Tofu & veggie stirfry in orange sauce

Yes, I'm still on my Asian food kick. And so you can imagine my delight at coming upon the "noodlemania" feature in the most recent issue of Vegetarian Times (April/May 2011), which offers recipes for 5 Asian noodle dishes to "rev up weeknight meals." It's like this magazine always knows what I'm craving.

I took one look at the main dish - a bowl of broccoli, browned cubes of tofu, and flat noodles - and decided I needed it. But instead of going with their Thai-inspired coconut sauce, I opted for an orange sauce I saw over at vegalicious. I'm always intrigued when sauces incorporate fruit; maybe because it's slightly out of my comfort zone, both in taste preference and culinary know-how. But when it's done right, it's a nice change from the familiar, and this orange sauce looked basic enough to not mess up.

Roasted Cauliflower with Cherry Vinaigrette

When I think of cauliflower, I picture their hard white florets on a customary Crudité platter, right alongside the dehydrated carrot sticks and stringy celery. To me, cauliflower was always broccoli's slighted cousin, bearing resemblance in shape but falling short of its taste, nutritional benefits, and appearance. And while I empathize with my pale pigmented brethren, I can't help but think a uniformly white vegetable is just a bit suspect.

Yet recent experiences have made me reconsider. I've grown addicted to the roasted cauliflower sandwich at Num Pang Sandwich Shop, a tiny, bustling establishment just south of Union Square that defies cauliflower's natural state by roasting it into a creamy mash. It's paired with Chinese & Thai eggplant spread and served, like all of the sandwiches, on freshly baked semolina baguettes from Parisi Bakery with pickled carrots, cilantro, cucumbers, and homemade chile-mayo. Oh lord, I need one of those sandwiches now. 

Simple Veggie Stir fry

I've been on a big Asian food kick lately; I'll have to recount some of my adventures in crispy spring rolls, Vietnamese sandwiches, and savory noodle dishes in another post. But, much as I love treating my palate to restaurant-prepared dishes, what I'd really love is to be able to make my dish last long enough to pick it apart; to identify ingredients and spices and ponder how I might prepare the meal in my own kitchen. While I don't believe I possess the necessary devotion or skill to recreate these meals, I'd like to be able to whip up a version that satisfies me just the same.

So I decided to start with the one of the very few Asian dish in my repertoire: a vegetable stir fry. Now, my typical "stir fry" dish involves a bag of frozen mixed vegetables, soy sauce, crushed garlic, and white rice; so it wouldn't take much to step up my game.  But, after a little experimentation and research, I found that a few subtle changes can make all the difference.

Lentil Stew with Olive-Oil-Fried Eggs

I'm always on the lookout for quick, no-fuss recipes for weeknight dinners; and this recipe for Umbrian Lentil Stew with Olive-Oil-Fried Eggs from Food&Wine is perfect for breaking out of my usual routine.  This dish is notable in many ways: it's easy to prepare, requires minimal prepping and standard ingredients; but best of all, it manages to be wonderfully satiating without using any type of grain.

Peanut Butter Cookies

 

It quite changes your disposition and your view of the world if you cannot have peanut butter every day.

- William F. Buckley Jr.

(Who knew we had so much in common?)

Did you know? March is National Peanut Month. According to the fantastically titled, Peanuts: The Illustrious History of the Goober Pea, the holiday dates all the way back to 1941, when the National Peanut Council established National Peanut Week to promote the sales of peanuts and peanut products in the U.S.  (And I've officially used up my peanut word count for the entire post). It was expanded to a month-long celebration in 1947, and apparently the average child will eat 1,500 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before he/she graduates high school, so I suppose the campaign has been pretty successful.

Hill Country Chicken

My Superbowl post about drumsticks reminded me about a recent visit Gus and I made to Hill Country Chicken, a newish fried chicken joint (rather oddly) situated on Broadway and 25th in the Flatiron District. After unexpectedly falling for the fried chicken and biscuits at Pies 'N Thighs over the summer (see Summer Round-up: Part II), I was anxious to check out this "cafeteria-style" restaurant inspired by the Texas-style home cooking of the owner's grandmothers: Betty, the pie-maker, and Mamma Els, the queen of "buttermilk-brined" fried chicken.

