So for those who might be reading this and who don't know me, I have a fairly sizable garden. At the house this year, I have eight tomato plants (Black Krim, Black Pearl, Better Boy, "Mr. Stripey," two variety of red cherry tomatoes, Bush Boy and a mystery tomato (which is to say I forgot to label it, so I have no idea what it is)), sweet and hot peppers, two pea plants and a green bean plant. I also have a 20'x30' plot at a community garden where I have radishes, in addition to more tomatoes and peppers, squash and other assorted things.
This is the first year I've planted radish. It's not something I eat a whole lot of but it's good for you. It's also super easy to grow from seeds and ready quickly. From seeding to picking my first six foot row it took about 35-40 days. I can drop in new seeds and have a new batch ready every five to six weeks and radish is fine in cool weather and does okay in hot weather.
So now I have a stack of radish and beyond slicing them for salads, I don't have a lot of stuff to do with them, so I invented a dip. I'm using Cherry Bomb II Hybrid radishes in the recipes below but you can use pretty much any mild to average radish.
Spicy Garlic Radish Dip:
Serve this spicy dip alongside some cool, creamy guacamole with some finger sized vegetables or unsalted kettle chips. Keep in mind that in the spirit of this blog, the ingrediants below serves two.
What You'll Need (food):
Garlic, one clove - minced (preferably in food processor)
Radish , two - minced (preferably in a food processor)
Cream Cheese, half an 8oz package/stick, softened
Cayenne Pepper, ground, 1/4 teaspoon
Red Pepper Flakes (optional, to taste, if you're double-tough and like things hot, like me)
Salt, dash (to taste)
What You'll Need (cooking)
A food processor or a lot of time for mincing garlic and radish
Add the radish and garlic to your food processor and mince. Add softened cream cheese, cayenne pepper and salt and give it another whirl around the food processor until mixed. Serve chilled. Easy, right?
Green Beans with Radish and Almond
When I was growing up, my mom fed my sister and I a lot of green beans. Just plain old green beans. Boring! Use this recipe for green beans that suck less.
What You'll Need (food):
Green Beans, half pound (fresh...always, fresh. Mr. Lee will be unhappy with things that are not fresh. Sorry, inside joke from Korea).
Green onion, two stalks, chopped
Radish (two), sliced thin
Slivered almond, two tablespoons
Butter, 1 tablespoon
Soy Sauce, 1/2 tablespoon
Bacon! three slices, crumbled (optional, but awesome!)*
Salt, dash (to taste)
What You'll Need (cooking):
Medium Sauce Pan
Skillet
(if adding bacon you'll also need guile and deception. A dog will also be handy. See below.)
In a medium sauce pan, cover green beans with water and heat to boiling, cooking uncovered for 8-ish minutes. Drain green beans. Heat skillet to medium. Add green beans, butter and soy sauce to skillet for 3-4 minutes and stir to coat. Remove from heat. Place green beans in a bowl or serving plate. Add sliced radish, chopped green onion and slivered almond, plus a dash of salt to taste.
Optional - Bacon that sh*t up!
In a skillet (preferably the same one you're going to use for green beans) cook three slices of bacon. After cooking, drain the bacon and set aside on paper towels. Eat one slice while Melissa is not in the kitchen. If questioned, claim you gave it to the dog. Crumble the other two slices and add along with radish, chopped green onion and slivered almond.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Steak Tacos With Spicy Yogurt
Melissa is home from Chicago but I see no reason to end taco week early. Tonight we're doing steak tacos with spicy yogurt. It's almost like a Greek taco. A spicy yogurt sauce takes the place of your usual salsa and the good news if there's any sauce left over it makes a killer dip.
