Hearty Veggie Stew

This was a really great, fresh soup; I called it a stew, though, because of how hearty it was. Perfect for a chilly night.

Ingredients
-2 T EVOO
-1 yellow onion
-1/2 bag of kale
-4 cloves garlic, minced
-2 tsp thyme
-1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
-1 (15 oz) can kidney beans
-1 (15 oz) can white beans
-4 large roma tomatoes, diced
-1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
-2 handfuls fresh green beans, chopped into bite size pieces
-3 C veggie broth or chicken broth
~8 oz shell shaped pasta
-salt and pepper to taste
-shredded cheese, optional

Steps
1. Saute garlic and onion with EVOO in large pot or dutch oven over medium for 3-5 minutes.
2. Pour in the beans, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, green beans, thyme, and red pepper. Stir everything together and bring it up to a simmer.

3. Add 3 C chicken/veggie broth. Stir in dry pasta and bring soup to a simmer. Put the lid on the pot and simmer for ~10 mins or until the pasta is cooked. Stir the pot occasionally so that pasta doesn't stick to pot.
4. Stir in kale until in wilts down. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Serve with cheese and good bread.

Roasted Veggie Bake

I made this super easy dish (recipe courtesy of Budget Bytes) when my mom was in town. We went to the Farmer's Market and got all the ingredients there. This can be a main dish if served with some crusty bread or would be a great side dish.

(p.s. It's been a crazy month, but I have quite a few recipes to post so I will try to catch up this weekend!)

Ingredients
-1 potato, sliced into thin medallions
-1 yellow squash, sliced into thin medallions
-1 zucchini, sliced into thin medallions
-1 large, ripe tomato, sliced into thin medallions
-1 yellow onion, diced
-4 cloves of garlic, minced
-1 tsp thyme
-1 T basil
-1 T EVOO
~1 C shredded mozzarella
-salt and pepper to taste

(preheat oven to 400)
Steps
1. Saute your diced onion with EVOO for about 6 minutes over medium heat. Add garlic and saute another 2-3 minutes.
2. Lightly coat a small baking dish (e.g., 6X6) with EVOO. Layer the bottom with the sauteed garlic and onions.
3. Arrange your veggie slices (tomato, zucchini, squash, potato)  by alternating them in vertical rows. If you run out of one veggie don't worry...the arrangement doesn't have to be equal or perfect.

4. Drizzle veggies with a little EVOO and top with herbs (basil and thyme). Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
5. Remove foil, add cheese, and cook for another 15 minutes.

Chicken Parm Shells

They say necessity is the mother of invention. Well lately my schedule has been super crazy (hence the lack of posting). I was in serious need of some groceries, but didn't really have time to go to the store. Instead, I dug around my pantry and came up with this super easy recipe. Best part: only 4 ingredients!

Ingredients (makes 2-3 servings)
-10 pasta shells
-1/2 jar of marinara
~4 oz of mozzarella
-10 frozen chicken nuggets (I used the vegetarian Morning Star Farm kind)
-fresh basil (optional)

(Preheat oven to 375)
Steps
1. Cook frozen nuggets as directed on package.
2. While nuggets are cooking, boil water and cook pasta shells as directed (about 8 minutes).
3. Coat a small pan with EVOO or cooking spray and pour some marinara sauce in the bottom of the pan. Put one nugget in each shell, top with cheese.

4. Top each shell with a heaping spoonful of sauce.
5. Heat in oven for about 10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.
6. Top with basil.

Caprese Sandwich

With getting ready for my dissertation defense it's been a busy past few weeks! The defense is now over (I passed :) so I will try to get back to posting regularly again.

Nothing original about this recipe as this sandwich is a classic. Super simple and great to make when tomatoes are in season.

