shredded brussel sprouts salad

Summer in our apartment means the returns of bright, meal-sized salads.  This is one of my favorites -- the speck gives it a little bit of extra salt and meatiness, so it feels more substantial.

From Food52.

Serves 3-4.

1/4 lb brussel sprouts, trimmed and shaved on a mandoline.
1 c. finely chopped arugula
     [Alternative: double the brussel sprouts and nix the arugula]
1-2 ribs of celery, trimmed and finely diced
4-6 slices speck (or some other sturdy-but-thinly-sliced cured meat), cut into slivers
1/4 c. dried cranberries, roughly chopped (I've also used dried tart cherries here, to great effect)
1/3 c. walnuts, finely chopped
1/4 c. finely grated pecorino cheese
salt & pepper
2 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 lemon, to taste
dash of chili powder

Mix the salad components up in a large bowl, add the olive oil and dash of chili powder. (The recipe calls for piment d'espelette, but chili powder is a perfectly adequate substitute.) Add lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste, and toss until the dressing is evenly distributed.

Protip: the brussel sprouts are sturdy enough that this stores really well -- even dressed! -- in the fridge overnight.

stir-fried cumin lamb

I've been super delinquent in posting over the last few months, so now I'm starting to clear out a recipe backlog.

First up, last night's tremendously successful venture into the world of making homemade spicy Chinese food (usually m's domain): cumin lamb! (And the blog's first photo!)

Recipe from serious eats.

3 tablespoons whole cumin seeds
2 tablespoons whole sichuan peppercorns
12 dried Chinese red chilis
3 medium cloves garlic, minced (recipe called for about 1 tablespoon, but I went a little heavy on it)
1.5 lbs. lamb leg, trimmed of gristle, sliced into 1/4-inch thick pieces (approx. 1-in. by 2-in.)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 medium onion, cut pole-to-pole into 1/2-inch slices
3 stalks celery, ends/tops trimmed, sliced lengthwise into thirds and crosswise into 2-ish segments
kosher salt
1 bunch cilantro, leaves and tender stems only

1. Heat cumin seeds, peppercorns, and chilis in a large skillet over medium-high heat, tossing constantly until fragrant, for about 2-3 minutes.  Transfer to a bowl and transfer chilis into separate small bowl.

2. Transfer cumin and sichuan peppercorns into spice grinder (or mortar and pestle) and grind until roughly crushed but large pieces still remain.

3.  Transfer spices into a medium bowl, add the garlic, and mix.  Add lamb and soy sauce and mix with hands until it's thoroughly coated.  Set aside.

4.  Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wok over high heat until smoking.  Add the onion and celery and cook, stirring occasionally until lightly charred and tender, about 3-5 minutes.  Transfer to a bowl.  Heat 2 more tablespoons of oil until smoking.  Add half of lamb and cook without moving it for a minute.  Continue cooking while stirring and tossing until lightly cooked (but still pink in spots) for about 1 minute.  Transfer cooked lamb to large bowl.  Repeat with 1 more tablespoon of oil and remaining lamb, adding cooked lamb to same bowl.  Return wok to high heat until smoking.  Return vegetables and lamb to wok and cook, stirring and tossing until the lamb has a little bit of a crust, for about 2 more minutes.  Add chilis and cook, tossing constantly, for 30-seconds or so.  Season to taste with salt.

5. Transfer to a plate and top with cilantro.  Serve immediately.*


* And ideally, make enough so there are leftovers for lunch the next day.

Queso Fundido

This was a super easy and delicious dip

.5 lb mexican style chorizo
small handful red onions
8 oz mixed cheddar & jack cheese
1 T butter
1 T flour (plus a bit)
milk (in some unmeasured quantity
Canned Peperoncini

Remove sausage from casing, cook with the red onions.
once cooked, remove, trying to leave the oil
In the same saucepan, melt butter, then add flour, to make a roux. Add milk and cheese and stir until combined.

In a small oven-safe thing, put in the chorizo, put the cheese mixture on top, and then cover with some chopped spicy peppers.

we then refrigerated it, only for timing reasons.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 5 minutes until warm, and then broil until bubbly. Serve immediately.

Chiles Rellenos

We had people over for dinner on NYE again, and some of the recipes turned out pretty well, so we figured that we should write them down.

Inspired by

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/08/baked-chile-rellenos-with-corn-crema-recipe.html

we made some chiles rellenos.

Ingredients:

1 dozen Anaheim chiles
1 bag frozen corn kernals
2 pieces Dorot frozen cilantro
3 cloves garlic
2 small handfuls red onion
small handful scallions
1 jalapeno
red pepper, salt, pepper, cayenne to taste
1 T mayo
about 8oz combined sharp chedder and monterey jack shredded and mixed.


