Wintery Summer (or Spring) Rolls

These are the best spring rolls I have ever had. Ever. They are fresh and light and satisfying—ginger-onion paste, cilantro/basil/mint, mushrooms and tofu. It was a lot of prep work but the yield makes it totally worth it. And once you’ve got your assembly line going, it goes pretty quickly.

I can see grabbing some for lunch, or snack. A perfect grab and go. Best airplane meal ever.

This blog won’t be the same without my Number One Reader. She would’ve really freakin’ loved these rolls. Whatever they’re called.

JA, Your dinner is ready!

There is a possibility that I have made the ugliest soup in the world. And, I doubled the recipe so that we can have a lifetime supply of it. Some Feral readers might beg to differ. This looked pretty ugly. This too.

I have the last laugh though: when I plan out my meals, I lose weight. And what can be bad? Its a green lentil soup with curried brown butter, coconut milk (and coconut oil!!) and chives. Yum!! I hope JA likes it. (I’m going out tonight. Tomorrow’s lunch).

Green Curry Lentil Soup

with curried brown butter, and chives

JA,

Drizzle top with brown butter curry and chives—it’ll

help it not be so ugly. Eat with baguette. Drink beer.

And don’t forget to have a salad.

Love,

Feral

Beer. Brown butter curry. Chives.

No Posts. And a cheese tour.

Yes, we’ve been cooking A LOT at the Feral household. So why no posts? Because they all come from the same freakin’ cookbook. I feel like a jerk. I ain’t no freakin’ cheerleader. Ugh. To date I think we’ve made 20 recipes from the bookwhichwon’tbenamed. All pretty great. That’s enough.

This was last night (and today’s lunch). Miso-Curry Delicata Squash with tofu, potato, kale, cilantro & toasted pepita seeds. Warm and delicious. The pepitas add a nice crunch. Definitely adding to the rotation.

Maybe I should tell you about our mini cheese tour of Vermont. The best stop was Cato Corner Farm (in Connecticut on the way up to Vermont). But they were out of Hooligan, my favorite of their cheeses. Was there anything we found in CT/VT that we couldn’t get from Saxelby Cheese at the Essex Street Market? No, not really. But she doesn’t have animals in her stall. Or fresh air. Maybe we should take a field trip to her cheese cave in Red Hook. Who wants to go?

We also got apples and caramel and syrups and jellies. Mmmmm!

Comfort Food

I had a rotten day and I want comfort food. I want something creamy and warm. And plentiful. But I am trying to drop a few pounds and I swore to myself I wouldn’t be decadent on Tuesdays for a few weeks...

This is my favorite dish in the world right now. It is total comfort food. It is totally decadent. And guess what? Totally freakin’ healthy!

All of her dishes sound kind of disgusting. Official title: Black Pepper Tempeh (cauliflower rice*, garlic, ginger, natural cane sugar). Trust me, it is sooo good. Cauliflower, tempeh and coconut oil cooked with 15 cloves of garlic. Not 14, not 16. It is tempting to use a different amount but I’m afraid to change a thing.**

Except my mood.

Take that, Rotten Tuesday!

*The rice just refers to the size which you chop it. I like my chunks larger. **For some reason I second-guessed myself and did not include all of the cauliflower in the head. Big mistake. It threw off the balance of salty to sweet. But still delicious.

Zucchini Linguini

I am always surprised when people don’t like particular foods. Tomatoes? Berries? What???

Food is delicious! It is the reason I wake up in the morning—it shapes my day. There is not a lot food that I don’t like, and even then, I’ll still eat those things... I am starting to think that maybe people taste food differently. If I had to choose my LEAST FAVORITE vegetable, I’d probably say zucchini or squash. I always found it to be really bitter. And, of course, it is so abundant in the summer—I can’t avoid it.

So, what’s changed? Well, I have noticed as I eat zucchini with more frequency that it is getting less and less bitter and more and more sweet. Has it? Or have my taste buds changed? Or maybe the idea of what I think it tastes like has changed. Or maybe it is because we’ve been preparing it differently? A different texture equals a different taste sensation? I don’t know, but I am beginning to like zucchini. There. I said it.

