Apricot Butter

Boozy, salty, sweet, fruity butter.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped
1/4 cup cognac or other brandy
2 TB brown sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
Salt

Equipment:  Long match or stick lighter.

Soak apricots in cognac in a small saucepan for 10 minutes.  Then turn on heat and bring to a boil.

Once boiling, ignite! Whee! The alcohol will shoot some tall blue flames into the air and will burn for a good little while.

Once the flames die off, turn heat to medium, add brown sugar, and stir until sugar is dissolved.

Take off heat, scrape into a food processor, and allow to cool.  Add the butter and process.  Salt the mixture to taste and eat on bread.

Look how fun!!

Roasted Tomato & Rosemary White Bean Dip

Spring has come to Arizona, but for everyone still suffering from cold weather this roasted tomato and rosemary white bean dip is just the thing. I served it during the holidays and for the superbowl; it's great party fare but also nice to have on hand during the week to use as a sandwich spread or salad topper.

Ingredients

1 container grape or cherry tomatoes

3-4 roma or hothouse tomatoes

1 head garlic

10 sprigs fresh rosemary 

3 cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

Olive oil

Sea salt

Black pepper

Smoked paprika

Chipotle powder (optional)

Assembly

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Quarter roma or hothouse tomatoes and halve grape or cherry tomatoes. Slice the top off of the garlic head. Arrange tomatoes and garlic together in roasting pan and drizzle very generously with olive oil, pouring a nice glug directly over the head of garlic, especially. Season with sea salt and black pepper. Let roast for 30 minutes, then add about half of your rosemary  and stir or flip tomatoes. Roast for an additional 30 minutes or until your tomatoes are running with juice and beginning to caramelize. 

While tomatoes are roasting, pour three cans of rinsed and drained cannellini bins into a large saucepan. Drizzle generously with olive oil and season with sea salt, black pepper, and smoked paprika to taste. Add chipotle powder if interested in a spicier, smokier dip. Add good amount of de-stemmed rosemary leaves to the saucepan. Stir and mash gently while beans heat all the way through. Add more olive oil if they begin to get too dry. 

Remove tomatoes and garlic from oven and beans from heat. Add tomatoes and beans to a large serving bowl. Remove rosemary sprigs, but feel free to knock the leaves off into the beans and tomato bowl. Rinse garlic head under cold water and then slip skin off of the roasted cloves. Mash cloves into the beans and tomatoes with a masher or a large fork until texture is how you prefer. I like it fairly smooth but with some of the beans keeping their form. Make sure to pour all of the oil from the roasting pan into the dip, and add other seasonings until the flavor is as you prefer. Decorate with remaining rosemary sprigs.

Serve warm with roasted or raw vegetables, crackers, bread, or even tortilla or potato chips. Enjoy.

Food Allergies and Ethics: The dip itself is gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan. Just be mindful of what you serve it with. 

Caramelized Kimchi Scrambled Eggs

For about a week now, as everyone has probably heard, it has rained like I've never seen in Denver.  It's like the summer of 2005 in New York when the subways kept flooding and the whole city was just streaming with water.  (Needless to say, things are a lot worse than just rainy in a lot of the communities surrounding us, and I'm grateful that the rain has stayed out of our basement, our roof has held up, and we've been home safe and dry throughout.)

The extra moisture has apparently led to some oversized veggies from our CSA, like last week's giant cabbage, which I took as my cue to finally make kimchi (I also included cucumbers, peppers, young leeks, and easter egg radishes from the CSA).  

When it was ready to eat, I wanted to do something a little more special than just rice (even though I'm sure that will be a frequent meal till we eat it all).  This was just the ticket - flavorful comfort food on a rainy night:

Ingredients: 

1-1.5 cups kimchi, plus more on the side 

Black rice 

4 eggs

1 TB milk

4 TB sugar

2 TB white vinegar

1 TB soy sauce

All you do is:  Mix the kimchi (1 to 1.5 cups - eyeball it; it depends how tightly packed they are and how much you like), sugar, vinegar and soy sauce.  In another bowl, whisk up 3 eggs and the yolk of the fork, plus the milk.  