Broil the chiles, about 6-8 minutes a side (the first one takes a bit longer), until fairly charred all over
Put them in a glass bowl, and cover with saran wrap, let it steam for about 10-15 minutes. After soft, it's pretty easy to remove the skins. I'm not sure why I needed to do this, but every recipe said to.
Cut a slit in the slide, and remove the seeds (I did this by running it under cold water, which was a small pain in the ass but I got the hang of it). I tried to preserve the structural integrity of the peppers, which worked 3/12 times. Put aside

Saute the garlic, jalapeno and scallions in olive oil over high heat until fragrant, add the frozen corn, seasonings, and 1 handful of red onions. Let it cook, leaving it for a few minutes and then stirring, until the corn gets nice and charred. Add the cilantro and the other handful red onions, stir until cilantro is well mixed, and then turn off heat. Season to taste, and then add the mayo (which is mostly for binding).

Fill the peppers with the mixture, cover with cheese.

Cook on 375 for about 15 minutes, and then broil for 5 minutes, serve immediately.

Things to work on: Most of them turned out fairly unattractive - not sure how to fix this

ginger molasses cookies

Followed almost to the letter from the awesome Flour cookbook.

I've wanted to try this recipe since I tried these cookies at Flour. I'm normally more of a chocolate-chip kind of girl, but this is the rare spice cookie that keeps pace with basically anything. The spice mixture is terrific, and it doesn't overpower the butter and other things. Bottom line: these still taste very much like indulgent cookies.

3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks/170 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to the touch
1 c. (220 grams) packed light brown sugar
1/4 c. (80 grams) unsulphured dark molasses
1 egg
2 c. (280 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
granulated sugar for coating

Note: I used dark brown sugar, which worked great. For the most part, the gram measurements were much easier to use, but for some reason the cup of brown sugar was well under the 220 grams on the ingredient list. I went with the cup rather than the weight measurement there.

1. In a stand mixer, mix butter, brown sugar, molasses, and egg on low speed for 20 seconds (or until well combined).

2. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, salt, and cloves until well mixed. Add the flour mixture to the butter-sugar mixture and stir just until the dough is evenly mixed.

3. For the best results, scrape the dough into an airtight container and let it rest in the refrigerator. (The cookbook says to leave it in the fridge overnight, but I gave it about 5 hours and it worked great.)

4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

5. Put some granulated sugar in a small bowl. Scoop out 1/4-cup bowls of dough, put them in the sugar, and roll the dough around until it's entirely coated. Placed the coated balls on a baking sheet, about 2 inches apart.

6. Bake for 14-16 minutes, or until cookies are crackly on top.

Ricotta Gnocci and roasted asparagus pesto

Gnocci:

http://food52.com/recipes/9460-grandma-dilaura-s-italian-ricotta-gnocchi

fresh whole milk ricotta cheese (calabria won the serious eats food test, so I used that)
1 large egg
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
some ground nutmeg, a dash of ground cloves
2 cups flour, sifted, plus extra for rolling dough
Add egg to ricotta cheese and oil and mix thoroughly. Add grated parmesan cheese to mixture and sprinkle with nutmeg to taste.
Add sifted flour a little at a time and continue to mix thoroughly until dough comes together. (i didn't sift, and added one cup at a time)
Dump onto generously floured surface and work with hands to bring together into a smooth ball.
Add more flour as necessary until dough is smooth and no longer sticks to your hands. Cut off slices of dough like cutting a loaf of bread and roll into ropes thumb size thick by spreading hands and fingers and rolling from center out to each edge of the rope. Line one rope parallel to another and cut 2 at a time into 1-inch pieces.
 Transfer gnocchi pieces to a lightly floured or non-stick baking sheet so they don’t stick together
 bring a large stockpot of generously salted water to a boil. (this is all the salt they get)
 Add gnocchi to boiling water and gently stir once with a wooden spoon to create movement and prevent gnocchi from sticking to the bottom.
 As gnocchi rise to the top {a sign they are done cooking} scoop them out with a mesh strainer or a bamboo wire skimmer and immediately place in serving bowl shaking off excess water. This time I did this much faster, and they came out much more pillowy.
I dried them off, and then fried them in a non-stick with some olive oil in order to get more textural contrast

pesto:

2 bundles asparagus
1 leek
garlic to taste
juice of half of a lemon
parm
olive oil
1 small scoop pistachios

roast two bundles asparagus at 400 degrees, for maybe 20-25 minutes, until nice and crisp. I turned the oven off, but let them stay in there for even more dehydrating action.
while I was doing that, I sauteed some leeks with garlic, and lightly toasted the pistachios
I then vitamixed everything together. I think that if I had chopped it first and then mixed it later it wouldn't have come out as pasty. but it was delicious. although maybe it looked like vomit a little bit.

lentil + sausage soup

Adapted from Food52.

An immensely filling, satisfying soup for a cold night. This recipe probably serves somewhere between 5 and 8 people; it's also perfect to make for two, because the leftovers are awesome.

