2013 – Page 5 – Well Dined

14
Aug
2013

Gnocchi with Summer Squash, Corn, and Goat Cheese

categories: Recipes

I find it hard to come up with dinner ideas in the summer, I don’t know if anyone else has this problem. All I want to do is snack on fruit, salads, or fresh tomatoes with cheese. And I definitely don’t want to hang out in the kitchen for too long. But this? I would seriously make this every week if my husband would let me. This is the BEST summer dish ever. Gnocchi, summer squash, and fresh sweet corn sauteed in butter and topped with goat cheese, basil, chives, and a splash of lemon juice – perfection. Plus (other than boiling the water), it takes less than 10 minutes to put together!

Just look at it, you know you want it. Warm and filling, but not heavy, with bright pops of veg and fresh herbs, it’s the goat cheese that sends it over the edge into awesome territory. If you crumble the cheese on top and don’t stir it in, then you get a little bit of melted creaminess but also bits of cold that really compliment the gnocchi. Also, I used goat butter – cuz I’m FANCY… and it’s delicious.

I served it as a side dish with salmon, but it would go well with chicken and it’s perfect on it’s own, as well. Swing by your local farmer’s market, snag some fresh produce, and let’s get cooking! (more…)

12
Aug
2013

Tabbouleh

categories: Recipes

It’s time for another vegetarian lunch with Smells Like Brownies! I’ve never really liked tabbouleh. Maybe because it’s usually cold, or there’s too much parsley, or there’s raw red onion, or it just isn’t that filling – I don’t know why. As it turns out, Melissa doesn’t like it either! So when she suggested we try to conquer it, I was skeptical. But making something yourself means that you get to adjust it until it is the way you like it.

Upping the bulgur, balancing the parsley with mint, and using scallions instead of onion certainly helped this dish out. But what really sent it into yummy land was serving it warm, stuffed inside pitas, with a generous amount of feta. We managed to turn something we both disliked into something we both loved! It may not be traditional, but it sure is delicious.

I bought extra pita pockets and feta to go with my leftover tabbouleh, but ended up with too much! Melissa had given me some of her CSA cucumbers (since she was drowning in them), so I threw together a quick cucumber salad with feta, mint from my garden, olive oil, and champagne vinegar.

Because everything is more fun in a pita pocket! (Except for peanut butter and jelly – I just found out the hard way that that doesn’t work.)

Tabbouleh Pitas with Feta
adapted from Mad Hungry
serves 6

1 cup dry bulgur wheat
2 cups water
1 clove garlic, minced
1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced
1 pint cherry tomatoes, diced (about 1½ cups)
1 bunch scallions, sliced (about 1 cup)
1 1/2 cups minced fresh curly parsley
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
1/2 tsp lemon zest
juice of 1 lemon
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 tsp coarse sea salt, or to taste
6 pita pocket rounds
8 oz feta, crumbled

Rinse the bulgur. Cook in the water over medium heat for 12–15 minutes, or until soft and chewy. Remove from the heat and stir in the garlic. Drain of any excess water and transfer to a large bowl.
Add the cucumbers, tomatoes, scallions, parsley, and mint. Toss together.
Whisk together the lemon zest, juice, olive oil, and salt in a small bowl. Stir the dressing into the salad to fully combine.
Serve stuffed inside pitas, layered with feta to taste.

Cucumber Pitas
serves 1

1 cucumber, chopped
4 oz feta, crumbled
1 tbsp chopped mint
salt and pepper to taste
splash of olive oil
splash of champagne or rice wine vinegar
pitas

Mix ingredients together, serve with pitas.

08
Aug
2013

Sushi Prince, Fairfax VA

categories: Reviews

Ah, the ever-continuing quest to find good sushi in VA. The menu for Sushi Prince had such unique stuff on it that I had to try it out. A few good items, but mostly this was a disappointment – not worth a return trip.

This is the item on the menu that really caught my eye – the Viagra Shooter. Sea urchin, salmon roe, and raw quail egg in ponzu and sake. What?! It was really good, but impossible to actually shoot. I had to get my chopsticks in there and pull out the uni, then shoot it. Super fun, though.

