Oh I'm a Wandering Man...Caramelized Tomatoes on Anything (and Everything)

Me sitting out on the dock outside of the set in Athens, NY on a particularly sunny day.

No! I'm not dead! You're surprised, aren't you. Sigh, look, I know I haven't been there for you as consistently as you'd like me to be. I know there are other blogs out there, decent blogs, who come home every night, or at least once a week. They're reliable, safe. I'm not like them, I go where the wind takes me. And I know that's one of the reasons you love me, baby. Everyone likes a wild blog.

Mis en place for aloo gobi. Mmm...

 Alright, that got a bit strange. I apologize. But really, I have been crazy busy. Why, you might ask? Well, I realized I'm super poor and to fix this problem I decided to...cater low budget film sets! Amazingly there are a lot of indie filmmakers out there who just need some good ol' homemade food for their crew and are willing to pay a little Indian girl reasonable rates to cook.

Herby roast chicken. I know it's raw, but it still looks delicious, no? 

 So I've spent two weeks in upstate New York, will be cooking for an independent feature this upcoming week, and then I'm working on a shoot in...Vietnam! Yes, as the cook. Crazy, right? That's what I said. Crazy awesome. The director asked me if I could kill a chicken. Be prepared for some interesting photos.

Listen to the assistant director. Or else.

 And because I've been cooking up a storm for the past several weeks, I obviously have LOADS of recipes to share with you guys. But I figured if I put all of them in one blog entry your heads might explode. And that gets messy. So instead, I'm really, honestly going to try and write way more frequently, and spread out my newfound knowledge in bits and pieces. Today, we're going to talk about the most amazing salad ever.

The bone from a pork shoulder butt. I came home to find the roast totally cooked, and all my marinade fused into a burnt crust on the pan. Oops. Was able to salvage the pork by marinating it in newly made marinade and chicken fat. Oh man was that pork gooooood.... 

But first, can I just say that sometimes...life just feels good? Honestly, this past month has really been really super decent. I'm happy with where my script is going (had a major breakthrough because of some excellent feedback I received, did a major overhaul), I like the work I'm doing on the side, had a great time hanging out with my family over Thanksgiving, things are going quite nicely. Let's see how long I can ride this happiness bubble for.

Last night dinner of roasted pork, garlic and ginger rice, and roasted corn and cabbage salad

More than anything, I'm glad I'm feeling confident in my script again. It's both great and terrifying. Great because I feel like this is actually going to happen, I'm going to make a feature film. Terrifying for exactly the same reason. But we're not going to focus on that right now. Right now we're going to focus on...caramelized tomatoes in a thyme cream sauce over arugula. I know. My mouth instantaneously began to drool too.

This deer kept staring at me while I was cooking on one of the sets upstate. So not comforting....

The thing about this salad is the tomatoes. You can put it on anything you want, it doesn't have to be greens. I've just found that this makes a really luscious salad option that people tend to lap up pretty quickly. And you need to do absolutely nothing to the greens. I just pour out a couple bags of pre-washed arugula (or some nice baby kale) onto a serving platter, top it with this mixture and serve it up with tongs. Amazing.

Aw, aren't they cute?

But originally, I made this dish with medium sized tomatoes, which created much less sauce/dressing, and it was intended to top off some buckwheat crepes. You can do that too. Or you can just serve them on their own. Or you can toss them into some pasta. This dish is the little black dress of tomato dishes. Take it anywhere and it looks good.

Sunset on the amazing porch of the amazing house we stayed at in Pawling, NY. 

Now of course, traditionally you'd make this in season. Summer is the best time. But we're getting into the ass end of fall, and I made this salad for Thanksgiving, and people still loved it. Try and get the best tomatoes, because even with the butter and cream and thyme, this is still all about the tomatoes. Oh, and on that note, don't you DARE get all squirmy on me because I mentioned butter and cream. Yes, there is fat in this dish, and yes, it's more than a pinch, but come on people, suck it up! Enjoy it now and spend twenty extra minutes on the elliptical. Seriously worth it.

 Seriously, doesn't that look amazing? I didn't even have time to take a photo of the dish before people started digging in. This is halfway through the platter. And trust me: make more than you think you need. This stuff goes quick. So go, make yourself a plate or two, I'll be back soon. Trust me, baby. (Ok, I'll stop doing that. I swear.)

