Cherry Basil Salad

I had an exhausting day today, editing writing all day, so when I came home I wanted to make something easy and yummy. We had some leftover pasta sauce, so I wanted to make a salad to accompany. Then I remembered we have cherries and a yummy salad I had at Whole Foods.

I tossed some mesculan greens, with some cherries that I pitted, and some basil. For dressing a little lime juice and olive oil!

A nice refreshing summer salad. 

Smoked Paprika Shrimp

Last night we felt like having a homemade dinner after a weekend of fun and eating out, but I also had some work to do so I needed something easy.

Ingredients

- 2 packs of grape tomatoes

- a bunch of basil

- 6-8 garlic cloves

- pinch of smoked paprika

- red chilli pepper flakes

- pimente d'espellete (could use cayenne)

- linguini

- 1 lb shrimp cleaned and deveined

- leftover wine in a box (rose wine)

- parmesean cheese 

I had a bunch of grape tomatoes, of all different varieties, I laid them out on a baking sheet with olive oil and salt and left them in the middle rack of the oven roasting at 250celsius for 2 hours. During that time I did the work I had to do.

Then when the were almost done, I put on salted water to boil the linguini.  Then in a large 2 inch pan, I placed finely chopped garlic, and sautéed it in olive oil then adding the pinch of smoked paprika, red chilli flakes and piment d'espellete. If you choose to use cayenne because it can be really spicy. I then added the shrimp and tossed them into the spiced oil for about 2 minutes, not fully cooking them. Then I transferred the tomatoes from the oven tray to the pan. They were starting to stick to the pan, and I didn't want to add more oil, so I added a 1/4 cup of rose wine we had leftover in the fridge, and covered the pan to allow the shrimp and tomatoes to cook. You want the tomatoes to pop and explode under the light pressure of a fork, but otherwise appearing whole. Then I added chopped basil, grated pamesean and a little salt to my taste and removed from heat. 

I then added the linguini to the boiling water. The package said to cook for 11 minutes but I cooked for 9. After cooking for 9 minutes, I drained the pasta and added it to the sauce and let the whole thing cook on a low simmer for about 2 minutes. This helps to ensure the pasta absorbs the sauce and is perfectly al dente. 

I transferred to a bowl, added some freshly ground black pepper, and some coarse salt, and little parmesean.

It was the perfect home cooked meal after a weekend of bar crawling and camping. The two hours of roasting was great because it allowed me the time to do some work, and the rest of the assembly time was probably about 20 minutes. (I cooked the pasta while cooking the sauce, but for was of recipe writing did not write it that way, but that saves time!)

No picture sorry, but it was pretty!

The upside of being married to hot headed Persian Girl

So I worked all weekend... And had a bit of a rough day, and when I get mad one of my big ways to vent is to cook. Frittata is one of my favorite things to cook when I am in a bad mood because somehow all that veggie chopping makes me relaxed! Call me nuts, but my hubby sure benefits from it!

So I looked in my fridge this morning and saw I had half a red pepper, plenty of eggs, plenty of red onions, and some black trumpet and oyster mushrooms.
So I started by dicing two red onions, and dicing the peppers, cut up the mushrooms, and sautéed then in olive oil and spiced them with salt and fresh cracked pepper. Once the veggies were cooked, I removed them from the heat.

I then cracked 10 eggs in a separate bowl and shredded some parmesan cheese into the bowl, and added salt and pepper. I then whisked the eggs thoroughly.

I placed a layer of the veggies into a lightly greased mini loaf baking dish (it has separate mini loaves, but one could use a muffin dish). After placing the vegetables in I poured the egg mixture on top to fill each slot, grated a little more cheese on top and garnished with basil! Then baked it all for about 20 minutes at 350!

Bone marrow appetizer

So my hubby and I have been sick and unable to eat much for the past few days, but my appetite has come back with a vengeance and all I wanted was something really meaty.
So I went to my local butcher, and they had these beautiful marrow bones


So of course I had to buy them and I made a simple appetizer with them.

I baked the marrow bones as shown at 325 degrees for about 20 minutes, then I scooped out the marrow, spread it on some baguette slices, and garnished with some sea salt and thinly sliced raw garlic ramps! It was delicious and satisfied my extreme post illness hunger!



