Roasted Heirloom Carrots

Sometimes, simple is best. Simple recipes are often all high-quality ingredients need to shine on the dinner plate. Take for example: heirloom carrots. I picked up a bag of organic, multi-color heirloom carrots at Trader Joe’s on my way back from Philadelphia to Small Town. I loved all the different colors in the bag from lemon yellow to bright red. It made my day to say the least.

So when I needed to decide what to do with these beauties, I landed on the humble vegetable’s best fried: roasting. Just a few ingredients, a really hot oven, and a little bit of time is all these babies need to come out golden brown and caramelized sweet.

There’s little to say about this recipe as it so simple. Rather, there is more to say about what to do with the roasted carrots once you pull them out of the oven. The possibilities are truly endless. You can put them on a plate next to salmon, beets, and baked potatoes like us. But I’d rather hear about them on top of a big green salad; tossed with quinoa and kale; a bed for a poached egg next to their buddy-the roasted potato. Hey, even on top of ice cream! No, I’m kidding about that.

And if there happen to be any leftovers by chance, chop them up for Shepard’s Pie, or in a hummus and roasted veggie sandwich. I mean these carrots are pretty amazing. I mean it.

 

So if that hasn’t convinced you to make the easiest gourmet side dish in the world then I do not know what will…

Roasted Heirloom Carrots

Makes 4-6 sides

 

Ingredients:

2 lbs. heirloom multi-colored carrots, peeled and topped

1 garlic clove, minced

2 tbsp. olive oil (more for the pan)

½ tsp. kosher salt

Fresh black pepper

Desired Seasoning: Greek, dill, Italian, even dukkah all work well

½ tsp. garlic powder

 Directions:

 Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

 Cut carrots in 2-3 inch pieces, the small ends intact, the large ends haved.

 Toss carrots with the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl and spread out evenly on a dark baking sheet with a little more oil if necessary to grease the pan.

 Bake for 30-40 minutes, stirring halfway through. Carrots are done when they are golden brown on sides and soft when pierced with a fork.

 Serve while still hot or later when cold over a salad.

Enjoy!

Chicken Gyoza in Savory Broth

I’m so glad to be writing this from the comfort of Small Town, Pennsylvania rather than West Texas. While I definitely tried to make the best of it there with my wonderful library job and co-military wives, I did miss Pennsylvania. One of the main reasons is the food I can purchase and make easily here...and my family of course.

 Trader Joe’s my-not-so-secret obsession was one of my first trips after the 25 hour drive with my mother and 4 lb. dog. I was here only a day when I needed to drive down to Philadelphia to spend the weekend with my sister whose fiancé was going on a trip. That provided a good opportunity for a “back to PA” celebration praticing Yoga near the river, eating French food at our favorite restaurant, and of course, a trip to my beloved Joe’s.

 

That trip provided these lovely pot stickers (also known as gyoza or Chinese dumplings) which are the centerpiece to this dish. I don’t want to call it soup since I like to keep the broth shallow and rather focus on the fresh veggies and pot stickers. Plus, with this incredibly flavorful broth, you only need a small amount rather than a large bowl of liquid.

I love these veggie and chicken filled beauties especially since they aren’t full of preservatives or un-pronounceable ingredients like many grocery-store frozen offerings. But being the product of Trader Joe’s, you can feel a little better about it.

This also makes the meal a little simpler. You can focus on making a really flavorful broth since the dumplings are already made. I love using different color carrots for a contract of colors, (another Trader Joe’s product.) You can use red, yellow, or orange carrots for a beautiful plate. And don’t forget about the garnishes. Like Vietnamese Pho, which inspired this broth, I like the contrast of the umami rich broth to the bright crisp veggies and herbs. At the time, I only have green onions and cilantro along with the carrots, but bean sprouts, shredded cabbage, even Thai basil would be delicious additions. I used homemade broth leftover from a roast chicken. It really makes the difference if you have it!

This recipe is good for about 4-5 servings with 4-5 dumplings in each bowl. This would be an impressive first course, but made a full meal with a salad and maybe some spring rolls on the side…courtesy of Joe of course.

