Roasted Broccoli

Surprisingly delicious.  Roasting gives broccoli a nutty flavor, and with the salt reminded me a little bit of the flavor of wasabi peas or some other bar snack.

Very simple; makes a great side dish for pretty much anything.

From the Well-Fed Newlyweds.

Ingredients:
5 c. broccoli florets (2 medium heads), rinsed and dried
2 T olive oil
1/4-1/2 tsp. kosher (or other coarse) salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 400.  Toss everything in a bowl to combine.

2.  Spread broccoli out on a cookie sheet or pan in a single layer; roast for 5 minues, then flip and continue roasting for another 10.

That's it!  Try not to finish off until you actually can get it onto plates. 

Bacon corn bread

This was a very rich corn bread; plus, bacon makes everything better!  This is crunchier and less dense than the last corn bread I made.  The outside edges are cooked in bacon fat, and as such are delicious.  Next time, I'll crumble the bacon into smaller pieces to get more bacon throughout instead of fewer, larger pieces.

Adapted, as ever, from How to Cook Everything.

Vegetable Pot Pie

This is an amazing side dish for Thanksgiving; there's no reason pie has to be restricted to dessert!  Also works as a vegetarian centerpiece dish.

I was extremely pleased with myself for coming up with this; it's very, very loosely based on a chicken pot pie recipe.  Also only goes to prove, once again, that while vegetables are delicious, add about a pound of butter and they're AMAZING.

Double Pie Crust

This is a good, all-purpose double pie crust, adapted from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book.  I believe it's easier with a good food processor, but here's how to do it by hand.

Sage Bread Stuffing

I'm actually not a huge fan of stuffing that was actually, you know, stuffed inside a turkey, but I do like this baked in a casserole.

Apologies for the terrible picture (it looked even worse blown up to full size) -- in the rush of cooking all the Thanksgiving foods, I didn't take the time to get good pictures of everything.  This is the only photo I have of the finished product, and was cropped down from a photo of the whole spread. 

Which was amazing.

This stuffing is pretty basic-- very simple, just a few ingredients, but also very tasty.

Hint:  The secret to really good stuffing, like so many other things is to use a lot of butter.  In this case, an entire stick.  

Beurre Blanc over Brussels Sprouts

This post brought to you by the letter B.  Obviously.  Beurre Blanc is a butter-based sauce with some white wine, lemon, and shallots for flavor.  It is good on absolutely anything, but particularly veggies and fish. 

Actual pictures of the sauce after the jump... it's so fattening that even looking at it could go straight to your thighs.  Above, however, are some very healthy brussels sprouts, about to be steamed.

The sauce is also so delicious that rather than just convincing my husband that brussels sprouts are OK, it made him tear up a little bit.  

Corn bread

As fond as I am of Jiffy corn muffin mix, sometimes it's nice to have a heartier cornbread that doesn't double as dessert. Especially along with chili.


This made a super dense, savory corn bread.

From How to Cook Everything, using more or less the 'Corny Corn Bread' variation. I'm quite excited to try the 'Bacon Corn Bread' listed right under it, but thought it might be a bit rich with chicken chili.

Corny Corn Bread
1-1/4 c. buttermilk (or, as I used here, regular milk with 1 T white vinegar stirred in)
3 T butter
1-1/2 c. cornmeal
1/2 c. flour
1-1/2 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 T sugar
1 egg
kernels from 1 ear of sweet corn (or 1 c. frozen corn)

Preheat oven to 375; make sour milk if not using buttermilk.

Put butter in pan or skillet; heat on stove (if pan is stovetop safe) or in oven (if not). It will melt and turn all nutty smelling; take it off of the heat before it burns.

Mix together dry ingredients in a bowl; mix the egg into the buttermilk. Stir the buttermilk mixture into the cornmeal mixture. Stir in the corn.


Pour the batter into the pan; bake for 30 minutes.


NOTE: Yes, the milk with vinegar looks icky and smells weird. It's sour milk; it's supposed to. (Sadly, the picture of the lumpy milk-- white lumps in a white liquid-- did not come out on my little point and shoot.)

Caprese salad

One of the great things about summer...

Fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil.

Flour tortillas

I think these are worth the effort... tortillas that are yummy in and of themselves, rather than just a vehicle for fillings. From The Homesick Texan.


