Our First Ever Guest Chef Experience and More

Not only did we cook extraordinarily delicious things this time, something very special happened - we had our very first guest chef join our cooking adventures! Jane, an avid baker and chef, joined in the fun because she was visiting from out of town.

With so many more helping hands, we even made dessert! (check out the photos, they are in backwards order a bit).

To start, we made Greek/American Salad - our very own Rebecca's very own creation!

Ingredients:
1/2 crunchy cucumber
1 tomato
1 avocado
1/2 onion (could probably use less, and a red onion might be great)
3/4 cup red cabbage, thinly sliced (we used the stuff that comes pre-sliced in a bag)
2 cups lettuce (of your choice, we used a nice mild one)
1 cup grapes, halved (we used red grapes, recommend the same as you want something sweet)
1.5 cups crushed pita chips (Stacy's brand is the best!)

Dressing:
2 lemons worth of juice (gotta use real lemons)
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
5 large garlic cloves, minced

Directions:
Chop everything, medium-sized slices
In a bowl, mix the dressing and layer salad ingredients in this order: onions on the bottom, then cucumber, tomato, avocado, cabbage, grapes, lettuce, and pita chips on top. Toss JUST before serving so that pita chips don't get soggy (you can even keep the pita chips out and put them into each individual plate).

Second on our list were cod cakes with Thai green apple salsa. THEY WERE SO DELICIOUS.

Cod Cakes:

Ingredients:
2 large potatoes, diced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup vegetable oil (although we didn't use this ingredient because we baked them, not fried them)
1 cup chopped onions
1.5 lb of hake or cod
3/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
2 eggs
salt and pepper to taste


Directions:
Cube the potatoes and set them to boil for 10-13min or until soft. Cut cod into 1 inch cubes and chop the onion.
Saute onion in olive oil with a 1/8 ts salt for about 5 min or until translucent.
Add the fish and saute until it becomes flaky and mostly cooked.
Mix in the parsley and 1/4 ts pepper; remove from heat.
Drain and mash potatoes.
Allow both mixtures to cool
Combine potatoes and fish mixture in a bowl and mix in 2 beaten eggs (make sure they don't scramble if your fish is still hot).
Place bowl in the fridge for 1 hour to set
Remove cod cake mixture and scoop into oiled muffin tin (the original recipe calls for frying these cakes so the 1 cup vegetable oil is for that purpose).
Bake cod cakes at 450 degrees for 10 min then reduced the heat to 400 for another 10 mins or until they turn a nice golden cooked color.

**If you're not trying to be healthy, it might be worth trying to fry these babies because they were pretty crumbly and maybe not as crunchy and fried-delicious out of the oven**

To go on top of the cod cakes- Thai Green Apple Salsa

Ingredients:
4 granny smith apples (we used Staymen apples, as we had just picked them fresh from the farm the day before!)
1 lime
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
2 small hot red peppers or 1 jalapeno, chopped to your liking
1/4 cup parsley (the original recipe calls for cilantro, but trust us, the parsley tasted AMAZING)
salt to taste

Directions
Thinly slice 4 tart apples and a small red onion. Juice one lime in a bowl add the onion and apples plus 1/4 ts salt. Mix well. Mince one jalapeno pepper (removing seeds and membrane) and chop parsley, add both to the bowl. Mix well and allow to sit at room temp for 30 min. Mix every 10 min within the 30 min sitting time and again just before serving.

Our side dish: Sweet Potato Fries!
(original recipe from http://cookieandkate.com/2010/baked-sweet-potato-fries/)

Ingredients:
4 large sweet potatoes, peeled like a zebra (or less, however much you want to make)
Salt
Pepper
Paprika
Garlic powder
Olive oil

Directions:
Cut potatoes as evenly as possible into fries. In large bowl, mix enough black pepper, paprika, salt, garlic powder, and olive oil to coat all the fries well. (You might think you're putting too much in, but you're not, the seasoning is totally key).
Bake on cookie sheets (don't use foil) at 450 degrees until they start getting crispy, then turn over, and bake on the other side. It was about 15 minutes per side.

