Meatless Mondays: Polenta Lasagna

Mondays are sometimes the hardest days to figure out dinner. I am not a big fan of Shabbat leftovers, and there are never enough to serve the whole family come Monday. I am tired and not wanting to really prepare anything, but it's too early in the week to justify getting takeout.

A big trend in the food blog world lately is Meatless Mondays. I like this idea. Of course in my house, almost every day is a meatless day. Still, I like the ideas behind it, and am more than happy to spread the word.

I decided on polenta lasagna. I always have cornmeal lying around, but as luck would have it - I had one of those handy dandy tubes of prepared polenta from Trader Joes sitting in my cabinet. I had my doubts about this dinner. I knew that my husband would love the lasagna, but I was nervous that the kids would be begging for some sort of dinner alternative. I lucked out. The kids loved it. They ate it all up. They didn't even bat an eye at the spinach! Score! To top off the good luck - they devoured the steamed broccoli I served with it. Ten points for me!



Polenta Lasagna
Ingredients:


1.5 cups of good tomato sauce
1 tube of polenta, sliced into 12-15 slices
1.5 cups of ricotta cheese
3/4 box of frozen spinach
1 tbsp. italian seasoning
5 cloves smashed garlic
salt
pepper
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 egg
1.5 cups of shredded mozarella
a few leaves of basil, chopped
shredded parmesean



Preheat oven to 375.

In a mixing bowl, mix the ricotta cheese, the spinach, half of the mozarella, the egg, and the herbs.

In an 8x8 pan, spread a thin layer of tomato sauce. Place half of the polenta rounds over the sauce. Top with half of the ricotta cheese mixture. Spread a thin layer of sauce and repeat the polenta/cheese layers. Spread another thin layer of sauce. Top with mozarella cheese and sprinkle with the parmesean.

Bake in the preheated oven for about a half hour. Garnish with the chopped basil. Serve with some steamed veggies and/or salad.

Enjoy!

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Rava Dosa with Masala - Do you Dosa?

If I were to be reborn in to some new life, I hope it could be in to an Indian family. I would love to grow up with the flavors and colors of Indian cooking.

My adventures into Indian flavor and cooking began when I was in college and was living in a largely Indian neighborhood. Peeking into Madras Mahal on Lexington, the first dish I ordered was Mutter Panner. A curry with peas and cheese. The flavors popped in my mouth, and I needed to explore more.

Running into Kalustyans and into the India Bazaar store, I explored the various flavors. Once I had a kitchen of my own, I was free to explore more. The one thing I never ventured into, was the world of dosa making. I have tasted my fair share, but it was never my highlight of an Indian meal. I didn't have the equipment, and it seemed like too much work to try to make them.

This morning, in speaking with the hubster, I asked him what I should make. To which he replied, "a masala dosa, of course." Of course that's what he wanted. The one thing I was really not ready to make. I had plans to spice shop in Jersey City's Indian markets today...so there was no excuse. We could easily have the ingredients here and ready. While at Patel market, I found a Tawa right by the checkout. I guess it was fate.

With the ingredients and spices in hand, I set out to make dinner. The potato mixture was easy and came out perfect. Not so much with the dosas. The first three were tossed. The fourth was somewhat edible. The fifth was getting there. By the sixth, I finally got it! I had also had enough playing with dosa making for the night and the Oscars were about to start, so we called it a night and chowed down. I am glad I now know how to make the dosa though. Next time, I will be an expert.

Here's my fancy shmancy new Tawa!

Rava Dosa with Masala

For the potato masala mixture:

Ingredients:

3 potatoes - boiled, roughly mashed

1 tsp. urad dal

1 tsp. mustard seeds

1 tsp. cumin seeds

2 small red onions, chopped

1 green chili, chopped

peas, handful

1 carrot, chopped

1 tomato, chopped

1/2 tsp. turmeric

1 tsp. garam masala

1/2 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. coriander

1 tsp. chili powder

1 tbsp. chopped cilantro

1 tbsp. chopped curry leaves

1 tbsp. veg. oil

1/2 cup water

In a large saute pan, heat the oil oil on high heat. Add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Toast for less than a minute. Add the onions and chili pepper. Saute for a minute or two. Add the carrots, tomato, and the peas. Add the spices. Add the water and cook for a few minutes. Cook until the carrots have softened and the water has evaporated a bit. Stir in the potatoes. Mix in the chopped curry leaves and cilantro. Set the potato mixture aside or gobble it up. It tastes great on its own. It may need a little bit of salt, but taste it and see.

