Hey, just a reminder that I’ve moved the blog to its namesake URL, Chronicles of a Curious Cook.  I will periodically post on here as well, but mostly when I take the time to calculate the cost per serving or something else price related.

That said, potatoes are on sale here: .99 for a 10 pound bag!  Haven’t seen them that low in …. maybe ever?    And I just made the most awesome roast potatoes, along with carrots, parsnips and butternut squash. I tried a new technique, essentially par boiling the veggies (other than the squash) for a bit before roasting. They came out fantastic!  Youngest took some for lunch along with some leftover roast chicken and said she wants that again tomorrow for lunch. You can just do potatoes, pictured here. Or combine them with other vegetables, like butternut squash, parsnips and carrots.

• potatoes, peeled and cut in 2-3″ chunks, or just in half
• carrots, scrubbed and ends trimmed off
• parsnips, peeled and cut into wedges at least 1″ thick
• butternut squash, halved, seeded, and cut in wedges

Roasting Vegetables

Bring a pot of water to boil while you preheat the oven to 400 F.  Simmer the potatoes and carrots for 5 minutes, then add the parsnips and cook another 4-5 minutes.

The squash doesn’t need to be parboiled.

Drain in a colander and let sit for a few minutes. Take everything but the potatoes out of the colander then shake the colander around a bit to shake up the potatoes.

Put the vegetables in a shallow pan, along with a few cloves of garlic and some sprigs of fresh parsley if you have some. (Grow some! )  Drizzle some olive oil and add salt and pepper to taste.  Sprinkle some paprika on the squash if you’d like.

Roast at 400 for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the size of the vegetables.

This packs well for a school lunch the next day. My daughter took some vegetables, leftover roast chicken, some ketchup in a small container, and some sliced apples and pears and declared it one of the best lunches ever.

Brussels Sprouts and Potatoes Cooking

Okay, I really had a plan for using my freezer stash but then on the way home from an after-school thing tonight, my youngest reminded me we needed to swing by the grocery store for a key item. Once we were there she started riffing on various dinners we might have tonight. First it was chicken caesar salad, then it was this then it was that. Walking through the  produce section she spotted some Brussels sprouts and said “Oooh, put some of those in a pan with some red potatoes and olive oil and ’stuff” and cook them up. That would go great with steak!”

Do not shop when you are hungry!

Although really, this was not a total splurge. I picked up some Brussels spouts and small red potatoes, both in season, and the cheapest steaks that were on sale. I spent $1.50 on the Brussels Sprouts (and there are leftovers), $2 on the potatoes, and $8 on the steak (lots of leftovers which WILL get used up!).  We ate less than half the steak tonight so lots of leftovers for lunch!  So maybe$2/serving tonight. A bit high but for steak!

• 1/2 pound Brussels sprouts ($1.50 here, now), ends trimmed off and sliced in half or quarters
• 1/s pound petite red potatoes ($2/pound here now), cleaned and cut in sizes about equal to the Brussels sprouts
• 1-2 Tbs olive oil
• various seasonings, I think I used garlic salt, seasoned pepper, dried parsley….
• 1/4 cup chicken broth

I tossed the Brussels sprouts and chopped red potatoes  with olive oil, garlic salt, seasoned pepper, and dried parlsey.

Brussels Sprouts and Potatoes

Heat a heavy skillet with of olive oil and add the potatoes and Brussels sprouts. Cook a few minutes until browned on one side and then stir to get another side down onto the hot side of the pan. Sprinkle with the seasonings (or experiment with your own).

Brown a few more minutes. then add the chicken broth and stir, then cover and cook until the potatoes are s0ft (test with a fork). Then remove the lid and crisp up everything and serve.

This went great with some barbecued steak ( bought on sale and sprinkled with garlic salt and seasoned pepper and a simple green salad.)

Beans and Greens

I first got this recipe from the newspaper quite a few years ago. I’ve since lightened it a bit by using fewer breadcrumbs and less cheese. I also typically halve it so it serves 3-4 as a side dish, so feel free to double to serve 4-6. It goes great with many things. I’ve served it with hamburgers, roast chicken, barbecued pork tenderloin or chops, etc.  The spinach is there but very mild, so it’s a nice way to get a few more greens into a meal.

• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 1 15-oz can white beans
• 1 tsp vinegar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 cups raw spinach, blanched, squeezed dry and chopped (or use a 10-oz package of frozen spinach if you’re doubling)
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan (or cheddar or Gruyere)
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs

Preheat the oven to 425.

Grease a small gratin dish with a small bit of olive oil. The dish should be smaller than 9×9.  I think I used about a 5×7″. A 9×9 works if you double the recipe.