Heat a frying pan up to high heat, add the kimchi mixture, cover with a lid, and watch it carefully for the liquid to caramelize - about 5 minutes (don't let it burn!).  

Once sticky, pour the egg mixture in, and scramble, stirring constantly until the eggs seem just a little bit runny.  (My brother-in-law, who makes the most amazing scrambled eggs, taught me the trick is to stop then, because they'll keep cooking once you turn off the heat.)  

Eat with rice and more kimchi.  Amazing.

Squash Tacos with Roasted Tomatoes and Cucumber Slaw

This was a CSA-user-upper kind of dinner, which I ate twice (once with spouse, once with mom and little sis!).  It tasted just fine.

Ingredients:

Tacos

2-3 summer squashes
2 small onions
1-2 jalapenos
2 ears of corn
Small head of garlic
2 TB butter
Cumin, cayenne, salt
4 medium-large garden tomatoes
Corn tortillas
Feta or queso fresco or goat cheese

Slaw

Fresh garden cucumbers
half a jalapeno
Small red onion
Juice of 4 limes
1-2 tsp chili paste
2 tsp fish sauce
1 TB brown sugar
Salt

Sides
Spanish rice & black beans

For the taco filling:

Dice the onion and squash into corn-sized pieces, the jalapenos a bit smaller, and cut the corn off the cob.  Melt butter in a skillet.  Add the onion and jalapeno, and cook over medium-low heat until they start to get soft.  (Don't let them start browning yet.)  When onions are getting soft, add squash and corn and spice with cumin, cayenne and salt.  Then just let it all cook until the veggies barely start to brown.

Meanwhile, put the head of garlic in the oven or toaster at 325 to soften it.  For the tomatoes, halve them and put them under the broiler to roast - keep your eye on them so they don't get too blackened.  Towards the end of the veggies' cooking time, peel the softened garlic and mash or chop it into the mix (depending how soft it is).

Serve each taco with 2 tomato halves, a scoop of filling, and feta.

For the slaw (served on the side or in the tacos):

Cut cucumbers (I had 3 small ones) into small slices.  Cut jalapeno and a small quantity of onion paper-thin.  Mix up the other ingredients in a bowl to dissolve sugar in lime juice, then toss everything together (putting them in a tupperware and shaking them up works well), adjusting quantities to taste.  Even better the next day.

Vegetarian Pho & Banh Mi (feat. my new favorite tofu)

Last month I got married, and went to California for a week-long honeymoon road trip.  The end of the road was San Francisco, and one chilly morning when Chris went running, I took myself out for breakfast pho.  I can see why it's a morning meal in Vietnam - hot broth is very comforting in lieu of a warm bed.

Denver has plenty of delicious, delicious Vietnamese food, but I would still like to get a pho broth down, since none of it is in our neighborhood.  Last weekend I gave it a shot for a group of friends, using this recipe.  I think it really does need fish sauce for the flavor to come out right, and vegetarian "fish sauce" is not too hard to find, so don't skip that if you can help it.  Also, leaving the broth in the fridge overnight before straining out the flavor elements helped the flavor a lot. 

On the night I served it, I brought the broth to a boil and briefly boiled bok choy leaves, small squares of tofu, and paper-thin slices of onion in it.  Serve spooned over hot noodles, with jalapeno slices, lime wedges, sprouts, leaves of basil, mint and cilantro (and the wonderful lemony ngo om if you can get it), sriracha, and plum sauce on the side.  

We also served banh mi with tofu for vegetarians and pork for meat-eaters.  This tofu banh mi recipe, which advises freezing your tofu and then caramelizing it with onions in simple syrup with pepper and fish sauce, is a stunner - definitely the best tofu I've ever made; I can't wait to repurpose it for the holidays.  Served on Vietnamese baguettes (which I understand have some rice flour in them so they're a bit more chewy) with cilantro, jalapeno, pickled carrot and daikon (which you can buy at a Vietnamese market and skip making your own), cucumber, and a spread of mayo + sriracha and small amounts each of melted butter, honey, and fish sauce.

