Monday, July 20, 2009

I am not doing well with this lately

Man, I am not doing as well keeping up with the blog as I thought I would be. I know that people are looking at it! But I can't seem to update it as much as I want to. I feel guilt like the Jewish Grandma that I never met would have laid on me (if she knew what a blog was).

So here's my contribution, may it spurn many more.

Chickpea Salad


It looks nice, right? I got the recipe here. But it wasn't a huge hit with my guests. I think that people don't like salads without leaves in them. Or maybe people just don't like salad.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Happy Birthday to Me!

So, as promised, I cooked a lot of food for my birthday. Some people think it's weird that I like to spend my birthday cooking food for other people, but it's my birthday and I'll do what I want.

So I cooked all this food...


And people ate it and fell asleep.


So now, we will go through these recipes and you could make it at home! Let's start with bruschetta.


Bruschetta with sauteed kale:

2 bunches kale
Butter
salt
pepper
Parmesan cheese
Bread of your choice (I used sourdough)
olive oil

1. Toast up some bread! I used my broiler because my oven is broken and I don't have a toaster. Drizzle the bread with some olive oil and set aside.

2. Wash your kale. Discard the stems and chop the leaves. Saute the leaves over high heat until they wilt. Add some butter (as much as you want - the more you add, the better it will taste, but the less healthy it will be. I'm going to shield you from the amount I used). Season to taste with salt and pepper.

3. Put a little bit of kale on each piece of bread. Sprinkle some cheese on top.

In an ideal world, I'd put these in the oven and let the cheese melt a little. But my oven is broken. They still tasted good though. Right? Of course right.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

From The Amateur Gourmet (not me)

This seemed like the perfect addition to my blog - a mini musical about cooking.



I'm cooking a lot this weekend, so prepare yourself for some new food!

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

I'm still here.....

Hey all you people out there! I'm still here. I am now working one job (not two!) and I have time to blog again! I'm sure the three readers I have left will be thrilled (I have more than three readers, right? Maybe? Bueller?).

Anyways, I'm back and I've got yet another recipe for duck legs. I love duck legs. Read about it here. Or here. Or here. This one comes from the New York Times (click for the recipe) and it involves rhubarb (this should tell you how long it's been since I've cooked anything - is rhubarb even still in season?).

Basically, you brown some duck legs and save the fat that comes off (in a glass jar! Zack yelled at me for saving hot duck fat in plastic Tupperware last time - apparently that can give you cancer. Whoops).

You blitz some onion, garlic, ginger, garam masala, vinegar, cayenne, turmeric, black pepper, salt and 1/4 cup water in the blender or food processor (check the link for exact amounts), then saute over medium heat with some of the leftover duck fat. Add some coconut milk and water, bring to a simmer and add your duck legs, a little bit of brown sugar and some chopped rhubarb (it's not just for pies)!


Bring it to a boil, turn the heat to low and simmer (covered) for an hour.


If you have any fresh cilantro or chives, add those on top - I so did not have those. People who sleep five hours a night don't have time to buy fresh herbs. Such is life.

But I'm back! I'm ready to blog and ready to sleep.