Noosh-e Jaan

So the other night after my shift, I needed to lift my spirits, so I decided I was going to make some tarragon roast chicken and pasta, but when I got to the grocery store I did not like the chicken they had. They were sold out of thighs and drumsticks and I just didn't feel like breast or whole chicken.... So I found some  delicious looking lamb merguez made by D'artagnan and born was this pasta dish!

Ingredients

- Long ziti (you could use regular or maybe a bucatini)

- shallots (2 small ones I had in the fridge)

-fresh tarragon (one package)

- 1 package of lamb merguez (6 links)

- oyster mushrooms 

- crushed red pepper 

- tomato powder (a random gourmet product I picked up in Olivier and Co, but I don't think a vital ingredient)

- finishing salt

- olive oil

I started by boiling some water with a ton of regular salt in it, and cooked the pasta until al dente (about 9 min).

While the pasta was cooking, I minced the shallots and started to sauté them and about a half tablespoon of crushed red pepper in a large 6 quart sauté pan over medium heat. After the shallots were a little cooked, about 2 min, I chopped up the the lamb sausage and added that to the sauce pan, cooking then until they were almost browned, at that point I added a bunch of sliced fresh oyster mushrooms, and I added about 1 teaspoon of the tomato powder and a little kosher salt to the whole mix and let it all cook until the mushrooms were nice and soft but not too soft! (The tomato powder could be substituted with tomato paste, but if you do this I would use a tablespoon of tomato paste and instead of waiting to add it nearly at the end, I would add the tomato paste to the shallots and crushed pepper initially when you start, so that it gets worked into the oil and makes a nice sauce.)

Once the mushrooms are cooked, add the chopped tarragon, and leave on the heat for like 5-10 seconds, you don't want it to wilt!

Now add the cooked pasta, and mix well, and add a little finishing salt before serving. I served with a persian shirazi salad, which made it extra good! Recipe for shirazi salad is coming!

Noush-e Jaan!

Broccoli with Garlic Sauce

So I worked in the pediatric ER last Friday and Sunday. Sunday night I was wiped out, and when I got home at 11:30 I felt a lymph node that was tender in my neck, and Monday morning I couldn't even wake up I was so sick. I was sick until this morning where I feel okay.
So when I am sick I only want to eat two things: Fresh squeezed orange juice, and Chinese food (specifically wonton soup, broccoli with garlic sauce and general tso's chicken). I really think the combo of OJ and wonton soup can be curative.
So now that I recovered, today I bought some broccoli and made my own version of broccoli with garlic sauce.
Ingredients
2 bunches of broccoli
2 tablespoons of corn starch (organic nonGMO variety/ rapunzel brand)
7 garlic cloves minced
1/2 teaspoon red chilli flakes
2 teaspoons of sesame oil
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 cup of chicken broth (that's what I had)
A sprinkling of sesame seeds
Sriracha sauce
Safflower oil

In a cup I combined the garlic, brown sugar, corn starch, soy sauce, sesame oil, and the broth. I whipped it until it was smooth.
In a wok I heated the safflower oil and the red chilli flakes, and when the oil is warmed I added the broccoli, let I cook until it was almost cooked, then I added the sauce I made and added sriracha to taste, and let it cook down. At the very end I sprinkled the sesame seeds onto it, and let it cook 10 more seconds and voila!



It was delicious and I plan to take it to work this weekend with some brown rice!
Enjoy!

Eggs... good for everything

So I love eggs!!!  They are easy, versatile and they take a really long time to go bad (this is a very important quality for me in food, because I never know when I am actually going to have a chance to cook)

So this post is all about eggs!  Three different recipes... 

Shirred Eggs with chervil and goat cheese

This I made this morning for my husband who has feeling a bit rundown.  I happen to be a strong believer that most ailments can be cured with or at least assuaged with a good meal!  So I decided to make him a hearty meal to help bring him a little energy and umph for the rest of the week!

Eggs
Ramekins
Chervil
Butter
Salt
Pepper
Goat Cheese

This is a super easy recipe.  This is a good one, that you can start, then hop in the shower, and when you get out you can put on the finishing touches.

You butter a small ramekin by just rubbing a stick of butter in it, don't be stingy with the butter, you don't want your eggs sticking to the ramekin.

