Summer Sides: Black Tea Tarragon Couscous Salad Recipe

In honor of the trial I'll be lawyering it up for through May and June, I'd like to sing a little jingle from OSSS (Old School Sesame Street) with the lyrics updated for my grown up life. (Sing to the tune of "Cooperation")

 Pro-crast-i-nation.

Makes it happen. 

Pro-crast-i-nation.

Shirking together!

That's right.  Every weekend I take a stack of papers home to read, review, mark-up and every weekend I cook, eat, drink, and make merry instead. This wouldn't be a big deal, except that I'm still a baby lawyer and I'm essentially making my Trial Attorney Debut (does that make me a debutante?) in front of the lawyers I will be working for, with, and against for the rest of my career. No pressure or anything.

Anyway, I cook tons of food and develop new recipes in order to perfect my procrastinating skills (a woman has to have goals!), so consider this recipe the fruits of my labors at avoiding real work.  The black tea flavor is subtle, but it adds a dark, tannic undertone to an otherwise bright dish, and the tarragon adds a little sweet lingering aftershock to the crisp lemon and cucumber flavors.  This salad would be good as a snack with some hummus and pita, or even as a side for a rich lamb dish.

Black Tea Tarragon Couscous Salad

2 cups pre-steamed dry couscous (if the instructions say to mix w/boiling liquid, it's pre-steamed)
2 1/2 cups hot, strong black tea-divided
Juice of 2 medium lemons
Zest of 1 medium lemon
2 cucumbers, seeded and thinly sliced
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 Tbs. smoked paprika
2 tsp. cumin
4 Tbs. chopped fresh tarragon
2 Tbs. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Salt to taste

Stir together 1/2 cup of black tea with the lemon juice and zest, olive oil, paprika, cumin, tarragon, and parsley.  Let it sit and let the flavors combine while you prepare the couscous.

Place the dried couscous in a larger bowl and stir in the minced garlic. Bring 2 cups of the black tea to a boil.  Pour the tea over the couscous/garlic, stir to combine, cover with plastic wrap and let steam.  After 15 minutes, fluff couscous with a fork. Stir in the cucumbers and the herb/tea/lemon mixture.  Season with salt (it may need a good bit of seasoning, since the flavors are all very light and crisp) and serve cold or room temperature.

Finally, Ethiopic Restaurant Comes to H Street!

It's been a long week already, so to cope, Mr. Luz and I spent the night tucked into a huge pile of some amazing comfort food at Ethiopic Restaurant.

Ethiopic just opened behind Union Station on H Street NE, and the space and staff are as welcoming as the food.  Mr. Luz and I sat in a romantic alcove with a large window, so we had a little privacy while also sharing the softly lit dining room and piano music with the rest of the guests.  (Ethiopic is lined top to bottom with windows, and I can't wait to go there for a sunny Friday lunch.) Sam, the owner, accepted our ecstatic compliments on the food and the decor but said in the same breath "please tell us if anything changes, we are always looking for feedback."  Everything was so wonderful, I think we'll just have to go back at least once a week to stay on top of that for Sam.

If you've never had Ethiopian food, you'll love Ethiopic.  It serves richly flavored, spiced and stewed meat dishes with lamb, beef, and chicken and dark, delightful vegetarian dishes like curried potatoes with garlic, herbs and jalapeno, and split red lentils stewed with red pepper sauce.  And yes, you eat with your hands.  Like people used to do for thousands of years, until someone somewhere around 1800 B. C. (Before CrateandBarrel) decided to make a quick buck by telling folks that they should eat with metal shards.  In a comparably civilized manner, at Ethiopic you pick up each bite in spongy injera (a soft, sometimes sour flat bread).  And after you've scooped up the last bit of each dish off of your communal plate, you can fight over the large curried-potato-lentil-lamb covered injera that sat under it all.  Mr. Luz always manages to distract me when this time comes, and he always gets the lentil-sauce-drenched section of injera.  It happened again tonight, but make no mistake, I'm already plotting for next time. (And wondering if employing a wardrobe malfunction would be "so 2004")

On the flip side, if you're experienced with Ethiopian food, you'll also love Ethiopic.  We ordered the Lamb Tibs, and the Vegetarian Platter for one (with 4 vegetarian dishes and the spicy lemon tomato salad) with crispy fish.  Everything was cooked to maximize the flavor of the ingredients, meaning it was simmered so the flavors just melded without reducing everything to berbere-flavored mush. And speaking of the berbere (a fragrant and earthy blend of chilies, ginger, cloves, coriander, paprika, and other spices), everything was so fresh that each bite held one hundred flavors at once.  Even their collard greens-a dish done so often that now when it's bad it's still okay-tasted sweet and fresh rather than bitter or bland.

Invariably, Ethiopic will go through growing pains as all new and ultimately successful restaurants do.  But if Ethiopic's food continues to exhibit the same loving care and fresh ingredients that we experienced tonight, I predict that Mr. Luz and I will happily spend a good portion of our summer waiting in a line around the block for a table at our new favorite Ethiopian restaurant.

Guinness Braised Corned Beef & Cabbage with Garlic Mustard Glaze and Parsnips

Now this here meal is for the meat eatin', beer swigging best of you.  I'm serious.

Even though my favorite vegetarian says she used to love corned beef back when she was a carnivore, I don't entirely trust her opinion-she's from the Midwest like me, and we'll eat anything.  Let's face it, no matter what the vegetarian says-corned beef, in all it's brined, hot-pink glory, is not something that everyone's going to be excited about.

In an attempt to make Mr. Luz love corned beef as much as I do (see: my Midwestern heritage) I douse mine in Guinness for a long braise in the oven.  After it's fork-tender, I mash the braised garlic in with some mustard for flavor and apple butter (see, supra, Midwestern), slather that over the top, and broil it for a second for a deep, not-too sweet, garlicy caramel glaze.  And though it still looks rather curious, Mr. Luz has happily eaten it for 3 days straight now (I like to indulge myself over St. Pat's day and make two briskets) and all I heard at dinner were happy noises.

As for the side dishes, I like to make a mash with the root vegetables that go into the braising liquid.  That way you can mix them with some non-braised veggies to even out the saltiness of the veggies cooked in the briny corned beef braising liquid, and you're not eating squishy potatoes.  I also simmer the cabbage separately so it's lighter in flavor and acts as more of a foil to all the earthy, salty goodness in your braising pot.
Note: March being the month after the Birthmonth and all, I have never succeeded in brining my own corned beef. Next year?

