Posts Tagged ‘comfort food’

I don’t really DO dessert, but…Almond-Peach Tiramisu

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January 1st, 2010

I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. I mean…pump me full of hormones, and I’ll scream murder for a Milka bar. But you can make me much happier with something in the cheese category. In addition to that, I’m not a big eater. Three courses is always too much for me. Given those two facts, you can probably imagine that I don’t eat a whole lotta dessert. And even if I do, it’s pretty much always a cheese plate.

But sometimes you gotta placate the dessert lovers around you. Especially when they are your girlfriend’s family, and you want to, no, you MUST, impress them with your kitchen-fu.

Ergo: tiramisu. With a difference.   (more…)

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Cream of celeriac soup and salad of grilled radicchio, pear and blue cheese

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December 31st, 2009

Soup and salad is my go-to simple meal for nights when I don’t feel like cooking anything but still want to eat something relatively healthy. But I love it so much that I sometimes fancy it up a bit. While today’s version totally defeats the purpose of the original concept (since it’s neither “easy” nor particularly “cheap”), it’s totally worth the effort.

This soup is a hearty, seasonal soup. It’s pretty simple to make, and freezes well. It’s a bit sweet, a little creamy, with a slightly nutty flavor from the celeriac. The salad, on the other hand, is a bit on the fancy side. The bitter radicchio is grilled on a griddle pan, and is topped with slices of pear, crumbled blue cheese, and caramelized pecans. While they don’t need to be served together per se, they compliment each other very nicely. (more…)

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Canneloni redux: grilled pepper, eggplant and mascarpone filling

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December 31st, 2009

Hello Chompers!

Remember those hand-rolled canneloni I made a while ago? I liked them a lot, so I experimented with a different filling. This time, I used eggplant for the center filling and grilled red peppers and mascarpone for the outer filling. The canneloni were baked in a batch of D.I.Y. tomato sauce made with cherry tomatoes and a few dried chili peppers for spice. (more…)

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Poll winner: Boeuf Bourguignon – my style!

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December 31st, 2009

While I promised you all this recipe a long time ago, I am only just now am getting around to posting the recipe. I actually have a massive backlog of recipes to post, but this poll winner gets top priority!

I’ve spent quite some time working on this recipe, and I really hope you like it! I’ve gotta say: while it involves a little work and a lot of time, boeuf bourguignon is the perfect comfort food for cold wintery nights. And it’s nearly impossible to have too many leftovers. Below the recipe I’ll explain how to turn boeuf bourguignon into little pies!

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Spiced carrot-lentil soup

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November 26th, 2009

It’s soup season, so of course I’ve been making SOUP! This recipe resulted from a previous cooking endeavor that only used one carrot out of a whole bunch, and a half packet of red lentils that had been glaring at me sadly from the cupboard. As the carrots wilted and the lentils moped, I said “ENOUGH ALREADY!” And then I blitzed them all into a quick, hearty soup.

I am really proud of my soup, as I’ve always hated the bland, overly sweet flavor of many carrot soups. This one, instead, is zingy, zippy, zesty and all kinds of good things that start with z. It is also nutrient dense, without becoming something you eat only because it’s supposed to be healthy. It’s a filling soup without being to heavy, with light flavors that can be spiced up or mellowed down to your own taste.

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Belgian endives with ham & cheese

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November 26th, 2009

I know I’m suppose to get cracking on that Boeuf Bourguignon I promised you, but the budget’s been tight and time is not on my side, so lately my cooking has been characterized by either “cheap” or “quick” or both.

Which brings me to Belgian endives. Damn, I love those things, and they are cheap as what-have-you ate the moment. I know lots of people are terrified of them, and many think they are very bitter. But with the bitter cores removed and combined with a luscious, cheesy sauce, they are delicious.

This recipe for Belgian endives with ham & cheese is my version of a Dutch staple. It was one of my favorites when I was a kid. I updated it by reducing the béchamel and cheese and using fancier ham. Despite this being an oven baked dish, it’s really quick and super easy. And, not unimportantly, it’s CHEAP!

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Spinach and ricotta risotto

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October 16th, 2009

I just realized that it must seem like I only cook Italian-style food, which isn’t the case. I guess I’ve just been on a bit of an Italian food kick lately. Also, I’ve gotta say that Italian-style cooking is really adaptable, which is great for using up leftover vegetables and such.

This risotto was the result of a huge bag of spinach left in the fridge, some leftover ricotta, something I read somewhere in some magazine, and the fact that I’m not totally crazy about pasta. It’s a simple risotto, much lighter than the usual kinds, and full of zing from the chili peppers and lemon zest. (more…)

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Canneloni with spinach and mushrooms

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October 10th, 2009

Convenience foods are not for me, obviously. Why make things easy if you can make them unnecessarily complicated? If I had my way, I would actually roll my own pasta, make my own ricotta, and grow my own vegetables. Sadly, the circumstances of my life  (such as, you know, people at work insisting that I actually produce something that isn’t edible) are kind of prohibitive.

In order to fulfill my need for D.I.Y cooking endeavors, I made these canneloni. And while I kept dreaming about owning a pasta machine, a goat farm, and a flourishing allotment full of home-grown spinach leaves, I had lots of fun AND produced a meal that elicited clearly audible CHOMPS! (more…)

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Three cheese Mac & Cheese with broccoli

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October 6th, 2009

I can’t believe that Marbles’ birthday was already a month ago, and that it took me this long to share the recipe that resulted from the fridge full of leftovers that is the inevitable aftermath of a successful birthday party. I kind of hate it when blog writers keep apologizing for not having posted in long time. So I’m not going to apologize, and instead give you the recipe to a fantastic mac & cheese.

When I think of mac & cheese I don’t immediately have visions of macaroni covered in orange goo. I grew up with the South African version, which is a lot like the English version, and probably a lot like non-boxed, gramma-style American mac & cheese. It involves macaroni, usually with some onion and diced ham, mixed with grated cheese, topped with breadcrumbs, and baked in the oven. It’s pretty delicious, but I’m not a fan of boiled ham, and figured the dish could do with a slightly healthier, less greasy update. And this is the result: a delicious, gooey, crunchy mac & cheese with the added flavor of fresh broccoli and tangy cottage cheese. The perfect comfort food, but relatively easy on the aorta. (more…)

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