Crack a whole egg into the ramekin, and salt and pepper it accordingly. 

Put the ramekin in the oven, or a toaster over, set to about 400 on bake.   Let them cook for about 7-10 minutes.  You may need to play around with your oven setting and time. 

After about 7 minutes check on them, if the whites look cooked and the yellow is still soft, you have succeeded.  Top them with a little chopped chervil and grated or diced goat cheese, and then broil the whole thing for another minute or two!  And voila you have shirred eggs. 

They whites taste really baked and fluffy and the yellow is yummy and gooey.

Obviously you can substitute the type of cheese and herb that you use.  You can make your own bacon bits and add those on top.  Also if you can get a bigger ramekin or other baking type stoneware then you can put more than one egg in each dish.

Here is a picture of the finished product

Eshkene (Persian Egg Drop Soup)

This is a great recipe! It is so easy. If you have turmeric in your house, you probably have all the ingredients you need, and it is really hearty.  For those cold winter nights you can eat this for dinner and feel completely satisfied. Its vegetarian, and can be made kosherly as well!  So super easy, super hearty, and for me an ultimate comfort food.

Butter
Flour
Turmeric
Salt
Pepper
Eggs


In a saucepan, melt the butter on low heat, then mix in some flour and some turmeric to make a turmeric flavored roux.  Now how much butter and how much flour you ask.. in a 4-5 qt sauce pan, I would use about 2 tablespoons butter, 1 heaping tablespoon of flour and one almost full tablespoon of turmeric. Play around with it.  Don't let the roux burn.  Once you have a nice paste, fill your saucepan 3/4 of the way with water, turn the heat to high so that you get a rolling boil.  Add the salt and pepper to taste, while awaiting the mixture to boil.  Once you have a rolling boil, take as many eggs as you like (I would not do more than 4 in 4-5 qt sauce pan), and crack them whole right into the boiling water.  Let it boil for about 4-5 minutes after the last egg is in. Then turn off the heat and take the pot off the stove.

You can scoop out just an egg and eat just the egg, or you can serve it like a soup.  If you served it like soup, after you have eaten all the egg out of the soup, then you can make chilit chilit, which is when you cut up some pita, lavash or other flat bread, soak it in the broth and eat it!  It will warm your soul! This is a really good recipe for vegetarians who want a hearty winter dish. 

Also I am putting a plug in here for turmeric. It is an amazing spice, makes everything taste better, and also has anti-inflammatory properties according to ayurvedics.  In fact turmeric is used to treat all kinds of ailments!  It should really be a staple in all kitchens (clearly my Persian roots, intertwined with my husband's Indian ones do cause some bias here)

Here is the finished product:  Noosh-e-Joon

Last but not least...

Deviled Eggs

I don't know why we don't eat these more often. I feel like they are super elegant, or eggelant :),  and super delicious, and really easy to make.  My recipe is the basics, but you can make so many variants of deviled eggs, and top them with all kinds of goodies, fresh herbs, or homemade bacon bits.... play with them! They are great for parties, and look so nice! I recently made them for a baby shower.

Eggs
Mayonnaise
Lemon Juice or White Vinegar
Salt
Pepper
Paprika

Hardboil your eggs, (remember each egg produces two deviled eggs),  let them cool and them peel them.  If you are having a party, you can always hardboil your eggs the night before. 

Cut each egg in half, and scoop out the yolk, and place it in a separate bowl.  Then cut a tiny sliver off the bottom of each side of the egg white so it can sit flat on a serving tray.   Some people preserve the egg whites for garnish at the end.  You will also mess up on some of the eggs, and so you can keep those egg whites for the garnish.

Once you have cut all your eggs up, and laid them flat of a baking sheet, serving tray or whatever surface you like, then focus on making the filling.  Whip some mayonnaise into the yolks, go slowly and keep tasting until you get a nice fluffy and creamy texture.  Add lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.  I go slow with the mayonnaise because its always easy to add more, but hard to take it away.

