a special sunday dinner

Last night we were making dinner, and basically had a Thanksgiving food hangover.  All we wanted to eat was something ridiculous & decadent, but what we really needed was to eat something light and healthy.  So we compromised.  

I'd been toying with the idea of making mussels in garlic wine sauce at home for a while now (one of my FAVORITE things to order in restaurants) because I had heard that mussels are actually relatively inexpensive, which is kind of funny when you consider that mussels run you upwards of $20 at a lot of nicer restaurants.  So we went to Whole Foods, talked with the fish monger for a minute about if they were good that day, was it really that hard to cook them, and eventually went home with a pound of live mussels for $5.  That was silly, we should've bought 3!  Mussels don't have much meat, so you need quite a few, and you have to account that you'll throw out about a 1/4 of them.  

So here's what I made - I didn't follow any real recipe, I read 4 or 5 and then just improvised, and they were DELICIOUS.  End of story.  Don't be scared, just make them!  

Mussels in Garlic Butter White Wine Sauce

(serves 2 for dinner, 4 for an appetizer)

takes about 30 minutes, no kidding

Ingredients

3 lbs mussels - this is not a "buy ahead at the weekly shopping trip" purchase

buy your mussels the day you plan to cook them, and when you get them home, remove from ice and set the bag in the cold corner of your fridge

3 cups white wine

8 tbsp butter (one stick)

1/2 cup shallots, chopped into a fine dice

1/2 tsp thyme

1 bay leaf

1.  Start by picking through and cleaning your mussels.  Toss out any with cracked shells, and if they're open a bit, tap them on the counter firmly and set aside.  If the open ones don't shut up in a minute or so, toss them as well.  

2.  Rinse the mussels well, scrubbing off any stringy bits.  Then go through them removing the beards (little bunches of stringy muscle peeking out from the side).  They won't all have these, most are removed during processing, but to get the few that remain just pinch between your pointer finger and thumb and tug around until it comes out.  This is, by the way, not entirely essential.  Beards aren't inedible, just not that pleasant texturally, so don't panic if you feel like you missed some!  

3.  In a large stock pot (I used a cast iron dutch oven but anything wide and deep with a tight fitting lid is fine) pour in the wine, butter, shallots, thyme and bay leaf.  Bring to a rolling boil over high heat, and let boil for 2-3 minutes until the liquid reduces a bit.  

4.  Add all the mussels (gently so that don't crack, but quickly) and close the lid tightly.  The mussels will cook for about 5 minutes before the shells open and they're done.  Every minute or so, give the pot a toss so that the mussels are evenly coated in the sauce and each get plenty of heat.  

5.  Remove the pot from heat, and with a skimmer spoon, divide the mussels among wide shallow bowls (you want to be able to keep them in the yummy sauce).  Then spoon the remaining sauce between the bowls.  Serve each person with a chunk of good, crusty french bread.  

Either impress your company with your fancy french cooking skills, or enjoy in your pajamas on the couch Sunday night, while watching Revenge.  

insalata caprese

Isn't it funny how one trip can just really alter your views on food so completely?  I left for Italy the type of person who wanted to put sriracha on EVERYTHING and was really happiest when food involved like 100 ingredients.  

I came home wanting to eat no more than 10 food items: mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, olive oil, good crusty bread, pasta, salt/pepper, parmesan, balsamic vinegar, and truffles (okay, I know truffles is a bit ridiculous, but they were in season over there and came on just about every dish.)  I was also seriously missing the socially acceptable 1/2 bottle of wine at lunch, but I managed to get over that.  

What I didn't get over was this salad.  I ate some variation of this salad at basically every single meal when we were in Florence, knowing full well that there would never be sweeter tomatoes or fresher mozzarella once I got back home.  I managed to come up with a somewhat approximated version of it at Trader Joe's, and then realized that fresh mozzarella is key, so if you have an Italian market nearby that makes their own in-house daily, go that route first!  

