Caramelized Onions and Fusilli

As tasty and satisfying as this meal came out, it was born in disaster...

It all began at Jamba Juice on 5th Avenue on Tuesday, March 29th. Despite working so close, a half hour break still doesn't leave much of a window to order lunch, wait for it and make it back to work in time -- nevermind actually sitting down and eating it. But I tried. I got to work at 7 a.m. (yes, I had to get up before 6!) and was already looking forward to 12:00 because I had already decided to try out the oatmeal at Jamba Juice. I organized all the bread and filled baskets and blah blah, let's fast forward to 12. I rushed downstairs to grab my coat and purse, fumbled with the lock on my locker and the frustration started to build. Forgetting to clock out, I made it outside. I power walked across the street to Jamba Juice and at about 12:08 I found myself in front of the menu, confronted with too many choices, as usual.

"I'll have an oatmeal with fresh bananas and a 16 Orange Carrot Karma."

"We're out of carrots."

"Uhhhhh...." My eyes robot-scanned the menu again and fixed onto the all fruit choices. "Mega Mango, then," I sighed with disappointment.

I waited in line with the suits for the guy behind the blender to call my name. Finally. I sat down with about 10 minutes to have my lunch. I opened my newest issue of Cooking Light anyway to find something for dinner -- something I could make without shopping again. I pretty much decided on the first recipe I found: Fusilli with Caramelized Spring Onions and White Wine.

With dinner hastily decided, I shoved the last bite of (wonderful) oatmeal into my mouth and left with my Mango in hand. I had about 3 minutes to get back to work. With my eyes on the approaching walk signal, my pace quickened on the sidewalk. Then the disaster happened. My Jamba Juice slipped out of my hand and splattered onto the sidewalk. For a split second I contemplated picking it up and saving it to transfer to another cup. But in that split second it continued to pool all over the pavement. I looked up, devastated. An older woman saw my pain and sympathized with my loss, "Oh! I'm so sorry!!"

My sadness quickly transformed to rage. I stormed back to work and fumed about my wasted $4 and my lost nutrients in the form of deliciousness. And what does this loss have to do with my fusilli and caramelized onions, you might ask? Everything. I was looking forward to cooking it and taking photos and taking my time -- a leisurely and enjoyable cooking night. But my Jamba Juice frustration still lingered when I began cooking and as soon as I began I found myself rushing and overly frustrated.

BUT nevertheless, it came out delicious and I will give you the rundown of my recipe. I made some changes from the original.

What You'll Need:

• bread crumbs 
• I made my own with leftover slices of Otto bread from work. Toasted, pulverized & mixed with a little olive oil, chopped garlic, salt and crushed red pepper. Then toasted in the oven for a few minutes.

• garlic: chopped or minced
• onions, thinly sliced (about 1 and a half... I didn't have spring onions -- just regular yellow)
• white wine
• chicken broth
• parmesan rind
• peas
• bacon
• whole wheat fusilli
• quinoa

Put it All Together:

• Caramelize your onions. Ideally, do it nice and slow and low with butter. This equals perfection. I didn't have the time or the patience for this so I used some water and then a little olive oil and sauteed until soft and browned.
• Add a couple cloves of garlic and the wine. Heat it up to cook off the alcohol. Add parmesan rind for flavor (don't eat it!). 
• Add chicken broth and reduce.
• Throw in your frozen peas to heat them all the way through.
• Mix in about a quarter to a third of your prepared quinoa (1 cup uncooked) and most of your pasta (from 1 box). Toss it all together.
• Serve with bread crumbs, grated parmesan and crumbled bacon on top.

And hopefully you can do it all with less frustrations than me.

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Oatmeal - Sunflower - Flax Seed Bread

...Yeah. I know, right?

You know I've been working at the bakery in Eataly so you know it's inevitable that I continue trying out breads. We all knew it would happen. Unfortunately, this time, I didn't have any better yeast to use or different flour or anything. Some day I'll be able to go buy the fancy, expensive stuff... hopefully. But, for now, I'm still using Fleischman's and Trader Joe's flour (which I like).

Now for this bread I looked online at a few different recipes and ended up combining a couple recipes and keeping in mind Eataly's bakery habits and actually wrote my own recipe. Eataly doesn't use any dairy in their breads -- no butter, but olive oil instead. They also don't use any sugar, but I used some honey because it's needed. (Something about using levito madre for a basic sourdough and no need for sugar... I'm not really sure how it works at all.)

The biggest problem I had with this bread was how flat it came out. I think that after it rose the second time I let it sit for too long while I was cooking, so with all the heat on and near the stove, it just kind of deflated and spread out. I should also invest in some kind of a bread loaf pan so I can get a good shape and then I can use the bread for sandwiches.

What You'll Need:

• 1 package of yeast + 3/4 cup of warm water
• 3 tbsp honey
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup oats
• 1 cup boiling water
• 3 cups flour (about that, maybe more or less depending on the stickiness of your dough)

Put it All Together:

• Combine oats, oil, salt and honey.
• Add boiling water and let stand. (At least 20-30 minutes. You want the oats to get soft. I sped this up a little by giving the mixture a couple quick stirs with my immersion blender after about 15 minutes. Not to completely blend it, but to make it less thick.)
• Dissolve yeast in the warm water.
• Add yeast to oat mixture.
• Add flour about 1/2 cup at a time.
• Turn out and knead on a floured surface. Knead flax seeds and sunflower seeds into the dough at this point. Whatever works is fine -- sprinkle them on your surface and just knead as normal or make a little pocket, filling with seeds and continue to knead.
• Put dough in a greased bowl, cover with a damp towel and let it rise somewhere warm for about an hour. 
• Once it's gotten to about twice its size, punch it down and form the dough into whatever shape you want. Place in a loaf pan or on a cookie sheet (or a pizza stone is better, which I learned from the head baker at Eataly), cover again and let it rise for about 40 minutes. 
• Bake at 375... basically until it looks done. At least 20 minutes. 
• Out of the oven, drizzle with honey and sprinkle with oats. (And more seeds too, if you want.)

