Easy, easy, easy quesadillas. Belatedly Posted.

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.

A Gorgeous Day Calls for...

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.

Koulourakias or a cookie from my past.

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.)

Insanely Delicious Brownies

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.

Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna - DB March

I, for one, was very exited to make this month Daring Bakers challenge. Not only do I have far too much time on my hands (curse you, unemployment!) and not only was I thrilled to have a new pasta dish to make everyone eat, but there was the enjoyable fact that I've kind of always wanted to make my own pasta. My camera, on the other hand, apparently was a little over-excited because when I turned her on, she whirred to life and then flickered out.

Broken? No, not really. Just refusing to work. I wasn't even concerned because I knew it would be back in order before all the lasagne was eaten.

Oh, what a fool I was. I'm glad I took a couple of cell phone pictures because, seriously, this did not stick around very long. And on that note, I would like to apologize for the fact that my pictures of this are so very, very bad.

It isn't a very good camera phone. But it is a very good recipe!

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

This a delicious, amazing meal of multiple steps. I did a large chunk of it at about four or five in the morning, but I wouldn't suggest that. Unless you, like me, are having some insomnia issues and figure that hand-rolling some pasta out is the ultimate cure.
Step One: Make The Spinach Pasta

2 jumbo eggs
10 ounces fresh spinach, rinsed dry, and finely chopped
3&1/2 cups all purpose flour

"Mound the flour in the center of your work surface and make a well in the middle. Add the eggs and spinach. Use a wooden spoon to beat together the eggs and spinach. Then gradually start incorporating shallow scrapings of flour from the sides of the well into the liquid. As you work more and more flour into the liquid, the well’s sides may collapse. Use a pastry scraper to keep the liquids from running off and to incorporate the last bits of flour into the dough. Don’t worry if it looks like a hopelessly rough and messy lump."

My pasta? Did not want to behave. I presume it was because my eggs were simply large, so I chucked in an extra one. And you know what? This really did help.

"With the aid of the scraper to scoop up unruly pieces, start kneading the dough. Once it becomes a cohesive mass, use the scraper to remove any bits of hard flour on the work surface – these will make the dough lumpy. Knead the dough for about 3 minutes. Its consistency should be elastic and a little sticky. If it is too sticky to move easily, knead in a few more tablespoons of flour. Continue kneading about 10 minutes, or until the dough has become satiny, smooth, and very elastic. It will feel alive under your hands. Do not shortcut this step. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and let it relax at room temperature 30 minutes to 3 hours."

At first, I thought this would not work. At first, I thought I had done something wrong. At second, I cursed that extra egg. And finally, I held the green dough in my hands and said "oh! alive! I get it!" and giggled happily, wrapped my dough in foil, and watched a movie.

"If using an extra-long rolling pin work with half the dough at a time. With a regular-length rolling pin, roll out a quarter of the dough at a time and keep the rest of the dough wrapped. Lightly sprinkle a large work surface with flour. The idea is to stretch the dough rather than press down and push it. Shape it into a ball and begin rolling out to form a circle, frequently turning the disc of dough a quarter turn. As it thins outs, start rolling the disc back on the pin a quarter of the way toward the center and stretching it gently sideways by running the palms of your hands over the rolled-up dough from the center of the pin outward. Unroll, turn the disc a quarter turn, and repeat. Do twice more.

Stretch and even out the center of the disc by rolling the dough a quarter of the way back on the pin. Then gently push the rolling pin away from you with one hand while holding the sheet in place on the work surface with the other hand. Repeat three more times, turning the dough a quarter turn each time.

Repeat the two processes as the disc becomes larger and thinner. The goal is a sheet of even thickness. For lasagne, the sheet should be so thin that you can clearly see your hand through it and see colours. Cut into rectangles about 4 by 8 inches (10 x 20 cm). Note: Enza says that transparency is a crucial element of lasagne pasta and the dough should be rolled as thinly as possible. She says this is why her housekeeper has such strong arms!

Dry the pasta at room temperature and store in a sealed container or bag."