Guinness Braised Corned Beef & Cabbage with Garlic Mustard Glaze and Parsnips
(serves 4-6)

Ingredients:
1 3-4 lb. Corned Beef Brisket
1 head of garlic (trust me)
3 medium carrots, coarse chopped
1 small onion, coarse chopped
3 potatoes, halved
4 large parsnips, peeled and coarse chopped
2 stalks celery, if you have any-coarse chopped
1 bay leaf
3 bottles of Guinness or another Stout beer
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
Balsamic vinegar
1 Tbs. fresh Thyme, chopped
2 Tbs. butter
5 cups of coarse chopped green cabbage
3 Tbs. apple butter
2 Tbs. Dijon mustard
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.  Add the carrots, onion,  celery, potatoes, and bay leaf to your roasting pan.  Remove the skins from each clove of garlic, and add all but two large cloves to the roasting pan. (Give the large cloves going into the roasting pan a good whack with the flat side of a knife to flatten/crush them a little).

Thoroughly rinse the corned beef and reserve the spice packet for the cabbage.  Put the corned beef on top of the veggies in the roasting pan, and pour the two bottles of Guinness over the corned beef.  Cover the roasting pan, and braise for 2.5 hours in the oven.  After 2.5 hours, if the brisket isn't fork tender, recover and increase heat to 350 degrees for an additional 30-45 minutes.

When the brisket has 30 minutes left, put the parsnips in boiling water and cook until soft.  Remove from heat, drain, and return to the pan to mash with a potato masher or a fork.

Add the cabbage to a pot with the remaining Guinness, and the reserved 2 cloves of garlic, chopped.  Add water to almost cover the cabbage with the cooking liquid.  Simmer, partially covered for 15-20 minutes-until the stalks of the cabbage are soft but the leaves still hold their shape. At this point you can remove the cabbage and reduce the braising liquid by boiling it, or you can leave your cabbage more "soupy." Add the Worcestershire sauce, and taste. If still doesn't have enough "zip" add 1 tsp. of the Balsamic vinegar at a time. 

Take the corned beef brisket out of the oven.  (Important: always let braised dishes cool in liquid or they'll dry out).  Remove the potatoes and carrots from the braising liquid, mash, and add to the mashed parsnips.  Add thyme and butter, and cook over very low heat until the butter is melted and the thyme is fragrant. Season with salt and pepper.

Remove the garlic from the braising liquid, mash, and mix with the mustard and apple butter. Place the brisket on a broiler pan, spread the garlic mixture over the top, and broil-checking often-until browned.
Slice the brisket and serve with the reserved braising liquid, the parsnip mash, and cabbage.

Christmas Dinner, 2009: An Embarassment of Riches (with Recipes!)

This year, for the first time in my young life, no one cooked Christmas dinner.  Rather than travel to Missouri for the holidays, Mr. Luz and I stayed home in D.C., video Skyped with our loved ones, and ate leftovers--partially to recover from our Christmas Eve feast at Bistrot Lepic, and partially to mentally and physically prepare for the Christmas dinner we cooked for our friends the next day.

Yep...Mr. Luz and I cooked our very first Christmas dinner this weekend.  I'm no Julia, we were able to dig into our Favorite Flavors Repository and come up with a satisfying and kind-of-almost-healthy-ish meal to share with friends by the glow of the Christmas tree.

And for once, I didn't have even the tiniest of meltdowns. Mr. Luz and I worked together and managed to feed 12 people out of a kitchen the size of a refrigerator box without any injuries, tears, or low-blood sugar freak outs. And as everyone squeezed into our living room, and the volume got  louder and smiles got brighter throughout the evening, I felt blessed-like the richest woman in the world.  I'm really proud of our beautiful meal.  And Mr. Luz, thanks for being my calm, dedicated co-Chef this Christmas. I love you.

Christmas Dinner Menu for 12 (recipes below):

Assorted Appetizers

Smoked Turkey
Baked Acorn Squash with Butter and Cinnamon
Gremolata Greenbeans
Smoked Oyster New Orleans Style Stuffing

The Best Apple Pie In The World (recipe pending in future post)

Smoked Turkey Recipe:  See this link to a previous post

Baked Acorn Squash with Butter and Brown Sugar Recipe:
This recipe is elegant, simple, and traditional.  If you don't want to serve the squash pieces individually, simply halve the squash, and after baking spoon out the squash and mash it to a puree for serving.

3-4 large Acorn Squash, seeds and strings removed
3 Tbs. butter
6 Tbs. brown sugar
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Quarter the squash, and arrange on a rimmed baking sheet, skin side down. Add a few Tbs. of water to the baking sheet to steam squash and keep skins from burning.

Spoon pieces of butter and brown sugar into the concave part of the squash. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 45 min. to an hour, until the squash is soft all the way through and browned a bit on top.  Serve.

Gremolata Green beans Recipe:
This dish serves as the perfect bright, garlicky foil to a traditional rich, sweet holiday menu and it's so versatile.  Make it ahead of time and serve it at room temperature.  These green beans are so tasty, we eat them like dessert...a few bites at a time, all day long.  We acquired the recipe after a friend brought them to Thanksgiving this year, so I can't take credit, but they were too good not to pass along.

2 pounds green beans
4 Tbs. minced garlic
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Zest of 8 lemons (yellow part only)
2 bunches Italian parsley, leaves only, chopped
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. black pepper
Juice of 1 lemon, or to taste

Blanch the green beans in a pot of boiling salted water for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes; drain and plunge into ice water. Drain well. Transfer to a serving bowl.

Saute the garlic in olive oil over medium-low heat for 2 minutes or just until the garlic turns white. Do not let it brown. Pour over the beans and toss to combine.

Combine the lemon zest, parsley, cheese, salt and pepper. Sprinkle on the beans, and toss. Add the lemon juice, toss again, and taste. Adjust seasonings with salt, pepper and more lemon juice, to taste.

NOTE: Mr. Luz likes to throw the topping ingredients, raw garlic, cheese and all, into the food processer and then toss the blanched greenbeans, olive oil, lemon juice, and food processed topping all together before serving.  To him, flash cooking the garlic takes some of the fun out of the dish, and electronics are more fun than chopping.

Smoked Oyster French Bread Stuffing
I love a sweet, salty, umami-tasting oyster with just about everything, but especially when it adds unexpected elegance and subtlety to a holiday stuffing/dressing. I've been eating this stuff for breakfast since Saturday.

2 large loaves stale French bread, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 cups fresh oysters in their own liquor
1 1/2 cups smoked oysters, rinsed and coarse chopped
1 bunch fresh parsley leaves, chopped
2 bunches green onions, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, diced
1 large onion, diced
4 ribs celery, diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tbs. bacon grease
1 cup butter
2 Tbs. of your favorite fresh savory herb(s), chopped (thyme, sage, rosemary)
Salt and red pepper to taste
2 cups chicken stock
Dry the bread cubes on a baking sheet all day, or in a 200 degree oven, until crispy.

