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Delicious Chocolate Cupcakes (that also happen to be gluten-free)

Roza and cupcakes

Cupcakes
Frosted Cupcakes

If you read the title, let me preface this post by saying that I am not often a baker of gluten-free food… Actually, I’m not ever really a gluten-free (GF) cook, if I have anything to do with it. The GF baked goods that I have had in my life are generally sad, deflated looking little things, and usually don’t taste super. So, I try to avoid it.

As you may know, this past year, Jonah and I were nannying for a family, and they are gluten free. I had baked some things for them before (muffins, breads, even pie) and while they were impressed because it usually was pretty good, I was not. You’re going to tell me that pie dough that I made with potato and coconut flour and butter was better than my usual flour-butter-shortening? I don’t think so. But when Roza’s birthday rolled around (see photo below), I wanted to make her the best GF cupcakes I could find. How could you not with a face like that? And I must say, If you just gave me that cupcake, I would not know that it doesn’t have any sugar or flour in it. It is perfectly fluffy and dense at the same time, perfectly chocolatey without being too sweet… It was good. So yeah, these are, by non-GF standards, good cupcakes.

Now let me tell you a bit about Roza. She is the cutest 4 year old I’ve ever met in my life. With a voice like a cartoon character and an endlessly positive attitude, she always had the ability to make me howl with laughter. She was super into Curious George at the time, and we had been reading her this story where George is home alone and finds all these party favors and decorations and cake ingredients, etc. for a party, so he decorates and makes the cake, and then it turns out the party is for him! So Roza’s mom decided to do the same thing. All week, Roza cleaned the house with her little miniature broom for a party she knew we were having, and then she and I decided to make cupcakes for said party. Then, at dinner on Friday with her parents and me and Jonah, we surprised her with the fact that this all was her own birthday party! It was the most adorable thing ever. Their family doesn’t eat sweets a whole lot, and usually sweets aren’t things like chocolate cupcakes, so she was pretty enthused by the idea of baking sweets like these. While we were making them, we had this conversation about 20 times:

Roza: Annie, do you know what is yummy?
Annie: What’s yummy, Roza.
Roza: Chocolate… (Breaks into giggles).

Have I mentioned how much I love her? I have? Ok. I’ll stop.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Cupcakes

Note: A lot of GF recipes will not use just coconut flour. In fact, when I told Roza’s parents that this recipe only had coconut flour, they didn’t think it would be very successful. But the key is using LOTS of wet ingredients. Coconut flour soaks up moisture like nothing else, so in order to balance it out, the batter will seem pretty wet. But it works, I swear.

Ingredients

Cupcakes

¼ cup coconut flour
¼ cup cocoa powder
¼ tsp sea salt
½ tsp baking soda
3 eggs
¼ cup canola oil (the recipe called for grapeseed, but I used canola because it’s what we had around)
½ cup agave nectar (we did a little bit less than this since their family is into less sweeteners)

Frosting

1 cup chocolate chips (preferably dark)
½ cup canola oil (again, the recipe called for grapeseed, but I still didn’t have any)
2 Tbl agave nectar
1 Tbl vanilla extract
a pinch of salt

Instructions

Cupcakes

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. In a mixing bowl, combine coconut flour, cacao powder, salt and baking soda and stir. In a larger mixing bowl, blend together the eggs, oil and agave. Then mix the dry into the wet, and stir until thoroughly combined. Line your cupcake tin with liners, and scoop about 1/4 cup of batter into each liner. Bake them for ~20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Frosting

In a small saucepan over very low heat (or in a double boiler, if you’re feeling that it’s necessary), melt chocolate and oil together. Stir in the agave, vanilla, and salt. Then put the frosting in the freezer for 15 minutes to chill and thicken – mine took longer than 15 minutes to thicken up, but then it was a bit difficult to spread because I think I left it in the freezer for too long… I’m sure there’s a happy medium here, I just didn’t quite hit the nail on the head my first try). After removing from the freezer, whip it with a hand blender (or transfer from the pot you used to a standing mixer and use that) until it is fluffed up. Spread over the cupcakes and enjoy! Roza definitely did.

