Potato Salad with Rosemary and Thyme

This salad is inspired by our favorite method for roasting potatoes -- rosemary, thyme, a dash of olive oil, salt, pepper, done. We both love potato salads as a summery side dish, but heavily mayonnaised versions are TheVom.com. For our less lingo-savvy readers, that means they make us nauseated.

Our version is tossed in a lemony vinaigrette, so it's refreshing and light. We served it as a side dish to the open-faced vegetable sandwiches that we wrote about earlier, and it came together in almost no time. You can refrigerate the salad before serving so that the flavors really come together, or even serve it warm.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
3 scallions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup rosemary, finely chopped
1/4 cup thyme, finely chopped
2 1/4 pounds small red-skinned potatoes, unpeeled

Instructions:
Whisk oil, lemon juice and zest in small bowl to blend. Season with salt and pepper. Mix in scallions, rosemary and scallions. Cook potatoes in large pot of boiling salted water until tender, about 25 minutes. Drain and cool for 15 minutes, then quarter the potatoes. Add potatoes to bowl with dressing and toss. Let stand 10 minutes. Refrigerate or serve.

Citrus Avocado and Orange Salad

Since we've only existed since July, this is our official opportunity for blogolutions (and really, self-evaulation in any form). We hope that posting these does not mean that someone will actually hold us to them. In fact, if anyone tries, we'll just take down this post and deny that it ever existed. Yes, we'd go there.

1. Invent more recipes
2. Use recipes from the approx 20 cookbooks we received from the holidays
3. Pay attention to details that make the food prettier (aka, food style)
4. Learn how to use heat correctly
5. Make our own stocks

Tonight's citrus salad meets two of our goals, 1 & 3. Woot! My mom showed us a nifty way to halve the oranges, and there is great color contrast between the avocados and oranges. The dressing is unbelievable with the flavors in the salad -- simple, tangy, enhancing. Definitely make this for guests, or if you'd like to impress. This salad is seriously good-looking, and just as lovely to taste.

Ingredients (makes 6):
3 large navel oranges
2 avocados, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 cup cashews
1 bunch scallions, finely chopped

(dressing -- these are estimates, so adjust to taste)
1 tsp sesame oil
1/4 olive oil
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
4 tbsp juice of orange
salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:
Slice the orange by placing it on the table with the navel facing forward. Insert a knife into the center of the orange on the diagonal, and proceed to make similar inserts in a zig-zag formation around the fruit. Separate the halves. Running a thumb between the orange sections and the peel, carefully peel the fruit out of its peel. Divide the sections, and cut them in half again. Place in a bowl. Add the avocados and scallions, and add dressing (make by whisking all ingredients together until it tastes good) until the salad is very lightly covered. Add the cashews, and spoon the salad back into the empty orange halves. Serve.

Chicken Satay with Peanut Dipping Sauce

Sometimes, when I have the most exciting things to write, like now, writer's block strikes. Not to mention, I have the critical eyes of two of my best friends (since elementary school, for life) peering over my shoulder. They joined us for dinner in lovely, 70-degree Bethesda, MD. I digress. Excitement: We are back from our blogging hiatus! Also, blogolutions to announce. And finally, food.

So as mentioned, we feasted tonight in Bethesda. Alex is here visiting, and we've ousted my parents from the kitchen for two nights in a row (thanks, and also sorry for yesterday's falafel mishap). Tonight, we cooked up some delicious Asian dishes, complemented beautifully by some homemade sushi brought by my friend, Whitney. She's convinced us to attempt it solo when we return to school, so stay tuned. For our contributions, we made chicken satay with a peanut sauce and a superb orange and avocado salad, inspired by an amazing ceviche dish at Genji in Philly. Because we are just so thrilled about our return to the blogosphere, we're posting it all tonight. The blogolutions are coming in a post or two.

Firstly, the satay. We were a bit surprised at how well this came out (maybe because after the great falafel disaster of yesterday, we thought our skills had disappeared). The chicken was tender and well-flavored, and the sauce was so great that we kept sneaking it on to everything. Whit and Emma agree that it was peanuty, but not too peanuty, just the right amount, "like Goldilocks." We compiled our recipes from across the internet and the brain of Alex's father; we're pretty into them.

