Fried Rice - Indian Style

I was craving something simple and quick, so I went with my old stand-by - Indian fried rice. Growing up, we always had fresh basmati rice with our meals, and that meant we usually had some rice leftover. My mom would usually cook it up the next day for a quick mid-day meal. I imagine that there are a gazillion ways to prepare this dish, i.e., with/out cashews, raisins, etc. I used what I had on hand.

Ingredients:

• vegetable oil
• hing
• rai (black mustard seeds)
• green chilies, chopped (I use the spicy Thai ones; my mom uses red chili powder)
• garlic clove, chopped
• shallot, chopped
• turmeric
• salt
• sugar (I used jaggery)
• lemon juice
• chopped cilantro
• basmati rice (I find that day-old rice works better for me as it sets in the fridge and doesn’t break as easily when using freshly made basmati, which is much more delicate)

Method:

• heat oil in a pan over medium heat
• add in mustard seeds
• when mustard seeds begin to pop, add in the hing, chilies, garlic, shallots, turmeric
• cook for about a minute or two
• add in the rice
• cook for another minute or two
• add salt and jaggery
• cook yet another minute or two
• then cut the heat, squeeze a bit of lemon juice to taste, and sprinkle with cilantro

Happy Diwali!

Veggies and Sausage

I put together a quick dinner tonight and thought I would share it b/c it actually ended up being tastier than I thought it would be.

Veggies and Spicy Sausage

Ingredients

• garlic cloves, minced
• onion
• zucchini
• squash
• potatoes (cook in microwave for a few minutes to lessen the overall cooking time)
• bell pepper
• spicy Italian sausage
• stellette-shaped pasta (small star-shaped)
• fennel
• crushed red pepper flakes
• thyme
• kosher salt
• fresh chopped parsley

Method

• preheat oven to 400F
• chop all veggies and sausage so they are about the same size
• heat up some olive oil in a pot
• add the garlic, onions, fennel, thyme, red pepper flakes
• cook for about a minute
• add in the sausage, zucchini, squash, bell pepper, potatoes, salt
• add the stellette and a bit a water (or wine or veggie/chicken stock)
• stir it all together, put a lid on it, and stick it in the oven for 25-30 minutes
• sprinkle with fresh parsley before serving

I really wanted to add red bell pepper in this dish, but we only had green on hand. I think the red would have added an extra dimension of color as well as add a bit of sweetness to compliment the spiciness of the sausage. We didn’t have leftovers, so I guess it was tasty enough

Oktoberfest ‘06

It’s Oktoberfest in my town. Everyone is enjoying the great weather, eating, drinking, mingling, and live music….the following pics are taken from our window:

Herb Slab

I had a work thing in the city today and had an hour to kill before G got off work, so I headed over to the Ferry Building. It’s one of my favorite places to go in SF. I used to go through this lovely building every day when I used to work in the city, and always got a thrill as the ferry approached the dock. It was such a nice way to commute.

SF Ferry Building ‘05

I picked up a few goodies while strolling through the building: an Herb Slab from the Acme Bread Company. This bread is delicious! It is freshly made, crusty on the outside, soft on the inside, and aromatic (made with fresh rosemary and sage). We’ve had their rosemary and olive rolls, as well as their ciabatta - all were delish! Admittedly, there is no comparison to the breads I’ve had in Europe. Hands-down, Europeans make excellent breads, IMO. But given that I live here, Acme is a great place to pick up a few loaves.

Herb Slab from Acme Bread Co.

Also picked up some soppresatta and mixed country olives from Mastrelli’s Delicatessen.

I was tempted to pick up some rose and hazelnut macaroons from Miette’s, but was running a bit late. Next time…

Ginger Collins

G whipped up a cocktail the other night and we’ve decided to call it “Ginger Collins”. It was crisp and delicious. Cin-cin

Ginger Collins

• 2 parts Collins mix
• 1 part ginger ale
• 1 part gin (or vodka)
• squeeze of lime

(next time: will add orange slices and a maraschino cherry)

Pasta Primavera, Anyone?

We sure do love pasta around here. Well, we love many things Italian, and the cuisine of Italy happens to be a favorite for us. One meal we made a lot this past summer was pasta primavera. I love vegetables and summer time is great as fresh veggies are bountiful. I read somewhere that Italians refer to this dish as garden (all’orto) or green grocer’s (dell’ortolano) pasta. There are so many different ways to make this dish, so I just worked with what I had.

Ingredients:

• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 onion
• 2 zucchini
• 2 yellow squash
• 2 carrots
• (also have used asparagus when in season)
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 sprig of rosemary
• 5-6 cloves of garlic (w/skin on)
• 1 tbsp dried Italian herbs (I used herbs de Provence this time)
• tomatoes, quartered (or cherry tomatoes, halved)
• freshly grated parmigiano reggiano
• freshly grated grana padano
• chopped parsley
• salt and pepper to taste
• pasta (about a pound or so) - I used farfalle
  

Method:

• Preheat oven to 450F
• chop tomatoes and place in bowl with the garlic cloves, toss with some olive oil, slat, pepper, & herbs
  
• chop veggies into even size pieces
• in a roasting pan (or 2 baking sheets), toss all the veggies with some olive oil, salt, pepper, & herbs
• on a separate, foil-lined baking sheet place tomatoes chopped side down as well as the garlic cloves (still with skin on)
• bake until veggies begin to brown and caramelize a bit (this takes about 25 minutes in my oven); I leave the tomatoes and garlic in for an extra 5 minutes
• cook pasta until al dente, reserve about a cup of the pasta water before draining
• squeeze the garlic out of its skin (comes out paste-like)
• combine and toss pasta, roasted veggies, and garlic
• add the reserved pasta water in small increments until it has the consistency that you prefer
• toss in the parmigiano and grana padano (I usually end up adding a bit more of the water after adding these cheeses in and the pasta ends up having a creamy consistency)
• add the chopped parsley and a bit more salt and pepper to taste

I have some before pics, but my after pics did not turn out for some reason :(. I will have to make this again soon to take the after pics.