Oh, and I forgot to mention!  Dessert was red bean cakes from the same Vietnamese bakery where I picked up bread, served w/homemade green tea ice cream.

Sadly, the only pic I took in the flurry of getting everything on the table was the herbs and such waiting to be tossed into bowls of pho:

Pasta with Multi-Herb Pesto & Flash Fried Spring Veggies

CSA box conquered in one dinner:

A hailstorm thinned the proceeds for the first week of our CSA, so I won't go declaring victory over the piles of greens too loudly.  I found myself with a mix of relatively small quantities (about 5 sprigs each) of dill, parsley, cilantro, sage, and oregano, plus a lot of green garlic (scapes!  new to me!  curly and great-smelling!) and arugula.  I decided to blend them all into a pesto, and boy am I glad I did.

Heidi outlines the method for making pesto by hand here.  Basically though, you just need an ulu (or mezzaluna if you will) and about 45 minutes to chop, and chop, and chop, and chop.  Chopping by hand instead of with an electric blade really does lead to a whole different texture.  Plus, you know... wrist strength.... for.... better typing? 

I used all of the abovementioned herbs (though only a few leaves of the sage), and I am pretty confident that all kinds of other things - mint, tarragon, basil itself - would have blended just fine into the fresh springy flavor.  Instead of garlic cloves I used 3 of my scapes, and instead of parmesan I used a hard goat gouda (very goaty, great flavor with the herbs).  And of course, pine nuts:

After chopping, and chopping, and chopping, I finished with some lemon-flavored olive oil:

(I probably chopped for another 10 minutes after that pic....).  Then, I sliced a bunch of small red carrots; a small head of broccoli, and a bunch of asparagus into paper-thin ribbons, and chiffonade-d a few kale and kohlrabi leaves, then flash-fried these in very hot lemon olive oil with a little salt.  Tossed it all with fresh pasta as shown above.  Nothing like fresh veggies!!  <3

Paprika-Lime Butter for Corn

Mixed this up last night (for barbecue #2 of summer 2012), thinking of a Denver restaurant that serves grilled corn with a slice of lime, queso fresco, paprika salt, and butter.  It was yummy on the corn and I saw people spooning it over their shrimp skewers, as well.

Juice of 3 limes
1 TB paprika
1 tsp salt
1 TB finely grated parmesan (or any of a number of cheeses...)
3 TB melted butter

PS:  Annalise made a batch herself and unlike me, took a pic! Here ya go, corn in the background...

Fava Puree with Parsley and Dried Cherries

Last time we were in Brooklyn, I loaded up both of our carryons with things I miss from the peerless Sahadi's, like cardamom tea and harissa paste and pistachio oil.  (Actually, the pistachio oil was a problem as it was over the size limit for said carryons.  Luckily, we were in NY to visit a baby with a very smart mama, who filled two of his bottles---under the volume limit---with my precious oil and sent me on my way.)

I also got a nice big container of dried, shelled fava beans.  They may not be as tender as the farmer's-market-fresh batch that went into this soup, but the nutty flavor and velvet texture when pureed are all there.  I love the flavor of this puree and was tempted to eat it with a spoon (or on little toasts, perhaps?).  Instead, it went over some store-bought "wild mushroom agnolotti" with ribbons of barely-steamed asparagus.

2 cups dried, shelled favas
juice of 1 lemon (maybe 2 if yours are small and/or store bought - mine was the last of my Arizona trove)
1/2 cup olive oil
1 package finely chopped dried cherries
One bunch fresh parsley, stemmed and chopped
1/2 cup grated nutty white cheese
splash of white balsamic vinegar
Salt

Quick-soak the favas beans (cover in water, about 2-3 inches above beans, bring to boil, boil for one minute, turn off heat, let sit for one hour). 

While they soak, make a vinaigrette of olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar and salt.  Taste and adjust to your liking; measurements approximate.  You can always add more of any of these things to the puree once it's made.   (Chop the parsley and cherries and grate the cheese, too.)

When favas are ready, mash them with vinaigrette using a potato masher, to whatever consistency you like (I think chunky is nice), mix the other ingredients in and mash a bit more, adjust flavors, and serve - hot or cold depending how you use it.

