Recipe: Skirt Steak Fajitas with Grilled Cabbage and Scallions

Skirt Steak Fajitas with Grilled Cabbage and Scallions
Bon Appetit Magazine, Feb 2014, p.52
4 stars

We took the essence of this recipe and created our own fajita tacos.  (I wasn't feeling like grilled cabbage; it just didn't sound appealing.)

For our tacos, we used what we had in the fridge:  flour tortillas, lettuce, diced tomato, crumbled cotija cheese, grilled red onions, cilantro, chopped scallion and avocado.

A quick and delicious weekday meal.

By the way, the marinade for the steak = excellent.  Ingredients for the marinade: pureed garlic, lime juice, oil, hot smoked Spanish paprika, cilantro, cumin, salt and onion powder.

Recipe: Cucumber Salad

Recipe:  Grilled Hanger Steak with Cucumber Salad
Bon Appetit Magazine, April 2014, p. 16

We haven't made the hanger steak yet, but I know it's DELICIOUS because our friends made the recipe for us for dinner.

The cucumber salad pairs so nicely with it.  It's a nice, fresh crunchy Asian-y salad.

Ingredients:  cucumber, carrot, daikon, red onion, cilantro, peanuts, unseasoned rice vinegar, sweet chili sauce, salt & pepper

Only tip on the salad:

• Use a 1/4 of a small onion rather than 1/2

Recipe: Vegetable Ramen Recipe

I was looking for a vegetable ramen recipe and found this one on Chef Marcus Samuelsson's site.

Not a traditional ramen recipe, per se, but it was good and took us only 20 minutes(!!!) to make -- which was great for a weeknight meal.

Note:  While I thought the addition of avocado was a little odd, it's a must!  It adds a nice creaminess and texture to the soup.

When we made this, I excluded the following:  celery, corn, savoy cabbage

But added:  ginger, tofu, daikon and shitake mushrooms (instead of regular mushrooms)

Next time, I need to add a poached egg and seaweed (which I bought but forgot to add).

Recipe: Black Bean Soup with Roasted Poblano Chiles

Black Bean Soup with Roasted Poblano Chiles
Bon Appetit Magazine, Nov 2013, p. 69
My rating:  5 stars!

Really not a great photo above (I almost considered not including it) because it doesn't give this dish justice on how amazing it tastes.

This soup is restaurant quality.  It could be on Stephan Pyles' or Dean Fearing's menu in Dallas because of its southwestern profile and great flavor and texture.

Ingredients include:  poblano chiles, onion, garlic, fire-roasted diced tomatoes, black beans, chicken broth, dried pasilla or ancho chile, pepitas (raw shelled pumpkin seeds), queso fresco, oil, salt, lime

• Used pasilla chile (vs. ancho)
• Used fire-roasted diced tomatoes (vs. plain)
• Topped it with cilantro
• Stirred in some Spicy Salsa Roja that we had from a recipe we made earlier in the week (to add yet another layer of flavor and heat) -- the salsa recipe was from Food and Wine Magazine's March 2014 issue (p. 99) -- Zucchini Quesadilla with Spicy Salsa Roja.  The quesadilla would actually be a nice accompaniment to this soup recipe!

Recipe: Jalapeno-Cheddar Popovers

Jalapeno-Cheddar Popovers
Southern Living, March 2014, p.104
My rating:  3 stars

Of all the popover and savory muffin recipes I've made, this one was ok -- not my favorite.  It didn't have a ton of flavor (yet they smelled amazing), but I think I'll try the recipe again with the following tweaks:

• Add more (maybe double) the amount of cheese
• Add red pepper flakes

Notes:

• The batter was very watery but was fine!
• I let the batter stand for 10 min instead of 30

I'll update this post after I make the recipe again. . .

Recipe: Farro and Green Olive Salad with Walnuts and Raisins

Farro and Green Olive Salad with Walnuts and Raisins
Food and Wine Magazine, Dec 2013, p.150
My rating:  5 stars!

I'm digging this plant-based diet, although as you can see from the attached photo, this one has meat(!) in it.

This recipe was the salad of the month in Food and Wine Magazine's Dec 2013 issue.  I don't know if I'd consider it a salad, per se.  (When I think of salads, I think lots and lots of vegetables.)  For us, this was a main entree, and I was full after eating this hearty dish.