Chicken Gyoza in Savory Broth

(Makes 4-5 servings)

 

Ingredients:
20 frozen chicken pot stickers (gyoza, dumplings, I got mine at Trader Joe’s)
4-5 cups homemade chicken broth
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup shredded chicken (optional)
1/2 white onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon anchovy paste or fish sauce
1 inch nob of fresh ginger, grated or finely minced
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Juice of one lime
2 tsp. tomato paste (optional, but adds richness)
1 tsp. Sriracha chili sauce
Olive oil
Water for dumplings
2 carrots of different colors, peeled and cut into matchsticks
1/2 cup chopped green onions
Cilantro, bean sprouts, lime wedges, and/or shredded cabbage for garnish

Suggested additions: sautéed wild mushrooms, bok choy, shelled edamame, sesame oil for serving

For Gluten-free: Use GF dumplings or make your own! Use GF soy-sauce and fish sauce and make homemade broth. For Vegetarian: Use vegetable broth, omit chicken, fish sauce and use additional lime juice and soy sauce and use vegetable dumplings.

Directions:

In a large soup pot, heat to medium then drizzle enough olive oil to lightly cover the bottom. In pot, sauté onions until soft and translucent, not brown. Stir in garlic, anchovy paste and ginger and sauté for an additional minute, stirring until well incorporated and not clumpy. Lower heat to medium low and stir in wine. Let simmer for about a minute, then add broth a cup at a time. Stir and let broth simmer on lower heat, covered for 25 minutes.

 Once broth is a nice rich golden color, add soy sauce, Sriracha, lime juice, and tomato paste. Taste broth and add additional anchovy paste (or fish sauce) and soy sauce as need, carefully whisking into the broth. Stir in chicken meat and cook for an additional 2 minutes until meat is warmed through.

 While broth is cooking, heat a large, flat skillet with a drizzle of olive oil. Add dumplings, about 5-6 at a time depending of the skillet’s size. Brown for two minutes on flat side, then turn to other side for 1 minute. Add 3 tbsp. water and immediately cover pan, cooking for 5 minutes. Transfer to a baking sheet and keep in slightly warm oven (heat to 200 degrees, then turn off) until ready to serve. Repeat with remaining dumplings. Dumplings should be golden brown on sides.

 Right before serving, stir carrots in the broth. In shallow bowls, place 4-5 cooked dumplings. Carefully ladle broth with the carrots over the dumplings. Don't fill the bowls too high with broth, rather only half-way to the dumplings. Top with cilantro, green onions, and any additional garnishes. Serve with lime wedges, Sriracha, and toasted sesame oil.

Serve immediately. (If there are leftovers, store broth and dumplings separately so dumplings do not get soggy. I recommend cooking dumplings fresh if reheating broth later.)

 Enjoy!

Fried Green Tomato BLTs

This recipe was meant to be with me.  You see, I love everything about fried green tomatoes. Along with the Southern history of this dish, I love the 1991 Hollywood movie, and especially the way the crunchy fried topping melts into a sweet and tangy late season green tomato.

Fried green tomatoes aren’t just delicious, they are the BEST way besides green salsa to use up those pesky green tomatoes left on the vine when August is long over and Fall frost is around the corner. Up until last week we were pulling red and yellow tomatoes off the vine in my mother’s backyard to make everything from sauces, salsas, and sandwiches. But green tomatoes are one of my favorite parts of homegrown tomato-ing.

As you can see from the fried green tomatoes in the corner of this photo, we even had them at our wedding.

A few weeks back we sat down and enjoyed a truly magical batch of these delicious circles of wonder. After that, I couldn’t wait for the next frying, though my stomach needed a break! These babies are perfect on their own. I had no intention of changing them…not even dipping them in sauce.

Until…

While perusing menus of Nashville and Asheville restaurants for our moving-trip to Texas this weekend, I discovered a listing on a menu I could not stop thinking about.

Fried green tomato BLT.

 

Yep, it had happened. I found a way to have my tomatoes and eat them too. Get ready for one of the best sandwiches you've ever made at home. This is definitely an easy crowd pleaser.

We chose not to toast the bread as the tomatoes and bacon already added enough crunch and I feared toasting the bread would cause the sandwich to fall apart. If you chose to crisp your bread, try them grilled-cheese style, crisp in the pan. These sandwiches are plenty for a meal with all of the extra calories in my opinion. I felt full with one and a few extra fried tomatoes.

