Sesame Noodles

I made this for dinner tonight, and was reminded that it's one of my favorites. I stole this recipe from Shelley Girdner who got it from Deborah Madsen's Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone. It's a potluck favorite (she brought it to Garrett's dissertation defense cookout) and is good hot or cold. This is one of those recipes that can be a bit pricey for start-up because a few of these items aren't necessarily in everyone's kitchen, but after that, it's pretty cheap. 

You'll need:

1/4 C. sesame oil

3 Tbsp dark (or toasted) sesame oil

7 Tbsp soy sauce

3 Tbsp Chinese black or balsamic vinegar (I use balsamic)

3 1/2 Tbsp dark brown sugar

2 tsp salt

2 tsp chili oil (I use Mongolian fire oil)

1 Tbsp ginger 

1-2 cloves garlic

1/4 C. cilantro (optional)

1 bunch asparagus

1 bunch scallions

1/4 C. sesame seeds (optional)

1 package whole wheat thin spaghetti or 14 oz. pkg Chinese rice noodles (I use whole wheat pasta)

Marinade:

Combine 

1/4 C sesame oil

3 Tbsp dark sesame oil

7 Tbsp soy sauce

3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

3 1/2 Tbsp dark brown sugar

2 tsp salt

2 tsp chili oil

1 Tbsp fresh minced ginger

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1/4 C. cilantro, chopped

Mix together and stir to dissolve sugar

The noodles and asparagus:

Rinse asparagus and trim off woody ends (about 1/4 inch on bottom). Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add a little salt and asparagus. Boil until bright green and tender firm, just a few minutes. Scoop out asparagus and rinse under cold water to stop cooking. Set on towel to dry.

Cook noodles according to package in the (already boiling) asparagus water. (if you're using rice noodles, make sure you pull the noodles apart with your fingers before adding to the boiling water). Strain noodles. (If using rice noodles, rinse under cold water and shake off excess water.)

Rinse and trim the "roots" off the scallions, then thinly slice scallions, including some firm greens.

Toss noodles with marinade, most of the scallions, and most of the toasted sesame seeds and asparagus. Mound them in a bowl or on a platter and garnish with the remaining asparagus, scallions, and sesame seeds. 

Refrigerate leftovers. This heats up fine, but, as I said, is also good cold. It's nice for a summer potluck (or dinner) if served cold. 

[To toast sesame seeds: You can do this on the stovetop or in the oven. If toasting on the stove top, use a wide frying pan. Heat the seeds on medium heat, shaking pan occasionally. Remove seeds when they start to darken and become fragrant (3-5 min). If doing this in the oven, preheat oven to 325 F. Spread the seeds on a baking sheet. Bake until seeds start to darken and become fragrant -- 10-15 minutes. Let cool.]

Another change

Okay, I changed the template AGAIN and I took Braden's advice about more foody colors. I'm pretty happy with this one. It seems warmer and more readable. That said, I'm open to suggestions.

The Varley Margarita

I mentioned a margarita, and people ask me for this "recipe" all the time. I credit it to Anna Varley. My first year in grad school, I went to a party at Anne's house. Anna was going to make margaritas, but got distracted by something and asked us to do it. "What do I do?" "Pour in one bottle of tequila, one bottle of triple sec, and then squeeze these limes into it," she said, handing me about five limes.

oohhhhhhhkay.

I remember trying to drink the first one and thinking it was awful.

That's one of the last things I remember clearly. I have fuzzy visions of Anne singing "Love is a Battlefield" into a broomstick, and Anna teaching us how to shake our asses, Latin-style, in the livingroom. 

So Anna Varley gets the credit for this one and it is so named, in her honor, the Varley margarita. Despite my first "it was awful," it turns out this is one of my favorite drinks. I rarely get a margarita as good as this. It is, by the way, on ice. None of that blended stuff.

You'll need

tequila

triple sec

limes

ice

When I make this by the glass, I tend toward

2 shots tequila

2 shots triple sec

1 fresh lime, squeezed 

I very much like my hand juicer -- just a little plastic deal you can pick up from Walmart, Target, or a cooking store. It gets A LOT of juice out. If you're having people over, buy at least 9 limes.

I don't tend to make these by the pitcher -- I think they're better by the glass -- but I'm guessing it's somewhere around 

2 parts tequila

2 parts triple sec

1 part fresh lime juice

You can make it with not-fresh (bottled, or in that tiny lime-shaped thing) lime juice, but honestly, it's not nearly as good.

Somebody JUST asked me for a tequila recommendation, and my favorite right now is Hussong's. It's in a little black jug. About $38 bucks a bottle or so. 

"Anne's" Guacamole

I got this recipe from Anne, but the "Anne's" is in quotes, so I'm guessing she got it from someone, too.

It's Mexican night back in NH (Mike G's birthday), which made me decide I should make some guac and a margarita. So here goes:

1 ripe avocado

2/3 C. cottage cheese

2 Tbsp FRESH lime juice (makes a huge difference)

1 Tbsp chopped scallions

2 green chilies

2 garlic cloves, pressed

pepper to taste

1 tomato, chopped

mix everything but the tomato and a 1/4 of the 'cado in a food processor. I add an extra clove of garlic (shock) and a bit of salt. Billy is VERY against the cottage cheese and honestly, it's optional, but it gives it a smoother texture. I also throw in a bit of crushed red pepper. 

