For the Love of Root Beer

This recipe was the catalyst of my newest pregnancy craving of root beer. Always hated it before, but I decided I wanted to try out these beans for a last minute cook out. Apparently, Mom craved root beer with me so I guess that explains it. I wonder which of these little girls will be my mini-me... scary thought! So anyway I bought the root beer, used one bottle for the recipe and am quickly sucking down the rest in a hormone induced fervor. I will probably be making this again as an excuse to buy root beer, but also because it was a hit at the party.

I had approximately 2 hours to prepare for a bbq for 8 people, and I had basically planned nothing before going to the grocery store. Being a proclaimed root beer hater, why would I make this? I just needed something to make. I saw this in a magazine and it was all I could think of and the issue was sitting out on the coffee table so I wrote down the ingredients and headed to the store. Seemed like it was worth a try. I am so glad I made it. Everyone loved it, and a few told me it was their favorite part of dinner. Sometimes I don't know why I work so hard on other recipes when something this simple is a favorite! It's way better than the often bland and sometimes too sweet canned baked beans, but it's not trying to be those beans, either. When you first taste it, you may expect it to be like your typical baked beans, and think it doesn't taste right. It's a lot more subtle, but has so much more depth of flavor. And it's easy to make and then just let it sit on the stove or in the oven until you're ready to serve. The other good thing is if you stock a lot of canned beans, you could probably make this without a special trip to the store. Perfect for last minute or make ahead.

Picture: From Bon Appetit. I don't have my own because, again, 8 people were coming over and I was stressed and anyway they looked exactly like this. Like beans...

Root Beer Baked Beans
Bon Appetit July 2010


4 slices applewood-smoked bacon, cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces
3 1/2 cups chopped onions
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 15-ounce cans cannellini (white kidney beans), rinsed, drained
1 1/2 cups root beer (preferably artisanal (I used Natural Brew))
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons mild-flavored (light) molasses (I used dark because that's what I had)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper


Preheat oven to 400°F. Cook bacon in large ovenproof pot over medium heat until crisp, stirring occasionally. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towels. Add onions to drippings in pot; cook until beginning to brown, stirring often, about 8 minutes. Add garlic; stir 1 minute. Add beans, root beer, vinegar, molasses, tomato paste, mustard, chili powder, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper; mix. Stir in bacon; bring to boil. Transfer to oven; bake uncovered until liquid thickens, about 30 minutes.

Summer Soup -- Chunky Tortilla Soup

Ok, ok... you guys made me feel bad for not posting. I've actually taken photos of several of the things I've made lately, but I just keep forgetting to post them. Anyhow, this was one of my more recent recipe trials. It's another recipe from Lucid Food... so consider it both healthy for you and the planet. I really love this book because it forces me to try new flavors and ingredients, although some of the recipes are hard to follow to the letter: they aren't all that technically difficult, but the ingredients can sometimes be hard to find unless you have an Asian market, a Hispanic foods market, a stunning farmer's market, and a Whole Foods right around the corner (which the author probably does, since she lives in New York). This made for a considerable challenge back in Tennessee, where the most exotic things at Kroger were the tahini and canned chipotle chiles in adobo (which I couldn't even find all of the time). Fortunately now, I'm in the DC metro area --where perhaps the biggest culinary asset is the ethnic diversity-- and the international foods aisle at the local discount grocery store is two whole aisles with a small refrigerator/freezer section, and that doesn't even include the chips and salsa (which are more appropriately located with the other conventional American foods).

Anyhow, back on the task at hand, this soup recipe really intrigued me because it doesn't call for a single drop of broth, be it meat-based or otherwise... not one single drop. The flavor comes from boiling the corn cobs (so fresh corn is a must, hence the reason this is most def a summer soup in most places) and the juice of the fresh tomatoes that go in it. It's a little messy to make, but otherwise pretty straight forward. You can cook your own black beans or use canned (drained and rinsed well), and don't be shy with the salt... remember the no-broth thing, so there is really no sodium in this other than what you put in it, and you won't be able to taste it unless you do. But when you can taste it... yum!

Liz, I don't know how readily available queso fresco is to you, but use it if at all possible-- it's delicious!! Otherwise you can substitute any mild white cheese (think farmer's cheese or monterrey jack, if you must). Also, I used hand-made (not by me) corn tortillas, simply because I could, but I actually think this would be better with the thin, American-ized ones that come in packs of 4,000.