Melt 1/2 cup butter and bacon grease over medium heat in a large pan.  Add the bell pepper, onion, celery and saute until translucent.  Add the garlic, green onion, and parsley and saute 2 more minutes.

Combine the sauteed vegetables, bread cubes, smoked and fresh oysters, with their liquor, savory herbs, salt and red pepper and chicken stock in a large bowl and mix well. Spoon the dressing into a baking dish. Dot with the remaining 1/2 cup butter.  Bake at 350 until brown and bubbly--approximately 35-45  minutes.

Celebrate Someone Special with a Hawaiian Luau Dinner

Aloha from sunny Washington D.C.! That's me, on the right. Aren't I handsome? Of course there's no way that could be me, mainly because if I'm going to the trouble of matching a hat to my outfit, it would be far more fantastic than than the plain thing this guy is wearing.

But I digress. Tis' time for the First Annual Mr. Luz Birthday Extravaganza post. This post is dedicated to the one and only Party Momster. She's a Birthday-party-aholic, and you can check out her blog here. Party Momster says "I just love the permission a Birthday gives you to escape the everyday and do things you wouldn't normally do. And just be over-the-top in making someone feel special."

Well, Party Momster, Mr. Luz and I agree with you and applaud your dedication to the under appreciated art of partying. Here's to you.

Mookalakaheeki. Come on, you wanna lei me. Pass the poi, Mahalo. A Luau Menu in 4 Parts

This menu should serve 8-10 for dinner, and you can easily convert everything into appetizers. (get some Hawaiian buns and make smoked pork & pineapple salsa sandwiches, cut the ribs into small portions, and spoon the potato salad onto a lettuce wrapper pupu platter-styles.)

Char Sui Ribs: (for 6 lbs. of ribs)
This recipe was relatively easy, because the Asian-inspired ingredients added a richness to the ribs even though I didn't brown them before braising. They were sweet and mellow, and so tender that they weren't really ribs so much as piles of pork with some random bones sitting around. (Oops!) The glaze adds flavor without mess, so don't skip that part.

I think it's typical for Hawaiians to bake rather than braise these puppies, but I'm not experienced with that technique. Instead, I went with a tried and true approach and was rewarded with luscious pork ribs and a lovely soy-roasted garlic-sesame oil perfume throughout the house as the guests arrived.

2 Slabs of Baby Back Ribs (6 lbs.)
1/2 Cup Light Brown Sugar
2 Tbs. Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Hoisin Sauce
4 Tbs. Sesame Oil
4 Tbs. sliced Garlic
4 Tbs. sliced Ginger
4 Tbs. Soy Sauce (I used 2 Tbs. each of regular and low-sodium)

Trim excess fat from the ribs, and remove the tendon from the back of the ribs if you prefer. Place the ribs in a large baking dish with the meaty side facing down.

Mix the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl and pour over the ribs in the roasting pan. Add enough water to the pan so that the ribs are covered ½ way. Cover tightly with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 2.5 hours.

After 2.5 hours, check on the ribs. If they are tender, remove the ribs to a large dish and pour 4 cups of the braising liquid into a sauce pan.

Skim the fat off of the braising liquid and boil until caramelized and reduced to 2 cups. Brush the glaze over the ribs, and if desired, bake at 450 degrees for 5 minutes, or until the glaze has set on the ribs. Cut into the desired size, and serve.

Smoked Island Pork Tenderloin:
Maybe I don't have room in my "yard" to bury an entire pig with some coals and ti leaves, but I do know how to marinade and smoke stuff. Hence the inspiration for this smoked pork recipe. The pork was succulent from its milky marinade, and our guests commented that the coconut flavor was subtle, and yummy.

3 lb. Pork Tenderloin
1 can Coconut Milk (approx. 2 cups)
3 Tbs. Soy Sauce
1 Tbs. Lime Juice
1 cup Pineapple Juice
2 Tbs. chopped Garlic
3 Tbs. chopped Ginger
2 Tbs. Asian 5-Spice
Salt and Pepper

Trim the excess fat and tendon off of the pork tenderloin. Add the remaining ingredients to a blender and blend until the garlic and ginger are minced. Place the tenderloin in a non-metal bowl, and pour the marinade over the top. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours. If the marinade does not cover the pork, turn it halfway through.

Prepare the grill for smoking. Remove the pork from the marinade, and season liberally with 5-spice, salt, and pepper. Place the pork on the center of the grill, over indirect heat and the drip pan, and smoke for 40 minutes. You can turn and baste with any reserved marinade after 30 minutes, but PLEEZE keep the grill closed otherwise. The pork should be medium after 40 minutes, but smoke for an additional 20 if you want it to be well done.

Remove the pork from the grill, let it rest for 10 minutes, and serve with pineapple salsa (see below).

Kimchi Potato Salad:
This is a recipe for an easy, crowd-pleasing side dish with some interesting and unique element and a light, smoky taste. Hawaiians typically serve poi (paste from taro roots) and kimchi (vinegary, pickled cabbage)at luaus, and I struggled with how to make these elements fit with the BBQ theme.

In the end, I added wilted cabbage and vinegar to an Asian-inspired potato salad, and would have added boiled, cubed taro root if it was available. If you do use taro, be careful and do some research. There are toxins in the skin and the flesh, so take extra precautions when skinning and cooking this starchy, sweet root vegetable.

6 slices of Smoked Bacon
1 ½ Cup sliced Purple Cabbage
5 lbs. of Yukon Gold Potatoes, skinned, boiled, and cubed
2 Cups Mayonnaise
2 Tbs. Soy Sauce
1 Tbs. Sesame Oil
1 Tbs. Dijon Mustard
1 Tbs. Rice Wine Vinegar
1 Cup chopped Green Onion
½ Cup chopped Cilantro
4 dashes Hot Sauce
Salt & Pepper to taste

Cook the bacon in a frying pan over medium heat until crispy and coarse chop when cooled. Wilt the cabbage in the bacon fat and drain on paper towels.

Place the cooked potatoes in a large bowl. Add the bacon and cabbage while still warm, if possible. Mix the remaining ingredients in a small bowl, and pour over the potato mixture. Toss, chill, and serve.

Pineapple Salsa:
Fresh pineapple is now my favorite thing ever. That should say it all.

