Miso Sweet Potato and Broccoli Bowl

I had a work trip to London last week. Even with my measly per diem, it broke the bank. To save money, I ate bread and drank beer. Or at least that’s how I justified my full on gluten-indulgence. It’s hard to splurge on a crappy glass of wine when it’s five times more expensive than a delicious pint!

This weekend was about reining it in and getting back on track. I got back to my usual routine of healthy eating and gluten-free cocktails. Ha! (Remind me to put up Ryan’s recipe for fresh grapefruit margaritas soon!) My friend Jen sent me this recipe over the weekend and I coincidently had all the ingredients on hand. 

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2013/10/miso-sweet-potato-and-broccoli-bowl/

The dressing is fantastic and as Smitten Kitchen says, the saltiness of the miso (and the margarita) mellows out the sweetness of the potato. This is going into weekly rotation around here.

Coconut Red Lentil Dal

Reaching the summit at 18,000 feet!

I have a complicated relationship with dal that I mentioned in one of my first posts. It's literally the only thing they serve at the tea houses in the Himalayas so Carolyn and I got our fair share when we hiked the Annapurna Circuit many moons ago. It's a delicious dish but the higher you hike, the grosser the dal gets. Picture hiking uphill for 10 hours and then being served a watered down lentil gruel with sandy rice. It's no wonder we spent $10 a pop for Snickers bars up there!

Anyways, I'm now once again a big fan of dal. It's cheap, healthy, flavorful and it's a great place to experiment with Sriracha art.

http://food52.com/recipes/25419-a-simple-homey-coconut-y-red-lentil-dal

I was out of curry leaves so I added some ginger with the second round of chopped onions to get some added flavor. Chilis and cilantro are also good additions. It takes a bit of time to make good dal but it's worth it for the added depth.

Dal at a lower altitude!

Grilled Shrimp with Lime Powder and Cilantro Sauce

My new favorite cookbook is The New Persian Kitchen by Louisa Shafia. It’s a compilation of traditional Persian dishes with a twist to include healthier ingredients and a focus on keeping things quick and simple. Of course this recipe is only ‘quick and simple’ if you happen to have dried limes hanging around which I’m assuming most people don’t. (And no…dried limes are not just regular limes that have been “aging” in the back of your refrigerator since your last cocktail party.)

 I happen to have some left over from making Gormeh Sabzi a while back. They sell them at Kalustyan’s among other places here in NYC but you can also get them on amazon like everything else in this world.

 Anyways, they seem random but they are so amazing that it’s worth having them around. They seem to have good shelf life because when I ground mine into a powder, they were still incredibly fragrant.

This is all to say that you should a) buy dried limes and b) make this easy and awesome shrimp dish.

http://www.foodrepublic.com/2013/05/16/grilled-shrimp-lime-powder-recipe

and the c) figure out how to travel to Iran. If this quote doesn’t convince you, I don’t know what will.

“If travel is most rewarding when it surprises, then Iran might be the most rewarding destination on Earth. If you fancy traveling somewhere neither East nor West, and exotic and fascinating, read on…” – Andrew Burke, Lonely Planet Writer

You can get the Lonely Planet guide book on Amazon when you buy your dried limes!

Sesamee Soba Noodles

Lately I have been trying to keep things simple in the kitchen. I still look forward to diving into a new recipe, but during the week I'm trying to be less ambitious. If only all of my goals were so lofty....

But in all seriousness, I need to be spending less time braising chicken and more time relaxing. And by relaxing I mean sitting on the bathroom floor and telling Xavier stories about dragons while he pretends to use the toilet. Anyways, you can't get simpler than this sesamee soba noodle dish. Use spicy sesamee oil or red pepper flakes if you want a kick.

http://damndelicious.net/2013/06/17/sesame-soba-noodles/

If you are feeling ambitious, you could top this with grilled chicken, fish, shrimp, etc. But as I mentioned, ambitious is not the name of the game around here!

