simplicity

There was a point in time when I thought more was more, especially when cooking. I'd add all sorts of ingredients to the dishes I made. Sometimes for better and sometimes for worse. The more I cook, the more I've come to realize that most of the time, the simpler the dish, the better.

I was shopping at Trader Joe's the other day and stumbled upon the cutest little potatoes. I immediately grabbed them, not knowing what I was going to do with them. For me, inspiration usually comes from ingredients, not from recipes. I decided to keep it simple and let the "teeny tiny potatoes" be the star. I pan roasted them with a little garlic, butter + olive oil. I had some fresh thyme leftover from the coq au vin I made a few nights before so I finished the potatoes with a sprinkle of fresh thyme, salt + pepper. Simple, yes, but they were so fabulous!

In honor of keeping it simple, I'll let the recipe and photos speak for itself... enjoy!

Pan Roasted Teeny Tiny Potatoes

ingredients:

1 lb (16 oz) teeny tiny potatoes

2 T. butter

2 T. olive oil

2 garlic cloves

1 T. fresh thyme leaves

salt + pepper

yields 3 - 4 servings

In a heavy bottomed skillet heat oil and butter. Once the oil is hot, drop in your potatoes and 2 smashed garlic cloves. Place a lid on for about 15 minutes (time will vary depending on the size of your potatoes). Give the pan a few good shakes throughout the cooking process to ensure they brown on all sides. Poke potato with fork to check doneness. In the last minute of cooking add thyme, salt + pepper.

improv style:

This recipe can be done with pretty much any vegetable/herb combination. It would be great with sweet potatoes or butternut squash and onions. Try making it with chives and fresh parsley for a burst of freshness. For recipes like this, simple is the key! Don't try to throw in too many flavors. A splash of lemon juice with a hint of lemon zest would be nice too.

there's no place like ROME!

In college I studied abroad in Rome, Italy. I lived in an apartment with 9 girls in Campo de Fiori (an incredibly touristy part of the city). Of the 9 women I lived with I believe fate led me to the perfect roommate. My roma roomie Ashley and I hit it off immediately!

We were the perfect combination for each other. I was deemed the "travel nazi" by our study abroad group because every free minute we had I wanted to go explore another city in Italy. Most people only took 2 or 3 weekend trips while living in Rome, I took 7. Ashley was always down for an adventure. When I was being cheap she would put me in my place and tell me "you only live once". When she was feeling tired I would tell her "when are you going to be able to say you did ____ in ____ again?! LETS GO!". I couldn't have asked for a better travel buddy or friend. We've had some fun adventures back in the states too but I'll save that for future posts...

When I first met Ashley, she didn't know how to cook pasta. Literally, she put pasta in cold water and then turned the burner on. I will never forget the first time we cooked together. We still laugh about it to this day (sorry to call you out, ash!).

I can't beat on her too hard though because Ashley took me to one of my favorite restaurants in Rome - Restaurante Gioia Mia. Aside from an incredibly handsome waiter named Salim (not the most Italian name), Gioia Mia has FANTASTIC food. Like the heart shaped pizza Salim delivered when trying to win Ashley's heart. The pizza was adorable and tasty, I wish we got a picture of it.

My favorite dish was Pasta Gioia Mia - pasta with cognac, cream, peas, and prosciutto. I would order any version of a cream sauce when I was in Rome, its one of my favorite flavor combinations. Who am I kidding, to this day I typically order this! I am hands down a cream sauce girl... I will ALWAYS pick it over a tomato sauce. Ashley used to tease me when we'd go to a restaurant saying "let me guess what you're ordering...". You can't help what you love!

Looking back I wish I had realized that I was in the land of amazing food and should have tried a variety of dishes. Don't get me wrong, I tried lots of things but I also ate A LOT of cream sauce pasta!

This pasta dish is inspired by Gioia Mia and by my lovely roma roomie. Because without her I would never have eaten at this fabulous place!

