Watermelon Gazpacho

It's been forever since we've had time or inclination to put up any new recipes. But this isn't the first time we've made watermelon gazpacho, so I thought it was high time I blog this sucker. Maybe we'll get back into posting our recipes here.

Ingredients for the Soup

• 2 lbs of seedless watermelon, roughly chopped.
• Three medium tomatoes, stem bits removed, roughly chopped.
• 3c of crusty bread, crusts removed, rough chop
• A cucumber, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1/2c water
• 1/4c basil
• 1/4c mint
• 1/4c cilantro
• 1/4c olive oil
• 1 shallot, roughly chopped
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1.5 tsp salt
• Somewhere between 1/2 and 1 tsp of adobo seasoning (or just 1/2 tsp of cumin)

Ingredients for the Basil Oil

• Didn't realize we were going to get fancy, did you?
• 1/4c basil
• 1/4 olive oil
• Salt  & pepper to taste

Garnish

• Some little bits of cubed tomato, watermelon, avocado, and/or feta.

This is a pretty easy recipe, and the results are fantastic. So basically, blend together the basil oil ingredients in a blender, then set aside and rinse out the blender (doesn't need to be totally clean). Toss all of the soup ingredients into a bowl and let them sit for a little while (5, 10 minutes) and then blend those, too (in batches if you have to). Set in the fridge to chill for 20 minutes, then adjust seasonings.

To serve, pour some soup in a bowl and top with the garnishes and drizzle with basil oil. If you want to be really fancy, you could serve this as a shooter, actually, or you could put a pile of the garnishes in the center of a plate and pour some soup around it. But we weren't as concerned about that.

Thoughts: This is remarkably easy. It's good for summer, since it's like 97 degrees out and who wants to cook? And it's refreshing. I guess it took a little while to put together, bit if you make a smaller portion it wouldn't have to take very long. Honestly, you could skip the basil oil and just use some basil in the garnish. That would also mean you can dirty fewer dishes, and you can just toss ingredients into the blender as you go.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Tomatillo Salsa

Ingredients

• 1 pound fresh tomatillos
• 1 large onion, cut into chunks
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/2 hot pepper, any kind you'd like
• 1/2 lime, juiced
• salt, to taste

Peel the tomatillos and scrub them until they're less sticky. They probably won't be COMPLETELY unsticky, but just do your best. Cut them into quarters and put them in a food processor. Put everything else in the food processor and pulse it until it's the consistency you want. I don't like my salsas super smooth, but whatever. Do anything you feel like doing. 

Put it all in a small saucepan and cook until the salsa is less watery. This might take a while. 

Chill it, then eat it.

Thoughts: Pretty legit, though we had to cook the salsa FOREVER for it to get less watery. Maybe next time I would chop the onion and then drain that sucker. Onions are watery, yo. But the flavor was pretty good. I wonder whether we would even cook it in the future. But maybe you have to cook tomatillos? Maybe we would blanch the tomatillos and leave everything else raw? Anyway, we used this as a substitute for enchilada sauce, and it was serviceable. 

Disaster Index: 3/10

Bandh Gobhi Ki Sabzi (Buttered Smothered Cabbage)

After we made corned beef and cabbage, we had half a head of Savoy left over and couldn't figure out what to do with it until I was awesome and found this recipe.

Ingredients

• half a large head of savoy cabbage (or whatever cabbage you have)
• 1.5 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tbsp butter, oil, or ghee (we used plain butter)
• 1/2 tsp turmeric 
• 1 tbsp minced ginger
• 1 tsp hot curry powder
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 1/2 chicken stock, hot
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 handful of cilantro, chopped

Core the cabbage and shred it. Heat the butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat until melted. Add the cumin and stir until fragrant (about 30 seconds). Add cabbage and turmeric and stir to coat. The cabbage doesn't have much internal water, so you might have to add a splash of water to keep everything from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Cover and steam until cabbage is wilted (about five minutes).

Add ginger, curry powder, red pepper flakes, salt, and tomato. Stir to coat/combine. When things start to stick, add the chicken stock. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and let cook for another 10 minutes.

When cabbage is tender and all the liquid is absorbed, remove from heat and stir in the heavy cream. Add chopped cilantro. Eat.


