Today's excitement consisted of the following:
Tahini sauce
Hummus
Falafel
Pomegranate seeds
Quinoa-cucumber-tomato salad
Basically folks - it didn't take much. Deep-frying the falafel was basically the most labor-intensive part of the meal so if you want a quick one - this is it! But it was oh SO good...
Falafel:
Follow the directions on the box :)
Tip: Don't forget the oil gets VERY hot so the more falafel balls you can make and drop into the pan at one time, the more evenly they will cook.
Tahini sauce:
Add water and lime juice to canned tahini sauce and stir until the mixture is runny and easy to spoon.
Quinoa cucumber-tomato salad:
Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa
2 cups boiling (or super-hot) water
1 cup finely chopped tomatoes
1 cup finely chopped cucumber
1 tablespoon olive oil
At least 2 tablespoons lime juice
Cumin, salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste
Toast quinoa in a little bit of oil for a few minutes until it starts turning golden. Pour in water and cook on low, covered, until all the water has been absorbed and quinoa is fully cooked. Mix in all the rest of your ingredients and you're set!
To make a proper falafel bar you also need pita pockets, hummus, and finely chopped tomato, cucumber, and in our case green pepper (add whatever else you want to put into your pita pocket like Israeli pickles, if your grocery store, unlike ours, actually carries them! Other ideas include beets, pickled vegetables, fried eggplant, green or white onion, lettuce, etc.)
Monday, December 12, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
What happened when Rebecca had to clean her fridge out
What do you do with excess spinach, potato, and eggplant? Make a mushroom, spinach and feta dish along with a potato, pepper and eggplant casserole of course! Oh yeah and while you're at it, throw in them green beans with soy sauce and sesame seeds.
Dish numero uno was the aforementioned spinach, onion and baby bella mushrooms with feta
Ingredients:
At least half a cup of red onion, chopped
1 package of baby bella or regular white mushrooms, quartered
1/2 package of fresh spinach
Garlic or garlic salt
1 tbsp lemon juice
Feta to taste (maybe 1/2 cup or so?)
Directions:
Saute onions in a little bit of olive oil or regular vegetable oil
When onions start going translucent, add mushrooms, lemon juice, and garlic salt, then cover; cook until mushrooms are lightly brown and cooked through, then add spinach.
Cook spinach until it is soggy and dark green.
Take off heat and sprinkle (generously, if you're like us) with feta cheese on top.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
Dish numero dos was a simple green beans in soy sauce with sesame seeds
Ingredients
Predictably, green beans
2 or 3 tbsp of soy sauce
2 tbsp sesame seeds
A little bit of olive or vegetable oil
Directions:
Preheat the little bit of oil in your pan
Drop in green beans and saute just for a few seconds in the oil
Pour in soy sauce and add sesame seeds
Cook for about 7 to 10 minutes but not long enough for green beans to start looking wrinkled; green beans should stay a bright green color and not turn brown (unless you like your green beans more well done)
Dish numero tres, aka the grand finale was an eggplant, potato, and pepper casserole.
Since we are tired and just wanna eat our food, however, here's the recipe taken straight from the source: (and we promise not to be lazy next time)
Ingredients:
2 1 1/4-pound eggplants, thinly sliced crosswise
- 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 5 large garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 28-ounce cans Italian-style tomatoes
- 2 large fresh thyme sprigs
- olive oil (for frying)
- 3 pounds russet potatoes, peeled, thinly sliced
- 3 green bell peppers, cored, thinly sliced
- 5 tablespoons minced fresh thyme
Our version:
Lemon basil instead of fresh thyme
2 bell peppers
2 potatoes
2 cans of tomoatoes
2 eggplant (smallish ones)
Red onion instead of regular (which came out AWESOME because it made the dish sweeter)
Garlic powder (a LOT of it) instead of fresh garlic
Place eggplant slices on 2 baking sheets. Lightly salt eggplant on both sides. Let stand 1 hour. Using paper towels, pat eggplant dry, wiping off salt.
Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, sauté until golden, about 10 minutes. Add tomatoes with their juices and thyme sprigs; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until mixture is reduced to 2 1/2 cups, breaking up tomatoes with back of spoon, about 20 minutes. Season sauce with salt and pepper. Discard thyme sprigs.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Add oil to 2 large skillets to depth of 1/4 inch. Heat over medium-high heat. Working in batches, add eggplant to skillets and cook until golden, adding more oil to skillets as necessary, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer to paper towels and drain. Working in batches, add potatoes to skillets, cook until golden, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer potatoes to paper towels. Add green peppers to same skillet; sauté until almost tender, about 5 minutes. Transfer to paper towels.
Layer half of eggplant in 15x10x2-inch glass baking dish. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon thyme. Spoon 1/2 cup sauce over. Top with half of potatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Top with 1 tablespoon thyme. Spoon 1/2 cup sauce over. Place all pepper slices over. Season with salt and pepper. Top with 1 tablespoon thyme. Spoon 1/2 cup sauce over. Top with remaining eggplant. Top with 1 tablespoon thyme. Spoon 1/2 cup sauce over. Top with remaining potatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Top with 1 tablespoon thyme and 1/2 cup sauce.
Bake uncovered until vegetables are tender, about 40 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.
Our version of the directions:
If you want a smaller amount of casserole, as we did, you won't need to layer the ingredients - you will just plop down one layer of each
It came out SO super-yummy!
Sunday, September 11, 2011
It was a last minute inspiration...
In order to factor in the newest member of the Weisburd family who happens to be a needy cocker spaniel puppy and has to go on walks like all the time, we needed a meal that could be prepped in parts.
For today's summery cooking adventure, we made oven-roasted vegetables, gnocchi with peas in a anchovy-garlic butter sauce, and Sonya's mama's beet and walnut salad.
Oven-roasted vegetables
Ingredients:
Onion
Fennel
Celery
Zucchini
Squash
Sweet potato
Green beans
Parsnips
Red and green peppers
Olive oil
Seasoning: salt, pepper, garlic powder, and oregano
Directions:
Cut up the above or any other vegetables that are roasting-friendly. Put foil on a large baking sheet and cover in a layer of olive oil. Spread vegetables on baking sheet, season, and drizzle more olive oil on top. Bake at 350 degrees until all vegetables are roasted to your liking (sweet potato should be soft). Tip: separate out the denser vegetables (sweet potato, parsnips, fennel for example) and bake on a separate baking sheet so that the other vegetables can be pulled out earlier when they are finished.
Gnocchi and peas in anchovy and garlic-butter sauce
Ingredients:
Gnocchi (dry-packed, not frozen)
Oil-packed anchovies (about six of them)
Frozen peas
4 cloves of chopped garlic
4 tbs of butter
Directions:
Boil water. Once at a rolling boil, add gnocchi and cook for about 4 minutes (see packaging directions).
For sauce: melt butter in saucepan, add garlic and anchovies, and press in anchovies until they dissolve into mixture in pan. Add frozen peas (about half a package) and cook until peas are hot. Add cooked gnocchi into sauce and voila!
Sonya's Mama's Beet Salad
Ingredients:
Six beets (or as many as you want depending on how large a salad you're making)
Half a white onion, finely chopped
Garlic (we used powder but it is recommended to use fresh garlic, finely chopped as well)
Cup of chopped walnuts
Pinch of salt
Mayo (but can substitute for olive oil)
Directions:
We used fresh beets from a farm that had to be boiled for about one hour but we strongly recommend used canned whole beets. Grate beets on largest grate setting. Saute onions in vegetable oil until well browned. Add fresh garlic, salt, sauted onions, chopped walnuts, and a few tablespoons of mayo (more or less to taste). Mix all ingredients together.
Put a bottle of Riesling to it and you're set! If you don't want to stand over a stove for too long, this is the meal for you.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
It all started with a very large basket of farm-fresh veggies...
And then visions of tempura came to mind and started dancing in front of our eyes.