Pasta Gioia Mo

ingredients:

1 package pappardelle pasta (or your fav pasta)

6 slices pancetta

3 shallots

8 - 10 crimini mushrooms

¼ c. cognac (I use courvoisier)

2 c. heavy cream

2 garlic cloves

½ c. grated parmigiano reggiano cheese

½ c. frozen peas

yields 5 - 6 servings

In a skillet, brown up the pancetta like you would bacon. Remove the Pancetta and place on a paper towel to drain. Don't let that pancetta grease go to waste! Brown your shallots, thinly sliced and your crimini mushrooms. Chop these however you prefer to have your veggies. I like my shallots in thin rings and my mushrooms in thin slices. When cooked until golden brown, add your cognac to deglaze the pan and get all those good brown bits off the bottom. Add your cream and 2 smashed garlic cloves (leave them whole, just smash them with the flat side of a knife). Cook this mixture for a good 20 minutes until the flavors blend and the sauce reduces a little. In the last 3 minutes, add the parmesan cheese and whisk in one circular direction until the sauce thickens. In the final minute, add the peas and chopped pancetta.

Meanwhile, boil a pot of water on the stove for your pasta. *Note that the more water you have, the faster and better your pasta will cook. Also, when salting your water, make sure you add it once the water is hot. Otherwise, you'll corrode your pan.

Once pasta is cooked, reserve 2 cups of the pasta water. Add the pappardelle to the cream sauce pan and let it absorb the sauce for 1 - 2 minutes. If you notice the sauce getting too thick, add a little of the pasta water. There's great starches in pasta water that give sauce the perfect consistency. Depending on the amount of pasta you cook and how thick your sauce is you may need to add a few tbsp of the water up to ¾ c.

Plate and serve with a little extra grated parmesan on top! Buono Appetito!

improv style:

not a boozer or don't want to spend the money on cognac? you can leave it out. i love the depth of flavor that it gives but it won't ruin the recipe to leave it out. vegetarian? leave out the pancetta and fry up some basil leaves for a different flavor and a little crunch. Not a fan of mushrooms? TONS of people aren't... you can leave them out or add your favorite veggies into the mix, like asparagus. This would be really tasty with cherry tomatoes and basil instead.

don't YUCK my YUM!

Before I start this post, I'd like to state that I am not a foodie, I'm a food lover. There's a big difference in my book. There's a certain stigma that goes along with the term foodie. In my opinion, it's a stuffy word for people who like gourmet food and turn their noses to dishes that don't meet these standards. And while I love "gourmet foods", I also believe there's a time and a place for all foods that I equally enjoy... hot dogs, shitty pizza, Kraft mac-n-cheese, buttered noodles (my dad's specialty), and SPAM.

Yes, SPAM! Spam was always a bit of a joke in my family. It's not something that would even be consumed if the zombie apocalypse happened. This all changed one random spring day in Seattle.

It all started when someone from work came back from lunch with a big ass grin on his face. There may have even been a little dance involved (he loves food like I do). I quickly learned that his favorite food truck was 3 blocks away from our office. A special treat indeed! I had never heard of Marination but I'm so glad my colleague shared his knowledge with me.

Off I was to wait in the block long line to get my lunch. It was hard to choose so I of course got one of everything to split with my boyfriend for lunch. That is, one of everything BUT the SPAM slider, yuck! I'm definitely the one who knows food in our relationship and when my boyfriend ordered 2 SPAM sliders I thought he was out of his mind. He looked at me and said, "What? Why not?". UM, BECAUSE IT'S SPAM, GROSS! 25 minutes later (it was a long line) we walked away with our hands full of tasty treats. I seriously felt like a crazed woman walking with hands and arms full of food, everyone staring, jealous. Marination is a Korean Hawaiian fusion cart that serves tacos, kimchi, and sliders with rotating specials. If you're visiting Seattle or live there I highly recommend you find them and eat there.

Halfway through my tacos, Matt got to the SPAM slider. One bite in when his eyes almost bulged out of his head, I knew I needed to try it. I swooped up his other slider and was instantly convinced that SPAM was indeed a worthy food. The Hawaiians know what's up!

