anthony

(on the bright side, it's meat from humanely-raised, pastured, local lamb)

this is pretty easy and pretty delicious. make sure you don't make too much though, because i've found that it doesn't taste nearly as good the next day. you'll want:

1/2 lb. ground lamb per person
1 bunch collards (no idea on specific quantities. just 1 bunch of what's at my local market)
hot pepper (if you like hot stuff)
fennel
paprika
parsley
salt
black pepper

i cooked the lamb and collards separately as i wasn't 100% sure which would be done first. the lamb i cooked in just a small bit of butter (the lamb i get is 15% fat. you'll want to check this as 15% and up means you don't need very much fat/oil to cook it in). i also cooked the collards & hot pepper (2 serranos, in my case) in butter, but if you have some olive oil, that would be fine too. just make sure it's not extra-virgin, since that shit smokes at a low temp.

the lamb ended up not taking very long, so i transferred it over to the collards pan shortly before it was fully done. i like my collards probably a little bit more undercooked than your avg. person, and they were just right shortly after the lamb had fully cooked. at this point, i turned the heat to low and added fennel (more than just a touch, but less than a good amount. too much fennel can happen very easily, so be careful with this!) and paprika (paprika is the opposite. it takes a lot more to screw up a dish, and i added a decent amount to this dish. if the collards didn't full-on turn red, you're probably fine). the salt and pepper are to taste, of course.

anyway, the shit was really good! it was all sort of on-the-fly, and i tend to do that a lot less these days, so i was really happy when it turned out to be as good as it did. try it out and see what you think!

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so tonight i began chopping up an acorn squash i had lying around for a while, mostly because it was very soft in one area and i thought it might have gone bad. it hadn't, and so i had to either use it, or put it in the fridge and use it for something soon. i decided i would make a grilled vegetable sandwich (not technically grilled, but whatever), but then i realized i didn't have many appropriate vegetables. i decided i would make the sandwich anyway, using the (orange) acorn squash, red pepper, carrots, and spinach.

my typical version of a grilled vegetable sandwich incorporates olive oil, garlic, and parmesan cheese (the vegetables would usually be zucchini, yellow squash, mushrooms, bell pepper, carrot, sometimes onion, and sprouts & spinach at the end). usually i toast the garlic into the bread in a pan, but i was hungry and didn't want to take the time to do this, which ended up being a good idea anyway. essentially, i chopped up 3 cloves of garlic (2 medium size and 1 small), threw those in a pan of a decent amount of olive oil, added the red pepper (cut into strips) and squash (somewhat cubed, but there were a lot of trapezoidal and other strange shapes involved as well), added a splash of white wine, added some cracked black pepper, and added some shredded-up carrot at the end.

if you don't already know, several types of winter squash have a wonderful synergy with garlic and olive oil. i've found this to be the case with butternut squash, and now it appears to also be the case with acorn squash. as the squash and red peppers were cooking in the garlic and olive oil, the aroma that was emitted was really fucking wonderful. i immediately thought of good italian cooking and was very tempted to not do a sandwich. alas, the bread had already been toasted and it would've been a pasta dish with no pasta, so i continued. i did decide to omit the spinach though. it just would have tasted odd with that kind of flavor action going on.

anyway, when it was finally ready i drizzled the toasted bread with just a little bit of olive oil, scooped the veggies onto the bread, and grated some parmesan cheese onto them (please realize that there is a world of difference between fresh parmesan and that found in shakeable cannisters).

oh man, it was really outstanding. the one slightly negative thing i would say is that it was almost too rich and sweet. it seems that orange acorn squash is somewhat sweeter than green, and combined with the sweetness of the red pepper, it was almost too much. i think next time i would try this with green acorn squash, or actually maybe just have more veggies on hand, since the 3 i used this time were all pretty sweet.

regardless, i highly recommend such a sandwich, or pasta dish, or whatever you can think of combining olive oil, garlic, and winter squash. it's a very tasty combination.




