Tofu Katsu Curry

Ah the vegan life of always trying to find new, interesting ways to prepare tofu ;) This one seemed worth a try!

Recipe

Tofu

1 block extra-frim tofu

1 tbsp cornstarch

1/4 c panko bread crumbs

1 tsp curry powder

Curry

1 onion, diced

1 carrot, roughly chopped

1 inch ginger, grated

2 garlic cloves, sliced

1 tbsp curry powder

1 can (400g) coconut milk

1 tsp cornstarch

1 tsp maple syrup

2 tsp soy sauce

Rice, green onion, lime wedges, other veggies

• Press the tofu - like an hour, really get at it! Then slice into thin squares.
• Heat some oil in a skillet, and stir fry the onion, carrot & ginger until softening. Then add the garlic and curry powder.
• Then add the coconut milk and cornstarch, and stew for 10 minutes or so. Then add the syrup and soy sauce, and remove from heat.
• Blend the curry sauce until smooth.
• For the katsu, whisk the cornstarch into 4 tbsp hot water. Mix the panko & curry powder on a plate. 
• Heat oil in a skillet. Dip the tofu in the cornstarch, then coat with bread crumbs. Shallow fry a few minutes per side, until golden.
• Serve some rice *and veggies) in bowls with the curry powder over and tofu on top!

Notes

A bit fancier, but worth it! Main note is, you may need more panko depending on how you slice the tofu and the total surface area you have. I'd recommend not holding back ;)

Need to add a picture when we have the crispy tofu on top and not buried under the curry sauce - was still good but got to preserve that crispiness!

Pork Fried Rice

Was looking for a good use of the last (still large) serving of carnitas, plus odds and ends of some vegetables left over from the holidays.  Some Googling suggested this idea for a kind of Asian-Latin fusion, took cues mostly from here & here...

Recipe

~1/2 lb pork, pre-cooked (e.g. Chinese barbeque or that carnitas)
6 c rice, cooked
1 egg
butter

Veggies - your choice of:
broccoli
carrot
frozen peas
mushrooms
onion
bell pepper
bok choy
etc.

Sauce
3 tbsp soy sauce
5 tsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp sugar

Heat a tbsp of butter and heat up your pork.  Next add your veggies and stir fry until tender.  Crack in your egg next and scramble it up.  Then add in your rice (you cooked it already, right?) and the sauce mixture and finish stir-frying.

Notes

 Great call - filling and delicious, enough veggies to be probably healthy?

One of those recipes said to start with uncooked pork loin, which is worth considering too I guess depending on what you have on hand - most everything else should be lying around!

Spanish-Style Lentils & Chorizo

Bacon AND chorizo?  And with enough veggies to plausibly be healthy?  Another worthwhile one crowdsourced from here...

Recipe

4 slices bacon, chopped
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
4 oz chorizo
1 c rice
1 c lentils
4 c water
1 c tomato sauce
cumin, paprika
oil, salt & pepper

Start with your bacon in some oil and crisp it up; you can take it out or not and add the onion, carrot, garlic, and spices, then green pepper, then the chorizo.  Once the meat is cooked through, add the rice, lentils, and water and simmer until soft.  Stir in the tomato sauce and let the flavors meld.

Notes

Don't know how necessary the bacon really was, but can't complain.  I used the end of my packages of lentils and rice - more like 3/4 c - and a whole pack of chorizo - 4x the recommended amount?!  So mine was much meatier than the original version.  Very tasty, and awesome left over!

Lentil Bolognese

A cheap, healthy, and plentiful Meatless Monday (plus a few extra days) recipe courtesy of reddit...

Recipe

1 onion, chopped
1 rib celery, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
7 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
2 cans (15 oz each) diced tomatoes
2 tbsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 c red lentils
2 c water
olive oil, salt & pepper

Chop everything.  Start some oil in a large skillet and cook the vegetables until tender.  Next stir in the garlic, then the tomato paste, then the rest of the tomatoes and the herbs, baking soda, and some salt and pepper.  Then add the lentils and water, and simmer 20-30 minutes.  Serve over pasta.

Notes

I've struggled with this in a few recent recipes, and realized that you need plenty of liquid to cook through things like lentils (or sweet potatoes).  I let everything simmer longer than a half hour, and the lentils were still a bit underdone.

