The Four Food Groups

Pasta, eggs, butter, and cheese.

Rarely will you ever find me making a recipe without one of those four things. And most of the things I make combine two or more. So let's get right into the big leagues: baked mac and cheese. Pasta, butter, and cheese: three of the four essentials are heavily featured. 

(Side note: given the extent of my dairy obsession, Wisconsin is probably the best place imaginable for me to spend a summer.)

Since my work schedule this summer was basically 24/7, there was often nothing more that I wanted than a big old bowl of hot, cheesy pasta (despite Madison's legendary heat wave). I swear by Mark Bittman's recipe, with a few notes. (More on that later.)

For this version, I used Hook's cheddar, BellaVitano Gold, and one other that I can't remember off the top of my head. My memory might be altered by the very loud soundtrack to dinner that night: Watch the Throne on repeat. 

(Jammin' and gratin'.)

Some notes on the recipe: I think it includes far more milk than is necessary - start with half a cup and work your way up until you reach a consistency you feel good about. I also definitely endorse switching up the cheeses, but I prefer sharper cheddars and similar cheeses; we tried it with a sweet smoked cheddar that wasn't great. If you are ever in the Madison area, grab a bunch of cheese orphans from Fromagination (which is seriously one of my favorite places in the world) and mix it up! 

Since we're being honest here, I have to disclose one important corollary to this entire post: my mom is the true champion of baked mac and cheese. Everything I do is secondary. But still, I try. And it looks like I had at least one happy customer:

"Please sir, can I have some more?"

P.S. And in case you're not convinced of the benefits of mac and cheese, just look at the post-dinner euphoria it produced in apartment 205:

Eggs and toast (a classic 205 breakfast) for Puffy.

Eating Out: Buraka

When I set in stone my plans to live in Madison this summer, one of the first things I did was make a list of food stores (Fromagination!), restaurants (Graze!), and recipes (tres leches cupcakes...coming soon!) I wanted to try. I was so excited to find Buraka, an Ethiopian restaurant, just a few blocks from our apartment. Little known fact: I can't get enough of Ethiopian food.

It all started several years ago, when my whole family made the trek to Princeton, New Jersey, to visit my Uncle Ben at college. I was probably 11 at the time, and more than a little suspicious of the food on our table, that looked something like this: 

All it took was a few bites, and I was smitten - as things often go for me. 

9 years later, Buraka was one of the first stops Lauren and I made in Madison. After a long day at work, we made our way down State Street, snagged a table outside, and chowed down. I had misirwot, red lentils and potatoes, and Lauren had cauliflower, potatoes, and carrots - I can't remember the name! I loved my meal so much that I dragged my coworker to lunch there the very next day - and many after. 

Back to Basics

And by "basics," I mean that I BASICALLY need to cook in order to survive. When everything else is going crazy (read: new city, new job, new apartment), I can pretty much always rely on cooking. The process of cooking - from picking a recipe to grocery shopping to chopping and sauteing and boiling and serving - never fails to calm me down and make me feel all sunshiney about life. That's why I'm SO excited to be living with Lauren, my favorite person on earth, in our very own apartment this summer, with our very own kitchen! I've been having such a blast cooking and baking there (despite the crazy heat in Madison) so far. One of my first projects was these broccoli-parmesan fritters from Smitten Kitchen. It only took me about half an hour to put them together, which was perfect with my insane schedule! Check it out: 

This is me in our tiny, beloved sublet kitchen, AKA in my element.

The fritters themselves! They were so cute and so incredibly yummy. Not shown in this picture: the DELICIOUS lemon-garlic yogurt we dipped them in. This recipe is definitely going to become a regular in Apartment 205.

