Thai-Style Marinade

I am getting more disciplined about measuring and taking notes! Once we had nearly devoured everything we cooked, we realized we forgot to take a picture. This is exactly the kind of thing you will like, if you like this kind of thing.

Ingredients:

1 cup coconut milk

1 cup unsalted roasted peanuts

6-8 garlic cloves

1/2 shallot (assuming your shallots are huge like mine)

1 heaping tsp fresh ginger zest

2 TBSP curry powder

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (not too spicy for kids)

2 TBSP brown sugar

Scant 1/4 cup soy sauce

2 generous TBSP sesame oil

2 TBSP lime juice plus zest of 1/2 lime (If your lime has more juice than a measly 2 TBSP, then you could add less zest)

1 tsp molasses (if you have it, but it could be omitted)

1/2 tsp salt

handful fresh cilantro or fresh basil

Put the peanuts in the food processor until they are finely minced. Add all other ingredients and pulse to mix. That's it. It's finished. Marinate something and grill it. You may need to salt to taste at the table. I'm always afraid of over-salting since salt is one of my favorite foods.

We marinated mixed veggies and extra firm tofu for about 30 minutes. Longer would be better. I would suggest 1-2 hours. Also, I'm not really a big fan of tofu (unless it's been pan-fried and the edges are crisp, more another time) so I figured that if this were good on tofu, it would be good on anything. It makes a ton of sauce. I'm thinking I'll simmer something in the leftover and serve it over rice noodles. Enjoy!

Dinner in 5

I am happy to promote another Vegetarian Plus product here. I heated a little sesame oil, threw in some "Citrus Sparerib Cutlets" http://www.vegeusa.com/Product4.html (again, these cooked fine from frozen although the box suggests defrosting first), a few shakes of toasted sesame seeds, and after about 4 minutes I added the unseasoned (cooked but cold) brown basmati rice and the cooked veggies I had leftover from the previous recipe. Stirred to heat and incorporate the sauce that accompanied the protein. That's it. Delish.

I threw this together one night last week when I had already fed the kids and realized I had forgotten what day it was and that the husband had band practice and would not be home for dinner. Ordinarily, I would just have a bowl of cereal. This was way better, with no hint of "lonely and a little pathetic."

So if you happen to see the Vegetarian Plus line in the freezer section give some of their products a try. I have been very impressed (based on my research of 2 products). The sauce is rather sweet with a definite kick, so it went well with the plain rice and the veggies that were just slightly seasoned. Note to carnivores: if these were any more meat-like I might find them off-putting!

A Dinner Quickie

Sadly, you can't have dessert for every meal. Moms have to feed our families something for dinner. I have recently been experimenting with vegan dinner options. (I've always been a borderline vegetarian. More on that another time.) My hope is to provide ideas for delicious, approachable, healthful, predominantly vegetarian/vegan family meals. Some will be quick and easy to prepare - things that can be made after working all day and then stopping at the store on your way home and after you've prepared, enjoyed, and cleaned up dinner you still have time for a round of princess bingo before putting the kids to bed. Others will allow more lingering preparation, for rainy non-workdays when you want to enjoy cooking with music and a 4pm glass of wine.

This is a quickie. It's not groundbreaking. It's not miraculous. But it's easy, nutritious, and good.

1 cup brown basmati rice, cooked in 2 1/2 cups water

A bunch of broccoli - maybe 2 cups, chopped

1 red pepper

2 carrots

ginger

2 large cloves of garlic, minced

1 box of Vegetarian Plus brand Ginger "Chicken" (I got it at Whole Foods)

olive oil

sesame oil

soy sauce

toasted sesame seeds

When the rice is about almost finished cooking, heat a small amount of olive oil and sesame oil (about 1 TBSP each) over medium/low heat. Add veggies. Add garlic. I keep my ginger in the freezer and grate it as needed. This way it doesn't go bad before I use it up and I don't even bother peeling it (thanks, Mom). Grate ginger (still frozen), eyeballing an amount about equal to the garlic, right into the pan. Add a little hot water (less than 1/4 cup) and a generous drizzle of soy sauce. It will spatter a bit. Cover. Shake it a little. Simmer for a few minutes until done.