Oh you grad film students, you crack me up. And confuse me.

Caramelized Tomatoes (based on Laura Calder’s)

Note: The original recipe calls for 2 slices of bacon, diced, to be cooked in the pan first till crispy and then set aside to be mixed into the tomatoes later on. I generally skip this step when I’m making this for catering jobs, as there are always a few vegetarians mucking things up. It’s just as good without, but if you can, why go without bacon?

Note #2: Also, if you’re making this with larger tomatoes, cut the tops off and poke a few holes in the bottom, cook 7 minutes cut side down, then flip and sprinkle in herbs and continue preparing the dish.

2 pints cherry tomatoes, halved

3-4 tbsp butter

pinch salt and pepper

fresh thyme

sprinkle dried tarragon

splash of wine/chicken broth

1/2 cup cream

Heat butter in a large sauté pan and allow to bubble a bit. Toss tomatoes in. They should sizzle a bit. Cook for about 7 minutes, stirring every so often, and then sprinkle the thyme and crushed dried tarragon on top. Add salt and pepper.  Add a little glug of wine (or broth) and give the pan a few turns. Add cream and cook for 3-4 minutes. At this point you can toss the tomatoes around a bit; make sure they all get touched by those herbs.

When the cream begins to thicken turn off heat and pour tomatoes and sauce into serving dish or on top of greens (or whatever you like). Serve immediately. 

Chugging Along...With Some Oat Soda Bread

So...where was I? Oh yes, I'm back from Europe and my visit to the Midwest (about a month now), and I have tried to focus all of my mental, emotional and physical energy into the one thing I REALLY need to be working on: my script. Are you surprised? I wouldn't think so, considering I've been talking about my writing for the past millenia (or at least it feels that way). Writing is a wonderful art, and my first love, but I can't help but start to feel antsy. Honestly, since August of 2009, I haven't had such a huge amount of time for me to do whatever I please. By the end of summer, I'm going to see about getting a part-time job, hopefully in development or in writing. Might help to stave off the cabin fever. ANYWAY, you could hardly care about that with such pretty pictures of bread loaves distracting you. This, my friends, is my first attempt at soda bread, and even though I'm not really sure what the original version tastes like, I'm never going back. It's only oat soda bread for me from here on in. 

I've stayed away from bread making because I honestly have a sub-concious aversion to anything that needs yeast. I assume if a recipe calls for yeast, it's going to take centuries to make, and will use every pot and pan in the house. I know this is an irrational fear. And I have known for a while that soda bread is a "quick bread", meaning it doesn't use yeast as a levener, but still, I decided not to bother. Until along comes this really intriguing recipe from 101 Cookbooks that I finally couldn't pass up. It was a lazy evening, and I had a box of oats I wasn't doing anything with, so why not. And oh man, the oats. Seriously the oats are really what give this bread its wonderful flavor. It's toasty, hearty, and all around delicious. Take a fresh baked piece of this bread, slather it with soft butter...oh man...maybe I should make another loaf right now...

The one thing I will say about this bread is that processing the oats down to the point where they reach a flour-like consistency is not easy. Be patient, I took the better part of an hour processing, sifting, then processing again to get my oats to where they needed to be. I promise your patience will be rewarded. The rest of the recipe is a snap to whip up. Just that damn oat flour is a bit of a bitch, but as soon as you cross that hurdle, it's smooth sailing.

Not sure if you can tell, but there's a big chunk of crust taken out of the left half of this loaf. I couldn't wait to take pictures.

Now you can put whatever you like on top. I happened to have poppy seeds, and felt that a bit of sea salt would add a nice kick. I was right. I'd recommend adding a touch more salt to the top regardless of your seed combination, for an extra kick of flavor. And I will definitely be keeping a few more seeds around the house to play more with the crust. I might even be tempted to add a few in the dough, to be honest. Why not live a little. But first, I need to get 10 more pages down on paper. Then I can reward myself with bread.

Oat Soda Bread (Heidi’s Recipe - http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/oat-soda-bread-recipe.html)

2 cups rolled oats (or a scant 2 cups oat flour)

2 ¼ cup flour

1 ¾ tsp baking soda

1 ¼ tsp sea salt, plus extra for top

7 tbsp powdered buttermilk

1 ¾ cup water

1 tbsp honey

butter (for pan and for top of loaf)

a variety of seeds (caraway, poppy, sesame, etc.)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and center rack in middle. Butter and line a loaf pan with parchment paper.

