Red Lentil Dal (Lentil Soup)

http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/7517-red-lentil-dal

+ red pepper, lemon, smoked paprika, celery
- coriander

served with sour cream

Chicken Galantine

De-bone your own chicken https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku5p1CcGn70

Stuffing: Sauteed spinach, onions, garlic, mushrooms; sprinkle feta into stuffing
Oven at 400F for 1hr

Tiramisu

Used the amounts in this recipe, added 1-2 shots of cognac to coffee http://allrecipes.com/recipe/23143/easy-tiramisu/

Pecan Pie

Used this recipe for dough http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/07/easy-pie-dough-recipe.html. Used 1/2 the recipe amount for the above filling recipe.



Used this recipe for the filling http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/11/how-to-make-pecan-pie-slideshow.html with minor alterations: 1/2 cup corn syrup, 1/2 cup full flavor molasses instead of brown sugar, toasted pecans in the microwave, on a plate for 4 minutes total, 1 minute at a time.

Rolled out dough after taking it out of the fridge - it was very stiff and cracked during rolling. Patched up the cracks the best we could and transferred into ungreased form. Crushed toasted nuts (1/2 of total 3 cups) with rolling pin inside a zip-lock bag. Pressed nuts into bottom of form ready with dough. 

Mixed all ingredients for the filling, whisked a lot so the mixture lightened a shade in color and had lots of air bubbles in it. Chunks in picture are solidified butter. They broke up further with vigorous whisking.

Poured mixture into form with dough and pressed crushed nuts and decorated the top with uncrushed 1/2 cup toasted nuts. Made a foil circle for later use. Put in the oven for 20 minutes. Nuts started browning at ~18-19 min. Put foil circle on top and stuck back in the oven for another 5-10 min. Tested internal temperature and it clocked in at 189F. Should be a few degrees lower for fully cooked pie. Took out of the oven and let rest in its form on a cookie sheet for ~1hr.

 

Custard tasted very light, sweet, very pronounced molasses flavor and even smooth texture. After a few bites the strong molasses flavor subsided. Achieved an even bake of the crust throughout, even on the bottom. No sogginess.

Crust is very buttery, flaky and light. Home-making the crust added >1hr to the total preparation time so in the future we'll probably buy it pre-made. Might decrease the amount of molasses used. Might add chocolate.

Cabbage Rolls

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/cabbage-rolls-with-meat-stuffing-and-wild-mushroom-sauce-51165200

Peanut Butter Stir Fry

Veggies: onions, carrots, pepper, zucchini, red cabbage, broccoli
Meat: ground beef
Sauce ingredients: peanut butter, coconut milk, hot sauce, fish sauce, soy sauce
Other: rice

Chop up everything into bite size pieces. Set up a way to steam broccoli and steam until ready to eat, set aside. Fry up ground beef and set aside. Start cooking rice (1 cup rice to 1 3/4 cup chicken broth)

In a large frying pan heat up some oil and start with frying onions. Then add carrots, pepper, zucchini, red cabbage. Throw broccoli in with the rest of the veggies. Throw cooked ground beef.

Add 4 table spoons of creamy (or chunky) peanut butter. Let it melt into the veggies by mixing. Add in one can of coconut milk and also let mix/heat up. Squirt in some fish and soy sauce (to taste) and add in hot sauce to taste (this can always be added into individual serving bowls later. Serve over rice.

Quinoa Salad

- 1 cup of quinoa / 2 cups of liquid (1 cup chicken stock/1 cup water)
- Bring to boil in a pot together, reduce heat, cover, let simmer ~15 min or until water is close to being absorbed (taste it, kernels shouldn't be hard or mushy and should be pleasant to chew)
- Quickly cool grains by dumping them in a strainer and rinsing with cold water. Make sure all extra water drains
- Chop up fresh tomatoes, red pepper, parsley, red onion, cucumber (or steamed asparagus and cooked beets)
- Dress salad with fresh squeezed lemon juice and olive oil

Borsch (Russian Beet Soup)

First of all, the word "borsch" does NOT have a "t" in it.

Ingredients (traditional)

- Beef with bone (variation on traditional - use lamb shoulder with bone and meat; if vegetarian, start by boiling pot of water and add beets directly to it, let boil and continue from that step)
- Potatoes (ones that don't get too mushy after being cooked)
- Cabbage (green)
- Carrots
- Beets
- Garlic
- Onion (white)
- Dill or parsley
- Tomato paste
- Salt/pepper/oregano (variation on traditional - add freshly ground cumin and red pepper flakes for spice)

Fill pot with water (halway), throw in the beef with bone. Bring to boil, boil for about 30 min. Take off foam with a spoon (leads to a clearer broth).

The point is to have enough vegetables in the soup so it's not too water but isn't as thick as stew. Adjust amounts based on taste. I personally enjoy a lot of cabbage.

While meat/bone are cooking, grate 1-2 medium beets on a cheese grater. Throw these in after meat has been boiling for ~30min. Boil grated beets for 10-15 min.

In the meantime, in a separate pan, fry up 1/2 white onion (chopped) and 1-2 peeled and grated carrots in some oil. Chop a few cloves of garlic. Throw everything into soup.

While above is simmering, chop up 1/2 small cabbage into thin long slices and throw into soup.
Peel and cube 2 large or 3 small potatoes and throw into soup.

Let everything boil on small for 10-15 more minutes (until potatoes are cooked). Salt and pepper to taste.

You can keep the bone with meat as they are or you can take it out towards the end, clean the bone and throw it away and chop the meat up and throw it back into soup.

Towards the end, add 3-4 tablespoons of tomato paste, mix, bring back up to a boil.
Lastly, throw in finely chopped dill/parsley and bring back up to a boil.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream, bread with butter.