Thoughts on NaBloPoMo

So. I did it again. Last year I was a little frantic about completing NaBloPoMo, but this year I tried to just enjoy it and I was pretty successful. In fact, just like last year, I liked the diversion from my more-or-less standard blog MO. I used to feel bad if I didn't post in the order of photograph, anecdote, headnote, recipe, but I think I'm going to have to let that slide for good. I'll still share recipes, of course, but would anybody mind if I post the occasional photo-only post? Or if every once in a while I tell you what I'm up to at work intead of telling you what I had for dinner?

I've been sort of bored with this space lately, which is why I was absent for, oh, all of October, but I think part of it is because the world of food blogs has become so saturated and I can't help but feel competitive. What if my picture isn't as pretty? What if my cookies aren't tied just so with perfect baker's twine or my story isn't as funny/poignant/heartfelt/tearjerking? What if my recipes include weird hard to find ingredients or make too-frequent use of leftovers and what if you don't have the same leftovers? If nothing else, NaBloPoMo has taught me that I still like blogging, even if none of my anything is "as good as" anybody else's. Does that make sense? The point is, I hope to see you here more frequently than I did over the summer.

Incidentally, have you oiled up your wooden spoons and cutting boards lately? It's winter, and just like you they could probably use some moisturizer (douse them with mineral oil, wait an hour, wipe off the excess with a paper towel).

Fermentation Station

This corner of my kitchen is full of bubbling jars. Further prep for my seminar next week. Kimchi getting tangy and cukes on their way to sour. There's creme fraiche, corned beef and gravlax in the fridge. This weekend: yogurt, pickled grapes, cultured butter. I'm getting psyched.

Thoughts on NaBloPoMo will have to wait until tomorrow, but I do have some thoughts to share. Thanks for reading along this month, it's been fun for me and I hope you've enjoyed it.

Coconut Curry Mussels

I had rather a lot to do tonight to prep for that pickle seminar I'm teaching at work next week. I started kimchi and gravlax tonight, woo! But that means I needed a fast dinner. Mussels may seem labor intensive (and ok, if you get a grubby batch they might require a fair amount of scrubbing) but they cook in five minutes or less. How can you beat that?

Coconut Curry Mussels
serves 2

I'm a big fan of moules frites, that is mussels and french fries, but this was supposed to be one of those quick and easy type dinners and I didn't feel like frying, so I just halved some fingerling potatoes, tossed them with some oil and salt and stuck them in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes. I mixed some sriracha and mayonnaise together and we dipped the taters in that. That and some sliced baguette (you know, for extra starch) to sop up the unspeakably delicious sauce  in the bottom of the pot and you've got dinner.

PS, the deal with mussels is if they are open and do not close when you tap them, don't eat them. Once they are cooked, don't eat the ones that remain closed. I don't soak mussels or anything (soaking saltwater creatures in fresh water will only suffocate them, yes?), I just scrub them under cold running water right before I want to eat them.

2 lbs mussels, scrubbed, beards removed if necessary
1 onion, diced
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon thai red curry paste (or more to taste)
1 teaspoon chili garlic paste (or more to taste)
1 14.5 ounce coconut milk
1 large handful cilantro, chopped

Heat a large heavy pot with a tight fitting lid over medium high heat. Add the oil then the onion and saute until the onion is translucent. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant. Add the chili paste and curry paste and stir stir stir until well distributed, cook for another minutes. Add the coconut milk - shake the can before you open it, and be sure to scoop any clumps into the pan, they'll melt down.

Bring the sauce to a simmer. You can turn the heat down and let it cook for a few minutes if you need to finish scrubbing the mussels; it's ok if it thickens up a bit. Once you're ready with the mussels, turn the heat back up to medium high, wait for the liquid to bubble assertively, and add the mussels. Stir to distribute the mussels, then cover the pot. The mussels will open when they have cooked, check them after four minutes, and if only a few have opened, stir them to redistribute (or put the lid back on and shake the pan - mine's too heavy for that) and cook another minute. Remove the lid, add the cilantro and stir, then serve with bread for sopping and potatoes if you like.

Fruitcake Teaser

Having some computer troubles, sorry to be a tease. Fruitcake tomorrow!