Make oat flour by pulsing oats in a food professor till it becomes a fine powder.

Sift flours, baking soda, salt and buttermilk powder into a large bowl. Make a well in the flour and pour in water. Drop the tbsp of honey in there too. Stir still ingredients just come together as a dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured counter and knead for about 30 seconds, until the dough comes together as a cohesive, slightly flattened ball without any cracks or fissures. If your dough is a bit too dry, add a splash of water just a bit at a time.

Ease the dough into the pan and brush top with melted butter (or cream) and sprinkle generously with the seeds and some extra sea salt. Bake for about 30 minutes, then move rack up a level so the top gets nice and toasty. Bake another 20 minutes, or until a hard crust forms and the bread is baked through. It will feel solid and sound hollow when you knock on it. After it’s cooled for about 10 to 15 minutes in the pan, life carefully out and allow to cool on a wire rack. 

Couple days in Chicago....oh so much food....

My ribeye burger with gouda and curried onions at Blackbird. Comes with pear salad and frites.

So, you'll have to forgive the poor photography. I somehow went home thinking "nah, I'm not going to cook/eat anything I'll want to share with the world." So stupid...anyways, these are the work of my trusty little blackberry, because in the last few days I spent in Chicago, oh my word. There was food. Glorious food. Enough that I almost don't care I've gained about 5 pounds in a disturbingly small amount of time.

The first stop on our culinary tour was Blackbird, a little Chicago landmark from chef Paul Kahan. It's one of the few restaurants in the city with two Michelin stars (up there with Charlie Trotter's, Tru, Everest, the usual suspects) yet unlike other restaurants of that caliber Blackbird serves lunch, and at a crazy reasonable price. All entrees were around $14-$15. They also have a three course prix fixe for $22. And as you can see from the picture above, the portions aren't crazy small. I also got a diet coke, which was refilled four times. For free. This is why I love my windy city. (nyc: until you offer free refills as generously as the Midwest, there will always be something between us.)

My Dad ordered the sturgeon. It was the best dish out of the three, hands down. Might be one of my favorite fish now. (Not pictured is Mom's whitefish sandwich. Very good, but apparently not very photogenic in my mind.)

After this we went to Alliance Bakery in Wicker Park, and I am so sorry that I didn't take photos of both the bakery and the gorgeous apple custard tart we bought. Because the bakery was adorable, and the tart was probably the best apple tart I've ever eaten. No joke, later that night, when it wasn't even warm, I picked it out of it's little white box, took one bite, and it was all over. That thing was gone within a matter of seconds. My mother was able to drag it away from me for a couple bites, but dad was completely left out. I will most definitely try to find a recipe for that little bit o' heaven, and report back. 

On the plus side, I did take a photo of the jar of peanut butter I made the morning I arrived home. Two different kind of peanut butter in fact (just give me a second while I brush my shoulders off...). The top is a nice, lightly toasted peanut butter and the bottom is an UBER toasty peanut butter. While the top one is more for general applications, the bottom is fantastic for cooking. It made some stellar peanut butter cookies, where you can really taste the nutty, roasted flavor of the peanuts. It's extremely simple to make PB, actually. Roast some peanuts till they're just beginning to brown, toss in a food processor, add a pinch of salt and some honey, and turn that sucker on high. When the nuts start becoming paste-like, stream in vegetable or peanut oil till it thins out to the right consistency. Voila! Homemade peanut butter!

The toothpicks are not actually my sadistic attempts at cake-torturing. I place them around the surface of the cake so the saran wrap on top doesn't touch the icing. Also, I used powdered buttermilk, which was fantastic. Apparently, the buttermilk we buy in stores isn't real buttermilk. Powdered is closer to the real thing.

