Out Like a Lion . . .

It seems like winter never leaves as suddenly as it shows up. Cooking with the seasons is a lot like dressing for the seasons. By the end of march you I am sick of wearing my winter coat, v-neck sweater, button-down shirt, undershirt combination, and I'm ready to pull out my spring jackets and show off my t-shirt collection. I'm also ready to banish cabbage from my refrigerator and starch from my pantry to make room for asparagus, spring mushrooms, spring onions, peas, artichokes, and fresh herbs. While I'm sure all of those things are available in the grocery store from California, or perhaps Mexico, the weather here is still cold and I feel obliged to stick to my v-neck sweater menus until we get some warm breezes.

Last saturday was David's recital. He worked really hard and did an excellent job. Me and all the friends and family that were there were all very proud of him. I made him this hearty breakfast that morning to keep his strength up. I used the leftover homemade tortillas to make scrambled egg quesadillas, and heated up the leftover beans. I also made the reception for David's recital, which included a cheese board and selection of tea sandwiches. I'll post the picture when I track it down, but I doubt if the Conservatory has seen a better reception.


No offense to Mark Bittman, but I can't say that I usually am very intrigued by the minimalist's recipes. Many of them are just not things that I like to make (e.g. pudding and 'quickbread'), and some of them just don't sound good. However, squid with chilies and greens sounded pretty good for some reason, and the video clip was so convincing that you could create a flavorful, healthy, and novel meal in a matter of minutes that I had to try it out, using some collard greens from the super market. While it was remarkably flavorful considering it really only had four ingredients and took all of 10 minutes to make, it did taste like it was missing something. If I could figure out what that was, this would be a an awesome weeknight recipe.



David was longing for some spring, so he came home with an enormous bunch of really fresh basil from the supermarket. The only thing I could think to do with it was to make pesto, so I went to Capone's and bought some fresh-cut black pepper linguine, and served it up with fresh-made pesto, butter beans sauteed with diced bacon, shallots, and shitake mushrooms. This might have been the best pasta, certainly the best pesto, that I have ever made. I wanted to ship some to my mom for her approval.

The last time I was at the supermarket I bought some Knackwurst, thinking I would use up the can of saurkraut I had in my pantry. There is only one german restaurant that I know of in Boston, and while Jacob Wirths is good, it is expensive if not overpriced. The sausages had sat long enough, so I decided to make a german feast of it. I made this dressed down choucroute garni: Knackwurst with saurkraut and cabbage, spiced with caraway, juniper, bay, and thyme, and I made my first attempt at spätzle, little irregular shaped german pasta/dumplings. To round out the experience, I opened up a jar of really delicious wholegrain mustard that my mom gave me for christmas and sliced up some bread we baked ealier. This dinner was amazing.


Which brings me to tonight's dinner. My refrigerator is once again running low on anything fresh and I had to reach into the pantry for something dried. This time it was a lentil soup of the sort that I ate growing up at least every other week. I can't say it was my favorite then, but now I really love lentils. David was skeptical until he dipped his bread into his bowl and tasted the rich earthy flavor.

Confession

I am sorry to all of you who have been checking daily with the hope of an update on my culinary whereabouts [i.e. my mother]. I've been busy, but the truth is, I just felt to much pressure to write something interesting. I've gotten such nice comments and encouragement from all of my friends, including those that are far away and who I wouldn't expect to be such enthusiastic readers, that I didn't want to let anyone down with mundane posts. But it takes a lot of energy and is intimidating to write when you are thinking of what might entertain or inspire other people. So i've decided that this blog must be for me, and if that means a great deal of it is simply a log of the meals I eat with simple descriptions and david's excellent pictures, I'm afraid I'll have to be satisfied with the readers who are truly interested in knowing what I ate for dinner. Hopefully my dinners can somehow be inspiring on their own, as cooking is my single greatest creative outlet and each meal is special to me. At the very least, you'll all see what's inspired me at the grocery store, or the farmers market, on the T.V., or wherever I happen to be living and cooking. On that note, I'll review all the cooking I've done in the last couple weeks, starting with tonight's dinner. I used up the last of the tamarind chutney I made with the samosas (below) tonight to make broiled pacific salmon with tamarind glaze and asian greens with peanut lime dressing. I love making fish in my ovens broiler (which is on the bottom, underneath the oven). It gets really hot so you can grill things nicely any time of year.

2 weeks (+) in Review

I am currently stuck waiting for one loaf of bread to finish baking so I can put another one in. I'm exhausted but it will be at least another hour before I can go to sleep, so I figured I'd take the chance to catch up on my very overdue blogging. David's masters clarinet recital is on saturday, and I am making the reception for it. I'm planning to make a selection of tea sandwiches, using the pain de mie from martha stewart's Hors d'Oeuvres book. This is a great book if you like to set out an impressive spread at your parties. If you are in or around boston, come to David's recital at 5pm at Boston Conservatory. The music should be excellent, and you can sample my food afterword. At any rate, here are our meals from the last few weeks.


After the improvised indian potatoes and peas I went on an indian kick.





The next day I made really simple, but surprisingly delicious indian-style spinach with potatoes and cream. I steamed some quinoa along with it.

If you haven't had quinoa it is a wonderful grain. It has a slight nutty flavor, a great texture, and has the highest amount of protein of any grain.




As promised, I made the samosas out of the leftover indian potatoes, along with some homemade tamarind chutney. I just used frozen spring-roll wrappers from the Japanese store.



Continuing on my campaign to use up all of my sprouting potatoes, I made pan-seared steak with red-wine caramelized onions and robiola mashed potatoes.



Then, I spent a whole day making homemade broth in another attempt at vietnamese beef noodle soup. This was by far the closest attempt. It turned out beautifully. Homemade broth helps, but another trick is to blanch the raw beef before you add it rare to the hot soup. Otherwise, it clouds and thickens the broth and makes the soup cold. I've got enough frozen broth now for one or two future uses.