In a cooking frenzy - Part 1

I went on a cooking frenzy after going to the market. Cherries and apricots are both in season so I got a bunch, among other things.

I can't resist when sweet, juicy apricots are €2 per kilo! Of course, most bruised and I was forced to make them into jam!

It was my first foray into jam making. Pretty tasty so far but a little too sweet. I was also afraid I wouldn't boil it long enough and it would come out soupy but no. Its quite the opposite...but the taste is there. I swear!

Recently I had a panna cotta-like fromage frais 0% fat dessert somewhere so in my attempt to recreate it, I got some fromage blanc (I couldn't find fromage frais) and mixed it with some gelatin and now its sitting in the fridge. We'll see how it turns out. And I think I'm just going to stick with this as my yogurt from now on. So sad hasn't been in my life for the past 5 months!

I also got some broccoli. I used to really dislike it (its a texture thing) but its recently grown on me and it makes a very satisfying and filling dish (especially when making it with garlic and red pepper flakes and pairing it with some parm, bacon (!), toasted almonds). I burnt the garlic, as always. I ate it as a main but you can make it as a side or toss it with some pasta.

Spicy broccoli with other stuff

Broccoli cut into florets
1/2 cup of lardons, or diced bacon
1 large clove of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of red pepper flakes (I like mine spicy!)
Small handful of toasted almonds
Parmesan or other hard cheese

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the broccoli and remove to an ice bath after 3-4 minutes. While the broccoli is blanching, you can mince the garlic.

Fry up the diced bacon (the key is doing it on low-medium heat otherwise it smokes because bacon fat has a fairly low smoking point). Remove and let drain on a paper towel.

Add some olive oil to the same pan used for the bacon, and on low heat, saute the red pepper flakes with the garlic until fragrant, about 30 second to 1 minute. Add the broccoli (which, I hope, you remembered to drain...I didn't so I kinda added it wet and things splattered because hot oil and water aren't friends). Saute for a few more minutes but don't burn the garlic like I did.

Put it on a plate, add the bacon, add the toasted almonds, and top with some freshly grated Parmesan. Alternately you can chop the broccoli and mix it with some pasta along with the bacon, almonds and cheese (add some reserved pasta water to bring it all together).

No big pistachios

Look at that. Two gorgeous colors - a deep rusty orange and a bright green. It tasted so good. What is it? And no that is not a big pistachio on top (unfortunately)

I already predicted that Eric Kayser would be my downfall and I was so right. The compotes there are delicious. This one was apricot, and had several entire apricot halves in it! The tangy-ness of the apricot melds so well with the almost cloying sweetness of the crumble on to, which provides the perfect texture variation (and color contrast!). I think this is my favorite of the three they have (strawberry rhubarb is too sour but the apple one is good...just not as good as this one!) I'm not sure what the crumble on top was, but taste wise, it was a little reminiscent of almond paste. Whatever, it was yum and I scarfed it own at my desk...too bad there are people called co-workers around, else I might have ended up licking the cup :)

It's strange that I can go a whole day eating almost next to nothing, and then some days I can't stop eating! Like today. Anyhow, dinner tonight was mussels in a white wine sauce with a side of grilled endives.

Oh fine, who am I kidding. I have an electric stove that is called a "hot plate" in the instruction manual that doesn't cook jack. And definitely impossible to grill anything. So I pretty much put the endives down into tiny bit of olive oil, spinkled some salt, let them pan-fry there for 7 - 8 min, then flipped them over and did the same thing. I WANT MY CAST IRON GRIDDLE and a stove I can actually use it on.

Pretending to cook for two

Ah, so difficult to get used to cooking for one (do I even want to?). I knew I didn't need to get two zucchini's when I bought them but getting just one to stuff is so sad. But I think after making the stuffed zucchini I realized I don't like cooking for one. It's boring. I have no one to taste my food other than myself! It's so much easier for me to toss a salad together, or butter some bread, or reheat some frozen ratatouille. Sigh.

Stuffed Zucchini (loosely adapted from Chocolate and Zucchini)

2 round zucchinis

1/2 lb ground beef

1/2 onion

1 clove of garlic, minced

3 tablespoons tomato paste

1/4 cup of grated cheese

Olive oil, salt, pepper, herbs de provence (or whatever herbs you have)

Preheat the oven to 400F. Cut the tops off the zucchini and core out the inside and reserve the zucchini flesh. Put the zucchini shells and tops into a casserole dish, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. place in the oven for 20 minutes until the shells are soft but not collapsed.

Meanwhile put a pan over medium high heat. Add a count of olive oil and sautee the garlic until fragrant. Add the reserved zucchini flesh and cover with a lid. The zucchini will render a lot of water, so drain periodically. Add a tablespoon or two of tomato paste, salt, pepper and herbs and continue cooking the zucchini until soft (about 10 - 15 minutes). Place in a colander either over a bowl or in the sink and let drain.

By now the zucchini shells should be done. Take them out of the oven and place them upside down on a paper towel lined plate. In the same pan as the zucchini flesh, sautee the onion over medium heat in a little olive oil. Add the ground beef, season with salt, pepper and herbs and continue to saute until lightly browned. Add a tablespoon or two of tomato paste and stir to combine. Take off heat and add the cooked zucchini flesh. Mix thoroughly.

Stuff the zucchini with the sauteed beef mixture. Put the tops of the zucchini on and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Take out of the oven, take the tops off and divide the cheese evenly on top of the two zucchini. Put the oven to broil and put the zucchinis back into the oven for a few minutes until the cheese has melted and is golden brown.

You can also make vegetarian stuffed zucchini...just substitute rice or quinoa or some grain for the meat and use ricotta as a binder.

Steak(ums) and veggies

First thing I cook for JP after coming back for vacation - steak. It was a fluke. We were at Whole Foods picking up groceries for my New Years Eve spread; I was searching for ground dark chicken meat (ended up with ground dark turkey meat), and he found a package of 3 marinated rib-eye steaks with the wrong sticker price on it. $17.99 per lb. It said the package was a little over half a pound. Completely mislabeled when packages of the same meat, that seemed to weigh the same, were going for $30 for the entire package. We grabbed it. Dinner ended up being grilled marinated rib-eye with roasted fingerling potatoes and green beans. Yum.

I am awful at writing recipes because I eyeball most things. The veggies were pretty much the following:
1. Pre-heat oven to 400F. Line baking sheet or pan with foil 
2. Par-cook a handful (or however many you want) fingerling potatoes in boiling water for 6 minute
3. Remove from water and cut in half. Place in lined baking sheet and toss with olive oil, sea salt, freshly ground black pepper and whatever other spices you like (I put chile powder, oregano and garlic powder). I like to make sure the potatoes are cut side up. Roast in oven for 15 minutes
4. Remove from oven, add green beans and a little more olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss. Roast for 5 - 7 more minutes.