Cooking my way through

So, apparently I haven’t posted in 2 and a half weeks.  I am officially the World’s Worst food blogger.  But I have been cooking, so here are some pictures:

This is a truly bizarre combination of ingredients that somehow all work together really really well.  The overall effect is a fairly light dish with umami out the wazoo.

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This is a very standard recipe, and a successful one.  The crust could use a bit more flavor, so if I make this again I’ll up the salt and maybe adjust the flour ratio so there’s more whole wheat in there.  (And definitely make it with olive oil - canola is just bland.)

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This is a vegetarian version of my Cincinnati-Style Chili.  (Vegan, actually, if you don’t put cheese on top.)  You can make it fat-free by omitting the olive oil, but you won’t get the flavor benefits of the fat-soluble elements in the chili powder or cumin.  This is the first time I have ever made it in a slow-cooker, and it was quite successful!  The beef version of this chili really does need high heat in the beginning to brown the meat and develop a fond, but the veggies did quite well simply simmering on low for about 8 hours while I went about my day.  The other change I made on this round was to use a can of crushed tomatoes instead of diced, which I think was a good change.

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I think the title of this one may be too much for Twitter.  We shall see!  It looks like a lot, but the only part that was any real work was the meatballs (the cauliflower I had in the fridge already).  Continue reading →

The baked beans are not quite done yet, but I do not think I like this recipe.   For one, it’s got four different sweeteners in it (maple syrup, molasses, honey, and sugar), and I like my savory foods *savory*.  For another, I think I may have burned it.  We’ll see.

[Post-tasting notes: the beans were atrocious.  I have thrown them out.  What a waste of bacon!  For excellent baked beans, try Alton Brown's Once And Future Beans.]

The Roasted Broccoli Medley is misnamed (broccoli medley implies several varieties of broccoli - this is a vegetable medley containing broccoli) but simple and good.

• 1 head broccoli cut into florets
• 1 large red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 each large red and green bell peppers, sliced
• 4-5 large cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/8 cup soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Italian herb blend

Toss everything together in a big bowl, then roast at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until veggies are slightly softened and well browned.

The veggies tonight are going onto open-faced sandwiches and topped with melted provolone.  Mmmmm, cheese!

I have a confession: I did not griddle this.  I do not own a griddle.  I pan-seared it instead.

This dish really drives home the necessity of marinating tofu for a long time - I accidentally let this marinate for 2 days and the flavors were much more intense than my usual 20 or 30 minutes. Continue reading →

I didn’t expect much of this one going in, but it turned out to be really tasty! I think next time I’ll make the “batter” in the food processor. It won’t be quite as pretty without the flecks of spinach in the crust, but it will adhere better to the cutlets.

This can be made with chicken or turkey (or veal or pork or seitan, really). I didn’t feel like pounding my own cutlets, so I went for the precut turkey. This recipe makes enough batter to coat about 1 lb of meat, but you can easily halve it to make less. (To reduce it further, you could always use an egg substitute, but a half recipe will feed 2 people if you have a side starch and a salad to go with it.) Continue reading →

…with HOME GROUND BEEF!!

Seriously, for the taco salad recipe just click here. The only thing even remotely special about it is the cilantro-lime dressing, which is Teh Yum.

I’m mainly posting to brag about how I ground my own beef for the chili WITH MY OWN MEAT GRINDER that I got at Target. It’s the KitchenAid “food grinder attachment” (because you could also use it to grind…vegetables?) and it works pretty well.  I put the meat through twice because I read somewhere that you’re supposed to do that (no, not Sweeney Todd…okay, not ONLY Sweeney Todd…) and the second time through the fat got kind of stringy and I had to take the whole thing apart to detangle it.  Maybe I should have used the disc with the smaller holes?

Anyway.  The point is, FEAR ME, FOR I HAVE A MEAT GRINDER NOW.

I think the last time I got this excited about a kitchen gadget was my first microplane grater.  I just wanted to zest everything in sight.

The ribs were from the farmer’s market - there’s a pig guy I usually buy bacon from, but he was out by the time I got there so I went for some ribs instead.  The gratin is a WF Cookbook recipe, with collard greens standing in for kale because my supermarket is small and local and not always well stocked.

For the ribs, I simply rubbed them down with salt, pepper, and Penzey’s Northwood’s Seasoning and tossed them into the slow cooker with 1 can chopped green chiles, 1 sliced onion, and 2 cubes frozen spicy chicken stock (leftover from the chili from last Monday).  I set it to low and let it braise for 8 hours, though it probably would have been ready after 6.  It was literally falling off the bone and melt-in-your-mouth tender.  The onions and chiles disappeared into a rich silky sauce and the whole thing was pretty much delicious. Continue reading →