Pulled Pork Ramen with Jalapeno Paste and Sauteed Mushrooms

Sometimes a trait or characteristic that seemed fixed and essential to defining ourselves can turn out to be not so unchanging after all.

I am the structured one in this relationship. I like having plans. If I'm going to sit and play notes on the keyboard, I absolutely positively need sheet music in front me. Without sheet music in front of me, there is nothing for me to do. If I'm playing with Max, I don't truly play, but instead declare it the time to count buttons in Spanish or the time to research flightless birds.

Seth, in contrast, eschews the structure, the structure to which I cling, and gravitates towards free play. He actually can play with Max in the way that play is actually meant to be done with a small child. When he sits in front of the keyboard, he explores all while rejecting my idea of playing a song from a book.

But when it comes to the kitchen, our characteristic structured/free play aspects reverse. He thrives under the guidance of instruction, while I feel constricted.

So Seth was skeptical about my free form, admittedly time-consuming kitchen play that led to this ramen. He did not think it would be something edible. but indeed it was, an umami filled bowl of deliciousness.  One full of pulled pork and a garlicky jalapeno paste and sauteed mushrooms and soft-boiled eggs.  One that can bridge the divide between the structuralists and free form players, even when that divide is within ourselves.

Ingredients
For the mushrooms:
8 ounces, sliced
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
splash soy sauce
freshly ground pepper

For the jalapeno paste:
400 degrees
4 jalapenos, halved
5 garlic cloves
extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon grated ginger

For the pulled pork:
4 lb pork shoulder
black pepper
1 tablespoon miso
1 tablespoon ground dried porcini mushrooms
1/4 cup mirin
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon ume plum vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons liquid smoke
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 bottle porter beer (I like using Deschutes Black Butte)

For the broth:
1 large onion, quartered
2 scallions
2 celery stalks
handful baby carrots
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon cloves
cinnamon stick
2 star anise
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon miso
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon liquid smoke

soft boiled eggs - Cooking Light has good instructions for this (1 for each bowl)
16 ounces fresh ramen noodles
chopped scallions

Instructions

To make the mushrooms: Melt the butter and olive oil in a large sauté pan over high heat. Once the butter has melted and the bubbles in the mixture have started to subside, add the chopped mushrooms. Stir continuously, allowing the mushrooms to absorb the butter and oil mixture. After a few minutes, the mushrooms will brown. Drizzle with the soy sauce and sprinkle freshly ground black pepper.

To make the jalapeno paste: Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Place jalapeno halves and garlic cloves in a small baking dish. Drizzle olive oil, and sprinkle a pinch of salt and some freshly ground black pepper.  Roast for 15 minutes, until jalapenos have browned.  Once roasted, place in food processor and add two tablespoons of olive oil and the grated ginger.  Pulse until a paste forms, adding more olive oil if needed.

To make the pulled pork: Rub the pork shoulder with freshly ground black pepper, miso, and the ground mushrooms.  Place in crockpot.  Pour mirin, vinegars, sesame oil, liquid smoke, brown sugar, soy sauce, and beer over it.  Set crockpot on high and cook for 5-6 hours, until the pork falls off the bone and is cooked through.

To make the pulled pork broth: Remove the pork from its cooking liquid.  Wrap peppercorns, clove, cinnamon, and star anise in cheese cloth.  Add onion, scallions, celery, carrots, cheesecloth with the spices, soy sauce, miso, vinegar, and liquid smoke to the pork cooking liquid.  Cook in crockpot for 2-3 hours on low.  Strain.

For the ramen bowls: Cook noodles according to package directions.  To serve, place some noodles, pulled pork, and soft boiled egg in a bowl and ladle broth over.  Sprinkle chopped scallions and place a bit of jalapeno paste on top.

Pork Lettuce Wrap with Yogurt Pomegranate Sauce

It was captivating, and perfectly located to view from the comfort of the bed that early in the morning. Once it was spotted, neither of us could turn away from it.

The flashes of light changed colors, a trick that was truly intriguing and also hypnotic.  Eventually, our trance was broken and we wanted more information. Why was this star - Spica - cycling through different colors?

We needed to know more. Yet when we entered our search terms about Spica into the search engine, we couldn't find anything about its flashing colors of light.

We were so confused. Were we at some special angle that only we could see this? Maybe it was really an airplane, stuck in the air. Or perhaps some other man made object. Or maybe, this pair of extremely amateur backyard astronomy enthusiasts just discovered something new, without even needing to leave the bed!

It was eventually revealed to us, that no, we did not indeed happen upon a new discovery. We were just completely and utterly wrong about the name of the star. We were looking at Sirius, not Spica. And oh wow, there was lots of information about this. Needless to say, no astronomical accolades would be garnered by us.

I may lack the ability to correctly identify celestial objects. But I am not wrong about the pleasures to be had in the eating of lettuce wraps.

The placing of the lettuce leaf on your plate. Spooning in some delicious meat, in this case fragrant with garlic and ginger and shallots, then lightly coated with a creamy sauce of Greek yogurt, pomegranate juice, orange juice, and orange zest. Then piling on the toppings - the extras that give each bite its own personality, its unique combination of crunchy jicama, of sweetness from the carrots, of refreshing and cooling mint, of spicy jalapeno. A drizzle of fresh orange juice perks everything up. The bright fresh lettuce and toppings makes a delicious and beautiful contrast with the pork. A meal that is captivating as Sirius.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 pound ground pork
4 garlic cloves
2 shallots
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1 tablespoon minced jalapeno, or to taste
2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
4 teaspoons pomegranate juice
1 teaspoon orange zest
1 teaspoon orange juice
1 tablespoon thick soy sauce
butter lettuce leaves

Toppings:
mint leaves
chopped scallions
jicama, julienned
carrots, julienned
jalapeno slices

Ingredients
In a small bowl, stir together yogurt, pomegranate juice, orange zest, orange juice, and thick soy sauce.  Set aside.  Heat canola oil on high heat in saute pan.  Add pork.  Sprinkle with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Once pork is cooked, lower heat and add shallots and jalapeno.  Once those have become soft, add the garlic and ginger.  Saute for a minute.  Stir the yogurt mixture into the pork.

To assemble wrap, spoon pork into the lettuce and then add toppings.  Drizzle with fresh orange juice

Corn, Scallion and Cotija Dumplings in a Coconut Corn Broth

There are nights, as we make our way upstairs to bed, that I am overcome with tiredness. A tiredness that makes each step incredibly difficult to take.

Okay, every night I'm tired.  I'm not exactly known as one of those full of energy types.

There are times when I fall asleep within a few minutes of getting into that beautiful, amazing place known as bed.

Other nights, however, my brain does the opposite of shutting off.  I become incredibly awake. Happy and awake.

So when this occurs, I enjoy "demonstrating my awakeness," a phrase coined by Seth.  Perhaps by engaging in one or more of the following.
-Initiating vigorous, contentious conversation
-Using a cheerful, loud voice
-Continuing conversations that were previously over
-Asking a million questions
-Discussing the episode of television we are watching
-Snorting in his face
-Walking to the other side of the bed, getting in his face, and saying hi

After numerous "demonstrations" and a subsequent reprimand to go to sleep, I usually decide to read.  But there are times when I put this silent, private awake time to good use.  And think about food.  Glorious, glorious food.

