Spicy Pickled Carrots & Asparagus

 

I've been dying to pickle something ever since the summer began.  Cucumbers, Okra, Radishes... you name it, I wanted to pickle it.  Did I ever get around to pickling those things?  Well, no.  Life got in the way.

But I did manage to do a quick pickle on some leftover carrots and asparagus that turned out great!  We used these on tacos, as accompaniment to salmon, and even ate them straight out of the jar.  Not bad for a first timer, if I do say so myself.


What's your favorite vegetable to pickle?

Ingredients:
Adapted from Apt. 2B Baking Co.'s Recipe

1 lb. carrots, peeled and julienned
about 10 asparagus spears, cut into 1 inch pieces
10 Thai chiles, split in half
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 & 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1 cup warm water

In a medium bowl, combine carrots, asparagus, 2 teaspoons of sugar, and salt.  Massage sugar and salt into vegetables until they because somewhat flexible.  Transfer to a colander and rinse with cold water.  Drain.

In another bowl, combine the remaining sugar, rice wine vinegar, and warm water.  Stir until sugar is dissolved. 

Tightly pack the drained carrots, asparagus, and chile peppers into pint-sized mason jars (I did 2 jam-packed jars).  Pour the vinegar mixture over the vegetables until about 1/2 inch from the top.  Seal jars and place in refrigerator overnight.

These were a quick pickle, so I'd say they would last no more than 3 weeks in the fridge.  Ours didn't last that long, since I pretty much served them with everything we ate!

I'm off to go play a night volleyball game and tomorrow I'm down for a road trip to Danville, KY where I'll be meeting up with a few other KY Food Bloggers.  Pictures to come!

Vegetable Barley Soup

I know it's still a little hot outside for soup recipes, but this was too good to pass up.  I'm one of those irrational people that can have soup any time of year - especially when it's chock full of vegetables like this!



The flavor is definitely different, with all of the different herbs involved - but it's definitely a "good" kind of different!

Ingredients:
Adapted from a Bon Appetit recipe

 

4 cups water
2 cups vegetable broth

2 cups chicken stock
1 cup pearl barley, rinsed
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra for seasoning
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil plus additional for drizzling
1 large onion, chopped 

1 medium carrot, chopped

1 cup sliced mushrooms

5 cups kale, chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh dill
1/2 cup chopped fresh fennel fronds
3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
juice from 1 lemon

feta cheese crumbles, optional

Bring 4 cups water, 2 cups vegetable broth, barley, and 1 teaspoon sea salt to boil in large pot. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until barley is tender, about 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons oil in heavy medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, chopped carrot, and mushrooms to pan.  Sprinkle with sea salt, and sauté until golden brown, stirring often, about 15 minutes. Add onion mixture and remaining 2 cups chicken stock to pot with barley.

Add kale to soup. Simmer until greens are tender, about 15 minutes. Add dill, fennel fronds, and mint; simmer 5 minutes. Add lemon juice. Season soup with sea salt, pepper, thinning with more broth, if desired. Divide soup among bowls. Sprinkle feta cheese over, drizzle with oil, and serve.

 

I even ate this cold for lunch today - and I NEVER eat soup cold.  Now you know it's gotta be good!

Do you guys eat soup in the summer time?  Or am I just a weirdo?

Creamy Carrot Soup

Today, in most parts of the U.S., is just another Friday.  But here, in Louisville, KY (and well, most parts of Kentucky in general) it's more like a holiday!  What "holiday" you ask?!  Why it's Kentucky Derby weekend!  Louisville seriously gets their party on.  Most places of employment have a 4 day weekend (or others just make sure to ask for the days off!).  Celebrities come into town and all that jazz.  All for a couple of horse races that take maybe 2 minutes to finish!  But you know, I don't think it's really all about the horse races (although it is tradition) more than it is about getting all dressed up and drinking.

And the hats!  When most people think of the Kentucky Derby, I think a Derby hat is one of the first things that come to mind! 

While I won't be donning a Derby hat this year (nor have I ever) I'll be spending today at Churchill Downs for the Oaks - sipping Mint Juleps and looking as good as I can (seriously, my dress is hella cute!) and hopefully meeting up with some friends!  My sister has offered to give us a ride down there (she's freakin' awesome!) and hopefully we'll end up finding a ride back home, too - so no worries of being unsafe!

