Sunday, October 28, 2007

Rughetta with Farfale


Pasta, originally uploaded by mysterybridgers.

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add 1/2 to 3/4 lb of farfale (bow-tie pasta) to cook (Around 11 minutes.)
In a heavy skillet, over medium heat, heat up a tablespoon of olive oil until it shimmers, add a pinch of red pepper, and two cloves of thinly sliced garlic, until the garlic turns golden, then add 9 or 10 "Early Girl" tomatoes, quartered, along with some salt, a few basil leaves and about a tablespoon or so of red wine. Early Girl tomatoes are small, about half the size of Romas. They were the closest thing at the market to the italian variety of tomato called "Vesuvio." Cook the tomatoes for five minutes or so, till they begin to break up and form a sauce. Bring the heat down to low, season to taste.

When the pasta is finished, drain it, (do not rinse,) and add it back to the pot with about 2 cups or so of the loosely packed rughetta, and the zest of a tangerine or orange. Toss well, then add the tomatoes and toss until coated.

Serve immediately.

Apple Muffins


Apple Muffins, originally uploaded by mysterybridgers.

Apple Pie Crumb Cake Muffins from Vegan with a Vengeance. A little sweet because of the fuji apples we used, but very tasty. They would probably be more balanced in flavor with a more sour apple.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Rughetta!


Rughetta, originally uploaded by mysterybridgers.

Today at the farmers market we found true rughetta! It is a wild arugula that prior to today we had only tasted in Italy. It is also known as wild rocket. It is more peppery than regular arugula and is much more tender. As far as I am concerned it is far superior to regular arugula in every way. This rughetta will be used to make pasta and a pizza. And then we will have to see if they have it again next week at the farmer's market. Personally I think that we should have a truckload of this stuff delivered to our apartment weekly. When I was in Rome I had everything "con rughetta." In fact I became somewhat of a joke to the local restauranteurs in my quest to eat rughetta on everything.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Grapes


Grapes, originally uploaded by mysterybridgers.

This didn't actually require any cooking, but it was so pretty I thought that I would put the picture up anyway. The grapes were very good--the best of the season.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Tequila Lime Shrimp Burrito

(Makes 4 burritos.)

This is an oldie but a goodie. We made this when we lived in Seattle in 1996. We don't often do fish, but when we do we like to do it up real good.

First off, we won't cover all of the fixings, we will assume that you can handle the refried beans, rice, and torillas. (if not, we will cover them someday, I'm certain, so keep checking.) A quick aside about the rice. We make about a cup of rice. We sub out about a quarter cup of the water used to cook the rice for lime juice.

First, since we will be working with fish, we make the items that require veggies and prep first. So do all your veggie prep, make your rice, open your can of refried beans (Rosarita vegetarian brand is good, if you can get it,) and make your guacamole.

Step one for the guacamole. This guacamole was taught to me by a friend from Guatamala. Keep it simple. Avocado, salt, and lime. Mash. Eat. Of course, I messed with that, and I add some freshly chopped herbs. Gather up two scallions, some basil leaves, an avocado, some cilantro.

Step two: Chop up all that stuff.

Step three, mash the avocado with a fork, add some lime juice and some salt, and all those diced herbs.

Now we can dirty our hands with the shrimp. You need about a quarter pound of 25 to 30 count shrimp in their shells. Split their arched backs with the shell still on, and clean out the "tamale" with the point of your knife and running water.

The split shell makes them very easy to peel. Just hold by the tail, push them out of the shell, and give a little twist.

Once they are all done, get the things ready to cook those shrimp: About a tablespoon of olive oil, a healthy pinch (about 1/2 teaspoon) of cumin and chili powder, one quarter of a large sweet onion, 2 cloves of diced garlic, a diced jalepeno, (ribs and seeds removed, or not, if you want it to be hot,) 1/2 shot of lime juice, 1 shot of top shelf tequila, and a pinch of salt and pepper to taste.

Heat the oil in a skillet or dutch oven over medium high heat till it shimmers.

Add the cumin and chili powder, and cook till it sizzles.

Add the onion, garlic, and jalepeno and cook till the onions begin to brown.

Add the tequila, lime juice, salt, pepper and shrimp.

Cook till the liquid evaporates and the shrimp are cooked through.

Assemble. Opinions vary, but we prefer rice, beans, shrimp, guacamole and a nice tasty salsa.

Friday, October 5, 2007

Tamales


Tamales, originally uploaded by mysterybridgers.

This was our first time making tamales--and it was definitely a joint effort. The recipe is from the Modern Vegetarian cookbook. The filling is a mixture of seitan, peppers, and spices. The "dough" was actually very simple and contained some olive oil, hot water, salt, and a lot of masa harina. The tough part was forming the tamales--which became easier as we did more of them. The side is the recommended accompaniment in the cookbook--a mixture of pinto beans, onions, roasted tomatoes, and spices. We modified the side recipe a little and used canned beans instead of starting with dry beans and added beer when cooking (because beer +beens always = yum).

Samosas


Samosas, originally uploaded by mysterybridgers.

These potato and pea samosas are from the vegan with a vengance cookbook. We did cheat however and add yogurt, so they are not really vegan. These were tasty, but not the best samosas we have made. I think that the moosewood cookbook has a better recipe.

I never did get a picture of the inside of the samosas--mostly because I didn't think that they would come out very well.

Pineapple Cupcake


Pineapple Cupcake, originally uploaded by mysterybridgers.

This is a bad picture of a really good pineapple cupcake. This was the only one left when I remembered to take a picture. The recipe is from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World--if you haven't already, I recommend buying this cookbook.

The cupcake ended up tasting more like a muffin because of all the spices in it--mostly cinnamon and allspice. The topping is just pineapple with a little bit of sugar and a thickener (in this case arrowroot). The topping was a bit sticky, but very tasty. To top it off are three raspberries.