Friday, July 29, 2011

Hey Dude!!

So it is a cardinal rule of hosting parties is you should never try out a recipe at a party. Well readers rules are meant to be broken (Assert your Independence and fight the system!!!!)

The past week my friends and I attended an outdoor concert here in town. OK we actually sat outside the immediate parameters of the concert in lawn chairs effectively doing the live version of illegal downloading. We are young, broke and beautiful...what can I say.

Well before our shameless concert stealing, we had a nice light dinner. I wasn't sure what to make and deferred to the preference of some of my friends (this is rare as I just usually make whatever I want and you WILL LIKE IT!!! I hope they took full advantage). Pasta was suggested, followed by an adamant request for fresh tomato pasta (as we then recalled was last served one night when my parents were away with three gallons of Cape Codders and some exciting digestive pyrotechnics). The only other suggestion I had was to make a salad with some avocado.

So in light of this I decided to make the aforementioned fresh tomato pasta and a garden salad with Avocado Ranch.

I've seen avocado ranch advertised on restaurant menus, have never had it and have absolutely no idea what it tastes like....BUT I love ranch dressing and had the crazy idea that I could make a version both healthier and more delicious by replacing the mayonnaise with pureed avocado. My thought process was mayonnaise provides the fat and therefore flavor in the original, and since avocados are very high in monounsaturated fat (which can help to ward off threats of heart disease and breast cancer as well as contribute to a less santa-like midsection then high carbohydrate diets) it would be an adequate replacement to the mayonnaise without substantial change to the texture and taste of the dressing. Well folks I was right and though I did break the well established rule to never take on the stress of a new recipe whilst you have company, I was confident that it would be good enough to take this risk. I was correct (as usual….it’s so hard to be right all the time let me tell you)

Here is the recipe:
Combine in a bowl 3-4 tablespoons each of chopped parsley, and chives (this is approximate). Add ¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper, ¼ cup of sour cream and one ripe avocado, pureed. Whisk together till creamy. Add skim milk, one teaspoon at a time then whisking until the desired consistency is reached. Season. Serve immediately.
Enjoy!

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

This Poaching Should be Illegal

So last night I endervered another Top Chef inspired adventure, only this time from the Top Chef Tour. One of the contestants, Ashley Merriman, made a Poached Salmon with a warm german potato salad (AMAZING). So my aunt decided, as we were preparing our weekly grocery list, that we should get a piece of salmon and try it.

Well this is easier said then done. I found this recipe from the NY Times and within the first few lines there is talk of obsessively regulating the temperature to make sure the salmon cooks perfectly. I am already intimidated. But I remember that I am awesome and proceed to rig my meat thermometer in the pan (I am not Martha guys, I only have one thermometer). Then I add the olive oil. This shouldn't be a big deal (the recipe calls for three cups of olive oil) as we have that huge tin of it at the bottom of the pantry. yeah, actually we don't and I panic. Well luckily Marilou had just bought some cheap olive oil (for food projects such as this) the other day and I literally had just enough.

And kids, it was so worth it. The fish was delicious and rich but not heavy. I served it with a quick Dijon Potato Salad:

Boil new potatoes (I did about 7 new red potatoes) for about 15 mins
in bowl, toss 1 tbsp white wine vinegar with 1 tbsp Dijon mustard.
Add potatoes. Toss.
Let cool slightly and toss again
Add 2 tbsp olive oil, chopped parsley, and salt and pepper.
Serve

All in all it was yet another successful Top-Chef-Adventure and I highly recommend you try it. Just make sure you have enough Olive Oil first.

Oh and in honor of my seeming inability to check my ingredients here is a Catherine Tate Sketch from the Catherine Tate show
(I in no way own this video, blah blah blah, limit liability blah blah)

Friday, July 15, 2011

Faro and Why It Reminds Me of My Deck

With this blog I have to own up to some deplorably Polish behavior. I had a Greek Orzo salad from Whole Foods the other day and it was delicious. Well actually it was delivered by my study-buddy (a phrase I abhor btw) along with a Starbucks (jealous? You should be!). So naturally I had to make it myself. Could it easily be purchased from Whole Foods? Yes. Would that be less work then procuring all of the ingredients to make it? Yes. Does that mean that I will not endeavor to make it myself when it is so easily available? Yeah no.
See this is a hallmark of the Polish-American tradition. Having to make things when they can easily be made by someone else. We are similarly stubborn about scarfs, and other knit wear, furniture, home repair, concrete decks. Case in point: our deck, due to some negligent building, rotted out after a few years of rain pooling by the house, rotting the sill, and causing massive flooding in out basement. The solution: replace the sill, break-up and remove the concrete, and rebuild the patio. And did we have any outside help, NO. This is the Red and White cross I had to bare.
But I digress, this inability to purchase food that has already been prepared lead me to make my own Greek Orzo Salad. I substituted the Orzo for Faro (healthier and lower calorie) and opted to not cook the spinach and instead use fresh baby spinach.

“I’m a Polack” Greek Faro Salad
½ Cup Faro
- Boil 3 cups of water with 1 tsp salt. When it boils, stir in the faro. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes.
In a large bowl combine Red Wine Vinegar, salt and pepper, and whisk in Extra-Virgin Olive Oil.
Add: 1 cup baby spinach, chiffonade
½ cup diced feta cheese
½ cup halved cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp fresh thyme
1/3 cup pitted, diced kalamata olives
And all the cooked faro.
Toss and serve.
It came out pretty good, albeit different than the original.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

One Week of Danger

So there have been a few interesting developments this week.

The first of which is the overall tone of CHOW this week. They are being so rude as to make me look polite. First they discuss the horrendously off-putting audacity of most vegetarians who dare to ask "is it cool for me to pass on the meat?"... bastards.

Next they discuss how shopping makes you basically a moron. How dare you!

Maybe the air conditioning has failed at the offices but any food blog that makes me look pleasant is pretty sad.