Green Tacos

I was inspired to try some variation of the raw squash recipes that I’ve been seeing lately.  I decided that this might make a good filling for a tortilla, so we ran with it, and now all we can think about is when we’ll make these again!

Spring Greens New Ways

Well it’s definitely lettuce season again.  The CSA has been supplying us with about three heads a week, and well, there are only so many salads a person can eat.  So, we were inspired to try something new…lettuce soup. Even after reading though several recipes and many rave reviews, it was still hard to imagine exactly what we were in for.  We hedged our bets by making some white bean “pate” spread to have with our CSA escarole and fresh bread, alongside.  Even with the successful soup, this stole all our attention.  Please try it!

Olive pesto on pasta, with fresh bread

Nothing prepared me for this. Not the fact that dsd had already made this once, and raved about it convincingly. Not even the fact that she graciously gave me some leftovers, which, when I ate them two days later, were delicious. No, I admit I was unprepared. I admit I thought of olives as lovely but limited — fantastic with the right cheese, or on their own, or even in a loaf, but nothing more, right? …Wrong. This pesto is easy and remarkably creamy and delicious. (Oh, and also, I had it with my first successful loaf of bread; that helps, too.)

Saag paneer and roti

Now that the market is booming with fresh greens, we could take advantage of our frozen paneer and emerging Indian-bread-making skills for this delicious dinner.  The saag paneer came together through our own inspiration.  We decided to try roti as well, after really enjoying our homemade aloo paratha.

Soup, salad, and ramp biscuits

We were eager to cook with some more of our spring ramps, but decided to try something new…almost the only Epicurious ramp recipe we haven’t tried yet: ramp biscuits.  We paired these with Greek avgolemono (egg lemon) soup and fresh salad greens and sprouts.  The biscuits were delightfully tangy and went very well with the soup, made creamy by the egg more than sour from the lemon.

Indian food addiction

We’ve been cooking with a lot of Indian inspiration lately.  After some enlightening cooking with ps and bm, I was keen to show off my new skills at making aloo paratha (potato filled flatbread).  And now we can’t stop making it!  Today, dinner inspiration started with some urad dal (black lentils) I had cooked previously and potatoes that heard it was spring and weren’t going to last in the veggie box much longer.  The urad dal turned out to be the perfect start to dal makhani, and this left us with potatoes screaming to become aloo paratha — the two came together for a delightful dinner.

Spanish dinner, long in the making

After a few years of talking about having Spanish dinner with some lab friends (2 Catalans and others), we finally pulled something together.  As I was asked to do way back when, I made a rendition of Crema Catalana — turns out it’s the lighter, easier version of creme brulee, and something I plan to repeat on a more regular basis.  It was a great end to a delicious meal of mussels, Spanish tortilla, and fideoa!

Introducing: Beetballs

Our winter obsession with beets has continued.  ib‘s Russian influence must be rubbing off…we just can’t get enough!  After some discussion about  new things to try with beets, and with a pinch of silliness, we landed on an idea that we actually really wanted to try: beetballs. Yes — spaghetti and beetballs.

Squash spaetzle with friends

There’s nothing better than a casual plan to make dinner with friends that turns into a creative and fantastic meal! We were inspired by se‘s need for pre-race carbs, my random suggestion to use squash puree, and our friends’ spaetzle-maker.

Smoked salmon and pasta salad

I could invent some sort of rationale for having made this meal—minimalism, balance, a focus on good ingredients—but, honestly, I just came across the recipe and found it irresistible.  I was sold on smoked salmon and al dente pasta.  Pulling this salad together, flavor-wise, proved challenging, but ultimately rewarding, once we hit the right balance.