The Greatest Fish Tacos!

Filling for Fish Tacos

Fish Tacos

Hello all. Summer is tip-toeing out these days. And, while I’m sad that the warmth and long days are leaving, I must admit I’m excited to start wearing sweaters and scarves and boots – my fall uniform. The other nice thing about the very gradual transition this year – the temperature is slowly going from a high of 90 to a high of 72, and that’s great – is that it’s a gentle reminder to make all my favorite summer dishes I haven’t made yet.

These fish tacos are easily in my top 5 summer meals. They’re relatively easy and refreshing. I suppose they could be made year round, but to me they just seem to go with sunshine and shorts. I like to make some roasted corn for a side dish and wash it all down with a light summer ale.

Fish Tacos

Ingredients

Lime-Cumin-Dijon vinaigrette

2 Tbl fresh lime juice
2 tsp dijon mustard
3/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
6 Tbl olive oil

Fish Tacos

2-2 1/2 cups roughly flaked cooked halibut (about 12 oz)
3 Tbl mayonnaise
1 scallion, white and light green parts only, minced
1/2 cup minced celery leaves and stalks
1/4 cup chopped green olives (optional… I don’t usually include these. Another option is to prep them and not add them to the mixture, but to serve as a garnish/possible topping)
1 cup arugula, roughly chopped (or other “peppery green”)
1 cup cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
6 small corn tortillas (the 4 inch ones)
other serving options:  yogurt or sour cream, goat cheese, slices of avocado, and lime wedges

Instructions

To make the vinaigrette, put the lime juice, mustard, cumin, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Whisk together, and while whisking, add the olive oil in a slow steady stream. Whisk until the dressing is well combined.

Now onto the filling. In a mixing bowl, combine the fish, 2 Tbl of the vinaigrette you just made, the mayonnaise, scallion, and celery and mix gently. You want to be sure to be gentle because you don’t want to break up the fish too much. If you’re using the olives, mix them in as well. In a separate bowl (I know, another bowl!) toss the arugula and cilantro with just enough of the vinaigrette so that it is lightly and evenly coated. Now the recipe leaves the fish and the greens separate, which you totally can, but for the sake of not having a thousand dishes on the table, I usually just lightly fold the greens in to the fish so it’s all one big mixture.

When you’re ready to eat, heat the tortillas however you’d like (the recipe recommends over a gas flame, but that sounds a little frightening to me, so I am a fan of a dry pan or, if need be, a microwave). Put the tortillas on plates, put on a layer of the fish and a layer of greens (if you’ve left them separate; if not, just heap it all on there). Then top your tacos with whatever garnishes you choose, and enjoy! Be sure there are napkins around, because there are juicy little buggers.

Old Fashioned Strawberry Shortcake

Shortcake
Shortcake

A perfect scene for eating shortcake

Wow you guys. This is the longest I have gone without posting here. I’m going to do my best to get back on the horse, but I can’t make any promises. Here are a few reasons August was a little rough:

1) We travelled quite a bit. To Seattle twice: once for a farewell party for my sister (who just moved to Berkeley, CA to pursue her dreams), once for a wedding (congrats to Johnny and Sophie!), and then to Minnesota for Jonah’s family reunion.

2) I was nannying AND working at Pagatim. It was… a lot.

3) We moved! It’s official! We now live in a beautiful grown up house with friends. I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to have doors between rooms (for example, there is not only a door between our bedroom and kitchen, but an entire floor/ceiling, which means Jonah can no longer wake me up in the morning by eating his cereal), a full sized kitchen (with a dishwasher!), big windows and lots of light, a patio out back… the list goes on.

But really, I know there is no excuse to leave you hanging like that, so my hope is to not let that happen again. One of the times I went to Seattle this summer, we went to see a viewing of The Princess Bride at the Mural Amphitheater right under the Space Needle. It was so fun, and we packed a wonderful picnic to bring along. I made these shortcakes for dessert, and they were so delicious.

