Month 11 day 16: Korean BBQ (for the third time?)

Today I made:
Korean Short Ribs, Food & Wine Magazine December 2010
Gingered Green Beans, Food & Wine Magazine December 2010

G likes short ribs, so we've done a few recipes over the year. Here was one more, by Food & Wine. It was sort of a peculiar recipe, with daikon and an Asian pear (although G went grocery shopping, and could only find western pears) in the marinade. It seemed like a waste! These were good, but not spectacularly better than the ones we've had so far, so we're not keeping this recipe.

I served it with rice and these gingered green beans. Although they refer to ginger in their name, the real dominant flavor is spice! They have a good helping of red pepper in them. You could barely taste the ginger at all. They were good, but I don't think we'll keep that recipe either. I like green beans that are sautéed with a lot of garlic though, yum!

Month 11 day 15: Kale and bacon pasta and banana cocoa

Today I made:
Orecchiette with Kale, Bacon, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Cooking Light December 2010
Banana Cream, Food Network Magazine December 2009

For dinner we made this light pasta, which is seemingly-healthy, except that everything is cooked in bacon fat-- yum! It's a very quick recipe. The kale is thrown in with the pasta for the last couple minutes to cook. The garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, and red pepper are cooked in the drippings from the bacon, which is crumbled over the top. Everything is just thrown together at the end and topped with some lemon juice, which gives it a sort of odd, out of place tang.

I don't normally choose recipes with sun-dried tomatoes since I don't like them very much, but G commented that he really likes them. I didn't remember that! So maybe we should try it more often. This was a good recipe, although G pointed out that he liked the Sunday Sauce more! It's hard for vegetables to compete with meat, I guess :-P

After dinner I whipped up this cocoa. The recipe isn't online, but it's just 1.5 c milk, 1/2 banana, 1 T sugar, 1/2 t cinnamon, and 2.5 oz chocolate chips melted in. You're supposed to puree it, but I didn't want to dirty another dish so I just mashed up the banana as I stirred. It's ok, but not spectacular. Blending it might have helped, but I think also it might just make a better milkshake than a cocoa.

Month 11 day 14: This dinner brought to you by the color yellow

Today I made:
Buttery Pigeon [yellow split] Pea Dal (Mitti Handi Dal), Food & Wine December 2010
Spiced Potatoes (Aloo Bhaji), Food & Wine December 2010
Served with Trader Joe's garlic naan and chai tea (decaf Tetley's British Blend simmered with cloves, cardamom, a cinnamon stick, and milk)

Today I made an Indian dinner. The grocery store didn't have quite exactly all the spices called for, or pigeon peas for that matter, so we had to make a few substitutions, but it ended up being pretty good. There was a lot of tumeric in everything, which is why everything is so yellow. Also a lot of cumin seeds. These are both pretty quick recipes, taking about 30 minutes of hands on time each (the peas take an additional ~30 minutes of soaking first), so that was nice. They were pretty flavorful too. I didn't have quite 2 lbs of yukon gold potatoes, so I threw in a sweet potato (a white-fleshed kind) in just for fun. It looked identical to the normal potatoes, but every once in a while you'd get a very sugary piece! Kind of fun.

Month 11 day 13: Curry breakfast and spaghetti dinner

Today I made:
Eggs Poached in Curried Tomato Sauce, Cooking Light December 2010
Spaghetti with Sunday Sauce, Food and Wine December 2010

I made this flavorful dish for brunch today. It's got garlic, ginger, jalapeño, curry powder, coconut milk, and cilantro and tastes really good. It reminded us of an Asian version of shakshuka, which I made a while back. I liked this one more, and so did G.

For dinner I made this slow-cooked meat sauce and pasta. I've heard a lot about Italian-American traditional Sunday sauces, but had never taken the time to make one before. It was different than I expected-- it's less a sauce than it is a bunch of shredded meat with a little bit of tomato puree. Not surprisingly, G really liked it, saying it reminded him of this hearty rigatoni from a couple months ago. This didn't have that much flavor, though. It was just seasoned with some rosemary and thyme. It seems overly long and time-intensive for what it is, but G liked it a lot so I guess we'll be keeping the recipe!