Also another littler disclaimer about mayonnaise. Not all mayonnaise is equal. Most mayonnaise that you buy in the grocery store is made with soy bean oil... which I am convinced will at least harm you if not kill you.  Soy has a lot of phytoestrogens, people with breast cancer are not supposed to eat it, and they say if you are trying to get pregnant you should not eat much of it either. Some say it is linked to polycystic ovarian disease.  Soy beans are also one of the most processed foods in the market.  So check the labels, Hains makes a great safflower oil mayonnaise and there are the french companies that make ones out of olive oil.  Soy is literally in 90% of everything that comes in a package at the grocery store. I love tofu, I love edamame, and soy milk too but I do limit myself. 

Okay back to cooking.  Once you have created the filling to your satisfaction, then put it in a ziploc bag, and snip a tiny little corner of the bottom of the ziploc bag, so that you can fill each egg white individually. Here is a demonstration:

Then finish by garnishing with some paprika, and if you like the chopped egg whites.  So easy and not to mention delicious! 

If you need inspiration for a good deviled egg, go to the Clover Club in Brooklyn and order them there! They garnish theirs so well! If you do go there, you must have the drink the clover club... it is definitely my favorite drink I have ever had!!!

Well I hope you guys try some of these egg recipes!  I am planning to learn some more egg recipes... my next endeavour with eggs will be Shakshuka ... but for now I will just go to the Israeli breakfast place and get it there whenever I am in the mood!

Have an eggcelent day!

Fake it til you make it Indian

I love Indian food, but rarely go out for it since I get homemade Indian whenever I visit my in-laws. But sometimes we have long stretches without a visit and the craving hits...

Now my disclaimer here is that this is fake Indian, because the spices are based on what I have in my kitchen and not on what actually goes into these dishes if made correctly. But it does the job!

My daal:
Red lentils
Garlic
Ginger
Turmeric
Garam masala
Salt
Peppercorns
Coriander seeds
Cumin seeds
Diced tomatoes
Bay leaves

Cook your lentils in plenty of salted water until soft.
In a coffee grinder or with a mortar and pestle, grind the coriander seeds, cumin and peppercorn.
In a frying pan, fry some minced garlic, ginger, your ground spices with plenty of turmeric and garam masala. If you want to make it spicy, add some diced chillis. Then add in some diced tomatoes (canned is fine). This should form a nice and well spiced paste, which you can then transfer to your cooked lentils. Add a bay leaf into the mix. Then let the whole thing simmer for about 10-20 minutes to let the taste settle in.

The paste in formation looks like this:




Play with the recipe, change the amount of water you cook the lentils in, the amount of spice... Just remember it's always easier to add more than take away after it's been added.

The finished product:





Serve it with bread or rice, and I always like to eat it with plain yogurt!

Turkey kabob koubideh

If you know me well, and have been to my parents' house, you have had my father's kabobs! He makes a lot of different kinds, but one of his best is kabob koubideh, which is a Persian kabob made with ground meet grilled on flat skewers over a fire!
Now, me living in New York City means I have no grill and no place to store skewers, but I still love my kabobs. So after talking to my dad he taught me how to make a similar kabob in my oven using a cookie sheet.

What you need:
Lean ground meat (turkey, beef or chicken)
Onions (1 for each pound of meet)
Turmeric
Paprika
Chili powder
Salt
Pepper
Egg yolks

In a food processor grind the onions to a fine pulp. In a large mixing bowl, mix the ground meat and the onion pulp, add turmeric, salt, pepper, paprika and chili powder to taste. Then for each pound of meat add to egg yolks and mix everything together with your hands, really working everything into the meat. You can also add in other spices, my mother adds in saffron, I have added spiracha, and you can try minced fresh herbs.
After thoroughly mixing the meat, pulse the whole mixture in the food processor for about 10 seconds, you don't want it to be too fine, just really well mixed.
Then press out the meat into a half inch layer on a nonstick cookie sheet.
Place the sheet in the top rack of your oven and broil on high for about 10 minutes. After ten minutes, take the sheet out of the oven, cut the meat into 1 inch wide strips, space them out and flip each one over and broil again for about 10 minutes.



You can serve it with pita bread, rice, salad, or whatever you like.





Also featured in this picture is kabob joujeh ostkhan, which may make a recipe appearance on this blog soon!

Also FYI... this winter I will be focusing on making Persian and Indian food, so look out for those recipes!


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Festo

The other night I had one of my a favorite couples over for dinner! The hubby from the couple and I are watching our carbs, but the wife is pregnant, I also had a half bag of strozzapretti (that's the name of the pasta I used with the eggplant sauce) so I decided to make her a pasta dish aside from the proteins and greens her husband and I were having.

