Dinner Guests

We usually make a lot of food, so friends and loved ones drop by to eat with us. Here is Mrs. C's cartoon rendition of one of frequent dinner guests.

His shirt says "Build Levees" because he studies rivers and cool shit like that

He's saying "I'm going to throw away this phone" because he's kinda old school and doesn't like having a cell phone.

He's thinking "Hootelolly" because he's kinda crazy, being bearded and all.

I don't know what the "I love the Jesuits" stuff is about.

In general, we like having him come around because he brings some good dinner conversations.

Mrs. Squash

Hi there! Afterhours has been bugging me to stop slacking on the blogging, so here I am. Okay, so let me make this quick.
Picture # 1: Squash bread pudding. I don't really remember how I made it. This picture is from, like, two O Chem tests ago!
Picture # 2: More squash. This time in a risotto with half arborio rice and half wild rice. Oh, those little red flecks are peppers from our neighbor's garden. The reason we ate so much squash is that there were also Delicata squash in the garden. Delicata is my favorite kind of squash, but the ones in the garden were not as good as the store-bought ones. I say, leave squash growing to the experts, especially when you live in Berkeley where the summers are chilly. Anyways, these squash dishes were cheap, satisfying, and a bit mushy. The crunchy-chewy quality of wild rice was a good counterpoint to the mushiness of the squash.
Picture #3. This was delicious! It may look a bit like airplane food from the 1990s, but the dish had a warmth and depth to it on account of cinnamon sticks and cloves. This recipe is called "Irish Stew," but it is actually a Parsi recipe from the wonderful book, My Bombay Kitchen:Traditional and Modern Parsi Home Cooking, by Niloufer Ichaporia King.

It's Decorative Gourd Season!

McSweeney's has the most awesome article about how every fall, our nation develops a gripping collective obsession with gourds of all shapes and sizes, written from the perspective of the anti-Martha Stewart, and aptly titled: It's Decorative Gourd Season, Motherfuckers!

Here is Mrs. C, tenderly looking after the gourds. Note the look of devotion (perhaps even obsession?) in her eyes.

I thought the carving was Mrs. C's self-portrait, but apparently it was a skull. Go figure?

Oxtail Soup

Whenever I tell people I'm making Oxtail soup, they genuinely ask me, "Ox have tails???" I guess in your day to day you don't really ask these kind of questions, but the answer is "yes, but not anymore."

This is one of the heartiest Korean soups you can make and by far one of the easiest. You just need 3 ingredients.

1. You get about 2 pounds of oxtail and trim off as much of the fat.

2. Put them in a pot and add water so the tails are submerged, add 4 cloves of garlic.

3. Bring to boil and lower heat and simmer for 2-3 hours. After a while the broth takes on a beautiful nutty color and it tastes really really good because of all the flavors coming out of the bone. The meat will be super tender and come right off the bone. The best part are the clear squishy tendon bits.

4. Season with salt and pepper to taste, garnish with green onions

5. Serve with rice of course!

The best way is to just use your fingers. It's more satisfying that way.

Chili Lime Cashews

We, at this blog, don't give snacks the credit they're due. We had half a bag of raw cashews left so, coated them with chili powder, ground coriander, dash of salt, brushed the whole thing with a little olive oil and squeezed some lime juice on top and roasted in the oven for 15-20 min at 370.

Cashews are pretty awesome on they're own, but they were even better all jazzed up this way.

Salmon Cakes with Yogurt Chive Sauce

Just look at these orange beauties grilling up! There's something to be said about the wonderful aroma of well-seasoned salmon filling your house. It had some coriander, cayenne pepper, chives, lemon zest and good ole mayonnaise. Check out the recipe here.

After many foodings (food+outing) Mr. A and I have come up with our ratio theory to food pricing. The more stacked a food is, the more expensive. If it is taller than it is wide, then it will be more expensive: French food, New American, you get the picture. If its wider than it is tall, it is less expensive: Mexican platters, Chinese food, Pizza! The salmon cakes were served to look more expensive than they really were (total cost less than $20 to make 6 servings.) They rested on some polenta with grilled tomatos, and a sprig of oven-roasted kale with a side of yogurt chive sauce.

Aleister being pouty because he couldn't have any salmon.

Chicken Piccata with Arugala

Hello dear reader, sorry for the delay. Exams and such. But we have been cooking up a storm this past month and have some gustatory delights to share.

Here's a very simple dish that tastes divine! Serves 4-6

Make the lemon-butter sauce:

1. Sautee 6-8 finely diced garlic cloves in TBSP of olive oil

2. add 1/2 cup of salted butter and melt over low heat, stirring so it doesn't burn

3. add 1/4 cup of water

4. add 2-3 TBSP of freshly squeezed lemon juice, depending on if you like more tartness. If it's too lemony, add more butter and water to dilute.

5. add salt to taste

Make the pasta with fixings

1. Boil water with pinch of salt, and throw in your choice of pasta. Drain out the water when it's cooked and set aside

2. Dredge chicken breast fillets with flour, salt, pepper and thyme

3. Lightly brown chicken in some olive oil. Check to make sure its thoroughly cooked.

4. Slice the breast meat after cooking so that the meat stays juicy and put back in pan.

5. Add the cooked pasta and 1/4 cup of capers to the chicken

6. Add the lemon-butter sauce to the mix

7. Lastly add about 5 cups of baby arugula and allow it to wilt, but don't overcook. You want the color to be bright green. Arugula has a peppery herby flavor that will mellow out when cooked. It adds such a good flavor to any mediterranean dish.

8. Add last sprinkles of freshly ground black pepper

Serve up with your favorite white wine!

****

We tried the pasta out with some refreshing beet salad with more arugula and asian pear Recipe from epicurious. Roasting your own beets takes FOREVER!! so just get the ones in a can--they taste pretty much the same. Even though Mrs. C doesn't agree with me.