Posts Tagged ‘cilantro’

Black Bean Burgers

Monday, June 14th, 2010

I was feeling adventurous last week and decided to take another stab at making black bean burgers.  The first attempt wasn’t a major fail, the flavor was good but the consistency didn’t stand up to cooking so there was definitely room for improvement.  To deal with the burger’s crumbly nature i decided to employ the technique of refrigerating the patties for an hour prior to grill time.  The result was a sure win, the burgers held up to the grill heat and I was able to get those pretty grill marks without having them crumble.

Black Bean Burgers
 2 16oz cans of black beans drained and rinsedburgerjpg
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 bunch scallions, chopped
1 bunch cilantro or parsley, chopped
1 poblano pepper, finely diced
1 egg
1 C bread crumbs
cumin, cayenne, salt, and pepper

Toppings: Feta, hot sauce & tomato slice

Puree the black beans (reserving 1/4 of them whole) in a food processor with seasoning, and garlic.  Drizzle in some olive oil and a dash of hot water if the mixture is too dry to blend.  Spoon purred bean mixture into a large bowl and add remaining beans, scallions, pepper, and cilantro.  Stir to combine and then add the egg and enough breadcrumbs to give you the right consistency to form patties out of the mixture.  I was able to make 6 medium sized patties but since these are quite filling, in the future I may make the patties into appetizer size which would yield around 8-10.  Refrigerate patties for at least an hour prior to cooking on the grill or stove top.  Add desired toppings and mow away.

With the black bean burgers under my belt I am anxious to try making some veggie burgers since the ones you buy in the store can be up to $6 for a box of four!  I imagine that the same refrigerator technique would apply with these patties but am not sure what to use as the main filler- any suggestions?  I was thinking a combination of purred veggies and grains but any advice would be useful…

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Posted in Cheese, vegetarian | No Comments »

Tacos!

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

Hello blog, its been a while.

After a long journey across the country with my man crow, my cat, and in a strangers car, I’ve arrived in New England. More importantly, I will soon be reunited with the JP crows!

I immediately started missing Oakland, and Oakland taco trucks, the second we left California. The thought of entering a taco-free world, and worse yet, a hard shell taco world (and what I thought would be a ceviche free world, until the crows retreated!), was eating away at my soul with each passing day. I knew that I had to share the glory of a good taco with my parents, who were so graciously allowing me to stay at their house while I got my proverbial “shit together.”

The results? Joyous, wonderful, & delicious.

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for proper assembly smear black bean goo on the bottom of the shell. add meat. add cream, pile on cilantro, cabbage, and salsa. drizzle with hot sauce, squeeze 1/4 lime. enjoy!

Now, of course, my taco was not “authentic” either. I used no lard or deep frying, and chose to fill my taco with more than meat + onions + cilantro. Nonetheless, it filled a void in my tummy. My favorite animal meat is pig. I love me some pig, especially when it is cooked by several men in a taco truck. I, of course, could not replicate this on a New England grill, so I had to think fast! I went with some extremely thin sliced-bone in- somewhat fatty-pork. Marinaded in Lime zest, oil, hot peppers, cilantro, salt and pepper, then grilled to a tender but done perfection, I sliced it as thin as possible to form the base of our tacos.

Soft Shell Taco Essentials (the players)

small taco shells- I prefer a yellow corn tortilla, but white corn or flour will do, I suppose
cilantro
red onion
hot sauce
red cabbage
sour cream
salsa
karen’s magic bean goo creation (recipe below)
limes- juice and zest
meat product of your choosing!

So, one could just use these ingredients as is, and have a delicious taco. I made a few small, simple, and fast additions to really make it delicious.

Sour cream: Zest a lime and add 1/2 the juice to a 1/2 of sour cream
Salsa: A pico de gallo style salsa would work, this time I cheated and bought some. If you feel like being 100% home made you: take 3 large tomatoes & dice them finely. Zest 2 limes, add all juice. Dice 1/2 a red onion. chop a full bunch of cilantro. dice very finely at least 1 jalapeno, more if you like heat. Finely grate 2 garlic cloves. Mix everything together with a heafty dose of S & P.
Karen’s Bean Goo: The first time I made tacos at home was with our Oakland friend Karen. She made a black bean “hummus” earlier in the day that went SO WELL with our dinner tacos. Drain & rinse a can of black beans. In a blender combine, black beans, a tomato, a green pepper, cilantro, S & P, and some onion. Blend until smooth.
Cilantro & onions: In a bowl, mix a bunch of cilantro with 1/2 a diced onion. Juice a lime over it and add a good amount of salt. It should taste salty.

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Recipe for delicious cornmeal poundcake to come!