Like, for instance, some dumplings.  Dumplings stuffed with lime-scented cotija, corn, scallions, and jalapeno.  Dumplings coated in a coconut milk and corn broth, infused with the flavors of ginger and garlic and lime. "Demonstrating my awakeness" might not always lead to my desired outcome (Seth joining me in my awakeness), but at least some good can come of it.

Ingredients
For the corn stock:
husk of 5 corns
1/2 teaspoon peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
small red onion, halved
water
pinch salt

For the corn:
4 ears of corn, husked

For the coconut and corn broth:
5 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons grated ginger
extra virgin olive oil
1 cup corn broth
1 cup coconut milk
zest and juice of 1 small lime
1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
kosher salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup fresh basil, chiffonade
sprinkle more cotija for serving

For the corn scallion dumplings:
the cooked kernels from 4 ears of corn
1/2 teaspoon lime zest
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 chopped scallions
1/4 cup cotija cheese, crumbled
1 minced jalapeno
black pepper
1 package wonton wrappers (I made about 40 dumplings)

Instructions
To make the corn stock:
Place everything in a large pot and cover with water.  Cover with lid, set over medium heat.  Simmer for 1-2 hours.  Strain.

To make the corn:
Cook the corn using your preferred method.  I just stuck them in a 400 degree oven and let them roast for about 15 minutes.

To make the coconut and corn broth:
Heat some oil in a saute pan on low.  Add the garlic and ginger and saute for about a minute, until fragrant. Pour in 1 cup of the corn stock, coconut milk, lime juice and zest, fish sauce, and coriander.  Simmer for just a few minutes.  Adjust salt and pepper to taste.  Finish with a sprinkling of fresh basil and cotija cheese.

To make the corn scallion dumplings:
Place the cooked corn kernels, lime juice, lime zest, scallions, cotija, jalapeno and black pepper in a bowl. Toss together.  Take a wonton wrapper and place in the palm of your hand. Place ½ tablespoon of the corn scallion mixture in the middle. Dab water around two adjacent sides of the wrapper, then bring up the other two sides of the wrapper to form a triangle.  Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Add 4-5 dumplings and cook (about 1-3 minutes).  Remove the cooked dumplings and repeat. Serve with broth.

A Rice Bowl with Spicy Tahini Chicken, Stir-fried Mushroom and Asparagus, and Marinated Carrots

It isn't clear how it began.  But I'm totally calling it genetic, as my sister is seriously awesome at it as well. For as long as I can remember, my sister and I have been quite skilled at eye-rolling.  That ever-so-mature response when something or someone annoys you.  

This response has many triggers, one of which is recipes touting super special "secret" ingredients.  Like the avocado in that brownie.  Or the kale in that smoothie.

And now I'm rolling my eyes at myself.  Because I am here to explain the secret ingredient of rice bowls. And noodle bowls, for that matter.

The secret is the bowl.  It doesn't matter what bowl it is. It just has to be a bowl. 

Lets all be honest.  Rice and noodle bowls are pretty trendy. But I would argue, that they are trendy for good reason. If the content of these bowls were served on plates, and called "here is a plate of noodles with stuff" or "here is a plate of rice with stuff," I'm pretty sure none of us would get excited about it. We would all be like, "Oh, isn't this basically like going to a buffet and placing heaping piles of random stuff all on one plate."

And we would all be basically correct.

I am still working on gathering evidence for my theory, but I'm pretty sure that bowls have invisible tiny fans scattering delicious invisible taste enhancing seasonings over the contents of the bowl. It will take me some time to figure out how to test this. Science is not my strong suit.

But somehow piling seemingly random concoctions in a bowl makes total sense.  Here, zingy carrots, with stir-fried asparagus and mushrooms, and the earthiness from the tahini chicken, sprinkled with some parsley and scallions and a drizzle of sesame oil, all work together.  I may be rolling my eyes at myself, but at least I am enjoying a yummy dinner while doing so.

Ingredients
For the carrots:
1 cup julienned carrots
2 teaspoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons walnut oil
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

For the stir fry:
1 bunch asparagus, woody ends removed, chopped
1 cup chopped shiitake mushrooms
1 teaspoon minced ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
minced jalapeno, to taste
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1/2 teaspoon honey

For the tahini chicken:
1/2 pound chicken breast tenders
canola oil
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup tahini
1 tablespoon Greek yogurt
1 1/2 teaspoon Sambal Oelek chile paste
1/2 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon lime juice

cooked rice (I made 2 rice cups in the rice cooker)
chopped scallions
chopped parsley
lime wedge
sesame oil

Instructions
To make the carrots:  Place carrots in small bowl.  Whisk the oils and vinegar together, and pour over the carrots.  I like doing this ahead of time.

To make the stir-fry:  In a small bowl, stir soy sauce, oyster sauce, and honey.  Heat canola oil in wok or saute pan on high.  Add asparagus and mushrooms.  Cook for 2 minutes, and add the ginger, garlic, and jalapeno.  Turn heat to medium-low.  Once the garlic has cooked, add the soy sauce mixture.  

To make the chicken:  Sprinkle salt and pepper liberally on both sides of the chicken.  Heat canola oil in a skillet on high.  Get each side nice and brown (about 3 minutes each side).  Turn heat to low to finish cooking (if needed).  Stir together tahini, yogurt, chile paste, honey, soy sauce, and lime juice.  Chop the chicken, and toss with the tahini mixture.

To assemble the rice bowl:  Scoop some rice into a bowl.  Place a few scoops of the stir fry on top of one section of the rice.  Place some tahini chicken on another section.  Place the carrots on top.  Scatter chopped scallions and parsley on top.  Drizzle the whole thing with sesame oil.

Tomato, Brown Butter, Ricotta Pasta with Zucchini and Roasted Garlic

I know that as an adult human being who lives in this thing we call society, I should share.  I should want to share.  And this desire is one I should be attempting to cultivate in my offspring.  Perhaps by modeling such behavior myself.

But this is easier said than done.

We have our favorite brunch spot.  Rustic servingware, with mason jars as far as the eye can see.  Pomegranate mimosas. Delicious food offerings. Friendly servers.  And best of all, a location on a rail line.  Which means Max can eagerly anticipate the passing of a train.  It feels like the most perfect of morning dining spots in the entire world for us.

Despite our love for this establishment, there is a reticence in sharing this location with others.  I don't want to sully its amazingness with a bad memory.  With someone who won't appreciate all it has to offer.  Or what if they now think it is their spot, when we were the ones who found it first?  Is it really such an awful thing to have a secret spot?  Am I a supremely selfish human being?

I suppose I have a guilty conscience about this.  To assuage my guilt just a bit, I am sharing a pasta dish with one of man's most wonderful substances - brown butter.  A tomato sauce with roasted zucchini slices, roasted garlic, browned butter, and ricotta cheese.

I suppose I do have the ability to share.  But only when I want to.

Ingredients
2 medium zucchini, sliced on mandolin
pasta of choice (pictured above: penne)
extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt
freshly ground pepper

1 head garlic
extra virgin olive oil

6 tablespoons unsalted butter
28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 small onion, halved
1/3 cup whole-milk ricotta cheese
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup basil leaves, torn

Instructions
To make the zucchini:  Heat oven to 400.  Place zucchini slices in a 9 x 13 pan, drizzle with oil, salt, and pepper, and roast for about 20 minutes until all brown and melty.

