Esquites

Esquites is like Elote but off the cob, much easier to eat but has the same yummy creamy, tangy, spicy flavor that I love.  While the Boy won't touch this with a 10 foot pole (he's mayo-phobic), I love it and it's a super easy side dish to go with tacos, enchiladas, or even huevos rancheros.  You can either use corn on the cob, or for an easier version, I used sweet white frozen corn.

Esquites (serves two):

2 cups of frozen corn
1-2 tbsp low fat mayonnaise
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
salt and pepper
1 scallion, thinly sliced
5 cilantro sprigs
1 lime, zested and juiced
queso fresco or Parmesan, freshly grated

Heat up a frying pan super hot, add the frozen corn and be careful, they will pop.  Cover and "saute" for a few minutes, until the corn has a little char on it.

Add to a bowl and add the rest of the ingredients and taste for seasoning.  Serve warm immediately.

Cornbread Muffins

Cornbread Muffins are a thing of beauty.  They are salty, sweet, bready - everything I love (execpt the carbs).  I usually buy Jiffy CornBread Mix and add a few things in it to make it special.

Cornbread Muffins:

1 box of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix

1/2 - 3/4 cup frozen white corn

4 dashes red pepper flakes

1 egg

1/3 cup non-fat milk

lime zest

muffin liners

Combine all ingredients into a bowl and let sit for a few minutes.  Spoon mixture into muffin tins with liners until halfway full.  Follow the directions and bake according to the box.

Enjoy with a little slice of butter and some more lime zest.



Baked Beans

I am not from the South, nor did I ever really grow up on Southern Comfort Food.  However, living in San Francisco, your repitoire gets drastically expanded with every new restaurant or food truck opening.   This whole Southern kick started awhile back when I made my Pulled Pork Sliders, an equally delicious and laborious dish.  I have been thinking I should make it again but didn't want to put in the whole effort on a weeknight.  I calculated how long it would take to make BBQ ribs with all the fixings on the side and decided that would be put on hold for a warm Saturday afternoon with friend.  I did realize however, that I could make some of the "fixins" on the side and to hold off my BBQ fix for a bit.  Baked Beans and Coleslaw seemed like the perfect easy weeknight meal I could tackle in 30 minutes after I got home at 8pm from working out.

So here goes, I will be the first to admit that my recipe is not a standard recipe, it has out of all things Pancetta in it (to be fair I wanted to use bacon but TJ's was out of it).  The beans are actually Baked Beans from Trader Joes in which I doctored up, very unprofessional Amy.

Baked Beans:
tiny splash of peanut oil
2 ounces of cubed pancetta (half the box that TJ's had)
1/2 sweet onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 jalapeno, minced
1 can of Trader Joes Organic Baked Beans
1 heaping tsp chipotle sauce or 1 chipotle minced
splash of water
salt and pepper
2 scallions, chopped

In a sauce pan, heat the little amount of oil and add the pancetta, brown to render the fat.  Remove with a slotted spoon.

Add the onion, garlic and jalapeno and sweat on medium heat.  Season with a bit of salt and pepper. 

Add the beans into the pan with all the sauce, add the chipotle and a splash of water.  Add back in the pancetta and let reduce on low to medium low heat for 7-10 minutes and taste for seasoning.  Garnish with the scallions and cilantro if you have it.

Beet and Watermelon Salad

After the Boy and I got back from Wine Country we stopped at Oola in SOMA for lunch.  We had this amazing Beet and Watermelon Salad that we completely devoured.  The Boy wanted to make it again for dinner, so we did and it turned out amazing.  I substituted Watercrests with Pea Shoots but Micro Greens work well here also.

Watermelon and Beet Salad:

4-5 beets, cubed

1-2 cups of largely cubed watermelon

1 oz goat cheese, crumbled

1 large handful of pea shoots or some type of green

1 handful of pistachios

1 sprig of thyme, leaves removed

1 tbsp Champagne Vinegar or

Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar at TJ's

1 tsp - tbsp extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

To make the dressing, put the thyme leaves, salt, pepper and vinegar in a bowl.  Whisk in the olive oil in a stream till combined.  Add to the rest of the salad and toss to combine.  Add a touch of cracked black pepper on top at the very end.

