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Springtime Means Pasta Salad Time: Cold Penne Salad with Celery, Scallions and Broccoli

malziecakes — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 22:12:00 +0000

I needed a good accompaniment to the turkey pita I was eating, so I decided to make a crisp, verdant salad out of the things that I had sitting in my fridge (that’s how most of my recipes start out, I guess…college life…). I ended up with a seasonally appropriate pasta salad full of green things in my fridge: peas, broccoli, scallions and celery, topped off with a bright balsamic vinaigrette to bring the whole thing to life. I brought it to a potluck the next day, and everyone ate it, so that’s a good sign…right?

Recipe:

1 bunch scallions, sliced thinly on the diagonal
4 stalks celery, leaves included, sliced thinly on the diagonal
3/4 c cooked peas
1 1/2 c cooked broccoli, cut into little florets
1/2 package of penne, cooked and drained

Dressing:
3/4 c olive oil
3/4 c balsamic vinegar
4 cloves of garlic, crushed and minced
1 tbs dijon mustard
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried dill
1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
1/2 tsp kosher salt
pinch red pepper flakes
1/4 c Italian flat-leaf parsley, chopped finely

Combine salad ingredients together. In a separate bowl, whisk dressing ingredients. Toss with salad and store in the fridge until ready to serve.

Photo courtesy of allrecipes.com

Adobong Baka in a Slow Cooker

malziecakes — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 01:47:00 +0000

My mom laughed at me when I told her I wanted to attempt cooking adobo, a Filipino meat dish (usually fatty cuts of pork or chicken, but in this case, beef) marinated in garlic, soy sauce and vinegar, in my roommate’s Crock Pot. “Adobo is supposed to be a little crispy, not like stew,” she told me, referring to the adobo cooking process: simmering the meat for hours until the liquid disappeared, then frying it in a bit of oil to crisp up the fatty edges. Cooking adobo in a slow cooker would turn the meat into a soupy, tender mess, which sounded absolutely fine to me.

Anyways, the result was delicious. The meat was so tender that it fell apart when I prodded at it with a spoon. It tasted, surprisingly, a lot like my mom’s version of adobo: saucy with a lot of onions. I’d definitely do it again, but next time, I’ll add fried potatoes at the last minute, just the way my mom does.

Recipe:

2 1/2 lbs stewing beef
3 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs white vinegar
8 cloves garlic, crushed and roughly chopped
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 bay leaves
1 large onion, roughly sliced
2 large potatoes, chopped into large bite-sized pieces

Dump all the ingredients except the potatoes into a slow cooker. Leave it in there for six hours on the high setting. When it’s done, fry the potatoes in cooking oil and drain. Stir it into the adobo. Serve with freshly steamed rice or garlic fried rice.

Note: the adobo in the photo above contains chicken…you can substitute chicken or pork in this dish, and it works just fine.

Real Quick Mussels Spaghetti in a White Wine and Basil Oil Broth: Steve Cooked it Two Nights Ago and It Was Awesome

malziecakes — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 18:50:00 +0000

If there’s anyone I love to talk about food with, it’s my roommate Steve, who actually cooks the things that he wants to cook instead of just sitting around, dreaming, talking and blogging about it, like me. The mussels with pasta is the first recipe Steve attempted from his new Jamie Oliver cookbook, Cook with Jamie (which by the way, is a great hands-on step-by-step cookbook), and it was really good.

It was very subtle, but the basil-lemon oil and the red chili garnish made the dish pop. The mussels were steamed in white wine, turning the mussels into a tender, drunken slurp of ocean. We drank white wine and ate warm ciabatta bread with the pasta. If we only had a bitter arugula salad to go with it, it would have been lovely.

Here are some pics from dinner: Steve tapping on a mussel with the knife to check if it’s still alive.

Mussel shells. Fafa, Katie, Steve and Spage in our dining room.