Also- a thought. Let’s combine our ceviche with a tostada shell, these taco toppings, cucumber and have a ball!

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Posted in Jamaica Plain, Meat/Poultry, San Francisco, dessert, sauces | 1 Comment »

Successful Crow Retreat

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

Last weekend we celebrated the arrival of Miz Emily back to the east coast with a retreat at her parents house in Western Connecticut.  Sadly we were missing one crow, Riane, who was busy in California hunting for a new nest in the Bay Area but we all got a chance to chat with her on the phone so she was with us in spirit!

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The night of our arrival we focused on drinking wine and catching up  so we didn’t get a chance to try any new recipes but we did get to dine at the best BBQ spot in CT, The Cookhouse Restaurant. Emily’s parents treated us all to a delicious meal of pulled pork sandwiches, cubanos and brews which were much needed after our New England traveling.  The food came out in a flash and we were all pleased with our choices.  Interesting highlights were the “flatboys” which are grilled flatbreads that they use for their sandwiches and their “Scary” BBQ sauce which Emily described as Connecticut Hot, aka mild but flavorful.

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The next day was our time to cook and we kicked it off with a shopping trip to the legendary Stew Leonards.  VBar, Mo and I really had no idea what we were in store for but we got a few hints when we saw a miniature petting zoo located in the parking lot.  For those readers who have never been to Stew Leonards I would describe it as a Trader Joe’s on steroids who’s owner has a love for amusement parks.  Sounds weird but the place has fresh food, competitive prices and an abundance of free samples (fresh squeezed orange juice- who gives that out for free!?)

Looking for a protein, we set our eyes on gorgeous sushi grade tuna steaks and had the fish monger cut them in half lengthwise to get more bang for our buck.  We got other items we needed for a grill marinade and then headed across the street to the Stew Leonards Wine store because Puritan law decrees that food and booze must be sold separately!

STA72414Once we got back to the Ferrier Bungalow it was straight to the grill to make one of our trademark pizzas.  Emily had whipped up some dough before our shopping adventures and had finished rising by they time we got back.  We broadened our horizons in terms of toppings for an adventurous pizza Emily saw in a magazine: sliced potato, grapes, asparagus and goat cheese.  The potatoes were sliced thin and we rolled the dough out fairy thick so we could cook it long enough for the veggies to soften.  What sounded like such a bizarre combination of ingredients turned out to be harmonious for the taste buds and there was only a small sliver left which we saved for Emily’s dad, Dave.

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Our next food challenge was to make a tuna ceviche.  None of us have ever made ceviche before so it was exciting to try it out together.  We had fresh tuna diced up so all we had to decide was what other flavors we wanted in there.   VBar took the reigns and we settled on lime juice, cilantro, soy sauce, sesame oil, hot sauce, red onion and tomatoes.  As far as amounts go we just winged it and luckily after 30-45 minutes in the fridge and after a couple mixes, it was time to dallop the ceviche on some grilled ciabatta and chow down.

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After all of this food I don’t know how we had room in our stomachs for dinner but a long stroll through the neighborhood and some more wine helped get our appetites going again.  We grilled the remaining tuna steaks in a marinade that mirrored the ceviche recipe and roasted some miniature sweet bell peppers to top off a fresh garden salad.  Emily’s mom, Lynn, made a delicious and comforting risotto with asparagus and lemon that had us all spooning for seconds.  It’s a shame we didn’t get a picture of the dinner table because it was quite the spread but that just goes to show that sometimes the food overtakes you and the thought of snagging a photo never enters your mind.

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Posted in seafood, vinaigrette/marinade, wine | 1 Comment »

Grilled Fish Tacos

Monday, April 19th, 2010

A good fish taco is hard to come by, so i felt  a tad nervous taking on this new culinary venture.  Mixed with nervousness was also excitement because if it came out delicious I would no longer have to seek these out at restaurants because one could always be created at home.

VBar and I had some spare time during the work day to scour the internet for a tasty fish marinade and a worthy red cabbage slaw recipe.  We decided on a marinade from epicurious and a slaw recipe from Bobby Flay, both seemed easy to tackle on a work night and didn’t prove to be expensive if we split the ingredients we needed to purchase in half.

Red Cabbage Slaw
My friend Sarah was down visiting from Portland and helped me prepare the slaw since it is far more tasty if it has time to sit and marinade in its own flavor.  I knew the slaw and marinade would be heavy on the cilantro but was intrigued to see that this recipe called for fresh basil as well.  This recipe was surely a winner and I was delighted to see that I had leftovers to bring to work the following day.

