my boyfriend cooks for me

fishy (in the good way!) crepe

2011-01-21T18:34:00.003-06:00

These crepes - which seem to be what you would get if my last two posts mated - were meant to be an appetizer. But as you can see, they turned out quite big. After eating them, making more food (nonsensically intended to be even more fish!), was completely unnecessary.

In photography news, we have finally implemented a system that allows me to use the tripod, which is especially critical when I'm using my fancy macro lens without the help of fancy lights.

Home-made crepe with trout spread (leftover rainbow trout, mayonnaise, horseradish, anchovies, taramosalata), arugula and tomato

our new kitchen comes with so many perks!

2011-01-18T19:50:00.000-06:00

My mom was visiting over the weekend, and although it was quite cold yesterday, I felt I had to show her a bit more of our new neighborhood. On our walk, we discovered a fantastic little seafood store that sells fresh fish and random Asian sauces and condiments. (For those Nashville-ites checking the blog: it reminds me of a much smaller and less sketchy K&S). We decided to try some of their fish, and man was it good. We will definitely be going back.

Maybe it's because we haven't cooked in so long, but tonight's dinner smelled out of control incredible while my boyfriend was cooking. We also discovered some awesome perks of our new kitchen: 1) our kitchen is set up so that I can pull up a chair and hang with my man while he's cooking (even if he refuses to let me help), and 2) in my boyfriend's words: "The set-up of this kitchen makes it easier to clean up as I'm cooking".

Seriously, does it get any better?!?!?!

Pan-fried rainbow trout served over white rice (cooked with beef bouillon for added flavor) and spinach, with sauteed shallots, carrots and radishes

first home-cooked meal in brooklyn!

2011-01-14T12:15:00.000-06:00

See, I told you we'd be back. And after eating out for almost 2 weeks straight, my boyfriend and I are just itching to get back to our kitchen and home-cooked meals (not to mention vegetables, which we never seem to get enough of when we eat out). Not that we can really complain: if you have to constantly eat out, New York is the place to be. Everything we have put in our mouths (running the full gamut from street food to fancy food) has been The Best.

We finally got our first big grocery shop out of the way this morning, and almost immediately my boyfriend got to it. I was thinking it would just be nice to have eggs and toast. But my boyfriend clearly had some creative energy stocked up, and we ended up with beautiful crepes.

The photo set-up still needs some sorting out because, as you can probably imagine, in New York we do not have the space for a permanent photo studio with fancy lights and a tripod like I had in Nashville - thank goodness for autolevels in Photoshop! But, our kitchen is amazing, which is clearly more important...for now...

Crepe with plum tomatoes, spinach, prosciutto, Spanish cheese (can't remember the name, just know that it is NOT Manchego.....) and a perfectly poached egg

official (but temporary) hiatus

2010-12-22T17:41:00.002-06:00

Due to an upcoming long-distance move, the blog is on hold until we've moved and settled in. But don't worry, we are still eating deliciousness, and we *will* be back!

it's cold and its rainy - give me soup!

2010-11-29T19:22:00.001-06:00

Hearty Lentil Soup (from The New Best Recipe): lentils (duh!) bacon, onion, carrots, garlic, diced tomato, bay leaf, thyme, salt, pepper, white wine, chicken broth, balsamic vinegar, spinach and parsley

Unexpected New Best Recipe Tip: to achieve a creamier base, toward the end of cooking, puree 3 cups of the soup and then return it to the pot.

secrets to perfect oven-baked potato wedges

2010-11-26T20:26:00.002-06:00

Earlier this year, we patted ourselves on the back for mastering french fries. Tonight, with a little help from The New Best Recipe, the potato was conquered again.

As with french fries, a perfect potato wedge is soft and fluffy on the inside, but crispy on the outside. This brings us to Wedge Secret #1: for the first 5 minutes of baking, cover the pan with aluminum foil. This effectively steams the potatoes, ensuring that the inside is moist and fluffy even after the outside has been crisped. This also ensures that the outside doesn't get burnt in an attempt to get the insides cooked. Everyone wins.

Wedge Secret #2 is less about the final product, more about practicality. The most frustrating part about oven-baked wedges (or fries, for that matter) is that they have a horribly annoying tendency to stick to the pan. The solution? Salt the pan, not the potatoes. The best way to understand why this works is to imagine zooming in to your baking pan with salt and then potatoes on top - the potatoes are literally sitting on top of the salt...so they can't stick to the pan! Seriously, isn't that genius?!?! And it works!

On a completely unrelated note, I need to mention my slaw (were it not for the clever plating you would be able to tell that this was my doing based on the wildly uneven and inconsistent cutting). At some point, the tv (top chef? iron chef?) said to me "Pork chop, apple, fennel. This is something you must do". Sure enough, this is a magical combination. The slaw was tasty on its own, but when eaten with a piece of the pork chop...unbelievable.

Seared pork chop on a cabbage, apple & fennel slaw (dressing: olive oil, apple cider vinegar & whole grain mustard), served with perfect baked potato wedges and wasabi mayo for dipping

back with new inspiration!

2010-11-22T19:48:00.004-06:00

I'm not going to bore you with a list of excuses for the blogging hiatus. Needless to say, we've been eating, it's been delicious, we just haven't been particularly inspired to plate beautifully or blog. These things happen.

To try and reinvigorate our creative juices (and, fine, so that we could qualify for free super-saver shipping on a mattress cover from Amazon), I bought my boyfriend The New Best Recipe, a cook book from the geniuses behind Cooks Illustrated. For those of you unfamiliar with this wonderful publication, it goes a little something like this:

Oh hey, so you want to roast a chicken?

Well, we tried to roast chicken 57 different ways.

This is the way that works best.

It is basically awesome. The book obviously contains some of their best recipes, but also lots of tips and interesting information. So far my boyfriend has enjoyed just sitting around reading it with no real cooking goals in mind. In fact, although he didn't get that many pasta-tips from the book (besides that supermarket pasta lies about cooking time), he kept it with him in the kitchen to casually browse through while various delicious items simmered in the pan to make the pasta sauce. My boyfriend always says he "loves the process" of making tomato sauces; I take this to mean he likes standing in the kitchen as amazing smells develop...

Penne with Italian sausage, olives, artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes and homemade tomato sauce (tomatoes, garlic, shallots, red wine, fresh basil), finished with more fresh basil and grated parmesean cheese

hellloooooo colour!

2010-11-06T21:14:00.000-05:00

Cooking with beets is scary: everything is at risk for being permanently dyed red, and when you turn on the food processor there is a moment where you need to check that you have all your fingers because of the dark red splatter. But in the end, isn't that magenta just beautiful on the plate? (And the little bit that was left in the food processor helped us achieve this crazy neon orange butternut squash!)

Beet & horseradish rosti

Butternut squash & goat cheese puree

Chimichuri chicken

home made pumpkin ravioli in minutes

2010-11-02T19:09:00.000-05:00

Okay, so maybe my post title is a bit misleading. But one of the great thing about making ravioli is that they freeze very well. So you can go through the trials and tribulations of making your own pasta dough, filling, and assembling the ravioli, once, but enjoy the fruits of your labors again and again with only a fraction of the effort.

Pumpkin ravioli with a pumpkin butter, white wine and cream cheese sauce, topped with sauteed icicle radishes and chopped Granny smith apple

looks basic? I promise there is a flavor combination in there that will shock you

2010-11-01T20:30:00.002-05:00

Looks like a simple meal, right? There's a beautiful piece of lamb, some sauteed brussel sprouts with garlic and bacon, nothing too earth-shattering...

But wait.

What is that orange blob in the distance?

Are you sitting down? I am going to list the ingredients for this dinner-sandwich-side (I hope your interest is already piqued by the side item I don't even know how to name):

Bread
Butternut squash puree

(so far so good)

chive and onion cream cheese

(okay, that still kind of makes sense).

Bacon

(because...why not?)

Nutella.

(Yes. Nutella.)

And now for the biggest surprise of all: this was delicious. You would think that the bacon would steal the show, as bacon is wont to do. But surprisingly I didn't even realize the bacon was in there until my boyfriend told me, and even then it took a back seat to the chives, that went so well with the nutella I was amazed. Yet more proof that nutella is the best thing since (and with!) sliced bread.

fancy nachos

2010-10-28T20:14:00.000-05:00

There are two kinds of nachos. There is the kind you make as an after school snack, where the ultimate goal is really "melted cheese", so you just put some chips on a tray with some cheese and throw them in the toaster oven. (Some would say nacho snacks are the number one reason to opt for the toaster oven vs. the pop-up toaster). Then there are the shmancy nachos that you can justify as dinner because they involve lots of toppings (chopped perfectly, if you have a handy man around like I do), herbs and spices.