Last night we grated it and cooked it in oil, garlic, red pepper flakes and whatnots as per Heidi Swanson’s Summer Linguini recipe in THE BOOK. How did it taste? Not bitter at all! Good enough that I begged for seconds. Delicious with some nice red wine, salad with Lazy Girl Dressing, and some homemade blueberry ice cream. Life is sweet. Not bitter at all.

Sparkling Panakam at Sparky’s House

JustAwesome is a genius. Or, maybe Heidi Swanson is. Anyway, at a recent barbecue on our friend, Sparky Rudy’s* ginormous patio, JA came armed with a pre-mixed mocktail to drink after we had a cocktail or two, before we moved on to beer or wine. You know, so we wouldn’t overdo it.

Sparkling Panakam: Ginger, cardamom, lime juice, sugar, salt and sparkling water. And lotsa ice. It is almost like a ginger beer.

Sparky said, “I like this drink. A lot.”

*Name has been changed to protect Sparky’s ginormous patio from interlopers.

Sandwich Salad

Panzanella (blurry with excitement!)

Ok, it’s true. This blog is supposed to be about me learning how to cook. Thing is, I am cooking some but I make a lot of repeat, boring dinners—which I love—but I don’t think they are very interesting. And my food is usually kind of ugly. I’m just not there yet... But I am getting more confident in the kitchen. I’m sure I’m learning something.

And on the flip side, JustAwesome gets really excited about what she wants to make, always trying new things—reading new blogs, buying new cookbooks. So I post her stuff...

I’ve mentioned the new Heidi Swanson book a few times recently. By now, I think “we’ve” tried about 9 recipes and all have been really unusual, simple and delicious. I should mention that we had her first book and only made a few things because the recipes were too involved and had too many complicated ingredients (for us). The second book is AMAZING. I’d (almost) be willing to bet you $15.64 that you’ll love it, but I won’t, because I don’t have extra money to bet.

Last night JA made Panzanella which is a grilled bread (multi-grain pullman from Pain D’avignon) and tofu salad with oven-roasted tomatoes and peanut butter. Sounds crazy, right? All of her recipes kind of do but at this point we’ll try any (and all!) of them. This book has not been wrong. This tasted like a sandwich and a salad. The tomatoes were sweet from the oven and went great with the peanut butter sauce. I’d venture to say that besides the oven being on to roast the tomatoes, this was a pretty exceptional summer dinner.

And we chased it with two cold treats: a mocha sherbert and a peach sorbet. (Merci beaucoup, David Lebovitz.) What is the difference between sherbert and sorbet? I don’t know. (I didn’t even think sherbert was a real thing.)

What have I learned recently? Let me ask JA...

Millet Muffins

What you may know is that JustAwesome is British. What you may not know is that JA is a baked goods fiend. How this translates? She is constantly on a quest to find baked goods which are not too sweet, borderline-savory. I introduce to you: Millet Muffins.

I was skeptical.

I’d probably compare them to cornbread, but the raw millet makes the texture really interesting. Almost like there are little bits of candy in each muffin. Not a bad start to my mornings...

The recipe is now one of seven or eight recipes that we’ve tried from this cookbook. Excited to try more!! Jolly good!

Oh Happy Day!

I love weekend!

JustAwesome has only owned this cookbook for less than 18 hours (and slept for 8 of the them) and has made 2 recipes already. I think it is going to be a great summer...

I came home last night to a popcorn with mustard, thyme, chives and butter because she thought it’d go well with the cocktails (with rhubarb bitters) she was a fixin.’ And I woke up this morning to a gorgeous dish of Baked Oatmeal, which has blueberries, peaches (the fruits can be flex), nuts and whoknowswhat.

Went great with my Longo Latte.

If you don’t regularly read this blog, you should.

My life is the best! Oh happy day! Winning!!

Baked Oatmeal