Strawberry Shortcake

Makes 8 shortcakes

Ingredients

Shortcake

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
2/3 cup granulated sugar, plus 1/3 cup to top shortcakes
1 tsp fine sea salt
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
4 tsp lemon zest
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Strawberry Filling

2 pints ripe strawberries, hulled and sliced (I think we used raspberries instead)
2 Tbl granulated sugar
2-3 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
We also added a few roughly chopped mint and lemon verbena leaves

Whipped cream for serving, preferably homemade

Instructions

Shortcake

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter a baking sheet. Mix together the flour, baking powder, cornmeal, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Then stir in the cream and lemon zest. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and form it into a ball, then knead about 12 times, or until the dough holds its shape (careful not to overwork it!). Cut the dough into 8 equal portions and form the portions into balls. Dip each ball into the melted butter, and then dip half of the ball into the (1/3 cup) sugar. Place each ball onto the baking sheet, sugared side up. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown on edges and baked through. Cool on a wire rack.

Strawberry Filling

While the shortcake is baking, you can get started on the fruit. Now, I didn’t follow the recipe when it came to the fruit. I combined the berries, sugar, lemon, and herbs in a pot and put it over low heat. Let it cook, stirring frequently, until the sugar is absorbed and the berries start to soften, then remove from heat. (You can also prepare the whipped cream while the shortcakes are baking.)

To serve, slice the shortcakes in half horizontally, spoon a heaping serving of the fruit over the bottom half, then put on as much whipped cream as you’d like, and put the top on. These are a lovely end-of-summer dessert, simple but really delicious. Enjoy!

Flinsen (Or Pflinzen)

Flinsen

In honor of Father’s Day, Jonah and I made flinsen. Whenever we see Jonah’s dad, Randy, he makes us flinsen. Randy will stand at the stove and make these pancakes, handing them out one at a time, hot off the stove, until everyone is full. Then he will sit down and eat. What a caring dad, right? I love Randy. (Another awesome thing about Randy is that he makes cheese, and good cheese at that!)

Flinsen

Ingredients

1 egg per person
1/2 cup flour per person
milk

Toppings for serving: yogurt, maple syrup, jam, sliced fruit, butter, and cinnamon sugar are all good options!

Instructions

Flinsen are easy. Put one egg per person that will be eating in a bowl and scramble them. Now add 1/2 cup flour per person. Now add milk until it’s the right consistency. “Wow, Annie,” you must be thinking, “That’s a great instruction.” I know, I know. You want it to be like really thin pancake batter. Think crepes.

Throw a slab of butter into a 10 inch fry pan over medium heat. Spread the melty butter around, and take about a 1/4 cup measure full of batter, and dump it into the pan. Here’s the tricky part. While you’re pouring the batter into the pan, you need to pick up the pan and swirl it around so the batter makes a thin layer over the whole pan. It may take a couple tries to get the hang of it, but you can do it! Pile them on a plate (or a pan and put them in a low oven to keep them warm).

Now comes filling time. You can put whatever you want inside, kind of like a crepe. Jonah’s got me hooked on greek yogurt and a drizzle of syrup. Jam is also good, sliced fruit is too, and even plain ol’ butter and cinnamon sugar. Enjoy!

Rhubarb Curd Shortbread

Rhubarb shortbread.
Rhubarb shortbread

Rhubarb shortbread

Ok you guys. It has been too long. Again. But I promise I have good reasons: 3 jobs, a show (The Sound of Music!), and sunlight. I’ve been nannying part time, working at the office part time, and doing social media an hour a day, then going to many many hours of rehearsal in a suburb or Portland. So no time for cooking OR blogging. But here I am, backstage at the show, and I decided, I HAVE to do this.