Thoughts: Pretty damn good. I was worried this recipe would be totally lame and I'd be like "why am I eating a bowlful of lame cabbage?" But it was awesome instead. You could serve this with rice, but why? Just eat it.


Disaster Index: 1/10

Kedgeree

A Victorian era Anglo-Indian colonial breakfast dish (possibly invented in a Scottish regiment?). History is interesting.

Ingredients

• 8-12oz haddock, cod, or similar fillet
• 2 eggs
• 2 bay leaves
• 1c basmati rice
• 2tbsp butter
• 2 small onions, chopped
• 2 tsp fresh ginger, minced
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tbsp ground mustard
• 2 tbsp madras curry powder
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2c cilantro, chopped
• 2 lemons, juiced
• salt
• plain yogurt

Place the fish in a pan and add a little water - not enough to cover, I think. Add the bay leaves, bring to a boil and cook about 5 minutes. Remove the fish and set to cool, at which time you can flake it apart. I think smoked fish might be a good alternative here (and more flavorful) so if you can get smoked cod, I'd say go for it.

Set up the rice cooking. If you use a rice cooker, do that. I use 1c rice and 1.25c water. If you use a pot, use those ratios, bring to a boil, simmer covered on low for 10 minutes, then set aside covered for 10 minutes. Done.

Meanwhile, set a small saucepan of water to boil. When it's boiling, add the eggs. Boil for 10 minutes, then remove and run under icy cold water to stop the cooking.

OK. Now, in a large-ish saute or similar, add the butter and onions. Cook until softened, then add the garlic and ginger. Cook another minute or two, then add the mustard and curry. Cook another couple minutes, then add the tomato and lemon juice.

When that's done, remove from heat. Add the rice to the onion / tomato mixture, along with the cilantro and the flaked fish, and toss to coat. Peel the hard-boiled eggs and cut into quarters. Top the dish with the hard-boiled eggs, then serve with a little yogurt.

Thoughts: This dish was a little too lemon-y for our taste, and it needed a bit more salt. The fish lost some flavor to the weird boiling process (leave it to the Brits, amirite?) but if we had smoked fish, that might have worked well. I think next time we go with one lemon, smoked fish, and more salt. That would make this a pretty damn good dish.

Disaster Index: 3/10

Peanut Sauce

I guess I should blog my peanut sauce recipe because it's pretty great. I've been making it forever based loosely on what I read on the internet and based on a type my mother makes. It's a lot of tasting and adjusting seasonings, though, so the amounts here aren't exact.

Ingredients

• 1/2c peanut butter
• 3tbsp soy sauce
• 1tbsp black vinegar
• .5 to 1tsp sriracha
• 1tbsp brown sugar
• 1c water
• 1.5tsp ginger (minced or ground. If you use dried, go for more like .5tsp)
• 1tbsp minced garlic

In a small sauce pan, add the peanut butter and water and cook over medium heat. Whisk together until it forms a sauce. You may need more water - you're looking for something SLIGHTLY thin, because it will cook down. It does an interesting thing where it thickens a lot more than you think it will once the peanut butter is melted.

Once it forms a sauce of the desired consistency, add all the other ingredients, then cook until it reaches the desired thickness. Taste frequently, and adjust the vinegar, soy sauce, and brown sugar as needed. Be careful with the sriracha - it's not that it's so spicy, it's just that a little goes a long way toward overpowering the flavors of the peanut sauce.

Thoughts: We made this recently to put on broccoli, but it goes well on just about anything. Add scallions or cilantro to taste.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Spicy Black Bean Soup

Wow.

Ingredients

• .75c dry black beans
• 4 strips of bacon, chopped finely
• 1 smallish onion, diced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 clove garlic
• 1tsp dried oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4tsp thyme
• 6c chicken stock
• .25c cilantro, chopped
• 2 boneless skinless chicken thighs
• 1 dried chili pepper, MOST of the seeds removed, ground in a mortar & pestle

Cover the black beans with 3 inches of cold water and let sit for about 8 hours.  Drain the water and rinse the beans.

In a soup pot, place the bacon and cook until crispy.  Then add the onion and pepper and the spices.  Cook until the onion is translucent and add the beans, stock, and the chicken thighs.  Stir well, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom of the pot.  Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.  Simmer for like 2 hours.  After one of those hours has elapsed, remove the chicken using tongs or a slotted spoon and shred using two forks, then return them to the soup.  After about 2 hours, the beans should be very tender.  Add the cilantro.  Serve.