All I can say is I have no doubt, at all, that Enza's housekeeper has probably the best guns at the gun show because oh my goodness, this was intense. I don't own a rolling pin, but I do have wine bottles! So I used one of those. I sprinkled some flour on the counter and set to work using little bits at a time. Limited space and all.

I was actually really pleased with how this worked out, but was terribly concerned that I didn't have my pasta thin enough. I had a drying rack set up that that held all my pasta. It looked like real, honest to goodness pasta. And on some level, I thought this might be victory enough.

Thankfully, it also tasted like awesomeness in my mouth. So. I didn't have to settle.

Step Two: Make White Sauce

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 tablespoons all purpose unbleached flour
2 2/3 cups milk
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Freshly grated nutmeg to taste*

Using a medium-sized saucepan, melt the butter over low to medium heat. Sift over the flour, whisk until smooth, and then stir (without stopping) for about 3 minutes. Whisk in the milk a little at a time and keep the mixture smooth. Bring to a slow simmer, and stir 3 to 4 minutes, or until the sauce thickens. Cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Season with salt, pepper, and a hint of nutmeg.

* I didn't have nutmeg, but I did have this cinnamon/nutmeg/christmassy spice that I used instead. I also added a dash of dill. I like dill. And I like this sauce. And I like that this is the first time I didn't freak out over the roux and do it the "mix butter and flour together by itself and then sprinkle in towards the end" thing that I like to do. I like doing it that way, but doing it this way was exciting.

Step Three: Making the ragu.

I opted to use my own pasta sauce recipe, that is based off of (what else?) a Jamie Oliver recipe. Oh, be still my beating heart.

olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
1 can of whole tomatoes
1 can of diced tomatoes with basil and onions
courgettes, sliced and chopped
salt, pepper
balsamic

First I cooked some onion and garlic in the oil, then chucked in everything else. I let this simmer for about a half hour, drizzled a litle balsamic in, and later added:

chicken, mushrooms, a little more garlic - all cooked and delightfully seasoned

and allowed to reduce. Holy mother of pasta, this was amazing.

You can find the actual Jamie recipe here.
Step Four: Making the actual lasagne.

Cooking the Pasta:
"Bring the salted water to a boil. Drop about four pieces of pasta in the water at a time. Cook about 2 minutes. If you are using dried pasta, cook about 4 minutes, taste, and cook longer if necessary. The pasta will continue cooking during baking, so make sure it is only barely tender. Lift the lasagne from the water with a skimmer, drain, and then slip into the bowl of cold water to stop cooking. When cool, lift out and dry on the paper towels. Repeat until all the pasta is cooked.

Assembling the Lasagne:
Spread a thin layer of béchamel over the bottom of the baking dish. Arrange a layer of about four overlapping sheets of pasta over the béchamel. Spread a thin layer of béchamel (about 3 or 4 spoonfuls) over the pasta, and then an equally thin layer of the ragu. Sprinkle with about 1&1/2 tablespoons of the béchamel and about 1/3 cup of the cheese. Repeat the layers until all ingredients are used, finishing with béchamel sauce and topping with a generous dusting of cheese.

Baking and Serving the Lasagne:
Cover the baking dish lightly with foil, taking care not to let it touch the top of the lasagne. Bake 40 minutes, or until almost heated through. Remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes, or until hot in the center (test by inserting a knife – if it comes out very warm, the dish is ready). Take care not to brown the cheese topping. It should be melted, creamy looking and barely tinged with a little gold. Turn off the oven, leave the door ajar and let the lasagne rest for about 10 minutes. Then serve. This is not a solid lasagne, but a moist one that slips a bit when it is cut and served."

This was sort of amazing.
I was concerned about my pasta being too thick, so I was very careful about the noodles and exactly which ones I used. As it turned out, it worked out wonderfully.

Also, I am now a hero to my people. (hero to my stomach?)

Also, I feel like I wrote this whole entry in a very odd way. I apologize. I am sick. I have some meds in my system and sort of feel like cotton. It really is entirely my bad. Still, I didn't want to be late.

Bacon Chocolate Cookies: Take One.

Oh, bacon. Is there anything you can't do?

