020: greek influences

why hello there! once again, it has been an absurdly long time since i've gotten to do this, again because of travel. for one, finals. then my winter break was jam-packed! my boyfriend came up from florida to visit over christmas (his very first experience EVER with a white one!), and then my parents and i spent 3 weeks traveling in greece, before i went back down to florida for a week to visit james and his family. let me tell you, after a month in the 60s-70s that a greek/floridian december/january offer, the -8 that i woke up to this midwest morning hit me like a slap in the face. but if that's the only negative that comes from a month of travel, i'll take it!


traveling in greece opened me up to a lot of new flavor combinations, if not necessarily new cuisines. here are a few of my favorites:

1.) a green salad (lettuce, spinach, cabbage, all of the above, etc) with olive oil, lemon juice, and dill as its "dressing." i got very used to and comfortable with the olive oil, vinegar, and salt that the spanish use, but this combo offers a similar freshness. there will be a lot of tang in the flavor, and the dill (especially fresh) adds a fantastic full herb sensation. these can, of course, be in any proportion according to your own taste preferences, but if you like formulas, i'd do about equal parts olive oil and lemon juice and enough chopped dill to lightly cover the top of the salad.


2.) greek salad. this is not your typical green salad, as it is comprised solely of cut tomatoes, cucumbers, and feta cheese. if you can't get fresh tomatoes, i'd avoid making this dish, as it is one of the central flavors, and its absence would ruin the dish. the tomatoes are cut into wedges, and the cucumbers in slices. you can either crumble the feta over the top, or, more traditionally, serve a big ol' slab of it over the top of the tomatoes and cucumbers, which are just mixed together. the only dressing on this dish is a sufficient amount of olive oil to coat the veggies, and then oregano over the top. sometimes we added lemon juice and/or salt to mix up the flavors a little bit, but it was always something nice and fresh to have with a meal.


3.) using fried potatoes in lieu of pasta, rice, or other starch. the greeks love their fried potatoes, and boy oh boy are they good! i would recommend beginning with heating olive oil in a skillet or sauce pan where the oil can be at least a good 3/4" deep. peel your potatoes, and cut them into either slices or wedges (slices will probably fry more evenly). when the olive oil is good and hot, put your cut and peeled potatoes into the oil (carefully! it will probably spit at you), and let them fry (remember to turn them so they cook evenly) until they are light brown. when they're done (they will be HOT! be careful!), you can do one of several things with them.

• serve them. this one sounds obvious, eh? but the really greek way of doing this is to serve them with a dash of balsamic vinegar or a spritz of lemon juice over them to give them a really fresh taste. they are also typically served unsalted, though oregano might be used instead. they make a great side to anything with which you would normally serve potatoes, french fries, rice, pasta, etc.
• use them as a base. these make a great thing over which to serve either meat or veggies (like eggplant, artichokes, peppers, okra, etc.) in a sauce. one of my favorites was roasted pork with bell peppers in a tomato sauce served over these potatoes instead of over rice or pasta.
• bake them. i think my favorite dish i had the entire 3 weeks abroad was a baked veal dish, where veal was baked together with these potatoes (yes, they had been fried before baked) with feta cheese as the congealing agent. the veal was diced over the top of the potatoes, and plenty of cheese was over the top, baked in a casserole and making almost a baked pasta hot dish, except, again, using the potatoes as the base starch.

get creative! there are all kinds of things you can do with potatoes. for a spanish equivalent, try my spanish omelette. it's a very similar concept and method, just in a different place along the mediterranean.


if you have any questions or would like some more specific instructions, leave a comment or email me. don't be afraid to experiment! happy cooking :o)
-kl

019: oyster chicken over couscous

this is a super fast, super easy asian-inspired chicken recipe. it can also be done with kielbasa as the protein, but this is just a bit healthier. since i usually do my cooking for one, this recipe yields 1-2 servings. expanding it would be easy and quite feasible.




equipment:
1 12" frying pan
spatula (heat resistant)
sauce pan
knife


ingredients:
olive oil
1 chicken breast, cut into strips
1/2 c. water
1/3 c. couscous
1/2 c. chopped red pepper
1/2 c. chopped red onion
1/2 c. oyster sauce


steps:
1.) heat a few teaspoons of olive oil frying pan, and add chicken strips. heat until fully cooked.