Note: these really don’t work well with red tomatoes as they are too soft for the breading and frying and will easily turn to mush. If you can’t get your hands on the green ones, try tomatillos instead and jazz up the aioli with some Mexican flavors like cumin and cayenne pepper.

At face value you may think, this is a bit gimmicky, just eat them on the side of your plate and have a BLT, but come on, there is always room for creativity. This recipe is pretty basic, soft chewy Italian bread, crisp thick cut bacon, herbed mayonnaise. Sounds like a good sandwich even without the fried green tomatoes, but trust me, it’s even better with them!


 

Fried Green Tomato BLTs

(Tomato recipe adapted from The Best of America’s Test Kitchen 2013)

Makes 5-6 sandwiches

Ingredients:

For tomatoes

6-7 medium green tomatoes, cored and sliced ¼ inch thick

2/3 cup fine cornmeal (we used instant polenta)
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
1 ½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. chipotle chili powder
2/3 buttermilk
1 large egg            
2 cups bacon grease (taken from bacon) or vegetable or peanut oil

 For the Sandwiches

10 slices of hearty Italian bread

1 lb. thick cut bacon (turkey bacon also works)
10 pieces of romaine, butter lettuce
1 cup arugula

 Herb Aioli

1 cup Hellman’s mayonnaise

1 garlic clove, minced
4 basil leaves, chopped finely
2 tsp. shopped fresh oregano
1 tbsp. chopped chives
2 tsp. chopped thyme
1 tbsp. kalamata olive juice or red wine vinegar to taste
Sea salt and black pepper to taste

 (If using turkey bacon, you will need to use oil instead of bacon grease for the tomatoes)

 Directions:

Mix all ingredients for aioli together well and refrigerate until sandwiches need to be assembled.

Place tomato slices on a plate or cutting board lined with paper towels. Cover tomatoes with another sheet of paper towels and let sit for 20 minutes. Pat the tomatoes dry, use more paper towels if needed.

Combine all dry ingredients together in a bowl. In another bowl, beat egg with buttermilk.

Dip dried tomatoes in the buttermilk mixture, then dredge in dry mixture. Lay dipped tomatoes onto a clean plate or cutting board. Set aside.

In a large heavy frying pan, begin to cook bacon in batches over medium heat, rendering the fat and crisping bacon. Lay fried bacon on a paper towel-line plate. Do not clean pan.

Using the rendered bacon grease in the frying pan, begin to fry tomatoes in hot grease, leaving room between each tomato. Fry each tomato slice until golden brown on each side, for about 4-6 minutes.  With a spatula, carefully flip each tomato.

Once tomatoes fried, set them on paper towel lined plates.

To assemble sandwiches, spread equal amounts of aioli of bottom slice of bread. Top with fried green tomatoes, two-three slices of bacon, and desired lettuce/arugula. Keep each sandwich together with two toothpicks. Serve immediately while still hot.

Enjoy!

The Cuisiner

What is your favorite old-fashion recipe? How would you update it?

 

DIY Planted Teacup Favors and Seed Packets

One of the major headaches that weddings can cause is the question of favors. They can also be an afterthought if you aren’t careful about planning. What should we get in bulk to give to our guests to take home? What favors won’t cost a big load of money? What will they actually use and like?

 

Pinterest has definitely tackled that dilemma that will take brides beyond the standard candle or potted plant. These revolutionary ideas include everything from candy stations (which I have actually seen in person) to every small knick-knack that has ever come in bulk. But really how many pairs of cheap sunglasses do you need?

To go with our English theme I played around with the idea of using vintage tea cups collected from various thrift stores for my bridal shower. The ideas went from filled with homemade wrapped caramels, to briefly candles, and finally to potted plants. Despite the cliché, I liked the idea of individual plants in different teacups.

 

We even played around with attaching teabags to the teacups, directly plagiarizing from my bridal shower (I’m a hopeless bride.) Luckily, our wedding coordinators suggested seed packets instead.

Whether or not my guests will actually use the seed packets and potted teacups is still unknown. But then again, they were pretty.