To make the roasted garlic:  Heat oven to 400. Take off the papery outer skin of the garlic bulb. Don’t remove all the skin, just the stuff that comes off easily. The head of garlic should still remain intact. Slice off the pointy end of the bulb to expose all the cloves. Place in a small greased ramekin and cover with olive oil. Sprinkle just a pinch of salt and cover with aluminum foil. Place in oven and roast for about 45 minutes. The cloves of garlic will be all nice and soft.

To make the sauce:  In a large sauté pan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Let the butter brown, about 5-7 minutes. You will see brown specks that have formed on the bottom of the pan. Be careful to not burn the butter, otherwise the taste will be altered. Add in the roasted zucchini slices and roasted cloves of garlic. Mix those into the browned butter. Stir in crushed tomatoes. Add onion halves. Let the mixture come together over low heat for about 40 minutes. Once the onion halves are soft, remove from the sauce. Add cheeses. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with basil.

Serve with pasta (I used penne) cooked according to manufacturer's directions.

Fettucine with Citrus and Tons of Fresh Herbs

There are two sides to grilling. One is done in front of the grill – the part where someone lights the charcoals and actually cooks food over flames. The part where one determines the “done-ness” of things while basking in the charcoal-laden fumes.

The other part of grilling is done behind the scenes. The prep work – cutting vegetables, marinating, creating sauces, doing dishes – the less glamorous stuff.

Seth performs the first set of tasks. I do the second set.

In a similar creation of (possibly false) binaries, some dishes are meant to be oohed and aahed over.  To stand in the limelight, garnering accolades and affection from admirers.  Like food that is served on a stick.  Or a big, meaty burger.

These noodles are not one of those dramatic dishes.

Instead, they play a supporting role in our grilling adventures.  I'm not sure why we only make it when grilling.  But just like the blue of the sky and the green of the grass, that's just how things are.

Perhaps my admiration for these noodles comes less from a gastronomical place and more of an emotional one.

The noodles are flavorful - brimming with fresh herbs and citrus, but it isn't hard to put together in between prepping the dishes to be made on the grill.

It might not be the main event, but it serves as a consistently good counterpoint to the grilled, meaty things.  And despite its lack of dramatic flair, I always find myself going back for more.

Ingredients
1 pound fettuccine
1 cup chopped parsley
2 cups chopped basil
4 chopped scallions
2 cups arugula
1/4 cup snipped chives
salt and pepper, to taste
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup fresh citrus juice  (I like using a mixture of lemons and limes)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
pinch cayenne
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions
In a large pot of salted water, make fettuccine according to package directions.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, toss parsley, basil, scallions, arugula, and chives.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Mix together butter, olive oil, citrus juice, kosher salt, cayenne, and garlic clove.

Once the fettuccine has cooked, toss with the herb mixture.  Drizzle with the olive oil and citrus juice dressing.   Sprinkle Parmesan cheese and black pepper.  Toss to coat.

Stuffed Red Peppers with Red Rice and Buffalo, topped with Strawberries and Red Jalapeno - The Red Dish

The internet is stuffed with articles telling you what your favorite color means.

When we got our next Creative Cooking Crew Challenge, to create a monochromatic dish, it probably means something that my first response was to do something all black.  Though if I really think about it, I don't have a particular fondness for black beans, black rice or squid ink. So maybe the world is correct.  Maybe it does mean something.

According to one article, a preference for black says "I want to give the appearance of mystery," but also that my preference could possibly "indicate a suppression of desires and worldly aims."

I'm not sure I would say I was trying to cultivate an appearance of mystery, per se.  But I am known in these parts to be "moody," a word often associated with black.  However, I can, without a doubt, attest to not suppressing my desires or worldly aims.  I have good relationships with all the ice creams and milkshakes and cookies.

Seth's response was to make a red dish. The same article helpfully explains that "red is often the color chosen by someone outgoing, aggressive, vigorous and impulsive—or someone who would like to be!"  Which is one of the most absurd descriptions of Seth that one could possibly write.

Apparently red won. There isn't really a compromise position to be had in a monochromatic color scheme.  Unless - you look at our final result! Where, we somehow managed (despite using annato, paprika, and tomatoes in our buffalo mixture) to make a completely red dish if, and only if, you use a very loose definition of "brick red."

So apparently the dish compromised with itself.  While the descriptions of black and red don't match up with us (or at least we don't want to believe they do) (ugh, what if the descriptions are right and what we know to be true isn't actually true - we don't actually know ourselves!), perhaps the dish itself wanted to be all these things.  Being a stuffed pepper, there is indeed an appearance of mystery.  You never quite know what you will bite into.  And if I were to ascribe human characteristics to a plate a food, I would perhaps use "outgoing and "aggressive" to talk about the fruity, spicy. smoky, meaty flavors it holds.  So it might be safe to say this dish represents the qualities of both our favorite colors, even if not so much our personalities.

Ingredients
For the rice:
1 1/2 rice cups red rice
chicken stock for cooking liquid
pinch ground shrimp
pinch annato
pinch paprika
pinch saffron

For the red pepper tomato sauce:
2 red peppers, quartered and deseeded
extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
paprika
ground pasilla
6 ounces tomato paste
splash truffle oil
pinch paprika
pinch passila
crushed red pepper
1 red jalapeno, minced
lemon wedge

For the buffalo mixture:
1 pound buffalo
extra virgin olive oil
1/2 red onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon roasted cinnamon
1 teapsoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon annato
1/2 teaspoon ground pasilla
1/2 teaspoon ancho chile powder
1 teaspoon paprika
3/4 cup crushed tomatoes
1 1/2 teaspoons raspberry vinegar
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
2 celery stalks, minced
kosher salt, to taste

For assembly and serving:
3-4 red bell peppers, halved and cleaned
3-4 sliced red jalapenos
1-2 cups minced strawberries
lime wedges

Instructions
To make the red rice:  We use a rice cooker to make our rice.  Measure out 1 1/2 cups with the rice measuring cup.  Add chicken stock for the cooking liquid.  Add a pinch each of ground dried shrimp, annato, paprika, and saffron.  Cook according to manufacturer's directions.

To roast the red peppers: Heat oven to 425. Place red peppers on baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle salt, freshly ground black pepper, paprika, and ground pasilla over pieces. Once one side of the veggie has a nice brown color, flip; then continue roasting for a total of about 35 minutes.

To make the roasted red pepper/tomato sauce:  Place the roasted red peppers, tomato paste, splash truffle oil, paprika, pasilla, and crushed red pepper in a mixing bowl.  Blend with immersion blender.  Stir in minced jalapeno and a squeeze of lemon juice.  Mix the rice into the sauce.  Adjust salt to taste.

To make the buffalo mixture:  In a large saute pan, heat the olive oil.  Brown the meat over high heat.  Lower the heat and add the red onion.  Once soft, add the garlic cloves.Stir in the cinnamon, smoked paprika, annato, pasilla, ancho chile powder, and paprika.  Once the meat has been coated, add the crushed tomatoes, raspberry vinegar, and liquid smoke.  Let the mixture come together for just a few minutes.  Stir in the celery stalks.  Adjust salt to taste.