Thoughts: Not only was this amazing - one of our best soups yet - it pretty much left the entire floor of our building smelling awesome.  The chicken was a last minute innovation designed to use up leftovers before we left town, and shredding it seemed like a really easy way to deal with the stuff being too frozen to cut.  Claire declared that all the chicken in our soups should be prepared this way in the future.  Anyway, not much can be said about this soup.  It was awesome.  Maybe next time I'll use 2 chilies.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Mulligatawny Soup

Ingredients

• neutral oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 4 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 2 1/2 tbsp garam masala
• 2 1/2 tsp coriander
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 c red lentils
• 8 c chicken stock
• 2 c chicken, cooked (optional)
• 1c chopped cilantro (optional)
• 1 can coconut milk
• juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 1c basmati rice, cooked

At some point while you're making the soup, you can cook the rice: wash 1c of rice, then put it in a pot with 1.25c water.  Bring to a boil, then cover and set to very low heat and cook for about 8 minutes.  Then turn off the heat and let it sit (covered) for another 10 minutes at least.

To make the soup, heat a little oil in a pot, then add the onions and carrots.  When the onions are getting translucent, add the garlic and all the other spices (including the bay leaves) and cook for a minute.  Then add the red lentils and toss to coat.  Then add the chicken stock and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes.  Take it off the heat and add the lemon juice and coconut milk, then blend until smooth (we used a stick blender).  Stir in the cooked chicken and cilantro and correct seasoning (we had to add more spices and salt).  To serve, put rice in a bowl and pour soup over the rice.

Thoughts: When we first made the recipe, I tasted it before we added the coconut milk and thought that the flavor was fantastic.  The coconut milk really muted the spices, so we needed to add a lot more.  But it was quite good.  It might be nice to only PARTIALLY blend this but leave some of the lentils whole for texture.  Even so, this was quite good.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Roasted Corn Guacamole

Ingredients

• 2 cups frozen corn, defrosted, or kernels from 3 fresh ears of corn
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp finely chopped red onion
• 2 tbsp fresh cilantro, finely chopped
• the juice and zest of 1 lime
• 1 jalapeno, stemmed and seeded, finely chopped
• 1 avocado, pitted and chopped

Preheat oven to 450. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper or tinfoil.
Spread the corn kernels in an even layer over the sheet. Drizzle olive oil over it and sprinkle with enough salt and pepper to make it tasty.
Roast for 20 minutes, until the corn turns a golden brown. You want the corn to caramelize a little. It might be a little crunchy. That's ok.
Remove corn from oven and set aside.
In a bowl, combine the roasted corn, red onion, cilantro, lime zest and juice, avocado, and jalapeno. Mash it all together. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with corn soup.

Thoughts: We probably didn't roast the corn for long enough, and it probably wasn't totally defrosted when we put it in the oven. At least, it certainly wasn't at room temperature. Next time I would make sure to cook it until it caramelizes. The flavor was pretty intense as it is, but it would have been better caramelized. This tastes a lot like Chipotle's corn salsa, actually. It's hella spicy. If you're going to serve it with the corn soup, I might recommend taking the jalapeno out of either the guacamole or the soup. You don't really need two of them. Also Dan thinks that the flavor is good, but the texture needs work.

Disaster Index: 2/3-10

Corn Soup

Ingredients

• 3 cups frozen corn kernels, defrosted (or kernels from 5 ears of fresh corn)
• olive oil
• garlic
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 1 jalapeno, stemmed and chopped
• salt and pepper
• 1.5 cups chicken broth (or veg)
  
• cilantro sprigs
• sour cream
  

Put kernels in a blender. Don't blend yet. Just let them sit there.
Combine oil and garlic in a small soup pot over medium heat and let cook until fragrant. Add onion and jalapeno and cook until vegetables are soft and translucent, about 6 minutes.
Transfer the vegetables to blender and puree with corn until smooth.
Pour the corn puree back into the soup pot and place over medium heat. Add cilantro sprigs. Stir constantly for a few minutes until soup thickens. This will be tricky because this soup is so thick that when it splatters, it really splatters. Just do your best. Your stove will be a mess, but just come to peace with it.
Once soup has thickened a little, add the chicken broth. Bring to a boil, decrease heat to a simmer, and cook for 15 minutes (covered, if you value your stovetop).
Top with roasted corn guacamole and serve. Garnish with sour cream and cilantro sprigs.

Thoughts: Hella easy to make, but hella spicy. It's those really ripe jalapenos. We got a whole bag of them and we're still working on using them up. So only make this if you like really spicy things. Also, don't drink alcohol with this soup -- it will just make the spiciness even worse. There wasn't a whole lot of depth of flavor here, probably because the spice took care of that. But it's good nonetheless. A good starter recipe. We'll see what else we can add to it, I think.

Disaster Index: 2-3/10

Green chili pozole

This is almost too spicy?

Ingredients

• 2 cans hominy, rinsed and drained
• 1.5 lbs pork ribs
• 8 springs of flat-leaf parsley, tied with kitchen twine
• 4 garlic cloves
• 3/4 tsp dried oregano (preferably Mexican, says Martha, but seriously?)
• .5 lbs tomatillos, husked and rinsed well (they get pretty sticky)
• 2 jalapeno peppers, quartered
• 1 cup cilantro
  
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, coarsely chopped (it's going into a food processor)
• 2 tbsp neutral oil
• salt

Place pork in large pot -- cover by 2" with water. Add parsley and garlic and bring to a boil. If any foam or fat rises to the top, skim it off with a ladle.
Reduce heat to medium low, and add oregano. Simmer, partially covered, until the meat is falling off of the bone, about 2 hours.
In the meantime, fill a small pot with water and bring it to a boil. Add your tomatillos and cook them in the boiling water for about 10 minutes, until the tomatillos are tender. Transfer them to a small bowl. Reserve some of the cooking liquid.
In a food processor or blender, add the onion, jalapeno peppers, cilantro, tomatillos, and as much reserved cooking liquid as you need to make the whole thing blend. Blend it until smooth. It should look like green chili.
Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. When it's hot enough to make you nervous, add the tomatillo mixture and 1/2 tsp salt, stirring constantly. It will probably spatter a little. Use a spatter shield.
Reduce heat to medium and simmer gently, stirring almost constantly (if you have pots like we do), until the mixture is thick, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
The pork might be done by now. If it is, remove it from the broth (reserve the broth) and trim any excess fat from it (we didn't have any to trim). Remove the meat from the bones (which should be pretty easy at this point). Shred meat. Remove the parsley from the broth and throw it away.
Stir tomatillo mixture into the reserved pork broth and bring to a boil. Add the shredded pork.
Reduce heat, and simmer gently until heated through. If you just took the pork from the broth, this really shouldn't take long.
Add the hominy. Simmer until heated through, about 5 minutes. Season with salt or pepper to your heart's content.
Eat.

Thoughts: This was a pretty involved recipe, actually. There must be a way to simplify it. We'll see. This was pretty good -- I was hoping it would be JUST SLIGHTLY more flavorful. I think the pork ribs we used were not super fatty, and they probably could have been. In the future I would choose a less lean cut. Although a healthier thing to do might be to cook everything in pork broth instead of water. Then you would get a more savory flavor without the extra fat. Just a lot of extra sodium. TOTALLY WORTH IT, KIDS. The hominy adds a really interesting flavor. I have never really eaten much hominy before, but I would like to be eating more of it. The heat is of a proper intensity. Dan says "delicious" about the whole affair. Good.

Disaster Index: 1.5/10

Black Bean Soup

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped (or two small carrots)
• 4 garlic cloves (but really as much as you want)
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 jalapeno pepper, chopped and divided into two equal portions
  
• 8 oz dried black beans (or 30 oz canned, undrained)
• 1 15-oz can of diced tomatoes (with juice)
  
• 1.5 cups chicken broth (or vegetable, I guess)
  
