Sometime last week, one of my friends asked me, “What can I do with barley and mushrooms?” I put on my thinking cap and came up with barley risotto for her, which sounded pretty good once I gave it more thought, so I threw it together for dinner Friday night.
And being the first risotto of any kind I’ve ever made, I was pretty happy with it. Not ecstatic and not quite thrilled enough to give you a recipe just yet, but definitely pleased.
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Keeping with our decision to eat mostly meatless around here, I turned to the meat of the legume kingdom for dinner tonight — the chickpea! What? You’ve never heard of that? Anyway, I just love ‘em; they’re one of the few beans I really don’t mind eating canned, mainly because I’m too lazy/scatterbrained to get my act together and start cooking the dried ones a full month in advance.
I’ve been thinking back to one of Anthony Bourdain’s visits to India this past week. He dined at a vegetarian restaurant and said if the states had such incredible vegetarian food to offer, he’d have no trouble respecting the lifestyle (or something to that effect). So I got myself in the kitchen tonight (after blocking the entrances with baby gates to keep the boy out) and made a nice little curry using a recipe from Cooking Light as a starting point and served it over a mound of delicious, aromatic basmati rice.
I’m really glad I made enough for leftovers tomorrow. Wow — a meatless meal and anticipating the leftovers? I don’t even know myself anymore.
Of course, when we decide to go carnivorous, we really do it up right. Stay tuned for details…
recipe after the jump
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When I got home a few nights ago, Gil was still out helping his dad prepare/clean his computer room for the painters who were coming the following day. I thought it’d be nice to surprise him with a decent dinner for a change, but needed something that could be ready by the time he returned in 30 minutes or so. As quick meals go, this one really can’t be beat.
I’ve been on a bit of a meat kick lately, so I picked up four lamb loin chops at the grocery along with a couple of sweet potatoes and set out to prepare our meal. (The chops in the picture aren’t really burned, no matter what your eyes tell you — I coated them with a dark Singapore Curry rub bought on our visit to Seattle in February.) We still had a beautiful bunch of tender kale bought at our farmers’ market over the weekend, and I wanted to do something more exciting than my usual olive oil/garlic/red pepper preparation, so I used Indian spices to complement the chops and added cubes of boiled sweet potato for a nice contrast (visually and spicically). I also tossed in some garlic scapes left from the weekend, but if they’re out of season or if you don’t have access, you really don’t need them.
The lamb was quite good, but lamb always is. What surprised me was how well the veggies came off — the flavors married beautifully and the kale would’ve sorely missed the potatoes had they not been there. And it was so easy, so quick! Not bad for a weeknight.
recipes after the jump
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