Tonight's nachos featured spicy chicken (left over from last night), tomato, green pepper, onion, cilantro and garlic powder. Oh, and how could I forget the key ingredient? Cheddar cheese! I really liked how my boyfriend tackled assembly. Rather than "sprinkling" each ingredient on the chips, he put all the chopped veggies and the chicken in a bowl and mixed them all together with garlic powder and cilantro. THEN he did the "sprinkling". Ok, this isn't an earth-shattering nacho-tip, but I thought it was pretty clever.

french onion soup

2010-10-18T20:36:00.003-05:00

French onion soup is so simple to make, it's really foolish not to make it all the time:

- sautee onions until caramelized
- add beef bouillon cube and water
- let simmer until onions are melty
- while soup is simmering, cut bread into cubes and toast to make croutons
- put soup in ramekins, add croutons then top with a slice of cheese (preferably gruyere, but we used swiss and it was great)
- place under broiler until cheese begins bubble

Ta-da! Slightly sweet, soupy, bready (and most importantly) cheesy goodness! Seriously, if you aren't picking the melted cheese off the side of the bowl, you've done something wrong.

all four food groups present and accounted for

2010-10-17T19:23:00.000-05:00

Baked chicken breast with home-made barbecue sauce (tomato, cooking wine, garlic, red pepper, salt, rice wine vinegar, creamed honey, paprika, chili powder)

Fried acorn squash mac & cheese cake

Sauteed bok choy

acorn squash mac & cheese

2010-10-16T20:14:00.000-05:00

Acorn squash mac & cheese
acorn squash (roasted & mashed), sharp cheddar cheese, cream cheese, milk, butter, dijon mustard, sage & paprkia

Served with a side of sauteed green beans

acorn squash balls: sweet & heat strikes again

2010-10-14T19:09:00.003-05:00

Whenever my boyfriend hits a home run with a random dish, there is a good chance he employed his secret weapon: sweet & heat. If all of the other ingredients are savory, my boyfriend adds a touch of something sweet (in particular maple syrup and honey are great for adding this kind of sweetness), and then a touch of something hot to contrast. This is a simple way to make the flavor of whatever you're making a bit more complex, and it hasn't let us down yet.

Pork chop and sauteed green beans and radishes

Squash balls
- sautee acorn squash
- mash with caramelized onion and garlic, creamed honey and red pepper flakes
- roll into balls and coat with panko bread crumbs
- pan-fry then top with thinly sliced soft blue cheese

pumpkin ravioli

2010-10-10T19:37:00.003-05:00

Slowly but surely we are mastering our pasta maker. Of course, things were much easier tonight since we didn't have to bother with the noodle-cutting attachment, which is usually where we run into problems. But, my boyfriend (who was in charge of rolling out the dough while I formed the raviolis, we actually had a very efficient system going) did comment that my doughs are getting easier and easier to work with. So I'll just go ahead and pat myself on the back.

Pasta Dough
- sift 2 and 1/3 cup of pasta flour onto large work surface and make a well in the center
- pour 2 lightly beaten eggs into well
- add 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of olive oil
- gradually combine ingredients with a fork, adding warm water gradually until the dough comes together (total water = 2/3 cup)
- knead dough until you can form a soft manageable ball (approx. 10 minutes)
- cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour prior to use

Filling (what I made, which is why I can give you approximate amounts)
- 1 small roasted pumpkin & 1 roasted acorn squash
- approx. 7 oz ricotta cheese
- dash of nutmeg
- 4 cloves of garlic
- salt (to taste, 1/2-1 teaspoon)
- tablespoon of pumpkin butter

To form raviolis, roll dough out into sheets. On one sheet of dough, place dollops of filling (approx. 1 tablespoon) spaced 1 inch apart. Cover with second sheet of dough. Press down edges, cut out individual raviolis, trim excess dough, then press edges with fork.

Sauce (what my boyfriend made, and he is either incapable of estimating the quantities or he just refuses to)
- white cooking wine
- creamed honey
- butter
- sage
- ricotta
- dash of cinnamon

roasted

2010-10-09T19:16:00.000-05:00

Roasted chicken stuffed with peppers and chimichurri sauce

Roasted potatoes & delicata squash

simply prepared (with potato chips)

2010-10-04T20:24:00.000-05:00

I think it is so interesting how tastes change as we grow up. There is a very long list of foods I didn't like as a kid that now I love. Some of them are probably common to everyone (e.g., brussel sprouts), but there were other foods I didn't like that everyone else did, and only now do I get it. I obviously have something specific in mind as I am writing this: salt and vinegar chips. I hate to think about all the time I wasted eating plain chips instead of salt and vinegar chips...it is time (and chips) I will never have back...

ANYWAYS, tonight's dinner was for the most part very simply prepared. But as always, there had to be one stroke of creativity. Tonight, that was the salt and vinegar chip crust on the salmon. This didn't hold up to cooking as well as we would have liked, but still, I have to applaud the idea.

Salt & Vinegar chip-crusted salmon with caramelized onions and sauteed yellow zucchini and bok choy.

the best acorn squash soup. ever.

2010-10-03T19:51:00.001-05:00

I wasn't planning on taking a picture tonight, because we were "just having soup", and it was an eerie neon yellow colour that I didn't think would photograph well. Little did I know this would be the best soup my boyfriend has ever made. No exaggeration. The. Best. I am literally excited to eat the leftovers tomorrow. So we had to take a post-eating picture of the last bite, just so I could write a post about it. Yes - it was that good.

The soup excelled for two reasons:
1) Balance of flavor. I'm pretty sure my boyfriend didn't measure any quantities of anything (he never does), so unfortunately our recipe is not that helpful...But I will mention a surprise ingredient that I'm sure helped here, creamed honey. As you may recall, my boyfriend has an obsession with adding maple syrup to just about everything, because sometimes you need a little sweet to really accentuate the savory. Well, creamed honey is the new maple syrup.

2) Texture. Here I can be a bit more useful, because I am convinced that the perfect silky texture can be attributed to the coconut milk. I tend favor the creamy soups, and this is the first time my boyfriend really nailed it; this is also the first time we've used coconut milk for soup. Coincidence? I think not!

Actually, I suspect that coconut milk was a key player in getting the flavor to be so subtle and perfect...so really I think what I wanted to say can be summed up in a single sentence: Use coconut milk when making winter squash soups, it is not a mistake.

The Best Acorn Squash Soup. Ever.
- roasted acorn squash
- caramelized onions & garlic
- coconut milk
- creamed honey
- cloves
- ginger
- turmeric
- cumin

sunny-side up egg, frittata-style

2010-10-02T11:29:00.000-05:00

Why am I calling this "frittata-style"? Because the eggs were cracked into the pan with all the other ingredients, so everything cooked together, and the other ingredients are integrated into the egg white. If we had done the same thing but had beaten the eggs first, this would be a frittata.

Sunny-side up egg with pork sausage, onion, avocado, cilantro and goat cheese

pumpkin bread

2010-09-30T18:30:00.002-05:00

Although my boyfriend definitely does almost all of the cooking, there are some things that are always left up to me, mostly within the baking category. I especially love the kind of baking that comes along with fall (pumpkin bread, beet muffins), because I feel like the "exact-ness" of baking is a bit more lenient in these cases, and it seems nearly impossible to really mess up. What I love about pumpkin bread specifically is that it is sweet enough to be eaten for dessert, but not too sweet that I feel guilty eating it for breakfast.

Pumpkin Bread (recipe adapted from Simply Recipes)

Mix together:
- 1 and 1/2 cup flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda

In another bowl, combine:
- 1 mashed roasted pumpkin (should be approx. 1 cup of pumpkin-ness)
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 2 eggs beaten
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ginger

Combine wet and dry mixtures
Bake in a well-greased bread pan at 350 for approx. 60 minutes

Best served heated with a generous spread of butter

gnocchi gets cute: mini spoons!

2010-09-27T21:48:00.005-05:00

We bought these cute little "amuse bouche" spoons over a month ago, and hadn't used them yet, and I was getting worried we never would. But have no fear, my boyfriend (finally!) got inspired! Since we have a go-to sauce for butternut squash gnocchi (ok, I basically insist that we make the pumpkin brown butter sauce, my boyfriend essentially has no say in the matter), the spoons provided an opportunity to try out some other sauce ideas.

A gnocchi tasting

Sauces, from left to right:

1) creamed honey, scotch & garlic

2) olive oil, Parmesean cheese & Italian blend of spices

3) balsamic vinegar & goat cheese

Now, these were all good (I was particularly intrigued by the honey/scotch/garlic combo), but my heart already belongs to the pumpkin brown butter sauce, which my boyfriend refined tonight with the addition of sour cream. Tang was just what that sauce needed to stay on the savory track. Now it is officially perfect.

Butternut squash gnocchi (which is always so much better after a night in the fridge!) with The Best Sauce (pumpkin butter, butter & sour cream) topped with goat cheese and chopped apple

Served with sauteed pork sausage, brussel sprouts and radishes.

little pillows of goodness

2010-09-26T20:15:00.002-05:00

My boyfriend and I like to be creative and try new things in the kitchen, but there are some combinations that we've stumbled upon that we just keep going back to. Or at least there are some meals I force us to revisit because I love them so much! As soon as I saw a butternut squash in our CSA box last week, I could only think one thing: butternut squash gnocchi.