 So, I might have a problem. Around midnight on Friday, when my parents were tucked away sleeping, I finally had enough of the Ghost Hunters marathon I'd been watching on the Travel Channel (alright, I'll admit it, I was getting creeped out), and instead of going upstairs to sleep like a normal person, I thought, why this is the perfect time to make a cake! Mind you, by this point, I had literally baked about five different things. My baking drive was on overkill. Part of me really didn't want to, but I had seen a recipe on a wonderful food blog by Tartlette (http://www.tarteletteblog.com/2008/11/daring-bakers-caramel-cake-and-soft.html) that I just couldn't get out of my head. It's a caramel cake, with caramel sauce in the batter, and a caramelized brown butter frosting (which I flecked with some orange zest). Now, the frosting sounded wonderful, and in theory it is, but it's literally sugar on top of sugar. Way too intense, so I'm not even going to give you the recipe right now till I perfect it. But don't worry, make the cake anyway. This cake is so good it needs absolutely nothing to fancy it up. It's so good that at 3 am last night/morning I was taking a fork and burrowing underneath the icing just to get at cake. Seriously, MAKE THIS CAKE. And then send me a piece. 

Another item we picked up at Alliance Bakery was a chocolate macaron with a salted caramel filling. The macaron was delicious, but the price seemed ridiculous. $1.50 for a itty bitty cookie? In the Midwest?! My mother turned to me and said "I bet we can make those." And of course, the challenge was laid down. That evening, my mother and I attempted to make macarons for the first time. Ladies and gentlemen, these are frustrating little buggers. The egg whites need to age, dry ingredients need to be sifted twice, the batter needs to be folded about 62 times (even slightly under or over mixed batter ruins the cookie), the cookies must rest for an hour before being put in the oven, oh and don't get me started on the hundred different ways I looked up on how to properly bake a macaron. Needless to say, I understand the $1.50 charge now. Our first batch was over mixed and the cookies came out like flat pancakes. The photo above is my second attempt, and the batter was under mixed. There's no other way to say it: I made Smurf turds. But, looking past that, the flavor of these....oh man. I've had macarons before and have never been that impressed, but these had this wonderful light, almondy flavor, and a great crispness on the outside and chewiness inside....so the good thing is I now really love macarons. The bad thing is I'm going to have to kill myself to finally make them right.

Of course, you need a filling for macarons. For some reason, my parents had an abundance of pears in the house, so I thought, why not a pear curd? I haven't made curds in a while, but as far as I know, it's generally fruit in some form (either juice and zest, or pureed), egg yolks, and butter. Since these pears were relatively young, I simmered them in simple syrup with a cinnamon stick and some cloves, blended them, then went ahead with a traditional curd recipe. Oh man, is this stuff good. Very lightly flavored, it works so well with the macaron, or honestly, probably on any dessert-like platform. I'd actually just eat it on its own.

For my goodbye dinner, my mom always makes up a meal that I generally couldn't get anywhere but her kitchen, which is almost always Indian food. We were browsing the produce section of the grocery store and came upon Methi, or fenugreek. That was it, a dish I haven't had in ages but really love: aloo methi. It's chopped up fenugreek leaves cooked with potatoes. This is a seriously Indian dish. I almost never see it at Indian restaurants because it's a flavor that most people who haven't grown up eating Indian food would probably not immediately enjoy. It also makes your kitchen stink a bit. But honestly, the flavor is so interesting and lovely. You mix mustard oil and seeds with asafoetida, turmeric, and these greens and potatoes and get this amazingly pungent, bitter, and delicious dish. If you're brave, I'd definitely give this one a try.

This dish came completely out of left field. Early yesterday morning my mom, my cousin and I were watching one of our favorite shows on the Cooking Channel: French Food at Home. The host, Laura Calder, is adorably quirky and her food looks divine. One of the dishes she prepared was a celeriac remoulade. Now, I'm not really a fan of anything celery flavored, but my cousin was adamant we make this (mainly because he'd just gotten back from India and wanted something on the plate not heavily spiced). It's an easy side dish to make, especially if you put your julienne blade onto your food processor and make quick ribbons out of all the veggies and fruit (something I highly recommend). The flavor of the remoulade was, well, kinda perfect. It was ever so lightly coated in a lovely vinaigrette that has fennel and mustard seed, just enough to give you a taste of the spices but not overpowering the flavor of the celeriac at all. Divine. 

My last supper: aloo methi, gobi (of course), papar (best chip you could ever buy), and celeriac remoulade

It's always so nice to visit home, get re-energized to deal with the rest of life. No matter how chaotic things get, thank goodness there is always a plate of something yummy and two smiling parents just a two hour flight away.

