What Did You Eat?

The Heart Of The Matter: Spiced Walnuts

Two weeks ago Bob bought a huge sack of freshly harvested walnuts, and each day he patiently cracks and eats a handful of the nuts.  Primarily, he does it because they taste very good.   But along with their taste, he's aware that walnuts are one of the best foods a person can eat.  Nuts in general are now regarded as helping to reduce "bad" cholesterol, but walnuts also seem to have unique properties that protect blood vessels.  Research shows that walnuts reduce inflammation in the arteries after a high fat meal, and preserve the flexibility of blood vessels. The FDA has approved a "qualified health claim," that eating 1.5 ounces of walnuts per day may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. It's not surprising that many heart specialists now eat a few walnuts each day.  With that in mind, when I saw that Ilva at Lucullian Delights and Joanna at Joanna's Food are hosting an event called Heart Of The Matter, Bob's huge bag of walnuts immediately came to mind.

Fast Food: Sea Scallops With Golden Raisin And Shallot Vinaigrette

One day a week we eat take-out food from  restaurants, usually Mexican or Thai.  The food is good, but the fact that a meal magically appears with no work is a thing I greatly appreciate.  On other days I can't make the meal magically appear, but there are recipes that I manage to prepare in 15 minutes or less, and that can be a very good thing indeed.  This recipe is a hodge podge of ideas from the new Cindy Pawlcyn cookbook, Big Small Plates.  I had bits and pieces of ingredients--sea scallops, golden raisins, shallots, and kale.   An odd fellowship, but it produced a good, quick, and healthy meal. The scallops were seared quickly and served with a raisin and shallot vinaigrette.  Frankly, I could have made a meal just on the kale, which was delicious and a nice contrast to the sweet scallops.  Far back in the corner of the picture is a mound of couscous, which is always good to have on hand for quick meals.

Sunflower Seed-Orange Yeast Bread

Last week, the amazing Ivonne of Creampuffs In Venice made an orange yeast bread that cast a spell on me.  I looked at the pictures on her blog and was overwhelmed with a desire to make a similar loaf.  "Make orange bread.... make orange bread," it whispered again and again until I was powerless to resist.   But, just as I was about to make the bread, a large bag of sunflower seeds on my counter began chanting, "make sunflower seed bread....make sunflower seed bread."  What to do?  I made Sunflower Seed-Orange Bread.   If only all of life's tricky problems were this easy to solve. 

This bread stirred up a lot of memories.  It felt like back in the day when I made all our bread, yogurt and granola (and had a lot more energy). Sunflower seeds were a common ingredient in the things I baked then. Eventually, I stopped using them, favoring more elegant nuts.  I also remembered how eating sunflower seeds was the big craze when I was a kid in grammar school, living in Lincoln, Nebraska.  We crammed fistfuls of sunflower seeds in our mouths, storing them in our cheeks like a chipmunk, and cracked the seeds one at a time with our teeth, spitting out the shells.  Almost every kid I knew did it and the ground was always littered with sunflower shells in my neighborhood.  Woe to the child who didn't have this skill.  So, I enjoyed making a nice yeast bread with sunflower seeds.

WCB: Happy St. Paddy's Day

Even though mom is part Irish, I haven't heard if we're having a special meal today. She will probably make that colcannon dish with potates and kale.  Why not some salmon instead?  Anyway, it's really nice here and mom bought tomato and lettuce seedlings yesterday.  I'm getting my paws ready to stomp tomato worms!

Meanwhile, The Kid still can't come out and looks really pitiful there, doesn't he?  Mom will probably let him come outside.......in 5 years.

"Quintessential" Roasted Vegetables

The name of this recipe comes from Michael Chiarello, the hunky guy who comes up with great tasting recipes, that are often harder than he leads you to believe.  I'm onto him now.  His recipes are very good, but they usually wind up taking a lot longer than I expected.  In this case, it's a wonderful way to serve a mixture of vegetables--potatoes, asparagus, carrots, onion, and mushrooms--that might be difficult to roast together, due to their differing cooking requirements.  He explains that the secret technique that restaurants use to serve perfectly roasted vegetables is to parboil and pre-roast them in a skillet, then finish them off by roasting in the oven.  Makes sense.  I wound up modifying the recipe because I could see that his technique of browning everything in a skillet, and then sticking the skillet into the oven wouldn't work. I would wind up with veggies spilling out of my inadequately sized skillet.   So, I did it my way and the dish was fabulous. I will now serve this any time I have company, or just for myself. It was one of the best versions of roasted vegetables I've ever eaten. The seasonings of fennel and fresh thyme were amazingly good and each vegetable was cooked just right, with that sweet caramelized flavor that roasting imparts.  Frankly, I didn't care about eating meat, once I tasted this dish.  I heated up a flour tortilla and wrapped it around the veggies.   

