Week 20: Orzo Squash Salad

This week Abby and I had to use our combined cooking knowledge to figure out how to make our recipe. The reason for this was that this "recipe" really didn't give a lot of detail. It pretty much just describe the dish, and we figured out how to create it! So here goes...

INGREDIENTS
orzo
squash (we used yellow and zucchini)
mushrooms
goat cheese
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS
We cooked the orzo while we sauteed the squash and the mushrooms in olive oil. We added the mushrooms once the squash was already almost done. Mix together the orzo, veggies, and goat cheese. The goat cheese will pretty much melt to mix well throughout the salad.

I'm not a big fan of squash, but this was so yummy! You can cover pretty much anything in goat cheese and I'll be a happy camper!

Week 19: Pesto!

I had never made pesto before, and Abby had never been successful at making it before, so it seemed like a good choice for this week.

I don't have a food processor, so I just looked up a recipe for "blender pesto." It actually worked really well, and was very smooth and creamy!

Basically there's nothing to dislike about pesto. I was pretty much drooling over all of the ingredients individually. Fresh basil...garlic...good, strong, smelly cheese...pine nuts... Delicious.

We put the pesto on some quinoa. It wasn't beautiful, but enjoyable nonetheless!

INGREDIENTS
2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

DIRECTIONS

Put the basil, olive oil, pine nuts, garlic cloves, and salt in the blender and mix at high speed. Stop from time to time to scrape the ingredients down toward the bottom with a rubber spatula. Add the Parmesan cheese and blend together. Before spooning the pesto over the pasta add to it a tablespoon or so of the hot water in which the pasta has been cooked. (Ooops! Didn't do that last step. I wonder if it was important...)

Week 18: Supposed-to-be-Spicy Corn Fritters

The story here is that this recipe included a "spicy" dipping sauce for aforementioned corn fritters. I didn't really feel like making this sauce, but if YOU do, check out the recipe here.

This last-minute recipe was yummy! Abby and I topped it with sliced tomatoes. We decided it might be fun to try putting all kinds of yummy veggies or even black beans into the batter before we fry it.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup flour (we used whole wheat)

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 cup water

2 cups of corn kernels (if frozen, defrost and drain first)

4 large scallions, finely sliced

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

grapeseed, canola, or peanut oil (a high smoke point oil) for frying

DIRECTIONS

Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, ground coriander, and ground cumin in a medium bowl. Add egg, lemon juice, and water. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add the corn, onions, and cilantro. Stir until just combined.

Heat a large frying pan on medium high heat. Add enough oil to generously coat the bottom of the pan. When oil is hot (shimmering, not smoking), spoon about 2 heaping tablespoons worth of fritter batter into the pan to form one fritter, patting it down with the back of the soon as soon as it is in the pan. Work in batches. Leave about 1/2 inch between the fritters in the pan. Let cook about 2-3 minutes on each side, flipping the fritters when they are nicely browned on one side. When browned on the other side, remove the fritters to a plate lined with paper towels to absorb the excess fat.

Add oil as needed to keep the bottom of the pan well-coated. Note that the fritters will likely splatter a bit as you are cooking. So, either use a screen splatter guard, or wear long-sleeved clothes while you cook.

Week 17: Spaghetti Squash New Mexican

Something that's so fun about going through these cooking adventures with Abby is that she is good at making me try new things. Things that I would have told you I didn't like. Last time it was eggplant. This time we had spaghetti squash. Not only did I learn that I like spaghetti squash, but now I'm motivated to find more recipes that use it!

Apparently it is common to use spaghetti squash simply as a substitute for pasta. While I would like to try it that way (with a jar of Ragu), this recipe combined strands of spaghetti squash with Southwest-inspire ingredients to make a sort of casserole.

