A Veggie Explosion

I had a little extra time on my hands today and I had a ton of fresh veggies in the fridge from my trip to the Farmers Market last weekend. I hadn't had much time to do much with them yet so I decided to cook them up this afternoon while I had a few minutes to kill.

What did I prepare? Beets, beet greens and turnips.

I recently discovered beets. Johnnycakes always liked them and would load up on them at the salad bar but I always shyed away from them. My friend told me how she liked to boil them at home and that they were healthy so I decided to give them a try last summer. I am a new fan! They are so tasty, especially with salt and vinegar. I like to boil them and then peel the skin off while Johnnycakes prefers to roast them in the oven. Since I was in charge today, I boiled them. It really is a messy job to boil beets because everything, including the water, your hands, knife, cutting board and stove top get red juice on them one way or another. That sort of inspired my "Veggie Explosion" title because everything had a pink tint to it after I was done.

I had never prepared beet greens before but I had heard of them. All I did was throw them in a big pot with salt water and boiled them until soft. I then covered them in lemon juice and olive oil and have them chilling in the fridge.

I have also never prepared turnips. In fact, I don't know if I've even eaten them before but they look so pretty with that hint of purple to them. I figured I'd mash them with lots of salt, milk and butter in case I don't like them. It's sort of hard to not like something with that combination. I chopped them into fours and then microwaved them in salt water until they were soft (about 18 minutes). They gave off a pungent smell while they were cooking. When they soft, I mashed them up. I gave them a taste test and they weren't bad! They definitely have a distinct taste and are a little bitter.

I haven't really eaten any of my dishes yet and plan to incorporate them into meals in the next few days. My taste test of each dish leads me to believe that my veggie explosion was sucessful but I'll let you know for sure. In other words, you haven't seen the last of these side dishes!

Carne Asada Ensalada

Tonight's dinner was fabulous. We had plenty of the homemade cilantro-lime dressing left over from our Wednesday night mid-week party and wanted to incorporate it into another meal since it was so delicious. A quick look in our well-stocked freezer and the choice was obvious: Carne Asada! We had some frozen sirloin steaks that we had picked up at the grocery store last Sunday for @$9.00 for four steaks. Neither of us had ever tried to make Carne Asada before but we know that we sure love to eat it!

Cilantro-Lime Dressing

Yields about 3/4 cup

1/2 cup fresh cilantro, stemmed

Juice of 1 lime

1/2 cup of olive oil

1/2 tsp. of cumin

1 tsp. sugar

salt and pepper to taste

Blend in a blender or food processer and chill for at least an hour.

We marinated the steaks in about a 1/4 cup of the dressing overnight. Dinner was easy! We grilled the steaks directly on the grill along with sliced red onion and green pepper for about 15 minutes. We also toasted corn tortillas on the grill for a few minutes.

We served the dish with the corn tortilla as a base with delicious fresh mixed salad topped with sliced carne asada, grilled peppers and onions and some the remaining Cilantro-Lime dressing. We also split an ear of corn for an extra treat!

Wow! Tonight's dinner was delicious and healthy!

On a side note, I read that in San Diego they serve this dish over french fries and topped with cheese and sour cream. Now that sounds good! Maybe next time....

Party Time!

Last night, Johnnycakes and I hosted a mini neighborhood pot luck party at our house. Everyone pitched in a bit and we had an amazing dinner with food, drinks and fun! We threw this party together very quickly when a bunch of us neighbors decided on Tuesday night it would be a good idea to cook out with our new grill. With some haphazard planning, everyone volunteered to perform a task to round out the meal.

Last night, everyone brought something to eat or drink and it was party time! There were even a few surprises since everyone was worried there wouldn't be enough food.

The Menu:

• Homemade guacamole
• Chips and salsa
• Garden salad with homemade lime-cilantro dressing
• Beef Shish Kabobs w/ pineapple, peppers and onions
• Brats
• Corn on the cob
• Spanish rice w/ peppers, tomatos and onions
• Homemade garlic mashed potatoes
• Fruit salad
• A storebought apple crumb pie
• Homemade Margaritas

As you can see, there was plenty of food! Now that we know we can pull one of these off without a hitch, we plan to throw more parties.

GIADA Rules!

As you may have read, Johnnycakes and are both big fans of the Food Network and I love Giada De Laurentiis in particular. My family is Italian and I have a growing appreciation for Italian cooking and cuisine. I am always watching Everyday Italian on the Food Network to see what she will make next!

Tonight, Johnnycakes and I prepare her Balsamic Chicken Drummettes recipe for a second time. I think the second time was a charm because the drumsticks were picture perfect and tasty to boot.

Here is a link to the recipe on the Food Network.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_35997,00.html?rsrc=search

We used our Couple of Cooks teamwork to prepare tonight's dinner. I marinated the meat in the balsamic vinegar, honey, soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic mixture for an hour while I also prepared homemade mashed potatoes.

Homemade mashed potatoes are super easy and I don't think they take too much time. I prefer the red potatoes because you don't have to peel them but they weren't on sale at the grocery store this week so I picked up a 5lb. of Russett potatoes instead. I peeled the potatoes (about 6 medium potatoes), chopped them in to bite size pieces and put them in a deep microwaveable covered bowl in salt water. I microwave them for 18 minutes and then hand mash them with 2 TBSP. Smart Balance, 1/2 cup of sour cream and 1/2 a cup of milk. They take next to no time and they are just like Mom used to make.

Johhnycakes sliced yellow squash and zucchini lengthwise, sprayed them with canola oil and grilled them right on the grill next to the Balsamic Chicken Drummettes.

