February 24, 2010

Quick & Easy Meals

Cook 1:
The end of February and its drudgery are upon us. Constant snow storms force the same dull costume of waterproof boots and battered coats, some fringed with once regal, but now wilted, fur hoods. Knowing that we've got at least a month of work to get through before the reprieve of a federal holiday is just...demoralizing. And let's not even get into the looming threat of taxes...But one thing that shouldn't push you further into the doldrums is the thought of preparing a healthy dinner every night. By the time you get home from work, drag yourself to the gym, and throw a load of laundry in, it probably seems easiest to just order in a pizza or a generic deli salad. Don't! Well, OK, once in a while is fine, but give these easy every-day recipes a try first and see if they don't bring some zest and excitement to these relentlessly ordinary days of winter.


Broccoli and Shrimp (Adapted from a NYTimes recipe) - serves 3-4

Growing up, my parents force fed me broccoli nearly every night. I hated it and have only recently given it another try. It turns out that broccoli is quite good when it's not steamed to oblivion.  The toasty spices and the kick of the chili powder give the roasted broccoli depth, and the lemon brightens and pulls the whole dish together. Feel free to use less shrimp if you want more vegetables than fish.

2 pounds broccoli, cut into bite-size florets
4 tablespoons ( 1/4 cup) extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds
1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon hot chili powder
1 pound large shrimp, shelled and deveined (I buy frozen bagged shrimp and keep the bag in my freezer, defrosting small quantities of shrimp as I need them. To defrost, just throw the shrimp in a colander and place under running cold water for five minutes.)
1 1/4 teaspoons lemon zest (from 1 large lemon)
Lemon wedges, for serving.

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, toss broccoli with 2 tablespoons oil, coriander, cumin, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper and chili powder. In a separate bowl, combine shrimp, remaining 2 tablespoons oil, lemon zest, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and remaining 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

2. Spread broccoli in a single layer on a baking sheet. Roast for 10 minutes. Add shrimp to baking sheet and toss with broccoli. Roast, tossing once halfway through, until shrimp are just opaque and broccoli is tender and golden around edges, about 10 minutes more. Serve with lemon wedges, or squeeze lemon juice all over shrimp and broccoli just before serving.

Vietnamese Style Sandwich (inspired by Dorie Greenspan's recipe) - serves 2

2 chicken breasts, skin-on, bone-in OR a Rotisserie chicken from the grocery store
1 baguette
Garnishes:
2 tablespoons Thai sweet chili sauce
1/2 English cucumber (or 1 regular cucumber), seeded and sliced into matchsticks or spears
4 carrots, peeled into thin strips
1/3 cup rice vinegar, white vinegar, apple cider vinegar (any of these are OK) (optional)
1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
3 teaspoons salt (optional)
a bunch of cilantro
Special Sauce:
1 teaspoon Sriracha sauce or more to taste
4 tablespoons mayonnaise (Hellman's is great for this. No Miracle Whip)
1 teaspoon fish sauce (optional, found in Asian section of grocery store)
1 teaspoon vinegar or freshly squeezed lemon juice (optional)
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil (optional)

This recipe is great because you can customize it to suit how much time you feel like spending on its preparation. It has crunchy vegetables, lean protein, spice and sweetness, only a little heart clogging  but delicious fat, and crusty white bread - a study in pleasing textures and flavors. It's really a wannabe banh mi sandwich - but it's got bold, pan-Asian flavors and it's just plain fun to eat.

1. If you are roasting your own chicken, drizzle a little olive oil on the two bone-in breasts, salt and pepper them, put them on a baking sheet and throw them in a 375 degree oven for about 20-30 minutes or until cooked through (clear juices, no blood when you cut near the bone). To speed this process up, let the chicken come to room temperature before cooking. If you are using a store-bought rotisserie chicken, remove the plastic cover, cut the two breasts off and save the rest of the chicken for another use (tomorrow's dinner, see below recipe).

2. If you bought your chicken, store it in the fridge while you prepare the garnishes. If you are cooking your chicken, get your prep ingredients ready while it cooks. First make the special sauce. If you don't have the optional ingredients (fish sauce, vinegar/lemon, sesame oil), then just mix the mayo and Sriracha together in a little bowl and set aside. Otherwise, combine all the ingredients and set aside.

