My mouth is still not fully healed from my surgery, but this weekend was the first time I branched out beyond pasta and I may have gone a bit overboard. Saturday dinner was barbecue from Fette Sau, Sunday morning brunch was vegetarian eggs Benedict at Brooklyn Label, and Valentine’s Day dinner was a chicken taco by Ramsey at my request. The whole weekend was rounded out with a game of Scrabble and an assortment of Italian pastries from Fortunato Brothers in Williamsburg. Oof.

I felt a recipe from The Moosewood Cookbook was in order for dinner tonight, and I chose Polenta Pie. Photos and a short recap after the jump.

This recipe calls for a simple polenta crust topped with cheese and sauteed vegetables, but I made a grievous rookie mistake. I used a pie plate that was too small and my crust was too thick, lacking crispness near the middle. I also should have made the polenta with 2 cups of vegetable stock instead of the suggested water as it was a little bland. Still, the crust looked nice before I popped it in the oven, lightly brushed with olive oil.

Vegetables for sauteeing and topping.

The finished pie, looking well-browned around the edges, but mushiness was lurking underneath.

Thoughts for next time: more cheese, a dash of red pepper flakes, some vegetable stock, and a bigger pie plate (or less polenta). Despite my mistakes, it was a hearty meal and still tasted good in a pile on my plate.

After a weekend of parties, movies, and a trip to Teddy Roosevelt’s house in Oyster Bay, I spent Monday winding things down and preparing for the week. As I was cleaning items out of the refrigerator in the morning, I discovered that I had a pound of unused carrots on the bottom shelf. I turned to the New York Times’ Recipes for Health, where recipes are broken down by main ingredient and, as the title of the website section suggests, they’re good for you.

A pureed carrot soup looked like a perfect option. I had most of the ingredients on hand, and other than peeling and chopping two pounds of carrots, preparation was simple. You can find the recipe here and some photos from my adventure after the jump.

Make sure to leave ample time for peeling and chopping, or employ the help of a friend or significant other. This soup can be a team effort.

After sauteing my onion and carrots, I added vegetable broth instead of water. I think it added a lot of flavor, but if I were to make it again, I would go low-sodium.

Once the soup simmers for thirty minutes, you’ll be able to see how the addition of the abborio rice helps to thicken the broth. Here’s the soup pre-hand blender.

You can use a hand blender, regular blender, or food mill to puree the soup, but the hand blender comes highly recommended. It’s so easy to use and dishwasher safe (most of the time). It took the soup from from chunky to potage in about fifteen seconds.

To complete my meal, I made an SAT: sprout, avocado, and tomato sandwich. Overall, a healthy, vegetable-filled dinner for one (with plenty of leftover soup for freezing).

December was a month of gluttony. Dozens upon dozens of cookies were laid to waste by my holiday appetite, and honestly, I don’t regret a single peanut butter blossom or cornflake wreath cookie. Food and family are what the season is all about for me, and if I can’t spend a few weeks a year consuming all manner of fattening treats without guilt, what’s the point of Christmas?

The only downside to this indulgence is that my clothes are not quite fitting like they should, and I can’t afford to purchase a new wardrobe if I gain a few more pounds. In response, I decided to get back to healthy meals by following the simple rules set forth by Michael Pollan: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” A roasted vegetable wrap featuring beets, turnips, arugula, hummus, and more seemed like the perfect fit—a recreation of a wrap I had a few weeks before at Angelica Kitchen in the East Village—and it kept well for leftovers throughout the week. 

Roasted Beet Wrap
Makes 4 servings
-4 medium beets
-3 turnips
-1 medium zucchini
-1 cup sprouts
-4 cups arugula
-1 cup hummus
-4 whole wheat wraps
-Dill pickles to taste
-1 tbs. balsamic vinegar
-1 tbs. olive oil
-Salt and pepper to taste
*Turnips and zucchini can be switched out for vegetables of your choice.

1) Preheat oven to 400°.

