Monday, November 10, 2008

spinach and garlic manicotti with red wine and thyme plum tomato sauce

simmered a diced sweet onion in a splash of canola oil until about half way to translucent, then added two or three cloves of crushed garlic, and three or four sprigs worth of fresh thyme, which had been removed from the stem and brutalized a bit, salt, and fresh cracked pepper. let the garlic and thyme cook until the garlic was tender, then added 3/4c. or so of some petite sirah that was left over from a few nights before, and let that cook down until it had reduced and was a little thick, then added a can of whole peeled plum tomatoes and a little water and let that cook down while the rest of the dish was prepared. after simmering for a bit, the chunks of tomatoes were crushed-up using a potato masher, leaving the sauce still quite chunky.

made the filling/binder by mixing a single egg with 1c. of cottage cheese, 1c. of shredded mozzarella, 1T. or so of raw crushed garlic, and salt and pepper.

made a pound or so of egg-heavy pasta dough (probably about 4c. of flour and 3 eggs, floured or watered until at the desired consistency), placed it in the refrigerator for 10-minutes or so (to make it easier to work with), then sliced and rolled it out into a few 8 to 10-inch rounds, about 1/8-inch thick. while rolled out on the floured cutting board, laid down a strip of the filling across each round, and a handful of raw baby spinach, rolled-up, and lined up in a bread pan, topped with the red wine and thyme sauce until all of the crevices were filled and about 1/2-inch covered the rolled up pasta, and then tossed the pans in a 400-degree oven for 20-minutes, plated, and topped with shredded mozzarella cheese.

corn and baby spinach salad with muddled garlic cilantro and lime dressing

made a dressing by muddling 1/2T. of crushed garlic, and a handful of chopped fresh cilantro leaves in the juice of a lime. mixed in 1T. of canola oil, making kind of a vinaigrette, then added a splash of white vinegar, salt, and pepper.

boiled a few ears of sweet corn until the kernels were tender, then sliced kernels from the cob.

put the dressing over baby spinach, diced tomato, cucumber, thin sliced red onion, and garbanzo beans.

tuna salad on wholewheat english muffin with baby spinach cottage cheese and pear salad

made some tuna salad with a little homemade mayonnaise, onion, garlic, mustard, pickles, salt and pepper. put it on some toasted whole wheat english muffins. served with some baby spinach, topped with cottage cheese and some slices of bosc pear.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

layered caprese salad with broiled portobello mushrooms fresh fire roasted red peppers and cilantro

tossed some thick slices of portobello mushroom in a mixture of canola oil, crushed salted garlic, and lemon juice, and placed them on a pan under the flame of the broiler for about 5-minutes per side, then stuck them in a bowl covered in tin foil to cool to room temperature while the rest of the salad was being prepared. took a healthy looking red pepper and charred the entire outside on the open flame of the stove until the outside was flaky and black, then placed in a sealed tupperware for 10-minutes, removed, sliced in quarters and removed seeds, wiped off charred skin, and sliced julienne style.

plated a bed of baby spinach, topped with the sliced fire roasted red pepper, then a few thin slices of fresh mozzarella, some of the broiled mushrooms, a layer of thinly sliced red tomato, a dash of fresh chopped cilantro, a few anchovies, and put a splash of balsamic over the top. served with a nice thick slice of spongy italian bread.

[note: anchovies kind of clashed, maybe if there were some fresh dilly beans on hand, those could be sliced julienne and put on top...something pickled or in a brine definitely...maybe a cured meat...who knows.]

Saturday, October 25, 2008

weekend getaway: breakfast of champions


weekend getaway: breakfast of champions, originally uploaded by aarn! +25th October, 2008+.

the best part of vacation is being able to spend a little more time fine tuning culinary skills, and really polishing some techniques in the kitchen. breakfast was a heaping bowl of frosted flakes with sliced out-of-season strawberries, underripe and tasteless peach, wax covered chocolate donuts, coffee and baileys. ahhh, it was so crappy and good.
[photomagic: trisha]

trisher stewart's "putting the hazelnut in the bathtub" cookies


trisher stewart's "putting the hazelnut in the bathtub" cookies, originally uploaded by aarn! +25th October, 2008+.

makes three dozen delicious cakey chocolate chip cookie with hazelnuts.