3. Now get the veggies ready. If you are in a rush, then just cut the cucumbers up into matchsticks and use a vegetable peeler to make long thin strips out of the carrots. If you have the inclination to flash pickle the veggies, then dump the 1/3 cup vinegar, the salt and the sugar into a bowl big enough to fit the veggies, stir it up, and throw the cucumbers and carrots in. They will pickle within minutes and if you leave them overnight, they will get nice and soft and you can use them for the soba salad (recipe below) for your dinner the following night.

4. Get your bread ready. Depending on your hunger level, cut a portion of the baguette for you and your dinner companion. We usually eat about a third each of the baguette, but feel free to use more or less. Slice each portion of bread in half to form a pocket - don't cut all the way through.

5. Your roasting chicken should be ready by now. Pull it out of the oven, let it rest for 5 minutes until it's cool enough to rip off the skin. If you bought your chicken, likewise, pull off the skin and discard. Aren't we so healthy, with our virtuous disposal of chicken fat? Well, we're about to replace that skin with mayo, so don't get too high on your horse.

6. Cut the chicken off the bone so it's in bite size pieces or savagely shred it with your fingers, depending on your mood. Now get that mayo out and spread some on both sides of the bread - the amount you use is up to you. Place some chicken on the bread and layer some of the veggies on top. You may find that you can't use a whole breast on each sandwich, which is fine - just save the chicken for another use. If you like cilantro, throw some cilantro on top of the chicken. Now for the final touch: squeeze some chili sauce over everything (remember, it's sweet, not spicy). That's it!

7. Place each sandwich (which will barely close) on a big plate and serve with a ton of napkins. You can adjust the seasonings as you eat and decide if your tastes call for more spice from the mayo, more crunch from the veggies, or more sweetness from the chili sauce.

Soba Salad - 2 servings

This quick and easy salad will use up your leftovers from the banh mi wannabe sandwich above. It's light, fast, and delicious. Soba noodles are very nutritious and have a pleasantly nutty flavor. I wouldn't recommend swapping them out for any other type of noodle in this case.

1-2 packets soba noodles, or more depending on your appetite
1 scallion
6 or more cups of arugula or lettuce of choice
Optional: reserved chicken breast from above recipe, pickled vegetables

Dressing:
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon minced ginger (optional)

1. Boil a medium saucepan of water. Cook soba noodles according to directions on package, about 6 minutes. Drain noodles, rinse, drizzle with a little sesame oil and sprinkle with salt and set aside.

2. Mix dressing ingredients together.

3. On a large plate, layer lettuce, soba noodles and pickled vegetables and chicken, if using. Lightly dress with the dressing. Scatter with scallions and serve. You will most likely have dressing leftover - it will keep for about a week in the fridge.


Cook 2

This meal has been one of my favorite go-tos pretty much since I've been working.  Its cheap, quick, easy, and only involves 1 ingredient that isn't a pantry staple.  The trick is to use chicken broth, spices and dried fruit to spice up the couscous, and a really hot cast iron pan for the mushrooms.  In the time it takes to boil 1 cup of broth, pour it over the cousous and wait 5 minutes you're done with the portobellos and ready to eat!

Portobellos & Couscous
(recipe is for 2)

2 large portobello mushroom caps, stems removed, rinsed and patted dry with a paper towel
1 cup couscous (I always buy the large container of it instead of the small boxes so that I have some on hand)
1 cup chicken broth (or water)
dried fruit, roughly chopped (apricots are my favorite)
pinch of cumin
pinch of corriander
pinch of thyme
salt and pepper

1. Heat cast iron pan over med-high heat.
2. While pan is heating bring chicken broth, spices, salt and pepper to boil in small pot.  If your dried fruit is really dry throw the pieces in the broth and they'll absorb the delicious flavors.  The apricots I used this time were already really juicy so I just waited and threw them in the couscous at the end.
3. Once it's boiling pour broth over couscous in a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 5 minutes.
4. While couscous is sitting pour a little olive oil on both sides of the portobellos and place them gill side up on the cast iron pan.  They will smoke and sizzle.  Check them regularly and when they are brown (but not burned) flip them over.  Use your spatula to press them down gently (and usually they will flatten out on their own as well).  When they are ready to flip again salt and pepper both sides.  Continue cooking until tender all the way through and beginning to release some juice.
5.  Fluff couscous with a fork.  Serve immediately, laying portobello on top of couscous to catch all of the delicious mushroomness!

