Still Divorced, Still Sexy

Happy New Year! As you may have noticed, I have not updated this blog in quite some time. The past few months have been especially hectic for the Sexy Divorcee, and life intervened, as it sometimes does. In a future post, I may go into that, but we'll see. The important thing for me vis-a-vis this blog is just to get posting again. I will probably be blogging less often, but as I get readjusted to life back in my own little apartment I do want to get back into the habit of posting not only recipes but also my meal plans and shopping lists. I went grocery shopping today--when I got home yesterday there were only condiments, a partial tub of light cream cheese, and (THANK GOD!!) enough coffee beans for my morning French press--so I will update you with shopping list and meal plan probably this weekend. So here's a quick post for the new year.

One of my dearest friends ever, who blogs at Still Life and who is way more motivated than me and a more ambitious cook than I am, sent me a little chapbook-style cookbook as a "Valentine's" present (I think it came in March or maybe April) that she had compiled of some of her favorite recipes, some of which were totally original. There are some wonderful things in this book, and I love it a lot. It's one of the nicest presents I think I've ever gotten. But...I really haven't made very many of the recipes in it. But I was looking at her recipe for Aubergine-Chickpea ragout, and thought, hm. That's the perfect thing to get me back on track with healthy cooking and eating after the holidays. Of course, being me, I tweaked it. In fact, it bears very little resemblance to the original, except for the presence of chickpeas and tomato. It doesn't even have the eggplant...er, aubergine. Still, I was pretty happy with the result, which kind of has a North African vibe (in my imagination, anyway), and I still must credit my friend for being the inspiration.

This recipe is totally vegan, but I think it would probably be awesome with some chunks of lamb in it, or as an accompaniment to grilled chicken or lamb.

Cauliflower-Chickpea Ragout

½ head of cauliflower, cut into bite-sized chunks

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 large carrot, diced

1 small red onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup crushed tomato (from can…freeze the leftovers)

2 whole cloves

¼ tsp each ground (adjust blend to taste):

cinnamon

paprika

cumin

coriander

cardamom

zest of 1 lemon + 1 tbsp lemon juice

salt to taste

In a good-sized pan, heat a swirl of olive oil over medium heat. When it shimmers, add garlic. Saute, stirring constantly, for about 30 seconds and then add onion. When the onion begins to soften, add the spice mixture and stir into the onion. Add half the tomato and the carrot and cauliflower. Stir until the vegetables are well coated with the tomato. Add the remaining tomato (and a little water if necessary), lemon juice, and salt and cook over low heat, covered, for 20 minutes or until vegetables are desired tenderness. When the vegetables are cooked, add the lemon zest and chickpeas and cook until warmed through. Serve over rice. 4 servings.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a nice holiday. Let's hope we're all still here a year from now, and that the world does not end, Mayan calendar or no Mayan calendar.

Semper Pasta

I made a couple of pasta dishes in the past week that I thought I should share. The first is carbonara, a fairly typical pasta dish, usually associated with Rome. In fact, I believe this may have been the first real Italian food I ever ate, in Rome, when I traveled to Italy with my high school Latin club (yes...Latin club. Semper ubi sub ubi. What?). Being a stupid sixteen year old, I think my reaction to it was, "Pasta with eggs and ham? Seriously, what are they trying to pull?" In my defense I was probably irritable because of severe jet lag and, authentic though, I realize now, the food may have been, it probably was not very good. Being part of a low rent tour group and all, we ate a lot of substandard, buffet-style meals. But anyway. I have since discovered that this dish can be delicious, if made well.

I haven't been able to track down the exact etymology of "carbonara," but a lot of sources render it "coal miner's style" pasta in English. I have also seen claims that it is called this not because it was the traditional lunch break fare of Italian coal miners, but because the black pepper gives it the appearance of being sprinkled with coal dust. Wikipedia claims these speculations are apocryphal, and that in fact there are no known recipes for the dish dating from before WWII. The Oxford Companion to Food claims that Romans invented the dish to incorporate the bacon and eggs they received from US troops as a supplement to their war-time rations. In any case, carbonara is a tasty and economical pasta dish that delivers satisfying creaminess without as much fat as a cream- or butter-based sauce like Alfredo. The primary ingredients are spaghetti, bacon (to be more fancy you could use specialty Italian-style bacon such as pancetta or guanciale, but regular bacon will suffice), eggs, cheese, salt and pepper. I also like to add peas, a common American twist.

