3/6/11

Menu: Bacon Parmesan crusted Tilapia (Coastal Living), Cabbage Bacon Mashers (Epicurious.com), Bibb Lettuce Salad (rachaelray.com)
Music: Adele Pandora station

I knew I had reached another level in my cooking when, after a stressful and busy weekend, I came home Sunday night and preferred cooking over going out and grabbing food. It's become therapeutic and, honestly, I usually enjoy what I cook much more than what I can get at a lot of restaurants here in San Antonio.

I've also figured out that the Adele station on Pandora is one of my faves - lots of singalong-friendly choices across the map, from Adele (duh) to John Legend to Regina Spektor. Singing while cooking is one of the best possible combinations. And this dinner was stellar.

Some notes on these: I used skin-on red potatoes for the mashers and let them simmer 20-30 minutes (as opposed to the 10 minutes they recommend) and added local cabbage and bacon. It's possible to use high-quality real bacon bits for the tilapia coating instead of cooking your own bacon, but you definitely want some natural, nitrate-free cooked bacon for the mashers. The tilapia is messy but delicious. The bibb lettuce salad is great with bibb lettuce but you can sub any other type of lettuce you like, preferably something local and organic. I toasted the pine nuts in the oven for 10 minutes on 300 degrees- this adds a nice touch of flavor. The homemade dressing with shallots is great but you could also use an oil/vinegar prepared dressing and/or red onion for the salad.

As with everything, this is best served with a little bit of wine and a lot of love! Bon apetit!

3/3/11

Menu: Collard Greens & Winter Roots Soup (The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern cookbook), buttered Ezekial Bread
Music: TV On the Radio, SNL re-run

I'm not sure where cookbook authors get their listed prep times - this one says 10 minutes, which was far from true for me. It took me more like thirty. It was worth it, though. I was admittedly and severely hungover today and this was a great hangover elixir. With local kale and turnips, as well as carrots, garlic, onion, cannellini beans and a little bit of nitrate-free, uncured bacon for flavoring, this turned out to be a healthy, light meal. The only thing that might have made it better would have been homemade vegetable broth but I didn't have the devotion or energy for that tonight; nor did I have much energy for music selection so I turned on an SNL re-run. I got lucky - TV On the Radio was performing.

Off to a weekend of letting someone else (a pro, in a restaurant) cook for me! Back to my kitchen on Sunday.

3/2/11

Menu: Mediterranean Shrimp and Pasta, Fresh Mozzarella-Tomato-Basil Salad, The Ultimate Southern Living cookbook
Music: The Beach Boys, Endless Summer, vinyl

In celebration of this glorious weather, I threw The Beach Boys on the record player and whipped up this delish and easy lunch. This album makes me happy- classic Beach Boys with a couple of songs that sound like they could be new indie rock. For lunch, I used wild shrimp, fresh rosemary, and local mushrooms, tomatoes, and basil. Greenling is the best! The result was a light, soupy pasta perfect for the spring-like weather.

I know what's for dinner tonight, the toughest decision will be what the soundtrack will be...

2/28/11

Menu: Asian-Style Grilled Tilapia (Food.com), Bacon-y Bok Choy (AllRecipes.com)
Music: Mumford & Sons, Sigh No More

This was a favorite! Highly recommend both of these fast and tasty recipes.

Lessons learned:
1) Cooking after a couple of beers and some Golden Tee, while it may be riskier, is usually more fun.
2) Dancing a little jig around the living room while the broiler heats up is a nice diversion.
3) Bacon (especially when it's thick-cut, local, natural, no-nitrate bacon), garlic, and olive oil make everything better.
4) A dash of sweetness (ginger) takes the bite out of the red pepper spice in both these dishes. Probably a good metaphor for dealing with life.