2 1/4c. flour
1/2t. baking soda
14T. unsalted buttttter
3/4c. sugar
1/4c. cup packed lt. brown sugar
1t. salt
3t. vanilla extract
2 eggs
2c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1c. chopped hazelnuts

preheat oven to 350-degrees. whisk together flour and baking soda and set aside. have aaron mix butter with both sugars and and beat until fluffy. add salt, vanilla, and eggs...add flour mixture gradually. stir in chocolate chips and hazelnuts. drop heaping tablespoons of dough on a buttered baking sheet about 2-inches apart. bake until golden on the edges and set in the center, about 12-minutes. let cool and then see how many you can fit in your mouth when they are still warm.
[photo + magic: trisha]
[recipe: trisha + the martha]

grilled rosemary and garlic pork chop with sauteed baby spinach and applesauce

did a quick marinade of a couple pork chops with some crushed garlic, chopped fresh rosemary, a splash of canola oil, a splash of balsamic vinegar, fresh cracked pepper, and salt. sauteed up some finely chopped onions and crushed garlic in a little canola oil, then tossed in a little sherry and let simmer for a minute or so, then added a load of fresh baby spinach leaves and sliced crimini mushrooms, and covered on low heat to let it steam until the spinach was tender. grilled the pork chops up and served with a mixture of a few different kinds of apple sauce that maddie had made.
[photo + magic: trisha]

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

panko crusted local haddock over freshrolls with lemon and roasted garlic marmalade-style sauce

took a walk down to the new deal fish market in east cambridge and picked up a pound or so of freshly cut fillets of local haddock. used a dry-wet-dry of white flour, egg, and then pankos, and pan-fried the crust of the fillets in hot canola oil until light brown, then drained some of the oil, flipped them over and cooked them the rest of the way in a 400-degree oven for a few minutes.

made some spring rolls with sesame oil coated vermicelli rice sticks, julienne sliced green onions, daikon radish, and cucumber and thin sliced basil, then let them chill.

reduced a mixture of ground lemon innards with about 30% rind with a few tablespoons of white wine, and a 1:1 ratio of sugar, until about 50% of the original amount of liquid remained, then once slightly cool, added mashed roasted cloves of garlic, stirred and put in a squeeze bottle to chill in the refrigerator.

the haddock was served over a bed of crosswise cut freshrolls about 1-inch in length, which had been covered with the lemon and roasted garlic sauce.

[notes: it was kind of a strange combination, the fish was flaky and fresh and nice, but heavy...probably would have been better with fish broiled with honey and soy, but didn't want to conflict with the lemon sauce...oh well. on the upside, the freshrolls provided a pretty neutral starch for the meal, and allowed for the fish to stay crunchy and not be sitting in oils, or too much sauce.]

leek and basmati cake with poached egg and garden fresh tomato


leek and basmati cake with poached egg and garden fresh tomato, originally uploaded by aarn! +21st October, 2008+.

just pretend like this was some fancy upload from an iphone or something. the pictures totally didn't turn out (much like all iphone pictures), but this was very delicious and it was decided that it would not be overlooked like many of the other meals that don't make it into posts...rambling=complete.

finely chopped up some leeks and mushrooms, mixed that up with a 1c. of fully cooked basmati rice (1c. before cooking), some shredded carrots, garlic and romano cheese (probably 3/4c.), minced fresh tarragon, a pinch of cumin, salt, and pepper, and two beaten eggs. pressed about an inch thick layer of that mush into the bottom of a few small loaf pans which had been buttered. tossed that in a 400-degree oven for 10-minutes, then broiled for two or so. crispy on the outside and solid on the inside, these cakes were served with a poached egg in a bowl and a chopped garden tomato. kind of a choose-your-own-adventure, put the egg on top, eat it separate, mash it all up with the tomatoes, just a quick and pretty balanced meal. went well with some cheap-ass hot sauce.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

crispy and tender table water cracker matzah brie


crispy and tender table water cracker matzah brie, originally uploaded by aarn! +12th October, 2008+.

