Do you, my sweet friends, know what this is?
Yes. A delicious spinach pasta from the Asian Market (tm) that I go to (Thai Nam) up in the North Korean Area Of Chicago. And there is some chicken in it. Onion, garlic, perhaps - probably it's been a while - even some mushrooms. And that glorious thing on top? Is a fried egg. One where the yolk is still a bit runny.
AND I PUT THAT SHIT ON TOP.
The problem was, the flavor was not exactly awesome and I couldn't figure out where my misstep was. So I fried an egg and threw i on and lo and behold, a glorious mouth of food happened. What followed was my roommate and I putting eggs on everything to see how it went for a while.
We have no regrets.
OH MAN.
Okay, so, it has been an age since I've been here but I've managed to be insanely busy and largely computerless (and, for a time, gasless...oh god, those were dark times).
But I'm back! I am making a concrete plan to stay on top of things. Since I, you know, haven't. I haven't even had time to cook lately - with the exception of this caramel croissant pudding, a Nigella recipe that I altered ridiculously and was inhaled by my friends before it even could be photographed, and even that was about three weeks ago.
I'm actually exhausted even as I write this, but I assure you. I will return and shortly and with food.
I've made pot stickers before, but was really excited to see that the Daring Cooks challenge was -drumroll- pot stickers! This month's challenge was hosted by Jen from use real butter had pretty flexible requirements - really, the main thing was to make your own dough to form the wrappers. In all the time that I've made potstickers, I've never done this - I would buy wrappers at the grocery store and just have at. It's the same way I make ravioli, generally, as well.
I'm sort of all about the filling.This time, however, I settled myself into the idea and prepared to curse and then be delighted. I gathered up a soda bottle (switched, quickly, for a whiskey one) to use as a rolling pin and hopped to.
Given Recipe: (double this for the amount of filling, but easier to make it in 2 batches - or just halve the filling recipe)-
2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour- 1/2 cup (113g) warm water
- flour for work surface
Make the dough: In a large bowl mix flour with 1/4 cup of water and stir until water is absorbed. Continue adding water one teaspoon at a time and mixing thoroughly until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. We want a firm dough that is barely sticky to the touch.
And then: Knead the dough about twenty strokes then cover with a damp towel for 15 minutes. Take the dough and form a flattened dome. Cut into strips about 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide. Shape the strips into rounded long cylinders. On a floured surface, cut the strips into 3/4 inch pieces. Press palm down on each piece to form a flat circle (you can shape the corners in with your fingers). With a rolling pin, roll out a circular wrapper from each flat disc. Take care not to roll out too thin or the dumplings will break during cooking - about 1/16th inch. Leave the centers slightly thicker than the edges. Place a tablespoon of filling in the center of each wrapper and fold the dough in half, pleating the edges along one side. 
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Now. I had a pretty good time with the dough. I rolled it out in very small batches and then made a turkey filling.
- ground turkey
- brown sugar (a few spoons)
- diced onion
- diced garlic (a few cloves)
- sesame oil- honey (a drizzle or two, really)- soy sauce
- grated ginger
- cayenne pepper- sweet basil seeds
I cooked the garlic, onion, ginger, and basil seeds in a little butter, then added the ground turkey. A little salt, a little pepper, a drizzle of honey and the sesame oil and soy sauce (to taste). Cook through, add cayenne (if using) and taste. I love sesame oil, so I generally add more and have found that I usually end up with a little more sweetness than spice. It's delicious!
I spooned the filling into my wrappers, closed them up, and - despite a deep deep love of steaming these babies - tossed them in with a little butter and pan fried them.
My dipping sauce is honey, sesame oil, and soy sauce - given circumstances, I would add sweet rice wine to mix in, but I was out. At any rate. It was delicious. I'm planning on trying it again soon with a different type of filling (one that will have actual measurements, etc, sorry guys!) but I was pretty pleased with myself.