So here goes...

Chunky Tortilla Soup, from Lucid Food by Louisa Shafia

Serves 4

Three 6 inch corn tortillas

3 Tablespoons olive oil

5 ripe tomatoes

1 yellow onion, minced

1 1/2 cups cooked black beans

3 ears fresh corn, kernels removed and cobs reserved

1 clove garlic, minced

2 teaspoons chile powder

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 cup crumbled queso fresco

1 ripe avocado, pitted, peeled, and thinly sliced

Leaves from 1 bunch fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped

2 limes, quartered

1 jalapeno, seeded and thinly sliced

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or foil).

Cut tortillas in half, then into 1/2 inch strips. Place the strips in a bowl and toss with 1 Tbsp of olive oil, then spread onto the baking sheet. Bake until crisp, approx 8 to 10 minutes. Set aside.

Position a fine-mesh strainer over a large bowl. Core and halve the tomatoes and scoop out the seeds, holding them over the strainer so all of the juice falls into the bowl. Press the seeds with a a ladle or spoon to extract as much juice as possible. Discard the seeds and set the juice aside. Dice the tomatoes.

Heat a soup pot and add the remaining 2 Tbsp olive oil. Add the onion and saute until soft, then stir in the tomatoes, black beans, corn kernels, garlic, and chile powder. Add the tomato juice, 3 cups water, and corn cobs. If the pot is small, break the cobs in half to fit. Bring to a boil, then decrease the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Remove the corn cobs. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve soup topped with several tortilla strips, 1/4 cup of queso fresco, a few avocado slices, and small handful of cilantro. Serve lime* and jalapeno slices on the side.

* We didn't use the limes because I didn't really see the need, but do as you will.

Summer Pasta Fix

It's no secret that I love pasta. Since it's summer, I don't want to make super heavy, cheesy pasta dishes, but recently I had a craving for noodles and I needed something to serve to guests for a really casual weeknight dinner. Enter tagliatelle and corn pasta. Yum. I have made this two weeks in a row, so I figure it merits sharing, because that never happens around here. It's really good and gets rave reviews' from B and guests. I served it with a roasted chicken and an heirloom tomato salad. The good summer corn makes the dish really sweet, so just make sure whatever you decide to pair it with should be very savory, otherwise, you will have a very sweet supper. I also think it would be a great (almost) vegetarian main entree.

Photo caption: This is the third photo that B texted me while trying to pick up the ingredients for me for this last minute dinner. You would have thought I asked him to go to Italy to get it. I love this pasta but you can use whatever you can find... just in case your SO goes to the store for you and brings home linguine because finding the yellow bag up and to the left is too hard.

This dish can be almost totally prepared in advance, or you can be like me and start at the last minute and have your whole kitchen in a total mess by the time your guests arrive. Either way, it isn't hard - just really messy. Then again, I am a messy cook, so maybe it's just me. I follow the recipe pretty much exactly, except I don't measure precisely because you really can't screw it up. Just throw it all in and enjoy the starch lovers dish.

One tip: the pesto does get pretty sticky and you don't want it to be totally oily so you can't just keep thinning it with olive oil. Instead of draining the pasta, I use tongs to transfer it from the water to the skillet I cooked the corn in (also good if you are reheating the pesto) so the pasta is really wet. Then I put in the pesto and the corn and start stirring around, using the hot pasta water to thin it out as I stir. Sometimes you can skip that step in recipes but it is really necessary in this one.

Tagliatelle with Fresh Corn Pesto
Bon Appetit Aug 2010

6 first course/4 main course servings

4 bacon slices, cut lengthwise in half, then crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces
4 cups fresh corn kernels (cut from about 6 large ears)
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 1/4 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese plus additional for serving
1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
8 ounces tagliatelle or fettuccine
3/4 cup coarsely torn fresh basil leaves, divided

Cook bacon in large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp and brown, stirring often. Using slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels to drain. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon drippings from skillet. Add corn, garlic, 1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt, and 3/4 teaspoon pepper to drippings in skillet. Sauté over medium-high heat until corn is just tender but not brown, about 4 minutes. Transfer 1 1/2 cups corn kernels to small bowl and reserve. Scrape remaining corn mixture into processor. Add 1/2 cup Parmesan and pine nuts. With machine running, add olive oil through feed tube and blend until pesto is almost smooth. Set pesto aside.

Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain, reserving 1 1/2 cups pasta cooking liquid. Return pasta to pot. Add corn pesto, reserved corn kernels, and 1/2 cup basil leaves. Toss pasta mixture over medium heat until warmed through, adding reserved pasta cooking liquid by 1/4 cupfuls to thin to desired consistency, 2 to 3 minutes. Season pasta to taste with salt and pepper.

Transfer pasta to large shallow bowl. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup basil leaves and reserved bacon. Serve pasta, passing additional grated Parmesan alongside.

Prawn (shrimp) and Harissa Stew with Couscous

From BBC olive 30 Best-Ever Recipes

I am currently eating this little gem out of tupperwear. Cold. Side note: I am going to be annoying and spell everything in British English and use British terms too (with the American term in parentheses...like so). Because I am annoying like that. And because I can. Also, it will make this a much more cultural experience for all involved.

As per usual, this is a quick little ditty that is cheap and easy to make. And when I say per usual, I mean that as in that starting now with this first food entry...

Time: 20 minutes

Servings: 2 (perfect for single people who eat a lot bc they are depressed about being single, smug couples and smug DINKS- i.e. double income no kids)

Difficulty: EASY

Ingredients:

· 100g bulgur wheat

· Olive oil (for frying)

· 200ml chix stock

· 1 small onion (sliced)

· 2 cloves garlic (crushed)

· 1tsp ground cumin

· 400g tin chopped tomatoes

· 1-2tsp harissa (KEY ingredient- got my little jar for 99p. Holler.)

· 150g raw peeled prawns

· Coriander (cilantro) – a small bunch, btw

Directions:

1. Put the bulgur wheat (ok, the recipe says couscous but I recently discovered that bulgur wheat is as easy to make as couscous AND better so it’s game over with the couscous for me) in a bowl with 1tsp olive oil and just cover with boiling chicken stock (umm, I accidentally was too generous with the c.stock and was forced to drain and microwave my beloved b.wheat. Tragedy.) Cover and leave to swell for 5 minutes.

2. Heat 1tbsp oil in a pan, add the onion and garlic and fry for 1-2 minutes or until just tender. Add the cumin and fry for 1 minute, add the tomatoes and harissa and bubble everything until it thickens slightly. Season well.

3. Stir in the prawns and cook for 3 minutes, then scatter with coriander. Serve with the b.wheat

4. (Optional) Eat out of tupperwear cold the next day.

Glossary:

Harissa- Tunisian hot chilli sauce commonly eaten in North Africa whose main ingredients are Piri piri chili peppers, serrano pepper or other hot chillis and olive oil. it is a standard ingredient of North African cuisine, most closely associated with Tunisia and Algeria (Source: Wikipedia)

The BBC olive Best-Ever Recipes booklet (seriously, it’s a tiny tear-out from a magazine) guarantees that every recipe is triple tested.

For more olive recipes see: www.bbcgoodfood.com/olive

The debut

Since about August posting my first post on Las Sisters Jones has been on my ToDo list. I got so sick of writing it I now just put a little "-start LSJ" at the bottom of the list and I know what needs to be done. Anyway, here's the deal: I'm a little late to the party but I'm here. I also brought Sutter Home and Costco cookies, but I made it. Not really, but none of my recipes are all that gourmet or labour intensive (sorry for the annoying spelling but my new computer is British and the red squiggles under every word devoid of a superfluous "u" has forced me to just be a Madonna/Gweneth/Red Coat traitor and add them in). Oh yes, nothing is going to be all that gourmet or labour intensive because that kind of business requires timing...and I'm late for everything. (Except for adolescence... I was actually early for that show. I digress...)

Some little factoids about what's going to happen when I post. My recipes will be most suitable for:

