Thursday

TWENTY-EIGHT : STUFFED ONIONS

PLENTY
NOVEMBER 22 2012

TWENTY-EIGHT : STUFFED ONIONS

As anyone who knows me can attest, I have no problem spending hours or even days on a ridiculously complicated recipe with 87 steps and 41 ingredients. Case in point, the insane Peking Duck recipe from Lucky Peach, fully described here by another crazy person willing to go the distance. But, there has to be some kind of payoff for all the invested effort and time. Unfortunately, some of Mr. O's recipes ask me to put myself through the ringer but just don't deliver. One example is this ridiculous herbed rice which had more steps than I even care to recount yet tasted like rice with lots of herbs stirred in. These stuffed onions are another example of wasted effort as I will explain.

Tuesday

TWENTY-SEVEN : QUINOA SALAD W/ DRIED PERSIAN LIME

PLENTY
NOVEMBER 20 2012

TWENTY-SEVEN : QUINOA SALAD W/ DRIED PERSIAN LIME

It is extremely dangerous for me to shop at Barbur World Foods. I go in to buy bread and come out with za'atar or preserved lemon or aleppo pepper. And I usually have no plan or even idea of how to use these items. In fact, these dried Persian limes have been sitting in my cupboard for years, completely untouched. Until now!




I was thrilled to find that one of Mr. O's recipes features dried Persian limes and I can't wait to use them. He is right in saying that turning these suckers into powder is "difficult to achieve because the limes are rock hard". As I'm breaking them into pieces to stuff into the coffee/spice grinder, I actually give myself a "dried-lime cut"... which is worse than a paper cut because the edges are all jagged and tangy. But it will all be worth it!




Now comes some sweet potato vs yam confusion. I bought said sweet potatoes which, once peeled, reveal themselves to be basically white. But Mr O's photos show a dark orange vegetable tossed in the salad. I think he used yams! Or different, orange-colored sweet potatoes? Aaaah... I'm so confused! The orange ones would look prettier... but I think they basically taste the same so oh well.






It's a pretty good salad. The dried lime powder ads a nice floral note and complements the earthy quinoa. Not sure why it has rice and quinoa... but still tasty! I'll have to research some more ways to use those dried limes cause I've still got most of the bag left.

Sunday

TWENTY-SIX : SMOKY FRITATTA

PLENTY
NOVEMBER 18 2012

TWENTY-SIX : SMOKY FRITATTA




Doesn't that look good?!? Bubbly cheese, crispy around the edges. Warm and comforting. We were a bit wild last night and this looks like exactly what I need to shake it off and start a new day. First I need a bloody mary and then let's get cookin'!

Wednesday

TWENTY-FIVE : EGG, SPINACH AND PECORINO PIZZA

PLENTY
NOVEMBER 14 2012

TWENTY-FIVE : EGG, SPINACH AND PECORINO PIZZA

PIZZA PARTY! One of my favorite things is pizza and I love inviting friends over and trying fun, new topping combinations. The hardest part has always been the crust, though. Over the years, I've tried a bunch of recipes but had yet to find one that makes really airy, bubbly, "artisan" crust. I had one that made pretty darn good crust but it took kneading and multiple rises and two or three days in the fridge to make it work. Based on these past experiences with pizza crust recipes, I had a feeling that Mr. O's pizza dough would be fine, but not epic. And I want EPIC! So I chose to follow a "no knead" recipe instead... and man am I glad I did!

This crust is amazing... and so easy! I used "Jim Lahey's No Knead Pizza Dough" recipe from Serious Eats for fantastic results. I would say it's a bit of a stretch (pun intended) to make 4 pizzas from this recipe. They end up rather small. So, I would amend this recipe to say it makes 4 small or 3 medium pizzas.


"no-knead" dough. amazing!



Friday

TWENTY-THREE & TWENTY-FOUR : HAM PARTY!

PLENTY
NOVEMBER 02 2012

TWENTY-THREE : EGGPLANT CROQUETTES
TWENTY-FOUR : QUINOA & GRILLED SOURDOUGH SALAD

It's Friday night and I'm cooking up a ham the size of my head! The big boy, slathered in a mix of jalapeno jelly and whole-grain mustard, has been slowly baking for the last couple of hours and requires little attention. So I can focus on the other dishes while keeping an eye on the Blazer game. I'm planning to greet my dinner guests with hot, crispy eggplant croquettes then serve the ham with mashed potatoes, sauteed kale, Mr. O's Quinoa & Grilled Sourdough Salad and lots o' wine.

The croquettes worry me because I never deep-fry at home. Don't get me wrong, I really, really love fried foods, but I just know I'll run into trouble... grease splatters, left-over oil to deal with, realizing how easy it is and eating everything breaded and fried from now on. But tonight, it's on! First I need to blacken the eggplant but the broiler isn't really getting the job done so I transfer them out to the grill. The recipe calls for "4 medium eggplant"; I had two small ones from the garden and bulked them up with another three from the store.


garden eggplants in the front

Thursday

TWENTY-TWO : CHICKPEA SAUTÉ WITH GREEK YOGURT

PLENTY
NOVEMBER 01 2012

TWENTY-TWO : CHICKPEA SAUTÉ WITH GREEK YOGURT

Here is a really simple and quite tasty recipe that works great as a side dish, as I did today, or could be a main meal over rice. I used it to complement some green chicken marsala with garden-fresh potato. In fact, along with the potato in the marsala, the carrot and chard from the sauté were also from the garden (yay!).

Luckily I had some cooked chickpeas stashed in the freezer so I didn't have to a: deal with that step or b: used canned chickpeas. Plus, I've been trying to make myself use stuff from the freezer because I have trouble throwing anything away and so the freezer is nearly overflowing.


beautiful rainbow chard




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