A Pile of Green

Unfortunately lack of posts does not equal lack of meals. It's officially well into swimsuit season and I've put on 20 pounds, which is not attractive on anyone. I've decided it's time again for the dreaded D-word to make an appearance--diet.

Luckily for my mouth dieting to me only means not having seconds...and maaaaybe inserting some veggies into my diet instead of the constant parade of carbohydrates and meat (they're just so delicious!).

The following recipe is something that I pulled together while browsing Fairway. I actually meant to make gumbo out of this okra yesterday, but Fairway was out so I bought this today in sort of a delayed gratification. I know the infamous sliminess of okra is a bit of a you-love-it-or-hate-it camp; personally I love it, but for the haters this risotto hides it well.

I also want to note that I had wanted to use Maitake mushrooms in this recipe, but Fairway didn't have any non-bruised specimens since I tend to go an hour to closing, so I just used regular brown button Criminis.




Asparagus, Okra, and Mushroom Risotto

1 cup Arborio rice
4-5 cups broth
1/2 lb mushrooms, chopped
6 asparagus spears, cut into 1" pieces
1 cup okra, trimmed and sliced
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp garlic, chopped
salt
pepper

~Melt 1/2 tbsp butter over medium heat and brown the mushrooms. Add the asparagus and okra and saute until bright green and al dente, salt to taste and set aside.
~Bring the broth to a simmer, cover and keep warm over low heat.
~Heat the remaining butter and oil in the pan on medium heat and add garlic, saute until fragrant; add the rice and stir quickly for one minute until the rice is coated and opaque.
~Stirring frequently, add the broth a ladle at a time, letting it absorb before adding more until the rice is tender and glossy.
~Stir in the veggies and lemon juice; season the risotto with salt and pepper before serving.

Defeating the Purpose of Veggies

By frying and adding butter. Yes. While I am not one of those people who cringe at the mention of leafy greens, fried food appeals to me so much more than rabbit food. You may remember that on the day I made linguine, I had some leftover okra and pasta...and today, since it was just The Boyfriend and me for dinner (Mi went home to beg her mom for more rice, and E went out to dinner with a cousin) I decided to make good use of them in an experimental recipe that I had never ever ever made before.

Fried okra. I'm told a lot of people are turned off by the sliminess of the interior of okra. My dad is one of those people. But personally, I have always loved okra. I couldn't tell you why. I just do. The point being, a lot of people don't like how slimy okra is. And according to what seems to be a majority of the Internet, a way to kill that sliminess that people so abhor is by deep-frying it.

I considered this deep-fry method, but seeing as I'm a starving college student and not really in the mood to waste about half the bottle of vegetable oil it would take to deep-fry anything, I decide to go with just frying it.



Panko Fried Okra w/ Butter Pasta and Marinara

1 cup okra, sliced into roughly 1 cm lengths
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tbsp garlic powder
salt to taste
2 servings of pasta
1 1/2 cup marinara sauce

~Heat up the marinara sauce on medium heat, then put it on low heat and set it aside, stirring occasionally.
~Boil the pasta and drain it. Then melt the butter in a pan and basically fry the noodles in butter. Pasta made with semolina flour will not brown the way Chinese noodles do (something I discovered today) but they will still become satisfyingly buttery. Freshman 15, here I come! Pour the marinara sauce over the pasta.
~Dip the okra into the egg, then roll them in the bread crumbs. Do this with more care than I did, because if you look at my photo you can see most of the panko fell off during the frying process. I was too rough with them. But The Boyfriend was hungry, so I was in a hurry. He was hungry because I was so absorbed in my Harry Potter researching that I basically forgot to make dinner. I'm such a bad girlfriend.
~Heat up the oil in a pan, and when it's hot transfer the okra into the pan carefully to avoid panko loss. Stir the okra with a wooden spoon until the panko turns golden and delicious looking.
~Season with garlic powder and salt. Spoon it over pasta.

Makes enough for 2 people.


(Also, I would like to report that the fire alarm count has not changed since my post earlier this day! Let it be known that since this all started, that is a record. How sad is that? Hopefully we can keep this up. Wish us luck.)

The Idiots Who Can't Cook and Marinara Sauce with Fresh Basil

It's been a few days since I've made a post. No, that does not mean I haven't eaten anything since my last post. I took the train back to my house to pick up a few things and slept over at The Boyfriend's house with a few friends, and my diet on those days consisted mainly of Philly's cheese steak and Papa John's pizza.