Ingredients
-1 large tomato or two plum tomatoes, thinly sliced
-1 large handful of basil
-several slices fresh mozarella
-1 loaf of ciabatta bread
-1/2 C balsamic vinegar 
-1 T extra-virgin olive oil
-salt & pepper, to taste

(makes 2 sandwiches)
Steps 
1. Layer cheese, tomatoes (topped with salt and pepper), and basil between two pieces of bread.
2. Bring balsamic vinegar to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook until reduced to 3 tablespoons (about 8 minutes). Be careful, your balsamic reduction can go from reduced the right amount to tar in just a few moments.
3. Brush one of the insides of bread with reduced vinegar. Brush the outsides of the bread lightly with olive oil.

4. If you have a George Foreman grill, stick the sandwich in the grill for about 7 minutes or until cheese is melted and bread is toasted. If you don't have a Foreman you can use a grill pan or regular pan heated over medium-high heat. Add sandwich to pan. Place a heavy skillet on top of sandwich, and gently press to flatten. Leave skillet on; cook 3 minutes on each side or until cheese melts and bread is toasted.

Butternut Squash Enchiladas

I have a confession to make. These enchiladas were supposed to be made with sweet potatoes, but I accidentally picked up a bag of pre-chopped butternut squash instead. I didn't realize my mistake until I got home and started cooking, so I decided to roll with it. I ended up really liking the squash, but you could definitely use sweet potato if you prefer.

Ingredients
-1 package soy chorizo
-1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into small bite size pieces
-2 jalapenos, finely diced
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-2 shallots, sliced
-2 T EVOO
-8 flour tortillas
-1.5 C shredded Mexican cheese
~12 oz of enchilada sauce
-green onion/cilantro (optional garnishes)

(Preheat oven to 375)
Steps
1. Heat pan over medium-high, add EVOO, then throw in butternut squash and jalapenos. Saute for about 10 minutes.

2. Add garlic and shallots; saute for another 2 minutes.

3. Remove soyrizo from its casing and add to pan. Saute for another 10 mins. Turn off heat.

4. Assemble enchiladas by first scooping about 3 spoonfuls of squash/soyrizo mixture onto tortilla. Fold in the bottoms when rolling them up.

5. Cover enchiladas with sauce and cheese.

6. Cover with foil and bake at 375 for about 20 minutes.
7. Top with green onion/cilantro.

Egg Salad Salad

This salad satisfied my occasional egg salad craving without totally alienating my husband. Also, the vinaigrette was really tasty.

Ingredients (for 2 salads)
-1 bag baby spinach
-6 pieces turkey bacon
-5 hard boiled eggs
-1/2 cucumber, cut into slices

Dressing (whisk all of the following together)
-4 T balsamic vinegar
-2 T Dijon mustard
-1 clove garlic, minced well
-1/3 - 1/3 C EVOO
-Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Steps
1. Hard boil eggs (see this link for my suggestions about hard boiling)
2. Cook bacon until crispy then chop into small pieces.

3. Arrange spinach, cucumbers, eggs, and bacon on a plate and top with whisked dressing.

Chicken salad-esque sandwiches

This recipe came together when I decided I wanted to clean out my fridge before going to the grocery store. I had about a 1/3 of a bag of spinach, one carrot, half a white onion, and a package of firm tofu, and I figured I could mix them all together with some veganaise, mustard, nutritional yeast, and garlic salt for a kind of tofu salad. The end result was surprisingly good, crunchy, and flavorful, and somewhat approximates chicken salad.

Ingredients
-1 package firm tofu, drained and pressed with paper towels to remove excess water
-1 carrot, cut into matchsticks
-1/3 bag of baby spinach, roughly chopped
-1/2 white onion, diced
-2 T veganaise
-1.5 T spoonfuls Dijon mustard
-2 T nutritional yeast
-garlic salt to taste

Steps
1. Combine above ingredients and serve on toasted bread.

Sesame Tofu Noodles

Internship has been super busy so I haven't had time to post much...but I have been cooking, so I'll try to get the new recipes uploaded over the weekend. This recipe is a slightly adapted version of this one; it was really easy and packed a lot of flavor...plus it was great for lunch the next day.

