Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Garlic Parmesan Baked Potato Fries with 'Aioli'



I love roasting vegetables. In fact, I don't think I've roasted a vegetable that I haven't loved so far- potatoes, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, squash, tomatoes (OK, I guess technically this is a fruit), leeks...I've even roasted arugula for a few minutes before tossing it in a soup! Roasting just brings out incredible flavor. And in this case it gives you french fries, which is why I've probably roasted more potatoes than anything else in my cooking years. Put anything you want on these, the below is just a suggestion. If you just have olive oil, salt and pepper your'e still in for a treat. Fresh herbs are always a nice touch. If you have cajun seasoning this is a great option too!


Now, I served these with a delicious garlic "aioli." Quotation marks are necessary because it's mostly greek yogurt, not mayonnaise and sour cream or other delicious things usually used to make aioli, so it's a really healthy option! I am a major french fry and ketchup girl but trust me, this is a really refreshing, tasty and healthy option. I liked it so much that I put a good smear of it on the burgers too (guilt free more flavorful alternative to mayonnaise!). I also added some arugula, tomato, dubliner cheddar cheese, onion, avocado and a little spicy mustard to the burgers* (*morning star veggie burgers). They were exceptionally tasty. 


Garlic Parmesan Baked Potato Fries


  • 2 Potatoes
  • Olive Oil
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Garlic Powder
  • Freshly chopped thyme
  • Freshly grated parmigiano reggiano 


'Aioli'


  • 1/2 Cup Greek Yogurt
  • 1/2 Teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 Teaspoon pepper
  • Cayenne to taste
  • 1 garlic clove or 1/4+ teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4-1/2 Teaspoon olive oil
  • 1/4-1/2 Teaspoon champagne vinegar
Preheat the oven to 425. Scrub and rinse the potatoes well. 


Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise and lay on their flat side.


Cut each piece in half lengthwise again and then cut each quarter into three wedges. 


Pile the wedges on a foil lined pan and douse with olive oil, toss to evenly coat.


Lay the wedges flat on the pan and then sprinkle evenly with salt, pepper, finely chopped thyme and garlic powder.


Bake for about 20 minutes then take the wedges out of the oven and carefully flip each piece over. This may be a slow process as some pieces will try to stick to the foil and it's important to try not to let that happen!


Add more salt and pepper then pop back into the oven for another 12 minutes or so.


Grate the cheese.


Sprinkle the cheese  lightly and evenly over each potato wedge, then pop it back in the oven for around 10 minutes. Just keep them in there till they're golden and perfect, keep an eye on it. 


Golden delicious perfection, nice and crisp.


Now for the aioli. I've made this several times and pretty much used different proportions each time, each result very tasty. So mix all the ingredients together, taste, and tweak to your likings. A great alternative to dip your fries in, especially fancy pants ones like these! 







Cauliflower Parsnip Soup with Garlic Parmesan Crostini



It's possible that my favorite thing to cook is soup. It's so easy, just throw a bunch of ingredients in a pot and boil.  And you're pretty much guaranteed to have lots of tasty leftovers for easy lunches or dinners later in the week. I always make extra large batches so that I can pop some single serve tupperware in the freezer and enjoy them a few weeks down the road- that way you don't get tired of eating the same thing every day in one week! This is a nice light soup recipe so it's still a great option to serve in the summer. 


As a side note, I've made this soup with different proportions (less onion, no parsnip, etc) and it still tastes great. So consider the recipe pretty forgiving. Also, if you don't feel like making the crostini then you can serve it with a half sandwich. I had a leftover bowl for lunch today with a half sandwich of a few slices of dubliner cheddar cheese, thin slice of tomato, fresh spinach leaves, salt and pepper. Yum!


Cauliflower Parsnip Soup

  • 2 Onions
  • 3 Parsnips (they look like ugly white carrots...ugly until you peel them at least!)
  • 3-4 Cloves of Garlic
  • 2 Heads of Cauliflower
  • Water + 1 Vegetable Bouillon cube
  • Thyme (lots of it!)
  • 1/2 Teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 Teaspoon pepper
  • 2 Dried bay leaves 
  • Cayenne pepper - amount depends on how spicy you like it, I usually give it at least 4 good shakes, I like tasting a little heat in the soup
  • 1/4 Cup greek yogurt
  • 1/4 Cup milk 


Garlic Parmesan Crostini

  • Skinny french bread loaf
  • Olive Oil
  • Salt & pepper
  • 1 garlic clove
  • Fresh grated parmigiano reggiano
Dice the onions, peel the parsnips and die them, peel and chop the cloves of garlic. You'll be blending the soup later so a rough chop is fine. 


Saute the onions and parsnips in a little bit of olive oil in a large pot until cooked well. 










Add the garlic and a large tablespoon of minced fresh thyme and cook for a few more minutes. 






Cut the florets off the cauliflower and rinse, then add to the onion/parsnip/garlic and mix. 




Add water so that it covers the top of the veggies in the pot and add 1 vegetable bouillon cube, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 2 dried bay leaves and cayenne pepper to taste. Tie a bunch of thyme together with twine and throw it in the pot. 


