A Little Bit of the South

Our little household is still suffering from some boring eats. Don't get me wrong, we are still eating the stuff we love- tacos, pizza, veggie burgers- but not many new and exciting dishes. I will fully admit that now that I have time to cook, I have been a little lazy. Well, lazy is harsh. I've been rejuvenating.

A recently went on a work trip to New Orleans and came back raving about the wonderful food he had. I am a bit jealous since I've always wanted to visit just for the food alone. One of my favorite things about the South is the food. From the deep south to the low country, the food is delicious. A and I had a chance to visit Charleston last year and just fell in love with the area. Since our vacation has now been cut down to a workcation (where we will stay home and fix our house), we have been playing with the idea of returning to Charleston for a weekend trip.

This recipe started with the idea of making gumbo and developed into a mish mash. Think gumbo meets shrimp and grits (one of my all-time favorite southern dishes) meets Italy!We ended up with polenta since we didn't have rice or grits, but it was perfect for the gumbo.

New Orleans Style Gumbo with Polenta

For gumbo:

3 link andouille sausage, cut into bit size pieces

1-1 1/2 cup of shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 rib celery, diced

1/2 medium size onion, diced

1 small green bell pepper, diced

2 cloves garlic

1 15 oz can diced tomatoes

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 1/2 tbsp flour

1-1 1/2 cup chicken broth

1/4 tsp thyme or herbs de Provence

1 1/2 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp red pepper

1 tbsp worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 tbsp butter

salt and pepper to taste

In a large, deep sauce pan, heat olive oil and butter over medium-high heat. Once butter is melted and a little bubbly add onion, bell pepper, and celery. Add a bit of salt and pepper since it's always better to salt and pepper as you go. Cook until softened. Put in a bowl and set aside.

Add andouille sausage to the pan and cook through. The sausages I used were precooked, so I it didn't take very long. Once cooked through, add in the cooked veggies (that were set aside), garlic, and sprinkle in flour. Cook until garlic and flour are browned. Add in chicken broth and deglaze the pan, scraping up all the bits from the bottom. Add can of tomatoes, tomato paste, thyme, paprika, red pepper, worcestershire sauce, and a bit more salt and pepper.

Let it cook all together for about 20-30 minutes to let the flavors stew. Add the shrimp about 5-8 minutes before serving so shrimp isn't over cooked. Shrimp are ready once they are pink and curled.

For the polenta:

Follow the instructions on the packaging. However, I make it like oatmeal by just adding a little at a time while stirring it continuously. For more flavor, use broth instead of water, and toward the end add heavy cream and a pad or two of butter. Rice and grits can always be substituted.

Serve gumbo over polenta and enjoy!

Monday Night Pasta

Okay, I have not kept up my end of the bargain and have not posted as much as I would like. I PROMISE to be better! Really!

So, now that I've apologized, let me tell you about the make-shift pasta I made. It was so good! The pasta was inspired by trying to use up some leftover stuff in my fridge (how most pastas are inspired in my kitchen). I don't really have exact measurements but I took my best guess at what I thought it could be. However, there really is no way to mess this up and you can add whatever leftovers in the kitchen. The key ingredient was really the organic veggie broth.



Monday Night Pasta

2/3 box of rigatoni pasta
2 cloves chopped garlic
8-10 medium crimini mushrooms, chopped
1/4 cup sliced sun dried tomatoes
1/3 of an onion, chopped
1 cup of organic vegetable broth
olive oil
salt and pepper
small hand full of chopped basil
shredded Asiago cheese for the top

Cook pasta according to box directions

Saute onion in olive oil (enough to lightly coat pan). Once onion is softened, add mushrooms and garlic. Saute until onion is slightly caramelized, and garlic and mushrooms are browned. Deglaze the pan with vegetable broth, scrapping the bottom to get all the brown bits. Cook for about 5 minutes, until broth has become more condensed. Add sun dried tomatoes. Cook for another 2-3 minutes. Add in cooked pasta. Serve with a good helping of Asiago cheese and basil.

Banana Bread Muffins

Lately, I've been baking more than I've been cooking. I'm not sure why that is the case, but perhaps it is easier to make the effort to make treats instead of a meal. Either way, it has been wonderful making time to do the things I love. In the next few months we'll be making some changes around the house. A and I will finally be making the effort to do the renovations we've been putting off for so long. Once those renovations start happening, especially in the kitchen, A and I may have to use his little boy scout camping stove in order to make dinner. That will be interesting! We've done it before when the hurricanes knocked out our power. So we can survive!

Until then, we'll see what I can do in the kitchen. These muffins were based off a banana bread recipe I found in one of my cookbooks. I made some alterations, which is reflected in the recipe below. They came out moist and delicious! They are really good with a swipe of whipped cream cheese too.

Banana Bread Muffins with Dark Chocolate Chunks

Adapted from Gifts from the Kitchen , Parragon Books

Makes 12 muffins.

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla

3 bananas, mashed

1/4 cup vanilla yogurt mixed with 1/4 cup light sour cream

few shakes of cinnamon

couple handfuls of dark chocolate chunks

Preheat oven to 35o degrees.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Put aside

Cream eggs and sugar together with an electric mixer. Add oil and vanilla, and mix well by hand. Mix in mashed bananas and cinnamon.

Add flour to wet ingredients, but alternate with adding the yogurt mixture. Finally, mix in the chocolate chunks.