To assemble:  We placed a layer of the rice mixture in each red pepper half, followed by a layer of the buffalo mixture.  Each half was topped with a few slices of red jalapeno.  Bake at 425 for 30-40 minutes, until softened and brown on the bottom.  Serve with a spoonful of minced strawberries and a lime wedge.

Peach, Pine Nut, and Mixed Greens Pizza with Ricotta Sauce and Fried Egg - aka Breakfast for Dinner

I tend to chafe under rules.  I might even follow them intuitively, but once they have attained the official status of rule or obligation, I feel the shackles being placed on my body and my rebellious nature starts bubbling through my veins.  

I mean, of course there are limits to this. I'm not advocating complete and utter food anarchy.

Rules here include, but are not limited to:
-hot dogs = never (I'm still traumatized by a toddlerhood incident)
-never mix pumpkin into macaroni and cheese

-chocolate chips, like flour, are a necessary component to a muffin

-dried fruit is the devil

-warm oatmeal cereal is also the devil

-breakfast needs to include some sort of produce item
-apples = Granny Smith, others need not apply (this came from Seth)
-raw tomatoes are the devil (also a Seth contribution)
-ketchup needs to mixed with some truffle oil, otherwise it is inedible


That said, having strict and unwavering ideas about what constitutes a breakfast, a lunch, and dinner makes me cringe.  To put it mildly.  And I feel an accompanying bit of sadness that the person with these sort of rules never experienced the joy and delight of a slice of cold take-out pizza for breakfast.  

Life, to be appreciated to its fullest, needs a bit of chaos and whimsy and improvisation - leftover Chinese food for the morning meal, an ice cream sandwich and some carrot sticks for lunch, and one of the perennial favorites - breakfast for dinner.  Here we have pizza with cheesy ricotta sauce and topped with a mixed greens, peach, and pine nut salad...and fried eggs.  Because eggs = breakfast.  And that is a rule I can get behind.

Need more breakfast pizza ideas?  I Can't Believe It's Not Butter has you covered with their California Pizza Party webisode!

Ingredients
4 cups mixed baby greens
3 tablespoons chives
1/4 cup torn basil leaves
2 white peaches, chopped
2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons olive oil
12 teaspoon lemon zest
2 teaspoons lemon juice
kosher salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 cup ricotta
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tube refrigerated pizza dough, or use your favorite pizza dough recipe
4-6 eggs, fried
I Can't Believe It's Not Butter olive oil spray, for cooking

Instructions
For the mixed greens and peach salad:
In a large bowl, mix together the greens, chives, basil, peaches, pine nuts, and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.  Drizzle the olive oil, and lemon juice over the mixed green salad.  Sprinkle the lemon zest, and adjust salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

For the ricotta and parmesan sauce:
In a small bowl, mix together the ricotta, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, and the garlic clove.  Add freshly ground black pepper to taste.  Set aside.

Heat oven to 450.  Roll out the pizza dough on a Silpat or parchment lined baking sheet.  Bake for 5 minutes.  Remove from oven and spread the ricotta and parmesan mixture over the crust.  Bake for another 3-5 minutes, until crust has turned golden brown.  Remove from oven.

Sprinkle the mixed greens salad on top of the pizza.

Spray a pan or skillet (I use my trusty cast-iron skillet) with the olive oil spray.  Crack desired amount of eggs into skillet over medium-high heat and fry until whites have cooked and the yolks are still runny.  Once they are cooked, place on the pizza.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Whole Wheat Shells with Four Cheeses

Post hoc ergo propter hoc, or "after this therefore because of this"
We clearly spent way too much of our lives watching West Wing.

One must be mindful of not falling into this fallacious logic trap.  But sometimes, sometimes - one can be fairly sure that event "b" is indeed caused by event "a" based purely on the order in which these events happened.

Like, for instance, when you are at the beach and there is a snack stand.  And you order the bestest, most obvious of options - fries covered in some sort of spicy fake cheese sauce.  And you consume them.  And then a half hour later your stomach hurts.

Not that this happened to us or anything.

We all know that the cheese fries led to the stomach pains.

Yet after eating noodles slathered in a creamy, cheesy sauce, I feel so happy.  Joyful, really.  And I know it is precisely because of eating cheesy noodles that I am full of overwhelming joy.  In fact, I even contemplate the possibility of a benevolent supreme being who reveals a divine grace just by the mere existence of noodles and a sweeping array of cheeses.  It is precisely because of eating this most perfect of combinations of food that endorphins flood my entire being. I am sure that is not a logical fallacy.

Ingredients
1 pound whole wheat shells
3 cups half and half
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon hot sauce (like Frank's Red Hot Sauce)
1 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
2 cups grated good quality cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons Taleggio cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions
Cook pasta in a large pot of salted water according to package directions.  Drain.  If, like me, you want to save on dishes, keep the cooked pasta in the colander and use the pot to make the sauce.  Melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat.  Add the half and half, cheeses, Dijon mustard, and hot sauce.  Stir, once the cheeses have melted and the mixture is nice and warm, pour the cooked pasta into the sauce and mix together.  Adjust salt and pepper levels to taste. Let the noodles mingle with the sauce over low heat until the sauce has thickened.

Broccoli Quesadillas - "Our Usual" and the "Fancypants"

Seth's dreams are epic dreams.   A fact that can turn bleary mornings into family story hour.  Seth regales me with a recitation of his most recent nocturnal tale while I greedily lap it up.

Tales of survival in a post apocalyptic world.  Heroic tales of saving lives - sometimes people, sometimes kitten. Tales of living life as a whale (whether that whale was a blue or a grey yet remains unclear) and fighting to stay alive in the face of killer whale attacks.  These are the dreams that Seth's subconscious produces.

I'm so eager to eat up these dreams and absorb them into my memory.  Perhaps I hope my own subconscious mind will start to produce similar results through osmosis.

Mine, are well, mundane.  At best.  If I can even remember them.  Which is a seldom occurrence in life.  The ones I usually remember are those anxiety-ridden ones, the ones where you are late and despite your best attempts to get to where you are going, you are stymied every step of the way.

Once I dreamed of a loaf of bread.  That's it.  It was the Platonic ideal of a loaf, just floating in front of a black background.  No events actually happened.  Just a floating loaf.  I strangely didn't even eat the bread, a surprising thing for me to do since I have a deep and abiding love for the stuff.

Seth's dreamscape couldn't be more different from mine.  Our quesadilla preferences suffer from similar discrepancies.  But this disparity runs the other direction - mine are the more epic quesadillas.  I started adding a mango and black bean spread to add some extra levels of flavor.  Our usual quesadilla involves broccoli and jalapeno with scallion, cilantro and cheese.  I wanted more.

When offered the quesadilla with "more," Seth determined that he still wanted his usual and not the "fancypants."  I long for more in my dreams.  Seth apparently does not feel the same about his quesadilla.  Somehow, we make it work.

Ingredients
Mango and Black Bean Spread:
1 can black beans and their liquid
1/4 cup olive oil
1/3 cup chopped mango
1 teaspoon spice mix (below)
3 garlic cloves, minced
pinch salt

Spice Mix:
1/2 tsp roasted Saigon cinnamon
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp ground coriander
Pinch cumin
Pinch ground ginger
Pinch ground star anise

For the quesadillas:
black bean spread
sliced jalapeno
about a 1/4 cup finely chopped broccoli florets per quesadilla
chopped scallions
chopped cilantro
grated cheddar cheese
crumbled cotija cheese
flour tortilla
canola oil, for cooking

Instructions
For the spice mix:
Mix all the spices together in a small bowl.  Keep leftovers in an airtight container.

