Saag Paneer and Tandoori Spiced Cauliflower

My favorite Indian dishes, hands down, are saag paneer and chana masala.  Unfortunately, our preferred Indian joint here in Jakarta is kinda a pain to get to on the regular, so I don't get my favorites as often as I would like, leaving it up to me to try to recreate them at home.

Step 1: Sag Paneer.  Step 2: Chana masala (coming soon... maybe this recipe?).

 

My first attempt at saag paneer was pretty successful!  Two thumbs up for the recipe, although I wish now that I had made my own paneer (there are instructions in the recipe) rather than using the store-bought kind... the consistency of the cheese wasn't what I was looking for, but I bet homemade would have the creamy goodness I seek.

The only change I made was to splash a few tablespoons of heavy cream into the dish before serving, as it was a little too thick for my taste.  Other than that, pretty straightforward and simple.  And healthy, too... Give it a try!

We paired it with some tandoori-style roasted cauliflower that had a nice flavor, but turned out a bit mushy for my taste.  Maybe a dry spice rub is better for cauliflower than the yogurt-based marinade in this recipe?

New (To Me) Tips, Techniques and Recipes

Here are some easy but interesting tips and techniques, as well as a couple new recipes that I tried out this week... excuse the unattractive photos- all of these techniques were implemented after dark! 

Skillet smashed potato technique:

Pretty cool, easy and fun technique for making potatoes a little bit more exciting.  I boiled mine in chicken stock and a pat of butter until tender (based on this recipe), then smashed them lightly, seasoned with salt and pepper and threw them on a hot cast iron skillet to crisp up on the outside. Yum.

Vanilla-scented sugar:

I had scraped the seeds out of a vanilla bean for my coconut/vanilla rice pudding earlier this week, but didn't want to let the still-fragrant vanilla pod go to waste, so I stuck them into my sugar.  The pods release their remaining seeds and awesome vanilla scent into the sugar.  It's pretty intoxicating to open up the jar every morning to get sugar for my coffee.  Give it a try!

Creamed spinach:

Tim bought some fancy Australian filet mignon at our neighborhood butcher, so I seared them on the cast iron skillet and served them alongside this tasty creamed spinach from Tyler Florence.  I loosely interpreted it since I had frozen spinach and wanted to add some shallots. I sauteed the garlic and shallots first, then added in the cream and spices per the recipe and then dropped in the frozen spinach, which I had defrosted in the microwave and then de-watered by squeezing it with my ricer.  The spinach soaked up the cream, so it doesn't look very creamy, but it tasted rich and delicious.

Nutella banana pancakes:

I needed to use up one lone overripe banana we had hanging around, so I decided to make these super easy, extremely light and fluffy nutella banana pancakes.  So good!  The key to these pancakes is to not over mix them.  Leave the lumps. Don't be tempted to try to get a smooth batter.

 PS: Tim made me take a picture of these particular pancakes he made because he was proud of the perfect color and shape he achieved. 

Creamy parmesan salad dressing:

 Quick and delicious creamy parmesan salad dressing, based on the house dressing from a famous chain restaurant.  Takes about 3 minutes to make and tastes awesome.  So much better than pre-made salad dressing.

Non-Super Bowl Super Bowl Party!

Since Tim's team, the Giants, is in the Super Bowl this year, he insists on watching the big game live.  Which, here in Jakarta, means he'll be watching it Monday morning at 7 am.  Boo.

Craving American-style fatty, cheesy and salty Super Bowl party foods, we decided to host a mini (4 people) non-Super Bowl Super Bowl party this past Sunday.  We played Wii and ate lots of terrible (but terribly delicious) food, including:

Heart-attack-on-a-plate: cream cheese + chili + cheddar, all melted together and served with chips.  An oldie, but a goodie.  In the past, canned chili has sufficed, but I couldn't find it here, so I made my own chili based on this "adult" sloppy joe recipe I've made in the past.

Hot spinach dip: in an attempt to incorporate some veggies into the meal, I made a hot spinach dip- cream cheese, mozzerella, spinach, garlic, onion... you'd think you couldn't go wrong.  Except it did go a little wrong: somewhat bland.  Not sure what the solution is... more salt?  Some red pepper flakes sauteed in with the garlic and onions?  It was good, however, a few days later spread on bread, topped with sauteed chicken breast and mozzarella, and grilled like a panini.

(sorry forgot to take a photo of the spinach dip!)

