Long Over Due

Sorry for the month long hiatus for updating - I've got some goodies to post about though.

First - I'd like to voice my love for roasted corn on the cob. Perhaps it is one of summer's greatest treats, but there is really not much that is tastier or simpler than throwing a cob on the "barbie" and slathering it with lime butter once it's golden brown and munching on those sweet roasted kernels. LOVE IT.

Second - Love indian food, especially from Taste of India on Roosevelt and 55th. We went there a few weeks ago, and as usual, I got free desert :) It's been a long running thing, perhaps the past 10 times at least, I've gotten free desert from them! And their food is pretty darn tasty, too. We shared garlic naan, tikka masala, tandoori, the spinach curry, almond chicken curry, and butter curry. MMM. LOVE IT!

Third - Been baking lots of bread. I just made one tonight - rosemary No Knead Bread. I chopped up about 3 sprigs of rosemary and added it into the dry ingredients yesterday. I also added 3 T of sugar and extra yeast, which I think helped yield the lovely rise on the bread. :) It went beautifully with my soup - store bough "Pacific" brand of Roasted Red Bell Pepper and Tomato soup. MM MM MM! I'm planning on having more soup and bread for lunchies this week.

Fourth - For my birthday 2 weeks ago, we went to Quinn's pub on Capitol Hill. It was delicious. For appetizers, we shared spicy peanuts, a tomato salad, baguette & butter, and frites, fontina fonduta, demi-glace - which is fries with gravy and cheese.

Mouthwatering good. For the main course, we shared slow roasted ribs, fish and chips, and half a roasted chicken with chickpea puree. The chicken was my favorite - so tender and the puree was heavenly. The ribs were OK but not amazing. And I didn't try the fish but the chips were OK. I think next time I'll be more daring and try more risky things, like bone marrow... Really enjoyable dinner, though.

Fifth: For my bday, I decided to invite some friends over and cook for them. It was tough trying to plan the menu but I used my new gift of Giada de Laurentis' Everyday Italian as inspiration to create a mainly Italian focused menu:

Caprese Salad w/ toasted baguette slices (v)
White Bean Dip with toasted pita chips (v)
Chicken Satay skewers with peanut sauce

Greek Salad
Zucchini Al Forno (zucchini gratin) (v)
Homemade No-Knead Bread (v)
-Mashed potatoes, care of Alan/ Stacey/Jaden (v)

Pasta with three sauces:
Lemon Alfredo (v)
Spicy Tomato Sauce (all'arribbaita - the angry style)

Bolagnese
Tuna and Tomato

Dessert:
Brownies (of course :)) (v)

(v) = vegetarian friendly!

I started Friday night, purchasing all the groceries from Trader Joes and Freddies, and then starting on the Bolagnese sauce, and bread.

Then I started cooking up again Saturday at 2pm until 7, but had great help from some friends and my cousin Anna. Everything worked out great in the end and I ended up feeding 20 people for only about $5 per person, it was great w/ the pasta as the main course because everyone could choose what sauces they liked.

The zucchini gratin was my favorite - super easy to make! You just layer zucchini slices with cream, cheese - fontina, parm, mozzarella, and peccorino romano, bread crumbs, salt and pepper. Bake until browned and bubbly and enjoy!

I think everyone's favorite was the Lemon Alfredo, which was a recipe I got from my coworker Amber - you just slowly boil lemon juice, cream, and muscat wine.

Lastly - been making some mac and cheese. So good, and so easy. Not too easy on the waistline, but I love baking pasta w/ bread crumbs on top - that crust is always the best part.

That is it for now!! I'll try to post more regularly!! Enjoy the pix and let me know if you want any certain recipes!

-Belinda

Pictures: All Sorts of Yum!

I don't have anything constructive to write about so I thought I'd just post pictures of some food as of late that I've been eating/making:

I've been baking a lot of bread. Of course. The latest technique is mixing the beer bread and the sourdough bread recipes; that way, I get the best of both worlds: sour taste with fluffy texture and crispy crust. It's so delicious my family usually ends up eating a whole load right out of the oven so it's a good thing the beer recipe makes two loaves. MMM!

It make this delicious bread I used:

-about 1/2 cup of sourdough starter

- 6 C King Arthur bread flour

-3/4 t instant yeast

-1 T table salt

-2 t sugar

MIX with:

-12 ounces water

-3/4 C blonde lager beer

-2 T white vinegar

-1 T honey

Let sit overnight 10-20 hours in a bowl covered in saran wrap and a kitchen cloth.

Then punch/deflate and and seperate into 2 loaves. Slash top of loaves to cool bake-marks. Let rise in a warm-ish oven for 2 hours.

Then it looks like <- that picture :)

Other things I've been making are this delicious pot of asparagus and pancetta risotto. I think this was my second time making risotto and that night it was so-so, but oh man, the next day, it was SO GOOD! And then the day after, it was so much better! So my conclusion is that risotto taste so much better the day after because then it has time to soak in all the juices and sauce.

I also made this plate of "caprese salad" with crustini. I had roasted the slices of tomatoes in balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and crushed garlic [at 350F]. After about 30 minutes, let it cool and then layer with fresh mozzerella and sprinkle chiffonade of basil and drizzle of more "EVOO". (ugh). And serve with slices of bagette that have been brushed with olive oil and toasted 'til crispy.

Well... that's all I got for now! :)