October 2011 – The Kitchen Illiterate

The Everyday Chef Challenge

So, I entered one of my recipes into a contest sponsored by Pacific Natural Foods, and today, it was selected as the Everyday Pick winner! I don’t win things that often, so I got kind of excited about this one. I could still win the whole fancy contest, if you go and vote for me. I don’t usually like to solicit votes for things, but I feel encouraged that my recipe was featured today, so I’m making my pitch.

You can vote for my recipe, and see all the other contest entrants, on the Pacific Natural Foods website. And hey, you can easily enter your own recipes to win, too.

Curried Lentils and Grilled Branzini

Sometimes I see a recipe somewhere and I think, “That looks awesome, I’m making it for dinner this week.” The ingredients go on the shopping list and I think I’m all set. Then the time comes to cook the meal and I can’t find the recipe anywhere, like it was a figment of my imagination. There are so many places I find recipes, so many ways they pop into my life every day, it can be like a wild goose chase trying to hunt down any one in particular. Lucky for me, this one was simple enough that I was able to re-construct it, or at lease a pretty good facsimile, with little trouble. But I still have no idea where I got the idea in the first place.
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Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese

I got kind of sick this weekend, which always takes me by surprise. I very rarely get sick, and when I do, it hardly feels bad enough to make me stay home and ride it out on the couch. But this one did. For two days I was congested and coughing and aching and, well, ok, whining. And I wanted only one thing: tomato soup and grilled cheese.
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Moroccan Lamb Stew

I spent the last five days with my family in San Diego, not for any special occasion, but because I live in California again, and I could. We had a full weekend, including a wonderful dinner at Bankers Hill Bar and Grill, a trip to the farmers’ market, a soccer game, some shoe shopping, and a visit to a very overwhelming pumpkin patch. We cooked a lot of great meals and drank some fantastic wine and had excellent conversation and lots of laughs. But the best part? I got to spend my week immersed in life with my totally awesome two-and-a-half-year-old niece, Eliana.
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Chicken in Milk

You know when you bookmark a recipe but don’t get around to trying it for years, and when you finally do, you curse yourself for waiting so long to discover this new, most amazing meal? That’s what happened with this chicken. I saw this recipe on The Kitchn over two years ago, and Faith Durand, the woman who posted the link, was so effusive about its awesomeness I bookmarked it immediately. And then forgot about it completely.
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October Unprocessed: Week One

One week into my month-long attempt to avoid processed foods, and I have a confession to make: This is way harder than I thought it would be. I was under the impression that my diet was already very low in processed foods. I cook for myself, we subscribe to a CSA, we buy simple, artisan breads and natural peanut butter and fresh pasta without additives. But just a few days into October Unprocessed, I was already seeing how insidious processed food really is, and how easily it manages to sneak into my diet.
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Chanterelle and Nameko Mushroom Pasta

Last weekend, as we are wont to do, we spent some time wandering around the Ferry Plaza Marketplace. Yes, I’m sure you’re all aware by now how much I love that place. But as much as I love it, I tend to feel a little on guard, a little wallet protective, you might say. There are many glories there, to be sure, and they are not cheap. There are always a million things I want to try, and an equal number of reasons I deny myself, but last weekend, I was feeling in a less denying mood. I had a beautiful lentil salad at from Cowgirl Creamery AND a mushroom empanada from El Porteno. I went ahead and ordered a carafe of rose at the wine shop, instead of just a glass. And while I was off swooning over alfajores, Sean surprised me by picking up a few cartons of mushrooms from Far West Fungi.
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Culinary Disasters: Gnocchi

As proof that I still encounter my fair share of disasters in the kitchen, let’s talk about gnocchi. Specifically, my attempt this past weekend to make some. I’ll just say up front, I did not eat gnocchi this weekend. This was an epic kitchen fail. In fact, it failed so hard that even my pictures didn’t turn out that great (I’m still trying to adjust to the new lighting situation in our apartment, six months in. I think it might be time to break down and buy some proper photographer’s lights). So what went wrong here?
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And the Winner Is…

The winner of a brand spanking new copy of Super Natural Every Day is Camille, of Croque-Camille. Thanks to everyone who entered, and to everyone who kindly comes here to read about my culinary exploits.

October Unprocessed is in full swing here (how in the heck did it get to be October already?) and I’ve decided that in honor of the month, I’m making my own sourdough starter. I’m following the excellent sourdough starter tutorial posted by Nicole at Pinch My Salt. I’ll post about the adventure here, and I have a few other kitchen projects percolating in my mind, so come back soon and check it out.