In small bowl, put the can of beans (undrained, include the liquid), 1.5 tsp olive oil, vinegar and salt. Mash together with a bpotato ean masher or mix with a mixer to mush up some of the beans.

Add the chopped, squeezed dry spinach and the red pepper flakes and stir together.

Put the beans in the gratin dish. Sprinkle with the cheese and breadcrumbs and drizzle another small spoonful of olive oil over the top. Bake 20 minutes or so.

Pickled Radishes

I almost forgot about these fantastic pickled radishes I made the other night. They didn’t take more than 1/2 an hour to pickle, since I sliced the radishes in 1/4″ slices. I love pickled things and these were a nice addition to my Japanese dinner the other night. By this afternoon’s lunch, they were all totally pink and still delicious, albeit a bit more pickled!

• 1 bunch of radishes, trimmed
• 1 tsp kosher or other coarse salt

Wash the radishes and trim the ends. Slice into quarters and put in a ceramic or glass (non reactive) bowl. Sprinkle with the salt, rub it in a bit, and let sit for 5 minutes or so. You will see some moisture, “sweat”.  Toss, press and squeeze the radishes to get rid of excess moisture, then rinse under running water to remove the excess salt. Squeeze dry again and put back in the bowl.

• 1/2 cup rice vinegar
• 3 Tbs sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 slice of kombu, 1″ square (I had none so left this out)

Mix the sweet and sour sauce together and pour over the vegetables. In just half an hour, you’ll have a nice lightly pickled radish. If you let it sit overnight, in the frig, the whole sauce becomes bright pink, as do all the radish pieces. The flavor is more intense and the texture changed. They are delicious if you like pickled things!

I checked Washoku: Recipes from the Japanese Home Kitchen out of our local library. I’m pretty sure I’m going to buy it now, but it’s sure nice to try it out for a few weeks first!

I’ve made several dishes from it, in my new Japanese cooking focus. I’ve also learned a lot. I do wish there were more pictures of the finished dishes, but the photos of the basic ingredients are very well done and useful. The recipes are clear and if I could just find everything locally, I’d be trying even more of them!

There used to be spinach here

I meant to take a picture of the dish, as it was very pretty. I like these new plain white serving dishes I picked up at Cost Plus Markets a few weeks ago. Much better for food photography!  But I forgot to take a picture as we were sitting down, since we had company, and suddenly the dish was empty.

The recipe is pretty simple. I didn’t have any of the exact toppings she recommended so I used some furikake with bonito and think it worked well!

• 1/2 cup dashi (I used a packet you simmer for 10 minutes)
• 2 Tbs soy sauce (She called for a seasoned soy concentrate I didn’t have the ingredients for)
• 1 bunch spinach or other leafy greens (about 12 ounces)

Blanch the spinach for a few minutes in boiling water, leaving it tied together, then plunge into ice water to stop it cooking. Drain.

In a shallow dish, combine the dashi and soy sauce.

Squeeze the extra water from the spinach, then remove the strings holding them together and place them in the dashi marinade. Let them sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. (She says you can also refrigerate for 2 days, covered.)

Cut into small bundles of 1″ length and top with something… I used the furikake. She suggests roasted white sesame seeds or a few other things.

I see this post on Just Bento with more ideas as well.

Got this straight from RecipeGirl.

HONEY- LIME DRESSING:

• 1/4 cup lime juice (I used bottled)
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 2 Tbs honey
• 2 Tbs fresh cilantro (or more to taste)
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 a jalapeño pepper

I mixed it all up in my small Magic Bullet Express blender. My girls love it for making smoothies and my youngest likes to whip various home spa conconctions in it, but I do like it for quick salad dressings and marinades.

If you don’t have a blender or food processor, I would mince it all up as fine as possible and whisk together.

Put this on a salad of chopped romaine lettuce, sliced olives, halved grape tomatoes and sliced carrots.  Perfect light compliment to the carne asada burritos I made.  And I think tomorrow my lunch will be a nice steak salad with the rest of the dressing!

Eggplant and Green Pepper in Miso

This is from Japanese Women Don’t Get Old or Fat: Secrets of My Mother’s Tokyo Kitchen which I’ve been enjoying.  I just used one small Japanese eggplant and half a green pepper because I was only feeding two people, and I cut back a bit on the sauce ingredients as well. It came out quite good. Well, I liked it. My youngest wasn’t so crazy about it but then she likes neither eggplant or green peppers, so I didn’t have high expectations!  I’ll post her quantities below since I winged and eyeballed my adjustments.

