Baked Oatmeal

The little kitchen needs a kick in the ass re-boot. I cook a lot  throw together meals all the time. Usually it happens around 11;00 at night and nothing I feel compelled to capture on camera and it usually involves cheese melted on toast. It's not as dire as it sounds because it's usually really good cheese melted on really good toast with a rub of garlic and a swath of Dijon mustard...maybe some caramelized onions or crispy fried shallots. 

There's the occasional Caprese wrap featuring fresh mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes, basil, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, fresh cracked pepper and a few pinches of  Maldon sea salt, rolled up in a flour tortilla and sliced into cute little pinwheels...I could go on and I will...next time.

Here's the thing. I'm not conjuring up new recipes or pouring over a stack of cookbooks looking for the next best thing. I cook for one. I like to eat good left-overs.  That's the key. Good left-overs. I'll gladly spend half the day in the kitchen if I can chill over the next few days enjoying the spoils the fruits of my labors, labor-free. I like to eat good food, but I don't like to spend a lot of money. I can't spend a lot of money.

I'm fortunate to work in an awesome foodie mecca and from time to time get an early crack at the box of culled produce. Such was the case here...a nice little haul of plums and pluots.

I finally got my mitts on Heidi Swanson's (she, of 101 Cookbooks) beautiful new cookbook Near and Far. This recipe jumped right out at me, oats, nuts, buttermilk, melted butter, maple syrup and stone fruit...<sigh> I've got about 20 recipes bookmarked there, so I better get crackin'.

You know what took this to the next level? a dollop of vanilla creme fraiche! The pan (and the vanilla creme fraiche) lasted 5 days. It was awesome every day. I woke up thinking about that baked oatmeal and the cup of coffee I was gonna be sippin' soon and I swear,  five of the best breakfasts I've ever made.

Leek Bread Pudding

I've been eager to try this recipe since Daniel, one of my customers at the market told me about it. He had a basket of leeks, cream, croutons, thyme and Gruyere. I asked him what he was making- "Leek Bread Pudding".

I was intrigued, never having made bread pudding before. I'm a huge fan of the lovely leek and if there's cheese in the mix, count me in. "Wow! that sounds great. Where'd you get the recipe?" Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home, it turns out. Daniel said he'd just made it for the first time earlier in the week and it was so good he wanted to make it again. I laughed because I do the same thing. If I make something new and it's really great I'm already planning my next shopping trip after my first bite. I like to make it again right away to make sure it's as good as I think it is. If it's just as lovely the second time around it'll become part of the repertoire.

When I Googled the recipe, the first thing to come up was Smitten Kitchen's adaption of Keller's recipe so I knew I was golden 'cuz everyone knows how much I love me some Smitten Kitchen. SK's recipe halves the Ad Hoc proportions to fit in a loaf pan and is more suitable for a small family meal as a side dish whereas the Ad Hoc recipe seems more inclined to those folks who entertain on a larger scale than me. Keller's proportions call for 3 cups of heavy cream AND 3 cups of milk. It's hard to carry that much dairy on the handle bars of my bicycle. In the meantime, I got the book from the library. The pictures are very pretty.

This turned out quite well in spite of a few.. uhmm.. substitutions

I used a variety of crusty freezer loaves I get from the day old bread basket at the market to make the croutons. The recipes suggests making croutons with brioche or a pullman loaf which are less dense and crusty.  This was a spontaneous decision when I found leeks at my local produce market yesterday. It was my day off so I didn't get the good stuff and ended up buying a block of supermarket swiss cheese instead of the Emmentaler or Comte the recipe suggests. I also forgot to buy chives so I just added extra thyme.

So yeah, there were a few flaws. It was still delicious so I know it'll be extra awesome next time.

Zucchini Fritters

I can't get enough of these tasty little fritters-so simple and they're a great do-ahead. Topped with a poached egg...well, they are just the thing.
This recipe is a mash-up of two recipes I love. One from Smitten Kitchen and the other from The Longevity Kitchen Cookbook.

