Lesson Learned

Last night I attemped to make this:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_78783,00.html

I saw smiley Giada make it on tv and thought, hmm this could be really good. Then I saw that one of my favorite food bloggers made it: http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/03/roasted-acorn-squash-and-gorgonzola-pizza/ and it looks positively perfect in her pictures. So I finally made the trek out to Whole Foods yesterday to purchase an acorn squash. I figured my wonderful Queens produce market would not carry them as they're not really in season (well, they're available year round but peak is from October to December).

I knew from the start that this would be a risk. 1. I'm not the biggest fan of blue cheeses and this calls for gorg, 2. Acorn squash isn't at its peak right now, and 3. Did I mention acorn squash is not at its peak?

So I go to Whole Foods. Whole Foods on a Sunday is what I call amateur day. Tourists and gourment food novices crowd around the Indian food bar looking perplexed and people can't seem to grasp that, yes, the check out line goes all the way back to sushi.

Anyway, I buy my squash, some crumbled gorg, whole milk mozzarella, arugula and pizza dough. I go home and do exactly as the recipe calls for and here are my conclusions:

1. Melted gorg and mozzarella on pizza dough is one of the more perfect things I've put in my mouth.
2. Roasted not-in-season acorn squash is stringy, flavorless and disappointing
3. Melted gorg and mozzarella on pizza dough topped with arugula is a pefectly good meal in itself
4. I've got to chill on the 'ole bread and cheese

Southwestern Succotash

I know its been a while! Sorry to the three or four people who read this. I get lazy about writing but I know its a really good thing for me to do, so I'll be better about the 'ole blogging.

Also, I haven't really been home the last few weeks. I haven't cooked much lately for a number of reasons: my brother was in town (we went to Corner Bistro), have gone to some birthday parties, went to a really snazzy restaurant called Dallas BBQ, and ate at the very notorious Wo Hop with Christian on Sunday...for lunch. Xu, I know I know,  its supposedly better when its 4:00am and you've just had lots of Rioja, but I actually liked it.

Oh! and last night I went to Katz's Deli for the first time in the 11 years I have lived in the city. It was great. Meaty. Real meaty. I also lost the "ticket" they give you when you walk in. Apparently you have to pay $50 when you lose your ticket but we didn't have to. Can someone please explain the relevance of this ticket? It makes absolutely no sense to me.  

But tonight I bought groceries and cooked! I made a dish that my mom used to make all the time when I was little and that my sister has recently resurrected. I decided to make this Southwestern Succotash because its cheap, filling, and tasty. I've changed it up a little from my mom's recipe and from Sarah's recipe. Sarah uses too much garlic powder and doesn't like spicy. I can't comprehend not liking spicy. Spicy takes food to a whole new painful and exhilarating level.  But what I like best about Sarah's version is that she garnishes it with diced avocado and tomato and douses it with even more lime juice. The Martinez girls like their citrus. Just look at our enamel!

MARSHA'S SOUTHWESTERN SUCCOTASH

(adapted from Mama Martinez's recipe)

1 lb lean ground beef

1/2 yellow onion diced

1 zucchini diced

1 can sweet corn, drained

2 serrano chiles diced

the juice of half a lime

salt and pepper 

2tbsp olive oil

garnish:

half an avocado, diced

half a tomato, diced

In a medium skillet cook the ground beef just until all the pink is gone. Drain the excess oil and set aside. In a large sauce pan heat olive oil over medium heat and add the onions and serrano chiles.  Cook for about a minute or so or until the onions begin to get tender. Add the zucchini and cover pot with a lid and let cook for about 2 minutes or until zucchini is just tender. Add corn and cooked ground beef and cook until corn is hot.  Add salt and pepper to your liking and douse it all with the lime juice.

I'm not adding a picture of this dish because it is way better to eat than to look at. :) 

Giada's SO pretty....pretty freakin' awesome!

