Posts from the ‘Vegetables and sides’ Category

Sep 11

A late summer birthday party menu

We’ve been based in Minneapolis for a couple of weeks now (minus a quick trip to Chicago and Madison to visit friends), which coincided perfectly with my 28th birthday last week. My actual birthday was a perfect Minnesota day – we spent much of the day walking around the three main lakes in the city and my best friend from high school joined us for a great dinner at one of the city’s trendy new restaurants (which turns out to be co-owned by the grandmother of a friend of mine from high school, because everything here is related to everything else). I’m itching to get back on the road and back into our tent, but at the same time I’m loving being in this place that feels so much like home and being around so many of the people I love that I rarely get to see. I haven’t spent a significant amount of time here since I left for college ten (ten!) years ago, but every time I come back I find more to love about it. Brett will be applying to the University of Minnesota among many other schools, and I’m happy to know there’s a chance we could end up in the Twin Cities.

On Saturday my family coordinated a little birthday party for me at my cousin’s vineyard, and I happily volunteered to make lunch for everyone. Some thought it was a little strange for me to cook for my own party, but I loved creating the menu, shopping for everything, being in the kitchen for a day, and setting everything up before the party. Brett and I went down to the vineyard in the morning to help with the grape harvest, then spent the early afternoon celebrating with my family and friends before settling in at my dad’s house to watch football for the evening (it is college football season, after all, and I have obligations).

I often get questions about party menus, so I thought I’d share what I made and a few recipes. We expected somewhere around 15 people and had more than plenty of food, but I was very pleased with how everything turned out and more than happy to eat leftovers for the next few days.

Birthday party picnic menu

Sliders on white rolls with sliced pork tenderloin, pickled red onions, bacon mayonnaise, arugula
Sliders on whole wheat rolls with grilled portobello mushrooms, havarti cheese, heirloom tomato, chimichurri
Caprese salad with sliced heirloom tomato and fresh mozzarella, pesto drizzle, balsamic reduction drizzle
Israeli couscous salad with fresh corn, pinto beans, cherry tomatoes, and parsley
Roasted fingerling potatoes and green beans with chives and lemon
Smoked salmon crostini with cream cheese (with salmon smoked by my dad)
Cubed watermelon
Honeycrisp apples
Polenta olive oil cake with cream fraiche whipped cream and raspberries
Almost-flourless chocolate bourbon cake (this recipe, with the bourbon alteration)
Assorted bottled waters and sodas
Wine from the vineyard

My vision for the menu started with the pork sandwich, which was what I was most happy with, so I’ll share those recipes to start. I was also particularly happy with the polenta cake, but I have a few ideas for that recipe so I’ll work on it a bit more before I share. If there are any other recipes you’d like, leave a comment below and I’ll either make a post or send it to you directly.

Roasted pork tenderloin, brined and spice-rubbed

This recipe made about 24 sliders, but would also be fantastic on its own as a main dish, serving 6 to 8 people. Note that this recipe includes 4 to 14 hours of brining before cooking.

After brining and rubbing, the tenderloin could also easily be grilled instead of roasted, skipping the stovetop searing step.

1 1/2 to 2 lbs. pork tenderloin

1 Tbsp. yellow mustard (optional, and other mustards would work as well)

1-2 Tbsp. cooking oil

Brine:

1 quart water

1/4 cup salt

1/4 cup brown sugar

Rub:

2 tsp. ground cumin

3 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. smoked paprika

2 tsp. ground black pepper

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

- Trim the tenderloin of large pieces of fat, if needed. You still want some fat to show on the outside, but depending on where you get it, it may have large pieces of fat attached to the outside.

- Mix together the brine in a large bowl, container, or sealable plastic bag, and submerge the pork (likely cutting it into two or more pieces to fit). Refrigerate for 4 to 14 hours.

- Heat oven to 400 degrees.

