Horchata

I first had horchata when I was in Mexico City visiting a certain Bengali gentleman while he was doing some research there.  Ever since, I've been totally hooked.  It's a cinnamon-spiced almond and rice milk, that is nutty and delicious.  It is rich and creamy and a delicious addition to coffee in place of regular milk.  The process is time (but not labor) intensive, since you have to soak the rice and almonds for at least 6 hours, but I promise, it's worth it.  This recipe is courtesy of the fine folks over at the NYT, who published a recipe by Rick Bayless.

Ingredients:
 - 6 tbsp. white rice
 - 1 1/4 c. blanched almonds
 - 1 1 inch piece of cinnamon stick, or a teaspoon of ground cinnamon
 - 1/2 to 1 c. sugar, depending on your taste
 - about 5 c. of water

Directions:
 - Combine rice, almonds and cinnamon in a bowl or large jar.  Pour 2 1/2 c. of warm water over the mixture.  Allow it to sit for at least 6 hours.
 - After soaking pour the mixture into a blender and blend for 4-5 minutes until everything is well mixed and it is no longer gritty.
 - Strain mixture through a fine mesh sieve, or a colander  lined with cheese cloth.  Make sure to squeeze the liquid out of the solids that are left behind in the strainer.
 - Add 2 c. cold water (or more, to your taste) to the almond/rice milk.  Stir in sugar, also to taste.
 - If you store it in the fridge before serving, make sure to stir it up before serving because it tends to separate.

Enjoy!
ceh.

Stuffed French Toast

So, here's a confession.  I am majorly self-conscious about my food pictures.  They never look very appetizing.  I feel like I make good food, but the pictures I take of it are pretty horrendous.  Take, for example, this little number, pictured above.  It looks *completely* unappetizing, and I know that.  But it was so delicious.  It really was.  

It's a combination of ricotta cheese, french bread, honey, eggs and cinnamon.  There's really not a bad ingredient in there.  Another bonus, you can assemble this all the night before, leave it in the fridge and bake it the next morning for breakfast.  I've taken the recipe from a fun food blog called Bitchin Camero, which in itself, endears me to the author.  But really, her recipes are amazing.

(I promise to try and take more appetizing photos.)

Now, on with the recipe:

Butternut Squash Macaroni and Cheese

This casserole is change-your-life good.  We had it last week (when I was cooking, but not posting) and we're having it again this week.  I don't even like macaroni and cheese, and I'm head over heels in love with this recipe.  The sauce that forms the basis of all macaroni and cheese, called béchamel, is generally made with butter, flour and full-fat milk.  Don't get me wrong, it's delicious, but pretty rich for a day-to-day meal.  So, this recipe makes a béchamel-esque sauce with non-fat milk and butternut squash.  That's about where the health-food aspect of this recipe ends, because like all macaroni and cheese, this has 3 kinds of cheese and a bunch of pasta.  But, you area also eating a whole squash while you're at it.  It's all about give and take.

This recipe idea was given to me by the lovely Ms. Emily while on a farmer's market excursion.  I tracked down a list-recipe from Martha Stewart.  I can promise you, this recipe is a very good thing.

Indian Garlic Chicken

This lovely (to the taste buds, if not the eyes) comes from a lovely (to the eyes) blog called Indian Simmer.  I honestly haven't changed it at all.  It's wonderful just as it is.  The recipe involves taking a cold, sturdy pan, like a cast iron skillet, and add some oil, spices and a bunch of garlic.  Then you turn on the heat and let everything warm up together and get all happy and roasted.  It smells, in a word, divine.

Unlike a lot of Indian restaurant food, this recipe uses non-fat yogurt to make the sauce rich and tasty, and because it has a minimum of oil, it's really pretty healthy.