I never tried the Vosges bacon bar or, really, any sweet taste with a crispy bacon undertone. It wasn't even that I missed the boat, I just never got around to meandering by the lake. I'm pretty sure if somehow bacon and sesame chips came into existence together, I would have shoved someone out of the way to get it in my hands like one of those desperate girls who will take your eye out if you get between her and the wedding boquet. But they didn't, so I didn't, and I went on just eating bacon in things like...a plate of bacon, a turkey burger, or an Elvis sandwhich.

This brings me to the point where I promise to make and document an Elvis sandwhich for your viewing pleasure soon. Ish. My camera is out of battery power and, well, I can't find my batteries and refuse to spend money on some when I *know* that I have them. Oh, it's so frustrating. Money! Unemployment! No time for batteries!

This is not the point and I apologize for getting so far off track. I promise, I will do it again. It's in my nature.

I decided today that I wanted to check out this new trend that isn't actually new anymore, as far as I can tell. Frying up my bacon, it was sort of a "one for the cookie dough, one for me..." game planned in advance. A good thing, seeing as how I ended up eating a good bit of the bacon when I was hacking it all up for the cookie. I was using a recipe from The Culinary Sherpas and I halved it, but did add some extra vanilla. (see link for the recipe)

I am not my poor, allergic friend. I love vanilla. I also love cinnamon! Just so you know, in case you ever want to get me something delicious.

At any rate, it went well. Which is good! Because I have a confession.

...when I make cookies? I usually somehow misstep and they, well, they melt.I get a mass of tasty cookie mess, not a bunch of cookies. My gingerbread men? Gingerbread puddle. People like it fine enough, but I don't usually make cookies. I'm hard on myself. Oldest Child Syndrome, maybe?

If I wanted to show you a picture, though, I would google search terms like "no, there are no nuts in here, how strange" and "people looking skeptical and then vowing to give me their first born".

I've also stashed some of the dough in a container (cleverly labeled YOGURT bwa ha ha!) in order to see if it is true. Does cookie dough that hangs out in my fridge taste better after some wait time?

The Great Bacon Cookie Experiment will continue. There may be pictures.

Even if they are just pictures of me and my friends, laughing, from older times.

PS: I suggest enjoying this decidedly not vegan snack with a glass of milk. I'm just saying. I'm out of milk, but imagine it would be awesome.

Being broke doesn't mean you don't eat.

Club Kitchen was well underway yesterday when I realized that I was going to need dinner, not just cupcakes. I'm not sure why I thought I would need something else, but I did and oh man, was it ever as delicious as I'd hoped it would be.

Since being unemployed, I've been finding ways to try and make every penny count. Now, I've always tried to live cheaply, but these days it isn't as easy as it used to be. Or maybe it is, but I'm just more stressed out about it. That tends to get in the way. Then I caught a lucky break.

Lentils. A delicious bean that was only a dollar per bag at the grocery store. A dollar! I swear, I was filled with a great joy when I saw the orange price tag. I can't even remember the last time I cooked lentils, but they were cheaper than the pinto beans I had originally gone to buy. So, I'm standing there in the grocery store and I realize - lentils! I have a carrot at home! I have some chicken! Mushrooms!

LENTIL SOUP! For under five dollars! (or maybe just over? the lady didn't charge me for the onions.)

- chopped onion
- sliced mushrooms
- thinly sliced carrot
- minced garlic cloves
- one and half chicken breasts, cut into bits
- chicken broth (rather, i chucked a bullion cube into the water)
- lentils, not quite a cup
- seasonings of my delicious choice
- drizzle of vanilla

I cooked the lentils according to the packet instructions, using the chicken broth instead of plain water. Towards the end of the beans cooking, I sauteed the onion and garlic with a little butter and oil - then cooked the chicken bits, then added the veg. Seasoned with salt, some dill, a quick dash of cayenne, and the barest hint of honey.

I added the veg/chicken to the lentils and let everything rest while I made very quick drop biscuits.

Super delicious. Super affordable. Super happy supper.

And since yesterday was a blustery, rainy, awfully grey Chicago day? It was exactly what was needed.