Virgin Pina Colada Smoothy

I had some left over coconut milk, so I've been making virgin pina colada smoothies. Blend some coconut milk, pineapple juice, vanilla yogurt, and ice, and serve!

Bagel & Lox

I made jalapeno cream cheese for this by mixing up 1 minced jalapeno, some Spanish paprika, and some chili powder with cream cheese. I bought the lox from some guy that fishes on one of the rivers in Oregon and smokes his own catch--amazing!

I think this is actually the first time I have lox on this blog! Though, it is actually smoked salmon, not technically lox.

Thanksgiving 2009

Saag Paneer with Turmeric Basmati Rice

Turmeric Basmati Rice::
1 cup rice
1 tsp turmeric

Wash rice well with several rinses cold water; rub the rice grains lightly in the water, to help remove the white residue.

Add the appropriate amount of rice and cold water into your rice cooker's bowl. Add turmeric. Let the rice soak in the water for at least 30 minutes, and then cook in rice cooker.

Saag Paneer:
2 bunches of spinach, washed well
1 Tbsp mild curry + 6 tsp vindaloo curry
6 cloves minced garlic
1 Tbsp grated ginger
1 tsp powdered coriander seed
1 stick cinnamon
2 dried red chili
1 quart buttermilk
1 cup plain yogurt
1 pinch salt
1 pinch nutmeg
1 paneer cheese package
a few Tbsp ghee

Blanch spinach in hot water quickly. Rinse well with cold water to stop the spinach from cooking. When cool, squeeze the spinach to remove excess water. Mince with a knife on a cutting board.

Cut paneer into cubes. Brown the cubes in ghee until the cheese has browned. Set aside.

Mince garlic, and saute briefly in ghee until fragrant. Add curry powder and briefly cook until fragrant. Be careful to not burn the curry powder. Add 1/2 cup buttermilk and mix well with curry. Bring to a boil. When the liquid starts to dry out, add another 1/2 cup buttermilk. Add 1 cinnamon stick, grated ginger, salt, red chili cut into flakes, and pinch of nutmeg. Continue cooking for 5 minutes; if the liquid starts to dry out add more buttermilk. Add spinach, and continue to add buttermilk until the entire quart has been added. Mix thoroughly. Cook for 30 minutes or so at a low simmer, until the flavors develop. Add 1 cup plain yogurt, and cheese cubes and let cook for 5 minutes or until the cheese is warm and slightly soft. Serve hot with rice.

Balsamic Baby Roast Peppers

This is one of my mother's recipes.

Preheat oven to 375. Place baby peppers in baking dish, and pour some balsamic vinegar over them. Lightly salt. Bake for about 45 minute or until soft, stirring halfway through. Stir immediately after removing from the oven, to coat the peppers with the reduced balsamic vinegar. This can be eaten warm, room temperature, or cold.

Pasta with Red Sauce

I made this entire dish in an hour. It was easy! As the pasta water was coming to a boil, I minced 3 garlic cloves and smashed 3 other cloves, and then sauteed them in olive oil. I poured the entire contents of one can of US-grown san marzano whole canned tomatoes in, half a cup of wine, some minced oregano leaves from my garden, salt, a sprinkle of Spanish smoked paprika, 1 dried red chili cut in half. I cooked this at a low boil until some of the tomatoes started to break apart (about 45 minutes). Since I was in a rush, I crushed the remaining tomatoes with a spatula. As this was cooking, I boiled the pasta until it was almost, but not fully cooked. I drained in and tossed it in a saute pan with olive oil, and then mixed in the sauce, and let it cook for a minute or two. Finally I ripped some fresh basil leaves, just before eating this. I was quite happy with this, for something that I made to eat in an hour, as I was rushing out of the apartment to meet some friends. Even though the tomatoes are US-grown, I thought the canned tomatoes had great quality--very sweet but also acidic, and they made the dish (the ones with the white label and a repeating pop arty graphic of a tomoate). I think this type of canned tomato would be great in a longer cooked sauce too!

Quiche

I really like this recipe because of how easy it is, and how non-fussy it is about measurements. You prepare whatever filling ingredients you like, add them to a 4-cup measuring cup, add three eggs, and then top off with whole milk or cream until there is 1 1/2 cups to 1 3/4 cups of liquid. Pour into a prebaked pie crust, and bake the quiche until done. Easy! And extremely flexible to change--you can use anything that looks tasty at the farmer's market that day or even use leftovers.