I've made these several times over the last two weeks. I've been playing around with spices. I like to add several grinds of Trader Joe's Everyday Spice Blend to the egg mix. I didn't put it in the recipe because it's not really necessary-I just like using those grinders.  The parsley, cilantro, mint medley came to mind as a really nice herb combo, one I had gleaned from the zucchini burgers I made from Jerusalem. I didn't have any mint though.


Zucchini & Sweet Potato Fritters
inspired by smitten kitchen and The Longevity Kitchen Cookbook

2 medium zucchini

1 small sweet potato-about the same size as the zucchini

1 small yellow onion

1 finely chopped scallion-green part only
1 heaped teaspoon coarse or Kosher salt, plus extra to taste

2 medium eggs, lightly beaten
Freshly ground black pepper

¼ cup chopped fresh herbs (I used parsley & cilantro-mint would be good here too)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
sunflower oil for frying

Preheat oven to 200 degrees and place a sheet pan inside.

Trim ends off zucchini, peel the sweet potato, slice the onion in half and peel.  Grate everything either on the large holes of a box grater or in the food processor.

In a large bowl, toss the shredded vegetables with 1+ teaspoon coarse salt and set aside for 10 minutes. Line a colander with a clean tea towel and transfer the grated vegetables into the middle of the tea towel. Gather the ends and twist and squeeze out as much liquid as you can-there will be a lot.

Return the grated vegetables to a large bowl and loosen the compact ball with two forks and stir in your chopped herbs. Taste to see if you need more salt. To the beaten egg add stir in some freshly ground black pepper, then add to the shredded vegetables. In another small bowl, stir together flour and baking powder, then stir the mixture into the veg mix as well.

In a large heavy skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. I like to use two forks to form small dollops of the veg mix into the skillet so there’s space between each pattie. Lightly press them flatter with the back of the fork. Cook the fritters over moderately high heat until the edges underneath are golden, about 3 to 4 minutes. If you find this happening too quickly, reduce the heat to medium. Flip the fritters and fry them on the other side until browned underneath again, about 2 to 3 minutes more. Drain briefly on paper towels then transfer to baking sheet and then into the warm oven until needed. Repeat process, keeping the pan well-oiled, with remaining batter. The fritters should continue to cook in the warm oven for another 10 minutes to finish setting and get a little more crisp.

Stack them up and top with a poached egg.

These fritters keep well, chilled in the fridge for a couple of days though they never last that long.They can also be frozen-place a sheet pan in the freezer, place the cooked fritters on the chilled sheet pan and freeze until solid, about an hour. Transfer the frozen fritters into a freezer bag and drawing or pressing out as much air as possible.

When you’re ready, bake them on a sheet pan, in a 325 degree oven until they’re hot and crisp.

Vegetable Spring Rolls

Vegetable Spring Rolls, originally uploaded by michele wynne.

Kohlrabi showed up in the market a few weeks ago, about the same time as I was feeling the need to redirect my little kitchen exploits away from cookies and pizza, just for a little while-quite the challenge since Christmas gifted me with a glorious fire engine red Kitchen Aid stand mixer and these gorgeous cookery books, thanks to my super cool sister and my lovely nieces respectively.

This little blog here was born from a self imposed challenge to not only bring fruits and vegetables into the kitchen, but to transform my little kitchen from a space with a microwave, a collection of rarely used cookbooks and a showcase of kitchen collectables, into a highly functioning creative space with the end goal of saving money and eating better.

Fate and fortitude have led me to a place where my work day is spent surrounded by amazing food and passionate foodies. I look at produce all day that constantly changes and there is something new and often unusual to examine, taste and explore.

Making it's first appearance in the little kitchen is...

Kohlrabi...It's a relative of cabbage. Its name literally translates from German to cabbage turnip. The asteroid looking bulb, once peeled of its tough stringy exterior, can be thinly sliced and eaten in a salad or shredded into a slaw. It tastes like a cabbage heart or a broccoli stem but milder, sweeter and juicier. The greens can be used the same as kale or collards, sautéed or cooked into my favorite gratin.

