Archive | dinner RSS feed for this section

Tofu Panang Curry

5 Oct

I’ve been having cravings up the wazoo lately. Everything from pizza and burgers to dumplings (soup dumplings!) and curry, from fresh pasta with a buttery sauce to a giant burrito packed with beans rice guac and cheese. From pancakes to French Toast to ice cream and a brownie. I want it all.

I don’t go out to eat very often. I like to make my own breakfasts and lunches. I work in a restaurant at night where they feed me dinner. And on my days off I just want to cook something homemade and hearty.

This Panang Curry really hit the spot for me today. I made it for myself for lunch, my roomies will eat some for dinner, and there will still be enough for leftovers tomorrow and the next day.

The curry is filled with dark green kale, bright orange sweet potato, and soft lean tofu. Fresh ginger and garlic and some spices give this curry a lovely flavor balance of tangy spicy and smooth. Garnished with lime and cashews for a crunchy top-note and spooned over protein-packed quinoa.

As the weather is turning to fall, this curry is the perfect way to warm your body up and keep your spirits high with all the colors and texture and good-for-you nutrients. And leftovers make it so easy to just reheat and not have to worry about cooking for the next few days.

Meat-eaters, gluten-free goers, vegans, vegetarians, and locavores will all delight in the Thai-inspired stew. Now give yourself a pat on the back and serve this up for dinner tonight.

TOFU PANANG CURRY

adapted from Chole Coscarelli

*I find it useful to have all my ingredients chopped, measured out, and ready to go before I start cooking

**Also, feel free to sub out the sweet potato for some winter squash, the kale for chard or collards or spinach, feel free to add cauliflower or bok choy, tempeh instead of tofu…

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 tablespoons canola oil

1 small onion, thinly sliced

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 tablespoon finely minced/chopped fresh ginger (peel with a spoon and grate on your microplane, or just chop by hand)

1/4 cup peanut butter

2 teaspoons turmeric

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon Thai Red Curry Paste (just look near the isle where you buy the soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, etc.)

1 1/2 cups water

1 14-oz can coconut milk

zest of 1 lime

2 tablespoons brown sugar (or maple syrup)

2 teaspoons sea salt

1 14-oz pkg of extra firm tofu, drained and cubed

1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into cubes

1 bunch of kale, cut off the stem and torn into pieces

juice of 1 small lime

1/2 cup roasted cashews (I have used those Chili Lime Cashews from Trader Joe’s in this curry before, SO GOOD!)

PROCEDURE:

(If making a grain, start cooking your rice or quinoa first so that it will be ready around the same time as your curry.)

Heat oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Add onions, garlic, and ginger and let cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in peanut butter, turmeric, cumin, and curry paste and let cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Whisk in water, coconut milk, lime zest, brown sugar, and salt until combined. Add tofu, sweet potato, and kale, and bring to a boil. Let simmer, covered, for 30 minutes, or until sweet potatoes are fork tender. Stir in lime juice and adjust seasoning to taste. Garnish with cashews and serve over rice or quinoa.

Dinner Party For Rosh Hashanah

3 Oct

An excuse to have friends over for dinner and to cook a hearty Jewish meal… The menu:

  • Round Challah Bread, Roasted Garlic
  • Apples Dipped in Honey (Catskill Provision Honey)
  • Chicken with Figs
  • Israeli Couscous with Pomegranate Seeds, Feta, Chickpeas, Cucumber, Radishes, and more
  • Quick Asparagus and Green Bean Saute
  • Wine
  • Root

A small glimpse of the meal:

Pretty Pretty Blue Hydrangeas

Round Challah Bread; Apple Walnut Cake

Couscous Salad in the Making…(pre-couscous)

Flowers, Apples & Honey, Couscous Salad

Kosher Chicken #1 in the Pyrex, Before Baking

Kosher Chicken #2 in Cast-Iron, After Baking

Quick Green Bean Saute

Dinner is Served, Come & Get It

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For…Honey Ice Cream!

Rugelach, Homemade Jewish Cookies…you can’t just eat one

And there you have it. Just a small taste of the lovely meal that was enjoyed by many.