Chicken Fried Rice

Man oh man, I love me some fried rice.  It is crunchy and delicious and just the right mixture of salty and starchy and protein-y.  Sometimes, though, at Chinese food restaurants in the lower price ranges (okay, okay, cheap Chinese), the fried rice can seem splashy in all the wrong ways.  Limited veggies, too much oil and pretty unidentifiable meat.  So, I resolved to take care of my fried rice cravings at home, and this is what I came up with.  It's got limited oil, and you can add whatever you want to it.  This iteration just has a bunch of edamame on the side (since I had neglected to buy veggies for it), but you can easily just throw in some steamed or blanched veggies.  My favorites are carrots and peas, though some sweet corn would probably also be nice.

The most important thing about fried rice is...you guessed it, the rice.  Make sure to make it a day ahead.  It will make your whole life easier and your whole dish tastier.  After you fry up the rice, the rest of the dish comes together in a snap.

Mirepoix Or What are Your Essential Flavors?

So I've come to a realization with this blog.  The vast majority of my recipes start with three ingredients: onion, garlic and serrano peppers.  I was starting to feel self-conscious about the relative homogeneity of my recipes.  But then, I remembered the concept of Mirepoix in French cooking.  Basically, three aromatic ingredients are the basis of a large swath of French cooking.  Those ingredients are onions, carrots and celery.

I've since learned that other flavor bases exist in cuisines around the world.  In Spanish cooking, onion, garlic and tomato make a base that is referred to as sofrito.  There is the "holy trinity" of Creole cooking which is onions, celery and bell peppers.

So maybe these three ingredients are the flavor base of my kitchen.  To be honest, I'm kind of okay with that.

So, my question, dear readers is this; what are your essential flavors?  What are the ingredients that form the basis of your cooking?  What do you always reach for when starting to cook?  Leave your answers below in comments, because I'm dreadfully curious.

More recipes next week, I promise!

Yogurt Sauce

Yogurt sauce.  It's called Raita when you make it with Indian food, or tzatziki for Greek food.  It's just a lovely condiment that goes well with lentils, falafels and kabobs (both meatatarian and vegetarian).  The trick to making it taste really good, my friends, is time.  You have to let this concoction sit in the fridge for most of a day to make it taste really nice.

The recipe below is for the Greek food version of the sauce, but the beauty of this sauce is that it can be adjusted to whatever kind of dish you are making.  You can add some cumin seeds (or roasted cumin powder) in place of the dill and substitute lime for the lemon and BANG, it's Indian food ready.  You can add more veggies and some tomatoes and make it into basically a side-salad to compliment burgers.  It's really an all purpose food.  And double bonus?  It's good for you.

Chakalaka

It is rare to come upon a food that is equally fun to say and to eat.  This, my friends, is one of them.  It's called chakalaka.  It's a South African dish.  It's spicy and full of goodness and can be eaten as a side or a main dish.  And, double bonus, it's vegan!  The main components here are baked beans, carrots, tomatoes, onions and curry powder.  I know what you are thinking: that sounds a bit odd.  I'm telling you, the combination is magic.

I learned about making and eating this dish a while ago when I was living in South Africa.  It is generally served as part of a South African barbecue, called a braai.  These events, which can be spontaneous and last for the better part of a day comprise one of my very favorite things about South Africa.  Although decidedly meatatarian, these events have some of the best food you are ever going to eat, and that's not an exaggeration.  My favorite in my strict veg. days was to serve up some chakalaka, pap, and tomato salad and just eat myself silly.  I've actually made all that stuff a couple times for a certain Bengali gentleman, but he hasn't developed a taste for pap.  I guess no one is perfect!

Okay, so here's the recipe:

Asparagus Pasta

Asparagus and pasta.  I'm telling you, it's a winning combination.  Add in a bit of browned butter and olive oil, and some simple spices and you've got dinner that's ready in 15 minutes and serveable for just about any occasion.  This particular combination was born out of real clueless desperation.  It was 8:30, I had just gotten back from a run, and I was real hungry.  It was one of those nights where fast food was starting to sound real tasty, but wasn't probably the best decision.  So, we went with this.