2 Cups fresh Pineapple, chopped (reserve juices)
½ Cup chopped Cilantro
1 Jalapeno, finely chopped
1 Cup chopped Sweet Onion
1 Red Bell Pepper, finely chopped
4 Tbs. chopped Basil
2 Tbs. chopped mint
4 Tbs. Lime Juice
4 dashes Hot Sauce
Salt & Pepper to taste

Place the pineapple and any juices released from chopping in a non-metal bowl. Add the remaining ingredients, and stir. Let the salsa sit in the fridge for 1 hour to let the flavors blend. Serve well-chilled with taro chips and/or on the smoked pork tenderloin.

Bar Exam Gazpacho Recipe

Dear readers, I would like you to meet Gazpacho, one of my tomato plants. He's a little quiet, but he'll grow on you. (AhahahahaHAHAHA!) He lives in my backyard with Mojito and Margherita I and II. One day, I shall eat him.

In an effort to make sure he meets a noble end, I tried the gazpacho recipe that I perfected last summer, while I was hiding from the New York State Bar Exam. The gazpacho was just as tangy, refreshing as I remembered, and I didn't suffer any post-traumatic-stress-disorder flashbacks of Bar Exam studying while I enjoyed it, which is a huge bonus.

(See, everyone who's studying for the Bar right now? I made it out okay. Also, all the Bar-Prep courses are designed to scare the bejesus out of you. The real thing will be easier. I promise.)

Sure I passed the Bar Exam, but I like to think that my real accomplishment last summer was eating at least 25 incarnations of gazpacho from May thru August, and still wanting a big bowl of it (with extra basil, sour cream, and grilled cheese bread, thank you) today.

Gazpacho (Cold Tomato Soup) with Cucumbers, Garlic, and Balsamic

6 larger tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and coarsely chopped [See note below]
1 purple onion, chopped
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, coarsely chopped
1 bell pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 jalapenos, seeded and finely chopped
10 leaves basil, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar
1/8 cup of water
1/8 cup olive oil
Juice of 1/2 of a lemon
1/8 cup Worcestershire sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste [black pepper, white pepper, cayenne—use your favorite]

Add all the ingredients to a large non-metal bowl, and stir to incorporate all of the different vegetables. Put 1/3 of the mixture in a blender/food processor and blend until slightly liquid, then move to a 2nd non-metal bowl (or large air-tight container) Continue with the remaining portions, blending less each time--the final blended batch should be a chunkier puree. Cover and refrigerate overnight, so the flavors can blend. Serve with your favorite garnishes and some hot sauce.
Peeling & Seeding tomatoes:

Bring a large pot of water (2/3 full) to a boil. Add tomatoes 3 at a time, and boil for 30 seconds. Remove tomatoes, and cool. Pierce tomato skins with a sharp knife, or score the tops with an X and the skins should come off easily. Cut the top off the tomato, and using your thumbs, gently squeeze the seeds out of the seed pockets.[This is the grossest, messiest part, but it’s worth it]

Grilled Tandoori Chicken with Spicy Mint Chutney & Grilled Curry Cauliflower

Oh dear Lord, it feels good to be back. I cooked like a fiend this weekend, and I now have a fridge full of tasty leftovers and a large quantity of wine that was somehow overlooked at this weekend's dinner party. (Maybe it was all the cosmopolitans and mojitos that Mr. Luz was mixing?)

Speaking of fiending, I've picked up a new and terrible addiction to Indian food, which I attribute to all the take-out that we ate during the move. It's terrible because it's July, and as much as I love spicy, stewed meats, they just aren't ideal in the stifling heat.

So in order to get my weekly fix of garlic/ginger/yogurt/cinnamon/cardamom/ect., I decided to add some decidedly summer elements to my traditional tandoori chicken recipe and brighten it up. I grilled some marinated chicken on my Weber charcoal grill, and then added a spicy, bright mint chutney that was wonderfully summery. I also made some curry-rubbed grilled cauliflower as an experiment, and it was very tasty. I normally don't like cauliflower, but I thought I'd give it another chance. (Pimentos, don't get any ideas. I'll always hate you.) The grilling kept the cauliflower crispy, but sweetened it and brought out some of the subtle earthy flavors in the fibrous vegetable. The curry powder also enhanced the cauliflower's earthy flavor, and gave it a pretty caramel/yellow color at the same time.

NOTE: To make this recipe, I bought organic bone-in chicken pieces, and against my better judgment I cut slits in the meat so the marinade could sink in. Then I cried as all the juices ran out of my chicken as it cooked. Next time I'll either get use small chicken breasts (I don't think the marinade absorbed into the dark meat as well) or I'll reserve some of the yogurt mixture, and baste the chicken with it as it cooks.

Tandoori Chicken

2-4 lbs. chicken
1 cup plain yogurt
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 Tbs. peeled and finely chopped fresh ginger
1 Tbs. finely chopped garlic
2 tsp. coriander
2 tsp. ground cumin
3 tsp. garam masala
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cayenne

Remove the skin from chicken and place the chicken in a non-reactive bowl. Add the remaining ingredients to the chicken and mix well. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator overnight. (If you plan to baste the chicken, mix the marinate in a separate bowl and reserve a small portion of it before adding the rest to the chicken.)

To cook, place the chicken over direct, medium-high heat and cover. Turn the chicken after the meat has browned and until the meat is cooked through. (Baste the cooked parts with marinade, turning and covering one more time to caramelize the marinade before serving). Remove from heat, and let the chicken rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Mint Chutney

1 1/2 cup mint leaves
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
1 chile, chopped (choose for spice--poblano or jalapeno for alot of heat, anaheim if you prefer a mild chutney)
1/4 coarse chopped onion
pinch cumin
2 Tbs. lemon juice
2 tsp. white or rice vinegar
dash sugar
3 Tbs. plain yogurt

Add all the ingredients to a blender, and puree. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, and serve on top or on the side of the tandoori chicken

Grilled Curry-spiced Cauliflower

2 large heads cauliflower (for 6-8 servings)
4 Tbs. olive oil
2 Tbs. curry powder
Salt, Pepper to taste

Remove the leaves and 2 inches of stem on the cauliflower. Rub florets with 3 Tbs. oil. Cut into wedges, keeping the main stem intact but so that each serving has two flat sides that will sit on the grill. Rub cut stems with remaining 1 Tbs. of olive oil. Sprinkle curry powder on florets.

Place on the grill over indirect, medium high-heat and cover. After 5 minutes, turn to put the other cut side on the grill. The cauliflower is done when it is flexible but not too soft, and golden brown.

Award Winning Pasta Sauce Recipe!

Hey ya'll! Today I'm having a rockin' karma day [didn't have to wait for either of my metro trains, I'm having one of those "effortlessly cute" days that come along so infrequently that I tend to forget about them between occurrences, and my morning meeting put me in a great mood] so it's only fitting that I get to share more good news with you...