Living in Chicago, I find myself missing Marination. I decided to try my hand at my own version of their SPAM sliders. This is a perfect dish to serve on Super Bowl Sunday! It can be served as an appetizer, lunch or dinner. Give SPAM a try, you might just be pleasantly surprised!

SPAM Sliders with Asian Slaw

ingredients:

1 can SPAM

Asian Slaw (see recipe below)

24 Hawaiian sweet bread rolls

6 T. butter

Yields 24 sliders

Slice SPAM into ¼ inch thin slices and then cut rectangle in half to make perfect little squares. The key to making these sliders extra tasty is to keep the SPAM on the thin side.

you ever have those instant cravings, no matter where or when, you just NEED chocolate immediately? I have them fairly often. My sisters and I share that same need. We love our chocolate, especially molten chocolate cakes. One of our favorite steak houses has an amazing Valrhona molten chocolate cake. We always order our own because sharing chocolate is not an option when you have this need.

In a skillet place butter over medium heat. Once melted and hot, place SPAM slices in pan. Meanwhile, in another skillet, toast your rolls to golden perfection. Once SPAM is browned on both sides, place one square on each roll. Top with slaw and you're ready to eat!

improv style:

Asian slaw sliders are delicious but so are regular coleslaw sliders. Not convinced on SPAM? It's ok, make it with fresh ham. Don't eat ham? Make it with ground turkey instead. Try putting some of the slaw flavors into the ground meat before browning them up.

Asian Slaw

ingredients:

3 c. shredded cabbage

2 whole carrots

3-4 scallions (green + white parts)

⅛ c. rice wine vinegar

¼ t. grated fresh ginger

2 pieces of pickled ginger

½ t. pickled ginger juice (from jar)

1 t. toasted sesame oil

1 t. soy sauce

In a medium bowl, combine vinegar, ginger, sesame oil, and soy sauce. Cut your carrots into thin slices, mince the scallions, and combine with shredded cabbage. Place veggie mixture in bowl and toss to coat. Let sit for 30 minutes until the vinegar has slightly wilted the cabbage and worked its magical flavors into the slaw.

improv style:

you can add your favorite asian flavors here. You can add some purple cabbage for a nice color and slightly different flavor. Try putting in a little hoisin sauce with the mix for a slight sweetness or siracha for a bit of spicy.

BLOW YOUR MIND

Have you ever been to a restaurant and had a dish that combined all of your favorite things in a way you never thought to try before? I will never forget the day my friend Helena took me to my now favorite, well, tied for favorite breakfast place in San Francisco. Brenda's French Soul Food is a tiny little gem hidden on Polk street. Helena took me here for breakfast on my last day living in SF. I didn't want to leave! Helena loves food like I do and we both did our happy dances as we ate breakfast.

This place is soul food with a gourmet twist. The menu is fantastic and they have a rotating menu with seasonal specials. This is the kind of place where you want to order one of everything on the menu including the watermelon sweet tea and beignet flight.

On to the moment that BLEW. MY. MIND... one of the specials for the day was a pumpkin bread french toast with maple syrup and chantilly cream. I love french toast but I had never thought to play around with the bread outside of french, challah, and your standard white bread. I know, it seems obvious to use flavored breads or other variations but I had never given it much thought until I experienced BFS. Life changing to say the least.

I re-created this dish with my own take of course. What goes better with pumpkin than bourbon?! I decided to take this dish to another level and add a bourbon vanilla bean caramel syrup, and to keep the chantilly cream because who doesn't love chantilly cream?! It sounds so much more fabulous than whipped cream. We eat with our eyes and that starts with the visual description of a dish!

I wish I could take credit for the bourbon caramel syrup but it's 100% Martha. I'll give it to her, she knows her shit! I don't think there's a way to make this sauce any better than it already is (unless you add salt, obvi). This sauce is good all by itself but it gets even better when you put it on things. I first made it with a pumpkin brioche bread pudding (yes, pumpkin again... do you not remember that post titled "obsessions"?! I wasn't exaggerating).