The basic idea is just to cook pasta, throw in some green veggies (peas, asparagus, lima beans, whatever) in with the cooking pasta about 40 seconds before it is done to give them a quick cook.  Then you throw together a quick sauce, toss it all up, and you're done.

So, although this is almost infinitely tweak-able, here's how I threw it together.

Cacio e Pepe (Cheese and Pepper Pasta)

The fancy name for this pasta is Cacio e Pepe.  Literally, cheese and pepper.  A certain Bengali gentleman just calls it "Macaroni and Cheese that grew up and went to college."  This dish is not necessarily diet-friendly, but it's a nice weeknight dinner, and certainly an improvement on Kraft.  The dish is also a one-pan wonder, so that makes the dishwashers (both people and machines) happier.

The dish is rich and the black pepper adds some deep and complicated spice.  If you grind it fresh for the dish, it is really worth the effort, though I won't say it is completely necessary.  Last time we had this, I did about half pre-ground and half fresh ground, and it was totally delicious.  The dish also has some lovely, salty Italian cheese (and some butter) as a counterpart to the pepper.  It's a fantastic, simple combination that is sure to win you over.

Although not present in this shot, a nice green salad with some fresh tomatoes was an excellent way to round out the meal.

Papri Chaat

So, here's a little Indian food education coming-your-way.  Chaat is a Hindi word for snacks that derives from a Prakrit word that means "to devour with relish, eat noisily."  And, my friends, I'm not ashamed to say that I did exactly that with this lovely dish.  I devoured it and completely forgot my table manners.  It's called papri chaat, and even though it's a snack, we had it for dinner.  In the non-traditional way that I make it, it's basically a vegetarian layer dip with tons of spice and flavor.  And bonus, if you have it with whole wheat pita, it's totally healthy.


Bascially, it consists of a layers of potato, chopped up chickpeas, yogurt and a generous dose of tamarind and cilantro chutneys, topped with a bit of salt and pepper.  I've served it with tortilla chips, pita chips, or just plain pita though if you can get your hands on some actual papri, do it.  


So, here's the recipe:

Mexic-esque Caramelized Corn and Black Beans

In the words of my new favorite video-blogger over at My Drunk Kitchen (It's decidedly PG-13, language wise, and obviously includes drinking. Warning over), I'm pretty much in a constant state of desiring Mexican food.  I'm obligated to tell you that the dish I'm presenting to you isn't really like anything I've eaten while in Mexico.  It's Mexic-esque, or Mexic-ish.  Mexinspired.  It's full of black beans and onions and chiles and onions.  Now, it's also sweet corn season here in the midwest, so we added some Indiana sweet corn to the mix, and the result was delish.

For this dish, we caramelize both the onions and the sweet corn to get some deep sweetness to counteract the starchy beans and the spicy chiles.  This can be served with a sprinkle of cheese over the top or some sour cream or omit both and just slather with some hot sauce (Cholula is my favorite).  Either way, serve it with some tortillas or chips and enjoy!

And now, on with the recipe!

Pizza with CASHEWS

Pepperoni pizza is my weakness.  Even when I was a strict vegetarian, I could not resist the siren call of pepperoni pizza.  So, lately on Pizza Night at home, we've been alternating between good vegetarian pizza (Like this gem: Spinach Pizza) and pepperoni.  Now, a certain Bengali gentlemen suggested that we mix it up a bit and add something different to the meatatarian pizza night we had planned.  So, I went hunting for new and interesting combinations.

Turns out, in California, there was apparently a restaurant called Dave's Fabulous Gay 90s Pizza Parlor (more information here) that had a special pizza that had cashews on it.  Jackpot!  We had a new pizza topping to try.

