Shortcuts :) :) :)

I am at heart impatient and lazy, and therefore I love shortcuts. Yesterday's thrill: the menu was halibut in a bag (the yogurt marinade) and Jody's sweet potato baked chips. I realized (it certainly took me long enough) that they have many ingredients in common. Into the FP, then, went 6 fat cloves of garlic and half a jalapeno. Gave it a twirl. Then added 1 t. pepper (maybe), 1/2 t. salt (maybe), 1 t. cayenne (maybe) and 1/2 c. olive oil, twirled again. Split the resulting slush in half: half into the bag with the 1 c. yogurt for the halibut. Remaining half stayed in the FP. Switched to the slicing blade and sliced appropriately sized chunks of peeled sweet potato. Used the forcer tube thingy to move the SPs past the blade as quickly as possible in the hopes of getting reasonably thick chips. It worked really well.

To top it off, I think I have successfully used a USB stick to make a one or two (well, maybe 5, but at least not 100) touch transfer of about 80 documents from my laptop to my desktop.

And then I happily reflected on how last year's wave petunias have evidently self-seeded in the window box.

Now if I could only discover a short cut for playing piano. Yuliya says there are none.

Neatloaf

I just made this tasty tasty neatloaf, aka vegetarian meatloaf. It was amaaaaaazing! Michael says it could pass for "the type of cheap meat loaf where you can't really tell what type of meat is in there." I think it was far superior fare.

The recipe was inspired by the neatloaf served at Ananda Fuara, a vegetarian restaurant in San Francisco that I love. This group (cult?) cooks communally and all of the waiters at the restaurant have a creepy vacant look. They make fantastic food, however, so can't be doing all bad.

The only thing I would change next time is to replace at least half the ketchup in the sauce with no-salt added tomato sauce, as the sauce was too salty. Also, I replaced the special K with raisin bran sans raisins (as raisin bran was on sale and special K was not). Now the remaining 1/4 of a box has two scoops of raisins in it--breakfast promises to be a very healthy meal this week.

I served it with rice made with veggie sauce.

Souffle cupcakes

This weekend was Michael's bday. To celebrate, I made a combination dish of two of our favorite desserts: chocolate souffle and cupakes! These chocolate souffle cupcakes with mint cream was found on smitten kitchen, my favorite food-porno blog. I followed the recipe nearly to the letter and wouldn't change a thing.

Also on the menu: homemade pizza! We had too many guests to have a sit down dinner, so just asked people to bring some toppings and assembled pizzas together. Sooooo tasty. My favorite was probably the simplest, that just used every type of cheese in our kitchen in excess.

Fennel and Red Pepper salad with Sherry Vinegar dressing

This was in the Post Food Section a few weeks ago:

First use the chop blade in the FP on about 2 T. cilantro. (The recipe called for parsley.) Then switch to the slicing blade. Take 1 fat fennel bulb and quarter it with vertical slices so that it goes into the food processor heads-up. Slice. Likewise slice the red pepper. The very thin slices let the juices blend nicely.

For the dressing whiz 2 T. lemon juice, 1 T. sherry vinegar, 1 clove minced garlic and 2 - 4 T. olive oil.

Use lettuce on the bottom of the plates. Add the vegetables. Top that with shaved parmesan then add the dressing.

hummus

I was out of hummus tonight, and I needed some for leek pie. I did have leftover Moorish stew, though, so I scooped out some (maybe 1 cup) of the chickpeas, added the juice of a very big lemon, poured on a lot of tahini (maybe 3 or 4 T.), added 2 cloves of garlic, and poured in maybe 2 T. of almond oil. It was very sweet from all the tahini, and delicious. The sherry vinegar comes through nicely.

So here is the rhubarb trifle I had at the Orangeriet, housed in an old guardhouse along the edge of the King's Garden at Rosenborg Castle in Copenhagen. I had a similar dessert, likewise in a ball jar, at Les Trois Cochons in Vesterbro. It has crumbled macaroons in it, and a meringue, and a sort of frozen yogurt. Heavenly.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

I made a strawberry rhubarb pie for a dinner party I had last night and it turned out beautifully! I've never cooked with rhubarb before. I went to the farmer's market planning to find some fruit and bake it into a crisp. I came across some luscious strawberries at the booth of some marvelously grizzled old men from the Eastern shore. These beauties just happened to be sitting right next to bunches of rhubarb, so I decided to try my luck. I chose relatively thin and tender rhubarb. I adapted Joy of Cooking's strawberry rhubarb pie recipe with their buttery crust recipe.

Preheat oven to 425.

Filling:
Without peeling, cut 1 bunch (2-2.5c) rhubarb stalks into 1" pieces.
Add 2.5c strawberries, hulled & halved lengthwise.
Mix with 2/3-1c sugar, 1/4c cornstarch, and 1/4t salt.
Let stand for 15 min, stirring once.
(I used 2/3c sugar and 2c rhubarb)

Pie assembly:
Pour filling into pie.
DOT TOP WITH 2T BUTTER.
(I always forget this step. Seriously. This is one reason I always do the lattice crust, because if necessary you can shove in the butter at the last minute. See below.)

 
 I chose a lattice crust. This seems more difficult than a basic, contiguous pie crust, but is far more forgiving on a weak/breaking crust and looks gorgeous. Lightly brush the top of the pie with milk or cream.

Cook for 30 minutes at 425, then lower the oven temp to 350 and cook for another 25-30 minutes until the juices are thick and bubbling.

Serve with vanilla ice cream. Yum!

Indian Feast

In celebration of Thursday, I made an Indian feast today! These two recipes are adaptations from The Taste Divine, a wonderful Indian cookbook Jo gave me (and that has appeared several times on this blog before.) We have very few leftovers.

Siddhi/Chickpea Curry/Chana Masala

Saute 1 chopt jalapeno chili, 1/2 chopt onion in 2T oil. Add 1.5t turmeric, 1.5t cumin, 1/4t cinnamon, 1/4t cloves, 1/4t cardamom, 2T grated ginger, and a sprinkling of red pepper flakes and cook until fragrant.

Meanwhile, place 3c chickpeas, 1 can tomatoes, and 2 bay leaves in the slow cooker (I'm sure this would work fine in a big pot, too). Cook on lo for 6 hours. At the end, stir in 1T sugar and 1t salt. Enjoy with rice!

Anaandi/Spicy Spinach Saute/Saag
Saute 1 chopt jalapeno chili, 1/2 chopt onion in 2T oil. When they start to soften, add 1/2t cumin and ~1t mustard (1/2t black mustard seeds were recommended, but I do not have those). Let it sputter and then add 1/2 can petit diced tomatoes. Stir in 1/2t turmeric, 1/2t salt, and 6 cups fresh spinach. Steam until spinach is soft and then mash it with a fork. Enjoy with rice and the chickpeas!

 Above: Saag with rice and skewered salmon