Fresh pasta with Mushroom Bourguignon Sauce

 This was great!  But definitely a winter dish, rather than a summer one.

We made our usual fresh pasta, and then used this recipe:

https://smittenkitchen.com/2009/01/mushroom-bourguignon/

But we omitted the pearl onions, since we don't really like them.  The result was rich and flavorful, but definitely is heavily influenced by the wine and broth you use, so choose carefully!  We used "better than bouillon" beef stock.  It was pretty good, though a little salty, and you could definitely taste it in the final sauce.  I'd like to figure out a totally vegetarian alternative that I like.

Chickpea sunflower and dill sandwich

 This was very delicious, though a challenge to keep everything inside the bread.  I would serve it as a slightly warm side-salad.

Original recipe here:  https://minimalistbaker.com/chickpea-sunflower-sandwich/#wprm-recipe-container-35719

We didn't make the garlic herb sauce just because we were in a rush.  We also used normal mayo, I omitted the syrup, and almost doubled the amount of chopped red onion.  Delicious!  Toasting the pepitas and stirring them in right makes everything taste like delicious toasted pepitas.

Corn, Chile, and Soyrizo Strata

 This was very flavorful!  I'd definitely eat it again.

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil, more to grease pan

1/2 - 1lb soyrizo (or chorizo, or mix of those and another ground meat or meat substitute)

1 white onion, chopped

3 poblano chilies, roasted and peeled, seeded and chopped.

1.5 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels

2 cups milk

8 eggs

salt

1/2 lb day old baguette bread, cut/torn into 3/4" cubes

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

-----

In a large frying pan, heat 1 Tbsp oil over medium heat.  Add soyrizo  and cook ~8 min (if using real meat it will brown; I don't think soyrizo does).  Add onion and cook 3 min until soft.  If using meat, drain off fat, otherwise just transfer to a mixing bowl and combine with chilies and corn.

*Note on the chilies: We brush with oil and put under the broiler, turning periodically until all sides are blackened.  Then put them in a sealed freezer bag to steam.  The skin should easily peel off once they've cooled.  Seed and chop.

Lightly oil a 13x9 baking pan (3 qt baking dish).  In a large bowl, whisk eggs, milk and 3/4 tsp salt.

Arrange half the bread in a single layer in the baking dish. Top with half the soyrizo mixture and half the cheese.  Repeat for a second layer.  Slowly pour milk mixture over all the layers.  Wrap securely in plastic wrap, and press lightly to submerge all layers in milk mixture.  Refrigerate 2 hours to overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Uncover the dish and bake until the strata puffs and becomes golden brown, about 1 hour.  Transfer to wire rack and let cool for 5 min

---

Notes:  We used frozen corn, and a delicious wheat country loaf.  There was a run on poblano so we used anaheim chilies, but poblano probably would have been better.  Soyrizo has A LOT of flavor, so next time we'd probably halve the amount, or cut 1/2 lb with another 1/b lb of something else with protein that's not so strongly flavored.

Spinach and Coconut Dal

 This was very delicious!  An unusual one, but I think one of my favorite ones I've done so far.

Recipe: 

Farro salad with dill, asparagus, peas, pistachio, and feta

 Very delicious!  I like this one better than the other farro salad we me two weeks ago.

We got the pre-cooked "quick cook" farro from trader joes that cooks in 10 min.

I toasted ~1/4 cup of pistachios, let them cool and chopped them.

Minced ~1/4 cup dill (maybe a little less) and 1/4 cup flat leaf parsley.

Put in a goodly amount of frozen green peas, thawed and drained.

Heated 2 Tbsp olive oil and pan fried a bunch of asparagus with salt and pepper and chopped them into 1" lengths after they cooled and added them.

Added a goodly amount of crumbled feta.

Delicious!

It doesn't need much else, but I'm thinking of having an optional vinaigrette consisting of:

• 1 shallot, minced
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 1 tsp honey
• 1/2 tsp salt
• fresh cracked pepper to taste

Corn on the cob in a coconut curry (Makai Paka)

 This was delicious, BUT the original recipe is very lengthy and not very good for you.  The original recipe is from the Mumbai Modern cookbook by Amisha Dodhia Gurbani.

I'll give the recipe we used, and then our ideas for what we'd like to try next time...

Boil corn:  Cut corn on cob into 4-5 pieces per ear, (about 2" long each).  Boil corn for 10 minutes.  Remove, but reserve the corn boiling water.

Roast + Grind peanuts:  Roast 1 cup (130 g) peanuts.  Let cool. Grind to a powder in food processor. Set aside.

Prepare fresh coconut:  Use wine corkscrew to puncture hole to coconut middle in the softest of the three germination holes (which should be evident).  Drain the coconut water (Drink!).  Holding coconut in one hand, use the back side of a heavy knife or cleaver to hit it firmly in the middle while rotating so you hit all around the circumference.  Hit hard and repeatedly.  You should see a crack start to form.  Keep going for ~ 1 min until coconut breaks in half.  Use a butter knife (be careful) to insert between flesh and outer shell, and jimmy around until fresh is freed.  Use a peeler to peel away any thing undesired from the outside of the flesh.  Rinse.  Then you can grate with a cheese grater.  This recipe uses 1/2 cup grated.

Prepare tomato mixture:  In the food processor, blend 3 small to medium tomatoes, 1 green chili, 1 inch ginger (~ 3 tsp ginger paste).  (I worry that fresh ginger won't blend well unless you pre-grate it).

Fry onion:  Heat 4 Tbsp vegetable oil on medium.  After 30 sec, add 1.5 tsp cumin seeds, and pinch asafoetida.  After about 20 seconds more (when seeds start sputtering) add 1 diced red onion.  Saute on low for about 10 minutes until onion is golden brown.

After onion is browned, add the tomato mixture and saute for 1 min.  Add 1 tsp turmric, 1.5 tsp chili paste (not cayenne), 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp coriander, 1 tsp garam masala, and 1/2 - 2 tsp salt (we used 1 tsp).  Add 3 Tbsp tomato paste. Saute for 2 minutes, stirring to incorporate and breaking up the tomato paste.  If curry every becomes too dry, add 1/2 cup of the corn water.

Add the ground peanuts and 1.5 cups coconut milk (from a can).  Cook another 2 minutes, stirring to combine.

Add boiled corn and cover with the curry.  Cover and let cook 7-9 minutes.  Garnish with cilantro and you're done!

* * * 

For next time:

- Fresh coconut seems mostly for texture.  I think you could omit it entirely or use frozen grated.

- It would be nice to add something else to round it out.  We later added diced chicken, but I imagine tofu would work, or something else?  Chickpea?

- Instead of roasting + grinding our own peanuts, I'm interested in whether peanut butter could be subbed.