Pink Mashed Potatoes?

The term comfort food refers to a style of familiar, simple food or drink that is usually home-cooked, or consumed in informal restaurants. The idea of "comfort food" is popular in western culture and not part of many other societies including East Asia.

- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I have one comfort food. It's simple. It's high in carbs. It's served at every holiday gathering. I love mashed potatoes.

One of the perks of living and eating with Jack everyday is that the man loves to experiment...with his food you sickos! Jack is always testing new combinations of spices on old dishes and most of the time those experiments are alright. After a few weeks of beet deliveries from our CSA (we can't complain we love beets), it got me thinking about combining my favorite comfort food with my favorite vegetable.

Now when I say this dish is simple. I mean it's REALLY SIMPLE. When I say it's good. I mean it's REALLY GOOD. I don't think we've fought over who got to finish a dish like this since the last time I made my butternut squash chili (a recipe loved by all that I will eventually post).

The recipe is somewhat improvised. I boiled 2 medium sized beets that had been peeled and cut into cubes. I also boiled about four or five small red potatoes. I then mashed the potatoes while combining in between mashing sessions a helping of beets. I also added a splash of cream here and there to get the consistency I wanted.

This treat is sweet and creamy. It's a great side that adds color to a plate. It's a must try.

Chilled Carrot Ginger Soup

For my birthday this year Jack bought us a CSA membership. Every week we get a box full of fresh veggies. Our CSA even sends us emails with recipe ideas. They're even having a CSA member BBQ at the end of this month. This CSA rocks...we've heard complaints about other CSAs delivering the same thing week after week, not getting many veggies, etc. That is not the case for us! We have so much food we have to bring people over to our place for dinner to eat it all before it goes bad!

This week among some of the veggies we got in the delivery were a bunch of carrots, some red onions and some garlic.

Now I know that soups are usually a winter thing, but when I saw these veggies together I immediately thought carrot ginger soup! Because it's been so hot this weekend I made the soup and then chilled it while I helped Jack on a photo project.

Carrot Ginger Soup

-a bunch of carrots (a little more than a cup and a half) chopped
-2 tsp olive oil
-4 tbsp minced ginger
-2-3 cloves minced garlic
-3 cups veggie broth
-1/4 cup orange juice
-1/2 cup cream
-salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil over medium heat in soup pot. Add onions and cook until soft. Add ginger and garlic and cook for 2-4 minutes.

Add carrots, broth and orange juice. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until carrots are exceedingly tender. In batches puree soup in a blender. I add the cream, which is optional, when I begin the puree process.

Baked Cheesecake

"I feel the end approaching. Quick, bring me my dessert, coffee and liqueur."
-Brillat-Savarin's great aunt Pierette

My summer classes at Hunter College, although packed full of incredibly useful and interesting information, have been somewhat exhausting and therefore has made me neglectful of this wonderful little blog. Summer Session is coming to an end, but before it did we had the opportunity to have dinner with some good friends and enjoy this treat with some coffee from Baruir's (The BEST place to get coffee in Sunnyside).

This was my first try at a baked cheesecake. I've tried no bake cheesecakes, but the consistency of the cake has never turned out the way I would like. I came upon this recipe and it really came out well. I topped it with a cherry persevre. Our guest had brought strawberry ice cream, which complimented the cake quite well.

Crust (I bought mine at the store. You can try to make it yourself if you'd like.)
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 1/4 cups graham wafer crumbs
1/4 cup sugar

Combine butter, graham wafer crumbs and sugar. Press into the bottom of a 9" springform pan.

Filling:
2 packages (8oz each) cream cheese
1 can sweetened condensed mile (Eagle Brand, 300ml)
1/4 cup lemon juice (I cut up some lemons and squeezed the juice into the filling)
3 eggs

In large bowl beat cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add sweetened condensed milk and beat until completely smooth.
Add eggs and lemon juice. Mix well. Pour over crust.

Bake for 50-55 minutes at 300 degrees. It's done when it springs back when lightly touched. Cool to room temp and then chill until ready to serve.

Have time for a quick Quiche?

Tomorrow this little break wraps up. I go back to work at Hunter and then the following day the kids return to Lexington. Since I've been at Lexington I've been secretly jealous of the ladies who bring in good meals to reheat. Never thought I would jealous of reheated microwaved meal, but after the umpteenth peanut butter, egg salad, or humus sandwich w/ a side of yogurt feelings start to change. So I'm preparing this quickie quiche to have lunch materials for Hunter and Lex.