Boil until the cauliflower is tender. Remove the thyme bundle and bay leaves. Use an immersion blender to mix until smooth. 






Add the greek yogurt and milk (optional, but makes it nice and creamy) and blend again. You want a smooth consistency. Taste and adjust seasonings to your preference.


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice the baguette thinly and place on a foil-lined pan. 




Drizzle or brush with olive oil and add salt and fresh cracked pepper. 




Toast for 7-8 minutes then remove from heat when lightly golden brown. Cut a peeled clove of garlic in half and rub the garlic on the warm crostini. Grate some parmigiano reggiano and lightly sprinkle the cheese on the crostinis and put back in the oven for 4-6 minutes. Just keep an eye on it! Top the cauliflower soup with two crostini and enjoy!

Spicy Sweet Broccoli & Tofu



Well, I thought it seemed a little excessive to just eat a million homemade vegetable egg rolls for dinner and so I thought a quick carb-free entree with protein and vegetables would be a good choice. And with that the broccoli and tofu stir fry was born. 


Spicy Sweet Broccoli & Tofu
  • 1 Block extra firm tofu
  • 2 Heads of broccoli, rinse and trim to reserve the florets 
  • 2 Spring onions
  • 3 Tablespoons champagne (or rice) vinegar
  • 2 Tablespoons hoisin sauce
  • 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 Tablespoon honey
  • 1 Teaspoon ketchup
  • 3 Tablespoons water
  • 1/2 Teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • Olive oil and salt/pepper to taste
Slice the block of tofu in half so that you have two 'sheets' of tofu the same size as the original block, but thinner. Makes sense? Then put paper towels on a dish towel, lay the two sheets of tofu on it and then fold the towels over and press firmly to help drain the excess liquid from the tofu. Then slice the tofu into thick cubes. 

You'll see in one of my earlier posts, tofu stir-fry, I usually cut tofu into thinner slices because it's faster (just flip once in the pan to cook both sides), but I wanted larger/more substantial pieces in this recipe since there are really just two main ingredients. But if you don't want to go through the slightly tedious process of flipping the tofu cubes 4-6 times to sear each side then just use thin slices. I went ahead and poured a small amount of olive oil in a hot pan and just flipped these guys till each side was golden. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and then set to the side.





Mix together the vinegar, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, honey, ketchup, water and red pepper flakes. Taste the sauce, add more soy sauce if you choose. Pour half of it into the hot pan (tofu just removed) and add the spring onions, cook for less than a minute. 



Add the broccoli and a little more of the sauce, stir. Put a top on the pan for a couple minutes so the broccoli can steam. 


Remove the lid and add the tofu, gently stir to mix. I didn't use all of the sauce but add as much as you'd like. I served this as is without rice and it was really great!

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Cheesy Tomato & Basil Pasta

Pasta Perfection
I have been craving a delicious plate of pasta for a while now. After being unable to satiate this craving with a plate of gnocchi at a cute little Italian place on the Upper West Side, I decided to take matters in my own hands. I wanted something packed with flavor and a bit of cheesiness, and I'm pretty much in love with what I created. I also wanted to make something fast and easy for dinner, and pasta is always happy to fit that role. 


I'm not going to sit here and tell you this recipe is exceptionally healthy, but I will say this recipe will really hit the spot if you're craving a cheesy, filling carb fest that is a lot friendlier to the waistline than mac and cheese or some other cheese-laden baked dish. The combination of sun dried tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, garlic and fresh basil is outstanding. The mozzarella and parmigiano reggiano melt to lightly coat the pasta. If you wanted, this would be great if you sautéed some slices of asparagus with the garlic and tomato to add some crunch and extra veg. 


Cheesy Tomato & Basil Pasta
  • Linguini Pasta (fresh is ideal)
  • 1/2 Cup good olive oil
  • 1 Cup basil leaves
  • 1/2 Cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped
  • 1 Teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 Teaspoon fresh cracked pepper 
  • 1/2 Teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1 Pint cherry tomatoes (mine were larger than normal and amazingly fresh)
  • 1 Fresh mozzarella ball (packed in water, or two if they're small)
  • 1/2 Cup Parmigiano Reggiano
Start with the best ingredients and you can't go wrong!
Start by putting a large pot of water on to boil. Salt the water generously. 

Blend the following ingredients in a food processor: The sun dried tomatoes, basil, balsamic vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, pepper, red pepper, 1 clove garlic. Blend and slowly add most of the olive oil (reserving at least a tablespoon or so). 


This is before it's finished blending, right after I added the sun dried tomatoes. By the time you're done blending it should all be finely chopped and mixed together like a paste. 




Put the pasta on to boil, be sure not to over cook especially if you bought fresh pasta. The italian market on my corner has an amazing selections of pastas made in house and somehow this is the first time I bought it, not sure how I waited this long! I had a very large quantity of pasta, but this recipe would still taste great if you kept everything the same and just used a smaller batch of pasta (I would probably just use less cheese).