Month 11 day 12: Swedish meatballs minus the meatballs

Today I made:
Köttbullar med Potatismos ([Ikea] Swedish Meatballs with Mashed Potatoes), Saveur December 2011
served with steamed green beans

This recipe was for making Swedish meatballs along with mashed potatoes and gravy. But, I had Ikea meatballs in the freezer, so I just planned to make the mashed potatoes and gravy from the recipe. I feel like maybe those weren't the best parts of the recipe-- the gravy didn't get very thick, and the ratio of liquid to potatoes was just way too much. So everything ended up being a little bit liquidy :-P The spices in the meatball recipe sound good though, so maybe it's worth trying that someday.

Month 11 day 11: Thai fish chowder

Today I made:
Thai Fish Chowder, Every Day with Rachael Ray December 2011

Mom saw this recipe on my list and thought it sounded really good. It was a really fast, one-pot recipe, so I think it had that appeal too after yesterday's multi-hour, multi-dirty-dish, pokey croquembouche adventure. It has very few ingredients (it's in the $12 dinner section of the magazine), with no prep since it uses coleslaw mix. We couldn't get green curry paste at Trader Joe's, so we used about a third of a bottle of their green curry simmer sauce. It did end up costing just about $12 and 10-20 minutes. It tasted great, too! Nice and fresh. This recipe is definitely a keeper.

Today we also assembled a yule log (of sorts) from the extra cream filling from the croquembouche. Mom made a cake from one of her cookbooks, since the recipe I had in mind from Saveur had pretty poor reviews. Since we used filling and not normal frosting, it came out pretty terrible looking and the "branch" on top slipped off! Oh well, it tasted good. Luckily we had some plastic decorations that made it look more deliberate.

Nailed it!

Month 11 day 10: Croquembouche

Today I made:

Croquembouche, Food Network Magazine December 2009

We had a potluck to go to today, so for some excitement my mom encouraged me to make a croquembouche. Essentially, a croquembouche is a pyramid of cream puffs held together with a hard caramel candy. This one had cream puffs filled with vanilla cream or chocolate-coffee cream.

This recipe has several preps and several coolings, but it manages to fit together somehow (especially with Mom as a sous chef!) We started with the cream fillings, which take 12 egg yolks! We used vanilla extract instead of beans but otherwise followed the recipe as normal. While that cooled we had some lunch and then started making the choux pastry. Choux pastry is kind of strange because it gets cooked in a saucepan for a bit, which I don't think happens with most doughs. Instead of piping it, I just scooped it onto the parchment-paper-lined sheets and then smoothed it out. Luckily, it still puffed up beautifully! I poked holes in them and set them to cool.

While those cooled we went on a walk, and by the time we returned it was time to finish the filling and assemble. The puddingy filling gets softened out with whipping cream (whipped to soft peaks). Our vanilla filling had set up quite well because it was in a wide, shallow dish, so it was pretty hard to "fold in" to the soft whipped cream. It was also hard to pipe into the pastries, maybe because of the clumps. The chocolate filling on the other hand was in a narrow, deep dish, and was still almost luke-warm after a couple hours in the fridge. It folded into the whipped cream beautifully and piped easily.

While I filled the pastries Mom started the caramel-- just sugar, water, and some corn syrup. Once that was done, I just dipped the cream puffs into the caramel and tried to get them to stick together, then flailed some more caramel around to try to get the "spun" sugar. It didn't quite make the thin strands that it's supposed to (well, this happened, and one poked Mom, but they didn't happen when they were supposed to), but it still looked nice. And everything got eaten!

This evening I am having tea in one of the cups that had rock-hard caramel coating the bottom and it is very sweet! I think this caramel would make nice lollipops. It made really cool patterns as it cooled.

