Lemony Zest :: Kim Lewandowski

Archive for May, 2008

It’s time for another Monthly Mingle, an event started by Meeta of What’s for Lunch, Honey?, and hosted this month by Mansi of Fun and Food. The theme this time is vegetarian Appetizers and Hors d’Oeuvres.

As it happens, in March, our neighborhood civic league sponsored a progressive dinner, where our house hosted the appetizer course, and two other neighbors hosted the main dish and dessert courses. There were several vegetarians in the group, so my co-hosts and I made mostly veg appetizers. One favorite was Crostini with Goat Cheese and Roasted Peppers. It was a hit, so that’s my submission to this event.

Crostini with Goat Cheese and Roasted Peppers

1 loaf French baguette
2 red and 2 yellow bell peppers, or 1 15-oz. jar roasted peppers
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. dried oregano, crumbled
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
8 oz. goat cheese

Slice baguette on a diagonal into 1/2-inch slices. Toast in a 350-degree oven till lightly browned. Cool on wire racks and set aside.

Preheat broiler on high. Halve, core, and seed peppers; flatten with your hand. Broil 3 inches away from broiler flame on cookie sheet for 8 minutes, until skin is charred black. Remove from oven and place in a plastic bag for 15 minutes to steam; pull off and discard skin.

Cut peppers into 2-inch x 1/4-inch strips and place in a baking dish or other wide, flat dish. Sprinkle garlic, oregano, vinegar and olive oil evenly over peppers. Set aside to marinate for 2-3 hours.

Stir peppers to mix up the colors. Spread a thin layer of goat cheese on baguette slices. Top with peppers and serve.

There’s a new food blogging event that is perfect for me, since I love to read and to cook: A cook’s book club, hosted by Meena of Hooked on Heat, where everyone reads the same book, then cooks a dish inspired by the story. “Serving Crazy with Curry,” by Amulya Malladi, is the first book.

I really enjoyed the book, although it was sad and intense in parts. But there was also humor and, for me, interesting descriptions of a culture that I was not real familiar with. In all, I found it absorbing and a great read.

The next task was to select a recipe inspired by the book. I decided to make the Cajun Prawn Biriyani with spiced rice that Devi, the main character, creates after an intense episode in her life (I don’t want to give away too much, in case any readers want to read the book). I had chicken biryani at a local Indian restaurant once and really enjoyed it, so I decided to try this one.

The main problem was that Devi didn’t give any measurements or proportions in the recipe printed in the book, so I had to improvise. I know that Indian cooking is often intensely flavored, but I didn’t want to overdo it, so I was probably a bit more conservative than necessary. It turned out well, but it didn’t taste as good as it smelled I will probably make it again, but I will adjust the amounts of herbs and spices to provide more flavor. She also didn’t say what the marinade consisted of, other than the herbs and spices, so I added some canola oil.

I was going to buy some cardamom, but it was very expensive and I wasn’t sure I would use it again, so I decided to use garam masala, which I already had and which has most of the spices mentioned in the recipe for rice in the book. I also served garlic naan bread from Trader Joe’s.

Cajun Prawn Biriyani

Prawns (Shrimp)

1 lb. large raw prawns, shelled and deveined
1/2 tsp. each granulated garlic powder, onion powder, rosemary, basil, oregano, thyme, sage, paprika, white pepper and black pepper
1/8 tsp. cayenne powder
dash of Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp. canola oil
2 tbsp. butter
2 cloves chopped garlic

Whisk together herbs, spices, Worcestershire sauce and oil. Add prawns and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate to marinate for 30 minutes.

Spiced Rice

2 tbsp. ghee or canola oil
1/2 tsp. garam masala
1 bay leaf
1/2 onion, chopped
1 cup basmati rice
2 cups water

Heat ghee or oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garam masala and bay leaf; stir for 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add onion and stir till softened, 4-5 minutes. Add rice and stir to coat with ghee or oil. Add 2 cups water, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until done.

In a saute pan, saute marinated prawns in butter with marinade, 3-4 minutes or until prawns are pink and opaque. Serve with rice and cucumber raita.

This is for a food photography event hosted by Jai and Bee of Jugalbindi, and the theme this month is Beans and Lentils. For my entry, I used a mixture of beans from Purely American, a local company that specializes in gourmet foods, especially soup mixes. This is from their Colonial Virginia Country Style Bean Soup Mix.

Photo Friday’s challenge this week is Difficult Shot. This was a tough one, all right. We have a bird “condo” on our porch – Dan has nailed up some scrap wood trim at the top of the three porch columns, to make a place where birds can build a nest. Before he added the trim, birds kept trying to build nests there, but the nesting material would fall off onto the porch floor. So now, every year, we have at least two birds making nests there. This year, we have a mourning dove and a robin whom we call Rockin’ Robin.

Rockin’ Robin has four nestlings there, and we find it entertaining to sit on the porch after work to have a drink and watch her feed the babies. She flies up with a mouthful of worms and they go nuts, chirping frantically to be fed. She’ll fly away if I stand up, though, so I had to take pictures while sitting down, which made this a difficult shot to get.

Back in March, Dan and I went to see Bobby Flay do a cooking demonstration in downtown Norfolk. It was lots of fun, and I got an autographed copy of one of his books: “Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill Cookbook: Explosive Flavors from the Southwestern Kitchen.” I’ve made several recipes from the book and loved them all – although I’ve tweaked a couple

We both really like this recipe for Southwestern Potato Salad – I’ve made it three or four times now. This last time, I used green onions, a red onion, and cilantro from our garden. I know the cilantro looks a little funny, but it’s trying to bloom and I’m trying to stop it

I’m trying to expand my taste horizons, so I went ahead and added the red onion, even though I don’t like the flavor of raw onion. Guess what? I still don’t. But Dan does, so next time, I will just dice an onion for him and he can add it to his portion.

Also, the recipe says to add one jalapeno pepper, finely diced. If you like a lot of heat, go ahead and do this. I made it this way the first time, and it was too hot for us. The second time, I removed the seeds and membrane first, and it was too mild. The third time, I cut the pepper in half and removed the seeds and membrane from one half, leaving them in the other half. This time, it was just right

Bobby Flay’s Southwestern Potato Salad

2 lbs. small new potatoes (I used Yukon Gold potatoes)
Kosher salt
1 cup prepared mayonnaise
2 tbsp. Dijon mustard
2 tbsp. fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)
2 tbsp. ancho chile powder
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 large ripe beefsteak tomato, seeded and chopped (I used 2 roma tomatoes)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 jalapeno pepper, finely diced
3 green onions, white and green parts, thinly sliced (I used two)
1 medium red onion, halved and thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Freshly ground black pepper

Put the potatoes in a large pot and add enough cold water to cover. Add 1 tbsp. salt and bring to a boil over high heat. Cook until the potatoes are tender when pieced with a knife, 12 to 15 minutes.

Drain well, let cool slightly, and slice 1/4 inch thick (I cut into 1/2-inch chunks). Put in a large bowl and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm while you prepare the dressing.

Stir together all remaining ingredients except black pepper in a medium bowl. Pour the mixture over the warm potatoes and mix gently until combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve cold or at room temperature. This can be made up to one day ahead and refrigerated.

We had this with cole slaw and our first smoked BBQ ribs. It was a great meal.

This is my contribution to the Grow Your Own food blogging event, hosted by Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes.

This is for Photo Friday’s Challenge – this week’s theme is Fire. I took this photo at a Fourth of July party we attended at the home of an old college friend in Michigan a few years ago. The kids were burning sparklers in the yard before the fireworks started.