The after-holidays salads begin…

…and not a moment too soon!  After weeks of continuous (albeit delicious) holiday eating, we were in the mood for a salad.  With lots of work to be done as we get back into the swing of things, we wanted a hearty one with some protein.  And since I much prefer salads with a theme, I did some recipe searching to come up with some inspiration.  We ended up with a curried cauliflower, radicchio, and lentil salad, roughly inspired by this post.  It was perfect!

Happy 2011!

According to Russian astrology, this is the year of the white rabbit—a year for tranquility and cherishing time with friends.  Thus, we spent our time with close friends, sharing reflections, hopes, and general merriment.  We went to a lovely New Years Day brunch with plentiful scones, quiche, lox, and more…  Setting out to contribute something dessert-y, we started 2011 with the adventure of trying our hands at a tarte tatin.

Bulgur lentil “risotto”

In the interest of experimenting, we pulled together dinner from the few ingredients we had left in the apartment.  ib was on top of making some fresh bread, but we wanted to use up some Swiss chard as well.  After thinking about the delicious kale-lentil pasta that we often rave about, we decided to try a variation on the theme, using bulgur and chard.

Chilaquiles and spicy martinis

As we told abbex, our favorite cooking experiences are those we’ve shared with others.  So, the minute they suggested making chilaquiles and experimenting with martinis, we knew it was shaping up to be a great evening.  And it didn’t disappoint—the chilaquiles were delicious and easy (they’ll likely become a staple for us); and just as importantly, they paired beautifully with a spicy cocktail and great company.

Fall bounty

As a Halloween baby, it figures that I own pumpkin cookware such as a pumpkin-shaped spatula and cookie cutters…but now I get to add a pumpkin pot to the list! A Le Creuset pumpkin pot!  This turned into a delicious fall meal: pot pie and a collard green salad!

A feeble attempt at fideua

Inspired by the prospect of fresh seafood at the greenmarket and a free evening for making dinner, we decided to try our hands at some fideua—Catalan pasta with shellfish, similar to the Spanish paella.  We found this recipe that seemed simple enough, and though the blogger wasn’t a fan of Bittman as we usually are, we decided to give it a try.

Pumpkin stuffing-stuffed peppers

That’s right, more Thanksgiving leftovers and crazy ideas …but to be fair, we did end up with almost a whole “pumpkin” full of pumpkin stuffing.   In actuality, these were really just green peppers with a wintery wild rice stuffing, but it’s more fun to think that we re-stuffed the leftovers.

Turkey leftovers, reinvented via garlic sauce

Happy Thanksgiving to all! Our Violet Hill turkey was wonderful…it almost seemed too easy…and we’ll post more on our Thanksgiving food adventures soon.  But for now, here’s just a surprisingly easy and delicious leftover-turkey solution: Chinese garlic turkey, bok choi, and red pepper.

A new beginning

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Apologies for the delay; it’s time to officially unveil Diagonal Kitchen 2.0!

It’s true—it’s no longer laid out diagonally, it’s no longer equipped with lots of cupboards or counterspace, or a dishwasher, or even gas burners.  It’s true, it’s stainless steel, and about the size of a nice walk-in closet.  But it’s ours to do with as we please!  And what we pleased was grey and white stripes—diagonal stripes, of course.

Many thanks to the lovely people who came over, helped us move, and partook in home-made pizza while hanging out in cramped quarters.  More cooking and more hanging out to come—we hope you’ll join us!

–ib,dsd

Pattypan

The CSA this week brought a whole bunch of exciting new things, including a pound of squash; we decided to switch it up and take the pattypan (flat-shaped) squash, for some added excitement.  After seeing a zucchini tart recipe with ricotta cheese, I was really thinking that the squash-ricotta combination would be perfect, especially on a hot day like today.  Aside from using the pattypan like any other squash, I wasn’t sure what to do with it.  A quick google search revealed the exciting opportunities for stuffed squash, but I couldn’t find exactly what I had in mind (ricotta, but not all mushy  cheese filling).  This didn’t stop us.  We pulled together our mental picture as best we could, and turned out a pleasing pattypan preparation.