Superbowl cooking with Nick

We had the pleasure of having Nick (Gus's brother) cook for us on Superbowl Sunday.  The menu? No wings were to be found at Trader Joe's, so drumsticks and nachos it was.  Nick made two different sauces for the chicken: traditional hot wing sauce and a peanut soy sauce. Both were ah-maze-ing.  The chicken was baked, making it juicy and tender and slightly crispy on the outside. The hot wing sauce had a lip-smacking bite; and adding slurry gave it the perfect consistency. The peanut soy sauce was incredibly savory and by far my favorite.  I literally licked the entire bowl.  And the nachos were nachos, the perfect accompaniment.  See below for the recipes and more pictures.

Creamy Artichoke Dip

Happy Superbowl Sunday! Despite my limited interest and comprehension in the sport, I've always appreciated the game-watching event for the shared social experience - and for the excuse it offers to make slightly naughty finger foods and appetizers.

And so I bring you a favorite standby - a classic recipe for creamy artichoke dip. There are innumerable recipes for artichoke dip; some getting unnecessarily complicated, involving sautéed ingredients or eggs or chicken stock.  This recipe, slightly adapted from Bon Appétit, keeps it simple and tasty. I substituted sour cream with Greek yogurt and cream cheese with the reduced guilt alternative Neufchatel.  You can make more substitutions by using low-calorie mayonnaise or part-skim mozzarella; but let's be honest, this recipe is meant to be a little glutinous.

Roasted Red Pepper Pita Pizzas

Don't you just love when you come across a recipe that's quick and easy and actually turns out to be quite delicious the first time you give it a go? I came across this recipe for Roasted Red Pepper Pita Pizzas (how's that for alliteration?) in the latest issue of Vegetarian Times, and I've already made it twice it's that good.

The recipe requires four ingredients and takes about 15 minutes to make from start to finish.  The only equipment you'll need is a food processor (I did this in my Magic Bullet), a spatula, and an oven.  It's a recipe any college student could handle and any pizza enthusiast would commend.

5 Recipes From NYC's Best Chefs

Sometimes, when I'm feeling uninspired or bored with my go-to recipes, I think to myself "What would I order if I were at a restaurant right now?" It seems like a simple concept yet I don't do it often enough. And while I usually don't come close to replicating that desired meal when I try, this method serves as a nice starting point for searching amidst the glut of recipes out there.

Refinery29, what is slowly becoming one of my favorite newsletters, reminded me of this with their daily slideshow on Monday. As they preface, these recipes are "relatively" easy to replicate. I'd like to give the Spicy Chicken Breast With Lemongrass a try. Click here for some (hopefully inspiring) recipes from NYC's top chefs.

Image via Indochine: Stories, Shaken and Stirred, Rizzoli 2009.

"Italian Cornbread"

On my last visit to Eataly I was intrigued by what looked like a rustic, circular loaf of Italian bread with a yellowish hue, dusted in cornmeal.  The woman working the bread counter (who was Italian) admitted she had never tried it, but that it was like cornbread only very light.

I ended up being treated to the said loaf (thank you Doreen!) and was so incredibly thankful to have tried it, because this bread is simply amazing.  Unlike traditional cornbread, which can often be dense and dry or overly rich, this bread struck the perfect balance between texture and flavor. The outer rind, a classic Italian crust, gives way to a fluffy, chewy middle with a subtle corn flavor and a little grit. The loaf stayed fresh for about a week and I ate a slice every morning with a pad of butter.  When the bread started to dry out a little, I found that popping it in the microwave instantly revived its soft, fresh texture.

Breakfast smoothie

January flew by in a whirlwind of post-holiday sickness, long days at work, and snow, lots of snow.  But I'm now ready to emerge from my brief period of blogger hibernation with pent-up recipes to share and some New Year's resolutions to follow through on. One of my resolutions? To add more variety to my diet. After eating bowls upon bowls of oatmeal for breakfast, I decided to change up my morning routine today with a fruit smoothie.  Smoothies are really fantastic, like eating a dessert you can actually feel good about. And the combinations are endless.  Here's one I threw together in a matter of minutes in my Magic Bullet.