Menu Monday and recipe 18 (and last day of April!)

It's a little nuts to think that April has come to a close, but here we are.  Tomorrow is May 1st, which means the end of my "month of cooking," which didn't really happen quite as planned.  But, since I'm not actually intending to stop cooking, I think that's probably OK.  I'll do an overview of the month sometime this week, but for now, I think I can safely say that, despite the fact that I didn't cook every day, April was a success.  However, going forward, I'm going to stop numbering my recipes. :)

We put our CSA subscription on hold this week because we have a ton of stuff still to use up, so this week, the goal is to cook with the wide variety of random veggies in the fridge.  The tentative plan is as follows.

Monday: Black bean chili with TVP (textured vegetable protein)
Tuesday: Potato pancakes with green garlic, braised greens on the side
Wednesday: Roasted veggies (beets, sweet potatoes, and carrots)
Thursday: Probably nothing
Friday: Depends on amount of leftovers.  Maybe I'll try those black bean burgers I mentioned before but never did make.
Saturday: I want to make dessert of some kind!  Still have that sopapilla recipe to try, and Cindy also gave me a recipe for this delicious baked glutinous rice pudding.  So maybe one of those.
Sunday: Something mushroomy.  I'm thinking of trying a balsamic mushroom recipe with spaghetti squash, since we've got another one living in the fridge.

So, for whatever reason, I've been craving chili for the last week or so. It's really not chili weather here, what with the triple digit weather, but it's what I wanted.  We had dried black beans from the CSA from a while ago, and last week, we got another baggie of beans.  Given that it's only gonna get hotter over the next several months, I figured I may as well use the beans and make chili now. 

Black bean vegetarian chili with TVP
Ingredients
2 cups black beans (I used dry beans, so I'll include the long-soak method in the recipe)
1 cup TVP
6 cups veggie broth
3 medium onions
1 head garlic
2 cans (14.5 oz each) stewed tomatoes (Italian recipe is what I use)
1 can tomato paste
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
3ish tablespoons coriander seed
3-5 tablespoons cumin
3-5 tablespoons chili powder
salt to taste

The night before, wash and sort your beans, taking out any dirt, gravel, or shriveled or discolored beans.  Put the beans in a soup pot and cover with lots of water.  Leave overnight, 8-12 hours.  When you're ready to start cooking, drain the beans, return to soup pot, and cover with about 5 cups of the veggie broth.  Bring to a boil, allow to boil vigorously for about 10 minutes, then turn down the heat so they boil steadily but not vigorously.  Partially cover the pot (this is important, it prevents the liquid from evaporating!) and allow to cook for about 25 minutes.

In the meantime, bring the remaining cup of broth to a boil and in a separate bowl, soak the TVP in it for 5-10 minutes (it's OK to leave longer until you're ready for it).

While that's all happening, chop the onions.  Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large pan and add the onions.  Cook for about 7-8 minutes.  Mince the garlic and add it, along with salt and about half the spices.  Cook for another 5-10 minutes, until the onions are soft.  Add the tomatoes with their juice, tomato paste, and TVP and simmer for 5-10 minutes.

When the beans are starting to be tender, uncover the pot.  Add the onion-tomato-TVP mixture and cook for about 10 minutes. Add the remainder of the spices (or more or less, as you wish) and cook until the beans are fully tender but not mushy, stirring occasionally.  Serve with cheese on top if you have it (we didn't) or whatever other garnish people like for chili.

Nice big bowl of chili!

Recipe summary
Time: Not counting pre-soaking the beans, it took about 1.5 hours, with about 45 minutes being mostly hands-off.
Serves: 8, easy.  It's quite filling.
Highlights/thoughts: I have to make sure to cook the beans for longer on their own, and to cover or partially cover the pot while doing so.  My beans turned out a little undercooked, and I think it's because too much of the liquid evaporated (and then I added tomato, which is acidic and stopped the cooking process).  They weren't so undercooked as to be unedible, and I'm glad they didn't turn out mushy instead, but still.  Oh, and I probably used about 1/3 of the beans I made and just froze the rest.  Also, the TVP isn't totally necessary, but it adds a nice meat-like texture and some extra protein.
Would I make this again?  Yes, though I'm not attached to using dried beans, or black beans.  The flavor was similar to my tortilla soup, which I make with garbanzo beans, so I might try that next time.
Nutrition Facts (per serving): I've just started using a cite recommended to me by Cindy's sister Emily, and it allows you to build custom recipes by entering ingredients from its database (or adding your own if you know the nutritional info).  I don't promise that I'll do this for every recipe, but I figure I'll include it when I bother to calculate it for myself.

Calories: 288.9

Total Fat 10.7g

  Saturated Fat 1.5g

Cholesterol 0mg

Sodium 799.5mg

Total Carb 38.2g

  Dietary Fiber 11.8g

  Sugars 12g

Protein 13.6g

Korean BBQ is kind of like cooking (says Cindy)

Last night, after spending a fun day at the Ren Faire, Cindy and I decided to go out to Korean BBQ and eat lots of meat. Mu graciously agreed to stay home and get takeout, and since Eric didn't really want to go out either, that worked out well.  Amusingly, they also ordered Korean, but from a place with more veggie choices for Mu.  Anyhow, Cindy encouraged me to document the outing since one is kind of cooking one's own food there.  Or something.  :)  So, while obviously this doesn't count as a recipe, have a description of our lovely dinner!

Warning, if you don't like meat, you should beware -- there are lots of meat pictures ahead. :)

little plates of sides

raw meat (with the first course cooking already)

For those who haven't been to an all-you-can-eat KBBQ place, it's basically only somewhere you can go if you want to eat lots of meat.  There's a range under your table with a metal grill over it, you get plates of meat, and you cook it right in front of you.  You also get lots of veggie side dishes -- kimchi, bean sprouts, chap chae (Korean potato noodles), fresh salad, spicy cucumber, and for some reason, potato salad.  Oh, and also fish cakes, but those aren't veggie.  Oh, and there was also a steamed egg in broth thing, but that came slightly later, so it's not in the pictures of the other sides.  You can see it next to Cindy in the pictures of the cooking meat.

beef short plate (steamed egg in background on right)

Cindy and I ordered 4 different types of meat.  Usually, you only order 3 to start with, but we asked for half portions of each, because we knew full portions would be way too much. This way, we got to try an extra thing but still not feel like we were about to explode afterwards. The raw meat arrived on giant plates, and then we cooked it, one type at a time.

