So I really wanted a roasted bell pepper recently. And ok, I don’t have a gas stove (grrr) and I didn’t feel like throwing the pepper in the oven for awhile. So I decided to have fun in the kitchen. I love to cook, so why not play more. The pictures explain it all. I had every single fan on in my kitchen and brought in two others and had them on at top speed. Also had several windows open. I did not want the fire alarm to go off or any neighbors to wonder. In the end, the pepper was perfect!
As I continue to play in the kitchen, as I read cooking magazines, when I hit the occasional restaurant, when I walk through the grocery store (I’m one of the people who loves that — I have friends who dread it), I think about the flavors I love the most. I often think about the spices I could not do without.
I have a top two, a solid third, and then two more that cater to the baking side (more sweet than savory).
*I recently took a Smartphone photography class to sharpen my food photo skills since I take all my blog pictures via my iPhone. So, this was also a great way to start working on these and play with my new olloclip. If you’re in the DC-area, check out Washington Art Works & Washington School of Photography and Adam S. Lowe‘s Smartphone class — I give them huge props (and all their other classes) — they have food stuff, too — oh, I just found out they have wine tastings, as well.
Anyway, my top spices:
1. Cumin — give me cumin or give me death. You can use it in so much stuff, and it’s very convenient that I love (tex)mex food. Maybe there’s a correlation here…hmmm.
2. Coriander (dried cilantro) — will ALWAYS take the fresh stuff. Where’s the guac when you have the fresh stuff? I can be caught using this in near everything.
3. Fennel (seed)! What’s funny here is I can’t stand black licorice (it’s not a like of many). Though they aren’t super close to the same, that’s always what I think of when I know that I love this stuff. So, give me fennel, the spice or fresh stuff and I am in heaven!
4. As we move down to the lower half of the top five, the next two are sort of tied, so I’m going to put them in alphabetical order for safety sake. So, cinnamon, bring it on! You’re in my baked goods, and sometimes ‘cooked’ ones.
5. Last but not least, nutmeg. From baked goods to sprinkling it on fruit. Has some great health benefits, too. I definitely won’t say no.
So, what spices up your life? What are your favorite spices? Are they more savory or sweet? Let everybody know.
Was in the soup mood last night and remember tearing a new recipe out of the recent issue of Bon Appetit. Was the perfect time to make it — Fennel and Carrot Soup. I love fennel and enjoy carrots when they are cooked (or covered in hummus). For some reason I just cannot acquire a taste for them when they are just plain and simple, perfectly orange and raw. We all have our things.
Anyway, when I saw the recipe I knew I’d have to make a couple changes/eliminations, which is common in my world since I’m the lactard, but it would be simple.
![IMG_1514[1]](https://melsmosaic.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/img_15141.jpg)
Ingredients:
Directions:
Heat 4 Tbsp. butter (or some oil) in a large heavy pot over medium. Add fennel, onion, carrots, potato, thyme, and bay leaf; season with salt and pepper.
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Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally and reducing heat if needed, until vegetables are soft but not browned and have released their moisture, 45–60 minutes (this will give them deep flavor). ***Right here I was staring at these delicious looking veggies and questioned sanity — WHY was there no garlic in here?!?! I quickly added some.
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![IMG_1530[1]](https://melsmosaic.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/img_15301.jpg)
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Last Sunday I finally had the time to break in my new kitchen (just moved). So wanted to make something fun. And, the night before I opened a bottle of red wine that did not merit being finished. I don’t really want to waste wine therefore determined I would just cook with it. It had been a windy, sort of cold day around DC, so determined I wanted to make a stew-like meal. I did some research online and didn’t find anything that truly struck my fancy so got creative and put together my own thing.
Ingredients (all quantities are some/non specific):
-chicken (sliced or cut into pieces)
-cannellini beans
-stewed/canned tomatoes
-mushrooms
-kale
-red wine
-onion (used a red one)
-garlic
-thyme (had some fresh stuff on hand)
-water
-S&P![IMG_0875[1]](https://melsmosaic.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/img_08751.jpg)
I sauteed the garlic and onion for a few minutes then added the chicken and sauteed that until it was cooked. After that I added the balance of the ingredients and cooked it over low heat for about an hour — I was in no hurry.
