Recipes

Ethiopian Chickpea and Cauliflower Stew with Preserved Lemons

August 24, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

To go along my Ethiopian Lentil Curry I chose another Ethiopian-style curry with chickpeas and cauliflower. One of my favorite things about curry is that both of these dishes can be called a “curry” yet they are both so different and complimentary at the same time. This stew is a yellow curry seasoned with turmeric, cumin, cardamom, coriander and paprika. It is more loosely based on Ethiopian chickpea and vegetable stews because I thought it would be fun to embellish it a bit. I don’t think preserved lemons are found too much in Ethiopian food but they really added amazing flavor to this dish. The preparation was easy and the result was so tasty! It tasted great with the lentils as well as the Injera bread.
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Ethiopian Red Lentil and Sweet Potato Curry

August 18, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

A few years ago I went to an Ethiopian restaurant and was completely taken with the food. I couldn’t remember all of the curries that I tried but I do remember the bread they served with the main course: injera. I wanted to recreate that meal at home so I set out researching Ethiopian curries. It turns out that the injera is served as the “plate” to place a variety of tasty curries. I settled on this red lentil and yam curry which I thought would go nicely on top of the injera. A spice blend of cumin, cinnamon, ginger, paprika and allspice flavor the curry. The sweet potato and lentils went together so well and provided an element of sweetness that balanced the spices. It was a really simple dish that tasted great with the injera.
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Caprese Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Balsamic Roasted Tomatoes

August 12, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

One of my favorite summer dishes is caprese salad. Sliced tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil leaves and balsamic vinegar offer the perfect combination of flavors. It also turns out these ingredients are a perfect grilled cheese in the making! The one issue was the balsamic vinegar–how to incorporate a liquid ingredient on a sandwich that isn’t a dressing? My solution was to simply roast the tomatoes in balsamic vinegar in the oven which infused the flavor of the balsamic into the tomato. I chose sourdough for the bread which worked nicely with the other ingredients. The sandwich was really tasty and not hard to make at all. It was a great way to turn a caprese salad appetizer into the main course!

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Korean Kalbi Beef Tacos with Cilantro Lime Salsa

August 9, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

Since Korean food works great with Tex-mex I wanted to try Korean-style tacos again! Usually “kalbi” refers to Korean BBQ short ribs but I really wanted to try the kalbi marinade on skirt steak since it’s a great meat for tacos. The marinade consists of ginger, soy sauce, sesame seeds, and asian pears so it was really easy to throw together. If you can’t find asian pears I think it would be alright to substitute in regular pears. I marinated the steak for about an hour before grilling. I used a flat pan to saute the beef at a high temperature, but I’m sure grilling the beef would be a great way to get extra flavor. The tacos were really tasty! I loved the sear on the beef along with the flavors of the kalbi marinade. I really enjoyed the sweet and savory kalbi beef with the tangy sesame soy dressing. I topped the tacos with chopped tomatoes, a cilantro lime salsa and sesame soy sauce dressing.

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Chocolate Zucchini Bread

August 5, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

I’ve come across quite a few recipes for chocolate zucchini bread and I’ve always been intrigued by this recipe. I had two leftover zucchini wasting away in my refrigerator so I thought I would give this a shot. Turns out you can’t taste the zucchini at all! I’m not really sure why but chocolate and zucchini can both be a little bit bitter so maybe the flavors complimented each other. The bread uses two blocks of unsweetened baker’s chocolate which gives it a very rich chocolate flavor. I used plain yogurt to give it an extra bit of creaminess. The result was a really moist, chocolatey bread with the added benefit of 2 cups of veggies! Plus the kitchen smelled amazing while the bread baked so I look forward to making this again.