We started with the beef short plate, which I'd never had before because I didn't really know what it meant.  Honestly, I still don't know what it means, in terms of what cut of meat it is.  Whatever it is, it's super tasty!  It comes in thin, pretty fatty pieces of beef (Cindy says it's best not to think about the fat -- it's what makes it so delicious, so you may as well not worry about it).  Because it's so thin, it's the quickest to cook.  Also, it comes without any marinade, so it was the perfect choice for the first course -- one wants to cook it first, before the grill gets flavor from other marinades.  

Bulgogi with onions and mushrooms

already cooked short rib among the sides

spicy chicken

Cindy was mainly in charge of actually cooking the meat, since she's been to KBBQ more than I have and knows approximately what it's supposed to look like when it's done.  I did, however, cook the onions and mushrooms later on, as well as the spicy chicken.  So I contributed! :)  Anyways, we cooked and ate the short plate (alternating with salad and sides, because you really do need something to break up all the meat flavors) and then put on the bulgogi and its accompanying mushrooms and onions. Bulgogi is also thinly cut beef, though it's a little thicker and marinated.  It takes a bit longer to cook.  Cindy was afraid that we got too much liquid on the grill so the meat would steam instead of sear, but it turned out very yummy nevertheless. 

At that point, the grill was covered with remnants of sauce and meat and we didn't want to put anything new on it, so we had a little break and munched on more sides and chatted.  Eventually, a waiter came over (this place is super busy so it's hard to track someone down) and exchanged our dirty grill for a shiny new clean one, so we moved on to the next course, beef short rib.  These are smaller, thicker chunks of meat that took a little longer to cook.  They're also marinated in something slightly different.  I sadly forgot to take a picture while it was cooking, but I did get one of a bowl of short rib meat, sitting on the side while we cooked the chicken. 

The last course was spicy chicken.  I cooked this one (for no good reason other than to have something I actually contributed to).  The chicken had a really great, rather spicy marinade, so it was a good choice for the last course -- very strong flavor, so it was good not to cook anything else on the grill after it.  It was spicier than I had remembered from last time, we definitely had to alternate with more salad and water.  Very tasty, though! 

As you might imagine, it was a pretty long meal, given the amount of food.  Getting the half portions was a really good idea, since as it was, we were pretty full.  I don't feel too bad, though -- I eat KBBQ about twice a year (last time was when I visited Cin in November), so it's an infrequent splurge.  So yummy!

Cooking with Cindy (or, really, standing by while Cindy and Eric cook)

Mu and I are in LA, visiting Cindy!  Huzzah!  It's really nice to get out of town, and I'm very much looking forward to the Ren Faire tomorrow.  Yay for a mini-break before I have to get back and propose my dissertation.

Cindy suggested that we cook tonight so that I had something to post about, given the last few days.  However, by the time we arrived, Cindy and Eric had prepped all the ingredients and basically just cooked while we hung out and chatted.  Given that we had been driving for about 8.5 hours, this was perfectly fine with me.  So, I can't claim this as my recipe, since I did nothing for it, but I'll give you a brief summary of Cindy's yummy pasta.

Yummy Pasta (very technical name, I know)
Ingredients
lots of cherry tomatoes

Some (most) of the ingredients

lots of garlic (Cindy said she used about 20 cloves)
goat cheese (two medallions from Trader Joe's worked for us)
parsley (spice form is fine)
oregano (spice form is also fine)
pine nuts
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
butter (a pat)
pasta

Boil water for pasta.  Halve the cherry tomatoes and mince the garlic.  In a saute pan, heat up the butter on medium heat.  When it's hot, put in the garlic and cook for a few minutes until browned.  Add the tomatoes and saute, about 5-8 minutes.  In the meantime, cook the pasta as per package.  Toast pine nuts in a separate pan.  Add parsley and oregano, then when the pasta is cooked, add that.  Add the pine nuts and goat cheese and cook for a few more minutes to integrate.  Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and serve with a salad! 

Yumminess!

I don't remember exactly how long this took, plus I wasn't here for prep, but it was probably about 20 minutes total.  This served 4, with some leftover pasta.  Super easy and yummy.  Thanks for feeding us, Cindy and Eric!

Wednesday Fan Art!

It appears that this week will be even more a wash than I thought, in terms of cooking -- my dinner plans got moved to tomorrow, but I got home so late after a meeting, I just couldn't handle cooking.  So, Mu had Indian leftovers and I had meatballs from the freezer, and no cooking is happening.  So it goes.  I can't really stress about that kind of thing, I have plenty to stress about as it is.  However, I do have more fan art from Cindy!  She was, for whatever reason, very amused by part of my post about the sweet potato fries. :)

The fries all look so pleased with themselves!

So, at this point, it looks like no more cooking is happening this week.  Tomorrow is dinner with my friends, and Friday we leave for LA for the weekend.  Hopefully, I'll have a link dump post in there somewhere, and then the cooking will actually resume on Monday.

Tuesday tip (actually, a question)

So, as predicted, I didn't cook today.  Mu and I went out for Indian, and we even have leftovers, yay! Due to this, I don't have a huge amount to blog about.  I do have a question in place of the Tuesday Tip.

Does anyone know of a website or app that makes calorie tracking of homemade food actually easy?  I've tried several, and they're fine for brand names and eating out at chains, but don't work so well for, say, cooked veggies and olive oil and tofu.  Really, what I want is somewhere where I can type in "3 medium sweet potatoes, 3 tablespoons olive oil" and have something spit out a calorie and nutrient estimate at me.  There's gotta be something like that, right?  Help?

Oh, unrelated to cooking, but sort of another project: I've started biking to school!  This is probably a bad time to start biking, since it's very hot these days, especially in the afternoon, but there we are.  I'm about 2.5 miles from school, and it's taking me 20-30 minutes, which is very slow for biking.  I'm always getting passed by other, fitter bikers.  I'm hoping that it'll get easier as I do it more and I'll feel less miserable in time.  Right now, it's a little rewarding to know that I'm actually making an effort, but mostly not rewarding at all due to the heat and my unhappy muscles.  It gets better?

