Recipe Roundup :: by mama

I have been trying to expand our cooking repertoire around here, and focusing especially on ingredients that we don't use often. Here are some things we've tried recently. (As usual, I am only posting recipes that I've found online, so others can access them easily.)

Pineapple Rice:

Here is the thing about pineapples: I think you either like them in savory foods (e.g., as a topping on pizza, in stir fries, etc.) or you don't. Chris does; I don't. He also really likes cashews and tofu, both of which I am kind of indifferent to. This dish had all three. Not surprisingly, Chris loved it and asked for it again the next week, while I was not particularly impressed (and haven't made it since). I wish I liked it more, because pineapples are plentiful, sweet, and cheap here. However, it's quite labor-intensive, and it just wasn't worth the effort to me.

Note: I adapted the recipe to include tofu instead of seitan. I made the dressing a day or two in advance, pressed the tofu, and marinated it in the dressing overnight. Then I pan-fried the tofu before adding it to the dish at the last minute. Like I said, rather labor-intensive.

Gougères:
When I went to Rio de Janeiro way back in the winter of 1998/1999, I discovered that Brazilians really, really like meat. In everything. At seemingly every meal. I, on the other hand, do not, and instead I ended up eating a whole lot of pao de queijo, a cheesy bread concoction that I have been missing ever since. Gougères, I have recently discovered, are very similar. Mine end up flat and somewhat pathetic-looking, probably due to the fact that our oven has no temperature control. (It is either on or off, and that's it. This recipe calls for baking the gougères at 425F and then turning the oven down, mid-bake, to 375F. Hahahahaha. I just opened the oven door for a while in the hopes that it would cool down a bit.) So they are not very attractive, but they are super delicious, and that's all that matters to me.

Creamy Pumpkin and Cashew Curry:

Again with the cashews, for Chris. And again, this was a somewhat labor-intensive dish that I felt was not entirely worth the effort. I had high hopes, because all of the ingredients are readily available here. I was also excited to be using two of them -- curry leaves and coconut cream, as opposed to coconut milk -- for the first time. However, it just turned out kind of bland. One thing I noticed afterwards was that the recipe didn't call for any salt at all, so that may have been part of the problem. Or maybe the green Bangladeshi pumpkin that I used was just not meant to go in this dish. Maybe someone else should try cooking this and tell me if it tastes any better with a different type of pumpkin.

Pasta with Cauliflower:

Yum. Cauliflower is just coming into season here, so I am looking for new ways to use it... and this one is definitely a keeper. It's quick, easy, and delicious. The bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese on top make all the difference. Kaya gobbled it up without a word. Yay!

Bean and Barley Soup:

I was destined to make this soup. Most of the ingredients are hard to find here, but they all serendipitously came together at once, without any real effort on my part. I had picked up some dry pinto beans and barley in one market, and then I spotted celery at one of the local grocery stores, and then the fruit stand next to the American Club just happened to have parsley. (Celery and parsley are only available in the winter here, and this was my first sighting of either one.) Also, Chris's basil plants are just big enough for me to pluck a few leaves here and there. In the end, I realized that I had everything I needed for this recipe. The soup was delicious. This will definitely be a new favorite for us. I did make a few changes to the recipe: I used half the onions and then doubled the carrots and the salt. It was perfect. Behold the evidence: