Wine-braised Red Cabbage

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp butter
• 2.5 cups thinly-sliced red cabbage
• 1/2 cup chopped and peeled Granny Smith apple
• 1/4 cup chopped red onion
• 2 bacon slices (uncooked), chopped
• 1/4 cup dry red wine (we used a Cabernet Sauvignon)
  
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup diced yukon gold potato
  
• 1 tbsp honey
• gorgonzola, to your liking.
  
• salt, pepper
  

Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. Add cabbage, apple, onion, and bacon. Saute until cabbage is sort of tender (around 6 minutes?). Add wine and vinegar. Cover and cook until liquid evaporates and cabbage is completely tender (around 10 minutes?). Add the potato and the honey. Cover and cook until potato is tender, about 3 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper and garnish with blue cheese, if desired.

Thoughts: Pretty delicious. In the future, I would crisp the bacon, crumble it, and then add it to the cabbage at the very end. There's no point in using bacon unless it's crispy. It's also more flavorful this way. The original recipe did not call for blue cheese, but after I tried the cabbage, I thought something should be added to cut the acidity a little bit, and the only thing we had was gorgonzola. But it's delicious. And highly recommended.

Disaster Index: 2/10

Strawberry Bread

Unusual and unique. Not what we expected at all, but definitely worth it.

Ingredients

• 1c chopped strawberries (I don't know, but I'd imagine it's more like 1.5c un-chopped?)
  
• 1.5c white flour
  
• 1/2 granulated sugar plus a teaspoon
  
• 1.5tsp cinnamon
  
• 1/2tsp salt
  
• 1/2tsp baking soda
  
• 1/4tsp baking powder
  
• 2 eggs, beaten
  
• 1/2c vegetable oil
  
• brown sugar for crumbling on top
  

Preheat oven to 350. In a bowl, combine the strawberries and the teaspoon of granulated sugar and toss. In another bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda and powder, and cinnamon. Add the eggs and oil to the strawberries and stir around, then add to dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Pour into a lightly greased and floured 9x5" bread pan. Crumble some brown sugar on top (optional). Bake about 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (so long as you don't pierce a strawberry). Could take as few as 40 minutes, depending on the rack in the oven and whether or not you, like I, have a pizza stone in the oven all the time.

Thoughts: Claire and I were surprised by the dark whole-wheat flavor of this bread even when we used white flour. I mean, the bread turns pretty dark brown and has kind of a caramel, nutty flavor. Weird. What caused that? Was it the egg? Hm. Anyway, this version isn't too sweet. The original recipe we stole this from (by someone named Ellen Rainey who posted to allrecipes) used double the sugar and no baking powder. I can see why some people might prefer more sugar, but I actually like it this way. And then if you want it sweeter you can drizzle a slice with some honey. Overall, this recipe surprised us. Really delicious, though.

Future variations: cut down on the cinnamon and add some vanilla instead. Add other berries, particularly blueberries. Bake in a bundt pan?

Disaster Index: 1/10

Mexican Rice

Ingredients

• 1c extra long grain white rice, rinsed until water runs clear
  
• 1.25c water
  
• 2 to 2.5tsp chicken bouillon (or veg, but I wouldn't recommend it)
  
• heaping .5tsp ground annato seed
  
• .5tsp cumin
  

Wash rice and put it in a pot with the water over medium-high heat. Don't stir it more than once or twice, and only briefly. When the water reaches a low boil, cover the pot and turn heat as low as it will go. Let sit for 15 minutes. In the mean time, combine the seasonings in a separate bowl. Add no more than 1tbsp water and stir to dissolve. When the 15 minutes are up, pour the seasoning-mixture into the rice and stir to coat. If the rice looks like it needs a little more time, cover and continue to cook. Otherwise, re-cover and turn the heat off. Let it sit for 10 minutes or so. If you want, once it has been sitting for 5-10 minutes, you can add a little NEUTRAL oil and turn the heat back on, frying the rice lightly.

Thoughts: When we made this, we used 1.5tsp chicken stock. We're trying to copy the rice that they have at Casa De Lara in Madison, WI. We were very close, and we decided it just needed a little more salt. In the future, we could add chopped up carrots and peas, as well. Possibly we could cook them separately and then stir them in when the seasonings are done.

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.

Pasta with MGC pesto

What does MGC stand for? WAIT AND SEE.

