the thin chef

My week has felt pretty crazy so far, and it’s only Tuesday! Of course I determine how well a week is going by the meals I cook and eat…

The past 2 days have been strange. First, Jason hurt his ankle playing basketball early Monday morning, so he’s been needing extra help and hasn’t been able to do everything he normally is able to. (He is a superman husband, I tell you. He is so helpful when he’s not down to 1 good foot.) Anyway, when I came home from work yesterday, I made dinner, and then tested two recipes, did a huge load of all the dirty dishes, then cleaned the kitchen. Even though it was all fun (for the most part), I was on my feet in the kitchen from 5:30 pm until almost 10.

This morning, I woke up 10 minutes after I am supposed to be at work. Lovely. So I scrambled around and rushed out the door. I had deadlines galore at work, scarfed down Subway for lunch, then ran home to take Jason to the doctor for x-rays. (His ankle had gotten more swollen since yesterday, but it’s not broken—just sprained, thank goodness.) By the time we got home at almost 6:45, we were famished, so I hastily threw together some veggies and squeezed in one cookbook test. Ran errands after dinner, and am just sitting down with a glass of wine to decompress.

I tell you this to let you know that food hasn’t been at the forefront of my mind. But I have been saving pictures of these tacos we had a while ago, because I didn’t really have much of a recipe for them. But they’re a perfect thing to share during a busy week, because they require little effort for a delicious payoff.

Remove the skin from a rotisserie chicken, then shred the meat. (I shred the white meat and save the dark for other things, but you can mix if you like.) Throw it in a skillet slicked with vegetable oil, and toss around until warm.

In a saucepan, warm up a can of drained black beans. Add some cumin and a grated clove of garlic, if you feel like it. With a potato masher, mash the beans until they’re smooth with a few chunks.

Wrap a stack of corn tortillas in a damp paper towel, then pop in the microwave for 30 seconds or so. Leave them in the microwave until you’re ready for them.

Shred some lettuce. If you’re feeling ambitious and tomatoes are in season, dice a tomato and 1/4 of a sweet onion. Add minced cilantro and a glug of olive oil. Season with salt.

Pile everything on the warmed tortillas, and garnish with sour cream, if desired.

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This isn’t exactly a recipe, but this is how I throw together a quick, and delicious side dish.

Place the freshest green beans you can find in a deep skillet with a lid. Add about 3 to 4 tablespoons water, depending on the thickness of the beans. Use more water for thicker beans, less for skinnier ones. Drizzle with about 2 teaspoons olive oil, and sprinkle with a pinch of kosher salt. Toss.

Cover, and turn heat to high. Let beans steam for about 3 to 5 minutes, depending on the thickness of the beans. When they are just barely tender, uncover skillet. Keep heat on high, and let water evaporate while the beans pick up a little bit of color from the oil, tossing constantly.

When the water is gone, turn off the heat. Add the zest of 1 lemon and a lot of dill (like, a quarter cup. Or more.) Sprinkle with extra salt and fresh pepper, and taste. Add a bit more oil or even a pat of butter for good measure. Serve.

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Our CSA box was full to the brim with the most gorgeous produce yet! I am so excited to get these beauties on our cutting board, in our pans, and into our awaiting mouths and bellies. Behold, the loveliness that is the early August harvest…

Here’s how we’ll enjoy them this week…

Sunday – Brunch: Eggs with Cajun salsa, fried okra, and corn cakes
Dinner: Cavatelli con Vongole et Spinaci (cookbook test)
Monday – Asian-Style Veggie Night: grilled baby eggplant with miso dressing, Broccoli with Puri Puri Sauce (cookbook test), Black Eyed Peas with Ginger Soy Sauce (cookbook test)
Tuesday – Beef Brewat Rolls (cookbook test), cucumber salad
Wednesday – Chicken curry with CSA veg, rice
Thursday – Black-Bean Chipotle Cakes (cookbook re-test), millet, CSA veg

{beautiful fresh soybeans, perfect for an afternoon snack!}

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Sopa Azteca is essentially a tomato-chicken broth you ladle over fried tortillas and avocado chunks. I tested a version of this Mexican classic the other night for the cookbook I’m helping with. Though I can’t share the exact recipe here, there are a multitude of recipes to be found online, and I’m sure they’re all pretty delicious.