ANYWAY, mix in a food processor or chop all that stuff pretty fine and mix it by hand. If you're using a food processor, when you're done, smash the last 1/4 'cado into it to give it a chunkier texture. 

Remove the seeds from the tomato and chop the rest and mix it in. You can just throw in the whole chopped tomato, seeds and all, but it's a bit watery.

I leave out the tomato pretty often cuz I don't love tomatoes. 

new template

You might have noticed that I changed the template. I didn't think the other was particularly readable. Thoughts?

Braden's Extra Garlic-y Garlic Bread

So easy, so simple, so good.

Ingredients:

-Good Crusty Bread

-Garlic Cloves

-Olive Oil

-Salt and Pepper

Directions:

1. Toast the Bread until it has a crisp surface (soft toast won't work)

2. Peel a garlic clove and rub it on the surface of the bread. As you rub, you'll be grating the surface off the clove and right onto the bread. Use as many cloves as it takes to get the job done.

3. Drizzle it with olive oil, salt it, pepper it. 

4. Put in your face. 

Country French Salad

Oh Yeah, kids. We're doing it up, warm salad style. This recipe is a good way to get yourself eating greens in the winter, when you probably want something hot. It adds a few calories in the form of egg and bacon, but sometimes you gotta grease up roughage to make it taste right, am I right?

Hell yeah.

Ingredients (for one person)

-3-5 slices of bacon

-1 egg

-1 head of romaine lettuce, cut in half lengthwise. (you only need 1/2 for this recipe, so stick the other half in the fridge)

-dijon mustard

-honey

-1 small shallot

-red wine vinegar

-olive oil

-salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Get the bacon frying in a medium sized saucepan. Also, fill a small saucepan with about 2-3 inches of water and and 1/8 cup of vinegar to it. Bring this to 180 degrees. You can use a thermometer if you want, but you'll know it's at the right temperature when there are bubbles along the sides of the pan. 

2. While the bacon is cooking, whip up the dressing by mincing the shallot and combining it with a teaspoon of honey, a tablespoon of the mustard, a few splashes of vinegar and some olive oil to top it off. Whisk or beat together with a fork. 

3. When the bacon is nice and crispy, remove it to a paper towel for draining

4. Pour off most of the bacon fat in the saucepan and turn the heat to low

5. Put 1/2 of the head of lettuce flat-side down in the pan. Be careful. The amount of water in lettuce can make things splatter a bit. 

6. While the lettuce warms, crack your egg into a small bowl and slip it gently into the 180 degree water. Leave for 3-5 minutes. 3 minutes should still leave a bit of liquid in the center, while 5 minutes should mostly solidify things. If you hate runny centers, you can leave the egg in there for up to ten minutes and it should be fine. 

7. When the lettuce is mostly warmed, pull it off the heat and chop it into wedges. Remove the egg from the water with a slotted spoon and place it on top of the warmed lettuce. Crumble the bacon on top, drizzle the dressing on top of that, salt it, pepper, and chow down. Blammo.

Oh yeah - this is good with bread. Especially Braden's extra garlic-y garlic bread. Recipe to come.

Chili?

Okay, it is COLD pretty much everywhere lately, which puts me in the mood for chili. My chili -- as many of you know -- is some sort of bastardized spaghetti. It's basically chili "sauce" over shell pasta. But whatever, right? So nobody wants my chili recipe, trust me. On the other hand, I'm thinking some of us would like YOUR chili recipe. So if you've got a good one, share, yeah?

The kids love this quick dinner. You'll need:
One package Hillshire Farm Sweet Italian Sausage
One package fresh spinach
One large can chicken broth
Six potatoes
1/2 cup milk or cream

Since the seasoning for the whole soup comes from the sausage, it is important to get the right kind of sausage. Sweet Italian Sausage will give it the same flavor as the popular Olive Garden soup.

Place the sausage on a baking sheet (if you line with tin foil, clean up will be easy). If they are thawed, remove the skins before baking. If they are frozen, you can remove the casing after they are baked. Bake at 350 for about 1/2 hour - until the sausage begin to split and boil. While they are baking, peel and slice the potatoes into bite-sized pieces. Boil in a large pot with just enough water to cover them (important to not use too much water). When the potatoes are done (about 20 minutes) add the whole can of chicken broth to the potatoes and water and bring to a boil again. Once boiling, shut off the burner completely. Add the whole package of spinach (stems removed if these will bother you) and cover to wilt the spinach. While these are wilting, chop the baked sausage. Add sausage to soup. Add 1/2 cup milk or cream and stir. Once the spinach and cream are added, do not boil the soup, although you can keep it warm on low heat.

Limoncello

Hey, all. I'm posting this because John and I are making a batch of it right now. It's fantastic. I use 100 proof vodka because, according to various sites, the higher the proof, the less flavor the vodka has.

