Odds and Ends

This is a poor second cousin to seafood noodle salad, but it was still tasty. And photographed beautifully.

In other news, Brother Samuelson made me a pie.


Of the chicken pot persuasion.


With a perfectly flakey, all-butter crust.


I ate the whole thing in about three hours.

So then I reciprocated with Italian Stuffed Shells. Note the absence of hyphenation, please. I hadn't made this in years, so it was fun to revisit.

I'll post the recipe later.

Brownie Plot

I wanted brownies and, for stereotypically womanly reasons, I wanted them really, really chocolatey. So I melted a couple ounces of unsweetened baking chocolate and stirred it into the batter. I also added walnuts, a splash of vanilla, and a dash each of cinnamon, cloves, and chili powder. Me likey. I think a cheesecake layer, sweetened with coconut cream, would be a good addition. Too bad I only want brownies, like, twice a year.

Packin' Pasta

Ingredients:
sauteed onions, mushrooms, kale
brown rice pasta and white beans
tomatoes stewed with garlic and herbs
chopped sardines

Tater Salad

Salad:
red potatoes, quartered and boiled, salted and sprinkled with vinegar while hot
onion rings and mushrooms, roasted with olive oil, herbs, and salt
peas and celery

Dressing:
mayonnaise and cream cheese
mustard and horseradish
roasted garlic, minced
lemon zest and juice
pepper trio (black, white, cayenne)
fresh parsley and salt

Garnish:
soft-boiled eggs
salt and pepper

More leeks...

Quesadillas with Panela cheese, oregano, sauteed leeks, and roasted red peppers. Good combo. Excellent with green chili salsa.

Spring thing!

LEEKS! Leeks are in season, and Broulims had them on sale for 89 cents a bundle this week. BOOYAH. So I made:

Leek Cornmeal Pancakes

2 leeks, white and pale green parts only, rinsed and sliced thin
olive oil and butter
salt and pepper

1 1/4 cup flour
3/4 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
1 TB baking powder
1 tsp salt
thyme
allspice
nutmeg
garlic powder
white pepper

1 1/4 cup buttermilk (we all know the trick about stirring a tablespoon of lemon juice/vinegar
into regular milk and letting thicken for ten minutes, yeah?)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs

Heat large skillet over medium-high heat. Add olive oil, then butter, waiting for butter to stop foaming before adding leeks. Saute to desired softness/mildness; season to taste.

Heat new skillet over medium heat. Whisk dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately. Pour wet into dry, whisk just until combined, gently fold in leeks. Oil pan and fry pancakes. Serve with butter and/or a drizzle of honey.

Notes: The batter was pretty thick, so I added some water. Next time I might increase the cornmeal and decrease the flour by a bit. Dried thyme is VERY assertive. Use sparingly. It'd be nice to work in cheese somehow.

First Fruit Salad of Summer

Tried something a little different with the dressing this time. Took low-fat plain yogurt, sweetened it with coconut cream, and added lime juice and zest, mint, and minced candied ginger. So so so good. Though the yogurt was tasty and (relatively) healthy, it did get watery in the fridge, so I'd like to try substituting cream cheese and whipping it (maybe with a little cream) for a better texture.