Pesto with Kale and Beans

As mentioned before, I got a large box of random vegetables from the local Community Sustainable Agriculture (CSA) something something .... What I do with all these leafy items is going to be a mystery and quite a challenge.

To start off with my CSA Box of Random Vegetables, I decided to first use kale because I am pretty familiar with that vegetable.

I don't know why, but I have held off on making pesto for the longest time. I was never a big fan of pesto because of the amount of oil that pools over on the bottom of the plate after eating a big plate of noodles. Due to its simplicity, my love for Italian food, and request from people who are hungry.

Pesto with Kale and Beans



Ingredients
3 cups Basil
2 cloves Garlic
1/2 cup Extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup Pine nuts
1/4 cup Romano cheese (Finely grated, powdery one)
1/4 cup White kidney beans
4 leaves of Kale
1/2 lb Noodles

Prep
1. Put basil and garlic in the food processor
2. Blend nicely until basil leaves are finely chopped
3. Add in pine nuts and finely chop in the processor
4. Mix oil and cheese together
5. Slowly drizzle the oil and cheese mix while processor is running (most food processors have a liquid drip attachment at the top)
6. Coarsely chop kale

Cooking
1. Throw in noodles in the boiling water
2. Remove noodles from water and throw kale into the water (cook kale for 4 minutes)
3. Heat up pan with a little oil and toss noodles in with pesto mix and kidney beans (cook for 5 minutes, constantly stirring)
5. Strain kale and mix with noodle and pesto mix.

Well enjoy! The pesto sauce can be made ahead of time and stored for about a week in the refrigerator.

Community Supported Agriculture

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

Vegetables ... ew disgusting, meat should be the way to go! Haha ... as they say...
Last week, I ordered a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) box for 15 dollars and was thinking that I must be crazy to spend money on such a big box of vegetables. It is organically grown from the local South Central Farmers (http://scfcoop.southcentralfarmers.com/). Yay supporting local farming!

I heard about this through various friends, and they thought it would be an excellent challenge. So far, many of them have never used up all the vegetables because they always encounter two or three never seen before vegetables. They thought it would be a good idea to see what I can do with all these mystery vegetables.

So... I went to pick up my box of mystery on Wednesday from the local drop-off point (it's starting to sound like a detective story). My heart was beating as I carried it back to my apartment. What could be in this box? Is it peppers? Is it lettuce? Is it just a box of dirt? (side note: there was a lot of dirt coming from the bottom of the box <- yup freshness)

I slowly opened the box as if I were diffusing a mail bomb. To my surprise, there were several varieties of vegetables that I have used before. I shall list them:
Kale - 5 oz
Carrots - 11 oz
Spinach - 5 oz
Red kale- 11 oz
Red beets - 3
Yellow beets - 1
Artichoke - 1
Fava Beans - 6 oz
Broccoli - 8 oz
Red cabbage - 1
Collard greens - 7 leaves

Well, time to go crazy and head to my kitchen of experimentation... but before that, I must spend the time to wash all these dirty vegetables with small miniature protein still attached (bugs).

What are essential ingredients in my pantry?

The other day, my co-workers were interested in the essentials in my kitchen that I absolutely must have or else all hell will break loose. Well, below is an image of my giant spice cabinet, and no, you do not need every single one of those dried herbs and spices. Whatever is in there are items that I would maybe use once or twice or bought because I thought it was interesting and may save for some mysterious creation.



So... let me begin with flavoring agents that I must have....
1. Onions - ah the tears!
2. Garlic - scare vampires away
3. Wine - red and white cheap wines from Trader Joes
4. Garlic powder - in case im too lazy to mince my garlic
5. Soy sauce - every Asian requirement
6. Salt - for the high sodium content in your bloodstream
7. Pepper - for throwing at bad guys trying to get you
8. Red chili powder - just kicks up the flavor a notch
9. Corn starch or flour for thickening sauce
10. Butter - because it tastes so good!
11. Eggs - essential for quick meals or a snack.

With those items, well... you can make amazing things!

Curried Mustard Greens

Once again, I have another foreign ingredient from Ralphs. Once again, it is green and very leafy like all my other vegetables, but it has a distinct smell and texture to it. It was mustard greens, and I definitely did not know what to do with it.

I could have sauteed it in butter and garlic like what I typically do with all my vegetables and throw it as some sort of side dish, but for the mustard greens. I wanted to make it the star of my dinner.

My Indian friend told me that mustard greens can be combined with tomatoes and make some sort of curry with the right assortment of spices. He did not know exactly what those mysterious spices were. Instead, I thanked him for the idea and proceeded to start a mad science experiment with my spice cabinet.

Curried Mustard Greens


Ingredients
1 batch Collard greens (10 leafy goodness)
1/2 cup Plain yogurt
1/2 small Yellow onion
1/4 cup half and half
1 tbs Garam masala
1 tbs Curry powder
1 tbs Coriander powder
1 tsp Grated ginger
1 can Tomato paste
2 tbs Butter
3 cloves garlic
Salt and pepper

Prepwork
1. Boil water
2. Wash and finely chop the mustard greens
3. Finely dice the onion and garlic
4. Grate the ginger into a paste
5. Throw mustard greens in the boiling water for 5 minutes to allow it to cook
6. Drain the mustard greens

Instructions of mystery
1. Add butt into a pan
2. Toss in garlic, ginger, and onion and cook for about 1 minute or until onions are translucent.
3. Add tomato paste, half and half, and yogurt.
4. Mix well and add garam masala, coriander, and curry powder
5. Add in mustard greens and cook for 4 minutes

In those 6 simple steps, you make a great dish that might make your whole apartment smell like spices xD.