• Poor people...who live lives and shop for foodie food that is inconsistent with their socioeconomic status as they forget they are poor, randomly buy really expensive things from posh markets, feel bad about it/fret about being able to pay their CC bill so they buy cheap crappy other things (morally malleable filler foods we'll call them), and then feel bad about not using locally sourced food/killing off all the poor over-farmed sardines in the world so they go back to their expensive habits. Basically, a hypocrite. Be aware of inconsistencies...because I really don't have time to notice them.
• Social carnivores: I not a vegetarian, I just don't buy/eat meat on my own time because I am too cheap/don't really care about it, so I only eat it in social situations or when feeding the Boy...(this statement will probably not be true by the end of this post)
• People who buy fruits and vegetables and let them rot. The reasons are twofold: 1.) The aforementioned inconsistencies between my personal beliefs and actual lifestyle lead me to only buy the best and most natural foods. I shop like a health nut. I eat like a fat kid. 2.) British people eat garbage. I'm serious. They are repulsive. It's like the war isn't over here. I swear my nice, posh flatmates pick my old food out of the garbage and then smother it in booze, stick it in a cupboard for a month and then make something out of it that would last until the next world war. British people can (and will) make and then eat anything made out of American refuse. It's amazing. I've been taking notes. Suddenly, I have a purpose for letting all my healthy food go off- I can turn it into delicious fattening treats that will last longer than a twinkie (and be au naturale!). It's amazing...all my hypocrisy all rolled up into one sweet little Swiss cake that allows me to be an honest liar all at once. Britain: truly Great.
• People who like to hear random facts about how British people eat and why they are weird in general.
• " " only applied to Indian people
• People with an overabundance of potatoes who also just so happen to hate them. I hate them. Truly. The stupidest, waste-of-a-sin on the Atkins diet. But I have a lot of them. So I have some recipes to help dress up the insipid little balls of watery dirt-flesh. (Obviously, french fries are cool...but only if they are skinny because there is a higher oil:potato ratio.) Note: the surfeit of potatoes is due to my extreme loyalty to my mixed veg box that I dutifully get (and let rot) each and every week in my extreme support of local and sustainable farming. I pay a fortune to ferment locally sourced goods.
• Those who do not like lemon desserts
• Cooks that are afraid of knives
• Those who believe in the power of cheese

So, to be consistent with my inconsistencies, I will not actually post a recipe...but leave this as an open ended post. A half ticked box. I tried.

Loving regards,

Eliza

Casseroles for Cool People

So, I have a thing for casseroles. And now that I'm a mom (and was, at one time, a working mom), I understand why they were invented: meat, veg, carbs in one big dish that you can usually put together ahead of time and bake off before dinner. Brilliant. Plus, I don't care how big of a foodie you are, casseroles taste good. Not like 5 star good, but like cheeseburger good. Or better yet hotdog good (I'm ashamed to admit it but the fact is that assorted meat product in a tube tastes good. Especially with ketchup).
The only thing that keeps me from making casseroles like 3 times a week is that for as much love as I have for the casserole, I have an equal or greater amount of disdain for canned, condensed cream of anything soup. And 99% of casseroles have not one but TWO cans of condensed cream soup in them. So I am regularly in search of that 1% of casseroles that don't, and this happens to be one of them.

It's from The Foster's Market Cookbook by Sara Foster, who runs two specialty food stores in North Carolina, one in Durham and one in Chapel Hill. This was the first cookbook that I ever bought myself. I used it a good bit in college, but it languished on my shelf for a few years until I dusted it off after we moved to Virginia. I was looking for a casserole recipe and found this one, which Mike and I both really liked.

It doesn't exactly fall into the one-pot wonder category, especially if you cook your chicken the same day, but you can assemble it most of the way ahead of time, and just make the mashed potatoes and bake it before you eat. There is a recipe for mashed potatoes here as well... not that either of you need a recipe for mashed potatoes, but I used this one simply for the sake of having the right amount of potatoes to top the pie. It makes a huge casserole, but it seriously tastes even better the second day, so you won't mind having leftovers. I left out the jalapeno and cut back on the chili powder in the mashed potatoes by about half, but that was only so that Caroline would be able to eat it. I roasted a cut up chicken the morning that I made this, but you could definitely either get a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store or just roast 3 or 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts. I think next time I make roasted chicken for dinner, I'll just roast two at a time and use the second one to make this shepard's pie later in the week.

Southwestern Shepard's Pie with Chicken and Chili Mashed Potatoes
from The Foster's Market Cookbook by Sara Foster


Serves 8 to 10

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 red onion, diced
2 ribs celery, diced
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and diced
1 green bell pepper, cored, and diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
¼ cup all-purpose flour
8 cups shredded cooked, chicken
¾ cup dry white wine
3 cups chicken broth
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme or ½ heaping teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Kernels from 2 ears fresh corn (1 cup fresh or frozen corn)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 recipe Classic Mashed Potatoes (below)
2 teaspoons chili powder
Fresh parsley and fresh thyme, to garnish, optional

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Heat the olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until slightly brown, about 5 minutes. Add the celery, red bell pepper and green bell pepper and cook 3 minutes more, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and jalapeño and cook 3 minutes more, stirring occasionally.

3. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until the flour starts to brown slightly, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken and wine and stir until the wine begins to evaporate, about 1 minute. Slowly add the chicken broth, and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture begins to thicken and coats the back of a spoon. Reduce heat to low, bring the mixture to a low boil, and cook 5 to 10 minutes or until the mixture thickens and is creamy.

4. Remove from the heat and add the parsley, thyme, red pepper flakes, and corn. Season with salt and pepper, and transfer the mixture to a 9 by 13-inch baking dish. [this is where you can stop and put it all in the fridge... just make sure you take it out with some time to come to room temp before you bake -cjc]

5. To make the chili mashed potatoes, mix Classic Mashed Potatoes with 1 teaspoon of the chili powder in a bowl until well combined.

6. Spoon the chili mashed potatoes on top of the chicken and bake 20 to 30 minutes or until the potato peaks are slightly brown and the chicken mixture is bubbling around the sides of the dish. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with the remaining chili powder and the parsley and thyme, if desired. Serve immediately.


Classic Mashed Potatoes
from The Foster's Market Cookbook by Sara Foster

Serves 8 to 10

Ingredients:

4 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut in half (about 6 potatoes)
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into chunks
¾ cup whole milk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Place the potatoes in a large saucepan and add enough cold water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a low boil and cook, uncovered, 25 to 30 minutes, until the potatoes are tender when pierced with the tip of a sharp knife.

2. Drain the potatoes and return them to the saucepan while still warm. Add the butter and milk and mash with a potato masher until all the butter and milk are incorporated and the potatoes are creamy.

Maybe I Am Half Asian...

I love this meal. I want to eat it everyday for the rest of the week. And every meatless Monday from here on out. I also just really love noodle bowls. They make me happy. In fact, although I usually half recipes, I made the whole thing for leftovers and froze part of the broth for a later date. So I can eat it for days...

Here's why I love this so much: It's super low in sodium and there's virtually no fat in it. The broth I used had 20 calories per cup. It's really light but strangely filling and you can pretty much eat as much as you want! But you won't feel hungry after. This was tested by a very hungry tennis-playing husband and he confirmed. It's also sloppy and requires slurping and splashing, so it's really fun to eat.

Be forewarned that it messes up a lot of dishes but it can be streamlined from the way the original recipe was written. So here are my tweaks and variations. No photo because it's just a bowl of noodles and vegetables, but you'll thank me later when you make your own version.

Soba Noodles with Mushroom Broth, Cabbage and Yams

from Bon Appetit February 2010

A Japanese-style noodle soup that's full of healthful things: mushrooms, yams, carrots—and even salty, savory, vitamin-and mineral-rich seaweed. For details on the ingredients used in this dish, see "Ingredient Tips" at the end of the recipe.

Broth:

• 10 cups Light Vegetable Broth or good-quality canned vegetable broth (you can make this but I used a low sodium organic boxed version from the store)
• 3 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 1/2 ounces dried shiitake mushrooms, rinsed
• 3/4 cup thinly sliced peeled fresh ginger (I used about half this much because its what i had)
• 2 lemongrass stalks, outer dark layers removed, all but bottom 4 inches cut off and discarded
• 2 6-inch strips dried kombu (I bought this but I ended up not using it, I think it's salty so if you leave out, add a little salt or more soy sauce at the end)
• 2 teaspoons tamari soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon unseasoned rice vinegar

Garnishes:

• 2 cups 1/2-inch cubes peeled yams (red-skinned sweet potatoes) (1 medium)
• 5 ounces snow peas, trimmed
• 4 cups 1/2-inch-wide crosswise slices cored Napa cabbage (perfect for the half cabbage I always have leftover in the fridge)
• 5 ounces slender carrots (preferably assorted colors), peeled, thinly sliced on diagonal
• 10 ounces Japanese-style udon noodles or soba noodles
• 1 cup sliced green onions
• 1/4 cup matchstick-size strips peeled fresh ginger (I skipped this part because I don't like That much ginger)
• 4 to 6 ounces semi-firm tofu, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (optional) (I had tofu in mine and Brock had chicken that was cut up and sauteed in his- both good)
• Sambal oelek (I used sriracha sauce)
• Tamari soy sauce

For broth:
Bring broth and 3 cups water to simmer in large pot over medium heat. Add cilantro, mushrooms, sliced ginger, and lemongrass. Cover; simmer until mushrooms are tender, about 30 minutes. If using, rinse kombu; add to broth. Simmer 1 minute. Using tongs, remove kombu and mushrooms; discard kombu. Transfer mushrooms to work surface; cut off stems and discard. Cut each mushroom into 3 to 4 strips. (I didn't like the way the boiled mushrooms tasted, so we didn't use these. So taste before you put them back in.) Strain broth through fine-mesh strainer into another large pot or large bowl; discard solids in strainer. Add tamari and rice vinegar to broth. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill mushrooms. Cool, cover, and chill broth.