What You'll Need (food):
Tacos and Filling
1/2 Pound flank steak, cut into bit sized pieces
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon finely chopped cilantro (about 10-12stalks, without stems)
2/3 Cup finely chopped cilantro (separate from cilantro above, 2/3 = about half a bunch, without stems)
1/2 An onion, finely diced
1/2 Tablespoon dried oregano
1/2 Teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 Teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 Cup pepper jack cheese
6 Hard corn taco shells*
The Sauce
2/3 Cup plain yogurt (this is about one standard sized yogurt cup).
1/4 Cup Light Mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro (again, separate from cilantro above)
1/2 Lime, juiced
1/2 Tablespoon fresh dill weed
1/4 Teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt to taste
*Unfortunately, hard taco shells are usually sold in 12 packs or bigger. For two people, that can mean a lot of taco shells going in the trash. Once you open the taco shell package, put unused shells in a sealed Tupperware or similar container or re-wrap the unused shells in a few layers of plastic wrap and put them back in the box. They'll keep a little longer that way. Of course the easy fix is just to plan to have tacos with hard shells twice in a week and it's no worries.
What You'll Need (Cooking)
Large skillet
Cheese grader (or pre-shredded cheese)
3 Bowls
Juicer (or a strong fist)
What You'll Need (food):
Tacos and Filling
1/2 Pound flank steak, cut into bit sized pieces
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon finely chopped cilantro (about 10-12stalks, without stems)
2/3 Cup finely chopped cilantro (separate from cilantro above, 2/3 = about half a bunch, without stems)
1/2 An onion, finely diced
1/2 Tablespoon dried oregano
1/2 Teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 Teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 Cup pepper jack cheese
6 Hard corn taco shells*
The Sauce
2/3 Cup plain yogurt (this is about one standard sized yogurt cup).
1/4 Cup Light Mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro (again, separate from cilantro above)
1/2 Lime, juiced
1/2 Tablespoon fresh dill weed
1/4 Teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt to taste
*Unfortunately, hard taco shells are usually sold in 12 packs or bigger. For two people, that can mean a lot of taco shells going in the trash. Once you open the taco shell package, put unused shells in a sealed Tupperware or similar container or re-wrap the unused shells in a few layers of plastic wrap and put them back in the box. They'll keep a little longer that way. Of course the easy fix is just to plan to have tacos with hard shells twice in a week and it's no worries.
What You'll Need (Cooking)
Large skillet
Cheese grader (or pre-shredded cheese)
3 Bowls
Juicer (or a strong fist)
Steak, Sauce and Toppings
Prep (about 30 minutes).
1. First, lets get the steak ready to go. Drop the steak pieces in a bowl and add the olive oil, 1 tablespoon of cilantro, and the cumin, cayenne pepper and oregano. Mix until steak is evenly coated in cilantro and spice mixture. Cover the bowl with plastic warp and place in fridge for 20-30 minutes. While the cow marinades for a bit, we'll work on the sauce.
2. In a new bowl, add the yogurt and mayo. Mix in cayenne pepper, dill, 1 tablespoon of cilantro, lime juice and salt. Stir with a whisk or spoon until well mixed and smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to chill for 20 minutes.
3. In a third bowl, mix together 2/3 cup cilantro and chopped onion.
Let's Cook! (About 10 minutes)
1. In a large skillet, cook steak over medium-high heat until cooked through, about 7-8 minutes. Drain and allow to cool for a few minutes. Add steak to taco shells.
Assembly, Stage 1
2. Add cilantro and onion mixture to taco, shredded cheese, and pour on a little sauce.
Steak Taco with Spicy Yogurt, Ready to Eat!
We usually end up with a quarter cup of sauce left over and that's cool. Use it as a dip for french fries or tortilla chips. Also goes great with fresh green beans or other veggies like carrots and cucumbers.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
The Produce Problem, Part 1: Lettuce
One of the biggest problems we run into in feeding two people is buying produce and actually using it all before it goes bad. On my long list of things I have no desire to do is estimate the amount I've spent on produce that I never used and threw out. Lettuce is one of the biggest problems. Mother nature just didn't see fit to make lettuce grow in nice, neat, one ounce heads. I would guess that on average, three quarters of the lettuce we buy goes bad. So to solve that problem, I researched some tips on keeping lettuce fresher, longer.
