Posts tagged ‘dinner’

On Mid Week Dinners and Thin Cut Onions

February 5, 2010

Whenever you step into a kitchen, you have the ability to prove to the world what magic can take place within it. I had once such experience on an unassuming Thursday night.

I was struck with how perfect and, I dare say, elegant an onion can be. Look at these thin cut, mandolin onion slices. They look like food lace and glowed in the pan. Concentric circles and a sting of the eyes to let you know they’re still onions, I’ll admit to admiring these guys for more than a second. (How delicate!)

If you cook down those perfectly cut onions and add tomatoes, spices, CSA carrots and turnips, it’s a delicious and relatively simple mid-week meal, compliments of a recipe by Tigers & Strawberries for Shalgam Masala.

Couple that with some Spicy Oven-Roasted Chickpeas (via Apartment Therapy) and you’ve got yourself a little Thursday slice o’ heaven.

Have a great weekend, y’all. See you next week.

My Love/Hate Relationship with the Barefoot Contessa

October 20, 2009

Have y’all ever read an Ina Garten cookbook? Bitch is a NAME DROPPER!

(photo by Ben Fink)

I was reading through Barefoot Contessa Parties! and it was Secretary of State this, and my good bosom buddy Martha Stewart that. Between the books and watching her show, I was always repulsed at the idea of her white bread parties and gentle mannerisms and yet I WANTED TO BE HER.

Only in her world could she purchase someone else’s business (specialty food shop Barefoot Contessa), make it HER THANG, and then cater for 40 people without breaking a sweat right off the bat. But that is besides the point. This post is really about how I picked up two of her cookbooks from the library, had them for weeks and only made one thing. My excuse? She seems to think that one ‘splurge’ ingredient per recipe doesn’t make for an expensive dinner. One splurge per course means an expensive menu.

Griping aside, I’ve got Ina to thank for these baked sweet potato fries. They’re a cross between a steak fry and a wedge. Unlike any other sweet potato fry recipe I’ve made, these bad boys actually turned out nice, plump and caramelized, not deflated, limp versions of their former selves.

Baked Sweet Potato “Fries”
from Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics: Fabulous Flavor from Simple Ingredients
serves 4

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled
2 tablespoons good olive oil
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra for sprinkling
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Halve the sweet potatoes lengthwise and cut each half into 3 long spears. place them on a sheet pan and toss with the olive oil. Spread the potatoes in one layer. Combine the brown sugar, salt, and pepper and sprinkle on the potatoes. Bake for 15 minutes and then turn with a spatula. Bake for another 5 to 10 minutes, until lightly browned. Sprinkle lightly with salt and serve hot.

When paired with cherry tomatoes tossed in a light vinagrette and a chicken apple sausage topped with sauerkraut, it makes for a tasty meal and a happy boyfriend. Perhaps a little heavy but for this cool weather, a very comforting plate of goods.

(Two more CSA veggies bite the dust? CHECK!)

This Confession is No Yolk

September 25, 2009

Ya’ll, I’ve got a confession to make. I’m honestly about to blush. I’ve had the same thing for lunch three days running. THREE.

It wasn’t leftovers. It wasn’t something already made. I prepared myself the same lunch three days in a row. This was a choice. A decision. And I must live with knowing that now you all know my dirty little secret of the under employed. Cooking like this for yourself, whenever you want.

World, meet soba noodles with a fried egg on top.

It started unassumingly enough. While attempting to find something simple for lunch using soba noodles, which I adore, this glorious recipe popped up on The Kitchn. Soba rarely gets used in our house but not because it isn’t loved. Just because we don’t seem to have much stuff to go with ’em laying around. No more!

This super easy recipe serves one and can be made easily within 15 minutes. Cleanup isn’t bad and the payoff is big. You can find the original recipe from The Kitchn, called Sesame-Garlic Soba Noodles with Fried Egg. I’m presenting it below from memory with my own adaptations.

Boil some water
Take out an egg
Take out 1.5 ounces of buckwheat soba noodles, which approximately looks like the pic below.
Mince a clove of garlic, thinly slice a small, itty bitty onion (like the tiny ones from this week’s CSA box!)
By now the water should be boiling, so add your noodles and set the timer for 4 minutes, drain and set aside the noodles when cooked
Meanwhile take out a frying pan and add to it, two light glugs of sesame oil.
Add to it the garlic, a dash of red chili flakes and dash of ground ginger.
Fry it up briefly so that the garlic cooks and the chili flakes release their spicy flavor
Turn off the heat and pour in a couple tablespoons worth of soy sauce
Promptly after (or even better, actually before the soy sauce so you’ll get more heat that way) add the onion slices.
Pour the mixture in with the noodles and give your frying pan a good wipe down, readying for cooking the egg.
Use a bit of butter or oil and reheat your pan, and fry the shit out of that egg. Well, at least over easy.
Serve on top of your soba noodles in some pretty, dish, and go plop your butt in front of the tv.
Break the yoke over the noodles, and enjoy the saucey goodness of mother nature. You’re drooling I can tell. Wait, it’s about to get worse.
Enjoy the perfect bite, times 34. Try not to lick the plate, that’s tacky.

Mama mia, that’s delicious. The original recipe is linked to HERE, which I adapted based on my available ingredients. It is from Apartment Therapy’s The Kitchn.

Sesame-Garlic Soba Noodles with Fried Egg

Serves one

1 cup soba noodles – about 1.5 ounces dry
1 Tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 green onion, sliced into thin rounds
1 egg
Extra green onion for garnish
Extra salt

Bring a pot of water to boil and add the soba noodles and a tablespoon of salt. Cook until tender, about 4 minutes. Drain and transfer to serving dish.

Meanwhile, in a small pan over medium heat and add the sesame oil. When the oil is hot, add the garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes, and sauté until fragrant, about thirty seconds. Remove from heat and stir in the soy sauce. Pour this sauce over the noodles, add the green onion, and toss until the noodles are evenly coated.

Set the same small pan you just used back over medium-high heat. Crack an egg into the pan, being careful not to break the yolk. When the whites have set, use a spatula to gently but swiftly flip the egg over. Cook for a minute or two until the whites are completely cooked but the yolk is still liquid.

Slide the egg on top of the noodles, garnish with green onion if you’re feeling fancy, and eat immediately!