Month 11 day 9: Chicken, chard, and pumpkin

Today I made:

Chicken Baked on a Bed of Bread and Swiss Chard, Food & Wine December 2010
Ginger-Roasted Winter Squash, Food & Wine December 2010

I'm at home, where I have access to my parents' California backyard garden, teeming with all kinds of greens-- lettuces, komatsuna, mizuna, chard, kale, broccoli, and also rhubarb, beets, and eggplants (with snow peas on the way). I picked this recipe to make to spotlight their chard, along with Dad's freshly baked bread (and chicken from the freezer, meaning that we had everything on hand for this recipe!). (We had to buy a pumpkin for the side, though.)

The chicken was a hands-off one-pot meal. The chard and bread get tossed and seasoned (we left out capers and used black raisins, not golden, and onions, not shallots), and then the chicken just gets set on top and put in the oven. But after the recommended roasting time, the chicken was still quite red, so I think maybe it hadn't been entirely defrosted. We had to let it go an additional 20 minutes or so maybe, but by then the skin was crispy and the bread had soaked up the delicious chicken juices. It seemed like a nice Thanksgivingy dish that could be done for a small crowd.

The winter squash is supposed to bake for a really long time, but I just cut a pumpkin in half, deseeded it, and steamed it in the microwave until soft before slicing it and roasting as directed. I used dried cranberries instead of currants, and people liked that. The vinegar flavor seemed weird with sugarpie pumpkin, and the ginger flavor didn't come through too well (maybe we didn't quite use a full 1-inch piece, or maybe the microwave treatment didn't let it do its thing).

Month 11 day 8: Vanilla-spiced Nuts and buttermilk chicken

Today I made:
Vanilla-Spice Nuts, Cooking Light December 2010
and G made:
Buttermilk Ranch Chicken, Every Day with Rachael Ray December 2011 (not pictured)

Originally I tried to organize a cookie exchange party for today, but only one person signed up :( He decided to make cookies anyway and bring them to G and me, so I made these nuts to share with him. I also baked up some brown sugar cookies from dough that has been in our freezer, but they all got stuck to the cookie sheet and broke :( I ended up eating them all myself instead of sharing the broken shards. These nuts were super easy to make, but I wasn't sure about the flavor in the end. It tasted too strongly of egg for me.
We had another potluck to go to today, so while the nuts were in the oven I mixed up the marinade for the buttermilk ranch chicken. Then I had to tutor, so it was actually G who cooked the chicken up. He liked the recipe because it was easy (easy when someone does all the marinating for you ;) ). The chicken was really juicy-- maybe because of the buttermilk? It all got eaten at the potluck, so I guess other people liked it too!

Month 11, day 7: Chickpea Crostini

Today I made:
Chickpeas and Spinach with Smoky Paprika, Cooking Light December 2010

Tonight was a lab holiday party, which is a potluck. Our professor makes turkey and ham, so we're supposed to bring sides or desserts-- but the desserts are always in a different room and almost never get touched, so it's really better to bring a side. It's hard to think of side dishes though! I chose to make this crostini topper, which I figured would be tasty even at room temperature. In fact, we cooked this in the Dutch oven and carried it in a cardboard box so it didn't burn my lap in the car, and so it was still pretty warm when we got to the party. Unfortunately, we got there too late to make a label that indicated that it went with the bread, so I think people were just eating it like a stew. Oh well, I guess it's still good that way. I thought it was pretty tasty, and it's not to difficult either.

Month 11 day 6: Two-tone enchiladas

Today I made:
Christmas-Style Stacked Enchiladas, Food Network Magazine December 2009

These enchiladas look really great in the magazine, but the recipe is pretty weird actually. For example, the red sauce has 1 cup of chili powder and 5 cups of water, and ends up being as liquidy as you might expect (it simmers for just 15 minutes, so it's not like it reduces too much). But the whole thing is baked on a baking sheet, so it's kind of a problem to have a lot of liquid! I wish I had just made like 2/5 c chili powder in 2 cup of water. I guess I will freeze the left over "sauce" for the next time I made chili. Another thing about the recipe I thought was scary is that the green sauce has 3 4-oz cans of green chile peppers AND 1.5 teaspoons of red pepper flakes. Normally recipes call for like 1/4 tsp and are plenty hot! Since I've been burned (literally) in the past by canned green chiles, I decided to use just 2 cans and put in a full can of tomatoes instead of one cup. I just did a sprinkling of red pepper flakes. With these modifications, the sauce was still punchy but not overwhelming.
The enchiladas are supposed to be topped with a fried egg, but I don't like runny yolks, so I did more of a bit of a scramble. G thought the egg was a good touch. We have just a small amount of enchiladas left, but we do have a decent amount of each sauce, so I think we'll have that on scrambled eggs tomorrow for breakfast.