INGREDIENTS
1 medium spaghetti squash
sea salt and ground pepper
EVOO, as needed
cumin and chili powder to taste
a splash of water, as needed
1 medium sweet or red onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 ears of fresh corn kernels cut off (we did bell pepper instead)
1 cup ripe and juicy cherry tomatoes, halved
1 14-oz. can black beans, rinsed, drained well
2 whole roasted greed chiles, mild or spicy, seeded, chopped
1 lime - for zest and juice

For garnish:
toasted pine nuts or pumpkin seeds
fresh chopped cilantro
lime wedges

Option:
cubes of goat cheese or feta

DIRECTIONS

First, roast the squash. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Half the squash lengthwise and place cut side up in a roasting pan. Season with sea salt and pepper, a drizzle of good olive oil, some cumin, chili powder (and garlic, if adding). Add two inches of water to the pan to help keep the squash from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Roast in a hot oven for about an hour, until the squash is fork-tender. Half way through roasting you might want to pour a little bit of water on each squash to keep them moist.

When the squash is done, remove it and let it cool.

Heat a splash of EVOO in a large skillet. Add the onion, garlic, corn kernels, and spices; stir for five minutes until the onion has softened.

Meanwhile, when the squash is cool enough to handle, take a fork and scrape the squash making spaghetti-like strands (this part was fun)!

Toss the squash strands into a large mixing bowl. Season with more sea salt and pepper. Sprinkle in some added cumin or chili powder, if you like, to taste. Toss well. Add the skillet mixture, tomatoes, black beans, green chiles. Combine. Grate a lime and add the zest. Cut and squeeze the lime juice all over the mixture and toss lightly.

Pour the mixture into a casserole style baking dish. Cover and bake in a 350 degree oven until heated through, about 20-25 minutes.

If you'd rather do it up in a skillet, add the squash to the skillet mixture and stir in the remaining ingredients, as above. Cover and gently heat through over medium heat, roughly 5-10 minutes.

Serve with a sprinkle of fresh chopped cilantro, lime wedges, and feta, as your heart desires.

Week 16: Pasta Fresca

This week I kind of cheated. What I really wanted to make was something on my brand new grill. Unfortunately I didn't get around to getting propane, so instead I found myself getting up extra early to pore over cooking blogs, cookbooks, and magazines. I ended up running across a recipe that I have made before, but it was so long ago that it practically doesn't count. It was a recipe for my favorite dish at Noodles & Co. - Pasta Fresca. Back when Noodles was new, I thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. I have since come to believe that their sole purpose is to rip you off. Because, really, what's cheaper than pasta? They definitely make at least a 600% profit on that one. So sissy found me this recipe, and I was way excited.

The funny thing about this recipe for Pasta Fresca is that it "serves 4", but the fresca sauce declares it is for 15 servings. We calculated the ingredients to make less sauce, but I guess you could also save the extra sauce in the fridge or something and use it throughout the week if you plan on making pasta more than once. Or you could just make 15 servings of pasta because YUMMMMM...

A couple of comments about the recipe: first of all, next time I make this it will be with less olive oil. It was entirely too oily. Not necessary. Also, make sure that the pan is really hot when you put the noodles and other ingredients in. I don't think that the tomatos are actually supposed to cook, but just heat up real fast. Plus a hot pan will sear the pasta, which really makes the dish better if you ask me. Finally, I think I will use whole wheat pasta in this dish from now on. I couldn't find whole wheat bowties, but I think another shape will do the job. Okay, here goes...

INGREDIENTS

2 teaspoons EVOO
2 1/2 cups pre-cooked farfalle (bowtie) pasta
1/4 cup cubed roma tomato
1 tablespoon diced red onions
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt and cracked pepper
1 ounce fresh baby spinach
1/4 cup fresh garlic
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup sweet white wine
1 cup extra virgin olive oil

DIRECTIONS

Saute instructions: In a very hot saute pan, add: EVOO, pre-cooked farfalle, roma tomatoes, diced red onions, kosher salt, and cracked pepper.

Sear noodles, stirring occasionally until steaming hot.

Add fresh baby spinach, and 1 oz. fresca sauce.

Toss to combine, serve with freshly shaved parmesan cheese (we used feta).

Fresca sauce instructions: combine garlic, 2 teaspoons kosher salt, balsamic vinegar, white wine, and 1 cup olive oil. Mix together. Viola!