Ingredients (makes 4-5 servings)
-6 garlic cloves, minced
-3 T sugar (I used light brown, but white would be fine)
-6 T rice vinegar
-6 T soy sauce
-2 T sesame oil
~5 green onions, diced
-4 T toasted sesame seeds
-one 16oz package angel hair spaghetti
-one package firm tofu, drained and cut into bite size pieces

(Note: I bought toasted sesame seeds, but if yours are raw you can toast them on a cookie sheet in a a 350 degree oven for about 5 mins.)
Steps
1. Place the garlic, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, and oil in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir constantly until the sugar dissolves. Turn off heat.
2. Cook the pasta according to package instructions in a large pot. About 4 mins before the pasta is done, add the tofu to the pot so that it gets heated up.
3. Drain your pasta and tofu and quickly rinse with warm water.
4. Transfer pasta to a large bowl. Pour the sauce over the drained pasta and tofu, top with sesame seeds and chopped green onion, and toss well.

Pico de Gallo

This is such a great summertime snack. We eat it with chips, but also just pour it over Romaine lettuce instead of using salad dressing. I use cherry tomatoes for this because I think they are a bit firmer, but I'm sure you could use larger tomatoes if your prefer. I actually used heirloom cherry tomatoes in this picture, which added some really nice color.

Ingredients
-1 plastic container of cherry tomatoes, cut into fourths or sixths depending on size
-3 cloves garlic, finely diced
-1 fresh jalapeno, seeds removed, finely diced
-juice of 2 limes
~1/4 - 1/3 C cilantro
-either 1/2 diced white onion or 1/4 diced red onion
-salt and pepper to taste

Steps
1. Combine all of the above in a bowl and stir well.

Best Ever Fish Tacos

My husband and I agree that this might be one of the best things that I've ever posted on Grad Gastronomy. I think several things went into making these fish tacos so amazing...unfortunately I can't take credit for them. First, was the super fresh (i.e., caught that day) halibut we used from the local fish market. Second, was the incredible Trader Joe's cilantro dressing we used for our fish taco sauce. However, I think even without all those things you could still recreate this recipe and wind up with some damn good fish tacos.

Ingredients (enough for about 6/7 small tacos)
-1 lb fresh halibut (or other white fish)
-1 C flour
~1 C beer
-1 small bag of pre-sliced cabbage
-pico de gallo (see link for recipe)
-Trader Joe's cilantro dressing (if you can't find that see below for a substitute)
-8 fresh corn tortillas
~1/2 C canola oil
-1 lime, cut into 8 slices

Potential sauce substitute (Note: I haven't actually tried this)

-1/4 C mayonnaise or plain yogurt
-1 T lime juice
-3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
-1 clove garlic, pressed or finely minced
-1/8 teaspoon cumin
-1 tablespoon water

-Whisk all of above together

Steps
(preheat oven to 350)
1. Cut your fish into pieces about half the size of your palm.

2. Mix your batter by adding the flour to a large bowl. Add in about 3/4 C beer. Stir. Keep slowing pouring in beer and stirring until your batter gets to be a pancake like consistency.

3. Submerge all your fish pieces in the bowl and make sure to get them nice and coated.
4. Heat a large skillet over medium to medium-high with about a centimeter of oil in the bottom (the amount of oil will vary depending on pan size). Make sure to wait until oil is hot before adding your fish. This will ensure it gets a good crunch.
5. Test your oil with a little drop of batter to see that it's hot enough...you want the batter to begin sizzling and browning. However, you don't want your oil so hot your batter burns.
6. Put your corn tortillas on a cookie sheet and stick in the oven to get warm.
7. Carefully add in all your fish pieces to the oil. Fry for about 2-3 minutes then flip and fry for another 2 minutes.

8. Transfer fish to a paper towel and pat to remove excess oil.
9. Assemble tacos by adding fish, dressing, slaw, and pico to your corn tortilla.