Anyhoo, my Googling of things to do with kohlrabi landed me at this New York Times recipe for Vegetable Spring Rolls with Shredded Kohlrabi.

It intrigued me on a couple of levels...first, the recipe looked super healthy and the photo of the spring rolls was so beautiful. Second, was the challenge of making spring rolls. I've never done that and thirdly: tofu. I can't really explain why I feel compelled to make tofu my friend. I've never liked it...the texture turns me off and the flavor? totally flavorless. I have no desire to ever go vegetarian, so it's not like I need to like it. This was only the second time I've used tofu in a recipe and I hafta say I'm coming around. I got this brand at work. HodoSoy is a local company out of Oakland that makes a good, firm, organic tofu that makes the perfect sponge for this marinade. I'm not a big stickler on organic products, but it seems that next to corn, soy is a huge GMO crop.

Notes on navigating the Asian market: I've been shopping at New May Wah market for 10+ years I still get confused shopping for new ingredients.  I made a few mistakes. Rice sticks...these are noodles and come in a range of thickness's just like Italian pasta. Get the thinest size. I bought ones that were too fat-after soaking them in boiling water for 20 minutes they still weren't anywhere near cooked. I boiled them. They got rubbery when the spring rolls were refrigerated and eaten later. The thin ones apparently will just soften if you pour boiling water over them and let them sit for 20 minutes. I also bought the wrong wrappers the first time, buying the frozen wheat flour based kind. Those are for cooked spring rolls. The rice wrappers are in dry goods and look like sheets of rice paper. They soak in warm water and get all rubbery. They're hard to work with first time out because the sheet folds over on itself and sticks and just gets worse and worse and they'll rip if they soak too long. Don't fight it...toss it and start again. There are 25 sheets in a package so just give into the learning curve.

It's definitely worth the struggle in the end. The dipping sauce is just peanut butter stirred into the marinade. Brilliant!

These are the perfect vessel for transporting all manner of raw vegetables into your mouth.

Caramelized Onion, Kale and Rice Gratin

Caramelized Onion, Kale and Rice Gratin, originally uploaded by michele wynne.

There have been many, many kitchen epiphanies over the last 6 months I've been working at Bi-Rite. There is one standout that has transformed my little kitchen: Cheese.

Previously, aside from the occasional purchase of true Parmigiano Reggiano and Azur Blue cheese from the infrequent excursion to the Whole Foods cheese counter,  those giant blocks of supermarket bright orange cheddar, jack and mozzarella were little kitchen staples.
Our cheese counter at Bi-Rite is my Happy Place and my favorite part about working The Creamery-the area in the store where we sell our amazing hand made ice cream. I love the ice cream, but I love the cheese more and the position of the cheese counter smack-dab next to me all day long...well...let's just say that there are suckier ways to spend an 8 hour work day. So when I brought home a bunch of greens and was contemplating my usual brown rice/quinoa bowl, somewhere in the back of my brain I heard the word gratin. Coincidentally, my sister has been posting on her Facebook page, her kitchen explorations of the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook I gave her for Christmas last year, so not to be outdone, I pulled out mine and made this. It's slight riff on one of my favorite recipes. 

In my kitchen, Twice Rescued Kale, Spinach, Dandelion Green, Caramelized Onion, Three Cheese and Brown Rice Gratin is a more fitting, if tedious title and probably not all that appealing I'd hazard to guess...but this one was off-the-hook good. I credit the cheeses. This pan was like crack. I finished the entire thing off, all by myself, in two days.

Earlier this week I came home with two new cheeses and I made this killer grilled cheese sandwich from smitten kitchen using what is now my favorite cheddar, Cabot Vintage Cheddar. It's perfectly sharp and melty. Unbelievably flavorful.  Along with it, I bought Beecher's Flagship Reserve, an English Clothbound Cheddar, which also produced a tasty grilled cheese sandwich. The Beecher's is harder, and flavorfully sharp. It can be used like a parmesan. I used the last bits of these along with some Parmigiano Reggiano. Good lord, I can't wait to make a mac and cheese with this.