For tonight's extraordinarily multicultural dinner, which hailed from Mexico, Italy, and Japan, we made Potato Tomatillo and Chipolte Salad, a tomato sauce ragu, and last but certainly not least, made-from-scratch vegetable tempura. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, from SCRATCH.
Potato, tomatillo and chipolte salad ingredients:
5 medium potatoes, peeled, diced, and boiled
6-8 small tomatillos, paper skins removed, and boiled until they turn a grayish-green
2 tbs of chipolte peppers
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tbs of cilantro (dry)
1/2 cup chopped green scallions
a squeeze of lemon juice to taste
1. Boil potatoes until they are almost done and drop the tomatillos in; they need 6-8 minutes to cook
2. Drain separately
3. Put all ingredients except potatoes and scallions into a blender and blend until pureed
4. Sprinkle scallions on top and serve tomatillo mix as a sauce poured over the potatoes
On to Italy...
Tomato sauce ragu ingredients
Depending on how big of dish you want, chop equal parts onion, eggplant, squash, carrots, and zucchini
Half a can of pasta sauce
Garlic, oregano, salt and pepper to taste
Olive/regular oil
1. Saute onions and eggplant in oil until they cook a little bit
2. Throw in rest of vegetables and cook on low heat, covered, until they soften
3. Season and pour in pasta sauce, continue cooking on low until vegetables well-cooked al dente (cooking depends on amount vegetables)
But the fun only began with the batter...
Vegetable tempura batter ingredients:
4 tbs of corn starch
4-5 tbs of flour
1 beaten egg
1 cup of cold water (with ice)
Your choice of veggies - we used red onion (REALLY good choice), eggplant, zucchini, and yellow squash
2 cups of vegetable oil
1. Cut vegetables into half an inch thick strips and leave out on paper towels or plate to dry
2. Heat oil in large pan (that will prevent hot oil from splashing)
3. Mix water and egg in one bowl
4. In different bowl, mix all dry ingredients together
5. Mix dry and liquid ingredients in a big bowl and drop a few ice cubes directly into the batter
6. Check to make sure oil is hot enough by dropping a tiny bit of batter to see if it sizzles
7. Dredge each vegetable piece in batter and gently drop em in!
8. Make sure the pot of oil isn't too crowded so that vegetables fry evenly all around and turn once onto the other side; pull them out after a minute or two or when you see them getting golden/browned
9. Place tempura on plate covered in paper towels
10. Dip in soy sauce or anything else your heart desires
Mmmmmmmm................ good!
For tonight's extraordinarily multicultural dinner, which hailed from Mexico, Italy, and Japan, we made Potato Tomatillo and Chipolte Salad, a tomato sauce ragu, and last but certainly not least, made-from-scratch vegetable tempura. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, from SCRATCH.
Potato, tomatillo and chipolte salad ingredients:
5 medium potatoes, peeled, diced, and boiled
6-8 small tomatillos, paper skins removed, and boiled until they turn a grayish-green
2 tbs of chipolte peppers
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tbs of cilantro (dry)
1/2 cup chopped green scallions
a squeeze of lemon juice to taste
1. Boil potatoes until they are almost done and drop the tomatillos in; they need 6-8 minutes to cook
2. Drain separately
3. Put all ingredients except potatoes and scallions into a blender and blend until pureed
4. Sprinkle scallions on top and serve tomatillo mix as a sauce poured over the potatoes
On to Italy...
Tomato sauce ragu ingredients
Depending on how big of dish you want, chop equal parts onion, eggplant, squash, carrots, and zucchini
Half a can of pasta sauce
Garlic, oregano, salt and pepper to taste
Olive/regular oil
1. Saute onions and eggplant in oil until they cook a little bit
2. Throw in rest of vegetables and cook on low heat, covered, until they soften
3. Season and pour in pasta sauce, continue cooking on low until vegetables well-cooked al dente (cooking depends on amount vegetables)
But the fun only began with the batter...
