Alex and I have a rather glorious All-Clad slow cooker in the closet that we almost never use. I am determined to change that this winter. I want to make at least one batch of slow cooker chili and at least one stew (or other braised dish). I guess this recipe would take care of the stew, but let's get a little crazy and make another stew because why not? But seriously, a slow cooker is brilliant for a lazy Sunday wintertime meal. You throw it together in the morning (or the afternoon) and wander off for a few hours. And later that evening you end up with something warm and hearty. Today we started putting dinner together around 3:30 pm. After we seared up the beef and threw it in the slow cooker, we took the dog for a long walk and hung out on the couch for awhile. And then around 7:30 pm dinner was ready! This recipe was fairly labor-intensive for a slow cooker recipe - there were several stages and several pots used, but it simmered away unattended for 3 plus hours, which was nice. The dish that finally emerged from the slow cooker was warm, rich and comforting - perfect for a slightly chilly lazy Sunday. It had a rich meaty flavor from the beef and the beef stock, plus a nice sweetness to the broth overlayed with the aroma of toasted sesame oil. With each bite you got shreds of sweet cabbage, hunks of tender beef, steamed rice, and the slight crunch of bean sprouts. My favorite element might have been the pickles. I really loved the how the pickles provided lovely little bursts of acidity and a little heat. And they held up a lot better once we added them in the slow cooker than I thought they would. I took a few bites and told Alex to break out the kimchi because I thought the kimchi would be a nice spicy side and would provide some complimentary (but absent) flavors and a nice textural contrast. When I asked Alex what he thought about the stew he said (and I quote) "I think it was very good - I think serving it with kimchi made it better."
Recipe after the jump!
I can't figure out what it was about this recipe that made me want to cook it. I have never been a huge fan of creamed spinach - if it is there I will certainly eat it, but I have never ordered (or made) creamed spinach in my life. I do like sauteed spinach, either by itself or folded into pastas or omelets. The Spinach Catalan Style is one of my favorite sauteed spinach recipes. But spinach is everywhere right now (both in the farmers' market and the grocery store) and it seemed due time to try a new spinach recipe. I know I mentioned that I was planning on making this dish along with a few others when we made the Warm Mushroom Salad with Shallots and Sherry Vinegar. And I am determined to use the Andrea Reusing cookbook now with the remaining bounty at the farmers' market. So this seemed like a match made in heaven. The only problem was that Alex and I both found the dish to be a little muddy tasting. When we tasted it in the pan it was tasty - perfumed nicely with the cardamom and with the creamy tang of the creme fraiche. But by the time we plated the spinach and got it to the table (which took no more than a minute), the flavors got muddled and the spinach itself developed a somewhat slimy texture. Perhaps we should have skipped that last minute of cooking everything together with the creme fraiche and leeks and pulled the spinach from the pan a minute earlier to prevent any overcooking. Or perhaps we should just recognize the fact that we don't really like creamed spinach and call it a day.
Recipe after the jump!
This is the second version of scrambled eggs that we have made from Mangoes and Curry Leaves: Culinary Travels Through the Great Subcontinent. Sadly, neither Alex nor I can remember the other scrambled eggs recipe well enough to decide which one we liked better... I remember being pleasantly surprised by how palatable I found the tomatoes in the Andhra Scrambled Eggs. But what I really remember from that meal was being blown away by the Andhra Spiced Eggplant. Speaking of that eggplant, we need to make it again ASAP because it was delicious. I have one minor criticism of this particular scrambled eggs recipe; I prefer my eggs cooked gently and slowly over a moderately low temperature, rather than scrambled quickly over a higher heat. That way the eggs remain light, fluffy and moist. Because the eggs here were poured in a much hotter pan than I usually use to scramble eggs, they were a little dry. They also felt a little... heavier and more filling than typical scrambled eggs (both because of the cooking method and the amount of ingredients in the eggs). On the plus side, the flavors here were quite interesting and were fun to experiment with. These eggs were heavily spiced with curry leaves, cayenne chili, shallot, ginger and scallions. In terms of sheer flavor, they packed a wallop. And I usually love that kind of thing. But part of me would have preferred a really simple plate of pale or golden yellow, fluffy scrambled eggs with just a few chives on top for color. Simple, but satisfying.
Recipe after the jump!
I am so excited that squash season is finally here. Yay. I know you can get butternut and spaghetti squash year-round at most decent grocery stores, but I love the selection of fresh squash at the farmers' market during the fall. I have been on the lookout for delicata squash (which I think is my favorite of the squash varieties I have tried) but I am also determined to try a few new varieties this year. I am thinking cheese pumpkins or blue Hokkaido squash (if I can find it). We have a kabocha squash at home right now, but I pick at least one kabocha squash up per season. Strangely enough, I never ate any variety of squash prior to moving to NYC. My first year here I was wandering through the farmers' market in Union Square where I saw a squash that looked interesting and I bought it. I haven't looked back since.