Being Persian I always have pistachios in my fridge, and I had a bunch of fresh mint too. And so I decided to make a fake pesto inspired sauce which the hubby called "festo"
To make festo you need:
Mint
Pistachios
Coffee grinder
Pecorino Romano (could substitute with any other dry aged cheese like Parmesan)
Olive oil
Garlic
Crushed red pepper
Pasta

I used my coffee grinder to grind about a half cup of pistachios into coarse particles. If you are Indian or Persian I know you have an exclusive spice coffee grinder. Others out there you can try the same grinder you use for coffee but it may taint the taste a lot so you could try a food processor or even a mortar and pestle!
After you have your pistachio powder, then sauté some chopped garlic along with the crushed red pepper in olive oil, add the pistachio powder, after about a minute of cooking the pistachio powder (constantly moving it so it doesn't burn) then add in some chopped mint, just barely letting it wilt. Then toss the pasta into it and grate the pecorino cheese to taste.
Remember to salt your pasta water well since you are not adding any additional salt in the sauce.
I had the leftovers of this dish cold the day after and it tasted just as good cold as it did warm.
I am planning to try a different festo in the winter, using sage, walnuts and gorgonzola.
I think this is fun recipe so choose a fresh herb, a cheese and a nut and experiment! Or try an Asian flare, use kaffir lime leaves, peanuts, rice noodles and green mango shaving, with some sesame oil or fish sauce. (i definitely have not tried that one yet, so if you try that let me know how it goes)

Kale, eggplants and heirlooms oh my!!

So this week I got my hand on some beautiful baby eggplants, kale and heirloom tomatoes. What to make?



So I decided to make a kale appetizer inspired by things I have eaten at Franny's (my favorite restaurant in Brooklyn, btw they are coming out with a cookbook soon). And as for the eggplants and tomatoes I made a gorgeous sauce for pasta.

For the kale appetizer I used:
1 bunch of lacinto kale
1 can of cannelinni beans (Eden brand)
1 leek
1 lemon
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Pecorino romano

I sautéed some thinly sliced leeks with the kale, which I left whole. I used a normal olive oil for sautéing. As soon as the kale was wilted and cooked, I added in the cup of beans and cooked it all together for a minute. Then I chilled the whole concoction, dressed it with lemon juice, fancy olive oil, salt and pepper, and of course some pecorino romano. It made a delicious appetizer.



For the pasta sauce I used
8 baby eggplants
12 heirloom medium sized tomatoes
4 cloves of garlic
1/2 a can of tomato paste
Red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Parmesan cheese

I sautéed the garlic and chunks of cut up eggplant in olive oil, then added diced tomatoes and the tomato paste, covered the whole thing and let it simmer, until it turned into a thick chunky sauce. I then grated a ton of parmesan cheese into it!
I put it on some pasta called spagiatelle or something like that. I think you could do it on a fusilli or ziti or penne!

Coq au Vin

In the interest of being completely forthright, this is not actually a recipe for Coq au Vin, but more of a fake coq au vin created by me!
So I had a half stalk of leftover celery, and some mushrooms in the fridge, and a 2 month old (since opening) bottle of red wine sitting in my fridge... that's the beginning of this recipe.
I began by sauteeing the celery and mushrooms for a minute in a big pan, I then lay the chicken pieces on top, added the wine and some more olive oil and baked it for about 45 minutes.
This is what the finished product looked like

I use drum sticks because I like them best, but you could just as well use chicken breast.  I first baked for about 40 minutes and the last 5-10 minutes I put the settings on high broil.
This recipe turned out excellent, we could not get enough of it. 
I think it is more of a winter recipe though we ate it in the summer... I think you can make it with butternut squash, or parsnips.
The celery and the mushrooms cooked in the wine broth became so creamy and delicious.  Don't be stingy on the salt in this recipe because you need it to balance the acidity of the old wine.  I am sure it might be even more delicious if you use wine that is not so old.
Bon appetit!