• fresh cilantro, for garnish
• crumbled feta, for garnish

If you're using canned beans, you can skip this first step, which is:
wash the dried beans thoroughly. Rehydrate them based on the instructions likely to be found on the package. You don't have to spend hours soaking these things. Just add the water and boil for a few minutes, then remove from heat and let them sit for an hour. That should do it. Drain when done.
Heat oil in heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrot, and garlic. Saute until vegetables begin to soften, about 6 minutes.
Mix in cumin and one pile of jalapeno (should be able 1 tsp or so).
Add beans, tomatoes (do not drain tomato juice), and chicken stock.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook until carrots are tender, about 15 minutes.
Blend about 1/2 of the soup in a blender. Or, if you want to make things a little easier, just use a stick blender through the whole soup and stop when it looks to be about the right consistency.
When desired consistency is reached, return the soup to the heat and simmer for another 15 minutes, until thickened.
Season with salt, pepper, and the rest of the jalapeno.
Garnish with cilantro and feta.

Thoughts: Pretty delicious, and pretty easy to make. Dan says the soup had good flavor, but he wouldn't use feta in the future -- we'd probably use something like queso fresco or a variation thereon. Also he thought the beans were a little toothsome, which means next time we would either use canned (we ordinarily would have, but we had these beans sitting around in our cabinet forever and I was like "good god, I will make something with these beans") or actually soak them overnight the way everyone recommends. I would also top this with some sort of sour cream too.

Disaster Index: 2/10

Cold Avocado Corn Soup

Ingredients

• 1 fresh or frozen ear of corn, shucked
• 4 cups + 2 tbsp water
• 1 garlic clove, smashed
• 1.5 tsp salt
• 1.25 cups chopped white onion
• 2 fresh chilies -- we just grabbed two chilies that looked medium hot (our grocery store doesn't label the chilies) -- I think it was one Serrano and one Jalapeno
• 2 ripe avocados
• 3 tbsp fresh (or bottled, honestly) lime juice
  
• 1/4 cup sour cream

For the cilantro oil:

• 1 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro (we used WAY more and this was not necessary)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt

Roast the corn over your gas stove (or use a grill, if you have one), until kernels are charred in spots, about 4-5 minutes.
Transfer corn to a cutting board, and, when cobs are cool enough, cut the kernels from them. Then cut the cobs into thirds. Don't throw them away.
Chop 1 cup of white onion.
Put the kernels, the cobs, 4 cups water, garlic, salt, and 1/4 cup of the chopped onion in a pot and boil it for about 20 minutes, or until there are 3 cups of liquid remaining. Remove from the heat. Discard the cob sections.
Chop the chiles, discarding only the stems.
In a blender, puree the corn mixture, the chopped chiles, and the rest of the onion (should be 3/4 cup).
Strain this mixture through a fine mesh sieve and into a bowl. Press on the solids to get all the moisture. Discard the solids, and return the remaining broth to the cleaned blender.
Peel and pit and avocado, and add it to the blender. Put in 2 tbsp of lime juice. Blend everything together until smooth.
Transfer soup to another bowl, cover it with plastic, and chill in the fridge for at least an hour.

To prepare the cilantro oil:

Puree the cilantro, oil, and salt in the cleaned blender. You'll probably have to scrape the blender down several times. When smooth, remove mixture from blender and strain through a paper towel over a bowl for 15 minutes. Don't press on the solids this time.

To assemble the soup

Peel and pit the remaining avocado. Scoop out small sections with your melon-baller (or use a 1/2 tsp measuring spoon) and toss them with some lime juice.
Whisk the sour cream together with 2 tbsp of water until the mixture is smooth.
Season the soup and ladle it into the bowls. Put some avocado balls in each bowl, and drizzle with cilantro oil and sour cream.

Thoughts: This was pretty easy, all told. The cilantro oil didn't work out as well as we were hoping. I think we used a higher ratio of cilantro:oil than we were supposed to, so it didn't yield a whole lot of oil and the straining process left more solids than it should have. Otherwise, I think everything else was pretty awesome. This recipe says that it's supposed to yield something like six servings, but it doesn't. It yields like, maybe four. So I would go ahead and multiply everything in this recipe by 2. We went through it way too quickly. I also think that it could have used a little more flavor -- I suggest red pepper flakes, and maybe also some sort of cumin? I'm not sure what Dan thinks of this. I'll ask him later.

Disaster Index: 2.5/10

Chilled Avocado Cucumber Soup

I hesitate to call this "cooking".