Ed. 11/22/15:  I made this again for a party at my house (served as a cold dip), and have a few notes.  First, I think the better quantity of favas is more like 2 cups AFTER soaking.  Second, this time around I didn't have as much soaking time and the beans weren't quite as soft, so I pureed 2/3 of them with the vinaigrette in the blender (food processor would be even better if you have one) and mashed the rest with a fork.  Third, I needed a lot more olive oil than in the above, partly because of the beans being less soft.  And fourth, I made it without any cheese for some vegan guests and it was still delightful!

Slow-Roasted Tomatoes

Nearly every blog we link to already has a recipe for slow-roasted tomatoes, and for good reason. My four little plants have been producing like champions, so I needed a way to make dozens of ripe Big Boys and Lemon Boys (hmm, all my tomatoes are male) last a little longer. If you have the same "problem," this is the solution. It takes tomatoes and makes them into Tomatoes Squared.

Just halve them, lay them out face up on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil & sprinkle with salt, and stick them in a 200 degree oven for as many hours as it takes (I decided mine were done after 5 hours). They'll be a little shriveled but still bursting with juice and really amazing flavor. Put them in jars and cover with olive oil, and the statute of limitations for using them is extended well beyond their fresh state.

Ed. 9/22/13 - Works great even for grape tomatoes if you have the patience to slice them!  And, they freeze well like this for winter use.

Warm Asparagus and Potato Salad with Tahini Mustard Dressing

Inspired by this potato and asparagus salad. I took the mustard dressing idea as a base, but added tahini to make it creamier. Deliciously tangy!

4 russet potatoes
1 large yam (the kind with pale yellow flesh)
2 bunches asparagus
1 bunch green onion
4 cloves garlic
2 lemons
Dill
Basil
Dijon Mustard
Tahini
Olive Oil
Sea Salt
Black Pepper

Wash and chop the potatoes + yam. Toss in a bit of olive oil, lots of dill, sea salt, pepper, and basil. Roast at 425 until starting to brown.

Meanwhile, cut and steam the two bunches of asparagus. Once steamed, chop into large pieces and set aside in serving bowl.

Chop green onions and garlic. Use about 1/2 of the total green onion bunch. Place in a bowl; squeeze the juice of both lemons over the onions and garlic. Add several tablespoons of mustard and olive oil, to taste. Add two tablespoons of tahini, make sure to mix well and emulsify. Finish with sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste.

Remove potatoes from oven, move into serving bowl with asparagus. Toss with dressing and serve warm.

Mediterranean Salad with Baked Sweet Potato Falafel and Very Good Dressing

Last night, after a too-short visit in Wyoming, my lovely big sister took me to eat in Denver at her favorite restaurant before shuttling me to DIA. Among other delicious things, including a cantaloupe sorbet and dark chocolate ice cream mix that was to die for, we devoured incredible sweet potato falafel. In thanks for both the meal and for keeping this blog running while I have been distracted and little sister A has been studying in Latin America, I thought I'd try to recreate it and gift her the recipe.

Well, it turns out that talent much greater than I has already done a wonderful job with a baked version. So instead, I recommend making Heidi Swanson's version of Allegra McEvedy's baked sweet potato falafel. I used much more garlic than was suggested in the recipe, added a bit of fresh mint, skipped the cilantro, and rolled each falafel in black sesame seeds.

Although I'm wildly jumping cuisines here, I would highly encourage you to serve this in the summer like I did, with chopped lettuce, cherry tomatoes roasted in lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper, avocado, and thinly diced shallots.

And no matter the season or what you serve your falafel with, you should definitely make this dressing:

Very Good Dressing

Greek Yogurt and Hummus (in equal part)
Juice of 1/2 Lemon
Splash of Olive Oil
Sea Salt, White Pepper, Smoked Paprika and Dill to taste (light on the smoked paprika)

The entire meal is inherently gluten free, and the falafel only requires some chickpea flour. I imagine you could use mashed chickpeas and some wheat flour as a substitute.

