Burger Queen

3 Sep

This is a special occasion for me, as it turns out that the cow and I don’t get along. I haven’t been able to eat beef since I moved back from London. Dairy either. And now I think I know what’s at the root of the problem: the beef in this country is fed some weird hormones that really twist my stomach into knots.

Now that's what I call a proper burger.

Not that I need to eat beef often, for sure, but cheese? Are you kidding me? That’s just cruel. I love cheese, and sorry–none of the vegan stuff comes close. Except the stuff with casein in it, which is a) technically not vegan and b) milk protein, so it still does my stomach in.

But I made a discovery, finally. Cheese made with goat or sheep’s milk does not hurt my stomach! And neither does bison! Oh, happy days! Here’s the super delicious burger I made to test this theory out, and I’m happy to report that it was not just tasty, it was also painless.

There’s quite a bit going on in this recipe, and we used the same fries as before. This time I finally shallow-fried them in a little coconut and grapeseed oil mix, because last time I had to actually stick them under the broiler to get them to brown, and even after that, they still weren’t very crispy. And we’re still loving those Japanese yams for fries. Continue reading →

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Ahh…Curry!

27 Aug

So, when I lived in London, I missed Mexican food so much. When I first moved over there, you couldn’t even buy tortillas, and the only salsa you could buy was El Paso in a jar. Which, let’s face it, is NOT salsa.

Mmmm...curry. It just makes life worth living.

Now that I’m back in California, I miss what London does so well: Indian curry. I had the best place near me in Battersea that I used to order from all the time. All the time. How often? Let’s just say I received a Christmas card from them…

There’s an Indian restaurant a half a block from my house. I never go there because it is not authentic. The weird thing is that the owners also own Nina’s Anglo-Indian Grocery in El Toro, where the food is quite good. Weird. I think this one is trying to appeal to the American palate too much. But never mind.

The Husband loves it when I start toasting up the spices and making curry. He loves anything with a ton of garlic in it, like me, so curry always works for us. It can be a little labor intensive with all the prep and chopping, but once you’ve done that, it goes pretty quick.

You can use plain rice with this, but I’ll also include a recipe for a simple rice and a pilau rice. If you need any of the spices listed here, head to Nina’s or another ethnic grocery, where they’ll be much cheaper than buying the little jars at the store.

I’m starting you all off with a mild curry—for those of you who like it hot, throw more chili in there. And for those who don’t like spice, don’t omit the chilis I have here. Really, there will be no burning of the mouth. I promise.

For the vegetarians/vegans out there, just omit the chicken and add more mushrooms and maybe throw in some chickpeas. Some eggplant would be nice too. Continue reading →

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The Dogs of Dinner

21 Aug

Every once in a while, and probably too often, The Husband and I will have what we call “dogs” for dinner.

Told you it wouldn't be long til we had Dogs again...!

This basically is a glorified hot dog, dressed up with a nice sausage, some grilled onions, soft buns and tasty mustard. Oh, and some homemade sweet potato fries on the side.

These are not "buns of steel". And nor are mine.

These dogs are great with any kind of sausage, although I cannot bring myself to eat a regular “hot dog”. Give me a tofu dog any day before a ballpark frank. Ew. That said, we usually use the Trader Joe’s Andouille sausages (luckily it has no relation to the true Cajun andouille sausage, except for the fact that it’s a little spicy), sometimes their fresh spicy Italian pork sausages that take a little more care to grill since they’re not pre-cooked, and I’ve even used the vegan Field Roast Grain sausages to great results.

I will also apologize for eating dinner before taking a photo! I’ll add one next time we have them, which won’t be too long. That’s probably why I can’t seem to lose those few pounds I keep whining about. Really, it’s pretty simple if I think about it…but they’re so danged delicious!

So, here’s your recipes. They serve two, as usual. Continue reading →

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It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere…

14 Aug

OK, so we haven’t started drinking at noon on Sunday. Well, not THIS Sunday. But as our friends know, we are partial to a martini most nights of the week. So it’s time we feature one of The Husband’s fantastic martini creations.