For the mango black bean spread:
Place all the ingredients, including the spice mix, in a medium pot over medium-low heat.  Let everything cook together, and after about ten minutes, take off heat.  Use an immersion blender to puree.  Set aside.

For the quesadillas:
Take the flour tortilla and spread the mango and black bean mixture on half of the tortilla.  Then layer the jalapeno slices, broccoli florets, scallions, cilantro, and cheeses on top of the spread.  Or if you are being Seth, then just skip the mango black bean mixture part.  Once all your ingredients are in, fold the tortilla.  Heat canola oil (about a tablespoon) in a cast iron skillet.  Place the quesadilla in.  Once a side has a nice golden brown color, flip it over.  Once both sides are golden brown, take off heat and serve.

Roasted Chicken with Lemon, Lavender and Fennel

When I was in my early elementary school years, I was convinced that one needed to do everything perfectly to move on to the next grade.  Every spelling test, every math worksheet, every page in the phonics workbook needed to be perfect.  And obviously - mistakes were made.  Anxiety would ensue.

When I finally learned that I was actually moving on to the next grade, despite making some errors, such relief would come over me.

I eventually learned that perfection wasn't needed to move on to the next grade.  But a pursuit of this mythical idea of perfection never truly went away.  I rationally understand the concept of "we can't be perfect."  But on an emotional level, I haven't quite internalized that.  So anxiety continues to ensue.

It took me a long time to make a roasted chicken.  Making it perfect seemed so overwhelming -
how to achieve crispy, golden skin, to brine or not to brine, to truss or not too truss.  A paralyzingly fear resulted.  We all know that perfect can be the enemy of the good. I finally just started doing it and kept things simple.  This roasted chicken isn't perfect.  But it was very good.  And that is enough sometimes.

Ingredients
2-3 tablespoons duck fat
1 small fennel bulb, halved
2 lemons, halved
4 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon dried lavender
1 rosemary sprig
couple thyme sprigs
vanilla salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 roasting chicken

Instructions
Heat oven to 400.  Rinse the chicken and pat dry, and be sure to remove the organs.  Rub the duck fat over the chicken.  Sprinkle vanilla salt, black pepper, and a touch of fresh rosemary and thyme leaves, and some fennel fronds on the outside.

Inside a cavity, stuff with the fennel, garlic, half a lemon, lavender, and sprigs of rosemary and thyme.

Around the chicken, nestle in some lemon halves, thyme sprigs, and some more fennel fronds.

Roast for 1-2 hours, until the breast meat reaches an internal temperature of 180 degrees.

Lemony-Pepper Browned Butter Vinaigrette Pasta with Asparagus and Mushrooms

You know those people who are so nature-y....the ones who go on hikes instead of walks, who camp instead of staying in facilities with toilets, who bike and have edible gardens and are just so "one with nature."

I'm not one of them.

I wish I was. But I'm not.

I pee a lot. Like a lot. As soon as emailing became a thing my best friend (hi Jess!) was forwarding me links to pharmaceuticals helping overactive bladder.

So I get nervous being away from civilization. Away from toilets. Away from toilet paper.

And correlated with (caused by?) this issue, I drink a lot of water. And water is heavy. So I never have enough. And I get hungry. And food supplies must be hauled around as well.

And I sunburn. Ohhhh I sunburn. This wasn't always the case. In my younger days I was able to procure a respectable tan. But not anymore. Now all I can get is a respectable burn.

So while I totally promote environmentalist values and advocate a response to climate change (seriously, what's going on with that? aren't we going to at least try to do something??), I'm much better at experiencing nature from afar (unless we count the beach, I'm pro-beach). I'd much rather be at home on the couch with some popcorn and water and a toilet just footsteps away, watching Planet Earth.  And instead of raising my own produce, I will go to a market to obtain them - in this case, asparagus, and mushrooms, and spinach.  And then head to the kitchen, with its pots and pans and utensils, and turn those into a meal with pasta and browned butter vinaigrette.  I am forever grateful for civilization.

Adapted from Cooking Light's Roasted Asparagus with Browned Butter and Balsamic Vinegar.

Ingredients
2 bundles of asparagus, ends removed, chopped into 1-inch pieces
drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
8 ounces whole wheat elbow noodles
8 ounces cremini mushrooms, chopped
3 cups spinach leaves

Vinaigrette:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
2 teaspoons lemon juice
lots of freshly ground black pepper

Parmesan cheese, for serving

Instructions
Cook pasta in a large pot of salted water, according to package directions.

To make the asparagus: Heat oven to 400.  Drizzle oil on asparagus.  Sprinkle salt and pepper.  Roast for 10-15 minutes, until they have some of that delicious brown color.  Once done, remove from oven and set aside.

To make the mushrooms: Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan over high heat. Add the chopped mushrooms. Stir continuously, allowing the mushrooms to absorb the butter and oil mixture. After a few minutes, the mushrooms will brown. Set aside.

To make the vinaigrette: Melt butter in a small skillet over medium heat; let it cook for about three minutes or until it has turned brown and has a nutty fragrance.  Remove from heat.  Stir in soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, lemon zest, and lemon juice.  Add a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper.

In a large pot (I just used the pot that was used for making the pasta), mix asparagus, pasta, and mushrooms all together.  Toss in the spinach leaves.  Drizzle dressing over the pasta and vegetables.  Use tongs to coat.  Gently heat the pasta over low heat.  Once the pasta has been warmed and the spinach is slightly wilted, serve.  Top each pasta bowl with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

Sriracha-Glazed Bacon and Apple Scallion Sliders with Coconut Cashew Spread

It is funny how life has a way of making things disappear, only to reappear when you least expect it.  After the hope has evaporated.  And by life, I mean cats and toddlers.

For Valentine's Day, Max picked out a pack of pink balls to give to the cats. One of these, a tiny pink soccer ball, was given to Rambo.  Within five minutes, the ball was lost. We ( I ) looked and looked in all the usual places, eventually giving up the search.

It was lost, but not forgotten, as Max would ask me for the pink ball just about every day.  It became a sort of joke between us. Randomly, he would ask for it, and smile, and I would say I don't know and he would giggle.

Magically, just a few days ago, the elusive pink ball appeared in Max's hand as we made our way down the stairs.  I've tried asking where he found it, but I get no response to my inquiry.

Silence is the same response given to questions about the mysterious whereabouts of JiJi's collar.  Though not as surprising, since they are cats and all.

About 4 years ago,  when our puff cat was tiny and resembled more of a "puff" than an actual cat, we gave her a collar.  A red collar.  And that red collar, or so we thought, looked super cute on her.  At this time, our puff preferred staying in our bedroom, away from our pig cat.  A new home and big feline brother were a lot for this puff to take in.

The puff and pig would occasionally play paw games under the door.  A toe spot paw would wave its little black spot and the pig cat would come and play with her.  One day, this game evolved into "pass the collar under the door."  JiJi was caught passing her collar under the door to Rambo, who, we can only imagine, had instructions to hide it.  A not-so-subtle sign that she was not happy about that collar.

A few months later, no longer wanting to be confined to the bedroom, the collar completely disappeared.  Not even stumbled upon during our move to Dana Point.  We figured it was lost to the nether.

