Grilled Carrots with Avocado and Mint

Whenever I see a recipe in a magazine with beautiful photographs, AND I have all the ingredients on hand (or am very close to that), I take it as a sign that I must try it out. Doesn't always end well, but here's another success story.

Grilled Carrots with Avocado and Mint

Adapted from Bon Appetit

Ingredients

1 tsp. cumin seeds (I used 1 tsp ground cumin)
3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 tsp. honey
¼ cup plus 2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 serrano chile, thinly sliced (I used 1/2 tsp chili flakes)
1 1" piece ginger, peeled, finely grated
Kosher salt
1½ lb. medium carrots, scrubbed, halved lengthwise, tops trimmed to about 1"
2 avocados, cut into large pieces
½ cup mint leaves

1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted (I added this ingredient)

Method

1. Prepare a grill for medium heat (or in my case, the broiler in the oven). Toast cumin seeds in a dry small skillet over medium heat, tossing often, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Let cool. (Or, just use ground cumin.)
2. Coarsely crush cumin seeds in a mortar and pestle or with the flat side of a chef’s knife. Transfer to a large bowl. Add lemon juice and honey. Whisk in ¼ cup oil until combined, then stir in chile and ginger. Season with salt. Let sit until ready to serve, which will give the chile and ginger time to infuse into the sauce.
3. Toss carrots with remaining 2 Tbsp. oil on a rimmed baking sheet; season with salt. Grill carrots, turning occasionally, until lightly charred in spots and tender, 14–18 minutes. Immediately transfer carrots to bowl with sauce. Toss to coat; season with salt.
4. Arrange avocado and carrots on a platter. Spoon any remaining sauce over, then top with mint and sesame seeds. Serve carrots warm or at room temperature.

Vegan Potato Leek Soup

Lots of leeks left over from the Sheet-pan Gnocchi recipe (one of the odd side effects of only using curbside grocery services is that it can sometimes be hard to specify the amount of something you want - I only had the option of picking "Leeks" without any idea how many that meant. Turned out it meant 4 enormous leeks.) Good thing I always have plenty of potatoes in the house, and also most of the other ingredients. Tweaked a little more to use oat milk instead of coconut, and left out the coriander powder as I don't have any and am not always a fan of coriander powder anyway. This made 8 jars of soup.

Vegan Potato Leek Soup

Adapted from Loving it Vegan

Ingredients

1 Onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
4 Large Leeks (washed well and cut into 1/2 inch moons; in addition to the white and light green sections, I also use quite a lot of the darker green parts of leeks, just not the very dark, tough looking parts)
1 tsp Dried Thyme
1 spring fresh rosemary (dried in original recipe but I've got a readily available rosemary bush)
6 Medium Potatoes (~2.2lb/1kg) – peeled and chopped
2 Bay Leaves
4 cups vegetable broth (I used 1 tablespoon of vegetarian Better than Bouillon and 4 cups water)
2 cups plain oat milk
Sea Salt and Black Pepper (to taste)

Method

1. Add the chopped onion and leeks to a pot with the crushed garlic and olive oil and sauté until softened. Add in the thyme and rosemary and sauté.
2. Add the chopped potatoes, bay leaves and vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover the pot and simmer until the potatoes are soft and cooked.
3. Remove from the heat and remove the bay leaves.
4. Then add in the oat milk.
5. Blend the soup using an immersion blender for the easiest blending or, if you don’t have an immersion blender, transfer in stages to a blender jug and blend until smooth.
6. Add sea salt and black pepper to taste.
7. Serve with fresh chopped chives.

Sheet-pan Gnocchi with Asparagus, Leeks and Peas

Cooking has become a stress-relieving weekend activity - trying to find interesting things to make to mitigate the feeling of being trapped is certainly helping. Plus it helps me know that there are tasty lunches for the rest of the week and that I can focus on the other things that take up most of my thinking time these days, like actively being anti-racist so that whenever this pandemic eases, we don't just go back in time.

This recipe was a huge hit - A couldn't stop raving about how tasty the crispy yet potatoey gnocchi were, and happily ate enormous servings of vegetables. Modifications made below to reflect what we had on hand, and I can see myself using the same gnocchi roasting technique and mixing them with lots of different other vegetables as well. I have yet to meet a roasted vegetable I don't enjoy. A couple of vegan adaptations included, which I don't think were too detrimental (though I really miss parmesan).

