Tasty Cuisine

[tastycuisine]

Shrimp Scampi

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/9101-classic-shrimp-scampi

Results: Added about 2x as much wine to get more sauce.  Good!

[tastycuisine]

Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Beans and Guacamole

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/stuffed-sweet-potatoes-with-beans-and-guacamole

Results: Raw garlic in the guacamole was overpowering.  The roasted sweet potatoes by themselves were good.  The rest was so-so.

[tastycuisine]

Thai Coconut Chicken

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/chicken-coconut-curry-in-a-hurry

Results: Pretty good but would be a more complete meal with tomatoes, peppers, or other vegetables.  Added fish sauce for flavor.

[tastycuisine]

Egg Salad

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015703-fancy-egg-salad?action=click&module=Global+Search+Recipe+Card&pgTyp

Results: Easy, classic flavor, makes a reasonable number of servings (4)

[tastycuisine]

Baingan Bharta

http://www.imperfectproduce.com/baingan-bharta/?utm_source=Mailchimp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=20170319%20%20Newsletter%20Recipe

Result: Kind of bland, time consuming. Don’t make again.

[tastycuisine]

Chinese Stir-Fried Tomatoes and Eggs

Recipe: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018570-chinese-stir-fried-tomatoes-and-eggs

Modifications: Skipped the ketchup

Results: Egg to tomato ratio was a bit off, which led to a runnier dish, but it was still tasty and reminiscent of what I ate at home.

[tastycuisine]

Pan-Roasted Salmon with Soy and Ginger

Recipe: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/pan-roasted-salmon-with-soy-ginger-glaze

Result: Followed exactly - came out very well!

[tastycuisine]

Shrimp in Yellow Curry

From NYTimes: http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/6515-shrimp-in-yellow-curry?action=click&module=Local+Search+Recipe+Card&pgType=search&rank=1

To reduce the cost of this dish, I opted for a mix of shrimp and shrimp, which I thought worked well.  Added extra vegetables (carrots and red onion) to make it a more well-rounded dish.  Missing something – I think lemongrass – to make it taste really authentic.

[tastycuisine]

Creamy Corn Pasta with Basil

Missing a photograph of this dish, but found this recipe on NYTimes:

http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018212-creamy-corn-pasta-with-basil?action=click&module=Collection+Band+Recipe+Card®ion=Our+50+Most+Popular+Recipes+of+2016&pgType=supercollection&rank=4

It turned out pretty good – good use of frozen corn and ingredients most would have in their fridge (the only ingredients I had to purchase separate were scallions and basil)

[tastycuisine]

Kale Soup With Potatoes and Sausage

Made this soup to combat a cough.  It was decent, but not a particular interesting soup.

http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/7416-kale-soup-with-potatoes-and-sausage?action=click&module=Global+Search+Recipe+Card&pgType=search&rank=11

[tastycuisine]

Sautéed Chicken With Meyer Lemon

From Melissa Clark of NYTimes: http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/12312-sauteed-chicken-with-meyer-lemon?action=click&module=Global+Search+Recipe+Card&pgType=search&rank=19

Good use of extra lemons, though needs a vegetable side.

[tastycuisine]

Celery Salad with Walnuts, Dates and Pecorino

Good salad - though definitly keep the walnuts separate and add to each serving.  Candied the walnuts with some maple syrup, which made the salad more delicious, in my opinion.

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/celery-salad-walnuts-dates-and-pecorino

[tastycuisine]

Borscht

I wanted to make some soup to ward off my recently-caught cold, and since I’ve been really into beets recently, I made borscht for the first time.  

I halved this recipe from Epicurious: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/borscht-357129

I don’t think parsnips are a traditional addition, but I loved their subtle sweetness in this otherwise super-savory soup.

Ingredients

1 quarts beef stock

1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 onions, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

1 celery stalk, trimmed, thinly sliced

1 parsnip, peeled, thinly sliced

1 carrot, peeled, thinly sliced

1/2 leek, white and light green parts, thinly sliced

1/4 head savoy cabbage, shredded

1 bay leaf

freshly ground pepper

1 beets, finely chopped

1/4 cup dill, minced

1 tablespoon rice vinegar (I didn’t have red wine vinegar)

Recipe

Bring the broth to a simmer while you peel and prepare the vegetables. Heat a large soup pot over medium heat with the oil. Add the onions and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are tender and golden, about 5 minutes. 

Add the celery, parsnips, carrot, leek, and cabbage. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are slightly tender, about 8 minutes

Add the broth and the bay leaf. Bring the soup to a simmer and cook, partially covered, for 10 minutes before adding beets. Simmer, partially covered, until the soup is flavorful and the vegetables are completely tender, about 15 minutes. Stir in the dill. Add the vinegar. Garnish the soup with sour cream and serve.

Results

The flavor is great, and there is no additional seasoning needed since the beef stock is plenty seasoned.  Though I did find the broth boiled off, so I had enough broth for two bowls, but not quite enough for the rest (I’ll probably add water).

[tastycuisine]

Han Dynasty Mapo Tofu

Finally got around to trying one of the mapo tofu recipes from Lucky Peach.  My friend and I made a slightly modified version of the Han Dynasty recipe, the most straightforward of the three options.

The main differences is that we didn’t feel like buying some of the ingredients that were only available in bulk from HMart, so we made some ingredient substitutions:

Togarashi instead of gochugaru (and didn’t quite have enough for 1/3 cup)

Black bean sauce instead of black bean paste

1/8 cup of chili oil because 1/4 seemed like far too much

After tasting, I added even more of the chili bean paste (doubanjiang) - about one tbsp more.