My Smoked Tomato Pasta Sauce with Portabella & Fennel recipe was selected out of a few hundred entries as a runner-up in the Buitoni Pasta Sauce Recipe Contest! The challenge was to create a sauce that paired with one of Buitoni's new riserva pastas, and I chose to create a sauce that could stand up to their super rich, slightly spicy braised beef and sausage ravioli.

I wanted to impart a wood-grilled flavor onto the ravioli, so I prepped some awesome vegetables for smoking, and threw them on my trusty Weber kettle with some hickory chips. Then I used the smoked veggies with bacon, some strong herbs (fennel, tarragon), and a salty, mild cheese that looks beautiful and added some creamy depth (ricotta salata--it's bright white!) to make a silky, smoky sauce. Voila!

This was my first "cooking contest" entry, so I'm very excited that the people at Foodbuzz.com liked it enough to select it as a runner up. And I get a cool gift pack as a prize, so I'll dish on that once it arrives.

Summer Sides: Southwest Sweet Corn Salad

Maybe you've realized that in our
house, a "salad" isn't typically made of leafy, green stuff high in folic acid and low in calories. More often, it begins and ends with starch and fat, with some chopped veggies thrown in for color.

Hey, at least I'm consistent!

I make this little "salad" to pair well with saucy, spicy ribs. The flavors are fresh, and the sauce has a nice kick of its own. As a bonus, if you have some of the sauce left over, mix it with some mayo, onion, and bell pepper for a yummy shrimp salad base...





Southwest Sweet Corn Salad

8 small ears sweet corn, boiled or grilled
3 cups of halved cherry tomatoes
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1/2 red onion, diced

2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
3 Tbs. lime juice
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
4 dashes hot sauce
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 Tbs. dried oregano
1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Cut the kernels (great word!) off of the ears of corn and place them in a large mixing bowl. Add the rest of the vegetables to the bowl. Put the olive oil in a smaller bowl, and whisk in all of the remaining ingredients except the cilantro. Taste, and add more cayenne pepper if it's not hot enough. (The dressing will taste very acidic, but the sweetness of the corn will tone down the lime juice). Stir the desired amount of dressing into the corn/veggie mixture and toss with the cilantro. Let sit for several hours, covered, stirring occasionally. Can be served cold or at room temperature.

Summer Sides: Spicy Asian Sesame Noodle Salad

A big hug and kiss go out to M'me Williams (aka Meggy Moo) and Liza Jane for this lovely little recipe. This Asian noodle salad is great as a side dish, and if you're potlucking your host is likely to a.) be mad you showed him/her up and/or b.) be grateful that you didn't bring over the 100th bag of ruffle potato chips because they told people to "bring whatever." It's also great as a tasty, healthier lunch entree. Some days, I might even take it over a plateful of cheesecake for dessert, it's that good.

I use the Epicurious recipe, available here, and add whatever veggies strike my fancy in color and flavor, so it's always exactly what I'm in the mood for. In this iteration, I used the sweeter, less acidic yellow bell peppers, and some thinly sliced purple cabbage and carrots. One word of advice--hold out till you can find the sesame oil (typically in the Asian section of your grocery store, and ALWAYS sold out at the Harris Teeter near us). It's absolutely the best part. And if you're not already cooking dishes with fresh ginger (Mom and Dad) I suggest that you get in the habit...ginger can be spicy, floral, and citrus-y all at once and is great in all sorts of marinades and sauces. Pick up some for this Asian Noodle Salad and see what I mean...

Spicy Sesame Noodle Salad:

1 Tbs. peanut oil
2 Tbs. minced peeled fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 Tbs. Asian sesame oil
2 Tbs. soy sauce
2 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 Tbs. sugar
1 Tbs. (or more) hot chili oil
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 pound prepared linguine pasta
12 green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup coarsely chopped roasted peanuts
1/4 cup sliced Thai basil leaves
Sliced vegetables of your choice (I used carrots sliced lengthwise, thin-sliced purple cabbage, and yellow bell pepper rings)
Toasted sesame seeds (optional)

Heat peanut oil in small skillet over medium heat. Add ginger and garlic; sauté 1 minute. Transfer to large bowl. Add next 6 ingredients; whisk to blend.

Drain noodles thoroughly and transfer to bowl with sauce. Add sliced green onions and toss to coat noodles. Let stand at room temperature until noodles have absorbed dressing, tossing occasionally, about 1 hour. Stir in peanuts, sesame seeds, and Thai basil; toss again. Add vegetables of your choice, selecting for taste, color, and texture for best results. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve at room temperature.

Tips and Tricks:

If you don't have hot chili oil, add one more Tbs. of sesame oil to the sauce and add crushed red pepper flakes to taste

Two words---Double Batch.

Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Celebrating the Grand Opening of New Orleans' Green Goddess Restaurant

NOTE: Greetings from sunny New Orleans! To celebrate its May 24, 24, 24 event, Foodbuzz.com sent Mr. Luz and I down here to enjoy the riches of Chef Chris DeBarr's brand new NOLA restaurant, the Green Goddess. This write up highlights the dinner menu, but the Green Goddess also serves amazing lunch and brunch menus, which are overseen by the highly-regarded Chef/Co-Owner Paul Artigues. The Green Goddess is in Exchange Alley, between Royal and Chartres and on the Canal St. side of the LA Supreme Courthouse. Please stop by, we promise you'll love it.

Our journey begins with a Pimm's Cup cocktail at the Napoleon House, as Mr. Luz and I sit and sip, preparing for the amazing dishes that await us at the Green Goddess. The Napoleon House is quintessential New Orleans. The paint that peels off the thick stucco walls has probably been there for decades, and the orange light bulbs in the overhead fixtures burn like the hot, hot tropical nights that are to come as Louisiana moves towards summer. The patrons move slowly, and gaze out the windows onto the street for long periods of time--they observe the landscape, and they are the landscape. Mr. Luz and I breathe it all in--we've been suffocating, and this--right here--is our lifeblood.

We talk about Chef Chris DeBarr, who was named New Orleans Best New Chef in 2006, the draw of his food, and his new restaurant, the Green Goddess. Chef DeBarr has emailed me at 4 a.m. in the past few weeks to update me on the Grand Opening of the Green Goddess, and to describe the amazing products he managed to procure for his endeavor. Waking up to pages and pages of Chris's writing detailing the amazing ingredients discussed below was like beginning the day with a book of poetry. There's something about the early morning light and the late-night musings of a passionate chef that just feels right in my world. As we finish our drinks, Mr. Luz and I also reflect on the urban bohemian utopia that is New Orleans, and how Chef DeBarr at times embodies the wild, lyrical tolerance-nay, celebration of diversity, that is this city.