Vegetable tempura batter ingredients:
4 tbs of corn starch
4-5 tbs of flour
1 beaten egg
1 cup of cold water (with ice)
Your choice of veggies - we used red onion (REALLY good choice), eggplant, zucchini, and yellow squash
2 cups of vegetable oil
1. Cut vegetables into half an inch thick strips and leave out on paper towels or plate to dry
2. Heat oil in large pan (that will prevent hot oil from splashing)
3. Mix water and egg in one bowl
4. In different bowl, mix all dry ingredients together
5. Mix dry and liquid ingredients in a big bowl and drop a few ice cubes directly into the batter
6. Check to make sure oil is hot enough by dropping a tiny bit of batter to see if it sizzles
7. Dredge each vegetable piece in batter and gently drop em in!
8. Make sure the pot of oil isn't too crowded so that vegetables fry evenly all around and turn once onto the other side; pull them out after a minute or two or when you see them getting golden/browned
9. Place tempura on plate covered in paper towels
10. Dip in soy sauce or anything else your heart desires
Mmmmmmmm................ good!
Thursday, June 30, 2011
The wonders of eggplant, cinnamon, quinoa, and mint
Today's meal, ladies and gentlemen, will knock your socks off. Maybe even your shoes.
It all began with a too-large bag of quinoa one of us inherited from her parents, who don't know what quinoa is let alone what to do with it. And this is what happened:
Minty-Fruity Tabbouleh
From: The Fruit Cookbook by Nicole Routhier
1 cup quinoa
1.5 cups boiling water
2 tbls lemon juice
2 tbls olive oil
1 tsp minced garlic
1.5 cups diced tomatoes
1.5 cups halved red grapes
1.5 cups diced cucumber
1/2 cup diced scallions
2 tbls shredded fresh mint
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Saute quinoa in olive oil until slightly toasted
Pour in boiling water, cover, and let quinoa simmer for about 15 minutes or until water is fully absorbed
Set aside and let cool to room temperature
Cut up all fresh ingredients and mix with quinoa, olive oil, and lemon juice right before serving
Tips: can substitute garlic cloves with garlic powder and use red grapes instead of green to make it sweeter. The mint gives the whole thing SUCH a kick and fresh taste that if you like mint, use more than the recipe calls for!
But that, ladies and gentlemen, is only half the story. Now for the baked eggplant.
Imam Bayildi (Baked eggplant)
From: The Essential Mediterranean Cookbook
3/4 cups olive oil
2 lbs (or 1 medium-sized eggplant)
1 large red onion
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
13 ounces of chopped fresh tomatoes
2 tsps dried oregano
4 tblsps chopped parsley
1/4 cup currants
1/4 tspn ground cinnamon
2 tblspns lemon juice
pinch of sugar
1/2 cup tomato juice
Directions:
Cut eggplant in half
In a skillet, put down 4 tblspns of olive oil and saute both halves of the eggplant on all sides, until pretty well done (7-10 minutes), until the exposed flesh is a golden brown
Remove from skillet and scoop out all pulp, leaving 1/4 inch or so of the eggplant skin (save the pulp)
Chop entire onion, and saute in 3 tblsns of olive oil until onion starts becoming translucent and soft
Make a well, or a space in the onion in your skillet and add all spices; let the oil bloom the spices, stirring for about 1 minutes
Take skillet with onion off the heat
Chop tomatoes and cut up eggplant pulp you removed and add to the onion mixture
Add currant, salt and pepper
Place scooped out eggplant halves on a baking sheet and fill each one with the onion/tomato/pulpy mixture
In separate bowl, mix together tomato juice, lemon juice and sugar
Pour tomato juice sauce generously over filled eggplant halves
Bake on 350 for 25-30 minutes
Wait for the party in your mouth to begin.
Tips:
Use large raisins and sultanas (raisins made from a type of white, seedless grape of Turkish, Greek, or Iranian origin) instead of the currant; the raisins get juicy and plump in the oven and create an incredible sweet taste
We erm, forgot the garlic and it was awesome, so you can leave it out if you prefer
Bon Apetit!