For the Rava Dosa:
Ingredients:

1 cup rice flour

1/2 cup semolina or rava

1/4 cup maida flour (all purpose flour)

1 tsp. cumin seeds

2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. mustard seeds

2 curry leaves, chopped

3 coriander leaves, chopped

1 tsp. ginger

4 cups water (approx - you may need more for consistency)

vegetable oil + 1stp

Equipment - a flat griddle or traditional tawa pan or use a large flat fry pan (see pic above!)

Mix the flours. Add the salt and water to it. Toast the spices in 1 tsp. of oil. Transfer the spices to the flour mixture. Let the batter sit for about 30 minutes. Stir the batter. It shouldn't be too thick. More of a thick milk consisteny.

Heat the pan on high. With a paper towel, wipe oil on the pan. Do not pour.

With a ladle, spread the batter on the pan. Moving from the outside in. The batter should be very very thin on the pan.This does take practice.

After a couple minutes, sprinkle a dab of oil and some butter on to the dosa. When it starts to brown, fold it over.

Serve the dosa with the masala mixture or with the traditional sambar. Enjoy!

Please note: Your first few dosas may need to be tossed. Your first few dosas will not look like the giant beautiful cornucopias you can get at the local Indian restaurant. That's totally ok. Have fun with it.

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Braised Turkey Legs and Veggies and Stuff - The New Cholent?

In a perfect world I would plan ahead. In a perfect world, my shabbat menu would be planned on Tuesday, with shopping done on Wednesday, and cooking done on Thursday. In a perfect world.

My reality is worlds away. My reality is that it occurs to me that Shabbat is coming on Wednesday. I doodle some menu ideas during the day and forget those notes at work when I get home. At work on Thursday, I doodle out some shopping lists. Once again, I forget those lists at work. On Thursday night I tell myself I will take something out of the freezer or run to the store. Reality is that I am exhausted and would rather veg out in front of Grey's Anatomy while sipping some honeyed tea. That was my week.

On Friday morning I grab some chicken soup out of the freezer. Quickly scan the vegetable drawer and draw up a realistic list for the husband. I forgot to take any protein out of the freezer the night before, so I beg J to run to the store on his way to work to pick up chicken and some sort of beef product for cholent or some other shabbat lunch treat. I mosey on off to work and ignore the impending last minute shabbat cookathon that will greet me when I return home.

Sitting at my desk at work, sipping my coffee - it's 8:30 am. The phone rings. It's J. "Good news," he says, "I bought turkey legs!" He is excited and totally proud of this.

What the heck am I going to do with turkey legs? I don't like turkey! I don't like cholent, but at least I can cook it with my eyes closed. J protests that the turkey will be perfect. It's the perfect protein for cooking overnight.

When I get home from work, I have minutes to brainstorm what this turkey will become. It's T-minus 1.5 hours until Shabbat starts and I still need to come up with a menu. I open the fridge and glance at the two ginormous turkey legs. Those legs look larger than my 4-year-old's! I glance at the crockpot...too small! I yank the dutch oven out of the cabinet, heat up the flame, and get to work.

What I came up with worked really well. I highly recommend this as a substitute for your cholent, or really any night of the week.


Braised Turkey Legs with Root Vegetables
Ingredients:

Two to Three Large Turkey Legs (thighs would also work)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
salt
pepper
1 tbsp smoked paprika
4 stalks of celery, chopped
1 large leek, chopped
5 carrots, sliced
1 large potato, cubed
2 turnips, cubed
3 parsnips, sliced
2.5 cups vegetable broth
Bay leaf
Chopped parsley

Wash and dry the turkey. Sprinkle the turkey with salt and pepper. In a large dutch oven, brown the turkey in olive oil. Takes about 6-10 minutes. Remove the turkey to a plate.

