cold noodles with sesame sauce

I’m sure by now it doesn’t really come as a surprise that I get hooked to one ingredient and go on to prepare it in multiple ways for weeks on end. Remember those chickpeas I was crazy about? Yes well, I’ve found a new obsession. Tahini. I guess this probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise either – chickpeas and tahini are well acquainted after all. As most of my food obsessions, it begins unassumingly, I never expect it and before I can control the situation, I’ve already purchased an excessive quantity of it. Fortunately though because of tahini’s rich taste and texture I maintained my sanity. I couldn’t overindulge. The long shelf-life also helped!

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I ate tahini with carrots, in salads, and on sandwiches and while this was all well and good, I wanted more. I wanted fireworks. Tahini has a great flavor on it’s own, but I didn’t want it to be the only flavor, the only texture. I wanted it paired with something that would compliment it’s texture, play off of it’s flavors, really make it sing.

I found what I was looking for in a Mark Bittman recipe for cold noodles with sesame sauce. With some ever so slight modifications this recipe has become a favorite. Though his recipe suggests you can make this with peanut butter, I have decided I am not a peanut-butter-in-my-noodles kind of person. I’ve tried it and, and in the end, it still tastes like peanut butter and noodles. I think tahini makes a far better accompaniment to Asian noodles.

Cold Noodles with Sesame Sauce

1 block of tofu cubed
Salt
12 ounces Chinese egg noodles or long pasta, like linguine
2 tbsp dark sesame oil
½ cup tahini
1 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp minced fresh ginger
1 tbsp rice vnegar
Hot sesame oil or Tabasco sauce to taste
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper, or more to taste
chopped fresh scallion for garnish

Cut tofu into 1 inch cubes and fry in 2 tbsp of oil until golden and crisp, about 7 – 10 minutes.

Meanwhile bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Cook the noodles in the boiling water until tender. Whisk together the sesame oil, tahini, sugar, soy, ginger, vinegar, hot oil, and pepper in a large bowl. Thin the sauce with hot water until it’s about the consistency of heavy cream. When the pasta is done, drain it and run the pasta under cold water. Drain.

Toss the noodles with the sauce and tofu, salt to taste. Garnish with scallions and serve.

Recipe Notes: Though I did not do this, Bittman suggests adding shredded cucumber into the mix. This can only make things even more awesome.

avocado baked egg

I’m sad to say that not every cooking adventure is a success. This is too bad because not only do I have to share my defeat with you, I also have to find something else to eat. I believe this is my first inedible meal. Ever. I’ve made plenty of mediocre dishes but none so disagreeable. We wanted try this baked egg and avocado dish. In theory this doesn’t sound so bad, I like eggs, I like avocado, they sound like they would taste good together, this could work.

The recipe called for a firm avocado cut in half and seeded, easy enough. The next step was to scoop the cavity to create a nice even center. Once a cast iron pan is pre-heated in the oven, place the avocado halves in the skillet and break an egg into the cavities, bake until set. Finally, season with salt, pepper, and paprika.

Unfortunately nature doesn’t provide perfectly even avocados. Even when attempting to carefully slice the avocado in half to ensure two even sides, I failed. The seed was off center; one cavity was deeper than the other. I scooped out some of the flesh to create a deeper cavity. This was also difficult; I didn’t really care to remove the flesh from the avocado. Why remove the flesh only to keep some thin membrane of avocado? I cracked an egg into a ramekin and tried to carefully transfer the egg into the avocado cavity. Of course the egg white over flowed, and this only reinforced my inability to estimate space/quantity. Once in the oven I waited for the eggs to set, not surprisingly the shallower half of the avocado cooked faster. It was too bad though that I couldn’t remove the shallower half sooner, the deluge of egg whites welded together making it rather difficult to separate the two halves of the avocado. Once the second half was set, the pan was removed from the oven and with great force the cemented egg white was separated.

