Don't Cook? Make Pesto

Oh man, did I have a lot of herbs. And fresh herbs are so delicious and add such depth to any dish, but they can be hard to use up before they wilt and spoil. If you're growing an herb garden at home, kudos to you! That's the best way to enjoy fresh herbs year-round without over committing. But most of my veggies (and herbs too) come straight from the farm and when you're dealing with farmers you kind of get what comes. And I got a lot. A lot of parsley; even more cilantro.

But after making salsa I still had way more cilantro than I knew what to do with. And I didn't want the parsley to feel like it was getting overused since I kept adding it to almost every meal(herbs have feelings to, you know), so I decided to put each to good use by making pesto out of them.

Pesto, God love it, is just about the easiest thing to make. Ever. Some folks might like the little pre-mixed dried packet, but I'm convinced they just don't know what they're missing. If you have fresh herbs and olive oil, in 5 minutes you can have pesto.

Pesto:
--1 cup fresh parsley or cilantro
--3 TBSP olive oil
--1/2 lemon (juice only)
--2 cloves garlic

I'll tell the rest of the recipe as a photoessay of sorts, because there really isn't much of a "recipe" to making pesto...

I made my parsley pesto first, and then my cilantro pesto second. I chopped the stems off so that I just had the leaves (sure there were still some stems in there, but that's okay) and dropped that into the blender/food processor. Could you chop these up by hand? Sure you could, but a blender or food processor is so much easier! I start with one cup of the chopped herbs.

I squeezed in the juice from the half of a lemon and tossed in a few garlic cloves. Then I added the olive oil, and blended it together. Making pesto involves the Goldilocks paradigm: If the pesto is too creamy, add more herbs; if it's too piecey, add more olive oil. You want a texture and consistency that is just right.

I then scraped that into a tupperware and did a quick n' dirty rinse of the food processor before I started over again with the cilantro. Now I got a little creative and beyond adding the lemon, garlic, and olive oil, I also add in a little cumin and some dried chili powder. No one said pesto couldn't have a little kick to it...

Pesto is awesome on french bread as the base for bruschetta. You can make pizza with it. Get creative if you want to. Or don't. I just slather mine on some pita or crackers and mix in some hummus.

Dammit Jim, I'm a cook, not a doctor...
Time: 10 minutes
Makes: 1 cup of each pesto

Calories*: Parsley Pesto 405; Cilantro Pesto 374

*Remember: In this case, the calorie count is for the entire container of pesto based on the measurements above. If you add more herbs the calories change a little, more olive oil and the calories could change a lot if you're heavy handed. But you'll be using this pesto in small amounts. A teaspoon here, a tablespoon there...

Un-wrap This Appetizer

All right, I've already discussed my obsession with Asian cuisine, but seriously...I think it may actually be a problem. Am I in a rut? A delicious Thai-Chinese-Japanese-Indian inspired rut? It may just be that I have a theme (but I also really love tacos, so that just throws the whole theory out of whack).

These wraps are similar to what you get as an appetizer in restaurants. If you love lettuce wraps there you'll be happy to know just how easy they are to make at home! (And cheaper than $8.95, I would guess). They make a great appetizer if you're having friends over for dinner, though on this particular evening the BF and I ate them as our entire meal!

Lettuce Wraps
--2 oz. (1/3 of a "typical" package) Cellophane noodles (also known as bean threads)
--1 lb. ground turkey or chicken
--garlic, minced
--minced cilantro, as much or as little as you like

--crushed red pepper flakes

--1/4 cup soy sauce (I use the low sodium kind)
--1 hearty spoonful of chili paste
--TBSP or so of sesame oil
--head of Bibb, Butter, or Iceberg lettuce, washed and separated into leaves

Cover the noodles with boiling water. Let them stand for a few minutes until softened. Then drain and rinse them with cool water. Chop the mass into thirds.

Cook the ground meat and garlic in a large skillet over medium heat until salmonella-free.

In a bowl, combine the cilantro, soy, chili paste, and oil. Add the noodles and meat to the mixture and toss well to completely coat.

Spoon mixture onto each lettuce leaf and roll up. Each head of lettuce has 20 or so leaves that are a good size.

Dammit Jim, I'm a cook, not a doctor...
Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 6
Calories: 196 per serving (3 wraps)

Too Hot To Cook

First, it's 100 degrees outside, and second I just got back from vacation in California where I ate a lot of vegan food. Both of those factors combined in my decision to make this noodle-y salad for lunch. It's fast, simple, and easy and you won't slave over a hot stove for too long!

Soba noodles are made from buckwheat and come in these nifty little pre-portioned bundles. A staple of Japanese diet, soba is great in soup, covered in sauce, or served cold in a salad as we've done here. I roasted these veggies in the oven and seared the tofu on the stove-top but if you have a grill I'd recommend that as the way to go for maximum flavor. (As an added bonus, the heat you create from the grill will be outside where it's already hot and not inside the house).

To cut corn off the cob, you'll want to lob one end of the corn off so that it's flat. Set the cob vertically on your cutting board using that flat end as the bottom and to stabilize. Take your knife and cut along the cob in a downward motion (away from you too please) to pull all the corn niblets off in little strips. Spin the cob and repeat until the cob is cleaned of corn. There's a photo above that might better show you what the end result of this is, as I find instructions like these difficult to explain properly.

Grilled Soba Salad
--1 bundle Soba noodles
--1/2 block extra firm tofu, drained and sliced into 1/4" thick strips
--Small onion, sliced into thin rounds (left intact)
--1 cup fresh spinach, washed and dried
--1 ear corn, sliced off the cob
--2 romas

Cook the noodles according to package directions. When done cooking, place them in the sink and rinse well with cold tap water.

In a grill pan--or on the grill--grill both sides of the tofu until golden brown and tofu has a nice "crust" of sorts on the outside.

Roast the onion, corn, spinach and tomatoes in the oven until spinach and corn begin to brown and skin of tomatoes gets wrinkly. If you are grilling these veggies, you'll want to leave the spinach in a bunch and grill the whole bunch, or place the spinach inside a tin foil packet that you can easily flip on the grill.

Serve the veggies and tofu over the cooled soba noodles.

Dammit Jim, I'm a cook, not a doctor...
Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 2
Calories: 274

Ellen Gustafson: Obesity + Hunger = 1 global food issue

Another Asian Delight, Please!

Apparently I'm a little obsessed with Asian food. I mean, it's not anything I didn't actually know before--given the option of where to go out to eat, I'm likely to list four Asian cuisines out of five cuisine choices. But I've noticed that I also like to cook Asian-inspired treats as well, as evidenced by the fact that I made the Pad Thai recipe below twice in the same week...

This recipe is pieced together from many places: Various internet recipes, reading the ingredients on the ready-made stuff at the store, my own random additions. It has one solidifying piece though--everyone I make this for really likes it. It may seem complicated but it really is just that it's a multi-step process. Making pad thai yourself will require a trip to the Asian specialty grocer as many of the ingredients can be more easily (and cheaply) sourced there. One thing to note, if you can only find tamarind in a large package at the Asian grocer you can buy a jar of the pre-made "Pad Thai Sauce" on the same aisle and jazz it up by adding more chili paste.

I've included pictures from both of the weeks preparations. The first, a quiet dinner with family, the second, feeding many hungry mouths on girl's night.

Pad Thai
--1 package rice noodles (these will be marked "pad thai" or "banh pho")
--peanut oil (olive oil will work as a substitute)
--garlic, minced
--shallots, minced
--brick extra firm tofu, drained and cubed
--1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into smaller strips
--pad thai sauce (recipe for this below)
--1 egg
--20 medium or large uncooked de-veined shrimp, tails on
--green onions, sliced into 1/4" thick rounds
--bean sprouts, washed and drained
--1/4 cup unsalted dry-roast peanuts (found on the bulk foods aisle of most grocers)
--fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
--limes, quartered

Pad Thai Sauce:
--1/4 cup fish sauce
--1/4 cup tamarind sauce (instructions below)
--2 TBSP brown sugar
--chili paste, to taste (I use the chili and garlic sauce made by the Sriracha folks)

Prepping the Tamarind:
Tamarind comes in either paste or pulp form, either of which will need to be soaked in hot water first. If you're using tamarind paste, start with a spoonful mixed into 1/4 cup of hot water. If you are using pulp, for every one tablespoon of pulp use 1/3 cup boiling water.

Making the Sauce:
Mix all the ingredients together, stirring well until the sugar dissolves. If you need to add a little heat to do this you can make the sauce in a saucepan over low heat, stirring often. I recommend making the sauce while the noodles are soaking and the chicken is cooking and then setting the sauce aside for later. If you like you can make the sauce the day or morning before and stick it in the refrigerator until you're ready for it.

Making the Pad Thai:
Soak the noodles in tepid tap-water for 10 minutes. Don't let them get soggy! It's better to under-soak the noodles and add some water to the pan later than to have ooey-gooey noodles.

In a large skillet with deep sides, add enough oil to evenly coat the bottom of the pan and heat on high. Cook the garlic and shallots for a few minutes (I also like to toast a few peanuts with them). Add the tofu chunks and sear on each side until golden. Add the chicken pieces and cook until cooked all the way through, stirring regularly so nothing scorches. If things seem to be cooking too fast or to hot, reduce the heat to medium-high.

