Using fresh produce

I’ve been trying hard to do two things recently:

-take advantage of the end of fresh produce before the weather cools down for real.

I mean look at those gorgeous fall mushrooms! Can’t wait to make creamy mushroom pasta with fresh parsley and grated parmesan this week.

-make minimum one Pinterest recipe per week. Last week I went with this delicious avocado salad dressing.

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I’ll give you the specifics below and tell you how I changed it up a bit, but know that when the main ingredients are avocado, fresh dill and fresh cilantro, it’s hard to go wrong! Here’s what my prep looked like:

See how simple?! One bunch diced cilantro and half a cup diced dill, juice of one lemon, pinches of salt, garlic and onion powders, a half a cup each of olive oil and coconut milk and three avocados. Throw it all into a blender and pulse till it’s liquid-y.

The substance of the avocados dressing the fresh spinach and feta crumbles made for a completely satisfying (and healthy!) lunch. D was not as crazy about my goddess dressing as I was earlier this summer, so I’m thinking we can alternate between these two until the produce leaves us for the winter.

Also, I’m not a salt-a-holic, but I really thought it could use more than the pinch it called for. And if you like a kick like we do, try adding in some cayenne pepper!

Roasted okra and vegetarian enchiladas

Posted by artsdevivre

Per usual, we ate well in the DH household last week. We had a couple of pitfalls, but I’m glad when these happen because we learn to cook better the next time around. Here are some highlights with simple recipes of our culinary adventures from last week ~

Roasted okra. Please don’t judge me by the amount of ketchup I put on my buffalo burger. It’s one of my guilty pleasures.

Roasting is the easiest way I have found yet to prepare okra. I snagged a pound from the market last week and stored it in a paper bag in the fridge to minimize bruising. (Thanks, Alton Brown, for the tip.) Then, I set the oven to 425 degrees, and spread out the okra marinated in a bit of olive oil, sea salt and cracked pepper on a baking pan. About 20 minutes later, we had a delicious side for the burgers and salad with leftover Goddess dressing.

We also enjoyed vegetarian enchiladas last week.

Excuse the half-eaten picture, but this was one of those experiences where I learned *a lot* whilst cooking. So the process itself was definitely not a sight to behold. Now that I’ve done this once, I don’t think it’ll be quite so complicated the next time around. I’d also recommend making the sauce on a Sunday when you might have more time, storing it in the fridge or freezer, and then pulling out as needed. These enchiladas were a bit of a smorgasbord with lots of left-over and fresh veggies from my ecstatic return to the Baltimore farmer’s market last week ~

, but of course you could stuff with any protein you are craving. I chose to sauté these chopped beet greens left over from an appetizer, as well as some cabbage that I needed to use up. I combined it with fresh cilantro (a controversial taste I know, but I never miss an opportunity to cook with it), black beans, corn and shredded cheese. I’m sure you know the drill, but you’ll want to warm the tortillas a bit, then stuff with your chosen ingredients (I did about 3/4 of a cup of of my vegetarian delight), roll up the tortilla, place in a glass baking dish and then cover with the red enchilada sauce ~

In the food processor, you are observing ~

-1 28 oz can of fire-roasted tomatoes

-4 diced jalapeños (roasted in the oven at 400 degrees for about 4 minutes, then seeded and chopped)

-2 cloves of garlic

-1/4 tsp of ground cumin

-freshly ground black pepper to taste

You’re going to want to pulse all this until it’s as liquid as possible (which with our little guy was not all that liquid-y). This did not prove to be a big problem though because what you do next is strain the mixture into a sauce pan with 1 tbsp of olive oil.
Like this ~

You’re going to constantly stir the sauce for 5 to 7 minutes, until it’s about the consistency of tomato paste. Then add 2 cups of chicken broth and allow it to come to a boil. Finally, you’ll simmer the aromatic concoction to allow it to reduce some until it’s the consistency you desire. For me, this ended up being about 10 minutes.

Now you’re ready to pour the sauce over the stuffed tortillas. Bake for about 15 minutes at 400 degrees. Here are some tips I found that you shouldn’t follow if you stumble across them as well:

1. Don’t cover the bottom of the pan in the sauce, put in the tortillas, then attempt to stuff and roll them. Embarrassingly obvious after the fact I know, but being the ~~sheep~~ rule-follower I am, I followed this direction. It made no sense and a big mess. Just stuff and roll them on the counter, then place in dish.

2. Don’t feel like you have to get the peppers or chiles the recipe you find calls for. Go with your preferred level of heat. That’s why we did jalapeños.

3. Don’t brush the tortillas with olive oil and put them in a 500 degree oven for 10 minutes. D warned me on this one but refer back to #1 to see why I followed the direction. We did get delicious tortilla chips, but they were not roll-able enchiladas.

Of course, the sauce is the most labor-intensive part, but if you like avoiding preservatives and have a little bit of time, I think it’s well worth it. What did you cook last week?

Easy tips to get the best omelette

Posted by artsdevivre

As usual, D has made my birthday especially special. To celebrate the big 3-0, I was kidnapped to a surprise beach trip earlier in the week and am now enjoying some time with family at home in Richmond. What with all these thoughtful surprises, I wanted to return the favor so I made us a nice omelette breakfast after my morning run:

I’m an egg kind of girl – I like ’em any which way – poached, soft-boiled, fried or scrambled. I do feel however, that they are rather finicky to prepare. I had all but given up on cooking omelettes because they always ended up looking more like scrambled messes than the fluffy concoction I was going for. Luckily, I’ve figured out some tricks. Herewith are my tips to cooking a successful omelette. (If you find them difficult like I did. If not, let me know what your tricks and tips are!):

-Use only a bit of olive oil in the pan (2 counts, about 1 tablespoon). I find it works much better than butter.

-Use medium to medium-high heat. I was impatient before and would try to cook them on high heat with consistently poor results.

-Use no more than two eggs. Two egg omelettes allow the flavor of the fillings to come through rather than just an overpowering egg coat. I think too many breakfast places use many more than two eggs, making the omelette way too heavy.

-Slightly pull up a side of the omelette and tilt the pan to allow the uncooked egg to slide under. I used to try and flip the whole eggy mess, thereby making an unintended scramble.

-Add in your chosen fillings (today we had avocado, bacon, onions, tomatoes and mozzarella cheese) when the omelette is cooked almost through. Then turn down heat so as not to burn the eggs but still allowing cheese to melt.

-I’m still mastering transferring the omelette from the pan to the plate. Inevitably I lose ingredients en route and so like to display escaped ones prettily on top as a kind of preview as to which flavors await.

What is your favorite omelette?