Bets served with my Asian favorite: rice ...

Sweet and Sour Tofu

It's another one of those Mondays. I'm still a bit tired from pulling up all nighters on the weekend, so I decided to miss one of my classes to nap and study for my thermodynamics midterm that's tomorrow. In addition, I decided to keep dinner quick and simple.

I picked up tofu at Trader Joes because I feel that I haven't really worked with tofu before. The hard part was to decide what to do with it, then woosh, out of nowhere, some reckless individual bumped past me almost spilling his McDonalds chicken nuggets and sweet and sour sauce all over me. An idea occurred to me... Bake it with sweet and sour sauce!

Sweet and Sour Tofu


Ingredients (Tofu)
7 oz Firm tofu

Prepwork (2 minutes)
1. Cut the tofu into any way or shape you want. I decide to cut mine into bread-like slices and triangle because triangles are cool.
2. Preheat oven for 350F
3. Line Parchment paper on the tray
4. Arrange the tofu evenly spaced out

Cooking the tofu
1. Bake the tofu for 15 minutes on each side (Total time: 30 minutes)

Ingredients for the sauce
3 tbs Sugar
2 tbs Rice vinegar
2 tbs Ketchup
1 1/2 tbs Water
1 tbs Soy Sauce
1/4 small Yellow onion

Prep
1. Mix all the ingredients together except for the onion
2. Finely dice the onion

Cooking
1. Heat a little oil in a sauce pan
2. Add onions and cook until translucent
3. Add liquid mix to the pan on low heat
4. Stir and heat until everything is well mix and sauce-like. (1 minute)

Take the tofu out of the oven and eat with rice. The sauce can be drizzled over the tofu or used as a dipping sauce. If you want, you can also marinate the tofu in the sauce for a day and then bake it.

Eggplant and Cucumber Noodles

Leftovers ... what do I do with half an eggplant, 1 cucumber, and onions? I can't just throw these almost expired vegetables in the trash because that would just be wasteful. Well, being an efficient engineer, I conjured up a noodle dish that tasted quite interesting. I'm thankful that noodles are so versatile and goes well with anything. Basically, if you have the right herbs and spices, a wine, you can literally make several variations of noodles.

Eggplant and Cucumber Noodles


Ingredients
1/2 eggplant
1 Cucumber
1/2 Onion
1/4 cup White wine
4 oz Spaghetti noodles
2 cloves garlic
1 tbs Butter
2 tsp Paprika
2 tsp Dried oregano
1 tsp Chili powder
Salt and pepper
Dash of white truffle oil (optional)
Romano cheese

Preparation of being wasteful
1. Boil water
2. Finely dice the onion
3. Coarsely chop the eggplant and cucumber
4. Salt the eggplant and let it sit for 30-45 minutes
5. Rinse the eggplant
6. Chop the garlic

Cooking portion
1. Throw in noodles into the water
2. Heat up a pan with with
3. Add onion and garlic on medium heat
4. Wait for caramelization of onions (1-2 minutes)
5. Add eggplant and cucubmer and cook for 5-6 minutes
6. Add in paprika, chili powder, and oregano and stir around
7. Add in the white wine and allow the alcohol to evaporate (1-2 minutes)
8. Throw in the butter and mix well
9. Top with Romano cheese
10. Transfer noodles into a bowl and put in vegetable mix
11. Add a dash of truffle oil

Now that was simple! You can do some variations of this with your leftovers. It'll be good! Another thing, truffle oil really enhances the flavor of things, but don't add too much of it.

Cheesy Eggplant with Poached Egg

Another mystery ingredient has appeared before me at the grocery store! Eggplant ... oh, it is so round, purple, and shiny, yet so bitter if cooked improperly. I have never cooked eggplant before. I rarely have it at all. My first hand experience with this vegetable has left me with a bitter impression.

According to The Clever Cook's Kitchen Handbook by David Joachim, eggplants should be best during early summers and should be stored in a cool place at room temperature. If you refrigerate then, they deteriorate faster.

Another tip to prevent bitterness and keep the eggplant from soaking up excess oil is to salt the eggplant after you have cut the eggplant for about 30-45 minutes. Afterward, rinse it well with water and dry to cook.

Cheesy Eggplant with Poached Egg


Ingredients
1 eggplant
6 oz Shredded cheddar cheese
1 oz Chopped parsley
Paprika
Red chili powder
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
6 Poached eggs
Ketchup for sauce

Prepwork
1. Preheat oven 400F
2. Slice eggplant into 1/2 cm slices
3. Salt slices and let it sit for 30-45 minutes
4. Rinse slices and pat dry
5. Line sheet tray with parchment paper
6. Line eggplant slices on the paper
7. Sprinkle salt, pepper, paprika, chili powder, and cheese on top of the eggplant (the chili powder level varies with how spicy you want it to be)
8. Drizzle olive oil over each slice sparingly

Cooking
1. Place in the oven until brown (25-35 minutes)
2. While it is in the oven make the poached eggs
3. Plate the egg plant over the egg and drizzle ketchup and sprinkle parsley over the entire dish

Well, enjoy a nice simple easy appetizer dish.