Matcha Soy Chia Seed Pudding

For those of you who have never tried chia seeds before...yes they are the seeds used to grow Chia pets. When chia seeds absorb liquid, they swell and gelatinize. They are great for making chia seed pudding, which kind of resembles tapioca pudding. Chia seeds are pretty flavorless, which allows to you to play with lots of flavors. Here's a recipe for a matcha pudding.

Matcha Soy Chia Seed Pudding
makes 2 cups of pudding

4 teaspoons matcha powder
6-8 tablespoons sugar, depending on taste
8 teaspoons hot water
1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
pinch salt
1 1/2 cups unsweetened soy milk
1/4 cup chia seeds


1. In a small bowl, mix the matcha powder with the sugar. Add a small amount of hot water and work the powder into a paste. Matcha clumps easily, so don't worry too much if you can't whisk it completely.

Super fast Chickpea soup and summer squash pizza

Both this soup and pizza are spectacular. First, the soup is hearty enough that Chris doesn't mind it as a main course, he hates how most soups are mostly liquid and he is hungry again an hour after dinner. Second, the pizza has summer squash on it, making it healthier, and a great way for me, the ever Squeamish of squishy foods, to eat another seasonal veggie without the employment of roasting or a grill.

Ingredients for soup:

3/4-1 cup of hummus (I add the cup cuz we love hummus)

1 12oz jar of flame roasted red bell peppers cut into 1/4 inch strips (preferably piquillo peppers for a bit more zing)

2 cups of chicken broth

1 cup of leftover rice (or fresh doesn't matter)

1 cup shredded rotisserie chicken

2 tablespoons of chopped flat-leaf parsley (Lien not the kind you get on your plate at a restaurant)

Salt and pepper

Greek yogurt and hot sauce for serving

Ingredients for pizza:

2 oz of thinly sliced summer squash (about half of a summer squash)

1 pre-baked pizza crust

3/4 cup shredded fontina cheese

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (we all know I added more cheese than called for)

Crushed red chile flakes

Few handfuls of Arugula (1/3 a bag)

1. Preheat the oven to 450 for the pizza. Meanwhile combine the hummus, roasted peppers, and broth in a pot and purée with an immersion blender (or do this in a blender). Then add the rice and the chicken and heat over medium heat until hot through. Once heated through you'll add the parsley.

2. Make the pizza. Sprinkle the cheese over the pizza crust and then layer the summer squash. Sprinkle the crushed red chili flakes over the pizza for desired heat. The bake for 10-20 minutes, on the top rack, until the crust is starting the brown and the squash is getting crisp. Technically the recipe says to broil the pizza, but eh it still worked this way and kept the apartment cooler. The time will depend largely on the pizza crust you use. 

3. Once pizza is done spread the arugula over the top, slice and serve alongside bowls of the soup with Greek yogurt and hot sauce on top.

Bahn mi

Okay this is the egg version of banh mi since we all know I'm secretly Asian on the inside. This gem has been in my rotation for about 2 years or so, and even those it's supposed to be grilled Chris and I still love it. The best place to get your pork tenderloin is trader joes. It will set you back about 10$ but its got two strips in there and usually lasts Chris and I at least 6-8 full meal sandwiches. And everything else is cheap. Adi, I'm looking at you. Lien, everything's super fast too! Truth be told this recipe has some what ruined me for real banh mi too. So lets get down to business.

Ingredients:

1 pack of port tenderloin, very thinly slices. 

1/4 cup Asian fish sauce (is there any other kind?!)

1 tbs honey

2 tbs sugar

1 tsp freshly ground pepper

6 (or more if you like sautéd onions) green onions [scallions]

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 baguettes (if you aren't eating it all tonight cut the other baguette into sandwich size portions, freeze, reheat in the oven/toaster and slice in half)

Hoisin sauce and Sriracha chili sauce

1/2 seedless cucumber cut into matchstick pieces or thinly sliced width wise

1-2 grated carrots

1 cup chopped kale leaves, torn and massaged with a little salt

Cilantro for serving

1. Mix together the fish sauce, honey, sugar, pepper, scallions, and garlic. Transfer to a bowl with the pork and mix till the pork is coated. Refrigerate for 2-4 hrs.

2. Heat a skillet on high, and add the pork cooking until heated through and opinions are soft. There should still be some sauce. About 3-5 minutes.