This dish is not for the light stomached. It is incredibly rich. Honestly, its more like dessert than breakfast but I'd eat this any time of day. The first time I had pumpkin bread french toast I was dancing throughout my meal. When I re-created the dish, the dance got even more intense. I hope you enjoy this one as much as I do!

Pumpkin Bread French Toast with Bourbon Caramel Syrup and Chantilly Cream

recipe inspired by brendas french soul food and martha stewart's caramel

ingredients:

for the french toast:

1 small loaf pumpkin bread (see recipe: i didn't use nuts)

2 eggs

¾ c. milk

1 t. vanilla extract

for the bourbon caramel:

2 cups sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon bourbon

for the chantilly cream (fancy name for whip cream):

½ c. heavy whipping cream

1 T. powdered sugar

½ vanilla bean

1 t. vanilla extract

Start with the Bourbon caramel. You can make this a day in advance or a week in advance. I wish I could somehow tweak this recipe to make it better but martha NAILED it. This sauce is good by itself and great on everything, mmmmmmm...

Start by combining the sugar and ½ cup water in a saucepan on medium heat. Without stirring (don't even think about giving it a little help, let it do it's thing). Let the sugar and water do it's thing until it turns a dark amber color. This will take about 20 minutes, no joke.

When the mixture is a deep amber color, reduce the heat to low. Slowly add cream, stirring with a wooden spoon. Don't get scared if it turns into a hard ball. Give it a minute and keep stirring. It will slowly melt into a rich caramel. Next, scrape the vanilla seeds into the pan and add the bean too. Add lemon juice, butter, and bourbon. Stir to combine. Your heavenly sauce is now ready to be devoured. You can let it cool and put it in a jar or tupperware container and into the fridge. To reheat, place in the microwave for about 2 minutes stirring every 30 seconds.

When you're ready to blow your mind and assemble the dish, make the chantilly cream first. Beat heavy whipping cream, vanilla beans and powdered sugar on high until light, fluffy medium peaks form. TRICK: if you freeze your bowl and beaters for 5 minutes before it will whip up faster!

For the french toast: Beat eggs, milk, and vanilla extract in a shallow bowl. Slice pumpkin bread to your desired thickness and dip in egg mixture. Slap that baby on a griddle or in a frying pan over medium - medium high heat depending on your stove. Brown on both sides and get ready to assemble!

Plop 2 pieces down if you're really hungry, 1 if you have a normal appetite and drizzle that baby with caramel and plop a bit of whipping cream on top. This dish is incredibly rich. Enjoy!

improv style:

you can add cinnamon, nutmeg, cocoa powder or your favorite spice or flavored extract to the egg mixture before dipping the bread. not a huge pumpkin fan? banana bread french toast with a rum caramel would be fantastic! or zucchini bread, chocolate chip loaf, take your favorite and try it here! you can leave the booze out of the caramel sauce if you don't have it or substitute it for rum, brandy or a flavored liquor. try adding some pecans or walnuts for a nice crunch. you can add your favorite flavors easily to this dish!

chocolate, NOW!

Do you ever have those instant cravings, no matter where or when, you just NEED chocolate immediately? I have them fairly often. My sisters and I share that same need. We love our chocolate, especially molten chocolate cakes. One of our favorite steak houses has an amazing Valrhona molten chocolate cake. We always order our own because sharing chocolate is not an option when you have this need.

One night a few months back I was in need of a quick chocolate fix. I didn't have my mom's recipe or the time to call her and get it and all the ingredients. I hit the internet and started my search for a quick fix. I stumbled upon this fabulous recipe. With a few tweaks, I perfected it into my delicious, QUICK chocolate molten cakes. In less than 15 minutes, your chocolate fix can be ready for the oven too.

This gooey chocolate cake looks very modest. It comes out hot from the oven looking like it might even be a little overdone or dry. Don't be fooled by this cake - it will ooze and gooze and deliver on your NEED of chocolate. I recommend using the best quality chocolate you can find. Don't bother with that Hershey stuff, go for the real deal (unless that's what you love, then by all means Hershey-away)! I usually make it with Ghiradelli 60% dark chocolate but if you can get your hands on Valrhona, Guittard, Domori, or Berger - they are fantastic brands for chocolate purists and enthusiasts!

