Basils and Other Updates

It's been a long time since I had a gardening post but that is not for lack of gardening. I just haven't been good about taking pictures and without a picture I feel disinclined to post. But I am trying not to let that stop me. This summer I planted some basil from seed and there were three plants that survived into the summer. I pulled one of the plants about a month ago and today I harvested the other two. I had a giant pile of basil leaves I tried to take a picture of, but alas! no batteries in my camera. I did try though.

This summer I also planted some thyme and chamomile from seed but the chamomile seedlings were murdered by some kind of larvae that have taken root in my seed starting mix. One thyme seedling made it and is happily proliferating in my Italian Roast coffee can.

And that is that!

Smoked Salmon Linguine with Broccoli

This is a dinner I've been fixing fairly often recently because it is so simple and also hits all the right number of notes for me.

Instructions:

While cooking linguine in a pot of water, casually slice some smoked salmon into bite sized pieces. I buy the small pack of TJ brand salmon, which is 3 ounces. I find that 1 oz is good for a single serving. Cut a head of broccoli into florets and set aside as many as you like. Cut a lemon in half. When the linguine is done, pull out of the water with tongs and drop the broccoli florets into the same water. Drop a pat of butter into the linguine and stir about until melted. Add a generous handful or two of grated or shaved parmiggiano reggiano cheese (accept no substitutions) and squeeze some lemon juice in. When the broccoli is done, add to pasta and toss altogether. Lay the salmon pieces on top and eat quickly before the salmon cooks through.

And perhaps for after dinner, enjoy a mug of green tea with a small slice of kasutera cake.

(Note: once I tried to tart up this dish by adding pesto. There are few instances in which the addition of pesto ruins things, but this is one of them. Keep this dish clean and simple. A twist of pepper and a small pinch of salt may be added if necessary.)

Visiting the Bunnies (Part II)

To continue the saga:

Monday: before i go into monday, i must rave about the upside down plum cake bunny fashioned on sunday. omg. soooo incredible. she used her CSA plums and even with an accidental 2x amount of butter in the caramel it was one of the yummiest things i've ever had. bon bon! for monday breakfast then, i had the remains of this cake with a cup of coffee and it was another happy morning. while bunny was busy painting the kitchen wall a pretty blue (and while my mom was watching her and making exasperated noises about how much of a bother it all was), i was crouched in the garden planting seeds in egg cartons. assuming they all come up, the bunnies will have chives, chamomile, sage and thyme in addition to the many herbs they are currently growing and seldom eating. for lunch, mommy, bunny and i sped to mitsuwa to purchase sushi making ingredients and other edibles. by the time we raced home and marshalled a lunch together, mr bunny was pale with hunger and barely hanging on. i'm happy to report he revived after some sushi (eel avocado, salmon avocado, yellowtail), miso soup and edamame. all was well. omg, i almost forgot to mention: for lunch my mom contributed some raw sliced onions topped with a dash of soy sauce and some bonito flakes. after politely sampling a nibble i scooted what was left to the far side of my plate. i don't care how good it is supposed to be for me, i'm not eating plain raw onions outside of a sandwich or salad.

i'm not entirely sure what else i did this day...i think i wrote an abstract for my paper and read the $64 tomato. good book but it took me a while to get into it. i think the man is insane, he might have asperger's. if i wasn't reading the $64 tomato, i was probably reading wicked. the first half of the book was excellent and then it kind of fell to pieces. i can't say i was too sympathetic to the adult witch and wasn't too torn up when she dissolved (literally! hee hee). i was also disappointed that we lost track of most of the other characters (so important to the first half of the book!) so completely. ah well. that said, the musical seems really good and i'd be happy to see it sometime.

for dinner, mr bunny's parents kindly took us to ashoka, an indian restaurant beloved by the family. mr bunny's brother and his girlfriend were there as well. bunny and i ordered the lamb vindaloo (yum yum yum), saag paneer (not as good as minar p, but still tasty) and the chicken korma (my mom dislikes spicy foods now for some reason). before this food came out however, i was busy stuffing myself with samosas and bits of bread dipped in chutney. i was seated next to mr bunny's mother - she is a woman who takes nice to new levels, i only hope she didn't come away from dinner thinking i have terrible table manners. what can i say, i have a weakness for indian food and it requires that i have five things in my mouth at all times, for balance.

(to be continued)

Visiting the Bunnies (Part I)

My lack of picture-posting is becoming outrageously bad, but for once this isn't my fault. I brought my camera to California with the best of intentions; however, the first time I whipped it out (admittedly, it was about midway through the trip that I even remembered I had a camera), I discovered the images were streaked and blurred. What is one to do? In my case, I ate my eggs and corn tortillas and black beans pretty contentedly. To sum up the trip:

Friday: finished watching season 2.5 of battlestar galactica and started packing at 3am. did not sleep at all and left for airport at 6am. arrived in california around 10am PST and was picked up by the bunnies. was immediately whisked to eat fish tacos (mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm) and then took a marathon nap (5 hours). after waking up and shuffling around a bit, went to eat delicious kimchi tofu casserole at korean place and then had some frozen yogurt. a wonderful start to the vacation.

