cream or half-and-half, as some recipes call for, and it's always turned out fine.

premade pie crust (get in refridgerated section near pre-made rolls)

1 medium sized onion
1-2 tbls butter

a little under 1/2 pound sliced ham, cut into 2-3 inch strips
1-1.5 cup shredded swiss cheese
a large handful of chopped fresh spinach
1 small apple, peeled and sliced thin

Pre-heat oven to 375.

Caramelize your onions in the butter. Basically, just let them cook in the pan, moving them around occasionally, until a nice, pretty brown color. I usually finish off my onions by deglazing the pan with a splash of balsamic vinegar, and I'll occasionally add an extra couple pinches of sugar in the beginning of cooking to make them extra sweet and caramelized. Adding sugar is called cheating, but I like the way it tastes better :) Set aside to let cool.

Whisk together your eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg. I keep a little jar of whole nutmeg in my spice cabinet and just grate a little with a microplane - makes a huge difference over the pre-ground kind. Make sure to consider the salt content in your eggs - I used a hearty pinch for this and I wished I had used a touch more, but I didn't want to oversalt considering that there's also plenty of salt in the ham (and in the cheese).

Place pie crust in pan. Layer the following: a handful of swiss cheese over the bottom (keeps your crust from getting soggy), caramelized onions, another small handful of cheese, apple slices, ham, another handful of cheese, chopped spinach, and pour egg mixture over the whole thing. Press down lightly so you make sure that egg has gotten over everything, top with the remainder of your cheese. You can definitely get away with using less cheese, but my feeling is that 1. it helps to hold the quiche together, and 2. quiche isn't really the healthiest food in the world anyhow, you might as well accept this and move on. But I've been known to do the light layer of cheese on the bottom and a layer on the top and calling that good. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until cheese and crust is golden and pie has puffed up (it will go back down when it cools). Watch to make sure your crust doesn't burn - if it starts looking too brown, you can either drop the heat of the oven down a bit, say to 350, and/or cover the edges with foil.

Tastes better the next day.

Once this one is finished, I'm planning on using the same basic recipe and adding parmesan to the egg mixture and filling with fresh basil, tomatoes, and topped with fresh mozzarella. I'll let you know how it turns out!

Once, I had a curried sweet potato wrap at this coffee shop I used to frequent. Needless to say, I tried it on a whim and I fell in love immediately. It was awesome - spicy and sweet and full of flavor and texture. I never saw it in their modest deli case again, but I've been dreaming of it ever since. It's that food I think about when I think about the perfect meal. Who knew a deli case tortilla-wrapped potato salad could stir that kind of passion? But it did, and has, for years. Well, after searching high-and-low for the fabled wrap, I finally decided to try my hand at the concoction last night. And it turned out so well I'm berating myself that I did not try this sooner.

It's a little on the dry side (particularly after being chilled overnight) so it really is best in a burrito-like form or wrapped in a flatbread or naan, but you can always add a little extra dressing if you want to eat it plain.

You're going to need:
2 medium-to-large sized sweet potatoes (or yams)
Sidenote: Here in the Pacific Northwest, we have sweet potatoes, a light yellow, sweeter version of the root vegetable, as well as yams, the traditional orange. I prefer the sweet potato but that's just what I grew up with.
1/2 cup sweet onion, chopped medium (I like Walla Walla, if you can get 'em at the right season)
1/2 cup of frozen peas, thawed
2 medium-to-large carrots
Olive oil

2 tablespoons mayo
3-4 tablespoons plain yogurt (I used greek style, it's thicker and creamier)
1 tbsp curry powder or a little less (I like mine extra curry-y)
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
    +1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
red pepper flakes

salt
freshly ground pepper
optional - flat-leaf parsley, chopped
optional - 2 hard boiled eggs, roughly chopped

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F. Peel the potatoes and cube into 1/2 inch pieces. Slice the carrots to similar size. Toss in a bowl with a couple glugs of olive oil and salt. Pour into a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet. Roast for 20 minutes, turning over halfway through cook time. You want your vegetables fork-tender but not mushy.