Fish Marinade
We made a variation of a recipe we found on epicurious.com.  The amount of ingredients is totally dependent on how much fish you are using but here are the key flavor components:
olive oil, lime juice, pressed garlic, chopped cilantro, sliced jalapeno, oregano, cumin, salt and pepper.  Whisk mixture together and add additional red wine vinegar to add more volume to the marinade.  Pour over fish and let sit for about 20 minutes.

Grilled Fish
The biggest fear when grilling fish is having it stick to the grates.  Here are some techniques I used to ensure this wouldn’t happen to the cod we were using.
1.)  Make sure the grill grates are heated completely through before adding the fish.
2.)  Prior to fish grilling, make sure the grates are scraped clean and lubricate them with oil.  This can be done by cutting a small onion in half, dip in it oil and run it along the grill grates.  The onion is more durable to the heat than a folded up paper towel and adds another layer of flavor.

We flipped the fish once then poured the rest of the marinade over it to keep it moist.  Once the fish started to show slight signs of flaking apart we removed it from the grill and let sit on a plate to finish the internal cooking.

VBar's plate

VBar's plate

Assembly
Heat tortillas either on the grill, or if you are feeding a larger crowd wrap them in foil and heat them in the oven.  On the heated tortilla add a layer of sour cream, grilled fish, red cabbage slaw, sliced avocado and some dashes of hot sauce.  If you know all of your guests enjoy heat you can always mix the hot sauce directly into your sour cream to form a light pinkish mixture.

The fish tacos were served along  side sweet potato fries, which were tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, cumin and red pepper flakes and baked in a 425 degree oven until brown and crispy.  This meal proved to be light and satisfying- truly perfect for future summer dinner parties.

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Posted in seafood, vegetarian, vinaigrette/marinade | 2 Comments »

Dabbling w/ the Slow Cooker

Monday, December 7th, 2009

I had mixed feelings about my slow cooker when I first got it mainly because i associated it high sodium pre packaged mixes or lil weenies people bring to potlucks.  With one in my possession I soon realized that the slow cooker is only as good as the ingredients you put in it.

My own ventures with a slow cooker started about a year ago and I have had some hits and misses.  One of my hits was a burgundy beef stew, one of my misses was broccoli and cheddar soup (don’t use high for this one the milk will curdle-yuck).

A slow cooker recipe I found in a Real Simple magazine caught my eye one day so I cut it out and saved it for a lazy Sunday.  It was called Cuban Braised Beef and Peppers and I had most of the ingredients on hand except for the beef (flank steak with is a fairly inexpensive cut) and avocado (as much as I love them I decided to go without on this recipe).

Cuban Braised Beef and Peppers

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Didn’t make many alternations- my mood on Sunday was to keep things as simple as possible.  I did add a bay leaf, cayenne pepper, diced sweet potato and minced garlic to the slow cooker mixture.  Instead of avocado I served it with a dollop of sour cream and some freshly chopped cilantro.

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Posted in Meat/Poultry | 5 Comments »

Chicken Soup for the Sick Season

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

The season of perpetual illness is upon us, kicking off this season for Billy is a hefty dose of laryngitis. Who gets that?

To commemorate his birthday, the germs of all-hallows-eve have stripped him of his newly renewed (thanks to bilateral endoscopic surgery of the sinuses) voice. How will I nurse this birthday boy back to health, you ask? With a nice portion of clean and fresh chicken soup. This recipe makes sooo much soup, so if  you don’t want to eat chicken soup for the whole week, I suggest cutting back a bit

Using the store bought, pre-roasted chicken opened up some major possibilities, the main one being that I could use the meat for soup, and make a nice stock out of the bones/left over bits. To make the stock, I simply boiled the bones with carrots, celery, a rosemary branch, and some lemon (I suggest omitting the lemon if you don’t like the cooked lemon flavor, its quite strong) for 1 hour. It smelled better than the soup I was making.

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Emylou’s Chicken Soup

1 Roasted Chicken *, picked to the bone of all meaty goodness
5 carrots, chopped in big chunks
1 whole celery bunch, chopped in large chunks
2 Leeks, coarsely chopped
1/5 onion, diced
1.5 cups uncooked rice
1 bunch chard, chopped to 1 inch piece
1 bunch cilantro, loosely chopped
6 garlic cloves
water
S&P

Soy Sauce
Ginger root
Rooster Sauce

Method: Begin by cooking the onions until translucent. Add the carrots and celery, followed by the leeks. Drop in 6 crushed cloves of garlic. Cook until very wilted. Cover with water, add rice. Cover with a lot of water, probably 10-15 cups of water. You will need enough liquid to cook the rice, and also leave room for the chard and cilantro, to be added after the rice is cooked. This is a personal preference thing. After the rice is cooked,drop in the chard/cilantro, and cook until wilted.Don’t forget to S & P throughout each phase, to taste.