Shaken, not stirred please.

Now, we like our martinis pretty basic. None of that Lemondrop, Cosmo fruity crap. Just give me my vodka, make it ice cold, and make it snappy.

There’s no better place to have a martini than at my house, as The Husband is the best bartender ever. Have you been to a bar where they keep Grey Goose, Pearl vodka and Hendrick’s gin in the freezer? Exactly. When you go to a bar, you end up getting a martini made from room-temp vodka. Ew. We have no kids, so whatever freezer space would be taken up with fish fingers and frozen veg is reserved for our alcohol.

I’m even going to share my special cocktail nuts recipe with you, not that it’s a big secret. Whole Foods gave me the idea, and they charge an arm and a leg (surprise!?) for them in the store when you can just make them yourselves for a lot less dinero. And they’re perfect with martinis.

Bottom’s up! Continue reading →

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The Sandwich, Part One

14 Aug

This is called The Sandwich, Part One because there are a few sarnies in our house called The Sandwich. This is, to be specific, The Sunday Breakfast Sandwich, and The Husband loves it. In fact, he was doing his “Happy Sandwich Dance” as he finished it this morning. It was a thing of beauty.

The Sandwich? You can't handle The Sandwich!

So, vegans, look away now. There’s no way I can make this sandwich vegan, as it features an egg as a centerpiece. Vegetarians can merely substitute the meat for some fake bacon and be on their merry way. I guess if you remove the egg, use fake bacon and use Vegenaise, you can have something similar. I will have to think of a delicious vegan breakfast sarnie. (BTW, “sarnie” is sandwich in Brit-speak.)

In our tiny kitchen, this is quite a production, but I’ve got it down to a science now. The Husband and I were discussing this morning that you can use prosciutto instead of the bacon, but it makes it a little salty if you use cheese. I use my mayo-salsa spread instead of cheese, so I don’t have that problem. Sally forth as you feel is most appropriate for you!

Here’s the recipe and process: Continue reading →

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The Spanish Days of Summer

6 Aug

This one’s in honor of Santa Barbara’s Spanish Fiesta Days, which began yesterday. And we had this last night…hmm, I wasn’t even thinking about that at the time! I guess the excitement of our trip up to Santa Barbara (we’re leaving in a few minutes!) put me in the mood.

Grilled corn and my $7 corn scraper from Sur la Table

So, viva España! Pork is rarely better than with some smoked paprika slathered on it. And, before you vegetarians and vegans turn away, I’m sure this marinade will be super delicious on tofu or seitan, and certainly grilled. Just make sure you marinate it for longer!

I love getting my mortar and pestle out—as a matter of fact, I love it so much that I hunted it down for our very dear friends C+E. Turns out it’s very easy to find at Williams Sonoma, even though I brought mine over from the UK after buying it from the delightful Lakeland Limited catalogue.

Ahhh...smoked paprika. If only we'd had some rioja!

Anyway, on to the recipe. It was delicious, if I do say so myself. And yes, you will need a mortar and pestle, or a coffee grinder. If you’re really fancy, you’ll have a special spice grinder, and if so, wooo, get you! Continue reading →

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English Lesson

31 Jul

Most of you will be aware that I lived in the United Kingdom for some time. Eleven years, to be exact, give or take a few months. In that time I developed a fondness for many of the English delicacies. I’m talking a proper mug of tea, Marmite on toast, bangers and mash, and shepherd’s pie.

The small one was reserved for The Husband—it was too good not to save him some!

Ooh, shepherd’s pie! What a delightful dish to have when it’s cold and rainy outside. Technically, a shepherd’s pie is made with ground lamb (or “mince” lamb in the vernacular), and cottage pie with ground beef, but shepherd’s pie is the term usually used for the meaty, mashed potato-topped—well, casserole, I guess we’d call it over here.