Ingredients include:  farro, walnuts, green olives, scallions, raisins, cheese, chives, red pepper, olive oil, lemon juice, honey.

Tips:

• Omitted the chives since we didn't have any handy
• Used regular raisins instead of golden raisins
• Shaved Manchego cheese on top instead of Pecorino cheese
• Added cucumbers
• Added ground lamb
• Need to whisk the olive oil, lemon juice, honey and red pepper together and then dress the dish

Recipe: Double-Beet Salad with Radicchio & Blue Cheese

Double-Beet Salad with Radicchio & Blue Cheese
Food and Wine Magazine, Aug 2013

A hearty entree salad that actually made me think, "This would be a $14 salad in a restaurant."
5 stars!

To give you an idea of what's in the recipe (see recipe at link above), ingredients include:

• 3 golden beets  (we used red beets)
• Walnuts
• Radicchio  (we used a spring mix)
• Maytag blue cheese
• Minced shallot
• Walnut oil, extra-virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, smoked sea salt, pepper  (we didn't have walnut oil or smoked sea salt so used EVOO and Hawaiian sea salt that we had in the pantry)

Pretty simple!

Tip:

• Instead of steaming the beets and sauteing them, we may try peeling the beets and roasting them next time

Drink Recipe: Italian Refresher

Here is a cocktail that I concocted (when I couldn't decide between making an Aperol Spritz and something with Campari).  I call it the Italian Refresher.

• 1 oz Aperol
• 1/2 oz Campari
• Squeeze of 1/2 a lime
• 1 oz Sprite
• 1 oz Club Soda

Recipe: Warm Cauliflower and Herbed Barley Salad

Warm Cauliflower and Herbed Barley Salad
Bon Appetit Magazine, March 2013, p. 44

Honestly, I wasn't sure if I was going to like this recipe but blog contributor the grandcruman was open to trying it, so I was in.  And, I LOVED IT.

Here is the ingredient list, and you have to admit, it doesn't sound like it'd taste great:  barley, cauliflower, beans, salt & pepper, lemon juice and zest, mayo, Dijon-mustard, olive oil, parsley and tarragon.

As we try to eat more of a plant-based diet, this recipe is a keeper.  Filling and flavorful.  (I'm actually craving it right now as I write.)  It's also a quick weekday recipe since it only took about 20 min to make.

Tips:

• Used farro instead of pearled barley (since we had farro in the house)
• Used cannellini beans instead of gigante, corona or butter beans
• Didn't need to use all of the dressing

Recipe: Jumbo Pancetta, Thyme and Gruyere Muffins

What to do with extra buttermilk we had in the fridge?  I hate waste.

Fortunately, I saw the Jumbo Pancetta, Thyme and Gruyere Muffins recipe in Food and Wine Magazine (April 2014, p. 55) and made these this past weekend.

Warning:  They're addictive.
I'm definitely making these again.

Tips:

• We made half the recipe which filled 8 regular muffin cups (I don't have a jumbo muffin pan)
• Used finely diced prosciutto instead of pancetta
• Used dried thyme instead of fresh
• The batter was thick (thicker than I thought it'd be)
• It only took 27 min to bake, not 30

Bon Appetit!

Hearts of Palm

Did you know that hearts of palm is also called "swamp cabbage?"  I learned that today while reading Ask Marilyn in Parade Magazine.

I knew that my beloved salad ingredient is a "long, slender vegetable that is actually the innermost portion -- the heart -- of the stem of the palmetto tree, the state tree of Florida."

But "swamp cabbage"?  That doesn't sound appealing at all.  It has no resemblance to cabbage!

Drink Recipe: Chocolate Bulleit - Revised

This is admittedly not the best drink photo -- I was halfway through the drink before I thought about writing about this.  

I was craving a drink with bourbon perhaps influenced by the Kentucky Derby being on TV, yet didn't want a Mint Julep.

I had just used part of an orange for another recipe and decided to make my own version of the Chocolate Bulleit cocktail, but using different proportions of ingredients since that drink is a bit too strong for me.