This is my old stand-by recipe. I'm glad I'm blogging it b/c the paper the recipe is on is so stained and tattered. I also think this is a great recipe for when you find out last minute that people are coming over for a bite. This usually happens after a very long day when all you can think about is a hot bath, a glass of wine and a good book, but good company and good conversations wait for no one. This recipe is no fuss, real quick and delicious.

Spinach Mushroom Quiche
8 ounces of mushrooms sliced (I use a little less than this)
1/4 cup chopped onion
10 inch pie shell
1 cup shredded swiss (don't go mixin' up your cheeses...it will mess up the recipe)
4 eggs
1 cup cream (i use light cream...some people just use milk)
10 ounce package frozen spinach
salt and pepper to taste
a dash of nutmeg
2 tbsp parmesan cheese

Saute mushrooms and onion in oil. Sprinkle bottom of pie shell with the swiss cheese. Beat the cream and eggs. Add the spinach, mushrooms, onion, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Pour mixture over pie crust. Sprinkle parmesan on top. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes, then reduce hat to 350 and bake for another 40 min or until a knife in the center of the pie comes out clean when inserted. Let quiche cool for a good 20 minutes or so before serving.
I think this dish can be served hot or cold. Either way you'll be wanting seconds.

I do hope you enjoy this treat and remember...
Keep real on the home skillet kids!

Eggplant and Potatoes

My first year at Hunter is finished. I now have a few days off from both Lexington and Hunter. Jack is on another shoot. Therefore I have had the opportunity to catch up on reading, relax...I've learned that I much prefer to be busy. With this knowledge I set out on this gloriously sunny day in Sunnyside to the local market to find the makings for potato salad, eggplant and garlic dip, and a quiche. Good thing that tomorrow brings good weather and hopefully a bike ride with 5bbc.org , so all these yummy treats won't force me to wear only clothing with an elastic nature.

I have posted an eggplant dip recipe in the past, but this one is slightly different. It's currently cooling in the fridge. Preliminary tasting makes me think it might turn out to be a decent dip. If it's utterly distasteful...I'll post a warning.

1 eggplant
2 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 large garlic clove
2 tbsp minced onion (i used more..we'll see how that turns out)
Salt and pepper

-Place eggplant on baking sheet. Cut off stem and cut some slashes on the sides. Broil for about 20 minutes or once skin is charred.
-Once cooked discard skin and mash.
-Add all other ingredients and cool in refridgeorator for at least a few hours.

The potato salad is delicious. I am planning on taking some of it with me for my packed lunch tomorrow, but I'm having a difficult time leaving it alone. I subscribe to weekly veggie recipes from peta. I am not vegan and therefore adapt some of the recipes to my lacto-ovo veggie prefrences.

2 1/4 lbs. red potatoes
1/2 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
2 Tbsp. mayo
1 tsp. garlic powder
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/3 cup chopped red onion

Scrub and quarter the potatoes. Cook in salted water until just tender. Drain and rinse with cold water.
Whisk together the olive oil, mustard, vinegar, vegan mayonnaise, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
In a large bowl, gently fold the chopped vegetables into the potatoes. Add the dressing, tossing to coat. Season to taste.

I will post the quiche recipe at another time.

Oh sweet ginger!

It's been a long time since a Tasty recipe has been posted. The house in Providence is officially rented, I have one final and a paper left before I complete my first year of grad school and Jack has been busy with shoots and the New York Photo Festival. 
As Jack attends the closing day of the festival, I have stayed behind to enjoy a day of cooking, cleaning and maybe even some studying. 

I saw this recipe in a magazine. Jack loves my carrot ginger soup, so I thought that I couldn't go wrong with ginger bread and ginger honey butter.I've run into a lot of people recently who claim to hate ginger. I too have not always been a fan, but this recipe and the carrot soup recipe have a sweet taste to them and not the bite that ginger haters seem to fear.

It taste great, but it's a little too cake like for me. I need to figure out a way to make it more bread-like. 

Bread:
8 tbsp. unsalted melted butter
2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 cup molasses
1 egg
1/2 buttermilk
1/4 cup hot water

Butter:
a little over half a stick of unsalted butter
2 tbsp honey
1 one inch piece of fresh ginger grated (about a tsp)
1 tsp cinnamon

Bread
-heat oven to 350
-stir together dry ingredients
-stir in melted butter
-add all remaining ingredients
-pour batter into 8 inch greased square pan
-bake 45-50 mins

Butter:
-combine all ingredients
-using handheld mixer mix ingredients well
-refrigerate at least half and hour

C is for cookie...