By the way, "Christmas-style" just refers to the fact that there's both a green sauce and a red sauce. It doesn't really have anything to do with the season!

Month 11 day 5: Salmon and Spuds

Today I made:
Arctic Char Salmon with Mushrooms, Food Network Magazine December 2009
Golden Butter-Crisped Spuds, Every Day with Rachael Ray December 2011

We haven't been at home much this month, since we took a long weekend trip to New York for an interview for G. And we'll both be going home for Christmas for a bit, so I think this month will be pretty sparse.

Anyway, today I finally got the chance to cook, but I had to go to the grocery store first so I opted for some quick recipes. The potatoes take about 35 minutes (boiling 15 minutes, baking 20), but for prep it's just a matter of quartering them, so it's pretty fast. The fish recipe is listed as 25 minutes, but really it's just cooking the fish  and the mushrooms for about 8 minutes each, which can be done in parallel. So pretty fast.

We both loveedddd these potatoes! It's really just potatoes with a good amount of butter, and some salt and pepper-- so how could you go wrong? They're boiled to the point of softness, and do start crumbling during the toss-with-butter step, but after being baked, they get so nice and crispy with a butter frond. It's really great, even though it's so simple.

The salmon is also cooked on the stovetop and then finished off in the oven. The mushrooms and shallots are sautéed separately, and then seasoned with mustard, red wine vinegar, chives (I just used green onion, close enough?) and parsley. In the magazine picture it looks like more of a sauce, but I didn't measure out 3 tablespoons of oil, so I think that is why mine was more of a solid relish.

Month 11 day 4: Salmon and mashed potatoes

Today I made:
Salmon-Potato Bake, Every Day with Rachael Ray, December 2011
with roasted butternut squash

Rachael Ray often has these quick, few-ingredient recipes in the front of the magazine-- like 10 per page, just a jumble of quick ideas described in about five sentences or less. Often they're pretty weird, or they're just for appetizers or sauces or something, but we thought this one sounded good. It's very simple-- it's just salmon with mashed potatoes on top. It's supposed to have some dill too, but I don't care for it. I thought about putting in some leftover rosemary, but the potatoes were already mashed so I just made it plain. Still good! The mashed potatoes tasted like butter. This is baked at 300 for 10 minutes, then broiled for a little bit longer until the potatoes get browned. G liked the crispy browned tops.

So, very simple. Is there an advantage to baking the mashed potatoes on top of the salmon? I'm not really sure. But, easy enough. I guess it makes it look kind of cool.

Month 11 day 3: Polenta and mushrooms

Today I made:
Fontal Polenta with Mushroom Sauté, Cooking Light December 2010
Braised Kale, Cooking Light December 2010

Here's a dinner that is vegetarian but it very hearty.* And fast, too! The braised kale takes the longest (30 minutes). The polenta with mushrooms is pretty fast. The mushrooms are just cooked with some herbs, and polenta is just a matter of boiling liquid (in this case, a mix of broth and milk) and stirring in the polenta and some cheese. It could be done at this point, but the recipe has you put the polenta into dishes and broil it for 5 minutes before topping with the mushrooms.
We do like polenta, and of course kale. I feel like most kale recipes are the same, or very slight variations of the same thing. I guess as long as you like it, it's ok for it to be the same? G likes kale a lot. He liked the polenta and mushrooms too. These days it's not that common for him to remark on the food (he's spoiled!) but today he said it was good.

* And high volume! The kale overflowed the Dutch oven before it cooked down, the polenta was about to the brim of the saucepan I used, and the mushrooms were definitely crowded-- Julia Child would have disapproved!

