Spring Vegetable Carbonara

Carbonara is such a dirty word.  Not only is it a sauce made from bacon, eggs, and cheese, but the eggs are only partially cooked.  This dish is just asking to condemned, and condemned it is.  I have a hard time being mean to carbonara, however, largely due to the fact that it's just so damn delicious.  Similar to the reaction I had when I found the risotto recipe, I knew that I had to try this slightly healthier version of carbonara.

Due to a clerical error on my part, I ended up buying green beans instead of asparagus.  I don't think that this changed the dish much, but I would have preferred to make the recipe as written.  I also used low-sodium bacon.  I don't see any harm in this, but I would not recommend using turkey bacon.  Turkey bacon doesn't render out enough fat to cook the pepper in.  It also lacks that decadent taste that is instantly recognizable as real bacon.

It's been well documented on this blog that I am very particular about the thickness of soups and sauces.  I was a little worried that my sauce would be too thick.  I definitely added some of the cooking water to my sauce, as the recipe suggests.  Unfortunately, I added to much and it was a little thin for my liking.  Also, the recipe claims that the sauce will thicken as you stir, but it's not nearly as much as you would think.  Be stingy if you add some of the cooking water back in.

So by now you probably want to know how it tastes.  I think it's a good attempt.  It definitely had a silky texture for the sauce.  There was the bacon and cheese.  The vegetables were a really nice addition instead of having only peas rolling around in cholesterol.  I would have no problem eating this dish many more times if it saves hundreds of calories over the traditional version.  Aside from the egg part, it looks like carbonara doesn't have to be such a dirty word after all.

Almost Meatless Sloppy Joes

My mom is an amazing woman.  She raised three children, had a full-time job, worked a part-time job, and went back to get her degree in Education - all at the same time.  I have nothing but respect for what my mom has achieved, but this is not to say that we didn't have to make some sacrifices.
Unfortunately, one of the sacrifices was a home-cooked meal that didn't come out out of a bag, jar, or box.  We often had Shake & Bake or Manwiches, until I was trusted to make dinner without burning down the house.  I think that a lot of these meals really shaped my tastes in food, and I can certainly say that these meals are one of the main reasons I almost passed entirely on making this sloppy joe recipe.
To me, Sloppy Joes are just ground meat mixed with sauce from a jar.  For the record, we never had a creepy lunch lady like Adam Sandler portrayed.  Sloppy Joes were a quick meal that required little attention.  This was not the star meal of the week, in fact it was usually forgotten before the dishwasher finished its cycle.
In an effort to expand my tastes and give every recipe its fair shake, I buckled down and tried Almost Meatless Sloppy Joes.  The prep was quick, the dish required the same minimal attention, and i would guess that an hour elapsed from the time I started chopping the onion until the time I was literally licking my plate clean.
There, I said it.  These Sloppy Joes are delicious.  If you don't look at them too closely you would not even know that there were beans and carrots in there.  Those carrots, along with some brown sugar, add a touch of sweetness that is reminiscent of the jar stuff.  The seasoning gives it just a little bit of a kick, but not enough that picky children would be turned off from these.  The only thing I would add to the recipe is to use a little more salt and pepper than it calls for - it could just use a little bit more.  Also, I used lean chuck instead of sirloin.  I got 85/15, skimmed a tablespoon of fat out of the pan before adding the carrots, and saved a few bucks over the sirloin.
One final note about these fantastic sandwiches.  The recipe says to use 1 cup of meat mixture for one roll. As you can see in the picture, I had two sandwiches.  Each of those has 1/2 cup of meat mixture and they are still overflowing.  Unless you have giant kaiser rolls, you can definitely spread this recipe into 6-8 sandwiches.

Beef Rendang

I am a big fan of Southeast Asian cuisine.  I particularly like how there is a subtle combination of flavors that hits all of your taste buds; sour, sweet, salty, and bitter.  I also really like spicy food.  There has only been one occasion in my life where food was so spicy that I literally could not eat it.  Otherwise, bring it on.

I recently subscribed to Cooking Light, as I felt that I should pay them for supplying me with content for this blog.  As I was flipping through my first issue, March 2010, I came across this recipe for Beef Rendang.  The write-up says it is a Malaysian dish that has rich flavors of spice and lemongrass.  I noted that some of my favorite flavors were in this dish – coconut milk, ginger, lime.  Sold.

In addition to purchasing a Cooking Light subscription, I also recently purchased a Magic Bullet.  I used this as my food processor for this recipe.  While this option worked well for the spices and peppers, it was not the best choice for mixing the coconut milk and flakes.  The bullet spins too fast and the mixture just goes up the sides of the container.  Stick with a conventional food processor for this step.

As this dish was cooking, I learned again that this was not a small-apartment-friendly aroma.  While the curry smell is delicious and tantalizing, it also permeates anything made of fabric.  And it stays there for a while.  Be warned that simmering this for 90 minutes will definitely fill your entire house with the scent.

Unfortunately, I made an error in calculating the time for this to cook, so I had to wait a day.  I was eagerly anticipating this dinner the whole day, and I was excited to come home and heat this up.  I made some jasmine rice instead of the basmati called for in the recipe, and I was off.

Sweet leaping Jesus this dish has spice to it.  Serious spice.  The aroma of the dish in its plate is deceptively sweet, and in no way does it hint at the fiery bite contained within.  As I have said, I like spicy food.  I think there was too much spice and not enough of the other delicious flavors.  Don’t use two Serranos.  Don’t use a full Serrano.  Three-quarters of a Serrano would be the maximum I would use next time.  Maybe if they were roasted or de-seeded it may have been a different story.