The sweet saltiness of the balsamic vinegar reduction will make up for any imperfections in the tomatoes.  

Sorta-Close-To-Italy Insalata Caprese

for one, and then just keep adding to it for more people

2 really good tomatoes

1 ball of fresh mozzarella - if you're going the trader joe's route for this, get the kind packaged in water

10-12 basil leaves

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

rresh ground sea salt and cracked pepper

Slice the tomatoes & mozzarella with a serrated knife and layer back and forth.  Tuck the basil leaves in between each slice.  

Pour the balsamic vinegar into a very small shallow saute pan, heat over medium heat until boiling and then let simmer away until it reduces to about half.  Do not walk away from this!!!!  Balsamic vinegar reduction goes from syrupy to scorched in the blink of an eye.  It's worth it to watch it.  

The reduction will thicken up more when it cools.  Let it get down to just "warm" and then pour over the entire salad - not too much, you don't want it sitting in a pool, but just enough to wilt the basil leaves a little.  Enjoy, preferably with a crusty piece of french bread swiped with a little butter, to sop up the extra balsamic.  

roasted garlic butter mushrooms

I don't have a whole lot to say other than this was awesome.  I had some mushrooms and everything else to make it, and it sounded delicious.  Bonus: the leftover crusty french bread I had from tasting it for my wedding dinner was perfect for sopping up the butter sauce at the bottom of the pan.  I highly recommend you make this inexpensive, delicious, and vegan optional side dish/pasta topping stat.

You'll need:


1 pound white mushrooms
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and chopped
3 large garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons unsalted butter or Earth Balance vegan buttery spread, cut into pieces
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

First, halve the larger mushrooms:

Side note, make sure you have some of this in the house.  I realize this is completely irrelevant to the recipe, but I had one while I was cooking made with almond milk, and it tastes identical to the store bought version minus about 150 calories.  

Second, mix up the capers, garlic cloves, and vegetable oil, and toss the mushrooms in the mixture.  Top with chunks of the butter or Earth Balance.  I used Earth Balance and it was a great substitute.  

Last, throw those babies in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.  

They should come out looking browned & bubbly.  

Like I said before, I recommend serving them with some crusty french bread, and I also had some spaghetti squash with San Marzano sauce, and a few drops of ricotta salata.  Best lunch ever!

I adapted the recipe from Smitten Kitchen's version here, if you're into parsley and creminis!  

apple & sage hand pies

The other night I made these complete delicious and savory little hand pies for dinner.  It was a really simple recipe, with a list of basic ingredients that I really loved.  Darrell took a few leftovers for his lunch and said they were equally yummy served cold.  I found the recipe here, made a few edits, and was glad to find that it was very easily made vegan, although feel free to make it in its original vegetarian version!  

flaky pastry crust (adapted from mark bittman):

1 stick cold butter (use earth balance for vegan version)
1 cup all-purpose flour, plus a few tablespoons for rolling the dough (i swapped in 1/2 c. whole wheat)
1/2 teaspoon salt (or so)
1 teaspoon sugar (or so)
3 or more cold tablespoons of water
1/2 cup or so grated extra sharp cheddar cheese (daiya cheddar shreds were my substitute)
a small handful or so of fresh sage, chopped

for the filling:

3 smallish apples, preferably red - the granny smith can get too tart
a few tablespoons flour
a few tablesoons sugar
juice of one lemon
one small bunch sage, chopped
five slices yellow onion, quartered
one slice extra sharp cheddar cheese per pie (i sliced pieces off a daiya cheddar block)


for the crust:
mix together dry ingredients then use a pastry blender, fork, or hulking food processor to mix butter and cheese into flour until the mixture looks like crumbs. form dough with hands by adding cold water to your crumbs, one tablespoon at a time. when formed into a ball, wrap in parchment paper and refrigerate for ten minutes while you prepare the filling. when you're ready, dump PLENTY of flour onto your surface and rolling pin and flatten away. You'll have to keep reshaping it out to cut small pie crust half-moons.

