Food to Make

OMG things look tasty.


Double Coconut Muffins


Homemade Sauerkraut


Dried Apricot Jam


Vanilla Crumb Pie


Chicken with Mustard Cream Sauce

Life is Busy

Man, who knew that classes could keep a person busy? Add in guest performing for a local symphony, applying to a local wind ensemble, and cooking tasty meals with friends, and you have a full schedule.

But yeah, my studio prof invited me to perform with the symphony that he's a member of. First concert was hard as hell as I didn't get the music and I sightread it for the two rehearsals I attended. I get the music for the concert at the end of this month this Thursday. :-P

I have a happy new reed that I made last week. I love having working reeds. The second clarinetist in orchestra sharpened my knives for me as I'm terrible at it.

The county wind ensemble is looking for oboists -- I've put in my application, and the conductor should be getting in contact...

Have I mentioned that I received venison from my dad? We just cooked some tasty venison steak tonight with brussel sprouts. So tasty. And on Saturday, Mister and I went to a local sausage maker and bought knockwurst, smoked Hungarian sausage and smoked Polish sausage. Add in my buddy Martin's fried cabbage, our mashed potatoes with cheese, sourdough bread with spread and lots of beer, and you have the recipe for an awesome night. Sometimes, food really is the greatest thing in life.

On the wedding front: the invitations are in, Mister and I are just hammering out the guest list. I think we're pretty close, although K, you know some of the problems. :-P I've also been poking some more at the dress and possibilities for shoes. The bandmaster of the group we want to hire is incredibly busy so hasn't gotten back to confirm details, but we're pretty sure that it'll work out. We still need to contact the caterer. We had a design session with our jeweler, and good news! The design I want, and the size that I need are in her stock selection. She just has to adjust the size slightly (from a 5.5 to a 5.25). Mister's ring requires a bit more. But knowing that mine'll be pretty cheap makes me happy.

And I think that's life!

Lurking

I'm sure most of us are familiar with this feeling. Currently, there is a cabbage lurking in my fridge. Just seeing it in the store meant that I had to buy it, as it's one of my favorite things about fall. So, Mister laid down the law that I need to do something with it (by which I mean he remarked 'oh hey, did you know that we have cabbage?'). I looked quickly at those recipes that I have ear-marked for cabbage and came up with a couple options.

The Cabbage and White Bean Soup that I made last year from 101 Cookbooks, Hungarian Noodles and cabbage, and Cabbage Pierogi Filling

I'll probably not make pierogi tonight, as that's a massive amount of work, that one's out. I've left it up to Mister as whether he wants soup or noodles. I know that both are tasty.

Some Recipes to Make

Limoncello Cheesecake Bites (I'd probably use REAL cream cheese.)
Turkish Fermented Cabbage
Shaker Squash Bread -- I have a few that need to be eaten NOW...
Sri Lankan Mustard

"Okay, tip for your Recipes to Make Soon post: when making the Sri Lankan, mustard, remember to add salt to the ginger and garlic and mustard seeds when soaking, not after! Mustard seeds ground or pasted without the salt seeping in will turn inedibly bitter.

Also, the turmeric is just for colour, not taste. You can skip if you like. And try to substitute green chilies instead of cayenne powder. Okay, all done :-)" -- R

Cooking for Tonight

Mister has invited a coworker back to our place for dinner and cards tonight. We have the Beekeeper's Cabbage that I made yesterday, some kielbasa that we picked up last night (FYI? we need a new source of kielbasa -- this will be the last that I buy from the grocery store... MSG...), and then what to have as another side? The beekeeper's cabbage would be enough for two, but probably not for three. So I poked around my fridge, and we also have green beans leftover from my stirfry, leeks from the farmer's market, potatoes, eggs, lots of options...

After checking in at Heidi Swanson's site, I think that I've decided upon Vibrant Green Beans as my second side. It uses the leeks, uses the beans, and I'll use a spice other than dill (as I apparently don't care for it).

Also, would love to try this recipe for delicata squash, as I have a couple of those around, and am interested in fun and exciting ways to cook them!

Lots of Cooking

So on Thursday (initially intended for Wednesday night) I made a stir-fry. It's been SO LONG since I've made one, that people who've only had my cooking within the past 6 months or so don't honestly know that a stir-fry used to be my standby (it's apparently now baked pasta :-P). Very tasty, in case you were wondering!