Menu monday and recipe 17

I'm clearly falling behind with recipes this month, but I realized early on that would happen, so I'm not too surprised or distressed.  This week will be short as far as recipes go, as well.  I'm super busy the next few days, and then on Friday, we drive to LA to go to Ren Faire with Cindy!  Weeeee!  So excited by this!  But, it does mean that I'm unlikely to cook anytime on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.  Also, I need to make sure I don't have a ton of leftovers in the fridge when we leave for the weekend.  Also, Mu suggested we celebrate me being done with my first (most stressful) draft of my dissertation proposal.  And my friend Jane suggested dinner on another day.  So, this week will be less a week of recipes and more...two days.  Huh.  Well, I do intend to keep doing this past April, so I guess it's not the end of the world.  With all that, here's the plan for the next few days.

Monday: Sweet potato fries and salad (not really new)
Tuesday: Probably nothing, since Mu and I are gonna go to dinner, but I may cook something small to have lunch on Wednesday.  Oh, and I'll do fruit tupperwares again.
Wednesday: Either dinner with Jane or potato pancakes from last week, this time with green onions
Thursday: See Wednesday :)
Friday: Nothing, we'll be driving all day.  Although if we can't leave right after my lab meeting, I may cook something for the road.
Saturday: Nothing, unless Cindy wants to cook with me in the evening.
Sunday: Not sure.  Maybe soup when we get home?  We'll certainly need dinner when we get home, but will I really want to cook?  Unclear.

Yummy salad! Now if only I had bread for croutons...

So, today I spent most of the day finishing up the first draft of my proposal, which took an inordinate amount of mental energy.  After that, I really didn't want to do anything requiring a ton of effort.  Last week, we got sweet potatoes from the CSA, as well as romaine lettuce, arugula, and radishes, and I had tomato and cucumber and avocado at home...so, salad and sweet potato fries it was!  I really don't feel that I can count the salad as a recipe, since I've done it so many times and it's really not a cooked dish, but the sweet potato fries certainly count.

Sweet Potato Fries
Ingredients
3 sweet potatoes (or however many you have)
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
paprika (or whatever other spice you want)

Preheat the oven to 450F.  Wash the sweet potatoes really well so that there's no dirt on the skin.  You can peel if you want, but the skin is yummy and nutritious, so you really shouldn't.  Cut off the very thin ends so that they don't burn.  Slice each potato in half, then in half again and then again.  You can cut thinner and smaller if you want -- I did, but I don't think it's absolutely necessary.  In a bowl, toss the potatoes with the olive oil, salt, pepper, and spices.  Make sure the pieces are coated.  Spread them out on a baking sheet so that they're in one layer.  Bake for 15 minutes, turn each piece over, and bake for 15 more.  Cool slightly (but not too much) before serving.

Hanging out, cooling down

Recipe summary
Time: 40 minutes, 30 hands-off
Serves: 3 as a main dish (with salad)
Highlights/thoughts: I'm not a frequent sweet potato eater, and I'm really not sure why.  These were easy and delicious and filling, and went surprisingly well with my green salad.  Yum.
Would I make this again? Yes!  I expect to get more sweet potatoes from the CSA in the coming weeks, and I think this is the perfect thing to do with them. 

Cooking, recipe 16

This will be a short post, because I'm busy finishing my dissertation proposal, and we've had a very long day.  I did cook, though, so I wanted to post about it.  Oh, and it's becoming clear that the link dump won't be so regular after all.  Oops.  Maybe I'll be better about it when my schedule slows down.

The turmeric made it pretty!

So, today I made saag paneer, finally!  I used this recipe, which I found ages ago and hadn't gotten around to trying.  I won't re-write it here, but I'll tell you the changes I made.  I had less spinach than it called for, and what I should've done is adjusted accordingly, but I...kinda forgot.  So, what we got was less spinach and more onion, but it still tasted yummy.  I also didn't grind my own spices, nor did I have everything she suggests.  Instead, I made a mix of red pepper flakes, ground cumin, ground coriander, tumeric, and garam masala.  It seemed to work.  The paneer worked really well.  It got a nice brown layer after I fried it a bit, and it retained both moisture and texture.  I will definitely make it again and try other recipes with it.  It has been pointed out to me that paneer is essentially cottage cheese (which I don't much like), but the difference is that the former is made from whole milk and the latter from buttermilk, which is quite a difference in flavor.  So, I suppose you can make saag paneer with cottage cheese, but I don't think I would. :)

As for this recipe, I would like to try it again, this time with more spinach!  It was quite quick and easy, and somehow very rewarding to have made something Indian-ish.  Oh, and my version serves about 4.

Adventures in cheesemaking (recipe 15)!

A little satchel of paneer!

Today was paneer day.  The recipe was simple enough: take half a gallon of whole milk, bring to a gentle boil, gradually stir in acid (lime juice in my case) until the whey separates from the curds, run through a cheesecloth and was the curds, let them drain for a while (30ish minutes), press them with something heavy-ish for about 2 hours, then cut into cubes!  Tada!  The recipe I followed is here, though I've seen other very similar ones.

So, even though I was intimidated, I figured it would be pretty straightforward after I read the recipe.  Yeah.  About that...the directions are, in fact, straightforward, but the process turned out less so.  The milk wouldn't boil for a while.  And then it wouldn't boil some more.  And then it still wouldn't boil.  And suddenly, in the span of about 30 seconds, it went from not boiling to overflowing all over the entire stove.  Huh.  I cooled it down, we cleaned up the stove a bit, and when we tried to bring it back up to a boil, it did the same thing again.  Note to self: if making paneer, do so in a bigger pot.

Well, that was exciting...

Eventually, though I was able to add the lime juice (it took me about 5 tablespoons, not 2-3 that the recipe suggested), and it was pretty neat how suddenly, the milk really did separate into curds and whey.  I had the cheese drain (hanging from the paper towel rack above our kitchen sink) for probably about 20 minutes, since Mu and I were running late for dinner with friends, and we put it between two cutting boards with a pot on top.  When we got home, it was drained but still moist, and tasted relatively neutral, with slightly sweet undertones.  Yum!  So, I suppose the whole thing was a success overall, but dude.  Silly milk.

Poor pot

Recipe summary
Time: About 3 hours, but most of that is waiting.
Serves: Probably about 2-3.  Amazing how much milk it takes to make cheese!
Highlights/thoughts: See above. :)  Though I have to say, despite the difficulties, it did turn out nicely!
Would I make this again?  Probably.  It would be nice to figure out how to get the milk to a gentle boil without it going nuts first, though.

Cubed and ready for fridge

Wednesday fan art!

Cindy and I decided that Wednesday would be the best day for fan art.  It's been happening on Wednesdays by accident anyways, and it's a nice mid-week pick-me-up.  So, here is the art for this week: a happy fluffy matzoh ball (and some vague-looking matzah)!

