Friday, February 17, 2012

Roasted Vegetable and Feta Cous Cous

Taken in real sunlight! Something I so rarely see. It came out amazing! Even though I had to put my nice warm bowl of food out onto the cold window ledge, and had to time my picture so as not to get a car in the background. I was inspired to do this because it was late-afternoon and the sun was shining in rays into the kitchen, and my bowl caught the light and I though oh! maybe I should try this 'natural light' people keep talking so much about, instead of keeping my food away from the day-star.



Well, here it is! Roasted Vegetable cous-cous. Definitely worth making, and I think it would be fine using the juice of a whole lemon if you wish.

Roasted Vegetable and Feta Cous Cous
from life tastes like food

Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked cous cous
1 cup cherry tomatoes (if using grape, cut in half before baking)
1 zucchini, chopped to the same size as the tomatoes
1 onion, chopped
olive oil to coat vegetables
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 Tbs. dried basil
1/2 cup feta, crumbled
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 F (190C).
2. Place all vegetables on baking sheet with a lip, and drizzle a little bit of olive oil on top, the mix to evenly coat.
3. Spread vegetables out evenly on pan, and bake for 1 hour (if you don't have a large enough oven, and there are layers of vegetables, bake for 1:30-2 hours, stirring every 30 mins. 2 hours makes the vegetables really caramelized and delicious)
4. Combine cous cous, salt, pepper, and basil in a bowl. Then add 1 1/4 cups boiling water, and cover bowl for 5 minutes. After, fluff cous cous with a fork, and combine with vegetables, lemon juice, and 1/4 cup of the feta.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Gnocchi


Gnocchi
from bon appetit

Ingredients:
1 lb. white potatoes (old if possible)
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2.5 oz. grated Parmesan
1 cup flour, plus more for sprinkling
1 tsp. salt
2 dashes (1/2 tsp) nutmeg

Instructions:
1. Boil potatoes for 25-30 mins, or until tender throughout. Drain and let cool for a bit.
2. Peel potatoes and using a ricer, rice the potatoes (if you don't have such a thing, mash them as well as possible, getting ALL lumps out.
3. Whisk egg and the yolk together, then add all other ingredients to the potatoes, combining with your hand.
4. Onto a well-floured counter, kneed the dough for a bit until not sticky on the outside. Then divide into 4 parts.
5. Keeping the other parts of the dough covered while working with one part, roll into a 2-ft long strip, and then cut a gnocchi into 1" pieces.
6. Hold a gnocchi with your thumb, and then with a thin-tined fork, push your thumb up against the gnocchi in a rolling motion. (Good tutorial here) Place finished gnocchi on floured surface (baking sheet, cutting boards, whatever you have that's large and flat)

Now there are two paths:
7a. Using gnocchi immediately:
use in 0-4 hours from making, keeping out. Set a pot of water to boiling, and throw gnocchi 12 or so at a time, . Take them out when they begin to float, adding more and taking out while floating until completely finished.

7b. Saving gnocchi
Place the long flat board where the finished gnocchi where put and place that in the freezer. Once completely frozen, you can transfer to a bag and keep them until read for use. There's no need to un-thaw before cooking, and cook as described in step 7a.

Gnocchi Gratin with Blue Cheese

This.... was delicious. I know it's lots of work if you make the gnocchi by hand the same evening, and I know it takes a lot of costly cheese ingredients, and I'm sure I gained several pounds from this. But it's all worth it. Serious deliciousness.


Gnocchi Gratin with Blue Cheese
from Bon Appetit

Ingredients:
~100 gnocchi, uncooked (one recipe found here)
1 cup creme fraiche (or heavy cream)
3.5 oz. finely grated Parmesan
1 tsp. rosemary
a 1/4" slice fresh ginger
2 Tbs. butter, room temperature
4 heaping Tbs. fine dried breadcrumbs
4 oz. blue cheese (mild type)