Overall, though, a tasty recipe to make in a big batch and have for leftovers (good with some sausage for non-veggie days)!

Ginger-Garlic Pot Roast

I may not have a bunch of kids (or really consider myself a foodie), but this Foodie with Family recipe looked right in my wheelhouse anyway:

Recipe

3-4 lb boneless chuck roast
2 tsp vegetable or canola oil
3" ginger root, cut in half and smashed
6 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
4 c beef or vegetable broth or stock
2 tbsp soy sauce or fish sauce
1-2 lb small red potatoes, halved
3 carrots, cut diagonally into 1" pieces
6 green onions, trimmed of root (didn't actually include these)
salt & pepper

Stage 1: Preheat the oven and high-heat the oil in an oven-safe dish with a lid.  Salt and pepper the roast, and brown the main sides a few minutes each.  Toss in the ginger and garlic, pour in the broth, and sprinkle the soy sauce over everything.  Lid on, put it in the oven.

Stage 2: Two hours later, add the potatoes, carrots, and onions; lid it and pop it back in the oven.

Stage 3: After another hour, you're done!  Well, if you want.  Remove the meat to a cutting board and scoop out the veggies (getting rid of the ginger).  You can serve over rice or noodles, sprinkle with pan juices (thickened if you want), more soy sauce, or sesame oil.  Eat.

Notes

It's probably just as well that I didn't try to do this in my tiny apartment, because the browning part was pretty aggressive and smoky.  The recipe said to let the roast sit for four minutes untouched on each side, but after like half that time the first side (top in the picture below) was already good to go.

I forgot the green onions/wasn't sure if they were the same as scallions and which of those were sitting in the fridge...  But I added a few from our bounty of apples, since apple-ginger is a thing, right?

My relatively small roast (2.8 lbs, I believe) came out pretty well-done, so it could use some pan juices to restore some moisture.  The flavors didn't penetrate the lump of meat as much as I might have hoped, but the potatoes and carrots more than made up for it - they were amazing (and the apples added a touch of sweetness)!

Overall, there's nothing very labor intensive; the hardest part is the anticipation.  The roasting ginger and garlic smell awesome!  And it makes a great, hearty meat & potatoes dinner (or for me, a few dinners).

Short Rib Tacos

Another rather extravagant recipe from America's Test Kitchen - totally worth the weekly email, followed by a password reset to get into their website...  This one came from a Mexican-themed set of recipes:

Recipe

Beef

1 1/2 c beer
1/2 c cider vinegar
2 oz dried ancho chiles, stemmed, seeded & torn into 1" pieces
6 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tbsp tomato paste
3 bay leaves
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
salt & pepper
1 large onion, sliced into 1/2" rounds
3 lb boneless beef short ribs, cut into 2" cubes

Slaw

1/2 c cider vinegar
1/2 c water
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 head cabbage, cored and sliced thin
1 onion, sliced thin
1 carrot, grated
1 jalapeno, minced
1 tsp dried oregano
1 c cilantro, chopped

tortillas
queso fresco
avocado
lime

Start with the slaw a day ahead of time.  Whisk together the vinegar, water, sugar, and salt.  Add the cabbage, onion, carrot, jalapeno, and oregano, and toss together.  Cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.  Drain and add the cilantro before serving.

So now it's a day later and you're hungry for meat (but not too hungry, still a couple hours to go).  Heat oven to 325.  Combine the beer, vinegar, chiles, garlic, tomato paste, and spices in a dutch oven.  Lay out a later of onion rounds, then place the meat on top.  Cover and cook 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

Now it's 2 1/2 to 3 hours later and you're really hungry!  Once the meat is browned and tender, remove the dutch oven from the, um, regular oven.  Move the meat to a bowl.  Here, ATK recommends you strain out the liquid, discard the onion and bay leaves, add water so you have 1 cup of liquid, blend the solids back in, simmer, and stir in the shredded beef.  I didn't have the patience or a blender, so I shredded the beef, mashed the broth, and scooped a few cups in until the beef had a nice flavory sauce.

Serve the tacos with beef, slaw, crumbled queso fresco, avocado (my addition), and lime wedges.