About four months ago, years after the move, a red collar was mysteriously placed on the floor of our bedroom.  A taunt.  A "Haha you thought it was gone, but we knew where it was the whole time," kind of taunt.  It was picked up and placed in a drawer.

Nut butter has made a similar, though not as dramatic, disappearance and reappearance in our lives.  Seth has never really liked nut butter, except in some savory dishes.  For me, it was something I enjoyed as a child, but not so much now.  Useful as an ingredient, but never the star of the show.  My affections for the stuff never ran deep, and it was never a pantry staple until Max came around.

Then we got word of March's Creative Cooking Crew challenge - a Chopped-style assignment using the following four ingredients in one dish - Granny Smith apple, bacon, vinegar and nut butter.

Here we were, face to face with nut butter, a not so beloved ingredient.  We decided to make our own nut butter with our favorite nut - the cashew (okay okay it isn't really a nut, but it totally acts like a nut, so we are just going with it).

Making our own cashew butter has actually forced a reevaluation of our nut butter stance.  We were seriously smitten with it.  Using a spoon to shovel the stuff right from the jar smitten.  It was so good, we decided to do a post just for the cashew butter.

The real reason for it, however, was as a spread for these bacon sliders.  We glazed the bacon with maple syrup and Sriracha.  The apples and vinegar became a salad/slaw concoction - a crispy, fresh, and tart counterpoint to the rich bacon.  The cashew coconut spread and a minty basil leaf added complexity to each bite.

Now the yelps of other nuts can be heard, begging to be turned into butter as well.  And we will gladly oblige their requests. The stuff will not be disappearing from our lives again.  And neither will these sliders.  To check out the rest of the CCC posts for this month, click here!

Ingredients
Sriracha and Maple Glazed Bacon
8 strips bacon
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 1/2 teaspoons Sriracha

Apple and Scallion Salad
1 large apple, julienned
1/4 cup chopped strawberries
2 scallions, chopped
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon ume plum vinegar
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Cashew Coconut Spread
2/3 cup cashew butter
1/4 cup coconut milk
2 teaspoons lime juice

slider rolls or mini Kaiser rolls
basil leaves

Instructions
For the glazed bacon:
Heat oven to 400.  In a small bowl, mix maple syrup and Sriracha.  Place bacon on parchment-lined baking sheet.  Brush syrup mixture on bacon strips.  Bake for 13-15 minutes, or until browned and crispy around the edges.

For the apple salad:
Toss apple, strawberries, and scallions in a large bowl.  Drizzle oil and vinegar, and coat the apple mixture.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

For the cashew coconut spread:
In a medium bowl, stir together the cashew butter, coconut milk, and lime juice.

To assemble the sliders:
Toast the rolls.  Spread the cashew spread on the top bun.  On the bottom half, layer the glazed bacon, a basil leaf and then a generous helping of the apple salad.  Close the sandwich and eat!

Flatbread Pizza with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce, Broccoli, Caramelized Onions, and Pineapple

Lots of roasting happened in the making of this pizza.

I like thinking of the oven as a "black box."  And unlike most metaphorical black boxes, I actually don't like to analyze this one.  Usually, I love thinking about the "why."  Which I'm sure my mom just loved as I was growing up.  Actually, I am still scolded for over-thinking things.

I could learn all the mechanisms by which browning occurs and so on.  But if I do, it would no longer be the mysterious box into which things are placed and then deliciousness occurs.  I've actually had a lifelong reticence to learning about such processes.  As a high school student, I got it into my head that I was not going to take chemistry.  I didn't, and it felt like such a victory.  I carried my anti-chemistry flag right through college and grad school.  I can be such a contrarian sometimes.  I have little doubt that learning some chemistry would explain a lot of the magic, but I obstinately refuse to get into it.

When broccoli and garlic and red peppers are doused in some olive oil, salt, and pepper and put into this magic box, loveliness happens.  So I let the oven work its magic...and then add some fresh pineapple chunks for a sweet, juicy counterpoint.

Ingredients
Roasted broccoli:
3 cups broccoli florets
olive oil
salt
pepper
red pepper flakes
1 lemon wedge

Roasted red peppers:
3 red peppers, cut into quarters
olive oil
salt
pepper

Roasted garlic:
1 head of garlic
1 tablespoon oil

Caramelized Onions:
2 onions, peeled, halved, then sliced

Roasted red pepper pizza spread
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 (15.5) ounce can cannelini beans
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
juice from 1/2 a lime
salt and pepper to taste
the roasted garlic
the roasted red peppers

Cheeses:
1/2 cup grated extra sharp cheddar
1/2 cup grated mozzarella
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

about 1 cup of fresh pineapple chunks
2 flatbreads (we used Stonefire's garlic naan)

Instructions
To roast the broccoli: Heat oven to 425. Place florets on baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle red pepper flakes, salt, freshly ground black pepper and Parmesan cheese over pieces. Roast for about 25 minutes, until pieces are soft and have that delicious browning on them. Remove from oven and squeeze fresh lemon juice over top.

To roast the garlic: Heat oven to 400. Take off the papery outer skin of the garlic bulb. Don’t remove all the skin, just the stuff that comes off easily. The head of garlic should still remain intact. Slice off the pointy end of the bulb to expose all the cloves. Place in a small greased ramekin and cover with the olive oil. Sprinkle just a pinch of salt and cover with aluminum foil. Place in oven and roast for about 45 minutes. The cloves of garlic will be all nice and soft.

To roast the red peppers: Heat oven to 425. Place red peppers on baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle red pepper flakes, salt, and freshly ground black pepper over pieces. Once one side of the veggie has a nice brown color, flip; then continue roasting for a total of about 35 minutes.

To caramelize the onions: Place a tablespoon of olive oil in large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion slices. Don’t stir too often yet. Let the pieces brown, without getting burnt. After about 15 minutes or so, once slices have mostly browned, I like to turn the heat down to low or medium low. Stir frequently. I like adding a bit of water or oil every so often to keep the pieces from burning or sticking too much. After about 40 minutes or so, the onions should have a dark brown, jam-like quality.

To make the red pepper spread: In a medium sauce pan, add oil, beans and their liquid, red pepper flakes, roasted garlic, and roasted peppers. Cook on medium low for 10 minutes. Season with lime juice, salt, and pepper. Blend with an immersion blender, and season again if needed.

To make the pizzas: Spread red pepper sauce on flatbreads. Top with cheeses, caramelized onions, and broccoli. Bake at 375 until cheese is all melted and the flatbread is getting crispy, about 8-10 minutes. Once it is done cooking, finish with fresh pineapple chunks.

Creative Cooking Crew: Vegan Challenge - Mixed Mushroom Yakitori and Mushroom Scallion Potstickers

This is our inaugural month with the Creative Cooking Crew (hosted by Laz of Lazaro Cooks and Joan of Foodalogue)! Doesn't "inaugural" have a nice ring to it?  Just like the President being sworn in on Sunday, this feels a little bit like a swearing in for us, and we are super pumped.

This month's challenge had a vegan theme  -"Choose one of your favorite rich, heavy, fatty animal-protein based meals and give it a healthy VEGAN spin.”