Friday night, Mister and I went out for Tex-Mex, as we had to go shopping, and neither of us had eaten much that day.

Saturday night, Mister and I went to his uncle's house for dinner. More specifically, his uncle's SO was to show us how to make sauces. We wound up making: Root Vegetable turnovers (beet, parsnip, puff pastry), Tenderloin with Mushroom Sauce (see post), Diced Potatoes with Herbs, Asparagus with Hollandaise Sauce (see post), and Individual Apple Crisps with Vanilla Sauce (didn't get recipe... :-\). It was an amazing meal, and all involved agreed that it needs to happen again soon.

And now, as I write, I have Beekeeper's Cabbage in the oven. The cabbage, the parsnips, and the apple NEEDED to get cooked a.s.a.p., and I kept meaning to get around to it... so while I while away the time before work, I figured I'd pop it in the oven. My modifications to the recipe are: set to 325F instead of 300F (I need to cook it faster :-P), it's half of a decent sized green onion, not red, it's 3-4 small parsnips, probably closer to 2 Tbs. of honey, and the vinegar that I have is apple cider vinegar, that had had shallots in it at one point. Also, phooey on the parchment paper and close-fitting lid -- I just buttered a cookie sheet, and laid it on top.

So all in all, it might turn out disastrous! But I'd rather cook and have it flop, than throw out food that I never touched.

Cabbage remains

As I used half of a GLORIOUS cabbage yesterday (I love those guys -- I am buying all of my cabbage from them!), I needed to figure out what I'm doing with the remainder. I think I'll cook Beekeeper's Cabbage as it looks tasty, and I have all of the ingredients that are begging to be used!

The question is what to cook for food tonight, since I'll be at work until close, but then having friends over. I make baked pasta a lot, so I'd rather avoid that. I also need to cook squash this week, and Thursday was a good day last year...

Man, I wish my crockpot wasn't in storage atm...

Also, some random recipes to save:
Pounded Walnut Pesto
Giant Chipotle White Beans
Bean Mole with Winter Squash <-- definately doing this next week! We have a bottle of mole that's been sitting here for as long as Mister and I have been together.

Soup

'Tis a happy soup season. I love soup, and I love making soup. The funny thing is, that even though I tried to make a light, thin soup, it still came out thick on me!

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
a big pinch of salt
1/2 pound potatoes, skin on, cut 1/4-inch pieces
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
5 cups stock
1 1/2 cups white beans, precooked or canned (drained & rinsed well)
1/2 medium cabbage, cored and sliced into 1/4-inch ribbons

more good-quality extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Soak beans overnight. Drain, and cook at a simmer for 1.5 hours.

Actually start by weighing potatoes. Realize that 1/2# potatoes is ONE potato, grab another, and a little shrivled redskin potato as well. Chop. Dice onion, and 4.5 cloves of garlic (one little one had so many bad spots...).

Heat olive oil in a frying pan, and start frying potatoes. When they start to get a little color, throw in the onions and garlic and cook until they become aromatic and NOT burned. If you have too many potatoes for your pan (*cough), please do it in batches, and do 1/2 of the onions/garlic in each batch. When potatoes/onion/garlic is cooked, toss it in a pot.

Add the beans that you had been previously soaking (after draining them), without bothering to measure.

Add the carton of stock (~4 cups of chicken stock) and 2 cups of water. Yes, I added more liquid. Also throw in salt, pepper, bay leaf, cumin and paprika. Cook until the stock is fully heated.

Add the sliced cabbage to the soup and despair that your pot is rather small. Cook the cabbage until soft.

Serve with bread, and topped with grated romano and fried onions.



Is that not the most beautiful food picture I've ever taken?

Verdict? Absolutely delicious. And we have yet to have the anticipated problems arising from beans + cabbage... :-P Also, would probably taste delicious with the potatoes fried in bacon fat. But then again, most things taste better with bacon.

N.B. -- after looking at the original recipe again, I realized that she DICED her potato, not sliced into 1/4" pieces... that's how she can get away with only one potato.

