Try this!

So simple and totally delicious:

Carmelized tofu and brussels sprouts from 101 cookbooks

We have tried to achieve optimal tofu consistency and taste in the past, and things just haven't worked out. This time I froze and thawed the tofu, cut it into cubes, and squeezed out most of the water. I cooked it in a non-stick pan with a little hot oil+salt. It sucked up the oil immediately and browned nicely in a few minutes. After that you add garlic (next time I'll use one clove instead of two), toasted chopped pecans (I used cashews) and brown sugar. The sugar carmelizes and creates sweet/savory tofu bliss:

Then I sauteed shredded brussels sprouts in a little more oil and salt, until brown and crispy.

Et voila!

I'm so happy with this that I'm thinking of buying Heidi's cookbook, Super Natural Cooking. Has anyone tried it? Here is another great site that she is involved in.

Chicken Tikka Masala

This was soooo good, much better than I expected. It's from the Sept/Oct 2007 Issue of Cook's Illustrated (Which I highly highly recommend - everything I have made has been great).

The sauce had a nice warm spicy taste from the garam masala, and the chicken was incredibly tender and flavorful because of the yogurt marinade.

For the chicken tikka:

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/4 tsp cayenne

1 tsp salt

2 lbs chicken breasts (I used 1 lb and it was fine)

1C plain whole milk yogurt

2 Tbs vegetable oil

2 medium garlic cloves, minced

1 Tbs. grated fresh ginger

Mix together the spices and salt and sprinkle chicken on both sides. Refrigerate for 30-60 min.

In a large bowl, mix together the yogurt, oil, garlic and ginger and set aside.

For the sauce:

3 Tbs. vegetable oil

1 onion, diced fine

2 medium garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp grated fresh ginger

1 serrano chile, ribs and seeds removed, minced (I didn't add this)

1 Tbs. tomato paste

1 Tbs. garam masala (or - 2 tsp ground coriander, 1/4 tsp ground cardamom, 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon and 1/2 tsp black pepper)

1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes ( I used whole and chopped them up while they were in the pan).

2 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 C heavy cream (I only used 1/3 C, and I think you could get away with less)

1/4 C chopped fresh cilantro leaves (I didn't add this).

Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and cook for 8-10 minutes, until lightly golden.

Add garlic, ginger, chile, tomato paste and garam masala. Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add crushed tomatoes, sugar and salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in cream, return to simmer, and remove from heat. Cover to keep warm.

While sauce simmers, position oven rack about 6 inches from heating element and turn on broiler. Dip chicken in yogurt mixture, shake off excess, and place on foil-lined broiler rack. Broil 10-18 minutes, turning once during cooking. And don't eat any pink chicken, because you might end up with Campylobacter jejuni.

Let the chicken sit for 5 minutes, cut into small chunks, and add to sauce. Stir in cilantro.

OK obviously I need to get busy because we don't even have the CSA yet and here are the veggies currently in our kitchen:


Most of this is from my SIL's Mom. I like the fact that we're straddling two seasons: lots of summer tomatoes but also the first appearance of some squash.

One thing the CSA has done for me: the thought of wasting a ripe roma tomato makes me die a little inside. So I wanted to use up some of those and also the two white epplants that you see up above. The solution: polenta stacks with eggplant, tomato and mozzarella. With a few modifications because a) I was hungry and feeling rather lazy and 2) I was the only one eating (R. is here for the weekend).

First I chopped up the eggplant, tossed with salt+pepper+olive oil and put it in the oven for about 15 minutes at 400 deg.



I made polenta: boiled 1C H20 + a pinch of salt and added 1/4 C cornmeal. I whisked this until it was thick, about 3 minutes. I patted this into the bottom of a large bread pan (the recipe is for little polenta squares - this is where my laziness started to take over).

I sauteed a garlic clove in olive oil and added 4 seeded, chopped roma tomatoes.
Next: a little salt+ pepper and some balsamic vinegar.
I just heated this for a few minutes until it was warm.

Then I layered the eggplant, some cheese and the tomatoes into my polenta-filled baking dish and threw it in the oven for about 10 minutes.

It turned out pretty well!

Does anyone have any okra recipes that they could share?? I've never made it before.

OK, time to go read and fall asleep early - school this week has been craaaazy. I'm on week four of couch- to- 5K and I want to get up early tomorrow for a jog. (Maybe)More on this endeavor later.

Oh the possibilities

I'm not sure if I have mentioned this before but one thing I really like about cooking involves transformation. You know: sugar+water into caramel, crunchy rice+stock into creamy risotto, flour+yeast+water into bread. Here's a new one for me - citric acid+milk+rennet into mozzarella cheese.

I bought a kit from New England Cheese Making Supply (their site seems to be down at the moment) and a gallon of milk. Ultra pasturized milk (heated to very high temps to lengthen storage time) won't work. Unfortunately, most organic milks are ultra-pasteurized, so I ended up buying the non-organic stuff.


First you mix milk and citric acid (lowers the pH, which denatures some milk proteins and helps from curds and whey) and heat to 88 degrees F.





Then you add rennet and wait for the curds and whey to separate. Rennet is basically a mixture of enzymes that digest milk proteins so that you end up with soluble proteins in the whey and insoluble proteins in the curd. Once the curds are firm, you can cut them with a knife:





In the case of mozzarella, you pour off as much of the whey as possible, heat the cheese in the microwave and knead until it is shiny, smooth and stretchy:



This was just a test run - I didn't add any salt during the kneading process, so this had a nice creamy taste but it was very subtle. Bruscetta with homemade cheese is in our future, and also possibly a ricotta cheesecake?

Dragon boat practice tonight - I'll take pics if I can.