a spin on a favorite childhood breakfast. took half of a log of carr's cracked pepper table water crackers and soaked them in room temperature water in mixing bowl, used a small bread and butter plate as a weight to keep the crackers from floating. after about 5-minutes they looked pretty soggy, so the water was drained from the bowl and the small plate was used as a press to ring the remaining water out of the crackers. two beaten eggs were whipped with a little canola oil, salt, pepper, and a splash of buttermilk, and poured over the soggy crackers in the bowl. the egg mixture was soaked up by the crackers after a few minutes, then the whole mess was carefully slid out of the bowl into a frying pan with hot canola oil, making sure to keep the crackers layered even and flat. the lasagna of eggs and soggy crackers was simmered on low heat, covered, until the bottom was crispy and then flipped, and cooked until the layers seemed to all be connected and all of the egg binder felt cooked. then, while still in the pan, the large pancake of mess was chopped into a bunch of little randomly sized pieces with the end of a spatula, the heat was raised and the brie was crisped uncovered until the edges were flaky. topped with some fresh cut chives, this one could have knocked mom's out of the running.

Friday, October 10, 2008

cajun crusted salmon on fresh garlic-chili sauce with spinach salad

rubbed the fleshy side of a couple nice slabs of atlantic salmon in an earthy textured cajun seasoning, from christina's spice store in inman, until it was fully coated with a nice thick layer. placed the fillets face down in some really hot oil until nicely browned and a nice crust formed (just before burnt), then flipped the salmon over in the pan and put it in a 400-degree oven for about 12-minutes. once cooked the salmon was plated on top of a fresh sweet garlic and chili sauce made from a few seeded hot chili peppers ground up with a couple cloves of garlic and a nice chunk of peeled fresh ginger, which had been reduced to about 50% with a 1:1 ratio of light brown sugar over low heat, then placed in a squeeze bottle in the freezer to cool. the salad was baby spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, porcini mushrooms, and dried cherries, with a dressing of olive oil, seasoned rice vinegar, honey, and a bit of large grained mustard.

classic chicken club sandwich


classic chicken club sandwich, originally uploaded by aarn! +10th October, 2008+.

tenderized some chicken, tossed it in canola oil, thyme, crushed garlic, salt, and pepper, then dusted it with corn meal and put on a baking sheet at 425-degrees for 7-minutes on each side. placed the cooked chicken on a toasted bulky roll, with a smear of homemade mayo, a couple of pieces of thick-cut bacon, some iceberg lettuce and a few slices of an ugly tomato. served with spears of a nice big pickle.
[photo: trisha]

peanut cabbage salad with shrimp over bean sprout vermicelli


peanut cabbage salad with shrimp over bean sprout vermicelli, originally uploaded by aarn! +10th October, 2008+.

sliced up some cabbage, baby portobello mushrooms, shredded carrots, and julienned green beans, tossed that with some bean sprouts in a dressing consisting of some canola oil, chopped red chili pepper, crushed garlic, a spoonful of peanut butter, a splash of sesame oil, pinch of cinnamon, a pinch of salt, some lime juice, a little white vinegar, and a hefty squirt of honey. served topped with some shrimp, over a bed of bean sprout vermicelli which had been chilled and tossed in a little bit of sesame oil and some sesame seeds, with a hard boiled egg shaped with a bento accessory.
[photomagik: trisha]

Thursday, September 18, 2008

fresh fettuccine in light garden tomato and shiitake mushroom sauce with pan seared scallops

made some pasta dough with 1-lb of flour, 3 eggs, and a splash of water, tossed it in the refrigerator for 15-minutes, and then rolled out thin and cut into fettuccine with the hand crank pasta maker. made a nice light sauce (with the help of nic and trisha) made from shallots sauteed in olive oil, with fresh shiitake mushrooms, and sliced green olives, doused with sherry on medium heat, and fresh garden tomatoes (put in the pan and sauteed for a minute or two before serving). right about when the pasta went into the water and the tomatoes onto the stove, some small scallops from the co-op were pan seared after being coated in flour, pepper and salt, and stuck in the freezer for a minute. the pasta was coated in olive oil and some salt and then served in a ball on top of the sauce, with the scallops on the side, and topped with some large shavings of parmesan, and some parsley picked from the garden.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