Butternut squash gnocchi:
- cut 1 large (or two small) butternut squash in half and roast for 45 minutes
- scoop out squash into bowl
- mash squash with two cloves of minced garlic and 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- put mashed squash onto a large cutting board and cover with 2 cups all-purpose flour
- make a well in the center of the squash & flour
- break egg in the well, then slowly work in the flour/squash (think making pasta dough)
- as soon as dough is even vaguely manageable, take small handfuls, and roll into ropes on a lightly floured surface (the trick is to take the very sticky ball of dough, and coat the outside lightly in flour so that you can roll it out - the outside of the rope is dry, but the inside remains gooey)
- cut into quarter-sized pieces
- add gnocchi to large pot of salted boiling water, and remove as soon as they begin to float
- you can serve immediately, but we have found that overnight refrigeration really helps get the right texture (we have no idea why this is, but hey, it's worked every time!)

Of course, the butternut squash gnocchi themselves are only half the story. The part that makes this a crave-worthy dish is the pumpkin brown butter sauce (pumpkin butter, butter, cream, Parmesean cheese) and diced apple. This sauce is probably as sweet as a savory dish can get, so the apple pieces add both some necessary tartness (we tend to use Granny Smith here) and a wonderful textural contrast to the fluffy pillows of goodness.

changing up the flavors

2010-09-20T21:08:00.000-05:00

Never get me wrong - I love participating in a CSA. But its hard not to get sick of some of the ingredients. Last year it was green beans, this year it is cucumbers and summer squash. So I did something crazy - I bought vegetables at the grocery store.

Some things I loved about tonight's supper: First, this was a definite change in the flavor profiles we've been hovering around lately, so that was great. Second, it's still hot here, so a heavy meat and potatoes is still not ideal eating. But, the celeriac in the mashed potatoes made them taste light because of that strong celery flavor. Third, I keep forgetting to mention that in the last few months any time we've made chicken using the leg meat, my boyfriend has deboned the chicken, knowing how much I dislike eating chicken off the bone - if that's not love, I don't know what is!

Fried chicken over a potato and celeriac puree with baked brussel sprouts

fall is here!

2010-09-19T13:09:00.000-05:00

It may still be over 90 degrees here in Nashville, but it's obvious that fall is just around the corner: we got a mini-pumpkin and butternut squash in our CSA box!!!

In honour of the return of fall and all its delicious flavors, here are some of my favorite recipes from last fall that featured butternut squash and/or pumpkin. As you can see, my photography skills have dramatically improved since this blog's inception, so I am particularly excited to revisit these dishes now that I can take photographs that will do them justice.

acorn squash gnocchi with a beer butter sauce

savory butternut squash pie

butternut squash tart

pumpkin pie (and it's cousin, pumpkin cheesecake!)

pumpkin gnocchi with pumpkin brown butter topped with diced apple and beet chips

pumpkin pancakes

pumpkin bread

butternut squash ravioli with pumpkin butter glazed beets and apple

good morning, breakfast sandwich

2010-09-19T12:39:00.000-05:00

Over-easy egg, bacon, tomato, goat cheese and fresh dill on ciabatta

chicken cordon bleu

2010-09-16T20:00:00.001-05:00

Grilled chicken breast stuffed with salami and provolone cheese

Sauteed green beans

the return of greens

2010-09-14T16:58:00.000-05:00

Seared pork chop

White squash mashed with masala sauce

Turnip greens sauteed with garlic

lamb gyros

2010-09-12T20:31:00.002-05:00

This weekend we've been all around the world with lamb. Tonight's dinner started with a mission: use cucumbers. This has got to be the least versatile vegetable. Now, I like a good cucumber salad as much as the next person, but one can only make so many such salads, and we've been getting 4-6 cucumbers a week for the last month (at least).

So this afternoon I used two of our (giant!) cucumbers to make tzatziki. Although the actual "making" is quite fast - really you just blend everything together - the whole process from start to finish takes a few hours because there is a lot of draining involved. That is, lots of letting ingredients sit in paper towel on a colander to get out all the liquid. This is really important if you want a tzatziki with the consistency of dip, not soup. Ours came out okay, but I think I needed to get more water out of the cucumbers pre-blender. I read online that some people salt the cucumber before draining, and I think this is probably critical to getting all the liquid out of a very watery veggie. We ended up doing another "draining" of our tzatziki post-blend, and the consistency still wasn't perfect. (Check out the full tzatziki recipe at the end of the post)

To use our dip as part of dinner, we did the obvious thing - gyros! I was actually extremely impressed with how authentic the lamb tasted with just a few simple spices - oregano, thyme, rosemary, garlic and cumin. The only spice that is usually involved in gyros that we didn't have was marjoram, but this didn't seem to make a huge difference.

Lamb gyro (lamb, tomato, red onion and tzatziki served in warm pita) with a side of roasted yellow squash and potatoes

Tzatziki
- 16 oz Greek yogurt
- 2 large cucumbers, peeled
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 cloves of garlic
- lemon juice and salt, to taste

- put yogurt in a colander lined with paper towel and let drain for at least 1 hour
- ditto with chopped cucumber (try salting first for better drying out)
- blend all ingredients until smooth
- refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving

lamb with indian flair, made easy

2010-09-11T20:39:00.000-05:00

It all started with lamb shoulder chops on sale at the grocery store - my boyfriend cannot say no to lamb that's on sale. Then I came up with the idea of making a potato pancake (e.g., giant latke). I feel like we haven't been as creative in our meals lately, and this seemed like a good way to get the crunch we've been unable to resist in potatoes (hence all the crispy chips or fries), but in a different format. And of course we added some squash in there, because, as much as we love our CSA, we are getting inundated with squash that we just have to find ways to use.

But here is where genius sets in: my boyfriend added masala simmer sauce to the shredded squash and potato.

This of course made perfect sense, since lamb goes wonderfully with Indian spices. Indian cuisine is probably one of the most difficult to master in terms of balancing so many different spices (the masala sauce we added contained - among other things - coriander, cumin, fenugreek leaves, turmeric, paprika, cinnamon and cloves), so having this pre-made sauce on hand made it easy for us to get that in a short amount of time.

Pan-seared lamb shoulder chop served on a potato, squash & masala pancake, topped with vinegar-marinated cucumbers

tart queen?

2010-09-09T20:17:00.002-05:00

For those of you long-term readers, you may have noticed that if my boyfriend hands the cooking over to me, chances are I'm going to make a tart (I remind you of my butternut squash tart mania last fall). Now that I've got a couple of techniques down, tarts are easily my favorite things to make - they are a great way to use up veggies we are getting tired of, melted cheese is always involved, and I'm a sucker for flaky crust that is perfectly browned. Oh, and let's not forget how amazing tarts make the kitchen smell while baking. I am so high off my recent string of successful tarts that I am even toying with the idea of making my own dough next time (*insert dramatic music here* - stay tuned!)

At least while I'm sticking with store-bought crust, it's impossible to go wrong, and coming up with new combinations is simple:

1) pick a veggie (in this case, summer squash)
2) pick a cheese that goes with said veggie (in this case, goat cheese)
3) pick herbs that go with the veggie and cheese (in this case, sage and thyme)

For this tart I followed roughly the same method as my tomato tart earlier this week (and reiterated below).

Summer Squash & Goat Cheese Tart

- lightly butter pie pan and then put crust in pan and press down the bottom

- layer slices of squash, slightly overlapping, in concentric circles

- then add some thinly sliced red onion

- drizzle with olive oil

- add a generous amount of sage and thyme

- top with goat cheese and more herbs

- fold over edges of crust

- bake at 425 for 30 minutes

our take on philly cheesesteak

2010-09-08T19:27:00.000-05:00

Let's talk about how good this was. Now first, you are probably asking "cheesesteak? Where is the cheese?" You can't see it in the picture because we put the provolone in the pan with the steak, and it melted so intensely that it literally coated all the meat in a cheesy glaze. Yes. Cheesy glaze. Do I really need to say more????

Pan fried chuck steak, caramelized onions, sauteed green peppers and melted provolone cheese, served on a hoagie roll with mayonnaise

fresh & crisp: our go-to slaw

2010-09-07T21:05:00.001-05:00

We have been making this slaw (or slight variations) on a pretty regular basis since we first got the idea in January. It is a perfect fresh and crisp foil for...well, just about anything. We've used it as topping for burgers and quesadillas, and tonight it was an excellent accompaniment for spicy beef.