Sheet-pan Gnocchi with Asparagus, Leeks and Peas

Adapted from the NYTimes

Ingredients

24 ounces refrigerated, precooked gnocchi
5 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 bunch asparagus (about 1 pound), trimmed and cut into thirds
2 large leeks, trimmed, halved lengthwise, then sliced 1/2-inch thick (about 2 cups) - I don't mind the darker green parts of a leek, even though a lot of leek recipes have you discard them
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 lemon, scrubbed
½ cup grated Parmesan (optional)
¼ cup sliced fresh chives or parsley (optional)

Method

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. On a large rimmed baking sheet, toss gnocchi with 3 tablespoons oil and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
2. On another rimmed baking sheet, toss asparagus and leeks with remaining 2 tablespoons oil. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and a few generous grinds of pepper.
3. Put both pans in the oven, with the gnocchi on the bottom rack and the vegetables above. Stir the gnocchi and vegetables after 5 minutes to distribute the oil. Stir the vegetables once or twice more, but leave the gnocchi undisturbed. Roast until vegetables are golden and getting crispy on the edges, about 15 minutes total, and the gnocchi are golden brown on one side, 20 to 25 minutes total. Stir the peas into the vegetables in the last 5 minutes of cooking.
4. Combine the gnocchi and vegetables on one tray, then grate the lemon zest over the top. Sprinkle with half the Parmesan and chives/parsley, if using, saving some for serving. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Toss to combine, and transfer to a serving bowl or platter. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan and chives/parsley, if using, and serve immediately.

Bon Appetit's Shockingly Easy No-Knead Focaccia

Anyone still out there? I've been cooking the whole time, and have made some dishes that have become part of our heavy rotation in the last couple of years, but this blog definitely got pushed to the side. I still reference it a lot to pull up my favorite things to make - so as a personal recipe stash it is really performing its function well!

Now with all the time we have at home in this bizarro world, I've found myself thinking about making things that I would usually skip over, thinking they'd take too much time. Bread is certainly something that falls in this category - our usual homemade bread comes out of our handy little bread machine. But now! While I am still anti-kneading (I never feel like I have the right counter space, equipment, willingness to get super-messy, etc.) I am certainly ok with trying out no-knead recipes. This focaccia met the bill, and my neighbor's rosemary bush resulted in a slight tweak to the recipe since I associate focaccia with rosemary flavors.

Who knows how long we'll be staying at home - I might be able to keep track of time through how many batches of this I make though...

Shockingly Easy No-Knead Focaccia
Adapted from Bon Appetit - the link has awesome step-by-step pics if you're new to baking

Ingredients

• 1 ¼-oz. envelope active dry yeast (about 2¼ tsp.)
• 2 tsp. honey
• 5 cups (625 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp. kosher salt
• 6 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided, plus more for hands
• Enough butter to generously grease the baking pan
• Flaky sea salt
• 1 tsp fresh rosemary leaves, chopped

Method

1. Whisk one ¼-oz. envelope active dry yeast (about 2¼ tsp.), 2 tsp. honey, and 2½ cups lukewarm water in a medium bowl and let sit 5 minutes (it should foam or at least get creamy; if it doesn’t your yeast is dead and you should start again—check the expiration date!).
2. Add 5 cups (625 g) all-purpose flour and 1 Tbsp. kosher salt and mix until a shaggy dough forms and no dry streaks remain.
3. Pour 4 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil into a big bowl that will fit in your refrigerator. This puppy is going to rise! Transfer dough to bowl and turn to coat in oil. Cover with a silicone lid or plastic wrap and chill until dough is doubled in size (it should look very bubbly and alive), at least 8 hours and up to 1 day. If you're in a rush, you can also let it rise at room temperature until doubled in size, 3–4 hours.
4. Generously butter a 13x9" baking pan, for thicker focaccia that’s perfect for sandwiches, or an 18x13" rimmed baking sheet, for focaccia that's thinner, crispier, and great for snacking (I used the 13x9" baking pan option as I was worried about the dough bubbling over the rimmed baking sheet). The butter may seem superfluous, but it’ll ensure that your focaccia doesn’t stick. Pour 1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil into center of pan. Keeping the dough in the bowl and using a fork in each hand, gather up edges of dough farthest from you and lift up and over into center of bowl. Give the bowl a quarter turn and repeat process. Do this 2 more times; you want to deflate dough while you form it into a rough ball. (We learned this technique from Alexandra Stafford, who uses it to shape her no-knead bread.) Transfer dough to prepared pan. Pour any oil left in bowl over and turn dough to coat it in oil. Let rise, uncovered, in a dry, warm spot (like near a radiator or on top of the fridge or a preheating oven) until doubled in size, at least 1½ hours and up to 4 hours.
5. Place a rack in middle of oven; preheat to 450°. To see if the dough is ready, poke it with your finger. It should spring back slowly, leaving a small visible indentation. If it springs back quickly, the dough isn’t ready. (If at this point the dough is ready to bake but you aren’t, you can chill it up to 1 hour.) Lightly oil your hands. If using a rimmed baking sheet, gently stretch out dough to fill (you probably won't need to do this if using a baking pan). Dimple focaccia all over with your fingers, like you’re aggressively playing the piano, creating very deep depressions in the dough (reach your fingers all the way to the bottom of the pan). Drizzle with remaining 1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil and sprinkle with flaky sea salt and chopped rosemary. Bake focaccia until puffed and golden brown all over, 20–30 minutes.