You’ll have to excuse the iPhone photos for the next couple of posts (or Instagram, whichever I had the energy to use). Along with leaving my 8×8 pan at the cabin in the woods (which it turns out I needed for this recipe), I also left my camera charger… so my camera was sitting, dead and useless, for quite a while. So I know the pictures aren’t as good of quality as usual, but just bear with me until I get my camera up and running again!

I found this recipe on Food52 while looking for shortbread recipes to eat with a fruit compote. I love rhubarb, and am always looking for different and unique recipes, so I thought this would be a fun one to try. Warning: it is labor intensive and dish heavy. Read through this recipe all the way before you start. Please. You’ve been warned. Here’s what you’ll need:

Rhubarb Curd Shortbread

Ingredients

Rhubarb Curd

3/4 lb rhubarb (about 6 stalks)
4 Tbl water
1/4 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup plus 1/8 cup sugar
1 tsp lemon zest
2 tsp lemon juice
3 Tbl butter, cut into chunks

Shortbread Crust

12 Tbl butter, cut into chunks
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 pinch ground clove

Instructions

Rhubarb Curd

First, cut the rhubarb into one inch pieces. Heat the rhubarb, 1/4 cup of sugar, and water in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook it until the rhubarb is falling apart and there are no whole pieces left (you can help it along by mashing with your mixing tool, a wooden spoon works great). It you have an immersion blender or a regular blender, puree the mixture. If you don’t have either of those, push the mixture through a strainer. I advise one of the blender methods.

If you have a double boiler, put a couple inches of water in the pot of it and set it over medium heat. If you don’t have a double boiler, find two pots that are about the same diameter, so that one can be set atop the other without going into whatever is in the bottom pot. Put egg yolks, butter, remaining sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice in the top pot and set over the simmering bottom pot, and whisk to combine. When the sugar dissolves, add the rhubarb puree by the spoonful (to temper the eggs). When all the rhubarb is added, put the pot over the boil again. Stir for about 5 minutes, until the mixture is warm and slightly thickened, then remove from heat. Press the mixture through a strainer – this is an important step! It’ll give the curd a smooth texture.

Shortbread Crust

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees while you make the shortbread: blend all the ingredients for the shortbread in a stand mixer or food processor. Now, the recipe says to wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate it, but I didn’t and it was just fine. The recipe also says to roll it into an 8X8 square and put it into an 8X8 pan… but I just dumped the dough into a pie dish and pushed it outwards until it was spread out. Bake the shortbread for 30 minutes until golden brown. Set to cool on a rack.

Use a spatula to spread the curd evenly over the shortbread. Put it in the oven for another 10 minutes, remove, and allow to cool on a rack. Then refrigerate for another 20 minutes. It’ll be nice and firm enough to slice cleanly. Enjoy! (If you want to wait another couple minutes, you can dust with powdered sugar… I couldn’t wait.)

Coconut Curried Fried Rice

Fried Rice

Fried rice

Wow. So this recipe happened a long time ago. I’ve recently started rehearsals for a show (my first professional show) in Portland – The Sound of Music! I’m a nun. I know, silly silly. But oh well. So between work, nannying, social media, and rehearsals, I have been a bit fried. Kind of like this rice. So it’s all very fitting.

This rice is easy and delicious. What else do I need to say? I found the recipe on A Cozy Kitchen, a blog I really enjoy. I’ve adjusted it a bit to include things I really like in my fried rice.

Coconut Curried Fried Rice

Ingredients

Turmeric Coconut Rice

1 1/4 cups water
1 cup basmati or jasmine rice
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 piece cinnamon stick

Curry Fried Rice

1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tablespoon green or red Thai curry paste
1 medium carrot, peeled and diced
3/4 cup frozen peas
1 can pineapple chunks
1 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1 firm or extra firm tofu, chicken, or other protein (optional)
soy sauce

Instructions

Turmeric Coconut Rice

Combine all ingredients in a rice cooker or a pot and cook. When rice is ready, remove the cinnamon stick and either use immediately or you can refrigerate for a few days until you’re ready to make the fried rice.