Isn't it so happy?

So, today was going to be paneer day, but I'm changing the schedule slightly.  Paneer takes a while to actually happen, and while it's almost entirely hands-off time, it's still something to keep an eye on.  Plus, I now have dinner plans for tomorrow, so it kinda didn't make sense to make it today and be unable to cook with it for an extra day.  Instead, I'll make it tomorrow (start it before dinner and finish when I come back home) and on Friday night, I'll make saag paneer with it.  It'll work out better that way.  Well, that, and I started biking to school yesterday, and now my body does not want me to do anything but sit. :)

Cooking, recipes 13 and 14 and Tuesday Tip

Not that this is particularly surprising, but I've noticed that since I've started cooking at home more and we've been eating out less, we're spending less on food!  Magic!  I'm liking this new trick.  Hopefully, I can keep this up -- the slightly reduced rate of cooking is working better for me, and after April, I'll try to stick to a similar pattern, though with maybe slightly bigger dishes (which is easy for me) and slightly fewer cooking days.

Anyways, we got potatoes at the CSA a few weeks ago, and last week there was green garlic, and I stumbled upon this recipe for Korean-style pancake potatoes and there we were.  I ended up modifying it quite a bit based on what I had in the fridge and through looking at other recipes, but I thought I should start giving credit to recipes I get online.  Anyways, besides the potatoes, the fridge is overrun with greens, and the pancakes needed a side, so I made a simple side dish of greens and porcini with lemon and soy sauce.

Korean Potato Pancakes

1 lb waxy potatoes  (I used La Soda red potatoes.)
1 head of green garlic (I used 2, and it was overkill.  Mu and I both enjoyed it, but I'm not sure others would)
a scallion or some chives or green onion, if you want (I didn't have any and it was fine)
1 egg
salt to taste (though the dipping sauce is plenty salty)
chili pepper (optional, but nice -- I used about a teaspoon of the stuff I ground up the other day)
neutral oil for frying

Dipping Sauce
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
splash of lemon juice
1 teaspoon sugar

Greens and mushrooms
Bunch of greens (I used a bag of kale and a bunch of chard...not sure how much that actually was)
A handful of dried porcini
Soy sauce
lemon juice from 1/2 - 1 juicy lemon
splash of sesame oil
neutral oil
ginger to taste (I just used the kind from a spice jar because I was too lazy)
Penzey's Bangkok blend (optional, you can probably use plain chili or nothing at all)

Pancakes, cooking

Start the greens first, since they can take a while to soften, and they also can sit around while the potato pancakes finish.  Put the dried porcini in a bowl of hot water to soak.  Cut up the chard and kale (I didn't cut my kale and wish I had) into manageable chunks.  Heat some olive oil on medium high heat and add the greens, in batches if necessary.  Once they've started cooking down, about 5 minutes, add the porcinis and their soaking liquid.   Add a splash of sesame oil, some soy sauce, about half a lemon worth of juice, and about a cup of water.  Lower heat to medium, cover, and let cook until the greens are soft, about 20 minutes.

Pancakes and a lady :)

Greens and porcini after the liquid is gone

In the meantime, peel and grate the potatoes using the small holes on a box grater (I had Mu to help with this part, which was really nice). Using a fine strainer or cheese cloth, drain the potatoes into a bowl.  Let the potato liquid sit until the water separates from the starch.  Carefully drain the water, leaving the starch behind.  Finely chop your garlic.  Combine grated potato, garlic, starch, an egg, salt, and chili powder and stir well so everything is distributed.  Heat about a spoon of oil over medium heat.  Once it's hot, add a tablespoon of the potato mixture, then shape into a flat-ish circular pancake.  I did 5 at a time, that's how much space my pan had.  Cook until the bottom is crispy and golden, about 3 minutes.  Flip and do the other side until it's brown.

While you're cooking the pancakes (or, most likely, before you put the first batch on), check on the greens.  Once they're soft, uncover them, add ginger and Bangkok blend, adjust soy sauce and lemon to taste, and allow to cook uncovered until the liquid boils away (I ended up having to drain some).  Also between pancake batches, make the dipping sauce by combining all the ingredients.

Serve hot, especially the pancakes!

Pancakes and greens and a bowl of dipping sauce to share

Recipe summary
Time: About 45 minutes, mostly hands-on.  Mu helped with peeling and grating the potatoes, which probably saved about 10-15 minutes.
Serves: Greens turned out to have 5 servings, and there were a total of 10 pancakes.
Highlights/thoughts: I wasn't sure I could achieve a "Korean" pancake, because I don't know what element in this actually makes it Korean.  It did make me think of dim sum, though, so that's probably good.  The chili powder really added a nice bit of heat and flavor, as well.  The greens were really helped by the presence of the porcinis, so that was nice.  Porcinis are magic that way. :)
Would I make this again? Definitely.  The pancakes felt like a huge success, and were much easier that I was afraid they'd be, and given how often we get greens from the CSA, I'm always making some variation or other on this recipe.

And now for Tuesday Tip!  I know for some people, cooking is this great pleasurable thing that they look forward to and that's a break from their daily lives.  I'm not those people.  There are times when cooking does feel fun (when I'm trying a new and easy recipe, or when I'm making a reliable favorite), and there are certainly things about it that are gratifying (other people saying that my food is yummy, or feeling like a recipe was surprisingly successful, like today), but most of the time, it feels like a necessary and somewhat annoying chore.  One of the things that makes it more annoying for me is that I end up feeling like I'm stuck in the kitchen, with nothing to stimulate me while I'm chopping and stirring.  At the same time, it can be hard to keep up a conversation while I'm juggling different steps in a recipe or different dishes.  So, Mu came up with a solution for me.  He hooked up an old pair of speakers in our dining area so that they're broadcasting into the kitchen, and now I can plug in my phone and listen to podcasts or music while I cook!  The phone itself isn't loud enough to be heard over whatever I'm doing, but the speakers are perfect.  When we have our own house, I'm totally having a sound system put in the kitchen!  But anyways, that's my tip for people who aren't greatly enthused by cooking itself -- music or podcasts can be a great help without being (for me) too distracting!

A menu plan and recipes 10, 11, and 12

 So, I've decided that at this point, the cooking theme needs to be "make things from CSA veggies."  It's hard for me to work all the different things into some kind of coherent theme, so I figure, I should just focus on using the stuff we get.  That said, I want to do a few Indian things this week to at least try them out.  So, the plan is as follows, and we'll see if it works.

