Saag Paneer [mini-post]

So, this kind of blew my mind. Once you get the ingredients for Indian food, you can make Indian food!

Aarti's party on Food Network gave me the glory of this recipe, so I'm not going to wax on too much. Just know that the paneer is marinated and fried. As in, fried cheese!! Find the recipe here.

P.S. I didn't make my own paneer and it was still amazing. We got ours at Costco, and apparently you can freeze it so...looking forward to many more paneer filled meals.

P.P.S. Don't overeat on this. It's easy to because it is dense and delicious, but you will regret it.

P.P.P.S. I bought naan from safeway to eat with this. There are only so many new things one can try at once. Don't let anything limit you from trying new food!

Lickety Split Pasta

This is totally cheaters pasta. Or at least it feels like it. It's definitely not a long-simmered, lovingly-tended sauce made in a huge cauldron. It makes as many servings as you feel like having in your fridge left over, if you, like me, are cooking for one.

It's quick as a bunny, and flexible to what you've got on hand. Since I didn't use a recipe, here's what I did, not in recipe form (ingredient list at bottom).

Onions get sweating in a sauna pan. Now's a good time to add some dried oregano/red pepper flakes, too, if you'd like.

[boil water for pasta, put frozen peas into a bowl]

Italian sausage joins the party--take your pick of hot or mild, and your choice of meat. I went with mild chicken. Once it's browning, add garlic.

[add pasta to water, cook for a minute or two less than the suggested cook time--until al dente]

Deglaze with a bit of wine, if you've got it around. Then, in go the tomatoes and their juice. Absentmindedly crush them with your wooden spoon while you forget your woes.

[Drain pasta (reserve some pasta water, unless it's aggressively salty like mine was! Microwave the peas, too]

Dump pasta into pan with sauce, watering down as needed. Breathe in the steam. Enjoy the aromatherapy of cooking. Serve with grated (or shaved, with a vegetable peeler) parmesan cheese.

Hearty greens, such as kale or spinach, would be great added with the garlic (after the meat has browned a bit).

Ingredients: (amount for aproximately 2 large servings)

• Pasta (5 or so ounces)--I used mini-penne
• Half an onion--I used 3/4 because it's what I had
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• pinch red pepper flakes
• 3-4 cloves of garlic
• 1 Italian sausage--cook's choice
• 1 14-ounce can of San Marzano tomatoes
• A splash of wine--I used white
• Frozen peas--but really, do what you want on this one
• [greens, if desired]

A Dinner Party

My first! This weekend I had my brother and his wife and her family over for dinner. It's been so nice to be close to family this summer, and what better way to show my appreciation than to cook for them!

Joanna and Courtney...ready for dessert!

I've read before that you're supposed to try no new recipes for a dinner party. That advice is probably wise. I'd still recommend that for any new dinner party you use only recipes you're already comfortable with.

But I've cooked meat, what...3 times? (not really, but very few times overall). So I chose a new recipe for steak, cobbled together from various websites and inspired by the haul of mushrooms I bought from the farmers market.

I chose this recipe also because it includes a marinade. I've had much better success with the flavor and cooking of marinaded and/or brined food (see: pork chops!), but it's especially good when you happen to be planning a dinner party. It requires some foresight (easy to do when you're already in planning mode) and gives some extra insurance against dry/bland meat.

The mushrooms though. There's no reason every meal shouldn't include sauteed mushrooms. With their deep, buttery, salty flavor, they're the bacon of the vegetarian world. Thank you fungus! You rock. These are extra special because they're thrown back in a red wine pan sauce at the end, to make a gloriously glossy coating that drips off onto the tender steak.

Another thing I learned about dinner parties (and this one, I think I did right): It's easiest if only one dish is being made at a time. This means cold things are particularly awesome!
In other news, only two burners of our stove work...

I paired the steak with pre-made polenta, green salad (thanks to Joanna for helping out with that--you make a nice salad!), and green bean salad with pickled shallots. All were delicious. I just microwaved the polenta with some chicken broth to make it loose again, and it made a great base for the meat and saucy mushrooms.

SAUCY.

If you're wondering about the cookies...they're just as chocolaty as they look! Sort of a soft sable or shortbread but intensely and unabashedly filled with chocolate flavor. Crumbled over vanilla ice cream, it's practially perfect.

Here's the steak recipe, and links to the other dishes!

Grean Bean Salad with Pickled Shallots
World Peace Cookies

Marinated Flank Steak with Red Wine Sauteed Mushrooms
Yield: enough for 4 people

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon dijon/grainy mustard
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
• 1 1/2 - 2 pounds flank steak (I threw in a strip steak as well since I was worried there wouldn't be enough, but there was plenty)

• 12 ounces assorted mushrooms, torn or cut into large pieces
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 6 tablespoons butter, divided
• 3 garlic cloves, lightly crushed
• 1 6" sprig rosemary
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 3/4 cup low-salt chicken stock

Method: 