poached egg and feta on a black bean and mushroom cake over a bed of garden fresh tomatoes

made some black bean cakes for dinner a few nights before by mashing up a can of drained and rinsed black beans with chopped garlic, onions, and dried cranberries, mixed with a handful of chopped portobello and oyster mushrooms, two beaten eggs, salt and pepper, and some breadcrumbs, baked for 10-minutes on each side on an oiled baking sheet in a 400-degree oven. heated up one of the cakes, dropped an egg poached with lemon juice on top with some feta, and served on a bed of garden fresh tomatoes that had been picked less than a minute before serving. was a nice lunch at the office!

Friday, August 29, 2008

tomato, mozzarella, garlic, and basil, and carmelized onion, fig, and gorgonzola pizza bianca

made a two topping pizza, the first half topped with sliced tomato, fresh chopped basil, chunks of garlic, and thin sliced fresh mozzarella, and the second half had caramelized onions, fresh sliced black mission figs, and crumbled gorgonzola cheese. made the dough with a modified recipe from cook's illustrated. mixed 3c. of flour into 1 2/3c. room temp water, 2 1/4t. table salt, 1pkg instant yeast, 1 1/2t. sugar, 5T. EVO, and 2T. rosemary leaves (chopped up somewhat small and then rubbed in the palm of your hand until it smells nice). let that sit oiled in the bowl for an hour or so and then transferred to a large oiled 1" deep baking sheet. Let rise in the baking sheet until the dough is almost at the edge of the top of the baking sheet, then put it in a 400-degree oven for 10-minutes (top rack), with an oven safe bowl with about a 1/4-inch of water in it on the bottom rack (to create some humidity and let the dough rise more). after 10-minutes, the water dish was removed from the oven and the dough was brushed lightly with olive oil and the toppings were put on, then it was baked for another 8 or 10-minutes, until the bottom of the crust was barely brown. this is a relatively liquid dough, so it makes it hard to work with, but it produces a crazy-good pizza result, and could also be a quick focaccia.

[notes: none of the pictures really turned out that hot, so a few were just kind of sewed together.]

Thursday, August 28, 2008

flax seed, cashew, and dill hummus


flax seed, cashew, and dill hummus, originally uploaded by aarn! +28th August, 2008+.

ground up a clove of garlic, some olive oil, cashew butter (interesting spin on tahini), a tablespoon or so of ground flax seed, some of the hot oil, a splash of sherry, a few sprigs of fresh dill, a small plum tomato that had been fire roasted and skinned, some sea salt and pepper, and some leftover strained and rinsed chick peas. kind of brings up the question: what can't you put flax seed in?

white bean, chick pea, garden zucchini and fresh mozzarella salad

tossed small white beans, chick peas, uncooked peeled and cubed garden zucchini, the meaty part of a few tomatoes, and cubed fresh mozzarella in some ground white beans with a little canola oil, some of that hot vinegar, fresh dill, some seasoned rice vinegar, and salt and fresh ground pepper. took it on a picnic with some pitas and fresh picked berries.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

honeydew melon and extra sharp white cheddar salad


honeydew melon and extra sharp white cheddar salad, originally uploaded by aarn! +21st August, 2008+.

was thinking of making a watermelon and feta salad, but then realized that there was honeydew and a nice sharp wisconsin white cheddar in the refrigerator. sliced up some delicious almost-overripe honeydew melon and cheddar cheese, tossed with some salt, fresh cracked pepper, and some very thinly sliced red onion. made kind of a glaze/dressing for the salad with a spoonful of apricot jam and cashew butter, a splash of the hot vinegar (see 8/4:"vinegar base hot sauce experiment", have since strained out the chunks of organic matter and seeds, and it left a nice hot and tasty vinegar), some rice vinegar, a splash of canola oil, and a splash of lemonade (lemon juice would have been ideal, lemonade was on hand), and whisked it up into a kind of vinaigrette mixture.

