Tonight I made some “let’s see what I have in the kitchen/garden” risotto that was different enough from my last risotto recipe to warrant its own post. A note on the butter: I bought some butter from the farmer’s market that was “European style,” which the vendor explained meant it had more fat in it. It’s pretty freakin tasty. Anyway…

Ingredients

• 1-2 Tablespoons of butter or olive oil or a combination
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 1-2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2-3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped
• handful of fresh parsley, chopped
• 2 thyme sprigs
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 2/3 cup white wine
• 2 cups rice
• 6 Tablespoons butter
• A few tablespoons of shredded havarti cheese
• A few small, fresh tomatoes, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Heat oil/butter in a large pot
2. Toss onion, carrots, garlic, and pepper and cook for 5 minutes on med-high heat, stirring occasionally
3. Add basil, parsley, and thyme and stir to coat
4. Add rice and cook until it starts to brown, stirring frequently so it doesn’t burn
5. Add wine and cook until absorbed by rice
6. Add stock 1 cup at a time and stir until absorbed by rice before adding next cup
7. Remove the pot from heat, add the rest of the butter and shred in the havarti cheese (not too much, just a bit for flavor)
8. Toss in fresh tomatoes

I made one of those “whatever I have in the kitchen” curries tonight, and it turned out pretty tasty! I’m attempting to reconstruct it here, but I might be off on things like spice amounts. I do remember it being pretty mild, so if you want more punch, add more spice. It was also a relatively dry curry, so if you like yours more “saucy,” add more liquid (stock, water, cream, or even crushed tomatoes might be tasty). You can also use vegetable or chicken stock instead of beef, I just have a ton of beef stock that I’m trying to use up.

Ingredients

• 1 cup dried lentils
• 2-3 cups water
• 1 potato, diced
• A few leaves of kale, chopped
• olive oil
• 1 small-medium onion, diced
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 3 carrots, peeled and chopped
• grated ginger
• a handful of spinach leaves, chopped
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp amchur/dried mango powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp coriander
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp cumin
• 2 tsps garam masala
• 2 tsps tandoori masala
• 1 cup beef stock
• salt to taste
• rice for serving

Directions

1. Add lentils and water to a saucepan, bring to a boil
2. Add potato and kale to lentils, reduce heat, partially cover with lid and simmer for 15 minutes
3. Strain lentils and return to pan, set aside
4. In another pot, heat up some oil, then add onion, garlic, carrots, spinach, and ginger. Cook for about 5 minutes on medium high heat
5. Add spices and stir, coating all the vegetables. Cook for about a minute or so more until fragrant
6. Add lentil mixture to the pot and stir
7. Add stock and stir, then cover partially and simmer over medium-low heat for 15 minutes (give or take)
8. Salt to taste, add more spices if needed.
9. Serve on rice.

Stir fry is my go-to default meal,so I don’t usually share recipes since they’re usually just small variants of my standard stir fry.  Tonight, though, my experiments led to a different enough path that I think it warrants recording.  The lemony flavor is quite strong.

Ingredients

• 4 thin boneless pork chops
• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 3-4 fresh sage leaves, chopped
• 1 head of baby bok choy, chopped
• soba noodles prepared according to package instructions (I normally make rice or pure vegetable stir fries, but tonight I was feeling noodley.  Feel free to use rice if you prefer it)

For marinade:

• soy sauce
• olive oil
• rice vinegar
• a dash of sesame oil
• juice from one lemon
• (1 tsp corn starch and 2 tsps water for thickening into sauce)

1. Mix soy sauce, olive oil, rice vinegar into a shallow dish (I didn’t measure, sorry guys, do your best guess).  Add sesame oil and lemon juice and stir
2. Cut pork chops into strips and place in marinade.  Marinate for an hour or so
3. Heat some olive oil in a wok and brown the strips of pork on all sides.  Set pork aside and drain out some of the juices in the wok, leaving just enough to stir fry the vegetables
4. Add all vegetables and stir fry for a few minutes
5. Add the pork and stir
6. in the reserved marinade, add corn starch and water and stir briskly.  Add to the wok and bring to a boil until sauce starts to thicken
7. Add noodles, toss, and serve!

Just a super quick recipe post…yesterday I baked a chocolate cake for kicks, and wanted to figure out how I could use up some leftover chocolate chips and marshmallows.  I couldn’t find an icing recipe that I had all the ingredients for, but I used them for reference and made this cake frosting that turned out wonderfully!

Unfortunately it was sort of “throw a bit of this and a bit of that” into a saucepan, so most of these measurements are shifty.

Ingredients

• 2 TBs butter
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup of chocolate chips (I had like 1/4 of a bag leftover)
• Some water
• Some vanilla (maybe 1/2 teaspoon)
• 1 TBs of sugar or more (I literally grabbed several pinches of it)
• Handful of mini marshmallows, maybe 1 cup

1. Melt butter in a small saucepan.  stir in chocolate chips and keep stirring over medium low heat until they are melted.  Add some water if needed to keep from scorching.

2. Stir in vanilla and sugar.

3. Stir in marshmallows and keep stirring until they are melted.  Taste for if you need more sugar (but don’t burn your tongue).

4. Remove from heat and continue stirring until mixture thickens slightly as it cools.  Frost cake immediately!  (it gets pretty stiff when it cools completely)

Edit: I should add: this made enough frosting to cover a 1 layer 8 inch round cake.

