San Diego Meets NYC

Friends, that glorious champion of a bagel you're looking at is none other than a homemade San Diego.  The San Diego, for those of you who (surely regrettably) don't know what a San Diego is, allow me to elaborate.  Well, let's allow the photos to elaborate, shall we?  Or maybe my original tribute to the San Diego in sandwich form?  (BTW, I think I coerced my friend into letting me win that sandwich contest.  Not that it wasn't deserved, of course.)  Yes, the spread that needs no introduction has returned to my life -- and, more accurately, my kitchen.


Last month I took a field trip to Ithaca to help convince my little brother to go to Cornell.  (It worked!)  After about .3 secs of touting the school's academic prowess, I switched gears to a more important task: explaining why he would love every restaurant in the city.  This, of course, revved up my appetite for Collegetown Bagels.  Not for the bagels, (please, I'm a New Yorker), but for the nectar of the gods raspberry jalapeno spread.  I met a friend there for sangria and sandwiches, and when I went to pay, I asked if they might be able to sell me some of the spread to go.  Since the joint is run by a bunch of hippies (I say this with deep affection), they don't really have rules.  "Sure!" was the response.  "How about $7.99 for half a pound?"  SOLD!  Clearly outrageous for jam, but no matter.  It was worth every penny.  So, off I went, trekking back to the city with a new Cornell t-shirt and half a pound of razz jalapeno spread.

This was my first attempt to recreate the San Diego, and I would be foolish to pretend that I made it as well as the pros.  But now every time I get that itch of nostalgia for my college days, I have a solution on hand.  And better bagels, to boot.  Love.

I just might have some seriously amazing news soon.  Stay tuned.

Green Machine

Lately I have been craving GREEN.  As I suffered through yesterday's premature summer swelter, slightly hungover, lugging my gimpy roommate around Yankee Stadium (all for the sake of the Yankees destroying the White Sox), I contemplated how good a giant salad would make me feel.  Cold and crispy and greeeen.  I know you're thinking,"What a freak... who eats greens to cure a hangover?"  Yours truly, as luck would have it.  I could go for a green smoothie right about now too, even though I'm only just now recovering from my veggie overload at lunch.  (I discovered Cafe 28, and I think it might mean trouble.)  And it's basically torture looking at this picture below, remembering the crunch of ever-so-slightly-boiled-then-chilled broccoli.  Drool.

I got this recipe for green soba noodles from Heidi, obviously pulled in by its green magnetism.  I really enjoyed this recipe, and for once I actually cheese where she did not.  This is rare, seeing as if there are two ingredients on which Heidi never skimps, lemon zest and grated Parmesan they would be.  But I really liked my addition, though I imagine it might have been improved upon by actually grating the cheese rather then crumbled it between my fingers into chunks the size of chickpeas.  Oh, the things I will do in the name of not washing the cheese grater.  My one complaint about the recipe?  You try pulling 2 cups' worth of cilantro leaves off the stem and tell me what you think.


Cilantro Noodle Bowl

Adapted from Heidi Swanson's 100cookbooks.com 


Ingredients:

8 ounces dried soba noodles
2 - 3 cups baby Romanesco or broccoli florets (would like to try Romanesco at some point because they're pretty!)
zest of one lemon (token Heidi lemon zest)
2 cups fresh cilantro, chopped
2 large cloves garlic
1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
scant 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil (it pains me to use that much olive oil, and with reason.  I used more like 1/3 of a cup and it was just fine.)
Grated (or crumbled) Parmesan/Romano cheese, to taste

Method:

Cook the soba in a big pot of rapidly boiling salted water just until tender - but about 20 seconds before the pasta is done cooking add the broccoli to the pot. You want it to barely cook. Now drain and rinse under cold running water. Sprinkle with lemon zest and set aside.

In the meantime make the dressing by combining the cilantro, garlic, cayenne, salt, and olive oil. Blend in a food processor or chop by hand. Taste, adjust for more salt if needed and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the soba, broccoli and a couple big splashes of the cilantro dressing. Toss until well combined. Add more dressing and a couple pinches of salt if needed. Turn out onto platter and crown with a couple pinches of cayenne and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Serves about 4 - 6.