 

Here's the recipe from the book. It's amazing.

wild rice gratin with kale, caramelized onions, and baby swiss

from the smitten kitchen cookbook

wild rice:

5 cups cooked wild rice (from 1 2/3 cups, 10.5 ounces, 300 grams uncooked)

        **I used brown rice because it's what I had on hand**

caramelized onions:

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 large sweet onions, halved and thinly sliced

1/2 tablespoon table salt

freshly ground black pepper

4 cups stemmed, ribboned kale leaves (from an 8 ounce or 225 gram bundle)

       **I used a mixture of kale, spinach and dandelion greens**

assembly:

2 cups (8 ounces or 225 grams) coarsely grated Emmentaler or another Swiss cheese

     **my mix: Parmigiano Reggiano, Beechers Flagsghip Reserve Cheddar and Cabot Vintage Cheddar

2 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 tablespoon to grease dish, 1 tablespoon melted, for crumbs)

3/4 cup chicken or vegetable broth

1 cup (60 grams) fine, dry breadcrumbs

table salt

freshly ground black pepper

Cook the rice according to package directions, but if you're like me and buy your rice in bulk and don't own a rice cooker, boil up a big pot of salted water, dump in your rinsed rice, boil the crap out of it until it becomes chewy and then drain the rice into a collander, flatten a piece of aluminum foil down onto the surface of the rice, add about a cup of water back into your cooking pot and turn the heat to high, put the colander back into the pot and cover, turning the heat to low once it's come to a boil. Steam the rice until it reaches the texture you like.

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Meanwhile, caramelize the onions:

Heat the butter an olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-low heat. Add onions, sprinkle with salt and a little pepper, and cook until they're tender and sweet, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Add the kale ribbons, and cook until they wilt a bit, about 5 minutes. Stir together the onion-kale mixture, rice and one cup of grated cheese in a large bowl. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper if you need to.

Assemble the gratin: Use 1 tablespoon of butter to generously coat a 2 quart baking dish. Spread the rice mixture into the dish and pour broth over it. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top. Toss bread crumbs with 1 tablespoon melted butter and salt and pepper to taste: sprinkle over cheese.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a little bubbly and beginning to brown on top.

white bean, slow roasted tomato and caramelized onion tartine

white bean, slow roasted tomato and caramelized onion tartine, originally uploaded by michele wynne.

I'm mad for tartines. I like the word tartine. It sounds posh but its not. Its nothing more than an open-faced sandwich,  a piece of toast with a pile of stuff on it. Essentially the components of a good tartine start with a nice slice or two of country loaf toasted and rubbed with a piece of garlic. Next I like some kind of spread, it needs something to anchor the other components. It can be a spreadable cheese, pesto, egg salad, hummus, nut butter or a mashed avocado.  Next would come a vegetable, fruit or deli sliced meat perhaps and then finished with something like balsamic vinegar, honey, sea salt, freshly cracked pepper and some freshly chopped herb. The possibilities are endless. Here's what I used today:

White bean spread (my favorite from Super Natural Every Day)
caramelized onions
roasted tomatoes
fresh basil
Maldon sea salt

I like to cook up big batch of caramelized onions because they are so freaking good and can turn the simplest omelet or sandwich into something amazing. This would have been fine with just the spread and the onions.
There are many different and conflicting approaches to caramelizing onions. I came across this article awhile back that really hit the nail on the head about how and why recipe writers mislead the reader into thinking that the process of caramelizing onions is quicker than it really is.  The articles conclusion states that "the best time to make caramelized onions is yesterday". Ina Garten's approach is "turn your back on them". Low and slow is the key.
I found this yesterday. It's a "How to" blog post with great process photos. I can't even begin to express the beauty of caramelized onions. They're inexpensive, you'll sharpen your knife skills in no time and they practically make themselves.
My next favorite fridge staple is the white bean spread I seem to always have on hand these days. In addition to it being super good, after work, late-night snackage with some baked pita chips, or just spread on my toast, it makes a perfectly awesome bed for holding onto those gooey good caramelized onions and sweet little slow roasted tomatoes. Topped off with some slivered basil and a sprinkle of maldon sea salt and this comes together in no time, providing you've already got your onions in the fridge.  I was finishing them off this morning and I noticed a box of cherry tomatoes I'd forgotten about and in need of urgent care.