We leave the Napoleon House, and took the short walk to Exchange Alley. The Green Goddess is in an intimate alley that gets full sun approximately 2 hours of the day, and is a breezy, shady oasis otherwise.

After reaching the Green Goddess, we had the pleasure of talking with Miz Marrus, designer of the Green Goddess's gorgeous sign (absolutely essential to any N'awlins establishment). She told hilarious stories about iterations the image went through--at one point Chef DeBarr requested imagery from Greek and Roman mythology, the Statue of Liberty, and a Mardi Gras Indian all at once--to get to the wild, powerful image we have today. You can find more details here.We peek into the intimate, bronze-gilded dining area, and say hi to Chef DeBarr. Then, like any good and unobtrusive dinner guest, I start taking pictures of things. Scott greets us, and takes our drink order. At his previous restaurant, Chef DeBarr preferred to dispatch with the waitstaff and serve the food himself, which means you always have an expert describing your dishes and answering your questions. Keeping with that theme, Chef DeBarr staffs the Green Goddess with cooks and chefs that are as comfortable serving tables in the the front of the house as they are trained to create the dishes in the back of the house. Scott served us at our table, but also helped prep and cook our dishes. Needless to say, the enthusiasm and pride among the front of the house staff was palpable, and we loved discussing the dishes with their creators as we were experiencing them.

Mr. Luz started with the Brazilian Samba and I ordered the Island Sea Breeze from the Green Goddess "Juicy Cocktail" menu. The Brazilian Samba features cashew fruit juice, sparkling apple juice, white tea, and agave with frozen young coconut juice floating on top, and the Island Sea Breeze has Ting (Jamaican grapefruit soda), hibiscus, acai juice, and lime juice. The drinks were complex, refreshing, and perfect for a sunny New Orleans late afternoon. Like any perfect creation, you can taste all of the elements independent from one another, and you also get an entirely different experience as all of the flavors harmonize into one.

We begin the Tasting Menu with the Niigata Bruschetta with edamame and mint tapenade with Japanese crazy wintry malted chiles on olive bread, paired with Chef DeBarr's Salty Banana Mango Lassi with basil seed drink "fault line" and curry sugar rim. If the Green Goddess were a microcosm of the utopian bohemia that is New Orleans, this dish would best represent the diversity that makes New Orleans so exciting. As Chef DeBarr tells the story, the tapenade is made of chiles that grow in the mountains of Japan. The chiles are packed in snow to mellow and sweeten their spicy elements, and then fermented in rice malt from the Niigata region of Japan for three years. The result is a salty, umami chile that Chef DeBarr mixes with fresh edamame and mint from his garden before spreading on thin, soft slices of bread. The dish is simultaneously sweet, earthy, and light on the palate. Chef DeBarr pairs the Niigata bruschetta with his dynamite Mango Banana Lassi (an appetizer in itself ) for a fantastically bright and decadadent first course.
The second course is a Pacific fiddlehead fern, fennel and absinthe bisque. Chef DeBarr roasts the nutty fiddlehead ferns with exotic Bengali seasonings, before cooking them a second time in the bisque. The aromatic ingredients nestle in the fiddleheads in a perfectly engineered dish.
Love. That bohemian theme is present in every element of Chef DeBarr's third course--the roasted golden beet carpaccio “ravioli” stuffed with truffled chèvre, finished with pomegranate molasses, Sardinian Saba, and avocado oil. This dish is all consuming, and almost bittersweet. Chef DeBarr roasts the sweet golden beets and slices them thin, with the tangy goat cheese between two slices. The pomegranate molasses is tart, and absolutely takes control of the roof of your mouth while the other elements dance on the front and sides of your tongue. The pink Himalayan salt that finishes the dish keeps it savory, and gives the subtle beets the kick they need to stand up to the more powerful elements.
The beet "ravioli" is paired with Chef DeBarr's Huckleberry Snowball, a "juicy cocktail" made of crushed ice sinking in Tazo Brambleberry Tea, Hansen’s Dragonfruit Sparkler, and an earthy huckleberry granita. The dark fruit flavors sink deeper into the shaved ice as you sip, and immediately, you are in love.
As we finish our Snowball, a brass band leads a second line of dancing, stomping folks past Exchange Alley and we pause to take in the joy that is strolling past us to the music of brass and drum.
Our fourth course could represent the Spirituality that strums beneath the NOLA way of life. Chef DeBarr's dish of lightly roasted asparagus, morels, petite green peas and shallot “Jam” with a juicy red wine reduction and fluffy red quinoa was the crescendo of the evening. The sauces sunk into the fluffy, earthy morels, and the caramelized shallots offered an intense sweetness to the bright spring flavors and the deep acidity of the red wine reduction. Mr. Luz tasted the Catholic incense of his alter boy days in the floral quinoa, and frankly, we were both emotional as we enjoyed the thoughtful purity of the dish in the peaceful New Orleans evening.
Music is the final urban bohemian element present in Chef DeBarr's Green Goddess tasting menu. His lychee ginger mint "cocktail" with lime absolutely sings. Mr. Luz described the ginger in this cocktail as analogous to hops in a good beer--it was aromatic, and exciting. The mint and lychee added subtle sweet and tangy flavors, and the candy mint danced across your tongue and left your mouth cool and fresh. Like the second line that graced our tasting menu earlier in the night, this "cocktail" alternately bounces and drifts across your palate, and is not to be missed.
Chef DeBarr finished the evening with his Mt. Hood Medicine Man salad, with shaved fennel, candied yuzu peel, hazelnuts and wild foraged spring greens with blood orange vinaigrette and avocado oil. This dish is perfectly lagniappe (meaning "a little something extra" in N'awlins-speak). Every bite is different, and the shaved fennel in particular changes whether you eat it with a bite of some of the bitter greens, the citrus-y yuzu peel, or the sweeter hazelnuts. The greens are foraged by hand on Oregon's Mt. Hood by a man named Running Squirrel. The greens truly taste wild, with a myriad of hidden flavors highlighted by Chef DeBarr's preparation, and they are fleeting in that they will only be harvested for a short time. In sum, Chef DeBarr's salad is a fresh, fleeting masterpiece in an otherwise stale culinary world where famous chefs haven't changed their menu since 2000 (sorry, Emeril).
The tasting menu ended with a toasted hazelnut tuile and blood orange sorbet with pine bud syrup, and a Louisiana strawberry crème brulee topped with caramelized balsamic syrup. The desserts progressed from citrus-y and bright to creamy and deep. (Maybe we also tasted Chef DeBarr's bread pudding with chocolate hazelnut--decadent!--and his Saturn Calling dessert made with sticky black rice pudding, coconut milk, mango and amaretto with tapioca pearls, which I highly recommend!)