Yes, it was Cinco de Mayo and yes, that was sort of why I did it, but honestly? I love quesadillas. It's practically the only thing I order at any Mexican resturant, it's why I sometimes go to Qdoba, it's just delicious. Crisp tortilla, melty cheese, delicious fillings...oh, man, I want one right now just thinking about it. To be sure, part of the reason I order it so much is the ease of dealing with my allergies and the fact that so many different things can go in it. I recently had one that had shrimp, mushrooms, and green peppers. MELT.
So, bored and thrilled with how beautiful the day was and appreciative of the fact that a busy few days was about to kick off, I wandered off and gathered up some ingredients and then, somewhere around ten at night, got to cooking. No sooner did a tasty 'dilla come of the pan was it eaten, happily, with the guacomole I made (with help, sort of, as I got one of my roommates to smash up the avocado and mix in the tomato and onion, so I will give some props) and some sour cream. No photos! I will later post photos of hanging out and eating cake or something - so you can get the idea of fun, happy, delicious times.
The fun part of picking flour tortillas is a) there are less options, so I have to obsess over the ingredients less and b) the store sometimes has locally made ones so I can hunt for them! I'm so partial to Chicago produced things.
Clearly, you can do whatever you want to a quesadilla. I recommend getting the actual delicious quesadilla cheese, but I was pressed for time and ended up just getting the packet of cheese at Jewel that said "Mexican Cheese! Four-cheese-style!" (as opposed to the various other kinds. at least I tried.). More on cheese I like to get at the tienda later though. Another post later, not later on here. Sorry! Hopes dashed!
My cleverly prepared counter contained...
- tomato, chopped
- onion, diced
- garlic, minced
- orange bell pepper, sliced and then chopped
- chicken, cut into smallish pieces
- mushrooms, chopped
- butter, knob of
- oil
- dill, salt, pepper
- flour tortillas
- avocado, turned guacamole by being mashed with some more chopped tomato and some diced onion. then one or two dashes of salt.
- sour cream
- the aforementioned cheese
Now. Ordinarily, I would cook up the meat and veg and everything and then set about making the food. However. I have picky roommates. One is a vegetarian (which is cool) and one doesn't eat mushrooms (or courgettes, actually) and so since I like all these things (and so does the third roommate), I just opted to cook everything seperately and put them in their own dishes. So in the end, it was sort of a quesadilla bar.
At any rate, some garlic and onion and chicken go in with some oil and a bit of butter, seasoned happily and when pretty much still deliciously tender put in dish. Salt, pepper, dill. I then cooked up the yellow peppers with a little onion and garlic and pepper, salt. Follow with mushrooms! More butter, more pepper and salt, the last bit of the onion and garlic. (I just divided what I would want in the whole thing, so as to not have overpowering things. not that there is "too much" garlic)
Now, in a now-clean pan, I drop a tortilla and sprinkle cheese. Then I sprinkle some more cheese! Add whichever fillings that particular person wants, put in more cheese. This is a quesadilla, people! Cheese is key! And after topping it with another tortilla (my flour tortillas are smallish) and pressing for a second to help it stick, carefully flip it over. Continue waiting and flipping until satisfied with melty-state and crispy-state.
Serve with sour cream and guac, rejoice in deliciousness. Accept praise and presents, as surely one must follow the other?
I really, really, really love quesadillas.
Potato Salad!
At least, it doesn't hurt to have potato salad involved in nice days and Saturday was, in fact, a cook-out-style nice day. That said, we here in the halfway house of ill-repute did not have a cookout. We stayed in and ate pasta and potato salad and maybe they don't match up, but they were still delicious. And we were still happy.
This potato salad has been requested numerous times by people and these people? Are very specific in their memory of it. I learned it from one of my very close friends and while I do it a little different (I think. sometimes, anyway.), it's still a huge hit. I've watched this stuff be inhaled at a pig roast, vanish in a backyard soiree, and not linger on in an apartment. Oddly, I don't make it very much until the warm weather starts to hit and people remember this potato salad.
