Summer Salivations - Part II

Hello all!

So, it's been quite a while since Part I, but that is mostly because I've been very busy! This will, sadly, be my last post of something I cooked in Minneapolis, at least for quite a while, as I have officially made my move to Tacoma! I have spent much of my time lately in orientations and traveling and moving, so not so much with the posting.

However, I do hope to be creating/discovering and twisting some new recipes while I'm here (sadly without my access to the Seward Coop or the Midtown Farmers' Market, which will take some getting used to), and so I shall continue posting!

Pasta with Slow Cooked Peppers and Onions


This is a dish originally inspired by a Jamie Oliver recipe we found in a cook book from the library. That dish had a cool name, but I completely forget what it was, and this recipe is significantly different from it anyway, aside from the core method of preparation. If you prepare no other pasta recipe I have offered you, try this one! It is exquisitely delicious (if I do say so myself!).

Ingredients
2 bell peppers (I used one green and one purple; yellow and red are quite excellent)
10 crimini mushrooms
1 onion
four cloves garlic
salt and pepper
1 lb pasta (penne or rigatoni)
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
Parmesan cheese

Procedure

You may have noticed that the ingredients list here is not terribly different from a typical pasta recipe - the difference here is all in the preparation!

Step 1: The Mushrooms. Wash and slice your mushrooms and dice your garlic. Heat some olive oil in a skillet (cast iron if possible!) and saute the mushrooms with about half the garlic, plus a little salt and pepper. Set aside. This keeps them from getting soggy later on.

Step 2: The Peppers. Cut your peppers into longish strips. Get a few tablespoons of oil heating in the skillet over low heat. Add the peppers, some salt and pepper and cover. Cook the peppers over low heat for about 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add more oil if it seems to be in danger of getting dry, Do not rush this process! This is where all the flavor comes from!


Step 3: The Rest. Slice up your onions (also in strips) and add them to the peppers. Cook these together for 10-15 minutes. This is a good time to put up some water to boil and begin cooking the pasta. After those 10-15 minutes, add a good couple slugs of balsamic vinegar, the rest of the garlic, and a hearty pinch of salt and pepper. Keep it cooking for another couple minutes, then turn off the heat and stir in the mushrooms, as well as a couple tablespoons of the pasta water. Combine with the pasta and serve with Parmesan. If the flavor feels off, add a little more vinegar or salt and pepper.


Tada! That's really all there is to it - I figure I must have riffed off this a little bit, but not terribly much. It's not terribly complicated, it just takes a little more patience than your average pasta dish. Again, I hope you enjoy this - it truly is worth the wait!

Portabella Burgers

So what is super fun to grill, easier to cook than a hamburger, twice as juicy, and doesn't involve the death of several cows to prepare? This dish! You know, this recipe is so simple that it doesn't even really bear my usual recipe format, but it is delicious, so try to squeeze it in before grilling season is over!

Basically, before you go outside to start your fire, get a big Ziploc bag. Take your portabellas, trim the stems and wash them (if you want to preserve the flavor as much as possible, you can wash them by wiping them with a damp paper towel) and place them in the bag. Pour a few glugs of olive oil and a glug or two of balsamic vinegar, plus a good bit of salt and pepper, and coat the mushrooms with these things (shake to distribute). Push out as much extra air as possible and seal the bag, leaving the mushrooms to marinate for an hour or so as you ready your fire and wait for the perfect coals.


Once the coals are ready, grill face down for a few minutes, then flip them right side up, adding cheese if desired.


After another few minutes, serve on a lightly toasted bun.


And that's it! I hope you enjoyed all the recipes from Minneapolis this past year, and I hope you enjoy the recipes from Tacoma this new year! Let's also hope Emily sends some recipes from Heqing, eh?

Cheers!

Iain

Mujaddara

Hello,

A long time ago (uh, probably about 2 years ago) my (Iain's) mother sent me a recipe for a dish that involved lentils, rice and onions that had turned up on the internet. A very simple affair, but it sounded good. Despite its relatively simple concept, the first several times I and my housemates tried to make it, it seldom neared the superbly scrumptious, no matter how I tarted it up with various spices and seasonings. After finally realizing that something just plain wasn't quite right, that I was missing something in the execution, I put this dish on the back burner for well over a year.

[No, I did not literally place it on the back burner for over year, although now that I typed that sentence, the concept does sound rather amusing. One can hardly have one's deposit reimbursed on a burned down house.]

