Tomato Toast with Chives and Sesame Seeds

Tomato Toast with Chives and Sesame Seeds
Bon Appetit Magazine, Aug 2018, p. 92
5 stars

Need a simple side accompaniment when you don't have much in the fridge?  This was a nice side to our steak and was our lunch when we added bacon and lettuce on top (BLT!).  The garlic mayo and Aleppo pepper add nice oomph and a little bit of complexity to this easy and trendy toast.

Ingredients:  country-style bread (toasted), tomatoes, chives, sesame seeds, Aleppo-style pepper, extra-virgin olive oil, garlic, mayo, lemon, Kosher salt, flaky sea salt, black pepper

Spicy Egg Noodles with Vegetables

Spicy Egg Noodles with Vegetables
Asian Flavors of Jean-Georges Cookbook (sorry, no link to this one)
4.5 stars

Great Asian dish when you're trying to eat healthy!  Loved it!

Vegetable Sauce Ingredients:  garlic, lemongrass, green Thai chile, soy sauce, salt, cornstarch, a neutral oil

Main Spicy Egg Noodles Ingredients:  egg noodles, broccoli stems, asparagus, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, orange bell pepper, carrots, Guilin chili sauce, hoisin, sesame seeds, neutral oil, garlic, garlic chives, red pepper flakes

Tips

• Did not do step 5 in the recipe (basically frying 1/2 cup of garlic) to top the dish
• Replaced asparagus with tofu
• Used broccoli florets instead of broccoli stems
• Used regular chives instead of garlic chives
• Used serrano pepper instead of green Thai chile

Recipe: Citrus Shrimp Rice Bowls

Citrus Shrimp Rice Bowls
Bon Appetit Magazine, November 2018, p. 32
4.5 stars

This is more of a summery dish, but we have so much citrus in our fridge (Harry & David gift from Christmas) that we decided to try it out.  Overall, it was a good and healthy dish (and a quick one for a weeknight meal).  I really liked the dressing.

Ingredients:  shrimp, oranges, Persian cucumbers, scallions, avocado, steamed rice, orange juice, Sriracha, honey, soy sauce, vegetable oil, lim juice, Kosher salt

Tips for next time:

• Add cilantro
• Add Sriracha to taste at the table

Recipe: Khinkali (Meat-Filled Dumplings)

Khinkali (Meat-Filled Dumplings)
Food and Wine Magazine, October 2018, p. 86
4.5 stars

This is a recipe from Georgia, not the state but the country.  When I was reading the recipe, I was wondering if these would turn out like Chinese bao-zi or xiao-long-bao (soup dumplings), and they did!  This was my first time making "bao-zi-like" dough, and it turned out nicely.  It's a lot of work to roll out the dough (be ready for a workout), but it's worth it.

I'll probably tweak this recipe in the future and add soy sauce and ginger -- with those 2 ingredients, this will taste like a Chinese dish.

Dough Ingredients:  all-purpose flour, fine sea salt, water, egg, olive oil

Meat Filling Ingredients:  ground beef, ground pork, water, yellow onion, cilantro, butter, sea salt, kondari (summer savory) or mild thyme, coriander seeds, caraway seeds, black pepper, crushed red pepper, ground cumin, garlic

Perhaps next time, I should read this article before making the recipe:  https://www.foodandwine.com/travel/everything-you-didnt-know-you-needed-know-about-georgian-soup-dumplings

Recipe: Ancient Grains Buddha Bowl (like at True Food!)

Ancient Grains Buddha Bowl (like the Ancient Grains bowl at True Food)
5 stars
See link above to the recipe on UrbanFoodieKitchen.com

I heart the Ancient Grains bowl at True Food (restaurant) -- it's so healthy, hearty and flavorful, and I never feel bad eating it.  I can't recall exactly how much it costs at the restaurant, but it's at least $14 (not inexpensive).  I could understand why because there are so many components to it (miso glazed sweet potato, turmeric, charred onion, snow pea, grilled portobello, avocado, hemp seed).

In an effort to eat healthier, I searched for an "ancient grain bowl" recipe and found one from Urban Foodie Kitchen.  It was absolutely delicious and I would say at least as good or BETTER than the one at True Food.