So this particular pizza is made with a bunch of shredded mozzarella, spicy red sauce, caramelized onions and cashews.  And, it's even better than just regular pepperoni pizza.  Let me tell you, it was approximately the best pizza EVER.  I can't even write about it without feeling hunger pangs, so I'm just going to get right down to the recipe:

Rhubarb Raspberry Sauce

I was introduced to the lovely taste of rhubarb by a friend in Butte, Montana in 2006.  We were at a Farmer's market, and she bought some.  We decided to munch on it while we were walking around, and I was immediately hooked.  All this, despite the fact that my Mom grew rhubarb in her garden probably every year.  I have tried to make up for all the time I spent not eating rhubarb by consuming it en masse every summer.

This go-round, we've taken some rhubarb and boiled it up with some raspberries in a simple syrup and then pureed it to serve over ice cream.  It was amazing, and (bonus!) it took about 20 minutes.  You can easily use fresh or frozen rhubarb and raspberries.  It's tart and sweet and tastes like summer.  You also get the benefit of saying that you ate vegetables for dessert.  Wins all around.

This particular recipe was located and immediately appropriated from Gourmet Magazine, by way of Epicurious.

Power Granola Bars

So, you can make granola bars at home. And they are going to be better than store bought ones. And you can even put coffee in them so that they have a bit more of a kick than the ones for the kiddies. No, really.

These lovely power bars are full of whole grains and unrefined sugars and, although they contain some ingredients that are only available at the Hippie grocery store here, they are totally worth the effort. And, they have coffee in them. I mean, comeonpeople. It's like the perfect mid-afternoon snack. I have a habit of making these for car trips or picnics because they are really filling and give you a bit of hitch in your giddyup. They are also a great lunch when you have to grab and go.

These beauties are adapted from Heidi's recipe over at 101 Cookbooks. I really can't recommend that website enough for lovely pictures of food and totally delish vegetarian food.

So, on to the recipe:

Spinach Pizza and/or Flatbread

Pizza versus Flatbread.  What the heck is the difference?  I have no idea.  I just know that I love the entire category. You could even call me an enthusiast.  I'm also kind of a pizza snob.  As a native Chicago Suburbian, I grew up with some fantastic pizza.

Once a week in our house, a certain Bengali gentleman and I have pizza night.  We try all sorts of different permutations and combinations, but this spinach pizza is particularly tasty.  It's got two delicious kinds of cheeses for twice the delicious and some nice spinach to keep the green veggies in our diet, and decrease the guilty-pleasureness of pizza.  I tend to like to make it spicy (no surprise there!), but you don't have to.  You can also add some cherry tomatoes if you have them on hand.  That's the great thing about homemade pizza, it can be whatever you want!

Okay, so here we go with the recipe:

Tortellini Soup

So, I know that August isn't exactly full of what I would call Soup Weather (cold, possibly rainy, and generally dreary weather), but I'm telling you, this soup is a winner even in the summer.  Besides, let's be honest with ourselves, there's no such thing as Not-Tortellini-Weather.

So, this soup is another awesome go-to weeknight dinner, full of lovely vegetables, as well as some cheese, which is good for the soul (unless you are a vegan, in which case, butternut squash or artichoke stuffed tortellinis are good for the soul too).  The other nice thing about this lovely dinner is that you can have the stuff on hand all year round, because you can use fresh or frozen spinach and fresh or canned tomatoes and artichokes.  Hooray for versatility!

This recipe is taken and adapted from a lovely little blog called the Well-Fed Newlyweds.

So, here goes nothin' (recipe-wise):

TVP Tacos

Obviously, I've been a very bad blogger.  But, the good news is, I'm really going to try and get back on the blog-wagon.  The other good news is that I really love some of the recipes I've stored up to share with you all and the one pictured above has recently become a real favorite chez moi.  It's taco filling (or Nachos or enchilada filling) made from a vegetarian meat-substitute called TVP.