Because the tomatoes here are SO good right now, and because we had tons from our CSA box, I used them in the version I made, but I assume it would be {almost} as good with canned tomatoes. I fried the corn tortillas and diced a beautiful avocado…those two garnishes make the soup what it is.

And although it wasn’t in the recipe, I added one whole breast of chicken to the soup, and let it simmer for 20 minutes. Once cooked, I shredded the meat and added it back into the soup, making it a filling dinner.

I highly recommed making this soon. This recipe looks good, or just Google around until you find one that sounds good to you!

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One of my favorite parts of living in the deep south is the selection of what we call Meat-and-Threes—essentially cafeterias serving up homestyle Southern food. A typical plate consists of a meat, such as pot roast, fried catfish, or fried chicken, and three veggies, such as slow-cooked green beans, collards, macaroni and cheese (while not actually a vegetable, it’s considered one here), and my favorite, fried okra.

When I was little, we often ate at Picadilly Cafeteria, and I always—and I mean always—ordered fried okra as a side dish. Even the mediocre frozen kind (which is what you most often find) is good to me.

So when our CSA box had a bag of fresh okra, I knew what I had to do. I looked and looked for a recipe and found lots of fancy varieties, but in the end, I decided to go simple. Buttermilk and hot sauce, a dredge of cornmeal, and that’s it. Even Jason, who’s never liked fried okra, had a handful and enjoyed it. It was okra at its finest. Hot, crisp, and delightful.

{soaking in buttermilk & hot sauce}

Failproof Fried Okra
serves 2, but can easily be doubled

1/2 pound fresh okra, stems removed and sliced into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup buttermilk
Tobasco or Frank’s Red Hot (or similar)
Vegetable oil, for frying
1 cup cornmeal
Fine-grain salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Place okra in a bowl, and cover with buttermilk and hot sauce. Stir to combine and coat fully. Let sit for 20 minutes while the oil heats. Pour oil in a Dutch oven or other heavy, high-sided pot to a depth of 1 inch, and heat over medium-high.

Put the cornmeal in a shallow bowl, and add a big pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Set aside. Remove okra from buttermilk mixture, shaking off excess. Dredge half of okra in cornmeal mixture.

Sprinkle a pinch of cornmeal mixture into the oil. If it bubbles quickly, it’s ready. Carefully place the breaded okra in the hot oil, and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, or until golden brown. If the breading browns very quickly, turn the heat down.

Drain on a plate lined with paper towels; repeat with second half of okra. Serve hot.

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I’m posting a quick menu today because I’m busy running around getting everything ready to be the food stylist for a magazine shoot tomorrow! I’m very excited, if not just a little bit nervous…it will be my first time styling something that will actually be published.

Anyway, there’s lots of prep work to be done. I promise to share as much as I can when it’s over (it’s going in the Nov/Dec issue of TeaTime, where I am Associate Editor) and when the issue is out, I’ll be sure to share more!

In the meantime, here’s our weekly menu…still testing recipes for the Disney cookbook, so that’s a majority of our meals.

Sunday – Burgers, fried okra, summer squash, and sliced cucumber
Monday – Chicken paillards, couscous, Lemon-Dill Broad Beans
Tuesday – Northern Bean Soup (cookbook), green salad
Wednesday – Pasta with CSA Summer Squash and Tomatoes
Thursday – Escolar with Vegetables (cookbook)
Friday – Robusto Flat Bread with Romesco Sauce (cookbook)
Saturday – Cavatelli con Vongole et Spinaci (cookbook)

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Because I can’t share the recipes of things I’ve been making, I wanted to show you some of the beeeyoootiful produce we’ve been getting from our CSA box.

I know not everyone gets weak in the knees when they see perfect, golf-ball-sized onions, golden corn, and green-tipped zephyr squash that weep when you slice it…

but I do.

