Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Potato and Oyster Mushroom Curry

This is from "Straight from the Farm". I have been really into curries recently and I think it would be a GREAT winter veg recipe to try!

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Potato and Oyster Mushroom Curry: "Tonight's recipe is the part two of my trio of posts on the new Indian dishes I made to branch out beyond my old favourites. It is based on a recipe that calls for shrimp, but uses oyster mushrooms instead. You could just use white or cremini mushrooms, but oyster mushrooms really are a treat because of their delicate texture and taste. This is also a quick and simple meal that can be on the table in about 30 mins. You will also note the naan sneaking into the picture (and in my last post). I use this recipe which is hands down the best I have ever made and is pretty close to the stuff actually baked in a tandoor oven.

INGREDIENTS
Serves 4
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 onion, halved and sliced
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
- 8 oz oyster mushrooms, cut into large pieces
- salt to taste
- 1/2 tsp tumeric
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 lb potatoes, cut into small chunks
- 2 large tomatoes, small dice
- 1/2 cup water, more if needed
- 1 tsp lemon juice

METHOD
1. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Fry onions and cilantro for 5-7 mins, until soft and translucent. Add mushrooms, salt, and spices. Fry for about 5 mins, until mushrooms release their water. Add a splash of water if spices stick too much.
2. Add potatoes, tomatoes, and water and mix well. Bring to bubbling, then cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 15-20 mins, until potatoes are cooked. Add more water if it gets too dry, then stir in lemon juice and serve.
"

Recipe:

Direction:

Alternatives:

Uses:

Thursday, August 27, 2009

TOP CHEF: Episode 2

This season of Top Chef takes place in Las Vegas and promises to have higher stakes games and many twists. Thus far the contestants are not falling short of the quality expected from the judges and viewers. but, making this season even more enjoyable is the fantasy draft that my friends and I have put together. here is how we are working the points:

QUICK FIRE: 25
TEAM MEMBER OF A WINNING TEAM: 10
WINNING THE WEEK: 45
NOT KICKED OFF: 5
TOP THREE: 75
WINNER OF SHOW: 125

The person with the most points in the end wins. This season, because of who I picked, I will be rooting for only four contestants: Robin Leventhal, Jesse Sandin, BryanVoltaggio, and AshFulk. Bryan was my top pick so I am VERY excited that I was able to get him on my team. I am most worried Jesse, I really think that she has a lot of potential but cannot quite get it together. Robin is a wild card I just hope she will get some "not kicked off" points from her. I really don't know what to expect from Ash but he is funny so I hope he stays for many episodes.

As for this week, I am tied for first place thanks to Bryan pulling out the win. How creative he was with the macaroon! a Macaroon worth 45 points to me. Eve was completely the right choice to leave. If you know you cannot cook shrimp the first time don't keep it up - isn't that Top Chef 101?

In the futures, I do think the Preeti should get the hell off and I am crossing my fingers that Jesse will pull herself together and not try to cook scallops again.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Next Sewing Project


This weekend I finally finished my first sewing project (a cute tote bag complete with lining and pockets). Now I must contemplate my next sewing venture. I am leaning toward a simple dress of some sort. I can envision my attempt ending miserably with different length sleeves, uneven hems, and lookin' like a big hot mess. But, positive thoughts do sometimes pay off.




Here are my options:






OR




I am tempted to buy them all but I know I have to pace my self. Rome, after all, was not built in one day. The Vogue Dress seems more tempting both because it was in the "easy" section and because saying "Vogue" seems much more fashion forward and an overall elevated cool level.


I will keep you posted.

Ice Cream!



Missed it by a day but Sunday seems to have been national ice cream day - or something of the like. While I don't usually eat store bought ice cream I will say than the frozen dessert does not have to be bad for you. In fact I dare to say that Creamed Ice can be a Wholly Food.

Home made ice cream can skip the preserves and processed sugar and flavoring. Using non processed sweeteners or fruits as sweeteners ice cream can be both good for your health and good for the lickin'. It is mango season here in South Florida. Finely chopped mangoes in an sugar free ice cream base would be perfect for a lazy weekend afternoon.....maybe I should invest in an ice cream maker one of these days.

Happy Ice Cream day. I hope you enjoyed it Wholly Foods style.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Cook Book 1

The first cookbook we choose was Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian". Because of the celebration of our nations birth we went with good old American 'no-mayo coleslaw'. It was much better than I thought it would be and made me realize that maybe following a recipe isn't so bad after all. However, we didn't actually follow the recipe ingredient for ingredient because we didn't have everything. This is what we ended up with:

Recipe:

One bag of slaw mix (Buy at your local grocer)
2 table spoon Dijon mustard
2 table spoons red wine vinegar
crushed black pepper to taste
1 table spoon celery salt
1 table spoon minced garlic

Direction:

Mix it all together and chill for a few hours (we did it over night).

Alternatives:

I think you could add bits of broccoli or celery to give the dish another dimension of flavor an texture. I also played around with the idea of adding caraway seeds but maybe next time. We did leave out green onions which would be an interesting addition I might try one day.

Uses:

Pairing this slaw with some sort of protein was perfect. HER VERSION: I ate it with some grilled tuna steak. HIS VERSION: He had it pile on top of his turkey sausage.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

(New way to blog!)Hello all and happy happy July. this month we are going to jump on the food-blog train and take the cookbook challenge. This means that for the month of July we are going to cook one item out of each of our cookbooks. All together i think we have about 8 or 9 so this should be a busy busy month for the blog!


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