Kale salad

This recipe is actually from my brother! It's super healthy and super delicious!
Kale
Radishes
Red onion
Cilantro
Avocado
Soy sauce
Lemon juice
Olive oil

So you chop up the kale! Mix in some chunkily chopped radishes, some hand plucked cilantro, and some finely chopped onion! Then add in some chunky chopped avocado. To dress add in some lemon juice, soy sauce, and olive oil.
Note that there are no proportions! Just mix it how you like it! A lighter version that I like is to leave out the olive oil, since the avocado adds the yummy fatty taste!
Another plus of this salad is that if you dress it in the morning and take it to work, the kale does not wither like lettuce or mixed greens!
Also per my acupuncturist the kale will make you more fertile because it thickens your cervical fluid! Try it! You will love it!



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Yummy yogurt!

I am doing an international rotation during the month of July! I am actually leaving in like 1 hour!!
Anyways leaving for a month, leaving my non-cooking husband alone at home, puts the pressure on to use up all ingredients left in the fridge! I was doing a good job until I noticed we had milk left in the fridge which was about to go bad!
Solution.... Make yogurt! My husband eats it every morning for breakfast and it's so easy to do!
I brought the milk to a boil! After it has boiled, I took it off the heat and I let it cool. You cool it until you can comfortably leave your finger in the warm milk for a second or two!




At that point you stir in a few tablespoons of plain yogurt! Then cover the pot with a warm blanket or keep in the oven on a low setting so it keeps warm! Let it sit for most of the day. You can check on it and make sure it looks good! If you want thick yogurt, you can strain it through a cheese cloth!

Here is my yogurt in a blanket:


Hope you enjoy my last post in a while! If I eat anything amazing in Argentina I will try to blog! But I probably won't be cooking!

Farina in a Ramekin!

So recently I bought some brown rice farina!
I thought great I will make it for breakfast! So I put it in the rice cooker and made it according to package instructions! Boy it was horrible! Too salty to eat for breakfast.
So a few days later I had an idea and recreated it!





So...
I sautéed some minced mushrooms and garlic, mixed them into the farina. Then I added, some minced basil and freshly grated Parmesan! I put the farina mixture into Ramekin and baked them for 20 minutes in my toaster oven!
Delicious and healthy!

Roasted Chicken

So when I was sick, I had left some chicken out to thaw! I had to cancel with my guests, but I still had to do something with the chicken, and it had to be easy, cause I still was not feeling well.
I still had tarragon in the kitchen, and a bottle of white wine, which was actually really wonderful wine, but we had accidentally frozen the entire bottle in attempts to chill it. And needless to say wine that is frozen and then defrosted, not good for drinking, but good for cooking!

Ingredients
Chicken (drumsticks and breasts skin on)
Shallot - 1 clove
Garlic - 3 cloves
Tarragon - 1/2 a bunch
Wine - 1 glass worth
Red onion - 1 onion diced

In a ovensafe pan or sauté the diced red onions, thinly sliced garlic, and minced shallots in some good love oil. Sauté over a medium heat and let the onions cook slowly until clear. In the meanwhile salt your chicken breasts with kosher salt. Once the onions are cooked, put the chicken in the pan brown on each side, for about ten minutes on each side. Once the chicken is browned then add the wine and let the chicken cook in the wine on medium heat until the fluid is about half. While you are waiting, preheat your oven to 450. After the liquid is halve add the chopped tarragon to the pan.

Transfer the chicken to the middle rack, and roast for 15 minutes. Then use a tong to turn the chicken pieces over and roast for another 15 minutes. Roast as long as you need to get a nice brown color to the skin.

Keep checking on it until it looks good!

Voila the finished product.

My soup from when I was sick!

This is a picture of the soup I made when I was sick!

Amazing pasta and roast chicken!

Sorry for the long time no writing! But I was super sick, and I have to put a shout out to MK medicine resident superstar who covered my friday CCU call, because I was so sick! I owe him a dinner!

So now that I am back on track, I have to share an amazing pasta recipe I just made. The recipe is originally from "on top of spaghetti" which is the 2nd cookbook put out by the owners of Al Forno, and amazing restaurant in Rhode Island. According to the NY Times, the owners of Al Forno are credited with popularizing pasta as it is eaten in Italy with Americans! This is a must have book! Excellent easy recipes, and literally you can't make anything bad with this book around!

So the recipe is for spaghettini al chiattara. I made this when I was getting better, but still not up for shopping for groceries.

