Potato and Leek Flat Bread

*Post by Angela.
Lately, the stuff we've been eating at home I haven't felt was worth posting about (or am kind of embarrassed about eating) - pasta with store-bought pesto, sandwiches thrown together from leftovers, frozen goods, canned sardines and rice...sigh.  But last night, even though I was feeling super lazy, I wanted to eat something I didn't heat in the microwave.  With a little assist from some refrigerated pizza dough, I threw together this tasty potato and leek flat bread from Real Simple in virtually no time at all. 

Click below to get the recipe!

Buffalo Steaks with Peppercorn Sauce and Roasted Potatoes

*Post by Angela.
The weather last weekend was absolutely gorgeous, so even though I was sick, I took myself over to the Dupont Circle farmers market.  I picked up some buffalo ribeyes from Cibola Farms, and the cutest little red potatoes.  I've never cooked buffalo before, and wanted to do something special with it, so I found this recipe for marinade and peppercorn sauce.  I served it up with some roasted potatoes and a spinach salad (a post for another day), and while I know the photo below looks like a hot mess, it was a delicious and hearty hot mess!  Mark and I polished off this dinner in no time at all.

Click below to get the recipes!

Irish Soda Bread, Colcannon, and Corned Beef

*Team post by Angela and Mark.
I started out kidding, a little.  

Me: "Hey, babe, whaddya say to corned beef and cabbage on St. Paddy's Day?"  

Mark: "I'm pretty sure that's not actually traditional Irish food.  I think it's more Irish-American.  I think we can do better than that.  Also, since I'm actually the Irish one... maybe I should try to make something?"

Me: "...I'm okay with that."

A day later, and the menu for St. Patrick's Day dinner had gone from, "let's maybe cook something Irish-y" to Irish soda bread (by Mark), corned beef (by me, because I love me some corned beef regardless of its origins), and colcannon, a traditional Irish dish made with potatoes, cabbage (or kale), and ham (or Irish bacon).  I've never made any sort of Irish dish before, so I turned to two of my trustiest culinary guides: for the corned beef, Elise at simplyrecipes.com, and for the colcannon, Tyler Florence (while I'm not sure Mr. Florence is Irish, I've never had a "Tyler's Ultimates" recipe let me down).  While the corned beef turned out pretty dry, I was really pleased with my first attempt at colcannon.  And Mark's bread was the star of the meal - I'm really starting to think he should take over the cooking...

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Gorgonzola Pear Pasta

I'm currently dying.  Well, okay, not dying, but very, very uncomfortable - right now, I'm sick, with a cough so bad that it makes me feel like my ribs are breaking with each fit.  But I still have to eat, right (and um, Mark does, too)? Luckily, I found this quick and delicious dish from allrecipes. And man, talk about easy - I'm not sure you can get much easier than this.  This vegetarian dish is worth putting in your weekday dinner line-up.  

Click below to get the recipe!

Honey-Glazed Ribs

After our Ping Pong Dim Sum outing the other night, I got it in my head to try to make a version of the dish Mark liked so much, the honey-glazed ribs (true story, I made Mark Chinese spareribs for our first date).  I found this recipe at allrecipes, and while it's not really that similar to the Ping Pong dish, I thought it might fit the bill.  As it worked out, I actually preferred my version, hearty and bursting with flavor.  Mark's reaction to the dish?  To ask for seconds.

Click below to get the recipe!

Tandoori Chicken with Basmati Rice and Indian Dahl with Spinach

As you may have guessed from my recent posts, I haven't done much cooking lately - I've either been too busy/tired/lazy, or I've been out of town.  But the other day, I felt an undeniable itch to get back in the kitchen and make myself a nice, well-balanced, healthy-ish home-cooked meal.  As I've made a pledge to try to cook "outside the box" more, I decided to try out Indian (a cuisine I rarely eat, much less cook, but generally enjoy) with Tandoori-Style Chicken and Indian Dahl (for all you vegetarians out there!).  The recipe for the chicken I got from my Williams-Sonoma cookbook; then it was just a matter of finding a vegetable side dish to complement it.  I found this one at allrecipes, and the best part is that it called only for spices I already had (with the exception of the garam masala)!  Strangely, my vegetarian "side" dish turned out a lot better than my chicken entree, but I think with some practice in cooking Indian cusine, I can turn out tastier dishes in the future.