It all began with a too-large bag of quinoa one of us inherited from her parents, who don't know what quinoa is let alone what to do with it. And this is what happened:
Minty-Fruity Tabbouleh
From: The Fruit Cookbook by Nicole Routhier
1 cup quinoa
1.5 cups boiling water
2 tbls lemon juice
2 tbls olive oil
1 tsp minced garlic
1.5 cups diced tomatoes
1.5 cups halved red grapes
1.5 cups diced cucumber
1/2 cup diced scallions
2 tbls shredded fresh mint
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Saute quinoa in olive oil until slightly toasted
Pour in boiling water, cover, and let quinoa simmer for about 15 minutes or until water is fully absorbed
Set aside and let cool to room temperature
Cut up all fresh ingredients and mix with quinoa, olive oil, and lemon juice right before serving
Tips: can substitute garlic cloves with garlic powder and use red grapes instead of green to make it sweeter. The mint gives the whole thing SUCH a kick and fresh taste that if you like mint, use more than the recipe calls for!
But that, ladies and gentlemen, is only half the story. Now for the baked eggplant.
Imam Bayildi (Baked eggplant)
From: The Essential Mediterranean Cookbook
3/4 cups olive oil
2 lbs (or 1 medium-sized eggplant)
1 large red onion
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
13 ounces of chopped fresh tomatoes
2 tsps dried oregano
4 tblsps chopped parsley
1/4 cup currants
1/4 tspn ground cinnamon
2 tblspns lemon juice
pinch of sugar
1/2 cup tomato juice
Directions:
Cut eggplant in half
In a skillet, put down 4 tblspns of olive oil and saute both halves of the eggplant on all sides, until pretty well done (7-10 minutes), until the exposed flesh is a golden brown
Remove from skillet and scoop out all pulp, leaving 1/4 inch or so of the eggplant skin (save the pulp)
Chop entire onion, and saute in 3 tblsns of olive oil until onion starts becoming translucent and soft
Make a well, or a space in the onion in your skillet and add all spices; let the oil bloom the spices, stirring for about 1 minutes
Take skillet with onion off the heat
Chop tomatoes and cut up eggplant pulp you removed and add to the onion mixture
Add currant, salt and pepper
Place scooped out eggplant halves on a baking sheet and fill each one with the onion/tomato/pulpy mixture
In separate bowl, mix together tomato juice, lemon juice and sugar
Pour tomato juice sauce generously over filled eggplant halves
Bake on 350 for 25-30 minutes
Wait for the party in your mouth to begin.
Tips:
Use large raisins and sultanas (raisins made from a type of white, seedless grape of Turkish, Greek, or Iranian origin) instead of the currant; the raisins get juicy and plump in the oven and create an incredible sweet taste
We erm, forgot the garlic and it was awesome, so you can leave it out if you prefer
Bon Apetit!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Inspired by the show we watched before we met the Two Fat Ladies (Google it)
Inspired by the wonders of Nigella Lawson's cooking on the cooking channel, this week's recipes include a brie-current jam-walnut sensation on a baguette, Israeli/Russian salad, lemon-mushroom pasta, and a raspberry liquor, sweet muscat and fresh raspberries cocktail. Ripe cantaloupe followed for dessert.
Recipes:
Cocktail:
3-4 fresh raspberries at the bottom of the glass
Pour half a shot glass of raspberry liquor
Topped off with bubbly sweet wine of choice
Chill and serve
Lemon-mushroom pasta:
Cook spaghetti or pasta of choice al dente
In separate pan, saute garlic, baby bella mushroom (chopped), lemon rind, and lemon juice (squeeze one medium fresh lemon completely into pan), in a bit of vegetable oil; add garlic powder, salt and black pepper to taste
In a third pan, lightly saute fresh or frozen garden peas
Combine all of the above in large bowl and serve with parmesan
Brie and jam baguettes
Cut up baguette (thinly sliced) and place on greased cookie sheet
Lay slices of brie on top
Bake on 350 degrees until cheese mostly melted
Spread current jam (or other jam of choice) on top
Sprinkle with walnut halves and serve warm
Israeli/Russian salad
Chop ripe tomatoes, cucumber, and some red or white onion
Mix in bowl with a little bit of vegetable oil, a squeeze of lime juice
Garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste
Cantaloupe
Chill in fridge, cut up, and serve!
