Roasted Veggie Salad

 

We were invited to dinner at our friends' house this summer, and she made a really yummy salad. She combined pan-roasted vegetables and raw vegetables to make a nice mix of colors, textures, and flavors.

My CSA box a few weeks ago had small garnet sweet potatoes, zucchini, green lettuce, and apples (among other delicious things!). I wanted to make a hearty salad to accompany some pan-grilled catfish for a healthy dinner. Then I remembered Erin's salad! I love these veggies when they are roasted because the sugars get carmelized and bring out such good flavor. I thought it would go great with the fresh, crisp apples.

I cut the zucchini and peeled sweet potatoes in rounds, lay them on a baking sheet, drizzled on olive oil, and sprinkled salt and pepper to cover them lightly. I roasted them at 425F for about 25 minutes.

In the meantime, I washed the green lettuce, diced a couple of apples, and whipped up a quick sweet vinaigrette:

Peach Balsamic Vinaigrette

2T peach balsamic vinegar (or any fruit-infused balsamic)

1T dijon mustard

4T extra virgin olive oil

pinch of salt & pepper

Whisk all ingredients together and dress your salad!

 

When the veggies were done in the oven, I let them sit and cool for just 10 minutes or so. Then I combined the lettuce, apples, zucchini, and sweet potatoes with the vinaigrette.

 

Served beside a simple pan-grilled catfish filet (seasoned with salt, pepper, and paprika), we had a light and healthy dinner during a busy weeknight. And I didn't even have to go to the store! Think outside the box, and you could end up with a new favorite!

 



My First Try at Indian Cooking: Aloo Gobi

My husband and I love Indian food. We have a couple of favorite restaurants in the LA area. One is Jaipur in West Los Angeles and the other is called Al-Noor in Lawndale. The food is so fragrant and flavorful, it's something we crave quite often. But until this month, I'd never attempted to make it at home...despite the frequent requests I get from my man.

I took baby steps to get there. About 5-6 months ago, I ventured into the spice aisle at the grocery store and found turmeric, cumin seeds, and even bought a Garam Masala mix at a specialty spice store, Penzey's. So that, you know, I would have the spices on hand whenever I was ready.

Months passed, and then a couple of weeks ago, my cousin invited us over for a BBQ and asked me to make a vegetarian potato dish. I thought to myself, "well, here's my chance!" There are lots of Indian dishes with potatoes. I found an easy {recipe} on foodnetwork.com from Aarti Sequeira for a cauliflower and potato dish called Aloo Gobi.

I needed to double the recipe for the small crowd I was feeding, so I used one large head of cauliflower and 3 good-sized russet potatoes. I cut them all up in similar sized pieces so that they cooked evenly in the pot.

I used two serrano peppers, split in half, but joined at the stem. These little babies released quite a bit of heat, but it mellowed out after it sat for a while. I also made some of Aarti's signature ginger-garlic paste. I used about 1/2 cup of both fresh ginger (stored in my freezer) and garlic (stored in my fridge), and about 1/4 cup of canola oil. I blended in the Magic Bullet blender, and it came out perfect. I had more than enough to keep for later use too.

The veggies were the vehicle for the incredible spices to shine. The scent of the masala mix of turmeric, coriander, ginger-garlic paste and water, added to the cumin seeds that popped away in the oil filled my whole house! It was wonderful!

I added the veggies with 1/2 cup of water to let it all cook without burning and about 1-2 teaspoons of salt to bring out all of the flavors. I gave it a good toss, and let it soften up and cook for about 20 minutes.





Before serving, I removed the serrano peppers. the mixture turns a nice golden yellow color because of the turmeric. It tasted so good - warm spices and soft potatoes and cauliflower...it made for a hearty side dish that everyone enjoyed!

I was shocked at how easy this dish really was to make. I think it can be intimidating to cook with spices and ingredients that are unfamiliar, but if you have them all, the technique is actually really simple for any cook.

It's good to try new things! I hope this inspires you to try something you've never tried before. :) Happy cookin'!

Gluten-Free Fruit Crumble

More and more people in my life have switched to gluten-free diets, after finding out that gluten was the culprit in making them feel awful or just plain sick.

