Roasty Toasty

This post title has nothing to do with the roasty toasty feeling I got when we FINALLY had our first fireplace fire last night (It was 61 degrees F on Christmas eve! so the holidays didn't see a single fire).
I also woke up this morning to the first snowfall of 2015.  It was just starting to salt the yard in white when I woke up and it's continued all day tho. with minimal accumulation.

And, it's quite cold now - truly feels like winter.

What I actually mean by Roasty Toasty is a bit of kitchen talk here.  Do you roast? I mean vegetables?

To me, roasting veggies is like the cooking secret that makes superb vegetables seem almost too easy. If in doubt - roast it out!  I mean, I roast every vegetable I can and when I serve it the reviews are nothing short of rave.

What do I roast? Cauliflower, Brussel Sprouts, Carrots, Onions, Garlic, Broccoli, Zucchini, Eggplant, Squash, Potatoes, Peppers (yes, I know, some of those things are not technically a vegetable).  But seriously, there is no better taste than a roasted veggie.

I am not a big cooked carrot lover but roast me some carrots and I could eat a bushel.

Don't know how to roast - well here are few tips:

TIP#1: keep it simple
TIP#2: there aren't many rules and those that there are can be altered
TIP#3: don't be afraid to try
TIP#4: roast different types of veggies separately because some cook at a different speed

Last night I made roasted carrots, potatoes and onions to accompany our salmon.

Here's what I do:

Grab some carrots.  I find skinny ones work best.

Give their tops a chop.  I use my kitchen scissors.

Give them a little bath to free them of any excess earth.

Add them to a baking pan.  I have used cake pans, pie pans, cookie pans, jelly roll pans, etc.  I find they do best in metal.  I have also started using parchment paper and they work well on the paper which saves a bit on the cleanup as well.

Drizzle them with oil.  I'm sure you can experiment with oils, I tend to use Olive Oil.  And they don't need a ton, seriously just a drizzle.

Give them a bit of flavor.  For the carrots I simply ground some pepper and then ground some pink salt.

Since I also did potato and onion, I'll show you those as well.

Peel the onion and give it a rough chop.  I cut my potatoes randomly and try to keep the sizes similar.  I don't bother to peel the potatoes unless the outside is really bad looking or they are a bit older than they should be.  And any type of potato does fine - these are organic redskins.

For the onion, it was just oil and a tad bit of sea salt.

For the potatoes it was oil, salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme and a little dash of granulated garlic powder.

(by the way - the potatoes do well with all types of experimental flavors - I love to do them with curry powder or mexi-spices - just add whatever goes nicely with your dinner, I'm sure it will work).

Then, just pop them in the oven.

I usually put mine on convection roast but I've also done just the bake setting as well.  If I have to cook something other than the veggies at the same time, I adjust to make it all work but for the most part I roast at 425F.  I'd say 400F to 450F is all good.  I also try to keep the roasted veggies etc on the top rack but when I use convection it really doesn't matter.

I try to keep like veggies together because potatoes take longer than zucchini for instance and if they are all mixed together, it's harder to pull out the ones that are done.

Timer? Well, I rarely use one.  I just look at them from time to time.  I do usually pull them out about 10 minutes in and use a metal spatula to give them a shuffle and flip them over a bit.  I'd say around 20 mins is average, a bit less for zuchini, a bit more when it's potatoes.  And by the way- the browned and burned bits are super yummy so don't worry about them.  They add to the flavor!

At the end of their cooking time they should look a bit like this.  These guys all cooked for about the same time which wasn't much more than 20 mins.  And bonus that the salmon took about the same time in the rack below.

The dinner was DELISH and so easy!

Pan Fried Stir Fry

I really don't know nothin' bout cookin' Asian food.

In fact I don't know nothin' bout cookin' most food - but I wing it and get lucky pretty often.

My friend JoAnn (yes this post is for you dear!) and I joined a CSA (community supported agriculture).  We split one full veggie share and we each get our own fruit share.  Neither of us has ever done a CSA.  So far it's been fun - and adventurous and new and fresh and cool.  So far, we have eaten a mountain of lettuce!  It's really awesome to be trying this with a friend.  Today JoAnn gave me some funny looks when I told her to take her share of certain CSA items and I instead came home with all of the beets and all of the swiss chard.  We also got a bunch of stuff I'd never eaten: fennel, radicchio, escarole.  AND... I had never cooked my own beets.

Because we are trying so many new things, I often suggest to JoAnn things that she can try to cook with the items that are new to us.  Today, I came home and experimented with all the food we got and tasted everything and decided I would make some sort of an Asian inspired dish.  Now, as I said before, I don't know nothin' bout cookin' Asian food - and that is the truth!

But, I do know that I like fresh veggies and I do know that I like pan fried (crispy) noodles.  So I decided to do that.  Here is what I came up with and it was REALLY - seriously like I was some kinda cooking pro - REALLY good.  Give it a try JoAnn - I think you have all the ingredients!

Oh yeah, did I mention that I had the beet greens because I roasted my own beets?  I put the beets in a little foil packet with some olive oil and put them in the toaster oven at 375F and then promptly forgot about them for 40 mins which as it turned out was the perfect amount of roasting time.  When I took them out of the foil and ran them under cold water, the skins came right off.  I then sliced them up and stored them in the fridge to add to salads - YUM.

Once the noodles are almost crisped enough, I toss all the separate veggies (and shrimp) back into the pan and let them warm and blend together on medium heat for just a bit.  At that time, I dump in any sauce I have made for the dish.

