recipes – Page 5 – The Kitchen Illiterate

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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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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Rigatoni with Braised Chicken in a Saffron Cream Sauce

I love magazines. I always have. I love the shiny pages and pictures, I even love the ads (yup, natural-born American consumer, right here). I collect them, and have a really hard time letting them go. Just ask my mom about the three years’ worth of Sassy magazines she accidentally got rid of when I was away at college. Right now, I have about five years worth of back issues of Bon Appetit, about a year of Food & Wine, the three issues of Gourmet I received before it went belly up, and a handful of random cooking magazines I’ve picked up over the years at airports and bookstores. A lot of people ask me if I ever actually go back and look at all those magazines, and the truth is, I do. I actually have a system, because, well, I’m a dork.
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Tortellini and Avocado Salad

Update: The giveaway is closed. Thanks to all who entered!

Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Every Day is one of these books. It’s just so lovely, and Heidi has a gift for thinking up original, creative vegetarian recipes that go beyond sauteed kale and tofu stir-fry. Even when I don’t follow her recipes exactly, I find so much inspiration just looking through this book. I probably do so at least once a week.

This tortellini salad is one example of how inspiring this book is. I love that all of her recipes encourage variation and substitution, based on what’s available for you. What she really encourages is playfulness in the kitchen, and a willingness to experiment. Heidi’s recipes often remind me that the best times in the kitchen are when you’re trying something new and untested, because frankly, even when things don’t turn out the way you expect, they almost never turn out inedible, and you usually learn something new. Food is fun and nourishing and satisfying even when it’s imperfect.
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Sneaky Eggplant

All across the interwebs, my fellow food bloggers are talking about the onset of fall with that sense of reprieve and reverence that I remember well. This summer, people across the country were hit with record heat waves, and the cooler weather is being welcomed with open arms. Just this last weekend, we were in New York and were greeted with cool breezes and crisp morning dew. Then we got back to Oakland and landed at 8:30 pm in 78 degree weather. The summer we were kind of denied has suddenly appeared. It’s no 112 degree July, but wowza, it’s warm. And we are still being deluged with summer fruits and vegetables: eggplant, tomatoes, melons, peppers, and cucumbers.
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Grilled Portobello Mushrooms with Corn and Tomato Salad

The grilled portobello mushroom is ubiquitous. It’s a standard vegetarian burger substitute on many menus. I recently read a food magazine (Bon Appetit, perhaps?) in which an author begged to an end to the ever present portobello. I myself have had many grilled portobellos, and I’ve never found them too compelling. I hardly ever want to order such a thing in a restaurant, and if I’m at a barbecue, well, give me a burger. But for some reason this week, the idea for this portobello and corn salad dinner popped into my head and wouldn’t let go. I wanted the seemingly most overplayed thing you can put on a grill.
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Fig and Herb Salad (and a juice cleanse verdict)

I finished my BluePrint Cleanse juice cleanse last Saturday, and the verdict is: totally worth it. I felt terrific: focused, calm, happy. At no point did I feel hungry, deprived, fatigued, or even cranky. The juice was super tasty, although I have to say, after three days I was ready for some new flavors. I couldn’t wait to get in my kitchen and cook some food again.

The timing of the cleanse was kind of perfect: I finished it up the day after my cast came off, so I was doubly ready to cook, to mess about with all the glorious produce we get from our CSA each week and experiment. It was the best feeling. There are a few things the cleanse experience made me realize: 1) I didn’t really know until after I finished that what it had largely been about for me was self-discipline. I needed something to bring me back into control, after a month of feeling very much that things were out of my control. 2) I love love love food. I think about food and cooking a lot. I read about food and cooking a lot. Food is kind of my life. 3) I eat a lot when I’m bored. Who doesn’t? But it’s not a great habit.
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Tomato Time!

We got a gorgeous bunch of tomatoes from our CSA this week and I cannot wait to be cast free and cooking with them this weekend! Just in time, Cheryl at 5 Second Rule is collecting awesome tomato recipes from her readers in her post What’s Ripe Right Now? Tomatoes. Ideas are also being submitted via Flickr. I shared a few of my tomato recipes from summer’s past, and I can’t wait to try out a few of the recipes being shared right now. If you’re looking for a little inspiration, go check it out.

Juice Cleansing

This week I’m embarking on something I thought I would never do: A juice cleanse. Yes, a juice cleanse. I’ve gotten a small amount of scorn over this, and a decent amount of skepticism. And I’m willing to grant that I’m not sure how much actual detoxing is going to go on, or if that’s even why I’m doing it. I’m doing it because the last month was really difficult for me, physically and emotionally. I haven’t been able to cook, I haven’t been able to be physically active, and, well, broken bones are kind of painful. I wanted something that would give me an emotional jumpstart, and make me feel mentally refreshed, if not physically refreshed.
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