Fill baking cups about 2/3 of the way. Bake for approximately 30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Better than Starbucks

When I worked at Starbucks in graduate school, they sold these amazing molasses cookies. They were soft and chewy with a slightly spicy bite. They were such a treat! I've been craving these cookies and discovered that there isn't one Starbucks in our area that sells them. Did that stop the cravings? Of course not! Instead, I put on my baker's hat and decided to make some of my own molasses cookies. To my surprise (since baking is not one of the skills I have perfected yet) they came out delicious! They tasted just like the ones I love at Starbucks, but even better since I made them. These will definitely go in my cookie files!

Molasses Cookies
recipe directly from kattitudes.com

2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup molasses
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger root

Sift flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ground ginger together on a sheet of waxed paper and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together 1/2 cup of the sugar and the butter until light and fluffy. Add molasses, egg and ginger root and beat until light. Gradually add the flour, stirring until well blended. Cover dough and chill for at least one hour or overnight.

Preheat over to 350 degrees F.

Form dough into one inch balls, rolling them between the palms until smooth and round. Spread remaining 1/4 cup sugar on waxed paper and roll each ball of dough in sugar. Place dough balls two inches apart on greased baking sheets.

Bake in the center of hot oven until tops are rounded and crinkled and the cookies are just beginning to color, about 12 to 14 minutes.
Remove from oven and transfer to wire racks to cool. Store in tightly covered container.

Veggies and a Whole New Year

That's right...I'm FINALLY back! I took a hiatus from cooking real food for awhile and how I've missed it. My life has been so busy that most of the food at our house revolves around frozen pizza, black bean tacos, and soup. It's been boring and definitely not worthy of blogging.

Well, now I'm back and it's a whole new year with a whole new food outlook. One of my New Year's resolutions is to be a pesco-vegetarian again. So far, I have had to break it twice. Otherwise, I've been very good at sticking to it. In all reality, it hasn't been too hard to keep because we don't eat much meat in this house. A gets a steak every so often when he's out at a restaurant, but for the most part he has been a good sport about the whole thing.

Anyway, back to the blog. Yes, I am going to try and cook at least one interesting thing each week to post every Monday (at least). I'm going to start with this recipe I found at 101cookbooks.com. The curry ended up coming out pretty good. There are a few things I would change. I would add some Thai chilies to give it some heat. I would also change the whole coconut milk to a lighter version since the curry was a little rich. Add a touch more salt, and I think it's a tasty meal!

Cashew Curry

from 101cookbooks.com

1 cup whole coconut milk

1-2 tbsp curry powder

1/2 tsp fine grain sea salt

1/2 large red onion, chopped

1 medium garlic clove, chopped

1/3 cup water

4 ounces of tofu, in small cubes

1 cup green beans, in 1 in. segments

1 1/2 cup cauliflower, in tiny florets

1/3 cup roasted, salted cashews

handful of cilantro

1) Bring half of coconut milk to simmer in a large pot over medium-high heat.

2) Whisk curry powder and salt, working out all clumps.

3) Stir in onion and garlic, cook for a minute.

4) Stir in remaining coconut milk and water, then add tofu.

5)Cool down liquid a little before adding green beans and cauliflower. Cover and simmer until veggies are tender with a slight bite.

6) Remove pot from heat and stir in cashews.

7) Serve with a garnish of cilantro.

Be Back Soon!

I'm trying to get life a bit more organized. I'll be back in January 2009!

Happy Holidays and cheers to a bright and exciting new year!

Hello November

It's November! Turkey month!

I'm slowly starting to plan our Thanksgiving meal. It's my favorite meal to plan since I am proud to say that A and I do one of the best turkeys around. The past two years we've done a turkey with citrus and herbes de provence. This year I want to do something different, but I haven't found the perfect recipe yet.

It's also pumpkin time! I'm learning to really like pumpkin. For awhile, it was not high on my list nor would I go out of my way to make anything with pumpkin. However, lately I've actually craved those pumpkin pie flavors of cinnamon, clove, nutmeg. I found this recipe in my October edition of Gourmet magazine. It was a good bread...quite tasty and crumbly. It was excellent for a snack with a swipe of real butter and a drizzle of honey. I kept to the recipe for the most part, except I added a lot less sugar. I didn't want a really sweet bread, but I'm sure it would be just as delicious with all the sugar. Also, I know the recipe said PUMPKIN bread, but there wasn't pumpkin puree at Whole Foods. So, instead I used sweet potato puree, which was very yummy. It wasn't a loaf cake and really was more like a bread, so don't expect a moist Starbucks-like pumpkin pound cake. However, that sounds good too and I may look for that recipe next!

Pumpkin Walnut Bread (or Sweet Potato Walnut Bread for me)

From Gourmet Magazine, taken from The Art and Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp salt

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1/3 cup water

1 1/2 cups sugar (I used only 1/2 cup)

1 cup canned pumpkin puree (I substituted sweet potato puree since there was not pumpkin at my store)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup chopped and toasted walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and position oven rack in the center. Lightly coat a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan with melted butter and line the bottom with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, ginger, and salt until blended. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together eggs and water. Add sugar and blend well. Add pumpkin puree, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract. Blend well.

3. Add pumpkin mixture to dry mixture and whisk until blended smooth. Add the walnuts and stir until they are evenly distributed. Use a spatula to scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan and level the top.

4. Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, until bread is firm to the touch and the toothpick inserted comes out clean. Transfer to a rack and cool completely.

Can be stored up to 2 days at room temp or up to 4 days in the refrigerator.