To slow roast tomatoes, slice them in half and lay them, cut side up on a parchment lined baking sheet. Brush them with a little olive oil and sprinkle with Maldon sea salt. Roast them at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Again, a low and slow approach to roasted tomatoes has its merits too. In Gwyneth Paltrow's first book she roasts plum tomatoes at 200 degrees for 4 hours.  Slivered basil  and Maldon sea salt posh it up

Shakshuka

Shakshuka, originally uploaded by michele wynne.

I saw a gorgeous photograph of this thing called Shakshuka when I finally got my mitts on Jerusalem last year. That was my inspiration to commit to my library cookery books by limiting my bookmarking by editing down to 10 recipes AND copying each recipe long-hand.  Then, as usual, I got side-tracked.

Some roundabout trip through the blogosphere landed me on Smitten Kitchens Shakshuka post and my OCD kicked in and I had to make Shakshuka. Now!  For my 4th of July birthday brunch. Nevermind that I had Ottolenghi's perfectly perfect recipe in my TO DO binder and Smitten Kitchen's also perfecty good recipe saved on my phone, true to form, I spent an entire morning googling a gazillion ways to make Shakshuka. I landed on David Lebovitz's adaption . It involved the least amount of shopping and it was adapted from both my original inspiration, Jerusalem, and Secrets of the Best Chefs (Amateur Gourmets Adam Roberts brilliant book).

The only shopping I needed to do was for the greens (I decided on spinach), chili peppers and caraway seeds. I work in a specialty market and I'm surrounded by foodies of all calibers. As I talked up my birthday/4th of July plans, I don't know what surprised me more: those who loved Shakshuka and those who'd never heard of it. 

Shakshuka is believed to be of Tunisian origin, a dish of eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce. It's the North African version of Huevos Rancheros or what the Italians call Eggs in Purgatory. It's super simple, budget friendly and healthy to boot. It can be adapted and personalized in endless ways and best of all, the sauce can be made up in large batches and frozen in 2-cup freezer bags to make meals in minutes and its amazing for any meal of the day. Served with a salad and a big crusty hunk of bread, it's dinner...or spooned over a bowl of polenta...oh dear!
This is Smitten Kitchen's adaption which I kept bouncing back to. It's slightly simpler in that it doesn't include the toasting and grinding of whole spices.

 

Spring Vegetable Pot Stickers

Spring Vegetable Pot Stickers, originally uploaded by riptideredsf.

Pot Stickers Round Two:
I spent the morning attempting to embrace the journey rather than speed to the destination. This can be difficult for me at times but now,  100 potstickers later it's still a time sucking endeavor but, I think I got this. This video helped...so at least my tucking and pleating has made some strides.

This recipe for Spring Vegetable Potstickers comes from Smitten Kitchen (big surprise there)...another timely post celebrating fresh Spring vegetables when I'm oh so obessessed with them now, both in the little kitchen and in my new job. We got fiddlehead ferns and chiogga beets in yesterday-stay tuned.

Anyhoo, smitten put this recipe on my radar just as I was uptomyelbows in my first attempt at the potsticka. Her recipe intrigued and challenged me on a couple of levels. Her ingredients include fava beans and tofu in addition to my beloved asparagus. I was soooo jazzed up to make these that I pedaled over to Bi-Rite on my day off to purchase my employee discounted bountiful basket of asparagus, fava beans and TOFU! Two firsts for the little kitchen: tofu and fava beans.
I adore hate adore fava beans! As you peel away the layers from the large bumpy shell revealing a cushiony pod interior that looks like cotton batting, to the wiggly yellow umbilical cord that caps the leathery sac that covers the buttery soft bean...you almost expect something alien to emerge. Gorgeous, but seriously- a pain in the ass to shell. On the other hand, it's a given that the pot sticker process is gonna be a long one so what's it gonna hurt to add another 20 minutes to the process when , who am I kidding, I've got nothing better to do on a day off.