A couple months ago, Bozzie, who had previously written down my doctored-to-the-point-of-butchery recipe as "Lempke's Lentils and Rice Thingy" in his recipe notepad, stumbled across a different version of the recipe. By a different version of the recipe I mean it was almost the same in almost every way. The main difference was that at this point, we were much better cooks than we had been those almost two years ago. This version got written down as "Esau's Favorite" in the notepad, that being an alternate name for the dish. He prepared it as instructed (although substituting Bulgar for rice), and the results were sublime. I've prepared it a few times since (without the help of a recipe, as I quickly became unable to find the one he used) with Bozzie, with Emily and by myself, and with the basic addition of liberality and patience, the ugly duckling of a recipe had turned into a... oh good grief, I'm not really using that cliche am I?

Lentils and Rice/Mujaddara/Esau's Favorite


Ingredients:
A little more than a cup of dry lentils
About 3/4 of a cup of rice (preferably white) or Bulgar wheat
About a quart of water or broth
2 medium to large onions
3/4 cup olive oil

Music Listened To:
The sound of onions sizzling in olive oil

Procedure:

1. Put the lentils in a pot and cover them with water or broth so that the broth goes at least an inch over the top of the lentils. Cover and set them to boil on medium high heat.

2. As the lentils do their thing, cut the onions in half, and then into thin slices (ideally actually a little thinner than shown in the picture below). Meanwhile, heat up the olive oil in a skillet (yes, you really will want the whole 3/4 cup listed above - the onions and oil are where the majority of the flavor comes from, so don't skimp!) and toss the onions in to sizzle. Turn down the heat and stir them occasionally for the next 20-40 minutes until they are crispy and a nice caramely color. This is one of the ways I went wrong earlier - skimping on the onions (only putting in one, with only a little oil) and rushing them (I think the original recipe said to let them do their thing for about 10 minutes. For the size of the strips I had cut, this was too short a time).


3. Once the lentils have gotten nice and soft, put in the rice and add at least a cup and a half more broth. If this doesn't cause the rice to be well-covered by liquid, add more until it is sufficient. Add salt and pepper, cover and boil on medium heat for 15-25 minutes, or until the rice is soft. With this dish, the softer the better, so gauge your proportions semi-liberally and carefully (I know, it sounds contradictory, right?) and try not to check on it until it is likely to already be done, as uncovering or stirring may interrupt the cooking process. This is the other way in which I went wrong before. I did not always give the rice enough water or broth, and I only let it boil as long as I would boil ordinary rice. The idea is to get it quite soft.

4. Put it together. Add about half the onions and oil to the lentils and rice and stir them in. Use the remaining onions and oil to top each serving. Season with a little salt and pepper.

As you've probably gathered, the procedure is quite simple, but requires a delicate hand. I encourage you to give it a try, and if it doesn't work the first time, try, try ag... more cliches? Seriously?

Iain & Emily's Tacos Verdes

Well, it's official. If we hadn't gone foodie before, we certainly have this time. Several weeks ago we decided to make some experimental tacos. We each focused on making about half of the components, while conferring with each other for the overall palette, and the end result was mindblowingly awesometacular. With that last sentence, I probably just gave away that it was Iain writing this paragraph.

This recipe is a little on the intensive side, but it didn't seem hard to make at the time, especially with two people working on them. It was mostly a really fun experience to make, and the combination of flavors hitting your tongue is exquisite. Think hearty yet crisp and fresh at the same time. Did your mouth start watering there? Yeah. I thought so.

Tofu Tacos Verdes

Ingredients
Salsa Verde
2 tomatillos, diced finely
1/8 cup onion, diced finely
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tbs lime juice
shake of garlic powder
1 Serrano pepper, minced and seeded

Onions/chili mixture
The rest of the onion, cut into rings
1 ancho pepper, diced
2 cloved garlic, minced
1 Serrano pepper, minced and seeded
1 green bell pepper

Tofu de Excellence
1 half of a container firm tofu, pressed
a few glugs vegetable oil
3/4 tsp cumin powder
small handful corn meal
chili powder
more cumin
salt

Other Components
5 flour tortillas
Habanero Jack Cheese (a little), grated
Tillamuk Cheddar Cheese (a lot), grated
1/2 can frijoles negros refritos (refried black beans)
cut up cilantro

Music Listened To
Putamayo's A Jewish Odyssey, courtesy of Emily's iPod.

Procedure

Well, I (Iain) shall begin be reporting on the parts I produced, and then I shall hand the keyboard over to Emily.

1. The salsa! After you've prepped all the above ingredients, turn to your friend, the food processor. Place 3/4 of tomatillos, the onion and the garlic in the blender and pulse it on low a few times. Mix with the remaining diced tomatillos and the other ingredients in a small mixing bowl and mix. Using the food processor is totally optional, but doing it this way gets most of the salsa nice and smooth, but still with chunky bits. Note that this will have a very potent taste, so don't overload your tacos with it.