Even though it’s the height of summer in California, not the usual season for such a hearty meal, I made this one for our dear friend Paddy. She lives up at Top of the World, and The Husband used to deliver Meals on Wheels to her. She’s a British expat, and on her own now that her husband died about five years ago and her dear Boston Terrier died earlier this year. I decided this lovely lady needed a bit of good food and cheering up.

Seeing as how Paddy is in her 80s, I threw caution to the wind and a lot of butter in the pan. Continue reading →

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Miso Happy!

27 Jul

Salmon in the summer...delish.

We loves us some salmon. And by “us” I mean The Husband, The Dog and myself. The cat, strangely, only likes the cheapest cat food on the planet, which is a blessing, I guess. The Dog gets the salmon skin after it’s cooked, and her coat is very shiny as a result. She’s also a very good girl when she smells the salmon come home!

We get our salmon every Saturday morning from the Halaby’s stall at our farmer’s market. We often get halibut, tuna, swordfish, Mexican sea bass and shrimp too, but salmon is a given. And it’s gorgeous—The Husband will only eat this salmon. Doesn’t matter if the greatest restaurant in the world offered it, he’d turn it down. Did I mention he was picky? (That said, he did like the salmon last night at our friend Ryan’s house–outstanding meal!–but it was in a salad.)

So I decided to bathe it in our favorite grilling marinade of late: miso, garlic and chives in either butter or oil. I adapted this from a Sunset Magazine recipe (possibly the best magazine ever published in the history of magazines, up there with The New Yorker), where they were using it as a melting topper on grilled steaks. The Husband decided we didn’t need it for the steak (after I made it, natch), but I decided to marinate the shrimp in it for the grill. Continue reading →

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Yes, we like tacos. So sue us.

23 Jul

Are you bored yet? I hope not, because I’m really enjoying writing this blog! So, this is a few days late, as we had these on

Black bean tacos

It wasn't even Taco Tuesday!

Wednesday night, another veggie-dinner night. I was happy to find the tomatillos at Whole Foods, because I love a green salsa, even though The Husband usually doesn’t. But I knew if I made it from scratch I’d win him over. Which I did–he loved them, and especially the salsa. Which I must say, was quite good.

And non-vegans, please, add cheese to these tacos! We were on our cleanse, so no dairy, but they really deserved some nice cotija cheese crumbled on top. In SoCal, you can find this and other delicious Mexican cheese varieties in the cooler section near the processed cheese. I would recommend investing–it lasts for a while and is great in salads as a nice substitute for feta. Speaking of feta, those who do not live in SoCal, like my dear friend Gaby in London, should use feta on top of these tacos. Although cheddar would work in a pinch.

And Londoners, if you can’t find tomatillos, try Booths near St. Paul’s Cathedral. They have a stall at Borough Market, or at least they used to. (How I miss that market!) You can get jalapeños there too, but I’m not sure about serranos. Substitute a green Thai or Indian chili if you can’t find the Mexican variety.

So here we go with the recipe, with my notes, as usual! Continue reading →

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Pancakes for Dinner

19 Jul
Thai Pancakes

You're jealous of my child-sized stove. Go on, admit it.

I personally wasn’t convinced last night that I should blog about these Thai pancakes, as I didn’t think they were that hot, but The Husband must have been in some sort of psychedelic coconut love-drug haze last night. He loved them. Had seconds, even.

He did admit that the sauce on the stir fry was a little on the salty side—I blame myself for not tasting the oyster sauce before I put it in. It would have been perfect with just a splash of soy sauce, but I got a little twirled up because I remembered we had the oyster sauce in the fridge. To make this fully vegetarian, don’t use the oyster sauce. There’s tricks to replace the egg in the pancakes to make it vegan, but you can comment and ask if you want more info and I’ll happily give it.

So, here’s the recipes with a few notes on what I’ll do next time—because according to TH, there WILL be a next time. Continue reading →

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