For the filling in this quiche, I used caramelized onions and sauted spinach (sauted so that it would be less watery, squeezed, and then minced) and turmeric, Spanish smoked paprika, and thyme for the flavorings. Since heirloom tomatoes are in season, I added a few slices of one tomato on top of the quiche.

I also like how she specifies that cream or milk can be used; I always thought quiche was very fattening, but at least in this recipe, it doesn't have to be. The crust contains the most fat, but the filling can be lighter if you use only a bit of milk milk, bulk up the filling using minced cooked spinach, and don't use too much cheese.

Also uncooked pie crusts, and cooked quiches both are supposed to freeze really well. So, if you make more than one pie crust from scratch, you could freeze the remaining pie crusts in their pie pans, and then easily have made-from-scratch quiche anytime you want. Or you could freeze cooked quiches, and they could be easily rewarmed for a meal on a busy day.

Quiche recipe is based on "All-Purpose Quiche Filling Proportions" in "From Julia Child's Kitchen" by Julia Child.

For an 8" or 9" pie crust:
3 large eggs
1/4 tsp salt
a pinch of pepper and nutmeg
Filling of your choice
enough cream or milk to fill measure of liquids to 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cup level (about 1/4 cup cream or milk)
optional grated cheese (e.g. Gruyere), about 3 ounces (3/4 cup lightly pressed down)
optional seasonings or herbs

Piece your pie crust with a fork many time, and then prebake pie sheet according to your recipe's or premade pic crust's package directions, so that the pie crust will not be soggy. (e.g. Bake for 7-9 minutes at 400 degrees.)

Preheat oven to 375. Pour all filling ingredients together (including the filling, salt, pepper, seasonings, and herbs) except for cheese and cream or milk. Add enough cream or milk so that the total liquid volume is 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups. It should take approximately 1/4 cup cream/milk, but if lots more liquid is needed, then add an extra egg. Lightly mix ingredients with a fork.

If you are using cheese, then scatter about 2/3 of the cheese on the bottom of the pie crust. Pour in the filling, so that it comes no higher than 1/4 inch from the top of the pie crust (the filling will puff slightly in the oven). Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of the filling.

Bake at 375 until the insides have set into a solid, the top is golden and a toothpick or knife inserted into the quiche comes out cleanly. Julia suggests that this takes 30-35 minutes, but it took 50 minutes for my quiche.

Frozen Yogurt Without an Ice Cream Maker

I read the article How To Make Ice Cream Without a Machine by David Lebovitz a while ago, and the information in it stuck in my head. When I was hungry and preparing my dinner, I came up with an idea to use his techniques to make a small one-person bowl of homemade frozen yogurt. Based on my experience, it seems to certainly be true that you won't be able to get crystals as fine grained as with an ice cream maker, so the results won't be perfect. But if you just want one bowl, this seems to be a reasonable technique to satisfy a craving. And it's probably impossibly to make such a small quantity in an ice cream maker.

Use flavored and sweetened yogurt (I used vanilla wallaby yogurt) since it was simple and easy, and its what I had around. But you could also flavor your own if you prefer--the other time I made frozen yogurt I drained plain full fat brown cow yogurt which I flavored with vanilla beans and used stevia to sweeten it.

Simply spoon some yogurt into a bowl and place in the freezer for 30 minutes. Then every 10 to 15 minutes there after thoroughly mix the yogurt so that you break up large ice crystals. The yogurt is done when it starts to have a thick body and can hold shape. For the 3/4 cup serving that I had, this took probably about an hour and a half.

I recommend placing the bowls in the freezer for 10 minutes before spooning the yogurt into them. The yogurt melts really quickly. This also doesn't store well, since the yogurt has a tendency to freeze into ice, so only make as much as you want to eat.

Roasted Salmon with Herbed Yogurt

A friend made this Martha Stewart's Roasted Salmon with Herbed Yogurt for me, and I loved it. I should to try this recipe soon! It is really easy and not fussy at all--perfect for entertaining.

Dragonfruit

Despite its vivid color, its actually very mild and almost tasteless.