The Bistro 31 Chocolate Bulleit recipe is as follows:

• 1 oz Bulleit Bourbon
• 1 oz Licor 43
• Squeeze of orange juice
• 6 dashes of Aztec Chocolate Bitters
• Garnished with a fresh orange slice

My "revised recipe" that is a little sweeter:

• 1 oz Maker's Mark (we were out of Bulleit Bourbon)
• 1/2 oz Licor 43
• Juice of a whole orange
• 3 dashes of Aztec Chocolate Bitters

Cheers!

Recipe: Our "Chipotle" Bowls

As we continue to strive to eat a more plant-based diet, we made our own "Chipotle" salad bowls for dinner which were quite tasty and included the following:

• Brown rice

• Black beans (cooked with onion and garlic)

• Tomato
• Lettuce
• Roasted corn
• Jalapeno (diced)
• Avocado
• Radish
• Green onion
• Cilantro

• Salsa

And just a little of the following which we already had in the fridge:

• Shredded cheese 
• Sour cream

I'm realizing that our new way of eating is requiring more time prepping ingredients (namely, chopping vegetables!).

Recipe: Cucumber and Avocado Salad

This Cucumber and Avocado Salad recipe from Bon Appetit Magazine (May 2012, p. 50) really should be called Cucumber, Avocado and Celery Salad.

Honestly, I wasn't sure how the salad was going to turn out, but it was really good, flavorful -- and healthy.

It basically involves macerating cilantro springs, ginger, chiles, salt, sugar and cucumbers together for 35 minutes;  then taking the cucumbers and adding thinly sliced celery, lime juice and oil to it and topping it all with avocado, cilantro and basil.

Easy!

Tips for next time:

• Cut the celery, cucumbers and avocado in large pieces like in the magazine photo
• Use red pepper flakes instead of 2 dried chiles de arbol because I couldn't taste the chiles at all

Recipe: Beatty's Chocolate Cake from Ina Garten

I used my super fun Nordic Ware Mini Tiered Cakelet pan that I got for Christmas for the first time and prayed that 1) the cake batter that I never had made before would be good and 2) that the cake would come out of the pan.  We were bringing these over to our friends' house, so if it didn't work out, the backup plan was to create a crumbled up cake trifle for dessert.

But my worries were for naught.  It turned out perfectly!!!

I'd been on a mission to find a GREAT (meaning phenomenal) chocolate cake batter recipe, and I found it.  I Googled "best chocolate cake recipe," and Beatty's Chocolate Cake courtesy of Ina Garten came up in the search results.  With 1,825 reviews and 5 stars, I was pretty confident that it'd be good -- except for the fact that I was using a (new) cakelet pan, not 2 round cake pans so I wasn't sure how long to bake the cakes.

Tips:

• Using my cakelet pan, it took the same amount of time to bake as the recipe calls for
• The batter filled the cakelet pan plus 7 cupcake liners
• The batter was very watery -- but that's why the cake is so moist!
• The top of the cake is a bit sticky (but again, very moist)
• We did not make the chocolate frosting;  made chocolate ganache instead as you can see

This recipe is a keeper!

Recipe: Triple-Layer Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I love carrot cake.  And the recipe from Bon Appetit Magazine (from their Oct 1994 issue) that I wrote about last year (see below) is just, well, amazing.  Worth every bite, every calorie.

A few additional tips and learnings from this time. . .

• I was a little lazy and decided to make 2 layers instead of 3.  Don't do that with this recipe.  The cake in the middle sank in both pans, so that it was a bit concave, and we had to do cake surgery to make each layer flat in order to layer the cake.
• We made candied pecan pieces to sprinkle on top which added nice flavor/crunch.
• Like the dabs of cream cheese frosting that blog contributor (or shall I say non-contributor) the grandcruman added?
• Next time I'm going to try to decrease the oil from 1 1/2 cup to 1 1/4.  The cake is plenty moist, so I bet we can cut it down.

Original Post:  6/19/13

I made the best carrot cake I have ever tasted (almost as good as Truluck's carrot cake) this past weekend for Father's Day.  OMG.

The Triple-Layer Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting is from Bon Appetit Magazine from October 1994.  I found this recipe while searching on epicurious.com -- I was looking for an amazing carrot cake recipe -- and saw that it had 696 reviews and was rated 4 forks, which is the highest rating, however was a little skeptical because the recipe looked too easy and uses really basic ingredients.