Before last month, I had never baked anything gluten-free. Honestly, I've looked at recipes and they often require ingredients that I don't have in my pantry, like xanthum gum. Yeah, I haven't expanded my staples to include that...yet.

So, I was pleased when I finally found a recipe from the NY Times for a dessert that only called for things I already had in my pantry shelves (minus one thing!). We were having our neighborhood BBQ, and I wanted to make some options for our next-door neighbors who are gluten-free peeps.

While I was at the store for the gluten-free rolled oats, I picked out some ripe nectarines and blueberries.

I prepped the fruit right in the glass dish that I was going to bake it in. So, I greased the edges on the pan and added the sliced nectarines and blueberries. To that, I added agave nectar, vanilla extract, and almond extract. The recipe calls for cinnamon, but I think I left it out on accident. The recipe has you bake the fruit mixture before adding the topping. I baked the fruit for 20 minutes while I worked on the crumble topping mixture.

The topping actually takes two steps as well. You also have to bake it on its own before adding it to the fruit and baking it a second time.

The topping is made from gluten-free oats, quinoa flour, turbinado or raw sugar, nutmeg, salt, and unsalted butter. The recipe can be found {here}.To make the quinoa flour, you grind up quinoa in a blender or spice grinder. I used my handy Magic Bullet. It worked quite well!

Then you blend all the dry ingredients in a food processor. Then you add the butter and pulse it until it's well-combined. I doubled the recipe because my dish is slightly bigger than your standard 9 x 13. I had plenty left over, so I froze it and kept it for future crumbles!



In a 350 preheated oven, you bake the mixture on parchment paper (or foil) on a baking sheet for 20 minutes, rotating the pan if needed at the halfway point.

Here's the before (top picture) and after (bottom picture). You can see how the quinoa and oats brown and crisp up in the oven.

By the time the topping was ready, the fruit had been sitting for about 30 minutes, and the juice from the fruit had collected in the dish. It seemed a bit watery without any thickener, so I added mixed a little bit of water with about a tablespoon of corn starch and tossed it in with the fruit before sprinkling on the oat topping. I then baked the whole dish at 350 for another 20-25 minutes until it was bubbling at the bottom.

The crumble was a hit! Our neighbors loved it and kept all the leftovers (it was one of four desserts that night). I've since made another crumble with pluots, apples, and cherries, which was equally as yummy. It's definitely a healthy dessert, low in added sugar, and high in fiber and protein!

Pink's Hot Dogs, Hollywood

There are quite a few historical food landmarks in Los Angeles. The number of celebrities that frequent a place, whether high-end or hole-in-the-wall, just might determine its legendary status. And, restaurants that name menu items after famous people, well, they always seem to make it big.


There's Sue (pointing at the sign), Pam, and Aaron holding our place in line. We waited for 40 minutes to order! Can you tell she's happy to be there?

Pink's is one of those landmarks. It's just a shack on La Brea Avenue heading into Hollywood that's been around since the 1940's. It's a grease pit serving hot dogs, hamburgers, fries, and onion rings. It's a heart-stopper. Cholesterol and calories are served there. And yet, in this west coast town of vegans and organic-fanatics, the line is most usually 20-50+ people long. And, they have hot dogs named after Martha Stewart and Ozzy Osborne, just to name a couple.

After living here for close to 7 years, I still hadn't been. But when my mother-in-law and friends came to visit before our Vegas trip, Pink's was our lunch destination before a day of shopping at the Grove. Needless to say, we really didn't need to eat for the rest of the day...

Here is our lineup of hot dogs...sauerkraut, anyone?

...and the burgers...Yes, that's a polish dog and bacon on top of the chili cheeseburger on the left. Wow. It was a bit much!

It was a good experience, though I wouldn't eat here very often, just for my body's sake. It's pretty tasty grub and it's fun to enjoy with friends, but...just looking at it puts you in danger of gaining 2 pounds. My favorite thing was probably the chili. So, a chili dog or chili cheeseburger or chili cheese fries are probably the best things to order.

Not sure if we'll be back, but at least I can check this one off my LA bucket list!

Soupe á L'Oignon

French Onion Soup is one of my favorite things to order at a restaurant. It's because of the ooey gooey cheese melted over the bowl and the rich sweet and savory broth underneath. It always seemed so difficult to make for some reason. But, then I learned how (in Paris, of course), and it's like most French dishes: few ingredients, maximum amount of flavor, and not very complicated.