Monday: Veggie stock.  Also, arugula spaghetti and balsamic vinegar pearls!
Tuesday: Potato pancakes with green garlic, plus maybe a side of braised greens
Wednesday: Homemade paneer (Kinda scary!  Let's see if it works...)
Thursday: Saag paneer, if the paneer works out.  If not, I'll make some dish with the spinach.
Friday: Not sure yet, but likely nothing, since I'll probably have lots of leftovers.
Saturday: nothing -- I'll be at a conference all day and at a Yo Yo Ma concert at night.
Sunday: Maybe black bean tacos?  I've got dried black beans to use, though those will keep.  Or maybe something with the spaghetti squash that came in the CSA share.

Now, on to the recipes. As you can see from above, I finally tried molecular gastronomy!  Before I talk about it, I promised Cindy I'd share this conversation she and I had last week about it.  Here it is, in its ridiculous glory:

me: people are a little silly

 unrelated, but my sister got me a molecular gastronomy starter kit for my birthday!

 so i can now make round blobs and foams and random-flavor noodle-looking things!

 Cindy: hahahahaahah

  oh man

  that is the best descriptor of mo-gas ever!

  so true

 me: haha, i'm glad you like it :)

  i haven't tried it yet, but that's certainly my impression of the whole thing

Cindy: yeah

 me: i'm very excited by this, it seems appropriately ridiculous

 Cindy: same here

 me: i'm gonna have to find time to watch the recipe dvd, because it's really something that requires watching and not just reading, at least for me

 Cindy: yeah

  i don't think it's something that you just trial and error

  unless you want a flavorless blob of foam noodle

 me: hahaha, and even then, you probably have to get the additives right

 or you might get random chemical mess, instead

 Cindy: yeah

  like why not just open up the under-the-sink cupboard

  and eat some of that stuff

 me: i hope that the additives that came in my kit are less poisonous...

 Cindy: hahaha

  me too!

 unless your sister is trying to secretly poison you

 me: well, in which case think geek would be secretly trying to poison us all

 Cindy: oh

  yes

  the robots got control of think geek

  and are trying to kill off the human race

 me: that's concerning

  what did the human race ever do to them?

  i guess they're only trying to kill off the foodie subsection

  maybe they're jealous because they can't have awesome food?

 Cindy: yes

  oil and electricity can't be very tasty

 me: but maybe their palates have evolved to enjoy it?

 Cindy: i suppose that's possible  

Despite these suspicions, I decided to finally try my new kit,and the results were awesome and ridiculous.  So, the kit came with tools (a syringe, tubing, a slotted spoon, a pipette, and measuring spoons), a bunch of additives, and a dvd of recipes.  Of the 50 recipes, I decided to try arugula noodles and balsamic vinegar pearls.

Arugula noodles in their tubes

I watched the videos for each one several times and wrote down the recipes, which was helpful.  The only problem was, the recipes were really not that detailed.  Now, after having tried the whole thing, I looked the recipes up online and found a much more detailed version.  So, instead of typing them out, I'll link you to them, since you really kinda have to have all the details.

Arugula Noodles

Balsamic Vinegar Pearls

Balsamic vinegar...clumps

Molecular gastronomy snack!

 All in all, it was an entertaining experiment, and I'm looking forward to trying more recipes and different techniques.  I wish I had used more arugula and actually salted it (the linked recipe says to do so, but mine didn't).  My pearls looked less like pearls and more like clumps -- I think I didn't cool the oil long enough.  But it tasted good, and both Mu and I were highly amused.  All in all, it didn't take very much time at all.  The oil had to be put in the freezer ahead of time, but the rest of the steps took about 15 minutes, total.  Granted, I didn't do a large serving, but still, that's pretty good.  The really nice thing about it being so quick is that I feel OK about experimenting with more random recipes -- it doesn't feel like I'm wasting time.

You can see how the pearls aren't pearly

I'm not sure if the veggie stock ought to count as a recipe, but I'll go ahead and count it, since it's different from the mushroom stock of last week.  I don't have a picture -- veggie stock isn't that exciting -- and I'll do it in a more casual format, since it really isn't a formal recipe.

Basically, what I did was save veggie trimmings over the last week.  I ended up with lettuce cores, some beet greens that didn't get used, some stems from a now-forgotten green and onion peelings.  I added another whole onion and a head of garlic to start, some kale that was going to go bad before I could use it, chard stems from chard I haven't used yet, stalks that I won't use from green garlic, two leftover green onions, and a bit of dill.  I browned the onion and garlic, then added everything else in small batches, giving it a minute or so to cook down.  Then, I added enough water to cover the whole mess, about 5 quarts.  I brought to a boil, added salt, pepper, and pasta sprinkle, then reduced to simmer for about an hour.  Like with the other stock, this ones needs straining.  It cooked down a bit, so I ended up with a little under 4 quarts that I'll freeze.  The flavor was OK but somewhat bland, but that's what I want in a stock, so I don't mind.  I still want to add a bay leaf or two next time, but I haven't had a chance to get any.

Link dump and (domestic) food processing

Chili powder, freshly ground

Lots of fruit!

Citrus remains

I didn't cook today, though Mu did.  He made me French toast for breakfast, yay!  Also, my friend Amanda and I went to see Jiro Dreams of Sushi (which was both a great story and amazing shots of pretty fish), so of course we had to go out for sushi afterwards. So, between those meals and eating leftovers, cooking didn't make sense.  Instead, I used the time to process some stuff that needed dealing with -- dried chilis from the CSA, an inordinate amount of grapefruits and oranges, leftover matzah from Passover, and a bunch of fruit.  We also got a tomato start from the CSA which needed to be re-potted. So, no actual cooking, but a bunch of small things that needed doing.  I ground up the chilis into a (very spicy) chili powder; made a ton (well, 11) of tupperwares with mango slices (pre-sliced from Costco), strawberries (salvaged from last week, so there are bits cut out), blackberries, and raspberries; juiced the huge amount of citrus (Mu helped a lot); and ground up the matzahs so that I can easily make matzoh ball soup over the next few months.  Oh, and we re-potted the plant and put in some water pearls.


I haven't done any menu planning today, but I'm thinking that I'll do menu Mondays from now on, since I know of a bunch of blogs that do that.  Plus, Mondays seem more likely for actually getting things done. Not sure what the theme of the week will be, since I've got lots of CSA things to use up, but I'll figure that out tomorrow.