Ingredients

3 T cornstarch

4 cup chicken stock

1 lb tofu, cut into 1″ cubes

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 T minced garlic

3 T minced ginger

1/3 C doubanjiang (chili bean paste - I use the Lee Kum Kee)

1 T hoisin sauce

1/2 cup pork

1 leek (white and light greens only, cut into 1″ pieces)

2 green onions, chopped

1 T fermented black bean paste

1 T red chili powder (we used togarashi)

1/8 C chili oil

some sichuan peppers (I picked some out from roasted peanuts)

Recipe

Prep all ingredients first since everything gets added quickly

Boil stock in a sauce pan and add tofu cubes.  Cook for about 3 minutes and then drain, keeping 1 cup of the stock.

Add vegetable oil to the pan and add garlic and ginger once it’s hot.  Cook for 30 seconds.  Then add doubanjiag, hoisin sauce, tofu, and reserved chicken stock.  Bring to a simmer and then add minced pork, broken up into smaller pieces with your hands.  Add the leeks, followed by the black bean paste, gochugaru, and chili oil.  Cook until meat is cooked through.  Use a wooden spoon and avoid breaking up the tofu.

Mix cornstarch with 3 T of water (1:1) to create a slurry.  Add it to the pan and mix.  Garnish with ground Sichuan pepper and serve with rice.

Results

The flavor was more complex than the Ma-Po Tofu I’ve made in the past.  The question is whether it’s worth the extra effort.  I would skip step one of boiling the tofu in stock first, since you end up wasting 2 cups of stock, and I would probably skip the hoisin since I don’t usually buy that.  The sichuan peppers were a nice addition.  Also, overall I found it to be a bit too spicy, so I would add less chili oil.

[tastycuisine]

Thai Cucumber Salad

I wanted to use up some cilantro I had and found a simple cucumber salad recipe on Allrecipes.  I kind of skipped the first step since I didn’t want to wait 30 minutes to remove the moisture from the cucumbers.  It tasted fine anyway!

Ingredients

2 cucumbers, seeded and cut into 1/4 in slices

Salt

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup white vinegar

1 jalapeno pepper

Chopped cilantro

Peanuts

Recipe

Toss cucumber with salt.  Whisk sugar and vinegar until sugar has dissolved. Mix cucumbers, chopped jalapeno, and cilantro with dressing.  Add peanuts.

Results

At first, I had the salad without peanuts, and it was not very good.  But then I purchased some spicy roasted peanuts, and it was a lot better.  Definitely don’t skip the peanuts.

[tastycuisine]

Rigatoni and Cauliflower al Forno

This recipe is from NYTimes.  Would not make again.  It took too long given the so-so payoff.  It ate dry, and the baked pasta did not taste very good reheated.  I added 4 oz grated pecorino in place of the 6 oz fontina, which may have contributed.  I also didn’t add sage leaves since I didn’t want to purchase them...

Ingredients

1 pound rigatoni 

1 medium cauliflower

Extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

1 tablespoon capers, roughly chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or more to taste

½ teaspoon lemon zest

4 ounces finely grated Romano cheese or other hard pecorino

2 tablespoons chopped flat-leafparsley, for garnish

Recipe

Cook the rigatoni in well-salted water according to package directions, but drain while still quite al dente. Drain and set aside.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Cut cauliflower in half from top to bottom. Cut out tough core and stem any extraneous leaves. Lay cauliflower flat side down and cut crosswise into rough 1/4-inch slices. Break into smaller pieces.

Put 3 tablespoons olive oil in a wide skillet over high heat. Add cauliflower slices, along with any crumbly pieces, in one layer. (Work in batches if necessary.) Let cauliflower brown and caramelize for about 2 minutes, then turn pieces over to brown the other side. Cook for another 2 minutes, or until the cauliflower is easily pierced with a fork. It’s fine if some pieces don’t brown evenly. Season generously with salt and pepper. Add capers, garlic, red pepper flakes, and lemon zest and stir to coat.

Put cooked cauliflower mixture in a large mixing bowl. Add cooked rigatoni and toss. Transfer mixture to a lightly oiled baking dish. Grate pecorino until you feel guilty, which for me was probably about 3 oz of the 4oz I had. Drizzle with about 1 tablespoon olive oil. 

Bake, uncovered, for about 20 minutes, until top is crisp and golden. Sprinkle with freshly chopped parsley before serving.

Results

The cauliflower to pasta ratio was off - I would maybe cook just 3/4 lb pasta if I were to make it again, which I probably wouldn’t as I stated before.

[tastycuisine]

Provençal Seafood Stew

I’ve made this dish before from a recipe on NYTimes.  

I omitted several ingredients I didn’t have on hand, namely the anchovies and tomato paste (the omission of this ingredient made it more soupy than stew-y).  I used a whole bag of frozen seafood mix from Trader Joe’s that contains shrimp, scallops, and calamari (that probably didn’t help in terms of the soupy consistency).

I also used toasted panko breadcrumbs, which got soggy very quickly, so I wouldn’t recommend doing that, and I topped with chopped cilantro. 

Despite the consistency and breadcrumps, I still really liked this recipe and would make again.

Ingredients

1 15oz can canned chickpeas

olive oil

Salt and ground black pepper

1 tablespoon minced garlic

¼ cup niçoise olives, pitted and chopped

1 tablespoon capers, chopped

1 pound spinach

2 cups chicken stock

Pinch red chile flakes 

1 lb frozen seafood mix

Recipe

Add oil to pan and fry garlic, olives, and capers. Cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, a minute or two. 

Start adding spinach a handful at a time; keep stirring until all the spinach fits in the pan and starts to release its water; sprinkle with a little more pepper, then add the stock, drained chickpeas and red chile flakes. Adjust the heat so the mixture bubbles gently but steadily, then stir in the frozen seafood. Cook until the seafood is cooked.

Top with chopped cilantro.