kitchen photos

Shortly after moving in, I removed most of the cabinet doors, largely just because there was no landlord to tell me not to.  But I still kind of really dislike the cabinets, and have dreams of further optimizing our kitchen, though it will have to be a gradual process.  But I'm working on it.  Notice that the cabinet to the left of the stove has been emptied, to make way for...

don't mind if i do

some cooking projects to get excited about:
in today's NYT restaurant review

buys whole Rhode Island squid and stuffs it with paella rice she cooks with chorizo, red pepper, onion and saffron. For vinaigrette she smokes her own tomatoes and tosses them with sherry vinegar, salt, olive oil and a bit of palm sugar. A cook sears the squid just long enough to heat the rice through and give its body a faint crust, then places it on a soft bed of tiny white beans cooked in crème fraîche, with a cloak of those smoked tomatoes and a hat of cilantro.

don't mind if I do.
and, I have a large turnip collection and the only tasty food i could think to use them in is from dim sum, basically just following the principle that anything can be tasty if you make it into a batter and fry it.  but i don't have a steaming basket and haven't gone out of my way to obtain one.  but this recipe i found just has you steam it by putting a cake pan inside a large wok with a lid.  and this one is even vegetarian.  and if i make those there should probably be other dim sum to go with it, in other words, dumplings.  maybe it would be worth buying a steamer.
and, mushroom barley soup recipe i want to find again http://flavouroftheweek.wordpress.com/2010/02/16/mushroom-barley-soup-from-veselka/
and, vegan dinner party this friday, tentative plan is polenta w/ mushroom ragu and roasted root veg maybe with some kind of vinagrette?  and bread, which i should feed the starter now if I want to have my own bread.  ok, go.

chana dal

our new housemates came with a big bag of chana dal, aka split yellow peas, so i went to the interwebs to figure out what to do with it. the recipe at http://www.indianfoodforever.com/daal/chana-dal.html was so good i made it (with a few tweaks) twice in one week and finished off the supply. it makes a lot, but having a big jar of dal in the fridge is the best defense against "i'm too hungry to cook let's just get take-out"
soak in copious water for 2-3 hours then rinse and drain:

• 2 c. chana dal

boil

• 6 c. water

add the dal and cook on medium about 30 minutes, until the beans are soft enough to smoosh between your fingers. stir it up then add

• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
  
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste

stir it all together. in a small pan, fry over low heat

• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil or ghee
• 1/2 tsp black mustard seed
• 2 tsp minced garlic

when the mustard and garlic are fragrant and the oil is hot, dump it in the pot of beans, stir again, cover the pot and cook 2 minutes. uncover and cook another 5 minutes, then serve with rice.

winter squash soup

the baby ate this soup eagerly, even cold the next day. it's easiness is the payoff for mashing up a big batch of squash one evening. next time i'll double these quantities, this yielded 3 nonhuge servings.

sautee in ghee with generous pinch of salt until onion is translucent

• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 inches ginger root, minced

stir in

• 2 c. pureed winter squash
• 3 c. chicken stock
• 1 tsp garam masala

puree with immersion blender, cover, and bring to a simmer. can be served immediately, but i think it gets more delicious if you let it burble away on low while preparing the rest of dinner.
season to taste with salt and black pepper.

borsch

well, i did make some buckwheat yesterday, and suppose i should have posted about it.

i sauteed 1 cup of it in canola oil, then poured in 2 c. of nearly boiling water, covered and simmered.  when all that water had evaporated, it still didn't seem done enough so i poured in enough water to fill to the top of the grain and simmered it until that all cooked in.  the baby eats it eagerly.

today i finally made the borscht i'd been meaning to do.

in 1 qt of water i boiled some beef bones and onion ends from when we grilled the other day, and let that do its thing in a covered pot all early afternoon.  when that seemed brothy enough i strained it and added a quart of chicken broth from the fridge.  i chopped

• 3 medium/large beets
• 5 small/medium carrots
• 1 onion
• 1/3 head of cabbage
• 1/2 cup fresh dill

i put the beets and carrots in the broth to cook, and sauteed the onion.  after about 20min, when i could pierce the beets with a fork, i added the onions and cabbage, half the dill, and 2Tbsp tomato puree.   then brought all that back up to a simmer, and cooked until the cabbage was barely soft, and seasoned to taste with

• apple cider vinegar (~2Tbsp)
• salt
• sugar

serve topped with remaining dill and dollops of sour cream

back to bulk foods

we're just settling in to a new apartment, which comes with the feeling of a fresh start. it's the new school year like a fresh pink eraser, its edges still defined by the contours of its factory mold and not yet smudged with mistakes and the indiscriminate mulch from the pit of your backpack. the annual communal rebirth through commerce, the assumption of this year's body, and the inevitable discovery that the past has not in fact let go.
so i went to harvest co-op (among the less cooperative of such institutions), and bought some bulk foods, 1 qt each:

• short grain brown rice
• med grain white rice
  
• quinoa
• hulled barley
• buckwheat groats
  
• corn meal
• chick peas
• pinto beans
• adzuki beans
• falafel mix (~1pt)
• rolled oats (~3qt)

and tahini, cured olives, sea salt, coffee, bread, milk, baby cereal

i'll post up here when i use these things.
starting later this evening with the buckwheat.

2 vegetarian curries

i made these on different nights in the past week or so, and i think they're both worth remembering. source: synthesis of internet searches.

rajma with mustard greens
4-6 servings
chop and wash

• 1 lb. mustard greens

boil 2qts of water, lightly salted, in a large pot with lid, dump the greens in and cook 7 minutes, drain and set aside.
sautee

• 1 Tbsp ghee
• 3 shallots, or half an onion, chopped
• 1 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced
• 1 or 2 green chilies
  

stir in the greens along with

• 3 cups cooked kidney beans, drained
• 28 oz tomatoes, pureed
• 3 tsp curry powder
• 1/2 tsp cayenne

simmer 10-15min, then add

• 1/2 c. yogurt, milk, or cream

tempeh in coconut milk
2-3 servings
this was, how shall i say, not the most visually attractive curry, you might consider adding something pretty like red bell pepper with the spices.
sautee

• 1 Tbsp oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced
• 1 green chili pepper, minced
  

when onion is starting to get translucent add

• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp cayenne

stir to distribute, when it's fragrant add

• 1 can coconut milk
• 8 oz. tempeh, chopped into bite size pieces
• 1 bay leaf

simmer until the sauce thickens, about 15 min.