Lamb-Stuffed Peppers

Thanks again, bread and honey... I fell in love with this amazing recipe as soon as it was posted, and made it soon thereafter. Total hit! Lamb is far and away my favorite red meat, and mixed with tarragon and feta all stuffed inside a delicious roasted bell pepper... divine. I decided to make it again tonight, and it's making the blog cut! Aren't you all lucky.

Ingredients:
A couple of bell peppers
1/2 a pound of ground lamb
1/2 a red onion
a few cloves of garlic
Fresh tarragon
Myzritha cheese (a greek sheep's milk cheese) -- I used feta which I think is a lovely substitute for the kind of hard-to-find Myzritha
Some kick (cayenne, chili flakes, etc)
Some oregano

Process:
1. Cut the top off your bell peppers, pull out the seeds and put them open-side down on a baking sheet. Drizzle some olive oil over the tops and roast in the oven at 400 degrees until the skins start to blister a bit -- not too much, or you'll end up with a soggy pepper. Take the peppers out and allow them to cool, then peel the skins off.

2. Saute your lamb with diced onion and garlic, add some salt & pepper and some oregano & kick if you desire. Cook until meat is just done, then remove from heat. When it's cooled, stir in some crumbled feta and fresh tarragon (seriously-- fresh is super important here. The tarragon absolutely makes this dish).

3. So bread & honey suggests doing crafting and adorable--and functional--parchment paper boat for your peppers & rice. I did it the first time but this time I didn't have any parchment so I used tin foil. You'll have to reference her post to see the real deal-- but tin foil worked very well! Another project for today was making chicken stock, so I used some of that to make some brown basmati rice that I ate with the stuffed pepper. Yum!

Pre-Summer Fruity Treat

Yum! Last week Terra Firma sent me a lovely basket of fresh, delicious strawberries. They are so good! I'm a little at a loss for what to do with them other than just eat them whole, so that's probably what I'll end up doing. I did come up with this delicious combo earlier: Ben & Jerry's Peach Cobbler Ice Cream + Strawberries. Simple, easy, and delectable. The Recessionista's dream!



It's pretty much what it looks like. Throw some ice cream in a bowl and top with sliced strawberries. Delish!

Vegan Biscuits!

Tonight I made the quickest, easiest, yummiest biscuits in the world, thanks to bread and honey. I opted out of the soup because it is 1,000 degrees here (even now, at 9:30pm). Make these, seriously it'll take you 15 minutes (plus 15 in the oven). Yum!!


If those don't look like the kind of thing a dinosaur would eat (or at least what he would make after he ate...) then I don't know what does.

"Fancy Biscuits"
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp vegetable oil -or- shortening
1 cup soy milk
1/2 cup green onions, chopped (I used regular sweet onions and they were scrumptious--just very onion-y)
1 tbsp dried dill
1/4 tsp pepper
A large handful of grated cheddar cheese.

Preheat oven to 450ºF. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Crack in some pepper, and toss the cheese and onions into the mixture until it's all evenly distributed. Add the oil and sour milk, and mix together gently until "just mixed." Spoon into lightly oiled muffin tins-- I just used a cookie sheet. Bake for 12-18 minutes. Makes about 6 biscuits, but for me it was more like 8.

Salmon!

Last night I made baked salmon for the first time ever. It turned out perfectly, fully cooked but still tender with none of the dry, cakey texture I hate in fish. My dad makes salmon all the time, probably twice a week, and he makes it so simply and it turns out so well--that I called him for some inspiration. Following his advice, I concocted a sweet-and-tangy marinade that soaked in deliciously for a subtle, mouthwatering flavor. Success!

I bought a little less than 2/3 of a pound from Safeway, which turned out to be exactly the right amount for Josh and me. It might have been nice to have lunch-leftovers, but there's always next time. I think I let the fish sit in the marinade for at least an hour, which definitely helped with the flavor and tenderness.