Curry Fried Rice

Have all of your ingredients prepped and ready to go when you start as the process moves a little quickly. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large skillet or wok. Add the eggs and cook on medium-high heat. When the edges of the eggs begin to set, gently flip them over or just scramble them, if that’s easier for you. Once the eggs are cooked, remove them from the pan and cut into pieces or strips (that step isn’t necessary if you scrambled them). Wipe the wok clean with a paper towel.

Heat the rest of the oil on medium heat. Add the carrot and cook for a minute, then add the garlic and curry paste and cook for a minute, stirring constantly. Add the rice, peas, and pineapple and cook until heated through. Stir in the egg strips, soy sauce and lime juice.

Meanwhile, slice up your tofu (or chicken or other protein) and cook it to your liking in some Asian influenced sauces. I like to do a little soy sauce and fish sauce or hoisin sauce… the possibilities are endless.

Serve the rice with the tofu, and season with soy sauce and sriracha if you like it hot!

Pasta Salad with Feta and Snow Peas

Pasta salad

Pasta salad

One of my resolutions this summer is to have more picnics. This shouldn’t be too hard, seeing as we have a lovely park a few blocks from our house. So a couple weeks ago, we had our first picnic! I texted a bunch of friends and asked everyone to bring some food and we all met at the park.

Jonah and I brought this miniature amp we have and hooked my phone up and played some music, we had chips, strawberries, veggies and ranch dip, and this delicious pasta salad that Jonah made. It was perfectly filling and refreshing. Great for a summer day! And it was a big hit.  We found the recipe on Martha Stewart’s website. We adapted a little bit (because I’m not a huge fan of bell peppers, which is beginning to change), so here’s our version.

Pasta Salad with Feta and Snow Peas

Ingredients

Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 pound fusilli
4 oz snow peas, strings removed, cut in half
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 cup (4 ounces) crumbled feta cheese (we did a bit more)
2 Tbl olive oil
2 Tbl rice vinegar
1 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Instructions

Cook your pasta according to the package. During the last minute of cooking, add in the snow peas so they’ll be a little cooked. Drain the pasta and peas and rinse with cold water to cool and stop from cooking. In a large bowl, combine the pasta and peas with scallions, cilantro, feta, oil, vinegars, salt, and pepper. Toss to combine, and serve chilled or at room temperature.

Gingered Rhubarb Crisp

Rhubarb
Rhubarb

Rhubarb

You know what has started? Our neighborhood farmer’s market! I couldn’t be more excited. Jonah and I walked over for the first time and bought some sweet little carrots and some of the most beautiful rhubarb I had ever seen in my life. Seriously.

Now, for those who know me, you are award I have an obsession with rhubarb. If you don’t know me, well…now you know that much more. Strawberry rhubarb is my dad’s favorite kind of pie, and he and I spent one summer searching for the perfect recipe. We made probably a pie every other week. And we found what is, in my opinion, the best recipe. I still haven’t decided if I’m going to give you the filling recipe, but if I do it will be later. I’ve already given you the pie dough recipe.

This recipe, however, is one that my older sister discovered a few summers ago. It’s perfect for a) not having any strawberries, but having lots of rhubarb and b) wanting rhubarb dessert but not having enough time to make a pie. That shit’s time consuming. It’s so delicious: the ginger really brings out the tartness of the rhubarb, and I love the nuts in the topping. I halved the recipe because we all know what happens when there’s extra dessert lying around (hint: it ends up in my belly).

Gingered Rhubarb Crisp

Ingredients

Rhubarb Filling

Vegetable oil spray or butter wrapper (see instructions)
3 pounds rhubarb, cut into ½-inch chunks
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon flour
½ cup sugar
½ teaspoon ground ginger

Crumble Topping

¾ cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup old-fashioned oats
¾ cup packed light brown sugar
¾ cup chopped walnuts
¾ teaspoon ground ginger
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, or plain Greek yogurt for serving (I wish we’d had Greek yogurt… sounds so good).

