Taking a break

I had to take a break from cooking because the last time I attempted it (another potato gratin version), I stupidly mandolined off a slice of my right thumb (I didn't use the protective cover). My thumb looked like sashimi for a while and 7 weeks later I still have to keep it bandaged.

Those 7 weeks also happened to be the hottest weeks in decades, which didn't exactly make anyone scream for potato gratin. Anyway, tonight's the night I return to cooking, but it won't be anything new -- and it won't be anything that requires slicing anything (roasted potatoes).

Week 20: Reprise

My first reprise: Roasted potatoes (this time without spinach) -- fantastic with a fried egg, easy over.

Week 19: Arugula with Balsamic Strawberries and Goat Cheese

Vegetable ingredients: strawberries (well, sort of), salad

Busy week! So I tried a salad. The recipe is from this book (which I don't love half as much as the tomb "How to cook everything").

Ingredients:

a pint of strawberries
2 TS balsamic vinegar
black pepper
arugula (I replace it with spring salad)
crumbled goat cheese (creamy)
salt
drizzle of olive oil

Preparation:

Hull and slice strawberries, put in bowl
toss with vinegar and pepper, let sit for 5 mins
add salad and crumbled goat cheese, sprinkle of salt
drizzle with olive oil, toss, serve (I topped it with walnuts and served it with pretzel bread).

Verdict: Surprisingly good! 8/10

Week 18: Roasted potatoes with spinach

Vegetable ingredient: Potatoes, spinach


Another potato recipe! It was Memorial Day weekend and my brief was to make something that would go well with steak and brats (very appropriate, since "The World's Greatest Brat Fest" is held annually on that weekend). Nothing easier than that! Let me make my signature dish: Roasted potatoes, this time with Spinach. This is the recipe I followed this time, well, sort of. I'm getting adventurous!

Ingredients: 

• 6 small red potatoes, quartered (I used a 1.5 lbs bag from Trader Joe's)

• 2 tablespoons butter (I used olive oil instead)

• 2 cloves garlic, minced (I used one cube of Dorot's frozen garlic -- the whole kitchen smelled of garlic, the food -- not so much)

• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped (I used dried rosmarin)

• sea salt and ground black pepper to taste

• 1 cup fresh spinach leaves (I used 2.5 cups and sprinkled some grated cheese on top)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Place the potatoes in a single layer in a ceramic casserole dish. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, and cook until golden. Stir in the rosemary, and cook just until fragrant. Pour over the potatoes in the dish. Season with sea salt and pepper. Roast uncovered for about 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until the potatoes are fork tender. Remove from the oven, and toss with the spinach leaves. Return to the oven for 1 to 2 minutes, until the spinach has wilted.

The result was reliably great. Crisp, aromatic potatoes and some greens as well.

Verdict: 9/10. Any time again. 

Week 17: German potato salad

Vegetable ingredients: Potatoes and pea shoots


More potatoes! This time, a potato salad. Not with mayonnaise-based dressing, but warm and with a vinaigrette, German style.

Ingredients:
2 lbs potatoes
1 cup broth
4 TS vinegar
1 ts mustard
pepper
1 onion
chives (replaced with pea shoots)
3-4 TS canola oil or similar

Preparation:
wash potatoes, add salt, boil for 15-20 mins (I did not peel them)
heat broth, add vinegar, mustard, salt, pepper, onion
slice potatoes
pour dressing over potatoes, add oil, onion, chives

 

Since this is really only a side dish, I decided to add store-bought meatballs and "meatless meatballs" from Trader Joe's.

Verdict: 8/10 (for the salad)

Week 16: Roast cod with potatoes

Happy Mother's Day!

I had a request for another potato dish, so potatoes it was again. Another recipe from Mark Bittman: Roast cod white fillets with potatoes. It couldn't get any easier!