Blackbird: http://www.blackbirdrestaurant.com/
Alliance Bakery: http://www.alliance-bakery.com/
Tartlette: http://www.tarteletteblog.com/
French Food at Home: http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/french-food-at-home/index.html

Caramel Cake (based on Tartlett’s)

Note: This was my first try at using buttermilk powder and I thought it was extremely successful. The instructions on the side of my container said it required 4 tbsp of powder and 1 cup of water to substitute 1 cup of buttermilk. Then, instead of mixing the powder and water together, mix the powder with the dry ingredients and use the cup of water as you would milk in the recipe. If your container of buttermilk powder has different instructions, I’d follow those instead of the ones I provide. If you have fresh buttermilk (or another type of milk) instead, go ahead and use that.

10 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature

1 ¼ cups granulated sugar

½ tsp kosher salt

Generous 1/3 cup caramel (recipe below)

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

½ tsp baking powder

4 tbsp buttermilk powder

1 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 inch cake pan.

Cream butter until light and fluffy. Add sugar and salt and cream until light and fluffy as well. Add caramel sauce and whip on high speed till well combined. Add eggs one at a time, and vanilla. Beat mixture well.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and buttermilk powder together. Set mixer to low speed and add one third of the dry ingredients. Add half a cup of water. Add the second third of the dry ingredients. Add the last half cup of water, and follow with the rest of the flour mixture. Mix until just combined.

Take bowl off mixer and use a spatula to fold batter a few times, making sure everything is properly mixed. Pour batter into pan and smooth out top. Place pan on a baking sheet and bake for between 45-50 minutes. Rotate pan halfway through. Check cake by sticking a toothpick in the center. A few crumbs should stick and it’s done.

Caramel Sauce (based on Ina Garten’s)

Note: To quicken the cooling of the sauce, I took the 1/3 cup I needed for the cake, put it in a metal bowl, and popped it into the freezer for about 15 to 29 minutes. Stirred it a few times afterwards and it was perfect.

1 ½ cups sugar

1/3 cup water

1 ¼ cups heavy cream

Add sugar and water to pot and set to medium high heat. Do not stir. Swirl pot to mix ingredients. Bring to a boil and let bubble away till reaching a dark amber color. As soon as this happens, add the cream and step back to avoid getting splattered. Whisk till caramel becomes smooth again on low heat, about two minutes. Then turn off stove and let sit till coming to room temperature, about two hours. 

Pear Curd

Two large pears

1 cup sugar

2 1/3 cup water

1 cinnamon stick

3 cloves

pinch salt

4 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp lemon juice

half stick butter

Peel pears, and save the skin from one of them. Chop the pears into a small dice. Place sugar and water into a saucepan. Add diced pear, skin, cinnamon stick and cloves. Turn heat to medium high and bring mixture to a simmer. Stir.

Let pears soften till they are just barely retaining their shape. Strain, reserving the liquid. Take out pieces of skin, cloves and cinnamon. Toss pear into blender and blend into a puree. Set aside in a glass or metal bowl to cool slightly. 

Meanwhile, wash out pot, fill with water and put on medium high heat. Take pear puree and whisk in salt. Whisk in egg yolks one at a time. Add lemon juice and vanilla.

Set bowl over pot of simmering water and whisk vigorously. Continue whisking till curd sets and the curd becomes much lighter in color and becomes pudding-like in texture and thickness. Take off heat, but continue whisking for another 30 seconds. Taste curd. I noticed at this point that I wanted a touch more sweetness and pear flavor, so I added about 2 tbsp of the reserved cooking liquid. Did the trick. Whisk that in and taste again. Add more if necessary.

At this point, if you aren’t happy with the texture of the curd, pour through a fine mesh strainer.

Take a piece of plastic wrap and place directly on the top of the curd. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight before using.

Aloo Methi (Potato w/ Fenugreek)

Note: It’s not necessary to use mustard oil if you don’t have it at home. You can just use all vegetable oil. If you do end up using the mustard oil, along with the mustard seeds, I’ll warn you right now: as soon as those two start cooking, you’re essentially perfuming your house with a light mustard gas. My mom and I started coughing whenever the lid was removed off the skillet. However, the taste was divine. Part of my childhood in a pot, heavenly.

One Last Thing: For god’s sake, open every window in your house/apartment, and make sure the exhaust is on. Otherwise I can’t guarantee you’ll ever be able to set foot in your kitchen again. This is mainly necessary if you are using the mustard oil and asafoetida.