Instructions

Rhubarb Filling

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and spray an 8- by 8-inch baking pan lightly with the vegetable oil spray and set aside. If you don’t have vegetable oil spray, take the wrapper from the butter you use in the recipe and just rub the pan with that. Jonah and I keep a stash of butter wrappers in our fridge for this exact reason.

Stir the rest of the filling ingredients (rhubarb, flour, sugar, and 1/2 tsp ground ginger) in a mixing bowl until the fruit is nicely coated with the flour. Spread the rhubarb evenly in the pan and bake it in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes.

Crumble Topping

While the fruit is baking, make the crisp topping (you can use the same bowl you used for the fruit – I’m all for fewer dishes): Mix all the topping ingredients except the butter together in the bowl. Pour the melted butter over the dry ingredients, and mix thoroughly until all the ingredients are evenly moistened. With the melted butter. That’s right.

Take the pan of rhubarb out of the oven and spread the topping in an even layer over the fruit. It’s probably a good idea to put the pan on a baking sheet (maybe even lined with foil) to catch any drips. Or just do it in a bigger pan. That’s up to you I guess. Anyway, bake it for another 30 minutes or until the topping is golden brown and the filling is bubbling. Serve warm with ice cream, whipped cream, or Greek yogurt.

Thai-Style Steak Salad

Salad

Salad

Life has been crazy busy. I know I keep saying that, but then it keeps getting busier. Maybe I’m jinxing it. Anyway, cooking has definitely been put on the back burner, which is a bummer. Mostly because I love good food and I love cooking it. But it’s hard when you come home and you’re tired and you have to look for recipes and then go to the store, etc. Lately, Jonah and I have been all for quick, light meals. I found a bunch of delicious looking main dish salads on Martha Stewart’s website. This is the Thai-Style Steak Salad. We halved it but I’ll give you the original recipe, which serves 4.

Thai-Style Steak Salad

Ingredients

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 boneless rib-eye steaks (each 8 ounces and 3/4 inch thick)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1/2 pound carrots (3 to 4 medium)
1 medium head romaine lettuce, cut crosswise into 1-inch ribbons
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
1/3 cup salted peanuts, chopped (optional)
Peanut sauce (optional)

Instructions

First, make the marinade by whisking the lime juice, soy sauce, sugar, red pepper flakes, and oil in a bowl. Season the steaks with a bit of salt and pepper, place them in a dish, and pour 1/4 of the marinade over the steaks (save the rest of the marinade in a bowl). Turn the steaks to coat and let them marinate for 30 minutes.

In a large skillet, cook the steaks on medium-high heat. Cook it 2-3 minutes per side for it to be medium-rare. Cook it more if you want. Transfer the meat to a cutting board, tent it with aluminum foil, and let it rest for 5-10 minutes. Slice the steaks nice and thin, preferably 1/4 inch-thick. If they’re too long, you can halve the slices crosswise. Transfer the meat back to the bowl with the marinade and toss it to coat.

While the meat is resting (or marinating, for that matter), peel the carrots into ribbons with a peeler. Chop the peanuts too, while you’re at it. Add the carrots to the bowl with the steak, as well as the lettuce and the mint, and toss to combine. Divide evenly into shallow bowls, sprinkle with the peanuts (and peanut sauce if you want), and serve!

Thai Beef and Basil Stir Fry

Stir fry

Stir fry

Wow you guys. Life has been crazy and a half. After being laid off at the end of February, I just started a new job and I’m totally in love with it. I’m just an assistant really, but the woman I’m assisting is the CEO of this start-up company and she’s super smart, creative, fun, and kind. I’ve been working with her now for two weeks and I’m having such a blast and learning lots. Also, it’s at the same place where Jonah works, so we get to drive to work together (and then not really see each other all day because he’s in the studio and I’m at the CEO’s desk) and then go home! I’ll admit, I was a little worried about it, but it’s really fun, actually. So that’s a little update on my life and perhaps a bit of an excuse as to why it’s been almost a week since I’ve posted. I was so not used to working a full time job that at the end of each day, I was so tired that I didn’t want to cook. But I’m now getting used to the new schedule and getting back in the kitchen.

