Quick and Easy Fried Rice

I promise the fourth installment of our wedding recap as soon as Dan sends me pictures. In the meantime, I'd love to tell you about a ridiculous easy meal! In fact, it was so easy, I made it this morning, in the time it took Dan to get dressed.

This fried rice recipe calls for very few ingredients, very little chopping and only one pan. Awesome. We chose savoy cabbage as the primary veggie because about 6 slices will chop an entire head of cabbage. We also threw in some carrots because we had them, but you could skip them, or add any other easy-to-prep veggies. (Ideas: bean sprouts, celery, red cabbage)

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15-minute fried rice

oil
sesame seeds (optional, but delicious)
leftover rice (we had about 2 cups)
1 head savoy cabbage
other veggies as desired
your favorite asian condiments (we used soy sauce, sriracha sauce, sweet chili garlic sauce and oyster sauce--use whatever you have, even if it's just soy sauce)
2-3 eggs

1. Heat the oil in your pan until it's super hot and shimmery. (We used a wok.) 1 minute
2. Add the sesame seeds and cook for 2 minutes, or until just turning golden. Meanwhile, stick the rice in the microwave for 1.5 minutes. 2 minutes
3. Add the rice to the pan, stirring once at the beginning and every 2-3 minutes as it browns. Meanwhile, rinse/chop your cabbage and any other veggies you want to use. 5 minutes
4. After the rice is starting to look a bit brown, add the hardest veggies first (e.g. carrots, celery, broccoli), and the remaining veggies after 2 minutes or so. 2 minutes
5. Once all the veggies are added, add condiments and leave on high heat until everything is cooked, stirring as necessary. 3 minutes
6. Turn the heat down to medium-low. Clear a space in the center of your pan and crack the eggs in. Scramble lightly, let firm slightly, then fold into the fried rice/veggie mixture. To finish cooking the egg faster, turn the heat back to high until the egg sets. 2 minutes

Best served hot and fresh from the pan. I undercooked the egg slightly so it could be reheated for lunch. Easy, veggieful, and delicious.
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Roasted Tomato Soup

Tomato soup is one of my favorite foods. It's warm, tangy, luscious, and pairs well with cheese and basil--two more favorite foods.

I haven't been able to make a proper tomato soup for a while, since we didn't have a blender. However, we are now the proud owners of an immersion blender, and I took full advantage of that opportunity.

I prepped this soup this morning, and by the time I got back from my final dress fitting (!) it was ready to be blended and eaten. I enjoyed it with almost stale Acme baguette and a generous heap of basil.

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com.

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Vegetarian Sandwiches

Growing up, I thought of a sandwich as meat and bread, occasionally garnished with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles or condiments. (My family didn't do PB&J.) I relied on the sandwich as a lunch staple.

When I gave up meat, my view on sandwiches had to change. It was easy to just replace the meat with tofu, or eat endless grilled cheeses, but I had bigger plans for the humble sandwich.

Some of my favorite veggie sandwiches:
- chickpea salad sandwich
- tomato, pesto, parmesan sandwich
- avocado or hummus + carrot/cucumber/beet/other crunchy veggie matchsticks
- grilled cheese (add tart apple slices to make it 'gourmet')
- sauteed mushrooms with melted (swiss) cheese
- mayo, tomato, cucumber, open-face, on fresh baguette
- nutella and fresh berries (make sure to use nutella on both slices of bread!)
- quesadillas with corn, tomato and bean salsa (I know, not really a sandwich)

What's your go-to sandwich?

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How To: Fake a Grilled Cheese

All my life we've had a griddle for making grilled cheese sandwiches. Today, I was planning to make one for lunch using that very griddle, but all we had was frozen bread. I decided to toast the bread and then griddle the sandwich... but a lot of things went wrong.

First, I couldn't find the cheese planer, so I had to cut thick slices of cheese with a knife. If you have much grilled cheese experience, you'll know that thinner is better.

Second, I discovered that our toaster has a different interpretation of "bagel setting" than my dorm toaster. For most toasters, bagel settings only toast one side of the bread. (This thaws the bread while leaving one side per slice unbrowned and therefore griddle safe.) Ours just toasts it longer on both sides.

Starting a grilled cheese with almost burnt toast and thick slices of cheese is a recipe for disaster, but the microwave saved the day.

To fake your own grilled cheese, thoroughly toast two slices of bread. Layer one slice with ample cheese and microwave for 20-30 seconds, or until the edges start to bubble. Put the second slice of toast on top, flip and microwave an additional 20-30 seconds, or until the cheese is melted.

Your toast will stay crispy, your cheese will be melty and there will be one less pan to wash.

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com.

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Chickpea Salad

I mentioned before that I've had some trouble adjusting to eating at home. One of the things I've been struggling with is the abundance of fat in the foods we normally eat.