![IMG_0880[1]](https://melsmosaic.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/img_08801.jpg)
It was a very tasty stew, lots of flavor. I served it with a quality-of-a-name Zin, Zinzilla. It was a nice wine!
![IMG_0882[1]](https://melsmosaic.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/img_08821.jpg)
Explore in the kitchen! Never hurts to have fun and try something new.
Last night I wanted to make a pre-St. Patrick’s Day dinner, color-wise. I had done an Irish brunch so needed something lighter but wanted a green theme. I assessed what I had in my kitchen and off I went.
Started with some green olives to nibble on while prepping. Then went for some scallops with ginger, garlic and green onions, some Brussels sprouts (with pistachios) and arugula with grapefruit.
The key to the taste of this was some sesame oil!
Put some of that in a pan then added the green onions, garlic and ginger. My kitchen smelled SO good.
Then, I purposely used a big pan to (1) save time and (2) get some of those amazing, drool inducing flavors/tastes into both the scallops and Brussels sprouts.
Wanted to add some (more) tang to my arugula salad so added some grapefruit.
While all this was happening, had some kale chips going — just tore some kale, tossed in olive oil, sprinkled with salt and baked at 400 for 10 minutes. I put the kale on a rack so I don’t have to flip it.
Opened up a red from Italy that I’d had for awhile to serve with dinner — amazing! Osel Ruche.
Final product all around was AMAZING. Plenty of green on the plate — green kale, green arugula, green Brussels sprouts, green pistachios (tossed with them), green onions, green olives for apps. Love just throwing stuff together!
I love getting my Bon Appetit magazine each month and there is one recipe in there I’ve been eyeing for awhile from the January issue. Finally got around to making it last weekend while watching (yelling, screaming, cheering, crying, and finally celebrating) the Seahawks game. It was the Collard Green Salad with Cashews and Lime (they mention you can easily substitute kale for the collard greens, which I did). Delicious, filling, vegetarian, can make it lactose-free (as in non-cow milk).
Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted, roasted cashews, divided (love being able to buy in bulk at my Whole Foods)
4 tablespoons finely grated Pecorino, divided, plus shaved for serving (I used Manchego! — tastes just as good and I can eat it)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 anchovy fillet packed in oil, drained, finely chopped (I used anchovy paste — I didn’t want to open a whole can of anchovies for 1 fillet)
¼ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (just used bottled, was lazy)
1 teaspoon pink peppercorns, crushed, plus more for serving (didn’t get that fancy)
½ bunch collard greens, ribs and stems removed, leaves coarsely torn
Directions:
Process ½ cup cashews, 2 Tbsp. grated cheese, and 3 Tbsp. water in a food processor (I used a mini prep — fun!), thinning with more water as needed, until a smooth, creamy paste forms; season with salt and black pepper. Set cashew paste aside.
Whisk anchovy (paste), oil, lime juice, 1 tsp. pink peppercorns (for those who follow recipes to the dot), and 2 Tbsp. grated cheese in a large bowl; season with salt and black pepper.
Coarsely chop remaining ½ cup cashews. Add nuts and collard greens to large bowl.
Toss to coat, gently massaging dressing into leaves with your fingers to bruise and slightly wilt. (Spread some reserved cashew paste onto each plate and top with salad and shaved Pecorino; sprinkle with more crushed pink peppercorns.)
This salad was delicious! Very hearty and lots of flavor. Next time I make it I think I’ll throw some garlic in there, too.
Was roaming around Whole Foods the other night looking for something to make for dinner and came across something I hadn’t seen before — Calamari Steak. I’ve had rings and thin calamari tubes, but this stuff was amazing. About 1/2″ thick and 1/2lb per steak. Had to give it a try.
Unfortunately neither of the guys at the seafood counter had any idea how to cook it so did a little research while waiting in line to check out. I found info that said season and pan sear for about 1 minute per side. That sounds easy enough. I just used for garlic salt and Florida Seasoning from Penzey’s for seasoning.