The meal that I made tonight is one that I've made too many times to count. Whenever I'm in the need of a meal that is clean, satisfying, and really really good, I make Giada's Halibut in Artichoke and Tomato Broth. It never fails. Ever. I could probably eat this 3 times a week, its that good. The funny thing about this recipe though, is that I think I've only made it with halibut just once. You see, Whole Foods in Columbus Circle never seems to carry halibut. And when they do, its usually $19.99 a pound. $19.99 is half of my grocery budget for the week. In any case, I usually buy whatever white fish is available. I've made this with cod about a zillion times and though I like the flavor of cod, its really really crumbly and doesn't hold well. The reason Giada suggests Halibut is because its firm and cooks really nicely. The cod looked...sketchy last week so I opted for some really good looking tilapia. The tilapia held up nicely and tasted great with the broth but its just not hearty enough. Another thing Giada suggests is to grill the fish on a grill pan. I've used my Foreman-esque all purpose grilling machine to do this and I hate the way it comes out. It always sticks to the damn grill and cleaning is a nightmare. So I usually just pan fry it and I think this method makes the dish so much better because you get nice crispy bits. So, for the three people that are reading this blog, I suggest you make this. Tonight. Seriously, its fantastic and easy and you'll find yourself making it over and over again. Thanks, Giada. Your ever-present smile and pale pink manicure aren't the only things that get me to watch your show.

HALIBUT IN ARTICHOKE AND TOMATO BROTH
(Giada De Laurentiis, Food Network)

1 tablespoon olive oil, plus 3 tablespoons
2 halibut filets (or tilapia or cod, whatever white fish floats your boat)
1/4 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning fish
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus moe for seasoning fish
2 shallots, sliced into thin rounds
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound frozen artichokes, thawed ( I used 1 can of artichoke hearts - I can never find frozen ones)
1/2 cup white wine
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves

Drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil over the halibut and season with salt and pepper. Heat a grill pan over high heat. Cook the fish on the grill pan until just cooked through, about 4 minutes per side, depending on thickness.

In a medium sausepan, heat the 3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and cook for 1 minutes. Add the garlic and aritchokes and cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the white wine and stir, scraping the brown bits off the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Add the chicken broth, tomatoes and juice, thyme, and 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer.

Ladle the artichoke tomato broth into shallow bowls. Top with the grilled halibut. Serve immediately.

I was starving tonight so I totally forgot to take a picture of the finished product, but here's a picture of me wishing I had more:

Giada

All my favorite things...in a pan!

It has been a pretty lousy week so far. Work has been nightmarish and I'm finding myself less and less resilient to certain aspects of my job. I'm finding that a lot of this stress is manifesting itself in really strange ways, such as weird jaw pain. All day today my jaws have been tight and I've had a headache and I left work early because I just couldn't deal with the stress there anymore. However, when I got home tonight and started to make dinner, all the stress just sorta melted away. I was even humming a little bit and struttin' around the kitchen thinking I know a thing or two about cooking. Point is, cooking is relaxing and wonderful and cooking all my favorite things together in one dish is bliss.

I've made this Tuna with Black Pepper, Artichokes, and Lemon before, a few years ago, and remembered it being a little bland. I decided to give it another go tonight and it came out positively scrumptious. The recipe suggests serving it over rice but I'm trying to cut out some starches and carbs so I just ate it on its own and it was perfect. I also added lemon juice as opposed to just lemon slices as it calls for and I think the juice really made the dish. But as most people who know me know, I can never have enough lemon.

TUNA WITH BLACK PEPPER, ARTICHOKES, AND LEMON
(Real Simple Magazine)

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced (I used a yellow onion instead and actually liked it better than the red)
3 6.5 ounce jars artichoke hearts, drained and halved (I used about a half a can of artichoke hearts and it was just perfect)
1 lemon, cut into 8 slices (and my addition: the juice of one half of a lemon)
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
4 sprigs fresh thyme (optional)
1 1/2 pounds fresh tuna, cut into cubes (I used 1 yellowfin tuna filet)
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher sald
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups rice (didn't use)

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the artichokes, lemon, garlic, and thyme (if using). Cook until heated through, 3 more minutes. Transfer to a plate. Season the tuna with the salt and pepper. Heat the remaining oil in the skillet. Cook the tuna, turning to brown all sides, to the desired doneness, about 2 minutes for medium(I know most of my restaurant friends will slap me for saying this, but I actually like tuna to be cooked through. Don't hate me, Xu!). Return the artichoke mixture to skillet and toss to combine. Serve over the rice.

