Weekly Menu: First Week of September

I survived the first week of school.  I realized that during the many getting to know you, introduce yourself activities that I participated in during those first days of class, I always introduced myself by mentioning something about food.

What is a great book you read this summer?  The Sharper your Knife, the Less You Cry
What do you like to read? Cooking Memoirs and Food magazines.
I made a coat of arms, on which in the "something I am good at" section, I drew my beloved chef's knife, a tomato, a pepper mill and a skillet.
What was a highlight of your summer break?  Cooking in a professional kitchen.

If you read the "about us" section on this blog you'll notice that I stated that I don't like the term foodie.  To me, it sounds pretentious. .  I like the experience of making and of course eating it. Some people are really into golf, or star wars or flower gardening.   I really like all aspects of food.  So fine, you can call me a foodie if you want to... or maybe a gourmande...

Now that's out of the way, here's the weekly menu:

tortellini pasta salad with zucchini fries

sausage and pepper empanadas* (we are on an empanada kick!!) with salad

squash, quinoa and walnut salad

frittata with spinach, tomatoes and cheese

lentil salad with baked fish

* I have a note that says "make extra empanadas"!  They are nice to take for quick lunches, or even heat up for a hearty snack.

I bought an eggplant for experimentation.  I'm not a huge fan of eggplant, but am coming around to liking it... so hopefully I will have time to do something with that! 

Kitchen Table Friends: Cooking Together

Cooking Together

Cooking and food has been a large part of our friendship for many years.  We are delighted to share this sentimental blog post that epitomizes the feeling of and the reason for Kitchen Table Friends.

When Cara and I graduated college and started living on our own, we would visit one another wherever we happened to be living at the time and we'd always find ourselves cooking together.  In the early days of our twenties cooking meant browning ground beef and adding it to a jar of spaghetti sauce. A process, that in a tiny kitchen, involved multiple pans and heating things up on the stove. We were learning how to be grown ups and but in the kitchen we pretty much stuck to the familiar.  Since then, we have evolved, to extensive  kitchen repertoires that reflect not just what we know how to make but who we are and what we want to learn.  Now we roast vegetables, experiment with flavors from around the world, we zest citrus, toast and grind whole spices but no matter what we make we have fun together.

The past couple of days as we spent time together, we talked about why cooking was so meaningful to our friendship.  Cara remarked about what it meant to know where things were in a friends' kitchen, to know the little quirks about being in someone else's space.  Knowing and moving freely in the space of a close friend, is a mark of familiarity and of comfort. Living so far apart, this familiarity means a lot to the both of us. We compared the days when were friends in high school, and would hang out in each other's bedrooms, eating handfuls of M&Ms and telling all our secrets... to the time we spend together now.  We hang out in our kitchens, snacking and talking about what we're making as the conversation drifts in and out of other conversations about everything and nothing. As Cara would say, it's bliss.  

This is what we made:

mixed grain salad with roasted beets and cumin lime vinaigrette

ingredients: 
1 C mixed grains (we used 1/2 pearl barley, 1/2 bulgur)
3 C water
1-2  beets, cubed
2 C spinach, washed
1 green onion, minced
salt and pepper
olive oil
a handful of pepitas

toss beet with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast at 425 for approximately 30 minutes, test with fork for doneness.

I recommend donning an apron when chopping beets so you don't stain your cardigan.

rinse the grains with sieve, add to pot with water and bring to a boil. reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. you may want to add a drop of olive oil to the grains to prevent sticking.

set grains and beets aside until ready to assemble salad.


for the lime-cumin vinaigrette (adapted from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone Deborah Madison):

1 clove garlic
salt
zest of 2 limes
2-3 Tablespoon fresh lime juice
2 Tablespoon green onions, minded
1 small jalapeno, seeded and minced
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/3 C olive oil
2 Tablespoons chopped cilantro

mince garlic and make into a paste with 1/8 teaspoon of the salt.

zest and juice the limes.
add garlic and lime zest and juice to bowl with scallion and jalapeno. 



toast the spices in a small dry skillet over medium until fragrant (this doesn't take long) and immediately remove them to a plate to cool. 

grind them to a powder (if you do not have whole, just use the powders, toasted as you would the seeds). add to the bowl.

whisk in the olive oil. 

let stand for 15 minutes.


top with fresh cilantro, just before using.



                                                                                 

slowly combine your grains with the vinaigrette and salt and pepper to taste. 
arrange spinach in a bowl and top with the grain mixture.  top with beets, pepitas, cilantro and green onions.  serve at room temperature and share with a friend.