Bon Appetit's Summer Cooking Manifesto

Summer ingredients and cooking make me happy. Enjoy!

Hello, lover.

2011 Summer Goals

So Paul and I set a couple goals for this summer: 

1. Try not to kill our herbs. Specifically, the basil plant. 

This one is directed at me. In dire need of basil, I snipped the whole damn thing. Surprise! It dies. In typical overkill fashion, we went bananas and bought a ton more herbs and some tomato plants, as well as are trying to resurrect the dead (herbs) we already had.

2. Make flavored oils. But without giving ourselves botulism. 

Um, I was unaware this was a concern, until I started looking up how to make them. Holy hotcakes. I do not want that. 

3. Stop shopping at the local chain grocery store.  

It's too expensive. I can go in with a list of 10 things, and end up spending $100. I can't take it anymore. $8 for couscous? THEY ARE TINY BITS OF RICE(? OR PASTA?). whatever they are...no, thanks.


4. ADDED (as anticipated): Christine will learn how to grill meats. 


Yeah. This one is going to be good. 

I will be sure to update on our progress -- and knowing us, we'll probably either add like 8 more in. Or we'll attempt to do everything in the last two weeks of August. Or both.


Happy Summer, all!

June 9: Grilled Shrimp with Kale Leaves with Quinoa and Feta

Note: We added shrimp to the week's menu after realizing we had some picked up some from the grocery store the weekend before.

The shrimp we made here was based on the shrimp tikkas recipe we had learned at Naveen's cuisine.  We had about 1/2 pound of shrimp, so we cut down the spice amounts. We made a marinade of 1/2 tablespoon minced garlic, 1/2 tablespoon minced ginger, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper and 1/4 teaspoon garam masala. We didn't have garlic paste or ginger paste, so used minced versions -- and then put in less cayenne pepper than the recipe had originally suggested (1/2 teaspoon for 1 pound of shrimp) as well.

We used some fresh shrimp we had gotten at the meat/seafood counter. Naveen had suggested using uncooked shrimp, but felt that fresh or frozen would work. He had also recommended butterflying the shrimp before marinating it, which essentially consists of running your knife down the back of the shrimp, as you can see from the photo below.

Mad skillz.

The shrimp went into the marinade for about 30 minutes (they can sit up to 2 hours). 

Raw shrimp. Not so pretty here.

In the meantime, I washed and cut the stems from the kale leaves. I prefer just to eat the leaves -- the stems can be kind of tough for me. Kale is like spinach in the sense that it reduces down big time once you cook it. I know this looks like a ton of kale, but it really shrinks down.

The kale was cooked on the stove with a little olive oil. You'll see in the last picture how much it reduces down. 

Paul, the grill master, cooked the shrimp on the grill for about 5 - 7 minutes -- until they are no longer opaque. Here they are when first tossed on the grill...
 

Thank you, grill light! You are you handy when we make dinner at 9 p.m.

...and about 5 minutes later. The butterflying makes them curl up like that and look pretty. 
 

Um, there a few less shrimp in this photo. I think someone had a snack before dinner.

Alongside the kale and shrimp, I cooked up a quick cup of quinoa. We added some feta cheese crumbles to the kale, and topped the shrimp with some cilantro.

It turned out pretty good! I was impressed, even with messing with the spice ratios. I like keeping frozen shrimp in our freezer for a quick meal, and this would make great use of them as well (see below). Paul suggested that next time, we plate the kale on top of the quinoa. I ended up mixing everything together as I ate anyways. 


Update: We made the shrimp recipe again recently for a larger group, and this time used the recipe amounts (1 pound of frozen uncooked shrimp) and the correct ingredient ratios: 1 tablespoon minced garlic, 1 tablespoon minced ginger, 1/2 teaspoon garam masala, 3 tablespoons vegetable oil and 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper (I still kept this a little lower than suggested because I didn't want people to think it was too spicy). We marinated them for about 2 hours and then cooked them up on the grill for about 7 minutes. They went FAST. Our guests really enjoyed them. I love having a quick backup recipe like this that I can make with the ingredients I have in the house or that I am comfortable bringing with us to another party.

June 7: Recipes from Naveen's Cuisine

Inspired by our Indian cooking class at Naveen's Cuisine, we decided to try to make two of the dishes we learned that evening -- kachumbar (vegetable salad) and murgh curry (curry chicken).

(Since Naveen doesn't list these recipes on his website, I'll describe what we're including and how much of each ingredient. We also doubled the salad recipe because we had 2 cucumbers from the produce box that week.)

First, we started to make the kachumbar. To make the salad, you chop up a ton of vegetables, and marinate them in lime and spices. No oil needed. Our first step was to peel and chop two cucumbers. 

Then dice up a cup of red radishes. 

Dice two cups of tomatoes.

Cutting those tiny V-shapes is my go-to method for "coring" (if that's even the right word) tomatoes.

We combined all of this into one bowl.