MUST dip in sour cream.

Finally, from our guest chef Jane, we had Raspberry Cream Cheese Brownies for dessert!
 
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate (we used one large bar)
1 cup sugar
1 pint fresh raspberries, mashed
4 large eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt


Filling:
1 pkg cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 pint (or less) fresh raspberries, mashed

Directions Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 13 x 9 inch baking pan. In a 3 quart saucepan, combine butter and chocolate. Melt over low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Stir in sugar and mashed raspberries. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Add flour, baking powder and salt. Stir until well blended. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan and set aside. In a small mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, egg, vanilla, and more raspberries. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until smooth. Pour filling evenly over batter in pan. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
(Original recipe:http://www.justapinch.com/recipes/dessert/cake/raspberry-cream-cheese-brownies.html)

Our First Moosewood Adventure

Tonight we made sesame tofu and Northern Indian Stuffed Eggplant, a recipe that came from a Moosewood Cookbook (for anyone not familiar, check out Mollie Katzen and her fabulous cookbooks at http://www.molliekatzen.com/books.php).

The sesame tofu had a lot of potential, but we would recommend some changes. Here is the recipe the way we made it, with  notes on changes following.

Ingredients:

1 package extra firm tofu
1/4 cup cornstarch, for dusting
oil (for frying)
1/2 cup sesame seeds, lightly toasted
1 bunch scallion, diced (we didn't have these but they would have been delicious)

Sauce
1/3 cup honey (we just barely didn't have enough so added a tbsp of brown sugar) 4 tablespoons tamari soy sauce (we used regular soy sauce) 3 tablespoons finely minced ginger root 3 tablespoons sesame oil 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar 3 finely minced garlic cloves 1 -2 teaspoon red chili pepper flakes

Directions:
Drain tofu (wrap tofu in paper towels and put under heavy press for 30 minutes)
Dust tofu with corn starch
Cube or cut into long strips (whichever you prefer) and deep fry in at least 1 inch of oil until tofu turns a beautiful golden color (on all sides). Be really careful - that oil is super hot!
While tofu is cooking, mix all sauce ingredients in small pan until they start to boil
Throw tofu into the sauce and let it sit and soak until you're ready to eat (at least 10 minutes)
Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve!

Our recommendations:
Double the honey amount and reduce the sesame oil and vinegar (by at least a tablespoon each). Our sauce wasn't as viscous as it could have been and a bit too acidic.

(Original recipe at http://www.food.com/recipe/sesame-tofu-177242)

Northern Indian Stuffed Eggplant

Ingredients:

2 large eggplants
4 c cubed potatoes
8 ounces of cream cheese
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 c chopped onion
4 tspn cumin (the original recipe called for 2)
2 tbsn coriander (the original called for 1)
2 tspn turmeric (the original called for 1)
1/2 small hot red pepper
1/4 tspn cloves (ground)
4 tbsn ginger root
4 cloves garlic, diced
2 med carrots, diced
1 large green pepper, diced
1 c frozen peas
1 tomato, diced
2 tbsn lemon juice
sesame seeds

Directions:

First cut the eggplants in half, lay them cut side down on an oiled baking sheet, and bake them, covered, on 375 for 30-40 min (until cooked enough to mash). 

Boil potatoes (we used about 5 smallish potatoes, not peeled). Once boiled, drain water and mash cream cheese into potatoes.
Saute onion with cumin, coriander, turmeric, and cloves. When onion turns translucent (in one minute or so), add carrots and cook for about 5 minutes. Then add ginger, garlic, and chili pepper. Cook another minute or two. Then add green pepper and frozen peas. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add tomato and lemon juice. Cook another 3 minutes and remove from heat.

Mix onion mixture with potatoes.

Flip your eggplant and scoop out the eggplant guts, leaving the skin intact. Add eggplant pulp to potato/onion mixture and mix well.
Stuff 1/4 mixture into each of the 4 eggplant slices. Bake for 15-20 at 375.

Tada! Indian food that actually tastes delicious AND like Indian food.

One thought we had was substituting potatoes with cauliflower and making this dish over rice next time.