There are a number of steps to making the dish (there are 3 sauces), but it's easy and worth it especially for the leftovers.  In short, the bowl consists of farro, sweet potato, onion baby bella mushrooms, tofu, avocado, a cilantro pesto, miso sauce and a turmeric-tahini sauce.

• Bowl Ingredients:  extra-firm tofu, baby bella mushrooms, sweet potato, onion, farro, avocado, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, dried thyme, garlic salt, water
• Cilantro Pesto Ingredients:  cilantro, toasted pepitas, garlic, parmesan cheese, fresh lime juice, olive oil
• Miso Sauce Ingredients:  rice vinegar, honey, lime juice, white miso, sesame oil
• Turmeric-Tahini Sauce Ingredients:  tahini, turmeric, fresh lemon juice, water, maple syrup

Tips/What We Changed:

• Used walnuts instead of pepitas
• Used a mix of regular and purple sweet potatoes

Bon Appetit!

Recipe: Almond Torta with Chocolate Chips

Voila!

Before baking

After baking

Almond Torte with Chocolate Chips
4.5 stars
Recipe from Lidia Bastianich (Lidia's Italy)

The torte was a lovely end to our Italian meal this past weekend.  It was easy to make and turned out beautifully.  I was afraid that it was going to be too dense of a cake after a carb-laden meal, but it wasn't.

Tips:

• Added extra 1/2 cup of chocolate chips
• Created our own "topping" of chocolate snowflakes 
• Might add a tad more almond extract next time

Recipe: Party Posole Rojo

Party Posole Rojo
Bon Appetit Magazine, April 2018, p.77
5 stars

Best. Soup. Ever. 
Well, so far until we find another better soup/stew that beats this and America's Test Kitchen Chicken Tortilla Soup.  This is not a hard recipe but does take some time to simmer (about 3 hours).  The flavor of this is complex, amazing, delicious.

Posole ingredients:  hominy, onions, bay leaves, peppercorns, Kosher salt, pork ribs, ground cumin, garlic

Chile puree ingredients:  dried New Mexico chiles, ancho chiles, onion, garlic, apple cider vinegar, light brown sugar, Kosher salt

Toppings:  avocado, cilantro, cabbage, jalapenos, radishes, lime wedges, sour cream, torilla chips, hot sauce

Tips:

• Couldn't find dried hominy so used two 15 oz cans; will use three cans next time
• If using canned hominy, add it to the stew so it's only cooking for 1 hour
• Create a bouquet garni for the peppercorns and bay leaves (using cheesecloth and twine) and remove when done cooking
• Since we're trying to eat less meat, in general, used 2.5 lb pork ribs instead of 4, and it still turned out great
• The ancho chiles, New Mexico chiles and jalapeno didn't have much heat at all so make sure there is some heat in the dish
• Couldn't find New Mexico whole chiles so used New Mexico ground powder instead 
• Consider rubbing the pork ribs with some chipotle powder as well next time to add heat

Recipe: Momofuku's Banana Cream Pie Recipe

Momofuku's Banana Cream Pie
4 stars

We had some bananas that were very very ripe (almost black) which made me remember Christina Tosi (on Chef's Table on Netflix) saying that the blacker the bananas, the better when making her Banana Cream Pie.  Note:  This is the first Christina Tosi recipe I've made.

I found the recipe (see link above) on a U.K. website and made it last weekend.

It was really good, but quite sweet as I think all of her desserts are.  Interestingly, her pie crust was bitter -- but perhaps that's to balance the sweetness of the pie filling.  The recipe took a while to make... a bit of effort and time primarily because of the pie crust.  I will definitely be taking some shortcuts if I make this again.

Tips/Notes:

• Next time, use a different chocolate crust recipe as this one took a bit of time and didn't wow me at all (plus, it was bitter as I mentioned above)
• Didn't use yellow food coloring (I never use food coloring!)
• Substituted cornflour for corn meal that we already had
• Potentially use less sugar in the banana cream next time

Recipe: Brothy Beans and Farro with Eggs and Mushrooms

Brothy Beans and Farro with Eggs and Mushrooms
Bon Appetit Magazine, Feb 2018, p 91
4.5 stars

Ok, so for this recipe, we changed a LOT of the steps.  Having cooked many recipes over the years, we could tell what changes would make the recipe better and make the cooking process go faster.  I'll try to outline all the tips below.  This was a delicious and hearty meal, but next time, we'll make this in the fall/winter/spring months instead of summer.  Not sure why I decided to make this during the hottest month of the year!