10. Garnish with lime slices.

Peanut Butter Apple Smoothie

I got back from a run and was really wanting a smoothie, but I was fresh out of bananas, which I have been using to make this smoothie. I had an apple, and thought, "I like peanut butter on apples and I like smoothies, so why not try to combine the two?" I did and it was yummy.

Ingredients
-1 apple (I used Fuji), cut into about 8 pieces (I left the peel on)
-1 T peanut butter
-1/2 C almond milk (or whatever dairy/non-dairy product you prefer)
-4 ice cubes
-pinch of cinnamon

Steps
1. Blend first four ingredients, then top with a couple dashes of cinnamon.

Soy-Easy Chili

Okay, pardon the lame pun, but this super easy chili has got me excited! This was really flavorful, and I wish I could take the credit, but the soyrizo did all the work. I had only used soyrizo once before in a breakfast strata (see link for recipe), but thought it would be really good as a chili base, and it was. You basically don't need any other spices because the soyrizo itself is so flavorful.

Ingredients (makes about 4-5 servings)
-1 package of soyrizo, such as Trader Joe's
-1 yellow onion, diced
-2-3 cloves garlic, minced
-1 can red kidney beans
-1 can white beans
-1 can diced tomatoes
~6 oz reduced fat shredded Mexican blend cheese
-1/2 can of water
-1 T EVOO
-5 green onions, diced down through most of the green part
-tortilla chips, optional

Steps
1. In a large skillet, pot, or dutch oven, saute your onions over medium for about 4 minutes.

2. Add in the garlic, stir for one minute.
3. Add in soyrizo, beans, tomatoes, water, and stir. Cover and reduce heat to low medium.
4. Cook for about 15 more minutes (or until ingredients are well heated), stirring once or twice.
5. Stir in cheese and top with green onion.

Basil Lemon Chickpea Salad

This is another recipe courtesy of Chef Adam Hume. It's super flavorful and comes together in about 5 minutes. It's great as a side dish or a even a main served with lettuce or tossed with pasta in a pasta salad.

Note: This is best if you let it sit for at least an hour to really let the flavors meld.

Ingredients
-3 cans chickpeas
-juice of 2 lemons (about 1/3 Cup)
-zest of 1 lemon
-1/4 Cup EVOO
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-2 handfuls basil, chiffonaded
-2/3 C freshly grated Parmesan cheese
-course ground salt and pepper

Steps
1. Combine rinsed and drained chickpeas, chopped fresh basil,  fresh lemon juice, EVOO, and minced garlic in a large bowl. Add grated Parmesan cheese and toss gently to blend all ingredients thoroughly. Season chickpea salad to taste with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Truffled Roasted Butternut Squash and Brussels Sprouts over Pasta

As many of you may know, I have been really into Brussels spouts recently (e.g., see here and here). So originally I was thinking it would be good to do some roasted sprouts over pasta, but I wanted to mix another veggie in as well. Initially I was going to do cauliflower, but apparently they're crazy expensive right now, so I went with butternut squash instead, which I think ended up being the better choice in terms of flavor and color. Also, because I was making this for myself on a Friday night, I decided to be decadent and top the dish off with a drizzle of truffle oil. This was definitely not necessary...but delicious.

Ingredients (makes 3 servings)
-1/2 a box of wheat penne pasta
-1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed (I bought a bag that came this way)
-1 bag fresh Brussels sprouts (about 20)
-5 cloves garlic, minced
-2 scallions, sliced
~3 T EVOO
~3 T freshly grated Parmesan (leave off if making vegan)
-salt & pepper
-White truffle oil (to taste)

(Preheat oven to 375)
Steps
1. Clean your Brussels sprouts by trimming off the end, cutting them in half, and removing any brown leaves.
2. Toss your sprouts and squash in a large bowl with the EVOO. Spread the veggies onto a large roasting pan (I covered mine with foil to make clean up a little easier). Top your veggies with minced garlic, sliced scallions, salt and pepper.