Cabbage Revisited

A while back, I posted quite a few recipes using cabbage in anticipation of cabbage season. Folks, cabbage season is upon us! As we have two green cabbages and one chinese cabbage in the fridge (to be made into kim chee if Mister ever finds that Korean grocer...) the time has come to try some of those recipes out!

Now, I could just make stuffed cabbage (or galumpsies or hawupsie as it can be called), but that'd be boring. I want more cabbage recipes! And preferably one that does not involve me boiling cabbage, then burning my fingers, and boiling it again. :-P So I have narrowed down the list to five... er, six. There is a latecomer.

Cabbage au Gratin
Baked Cabbage
Beekeeper's Cabbage
Polish Sausage and Cabbage
Hungarian Noodles and Cabbage
Cabbage, Potato and Bean Soup


I think that they all would be quite tasty, and I am leaving the decision from here up to Mister. Hopefully he'll make one! I mean, picking two out of six shouldn't be that hard, should it?



Cabbages!

Food!

As it is trash day tomorrow morning, I cleaned out the fridge, and took stock of what's in there. (I also discovered that Mister DOES have ketchup and mustard -- which I was lamenting all summer that he didn't...) To keep track of my plans involving food, I'm just gonna throw stuff at this post.

Monday: leftover chicken stew
Tuesday: leftover pancake for breakfast, fried sausage for dinner (perhaps a starch of some sort as well?)
Wednesday: Eggs/bacon for breakfast, fried pickles for lunch, Zucchini/Ricotta cheesecake for dinner
Thursday: bacon/cheese scones for breakfast, hummus/chips for lunch, pizza for dinner
Friday: brekkie? Lasagne Pie for dinner (but with the top coat of mozz.)
Saturday: brekkie? blackbean/andouille sausage soup w/ corn bread for dinner
Sunday: brekkie? Sausage Kebabs for dinner

Shopping List: more ricotta, dill?, lemon, eggs, goat cheese?, tomato sauce, dried beans, fig preserves, cherry tomatoes, pita chips

Also, here are some interesting recipes:

ANDUOILLE, KALE, WHITE BEAN, & POTATO SOUP......MMMMM EXCELLENT!

Ingredients; I use mostly organic prepared ingredients because they contain far fewer ingredients/additives and generally no wheat or other gluten laced additives.

1 lb of 1/4" sliced organic Andouille Sausage. I used the Uncle something or another brand that's readily available.
8 cups of low sodium organic chicken broth
1 head Kale washed, chopped in strips and remove tough stems
4 roma tomato's, drained, seeded, and diced
2 cans of white beans washed and drained
1 large white onion chopped
3 garlic cloves chopped
Kosher salt at the end so not to over salt
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
2-3 cap fulls of balsamic or red wine vinager
2 thick cut Russett Potato's or Yukon Gold (Wait a little longer to add the Yukon as they are much softer...much tastier as well)

Directions:
Brown sausage in large soup pot
Add chopped onion to pot and cook for 2 minutes
Add garlic and potato chunks and sautee for 2 minutes
Add Kale and sautee for 2-3 minutes stirring until wilted evenly coated
Add chicken broth and vinegar and bring to a boil and then simmer with cover for 40 min.
Add chopped tomato, white beans, and kosher salt and simmer covered for 20-30 minutes or until desired doneness.

Serve with warm crusty bread or corn bread. Enjoy!


Dill Pickle Soup (Zupa Ogorkowa)

And some lovely Wiki info:

Hot soups


Shchi
Shchi (cabbage soup) had been the predominant first course in Russian cuisine for over a thousand years. Although tastes have changed, it steadily made its way through several epochs. Shchi knew no social class boundaries, and even if the rich had richer ingredients and the poor made it solely of cabbage and onions, all these "poor" and "rich" variations were cooked in the same tradition. The unique taste of this cabbage soup was from the fact that after cooking it was left to draw (stew) in a Russian stove. The "Spirit of shchi" was inseparable from a Russian izba (log hut). Many Russian proverbs are connected to this soup, such as Shchi da kasha pishcha nasha ("Shchi and porridge are our food"). It can be eaten regularly, and at any time of the year.
The richer variant of shchi includes several ingredients, but the first and last components are a must:
Cabbage.
Meat (very rarely fish or mushrooms).
Carrots or parsley roots.
Spicy herbs (onions, celery, dill, garlic, pepper, bay leaf).
Sour components (smetana, apples, sauerkraut, pickle water).
When this soup is served, smetana is added. It is eaten with rye bread. During much of the year when the Orthodox Christian Church prescribes abstinence from meat and dairy, a vegan version of shchi is made. "Kislye" (sour) schi are made from pickled cabbage (sauerkraut), "serye" (grey) schi from the green outer leaves of the cabbage head. "Zelyonye" (green) schi are made from sorrel leaves, not cabbage, and used to be a popular summer soup.