It makes this viscous, lemony, potent alcohol that can be sipped straight or mixed with tonic/sparkling water.

C/ped from the Washington Post, with notes from me:

Limoncello

Makes about 3 1/4 quarts. Those who are lucky enough to receive this homemade lemon liqueur should keep it in the freezer, where it turns a milky white after 8 to 9 hours.

20 large lemons, preferably organic (yes, organic) (get bigger lemons with thick skins)

Two 750-milliliter bottles grain alcohol (I used 100 proof Smirnoff)

5 1/2 cups water

6 cups sugar

Wash and dry the lemons. With a paring knife, remove the ends. With a vegetable peeler, remove only the yellow rind, leaving the pith intact. (This is serious business about the pith. The peels can't have any of the white stuff on them as it will make the limoncello bitter.) (You're going to have twenty peeled lemons at the end of this, head's up)

Place the lemon peel in a 4-quart Mason jar with a rubber-seal lid (I bought mine at Michael's). Add the grain alcohol, making sure the lemon peel is completely covered. Store in a cool, dark place, shaking the jar once each day to agitate the lemon peel. (Once a week is fine.)

On the 13th day (You can go longer, just make sure it's over ten days. The longer you go, the better it will be. Don't exceed a month), bring the water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add the sugar and remove from the heat, stirring until it is dissolved. Cover and let cool to room temperature.

Place a colander on top of the saucepan and strain in the contents of the Mason jar. (This part requires more patience than you might think.) Discard the lemon peel. Stir to combine the liquids, about 1 minute. Transfer back to the Mason jar. Store for 3 (2 is fine) weeks in a cool, dark place, shaking to agitate the liquid twice a day. (You'll want to shake it more reguarly because of the sugar, but you don't have to do it every day).

After 3 weeks, transfer the limoncello to smaller bottles that can be sealed with rubber stoppers. Store bottles in freezer. Serve directly from the freezer.

(With two people, the zesting part will take 1.5 - 2 hours. Totally worth it.)

All best, biz

Not Quite Billy's risotto

Billy makes fantastic risotto. I've modified it a bit to my own taste, but this is basically his recipe. I made it last night and have been eating left-overs today. Love it. This is a half recipe that easily feeds 3-4, if you ask me, but you can absolutely double it.

First, ideally you'd get out your risotto pan, but if you don't have one or a good saucier, you can make this in a big high sided skillet. 

You'll need:

Arborio rice (1 C.)

1-2 medium boxes chicken broth, or vegetable or seafood stock. (I use chicken and I always    make sure I have 2 boxes, just in case)

butter (about 1/4 stick)

shrimp (1/2 lb or so)

bunch asparagus

1 large pack baby bella mushrooms

head of garlic

1/2 medium red onion or small red onion

extra virgin olive oil

To Prep:

1. Wash & trim the woody ends off of the asparagus. Then steam or boil until just barely done. Shock in a big bowl of ice water to stop cooking. Lately, in the name of laziness, I've taken to using the zip and steam bags. I steam the asparagus about 2 minutes or so. I think that works just fine. Then I shock them in cold water, drain, and set aside. 

2. Sautee raw, shelled, large/jumbo shrimp in butter and about 5 cloves of garlic until just done. Set aside. OR, thaw cooked frozen shrimp and remove the tails. Set aside. If you choose to do it this way (and to save on dirtying pans, I have lately), you'll want to add more garlic  to Cooking #1 and throw in a hunk of butter (1/5-1/4 stick?) with the first cup of broth.

3. Chop 1/2 medium red onion (or a rather small one)

4. Crush and chop (another) 8 cloves of garlic.

5. Quarter pack of baby bella mushrooms (you can use white, if you'd rather)

6. When asparagus has cooled, chop into bit sized pieces.

Cooking:

1. Sautee the chopped red onion in EVOO for a few minutes. Then add the quartered mushrooms and garlic. (If you're using pre-cooked shrimp -- not sauteed -- then add the extra 5 crushed and chopped cloves of garlic as well. Keep in mind, too, that I LOVE garlic, so you can probably do with just the original 8 cloves if that's more your speed.) Sautee until they look close to done (7-10 minutes), stirring often. 

2. Move the mushrooms, garlic, and onions to the sides of the pan. Add another Tbsp or so of EVOO and 1 C. Arborio rice. Cook rice, stirring often, for about 5 minutes or until well-coated.

3. Add 1 C. broth.

4. Cook, stirring constantly, until the broth is completely absorbed.

5. Continue adding broth about 1/2 C. at a time, allowing each addition to be absorbed before adding the next. Don't let the rice cook "dry," though. This whole process will take a good half an hour or so and you'll use between 4-6 C of broth.

6. When you've got about one C. of broth left to add, add the shrimp. If you've sauteed the shrimp in butter and garlic, add the shrimp and most of the garlic butter mixture.

7. When it's almost done, add the asparagus.

8. Risotto is done when rice is tender but firm to the bite and risotto is creamy in texture.

9. Remove from heat and serve immediately with freshly shredded Parmesan shavings, if desired.