Where's the Air?

This is a(nother) terrible picture.  But what you CAN see is that I'm no closer to baking a quick bread (this one with beets, carrots, and zucchini, sweetened with maple) that actually rises.  It has two eggs (binders, not leavening agents, apparently)... powder and soda.  I think I went a bit *heavy* on the veg.  Man.

660 Praises!

I had to make some substitutions... like, for starters, a sweet potato... and then some tomato paste instead of tamarind?  Parsley instead of cilantro?  Yeah, well, it was GREAT.  Leftovers for lunch today with a cabbage salad (and still some left).  Ohhh, when oh when will my copy arrive?

Roasted Shallots

I peeled and roasted my share of the shallots (and second that -- not a happy task)...  Still have half of them left.  And a pizza dough in the freezer.  Mmmm???  I think they'd be good with wilted spinach and olives and the rest of my roasted tomatoes...  Or... 

Hadley Gold

While I was in Noho, somebody told me he was out of town and looking at a menu... $12 appetizer: fresh asparagus.  From Hadley (where he'd travelled all the way from, to see this appetizer).  I'm hoarding mine... still have a few stalks left.  Here it is with some cabbage dal and a simple tomato salad (yes, we're in tomato season).  

With Apologies to All

 I made my first fish stew.  It was delicious.  A friend was leaving town and left me a packet of white fish from the farmer's market and "shrimp," which turned out to be frozen bananas... and I loosely followed a recipe from a magazine she left behind as well.  Leeks, a few small red potatoes diced, 2 carrots thinly sliced, some tomatoes I'd roasted earlier in the day, a vegetable bouillon cube... and the kicker?  Some vegan mayo (I know, gross...) mixed with smoked paprika.  I tossed in some corn while the fish was cooking at the last moment, and had boiled the mixture with the cobs.  Truly tasty.  

Shallots

More great ingredients thanks to sp: shallots!

Here you see caramelized shallots based on these ones from smitten kitchen. We ate them with sauteed kale, spinach and sausage, with garlic toast and asparagus on the side.


Note: I have found my most hated kitchen task... peeling shallots. As delicious as this recipe was, I don't think I'll be trying it again unless I find jumbo ones.

Okra love

The lovely sp brought us okra all the way from NOLA, and we couldn't wait to dig in. Here you see Pan-Fried Okra with an Onion-Tamarind Sauce, Jyoti brand Delhi Saag (spinach and mustard greens, from a can), and Five-Spiced Whole Pigeon Peas (Sabud toovar with panch phoron).
The okra and pigeon pea curries are of course from my obsession, 660 Curries. Both were delicious, and pretty quick (under 30 minutes, because I used canned pigeon peas). The pigeon pea curry was the first time I've put my jar of panch phoron to good use, and now I'm a believer. The Delhi Saag was pretty good, considering it was from a can. (I don't know if I'd pay full price for it, but if I find it on sale again, I wouldn't mind having some on hand.)

Plus, here's some news for the 660-curries-obsessed: there's a blog.