Really nice tapinade!

Easy & nice flavor.

The real question is whether it would have been as good with less fancy olives (as ours were from whole food's olive bar).

Recipe:
2 c green olives, pitted
1/3 c whole untoasted almonds
1 small clove garlic, minced
1.5 T lemon juice
1 T capers, squeezed dry
1/2 C fresh basil leaves
1/2 C olive oil.

Blend all but basil in food processor.  Coarsly chop basil and add them to processer and pulse a few times to start breaking them down.  Add olive oil and sprinkle salt, pulse the food processor until it's a coarse paste but with a little texture by the not-entirely-broken-down almonds.

Beef & Broccoli Lo Mein

Another really great recipe!

This one came from:   https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/04/stir-fried-lo-mein-beef-broccoli-recipe.html

A few notes: 
  - Waiting until oil was smoking was important at each of the steps.
  - I omitted the additional oil for the broccoli since there was a lot of beef fat in there already
  - Broccoli only needs 1 min covered after adding water; not 2
  - I patted the noodles dry with paper towels and cut them into shorter pieces.  I think this was a good plan.

Note that this recipe has no spice at all, though is very rich and flavorful.  I might be interested in a version with a little more kick.

Pictures:

Finished product

After cooking just the beef

Noodles getting patted dry

Marinating beef + sauce ingredients

Raw broccoli + noodle package

Porccini ravioli

The filling was *amazing* but the pasta itself was more of a learning experience this time around.

For the pasta I followed:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzQDzYXDD08

I apparently lost the crank handle to my pasta maker, so I hand rolled them and I didn't get it thin enough so the result was definitely tougher than desired.  I'm not sure if there were also other reasons for this toughness.

The filling (recipe below) was great, though.

Porccini filling

1 - 1.5 lbs brown mushrooms, cleaned, stemmed and quartered.  Mince in food processor in 2 batches, ~15 pulses each batch.  Rinse 1 oz dried porccini and mince (ok if still hard/crispy). 

Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil over medium low heat.  Simmer 2 minced shallot and 5 minced garlic for 30 seconds.  Then add all mushrooms + 1/2 tsp salt.  Cover and simmer for ~10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove lid and crank heat up to high and cook until all liquid evaporates + a little after that.  Mushrooms should clump together.  Turn heat to low and add 1/4 C heavy cream and cook ~1 min more.  Result should be "coherent" but not "wet" (so says the book). 

Remove from heat, and in a mixing bowl add 1 C grated Parmesan and 2 Tbsp minced flat leaf parsley.  Season with pepper.

SO good!

Here are some photos:

Finished product

Mushrooms in progress

Hand rolled dough....didn't turn out so well this time

Putting in filling

Folded over on itself and pinched to seal

Cut with the pastry wheel!

Spanish crispy potatoes with spicy tomato sauce

This was a real winner!  Not the fastest recipe, but very solid.

The spicy tomato sauce has a nice balance between spicy, sweet and vinegar and is very flavorful.  The crispy potatoes take forever to make crispy, but it's definitely worth it!

Crispy Potato
8-10 small red potatoes.  Boil whole for ~15-20 min.  Should be tender all the way through when speared with a skewer.  Drain and let cool, then cut into quarters.  *carefully* toss in 3 tbsp olive oil and some salt.  Bake @ 475 for 45 min turning once.  I used parchment paper and they browned very nicely.

Both recipes come from a book we've got a lot of mileage out of.

Here's the recipe:

The crispy potatoes

We had them with an only semi-successful homemade ravioli.

Post-Thanksgiving turkey jook

This is the recipe I've always wanted to make, and it's as good as I dreamed!

I took the turkey carcass after Thanksgiving, used it to make a stock, and used the stock to make rice porridge, and it was great!

Here's the approximate recipe:

Stock:

Browned the turkey bones in 1-2 Tbsp oil cooking on med-high for about 5 min.

Put bones + the turkey carcass (cut in half) with some meat still on it in the slow cooker along with 6 coins of ginger (about 1.5" worth).

Let cook on high for 3-4 hours.

Jook:

After straining the stock, I brought ~3 Qrts stock to a boil, then added ~1.5C raw rice and lowered to a low simmer.  Simmered for about 1.5 hours until the rice had broken down.

Serving;

I like mine with scallions and white pepper.