This recipe would be perfect to make for Valentines Day. If you don't have a Valentine, this cake is perfect treat to celebrate being single. It's chocolate, there's a million reasons to make this molten cake!

Quick Chocolate Molten Cake

adapted from famous french desserts

ingredients:

4 oz 60% dark chocolate

2 oz semi sweet chocolate

6 oz butter (diced)

1 t. vanilla extract

3 eggs

½ c. sugar

⅓ c. flour

butter for ramekins

serves 4

Preheat oven to 350º. Grease 4 ramekins and place on a cookie sheet, set aside.

In a double boiler (glass bowl inside a sauce pan with boiling water) place chocolate chunks. Meanwhile, mix eggs and sugar together with a hand mixer until it thickens and turns a light yellow color. Check back on your melting chocolate. Keep a close eye on it, you wouldn't want to waste all that good chocolate by scorching it! When chocolate is completely melted, add butter cubes. Stir until butter is melted and the chocolate has a nice glossy sheen. It's like these two were made for each other! Finally add vanilla.

Slowly add warm chocolate mixture to egg and sugar mixture. I turn the egg beaters on and slowly drizzle the chocolate in so that the eggs don't scramble. You could also temper the batter by adding a small amount of the chocolate first and then add the remaining batter. Finally add the flower and you are all set for ramekinville!

Pour batter equally into the 4 buttered ramekins. Place in the oven for 15 minutes. DON'T PEEK, you'll cause your cakes to deflate before they become cakey-goodness! If you like your cakes really gooey, like me, pull them out now. If you like them a little more cake like and less gooey, leave them in for another 3-5 minutes. Skim a butter knife around the outside of the ramekin, flip upside down, and place in shallow bowl or dish. Top with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream and brace yourself for chocolate heaven!

It's not as pretty when you see it all oozy, but I have to share it with you because no matter how ugly it photographs, it is INSANELY delicious!

improv style:

Try substituting the vanilla extract for raspberry or almond extract or even orange liquor. You can add 1 t. cinnamon or espresso powder to add flavor too. Serve it with raspberry sauce, bourbon caramel, or a creme anglaise in addition to or instead of the ice cream. Not a huge dark chocolate fan? Make it with milk or semi sweet.

greek yogurt is the new sour cream

I will never forget the first time I had tikka masala. My boyfriend and I use restaurant.com to find new places to eat at a great price. They do deals where for $2 you get a $25 gift card to a restaurant, all you have to spend is $35 at said restaurant and you're good to go. Heck yes I'll pay $12 for dinner for 2! One of these restaurants we decided to try was Navya Lounge. Talk about a unique restaurant, it's like they combined 3 restaurants into 1. This place was Indian, Thai, and Russian all segregated but served in one place. Yes there are 3 separate menus.

The highlight of dinner was the amazing pink colored cream sauce that came on the side with the tikka masala. Yes, I now know what it is but I didn't then... When the waiter came by to ask how everything was, I said I'm gonna need more of this stuff (pointing to the sauce). I couldn't eat enough naan that night. I was in heaven and forever changed. Who knew I liked Indian? I had never tried it and I was sure glad I did! Since then I've had many tikka masalas, but none as buttery and rich as that sauce.

I decided to try my hand at making my own tikka masala. After searching tons of sites, I decided to make a version of this recipe. After making it the first time, I definitely changed it up to my tastes. The second and third times I made it I worked on tweaking it until I had it just right. While this is not the buttery and rich version I had at Navya, it's my tasty and healthy version of it. Which brings me to the title of this post. Many tikka masala recipes call for heavy cream. I LOVE heavy cream but I wanted to try my hand at greek yogurt instead. I thought the tang of the yogurt would add nice flavors in addition to it's cool, creaminess. I was right! For my lac-tarded boyfriend, it's much easier to digest than heavy cream too, which was an added plus!