Broccoli Parmesan Fritters

8 ounces (1 small-to-medium bundle, 225 grams) fresh broccoli (3 cups chopped) 1 large egg 1/2 cup (65 grams) all-purpose flour 1/3 cup (30 grams) finely grated parmesan cheese 1 small clove garlic, minced 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt, plus more to taste A pinch of red pepper flakes or several grinds of black pepper Olive or vegetable oil for frying

Prepare your broccoli: Separate the florets from the biggest stem(s). Cut the florets into 1-inch chunks. To prepare the stems, I like to peel them, as the skin can be thick and doesn’t cook quickly, then slice them into 1/2-inch lengths. You should have about 3 cups of chopped broccoli total.

Steam your broccoli until tender but not mushy: Use whatever method you prefer. My quickie, lazy method is to bring a 1/2-inch or so of water to a boil in a small saucepan, then add the broccoli, place a lid on it and simmer it for 5 to 6 minutes. Drain the broccoli, then set it aside to cool slightly.

In the bottom of a large bowl, lightly beat your egg. Add the flour, cheese, garlic, salt and pepper. Then, add the somewhat cooled broccoli and, using a potato masher, mash the broccoli just a bit. You’re looking to keep the bits recognizable, but small enough (1/4- to 1/2-inch chunks) that you can press a mound of the batter into a fritter in the pan. Once mashed a bit, stir or fold the ingredients together the rest of the way with a spoon. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Heat a large, heavy skillet over moderate heat. Once hot, add a good slick of oil (I usually use a mix of olive and vegetable oil), about 2 to 3 tablespoons. Once the oil is hot (you can test it by flicking a droplet of water into it; it should hiss and sputter), scoop a two tablespoon-size mound of the batter and drop it into the pan, then flatten it slightly with your spoon or spatula. Repeat with additional batter, leaving a couple inches between each. Once brown underneath, about 2 to 3 minutes, flip each fritter and cook on the other side until equally golden, about another 1 to 2 minutes.

Transfer briefly to paper towels to drain, then to a serving plate if you’ll be eating them shortly or a baking sheet in a 200 degree oven if you’d like to keep them warm for a while until needed. Repeat with remaining batter, adding more oil as needed. Serve with garlic-lemon yogurt, recipe below.

Garlic-Lemon Yogurt

1 cup sour cream or plain, full-fat yogurt 1 to 2 tablespoon lemon juice 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest Pinches of salt 1 small minced or crushed clove of garlic

Stir and adjust seasonings, to taste.

Belated Breakfast, Bruschetta, and Brownies

Hello! It's been a while.

This post consists of all my cooking for a day over Winter Term. None of them are technically family recipes, but they do remind me of my family. I started my day with a spinach-feta omelet, which my mom gets every single time we go to Bella's, a diner in my hometown. I can't even imagine how many time's I've heard my mom ask for a "spinach and feta omelet, very dry, with Bella's toast."

Now, I don't like my omelets very dry like my mom does, but I do LOVE OMELETS. Eggs in general are one of my favorite foods and probably make up a good third of what I cook for myself (over easy, scrambled, egg sandwiches, huevos rancheros, and on and on...). Nothing makes me happier than good old-fashioned eggs and toast. And spinach-feta omelets are SUPER easy; you just wilt the spinach for a minute (in butter, obvi) and then throw it in a pan with eggs and feta and salt and pepper. Delicious.

Later that day, I moved on to this gorgeous bruschetta from The Pioneer Woman. I didn't have yellow grape tomatoes, unfortunately, but I made do. Is it socially acceptable to eat bruschetta for dinner? I'm not sure if tomatoes, basil, and bread count as a meal; but if that's wrong, I don't want to be right.

There's a good amount of chopping involved, but it's SO worth it because it's super easy to put together afterwards. I chopped two containers of grape tomatoes in half, cut up a baguette, and chiffonaded (is that a verb...?) a whole bunch of basil, threw the tomatoes and basil together with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and that was IT. I thought they were SO tasty.

Ariana thought so, too.

And to finish off, I made some brownies from a box. This is a TRUE family recipe - they were the first thing I ever learned to cook, and I have vivid memories of a 10-year-old me defending my brownie batter against my hungry family. Nothing has changed.