On to tofu...if anyone can get me to embrace tofu, it's gonna be smitten kitchen. In this recipe it's sort of disguised to look like crumbled cheese, now if I could only get it to soak up some flavor. That was my only teeensy problem with this recipe. I loved the look and texture of the finished dumpling but I wasn't getting any definitive flavor from it. I realized that I was way too hesitant with the scallions and chives.
I broke my number one rule:        first time recipe-follow exactly.
I didn't have quite enough scallions and I thought 1/2 cup of chives seemed excessive. I should have known better. Trust in the smitten-she's never let me down yet.

Ottolenghi's Green Pancakes...

Ottolenghi's Green Pancakes, originally uploaded by riptideredsf.

 

This recipe has been on my To Do list for well over a year now when I got my mitts on Plenty, a brilliant collection of vegetarian cookery by London restauranteur Yotam Ottolenghi.

 I've made several recipes from it and each time I'm delighted by the results. It has inspired me to experiment with vegetables I've previously ignored. The photography is gorgeous and that's what draws you in intitially. Then upon reading the recipe one can only be intrigued and inspired by what appears to be an unusual combination of ingredients, wondering how it can possibly work.

I was introduced into the world of Ottolenghi by Smitten Kitchen (surprised?) when I read her post on Cauliflower Parmesan Cake what seems like forever ago. Her post was inspiring and the photos, of course, were lovely. Not a fan of cauliflower then, I challenged my aversion and was completely converted. The original recipe, Cauliflower Cake doesn't sound all that appealing, but trusting my source, I made the leap and I've been cooking from this book like mad thing ever since.

 

 But I digress, Green Pancakes with Cilantro Lime Butter are savory pancakes full of spinach, jalepenos and scallions. It's amazing how light and fluffy they turned out-thanks to a combination of self-rising flour, baking powder and the last minute folding in of a wildly beaten egg white. The traditional pancake batter swaps out sugar for cumin.

The short stacks of pancakes are topped off by the wonderful compound butter, flavored with both the zest and the juice of a lime, chopped cilantro, garlic and chili flakes.

Of course these are best when consumed immediately, but they actually re-heat well. I brought them to work the next day for lunch. Office mates were green with envy.

 




Hummus

Hummus, originally uploaded by riptideredsf.

All I can say is "Wow!"

This "ethereally smooth hummus"came my way via Smitten Kitchen who got it from Ottolenghi's new cookbook Jerusalem, which I just happen to have in my possession for the next couple of weeks thanks to my local library. Double Wow! This hummus is so amazingly smooth and flavorful and could not be more simple. Well, I lie. It could be more simple. Smittens key to it's ethereal smoothness is to peel the cooked chickpeas. Crazy? perhaps. Obsessive? no doubt, but it's seriously worth the added effort and it's a fine task to occupy my hands whilst watching Downton Abbey. I pack it in my lunch and make my co-workers dizzy with envy. Sometimes I share. They like that.

My only adaption is how I prepare the dry beans. I cooked the beans the way I always cook dry beans: in a low, slow-cooker overnight in 4 times their volume of water seasoned with vegetarian fake chicken seasoning and a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme. I pick over and rinse the dried beans but I don't soak them. I've never had a problem with that.

I had a massive stack of whole grain tortillas, flecked with all sorts of healthy bits, in the freezer from the time I tagged along with Sheena to Costco months back. Those tortillas-as it turned out-didn't really gel with my breakfast burrito plan. They were like cardboard, but with all due kitchen diligence, they turned out the perfect cracker. I brushed them with a little olive oil and sprinkled on some salt and za'atar (a middle eastern herb blend of marjoram, oregano, thyme, sesame seeds, salt and sometimes dried sumac), and baked them on a baking sheet for 15 minutes in a 400 degree oven.

This goes in the keeper file.

Zucchini & Spaghetti Squash Lasagne

Zucchini & Spaghetti Squash Lasagne, originally uploaded by riptideredsf.

