brussels sprouts pancakes with shrimp and scallions

Okay, this is another variation of the very good okonomiyaki recipe on Food52 (which I have also posted on the blog before, here). It's just a super tasty and quick snack, and I wanted to re-post. I didn't have cabbage on hand, so I used shaved brussels sprouts and they were delicious! Also instead of the mayo sauce I just used a squeeze of sriracha.

a snack for 2 (makes about 6 pancakes):
2 large eggs

1/2 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp salt
2 T flour
1 cup shaved brussels sprouts (use mandoline)
3-4 scallions, sliced thin
3/4 cup shrimp, chopped
sesame seeds for garnish
vegetable oil for frying
sriracha for serving

1. Whisk together eggs, soy sauce, sesame oil, salt and flour in a bowl.
2. Shave brussels sprouts very fine/thin on a mandolin or with a knife. Chop shrimp. Fold into the egg mixture.
3. Heat a thin layer of vegetable oil in a non-stick pan. Add the pancakes (a little smaller than saucer-sized) cook until brown, flip.
4. Serve with sriracha and sesame seeds  (or a mix: mayo-soy-sriracha)

exploring Providence: another morning at the farmer's market (and another slaw recipe)

Today was another gorgeous Saturday morning, so after a short jog I biked up to the market to get some veggies for the week. Our CSA share starts in two weeks, so after that I probably won't go to the market anymore. And the weather probably won't be as nice, so I wanted to appreciate it while I can. I still was surprised the farm stands didn't have more greens (didn't see any fresh herbs, salad greens), but they did have lots of end-of-summer fruit - and one stand even had winter squash already! Below is a nice assortment of what they had. Lots of tomatoes, peaches, plums, pears, some corn, watermelon, green beans, potatoes, onions. Lots of good produce!

I also stopped at this Indian spice store (Not Just Spices) on Hope St on my way up there. That will be a good resource. I will really miss By The Pound, an amazing bulk spice/food store in Ann Arbor. But now I at least know where I can get some cheap spices and dried beans. Maybe it will inspire me to try cooking more Indian food. that's something I've always wanted to learn. I also need to explore that area (Summit?) on Hope Street more. They have lots of shops and restaurants and it's really cute looking.

okonomiyaki - japanese cabbage "pancakes" with shrimp

I took my first bite of these savory pancakes and thought...ummm...what did i just make?! i made this?! It's so delicious! Just from the list of ingredients I had no idea it would turn out this tasty. I found this recipe a while ago while looking for ways to use up cabbage (a common predicament), and had been meaning to give it a try. After making that slaw I still had quite a bit of cabbage left. Still do of the red variety.

The recipe is from Midge from Food52, and I altered it slightly to make just enough for myself for dinner. The good thing is if you have cabbage on hand, you probably have most other ingredients. Okay, maybe not the shrimp. I did buy that for the recipe. But the scallions could be substituted with onion, and you could use another kind of fish.

makes about six pancakes - double for 2-3 people

sauce:
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 T soy sauce
1 tsp sriracha, more or less to taste

pancakes:
3 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 T white flour
1 cup cabbage, shredded with a mandoline or finely chopped
1 bunch scallions, trimmed and chopped

freshly grated ginger
1/3 cup (roughly) baby or chopped shrimp
canola oil for frying
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

1.Mix sauce and set aside: spoonful of mayo, some soy sauce and some hot sauce. 

2. Mix eggs, soy sauce, sesame oil and salt. Slowly whisk in flour, then add in cabbage, scallions, ginger, and shrimp. Mix together. 

3. Heat oil in a pan on medium, fry pancakes. sprinkle with sesame before you flip. Cook about 3 minutes each side, or until brown and crispy.

 recipe from food 52

summer slaw with peanut sauce and avocado BLTs with my sisters!

I'm in Minneapolis staying with my twin sister for a few days. Yesterday morning we went on a 15-mile run along the Mississippi River - so beautiful. Okay, my legs were throbbing a bit... but it was so nice to explore a new route and get to chat the whole time. I actually don't know Minneapolis very well. So many of my Duluth friends have moved to "the Cities," as we call Minneapolis/St. Paul in Minnesota, but I actually haven't spent much time here. And when I am here, I am usually with my sisters and not out exploring too much. So the run was really nice. From Northeast, we crossed over the Broadway bridge and then went down the West River Parkway, past the Mill City Museum and Guthrie Theater, with views of the University of Minnesota campus overlooking the other bank, and on the way back we crossed the Stone Arch Bridge with beautiful views of downtown Minneapolis.

And then our younger sister and her boyfriend came over for dinner and we had BLTs and salads al fresco. Really feels like summer. Elisabeth said "I feel like I'm in a health food magazine." :) Then we baked cookies and played Settlers of Catan - can it get any better than this? The three of us aren't together very often, so I always really appreciate these days.