3. Assemble your sandwiches. Drizzle hoisin and Sriracha on wag half of your bread. Put carrots, cucumber, and kale on the bottom half. Load up with pork, and top with cilantro. Then eat!

Andalusian Chickpea and Spinach Soup

Thanks to my father and his quest to always be healthy, as well as his professed love of the NYTimes, Chris and I have now added this fantastic recipe to our evening line up. It's ridiculously easy, and a great soup to make in under an hour. It's also very easy to modify. What follows is my slightly adapted more twenty-something version of the NYTimes actual recipe

Ingredients:
1 can of chickpeas (The real recipe wants dried and soaked chickpeas, which no one ever remembers to do in the middle of the week)
2 tbs olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced (or just get the good old store bought minced ones)
1 14 oz. can of chopped tomatoes, or 1 lb fresh chopped tomatoes. (I used TJs fire roasted tomatoes this time, which added great flavor)
2 tsp sweet paprika (really whatever paprika you can find. I go back and forth between smoked and sweet)
1 lb potatoes, diced (multicolored for me this time)
1/4 cup dry white wine (like a Pinot Grigio)
Salt to taste
Pinch of Saffron (adds good flavor but you could get away without it, TJs also has it for very cheap)
1 pound spinach, well washed (This is where Costco comes to the rescue!!)

1. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a soup pot. Add the onions and cook until tender about 5 minutes. You will need to stir these from time to time, but its a great thing to do while cutting your tomatoes and/or potatoes. Add 2 of your garlic cloves and cook until fragrant, roughly 30 seconds. Add your tomatoes, paprika, a big pinch of salt (a.k.a. 1/8 a teaspoon), and cook for 10-15 minutes. Stir it often so nothing sticks to the bottom. You want it to cook down to a really fragrant sauce.

2. Add the chickpeas and their liquid. Now remember with canned chickpeas you can drain them and rinse to get rid of some of the gas, or just add them with all their liquid. Also add your diced potatoes (the smaller the faster they cook!), wine, salt and pepper to taste, and 2 cups of water. Bring it all to a boil and cook until your potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes.

3. Stir in the remaining garlic, the saffron, and all your spinach. The spinach is easiest to do in batches as they cook down in size. Otherwise you'll have it flying all over the stove. Cook for another 5 minutes or until the spinach is tender. Season to taste with pepper and salt.

(Btw look at that beeeeeeautiful hard boiled egg!!)

Optional: Add some sausage or meatballs when you put the potatoes in, so they cook through. Serve with boiled eggs and toasted bread, as well as white wine vinegar for those who would like.

Enjoy!

Braised pork belly

Hello everybody! It's been a long time since Rachel and I have updated this cooking website. You thought it was dead, huh? Well now that I have fewer distractions in life, what with wedding planning being done and all, I hope to update the site more often. 

...Starting with pork belly. Delicious, luscious pork belly. While this recipe does take a while to make, it it worth it in the end. It also makes lots of leftovers, leaving you with many no-cooking days ahead.

Braised pork belly:

2 to 2 1/2 pounds pork belly

1 cup water
6 tablespoons fish sauce
6 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 cinnamon stick (or substitute 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder)
1/2 tablespoon whole peppercorns
1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds
1 inch piece of ginger, sliced
8 cloves garlic, peeled
2  large chili peppers
4 pieces star anise
3 tablespoons cornstarch

2 bunches green onions, thinly sliced
1 bunch cilantro, chopped

Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Browned butter, I've found is practically the only way to make a chocolate chip cookie. If you love that slightly salty, molasses, buttery tasty of raw cookie dough, take that and magnify all the goodness in it by 100 and that's how it is with browned butter. Plus the cooked cookies are fabulous too.

I've found a couple different ways to make these cookies and switched it up every time...though mostly I skip the chilling, because who wants to wait a day for their cookies?! Also, excuse the photos, the whole post has been a lovely 6 months in coming up, since it was an impromptu, "I want chocolate, I want cookies!!!" by Andy while I was home. Then while we were cooking he said "you should blog about this!" not knowing where my camera was though, I settled for iPhone photos. So these will have to satisfy your craving till you make these for yourself.

