Palm Saturday

Dinner was an experiment with hearts of palm. We've had it once before when a friend invited us for dinner and made a fantastic batch of Brazilian stroganoff and replaced the mushrooms with hearts of palm.

Day 307/365

We recently purchased a bottle of hearts of palm that I could have easily eaten entirely from the jar in one sitting, much like I enjoy snacking on artichokes -- they have a similar flavor, but their texture is akin to young bamboo shoots. Instead, I ate a few fingers and decided some restraint was needed, but I wanted to incorporate it into our dinner this evening.

Pasta? Not in the mood.
Stroganoff? No meat or sour cream in the house.
Salad? Yes, a light salad mixed with some warm ingredients. Now, what shall I add? Beans? Quinoa?

Components of the salad:
- spinach: cooked long enough to wilt in butter, cracked black pepper, turmeric, crushed chili peppers, and smoked salt (approximately a minute)
- asparagus and red pepper: flash fried in olive oil with cracked black pepper (few minutes)
- couscous: toasted with a small pinch of cumin seeds and oregano (several minutes), then cooked in chicken broth with a pinch of smoked salt (10 minutes)
- pine nuts: toasted (several minutes)
- hearts of palm and Cherub (cherry) tomatoes: remained in their unaltered state

Dressing was made by squeezing a Cara Cara orange, leaving some of the pulp, then adding olive oil, black pepper, and smoked salt to taste.

The dish was light yet sated us until late the next morning. Bug enjoyed it, too. Plus, he was overjoyed that he did not get the dreaded pine mouth this time!

- Cassaendra

Kitchen Sink Pizza

There are potentially infinite incarnations of my kitchen sink (in more ways than one) pizza. I'll also state my disclaimer that this is as Italian as my wonton noodles are Chinese, so I'm labeling this experimental, even though I'm not delving into funky funghi that I foraged in the forest down the street.

Day 287/365

On our fairly frequent trips to Target to look for 1-2 necessities like toothpaste, zipper storage bags, and *shifty eyes* potato chips, we will inevitably walk past the frozen pizza section. For $2.50 each, Market Pantry (one of Target's two store brands) frozen pizza is a fairly economical, quick, and filling dinner.

When I look at the flat, frozen two-tone pizza, I want color! To Bug's dismay, I'll root around the refrigerator clanking bottles and mumbling while rummaging through the vegetable drawer examining fresh and not so fresh ingredients.

On this day, I set aside red peppers, asparagus, mushrooms, bird's eye chili peppers, goat cheese, kalamata olives, and sun dried tomatoes. As I chopped a wee bit of this and a tad bit of that, a few minutes later, my chopping board was covered and I felt guilty. That simple pepperoni pizza sitting on the counter that Bug wanted to munch on would not be the same.

I liked it, but Bug wasn't thrilled about the goat cheese. No goat cheese next time, at least not on the entire pizza.

Oh, and the other reason why it's a kitchen sink pizza? I wasn't raised by a pack of wolves, but I will frequently eat my pizza over the kitchen sink since I typically eat just one slice.

- Cassaendra

Simply Red

Should this dish be filed under Chinese because the noodles are wonton? Or American because the concoction was created in America? I doubt a Chinese person or an American person would want to claim this messy dish. I wanted to devour some wonton noodles NOW.

Day 285/365

One thing I learned tonight is that slacking off reading the ingredients list may lead to mysterious results. As I was about to serve these noodles, I noticed the bottom half of the noodles in the pan was red. I wondered if something was wrong with these noodles, as I've never bought these wonton noodles before. Was it the red peppers?  They have never had their red rub off to cause surrounding food to discolor. It surely wasn't the mushrooms, the green and orange bird's eye chili peppers, or the macadamia nuts.

I pondered on the seasonings used -- sweet curry, garlic and onion powders, smoked salt. Nothing red there. The sauce was made with shoyu, chardonnay, sesame oil, grated and minced ginger, and dried shrimp. Nothing unusual there. I didn't use the usual suspects: ketchup, cayenne, sriracha.

As I emptied the dried shrimp into a small bag from its original packaging that was just opened, I noticed one of the ingredients -- strawberry dye. Hah. We use beetles to color strawberry drinks, and strawberries to color shrimp. I suppose the ingredient could have been mistranslated. *shrug* Case closed.