To pair with this, I also sauteed some kale and mushrooms in sesame oil.
When I was at Whole Foods I also came across some Manchego that was on sale. Love Manchego because I can actually eat it because it’s made with sheep’s milk vs. cow’s milk. Lactose intolerant folks can bear it!
So, with all said and done, enjoyed a great meal of calamari steak — which was a bit chewy, in a cool way, kale & mushrooms, manchego and olives. Not too shabby, at all.
Last week I had my monthly supper club and the theme was Food From a Place You Want to Visit/Love to Visit. South Africa is on my (near future) itinerary so I did some searching for a dish from there. I finally decided on Koper Pennie Wortel Slaai (Copper Penny Carrot Salad). It’s fresh veggies and quite the ‘dressing’.
Ingredients:
Salad
1 kg Carrots
3 Onions (I used white)
3 Green Chillies or if you prefer Green Pepper (I did that — nice green bell peppers)
Sauce/Dressing (note — I did some major amount adjustments to these)
250ml water
1 packet of tomato cream soup (I used a can of tomato soup because of lactose intolerance, so eliminated the aforementioned water)
200 ml Vinegar – used about 2 tbsp white vinegar
250 ml Sugar — used about 2-3 tsp
125 ml Oil — used about 1/4 cup olive oil
10 ml Worcester Sauce — used about 1 tsp
7 ml Mustard — used about 1 tsp
To make:
Cut carrots and onions into rings. Boil carrots 15 minutes with a little salt. During the last 6 minutes, add the onions.
Dice green peppers or chillies. Add carrots, onions and chillies or green peppers in a low bowl. (Remember not to use stainless steel bowl, as it will cause a reaction due to acidity).
For the sauce/dressing, combine all ingredients and bring to boil for about 5 minutes.
Pour hot sauce over the vegetables. Refrigerate for at least one day. Enjoy!
For the balance of the meal, some food came from Italy with a Tuscan Bean soup, the Southwest with some great spicy beans, Northern Africa with some Moroccan Chicken. Delicious all around!
Last night I got to enjoy a wonderful dinner of smoked salmon…done on the stove via stove-top smoker. It was amazing. All I had to do was provide wine. Easy!
For the main dish, you just need put some smoking chips in the bottom of the smoker then cover them with foil.
Season the fish with spices of choice (tarragon, S&P were used), then close the smoker.
You cook/smoke the salmon for about 25 minutes (this was 1/2lb+) — you start it at medium-high heat to get the chips smoking, leaving the back end of the smoker open, then keep it going at medium heat until cooked through.
Carefully remove the lid (hot pads!) and heaven has arrived!
We also prepared some pan-seared asparagus seasoned with rosemary and garlic salt.
The final product was the fish, asparagus, dolmas, olives, marinated mushrooms and wonderful Penner-Ash Pinot Noir. Not a bad dinner at all.
There are acronyms for far too many things in this world and I will take any chance to make a play on them. So, for this blog, HOP stands for Hearts of Palm. Ever wonder what they really are? That’s what Wikipedia is for!! Check it out.
I love the things (or swamp cabbage as Wikipedia just taught me). I buy them at Costco where you can get two huge jars for about $8. Anyway, I was having a gathering at my place this afternoon and threw together this great Heart of Palm Salad (HOPS) that somebody gave me the recipe for years ago. It is beyond basic and great for light fare.
Ingredients:
1 lb hearts of palm
1 tbsp lime or lemon juice (lime is better)
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
S&P
3 tbsp olive oil
2 or 3 heads of endive
All you have to do is drain and rinse the HOP then cut them into small pieces. Throw them in a bowl. Then, in another bowl mix together the lemon or lime juice, mustard, S&P. Whisk in the oil until the mixture’s thick and blended. Pour the dressing over the HOP and toss to mix. Divide the endive leaves and fill each one with a bite-size scoop of the salad. Done! Great for parties because they require no silverware for eating (finger-food), are safe at room-temp for awhile, are dairy-free, gluten-free, and vegetarian, and heck, fairly healthy. So, all around, can please many palates.
Mel's Mosaic 