What to do with all that leftover Parmesan?  My mind immediately went to soup, as it generally does.  When I remembered the below tomato soup, I considered making Mark Bittman's grilled cheese croutons, since we all know that tomato soup and grilled cheese is the best combo on earth, but I had a vision of them disappearing, hot out of the oven, before even coming within feet of the soup.  Mind you, this is probably the best packaged soup I've had in a really long time.  Great ingredients, great nutrition facts, and super creamy.

I decided to nix the carbs and just throw the cheese (yes, I yielded to the cheese grater) straight into the soup.  Huge success, if I do say so myself.

Thinking about it, these two dishes would actually go pretty nicely together, if you just wanted a little pasta side dish for your soup.  And FYI I think I liked the noodles better cold, and not just because I'm lazy.  Ok, fine, at least a little because I'm lazy.

A big announcement!  Ok, not really, but I'm psyched.  I'm getting a LANDLINE on Wednesday!  What?, you say, They still make those?  Yes, indeed they do.  This way I will be able to work from home instead of coming into the office every time I have a phone meeting, which, as it turns out, is every moment of every day.  So I should have more time for cooking/blogging/redefining exactly what it is I am blogging.  This should work out well for us all, no?

Hope you're managing on this icky sticky Monday!

I LOVE PB

I'm pretty sure it's no big secret that I'm a little obsessed with nut butters.  And, while I love me a good almond butter, I maintain that there is nothing like the original -- that being peanut butter.  And so it should not surprise you that the best restaurant meal I've had in a pretty long while came from this place.

My partners in peanutty crime:

I highly recommend going with a group of people because then you can share!  We got 3 different sandwiches, each of which comes with a baby bag of potato chips (to balance out the largely sweet sandwiches), and carrot sticks (so you feel healthy! (ha!)).

#1: The Elvis.  As I learned from their menu, Elvis liked PB and banana sandwiches.  Who doesn't?  Anyway, this was an ode to the King with chunky PB (our choice... we chose chunky for them all, as well as whole wheat), banana, and honey, GRILLED.  Awesome.  Optional bacon.  Next time...

#2: Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Sandwich: Cinna-raisin PB with vanilla cream cheese and green apple slices.  The one I was least excited about, and the one I liked the most.  I have no words.  The vanilla cream cheese was basically icing.  It all just worked.

#3: The monthly special!  Affectionately dubbed "The Freya" for its extreme likeness to all of my favorite foods.  Chunky PB, coconut, and granola.  

"Kristen, make sure it looks like we're friends."

I requested that it be unnamed The Freya because it was kind of disappointing.  PB&Co, if you're reading this, it was too dry.  Needed some raspberry jam, according to my advanced palate.

I came home from the store with a container of Dark Chocolate Dreams PB, and managed to eat half of it in a week.  I was disturbed and managed to slow down a bit.  It doesn't need to be refrigerated, but I have been keeping it cold so that it comes out in globs or chunks, rather than being spreadable.  My version of portion control.  Makes it harder to slather the stuff on every edible item in my kitchen.  But it does make it ideal for oatmeal!  And yes, you can buy it at many grocery stores.  But don't say I didn't warn you... you will never want to put your spoon down.

Holy Blogging Backup, Batman!

I am a bad blogger!  Again!  It's been weeks!  Sorry.  You see, I finally started working the hours of a normal person again, and I've been thrown into a state of shock.  (You mean, I need to wake up before 8?  And I can't take a 3 hour lunch break to go to the gym and cook an elaborate lunch?  And I need to put on clothes other than my stretchy black pants?  Oh, goodness.  For the sake of yoga pants, give me my old schedule back!)

In all honesty, I'm actually totally happy to be working more again.  My last project really only kept me busy about 4 hours a day, so I had lots of flexibility to mold my day as I wished.  Sometimes I was really productive, and sometimes I was decidedly not.  While I guess I miss having the option to be lazy, I am a happier person when I'm kept busy.  And I like this new project!  It has me working from home full time, so no more weekly travel, and it's a role that's a really good fit for me.