12 cups fenugreek leaves

3 large potatoes

1 tbsp mustard oil

A few grated shavings of asafoetida (hing), or ½ tsp of asafoetida powder

1 tbsp vegetable oil

3 tsp mustard seeds

1 tbsp chopped garlic

2 tsp turmeric powder

2 tsp red chili flakes

salt and pepper to taste

Thoroughly wash and dry fenugreek in a large bowl. Set aside. Peel and chop potatoes into 1 inch pieces. Add oils to your largest nonstick skillet, and add mustard seeds. Add the asafoetida into the oil as well. Set heat to medium high and cook till seeds turn pale in color and begin to pop. Add turmeric powder as well and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.

Add chopped potatoes. Toss to coat in spices. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes. While those are going, start taking large handfuls of fenugreek leaves and chopping them down just a bit. Don’t go too fine, you’re just looking to pretty much halve the leaves. Start adding to the skillet, allowing every third or fourth handful to be tossed and settled into the potatoes before adding more. Add salt and pepper.

Cover and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, until potatoes are soft. Serve with plain yogurt.

Celeriac Remoulade (recipe based on Laura Calder’s)

 Note: When we tossed the vinaigrette with the celeriac and apple we found that it was just shy of enough. Instead of making more I just sprinkled in a bit more ground fennel and mustard, along with a pinch more salt and pepper. Worked out fine, this vinaigrette adds more like a sheen to the mixture, just the faintest hint of dressing.

1 medium celeriac

1 apple (Fuji or Grannysmith, something crisp and tart)

1 egg yolk

3 tsp apple cider vinegar

3 tsp Dijon mustard

¾ cup Olive oil (grapeseed and vegetable work well too)

2-3 tsp ground fennel seed

2 tsp ground mustard

salt and pepper to taste

lemon juice to taste

Peel and julienne both the celeriac and apple (to make quick work of this, use your food processor). Toss together in a large bowl.

In a separate smaller bowl, whisk together the rest of the ingredients except for the olive oil. When properly mixed, slowly stream in the olive oil while whisking vigorously. When you’ve drizzled in about 75% of the oil, stop and taste. Continue if necessary. Taste again, and season accordingly.

Sniffles Go Well with Soup (Curry Chicken Soup w/ Pickled Red Onions)

This is one of those ideas that simply...happens. I was in the middle of a horrible cold, and all I wanted was soup, and NOT to cook. But I couldn't find a single takeout place with a soup that interested me at the time. So, of course, I said "Fine...I'll just do it..." and started to throw things in a pot. Some leftover chicken tenders, a few vegetables, broth, and why not, let's just top it with some of these pickled red onions that couldn't fit into the jar I had just filled. (Homemade pickled red onions: a staple in my fridge.)

It was only when I got my face close enough to inhale the thick steam did I realize, wait, this may actually be quite good. And, can I just say, what an understatement. The red onions cutting through the thick curry flavors and all these nice, just-soft veggies and chicken floating in between....it was almost worth not having functioning sinuses for the next week. 

Indian Chicken Curry Soup w/ Pickled Red Onions

Note: I actually made this with Trader Joe’s curry marinated chicken tenders that I cubed. Thing is, in this kind of soup the meat became overcooked and chalky. I really didn’t care so much seeing as I was battling the plague, but for those of you with 100% functional taste buds I’d recommend using bone-in chicken pieces that you’ve marinated yourself. Or, for an easier yet still tasty soup, buy pre-roasted chicken and toss it in right before you add the liquids. 

*Pickled Red Onion recipe below

2 tsp canola oil

¾ cup red onion, chopped

¾ cup carrots, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, minced

3 tsp of ginger, minced

1 bay leaf

1 cinnamon stick

3 cloves

1-2 tsp salt

1.5 tsp fresh ground pepper

½ cup frozen corn

3 tsp and 1.5 tbsp favorite curry powder

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground coriander

3 tsp lemon juice

2 chicken thighs or 1 bone-in/skin-on chicken breast cut in half

1 tbsp tomato paste

2 cups chicken broth

1 1/3 cups water

¼ cup heavy cream

  

Mix the 1.5 tbsp of curry powder with the cumin and coriander in a small bowl.  Add a pinch of salt and some grinds of black pepper. Add lemon juice and combine.  The mixture should become a thick paste. Add water, a small amount at a time till you get a thinner paste, one that you can easily rub onto the chicken. Coat both pieces and let chicken sit for at least 30 minutes (but two hours would be better).