Ingredients:  onion, carrot, garlic, beans, farro, shiitake mushrooms, Fresno chiles, sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar, rosemary, olive oil, Kosher salt, ground pepper, egg yolks (optional)

Ingredient Changes:

• Diced 3 carrots instead of 1
• Added diced celery (since we had it on hand)
• Used canned Great Northern Beans
• Couldn't find Fresno chiles so used serranos
• Added Andouille sausage

Cooking Changes/Tips:

• Instead of doing the first part of the recipe where the vegetables were boiled with the beans for 70-90 minutes (no time for that!), we sauteed the onion, carrot, celery and MINCED garlic until all were caramelized and then splashed a little red wine vinegar at the end.
• Kept all of the vegetables instead of discarding them and simmered them with the canned Great Northern Beans, farro and added broth.
• To make the chile-garlic oil on top, make sure to add the rosemary that it calls for -- it's a nice touch.  Note:  We made 1/2 the recipe of the oil and still had too much.
• Sauteed the mushrooms separately and added red pepper since the serranos weren't hot.
• Seared the Andouille sausage separately in a pan and added it 10 min before the farro was ready.

Recipe: Mushroom, Leek and Fontina Frittata

Mushroom, Leek and Fontina Frittata
Bon Appetit Magazine, Feb 2013, p. 43
4.5 stars

We made this for dinner, but it also would be perfect for breakfast or brunch.  Only takes 9 ingredients and was very easy to make -- I can see us making this recipe again but using different ingredients (e.g. different cheese, adding meat).... it's a good base recipe.

Ingredients:  leeks, baby bella mushrooms, eggs, creme fraiche or sour cream, Fontina cheese, parsley, olive oil, Kosher salt, ground pepper

Tips:

• Used 10 eggs instead of 12
• Used regular curly leaf parsley instead of flat-leaf

Enjoy!

Recipe: Cold Sesame Noodles with Broccoli and Kale

Cold Sesame Noodles with Broccoli and Kale

Bon Appetit Magazine, Dec 2016

4 stars

This was a recipe in the "r.s.v.p." section of Bon Appetit Magazine where readers ask the magazine to request a recipe from a restaurant.  This recipe is from a restaurant called North in Providence, RI.

I especially loved the broccoli part of this dish which we'll definitely be making in the future as a side dish... and as you can see from the tips below, we made this into a warm (vs. cold) dish and made some adjustments.

Ingredients:  broccoli, garlic, sambal oelek, sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar, scallions, ginger, kale, ramen, torn mint, sesame seeds, vegetable oil, Kosher salt, black pepper

Tips:

• Make double the amount of broccoli next time -- it shrinks so much upon roasting
• Double the amount of kale
• Kale can be pretty rough texture-wise, so we blanched it and then sauteed it olive oil with the scallions, ginger, garlic, salt and pepper and splashed the sherry vinegar at the end
• The dish needed a little oomph, so I added a little bit of hot chili oil and soy sauce to my serving which gave it some heat and umami flavor

Recipe: Don Angie's Lasagna Pinwheels

Don Angie's Lasagna Pinwheels
5 stars

I saw this dish being made on the Today Show and immediately printed off the recipe.  Fresh pasta, bechamel sauce, bolognese -- how can you go wrong?  This dish was fabulos-o, but took lots of manpower.  I made the bolognese and tomato sauce, while our good friends made the fresh pasta and bechamel.

I can almost see why the restaurant Don Angie in New York City charges $64 for their Lasagna for Two.  It took lots of ingredients (too many to list), time and labor to make this dish.

The bolognese was so flavorful with its mix of sweet Italian sausage, pancetta and veal -- plus 2 star anise pods for an extra dimension of flavor.  This is now my go-to recipe for bolognese.