Regardless, it satisfied my wonton noodle craving. I suppose that's all that counts, since I don't cook for a living and it isn't poiso...*ack...cough* :)

- Cassaendra

Kimchi Noodle Soup

Since last night, I was in the mood for some kind of noodle soup. Not in the mood to eat a carbohydrate laden meal after we had settled in for the evening, I reluctantly pushed the idea out of my mind.

This morning, while looking through some pictures of my contacts on Flickr, I saw a delicious bowl of noodles. Argh! Not wanting to duke it out with frantic last minute Easter meal planners, I scanned the refrigerator expecting to make a fried noodle dish. 

Day 280/365

While foraging for ingredients and ideas with the refrigerator door agape, a large, ancient bottle of kimchi (forgotten for at least a year judging from the July 2011 ?expiration date) came into view. A red container of gochujang sat to my right in a cubby along the refrigerator door. The gears in my head began to creak. I knew I had a container of miso in the vegetable drawer, but no tofu. Koji ajitsuke baby clams that my father sent me were staring at me from the second shelf. I dug into my dried noodle stash and found a few bundles of buckwheat noodles and oat flour noodles.

Like a puzzle falling into place with a few missing pieces, kimchi jjigae inspired soup with oat flour noodles became the functional plan. Due to the impromptu nature of this dish with rummaged ingredients, I do not have an exact recipe to share. The amounts listed are a rough approximation. As is frequently the case, even when cooking with recipes, I sampled intermittently and adjusted to taste.

Soup:
several cups of water
several pieces of konbu
1 Tbsp gochujang (Korean red pepper paste)
1 Tbsp yellow miso
1/4 c infused water from two rehydrated shiitake
2 tsp grated and minced ginger
2 shiitake, rehydrated and sliced
1-1/2 c kimchi, sliced
1/2 c koji ajitsuke baby clams (Japanese seasoned baby clams)

For the broth, simmer the water with konbu, gochujang, miso, and shiitake infused water. To create the shiitake infused water, I heated 1/4 c of water in a small microwave safe glass cup for 45 seconds, then soaked the dried mushrooms for approximately 10 minutes.

When the edges of the broth form tiny bubbles, add the sliced shiitake and ginger, then simmer for a few minutes. Add the kimchi and baby clams, then simmer for a few more minutes. This is a good point to ascertain whether the soup needs more miso, ginger, gochujang, or a different flavor like shoyu, as desired.

The remaining ingredients were what I had on hand and not traditional at all to kimchi jjigae. Well, the seasoned baby clams added above are not traditional, but it did add shoyu and some body to the soup.

As pictured, I added:
4 bird's eye chili peppers, seeded then minced
1 c edamame, steamed then shelled
1 c asparagus, sliced
1 c red peppers, sliced
2 bundles of oat flour noodles, cooked just short of al dente
1 egg
shichimi togarashi (Japanese 7-spice, literally, "7-flavor chile pepper")

Most of the bird's eye chili peppers were added to the soup, with a pinch reserved as garnish. Since the edamame were already cooked, and asparagus and red peppers take only a couple minutes to cook, they were incorporated into the soup just a couple minutes prior to turning off the heat.

When I have eaten kimchi jjigae at restaurants, the egg appears to be added in the kitchen last so it arrives poached in its bubbling cauldron, or at the table. I added the egg in my bowl, then sprinkled shichimi togarashi and a pinch of the minced serrano peppers.

As listed, this makes around 5-6 servings.

A couple of things to note:
1. Oat flour noodles have a subtler flavor than buckwheat noodles, but are gluten-free.
2. Do not boil miso, as it kills the healthy enzymes.
3. Tofu is part of kimchi jjigae and would have been desirable had I not forgotten to re-stock our supply.

This was my first time making this dish. While it didn't taste exactly like the kimchi jjigae I've had at restaurants, it was close and I quite enjoyed it. Along with clam and squid bits, I'll often find bulgogi pieces in my jjigae at restaurants, so the sweetness of the seasoned clams, which was barely noticeable, was not alien.