Go-To Slaw: jicama, cucumber, radish, cilantro, rice vinegar, touch of mayonnaise

Served with beef marinated in hot bean paste and sauteed with yellow squash, green pepper and okra

healthy AND satisfying? incredible but true

2010-09-06T20:03:00.000-05:00

Here is both the mystery and the triumph of tonight's dinner: it was remarkably satisfying, without any of the usual suspects normally associated with "deeply satisfying to eat" like melted cheese, mayonnaise or deep frying. I know - it is shocking.

I think the "satisfaction" can be attributed to a combination of the lentils, which have a great texture, and the way the capers in the sauce lent a slight - but not overpowering - caper-ness to the whole dish. I should also mention that I hate the texture of eggplant, but mixed in with the lentils I didn't even notice it (the texture, not the flavor).

Pan-fried cod served over eggplant strips (sauteed with garlic, vinegar and white wine), and lentils, topped with a white wine, shallot and caper sauce, garnished with fresh cilantro

tomato & goat cheese tart

2010-09-05T14:52:00.005-05:00

Today I was inspired by this post on Love and Olive Oil to use our fabulous CSA tomatoes to make a tart...but of course, this inspiration (and subsequent craving) occurred on the first day in months that we did NOT get tomatoes from our CSA! So I had to supplement our one remaining farm tomato with a store-bought tomato. This picture doesn't do the shocking difference in colour justice. Seeing the store tomato and farm tomato side-by-side was almost enough to make me consider not eating tomatoes from the grocery store again. Le grand sigh.

Now, onto happier things: the tart. I based this tart on the recipe provided by Love & Olive Oil, except I'm not as ambitious so used a store bought pie crust instead of testing my pastry skills. I also made one big tart instead of tartlets, and used dry instead of fresh herbs.

I absolutely loved the use of tarragon here. When I think of tomato I instinctively go to basil, and this was a nice change in flavor profile. Plus the smell of the tarragon while the tart was baking was just incredible.

Tomato & Goat Cheese Tart:
- lightly butter pie pan and then put crust in pan
- spread dijon mustard evenly on bottom of the crust
- layer tomato slices
- drizzle with olive oil
- add a generous amount of tarragon and a little bit of sweet basil
- top with goat cheese and more herbs
- fold over edges of crust
- bake at 425 for 30 minutes

In this week's box...

2010-09-05T12:51:00.000-05:00

1 box of okra
1 bunch of radishes
1 eggplant
2 green peppers
1 sprite melon
2 white squash
6 yellow squash
2 paddy pan squash
4 cucumbers
8 potatoes

Also: 6 eggs, 1 whole broiler chicken, beef chuck steaks

beer battered...chicken?

2010-09-04T19:53:00.001-05:00

Surprise! Fish isn't the only thing that tastes great with a beer batter. This chicken was super-moist, with all the satisfaction that comes with fried chicken, but with a much lighter and airier coating.

Beer-battered Chicken: flour, beer, chili pepper, shallots, garlic, paprika and garlic powder

Topped with a cilantro mayonnaise

Cheddar cheese mashed potatoes

Cucumber Salad: cucumber, tomato, zebra tomato, jicama, green pepper, cilantro and white wine vinegar

with sliders, condiments are everything

2010-09-01T16:12:00.000-05:00

There are two schools of thought when it comes to making burgers: either you pack lots of ingredients into the patty itself, or you go big on the toppings. We have tried to go the first route a couple of times, but have always found that we can't taste a lot of what we put into the burger itself, the biggest disappointment being when we put beets, horseradish and dill in our burgers and they just tasted like...burgers. Since then we have gone simple on the burgers (garlic, onion, salt, sometimes cumin or Moroccan 35 spice) and go all-out on fun and interesting combinations of toppings.

Tonight we had two varieties of sliders served in pita pockets with a side of oven-baked fries:

The Caprese: tomato, fresh mozzarella, shallots and mayonnaise

The Awesome One: tomme de savoie cheese, wasabi mayonnaise, shallots and green zebra tomato.

tuna: a fish better left to sushi

2010-08-30T19:53:00.000-05:00

My boyfriend and I have never bought tuna, because both of generally prefer tuna raw - when it's not in sushi or sliced thin as luscious sashimi, I've never had tuna that I've loved. But, we found some beautiful tuna steaks at a good price, so we decided to see if we could conquer tuna in our home by searing it (i.e. leaving the inside uncooked the way we like it!). I have to say that while the flavors we created were good, neither of us were impressed with tuna. I guess we'll leave it in sushi restaurants where it belongs.

Seared tuna topped with a salad of tomato, red onion, banana pepper, rice vinegar and olive oil

Oven-baked potato chips

summer squash risotto

2010-08-29T20:27:00.003-05:00

We have been accumulating yellow squash for a few weeks now, and decided that the perfect way to use them up would be a risotto, since the squash risotto was such a success last time, and a rainy Sunday evening is the perfect time to spend a couple of hours together in the kitchen listening to Fresh Air.

In addition to yellow squash, this risotto had onion, garlic, thyme, sage, parmesean cheese and a chili pepper. Although the pepper was so hot that my boyfriend's mouth was burning almost 20 minutes after tasting it alone, combined with everything else it just added a very subtle and pleasant heat that was definitely detectable, but not at all overwhelming - this was heat, that didn't burn at all.

Since we've already gone through our risotto method in detail here, I'll just add one additional tip:
Just as you will think the risotto isn't going to turn out, and then suddenly it looks perfect, you will also think that you are making a small batch, and then suddenly the pan is almost overflowing. So trust us: 1 lb of arborio rice is plenty for four people (we easily satisfy ourselves at dinner and have plenty left for lunch the next day, and if we're lucky, the day after that too!).

breakfast is back

2010-08-28T12:16:00.003-05:00

I haven't been posting a lot of breakfasts over the last couple of months, certainly not because we've stopped eating delicious and satisfying eggy goodness every weekend, but because they haven't been particularly photo-worthy. But now that we have smoked salmon in the fridge, that all changes. This is a breakfast combination that I absolutely love, and the pink of the salmon with the unbelievable colour of our eggs this morning was effortlessly stunning.

Toasted Italian round with cream cheese, smoked salmon and a perfect sunny-side up egg

Served with a think slice of tomato with melted tomme de savoie cheese

plain good chicken

2010-08-23T19:46:00.000-05:00

We're back!! We had a very relaxing two weeks visiting our families, but it's also nice to be home.

To ease back into things, tonight's supper was very simple. Although this was very one-note in terms of flavor, the chicken we get from the farm is really something else, and this meal really let us taste that difference.

As soon as I'm done here we're off to Trader Joes to get groceries (yes, all this was a combination of yesterday's farm box and our pantry) and hopefully some inspiration!

Chicken breast seasoned with paprika and poached in home-made chicken stock, served over Israeli cous-cous with sauteed red onions, red bell peppers, and jalapeno pepper, and topped with diced green zebra tomato.

potato chip breakfast bites

2010-08-08T12:29:00.000-05:00

Crispy potato chips topped with bacon and arugula or bacon and shrimp

Served with a baked egg with mozzarella cheese

things that go with green beans

2010-08-07T20:21:00.003-05:00

We hadn't even made a dent in the green beans we got last Sunday, so we knew that was going to have to get incorporated into dinner tonight. And thus our inspiration was born: Things That Go With Green Beans. According to the Flavor Bible, green beans go well with shrimp and very salty meats, like bacon. From there it was easy to bring in other ingredients so that in the end we had something with lots of different flavors and textures - no two bites were the same, and that makes for fun eating.

Shrimp seasoned with chili powder, 6 pepper blend and paprika served with bacon over a hash of green beans, potato, onion, garlic and cherry tomatoes.

stuffed bell peppers

2010-08-03T20:42:00.000-05:00

Most of the ideas for our meals have come from me recently - I am the one with extensive knowledge of our inventory, and the one who spends too much time looking at other food blogs and getting inspired. But while I may be the brains behind our delicious dinners, what I lack is the ability to execute my vision. To me, that's what my boyfriend is for (hello, see the name of the blog???). But recently my boyfriend has been trying to coax me into doing more cooking. Not just helping him when he cooks - if anything he refuses my assistance. He wants me to be In Charge. Although I suspect that he just wants a break, he keeps saying that he thinks I would like it. On the one hand I agree with him, but on the other hand I have all these weird fears about it.

Tonight I took the first step towards conquering said fears, and not only did I cook dinner all by myself, but I cooked like my boyfriend cooks - no recipe!!! Sure, I asked my boyfriend a ton of technical questions before I started that nearly culminated in a flow chart, but after that he was gone, and it was all me until plating time.

My boyfriend ate not only his ration of peppers, but also all the leftover stuffing from the pot on the stove. So either it was really tasty, or he just wants to convince me to do more cooking : )

Green bell peppers stuffed with pork sausage, rice, tomato and red onion seasoned with garlic, cumin, chili powder and Italian herb blend, topped with melted mozzarella cheese

Served with a side of corn

corn chowder with seared scallops

2010-08-01T19:10:00.001-05:00

Corn and scallop are a brilliant combination, perhaps because they are both slightly sweet ingredients.