And now, finally, have the link dump of the last 2 weeks!

Tyler Cowen's (an economist) rules for getting a good meal while out.

Pitcher of orange and grapefruit juice

A bunch of great ideas for cooking spinach.

Sushi bot!

An interesting article by Joel Salatin about how being a foodie elitist isn't a bad thing.

Apparently, home coops are the new in-thing to do.

Ground-up matzoh meal

Arsenic in our chickens? Unclear what's actually going on, but the more I read, the less I want to eat meat produced in this way.

San Francisco is trying to bring gardening and eating green to public schools!

Cute letter from a foodie dad to his toddler son about food.

A little late, but a cute idea for Passover -- Cocktails to represent things on the Seder plate.

Tomato start in new pot, complete with water pearls

 Medieval cookbook containing a recipe for cooking unicorn (note the publication date of the article...)!

A mom puts her 7 year old on a diet and another mom responds. Heavy read, but interesting.

And finally, the article I referenced last week about strategies to make dinner happen.

Matzoh ball soup (recipe 9)

I did in fact cook yesterday, I just didn't manage to post about it.  Oops.  And I've got links from 2 weeks!  I'll do the recipe now and the links later today, I think.  I should've just done them mid-week, when I didn't cook, but there we are.

Matzoh Ball Soup (adapted from The Jew and the Carrot)
Ingredients

For matzoh balls (I doubled this recipe, but I'm listing original quantities)
1/2 cup matzoh meal 
2 tablespoons butter
2 eggs
2 tablespoons veggie stock (I used my homemade mushroom stock both here and later for the soup)
1 tablespoon fresh dill (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
1 tablespoon parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt

For soup
1 onion
2 carrots
celery (I didn't use)
6 cups veggie stock
2 green onions
1/4 cup parsley
salt and pepper
olive oil

Try to make the matzoh balls ahead of time if you can -- they have to sit in the fridge for at least 15 minutes, but 3-4 hours is better.  Lightly beat the eggs, then combine with butter and stock and stir until relatively smooth.  Stir in matzoh meal, salt, parsley, and dill until mixture is evenly combined.  It's OK if the mixture tastes pretty salty at this point -- it'll lose much of that when you're cooking it. Refrigerate.

Once you're ready to make the whole dish, put on a large pot of water to boil.  In the meantime, chop up the carrots and onion and saute them in olive oil in your soup pot for about 5 minutes, until the onions start getting tender.  This is also a good place to use a pre-made and frozen carrot/onion mixture, if you do that.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Add stock and bring to a boil, then turn down and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Your pot of water should be boiling vigorously at this point.  Salt the water.  With wet hands, form the matzoh dough into balls about 1 inch in diameter.  They should stick together pretty well, but avoid over-handling them. Drop them into the water one at a time.  You should end up with 12-15 balls.  Turn down the heat so the water is simmering, cover, and cook for about 25 minutes.  The matzoh balls will become big and plump and fluffy.

When the soup has been simmering for about 20 minutes, add the green onions and parsley and cook for another 5-10.  At this point, the matzoh balls should be ready.  Add them one by one (don't add too much extra liquid) and cook all together for another 5-10 minutes.  Adjust salt and pepper as needed -- taste a matzoh ball first, as they will likely be relatively un-salty. Serve a few balls and some broth per bowl.

It's not actually this green in real life

Recipe summary
Time: About an hour of prep/cooking, a few hours in the fridge to chill the dough.  Of the cooking hour, probably about 30 minutes are hands-off.
Serves: 6-8
Highlights/thoughts: This is the second time I made this soup in as many weeks, and it definitely worked better the second time around.  One big change was that I used homemade stock.  Now, I don't mind using store-bought for most things, but I think the difference is that in this soup, the flavor of the stock really matters, since there aren't a ton of other veggies and seasonings to add to it.  However, of the people who ate the original, I was the only one bothered by the stock flavor, so maybe I'm just too picky. Also, my matzoh balls were bigger and less flimsy this time around.  I think the difference was that I added slightly more meal than the recipe calls for.
Would I make this again?  Definitely!  Not sure how often I'd make this throughout the year, but it's a great Passover recipe.

Cooking, recipe 8 (radishes!)

So, no molecular gastronomy today -- one of the ingredients was tomatoes, but I completely forgot about that and ate the last one!  So, I'll get some tomatoes either tomorrow or Saturday, but in the meantime, I decided to make a CSA-recommended super-quick side dish -- hot buttered radishes.

Hot Buttered Radishes
Ingredients
1 bunch of radishes, with their greens
1-2 tablespoons of butter
salt and pepper to taste
lemon juice from half a lemon (optional, but the greens are bitter and lemon does wonders!)

Clean and trim the radishes, separating them from the greens and slicing them in half.  Heat up the butter (the more you use, the tastier and the fattier it is). Once the butter is hot, put in radishes and greens, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook for about 3 minutes, 'till the greens are wilted.  Add some lemon juice if using and cook another minute.  Serve with some main -- we had burgers (meat for me, veg for Mu).

Recipe summary
Time: 10 minutes total, including cleaning!
Serves: 2-4, depending on what you're serving it with and how large the radish bunch is
Highlights/thoughts: I love how quick and easy this was!  Pretty much no effort on my part.  Mu helped me clean the radishes, which cut the time from 10 minutes to about 7. The only thing is that the radish greens were massively bitter.  The lemon helped, but they were still a bit bitter even after that.
Would I make this again? Definitely, it's such a no-brainer side dish!
  

Cooking, recipe 7 and Tuesday Tip (and the start of a new tradition?)

Since I knew I wasn't going to cook today, I saved yesterday's post for today.  And then realized I didn't have a photo of yesterday's recipe, mostly because I was feeling cranky and totally forgot.  But that's ok, because we have fanart again!  In fact, Cindy and I have decided that this should be a weekly tradition (though I just realized we haven't decided what day it should be, but that's ok).  In fact, today's picture is a warning: if you don't like the idea of weekly fanart, an elephant wizard might make you stick your head in a mushroom.  Like so:

 

I hope none of you meet this awful fate. :)

A note about the mushroom stock from the other day: it's really mushroomy! This is a good thing, but it also means that I wouldn't add this stock to a random soup unless I specifically wanted mushroom flavor.  I knew this when I was making the stock, but it's probably worth mentioning.