Another super weird combination – Monkey Fingers. These are bananas wrapped in basil, then beef, then fried and topped with a creamy sauce. It does actually work, somehow, but not perfectly. Very interesting, but I don’t know that I would order it again.

This was probably my favorite dish – big chunks of white tuna with avocado and nuta (sweet miso sauce). The tuna was fresh and I liked the thick, sweet sauce with the avocado.

BBQ eel bowl with rice, avocado, and tamago. This was pretty good (it’s hard to mess up unagi), but the tamago was AWFUL – you can tell just by looking at it.

One of their creative rolls – a BLT made with shrimp tempura, asparagus, bacon, and tomato with balsamic glaze. Cool idea but it didn’t really work – the bacon wasn’t cooked enough and it was too big of a bite.

Another creative roll that fell flat. The carbonara roll has scallop and shrimp with tamago, bacon, asparagus, and creamy masago with balsamic glaze and pesto. The flavors didn’t really come together, it just didn’t work.

We did order some normal sushi, it was pretty “meh”.

The kushi yaki was alright.

All in all this was pretty disappointing and below average, I wouldn’t recommend it.

05
Aug
2013

Kanikama Salad

categories: Recipes

Kanikama is the imitation crab meat you find in cheap sushi rolls. It is made from white fish (pollock usually) that is formed and colored to look like crab. Sounds gross, but is actually pretty tasty – and way cheaper than real crab. Kanikama salad is a pretty typical way to prepare imitation crab outside of sushi rolls. It usually involves kanikama, shredded vegetables, and mango in a light mayonnaise based dressing and is sometimes topped with tobiko.

My version is kanikama and mango over lettuce, served with avocado (I meant to get tobiko, too, but I forgot!) This is really light and refreshing, and a little bit sweet – perfect for summer. It’s important to realize that Japanese mayo is different from American – it is lighter, thinner, and made with rice wine vinegar. For my dressing, I bought Yum Yum sauce thinking it would be good as is (it’s a mayonnaise based sauce that they use at Hibachi grill restaurants). But when I tried it out, it was a bit too sweet and bland. So I added a splash each of rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, mirin, and toasted sesame oil (easy on that last one, it is very strong).

I don’t really have a recipe – it’s more of a play with seasonings til you like it kind of thing. You could add in julienned carrots, cucumber, even summer squash. You could dice the avocado and fold it in with the mango (which I did on subsequent days). You could toss the lettuce in the dressing as well, instead of setting the dressed kanikama on top. There are lots of ways that you can make this your own. Leave a comment telling me how you like your kanikama salad!

02
Aug
2013

Goat Cheese Ice Cream with Roasted Cherries

categories: Recipes

Goat. Cheese. Ice cream. You heard me. When I saw this recipe, I just HAD to try it. And cherries were all over the place at the farmers market, so the timing was perfect.

I used one pint of cherries, but I would have liked a higher ratio in the final product so I would recommend using 2 pints. Either way, pit, combine with sugar and cornstarch, and roast until the juices form a syrup.

The ice cream base is made with goat cheese, cream cheese, cornstarch, milk, cream, sugar, and corn syrup. Once you have processed it with your ice cream maker – layer the ice cream and the cherries into a container, do not mix! Allow to set up in the freezer and enjoy this sophisticated ice cream. (more…)

31
Jul
2013

Meat Ravioli

categories: Recipes

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about some gorgeous beet and goat cheese raviolis that I made. Jasper enjoyed those, but what he really wanted was meaty ravioli – so of course I made some for him!

The process is exactly the same, just with a different filling. And let me say, I REALLY like this filling. My favorite mixture of beef, pork, and veal (sold as “meatloaf mix” in most stores) is browned with butter, olive oil, onion, and garlic. Then prosciutto, Parmesan, nutmeg, and an egg are added, along with salt and pepper. The filling is completely cooked (except for the egg) before it goes into the ravioli because fresh ravioli only cook for a minute or two.

I served them with a creamy tomato sauce, yum! (more…)

29
Jul
2013

Roasted Beet Salad with Goat Cheese

categories: Recipes

Melissa of Smells Like Brownies has been doing a CSA this year, so for one of our weekly vegetarian lunches we decided to use up some of the beets and lettuce she had received. This super delicious and filling salad involves sweet roasted beets, fragrant toasted walnuts, and creamy goat cheese. Simple and fresh – this is a great way to enjoy beets!

