My cooking is becoming even more creative (desperate?) as my time here in Buenos Aires progresses.
It started with me buying vegetarian milanesas. Milanesa is a very popular meat product here in the B.A. It's like chicken fried steak, but flatter. And they sell them on the street in sandwiches. (I can sense Joey's mouth watering across all these miles.)
Anyway, I bought some "milanesas soyas" and was trying to think of a way to choke them down. I remembered in elementary school how much I LOVED Chicken Fried Steak Mondays, the entree accompanied by instant mashed potatoes, and everything slathered in gravy.
Of course, one can't head to the local mercado and pick up a jar of gravy here in B.A. So I perused some recipes online for HOMEMADE GRAVY, and finding my pantry lacking key ingredients, just decided to whip up my own version of vegetarian gravy.
I won't bore you with the recipe, because it was nowhere near the deliciousness of vegetarian gravy from a jar. Sorry, sometimes homemade recipes are just subpar. It even congealed into a gelatinous substance once it cooled. But to my starved palatte, it was delicious. I fried up the milanesas, made mashed potatoes, and heated up peas (with onions). On a related note, from now on I'd like to be called Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
I am learning to be a proper house wife
Monday, September 10, 2007
Quesadillas: They're not just for breakfast anymore.
I know that all of you, good Texans (Marylandians?) that you are, know how to make a quesadilla. However, I leave you with the quesadilla recipe I used at my dinner party last week. I hope it will rekindle the quesadilla love in all of you. It was a hit, and its tastiness far overshadowed the main course of soft tacos.
MUSHROOM AND SPINACH QUESADILLAS:
Ingredients:
1. 1 unit of mushrooms (It doesn't matter how many mushrooms you use. If you really like mushrooms, get a lot. If you are lazy, get them already chopped and washed. Lazy bum.)
2. Half a bag of spinach
3. a block of monterey jack cheese
4. tortillas
5. olive oil
Put 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan, and toss in the chopped of mushrooms and torn up spinach (tip: it is easy to cook spinach when it is damp from the water you just rinsed it in). Toss this around for a while until the spinach wilts and the mushrooms are brown. yummm...
Take a tortilla and shred a bunch of cheese on it until it is deliciously cheesy. Nuke the tortillas for 20 seconds so the cheese is a bit melty (That's right; get off your high horse and use the damn microwave). Oil another pan, toss the cheesy tortilla on it, and then spread the spinach-mushroom combo all over it. Top it off with another tortilla, and turn it over when it starts to brown (probably 3 minutes a side). Heavenly tex-mex goodness.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Southern fried cookin'
Lauren asked me how we cook okra in the south, so I figured I'd post the recipe.
The answer is, of course, fried. Delicious, delicious fried. Here's how I make it.
Ingrediants:
Lots of fresh okra
Some sort of milk*
Cinnamon
Corn meal
Flour
Chili powder
Salt and pepper
Vegetable oil/canola oil
*Although I have come to accept the taste-less-ness of much of vegan cooking, the last time I fried okra we made a batch with vanilla soy milk for me, and one with half & half for Mathgimp. We both liked the soymilk batch better. It seems to coat more effectively, and just tasted more delicious. So, I recommend soy milk.
1.Wash the okra, cut off either end and throw away.
2. Slice the okra in half (not length wise - into smaller almost-circular pieces.)
3. Let the okra pieces soak in a bowl of milk for 5 minutes or so - they'll get kinda slimy.
4. Pour about 1/2 inch of vegetable oil into a pan and heat until the oil spits when you drop water in it.
5. While the oil's heating and the okra's soaking, mix together all the dry stuff. I completely make up amounts, about a cup of flour, a cup of corn meal, and then a few spoonfulls of chili powder and cinnamon. That's my special addition to the recipe - I think it's too bland otherwise.
6. Now that the okra's done soaking, roll it around in the dry mixture til it's nice and coated (I think the fancy term is drege)
7. Drop as many pieces of coated okra in the oil as will fit at one time without touching each other. Be wary of spitting oil. Let it fry until it turns golden brown, and then put on a plate. If there are random pieces of fried floating around, you might want to fish them out between batches.
That's it! Delicous.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Delicious Recipe
I thought you all might to know a delicious vegetarian recipe that you can prepare for yourself and your loved ones. Peter and I are going to make this tonight on the grill of my fabulous patio.
"Grilled Portobello and Mozzarella" (serves 4)
Ingredients:
I'm going to serve this deliciousness with grilled asparagus (seasoned with butter and salt and pepper) and some sort of instant quinoa. The quinoa is a good idea because although it is a grain, it is chock full of protein.
Pete and I will let y'all know how it turns out. BON APPETIT.