Paneer

One of my culinary resolutions for 2011 is to make cheese. I decided to try my hand at making paneer from scratch. Paneer is a cheese most often found in Indian dishes - it is a fresh cheese (rather than aged), but firm in a way that won't melt.

And all it is - whole milk and lemon juice. It was like magic. Boil the milk, add lemon juice until the milk curdles, let it strain, press it down, and voila - a few hours later - cheese.

I will definitely be doing that again.

Salad Duo

Shredded Kale with Lemon and Parmesan from my friend Melody (originally from Weight Watchers), and Gingered Beet and Field Pea Salad from Simple, Fresh, Southern by the Lee Bros.

I didn't have a shallot, so I used one big garlic clove in the kale salad, and let it hang out in the fridge to mellow a bit. I also used four kinds of kale plus a few leaves of radish greens, just whatever looked good in the garden.

The goat cheese in the second salad is added by me, since I had made the recipe before and I thought it needed something like that to balance it out.

Huevos Rancheros

I haven't ever had huevos rancheros, and I get the impression that the recipe I used from Good Housekeeping was a healthy take on it - but who cares, it was delicious! I used the leftover bean/tomato/onion mixture in a taco salad the next day.

Fattoush

From Jenny Also Cooks

I started with the recipe from Vegan Planet but added feta so this is NOT vegan. I also had no tomato, so I left it out. Delicious, fresh, and filling.

Garlic Scape Pesto

From Gardening

This is the first year we have tried growing garlic, and just as we were pleasantly surprised by chive blossoms, garlic scapes were a completely new phenomenon to us. A few weeks before garlic is ready to be harvested, new shoots come out of the plant and curl around, and a blossom starts to form. If you harvest these off before they bloom, they can be a tasty treat. Please see our gardening blog for information on harvesting the garlic scape.

I originally had thoughts to just saute some up so we could really taste them, but then I came across a pesto recipe and decided to go that direction instead, not knowing how powerful the scape would be. I got the recipe idea from a video posted by Grow! Cook! Eat!, although I will post what I actually did below since I didn't follow their recipe exactly.

From Gardening

Garlic Scape Pesto
6-8 garlic scapes, roughly chopped
1/3 cup toasted hazelnuts, skins rubbed off as much as possible
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp kosher salt
olive oil

Whirl the scapes in a food processor until evenly and finely chopped. Add hazelnuts (any nut, but that's what we had!), cheese, and salt until combined. Leave processor on and pour olive oil in a steady thin stream until it is the texture you desire. We leave it somewhat chunky (and less oily) and just thin it out with pasta water; it is a little healthier that way.

We tossed about half the recipe with a pound of pasta and some fresh snow peas, because that was what was on hand.

Actually, I used about double this many scapes, and that was super sharp garlic overkill, so I'd recommend less!!! I'm going to try baking the rest on fish or in a pizza and see if that mellows out the sharpness a bit. Scapes are not shy!!

Chive Blossoms

From Gardening

I am not sure where I first came across the enlightening information that chive blossoms could be eaten. But we had a bunch come up in the garden this spring, so I was determined to try them out. I found recipes where they were deep fried or even sauteed, but I wanted to make sure I could still taste the delicate oniony flavor.


I'm not sure I'd call the flavor that delicate, actually. I munched on a few completely raw, and they pack a punch! I mixed them in with the eggs for this omelet as well as sprinkling them on top. The havarti cheese inside was a nice balance, and a few diced up chive stems. Simple but delicious!


I wish I had goat cheese on hand because I think its tartness would be really great with the chive blossoms. But they were good sprinkled on cream-cheesed rye toast too. I always feel like I'm eating something elegant when I have something with edible flowers in it. Considering the time of year they come out, they might be a great idea for tea sandwiches too.

Black Bean Burgers

Snow Day! Lots of time to just watch movies and drink hot chocolate, so I also made the black bean burger recipe from Veganomicon. They were pretty tasty although next time I'll definitely ensure to add the cilantro and maybe a bit of salt, and I was really craving guacamole to go with them.