Ukha is a warm watery fish dish, however calling it a fish soup would not be absolutely correct. "Ukha" as a name for fish broth was established only in the late 17th to early 18th centuries. In earlier times this name was first given to thick meat broths, and then later chicken. Beginning from the 15th century, fish was more and more often used to prepare ukha, thus creating a dish that had a distinctive taste among soups.
A minimum of vegetables is added in preparation, and in classical cooking ukha was simply a rich fish broth served to accompany fish pies (rasstegai, kuliebiaka, etc.). These days it is more often a fish soup, cooked with potatoes and other vegetables. A wide variety of freshwater fish is traditionally used.

Rassolnik is a hot soup in a salty-sour cucumber base. This dish formed in Russian cuisine quite late—only in the 19th century. About this time the name rassolnik was attached to it, originating from the Russian word "rassol" which means brine (pickle water). Pickle water was known to be used as base for soups from the 15th century at the latest. Its concentration and ratio with other liquids and soup components gave birth to different soups: solyanka, pohmelka, and of course rassolnik. The latest are moderately sour-salty soups on pickled cucumber base. Some are vegetarian, but more often with products like veal or beef kidneys or all poultry giblets (stomach, liver, heart, neck, feet). For best taste there has to be a balance between the sour part and neutral absorbers (cereals, potatoes, root vegetables). Typical rassolnik is based on kidneys, brine (and pickles), vegetables and barley.
Kal'ya was a very common dish first served in the 16th–17th centuries. Subsequently it almost completely disappeared from Russian cuisine. Often it was incorrectly called "fish rassolnik." The cooking technique is mostly the same as of ukha, but to the broth were added pickled cucumbers, pickle water, lemons and lemon juice, either separately or all together. The main characteristic of kal'ya is that only fat, rich fish was used; sometimes caviar was added along with the fish. More spices are added, and the soup turns out more piquant and thicker than ukha. Formerly kal'ya was considered a festivity dish.

Solyanka is a thick, piquant soup that combines components from schi (cabbage, smetana) and rassolnik (pickle water and cucumbers), spices such as olives, capers, tomatoes, lemons, lemon juice, kvass, salted and pickled mushrooms are make up a considerably strong sour-salty base of the soup. Solyanka is much thicker than other soups, about 1/3 less liquid ratio. Three types are distinguished: meat, fish, and simple solyanka. The first two are cooked on strong meat or fish broths, and the last on mushroom or vegetable broth. All the broths are mixed with cucumber pickle water.

Lapsha (noodle soup) was adopted by Russians from Tatars, and after some transformation became widespread in Russia. It comes in three variations: chicken, mushroom, and milk. Cooking all three is simple, including preparation of noodles, cooking of corresponding broth, and boiling of noodles in broth. Noodles are based on the same wheat flour or buckwheat/wheat flour mix. Mixed flour noodles go better with mushroom or milk broth.

Borsch is made of broth, beets, and tomato juice with various vegetables. Vegetables include onions, cabbage, tomato, carrots, and celery. Broth is usually made from beef and is heated while ingredients are added. Borsch can be made vegan, served hot or cold. Typically, it is served with white bread and Smetana.

Cabbage Recipes To Try

These all look so good... I wish I had a cabbage RIGHT NOW. For some reason, I'm not interested in Asian cabbage dishes -- but East European look juuuuuuuuuust right.

Hungarian Noodles and Cabbage
Jane Brody's High Calcium Cabbage Bread
Pierogi Cabbage Filling
Ukrainian Steamed Cabbage Souffle
Polish Sausage and Cabbage
Beekeeper's Cabbage
Company Cabbage
Mrs. Howard's Baked Cabbage
Queensland Cabbage
Cabbage Strudel
Cabbage in Caraway Cream
Cabbage Au Gratin