And the first ‘best recipe’ of 2012 is…

…Thai Curry Stew with Turkey and Zucchini!

I’d yanked this recipe out of November’s CL (I took A LOT of recipes from that one… Must have been all that Thanksgiving yumminess) since it looked like something Andrew would like. It was one of two ‘how to use turkey leftovers’ recipes from famed NYT columnist Mark Bittman, so I knew it would be good.

Despite zucchini being terribly out of season, I thought I’d give it a whirl anyway. I was lucky enough to take home some of our leftover turkey from grandma’s and after measuring out the 3 cups I’d need, threw it promptly in the freezer until I had time to make the soup.

It’s fantastic! It’s a bit hot; I used 1.5 of the 1 to 2 dried Thai chiles called for. I don’t know that I’d use fewer chiles next time; I think my palate is becoming more and more tolerant of heat these days (must be eating too many wings…). It’s also a little hands-on; you basically grind up your spices, chiles, coconut milk, garlic and cilantro in a food processor before adding them to your cooking onions and carrots. Once you’ve done that, though, you’re pretty much done. Throw in some of the zucchini, simmer for 45 minutes, blend (optional), then add the rest of the zucchini and the turkey. It’s served over brown rice, but you could just have it as soup, too.

As I was getting everything ready, I realized it would be a fantastic time to try out another recipe I’d been hanging onto for awhile now: Carrot-Ginger Salad Dressing. You know that dressing that comes on salads when you go to a Hibachi/Japanese Steakhouse? THAT’S what I’m talking about. I adore it and always try to savor the flavors in my mouth in hopes of recreating at home. Real Simple featured a recipe and I yanked it as well, and have been holding onto it ever since.

Since I was making this on a whim, I had to look up a sub for miso (white soybean paste that adds a salty flavor) and I had a couple from which to choose: tahini (fresh out–darn), soy sauce (didn’t seem like it would really work since the textures are so different) and anchovy paste. Of all the things to have on-hand, ANCHOVY PASTE was the winner! Thank you, Heather, for your generous donation of tubed anchovy paste to my fridge during your move this summer. It was a lifesaver!

It came out a bit intense on the salt/vinegar side, so I added a dash of lime juice to brighten it up. All in all, I think it’s a great recipe, but it was pretty vinegar-y, so I made some notes to myself for next time. Less vinegar/salt and add orange juice. A friend told me she’d looked into the recipe and that OJ was an ingredient, which I think would add a bit of brightness and sweetness without adding to the tart/vinegar flavor it already has.

If you’re at all into Thai and/or curry flavors, the stew would be right up your alley. I know I’ll be making this again–it’s the perfect ‘post’ post-Thanksgiving meal… You know, after you’ve had a day or so to eat the actual Thanksgiving leftovers just like you did for the big day.

it was a german kind of night (a few nights ago…)

OK, so school has really taken a toll on blogging, among other things… Admittedly, blogging (here and for the c0-op) is potentially the ONE area of my life that really can drop off a bit, so I had to let it. Oh, it’s been hard. There has been guilt. There has been worry. There have been myriad un-published posts swirling around in my head since September. But drop it did. Thankfully, with my new iPhone, blogging hasn’t completely disappeared; the short posts it allows me to upload have been my saving grace this semester. I’m even toying with the idea of blogging with it primarily, instead of trying to make it to the computer all the time…

Anyway, here’s yet another post that was written long ago and is just now being finished and uploaded…(sigh).

I made sauerbraten and spaetzle Friday night. Andrew and I traveled around Germany a year or so after we got married and have lots of happy memories of the country, the trip and the food. We’re BIG foodies; WHERE we eat on trips is potentially the biggest part, at least for me.

Anyway, I saw a recipe for sauerbraten and homemade spaetzle in a Food Network magazine forever ago and ripped it out, knowing I would make it someday. Well, that day came Friday. Actually, it started Tuesday by marinating the roast in a mix of red wine, beef broth, red wine vinegar and onions with all sorts of spices, to include juniper berries. Thank goodness Wegmans has juniper berries! I’ve been known to go on wild-goose chases for ingredients, and I don’t have that kind of time right now.

Basically, sauerbraten is a roast with a bit of a vinegar-y flavor. We both really like it. It cooks in a similar way as well, so when I got home from school Friday, I took it out of the fridge and after a short “decompressing period” (not for the meat, for me) I started cooking.

The sauerbraten was PHENOMENAL. Andrew announced it as a “top 10” and couldn’t get enough. The sauce was rich and thick with just the right “bite” to it.

I served it with the homemade spaetzle; the recipe for which was featured on the opposite side of the page. I love doing that–making a whole ‘meal’ I find in a magazine, or making each component from scratch–it just feels better that way.

However… Spaetzle, I have learned, is not for the weak. And I’m not weak, so I’m not sure who it’s for. Either that, or a spaetzle press is a mandatory accessory. Basically, you make an egg-y dough and force it through the large holes of a colander, while holding it over boiling water. Sounds OK, right? WRONG. The dough was so thick and springy that it was terribly difficult to get it through the holes, not to mention the awkward position of having to hold it over the stove. It took about 45 minutes and I thought my forearms were going to fall off my body. Never gain. Next time, I’ll look for it at Wegmans.