Instructions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 375 F (190 C) and a large pot of water until boiling.
2. Heat the creme, ginger, and rosemary in a sauce pan until boiling, then take off the heat, cover, and set aside.
2. Butter a 1.5 qt. baking dish or gratin dish with half the butter (anything with sides and as much surface area as possible.
3. Once pot of water is boiling, in batches (12 or so) cook the gnocchi until they float to the top, placing them in the buttered dish when done.
4. After all the gnocchi is cooked, take the ginger slice out of the creme, and mix the creme in with the gnocchi.
5. Crumble the blue cheese on top of the gnocchi/creme mixture.
6. Mix 1 tbs. of butter with the breadcrumbs and 3 Tbs. Parmesan, and spread on top.
7. Finally sprinkle the remaining 2.5 oz. grated Parmesan on top of the mixture, and put in the oven for 25-30 mins until top is bubbling and browned.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Baked Eggs with Tomato Sauce and Feta


Baked Eggs with Tomato Sauce and Feta
adapted from Chocolate Shavings

Ingredients:
1 egg
2 Tbs. prepared tomato sauce (recipe here)
2 tsp. creme fraiche
1 Tbs. crumbled feta
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 375F (190C).
2. Crack egg into ramekin, put tomato sauce over, then the creme fraiche, then the feta. Add salt and pepper to taste on top.
3. Cook for 15-20 mintues (I prefer 20 minutes)

Friday, February 10, 2012

Potato Balls in Tomato Sauce


Potato Balls in Tomato Sauce
from Mango Tomato

Ingredients:
3 medium potatoes, diced
3 Tbs. olive oil, divided
1 medium onion, diced
14 oz. tomato sauce (recipe here)
1 Tbs. Mexican or Southwest spice mix
dash of sugar
3 thyme sprigs
creme fraiche (to garnish, optional)

Instructions:
1. Cook the potatoes in salted water until tender.
2. Meanwhile, saute the onion on high heat with 1 Tbs. olive oil and a pinch of salt until mostly carmalized (or fully carmalized if you're patient) stirring frequently.
3. Heat the remaining 2 Tbs. olive oil in a skillet on medium heat. Mash the potatoes and add the caramelized onions, and form into balls. Fry in the oil, browning on at least 3 sides.
4. In another pan, combine tomato sauce, spice mix, sugar and thyme sprigs on medium heat. Heat until bubbling.
5. Serve potato balls over tomato sauce, with a drizzle of creme fraiche.

Basic Tomato Sauce


Basic Tomato Sauce
adapted from Simply Recipes

Ingredients:
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 medium onion
1 clove garlic, minced
28 oz. canned whole tomatoes and juice
2 tsp. dried basil
2 tsp. dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet, and sauté the onions until completely soft.
2. Add garlic (cooking for 30 seconds), increase heat to high and add the tomatoes, basil, and parsley.
3. Smash in the pan until they're broken up into small parts. Season mix with salt and pepper to taste, and simmer until thickened (about 15 minutes).

Roasted Thyme Potatoes

Roasted Thyme Potatoes
from Taste Food

Ingredients:
3/4 lbs. potatoes, 1" cubes
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbs. olive oil
salt and pepper
2-3 sprigs thyme

Instructions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 425 F (220 C).
2. Combine potatoes with olive oil in an oven safe pan with a lip, where all the potatoes can be spread out without touching.
3. Sprinkle garlic, salt, and pepper over and stir again to combine. Spread potatoes out on pan, top with the thyme sprigs.
4. Bake for 30 minutes, stir and then bake for 30 more minutes.

Sun-dried Tomato and Feta Cake

Super delicious! Can be made as an appetizer in a little mini-muffin pan. This is also really flexible, so you can substitute pretty much anything for the sun-dried tomatoes and feta that you have on hand, like olives and diced seitan.


Sun-dried Tomato and Feta Cake

Ingredients:
3 eggs
4 oz. (12.5 cl) milk
3 oz. (10 cl) olive oil
150 g. flour
100 g shredded Gruyère
salt and pepper to taste
10 sun-dried tomatoes, soaked in oil (diced)
100 g. feta (crumbled)

Instructions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 F (180 C).
2. Whisk the milk, olive oil, and eggs, then whisk in the flour, salt, and pepper.
3. Stir in the sun-dried tomatoes and feta.
4. Pour into a pie pan (or other oven-safe dish) and cook for 40 minutes.