Throw in the onions, garlic, and leeks. Saute a few minutes. Add in the smoked paprika. Add in the chopped veggies. Cook for a couple minutes. Place the turkey over the root veggies. Now add the vegetable broth. Bring the broth to a boil. Add in the bay leaf and chopped parsley. Turn the heat down to medium low or cook in an oven set at 210 degrees. Cook overnight - slow cook on low for 10 hours.

Enjoy!

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Homemade Kit Kat Bar Awesomeness

If a recipe includes two sticks of butter and a huge amount of sugar, it's a sure bet it's going to taste pretty good. Even one stick of butter is pretty indulgent in this household.

A couple of weeks ago, the most amazing treat possible popped up in my blog reader. Paula Deen, the Butter Queen, concocted homemade kit kat bars. Whodathunkit?!

The rundown of ingredients seemed easy enough. No oven was involved either. Almost too easy! And so good!

You must make these bars. Alas, they taste nothing like a kit kat bar - which is probably a good thing. These treats are way better than anything in the candy aisle. I beg of you - make these bars!

P.S. Thank you to my in-house guinea pigs for tasting these treats to make sure they aren't poisonous, and thank you to my dear colleagues for letting me bring my creations in to the office and eating these fattening treats so I don't have to pig out on the whole pan myself.

Homemade Kit-Kat Bars
adapted from Paula Deen (and all around the blogosphere as well)

Ingredients:
75 club crackers
2 sticks of butter
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup whole milk
1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup peanut butter (creamy)
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chip
1/2 cup butterscotch chips

Directions:

Line a 9 x 13 inch foil pan with one layer of club crackers. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, then add graham cracker crumbs, dark brown sugar, milk, and granulated sugar. Bring to a boil and continue to boil for five minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Pour half of the mixture over crackers in pan evenly. Arrange another layer of club crackers over the mixture, then cover that layer with the other half of the butter mixture. Arrange a final layer of club crackers on top. Now lick that buttery, caramelly spoon. You'll be glad you did. It's that good.

Combine peanut butter, chocolate chips, and butterscotch chips in a small saucepan. Melt the chocolate mixture. Stir it and stir it some more so that it doesn't burn. Once melted - spread the chocolate goodness over the crackers.

Cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate. It needs a good few hours. Cut the bars to desired size and enjoy!

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Thai Beef + Veggies + Coconut Rice = Yummy!

I love Thai food. If I knew how to insert a heart symbol, I would insert it somewhere into this sentence. Did I mention I love Thai food? Somehow when you throw in fish sauce, lime juice, sriracha, and basil into a dish - magic happens. For real! Try it sometime!

I am not a ground beef fan or a Martha Stewart fan, but I came upon this recipe that intrigued me. Thai ground beef over coconut rice sounded good. It was also looked easy enough that I was able to amp up the flavor and stretch the ingredients to make it work for us. I happened to have all the ingredients on hand, plus some veggies that I thought would only add to the dish. If you want, you could substitute tofu, turkey, or soy crumbles in place of the cow.

For the Coconut Rice:

2 cups jasmine rice

1 can coconut milk

1.5 cups of water

salt

Put the rice, milk, water, and salt in a saucepan on medium-high heat. Bring the mixture to a boil. Turn the heat down to medium low and cover. Cook until the liquid is absorbed.

For the beef dish:

1 tbsp. vegetable oil

6 garlic cloves, chopped

1/2 onion, chopped

2 tbsp ginger, chopped

2 chili peppers, chopped

1 lb. ground beef

10 oz. container mushrooms, sliced

snowpeas - a bunch

chinese broccoli, choped

1 red pepper, chopped

1/2 green pepper, chopped

baby corn, sliced

scallions, chopped

red pepper flakes

2 plum tomatoes, chopped

2 tbsp. fish sauce

2 tbsp. soy sauce

1 tbsp. sriracha

1 tsp. sugar

chopped basil

lime wedges

Combine the fish sauce, soy sauce, sriracha, and sugar in a small bowl. Let it sit for a bit.