Ingredients (chicken/marinade):
6 chicken breasts
1/4 cup minced lemongrass
1 small onion, quartered
1 thumb-sized piece ginger
1/2 tsp dried tumeric
2 tbsp ground corriander
2 tsp cumin
3 tbsp soy sauce
5 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs lime juice
skewers (about 30)

Ingredients (dipping sauce):
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup coconut milk
6 tbsp lime juice
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp water
1 tbsp red curry paste
1 tbsp grated ginger
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

Instructions:
To make the marinade for the chicken, combine all of the ingredients (minus the chicken and skewers), and process them in a food processor until combined. Cut the chicken breasts into thin strips. Pour the marinade over the chicken, and let it rest for 1 hour to 10 hours. Meanwhile, soak the skewers in water. When you are ready, preheat the grill. Skewer the chicken onto to the sticks, and grill for 5-6 minutes on each side over medium heat, until cooked. To make the dipping sauce, mix together the peanut butter and coconut milk. Then add the other ingredients, and stir until combined. Serve the chicken with the dipping sauce.

Salad with Roasted Pears, Walnuts and Gorgonzola

Our friend Danny showed us this cartoon about words for the internet. Sorry for our brief hiatus from the intertubes. We haven't had much time for the blogonet since leaving Penn. We headed to Alex's home in Connecticut and did some cooking, but we've been pretty lazy about getting the recipes to the webosphere. Enough.

Really though: We are officially on winter break, which will likely mean very few posts over the next couple weeks. Keep checking though, happy holidays, and we'll be back full-force during the second week of January.

In the meantime, here's a favorite salad that we conjured up for Alex's family. The warm pears make it perfect for winter, and the way we cut them makes the salad look really, really pretty. The dressing is unique and light, so this works well as a first course. The recipe is a four-star from Epicurious, and we offer some slight modifications here.

Ingredients:
(salad)
3 bunches fresh thyme sprigs
4 bartlett pears (about 2 1/2 pounds), halved and cored
1/4 cup honey
8 oz. spring mix lettuce (or your fave, butter lettuce works well too)
6 ounces blue cheese, sliced
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted

(dressing)
4 tablespoons white grape juice and 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup grapeseed oil
1 large shallot, finely chopped
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400. Place thyme sprigs on a baking sheet. Place pear halves, cut side down, on work surface. Starting 1/2 inch from stem and leaving pear half intact, cut each lengthwise into scant 1/3- to 1/2-inch-wide slices. Press pear to fan slices; place on the thyme sprigs. Drizzle pears with honey, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 15 minutes until pears are tender. Let cool on baking sheet. To make the dressing, whisk ingredients together. Plate the lettuce, top with cheese and nuts, place pear alongside greens. Drizzle with dressing.

Tunisian Eggplant on Anything

Some things go with eveything. The color black, for example, hummus, pesto.

Here's another for the list: tunisian eggplant, which consists of small eggplant chunks cooked with onions in tomato paste and red wine vinegar, then tossed with olives and marinated artichoke hearts. Serve it as hours'devours on endive leaves or crackers, or for a main course over pasta or rice, or in a sandwhich with melted provolone. I could go on.

Our recipe is a minimally-adapted version of one we found in Alex's new vegetarian cookbook, The Vegetable Dishes I Can't Live Without, by Molly Katzen. It's simple and delicious. Unbelievably versatile.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 cups onion, minced
1 1/2 lbs eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic, minced
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 cup green olives, pitted chopped
1 small jar (6 oz) marinated artichokes, coarsely chopped
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
more salt, pepper to taste

Instructions:
Heat the olive oil. Add onions and cook for 5-8 minutes until soft. Stir in eggplant, salt and garlic, cover the pan and cook for 15 minutes, or until eggplant is very soft. Add small abouts of water by the tbsp if eggplant appears to stick. Stir in tomato paste,vinegar, basil and oregano, and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat (do not let boil for more than a few seconds) and add olives and artichokes. Season and serve at any temperature on anything.

Shrimp Potstickers

Nothing exacerbates the urge to cook and nest like exam season. After hiding in library carrels all day, sustained primarily by coffee and diet coke, we rush home with the overwhelming desire to create obscene amounts of comfort food.

Yesterday, we did shrimp potstickers for the semester finale of our ex-DP editors' Gourmet Club. We bought the wrappers in Chinatown, which kind of constitutes cheating, but, again, it's exam season -- slack, please. They turned out so beautifully, and tasted just like the ones we love from Chinese restaurants/Trader Joe's.

For a dipping sauce, combine soy sauce and rice wine vinegar together with a pinch of sugar to taste.

