Cooking Catchup

It's October already. The summer went by too fast. Things were supposed to slow down over the summer, so we could relax and rejuvenate. It certainly didn't feel that way. It was such a blur that Kevin and I missed our 2 year anniversary and didn't end up officially celebrating. (Though we did just happen to spend the entire day of our anniversary together having fun, so how could one possibly improve on that, really.)

But a constant through our daily hectic lives is that we've still been cooking together. We just haven't been posting. We're going to have to make more time to cook and grocery shop, now that our CSA season has ended this week. We'll miss the weekly dose of fresh basil. But we still have about 6 heads of garlic that we can savor through the winter and recall our wonderful vegetable experience this year. We got a pumpkin from the share, maybe I'll take a stab at pumpkin pie from scratch this year.

Recent unphotographed cooking experiments ...

• Kadu (Afghan Kadu) based on this online recipe. We used half the sugar called for, since the dish is pretty sweet as is. STELLAR RECIPE. We made a vegetarian sauce by following the basic ingredient list of the meat sauce listed, but using a can of tomato sauce instead of fresh tomato, and omitting the meat (of course). For a quick yogurt sauce, we simply watered down some Greek yogurt, and added garlic.
  
• Sweet Potato Bread based on this online recipe. We used more sweet potato called for, since we had extra mashed sweet potato, and also added some allspice along with the other spices. We also doubled the recipe, so we could share with friends. Everyone enjoyed it.
  
• Vegetarian 'Crabcakes' based on this online recipe. Shredded zucchini replaces the crab very well in this recipe, the texture is spot on. Very quick and easy, we've made it several times over the summer. We've improvised 'bread crumbs' from smashed crackers, or didn't have lemon, and every time, the recipe still worked out well. We also have tried this recipe using summer squash instead of zucchini with good results. I'd say the color difference between the yellow squash vs green zucchini made the dish look more like real crabcakes, it almost fooled Kevin's roommate.

Recent books ...

• The Soul of a Chef: The Journey Toward Perfection by Michael Ruhlman. I'm still in the middle of this book but so far it is stellar. If you like Top Chef (which we do!) You'll love this book. Very well written, and such detail captured that it literally feels like you are watching over these chef's shoulders. Highly recommended!
• Horsemen of the Esophagus: Competitive Eating and the Big Fat American Dream by Jason Fagone. Kevin bought me this book for my birthday this summer. I must confess I was a bit of a fan of competitive eating ever since learning about Sonya Thomas a couple years ago, so the gift was a good choice. Unexpectedly, this book took me more behind the scenes than I thought it would, and it certainly changed the way I view competitive eating, and the competitors. I must add that reading it does not make one hungry for food or cooking. Barring side effects, it is a very good book.

Other news...

• Kevin is going freelance! He has put in his 2 weeks notice at his current job, and he will be focusing on devoting time to photography and working on video projects that appeal to him. I'm so proud of him and I know he'll love his new career path!
• Which takes me to my next point. We'll be going on a 2 and a half week vacation in November! We will fly to Kevin's hometown Tucson, and do a 4 corners road trip, ending back in Tucson in time to spend Thanksgiving with his family. I'm particularly excited since I've never seen the Grand Canyon before, nor stepped foot in New Mexico or Utah. We're crossing our fingers for favorable weather, but regardless, I'm sure we'll enjoy the natural beauty of it all.

Homemade Spaghettios!

Our local Trader Joe's has begun to sell this fantastic ring-shaped pasta called Analletti. The first thought that comes to mind when I came across this pasta was "Spaghettios!" As a child, Kevin adored spaghettios. I grew up disliking most cheese, so I hated them. If we were to look at a can of Spaghettios today we'd be shocked at the number of strange ingredients. From high fructose corn syrup to processed cheese, I can't fathom how Kevin could have loved it so much as a kid. Luckily, we're adults now and can make more informed decisions about what we eat. With less sodium, real cheese, and noodles cooked al dente, we think our homemade version is tops. Very quick and easy, and so much more wholesome. The sauce is cheesy, thick and smooth. This is a great base recipe, you could get creative and use other kinds of cheese and add veggies if you like! Let us know what you think!

1/2 lb ring shaped pasta
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 cup milk
6 oz sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 8-oz can of tomato sauce
1 6-oz can of tomato paste
1/2 medium onion, finely diced
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Cook pasta in boiling water, according to package directions, until al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, melt butter under medium flame in a saucepan. Add flour and stir about 2 minutes. Add onion to the saucepan, and stir to combine. Cook for 2 more minutes.
Whisk in milk, oregano, basil, and parsley. Bring to a gentle boil.
Whisk in the tomato sauce and tomato paste. If the sauce is too thick, add a ladelful of pasta water. Bring to a simmer.
Stir in the shredded cheese. Salt and pepper to taste
Finally, add the cooked, drained noodles and stir to combine well.

Serves 4.

BBM Package from Australia!

Imagine our delight to find our Blogging By Mail surprise arrived all the way from Sydney, Australia! The BBM organizer, Stephanie of Dispensing Happiness, paired us with the wonderful Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. Interestingly, Steph grew up in Virginia, lived in New York for a while, and just moved to Australia this year. What a small world!

The box was PACKED with goodies. She included too much! (leftish to rightish):
A reusable grocery bag - This will prove handy on my impromptu grocery trips.
A postcard featuring a vintage cricket poster
A ceramic salt cellar - I have never used one of these, but it looks like it would be handy
Pink salt for the salt cellar - I looked it up, apparently this salt comes from underground saline water!
A copy of delicious. magazine - I'd never heard of this magazine but reading through it, it a top notch foodie must-read! Beautiful layout, recipes, interviews. I can see why Steph would include this as a fave.
A pack of chocolate malt balls - Mmmm. Need I say more?
Chocolate cookbook published by Australian Gourmet - These recipes look sooo good.
Chamomile and lavender tea - How did Steph know that Kevin loves tea?
A packet of wattleseed - a seed native to Australia, and often used in desserts, I'm looking forward to trying this!
Printed muffin cups - Just the handy excuse I need to make cupcakes ... Maybe something chocolatey from the cookbook she sent?

