Recipe: Steak-and-Carrot-Tacos

Steak-and-Carrot Tacos
Food and Wine Magazine, Mar 2019, p.30
4.5 stars

From reading the ingredient list, I wasn't quite sure about this one but it looked like a simple weekday meal -- it was easy and delicious... this will be our new alternative to Alice Waters' Garden Salad Tacos that we love to make.

Ingredients: skirt steak, carrots, tortillas, cumin seeds, extra-virgin olive oil, kosher salt, black pepper

For serving: sour cream, cilantro, jalapenos, lime wedges

Tips:

• Definitely will use a marinade for the meat next time
• We used regular large carrots; will use small multi-colored ones next time (especially if we serve this to guests)
• Great with a margarita!

Recipe: Fettuccine with White Chicken Ragu

Recipe: Fettuccine with White Chicken Ragu
Food & Wine Magazine, Jan 2019, p. 99
4.5 stars

A simple-looking dish with a depth of flavor.  Restaurant-worthy.

This recipe calls for quite a few ingredients, including the making of a sofrito, and there's a reason for it -- FLAVOR!  With every bite, there's this depth of flavor that made me think, "Where is this flavor coming from?" since you don't necessarily see it.  The flavor is coming from the chicken stock, wine, bay leaf, thyme, rosemary, sofrito, pancetta, garlic....

Ingredients: chicken thighs, pancetta or guanciale, leek or scallions, frozen peas, Parmesan cheese, rosemary sprigs, thyme sprigs, bay leaf, garlic, dry white wine, chicken stock, heavy cream or half-and-half, butter, lemon zest, fresh parsley, sea salt, black pepper, olive oil

Sofrito Ingredients: celery, yellow onion, carrot, parsley, olive oil

Tips:

• Never want to burn or overcook garlic so add it all later with the sofrito, not with the chicken
• Instead of using rosemary and thyme sprigs and "bundling" them up, chop up the rosemary, thyme and scallion and leave in the dish vs. removing later (but DO remember to take out the bay leaf!)
• Need to use heavy cream instead of half-and-half next time to produce a thicker sauce

Recipe: Emeril Lagasse's Shrimp Creole

Shrimp Creole
Food & Wine Magazine, Sept 2018, p.30
4.5 stars

This Emeril Lagasse recipe was named one of Food & Wine Magazine's 40 best recipes (ever) in 2018.  The ONLY reason why I didn't rate this 5 stars is because of the level of heat.  When I think something is hot, it is HOT!!!!  Perhaps I didn't measure the spices correctly because I made one-sixteenth of the creole seafood seasoning and was trying to do the calculations in my head.  Our mouths were burning while eating this delicious dish.  We'll be more careful to measure out the spices next time!

Tips

• Substituted the shrimp with andouille sausage (sauteed it separately with no seasoning)
• Remember to remove the bay leaves!
• Served with rice

Recipe: Dan Dan Noodles with Shiitake Mushrooms

Dan Dan Noodles with Shiitake Mushrooms
SplendidTable.com
5 stars

I have to admit that I like the Dan Dan Noodles at Pei Wei -- I love the texture of the noodles with the sauce and vegetables, but it, like the rest of Pei Wei's menu, is an Americanized version.  Searching for a recipe that we could make at home, I found one at SplendidTable.com, and the recipe was, well, splendid!!!

Wow to flavor, flavor, flavor.  This is in my top 5 favorite Asian dishes we've ever made.

Ingredients:  fresh ramen noodles, shiitake mushrooms, scallions, garlic, ginger, five-spice powder, sesame oil, black vinegar, sea salt, white pepper

Dan Dan Sauce Ingredients:  Sriracha, tahini, tamari, sesame oil, chile oil, Szechuan peppercorns, small pickled chile with oil, sugar, vegetable stock

Tips:

• Didn't have fresh ramen so used soba noodles
• Didn't have Chinese black vinegar but found the following substitute:  1 part balsamic vinegar, 1 part rice wine vinegar, 3 parts water
• Roasted white onions with the mushrooms
• Sauteed tofu and added to the dish
• Added julienned cucumbers
• Added cilantro
• Didn't use the small pickled chile with oil
• Didn't blend the Dan Dan Sauce -- whisked it in a bowl (after grinding the Szechuan peppercorns separately)
• Next time, make double the amount of shiitake (+ white onion and tofu)

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)