Anyway, we've got a Derby party to attend to on Saturday and I need to bring something with me!  So help me out and vote in this week's poll!



This is not really a Derby recipe, but I was really in the mood for soup, so soup it is!


Ingredients:
Adapted from The Meaning of Pie's recipe

1 small onion, diced
2 ribs of celery, chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
5 large carrots, peeled and sliced
1 white potato, cubed
4 cups chicken broth
1 to 2 teaspoons hot sauce (like Tabasco or Sriracha) 
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt and Pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup milk

In a large Dutch oven, melt the butter under medium high heat.  Add onions and celery and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.

Add in carrots, potatoes, and chicken broth.  Simmer for about 5 minutes or so.

Stir in Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves, sugar, salt, pepper, and cayenne.  Let simmer on medium to medium low for about 30 minutes.

Remove bay leaves and blend up soup with an immersion blender until you reach your desired consistency.  Slowly stir in the milk until incorporated.  Ladle soup into bowls and serve with a drizzle of olive oil and garnish with croutons.

This was a quick one-pot meal that was a really tasty lunch!  Now, if you'll excuse me - I'm heading to the Oaks!  Have a great weekend guys!

I-Want-My-Warm-Weather-Back Burgers

Hope everyone that celebrated had a festive and amazing Christmas!  I know I did, and I felt extremely loved and surrounded by great family!

I complain when it's too cold.  I complain when it's too hot.  Am I ever satisfied?

Although we didn't get hit quite as bad as the East Coast, Louisville had it's fair share of snow.  We had a white Christmas, which was quite pretty, but enough already.  The snow is cold.  And my dogs are possessed with the devil when they see it.  All they want to do is run around, tugging fiercely on their leashes, making me look like an idiot ragdoll when taking them for walks.  I'm sure it's quite humorous to an onlooker, but to me... it just makes my arms hurt.  And I might have a case of whiplash.  Who knows.

Anyway, I made these burgers with summer in mind.  Although I didn't brave the cold and grill them on the back deck (I'm sure they would have been even better with that smoky grill taste!), they were quite possibly the juiciest burgers I've had in a while.  Andy definitely liked them, as he proceeded to eat two!

Ingredients:
Adapted from The British Larder's Recipe

Burgers:

 

1/2 lb. ground beef
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, peeled and grated
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, roasted and mashed
salt and pepper, to taste

1 tablespoon horseradish sauce
1 egg
1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce

Parsnip Fries:

2 parsnips, peeled and cut into fries
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons honey
Salt and Pepper, to taste
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Toss parsnips in a large bowl with olive oil, salt, pepper, and cayenne.  Arrange in 1 layer on a baking sheet and roast in oven for about 30-40 minutes, or until parsnips are crispy and browned.  

Heat olive oil in a large frying pan under medium high heat. Add onion and carrot and saute for until onions are soft and translucent, about 2-3 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper. Turn heat off and cool completely.  Then mix in roasted mashed garlic.

In a large bowl, combine onion mixture with ground beef, horseradish sauce, egg, panko, and worcestershire sauce.  Mix well.

Form mixture into 4 decent sized patties (you can make more of smaller ones, if you'd like).  Season outside of patties with salt and pepper, if desired.

Heat frying pan under medium high heat and add a little bit of olive oil.  Cook the burgers for 5 minutes on each side, or under middle is no longer bright pink.

Right before burger is done, you can add some cheddar cheese to melt on one side if you'd like a cheeseburger!

When parsnips are done, drizzle them with honey and serve with burger!

 

Like I said, these were damn good and juicy!  It definitely reminded me of grilling out (although these weren't grilled) in the summertime.  I want my summer/spring back.  Soon enough!

Enjoy guys!

Sauteed Carrots & Brussels Sprouts

Happy Labor Day!  Hope you guys will be grilling out, having good times with good friends, and enjoying the last days of summer and first days of early fall!