Anyways, yesterday, I went and made a bigger batch of food again.  On one hand, it's probably good, since I won't be cooking today and tomorrow.  On the other hand, dude, I'm really incapable of making reasonably-sized things.  In my defense, I had 4 portobellos I hadn't used, and I didn't want them to go bad! So there we are.  I also started a freezer bag of trimmings in order to make veggie stock sometime next week.  We'll see how that goes.  The recipe itself was pretty easy and didn't take a whole lot of attention, which allowed me to make the now-weekly batch of salad for this week while I was waiting for dinner to finish.

Quinoa with mushrooms, greens, and chili

Ingredients

1 cup of quinoa

2 cups of mushroom stock (or veggie stock or water)

1 onion

4 portobello caps (reserve the stems for stock if you want)

2 broccoli bunches (apparently, broccoli stems aren't good for stock, though)

4-5 medium tomatoes

1 bunch beet greens (this is the first time I used the greens before the beets!)

neutral oil

salt, pepper, and chili powder

In a medium pot, combine quinoa and stock.  Bring to a boil, then adjust the heat so that the mixture simmers. Cover and cook until the liquid is gone, 15-20 minutes.  Set aside when it's done.  In the meantime, chop up an onion.  Heat a little bit of oil over medium-high heat and when it's hot, put in the onion.  Saute 'till tender, 3-5 minutes. Chop up the portobellos and add them.  Cook for about 10 minutes, 'till the mushrooms have given up juices and started browning.  Chop up the greens, broccoli and tomatoes and add them at this point. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and add a bit of water.  Cover and cook until broccoli is tender, 15ish minutes. Uncover, add chili powder to taste, and cook until most of the liquid has cooked off.  Stir in the quinoa, adjust seasonings to taste, and cook for a few minutes to integrate everything. 

Recipe summary
Time: About an hour, of which about 20 minutes is hands-on
Serves: 6-8
Highlights/thoughts: Nice and easy recipe -- you can add pretty much any vegetables and have it turn out well.  It also helps to cook the quinoa in stock of some kind rather than water.  Water is fine, but stock really adds a nice flavor to the whole thing.
Would I make this again?  Definitely, though probably not with identical veggies, since I don't necessarily have portobellos on hand.

And, in relationship to the recipe, here's the Tuesday Tip.  It turns out that chili powder is instant yummy!  I was cooking this and feeling meh in general, and the veggies were turning out pretty meh, despite adding salt and pepper.  I stared at my spice rack for a while and decided, randomly, to add some chili powder.  I specifically used Penzey's Chili 9000, which is a blend, but I think straight-up chili powder would work just as well.  It instantly added a nice flavor and kick and really brought the dish together.  Yay!

Cooking, recipe 6 and another menu plan

I don't really have a theme for this week -- I still want to do Indian/Asian, but I'm not feeling ready to do so this week.  So, we'll have random things Elaine wants to try that are also kosher for Passover.

Sunday (today): Mushroom stock.  This doesn't feel quite like a real recipe, since it doesn't produce an immediately edible dish, but I've wanted to do stock for a while and haven't convinced myself to do so.  Plus, we still have leftovers to finish.
Monday: Quinoa with portobellos (left over from last week), tomatoes, and some other veggies. :)
Tuesday: Most likely, nothing -- I'll be at school from 9:30am 'till about 9pm, so it seems unlikely that I'll cook.
Wednesday: Probably nothing again -- work 'till 5, a review 'till 6:30, and theater in the evening.
Thursday: Molecular gastronomy day!  My sister got me a kit for my birthday, and I have 2 recipes that seem to go well together that I'd like to try -- arugula noodles and balsamic vinegar pearls.  So exciting!
Friday: Matzah ball soup again (since I haven't posted the recipe, I'll just count it that time), and a side of some kind -- maybe snap peas with garlic and lemon?
Saturday: Beet salad with goat cheese.

So, today's recipe is mushroom stock.  As far as I can tell, it almost doesn't matter what you do with stock, but here's what I did. :)  No picture this time, sorry.  Also, I doubled this recipe.

Mushroom stock (cobbled together from Cooking Everything Vegetarian and internet sources)
Ingredients
1 onion or 2 green onions
2 carrots
2 celery stalks (I didn't use them, but it's recommended everywhere)
1 pound white mushrooms
1 ounce dried porcini or shitake mushrooms
10-20 stems (with leaves is OK) of parsley
1-2 bay leaf (didn't use it)
1 head garlic (optional, but I love garlic)
2 quarts water
neutral oil
salt and pepper

If using dried mushrooms, soak them in boiling water.  Coarsely chop the onions (discard the brown skin, but keep the tough layer you'd normally toss) and slice the carrots (Wash well, but no need to peel).  In a stock pot, heat some oil on medium heat.  Cook the onions, stirring frequently, for about 3 minutes.  Add carrots, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook for about 10 minutes, until relatively tender, stirring occasionally.  Chop the white mushrooms in the meantime (or ahead of time if you like to have your mise-en-place).  With a slotted spoon, remove onion and carrots and set aside.  Add more oil if necessary and put in the mushrooms.  Sprinkle with salt and cook until they release liquid and start to brown, about 10 minutes.  Add the dried mushrooms and their cooking liquid along with the cooked vegetables.  Stir, then add water, parsley, bay leaf if using, and garlic (separate the cloves, but don't bother peeling).  Stir and bring to a boil.  Redice the heat so that the liquid is boiling steadily.  Cook for at least 30 minutes, more if you have time, stirring once or twice.  Cook, drain, and use or freeze.

Recipe summary
Time: 2 hours or so.  Prep and boiling took about 30 minutes, and then I had to do very little for the next 1.5 hours
Yield: About 3 quarts.
Highlights/thoughts: I like that I was able to control the flavor and salt amount here in a way that I can't with store-bought stuff -- I'd really rather my stock be less salty so that I can adjust recipes as needed.  I don't like, however, feeling like I put in mushrooms that I could've eaten but now can't because all the goodness has been boiled out of them.  The solution, I think, is to start a freezer bag of trimmings.  That's what I'm gonna try over the next few weeks.
Would I make this again?  Definitely, though I'll have to figure out which variation will work best for me.

Brief placeholder

I'm a bit behind again with posts -- as you may have noticed, there was no Friday link-dump, though I have lots of links.  I'll try to get that up tonight, but it may not happen 'till tomorrow.  I also didn't cook yesterday because it turned out that we had a lot of leftovers, and 2 Seders (last night and tonight) to go to.  Cooking would've been silly, so we finished up stuff that we already had in the fridge. 

