Tag Archives: food

Top 10 recipes

On the occasion of my first year of blogging, I decided to put together a list of my top ten recipes. Let me explain what this does not mean: these are not the hands-down most delicious ones of all. Since I only share recipes that I think are fantastic and mouth-watering (seriously, it’s part of my personal manifesto), I would be in worlds of trouble trying to rank them in any kind of objective manner. So I decided to pick according to which recipes I have actually made the most times (a rare occurrence in itself, since I’m always chomping at the bit to make something new).

Without further ado, here are my 10 most frequented!

1. Chili-Cheese Etouffée: I have made this dish so many times I can’t count ’em. Okay, maybe six or seven. It’s the perfect recipe for large gatherings–it makes a ton of food, and the flavors are friendly to almost all.

2. Dhal Makhani: I’ve made this about 3 times and just love it. The simplicity, the flavor, the inexpensive ingredients, the health value. Yes.

3. Perfect Mushroom Soup: It’s creamy, it’s got Parmesan, and it’s loaded with mushrooms. If that doesn’t sell you, well, you’d better go see a counselor because you need serious help.

4. Pôts de Crème: this chocolatey marvel is my go-to dessert for dinner parties. It can be made and refrigerated the night before, so all you have to do before it’s served is whip the cream. It takes about 5 minutes to make in a blender, and the results are groaningly good.

5. Veronica’s Buttery Beer Bread: this bread is also so easy and quick to make, and it’s the perfect accompaniment to that Perfect Mushroom Soup up yonder. And probably any soup. I think I’ve made it about 3 times, which is 3 times more than any other bread I’ve attempted.

6. Shredded Brussel Sprouts with Bacon and Nutmeg: this delicious veggie side is friggin’ addicting. I could eat shovelfuls of the stuff. Seriously. The meatiness of the bacon, the freshness of the lemon juice and ground nutmeg–it’s the stuff obsessions are made of.

7. Chess Pie: this was the first recipe I shared, and I posted it on my blog’s 3rd day of life. It’s another easier-than-easy dessert: it takes probably 10 minutes total to get the pie in the oven and take care of the byproduct called ‘dirty dishes’. It’s easy to make a double or triple batch for a party or potluck, and I’ve probably made about 8 of them in the past year.

8. Mushroom Sage Pasta: it’s an old favorite, and not much needs to be said about it except for these few words: mushrooms. Gorgonzola. White wine. Garlic.

9. Mush: I mused yesterday about the hideousness of my food photography at that point in my blogging efforts. However (with one exception which I’ll get to in a minute) this is definitely the recipe I have made the most in the past year–heck, it’s the recipe I’ve made the most in my life. It took shape during our first year of marriage, and my husband and I get excited every time we put it on the menu. Envision this: cherry or grape tomatoes and zucchini slowly cooked in butter and garlic, and subsequently piled on rice. Top it off with a couple fried or poached eggs and it’s simply incredible. Just try to get past the picture.

10. Szechwan Green Beans: you know how they say it’s the exception that proves the rule? Well I’m cheating with this final selection. I’ve only made this recipe once–but it’s because I only discovered it last month! It’s quick, perfect for a weeknight dinner, and so delicious that my taste buds are about to stage a rebellion in my mouth unless I feed it to them right now.

Well my friends, I’m signing off. Not before giving a quick plug to an eleventh recipe which I endorse all the time however has some of the worst pictures I’ve ever taken. If you can get past my amateur efforts with the ole Nikon, you will realize that this dish is amazing. It’s my personal Old Faithful and solution to that jolt of Oh Crap What Am I Going To Eat that we sometimes experience when dinner time is nigh. Tip: the blue cheese crumbles on top are 100% necessary.

Have a wonderful Thursday everyone!

White Bean Garlic Dip

I recently discovered a love for cannellini beans. They created an ‘aha!’ moment in my brain: you don’t necessarily need heavy whipping cream to make things creamy. “Thank you!!” cried my bottom. “Thank you,” cried my thighs. “Thank you!” cried my left ventricle. Seriously–puree some of these babies, and you could fool your own grandma with this creamy asparagus soup or this cilantro lime bean soup.

Anyway, when I saw this simple dip recipe that uses cannellini beans as its main ingredient, I grinned and put it on the menu. Me and those beans, we got an understandin,’ see. It’s a winner, and the fact that my old friend ‘garlic’ was also a main feature only strengthened my resolve to make it.

By the way, if you’re into the whole food blogging scene you should really take a few minutes to browse through Tracy’s blog, Sugarcrafter. She’s got great stuff on there, from this winning dip to Margarita Bars to Jambalaya to everything you could think of making with Nutella, her recent obsession.

Nutella . . . yes, it was also my obsession in Paris 7 years ago, and it led to some really, really embarassing pictures that I absolutely can’t share.

Okay, fine. I’ll share.

Phew–am I ever glad to be out of my late teens/early twenties! They taught me the meaning of ‘bacne,’ a horrible word which I shall never ever again repeat crossmyhearthopetodie, pokeyourmotherintheeye. I also realized in very recent years that plastering my hair against my head in a shrinkwrapped version of the bun was not an extremely attractive way to fix my hair. One day I’ll share a picture-based history of my hairdos and by the end you’ll be scratching your scalp and pulling our your eyebrows–it’s bad. And it will cause you physical and emotional pain to walk through it with me.

Alright, enough about my misspent hair-youth, and on to the main feature!

Ingredients

(Serves 4)

1 15 oz can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cups olive oil
1 TBS lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Drain and rinse the can of beans to get rid of that nasty thick viscous liquid . . .

Aah, much better. Though please ignore the dirty dishes in the background. I don’t know who they belong to . . . but they’re definitely not mine. Nope. I don’t recognize a single one of those perps.

Combine all the ingredients in a food processor. Those of you without a food processor (present company included) toss it all in a blender.

Yeah, I didn’t bother to mince the garlic. And I used 6 cloves instead of 2–you would do well to do the same. I regularly triple the garlic in recipes–it’s Who I Am.

Blend or process until combined.

I liked the fact that my blender left some chunks–I like a dip with texture.

Serve it with crostini (or any kind of tiny toast), pita chips, flatbread, crackers, or just scoop it out with your finger. I know I did.

This dip is seriously delicious. Garlicky, lemony, not too spicy but definitely with heaps of flavor. And did anyone see how easy that was to make? Tracy, you’re a genius.

I loved encountering random unprocessed beans, such as this little guy:

I should also point out that I had garlic breath all night long . . . and I woke up with more garlic breath. I breathed it all over my husband when I gave him a morning kiss, and then I recklessly breathed it all over the morning commuters on the El. So don’t make this for your own wedding or anything–unless you have a garlic-loving groom.

Have a great weekend everyone!

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