I had a ton of onions one week and I don't like them raw. Cooked only, please!

Onion soup sounded like a great solution to my overabundance-of-onions issue. I also had chicken stock in my fridge that needed to be used, and a bottle of white wine that I was opening to preserve my garlic cloves. So, I decided, even though it was not going to be a traditional onion soup, to do it anyway. Because, you see, onion soup is made with beef stock and red wine. I'm such a rebel.

So, here's how it's done (if you want the real deal, then please, please, please, use red wine and beef stock instead!):

First, melt 3 tablespoons of butter and 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a stock pot or dutch oven. Add 2 cloves of minced garlic and sautee for a few minutes on medium heat.

Add 3 sliced yellow onions, and cook on low heat for 20-25 minutes, until they look brown and soft, as pictured above.



Then add 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour and stir to coat the onions. After than cooks a few minutes (to get rid of the raw flour taste), add about 1 cup of wine. To the pot, add about 8 cups (2 quarts) of stock. Let it simmer for 30 minutes to thicken a little bit.

In the meantime, prepare the cheesy toast. Use any type of bread - crusty French bread is the best - and toast it in a toaster or in an oven...or in a toaster oven! Traditionally, you can ladle the soup in an oven-safe bowl and top it with toast and grated cheese (ideally, gruyere, but if you can't find it - like me that day, you can use any melty white cheese. I used Asiago. Not perfect, but it worked). Stick it under a broiler until it melts...and voila! Soupe a l'oignon!!

I cheated and toasted the bread in the toaster, put it on a plate, topped it with cheese, and popped it in the microwave for 30 seconds. I plopped it on top of the hot soup and served it up. That works too. Top, pop, plop. Haha. I think I'm reaching my silly hour. I'll leave you here. Bon appetit!

p.s. The substitutions were ok. It tasted better after sitting in the fridge for a couple of days, but it wasn't bad with chicken stock and white wine, just not authentic!

Maui Babymoon & Food Tour

When we've mentioned taking a "babymoon," half the time we get blank looks in response. I guess it's a newer term than we thought. My husband surprised me with a trip to Maui this month to relax, celebrate, and enjoy our life as two before we become three. Our babymoon.

That's right, folks. A little baby Ringler is due to arrive in early November! We're almost 6 months along and I can hardly believe it. Blogging has already started to become difficult to fit in...I'm afraid I might drop off when our son arrives, but hopefully his coming into our lives will inspire me even more as a new mom trying to feed healthy and creative foods to a growing boy. We'll see!

For now, though, I had to post about this trip because of all the great places we discovered on the island of Maui. We were there for a short 5 days, but it did not disappoint. Along with the relaxed nature and beauty of paradise, the food there was amazing and I can't wait to go back. Here's where we ate and ate and ate...

Da Kitchen Cafe in Kahului Home cooking, island style, perfect for your first meal when you fly in to the airport (it's only 2 minutes away) and when you fly out! You will find Hawaiian plate lunches and more. But all I really wanted was Loco Moco: rice, hamburger patty and a fried egg topped with a lot of brown gravy. It was amazing. The husband had Kahlua Pork with brown rice. The pork was a little too salty, but the rice was really good - soft and sticky - surprising for a whole grain. We also tried the Chicken Katsu and Teriyaki Beef and Teriyaki Chicken. Those were all excellent. Each dish was enough to feed two people. We enjoyed our leftovers on the plane home!

Kihei Caffe We also ate here twice because we loved it so much. This little "dive" is in Kihei, the town between Wailea and Lahaina on the west coast of the island. You order at the counter and they bring your meal to you outside on the patio. The people that work there are so friendly, it's like coming home for breakfast (or lunch). And you can have breakfast all day - well, at least until 2pm when they close up. They are located across from a beach park, so I'm sure they get a lot of local surfers coming for grub. And is it goooooooood grub! We had the Breakfast Burrito with Chorizo and we also tried the Cinnamon Roll French Toast (with coconut syrup - yum!). Both were fantastic. They have pancakes and pork chop & eggs, and they even serve meusli and yogurt parfaits. It's fresh and the flavors are really wonderful.

