This is super tasty…
ingredients: 4 pieces of asparagus
1/2 shallot, minced
1tbs olive oil
handful of red grapes
2 handfuls of fresh spinach
directions: dressing- whisk oil, balsamic, shallots, and mayo. season to taste.
cook the asparagus and shallots in oil over medium until asparagus is slightly soft, remove from heat. After 2 minutes of cooling add to spinach, grapes, and top with a balsamic vinagrette.
Today is Dana’s birthday! Whoo for 23! Its fitting to have a cake that combines the best things about all birthdays, drinking and cake. This Lemon Whiskey Bunt Cake is one of my mom’s recipes. It’s one of those things that is easy to make last minute and is always a crowd pleaser. Whenever I eat this cake I can’t help but to think, ‘I can’t believe my mother let me eat cake with so much booze it in when I was a kid.’ Seriously, this cake isn’t the most refined dessert in the recipe book but damn, it is consistently delicious.
LEMON WHISKEY BUNT CAKE
1 package yellow cake mix |||| 1 package (3.4 oz) lemon instant pudding |||| 4 eggs |||| 1 cup milk |||| 3/4 cup whiskey |||| 1/2 cup vegetable oil |||| 1 tablespoon lemon juice |||| 1/2 cup sugar |||| 1/4 cup unsalted butter
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a bunt pan and dust the sides with flour.
2. Mix together cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, milk, 1/4 cup whiskey, oil, and lemon juice. Transfer the batter to the bunt pan.
3. Bake for 50 minutes.
4. After the cake is taken out of the oven, stir sugar, butter, and 1/2 cup whiskey in a small sauce pan until syrup bubbles. Spoon syrup over the cake while the cake is still warm. Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan before removing to serve.
Blow out the candles and wish for an after school snack
Jaahaan’s mom, Mrs. Kaur is visiting from Delhi for a few weeks. I don’t know why she would visit Syracuse in January with all this snow when the weather in Delhi is balmy and wonderful. I’d been hearing stories about her mom’s obsession with PNC, so I asked for a cooking lesson and Mrs. Kaur gratefully obliged. When I arrived at Jaahaan’s apartment Mrs. Kaur already had all the spices set out, the vegetables diced, and was ready to go. It was like entering into the Indian version of Everyday Italian with Giada. Pretty much a dream come true.
This is all Mrs. Kaur has to work with. One saucepan, one skillet and a rice cooker. And I learned that the basic ingredients in any Indian dish are tomatoes, onions, maybe some ginger garlic paste, and some spices. Really the most essential spice is a garam masala mix. Just goes to show that Indian cooking isn’t hard. All you need is a pot, some vegetables, and a spice mix and you are cooking like a true Desi lady. Most of the ingredients used can be found in the International isle at Wegmans. Some of the more obscure items, like amchoor powder, can be found at Kashmir Grocery on Erie Boulevard.
PANEER CURRY
1/4 cup onion paste* |||| 1 teaspoon garlic ginger paste |||| 3/4 cup tomato puree |||| 1 teaspoon salt |||| 1/2 teaspoon turmeric |||| 1 teaspoon garam masala |||| 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder |||| 1 teaspoon chili powder |||| 1/2 cup diced green pepper |||| 1/2 cup diced onion |||| 1 1/2 cups milk |||| 1 package fried paneer
*To make the onion paste: mix diced onions in a blender or a food processor until an onion paste forms. Then briefly saute the paste in a skillet with some oil until the paste turns light brown. The onion paste will keep in the fridge for up to a month.
1. Heat vegetable oil in the bottom of a medium-sized pot. Add the onion paste and garlic ginger paste and saute for about 2 minutes.
2. Then add the tomato puree and spices. Allow the mixture to cook for another 3-4 minutes.
3. Add the milk, green peppers, onions, paneer, and 1 /2 cup of water to the spiced tomato puree mixture. Allow the mixture to boil until the curry thickens and the vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.
POTATOES with MUSTARD SEEDS
1 teaspoon mustard seeds |||| 2 potatoes, peeled, boiled, and diced |||| 1 small onion, cut into thin strips |||| 1 teaspoon garlic ginger paste |||| 1/4 cup tomato puree |||| 1 teaspoon salt |||| 1/2 teaspoon amchoor (dried mango powder) |||| 1/2 teaspoon turmeric |||| 2 teaspoons garam masala |||| 1 teaspoon dhania powder (coriander seed) |||| 1 teaspoon chili powder
1. Heat a few teaspoons of vegetable oil in a skillet. Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds. Beware! The mustard seeds will pop. Stand back so you don’t shoot your eye out. Allow the seeds to cook for about 30 seconds before adding the onions.
2. Once the onions start to turn brown add the tomato puree and the spices. Allow the onions to cook with the spices for another 3-4 minutes.
3. Then add potatoes and 1 cup of water to the skillet. Allow the mixture to cook until the water is totally evaporated.
Econ homework and a plate of Indian food for dinner.
This kitty only speaks Hindi.
Sunday morning. Freshly fallen snow on the ground. Lots of Homework waiting to be procrastinated. And Dana crawling into my bed…purring like a cat and describing the contents of a breakfast sandwich. She tells me this is the breakfast sandwich to end all breakfast sandwiches. With words like ‘prosciutto’ and ‘cheese’ being thrown around, I am willing to taste test the breakfast sandwich to end all breakfast sandwiches. Now I am open to other suggestions for the best breakfast sandwich ever title, but I will say that this is a breakfast sandwich worth getting out of bed for.
DANA’S in your OPEN-FACE BREAKFAST sandwich (makes 4 sandwiches)
2 English muffins |||| 4 slices of skim-milk mozzarella |||| 4 slices of prosciutto |||| 4 eggs |||| 10 asparagus stalks
1. Slice English muffins and toast in the toaster.
2. Fry the eggs – over easy, sunnyside, or get fancy and steam them like Dana did.
3. Steam the asparagus. Wrap the asparagus in a wet papertowel and pop it in the microwave for 1-2 minutes for a super fast asparagus steaming solution.
4. Assemble the sandwiches. Use one half of the English muffin. The cheese is on the bottom, then the prosciutto, then the asparagus, then top it all off with the egg. You can add some pepper on top but I wouldn’t sugguest adding any more salt since the proscitto is already pretty salty.