Put oil in stockpot and turn to medium high. When the oil is hot, add the chicken skin side down. Cook for four minutes, then flip. Cook for another four minutes and remove chicken from pot.

Add onions, garlic, ginger, carrots, bay leaf, cloves, and cinnamon.  Saute for 2 to 3 minutes, until onions turn translucent. Add salt, pepper and curry powder. If you feel that you’d like more curry powder, go ahead and add some! I’m a fan so I might actually add a little more than this.

Allow the curry powder to cook a bit, about 3 minutes. Add frozen corn and cook another minutes. Add tomato paste and turn heat to high. Stir to coat all the vegetables. Add chicken back to the pot and give everything a few stirs.

Add chicken broth and water. Allow mixture to come to a simmer and reduce a little more than a third, depending on how strong you like your soup. Finally, add cream and stir, cook for a minute and turn off heat.  (I actually added a touch more than ¼ cup but hey, I’m sick, I’m allowed.)

Ladle into bowl. Top with a pile of pickled onions.

Pickled Red Onions (adapted from David Lebovitz)

¾ cup red wine

¼ cup water

2-3 cloves

1 bay leaf

1 cinnamon stick

3 tbsp sugar

pinch salt

several good grinds of black pepper

2-3 good shakes of hot sauce

1 red onion, sliced thinly

Add everything except onion to a small stockpot and put on med high heat. Bring to a boil, turn heat down to bring to a simmer and add onion. Stir, and cook for about one minute. Turn off and let cool completely in pan. Transfer to either bowl o’ soup or jar and refrigerate. Onions will keep for about a month.

Save Me, Cauliflower (Spiced Cauliflower with Arugula and Egg Salad)

Sometimes, you just need a simple meal to make sense of life. This last semester of the grad film program at NYU has gotten my brain in knots. Melting knots that are on fire. Does that make any sense? If not, you have an idea of what my state of mind is at the moment. I am in the middle of writing a feature, writing a short, helping package another feature, sending out my last film to as many festivals as possible, and various other school-related obligations. Oh, and attempting to have a social life (haha, that's a funny joke...). 

So, at any rate, most days when I get home, I need some kind of comfort. Something simple and delicious that will hug my insides and say "It's ok. We're here for you." For me, that comes in the form of cauliflower. I'm not sure why, but I love the stuff. It may be because I'm Indian. We tend to have an affinity for broccoli's pasty cousin. Generally, I am used to this vegetable being sauteed Indian-style as "Gobi" (my Mom's...oohhhhhh.....). But recently I thought of treating cauliflower as I do most other vegetables, tossed some spices on it, along with a bit of oil, and threw it in the oven for a fair bit of time. What came out was....well pretty much spectacular. 

I generally like my roasted vegetables tossed with thyme, red pepper, perhaps some tarragon, more European seasonings. Cauliflower, however, has always been an Eastern vegetable for me. So instead, I rubbed it with coriander, cumin, and...get this...cinnamon. Seriously, you must try this. It is phenomenal. In fact, it's so good that I plan on just keeping this as a staple in my fridge, to toss into any old salad. Here I paired it with a bit of arugula tossed in olive oil and lemon juice, as well as a perfectly medium-boiled egg. Mmm...ok, one more bite and I'll return to my chaos.

Spiced, Roasted Cauliflower

Note: This is really not a recipe, but more of a suggestion for how you can prepare some cauliflower you've got lying around. You could try this with broccoli, but I have a feeling it won't work out as well. There's a creaminess to cauliflower that pairs very nicely with these spices. Would probably work well with potatoes, okra, turnips, onions, and various kinds of squash. Also, the spices are completely to taste. This is a rough estimation of what I used.

3 cups cauliflower, cut up into equal sized pieces
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp salt
1 tsp red pepper
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
3 tbsp vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Toss all ingredients till cauliflower is well covered. Spread out on baking sheet. Bake till cauliflower begins to brown, and becomes soft. Approximately 30 minutes. Eat hot or at room temperature.

Stuffed Naan (lazy man's version)

So, my family's been Indian my whole life. My mother's been an amazing cook, my whole life. And yet, somehow,  the first time we made this unbelievable concoction was three weeks ago. How is this possible?! I can't emphasize this enough: these things are awesome. In fact, I should warn you to NOT make this recipe. It will only haunt you. Because not only are stuffed naans delicious, they are surprisingly easy to make.