The photo above was taken when we took the dish out of the oven (we hadn't sprinkled parsley on it yet).  For sides, we made a simple broccolini dish (sauteed in garlic and olive oil) and bought a loaf of Parmesan bread.

Tips:

• Will use a different pasta recipe next time as this one created a very wet pasta.
• Make 1/2 the bolognese (unless you want leftovers to use for another pasta dish or to freeze).
• Make 1/4 of the bechamel sauce.
• Can use Italian ricotta cheese if robiola cheese isn't available at your local grocery store.
• Will add red pepper to the tomato sauce next time.

Recipe: Zucchini and Gruyere Scones

Zucchini and Gruyere Scones
Bon Appetit Magazine, Sept 2017, p. 18
5 stars

I love, love, love these scones!  This is my new favorite biscuit, I mean scone.  I can say that they're semi-healthy since they have zucchini in them (haha).  They were light and flavorful . . . I heart Gruyere.

As an aside . . . I looked up the difference between a biscuit and a scone.  With all the different sites I looked at, I'm still confused.  One site says that a scone usually has a higher sugar content making them sweeter, and they usually contain baking soda which makes them heavier.  Another site says that scones have eggs while biscuits don't.  With those two definitions, I'd say that this recipe is a biscuit recipe.

Ingredients:  all-purpose flour, unsalted butter, heavy cream, zucchini, Gruyere, flaky sea salt, baking powder, sugar, Kosher salt, black pepper, thyme

Tips

• I used a biscuit/cookie cutter that was smaller than the 3" diameter that was recommended, and these still turned out huge!  Next time, I'll be making them smaller but will need to watch the bake time.
• I also shredded the cheese but need to remember to dice the cheese next time instead per the recipe.

Recipe: 12-Minute Saucy Chicken Breasts with Limes

12-Minute Saucy Chicken Breast with Limes
Bon Appetit Magazine, Dec 2017
4 stars

This is a great weekday recipe that's incredibly flavorful (note that you must like the cumin/turmeric/paprika type of flavor profile) and would go great with the Golden Rice recipe.

Ingredients:  chicken, ground cumin, ground turmeric, paprika, olive oil, Kosher salt, limes

Tips:

• Used boneless chicken breast and sauteed the chicken vs. baking it -- it turned out great!  The chicken was moist and there was delicious sauce to spoon over the chicken.

Recipe: Smashed-Banana Bread

Smashed-Banana Bread
Food and Wine Magazine, Nov 2017, p. 118
4 stars

Now I know what to do with bananas that get overripe... freeze the bananas and make Smashed-Banana Bread with them later!  This was an easy recipe but surprisingly took 1.5 hours to bake.  The outcome was good -- I love the outer crispy crust, but it wasn't a blow-my-socks-off amazing recipe.

Ingredients:  pecans, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, fine sea salt, eggs, smashed very ripe banana, sour cream, vanilla extract, banana liqueur or dark rum, unsalted butter, granulated sugar, confectioners' sugar

Notes:

• The recipe calls for banana liqueur or dark rum, though it's so little (3/4 tsp), I'm not sure what it actually does as that flavor doesn't come through at all.  
• 1.5 cups of smashed very ripe banana turned out to be about 5 medium bananas (3 that I froze and thawed + 2 non-frozen ones).

Recipe: Roasted Mushroom and Vermouth Risotto

Roasted Mushroom and Vermouth Risotto
Food and Wine Magazine, Jan 2018, p. 74
4.5 stars

I've made mushroom risotto before but it usually involves cooking the mushrooms in a pan and adding them later to the risotto.  I thought this recipe was interesting in that it calls for roasting the mushrooms in the oven and then adding them later to the risotto.

This is a restaurant-worthy dish.  This confirms that I'm never ordering risotto again from a restaurant -- it's so easy (and inexpensive to make)!

Ingredients:  mixed, wild mushrooms, chicken or vegetable broth, shallots, arborio rice, unsalted butter, dry vermouth, Parmesan cheese, extra-virgin olive oil, Kosher salt, pepper

Tips

• Made 1/2 the recipe (used 3/4 cup of arborio rice) since arborio rice expands and we usually have too much for leftovers.  Next time, we'll make the full batch since we actually didn't have a ton left over.
• The recipe doesn't call for garlic, but I think it should be added next time for an extra dimension of flavor.