Ingredients

• 1 lb pasta (we used ziti)
• 1/2 lb collards (the C), stems removed, leaves chiffonaded and then washed
• 1/2 lb mustard greens (the MG), stems removed, leaves torn and then washed
• the juice and zest of 1/2 of a small lemon
• 3 tbsp parmesan cheese
• 2 cloves garlic
  
• 1 tbsp dried basil flakes
  
• 2 Laughing Cow triangles (alternatively, 2 oz. of creamy cheese)
• salt
• pepper
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• water, until the texture is right
• 1 small tomato, chopped
  

In a large saucepan, add the collards and a few tablespoons of water. Cover the pot and put over medium/high heat. Cook until the collards have wilted, about 5 minutes.
Once the collards have wilted, add the mustard greens. Add more water, if necessary. Cover again and cook until the MG have cooked down. This shouldn't take long - keep an eye on it.
Once they've cooked down, add the garlic, salt, basil flakes, and pepper. Mix until incorporated.
Heat a pot of water for the pasta. When it's boiling, cook the pasta.
Remove the MG&C from the stove and put in a blender. To the blender, add olive oil and lemon juice/zest. Blend until thoroughly blended. Add more oil and/or water if the mixture gets too thick. Add the cheeses. Blend some more.
The pasta should be cooked by now. Drain it and return the pasta to the pot.
Add the MG&C pesto to the pasta. Stir until the pasta is thoroughly coated.
Add chopped tomatoes on top.
Devour.

Thoughts: OH MY GOD. SHUT UP. THIS IS AWESOME. But seriously, I was expecting the pesto to taste like any other pesto (we've made pesto with things like kale and swiss chard etc...), but it does not. It has this really interesting, savory flavor. We really lucked out. The greens paired really well with both the chopped tomato and the lemon. And this was hella easy. To be honest, I like this version of pesto better than traditional pesto. I would eat this all day. Sweet fancy Moses.

Disaster Index: Can I give a -1? 1/10 I guess

Real French Fries

Not your typical "oven fry" baked potato wedges, these are actually fried. In oil. But they contain 30% less oil than NORMAL french fries because of the unique cooking process. READ ON!

Ingredients

• yukon gold potatoes, (NOT russets & unpeeled) cut into sticks of an appropriate "fry" size. You choose how big. We've had good luck with both small and large sizes, but you have to be consistent.
  
• peanut oil for frying (canola or vegetable oil work also).
  

Dump the potatoes into room temperature oil on the stove. Use a container that is a) large enough, b) can take a lot of heat. Turn to high heat. After about 5 minutes, the oil should be at a rolling boil (actually, the water coming out of the fries is what's "boiling", but whatever). Turn the heat to medium-high (enough to keep at the current temperature). After another 10 or 15 minutes, you can stir the fries around a little with some tongs, scraping up any that stick to the bottom (we didn't have a problem with this). Fry until golden. Pick the fries out with the tongs and place in a towel lined bowl. Dust with salt and continue to remove oil. Enjoy!

Thoughts: On our first try, the fries were too crisp. They were still tasty, but not quite how we liked them. Also, the fries were uneven, so the larger pieces were cooked just right, while the smaller pieces were overcooked. Next time, we tried small match-stick sizes (well, maybe a little bigger than that). They cooked evenly, and gave us perfect frites. Delicious. Will definitely try again, but not until we get a chance to do some cardio or something. Even so, these fries have less oil than standard fries. Because they cook so slowly, the moisture inside the potatoes isn't replaced by as much oil as the standard process. It's complicated. Trust me.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Cottage Cheese

Not as successful. Alton Brown's recipe.

Ingredients

• 2c skim milk
  
• 1.5tbsp white vinegar
  
• pinch salt
  
• heavy cream / half and half / whole milk
  

Put the milk in a sauce pan and heat to 120*F. Take it off the heat and add the vinegar, stirring for a minute or two. The curd will separate from the whey. Now cover the pot and let sit for 30 minutes. When you're done, strain the curd and whey through a tea towel, catching all the curd. Wrapping the curd in the tea towel, proceed to rinse the curd (through the towel) in cold water, squeezing the curd (and excess water) periodically. Finally, dump the curd into a bowl with a pinch of salt and break apart into smaller curds with a spoon. When you're ready to serve, add a little cream/half-and-half/whole milk and stir together.

Thoughts: I'm not a huge cottage cheese eater to begin with, so this wasn't really for me. Claire didn't seem to like it too much. I mean, it has nothing to do with the stuff being home-made - that actually made it a lot more appealing - it's just that it was kind of bland. Not a lot of flavor. We used whole milk, so maybe heavy cream next time (if there is a next time). But store-bought is just fine for us. Another (minor) problem is that for a pint of milk you get out maybe 1/2c of cottage cheese. Something to consider.
Claire: as a hard-core cottage cheese fan, I had an issue with both the texture and the flavor. I don't know if there will be a next time. A fine recipe to try, for sure, but Alton Brown has failed us for the LAST TIME.
No, no, we'll still use him. But probably not for this. I'm also editing the disaster index.

Disaster Index: 9-10/10