Simple but so Good

Orzo is one of my favorite pastas. Especially cooked simply, like this. I wanted pasta for lunch, but we had almost nothing in the house. BUT, we did have orzo, garlic, and lemons.

Lemon Garlic Orzo

1 c. orzo
1 lemon
6-8 cloves garlic
olive oil
salt, pepper to taste
hard cheese, 1-2 Tbs. grated - optional - (I used majon, but parmesan would also work)

Bring a pot of water to boil. When boiling, add orzo and cook until slightly undercooked. Drain (reserving 1/2 c. of cooking water), and set aside. Meanwhile, heat olive oil (approximately 3 Tbsp.) in saucepan on medium heat. Add minced garlic. Saute for a minute or two. It should not brown. Add zest of one lemon. Saute until starting to brown nicely. Add orzo. Saute for a few minutes. Add pasta water (approximately 1/3 c. - add more later if neccessary), juice from lemon, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring, until water is absorbed. Stir in cheese, and serve.

I didn't have anything else, but I think that parsley or pine nuts stirred in at the end would be delicious. This dish would be very good with shrimp.

Stroganoff!

Lots of cooking this weekend! I made banana bread, strawberry rhubarb pie, and mushroom stroganoff. The banana bread is a recipe from cooking light - classic banana bread. Pretty much the recipe I use every time. Why mess with what works? The only changes I make are to use 1/2 to 2/3 cups whole wheat flour, less sugar (1/2 to 2/3 cup instead of 1 cup) and I add pecans or walnuts. This time, I only had vanilla yogurt so I used less sugar.I made the pie for a friend's birthday. I didn't mess with the sugar, since it was for someone else :). The crust is the pate brisse from Martha Stewart that I first tried on thanksgiving. It is not that difficult, but yields such a crisp, flakey, and buttery crust. The filling is the Rhubarb-Stawberry-Rose pie sans roses from The Great American Bake Sale, compiled by Michael J. Rosen. The whole pie turned out tasty and pretty, if I do say so myself!

I love creamy mushroom stroganoff. It can be a bit rich, so I decided to make a deconstructed version so that each portion (mushrooms, noodles, and sour cram) stands out. Of course, this neccessitates a very flavorful mushroom ragout. Here is my vegetarian version. I served with broccoli sauteed with garlic, lemon zest, and olive oil and finished with lemon juice.

Deconstructed Mushroom Stroganoff

For the mushroom ragout:
2 tbs. butter
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 onion
2 carrots
2 stalks celery
2 cloves garlic
10 oz. mushrooms (I used cremini)
1/2 package dried mushrooms soaked in 1 c. water
bay leaf
1 tsp. herbs de Provence
1/3 c. brandy
1 Tbs. soy sauce + 2 Tbs. brewers yeast + 1 c. water (or use 1 c. vegetable broth)

For the sour cream sauce:
1/2 c. sour cream
1/2 bunch parsely
1/3 c. grated parmesan cheese
lemon

For the noodles:
1/2 package whole wheat egg noodles
1 Tbs. butter

paprika, for garnish

In a large saucepan, heat olive oil and butter. Finely dice onion, carrots, and celery. Mince garlic. Saute onions over medium heat, until starting to color. Add carrots, celery, garlic, herbs de Provence, bay leaf, and pepper. Cook for a few minutes. Slice mushrooms. Remove soaked mushrooms from water (reserving for later) and chop finely. Add to pan, and cook until everything colors nicely. There should be browned bits on the pan. This is good (see picture). Add brandy and turn up heat. De-glaze pan (i.e. scrape all those brown bits up). Once all the bits are scraped up and the brandy has evaporated, add the reserved mushroom soaking water, and 1 cup water + 2 Tbs. brewers yeast + 1 Tbs soy sauce, and salt to taste. Bring to a simmer, and partially cover pan. Some of the liquid should evaporate, but there should still be enough to be saucy. Keeping the pan partially covered allows you to control this.

Meanwhile, set a large pot of water boiling for the noodles and prepare the sour cream sauce. Finely mince the parsely. Mix the sour cream, minced parsely, and parmesan cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add lemon juice to brighten the flavor, to taste. Set aside. When the water is boiling, add the noodles and cook until al dente. Drain, and melt butter in same pot. Add noodles and stir to coat with butter.

Assemble dish: Put noodles on a plate. Top with mushroom ragout, be sure to get some of the sauce. Add a few dollops of the sour cream sauce, and garnish with paprika.