This recipe is slightly modified from Leite's Culinaria. Now. This is fairly straightforward and easy once you get the hang of it, but this dish takes a little bit of practice. It is essential that you time things correctly and have all your ingredients ready to go when you need them. When the pasta is done cooking, you need to be ready to throw it back in the skillet right away. You want the pasta coated in sauce that is thick and rich, not pasta with scrambled egg in it. Don't worry that, because the sauce is viscous, the eggs are not fully cooked. They are, through some chemistry-related process that I cannot explain, but that Alton Brown probably could. By the way, I love Alton Brown. He's like the Bill Nye of cooking (I also love Bill Nye).

1/2 pound of spaghetti (about 1/2 a package)

4 strips of bacon

3 eggs, beaten

1 cup grated Parmiggiano-Reggiano cheese (or Parmesan if you can't find/afford the other stuff)

1 cup frozen peas, thawed and drained

salt and pepper to taste, plus extra cheese for garnish

Fry the bacon in a large skillet until crisp. Remove from skillet and drain off most of the excess grease. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. While the water heats up, chop the bacon into small pieces. When the water boils, at the pasta to the pot and remember to check the pasta frequently for doneness, instead of relying on package directions. When the pasta is almost done, turn the heat on under the bacon skillet to low. Remove the pasta from heat and drain, reserving a little of the pasta water. Return the pasta immediately to the skillet. Pour the eggs and over the pasta, adding the hot pasta water as needed to thicken the sauce. Toss the spaghetti well to coat with the egg and cheese; return the chopped bacon and peas to the skillet and cook until warmed through. This makes three to four servings.

The second pasta dinner I made combines the classic triumvirate of sausage, peppers and onions with rigatoni for a hearty meal. I think of sausage, peppers, and pasta as a totally Italian thing, but I could not learn much about the origins of this combo. The nifty blog Almost Italian sheds some light on it, suggesting that, while Italian restaurants might serve this dish under glamorous-sounding names like Pasta alla Napoletana or Pasta alla Calabrese, the fact is it was probably thrown together in some Italian-American immigrant's kitchen for no other reason than that's what they had to work with. It is no less Italian--or American--for all that.

This is one of those meaty dishes, by the way, that can translate to a faithful vegetarian or vegan approximation. While I'm not crazy about a lot of meat-substitute products, I have found that there are a lot of meatless sausages out there that are quite good, both in terms of flavor and texture. At Avanti we had wheat-based meatless Italian sausage that was nearly indistinguishable from the real thing. Unfortunately I don't know the name of the brand, but I know good options are out there.

Rigatoni with Italian Sausage, Peppers, and Onions

1/2 pound rigatoni (about 1/2 a package)

2 sweet Italian sausage links, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds (If you substitute spicy sausage, omit the red pepper flakes)

1 large onion, pie sliced

1 and 1/2 bell peppers, seeded and sliced into thin strips

3 cloves garlic, sliced

1/4 cup of beer or red wine (I used Fat Tire Amber Ale)

1/4 cup crushed tomato or tomato sauce

2 tsps red pepper flakes

1 tsp each salt, oregano, basil, black pepper

Grated Parmesan cheese for garnish

Heat a little olive oil in a large skillet. Cook the sausage over medium heat until well browned on both sides. Meanwhile, start heating a large pot of water for the pasta. When the sausage is fully cooked, remove it from the skillet and set aside, and drain off excessive drippings. Add the garlic to the skillet and cook until it starts to turn golden. Add the onion and cook until it starts to soften. Add the peppers, beer (or wine), tomato and spices. Cook until the peppers begin to soften and the liquid reduces. When the rigatoni is done, drain and rinse and add to the skillet. If you have a small stove and a less capacious skillet, as I do, I suggest that you remove everything to a large bowl and then throw only as much pasta and sausage mixture back into the skillet for one serving. Although I suppose it's not strictly necessary that it goes back in the skillet, I like to do this because it kind of cooks the sauce to the pasta and improves flavor and texture in my opinion. Toss everything together until well combined and serve. This makes four large servings.

Anyway, I should really get back to my reading and stuff now. I'll catch up with again in a few days, depending on how my schedule goes.

