vegetable heaven

Last night, Mr. P ended up cooking. It was an Indian dish that cooked up rather quickly -- curried cauliflower, potatoes, paneer, and peas. Oh yum. We threw some toasted cashew nuts on top and served it on rice with a side of chutneys.

Tonight, I made a vegetable stir-fry, which I served on top of pasta -- no fresh rice and no patience to wait for it to cook. I cooked rice anyways, so it'll be ready to go tomorrow. The stir-fry had onions, carrots, broccoli, mushrooms, frozen corn, frozen peas, pinenuts, salty black beans, a little hot oil, and hoisin sauce. It was weird, but actually not bad "once you got used to it," according to Mr. P.

not bad and quite quick

This evening, we had a bunch of cilantro lying around, cilantro that Mr. P had forgotten to use on his potluck dish last week. So I made a cilantro pesto -- herb, olive oil, romano cheese (pre-grated), and pine nuts, chopped up in the food processor. I put most of it in a plastic bag in the freezer for consumption later this winter; the rest went into a bowl.

Then I mixed in some filled gnocchi which I had heated up and steamed broccoli, mushrooms, and garlic. Mixed the whole dish and served it with Romano cheese on top.

On the side, we had a little salad of fresh mozarella, plum tomatoes, carrots, and scallions.

A good quick meal; quite satisfying, actually.

Mr. P takes a turn in the kitchen

Thursday night, Mr. P needed to make a potluck dish for work the next day. I suggested that he make dinner too, which he willingly did. I went shopping on Tuesday and when i got home latish on Thursday, he was busy making one of my favorite dishes -- ma po tofu. He uses Chinese pepper and beans in black chili sauce and he usually adds some random vegetables (like corn). Then we top the whole thing with more black pepper and chopped scallions. Frankly, I've nearly lost my taste for the dish in restaurants because Mr. P's version is so good.

The reason he didn't just double the potluck recipe is because I haven't much liked the dish he was making to share with coworkers. But last night, after the last urchin had come by to treat (hopefully no tricks this year), we were pooped and there was extra potluck food. So we had that for dinner. It was really good and I figured out how we can make it so that I like it. The dish is similar to dosas -- except that instead of white potatoes, you curry sweet potatoes and wrap it in lavash bread (not homemade Indian bread). And I finally figured out that the dish calls for too much clove. We'll cut back on it or eliminate it next time and perhaps put curried sweet potatoes on the rotation.

I expect that the kitchen will be closed at least tonight and possibly tomorrow night, when we'll be in Boston for a performance.

And perhaps a trip to the grocery store is in order. After 20 weeks of getting most groceries at the farm, I need to get back into the habit of actually shopping for our meals. Fortunately, there are a few places I can stop off on the way home from work if the larder gets especially empty.

two wildly weird dinners

Last night, we had a bunch of farm beets -- deep purple, orange, and white -- and not much else. I made a strangely satisfying and delicious dinner with sauteed onions and beets and potatoes that I steamed in a little apple cider. Then I mixed in some coriander and yogurt. It was very tasty.

I'd been craving cauliflower, but had not wanted to buy any because we were so overwhelmed with farm food. So tonight, I tossed cauliflower, onions, and potatoes in a little oil and melted butter and a lot (too much; I'll use less next time) Chipotle chili powder. Then i roasted the whole thing. At the end, I tossed in some toasted almonds and peas. Because of the heat, we served it with Greek yogurt on top. Oooh. Yum. Definitely a repeat, perhaps with less chili next time.

dinner, we have improvements

Last night's dinner was a disaster as far as I was concerned. Mr. P was so congested that he couldn't tell, poor dear. The individual flavors worked. I liked the mushroom stroganoff -- many shrooms, onions, some cayenne, and sour cream. I liked the gnocchi, stuffed as they were with tomato and mozarella. But the combination, which Mr. P was quite eager to try, was dreadful. I just tried to eat them separately, which helped a little.

Tonight was a lot better. We got the last official farm delivery today. There's a delivery in mid-November which we usually pay extra for. But this year, there were some disasters on the farm, so they're giving us that last delivery for free, which I think is over-the-top generous.

Tonight, we had savoy cabbage -- crinkly sweet stuff -- made into Thoren -- that South Indian dish with coconut, hot stuff, toasted rice, and curry leaves -- served over rice. I made two side dishes: a salad of fresh mozarella, tomatillos and green pepper tossed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and potatoes steamed with garlic and tossed with spices and butter. I think I used cayenne, cardamom, and ginger. It was all very good and the combinations really worked. Phew.

Mr. P found a recipe for a winter squash curry, so we may try that tomorrow night.

and tonight's dinner was...

... small bowls of pickled and spicy bamboo shoot that I found in the Chinese grocery store.
... Steamed vegetable buns surrounded with raised rice dough, and a sauce (soy, vinegar, ginger, scallion) by Mr. P.
... Eggplant dip -- roasted eggplant and garlic combined with one clove raw garlic, tahini, lemon, soy. Not quite baba ganoush, but dangerously good.
... fresh rolls -- thin rice paper wrapped around fried tofu, shitake mushrooms, barely cooked baby bok choy, barely cooked scallions, sesame seeds, and rice noodles.

... hot cider and a little chocolate for dessert


The mushroom stroganoff seemed too much of a good thing for tonight, so we're likely to have it tomorrow night.

awesome

Since our return from vacation, I've cooked tired, I've cooked inspired. We had our first fall soup of the season with lentils and some tomatoes, potatoes, and tomatillos that I roasted. I had meant to make a tomato sauce, but the potatoes didn't work too well. So it became a soup stock, some of which is frozen for a rainy -or snowy- day. I made a rather successful palak paneer (that yummy Indian spinach-cheese cubes dish). We've had steamed greens made with fall kale and used up lots of baby bok choy in numerous inventive ways.

The other night, though, I cooked something so good that my first impression was "I didn't know I could cook something that delicious." Believe me, this is not arrogance but incredulity, and I probably won't repeat that level of success for a long time to come.

I roasted winter squash, potatoes, and onions -- cube, toss in a bit of oil and salt, and cook in the oven until a little brown. Then, I put a little vegetable mixture into whole wheat tortillas, along with some fat-free sour cream, grated cheese, and canned green chiles. I didn't roll the tortillas -- just folded them in half and overlaid them in a glass pan.

Then I made chili sauce -- browned some flour in hot oil, added a couple of Tablespoons of chili powder made from New Mexican-grown chilis (a find on a post-dinner trip to a grocery store one night), added a few cups of water and some minced garlic, and stirred until thick. The sauce went on top of the tortillas, and the whole thing went in the oven.

We served it with a side of guacamole and more sour cream. It was border-line hot (so less chili powder next time - maybe add some cumin?) but oh so good. There are leftovers which might just become lunch one or two days this week. Yum.

Tonight, we're planning on making fresh rolls. We have some yummy ingredients -- fried tofu, dried mushrooms (which we'll reconstitute), more baby bok choy -- maybe some quick dipping in boiling water will help, rice noodles, and hoisin sauce (in a squeeze bottle, no less) to go on top.

I'll also attempt baby ganoush with some eggplant and garlic that I roasted a few nights ago. We'll add a little tahini, half a lemon, perhaps a little cayenne or other chili powder.

And we have a lot of mushrooms (a Costco find), so perhaps I'll cook some of them up for a side dish. Or... maybe a little mushroom stroganoff, which is always yummy, especially since we have that terrific fat-free sour cream just taking up space in the fridge. We'll work something out.