I also made a “sweet hot” cabbage recipe Andrew loves. It’s another Food Network magazine find and since he won’t eat sauerkraut, it’s my go-to cabbage dish for meals with pork and apples or sausages or something. And anytime I make coleslaw I have to bring out all the cabbage recipes I can find; I refuse to buy pre-cut coleslaw mix, and cutting up those heads of cabbage yield SO MUCH. After making some coleslaw and this recipe, I still have a ton left, so I’m trying a sauteed cabbage recipe in a couple nights. Thankfully, other than drying out a bit, cabbage keeps for awhile in the fridge.

What a mess! (Andrew did the dishes–hence the photo–what a sweetie!)

Streudel is such a German dish and Andrew loves it, so I thought I’d whip up an apple crostata with a pie dough I had in the freezer. Well, things never go as planned for me (go figure…) and dinner was later than I had thought, so I actually ended up making this a couple nights later when Carolyn and Ben came over for a movie. It actually worked out well; more people means fewer leftovers to tempt me!

Today is my day “off,” which I hope will be filled with chemistry and present-wrapping!

see, cauliflower isn’t so bad…

I’ll admit, I was a little wary serving something with cauliflower in it… The last time I did, Andrew and I got into a screaming match over whether I HAD or HAD NOT made vegetable korma (with cauliflower) knowing he’d hate it. (Truth: I never make anything I know he’ll abhor. I do, however, make things that include ingredients he doesn’t care for. In all honesty, I didn’t like the vegetable korma, either.)

I (finally!) made kale chips. Andrew LOVED them. LOVED. I have to admit, I didn’t. I think it was a texture thing. They got so crisp that they kind of disintegrated as you bit into them, which I didn’t like. If that isn’t the texture I’m going for, someone let me know!

(BTW, I’m whipping this up at 5 a.m. before I head the gym…Hadrian decided it was time to get up at 4 a.m. and after making Andrew take him out–hey, he had three more hours to sleep compared to my ONE–I decided to cut my losses and just get up. That, and Odie was making too much noise licking plastic…)

I reheated the second loaf of sourdough in the over. No, we didn’t go through a whole one last night, but after lunches today, there wasn’t much left! I made the BEST muenster and mushroom grilled sandwich yesterday for lunch 🙂

And…the grand finale: Baked Italian-Style Cauliflower, found in Cooking Light this month. I’m telling you, it was fate. I needed a recipe with beef, so I looked that up in the index (isn’t it neat magazines have indexes?) and wouldn’t you know, I just happened to have leftover cauliflower on hand, too. I find there are some dishes I make that require some ‘advance planning’ to use up all the ingredients, mostly with cabbage. I mean, just one cabbage produces SO MUCH (often I only need half or a quarter of one) and usually I need one of each COLOR, so when I meal-plan now, I think ahead and pick meals that I can re-use leftovers. So, when I make coleslaw, I often make this one dish of slightly sweet/hot sauteed red cabbage to serve with pork.

Anyway, back to dinner. I loved it! And Andrew thought it was pretty good, too. I have to admit, I’m not sure I’m going to save the recipe; the binder is reserved for AWESOME meals only (I just have too many to try to keep ALL of the decent ones–and post on recipe binders coming soon!) but it’s not hard to remember this. Basically, steam some cauliflower, top with spaghetti sauce cooked with a little bit of beef, onion and garlic (it was supposed to have olives, but I left those out until the end and added them to my half, as well as mushrooms I had on hand, too), then top with breadcrumbs and cheese. Broil four minutes. I thought it was incredibly flavorful and an awesome (and healthy!) way to eat cauliflower. It made four servings; 300 calories each. (Can you see I only put cheese on MY half?? I’m such a nice wife.)

I opened a Shiraz from my last trip to Trader Joe’s. This was the perfect meal for red.

And this is the olive oil Andrew has fallen head over heels for. I chose it last time I was at Wegmans because it’s nice but not ‘break the bank’ nice. And I know Ina used olive oil made from California olives, so I thought I’d give it a whirl. Andrew noticed right away as he uses it to dip with herbs for bread, which made me happy. Score one for me! (He says he’s a “supertaster,” which does exist–we learned about it in psych of all classes–but I don’t agree. While he does have a knack for guessing particular flavors, supertasters often find things like broccoli too bitter, which he doesn’t. I think he’s just picky.)

Our pretty table 🙂 However, all this table-photographing makes me feel like Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee and her ‘tablescapes.’ Ahh, gag me with a spoon. I hate that show…

I even went all-out and lit some tea lights. Note to self: dust next time!

Here’s the recipe–it was under “Budget Cooking,” which I think is a great idea for a monthly magazine. Only $2.50 per serving. See, you can eat healthily, use REAL food and not break the bank. I’m sure if you search Cooking Light for the recipe you’ll find it–I’m pressed for time so I need to wrap this up! BTW, Cooking Light is doing a year-long series (that just started this month) on the ‘Best 100 Cookbooks’ for their 15th (or is it 25th?) anniversary. I like the magazine enough, anyway (I grabbed this month’s after seeing their ginger pumpkin pie on the cover), so I subscribed… I LOVE cookbooks and I knew I wouldn’t remember to buy it off the newsstand–not to mention it’s $5 a pop!–so I got it for $1 each instead. 🙂 I didn’t want to miss their cookbook reviews!

And the kale chips–Kath makes them all the time, and Susy is a big fan, too, so I had to give them a try. Susy gave me Tyler Florence’s Family Meal cookbook (below) and I treasure it. Every time I look at it I think of her. Miss you!