Black Bean and Corn Salsa

I was up in Park City a few weekends ago for a ski trip.  We had this amazing house, with a gorgeous kitchen, and a beautiful view.  We decided to make Breakfast Burritos one morning and picked up this amazing black bean and corn salsa to go on top.  I decided to make it at home.

Black Bean and Corn Salsa:

1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup of cooked frozen corn

1 tomato, chopped into bite size pieces

3 scallions, finely chopped

1 large shallot, finely minced

1/2 jalapeno, seeds and ribs removed, finely minced

2 garlic cloves, minced

8 mint leaves, chopped

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (or any sweeter vinegar)

few drizzles of extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper

Combine all in a bowl and toss to combine.  Taste for seasoning.  Enjoy on Breakfast Burritos or with chips or as a refreshing side dish.

Caesar Salad - The Way to my Dad's Heart

I've said it before, I grew up eating a salad with almost every dinner my mother made.  Usually, it was some sort of leafy green, add tomatoes, radishes and some green onion to a red wine vinaigrette, and that was our tasty, every day salad.  I started introducing a Caesar Salad a bit ago and my father loves it.  Whenever I'm home, he begs me to make it.  My mother could have prepared an entire meal, salad included and he will still ask me to make it for him.  A conversation goes like this:

Dad: "Oh please sweet, just a little Caesar Salad?"

Me: "Dad.  No."

So this post is devoted to my dad, it's not his birthday, or Father's Day but there are certain things that just remind me of him some days, and Caesar Salad is often one of them.  My father is truly unique.  He let me sit in his lap and drive up the driveway when I was seven (totally legal), jump from the top of the refrigerator into his arms as a toddler, has trouble pronouncing words like "yeast" and "onion" with his Polish accent, and lastly, he is convinced that he is a "cool dad."  After all the years of laughing, driving, jumping, joking, and laughing again, he is my father that I love, the only father that I know and could ever be so lucky to have.

Dad - I love you and thank you for keeping things, well, interesting.

Anyway, back to reality, I made this for dinner a few nights ago.  I know some of you may be wary about using anchovy paste but trust me, you don't taste it, it just has a rich and complex saltiness that perfects the dressing.

Caesar Salad:

Serves 4 people

1 head of romaine lettuce, chopped into 1/2 inch strips

Parmesan cheese, freshly graded

Croutons:

1 cup of day old, cubed bread - I used a baguette or some sort of dry bread

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper

garlic powder

In a saute pan, add the oil to medium high heat.  Add the bread and let toast in the oil, take the heat down to medium.  Season with salt and pepper and turn once the bread has a nice golden brown color.  Toast on the other side for a few more minutes and then put into a seperate bowl, sprinkle with a few dashes of garlic powder (if you do this in the hot pan, the garlic powder will burn and taste like well, burnt garlic and metal - super delicious).  Let the croutons cool.

Salad Dressing:

2 egg yolks

1/2 to 1 whole lemon, juiced

1/2 tsp anchovy paste - or a good squeeze (comes in a tube at the grocery store)

1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

dash or two of Worcestershire

1 garlic clove, finely minced

salt and pepper

garlic powder
1/4 - 1/2 cup olive oil

In a sauce pan, heat an inch or two of water to a simmer.  Combine everything but the olive oil into a metal bowl and place on top of the simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water.  Whisk rapidly for a minute or two until the egg yolk mixture thickens up a bit and lightens slightly, making sure that the eggs don't curdle or get chunky.  Take off the heat immediately and wipe off the hot water from below the metal bowl (or just place on a kitchen towel).  Whisk in the olive oil in a steady stream until you get the consistency you desire.  Thin custardy consistency is what I like, but to each his own.  Taste for seasoning and adjust to your liking.  Place the dressing at the bottom of your salad bowl and put the lettuce on top.  Sprinkle the croutons on top along with the Parmesan cheese.  Toss at the very last minute before serving/eating.  Enjoy Daddy!

