Another Apology

Dear Megan W,

I'm sorry that you missed this meal, because it was delicious. And Jack did all the dishes before hand, so there were plenty of put away containers.

I planned some coconut free cupcakes so that you wouldn't be missing out on too much, but Jack accidentally made coconut frosting. Oops.

Love, Meghan A

Both of the regular Monday assistants took a break this week, but both found great replacements. To say that Jack and Angel were assisting would be unfair. I went into the kitchen with this

http://www.oprah.com/food/The-Soul-of-a-New-Cuisine

and came out with a fantastic meal. My attempt to channel Rachel, whose consistently delicious dinners (often loosely based on this book) I miss. I think that we did a really good job.

Dishes below are marked with the initial of the person in charge. There are more notes for mine, just because I know better how they were made. Everything vegan except for the meat. Tree nuts on the side, peanuts in the frosting. Gluten everywhere (I need to be more careful about it; this time I forgot about the veggie broth) and coconut in two dishes (once intentionally, and once due to a miscommunication).

Salad

Greens from a bag with shredded fresh carrots and boiled beets (J), with tamarind lime dressing (A)

Recycled Rice

Leftover rice, frozen beans, olive oil (J&A). Note: I was against doing this, because I had just realized that we didn't have a whole grain and I wanted what we did have to be as wholesome as possible. But they both seemed very enthusiastic about fried rice, so I trusted them on it, and am glad I did.

Couscous

Done by eye. Too much water left the stuff at the bottom somewhat block-like. Not a disaster, but the rice was better. (M) Next time, maybe try making it with hot water from the hot water tap?

Callalo

Amazing spinach and coconut curry. Secret ingredients: seaweed and miso. The original called for oyster sauce. I could eat this all day. (J)

Veggie Tagine

Roasted root veggies stewed in African spices, with olives and raisins. Almonds and parsley on the side. Used up some half prepped vegetables from last night, along with some odds and ends from the walk in. My favorite dish tonight. (Perfect how it was, but I added more raisins to my own plate anyway. I'm a sucker for raisins in otherwise savory dishes, although I try to hold back when cooking for the house.) (A)

Braised Chicken Thighs

With bones and skin, salted and well browned in two cast iron skillets (this took a long time; I probably should have done it in three), then braised in a mixture of veggie broth, lemon juice, capers, diced red onion, fresh garlic and ginger, and ras el hanout in an oven that claimed to be at 350 degrees for about 2 hours. I loved the method, but was too cautious with the spices. Also, I suffered a very large number of very minor burns. Next time: long sleeves. (M)

Tofu

Diced and marinated in the Moroccan glaze from one of the Millenium cookbooks. An hour in a hot-as-it-goes oven left these slightly over cooked; I need to keep a better eye on them. They didn't seem ready at 6:45, but the ones at the edges were burnt at 6:50. Maybe next time I should just add water? (M)

Chickpeas

Meant to go in the tagine, but kept separate due to some house members' well publicized chickpea intolerance (s?). Just plain. (A)

Harissa

Whole coriander, cumin, and caraway toasted in a dry skillet. Ground a bit in food processor, then blended with lots of garlic and olive oil and some salt. Then a little paprika and a lot of chili, and water to get a good consistency. I burned my mouth testing it, but it was good and, HiPsters, there is a lot left. (M)

Mild Sauce

The Moroccan glaze from the tofu, with some extra tomato paste, balsamic vinegar, and lemon juice. (M)

Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Coconut Frosting

Banana. Cupcakes. With peanut butter and sugar. How could this not be a good idea? (J)

Dear Megan Williams

Sorry about the dinner put away. I promise to do better (less) next time. Love, Your Head Cook

Monday's Menu:

Green Salad

Actually just spinach, thanks to the Monday holiday and a very empty walk in. I suppose I could have boiled some beets.

Coconut Apple Lentils

From a recent Minimalist column. Half red lentils, half yellow split peas, coconut milk, and 8 chopped apples. Still tasted like a horrible disaster of blandness at 6:30, but was saved by salt, lemon juice, and

Coconut Mint Tarka

made from unsweetened dried coconut fried with garlic, ginger, and dried mint in a ton of olive oil, with some minced spring onions from the garden added off the heat. Fantastic.

Crazy Rice/Quinoa

A well worn favorite: white rice or quinoa, caramelized onions, cinnamon, turmeric, frozen peas, and raisins. Somewhat out of character, I actually prefer craisins here, but we were out. This also usually has

Roasted Cauliflower

mixed in, but there was no room in the dishes, and no time to stir it in anyway, so we served it on its own. Boring, but possibly my favorite boring vegetable.

Garam Masala Turnip Fries

These were meant to be the main vegetable. I was excited about them, because I love roasted turnips and thought that we were being good co-opers by using up some of the less glamorous root veggies, but they were just okay and didn't really get eaten. They were made like roasted potatoes: steamed for about twenty minutes, and then baked on big sheets with a lot of preheated oil for maybe forty more. However, we had a lot of things that needed baking today, so they were sharing an oven with the tofu, and didn't get crispy. I'd do these again, but only if I could devote a whole oven to them. I'd also probably make fewer of them, and let them drain a bit from the steaming before throwing them on the baking trays.