[notes: i was skeptical at first, but this salad had a really great flavor. shaving the cheddar would have produced a better result, there was just too much cheese. had originally planned to just plate alternating, equally thick slices of melon and cheese over some of the balsamic-grand marnier reduction in a fallen-dominoes type fashion.]

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

pb+j spin: cashew butter, dulce de leche, banana, and apricot jam on toasted whole wheat sourdough

made some cashew butter by grinding up 2c. or so of raw cashews with 3-4tsp. of canola oil (a couple at first and then add until at the desired consistency), a pinch of sugar (to taste), and a pinch of salt (to taste). reduced some sweetened condensed milk into a medium-thick dulce de leche syrup/cream. smothered some iggy's whole wheat sourdough with the dulce de leche, followed by the cashew butter, placed some sliced bananas on top, smeared the other side with a nice meaty organic apricot jam, and put it together. served with some nice honeydew melon.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

crepes!: spinach and gorgonzola crepe with olive and celery salad

sauteed up some onions and garlic and doused with sherry on medium heat, added a large handful of baby spinach leaves, the juice of 1/2 a lemon, and a splash of apple cider vinegar and covered on low heat for a few minutes. after the spinach was cooked, it was removed from heat and the garden fresh tomatoes and crumbled gorgonzola were added to the pan. crepes were made using the same recipe as before (crepes!: dumpling crepe with yogurt cucumber and dill salad: "made the crepe on medium heat in a flat pan with batter consisting of 1c. flour, 3 eggs, 1c. water, a pinch of salt, splash of oil, and a pinch of sugar, whisked up and cooked until firm and crispy on the bottom in light oil.")

dad's olive and celery salad is chopped celery (and celery greens) and kalamata olives, seasoned with red wine vinegar, salt and pepper, and olive oil. stuck in the refrigerator for a few minutes to chill.

[notes: the crepe kick only lasted two days...didn't even get a chance to buy one of those wood crepe tools. oh well.]
[photo: trisha]

crepes!: dumpling crepe with yogurt cucumber and dill salad


crepes!: dumpling crepe with yogurt cucumber and dill salad, originally uploaded by aarn! +14th August, 2008+.

had originally planned to make some neat raw vegetable filled steamed dumplings, but had to change paths when the dumpling dough ended up being too brittle to work with. made a filling with some re-hydrated tvp (which had been re-hydrated with dried black trumpet mushrooms in a bowl of boiling water and then strained, kind of took on the mushroom flavor), black trumpet mushrooms, the meaty parts of garden fresh zucchini, and tomatoes, seasoned with garlic, anise, cinnamon, a spoon of the hot pepper jelly, cayenne, orange zest, a little cardamom, fresh ground ginger, a spoon of soy sauce, crushed peanuts, a spoon of sesame oil, and a pinch of rice four. made the crepe on medium heat in a flat pan with batter consisting of 1c. flour, 3 eggs, 1c. water, a pinch of salt, splash of oil, and a pinch of sugar, whisked up and cooked until firm and crispy on the bottom in light oil. salad was peeled/sliced garden fresh cucumber tossed in yogurt, salt, pepper, and dill.

[notes: would have been great with a wasabi yogurt or something along those lines.]
[photo: trisha]

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

baked yellow squash and cod cakes with hot pluot and garlic jam/sauce

grated a whole yellow crookneck squash, an orange bell pepper, half of a red onion, a few baby portobello mushrooms, a few cloves of garlic, and strained in cheese cloth. added 1/2-lb of skinned and diced cod, about 1/2c. of flour, a couple of beaten eggs, and about 1/2c. of pankos, a splash of canola oil, some salt, pepper, fresh dill, and cayenne, mixed up and shaped. placed on an oiled baking sheet in 400F oven for 12-min on each side.

sauce/jam was made a few days prior with a case of overripe pluots and a nectarine, reduced with a 3/4:1 ratio of sugar to fruit, with a ground habenero and a few cloves of garlic.

served with a salad of romaine hearts, garden yellow string beans, and garden cucumber. in a dressing of red wine vinegar, grapes, gorgonzola, a little garlic, and some oil, all whipped up together.