Month 11 day 2: Chili

Today I made:
White Bean and Hominy Chili, Cooking Light December 2011

This was a very good meal, although I didn't follow the recipe exactly. It' supposed to be vegetarian, with meatless chipotle sausage. We have so many types of sausage in our freezer that I didn't want to add another, so I used half of a Portuguese chorico sausage. To compensate for the lack of chipotle flavor, I put in a little adobo sauce while sautéing the sausage. I also only used one poblano chile instead of two and left out the Tabasco because I was nervous about this being too spicy-- I think poblanos are supposed to be pretty mild, but when I tasted a piece it seemed pretty punchy. In the end it wasn't spicy at all though, so I probably could have used both and been fine. I guess the heat evens out when it mixes with everything else. The hominy, beans, chile, and sausage all had slightly different textures, so it kept it interesting.
For a <40 minute meal, this is nice and flavorful! Definitely a keeper, I thought. G said "just ok," though.

Month 11 day 1: Squash, Soup, Pork, and Biscuits

Month 11!
I have six issues:

• Food Network Magazine, December 2009
• Food & Wine, December 2010
• Cooking Light, December 2010
• Cooking Light, December 2011
• Every Day with Rachael Ray, December 2011
• Saveur, December 2011

Since I'll be going home for a bit, I doubt I'll be able to make a dent in these recipes, especially since there are just sooo many cookie (and other baking) recipes. But maybe I will just have to clip some recipes to bring home with me to make there!

Today I made:
Sweet & Savory Spaghetti Squash, Every Day with Rachael Ray November 2011
Apple-Cheddar-Squash Soup, Food Network Magazine December 2009
Pork Tenderloin with Herbed Biscuits, Cooking Light December 2011

For lunch I made the squash that I forgot to make yesterday. It's a spaghetti squash cut in half, and then one is filled with savory spices and the other is filled with sweet spices. Both contain liberal amounts of butter, which melts and looks like this:

 It's a bath of butter.

But once it gets stirred into the rest of the squash it evens out and takes on the characteristic "spaghetti" look:

 I thought this was fun to have two different flavors in one. They're both very simple to put together, it's just that it takes a long time to bake. I'm sure this could be done in the microwave, though, to make this a faster side dish. Anyway though, it takes about 5 minutes of hands-on time and then goes in the oven for 55 minutes while you could be making the rest of the dinner. As I predicted, G liked the sweet one the best. I think I liked the savory one the best. It's good to have both!

For dinner I made this soup with pork tenderloin and biscuits. The pork and biscuits recipe is designed to be a main course for a casual (or more formal-- you choose) dinner party. The tenderloin is just browned and then roasted (whole) for about 20 minutes before being sliced. It doesn't have any seasoning besides salt and pepper, and the sauce is just a 4:1 mix of Dijon : maple syrup. (I wondered which would win-- G hates mustard but loves maple syrup. The mustard won out, probably because it's the more obvious ingredient visually. And tastewise too, I guess.) The biscuits have more flavor, with fresh sage and thyme and buttermilk. I was using powdered buttermilk, so I put in a half packet (halving the recipe), but then for some reason filled the measuring cup with 1-5/8 cup water instead of just 5/8 cup. I poured in most, (cleverly thinking, a little too late, that I should add it gradually in case it didn't need it all) and it was way too soupy. I considered adding more flour, but thought that might make them too dense unless I also supplemented the baking powder and soda, so ended up just deciding to see what happens. What happens is that the biscuits flow into each other a bit before the oven heat seals the edges, and then they don't rise basically at all. But they are surprisingly fluffy despite this, and taste great. It's too bad that they got messed up, because I was really looking forward to seeing how the texture was since I bought myself a pastry cutter finally on Black Friday. Well, next time! The biscuits are supposed to be cut in half to make a sandwich, but we couldn't do that.

The soup was pretty straightforward but flavorful, with tart apple and sweet butternut squash. It's topped with cooked prosciutto, which is quite salty. I wondered why not bacon, if you're going to cook it anyway, and it seems that many other reviewers just went for bacon instead. G liked it, but didn't like cleaning up the blender afterwards, since it had melted cheese that stuck everywhere! We need an immersion blender! Other than the blending step, this soup is pretty hands-off and is a great taste for fall.