2. The Tofu

• Press the tofu. Ideally, you should do this by placing it between two plates and putting something heavy on top (like a can), leaving it for 15-20 minutes. If you're short on time, just hold the tofu in your hands and squeeze it gently over the sink to release some of the water. Then cut the tofu into inch-sized cubes
  
• Generously oil a pan and put in 1/2- 3/4 tsp. cumin seed. Let blacken over high heat, then turn down to medium.
• Mix the corn meal, chili powder, ground cumin, and salt on a plate or shallow bowl. Roll or dip the tofu cubes into the dry mix and fry over medium heat 'til crispy, turning to fry each side and adding additional oil as necessary.
• When done, leave the skillet coated in the spice for the onion mix, and if you have leftover cornmeal mix, dump that in as well.
  

3. The Onion/Chili Mix

• Cut the onion into thin rings and saute over medium heat in the leftover spice mix from the tofu, adding more oil if needed.
• Add the diced ancho, followed by the serano and 2 cloves of garlic. We also threw in some minced cilantro stems, reserving the leaves for the top.
• Stir in the green pepper, then cook for a couple minutes more, removing while the pepper still has a bit of crunch.
• 

4. The Assembly

• Soften tortillas by placing in a dry skillet over high heat for 10-30 seconds a side.
  
• Put on a layer of beans, followed by some of the onion mix, then 4-5 pieces of tofu.
  
• Add cheese (if you get your hands on habernaro jack, a little goes a long way!), cilantro, and lettuce if desired, and drizzle a line or two of salsa, but take that easy because the flavor's quite intense! And enjoy, whether you're a foodie or not.
  

Mexican Suns! (with baked tortilla chips)

Ok, so maybe these aren't authentically Mexican. Having never been to Mexico, I (Emily) don't know much about what authentic Mexican food is. However, these taste good, come together quickly and easily, and look like suns when they're done.

This dinner resulted from Iain getting home from work, exhausted, after a 10 mile (mostly uphill) bike ride. I, having been home from work for several hours already, was excited to cook. So I decided to play around in the kitchen while Iain showered and woke up a bit. The Mexican food resulted from the fact that Iain decided to buy tomatillos and other delicious things at the co-op this week, and I happened to have frozen corn.

Don't be intimidated by the relatively long ingredient list, as the veggies can be easily subbed in and out for each other and proportions easily adjusted.

Mexican Suns!

Ingredients

• dash vegetable oil
• dashes of cumin, chili powder, and garlic powder (adjust to taste)
  
• 1 tomatillo, cut into small chunks or slices (feel free to use 2 if you've got them
• half an onion (I used red-- yellow or white would work too, I'm sure)
• 1-2 TBS tomato paste
• 1 canned chipotle pepper in sauce, chopped really small
• 1/2 green pepper, in small chunks
• 1 can beans, rinsed and drained (I used a mix of kidney, pinto, and black. Use whatever you've got)
• 1/2 bag frozen corn
• 1/2 yellow pepper, in small chunks
• 1 tomato, sliced or diced
• 1/2 c. grated cheddar or jack cheese
• bunch of cilantro, chopped
• 3-4 flour tortillas, sliced into 6-8 wedges

Procedure

• Prep the tortillas-- lightly oil a baking tray, place the tortillas on it (this may take two batches) and turn to coat. Sprinkle the wedges lightly with cumin, garlic powder, grated cheese, or a combination.
  
• Heat the vegetable oil and toss in a little cumin, garlic powder, and chili powder. Add the onion and saute over medium heat for a few minutes, until it grows translucent.
  
• Add the tomatillo. Cook over medium for a few minutes, then turn up to high for a minute or so in order to slightly brown the outsides. Turn back down to medium.
• Stir in the chipotle pepper, tomato paste, and green pepper. (I also like to add a little of the cilantro here.) Cook over medium for a few minutes, until the pepper is starting to soften.
• Add the corn, beans, and more of the cilantro, reserving a bit for the end. Add more cumin, chili powder, and garlic powder if desired.
• Once everything is heated through, remove from heat and stir in the tomato, yellow pepper, reserved cilantro, and some of the cheese.
  
• Broil the tortilla wedges for 1-3 minutes. Watch very carefully or they will burn.
• Serve, preferably in the shape of a sun, with bean mix in the middle (topped by more cheese) and wedges around the outside.

Beans & Rice

Hello everybody,

So, I (Iain) just flipped through the recent Yummies! posts and found that the last time I posted an actual recipe was in... February. Sad. Although I did participate in cooking many of the recent featured dishes. But still, the most recent post I did was a collaborative April fools dada extravaganza, so I'm here to fix that, by posting an EXTREMELY MINDBLOWINGLY DIFFICULT DISH TO MAKE.

So, ladies and gentlefolk, I give to you...

Beans and Rice - Boshenke Style


Ingredients
Beans
Rice

Procedure
Make beans and rice.

Tada!

Okay, for real this time...