First, let's look at some lettuce facts. Once lettuce comes out of the ground, you've got about 7-10 days before whatever is left goes in the trash. We don't use a whole lot of lettuce because we tend to buy bagged greens when we're going to have salads. We might use it if we're grilling burgers, but what do you need for that...2-3 large leaves? Even if we are making salad, with just two of us, we'd seldom use more than half a head. So that's the main issue: we don't use a lot of it, but there's really no choice to buy it by the head. A head of good (read: not iceberg) lettuce is going to run you $2.00 at the supermarket, so we're basically throwing away $1.50 every time we buy lettuce.
So let's get on with the tips then.
1. BUY LOCAL! I really can't stress this enough. If you have a local farmers market or even a local produce stand, buy your lettuces there. Here's why. Most lettuce in the US, especially iceberg, is grown in California's Imperial Valley. I'm out here on the east coast, so I'm losing half the shelf life of the lettuce in transit. Even assuming that the lettuce takes only one day to go from the ground to the shipping truck, it's going to spend the next three days, minimum, going from California to the supermarket in Baltimore. If it sits in the produce section of the store for a day, I'm at least four or five days into the shelf life of the lettuce before it gets to my house. However, if you can get lettuces at a local produce market or farmers market, you're getting a product that was probably taken from the ground within the last 48 hours and quite possibly the same day.
Buying local isn't just for hippie farmers market people who smell like weed. If you want the freshest produce, that's where you're going to get it. I assure you the large lettuce growers in California and Arizona are going to sell a brazillion tons of lettuce this year. I can also assure you that they don't care about you, and don't care about your local economy. You can find local lettuce in practically any temperate climate. So do yourself and your local produce grower a favor and buy local. Do it now!
2. Preserving lettuce. If you're like me, you're lazy. Crushingly lazy. You've picked up some lettuce, used it for whatever you were going to use it for, and then tossed the rest it in the produce drawer of your fridge. Stop doing that, and start doing this (and this will work for just about any leafy head lettuce except for iceberg (which sucks anyway).
Step 1: Remove all the leaves from the head and soak them in the sink or a large bowl in cold (but not icy) water for 10 minutes or so to loosen up and dirt on the interior leaves.
Step 2: Remove lettuce from the water, rinse and pat dry. Better yet, if you have a salad spinner type device, spin the lettuce to get moisture off the leaves.
Step 3: Lay out about a three foot long length of paper towels. It's okay if they become damp. Wrap the lettuce leaves in the paper towels.
Step 4: Place the wrapped lettuce leaves in a large, zip-lock style freezer bag and seal. Place the bag in the produce drawer of your fridge.
Step 5: Remove lettuce from the bag as needed, re-seal and put the bag back in the fridge.
Pro-Tip: You can re-use the same freezer bag a few times. Just rinse with warm, soapy water before re-using.
I like this method because it appeals to my laziness. It's easy to do and the only items I need are stuff I already have at the house (paper towels and freezer bags). It's especially easy because if I complain enough, Melissa will just do it for me. Using this method, you'll get at least another week out of your lettuce. Some folks out there in internet land claim that it'll keep lettuce fresh up to four weeks.
3. If the method above doesn't appeal to you and you've got 10 bucks (plus shipping) that you're looking to unload, you can always go to the high tech Cadillac of lettuce freshness, The LKS-06 Lettuce Keeper from Progressive International. Despite having an unnecessarily long name and sounding more like a next generation jet fighter, the LKS-06 is actually a mostly plastic device used for keeping lettuce fresh that contains moisture and air flow control. Lists for $9.99 on Amazon.com. I don't feel like giving up the room in my fridge for this thing personally, as the freezer bag method takes up less space, but you may have more real estate avaliable in your fridge and go with this option.
http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-International-LKS-06-Lettuce-Keeper/dp/B000OUY2QO/ref=sr_1_4?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1307544295&sr=1-4
So there you go. Keep lettuce fresher, longer and better tasting.