- Remove the pork from the brine, discarding the brine solution. Dry the pork well using paper towels or other materials. The brine may have separated the tenderloin lengthwise along connective tissue, and that’s okay.

- Rub the pork with the mustard, if you like. It will help the rub stick to the sides but is not necessary.

- Combine all rub ingredients in a small bowl, and rub over the outside of the pork to cover.

- Heat an ovenproof skillet on the stove over medium-high heat. (If you don’t have an ovenproof skillet, transfer pork to an ovenproof pan before roasting.) When the pan is hot, add the pieces of pork. Cook on each side until browned, 3-5 minutes. Remove each piece when browned, if some cook more quickly than others.

- Return all pieces of pork to the pan and place in the oven. Roast for 10 minutes, then turn over all pieces and return the pan to the oven. Roast another 5-15 minutes, or until the interior temperature of each piece is 145F, measured using an instant-read thermometer. (If you don’t have a thermometer, roast another 10 minutes and cut a slit in each piece of pork to check the inside for doneness.) Smaller pieces may roast more quickly, and you may want to remove these from the oven before the others.

- Let pork sit for at least 10 minutes before serving or slicing.

Pickled red onions

Makes about 2 cups of pickled onions, more than enough for 24 sliders. They can be fairly strong, and just a sprinkling will do on each sandwich. These onions would also be perfect for tacos, crostini and other appetizers, and sandwiches of all types.

2 red onions

1 cup vinegar (apple cider or white vinegar work well – I used half and half)

3 Tbsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. salt

2 cups water

2 tsp. black peppercorns (optional)

1 bay leaf (optional)

- Cut each onion in half from root end to top and peel. Slice thinly into small half-moon strips.

- Combine vinegar, sugar, salt, water, and optional peppercorns and bay leaf in a small pot and bring to a boil.

- Pour boiling vinegar mixture over onion strips in a heatproof container. Let sit at least 6 hours. Flavor will continue to intensify as the mixture sits, and after 6 hours you can add more sugar or salt to change the flavor as desired.

Bacon mayonnaise

Makes about 2 cups, about 1/3 of which we used for the sliders.

Note: This mayonnaise may not be as stable as other homemade mayonnaises, and could separate after a day or so in the refrigerator. You can easily mix it back together, or pour off the separated fat and eat what’s left.

- 3 egg yolks

- 1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard

- 1 tsp. white wine vinegar (other vinegars or lemon juice would work as well)

- 1 1/2 cup fat, combination of bacon fat and olive oil (12 oz. bacon from Trader Joe’s yielded approximately 1/2 cup filtered bacon fat)

- 6 strips bacon, crumbled

- Salt and pepper

- Cook the bacon in a skillet until crispy. I used an entire 12 ounce package of bacon from Trader Joe’s, but you can use just the six strips or cook more to get more bacon fat. You can also use bacon fat you may have saved from previous bacon cooking.

- Remove the cooked bacon to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Give the fat in the pan at least 10 minutes to cool, then drain through a coffee filter or comparable material. If you’re using saved bacon fat, add to the pan and heat to liquify.

- Measure your filtered bacon fat, then add olive oil to reach 1 1/2 cups fat.

- You can make this mayonnaise by hand or in a food processor/blender, if you have a desired method. If you’ve never made mayonnaise at home, many cookbooks will have a detailed explanation of the method, and these two (1, 2) New York Times articles are also quite helpful. (The second is a Mark Bittman article specifically about using the food processor.) I won’t go into detail about the process, since there’s much written elsewhere.

- Combine the egg yolks, mustard, and vinegar by whisk or by food processor. With the processor on or consistently whisking, pour a slow but steady stream of fat into your mixture, creating an emulsion. If your mayonnaise begins to resist the inclusion of more fat toward the end (up to about 1/4 cup remaining), you can stop adding fat.

- Finely crumble or chop the cooked bacon and stir into the mayonnaise. Season with salt and pepper as desired.

