Digging into the archives

It's been an embarrassingly long time since I've written on here. And the reason for my silence is that I haven't been cooking much at all. It's sad, really, and I miss it, but between my three jobs I just haven't had the time. I guess this is the reason that the whole 30 minute meals shtick has been so successful! Anyway, here's hoping that I get into the kitchen sometime soon--maybe this weekend. In the meantime, here are some items I made (fairly) recently, but never got the chance to write about.

First up is one of the many pasta dishes Anne and I often make for dinner, this one featuring fresh tomatoes, broccoli rabe (one of my favorite greens) and spicy Italian sausage:

















Slightly more adventurous in its flavors was this monster turkey burger that I made a while back, perched atop a toasted potato roll and topped with cheddar cheese, raw onion, tomato and sliced avocado:






















An adventurous turkey burger? you might be wondering, as I'm willing to bet that you've eaten many a turkey burger that leaves something to be desired (such as, well, flavor or moisture). But, at least the way I make them, the answer is yes. I use several different "recipes" for turkey burgers, but they all have two things in common: one, aggressive seasoning; and two, a little dollop of plain full-fat yogurt in the raw meat mixture to ensure a juicy final product. This time around, I made a Mediterranean-style burger, flavored with onion, garlic, cumin and coriander, but you can really add in anything you want: a few options that come to mind are slow-cooked caramelized onions, roasted red peppers, feta cheese crumbles, and chopped fresh herbs. Just don't use them sparingly.

Rigatoni with Broccoli Rabe, Tomatoes and Italian Sausage
Serves 4

1. Place 2 tbsp. of olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat. Add 3-4 links of hot Italian sausage and cook, shaking pan occasionally, until meat is set and partially cooked through. Remove sausage from pan and allow to cool slightly. Slice sausage into rounds or half-moons and return to pan, sauteeing until sausage pieces are browned. Set aside. Place a large pot of water on the stove to boil.
2. Lower skillet heat to medium. Add half of a large white or yellow onion, chopped, to the pan. Season with salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion becomes translucent. Add 3-4 large tomatoes, chopped, to the onion, and season with more salt and freshly ground black pepper. Lower heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes have wilted and released their moisture. Add reserved sausage to pan and cook over low heat until sauce has thickened.
3. When water comes to a boil, salt heavily and add half a head of chopped broccoli rabe. Cook for 2-3 minutes, then remove with a slotted spoon to the pan of sauce.
4. Add about half of a 1-lb. box of rigatoni or other shaped pasta to the water and cook until just shy of al dente. Remove with a slotted spoon to the pan of sauce and stir well, cooking until pasta is done, about 3-4 minutes. Garnish with fresh olive oil and parmesan cheese and serve.

Mediterranean-Style Turkey Burgers
Serves 4

1. Place 1 - 1.5 lbs. of ground turkey meat in a large bowl. Add generous amounts of ground cumin, ground coriander, dried oregano, salt and black pepper, and a small amount of red pepper flakes. Add 1/4 of a finely-diced white or yellow onion, 2-3 cloves of minced garlic, and 2-3 tbsp. of plain full-fat yogurt. Mix to combine, avoiding over-mixing. Shape meat into 4 thick burgers.
2. Over a hot grill or grill pan or under a hot broiler, cook the burgers to medium-well, about 5-6 minutes per side. If using cheese, place slices over burgers after they have been flipped and about 4 minutes before they will be done. Serve over toasted buns with desired toppings.

Superior snacking

A good snack can be just as satisfying as a meal when you put in the effort and strive to create something more imaginative than the default cheese and crackers, apple with peanut butter, or whatever your personal go-to nosh might be. I've made myself some tasty snacks lately and thought I'd post them here.