This stir fry is the most delicious stir fry that I’ve maybe ever had. I found it while surfing food52, one of my new favorite food blog things. It’s really different than a lot of stir fry or Asian-influenced dishes and super flavorful. And pretty dang easy. This recipe serves 2, so if you’re feeding more than that, multiply. I’ve adapted a little bit.

Thai Beef and Basil Stir Fry

Ingredients

Fish Chili Sauce

1/2-1 serrano pepper, chopped
1 Tbl fish sauce
1/4 cup water
1 clove garlic, chopped

Stir Fry

1 Tbl vegetable oil
2/3 lb. ground beef
1 red onion, sliced thinly
1 serrano pepper, chopped (more if you want it spicier)
3-5 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 Tbl soy sauce, plus some for finishing
1 Tbl fish sauce, plus some for finishing
1/2 tsp brown sugar
1 cup thai basil leaves, packed (I just used regular basil… It was fine)
1 fried egg per person

Rice for serving

Instructions

First, make the chili sauce by combining the four ingredients in a bowl, stir, and set it aside.

Start cooking your rice! It’s always good to do a 2:1 water to rice ratio, bring it to a boil, and then turn down the heat to a simmer, and let it cook, covered. Check it occasionally and when it’s done, turn off the heat. Heat the wok or a fry pan with oil. When the oil starts to smoke, add the garlic, chili, sugar and onion. Cook until the onions have softened and become a golden brown.

Add the meat and cook for about 5 minutes, then add the soy sauce and fish sauce. Fry until the meat is thoroughly cooked, another 2-3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and add the basil leaves, mixing them in until they’re wilted. Put the stir fry in bowls over rice and fry an egg per person. Put the egg on the stir fry and you’re done! Accompany with fish sauce and say sauce to taste!

Pistachio Butter Cups

Pistachio Butter Cups
Pistachio Butter Cups

Pistachio Butter Cups

Another recipe brought to you by food52. The same day I made that scallops dinner for Jonah, I also made him these pistachio chocolates (think Reeses cups but with pistachio filling). What can I say, I was feeling loving and ambitious. This was the first time I’ve ever made a candy/chocolate thing, so I was a little scared and often felt like “am I doing this right?” but it all worked out. And actually, now that I’ve done it, I can confidently say that it was pretty easy! But I would definitely advise reading through the whole recipe before you get started (I actually always advise that, but especially in this case).

Pistachio Butter Cups

Ingredients

1 cup shelled pistachios
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
12 oz. dark chocolate, chopped

Special equipment: mini muffin liners

Instructions

I found I needed a little more chocolate than the recipe called for, but I think I used too much in the first step, which you’ll see below, and because of that the chocolate overwhelmed the pistachio filling a little bit.

Melt the chocolate in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until 75% of chunks are melted, and just stir to melt the rest. Set 24 mini muffin liners out (I did it on a baking sheet so they’d be easier to move and such. Add a spoonful (think maybe 1 1/2 – 2 teaspoons) of chocolate to each liner. Use the back of the spoon to push the chocolate up the sides of the liner. I pushed it up almost all the way to the top (see picture). Put the liners in the fridge for half an hour to cool until they’re solid.

While the chocolate is cooling, put the pistachios, salt, and butter into a food processor and process until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and 1-2 Tbl of water until you have a thick frosting consistency. Remove the chocolate-filled liners from the fridge. You’ll see that because you’ve pushed the chocolate up the sides, you’ve got a nice mini chocolate bowl. Add about 1/2 Tbl to each liner. How to go about this is tricky. I had to use my fingers to kind of smooth out the filling, as I wanted it to be flat (like a Reeses would be), but it stuck more to my fingers than to the chocolate. But I figured it out and it worked just fine.