*Side Note: You may have noticed that I bashed iceberg lettuce a lot. That's becasue it's nutritional value sucks. Here is a comparrison in nutritional content between Romaine lettuce and Iceberg lettuce.
Calories (per cup):
Iceberg: 8
Romaine: 8
Fiber:
Iceberg .7 gram
Romaine: 1 gram
Potassium:
Iceberg: 78 mg
Romaine: 116 mg
Vitamin C:
Iceberg: 1.5 mg
Romain: 11.3 mg - Romain has almost four times more Vitamin C!
Vitamin K (I have no idea what this is but I'm sure it's good for you)
Iceberg: 13.3 mcg
Romaine: 48.2 mcg
Beta Carotene:
Iceberg: 164 mcg
Romain: 1637 mcg (yup, 10 times the Beta Carotene. Think of your eyes, man!)
First, let's look at some lettuce facts. Once lettuce comes out of the ground, you've got about 7-10 days before whatever is left goes in the trash. We don't use a whole lot of lettuce because we tend to buy bagged greens when we're going to have salads. We might use it if we're grilling burgers, but what do you need for that...2-3 large leaves? Even if we are making salad, with just two of us, we'd seldom use more than half a head. So that's the main issue: we don't use a lot of it, but there's really no choice to buy it by the head. A head of good (read: not iceberg) lettuce is going to run you $2.00 at the supermarket, so we're basically throwing away $1.50 every time we buy lettuce.
So let's get on with the tips then.
1. BUY LOCAL! I really can't stress this enough. If you have a local farmers market or even a local produce stand, buy your lettuces there. Here's why. Most lettuce in the US, especially iceberg, is grown in California's Imperial Valley. I'm out here on the east coast, so I'm losing half the shelf life of the lettuce in transit. Even assuming that the lettuce takes only one day to go from the ground to the shipping truck, it's going to spend the next three days, minimum, going from California to the supermarket in Baltimore. If it sits in the produce section of the store for a day, I'm at least four or five days into the shelf life of the lettuce before it gets to my house. However, if you can get lettuces at a local produce market or farmers market, you're getting a product that was probably taken from the ground within the last 48 hours and quite possibly the same day.
Buying local isn't just for hippie farmers market people who smell like weed. If you want the freshest produce, that's where you're going to get it. I assure you the large lettuce growers in California and Arizona are going to sell a brazillion tons of lettuce this year. I can also assure you that they don't care about you, and don't care about your local economy. You can find local lettuce in practically any temperate climate. So do yourself and your local produce grower a favor and buy local. Do it now!
2. Preserving lettuce. If you're like me, you're lazy. Crushingly lazy. You've picked up some lettuce, used it for whatever you were going to use it for, and then tossed the rest it in the produce drawer of your fridge. Stop doing that, and start doing this (and this will work for just about any leafy head lettuce except for iceberg (which sucks anyway).
Step 1: Remove all the leaves from the head and soak them in the sink or a large bowl in cold (but not icy) water for 10 minutes or so to loosen up and dirt on the interior leaves.
Step 2: Remove lettuce from the water, rinse and pat dry. Better yet, if you have a salad spinner type device, spin the lettuce to get moisture off the leaves.
Step 3: Lay out about a three foot long length of paper towels. It's okay if they become damp. Wrap the lettuce leaves in the paper towels.
Step 4: Place the wrapped lettuce leaves in a large, zip-lock style freezer bag and seal. Place the bag in the produce drawer of your fridge.
Step 5: Remove lettuce from the bag as needed, re-seal and put the bag back in the fridge.
Pro-Tip: You can re-use the same freezer bag a few times. Just rinse with warm, soapy water before re-using.