I was hopeful that perhaps the flavor would still be okay. This too was a disappointment. The texture of the egg was similar to that of the avocado. The yolk was firm in one half and runny in the other. Even with salt, pepper and paprika, this was a disaster. Steer clear friends, steer clear.

cake balls

I know I’ve said it before, and I will tell you again – I am no baker. I’m no good when it comes to creating amazing sweet things. See! I don’t even have adjectives for sweet stuff! I often end up in some sticky mess of chocolate and by the end of the process I’m so overwhelmed by the smell of chocolate that I just want to eat something salty! I understand that this is some weird condition that I have developed, that this is not normal. While I still love, and enjoy chocolate, I sometimes actually prefer cheese to chocolate! GASP! I know, you’re not here to hear about my eating problems. You want to hear about cake balls!

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Cake Balls

1 store bought package of chocolate cake
1 can of frosting such as German chocolate cake frosting
1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Prepare the cake according to the directions on the box. While still warm, dump the cake into a mixing bowl and crumble with a fork. Mix in frosting and stir well until the frosting is well incorporated into the cake.

Allow the cake/frosting mix to chill until you can comfortably handle the mix. Roll cake/frosting into approximately 1 inch balls. Some folks prefer to use a spoon or melon baller, but I have made enough kabob in my lifetime to just use my hands. I usually stick them in the fridge at this point while I start to melt chocolate.

Melting chocolate: This is were I fail. I prefer to use a mini crock pot (16 oz) or a fondue pot for melting chocolate, but a double boiler also works. I’m clearly not the best person to tell you how to cover cake balls in chocolate, but I will tell you what works for me. I like to warm ¼ of a bag of chocolate in a mini crock pot, I find that adding 1tsp of cooking oil (coconut is mighty tasty) helps to thin the chocolate out a bit – but this isn’t a necessary step.

Once the chocolate has melted roll the cake balls in the melted chocolate. To coat the cake balls I prefer to use a fork and a spoon, though I hear toothpicks work as well. I thought about using chopsticks, but have not tried it. I like to avoid getting my fingers involved in this chocolaty mess, a notable difference from my 2006 cake ball adventure. Once a cake ball is coated in chocolate, place it on a wax paper lined baking sheet. I’ll continue to dump in chocolate chips and melt them as I work. Too much chocolate at once and I’ll end up being covered in it. After all of the cake balls are covered in chocolate I stick them in the fridge to harden while I forage for cheese. Once the chocolate has set, they are ready to go. They will be the star of the show and everyone will think you’re some sort of baking queen.

One last note on cake/frosting combinations. I prefer the chocolate cake with German chocolate frosting dipped in semi-sweet chips. This has worked as a crowd pleaser. Other combinations that work are red velvet and cream cheese frosting; yellow cake with chocolate frosting; carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. The combinations are endless, have fun with it. Also, if you’re fancy, you can decorate the cake balls. I have been wanting to try a salted caramel on these, but by the time I’m done rolling them in chocolate I’ve sworn I will never make them again.

(This was taken in 2006, you’ll be happy to know that I have improved my technique. Photo credit: Farah N.; 3rd hand: Fouzia H.)

lebanese lamb in yogurt sauce

It’s been a while friends, and believe me it has been as painful for me to be away as it has for you. Of course I’m only kidding, there are far better food blogs to whet your appetite. Martin was away for a month and I began with ambitious plans. I was ready to cook things that he would not enjoy. Soups and beans, and … more soup. But I failed, I only made soup once and by the time I was done with that heaping pot, I was ready to be done with soup for a while. I also didn’t care to be creative or experiment. It’s easier to cook when you have an audience. For the rest of the month I ate eggs, beans, guacamole, and cauliflower (not all at once though). All this time I kept hearing about all the delicious Turkish food Martin was eating. As hard as I tried to imagine my cauliflower to be borek, it was not. Making something so extravagant for myself was also out of question. As Martin was preparing to come home, I was preparing my pantry. While he wanted no fuss salmon, I wanted lamb – fatty lamb!