Ingredients

• 1 ripe avocado
  
• 1.5 cucumbers, peeled & seeded
  
• 1c plain yogurt
  
• 2-3tbsp lemon juice
  
• cilantro and chives - a couple tbsp each
  
• 1c chicken stock, cooled (or veg)
  
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded... plus some of the seeds, too.
  
• salt and ppper
  

Are you ready? This is complicated. You put all of the ingredients in a blender. Follow me so far? Blend them together.

Thoughts: This has an interesting flavor of cucumber and avocado (no surprise there) and chilled it makes a great summer soup. My one complaint would be with regard to the texture, which, right out of the blender, is a little airy. I mean, it's so feathery light that it's almost not really soup at all, and I found that a little unusual, though I can see someone liking it. I think that next time I might put little julienned cucumbers or some little greens on top. Watercress would go perfectly with this soup.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Vegetarian Enchiladas

We've already done this once, but the recipe has changed so much since the first time we made it that it merits posting it again.

Ingredients

• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
  
• 2 zucchini/yellow squash, halved lengthwise and sliced thin
  
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
  
• 1 jalapeno pepper, skin charred and removed, seeds removed, chopped (see note)
  
• 1tbsp garlic
  
• neutral oil
  
• 1/2tsp cumin
  
• 2tbsp flour
  
• 1c chicken stock (or veg)
  
• 6oz pepper jack cheese, chopped or grated.
  
• tortillas
  
• 1 can enchilada sauce
  
• cilantro
  

Start by sauteing the onion in a little neutral oil over medium heat. Once it's getting toward translucent, add the zucchini, bell pepper, garlic, cumin, cilantro, and jalapeno. Cover for about 5 minutes, then remove lid and cook for another 5 minutes or so. When the zucchini are just tender (but still have a little tooth to them), take everything out and put it in a separate bowl. To the pot, add the flour and stir around. Add the chicken stock and turn the heat back on to medium-high, stirring to break up any huge lumps. Small lumps are okay. When the mixture is just starting to thicken, set to low heat and add 2-3oz of the cheese, stirring constantly. When all of the cheese is melted, re-add the vegetables and stir to coat.

Preheat oven to 350. In a baking dish, spread a thin layer of enchilada sauce. Then place tortillas in the dish, filling with the vegetables. This recipe makes two enormous burrito-sized servings or many more small servings, which would probably be more appropriate. Once all the filling is divvied up, fold the tortillas closed as best you can and pour enchilada sauce over everything, brushing even with a pastry brush. Sprinkle with the rest of the cheese and fresh cilantro. Bake for 30 minutes or until you can't take it any more.

Thoughts: Our recent addition of the jalapeno was a huge success. This is giving Casa De Lara a run for their money.

Disaster Index: 1/10

*note: to char the skin of a jalapeno pepper, just turn on a burner and hold the jalapeno over the burner with tongs until the skin is burnt on all sides. It takes a while. By burnt, I mean completely blackened. If you don't have a gas burner, put the jalapeno on a baking dish and put it in the oven with the broiler on. When one side is amply burnt, turn it over and do the other side. Run the jalapeno under cold water after burning the skin, then just rub with the edge of a knife. The skin will just flake/slide right off.

Falafel

Ingredients

• 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  
• 1/2 onion, chopped
  
• 1tbsp dried parsley]
  
• 1tbsp dried cilantro
  
• 1tsp salt
  
• 1/2tsp cayenne
  
• 4 cloves garlic
  
• 1tsp cumin
  
• 1tsp baking powder
  
• flour
  
• tahini, pita bread, tomato, lettuce for serving
  
• peanut oil for frying
  

Throw everything into a blender and pulse until blended but not pureed. It will be pretty damp. Add flour (about 1/8c at first, then two to three tbsp at a time) and pulse after each addition until you get a dough. Meanwhile, heat about 1 inch of oil to 375 degrees (heat over medium to medium-high heat for a few minutes). Using a melon baller or two spoons, drop one falafel into the oil as a test. You can tell two things from what happens: if the falafel ball falls apart, then you need to add more flour to the dough. If the falafel just sits there and doesn't cook, the oil isn't hot enough.