I've been using a lot of greek yogurt in my cooking lately. It has 0 fat, TONS of protein and it adds really great flavor to food. I find myself substituting heavy cream and sour cream and using greek yogurt in it's place. I am a big heavy cream, sour cream girl so greek yogurt is like a miracle food to me! Greek yogurt has all the things I love about my not so ass friendly foods without all the guilt! Try topping it on soups, in tacos, and in your mashed potatoes, YUM!

Back to the task at hand... I know the list of ingredients sounds incredibly intimidating, but never fear, your regular grocer caries them all! It's quite the investment to make it the first time but you'll be able to make this dish tons of times after and you'll be happy you bought all those spices! I buy a lot of my spices from here. If for some reason you can't find them at your local grocer, you can definitely find them on that site. They're super fresh and they usually throw in 3-4 free samples. Like 8 free vanilla beans with every order!

I was surprised how easy this recipe is to make. Aside from needing a ton of spices, it's really similar to making a big batch of spaghetti sauce. Plop a bunch of ingredients into a pot and let it simmer away! It's THAT simple! Indian isn't just for dining out anymore, you can easily make it at home, I promise!

Chicken Tikka Masala

adapted from allrecipes.com

ingredients:

yields 6-7 servings

for the Chicken marinade:

4-5 medium sized chicken breast

1 c. plain greek yogurt

3 garlic cloves

1 T. fresh ginger

1 ½ t. ground cumin

1 ½ t. ground corriander

¼ t. ground cardamom

¼ t. ground turmeric

¼ t. cayenne

salt and pepper to taste

for the sauce:

2 T. olive oil

1 large onion

2 large carrots

3 garlic cloves

¼ c. blanched almonds ground

1 t. fresh ginger

1 ½ T. garam masala (see above for store information)

1 ½ t. chili powder

½ t. cayenne (optional)

2 T. brown sugar

1 can tomato sauce

1 can diced tomatoes

½ c. frozen peas

1 c. greek yogurt or heavy cream

Day before: the chicken needs to marinade overnight. In a large plastic bag or tupperware container, place the chicken breasts. In a separate bowl, chop the garlic and grate the ginger. Add the spices, and yogurt and pour the mixture over the chicken. Rub or stir the marinade so that the chicken is thoroughly covered. Let it sit overnight. The greek yogurt does something fantastic to the chicken. I've never had such JUICY and tender chicken breast until I marinaded it in the yogurt! The enzymes break down the proteins and get absorbed, trust me, it's fantastic!

Day of: preheat oven to 350º. In the food processor, blend almonds until a fine powder is formed, set aside. In a large deep skillet, sauté onion until just tender, add garlic and carrots and cook for an additional minute. Add both cans of tomatoes and stir. Next add the ginger, garam masala, chili powder, cayenne, ground almonds, and brown sugar. If you're not a big spicy person, LEAVE out the cayenne. As is, this dish turns out medium-spicy. If you can't handle the heat, leave it out! Simmer the sauce for 20-30 minutes. Just before serving, add yogurt (or cream) and frozen peas. Stir and in 1 minute you're all set! Meanwhile...

Cover baking sheet in aluminum foil (this will save you so much time in clean up). Pull out chicken and place on baking sheet. It's ok if some of the marinade is still on the chicken. You don't want them drowning in the sauce but a little is just fine. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes depending on how big/thick the breasts are. Flip them half way through for even baking. Once they're cooked through, pull them out and let them sit for 5 minutes. Then cut into bite sized chunks.

Serve with basmati rice, naan or if you're trying to be healthy like me, serve with brown rice and whole wheat naan.

improv style:

It's not traditional to put carrots and peas into tikka masala. Try adding your favorite veggies like potatoes or red peppers and mushrooms instead. You can leave them out if you're trying to be a purist. If you like it really spicy, add more cayenne. Vegetarian? Try browning up some tofu or paneer (an indian firm cheese with a tofu like consistency) instead.