Category Archives: Mains

Sep12

Lamb Pita Burgers and Tzatziki

Posted on September 12, 2013 by athaidek

Mediterranean food was the very first kind of food I learned to make. I think it’s such an easy place to start. Tomatoes, feta, red onion, good olive oil, and cucumbers can go in salads, as toppings, on pastas, or as appetizers. Barely any cooking involved!

As I returned from an amazing trip to California, these warm pita pockets and comfort burgers were a transitional food from summer to fall. If you live in a place that is hot until October like me, you still need to get outside and use the grill in September. But the mix of hearty lamb and coriander, cumin, and ginger spices gives it a fall spin.

I LOVE lamb burgers, and my fam especially likes mini burgers. It’s a fun way to try different ingredients in a few of each burger. I used this lamb burger recipe from Adrianna and didnt have any mint so just used parsley. I highly recommend! Our secret ingredient was some chopped up salt olives. Mixed every so lightly, these lamb burgers are tender, rich, and can absorb a variety of flavors. Before pics, I have to share my fave foods from San Fran. While the weather was the best in record years, I felt this love-hate relationship with my favorite city!! Had to play hard to get since I don’t know when I’ll be making it back again. Saw wonderful friends, went to an awesome conference, and saw beautiful views. oh, and food.

Fava bean pasta from a restaurant in berkeley with my lovely host katie, amazing Vietnamese at Tin in SOMA with my colleague Alloy, delicious Tofu Banh Mi in the Mission at duc loi kitchen, UMAMI BURGER FINALLY!!!, also i finally saw chez panisse omgomgomgomg, and tyler florence’s store in mill valley it was HEAVEN! oh and this delicious chicken, mango, avocado Asian salad at this Asian street food place in mill valley after the hike. I am so happy thinking about it. Can’t wait to get back….

Sauteed onions and spices she recommends

parsley and pistachios

lamb, herbs, spices

let these guys set in the fridge for 15-20

For tzatziki I really like shredded English cucumber. BUT SQUEEZE out the water with a paper towel like so

add some dill, yogurt, lemon juice, salt and pepper and whatever else you like!

toppings

Aug14

Sticky Eggplant & Coconut Cashew Rice

Posted on August 14, 2013 by athaidek

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Finally a successful recipe. So I haven’t posted in a little over a week because honestly, I’ve had some major recipe fails. But, the only way to get better is to get back up on that horse? Ok but if I fall off a horse, are you going to be the one to say, hey Katie, yea, please get back on? This is entirely out of context, moving on.

Well, I’ll just be honest and say these are the fails so you know what NOT to do!

1. Claire Thomas’ Veggie Burgers – um, I didn’t have the beets and I don’t think I had the right amount of each ingredient, so mine came out super mushy. Still delicious, but more like a veggie mash

2. I burned a purple potato kalamata pizza, so I’ve now dubbed that one “pizza bread” or “olive bread” bc we had to scrape off the completely inedible purple potatoes. Note to self, don’t slice the potatoes so thin or maybe just cook thinner slices for a shorter amount of time.

3. Scallops – oh, scallops. It’s not so much that I didn’t try really hard, but I think I was so concerned with timing that I just barely overcooked them. I tried to follow Chrissy Teigen’s advice to fully dry scallops so they get a nice crisp, and to cook exactly 2-3 minutes per side. Well, I guess go closer to the 2 minute side.

CHEERS *Cue clinking Coronas* I have reached rice accuracy. And that’s a big deal for me, considering I have mastered custard but until now, have burned EVERY attempt at rice. I was talking to someone the other day who said you really have to let that thin layer of liquid stay on top of the rice bc it is helpful for the cooking, so don’t mix it up. Well that actually worked.

My teryaki sauce didn’t really come out how I think the recipe intended, considering I was covered in sticky sauce every time I tried to stir it up. But it was still delish! Didn’t have any ginger, so I added some chili garlic sauce to give the sauce some POP. The First Mess’s recipe was a great healthy dinner, and since we weren’t using the grill, I basically just pan fried the eggplant.

Also didn’t have brown jasmine rice, so I used basmati. Rinsed it off to get off all much of the starch (helps with cooking time) and followed Jill’s instructions to add 1/2 tsp of salt, a can of coconut milk, and two cups water with two cups of rice.

Thanks for the recipe, Laura! Do you think we can bond over Canadian peaches and Georgia peaches?

Also has anyone been to Serenbe in GA? I am now obsessed.

CHEEEERRRRSSSS to success!

Used one regular eggplant and one of these Japanese ones I got at the Serenbe farmers market (OK NEW FAVORITE PLACE EVER)

Sauce pre-simmering^^

Sauce getting really sticky after about 10 mins of simmering

Marinating the eggplant in sticky teriyaki sauce

Coconut milk = Richness to plain ole rice

Eggplant before pan-searing (ok but we all know searing is code for frying at least in this case)

Fresh basil and a teeny amount of mint from our garden! Added some sesame oil to the rice along with chili garlic sauce to give it extra flavor. Didn’t have shallots but I like the flavor of red onion so used a quarter of a red onion, thinly sliced, and green onion

Expert-toasted-cashew-chopper

Hello, Thai goodness.