Unpretty Food

I used up the last of the turkey today, woo! Turkey pot pie with onion, carrot, parsnip, mushrooms and peas and instead of building a sauce from scratch I used the last of the gravy. It was a good choice. However, it was not pretty.

You know how it is. Sometimes your pie crust doesn't roll smoothly. Sometimes you throw it on top of your stew anyway and then the stew bubbles up around it and obscures 80% of the crust. Sometimes dinner is delicious and homely so you don't take any pictures. Alas.

Peanuty Turkey Salad Lettuce Wraps

We're back in Boston tonight, but worry not, Mom sent us home with a boatload of Thanksgiving leftovers (24 lb turkey for the five of us, ahem). Tomorrow night I'll probably make a turkey pot pie or something along those classic leftover lines, but first I wanted something light and crunchy and with flavors I hadn't tasted for a few days. Of course, it totally hit the spot so I ate it all before I took pictures of my plate, so here's the lunch I packed for tomorrow.

I went with peanuts and cilantro and lime, wrapped in lettuce for freshness, and a carrot slaw on the side  for crunch. Plus rice, because between potatoes and sweet potatoes and dinner rolls and sandwich bread I haven't had enough starch this week.

Peanuty Turkey Salad

3ish cups leftover turkey, shredded or diced (I used one giant thigh)
1 green onion, white and green parts, minced
1-2" knob fresh ginger, minced or grated
1 clove garlic, minced
small handful cilantro, chopped
small handful mint, chopped (if you have it)
3 tablespoons peanut butter
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1-2 tablespoons sriracha (more if you like it spicy)
1 lime

For serving: 
green leaf or Boston lettuce leaves
sriracha
lime wedges
steamed white rice
carrot slaw

Combine turkey, green onion, minced ginger and garlic, and herbs in a bowl. In a small jar with a lid, mix the peanut butter, fish sauce, soy sauce and sriracha with 2 tablespoons water, then microwave for 30 seconds. Put the lid on the jar and shake, shake, shake it like a polaroid picture. You should end up with about half a cup of sauce; pour it over the turkey. Squeeze the juice of half the lime over the turkey salad and mix with a fork to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary with more lime juice or more sriracha or soy sauce.

Serve wrapped in lettuce leaves with a squeeze of lime and/or sriracha. I eat the slaw and rice on the side because otherwise I overfill my lettuce leaves and make a giant mess.

Sesame Carrot Slaw

1 lb carrots, julienned (this peeler makes short work of it)
2 green onions, thinly sliced on a strong bias
4 hakurei turnips or 1 daikon radish, julienned
small handful cilantro, chopped
2 tablespoon rice vinegar
splash soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon vegetable or other neutral oil
sesame seeds, if you have them, for garnish

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and toss to combine. Let stand 20 minutes or so, tossing occasionally. Before serving, taste and adjust seasoning with more rice vinegar or soy sauce as needed.

A few things from today

Here's a pretty thing I saw today: wintery fountain grass at my parents' house. I also saw a bunch of other pretty things today. And ate some awfully tasty food (the cioppino!) And ran into this guy, so that was fun. Tomorrow I'll be back home and hopefully back here with a recipe.

Like you do.

Find the turkey motif plates.



And two slices of bread.



Add generous schmears of mayonnaise to both slices of bread.



Turkey and lettuce are next.



Now stuffing on the turkey, and then a controversial choice: I opted for sweet potatoes instead of regular mashed. I don't regret it, but our sweet potatoes are unadulterated (ie no marshmallows) so they fit right in.



Cranberry sauce for sure.



Aaaand eat.

If you're out shopping, I hope you get home soon to eat the best sandwich of the year.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you all enjoyed your turkey and pie today!

We took this photo before we ate and now it's time for sweatpants and football.

Travelin'

Headed home for the holiday!

Busy busy

Craziness tonight. GInger scallion noodles with roasted cauliflower and pickled eggplant and pickled beet and afterthought sesame seeds. Laundry to fold (so much laundry to fold). Bags to pack. Pie crust to make. See you tomorrow.

Homework

Tonight I'm working on the lecture outline for a seminar I'm teaching the first week in December. I don't know if you can tell from this pile of research material (ha) but it's about pickles. There will, of course, be plenty of snacks and demos involved, but If you were going to a seminar about pickles, what questions would you want answered?