Warm Beet and Chèvre Salad
from Smells Like Brownies
serves 2

Ingredients:
3/4 lb beets (about 3 medium)
6 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil, plus extra as needed
1 tbsp honey
salt and black pepper
1 wheat baguette, cut into 1/4″ slices
1 medium head lettuce, such as Bibb or Boston
1/3 cup walnuts, lightly toasted, chopped
1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano
4–6 oz goat cheese

Preheat oven to 350°. Wrap the beets tightly in foil and roast them for 1–1.5 hours, or until they are soft enough to pierce through the thickest part with a butter knife. Unwrap the beets and let them cool 10–15 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk together the balsamic vinegar, honey, and olive oil in a small bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Lightly brush the baguette slices with olive oil and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Set the slices on a cookie sheet and broil in the oven for 3 minutes.

Rinse and tear up the lettuce. Sprinkle the toasted, chopped nuts and oregano over the greens.

When the beets are cool enough to handle, rub the skins off the flesh. Cut the beets into slices or wedges and sprinkle over the salad.

Top the salad with crumbled goat cheese and a drizzle of the oil and vinegar dressing.

26
Jul
2013

Homemade Veggie Burgers

categories: Recipes

Oddly enough, Melissa (Smells Like Brownies) and I both ended up with no plans for the 4th of July this year. So we decided to go about our weekly vegetarian lunch as usual and, in spirit of the typical holiday food, decided to try making veggie burgers. Based on her memory of a particularly delicious restaurant version and a couple of online recipes, we came up with our ingredients.

Mushrooms and lentils were to be the base; with the help of carrots, onion, garlic, and cheddar cheese.

We seasoned with salt and pepper, thyme, and dry mustard, then bound it together with breadcrumbs and egg. We saved the “fancy” breadcrumbs (panko) to form a bit of a crust on the outside of the patties. We learned the hard way that you definitely want to let the mixture chill in the fridge for about 30 min before you form the patties, or you will have a hard time. (more…)

24
Jul
2013

Fig, Mascarpone, and Goat Cheese Galette with Coconut

categories: Recipes

This rustic beauty came about by accident. I had intended to make a cherry pie, but my plans for obtaining cherries fell through. So I ended up with some pie dough and nothing else. I went to the store to see what fruit was available and found some Turkish figs. “This could definitely work,” I thought. Then I thought of a creamy smear of mascarpone underneath, and oh! What if I added in some goat cheese, too?

So I dumped a container each of goat cheese and mascarpone cheese into bowl with some honey and mixed them together. Then I got to thinking, “What about some cardamom in here?” So in it went.

I rolled out my pie dough and spread the cheese mixture over it. I only ended up using half of it, but it made a great dip for crackers and fruit so that was fine. I arranged the quartered figs over the spread and then had another thought. “You know what goes great with cardamom? Coconut!” So I dug out some sweetened coconut flakes from the pantry to sprinkle over the top. A brush of cold water and sprinkling of turbinado sugar later, and my masterpiece was ready to bake.

I threw a lot of ingredients into here, but they ended up blending perfectly. The spread sort of merged with the flaky crust to make a creamy base for the figs; and the coconut came out perfectly toasted. Bonus? My husband was out of town and I got to eat the whole thing myself! This recipe may have been an accident, but I will definitely be making it again. (more…)

22
Jul
2013

Caprese Stuffed Burgers

categories: Recipes

Hello, Summer! Juicy tomatoes, creamy mozzarella, and fresh basil, all stuffed inside a hearty burger – oh yeah, baby!

This is a fairly straightforward recipe, the key is in the setup – have all of your ingredients close by and ready to go. Season your beef however you like (I put bacon in mine!) and form into thin patties; make an indentation in the center.

Load up with halved grape tomatoes, fresh mozzarella bits, and ribbons of basil.

Place another thin patty on top and seal the edges to encase the filling.

Then grill as you normally would!

Inspired by Menu Musings of a Modern American Mom

Year: 2013