Roasted Veggies

Roasting vegetables is a great way to cook when you're feeling lazy. I threw carrots, potatoes, shallots, garlic into a pan and roasted them adding broccoli di cicco towards the end to cook them too, just for not as long. Just try to get vegetables in a size where they'll all finish cooking at the same time. With this I had a potato leek soup and 3 hard boiled eggs. It's so simple being vegetarian!

Tater Tots, Mac and Cheese, and Broccoli Di Cicco

i was dreaming about tater tots since Sunday after going to a cute little restaurant called Q. i wanted to attempt to make them from scratch, add leeks, and serve them with some creme fraiche. i came close to figuring it out, but they didn't hold up.

i started at the ferry building farmers market and told the potato stand my plans and for a recommendation, and it was, "definitely the Yukon golds". i also picked up some of the most beautiful leeks i had ever had, there was just so much white, which is a result of adding dirt around the leeks as they grow to keep them from the sun.



after googling around, it seemed that the instructions are to first cook the potatoes then shred them into chunks at the consistency you'd expect or maybe right down to mashed if you like that kind of tot. between boiling and baking the potatoes i went with baking because i assumed that the water would be trouble. after cooking, i peeled and grated the potato mixed in with sauteed leeks, added a little flour, thyme, salt and pepper. i think i needed to de-oil the leeks a lot more since it effected how well the tots were holding together. to get the tot shape, i piped the mixture through a bag. i imagined myself cutting them off like gnocchi into a deep fryer, but i had neither a sharp enough knife or a deep fryer so i just piped it out onto a surface and cut it up.

frying the tots just failed, they fell apart... probably because i have no idea how to fry stuff and the mixture had too much oil or needed more binding help. so i just put them on a sheet and threw them in the oven which left the tots not nearly crispy enough.

i decided to make a mac and cheese with some irish cheddar, parm, with a layer of cheese baked on top. simple and more classic. mac and cheese really is not enough to stand up on its own, it usually wants a pair. broccoli works well, but i didn't mix it in. i found my favorite broccoli at the farmers market, broccoli di cicco. it is very much like rapinni, except it is less bitter, if bitter at all. i sauteed it in some olive oil, dried garlic, red-pepper flakes, salt and squeezed some lemon juice on top of it before eating it.

i just didn't have the skill to execute this all correctly, or perhaps the equipment and time. it was good, all the right flavors were there.

Poached Pears, Blue Cheese, Toasted Pecans, Pasta

I was roaming the supermarket ready to buy some parmesan for some fettucine alfredo when I spotted some gorgonzola. It looked kinda cheap from its packaging, and I wanted the stiltston but it was too expensive so I opted for pt. reyes blue. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.

The recipe for this, although it might have had wilted spinach, came from a dinner I had with my cousin at this restaurant that I did not like called Luella. I saw Dave Chapelle that night.

I remember eating a veggie hot dog the next day telling the girl who cooked it that the hot dog was better than the meal I had had last night. It was.

Anyway, my version came out good. Could've been better had I had some walnuts. Anyway, here it goes.

2egg/yolk farina 00 pasta
organic half and half
european butter
grated parmesean
pt. reyes blue
toasted pecans
1 red and 1 green d'anjou pear poached
mint

Free Soul Food

When I got to work, this CSA box I was eyeing that belonged to a coworker who left the company was still sitting there. Laura, at the front desk, said George said I could have it. Thanks George!! I didn't take everything, but I love free veggies.

I thought about what to cook all day, nothing new, but ended up coming up with a super ambitious list:

• Kale and Potato Soup
• Cornbread or Biscuits or Cornbread Biscuits
• Sauteed Collards, dried cranberries, vinegar
• Beans and Rice
• Fried Butternut Squash
• Grilled Pineapple Baked Tofu, (Southern Egg dish?)
• Poached Pears (w/ice cream?)

Of these things I made none of them.

I got home a bit cramped for time, and still had to clean the kitchen... so I just blindly threw the squash in the oven, with as many potatoes I could also fit in the dish. roasted a garlic too.

I decided to go with a recipe included with the veggies for the collards, spicy collard greens.

Basically slice up a pepper, add garlic, and an onion, saute them, add the collards, cover with water and simmer on low heat for about 2 hours.

I had to decide between corn bread and biscuits now... both are quick breads so it was a coin flip... I still had a bunch of "meat"balls in the fridge and decided that would be my protein so I thought I might make a little sausage biscuit sandwich... and thats what I did. I love how I actually have a pantry now and can whip stuff like this up on the fly... I used Alice's "cream biscuits" recipe.

