Poorly written, but tasty.

Who would have thought I'd have readers? I'm happy to know that within the vast sea of information called the internet, someone, somewhere-- YOU--would find my babbling-run-ons vaguely edifying! Thank you!

So how are you Tracy? How's Philly? How's the work going? What's new? Is it cold yet?
Good. Good. Okay. Not much. Jesus, yes. Alright, let's move on to something less inane:

Try this one out. Another happy accident:
Curried Wild Rice and Tofu Burgers*

Curried Rice:
1 med onion chopped
2 scallions or ramps chopped
1 cup brown rice
1 cup red rice
3 cups water/stock
1 T curry powder
olive oil

3/4 cup finely shredded cabbage
1 apple chopped
1/8 cup walnuts crushed
1/8 cup cashews crushed
a few sun dried tomatoes, chopped

4 T olive oil
juice of half a lemon
1/2 t dijon mustard
salt
pepper
1 garlic clove, minced

1 package of tofu, drained and crumbled
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
salt and pepper to preference

*I suggest that you make too much curried rice salad, then use the leftovers the next day to prepare the burgers. Otherwise it's pretty labor intensive.

1. In a large saucepan, saute the onions in oil until soft on medium heat, add the scallions and cook for 30 seconds. Stir in curry powder. Stir until onions are coated and yellow. Add dry rice (brown and red). Stir well and frequently until completely coated. Add stock. Bring to a boil, then simmer. Place tight fitting lid onto pot and simmer until rice is done. (cook as you would normal rice). 30-45 min. Let rice relax for 5 minutes before mixing.

2. in the meantime, combine cabbage, apples, tomates and nuts. in a seperate bowl, prepare the dressing: Mix together olive oil, lemon, dijon mustard, salt, pepper and garlic. when the rice is finished, combine everything together in a giant bowl. If you're having the curried rice salad for one night, garnish with some freshly chopped scallions, or parsley. Maybe something red would be nice to offset the yellow. Impress your friends with your diverse flavor AND color palette. hey hey.

3. the next day, or after step 2, combine rice salad with crumbled tofu, 2 eggs, and flour. Mix very well. Take about 1/4 cup of the mixture to make a single burger/patty. It helps to have wet hands so the mixture doesn't stick to you.

4. Heat oil in skillet on med-high heat. Cook your fancy little patties. about 5 minutes on each side, depending on how crispy you like them. Cover to make sure the inside is thoroughly cooked.

5. Individually wrap the patties that don't get consumed and stick in the freezer. You can pull them out and have them for lunch again tomorrow. If you're feeling really ambitious, you can even make your own buns with The Bread recipe. (just make your loaves mini!)

Wingin' it because I'm too cheap to waste leftovers. Enjoy kiddies. Tell me how it goes. PS. don't write recipes when you're tipsy-- you sound like an ass.

Learning to be resourceful can have delicious outcomes

Here's a new recipe for you all. Accompanied by an update. (or an update accompanied by a recipe, however you prefer to look at it).

It's been about a month since the move to Philadelphia now, and production is indeed slow. This has been my first day off since last Thursday, and I've decided to utilize my free time creating my new website. Computer work can feel like a wasted day, so I took the opportunity to bake some bread and simmer some soup while I sat on my ass staring at my computer all afternoon. And look at the things I have to show for it now! A legitimate website (not that blogger isn't legit, it's just nice to have a succinct domain name), a new soup recipe, artisan bread for the week, and a full belly! Hey hey, good day.

Of course, I lacked the ingredients I needed to make the usual cream of carrot soup, so I improvised:

Coconut Carrot soup with Sweet Potatoes and Ginger (whoa!)