Ribs: Tim decided that his contribution (well, besides lots of beer) would be to try making grilled ribs.  He bought some baby back ribs from our local butcher shop, put together a dry run, marinated for 24 hours, then "smoked" them on charcoal grill using indirect heat and water for steam for about 2 hours.  Pretty good!  He thinks perhaps the grill ran a little bit hot and he could have taken them off sooner, but I thought they were pretty good for a first try at ribs!

Hummus: the old In Garten stand-by hummus made an appearance, with the addition of some cumin, paprika and additional lemon juice and zest.

Buffalo bites with homemade blue cheese dip: I sorta made this recipe up a bit... I cut some boneless chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces, coated them in egg and flour, lightly pan-fried them, and then tossed them with a mixture of butter and Louisiana Wing Sauce (we are the proud owners of about a million gallons of this stuff... I wanted Frank's or Crystal, but this was the only option.  A good buy, though.)  I was hoping that the way I cooked the chicken would give the sauce something to stick to, but not get soggy.  Served 'em with a homemade blue cheese sauce, similar to this recipe, but without the dill and with the addition of a splash of Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce.  I think these were the winner for the evening... so addictive!  Definitely tasted like good old American bar food.

Rice Krispie treats:  I had big plans to make S'mores with my homemade marshmallows, but a number of factors dashed those dreams on the rocks... 1) I couldn't find graham crackers at the store (I saw them around Christmastime and am now kicking myself for not buying a box or two.) and 2) in a trial run, the marshmallows didn't toast correctly- too wet and melty.  Sigh.  Fail.  I blame it on the humidity.  Rainy season is a bitch.  Rice Krisipie treats were a good back-up, though.

Homemade Sausage and Spinach Ravioli with Chunky Vegetable Sauce

This weekend was Chuck's 28th birthday (look at her, she's so old!)... in honor of her, I made an attempt to recreate a favorite dish of hers that she frequently orders at Vapiano: ravioli con carne with fresh vegetables and a creamy tomato sauce.

My interpretation is very loose, of course. I did fresh homemade pasta with my Kitchenaid roller, and filled it with spinach and Italian sausage per this recipe (although I used half a bag of frozen spinach rather than fresh). Tim helped in the assembly line by making the filling and fork-pressing the edges of the ravioli (and he served as clean-up crew). Good work, Tim! I was proud that only one of 32 raviolis spewed its innards into the cooking water...

My sauce was a simple, chunky, and veggie-filled- chopped onion, minced garlic, cubed eggplant, carrot matchsticks, diced Roma tomato, a tablespoon of pesto, a splash of cream.

We following up the meal with a chocolate pudding cake as the birthday cake. Chuck threw it together while I finished the sauce. Yes, I forced her to make her own birthday cake, but at least it was the world's easiest birthday cake. It was delicious, just like last time. However, one cautionary note: do not attempt to insert birthday candles into a pudding cake recently retrieved from the oven. Waxy puddles will ensue. Not my sharpest moment.

Warm Orzo Salad with Beets, Feta, Spinach and Pine Nuts

Dudes... so I went into tonight's dinner with fairly low expectations, but ultimately I was blown away. It's so good! Even Tim, who merely tolerates beets, really liked it.
I combed the internets for a recipe to use up some ingredients I had in the fridge: beets on their last leg, a ginormous block of feta that needed to be whittled down. I found this recipe for a warm orzo salad with beets, feta and pine nuts on The Parsley Thief, via Foodgawker, and thought it might be a decent way to go, with a few substitutions (namely frozen spinach for beet greens, which didn't come attached to my beets).

Wow, this salad came out great... crazy florescent color (you cook the orzo- or "orzu," as Tim calls it- in the water leftover from boiling the beets), a little sweet, a little salty, earthy, garlicky. Pretty healthy, too!

Spinach "Lag" Roll-ups!

Inspired by an entry on my new favorite website, Tim and I made "lag" rolls for dinner last week, and they were really good. Inspired by recipes from Giada "Boobs" De Laurentis and Rachael Ray, we tried this somewhat unorthodox way of making spinach "lag" by rolling up the ricotta and spinach mixture in the cooked lasagna noodles... loved 'em! The rolls hold together really well and are easier to serve than traditional lasagna. I made the bechamel sauce from Giada's recipe and followed her spinach/ricotta directions, too, but I also added more veggies to the mix by sauteeing some grated carrots, mushrooms and onions in garlic and olive oil, then adding it to the marinara sauce. Pretty good!

PS: You can't abbreviate lasagna.
PPS: ok.