Bug enjoyed his bowl apparently, since he asked that I make this again. However, he suggested that I add more miso next time. In addition, I'll set aside more bird's eye chili peppers to add more heat to my bowl so the soup is not overly spicy for others.

- Cassaendra

Savory Sweet Potato Pancakes

Day 125/365

Bug was in a creative mood last night and surprised me with an experimental dish using a couple of sweet potatoes that we procured for under $1.

Ingredients:
1 lb sweet potato, grated
1/2 - 2/3 c flour
2 eggs
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of allspice
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
cooking spray

Combine ingredients. coat pan with cooking spray, then fry up the pancakes.

After Bug grated the sweet potatoes, he did not set the potatoes aside in salt to later drain the liquid, as may be customary in some circles. Instead, he adjusted by adding flour incrementally until he was satisfied with the consistency.

The sweet potato pancakes were savory, sweet, with not too much spice to overwhelm the cabbage and red pepper and spinach chicken sausage that were also a part of the meal.  There was enough spice the potatoes tasted like an indulgence.

I look forward to eating this again!

- Cassaendra

Day Off

Several months ago, I put in for a couple of days off work today and tomorrow to participate in a course that would take us out of town. With Bug being ill the past week, we decided to be lazy in this crazy heat. I realize the weather could be worse -- in Oklahoma, it was 110+°F and humid yesterday -- but it doesn't erase the discomfort we are experiencing (85+°F with 70+% humidity). [Tiny violins playing] -- yeah, whatever

I woke up this morning at 06:15 drenched in sweat and peckish. Bug woke up a couple of minutes later.

We shuffled into the kitchen. Bug decided to make hummus and threw the chickpeas that were soaking in a container on the kitchen counter for 2 days into a dutch oven to cook for a couple of hours.

Meanwhile, I rooted around in the refrigerator and freezer for something quick and filling to eat. I found a container of leftover miso soup that Bug had made a couple of days ago. Instead of the usual wakame, tofu, and daikon combination, he added red peppers, tofu, and greens, which imparted a sweeter flavor to the soup. An unopened bag of frozen mussels that expired last month and a bag of frozen edamame were extracted from the freezer.

030/365

In the time it took to cook the udon and rinse the noodles thoroughly with cold water, the mussels were done, miso soup was warm, and I freed a cup of edamame out of their shells; a handful of which marched into my belly before they hit the bowl.

As much as I love noodles, they are an infrequent meal choice for me of late. Prior to my last bowl of noodles (Day 014/365), it had been a couple of months.

As a result, I savored the experience and gleefully slurped the noodles and picked apart the plump, salty mussels. The noodles were a much appreciated gift from Japan, perfectly slippery taking minimum effort to quickly glide into my mouth.

Bug made a fruit freeze with blueberries, strawberries, and oranges while I was outside taking pictures of my bowl of udon.

030/365

The drink was a fruity and cleansing treat without any added sweetener.

What a pleasant start to a day, if you exclude our sweat-soaked clothes.

- Cassaendra

Greens Blues

Chicken, brussels sprouts, and kale with mushrooms

We bought kale to make Portuguese kale soup a few weeks ago, but Bug was injured that weekend so we didn't pick up chorizo and scrapped the idea. In a Serious Eats post, a kale side dish was suggested that included mushrooms, onions, and garlic.

Bug used:
olive oil
1 bunch kale, chopped ($2.00)
garlic, minced
onion powder
crushed chili peppers
salt
pepper
8 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced ($1.50)

In olive oil, the kale was sauteed on medium heat with the garlic and dried seasonings. It took longer than expected for the spines to soften, ~10 minutes. Mushrooms were added at the end to cook for a few minutes.

Bug loved it, gobbling 3/4 of it in 2 meals. The flavor took some amount of control for me not to heave after my fifth bite. Kailan (Chinese kale), which I like, tastes as much like kale as pomegranates taste like apples. This was a great disappointment because I love Au Bon Pain's Portuguese kale soup and acknowledge that it is a nutritional powerhouse. Maybe I need to cook it down longer or add a wee bit of bacon. Would that count against all that is good, like eating a double Whopper with a large diet Coke, a salad with a gallon of ranch dressing?