The method for making the chowder was roughly based on this recipe from Simply Recipes. In particular, this was where we learned about simmering the corn cobs themselves in the chowder (after the corn kernels were removed) to extract more corn flavor. But our end result probably tasted quite a bit different, since we omitted the ingredients we didn't have (carrots, celery, red pepper, thyme), and we substituted salami for bacon (like the cobs the salami was left to simmer in the chowder but was removed prior to eating). However, our best change to this recipe was adding cilantro. This was initially a last minute garnish to add a bit of colour in the presentation, but as soon as each of us had a bite with the cilantro, we immediately ran back into the kitchen to get more. The cilantro really took the flavors to a whole other phenomenal place.

Corn chowder: corn, red potatoes, milk, butter, onion and cilantro (plus salami, corn cobs and bay leaf, removed prior to serving)

Seared scallops:
1) rinse and dry the scallops
2) season with salt
3) heat butter and olive oil in a pan and keep at high heat
4) sear scallops for 2 minutes on the first side, 1 minute on the second side

creamy guacamole

2010-08-01T15:05:00.005-05:00

Guacamole is another great summer snack. When you get avocados that are perfectly ripe, it takes no effort at all to achieve decadent creaminess.

Five Minute Guacamole:
in a large bowl mush together avocado, tomato, onion, garlic, lime juice, cilantro and salt

In this week's box...

2010-08-01T15:01:00.000-05:00

1 box cherry tomatoes
3 Cherokee Purple tomatoes
5 green peppers
1 cucumber
1 bag green beans
2 yellow squash
4 ears of corn
1 honeydew melon
Handful of red potatoes

Plus: 6 eggs, 4 beef soup bones, 10 hickory smoked pork sausages

thursday is apparently sandwich & corn night

2010-07-29T20:21:00.003-05:00

This trend has slowly been emerging for a while: on Thursday nights, we eat sandwiches for dinner. As I said in the last post, we're all about variations on a theme - last Thursday we even had corn with our sandwich, though served in a different style.

What's nice about tonight's supper is how simple everything is. There was very little preparation involved here: it was all about creating fantastic flavor combinations just by putting the right ingredients - as they are - together. The one surprise was the mozzarella cheese (the real stuff, people!) in the corn salad. Mozzarella is a very mild cheese, so this really added something texturally - something softer amid all the crunch - rather than flavor.

Italian "Burgers": pork sausage patties, mozzarella cheese, tomato, basil and mayo on a hamburger bun

Corn & Cucumber salad: corn, cucumber, cilantro, mozzarella cheese and white wine vinegar

variations on summer fish and chips

2010-07-27T21:25:00.004-05:00

One thing we are pretty proud of is the fact that we rarely repeat a dish. We may do variations on a theme, but never the exact same thing. A recent summer theme for us has been fish with a cold vegetable salad, and potatoes prepared in a way that is meant to satisfy, generally either fries or chips. Fish and chips is obviously a classic, and this is our way of lightening it up for summer.

Tonight's fish was whiting, which I've never even heard of before (is this the same as white fish?). Anyways, this is a particularly fishy-fish, which is fine, but sometimes that fishiness can be overwhelming. We paired it with a cucumber and tomato salad, which turned out to be a perfect foil for the fishiness.

Oven-baked whiting fish served over a cucumber and tomato salad (literally just diced tomato, lemon cucumber and cucumber)

Oven-baked potato chips tossed with dill

what grows together goes together

2010-07-25T22:14:00.000-05:00

As I was cutting the yellow squash for our curry tonight (no more curry fails, we went with an amazing pre-made sauce from Trader Joes that we've used before and loved), I started to wonder whether we could incorporate any of our other veggies. I knew that bell peppers are generally found in thai curries, but I couldn't imagine the combination of green peppers and yellow squash. But of course they pair nicely, because we got both in our CSA box last week - what grows together goes together. As if I needed more than a catch-phrase to convince me, listed in the Flavor Bible under bell peppers was "squash - especially summer squash". So there you have it.

Thai red curry with chicken, yellow squash, patty pan squash, green pepper and zebra tomatoes

In this week's box...

2010-07-25T14:15:00.000-05:00

1 box cherry tomatoes
4 large orangey-pink heirloom tomatoes (maybe German Pink or German yellow?)
3 green peppers
1 lemon cucumber
1 cucumber
6 ears of corn
1 watermelon
red potatoes

Also: 6 eggs, 4 chicken legs, 2 lbs pork sausage

panzanella

2010-07-23T21:45:00.001-05:00

Tonight's feature - panzanella - was inspired by Simply Recipes:

stale bread, tomato, zebra tomato, cucumber, onion and kipper* tossed with olive oil and basil

*Thanks Ricco & Kelsey!

now this is a sandwich!

2010-07-22T22:23:00.001-05:00

In case it isn't obvious, the tomato was the star of this sandwich (note the meat-to-tomato ratio!). This sandwich was so simple, but was definitely one of the best we've made.

Sandwich: pork roast, aged gouda, tomatoes, artichoke hearts and wasabi mayonnaise on ciabatta

Served with a side of corn.

And here is just one way we can tell that our corn is raised pesticide-free: an earworm! While it is kind of gross to discover a worm when you are shucking corn (and maybe it's gross that our earworm was the star of a photoshoot?), it's kind of cool the way you can see the kernels they've eaten. And the rest of the corn is fine once you've removed the section claimed by the worm, so no big deal.

fried green zebra tomatoes

2010-07-21T19:39:00.009-05:00

My love for eating tomatoes - especially at this time of year - is intense, but arguably normal. Tomatoes are pretty delicious, after all, and this deliciousness quadruples when they are in-season. But my obsession with photographing tomatoes? I don't know what to say.

But lucky for me both of these loves were uniquely satisfied today, because we got a new kind of tomato that I have never had before in our CSA box: green zebra tomatoes.

Green zebra tomatoes are extremely flavorful and more tart than other tomatoes (confirmed by my boyfriend and I in a taste-test). They also have a very high acid content, which can be bit overwhelming when the tomatos are raw (or so the internet tells me, we didn't notice this).

I also searched for recipe ideas using green zebra tomatoes, to see if there was any preparation that they are especially good for. As soon as I saw them used for fried green tomatoes, I was sold. Normally the green tomatoes used for fried green tomatoes (i.e. unripe tomatoes) don't offer up much flavor on their own - which is why they are used for frying in the first place. These tomatoes, on the other hand, pack such a spectacular punch of flavor that we had to take our time eating these - the flavor was just shy of overwhelming, but in the best possible way.

Fried green zebra tomatoes topped with goat cheese

In this week's box...

2010-07-21T16:54:00.000-05:00

1 melon (canary melon?)
2 cucumbers
2 green peppers
3 small banana peppers (we think)
4 yellow squash
4 brandywine tomatoes
8 green zebra tomatoes
4 ears of corn
red potatoes

Plus: 6 eggs, 2 lbs ground beef, 1 pork roast

risotto: i'll finally tell you how we do it

2010-07-19T20:26:00.006-05:00

What makes risotto a great dish to have in your arsenal is that once you have the basics down, you can use just about any ingredients you can think of/have in the pantry and the possibilities are endless. All you need is time (consider it a time to catch up on some podcasts) and patience.

After a string of risotto successes, I think I can safely say that this is a dish my boyfriend and I have mastered. Perhaps the greatest proof is the fact that tonight I basically made the risotto myself, while my boyfriend gave instructions from the doorway (okay, he also chopped garlic, grated cheese, and took over stirring duty towards the end).

So here is tonight's creation: Risotto with sauteed green and white patty pan squash, onion, sage and chives

Now that I am a Risotto Master, it seems only fair that I break it down for you (but since we don't use measuring cups or anything when we've made risotto, all amounts are approximate):

Risotto Basics (serves 4)
- heat some olive oil and 1/4 stick of butter in a pan (ideally you want something wide and flat, but with sides, we use a stir fry pan)
- with burner on medium high, add arborio rice (1 lb)
- heat 64 oz of chicken stock (or vegetable stock if you want to keep it vegetarian)
- once rice is hot, reduce heat (simmer-low)
- add chicken stock to rice one ladle at a time. After each ladle is added, stir until liquid is fully absorbed before adding another ladle-ful
- after about half the stock is gone (at this point you should begin to see the starchy goodness coming off the rice), add white wine (1/4 cup), herbs (whichever you are using) and chopped garlic
- add whatever veggies you are using after about 3/4 of stock is gone (you may want to saute these before adding to the rice, depending on what you are using)
- once the rice looks decadently creamy and is cooked through (test by taste) finish with a generous amount of grated parmesean cheese (1/2 cup)

NOTE: Risotto is easy to make but takes quite a bit of time, in our experience at least an hour. So don't get discouraged when the rice doesn't seem to be cooking or you aren't seeing the starchy goodness. It takes time, but it WILL happen!