Aside from the intense heat, the flavors in this dish are great.  Don’t be scared off by some semi-foreign ingredients like chili garlic sauce.  This dish is great, and I can see the sauce working well with chicken or pork as well.

Shiitake & Sweet Pea Risotto

Risotto.  That word brings two things to my mind: Gordon Ramsay and fat.  Both of these words and their connotations have led me to believe that this blog would never see a risotto recipe.  Ramsay because of the difficulty associated with making risotto.  Fat because of the butter, cream, and cheese that are the foundation of the dish.

I just received the latest issue of Cooking Light and almost fell off my couch when I saw a risotto recipe.  I was immediately skeptical of how it would turn out, but noticed that the recipe still retained a small amount of both butter and parmesan.  Awesome.

Because of my skepticism, I wanted to follow this recipe to the letter.  No substitutions, no shortcuts.  I wanted to make sure that I would be giving fair and objective feedback on this recipe exactly as it is printed.  Due to a slight oversight on my part, however, the only alteration I had to make was using dried thyme instead of fresh.  Remember to use less dried herbs than fresh.  I used about half of what was called for in this recipe.

I've made risotto before, and this one was definitely a little different.  When you add the broth to the pot you are supposed to stir the mixture until the liquid is gone.  Keep in mind that this doesn't mean gone completely.  Instead, the mixture should be thick and creamy, almost resembling instant oatmeal.  That is the point that you add another portion of broth.  While making this recipe, however, the liquid didn't entirely dissipate.  After adding the last portion of broth and stirring for several minutes, it didn't appear to that it was being absorbed.  I stirred for a few more minutes.  Nothing.  I threw my hands up and moved on.

Strangely enough, adding in the rest of the ingredients was the binding agent that the dish needed.  Everything thickened up and it looked beautiful.  It tasted beautiful too.  I would never know that this dish came from Cooking Light.  I don't even think I have anything I would change (aside from the fresh thyme). Make this dish.  Now.

Sun Dried Tomato and Lentil Soup

Most of the recipes I have posted on this site were found through browsing some websites and picking out what sounds tasty.  The recipe for Sun Dried Tomato and Lentil soup found me, however.

There was a wintry sunday afternoon just after a blizzard.  I found myself in Harrah's Atlantic City because they have a domed pool that is kept at 82 degrees.  Another thing that they have is the Waterfront Buffet.  I am a sucker for a buffet almost as much as I am a sucker for gambling.  While making the rounds at the buffet, I found a sun dried tomato and lentil soup.  It was A-MA-ZING.  Obviously, upon returning home, my first mission was to find a recipe and re-create the dish.

Strangely, there were not too many recipes that even sounded like they would come close.  I finally stumbled upon a food blog by Emily called "A Year on the French Diet."  Thank you Emily.  With only two small modifications needed, you really nailed it.

It will come as no surprise when I say that Emily's version of the recipe was too watery.  In addition, the version I was aiming for was more of a puree so I had to try and get to that point.  I used a stick blender to puree the soup into a thicker version.  The only other modification needed is to add more sun dried tomatoes.  I think the lentil taste was stronger than the tomatoes, and I would prefer it the other way around.  If you don't like the taste of sun dried tomatoes as much, adjust to your tastes.

Needless to say, this recipe is going to be heavily inserted into the rotation for as long as I can bear to eat soup.

Lentils with Garlic & Rosemary

More lentils.  I wanted something that was less soupy and more stewy.  I also really like garlic.  I figured that this Lentils with Garlic and Rosemary recipe from Cooking Light was worth a shot.

The end result is almost exactly what I was looking for.  As it turns out, it was a whole lot of what I was looking for.  As much as I hated to do it, and as much as I heard my mother's voice chiding me about starving kids in Africa, I actually had so much of this dish leftover that I had to throw it away before I was able to eat it all.  For a family of 4 this recipe would be good for two meals each.  For a single person, even cutting this recipe in half would be a lot of food.

Another very strange thing about this recipe is the amount of onions it calls for.  When I was throwing all the ingredients into the crock pot, I had to go back and check to see that it wasn't called "Lentils with Onions and Onions." Don't worry, though, this actually turns out fine and doesn't have an overbearing onion flavor.

Beef Daube Provençal

As I mentioned in the post about the slow cooker curry, my childhood memories of a crock pot are not necessarily the fondest.  In fact, when I mentioned to my mom that I was making beef stew, her response was "I thought you didn't like beef stew?"  Clearly I was not so great at hiding my feelings about that red "gravy."

I made this stew the day of the nasty blizzard that shut down the mid-atlantic region.  This was the perfect day for a hearty meal that involved minimal effort.  I threw everything into the crock pot and hoped for the best.  I learned a very important lesson about crock pots that day.  Part of the beauty of a crock pot is being smacked in the face with the rich aroma of dinner when you first open the door.  Being forced to sit one room away and smell the succulent dinner slow-cooking its way to deliciousness - that's just torture.

This recipe exceeded all of my expectations.  It's rich and hearty.  It was warming and filling as well.  You can see in the picture above that I substituted orzo for the egg noodles.  I didn't think that pasta justified a trip in the severe weather.  Orzo was fine, but the egg noodles would have been better - more like a french version of beef stroganoff.

My one alteration to this recipe might be to try a cheaper cut of beef.  While there is always the risk of ending up with dried out beef chunks, I don't know that the boneless chuck was necessary.  Since the meat is cut into small pieces and it cooks for so long, I wouldn't think that a lesser quality cut would have too much of a negative impact.  Regardless of which cut of meat you use, this recipe is a must try.