Small Plates

Pot Pie Salvation

I'm sure everyone's had a day like this. Things start out crazy and skid downhill.

Work is insane. Freaking zombie documentation--I keep killing it, but it just comes back uglier. Trying to release three products, two of which are new, by Friday. Cannot wait for this week to end already.

Time kept passing, and I knew there was no way I could make dinner tonight. 7pm. 8pm. 9pm. I felt petulant. Screw dinner, I thought--I just want to go to bed.

Finally, as things started to get a bit fuzzy, I stopped and decided that a day like this couldn't end in desperation and a frozen burrito. Not when I had the ingredients for a chicken pot pie prepped.

I could do this. I WOULD do this. And I did. (Queue "We Are the Champions.")

Dinner may have been at 10pm, but it was worth the wait.

Verdict: Will repeat. Possibly weekly.

It was pretty easy, really. Leftover chicken from last night's dinner. Some chopped and briefly boiled root vegetables (I omited the turnip because turnip is made of gross.) A quick roux and some homemade chicken stock. Sauteed onions, garlic, herbs. Peas. Because peas MUST be in all chicken pot pies. It is the law. Salt. Peppers--black and red.

I did use some premade dough, but I can't say I feel too bad about it. Maybe I'll get some homemade pie dough into the freezer, but really, for a weeknight meal--this was great. A quick egg wash and into the oven.

The things I'd change: more sauce, I would double the butter and flour and would have reduced the sauce less. And that's about it. Outside of wanting more sauce, this was a treat for any night. But especially tonight.

Adapted from Going Solo in the Kitchen

2/3 cup diced potato (1/2 inch pieces)
2/3 cup diced carrot (1/2 inch pieces)
1/3-1/2 cup onion, diced
1/8 tsp minced sage
1/8-1/4 tsp minced thyme
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp butter
2 tsp flour
3/4 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup cubed cooked chicken
Salt/Pepper to taste
Pinch of cayenne to taste (optional)
handful of frozen peas
pie dough, cut to just a bit bigger than your baking dish
1 egg + 1 Tbsp water for egg wash (optional)

Preheat oven to 425.

Put potatoes in a small pot, cover with water, and heat until boiling. Reduce heat, boil gently for five minutes, then add carrots and take off heat. Let vegetables sit in water while doing the rest. (And basically make sure the potato isn't raw.)

In another small pot, melt butter and add onions, saute briefly. Add garlic and herbs, salt and pepper. Cook for another minute or two. Add flour, and stir, cooking for another minute or two. Add stock, stirring constantly--it should thicken, though not by a lot.

Add drained vegetables and frozen peas. Add cooked chicken. Stir and then taste the seasonings.

Pour everything into a 2-cup oven-proof dish. Cover with pie dough, cut a hole in the center and make a few slashes for ventilation. Brush with the egg wash. Place dish on a cookie sheet (to catch any spills) and bake for 25 minutes or until the crust is golden and the filling is bubbly.

Let sit for 5 minutes and try not to burn your mouth.

I don't care if Monday's blue

There are two things that are hard about plans:

1. Making the plan.
2. Executing the plan.

This is an utterly brutal week at work, so maybe it wasn't the best time to start on a new cooking plan. But then again, having an actual plan worked out rather beautifully for me tonight--something to look forward to. With everything prepped over the weekend, there wasn't much labor required for tonight's meal: pasta shells with sausage, peppers, and zucchini.

(Terrible picture, I know. I am so effing tired, though. I'll do better next time. I swear.)

I had the pasta cooked over the weekend, extra from another meal. I sauteed onion and bell pepper, then added the spicy Italian chicken sausage. Then, I added the chopped zucchini and a tomato (de-seeded). And that was largely it. Everything sauteed together and then I added the pre-cooked pasta. A healthy dose of Parmigiano-Reggiano at the end, and it was a really quick and satisfying meal. I thought I would miss having a more saucy-sauce, but I didn't miss the marinara at all. The recipe made enough for two meals and this way tomorrow's lunch is dealt with. (And I don't have to eat a vat of pasta all week long.)

For vegetarians, it would be easy to substitute some meatless sausage, too.

Who are you? Are we enemies? Why am I on this wall?

Let me 'splain.

No, there is too much. Let me sum up.*

I was away. And now I'm back. And I just bought three exciting cooking-for-one cookbooks and am getting seriously obsessive (as opposed to mildly obsessive) about cooking weeknight dinners.