1. Combine first 7 ingredients in a dish large enough to hold the steak, and whisk together. Place steak in marinade, poke all over with a fork, and flip to coat. Marinate in fridge for 1-3 hours, slightly longer if needed.
2. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the mushrooms and season with a bit of salt. Stir to coat with the butter and continue to cooking, stirring so mushrooms cook evenly, for about 7 minutes, or until golden brown and smelling heavenly. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
3. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter with a tablespoon of oil in the same skillet. Add the garlic and rosemary to skillet and move to the edges, then remove the steak from the marinade and place in skillet. Cook for about 3 minutes per side. Depending on the thickness of your meat and how you like it done, you can then put it in a 350 degree oven for an additional 5-10 minutes to finish cooking to your liking. Just check the inside with a small knife, but be aware that the meat will continue to cook a bit as it rests. Once done, remove and tent with foil. 
4. Pour off all but a tablespoon of the oil, then deglaze with the red wine, scraping the bottom of the pan to get all of the delicious browned bits up and in the sauce. Reduce to 3/4 cup, then strain out any burned solid bits and return the liquid to the pan. Add the stock and reduce to 1/2 cup. Whisk in a knob of butter, then add the mushrooms back into the sauce and stir to reheat and coat. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed.
5. Slice the steak thinly against the grain and serve with mushroom sauce on top.

Recipe frankensteined from: epicurious and Emeril Lagasse

Pork Chops

I'm pretty proud of this whole meal. First off, I made a salad with no lettuce... Exhibit A:

And second off, I made pork chops. Well, pork chop to be more accurate. Cooking for one has its challenges. But hey! I made meat. And I didn't get sick, so I must have properly handled *dangerous* organic matter.

The recipe I used comes from the Kitchn, a great source for cooking knowledge and tips. They suggested even just a 30 minute brine would help make the meat tasty, and they were so right.

Juicy, not overcooked. Just salty enough, but not anywhere near bacon levels. Flavorful, mostly from the pork and with just a hint of garlic and pepper. I'll be making this one again! And I have another pork chop in the freezer, so I can!

The pork is cooked uniquely too, to maximize a caramelized crust and tender inside. You sear the meat on one side in a cast iron skillet (which you have conveniently left inside the oven while it preheats). Then, flip it and immediately put it back in the oven, where the other side will get a golden crust while the meat inside cooks slowly and evenly. It's genius. And it took under an hour.

Genius Pork Chops
Yield: as many as 4 chops

Ingredients:

• 3 cups cold water, divided
• 3 tablespoons coarse kosher salt (or 2 1/2 tablespoons table salt)
• Optional flavorings: smashed garlic cloves, black peppercorns, bay leaf

• 2 to 4 pork chops — The Kitchn suggests center cut, bone-on, 3/4-inch to 1-inch thick (about 1 pound each); I used boneless chops which were a bit thicker and pounded it down a tad to about an inch thick
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper

Method:

1. Brine the chops: Boil 1 cup of the water, stir in salt and flavorings to dissolve and infuse. Stir in 2 cups of cold water, and pour over the meat in a shallow dish. Cover and refrigerate for anywhere from 30 minutes to 4 hours.
2. Take the chops out of the refrigerator and pull out of the brine. Pat dry with paper towels and rub with olive oil. Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides, then set aside (on the counter). 
3. Put a cast iron or otherwise oven-proof skillet in the oven. Preheat to 400 degrees F.
4. Take the skillet out of the oven, and put it on the stove on medium-high heat. Put the pork chop in and let sear for 3 minutes. Flip with tongs, then place the whole skillet in the oven.
5. Cook for 6-10 minutes, or until the pork is done to your liking. It's going to rest in step 6, so it will keep cooking. Several places on the internet have metrics of what temperature you want it to be when you take it out of the skillet; the Kitchn recommends taking it out at 140-145 degrees F. I cut it open a bit in the center to check, and took it out when the pink was just gone, around 10 minutes (granted, it was on the thick side).
6. Remove from the oven, set on a plate, and tent with foil. Let rest for at least 5 minutes, 10 if you can stand it. 

Via the Kitchn.

Cooking meat

It's not as scary as it seems!

Last week I roasted a chicken and made steak with a friend. Success!

My first meal, though, of course, was just lentils and brown rice. Healthy, cheap, and comfortable. The apartment I'm in for the summer has a pressure/slow/rice cooker combo that made cooking the rice quick and easy, and I put some curry powder in the lentils.

It was tasty. But, the main thing is: I'm learning to cook meat. And to be clear, I'm not a vegetarian. I'm just a college kid who hasn't done much other than baking, and now I'm learning to cook. Including things other than eggs and pasta and breakfast for dinner and lentils and rice.

This recipe for roast chicken comes from Twelve Recipes, a lovely book which is really not 12 recipes but rather the usual 12 chapters of recipe categories. The way it's put together, though, makes you feel empowered to cook the way seasoned cooks do--feeling, tasting, improvising, and taking it easy. This is contrary to the measuring, exacting process of baking recipes.

The recipe isn't even written out in steps...it's all paragraphs, making the book an excellent dinner companion for easy reading.

A little dessert in a little bowl...white peaches are prime.

Like most roast chicken recipes, it calls for liberally salting and peppering, then slathering the chicken with olive oil and just popping it in the oven. Unlike most roast chicken recipes, the oven is unusually hot: 450 degrees F. So get ready for popping and sizzling!