While your veggies are cooking, prepare the rest of the salad. Pour your 1/2 cup frozen peas into a strainer and run cool water over them; set aside to finish thawing. Chop your onion.

For the dressing: whisk together the mayo, yogurt, 1 tbsp. lemon juice, a pinch of salt, a couple turns of pepper, and the curry powder together.

Once your veggies are out of the oven, let them cool in a dish for about ten minutes and then add the peas, onions, and pour the dressing on top. Add the roughly-chopped egg if you like it or want to include it. Toss, giving the potatoes a little mash now and then for added creaminess. Add the rest of the lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste, and chopped fresh parsley. Let chill in the fridge for at least an hour before serving.

Serves 3-4 as a side dish.

It should be said that I am not a baker. Not at all. My cooking tends to be "throw together stuff I like and hope that it turns out okay." I also tend to talk while I cook, like I'm on a cooking show (I showed Luke this skill once and he still makes fun of me for it), because I think I'm good at it. I am! I can fill the silences of prep with interesting details. Not that I will show you how I do it, because once was embarrassing enough.

When Casey is around I tend to whisper it under my breath, instead of talking out loud, but I have a hard time not doing it at all.

Anyway, I tried my hand at bread pudding this weekend and it turned out really well. Maybe because bread pudding is pretty inexact, in terms of baking - the hard part (the bread) is already done for you!

I bought a big loaf of Challah (a pretty, eggy Jewish bread, traditionally braided in six braids) from Whole Foods, intending to make french toast. I cut the whole thing into 1-inch thick slices and reserved four slices for breakfast. The rest - a little over half the loaf, or 5 1-inch thick slices, was used for bread pudding.

I modified this simple recipe I found on allrecipes.com, cutting down the amount of milk and replacing some of it with cream, and adding hazelnut liqueur for flavoring (which I couldn't really taste).

You're going to need:
5-6 1-inch thick slices of day-old Challah, cubed (after I cubed it, I let it sit a little longer - the drier the bread, the more custard it will soak up)
4 eggs
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup cream
(I guess you could just use 1 1/2 cups of half-and-half)
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg (I keep a little jar of whole nutmeg in my pantry and I just hand grate some nutmeg directly into the liquid mixture - I use less than 1 teaspoon because freshly ground is a little stronger than pre-ground)
1 good glug of hazelnut liqueur

Pre-heat oven to 350.

Whisk together eggs, milk, cream, cinnamon, nutmeg and liqueur (make sure this is really well-mixed, you don't want scrambled eggs in your pan!). (Alternately, you can use a teaspoon of vanilla extract instead of the hazelnut). Butter your baking dish, and put cubed bread in (9x9 square pan or I used a round Corningware, probably about 9 inches in diameter) and press down. Pour melted butter over the bread. Slowly add the custard mixture, stopping halfway to pressing bread down with a fork. Add the rest and let it sit for 10 minutes so the bread soaks up all the liquid (pressing down a couple times to encourage soaking).

Bake for 45-50 minutes. The pudding should rise a bit while baking. Let cool (I think it tastes better the next day - the pudding has a chance to really come together).

Hazelnut caramel sauce

I sort of just threw some stuff in the sauce pot and let it cook down.
Tentative recipe:

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup hazelnut liqueur

1-2 tablespoons (cold) butter

Put sugar and liqueur in a small sauce pot and bring to a boil. Let simmer on low until reduced by at least half or until it gets all syrupy and thickened. It's going to bubble like crazy, I swirled the pot around to bring it together occasionally.
When thickened/reduced, take off heat and add butter. Swirl around until butter is melted into sauce and sauce is thickened. Let sit a couple minutes and drizzle over warmed bread pudding.

A nice touch - top pudding and caramel with chopped, roasted hazelnuts and whipped cream. Yum!  