Oh, I just realized I forgot to garnish mine with the sesame seeds and oil!  Still tasted good.

• 1 pound Japanese eggplant
• 2 Tbs mirin
• 2 Tbs red miso
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp sake
• 1 cup canola oil
• 1 green pepper, cored and seeded, cut into bite size pieces
• 1 tsp toasted white sesame
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil

Soak the eggplant in some salted water while you prepare the sauce.

In a small bowl, mix together the mirin, miso, sake and sugar. Set this aside for the end of the recipe.

Start the oil heating in a wok if you have one. I used a medium saucepan so I could get by with using less oil and still having some depth. Drain the eggplant and blot dry with a paper towel. You want the oil about 350. If you drop a cube of bread in, it should sizzle.

Gently slide some of the eggplant pieces in and fry a few minutes until golden brown and cooked through. (A fork or skewer should easily go through.) Remove and drain on paper towels as small batches are done.

Now if you’re not frying anything else, drain the oil from the pan and reserve for another use. Since I was also going to fry some chicken, I just added a small bit of oil to a small frying pan.

Cook the pepper until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Add the eggplant back to the pan, then stir the miso sauce over it all and cook while stirring a few minutes to blend flavors and coat the vegetables.  Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with the sesame seeds and sesame oil.

You can see my whole menu here.

I am on a self-imposed challenge to use up some odds and ends, trying to make room for our Thanksgiving but also just something I do every few months to clean out the freezer of older things.

We had some hot dogs left from my daughter’s graduation party in June and some neighbor’s had a party recently and gave us their leftover hot dog buns, which I froze (having had a miscount for the party so luckily NOT left with too many hot dog buns!). Anyway, the menu tonight was for barbecued hot dogs and a can of Bush’s baked beans, which we love. I decided to augment that with a very simple vegetable soup, which I might spice up later in the week but left very simple tonight.

• 1 Tbs oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 stalks of celery, diced
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 cups homemade chicken broth
• 1 can of green beans, drained
• 1 potato, peeled and diced

This is the very simple version.

Heat the oil and saute the onion a few minutes, until softened. (I do this while I’m prepping the garlic, carrots, and celery.)  Add the garlic and stir, cooking a  minute or so. Add the celery and carrots and stir.  (At this point I peel and dice the potato, letting the other vegetables cook.)  Add the potato and green beans, if using, and whatever seasonings you like (thyme in this case). (I don’t normally use canned green beans and can’t remember why I bought these, hence they were great fodder for soup. I might also, at this point, add some chopped cabbage and/or zucchini and/or peas or corn or … you get the idea.)

I didn’t even bother thawing my chicken broth but just put the 4 cups of it in frozen and let it melt while the vegetables finished sauteing. I let the whole thing simmer 20 minutes or so, long enough to get the potatoes soft.

Had I wanted a heartier soup I might have added some rice or beans or pasta. If I’d wanted something spicier I might have added some salsa or pesto or even some spicy sausage.

If  you like, you can make this very simple the first night, as I did here, then spice it up a bit another night later in the week to go with something else.  Sausage and shrimp and okra could make it into gumbo. Chicken and black beans and salsa and some crushed tortilla chips could go great with a Mexican meal.

I do think the key is good broth. I haven’t bought chicken broth in years. I make my own homemade chicken broth or turkey broth and freeze it.

Cauliflower and cucumber pickles

This is from a Japanese cookbook, Bento Boxes: Japanese Meals on the Go but it could easily accompany any meal where you wanted a small side dish. I love little side dishes like this. I had actually steamed cauliflower the other night to make this cauliflower with salsa verde. I had some plain steamed cauliflower left over so this little pickle dish went together very quickly.

• a few small pieces of steamed cauliflower florets
• a few inches of cucumber, thinly sliced
• 2 tsp rice vinegar
• 1/2 tsp sugar

The recipe also called for 1 tsp citron juice and 2 slices citron zest but I had neither of those.

Sprinkle the cucumber slices with salt and rub in, then squeeze to remove as much liquid as possible.  Toss the steamed cauliflower with the rest of the ingredients.

NOT CheapCooking but quite good.

• 1 Tbs oil
• 1 Tbs minced onion
• 1 cup rice
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 pinch saffron

Put the rice cooker on cook and heat a Tbs of oil, then add 1 Tbs of minced onion and cook a few minutes until softened. Stir in the rice and cook a few minutes, then add the broth and saffron, Stir then put the lid on and reset to start the rice cooking process if needed.

For my rice cooker, it automatically turns itself to warm. 20 minutes later I can stir and keep on warm for a while or serve.