New Salad Option at the Schine Salad Bar

malziecakes — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:24:00 +0000

If you eat at the Schine salad bar often, you know that your options are limited. Every salad topper is disgusting (corn, chopped eggs, broccoli, drained tuna, banana peppers), the dressings have flakes of tuna and olives floating in them and the only good thing about it is the potato salad and croutons.

But they’ve added something new! Couscous salad with goat cheese and tomatoes and three-bean salad! They don’t have it every day, but I’ve seen the salad bar carry it a couple of times in the past three weeks. My guess, from the mushy couscous and soggy beans is that they’re leftovers from the Goldstein Alumni and Faculty Center or perhaps Food.com. Whatever it is, it’s a blessing from heaven.

Julianne’s Quesadilla Party

malziecakes — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 19:44:00 +0000

I saw this idea on The Pioneer Woman Cook’s Blo g. She just sauteed a bunch of veggies up (zucchini, eggplant, red and green peppers, onions, spinach, etc.) and had a make-it-yourself quesadilla bar, and then baked them until the cheese was melted. A few guests were commissioned to bring wine, Mexican rice and homemade guacamole and bean dip. Anyways, it was a really cute idea so I decided to post up some pictures of our quesadilla party.

My Favorite Bagel Fillings

malziecakes — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 16:26:00 +0000

Growing up in a Southern California suburb, we didn’t eat a lot of bagels, and we certainly didn’t have many delis. So when I moved to the East Coast for college, I made a promise to myself to eat at least three bagels a week (I pretty much do…Dunkin’ Donuts bagels are very good, and most East Coasters scoff at me for saying that…snobs!). I’ve gotten very creative since freshman year with what to do with my bagels, so here are my bagel filling recommendations. I’ll also make up some names for them, too:

The Zesty Treat: Well, don’t call it that in public. Toasted plain bagel with scrambled eggs, fresh chopped tomatoes, shredded pepper jack cheese, chopped avocado, tons of hot sauce and a tiny little sprinkle of kosher salt. A little bit of chopped cilantro doesn’t hurt, either.

The Walnut-Honey-Brie Knockoff: Toasted apple-walnut bagel (available at Bruegger’s and Wegman’s) with light cream cheese and a swirl of honey. It’s divine.

The Grilled PB + J: Take a cinnamon raisin bagel, scoop out some of the insides and fill it in with peanut butter and jelly — not too thick, though! Grill it on a George Foreman Grill or a panini press until toasted, and eat this with a tall glass of milk.

The Mal: This is my favorite way to eat a bagel. Toasted pesto bagel with veggie cream cheese, loads of sliced tomatoes, onions, lettuce, cucumbers and most importantly, Tabasco sauce.

The Classic: Toasted plain bagel with smoked salmon, a very, very thin layer of light cream cheese (so it doesn’t overpower the saltiness of the salmon), thinly sliced red onion, a few capers and a sprig of dill. Serve open-faced.

The Snobby Girlfriend: Marinate 6 sliced strawberries in 1 tbs balsamic vinegar, a splash of white wine and 1 tbs sugar for about 30 minutes. Strain. Take a toasted plain bagel, slather it with goat cheese, and gently place the macerated strawberries on the bagels. Serve open-faced.

Battle: Cornish Game Hen

malziecakes — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 21:14:00 +0000

My roommate Steve and I cooked our hens last night, side by side in the oven. Jordan, my other roommate and resident chicken expert, judged the plates. Steve won — Jordan said that his had a certain kick that mine didn’t have. I suspect it was because he used freshly cracked black pepper, tons of onions, Italian flat-leaf parsley and made a buttery deglazed sauce with cremini mushrooms. It was very good — the mushrooms added an earthy depth to the dish.

I baked mine with potatoes, used lots of garlic and cilantro, stuffed the cavity of the bird with a whole lime, and made a lovely gravy with the crispy bits at the bottom using chicken broth. I wish I used white wine and a spoon of flour though — that always makes a better gravy. We’re thinking about doing a mini version of Iron Chef at our house complete with a secret ingredient…what do you think about that?