Spinach, Mushrooms, and Tomatoes with Indian Spices

From the Ajanta book. This was super delicious, but probably the thing that I should have cut. All three of us were working full steam this shift and we still went 15 minutes over.

Tandoori Chicken (and Tofu)

From Julie Sahni's Classic Indian cooking. The chicken would have been better if I hadn't been so busy with everything else and had therefore been able to keep a closer eye on them. And the tofu would have been better if I had put it in earlier, or if the oven hadn't been so over worked. However, the recipe is perfect for the house. It's so easy, and so much tastier and prettier than just salt and pepper roasted chicken thighs.

Steamed Greens

Cauliflower and Kale: this was just using things up. They didn't really get eaten, but I am optimistic about their fate as leftovers. They are so plain that they'll be very easy for people to work into lunch food.

Raita: Regular and Vegan

a la Megan Williams. Perfectly executed, but next time we should do one with mint in it. And maybe skip the vegan one, but put aside some yogurtless spiced tomatoes and cucumbers for people who don't do dairy.

Coconut Vegan cupcakes with Coffee Buttercream Frosting

My third favorite of the vegan cupcakes so far. Maybe second. (Maybe I need to do a side by side comparison with the margarita cupcakes...)

The Meatening

Pick yer Protein: Ham, Chicken, Tofu

All baked with maple syrup and sage

Brown Rice, Roasted Potatoes

Steaming the potatoes worked really well, but the roasting step could have used a bit more oil.

Brussels Sprouts in Butter

Take that, vegans! (Okay, actually, just look behind you. There are naked sprouts on the stove.)

Salad with beets and pears and blue cheese dressing

Take that again! (or just take some of the citrus dressing)

Squash and beans

Nobody seems to love this as much as I do...

Magical Ian dal

Chickpeas, garlic, onions, broccoli

Brooklyn Brownie Vegan Cupcakes

Shockingly, there were leftovers, something I have never before witnessed with the cupcakes.

Moving to Mondays

A bit of a stressful evening, because the delivery didn't come until 4:30. We started the shift with beets, squash, tofu, and some kidney beans that I'd soaked. We didn't even have onions! In a bit of a panic, I had Megan W. start prepping all the beets that we could fit in the oven, and Ida started some butternut squash for soup. Then the food arrived, and we made everything I had originally planned, minus dessert, plus beets and squash. And were fifteen minutes late. Not my best meal, but we're just getting settled in...

Green Salad

with pears, nappa cabbage, and a choice of yesterday's dressing or the tofu marinade

Spring Roll Salad

Rice noodles, shiitakes baked in tamari and olive oil, mint, cilantro, with nappa cabbage, bean sprouts, and scallions to the side. (Note: putting rice noodles in boiling water bag by bag works, but is not the best method for cooking them, because it takes a lot of time and there's a very high risk of gumminess. I think that just soaking them for a lot longer in hot tap water works. Also, it might be possible to do the herbs in a food processor, if we were willing to do some kind of simple dressing, which might be good for the noodles anyway, although Ida's carefully minced herbs were pretty awesome.)

Peanut Sauce

Caramelized onions, two parts coconut milk, one part peanut butter, vegan sugar, tamari, lime juice. I thought it was possibly the best peanut sauce I've ever made, although I didn't get any compliments on it, which is unusual for peanut sauce.

Tamarind Sauce

Tamarind, lime, sugar, garlic, tamari. Should have had hot pepper, but I couldn't find any in the walk in.

Naked Beets

Baked in water for twoish hours, then peeled and chopped. Yay beets!

SatayRendang Lamb

Lamb Stew meat with a satay spice rub (garlic ginger sugar coriander cumin) cooked rendang-style (sear and simmer in water). The searing was a little dicey, because the sugar in the spice rub wanted to burn, but it all worked out fine. I trimmed the meat a little, but not too carefully.

Tofu

with Soy, Lemon, Garlic, and Ginger. Three quarters of a box because is what fit in the container that I had set aside for marinating. We could have eaten a whole box. Baked as hot as the oven would go until it looked nice, then kept in the oven at a low temperature until serving time. I think that Tim has a new tofu supplier; the tofu was less grainy and almost fluffy, while still firm enough not to fall apart when I was rough with it. I love Sac Tofu, but this did seem to be of a higher quality.

Brown Rice

Steamed Bok Choy

quartered, and steamed in a colander over the thin pot of water, along with the tougher parts of the Nappa we used for the salad.

Honolulu Beans

From Moosewood Restaurant cooks for a crowd. Kidney beans with hoisin and pineapple and onions and tomato. I would make them again iff I were making this or a similar meal. They were not the best beans that I have ever had, but they were solid B beans that fit in really well with the rest of the menu.

Butternut Squash and Coconut Puree with Ginger

This was one dish too many, and I thought that it was a bit heavy, but everyone loved it. Baked squash, sauteed onions, veggie broth, coconut milk, ground ginger. Credit to Megan W for insisting on processing the hot squashes; I wanted to give up and just serve them as squash. Without this dish, we probably would have been on time, but the reception that it got indicates that it was worth the delay. I don't know if it was worth all that her hands went through, but I'm glad she did it.