(picture is pre-parmesan cheese grating)

yes, that is a dragonfruit. and yes, i do win.

did you used to have beanie weenies as a kid, but now you don't eat meat (or just hot dogs..and by all rights why would you) so you can't indulge a childhood favorite? well too bad, because this isn't anything like beanie weenies. however, maybe you just like a nice assonance in the names of your dishes. if that's the case, then i have just the dish for you. beanie zucchinis! (or beanie 'cchinis, as i like to call it)

in the style of past entries, there are no measurements for this one, but we all have different tastes don't we? so i encourage you to feel free to experiment with less or more of a given substance (except methamphetamine) or just adding or subtracting something altogether as is your wont. but down to business...

- 1 can cannellini beans (while i think you can use other beans, i think these worked particularly well, though other white beans might be just fine)

- good amt of ajvar (you can find this at any russian/eastern european grocery, though i've even found it at larger asian markets. trader joe's also has their own version, though i think it might be called something else. just look for the bright red-orange eggplant-red pepper spread (not to be confused with pinjur/peppertizer).

- smaller amount of tomato paste (or thick unseasoned tomato sauce if you don't have any paste)

- 2-3 cloves of garlic

- 1/2 medium-sized zucchini, chopped how you like, but my traditional style is in pie wedge-form

- hot pepper/red pepper flakes to taste/spiciness level

- good amt of paprika (1 tbsp?)

- much lesser amount of turmeric (careful! a little goes a long way and you don't want to turminate the dish {yukyuk})

- small amt of coriander, just enough to add a subtle taste of it

- small amt of sweetener (optional. i used agave syrup though)

you could also throw in some onions too, but i didn't think to do so until it was too late.

hopefully, you know how to cook and i don't have to explain how to put this thing together. you've made beans before right?

1 can red beans (kidney are fine).
maybe 1/4 c. diced onion
1-2 cloves garlic, diced
1 medium tomato, chopped/diced
serrano pepper/jalapeno pepper/cayenne pepper
approx 1 tsp coriander (maybe a little more. just do it to taste)
1-2 tsp lime juice
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
splash of white wine
pinch-1/4tsp cumin
pinch cinnamon
a touch of your choice of sweetener (i used agave nectar)

this was so much better than i realized it would be. it was just one of those things i decided to make up as i went, with no real idea what i was doing. in fact, when i started out i was going to do something middle eastern, hence the coriander. but after adding the tomatoes and hot pepper, it tasted like it should have a more mexicanish flair. the lack of very much cumin is partially what distinguishes it from such a dish, and i almost didn't add any at all (if you don't, i don't think the dish will suffer). anyway, it is ridiculously tasty considering how simple it is. try it!

i just made hummus with soybeans instead of chickpeas and it was amazing. as some of you know, i try to always have some hummus around, and preferably my own, since i like it better than any of the store brands. so i end up making it about once every couple of weeks. but that being the case, i sometimes get bored with it, and so i have to experiment with different ways to make it. usually it's just a matter of adding miscellaneous herbs/spices that i don't usually add, but i decided a bit ago that i would try different beans. i decided i would try black bean hummus, soybean hummus, and white bean hummus. i wanted to try soybean hummus first since it seems less "out there," so i did that tonight and holy fucking shit is it good. as usual, i didn't measure ingredients, but i'll try to give approximations.

traditional hummus ingredients:

chickpeas
tahini
lemon juice
cumin
parsley
olive oil

as far as i know, those are the basics, and all you really need to make traditional hummus. but i also add:

onion
garlic
soy sauce
apple cider vinegar
serrano/jalapeno pepper
and this time soybeans

approximate amounts:

-1/2 tsp cumin

-1-2 medium cloves garlic

-1/2 small onion

-for the hot pepper, it's obviously up to user preference/endurability. if it's not obvious, you can substitute red pepper flakes for the pepper

-splash of extra virgin (if you don't care about your fat intake, maybe around 1 tbsp)

-bigger splash of apple cider vinegar (possibly 2 tbsp)

-2 tsp soy sauce (as the chinese have known for eons, soy sauce is a flavor enhancer, and this is really its only role here)

-i normally add some lemon juice, but i didn't have any this time so i didn't. the apple cider vinegar is sufficient to give it the necessary sour component though, and i usually don't add much lemon juice anyway, maybe a tablespoon.