I'd like to learn other picnic/cook-out side dishes and stuff, but until I do - this is a stand-by that I, myself, happily eat myself to fat on.
Now, I have trouble giving exact amounts here or even real guidelines. This is all done to taste. I learned by being told "chop that up and throw that in" and that was that - we were both cooks, we could sort of get away with this. Well, guess what? You can get away with this too.
Ingredients
- red potatoes (or baking potatoes or yellow potatoes, I've used all of them.) This last time, I used five red potatoes of varying sizes. But none were quite small.
- apple cider vinegar
- fresh dill, chopped
- celery, about four or five stalks chopped up fine
- red onion - medium sized, diced- mustard (dijon, though I used regular on Saturday as I completely forgot and, honestly, I think you can play with this)
- mayo
- a lemon, juiced. (I squeeze mine directly in. Watch for seeds!)
*I recall using a lime once. It was delicious! I like limes, though, so I am partial.
- salt, pepper.
- cut your potatoes into the sized chunks that you want to be eating. I like smallish ones largely, with a few outliers. boil these in some water until tender and, you know, you can eat them.
- drain the potatoes and let them cool. add in the onion and the celery.
- once they are cool, mix in the mayo and mustard. I like to do a few spoons of mayo first with a small spiral of mustard. You can decide from there how much mayo you want and mustard taste and all. Add the lemon, though check after half of the juice to see if you want more. Add a small amount of apple cider vinegar - a tablespoon or two. Mix mix mix, stir stir stir. Add the dill and salt and pepper, all to taste.
Honestly, you can add other things or take things out as you prefer, but this is what I do and people love it. It's got a light zing from the lemon juice and the whole taste sensation is fantastic. Very comforting and fresh - really nice for those days on a picnic. Or sitting around with your friends. Or even as lunch in a break room, wishing you were off work.
And a big Kitchenry thank you goes to Kelly, who taught me this over shots of tequila that summer we rocked it at the Bakery. Also, I think this is relatively cheap - the dill might be the only pricey thing, depending on what you do or do not have in your kitchen already.
Woosh, it has been insanely busy around my life lately. Getting a spare moment to myself has been nigh impossible - I traveled out of town, to Ohio, for a wedding and visited people, I moved, I wallowed in despair, I got a job, and I even worked a few days of it! But in the midst of all this, I still had time to make koulourakias - Greek butter cookies - for Pascha (Eastern Orthodox Easter).
I was raised Greek Orthodox (and Russian Orthodox, later) despite the fact that my family is neither Greek nor Russian. Depending on which church we went to, Christmas was either on, you know, Christmas or it was on Jan 7. But the one thing that both churches shared was the fact that Easter is (almost) always one week or one month after the Western Easter. This year, it was a week later.
Anyway. My godmother was from Greece - we met her when my family joined the church, I was young - somewhere around fourth grade - and while my brother had found a god-family relatively quickly, they didn't want a girl and so I was adrift. Georgia offered to be my godmother and lo! I had a godmother and a yiayia (her mother, who spoke absolutely no English at all and would pat my hand and say something to me and I would smile and say "yes, yiayia" but I have no idea what she said...). At any rate, Georgia would make koulouriakias for me each Pascha. I loved them.
I'm not religious, I haven't been for a long time, but each Pascha I get a little nostalgic. Georgia died when I was in high school, she had cancer. I'd never made these cookies and she didn't teach me how, but I am telling you that these taseted exactly how I remembered.
Koulourakia!
- one stick butter, softened
- half cup of sugar
- two eggs, beaten until light
- grated orange peel (original recipe suggested a teaspoon, but I did a little more)
- half tablespoon baking powder
- two cups flour
- combine flour and baking powder
- in a seperate bowl, cream the butter and sugar, then slowly add the beaten eggs and the orange zest. Add the flour/baking powder mixture slowly. You will get a soft dough.