Israeli Couscous Salad + NY Eating (Diner) + Sloppy Joes + Oven Mishaps/Over-Cheesing

23 Aug

Today I went on a lunch date with an old friend. We ate at a great restaurant right near the Williamsburg bridge in Brooklyn. Diner. We sat outside on the patio with a delightful sunny breeze drifting by. Our server was quite the charmer, he even sat down at our table as he described the menu items, which included rabbit terrine, fried green tomato and egg sandwich on brioche, fried chicken with a biscuit and homemade peach jam, and bratwurst. We ended up sharing the market salad (purslane, corn, tomatoes, buttermilk dressing) and the fried green tomato and egg sandwich. The sandwich came with crunchy-on-the-outside-soft-centered fries, specked with flaky salt chunks. It was a darling lunch. Diner even has a quarterly magazine that I cannot wait to delve into. I then proceeded to drag my old friend up and around Williamsburg, making a quick coffee stop at Bakeri and heading back to Manhattan via the 4$ East River Ferry.

Tonight as I was brainstorming dinner ideas, that market salad with purslane (which, I believe is an edible weed) was still in my thoughts. It was just so satisfying. And it definitely counter-acted those delicious salty fries that I was eating, and those AMAZING sloppy joes that I made for dinner last night (on a toasted English muffin, with tortilla chips and roasted broccoli).

Israeli couscous in a salad. My dinner (not to be confused with Diner). My family used to call Israeli couscous “octopus eggs.” I still don’t know why that never irked me. Add some nectarines and dried sour cherries. Feta cheese and garbanzo beans. With cubed hacked cucumbers, slivered radishes, and spinach leaves. A cool crunchy sweet and savory salad. While I appreciate a nice homemade dressing, I am too lazy in the comfort of my own home and almost always opt for a drizzle of balsamic and olive oil with flaky salt and course ground pepper. It never fails me.

Oooo, and I want to tell you about a few of the things that I have been making this last week or so:

Homemade Pizza. It was quite good, however I went a tad overboard with the fresh pulled mozz. And my dang oven likes to burn things very quickly and set off the smoke alarm. Needless to say, I still need to perfect my pizza making and my fix my old, has-a-mind-of-its-own oven before I give you a recipe. BUT, a tip from me to you is to always throw a dash of cornmeal on the pan before baking. Texture, baby, it’s all about texture.

I mentioned Sloppy Joe’s earlier. Go to Ree’s website. Make her sloppy joe’s. Read her book, “Black Heels to Tractor Wheels.”

I also mentioned my wacko oven earlier. I was trying to make these cookies from David Lebovitz. I only baked off 4 of them tonight. I caught them just before my oven was about to cinch them to burnt smithereens. They were chewy and crispy and chocolaty and perfect with milk. I still have dough in my fridge. I am going to figure this oven mishap out.

In the meantime, Couscous.

Israeli Couscous Salad

1 box of Israeli Couscous

1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

1 block of feta, cubed

1/2 cup dried sour cherries

1/4 of an English cucumber, cubed

1/2 a large nectarine, cubed

2 small radishes, quartered and thinly sliced

1-2 large handfuls of fresh spinach

salt, pepper, olive oil, balsamic vinegar

1. Make your couscous according to the directions on the box. (toast the couscous in a pot, pour boiling water over it, simmer until done).

2. Have all of your add-ins chopped and ready to go. Add the couscous and toss. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic and add salt and pepper.

**A poached or hard-boiled egg sounds delightful if you are looking to boost up the protein in this salad.

Scalloped Tomatoes with Croutons and Sausage

9 Aug

Summer tomatoes are everywhere at the farmer’s market. You will see all shapes and sizes from these cute grape tomatoes to the heirloom varieties that are large and colorful and warty (p.s. in my opinion, the uglier an heirloom tomato, the better it tastes).

These tomatoes are so sweet that you can just slice them in half, sprinkle with fancy sea salt, and drizzle with olive oil and balsamic. Add some basil sprigs and crusty bread, and you have got yourself the most sensational summer salad in just mintues.

Last night I made a tomato salad, and tonight I baked these tomatoes up with some garlic, bread, sausage, basil, and cheese. Scalloped tomatoes with croutons and sausage.