1.5 c. French green lentils
2 bay leaves
3 tbs. olive oil, divided
3-4 sausages (the herbier the better; I used chicken sausage)
1 large yellow onion
4-6 cloves of garlic
1/2 c. sturdy red wine (I used a cotes du rhone)
3 stalks celery
1 tbs dried marjoram
4 carrots
4 c. chicken stock (I happened to have homemade stock on hand, I think it makes a big difference)
2 c. chopped spinach
1/4 c. chopped parsley
salt + pepper, to taste

1. Fill a tea kettle with water and put it up to boil while you do the following step.

2. Heat 2 tbs oil with one of the bay leaves and saute the sausages, if they aren't pre-coked. Once cooked, slice into 3/4" slices and brown them (next time, I'd cut the slices a bit thinner). Set the sausage slices aside, but leave the pan on the stove (with the now-sausage-flavored oil in it).

3. Rinse the lentils in cold water, make sure to pick out any stones, etc., and put the lentils on the stove in the soup pot with at least 3 cups of hot water from the kettle. (Note: it's fine if the water hasn't boiled yet.) Stir the lentils and cook over medium heat while you chop the vegetables (the timing is fine on this, though I like to chop all of the veg before I get started because I'm both neurotic and slow at chopping/peeling). Stir the lentils occasionally while you chop, and make sure to add more hot water as they cook if they start to look dry.

4. If you're in any sort of hurry (or if you find cold chicken stock to be totally gross looking), heat up the stock so it's hot when you add it to the soup.

5. While you're chopping: onions should be chopped so they're about 1/2" square, and the garlic should be coarsely chopped. In the pan where you cooked the sausages, add the remaining oil, as well as the onions and garlic.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally. When the onions start to look a bit translucent, push them to one side and add the wine on the other side of the pan.  Cook for a couple of minutes.

6. Add the stock to the pot with the lentils + water.

7. Chop the celery into small dice; add those to the pot. Add the marjoram and stir well, continuing to cook. (I also added a couple pinches of crushed red pepper here for a little heat.)

8. Chop the carrots into slices/chunks, and add them to the pot. Add salt and pepper to taste. (Note: the original recipe says to add the sausage here, but I did and think it was a mistake with the chicken sausage. When it cooks for a relatively long time in the broth, the flavor of the sausage basically leeches out -- this makes for marginally better broth but definitely tasteless sausage. Next time, I'll add the sausage just before serving the soup.)

9. Cook for at least another 10 minutes, adding more water if necessary and stirring occasionally to prevent the lentils from sticking. I kept the soup more or less at a simmer, and basically monitored the lentils.

10. Cook until the carrots are tender and the lentils are to your liking. Adjust seasoning as needed.

11. Add spinach and parsley and serve when soup is very hot. (A nice, crusty bread goes great with this soup.)

butternut squash and apple soup

Courtesy of Ina Garten.

I made it with no substitutions, though m would serve it over chorizo and cheddar.

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons good olive oil
4 cups chopped yellow onions (3 large)
2 tablespoons mild curry powder
5 pounds butternut squash (2 large)
1 1/2 pounds sweet apples (I used McIntosh(4 apples)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups water
2 cups good apple cider

Warm the butter, olive oil, onions, and curry powder in a large stockpot uncovered over low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, until the onions are tender. Stir occasionally, scraping the bottom of the pot.

Peel the squash, cut in half, and remove the seeds. Cut the squash into chunks. Peel, quarter, and core the apples. Cut into chunks.

Add the squash, apples, salt, pepper, and 2 cups of water to the pot. Bring to a boil, cover, and cook over low heat for 30 to 40 minutes, until the squash and apples are very soft. Process the soup with immersion blender.

Pour the soup back into the pot. Add apple cider; it should be slightly sweet and quite thick. Check the salt and pepper and serve hot.

spiced pumpkin bread

This recipe may just be the holy grail of pumpkin breads. Nicely spiced, moist beyond reason from the pumpkin + applesauce combination, and a nice crisp to the top. Easy, too!

Slightly modified from smitten kitchen (duh) by gourmette*nyc:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup canned solid-packed pumpkin puree
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 large eggs
1 cup plus 1 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon (but I tend to be a bit heavy-handed here)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
a pinch or two of all spice
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour one 9 inch loaf pan or two six inch loaf pans.

In a medium bowl, mix together the flour and baking powder. In a large bowl, whisk together pumpkin, applesauce, eggs, 1 cup sugar, baking soda, salt, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, nutmeg, and all spice until smooth. Whisk in flour mixture until just combined. Then, add the raisins and whisk to combine.

Stir together remaining 1 tsp cinnamon and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in a small bowl.

Pour batter into one large loaf pan or two smaller loaf pans, sprinkle the top with the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake until puffed and golden brown and wooden pick or skewer inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes.

Cool in pan on a rack for 5 minutes, then transfer to rack and cool.