July 5th--One Pot Paprikash

Dave: We are pretty tired tonight after a weekend celebrating (and exercising) our freedoms with some of our friends. We were lucky to host some friends from Oxford, MS and we had the chance to meet up with some of my fellow Huskies at the fireworks downtown. As much fun as we had, the last thing we want to do tonight is mess around with a complicated recipe...or dishes.

Lauren: Only problem with that idea - we're also hungry. REALLY hungry. As in make-and-eat-buckets-of-food hungry.

Dave: This weekend involved a lot of eating out (notably the Taste of Chicago, Wow Bao! and the fabulous Panang Thai in the loop), so price range is also a consideration. For this recipe, I focused on keeping everything down to one pot, ingredients that cost less than $20 total (with a guarantee of leftovers for lunch tomorrow) and super-hearty comfort food. Looking to my heritage, I thought that some nice spicy Paprikash would do the trick.

Lauren: When you're hungry, why not cook Hungarian? (cue groans)

Dave: The only challenge is transforming notoriously meat-based Hungarian cuisine into a veg dish. The first issue was how to get the proper consistency in my sour cream sauce without any rendered fat in the dish. I decided to try using Cultural Revolution yogurt because it is so thick and creamy. It helped, but we may go all the way to Greek yogurt next time we try this out.

The other big issue is what to put in the Paprikash. I've done everything from all-mushrooms (cooked in bacon fat so I didn't have to worry about sauce thickening) to all-beef and the sauce has always stood up for itself, so I wasn't worried about balance as much as I was worried about health (we also didn't eat that healthily this weekend). I decided to go with button mushrooms, Yukon gold potatoes (skin on) and red cabbage. I also used a shallot because they were on sale for a good price at Whole Foods and we like how potatoes taste when they are cooked with shallots.

Lauren: Given the temperature outside and the stick-to-your-ribs quality of the dish, we served it up by itself. In the colder months, it would be nice to serve it over some egg noodles or hearty wild rice.

Ingredients:

12 oz Cultural Revolution Plain Yogurt

2 Yukon Gold Potatoes cleaned and cut into batons

16 oz Button Mushrooms cleaned and sliced

1 Head Red Cabbage

1 Shallot

1/2 Cup Earth Balance Margarine in two 1/4 cup portions

3 Tbsp Hot Hungarian Paprika

2 Tbsp Hungarian Paprika

1 Tbsp Ground Black Pepper

1 Tsp Salt

Procedure:

Melt 1/4 cup Earth Balance in sautee pan with lid. Cook potatoes until the start to brown. Add shallot and salt and pepper. Continue cooking until the potatoes are uniformly brown and the shallots are cooked through.

Add mushrooms and cover the pot entirely with cabbage. Place other 1/4 cup of Earth Balance on top of the cabbage and cover the pan. Cook on medium low until cabbage has wilted significantly.

In a separate container (I used the yogurt container to cut down on dishes) mix yogurt and paprika. Add more black pepper and salt if you think that would taste good.

Mix together the ingredients in the pan and let cool for 10 minutes. Add the yogurt sauce and heat slowly to avoid curdling. Serve hot in bowls.

June 23th--Tortilla Espanola

Dave: Tonight we are making a Spanish Tortilla! No special reason...no new materials on hand...we just felt like it. It's kind of interesting that the Spanish Tortilla has so little in common with the Mexican Tortilla. The Spanish version is much more similar to frittata.

We're making the tortilla with the red potatoes left over from last night instead of the more traditional waxy potatoes...we'll let you know how it turns out.

Lauren: Tortilla Espanola is a classic tapas dish, but seems to be easily adaptable to "Hmmm...what's that in the fridge? An aging red pepper and some olives we should probably use up? Groovy!" The original recipe also calls for onions, which we probably would've added if it weren't a) something that we'd have to go to the store for and b) pouring torrentially.

Dave: That is true...you could really pop anything in this dish and it would be pretty acceptable - as long as you have the traditional eggs and potatoes, it would still be Spanish Tortilla. In related news, there is a tornado warning so I'm glad we didn't run out for an onion.

1 Lb potatoes
2 cups olive oil
½ cup mixed olives (we used a mixture of green and kalamata), pitted
1 red pepper
2 eggs
dash of Hungarian hot paprika
dash of chili powder
salt and pepper to taste

Peel potatoes, cut into small cubes or wedges, then put on a clean dish towel and dry well. Cut the red pepper into 1" squares; cut olives into quarters. Heat the olive oil in large, heavy-bottom or nonstick skillet. Add the potato pieces, red pepper, and olives, then lower the heat and cook, stirring frequently for 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender, but not brown. (They'll actually look like they've been boiled, yet will have the delicious flavor of the olive oil cooked inside them.)

Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a large bowl and season with salt, pepper, chili powder and hot paprika. (Note: If you are using olives, be careful not to over-salt the egg mixture, as the olives will impart plenty of salt to the tortilla. Also, a secret: if you are ever having a dish at our house and taste a spice that is unidentifiable but delicious, it's probably hot paprika. Very few things are not improved by its addition.)

Place strainer over a large bowl; when the potato mixture is cooked, drain into the strainer so that the bowl catches the oil. Set oil aside. When the potato mixture is well drained, gently stir it into beaten eggs.

Wipe skillet clean or wash it if necessary to prevent the tortilla sticking. Heat 2 tablespoons of the reserved olive oil in the skillet. When hot, add the mixture, lower the heat and cook for 3-5 minutes, or until the underside is just set. Use a spatula to push the potatoes down into the egg so that they are completely submerged and keep loosening the tortilla from the bottom of the skillet to stop it sticking.

To cook the second side of the tortilla, cover it with a plate, and hold the plate in place with the other hand. Drain off the oil in the skillet, then quickly turn the skillet upside down so that the tortilla falls onto the plate. Return the skillet to the heat and add a little more of the reserved oil if necessary. Slide the tortilla, cooked side up, back into the skillet and cook for an additional 3-5 minutes, or until set underneath. The tortilla is cooked when it is still firm and crisp on the outside but still slightly runny in the center.

Slide the tortilla onto a serving plate and let stand for about 15 minutes. Serve it warm or cold, cut into small squares, fingers or wedges.

Optional: For a little extra heat, serve with Sriracha.

July 22th--Improvised Tajine Curry

Lauren: So, as it turns out, we were a little more tired than expected on Monday after Sunday's Warrior Dash (which was awesome, by the way), and decided to eat some leftover ragout my father had sent us home with from his self-catered Father's Day dinner. He also sent us home with a present - a tajine.

Dave: To put the tajine through its paces, we decided to make a modification of a super easy curry recipe we've developed (because we are lazy and like curry). The tajine is a traditional Moroccan cooking vessel with a tall domed cover, so that when liquid evaporates from your food it condenses and self-marinates. To take advantage of these features we used traditional Moroccan spices in place of curry powder and used potatoes as the basis for the curry, to replicate the tough cuts of meat the tajine is so good at tenderizing. I know that getting potatoes good and soft isn't nearly as difficult a task as tenderizing mutton, but until Morningstar Farms makes a mutton substitute, it's what we've got.

Lauren: We also added paneer cubes to the mix - again, more common in South Asian cuisine than Moroccan, but we had half a bag of it in the freezer (and it's delicious).

Incidentally, tajine is the name for both the cooking vessel as well as the dishes made in it. Traditional tajine also tends to have more fruits and nuts than ours had, so this might be fun to do differently in the fall with root vegetables, dates and nuts.

Dave: Absolutely! It's a great vessel for all sorts of long-cooking foods.

I want to give a shout out to The Spice House (www.thespicehouse.com 1941 Central St. Evanston). We used their Moroccan Spice Mix and their Chili Powder in this recipe. They have some of the best and freshest spices in the Chicagoland area and their staff is always so pleasant and helpful.

Tajine:

1/2 cup Soy Milk

4 Red Potatoes (Diced)

2 Roma Tomatoes (Seeded and diced)

1/2 Red Onion (Peeled and, you guessed it, diced)

1 Cup frozen peas (We used Trader Joe's Brand)

1 Cup frozen paneer cubes

4 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3 Tsps Moroccan Spice Blend http://www.thespicehouse.com/spices/moroccan-spice-mixture

2 Tsps Chili Powder http://www.thespicehouse.com/spices/mild-medium-or-hot-chili-powder

Sauce:

1 cup Greek yogurt

1-2 Tbsp soy milk

1 1/2 Tbsp Moroccan Spice Blend http://www.thespicehouse.com/spices/moroccan-spice-mixture

2 dashes ground cloves

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk Greek yogurt and soy milk together (sauce should have a fairly thick consistency). Add in Moroccan spices until fully combined. Mix in cloves and set aside.

Pour soy milk into tajine and set over low heat. Gradually increase the heat to medium (you should never expose your tajine to quick temp changes.) When the milk has boiled, let the tajine cool and hand wash without soap. You can do this at any time the day you are making the recipe.

Heat olive oil in the tajine. Slowly increase the temperature from low to medium. Put the potatoes and red onions into the tajine and stir slowly, ensuring that they are coated in oil. Cover the tajine and let simmer for 10 minutes.

Open the tajine and add peas, chili powder, Moroccan spice blend and paneer. Stir well and cover. Reduce heat slightly and let simmer 10 minutes.

Turn off the burner of the stove and let the tajine sit (covered) 15 minutes.

Slowly add sauce to the vegetable and spice mixture. If the sauce curdles when added, allow more time for the oil to cool.

Stir well and serve immediately with flatbread.