When we heard "vegan," our minds immediately translated that to "MUSHROOMS!" Lots and lots of mushrooms.  So many mushrooms were purchased that the cashier at the market appeared concerned.  He asked "why would we need so many mushrooms, are you making mushroom stew?" We said no - panfried dumplings and teriyaki mushroom skewers.  He asked us if we were serving that with a side of mushrooms. I was irrationally amused by that image.

In my defense, I wasn't sure how many mushrooms to get (after all, things happen and extras are always good!).  We ended up having so many leftover mushrooms from the challenge that I was able to make both a beef stroganoff and a pesto pasta dish with them.  So I guess the cashier's initial concern at the volume of mushrooms making their way down the conveyor belt was well-founded.

We chose to mushroom-ize two meaty dishes that make us crazy for their umami, savory deliciousness.  Two dishes that when placed in front of us, turn us into uncivilized primates, attacking the pile of food with gusto, and never speaking a word to each other until the task of eating has been completed.  Only then will conversation and civilized behavior resume.  These meaty grilled pops basted in teriyaki sauce are one of those dishes.  Here, we swapped the thinly sliced beef for a mix of mushrooms - King Oyster, shiitake, and cremini, and we added pineapple chunks and slices of jalapeno for additional flavor.   Pork and scallion potstickers are another of these dishes.  Dipping panfried, pork and scallion flavored dumplings into spicy, garlicky, soy-vinegar sauce brings us joy.  Utter joy.  So we turned our meaty friends into vegan versions using mushrooms in the filling.  I would just like to point out that I intended to use oyster sauce in the dumpling filling.  But at that very crucial period of time right before dumping some in, I realized that this was not a vegan sauce.  Which now is obvious.  But then, not so much.  So I threw in some tea instead.  

As it happens, we were almost forced to actually turn the mountain of mushrooms into stew - as rain started tricking ever so lightly on the grill.  But somehow, this rain stayed at a gentle drizzle for just a few minutes then stopped, only to resume again once we were done grilling.  Which was lucky, or we would have missed out on some pretty amazing skewers.  The teriyaki mushrooms made us just as deliriously excited/primal as their beefy counterparts.  The mushroom potstickers are good on their own, but don't really taste anything like the pork-based originals.  All in all, a fun experiment that yielded some yummy dishes we may never have tried out otherwise.  So happy "Inauguration Day!"  To us, and the president...  in three days...  And thanks to Creative Cooking Crew for the opportunity to try something new!

P.S. Check out all the great work done by the Creative Cooking Crew team here.

Mixed Mushroom Yakitori

Ingredients

2/3 cup mirin
1 cup soy sauce
4 teaspoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
¼ cup brown sugar
7 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1 tablespoon minced jalapeno pepper
1 inch strip of orange peel

king oyster mushrooms (we used about 4 oz of each kind of mushroom)

shiitake mushrooms

cremini mushrooms

pineapple chunks (about 1 cup of fresh pineapple chunks)

jalapeno slices (we used about 1 jalapeno)

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon water
10-15 bamboo or wooden skewers
5 tablespoons canola oil (for grilling)
chopped scallions, for serving
rice, for serving

Instructions
Place the mirin in a medium pot and boil over high heat. Reduce to medium low and add the soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, jalapeno, and orange peel. Simmer for 20 minutes. In a small bowl, whisk the cornstarch with water. Bring the sauce to a boil and thicken with the cornstarch mixture, constantly stirring. Let the sauce cook for 5 more minutes, tasting to make sure the cornstarch has fully dissolved. Once ready, pour into small bowl and set aside.

Take bamboo or wooden skewers and soak in cool water for 30 minutes.

Preheat grill to high (roughly 400°). Just before grilling, take mushrooms, pineapples, and jalapeno slices and thread onto skewers. You want equal parts of each type of mushroom on each one.  Brush canola oil onto both sides of mushrooms, pineapples and jalapenos.  Place canola oil in a small bowl. Using a paper towel or cloth, dip in canola oil and rub over hot grates to prevent sticking. Lay skewers over heat and stay nearby to monitor. Once bottom is a little charred, brush the tops with canola oil, and flip. Brush again with thickened teriyaki sauce. Once the bottoms are slightly charred again, flip and brush with thickened teriyaki sauce, so both sides are sauced. Remove and top with freshly chopped scallions. Serve with rice.


Mushroom and Scallion Potstickers

For the dough:
We made our own dough from Andrea Nguyen's book Asian Dumplings, but you could just use store-bought wrappers

Ingredients

For the filling:

4 cups chopped cremini mushrooms

4 chopped scallions

5 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon ground dried mushrooms (run some dried mushrooms through a spice grinder)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/8 teaspoon white pepper

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1/4 cup brewed Darjeeling tea

3/4 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon canola oil

1/4 teaspoon truffle oil

dash of liquid smoke

ground cinnamon, for serving

For the dipping sauce:

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1/4 teaspoon sesame oil

1 1/2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1/4 teaspoon chile oil

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon water

1 garlic clove, sliced

1 chopped scallion

sesame seeds sprinkled on top

Instructions

For the potsticker filling:
Mix the mushrooms, scallions, and garlic in large bowl.  In a small bowl, stir dried mushrooms, salt, pepper, soy sauce, tea, vinegar, oils, and liquid smoke.  Pour over the mushroom mixture and stir.  Let the filling sit for 30 minutes to blend the flavors together.  Take a potsticker wrapper and place a tablespoon of the mushroom mixture in the middle.  After sitting, the mixture will be pretty liquidy, so use a slotted spoon to get the mushroom mix out.  Too much liquid in the wrapper will make them difficult to stay shut.  Close the wrapper into a half moon shape, then press a side down on a lined baking sheet, so that it now has three sides and can stay upright.  Repeat, until filling is used up.

To pan fry, place skillet over high heat, and pour a few tablespoons of canola oil in.  Once heated, place potstickers in, flat side down, and let sizzle for a minute or so until you can see the bottoms turning brown.  Reduce heat to low, pour in about 1/4 cup water, and immediately cover with lid.  Once water is almost all cooked off, and sizzling can be heard again, remove lid, and carefully flip dumplings onto one side.  Once that side has browned, flip them onto other side and brown.  Remove, place onto paper towel, and sprinkle cinnamon over top.

For the dipping sauce:

Mix everything together in a small bowl, and serve with the potstickers.

Latkes with Clarified Butter, Cotija Cheese and Truffled Ketchup

We have almost reached that time of year.  The one where I put notations on the calendar to highlight the days of Hanukkah, and put a star on the day or days on which we intend to make latkes.  Then, all too often, end up hurtling though the entire holiday, forgetting to look at the calendar, and failing to celebrate even just one of the nights. Possibly that time of the year we end up ordering pizza on the night we were supposed to do the latkes.  Not this year.  We like the idea of celebrating Hanukkah, even if we completely fail at celebrating any of the other Jewish holidays.  I think doing one holiday makes us feel like we are keeping up tradition just a teeny tiny bit, even if it's not technically a major holiday.  However, we're not exactly traditionalists, so we find latkes a fun opportunity to try new flavor combinations we may never have thought of.  Seth got the idea for these after eating french fries with cotija cheese and clarified butter from a gourmet food truck.  They were so amazing, he thought we should put those flavors into latkes and serve them with truffled ketchup.  I'm pretty sure no phone calls will be made to a local pizza place this Hanukkah.  