We tend to be a little lazy with spaghetti squash and we make our Spaghetti Squash with Moroccan Spices repeatedly without even considering searching for a new recipe. This time I wanted to try something new and I took some inspiration from a pumpkin-coconut curry that I was considering making with our kabocha squash. One thing I will say about roasting the spaghetti squash in the oven is that it cooks far more evenly. Cooking it in the microwave is obviously much faster, but you end up with pockets of undercooked or inconsistently cooked squash. So I would recommend that if you have the time, go ahead and roast your spaghetti squash. It is worth it. As for the seasonings, I thought that the combination of the heat of the cayenne chili (we added additional cayenne pepper, but it might be spicy enough with just the chili for most people) and the sweetness of the squash and coconut was lovely. I have never tried cooking with coconut oil before but I thought it was a nice way to add a little additional coconut flavor to gently perfume the whole dish in addition to the more concentrated flavor of the dried shredded coconut. I might try the coconut oil in a few more stir-fries until I figure out exactly what role it is going to play in our kitchen, but this was a good first attempt!
Recipe after the jump!
I really love a good meatball so this recipe sounded really interesting to me. Buffalo wings are awesome. Meatballs are awesome. Why wouldn't they be awesome together? The problem with these meatballs is that they are lacking a key component to the buffalo wings - texture. When you bite into a nice buffalo wing you have the crispy deep-fried skin with the moist chicken. These meatballs have the right flavor. And they are moist. But they are one big ball of smush. There was literally no texture to them. I had hoped that the celery and the shallot would provide a little texture, but no such luck. When I saw how wet and soft they were I decided to broil them for a few minutes at the end of the cooking process to try to get a crust to form on the exterior. No dice. The broiling did help to firm them up a little, but no crust formed because they were too wet. The blue cheese dip was pretty chunky (which was a conscious decision on our part to provide texture). I also ate my meatballs with celery sticks because I needed the crunch. And I really enjoy the combination of buffalo wings, blue cheese and celery. It works for me. Alex took one bite of the celery and gave me the rest. Sometimes it's not such a bad thing that Alex doesn't like celery.
Recipes after the jump!
What do you do when you have an entire roast turkey breast (and then some) left over in the refrigerator? If you're Alex, you make club sandwiches. And since the Roast Turkey Breasts with Asian Spice Rub was quasi-Asian to begin with, you make quasi-Asian club sandwiches. To be perfectly honest, the only Asian (or quasi-Asian) elements to these sandwiches were the turkey breasts themselves, which were seasoned with an Asian spice rub of Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, clove, coriander, fennel and cinnamon, and the spicy mayo Alex put together, which was seasoned with sriracha and a pinch each of ground coriander and ground cumin. Otherwise, these sandwiches were basically traditional turkey clubs, which are a perfect lazy Sunday meal!
There is no real recipe here, although I can post the method we used for cooking the bacon in the oven. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place a cooling rack on top. Lay the bacon strips out on top of the rack and then slide the pan into the oven. Turn the oven on to 400 degrees F and allow bacon to roast until they reach the desired level of crispness, about 20-25 minutes. It's almost too easy.
I have a new farmers' market resolution. I want to pick up one new ingredient that we have never cooked with each week and figure out how to cook it. Last weekend my new ingredient was celery root. When I picked up the celery root I had grand ideas of soup or puree. I feel like celery root puree is everywhere in NYC restaurants. I didn't realize when I picked up the celery root just how much it would taste and smell like celery. For some reason I expected it to be sweeter and less celery-flavored. Had I known that celery root tasted like celery I probably would have picked up a different vegetable given that Alex isn't exactly a fan of celery. And after prepping this soup I am not sure that Alex will ever voluntarily cook with celery root again - it is kind of a beast to peel and chop up. Oops. This weekend I picked up sunchokes (aka Jerusalem artichokes) so that will be our next experiment.
When everything was said and done, this was not our favorite soup ever. I... liked it. I thought that when you got a spoonful with the bacon it was pretty tasty. Bites without bacon were less so. Without the bacon I felt like the soup lacked depth of flavor. Alex was on the fence. Actually, saying that he was on the fence is sugar coating it a little. Without the bacon he thought the soup had the texture and flavor of baby food. Once I realized how much the celery root smelled like celery I knew I was fighting a losing battle. Expecting Alex to love a soup with celery root as the main component was a bit optimistic on my part. Oh well. Better luck next time.
Recipe after the jump!
