Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Cupcakes with a gob of cookie dough inside, and cookie dough frosting on top. Need I say more? Amazing but seriously intense. The trick is that the balls of cookie dough have to be frozen before you put them in the batter so they won't cook through and they'll still be dough. And the frosting is basically spreadable cookie dough. There are lots of recipes out there but I used this one, along with her photo because mine looked nothing like these.

Apple Pie

Apple pies are pretty easy to make, even for me. Frozen pie crust, dump in some apples, all you have to make is the crumb topping (essential pie topping if you ask me). But lately a bunch of people have been telling me it's not really that hard to make your own crust. So I decided to challenge myself. Here I am crumbling the frozen butter. An interesting experience. A pastry cutter would have been key here, but I don't have one. If only I had known what I was passing up at all those yard sales! Next time I see one I will certainly grab it. Regardless, the crust came out fine. Mom thought it was better than frozen ones so I'd say it was a success. It did take some work but I would do it again if I wanted a project. And there are so many different recipes to try out there! Butter? Shortening? Baking powder? What's the difference?
Then there's the crumb topping - what really makes the pie. I've made it with nuts and I've made it with oats, but whatever else you add in there, you've got to have the crumble. This is the tried and true recipe from my mom's ancient Joy of Cooking - the most stained page in the book by far. Posted right here for handy reference. Now go make pies!

Pasta with Lentils and Kale

I am not a huge fan of kale, but I got a bunch from my weekly farm share, that I need to use up. I decided to make this really crunchy vegetarian dish from epicurious.

The hardest part of the recipe was getting the timing right. Towards the middle of the process the onions, lentils, and kale are all cooking and it was hard to remember what was ready when.

Also, I think my proportions were way off. I didn't know how much "3/4 pound of kale" or "3/4 pound of pasta" were. I think I only had half the amount of onion needed and way too much pepper.

All in all, I would say this turned out better than I expected. It seems really healthy, but I don't know that it will make it into the regular rotation of meals. Maybe if we get kale again.

Guest Blogger!

I was so excited when Louisa asked me to guest blog on GastroFabulous!! I love reading this blog and it gives me tons of ideas for my own cooking. Shortly after I was invited to this blog, I started my own blog about cooking in my small, New York kitchen with one plate. I recently acquired 4 new plates!! So I thought it was time to expand my blogging as well. I hope to do an exclusive post for GastroFabulous int he future, but for now, I hope you enjoy "Chayote, Explored," visiting from One Plate Wonder for one post only.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Massive Meal, Massive Post! Chayote, Explored. (Video included!)

This past week was my birthday and my awesome friend and follower of my blog, Liz, gave me plates!!!


Such a thoughtful birthday gift!! While my title is no longer relevant, I am still One Plate Wonder in spirit. And I still have a tiny kitchen where the plate doesn't even fully fit on the counter. So, here is a big, birthday post from One Plate Wonder.

I recently visited my friend in Boston who had just come back from Costa Rica. She recommended Chayote and pointed it out in the market. So when I saw it in Whole Foods, I picked it up and decided to give it a try. All I knew was that it was from Costa Rica, so I started to research. I found out that it is a squash cooked by boiling then peeling. Now, I know Costa Rica is in Central America. I am not too familiar with where certain foods come from as I have not traveled much, but I do associate it with South of the Border/South America, so I tried to go for those flavors. This is the chayote.


The full explanation of the dish is in the video interview below (an exclusive interview with One Plate Wonder herself interviewed by my sister). Here is the description I may put on the menu of a restaurant (if anyone wants to put it on a menu I am happy to sell it because I am definitely short on cash at the moment): A melange of mushrooms and chayote atop a bed of sauteed swiss chard above spiced polenta patties, topped with avocado.

I started prepping the chayote and while that was going on, I sauteed onion and garlic then added cremini mushrooms. When the chayote was ready I added that to the mix with some paprika, salt, pepper, and chili powder.

To read the rest of this post, see the exclusive video, and view the final dish, visit One Plate Wonder.

Thanks for letting me guest blog!