Texas Flour Tortillas
(adapted from The Border Cookbook by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison)

Ingredients:
2 c. all-purpose flour
1-1/2 t baking powder
1 t salt
2 t vegetable oil
3/4 c. warm milk

Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and oil.
Slowly add the warm milk.
Stir until a loose, sticky ball is formed.


Knead for two minutes on a floured surface. Dough should be firm and soft.


Place dough in a bowl and cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap for 20 minutes.
After the dough has rested, break off eight sections, roll them into balls in your hands, place on a plate (make sure they aren’t touching) and then cover balls with damp cloth or plastic wrap for 10 minutes. (It’s very important to let the dough rest, otherwise it will be like elastic and won’t roll out to a proper thickness and shape.)


After dough has rested, place a dough ball on a floured surface, pat it out into a four-inch circle, and then roll with a rolling pin from the center until it’s thin and about eight inches in diameter. Repeat 7 times.

Keep rolled-out tortillas covered until ready to cook. If you need put them aside for more than a few minutes, keep tortillas separated with plastic wrap between each one.

In a dry skillet heated on high, cook the tortilla about thirty seconds on each side. It should start to puff a bit when it’s done.

Keep cooked tortillas covered wrapped in a napkin until ready to eat.

Makes eight tortillas.

I served them with fajitas... 1 out of 1 husbands agree: Thumbs up!

Chilled cucumber melon soup

I think I need a better name... there's something similar called Fire and Ice soup. But that sounds like a figure skating routine. This is basically a fruit gazpacho, but with cantaloupe instead of tomatoes, no bread, and with ginger as the major seasoning. Or, really, it's a smoothie in a bowl.

This was SO GOOD... it's kind of a weird color in the pictures, but it was delicious (and less odd-looking in person.) It could be a dessert (maybe?) or first course (definitely.) It was very easy... once again, just throw stuff in a blender and then chill for a couple of hours. To make two bowls of this soup, I blended:

1/2 peeled cucumber
1/2 cantaloupe, seeded and cut into chunks
1-2 inch piece of ginger, peeled (and I used ginger shavings for garnish)
1 T honey
1 T sour cream
dash of red pepper flakes (use sparingly-- it gives a nice little kick, but I went a little overboard)

The cantaloupe has enough water that you don't need additional liquid. The sour cream adds a little tanginess; plain yogurt would be good, too.

Gazpacho

Have I mentioned how much I love recipes where the entire directions consist of:

1. Throw stuff in the blender

2. Blend


There were tomatoes in the scratch-and-dent section at the farmers' market yesterday for $.99/lb. When they're going in a blender, it doesn't matter if they're pretty! This recipe courtesy of my friend Jason, who made us a delicious dinner on Saturday.

Gazpacho
In a blender or food processor, blend:
1 slice bread, crust removed
2 cloves garlic
2 t salt
2 T sherry vinegar
1 t sugar
1/2 t ground cumin
1 red onion, skin removed
1 red bell pepper, stem and seeds removed
1 jalapeno, stem and seeds removed
1 skinned cucumber
2.5 lbs tomatoes
1 c. water
1/4 c. olive oil

chill until cold (about 3 hours)


Pour into bowls; garnish with a drizzle of olive oil.

I modified it a little, using what I had in the fridge, substituting a pita for the slice of bread and some red pepper flakes for the jalapeno. It was still delicious.

Horseradish mashed potatoes

These are always served alongside something else, usually beef of some sort. They're great with steak, and sublime with pot roast. Of course, this isn't an exact recipe, and is quite flexible.

1 large potato per person
some butter (1/2 T per person; more will be tastier, less will be healthier)
1/4 c. milk per person (I don't measure anymore-- just splash some in and if it needs more, add more.)
a dollop of sour cream
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 T. horseradish per person

Note: Horseradish, not horseradish sauce. You want something that will clear out your sinuses, not something that's mostly mayonnaise.

Scrub and boil potatoes until they feel done when you put a fork into them; drain. Add all other ingredients (less at first), and mash or beat with an electric mixer. I like them with skins on; you can peel them if you prefer.

If you slice the potatoes into quarters, they should boil in about 20 minutes. Larger chunks will be done slower; smaller, faster.