We minced 1/2 cup of red onion and chopped 4 tablespoons of fresh cilantro. All of that also went into the bowl.

Then we mixed the "dressing" -- 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of garam masala (we did not have chat masala, which is what the recipe calls for), and the juice of two limes.  This is covered in saran wrap and goes into the fridge for 15 to 30 minutes to marinate.

According to what I found online, chat masala and garam masala are not interchangeable. Oops.

On to the curry!

This is my job...Paul gets a little emotional over onions. They're just onions, Paul!

The coloring is a little hard to see here, but this is a TON of chopped ginger. Ton being the exact measurement we used.

We heated 4 tablespoons of oil in the pan, then added the ginger, onion and garlic and cook (with the lid on) until golden brown. Next, we added the chicken, and cooked it for 7 minutes or until the meat starts to turn brown.

The recipe called for ground coriander. We had "full-sized" coriander, so we used our coffee bean grinder to make it into ground coriander. The coffee tasted -- interesting the next morning. 

"Full-sized" coriander? Now I'm just making stuff up.

We added in 3/4 teaspoon turmeric, 3/4 teaspoon garam masala, 2 teaspoons of ground coriander, and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper. We cooked this mixture with the chicken for about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Then, we added 1 cup of chopped tomatoes, and mixed everything in well. Then we added 2 - 3 cups of water, so the chicken became completely submerged. Everything is brought to to a boil and cooked on medium heat until tender.

We served the curry chicken on a bed on white rice, topped with some chopped fresh cilantro. 

 

The curry came out nice and spicy -- especially the sauce. The curry came out less thick than we remembered, so maybe we cooked it down more during the class. 


So as I mentioned earlier, we had used garam masala instead of chaat masala for the vegetable salad. It tasted good, but I remember absolutely loving this salad-- so the next time I make it -- I would definitely use the again with the chaat masala instead.

June 10: Bacon and Pea Risotto, with Warm Spinach Salad

I was reading Food & Wine magazine, and came across Tom Colicchio's pea and bacon risotto recipe. Bacon and risotto? Um, yes please. Paul is on a mission to perfect his risotto making, and this looked like a tasty dinner recipe to try. We invited over our friends Matt & Molly to partake in the risotto attempt, and help fuel any failures with lots of red wine.


Warning: please note this recipe came from Food AND Wine magazine. We took that very seriously.


We had some proscuitto e melone (prosciutto-wrapped cantaloupe) to prevent us from getting "hangry" (hungry + angry). 

Paul's fave. I tried to add basil. But he wouldn't let me "ruin it" with any extra ingredients. Fair.

Paul diced and started cooking up the bacon.

Mmmmmmm. Bacon.

While the cooked bacon was resting (1 tablespoon of the bacon fat reserved), Paul began making the pea puree. Take half (1 cup) of the thawed peas, add one cup of water and puree. He also put the 7 cups of chicken stock in a pot on the stove to start warming it up (a key component in our risotto making).

Bottle #1 of wine? Done. Wine is critical with culinary spectating.

Cook 1 small onion (minced) in 2 tablespoons of olive oil for about 5 minutes. Then toss in the arborio rice, and stir until it is coated in the oil. Add the 1/2 cup of dry white wine and cook until almost evaporated. 

Note: You may want to set aside the wine you need for your recipe before your wife gets home and friends arrive. Wine tends to disappear fast, and you don't want to be left with none for your recipe. Ahem. 

What's nice about having other people over, is that they help take photos.

Add enough warmed chicken stock to cover the rice. Stir frequently (I think continuously is nearly impossible and probably counterproductive. We welcome debate on this issue.), until the stock is absorbed into the rice. Add a ladle of warm stock once the previous amount has been absorbed and continue to stir. Keep adding stock until it is gone, or until you think the rice is nearly cooked (this is determined by tasting it to see when it is just short of al dente). 

It's a good workout.

Add the pea puree, the remaining cup of frozen peas, and bacon, and stir until warmed. If you let the rice absorb too much of the liquid from the pea puree, it will be overcooked. I like the description used in that recipe -- cook until the rice is suspended in a creamy sauce.

Once warmed, take off the heat and add in the Parmesan cheese, butter, bacon fat and lemon juice. 

Added a little extra Parmesan cheese. Can't hurt, right?

I pulled together a warm spinach salad from a recipe I found online. After slicing red onion thinly with the mandolin, I cooked them on medium heat with some olive oil on the stove to soften them up. 

Cooking them down makes the onion breath a little better.

Then, make the vinaigrette, by whisking together vinegar, agave, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper. To emulsify, slowly drizzle in olive oil while whisking.

Whisking furiously!

Once the onions are cooked through, add the vinaigrette and the rinsed canned beans to the pan. Warm the pan ingredients. 

Top the spinach leaves with the warm bean/onion/vinaigrette mixture. 

I really liked this salad! The spinach leaves softened up when the warm bean/onion mix was placed on top. The vinaigrette was nice and sweet, and the beans added a bit of a creamy texture to the salad. 