I think my favorite snack in the whole wide world is guacamole. It was the dish that converted me to avocados after years of finding their texture unpleasant, and it hasn't lost its charm since. My "recipe" is simple: avocados, mashed but with some chunks left intact; tomatoes, finely diced; green onions, tops included, finely chopped; minced garlic, chopped cilantro and plenty (plenty) of fresh lime juice and salt. Vary the proportions to suit your own tastes; you can't go wrong:

















Onto another classic: the fried egg. What it lacks in invention it makes up for in sheer savory satisfaction. Salty, a little bit greasy, and from its shell to your mouth in about three minutes, the fried egg is the perfect snack, especially when eaten late at night, sprinkled with hot sauce and perched atop a slice of buttered toast:

















And I've saved my most off-the-cuff creation of late for last: the "Mexican" "pizza." I conceived of this most inauthentic bite when staring into my fridge, which on a recent afternoon was nearly as empty as my growling stomach, and spotting the following items: corn tortillas (featured in the taco post below), a block of Swiss cheese, some grilled hot Italian sausage links, a small container of leftover already-chopped scallions and tomatoes, a jar of salsa, and some beginning-to-wilt fresh cilantro. And then the idea for this "pizza" struck me. Here's how I made it. First, I sliced a sausage link into thirds lengthwise and seared them in a hot cast-iron pan, rendering some more of their fat and crisping them up a bit. I removed the sausage and warmed a tortilla in the pan; it soaked up the aforementioned pork fat and looked good enough to eat on its own. But I didn't stop there. I sliced up some Swiss and laid it on the tortilla, ran it under the broiler to melt then cheese, removed it, sprinkled on some scallions and tomatoes and finally placed the sausage slices on top of the whole thing. After one more run under the broiler, I crowned this increasingly vertical stack with a good spoonful of corn-and-black bean salsa and showered it with torn cilantro leaves. OK, yeah, so it was a good 10 minutes' work for a snack, but it was well worth it: hot, smoky, crisp and yielding all at once, this little number pleased my palate as well as my stomach:

Taco night

Stop me if this scenario sounds familiar. You're sitting in your home in the late afternoon/early evening, and your stomach is--gently at first, and then with increasing insistence--starting to remind you that dinnertime is approaching and that you'd better come up with a plan. So you sort of poke around your fridge and cabinets, but there's really not much of anything in the house; you put off the question and do something else for a while, but, inevitably, hunger wins out and inspiration follows quickly on its heels. Such was the case for me earlier this week, when I wanted to cook something for dinner but didn't want to have to make a shopping trip. I had chicken and rice, but couldn't think of anything interesting to do with them, until I spied a can of refried beans in the cabinet. All at once it came to me: tacos. I put in a phone call to my roommate, who was returning home from work, and asked her to pick up corn tortillas, lettuce, an onion and some cilantro; with the chicken, rice, beans and tomatoes I already had, we could whip up a quick and filling meal. And that's exactly what we did.

I'm not going to provide a recipe, because you can put anything you like in a taco. Our particular version featured a corn tortilla base; a scoop of white rice cooked with a little olive oil, onion and cumin; canned vegetarian refried beans; grilled chicken breast coated with cumin, coriander, crushed red pepper flakes and salt; shredded lettuce; diced tomatoes and onions; and sprigs of fresh cilantro:

Another weeknight meal

Last night my roommate Anne and I enjoyed this quick pasta with cherry tomatoes, white beans and chicken for dinner. Anne supplied the ingredients and did the dishes; in exchange, I helmed the cooking process. The result of about 12 minutes' prep work in the kitchen was a warming, filling meal, perfect for the first (already brisk) night of fall:


