Ingredients:
2 sticks of UNSALTED butter --- Lien, salted butter = salty cookies.
1 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs at room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups flower
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
1 sm. bag (or less) of chocolate chips (you know some times I mostly just want the dough!)
1 cup of chopped pecans/almonds/etc.
1 cup of oats (optional) if you include this add before you add the flour so you can see if you should add less flour, based on the consistency of the dough after 2 cups of flour.

1. Melt the butter in a silver or light colored pan, this is ideal for seeing what color the butter is. Cook over moderate heat until it turns a beautiful amber color, whisking constantly. Now every recipe tells you this will take like 5-8 minutes, it always takes nearly twice that for me, so don't get discouraged. I'm always impatient and hate standing there whisking, so turn on some music or the tv and zone out for a little bit while you whisk since it makes it all the better. My brother stood there the whole time once whisking, and man, that was the best browned butter I've seen in ages. If you don't whisk while it does it's thing then it gets little burned bits in it. You can tell the butter is done when it has an especially nutty smell, and the color matches. I also go all out and get a flash light in there too to help with the color. :)

2. Now your supposed to let the butter cool to room temperature, I let it sit while I get the other ingredients ready, and then just dump it in even if it is still warm. Remember, impatient here. So combine the butter, sugars and whisk until smooth. Then add the vanilla and the eggs. Should look about like this:

3. Then add the baking soda and salt. Then the oatmeal, if adding. Then the flour. Mix after each addition, this is so the smaller and more important for baking/fluffing/rising all that chemistry gobbly gook, like the baking soda get evenly dispersed through the mixture before the flour goes in. Yes, I know most pro chefs just sift the dry ingredients in another bowl together, but again, impatience here, and one less thing to clean.

4. Then stir in the chocolate chips and the nuts.

5. Here's the part where you're suppose to chill it for 24 hours. Choose to do as you wish!

6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, then scoop nice spoonfuls on to ungreased cookie sheets. There's already butter in them, hence no greasing. Bake for about 8 minutes, in the center of the oven, I always rotate the sheets half way. Take out based on your desired doneness, i.e. semi gooey cookies the Ashlee/Rachel way, or harder crunchy cookies, etc. No matter what you want, always take it out when you think they are slightly underdone as they will continue to cook on the cookie sheet.

7. Let them sit on the cookie sheet for a minute or two and then take off and put on a baking rack or a cut up brown paper bag, absorbs the grease.

8. Enjoy!

Bacon Jam

Hello! I am back from the dead. Last post was on November of 2011. I am quite a lazy cook these days. When I cook food, I just want to eat it, not take photos of it and then blog about it. Well let's see how long this keeps up.

Okay, so everyone knows about how crazy sweet and savory food combinations are now. Combine that with America's obsession with bacon. ...Bacon jam!

Bacon Jam
makes 1.5-2 cups of spread 

1 package of bacon
2 medium onions, chopped or cut into slivers
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup coffee (I used 1 instant pack of coffee with 3/4 cup water)
1/8 cup balsamic vinegar (optional)
3-4 dashes of Maggi soy sauce or 2-3 dashes of fish sauce (optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

1. Cut the bacon into small 1/4 inch pieces. Cook in a pot on medium heat until the bacon is browned. Alternatively, cook the bacon strips whole and crumble later.

2. Strain the bacon out of the pan. Discard some of the oil (or use it for something else). Reduce the heat the medium-low and add the onions and garlic. Cover the pan and let the onions caramelize. Stir occassionally, every 2-3 minutes. This step will take the longest--about 20-30 minutes.

3. If you want the bacon jam to be smoother, turn the heat off and let the onions cool down. Then process the onions and bacon using whatever you have, such as an immersion blender or food processor. I decided to keep my bacon jam chunky.

4. Smooth or chunky, add the onions and bacon back into the pan on high heat. Add the brown sugar and stir, allowing the sugar to melt. Then add the vinegars, maple syrup, coffee and secret ingredient (wink wink). The secret ingredient being the soy sauce or fish sauce. A little bit adds some depth of flavor but keeps people guessing. Same with the coffee.

5. Allow sauce to reach a boil and then reduce to medium or medium-high heat. Let the sauce thicken till the liquid is no longer runny and instead coats the pan. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Allow the bacon jam to cool and enjoy it warm or cold. Crackers and toast are a good start. I have also seen it as a condiment for burgers. Yum!