Most of the fats are good fats, but they are still calorie rich and not particularly filling. At only 135 pounds, I need to consume a lot fewer calories than my parents, and have to work out a lot more to burn the same number.

I've been trying to create that gap by eating lower calorie, lower fat lunches. I came up with this low fat, vegetarian alternative to chicken/egg salad.

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Chickenpea Salad
makes 6-8 sandwiches

Ingredients:
1 15-oz can chickpeas
2-3 cups of mixed vegetables/fruit (I used cucumber, bean sprouts, grapes and corn)
2T mayo (to make vegan, sub with hummus or another 0.5 avocado)
0.25 ripe avocado

Directions:
1. Drain and rinse the chickpeas and place them in a big bowl. Mash them using your hands or a potato masher until they're a bit chunky.
2. Add the avocado and mayo/hummus, mashing everything together.
3. Chop the vegetables and fruit into 1cm pieces, and stir into the salad.
4. Serve on toasted 100% whole grain bread.
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Baguette Pieces

I made baguettes for the first time last year, but they go stale so quickly and it's really hard to freeze them. They're good for a nice treat, or if there are a lot of people around. I've been trying to stock D up for a week home alone, so that didn't really make sense.

They look like mini loaves of bread!

Instead, I decided to make baguette pieces, like I'd had at the Cheeseboard (also known for their incredible pizza). I have no idea how they get the pseudo-square shape to their baguette pieces that's just perfect for sandwiches. Mine turned out round and very small, but they're perfect for two small sandwiches.

To make them, I just took my favorite baguette recipe and split the dough into rolls instead of loaves. The shaping method is a little tricky and took me a while to get right (I used it to make my homemade bagels, too!), but it makes really nice round rolls.

I forgot to slash these rolls as well but they seemed to turn out just fine anyways. D said some of them were a bit dense, but many of them split and developed gorgeous crusty ears all on their own. I would suggest slashing them, if you remember. Don't worry if you forget, though!

Before making these, I recommend testing the seal on your oven. You have to steam bread to get it crusty and if your oven doesn't seal well, it won't work. Do this by heating the oven up and either tossing cold water onto the oven floor or tossing it onto a preheated pan. Close the oven door immediately and wait five minutes.

If you open the door after five minutes and it feels like a summer day in New York City (aka a blast of steam hits your face) then you're good. If it's dry as an Arizona summer day, look at the notes at the bottom for alternate steaming methods.

The directions below don't require a stand mixer. If you have one, feel free to use it; you probably won't need to knead the dough for as long.

Total time:
30 minutes to make the dough
1.5-2 hour rise
15 minutes shaping
30-45 minute rise
30 minute bake
= 3.25-4 hours total time, 50 minutes active time

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Baguette Pieces
makes 16 small pieces
adapted from Steamy Kitchen


Ingredients
4.5c bread flour
2t instant yeast
2t salt
1.5c warm water (approximately 110°F)

Hasselback Sweet Potatoes

We made this for dinner last night. They took a bit of time to prep, but once they went into the oven they were super easy. They're also really pretty and delicious. The sweet potato goes really well with the garlic, since the roasted garlic is a little bit sweeter than raw garlic.

Unfortunately, once again, there was no time to get pictures before they disappeared into our hungry bellies. If you've never heard of hasselback potatoes before, I suggest looking at a recipe like this one, with pictures, so it makes more sense.

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Hasselback Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients
sweet potatoes or yams (I used garnet yams)
garlic, thinly sliced (you'll need about one cloves for every potato)
olive oil (you'll need about a tablespoon per potato)
salt
pepper

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2. Wash the potatoes and cut off the ends. Slice the potatoes almost all the way through every quarter inch.
3. Place a slice of garlic in each slit of the potato. (These should help hold the potato slices apart.) This is easiest to do if you hold the potato up off the cutting board--the potato opens up like a fan.
4. Rub each potato with olive oil and sprinkle generously with salt. Grind a some fresh pepper on top.
5. Bake for 40-60 minutes, until a knife slides through the potato easily. These are really good when they get really soft.
6. Eat fresh or as leftovers. Yum!!!
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How to cook like a college student

aka 6 things you never thought to cook in a microwave...