Penne with Cherry Tomatoes, White Beans and Chicken
Serves 4

1. Cut 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts into bite-size pieces. Season generously with salt and freshly ground black pepper and set aside. Set a large pot of water on the stove to boil.
2. Heat 2 tbsp. of olive oil in large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until browned on all sides and nearly cooked through, about 6 minutes. Remove the cooked chicken and set aside.
3. Lower the heat to medium and add 1 tbsp. more oil, if necessary. Add 2 chopped garlic cloves and cook, stirring, for about 1 minute. Do not let the garlic brown.
4. Over high heat, deglaze the pan with 1/2 cup chicken broth or dry white wine. Allow liquid to reduce for about 3 minutes, then add 1 pint of halved cherry tomatoes, a good amount of salt, and some crushed red pepper flakes. Cook over medium heat until tomatoes have wilted and released most of their liquid, about 4-6 minutes.
5. Add 1 small can (15.5 oz) of drained and rinsed white beans (cannellini beans) and the reserved chicken pieces to the skillet and stir gently. Lower heat and allow mixture to simmer. Meanwhile, salt the pasta water heavily and add about half a 1-lb. box of penne or other short pasta and cook until al dente, about 10-12 minutes.
6. Drain pasta and add to the simmering sauce, mixing well. Add about 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley, reserving some for garnish, as well as a few tbsp. of olive oil and more salt and pepper to taste. Serve in bowls, topping each portion with more parsley and some grated parmesan, if desired.

Indoor grilling

I don't use the broiler setting on my oven for many things; it's usually reserved for the very specific task of browning cheese on a pizza. If I'm cooking meat, I generally like to sear it in a cast-iron pan, or, even better, grill it outdoors. That way, I have continuous access to whatever I'm making and can more easily judge when it's done. But I always prepare this simple recipe of kofta kebabs--one of my favorite weeknight meals--using the broiler. I don't know why, but it comes out best that way. The meat browns but doesn't char. and it cooks up plump and juicy.

Kofta (or kofte) kebabs are just one example of the myriad (and usually delicious) Middle Eastern meats-on-a-stick. Though Turkish restaurants serve them most often, you can find them on Greek, Lebanese and Palestinian menus, too. What sets this dish apart from your run-of-the-mill cubed-meat kebab is that this one is made with ground meat, and because you can easily incorporate many seasonings into the meat itself--instead of just sprinkling them on top--you end up with something that's incredibly flavorful.

To prepare the kebabs, all you have to do is dump some ground meat into a bowl--you definitely want to use ground lamb if you have access to it, but if you don't a lean ground beef, like ground sirloin, will work just fine--and mix in chopped onions, minced garlic, and a good amount of strong, fresh seasonings. You can put in whatever you like; I tend towards using Middle Eastern spices like cumin, coriander, and cinnamon, but spice blends like curry powder or even five spice would also be delicious--it just depends on what you're in the mood for. The key to this recipe is to season aggressively--you really want the meat to be fragrant with spices. This is not a subtle dish.

After you mix in your spices--along with a lot of salt--shape the meat into vaguely ovoid logs. Don't make them too thick, as they'll take forever to cook though; this is one of the rare examples of a meat dish that I cook to medium or even well-done (forgive my pun). You want the meat to have a firm texture through and through, and that only comes about when there's no more pink inside. At this point you can slide skewers into the kebabs, if you wish; that's a step that's aesthetically pleasing, perhaps, but serves no real purpose when the meat is being cooked in the broiler or on the grill. (The reason kebabs are skewered is because they were traditionally roasted over indirect heat, and the metal running through the center of the meat heated up and cooked the kebabs through.) Then, place the kebabs on a hot grill or on a preheated broiler pan and cook them, turning once, for about 6-8 minutes a side, depending on their size. The kebabs will be hot, spicy and juicy, so take that into consideration when choosing a side dish; some sort of rice pilaf is traditional, but I went for a cooling salad of chickpeas, tomatoes, onions and parsley dressed with olive oil and lemon juice; another nice option would be a cucumber salad with yogurt and fresh mint.



Kofta Kebabs
Serves 4

1. In a large bowl, combine 2 lbs. of ground lamb or ground sirloin, half of a large white or yellow onion, very finely chopped, 4 garlic cloves, minced, salt and freshly ground black pepper, and about 3-4 tbsp. of spices of your choice, such as ground cumin, ground coriander, ground cinnamon, red pepper flakes, and dried oregano. Mix to combine, but do not overmix; shape into 8 ovoid logs.
2. Place kebabs on a preheated broiler pan and cook under the broiler for 12-16 minutes, turning once, or until kebabs are just cooked through. Alternatively, grill kebabs on a charcoal or gas grill.