2) Wash and dry the beets, then loosely wrap them in aluminum foil in groups of three. Place them on a baking sheet covered with foil and roast for 1 hour.

3) During the first half-hour of roasting, wash, peel, and cut the turnips into 1″ cubes. Cut the zucchini into 1″ cubes as well.

4) Toss the turnips and zucchini in a bowl with 1 tbs. olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Once the beets have been roasting for a half-hour, spread the zucchini and turnips on the beet baking sheet and place the back in the oven. Roast for the remaining half-hour or until the vegetables are tender.

5) Once the beets have cooled down a bit, peel them by rubbing the skin off with your fingers (you may want to wear and apron and gloves). Remove the tops of the beets and cut into cubes, then place them in a bowl and toss with balsamic vinegar.

6) Allow the vegetables to cool until they are just a bit warm and start to construct your wrap (the amounts are up to you, but I use the following proportions). Spread 1/4 cup hummus on the wrap, then top with 1 cup of arugula, 1/3 cup roasted vegetables, a sprinkling of sprouts, and 5-6 dill pickle chips. Wrap them up, slice in half, and serve.

After a month of limited cooking, it felt good to make my shopping list, grab my reusable canvas bags like a true Park Sloper, and head out to the market for the ingredients for a mushroom ragu. My first recipe of 2010 is not a complicated one, but it is a satisfying, simple dish that reheats well the next day. It can also be doubled (or tripled) to serve as a layer in a vegetarian lasagna.

Before I get to the recipe though, I want to do a quick follow-up on my New Years resolutions. I admit I have not brought my lunch to work this week and I have not written in my journal since Monday. However, I’ve made dinner four nights and I made an appointment to have my wisdom teeth removed. (Can you hear the joy in my prose?) If you have any suggestions for good post-wisdom tooth removal recipes, I’d love to hear them. Now, on to the recipe.

Mushroom Ragu
Makes 2 sizable servings
-8 oz white or cremini mushrooms (or a mix of both), cut into 8ths
-1 small yellow onion, diced
-3 cloves garlic, minced
-1 12oz can diced tomatoes (with liquid)
-1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
-2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
-2 tbs. olive oil
-Dash of cinnamon
-Dash of sugar
-Salt and pepper to taste

1) Add oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until tender, stirring often. Add the garlic and saute for another 30 seconds.

2) Add the diced tomatoes, thyme, sugar, cinnamon, and a dash of salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and then add the chicken broth. Simmer for 8-10 minutes over medium heat, or until most of the broth has evaporated and the sauce has thickened. Taste and season as desired.

3) Serve over pasta with a sprinkling of fresh Parmesan.

Can all of the flavors of autumn be captured in one sandwich? I set out to do just that on Sunday, piling as many complementary autumnal items as possible between two slices of bread. Crisp apples, caramelized onions, and butternut squash from the farmers’ market, brie and dijon mustard from the store, and an amazing loaf of bread from the new branch of Almondine Bakery in Park Slope. I mean, come on. Look at this loaf:

The Almondine Bakery in DUMBO makes the best macarons I’ve had in my life, so coming upon the new storefront during a Sunday walk took my already wonderful weekend to a new level. Having the bakery within a few blocks of my apartment is going to be very dangerous. Ten pounds dangerous.

With all of my ingredients in hand, I went to work putting together the sandwich. I started by peeling and then cutting the squash into 1″ thick slices. I tossed them with olive oil, salt, pepper, and a bit of nutmeg, and then roasted them on a baking sheet for 20-30 minutes at 400º.

While the squash was roasting, I sliced two yellow onions into thin strips and slowly caramelized them in a skillet with a splash of oil and a dash of salt. The process can take around 30-40 minutes, stirring the onions every few minutes as needed.

Once the onions and squash were done, I sliced the bread and topped it with brie, and then placed it in the toaster oven for a few minutes to melt. Finally, I spread on the mustard on the top slice and layered the ingredients on the bottom slice: squash, apples, and then the onions.