-i added about 1 tbsp fresh parsley and wow. using fresh rather than dried made a big difference. i highly recommend it. also, i have no idea how much dried parsley to use. i've always just thrown a bunch in without really paying attention.

-1 can of soybeans

-my impression is that you want to use about 1/3 the amount of tahini as soybeans. i'd say start out with 1/4 cup, then add more if necessary.

-in the past, i've added a wee bit of honey before for the slightest sweetness. i don't recommend this with soybeans though.

-i'm also fond of adding tarragon, as is my wont, but this is just an idiosyncracy you can ignore. also, i didn't add it to this soybean hummus.

sooooo..first i blend everything (in a food processor) except the beans and tahini, because otherwise they won't mix into it as well. plus the flavors get to mingle a bit beforehand. and lastly, if you're lazy, you don't have to dice the garlic/onions/pepper all the way. the food processor is happy to do it for you. then add beans and tahini. once it's a nice hummusy consistency, taste, and adjust as necessary (if it seems a little bit runny, it will thicken in the fridge. if it seems too thick, you can add some water to thin it out). if you try it, let me know how yours turns out!

my next experimental hummus, aside from the aforementioned Other Beans, will be curry hummus. i've also yet to add dill to my hummus strangely. or spinach! they will be forthcoming..

this wasn't spectacular, but it was close enough.

notes for next time:

this wasn't as "slop"-like as such a dish tends to be in an indian restaurant. too many chickpeas and not enough mush. next time i should add more tomato or perhaps add some eggplant? decreasing the number of chickpeas would just relegate this to side dish status. it also could've been a wee bit richer. either add more soymilk or add some of that earth balance stuff, maybe both. possibly some tomato paste too? some things to think about. i will make this dish perfect yet!

not for any particular reason. just because i like making things that people take for granted can be made at home. like the time i made ketchup even though i don't use ketchup.
on anything.
ever.

so i started making teriyaki with no plans at all of what to actually use it for. i needed to make dinner so i started making dinner at the same time. whilst cooking, i realized i was too lazy to try and think of how i wanted to season/sauce/etc. my stir-fry. and before the both of us knew it, the teriyaki had bought a one-way ticket into tonight's dinner. it all started when the tempeh decided to take a swim in lake teriyaki with his pals the sesame seeds:

then the teriyaki decided they should all join the big party next door:

cast of characters:

garlic
onion
carrot
shiitake
green pepper
red pepper
serrano pepper
carrot
zucchini
sesame seeds
teriyaki sauce
ginger
cracked black pepper

and yes i cook on the underside of a cymbal.

i just made a pretty good dal dish that had the potential to be amazing if i did things like look up to see what kinds of things traditionally go into dal. i just put in the things i was pretty sure about and i was fairly close, judging by some recipes i just looked up online. here is the picture you're waiting for. it's not spectacular, but then so much indian food looks like mush as it is:

i'll tell you what i put in it, just don't yell at me for never measuring anything.

lentils (really?)
garlic
onion
tomato
turmeric (for both color and taste)
ginger (to smell/taste)
coriander/cilantro (to smell/taste)
cumin (")
hot pepper/cayenne/whatever hot thing you prefer (")
honey (just a little bit to give a slight sweetness)

as i turned off the burner and tasted it, i was unsatisfied. then i had an epiphany and added a wee bit of cinnamon and coriander and it was much better. in retrosect, i probably should've just used garam masala (but then again, i don't have any and probably wouldn't have had the patience to make it).

and sorry for not updating this more often. i just haven't been inspired to do anything especially interesting or different lately. that will probably change once i complete the final stages of my transition to omnipotent superhero.