Ingredients:

5 table spoons olive oil
2 lbs potatoes (5 medium-sized potatoes)
cod fillets [fresh fillets were sold out at Whole Foods, so I used frozen fillets, 340g for two]

salt, pepper, chives

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 F. Place 4 table spoons of olive oil in a large baking dish (I'm not a fan of Rachel Ray's shows, but I love her orange baking dishes). Place dish in the oven while it preheats. Peel the potatoes (I use my Roesle swivel peeler) and slice them about 1/8 to 1/4 inch. This is when my new Progressive mandoline, a mother's day gift, came in handy! Remove pan from oven, stir potatoes into oil, sprinkle liberally with sald and pepper. Return dish to oven. After 15 minuts, turn potatoes gently with a spatula. Put in the oven for another 15 minutes, turn again. Once potatoes look browned (after 30+ minutes), place the cod on top,  sprinkle with olive oil. Roast for another 10 minutes, depending on thickness of fillets. Sprinkle in chives. Done. I served the dish with buttered peas.

 

 

Verdict: 7.5/10

The potatoes were great, the fish was a bit dry on top. Overall, however, a satisfying dish, especially the potatoes, and so easy to make! The little person ate exactly one potato slice (because it looked like a potato chip). She said it was better than she had thought. I guess that qualifies as a compliment.

Week 15: Simple Potato Gratin

I had a request for "more potatoes, please." So I checked out several potato gratin recipes. I settled on this one: Simple potato gratin.

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces, plus an additional pat for buttering gratin dish
• 4 large yellow potatoes* (about 1 1/2 pounds), peeled [I used 5 potatoes]
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup milk, half-and-half or cream (if using something richer than milk, you can skip the butter)
• 2 ounces cheese, grated or crumbled (Parmesan or Gruyere are the classics, but that doesn’t mean that goat cheese, blue cheese or any of your favorites won’t work as well) [optional]
• I also included 1/2 lb mushrooms (sliced and sauteed) and about 3 table spoons of chives (getting adventurous, alright!)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a 9- by 12-inch gratin dish with the pat of butter. Slice the potatoes as thinly as you can (a mandoline works great for this) and arrange them in a layer, overlapping the edges slightly like shingles. Sprinkle the potatoes with salt and freshly ground pepper and don’t be stingy — this is where the bulk of your flavor comes from and a third of the cheese before before repeating this process with your remaining potato slices. (If you are using a sauteed vegetable filling, this is where you’d want to add half of it.) Depending on how thinly sliced your potatoes are, you should end up with approximately three layers, with a third of the cheese between each layer. [This kind of worked out for me. I used the mushrooms between the 2nd and the 3rd layer.] Reserve the last third of your cheese for later.Carefully pour the milk over the potatoes. It should come up to the bottom of the top layer of potatoes; add more if this was not enough. Dot the top of the gratin with the three tablespoons of butter and bake it for about an hour. Halfway through the baking time, take the gratin dish out of the oven and gental press the potatoes flat with a spatula to keep the top moist. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of the gratin for the last 15 minutes of baking. The gratin is done when the potatoes are soft and the top is golden brown.

 

Verdict: 9/10


Very satisfying. We both went for seconds and there wasn't much left afterwards. Another dish one could easily prepare in advance. Definitely better with chives!

Week 14: Lentils & Macaroni

Vegetable ingredients: Lentils, tomatoe

This week, I was a bit under the weather. I needed a homey, simple dish. Mark Bittman had the answer: Lentils and macaroni! I used Trader Joe's ready-to-eat steamed lentils, which made the process very easy.

Ingredients
1/2 packet Trader Joe's ready-to-eat steamed lentils
2 carrots
1 medium onion, minced
1 cup cored and chopped tomato (canned is fine)
salt and pepper
1 TS minced fresh oregano
1 pound elbow macaroni or something similar
1 ts minced garlic

Preparation
Combine lentils, carrots, onion in large pot, simmer for 15 mins
add tomatoe, sald, pepper, half of th eoregano, stir, keep warm
bring water to boil for pasta
reserve a cup of water
stir cooked pasta into lentils, add oregano, perhaps water
cook for 2-3 minutes

It doesn't look very fancy, but it tasted really good. We helped ourselves to seconds. Even the little person tried one of the shells (after carefully peeling off a lentil).