February 6, 2010

Brownie Taste Test

This week both cooks needed plenty of chocolate and by wonderful coincidence this amazing brownie recipe was posted on smittenkichen.com! We both tried it out and loved it...here are the results:
Cook 1
Having a perfect brownie recipe is a bit like being in love - your belief in the beloved is so strong that you are blind to all others who flit by. When you have The Recipe, you have no inclination to try any others, even if they are touted as 'the best'! And to taste a bite of those sad specimens on black plastic trays that grace every office luncheon would be a waste of calories on what you know to be an inferior version of your recipe; a brown hockey puck sodden with the salty juices of the neighboring turkey sandwich. For a while your recipe is the only one worth baking - it's trust-worthy and well received when it accompanies you to all your dinner parties, dressed in the same crumpled tin foil coat time after time after time...And so you stray.

 And friends, I strayed. I cheated on my perfect brownie recipe for the one I'm about to share with you. I feel so cheap! Was it worth it, you ask? No. My stand-by recipe is still better and it will keep its spot as my #1. But this recipe has plenty of virtues.
It was incredibly easy and quick to make, mimicking the same steps as a box mix, but with a more intense cocoa flavor and a texture so gooey that it must be eaten straight from the pan as you'll be too frustrated to cut squares out of it. So give it a try this Valentine's Day and don't say I didn't warn you about affairs of the heart, eh, stomach.


Cook 2
The last time I made brownies from scratch I ended up with a dry, dense brick with an oily layer on top, so I was a bit hesitant to try this recipe.  But Deb made it sound so easy and the pictures looked so amazing that I thought I'd give it a shot.  It was actually really easy and didn't take very long at all.  The most time-consuming part was heating the chocolate/sugar/butter mixture...I kept stirring and stirring and it took at least 15 minutes before it was actually hot.  It was really grainy looking at this point but once the eggs and flour were added it got smooth and shiny very quickly (although it was so dense I wasn't really able to stir "vigorously" as suggested).
 My baking time varied greatly from the original recipe as well.  I kept adding time so am not entirely sure how long it took but I would guess 30-35 minutes (at 325).  The end result was amazing: so much fudgier and chewier than any mix brownie I've ever had.  We usually go through a pan of brownies at an alarming speed but these are so rich and dense that 3 days later we still have about a third of them left...but not for long!
Best Cocoa Brownies Adapted from Alice Menderich's Bittersweet via smittenkitchen 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks, 5 ounces or 141 grams) unsalted butter 1 1/4 cups (9 7/8 ounces, 280 grams) sugar 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (2 7/8 ounces, 82 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder (natural or Dutch-process) 1/4 teaspoon salt (or a heaping 1/4 teaspoon flaky salt, as I used) 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 2 large eggs, cold 1/2 cup (66 grams, 2 3/8 ounces) all-purpose flour 2/3 cup walnut or pecan pieces (optional) Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F. Line the bottom and sides of an 8×8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper or foil, leaving an overhang on two opposite sides. Combine the butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt in a medium heatproof bowl and set the bowl in a wide skillet of barely simmering water. Stir from time to time until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth and hot enough that you want to remove your finger fairly quickly after dipping it in to test. Remove the bowl from the skillet and set aside briefly until the mixture is only warm, not hot. It looks fairly gritty at this point, but don’t fret — it smooths out once the eggs and flour are added.

Stir in the vanilla with a wooden spoon. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously after each one. When the batter looks thick, shiny, and well blended, add the flour and stir until you cannot see it any longer, then beat vigorously for 40 strokes with the wooden spoon or a rubber spatula. Stir in the nuts, if using. Spread evenly in the lined pan.

Bake until a toothpick plunged into the center emerges slightly moist with batter, 20 to 25 minutes is Medrich’s suggestion but it took me at least 10 minutes longer to get them set. Let cool completely on a rack.

Lift up the ends of the parchment or foil liner, and transfer the brownies to a cutting board. Cut into 16 or 25 squares.