I guess that brings me to a couple of points about the blog overall.  I started this with the underlying theme that I (1) run and (2) travel far away for work.  Neither of which are really true anymore.  As for (1), I have a knee injury, and there's a pretty good chance I'm going to need surgery.  BUMMER and a half.  The half-marathon I thought I would be training for is this weekend, and I'm a little sad about it.  I have a love/hate relationship with running, where I hate actually doing it (unless it's a perfect day outside), but I love love love the way it makes me feel.  Sorry, elliptical, but you're pretty lame.  I'm nervous to get back into running, and I may just... not.  We'll see.  Maybe I'll learn to love biking?  Or I'll move to California and swim the days away!  OK, enough daydreaming about my glamorous life on the west coast.  As for (2), I'm working from "home," so I either literally am in my apartment, or I go to the office.  (The office where no one knows me.  I just go for the land line.)  No more airplanes for me!  Goodbye, LGA!  So long, DFW!  Auf wiedersehen, Hilton!  ANYWAY, I think my point is that this blog needs a new theme.  Any thoughts?  It can just be "food I feel like sharing" or it can be more idiosyncratic than that.  Just curious what my readers (readers?) think.

So, now you'd like some actual subject matter?  Fair enough.  I give you: Foodie Events of the Past Two Months!  Since I used too many words up above, I'm going to make this part more like a picture book.
TOP CHEF: UPPER EAST SIDE, Season 2!  The theme:  Every cheftestant was assigned a Manhattan neighborhood to use as inspiration for a dish of their choosing.

Our esteemed judges begin the tastings.

 

Bonnie prepares her (award-winning) sandwich duos.  Neighborhood: TriBeCa.  Her inspiration: small plates, gourmet sandwiches, trendy flavor combinations and preparations.  The food: mini sandwiches.  #1 was Asian-inspired and contained pickled veggies, hard-boiled tea egg, homemade pesto sauce, and watercress.  #2 was Roman-themed and contained a homemade tomato spread, prosciutto, some sort of cheese, and now I'm hard-pressed to remember the other ingredients.  Help?  Both on Ciabatta.  Both amazing.

 

It's hard to see, but the plate toward the very front has Alex's Times Square-inspired frittata.  Neighborhood: Times Square.  Inspiration: bright, colorful.  Veggie and cheese frittatas baked in muffin tins!  The other plates toward the center are Katies.  Neighborhood: Union Square.  Inspiration: the Green Market.  All ingredients came straight from the farmers' market!  Fresh whole wheat pasta with roasted carrots and parsnips with farm fresh ricotta.

 

Here's a totally flattering picture of my dish.  Neighborhood: Washington Heights.  Inspiration: Dominican food.  Rice and beans!  I used plain old white rice, sofrito (my new favorite ingredient), black beans, tomato paste, peppers, onions, and not a whole lot else!  This was the recipe I used.  It got a little burned on the bottom, but was otherwise tasty!

 

Sadly, I did not get close-ups of everything.  Here's what I missed: 

Amanda -- Neighborhood: Upper West Side.  Inspiration: Jewish food!  Horseradish crusted salmon, string beans, and mini apple walnut wontons/turnovers.  She wins for most components attempted at once.

Diane -- Neighborhood: Chelsea.  Inspiration: Chelsea Piers.  A MARK BITTMAN scallop gumbo!  It was amazing.  As expected.  Diane and I are totally obsessed with Mr. Bittman, and I can attest to the fact that this was SO easy to make, as we cooked side by side.

Ariel -- Neighborhood: East Village.  Inspiration: crunchy hippie foods, variety, Asian fusion.  Turkey-stuffed tofu dumplings.  So creative!

After the tastings...

Winners were announced!  Bonnie won for staying most true to her neighborhood.  The judges felt that you could walk into any Tribeca restaurant and find her dish on the menu.  She won plastic pizza storage baggies!  How funny is that?

Katie used one to take home leftovers.  Not just for pizza!

Diane won for best overall.  When Bittman's on your side, all is well.  I wish I had gotten a pic of her gumbo, but perhaps we will make it again.  Her prize was a cute little piggy spatula.  I will get a pic of that guy later.

OK, going to breeze through the rest of this, but I will say this: MAX BRENNER.  YOU MUST GO.  I will admit that I have not been blown away by the food food, but get dessert.  It's amazing.  I took my little brother for the 2nd time, and we had fun.

He got hot chocolate with marshmallows in the adorable hug mug.

I got iced coffee, a la Alice in Wonderland.

And then... I couldn't resist...

