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I’m in a Lunch Rut, So I Made Egg Salad

17 Jan


What to eat for lunch? What to pack for lunch? I can’t tell you how many times I have eaten a pb&j or a turkey sandwich for lunch. School is about to start again and I need some new ideas to keep me fueled throughout my busy day.

Joy the Baker made egg salad look oh so tempting. So I made it. And now I have lunch for the next two days or so (I halved her recipe).


The first step is to hard-boil some eggs. If you don’t have your own method, I recommend using this one.


With some nice herbs and aromatics and good mustard, egg salad can go from drab to dapper in no time. I even added a touch of minced preserved lemon that I canned a few weeks ago.



Egg Salad a la Joy The Baker

Makes roughly 2-3 servings worth

4 eggs hard-boiled, peeled, and cut in half (again use this as a reference)

2 tablespoons mayo

1/2 teaspoon mustard (Dijon, whole grain…)

1-2 teaspoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley (feel free to use another herb if you prefer)

1 tablespoon minced shallot (again you could use red onion, scallion, green garlic…)

1 teaspoon lemon juice (I didn’t have lemon juice so I used minced preserved lemon + a bit of vinegar, cider or white is good)

salt and pepper, to taste

bread, for sandwiches

1. Dump all ingredients into a bowl and break it up/mix with a fork until everything is incorporated to the consistency of your choice. Spoon onto (toasty) grainy bread for a nice sandwich.

Keeps up to 4 days in the fridge.

>More NY Eats

15 Jan

>So I have done a LOT of eating in the last few weeks. I knocked off quite a few hot spots from my self-made restaurant list. There are still so many more places I have yet to eat in New York City, but, oh, I’ll be back. Oh, and I’ve done a smidge of cooking/baking too…Spicy Chili, Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies…

Ippudo is currently at the top of my list for dinner in New York City. Ramen. Pork buns–gorgeous pillows filled with perfectly cooked and seasoned pork. Cute furniture made for those dining in two’s. This place is busy its loud its soooooo good. They will tell you that you have to wait 2 hours on a Wednesday night, but just go around the corner for a beer and come back in 30 min. Stick it out, it won’t take a whole 2 hours. I got in after 40 minutes. And it is sooo worth the wait. Just don’t make the mistake of attempting to come here with 6 people. Stick to 2 people. Or come for lunch. But yes, Ippudo is my new favorite New York City dinner spot.


Let’s talk coffee. Stumptown Coffee Roasters. Inside the Ace Hotel. Very trendy, extremely good coffee. There is a lobby inside the hotel where a slew of trendy New Yorkers sip their coffee (or at night their cocktails) and type away at their laptops, stick their nose into a good book, or chat with an old friend. Stumptown is originally from Portland, Oregon. Who’s up for a road-trip to Portland?


Shake Shack. I have no photo because I gobbled this thing up. Yes I ate a burger, a fast-food burger, outside in the snow after a yoga class. Fast food and yoga. Oh yes, I did it. And there was hardly a line, which is a rare occurrence at any Shake Shack location. This burger was good but nothing to rave about. The bun was indeed soft and buttery (compared to the toasty crisper In-N-Out bun). They have yummy shakes, too. My friend ordered a cold shake in the cold weather. And then this friend ordered a hot chocolate from Stumptown right after he finished his chocolate shake. This boy knows how to live right.

Speaking of burgers, have you been to 5 Napkin Burger yet? 10 oz of burger. 10 freaking ounces! Caramelized onions. Gruyere cheese. Absolutely no lettuce, no tomato, no pickle. This is a good place to go after seeing a matinee showing of Memphis.


‘Wich Craft. Nice little spot for a sandwich. Grilled cheddar with smoked ham, pear, & mustard on cranberry-pecan bread.


Rue 57. I’m not crazy about Midtown/Times Square. It is too touristy, too crowded, and too corporate. But let’s say you have a brother who works as a lawyer in Midtown. You meet him for dinner. Rue 57 is a fine place to dine. It is kind of funny in that it has Parisian cuisine, American classics, and sushi, but somehow it works. Below you will see a few of the many menu options at Rue 57.