Notes

It's a pretty long list of ingredients, but somehow the effort required doesn't seem to be proportional.  It helps that you can take care of the slaw in advance, but even the next day, most of the ingredients just get mixed into the pot before adding onion and beef.

The final product is amazing.  As promised, the onions keep the beef mostly out of the liquid so it browns nicely.  The cubes were soft and almost bouncy when I pulled them out at the end!  The slaw is super tasty, and the queso adds a nice salty flavor (I didn't know exactly what to expect from either element, but the first nibble of each made me grin).  It's definitely different from what you think of for beef tacos - ground meat, lettuce, salsa, etc.  But in a good way!

Crockpot Chicken Curry

Paleo, DIY crockpot curry:

Recipe

1 1/2 lb boneless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into chunks
6 c of chopped veggies, e.g., onion, carrot, green beans, broccoli, tomatoes, red bell pepper
14 oz coconut milk
1 c crushed tomatoes (or tomato sauce)
1 tbsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
salt & pepper

Chop your chicken and veggies and put them in your crockpot.  Add the coconut milk, tomatoes, and spices.  Stir, cover, and cook low for 5-6 hours.  You can uncover for the last hour to help it thicken.

Notes

My spice selection wasn't quite up for the job this time: no coriander, and ran out of cinnamon.  So the end product lacked that distinct curry flavor.  You couldn't tell by the scent, though - the coconut is especially mouth-watering.  And ultimately, the taste was fine.  The chicken is super tender :)  I could do with a little more spice, and I guess coriander.  With the abundant vegetable options, this one's definitely worth keeping in mind.

The original recipe calls it "yellow curry"; mine was clearly a rich orange though:

Homemade Sauerkraut

Continuing to keep that jar full of veggie snacks.  Next up was getting in touch with the German heritage with some sauerkraut.

Recipe

1-2 jalapenos
1 head of green cabbage
2 large carrots
2-4 cloves of garlic
salt & pepper

Set aside a couple outer cabbage leaves, and chop the rest thinly.  Slice your garlic and jalapeno, and grate the carrots.

With about a third of the cabbage at once, squeeze the cabbage with some salt, releasing some of the water and making it wet.  Add the rest of the cabbage in stages and do the same.  Then mix in the carrot, garlic, jalapeno and pepper.

Next, the mixture goes in the jars, pressing it in to bring the water level above all the veggies (this may take a while).  Wedge in an outer leaf or two, and add a weight (e.g., shot glass) to keep everything under water.

Finally, everything sits out for at least a week - uncovered, room temperature, making sure everything stays submerged.  Once it's done to taste, you can cover and leave it in the fridge.

Notes

I only gave it that one week.  It's very fragrant for a small kitchen!  Because of the timing, my kraut didn't end up very strong, but it fit very tastefully into sandwiches and other dishes.

The original recipe has you char the jalapenos over a flame - also not very practical for the NYC kitchen.  I was also worried the full recipe wouldn't fit into my one jar.  I shouldn't have - it all mashes down pretty seriously.

Overall, a lot more work than pickling, but an interesting change!

Sesame Salmon

This recipe from the folks at Wok Woks does not actually require a wok...

Recipe

1 lb salmon fillet(s)
1 tbsp gomasio salt
juice of 1/2 a lime
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 leek, shredded
2 carrots, shredded
1/4 lb snow peas, shredded
rice (optional)

Put the salmon in a (foil-lined) roasting pan and sprinkle with the salt, sesame seeds, and lime juice.  Bake for about 20 minutes at 425 degrees.  Meanwhile, shred and toss together the vegetables.  Serve the salmon and veggies together, with rice if you want, with the pan juices poured over the top.

Notes

The salmon is simple enough.  I don't have fancy gomasio salt, so just went for regular salt with some sesame oil for the flavor.  The recipe specifies skinless salmon, but whatever.  Anyway, the veggies are a nice touch though, as much as I'm not familiar with leeks.  After one attempt, I think it makes the most sense to grate the carrot and process the leek and snow peas.  All in all a good dinner.

Root Veggie Mashed Potatoes

Look, if you've got some potatoes you just want to use up, boil 'em up and smash 'em and serve with ur meats nom nom.  I thought this rigorously-tested Cooks Illustrated recipe was worth trying though - a little extra effort, but some new tastes and probably vitamins and stuff in there.