To serve: ladle in the soup to your bowl of choice. Drizzle in 1-2 T of Soy sauce, and some rooster hot sauce, to taste. Complete by grading some fresh ginger over the bowl. Enjoy!

*pre-roasted or roast it yourself. the other day the store-roasted chicken was significantly cheaper than the whole uncooked chicken in the meat section, so I went with that. One could also just wait to make this after thanksgiving…oh the possibilities!

Also, I finally got a new camera! Check out this persimmon-chocolate cheesecake I made!

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Cheesecake is so easy to make, if you can put up with the amount of animal goo you will consume. 4 8 oz cream cheese packages, 3/4 c sour cream, 1 cup persimmon puree, lemon zest, 1/2 c-1 c sugar, vanilla extract. Pour over crust of your liking in a spring -form pan, and bake 1 hour Breakfast anyone?

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Posted in Meat/Poultry, baking, dessert, soups | 3 Comments »

Colorful Salad

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

Monday night I got to hang out with a good friend that I rarely get to see. We made pinhole cameras (or rather started to make pinhole cameras), and made a retro typewriter work in a build up to a delicious diner. Here are some action shots!

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For the main bit I made Mo’s Sauce-y Vodka Sauce- although I had no heavy cream so I improvised with a  whole milk/cream cheese combo that did the trick less a few cream cheese lumpules. So good! I have never been able to master the thick/richness of a store bought sauce, but this one didn’t need it. It was especially good as leftovers the next day as the liquid had soaked into my al dente noodles.

I had no lettuce, but a good array of fresh salad veggies- plus an avacado to boot! Along came the inspiration for this delicious summer side salad that rounded the meal out perfectly.

Bright Summer Salad

1 cup blanced sugar snap peas

2 inches paper thin sliced English Cucumber

1 shaved carrot (done with the veggie peeler)

1 can cannellini beans rinsed, drained

1 small red gypsy pepper

paper thin sliced onion, to your liking

1 very large yellow heirloom tomato, cubed

Avacado- Cilantro Sauce

1 whole avacado

the top part of a cilantro bunch (about 1/4 cup)

1 clove garlic

juice from 1 lemon

Salt & Pepper

a few T Olive Oil

Milk- as needed

In a blender (or it fits perfectly in 1 of the cup shaped parts to the magic bullet) combine all the ingredients minus the milk. Blend until smooth. Open, taste for further seasoning. If you want a more watery sauce use milk to thin it out.  Toss with veggies and serve immediately.

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Posted in San Francisco, pasta, salad, sauces, vegetarian | No Comments »

Two Soups (and a beverage!)

Monday, August 31st, 2009

One vegetarian, the other not so much.

Quick and Chunky Noodle Soup

Soups with broths scare me off because of the time constraints. HOWEVER, I figured out a way to make a tasty chicken noodle soup in less than an hour and a half, though it of course tastes better the next day.

1 whole chicken
bunch of celery
4 carrots
1 large onion
2 cloves of garlic
3 medium turnips (or parsnips! or both!)
cilantro! forget that nerdy parsley.
package of egg noodles
and salt and pepper, our good friends

Chop up the chicken as best you can, about five or six pieces, leave the fat on, and boil it for about a half hour, till it gets to falling apart. While that is going on, chop all your veggies up. When the chicken is done, drain most of the water, but save about three cups of the oily goodness. Add three cups of fresh water to the pot, salt the shit out of it, and then add your veggies all at once. While you have them cooking, pick apart your chicken and throw the meat in before the veggies are done. When things have about five minutes (you can tell by the turnips) add the egg noodles and cilantro. And when the noodles are done, that’s it! Pepper to taste.

Even-Quicker, Extra Smoove Roast Tomato Soup
courtesy of my man crow.

tomatoes
garlic
cup of fresh basil (from our garden! yeah!)
salt salt salt pepper pepper pepper
olive oil
and half
*makes about four portions

Slice thin enough tomatoes to fill three cookie sheets, that have been doused in olive oil. Lay ‘em out and thin slice a clove of garlic per sheet, setting those slices on top of the lucky tomatoes. Broil the sheets one at a time for about five-six minutes, until some of the tomatoes start to burn. Drop them in the food processor/blender, making sure to drain the leftover olive oil in. Then the basil, blending, and add the cream as you see fit.

My next recipe is going to be for the watermelon, tequila, lime and cayenne pepper cocktail I’ve been perfecting. Summer is ending, so it’s time I solidify the recipe to my tribute drink. Or maybe now that you know the ingredients, you can mess around with them yourselves!

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Posted in Meat/Poultry, cocktails, soups, vegetarian | 2 Comments »