Squash Gnocchi with Coconut-Tomato Sauce

Somewhat unseasonal, but my sense of Spring has been totally ruined by weeks of rainy 40- and 50-degree weather. For a small dinner party, I served stacks of pale orange little gnocchis on a thick, boldly spiced tomato sauce, with a swirl of Greek yogurt & toasted cumin seeds on top.

I like the lightness of squash gnocchi compared to their potato brethren. I made 'em with butternut squash, because you can still get it in May (shipped from god-knows-where....), but I would have liked to try kabocha. Must remember this next winter.

Bake the squash well ahead of time (like the night before) so it's cool enough to handle, and leave yourself plenty of time for forming the gnocchi - it took me over an hour (granted, I may have been watching Project Runway at the same time) to make the dough and turn it into enough gnocchi for 4 servings.

I have to admit, this whole dish is just deconstructed version of this soup. Perhaps if I start with my overactive soup imagination, and force myself to put some of the ingredients in other forms, this blog will get a lot more interesting. :)

Gnocchi:

Squash
Flour
Salt
Egg(s)

Halve your squash, brush all sides with oil, place facedown in a glass baking dish, and bake at 350 for an hour or more, 'till it's well and truly softened. Mine was big - the length of a 9x13 dish - and made a lot more dough than I needed.

The next day, scoop your cooled squash into a bowl. For mine, I added 3 eggs; for a smaller squash use 1 or 2. Mash with potato masher, then start adding flour.

The size and moist-ness of your squash will cause the amount of flour needed to vary greatly. The dough will be sticky, and will stick to your fingers even when ready, but you want it floured enough that it's no longer wet, just shaggy, like a ciabatta dough. I used 4 cups before I could handle it well enough to make the leetle gnocchis. (In retrospect, I probably could've left out an egg and thereby reduced the necessary quantity.) If you're uncertain, it's easy to test: get a little water boiling and drop a ball of dough in, and see if you like the result! Once the consistency is good, salt to taste (and add any other spices you like - cumin would be nice with this recipe).

To form the gnocchi, heavily flour a surface or some wax paper, as well as your hands. Scoop up a baseball-sized hunk of dough, plunk it into the flour, roll it around, and form it into a long snake. Anything not flour-coated will stick to your hands, so flour up. Once you have a snake, slice it to make gnocchi, and roll each one in flour again if needed. Use the tines of a fork to give them pretty ridges if you care. Freeze or refrigerate till the sauce and everything else are ready - you want to eat 'em fresh and hot!

Then, it's just a matter of dropping them in boiling water in small batches. They only need about 3 minutes in the water, and are ready when they float to the top. (I tried frying one and thought it tasted too fried, but that's an option too.)

Coconut-Tomato Sauce:

Bring the following to boil in saucepan:

4 large heirlooms, roughly chopped
1/2 can coconut milk
Turmeric, ground cumin, salt, pinch of asefoetida if you have some, dash of lemon juice
Add tomato paste if coconut flavor overpowers tomato

Sautee 1/2 an onion sliced paper-thin, and a handful of dried coconut, then add them to the sauce. Simmer till tasty.

Spicy Tomato Corn Sauce & Grilled Eggplant

Another not-too-remarkable, but very nice, summer pasta dish:

Sauce:

Put the following in pot. Bring to boil. Thicken a little if needed. That is all.

3 huge, chopped heirloom tomatoes
1 large can diced tomates
2 cobs corn, boiled & decobbed
10 sundried tomatoes, finely chopped, & their oil
Salt, sugar, lemon juice, balsamic
Cayenne to taste

Eggplant:

Peel an eggplant, quarter it, and slice into 1/2 inch thick slices. Salt these heavily and let sit in a colander until water comes to surface - should only take 1/2 hour or so. Wipe off the salt and water thoroughly with a towel. Brush with oil from jar of sundried tomatoes. Place under broiler till highest points start to brown.

Served over campanelli.

Cumin Apple Chips, Panko-Fried Asparagus, Sriracha Mayo, and more

Oscar party menu:

Dip these:

1. Sweet Potato Fries
2. Apple chips, dusted with cumin and sea salt
3. Panko-fried green beans and asparagus

In these:

1. Mayonnaise with sriracha and a squirt of lemon. Unreal.
2. Greek yogurt with Tom Yum paste stirred in.
3. Tarragon mustard with chopped artichokes.