Like any good college student, I have a microwave, a slow cooker, and no stove or oven in my dorm room. I resort to making a lot of things in the microwave. Over the past two years, here are a few of the things I've learned to make:

1. Rice - I always use this post as my guiding recipe.
2. Yogurt - see my earlier post about this.
3. Cupcakes - I like this recipe because you can do it all in the mug, which makes for easy cleanup. You don't get the nice chewy crust, but it's as close to a cupcake as I've seen without an oven! Delicious.
4. Polenta - see below for a simple 'recipe'
5. Spinach - see below
6. Eggs - see below

How to make dinner in the microwave:
1. Place 0.5 cup of polenta into a 4 cup microwave safe dish. Add 1.25 cups of water and two pinches of salt. Stir and microwave covered for 2.5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, rinse two cups of spinach. When the polenta has finished, uncover it, place the spinach on top, and microwave for an additional 3 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, crack two eggs into a flat bottomed microwave safe dish. Add salt, pepper and seasonings. You can also add a tablespoon of milk. (I like to add some pecorino romano, too)
4. When the spinach/polenta is done, take it out of the microwave, stir the spinach into the polenta and put the cover back on.
5. Place the egg in the microwave for 1.5 minutes. Check for liquid. If there's still liquid, microwave it for an additional 30 seconds.
6. Grate some good cheese (parmesan, romano...) onto the polenta/spinach, add pepper and any seasoning you want, slide the egg on top.
7. Wait a minute or two for it to cool down before eating.. it's hot!

Warning: this is quite a bit of food. If you're not super hungry, I'd scale down the amount of polenta. Microwave for less time in step one, but keep the same amount of time in step 2.

A delicious sandwich

I went to the dining hall and was supremely uninspired by seafood salad and french fries, so I reverted to my old standby: the sandwich.

My normal whole grain bread was, sadly, missing, so I opted for two dense slices of rye bread, toasted until warm and just crispy.

While the bread was toasting, I altered the dining hall's egg salad, adding kidney beans, cubes of turkey, and some lemon juice (about equal volumes egg salad and beans+turkey).

After the bread came out of the toaster, I put spring mix on one slice, drizzled in olive oil and lemon juice, and sliced carrots on the other slice. The egg salad went into the middle of the bed of spring mix. I cracked some fresh pepper on top, too.

Delicious! (and really pretty!) The eggs and bright spring mix popped off of the dark rye bread, the carrots added some crunch, the eggs/mayo/beans/turkey/olive oil added richness, the lemon and spring mix added acidity and freshness, and the pepper added some zing. I wish I'd taken a picture, but unfortunately it was in the middle of a crowded dining hall.

Try it next time you need an interesting sandwich.

Honey Oatmeal Bread

At some point in the last year, I decided I wanted to figure out yeast. This may seem ambitious, but with no thermometer, no guidance and no prior experience, I conquered the beast.

I started with bagels. In retrospect, that was probably a poor idea, seeing as bagels are basically an extra complicated version of bread. They weren't great, but they were edible and that was certainly a boon.

Next, I moved on to cinnamon rolls (actually, Alton Brown's Overnight Cinnamon Rolls, which are divine). I think the gooey cinnamon made up for any shortfall in my bread baking skills. This is definitely a great first recipe with yeast! If you're nervous about yeast, or have had bad experiences in the past, try it.

Finally, I tried my hand at bread. I chose it because I had the ingredients on hand, and had been trying to figure out a way to use them for about a month. I've baked it probably 10 times, with several variations. Here I'll give you the basic recipe along with step-by-step instructions for the novice bread baker.

Honey Oatmeal Bread

(from Lanier B&B)

Yield: 3 loaves

Ingredients:

1/8 cup active dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water (105°-110°)

1 1/2 cup quick (or rolled) oats

3 cups warm water

1/3 cup melted butter

1 3/4 tablespoons salt

3/4 cup honey

7 1/2 cup bread flour

The salad bar

I love bars: chocolate bars, Lara bars, cookie bars... and I also love the salad bar. I don't know if you've ever eaten in a dining hall, but sometimes there's just nothing good, or nothing good for you. This is when the salad bar comes to the rescue—not to make a salad, but to allow a bit of creativity.

Don't get me wrong, I love salads. In fact, I'd consider myself a salad connoisseur. My favorite salad: green leaf lettuce, with cubes of tomato, cucumber, red bell pepper and avocado, corn straight from the cob, and half slices of carrots, thoroughly tossed in a dressing of equal parts good balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil, with just enough dijon mustard to help it emulsify. Doesn't that just have your mouth water?

Unfortunately, most salad bars are not stocked in red bell pepper, avocado, corn from the cob, carrots, olive oil or good vinegar.. let alone a dining hall with a bowl big enough to get a good toss going. So I avoid salads, because why waste any room in your stomach on something that's not completely satisfying and delicious?

No, I like to use the salad bar much more creatively. I've also seen a number of grocery stores that have salad bars in their produce aisle. Here are just a few of the ways you can use the salad bar to make your life easier, or to improve your lunch.

1. Spruce up your pasta dishes. The dining hall serves vegetarian pasta dishes all the time, but I usually find them a bit heavy on the pasta and light on the protein and veggies. I'll usually fill my plate with pasta, and pile on edamame, corn, beans, cubed chicken or tofu, and a little bit of cheese. I then throw the plate into the microwave for a few minutes, and suddenly I have perfect pasta. (Sometimes I also grab a pat of butter and throw it into the mix... makes for some delicious bites).