Hello 2010!

I'm debuting a few fun things for the new year.... my new digital camera (thanks mom and dad!!), a yummy recipe, and cool kitchen gadgets. This is an easy, multipurpose recipe that you can put on almost anything and it'll be addictive.I first tasted this at 7A, a delicious little spot at 7th and Avenue A- we love to go there for breakfast. I go for the feta and spinach omelet, with a side salad- and their Ginger-Scallion Dressing. It was a revelation- I mean, I know I'm vegetarian and all that, but I'm not a big salad-for-breakfast kinda girl. How things have changed...



Ginger Scallion Oil

the ingredients:
1 cup vegetable Oil (or peanut oil)2 cloves Garlic
2 oz Ginger
2 oz Scallions
Salt




The Tools:
a new scale!
mini food processor
a 1 quart sauce pan
a heat proof container (a tempered glass)


The Process:
1. do all the dishes and clean your sink *important for later!*.
2. peel the ginger and cut it in to one inch chunks.
3. chop the scallions into on centimeter pieces
4. throw the ginger chunks into the food processor and give 'em a whirl, until they're about the same size as the scallions.
5. peel, crush, and dice the garlic.
6. combine the ginger and scallions in your heat proof container, and put the container into your clean sink :D

7. heat the oil in a small, easy to manage pot and add the garlic.
8. watch the oil and garlic, and once it starts to shimmer and begins to smoke (and smells realllly good),
remove it from heat and go to your zen place.

9. carefully, slowly, calmly.... pour the oil into the heat proof container over the ginger and scallions. It'll be sensational and bubble up and sizzle and smell great!
10. wait for it to cool and eat it on everything.

The oil can be saved in the fridge for about a week.

P.S. We've moved since I last posted... Hello Astoria!

Pasta Night.

There are times when I don't want to hang out in the kitchen for hours. When that happens, it's Pasta Night. We use the whole wheat pasta, and I've grown fond of adding beans for protein... Nature's version of meatballs! Only oblong and without the meat. :)

Our friend Tom in London made this for us when we visited, and it was AMAZING. He added finely chopped bacon for the meat eaters, but it's great without.

Usually I saute either white or red beans (cannolini or pinto?) up with some onion and garlic in olive oil, add frozen spinach and an assortment of dried italian spices (basil, thyme, and oregano).
Once it's all hot and flavored through, add in chunks of avocado... C love likes to cook them a little (I think that's wierd) but I leave them to get warmed by the rest. Its a good contrast, and if I recall correctly, that's what Tom did, too.
Throw the mixture with the cooked pasta and sprinkle with Parmesan, salt and pepper.

It's filling, pretty healthy, and quick! and you can totally make it vegan. yum.
Thanks Tom!

Fresh Local Mozzarella

This is an interview with a cheese maker on our street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Boy was I surprised when they said the address of the store- it can't be more than 3 blocks away! I haven't gotten any mozzarella yet, though. I'm going to make plans for it first... yum!

http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/1-in-8-million/index.html#/georgiana_depalma_tedone

enjoy.

This is a little note about Katy's baby shower in January! we made some yummy, good looking snacks, so I wanted to share the pictures with you. The Pengiuns turned out really cute (thanks Margaret!). the recipe is from AllRecipes, I think. it's just black olives, cream cheese, and carrots. We made them to match the baby animal theme.







The cookies were for favors. We got the recipe from my Grandma Hansen, but she got it from Tupperware. It's an almond-flavored sugar cookie with powdered sugar instead of granulated. wow. Then we made royal icing so it'd harden, and went wild decorating. Voila!

Quiche Quiche Quiche!!!

I know it's been a while, but i have a very good excuse! I haven't made anything in two months!! ok, just kidding. My camera broke and I had to mourn it for a while, then figure out that I can take pretty good pictures on my phone. So I'm up and running.
I wanted to explain one of our oldest standbys... and recently road-tested, friend approved. I think we started making Quiche in Spain, and we've gotten REALLY good at it. I'm not exaggerating people. Who wants to be the first investor in my quiche restaurant? Sign up now. You don't want to miss this opportunity.

Ok, here's the low down on how to make a tasty and impressive quiche:
it takes some time. do it in small steps or set out a bunch of time to get it all done.

First, the crust.
crust is easy once you get the feel for it. I haven't really tried to teach anyone how to make it yet (not even C.! i know! dag.) because it's not something you can teach in a day. it'd probably take at LEAST a year to do, since you have to change what you do if it's really humid or if the dough feels weird or if you put it in the fridge for a while, or if you use whole wheat flour. whew, I'm exhausting myself, people.
the original recipe i use is 2c flour, 2/3c shortening, a pinch of salt, and some (?) water. ice water. I wasn't taught to measure the water, and I wouldn't recommend it, either. read up on the methodology if you're really going to make it, but here's a brief outline on making crust:
1. Cut the shortening into the flour with a pastry cutter or a fork (in a pinch) (or in spain) until it's crumbly like sand mixed with small pea-sized crumbs. then stop!
2. add the salt whenever you want.
3. slowly add the ice cold water in parts and mix by hand until the dough is smooth, not to wet, and a little stretchy- it shouldn't break apart really easily.
4. let it sit! at least an hour. OR put it in the fridge and save for another day. it'll last a few days just fine. just bring it back to room temperature to roll it out.

Then: roll it out. put it in the pan.