Anyways, dinner was really good. Click "continue" for the slaw recipe. I will post the second salad tomorrow. :)

rice noodles and cabbage with ginger-honey-almond sauce and spring-omelette strips

Okay here's a recipe from Dennis Cotter's For the Love of Food, another great recommendation from Synne. :) As far as Cotter's recipes go, it's one of the easier ones (in terms of finding ingredients and steps), but it does dirty three pans. The flavor makes it well worth it though. It's one of those, "I made this?" meals. So easy and so tasty. One of my favorite go-to lazy take-out meals is pad thai, so this rice-noodle dish is a good comfort meal, and I can think of good ways to vary it.  The ginger-honey-almond sauce is also really good, and I will use this again on soba noodles or veggies at some point. Just a warning though, the rice noodles stick and it's not as good left over.

root vegetable ragout with tarragon wild rice "pancake" topping

Tonight's Saturday day night dinner was a delicious, veggie-packed feast. We got a big new load of vegetables from the CSA on Friday, including parsnips, and flipping through cookbooks (a weekend hobby...) I saw this tasty-sounding recipe from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Suppers. This helped us clean out the odds-n-ends of the vegetable drawer (some beets, carrots, parsnips). Jessica and I cooked together, which helped cut down the somewhat long prep time. But it is worth it. It makes a lasagne-pan size casserole of root vegetables, topped with a tasty wild rice "pancake" topping. It was a nice, fitting comfort-food for this unseasonable April weather (blgh).

Deborah Madison points out you could also make wild rice "crepes" and serve the ragout filling inside. I love any form of pancakes...but this makes the cooking time less hands-on than making individual pancakes.

Like all brown food, it didn't photograph super well, but I just have to convince you of the deliciousness: crunchy wild-rice tarragon topping...bright pink root vegetables and cabbage with a goat cheese sauce underneath. Yum.

cabbage, greens, and wild rice gratin

I found this recipe for a Greens and Red Cabbage Gratin just when I had cabbage and beet greens that needed to get used up. I also had some cooked wild rice, and so after getting some good cheese at the store this whole thing came together really nicely. Waste not, want not, right? I couldn't believe how pretty this was while putting the pieces together - the red cabbage turns purple-bluish, and the beet greens are really vibrant red-green. Pictures rarely capture the deliciousness of brown food, but in this case I think it's not too bad. While eating lunch I was asking myself why I don't make casseroles or gratins more often. This one was really nice - packed with veggies and whole grains, plus the crispy, cheesy top. And leftovers for later this week. :)

winter slaw with creamy sesame dressing

I already made a really good winter slaw (with yoghurt-poppyseed dressing), not too long ago, but I was craving it again for that nice raw crunch. Decided to vary the recipe slightly based on a recipe on My New Roots for a roasted sesame winter slaw. When you're shredding cabbage, you get a lot. So plan on sharing or making this for a crowd. :) And finding new recipes for all the leftover cabbage. Like this roasted cabbage soup I made a while back. I might try something new from this list of "7 ways to make cabbage sexy" from Food52. The pasta with caramelized cabbage looks really good...and the little fritters. Or maybe this pasta from 101 cookbooks... Anyways, here's another slaw for you. I grated the carrots this time instead of chopping matchsticks, which makes this come together really quickly, especially if you have a mandolin to do the cabbage. Also added in some broccoli stems, just cause I had them.

winter slaw with creamy yoghurt-poppy seed dressing

  It's snowing big, thick snowflakes today in Ann Arbor. Still makes me want to just eat soup and not leave the house, but this morning Katie and I put on our boots and walked to the farmer's market to support the year-round sellers. I have to admit it was pretty slim pickings (at least by the time we got there...after getting side-tracked by TeaHaus...). I just got eggs, radish, and a pie pumpkin. (Still have a drawer full of CSA  veggies, too.) It's pretty amazing that Ann Arbor does have a year-round market. Such a great food city! We ended up going from the market to the co-op to Plum, one of Ann Arbor's many superfancy grocery stores. Splurge trip. (But since most all my grocery shopping is done by foot/bike, it's sometimes necessary to have a little stock-up trip!) Anyways, this recipe has been on my "to-make" list for a while. To get some raw veggies and to use some of the seasonal stuff we have on hand. It does involve a lot of chopping/cutting, but it makes a good, big portion. The poppyseed dressing is really good, too.

soup swap, part II: Cabbage Borscht and Green Soup

 This is part II of our colorful winter soup swap. Part I included Carrot Ginger and Black Bean. Lots and lots of soup... The best thing was that we got our little kitchen cranking out so much soup, did the dishes, and it was done. And through the swap we got so much variety! And lunches for the week! (And dinner...) Click below for recipes.

"the comfort of soup in deep winter": caramelized cabbage and leek soup

brrrrrrrrrrrrrr... Duluth schools were cancelled today due to "extreme cold temperatures and wind chills."  Doesn't that make you want to stay home next to your fireplace (hi, mom) and make a hearty soup? This one is based on a recipe from a new cookbook in my collection, recommended by Synne, Love Soup by Anna Thomas.  160 vegetarian soups! That should get me through the Michigan winter! They are also arranged by season: "green soups," "winter squash soups," "the comfort of soup in deep winter"... yes, that's what we need.

 For this one, you oven-roast cabbage, until it's starting to brown and caramelize, and slowly brown onions and leeks in the meantime, practice those julienne skills while making fine-dice carrots...

saucy winter soba noodle stir-fry: with kale, cabbage, and carrots

I was inspired by this recipe for a hot buckwheat noodle salad with peanut tamarind sauce from The Guardian's "10 best winter salad recipes." I threw in kale, because it's delicious and the thin ribbons stick perfectly to the noodles. And I got to practice my julienne skills from the knife skills class I attended Saturday (carrots) as well as the chiffonade (kale ribbons). I made extra sauce so that I could re-do the dish or some variant later this week.