Thanksgiving Lingerings

First, we have what may be my favorite dish of all time:


Sweet potato, kale, and sausage
RECIPE
Mostly, I stayed true to it. Of course, I used a nommy tofurky sausage (polish kielbasa, if i'm not mistaken)
I cannot emphasize enough how best this recipe is. I mean you sizzle in mustard! I can't even handle the memory of this flavor.


And my own little cranberry upside down cake. Yes, Amanda, you may be onto something. There is something off about the phrase, making you feel like you've been smacked around a bit, without knowing exactly what part of you got smacked. It happens. RECIPE



I slaughtered a pumpkin that day, and had lots left over, so I made a sugary puree, and put a layer of that between the cranberries and the cake. Therefore, they stuck to the bottom of the form. Therefore, I got to shape the topping on myself! Mush smoooshy moosh. Yum. I've made the recipe a few times. Lusciously buttery taste. The upside-downity remains quite intact when done correctly.
-Anna

I Made a Recipe!

Whole Wheat Penne with Kale, Onion, Thyme
I found a recipe it called for chard. I used kale. It called for feta. I was going to use goat cheese, but then I decided I didn't feel like opening the container. Then I was going to use a combination of ricotta and not fresh Parmesan. The ricotta had expired over a week before, so it was only Parmesan. It called for red onion sauteed in olive oil. I broke our olive oil container last week and only had a white onion, so I sauteed it in vegetable oil. It called for pine nuts. Pine nuts are expensive, so no. It called for oregano, no oregano, so I used thyme. It called for tomato sauce or canned tomatoes, I'm not a fan and didn't feel like opening up a container regardless.



I think this means I made a new recipe(!) So first chop an onion. Sauté it in a tablespoon of oil. It'll cook so fast if it's vegetable and not olive! While this happening heat up a pot of water to cook the pasta. Once the water is ready put in about 4 or 5 handfuls of whole wheat penne. It usually takes like 15 minutes or so to cook fully. While the water is heating/pasta is cooking take a bunch of kale and tear the good leaves off the stalks into bite-size pieces. Gradually add the kale to the onion pan and make sure the heat is pretty low, say simmer. As the vegetables are cooking add some from thyme and salt and pepper. Stir until the kale is nearly soft, but still bright green. Mix together in a bowl with the cooked pasta and add however much Parmesan you like.

It's real.

-Amanda

The End of Canned Beans

I used canned. Don't. Skip the walnuts. Obviously.



Oh and I forgot the Parmesan. Silly.
-Amanda

Something Green!

This is easy. I used peach instead of mango since it was cheaper it was still yummy. Also I used a red onion. I don't know if that means anything. Here's the recipe.



And I am so clever.

-Amanda

Okrasaurus

I don't like shopping lists. I like going to the store (Berkeley Bowl mmmm) and figuring out what's going to happen inside my stomach for the next week or two once I actually get there. So last week I settled on a little crop of okra, and a small bunch of dinosaur kale. I tried making Bhindi Bhaji (http://www.indianfoodforever.com/vegetables/bhindi-bhaji.html) but I won't put up my own altered recipe for it until I'm happier with the result. Here's some okra though! I ate it all.



And I made some kale chips (see Amanda's recipe for chard chips a few posts down) with the dinosaur kale. With some freshly ground garlic chips and sea salt. Mm mm mmm.



I got thirsty, so I made a quick banana shake (banana + ice + milk + blender, wapoosh!) This got me discussing ice with a friend who went through a rough patch where her dependence on the stuff was just a little too much for her to handle. One fine afternoon, we made ourselves a snack of ice, pudding, and chocolate fudge. Best meal I've ever had. It is worth it to face the gates of Porter Ranch just to have Angela (aforementioned friend) make you a glass of that fine concoction. And she's promised to make me my first Orange Julius over the summer!

And yes, I did just redo the layout. That is my tongue you are staring at. Four times. I hope Amanda likes it, this will be news to her.

-Anna

Chard Chips and Madeleines Sitting Pretty in the Oven

So yesterday I found a madeleine pan at Sur la Table--lots of excitement. It was two dollars cheaper than the one at Williams-Sonoma. And last night I decided to try my hand at madeleines. I found some recipes for creative ones like honey spice and chocolate cinnamon, but I decided to go with a basic vanilla for my first go.
Not a good go.
Disaster is, in fact, the most appropriate description.
Hindsight is a beautiful thing, isn't it? Well,
a) I should have let the butter cool COMPLETELY before combining it with the rest of the batter, bad move number one.
b) Nearly every recipe you that you find for madeleines will say that you should let the batter sit in the refrigerator overnight before you bake them. There's a reason that there's near consensus on this fact!
c)Do not overfill them--less is more. You will have a terrible time taking the madeleines out if you overfill them--and they will be ugly. And honestly, madeleines exist to be pretty, so in essence you'd be bringing a good-for-nothing madeleine into the world. Do you want to be responsible for that? Yeah, no.
d) Some recipes say not to butter the pan; that they'll be "prettier" if you don't. Lies. Butter/spray the pan like crazy, otherwise you'll have a mess like mine.
Anyhow, most recipes make more batter than you need for a 12 standard size madeleine pan, i.e. the one I bought. So if this is the case for you too, most recipes make two batches (24 madeleines). Lucky me, this meant that I got a second chance with this batter. I refrigerated what was left of the batter overnight and a then a half day. Not much was left considering my earlier mistake with butter. At the bottom of the bowl was reconstituted butter slabs. They looked like soap. Ew.
But the five madeleines that I was able to recover came out beautifully! Small success but I'll take it.

Madeleines
2 eggs, 1 egg yolk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla (this might be fun with almond extract too)

1 cup sifted powered sugar

3/4 c. flour

1/4 tsp. baking powder (remember powder, soda=soap)

1 stick butter (melted and COOLED, again if not cooled=soap in shape though, not flavor)

Steps
1. Melt the butter. Let it cool.
2. Meanwhile, beat the eggs with the vanilla in a mixer on high speed for 5 minutes. Add the sifted powdered sugar slowly. The batter will start to look really shiny and pretty now. Let it beat for at medium speed for about 5 minutes.
3. As all this beating is going on sift the flour and the baking powder together in a small bowl.
4. Fold the flour mixture in parts to the pretty egg and sugar mixture.
5. Once that is done fold in the COOLED butter. Seriously, if it's not cooled completely it won't combine with the egg and flour mixture.
6. Refrigerate the batter for at least a couple of hours. Preferably overnight.
7. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray your pan like you'd spray bug spray at a huge cockroach coming at you (sorry bad imagery when we're talking about food).
8. Don't fill them all the way. Only 2/3 of the way at most. Bake for 10 minutes.
9. Let them cool a few minutes in the pan. Then carefully loosen them with your fingers. Knives can deal a madeleine major damage.
Et voilà!




And as for the chard chips; they're like kale chips only with torn up pieces of red and green chard, left over from the red lentil and chard curry Anna and I made on Saturday. Just tear up chard into bite-size pieces rinse it, pat dry, and drizzle with a teeny amount of olive oil. Bake at 375 for about 10 minutes. Enjoy! Oh and some of them might look super burnt. They're still good, at least I think so. But then again I like marshmallows burnt to a char, so don't necessarily take my opinion on that.