Right now, I'm making matzah ball soup and doing last-minute prep for tonight's Seder.  I'll post the recipe after I get home, or sometime tomorrow.  Happy Passover, happy Easter, or happy weekend!

Giving myself a break, and more fanart!

Amusingly, after my post yesterday about how the cooking every day thing may not be working, I've stumbled across a number of posts on blogs I read about this same thing -- how, in order to make cooking a sustainable endeavor, one needs to pace oneself, allow for nights out or "freezer" nights, and generally give oneself a break.  I'll link to my favorite of the posts tomorrow (part of the reason it's my favorite is that it encourages going out to dinner on Thursday or Friday, teehee!).

Also, I realized that I really didn't take Passover into account with my menu plans.  I can't do portobello panini on Friday unless it's for lunch and has no leftovers, since panini is bread!  And I can't do pasta tonight unless we're sure to finish it before sundown tomorrow.  I really didn't think this through, did I?  So, the latest plan is that I will not cook tonight (sushi, hooray!), and I'll make portobellos with quinoa tomorrow to use up the rest of the portobellos.  I still have a bunch of mushrooms left over, but they're actually the perfect amount for making mushroom stock, which I want to try next week.  And I'm still planning to do matzah ball soup on Saturday for second-night Seder, so I actually will have accomplished 7 recipes this week, despite the break.

So, I'm thinking that for the rest of the month, I will aim for the same number of recipes, but fewer days.  It's more feasible for me to cook a main and a side on a couple of the days, just a main on several others, and not at all on one or two more.  Mid-week is particularly hard, and next week, I have evening commitments on both Tuesday and Wednesday.  Hopefully, this modified goal will help me feel like I'm still taking on this challenge without feeling burnt out.

Finally, the totally awesome Cindy has provided more fan art!  Why?  She says, "Because it seemed like the scrunchiness of the mushrooms was important, and yet lacked a scientific guide."  So, here is a practical guide to how scrunched cooked portobello steaks should be!

Cooking, recipes 3, 4, and 5 (Portobello steaks with glazed carrots and pistou)

I think I should number things by recipes rather than days, since I'll have days where I'm skipping and such.  Today, I made 3 different things, so 3, 4, and 5 it is.

I'm starting to wonder if I'm going to have to modify my cooking schedule to cook less frequently, maybe 5 out of 7 days.  Partially, this is because even though it's only been 3 days, I'm already not sure I want to keep this up for a whole month.  The other, more practical, consideration is that I'm not good at cooking reasonably small amounts.  I'm aiming for 4 portions each night -- 2 for dinner and 2 for lunch the next day. Two of the meals I've cooked so far have been 5-6 portions, though, which means leftovers are hanging out in the fridge.  Now, I don't mind eating leftovers at all, but I don't want so much that they go bad.  So, I'll see how the rest of this week goes and if I can adjust my portions, or if it makes more sense to adjust the schedule, instead.  Part of me feels like it'll be a more manageable project if I adjust the schedule, but part of me feels like I'm giving up and I've barely even begun!  We'll see.

I made two more recipes from the Fresh 20 site, and they were much more successful.  The other one was adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, which has become my go-to book for veggie advice and recipes.

Portobello steaks with glazed carrots and pistou
Ingredients

Shrunken, but not too much

Portobello steaks (adapted from the Fresh 20 site)
4 portobello caps, no stems (recipe originally suggests 6, with a serving size of 1.5 cap per person.  This seems ridiculously large to me, especially given that they also include a side recipe that I didn't end up making)
olive oil
salt and pepper
paprika (well, they actually said thyme because they seem to have a thing for thyme, but I do not)

Quick-glazed carrots (adapted from Mark Bittman's book)

Not all the liquid has yet boiled off

1 pound of carrots
1/3 cup white wine or stock or water (I used wine and water)
2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
salt and pepper
paprika (that's my addition, I was on a paprika kick today)
1-2 teaspoons lemon juice
Note: I ended up doubling the recipe and it worked great, though took longer

Pistou (from the website)
2 cups arugula
2 cups basil leaves
2 garlic cloves (I used 4)

Small tupperware!

1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup shredded parmesan
1 plum tomato (medium-sized)
salt and pepper




Preheat the oven to 400 F.  The carrots take the longest, so get them going first.  Peel and cut the carrots into sticks or coins (I did coins because the food processor has an attachment for that, weee! Or, rather, Mu did coins because he peels carrots for me (I hate doing it for some reason) and then continued helping.  Yay, Mu!).  In a medium-sized deep pan (mine was too big), combine carrots, butter, and whatever liquid you're using.  Heat until it boils, season if you're not using stock, cover, and adjust the heat until the whole thing simmers.  Cook more or less undisturbed until the carrots are tender and there is less liquid, 10-20 minutes (longer if you have more carrots).  While that's going, brush the portobellos with olive oil and season on both sides with salt, pepper, and whatever other spice you're using.  Put them on a baking sheet cap-side down and cook until they've shrunk a bit and released some liquid, but aren't totally scrunched up (very technical, I know), 10-15 minutes.  In the meantime, make the pistou (or make it way ahead of time and store in the fridge).  In a blender or food processor, pulse the arugula, basil, and garlic into a coarse mixture.  Add olive oil slowly and blend.  Add the parmesan and tomato and blend some more until it's pretty uniform (it'll still be a little grainy).  Salt and pepper to taste.  At this point, uncover the carrots and allow the rest of the liquid to boil off.  Add the lemon juice and adjust the seasonings as needed.  Top each portobello with pistou and serve with carrots on the side!

Meal summary
Time: About an hour total, though Mu was helping with peeling carrots while I was grating the parmesan.  Carrots were probably 40 minutes total, with prep. Mushrooms were super easy, about 20. The pistou was also easy (especially if you don't grate your own cheese), about 5 minutes after the grating.
Serves: Mushrooms are for 4, carrots are 7-8 as a side, and the pistou is probably for 4-6, depending how much you want as a garnish/sauce.

Yay, colors!

Highlights/thoughts: This was much quicker and easier than yesterday's recipe, so perhaps I can give The Fresh 20 another shot.  I was glad that I added extra garlic to the pistou, though, because it gave it a nice kick that it wouldn't have had.  The paprika/lemon combo was a nice one.  I'm glad I made extra carrots, since they're a pretty versatile side.
Would I make this again? Definitely.  I know portobello steaks are the overdone vegetarian thing, but I really like how they taste, and they were so easy!  And the pistou added a great bite to the whole dish.