Ok, now that's covered what the hell do I do with the squash? Puree is the most obvious at this point I think... but I just don't think it fits. Then I thought about what my mom does to kombucha, she smashes them and fries them. I could do this with the squash! only problem is that it is way too wet... so I put the smashed roasted squash in a pan and dried it out, shaped it into patties and dunked them in a batter made of milk, flour, egg, and cornmeal. Fried them in peanut oil... it was good, but the center was of course not stiff at all... I think I shouldve sliced the squash and battered it instead of roasting it first, but I did manage to sneak in some roasted garlic which helped the overall flavor of it. Something to experiment with again in the future...

So in the end,

Spicy Slow Cooked Collared Greens
Seasoned Fake-meat biscuit "sliders"
Roasted Potatoes with Thyme
Fried Cornmeal Battered Butternut Squash and Roasted Garlic

the only problem is that I'm still craving all that other stuff I actually planned on cooking...

Spaghetti(ni) and *Meat*balls

I told myself I would try to eat out more this week, but I couldn't help it and ended up cooking. I am attempting to increase my protein intake, and I wanted some spaghetti and marinara since lunch. So wandering around the supermarket I decided to buy a tube of their fake meat... its really not the best product, but I thought I could spice it up.

"Meat"balls (Alice's recipe uses beef and pork)




1 tube of fake meat (1lb?)
salt and pepper
olive oil
day-old acme baguette, no crust, ripped to small pieces and soaked in milk
cayenne
half onion shredded
1 clove garlic ground into paste
chopped oregano
chopped parsley
1 egg

fried in olive oil

I made a simple tomato sauce with a regular sized can of organic tomatoes (no san marzanos at the local store cause they suck), the other half of the onion sliced, my italian spice mix that has dried garlic, red pepper and parsley. half a small carrot shreded. grated parmesean.

and instead of spaghetti i made fresh spaghettini with 00 farina and some eggs with that omega fat my weight lifting book recommends.

kale,tofu,rice,potatoes and peas

I could not have possibly attempted to cook more dishes today after like 7pm. I'm exhausted. But I succeeded in producing a lot of variety.

- Apple and Parsnip Soup
The soup was something that I had in Seattle and attempted to replicate poorly, I had too many apples in there probably prepared incorrectly. I ended up adding some spices, like nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom, ground cumin, and salting it. It became a bit more savory, and had a lot of flavor but I missed the mark on this one.

- "Aloo Mutter" - Potatoes and Peas with tomatoes and spices

This came out pretty good, I haven't ever really attempted indian food due to the number of spices that I don't own. I had time today though and went to the organic market. I got tiny quantities of every single spice I needed out of the bulk containers. It ended up being like 4 bucks, and I probably tripled up on everything. I cooked the potatoes separately in tumeric, and pureed sauteed tomatoes, shallot, green chile, garlic, and ginger. threw it all together with some toasted cumin seeds, put some more spices in and added peas.
- Basmati Rice (plain)
just cooked in a rice cooker, no butter.

- Steamed Dinosaur Kale w/herb nut sauce (pumpkin, cashew, cilantro, parsley, olive oil)
The kale was steamed in winter broth, and tossed with herb nut sauce.

- Grilled Savory Baked Tofu (Packaged)

- "Apple Hill" Cake
This recipe comes from my sister, she sent it to me in my email today. I think she's been making it since we were kids living at our parents house. It came out okay, a bit more moist than I'd like it but its fool proof, thats what my sister says. she's right.

- Chai, to go with the cake... maybe in the morning, no caffeine at this hour.


(might fill in details later, food coma time)

squash soup, polenta, and pasta

I think on a cold day, spending the bulk of it with the oven on and a soup pot going is pretty chill.
another winter dinner,

• Roasted Butternut Squash Soup, sage, winter broth
• Grilled Polenta, truffle oil, light Parmesan
  
• Roasted Red and Orange Bells, roasted garlic, lemon zest, leeks, and butter tossed fettuccine
  

A great soup starts with great broth, this is my 3rd run at Greens' winter broth in the past week, it really is something special.

to it I added a butternut squash I roasted. one clove of roasted garlic, then blended it up in a little broth. I added cream and more broth until the thickness was correct, then put in some sage leaves and let it simmer some more to mix it up. salt.

the soup was fantastic.

I busted out my grill pan to make some grilled polenta, first I made a 1 cup of poelnta, added some oil I had some shave himilayan truffles chilling in, and added the shavings too. spread it out on a cookie sheet, shaped up to an inch. let it cool. and grilled it after brushing it with olive oil.

needs practice.

i made some pasta, the 00 flour is really a treat. i'm getting used to doing the dough in the food processor now, i was a bit resistant to it, but its saving a lot of time and the consistency is getting better. I also discovered an old paper bag makes for a good pasta drying rack!

the sauce was just butter, sauteed some leeks in it, peeled and sliced the roasted peppers, and put a few cloves of the roasted garlic. added a little lemon zest and tossed the fresh noodles into it.