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Two Ingredients

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Two Ingredients

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Sausage and Red Pepper: Better late than never?

[Feb. 15th, 2008|12:14 pm]

First, I want to apologize for having taken ten days to write this up: Apparently, I am a flake. Who knew? *wry* -- And on top of that, I've managed to actually close the window on this post when I was almost done, so perhaps I was a little discouraged.
It happens, I'm over it.

I actually DID make this for Shrove Tuesday, and I think if I'm going to repeat this one, I'll have to remember to do it a day early: It didn't quite taste 'right' on the same day, but when I had it for lunch the next day? Wow, that was good. So, yes, it takes some time for the flavors to combine properly.

I will warn you: This is a red (or Creole) jambalaya, but it in no way should be considered an authentic jambalaya recipe. Though, in spite of that, it's still good enough for my southern-raised co-workers to praise it. I do take shortcuts (which I really hate doing, and is why I don't particularly care for Rachel Ray), but that's mostly because I haven't really perfected the concept of a roux.

Still, there's a reason that making jambalaya every Fat Tuesday for the past almost-decade since I moved out of my parents' house -- I just can't get enough of it, and one of these years I'll have something I won't feel obliged to tack a disclaimer on.

( Bansh's Jambalaya, 2008 )

[Feb. 15th, 2008|06:08 am]

Hello, folks! -- We haven't forgotten the challenges, it'd just been a weird week in the past seven days.

So! Without further ado (and many apologies from Rami), this week's challenge is...

Scallops^¹ and Parsley

¹ Or, you know, any other kind of fish (since I know some people are allergic to shellfish).

[Feb. 5th, 2008|10:07 am]

[

mood

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ditzy

]

Know what's lame? Mods that forget it's their turn to post. Really, really lame.
... So now that I've admitted my lameness publicly... :}

It's Fat Tuesday! So this week, let's have the ingredients be...

Sausage and Red Pepper

Yes, I'm making jambalaya. Why do you ask?

[Jan. 25th, 2008|10:51 pm]

Iiiiiiiiiiiiiit's Friday!

This week's ingredients:

~~Disobedient Puppy~~

Swiss Chard and Roasted Garlic. Show me what you've got!

[Jan. 18th, 2008|07:18 pm]

Hey, look at that: It's Friday! And that means it's time for another challenge.

This week's challenge ingredients are:

Avocado and a Protein Source

I'm probably shooting for chicken, eggs or beef myself, but I figured best to give you room to play -- Have fun, and please post about what you're doing!

[Jan. 15th, 2008|09:17 pm]

[

mood

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ow!

]

First: Clearly, I can no longer be left unsupervised in the kitchen, as I tried to remove the tip of my thumb while dicing a large onion. Yeeouch! (Fortunately, it wasn't THAT deep and cleaning pressure stopped the madness, but I'm a little bit tiffed at myself.)

Luckily, it was on the last downstroke for dicing my onions and I didn't bleed on them, so I can now share the evening's answer to the latest challenge of lentils and onions.

The dish leans heavily on Heidi of 101Cookbooks.com's 'Lively Up Yourself Lentil Soup' -- and I did include the saffron-yogurt cream, but I still gave it my own touches.

I apologize, as I'm largely c&p'ing the directions that my stew shares with Heidi's, but I hope you can all forgive as typing is a REAL pain right now.

Lentil Stew with Saffron Cream
Yield: 8 servings

Soup:

Saffron Yogurt:

Since I have a food steamer, I rinsed my black lentils and put them into the basket with 3 cups water, then set the thing on steam for 25 minutes: If you don't have a steamer, bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a large saucepan, add the lentil, and cook for 20 minutes, or until tender. Drain and set aside.

While the lentils are cooking, make the saffron yogurt by combining the saffron threads and boiling water in a tiny cup. Let the saffron steep for a few minutes. Now stir the saffron along with the liquid into the yogurt. Mix in the salt drizzle of oil and set aside.

Heat the oil in a heavy soup pot over medium heat, then add the onion and salt and saute until tender, a couple minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, lentils, and soup stock and continue cooking for a few more minutes, letting the soup come up to a simmer. Sprinkle with the paprika and garlic, and then stir in the chopped greens; wait another minute. Taste and adjust the seasoning if need be. Ladle into bowls, and serve with a dollop of the saffron yogurt.

PS: Chicken or any store-bought stock will work, or even water if you want to keep it simple -- but! For those of you (like me) that had the bones, back and neck of a recently roast bird on hand, I used method 1 of this How to Make Chicken Stock tutorial to do it. Yum!

3 comments|post comment

[Jan. 11th, 2008|10:44 pm]

Only an hour and fifteen minutes left in the day, but it's still Friday!

This week's ingredients:

LENTILS AND ONIONS

Don't forget that you can always post recipes for any of the challenges!

Champagne Challenge -- Champagne Gelée with a twist

[Jan. 9th, 2008|09:25 pm]

Since I picked champagne as the ingredient of the week, here's the required ingredient along with two of my personal favorites. This was inspired by a project I managed for a New Year's party I hosted, when I ended up doing finger-friendly servings: The amount below will fill 6-8 ramekins (or 2-3 ice cube trays) depending on how full you make them, so feel free to scale accordingly.

Pomegranate-Champagne Gelées

To start, pour the champagne and the pomegranate juice into a small to medium bowl. Sprinkle the gelatin on top: I used three ¼oz packets in mine, stirred briskly and set it aside to dissolve until I'd made the simple syrup.

