Creamed Swiss Chard

Another quick and easy side dish that Katie and her dad really enjoy. And it's something for which Amanda will not turn up her nose - a win in my book! Sauté some chopped onions in olive oil. Sprinkle some salt in, and when nicely browned, add a few pats of butter, brown the butter and then add a few teaspoons of flour. Then cook the flour into a roux and then add some 1% milk, about 1/2 cup or so. Meanwhile, I've boiled some chard, cooked until tender and then set the chard in a colander with some ice cubes. Once cool (or kinda cool), hubby helped by squeezing out the excess water. Then I chopped the chard. Add the chard to the onion mixture, sprinkle a little nutmeg, add salt and pepper to taste, and voilà, a lighter but richly flavored creamed veggie dish.

Reverse Engineering

Yesterday, I took a co-worker friend to Baco Mercat for her belated birthday, and one of her choices was a blistered tomato quinoa salad with pecorino, corn, chives and mint. It was delicious, albeit a tad heavyhanded with the salt. What was really intriguing was that the mint was sautéed; the subtle flavor permeated the dish. I told her that I would try to reverse engineer it and create my version for dinner. I mentioned that I had some cooked quinoa on hand, cherry tomatoes from the farmers market, mint, cheese and frozen corn. She demurred, saying that the corn was fresh in the dish we had shared. True, but here's my philosophy, especially when it comes to weeknight cooking: we all know what's ideal, but the key to staying sane is doing the best you can with what you've got in your fridge and pantry at home. There is no need to rush to the store on the way home to pick up one special ingredient. It's about making a delicious, healthy meal in a way that won't be too tiring or overwhelming. There is no requirement out there that you perfectly replicate the restaurant dish you just tried. It's about being inspired by new dishes, by the ideas of others, and then building on that.

So I drove home, pullled the quinoa out of the fridge, broiled the cherry tomatoes with some sea salt and olive oil until they blistered and chopped some mint. I sautéed the mint in some olive oil, added the quinoa, some salt and the rest of the frozen corn I had in the freezer. When the tomatoes were done, I tossed them into the wok along with the tomato juices, and gave the whole thing a quick toss. I looked for some parmesan in the fridge and found some ricotta salata instead and grated some into the mix. Verdict: the girls loved it all but for the tomatoes, which I am still working on with them. Husband pronounced it "excellent!" And I found it to be packed with flavor but delicate at the same time.

I also made some creamed chard and baked some Trader Joe's fish nuggets. Another secret to maintaining my sanity: your dinners can be a mix of homemade and convenience foods. No need to feel pressure to have everything be homemade, sourced locally and be organic. Do the best with what you've got, and it turns out you can have a pretty special meal.

A Light Lunch

After a late breakfast on Sunday, a light lunch was in order: strawberries and grapes from the farmers market along with some slices of persian cucumbers, cubes of aged gouda and some wafer thin graham crackers. 

Bitter Melon

I've had a hankering for bitter melon recently, partly out of nostalgia for childhood foods and also as fall approaches, I've been craving that slightly bitter but rounded out texture that only bitter melon provides. And a part of me figures it's pretty healthy, too.

So, inspired by my friend Sokesei, who described over dinner a few weeks ago a bitter melon stir fry she concocted, I bought a couple of bitter melons from the Alhambra Farmer's Market (they have a lot of great Asian produce at this market), and they've been sitting in my fridge all week. Today, I thought it was the day to cook them - my first foray into cooking these guys.

I sautéed some ground chicken, about half a pound, in the wok, with some safflower oil. Added some salt and a few dribbles of soy sauce. I had sliced the bitter melon up into thin half-moons and then added them to the wok with the chicken, after the chicken was browned. After about 8 minutes of stir-frying, the stiff walls of the bitter melon surrendered to the heat and softened. I added some more salt and soy sauce, along with some black pepper and hoisin sauce. Would have done Chinese black beans, but with none on hand, I improvised. And I figured the girls would be more open to the sweetness from the hoisin sauce. Then I beat three eggs together and threw them into the wok. The result was this deliciously eggy, stewy combination of soft bitter melon with fragrant chicken. I added some sriracha sauce to my serving, and I ended up having three servings over the course of the day.

Verdict from my family? Katie and Amanda spit out the bitter melon and ate the egg and chicken. I think bitter melon may be an acquired taste, and this was their introduction to the vegetable. And hubby wasn't interested in trying it. Ah well, more for me!

Just Do It

There are a few layers of meaning to the title of this post. A few of my friends are probably quite tired by now of my vowing for the past three years to start a blog about food. I've had so many excuses: "I have a full-time job, I don't have enough time, I don't have a good camera, I need to get back into writing first before I can write on a blog, blah, blah, blah." So tonight, I told myself, "Just do it." This is really about creating a journal of sorts so I can look back on the meals I have made for my husband and daughters, and me.

And this afternoon, I was feeling a bit tired, after a long and busy week. But then again, I feel tired every week by the time Friday rolls around. I was thinking of reaching for that reliable standby in our household: Trader Joe's frozen macaroni and cheese. But then I thought: "Just do it. You have the ingredients in the fridge. You can make something quick, delicious and healthy for the kids." (Hubby and I had plans for a date night in, with him picking up sushi for us to dine on after the girls went to bed.)

So I did a mental inventory: leftover poached chicken waiting to be shred, some baby carrot sticks, some old celery a bit past its prime, leeks and the treasure of them all - homemade chicken stock I had made earlier in the week.

Here's a rough outline, not even a recipe, of what I did. First, I got working on my mise en place. I sliced the leeks and chopped the carrots and celery. I heated up some olive oil in my soup pot and sautéed the leeks until they were nice and tender. I sprinkled some salt in, stirred the leeks around and then added the carrots and celery. Once they seemed tender, I added in the chicken broth, brought it to a boil and threw in some ditalini pasta. Added more salt and some black pepper along with a few squeezes of lemon juice. Meanwhile, I shred the chicken and added it to the pot after the pasta was al dente. And voila, in 30 minutes, a delicious dinner.

Verdict: Katie had seconds. Amanda ate most of it (which is a win these days). And hubs pronounced it "excellent."

In an ideal world, I would have used uber fresh veggies from the farmers market, but it felt good to use what I already had in my fridge and pantry. And it felt like quite a treat to have a nourishing meal at the end of a busy workweek.