Can also be served with:  julienned ginger, peanuts, cilantro, sliced reconstituted shiitake mushroom, sliced boc choy, or whatever else.  To bulk it up, we sometimes add some actual turkey meat or tofu cubes.

Making the stock

Stock is done!

Finished jook

Bronwing the bones

Ginger.  I think I could have added more....I love ginger

Whole Roasted Chicken Dinner

It's starting to get chilly and I thought a whole roasted chicken in the manner of a traditional "Sunday" dinner would be just the thing.

Combined techniques from these two posts:
Dry Brine: https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-a-zuni-cafe-roasted-chicken-at-home-34903
Veggies: https://www.thekitchn.com/viking-chicken-182165
Za'atar seasoning: https://www.thekitchn.com/inside-the-spice-cabinet-zaatar-seasoning-blend-82566

Here's what I did with notes for what to change for next time

INGREDIENTS

• Smallest whole chicken you can find (mine ended up being ~4.5 lb I think and we ate it for DAYS. Might be able to get a 2-3 pound chicken from the Indian market)
• 1-2 lb of veggies for roasting (we used brussels sprouts, potato, carrot, mushroom)
• Za'atar (want to explore other dry rubs for next time):
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp dried sumac
• 1 tsp sesame seeds

METHOD

1-3 days in advance:

• Combine the thyme, sumac, sesame seeds and set aside
• Measure 3/4 tsp salt per 1 lb chicken (found this was a little salty so might reduce next time) and mix with some fresh ground pepper and set aside
• Remove giblets from the chicken.
• Pat the chicken dry inside and out as much as possible with paper towels
• Loosen skin over chicken breasts by running fingers under the skin gently
• Tuck a little less than half of the za'atar mixture under the chicken breast skin
• Rub the salt all over the chicken making sure to get under the wings and drumsticks and sprinkling heavily over the thicker parts of the breasts and thighs.
• Cover chicken loosely in a clean plastic bag (like a grocery bag), tie loosely, and place in the fridge for 1-3 days, the more the better.

Day of:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees and set rack to a lower position.
• Chop veggies in big chunks. Toss with a bit of oil and very lightly salt. They will be sitting under the chicken while it bakes for ~1.5 hours so big is good and they will get flavor from the chicken juices as it cooks, so they don't need much. Place all the veggies in a shallow baking tray large enough to hold your chicken, we used our Le Creuset oval baker.
• Remove chicken from the fridge. Tilt chicken to pour out any accumulated juices and pat dry. (this might be where some of the excess salt can be wiped off also, since ours came out a little over-salted). Rub with the remaining za'atar from a few days ago. Place breast-side up on top of veggies in the roasting dish. You could top the breast with a pat or two of butter, we did not.
• Place chicken & veggies in the oven and reduce to 400 degrees. Roast for 1.5 hours. You may need less time for a much smaller bird. If you have a meat thermometer, cook until it registers 165 degrees in the thickest part of the thigh.
• Our skin didn't get super crisp, so I might also recommend a quick broil before removing from the oven if that's what you're after.
• Remove from oven, place chicken on a cutting board and tent with foil, letting it rest for ~15 minutes. In the meantime, give the veggies a quick stir in all those good chicken drippings.
• Eat! Save leftovers and eat some more!

Shaukut's Aaloo Chana Recipe

Cooked it straight from Shaukut's suggested version, except I used regular cumin seeds instead of Kaloongi (black cumin), and I left out the mix pickle since I didn't have any.  Results were still great! =)

Aaloo Chana
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWe-uN3WkKE : Faiza Recipe (The recipe is in Urdu)

Ingredients:
0:  3 Tbsp ghee (or 2 Tbsp oil 1 butter)
1: onion 1 large (minced/chopped)
2: tomato 2-3 large (chopped)
3: 1 large golden potato (or 2-3 med red ones)
4: masoor dal 1/2 cup (soaked in water until soft ~15-30 min)
5: mung dal 1/2 cup (soaked in water ~15-30 min)
6: chick peas 2 cans (16 oz. each)
7: turmeric 1/2 TSP
8: salt 1TBS  (Or less if you omit the potato).
9: red chilli powder 1/2 TSP (or less)
10:black cardamom 3
12:cumin seeds 1 TBS
13:water:  4 cups (or more if you need it)

1: heat oil in a pan add cumin seeds, black cardamom, onions and fry till gets
light golden on high flame.  [ 6- 10 min for me ]

2: add the tomato, salt, red chilli, turmeric, both the dal (drain the water they were soaked in),
add the water.