2.) while the chicken is cooking, begin boiling water for the couscous, and cook according to the directions on the box (i used 1/2 c. water, 1 t. olive oil, and 1/3 c. couscous)

3.) add chopped red pepper and red onion to chicken. cook until caramelized.

4.) add oyster sauce to chicken combo, and heat until sauce is warm.

5.) serve chicken with sauce hot over couscous.



time: 10 minutes cook time
difficulty: 1 (1 being easiest, 5 being hardest)
rating: ♦♦♦♦1/2 (4.5 stars out of 5)
suggestions for variation: use kielbasa as the protein


enjoy!
-kl

018: spinach alfredo pasta with italian sausage

so i had some leftover italian sausage from this recipe, and decided to take a page out of my boyfriend's mother's book and do a spin off a recipe she made. since i usually cook for one, these are the proportions i made for approximately 2-3 servings, though the recipe could feasibly be expanded easily to feed more. cook time was about 20 minutes.




equipment:
12" skillet
spatula (heat proof)
colander


ingredients:
2 italian sausage with spinach and mozzarella (i used something similar to this, though any italian sausage will suffice)
2 c. pasta (i used bowtie)
1 to 1 and 1/2 c. alfredo sauce (i cheated and used store-bought, though you can certainly make your own from scratch)
handful of fresh spinach
water


steps:
1.) heat italian sausage in 1/4" water in your skillet over medium heat.

2.) when your sausage is thoroughly heated, add the pasta to the skillet.

3.) add enough water (room temperature) to the skillet to cover the pasta. keeping the pasta cooking with the sausage adds fantastic flavor to the pasta itself.

4.) when the pasta is cooked (al dente), drain the excess water from the skillet using either the lid of the skillet or a colander.

5.) add the alfredo sauce over the top of the sausage and pasta in the skillet over low heat.

6.) when the sauce is warm, add the spinach and mix it in, just to the point where it starts to get tender. stir it all together and serve hot.



time: 20 minutes cook time
difficulty: 2 (1 being easiest, 5 being hardest)
rating: ♦♦♦♦1/2 (4.5 stars out of 5)
suggestions for variation: garlic, crushed red pepper, oregano, and basil to taste. try with mozzarella sprinkled on top?, vary types of sausage used


enjoy!
-kl

017: sundried tomato alfredo pasta with italian sausage

wahoo!!!! it has been many MANY moons since i made something original--going on 5 months now! but today i got back in my kitchen and feel better than i thought possible after creating this new recipe. i hope you enjoy it! prep time was about 5-10 minutes, and cook time is about 15-20. i made this for 2 and we had about a serving of leftovers, but it could reasonably be expanded to serve more. buon appetito!





equipment:
1 12" skillet
spatula (heat proof)
paring knife
2 quart sauce pan


ingredients:
3 T. olive oil
2 italian sausage with spinach and mozzarella (i used something similar to this, though really any italian sausage will do)
1/2 c. sliced red bell pepper
1/2 c. sliced red onion
1 t. minced garlic
1 t. crushed red pepper
1/2 t. oregano
1/2 t. basil
1 and 1/2 cups sundried tomato alfredo sauce (i used this)
1/4 c. sun dried tomatoes (i use the jarred ones in olive oil and herbs)
6 c. water
2 c. pasta (i used radiatore)
2 T. olive oil that the sun dried tomatoes were packed in


steps:
1.) heat 2 full sausages in olive oil in the skillet until warm. cut the full sausages into bite-sized pieces.

2.) while the sausages are cooking, slice your red pepper and red onion. add 1/2 c. of each to the sausage pieces. and garlic, crushed red pepper, oregano, and basil.

3.) begin boiling the water for the pasta. pour in some of the oil and herbs that were in the sun dried tomatoes so that the pasta itself picks up some flavor.

4.) when the water boils, add the pasta and cook according to instructions.

5.) cut your sun-dried tomatoes into bite-sized pieces.

6.) add alfredo over the top of the sausage mixture when onions are translucent. add sun-dried tomato pieces.