The chicken was pan fried in olive oil, seasoned with sea salt, black pepper, brown sugar, lime, and garlic and the brussels sprouts were roasted with olive oil, black pepper, and salt. (15 chicken tenderloins $3.00; carton of brussels sprouts $0.99)

I was originally going to title this post, "Kale the Poor," but felt that it was only marginally amusing to someone who has listened to the Dead Kennedys. Okay, maybe not even marginally.

- Cassaendra

Sammiches

This week's Serious Eats Weekend Cook and Tell focus was on sandwiches.

We had a hankering for Vietnamese cabbage salad, so I thought why not use it as a filling for a sandwich? Cole slaw is in corned beef sandwiches.

Cabbage salad

This is made to taste. By my best estimate, these are the measurements:

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp sriracha
3 Tbsp rice vinegar
5 Tbsp fresh lime juice
6 Tbsp nuoc mam (fish sauce)
2 Tbsp sugar
ground black pepper
1/2 head cabbage, shredded
1/2 c Thai basil, shredded (mint is preferred)
1 c carrots, shredded

Mix the liquid ingredients, sugar, and pepper. Adjust to taste for sweetness, tartness, and fishness. Set aside for 30 minutes.

Combine the dressing with the cabbage, basil (mint), and carrots. Mix well. Set aside in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes. If it needs to sit for longer, drain the dressing so the cabbage doesn't steep too much.

Mint is traditionally used, and I prefer it as it brightens the salad, but couldn't find any at the Asian market we frequent. Thai basil gives a rounded licorice flavor.

Marinated daikon and carrot sticks with cucumber

Since I had leftover dressing, I used the remainder to mix with carrot and daikon sticks. The cucumber sticks were tossed in later. The flavor was on the light side since they did not have time to sit for a couple weeks.

Grilled Cajun (front) and Asian (back) chicken

Bug grilled the chicken with two different marinades.

The Cajun version had Cajun seasoning dry rubbed onto the chicken and set aside for an hour in the fridge.

The Asian version was marinated and set aside for an hour in the fridge as well. Again, I do not measure ingredients when I make the marinade, so the measurements below are an estimate.

Ingredients:
1/2 c shoyu
2 Tbsp sriracha
1/4 c sake
2 tsp sesame oil

Cilantro and Thai basil

Fresh cilantro and Thai basil will be added to the sandwich. Since I am not fond of cilantro, that's all Bug's.

Hoisin and sriracha sauces

Hoisin and sriracha are the condiments for the sandwich.

The sun went down so I had to take the remaining pictures indoors in my incandescent-lit home. :(

While we would have preferred a baguette, we ended up with Italian loaves instead since that was all that was available. Too much bread!

Cajun chicken sandwich

In retrospect, we should have gone for a more subtle, perhaps no, marinade.

The Cajun spices were potent and competed well with the pungent cabbage salad. The combination was still all right since the salad was crunchy, sweet, and tart over the peppery and spicy chicken.

Shoyu chicken sandwich

The shoyu chicken matched the sandwich a little better. Perhaps it's because I liked the chicken more. I used the cucumber, daikon, and carrot sticks inside my sandwich, but not the cilantro, hoisin, nor the sriracha.

Bug was quite happy with the way both chickens turned out, enjoying both sandwiches equally. He liked the cabbage salad, basil, and cilantro combination, along with the hoisin and sriracha spread.

Before Bug and I ate the sandwiches, I cut the tops off the bread so they did not require an unhinged jaw to eat.

- Cassaendra

Time

Today was another one of those aimless Sundays; too much time, so little to do. The seconds seem to tick a bit faster as the sun draws closer to the horizon, however.

Iris in the morning

I woke up and took the dog for a walk. Another bunch of irises and white flowers bloomed. I have no clue what these huge, white flowers 6" in diameter are, and I can't get near them without disturbing a swarm of bugs. They look like chrysanthemums, but aren't.

Some days I feel totally clueless to what is going on in my neighborhood. A few stores decided to drag their junk out onto the sidewalk. Later in the day, I noticed people with stuff from their homes scattered about their lawns who weren't being evicted.

