Borscht (beet soup)

Modified DD's recipe, and drew it through the fandangled hand puree-er toy. Prep time: 20 minutes; stewing time: 30 minutes. Above, pictured with couscous/parsley, and the last of AB's venison.

Roasted Chicken with Zucchini

New favorite cooking method: throw drumsticks, chunks of veggies, and herbs in a dish, and bake.

That's it. 5 drumsticks, thick zucchini halves, julienne onions, parsley, herbs --- drizzle with salt, pepper, olive oil, white wine, and vinegar in liberal, non-measured proportions - 45 minutes under 375 degrees covered with foil --- and done.

Salted Fudge Brownies

Mmmm salty and sweet. Followed this recipe from food and wine mag. Except I have to admit that I put a smidge less salt in than written because I was a little wary at first. But after tasting, I actually wish I had put MORE than what was in the recipe! I ended up sprinkling some more sea salt on top of the brownie to really get that salty sweet yumminess. Definitely a dense fudgy brownie, just the way I like 'em!

Spinach Pesto on Whole Wheat Pasta

Tried out the whole wheat pasta at the Coop last night/this afternoon. It keeps surprisingly well in the fridge with a bit of oil, and I topped it with a homemade pesto. This hand-held puree thing (for soups, tampenades, etc) has changed my life.

DIY Vanilla Extract

4/1/10
UPDATE: Finally got around to getting the supplies to make this. Here she is, a week later. 1 madagascar bean, sliced lengthwise, in 1 cup of unflavored vodka.

1/3/10
I am cheap. So when I found out that vanilla extract was nothing more than vanilla beans soaked in vodka for 3+ months, I had to try it. It's gonna be a long wait for this photo op. Check the Italian Dish's post on the subject til then.

DIY Chocolate Truffles

Geektacular MIT students explain how to make chocolate truffles --- going into excessive, painstakingly researched detail on the 6 crystalline states of chocolate. Horribly sinful and awesome to watch. Click anywhere below to play, via howtoheroes.com.

Roasted Cauliflower

An easy weeknight fix.

Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 20 min
Serves 4.

Walnut & Raisin Cookies

"Why does everyone think doctors are so respected? Being a teacher is much more painful." -Ma

So. I'm home for the weekend. It's going grrrrreeat. Making my mother's favorite cookies to try to appease her general unhappiness with me, my future profession, and the rest of the world. She said (four times) that if she made these, she'd bake for a few more minutes until everything was crispy and brown on the top. In event, I am pretty happy with them.

fire roasted tomato frittata

adapted from a food and wine mag recipe to be healthier and to use up what i had in the fridge.

would be great for brunch or as a light dinner with a lightly dressed arugula salad and a glass of red!

ingredients:

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

8 eggs, 2 yolks removed, beaten

1 16 oz can of fire roasted tomatoes w juice

1 onion, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 bunches of bokchoy, chiffonaded

3 slices whole wheat bread, cut into 1 inch cubes

thyme, oregano, salt, pepper to taste

steps:

preheat oven to 450 degrees.

heat oil in ovenproof non stick pan. add onions, garlic, bokchoy and saute until softened. pour in tomatoes and add seasonings. bring to a simmer and mix in bread cubes so that liquid is soaked up. (if you have cheese, now is the time to sprinkle it in). pour in beaten eggs.

transfer pan to oven and bake 20 minutes until eggs are cooked and top is brown and puffy.

wait for it to cool a bit, cut into slices and flip over onto the plate to see how purty it looks!

The perfect chocolate chip cookie?

My latest attempt to bake the perfect chocolate chip cookie led me to a recipe from American's Test Kitchen. This recipe calls for browning butter, which I had never attempted before, but it smelled amazing. It also states that you should mix then rest and repeat. I'm not sure if that made a difference but it seemed like the batter got thicker. The result was a cookie with a chewy outer ring of buttery deliciousness surrounding a soft, chocolately center. If you are in to that kinda thing. mmm

Flan in a Box

Courtesy of Goya Flan. 99 cents for 4 little flans. I was actually surprised by how well this turned out. The picture makes the top look a little cruddy, but I don't have real molds and just used teacups to make the flan. Hence the breakage. A touch too sugary, though. More milk next time? And cinnamon.

Bacon-wrapped, brown sugar & soy-marinated venison bites

One of my friends (the husband of a classmate) hunts deer, and after a recent dinner party, gave me about 3 pounds of venison. He made appetizers out of these little guys and gave me the recipe. Outrageously delicious.

Poulet Provencal

Classed it up last week with a dish that supposedly originated from the south of France, for a dinner partay. Modified the recipe below so that it'd cook faster. Drumsticks, quartered tomatoes, a handful of olives, an onion, and herbs de provence (something my father has always been bananas about). Leftovers above.

Morning Glory Muffins

helloooooo thurrrr!!!!

excuse the awful picture quality. it is a cheap-o webcam that i found.

made some "healthy" oatmeal and bran muffins as a good grab n go breakfast for the week. followed the recipe found here at cooking light, but used raisins instead of dates, almonds instead of walnuts and added some cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon zest! i absolutely adore the dried pineapple in them.

off to my first of 4 cooking classes tonight taught by the arlington adult education program... will let you know how it goes!

Riddle Me This.

Why is the foodie world so agog at Meyer lemons? V, can you explain this phenom? They are nowhere to be found in Buffalo.

Blood Orange Upside Down Cake

FIREWORKS CAKE!!!! Recipe here at citrus and sunshine. Baked for 35 instead of 45 because it started to brown quickly.

It's sort of thin the way the recipe recommends and I will need to experiment with a better (box?) cake but I love the way the slices bleed into each other. Make it while oranges are still in season...

Chocolate Almond Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I've decided to not let my broken camera deter me from posting. I hereby happily embrace MS PAINT! (yes, im a pc and proud of it!)

Wheatberry & Shitake Salad

It's taken me 25 years to discover that chinese mushrooms (冬菇) and shitake mushrooms are the same thing. It's just that I soak dried shrooms to reconstitute them, instead of buying them fresh from the store.

Barley & Lentil Soup

There's not much you can do with smoked hog necks... 'cept make some zuppa with whatever vegetables you have after a week.

Kalbi, part deux (Korean short ribs)

This is for you, SS. Made the marinade last night for this from memory and though it was good, it wasn't as good as when I followed this recipe verbatim. Subbed 1/4 c beer for the asian pear. If you make the short rib slices thin, it cooks quicker (2 min tops).

Sad that Vicki's camera is broken. =(