Mama's Fish House This is the best-known fine dining restaurant on the island. It's expensive, but you get a great experience for the 4 dollar signs. It's located on the north shore, at a private beach outside of the town of Paia. It is a huge restaurant and you need reservations whether for lunch or dinner, on the weekend or during the week. The fish is caught fresh everyday and the service is excellent. They start by serving fresh baked bread and a tiny taster cup of tomato and ginger bisque. It is a perfect beginning to a meal. The cocktail and wine list are quite extensive as well. We ordered the Shrimp Wontons (whole shrimp wrapped in a wonton wrapper and fried), Pulled Wild Boar and Mahimahi, and the Opakapaka served upcountry style (pan-fried) with carmelized onions and bok choy. For dessert, we had French-pressed coffee and the Black Pearl Lilikoi Chocolate Mousse. Beautiful presentation and taste all around. Our whole dinner came to about $160 for the two of us.

Jawz Fish Taco Truck & Ululani's Shave Ice We met some locals at a happy hour, and they recommended Jawz fish tacos. We found the food truck on the way to Kihei so we decided to stop and give it a try. The fish is grilled and the tomato salsa on top was almost a little creamy. It was very good - but I'm not sure I would go back...maybe just to try something else. If nothing else, it's a cheap way to eat. Two tacos for $7.

Ululani's now has shave ice shops all around the island. With a 5-star rating on Yelp, you can't lose here. It was definitely one of the best authentic Hawaiian shave ices I've tried. It's super soft and finely shaved ice, with just the right amount of syrup. The ice cream and mochi add-ons are so yummy, and the "snow cap" of condensed milk adds a perfect sweet creaminess to the treat. I'm so glad we tried it!

Tommy Bahama & Lappert's Ice Cream & Coffee at the Shops at Wailea
Our favorite stops in Wailea, where we stayed, were the Tommy Bahama Restaurant Happy Hour, and Lappert's Ice Cream. Both are located in the same shopping mall. You may know Tommy Bahama's as a clothing store. Well, it is, but they also have a bar and restaurant! The happy hour was a deal with drinks at $8 and apps at $7-9 each. The prime beef sliders were our favorite, followed by the macadamia encrusted goat cheese. The atmosphere is great, and we met some great new local friends there.

Lappert's is an ice creamery in Kauai, which has stores on the other islands. The ice cream is so rich and creamy, and you get flavors you can only find in Hawaii, with coconut and kona coffee and macadamia shortbread pieces. Delicious.

I'm ready to go again. Maybe next year to celebrate baby's birthday?!? wink, wink.

Preserving Summer Produce, Part 3: Pesto

Spinach. It comes is big bags or bunches and it is a pretty sturdy green; meaning it lasts a pretty long time in the fridge. But I was headed out of town and wasn't going to chance it over 3 days, so I decided to save it by making a pesto.

First I tried to puree it in my blender. But I failed. Nothing happened. If only I had a Vitamix...

So I transferred everything to my food processor and added pecans. The pecans I store in my freezer to prevent from going rancid. You should store all of your nuts in the freezer if you can. They last a really long time that way.

Then I blended it to a pulp. Literally. I added olive oil and grated parmesan cheese. I should have added a little bit of lemon juice to keep it from turning brown, but I didn't have a lemon. So it turned a little dark green on the top after a day in the fridge.

When I got back from my weekend away, I cooked up some pasta and tossed in the pesto that I stored in a mason jar. It's nutty and fresh and cheesy. It made for a nice easy lunch at home.

Tonight we are enjoying the pesto on a pizza in place of tomato sauce. Bon appetit!



Spinach, Arugula, or Basil Pesto
1 bunch or 4 cups fresh spinach, arugula, or basil, roughly chopped
1/8 cup nuts (I've used pine nuts, pecans, or walnuts), roughly chopped
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup olive oil
1tsp lemon juice
Salt & Pepper to taste

Put greens in a food processor or a really powerful blender (mine did not perform for me). Add pecans and blend until well pureed. Then add parmesan cheese, olive oil, and lemon juice. Blend and taste. Add salt & pepper as you like. Store in an air tight container or jar for up to 2 weeks. If you freeze it, it keeps for just about forever.