About a year ago, I was gifted with a bag of Bob's Red Mill Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP).  It was from a lovely fellow Bloomingtonian who had purchased it on a whim and never knew what to do with it.  I have to admit that it sat in my cupboard for about 9 months without being touched.  Textured Vegetable Protein?  Is there any name that sounds less appetizing?  Finally, I was cleaning out my food storage and (with the Eye of the Tiger playing in the background), I resolved to make use of this alien ingredient.

And what did we make?  TVP tacos!  These tacos are spicy and delicious and way more calorie-conscious than your average meatatarian taco.  These come together in a snap once the chopping is all finished and make a great weeknight meal.  Also, they reheat well as leftovers.

The recipe above is ground-meat free but you could do a TVP/meat combo to make it a bit richer, or you can make it vegan by omitting the cheese.  Fantastic!  Let's get down to it.

Spinach Pinwheels

I had a serious debate with myself about what to call these. There aren't a lot of circle words that we use to describe food that are all that appetizing. Wheels? Nah, too transport oriented. Twirls? That's not food, that's movement. Rounds? Discs? Rings? None of these sound terribly appetizing. I really wanted something that sounded as tasty and light and crunchy as these lovely things. Ultimately, (as you can see above), I landed on pinwheels, but I'm not totally satisfied with that. Do you, my lovely readers, have any suggestions?


Anyway...this dish is, in the most basic description, spanakopita in a hurry. I posted a recipe a while back on here for spanakopita, the traditional way. It's a spinach pie with feta cheese and it's deliciously flaky and lovely. But, the fact of the matter is, working with phyllo dough is really time consuming. So, this recipe is a way to enjoy the wonderful spinachy-flavor of spanakopita, without having to worry about all that finicky phyllo. You make the filling in exactly the same way, but then you spread it on some puff pastry, roll it all up and they are in the oven in less than an hour. Gotta love a good shortcut!

Spiced Pasta

I have two words for you. Brown. Butter. When put together, they produce total heaven. Now, I won't claim that they produce the most nutritious or healthy kinds of foods. I won't even claim that they should be eaten with any regularity, but every so often, they are truly wonderful.


So, this particular recipe is for spiced pasta. It's egg noodles covered with a brown-butter based (say that 5x fast!) spice mixture and paired with some lightly cooked asparagus and topped with some toasted nuts. Like the previous recipe, this is a perfect meal for a busy weeknight. It comes together in less than 30 minutes, it's satisfying and balanced and spicy and delicious. Don't let the ingredient list get you down. Most of these spices are pretty common, and you absolutely do not need to follow the recipe to the letter. Let your creativity, spice cabinet and taste buds be your guides! This recipe originally came from the lovely 101 Cookbooks, but I've modified it a bit. I hope you love it even half as much as I do!

Honey, Peanut and Lime Chicken

This past week has been totally crazy. I can't even tell you how little motivation I had to do tasks that were outside of what was listed in my day planner. But, as we all know, it's really necessary to have some good food in your stomach to face stressful days, so I rallied. The good news is, I discovered and tested a whole slew of quick, easy, delicious, filling and nutritious meals that can be ready in the time that it takes a pizza delivery person to get to your house. (This does not even include the amount of time it takes for said pizza delivery person to claim that he/she has no change, and for you to scramble to find the right denominations.)

Anyway, this recipe really couldn't be simpler. It's easy enough to mix up before heading off for the office, and once you get home it comes together in a snap. Basically, you take chicken and marinate it in some soy sauce, peanut butter, lime juice, honey, hot sauce and garlic. It's savory and sweet and spicy and completely delicious. The recipe was originally from a forum on The Pioneer Woman's site, called The Tasty Kitchen, but I found it via a charming blog called The Well-Fed Newlyweds. According to these sites, and personal experience, this chicken is good enough to inspire profanity-laced compliments at a generally swear-free dinner table.