It doesn’t beat a Thanksgiving leftover sandwich, but when it comes to the flavors of mid-autumn, it does the trick.

Between Halloween, a trivia night in Greenpoint, and getting my hair cut, I’ve only had time to cook one night over the past week…and that was recapped in my post from Monday. I did manage to roast some acorn squash tonight, but a few weeks ago, I tried sweet dumpling squash (pictured above). It’s a small squash with a flavor similar to pumpkin that I randomly picked up at the farmers’ market. I roasted it at 400° for 45 minutes with butter and brown sugar (inventive, I know), and it was the perfect single serving size.

Coming on Monday: An epic pumpkin pie post. I attempted one a few weeks ago with mixed results, so I’m armed with a modified recipe and another pie pumpkin. My success or failure will be paraded before you on Monday morning with plenty of photo documentation.

Today was my last hurrah for getting takeout for lunch at work, and I went out in style. I had split pea soup and a chunk of baguette from Almondine in DUMBO, followed by two macarons (pistachio and raspberry, respectively). I saved the raspberry macaron for a late afternoon proofreading session and the sugar rush powered me through the rest of the workday.

My new strategy is bringing in leftovers from dinner throughout the week for my lunches, as long as they are conducive to microwave heating. It will motivate me to cook more and save some extra cash to the tune of $50 a week. I’m two weeks away from a nice massage, five weeks from a new winter coat, and thirty-four weeks away from a MacBook Pro.

I started tonight with roasted eggplant and tomato penne that cost me about $5 to make and will last me for three days for lunch and dinner, with a few supplemental items.

Roasted Eggplant and Tomato Penne
-1 large eggplant, cut into 3″ x 1″ strips
-2 pints cherry tomatoes
-1 yellow onion, cut into wedges 1/2″ thick
-3/4 box of penne pasta
-3 tbs. olive oil
-Parmesan cheese for sprinkling
-Salt and pepper to taste

1) Preheat the oven to 400°.

2) Toss olive oil, onion, eggplant, and tomatoes in a bowl until the vegetables are coated. Pour onto a baking sheet and spread out to form a single layer, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 30 minutes, or until the eggplant is tender.

3) While the vegetables are roasting, put the water for the penne on to boil and cook the pasta according to the box directions.

4) Once the vegetables and pasta are done, reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water, drain the pasta, and add all of the ingredients back to the pasta pot. Mix together, then serve with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

When most people think of brussels sprouts, fish sauce is not the first thing to come to mind. However, when I had the brussels sprouts at Momofuku Ssäm Bar last year, they were a perfect match. I’ve had plans to recreate a very simplified version in my kitchen, but have been met with a challenge at the farmers’ market every week: beating the competition.

I usually arrive at the market around noon on Saturdays, so the the crates of brussels sprouts are picked over and only a few sad sprouts are left, leaves splayed out and smashed. However, last Saturday morning I woke up at 7:30 to conquer the weekend. I was at the farmers’ market by 9AM and a mound of fresh, perfect brussels sprouts was waiting. I bought half a dozen cider doughnuts to celebrate my victory and started plotting my side dish.

Momofuku-Inspired Brussels Sprouts
Based on Serious Eats
(Mo Note: Because the amount of sprouts will vary widely, I’m just going to give guidelines for ingredient amounts)
-Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved lengthwise
-Olive oil (enough to coat the sprouts)
-Equal parts water and fish sauce
-Brown sugar

1) Preheat oven to 400°

2) Toss brussels sprout with olive oil to coat, then place cut side down on a baking sheet. Roast for 15-20 minutes, or until they begin to brown along the edges of the leaves. Place back into a bowl while still warm.

3) Mix fish sauce, water, and a sprinkling of brown sugar in a small bowl. Add a small amount at a time to the brussels sprouts and toss, continuing this process until they are lightly coated. Add more brown sugar and/or salt to taste.