Friday I decided to take a trip to Whole Foods, despite my (fairly faint) promise to try not to spend money that day. Oops... I ended up getting the following:

Fresh mozzarella bocconcini
A big bunch of gorgeous fresh basil
Beautiful local organic bing cherries
A loaf of challah (a sweet, eggy braided bread)
Fresh egg pasta

This is what I ended up making:

Caprese pasta salad with fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, fresh basil, in a balsamic dressing

Challah french toast with bing cherry sauce and whipped cream

Challah bread pudding with hazelnut caramel sauce

Fresh egg pasta with prawns in white wine garlic sauce

Basil butter (for cooking/spreading on bread)

There are some delicious leftovers in the fridge. The bread pudding & caramel sauce turned out particularly well! I'll try to post recipes and pics in the next couple days.

Never, ever buy salad dressing! Bottled salad dressing is gross, and a rip, if you ask me. It takes literally seconds to make your own, and you probably have everything you need in your fridge and cupboard RIGHT NOW. I mean it! Throw away that dressing, because you won't need it after you try these.

Lemon dressing (light, pretty pale color of yellow goes great with: summer salads, summer vegetable cold pasta salad, add chopped chives and pour over fish. I particularly love it drizzled over ripe avocado and blue cheese. Simple, but ridiculously delicious).

All amounts are approximate, since I don't really measure anything.
Makes enough dressing for 2 plus a little extra

1 small lemon (the juicy fat kind, they sell them at QFC 4 for a dollar, and always produce a surprising amount of juice; also tend to be a little sweeter than the large variety)
A couple turns of freshly ground pepper
Pinch of kosher salt
Olive oil (4-5 tablespoons or so)
A squeeze of honey (think around 1/'8 tsp. or so)

Squeeze the juice out of your lemon, making sure to pull out any seeds. Combine all ingredients and whisk until emulsified. Add more honey if flavor is too sharp (mellows out the acidity); add oil if it's too strong. Will survive in fridge in a little tupperware for a day or so. Try adding a little dijon to the mix for variety.

Balsamic dressing (goes well with: caprese salad or sandwiches, or anything with basil, tomatoes; blue cheese/glazed nut/dried or fresh fruit and spring greens; chicken sandwiches; roasted vegetables - I like mixing up a batch, grilling some bread with olive oil, and setting out a place of sliced fresh mozzarella or mozzarella balls, basil leaves, and sliced roma tomatoes or halved cherry tomatoes, and making mini caprese toast sandwiches)

1 squeeze of dijon or similar brown mustard (sometimes I make with whole-grain mustard for variety)
1 squeeze of honey
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
A couple tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
A couple glugs of olive oil (think 1 part balsamic vinegar emulsion, 2-3 parts olive oil)

Whisk together mustard, honey, salt, pepper and balsamic vinegar until blended. While whisking, slowly pour in olive oil until emulsified. Taste - add more oil if too strong. Will survive in fridge in a little tupperware for a day or so. Try adding roasted garlic, chopped basil, or other herbs for variety.

Fresh-picked!

Right now I'm growing mint, chives, and thyme in little pots in the window. Let me say that I totally overestimated my general use of these herbs. They get a lot of sun and they are growing like CRAZY, so I decided to do something about it and find some use for them.

Thyme is easy. It goes well with chicken, and you can just dry it and keep it in a little tupperware for a short while. Chives and mint are a little trickier, as they aren't normally an herb that you dry and use for later. Casey eats baked potatoes (as do I) but since it's summer, we've been eating them a lot less. Oh well, he made a baked potato tonight so that took care of that. Plus, you can basically trim them and add them to whatever soups or fish as a garnish, and it adds a lovely green and oniony note.

I took the initiative and made up this drink with the rest of the mint that I trimmed, along with the strawberry lemonade I bought at Trader Joe's, a couple mini-bottles of white rum I found in my fridge, and Limoncello, which I keep on hand. So, basically a leftovers cocktail.

