Bruschetta

This isn't so much Mom's bruschetta (which always makes people spill the food all over themselves in a rush to get it into their mouths), but something using some stuff left over in my fridge. I have to double check, but I think the main difference is just the cheese. Anyway, I think this is pretty good for you, and it's really easy and tasty (and if you eat enough, it transforms from an appetizer into an entree). And I may or may not have spilled some on myself in my rush to get it to my mouth...

Ingredients:

2-3 tomatoes (I used roma, but whatever you like) OR 1-2 bell peppers (for the non-tomato eaters, aka my boyfriend)
Goat cheese
Basil
A baguette!

1. Cut baguette into 1 inch slices, lay them down on a cookie sheet. Drizzle both sides of pieces with olive oil (brush it evenly across the surface).

2. Dice tomatoes (I cleaned out the inside of the tomatoes a little bit, cause I'm not a big fan of all of the seeds).

3. If you are making the peppers (instead of or in addition to the tomatoes) cut into long slices (fajita style!), heat 1 tbs of oil in a skillet, and sautee peppers until they have begun to soften. I like to sprinkle the peppers with some seasoning salt to give it more flavor, but up to you.

4. Clean and chop basil- mix the tomatoes, basil, and however much goat cheese you want together in a bowl. If you are making the peppers, just mix the softened peppers and the cheese together.

5. Turn oven on to broil- on top rack, broil baguette slices for a few minutes until it starts to brown, then turn slices over and toast that side. Take baguette slices out, pile your mixture on top of it, and then put it back in the oven for a few minutes until cheese starts to melt.

Munch on the food.

I have a new kitchen!

While I will be downgrading appliances (*sob*), I'm upgrading on counter space! That means more room to roll out dough, more room to prep everything (I may or may not have to invest in another cutting board), and more room to make a mess!

More pictures to come when I get all of my pots and pans in there, but here's a few teasers for you.

Korean BBQ

Although Tina and I have bonded over many things (including our love of bad movies, our Seattle connection, and our general awesomeness), I think food plays a very large role in our friendship. Epic thanksgiving dinners aside, my introduction to Korean BBQ has made me a very happy face-stuffer.

Although it is really fun to go out to a Korean BBQ restaurant and have that little grill and all those yummy side dishes that Tina has to explain, making it at home is SO fast, SO easy, and SO delicious (and you don't actually have to use a grill either). We can get our chili paste, etc, here at a store called H Mart, but I wonder if Uwajimaya carries it too...


Daeji Bulgogi (Spicy Korean Pork Barbecue)
Note: there are a bunch of different recipes out there, but this one was delicious and easy!

Ingredients:

1 lb pork tenderloin, trimmed (my grocery store doesn't have a butcher, so I had to use pork loin which we pounded flat. It worked, but it makes a big different to have that very thin cut tenderloin).
2 tbs brown sugar
2 tbs low sodium soy sauce
1 1/2 tbs thai chili paste
1 tsp minced peeled ginger
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
3 garlic cloves, minced

Note: this makes "spicy" pork bbq, but I didn't think there was very much heat. This was not that spicy at all (and I'm a wuss), but if you want to adjust heat, either increase or decrease the amount of red pepper flakes and/or the thai chili paste (but I don't recommend it!)

1. Cut pork into thin strips (1/16th inch slices is recommended). Trim fat from sides.


(I know these look like naked mole rats, which is gross, but I promise they aren't...)

2. Combine all ingredients together- mix well, add pork. Cover pork in mixture, set aside in refrigerator for an hour or more to marinate.


Note: the recipe says you should mix it together in a baggie, but I think a bowl is a much easier way to make sure the ingredients are all mixed together and the pork is evenly marinated. Just sayin'.

3. Heat your cooking surface. If using a grill, spray liberally with cooking spray. If using stove top (which I prefer, because it preserves some of the marinade as a sauce for your rice), pour in a 1/2 tbs-1 tbs of vegetable oil and heat a deep skillet. When surface is hot, pour in meat/marinade and cook for 5-10 minutes until cooked through.


Serve with sticky rice (place rice in strainer, rinse under cold water until the water runs clear- it takes away the starch. Then, let the rice sit in the cooking water for 20-30 minutes before cooking according to directions) and with large lettuce leaves to wrap the rice and pork in.


There are these delicious marinated sesame leaves that Tina rustled up at H Mart- I wrap them around the pork and rice too, or just use my fingers to stuff them in my mouth. I mean... I have table manners so that would never happen.

Whoopsie

So, turns out my spring quarter was pretty busy. Despite the fact that I'm probably writing this solely for myself at this point, I think this is a great way to catalog recipes and remind myself of what did and did not work. So, here's something I experimented with a few weeks ago:

Roasted Chicken with a Mushroom Cream Sauce

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
Some herbs of your choice
Salt and Pepper
1 Onion and 4 cloves of garlic
Olive Oil
Additional Garlic for the sauce
1 tbs butter
Portobella Mushrooms (you could probably lots of different kinds)
Heavy Cream
White Wine
Chicken Broth
Parsley
Pasta

So, this was kind of a hodgepodge of a recipe that turned out pretty well. Because I am lazy, I used dried herbs instead of fresh ones (which would probably be more delicious), but I think it worked out great.