Wow, there's a reason that it has a 4 fork rating.  It is absolutely delicious, and so if you are a carrot cake lover, you must try out this recipe.  The flavor and texture are perfect.  Most carrot cakes I've tasted are too light & airy and don't have enough 'stuff' (e.g. carrots) in them.

To make the cake even more decadent like the one at Truluck's, next time I'm going to make a caramel sauce to drizzle on the top and add candied pecans on top.

Note:  I did make 1.5x the cream cheese frosting just to make sure there was enough to frost the cake!  I'd recommend it.

Recipe: Tomato-Basil Sauce with Polenta

The Tomato-Basil Sauce with Polenta recipe from Bon Appetit Magazine's June 2012 issue (p. 34) was eh, mediocre.

It simply involves:

• mixing extra-virgin olive oil, chopped up cherry tomatoes, garlic cloves, a shallot, basil and salt & pepper
• putting it in a sealed parchment paper package (en papillote) to bake
• and then spooning it over baked or grilled polenta

A few issues with this recipe:

• There's way too much garlic in it.  7 thinly sliced garlic cloves?!?
• The tomato juice sauce runs everywhere because it's not thickened.  (I guess you can spoon up the juice and drink it?)
• The polenta needs to be seasoned with salt before grilling or baking it.

The idea of the recipe is good (plus, it's very healthy), but it just didn't come together for me as one that we'll do again.

Recipe: Sunchoke-Kale Hash with Farro

Don't be scared by this recipe's name.  We had never cooked sunchokes or kale ourselves, and it was so easy!

This Sunchoke-Kale Hash with Farro recipe was named Best Grain Dish in Food and Wine Magazine's March 2013 issue (p.60).  The magazine was featuring the 20 best-ever recipes, and this one made the list, coming from F&W Best New Chefs of 2009 Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo of Animal and Son of a Gun in Los Angeles.

This is a healthy, hearty and TASTY dish despite the ingredient list that doesn't sound super flavorful:  farro, sunchokes, kale, red onion, oyster mushrooms, extra-virgin olive oil, butter, salt and pepper.

Here are some tips:

• Added garlic with the mushrooms
• Added red pepper to add a little heat
• Squeezed lemon on the dish at the end to add some brightness
• Sprinkled it with Maldon sea salt when serving

Surprisingly, we found sunchokes at our local "regular" grocery store.  Peel them like a potato and cook them per the recipe.  I just love the texture of sunchokes.

With us moving toward a plant-based diet, this recipe fits quite nicely, and we'll definitely be making this recipe again! 

Documentary: Forks Over Knives

Last weekend we watched the documentary Forks Over Knives (recommended to me by my sister).  It has completely changed how we eat and will impact our lives forever.  

The research for eating a plant-based diet is incredibly compelling.  While we won't be giving up meat and dairy completely, we already have made a conscious effort to decrease the amount that we consume.  The link between meat (this includes poultry and seafood ~ anything that has a 'head') and health issues especially cancer is primarily what has compelled us to eat differently.  

No more milk in our household! 

We've switched to almond milk now!  

Ok. . . we still have half and half for coffee. . . 

This past week's meals were filled with farro, barley, and lots of salad & fruit.  I'll be sharing recipes that we're still making from Bon Appetit, Food and Wine and Saveur magazines -- but will be slightly modifying them to decrease the amount of oil, dairy and meat called for in the recipes.  

All in all, I'd highly recommend watching Forks Over Knives -- watch it on Neflix or borrow it from the library.  I bet it'll change how you eat too.

White Pinot Noir (or Pinot Noir Blanc) is becoming more popular and common, but really, it's not a new thing because Pinot Noir grapes are often used in Champagne or sparkling.

4/14/14 article by Jessica Yadegaran:  White pinot noir?  Like Champagne, without the bubbles

An excerpt:

What do you get when you pick cool-climate pinot noir grapes early, press them ever so gently, and limit skin contact? White wine.

But not just any white wine. Pinot Noir blanc, a rare, dry wine that's popping up in the Anderson Valley, is a bracing beauty: Complex, earthy and clear as crystal, it's unusual enough to stump even the geekiest oenophiles.

The method isn't unusual. In Champagne, it is how producers craft blanc de noirs, sparkling wine made from red grapes. The still version is becoming increasingly common in Oregon, too, where WillaKenzie, Domaine Serene, Anne Amie and others are making luscious examples of white pinot noir.