You're going to want (serves 2-3):

A handful of mint (pull the leaves off the stalks)
A small lemon
A container of pre-made strawberry lemonade (fresher is best, try Odwalla brand if you don't have a Trader Joe's nearby - 16 ounces)
2-3 mini-bottles of white rum, or a couple pulls from a regular sized bottle
A glug of limoncello
Ice
Club soda or sparkling water

In your pitcher (or divide in half and do to each if using regular glasses) add your mint, pulled off the stem (just hold the stem and run your fingers along, pulling leaves off as you go), a couple lemon slices, and a handful of ice. Muddle with muddler or similar instrument. Pour in rum, limoncello, and your strawberry lemonade. Stir and pour into glasses (if not already in glasses). Top with club soda, and garnish with mint leaf and/or lemon round and/or fresh strawberry.

I was going to take a picture of the finished cocktail but I drank it before I had the chance. Now it's just mint leaves stuck to the inside of my glass, not very appetizing. Sorry.

I would definitely rate sandwiches in my top five favorite foods. They are so versatile! Portable! And, easy. Any idiot can make a sandwich.

This sandwich is one of my favorites. I make it with leftover steak, because I don't eat steak that often, and when I do, there are rarely leftovers, anyway. It should be said that this sandwich is not healthy, not really at all. But, delicious, and I always impress myself with the finished product.

This is funny to me

I make it with chimichurri sauce, which is an Argentinean food staple. You can buy it pre-made at Trader Joe's (what I do) or you can make it yourself. I've included a recipe, but I have to add that I've never actually made this recipe. I just found it on the food tv website and it had this hilarious picture along with it, so I figured it has to be good.

Chimichurri sauce (from Emeril Lagasse 2005)

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2/3 cup sherry wine vinegar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
4 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano leaves
3 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons minced shallots
3/4 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the olive oil, sherry vinegar, lemon juice, parsley, basil, oregano, garlic and shallots. Pulse until well blended but do not puree. Add 1/4 teaspoon of the black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and the crushed red pepper. Transfer to a non-reactive bowl, cover with plastic wrap and reserve at room temperature for up to 6 hours. (If saving for another day, refrigerate sauce and return to room temperature before serving.)

For the rest of your sandwich:

Baguette or ciabatta
Leftover (cold) steak, sliced thin-ish (like quarter-1/2 inch thick)
Arugula
Crumbled feta
Red peppers, julienned
Chimichurri sauce (1.5 tablespoons)
Mayonnaise (3 tablespoons)
Extra chimichurri oil/sauce

Slice your baguette or ciabatta in half and scoop out some of the insides with a spoon, making a little hollow. (You can save the crumbs, dry them, stick 'em in a blender and use them for meatballs, or you can toss them.) If you like, you can lightly grill your bread by brushing it with olive oil, but this is totally optional. If you do grill the bread, I recommend taking a clove of fresh garlic and scraping it across your toasted bread. The extra flavor is amazing! Use a pastry brush and brush some chimichurri oil onto the bottom half of your bread. Top with argula, sliced steak, feta, and red peppers. In a separate bowl, combine 1.5 tablespoons of well-mixed chimichurri and mayonnaise. Pour a tablespoon (or so) of this mixture over each half of your sandwich. Finish with the rest of your bread; use leftover sauce for dipping.

What you've got is a rich, flavorful sandwich, so easy and good you'll impress yourself.

SIDENOTE: If you buy the sauce at Trader Joe's and look at it - herbs and olive oil, basically, and think holy shit! What am I going to do with all this sauce! Try not to shock yourself too much when you realize that it goes with basically everything and you eat the whole container in a week. Don't even contemplate the amount of fat you consumed. Eat it with: Roasted vegetables. Meat. With cheese and bread. On cold pasta salad. Basically, spoon it over anything and everything, and do not buy for another two months. Repeat.