I like this method because it appeals to my laziness. It's easy to do and the only items I need are stuff I already have at the house (paper towels and freezer bags). It's especially easy because if I complain enough, Melissa will just do it for me. Using this method, you'll get at least another week out of your lettuce. Some folks out there in internet land claim that it'll keep lettuce fresh up to four weeks.
3. If the method above doesn't appeal to you and you've got 10 bucks (plus shipping) that you're looking to unload, you can always go to the high tech Cadillac of lettuce freshness, The LKS-06 Lettuce Keeper from Progressive International. Despite having an unnecessarily long name and sounding more like a next generation jet fighter, the LKS-06 is actually a mostly plastic device used for keeping lettuce fresh that contains moisture and air flow control. Lists for $9.99 on Amazon.com. I don't feel like giving up the room in my fridge for this thing personally, as the freezer bag method takes up less space, but you may have more real estate avaliable in your fridge and go with this option.
http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-International-LKS-06-Lettuce-Keeper/dp/B000OUY2QO/ref=sr_1_4?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1307544295&sr=1-4
So there you go. Keep lettuce fresher, longer and better tasting.
*Side Note: You may have noticed that I bashed iceberg lettuce a lot. That's becasue it's nutritional value sucks. Here is a comparrison in nutritional content between Romaine lettuce and Iceberg lettuce.
Calories (per cup):
Iceberg: 8
Romaine: 8
Fiber:
Iceberg .7 gram
Romaine: 1 gram
Potassium:
Iceberg: 78 mg
Romaine: 116 mg
Vitamin C:
Iceberg: 1.5 mg
Romain: 11.3 mg - Romain has almost four times more Vitamin C!
Vitamin K (I have no idea what this is but I'm sure it's good for you)
Iceberg: 13.3 mcg
Romaine: 48.2 mcg
Beta Carotene:
Iceberg: 164 mcg
Romain: 1637 mcg (yup, 10 times the Beta Carotene. Think of your eyes, man!)
Monday, June 6, 2011
Avocado Tacos With Roasted Corn and Black Beans
First post of the new blog. Hopefully this one wont get me fired (inside joke). My fiance, Melissa, and I are amateur foodies. We both cook and love to try out new things at the house. One of the problems I find when looking for new recipes, both online and in most cookbooks, is that they are "family friendly," that is, they are designed to feed four or more people. Neither of us are big fans of leftovers, so the problem with cooking that casserole that serves six is that at least half of it is going in the trash or down the disposal a few days later (or it will sit in the back of the fridge for six weeks until it gains sentience and the ability to move on its own).
Here on Feeding Melissa I'm not only going to break the ingredients into two person portions, I'm going to tell you what you'll need around the kitchen before you get started. As a bachelor until recently I often found that I'd print out a recipe at work, stop at the store on the way home, and realize halfway through the cooking process that I didn't have a mandolin, a meat mallet or some other essential utensil. That led to more nights of ordering from Papa John's than are really healthy.
So here's the first recipe. Melissa will be gone on a business trip the rest of the week, so I've declared it Taco Week. I've got four taco recipes lined up. I figured I'd make one of the more healthy ones while Melissa is still in town.
Avocado Tacos With Roasted Corn and Black Beans
What it is:
It's almost guacamole in a soft taco, with some added beans and corn for texture and flavor. Fairly healthy as there is no meat and only a small amount of cheese (per taco). This recipes is designed to give you three tacos each.