Also there were these:

1. Dates with blue cheese
2. Grown-up No-bakes
3. Lemon cookies

(Plus tsatsiki and dolmas, bought premade, and a phyllo pie with herbed homemade ricotta, brought over by a guest.)

Blackberry Cream Frosting

I wish this post could be titled Blackberry Buttercream Frosting. Sadly, while I intended on making a buttercream, I didn't feel like walking from the kitchen to the computer to look at the recipe. Yes, I am that lazy. So instead we have a cream cheese/buttercream hybrid frosting. But really, what's wrong with that?

1/3 block low-fat cream cheese
The lowfat part is kind of a joke, considering the nutritional stats of frosting.

1/2 stick butter, just above room temperature

2/3 bag of powdered sugar
The normal sized bag. If you don't know which one is normal, buy bigger and just add powdered sugar until you get to the right consistency.

1 pint fresh blackberries, washed and dried

1 tsp. vanilla

Using an electric mixer or a lot of arm strength, beat together the butter and blackberries. Add powdered sugar until frosting starts to stiffen, then add cream cheese and whip until just so. If you don't have a pastry bag and tip, like me, just cut the corner off of a ziplock bag, scoop in frosting, seal tightly, and pipe through there.

You could easily eliminate the cream cheese and add more butter, but I like the tang it provides as background for all.that.sugar.

This was delicious on 15 vanilla cupcakes, and I had plenty left over to freeze for the days when blackberries aren't abundant.

Cranberry Chutney

This one's from our stepmother - great with a warm brie wheel at a party - and I remembered it when I threw up the post about canning chutney last weekend:

Cranberry Chutney

1 16 oz package of cranberries

2 cups sugar

1 cup water

1 tablespoon grated orange peel

1 cup orange juice

1 cup golden seedless raisins

1 cup walnuts, chopped

1 cup celery, chopped

1 medium apple, chopped

1 teaspoon ground ginger

In a 3-quart saucepan over medium heat, heat cranberries, sugar and water to boiling, stirring the mixture frequently.

Reduce heat to low and simmer 15 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in remaining ingredients. Serve.

Canned Rhubarb-Orange Chutney (and Harissa)

Last Saturday had longstanding plans with a friend to can her surplus CSA-delivered rhubarb and my leftover-from-pie rhubarb. I have a weakness for clever tools (not to mention a weakness for tangy chutneys) and had never canned before, so I was pretty psyched. Then a heatwave hit Denver/Boulder. Not to be deterred, we decided to can in swimsuits, with frequent breaks to go outside hang out in some cool water while things boiled.

Anyway, since you can't very well mess with canning recipes all willy nilly, this post is mostly just an excuse to put up a pretty picture, and a tip to check out this book if you want to make a habit of canning.

We made the orange-rhubarb chutney and the harissa paste. Et voila!

Roasted Beets & Carrots with Cumin Chickpea Puree

More having people over, more racking my brains at the store, not having planned ahead, for a recipe I've made enough times to remember everything I need. Luckily, my memory scan hit upon this slightly quirky duo that I dug up some time ago on Epicurious. As usual, I've tweaked (also as usual, mostly by upping spices and simplifying steps), so here it is. There are 3 components so getting it all to be done at the same time is mildly challenging. Also, you'll almost surely have leftover puree, and that is a glorious thing for future snacking - I make it by itself all the time.

Ingredients - roasted beets & carrots:
6-10 beets (some golden if available)
Baggie of baby carrots
Thyme, salt, pepper
1/2 c olive oil

Ingredients - vinaigrette:
1/2 c olive oil
3 TB red wine vinegar
1.5 tsp toasted cumin seeds
.5 tsp ground cumin
4 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/3 of a red onion, or 3 shallots, very thinly sliced (if no mandolin use veggie peeler!)
large handful chopped cilantro

Ingredients - chickpea puree:
1 can chickpeas
1 can kidney or pinto beans
4 large cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne chili powder
1.5 tsp toasted cumin seeds
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 c olive oil

1. Get your beets and carrots roasting.
Trim and wash your beets and maybe chop the big ones in half. Throw em in a baking pan with 1/4 cup olive oil, cover with foil, and stick in a 400 degree oven. (They need 45 minutes or so to get good and soft.) Throw the carrots in a second baking pan with the other 1/4 cup, plus salt, pepper, and thyme. (They need 20 minutes, so add them after beets have been in for 25.) This recipe is REALLY amazing if you have fresh beets and carrots from the summer farmer's market, especially if you can get those really deep red carrots. Mmmmmm.