OATMEAL!  It had chocolate chips and cinnamon and butterscotch sauce in a beaker and candied pecans.  It was out of this world.  And so defeated the purpose of oats.

I have one last adventure to recount, but I'm saving it for next time.  Just know that it involves what I think may be my favorite food ever. You know, that amazing condiment that I happen to think qualifies as its own food group...

PEANUT BUTTER!

Return of the Oats

I am singing that title in my head, like, "Return of the Mack," just so you know.

GOODBYE, PESACH!  HELLO, OATS!

Oat bran, to be exact.  I got so excited that I actually forgot that I have fresh fruit in the house and ended up putting some dried cherries on top, and a spoon of almond butter.  Until I remembered my favorite topping.

BITTMAN GRANOLA!  Yumyum.  Then halfway through I remembered the blackberries that I bought myself as a treat for keeping Passover, and I sprinkled some of those on too.  Then I went for a double whammy and added some chocolate PB from Peanut Butter & Co.  Has that been photographed yet?  I feel like maybe not.  I have a few food adventures to post, actually.  Coming up soon, for sure.  Anyway, my return to carbs was nothing short of heaven.

I'm not going to back to posting all my meals, but I thought this lunch was funny.  My first post-Passover lunch, packed to go back to the office:

Why is this funny?  Because it's entirely kosher for Passover.  Ummmm, what?  How?  WHY?  I asked myself all of these questions, and then answered them by bringing along a baggie of cereal for the yogurt, just out of principle. And a cookie that Allison baked over the weekend.  Despite being entertainingly kosher, this salad was actually great.  Spinach, roasted beets, carrots, and onions, walnuts, and a splash of balsamic.  Could have used some mustard mixed in too.

Moving backward in time now, in the final days of Passover, I reached a point of desperation/boredom.  So I got creative.  I know it's over and I said I wouldn't "dwell," but I was actually pleased with the outcome of creativity meeting hunger meeting Passover:

Ants on a log, of course!  And something I was reluctant to try...

Sweet potato with cottage cheese.  Ultimately, my suspicions were correct... that I'm not crazy about the idea of warm yogurt/cottage cheese/milk.  Flavor-wise it totally worked, like sour cream on a baked potato, I guess (I added raisins too, so that it would feel more like a dessert... or a kugel?), but unless it's being baked, I want my dairy cold.  I may take this back when someone reminds of something I really love, like a cappuccino or something.  But I will maintain that it's different.

One of my mom's go-to Passover meals is spaghetti squash with meatballs, so I opted for an easier version of that, since I'm just serving one and I got lazy on the protein front.

I found a baby spaghetti squash at in the Fairway organics section, literally the size of a mini Nerf football.  It was adorable.  So I nuked it for 4 minutes, scooped out the insides, mixed it with some frozen/thawed tomato sauce, and then melted some reduced fat mozzarella cheese on top in the microwave.  Sort of reminded me of something I would have made in college (mostly because the microwave was my main source of heat), but it was delicious, and that's all that matters.  How come gooey melty cheese is so ugly?

The foodie events, as promised, coming up next.

Countdown to Carbs

Note: wrote the below yesterday.  Passover is officially OVAH and I came back strong with a huge bowl of oat bran and granola this morning.  Will post that later!

Today I looked longingly at a box of Wheat Thins for maybe a minute and a half.  But I did not yield to their carby power!  Only a few more hours.  Not sure why I'm having so much trouble with Passover this year, but I certainly am.

I would like to take a moment to thank a Passover savior of this year.

Terra Chips are awesome in general, but especially so when potatoes are pretty much your only source of carbohydrates.  I think they make kosher for Passover potato chips, but let's not get into particulars here.  I'm not that strict.  Potatoes, oil, and salt are the only ingredients, so it's good in my book.  Although, I did see many Terra brand chips with active yeast in the ingredient list!  Leavened much?  So unnecessary.

After days and days of salads, I decided to switch it up by cooking my greens.  Do I know how to think outside the box, or what?  I had had a very snacky day (oh, working from home, why do you let me snack me so much?!), so I opted for a light dinner of two of my favorite foods.