What You'll Need (Food):
2 Haas avocados (peeled, pitted and mashed)
1/4 Cup yellow onion (finely diced)
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
6 Corn tortillas
10 springs fresh cilantro (finely chopped, from a normal store "bunch" of cilantro, pull 10 individual stalks)
1 Lime (cut into six wedges)
1 Small can black beans (warmed then drained)
1 Ear of corn (roasted, preferably on a grill but it's not super important, you can even use half a can of canned corn)
1/2 Teaspoon seasoning salt (like Lawrey's)
2/3 Cup Monterrey Jack cheese (grated)
Salsa (optional)
Sour Cream (optional)
What You'll Need (Cooking):
Baking Sheet
Cheese grater
Measuring cup
Small sauce pot
Potato masher (or some other kind of mashing device, or your hand if you don't mind getting all avocado-y
Here on Feeding Melissa I'm not only going to break the ingredients into two person portions, I'm going to tell you what you'll need around the kitchen before you get started. As a bachelor until recently I often found that I'd print out a recipe at work, stop at the store on the way home, and realize halfway through the cooking process that I didn't have a mandolin, a meat mallet or some other essential utensil. That led to more nights of ordering from Papa John's than are really healthy.
So here's the first recipe. Melissa will be gone on a business trip the rest of the week, so I've declared it Taco Week. I've got four taco recipes lined up. I figured I'd make one of the more healthy ones while Melissa is still in town.
Avocado Tacos With Roasted Corn and Black Beans
What it is:
It's almost guacamole in a soft taco, with some added beans and corn for texture and flavor. Fairly healthy as there is no meat and only a small amount of cheese (per taco). This recipes is designed to give you three tacos each.
What You'll Need (Food):
2 Haas avocados (peeled, pitted and mashed)
1/4 Cup yellow onion (finely diced)
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
6 Corn tortillas
10 springs fresh cilantro (finely chopped, from a normal store "bunch" of cilantro, pull 10 individual stalks)
1 Lime (cut into six wedges)
1 Small can black beans (warmed then drained)
1 Ear of corn (roasted, preferably on a grill but it's not super important, you can even use half a can of canned corn)
1/2 Teaspoon seasoning salt (like Lawrey's)
2/3 Cup Monterrey Jack cheese (grated)
Salsa (optional)
Sour Cream (optional)
What You'll Need (Cooking):
Baking Sheet
Cheese grater
Measuring cup
Small sauce pot
Potato masher (or some other kind of mashing device, or your hand if you don't mind getting all avocado-y
Here's the disassembled product, minus black beans
Lets cook.
First, preheat an oven to 250. This is a good time to get your beans simmering too. Dump them into a small pot and heat over low-medium heat. Don't let them boil or get super hot. If you're going to roast your corn, now is the time to get your grill going. Because it's just one ear of corn, use a gas grill, medium heat. If you don't have a gas grill, it's probably not worth the effort of using a charcoal grill so just heat the corn in hot water. Place the corn on the grill and rotate every 3-4 minutes, for about 12 minutes. If it gets a little char, that's fine. I kinda prefer mine a little charred. Once your corn is done, remove it from grill. You can do the preparation work below while your corn is roasting.
The preparation work for this simple recipe is about 90% of the effort here, and it's very easy. We'll take it one ingredient at a time. If you haven't already mashed your avocados, that's fine, if you have, that's fine too. Place the avocado (pitted at peeled) in a mixing bowl. Add the diced onion and garlic salt. Go ahead and mash it up if you haven't done that already. If you already mashed, just mix in the onion and garlic salt.
Go ahead and get your cheese grated (or just be lazy and use bagged cheese, either way is fine) and finely chop the cilantro. If your grocery store is like mine it sells fresh cilantro in bunches. You'll want 10ish sprigs of cilantro from the bunch. I cut the stems off mine so it's more leaf, less stem, but do what you like.
Get your corn and (assuming you used corn on the cob) use a good knife to cut the kernels off the cob. Just run the knife long-wise down the cob using a little sawing motion. The kernels will mostly just come right off as you move the knife down the cob. Put your corn tortillas on a baking sheet and put them in the pre-heated oven for 3-4 minutes just to warm them up. Drain your black beans. Now all that's left is assembly.
Put two big spoonfuls of the avocado mixture on the tortilla. Add black beans and roasted corn. Sprinkle on cheese and cilantro. Squeeze a lime wedge over each taco. If you want, add sour cream or salsa.
Finished Product
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)