Aug 19

2 Comments

Campsite rice and beans

A few people have asked for more information about how we’re eating when we’re traveling, specifically when we’re camping. We just finished camping for seven nights in a row, and after one night in a hotel in Calgary are camping for the next four, which means quite a bit of campstove cooking and mobile kitchen setups. Cooking while camping can be a daunting task, but so far we’ve found great ways to nourish our hard-hiking, long-driving days.

I actually like cooking outside quite a bit, and nothing tastes quite so good as a meal around a campfire. Some of the meals I list below may seem pretty ordinary or low-brow, but I can tell you that even the simplest of things tastes amazingly good after a long day of hiking or driving. Sometime soon I’m going to put together a longer, more detailed guide to camp cooking, but for now I just thought I’d share how we’ve been feeding ourselves lately, along with a super-simple, super-healthy, flavor-packed dinner that’s great for camping or at home. Read more

Jan 31

7 Comments

Taqueria night 1 of 2: Roasted mushroom and chorizo tacos with roasted tomatillo salsa

Two nights of authentic taqueria dinners. Why not? This post details night 1 of 2.

Here are a few things I’ve learned recently:

Roasting vegetables (or anything, really) with a bit (or a lot) of chorizo in the pan is a very, very good idea
There really is something behind this pricey heirloom bean thing, and the “pot liquor” left at the end of the cooking process really is quite delicious
When dry roasted, tomatillos dance around in the pan like Mexican jumping beans

All together now:

Earthy roasted mushrooms with chorizo and caramelized onions, simply prepared yet creamy heirloom beans, roasted tomatillo salsa, fresh homemade tortillas, and perfectly ripe avocado. Tacos, my friends – mighty delicious tacos. Read more

Dec 19

5 Comments

Awesome New Life food: filled cream wafers and roasted sunchokes, among other things

So. Friday was my last day at work. There’s quite a bit I could talk about here – like the heart-warming, breath-taking support I saw from my coworkers and friends at the college over the past few weeks. Or how exhilarating and terrifying it is to up and jump off the professional path I’ve been on for more than a decade. Or how exciting it is to be sitting here writing this, in the middle of the day on a Monday, at my favorite coffee shop – watching people, watching the weather, watching the Christmas lights twinkle at the cleaners across the street, watching whatever I feel like I want to watch. Not every day will be like this one, but I love knowing that unscheduled days like this one will come along more often, giving me the time to reflect, to experiment, to slow down a little.

Dec 12

17 Comments

Red rice, green rice (here we go!)

Um, scratch that.

I just wrote a big, long, involved post about chocolate cake. But then I realized that it’s December 12, which leaves me exactly exactly 19 days to finish that list over there to the right. Let me just say that in the last three weeks I have been home to cook dinner exactly four times. Four times. Not an excuse, but just to say that things have been a bit frantic around here lately. My last day at Pomona is Friday. Brett’s last day of graduate school is Friday. I started teaching solo (meaning I finished training) last week. Christmas and all of its travel-causing, gift-giving, craft-heavy glory is in less than two weeks. Let’s ponder that.

And then let’s get a move on.

After this, you’re up to date. Chocolate cake, two rices, two new books, three new cocktails. What’s left needs to happen in the next 19 days. Okay. Okay.

Oct 18

5 Comments

Sprinkles and whole milk make almost everything better

You can learn a lot about yourself through spending time in the kitchen.

Are you a patient person? Are you a detail-oriented person? How do you like to learn? Do you like detailed directions, or a basic idea to work with? Are you willing to put hours of time into something that may not work in the end? How well can you deal with failure? When you bake a cake that immediately crumbles upon taking it out of the pan and a frosting that gloops like thin glue, are you a person who throws it away and instead finishes that two-week-old In-and-Out strawberry shake in your freezer, or do you stick with it and eat it anyway? Maybe with some sprinkles? And a White Russian?