Our weekend was pretty fun.  Dinner at 732 Social was A-MAZING!  They make the BEST Shrimp Mac-N-Cheese and my steak was huge and perfectly cooked.  Definitely a good time with good friends.  Then afterwards, we headed over to Cake Flour for dessert... and we were not disappointed.  I like Cake Flour for 2 reasons:  #1 they use all natural ingredients in EVERYTHING they make.  No artificial anything is found in anything produced there.  #2  they use local ingredients and everything I've ever had is phenomenal.  P.S.  They told us when we were in that night that they're actually going to be featured on the Food Network this fall, so check it out if you can!

Saturday we went down to WorldFest and we were not disappointed there either.  The hardest part was deciding what to eat out of all the booths they had there!  I wish I had brought my camera, but since we went kind of later, I was afraid I wasn't going to have good lighting for good shots.  Maybe next year.  But we ended up settling for some Red Curry from Thai Orchid (quite delicious, but Simply Thai is still our favorite!)  And then, as we were walking around, there was a line probably 50 plus people deep.  With a line that big, you know that whatever is at the end of it was going to be delicious.  So we hopped in that line and waited for over 30 minutes.  And when it was finally our turn, we realized what the fuss was all about.  La Colombiana was serving up Arepas!  These were huge arepas, packed full of your choice of chicken or beef, beans, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, and your choice of green or red hot sauce.  These were WELL WORTH the wait!

It seems like Louisville has had TONS of stuff going on the past couple of weekends.  Or maybe it's that we haven't been home-bodies and actually ventured out the past couple of weekends.  Whatever it is, I'm liking it!

So enjoy your Labor Day and I'll leave you with the side item we served with our Fennel-Garlic Chicken Legs!


Ingredients:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 shallot, minced
6 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 teaspoon rosemary
salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 cup brussels sprouts, chopped

In a large saute pan over medium high heat, melt the butter.  Add shallots and cook for about 1 minute.  Stir in carrots, rosemary, salt, and pepper.  Toss to coat well.  Pour in chicken broth and bring mixture to a boil.  Cover pan and reduce heat to a simmer.  Cook for about 7-10 minutes, or until carrots are barely tender.

Increase the heat back to medium high and add in brussels sprouts.  Cook, uncovered, for about 5 minutes, or until the brussels sprouts are starting to soften, but still crisp, and liquid is almost entirely absorbed.

Serve as a side dish to any grilled, roasted, or pan-seared item!  So practically anything!  Enjoy the holiday!

Pot Roast

One of my favorite things about crockpot cooking (I know I've had a lot of crockpot posts, but seriously, for the busy student worker I am, it makes tasty meals with less work, so who can pass that up?), is that I can put something in there, go to work or school, come back home, the house smells absolutely amazing, and there's dinner just waiting for me to plate it. Seriously, with the fast paced world that we live in now, I don't know how I would survive without one of these contraptions! And pot roast is definitely a staple meal of the crockpot. The cold weather, crockpot, and pot roast are just a match made in food heaven.


Ingredients:

2 & 1/2 lb. pot roast (I used a chuck roast)
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 onions, chopped
1 bunch of celery, chopped
4 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons flour
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
pinch of sugar
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
15 oz. can of chopped tomatoes
6 oz. can of tomato paste
3/4 cup red wine (I used a cabernet sauvignon)
2 tablespoons olive oil

Heat your crockpot up on the "high" setting.

Heat up a large skillet under medium heat and add olive oil. When shimmering, add pot roast and brown on both sides, maybe 3-5 minutes per side. Place pot roast in crockpot.

In same skillet, add onions, garlic, and green pepper. Cook until translucent and soft, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle the vegetables with flour and stir continuously for 1 minute. The flour will create a subtle added starchiness and help to thicken the sauce.

Add the canned tomatoes, tomato paste, bay leaf, thyme, sugar, parsley, and red wine. Stir until tomato paste is well incorporated throughout. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 3-5 minutes to allow to slightly thicken.

Carefully add vegetable mixture to pot roast in crockpot. Cover and let sit at high for about 1 hour. Then turn to low and can leave for up to 8 hours. I let mine sit a working day, so about 8 hours.

About 30 minutes before you're ready to serve, add the carrots and celery. You could add these add the beginning if you wanted to, but they would be a little mushy. I like my carrots and celery to be slightly crunchy but still somewhat tender. When carrots and celery are to your liking, serve pot roast and vegetables with white rice, mashed potatoes, or just by itself!