Now, when it comes to the sauce, you can simply buy a sauce you like at an Asian market but I usually make my own.  I have no idea what I'm doing when I make it - I simply take every Asian inspired ingredient from my fridge and mix them til it tastes right to me.  Today I used: ginger/garlic paste, chili sauce (Siracha would work here as well), sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, peanut sauce and a bit of brown sugar.  I just kept mixing until it tasted the way I wanted it to.  So - good luck.  Mine was delish by the way.

As soon as I add the sauce and give it all a stir, I turn off the heat and get ready to serve.

Put some crispy noodles on the plate and top with the veggie/sauce mixture.  Whether you eat it with a fork or chop sticks, ENJOY!

Sweet N Spicy Rice

Sweet N Spicy Rice is a dish I invented when I didn't have much available in the house to produce dinner.  It was so yummy that I've made it many times now and it's a dinner favorite.

I was always taught "one starch at a time, " and that combining rice, corn and potatos was not really something that was done.  So first, let me warn you - I have broken the rules.

Here's how to make it.

First - start with these ingredients (can you tell I am a Trader Joes die hard?) - both my sister and my daughter work at TJs but not at the store where I shop : (

Ingredients:
1.  A yam.  I suppose you could you could substitute a sweet potato - I can't tell the difference
2.  Frozen corn - I use TJs organic yellow
3.  Rice - I used a TJ box of rice pilaf (often I use brown basmati or brown boil in a bag rice)
4.  TJs Spicy Jalapeno Chicken Sausage (other flavors of chicken sausage are available but this one is my hands down favorite and I am not someone who eats chicken often or even meat often)
5.  Earth Balance (other butter product may be substituted, I LOVE EB and use it for virtually all my cooking and even some baking)
6. oil (your favorite variety)

NOTE:  This time I used a rice with a flavor packet.  Often I don't.  If I don't use a flavor packet when cooking the rice, I use a vegetable bullion cube (the brand in the photo is my favorite and I use it for all multitude of cooking) and a bit of earth balance to flavor the rice once it's cooked.

The Steps.

WHILE YOU'RE COOKING:  Treat the cook~ Pour yourself a yummy glass of wine to enjoy while you're cooking.  I had a recently opened bottle of Menage a Trois red wine that did the trick just fine.  I also enjoyed a little snack of my FAVORITE cheese!

I swear this is the yummiest cheese I've ever had.  It's called Toscano - and it's dipped soaked! in Syrah - and oooohhhh the flavor, yes, it's Trader Joes.  I swear I do not get any kick back from TJs.

1.  Peel the yam. 

Cut it into bite sized chunks. 

Boil it until soft but not mushy, the chunks should hold their shape after cooking.  Drain, set aside.

2.  Cook the rice according to package directions and/or follow the "NOTE" above.  Set aside.

3.  Heat the frozen corn, I add a bit of EB, salt & pepper

4.  Slice the sausage into fat coins. 

Brown them in a skillet with 1t of oil. 

I used olive oil. 

I cook the sausage with a lid on the skillet to reduce splatter

but I lift and stir the little sausage coins often to create crispiness on all sides.

5.  Once the sausage is cooked, add in the yam, corn and rice.  Gently mix.  Voila - dinner.

For all my vegan followers (and family) consider substituting the spicy sausage with a vegan sausage or spicy tofu.

Add a salad on the side and you're ready to eat.

Here's my favorite salad: mixed greens (organic baby romaine, organic baby spinach and organic shredded cabbage) with shredded carrots, walnut pieces, chopped avacado, crumbled blue cheese and cherry tomatos.  I drizzled my favorite dressing on top: Newman's Own - Rasberry Walnut Viniagrette - YUM!

Dinner was delish - enjoy yours!

It's PESTO time again!

For the past two years my backyard vegetable garden just hasn't yielded as well as I would have liked but after a rough start, and a few additional plantings, my basil finally took!

There's nothing better than pulling something from your own yard and creating dinner with it the same night.  If you haven't made pesto before, just know that it's really easy.  Here's how I do it.

First.  Pick enough Basil so that when you pluck off the leaves, you will fill your food processor above the level of the blade. 

Peel some garlic cloves.  A typical amount might be 2 - 3 cloves but I LOVE garlic and there can never be too much in my estimation - so I use a lot.

You can rough chop the garlic first but my processor does a good enough job with the cloves left whole.  Toss them in with the basil leaves and put the top on the processor.  Begin to blend the two ingredients.  As soon as they are partially broken down, begin to drizzle in some olive oil through the processor's pour hole.





Don't add too much, just enough to give a glossy sheen to the mixture.  As you continue to blend the ingredients the green will turn brighter, lighter and somewhat milkier looking.

YUM!  This looks just perfect to me.  At this point some people add in pine nuts and parmesean cheese (already finely grated).  However, I like to add the last two ingredients to my dish when I serve the food.  If there will be leftover PESTO, and if it needs to be heated, the heating process makes the cheese kind of gummy when it's already in the mixture.  Sometimes I do like to grind up the pine nuts in the mixture for a thicker, nuttier paste.

I like to add my pesto at room temperature to steaming hot pasta.  I prefer not to heat the pesto itself.  After adding the pesto to the pasta, toss it.  You shouldn't have thick green gobs, just use enough that it looks as if you have green-tinged pasta with basil flecks in it.

In my household, we also like to serve a red tomato sauce (I make a lovely homemade version learned from my Italian mother-in-law, Adele). 

My favorite preparation - tomato sauce in the bottom of the bowl.  Pasta on top of that, pesto over the pasta and slightly agitated with a fork to mix it around.  Then, a sprinkle of grated parmesean cheese and a spattering of toasted pine nuts on the top.  Add a few pieces of homemade garlic bread on the side, a big glass of red wine and dinner is served!

In the summer, we go lazy buffet style right off of the kitchen table.



Happy Dinner - PS... find someone else to wash the dishes and clean the kitchen and settle somewhere comfy to finish your wine!