Chef DeBarr's Green Goddess restaurant takes a purposefully and almost prayerfully distilled approach to melding fresh ingredients with exotic whimsy. In that way, he takes the traditional N'awlins approach to cooking, where roux-making is almost spiritual, and makes it his own. It is eclectic and original, in the most warm, approachable, and thoughtful way. Mr. Luz and I felt privileged to be able to attend a tasting dinner at the Green Goddess, and to enjoy the celebration of music, love, diversity, spirituality, and above all--rare and complex ingredients prepared with reverence--that the Green Goddess has to offer.

Other highlights from Chef DeBarr's dinner menu at the Green Goddess:

South Indian Savory Ivory Lentil Pancake (aka: utthappam) with petite green peas,
mustard seeds, kalonji, and spiced tomatoes with tamarind chutney & fiery dal. This dish tastes like an inside out samosa, fluffy and fun, and the tamarind paste puckers your palate in a good way!
Second favorite dish of the night: “Spooky” Blue Corn Crèpes with huitlacoche, (a
rare Aztec corn fungus) mushrooms & brandy ragout, finished with porcini salt and butter.

Holy Lord.

The huitlacoche can best be described as a sort of "noble rot" that gives the corn a meaty flavor and texture. The porcini salt and butter hits you in the face all at once and with every bite, and lends a truffled element to the dish.

Our final entrée was the Bison Bacon Meatloaf with asparagus roasted with serrano ham and twice baked potato and spicy steak sauce. My favorite part of this dish is the twice baked potato. The potatoes are whipped with yogurt instead of sour cream and then baked with manchego cheese. Scott told us that "you can't get the potatoes creamy enough for Chef Debarr-you could whisk butter, cream, and yogurt into them for hours and they're still not creamy enough." Awesome.

Crab Boil Potato Salad Recipe: Summer Sides

I'm not sure how it happened, but this Memorial Day weekend I was able to take a break from cooking and enjoy some spicy, smoky love from other peoples' kitchens. (Thanks Jeffbignerd and Liza Jane!)

Which was nice, because I think I burned myself out this week. (Cooked till 1:30 am to stock a friend's fridge w/"reheatables" on top of the usual hours spent grilling, entertaining, and cooking for the week. Noooo more simmering! Noooo!!)

In return for Jeffbignerd and Liza Jane's generosity, I did offer some of my favorite Summer Sides.

To me a good summer side can be served cold or room temperature, nicely complements the rich and spicy grilled flavors of the season, and it may be a "classic" but it has some unexpected flavors, too. This potato salad falls into that category. I use spicy crab boil to add some earthy, spicy flavors to the potatoes as they cook, and then toss everything with the usual potato salad staples. Serve it with steak or burgers, and enjoy!

Crab-Boil Potato Salad:

10 medium Red Skin Potatoes
1 package Crab Boil dry (not liquid) seasoning
2 cups chopped boiled Egg
2 cups sliced Green Onion
1 cup diced Celery
1/2 cup diced Red Onion
1 cup Mayonnaise, divided
2 Tbs. Creole Mustard
Cayenne Pepper, Salt, Pepper
1. Peirce the skins of the potatoes on 4 sides with a fork or a sharp knife. Add the potatoes and the crab boil packet to a large pot, add a large pinch of salt, and cover with water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and boil until the potatoes are soft. (Approx. 15 minutes). I like my potatoes super-starchy, so I boil them until I can crush them easily with a fork and then refrigerate the potatoes to firm them up for mixing later.

2. Drain and cool the potatoes. Chop the potatoes into bite-sized cubes and add to a large mixing bowl. (I peel some of the red skins off of the cooked cubes if they are loose, until I have the desired skin-to-potato ratio for my potato salad). Cut open the mesh bag holding the crab boil spices, and add 3 Tbs. of the loose spices to the potatoes.

3. Add everything but the mayonnaise, cayenne, salt, and pepper to the mixing bowl with the potatoes and the crab boil spices. Add the mayonnaise, 1/4 cup at a time and stir. Keep adding 1/4 cup mayo until the potatoes reach your desired creaminess. (I prefer my potato salad to be a little drier and starchy, instead of pretty and glossy, but that's up to you. If you want starchy, crush some of the potatoes as you stir...mmmmcrushed potatoes soaked in mayo.....) add salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, and serve.

Smoked Tomato Pasta Sauce with Portabellas and Fennel

This recipe started out as an experiment--a quest, if you will--to make an interesting and unique pasta sauce for a recipe contest. My thought process went something like this: "Bacon is smoked meat, and bacon is yummy. Why not smoke vegetables? Then they'll taste like BACON!"

Maybe that's not 100% accurate, but these smoked veggies gave the pasta sauce a definite smokey, almost meaty flavor and a silky texture.

I wanted the herbs to "pop" against the strong smoke flavor, so I used fennel and tarragon. And the ricotta salata cheese has a mild, salty flavor and beautiful white color that's perfect for this flavorful, zesty tomato sauce.

To smoke veggies [for tips on smoking, check out this post]
5 large Tomatoes
1 large can Artichoke Hearts
3 Portabella Mushroom caps, gills removed
1 bulb of Fennel
1 Anaheim Pepper
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Hickory Chips for smoking
Salt and Pepper

For sauce
4 slices Bacon
4 Garlic Cloves, diced
1 cup chopped Onion
¾ cup White Wine
1 Tbs. Balsamic Vinegar
1 ½ cup Water
12 oz. can Tomato Paste
2 tsp. chopped fresh Tarragon
5 oz. Ricotta Salata Cheese
1 Tbs. Sugar

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Prepared Pasta (I used Buitoni Braised Beef and Sausage Ravioli)

Smoke the Vegetables

Cut the bulb of the fennel and the Anaheim Pepper into two large halves, and place in a bowl of water + 1 Tbs. olive oil. Add the artichoke hearts and portabella mushrooms to the water/oil mixture, and soak everything for 1 hour. Score the skins of the tomatoes with a large X, and coat with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Soak two handfuls of the hickory chips in water for at least 30 minutes. Prepare a charcoal grill so that the hot coals are spread on 2 sides of the grill, with an aluminum pan filled with water in the middle and separating the coals. Place the soaked hickory chips over the hot coals, and replace the grilling surface.

