Coming Soon…

Law school’s been getting me down.  I’ll make up for it shortly, when it comes to procrastinating.

Expect to see a recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Whoopie Pies and Chicken Piccata.  Yum.

All I Want For Christmas Is Dondurma

So this isn’t a recipe post, because if I could get my hands on the ingredients to make this Turkish ice cream, I would make it.  Alas, the world is cruel, and the main ingredients are not sold outside of Turkey.  Why?  CONSPIRACY!  It’s a long story, which I will expertly summarize.  But first, the ice cream.

Jo and I ate dondurma while we were in Istanbul a few weeks ago.  It was like nothing I have ever eaten, and for me, it certainly lived up to the hype.  You can read all sorts of articles and reviews about it, and most of them will describe a similar awe in its texture and dissimilarity to Western ice cream.  It comes in flavors similar to what you’d find in a supermarket, but its consistency is what makes it so special.  Describing it doesn’t do it justice, but to understand it, just take a look at this picture:

donduuuuuuuurma.

It’s stretchy and chewy.  It’s key ingredients are salep, which is derived from orchid roots, and mastic resin, which is derived from pistachio plants.  It has different polymers blah blah blah science blah i dont know blah it’s YUMMY (this article does a better job at showing how cool dondurma is).  Unfortunately, because salep comes from orchids, it has hurt the strength of wild orchid populations, and it is illegal to export to other countries.  BOOO.  I WANT SALEP.  Oh well, so I can’t ever make dondurma at home in the US.  I guess I’ll just have to dream about it and a return trip to Istanbul…

you'll be in my dreams tonight.

Gazpacho

For some reason, when I hear the word ‘gazpacho’ I think of ‘Mufasa…. MUFASA MUFASA MUFASA’ and I don’t know why.  Does any three syllable word make me think of Mufasa?  Maybe it has to do with the hard S sounds and um I don’t know what I’m talking about.

Recipe – Makes a shit ton of this, so I’d scale it back considerably unless you plan on serving it to many people or freezing the rest (oh and I love how I keep making this ‘serving size’ note longer and longer

• 1 cucumber, halved and seeded, but not peeled
• 2 red bell peppers, cored and seeded
• 4 plum tomatoes
• 1 red onion
• 3 garlic cloves, minced–this recipe comes out really garlicky, so scale back if you want it milder
• 23 ounces tomato juice (3 cups)
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup good olive oil
• 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

You know, 3 cups of juice doesn’t seem like a lot of gazpacho… maybe everytime I’ve made this I’ve doubled the recipe, and THAT’S why there’s always so much.  Oh well, can’t remember!

I’d recommend doing all of the prep work first.  So once all of your veggies are washed, cored and seeded, cut them into approx one inch cubes.  Keep each veggie separately from the others, and put each into a food processor or blender.  Pulse until roughly processed, do not overprocess (warns the Barefoot Contessa).  The gazpacho will come out sorta chunky, so if you want it smoother I don’t see why you couldn’t process more.  Why hate?

bell peppers, pre-gazpacho.

After each one is processed, combine in a large bowl with all other ingredients and mix.  Chill before serving.  The longer the soup chills, the more the flavors intensify and attack your body with deliciousness.  Serve with a hunk of french bread.

Roast Chicken

So we’re in hour two of my insomnia.  I’m not sure why I can’t sleep, but at least I’m being productive, eh?

Roasting a chicken sounds daunting–at least it did to me–but it’s really as simple as can be.  The chicken you can buy in the store are really very automated, and there’s really nothing very domestic about it anymore.  Seriously, stick it in an oven and it’s done.  Crazy.  Also, it was the best chicken I’ve ever had in my life.  Try it, if you’ve never tried it.  You’ll be dumbstruck like me.

So because neither Jo nor I had done this before, we decided to go for a small to medium sized chicken.  I think it ended up being 11 pounds or something, but I’d recommend getting something even smaller–six to eight, maybe–unless you’re cooking for a lot of people or plan on eating a lot of chicken in the days to come.

Jo and I had delicious leftovers for a little over a week, and we cooked them into various things (fajitas, open-faced sandwiches, served with mashed potatoes and gravy, etc).  So you can be creative with your leftovers.

Recipe – makes an ENTIRE CHICKEN

• 1 whole chicken, between 6-8 lbs and preferably with a meat thermometer included
• 1/2 a lemon, inserted
• 1/2 an onion, inserted
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp thyme, sprinkled onto the chicken–optional

over-exposed.

So the chicken we bought was pre-salted and included a meat thermometer.  There are instructions on the packaging, but essentially:  remove the giblets package and insert the lemon, onion, and bay leaf.  Stick the entire stuffed chicken, breast side up, into a 9×13 casserole dish or roasting pan if you have it.  The packaging may recommend covering the chicken with foil for the first 30 minutes, but we didn’t do that and it was fine and the chicken was still very, very moist.  It can be in the oven anywhere to 1.5-3 hours, so be sure to check on it every half hour or so and baste it in its own juices.  Okay, it shouldn’t take three hours for a small chicken, but I added potatoes in the bottom tray to roast with the chicken, and it took longer to cook. Once done, carve chicken.  You can save the giblets, bones, and fat juices to make a chicken stock, but that’s icky.

hey there, chicky chicky

NOM NOM NOM.

Homemade Granola!

This recipe is very ridiculously easy, and it’s delicious.  You can probably replace some of these ingredients with your own favorite dried fruit or nut, so play around with it.

