Tag Archives: summer

Aug14

Sticky Eggplant & Coconut Cashew Rice

Posted on August 14, 2013 by athaidek

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.

Aug1

Cornmeal-crusted Sweet Potato Fries with Summer Herb Aioli

Posted on August 1, 2013 by athaidek

Standard

I love how aioli is the fancy end-all be-all name for mayonnaise+lemon juice +you-name-it. Oooo my Mom and I went to lunch a few months ago at this girly lunch place where they serve their french fries with Kalamata olive aioli. Life will certainly never be the same. I really feel a connection to someone who serves me a common menu item like french fries or toast or something and a dip that I could have SWORN I came up with. Like the time I had oatmeal pancakes with blueberry applesauce and SERIOUSLY thought the chef must have pecked through my mental legal pad of sauce ideas. Back to that kalamata aioli. Ah, salt.

These fries come from the wonderful Sarah Britton’s MyNewRoots blog and can be found here! I love her pictures and I really wish I could travel to cool places!!!! Every time I make sweet potato fries, I’m with all of you in the struggle to get to the appropriate crispyness level. I’m actually not opposed to the softer ones especially if they’ve got a good spice blend on the sweeter side, but when serving others, I feel like I should reach the definition of “fries.”

So Sarah’s recommendation to douse them in cornmeal was brilliant. These came out with a crusty layer (these CRUSTY CRUSTS I GOT, see Glozell for explanation) and really need very little seasoning. I followed her instructions closely, finding it very helpful to soak the cut strips in water. I have heard of that trick for potatoes before but never really saw it in action. Let me tell ya, after taking those potatoes out after 10 ish minutes and seeing the silt in the bottom of the bowl, I’m following the rules again next time.

Toss these guys in cornmeal, olive oil (we dont have any other ones although I heard coconut is good!), salt and pepp, and some garlic powder

There was supposed to be a yogurt sauce, but I only had mayo. So I went with it. To make the aioli, I chopped up some chives, basil, green onions, squeezed half a lemon, a clove of garlic, and some black pepper with the mayo. It was DELISH.

Oooo I thought I’d share this just for kicks. Made some dijon/balsamic roasted brussel sprouts too 🙂

Jul31

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

Posted on July 31, 2013 by athaidek

Standard

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

Jul29

Poblano Salsa

Posted on July 29, 2013 by athaidek

Standard

I’m not really entirely sure why this turned out to look like a rainbow, but hey what can ya do! I had a leftover poblano pepper and really wanted to make some salsa; however, didnt really have any tomatoes. Woops! Here’s what I did in a pinch:

Turned the toaster oven on broil and charred this baby. A few things to remember here, when you hear loud fireworks coming from your kitchen…fear not, it’s just the outside of the poblano pepper charring. Another thing I learned is that broiling them in the toaster oven for like 20 minutes is WAY easier than trying to char them on the gas stovetop. While I love chatting with my mom whilst cooking, it was so much less enjoyable contorting my hands as a makeshift spit to turn the poblano constantly.

Next, I peeled off the charred part, scraped out the seeds and cut the top off, adding the chopped pepper to my food processor. To it I added my salsa additions: cumin, cilantro, lime juice, TONS of garlic, half a chopped Chipotle pepper, a few dashes of adobo sauce from the Chipotle can, some extra virgin olive oil, two cherry tomatoes (rando but all I had) some red onion and pureed it all up with some salt n pepp.

After mixing, it was still a little too smooth bc the poblano is such a mild pepper. To it I added some chopped red onion to give the salsa a little crunch bc that’s how I like it, but that’s the beauty of salsa, it can be adjusted easily to your tastes! Per usual, this kind of dip tasted better after having some time to fuse flavors in the fridge for a few hours.

Jul8

Peach Avocado Corn Salsa

Posted on July 8, 2013 by athaidek

Standard

Delicious for a side salad or as a good chips ‘n’ dip! YUMMO inspired by cookie+kate’s Avocado Peach Salsa, I decided to try the sweet salsa road. I’m a total sucker for that Peach Mango salsa from the grocery store, but I’ve never tried to make a sweet and salty salsa. Having all that leftover chimichurri sauce, I needed to use it on something good. Even though the chimichurri has ginger in it, the cilantro lime cumin part of it is great for a salsa sauce.

I added 1 chopped peach, about 2 tbs of my chimichurri, half a can of drained corn, an avocado chopped up, some red onion, extra limejuice, fresh cracked sea salt (this is key), a tiny dash of sugar (the peaches were a bit tart) and yum, fresh salsa!