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Lamb Chops, Cauliflower & Prosciutto-Wrapped Pears w/ Goat Cheese

*Post by Mark.

Angela can be a busy young lady. When she's not working, marathon training, sleep-walking (oh, you have NO idea), or keeping up with an intense weekly DVR regiment (apparently Bones is 'must-watch TV'), she's usually cooking some extravagant meal for this guy's exclusive benefit. Now, I'm no stranger to the kitchen, but I usually step aside when it comes to the kitchen... no, I literally step aside. The kitchen comfortably fits 1/2 a normal sized person, which means it fits one Angela comfortably (Also, she's a total control-freak).

With her upcoming birthday and a strenuous recent workload and my fear of gradually becoming an easily replaceable component in this relationship, I decided tonight would be a good opportunity to nudge her aside, squeeze into the close-but-foreign quarters of the kitchen and make myself useful. Perhaps my apron-wearing hiatus made me antsy to push my culinary ventures, or perhaps I had a lot of reciprocating to do, but I settled on a menu that given my talents limitations, may have been a little... ambitious.

Click READ MORE to see what Mark cooked for Angela.

Pasta Bolognese

After two nights of quick and easy meals, I woke up yesterday to an incredibly frigid morning with only one thought sounding through my head.  Bolognese.  Bolognese is a thick, full-bodied meat sauce originating in northern Italy's Bologna.  I've made countless Bolognese recipes, some incredible and some so-so, but this recipe from Emeril, which I've adapted just slightly, is one of my favorites.  I'll warn you now: the list of ingredients for this recipe is relatively extensive, and it takes about 2 hours of simmering (I had a lot of work to do tonight, and Mark wasn't going to be home until very late, so it worked out for me - you may need to wait until the weekend).  But the complexity, richness, and depth of flavor of the resulting sauce is well worth it.   

Click below to see the recipe!

Duck Tacos

I love the process of cooking.  I love slow-cooked or roasted dinners, complicated dishes, meals that require overnight brining or marinating...most times, I feel like the longer a meal takes, the better it tastes; the more work a dish requires, the more love I put into it.  Unfortunately, like most working adults, my schedule doesn't really allow me to make time- and work-intensive meals, other than on the weekends or holidays (or snow days!!).  So, throughout my very short cooking career, I've tried to build a repertoire of simple and quick meals that are delicious and filling.  I've just added another one to the list: duck tacos from fellow DC food blogger, My Husband Cooks.  I decided not to make the accompanying corn salsa (although it looks delicious) because it would have required another trip to the store - I already had flour tortillas, shredded Mexican cheese, guacamole and a tomato.  The result was a go-to dinner that I will be dreaming about all week.

Click below to see the recipe!

Sake-Steamed Sea Bass with Ginger and Green Onions

Mark had to work for Valentine's Day, and I had a lot of work to get caught up on at home, so I wanted to make a quick but tasty dinner for one.  I tend to hit the seafood aisle at Whole Foods the minute Mark walks out the door, and this weekend was no different.  I decided to make one of my favorites, a sake-steamed sea bass dish that is light and healthy, yet yummy enough to crave.  I adapted this Epicurious recipe just slightly, and the result is this almost-too-easy-to-be-believed, wonderfully flavorful dish.

Click below to get the recipe!

Chicken Piccata

I was...sort of limited with the ingredients at my house, given I bought the very last package of chicken available at Soviet Safeway.  It was this:

I decided to try to make chicken piccata, throwing together all of the appropriate dried herbs that I had in my pantry.  All told, the meal worked out incredibly well.

Click below for the recipe!

Chicken Arroz Caldo

Another icy day, another opportunity to make one of my mom's comforting Filipino dishes.  Since I had a little extra time this evening, and I had all the ingredients I needed at home, I decided to make chicken arroz caldo.  Should last me at least a couple of days.  One of my fellow D.C. Filipino food bloggers has a great entry on the background of the dish here.  As with all Filipino dishes, everyone has a different version of this dish, but they're all filling, flavorful, and delicious. 

Click below to see the recipe!

Pork Sinigang...kind of.