Another Weekend of Baking

But this time, I made a savory pie! I altered a recipe for chestnut pie with stilton and ale. Basically, cook carrots, onions, and potatoes (which I used instead of chestnuts), mix with guiness, then add stilton and put in an herbed whole wheat crust. It was good, but very rich! BB is a huge fan. I would like to perfect the recipe, for instance, substitute a good sharp cheddar for the stilton. It was just too much blue cheese for me. I used a cassarole dish, as it was supposed to be a deep dish pie and I don't have a big enough pie dish. It overflowed a bit. However, the pie turned out beautiful and made for a good hearty winter meal.

Kitchen Frenzy

It is cold and snowy, just look at my backyard! I am also trying to take it easy this weekend because I am still feeling sick (!). What is one to do in bad weather when feeling a bit under the weather? For me, making stuff in the kitchen.

On Friday I made a strawberry-rhubarb crisp, with strawberries and rhubarb I picked MYSELF last summer and then froze. I sort of forgot about them, but they turned out fine baked up. I am still perfecting the recipe, so I will post it later.

On Saturday, I decided to make candied grapefruit peel. The recipe is from The Glass Pantry by Gorgeanne Brennan. Even if you don't cook, you should get this book - the pictures are so pretty and the food is so interesting! The grapefuit peels (pith and all) are boiled in water, then in sugar syrup and set out overnight so they aren't so sticky.
After that, they get coated in sugar.
I decided to coat half in chocolate, as I had a hunch it would be delicious.

I was right! The regular ones are very good, but BB and I think the chocolate covered ones are the best.

On Sunday, I made braised and glazed brussel sprouts and stuck pot rice. Both were from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bitman. I messed up the rice, forgot to add water at the right time. Instead of a crispy crust on the bottom, I got crunchy rice but I think it could be better. I am going to try this recipe again! The brussel sprouts were so good! All you have to do is add brussel sprouts, butter, salt, pepper, and water to a pan and cover to boil. Then uncover and shake the pan occasionally while the water evaporates. The recipe called for water, broth, or wine. I didn't have broth or wine but I definitely want to try a nice white wine next time.

2010!

Here are ten things I want to do this year:

1. Make jam
2. Go see the cherry blossoms in D.C.
3. Paint the dining room
4. Go on a beer and cheese tour of Vermont
5. Knit 12 pairs of socks
6. Have a garden
7. Make pickles
8. Take an art class
9. Sew slipcovers for the armchairs
10. Go to spinning (somewhat regularly)

Let's see how many are done by then end of the year!

Bread Pudding

We had some baguette that was as hard as a brick. Perfect because then I could make bread pudding. Bread pudding, much to my surprise, is one of BB's favorites. And he is not really a dessert person. I just made up the recipe. Next time, I might add a bit more sugar and a bit less milk. Also, fruit would be a good addition. This is a very adaptable recipe.

Bread Pudding

4 cups cubed old bread
3 c. milk (I used whole milk - use a bit less if bread is not super hard)
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
1-2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. raisins soaked in 1/3 c. rum
2 Tbs. sugar in the raw

Preheat oven to 350. Spray or butter a cassarole (or 9x9 square baking dish). Whisk together milk, brown sugar, eggs, nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla. put cubed bread in a large bowl, and pour milk mixture over. Stir and let soak for ~20 min. Mix is raisins and rum. Put in cassarole and sprinkle with sugar in the raw. Bake for 1 hour. The custard should be set and the top should be browned. Let sit 10 min, then ready to eat!

Quick Dinner

It is so easy to eat healthy with dinners like this. Just look at how beautiful the blood oranges are!


Today we made a quick dinner, courtesy of the most January 2010 issue of vegetarian times. We had thai inspired stir-fried tofu with quinoa and citrus salad. The citrus salad was delicious! I will definitely make this again. The salad was arugula with blood oranges and grapefruit segments, sliced shallots, and a dressing made of agave syrup (2 Tbs.), lime juice (2 Tbs.), soy sauce (1 Tbs.), red pepper flakes (1 tsp.), and the juice from the oranges and grapefruits. The recipe called for mint, but I didn't have that so I used some Vietnamese coriander that is growing on my counter. We were supposed to garnish with sesame seeds and peanuts, but I forgot. The stir-fried tofu was seasoned with a paste of soy sauce, miso, white pepper, cayenne, and cloves, garlic, and ginger. I thought it was very good. BB thought it was ok and put a lot of chile garlic sauce on it. But he does that with a lot of stuff. I am so glad there are leftovers for my lunch tomorrow!