New Year's Nibbles

We had an awesome New Year's Eve: lots of delicious food, champagne and playing board games and Wii (Just Dance 2 = super fun!).
At Tim's request and to Meghan's delight, I made old-school cheese balls, one just cheddar, one blue cheese and cheddar, both rolled in walnuts, both pretty tasty. I used a recipe from my ancient Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. Better Homes and Gardens is not responsible for the suggestive knife placement, however.I also made 2 types of cute puff pastry swirly things: one with prosciutto, Dijon and Romano, a riff off of Joy the Baker's recipe, and one with feta and spinach. Both tasted great (although the Romano may have been a tad salty, but it's what I had in the house), can be served hot or at room temperature, and the leftovers also reheated well in the oven the next day. Plus, as I said, they were pretty cute.Liz made these awesome mini-roast beef sandwiches with melty Havarti, peach preserves, and chopped walnuts- so good! Plus, they sounded fairly easy to put together, which is always a bonus.Chuck successfully remade a couple of the deviled egg recipes we tried a few months ago... the Sriracha eggs still kick ass, and the herbed deviled eggs are a step up from the usual eggs (although the recipe makes waaaay too much filling). We also had some cute mini-quiches, corn and bead salad, excellent pumpkin bread and other tasty delights...

Fresh Spinach Fettuccine

When I was home in Massachusetts for Christmas, I stole Martha's never-used KitchenAid pasta roller/cutter attachment. Upon returning to DC, I immediately made good use of it by making some pretty tasty spinach fettuccine... I thought making pasta would be really difficult, but it actually wasn't that bad! Time consuming and a little messy, yes, but not hard. The roller attachment certainly got the pasta significantly thinner than hand-rolled pasta I've made in the past!I used the spinach pasta recipe straight from the KitchenAid instruction/recipe booklet- pretty light and tasty, and uses ingredients you'd probably have around the house (flour, eggs, frozen spinach). Served the fresh pasta with some of the frozen roasted tomato sauce from the summer, jazzed up with some cream and Romano cheese.
Next step: ravioli!

Shepherd's Pie with Thanksgiving Leftovers

Another easy-to-make dish composed of Thanksgiving leftovers is a modified Shepherd's pie. Pretty good!

Loosely based on this Rachel Ray recipe, I heated up leftover gravy, threw in shredded turkey, sauteed carrots and baby spinach in a little olive oil and garlic, and zapped the mashed potatoes in the microwave briefly with a splash of chicken stock to loosen it up. Then I layered it all (in that order) in individual casseroles. I sprinkled some grated Parmesan cheese on top of the potatoes and baked them at 375 degrees for about 15-20 minutes (until it was bubbly).

Korean Beef Rice Bowl

This Korean-style beef and veggie bowl was a good use of fresh summer veggies like carrots and zucchini. However, I think it could benefit from a squirt or two of Sriracha to give it at least a little kick. But I think everything might taste bland relative to the Szechuan spicy I tasted this past weekend...

Family-style Rolled Spinach and Cheddar Omelet

Wow, this little rolled omelet trick from the other Martha is a potential brunch revolutionizer!

No more slaving over the stove to make individual omelets (that inevitably break or spill their filling) for your brunch guests! Instead, make one giant, flat, open-faced omelet on a lipped cookie sheet in the oven, roll it (as pictured below) into a fancy-looking spiral , and cut off however much each guest wants....Super simple to make, serves 4, looks cool and could easily be done with any of your typical omelet ingredients. Ours was CSA spinach and cheddar cheese, but if the guests want different fillings, you could just lay the fillings out over the eggs in lengthwise stripes and cut the servings along the stripes after you roll. Awesome.

This will definitely be thrown into my easy, no-brainer dinner rotation.

Chicken, Black Bean and Spinach Enchiladas

After a long day catching some Rolling Thunder and doing a little shopping at Eastern Market, we were jonesin' for some Tex-Mex food (well, I was at least), so we whipped up these tasty chicken, black bean and spinach enchiladas with a sour-creamy sauce and a tomatillo salsa. Pretty good! We grilled the chicken after sprinkling it with chili powder and cumin, then shredded it. I think next time I would add some of the white sauce to the interior of the enchiladas to glue them together and moisten them a bit. Otherwise, quite tasty!

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.

Chickpeas with Bacon and Spinach (Topped with an Egg)

So, you could probably tell from my blogging history that I have a special place in my heart for bacon, as well as quick dishes with chickpeas and greens. Also, I subscribe to the theory of "when in doubt, throw an egg on it"... Tonight these disparate loves of mine came together like magic. This dish is ridiculously easy (only 6 ingredients), has bacon, and tastes amazing with a fried egg over easy thrown on top. I think Tim would second my feelings about it, but his memory of the meal may be tainted by the fact that the Nats scored 2 homers against his Mets whilst we ate it.