P.S. Paul protested the posting of this picture. 
P.P.S. Say that five times fast. Alliteration is cool. 

Risotto, anyone? 

The risotto looked (and tasted great)! It had a little of a greenish tinge because of the pea puree. You could definitely taste the bacon, but it was not overpowering. The texture was great -- just a little toothiness to the rice, but bacon, onion and peas were nice and soft. Tommy C. (we're buds like that now) suggested that we pair this with pinot noir. OKAY. We still had a little left over to try this paring. Very tasty. 

To cap off the meal, we had a delicious dessert prepared by Molly. She made an awesome warm berry mix to cover angel food cake. She had also made homemade whipped cream and brought some delicious (real!) vanilla ice cream to add on top. 

Raspberries, blueberries and blackberries. I love summer.

And we had to have one more cocktail that matched up with dessert. Hello prosecco. 

The fruit makes it healthy!

The creator of this concoction (scoop of ice cream in the prosecco), shall remain nameless.

I cropped the culprit out of this photo.

Yum! The warm berries and cold ice cream made a delicious combination. (Note: I ate this for dessert for the next five days. I almost couldn't wait to get through dinner to have this for dessert!)

Delicious!

June 8: Carrot Soup with Cilantro alongside Brie and Spinach Grilled Cheese

As part of our 5 nights of blog posts resurgence, we chose one of the hottest days of the year to make soup. (Oh well.) We saw a recipe in our weekly produce newsletter for Carrot Soup with Cilantro, and decided it would be delicious with sourdough grilled cheese sandwiches.

I almost ran out of room on this cutting board. Holy carrots.

Chop up a ton of carrots (1 1/2 pounds), then add 1/2 pound of cubed sweet potatoes and one diced apple. We used a Gala apple we had in the house.

Woohoo, beta carotene.

This recipe was our first time using fennel seeds! Toast the fennel seeds in the pan with the heated vegetable oil for about 3 minutes before adding in the other ingredients.

Whatever, people. We were excited.

Then add the carrots, apple and sweet potatoes into the pot and cook for 5 minutes.

Someone (okay, me) was getting a little frantic trying to get the last ingredients (rice, turmeric, vegetable stock and bay leaf) in the pot, and may have caused a bit of a turmeric explosion. You know what stains? Turmeric. Paul had an interesting clean up idea.

I have to admit, it worked. Paper towels made it smeary.

Okay, back to the task at hand. Everything was finally in the pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for about 30 minutes to get all the vegetables to soften.

While the soup cooked, Paul started making the spinach and brie sandwiches. We had gotten some great savoy spinach in the produce box, so we washed and chopped up the leaves.

We lightly buttered slices of sourdough bread, filled with spinach leaves and slices of brie cheese. We toasted these on the stove much like regular grilled cheese sandwiches.

Once the soup was finished cooking, I strained out the vegetables (and the bay leaf, which you throw away) and pureed them in batches in the food processor with a little bit of the broth. The directions said to just use a little bit of broth to puree the vegetables, but I still had quite a bit of broth left over once I finished pureeing everything. I decided to stir in the thickened puree with the remaining broth in the pot, while on a low heat. This helped incorporate the two together. I figured this would make it more soup-like vs. a plain vegetable puree.

Soup!

We topped the soup with a little chopped cilantro.

Do not adjust your television sets. It was really this bright orange.

The small grilled cheese sandwiches also came out nicely.

Crunchy toasted bread with cheese AND a vegetable? Yes, please.

While the soup wasn't the quickest to make, it was pretty easy. Even without cream, it was not too thin. I wasn't a fun of the light brie, and would go for regular brie next time. I did think the spinach leaves gave it a nice touch. I think the soup/sandwich combo will be a part of our easy dinner rotation.

Green Thumbs (Hopefully!)

I'm pulling for you, little parsley buddy.

Paul and I decided to restock our sad and dying herbs. I had over-picked, under-watered, and then (oops) left them to dry out during our 90+ degree hot spell last week. We had like one sad yellowy-green sprig of Italian parsley left (see above), and a very dried out rosemary plant. The basil had long ago kicked the bucket. 

While we were grocery shopping this weekend, we found fresh herbs that could be easily sustained (no potting) and picked up a few more: basil, Italian parsley and some cilantro.

Of course, we got all motivated then -- and decided to buy some tomato plants, plant some garlic, as well as try to "save" the sad Italian parsley and the rosemary. What are we, some sort of horticultural Florence Nightingale? This will be the true test of if we're any good at keeping things alive. 

Our ill-fated tomato plants. 

P.S. I'm already concerned about leaving them when we travel at the beginning of July for a couple days. It's so soon after we got them! Are they going to be okay with out me? Should I have someone come check in on them? Reality check, Christine: they are plants. They cost $2. If they bite it, it'll be okay. Killing plants? Not anything new around here.