Reheat the remaining chocolate (as you did above) and spoon it over the pistachio mixture until it’s thoroughly covered. You want the top layer of chocolate to meet the chocolate that was pushed up the sides of the liner so that the pistachio filling is encased in it. Allow to cool and enjoy!

Scallops with Mashed Potatoes and Haricots Verts

scallops

Scallops
scallops

Ok, so I know I’ve talked about how I’m not really crazy about ingredient-heavy recipes. And really, usually I’m not. But when I’m trying to cook a nice, fancy, romantic dinner for someone, I’ll usually put that aside and just go for it. Especially if the recipe is still really not very difficult and I’ve been eyeing it for a while. I found this recipe while surfing around on Food52, which is a great resource for recipes. Seriously, great. I’ve found so many things I want to make. And it’s a cool food community, I’m not sure what the requirements are for posting, but it seems there are a lot of food bloggers who also post there… Anyway, it’s really neat. You should check it out.

So I found this recipe for scallops and accoutrements and it had been sitting on my Pinterest, giving me longing looks whenever I visited, asking “why haven’t you made me yet?” The opportunity arose where I actually had time to go to the store and take my time, buy some wine, and make Jonah a nice dinner. And while he did end up helping (quite a bit) I think he appreciated the gesture. I’ll also say that I usually find it pretty pretentious when people call green beans “haricots verts.” It’s like, we don’t all speak French, why confuse people? They’re just green beans. But I dunno… sometimes it’s fun to throw in some French.

Scallops with Mashed Potatoes and Haricots Verts

Ingredients

4-6 sea scallops (dry pack is way way better than previously frozen, as always)
4 Tbl butter, room temperature
1 tsp shallot, minced
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 1/2 Tbl Italian parsley, minced
enough green beans for 2 (in our case), rinsed and trimmed
3 russet potatoes (medium-large), peeled and cut into chunks
1/2-1 cup heavy cream
2 Tbl butter
2 Tbl chives, minced
salt and pepper
2 Tbl canola oil

Instructions

First things first, some scallops have a little 1/2 inch strip of muscle that attaches it to the shell. It isn’t a nice texture in your mouth, so you’ll want to remove it. (I’ve never had a scallop with this little band, but it’s just good to check and make sure). Now either put them on paper towel on a plate or on a cooling rack over a tray to catch any juices and put them in the fridge.

Now the butter: combine the butter, shallot, garlic, and parsley until combined. Was that so hard? No. Moving right along.

Put the potatoes in a large pot of cold water, and season heavily with salt. Put the pot over high heat until it starts to boil. Then reduce the heat (just so it doesn’t boil over, but keep it at a rolling boil) and cook until the potatoes are tender. Drain them in a colander and let them dry for a few minutes. Now you can mash them with a fork, a ricer, BUT I’ve just discovered that an electric mixer makes for a great masher. Throw the potatoes in the bowl, add the butter, and blend (I used the paddle attachment). Once the butter is melted and incorporated, you can add the cream 1/4 cup at a a time until the potatoes are creamy to your liking. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix in the chives. If you aren’t ready to serve yet, wait to add the chives until you are.

Take about a teaspoon of the butter you made, throw it in a pan, and add the green beans. Cook over medium heat until done – some like crunchy, some like a little softer, so just keep an eye on them and cook until they’re done to your liking. While those are cooking, bring out the scallops and season them with salt and pepper. Put a large fry pan over high heat and, once hot, add the oil. You want it to shimmer, but not to smoke. Carefully add the scallops (careful as the oil will probably spit a bit and can hurt) and saute until the first side is caramelized. Turn them and caramelize the other side, and remove them from the heat.

Now put a nice serving on a plate, put the scallops on top, and place a little dollop of the butter on top of each scallop. Add the haricots verts (ahem, green beans), and you’re done! That really wasn’t that hard for a fancy dinner with more than a few ingredients, was it? Enjoy with a nice cold glass of white wine (if you’re of age, that is).