I would like to take this moment to crown Papa John's as the best restaurant/takeout pizza you can get. Why this bold declaration, you ask?

*It's not super-greasy. Many restaurant pizzas have so much oil floating on top of the cheese that it could be soaked up with a sponge.
*The cheese is not burnt, it is perfectly soft and melted.
*The tomato sauce is not just salty, it is sweet and tastes deliciously of tomatoes.
*The dough is soft and bread-y.
*The crust is crisp, but not hard.

Yes. I love my pizza, and Papa John's has appealed to me for all of the above reasons.

On Monday morning, my dad dropped me off at Princeton Junction Station. After I took the NJ Transit back to New York, and rode the subway to 1st Avenue, all the while lugging a duffel bag that I swear weighed about 80 pounds (I'm 105 lbs., so you see why this is a problem.) and carting a plastic crate loaded with even more stuff, I was too broken in body and spirit to even attempt to make myself dinner. So I caved and ran to the nearest CVS and bought myself a few cans of Chef Boyardee ravioli. (Oh no she di'nt!)

Anyway, onto food that I actually made. I have had a package of linguine sitting on my desk shelf since I moved in (if you squint at the picture of my desk I posted on August 20th, you'll see it sitting next to the bag of rice), and since Mi and E had invited a friend, J, who lives on the 1st floor of our dormitory building, up for dinner tonight, I figured tonight would be a good opportunity to use it. So on our way back from Orientation, we stopped by Whole Foods and grabbed a jar of 365 Everyday Value Classic Marinara pasta sauce, frozen okra, and some Canola Oil (we looked for olive oil, which I prefer, but all they had was Extra-Virgin for like $10 a bottle and we're too poor for that).

Back in our cramped dorm room kitchen, I was about to start cooking when...dun dun duuuun! Disaster strikes! The fire alarm starts blaring, for the second time that day (we were gone for the first time). My room is on the 11th floor, and during fire alarms we aren't allowed to take the elevator, so it was down 11 flights of stairs we went. By the time the fire trucks had pulled away, it was 6:45 and dinner was late.

Okay, as I was typing this, the fire alarm just went off AGAIN. And apparently the reason for these THREE alarms in one day was because some people kept burning stuff on the kitchen stove, which created so much smoke that it set off the alarms. What the fuck? (this is probably a good time to mention this blog is not for young impressionable children.) It is not difficult to keep from burning things on an electric stove. If you're really that bad at cooking, you should probably either have someone teach you how to avoid burning things, or just stay the hell away from the kitchen. I'm getting tired of walking down 11 flights of stairs in the midst of a piercing fire alarm.

ANYWAY. On to the recipe. Before walking down 11 flights of stairs for the second time today, I would have said this isn't going to add any kind of extra wisdom to one's mental library of culinary knowledge...but now I think otherwise. So without further ado, I present spaghetti for dummies.


Twice-Interrupted Linguine with Marinara Sauce and Veggies

4 servings of linguine (about 2 oz. per person)
1 1/2 cup of marinara sauce
1 large tomato, diced
1 onion, diced
1 cup okra, chopped
1/2 cup button mushrooms, sliced
1 tbsp oil
a few sprigs of fresh basil, chopped

~Toss the linguine in a pot of water with a pinch of salt and set it to boil.
~In a large pan, heat up the oil and put in the chopped basil leaves and diced onion and stir on medium heat until the onion is lightly browned.
~Add the mushrooms, okra, and tomato, and push it around some more until the tomatoes become mushy.
~Tip in the marinara sauce, and stir it until it's hot and the entire kitchen smells like an Italian restaurant.
~The linguine is done when you throw it at the wall and it sticks. Do not overcook it. I prefer my pasta with a little bite--al dente, for all you cooking geeks, meaning to tooth. Cooking this particular pasta to al dente should take about 10 minutes in boiling water. Drain your linguine and divvy it up into four bowls. Pour the sauce and veggies over it and enjoy!

Makes enough for 4 people.

Sauteing the onions and basil.


This is J.



























You can also basically do this with any other type of pasta. I intend on making it with shells, which is my favorite pasta shape because the yummy sauces can hide in the little "bowl" the shell makes, and each bite contains a burst of tomato-y goodness.