Tomatillo Salsa

This is my bowl of tomatillos. I picked them at my friend's CSA farm last weekend. Actually, LZ picked most of them because I couldn't spot them among all those leaves. Good thing I had him along. So I brought them home and thought about making salsa all week until this weekend I finally did. And here it is:
I kind of combined a few different recipes which might not have been the best idea. I was worried for a while in there that I was ruining it, but it came out pretty good and relatively salsa-like, so no harm done. First I roasted the tomatillos in the oven. I also roasted some garlic, onion, and corn to add to the salsa. When the tomatillos seemed soft and roasted, I let them cool. Then I chopped them up. That part was weird because they were obviously roasted and mushy. Some recipes said to blend them but I didn't want a tomatillo smoothie. I put the tomatillo mush in a bowl, added the onions, corn, garlic, salt, and some lime juice, then mixed it all around and it looked pretty much like salsa!
Lastly, I put it on tacos! We had bought some pulled pork so I just put cheese and tomatillo gloop on top and it was REALLY tasty! If I ever find myself with another bowl of tomatillos, I'd definitely do it again.

Meditterraneean Eggplant and Fennel Stew

So as most of you know, I am doing a CSA this year. Some weeks I am better organized than others and use up all my veggies before more come. Well, it's Thursday and I still had eggplant and fennel (and potatoes and corn). So I did a search for "fennel and eggplant." There seemed to be two appealing options: Oven Baked Parmesan Crusted Eggplant and Fennel and Mediterranean Eggplant and Fennel Stew. For some reason I chose the latter (less work I think).
The ingredients were as follows:

fennel, EVOO, onion, garlic, diced tomates, veggie broth, eggpplant, olives (which I omitted), cinnamon, bay leaf (which I forgot to take out), capers (which I omitted) and balsamic vinegar.

It may be because I omitted some things, but this was not very good. Actually the smell was pretty close to nauseating. I think it was the cinnamon. Happily it tasted better than it smelled, and I was able to choke down a bowl full but I won't make this again! I definitely wish I had made the parmesan crusted eggplant!

Everyday Food Magazine - July / August 2009

The Summer issue of EDF was for July & August so I had twice as much time to get through it. I'm not sure I did much better - but here's my recap!

A little known secret about me is that I don't really like chicken. I don't dislike it, but I rarely eat it and love it. I almost never make recipes with chicken, but I did stop to make the Chicken Burger with Roasted Poblano and Onion. I didn't bother to buy buns, so you can see mine on bread. It was actually really good and roasting the poblano was really fun!

The in-season food was corn (pretty obvious choice for the summer). I flagged the recipe for Corn and Shrimp Chowder with Bacon, even though I knew I'd probably never make it. It's a pretty heavy dish for the summer and even in the winter I always feel guilty making stuff that rich.

Also in the in-season section was a recipe for Corn & Zucchini Sautee with Basil that I made the same night I made the Pork & Chorizo Kebabs. Except my kebabs were made with pork & turkey sausage! My local farmer's market has a guy that sells turkey in all forms, one of which is a spicy sausage. I've gotten to be pretty dependent on having some in the house at all times because its an easy way to add protein without spending very much energy at all! I'll have to remember to fill my freezer at the end of the farmer's market season. There was a whole section on kebab's in this issue, but the only other pairing that looked exciting to me was the one for Lamb, Tomato, & Mint Kebabs. The lamb was much tastier than the pork. I highly recommend these!


I also tried their recipe for BBQ Sauce which came out really well. Sadly I made it right around the time my fridge died so it was one of the things that needed to be thrown out that night! One of my most favorite blogs ever is The Pioneer Woman. Often, with the recipes she posts, she posts a "cast of characters" photo that shows everything that went into the recipe. Since, when cooking, I always feel the need to pull everything out ahead of time, it felt really easy to snap my own "cast of characters" picture for the BBQ sauce. Good thing I did, because there's not much to photograph when you're done with BBQ sauce. It looks pretty boring in a jar. So, without further ado, my BBQ sauce cast of characters:


And finally, as always, a list of recipes, I flagged, but never got around to making:

• Chipotle Chicken & Rice (I really intended to make the Quesadilla variation listed in step # 5)
• Grilled Pork Chops with Spice Paste
• Soy-Marinated Flank Steak
• Tuna Nicoise Sandwich
  
• French Toast with Red Wine Nectarines
• Eggplant, Tomato, and Mozzarella Salad