This is an off-the-hook cheezy veggie layered bake that began its journey as a mash-up of two recipes that collided in my ADD-led brain as I managed to fritter away the better part of my morning yesterday on Pinterest.

I would have gladly spent all day at it if it meant finding this at the end of it all: Green Lite Bites my new happy place for some awesome vegetarian inspiration where I was then drawn to this. Two recipes. Similar...but different. I love the look of zucchini sliced whisper-thin and was intrigued by the spaghetti squash. Then again there's always something going on in that fridge that needs to find it's greater purpose stat! So this is how this all went down. I slam the computer shut and run to the produce market...because I'm also making a quinoa corn chowder that needs potatoes and I must get all that going in the slow-cooker. Anyhoo...

I started by cutting the spaghetti  squash in half, removing the seeds and then sprinkling the cut side with salt and pepper and a splash of olive oil. I turned the two cut halves down on the flattest plate I had, jabbed the skin a few times with a fork and nuked it for about 12 minutes. You'd almost think I was a pro at this right? Well...no. This is the first time I've ever prepared or voluntarily eaten a spaghetti squash (I was squashaphobic until about 2 years ago). While the squash was cooking I made

 Five Minute Tomato Sauce (from 101 Cookbooks) :

heat up 2 T. olive oil in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Add a smashed clove of  garlic, a couple of pinches of kosher salt and about 1/4 t. of red pepper flakes and cook for a couple of minutes until the garlic becomes fragrant. Add a can of crushed tomatoes and cook on medium for about 5 minutes until the sauce is hot. Cover, remove from heat and set aside.
I sliced one large zucchini on a mandoline then tossed it in a bowl with a splash of olive oil, salt and pepper and let it sit a bit so it would exude a bit of water. Then I thinly sliced 4 plum tomatoes and tossed them with a splash of olive oil, salt, pepper, dried oregano, dried basil and dried tarragon and let those sit about 15 minutes to release some water. The spaghetti squash had cooked and cooled a little. Then with a fork, start shredding the squash. It looks like fine egg noodles. I was dubious about the texture, thinking it would be mushy. It was not. Even after baking in the lasagne for 30 minutes the squash had some "tooth". They were still a little crunchy.

I had some ricotta cheese that was teetering on the brink of the trash can, parmesan and some bulk white sliced American cheese (courtesy of my Test Kitchen Dummy) that in my world, should have turned on me long ago, yet it looked and smelled just like it did that day so many months ago when it appeared at my front door, and it tasted just fine...so fine, I had to resist the urge to shove whole slices into my gob.

I started with sauce on the bottom, then layered zucchini,  squash, tomatoes, a sprinkle of dried herbs, salt and pepper, cheeses and then zucchini, sauce...oh and some roasted peppers, just for the heck of it 'cuz I had them roasting for a different purpose but couldn't help but thrown those all in there. I probably didn't need the tomatoes and the sauce but the whole thing turned out so freakin' good that I don't feel like I'd change a thing.

Cauliflower Parmesean Cake

Cauliflower Parmesean Cake, originally uploaded by riptideredsf.

This little cake load of savory goodness came my way via Smitten Kitchen a few weeks back. The first thing that went through my mind upon seeing the title was "?!?!??????????". Cauliflower and cake in the same recipe? That's just mental! But. Then a couple of things happened.
First: I considered the source. That effen blog has been right on the money every single time and is the reason why I'm doing what I'm doing right now since I discovered that gold five months ago.Were the little genius behind that blog to walk in the door of my little coffee house right now I don't know whether I would screech in delight, run over and plant a big wet sloppy one on her or snatch her bald cursing "@#$%$!!!! What the &$#* have you %#$@ done to me you %&#?" See, I'm a little OCD
Second: "Remember your new credo" I remind myself, "Try Something New!" See, I'm also a creature of habit and venture out of my comfort zone all too infrequently.
Anyhoo...I've got this in my oven right now. After a couple of fits and starts on this recipe I'm taking it for a road test. I'm actually gonna foist this little puppy on friends, family and complete strangers. Today is my nieces 16th birthday party and there will be slumbering and brunch tomorrow and this is particularly awesome the next day.