For garnishes:
Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Cook yams until just tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Using skimmer, transfer to medium bowl. Cook snow peas, cabbage, and carrots separately until crisp-tender (snow peas, 30 seconds; cabbage, 1 1/2 minutes; carrots, 2 minutes). (To save time, have all your vegetables prepped and start first with carrots, then add cabbage, then snow peas and add about 30 seconds to the boiling time at the end.) Using skimmer, transfer vegetables to separate bowls. (I didn't want to get that many bowls dirty so i didn't do that.) Reserve cooking liquid. DO AHEAD: Vegetables can be cooked 2 hours ahead. Let vegetables and liquid stand at room temperature.

Bring cooking liquid to boil. Sprinkle with salt. Add noodles; cook until tender but still firm to bite, stirring often. Drain; rinse.

Meanwhile, bring vegetable broth to simmer. Add green onions and ginger strips. Season with salt and pepper.

Using tongs, divide noodles among bowls. Divide mushrooms, yams, snow peas, cabbage, and carrots among bowls, each in separate mound. Divide tofu, if using, among bowls. Ladle broth over and serve, passing sambal oelek and tamari separately.

Ingredient tips:Lemongrass, an herb that resembles a green onion, has a mild lemony flavor. Kombu (a.k.a. kelp) is a variety of seaweed that’s often used for making stock. It's usually sold dried. Tamari is a dark sauce made from soybeans. Udon is a thick wheat-or corn-based Japanese noodle. Sambal oelek, a spicy chili sauce, is a common ingredient in Indonesian and Chinese cooking. Look for these ingredients in the Asian foods section of some supermarkets and at Asian markets.

Happy New Year (a little late)

Happy New Year! Sorry for the dearth of posts... it's an understatement to say that I was busy over the holidays. But things are feeling a little more back to normal... for now, anyway.

I considered doing a post about New Years Day dinner, which I hosted for 2 families (not including us). If I do say so myself, it turned out pretty great (all of the adults had seconds and took home leftovers), but I think it's best to save that menu for next end-of-the-year when you might actually use it.

So instead, here's is our New Year's Eve dinner... dijon rack of lamb served over mashed potatos with spinach and grapefruit salad and Seven Vegetable Soup.
The rack of lamb is courtesy of Mom, to whom I made the slightest mention about wishing I could find decent lamb, and she of course ran to CostCo and bought me some to bring back home. She's amazing sometimes. The recipe, however, is from Southern Living, and I followed it exactly (well, except that I halfed it), so I'm reprinting below (thanks, SL.com!). Definitely watch the lamb when you're browning it because it browned much quicker than the recipe said. I also did use the foccacia bread crumbs, and I think it's worth getting a whole piece of foccaccia. The lamb was delicious and we (mostly Mike, who now loves lamb) ate the whole thing that night.



Dijon Rack of Lamb, from SouthernLiving.com and Chef Jacques Haeringer
Ingredients
• 2 (8-rib) lamb rib roasts (2 to 2 1/2 pounds each), trimmed
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons pepper
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 cup fresh herb focaccia breadcrumbs*

Preparation

Rub lamb evenly with salt and pepper.
Cook lamb in hot oil in a large skillet over high heat 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Place lamb, fat side up, on a rack in broiling pan.
Bake at 425° for 20 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest portion registers 145°.
Remove lamb from oven; leaving oven on. Cover lamb loosely with aluminum foil, and let stand 10 minutes or until meat thermometer registers 150°.
Brush lamb with mustard; cover with breadcrumbs. Return lamb to oven, and bake 4 to 5 minutes or until golden. Cut into chops, and serve.
*1 cup fresh French breadcrumbs may be substituted.
Note: When Jacques prepares this dish, he prefers to cook the lamb until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest portion registers 135°.

Seven Vegetable Soup coming...