Learn-to-Cook Project: Pasta with Garlic and Oil

This is the first recipe in the pasta chapter, so it’s pretty basic, but goddamn….what’s better than garlic? Garlic and chilies and salt in a pan with olive oil making my apartment smell delicious, then throwing that on some simple pasta for a tasty, filling dish. If I had any qualms about this, it was the addition of the chopped parsley. Not that my body doesn’t need the leafy greens/fiber, especially in this sea of carbs and oil, but the 1/2 cup the recipe calls for seems excessive. Next time, less, and more minced than chopped. Also, keep an eye on my garlic more so it doesn’t get so crispy. It wasn’t burned and didn’t negatively affect the dish, but it isn’t the way I’d prefer it for an optimal meal. Still. Simple and delicious. Had to practice my pastas.

Learn-to-Cook Project: Sesame-fried Eggplant

Not only did I manage to pan-fry something without burning my apartment down or disfiguring myself, I really nailed this. Sesame/soy sauce/lemon eggplant? That’s a bunch of great tastes that taste great together.

Today I learned the importance of salting vegetables. By pre-salting the eggplant, allowing the moisture to be drawn out, the pan-fried eggplant was more crisp. And not a single soggy eggplant was fried that day.

This version was not vegan, but I suspect that it could be easily made vegan by using an egg substitute. The eggplant gets dredged in flour, than egg, then the sesame/panko mixture. I would assume a vegan egg substitute would be just as effective a “glue” as real eggs.

You guys. I’m so incredibly happy how this turned out. It was a lot of prep, but it tastes great. Ideally, it’s a bit more uniform golden-brown, and there’s no darker areas, but I’m totally willing to give myself an A- here. There’s a couple extra cutlets if you want them. I probably shouldn’t eat a plate of pan-fried anything. 

Learn-to-Cook Project: Parmesan and chive shirred eggs

OK. I have officially made myself a breakfast that required the use of a porcelain ramekin. I feel like that’s another step towards being a full-on hedonismbot.

And it was a wonderful success. Shirred (baked) eggs are 100% new to me, and the use of cream and parmesan cheese with chives made the whole thing smell and taste delicious. Scrambled eggs are for homeless people. Shirred eggs for life.

Learn-to-Cook Project: Glazed carrot, tequila, garlic, lime soup

This was made, in part, thanks to my brand new blender. Thank you, blender, for allowing me to liquefy former solids. States of matter mean nothing to us! We are like gods!

I’m surprised how much lime flavor this soup retained. I was worried that when I added the vegetable stock, it’s salty flavor would overpower the tequila-lime glaze I had put on the carrots. But, the lime’s still there. The tequila less so, but…you know…I got the rest of the bottle if I want it. Next time, I’ll probably add a little more sugar to make a better glaze.

Learn-to-Cook Project: Spicy No-Mayo Cabbage and Carrot Slaw, Mexican Style

I’m not sure adding lime juice to a slaw of cabbage and dijon makes it “Mexican style” but whatever. This is part of a bunch of vegan food I made for my mom for mother’s day. Also pictured is some Spanish rice I made that turned out super well. Not pictured is the papaya salsa I made that she kept eating, repeatedly saying “this is the BEST salsa.” I think I did pretty well in the makin’-mom-happy department.

The slaw…I’ll give myself a B on it. I think it’s just the nature of the beast that it’s not as creamy as a mayo-havin’ slaw. But it’s got a nice spice to it with the dijon/garlic/jalapeno sauce. A nice, light side slaw, but it just doesn’t….pop. I dunno. I’m unsure what it’s lacking. Added some lime juice for added zing, but it still isn’t quite where I’d like it to be. Both my mom and sister both said they liked it, so maybe I’m just being overly harsh. 

Learn-to-Cook Project: Simple Green Salad

So, I saw my old, dear friend Sierra on Friday and, having not seen me since my birthday, she gave me my present: Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian (the vegetarian version of the cookbook from which I was teaching myself). I have decided to jump over to this book as my learn-to-cook guide and as such, some of these things may be sorta basic at first. 

Such as this: a simple green salad. This can hardly be called “cooking,” but a basic mix of spinach and arugula with some olive oil, balsamic, salt and pepper is just so pleasant sometimes, washed down with a cold glass of water from my new water purifier. And those tomatoes could literally not be fresher, having been picked from my very own plants not thirty seconds before ending up in the salad. The first fruits from those plants, and they are almost obscenely sweet. I guess their all-cherry-slurpee diet really paid off. 

Learn-to-Cook Project: Cold Cooked Greens, Greek Style

This one wasn’t my favorite, or my best effort.

This is just simmered kale with olive oil, pepper, and lemon on it. Seems kind of un-fuckup-able. But here we are.

Perhaps I didn’t add enough salt to the pot when I simmered the kale? But it was only in there for 2 minutes or so. Would it really have absorbed a bunch of salt in that time, anyway? To make up for it I added a little salt to the salad when it was done. I don’t know. This just doesn’t feel as fresh as I’d like (the dreaded not-so-fresh feeling). Too heavy on the lemon perhaps? Or the olive oil? Just making the thing seem….thuggish? I feel at a loss here. Alas alas.

Learn-to-Cook Project: Vegan “chicken” soup (Asian style)

I’m beginning to get cocky after a string of “things I haven’t fucked up.” I’m stoked how this came out.

To vegan-ize the chicken soup recipe from the book I’m using, I replaced chicken stock with Better than Bouillon’s “No Chicken” stock. And for the chicken, I used Gardein’s “Chick’n Strips.” My friend/vegan spirit-guide Brayan expressed some concern that they may have contained whey or something, but fear not.

I used the “Asian style” variation of the recipe by adding some ginger/garlic/peas and soaking the chicken strips in soy sauce/sesame oil before throwing them in the pot. That ginger really helped this dish. Peas and rice soaking in broth can be kind of a mushy enterprise, but that ginger helps everything pop pleasantly.

I now feel confident that I can make you something warm and rejuvenative if you come down with a cold. I will bring you a single bowl of soup on a bed-tray while you have a cartoonish glass thermometer sticking out of your mouth. Also I will be dressed like a Red Cross nurse.

Learn-to-Cook Project: Tortilla chips

These things are incredibly, unbelievably easy to make. And since corn tortillas are $2 for 30, they’re nearly as cheap as just buying a bag of actual tortilla chips, and easily better tasting. I made a shit-grip of these things tonight, took them to a party, and folks cleaned out the bowl. I’ll take that as a positive sign.

Learn-to-Cook Project: Blueberry cobbler

So the flavors on this thing are terrific (humbly said). The blueberries are sweet and juicy, and the crust is light and brown and vanilla-y and fantastic. Though, there IS an issue of having used too many blueberries. The recipe said “4 to 6 cups,” and I used 5 and change. So this thing is a TON of fruit with not quite enough dough to hold it together. It DOES however resemble the cobbled street for which the dish gets its name. So it tastes good and it looks good. It just gets hella sloppy when you dish it out, though. But whatever. We can have some messy counter-tops. We are amongst friends. 

**Edit**
When this thing cooled off a bit more, the crust held together better. It’s still sloppy, but it definitely looks better when dished out now. :)