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Wow, what a crazy 2 weeks it’s been since I last wrote. To begin with, I dropped a gigantic bamboo cutting board on my left big toe on the Tuesday before last, causing almost a week’s worth of a gauze-wrapped foot, hobbling on crutches, doctors visits, and a small amount of painkillers. Needless to say, I spent very little time in the kitchen. In fact, I only made one meal the whole week! It actually worked out well that our kitchen was in shambles until the following Sunday, because I wouldn’t have been able to stand in front of the stove anyway.

Then I left for London, and had a whirlwind week of incredible service, delicious food, and lovely company. I stayed at the Ritz London (not the Ritz-Carlton…no relation) as part of a press trip sponsored by the hotel, and it was one of the most fabulous weeks I’ve ever had.

So now that I’m back, our kitchen looks wonderful, and everything is all put away—it’s time to get cooking again. I’ve posted a fairly similar menu to the one I last did, because I wasn’t able to make any of it while I was out of commission. As I mentioned before, I’m testing recipes for an upcoming cookbook, so those recipes will make up many of our meals the next few weeks.

Sunday – Veggie night: Tomato & Onion Salad with Mustard Basil Vinaigrette (cookbook), watermelon-feta salad (cookbook), sauteed squash, peppers, and onions from our CSA box
Monday – Chana Punjabi, brown rice, green salad with Coconut-Buttermilk Dressing (cookbook)
Tuesday – Simple grilled shrimp with grilled lemons, sauteed eggplant from CSA
Wednesday – Black-Bean Chipotle Cakes with Brown Rice (cookbook), TBD veggies from CSA
Thursday – Sopa Azteca (cookbook), TBD salad from our CSA box goodies

I’ll post some before/after pics of the kitchen later! Have a great week.

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Even though we’re kitchenless, I’m still planning a few meals for the week. Oh, and I forgot to mention…I’ll also be absent from blogland next weekend and the following week—I’m off to London for a work trip (!!!) so posting will be sparse until I’m home on July 24.

I’m currently testing recipes for a to-be-published cookbook {not mine, unfortnately!}, so I can’t give recipes for a lot of the things I’ll be making…but I’ll still share what they are so you can see the fun things we’re having.

Monday – Tonight we’ll be eating from paper bowls, so I’ll grab takeout soup from Whole Foods, and throw together a quick tomato salad with Mustard-Dill Vinaigrette (a cookbook recipe)
Tuesday – Black-Bean Chiptole Cakes with Brown Rice (cookbook test)
Wednesday – Chana Punjabi, brown rice, green salad with Coconut-Buttermilk Dressing (cookbook test)
Thursday – Sopa Azteca (cookbook test), TBD salad from our CSA box goodies
Friday – Robusto Flatbread with Romesco Sauce (cookbook test), TBD salad or side from our CSA box

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Our kitchen is in shambles, which is actually a good thing. Let me explain. When we moved in to our little rental cottage, we noticed the cabinets kind of stunk. No matter, we thought. We’ll just let them air out, and all will be well.

Fast forward 6 months later, and they were still stinky. In fact, we realized the root of the problem was actually mildew or mold in the wood of the cabinets. Gross. We were washing our clean dishes before using them because they smelled musty—completely ridiculous. Our lovely landlord took us seriously, though, and got the reno project started. First, we unloaded everything from our cabinets and put it all on our kitchen and dining room tables. It’s crazy to see how much stuff we have! (And, we just had a yard sale. Sigh.)Then our landlord’s handymen Juan and Juan (a father-son duo) started ripping out the old, moldy cabinets and started installing the new ones. When the old cabinets came out, it was obvious that the 1970s, gold-swirled formica counters wouldn’t survive the renovation, so they’re being replaced, too {halleluiah!}. Great to get new counters, but it means the whole project is taking a bit longer than we thought it would.

We’ve been without a kitchen since Friday morning…and it looks like it will be Tuesday at least before we have any semblance of a working kitchen. In the meantime, we’re making do with takeout and eating out, with a few snacks and cereal on paper plates. Mostly, it’s the lack of sink that’s the hardest to work around…our stove and fridge are in place, and they left the old counters just resting atop the new cabinets, but it’s not exactly the ideal cooking situation.

So, all that to say I’ll be out of pocket for a few days until we’re back up and running by mid-week. See you then!

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