Ingredients:
1 pound shrimp, no shells or tails, chopped finely
1/4 head napa cabbage, shredded
4 carrots, shredded
1 bunch scallions, finely chopped
4 one-inch cubes ginger, shredded
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/8 cup sesame oil
50 wonton wrappers

Instructions:
Combine everything but the wrappers in a large bowl, mix thoroughly through with your hands. If you want, fry up a bit to make sure that you like the seasoning, then adjust. Scoop a tsp-sized ball of filling into the middle of a wrapper. Fold over and press wrapper together. Then, fold the edge of the wrapper back over itself and press down again. Repeat for all of the wrappers. Steam the dumplings for about 10 minutes, cool and serve.

Crispy Baked Latkes with Cranberry Applesauce

We are equal-opportunity holiday cooks. We don't discriminate against holidays based on religious affiliation, season, Hallmark-saturation, or any other means of bias. Has food, will celebrate.

Given this policy and the fact that we've been celebrating Hanukkah anyway by opening presents (thanks Mommy, thanks Hanukkah Dog), we thought it would be shameful if we didn't make a solid effort at frying up some shredded potato.

Neither of us had cooked latkes without parentnal guidance before, so we spent some time reviewing recipes and conceptualizing the perfect potato pancake. If you are an experienced latke eater, you know that when cooked poorly, latkes taste both burnt and raw, flavorless and oily. When cooked well, however, they taste both fluffy and crisp, savory and light. Among foods, there are few things worse than a bad latke, and few things better than a great one. We decided that our safest and healthiest bet would be searing the latkes quickly in a bit of oil to give them a strong latke flavor, but then baking them to crispy perfection in the oven. We knew that this would mean making our latkes thin, and working quickly. Also, we knew that since the latkes wouldn't have much time to cook in the oil, we needed a recipe that ensured our pancakes would hold together well. We chose this one with matzo meal from Smitten Kitchen, and I've reposted our baked, modified version below.

For toppings, we decided go festive with a barely modified cranberry applesauce from Epicurious that was unbelievably easy to make (30 minutes, tops), and absolutely delicious. Sour cream is a must, and though we chose scallions mainly for color contrast, they added a great flavor as well.

Latke Ingredients (makes about 50 laktes):
10 golden russet potatoes
5 onions
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
5 tbsp matzo meal
5 eggs
7 1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp pepper
oil for frying (we used Smart Balance oil, which blends canola and olive oil)

Latke Instructions:
Line a large baking sheet with paper towels and set aside. Preheat the oven to 400. Peel the potatoes. In a food processor or with a grater, shred the potatoes and onions, and transfer them to a colander. Squeeze dry. Wait two minutes, and squeeze dry again. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl, add flour, matzo meal, eggs, salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Pour about 1-2 tbsp oil in a large frying pan, and turn the heat on high. When the oil is hot, drop teaspoon-sized balls of latke mixture into the pan, and press to flatten with the back of a spoon. Cook latkes for about 1 minute on each side, until the outside is lightly browned, then transfer to the baking sheet. When you have enough latkes to fill a baking sheet, press a paper towel on the top side of the latkes as well to soak up extra oil, then remove the paper towels and assemble latkes on the sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes on each side, until crispy. Repeat (adding oil to the pan as necessary) until you've used up the mixture, we made about three batches.

Cranberry Applesauce Ingredients (makes about 6-7 cups):
7 large fuji apples (about 5 pounds), peeled, cored and chopped
2 cups fresh cranberries
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
3 cinnamon sticks
6-inch strip of lemon zest, finely chopped

Cranberry Apple Sauce Instructions:
Cook everything together in a large pot for about 25 minutes on moderate hat, until the apples are very soft. Remove the cinammon sticks and mash the mixture together with a potato-masher until it is as mushy as you want it. Serve warm or cool.

Stuffed Eggplant

While preparing dinner tonight, we found out that a friend was accepted into medical school! We convinced her come over, and a boring eggplant dinner immediately became a celebratory feast -- complete with a bottle of wine and a simple spaghetti dish that we threw together in 10 minutes. We always feel guilty skimping on carbohydrates when there are guests to feed.

Stuffed vegetables generally mean heaps of cheese and breadcrumbs, but we thought we could do a healthier version with a fresher taste. My mom sometimes bakes eggplant innards with just cheese and tomato sauce, and we figured we'd add some peppers, onions and mushrooms too. Fueled by this idea and a kiss of guidance from recipes on the interwebs, we created our very own stuffed eggplant. For a pasta side, we simply mixed some cheese, mushrooms and peppers into the sauce and tossed it over spaghetti.

