Roasted and Mayo-Free Potato Salad

This potato salad is a winner for those folks who don't like mayo.  Full of flavor from stone-ground mustard, garlic and coriander seeds, made creamy by Greek-style yogurt, and garnished with parsley and thinly sliced green onions, it's really the anecdote to boring old potato salad.  

Sunday Dinner: Armenian Meal

Tim's friends from Peace Corps Armenia are coming into town next weekend, so he wanted to cook an Armenian meal for them. But he wanted to practice first, which is where we came in. This week's Sunday dinner was an Armenian feast: minted cucumber and yogurt soup, beet and walnut salad, lahmahjoon/lamejun (basically Armenian lamb pizzas), and apricot cake. We based all of the recipes off of a cookbook Andrea gave Tim for Christmas: Simply Armenian, by Barbara Ghazarian. Recipes after the jump!

Chicken Stroganoff

Tim is making his annual March pilgrimage to the a Pogues concert at 9:30 Club, so I decided to cook a mushroom dish while he's gone (he's not a mushroom lover). Beef Stroganoff is one of my all-time favorites, but I'm a little beefed out these days, so I made a chicken Stroganoff instead. Not quite as awesomely delicious as the beef version, but pretty tasty!

Moroccan Butternut and Carrot Stew with Quinoa

I made this spiced butternut and carrot stew for the mostly vegetarian EPA girls as a precursor to the recycled t-shirt necklace tutorial, and, judging by the clean plates, it seemed to be a hit (except with Jenny, who found it to be too spicy... sorry, Jenny!). I didn't find it to be particularly hot-spicy (I thought it was more spice-spicy), but it definitely warmed us up on a freezing night.
After looking at the comments on the recipe, I decided to double all the spices except the cayenne, added 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon with the other spices, and used smoked paprika rather than Hungarian sweet paprika. Also, I added another 1/2-3/4 of a cup of water, as it was looking a little dry as it cooked. Finally, I didn't have any mint for the quinoa, so I added some parsley in addition to the cilantro.

I think that next time, maybe a little more quinoa would have been good, as we had no leftover quinoa, but a whole serving of the stew remaining. Also, the stew could probably benefit from some raisins or dried currants, and maybe some sliced almonds.

Eggplant/Tomato/Mozzarella Panini with Artichoke Caper Spread

Got a mixture of different types of eggplant from the CSA this week and was craving something cheesy and melty. Eggplant panini it was!

My first attempt was somewhat of a FAIL, as I cut the bread (a cheapie ciabatta from the Giant bakery... Columbia Heights needs a legit bread bakery like crazy... I heard rumors of one thinking of opening in the area, but it's not set in stone by any means) horizontally rather than vertically, and it was waaaaay too fat... too big to fit in one's mouth (that's what she said!). The second time I cut vertical slices from the bread and it was much easier to manage.

The artichoke/caper/parsley spread was awesome, though. Hearty, a little salty, fresh, a hint of creaminess from the mayo. Based on this recipe, but with the addition of fresh parsley to brighten it up.

The eggplant was sliced thinly, salted for 20 minutes or so, then grilled. Thrown on the bread with some yellow heirloom tomato, the artichoke spread, grated mozzarella, squished and grilled.

Goat Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms with Pancetta and Chives

Yum. Loosely based on the Other Martha's recipe, but jazzed up with some crumbled pancetta, minced chives, and toasted breadcrumbs. Creamy with salty, earthy, and herby flavors.

Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower, Toasted Breadcrumbs and Pancetta

Wow, this Franken-recipe was good... but if I ever make it again, I'll pay better attention to how much salt I put in. With so many salty ingredients, extra salt was a little bit over the top. But tasty nonetheless.

The recipe I ultimately used was an amalgamation of a bunch of different recipes... inspired by this blog post about using toasted breadcrumbs on pasta, as well as a head of cauliflower from the CSA. Basically, this is what I did:

- roasted the cauliflower in some olive oil with garlic, salt and pepper until it was browned
- crisped up the pancetta in a pan, then removed it and threw some minced garlic, a little olive oil, red pepper flakes, and anchovy paste in the pan
- toasted the breadcrumbs in a pan with olive oil
- cooked the pasta
- tossed everything together along with a bunch of chopped parsley, parmesan and a little bit of the pasta water

Just watch the added salt!

Spanakopita and Greek Salad

I love me some spinach pie. And yet, until today, I'd never made it. This recipe from Closet Cooking (whose recipes I always end up clicking on on Tastespotting and Foodgawker), was simple, easy and delicious. Plus it used up many of the veggies I bought from Star Hollow Farm last week: spinach, dill, green onion, parsley.If you wanted to make some self-contained empanada-sized spanakopita, or even little appetizer sized spanakopita, I think you could easily modify the recipe- just cut the phyllo into long strips and roll tablespoons of filling up.

Served with a Greek salad with this easy red wine vinaigrette.

Crispy Ginger Lime Chicken Thighs

Sorry for the lapse in posting! I've been in Hawaii (Kona and Waikiki), snacking on kalua pig, plate lunches, sushi, poke, malasadas, Kona coffee and lots of beer... mmmm.
Tonight, in our post-travel stupor, we easily pulled this ginger, curry, lime chicken dish together- very easy and very tasty. Served with whole wheat couscous cooked in veggie broth and topped with lime, raisins, cilantro, green onions and parsley.

