Baked Orzo

Made this dish last night from a recipe in the NYT. When I began cooking it, the recipe seemed like it was going to be a breeze. Cut up the vegetables and throw them with the orzo, bake and you have the meal. Well it was a little bit more complicated than that because most of the vegetables needed to be cooked beforehand. So the prep took quite a while, about forty minutes. I think we then shortchanged the baking a little bit because it was getting late and Mrs. gorgeous and I were hungry.

The orzo had a lot of flavor especially with all the cooked vegetables, which is a necessary though lengthy process. Frying the vegetables in a small amount of oil beforehand softens them up and brings out there flavor that mixes in with the orzo well. I also think that baking it slightly longer would have been good. The orzo was cooked beforehand in water, and I thought baking would have added a little crunch but I do not think we had quite gotten there yet.

Another note: I think if I were to cook it again I would double the recipe so that there were more leftovers. Only going to get about four plates total out of the recipe (though NYT says serves six) and it would be nice for the effort put in to get a little more return. Mr. and Ms. duke/environmental science, check out that baking pan.

Leftover Mash-up and Fry Dough

I had a lot of leftover vegetables and decided to make a sort of mash-up dish. I cut up all the remaining vegetables (potatoes, broccoli, leeks, carrots, can't remember what else but it was a clearing the refrigerator job). I stir fried the vegetables and then added in coconut milk, turmeric, and cumin (No curry powder). The sauce was sweet and delicious and the vegetables mixed in really well.

The fry bread was from a packet that my dad purchased in North Carolina. You mix up the dough with water and then fry them in a small amount of oil. They puff up like the you can see above.

Overall food was great. Easy, fast, and used up all the various vegetables that remained in the fridge before they went bad.

Sorry for the long absence, trying to get back into this writing thing.

Pizza

Every once in a while Ms. gorgeous and I make pizza at the house. With our wedding coming up, we have gotten some sweet gear to cook the pizza on (pizza stone, pizza board, rolling pin, and pizza cutter). We have yet to make our own dough out of laziness, timing issues, and we have a great spot down the street to buy dough (Vace - as Supertaster says, best pizza in DC), plus having a food processor will make life much easier.

We also bought the different sauces for the Pizza (Pesto and Tomato), but can easily make these in the future when we have a better garden. The nice part of Pizza is the community and creativity aspects. Everybody can customize their own (so everyone is happy) and you get inspirations and taste ideas from those around you that are making their pizza. If you are lucky you they will give you a slice of their creation.

A topping that I really enjoy is butternut squash that has been peeled and fried in olive oil and salt and pepper. Though the season for squash has ended, make sure you try it when the time becomes right again.

The Main Course - Onion and Mushroom Quiche

This was the main course for Mr. and Mrs. Prison. A full-fledged quiche. Now, of all foods quiche is one of the few that I remember growing up and disliking while my sister enjoyed it. She was usually the picky eater. For some reason the whole eggs, ham, and cheese thing grossed me out.

I have finally grown out of that dislike, so I decided to make one for the main course of the meal. It seemed like it would go well with Kale and Sweet Potatoes. The recipe was from the Vegetarian Cookbook linked to before. It was really good. The hardest part was making the crust by hand. They recommend using a blender or a food processor, which I don't own. Made it by hand and it turned out well. The rest was easy. Fry up the onions and mushrooms, pour in the eggs. It was good. Better with the company.

Kale and Sweet Potatoes

A quick little post since it has been so long. I made this dish a while ago when two friends came over for dinner. It was Mr. Prison and Mrs. Prison who came over. This was the vegetable portion of the meal and the next post will be the main course. Very easy to make these dishes and a lot of good tastes.

For the Kale just cut out the stems if the leaves are big or just leave them in. Then put some oil in a pan with some garlic and salt and fry for a few minutes to loosen up the stalks. Add water and let the leaves braise in the covered pan. The leaves should become slightly greener when they are cooked. Nice easy and healthy. In the past I threw away the leftover water if there was any but you could save it for a broth or drink it for the nutrition.