Things have yet to die down completely around here, so I’m keeping tonight’s post short and straight to the point: Sweet potatoes! Cut, season, roast, serve with fattening (and delicious) dipping sauce.

During the Sunday of Sandwiches, Angela showed me a menu from her recent trip to the UK and one of the side dishes was sweet potato wedges with tarragon mayo. It sounded fantastic, so I picked up some sweet potatoes at the farmers’ market and improvised a recipe this evening.

Sweet Potato Wedges
-2 sweet potatoes, washed and dried
-2-3 tbs. olive oil (enough to lightly coat wedges when cut)
-1 tsp. chili powder
-Sprinkling of salt and pepper to taste

1) Preheat oven to 350°

2) Slice sweet potatoes into 1/2″ thick wedges, 3″ long

3) Toss in a bowl with olive oil and seasonings.

4) Place in one layer on a baking sheet and roast for 20-30 minutes, or until tender.

Tarragon Mayo
-1 tbs. dried tarragon
-1/2 cup mayo
-Salt and pepper to taste

1) Mix ingredients in a small bowl. Cover and chill for 45 minutes to an hour and serve with the fries.

The time has come for the first Apartment Dining Challenge. This month’s challenge comes from Jon and Kellie. Jon writes:

Kellie and I enjoy making tacos in our apartment. We both like to eat them in different ways. Kellie likes to break up the hard shells and make a taco salad; I like hard or soft shell tacos the traditional way. We usually make them together – one person cooks the meat and shells while the other cuts veggies – so it’s a fun team effort. We also make them to get rid of leftover steak or chicken. What are your thoughts on tacos?

I have always been a fan of tacos, particularly chicken or those with more uncommon ingredients, such as chorizo or roasted vegetables. I think the key to making tacos at home on a regular basis is mixing it up with new ingredients or meat cooking methods. Keeping cooking time in mind (Jon and Kellie are two very busy folks), I wanted to put together a simple recipe that added some interesting ingredients and could also lend itself to a taco salad.

Enter the tomatillo.

The tomatillo is similar to a tomato, however it is wrapped in a papery husk that is removed before use (you should also rinse the unwrapped tomatillo before use as there is a sticky residue on the skin left by the husk…I realize how unappetizing that sounds, but trust me, they’re good). They have a tart, apple-like flavor when eaten raw, or you can roast them.

Chicken Tacos with Fresh Tomato and Tomatillo Salsa
Salsa (amounts can be adjusted based on your taste)
-3 tomatillos, husk removed, rinsed, and diced*
-2 tomatoes, diced
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-1 small jalapeño, minced**
-1/2 red onion, diced
-4 tbs. cilantro, chopped
-1 tbs. oil
-2 tbs. fresh lime juice
-Salt and pepper to taste

1) Mix ingredients together in a container, cover, and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Then serve as desired.

*If you want to mellow the flavor of the tomatillos a bit, place them under the broiler until they just begin to char. Allow them to cool, then dice and add to the salsa.

**Take precautions while cutting the jalapeño to avoid getting the juice on your skin, or just be very careful not to touch your face or eyes for a while after. A glove is great, but a sandwich-sized ziploc bag works in a pinch.

Chicken:
-2 chicken breasts, cut into 1″ x 1″ cubes
-1 small yellow onion, diced
-2 tbs. oil
-1 tbs. cumin
-1 tsp. corriander
-Salt and pepper to taste
-Soft corn tortillas

1) Add 1 tbs. oil to large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until done, stirring occasionally. Set aside on a plate and pour out any liquid.

2) Return the skillet to the heat and add the other tablespoon of oil. Add the diced onion and cook until tender, stirring often. Next, add the chicken back to the pan and stir in the spices. Cook for 1-2 minutes, or until the chicken is heated through.

When it’s time to put the tacos together, heat a small skillet over high heat and warm each tortilla for 8-10 seconds before topping with chicken and salsa. You can also add a small dollop of sour cream. If making a salad, chop your lettuce and then top with chicken and salsa.

Click here for other taco recipes.