Making QUICHE! yum.

cook up your veggies. saute some onions (or leeks), add chosen vegetable:
a. broccoli
b. spinach
c. zucchini
d. mushrooms
e. anything, really
add salt and pepper, or whatever spices you want. (dill.)


This is a picture of 4 eggs, three of which had double yolks! so lucky.

beat up your eggs (about 3-4, depending on how many you have and how much veggies you are adding. mix in 1/2 cup milk.


add cheese to the bottom of the crust. My brother in law swears by cream cheese! magic consistancy! easy to use! tasty with everything!
we use many different kinds of cheese: cheddar (extra sharp!), feta, gouda!, swiss, gruyere. shred it and put half on the bottom, half on top, about 1 cup total. but, the more the better.

add the veggies on top of the cheese.

add the eggs into the crust and blend the ingredients lightly. then add more cheese on top.

bake at 325 for about an hour- check with a knife starting at about 45 minutes.
then, REALLY, it's way way better if you let it sit for a good long while. even over night.

stuffed peppers

these are so good it's going to hurt. fortunately I have this sassy apron to shield me from the painful tastyness.
As a side note I love aprons for cooking and doing dishes. most anything, really, since I'm a messy eater. And that tends to bleed into alot of other areas of "doing things" messy.

Ready, Set, Stuff!
I l
I like doing the black beans first because they're the glue of the recipe and I like letting the flavor develop slowly. First, onions. I KNOW we eat a ton of onions. they're the basis of everything delicious, o.k.? so this is: an onion, two cans of black beans, some oil, and generous tablespoons of cumin and chili powder. (side note: Big Thank you to Aunt Lori for the spices from the Amish store Stringtown Grocery in Kalona, Ia.
I steam a zucchini or two (depending on how big they are and how much I want. When it's all soft, I throw it in with the beans and add some cheese... Cheddar, mozzerella, feta... whatever.

Then grill about 5 poblano peppers.
It's VERY useful to have tongs for this. we just throw them ( a couple at a time) on to the gas stove and let them get blackened. then you put them in a bowl with plastic wrap over the top to keep the steam in. The skin gets nice and loose, and you just rub it off with your fingers.
Don't wash it or it'll loose that tasty, smokey flavor. Once you get the skin off, you can cut around the tops, take out the centers and get the spicy seeds out. Make SURE to wash your hands after sticking your fingers into the peppers, or you'll think you burnt them. I speak from experience.
Once the peppers are empty and the filling is done, Stuff Away!! I like them almost bursting.
Then I line them up in a baking dish and give them about 10 minutes at 350 to "get to know each other". Voila.
We eat them with C-love's famous guacamole and salsa as illustrated below:
a. guacamole.
b. salsa.
c.ouch! so good! it makes me hungry, even though i just ate!

saturday night yum.

I am stuffed. I'd take a picture of my belly, but i think that'd be unappetizing. The pictures that I do have tonight are super delicious looking. We had a full menu and some fun extras.

I went to the green market at Union Square this morning and picked up some treats: brussel sprouts! I bought a whole stem. When I got home I read the Joy of Cooking entry about sprouts and learned some interesting facts:
1. smaller stems are better (whoops!)

2. cut the sprouts in half or score them with an X on the bottom to help them cook evenly (how could i not know?!?)

3. brussel sprouts are really good with browned butter and lemon juice.


For our main course I made broccoli cheese soup, perfect for the fall and super savory. very umami-y. umami-yoe. (just wanted to use all the vowels!)
I was a big fan of B-C Soup when I was younger because a woman from our church made some very tasty soup, so I never saw the hard work that went into it. Kidding, it's easy! I did however, sadly figure out that she made it with chicken broth all those long, delicious years. oops. Anyway, here's my recipe;

Broccoli Cheese Soup Uncensored.
2 cups veggie broth
2 stems broccoli or 1 frozen package
1/2 an onion
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
12 oz cheese, all mixed up!
1 cup milk (or something like it)
Side Note: it's arrived! my 8" Wusthof Black Classic Chef's Knife.

a. boil the broth and add the broccoli, cook until soft (about 10 minutes)
b. chop the onions and heat them with the butter in another sauce pan
c.use your immersion blender (see bean and cheese soup post) to mix up the broccoli a bit (leave some chunks for yum factor)
d. add the flour to the onions and butter and let it brown

e. add the milk slowly. and then the cheese in parts until it's all incorperated and thick and creamy. btw, my very favorite combination is cheddar, a bit of gouda, and some swiss. I discovered this after realizing the deli sold containers of the three in chunks (probably the end of the block) for way cheap!

f. mix the broccoli into the cheesey soup.
g. "c-love says" let the soup sit for about half an hour, then dig in.

We also toasted some of the left over blue corn bread.

For dessert I made some muffins I've been fiending for... Pumpkin Chocolate Chip. In Greensboro (nc) they make these soo good at Spring Garden Bakery and serve them at Tate Street Coffee. One summer these were part of my go-to-breakfast (along with an iced coffee). I used this recipe as a guide
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pumpkin-Chocolate-Chip-Muffins/Detail.aspx
and made some notable changes.. i used the equivalent amount of brown sugar and agave syrup instead of the white sugar, used half whole wheat flour, and used some pumpkin that I'd frozen. I also doubled the spices and added some ginger and allspice. After I added the pumpkin, I realized I had pre-mixed to be ready to pour into a pie crust. whoops.
They turned out amazing anyway.