Roast!

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A couple weeks ago we bought a roasting pan and a couple days ago we christened it by roasting a chicken. It was a great Sunday dinner. I used Giada's recipe for garlic citrus chicken, it has lemons and oranges inside it and a sauce/gravy with orange juice and stuff. It was not easy to figure out when it needed basting and how exactly to do it, but it came out great! I don't know if it's meant to be burnt like that on top or if it's just my special talent, but it didn't seem to mattter. I even made the gravy where you simmer the juices, strain the solids, and skim off the fat. I couldn't quite get all the fat off though, how exactly are you supposed to do that?? The best part was that there was plenty left over for a couple lunches of tasty chicken sandwiches. So, now that I have this great pan, what else can I roast??

Dahl Soup

So I promised Louisa that I would post a recipe, so here I go. I took a very nice picture of it, but I am having technical difficulties getting it off my phone. Oh well. The photo I am using is from Flickr, but it seemed close enough. This soup is almost stew like and is very hearty. Very aromatic and comforting on a cold night.

This soup goes really well with some warmed up naan bread.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
2 garlic cloves
1 onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 1/4 pounds canned, chopped tomatoes drained (i used 2 small cans)
1 cup red lentils
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1 1/4 cups coconut milk

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan and saute the garlic and onion for 2-3 minutes.
2. Add the spices and cook for 30 seconds more.
3. Stir in the tomatoes, red lentils, lemon juice, vegetable stock, and coconut milk. Bring to a boil.
4. Reduce the heat and simmer for 25-30 minutes until the lentils are tender and cooked.

Cook's Tip: Add small quantities of hot water to the pan while the lentils are cooking if they begin to absorb too much of the liquid.

Scrambled Eggs with Tomato, Goat Cheese & Avocado

Well I thought I had better post something before Louisa loses all faith in me! So apologies for the lack of picture - but scrambled eggs aren't generally that pretty anyway. I know that everyone probably feels that breakfast is the easiest meal to cook, but I think it actually takes a lot more attention than the average person puts into it to get all the ingredients cooked just right. To start, I sauteed the chopped tomatoes in a little olive oil on medium-low heat and sprinkled in a little salt and freshly ground pepper. I heard that ground pepper releases flavor as it heats which is why I added it while cooking as well as after. Then I fluffed a couple eggs in a bowl with a fork before throwing them in the pan (I also salt the egg mixture a little to get the flavor going) - I would actually suggest scrambling then separately from the tomatoes as I found that the water that cooked out of the tomatoes messed with the consistency of the eggs. You could just remove them from the pan to a plate, toss the juice, spray the pan and throw the eggs in the same pan. If you find that your scrambled eggs often turn out dry and "hard", the trick is to cook them at an incredibly low heat, stirring with a spatula slowly and constantly. You should find that the lower portion of the liquid eggs is cooking but the top remains liquid. Also you should use a fairly small pan so the egg isn't spread so thin across it that it all cooks at once. As you keep turning the eggs, moving the cooked portions around and allowing the liquid portions to cook, you should soon find the eggs almost completely cooked - it happens very fast so be prepared to toss in the cheese and tomatoes and turn a few times more before it's completely cooked. Serve immediately topped with sliced avocado, salt and pepper to taste. Boo-yah! The fluffiest eggs ever.

Mushroom Rigatoni

Surprisingly, mushrooms are not on my do-not-eat list. They seem like the kind of thing I wouldn't like, and in fact when I was younger I indeed didn't like them. But somewhere along the line I converted to a mushroom-eater. So this pasta seemed like a good idea - 4 kinds of mushrooms - craziness! But it came out great, with leftovers for lunch! The chopping did take a while, what with all the mushrooms, shallots, onion, garlic, basil, etc. But after that there were no big surprises. Also I made a great discovery. And by "made" I mean "read online." The recipe called for white wine and I didn't have any. One reviewer said she used red wine instead but I thought that was a little weird. I thought about leaving it out but that might have made it so plain. So I asked the trusty metafilter and check it out: you can use juice instead! God I love AskMetaFilter. People have a lot of different recommendations in there actually, but juice totally makes sense and I'm even likely to have it on hand! Grape = red wine; White grape = white wine. So simple. I was convinced the pasta tasted like juice, but LZ didn't think so. As long as it tasted good, I'm happy!

The answer is....

Challah! The mystery photo is an upclose look at this knotted jewish bread. It took something like 18 hours to make (12 of that being overnight in the fridge) but it was worth it as it is light, delicious and challah-y. Challah!

Guess the food

It's time to play **What Did She Make Now?**

Take a look at the picture and make your guesses. What is it?

Endive Soup (with Chickpeas and Mushrooms)

This has got to be one of the easiest and most delicious quick soups ever.

You need:
- Chicken broth
- 1 can of chickpeas
- 1 head of endive (or any other leafy green)
- some mushrooms (we used porcini)

You start by making some chicken broth. Your options: 1. buy chicken broth/stock at the store or 2. Have chicken bullion cubes on hand and dissolve in hot water per instructions.

Then, you heat up the broth and add the chickpeas. If you get a can of chickpeas, you have to wash them. You might notice that they have a very paper thin skin on them. I preferred to take off the skin which was a little more time consuming, but I like my chickpeas naked and paper-free.

Finally, you add the endive. Endive is kind of like a lettuce, but it's got spiky long leaves. I like to chop them up into 1 inch pieces. You don't have to cook them very long at all, so it's best to add them at the end.

We happened to have some dried porcini mushrooms that I soaked in water for a bit and then added at the same time of the endive. Then, I let it all cook for like 3-4 minutes, and voila, it was done!

I like this recipe because you could totally vary it up. You like carrots? Potatoes? Put them in first and cook a little longer. As long as your greens are cooked last and just for a short time, anything goes for this easy soup!