Our Kitchen. And Other Wonders.

Posted on September 1, 2010 by Anita!
I am not in the mood to cook.  This week I’ll be a little dependent on Ari and on our industrial size, CostCo peanut butter jars to provide me sustenance, with the intention of being back on track next week.
Instead of a recipe, I thought it might be time to give a tour.  Click on the Photosynth below to see where the magic happens: the kitchen. I took about 163 pictures, but the synthing didn’t come out perfectly this time.  Click around as much as possible to find the way around (for instance, to get left of the stove you’ll have to click toward the floor).
Then scroll below that to see an incredibly sweet gift, handmade by Ari while I was gone this weekend.  She’s off the roommate market for the next 3 years, so eat your raw, fishy heart out.

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Posted in Non Recipe | 2 Comments

Tomato, Onion and Basil Bruschetta

Posted on August 29, 2010 by Ari
Bru-shet-a…bru-sket-a…bru-something-a… However you say it, bruschetta is one of my favorite summer foods. If I remember correctly, I first learned to make this dish around the age of 15, when my mom’s friend Julia came to visit. Julia had made some delicious tomato and onion dish, and I managed to eat the whole bowl before my parents got the chance to take a bite. At that point, I realized I NEEDED to learn how to make it…my life/eating habits depended on it. Since that day, bruschetta has been a family favorite. Of the dishes I make when I home, this and the black bean and corn salad are the most commonly requested dishes. It’s fresh tasting, easy to make, and if you make a large enough bowl, can be eaten as a meal by itself…at least that’s what I like to do!

Before we get to the recipe, let’s learn a little about the history of bruschetta. When most people think of bruschetta (or at the very least, when I think of bruschetta), they picture something along the lines of a tomato and basil based dish. According to my wikipedia search, bruschetta originates from central Italy and goes back as far as the 15th century. It’s interesting to note that bruschetta actually started out as nothing more than a toasted piece of bread with garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper (yummmm). Over the past…oh, six centuries, variation have begun to include tomatoes, meats, beans, cheeses, etc. Okay, now that you’ve gotten your wikipedia history lesson for the day, let’s move onto the recipe!

What you need (serves 3-4 people as an appetizer):

  • 2 medium sized tomatoes (or 1 container of baby tomatoes)
  • 1 medium sized vidalia onion
  • 1/4 cup minced basil
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/2 tbs garlic salt (more if you want…depends on the flavoring of the tomatoes and onions)
  • 1 loaf of italian or french bread (I love buying the day old bread at Jimmy John’s. It’s only 50 cents and it’s DELICIOUS.)

What you need to do:

  1. Dice the tomatoes and onions and add to a bowl.
  2. Mince the basil and add to the bowl as well (feel free to be liberal with the basil).
  3. Add the olive oil and garlic salt.
  4. Be sure to taste the dish at this point. Depending on the flavoring of the tomatoes and onions, you might want to add more salt. Also, depending on how juicy the tomatoes are, you might want to add a little extra olive oil.
  5. Slice and toast the bread.
  6. Bread + Bruscheta = Heaven. Enjoy!

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Posted in Snacks, Vegetarian | 4 Comments

Green Chutney & Tomato Sandwich

Posted on August 25, 2010 by Anita!
Check out what my mom used to punish me when I misbehaved as a child:
(c) http://ncmoa.orgJust kidding!  That thing is actually a grater, and she and my grandmother use a tool that looks very similar to scrape out the inner flesh of coconuts.  One of my favorite things they make with it is a green chutney that stars in a vegetarian sandwich.   Yesterday I remembered some coconut in the fridge that I’ve had longer than I’d like to admit, and I decided to make it.  While, in Cleveland, coconut is a well-traveled food, the other main ingredients came from City Fresh and our intrepid garden.

I actually fell off my bike and crushed that jalapeno inside my grocery bag. That's why I had to make this.

Think of this as an updated watercress sandwich.  The taste is really fresh, and the (coconut) haters may not even notice that there’s coconut up in there.
Ingredients
  • 1/3-1/2 cup grated unsweetened coconut (I used dry, you can use frozen also)
  • 1 cup packed cilantro, washed
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 jalapeño pepper, stem/ribs/seeds removed
  • juice from 1/2 lemon
  • 1/2-1 tsp salt
Place all of the ingredients in the food processor and blend until you’ve got a pesto consistency.  You may need to scrape down the sides and add water periodically.  I ended up using maybe 1/4 cup.  Serve in a sandwich with slices of tomato and mild cheese.
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Posted in Indian, Vegetarian | 1 Comment

Black Bean and Corn Salad

Posted on August 22, 2010 by Ari
Before I begin talking about this recipe, I need to send a quick shout out to Ms. Shweta Shah. Along with playing the roles of Anita’s freshmen year roommate and our suitemate from sophomore year, she is an amazing friend, and the co-creator of this dish. So here’s to you Ms. Shah. We’re thinking of you!
Now on to the back story for this dish… During the summer between sophomore and junior year, Shweta and I decided to stay on campus and take an MCAT prep course. I’m not sure how many of you are familiar with the Princeton Review course, but let me tell you, it tends to take a bit of a toll on both your bank account and your free time. Because of this, Shweta and I started looking for cheap and fast ways to feed ourselves. Normally, Chipotle is my go-to for fast and delicious food, but given my limited income, I had to erase that one from my “grocery” list. As soon as this happened, however, it felt like something was missing in my life. Okay, maybe I’m being a bit extreme…but the fact remains that I missed it and needed to find an alternative. Enter – Black Bean and Corn Salad.

This is an inexpensive and relatively guilt-free food. It can be eaten as a salad or as a salsa (depending on the amount of lettuce you add). It only has 4 key ingredients, and the rest of the recipe depends on what you have sitting in your fridge. The ingredients I list below describe my ideal salad, but feel free to alter the veggies as you see fit. Just as a side note, this recipe is easily doubled, tripled, etc. for parties.

What you need (feeds 2-3 people):

  • 1 can black beans
  • 1 can corn
  • 1/2 cup salsa
  • 2 tbs sour cream (cottage cheese can be substituted)
  • 1 diced cucumber
  • 1 diced vidalia onion
  • 2 diced medium tomatoes (or a handful of cherry tomatoes)
  • 1/2 head romain lettuce
  • 1 1/2 tbs minced cilantro
  • 1 diced poblano pepper
  • 2-3 jalapeno peppers (optional)
  • Garlic salt to taste

What you need to do:

  1. Rinse the cans of black beans and corn and add them to a large bowl.
  2. Add the cucumber (my favorite veggie to add to this dish), onion, tomatoes, lettuce, and peppers to the beans and corn and mix. Please note that all of these veggies aren’t necessary for this dish. Feel free to mix and match!
  3. Add the sour cream and salsa. Mix.
  4. Top with the cilantro.
  5. Eat with a fork…spoon…tortilla chips…flour tortilla…corn tortilla…you get the idea.
  6. Enjoy!

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Posted in Salads, Vegetarian | 7 Comments