This Foodlover's Ultimate Valentine is not a box of Chocolates. I'm not very responsible with twenty different secret flavors hidden in shiny chocolate capsules. I've actually been known to take a bite out of every single mystery morsel and then throw out the other halves. This is to keep myself from feeling extreme guilt of clearing the heart shaped tray solely on my own. This enormously beautiful Recipe Book was my valentines day gift from my handsome hubby and two lovely babes. They were so excited to surprise me with it. This book is like an epic- its chock full of amazingly simple and completely delicious cooking methods for all of the earth's green and growing harvests. In the short time that I have been its new master I have made some pretty great food out of this book. The most recent creation happened this evening when I got home late from school and picking up the kids. I wanted to get something on the table quickly and I wanted it to be something special at the same time. The truth is that I had really tried hard to abstain from taste testing during Intro to Baking class during the afternoon and for once I was truly hungry for a real dinner.
It was 37 degrees outside today and our February"heat wave" reminded me of the summer's bounty that I had squirreled away into my deep freezer. Fresh Frozen sweet corn I had purchased from a farm down the road last August was calling my name as I pulled into my garage. I had a confident feeling that my new recipe treasury would have some instruction for my sacred summer"golden nuggets."
Thai Corn Cakes with a Fresh Tomato Cilantro Salsa
Here is what I found, here is what we enjoyed together as a family- at the dinner table, at a reasonable time- not too late- and the amount of food- it was just right! Tonight I chose to make Thai CornCakes from "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" by Mark Bittman. This book is a phenomenal resource of formulas for making healthy and delicious meals. I am excited to explore more of what this book has to offer and I will be happy to share the great ones with you to all along the way.
Thai Corn Cakes
2 eggs separated
salt and fresh ground pepper
1/2 cup chopped scallion
1 teaspoon of minced fresh jalapeno
2 cups of fresh corn or thawed fresh frozen
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 cup all purpose flour
3-4 tbsp butter or a neutral oil.
In a large bowl combine egg yolks, pinch salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, scallion, jalapeno, corn, soy sauce, and flour; mix well.
Beat egg whites until stiff. Put butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Fold egg whites into the corn mixture. Once the oil/butter is hot drop the corn batter into the pan in dollops.
Cook until nicely brown on one side and flip- about 3-5 minutes. Keep warm in oven while the rest are cooking. Serve immediately with fresh salsa.
(Recipe from "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" by Mark Bittman page 291)
Here is a picture of the Lemon Quinoa Spinach Salad I made this week on Tuesday from the same book- Yum! I added Cranberries on my own and it really made the flavors pop.
Quinoa Salad with Lemon, Spinach, and Poppy Seeds
Salad:
2 1/2 cups cooked quinoa
10 oz Fresh spinach chopped
1 cup Dried Cranberries ( my own addition)
1/4 cup poppy seeds
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 to 1/2 cup of lemon vinaigrette
Lemon Vinaigrette:
1/2 cup virgin olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
black pepper
1/4 cup of finely minced red onion
1 tsp sugar or honey
Toss the salad ingredients without the vinaigrette. Spoon the dressing over the salad and toss. Enjoy!
(Recipe from "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" by Mark Bittman page 83, 537)