We took care of shopping for Father's Day gifts yesterday, so we drove around looking for stuff to do hoping for inspiration.

Driving by the 100th Bomb Group Restaurant

Nope, nothing in the immediate future. Going to the 100th Bomb Group Restaurant right next to the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport runway, near NASA Glenn Research, is something we've been meaning to do.

When the refrigerator is fairly empty and I feel peckish, I just throw stuff together without foresight.

It is uncomfortably warm so something cool would be nice for dinner, so I chopped 1/4th of a seedless cucumber, a pear, and washed some red grapes.

Two bags of dried lentils and barley were still sitting near the sink, left over from the 2 vats of soup Bug made on Friday. A bag of Trader Joe's Thai Lime and Chili cashews were sitting on the counter also.

Cashews

The cashews are pretty tasty, but only in moderation. They are a bit too bold and quickly becomes a flavor overload.

I had nothing better to do, so I cooked up some lentils and barley.

A hill of beans

While I cooked up the lentils and barley, I snacked a bit too much on the cucumbers. They probably wouldn't have gone well with the fruits anyway. Riiight.

Surprisingly, the crunchy and sweet pear went well with the buttery, tart, and spicy cashews. The lentils and barley really had no business being in this mess other than to add uhh texture to the dish, as well as fiber, protein, and a host of other nutrients.

Some kind of salad

I didn't think the Pietro sesame and miso dressing would work, but it was all right, especially with furikake sprinkled on top. My opinion is probably skewed (it is, after all, an opinion), as I would probably enjoy a platter of dirt served with this dressing.

Would I serve this to guests? While it is edible, probably not. From this little experiment, I found out that I have grown to appreciate lentils more. I can't stop snacking on those little pellets.

- Cassaendra

WYSIWYG

...o rly?

With the humidity over 85% and temperatures hovering in the low 80s, we were in a daze strolling with Akemi before dinner.

Dinner tonight had to be cool and crisp.

While I was busy skimming through web pages online, the chopping of cucumbers in the kitchen perked my ears. As I got up from my computer, Bug whizzed by with his delicious smelling bowl of salad -- chopped iceberg lettuce and cucumbers with miso dressing from my aunt, Mae. I ninja'ed a cucumber slice just before he sat at his computer.

Inspired, I chopped, sliced, and mixed some items from the fridge. Since we didn't have peppers, tomatoes, eggs, or carrots, I came up with this concoction.

Refreshing salad on a hot, humid afternoon

I rummaged out of the fridge:
- takuan -- yellow pickled daikon
- fukujinzuke -- red pickled daikon and other vegetables
- pickled gobo -- orange burdock root
- cucumbers
- iceberg lettuce

After arranging the salad, I had a hankering for something creamy.

I was supposed to make kimbap last weekend, but didn't out of laziness, so we had a large packet of imitation crab meat sitting in the fridge. Ooh!

I picked apart 2 sticks of surimi so they were in loose strands and cut them in thirds; threw in slender sticks of cucumber; squeezed some Kewpie mayonnaise; and mixed the ingredients in a bowl. Surimi and cucumber salad in under 2 minutes.

+ surimi and cucumber salad

When I put the rest of the surimi back into the fridge, I spotted a container of little fishies that I bought at a Korean grocery store 2 weekends ago.

Korean fish

A pinch would add a firm yet chewy texture, along with a sweet and spicy kick of the sesame laden smokey fish.

++ Korean fishies

Finally, the dressing.

Pietro sesame and miso dressing

Angelo Pietro's sesame and miso dressing is my hands down absolute favorite dressing. As with some dressings like Italian, this is versatile as a marinade for all types of meat, land and sea, and tofu, stir fry base, and a salad dressing, balancing sesame, miso, rice vinegar, and soy sauce, neither overpowering the other.

+++ Pietro dressing

The salad turned out better than I had expected, with the crunchy and salty tsukemono (takuan and fukujinzuke), earthy, tangy, and crunchy pickled gobo, soothing creamy surimi salad, spicy and sweet fish, crisp cucumbers and lettuce, and a dressing that rounded everything out. And it took under 10 minutes to prepare.

I will definitely make this again! Perhaps for dinner tomorrow night?

- Cassaendra