Recipes:
Cocktail:
3-4 fresh raspberries at the bottom of the glass
Pour half a shot glass of raspberry liquor
Topped off with bubbly sweet wine of choice
Chill and serve
Lemon-mushroom pasta:
Cook spaghetti or pasta of choice al dente
In separate pan, saute garlic, baby bella mushroom (chopped), lemon rind, and lemon juice (squeeze one medium fresh lemon completely into pan), in a bit of vegetable oil; add garlic powder, salt and black pepper to taste
In a third pan, lightly saute fresh or frozen garden peas
Combine all of the above in large bowl and serve with parmesan
Brie and jam baguettes
Cut up baguette (thinly sliced) and place on greased cookie sheet
Lay slices of brie on top
Bake on 350 degrees until cheese mostly melted
Spread current jam (or other jam of choice) on top
Sprinkle with walnut halves and serve warm
Israeli/Russian salad
Chop ripe tomatoes, cucumber, and some red or white onion
Mix in bowl with a little bit of vegetable oil, a squeeze of lime juice
Garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste
Cantaloupe
Chill in fridge, cut up, and serve!
Friday, April 8, 2011
Welcome to Sonya and Rebecca's Cooking Adventures!
We know there is a multitude of cooking blogs out there, Julia Child would probably be appalled in fact, but we're adding one more to the world so read if you will. We've been cooking our way through several cook books for almost the past two years and decided it was finally time to let you all in on our adventures.
Today's recipe:
Baked Halibut in Cider Broth from Nicole Routhier's Fruit Cookbook.
2 small onions, thinly sliced
2 medium red potatoes, thinly sliced
2 small tart apples, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper
4 halibut fillets
3 cups of hard apple cider
1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup shredded basil leaves
Our substitutions:
We used pears instead of potatoes (it was delish!)
Cut the cream to 1/4 of a cup
Use cod instead of halibut
Fish:
Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees
In a flat baking dish, lay out pears, apples, and onions and place fish fillets on top, sprinkle with salt and pepper
Pour cider equally over the entire pan
Cover with foil and cook for 12-16 minutes
Sauce:
Remove dish from over and pour liquid into a saute pan
Reduce for 5-8 minutes
Add cream and cook while stirring continuously for 3 minutes
Remove from heat and add basil
To serve:
Plate fish and fruit
Spoon sauce over entire dish as desired
Tip: the remaining hard cider makes an excellent addition to the already fun cooking process!
We know there is a multitude of cooking blogs out there, Julia Child would probably be appalled in fact, but we're adding one more to the world so read if you will. We've been cooking our way through several cook books for almost the past two years and decided it was finally time to let you all in on our adventures.
Today's recipe:
Baked Halibut in Cider Broth from Nicole Routhier's Fruit Cookbook.
2 small onions, thinly sliced
2 medium red potatoes, thinly sliced
2 small tart apples, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper
4 halibut fillets
3 cups of hard apple cider
1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup shredded basil leaves
Our substitutions:
We used pears instead of potatoes (it was delish!)
Cut the cream to 1/4 of a cup
Use cod instead of halibut
Fish:
Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees
In a flat baking dish, lay out pears, apples, and onions and place fish fillets on top, sprinkle with salt and pepper
Pour cider equally over the entire pan
Cover with foil and cook for 12-16 minutes
Sauce:
Remove dish from over and pour liquid into a saute pan
Reduce for 5-8 minutes
Add cream and cook while stirring continuously for 3 minutes
Remove from heat and add basil
To serve:
Plate fish and fruit
Spoon sauce over entire dish as desired
Tip: the remaining hard cider makes an excellent addition to the already fun cooking process!
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