Let's Make All Roasted Brassicas Delicious

This method works on all vegetables that take well to roasting - in particular, brussels sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower. Turn your oven up to 375F (and if you have a convection setting, pop that on as well). Take the equivalent of a large head of cauliflower, cut it up into small pieces (for cabbages, it works well to slice it into wedges that are still attached to the stem at the bottom), and toss it on a generously olive-oiled baking sheet so that all the little vegetable pieces get a light coating of oil. Throw the whole pan in the oven and cook for 25 minutes. Take the pan out, flip all the vegetable pieces so that you start getting nice browned edges everywhere, and then roast for another 10 minutes.

Take all the ingredients below, except for the mint and cilantro, and whisk in a small bowl. When the vegetables are done roasting, toss all of the veg in a large bowl, and throw all the mint and cilantro in, as well as some dressing to taste. Keep adding dressing until you think the whole thing is salty and sour and delicious enough.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon fish sauce (can use vegetarian or vegan substitutes for this)

1 tablespoon lime juice

1/2 teaspoon sugar (brown or white)

1 small chili, minced

1/2 clove garlic, minced

handful of mint

handful of cilantro

Apple Cinnamon Muffins

• 
  
• Apple Cinnamon Muffins
• Adapted from Allrecipes
• 
  
• Ingredients for muffins:
• 
  
• 1 cup (140 g) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (70 g) whole wheat flour
• 2/5 cup (75 g) white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup (75 g) vegetable oil
• 1 egg

1/3 cup (82 g) milk

• 2 apples - cored and chopped
• 
  
• Ingredients for topping:
• 
  
• 1/4 cup (25 g) white sugar
• 1/4 cup (35 g) all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup (57 g) butter, cubed
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease 12 muffin cups.
2. From the list of ingredients for muffins, stir together all-purpose and whole wheat flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and cinnamon. Mix in oil, egg and milk. Fold in apples. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
3. In a small bowl, stir together ingredients for the topping: sugar, flour, butter and  cinnamon. Mix together with fork and sprinkle over unbaked muffins.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

I made a lot of adjustments from the original recipe - swapping out some whole wheat flour for white, cutting the sugar in the muffins, leaving the apple peels on, and halving the amount of topping. This makes muffins that are just sweet enough to be dessert, but could also be happily eaten for breakfast without feeling too guilty...

Carnitas

Since moving to Texas, A and I have been eating a startlingly large number of Tex-Mex or Mexican meals, even when we're home. Partly this has to do with the abundance of Mexican ingredients that are available in the local grocery stores - we can get fresh corn tortillas, canned chipotles in adobo sauce, fresh bunches of cilantro (or coriander to you UK types), salsa verde or roja, etc. so easily that A's new favorite thing to cook is a breakfast taco (scramble some eggs, pop it in a warmed corn tortilla with cheese and salsa, and eat).

But once you start down this path, you get more ambitious, and the next request was to make carnitas at home for tacos/burritos. After looking at a few recipes, and deciding to make a giant batch, here is what resulted. It was amazing. I'm toning down the orange peel just a little in the recipe here since we both found the orange flavor to be very strong, but not in an unpleasant way - I think we'd just prefer it a bit more subtle. Go forth. This makes enough for 20 burritos, plus another stash of carnitas for the freezer, so be warned.

Carnitas

Ingredients

6 pounds pork shoulder
5 strips orange zest
10 garlic cloves, minced
2 large onions, chopped
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 cinnamon sticks, preferably Mexican canela
4 bay leaves
3 teaspoons crushed dried oregano leaves, preferably Mexican
3 teaspoons kosher salt
3 teaspoons cumin

Method

1. Trim any thick fat from surface of pork. Cut meat into 1-inch cubes, discarding any that are pure fat. Put pork in a large pot. Add enough water to just cover.
2. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Skim off any scum that forms on surface. 
3. Add orange zest, garlic, chopped onion, red pepper flakes, cinnamon, bay leaves, oregano, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and the cumin. Simmer uncovered for 1 1/2 hours, until pork is very soft; add water if necessary to keep meat submerged. 
4. Continue to cook until water has evaporated, about 30 minutes. Cook a little longer to fry meat slightly; cook even longer if you prefer crisper meat. Stir often.
5. Remove bay leaves and cinnamon stick. Fill burritos with carnitas, rice, beans, salsa, cheese, etc. or use it in tacos with some cilantro, salsa, etc.