December 2008 – The Kitchen Illiterate

Miso-glazed Tuna Kebabs

I think my grill pan and I have finally come to an amicable agreement. I keep it clean and dry and rust-free, and oil it liberally before I use it, and it doesn’t send clouds of stinky smoke billowing through my apartment. I am so happy that we’re finally getting along, because I don’t think these tuna kebabs would have been nearly as flavorful if I had had to roast them or sear them or pan fry them. Grilling is definitely the way to go, so if you don’t live in a climate where late-December grilling is an option, I suggest you get yourself a grill pan tout de suite. You won’t regret it.

I used the same marinade here, from epicurious.com, with tofu a few weeks ago. And while it wasn’t bad, it just worked better with tuna. However, with a few tweaks I think it would have been just as good, so I’ll do my best to make some suggestions for those who don’t want to eat tuna.
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Warming Winter Vegetable Soup

I know I’m not the only person who starts thinking about vegetables this time of year. Preferably NOT cooked in heavy cream. With salads. Yes, the after-holiday desire to diet is almost a Pavlovian instinct in us crazy humans. And I have to admit, for me, the butter-cream-cheese-heavy meals have not just been a holiday indulgence. Alas for my waistline.

But I don’t believe in diets. Drastically cutting calories in an attempt to lose 10 pounds in a month is just plain unhealthy, and everyone knows that deprivation only increases cravings and decreases willpower. So what’s a girl with a heavy cream addiction to do?
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Turkey White Bean Chili

One of the first recipes I shared on this blog was for Chicken Chili with White Beans and Chipotles, something that had been hiding in my recipe folder since 2004. And it was delicious. I believe I mentioned that I would be making this many more times in the future. And of course, because I rarely make the same things twice, I never did. And that is just a shame, which I had to rectify when I found myself, after Thanksgiving, with a LOT of leftover turkey.

This chili was just as tasty with turkey instead of chicken; in fact, maybe even more so. So if you’re finding yourself with leftover turkey after Christmas, I’d highly recommend experimenting with this recipe. If you don’t have leftover turkey (or leftover chicken) you can still cook up this tasty and very easy chili: My original post details what do when you’re starting with uncooked poultry.
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Catching Up

Whew. I’m finally done with the semester, and back from my very important job interview, and for the first time in months am looking at a weekend with no obligations. It’s wonderful. It’s snowing like crazy here in Boston, and I’m cozy in the house, and finally, yes finally, I have time to write a little update here, for all of you, my faithful readers.

It has been so long since I’ve had time to cook a proper meal, and I have all these pictures from Thanksgiving and the days immediately following, but honestly, I hardly even remember what all this stuff is. It’s a shame. I hosted Thanksgiving for the first time this year, and I have to say I’m really quite proud of all the lovely food I managed to cook. It was a small gathering, just Mr X. and the housemate Christa and me. And of course I cooked enough food to feed two or three times that number of people, and had leftovers for days and days. I cooked my first turkey, and am amazed that, though I can’t properly roast a chicken to save my life, the turkey turned out wonderfully.
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I promise dinner will be ready shortly

Oh lord, where has the time gone? Thanksgiving now seems like some kind of faraway, hazy dream of an actual event, and I’m frankly embarrassed that it has taken me so darned long to write anything, even this sad excuse of a blog post. I do have pictures and recipes to share from Thanksgiving, and I’m consoling myself that most foods cooked on Thanksgiving are awfully similar to those cooked for Christmas, so they might still prove useful to someone. I’m also consoling myself with the fact that I’m almost, almost, almost on break, and then I only have one more semester until I’m DONE and GRADUATED and no longer have to do the dreaded homework. And then I might actually have time to do things like update my blog. And cook.

While I am officially done with fall semester, I can’t quite relax yet because of a very important job interview next week, for which I am flying across the country, wearing a suit, and giving a presentation. Most of my time right now is taken up in preparations for completely wow-ing the search committee and getting myself hired.

You might notice, however, that I found time to update the color scheme and do a little custom CSS designing here. This was actually part of an assignment and therefore it can’t be considered wasting time and messing around and procrastinating. I hope you find it visually appealing. I suspect you would probably find pictures of food MORE visually appealing, so I do promise that they will appear soon.

In the meantime, I thought I would take a trip through the archives to share with you some of my favorite cookie recipes, what with it being cookie baking season and all. Enjoy!

Dorie Greenspan’s Midnight Crackles—Chocolately, slightly spicy, decadent.
Russian Teacakes—my all time favorite holiday cookie. I’m trying them this year with dried cherries mixed in. I’m wild like that.
Gingersnaps—for those who like that kind of thing.
Cranberry, Orange, and Chocolate Chip Cookies—These are quickly making their way onto my favored cookies list. I made them this week for my class and they were a hit.
Chocolate Peppermint Cookies—I’ll definitely have to make these again this year.