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Prosciutto, Manchego and Fig Jam Sandwich

July 29, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

A while back I made a prosciutto, mozzarella and fig panini on ciabatta bread. I wanted to revisit those flavors because I loved the combination of smoky and savory prosciutto along with the sweet and fruity fig jam. Instead of mozzarella I went with Manchego which is a cheese that I have been using quite a bit in sandwiches lately. Manchego is a little bit sweet and a little bit tart so it worked perfectly with the other ingredients. I decided on sourdough bread instead of ciabatta just to try something a little different. The sandwich turned out really great! I loved how the flavors balanced each other really well. It’s really easy to make too since it only needs 4 ingredients! The fig jam can be sweet so I just spread it thinly over the bread. It was a great combination of sweet and savory flavors, so I will definitely be having this again!

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Korean Ramen with Kimchi and Sauteed Mushrooms

July 19, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

Just a disclaimer to twenty somethings: this is not your college ramen experience! Korea has its own version of Japanese Ramen and you can eat it with all sorts of different toppings. I loaded the soup with a hard boiled egg, peas, green onions, sauteed mushrooms, cilantro and of course kimchi. Korea has had a long love affair with kimchi and I have had my own mini infatuation going on here in California for a while now. The kimchi spices mixes in with the broth and blanches a bit in the hot soup. I used the ‘Hakubaku’ brand of ramen noodles which had a really nice consistency and thickness. I wouldn’t recommend using the ‘top ramen’ noodles but it would probably do in a pinch if you can’t find the hakubaku brand in stores. I really liked how all the condiments mixed together with the noodles and broth. It was definitely the best ramen I have ever eaten!

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Achiote Black Bean Tacos with Grilled Avocado and Goat Cheese

July 13, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

Who knew you could grill avocados? I had no idea until I read the recipe for these tacos. I loved the idea of tangy goat cheese coupled with the avocado slices and honey lime dressing. It sounded like the perfect quick summer meal so I knew I had to give it a try! I thought a good spice blend of black beans seasoned with achiote seed, cumin, coriander and smoked paprika would be a great addition to these tacos. The avocados had a slightly different flavor after grilling that was unique and hard to describe. I guess the flavor became a little more smokey with a stronger avocado smell. The tacos were really good! I especially liked the simple honey lime dressing to give the filling some brightness.

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Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Coconut Milk

July 9, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

It probably seems crazy to most Americans to down a hot bowl of soup right now. This soup makes more sense to me because temperatures on the central coast just haven’t risen much at all. Next time it hits lower temperatures this soup would be perfect to enjoy on a cooler day. Better yet, you could wait until late summer or Fall when the squash actually comes into season. If you are craving roasted butternut squash like me, there’s no time like the present for a good soup.

I chose to make this soup with a few of the great flavors from Thai cooking–coconut milk, red chili paste, and a mixture of fragrant spices. I roasted the butternut squash first in the oven and threw all the ingredients into a big soup pot to simmer. The soup had a lot of wonderful flavors. I loved the flavor of the roasted squash with the creamy coconut milk, spicy chilies, and thai spices. It was pretty simple to throw together and I couldn’t be more happy with how it turned out! I served it with a side of jasmine rice and ended up mixing a few tablespoons of the rice into the soup. It turned out to be a great combination!
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Coppa and Manchego Cheese Sandwich with Roasted Tomatoes

July 8, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

Coppa is an Italian cured meat made from thinly sliced pork shoulder. It is a perfect meat for sandwiches and goes well with melted cheese (then again what doesn’t?) I thought the tangy, Spanish Manchego cheese would go nicely with the flavors of the coppa. I read online that coppa is usually seasoned with white wine before curing so I marinated the tomatoes in white wine, then roasted them in the oven. I patted down the tomatoes a bit so that any wine vapor wouldn’t make the oven catch fire! The result was a wine infused roasted tomato and a fire-free kitchen. On top of the roasted tomatoes I added a layer of basil and grilled it all together. I really liked the sourdough bread with the slightly sour/tangy manchego. The roasted tomatoes provided sweet acidity and the pork was flavorful and a little smoky. All the ingredients were nicely balanced and it was an all around tasty sandwich!

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