Bikram Cooking

Trying to up my "crunchiness" factor, I quickly joined in when my friend suggested we split a whole share with an organic local farm co-op this year. Every Wednesday, we (she) pick(s) up a bunch of fresh organic veggies/berries/herbs that we split. Side note: Looking forward to something in the fall? Hate the heat? Want to, for any reason, make the summer fly by? Join a farmshare. Wednesdays come fast! Anywho, so Wednesdays, yes. They come every 7 days or so and I feel this need to beat the clock to use up everything we got with the last bunch (those beets still hanging in my crisper? Don't you worry about those.). This is also super fresh, locally grown produce and it seems like a disservice to let it go past its prime before we eat it. Sometimes though, its impossible. We get busy/Bubbles craves non-organic-locally-grown-fake-cheese-smothered-pasta/I just can't eat 1 1/2 heads of lettuce myself in 1 week (ahem, hubby, a little help here please?)/or in this case, I bought a bunch of asparagus at the store (for conventionally-grown food non-snobs) forgetting that Wednesday was once again visiting us soon. So I said to myself last Tuesday, "Self, what should we do with this almost-beyond-its-prime-asparagus tonight, the hotest day of the year so far? Oh! We'll roast it in a 425 degree oven, of course!"

So we did pecisely that, on our way to Penne with Roasted Asparagus and Balsamic Butter. I've made this before, apparently for hubby, although I don't remember making it for him. I've learned that a whole stick of butter is unneccesary (truth hurts, Paula), but other than that and subbing a skinny noodle for a fat noodle, made the recipe as written. I've even become a little more brave/patient in my reduction skills and think this was my best balsamic reduction yet!

must. take. better. photos. oh, and clean stove.

You know it's done when it coats the spoon like that. It certainly doesn't look like enough for a pound of penne (or in my cupboard's case, rigatoni) but I promise, it is!

While that was reducing, I was "waking up" the asparagus in the oven. That is old. At 425F. And not sealed well.


roasted, with a touch of olive oil, salt and pepper.

Because a hot oven and 1 sauce pan wasn't enough, I boiled a gallon and a 1/2 of water to make the pasta. If I wasn't sweating bullets, this would have been a simple, delicious, quick meal. It was only 2 of those. Although it was easy in and of itself, it's not easy when you have to dump a pasta pot into the colander with one hand because the other hand is attached to the Gatorade bottle you're chugging from to stave off dehydration.

But once all the pieces are done, simply combine with 1/2 a stick-ish of butter and some fresh grated parmesan, wipe the sweat from your brow (and cheeks, and arms, and ok, getting gross here) and dig in.

And if you're lucky, you'll get a bite of rigatoni with a piece of asparagus stuck in the middle! Those silly kids!

A meal worth crying over

I looked in the fridge last weekend and found beer, condiments, and leftover dipping sauce that I made for an appetizer and swore I was going to the leftovers as a salad dressing (hindsight is 20/20. not good on lettuce. excellent on chicken meatballs.) As I've tried to do so many times, I decided to make a shopping list specific to some recipes that I wanted to try. So this week we've been able to try the sort-of-carbonara recipe (not because I bought those items specifically to make that...bacon was bogo and pasta was on sale...can't pass up those deals!), an Americanized version of shepherd's pie:

Chili on the bottom, cornbread on the top, done in the microwave for the eternally busy American family, yummm all the way through.

Apparently I've been a morning person this weekend or maybe just a hungry-in-the-morning person, since our Saturday began with pumpkin pancakes and bacon (again, bacon was 2 for 1. don't judge.):

And Sunday morning, I put my dinner plans into action before breakfast!

Let me start at the beginning (ie-scroll down if you don't want the boring version). In April, 2 coworkers and I were lucky enough represent our department at an international convention taking place in Vienna, Austria. We made all kinds of plans to soak it all in in the 5 days we were there, including a bike tour of the city, palaces to ogle, a train ride to Prague, and a few cocktail hours at the courtesy of those who ultimately determine our job security. So here's how it actually panned out:
A bike tour that was awesome, minus the damp, freezing weather the day we had scheduled the trip. A trip to Budapest instead of Prague, since the train fare to Prague was double what we had seen online, and the travel time and fare to Budapest was half that to Prague. A volcano in Iceland that decided to spew ash and ground all air travel in, around, and out of Europe for days. In all, it was an incredible trip, and although it was stressful not knowing when we were going to be able to get home, we came away with countless memories, many of the edible kind...if only we could recreate them.

Enter my choice out of my slow cooker cookbook....Sweet Beef Goulash with Smoked Paprika. If you're looking for a "chop a few items, toss it together and forget about it" crock pot meal, this recipe isn't for you. But if you're willing to put just a little additional work in the morning before you plan to enjoy this for dinner, it's totally worth it. As the title of the recipe states, this called for smoked paprika, but noted that if you can't find smoked, sweet paprika is fine and actually, more authentic. I wanted to re-live the goulash we had for lunch in Hungary, so I didn't even bother looking for the smoked variety. Here's the entire collection of what went into this recipe:

The legwork in the beginning involves browning the meat and roasting the onions. But before you roast the onions, you need to slice them. Now, give me credit. I warned Hubby that I was slicing onions and he may want to stay upstairs for a bit. Poor guy cries at the saute' of a shallot. But he stood strong and remained downstairs. I pride myself on my ability to cut and cook onions without shedding a tear. My first attempt at homemade French Onion Soup involved 5 pounds onions and I didn't need a tissue! Well. Either those days are over, or these onions were sent by the devil! I was slicing away, and felt a tear coming on. Before I knew it, I had to abandon my knife and cutting board and head for the other room (which technically, is the same room, only several feet away from where I was already standing). Several tissues, nose blows, and hand washings later, the onions were put into the oven to learn their lesson. Never make a girl cry. She'll roast ya for it.