I did not make this.

I feel a little bit like a failure, but I also think I might have done everyone a favor. My Uncle Dan (my dad's oldest brother) sent me a recipe for South African lamb stew that I have now been pondering for almost 3 weeks...to vegetarianize or not to vegetarianize? But I have finally come to my senses. I am extremely suspicious of meat substitutes, and seriously doubt my ability to produce a lamb substitute that tastes good.

Here's what Dan has to say about the recipe:

This recipe was taught to me by my good friend Tony Cedras, a musician from Capetown who came to the U.S. in the Graceland band.  Tony's daughter Kaia and my daughter Sonia were best friends when they were little, and we used to spend much time together, often in the kitchen, where he would improvise incredible dishes.  One day, in spite of Tony's protests ("I might never do it this way again!"), I wrote down each step as he invented this incredible, aromatic stew.  The fact that the amounts of some ingredients are not exact is intentional.  If you don't improvise a little, you lose the spirit of this recipe!

It's a huge bummer that I couldn't make this, because it is so beautiful that it is probably worth turning omnivorous for:

RECIPE: South African Lamb Stew

Lamb, cut into cubes

Balsamic Vinegar

Olive Oil

Onion

Garlic (fresh)

Ginger (fresh)

2 tsp. cumin           

2 tsp. curry powder

Tomatoes, cut into small cubes

Salt, to taste

Lemon juice, squeezed from actual lemons

Cloves (tiny amount)

1.) Marinate lightly salted lamb cubes in vinegar and olive oil for at least two hours.

2.) On a low flame and in a large saucepan, sautee lots of onion, a little garlic and ginger in oil.  Just before the onions turn brown, add two teaspoons each of cumin and curry powder.

3.) Throw in lamb cubes, turn up the flame for half a minute, then bring it down again.  Let simmer with cover on the pan for at least an hour, stirring periodically.

4.) Throw in tomato cubes (lots!), salt, cloves and lemon juice.  Simmer for 20-25 minutes.

Comfort food...

...IS MY JAM. There is nothing I love to make more, and there is nothing more comfortable than CHILI. It's warm, mushy, spicy, and comes with a lot of cheese and sour cream. Could anything be better? Answer: no.

This recipe comes to us courtesy of my dad's cousin-in-law (is that even a term?), Bennett. He's married to my dad's dad's twin's daughter, Elizabeth, and they have two awesome kids, Matthew and Maya. The story of Bennett's vegetarian chili goes something like this:

GHOST CHILI  The comforting aroma of gently bubbling chili wafted through my small apartment.  A ghost stirred the pot with a wooden spoon, as if we still lived the long decade of soups and stews.  Alone by choice is far easier to bear than alone together.  But if one thing bound us to one another – like the gravity of the sun, keeping the planets from flying off into the infinite black – it was the sense of home, gurgling warmly on the stove.  That kind of warmth – if no other – held us in orbit far longer than anyone might expect. What was left, after?  Time stretched too far; an overgrown path, cleared; memories -- some dear, many endured.  The toll was heavy to set things right.  One need not settle for consolations, no matter the satisfaction they offer.  My chili too warms a home. Years have passed.  Things change.  I can barely read the recipe, as the ink has bled out over the page.  But what remains, what will always remain, is the redolence of food, stirred by a ghost with a wooden spoon.

Needless to say, after reading that story, I was pretty excited to get down to business. I have to admit, I made a few omissions and substitutions, though. I left out eggplant, green peppers, and dill, all of which I harbor a deep hatred for (I am a pretty picky eater). To make up for the loss in protein from cutting the eggplant, I threw in a can of black beans in addition to the kidney beans and chickpeas. Bennett, please forgive me for butchering your recipe, but it was still delicious.