Add the soaked noodles and toss into the mixture like a salad so you don't break them.  Add the sauce, pouring it evenly over the pan to minimize the need for stirring.  In the center of the pan, make room for the egg. Crack the egg into the pan and scramble it before mixing it up into the rest of the meal.

Add the shrimp and stir gently. (Shrimp will cook quickly from the heat of all the items in the pan so it need not make its way to the bottom of the pan). Add 1/2 of the bean sprouts, most of the peanuts (if you didn't roast most of 'em from the start), and sliced green onions and stir to combine.

Plate it up! Top with remaining sprouts, peanuts, cilantro, and limes.

Dammit Jim, I'm a cook, not a doctor...
Time: 1 to 1-1/2 hours
Serves: 6
Calories: 471

The Happiest of Happy Hours

Dairy and I don't get along so well. She's like a bossy older sister whom you love and respect but often want to smack upside the head. I love cheese (mmm triple creams) and ice cream and butter (c'mon, from southern roots, whatdaya want?) but these things don't love me anymore. I avoid them when I can but sneak them into my diet when cravings strike or when these items just sound too good to pass up.

But goat cheese? Goat cheese is like the boyfriend who doesn't just bring you flowers, but plants a garden in your honor. Goat cheese never makes me sick and with its lovely creamy texture I sometimes want to eat it by the fork-full.

Today's recipe was inspired by a recent office happy hour where I was delighted to find something that I could eat sandwiched between the usual bar menus of fried cheese and, uh, fried cheese.

Spinach Mushroom Goat Cheese Quesadillas
--1 tbsp olive oil
--small onion, diced
--garlic, diced
--1 bell pepper, seeds removed and sliced or diced (your choice on the color)

--10 oz package of mushrooms, sliced (I cheated and bought pre-sliced for convenience)

--3-4 cups fresh baby spinach, washed and drained (again, I'm a cheater and bought the pre-washed 6oz bag for ease)
--salt and pepper to taste

--4 oz log of goat cheese, sliced into rounds
--4 sun dried tomato tortillas

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large deep-sided skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and saute a few minutes. Add the bell pepper and cook until the pepper pieces are softened but still firm. Add the mushrooms and cook down until the mushrooms are softened but not mushy.Add the spinach, working in batches and stirring so that the wilted spinach moves to the top and the new fresh spinach is closer to the fire to be wilted.

Brush the tortillas with the tiniest bit of olive oil or spray lighting with cooking spray. Place one tortilla oiled side down on a baking sheet. Add and spread some of the mushroom mix. Top the mix with 1/2 of the goat cheese rounds. Cover with the second tortilla. Repeat this process for the second quesadilla.

Place the quesadillas in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, until the top tortilla begins to brown but is not burned. Flip the quesadillas over and cook another 7 or so minutes until the other tortilla begins to crisp and get golden. Remove from the oven, slice up and eat!

Dammit Jim, I'm a cook, not a doctor...

Time:

Serves: 4 (makes 2 quesadillas)

Calories: 359 per serving (718 per quesadilla)

A Recipe From Dad

I grew up surrounded by food. Both of my parents are really good cooks who enjoy cooking. Neither one of them is a gourmet (but then, neither am I) but they taught me the importance of food. Growing up I learned that food was a source of community and one of the best ways to bring people together. And somehow nothing brings people together like eating a meal with your hands. There's just something about getting messy together that makes you feel like you really get someone.

I remember as a kid I'd get really excited when Dad said he was going to cook that night. His favorite medium: beef. My father is fond of making beef bourguignon, steaks, stir fry. But most importantly, my dad makes really awesome tacos.

They're likely not the healthiest item you'll find here at Bacon & Other Bad Habits, but they taste good, are super simple, and kids and picky eaters will like 'em.

Daddy's Tacos
--1 lb. lean ground beef (or buffalo for less grease/fat)
--cumin
--garlic powder
--onion powder
--cilantro
--garlic, minced
--1 small onion, chopped
--1 tsp. or so fresh ginger, minced
--1/2 jar of medium salsa
--1/2 jar of mild salsa
--8 taco shells
--taco toppings (lettuce, tomato, cheese)

In a large skillet, over medium heat, brown the beef. As the beef cooks, season it with cumin, onion and garlic powders, and cilantro. Add in the onion, garlic, and fresh ginger and use the grease from the cooking beef to cook the onion mixture to translucency.

Once the beef is fully cooked, drain off the excess grease and place the pan back on the stove. Add the salsas and stir well to combine. Heat for a few minutes until the salsa is warmed and some of the liquid cooks down. Serve!

**Dad's trick: Put the cheese in the bottom of the taco shell and then the hot meat on top. When you bite into the tacos the cheese will be gooey and melted.

Dammit Jim, I'm a cook, not a doctor...
Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 8 tacos
Calories: 538 per taco (includes 1 oz of shredded cheese)