2. Get your puree simmering.
After you toast the cumin, heat 1/4 cup of oil and throw 1.5 tsp cumin seeds and the chopped garlic in there for about a minute. Then add the chickpeas and beans, reserving their liquid in a bowl. Throw in spices and stir till the chickpeas start to darken. Then, add the liquid from the can back in - just enough to reach the level of the tops of the chickpeas/beans. Turn down to medium and simmer. We'll come back to this in a bit.

3. Make your vinaigrette.
Put the vinegar, lemon juice, and cumin in a bowl. Whisk in the olive oil till it emulsifies. Toss in the paper-thin onion and the cilantro so they'll soak a bit.

4. Puree the puree.
When the beans seem totally soft - nearly ready to fall apart - and the cooking liquid is getting thick, pour the beans in a strainer and again, retain the cooking liquid in a bowl underneath. Put them in a blender or food processor with 1/4 c olive oil and 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid and puree like crazy. You want this thick, velvety, and totally smooth.

5. Veggies in vinaigrette.
After all this frenzied activity, your beets and carrots should be good to go. Peel the beets (when I do this, I inevitably burn my fingers and turn them red, so you're on your own as to technique) and cut into chunks of comparable size to the carrots. Then toss beets and carrots into vinaigrette.

6. Serve.
I sometimes serve the veggies over a base (tonight, acini di pepe - cute!) - it will turn charmingly/frighteningly purple, as so many things do when beets are introduced. Put a dollop of chickpea puree on the side and serve with some store-brought crispy flatbreads or crackers (a rosemary flavor goes nicely). Oh, and cross your fingers that your guests like beets, since you forgot to ask, you jerk.

Toasted Maple Quinoa

I can't eat yogurt without a crunchy topping. The plain greek variety is a staple at our house--mixed in equal parts with pumpkin to spread it out because it's pricey! For the last several weeks I've been nibbling away at some amazing gluten free granola that my father sweetly bought me, but it's gone and doesn't have a place in the weekly grocery budget. I tried to make my own this weekend, but got distracted and burned it.

Luckily for both of us, I have a slight addiction to fitness blogs written by twenty-somethings devoted to healthy living. It's like my version of suscribing to Runner's World or Women's Health. Anyway, I ran across this gem this morning, created by Caitlin of healthytippingpoint.com. I'm happily crunching on some now, and am thinking it would be excellent on salads, or on top of a creamy asparagus or cauliflower soup, or maybe...in a cookie?

Rinse 1/3 a cup of quinoa. I never rinse quinoa, I'm lazy. But because this isn't cooked, I did rinse it and my guess is that it was a good idea to do so.

Spread onto a cookie sheet with 2 T flax seeds and 1 T maple syrup.

Add cinnamon or other spices to taste.

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes, stirring once.

Crunch. Crunch.

Mean Mean Meat Sauce

On my birthday, some friends and I got together to eat some spaghetti. One of the boys requested that we make meat sauce, as opposed to just plain tomato sauce because "that's how his mom does it". Accepting that direct challenge, my friend A and I proceeded to combine our cooking experience to make the following, excellent meat sauce.

First, we sauteed one large onion, diced with olive oil, fresh herbs and garlic in a small frying pan. In a large cast iron pan, we browned half a pound ground turkey and half a pound ground beef with some italian seasoning. Once the meat was browned, we drained the grease and added the onion mixture and a jar of plain store-bought tomato sauce, then allowed it to simmer.

Voila. Nothing revolutionary, but it passed the mom challenge and was rather delicious if I do say so myself.