Monday, August 11, 2008

modified waldorf salad


modified waldorf salad, originally uploaded by aarn! +11th August, 2008+.

romaine heart salad with halved grapes, crumbled gorgonzola, peeled orange slices, and garden cucumber. dressing was a vinaigrette of fresh squeezed orange juice, red wine vinegar, canola oil, fresh dill, salt, and fresh ground pepper.

fresh harvested horseradish


harvested horseradish, originally uploaded by aarn! +11th August, 2008+.

dug up some horseradish root, washed/peeled it, chopped it up. ground root with ratio of 1 cup of root to 3/4c. white vinegar, 1/4t. salt, and 2T sugar. shouldn't have used the smaller roots, they gave the mixture a bitter flavor and it ended up not being hot at all.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

really hot, hot pepper jam


really hot, hot pepper jam, originally uploaded by aarn! +5th August, 2008+.

took a bunch of hot peppers (jalepeno, habenero, red hot cherry), ground them up, removed the seeds and insides, and put on heat with a 1:1 ratio of ground hot pepper to sugar. even before the heat touched the mixture, the sugar caused the pepper mash to release a surprising amount of liquid, enough to simmer with. cooked down the mixture for a while and then after about 15 minutes added the juice of almost an entire lemon, for the pectin content, and let that reduce for another 10 minutes. the hot mixture was then put into a glass jar and let to cool in the refrigerator. shown in the picture, after it set for a while, on a stinky cambozola cheese and flax seed water cracker. also tried it with a nice goat brie (in the background).
[photo: trisha]

Monday, August 4, 2008

vinegar base hot sauce experiment


vinegar base hot sauce experiment, originally uploaded by aarn! +4th August, 2008+.

took all of the seeds and some of the insides from the hot peppers (jalepeno, habenero, red hot cherry) that were used to make some hot pepper jam and put them in a bottle with some fresh garlic, salt, a splash of apple cider vinegar, and a splash of vodka. then added a warm 50/50 mixture of white vinegar and water. has a really great taste, and some nice kick. it's also neat that it doesn't look like it would be hot. the real test will be if the vinegar actually holds onto any of the hot oil.
[picture didn't turn out so hot]

Thursday, July 31, 2008

hearty classic chicken soup with fresh egg noodles


hearty classic chicken soup with fresh egg noodles, originally uploaded by aarn! +31st July, 2008+.

took an entire chicken and brazed it skin down in some oil seasoned with some diced large bulb spring onions, garlic, bay leaf, a couple cloves, salt and pepper, then filled the pot with boiling water, and let simmer for an hour or so. made some fresh egg noodles with 2c. of flour, 5 egg yolks, and 1/4c. water, rolled it out with the pasta machine and used a 2.5in diameter round cookie cutter to make some nice large pasta. after the broth had reduced enough, the chicken was pulled from the pot and the meat was separated from the bones and fat, half of the chicken meat was added back to the soup, and the other half was put aside. lastly, added green onion tails chopped up, carrots, celery, celery greens, and the raw pasta shapes, and cooked until the pasta was tender, then served. since the vegetables were only cooked for as long as the pasta, they remained very fresh, which was key, there's nothing worse than soggy veggies (unless that's what you are going for). served with a whole wheat olive roll and a pad of butter.

after dinner, the soup was separated into a quart of fatty stock (frozen for something later this week, maybe), a quart of frozen soup, and the other half of the chicken meat was made into chicken salad for lunches for the week.
[photo: trisha]

lime-thyme chicken salad with dried cherries


lime-thyme chicken salad with dried cherries, originally uploaded by aarn! +31st July, 2008+.

took the meat from half of a chicken that was used for making soup and chopped it up, added a big glob of this experimental lime and thyme mayonnaise from earlier in the week, some diced onion, paprika, fresh ground pepper, a pinch of salt, and chopped dried cherries.
[photo: trisha]