My friend Stephanie helped me take the pictures for this particular post - she is a photography student and therefore way better at this than I am. She arrived just in time for me to whip up some smoothies, which I guess is my own recipe contribution! At school, I work at the infamous Decafe (pronounced day-caf) making smoothies and sandwiches. I LOVE THIS JOB. Just look at how pretty the pre-smoothies are:

And the actual smoothie:

From three-bean chili to three-berry smoothies, this kind of food is my forte. It is also the best kind of food ever.

RECIPE: Ghost Chili 1 medium-size eggplant, unpeeled, cut into ½ inch cubes 1 tablespoon coarse (Kosher) salt ¾ cup, or as needed, best-quality olive oil 2 medium-size yellow onions, cut into ¼-inch dice 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped 2 large green bell peppers, cored, seeded, and cut into ¼ inch dice 1 35 ounce can Italian plum tomatoes 1 ½ pounds fresh ripe Italian plum tomatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes 2 tablespoon chili powder 1 tablespoon ground cumin 1 tablespoon dried oregano 1 tablespoon dried basil 2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon fennel seeds ½ cup chopped fresh Italian parsley 3/4 cup canned dark red kidney beans, drained 3/4 cup canned chick-peas (garbanzos) drained ½ cup chopped fresh dill 2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice cooked brown rice shredded cheddar cheese Place the eggplant in a colander and sprinkle with the coarse salt. Let stand for 1 hour. Pat dry with paper towels. Heat ½ cup of the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the eggplant and sauté until almost tender, adding a bit more oil if necessary. Remove the eggplant to a casserole or Dutch oven. Heat the remaining ¼ cup oil in the same skillet over low heat. Add the onions, garlic and green peppers and sauté just until softened, about 10 minutes. Add onions to the casserole with any oil. Place the casserole over low heat and add the canned tomatoes with their liquid, fresh tomatoes, chili powder, cumin, oregano, basil, pepper, salt, fennel, and parsley. Cook uncovered, stirring frequently, for 30 minutes. Stir in the kidney beans, chick-peas, dill and lemon juice and cook for another 15 minutes. The eggplant peel should be tender. Stir well and taste and adjust seasonings. Serve immediately with brown rice and lots of shredded cheddar cheese.

RECIPE: Fruit Smoothies (makes 3)

2 and a half cups frozen fruit (I used raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, and peaches)

1 and a half cups plain yogurt

1 cup milk

Throw everything in the blender. Blend.

The beast is back.

After a brief hiatus, I have returned to my blog! I returned last week from a fantastic long weekend (does 6 days count as a long weekend?) in Milwaukee and Evanston, visiting arguably my two favorite people ever: my girl Lauren and my cousin Maddie (Maddie's parents, John and Julie, and her brother, Jacob, were there too, I guess).

And while I was on my Midwestern adventure, I didn't neglect my Winter Term project too badly! I made my very first recipe from my mom's side of the family: pumpkin bars! Speaking as a girl who has had pumpkin pie on her birthday for the past 9 years or so, I was EXTREMELY excited when my mom's sister Julie told me about this recipe.

Julie tells me that the recipe is handed down from her mother, my grandma Lila. I thought the bit about Wisconsin on the recipe itself was pretty funny. (Note: This statement does not reflect the views of this blogger. To any and all Wisconsinites reading this, I love you and your state.) Either way, I was excited to set to work on a recipe coming from the best baker I know.

Julie took a ton of pictures, so I'll let them tell the story:

To sum up: Working in a foreign kitchen, I managed to make both a huge mess and a delicious dessert. Mission accomplished.

Popovers & Pasta: An Adventure in Carbs

Okay, this is big. After years and years of drooling over Tastespotting; spending hours scrolling through Smitten Kitchen; and generally feeling a lot of envy towards the people behind every food blog I've ever snagged a recipe from; I am finally writing my very own food blog. So I'm feeling a little giddy right now.

For my Winter Term project this year, I waffled around (hahaha food pun) for a bit before deciding to split it into two projects: for half a credit (15 hours a week) I'm working for my favorite nonprofit organization ever, Shining Hope for Communities. For my other half credit, I have reached out to my ENORMOUS extended family for their favorite recipes. I'm going to cook all of them and write about the whole adventure here!