Verdict: 7/10 for taste and ease of preparation. 2/10 for looks.

Week 13: Oven Roasted Red Potatoes and Asparagus

Vegetable(s): Potatoes, Asparagus


 


Potatoes! I haven't done potatoes yet! Here's the recipe I picked:

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds red potatoes, cut into chunks

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

• 8 cloves garlic, thinly sliced (I completely forgot about the garlic and didn't miss it at all)

• 4 teaspoons dried rosemary

• 4 teaspoons dried thyme

• 2 teaspoons kosher salt

• 1 bunch fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces

• ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. In a large baking dish, toss the red potatoes with 1/2 the olive oil, garlic, rosemary, thyme, and 1/2 the kosher salt. Cover with aluminum foil.
3. Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Mix in the asparagus, remaining olive oil, and remaining salt. Cover, and continue cooking 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Increase oven temperature to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Remove foil, and continue cooking 5 to 10 minutes, until potatoes are lightly browned. Season with pepper to serve.

Prepping

My favorite knife (Carnado from Hugo Pott)

Almost done!

Apart from leaving out the garlic, I followed the recipe to a letter. It turned out quite wonderful, the potatoes were brown and crisp (our daughter ate a slice that looked like a potato chip and about 1/4 inch of asparagus), the asparagus was not mushy, the spices came together very well. My original plan had been to serve the potatoes with a fried egg, but in the end, I thought just the potatoes were enough. The recipe was supposed to serve 4-6, but we polished it off a deux. (We were hungry.)


Verdict: 9/10 (for me), 8/10 (for the family) -- I rate it very high because it's inexpensive, very easy to make, there aren't too many ingredients, and it tasted quite wonderful, crunchy and soft, and the kitchen smelled of rosemary. I can see that others might consider this a side dish, but for me, it was a meal.

Week 12: Spanakopita

Vegetable(s): Spinach, lots of it

 


Spinach again. (Since last week I didn't really use any vegetables at all, this week I wanted to pick a dish whose main ingredient was a vegetable.) There are many recipes for Spinakopita. I picked this one.

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 large onion, chopped (I used about 1/3)

• 1 bunch green onions, chopped

• 2 cloves garlic, minced (I used 1 Dorot cube)

• 2 pounds spinach, rinsed and chopped (I used frozen spinach)

• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

• 2 eggs, lightly beaten

• 1/2 cup ricotta cheese

• 1 cup crumbled feta cheese

• 8 sheets phyllo dough (I should have taken the dough out of the freezer earlier, as it was, I had to put it in the microwave to defrost it -- not ideal)

• 1/4 cup olive oil

 

 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly oil a 9x9 inch square baking pan.
2. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute onion, green onions and garlic, until soft and lightly browned. Stir in spinach and parsley, and continue to saute until spinach is limp, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
3. In a medium bowl, mix together eggs, ricotta, and feta. Stir in spinach mixture. Lay 1 sheet of phyllo dough in prepared baking pan, and brush lightly with olive oil. Lay another sheet of phyllo dough on top, brush with olive oil, and repeat process with two more sheets of phyllo. The sheets will overlap the pan. Spread spinach and cheese mixture into pan and fold overhanging dough over filling. Brush with oil, then layer remaining 4 sheets of phyllo dough, brushing each with oil. Tuck overhanging dough into pan to seal filling.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until golden brown. Cut into squares and serve while hot.

 

Verdict: 8/10


Very satisfying dish. Could easily be prepared for when one has over dinner guests (enough for 4). We ate the leftovers the next day.