3. Cook for 12 minutes, then pull out of oven to stir the veggies, and then put back in oven. Cook for another 10 minutes, and stir and replace again. Turn oven down to 325 for remainder of time.
4. Now that your veggies have been cooking for about 22 minutes, put your water on to boil and then cook your pasta. Once pasta is done, your veggies should be as well (test with a fork to be sure).
5. Top your pasta with some veggies (don't forget to scrape off the garlicy goodness from the bottom of the pan), grind some more salt and pepper on top, and if you feel like it, drizzle some truffle oil on top too. Then for a last finishing touch, add some freshly grated Parmesan.

Mmm Balls

There's a really great sandwich shop, South Coast Deli, about a block from my husband's place in Santa Barbara. The last time I went there I got their "Mmm Balls" sub and then decided to make a version of my own. This is super easy and really filling. I used frozen turkey meatballs from Trader Joe's, but you could use vegetarian meat balls, or make your own...which I've done before.

Ingredients
-loaf of French bread, cut into sandwich sized slices
-package of frozen meatballs
-one onion, diced
-3 cloves garlic, minced
-1 jar tomato sauce
~5 oz of fresh mozarella
-few springs of fresh basil, chiffonaded
-1 T EVOO

Steps
1. Saute your onion on medium heat with the EVOO for about 5 minutes, then add garlic and saute for another minute.
2. Turn down the heat to low-medium and add the sauce and frozen meatballs. Let the meatballs cook in the sauce for about 20 minutes.

3. Place about 3-4 meatballs, onions, sauce, few slices of mozzarella, and basil in the French bread and enjoy!

Grad Gastronomy Update!

Apologies for the long hiatus.

Here's the story of what's been going on and what's planned for the future.

My husband and I recently moved to California from Florida. He took a post-doc in Santa Barbara and I'm starting my year-long internship in San Diego. This means we have to live apart, which is going to be really hard. But the bright side is that we're both going to be living in amazing cities. Both cities have superb farmers' markets and access to super fresh seafood, so I'm excited to get back into cooking and posting. However, I'm going to be living alone most of the time, which means I'm now cooking for one...which will be an adjustment. (My first meal I made our regular size and was eating off of it for 3 days.) To avoid getting complacent or lazy since I'm mostly going to be cooking for me I'm going to really try to emphasize recipes that feature trips to the farmers' market (San Diego has one almost every day). I think it will be a nice personal project and hopefully lead to some recipe inspiration. Additionally, I'll try to keep featuring some "reviews" of the places we visit in both cities.

So, stay tuned!

The Hungry Cat/Winehound

Okay, so the Hungry Cat might be my new favorite restaurant...ever. And the best part is that it's located about a quarter mile from my husband's apartment in Santa Barbara.

We've now been there twice and gotten there early both times, which I recommend: 1) because the place is small and fills up, and 2) they have an awesome happy hour before 6 where their cocktails are half off. I had the best Greyhound ever (the "Greyhound Proper")--freshly squeezed grapefruit juice and vodka served with a large slice of candied grapefruit peel.


(photo courtesy of lemonjelly l)
 
For an appetizer we had Morro Bay oysters, which were also at a discounted happy hour price ($1.50/oyster) the first time and soft shell crab (my fave!) the second time. Really I only started eating oysters when I moved to Tallahassee, so until this dinner I had only tried Apalachicola oysters. I have to say, the Morro Bay oysters were much better. You could really taste the salt water and they overall had a much cleaner, crisper flavor. No tarter sauce or crackers necessary...or even recommended.

For dinner (both times) my husband had clams that were served with homemade chorizo and a really yummy broth with fava beans. The first time, I had the best mussels I've ever had; they came with an "xo" sauce and were served with jicama and baby bok choy. Both of these meals came with big slices of grilled bread to sop up the amazing broth. The second time I got the "pub burger," which might be the best burger I've ever had...served with avocado, thick cut bacon slices, and a fried egg.

Seriously, if you're ever in Santa Barbara, this place is a must.

To cap off the evenings I stopped by The Winehound, which is just a block a way, and picked out an economically priced ($19.99) bottle of a blend of local vineyards.