Beet Salad: frisee, baby greens, sliced bosc pear, baked goat cheese, orange vinaigrette

Special: Baked clams with sun-dried tomatoes (I enjoyed the clams however my brother thought they were too rubbery; he’s had better, he says)

Miso Glazed Chilean Sea Bass with Baby Spinach

E.A.T. Oh, the Upper East Side. You really are something. E.A.T. is a gourmet deli/restaurant and if you are itching to see a NYC celeb, I recommend going here for some good eats and good sees.

Cheesy-Veggie Pie, with Salami, held together by Eggs and a Splash of Milk

10 Dec


Quiche? Frittata? Cheesy-veggie pie, with salami, held together by eggs and a splash of milk.

Whatever its called, its easy, I made it up, its healthy, its got pie crust.

And it’s great leftover the next day.


Cheesy-Veggie Pie, with Salami, held together by Eggs and a Splash of Milk

1 recipe for pie crust
1 head of broccoli, cut into tiny bites
1 zucchini, sliced thin
8 slices salami
Cheddar cheese + this other amazing Spanish cheese that I had, too
6 eggs
splash of milk
salt and pepper

1. Make you crust. Refrigerate. Roll it out. Place into a pie plate or tart pan lined with parchment. Pre-bake your crust in a 400 degree F oven until just lightly colored, about 15-20 min.

2. Take your zucchini and salami and place along the bottom of the tart pan. Whisk together your broccoli, cheeses, and eggs with a splash of milk and salt and pepper. Pour into the tart pan over the salami and zucchini. Bake until done, about 30 min.

3. Let cool for about 5 minutes. Serve.

>Lemon Chicken Breast with Pan-Roasted Veggies

16 Nov

>
Leftovers for lunch. What a rare occasion these days. I mean, I do love making sandwiches, but sometimes I just crave a little variety…

Over the weekend, I attended a cooking class in Napa Valley at Whole Foods Market where we made this totally amazing
Moroccan rack of lamb with couscous and fall vegetable ragu
(complete with harissa (red) and chemoula (green) sauces mmm):


The cooking class was part of Sprouts Cooking Club, a cooking program for children in the Bay Area. This class, however, was part of an ADULT series. (Check out their website for more info: http://sproutscookingclub.org/).

After the class, there were a ton of leftover vegetables and so I took a few home to use for my own pan-roasted vegetable recipe: fennel, beautiful green top carrots, broccoli, and turnip.

The pan-roasted veggie recipe is so simple and any vegetables can be used. I love all the colors-orange, green, yellow, white…

Pan-Roasted Veggies

Adapted from Barefoot Contessa’s Back to Basics

serves 4

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 white turnip, 1-inch dice
2 carrots, 1-inch dice (preferably from carrots with the greens attached)
1 large fennel bulb, diced
1 sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 head of broccoli, chopped
4 fresh sprigs if your favorite herb (rosemary or thyme are great)
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
**I also added a splash of balsamic to my veggies at the very end!!

Melt the butter in a large (12-inch) saute pan that has a tight-fitting lid. When the butter is melted, add everything and toss with the butter. Cover the pan and cook over low-ish heat for 10 minutes. Take the lid off and stir. Cover again and continue to cook for another 5 or so minutes, until all the vegetables are tender. Taste for seasonings and serve hot.

**If you want to double this recipe, make it in 2 batches or use 2 12-inch saute pans. You want to the vegetables to brown on the bottom as well as steam in their own juices.

To go along with my vegetable array, I made a very simple roasted lemon chicken. Saute garlic in olive oil, add some wine, lemon zest and juice, and oregano, plop the chicken over the sauce and roast. Bam.

Leftovers for lunch. Yum yum yum. Aaaannnnd I can take a decent photo of my lunch-leftovers because during the fall/winter, natural lighting is not really feasible for dinner-time photos.