7.) drain pasta when it's done. add it to sausage and alfredo mixture and stir it all together.


time: 5-10 minutes prep time, 15-20 minutes cook time
difficulty: 2 (1 being easiest, 5 being hardest)
rating: ♦♦♦♦♦ (5 stars out of 5)
suggestions for variation: garlic, crushed red pepper, oregano, and basil to taste. try with mozzarella sprinkled on top?, vary types of sausage used


enjoy!
-kl

016: chili cheddar jalapeño bread

goodness, it's been a long time! my apologies about that! this semester has been craaaazy busy, and i just haven't had any time to make anything new in the kitchen. thus, this recipe is an amendment of another one, the jalapeño cheddar bread from last spring. this time i added chilies to the mix, and i like this outcome MUCH better than before. so i highly recommend this one!

equipment:
medium and large mixing bowls
measuring cups and spoons
3 small loaf pans or one standard loaf pan


ingredients:
2 and 1/2 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
1 and 1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. baking soda
1 c. cheddar cheese, then some for sprinkling over the top
1/2 c. cubed red onion
1 diced jalapeño
1/4 c. diced red pepper
1 small can green chilies, drained
2 T. parsley
1 t. cilantro
1 t. crushed red pepper
1/2 t. black pepper
2 T. olive oil
2 T. shortening
2 T. sugar
2 cloves minced garlic
2 beaten eggs
3/4 c. plain yogurt
3/4 c. milk


steps:
1.) preheat oven to 350 degrees. fold together flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, cheese, onion, jalapeño, red pepper, green chilies, and herbs (if you've never worked with hot peppers like chilies and jalapeños before, check out my tips for handling them).

2.) in separate bowl, whisk together oil, shortening, and sugar until smooth. add garlic, eggs, yogurt, and milk. blend until combined well.

3.) add wet ingredients to dry and pour into greased loaf pans.

4.) sprinkle a handful of cheddar over the top of the loaf(ves).

5.) bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes.


time: 30 minuets prep, 45 minutes bake
difficulty: 2.5 (1 being easiest, 5 being hardest)
rating: ♦♦♦♦1/2◊ (4.5 out of 5 stars)

enjoy!
-kl

015: i'm baaack! the tale of my summer

hello there! well, i'm finally back on campus, in my apartment, and BACK TO MY KITCHEN! goodness how i missed it. see, i was living and working all summer at a hotel in florida, and needless to say, i had an excellent time. however, given that it was a hotel, i did not ever have access to making my own food :( and i haven't exactly been back in mine yet this year--only got back to campus a few days ago and have been training for and/or working one of my 3 jobs since i got back. BUT. the good news is that i have a few pictures of projects that i undertook this summer. nothing original. nothing fancy. but just a little fun and creativity en la cocina.

this was way back in may before i left, and if you're not aware of it already, i am a HUGE minnesota twins fan! however, one of my friends is a huge milwaukee brewers fan. now this is not normally an issue between us, given that the two teams are in different leagues, but they play each other for two series a year, and the border battle gets quite intense. so, just because it was his birthday, i had some fun making some baseball themed cookies.



these are the ones i made for mr. brewers fan.



and these are the ones i made for the twins :o)

it was fun. it was fast. and it brought joy to everyone that went to the game. for the record, the twins ended up SWEEPING the brew crew, and then won 2/3 in milwaukee later in the summer. what up TWINS!!! (also, i am going to the last ever game in the metrodome in october, and i absolutely cannot wait!).

anyway, i promise i will get back to cooking soon. this was just a litte something to whet the appetite, because as i always say: life is uncertain, eat dessert first :o)
-kl

014: cinnamon apple streusel muffins

well, this is my last post for a while, given that i am moving to florida for the summer and will be without a kitchen. so i am leaving you with a delectable muffin recipe. yum! prep time is about 20 minutes, and bake time is about 25 mins. happy summer, everyone :o)




equipment:
2 mixing bowls
measuring cups and spoons
muffin tin


ingredients:
2 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. baking soda
2 t. cinnamon
2 eggs
1 c. sour cream
1/4 c. melted butter
1 and 1/2 c. applesauce (i used chunky applesauce with cinnamon)

streusel topping:
1/4 c. sugar
1 t. cinnamon
2 T. margerine


steps:
1.) preheat oven to 375 degrees. combine all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.

2.) combine all wet ingredients in 2nd mixing bowl.

3.) add dry mix to wet mix bit by bit and mix thoroughly. pour batter into greased muffin tins.

4.) make streusel topping by creaming ingredients together, and sprinkle over top of muffins in tin.

5.) bake at 375 for 20-25 mins, or until toothpick comes out clean.


time: prep time = 20 mins, bake time = 20-25 mins
difficulty: 2 (1 being easiest, 5 being hardest)
rating: 4.5 stars out of 5


enjoy!
-kl