Ingredients:
2 eggplants
1 pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 cups mushrooms, chopped
1 cup tomato sauce
2 cups cheese (we used a part-skim mixture of mozzarella and asiago)
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

Instructions:
Preheat the oven 350. Slice the eggplants in half, and scoop out the insides, leaving about 1/2 inch around the rim. Place the eggplant shells in the oven for 10 minutes. In the meantime, chop the remaining eggplant into small pieces. Cook the eggplant, peppers, mushrooms and onion in the oil for about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat, and mix the vegetables with the tomato sauce and almost all of the cheese. Scoop this mixture into the eggplant shells, and top with the remaining cheese. Bake the stuffed eggplants again for about 15 minutes.

Gnudi

After tasting some delicious gnudi during brunch at Philadelphia's London Grill on Sunday, we decided to attempt a re-creation.

Gnudi? You may be thinking. What IS that? A google search links to a thread on Chowhound.com entitled "gnudi- what is it, exactly?" and answers range from "I don't know, but gosh it sounds like fun" to "A dish that is precisely ravioli without the pasta wrapper."

We're still confused. Even while eating them, we likened them to mozarella sticks, dumplings and spinach cookies. But here's what we've devised: Gnudi are essentially dough balls of cheese and spinach. The recipe we found online called for boiling them, but skeptical, we divided the batch and baked half in the oven with far better results. These would make a great appetizer, but preparing them for dinner left us slightly wanting. Also, we dunked them in pasta sauce, but you could also dress them with pesto.

We found our recipe from the food network, but there are a few others floating around the interwebs as well. If you do use this one, instead of boiling the gnudi, bake them for about 30 minutes at 350. Additionally, to get the beautiful, round shape, put the each piece dough into a wine glass with a bit of flour and shake it around until it forms a ball. Happy gnuding!

Gnudi dough (egg, cheese, spinach, spices)

Forming gnudi in a wine glass...

Well-shaped gnudi, ready for baking

The final product! Crispy, savory gnudi

Last Tomato Salad

September.

New classes, new activities, new harvest produce. No more homeworkless evenings, no more grilled vegetable salads (mostly because no more grill), no more lazy mint limeade.

Of course, I can't wait for fall foods -- caramel apples particularly. But walking through the farmer's market this morning, nostalgia struck for the days of summer vegetables. Thus, we have the season's last tomato salad, an homage to all of the tomato salads of the past few months. You tasted really, really good.

Ingredients:
2 large yellow tomatoes, chopped into bite-size pieces
6 Roma tomatoes, chopped into bite-size pieces
1/4 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup basil, chopped
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp salt
lettuce

Instructions:
Mix the chopped tomatoes together, add the olive oil, balsamic, and basil, then add the seasonings to taste. Toss together and serve over lettuce.

Sweet Potato Fries

The general rule is that we don't recycle recipes. It forces us to try new ingredients and methods, and there is something thrilling about not knowing how a meal will turn out. As we love to say: "It could be good, it could be sick."

That said, sweet potato fries are the exception to the rule. We make them year-round, for groups and for ourselves, for dinner and for snack. They have enough flavor to stand alone, but swiping them through ketchup is also delicious. I found these sweet potatoes at an on-campus farmer's market, and couldn't resist.

Ingredients:
4 sweet potatoes
1 tbsp olive oil (I like less, but depending on the potato size, you could add a touch more)
1 1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 400. Slice the sweet potatoes into fry-shaped wedges. Basically, cut the potato in half lengthwise and then do it again to each half. Then cut these pieces into strips. Put them in a bowl, and add all of the other ingredients. Mix it all together. Put the potatoes on a baking sheet and roast them in the oven for about 25-30 minutes, until they are soft yet slightly crispy.

Note: The measurements of the spices can be adjusted to taste.

Orzo with everything

Much to our surprise, people started asking us when we would start posting again. So Kate, Ryan, Chris Perez -- this is for you. We officially become seniors in two days (!), but the opportunity to procrastinate on work should lend itself well to a semester of blogging delicious food. Woot, we're back.

Orzo with everything is perfect to cook for crowds or pot luck events. It is tastes very gourmet but isn't overly heavy. And the colors are pretty for any season. Alex whipped together a batch for my neighborhood's block party this afternoon. It's easy, just a lot of chopping. Don't burn the pine nuts.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups orzo
1/3 cup packed sun dried tomatoes
4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vineagar
1/4 cup packed kalamata olives
1 cup finely chopped radicchio
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 large garlic cloves pinced

Instructions
Cook the orzo like you would cook pasta, and put it in a large bowl. Chop the sun-dried tomatoes and olives, and add them to the bowl with oil and vinegar. Let it stand until cool, and then add chopped radicchio and basil, bine nuts, cheese and garlic. Season it.