Chicken, cheese, and carrots

I was going to make this really yummy looking recipe from Bon Appetit but when I went to Whole Foods I 1. couldn't find sun dried tomatoes packed in olive oil 2. forgot to buy basil, and 3. bought the wrong kind of chicken. My usual OCD self would have panicked, gone out again to procure all the necessary ingredients and made the chicken exactly as it was called for in the recipe (a year ago, I might have even sun dried the tomatoes myself), BUT, this new carefree less OCD Marsha decided to adapt the recipe and make it her own. I didn't even look at the recipe once I got home from the store. Instead, I mixed some stuff together - I even felt like Nadine as I was quickly chopping artichoke hearts and throwing salt on some carrots. The chicken turned out, well, really good. I'm always surprised when things I come up with taste good or don't poison me. Oh and the carrots! The following carrot recipe is courtesy of Jamie Oliver and I didn't change it or add anything at all. If Jamie says to use a glug* of olive oil then I use a glug of olive oil. They were perfect and sweet and salty and garlicky and thymey and mmmmmm...


THE BEST WHOLE-BAKE CARROTS (Jamie Oliver, Cook With Jamie)

1 lb young bunched carrots, washed and scrubbed
olive oil
herb or red wine vinegar (I used red wine)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
a few sprigs of fresh thyme
3 cloves of garlic, crushed

Preheat your oven to 400. Toss your carrots with a good glug of olive oil, a splash of vinegar, salt and pepper, the thyme sprigs and the garlic cloves. Place in a roasting pan, cover tightly with foil and cook for 30 t 40 minutes until just tender. Remove the foil and cook for a further 10 minutes until the carrots have browned and carmelized nicely.

and

CHICKEN WITH ARTICHOKE HEARTS AND FONTINA CHEESE

2 chicken breast cutlets, pounded thin (the other one is for my lunch tomorrow!)
a handful of shredded fontina cheese
3-5 chopped artichoke hearts, drained from a can
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix artichoke hearts and shredded fontina cheese in a bowl and add a splash of olive oil to coat. Salt and pepper the chicken cutlets after they have been pounded thin and spoon the cheese/artichoke mixture onto them. Carefully roll the chicken into a nice little bundle and secure with a toothpick or skewer. Heat oil in heavy large ovenproof skillet over high heat. Add chicken and cook for about two minutes on each side. Transfer skillet to oven and bake until cooked through, about 10 minutes.


*Not exactly sure what a glug is. Xua, Nadine and I might have to take another field trip to Tea and Sympathy to find out.

Doing It

I was recently on the phone with my oldest sister Sarah lamenting about all the things I usually lament about, to the only person in this world who will simultaneously pat my head and kick my ass when she interrupted me and said, "I'm sorry, but its your diet. You eat like crap. You do, I know you do. If you ate better, you'd feel better". After much more whining and a little yelling I agreed and said I would do better and start eating "clean", as she puts it.

This phone conversation happened to fall upon the same day that I found two really glorious food blogs, and while I know that it may be ironic that I was drooling over a picture of a loaf cake right after I finished talking to Sarah about whole grains and greens, a little light bulb went off in my crazy little head.

The next day I was talking to my friend Leigh about food blogs and I thought to myself, "hmm, maybe I should just start one" and she agreed. And after a little more encouragement from my friend Nadine, " Yeah! It'll combine stuff you like -like food and photography- with stuff you don't like, like writing and focusing on new projects", here I am. Writing a blog. A food blog. The mission is:

1. To cook and eat really healthy delicious foods
2. Make perfectly sized portions for a girl who only needs to cook for herself. I hate wasting food. Also, I really really hate leftovers

This doesn't mean that this blog is going to be recipe after recipe of boring vegetable dishes. While there will be lots of vegetable, protein, and whole grain recipes, I plan on having a "Free Day". This means that one day a week (probably Saturday or Sunday) I will make and consume whatever I want. It could be a lovely pizza with cured meats ( God knows I love my cured meats) or a double chocolate peanut butter fudge cake with chocolate chips. I plan to post pictures of all my meals as well as recipes. I hope you stay tuned and keep me on track. I need to make my big sister proud and I need to stop whining.

Tomorrow: Chicken Breasts stuffed with fontina, artichokes, and sun-dried tomatoes (from Bon Appetit)