Assuming the rice is finished, place it into a large bowl. Pour the cooked veggies on top. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Heat a little sesame oil in the pan. Add the "Chicken." When I was making this I realized the box said to defrost it first. I didn't. Nothing bad happened. I sprinkled sesame seeds on while it was cooking. Cook until it's browned on the outside and hot in the middle.

We weren't sure how our little meat subsitute was going to taste, so I served it on the side instead of over the veggies and rice. I also kept the seasoning on the veggies and rice pretty mild (sometimes I add ginger, garlic, sesame oil to rice when it's cooking, but this time I didn't), thinking that the meat substitute would possibly be overly seasoned. It all balanced out well and the VegPlus tasted like General Gao's Chicken. It was maybe a little bit chewy (possibly because I didn't defrost it first?) but then, so is General Gao's Chicken. And there were no gristly globs of animal fat. Win.

What Makes My Cookies So Good?

Chocolate Chip Pan Cookies, Non-vegan

I would only dare make some subtle suggestions to the classic tollhouse recipe.

The traditional version calls for 3/4 cup of white and 3/4 cup of brown sugar for 1 1/2 cups of sugar total. If you are happy with that, then great. It doesn't work for me. Pallid. A little bland. A little too sweet. I use about 1 1/4 cups of dark brown sugar and a couple-tablespoons-less than 1/4 cup of white sugar. I could probably just use all dark brown sugar and completely omit the white, but that just seems so radical.

Vanilla. I believe the recipe calls for a teaspoon. Totally not enough. I use a tablespoon.

Chocolate chips. I never use Nestle chocolate chips because they have an overly sweet flavor and waxy consistency that annoys me. Trader Joe's chocolate chips are a grainy disappointment. But I'm not looking to spend a fortune on fancy chocolate chips, either. I almost always use Ghiradelli semi-sweet. And I would never, ever use a whole bag. 50% to 60% of a bag, max.

Preparation. Always have the eggs at room temp (let them sit in a dish of hot water for a few minutes if they are cold). I like to beat the butter, sugars, and eggs for a really long time on low (like for 5-7 minutes on 4 on the KitchenAid). In my mind this builds the foundation, as in a cake. Plus, it relaxes me. Then mix just to combine once the dry ingredients are added. Then I let it sit in the fridge for 10-15 minutes.

I have recently become a fan of the pan cookie to the extent that I may never go back to the round cookie. Why? Well for starters, it's easier and quicker to spread the dough into a pan than to mess with spooning it out into individual cookies. And since I've already spent 25 minutes mixing and waiting, time is now of the essence. The pan also produces a cookie that is thicker. A thicker cookie means more cookie in my mouth in each bite. And while the edges of the cookie are delicious and not to be rejected, it's really the middle of the cookie that I am after, and the pan presents more middle. Enjoy!

Dessert First

*Note to self: Always photograph a cake before squishing it with the cake cover. Casey is tall. Even in a cake.

Salted Caramel Pecan Buttercream (from the Caseycake)

I created this for my friend's birthday. She wanted something nutty and I'm a little obsessed with salted caramel. I used it on a Burnt Sugar Cake (bad name, great cake) from Lorraine Bodger's Great American Cakes (lofty name, charming little book). I cannot bring myself to transcribe her entire cake recipe, but this buttercream would be good on pretty much any kind of cake. It is one of my favorite things I've ever made and worthy of the first post on my little blog. I am now actively seeking any excuse to make (and share) it.

Ingredients for the Swiss Meringue:

1 cup plus 2 TBSP sugar

5 room temp egg whites (let sit in a dish of hot water for a few minutes if they are cold)

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

3 sticks of unsalted butter

2 tsp vanilla

And for the Caramel:

1/2 cup plus 2 TBSP sugar

1/8 tsp salt

1/4 cup boiling/near boiling water

1/4 cup cream

1/2 cup to 3/4 cup pecans, chopped

Salt - between a pinch and 1/8 tsp

Roast the pecans. Add the pecans to a dry saute pan on low heat. I just eye-balled the quantity, knowing I wanted one even layer for the filling of an 8 inch cake. Add the salt and toast them until they are light brown and toasty. Remove and let cool.