summer squash & potato gratin

2010-07-14T19:40:00.000-05:00

Tonight's star was the side (made by yours truly). A friend and I were recently commiserating about how we are running out of things to do with yellow squash. Not long after, she sent me the link to this post on Smitten Kitchen, saying that she tried it and it was amazing. I'm not entirely sure why Smitten Kitchen calls this a "torte", since there is no crust or any kind, although the bottom layer of potatoes did get perfectly crispy and I suppose "crust-like". I'm calling it a gratin, since it is mainly layers of squash and potato with melted cheese. In any case, the parmesean cheese was a great match for the squash, and my boyfriend and I gobbled this up.

summer squash & potato gratin (adapted from Smitten Kitchen - we sadly had no green onions): yellow squash, Yukon gold potatoes, parmesean cheese, thyme, salt, pepper, flour

New York Strip steak

in defense of summer soup

2010-07-13T20:48:00.000-05:00

As the temperature creeps higher and higher this summer, I keep finding myself suggesting soup for dinner. What? Soup? But it's SUMMER! And it's HOT! Don't think I don't know these things. I've decided that what I like about creamy soups in the summer is that they feel effortless to eat: only one utensil necessary, and hardly any chewing required. When it's so hot out I hardly want to eat, these are both excellent qualities. Both previous summer soups have been chilled (see our chilled cauliflower soup and creamy cucumber gazpacho). Tonight was our first hot summer soup. Maybe chilled would have been more in the summer spirit, but whatever, it worked.

Tonight's specific inspiration came from cheap lobster tails at the grocery store and Sippity Sup, whose creamy corn soup with poached lobster was so much more beautiful than ours I almost don't want to give you the link. Now, we didn't follow his recipe (just took the idea for corn soup with lobster), and ours did taste good, I was just disappointed that it didn't turn out as beautifully yellow. Instead, we got something leaning towards the "brown" end of the spectrum (my boyfriend says this is because we had to use beef stock, i.e. what we had in the house).

Corn soup with lobster tail: corn, potatoes, sage, onion, garlic, beef broth

creamy cucumber gazpacho: cold, refreshing, with unexpectedly deep flavor

2010-07-12T19:51:00.002-05:00

Creamy cucumber gazpacho:
puree the following ingredients until smooth in a blender:
- 2 large English cucumbers
- 2 lemon cucumbers
- 1 small green pepper
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 cup of sour cream
- 1/2 cup (or more!) chopped cilantro
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- couple of drops of sriracha
- splash of white wine
- salt
- pepper

Served with chuck (flank) steak & oven-baked potato chips

another snack for the tomato-obsessed

2010-07-12T18:03:00.004-05:00

All afternoon I was dying to get home so I could satisfy my hunger with some of our farm-fresh tomatoes. I was mentally planning exactly what I would need to do to maximize the speed with which a caprese salad would be sitting in front of me, when suddenly I remembered another delicious tomato treat that we haven't made since last summer: bruschetta!

As usual, these tomatoes are so fantastic that they really don't need much help from other ingredients: olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic and basil is all you need.

In this week's box...

2010-07-11T12:40:00.002-05:00

3 cucumbers
3 tomatoes (maybe German Pink?)
3 flying saucer squash (green & yellow)
2 paddy pan squash (white)
3 small green peppers
6 ears of corn
1 small bowl of red potatoes

Plus: 6 eggs, 2 New York Strip steaks and 4 beef chuck steaks

all about the hash

2010-07-11T11:16:00.000-05:00

Potato, yellow squash, onion and pork sausage hash with cheddar cheese topped with an over-easy egg

Asian-inspired beef and summer squash two ways

2010-07-08T20:10:00.000-05:00

For the past two nights our dinner goals have been to use up two ingredients: stewing beef and yellow squash. The revelation this led to was that yellow squash and sweet & sour sauce are a magical combination. I never would have thought of this, but it was really exceptional - when I started to get full I moved the beef aside to get more sweet and sour squash!

sweet and sour beef and yellow squash over steamed rice

fried rice with beef, carrots, onion, yellow squash, soy sauce, sriracha and Chinese-style bbq sauce

fish - and whatever we had in the veggie drawer - tacos

2010-07-06T21:07:00.003-05:00

Fish tacos seemed like a great way to use the rest of the mahi mahi we defrosted yesterday, given that avocado and cilantro are two ingredients that pair very well with this particular fish.

But did we have avocado and cilantro in the fridge?

No.

So instead of creating a classic, we went with something very unusual. My boyfriend sauteed up a whole bunch of random things from the veggie drawer, bacon and the mahi mahi, mixed everything together with some mayonnaise, and stuffed the mixture into some pita pockets.

The resulting combination may sound weird, but you know, it tasted good. And as always, the beets (yes, beets! With mahi mahi!) turned everything a pink colour that hovers somewhere between pretty and disturbing.

Sauteed mahi mahi, bacon, corn, green pepper and beets mixed with mayo and served in a pita pocket

we did it: perfect french fries

2010-07-05T20:47:00.012-05:00

It is what every restaurant in the world, from the fanciest steak house to the dirtiest burger joint, aspires to: the perfect french fry. And we, in our humble little kitchen, hit the jackpot. The stars aligned. We are living the dream...

We did have a little help from our downstairs neighbors, who, when they deserted us for sunnier skies in Ireland (ha!) last week left us with a generous supply of cooking oils, vinegars and wines, including peanut oil. If I have retained one fact from watching the food genius who is Alton Brown, it is that peanut oil is the best oil to use for frying because it has a high smoking point, which means it doesn't burn at high temperatures.

Excellent frying oil? Check!

The next secret is the double-fry, which is actually what defines a French fry in the first place. The first longer fry actually cooks the potato. The second faster fry creates the nice crispy exterior.

More specifically...

- cut potatoes into fries
- blanche fries (put fries in hot water then cold water, allegedly this helps the final product get crispy without getting limp from all the frying)
- put fries in hot oil until they start to cook on the outside (i.e. until they just start changing colour)
- take fries out of the oil and let them cool for 10-15 minutes
- put the fries back in the hot oil until they turn golden brown

And ta-da! There you have it: fries that are soft on the inside, crispy on the outside.

Now, I have read some recipes that are more specific about different oil temperatures for the different frying phases, but we didn't really bother with that so much and the end result was still terrific. You just want to make sure your oil is staying hot after adding the cold potatoes (we aimed for a constant temperature of 350 degrees).

Mahi mahi marinated in olive oil, red wine vinegar, chopped garlic, mustard, lemon juice and salt, then broiled

Served over cucumber and corn salad: corn, cucumber, white wine vinegar, mustard and dill

With a side of the Best. Fries. Ever.

oh CSA, I can't stay mad at you...

2010-07-04T12:13:00.003-05:00

So fine, I was not too happy about getting a bazillion pork link sausages from our CSA this week. But, this was also the first week we got TOMATOES!!! Of all the produce we get from the farm, I think that we taste the difference the most with the tomatoes. They are so meaty and flavorful, it is really unbelievable. Within about 2 hours of unpacking them yesterday my boyfriend and I went through about half of them - my boyfriend ate an entire tomato in the form of a tomato and mayo sandwich, and I went with my favorite go-to tomato snack: cherry tomato caprese salad.

amazing cheese takes breakfast to new heights

2010-07-04T11:11:00.003-05:00

Over-easy egg on toast with tomme de savoie cheese, cherry tomatoes and a side of smoked pork sausage

better get inspired by sausage

2010-07-03T20:50:00.009-05:00

I think this is the first time I've been a bit disappointed with our CSA: we are supposed to get 2 meat "portions", and this is the first time that both (huge) "portions" were of almost the same thing. And an ingredient I don't find particularly inspiring, no less. What are we going to do with 20 pork sausages?!?! Luckily my boyfriend loooooves sausage (we came very close to buying sausages at the grocery store prior to our CSA pick-up this morning, good thing we didn't!), so was able to come up with a great supper. It will be interesting to see how creative we can get as we work through these over the coming weeks.

Smoked pork sausage sauteed with cherry tomatoes, served with a beef broth, onion and garlic sauce

Spicy baked sweet potato chips:
sweet potatoes sliced thin and sprinkled with a 6 pepper blend*, then baked until crispy

*thanks Ricco, you were right - Matt did find a way to use it!

Served with a corn and lemon cucumber salad (not pictured, obviously):
Lemon cucumber, corn, white wine vinegar, salt
1) Lemon cucumber is sweeter than normal cucumber and so went great with the corn
2) This served as a great cooling element to combat the spice on the chips.

In this week's box...

2010-07-03T12:44:00.006-05:00

2 small cucumbers
1 large cucumber
3 lemon cucumbers
2 tomatos
1 pint cherry tomatoes
6 ears of corn
5 yellow squash
1 green pepper
6 carrots
1 pint blueberries
An entire bowl's-worth of potatoes

Plus 6 eggs and 20 (!!) pork link sausages

fish and chips and...goat cheese?