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Lentil Soup

Now, let's be honest: We've all got a relative (...relatives) who can't cook. I've got one. Well... actually... it's not that she can't cook, but that she doesn't really like cooking as much as me or most of my family. Oddly enough, one of my favorite foods that I always remember looking forward to when I was little was made by her. Lentil soup. She made the best lentil soup. (I also remember at their house they'd always have orange-pineapple-banana juice -- or whatever delicious combination it was -- and dark German bread.)

Obviously this means that lentil soup will now be one of my staples. It's delicious, it's easy and it's healthy. Lentils are really good for you. I made it at my dad's last winter and it came out pretty amazing, if I do say so myself. I made it recently and it wasn't quite as fantastic, but it was still really good. It's all about feeling out the right ratios and experimenting with the flavors you like, right? Right. So here are the basics...

What You'll Need:

• olive oil
• onions
• carrots
• thyme
• marjoram (don't skip this one, you need this for the soup's unique flavor)
• cumin
• parsley
• big can of diced tomatoes
• chicken broth
• lentils (about a cup and half-ish)
• and cheddar!

Put it All Together (So Easy):

• Soak lentils for about 20 minutes and then drain.
• Sautee diced carrots and onion.
• Add all other ingredients (except cheese) and simmer until lentils are soft.

Flavors will work differently if you add seasonings in the beginning of cooking vs. at the end. I wasn't thinking and just added everything all at once, which was fine. It's not so important when you're dealing with dried herbs, but if they were fresh I'd toss 'em in towards the end to retain the fresh flavor. (I probably used almost a teaspoon of each.)

Serve with shredded cheddar on top -- trust me, it makes it!! -- and some fresh bread. Or maybe dark German bread. ;) Delicious, comforting, filling and healthy. Can't be beat.

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The Other (Delicious) White Meat

Whenever I get my Rachael Ray magazine I do the initial, first flip-through. Where I mostly look at titles and photos and read a few of the non-food related articles. Then comes the second scan. This is when I check out ingredients and how long meals take and actually read the recipes I'm interested in. I found one in the Weekly Menu Planning section of April's issue: Herb-Crusted Pork Chops with Broccoli & Onions.

I made a few amendments to the recipe, making the pork chops pretty amazing. I used the idea of toasted bread crumbs and baking in the oven, but took it a little further...

What You'll Need:

• Fat free half & half
• 1 egg
• Brown mustard
• Honey
• Pork chops
• Panko bread crumbs
• Parsley, garlic powder, thyme
• Cheese powder from a macaroni & cheese box (my secret ingredient!)

Put it All Together:

• Whisk together the half & half and egg first. Then squirt in the mustard and honey and whisk together as best you can. The honey might be a little tricky because it's going into cold liquid, but you should be able to get it to spread out enough.
• Put your pork chops in a shallow dish, give them a few stabs with a fork and S&P them. Pour honey mustard mixture over them, making sure they're mostly covered. Cover with plastic wrap and stick in the fridge.
• Now, I did this about 3 hours before dinner. You could definitely do it the night before and it would be even better!
• When you're ready, preheat the oven to 425 and heat up a little olive oil in a skillet and add panko bread crumbs. Stir them around a lot while they're in the pan so they all get a chance to get toasty brown. 
• Move the bread crumbs to a shallow dish to cool. Then add about 2/3 of a cheese packet from a mac & cheese box, a few good shakes of garlic powder, just a little parsley and thyme and pepper.
• Get your pork chops out, smoosh them and slide them around a little in their egg mixture before coating them in the bread crumbs. (Sprinkle some extra on top.)
• Place coated chops on a greased rack (I just used the rack from the toaster oven) on top of a cookie sheet lined with foil -- just to make your clean-up easier. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

They will be tender and moist from soaking in the egg and half & half and they'll be crunchy and tasty from the bread crumb mixture! I served them with broccoli and red onion, like the Rachael Ray recipe called for -- with the addition of sliced tomatoes on top -- and quinoa (prepared with chicken broth and a small splash of olive oil).


Broccoli & Red Onion: Heat up some olive oil, soften sliced onion a little. Add broccoli with S&P and toss as much as you can. Add a little water on the bottom for broccoli to steam, cover & cook until tender (but still a little crunch).

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Meet Boris

Originally I was 110% against the presence of Boris in my kitchen -- even during Halloween. But he is The Boyfriend's favorite seasonal decoration, so up he went. Then November came... Then tinsel and candy canes hung from Boris's spindly gams. And now, there he is, letting the springtime air come through the window. And you know what? I love that guy. 

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Sometimes I Need Easy

This dinner isn't exactly "blog-worthy," but I figured I'd share it anyway... I mean, it's all part of the eating/cooking/food adventure, right?

And sometimes dinner needs to be this easy:

...End Scene...

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