You could easily make a dinner-for-one size of this dish, or multiply it for a crowd. You could omit the sausage or add a vegetarian sausage. You could use a different cheese if you prefer. Throw in some summer corn and zucchini in addition to the tomatoes. Take this whole thing and spoon it over some al dente pasta. You say tomatO and I say tomAto…

Scalloped Tomatoes with Croutons and Sausage

adapted from SmittenKitchen

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 sausage, cut into small pieces

2-3 cups bread from a French boule, in a 1/2-inch dice, crusts removed

2 1/2 pounds whatever good tomatoes you’ve got, cut into 1/2-inch dice

3 cloves garlic, minced (about 1 tablespoon)

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons Kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup thinly slivered basil leaves, lightly packed

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high. Add the sausage and bread cubes and stir so that they are evenly coated with oil. Coo, tossing frequently, until toasty on all sides, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine tomatoes, garlic, sugar, salt and pepper in a large bowl. When the bread cubes are toasted, add the tomato mixture and cook them together, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in the basil. Pour into a shallow (6 to 8 cup) baking dish and top with Parmesan cheese. Bake 35 to 40 minutes until the top is browned and the tomatoes are bubbly. Serve hot or warm with a big green salad, a bean salad and/or a poached egg.

Obsessed with “Grilled” Corn + Peanut Sesame Noodles

4 Aug

See that piece of corn? That is the beginnings of pretty much every meal that I have made in the last week.

Step 1: Husk your corn.

Step 2: Turn on the stove top. Place corn directly over the flame. Let is sit for a few minutes until it pops and hisses. Flip and repeat.

Step 3: Shave corn off cobb.

Step 4: Add this corn to whatever dish you are making. Or, just slather it with butter and chili and maybe some salty cheese and it is right off the cobb.

The other day I made some charred corn tacos.

Today I made some saucy peanut noodles.

These noodles are seriously dripping with peanut sauce and are a peanut butter-lover’s savory dream come true. The sauce gets spun in the blender. Couldn’t be easier. Oh, and I think the ginger is a key ingredient, so don’t leave it out. Go get the fresh stuff. And peel it with a spoon (the best trick I know!). And if you don’t use all of it, freeze it. It keeps well in the freezer. Ginger. Miracle ingredient.

I make these noodles all the time, adding different veggies etc. depending on the season and what I have on-hand.

I have a very hard time knowing when to stop eating these noodles. I always want just one more bite. They are quite heavy though, so only use half the amount of sauce to start and add more if you dare.

Peanut Sesame Noodles

adapted from Epicurious

This makes A LOT of sauce…you should make lots of pasta (like, an entire package/pound at least) or just use half of the sauce and save the other half in a jar for another time…

*Try not to let the noodles sit in the sauce very long — toss them together a few seconds before serving. If you are eating leftovers the next day, sprinkle with a tablespoon or so of water before heating to freshen up the dish.

**This is perfect for your vegan/veggie friends and meat eaters alike. Feel free to add tofu/tempeh, or some kind of chicken or meat if you wish.

For the peanut dressing:

  • 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 1/3 cup warm water
  • 2 tablespoons chopped peeled fresh ginger
  • 1 medium garlic clove, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons Asian sesame oil (sometimes I like to use a spicy sesame oil)
  • 2 teaspoons honey
  • 1 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes

For the noodle salad:

  • 1 lb dried linguine fini or spaghetti (or soba noodles…)
  • 1 ear of corn
  • 3 hefty handfuls of fresh spinach leaves
  • 4 scallions, thinly sliced
  • 1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/8-inch-thick strips
  • 3 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

Prepare your dressing by placing everything in the blender and pureeing it for 1-2 minutes or until smooth. Transfer the sauce to a large bowl.

Boil some water, then heavily salt it, then add your pasta and cook until al dente. The last 3 minutes of cooking, add your fresh spinach. Drain.
While the pasta is cooking, take your ear of corn and set it over the gas stove burner and char it on all sides. Cut it off the cobb and set aside. Have your scallions, bell pepper chopped and ready.
Assemble the noodles: Add your hot noodles to the peanut sauce along with the veggies, sesame seeds, and whatever accoutrement you like.
← Older Entries
Newer Entries →