Delicious Dal

This is going to be a brief post, but I just had to share the recipe for the "Dal Nirvana" I made for dinner, because it was quite tasty and pretty easy too! This is a really simple, healthy, vegetarian Indian dish you can make if you are craving Indian food. I followed Beth M's recipe on Budget Bytes (a blog I'm in love with!) to the letter; the only thing I did differently was I halved the recipe. I also made Beth M's naan, a type of Indian flatbread, which was a little more complicated and time consuming, but worth it if you have never made homemade bread like this before. You will feel awesome, and the result might not be restaurant quality the first time around, but it will be better than anything you buy premade at the store. It is a bit tricky, but not as hard as you might think, so don't be intimidated. I also followed her recipe almost exactly (the only thing I did differently was I added lowfat plain yogurt instead of Greek yogurt. I think they are similar enough that it didn't make a huge difference.) That's it for tonight, blog-followers.

Grocery Day? Already??

I tell you what. The month of October is not shaping up to be super for the Sexy Divorcee. My reading load has gotten ridiculous, my students are taking up all of my energy, my house is a mess, and there are so many damn birthdays and parties and things going on! I haven't had a break since the month started, and I'm not likely to get one any time soon. It's getting to be a "clean all the things?" kind of situation over here.

So I was chagrined to realize that, oh my god, two weeks have gone by and I'm running out of food. I have to go to the grocery store today; I don't have time to do it tomorrow, and anyway I am out of coffee, and what is the point of living if there is no coffee? So I made up my plan for the next two weeks, and headed off to the store. I don't know how this happened, but the bill was a little pricey this week, almost $90. Luckily I just got paid, but yikes. I did buy some staples that I was running out of that are a little more expensive--olive oil and stuff--but jeez. An 8 oz bag of frozen peas was like, $3 or something. That seems like a lot. I found myself wandering through the store going, "wow, that seems like a lot," well, a lot, this morning. But anyway, my shopping is done, so I can get back to all the other things I need to do.

Before I get into my list and plan for the next two weeks, let's rank and review my last plan. Take a look at this post to learn more about my ranking and review criteria. I am adding a new one: good-for-you-ness. This criterion (like the rest of them, honestly) is kind of sketchy, since I'm not a nutrition expert or anything. It's mostly based on my sense of things.

1. Sweet and Sour Pork

Convenience: 3

Deliciousness: 5

Value: 3

Leftover-worthiness: 4

Good-for-you-ness: 4 (good balance of protein and vegetables, and the sauce isn't fatty or anything. It might be a bit on the salty side to be considered truly healthy)

2. Tony Rigatoni

Convenience: 4

Deliciousness: 4

Value: 4 (the sausage is really the only thing here that is a bit more expensive)

Leftover-worthiness: 3

Good-for-you-ness: 3 (the sweet potato and arugula are full of vitamins; the sausage, unfortunately, is full of fat)

3. Chicken mole enchiladas

Convenience: 2

Deliciousness: 4

Value: 3

Leftover-worthiness: 3-4 (I would say this is a solid 4 if you have a microwave; I don't, and reheating them well is a bit tricky for me)

Good-for-you-ness: 3 (I'm going to go ahead and call this moderately healthy, even though the chocolate, nuts, cheese, and cooking oil add fat. The sauce is vegetable and vitamin rich, chicken is lean, and the corn tortillas are whole-grain.)

4. Chana Masala

Convenience: 5

Deliciousness: 4

Value: 4

Leftover-worthiness: 5

Good-for-you-ness: 5

5. Chicken with Roasted Vegetable Pilaf

I realize have not posted a recipe for this one. I simply didn't have time. I'll get around to it eventually.

Convenience: 3

Deliciousness: 3

Value: 4

Leftover-worthiness: 3

Good-for-you-ness: 5

6. Yellow Split Pea and Sweet Potato Soup

I also haven't posted a recipe for this, but I pretty much used this recipe from Fat Free Vegan, substituting arugula for kale.

Convenience: 4

Deliciousness: 2-3 (My version of this didn't taste bad, it was just kind of boring and disappointing. It would have been better if I had used the whole spices instead of substituting ground, and if I had an immersion blender than I could have used to smooth it out a bit. On the upside, it is totally vegan, and fat free.)

Value: 5

Leftover-worthiness: 4

Good-for-you-ness: 4

I also made tuna melts and tomato soup, but because they were not part of my original plan, I won't rank them.