OK, three if you count the Annie's BBQ sauce that I am more or less in love with.  I made baked sweet potato fries with EVOO, paprika, and an overly ambitious dash of cayenne, apparently.  Oops.  I also bought a nice stiry-fry greens mix that came from Satur Farms, which is a local greens farm out on Long Island.  I like Earthbound Farms a lot, and I think they're a responsible company, but I would rather get my food from NY than CA.  (Hmmm, after a little research, it seems like maybe they also have Florida farms.  Still better than Cali, I think!)

The mix contained bok choy, swiss chard, rapini, kale, kohlrabi, and I think some mustard greens. I just put a little canola oil in a big pot, covered to let the greens wilt down a little, then removed the cover and tossed 'em around a little.  Served with lemon juice, salt, pepper, and pine nuts.  I was CRAVING greens and that totally did the trick.

I regret to inform you that I am looking at a bunch of other great meals on my camera and wondering how I managed to forget the USB cord.  (I came to the "mobile employees" office today for the first time in months.)  I will either get to it later, or just let it slide.  We'll see how delicious I still think they are later.

Sticking with the theme of favorites, I have a new sorbet!  It was on sale at Whole Foods, so I splurged, but take a look at this!

That COLOR!  It's like mostly raspberries and has 3g fiber per serving.  YAY for at least kind of nutritious dessert!  The top is a screw-on, which means I might be rinsing this out and using it for storage of things I buy in bulk, lentils or something.  Reduce, reuse, recycle!  Nerd alert.  Also, in case I wasn't seeming nerdy enough yet, I taught myself how to write a macro in Word yesterday using internet instructions!  AND it made my day.  Onward to bread!

Passover Continues

No?  Not over yet?  Hm.  OK, fine, I'm still truckin'.

I've been enjoying some aspects of the holiday, like the way it almost forces you to eat whole foods, but I've been kind of low energy because I can't eat any whole grains!  I was running around all of Saturday on a scavenger hunt (yup, a scavenger hunt), and I was BEAT by the end of it.  I realized that I had pretty much only eaten protein and fruit all day, which really doesn't cut it for me.  I actually had a coke (!) at dinner because I felt like I needed sugar in my system STAT.  It helped.  And it came in an adorable glass bottle.

Anyway, Passover food.  I keep mentally referring to my breakfasts as Fiesta Bowls because they've been so bright and colorful, but I realize that might be the name of a Taco Bell offering or something.

This fiesta is black cherry yogurt, strawberries, 1/2 banana, and a hearty dose of Trader Joe's new trail mix.  OMG best trail mix ever!  Almonds, cashews, pistachios, dried cherries, and dark chocolate chips.  It's like they read my mind!  Delish.

And then we have LEFTOVERS!  I decided to eat my mom's leftovers for lunch so that I could take a pretty picture for you.  Not that brisket ever really finds a flattering lighting situation, but this is world's better than a flash and gives my mama's food its due justice!

And that right there might be the reason I am no longer a vegetarian.  I'm not kidding.  Brisket really factored in there.  FYI my mom still puts marshmallows in the sweet potatoes for me and my brother.  It's just not the same without it!  I actually should get that recipe.  There's some OJ and a touch of butter mashed in, but I'm not sure what else.

Once the leftovers had been gobbled up, I came to the sad realization that I would have to prepare my own meals again.  Wah.  I did a sort of repeat of a previous lunch one day, but I upped the ante from the last time.

Spinach, avocado, orange bell pepper, salmon salad, walnuts (awesome choice), and a balsamic/grain mustard dressing.

Then I made CHAROSET!  This is one of two Passover foods I crave year-round -- the other being matzoh ball soup, of course.  ALWAYS good.  Anyway, charoset is super healthy, super easy, and really, something you should make, holidays or not.

Traditional Charoset
This is definitely adapted from some classic Jewish holiday cookbook my mom has, but I couldn't tell you what it's called.  Will work on it.


Ingredients:
3 large apples, any variety, peeled, cored, and quartered (personally, I think peeling is optional)
1 cup walnuts
1/3 cup sweet red wine
2-3 tsp honey
1 tsp cinnamon

Method:
1. Add apples and walnuts to food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped.
2. Add remaining ingredients and pulse until desired consistency.

So, er, voila!  Pretty simple.  As you can see, I like mine pretty chunky, but some people process the stuff until it's more like a paste or a dip.  Just taste as you go.