- shape the cookies by taking sections and rolling them first into a ball (walnut sized) and then out into ropes that you can braid together or twist into a circle or spiral or, you know, really anything.
- I put mine on foil on a cookie sheet, then brushed the tops with some beaten egg and baked at 375 degrees for around twenty minutes - until the cookies were golden!
I did a few batches at different cook times, but was pleased with all of them. Twenty minutes gets a bit harder cookie, but you can play until you figure out what you like. This makes a fair few cookies.
And oh, how I loved them. Everyone loved them! I hope you love them too.
(yes, there are many different variations on this cookie - some have vanilla, some have sesame seeds, and I love sesame seeds! I've had them with sesame and I think they are delish. But this is how Georgia must have made them, cause this is how they tasted.)
Okay, my camera is still awful and it's mostly my fault since I've done little to try and fix it. For shame, for shame!
Still. This hasn't stopped me from cooking and won't stop me from posting. I made lazy lazy fish sticks dinner the other night, which was basically sponsored by frozen food (but also included some homemade mac-and-cheese) and to top off the cuteness of the whole meal, I had these out of this world brownies that I had made that morning. You know those mornings where you wake up and realize that you've been wanting to try your hand at something for ages and get right to it?
Yes, you do. Easily done when you are unemployed (still! still!!) but the idea here is the same for anyone.
I had this experience. I had been gazing at a brownie recipe for ages in my much-beloved Jamie Oliver cookbook. I'd even gone so far as to pick up walnuts and dried dark sweet cherries for it, but it had been long enough that I never really thought about it and pretty much had eaten half of the dried cherries just as delicious snacking treats. So healthy! You wouldn't know it from this recipe, but I do put in a good effort in being healthy.
At any rate, rather than post a poorly done picture of my brownies, I didn't. You've seen brownies. You know how it goes.
Jamie Oliver's Fifteen Chocolate Brownies
- one cup plus two tablespoons unsalted butter
- seven oz dark chocolate, broken up (mine was part of a large bar of a semi-sweet chocolate)
- 2 1/2 oz dried sour cherries (optional) (I used dried dark sweet cherries)
- 1 1/3 oz chopped nuts (optional)
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder (mine was a dark cocoa)
- 1/2 cup flour
- one teaspoon baking powder
- 1 3/4 cup sugar
- four large eggs
NOTE: In addition to the changes I mentioned, the original recipe suggests some great things such as superfine sugar and organic eggs. That sort of thing. I do not have these things, but i'm sure they would make things all the better. He also suggests orange zest mixed into a bit of creme fraiche for serving, which I also didn't do. Although I did involve some vanilla ice cream.
At any rate, pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. I buttered my baking pan a little, but the original recipe suggests lining it with wax paper. Melt the butter and chocolate together in a bowl over simmering water. You know the kind, the rigged up pot/pan double boiler way. Or if you are fancy, have at the double boiler. When they are melted, mix until smooth and then add the cherries and nuts if you are using them. Mix together.
In a seperate bowl, mix the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, and sugar. Mix this together with the chocolate mixture, stirring together well, and then mix in beaten eggs until you have a silky consistency. You should eat some, just so can enjoy the deliciousness.
Pour the batter into the pan, then bake for about twenty-five minutes. Be careful not to overcook them - they should still be a little gooey in the middle although the brownies will be a little springy.
Now, I pulled out my brownies pretty much at the twenty-fine minute mark and they were maybe slightly too undercooked. This, however, did not stop me from eating them. The more-towards-the-middle brownies had a very gooey center. If this is your style, then have at because oh man was it awesome, but if you like them more cooked then I say go for it.
Seriously, these things were bangerang. (you know, bangerang! like in Hook!) Everyone pretty much ate the shit out of them. You know. Scarf, die of delight, scarf.
Do you, my sweet friends, know what this is?