Week 15: Eggplant Parmesan

This week Abby helped me step out of my box. If you had asked me a few days ago if I liked eggplant, I would have replied with a (disgusted) "NO." When Abby suggested trying eggplant Parmesan this week (made from beautiful farmer's market eggplant), I decided to be a grown up, and see if my hatred toward this unusual vegetable was justified or not. Who knows...maybe I would be like Fermina in Love in the Time of Cholera who thought she hated eggplant her entire life, and when her crazy mother in law made her eat it virtually every day, she discovered that she was quite fond of it.

Overall, I thought our dish was quite yummy! Now, I'm not entirely convinced that I would appreciate eggplant as much if it was not fried, and then baked with an obscene amount of cheese, but it was a good start.

When questioning the nutritional value of this meal (which we served with whole-grain pasta...makes up for all that cheese, right?), we decided that perhaps we could try BAKING the breaded eggplant slices instead of frying them. We could also take away the casserole aspect of it, and just put the eggplant on a bed of pasta with some sauce and a little (or a lot...) of cheese.

INGREDIENTS
2 medium eggplant (about 2 1/4 pounds), cut into 1/2-inch-thick round slices
kosher salt as needed, plus 1 tablespoon
5 cups fresh breadcrumbs (we could've gotten away with about 3 cups, I bet)
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme
freshly ground black pepper
vegetable oil for frying
all-purpose flour for dredging
6 large eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons milk
olive oil, as needed
7 cups marinara sauce
2/3 cup grated Parmesan, divided
1 pound fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced

DIRECTIONS
Arrange the eggplant slices on several baking sheets and sprinkle generously all over with kosher salt. Set aside to let the bitter juices weep from the eggplant, about 1 hour.

Transfer the eggplant to a colander in the sink, and rinse well under cold running water. Transfer eggplant to a work surface and blot very dry with paper towels.

In a large bowl, whisk together the 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, breadcrumbs, oregano, thyme, and season with pepper.

Place the flour in a medium lipped plate or bowl. In another medium bowl, whisk the egg and milk together. Dredge an eggplant slice in flour, then dip it in the egg, and finally dredge it in the breadcrumb mixture. Shake off any excess breading and transfer the eggplant to a baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining eggplant.

In a large straight-sided skillet, pour the oil to a depth of 1/2 inch. Heat the oil over medium heat until it registers 400 degrees F on a deep frying thermometer. The oil must be heated to 400 degrees so that the breaded eggplant, when added, will drop the temperature of the oil to the proper frying temperature of 375 degrees F.

Working in small batches, fry the eggplant slices, turning once, until golden brown, about three minutes per batch. Using tongs, transfer to a paper towel-lined baking sheet and season with salt to taste. Repeat with the remaining eggplant.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly brush a 15 x 10 x 2 inch baking dish with olive oil. Cover the bottom of the baking dish with 1/3 of the marinara sauce and arrange half of the eggplant over the sauce. Cover the eggplant with another 1/3 of the sauce. Scatter half of the Parmesan and half of the mozzarella over the sauced eggplant. Repeat with the remaining eggplant, sauce, Parmesan, and Mozzarella. Bake until hot and just beginning to brown, about 30 minutes. Serve immediately.

Week 14: Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

Since I was running around this week doing 1,000,001 other things, I was looking for something simple this week. I saw a recipe that intrigued me on Joy the Baker, one of the cooking blogs that I follow religiously, and decided to take a shot at making homemade rance dressing. It made a BUTTLOAD (by official measurement), and I'm still enjoying it.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup of real mayonnaise (we used the lowfat stuff)

1/2 cup of sour cream (again...lite)

buttermilk (to desired consistency)

1 clove of garlic

1/4 cup Italian flate leaf parsely, chopped

2 tablespoons fresh chives, chopped

salt to taste

healthy pinch of freshly ground black pepper

dash of Tabasco

DIRECTIONS

Mince the garlic with a knife and then sprinkle with about 1/4 teaspoon of salt on to the garlic. With a fork, mash the garlic and salt into a thick paste.

In a bowl combine all of the ingredients except for the buttermilk. Stir. Add buttermilk utnil you've reached the desired consistency. Tase and season as necessary. Chill for a couple hours before serving. Thin with milk when it comes out of the fridge if you wish.