Mmmmmmatzoh.  (Blargh.)  It's also pretty awesome by the spoonful.  Don't feel like you need a food vehicle to get this to your mouth.

I have a few more Passover treats and meals to share, so maybe I'll even get to a 2nd post tonight.  I mean, it ends tomorrow, and I wouldn't want to dwell once it has passed... :)

Happy bread day tomorrow!

A Week Without Fiber

Fine, maybe I'm being melodramatic with this post title, but Passover started on Monday night, and I'm already feeling that major lack of fiber in my life.  For those of you unfamiliar with the holiday, let me just say that matzoh is not known for its digestive benefits.  It's more like eating glue in cracker form.  Actually, I kind of enjoy the taste, especially egg matzoh and, well, chocolate-covered matzoh, but I've already got a hankering for oatmeal and BREAD.  I mean, toast is probably my favorite food.

As many of you know, this blog started with a challenge.  I think it would be fair to say that keeping Kosher for Passover is a food challenge in and of itself, so I am returning to my roots to bring you a week(ish) of daily posts about my Passover meals.  I hope that this can be some inspiration to those of you keeping Kosher, and a glimpse into the holiday for the rest!

I spent a couple of days at my parents' house for the start of the holiday and our "seder" (I use the term loosely), so I was well-fed and have leftovers that will make an appearance in a later post.  Score!

My biggest problem during Passover is usually breakfast.  That and protein.  Beans and all other legumes are out, which means protein has to come from nuts, dairy, eggs, fish, and meat.  You've probably noticed I love me some legumes (peanuts, lentils, and chickpeas, oh my!), and they tend to be the basis of my diet.  So I've had to adapt, mostly by way of yogurt, fish, and mooching brisket from my mama!

On day 1 I had lemon yogurt with banana, strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries at home.  I missed having some crunch, but the variety of flavors helped.  I've had some variation of that breakfast for the past 2 days also, just with plain yogurt.  Yesterday I added trail mix, and today I added flax seed, which I contemplated for a while, deciding finally that it's probably kosher.  I went against my seasonal shopping rules and bought strawberries because they were on sale and I thought I deserved it.

Whilst at home, I also employed my brother to make macaroons with me.  These were a cinch, and so delicious!  I literally just used the first recipe I found online for almond macaroons, but it was a success.  I mean, the recipe is from Gourmet, after all.

Almond Macaroons

from Gourmet magazine

Ingredients:

1 cup blanched whole almonds (I used slivered, since I was grinding them up anyway)

2/3 cup sugar (I used somewhere between 1/2 cup and 2/3)

1 large egg white

1/4 tsp almond extract (we didn't have that, so we used vanilla)

confectioners sugar for dusting

16 whole almonds (to press into the tops... I tried a couple with the slivered almonds but gave up)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. and lightly butter a baking sheet.

2. In a food processor pulse 1 cup almonds with granulated sugar until ground fine. Add egg white, almond extract, and a pinch salt and pulse until combined. Roll mixture into 16 balls, about 1 inch in diameter, and arrange about 2 inches apart on baking sheet. Slightly flatten balls and dust lightly with confectioners' sugar. Gently press 1 almond into each cookie

3. Bake macaroons in middle of oven 10 minutes, or until pale golden (more like 15 mins). Transfer macaroons to a rack and cool completely. Macaroons keep 4 days in an airtight container at room temperature.

All right, so I'm good with breakfast and dessert.  Now on to lunch!

Canned salmon!  I was really glad I thought of this one.  It's such a fast protein.  I mashed it up with some canola oil mayo, dijon mustard, horseradish, diced carrots, celery, red onion, and green bell pepper.  Over spinach, with mushrooms, avocado, and a homemade vinaigrette of olive oil, balsamic, and more mustard.

When I was home, my mom and I made chicken salad with mayo, celery, walnuts, and dried cranberries (if you're looking for more ideas!).  Will blog some leftovers later!

My Inner Spanish Obsession

Did I say inner obsession?  Meh.  I realize it may not be such a secret after all.  And, of course, you all know about my feelings toward the Minimalist.  Needless to say, when my two not-so-secret obsessions collided, my interest was piqued, to say the least.  The day this recipe appeared on Bitten, my roommate Diane and I put it on our calendars to try out ASAP.  I give you: Chickpeas and Chorizo!