Pour the rest of the olive oil into a large pan (large enough to fit all of the pasta eventually) and heat over medium. Add 3 cloves of minced garlic and the pint of tomatoes. You'll want really fresh flavorful tomatoes for this, the best you can find. Sauté the garlic and tomatoes for a few minutes till the tomatoes are soft and a couple burst. Be sure not to burn your garlic.




By now your pasta should be done, drain the pasta but be sure to reserve a cup of the pasta water. Add the pasta to the sauté pan and turn off the heat. Add the sun dried tomato/basil mixture to the pasta and mix together. Cut the mozzarella into small cubes and grate the parmigiano reggiano; add both to the pasta but reserve some parmigiano reggiano for plating. 





Mix everything up, add enough of the reserved pasta water so that it has the right consistency- this will help develop the sauce that coats the pasta. Finish with a 1/2 teaspoon salt and serve warm - the cheese will be melty gooey perfection and it will be hard to resist seconds...enjoy!!

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Baked Vegetable Egg Roll



Ahh this is perfection- incredibly flavorful, tastes super sinful but is actually a relatively healthy appetizer! Nothing but lots of veggies here so feel free to chow down and enjoy yourself.


As a side note, this was one of the most time consuming recipes I've ever made. However, the time commitment had nothing to do with how long it took to actually prepare and cook the egg rolls, but had everything to do with the fact that I somehow had to visit 5 different grocery stores in order to actually find egg roll wrappers. After the third stop I knew I had to keep going until I found the darned wrappers, and unfortunately that meant spending $7 on a pack of frozen wrappers. But the bright side is I discovered a couple new (to me) great grocery stores in my hood that I hadn't visited yet!


Vegetable Egg Roll
  • Egg roll wrappers
  • 1 Head of nappa cabbage
  • 3-4 Cremini mushrooms 
  • 1 Very large carrot (if your grocery store doesn't sell these separately you'll probably need at least 2 medium sized carrots from a bunch)
  • 3 Spring onions
  • 1.5 Heaping tablespoon ginger (this is a lot, you'll definitely taste the ginger in the egg rolls which I love)
  • 3 Cloves of garlic
  • Water chestnuts or sun choke or jicama (optional, but a small handful adds nice crunch)
  • 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1/4 Teaspoon salt


Sweet and Spicy Dipping Sauce
  • 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 Tablespoon honey
  • 1/2 Teaspoon champagne vinegar (or rice vinegar)
  • 1/2 Teaspoon hoisin sauce
  • 1 Clove minced garlic 
  • 1/4 Teaspoon red pepper flakes
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. 

Start by prepping your veggies. Discard the outside layers of the nappa cabbage and then slice and chop the rest of the head. 

Use a dry dish towel to gently rub/clean the mushrooms. Pull off the mushroom stem and then slice the mushroom cap length-wise and then thinly slice the two layers.

Peel and then shred the carrot. Slice the spring onions, both white and green parts. This not only gives good flavor but adds nice color. Mince the garlic.

Slice the tough skin off the ginger and thinly mince it. I used about a one inch cube of ginger.

Now, to be honest, initially I accidentally bought a sun choke instead of ginger. Luckily, since I went to 4 grocery stores afterwards I was able to easily pick up ginger root once I identified my mistake. A quick google taught me that sun chokes can be eaten raw and are very crunchy and relatively flavorless. Reminded me of water chestnuts which I wanted to add to the egg rolls anyways, so I just peeled and sliced the sun choke into matchstick strips and I think it was a great addition! If you have sliced and canned water chestnuts then just use a small handful and slice thinly. 

Time to get cooking! Sauté the spring onions and ginger for just about a minute. 



Then add the garlic and sauté for another 30 seconds. Add the mushrooms and stir. Add the carrots and stir in well. Then add the cabbage and cook until wilted. Add one Tablespoon of soy sauce and a pinch of salt and, if you choose to include, the sun choke or water chestnuts. 




If there is one part I didn't excel at it would probably be the wrapping part of this procedure. Put a wrapper on a flat surface and put a heaping pile of the veggie mix in the center of the wrapper (it seemed like these were extra large wrappers but to be honest I don't have a point of reference). You'll put the filling in a line at an angle, basically going from one corner to the opposite corner. Dab your fingers in a bowl of water and wet the outside edges of the wrapper. 


Fold the top and bottom corner in onto the filling and then take the larger left corner and fold over the mix and roll it up tightly.




Line a pan with tin foil and spray with non stick cooking spray. Place the egg rolls on top and then lightly brush the egg rolls with olive oil (I might just use cooking spray next time instead). Pop into the oven for about 15 minutes.

Before


After
While the rolls are baking, start mixing up a dipping sauce. In a small bowl combine the soy sauce, honey, vinegar, hoisin sauce and red pepper flakes. Mince a clove of garlic and add to the sauce. Sweet and spicy and tangy, a perfect compliment to the egg rolls. 




The egg rolls will come out golden, crunchy on the outside and really PACKED with flavor.