As the title of this post suggests, I made popovers and pasta tonight - my mom remarked, "I guess it's carbs night!" Carbs night is not that unusual around here. The pasta recipe I used is, fittingly, from one of my very favorite blogs: The Pioneer Woman. It's Baked Lemon Spaghetti, and it is delicious. I've been making it for years for my family and friends, and have passed along the recipe to many. I even hear that my grandparents on my mom's side have started making it themselves at home and adding yummy things like chicken and shrimp! Which anyone can totally do, but I don't because I am a vegetarian (going on 11 years!).

For dessert, my mom, little brother John, and I indulged in some phenomenal popovers, recipe courtesy of my dad's brother Tom, his wife Louisa, and their kids Max and Zoë. Here's the story:

Max and Zoë’s great grandparents started a family tradition of spending long summers in Bar Harbor, Maine, and one favorite part of this was enjoying afternoon tea on the lawn at the Jordan Pond Tea House.  The obligatory menu included sweet iced tea or lemonade, and two fresh warm popovers served with butter and strawberry jam (inevitably shared by a few pesky bumblebees from the surrounding gardens).  The family’s great Yellow House has since been sold, and Max and Zoë’s Brooklyn family lacks the means to reproduce those expansive Down East summers; so instead, we’ve begun a new family tradition:  we make our own popovers at home on Atlantic Avenue.

I was thrilled that they rose properly because I'd had problems with that in the past. Mom, John and I had our popovers with raspberry jam, butter, honey, confectioner's sugar, and basically everything we could find. THEY WERE AMAZING. My mom is in the background of the popover picture above, enjoying her lemon pasta...about 2 seconds later she had a warm, delicious popover on her plate. I do not disappoint my customers. All in all, it was a phenomenal start to what's sure to be a very delicious Winter Term!

RECIPE: Baked Lemon Pasta

1 pound Thin Spaghetti

4 Tablespoons Salted Butter

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

2 cloves Garlic, Minced

1 whole Lemon, Juiced And Zested

2 cups Sour Cream

1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt, Or More To Taste

Plenty Of Grated Parmesan Cheese

Flat-leaf Parsley, Chopped

Extra Lemon Juice

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook spaghetti until al dente.

In a skillet, melt butter with olive oil over LOW HEAT. When butter is melted, add minced garlic. Squeeze lemon juice into the pan. Turn off heat.

Add sour cream and stir mixture together. Add lemon zest and salt. Taste, then add more salt if necessary. Pour mixture over drained spaghetti and stir together, then pour spaghetti into an oven safe dish.

Bake, covered, for 15 minutes. Then remove foil and bake for an additional 7 to 10 minutes. (Don’t bake too long or the pasta will dry out.)

When you remove it from the oven, squeeze a little more lemon juice over the top. Top generously with Parmesan cheese, then chopped parsley. Give it a final squeeze of lemon juice at the end.

Serve with crusty French bread and a simple green salad.

RECIPE:  Max and Zoë's "Jordan Pond" Popovers

1 popover pan (I don't have a popover pan, but I used a regular muffin pan and they turned out fine!) 1 ¼ cup flour ¼ teaspoon salt 3 large eggs 1 ¼ cup milk 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into six small pieces 1 tablespoon butter, melted   Oil or spray popover pan.  Preheat oven to 400, and set rack in middle of oven.  Preheat pan for 2 minutes.  Blend flour, salt, eggs, milk and melted butter until mixture is consistency of heavy cream.   Place one small piece of butter in each cup and place pans back in oven until butter is bubbly.  Fill each cup ½ full with batter and bake 20 minutes.  Reduce temperature to 300 and continue baking for 20 more minutes.

Some of my favorite things I've made - my cooking heavily features butter, sugar, and cheese. As it should be.