Jul31

Phoebe’s Indian Hot dogs with Mango Relish and Curry Mayo

Posted on July 31, 2013 by athaidek

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Another one of those things I just HAD to try despite how much I try to stay away from hot dogs. Not exactly one of those foods you want to eat regularly, but the toppings for this dish I would DEFINITELY make again. Mango relish and curry mayo? Yes please.

She uses some nitrate-free ones which I would have used if we didn’t already have some other ones. This meal was a quick prep dish that was the perfect meal for two with leftovers for someone coming later. Serve with really any sides you want or it could even be an appetizer if you made little mini dogs with this relish and the mayo as more of a dipping sauce.

After a rough day, I could prep the ingredients in advance while on the phone with one of my friends. The only time when he realized I was multitasking was when I started the food processor and it sounded like I was on a construction site 🙂

I followed Phoebe’s recipe found here and finally found those top-cut hot dog buns my Dad is always asking for.

Highlights: Prep the relish in advance and use a mini food processor if you’ve got one. My mom wanted a bit more spice but I think it has a strong bite to it. This relish could later be used for a sandwich, atop any Indian dish or on some crostini. Or even as a topping for baked chicken or something.

The convenient thing about being on the phone with Brian at this time was his familiarity with ingredients common to Asian dishes. Thus, I found out how you’re supposed to cut up a mango. AFTER having already cut it up. So that’s how this mess happened. I ended up like scraping the side of the (invisible) mango pit. Seriously, where in the world is the mango pit? It looks exactly like the fleshy part so you kind of have to stab at it. Clearly this was my first experience with the mango. So, chop it up.

Chop up a jalapeno and scrape out the seeds.

A few steps later… adding the pureed garlic, shallots, cilantro, jalapeno, etc into the chopped mango (see it happened somehow, no pit involved!)

MMMM mango relish

Jul12

Plenty’s Sweet Corn Polenta with Eggplant Tomato Sauce

Posted on July 12, 2013 by athaidek

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Having one of those moments where I’m still fawning over last night’s dinner. Per usual, Cessie and I sat around, sipping on white wine (how young 20s girls night can we get?!) and listening to country music while cooking in my kitchen and dreaming of our “future” lives. But I’m already there!! Planning girls weekends, laughing over funny voices and odd comments by summer campers, and talking about the adventures on which to embark in our new-found post grad years, these are my favorite summer nights.

Inspired by the Plenty cookbook her family gave me for graduation, it was appropo for us to test a recipe for once for my “recipe guy,” or rather, her mom. We decided that since this recipe is all fresh and veggies, it was “healthy.” Well, once you forget the butter, feta cheese, and FRIED eggplant, it is, right? It’s so beautiful too!!

The first good thing about cooking with Cessie is she’s always thinking ahead and has a knack for thinking intuitively in the kitchen. Sometimes I forget the details when they actually ARE necessary. The second thing is that when we are together, our personalities fuse to spit out alternate personalities, weird voices, and unclear jokes that trigger the cycle over again into new alternate personalities, thus spinning everyone else into confusion. Mixing this with food can only make everyone happy 🙂

If you haven’t bought Plenty, here’s the summary: Exquisite vegetarian recipes by a famed London writer, sometimes odd ingredients or those that you just wouldn’t buy a whole bottle of, fresh, very DETAILED recipes which is great, and amazing pics. This was the second recipe I’ve tried, and so far I love it!

This recipe involves making homemade polenta out of sweet corn pureed in the food processor, cooking an eggplant sauce with tomatoes, white wine, salt, sugar, and oregano (we substituted fresh basil which we agree was better!) While a bit time consuming, it’s fairly simple to make. The only thing we forgot was to add cooking liquid from the corn back into it once pureed to make the sauce creamier. But it still turned out great! Enjoy, mes amies.

On to NYC this weekend!! Where should I eat??? I’ve already got Momofuku Milk Bar on the list…

Jun25

Chimichurri Shrimp

Posted on June 25, 2013 by athaidek

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This is my sister’s debut as the official sous chef, FINALLY. She’s a tried and true shrimp lover, so we convinced her sewing shrimp onto skewers was calling her name. I really like that this sauce is both a marinade and leaves a bit of leftover sauce for topping on some grilled veggies or meat a few days later. It’s from the Party Like a Culinista cookbook and is also really pretty.

I’d also like to nix my comment on using the pizza stone on the grill after we sadly lost our pizza stone to the overly hot heat of the grill yesterday. Um, guess there’s a reason it’s only supposed to go in the oven…All the more reason for me to frequent Cook’s Warehouse soon! Since this chimichurri sauce is comprised of cilantro, parsley, lime, and cumin (along with a slew of other ingredients like ginger, cinnamon, garlic, EVOO, sugar), we went with the Mexican theme and paired it with some Spanish rice and delicious veggie mix. Easy peasy: Marinate shrimp for a few hours and throw on the grill on skewers for like 5-6 minutes until JUST pink!

My dad makes a really good Spanish rice with those canned diced tomatoes with jalapenos or chiles, tomato paste, onions, garlic, and chicken broth I think. Then for a quick improvised veggie dish, I sauteed some cauliflower, kale, red beans, and corn with a spice mixture of paprika, cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, S&P. To thicken it up, I also added some tomato paste and chicken broth. Make this marinade this summer for any grilled food or as a pretty topping 🙂

Use your leftover ginger to make a stir-fry later on or some of that peanut sauce from my post a few months ago. It’s also great for making apple-ginger muffins that have a real kick