The recipe had one odd set of instructions that I took the liberty of ignoring... the recipe calls for boiling the bacon in water before browning it in the saute pan. While there is probably some specific reason for that step, I just couldn't justify the extra effort, nor could I ignore the disgusting images that flashed through my mind when I thought "Boil bacon?," which included that breakfast scene from "Better Off Dead" where the mother served slimey green boiled bacon because her husband doesn't like all the grease of fried bacon. So I just browned it in the pan, took it out and crumbled it, poured off the excess fat and carried on with the recipe. My only other suggestion regarding the bacon is that you not cook it further with the chickpeas and spinach- that only serves to make it soggy. After you cook the bacon, remove it and set it aside, then fold it in at the end. Enjoy!

Spinach "Meat" Balls and Simple Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter

I had a ridiculous amount of CSA spinach to use up and thought making some spinach "meatballs" might be a fun change of pace. Chuck and Tim liked them, but I thought they were a little bread-y for me. But that may also have been because the recipe called for frozen spinach and I used fresh- it was hard to judge exactly how much to use.

The sauce was this super simple tomato, butter and onion sauce from Marcella Hazan that everyone on the internets has been raving about. I figured it was worth a try! Outrageously simple (cut union in half, unwrap butter, open tomato can, throw it all into a pan to simmer), yet has an addictive rich flavor.

Spanish-style Spinach and Chickpeas

A couple weeks ago, both Smitten Kitchen and The Minimalist posted recipes for a Spanish-style spinach and chickpea dish with smoked paprika (which is AWESOME... get some if you don't already have it)... both recipes were seriously drool-inducing, so I put them on my to-do list.

The Smitten Kitchen recipe won out this past Monday night, but only because it didn't involve a trip to the grocery store (which, in my case, usually involves waiting in line for a minimum of 20 minutes while the person in front of me vehemently argues with the cashier about god-knows-what).

Deb's was the meatless version of the two recipes, as Mark Bittman's involved Spanish chorizo. However, you didn't miss the meat in her recipe- somehow her ingredients and method gave the impression that the chickpeas and spinach were cooked in a deliciously meaty sauce. I'm curious to try Mark Bittman's version, too, for comparison. I'm sure his is equally delicious.

Anyway, this recipe was really tasty. You could serve it as an appetizer on little toasts, or, as we did, as a main dish, along with a green salad on the side.

Butternut, Rosemary, Spinach and Gorgonzola Risotto

Oh my god, this risotto recipe is awesome! I would highly recommend it, as would Chuck, Tim and Tony. But Tony would recommend the recipe more if you call it "butternut, rosemary, spinach and 'whoregonzola' risotto."

I did switch it up a teensy bit from the recipe: I added some garlic in with the onion, skipped the cream (risotto is creamy enough), used frozen spinach (nuked a little and squeezed out), and added a little more than the requisite gorgonzola.

We served it with this crispy baked chicken recipe with garlic and rosemary... also pretty awesome. Panko is one of my favorite ingredients...

Baked Tortellini with Tomato Spinach Cream Sauce

Casserole week continues!!

Threw this semi-homemade dish together really quickly, but it was pretty good. I used tomato sauce that I made last summer during tomato season and threw in a bunch of frozen chopped spinach for some veggies.

Pretty good!

Butternut Squash and Greens Chili

This is a useful chili recipe to have in your arsenal. Healthy, tasty, easy (except cutting up the butternut squash = PITA!).

Changes I make to sass up the recipe a bit:

• substitute one can of chickpeas for one of the cans of black beans
• use whatever leafy greens you have on hand: kale, swiss chard, collard greens, spinach (this time we ended up using a bag of random mixed greens Chuckie bought by accident when I requested mixed baby greens.)
• add some cayenne (1/2 tsp) and cinnamon (a couple shakes) when you add the other spices

Enjoy!

Skillet Lasagna

Made this skillet lasagna after seeing it in Food Network Magazine... we had all the ingredients except ricotta, but Tim humored me and went to Giant to get it. Lots of veggies in there: carrots, zucchini, spinach. I added 3 chorizo sausages, taken out of their casings and cooked in a frying pan.

Also, the recipes called for fresh tomatoes, but I used a 28 oz. can of crush tomatoes, no prob. And shredded mozzarella because our fresh mozzarella had gone moldy on me. Boo.

The recipe was pretty easy and tasted really good... the only problem was that it was a little soupy when it came out (perhaps I could have let it sit a few more minutes before slicing), and the bottom lasagna noodle got a little burnt to the bottom of the skillet. Maybe I should have used a non-stick skillet?

Anyway: tasty nonetheless.