Roasted Lemon Chicken Breast

From Barefoot Contessa

serves 4

1/4 cup good olive oil
3 tablespoons minced garlic (9 cloves)
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1½ teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves (I used rosemary)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 boneless chicken breasts, skin on (roughly 6 oz each)
1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Warm the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, add the garlic, and cook for just 1 minute but don’t allow the garlic to turn brown. Off the heat, add the white wine, lemon zest, lemon juice, oregano, thyme, and 1 teaspoon salt and pour into a 9 X 12-inch baking dish.

Pat the chicken breasts dry and place them skin side up over the sauce. Brush the chicken breasts with olive oil and sprinkle them liberally with salt and pepper. Cut the lemon in 8 wedges and tuck it among the pieces of chicken.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken breasts, until the chicken is done and the skin is lightly browned. If the chicken isn’t browned enough, put it under the broiler for 2 minutes. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and serve hot with the pan juices.

La la la la la lasagna!!!!!!!!!!

16 Sep

(NOTE: All of the photos are taken of the lasagna before it was baked…)

When your housemate eats five pieces of your lasagna for dinner, that must mean you made a pretty darn good meal (or maybe he was just pretty darn hungry). Either way, lasagna is a sure way to please hungry housemates and taste buds alike.

Lasagna is so hearty and you can make it however you like with all of your favorite ingredients. You can make it totally vegetarian, totally cheesy (I used a triple threat of cheeses in mine), totally meaty (sausages, ground meat, bacon…), and even totally vegan (making tofu “ricotta” is so fun).

Start with a layer of sauce, then noodles, then cheese, then veggies, then more sauce, then noodles, then cheese, then veggies, then more sauce, more noodles, more cheese oh my! I don’t even measure how much of everything I put in and I always confuse my layering order. Honestly, though, anyway you layer, it will come out awesome, guaranteed. I mean, you just can’t go wrong with all of those yummy ingredients.

I made vegetarian lasagna with fresh spinach, yellow summer squash, mushrooms, onions, fresh basil, tomato sauce, and 3 cheeses: Parmesan, mozzarella, and ricotta. I combined my ricotta with some fresh-ground nutmeg, the fresh basil leaves cut into pieces, and 2 eggs to make it really smooth and rich.

This lasagna in particular offers a lovely array of color-green, red, white, yellow…Unfortunately I was too caught up in/too busy eating the crispy browned cheesy topped noodle dish to take a nice photo of the finished product. So go try it for yourself and you will understand why I am such a sucker for those browned cheesy bits.

La la la la la lasagna!!!!!!!!!!

Ingredients

1-2 yellow summer squash, thinly sliced

1 onion, sliced thinly

mushrooms, sliced

1 jar of prepared tomato sauce + 1 small 8 oz can of plain tomato sauce (or homemade sauce, that would be awesome!)

1 lb of ricotta cheese

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

salt and pepper

fresh basil, cut into thin strips or ribbons

2 eggs

1 package of oven-ready lasagna noodles (or regular lasagna noodles, par-boiled)
fresh spinach

salt and pepper

more fresh basil

grated mozzarella cheese

grated Parmesan cheese

1. In a saucepan, saute the yellow summer squash in olive oil until just cooked. Add salt and pepper. Put into a bowl and set aside.

2. Drizzle some more olive oil in the now empty pan and saute the onions until cooked and translucent. Add the mushrooms and cook. Add the tomato sauce and simmer for a few minutes.

3. Make your ricotta mixture. Add the nutmeg, fresh basil ribbons, salt, pepper, and 2 eggs to the ricotta and stir until blended.

4. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. In a pyrex (13 in), layer a thin amount of your tomato sauce with mushrooms. Then place a few noodles in a single layer over the sauce. Spread on 1/2 of the ricotta mixture. Throw on some grated mozzarella. Add the yellow squash, salt, pepper, and fresh basil. More tomato sauce. Noodles. Ricotta mixture then mozzarella. Fresh spinach. More sauce. More mozzarella and Parmesan for the top so you get a nice crispy brown top.

(or just layer it however you like)

5. Bake, covered with foil, for about 35-40 minutes. Take off the foil and bake for another 15 minutes. Take it out of the oven and let it stand for about 10-15 minutes before cutting and serving.

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