Recipe

1 1/2 lbs potatoes, cut into small chunks
1/2 lb your combination of carrots, turnips, parsnips, celery root, etc., cut into small chunks
4 slices bacon, cut into small pieces
1/3 c broth
3/4 c half and half
1 tsp thyme

Start by crisping up your bacon in a large saucepan, then remove but leave the grease.  Put in your root vegetables and brown, then stir in the potatoes, broth, and a sprinkle of salt.  Cover and simmer 25-30 minutes, until the liquid is absorbed and everything is nice and crushable.  Mash gently (you want chunks, not puree) and mix in the bacon (if you haven't eaten it all in the meantime), thyme, and half and half.

Notes

This one will come down to the balance of liquid.  You want your potatoes to cook through softly but not end up soggy.  I didn't quite nail it the first time, but the flavors were still very rich (OK, it was mostly bacon but I'm sure the carrot and turnip (my combo) helped).  Here it is with a bit of the night's protein, baked salmon:

Chicken & Chickpea Stew

Hmm, not much to preface this with.  Original recipe here.

Recipe

2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 lb thin chicken breast, cut into 1/2" pieces
4 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2" pieces
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp red wine (apple cider) vinegar
1/2 c water
1 15-oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 cup spinach
instant grits
more butter, salt & pepper

Heat the olive oil and butter over medium-high, then add the chicken, carrots, garlic, ginger, paprika and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.  Saute for about 15 minutes, then stir in the tomato paste, then vinegar, water, chickpeas and spinach.  Cook about 5 minutes.  Meanwhile, prepare the instant grits, and top with the stew.

Notes

This recipe uses some good ingredients without a whole lot of work...  The instant grits help - and don't laugh, they're actually pretty solid!  Gotta say, though, as delicious as the chicken smelled with my generous servings of garlic, ginger, paprika, and all, some of those flavors seemed to disappear in the finished product.  Maybe it had to do with, I carefully halved most of the main ingredients in the recipe, but when it came time to add the chickpeas, I had a brain fart and dumped in the whole can.  Thus that iteration was a bit dominated by that component.  Still good, though:

Shepherd's Pie

I mostly think of shepherd's pie as pub food, but apparently it was a(nother) occasional family dish as well.  In any case, I figured a hearty combo of lamb, potatoes, and some veggies was worth a try.  Courtesy of my Best Meat Recipes cookbook:

The Recipe

Filling
3+ lbs lamb shoulder chops, cut away from bone and into 1 in pieces
2 medium onions, chopped
2 medium carrots, cut into 1/4 in slices
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 1/4 c chicken broth
1/4 c red wine
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp thyme, chopped
1 tsp rosemary, chopped
1 c frozen peas, thawed

Topping
2+ lbs russet potatoes, cut into 1-2 in cubes
6 tbsp butter
3/4 c milk
2 egg yolks

salt & pepper

Sprinkle the lamb with salt and pepper.  Heat 2 tbsp oil over medium-high and brown the lamb (probably in 2 batches, extra 1 tbsp oil per batch).  Remove lamb to a bowl.

Reduce heat to medium and cook the onion and carrot until (onions are) soft.  Add the garlic, flour, and tomato paste.  A minute later, broth, wine, and Worcestershire, then the thyme and rosemary.  Cover and simmer until the lamb is tender, 25-30 minutes.  Then stir in the peas.

Meanwhile, get the topping going - cover the potatoes in water, sprinkle salt, and bring to a boil.  Once potatoes are tender (15-20 minutes), drain and return the pot to low heat.  Mash in the butter, milk, and egg yolks.  Season with salt and pepper.

Now you combine everything in a large baking dish or (a couple) pie plates.  Pour in the lamb mixture.  Drop gloops of potatoes around the edges, sealing in the filling.  Bake at 400 degrees until the top is golden brown, about 20-30 minutes.

Notes

This dish went over well.  It was a good bit of work, but fed a decently-sized group, several of whom helped prepare.  We went heavy on the herbs (although maybe not on salt & pepper), and also used Chipotle Tabasco sauce instead of Worcestershire in the spirit of using what was on hand.  I personally was not sure it was much better than the sum of its parts.  I would do it again, though; not sure it's worth the effort in smaller, more personal quantities.