Saturday: as will be my habit throughout this trip, i woke up at 9:30am and wandered downstairs to have a quiet breakfast. breakfast consisted of a cup of irish breakfast tea, an egg scrambled with the last bit of goat cheese and a small CSA apple. eating outside in the garden, i was completely blissful. for lunch, bunny and i roasted some CSA vegetables (blue potatoes, yellow summer squash and carrots) and felt virtuous. that over with, for dinner we dashed off to some mexican place and i had some mighty delicious enchiladas with mole sauce. after dinner, we met up with mr bunny's brother for gelato but i was too full to even contemplate dessert.

Note: i don't know if it was friday or saturday that we stopped by barnes and noble, but that was a trip that changed my life. after the purchase of settlers of catan i was pretty much enslaved by the bunnies every evening until my departure. also bunny bought the first sookie stackhouse book there and we are both addicted to the series now.

Sunday: the athletic bunnies dashed off to their sports of choice (yoga or soccer) and i was left alone to do as i please. at some point my mom called and informed me they were merely half an hour away. with that i threw myself into action and started fixing paninis with pesto, tomato and mozarella. since mr bunny is no fan of the tomato, i sauteed some peppers and onions for his. dinner was a simple affair of bbq chicken and 5 for $1 corn. my mom was scornful of the corn at first but after her first bite, she quietly ate two. if it was up to her, we would have piled into the car immediately after dinner to buy more.

(to be continued)

Chicken Biryani a la Sounok

This recipe is based on what I remember from the most recent Sounoka Palace event (a completely amazing taste-sensation, not to be missed). I have no accurate measurements for anything but it is a pretty wing-able dish. I just made this yesterday but I have yet to take any pictures. The lighting in my apt is really just sub-par. However, I have already eaten several bowlfuls of the biryani. MMMM.

6 or so chicken drumsticks or chicken thighs. if using thighs, remove skins

one pack of sindhi biryani mix from the international grocery store

yogurt

basmati rice

a few shallots, enough to fill one rice bowl (or slightly larger), chopped

maybe two or three plum tomatoes, chopped

cumin seeds

black mustard seeds

cinnamon stick

bay leaf

maybe 5 cardamom pods, cracked

grated ginger and minced garlic

sliced almonds (or pecan bits if you forgot where you stashed the almonds)

ghee (or a couple of tablespoons of melted butter if you left your ghee in someone else's house)

saffron

milk

marinate the chicken in a ziplock bag with yogurt and some portion of the sindhi mix. you can marinate overnight in the fridge or out on the counter for an hour or two.

in a little bowl, pour some milk out and throw some saffron threads in it. maybe 10 threads. i'm not sure if you are supposed to heat this milk or not. i did not.

heat a large quantity of water in dutch oven and toss in a couple of bowlfuls of basmati rice (rinsed and drained) when the water comes to a boil. cook 10 minutes and drain the rice into a colander. give the dutch oven a quick rinse and wipe.

preheat the oven to 350F

in dutch oven, pan fry the chicken in some oil, move to another bowl. wonder whether you should wash the pot as there is now a layer of char on the bottom. however, there is also chicken flavor. decide it's probably ok because nothing smoked. heat a bit more oil and throw in cumin seeds, black mustard seeds, cinnamon, bay leaf and cardamom pods. cook a bit and then add in chopped shallots and tomato. cook quite a long time until the shallots are caramelized-ish and the tomato has broken down completely. it will be emitting lovely smells. turn off the heat.

add the fresh grated ginger and garlic to the shallot/tomato/spice mash. spread around the bottom of the pot. spread a layer of basmatic rice. layer some almonds over the rice. realize you still have lots of sindhi mix and probably should have added this somewhere. sprinkle some over this rice layer. add the chicken pieces. add another layer of rice. realize maybe you should have put yogurt somewhere. so take the remaining yogurt marinade and sprinkle over the rice along with the rest of the sindhi mix. drizzle the melted butter or ghee over the rice. drizzle the saffron milk over.

clap the lid on the dutch oven and stick in oven for about an hour. after this time, take out the dutch oven and mix all the layers.

Update: 1/1/10

I made it again using 1 boneless chicken breast (cut into small cubes) and added a few cubed potatoes. i used 4 rice cups of rice and i think it was a bit too much. next time i'll cut down the rice to 3 rice cups and throw in some cauliflower florets. potatoes were pre-cooked of course.