slice the apples nice and thin.  after slicing, douse apples with the juice of 1/2 a lemon. mix a few tablespoons sugar and flour into slices. add chopped fresh sage and a few slices of onion, quartered. spoon mixture onto your dough rounds (not too much!) and top with a slice of cheddar cheese. fold dough round in half over the filling and pinch shut (using a fork to tamp down the edges works well). place hand pies on a parchment covered cookie sheet and bake at 450 F for about 20 minutes, or until nicely browned.

the.secret.that.shouldn't.be

If you're like me, sometimes, you just HAVE to have something chocolate. So you bake something, you eat some, and life is good. But then....you have that entire pan of brownies sitting around your apartment to pick at, and it's kind of hard to resist. A better plan? Make just one brownie. In your microwave. In about 3 minutes.

Happy Tuesday to you:

Vegan Mug Brownie

2 Tablespoons Flour

2 Tablespoons Sugar

1 Tablespoons Cocoa powder (Note: don't use cocoa mix or quik, it shouldn't have any sugar)

1 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil (a little less than)

1 Tablespoons Water (a little less than)

A tiny splash of vanilla

1 Tablespoons Chocolate Chips

Dash of salt

Mix dry ingredients, then mix in wet ingredients, then mix in chocolate chips.

Throw in the microwave for 1 minute 10 seconds (or maybe 10 seconds more or less depending on your microwave).

Enjoy!

(You're welcome.)

the.recipe

I don't think I've ever truly known the meaning of "Indian Summer" in the way that I've experienced it this year. I know a lot of people are loving it - 80s in October in St. Louis was actually pretty perfect for the outdoor beer festival we went to this weekend - but I'm really itching to break out my winter clothes, and the cozy is totally eluding my autumn.

So in lieu of the fact that it's not yet cold enough to make chili - sad face - I decided to play pretend and make this yummy bowl of happiness.

When other people are hungover from a crazy weekend, they order pizza.

I make soup. It's my favorite food - I know, I'm an odd bird. I also invited this pretty much from scratch, so I'm a little proud of it!

Roasted Winter Vegetable Soup

you need:
1 butternut squash - peeled, cored, and cut into four big pieces
1 sweet potato - unpeeled
1 apple - peeled, cored, and cut into chunks
1 large onion, chopped
4 cups vegetable broth
1 head of garlic - prepped for roasting, excellent instructions on that HERE
1.5 tbsp earth balance, 3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup soy creamer
1/2 cup soy milk
1/4 cup apple cider
dash vegan worcestershire
cumin
3 tsp sage
salt & pepper

step 1: preheat your oven to 425. wrap the sweet potato and apple in aluminum foil and place on roasting pan with prepped garlic. get your hands good and oiled up with 2 tbsp of that olive oil, and rub it all over the squash. then sprinkle with salt, pepper, and a mild smattering of cumin. roast for an hour, or until squash and potato or easily smushed with a fork.
step 2: melt earth balance with the last tbsp of olive oil over medium high heat, and sautee onion and sage for 5 minutes or so, until very soft. add squash, potato (skin on), apple, and roasted garlic (squish out the garlic from the cloves), and sautee for another 2 or 3 minutes. add vegetable broth, apple cider, a few dashes of worcestershire, and a generous sprinkling of salt and pepper. lower heat to medium low and simmer for 23 minutes, tasting at 5 minute intervals to test for seasoning (i.e. more sage, salt, or pepper.)
step 3: add soy milk and soy creamer and stir, taste for seasoning. let simmer 2 more minutes.
step 4: puree soup in batches in a blender, food processor, or with an immersion blender. a blender will make a very smooth, creamy soup, a food processor a slightly chunker soup, and an immersion blender will really do whatever you want! then serve ad enjoy!

"Maybe if they all could be combined - art, rock and fashion. Those were always my favorite things."-Stephen Sprouse