Yep. 6 onions. That's what I got.

Anywho....moving on, tears won't get in the way of my reminiscing. Those onions, the browned beef, and the pan sauce I made to get the yummies on the bottom of the pan went into the crock pot, and I went to meet some people and sign them up for Pampered Chef shopping sprees.

Before

After (I promise these are both my goulash. I don't know what's up with the changing color of the crock pot in the 2 photos.)

So when I say I wanted to go for the authentic, I wasn't kidding. I wanted my goulash with spaetzle. I don't know what they call spaetzle in Hungary, but what they served our goulash with was as close as it gets if not the same thing. I've made spaetzle before, but obviously I forgot how much elbow grease goes into actually making the dumplings. It was totally worth it though. Check out this progression:

Batter: a little thicker than pancake batter

Plain spaetzle

Butter makes everything better!

Goulash over spaetzle.

SUCCESS! Although I'm not willing to make spaetzle again until I have a spaetzle maker or a colander with large holes spread far apart (according to Hubby, it was illogical to register for 4 colanders), this meal was completely worth it. The whole time I was eating it, I was picturing the restaurant (and the ginormous beers they served in Europe) where I first enjoyed authentic Goulash.

This meal doesn't require much skill, but it does take time and planning ahead. Worth every minute!

Bake is not a noun

I hate it when recipe writers name a dish after the method or vessel of cooking. "Broccoli and Orzo Skillet" "Chicken and Zucchini Saute" "Chipotle Chili Cornbread Bake" I don't know what it is about it, I just don't like it. So although I followed the recipe titled "Chipotle Chili Cornbread Bake," I like to think I ended up with an Americanized version of Shepherd's Pie. Again, no peas in this recipe, which is probably why I don't cook real Shepherd's Pie. Just can't adhere to the pea requirement.

I had and awesome lunch with a friend the other day at Bobby's Burger Palace. Although the temperature is sub-freezing, the company and the LA turkey burger were totally worth it. (Honestly, I tried to chicken out and suggested the Irish Pub or Chinese restaurants closer to my office. I would have been completely disappointed.) But my point is that even though I came home a little late, I wasn't hungry. Hubby wasn't hungry either, and will be quick to tell you about the spread he sampled at the company holiday party that afternoon. So we watched the extended episode of Top Scallop from last night and by the time that ended, it was 7:15. I figured I better make something to eat or I would regret it when my grumbling tummy wakes me up at 3am. I had all the fixins for the dish we ended up eating (we'll return to the name debate later) and knew 2 things: it'd be quick enough that we'd eat within the hour and I wouldn't have to pull utensils out of the packed dishwasher to accomplish this task. So I got started. Once again, my photography is off; I kept forgetting to take pictures. I must get better at that!

First I chopped a green pepper and sliced a bunch of scallions. Just the bottoms of the scallions went in the magic pot along with the chopped pepper and 1 pound of lean ground beef.

I popped the dish, covered, into the microwave for 7 minutes. I forgot to take it out and chop up the ground beef 1/2 way through, but eh, no biggie. When I did take it out, I crumbled up the beef with my mix 'n chop (Nothing worse than a big chunk of ground beef when I'm looking for a mix of flavors in each bite). Then I simply added a cup of salsa, a can of chili beans in sauce (I had no idea what these were until I had to make another recipe last fall that also called for them), and 2 tablespoons of chipotle seasoning. I mixed that all together, put the lid back on, and microwaved for another 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, I mixed 1 box of corn muffin mix, 1 egg, and 8 oz of sour cream together with the tops of the scallions I chopped earlier. (Can you hear Rachel Ray saying "chop once, use twice?" Yeah, I threw something at her in my imagination too.) So when the beef mixture came out of the microwave, I spread the corn muffin mix concoction over the top of the beef and bean mix. Back into the microwave for another 7 minutes. In the time it took to "bake" the cornbread topping, I washed the dishes I had used to make the dish!
This is what we ended up with:

It doesn't look like much, but here's why I say it's an Americanized version of Shepherd's Pie:

Look familiar? I've made this recipe several times for Pampered Chef Shows and rarely do I get to try it to the point where I know if it's really good or not. (Ettiquite says when lots of people need a taste, I can't take a generous portion. Nope. Apparently not even if I made it and it's for quality assurance.)

 I must say, it was quite tasty! Lots of flavor, not too much beef, not too much sauce. Hubby approved. (Good thing he didn't see me put the mushrooms in there!  kidding! kidding! relax. there were no mushrooms.)

So this recipe naming thing. Not only is naming the dish after the method of cooking a cop-out, this one is down right wrong. I didn't "bake" this dish. All of the cooking was done in the microwave. So if we want to get technical, this should be a Chipotle Chili Cornbread Microwave. But lets get creative instead of technical. I'm going to call this success in the kitchen Chipotle Chili Shepherd's Pie.