3: wait for a boil and then simmer on med-low until dal is cooked and gets soft (about 30 minutes). Stir often to ensure that the daal does not stick to the pot.  Add more water if needed.

3.5:  Using a blender (emersion or otherwise), blend some or all of the dal (removing the black cardamom first).

4: now add the chickpeas (drained) and potatoes in 1cm cubes and cook till the potatoes get cooked but does not loose shape and the curry gets thick (about 10-15 minutes)

Fragrant Chinese Yam Rice

Original recipe:  https://www.foodelicacy.com/easy-fragrant-yam-rice/

Came out pretty well!  I'd definitely make it again.

We used cubed chicken thigh instead of pork belly (and about twice as much).

When I make again:
  - double the amount of yam and mushroom
  - keep amount of chicken the same
  - either leave out dried shrimp, or use real shrimp chopped into little bits.

Here's the dried shrimp I used.  They were ok, and I think if you're used to this, they're probably really great.  They were just a little too intensely fishy for me.

Yam & re-constituted shiitake mushroom

Frying the yam

After adding shrimp & chicken

in my bowl!

In the pot

Thai chicken stew with wild rice

This made a BOATLOAD of stew with a nice warm curry flavor and very minimal prep.

David loved this soup (one of his favorites).  Maria liked it, but thought it was too rich and would halve the coconut milk.

Original recipe:  http://carlsbadcravings.com/slow-cooker-thai-coconut-chicken-wild-rice-soup/

Only deviation from the recipe was to add a chopped up head of broccoli in the last 15 minutes.
We SHOULD have added the zuccini in the last 15 minutes (or maybe at the end and let it cook in the residual heat).  We accidentally forgot to add the sweet potato.  Would also be nice to have some of those tiny asian mushrooms in there.

Heat level was good.  We used the Mae Ploy red curry paste.  Maybe a hint too much peanut butter (but Maria didn't measure it, so hard to say).  A little lime zest in the last 15 might be good too, or ginger or something.

Anyway; great soup!

Homemade Sichuan Chili Oil

I LOVE this and put it on everything, including eggs and toast in the morning.

It's not spicy, and there's not enough sichuan peppers in there to numb your tongue.  Instead it's a nice dark, umami, warming undertone to whatever you want.  Great with any kind of meat or mushrooms.

I followed the original recipe pretty much exactly:  https://omnivorescookbook.com/how-to-make-chili-oil/

The only note was that at her prescribed temp, I wasn't getting any bubbling at all, but I kept it at that temp since she seemed freaked out about burning the spices.  The results were great!  Makes a lot of oil that lasts 6 months in the refrigerator. 

I'm almost out, but here's mine:

Lunch MaPo Tofu

One of my favorites!  Esp. in winter.  (and it's close enough now).

Original recipe:  https://omnivorescookbook.com/authentic-mapo-tofu/

I double it, and add some (limited) vegetables.

-----

Marinate:  Combine 1/2 lb ground meat (original is pork, we do beef; either way, make it fatty) with 4 tsp rice wine, 2 tsp light soy sauce and 1 tsp minced ginger.

Heat on med heat:  2 Tbsp homemade schezuan chili oil (recipe, but also see note below).
Add 1 large carrot, diced, and let it brown (~5 min).
Add beef and stir around to break it up, cook until mostly done.

Add 3 Tbsp broadbean paste.
Add tiny mushrooms.

Stir and cook until beef is done.  Add frozen peas.  Stir until they're heated up.

Add 1/4 - 1/2 tsp five spice powder, 1 - 1.5 tsp sugar and stir.  Add large cubes of soft tofu from 2 packages.  Add 1.5 C water and gently stir around.  Heat on high until simmering, then turn to low and heat covered with a crack for 10-15min until the sauce reduces.

Add slurry of water and cornstarch to thicken.

Add green onion at the end (imo).

Ta da!  Photos below.

But first:  a note about sichuan chili oil.  It's not spicy.  The recipe linked above gives an oil with a dark, umami warming flavor.  I LOVE it and add it to lots of stuff, including eggs and toast in the morning.  The original recipe calls for a neutral oil in which you fry sichuan pepper corns, removing and, if desired grinding to re-add at the end.

I prefer the sichuan pepper to add a warming undertone.  If you add more, THEN you get that unique tongue numbing effect, which is also fun, but not what I want for everyday lunches, usually.