Add oil to your wok and add the garlic, ginger, onion and chilis. Cook for about a minute. Add the meat and brown it. Add in the vegetables and cook some more. Add in the tomatoes. Add in the fish sauce mixture, chili flakes, and the basil. Cook a few more minutes.

Serve this over coconut rice with a good, healthy squeeze of lime juice. It's soooo good! You will want to keep eating and eating this dish. I wish I had doubled this recipe - it was that good.

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African Peanut Chicken

This chicken was so good that I didn't get a chance to take a picture of it. Well actually it tasted good, but looked pretty awful. It was also shabbat. So really no chance to get a good shot of it.

I love trying new ideas. The weekend is really my canvas to play with flavor. What I love most of all though, is experimenting with my dinner guests.

I love Asian style peanut sauces on foods, but had never ventured into the African peanut realm in food making. I often come upon recipes for African peanut soups and chicken dishes, but have held back on messing with them. The dear hubster has never been a fan of the asian peanut sauce - so I always assumed that an African peanut dish was off limits.

I decided to ignore his opinions and work out a recipe for me. I was really in the mood for a chicken dish that popped with flavor. I was in the mood for something different. A colleague has often mentioned a traditional African peanut sauce that she makes for her husband. I thought I would try my hand at something.

In searching through cookbooks and various blogs, I came up with a recipe that worked with what I had on hand. It came out amazing. Even the hubster loved it. To prove it, he devoured all the leftovers.

African Peanut Chicken with Vegetables

Ingredients:

1.5 cups of creamy peanut butter (not the sugary kind)

3 cups of vegetable broth

1 chicken - cut up

1.5 tbsp vegetable oil

salt

pepper

1 large onion, chopped

6 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 green pepper, diced

1 jalapeno, diced (optional)

2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

1 tbsp ground coriander

1 can diced tomatoes

2 large turnips, cubed

3 carrots, sliced

1 potato, cubed

1 sweet potato, cubed

cilantro, chopped (about a handful)

Preheat your oven to 325°F.

In a small bowl, whisk the peanut butter with 1.5 cups of the vegetable broth.

Wash and dry your chicken. Season it with salt and pepper.

In a large dutch oven, brown the chicken in the vegetable oil. Transfer the chicken to a plate.

Add the onion, garlic, and peppers to the pot. S

auté a few minutes. Add in the cayenne and coriander.

Once the onion mixture has softened, add in the chopped root veggies.

Stir in the peanut butter mixture as well as the tomatoes and the remaining broth.

Add the chicken to the pot and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to simmer and cover the pot. Transfer the chicken to the oven and cook for another hour.

After an hour - take the chicken out of the oven and place on the stove on medium heat. Transfer the chicken and veggies to a serving dish. Simmer, and reduce the sauce on the stove. Should take about 15 minutes. Mix in the cilantro.

Pour the sauce over the chicken. Serve over rice.

Enjoy!

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On Being a Foodie When Food Hates Me

So I know I have been gone a while. I have a good excuse.

I have Crohns. A disorder of the gut. I won't go in to all the gory details, but to sum it up - when it kicks me in the ass, it really kicks me in the ass. Food doesn't like me.

With the gut acting up, I wasn't really eating - mostly keeping to a liquid diet. That doesn't mean I wasn't thinking about food. The whole time I was sick, I was watching food network and ingesting all the lovely food porn in the blogosphere. My cooking habits turned into pathetic mode. Feeding my family quick and easy meals likes mac & cheese, fish sticks, eggs, and such. Really pathetic. Of course the kids loved it! What kid doesn't like food out of a box? Now I am back -thank goodness. Back to eating, back to cooking. So here I am. I promise to cook more, feed my family better meals, and tell you about it.

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