Left: crispy, delicious skin. Right: flabby, not crispy skin. Guess which one I ate and which one was compost?

I used a rather small pan, which meant that the chicken sat in its juices a bit and the skin lower down didn't get as crisped up. Using a bigger pan would help with that (and you can also put potatoes, garlic, vegetables, etc. in there 15 minutes into the cooking process if you want to roast up a whole dinner). But man were those legs awesome. So crispy and caramelized and Maillard reaction-y. The chicken also took an extra half hour longer than the recipe stated, so either my oven isn't hot, the chicken was too cold (still frozen?), or it just needed extra time.

Without further ado, a not-recipe recipe. I think one of the most valuable components of the recipe was instructions on how to carve the chicken, so I've included those too.

Dinner Bell Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken (3-4 lbs)
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• fresh rosemary is nice if you have it!

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees (and give it plenty of time to get hot). Stick a baking sheet under the rack where you're going to put the chicken to catch drips. Thaw the chicken if it's not thawed, and take out the gizzards and innards.
2. Put the chicken in a baking dish and liberally salt and pepper all sides (and in the cavity). Rub all over with olive oil.
3. Tuck the wings back behind the neck, and tie the legs together if you have string. Sometimes my dad can poke a hole in the skin of one leg and put the other leg through it, which is a neat trick.
4. Roast for a long time! Check at 45 minutes, but mine took well over an hour. You can tell it's done when you can easily twist a leg-the bone should move independent of the meat. Another way to check is to cut in between the thigh and the body and wait until the juices run clear. 
5. To cut the bird up, first cut off the leg and thigh on each side, then the breasts and wings. Or watch a video if it's your first time.
6. Eat hot, shred the extra and put it in the fridge for chicken salad, casseroles, and leftovers.

Bonus: my friend also cooked steak the next night (with potatoes and roasted red peppers, under the broiler). Here's the results...they were absurdly delicious.

American dinner chez les Francais

I'm studying abroad in France, and living with a host family has been so rewarding. It really allows me to get better at French by focusing on the language tout le temps (all the time) and being kindly corrected without being graded on my mistakes. This is big! I've made so much progress learning like a child, without that pesky paralyzing fear of failure!

Hey, this looks kind of like an egg!

Well, so this was my first time making homemade macaroni and cheese. We (another girl in the program who's also staying with the same family--my co-locataire--and I) wanted to make an American dinner for my family. So, mac and cheese.

It helps that I have a 9 year old brother and 2 year old sister here.

I am so proud of this that I think it's better than my dad's homemade mac and cheese (sorry, Dad...). In a "lookie mommy what I made" kind of proud. I will still always love my dad's, though.

And guess what! I made something that doesn't have any sugar in it!
But...there is butter and flour and an egg. And it goes in the oven. So basically, it's the baker's gateway dish to savory cooking!

Oh, yeah, we made salad too.

This recipe comes from Ree, who I absolutely love. She definitely makes American food: good, simple, cowboy food. I trust her to have a kick-a** recipe for mac and cheese for a first-timer.

Indeed. It's creamy, luxuriously cheesy, and to top it all off, I added chips. Specifically, cheese-flavored chips, because I'm crazy.

Also, my co-locataire made some amazing brownies from the Ghiradelli recipe. She ended up using coarse sea salt in the brownies, and it was fantastic. Crunchy, salty pockets throughout.

It was a heavy meal for when the high temp is in the 90's, but worth it.

Baked Macaroni & Cheese
note: baked lays are healthier than regular. baked mac and cheese has extra chips on top, so it is less healthy. this is confusing, but it should not discourage you from making this heavenly dish. especially if you choose cheesy chips.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups dried pasta shapes
• 1 whole egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick or 4 tablespoons) butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 cups whole milk
• 2 teaspoons dry mustard, or one teaspoon dijon if that's what you've got
• 1 pound cheese, grated--I used emmental (basically swiss) and parmesan, since cheddar's hard to find here
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
• potato chips, ritz crackers, toasted bread crumbs, etc., crushed, to top

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Cook pasta until very firm--it should be too firm to eat right out of the pot. Drain.
3. In a small bowl, beat egg.
4. In a large pot, melt butter and sprinkle in flour. Whisk together over medium-low heat. Cook mixture for five minutes, whisking constantly. Don’t let it burn.
5. Pour in milk, add mustard, and whisk until smooth. Cook for five minutes until very thick. Reduce heat to low.
6. Take 1/4 cup of the sauce and slowly pour it into beaten egg, whisking constantly to avoid cooking eggs. Whisk together till smooth.
7. Pour egg mixture into sauce, whisking constantly. Stir until smooth.
8. Add in cheese and stir to melt.
9. Add salt and pepper. Taste sauce and add more as needed!
10. Pour in drained, cooked macaroni and stir to combine.
11. Serve immediately (very creamy) or pour into a buttered baking dish, top with chips/crackers/crumbs, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden on top. (You can keep the dish before baking in the fridge, then bake before serving, too!)

Recipe courtesy of Pioneer Woman