Corn Pudding

Tonight I made this Corn Pudding in Acorn Squash. I love foods that get made inside other foods. That is just so cool. And I love squash, and chives, and corn. This dish really didn't take a lot of prep work, though it does need quite a while in the oven. And if you spill the pudding as you pour it in, like I did, you will have to spend some time scrubbing the burnt pan. But it was good, I totally recommend it, and my picture is even not that bad!

Sweet Potato-Peanut Bisque

My co-worker made this dish and said it was good, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Sweet Potato-Peanut Bisque is a vegetarian soup inspired by a West African peanut soup.

The recipe calls for one pureed sweet potato and one chopped into the soup. Initially, I had a horrible time with the sweet potatoes. I microwaved them for 6 minutes and I think I cooked them too much and they were impossible to peel. They became mush in my hands. I see now I could have just scooped out the flesh and thrown it into the blender. Instead, I wrapped up the potatoes for another meal, and took the broth off the stove.

The next day I tried again with new potatoes and armed with the advice that i should just puree both the potatoes, so i was less concerned with their consistency after microwaving.

This soup came out fantastic. I was really surprised at how filling it was. Also, I used cilantro as a garnish and it just complemented the soup so nicely.

Definitely recommend trying this.

Chickpea Stew with Six Vegetables

Hello Fabulous Cookers
I have been cooking a lot but haven't posted in a while. I just got the cookbook World Vegetarian by Madhur Jaffrey out the library.

This book is like a bible for vegetarian cuisine. It is over 750 pages long, and she dedicates a lot of time to describing various ingredients and spices. There are color photos in the middle that depicts everything from tofu varieties to different grains, etc.

I made Chickpea Stew with Six Vegetables. There are over 17 ingredients in this recipe, and I have to admit I didn't get them all or follow all instructions. For example, she is very much into fresh chickpeas, which involve a lot of soaking for many hours. I used canned instead. I left out the saffron, cayenne. She recommends eating it with a spicy Harissa sauce, which I left out.

It was very delicious and hearty, but I bet it would have more kick with all of the other ingredients.

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!