So here's my plan for the next two weeks. New recipes are in italics:

Dal nirvana x 3 (once again, this was on my last plan, but I haven't made it yet)

Butter chicken and rice x 4

Rigatoni with sausage, peppers and onions x 4

Fried rice x 2

White bean and chicken chili x 4

Shrimp tacos x 2

Pasta carbonara x 3

Cuban black beans and shrimp x 2

And here's my shopping list:

Frozen peas

Unsalted butter, 1 lb

Skim milk, 1 quart

Black beans, 2 cans

Great northern beans, 1 lb dry

Crushed tomatoes, 28-oz can

Diced green chiles, 1 can

Low sodium chicken stock, 1 quart

Extra virgin olive oil

Vegetable oil

Corn tortillas, 1 dozen

Coffee beans, 1 lb

Parmesan, bulk wedge

Bacon, 1/2 lb

Chicken breasts, package of 3

Frozen Baja shrimp, 1 lb bag

Red onions, 3 lb bag

Garlic

Napa cabbage

Roma tomatoes, 1 lb

Cilantro, 1 bunch

Bell peppers, 2 green, 1 red

1 avocado

2 mangos

2 grapefruit

4 bananas

I don't think any of the recipes I've chosen for the next two weeks are particularly complicated, and I've thrown a couple in there that are really fast and and easy; fried rice and shrimp tacos. I wanted to make things relatively easy, knowing that my work load isn't going to let up any time soon. I'll let you know how it goes.

Irma, You Done Done It Again

I had some leftover roasted yam from when I made "Tony Rigatoni" the other night, and this morning, as I looked into my somewhat bare fridge that was not offering up any appealing breakfast options, I thought, "Hm, I wonder if I can put that yam that into a quick bread or something." So I consulted my trusty Joy of Cooking, and what do you know, the exact thing I had in mind was right there in it's venerable pages: yam muffins! I'm enjoying a couple right now that I just took out of the oven. So spicy and sweet and warming; perfect for the fall weather that has FINALLY decided to come to Tucson. Thanks, Irma Rombauer.

One thing that I love about the Joy of Cooking (if you don't have a copy, you should really look around for one at a used bookstore or something. Get a classic edition; mine is a modern reprint of an edition from the '70s. Some of the recipes are dated, but it's just a charming all-purpose cookbook) is that it's not just a bunch of recipes. There is a lot of great practical information scattered throughout the chapters that help you understand what you're doing when you're cooking. Anyone can follow a recipe, but understanding why you are going through the steps in a very specific way is what makes you a cook or a baker. Rombauer includes one of these helpful tidbits for baking muffins, and it's so interesting (to me, anyway) and written in such a quaint, grandmotherly way that I have to include it with the recipe. It might make the difference in the quality of your muffins.

"Muffin batters are easily made. To mix, add in a few swift strokes the beaten liquid ingredients to the combined dry ones. The mixing is held to an absolute minimum, a light stirring from 10 to 20 seconds, which will leave some lumps. Ignore them. The dough should not be mixed to the point of pouring, ribbonlike, from the spoon, but should break in coarse globs. If the batter has been beaten too long, the gluten in the flour will develop and toughen the dough; and the grain of the muffin will be coarse and full of tunnels.... Good muffins should be straight-sided and rounded on top...the grain of the muffin is not fine but uniform and the crumb moist."

Isn't that lovely? There's actually a drawing included of what the cross section of a poorly-made muffin looks like, and what the top will look like if the oven temperature is wrong. Anyway, if you follow this advice, your muffins will be better for it, and you will be a better baker.

I made a couple of substitutions to the J of C recipe. I didn't have quite enough cooked yam, so I smashed it with a couple overripe bananas that I had been saving, and that worked out fine. I also did not add the extra 1/4 cup of sugar the book recommends. I figured the banana would provide enough sweetness, and in my opinion it did. If you were just using sweet potato, or canned pumpkin, I think the extra sugar would be necessary. I also used chopped walnuts instead of pecans--equally tasty either way, I think.

Joy of Cooking Yam Muffins

Dry ingredients:

1 1/4 cups flour, sifted

1/4 cup sugar (increase to 1/2 cup unless you are using banana)

2 tsps double-acting baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

3/4 tsp salt

Optional: 1 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts--and it doesn't have to be a full cup)

Wet ingredients:

2 eggs, beaten

3/4 cups milk

2 tbsps melted butter

1 cup cooked mashed yams, OR 1 cup canned cooked pumpkin, OR a combination of yam and banana

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Combine the dry ingredients well in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, milk, and melted butter. Pour the mashed yam mixture into the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients over. Combine quickly with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, following the recommendations above. Drop the batter from the spoon into greased muffin tins; each cup should be no more than 2/3 full of batter. Bake for twenty minutes, or until a knife inserted into one comes out clean. Irma says they are best right out of the oven.