Seasonal Indulgence

I love when the specialty holiday candy hits the market. (I particularly like the Reese's Eggs around Easter because the peanut butter to chocolate ratio is just incredibly high.) I usually keep peanut butter M&Ms in my desk drawer for emergencies. As a kid (when we only had two choices!) and still at the movies I go for Peanut M&Ms and I once tried the pretzel flavor (not bad, I like the salt) but I always go back to the peanut butter flavor.

I grabbed this bag of mint chocolate M&Ms at the store the other day and I'm afraid they are not as good as the peanut butter ones, but I think they might make really good cookies. What's your favorite M&M?

Tomato Horseradish Soup

This soup is something that I've had a note on for about a year. I ate it for lunch once at my old job and yesterday I came across the note about it in my handy note taking app and decided it was time to revisit. I opted not to add any dairy (the original soup had yogurt in it) but if the flavor of your soup is a bit sharp and you think it needs to be smoothed out, feel free to add a dollop of yogurt or sour cream or even just cream at the end.

Tomato Horseradish Soup

Serves 2 generously or 4 as a first course

I served this for dinner with some cheesy croutons - slices of baguette with a thin layer of dijon mustard and a layer of swiss cheese (gruyere would be awesome here, I used deli sliced swiss because I had some) - on a sheet pan in a 350 oven for about ten minutes then under the broiler for 1 more minute.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon butter
1 medium onion, diced
1 cup white wine
1 large can (32 oz) or jar (1 qt) crushed tomatoes
1 scant Tablespoon horseradish
1 Tablespoons dill, chopped
Salt and pepper

Heat the oil and butter in a pot over medium high heat and add the onion. Add a big pinch of salt and stir, and cook the onion until it's translucent or just starting to brown. When you just start to see brown bits on the bottom of the pan, it's time to add the wine. Let the wine simmer until it's almost gone (this will take a few minutes), then add the tomatoes, horseradish and dill. Bring to a simmer, then use an immersion blender to puree the soup (if you don't have an immersion blender you can do it in batches in a regular blender) right in the pot. Keep simmering until thickened to the point you like it, then taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper and maybe more dill if you need it.

Serve with cheesy croutons or grilled cheese or just some crusty bread for wiping the bowl.

Meat, Starch, Veg

Do you ever sit at work and get immediate and urgent cravings for a particular type of food? For example: Dang, polenta sounds good. Ok, now I want polenta. GIVE. ME. THE. STARCH. And then instead of going home to immediately eat the polenta, you go out and try to get a new phone except the one you want is apparently popular and therefore not available to you for weeks, thus increasing your frustration level and elevating the need for starchy goodness? Here is what you can do about that when you get home:

Bring 4 cups salted water to a boil. Whisk in 1 cup polenta (aka medium or coarse cornmeal) and turn down the heat. Whisk occasionally while it simmers for 30-40 minutes. Add a tablespoon of butter and a hearty scoop of mascarpone or cream cheese and stir.

Meanwhile, defrost something labeled "BBQ Beef 8/17". Try to remember what recipe you used three months ago. Fail.

Realize that you should put a vegetable on the plate too. Cut some brussels sprouts in half. Heat up a cast iron skillet over a medium flame and put some bacon fat in it to melt. Put the sprouts in, cut side down. Cover it for 5 minutes. Take the cover off. Add half a cup of water, it'll boil off really fast but your sprouts will stop just shy of burning. Flip them over and shut off the heat.

Text your husband and demand he bring home ice cream.

Enjoy.

EVOO again

Had another lovely meal at EVOO in Cambridge tonight. I've always eaten well there, the service is good, and the Chef is incredibly nice. I'm at EVOO once a month or so for work - I run the student Chef for a Night program where a culinary student gets to work with Chef Peter McCarthy to add three items to his regular menu. I usually drag Adam along with me and since the menu changes so frequently he has literally never ordered the same thing twice. I always order the student's menu, which means I've never ordered the same thing twice, either!  Tonight I had a squash and apple soup, seared arctic char over the most buttery leeks I've ever eaten, and ginger pear crisp with toasted almond ice cream. That's Robin, the student chef, up there in the photo, and over here on the internet.