Make the caramel. In a saucepan on med/low heat combine the sugar and salt. Heat on low, stirring occasionally with a long handled wooden spoon, until sugar melts and turns a rich amber color, which will happen right before it boils. The lumps and crystals should dissolve (stab them - gently - with the spoon).

Add the water, about 1 TBSP at a time. It will spatter at first. Stir until lumps are dissolved and remove from heat. Add the cream, stir, and set aside to cool.

Make the meringue by placing egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl set over simmering water or in a double boiler. Whisk until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture reaches 160 degrees or is quite hot to the touch (if you don't have a thermometer). It will probably take 5-7 minutes. Your arm will hurt. It is a labor of love. Actually, I think I've used a handheld mixer before and it came out just fine.

Transfer the hot mixture to an electric mixer and whisk on high. Once it has cooled slightly, add cream of tartar. Keep whisking until it has cooled completely and holds stiff, glossy peaks. Patience is important here. It can take 15+ minutes to cool completely, and if you add the butter before the egg whites are cool then the butter will melt, the eggs will deflate, you will have unusable, gloppy, soup, and your husband will have to go to the store and get another dozen eggs and another pound of butter. Been there.

Once the egg whites are COOL, add the butter 1-2 pieces at a time until it's all incorporated. If it suddenly looks curdled, separated, and gross, don't worry (unless the egg whites were still warm). Just keep beating it. Seriously, there are times I've thought it was never going to come back together even though I did everything right. Just beat the crap out of it and eventually it will return to beautiful deliciousness. It doesn't do the curdle thing every time. I would love for someone to explain that to me. Add vanilla.

Switch to paddle attachment and stir on lowest speed for about 5 minutes to remove air pockets (that you may have added by whisking it to a frenzy). Add the cooled caramel. You could stir it just slightly for a marbled look, which would be great for cupcakes. I usually incorporated it completely for a cake. Taste it. Swoon. You made that!

This recipe makes about 5 cups. Scoop out about 1 cup and place into a bowl large enough to hold 1 cup of frosting and the roasted pecans and add the roasted pecans to the 1 cup of frosting.

If you hadn't figured it out yet, the part with the pecans goes between the layers of cake and the part without the pecans goes around the outside of the assembled cake.

I prefer to make buttercream within a few hours of icing my cake or cupcakes so that I do not need to refrigerate it. Refrigeration makes it solidify, which is great for maintaining the shape of lovely piped decorations, but creates the need for a whole other round beating it to get the right consistency.

One tip on frosting a cake. I'm not going into a whole explanation here (and I'm not an expert), but I have one tip for if you are going for a very smooth look. Once the cake is frosted, if you want to smooth out some of the "imperfections" run your spatula under hot water, quickly shake off the water, and glide it across the cake. Maybe everyone knows that, but I didn't and I tried it and it worked. Enjoy!

Hiya

I am a lucky, lucky man. My wife Alycia is a flat out amazing cook and baker. So I get to eat a whole lot of incredibly delicious foods. She very rarely uses any recipes -- she just improvises and throws it all together, then next thing we know, a great meal is ready! The thing is, without a recipe, it can be real hard to reproduce dishes that are absolute home runs (and there are many) -- and it's not real simple to share these dishes with friends. So I thought, what would be great would be a cooking blog dedicated to Alycia's creations. After a while, we could search it and it would be like a cookbook. Thinking we'll have some recipes, some pictures, some notes (some wine pairings!) -- and maybe some color commentary by the chef herself. So, we'll see how it goes!

I've been talking about this idea for a while, but last night, Alycia's vegan lasagna put me over the top. Mushrooms, onions, orange peppers, and flat out delicious "meat substitute"...it was awesome (and animal friendly!). So, I may just kind of casually take some pictures while she's working the stove top or I'm prepping some veggies, take a few notes and see how it goes.

Thanks for visiting!