I wish this picture were a bit less flashed, but hey, we ate late, Spanish-style.  It's all about the autenticidad with me.  Obviously.

Here's Mr. Bittman's.

 Fried Chickpeas With Chorizo and Spinach

adapted from Mark Bittman's The Minimalist column

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil, plus more for drizzling

2 cups cooked or canned chickpeas, as dry as possible

Salt and black pepper

4 ounces chorizo, diced

1/2 pound spinach, roughly chopped (We used more like 3/4 pound baby spinach and there could have even been more.)

1/4 cup sherry

1 to 2 cups bread crumbs (We used way less than that, like maybe 1/2 cup?  No idea what he's talking about there.)

Method:

1. Heat the broiler. 

2. Put three tablespoons of the oil in a skillet large enough to hold chickpeas in one layer over medium-high heat. (I recommend heating the dry pan for a minute before adding the oil.)  When it’s hot, add chickpeas and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

3. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, shaking the pan occasionally, until chickpeas begin to brown, about 10 minutes, then add chorizo. Continue cooking for another 5 to 8 minutes or until chickpeas are crisp; use a slotted spoon to remove chickpeas and chorizo from pan and set aside.

4. Add the remainder of the 1/4 cup of oil to the pan; when it’s hot, add spinach and sherry, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook spinach over medium-low heat until very soft and the liquid has evaporated. Add chickpeas and chorizo back to the pan and toss quickly to combine; top with bread crumbs, drizzle with a bit more oil and run pan under the broiler to lightly brown the top. Serve hot or at room temperature.

This recipe came out pretty much awesome.  The chickpeas were really crispy, the spinach offset all the oil, and the chorizo basically flavored the entire thing.  It would be an AWESOME dinner party dish.

Now, I'm probably about to lose some street cred with a lot of you, but I highly recommend knowing where your oven's broiler is located before attempting this recipe.  Genius tip, I know.  I always knew that when you broil, then heat comes from above.  So I set the oven to broil, moved the top oven rack to the highest setting and let 'er rip.  After many minutes of absolutely no browning, I consulted Diane's friend, a culinary school graduate, who informed me that my broiler was actually below the oven.  Pardon?  You mean that shelf where I store pots and pans?  Turns out I had broiled the hell out of a shallow pot, but our chickpeas were not getting any browner sitting in a warmish oven.  PHEW.  And now you know.

I can't say that I often have chorizo in the house, so I had to rack my brain a little to come up with a good use for the leftovers.  I threw a little bit into a shakshuka, an Israeli dish that Joanna turned me on to in college.

 

Sorry, more ugly pics.  Shakshuka is not an attractive food, but I had leftover canned crushed tomatoes and one egg, and this chorizo, and it all just fell into place.  It's DELICIOUS.  Sometimes the ugliest foods really are the best, no?  I mean, seriously, have you ever looked at a brownie?  It's not winning any pageants.

With the rest of the chickpeas and chorizo, I put together an impromptu lunch the other day, drawing on inspiration from another Bittman creation (see "Best Repeat Recipe").

 

Fried Chickpeas and Chorizo Salad

Ingredients:

1/2 cup cooked or canned chickpeas

2 tsp olive oil

1 small clove garlic

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1 oz diced cured chorizo

salt, to taste

veggie salad base (mine was baby spinach, thinly sliced red onion, and chopped red bell pepper)

Method:

1. Heat a small pan for about a minute, then add the oil and heat one more minute.

2. Add the chickpeas and stir around a bit.

3. About 3 minutes in, add the garlic and cumin seeds.  (You don't want to do this right at the start otherwise the garlic will just burn.)

4. After another minute or so add the chorizo and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the chickpeas are nicely browned and crispy and the chorizo is heated through.  (If it's cured, then it's already safe to eat as is -- it just needs to be warmed.)  Add salt to taste.

5. Prepare salad base and top with warm chickpeas and chorizo.

Voila!  A Freya creation.  So so so satisfying.  I really only needed a small portion because the flavors were so rich and there was probably a high fat content.  But it kept me full a while.  Yay creativity!

WASH YOUR HANDS!

No, this is not a commentary on hygiene, but I did I learn a lesson, and I will share it with you shortly.