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

steamed alaskan white king salmon, soy and ginger salad, and seasoned

a large piece of alaskan white king salmon started it's journey in, well, alaska. caught by one of the franklin's grandsons, frozen, and hand delivered to boston, i'm not sure how much of this kind of fish actually leaves alaska. filled the pressure cooker with about an inch of a 50/50 solution of bianco and water, with a pinch of bay leaf mixed in, then dropped the cage steamer in the bottom, and placed the salmon on top. while steaming, the salmon was brushed a few times with a mixture of soy sauce, wasabi, pepper, and sesame oil. after it was steamed the fish was chilled overnight.

fanned the cold white king salmon over a bed of chilled rice vermicelli, which had been lightly seasoned with sesame oil. green beans were lightly blanched and tossed in a splash of seasoned rice vinegar, a pinch of coarse sea salt, and some raw sesame seeds. the salad was romaine, green onions, and cucumber tossed in a vinaigrette made from fresh ground ginger root, fresh ground garlic, seasoned rice vinegar, a little sesame oil, canola oil, lime juice, soy sauce, a little wasabi, honey, dry anise, and cinnamon. the salmon had the most incredible flavor and the entire meal ended up costing less than $2.
[photo: trisha]

fresh lime meringue and berry dessert


fresh lime meringue and berry dessert, originally uploaded by aarn! +30th July, 2008+.

needed something terrible for the body following an after dinner walk. the strawberries and blueberries just needed something. there wasn't any heavy cream for whipping, but there was a carton of eggs and a half of a lime on the cutting board. whipped a couple of egg whites with a pinch of cream of tartar, the juice from the half of lime, and an arbitrary amount of confectioners sugar into a fresh and delicious lime meringue. tossed the meringue on the fruit and garnished with some lime zest.


fresh garlic and thyme mayonnaise


fresh garlic and thyme mayonnaise, originally uploaded by aarn! +30th July, 2008+.

had some leftover garlic and green onions from dinner. decided to make mayonnaise for the next few weeks. made an emulsion with the garlic, green onions, fresh thyme, salt, white balsamic vinegar, an egg yolk, 3/4c. of canola oil.



Monday, July 28, 2008

roasted garlic and fresh thyme focaccia


roasted garlic and fresh thyme focaccia, originally uploaded by aarn! +28th July, 2008+.

acquired a lot of garlic and fresh thyme at haymarket this weekend. roasted up a bulb of the garlic and chopped the thyme and added it to 7g of yeast, 350g of sifted flour, 1/3 cup of EVO, a few large tablespoons of sea salt, 2/3 of a cup of room temp water. let it prove a couple of times, brushed it with EVO, tossed some more fresh thyme on top and tossed it in the oven for 20min.


Friday, July 25, 2008

totally broke: beets beet greens and tvp patties


totally broke: beets beet greens and tvp patties, originally uploaded by aarn! +25th July, 2008+.

finally figured out the trick with tvp (textured vegetable protein). rehydrated the tvp with some boiling water, then squeezed all of the water out with cheesecloth and placed in a mixture of beaten egg, garlic, sun dried tomatoes, onions, worcester sauce, and a little oil, and the tvp sponged it all up, then added a shake of pankos, and a spoon of flour to help with the cohesion. used a container lid to shape the tvp into patties and baked them. beets were boiled then tossed in butter, sea salt, and fresh ground pepper. beet greens were cooked like collared greens, sauteed in a spash of oil with prosciutto, garlic and onions, and a splash of apple cider vinegar, and then covered on low heat until tender. made a sweet and sour sauce with pear, lemonade, sugar and orange juice, and then added some ketchup, brandy, and a dash of worcester sauce and made it into a little barbecue sauce ditty for dipping.

[notes: almost out of the staples in the house. beets cost $1.50, everything else was just scraps at the house.]


Wednesday, July 23, 2008

totally broke: baked root vegetable and squash latke with nectarine

grated and strained a mixture of homegrown yellow crookneck squash, potato, carrots, vidalia onion, garlic, and fresh tarragon, then mixed in some flour, a dash of cayenne, sea salt, fresh ground pepper, a handful of pankos, a beaten egg, and a splash of oil, shaped and placed on a oiled baking sheet. served with a reduction made from ground less-than-ripe nectarine, a spoonful of candied cherries, apricot juice, orange juice, a pinch of salt, and a spoonful of sugar. a dollop of strained greek yogurt completed the meal.