I stood in the Snowpocalypse-panic induced lines at both Whole Foods and Safeway, just so I could bring you this post.  Or, you know, I decided I didn't feel like braving the weather to make my reservation at Oyamel tonight.  In any event, the snow gave me the perfect opportunity to cook my all-time favorite dish from childhood, my mom's Americanized version of sinigang.   Any Filipinos reading this will immediately protest, "That is not sinigang."*  To them I say this:  shut it.  It's my blog, and this is the sinigang I grew up with.  And it is delicious.  Even better, it's simple (although a little time-consuming) and the perfect dish for a snowy night in.

Click to see the recipe!

A Lost-Themed Dinner: Nutty, Tropical Salad and Island Pork Tenderloin

So, tonight was the premiere of the final season of Lost.  While I've been watching the show regularly since the pilot, Mark had gotten way behind - when I met him, he'd only made it through the first season.  So, a few months back, he hunkered down and plowed through seasons 2-5 so that we could watch this season live together.  In honor of his sacrifice (snerk!), I thought I should put in a little creative effort tonight, and make it a tropical/island inspired night in the cave.  Result:

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Creamy leeks with pasta

I had a lot of chores to take care of this evening, so I needed a quick and filling dinner, one that would use up the leeks I bought on a whim a couple of days ago.  Instead of looking up a recipe like I usually would, I decided to wing it using the ingredients I already had in my fridge.  This is what I came up with:

And it was pretty delicious.

Click below for the recipe!

Kare-Kare

Sigh.  I've just about had it with winter, I think.  I'm over it.  Yesterday, it snowed all day, freezing my toes and nose and making me fairly miserable.  I'm just aching for spring.  BUT...freezing weather oustide = the perfect opportunity to make a warming, comforting Filipino dish from my childhood, kare-kare.  Kare-kare consists of beef oxtails, simmered until tender, and cooked in a rich peanut sauce with vegetables.  I've actually never made it before, but my mom sent me a care package a while ago with a few of these babies:

I've just been waiting for a wintry weekend afternoon.  

Click below for the recipe!

Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic and cream-braised Brussels Sprouts

Okay.  I made two things tonight, one that looked beautiful*, and one that turned out...um,  unattractive (the more accurate description involves terms that would be inappropriate when discussing items to be eaten).  I was incredibly tempted to only post pictures of the element that  looked nice. But, in the spirit of honesty, I've decided to post both.  Also...while Mark enjoyed both, he did comment that I've made better sprouts and better chicken.  I liked both, but I can't really say I disagree.  I may try both again at some point, but for now?  On to other experiments.  

Click below for the recipes!

White Chili

I was not feeling so hot today, and was craving something comforting and warming...that would not require very many extra ingredients in addition to what I already had at home.  I adapted this recipe for White Chili at simplyrecipes.com, one of my very favorite food blogs.  While this recipe is a little time-consuming, it was completely and totally worth it, particularly on a lazy Sunday night.  Or a sick day.  Tasty, filling, soothing, great for leftovers, and pretty darned cheap.  Since I already had chicken stock, I decided to sub chicken in for the turkey in the original.  I also bumped up the seasoning, since that is how I do.

Click below for the recipe!

Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce and Garlic Basil Oil

Last night, I was simultaneously 1) craving pasta and 2) trying to figure out how to use up the three tomatoes that have been sitting in my veggie crisper for the last week.  Fortunately, steamykitchen.com had the solution:  Pasta with fresh tomato sauce and garlic basil oil!  I've actually been eying this recipe for a couple of weeks, as it is seemed simple enough to prepare (and cheap!), yet still managed to be a step above your typical tomato sauce.  As an added bonus, it provides me with an elegant pasta dish I can serve to my vegetarian friends.

Click below for the recipe!

Maple-Brined Pork Chops, Brussels Sprouts, and Baked Potatoes

Tonight was a banner night in my little cave, dinner-wise. Tonight, I gave into my Filipino instincts and had a glorious, pork-focused dinner...Since Monday was a federal holiday, I took the opportunity to make a recipe that I've been scoping for a few weeks, Maple-Brined Pork Chops. We try to eat a balanced meal over here, so I decided to add in some greens with Bacon Brussels Sprouts, and a starch with some baked potatoes.

Click below for the recipes!