At the suggestion of friends who had made this recipe, I decided to try my hand at chicken posole, or pozole, as my can of hominy spelled it.  The recipe was from Real Simple, which always wins me over.  And I have been struggling lately to fit protein into my diet now that I've more or less cut out tofu/soy.  I know, this is a big deal for the former VP Tofu of my group of friends.  My mom mentioned one day that she thinks tofu is kind of hard to digest, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that might be my problem.  Lord knows I eat (ate) enough soy...  So I've been eliminating it from my diet and I think it might be a good thing.  But it does make it hard to find quick vegetarian proteins!  Does anyone have suggestions?  Lentils may get old fast.

Have I mentioned my meat policy on here yet?  I am not a vegetarian by any means, but with my save-the-world-one-cow-at-a-time mentality, I have been trying to eat only socially responsible meats.  This obviously goes out the window when I go out to dinner (i.e.: the meat fest that I had at my birthday dinner at Alta, possibly my favorite restaurant... ever?), but I do my best at home, and to be honest rarely cook meat anyway.  And that, kids, is how I saved the world.  Or not.  But I'm trying!

Anyway, I have been dying to try meat from the farmers' market, so I finally got down to it last Saturday, and I bought a whole smoked chicken.  I won't tell you how much it cost, but that's because no one will want to save the world anymore after knowing that.  But it was pretty damn good and lasted me over a week, so perhaps wasn't so crazy in the end.

Hola, pollo.

I am not a fan of dealing with chicken bones, etc., but I did OK with this guy.  The white meat was a little dry, but the dark meat was pretty much perfect.  Most of it, however, went into my posole!

I did a lot of modifications on this recipe, and in the end I think it came out pretty well.  Always so proud when I do that!

Chicken Posole

adapted from Real Simple

So, I technically followed this recipe, but I think what I ended up making (and what I think my friends were telling me to make) was more like this recipe.  So, it's a hybrid.  Let's call it Prius Pozole.  (Wow, I'm such a nerd.)  The original recipe #1 requires making a chicken stock from scratch (hence the onion, celery, parsley, and raw chicken that it calls for).  I speeded this up by instead using broth from a box AND a pre-cooked chicken, which, as it turns out, is pretty much what recipe #2 tells you to do.  Also, this ended up being pretty spicy.  I LOVE spicy, so it was all good, but maybe only use one pepper if you need to tone it down for your taste buds.  OOOOOK.  Still with me?

Ingredients

1/2 small cooked (smoked, rotisserie, etc.) chicken, pulled (I realize this is a totally unhelpful way of putting it, but I didn't weigh or measure... I would say it was about 2 cups shredded chicken meat?)

6 cups vegetable or chicken broth

1/2 large onion, chopped

1 fresh jalapeno, seeded and chopped

1 fresh poblano (or any variety, really), seeded and chopped (I think you could also use a whole dried pepper -- just stick it in the pot whole and remove when the soup is done)

2 large cloves of garlic, minced

1 15-oz can of hominy ("pozole"), drained

1 1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tbsp chili powder

1/2 tsp dried oregano

chopped fresh cilantro, to taste

1 tbsp fresh lime juice

avocado, chopped, optional

tortilla chips, optional

radishes, sliced, optional

Method

1. Add 6 cups of broth to a large Dutch oven or stockpot and bring to a light boil.  While the broth heats, shred chicken into bite-size pieces and set aside.

2. Add onion, poblano, jalapeno, and garlic.  Return to a boil, and add the chicken, hominy, cumin, chili powder, and oregano.  Reduce heat to a simmer and let cook for about 20 minutes.

3. Before serving, stir in cilantro and lime juice. Serve warm and top with tortilla chips, chopped avocado, and sliced radishes, if desired.

Serves 4ish.

I served this with avocado, as suggested, a ton of cilantro (totally made the meal), and a beauuutiful salad.  I had never used hominy before.  They look like giant white corn kernels, but they have the consistency of a soft, chewy potato.  I'm not sure I made that sound appealing, but I really like it!

So, what lesson did I learn?  Hot pepper oils can stay on your fingers for a LONG TIME.  I managed to still have some on my fingers when I took out my contacts that night (after washing my hands at least 5 times), and my eyes stung for days.  Don't say I didn't warn you!