Things have been very busy for us, thus the lack of blogging. We have been back and forth between Providence and the city trying to set up the new place and pack up our loved place in Providence. With all the shuffle we haven't really had the chance to cook. I've missed it!
Today was the first beautiful day of spring. That got me thinking of things that make me feel good. Cooking...and more specifically my favorite cookie recipe.
Try it out and let me know any tweaks you can think of to make these cookies taste even better.

2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups granola (I use the granola varieties found at Whole Foods. I like the mixes with berries in them.)
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
dash of salt

Indian Extravaganza

"When we no longer have good cooking in the world, we will have no literature, nor high and sharp intelligence, nor friendly gatherings, no social harmony."
Marie-Antoine Carême

The best thing about food is that it magically brings people together. This weekend we had the pleasure of cooking up a meal with friends from Rhode Island, New York and New Hampshire. There were various chutneys and many amazing dishes with our own special ingredients and touches added. I can't think of a better way to spend a day than starting with a walk around our Sunnyside neighborhood, taking a stroll through Little India in Jackson Heights for supplies and then spending an evening cooking, eating and enjoying good company. 

CUBED POTATO with FENUGREEK

2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp yellow mustard seeds
2 tsp finely chopped ginger
3 green chilies finely chopped
salt
1/2 pound of potatoes
1/2 cup water
2-3 tbsp of dried fenugreek leaves (to be ground prior to adding)
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground corriander
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 bunch of cilanto chopped finely

1) Heat oil, cumin seeds, yellow mustard seeds, ginger, chilies and salt in a heavy-based pan Add potatoes and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly for approx. 5 minutes. Add water cover and cook over low heat for 5 more minutes, or until potatoes are half cooked

2)Stir in fenugreek, ground cumin, ground corriander and turmeric and cook for 5-10 minutes or until potatoes are fully cooked. Prior to serving sprinkle with cilantro.

Serves 6 portions.

This ain't yo mama's Rice 'n Beans!

I know the picture looks like slop but trust me - you'll be asking for seconds. Being a culinary warrior requires not only sophistication but also the ability to get down and dirty. When I feel the good ghetto flava wellin' up in my soul I go for this tried and true satisfaction:

1/2 cup rice
1 can black beans
6-8 baby bella mushrooms
8-10 sundried tomatoes
1 corn on the cob (or half a can)
1 small onion, cut small
1 large or 2 small garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp minced ginger
1/2 tsp ground corriander
1/2 tsp ground cumin (can be whole too)

Boil up the rice while you cook the rest. Also, rehydrate the sundried tomatoes by simmering them in boiling water to cover in a small sauce pan (just 3 minutes is enough, then set aside to cool).

Fry up the onion, garlic and ginger together with the corriander and cumin in a bit of oil. Rinse the black beans and add them to the pan after 3 minutes. Fry for another 3 minutes, adding the water from the tomatoes when the mixture starts to look dry.

Cut the corn off the cob, chop up the mushrooms and sundried tomatoes, and add to the beans. Sprinkle some salt 'n peppa to taste. Fry for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally. When done, dump into large serving bowl, mix in the rice and garnish with cilantro.

Serves 4 portions.

World Changing ~ food politics

A quick browse of food related articles on worldchanging.org reveals a wealth of stories the politics of food culture. Here are a couple articles by Erica Barnett that caught my eye. BTW, this is a site well worth exploring when you havet a moment for inspiring and empowering information.

Creative Strategies for Reducing Food Waste

From Food Stamps to Farmers Markets: US Food Subsidies Evolve

Tofu and Cabbage stir-fry

This is a quick fix and super-cheap vegitarian dish. I served it with a side of sweet-potato mashies for dinner tonight. Goes well with some Brooklyn Winter Ale.

1/2 small head of green cabbage (red is fine too)
1 dish of firm tofu
2 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp minced ginger
2 tsp sesame oil
sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds

Press the tofu between two plates (put a heavy book on top) while you chop the vegetables. Sip a brew. Drain water after 10 minutes.

Heat 1 tsp oil in a large skillet. Stir up the tofu, cubed 1/2 inch, for 3-4 minutes. Add garlic and ginger, stir for another minute.

Remove tofu but leave some flavor behind. Add 1 tsp oil and stir in the cabbage. Fry 5 minutes, add tofu and cook another minute. Salt and pepper to taste.