The recipe calls for:
4 bliss potatoes
Fresh sage 2 tablespoons
6 tablespoons butter
1 pound spaghettini
4 ounces gorgonzola cheese

So of course I had to make substitutions cause I didn't have all that stuff. I used the following:

1 big yam
Fresh sage 2 teaspoons minced
5 tablespoons butter
2.5 oz of gorgonzola
1 oz of goat cheese
1 lb of linguine

*of note if you don't have fresh sage the cookbook says don't substitute with dry sage, use dried oregano instead.

So cube your potatoes into 1/2 inch cubes. In a large serving bowl cut up your cheese an butter, and add your minced sage, mash it all together with a fork to make a paste.

Then in a nice large pasta pot, place your cubes potato, with lots of salt. Bring it to a boil, and after it has boiled for 5 minutes, add the pasta, cook until pasta is al dente! Then drain the pasta, but keep some of the cooking water. Add the pasta and potatoes to the gorgonzola sage butter and toss it. You can add a bit of fresh ground peppercorn. A little of the potato may smush and coat the pasta, that's fine and delicious. If the pasta seems too dry, you can add in the reserved cooking water 1 tablespoon at a time.

Here is a pic, doesn't look glorious, but it is absolutely delicious!

So sick today!!!!

So today, I was super sick, like thank god my albuterol inhaler still works sick. I was home all day and could not leave.  Yesterday afternoon, I was ambitious and had made a grocery list of some ingredients so that I can make a festive dinner for one of my couple friends this evening. Needless to say, I was too sick to buy groceries, and dinner was canceled.  However, I did wake up in need of some soup, and I already had thawed a bunch of chicken so that is how my morning started.

I used the following ingredients to make soup
- Thyme
- 1 onion
- Garlic
- Ginger (I only used it because I had a thumb sized piece that I was afraid would go bad)
- Chicken Drumsticks
- Frozen peas
- Some weird worm shaped pasta called Medi


I  first sauteed the onion, garlic, ginger with olive oil, salt, pepper and few sprigs of cut up fresh thyme, in the base of my soup pot.  I then added the drumsticks, so I could brown them a little, once I was done with that I added a bunch of water, 3/4 a way up the pot, and a bunch of salt and pepper.  I let the chicken cook for a good 30 minutes.  I then pulled out the 4 drumsticks, put them in the freezer for about 1 minute to cool them, while the water in the pot kept boiling.  I cut up the chicken into little pieces, and threw the chicken and the bones back into the soup water.  I let it cook for about 10 more minutes, then I added the frozen peas and a cup of pasta.  I waited about 12 minutes, and voila the soup was ready.
I ate about 3 bowls of it with lemon juice added to each individual bowl, and I do think there is some curative properties in chicken soup.

My regrets with this recipe are the following: I wish I had had other vegetables to put in the soup. I used the peas because that was the only vegetable I had besides tomatoes and sweet potatoes.  I did consider the use of sweet potato, but decided on using the peas instead.   I don't really even know why I had frozen peas in my freezer, because it is not something I usually by, so that went into the decision too, so that I could get rid of them. 
Also I wish I added the pasta first and then waited to the very last minute to add the peas.  I think they would have tasted more fresh, hard to tell as they were frozen in the first place.

I don't have any pictures to add, because I was really not up to taking pictures earlier today. I can't even believe I am up blogging now.  I do have left overs, so maybe I will take a picture, but to be honest it is not so glorious to look at, but the taste is good!

Veggie or Kosher variants of last night's dinner

I have a lot of vegetarian and kosher friends, so I was thinking about how to do the recipe differently to accommodate them.

My first idea was to make a cannellini bean purée. And use that instead of the meat and yogurt. I would food process cooked or canned cannellini beans, drain them of any water so it has similar consistency as hummus. I would add olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Then I would layer that first on the toasted bread, followed by cilantro, the eggplant, then tomato and I would finish it with nice cheese crumble like feta, or grated pecorino Romano.

For any kosher keepers, I would not make the recipe with meat and leave out the yogurt. The yogurt is really what cinches the whole thing together. I would also not substitute soy yogurt. One could try making a thin hummus and top it with paprika instead of cayenne. But don't just do the meat, it will be way to boring! And don't even think about substituting with mayo!
Toodles