I've always dreamed of visiting Australia, and this package feels like it has to be the next best thing. Thanks Steph for such a thoughtful package and thanks to Stephanie for organizing it all. It was great to discover Steph's blog, and participate in such a fun event!

A Visit to Bull Run Mountain Farm

As promised, here are some photos Kevin took from our visit to Bull Run Mountain Farm. We've been really happy to support this farm, and are enjoying all the wonderful organic vegetables. In addition to locally grown vegetables and herbs, we've gotten some fruits and even some honey! It was a great day to be outside and learning where our food comes from. The photo above is our farmer Leigh giving us a tour of the farm.

This is one of the fields right in front of the farmhouse.


And last but not least, is a peek into some vegetables we'll see later in the season. Pumpkin seedlings in the greenhouse!

Summer Update!

Hello! We haven't been able to find the time lately to post about our latest summer food adventures, so we thought we'd give you a quick update. As our jobs have been so busy and life creeps in, combined with tag-team sickness, it sometimes is rather difficult to post photos as quickly as we take them, so please bear with us. We've got a free day today to play some catch up!

On 07/07/07, we took a trip up to New York City, to see some music and find some good pizza. We ended up at Grimaldi's in Brooklyn. It was wonderful pizza, Kevin thought it was the best pizza he had ever had. Apparently the secret is a coal-burning oven? I've read conflicting reports about coal for cooking as it relates to pollution. If anyone knows the deal about coal, please chime in!

A couple weekends later, as we wrote about previously, we went to Ocean City, MD. It was a great weekend. We also attended the Chincoteague Blueberry Festival. It was a nice little sort of bazaar market. At the market, we had some wonderful Blueberry ice cream from the Island Creamery, and sampled some Blueberry shortcake. Unfortunately, the pints of fresh blueberries, and blueberry pies were ALL SOLD OUT! Ahh well, we still had a good time, and also bought some blueberry teas from the Eastern Shore Coastal Roasting Company. (The tea is very good, by the way!)

The following weekend, we attended our CSA shareholder potluck at the Bull Run Mountain Farm. The potluck was wonderful, and it was great to get a tour of the farm, and see where our produce was coming from, and how farming is done. We left with a new appreciation for the work that small farms put into bringing food to our tables. We are very happy to have supported the farm this year, especially with this summer's drought. We'll definitely be posting photos of the farm.

Also last but not least, we got our Blogging By Mail package from Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. What a wonderful package it was, we'll be posting about this as well!

Stay tuned!

Weekend at the beach!

This weekend, we will be heading to the beach! We will be heading towards Ocean City, MD, and then spending much of our time in the Chincoteague, Virginia area. Not only are we looking forward to the wild ponies there, but we will also be there to see the offerings at the 2007 Chincoteague Blueberry Festival! So with that, we wish you all a wonderful weekend, and hopefully we'll come back with some good blueberry goodies!

Ashak

We've been so busy lately, we hadn't gotten around to finishing posting about the Afghan feast we had on Independence Day! We made Ashak, which are boiled scallion dumplings, with the Afghan Nan. It was a bit of work, but not unmanageable, and totally worth it. While the bread was rising, I was able to start the yogurt sauce, and the dumpling fillings. Instead of homemade yogurt, I opted for a quicker version, that was not as flavorful as the yogurt sauces that we've had in restaurants, but for us, it was quite good, and still complemented the dish well. Highly recommended, this is Kevin's favorite Afghan meal to order. The recipe is adapted from the Classic Afghan Cookbook by Mousa Amiri.

For the yogurt topping:
2 cups plain yogurt
1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1 clove of garlic, minced
dried mint (for garnish)

Line a strainer with a cheese cloth. Place the yogurt in the cheesecloth and let drain at room temperature for at least 3 hours.
After well drained, place the yogurt into a bowl. Add salt and garlic to the yogurt. Stir well, and put bowl in refrigerator.
Before using, add a little water to the yogurt, if it is too thick, and stir well.

For the dumplings:
3 bunches of scallions
1 lb frozen chopped spinach
2 packages of round wonton skins
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt

Slice the scallions 1/4 inch thick. Place in a colander and wash. Let drain for 15 minutes.
Sqeeze out all water from the spinach. Combine the scallions and spinach into a mixing bowl. Add the salt and cayenne. Mix well.
Using water as 'glue', brush a little water on the edge of a wonton.
Place 1/2 tablespoon of the filling in the center of the wonton.
Fold the wonton skin over the filling, and seal the edges, making a half-moon shape. Continue making dumplings until the filling or dumplings are used up. (Most likely the filling will be used up first.)

For the peas topping:
1/2 lb dried yellow split peas
1 onion, finely chopped
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1 tomato seeded, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups water

Sautee the onion with the oil until lightly browned. Add the peas, garlic, black pepper and water.
Simmer until the peas are tender.
Add the tomato, tomato sauce, and salt. Simmer for 10 more minutes.

Assembling the dish:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add salt and vegetable oil to the water.
Add 10 to 12 dumplings to the water. Let cook for 3 minutes and then remove to a plate.
Top with the peas topping, and then the yogurt topping. Sprinkle the dried mint over the yogurt.
Repeat for another plate of dumplings.

Serves 6 to 8 hungry people.