Sprinkle in sesame seeds (optional) and serve hot.

Makes 3 portions.

Props to Carole Raymond for suggesting the combination.

The best Hummus I've ever had.

This week was the first week of the spring semester for my grad work. I have also started working full time at the Lexington School for the Deaf and I continue to work a few nights a week in between classes at Hunter College. Needless to say, this has been somewhat of a hectic week. What can you do to destress? Cook up a freakin' storm!

While trying out a borscht recipe (I will post it if it deserves posting), I made this truly amazing hummus. It is the easiest thing in the world to make and I just might skip the borscht and have this for dinner.

Here's what you need.

1 19 ounce can of cannellini beans, drained

2 tablespoons tahini

2 lemons (to be cut in half and squeezed into the mixture)

1/4 cup chopped green onions

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

a good dash of salt

a good dash of pepper

1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano

1 good sized garlic clove, peeled

Throw all this good stuff into the blender and puree until smooth. 

You got to try this recipe. This really is the best hummus I've ever had. 

Let me know what you think.

Garden Veggie Couscous

I'm a fan of quick-n-easy dishes that satisfy quickly and make plenty, like this veggie couscous:

1 cup couscous (large/middle-eastern/israeli)
2 half-inch slices firm tofu, cubed
1 small summer squash
1 cup cut baby-bella mushrooms
1 medium onion, cut small
1/2 cup leftover sugar snap peas, cut in pieces
3 cloves garlic, minced
oregano
marjoram
red pepper flakes
sea salt and black pepper to taste

(makes 3 portions :)

As usual, sauté the garlic and onion a while, then add the herbs and veggies. Fry that on medium, stirring, until it starts to soften up (5-8 minutes). Add a 1/4 cup of water as the veggie juices dry up and keep frying. Okay, now add 1 and 1/2 cups of water and the couscous and stir it up. Cook that for five minutes, stir, put a lid on it and turn off. Let sit for 10 minutes. Yum!

Roasted Eggplant Spread

Here's a little spread that is quick to make. I think I need to add something that will give it a little more kick, currently it is slightly bland for my tastes.

What you will need:

1 large eggplant

2 to 3 cloves of garlic (pressed)

2 tablespoons of olive oil

freshly ground salt and pepper

parsley for garnishing purposes

What you will need to do:

Preheat the oven to 450. 

Give the eggplant a few deep slices so it won't explode while cooking.

Place eggplant in a pan and cook until tender (about 30-40 minutes).

Once you have removed the eggplant from the oven allow to cool for about 10-15 min.

Peel the skin from the eggplant.

Place eggplant, olive oil and garlic in blender on chop mode. 

Salt and pepper.

Serve with sliced pita bread and garnish with parsley.

I do enjoy the way this tastes, but as I said I would like to figure out a way to give this little number a little more kick. It takes so little effort to make, which makes this dish great for a dinner party appetizer. 

Hello dal-ling!

I found this recipe for Dal from a cookbook I received this Christmas. What you will need:

1 cup dried lentils

3 cups water

2 cups finely chopped onion

olive oil

2 cloves of garlic

1 teaspoon of curry powder

1 glass of wine to consume while cooking

I began by combining the lentils, water and 1 cup of onion and bringing to a boil.  Once brought to a boil, I reduced the heat and simmered for about 30-40 minutes. 

Halfway through the boiling/simmering process, I heated some olive oil up in a medium pan and added the remaining onion, garlic and curry powder. I sauteed until the onions were golden and soft.  I then combined the saute with the cooked lentils and salted to taste.

Although this recipe doesn't call for butter, I threw in a small chunk in the lentils while cooking for taste. I also used a potato masher to mash up the lentils while cooking. I'm sure there's more sophisticated techniques, but I was unsure of the "professional" way to achieve a hearty yet smooth consistency. I wanted to stay away from making a soupy dal. 

I served this over some brown rice. I thought it was tasty if I do say so myself.

Michael Pollan's new book

Michael Pollan has a new book out, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. I can't wait to read it. Paula Crossfield has a nice post about it on her blog, A Lucid Spoonful, with an audio stream of Pollan talking about his book on The Leonard Lopate Show (WNYC).

Welcome to Tasty '08

Welcome to Tasty '08! This blog chronicles our culinary explorations in the year 2008. Who are we? Your friends, Bethany and Jack. We invite you to join us for dinner, a pot-luck (at your house), and to share your culinary tips and impressions. Hope to see you soon!

: J+B