Recipe – makes a whole tray full of granola, so scale back if you need to…

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 tbs vanilla extract
• 3 and 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
• 1 and 1/2 cup unsalted slivered almonds, or any nuts
• 2 cups raisins, or any fruit
• 1 cup raw wheat germ–optional and i’ve never actually used it

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a baking tray, like a Pyrex 9×13 casserole dish, combine the dry ingredients.  Combine wet ingredients together, add to dry ingredients, and mix well.  Bake for 15 minutes, then stir the mixture again well, and bake for another 10 minutes until it looks and feels like granola.  Should be kind of crunchy.

I like eating this in a bowl of milk, or with yogurt, or alone!  SO EFFIN GOOD, and a lot cheaper than buying that shit granola in the store.

the dry ingredients

and the wet

Black Bean Burgers with Sweet Potato Fries

Hi.  I’m back.  It’s been too long, I know.  In fact, it’s been embarrassingly long since I’ve posted.  But since I’ve become unemployed… you know… I’ve just been too busy sitting and doing nothing to post anything.  So to make up for it, I will probably post a few things that I’ve been cooking, because I have still been doing that.  Psst, Michelle, keep cooking.
If you have some free time, make this recipe.  Seriously, it is delightful.  Everytime we make it, we are stuffing ourselves silly and we love it.  Also, it’s really quite simple to make.  Here we go:

Recipe – makes about 4 burgers

• 2-15 ounce can black beans – drained well
• 1 teaspoon cumin (we’re very generous with this, you can add plenty more)
• 2 cloves garlic – minced
• ¼ cup green onion – sliced, reserve a few for garnish
• ¼ cup bread crumbs
• jalapenos – diced, optional
• 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 hamburger buns

Place black beans in a medium size bowl.  Using the back of a fork, mash 4/5 or so of the beans to form a paste.  Add the cumin, garlic, green onion, bread crumbs, and jalepenos and mix gently.  Form into 4 medium patties (or one GIANT PATTY) and set aside.  Heat a skillet with the olive oil and on medium-hot heat, then grill patties for about 5 minutes on each side.  When finished serve with the sweet potato fries, recipe below.

You can eat this burger with a nice slice of tomato and use the rest of the green onions as well.  I also like to add some sour cream and SRIRACHA for kick, but any hot sauce will do.

my favorite burgers to make at home

Recipe – makes a whole lotta sweet potato fries

• 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut evenly into fries
• 2-3 tbs olive oil, or enough to coat fries evenly
• 1 and 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• salt and pepper to taste

Wash, peel, and cut potatoes into fry-like wedges.  Be sure to keep them evenly-sized so they’ll cook at an event rate.  Coat with olive oil, and add salt, pepper, and cinnamon.  Toss lightly, then stick on a prepared sheet and put in the oven at 400 degrees.  You’ll want to cook them until tender and golden brown, about 30 minutes.  Serve with burgers.  And maybe a salad, fatty.

so sweet, so potato.

“Do You Have A Secret Culinary Life?”

This link details an NPR segment about the eating habits of people when they eat alone, and how they change when you’re cooking for a crowd or for someone else.  I thought this was relevant to a comment I made on an earlier post about how my eating habits are almost embarrassing in between posts for this blog.  Seeing as how I haven’t been posting very frequently, you can just imagine what I’m eating for lunch right … now.

Goldfish Soup

Korean Tacos

I first experienced the joy of Korean tacos (“ktacos”) about six months ago when my roommate Eunice and her boyfriend Alex made them in my kitchen.  They heard about ktacos from Kogi, a taco truck in LA that has made its fame and fortune from this delicious concept.  Then, one fine December evening, being the ever so diligent Korean power couple that they are, they took it upon themselves to re-create–nay, REVOLUTIONIZE– the Korean taco, and I was fortunate enough to bear witness to their beautiful, beautiful creation…

Now, I normally hate fusion.  The thought of Asian fusion usually leaves a bitter taste in my mouth before the food even gets a chance to.  I especially hate Japanese fusion, where overly greasy baked maki rolls somehow establish themselves as staples onto these menus, usually at super expensive prices.  Slanted Door is touted by some as the best restaurant in San Francisco, but even though I’ve never tried it, I just know that exorbitantly priced Vietnamese fusion will disappoint me, even if it’s made by Vietnamese people.

ktacos are a special exception though.

Recipe

- Korean bbq meat – Bulgogi, spice pork or kalbi would all work perfectly.  You could use Trader Joe’s kalbi, or make your own kalbi using this recipe (I recommend the second one), if you have the time to marinate the meat.  Making the kalbi might be more rewarding for your first try at ktacos.
- Red leaf lettuce and sesame leaf (julienned) – Toss with a little bit of soy sauce, sesame oil, sesame seeds (just enough so it’s covered but not too much).
- Peach and pineapple salsa – This is the one I used, but any sweet salsa would make for a good mix of sweet and salty!
- Corn
- Red pepper paste or lettuce wrap paste – Mix with sugar, warm water, sesame oil (maybe 2 tbsps paste to 1 tbsp everything else).
- Flour tortillas

And, we actually tried Kogi the last time I was in LA, and wait for it… *drumroll* their ktacos aren’t even good!  They use fusion Korean meats in an attempt to be trendy and modern, and it just strips away the whole reason why ktacos are special.  What makes ktacos unique is the traditional Korean meat and not some mediocre fusion version of that.  So.  Use this recipe, open a taco truck wherever you live, and use the cash monies to pay for law schooooool.

ktaco spread

kalbi

sesame oil, soy sauce, sesame seeds, and lettuce

kimchi!

the finished product!