Marinade
1/4 cup Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing
1/4 cup Agave nectar
a splash of soy sauce

Mix those ingredients together and pour them over the fish, which should be in a pan with high enough sides to accommodate liquid covering the fish. It's best to use the smallest pan you have that will fit your piece of fish for this, so the marinade doesn't become too diluted. Pour the marinade over the fish and add water until the fish is completely covered. Let sit for as long as you want, but at least 30 minutes. Pour the marinade out of the pan if you want to bake the fish in the same pan; I actually saved the marinade for use in the future, a plan I may or may not reconsider when the time comes. Also,

How I Cooked It
I would probably use a baking sheet or broiler pan to bake the fish instead of the glass casserole dish I used, as I ended up having to transfer the fish to the broiling pan for the last part of cooking anyway. Here's the basic idea.

Heat oven to 350.
Put fish in on middle rack, with an empty rack set to the highest placement.
Bake for 15 minutes.
Move fish to upper rack, broil for a little while (I forget how long-- 10 minutes? Maybe? Until it starts looking done.)
Remove, serve, enjoy!

yum yum yum. This fish will definitely make some reappearances, probably once a week. I need more fish in my life.

P.S. -- My stepmom filled me on in the secret my dad forgot to share with me: You know the fish is done when the fat starts to bubble out. Very appetizing, I know, but it works!

New cookbook!

Hello after another long hiatus! Sorry. The month of March was just mad busy. And April probably won't be any better--but I'm trying! See last post for rationale/action items going forward (dontcha love that workplace jargon).

I thought I would start this re-start with an update on the (second) most exciting recent addition to my kitchen:


The New Vegetarian Epicure, by Anna Thomas

Beautiful, non?

I have already made tons of delicious recipes from this book! It has given me so many great ideas for using my CSA goodies each week. This book has recipes for all the "building blocks" I wanted to learn how to make: basil pesto, sundried tomato pesto, tortillas, naan, pita bread, polenta, etc. etc. The best thing about it is that the book is organized by menus (AND SEASONS!), so if I ever need to come up with a bunch of delicious veggie food that all tastes great together, I have this at my fingertips!

I'll try to post everything I make from this book, but you know me. Let's start with an amazing, simple and economical soup I made at the beginning of March.

Greens and Garlic Soup
This soup has so much garlic in it, you guys. Basically that's the only spice. But, if you use some deliciously flavorful greens, you get all those nice subtleties in there too! I used spinach, dinosaur kale, and beet greens. The beet greens turned the broth nice and pink, which was a funny addition. The recipe suggests that 2-3 different types of greens is best for this soup, mixing stronger flavors with milder ones.


Ingredients
1 head garlic, separated into cloves, peeled & chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 Tbs. fruity green olive oil
1 bunch each of your 2-3 leafy greens (approximately 1 ½ pounds)
1 ½ lbs. russet potatoes, peeled & diced
2 cups water
salt & peppa
8 cups vegetable broth (or low-salt chicken broth)
¾ cup white wine (I think I left this out cuz I didn’t have any)
3 Tbs. rice vinegar

garnishes: additional olive oil, hot red chile pepper flakes, 6 oz. feta cheese (crumbled). I didn’t have the chili flakes or feta so I just heaped in some parmesan and it was AMAZING.

Instructions
Saute the garlic and onion in the olive oil in a large non-stick pan, until they begin to color. Wash the greens, trim away any tough stems and ribs, and shred the leaves with a sharp knife. If you’re using a sturdier green such as kale or escarole, add it to the pan when the garlic starts to turn golden, and sauté them together for a few minutes, stirring often.

Meanwhile, combine the diced potatoes, water, salt & pepper, and veggie broth in a soup pot and bring to a boil. When the potatoes are tender, add the garlic and onion mixture, all the shredded greens, the white wine, and the rice vinegar. Simmer everything together for about 30 minutes, then taste and correct the seasoning if needed.

The recipe says to put out a carafe of good green olive oil, some dried red chile flakes, and a bowl of crumbled feta, and serve steaming bowls of soup. As mentioned above, I didn’t have 2 of the 3 garnishes, so I just used parmesan. I love parmesan, so this was perfect for me.

YUM I ate this soup for SO many days you guys. Excellent with some crusty bread or hummus/pita (or pita chips).

There's some good-lookin' dinosaur food!