Sweet potato recipe is from my man Bittman. He actually had this on a video post from the fall (article/video). Peel the sweet potatoes and then grate (use a food processor if you got it) them so they are in long threads. Add oil to a frying pan or a big pot (whatever will fit all the potatoes) and then fry for 5-10 minutes until they are softened. While this is going on, bust up some garlic so the flavors are released, and add garlic, 3 tablespoons of butter, and fresh sage to a sauce pan. Put the pan on medium and brown the butter (takes about 5 minutes - at some point the yellowish butter will turn brown and a great nutty flavor begins to spread throughout the kitchen). Pour the butter over the sweet potatoes and serve. A quick and easy way to prepare sweet potatoes that often take a long time to boil and soften.

Beet and Squash Faux Tomato Sauce

I experimented with a dish like this a few months ago when Ms. gorgeous and I had leftover beets and squash, and it turned out pretty well. On vacation with my parents I tried it again with the principle goal being to make the sauce and it turned out great. The flavor of the beets and the squash together make a wonderful combination and go incredibly well with pasta just like normal tomato sauce. A nice end of winter coming into spring sort of dish.

First you can see the pasta on the left above. It is sort of a funky circular pasta. Unique and delicious. My parents brought that with them.

The sauce is incredibly easy to make only requiring beets, squash (I think we used winter), oranges, and salt and pepper. It will take as long as the beets and squash take to cook plus about 10 - 20 minutes to prepare the sauce (Pasta should be made at the same time).

Prepare the beets and squash. For the beets boil in water until they are tender when pricked with a fork - about 45 minutes and you may need to refill the water to keep the beets covered. For the squash, slice in half and brush a small amount of olive oil on each end. Place face down on a baking sheet and cook for about 30-45 minutes at 400 degrees until tender.

Once the ingredients are cooked, peel the skin off the beets and put into a blender saving one on the side. Scoop out the squash and put the flesh in the blender as well. Blend until smooth (Ms. gorgeous one complaint was it was too smooth so maybe pulsate and not puree). While blending, dice the saved beet into small pieces and put to the side. Ms. gorgeous had the great idea to put oranges on top to add a little zing to the sauce. It turned out wonderfully so additionally peel and cut an orange into small pieces.

Taste the sauce and season with salt and pepper. It is ready to be eaten.

Put it on top of your favorite pasta, add some of the beets chunks to give it some additional texture and then the orange to offer a contrast in color and flavors. The sauce looks like pure beets but the winter squash offers significant flavor and background to the beet taste. Oranges are a little funky but give a sweet kick, definitely a plus.

Enjoy, I will definitely be making it again.

Guacamole

A month or so ago, Ms. gorgeous and I went to a restaurant, Rosa Mexicano in Gallery Place. One of their specialties is to wheel around a cart of avocado's and make guacamole right there for you. It is pretty sweet. On this particular day though the avocado's were not ripe, which is not surprising having watched them cart around hundreds of avocado's, but it made me disappointing.

What was a man to do? Gorgeous decided to make his own Guacamole = delicious.

Concept again was easy as pie. I think variations could really make this great, but I went for the standard.

All you need are the following ingredients. 2 ripe avocado's (the skin should give way when you press in), 1 tomato, 1/2 an onion, 1/2 jalapeno, cilantro, and salt. Cut everything really finely except for the avocado. This releases the flavors and lets the tastes blend together really well.

Cut the avocado in half as shown in the top picture. I think this looks awesome. Take your knife and hit it against the seed so it sinks in a little bit. Twist and out pops the seed. Next scoop out the avocado into a bowl. Add all the previously chopped ingredients and some salt. Crush with a fork or spoon, or if you are really sweet a Molcajete (mortal and pestle - shout out to Papa gorgeous and the Mow-Ka-Je-Te). Serve with chips and bamn you just one upped Rosa Mexicano.

I would be interested to hear other chef's variation or different flavors that you add in.