Sep 23

10 Comments

Tequila for dinner!

Let’s make dinner!

Hey look, it’s tequila. Let’s have tequila for dinner!

Sep 20

8 Comments

The world’s best coconut rice, and the Bowen Appetit Trifecta of Certainty

There’s a saying about how there are few things you can count on in life aside from taxes and death … or something like that. (I’d like to add sleep deprivation to that list, but that’s just me.)

But the good news is there are plenty of things you can count on in the kitchen. Like citrus zest, caramelized onions, and garlic. I’m pretty certain that if you add one, two, or all three of those ingredients to almost anything, you’ll make it taste better. I’ve spent a lot (a LOT) of time this summer proving that hypothesis.

For instance: coconut rice is pretty great. Savory, sweet, rich, silky, and exotic. But coconut rice with caramelized onion and lime zest and garlic – now it’s out of this world. And now you have the Bowen Appetit Trifecta of Certainty.

And here’s what you should do – serve it with some easy refried beans made with bacon fat. (This is ridiculously easy – heat 1 Tbsp. bacon fat in a pan, add one can of drained black beans, heat through and mash around a bit. Salt and otherwise season as desired and if needed.)

Well, shoot. Should I add bacon fat to the Trifecta? It’s a pretty certain improvement, in most situations. But what’s the equivalent word for four items?

This is too challenging for my poor morning brain. I’ve been overwhelmed by bacon fat.

Also, while we’re on the topic – salt goes without saying as a certainty. Salt makes almost everything better. There’s a reason salivate and salt start with the same three letters, my friends. Also salary. And Salzburg. That’s where I learned all kinds of impressive things about salt.

Okay, this is seriously aside from the point.

The point is: here’s some awesome coconut rice.

We ate it with a few grilled peppers, refried beans, and some mahi mahi coated in a lime-based sauce and grilled in banana leaves, and it added a perfectly perfumed, sweet note to an other wise fairly savory and citrus-oriented meal.

World’s best coconut rice

Canola oil

1/2 red onion, diced

1 clove garlic, diced finely or minced

Zest of one lime

1 cup basmati rice

1 cup coconut milk

1 cup chicken stock, veggie stock, or water

- Add enough oil to a 1 to 2 quart pan to cover the bottom (a tablespoon or two, probably). Heat over medium high until oil is hot, then add the onion. Cook, stirring occasionally. After a minute or two, add the garlic. Cook until onion is translucent.

- Add rice and the lime zest to the pan and stir until it starts to look a little milky.

- Add coconut milk and other liquid and bring to a boil. Turn heat to low, cover, and cook for 20 minutes. Check after 20 minutes. If there’s still liquid in the bottom of the pan, uncover and turn up the heat to boil off the liquid.

- Fluff the rice with a fork. Turn off the heat, put the cover back on the pan, and let sit covered for about 10 minutes (if you have time – it makes a bit of a difference, but isn’t necessary).

Sep 16

Okra, corn, and chili “fork stew”

One of the best things about it not really being summer anymore is that late summer veggies are finally at their peak. That shouldn’t make sense, but it does, really, when you live in Southern California. I know I just wrote about how summer is over, but the temperature meter in my car will tell you that it is definitely (definitely) still summer here, at least as far as the weather is concerned. So it makes sense that tomatoes are at their peak and that massive royal purple eggplants pile the tables at the market. I’m seeing persimmons, and okra, and melons, and grapes, and chilies, and I feel like I’m eating out of a box of Crayola markers – not the classic ROYGBIV pack, but the Bold pack, full of jewel tones. Remember those?

Soon everything will be the browns and dark forest greens (and maybe a little orange if we’re lucky) of winter, but for now I’ll revel in a bit of this:

Sep 8

6 Comments

Mambo Italiano (including go-to cocktail, of course)

Things are a little nutty at work right now. I’d really rather be in Italy.

Let’s do it.