2010-07-01T22:06:00.000-05:00

From the moment I saw this post on Love and Olive Oil I knew we would have to make beet greens and goat cheese crostini the next time we had beet greens. In fact, it gave me a craving for goat cheese, which led to my buying goat cheese, which led to my boyfriend's ability to actually execute this vision. I have to say we were far less fancy than the original recipe (see post linked above), and literally just put sauteed beet greens on top of crostini with goat cheese, but it was just as perfect a pairing as I hoped it would be.

Goat cheese and beet green crostini

White fish baked with scalloped potatoes with dill

summer casserole

2010-06-30T19:39:00.002-05:00

I was not excited when my boyfriend came home with the idea of making a casserole for dinner - casseroles to me sound so heavy and wintery. Of course I was wrong to doubt The Man, and the casserole was incredibly flavorful, satisfying but light and bright. I also loved that the squash and zucchini were mashed in with the potatoes, again circumventing the cooked texture of summer squash that I don't always like.

Layer 1: mashed potato, yellow squash and zucchini
Layer 2: Korean short ribs (meat only, of course)
Layer 3: shelled snap peas, sweet corn and carrots
Layer 4: A blend of Italian cheeses and panko breadcrumbs

finally, a preparation of summer squash I can get behind

2010-06-29T21:40:00.010-05:00

We have been getting tons of yellow summer squash over the past few weeks, and I'll say it, I haven't been thrilled. While I like the flavor, I am not the biggest fan of the texture yellow squash and zucchini often develop when cooked. That's what I loved about how my boyfriend prepared these ingredients tonight: the julienne cut totally eliminated what I can dislike about the texture. Combined with soy sauce, the end result was something with an Asian-style noodle feel, which was great.

Also included with the squash was the first purple bell pepper I have ever eaten. I didn't even know bell peppers came in this colour - it could seriously be confused for an eggplant. I didn't get a chance to try it raw (my boyfriend was too swift in the kitchen!), and I wouldn't have known it was in there if my boyfriend hadn't told me. So I can only assume that purple peppers are very mild in flavor?

Cucumber salad: "peeled" cucumber* garlic, red onion and red wine vinegar

*this is clearly my boyfriend's new favorite technique, where you take a vegetable peeler and literally peel the entire vegetable, see also our crispy potato peels

White fish poached in vegetable broth with red onion

Rice

Julienned yellow squash and zucchini sauteed with purple bell pepper, diced onion, vegetable broth, soy sauce, and sriracha

hello sweet summer corn!!!!

2010-06-28T23:29:00.000-05:00

This was the first week we got corn in our CSA box (sorry, no picture of the box contents this week), and oh my god, I was blown away. This was seriously the best corn I have ever had in my LIFE. No fancy preparation needed.

Seared pork chop

Roasted summer squash, red potatoes, red onions and carrots

Corn (boiled, cut off the cob, mixed with a touch of butter and salt)

cowboy breakfast for dinner

2010-06-24T20:05:00.000-05:00

Corn grit pancake topped with sauteed pork blade steak, corn, green pepper, kohlrabi, carrot, tomato and onion

Served with an over easy egg

Finished with a drizzle of salsa verde

chilled soup plus

2010-06-23T22:16:00.003-05:00

This is definitely up there among my favorite meals. Again the heat made us lazy and not hungry, to the point where it was starting to look like we weren't going to eat dinner at all. I was seriously considering just eating a bowl of cereal and calling it a day. But suddenly my boyfriend declared that he had a fantastic idea for something "small and amazing"...and he was right. I have decided that I prefer soups like this that have a nice creamy base with "toppings" compared to soups that are chunky and incorporate all the ingredients in the soup itself.

Chilled cauliflower and potato soup

Slices of seared pork blade steak

Snap peas, corn, beets and carrots sauteed with chili powder

chilled cauliflower and potato soup

2010-06-22T21:07:00.003-05:00

There is one thing that I will never understand about the south. Let me set the scene: it is 1950 and air conditioners haven't made their way into the average home, which is unfortunate because it is 100 degrees outside before taking humidity and "real feel" into account. You get home from work, sweating from every part of your body, and what's for dinner? Fried chicken!

Now don't get me wrong, there is a special place in my heart for fried chicken and other classic southern fare, but come summer I just don't understand it. It is seriously just shy of 100 degrees and so humid that if I close my eyes I could convince myself that I am in a tropical rainforest. Given that these are average summer conditions, how on earth did fried chicken become the standard southern dinner?!?!?! I cannot think of anything I would like to eat less in the weather we've been having, and I am taking refuge in my lovely air conditioned apartment!!

I had the idea for tonight's dinner because I got home and was so hot I didn't know what to do with myself and the idea of eating anything remotely hot...well, it wasn't an idea I wanted to entertain for very long.

Panko-crusted pan-fried meatballs

Chilled cauliflower and potato soup: cauliflower, red potato,vegetable broth, garlic, onion, a splash of cream and tons of dill

a slider family

2010-06-21T19:31:00.000-05:00

Beef sliders with pita buns

Toppings from left to right:
1) tomato and Chinese-style barbecue sauce
2) cheddar cheese, cucumber, kohlrabi, mustard and mayo
3) cheddar cheese, tomato, kohlrabi, mustard and mayo
4) cucumber and a chunky beet and wasabi mayo spread

Personally, #4 was my favorite, probably because I was sitting around for a good hour before my boyfriend got home fantasizing about how we could use beets in our dinner tonight. I am obsessed with the beet + wasabi mayonnaise combination, and coming up with this topping was my only contribution to the meal.

My boyfriend preferred #3. This slider just tasted so classic. Perfectly classic.

crispy potato peels

2010-06-21T16:41:00.006-05:00

Last night we planned to grill with our neighbors. I thought that we had established our plan food-wise (veal chops, summer squash), when out of nowhere and my boyfriend decided to whip up this extremely satisfying crispy potato snack for us to munch on while we waited for the grill to heat up. I have no clue where this idea came from or how it popped into my boyfriend's head, but this was definitely a success. Is it still considered "snacking" when the entire bowl is emptied within minutes of being set down?

Crispy Potato "Peels"
- using a potato peeler, literally "peel" an entire potato
- marinate"peels" in olive oil and garlic
- spread peels over a cooling rack on a baking pan
- bake in the oven until crispy (approx. 30 minutes)
- place peels in a bowl, season with salt to taste, and enjoy!

everything slaw

2010-06-20T13:05:00.003-05:00

My boyfriend and I are still feeling the repercussions of eating out for a week, and it is difficult to think of food without feeling nauseous. Yes, I am at a point where the thought of melted cheese does not make me feel good - I don't even know who I am anymore. Combined with the crazy hot weather, cole slaw is a perfect solution, because it is fresh and crisp but won't wilt. As my boyfriend said, suddenly he understands why cole slaw, potato salad and pasta salad are summer picnic favorites. And really, making a cole slaw doesn't get easier: just take all the veggies you have that are good to eat raw (and fruit too, I think green apple is a fabulous cole slaw addition), chop them up small (having good knife skills is a bonus here) and mix with a touch of something creamy (mayo) and a splash of some kind of vinegar.

Slaw: cabbage, cucumber, green apple, green onion, garlic scape, yellow carrot, apple cider vinegar, mayo and dijon mustard

In this week's box...

2010-06-20T12:28:00.003-05:00

1 bag of sugar snap peas
2 kohlrabi
1 cauliflower
1 sprig of mint
9 red potatoes
5 yellow squash
2 cucumbers
1 zucchini
1 green pepper
6 beets
6 yellow carrots

Also: 2 pork blade steaks, 2 pounds of ground beef and 6 eggs

the return of the home-cooked meal

2010-06-19T19:54:00.000-05:00

We were in Halifax for the last week, and as much as we both loved all the delicious seafood (especially the mussels, which of course taste even better when eaten with beer on the harbour), we have definitely reached our eating-out limit, to the point of craving green food. What is it about eating at restaurants that discourages eating any veggies???

Seared pork blade steak

Kale chips

"Green" Cole Slaw: green cabbage, green apple, green onion, kohlrabi, mayo and vinegar

misidentified ingredient: correction

2010-06-19T11:36:00.004-05:00

For the past couple of weeks we have been getting something from our CSA that we have been calling "chives". Neither of us were 100% sure that this is what it was, but given the onion-y flavor and the appearance, this seemed like a reasonable guess. But, now we have the answer: this is garlic scape, which is the stalk of a garlic plant. In addition to a great garlic/chives/green onion kind of flavor, what has also been impressive is that unlike our green onions that start to wilt almost right away, the garlic scape stays firm and has been lasting for weeks. This is quite a bonus for us when we start to get overwhelmed with our CSA box and trying to eat everything in time. Now that we know what it is, I am hoping we can start to use it in more interesting ways (so far it has only made an appearance in our failed green curry)

creamy with crispy

2010-06-09T19:29:00.002-05:00

This meal was all my vision, and it came together exactly as I was hoping it would - the crispy kale chips were a perfect contrast with the creamy grits. Unfortunately the meat got a bit dried out during re-heating (we actually made this last night for an undocumented meal), but this was unnoticeable if you combined meat with grits in a single bite.