Cod with Miso, Ginger, Garlic and Greens

A bunch of us rented a cabin in the Catskills for MLK weekend. It was a wonderful mess of toddlers and babies, good wine, great food and a few stolen moments of peace and quiet. Like on most holiday weekends, I ate a lot of rich foods…onion soup, pancakes with butter and syrup and giant lattes. For lunch one day, Lionel braved the cold and grilled up some wings and cheeseburgers. I washed that down with a few beers.

By the time Monday rolled around, I was ready for detox. I found this recipe for cod with miso, ginger, garlic and greens. 

http://www.girlwithspoon.com/2012/04/steamed-white-fish-with-ginger-garlic.html

The photo makes it look bland but this fish was infused with wonderful flavor. The salty miso and the pungent ginger and garlic are a perfect combination for a mild fish like cod. I steamed it along with some broccolini and served it with quinoa. I can’t say enough good things about this recipe, especially given how quick and easy it is. I feel healthy just thinking about it...convenient since this freezing weather is making me think about onion soup and giant lattes again!

Baked Peppers stuffed with Lamb, Currants and Pine Nuts

The week after vacation hit me like a truck. After two solid weeks of lounging around the beaches of California and huddled around the fireplace in Massachusetts with parents around to help with the kids, reality was brutal. All of a sudden we had to make every meal, clean sticky oatmeal off the floor, negotiate hair washes at bath time and, hardest of all, get four people out the door every morning with packed lunches, pumped milk, and now pureed baby food. Aghhh!

The last few days Ryan and I have dedicated our evenings to trying to figure out how to simplify and streamline the chaos. By the way, don’t have this conversation without one of Ryan’s famous Palomas (tequila, grapefruit and soda). Anyways, we came up with lots of useful strategies which basically involved winning the lottery and then getting a three bedroom, a cleaning lady and a consultant to toilet train Xavier. But in all seriousness, most of our discussion centered on cooking since that’s where I devote a lot of my time and where I feel there is little room for compromise. But even though I love it, it becomes overwhelming at times and the addition of food for Annecy is making me a bit crazed. It may sound minor but I asked Ryan if he could chose more of the meals even though with the way we divide responsibilities, I’m the one cooking them. Sometimes I just don’t have the mental energy to come up with good ideas for dinners for the week. So all this is just to say that he recently suggested stuffed peppers. I think he was fantasizing about our responsibility-free honeymoon in Greece… 

Uninspired by the quick google search, I made up my own easy recipe and it was awesome. Cut off the tops and clean out 6 bell peppers. Steam them for 10 minutes so they are soft and easier to stuff. In the meantime, sauté one onion for as long as you have patience…the more caramelized the better. Add a few gloves of crushed garlic and stir. Add one pound of ground meat (lamb, beef, turkey) and cook through. From here it’s up to you. I added chopped green olives, pine nuts, currants and a bunch of spices including turmeric, harissa, ground coriander and fresh cilantro. I then tossed in a cup of cooked quinoa. Let it cook a bit and then stuff those peppers to a breaking point. I topped a few with feta. Bake at 375 for 30-45 minutes until the pepper gets nice and charred. They pair very well with Palomas!

Pan Fried Cod with Mustard-Caper Sauce

As I mentioned, last week I got my test results back and I need to be eating a lot more fish and a lot less chicken and pork. I had just discovered Harlem Shamble’s breakfast sausage so this made me sad. I sulked a bit but then got to researching fish recipes. The biggest problem for me is that I only like bland fish…cod, haddock, etc. so I need to somehow ramp up the flavor. This recipe appealed to me because of the strong flavors of lemon, capers and mustard.

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/pan-fried-cod-00100000070969/

It’s very easy – although I have no idea how to get that crispy browned exterior on pan fried fish. I mixed in a bit of Dijon for some extra kick. It’s a great sauce…that would be really awesome on chicken or pork. Sigh.