Ingredients
1 pound unsalted butter
2 pounds russet potatoes
1 medium onion
1 small bunch scallions, chopped
1 egg, beaten
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
cotija cheese, crumbled
scallions, chopped
fleur de sel
ketchup (preferably Heinz), for serving
white truffle oil, for serving

Instructions
To clarify the butter, chop the sticks up and place in a medium pot over low heat.  Melt the butter.  After a few minutes, you will start to see foam covering the top.  Once that stops bubbling up, take off heat and use a spoon to skim off the top layer of foam.  Set a piece of cheesecloth over a mesh strainer and place over a heat-proof container.  Pour the butter through the cheesecloth and strainer into the container.  

Peel the potatoes, keeping the peeled potatoes in cold water.  Once they're all done, grate the potatoes and the onion into a medium bowl.  Once all grated, begin squeezing the water out of the shredded potatoes and onion and transferring them to a new bowl.  Left behind should be some water and, underneath, some separated potato starch.  Take out the starch and mix it back in with the grated potatoes and onion.  Add in the chopped scallions, beaten egg, and generous pinches of salt and pepper.  Mix everything together.  Form thin patties with the mixture (the thinner, the crispier), and cook in a skillet (preferably cast-iron) over medium-high heat in the clarified butter. Once one side has browned (about 3 minutes) flip and cook the other side.  As they finish, remove and place on paper towel.  Just before serving, sprinkle each latke with a liberal amount of cotija cheese and scallions.  Finish with a pinch of fleur de sel.  In a small bowl, mix just a bit of white truffle oil with the ketchup (about a 1/4 teaspoon oil per 2-3 tablespoons of ketchup).  Serve the truffled ketchup with the latkes.

Easy Mushroom Stir-fry with Chinese 5-Spice

I think I am reaching a point at which I no longer understand what qualifies as typical breakfast food.  There was a time in my life when I was very regimented in my thinking.  Bagels, muffins, cereal, eggs, bacon, waffles, pancakes - those were breakfast foods.  Then college came and I was taught the wonders of pizza for breakfast.  Sometimes you feel like pizza for breakfast!  And also the joys of leftover Chinese food were revealed to me as delicious morning fare.  And from there, chaos ensued.  So while I originally intended this as a quick lunch or dinner, it became breakfast.  An umami, Chinese 5-spiced breakfast.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 pound cremini mushrooms, quartered
1 tablespoon rice wine
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon Chinese 5-spice powder
pinch white pepper
kosher salt, to taste
3 scallions, chopped
toasted sesame oil, for serving
rice, for serving

Instructions
Melt the butter and olive oil in a large sauté pan over high heat. Once the butter has melted and the bubbles in the mixture have started to subside, add the chopped mushrooms. Stir continuously, allowing the mushrooms to absorb the butter and oil mixture. After a few minutes, the mushrooms will brown.  I actually did this step in two batches, as I didn't want to crowd the pan.  Once all the mushrooms have been browned, return to pan and deglaze the pan with rice wine (Pour the rice wine in and loosen up all the tasty stuff stuck to the pan.  The rice wine should cook down very quickly).  Mix in the oyster sauce, soy sauce, and 5-spice powder.  Sprinkle with white pepper and kosher salt to taste.  Scatter the chopped scallions on top.  Serve with rice and toasted sesame oil.

Stuffing Pasta

Apparently, I've been born without the genes that makes one enjoy stuffing.  Or dressing, as the case may be.  I don't know why that happened in life.  But I just can't seem to like it.  No matter what wonderful things go into it.  Not even my gram's famous stuffing.  None of it.  But stuffing (or dressing) has been deemed a necessary component of the Thanksgiving feast.  And I can't bring myself to make it any more, to once again be disappointed that my genetic makeup prevents me from savoring each bite of this dish.  To once again, get my hopes up, to think that this one stuffing is the one I will like... then have those hopes dashed.  So instead of stuffing, I like doing a pasta dish that I like to think captures a bit of the essence of stuffing.  But not in stuffing form.  In pasta.  So here is a simple dish with brown butter, pancetta, fresh herbs, hazelnuts, and parmesan cheese.  Never disappoints.

Ingredients
2/3 pound farfalle pasta
4 ounces cubed pancetta
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup torn sage leaves
1 tablespoon fresh thyme and/or rosemary leaves
pinch nutmeg
white pepper, to taste
kosher salt, to taste
1/3 cup chopped hazelnuts, toasted
juice from 1/2 a lemon
2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

Instructions
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and cook pasta according to package directions.  Meanwhile,
heat olive oil over medium high heat in skillet and add the pancetta.  Cook until the pancetta has a nice golden brown color (about 5 minutes).  Take off heat and set aside.

In large sauté pan, melt butter over medium-low heat.  Add sage, thyme, and rosemary and let the butter brown, about two minutes.  You will see brown specks that have formed on the bottom of the pan.  Be careful to not burn the butter.  Add pepper, salt and nutmeg, as well as the reserved pancetta.  Sprinkle chopped and toasted hazelnuts.  Take off heat and add lemon juice.  Add pasta to the brown butter mixture and toss with cheese.  Adjust seasonings to taste.

Butternut Squash and Apple Risotto

The butter had been melted.  The shallot had been added, and was wonderfully soft.  The rosemary and sage gave off their woodsy scents.  Garlic was emitting its pungent fragrance.  It was time to add the rice.  So I measured out the rice and stirred it into the onion and butter mixture, letting the rice get all toasty in a quick herbal butter bath before adding the white wine.

Then I noticed something strange.  I had poured in long-grain brown rice?  How did this even get into the cupboard, let alone get into my pan?  I must have purchased it up by mistake.  Do not make the same mistake I did.  I gave it a chance, trying to cook it for a bit, praying that somehow a risotto would force its way out of this mixture.  A risotto did not emerge.  I guess it could have, if I had given it about a year to cook.  So yeah, do not mistakenly grab long-grain brown rice at the grocery store than grab it from your cupboard to make risotto.

I had to restart the whole thing, of course.

Ingredients 
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large shallot, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 sprig rosemary, needles removed and chopped
1 tablespoon chopped sage leaves, plus more for garnish
1 1/2 cups Arborio or medium-grain rice
smoked sea salt, to taste
ground white pepper, to taste
1/2 cup dry white wine
6 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 cups butternut squash puree
2 Granny Smith apples, cored
1/2 cup toasted pinenuts, for garnish

Note: I roasted a whole butternut squash in a 425 degree oven for about 90 minutes to 2 hours, then scooped out the seeds and stringy parts and ran the flesh through a food processor.
To toast the pinenuts, I place in a dry skillet over medium high heat and toss until they have developed a golden brown color (about 4 minutes).  

Instructions 
In a medium pot over medium heat, keep the chicken broth warm.  Melt butter in a large saute pan.  Add the shallot, rosemary, and sage.  Once the onion has softened (about 4 minutes), add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds, til fragrant.  Add the rice.  Stir the rice and let the butter coat the rice.  Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper.  Pour in the white wine and stir the rice.  Once the rice has absorbed the wine, add in a ladleful (about 2/3 cup) of chicken stock.  Stir and let the rice absorb the stock.  Once it has absorbed it, add the next ladleful, and keep repeating.  Be sure to stir frequently.  Once the rice has cooked, stir in butternut squash puree.  Grate the apples into the risotto and stir.  Top with toasted pinenuts.