If you know me well, then you know I struggle to eat vegetables.  None is so difficult to force myself to consume than the greens, though.  This is because greens are disgusting, clearly, but I feel I must make some effort to be healthy.

I can disguise them pretty well in a stir fry, but sometimes I run out of other vegetables to include.  After much experimenting, I have FINALLY figured out a form in which I will actually enjoy them:

Ingredients

• Olive oil
• Clove of garlic, chopped
• Greens (this can be spinach, chard, collards, cabbage, kale – whatever) chopped into wide strips
• Salt
• Apple cider vinegar (OR rice vinegar and soy sauce, but more vinegar)

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a wok or skillet and saute the garlic for a bit
2. Add the greens and toss until it starts to wilt slightly
3. Add a sprinkle of salt and a bit of vinegar (I usually use a capful so I’m not sure how much this is.  Maybe 2 teaspoons?) and toss the greens.
4. Cover the wok and let the greens steam for a few minutes
5. Remove from wok and serve.

This is a weird recipe.  I was trying to mod an existing Poule au Pot recipe based on the ingredients I already had, which were chicken parts instead of a whole chicken (and different veggies and no pasta).  I wanted stuffing, though, so I looked for something else I could mount it in, and happened to have a turnip, so there you go.

For the Stuffing, mix together in a bowl:

• 1 cup or so of breadcrumbs.  I didn’t measure exactly, just grated a leftover third of stale baguette I happened to have
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1 TBS melted butter
• salt and pepper
• handful of fresh dill, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup chicken stock

Gather together in cheesecloth:

• 1 whole shallot with 2 cloves shoved into the sides
• 1 bay leaf
• a few sprigs of fresh thyme
• a few stems of fresh parsley
• 1 rib celery, cut into chunks

Take:

• 1 large turnip

cut off the root end and the top (keep the top).  Cut out the center of the turnip and set aside for later.  I sort of worked my way around the turnip with a knife, cut an x cross-ways, then used a spoon to dig out chunks.  I repeated this until I had an empty turnip casing.

Fill the turnip with stuffing, put the lid back on and tie around the turnip with kitchen twine to keep it shut.

Season with salt and pepper:

• 1 chicken thigh and leg
• 1 chicken wing

Add the chicken, cheesecloth bundle, and turnip to a large saucepan or pot and fill with water until the chicken is just covered.  Cover the pot and bring to a boil, then uncover and simmer 10-15 minutes, skimming the fat, reducing the broth.

(this is where I messed up somewhat.  I was trying to figure out the difference in poaching time between chicken parts and a whole bird, and I think I ended up simmering for too long or at too high a temperature, because the chicken was kind of mild.  I may have leeched out the flavor like you do when you make stock.  More experiments needed)

Add to the pot:

• 1 leek, halved and cut into 4 inch pieces
• The turnip innards from before

Add water if needed to keep the chicken covered and continue simmering until the veggies are tender and the chicken is done (165 degree F internal temp).

Remove chicken and turnip and strain vegetables.  Take the lid off the turnip and serve everything together.

I’m not sure this counts as a true recipe so much as an example of “let’s just throw everything I happen to have in the kitchen into a pot and see what happens.”  I am feeling under the weather today and so thought I’d make some soup for myself.

Ingredients

• olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, cored, seeded and chopped
• 1 winter squash, peeeled and chopped into cubes
• 3 small turnips, peeled and chopped
• 1 yukon potato, peeled and chopped
• 1 granny smith apple, peeled and chopped
• 4 cups of vegetable stock or chicken stock or water or any combination thereof
• bundle of random dried herbs (I had some from my CSA in a bundle but I couldn’t identify all the herbs, I think maybe sage was in there somewhere)
• salt and pepper
• spices to your liking (I used some ground ginger to good effect)

1. Heat the oil in a large pot and cook the onion, garlic, and pepper until fragrant, a few minutes.

2. Add all the other vegetables and cook for a few minutes, stirring

3. Add stock and herb bundle.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the vegetables are tender.

4. Remove from heat.  Remove the herb bundle. Transfer about a cup full of vegetables to a blender or food processor and puree, then return to the pot (leave the other veggies in chunk form for texture)

5. Add salt, pepper, and spices to taste.  Heat through and serve.

There was a request for the recipe for my pomegranate apple sauce, so here it is!

• 3-4 apples, peeled, cored, cut into chunks
• 1 pomegranate’s worth of seeds (youtube will help you with the optimal way to open a pomegranate)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

Add apple chunks and pomegranate seeds to a medium saucepan.  Mix together sugar and water and add to saucepan.  Bring to a boil, lower heat and cover, let simmer for about 20 minutes.  Remove cover and simmer 20 minutes more, until most of the water has reduced.  Mash up the apples with a spoon.  Done!

As for the honey cornmeal pancakes, I just used this recipe (sans syrup.  I used some plum preserves and then spread the applesauce onto them):

http://www.honey.com/nhb/recipes/recipe-details?RecipeID=647

(serves 1)

1/2 bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
2 radishes, thinly sliced
handful of arugula chopped
2 eggs
olive oil
black pepper
soy sauce

Heat olive oil in a skillet. Saute the peppers and radishes for a few minutes, then add arugula and stir until it is wilted. Beat the eggs and dump them in the skillet. Add some pepper and a dash of soy sauce, then stir the mixture until the eggs are cooked. Serve and enjoy!

A quick discovery when I was throwing together random things in the kitchen.

juice of 1/2 lemon
juice of 1 orange
some rice vinegar
ground ginger

Marinate for 1/2 an hour to an hour. Zing!