Green Beans with Shallots, Raisins, and Pine Nuts

Green vegetables are a big part of my life.  I've grown up always having a green vegetable and a salad with dinner.  They're tasty, nutritious and really easy to make.  I made up this side dish in college and love it.  You steam or boil some green beans and throw in some garlic, shallots, raisins, some sort of nuts and you're home!

Green Beans:

1 bunch of green beans

1/4 cup raisins

1 shallot, thinly sliced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts or toasted slivered almonds

salt and pepper

olive oil

Either set up a steamer or boil some water.  Steam/boil the green beans for 1-2 minutes, 30 seconds before you take out the beans, add the raisins and let them plump up a bit in the water/steam.  Immediately take everything off the heat and put into ice water to stop the cooking process.

In a saute pan, heat up a bit of olive oil and sweat the shallots for a minute or so.  Add the garlic and the cooked green beans and raisins.  Season with salt and pepper and at the last minute add the nuts.  Taste for seasoning and serve immediately.

Brussel Sprouts with Pancetta and Chestnuts

This past Thanksgiving dinner I finally convinced my mom to let me cook something a little different than our normal menu.  I had made roasted Brussel Sprouts a few weeks earlier and loved how they developed a nutty flavor.  Given that it is Thanksgiving, I upped the ante and added some pancetta and cooked chestnuts.  They were by far, my favorite side dish from our Thanksgiving dinner.

Brussel Sprouts:

2-3 ounces of cubed pancetta (TJ's has it)
12-15 brussel sprouts, halved and cleaned
2 tbsp olive oil - I used duck fat because it was tasty, but bacon fat works too
Salt and Pepper
1/4 tsp. of chili powder
1/2 cup of pealed chopped cooked chestnuts

Preheat oven to 350F.  In a large skillet brown the pancetta on medium heat.  Once crispy, take out with a slotted spoon and drain onto paper towels.  Add a bit more oil/fat to the pan on medium high heat.  Add the sprouts, halved side down, season with salt, pepper and chili powder and let cook for 5-7 minutes, until they get a nice color of golden brown.  Stir around a bit, add the chestnuts and a splash of water or chicken stock.  Put the pan in the oven and cook the brussel sprouts till soft but still have a bite to them.  Depending on the size 8-12 minutes.  Once done, sprinkle with the crispy pancetta and serve.

Broccolini with Cheese Sauce

This side dish is a great addition to any meal.  You steam the broccoli or the broccolini in some salted water and then top it with a creamy cheddar cheese sauce.  If you choose to veto the sauce, squeeze some fresh lemon juice over the broccoli right before you eat it, because if you squeeze the lemon juice on it right after steaming, it will turn a weird brownish green color that, well, just isn't appetizing.

Broccolini with Cheddar Cheese Sauce:

1 bunch of broccolini or broccoli
3 tbsp unsalted butter
3 tbsp Wondra flour
1- 1 1/2 cups warmed skim milk (warm it in the microwave in a liquid measuring cup)
1/4 tsp freshly graded nutmeg
1/4 tsp mustard powder
1 cup freshly graded sharp white cheddar cheese
Salt and Pepper

You need 2 pans, one shallow that you can fill with water and steam the boccoli/broccolini and another saucepan that you can make the sauce with.

Boil the water with a large pinch of salt.  When boiling, add the broccolini and cover to steam. 

While the vegetable is steaming, heat the butter in the sauce pan, once melted add the flour.  Cook for at least a minute to cook off the raw flour flavor.  Then add the warmed milk, and stir to combine.  Add the nutmeg, mustard, salt and pepper, then slowly start adding the cheese a hand full at a time, till it's melted completely.

When the broccolini is done, take off the heat and drain.  Make sure the cheese sauce is combined and smooth.  Taste and adjust for seasoning.  Make sure the sauce has cooked for at least 5 minutes on medium low to thicken a bit, drizzle over the cooked broccolini and enjoy!