Once the dough is right and the oil is hot enough, you can cook about six falafel at a time, turning once to cook both sides. It shouldn't really pop everywhere, just kind of simmer against the falafel. When they're done, place them on paper towel lined plate to drain a little of the oil. Serve in pita pockets with lettuce, tahini, and tomato.

Thoughts: This was probably the best falafel recipe we've tried. The texture was just right, and the flavor was really great. This is definitely going to be made again some time.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Chicken Stir-fry with Yams and Red Cabbage

Yes, this dish was just about as weird as it sounds.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 yams, peeled, cut into 1/3 " rounds, and cut into sticks.
• 1 medium red onion, sliced
• 8 ounces boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into chunks
• 1 tbsp minced ginger
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
  
• 1 cups red cabbage, sliced into 1/4 " strips
• 3 tbsp hoisin sauce
• fresh or dried cilantro

Heat sesame oil over medium high heat. Add yams and onion and cook until yams are tender. Add water by the tablespoon-full if it starts to dry out. This should take about 12 minutes.
Sprinkle chopped chicken with plenty of salt and pepper and stir to coat. Add chicken to yams and onions. Add ginger and garlic and more sesame oil, if needed. Stir fry for one minute.
Add the cabbage and stir-fry until chicken is cooked through and cabbage is wilted but still a little crunchy. Stir in hoisin sauce. Add cilantro.

Thoughts: This was totally weird. I don't know. I would not make it again. I originally found the recipe because we were trying to find a way to use up the 2-pound head of cabbage in our fridge. It seemed like a good idea at the time. But if I had thought about it for even a second, I probably would have thought better of it. I mean, red onions and sweet potatoes and chicken? What the hell? Not great. IF we were to try to fix this recipe enough to make it again, I would take out the red onions. I would also add a WHOLE MESS of soy sauce. This dish lacked flavor in general. This was one of the worst things we've made in a while, I think.

Dan: I think the sweet potatoes were weird. That didn't fit in at all. I agree that it lacked flavor. Adding some soy sauce helped. It didn't taste BAD, it just didn't taste good. It was really really bland.

Disaster Index: 6/10

Cilantro Cumin Butter Sauce

Made to accompany perogi, though you could put it on just about anything.

Ingredients

• 1.5tbsp butter
  
• 1/2tsp cumin or to taste
  
• 1 tsp dried cilantro or to taste
  
• ground black pepper to taste
  
• 1/4tsp salt
  

Just put everything in a sauce pan. Melt the butter and cook until it browns just a little. Add the perogi (or whatever) and toss to coat. Let it cook just a little longer, tossing around so nothing sticks. Ta da!

Thoughts: This was pretty much what you got for "hot sauce" if you ordered at Pel'meni (now closed) in Madison, WI. They also put sriracha and vinegar on the pelmeni. I could see doing that, but Claire wanted something less spicy but still flavorful so I whipped this up.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Ma Po Tofu

or Dofu if you're cool.

Ingredients

• 1.5lbs soft (not silken) tofu
  
• 2tbsp chili bean sauce
  
• 1tbsp black bean sauce
  
• 4tbsp oyster sauce
  
• 1tbsp corn starch
  
• .25c peanut oil
  
• 4oz ground beef
  
• 1 lobe fresh ginger, peeled and minced
  
• 1tbsp garlic
  
• a few scallions, sliced
  
• 1/4c dry white wine (we actually used 1/8c mirin, and it worked?)
  
• 1 medium leek, cleaned and chopped
  
• 1/2c chicken stock (.5tsp bouillon plus water)
  
• 2tbsp soy sauce (we used a dark mushroom flavor soy sauce)
  
• cilantro, chopped (optional)
  

In a pot, bring water to a boil. Add tofu and remove from heat. Let it sit for 5 minutes, then remove from water and set aside. (I wonder what this does to the tofu...) In a wok or big pot, heat the peanut oil. Add ginger, garlic, scallions, and the beef and stir-fry until the beef is browned. Add the rice wine (or mirin) and cook until most of the moisture evaporates. Add the hot chili sauce, black bean paste, and oyster sauce. Stir together and cook for another minute until the oil separates. Add everything else except the corn starch and bring to a boil. Then add the corn starch (possibly whisked together with a little cold water) and stir until the sauce thickens. Top with chopped cilantro as desired. Serve over rice.