Thursday Soup Or Stew: Spinach Soup With Indian Spices

Remember that vile green soup I made last week?  It needed to be wiped from my memory with a better version.  And this recipe achieved that purpose.  The color of this soup isn't as vivid, but the flavor is so much better that I rediscovered my affection for spinach.   The soup isn't complicated, but it requires a special stock that's done in 30 minutes. It contains coriander, cumin, cinnamon, and cardamom seeds.  The smell alone is worth the effort.  The finished soup isn't thick, but could be if you used more spinach. But, I think it's perfect the way it turned out for me.  It has a delicate taste and fragrant aroma from the spices.   I enjoyed this a great deal.  The flower garnish is from a broccoli plant that suddenly bolted in our recent heat wave. You could also scatter small croutons on top.  Looking at this soup makes me feel like spring is here.

I submit this to Thursday Soup or Stew which is the brainchild of Cyndi at Cookin' with Cyndi.  She should have the Round Up done by Friday, so stop by and see all the great recipes!

Presto Pasta Nights: Pappardelle With Chicken Cooked In Red Wine

Bonjour, mes amis! It is I, Maurice!  It's been months since I was allowed out of the dark confines of a pantry to fulfill my destiny of cooking food as other inferior pots can only dream of doing!  After-all, I am the world's finest cookware, a fact that is beyond the half wits in this house.  As I understand it, they abuse food in hideous ways, recently using an ingredient called Cheetos in a pie.  Frankly, I think there has been some sort of conspiracy by the Le Crueset ( a mere poseur) and All-clad pans. They are so jealous and have prevented me from doing my work. But, today a miracle happened, I was pulled from the shelf and allowed to work the magic that only a Staub Le Cocotte can do.

True, it was a mere trifle, a simple stew of chicken cooked in red wine, served over pasta. But I sense I'm coming into my own and will rule this kitchen as it was intended when The Woman bought me on sale at Williams Sonoma.  To paraphrase the wonderful Scarlett O' Hara--"I'm going to get through this and I'll never go back to the dark shelf again, even if I have to lie, steal, cheat or kill.  As God is my witness, I'll never be stashed in a dark pantry again!?"

WHB: Salmon With Lemon-Mint Glaze And Rosemary Crumbs

Whenever I've gone a little over the top with food, (and that certainly happened this weekend), I find myself seeking Salmon Therapy.  I swear that I can feel the omega-3 oils repairing my arteries and cleaning out bad things,  such as Cheetos residue.   So, today was Salmon Day.  I enjoyed a wonderful recipe from Food & Wine that was simple to fix and full of flavors and textures.  The salmon was pan grilled and lacquered with a lemon-mint glaze, then topped with rosemary bread crumbs. It all worked together beautifully.  I loved this recipe, as did Bob.  And it took me less than 15 minutes to prepare. Served with a nice green salad, I felt satisfied and virtuous.

Right now my rosemary bushes are covered with blue blossoms and amiable bumble bees that never mind when I take clippings from the plants.  In many yards here in the Central Valley, rosemary is used as a landscaping plant and can get quite large. I'm always amazed at the abuse these fragrant bushes can withstand, going for long periods without water.  Originating in the Mediterranean, they are a members of the mint family, which may explain it's tenacity and ability to spread easily.   My recipe contains both mint and rosemary, but I decided to let the rosemary be the featured herb this week for Weekend Herb Blogging, which was created by Kalyn at Kalyn's Kitchen.  However, this week WHB is visiting Becky at Key Lime & Coconut. So, check out her site this weekend and see all the herby bloggers.

Because I was Triple Dog Dared: Impossible Macaroni & Cheese Pie With Cheetos Topping

If you've ever seen A Christmas Story, you know the heirarchy of dares laid out in the film, with the ultimate throw down being the Triple Dog Dare. Upon receiving that, your reputation is completely destroyed if you back down from this challenge.  In my post for Impossible Spinach Pie, I wrote that I might try making Impossible Mac & Cheese Pie, with Cheetos Topping.   Upon reading that, Butta Buns threw down the gauntlet and uttered that dare of all dares.  With that, there was no choice. My reputation was at stake.  (The fact that I was overdue to have my once a year bag of Cheetos had nothing to do with my decision.)  Foolhardy though it might have been, I forged ahead heedless of the folly that might arise from my decision. I was Triple Dog Dared, so I would make the pie.  See what happens with these food events?  Surely Mimi never dreamed her Biscuit Baking Mix Day would come to this..

WCB: Roundup.

Last night Upsie hid in the bushes and wouldn't come in. So Bob had to take a flashlight and search for her. After nearly 20 minutes, he found her laying in some dirt, where she had been watching him the entire time as he tried to find her.  Here she is, suffering the indignity of being carried inside.  Of course, she had almost a pound of dirt in her fur.

Well, we survived the time change to Daylight Savings. I got up early this morning and released Edward Scissorhands, the ground squirrel. Just as I was going to take his picture at the release site, my camera went dead.  So, no photos of it.   

Don't forget, next week is the St. Patick's Day WCB! It will be hosted by Jenn and Kamikaze at I Got Two Shoes.  What follows is the Round Up for this week. If I left anyone out, let me know!