Stuffed Squash

Dinner! I mentioned to you recently about how I deal with leftovers, but I forgot to mention this other thing I do, which is to stuff leftover things into vegetables. Sometimes tomatoes, sometimes zucchini, most often delicata squash. I LOVE delicata squash - did you know you can eat the skin? Because you can, and it's delicious. So here is what I did this morning.

Stuffed Squash

Cut two delicata squashes in half and scoop out the seeds. Salt them and oil them up a bit (not too much!) and put them cut side up on a baking sheet. Stick them in a 375 oven for about half an hour, or until they're tender all the way through. Then mix together the following:

2 cups leftover cooked rice (or any cooked grain)
1/2 cup leftover chimichurri  (or some chopped herbs and a splash of vinegar and oil)
1 cup leftover cooked spinach  (or other leftover veg)
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (or other melty cheese)

Taste the mix and adjust the seasoning if necessary with more salt or vinegar or lemon juice.

Pile this mix into the squash-boats. At this point, if you like, you can put the assembled stuffed squashes into the fridge until you get home from work. Then, put them in a 375 oven until the rice on top is crispy and the cheese is melty and delicious. Took about half an hour for me. Yum.

Ouch.

Slacker post alert: my knees hurt too much to blog. Probably from all that running I did yesterday.

Also we had these for dinner tonight. Still a damn fine sandwich. 

30x30: Month 9

Here is a picture of my celebratory beer from lunch today. You know why? Because I FINISHED A HALF MARATHON. At the moment I'm pretty sure my knees are about to explode but I FINISHED it and I didn't even cry. I wanted to, but I didn't. Woot! So I'm officially swapping out "finish a half marathon" for my "run a 10k in an hour" goal. Which brings me back to the list, on which I owe you an update.

SO.

Culinary goals: 2/6
I still have to make croissants, make sausage and throw two dinner parties. But I've checked off two out of six!

Professional goals: 1/4
I taught a class! But I still have some pretty heavy hitters on this list. I'm pretty sure these ones are not all going to happen.

Personal goals: 4/10
I've gone to Europe, cleaned up my google reader, purged my cookbook collection (and my whole book shelf, actually), and watched the Godfather Trilogy. I'm on day 278 of Project 365 and I'm on book 25 of 30, and I've managed to do a first pass at our wedding photos. I still have to deal with my 401(k) and my wedding dress and learn to use my camera's manual setting.

House Stuff: 6/7
The only thing left on this list is to figure out if my sewing machine is working or not, but not only did I buy curtains for the living room instead of making them, but I re-arranged the entire room, including a rug and some new shelves and a new TV stand. Basically our living room is now the coolest room in our house.

Fitnessy Things: 2/3
I still have to find a yoga studio, but I did two chinups and I'm trading out running goals: instead of a 10k in under an hour, FINISH A HALF MARATHON. Which I did. Today. So I'm going to go take some more ibuprofen.

Total: 15/30. Sweet, 3/4 of the time is up and I've accomplished half the goals. Hm. Looks like I'm going to have a busy couple of months.

Chimichurri!

Chimichurri! Such a great word. It sounds like an order to have fun, doesn't it? If you haven't heard of it, here's the story in brief: it's an Argentinean condiment used sometimes as a marinade and sometimes as a sauce (and sometimes both, woo!). It is extremely delicious with steak, and that is how we ate it yesterday. Traditionally chimichurri includes parsley and oregano, garlic, red wine vinegar and olive oil. My fresh oregano plant is put away for the winter but we got parsley and cilantro in our CSA share so, here's what I stirred together:

3/4 cup very finely chopped parsley (one big bunch)
3/4 cup very finely chopped cilantro (two smaller bunches)
5 cloves garlic, minced into a paste with a pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 cup red wine vinegar, or more to taste
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, more if you want a thinner consistency
salt and pepper

Then I let the chimchurri sit and mingle for a bit while I steamed some potatoes and pan seared two tasty steaks (we like New York Strip). The potatoes were tossed with harissa that I thinned out with some olive oil. The chimichurri was spooned generously onto the steaks and then greedily slurped up. If you're looking for a spot of green, garlicky brightness in your winter meal rotation, try chimichurri.