Dry off your whole chicken (3-4 lbs) with a paper towel so it will brown easier. In a bowl, combine 3 tbs (or so) of the olive oil with 1 tbs of Kosher Salt, 1 tsp of pepper, 2-3 tbs of herbs (I used rosemary, thyme, and sage). Rub the oily herby mixture all over your chicken on all sides (including the inside- just stick your hand right up in there).

Chop your onion into 3-4 big pieces, chop four of your garlic cloves in half, and stick it inside the chicken. You could also add half of a lemon or a carrot or something- this is just going to be aromatic, to increase the flavor of the chicken. We won't actually eat this stuff.

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Stick your chicken in a roasting pan (or you could put it on a heavy cookie sheet, just cover it in foil so the grease doesn't smoke up the oven), and let it cook for an hour and fifteen minutes or so (if you want to brown the skin, go ahead and take off the foil near the end. Just keep an eye on it).

While the chicken is baking, make the sauce! I sauteed the mushrooms and 2 cloves of minced garlic w/ 1 tbs of butter until the mushrooms began to soften. Then I poured in some white wine (about half a cup) and let it cook for a minute. Pour in some chicken broth (I'd say around half a cup as well, i was just kind of going for it). Cover the sauce and let it cook for a little while until the liquid has reduced, then mix in a cup of heavy cream.



At this point, you can adjust for volume and thickness. If you like a lot of sauce, add more liquid (taste it for flavor). If you want it to be thicker (like I did), cover the pan and let it cook over low heat (stir it occasionally) until it has started to thicken. Season with salt and pepper, and add in some parsley for good measure. (The picture below is pre-thickening. See how its kind of watery?)



Once your chicken has roasted (use a meat thermometer if you aren't sure), take it out of the oven. VERY IMPORTANT- let it sit for 10-15 mins so the juices can redistribute. If you cut into it right away, all the juiciness is going to come spilling out. While the chicken is sitting, make your pasta.



Cut the chicken into pieces, mix the sauce into the pasta, and stick that chicken right in there! Yum.



(Hairy forearms not included with the recipe)

3 thoughts on the Pasta with Squash and Pesto...

Okay, three things have occurred to me.

1) The leftovers are reeeally good cold. Like, take it for a picnic in the park good!

2) The recipe said that it made 4 servings. YEAH RIGHT. 3 days later (and 3 meals later) I still have enough to feed me for 4 or 5 days. So this is one of those good make on the weekends and eat during the week meals.

3) I think that next time I make this, I'm going to add some artichoke hearts. I think it would go really well with the pesto, and probably with the squash... That, or do half squash and half artichoke. Yum.

That is all.

Penne with Butternut Squash and Sage Pesto

So, Alex's mom gave me this cookbook way back in the day, and it made me wonder "is she trying to tell me something?" But then I looked through the cookbook and decided that no, probably not, its just full of interesting and supposedly healthy recipes. The one thing that creeps me out is that it puts all of the meat in quotations (like Ovenfried "Chicken" and Cornbread, or "Meatloaf" and Gravy). Since they substitute weird things like Seitan (WHAT?!) and vegan cream, I'm going to avoid those.

Adapted From Skinny Bitch in the Kitch

Ingredients:
1 box of Penne Wheat Pasta
1.5 lbs (or so) of Butternut Squash, sliced and cut up into 1-1.5 inch slices
5 tsp sea salt
Ground black pepper
2 shallots, thinly sliced
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
Sage pesto
sliced toasted almonds for garnish (optional)

For the pesto:
1/4 cup whole almonds
1 1/2 cup fresh sage
3/4 cup fresh parsley
2 cloves garlic
3 oz light cream cheese
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

First off, make the pesto first. I actually doubled the pesto recipe because I like leftovers, and my box of pasta was bigger than the recipe called for.

1. In a food processor, combine the almonds and garlic and pulse to roughly chop. Add the sage and parsley (and seriously, don't forget to wash your herbs) and pulse to chop. Add the cream cheese, salt, and pepper and process into a paste.


2. With the motor running, slowly pour in the olive oil, processing until the oil is fully combined. Use immediately or transfer to a small container, cover with a thin layer of olive oil, and store in the fridge for 3-4 weeks.


3. After your pesto is made, get your water boiling and start the pasta. Add about 1 1/2 tsp of the sea salt to the water beforehand. While your pasta is cooking, make the squash!

4. Heat the olive oil in a 10-12 inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the squash and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4 or 5 minutes.


Note: I found these pre cut-up squash pieces, and I was SO happy! Let me tell you, I have had some epic battles with peeling squash.

5. Stir in the shallots, pepper, and the remaining 1/2 tsp salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the squash and shallots are tender, for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.


6. When the pasta is done, drain it. Reserve about 1/2 cup of the pasta water in case your pesto mixture is kind of dry. Return the pasta to the pot and stir in the pesto. Add in the squash mixture, and add some of the pasta water if you feel like it (I didn't). Serve!

Here we go again

Okay, now that I'm back from my spring break of sitting on my butt, eating wings, and drinking beer, we are going to return to the original goal of this blog... teaching Maddie how to cook HEALTHY food. Yeah, I'm thinking "oh yeah!" too. Anyway, new (very healthy) meal to come tomorrow. Until then, say goodbye to the things I made before spring break...




And hello to things that won't clog our arteries.