Ok, I'll admit, these aren't REAL naans. Real naan involves actually making a bread dough, which no one in my family really felt like doing. Plus, we had an extra bag of Trader Joe's pizza dough sitting in the fridge, so...

The base ingredient in our version of stuffed naan is paneer, a form of Indian cheese. Now, sometimes, when people hear of a bread stuffed with cheese, they think "Ooh! Gooey, meltey cheese! Awesome!" No. Stop thinking that. Paneer does not melt, nor is it supposed to. It's meant to be crumbly, have texture. Could you add mozzarella or a nice gruyere? Sure. But then you're not eating stuffed naan. Sorry. 

The great thing about this recipe is that it's unbelievably customizable. You can add almost any combination of things. Enjoy sauteed okra, chicken, along with a bit of garlic? Go ahead. How about ground lamb and peas? Why not. Freedom is a beautiful thing.

Our version had a fairly extensive list of ingredients, but I'm pretty sure that's because we just started throwing everything we like in there. There is of course some method to the madness, and the combination of everything we added was...mmmm....let's just say words fail me. Again, with stuffed naan, you don't want to forget about texture. The crumbly goodness of the cheese, paired with the crunch of the cashews and the chew of the raisins really keeps your mouth interested.

Also, don't be afraid of extra stuffing. This can be great in sandwiches, or even on top a pile of greens. 

                        
                        

Now, the one hard part about making stuffed naans is, unsurprisingly, the stuffing part. It's not so bad when you get the hang of if, but they're kinda like pancakes. The first one is always bad. The images above act as a pictorial guide to how to make your naans perfect. I'd refer to them when following the recipe below.

At this point, I was about to eat these things raw. The problem with my family is we enjoy cooking in a very leisurely manner, and halfway through the process we're all dizzy with hunger. Mind you, my sister and I had taken several nibbles of the stuffing at this point to keep up our energy. The seeds on top of ours, by the way, are not sesame. We used kalonji, or Nigella seeds. They are traditionally what you sprinkle on top of Indian breads, but just in case you can't get your hands on some, sesame seeds work just as well.

This is the chicken dish my mother made alongside with our naans. It's a hybrid between Chicken Makhni (Butter Chicken) and Chicken Tikka. As soon as she teaches me how to make it, I promise I'll be passing the knowledge to you guys.

So there you have it. People generally think Indian food is always extremely complicated, but hey, we're pretty lazy people! Shortcuts aren't always a bad thing. And in this case, it's kind of an awesome thing.

Stuffed Naan

*Note: The ingredients you use to stuff your naan can vary incredibly. This is our version, and  it really was phenomenal. Like, sneak down to the kitchen at 2 am and eat the last one cold phenomenal.
*Note II: Any prepared pizza dough works, but I'd recommend Trader Joe's.

1.5 cups paneer, shredded (farmer's cheese and queso blanco work too)
1/3 cup red onion, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp salt
1 small thai green chili
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 tbsp ginger
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup cashews, chopped
32 oz pizza dough
2-3 tbsp sesame seeds
flour, to keep dough from sticking
a bit of olive oil

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Place a cookie sheet inside while you prepare the naans.

Combine the first 11 ingredients, stirring them together.

Place the flour in a small bowl and dip your fingers in, to keep the dough from sticking to your hands. Rip off a chunk of dough, a ball with a diameter of about 2".

Roll into a smooth sphere between your palms, then flatten into a disk with your fingers, stretching the dough a bit near the end. Take a large spoonful of the cheese mixture and place in the middle of the circle. Don't be shy with the stuffing, put a good amount in there. Then, carefully fold the edges into the center, enveloping the filling, till you get a thick patty. Carefully press down and flatten so it becomes thinner and thinner, and the filling inside distributes throughout the naan. You want the finished naan to be about the same size as the original circle of dough.

Take the cookie sheet out of the preheated oven and carefully spread a bit of olive oil on the surface. Place the naans on, giving them about an inch of space all around. Rub a bit more olive oil over the top and sprinkle on the sesame seeds.

Bake the naans for about 20 to 25 minutes. We took them out when we couldn't stand waiting any longer, and they were slightly underdone, which is how I like my breads. If you'd like them fully cooked, I'd give it another 5 minutes or so.