Thursday, 9 September 2010
Braised Goat with Red Wine Portabella Sauce
Friday, 5 March 2010
Beer Camp Columbus 2010
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
"Did the discovery of cooking make us human?"
Cooking food breaks down its cells, meaning that our stomachs need to do less work to liberate the nutrients our bodies need. This, says Wheeler, "freed up energy which could then be used to power a larger brain. The increase in brain-size mirrors the reduction in the size of the gut."
I don't know. I've seen some pretty big guts...
Sunday, 28 February 2010
Mussels in a White Wine, Garlic and Tomato-Parmesan Broth
- Soak the mussels in a bucket of cold water for 20 minutes.
- Add the 4 tbsp of olive oil to medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add all of the grape tomatoes. When the skins loosen a bit, turn to medium-low heat and add the garlic and onion. After about 5 minutes, turn to low, add the herbs and broth and simmer for 20 minutes. (Cook pasta, if using, drain, and set aside.)
- Once you have prepped all the ingredients (you can also do this before hand). Rinse, scrub, debeard and then rinse the mussels again. I usually just do this with the water running.
- Add the quartered tomatoes and the white wine, turn up to medium heat until the broth begins to boil, about 5 minutes. (This is where I added the hot sauce and red pepper flakes) Add the grated Parmesan, the mussels (and the shrimp). Cover and cook for two minutes, then uncover, and gently stir the mussels so that the mussels on the bottom are on the top and vice versa. Cook for two more minutes.
- Remove mussels to a serving dish and top with Parmesan and red pepper flakes (optional).
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
sorry!
Tuesday, 16 February 2010
A quick note on butter*
Monday, 15 February 2010
Zucchini Cappellini w/ Baby Heirloom Tomatoes
Whole Foods has been stocking a variety of "baby" (WF calls them "Gourmet") Heirloom Tomatoes. They look identical to their 'adult' counterparts, but they are about four times smaller. They are so cute! I don't know if thy're actually "babies" (I don't think they are), or if that's just how big they get based on the season/cultivation. They're so gorgeous and delicious that I needed to get them--twice (I use them in the mussels recipe too). I didn't have time to make the vegan wontons, but will be making them soon for my Skylab third-floor-friendies, so that recipe is still forthcoming--no worries.
I used a mandoline to julienne the zucchini--julienning the zucchini is a key part of this recipe. In fact, to julienne zucchini is one of the main reasons I bought a mandoline, as it's the easiest, most uniform way to do it. (I've never used a julienne peeler before, so I guess saying that is only correct with lack of experience in that realm, I just meant--julienning vegetables yourself, i.e. with a chopping knife--sucks.) I had to do this by hand (without the safety guard that keeps you from slicing your little fingertips off, and is totally inadvisable by all authorities on the subject), but I was really careful, and it was the only way I could do it, as the zucchini wouldn't fit in the guard!Zucchini Cappellini w/ Baby Heirloom Tomatoes
(serves 4-6, or 10-12 as a side dish; takes about an hour, including prep)
5-6 small-medium zucchini, julienned*
1 1lb container of grape tomatoes, halved
- Add the 2 tbsp olive oil to a large saucepan on medium-high heat (you’ll see mine at the end, so that should give you a pretty good idea of how much room you need if you don’t scale down the recipe), and add the grape tomatoes. Once the tomato skins loosen a bit, turn this down to medium-low then low. Stew the tomatoes for up about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. (This is normally when I do the prep for the rest of the ingredients.)
- Season with some salt and pepper. Add the garlic to the tomatoes once you’ve minced the cloves. Add 2 tbsp of olive oil and 2 tbsp of butter.
- Add a bit of olive oil and sea salt to a large pot of water (optional), and cook the spaghetti until al dente (this takes about 6-7 minutes, but read the package)—or 1 minute before al dente, if you like the bite of al dente, because you’re going to add it to the sauce on low heat, which will cook it through. (Since the pasta is whole wheat, I cook it until al dente.) Drain. Rinse with cold water or add more olive oil to keep from sticking (also optional).
- On medium-low heat, add the quartered Heirloom tomatoes, simmer for 3 minutes at most.
- On low heat, add the julienned zucchini, let cook for 2 minutes, then add the pasta, and let cook for about a minute more. Add the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil and 2 tbsp of butter. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- If using, before serving, add shaved Parmesan on top. (I added some mixed in the pasta, and then some on top, because I didn’t use a lot of salt.)
A sneak peek until I get some homework done
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
A note on the Recipes I provide
Monday, 8 February 2010
Coming soon!
Thursday, 4 February 2010
Wild Mushroom and Brie Risotto
- Warm about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and garlic and a tablespoon of butter. Once the mushrooms start to wilt, add the thyme, a generous amount of pepper, a tsp or so of sea salt, and cook about three to five minutes. Remove the mushrooms and their liquid, and set aside.
- Add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and stir in the onion, cooking for one minute (do not let brown). Add rice, stirring to completely coat with oil. When the rice has just turned golden and pale, add the wine, stirring constantly until the wine is fully absorbed.
- Continue this with the broth by adding ½ c at a time, stirring until the liquid is absorbed and adding ½ c of broth. Do this until all the broth has been used, tasting at intervals, to make sure you don’t over cook the rice. It shouldn’t be crunchy, but shouldn’t be mushy either (i.e. al dente). This should take anywhere between 20 and 30 minutes.
- Remove from the heat, and immediately add mushrooms, chunks of butter, parmesan, and chives. Add salt and pepper to taste only after adding the parmesan. Fold in the chunks of brie.
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Salmon with Cremini Mushroom Sauce and Sautéed Spinach
- Marinate the salmon with the juice of ½ a lemon, ¼ c of olive oil, coarse salt, and freshly ground pepper on both sides. Leave covered in the fridge for 20 to 30 minutes.
- While the fish marinates, cook the bacon in a large enough pan to also accommodate the salmon filets. Don’t burn the bacon, but cook until just crisp. Drain on paper towels. Use a paper towel and skim off most of the extra oil. (Don’t pour it off, because you want the bacon bits to stay adhered to the pan).*
- In a separate pan, heat a tbsp of olive oil, then add spinach in batches, add the dried thyme, garlic powder, salt and pepper, until all the spinach wilted. Remove from heat.
- In the pan with the residual bacon grease, add 1 tbsp butter (or olive oil if you prefer). Add the fish, flesh side down (skin side up), and sear (pan-fry) the fillets for 4 minutes. Gently flip over, and cook for another 4 minutes.
- Remove the fish from the pan (let rest skin side up and keep warm), add the white wine and let evaporate a bit. Then add the remaining butter, garlic and mushrooms. After a minute, add thyme and bacon and stir to coat everything. Add salt and pepper to taste, cook no more than 5 minutes. You will know when the mushrooms are done when they turn a golden, limp and release their juices.
* skip this step if you’re not using bacon, duh.