The Breakdown:

You of course want a beautiful favor your guests will remember. But unlike the SNL skit, that doesn’t mean two tickets to Italy and $40,000. Hopefully these budget friendly favors will go over better than cheez-its and a mini bottle of water.

The teacups cost about $1 per cup at thrift stores, but if you have a bigger wedding than 50, I recommend finding bigger quantities for less.

We got the potted pansies $4 for 6, costing roughly about $1.50 per plant.

The cost of actual seeds which you can get in bulk from flowersoul.com ended up costing roughly 70 cents a packet (versus $2.00 a packet at retailers.)  They had quantities starting at ¼ lb. to multiple pounds so you can get different types of seeds like we did.

Including the printer paper, glue, etc. each favor cost about $3.30 said and done to make.

$1.00 Teacup and Saucer

$1.50 Plant

.70 Seeds

       +   .10 Paper/Glue

__________________

Total: = $3.30 each

Why DIY?

When doing extensive research about our particular favors, I found that traditional seed packets (that aren’t even that pretty,) you see at the garden store go for $1.50-$2.00 each and those aren’t even personalized! There are companies that will customize wedding seed packets with your names and image, but after the initial “personalization cost” of $85-$115 for your own “message,” in addition to .35 per packet for 50-100, we would have nearly reached our total budget just for the packets. Not to mention they only offered three types of wildflowers for the seeds. (If you don't want a DIY seed packet, that site isn't bad and they will send you a packet sample.)

 

After shopping around, I found seeds in bulk for much cheaper with a heck ton more variety. Armed with vintage seed packet clip art from Jodie Lee Designs and the Microsoft Office template, we could make our own packets that were really personal.

Not to mention the teacups looked awesome.

Verdict:

The Knot and wedding wisdom say budget 1-2% of your budget for favors, so we were “right on the money” so to speak. Either the teacup portion of the favor or the seed packet would make nice favors for your wedding or even a bridal shower.

The completed seed packets would also work as a part of another favor such as a small garden shovel, pale, wine glass etc. With a little bit of tweaking the template, these would also be great as combined place cards/favors for seating with the guest’s name printed on the seed packet.

If you have a smaller wedding like us and have the time to DIY, this was a very personal gift that a lot of the guests loved (and pocketed two or more.) If you have a more standard 100+ wedding, I recommend either the teacups or the seed packets. But hey, I heard you can get sunglasses in bulk!

How to do it yourself:

Planted teacup favors

with attached customized seed packets

Planted Teacups

You will need:

1 teacup and saucer
1 small plant, we used pansies in different colors (I recommend getting plants that are individually packaged in six-packs)
Extra soil if small plants
Water
Small shovel
Optional: Dot adhesives to attach saucers

 Directions:

Tips:

·         First check each teacup for leftover sticky adhesives or grim before planting.

·         You will want to buy the pansies and transfer into the teacups around the week before the wedding so flowers stay nice and don’t wilt. Keep in cool area, especially if it’s for a summer wedding.

·         If possible bring to space the night before so you don’t have to worry about these favors on the day of. Understandably, most coordinators won’t want to deal with watering the plants days before the wedding.

 Working with individual plants, carefully take plant out of plant container. Make sure each plant is a little wet. If not, water in container before transferring.

Depending on the size of the plant, you may have to take off some of the bottom root system. Do this carefully as you don’t want to hurt the plant.

Using the small shovel and your hands, mold the bottom of the plant to fit into the narrow teacup. Place the plant in the teacup and press down on the soil so plant is securely in the cup.

Once each plant is in the teacups, gently water if needed. Be sure to wipe off the teacups for any residual soil.

Optional: use dot adhesives to attach corresponding saucer to its teacup so they stay as one unit.

 

How to make customized seed packets:

You will need:

Desired seeds such as wildflowers, basil, or other plant (enough for 1 tbsp. per packet)
Printer paper
Quality color printer
Glue stick
Raffia or other string to tie seed packets to teacups
One Hole-punch
Desired clip art for seed packets (Check out Jodie Lee Designs for the ones I used)
Microsoft Word Template

 

Directions:

Download Microsoft Word Template and customize by adding desired clip art and text.

This can include a message from you as well as directions for the included seeds and vintage seed packet cover, photo, or other clip art.

