FAILvegan balls.

“Meat”balls made with TVP. Don’t worry, I’m not going vegan or anything, I just enjoy TVP and vital wheat gluten and stuff like that. They’re super healthy, you know. Also, it’s an area of cooking that I haven’t explored much before, so I’m getting a little nerdy about it.

These are FAILvegan, though, because the recipe I used said the TVP would magically stick together but it didn’t. At all. Next time to make them vegan, I’d probably use some corn starch (or something, I’ll search the interwebs and get back to you next time I make them), but I was lazy this time and just cracked an egg in them. They’re still veg though!

FRITTATA.

A delicious one-pan meal (any meal, seriously, it counts as dinner too) and a lazy-yet-classy way to cook eggs (you don’t have to worry about breaking the omelet).

Beat eggs with a bit of milk and grated cheese if desired. Mix with whatever ingredients strike your fancy (this one is pancetta, broccolini and goat cheese) in a nonstick skillet. Preheat the oven to 350°, saute on medium until the bottom is slightly browned, and bake for about 10-30 minutes (depending on thickness of your frittata, you can really use as few eggs as will cover the whole pan or as many as will fit). Take it out, loosen the edge with a knife, flip it onto a plate (which is where the nonstick comes in useful), and cut into wedges.

I’m so sorry I’ve been MIA for the holidays! Since I know you’ve been craving pictures of delicious food, I’m back just in time for the Lunar New Year (I like to celebrate as many holidays as possible)! Happy 2012/year of the dragon/year of the Apocalypse everybody!

This is a delightful steak and mushroom salad on arugula.

I hope everyone had a very nice Christmas/Hannukah! Apologies for neglecting the blog, but I got a bit, you know, busy… anyway, to make up for it, here’s a delicious recipe for Shrimp and Pancetta on Polenta that I promised you a while back. Andy knows what he’s doing, so where I normally wouldn’t follow instructions exactly, on this one I trusted him implicitly and it worked out perfectly!

1. Cook 1/2 c. soft polenta according to package instructions in a heavy medium saucepan until thickened and creamy, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, season with salt, and cover.

2. Cook 1/4 lb. pancetta, 2 cloves minced garlic, and 1/4 t. red pepper flakes (or to taste) in 2 T. olive oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring, until garlic is paale golden (2-3 minutes).

3. Add 1 14-oz. can diced tomatoes with their juice and simmer until liquid is reduced to about 1/4 c. (6-8 minutes). (NB: you can do the recipe up to this point the night before; just refrigerate and reheat before proceeding).

4. Add 1 lb. cleaned large shrimp and cook, stirring occasionally, until shrimp and just cooked through (about 3 minutes). Season with salt.

5. Spoon polenta in shallow bowls and top with shrimp mixture. Drizzle with 1 T. olive oil, season with black pepper, and sprinkle with 1 T. chopped flat leaf parsley.

Eggs + black beans (with onion, paprika, and some other stuff) + salsa = breakfast.

Tasty, tasty breakfast.

The correct way to make anchovy pasta sauce (see earlier post) (2 of 2)

The correct way to make anchovy pasta sauce (as discussed in earlier post) (1 of 2)

Hey y’all,

Just wanted to apologize for getting behind on the updates. I have a ton more pretty pictures to post this week PLUS that recipe for Shrimp and Pancetta on Polenta coming soon!

<3,

Bess

Onions making you cry?

I’m one of those lucky vision-impaired people who wears contacts, which protect my eyes from the sensitive whatever-it-is (hey, I’m a cook, not a scientist) in onions that makes your eyes water. When I tried to chop onions without my contacts a couple weeks back, though, I remembered how painful it can be for you normal-visioned or glasses-wearing folk out there.

But don’t worry! There’s an easy fix. All you have to do is soak your peeled onions in cold water for about ten minutes before you prep them. Problem solved! You’re welcome.

So, this recipe was in the New York Times today. It’s a version of my favorite pasta sauce. (It’s also a super quick meal - start the pasta and sauce simultaneously, they’re done simultaneously.) Mine uses tomato paste, but regardless, they totally miss a couple of key points here: most particularly, you do NOT just throw everything in the pan like that. *le sigh*

Now here’s the real way to make it, (and you’ll see why as I describe it):

1. Boil salted water for pasta and when it boils, throw in 1 package spaghetti. At the same time, start heating about 2 t. olive oil at medium-low heat in a large skillet .

2. Mince 2-4 cloves garlic (to taste), saute it for a minute or two, until it’s just starting to turn golden.

3. Push the garlic off to the side of the pan (away from the heat) and add 2 cans anchovies (drained, reserve oil) to a separate area of the pan, and 1-2 T red pepper (to taste) to another area of the pan.

Basically, you should have your pan divided into thirds, one ingredient in each area, with the garlic furthest away from the heat so it doesn’t burn. Push the oil away from the pepper; you’re trying to toast it. The anchovies should be near the heat too. Now this is the cool part: the anchovies will melt. Yep, into a flaky sort of paste. You might have to squash them a bit with your spatula, but they’ll melt.

4. Once the anchovies show signs of melting, mix everything up and push it to the side. Add 1-2 T capers (to taste) in the middle of the pan and let them dry out for a minute.

5. Stir in 1 can tomato paste and, if desired, some of the reserved anchovy oil. Your pasta should be done - add a ladle or so of the starchy pasta water to the sauce to get it to whatever consistency you want (keep it pretty thick, though).

6. Toss the sauce and the pasta. Smile.