To get that, I brought the water to a boil in a small nonstick saucepan and then added the quarter cup of sugar, stirring and boiling until the sugar had all dissoved.

I immediately took the simple syrup off the heat and stirred in the champagne mixture: If the gelatin doesn't fully dissolve or clumps at this point, you want to put it on low heat and stir constantly until it does (1 minute, tops).

I have a small quarter-cup sized ladle, so I used it to carefully transfer the hot champagne-gelatin mixture into the ramekins: You can pour if you don't have one, but mind the potential for spills. Drop about 3 to 4 pieces of candied ginger into each ramekin and chill at least 2 hours.

At this point, you can serve it as is, or gently unmold the sides of the champagne gelée with a hot butterknife and invert it over a dessert plate for a really nice presentation. The ginger added a little spicy zing that really made me happy.

[Jan. 4th, 2008|07:40 pm]

[

mood

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bouncy

]

And we're back -- Goodbye hiatus, goodbye 2007, and hello 2008!

I believe we're switching the official Challenge Dates to Fridays now, as we kept having moments of, "Crud! It's Wednesday, isn't it?" -- So now you have all weekend to play with the ingredients, and no mid-week crisis if you forget.

Since I know I have some left over, here's the ingredient:

Champagne, Sparkling Wine, or Other Carbonated Beverage

I'm going to take a shot at a champagne risotto I've been eyeing for months, and I encourage you to do the same: Take your leftover bubbly and apply heat until you get some tasty result.

Let us know what you come up with!

State of the Community

[Dec. 5th, 2007|09:11 am]

Hey, folks.

You've probably noticed that we're pretty quiet over here these days: Mea culpa! Rami and I have been extremely distractable by life these days, so we're putting the recipe challenges on hold.

Keep an eye here as we will begin posting again around the holidays.

Keep on cooking,

Bansh

[Oct. 31st, 2007|06:18 pm]

Well, it's Wednesday again -- have you made your cake?

S and I made a delicious Italian Meringue Buttercream icing, and if you're lucky, I'll post the recipe. ;)

In the meantime, I give you this week's ingredients:

Pecans and Apples

4 comments|post comment

Cake sans frosting... For the moment.

[Oct. 30th, 2007|10:53 pm]

[

mood

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accomplished

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I did it! I actually made it on time! Woo hoo!

... Alas, there are no pictures at this time, because my camera has eaten all the batteries. Boo.
I intend to have some taken later this week when these end up donated to the company UNICEF bake sale, but I assure you, they're BEAUTIFUL.

( (Pumpkin) Spice Tea Bundt Cakes )

This Week's Challenge!

[Oct. 25th, 2007|12:43 pm]

[

mood

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devious

]

Afternoon, folks!

This has been a bit of an odd week for Rami, so I'm filling in for her on this week's challenge. (Day late, dollar short -- Whatever.) And since someone let it slip that her birthday celebration is this weekend...

This week's ingredients are:

Cake and Frosting.

Yep. Any cake you like with any kind of frosting. Want to make a savory one with a sour-cream based frosting? Fabulous! Carrot cake and cream cheese? Go for it. Crab cake? ... Well, that might be pushing it, but I'd still love to see the result.

Share pictures, and have yourselves a good weekend!

Pears and Pastry!

[Oct. 22nd, 2007|01:36 pm]

So, I was going to do this with Filo Dough, because I could have it, and it would be healthier. But then it turned out that the brand the store in VT had, I couldn't have, so I said screw it and got the puff pastry.

I did get the shells, so that the entirety of my work in re: pastry was "put the frozen bits in the oven and watch them puff up." So if you'd rather make your own... more power to you. For me, this was perfect.

( Maple Pears in Puff Pastry )

I suspect this would also be very tasty served with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.

[Oct. 17th, 2007|10:13 am]

Sorry, folks, I've been lame about posting my recipes in the past couple
weeks: It'll turn around once I have a working vehicle again and can get
myself to the store, promise.
If you still haven't posted your Onion and Cinnamon offering, get to it when
you get the chance -- but it's Wednesday now, so you know what that means.

New ingredients this week are:

Pears and Pastry.

It was originally going to be pears and puff pastry, but

darthrami
advised she'd rather do filo -- So pick your favorite pre- or hand-made
pastry dough and have fun!

[Oct. 10th, 2007|10:22 pm]

For Figs, anyway. And not even that! Feel free to continue to post your recipes.

But we have this coming week's ingredients:

Onions and Cinnamon

GO!

Barley and Olive Oil

[Oct. 5th, 2007|07:28 pm]

Better late than never, right?

( Impromptu Barley Risotto )

[Oct. 3rd, 2007|02:54 pm]

( Fig Boot Recipe... )

[Oct. 3rd, 2007|10:00 am]

[

Current Location

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]

Rami was gracious enough to let me take this week's challenge, since I had a complete memory meltdown and forgot the ingredients I'd REALLY wanted to provide: If you're still working on last week's barley and olive oil -- I certainly am! That week got away from me -- post it when you're ready, but don't forget this week's ingredients. I'm not sure how much longer they'll be in season!

Figs and Butter

See you on the line!

[Sep. 26th, 2007|07:29 am]

Look! It's Wednesday!

If you haven't finished last week's garlic and sea salt yet, please go ahead and post it when you're ready -- And now, for this week's ingredients.

Since I can't make it garlic and chocolate (garlic two weeks in a row?), this week's challenge is...

Barley and Olive Oil

Have fun!

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