Thoughts: Claire thought this was a little spicy, but I really liked the amount of heat. Next time we'll probably add less chili sauce and we can do sriracha or something to taste. I felt that the leek was a little chewier than I'd have liked, and it didn't really add. I would replace it with more scallions. Also, the dish could have used a little more like 6oz of beef. Otherwise, it was really delicious.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Eggplant with Fish Sauce

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp salt
• 2 medium-sized eggplants
• 6 cups water
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 6 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp oil
• 2 tbsp chopped garlic
• 2 eggs
  
• chopped cilantro, for garnish

Dissolve the salt into the water. Chop up the eggplant into bite-sized pieces and add to the salt water. Soak for 5 minutes, then drain and set aside.
In a small bowl, add the fish sauce and sugar. Stir to dissolve sugar. Set aside.
Heat garlic and oil in a pan. Cook until garlic is crispy. Add the eggplant. Stir-fry for 1 minute. Add hte fish sauce/sugar. Stir-fry for another minute. Crack the eggs into the mixture. Cook until eggs are done.
Garnish with cilantro. Eat.

Thoughts: This dish was ALL RIGHT. The recipe looked promising, but we must have messed something up or something. The eggplant was SUPER chewy, but the recipe said to stir-fry it for like, a total of 3 minutes. So I don't think we undercooked it. Maybe we should have used some sort of Asian eggplant instead of the kind you usually find in grocery stores here? I think Asian eggplants usually have a LOT more flavor. Also, I cracked the eggs into the eggplant without whisking them first, so some parts of the egg were white and some were yellow. So it sort of looked unappetizing. This recipe was also SUPER salty. I got a headache after eating it. Too much fish sauce, maybe. If we were to make this again, I might cut the fish sauce down to like, 1 tbsp. Also because Dan hates the smell of fish sauce. And now our apartment smells like it. A lot. I think I'm going to be the only one eating the leftovers.

Disaster Index: 5/10 - we haven't made anything this bad in a while.

Latin American Peanut and Potato Soup

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp peanut oil
• 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves crushed garlic
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• about 6 red potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 can chopped tomatoes (about 7 oz)
• 1.25 cups of unsalted peanuts
• 6.25 cups of beef stock (or veg)
  
• salt and pepper
• fresh cilantro, chopped
• honey
• cayenne pepper

Heat the oil in a large heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook for about 5 minutes, until onion starts to soften.
Add the garlic, potatoes, pepper, and tomatoes. Stir well to coat everything evenly, then cover and cook for 5 minutes until softened.
Meanwhile, toast the peanuts by cooking them in a large dry frying pan over medium heat. Make sure they don't burn. Move them around often. You don't want burned peanuts.
Set a 1/4 cup of the toasted peanuts aside to use as a garnish. Put the rest in a food processor and grind them up. Add them to the vegetables.
When vegetables are done cooking, remove them from heat and transfer to a blender and blend until smooth.
Return mixture to the pot and stir in the beef stock. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
Serve, garnished with the chopped cilantro and toasted peanuts.

Thoughts: This wasn't too difficult to make, and it was pretty delicious. I had the thought of adding some cayenne pepper, and Dan had the thought of adding honey. They make lovely additions to this dish, so by all means, add them both (probably just before serving). Also, I had the idea that buying fresh, in-the-shell peanuts would be a good idea because they would taste more fresh. This is probably not true, and they were a pain in the ass to shuck. So just go ahead and buy the canned ones (as long as they aren't salted! Christ!). We're having a little bit of difficulty coming to a consensus about the rating on this one. It was an unobjectionable soup, but it wasn't particularly striking. I would probably make it again.

Disaster Index: 1-2/10

Update!
only use 3c water,
4 cups worth of beef bouillon
about 2-3 tbsp honey (until you can JUST taste the sweetness)
juice of 1/3 to 1/2 a lemon
pinch of salt
pepper
cayenne to taste

Proceed as usual. About half way through the vegetables being cooked, throw HALF of them in a blender with the 3c of water. Blend smooth and re-add to the other vegetables with the 4 cups of beef bouillon. Bring to a boil and cook until the chunks of potato are tender - 10 minutes or so. Take off the heat and add remaining ingredients, tasting after each addition.

Disaster Index: 1/10