1 lb carrots (chopped)
1 med sweet potato
4 cups homemade vegetable stock
1 cup coconut milk
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1 inch length fresh ginger (grated)
handful of kale (chopped)

1 T olive oil
sea/kosher salt
pepper
the tiniest pinch of curry powder
fresh basil

Heat olive oil in stock pot on medium heat. Add garlic and ginger and sautee for about 30 seconds (let them release aroma, but don't burn). Add carrots and sweet potatoes and sautee for about 4 minutes. Add a dash of sea salt, let cook for about 1 minute. Add vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Turn heat down and let simmer for about an hour (until everything is soft). Add more salt to taste, and black pepper. Simmer 10 minutes. Transfer solids to a food processor* and puree. Return to pot and stir with the rest of the soup. Add coconut milk and kale and simmer again for about 12 minutes. Ladle into serving bowls and garnish with fresh basil.

* I don't have a food processor (anymore) so I just mashed the veggies as best as I could. I would have preferred to turn everything (except the kale) into a nice cream. It looks prettier.

I'd do this again. Perhaps over some brown rice. Perhaps with a food processor.

Simmered Tofu (as per request)

This one. Oh, this one. It's so good. I'll admit right away that I never measure a thing. These are all approximations, so alter to taste.

(picture coming soon)

1 package extra firm tofu. (For the love of god, do not use Nasoya. It tastes like styrofoam, and is far from firm. ) Try Soy Boy, if you can get it.
Vegetable oil for frying

Sauce:
4 T soy sauce
2 T rice vinegar
1/2 T sesame oil
1 clove garlic, minced
2 T diced green pepper (or jalepeno, if you're into the heat)
dash of kochugaru (korean chili powder, sub with cayenne if kochugaru is unavailable)
dash of black pepper

1 T finely chopped cilantro
1 scallion sliced on a diagonal angle (for garnish)
toasted sesame seeds (for garnish)

Mix soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, garlic, green pepper, kochugaru, and black pepper into a small bowl and set aside.
Cut the block of tofu into slices, approximately 1 inch thick.
On medium high, heat vegetable oil in a frying pan. Add tofu in a single layer to the pan once the oil is glistening. Cook the tofu slices on each side until golden and crispy. (approx 4-5 min each side) Once the tofu is sufficiently cooked (crisped, but still soft on the inside), turn heat to low and add sauce. Let simmer for about 1-2 minutes.
 Pile onto a nice serving plate and garnish with cilantro, sesame seeds and scallions.

Serve with short grain brown rice, kimchi, toasted nori and sliced avocado.

that bread recipe

Because of the many requests I've had for this recipe, I thought it would just be easiest (and a convenient navigation to my blog) for me to post the recipe here.

Makes 4 loaves

3 cups lukewarm water
1.5 Tablespoon active dry yeast
1.5 Tablespoon kosher/sea salt
6 1/2 cups all purpose flour
olive oil
extra kosher salt for sprinkling
dried rosemary


stir the water, salt, and yeast. Add flour and mix into a dough. Cover with plastic and poke holes into it. Let sit in a warm place for 2-5 hours. preheat oven to 425. put a baking sheet in the oven to preheat, also. (or a pizza stone if you have one). rip/cut dough into about 4 or 5 grapefruit sized portions and tuck all of the loose ends underneath itself to give it a pretty loaf-shape. work on a floured, overturned baking sheet because you will need to carry the loaves to the oven and transfer them to the preheated baking sheet. if the dough is really wet, coat your hands in olive oil to prevent sticking.

brush loaves with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and dried rosemary, pick them up, toss them into the oven onto the preheated baking sheet. Bake for about 30-40 minutes. Just until the crust is golden brown. When you pull them out of the oven, you can brush them again with olive oil while they're hot.

In the original recipe, they also have you stick a pan with water on the lower rack while it's baking. The steam apparently gives you a crustier bread, but I haven't really found the difference significant enough for the extra trouble.

This recipe is super flexible: I've done it with half whole wheat, half white, walnuts, cranberries, oats and sunflower seeds. You can fold some shredded cheese into it when you're shaping the loaves, and sprinkle some cheese on top... let me know if you concoct some good variations!

Happy bread baking. More requested recipes to come.
As for this evening's menu:
Hoisin Honey bbq ribs, creamless carrot soup, fresh bread as described above, tomato and beet salad with feta and mint, fresh arugula salad, and cookies of some kind that I haven't decided on yet...