Ingredients
1 cup uncooked brown rice (white works too)
2 14.5 oz cans of beans (I like to go with one black, one red)
1 can diced tomatoes
3 or 4 cloves garlic
garlic powder
cumin
chili powder
salt
black pepper
1 tbs olive oil

Optional Ingredients
1/4 to 1/2 white onion, diced
1 red chili, diced
ground coriander
a pinch of oregano
1 green pepper, diced
cheese

Music Listened To
Good lord this was long ago. I'm going to guess... Rodrigo y Gabriela

Procedure

1. Cook the rice (if you don't know how, you boil the 1 cup of rice in just over 2 cups of water in a covered pot).

2. Heat the olive oil in the skillet. If you're using onions, toss them in first to let them soften. Once that's done (or if you're skipping that), put in the beans, preferably drained. The main idea is just to let them heat through, so you don't need to heat them alone for long. Add the garlic and other seasonings and stir them in (choose your own proportions!). Let it simmer to let the flavors meld.

3. If you're using green pepper, go ahead and add it now. Once it's absorbed the water, add the rice and stir it in. Lastly add the tomatoes and let the whole thing heat through. Adjust seasonings as necessary.

4. Serve up in a big bowl and top with grated cheese (right now we have some habanero jack from the coop - intense!)


And that's really all there is to it. You can make this dish super simple, or actually kind of extravagant. It's cheap, delicious and very filling, and usually you get at least one or two good lunches out of the leftovers. Perfect Americorps food, in fact...

Thanks, and see you in like a month and a half!

(Joking)

(I hope)

Yin-Yang Pasta: Red and White Wine Sauces

Howdy, and a happy MLK day to all! (I attempted to contrive some sort of segue from that into talking about the food, but it sounded too stupid to even come off as ironic, so I say again unto you, happy MLK day, and I'll leave it at that!)

Today I bring to you two twin recipes, born of the same stock (that is, my brain), which shall... I entirely forgot where I was going with that sentence. In fact, almost everything I've tried to type in the way of an introduction I've just deleted immediately afterward. The little people managing my brain would like to apologize for the lack of coherence, and assure you my ability to communicate will be restored shortly.

In the meantime, here are the recipes.

Red and White Wine Pasta Sauces

Ingredients:
Both:
1 lb pasta (I used mostaccioli for the red and lemon pepper papardelle for the white)
olive oil
1/2 an onion, diced (I used red for the red and white for the white :) )
10-15 mushrooms, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
salt
pepper
basil and oregano


Red:
1/3 cup red wine of your choice
1 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes
1 healthy glug of balsamic vinegar

White:
1/3 cup white wine of your choice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 green pepper, diced
1 large tomato, diced


Music Listened To:
I don't actually remember what it was, but there is indeed a strong chance that it was my new Liz Carroll album entitled... Liz Carroll! On a side note, I have recently met the guitarist on that album, Dáithí Sproule over at the Session at Merlin's Rest, which was rather exciting. But, I digress...

Procedure:

1. Prepare the mushrooms: heat some olive oil in a skillet over high heat. You know, all of us have a different method of testing to see when the oil is ready. Emily's method involves putting in a little bit of the garlic and waiting for it to sizzle. Mine involves flicking water onto the oil and seeing if you hear a pop and sizzle. Bozzie's involves... I'm rambling again, aren't I?

When the oil is ready, add the mushrooms and begin sauteing over high heat. Add about a clove of the garlic, a pinch of basil and oregano and, lastly, a splash of the wine. Heat until the mushrooms drink up some of the wine. Set aside.


2. Do them onions: Heat some more olive oil in the skillet. You know, all of us have a different... (kidding!) Saute the onions over low heat. Be patient - the best results come if they are cooked slowly. If you're doing the red wine sauce, go for about 5 minutes. If white, more like 10, since you're aiming for a generally sweeter taste. Gesture dramatically as the aromas arise.


3. Combine stuff: Add the remaining garlic and wine. For the red wine sauce, dump in the tomatoes, bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer and add the vinegar and other seasonings. For the white, add the remaining olive oil and seasonings and similarly get simmering. Nice slow cooking. Oh yeah, if you haven't already, boil the pasta. Generally you want your sauce simmering about the same amount of time you have the pasta boiling.

4. About 3-5 minutes from the end, add the tomato and green pepper if you're making the white wine sauce. Stir the sauce constantly either way. This is a good time to taste and adjust the flavors as desired. I cannot argue with adding more garlic if not garlicky enough or adding more vinegar if the red sauce isn't tangy enough.

And that's pretty much it. Add to the pasta and serve with a glass of wine! My housemates gobbled these up, and the smell is pretty great while its cooking. I'd have to say my personal preference is for the red wine sauce due to the complexity of flavor you get from the red wine, but both are definitely quality Yummies. My rambliness seems to have calmed down for the time being, although a bit too late for you all. Sorry!