2012 New Things: Make a Frittata

Frittatas intimidate me.  I have always known they are inherently easy, but for some reason they seemed too complicated to figure out and the idea of putting a pan from the stove INTO THE OVEN blew my mind.  I mean, can you do that?  (you can.  as long as it's oven-safe, duh.)

Starting 2012 simply, I made a frittata.  I am fond of Mark Bittman's recipes and he has a "more veggie, less egg" take on frittatas.  Loaded up on asparagus, leeks, peas and spinach, the frittata came out very green.  Green is good. 

yum.

2011 Bucket List: paeLLa party!

Making Paella made it to the Number Three slot on my 2011 bucket list.  Why Paella?  A couple years ago, Crosby, Brett and I ate some entirely mediocre paella in the Mission.  I remember looking at the dish, with its sad rice and little rubbery prawns, and thinking, "I could totally make this.  Better."  Then, somewhere along the line, someone gave me saffron and since I only know one thing to make with saffron, every time I saw that wee bottle I would think Oh Right. Paella.

Who could participate in the culinary adventure with me?  Wander into the world of yellow rice and weird spice Spanish sausages coupling with prawns?  Megan and Jonee of course.  The Kruez's (Kruezes, Kruezsss?) are perfect co-conspirators.  And so, a couple weeks ago, we gathered in my kitchen, let the wine flow, and had a paeLLa party!

And it was pretty dang good. 

Oddly enough, I don't think I really like saffron, but cooking something completely new was fun and challenging and I was really really glad to have Megan's expertise to fall back on.  She fielded comments like "oh, you take the casing OFF the sausage?!?!?" and "mussels have beards???" with complete ease.  Kudos to Jonee for debearding those pesky mussels. 

Since it was my birthday (kinda) Megan and Jonee also brought me the most amazing homemade Carrot Cake with Maple frosting:  

I might have eaten it for breakfast the next three days.

In my kitchen: Potato and Leek Soup

Last Sunday was cold and blustery. Rain rain rain pretty much every time I went out of doors, and most of the time I was inside as well. As fortune would have it, I had already decided to make Potato and Leek soup, a perfect meal on a winter-in-April day.

This recipe is basic enough. The main ingredients are leeks, potatoes, onions, garlic, and celery. Actually, add some broth and salt/pepper to that, and there you go: soup. I made the error of not looking at amounts when prepping for this dish, and had to run to the market across the way for more potato and to Andronico's for more leeks -- note, you end up cutting off the tops of the leeks, so always buy more than the recipe says. The rain seemed to know right when I had to run outside to really come down.

By the time Bill came over, the apartment smelled pleasantly like a British cottage in the middle of the countryside with weather outside to match. The finished soup heated up the serving bowls quickly. Potatoes retain heat very very well! And while we thought the Potato and Leek soup was really good and definitely warming of the mulligrubs, we hypothesized that it would be even better after a day or two. We were right -- I ate leftovers at lunch today (see photo), and all the flavors had melded and intensified. Fantastic.

Soup recipes generally are for 4-8 people. Since I am usually cooking for 1-3, I have leftovers that exceed the 'take for work the next day' capacity. My freezer is a delightful array of little tupperwares with little soups in them, labeled and stacked, waiting for a day where my fridge is empty or I'm running out the door, lunchless, to work (they defrost by lunchtime). I try to make a point the putting the newest made soup on the bottom, and to use the soups within about three months of making them. I have no actual reason for using them within that time period other than it seems like a good idea.... Anyhow. Potato and Leek soup = Win.

In my kitchen: Parmesan Chicken Wrapped in Posh Ham

Recall the 2010 goal of cooking from my Jamie Oliver cookbook once a week -- not in an effort to go all Julia and Julia, but to become excited and interested in cooking again. While I haven't quite hit the weekly mark, I am making a new recipe about every other week. Considering I was eating spinach, rice and salsa frequently, this is a total improvement.

Last night, I made Parmesan Chicken Wrapped in Posh Ham. Posh ham= prosciutto, but I guess it's more posh to say 'posh' than a fancy Italian word? The chicken came out really tasty, which I fully attribute to the joy I infused into said fillets as I beat them thin with the bottom of a saucepan (per the instructions!) . The poshy ham could have been a bit more crispy -- I think the key might be having the pan hot before placing the food in to cook. Learning. Anyhow, with some slight modifications: win.

An unexpected boon of this whole cooking more concept is leftovers! Translation: awesome work lunches! Also, having your cookbook in the car during carpool is a pretty good conversation starter -- except when they make fun of your notes in the margins, and smiley faces for win recipes. :)

Curry Favor with the Rain

(For the life of me, I cannot get this to spin 'round.)

My latest Jamie Oliver cooking experiment was Chicken Tikka Masala. Making this dish brought together two of my goals for 2010: to cook more and to waste less. I wanted to use the rest of my curry paste before it went bad soooo......

FAIL. It was runny. Bill suggested this was because I didn't strain the diced tomatoes and dump the excess water. Who knew! Also, the coconut milk we used was the kind that was all solidified at the top of the can and you have to stir it? Totally news to me. The end result was that, even with stirring, the sauce had this kinda curdled look to it, which in hindsight could have also been from the excess water. Seriously. Look closely at the photo. Curdle. And it felt about that way in your stomach.

The night I cooked this was tumultuous anyway. I live across from a small, neighborhood market, and for years I have watched almost accidents at the stop-sign intersection. Last Sunday night, in the dark and rain, a woman was actually hit. We ran down with umbrellas -- it was pouring -- and the paramedics and her super stoned husband showed up and it seemed like maybe her leg was broken. The kid who hit her looked shocked and then terrified.

So yeah. Weird evening. Curdled food.

Hey Good Lookin'

The quest for increasing my cooking repertoire continues. For my third dish, I made beef wellington, which was bland a la English food and during our analysis phase, the eaters suggested I add Worctewherekjshire sauce and more garlic. Aside from lack of notable zing, the dish looked pretty, all pastry wrapped, browned and crispy.

Fourth dish was sweet potato chorizo soup. WIN. Super spicy, super creamy, even though there is no cream! The only thing I would do different for this soup recipe is to keep about a third of the ingredients out of the mixer, and add them in later for texture diversity. Also? Said it made 6-8 servings, but I certainly ended up with a lot in my freezer.

The best part of the most recent cooking escapades? I had my first dinner party. My folks, Bill, and I all crowded around my kitchen table, which just so happens to be the same table my parents' had when they were first married. Sure, my kitchen was a bit snug, and it definitely looks like I have no chair to sit in, but at the last moment, I whipped it out from where it hangs behind the kitchen door.

Vixen in the Kitchen (not a kitten)

I have made a new friend-- a new friend who has marvelously reintroduced me to cooking. Making dinner had become a ho-hum task, more often comprised of rice with steamed spinach than anything else. For Christmas, my mother gave me a Jamie Oliver cookbook, Jamie's Food Revolution. I've never been a big New Year's resolution type of gal, but this year I thought I would give it a go. Among my goals, I will try to cook a recipe out of my new book (or some other recipe if inspiration strikes) at least once a week.

Behold, Week 1: Spicy Moroccan Stewed Fish With Couscous.

I didn't quite follow the recipe perfectly (my bad, and whoa flashback to Chem lab; I never got my yields right). Still, it was edible and dare I say quite alright.

Week 2: Chicken KormaYay! The Chicken Korma came out so well! Bill was staggered at my cooking finesse. Jamie Oliver has made me a vixen in the kitchen! Please note how much my actual dish looks like the photos!!!!!!!