I found this recipe on the Taste of Beirut blog. When I first saw this recipe my mouth was watering. When I read this recipe for the second time (after all the ingredients were purchased) I realized it was like a Pakistani Pulao. This was unfortunate because I don’t really care for pulao. I pressed on and made this and wasn’t disappointed. It was warm, comforting and delicious. While it has some of the same tones as pulao, the creamy texture is what set it apart.

Lebanese Lamb in Yogurt Sauce

1 lb lamb shoulder
1 cup yogurt
1 egg white
1 tbsp cornstarch diluted in water
6 cloves garlic
1 onion halved
1 bay leaf
pepperforns
allspice berries

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Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a heavy pot. Begin by browning the lamb shoulders. Brown the shoulder pieces in batches, without overcrowding the pan. Once brown, transfer shoulders to a plate. After all of the pieces have been browned return the shanks to pot and immediately cover with water. Be sure that the shoulder pieces are completely submerged. Add the bay leaf, allspice berries, peppercorns, and onion.

Bring the stock to a simmer and skim periodically. Cook the shoulders for 1-3 hours until the meat is falling off the bones. Gently pull the shoulder pieces out of the stock and onto a clean work surface. When cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bones and discard the bones. Continue to boil the stock down. The onion should be soft, and easily broken apart with a wooden spoon.

In a separate skillet, quickly saute the garlic cloves in a tablespoon of olive oil until fragrant. Remove from heat and set aside.

Whisk the egg white lightly and mix with the yogurt and cornstarch. Strain the stock to remove large spices and return to heat. Slowly add the yogurt mixture to the meat stock and reduce the heat to a simmer allowing the mixture to thicken. Add the meat pieces back into the yogurt mixture as well as the garlic. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with rice.

Recipe notes: As I said, this recipe reminds me of pulao but what you end up with is a very creamy lamb dish. It is also lamb, so be prepared for your food to taste and smell like lamb. I used lamb shoulder steaks, but you could also use shanks. For those of you who are stocked with South Asian spices, you could always just toss in a heaping spoon of whole garam masala in place of the spices I listed in the recipe. I strained my stock, because I don’t care for large spices in my food, but not a necessary step. Also, boiling down the stock will allow you to skip out on the nearly ½ cup of cornstarch suggested in the original recipe (yikes!). If you end up with about 4 cups of stock, you could use 1 cup of the stock to prepare your rice (YUM!) and remainder in the yogurt sauce.

blackened tilapia

This blog can be a little deceiving. I can easily convince you that I somehow know what I am doing and miraculously I end up with a half-decent meal on the table. Unfortunately, I often find myself with a strange medley of ingredients that I have to somehow combine to create an edible dinner. The process begins with text messages discussing what we have, what could easily be picked up or quickly made, whether we’ll be spending the night vomiting, and finally admitting that it is perhaps time to visit the grocery store. These concoctions don’t exactly make the cut for a blog-worthy meal. Martin likes to say that these posts belong on the other (non-existent) blog “what my wife really makes.”

However, once in a while, when I find myself with just the right ingredients, I can actually pull of something good. We found ourselves in the above situation a few nights ago but we’re lucky enough to sit down to a rather tasty dinner. I was reluctant to blacken tilapia, I like fish nice and light with just a few ingredients but I was pleasantly surprised by this recipe. We ate our fish with an arugula and beet salad, admittedly the poached egg on top was a bit much but we’re suckers for runny eggs.

Blackened Tilapia

3 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp dried ground thyme
1 tsp dried oregano
½ tsp garlic powder
4 tilapia fillets
2 tbsp canola oil

In a small bowl combine all of the spices. Generously cover spice mix onto each fillet so that both sides are well coated. Allow the fish to sit for 15 minutes at room temperature prior to cooking. In a large cast iron skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Once the oil is almost smoking add the fillets, 2 at a time and cook for 2 to 3 minutes per side.

Recipe Notes: If you like your fish spicy, I would recommend increasing the cayenne pepper, I thought it could use a bit of a kick. Be sure to carefully flip the fillets, they are delicate!