Place the veggies in the center of the grill, and try to avoid putting them over direct heat. (You may have to make smoke the vegetables in batches). Use a metal tray to keep the artichoke hearts from falling through the grate.

Close the lid and smoke the veggies for 30 minutes. Remove the veggies from the grill--they may not be completely cooked, but they'll finish in the sauce.

Make the Sauce

Once the veggies have cooled, chop the pepper and fennel. Cut the portabellas and artichokes into bite-sized pieces.

Chop the bacon, and saute it in a large, heavy-bottomed pot. Once the bacon begins to brown, add the onion and garlic and saute for 5 minutes. Add the fennel, pepper, portabellas, and artichokes and saute until all of the vegetables are soft and the fennel is sweet.

Peel the skin off of the smoked tomatoes, and core and seed them. (I do this by holding the whole tomato over the pot and using my fingers to slide the soft, smoked tomato off of its core. Ewwww.) Add the tomatoes to the pot, and stir until all of the browned bits come off the bottom of the pan.

Stir in the white wine, balsamic, tomato paste, and water. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a vigorous simmer, reduce heat, and simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Add the tarragon, and simmer for 10 more minutes. Taste the sauce--if it is too smoky for you, add the sugar and simmer for 10 more minutes. Right before serving, crumble or shave pieces of the ricotta salata cheese into the sauce, and enjoy!

Healthy Living: May Not Be Suitable for Sensitive Readers

I really wish I didn't have to do this. I'm just not sure that I have a choice. I fear that there may be people just like me out there right now...everything feels off, like they just need to be renewed, or revived, or something.

I'm starting to wonder who I am, and where my life is going. What kind of person have I become, and what does this all mean for my future? Am I going down the road of a---a----a health nut?! These are the questions that I've woken up to every day, in my dim room, the laptop computer that hasn't typed the word "cheese" in over a week grimly staring at me, wondering if I'll ever come back to it.

Will it ever forgive me for what I'm about to do?

The Bacon Concentrate SuperSmoothie:

1/2 medium Avocado (I promise it won't taste funny)
3/4 cup Grapes (for sweetness and fiber)
2 cups sliced Strawberries (for Vitamin C)
1 Carrot w/the skin, sliced (for Vitamin A)
1/2 cucumber w/the skin on, sliced (for fiber)
1 handful baby spinach leaves (for the hell of it)
1 cup Blackberries (for antioxidants)
1 cup unsweetened soy milk (for Vitamins, calcium)
splash of lemon juice, to taste
Ice cubes
Dash Cinnamon (so you can pretend you're eating apple pie)

Puree carrot and cucumber in blender. Add fruits and avocado, a bit at a time, until pureed. If blender sticks, add a splash of soymilk. Add the spinach, and puree. Add the soy milk and cinnamon. Taste, add more cinnamon and lemon juice to taste. Add ice cubes a few at a time until you have reached the desired consistency.

Note: This recipe is for a quick boost of vitamins and minerals and a healthy digestive system, not weight loss. If you drink this every day, you will have fantastic skin and a happy belly, but your butt still won't fit into your pre-teen's leggings. Then again, who wants that anyway?

EEEK! NUTRITION INFORMATION! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

Serving Size: 1/2 of the mixture above
240 Calories
20% of your recommended daily value (DV) of Fat (good fat aids in absorption of vitamins & minerals)
25% DV Potassium
36% DV Dietary Fiber
5 grams Protein
180% DV Vitamin C
17% DV Iron
23% DV Calcium
15% DV Vitamin D
25% DV Vitamin B12

Tips and Tricks:

You can use good-quality frozen fruits--the sugar content is a little higher, but they are oh-so-easy.

Don't use yogurt, or milks containing lactose. Your belly needs a break.

Convince your boyfriend that these are a special dessert, made just for him. Then maybe he'll drink it, instead of chomping on that piece of pizza as you sip your non-cheesy, non-meaty, non-doughy vitamin serum.

Extravagant Side Dishes: Spanish "Antipasto"

I love when other people cook for me almost as much as I love hosting dinners. If someone else is cooking, that means I get to make a ridiculous side dish that I typically wouldn't have the time to put together. In this instance, my friend was making 3 large pans of paella (yurme!) and requested a veggie dish. I spent an afternoon searching for a fun Spanish vegetable recipe. Finding none that were over-the-top enough for my taste, I came up with my own.

This is the Spanish version of the Italian antipasto dish. You could also simply refer to it as a Spanish Vegetable Tapas. I wanted crisp veggies with concentrated flavor, so I stir-fried the peppers, and just cooked the asparagus. Oh, and I threw in a little spicy paprika-garlic-flavored sausage grease, just for fun.

Spanish Antipasto:

2 Spanish Cheeses (Manchego, Montsec--goat's milk, La Mancha--sheep's milk, Idiazabal, ect.)
4 heads Garlic
2 medium lemons (grate the 2 tsp. of the zest before juicing)
2 tsp. lemon zest
Olive Oil
1 jar Manzanilla olives
2 yellow bell peppers
2 orange bell peppers
2 bunches asparagus
1 small package of loose Chorizo Sausage
Kosher salt
2 loaves crusty white bread

Prepare the Roasted Garlic

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Peel the papery covering off the garlic, leaving the skins on the individual bulbs. Cut 1/4 inch off the top of the garlic cloves, exposing the bulbs. Place each head of garlic on two layers of aluminum foil. Pour 1 Tbs. olive oil over each head, massage the oil over the garlic head, and cover tightly in foil. Bake for 35 minutes.

Remove the garlic from the foil, and let it cool. Using a butter knife, pop each bulb out of its skin and into mixing bowl. Add 1 tsp. olive oil, and mash the roasted garlic into a paste.

Stir Fry the Vegetables

Cut the bottom 1 inch off of the aspragus. Steam the asparagus over 1 1/2 cup water mixed with the juice of two medium sized lemons until al dente (8-10 minutes). Remove from heat and drop in an ice water bath to stop cooking. Drain and arrange on a platter.

Cook 3/4 cup of chorizo sausage, and reserve the sausage for a later use. Reserve 1/2 of the grease. Heat the chorizo grease just until smoking and add 1/2 of the peppers, stir frying them until crisp but sweet. Remove the peppers, and repeat with the remaining chorizo grease and peppers.

Finishing the Dish

Arrange vegetables, cheeses, olives, and roasted garlic on platters. (Ok, I cheated and used Cambozola, but we have a 5 lb (!!) wheel in our fridge, and I want to win the cholesterol contest at my work for the second year running, so I have to get rid of it.)

Sprinkle lemon zest, olive oil, and kosher salt over the asparagus. Garnish with paprika, and serve your antipasto with crusty bread.