Catalan Spinach

Pinenuts + raisins + garlic + spinach = Catalan, according to Bon Appetit c. 1992. Who knew? And yes, I skipped the raisins. Call me an impurist.

Mussels in White Wine Sauce

Since break started last week, I've been adding white wine to a lot of things. Like apple pie. And soup. And chicken marinades. So I set out to test out the cliche: mussels in white wine sauce.

Banana Nut Bread Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

There is just something about cupcakes. I find them more appealing than a slice of one of it's bigger brethren. I think it's because my gluttinous subconscious is gleeful in the fact that I am devouring an entire cake (even if it is in mini form), which is much more satisfying than knowing that you're only getting a measly slice of something bigger.

vicki's "looks like puke but tastes great, i swear to god, no really it does" lasagna with homemade tomato sauce

ok, i completely failed to take a picture of just the tomato sauce, and was way too hungry to take a good looking pic of the lasagna because even the steam coming off the thing was making me salivate, and i had spent about 5 hours making and putting together the dang thing! so excuse the ugly picture. i dont even think its in focus because my hand was probably already moving to hurry up and cut a square to stuff in my mouth before the shutter closed completely. ha.

Gingerbread Buffalos

Followed a recipe from Gourmet, Dec 2002. 'Tis the season...

No Knead Dough

V is a genius. Replicated the bread method below with FANTASTIC results. In 2006, Jim Lahey of Sullivan St Bakery in NYC (NOT to be confused with Trailer Park Boys star, as my dear lab partner LK guessed), offered this recipe to NYTimes food writer Mark Bittman on how to make bread without kneading, excessive time, or getting your hands dirty. The trick is waiting 14-20 hours for the yeast to replicate & do its job. Easiest & tastiest loaf I've ever made. Goodbye, inedible & awful crusts.

Rosemary Potato Cakes with Lemon Garlic Aioli

I had wanted to make a hollandaise for this, but since it seemed against kashrut, I made something else up. Which is silly, since I'm not Jewish, and the potato pancake is not strictly Jewish, but I'm funny like that, being the high holidays and all. It must be the Long Island in our family.

La Bouillabaisse! (sort of)

(Before adding broth - see below for the finished product!)

In honor of National Bouillabaisse Day, and the last (real) exam I finished this year, I made a fish stew - not quite bouillabaisse (which has a 1001 specifications for it to be called the real deal), and not quite cioppino (the Italian rendering of the stew with tomato).

Butternut Squash & Black-eyed Pea Soup

Followed this recipe with the following mods: Used a ginger/lemon/chicken broth base, made out of last night's chicken bones, instead of whatever was written. Green onions for garnish. And a tsp of bacon fat instead of olive oil. Prep time: 10 min, mostly peeling/cutting squash up.

Beer Chicken

Here's something to do with the leftover beer that I no longer have the chugging willpower for: make it into a marinade.

Apple Bourbon Chutney

Had a hankering for chutney - one of those projects that makes the entire house smell like vinegar.

Kalamata Olive Bread with Thyme and Rosemary

Sniff.... ssniiiiiiifffff......snrrrrkkkk.... mmmm.......

Does anything smell better than the scent of baking bread wafting through your home?

Israeli Couscous, Turkish style?

After reading J's post on giant couscous, I spied some at the local grocery store on sale, and decided to try my hand at this trendy new pasta.

Reconsider the Crucifer: Cauliflower Soup

A former track coach convinced me once that vegetables without much color have little nutritional value. Lies. Cauliflower is, in fact, better for you than eating cheese doodles, and that's all the health information I need.

CREPES! A work in progress.

My classmate, MR, received a shiny steel crepe pan from his mama, and recently we experimented with crepe fillings and recipes. Definitely beats making them in a nonstick pan (though seasoning the pan makes for a bit more work). If you have butter/milk/eggs/flour, you can make this at home.

Almond Baklavadakia

Inspired by VC's puff pastry posts, I decided to revisit an old friend of mine: phyllo dough. Baklavadakia are like baklava, except in a roll form instead of the flaky parallelograms more commonly seen.

Chestnut Soup

Used leftover quail for this soup, which I made last week for the fam.

Potato & Leek Soup

I'm kind of proud of this, even though it's standard English fare, only because there is nothing else I've been able to do with leeks. Pan-frying them takes too long, and I don't really believe in casseroles. Goes well with a hard cheddar (I had mine with Dubliner, my favorite cheese).

Honey Cornmeal Biscuits

Modified this recipe from cooks.com and added honey to the batch instead of sugar. Also, since I don't usually have buttermilk (eww) in my fridge, I subbed with 1/2 c milk plus 1 tsp vinegar. Added flax seed, too. Results: crunchy on the outside, moist in the inside. Cons: baking soda-ey. Need to branch out on leaveners.

Mini Apple Tartlets

After making the sweet potato tart tatin, I still had some leftover puff pastry, and decided to try to make mini apple tarts using the same technique.

Turkey Cilantro Soup

I spent most of my childhood hating cilantro, picking it out of my food and cringing whenever my mother served cilantro soup. The version she made involved minced beef, very similar to this recipe (much faster to make than mine). I like cilantro now though, and I found a way to use the stuff, and whatever meats/vegetables are in my fridge at the moment. Not bad for a camera phone.