The books are:

Going Solo in the Kitchen (Solo)
Cooking for One  (CIA)
The Pleasures of Cooking for One (Jones)

All of these books provide a great breakdown of how to use up ingredients with minimal waste and how to shop smarter. They're terrific!

This week's menu plan:

Monday: Shells with sausage, tomatoes, and zucchini (Solo)
Tuesday: Broiled half chicken with root vegetables (Jones)
Wednesday: Chicken pot pie and green salad (Solo)
Thursday: Stracciatella and Italian chicken ciabbata sandwich (CIA)
Friday: Birthday dinner for Sarah--braised short ribs, glazed carrots, mashed potatoes.

Bon Appétit!

 

 

See Food

I'm really trying to eat fish a couple of times a week. It's hard, because I'm picky and want fresh fish the day that I prepare it, but I'm working on it.

I got this intriguing recipe from a friend, and just had to try it today. Off to Greenwood Market (while it still exists) and I ended up buying more than I expected.

Most days don't call for such a feast, but today just did!

I decided I had to have caramelized shallots.

 
But what to put them on? I bought a Tall Grass baguette and made some crostini, bought some chevre, and roasted some grape tomatoes. Voila! You can't see the shallots on the bread, but believe me they're there.

 

And next up, the main course. Parmesan-puffed Tilapia.

Everything Tastes Better with Sriracha

Well, maybe not cake. But read on. The original purpose of this blog was to motivate me to eat healthier and talk about it, and not become a shrine to cake. (Not that that's a bad thing.)

Speaking of, here's my latest effort. A German chocolate cake for my friend Kelly. It was exciting. Recipe courtesy of the amazing David Lebovitz. Everything I make by him gets me hugged.

But now, less cake and more green things. And hopefully more regular postings with me proudly showing off plates full of antioxidants and flavonoids. (Don't worry; there'll always be cake, too. I haven't lost my mind or anything.)

When Love Hands You Lemons

The alternative title to this post could easily be, "It's Hard to Photograph Glass Because of All The Stupid Smudges."

Also maybe, "Don't Take Pictures By Pointing Your Lens Directly Into The Sun."  Anyhow, my sarcasm about photography aside, I have an awful lot of glorious lemons. And I can't bear that even a single one go wasted or unused because my dad sent them to me from his tree and they are delicious.

Watching Olympic athletes sweat always makes me thirsty, so I thought some lemonade was in order. I would never have been industrious enough to juice these by hand, but I did buy a simple citrus juicer awhile ago and was sure Ina Garten or Alton Brown could tell me how to make a really good batch of lemonade.

Ina did, in fact, though I modified her recipe of blending superfine sugar and water with the juice by taking the additional step of making simple syrup.

I can't believe how much excitement the blender added to this recipe. Instead of clear, the lemonade was almost frosty in appearance and absurdly delicious. I thought it would end up like a slushee, but it wasn't at all. Just very nicely cold. Suddenly, I don't seem to have an excess of lemons after all...

Fresh Lemonade

~5 lemons (should yield 1 cup of juice)
3/4 cup to 1 cup sugar (to your own taste)
1 cup crushed ice
4 cups water

Boil 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water until sugar dissolves. Cool.
Blend sugar-water mixture with juice from lemons, ice, and 3 cups of water.
Serve over ice. Resist drinking entire pitcher by yourself. Bon Appétit!

Poor Man's Biryani

So, last night I had this defrosted bit of ground beef, and I'd overloaded on bolognese recently. (Which, I didn't even think was possible.)

I really couldn't let the beef go another day, and I remembered that I had some frozen peas, too. I decided to make Keema Muttar (perhaps unsurprisingly: ground beef and peas).

I didn't have serrano peppers, but figured that would be okay to exclude. I didn't have any yogurt, though. And that was tragic. I hate eating Pakistani food (with very, very few exceptions like nihari or haleem) without yogurt. But, I was also lazy and it was late, so no yogurt for me.

This was my mom's recipe. And generally this is eaten with bread, not rice. But I wanted rice, and I didn't have any paratha or naan in the house. (A situation I need to correct soon.)  My mom was brilliant with leftovers. She knew that I was picky picky about eating anything more than two days in a row, so by the third day she would brilliantly combine things into makeshift biryani or tahiri. And that's what I did last night, to make up for the horror of not having yogurt in the house (my logic is not our earth logic). My mom would be shocked that I did this, because you wouldn't believe the fuss I'd kick up if there was no yogurt in the house. I was quite the little diva with her, wasn't I?