 

 

 

Penne with Vodka

I imagine that many people associate certain senses with specific memories of people, events, and places. It happens to me alot. I can smell something cooking and a specific memory gets triggered. The other day, I decided to make Penne with Vodka and once I started making the sauce, the smell triggered a bunch of memories of when my pal, L, and I lived together in San Diego. We would cook up a storm on the weekends so we would have meals for the week as we were busy with jobs, graduate school, internships, etc. Our stand-by was always Penne w/ Vodka from The Joy of Cooking for a quick and delicious meal. Here’s the recipe (variations in parentheses; also, for some reason my copy that I bought in San Diego was printed in England, so European metrics are used):

Penne w/ Vodka (8 first-course servings; 4 main-course servings)

• 45 g butter (or 3 tbsp olive oil)
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 800 g whole plum tomatoes (I used San Marzano tomatoes)
• 125 ml vodka
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 125 ml whipping cream (sometimes I’ll use ricotta)
• 12 fresh basil leaves (I use more like 20!)
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste (since I use the red pepper flakes, I usually omit the black pepper)
• 500g penne pasta (cooked al dente)

Method:

• melt butter/olive oil in pan over medium heat
• add chopped onion, cook about 5 minutes until softened
• add chopped garlic, cook about 1 minute
• stir in the can of tomatoes
• add vodka
• add red pepper flakes

(at this point, I let the mixture cool slightly and blend it all so it’s relatively smooth and pour back into pan)

• simmer for about 10 minutes
• stir in cream (or ricotta)
• heat through
• add basil leaves, salt & pepper to taste
• toss in pasta

So, for this instance, I didn’t happen to blend all of the ingredients together so the sauce was chunky as I just hand chopped the tomatoes. While it tasted great, I still prefer this particular dish with a smoother sauce - seems richer and creamier).

Last Days of Summer Salad

September is a great time to be in the Bay Area. The weather is beautiful, the sky a bright blue, and there’s the slightest hint that Autumn is right around the corner as you glance at the trees and notice that their leaves are beginning to change color (at least they are in my neighborhood). Here’s a quick salad recipe that we love…

- salad greens: we use half arugula, half mixed greens (red leaf, romaine, baby spinach, radicchio)

- English cucumber

- avocado slices

- red bell pepper

- cannelini beans

- pancetta (cubed, cooked, & cooled)

- olives

- chopped walnuts

- slivers of grana padano and parmigiano reggiano (with a veggie peeler)

- freshly ground black pepper

- sometimes I’ll throw in fresh basil leaves

- dressing: we usually make a quick, light dressing (either red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, shallots, & garlic, OR lemon juice, lemon jest, extra virgin olive oil, shallots), but we happened to use TJ’s Caesar Dressing (the one without eggs and anchovies) this time. We whisked it in with a bit of extra virgin olive oil to thin it out a bit.

Quick and easy…

I hope to get back to cooking soon. At the moment, G & I are just throwing a meal together rather quickly when we get home from work. We get up at 5am and get home a bit after 7pm, so I’ve been somewhat unmotivated to get creative as well as attend to a pile of dishes right before bed. One neat outcome, however, has been realizing how great G has been in the kitchen. He’s quite good and we work well together while preparing our meals. This experience is so contrary to what I learned growing up. Even though the majority of my life was spent in the US, our home life was quite traditional. Some of you probably know what I mean…all the women in the kitchen cooking, the men sitting around watching TV and chatting, the women serving (and cleaning up after) the men, etc. And while I didn’t mind much of that b/c I loved being in the kitchen and learning from mom and all of the “aunties” (b/c you know, you referred to all of your parents’ friends as aunties and uncles), I absolutely appreciate having a different experience with G.

Below are some pics of what we had a few times over the past 2 weeks (using up whatever ingredients we had at home). You’ll notice that they are all fish/shrimp dishes. I’m amazed at how versatile shrimp is. Talk about whipping up a quick meal…these all took about 20 minutes to make! You know, I actually never tasted seafood until I was in my 20’s. I am more adventurous now, especially living in the Bay area AND learning how eating certain types of fish has helped in lowering my cholesterol level (my liver produces way too much).

Shrimp sauteed in olive oil, garlic, onions, over noodles (no yolk egg noodles)

Shrimp sauteed in extra virgin olive oil, garlic, onions, red bell peppers, zuchinni, with fresh basil & fresh parmigiano reggiano, over linguine pasta

Battered halibut, tartar sauce (with a dash of chipotle Tabasco for some zing), zuchinni with slivered garlic, squeeze of lemon juice over fish and veggies

All dishes turned out great; gourmet by NO means, but tasty none-the-less. Sea salt, pepper, red chili flakes were added to taste. The dash of chipotle to the tartar sauce was awesome. I really love the smoky flavor of the chipotle pepper. A great tip that I learned from watching a cooking show (America’s Test Kitchen, if memory serves correct), was to add a dash of sugar to the shrimp before putting it in the hot pan. It will help it to carmelize as it sears.