(Find recipe under: Entree - Warm Sausage and Lentil Salad)

Recipe: Stir-Fried Chicken and Green Pepper with Cumin and Cilantro

Stir-Fried Chicken and Green Pepper with Cumin and Cilantro
Food and Wine Magazine, Apr 2018, p. 50
5 stars

A really easy and delicious recipe to make on a weekday (especially when I'm craving Chinese food).

This does not take much time (30 min), but make sure to get the rice going especially if you have a rice cooker.  This stir-fry dish has a lot of my favorite things mixed together -- cumin, cilantro, garlic, heat from the serrano, onion... it almost seems like it would be a Mexican dish!

Ingredients:  chicken, Shaoxing wine or dry sherry, soy sauce, cornstarch, grapeseed or peanut oil, green bell peppers, red onion, serrano chile, garlic, ground cumin seeds, cracked coriander seeds, sugar, Kosher salt, cilantro, black pepper, rice

Recipe: Cheesy Baked Pasta with Cauliflower (Mac and Cheese)

Cheesy Baked Pasta with Cauliflower
Bon Appetit Magazine, Feb 2018, p.38
5 stars

I was skeptical about this recipe.  Cauliflower and tomatoes in a mac and cheese-type of dish?  Turns out the tomatoes added a nice oomph (acidity) to the dish that's not present in regular 'ol mac and cheese, and the cauliflower was there and imparted the health benefits of a vegetable without being noticeable.

This dish was so good that I forgot to take a photo of the dish each time we had leftovers (and this was a dish where we looked forward to the leftovers)!

Ingredients:  medium pasta shells, mozzarella, provolone, sharp cheddar, parmesan, can of lightly crushed cherry tomatoes, cauliflower, heavy cream, salt, pepper

Tips:

• Used can of diced tomatoes (I couldn't find a can of lightly crushed cherry tomatoes)
• Used cauliflower rice
• Didn't need to add any reserved pasta water since the diced tomatoes had a bit of liquid

Recipe: Green-Market Tacos with Corn Crema

Green-Market Tacos with Corn Crema
Food and Wine Magazine, Aug 2016, p.108
5 stars

A go-to recipe for us when we're wanting to eat healthy and vegetarian is Alice Waters' Garden Salad Tacos; however, in recent months we had it a bit too often.  I found this Green-Market Tacos recipe which was absolutely delicious.  It's going in our dinner menu rotation.

Ingredients:  tortillas, corn, haricots verts (green beans), Greek yogurt, extra-virgin olive oil, creamy feta cheese, cilantro, avocado, radishes, cumin, Kosher salt, pepper

Tips:

• Used frozen corn (so we didn't end up having corn milk from the cobs, but it was fine!)
• Blanched the corn and haricots verts and then put them in an ice bath so the veggies weren't so raw

Recipe: Creamy Lemon Pasta

Creamy Lemon Pasta

Food and Wine Magazine, May 2018, p. 42

5 stars

(I forgot to take a photo of this dish and will update this post the next time we make the recipe.)

What a simple yet fast and comforting pasta dish!

This recipe took less than 20 minutes to make and is perfect for a weekday meal along with a glass of white wine and a salad and/or meat on the side.

It tastes like an adult version of Mac and Cheese (and a much tastier version of Fettuccine Alfredo) -- it's a cheesy dish but with the brightness of lemon and the additional flavors and complexity from the honey and shallots.

Ingredients:  Meyer lemon zest and lemon juice, shallots, heavy cream, dried fettuccine, grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, honey, extra-virgin olive oil, freshly ground black pepper, Kosher salt

It's not many ingredients but the resulting dish tastes restaurant-worthy.

Tips:

• Used regular lemons since our grocery store didn't carry Meyer lemons
• Used strozzapretti dried pasta that we had in our pantry
• Used an Italian mix of cheeses that we had in our fridge
• Didn't top/garnish the dish with Meyer lemon supremes (no need for a weekday meal but nice if serving to guests)