Carrot, Parsnip and Scallion Fritters on Arugula Salad with Goat Cheese Dressing

This was a total clean-out-the-fridge recipe, but it worked pretty well. I think the fritters themselves wouldn't be much to write home about, but the addition of the tangy, lemony, oniony goat cheese dressing (I added some minced scallions to the dressing in addition to the parsley) and the spicy arugula made the dish.
Pretty healthy, too!

Baked Shrimp Scampi

This baked shrimp scampi is a pretty reliable Ina Garten recipe that I've made several times. However, I think this time I squished the shrimp too close together in the dish, because it took waaaaaay too long to cook the shrimp in the center. Perhaps next time I'll do these in individual dishes.Anyway, it's garlicky, buttery and delicious- good with some bread to dip in the sauce! We took the tails off for ease of eating, but they do make the presentation a little bit fancier.

Moroccan-spiced Stuffed Squash

Using this recipe as a basis, I stuffed some delicata squashes with a ground beef and bulgur wheat mixture seasoned with fresh parsley, cinnamon, nutmeg, smoked paprika, minced apricots and toasted pine nuts. Pretty good!
I ate the leftover stuffing the following day for lunch with some pita chips- yum.

Lemon Chicken

Chuck, the chef de cuisine for this particular chicken recipe, says "It's easy to make and tastes good, but nothing special. Not a 'wow'"

I'd say it's a decent week day main dish that uses pantry staples.

Spaghetti in Meatballs

Tony made spaghetti-in-meatballs with a basil tomato dipping sauce tonight after watching what must have been a particularly riveting episode of Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals. They were quite tasty, care of the pesto that's mixed into the meatballs and the dipping sauce. The meatballs are also kinda fun- they could be a good meal to make for kids since they're so funny looking. They kinda remind me of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Beet and Potato Fritter/Latke

I had a bunch of leftover roasted beets from this salad, and also needed to use up some of the plethora of purple potatoes I've gotten from the CSA recently, so I thought this beet and potato latke/pancake/fritter thing would be a good idea.

It's hard to see from the photo, but I made one large frying pan size fritter, and cut it into fourths.

This was pretty good- it toned down the super sweetness of the beets and gave them a nice crispy outside. I added some herbs to the fritter: parsley and cilantro, based on the flavors from Eileen's famous beet dip. I served it with a lime cilantro sour cream to brighten it up, and sprinkled it all with toasted walnuts.

Chicken Parmesan

In order to use up some more of our myriad tomatoes, a bunch of herbs, and some chicken tenders we had in the fridge, I pulled together this chicken parmesan.

I used the herby breading from this Rachael Ray recipe (includes fresh rosemary, thyme and parsley with the breadcrumbs and cheese), the cooking method of this crispy chicken recipe (baking the chicken strips on a metal rack at high heat to get them crispy all around). Then I put the chicken in one of my new baking dishes, covered it with the homemade sauce from last night and some mozzarella and broiled it.

Served over orzo, alongside some roasted broccoli.

Beet Dip!

My good friend and former co-worker, Eileen, has made it her life's mission to convert beet-haters into beet-lovers, one at a time. Her chief means of accomplishing this end is a delicious, herby, garlicy, bright magenta beet dip...

Mission accomplished!

There are at least 3 beet converts living at 1346 today...*

Eileen says she originally got this recipe from Nigella Lawson, the buxom British television chef. I wasn't able to find the recipe online, so I'm giving you the adapted version that Eileen passed on to me. So easy, so good, so pretty:

BEET DIP

1 lb. raw beets

1/2 C crushed walnuts

2-3 cloves garlic

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 C chopped parsley

1/2 C chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 tsp coriander

3 T red wine vinegar

1) preheat over to 425

2) wash beets, wrap in aluminum foil, leaving some space around the beets, but wrapping the edges closed tightly.

3) roast beets for 1-2 hours, until you can smoothly poke a fork through

4) while beets are roasting, use food processor to chop cloves of garlic.

5) add walnuts and salt and pepper, chop.

6) add parsley, cilantro, coriander.

7) peel and cube beets and add to food processor.

8) blend together, add vinegar.

9) chill for a while.

10) serve with crackers, pita, whatever

*Note to beginner beet eaters: be wary the magenta beet stains on hands and clothes. Be doubly wary the magenta poop.

Spicy Quinoa Salad with Chickpeas and Zucchini

Dudes, this salad is good stuff. It's spicy (not hot spicy, but full of delicious spices spicy), healthy, and super easy. Try it. Fo rizzle. MLT says "It's fucking good."

Changes I made to the recipe:

1. I didn't have the requisite cumin seeds, so I just used 1/2 tsp ground cumin at the beginning instead.

2. I may have added more parsley than required, too, just because.

3. Finally, I was lazy, so I didn't fire up the grill for the zucchini... I just put it under the broiler.

Grilled Skirt Steak with Chimichurri Sauce

I had a whole bunch of fresh oregano and a whole bunch of fresh parsley from the CSA that were on their last leg... I had made this Mark Bittman recipe for grilled skirt steak with chimichurri sauce a few months ago, and knew that it was easy, it was good, and it would utilize my ailing herbs.

Bittman's recipe doesn't call for fresh oregano, but a quick Google search showed that lots of other recipes do, so I used a mix of half oregano, half parsely. I also added a splash of red wine vinegar in addition to the lemon juice, as called for in this recipe. I "eyeballed" the whole thing- I don't think precise measurement is necessary here.

Mmmm.

Served with new red potatoes cooked in salt and this salad, which is barely blanched kale mixed with ricotta and a lemon-shallot dressing (we were afraid of the raw kale, hence the blanching).