It's not the prettiest dish of food, I know. But it was really comforting and tasty. And today, I'm going to be sure to pick up some yogurt at the market.

Keema Muttar

Note: I think ground beef looks better, because the beef browns up so nicely. But I also love this with ground chicken.

vegetable oil, about a quarter cup
1 large onion, sliced pole-to-pole into thin strips
salt to taste
1 t ground cumin
1 t ground coriander
1/2 t caynne pepper
1/4 t turmeric
1 t minced ginger
1 t minced garlic
2 serrano peppers, seeded and minced
1lb ground chicken or beef or turkey
1 14 oz can of tomatoes with juice (or 2-3 chopped fresh tomatoes)
frozen peas, about a cup or more
1/2 cup chopped cilantro (can be omitted for cilantro-haters!)

Heat oil in pot. Add onions and spices and salt and cook until brown. Add garlic, ginger, and serrano peppers. Cook for a few more minutes. Add ground meat. Stir and brown until cooked. Add tomatoes and continue cooking over medium heat for about 15-20 minutes until tomatoes have cooked down. Add frozen peas, combine. Cook until peas are heated through and finish with cilantro. This is a little juicy, but there isn't a sauce with this.

Me Eat Pretty One Day

I think I've mentioned my new found zealotry towards the slow cooker. I had some chicken thighs in the freezer and wanted to make something stew-ish with them. Enter A Year of Slow Cooking's Salsa Chicken and Black Bean Soup.

It looks reasonably attractive in her photo, mainly because she didn't lose her mind with the immersion blender as I did. I am totally unwilling to show you my bowl of what looks like bat barf.

Instead, here is a photo of my Annouk, hiding her face in shame for me.

I was leery of eating it, honestly. But I have a vat full of the stuff and couldn't, in good consciousness, just chuck it all out without tasting it.

And it's not bad! It's dying for a swoosh of lime, but I haven't even bothered tossing the recommended cheese on top. I just added some cilantro and called it good. It'll be a good and easy lunch to take to work this week.

For what it is, and the very little time prep time it required, I think it's a decent recipe. One I'd be willing to make again if I found myself with an excess of chicken thighs and salsa. It may get a wild upgrade if I can hunt down some citrus...

Good Morning, Sunday

I woke up, I wanted pancakes. It was as simple as that. This may have also been fueled by the fact that I intended to do chores and needed a pre-chore reward.

I Google'd for a basic recipe. I didn't have any interesting flours, I didn't have buttermilk. I just wanted something comforting and fluffy to put maple syrup and butter on.

I realized, then, that I never make pancakes. Did I ever use to? Was it always from a mix?

In any case, this nice lady at All Recipes had shared her grandmother's recipe. That was good enough for me.  

It took a few tries to get the swing of it. (Pan too hot, pan too cold.) If I ever decide I want to make this for a group, I am so buying a griddle. Doing these one by one in a tiny pan was not efficient, and thank god for my oven's warm setting. I like the recipe. They were super fluffy.

Paired with a little leftover fruit salad, some juice---it made for a rather nice start to today. 

Of course now I have to go do those chores...

butter, onion, tomato, salt

It seems impossible that these are the only four ingredients currently simmering away on my stovetop, perfuming my kitchen---and yet, it's the truth. (Actually, it's a big lie; I haven't added the salt yet.)

I've seen this recipe at many respected food blogs, and when I ran out of leftovers tonight, this seemed like a great idea.

It's definitely different from the traditional tomato sauce I make and different from the quick Cook's Illustrated sauce I like. But it's delicate and light and fantastically simple.

I used my immersion blender, because I wanted a smoother sauce. Good stuff. 

Ingredients: 1 medium onion, peeled and halved. 5 tablespoons of butter, 1 28oz can of good quality whole tomatoes. Salt, to taste.

Directions: Put everything except salt in a saucepan. Bring to simmer. Keep at simmer for 45 minutes, crushing the tomatoes periodically. Add salt to taste. Ladle over cooked noodles. Sprinkle with Parmesan if you like. (I didn't have anyone, and didn't feel I needed any.)

This may be sacriligeous for such a light sauce, but I had mine with a side of meatballs.