I loved this dish. I brought leftovers into work the next day and the pharmacist I was working with even ate it cold. You know something is tasty when you don't even have to heat it up! He also said that the dish brought back a "normalcy" and comfort when he was eating it. I think I should pat myself on the back then because those are some pretty great compliments! Enjoy!

Vietnamese Banh Mi Burgers

I love a good burger. Big burgers, small burgers, thin, thick, whatever... as long as it's good, I'm down for it. I like this recipe because it takes a tradition Vietnamese Banh Mi sandwich (here's the Wikipedia article here) and converts it into a burger. Definitely makes the house smell pretty awesome too.

Ingredients:
Adapted from Food & Wine Nov 2009 Issue - "Vietnamese-Style Banh Mi Burgers"

2 carrots, shredded
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Frank's Red Hot Sauce
2 teaspoons tomato paste
1 garlic clove, minced
salt and pepper
1 & 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 & 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
4 ciabatta rolls
10 jalapeno slices (more or less depending on your like/hatred of spiciness)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a small bowl, combine the carrots, jalapenos, rice vinegar, and sugar. Toss to combine and let sit for about 10 minutes. Drain, then set aside.

In another small bowl, mix the mayonnaise, tomato paste, hot sauce, garlic, salt, and pepper. Mix well and set aside.

Patty up the beef into 4 large burgers. You could go as thick or thin as you want, but I just quartered my ground beef and made a patty out of each one. It made for a decent size patty. Season each patty with curry powder, salt, and pepper. It's pretty simple seasoning here, but I think the curry powder really adds a depth of flavor.


In a large skillet, heat the oil under medium-high heat. Add the patties and cook until nicely browned on each side. Flip only once, took about 15 minutes or so, depending on how thick your patties are.

While the patties are cooking, you can start crisping up your ciabatta rolls. Cut each roll in half and spread butter on cut sides of bread. Set bread, cut side up, and bake for about 5 minutes so get a nice lightly toasted roll.


Spread spicy mayo on on side of roll, then place patty on roll, and top with pickled carrots and jalapenos.

These were definitely different, but still had a good flavor for a burger. The bread was crunchy. The burger was juicy. The toppings and condiments worked well with everything. Definitely a must try burger. Enjoy!

Italian Wedding Soup

It was somewhat chilly last week. This week, somewhat different. Kind of like t-shirt and sweatpants weather. Nonetheless, I made this soup last week, when it was chilly and I wanted a warm up. It's a pretty straight forward soup, and the flavors are just spot on. And by the way, sorry for the lack of updating lately. It's getting to be the end of the semester and seems like professors want to jam pack everything all at the end, so I've been super busy... but yet I've still been cooking up a storm! Just not posting them as frequently. Thanksgiving Break will come as a relief and I'm sure many many posts.

Ingredients:
adapted from Rachel Ray's recipe

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 ribs of celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste
1 lb. ground beef
1 egg, beaten
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
6 cups chicken stock
2 cups water
1 & 1/2 cups mixture of bowtie and elbow macaroni pasta
2 cups fresh spinach, washed and drained

This is a pretty simple recipe and can be done in a flash when you have that craving for the perfect soup.

Heat the oil under medium heat in a deep pot. Add the carrots, celery, onions, and bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper and cover pot. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring about once or twice in between.

While you're waiting for the veggies, you can make your mini-meatballs. Combine the ground beef, egg, garlic, cheese, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

Uncover your pot of vegetables and add in broth and water. Increase heat to high and bring liquid to a boil. Reduce heat to low once mixture comes to a boil.

Form mini meatballs with the meat mixture and as each one is done, drop into liquid. When all of meat mixture is used up add in pasta and stir. Cover the pot, increase heat just a tad, and cook for about 10 minutes, when your pasta is al dente or to your liking. Once your pasta is tender, add in the spinach. Stir until spinach is wilted. Taste for salt and pepper and adjust accordingly.

This is great with a nice piece of crunchy bread or all by itself! The flavors "marry" so well together, and that's why it's called Italian WEDDING Soup. Enjoy!