A little garnishing and our meal was ready to be served!

Tonight's dinner was a real success. The chicken was sweet and sticky, the potatoes creamy and just plain good and the veggies were nutritious and tender.

Thanks Giada for the great chicken recipe!

Pork with a Knife and Fork

An evening thunderstorm almost derailed our plans to cookout but the skies cleared and dinner was back on. Tonight's dinner was mainly a Johnnycakes effort and I must applaud him on a tasty meal.

We bought four monster pork chops at the grocery store last night night and put two into the freezer for another night. We marinated the other two pork chops in our Baltimore City Farmers Market "Nicks Rub", a blend of barbecue spices, overnight. The cuts were pretty fatty which made them extra juicy and tender. We cut the chops up into bite size morsels with our fork and knives, hence the title of this post and dug in. We soaked fresh asparagus in an olive oil, lemon zest and garlic blend and Johnnycakes assembled little "rafts" using skewers to keep the asparagus together while cooking on grill. A can of baked beans and we had a balanced meal! The highlight was homemade barbecue that our neighbor Dave made yesterday. It was sweet and tangy and it was great on top of the juicy pork.

Nothing too fancy but a balanced meal, nonetheless!

South Baltimore Restaurant Review: SoHo Eatery

SoHo Eatery has been open at 1504 Light Street for a few months but Johnnycakes and I tried it for the first time last night. We still had not made it to the grocery store and had pretty much emptied the fridge and freezer of potential dinner items. We wanted to try something new and didn't want to go too far so SoHo Eatery was a perfect solution. We tend to not eat out that often but our grocery situation had grown quite dire.

SoHo Eatery specializes in Korean and Japanese cuisine and also has a rather extensive sushi menu. We had received their menu in the mail a couple of times and had a sneak peak at their offerings prior to going. The menu is actually quite diverse and a little quirky. In addition to a traditional Korean section, the menu features a variety of teriyaki dishes, fruit smoothies, salads featuring fruit and tofu and wraps! The menu also includes a "late night" portion with mozzarella sticks and french fries and a coffee and espresso items. We learned when we got there that they do not actually offer the coffee items or many of the "late night" menu items because of a lack of demand.

The decor is quite eccentric and fun! This small restaurant only has three tables for two, sushi bar seating for two and a small counter top with two stools. Two psychedelic style arm chairs are a notable feature at the window side two-top. A fish tank with tiny fish also keeps you occupied while waiting for your food. We decided to order the food "to-go" because it was getting late and why not enjoy the food in the comfort of our own home.

Johnnycakes knew before we got there he wanted the Bulgogi, a traditional Korean BBQ style beef dish, that we had made at home many times. At least we thought we were making Bulgogi all that time, but it turns out our version and the SoHo Eatery shared few common features. He also ordered miso soup for a starter and gyoza (dumplings) to start. Each main dish came with three sides and rice. He ordered the Chapchae (glass noodles with mixed vegetables) and sauteed mixed vegetables. I can't seem to remember what his other side was.

I was very undecided about what I wanted to eat but ended up ordering a beef teriyaki combo, with sauteed kale, a vegetable pancake and Kong Namul (Korean style seasoned bean sprouts).

We got the food home and immediately dug in. I was expecting steamed gyoza but they were fried. They definitely delicious because we ate all six of them but I would have preferred steamed gyoza. I also wasn't crazy about the dipping sauce. The beef teriyaki was absolutely delicious! I highly recommend this dish to everyone. The beef was actually three skewers stuffed high with tender, well-seasoned and spicy beef that melted in your mouth. The vegetable pancake was very colorful and very satisfying in a pancake sort of way. The sauteed vegetables were delicious as well. Johnnycakes was not crazy about the Bulgogi, probably because it was so different from the dish we make which is very spicy and has a lot of tofu in it. (Don't worry! I'm sure our version will make it on this blog one day.) We expected it to have a lot more spice and flavor but unfortunately, it was rather bland. The Chapchae, however, were very spicy, and had an unusual texture. The item was still quite tasty.

Overall, we really enjoyed our first experience at the SoHo Eatery despite a few items we were not crazy about. I will definitely order the beef teriyaki and vegetable pancake again. The sushi menu looks quite extensive and diverse. Another added benefit was the cost! All the items we mentioned above only costs us $21.40 and we still have plenty of leftovers in the fridge.

Shrimp, Hon

Johnnycakes and I made a traditional and classic Baltimore dish; Steamed Shrimp! I think it's called peel and eat shrimp in some places but I usually just call it steamed shrimp. In Baltimore, we season the shrimp with good old fashioned Old Bay seasoning. I follow the recipe right off the Old Bay can because why mess with a good thing?

Here is the recipe right off the McCormick website http://www.mccormick.com/productdetail.cfm?ID=6216

STEAMED SHRIMP:

1/2 cup vinegar

1 tablespoon OLD BAY SEASONING

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup water

1 pound shrimp.
In saucepan, combine first 4 ingredients. Bring to a boil. Add shrimp, stir gently. Cover; steam until tender, about 5 minutes. Drain, remove shells and vein on back.

Now, as you can see from the picture. There are onions on the plate as well. I like to steam the shrimp with onions for extra flavor. My family never ate onions with the shrimp while I was growing up but I learned about it while I worked at a seafood restaurant in high school and college. Apparently, it's quite common in the Baltimore region. You also have to dip them in cocktail sauce for the full effect!

On a side note, I picked up the shrimp for $11.95 at the Cross Street Market on the way home. As you can see, they are fairly large. I think they are 18-21 count but I can't recall off the top of my head.

This was the perfect dish for a Friday night. It was easy and delicious!