Slices of beef rump roast with sauteed shallots served over creamy cheddar cheese and green onion grits

Kale chips

cabbage rolls

2010-06-07T18:54:00.001-05:00

My boyfriend has been talking about making cabbage rolls for a long time (ever since we got our first CSA cabbage in the fall, actually) but somehow we never got around to trying them until tonight. They were wonderful - reminiscent of a meat loaf in flavor, but lighter, fresher, and overall more suited to summer.

Cabbage rolls filled with ground pork sausage, rice, and red & green onion with a chunky tomato sauce.

tastes like guacamole and corn chips...only better...

2010-06-06T20:03:00.000-05:00

Seared pork blade steak served on an avocado, kohlrabi, garlic, onion, chili powder and corn chip hash, topped with salsa verde

Side of snap peas

In this week's box...

2010-06-06T12:18:00.000-05:00

1 bag of kale
2 kohlrabi
1 head of green cabbage
1 head of red romaine lettuce
1 bunch of green onions
2 sprigs of chives
1 broccoli
2 yellow squash
1 cucumber

Also: 4 pork blade steaks, 1 beef rump roast and 6 eggs

inspired by snap peas

2010-06-05T20:03:00.000-05:00

After thoroughly enjoying the snap peas in our sub-par curry, I found this post with a snap pea side dish recipe - perfect! I love recipe ideas that only require a couple of ingredients, especially when we have all of those ingredients in the house.

Pork chop

Sauteed beet greens

Snap peas with pine nuts and parmesean cheese

a story that starts with a beet will end with the devil...

2010-06-05T11:21:00.000-05:00

Over-easy eggs served on a beet and horseradish pancake with toast

yes, inspiration comes from the back of a bag of frozen fish

2010-06-03T19:11:00.000-05:00

We have been slowly working our way through a bag of frozen trout fillets. Today, as I was defrosting the last two, I saw the words "avocado butter" as part of a suggested trout recipe on the back of the packaging. All I had to do was casually mention this to my boyfriend as I left the kitchen and...ta da! Dinner involving trout and avocado deliciousness! Bonus points for the use of lettuce in the presentation.

Pan-fried trout topped with avocado, butter and green onion deliciousness, served over a slice of tomato and green leaf lettuce

Sauteed kohlrabi and red spring onions

saved by snap peas

2010-06-02T18:53:00.001-05:00

After much deliberation, I am going to have to put tonight's dinner in the "fail" category...a salvaged fail, but a fail nonetheless. The plan was to make a green curry sauce. Unfortunately, neither my boyfriend or I had the foresight to realize that the curry paste we normally use contains more ingredients than simply curry powder. So we had all our ingredients in a pan with coconut milk, and we were just going to have a little taste before leaving it to simmer...and oh my god, our "curry" tastes burnt!. It was at this point that we realized the paste/powder distinction - "burnt" is what curry powder tastes like on its own. My boyfriend - being the brilliant boy that he is - instantly knew to start adding sweet ingredients (e.g., brown sugar) to counteract what I called "burnt" but what he better identified as "bitter". The end result was edible, but just okay as far as curries go. Luckily we had amazing snap peas from our CSA in there - they were so wonderfully crisp and crunchy that they totally stole the show. Despite the mediocre curry, I still went back for seconds to get more of those snap peas.

"Green curry" with coconut milk, chicken, snap peas, and chives served over rice

the proof is in the picture

2010-05-30T17:19:00.003-05:00

Maybe you didn't believe me when I said that I would make and eat kale chips as a snack in the middle of the afternoon. Luckily I have photographic evidence:

Kale chips

- preheat oven to 350
- spread kale leaves on baking sheet
- drizzle with olive oil & sprinkle with salt
- bake for 5-10 minutes, until crispy

In this week's box...

2010-05-30T15:06:00.001-05:00

1 bag of kale
1 bag of sugar snap peas
1 box of strawberries
1 head of green lettuce
1 broccoli
1 bunch of green onions
6 small beets and their greens
2 kohlrabi

Also: 2 chicken breasts, 2 pork chops, 6 eggs

caprese omelette

2010-05-29T09:48:00.001-05:00

It is no secret that I am addicted to caprese salads. For breakfast, my boyfriend took those same ingredients and put them in an omelette. Obviously this was going to be delicious. In addition to the wonderful filling, our eggs this morning were the first summer eggs from our CSA. We've been getting eggs from a farm all through the winter, but, what you learn when you eat farm-fresh eggs, is that they differ through the seasons. It is only in the summer that the yolks are a beautiful orange colour and are noticeably more flavorful.

Tomato, mozzarella and basil omelette

don't worry, we're alive

2010-05-26T15:53:00.002-05:00

The delay since my last post is due to a combination of long weekends out of town, eating out, lots of grilling burgers outside (and then eating them there, too, i.e. no time for photos!), and then a string of less exciting meals that mainly consist of meat + veggies. Don't get me wrong, these are great, just less inspiring to post when I get busy.

As proof that we aren't starving to death, two recent meat + veggie meals:

Veal loin chop

Roasted potatoes

Steamed broccoli

Green leaf salad with home-made vinegrette dressing

Chicken breast

Sauteed beet greens, broccoli and purple spring onions

Mustard, horseradish and beer sauce

sometimes I have a lot to say about my dinner!

2010-05-18T21:43:00.003-05:00

Oh man, where do I even BEGIN with dinner tonight? I can take absolutely no credit for what went on in the kitchen. I came home from pilates and it took me several minutes to put together all the things my boyfriend had going on. So let's get started:

We got kohlrabi from our CSA this week, and neither my boyfriend or I had ever had it before. We read that kohlrabi can be enjoyed simply roasted with olive oil and salt, and we figured this would be the perfect way to experience it for the first time - with such a simple preparation, we would really get to taste it.

...and I am in love. I have read several different attempts to describe the flavor of kohlrabi, and these always involve some kind of combination of other veggies. For me kohlrabi is a combination of parsnip and brussel sprouts, which just happen to be two of my favorites. I'm very excited, because every place I read about kohlrabi suggests different kinds of preparations ranging from raw to steamed to barbecued. Given how much I loved the taste, it is exciting that it is also so versatile. I can't wait to get it again so we can try something different!

Next up, my boyfriend's experimentation with beer batter. When I walked in tonight I was greeted by the sight of my boyfriend making onion rings. When I asked why he was making onion rings, he replied "well, I made the batter for the trout, and you weren't home yet, so I decided to make onion rings"...naturally. stupid question.

The beer batter was SO GOOD! Do you want the recipe? Sure thing.

- 1 can of beer
- 1 and 1/2 cups of flour
- and...that's it!

Okay, so my boyfriend also added smoked paprika, but that contributed to flavor and had nothing to do with how delightfully crispy and airy that batter was. I swear, these onion rings were PERFECT.

Last thing that needs to be mentioned is my boyfriend's homemade tartar sauce. From what I can tell, he opened this wikipedia page, and put whatever of those ingredients we had into a bowl. Do I need to keep saying that everything he makes comes out fantastically?

pork + apple + sage - some combinations are classic for a reason

2010-05-17T19:21:00.002-05:00

Pork chop

Granny Smith apples soaked in a cheesy sage butter sauce

Sauteed leeks

Sauteed beet greens

simple sandwich

2010-05-16T18:30:00.000-05:00

Chicken breast, yellow tomato, basil leaves, sauteed beet greens and mayonnaise smushed between sliced ciabatta

In this week's box...

2010-05-16T12:13:00.000-05:00

1 box of strawberries
2 broccoli
1 kohlrabi
1 bunch of green onions
2 heads of romaine lettuce
2 sprigs of sage
1 bag of mixed greens

Also: 6 eggs, 2 pork chops, 2 pounds of ground beef

baked kale chips: a revelation!

2010-05-14T20:07:00.005-05:00

I have discovered a new favorite food: kale chips. You probably won't believe me until you have tried it for yourself, but when kale leaves are baked they become delightfully crispy, and the bitterness totally mellows out, resulting in a texture-flavour combination that is simply addictive. It's really unbelievable - I had no idea this kind of depth of flavour was lurking underneath that intense bitterness. I actually traded a chicken wing with my boyfriend in exchange for the remaining kale chips on his plate. I would eat this for a snack in the middle of the day. I may even go make some more right now...(oh yeah, did I mention how stupid fast and easy these are to make???)

Kale chips:
- spread kale leaves on baking pan
- drizzle with olive oil
- sprinkle with salt
- bake at 350 for 5-10 minutes, until crispy
- marvel at deliciousness and try not to eat all the chips before you have even transferred them to a plate

(served with baked french fries and chicken wings/drumsticks with a red curry, green onion, garlic and sour cream dipping sauce)