Once you have customized and tweaked your template, print a tester on your color printer to test color. Once you like the proof, print desire amount of templates and carefully cut around black edges.

Once the printed seed packets are cut, carefully fold along the lines:

·         first sandwich each side of the packet together, making sure it lines up perfectly

·         Fold side flap first over; lining up with gray line. Repeat step with bottom and top flaps.

Using glue stick, glue side flap first, then bottom flap over top, careful not to get glue outside flap-lines. DO NOT glue top flap yet. Allow sides to dry.

Once dry, carefully open up packet and fill each one with 1 tbsp. of seeds. Shake seeds to the bottom.

·          Lastly, glue top flap, while leaving one edge of flap slightly loose so packets can be reopened once gifted.

·         Using hole punch, punch one hole into the glued top corner of seed packet. (Leaving the loose side for opening.)

·         Thread raffia through the hole and use to attach to handle of the teacup.

If this long break down hasn’t scared you away, I hope you consider this DIY favor for your special day!

What is the best wedding favor you’ve ever seen? What is your “dream” favor, if that’s even a thing?

A Semi-DIY Wedding: DIY Fascinators

On March 3rd, 2012 my then boyfriend Aaron proposed to me in front of the Arch de Triomphe in Paris. At that moment I held naïve beliefs a year and a half engagement would be long one. Boy was I wrong. This weekend we were married at the State Capitol in Harrisburg, PA among the photographs my late father took and family and friends. I must say the day was just about perfect. But I definitely had my work cut out for me in planning it.

We don’t have all of photos yet but here are a few sneak peeks from our amazing photographer, Kalim including our DIY projects.

In my case planning a wedding takes a village, six bridesmaids, and a coordinator. This wasn't a "DIY" wedding but we also had several do-it-yourself accents.

 

chalkboard direction signs

 

 planted teacup favors with personalized seed packets

 Photos to come: wedding cake, centerpieces (except flowers)

 

 

bridesmaid gifts: personalized wine glasses for a day of wine tasting

And fascinators...

 

With all that said, DIY weddings aren’t always easy. We considered a lot of DIY options including are flower arrangements, but luckily we left the important things to the professionals. DIY weddings don’t always save you money, so consider what is worth both your time and money.

As more of our professional photos become available, I’ll offer more DIY instructions and tips.

Today, here was one of my favorite accents, which remains one of the easiest.

Worth it:       

Fascinators for myself and all my bridesmaids

 When planning an “English” wedding, you must have hats and fascinators! Buying fascinators can run you anywhere to a few hundred dollars just for one.  In order to makes ours a little easier to assemble, I purchased pre–maid clips from A.C. Moore for our base. These worked well because they provided both an alligator clip to attach to the hair as well as a smooth front for the fascinator to attach more feathers towards the back.

 

I was able to purchase these on clearance for only $1.75 each, but you can get them directly from the maker’s website, still making your fascinator much cheaper.

I also found the best deals for different types of feathers and birdcage netting on Etsy. Shop around and should be able to get several different types for low-cost per fascinator. Depending on quantity of fascinators, each one will cost as little as $4-5.

 

Supplies needed for each fascinator:

1 La Liberi White Feather Blossom Pin & Clip Flower (or alligator clip with back and more feathers)

At least two types of assorted feathers, 1 larger, 1 smaller (10-15)

1 square foot of birdcage netting whether French, English, or Russian style; cut into pieces for desired look

1 button of choice

Hot glue gun an glue

Directions:

Using La Liberi clip, remove safety pin from the back, leaving only the alligator clip.

Arrange desired feathers and desired amount of netting together the way you would like them to appear. Such as larger feathers in the back, netting in between, and smaller wispier feathers right behind the La Liberi clip. Use hot glue gun to attach feathers and netting, making sure they are enough glue to hold. Allow glue to cool between layers.

Once layers are set, use the hot glue gun to attach desired button in the front middle of the fascinator along with any other desired feathers or attachments.

Once cooled and dried, your fascinator is ready to where! For special occasions allow whomever is doing your hair to place the fascinator.

All of our fascinators were a little different, that made it more fun! These are great way to add a little English and vintage elegance to any occasion.

More DYI wedding tips to come! Any preference on what to see next?

Love,

The Married Cuisiner