Here's the carrots and mushrooms that will go in

Carrots in the chili oil

Now with mushrooms, beef, broadbean paste, and peas

Plus the tofu & water

All done!

Chicken Saag

We found a saag recipe we like! Based off of the recipe on AllRecipes but made with modifications based on the reviewers and how much work I actually wanted to do.

Ingredients
1/4 cup vegetable oil or ghee
2 lb boneless skinless thighs, cut into big bite pieces. Would be good with bone-in though.
2 pounds frozen chopped spinach, thawed and water squeezed out
1 large onions, minced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 (1 inch) piece fresh ginger root, minced
1 (14.5 ounce) can crushed tomatoes fire roasted
2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 green cardamom pods
1 black cardamom pod
2 whole cloves
1/2 cup heavy cream (used this because I had it, milk would be fine I think)
1 heaping teaspoon garam masala
6 tablespoons sour cream
2 tablespoons butter (omitted when using heavy cream)

Directions
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat, and fry the chicken pieces until browned after sprinkling with some salt, about 8 minutes per side. Set the chicken aside.

Run the thawed spinach through the food processor a bit to get a finer chop.

Place the onions, garlic, and ginger into the skillet, and fry over medium heat, stirring frequently, until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Pour in the tomatoes, ground coriander, chili powder, turmeric, cardamom, cloves, and 1 tsp salt; stir in 1 tablespoon water, and cook, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes. Pour in the milk or cream, stir to combine, and return the chicken pieces to the skillet. Bring the mixture to a simmer, reduce heat, cover, and simmer until the chicken is tender, about 20 minutes. Stir the spinach and garam masala into the skillet, and cook about 15 minutes, stirring moderately to ensure it doesn't stick/burn.
Stir in sour cream, and bring the mixture just to a simmer. Remove from heat and stir in butter if using.

Here's our picture!  (right on the stovetop; not super pretty, but very delicious!)

Improv Chipotle Shrimp Tacos

We do this every so often and never write it down, so this time I'm writing it down!

Dry rub:
  1 Tbsp smoked paprika
  1 Tbsp chipotle chili powder
 1/4 tsp garlic powder
   1 tsp salt

We only ended up using 1/2 of this.

I rinsed the shrimp, patted them dry on paper towels, then tossed them with half of the above mixture (see photo).  I added a glug (maybe 1-2 Tbsp?) oil, let it heat over medium-high heat, then added shrimp.  Let them cook undisturbed in a single layer for ~2 min.  Then stirred them around for another maybe 2 min until their texture seemed right.

We used trader joe's slaw mix, to which we added a bit of salt, and squeezed 1/4 of a lime.
We use trader joe's half corn half flour tortillas, heated on a skillet (actually Maria's Indian cookware).

We served with sour cream, avocado, and cilantro.  Delicious!

oh!  This time I cut up some zuccini which I cooked in the pan after the shrimp with a little extra oil + 1 tsp minced garlic (which I just used our jarred garlic for).  Not sure that garlic really did anything special.  Added a splash of water after a few minutes and let it simmer in that until tender.

Lavash pizza with spinach and olives

This was fast and VERY good!  $20 at a bistro kind of good.

We followed the recipe exactly and it was a really nice balance of flavors.  Clearly there's a lot you could do with this recipe in terms of topping variations, but I kind of think I don't want to mess with it.  This will definitely be general rotation.

Ingredients

2 Tbsp olive oil
2 pieces of lavash bread (we buy at Trader Joe's)
10 oz frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry (with your hands or a cheesecloth)
4 oz shredded fontina cheese (about 1 cup)
1 tomato cut into half-inch pieces
half-cup chopped pitted green olives
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp each: red pepper flakes, salt, ground black pepper
1 oz Parmesan cheese (about 1/2 cup)

Pre-heat oven to 475F.  Brush lavash with oil on both sides using a brush.  (If you don't have a brush, do your best with your fingers; coating needn't be complete or uniform).  If you run out of oil, feel free to replenish.

Let them crisp up in the oven for 2.5 minutes.  Flip them over and cook for another 2.5 min.

Here's what ours looked like when they came out:

Combine  spinach, fontina, tomato, olives, garlic, pepper flakes, salt and pepper in a bowl (HOLD on the parmesan until the end). 

Then sprinkle evenly over each lavash:

Sprinkle parmesan evenly over the top.  Put back in the over for an additional 6-8 minutes until cheese is melted.