Mixed Mushroom Tart

When I was growing up, there was no such thing as a meat-free special occasion. Basically, for us, special occasions were an excuse to break out the grill and make some steak and potatoes. The veggies, in general, were of secondary, tertiary or quadrutiary (not a word) importance. One of the great things about being less-meatatarian is that it gives you the opportunity to branch out and find some really delicious and amazing special occasion food (that isn't just steak). This tart is delightfully rich. Even though it is decidedly meat-free, it's hearty and filling. With a side of some nice greens, or some asparagus, it can serve as a really excellent celebration meal.

This tart is full of wine-soaked mushrooms, two kinds of cheese and some lovely scallions, garlic and spices. It is dense and flavorful. It just so happened that this is what a certain Bengali gentleman requested as part of our celebration of our 3rd anniversary. In fact, the whole meal was tart-based because we had a nut tart (the recipe was posted a while back on here) to cap off the meal.

Red Lentil Curry

This recipe comes from the very first vegetarian blog I ever came to love, 28 Cooks. I have made this recipe more times than I can probably count. It's good, it's quick and best of all, it's super healthy. It's a go-to for me all year round. It's Red Lentil Curry.

The basic flavor profile of this recipe is South Indian. It gets its punch from Thai red curry paste and coconut milk. Both of those are available in the average supermarket's "international" food aisle. It takes about 40 minutes all said and done, which makes it an excellent weeknight meal. Also, it reheats beautifully. This recipe is one of the handful of recipes that endeared me to my future mother-in-law, which means that it will be certain to impress even your most accomplished foodies.

Have I tempted you enough? Let's get to the recipe:

Empanadas are for lovers

This is another recipe that comes from a fantastic recipe blog out there. This one is from Elise Bauer over at Simply Recipes. I only recently discovered this treasure trove, but I have yet to try a recipe from there that hasn't been fantastic. These aren't what I would consider mainstream empanadas, but they sure are tasty. They are more Indian/curry inspired. If you're looking for a more standard, Latin American flavored empanada, you might want to this Argentinean version sounds pretty great, though as a disclaimer, I have not made those.

So I took the recipe that was posted, and I streamlined it for my kitchen a bit. Since I'm keeping myself busy with the dissertation and the job, I'm all about making quick, healthy, filling and delicious food. So, instead of making pastry at home, I picked up a package of Goya Discos para Empanadas. They are available in our international grocery store's freezer section and they are amazing. If you don't have access to them, you can also use puff pastry, wonton wrappers or make your own. The link above to the Simply Recipes version has an awesome sounding recipe for pastry.

Just as a side note, a lot of this recipe can be made ahead of time. The pork can be mixed up 1-2 days before you needed it, the assembled empanadas can be stored in the fridge for 12-24 hours and you can even freeze them before cooking for a ready-made weeknight meal. They are also great reheated after being baked.

When life gives you lemons...make a Lemon Tart!

Lemon tarts have never been my cup of tea. That's probably not the best way to start this post, but it's the honest truth. But, it just so happens that lemon tarts are the very most favorite dessert of a certain Bengali gentleman. So, I decided to go for it and make him one for a special occasion. It was a runaway success. Just between you and me, I think that this tart is so good, it just might change my mind about tarte au citron, as the French call it. The great part about this tart is that you don't have to mess around with cutting cold butter into flour. It's a melted (and browned) butter tart shell that is just to die for. You can also make the tart shell well in advance, if you like, and keep it in the freezer until you're ready to use it!

I got the recipe from David Lebovitz who is an American living in Paris and a prolific dessert cookbook writer. Reading his blog is kind of like watching the movie Chocolat, impossible to get through without really craving delish sweets. So, consider yourself warned. It's amazing. But, without further ado, I will get to the recipe:

So, it's been a while...

Hello friends and fellow food-lovers,

I have been absent for the last few months, as you can clearly see. Unfortunately the pressures of a new job, new semester and the return of a certain gentleman from the sub-continent squeezed my time, and made me neglect you. But, I'm getting back on the blogging bandwagon. I have some real crackerjack recipes to share with you (though none, sadly, are for crackerjacks). So, I hope you enjoy!

ceh.