OMG a Recipe: CSA-Curious Seeking LTR w/ Fresh, Seasonal Produce for Exciting Cooking Adventures

It's easy to fall into the routine of weekly recipes and organized grocery lists, but what about being a little spontaneous? Why not flirt with the mystery and excitement of a delivery of fresh, seasonal produce, and let your meals be swept away by a swarthy CSA box from Oxbow Farm? I was pleased to participate in this year's Oxbow Box Project, a great challenge for local food bloggers to get a big ol' box of seasonal summer produce and see what winds up on the table. If you're already a subscriber to one of the many CSA programs out there, you already know what this at-home Iron Chef-style of cooking is like, but if you've always been CSA-curious, I'm here to say, as Rob Schneider so often shouts in terrible Adam Sandler movies: YOU CAN DO IT!

Oxbow Farm CSA, you take my breath away - Photo by Wasabi Prime

UnRecipe: Beer-Thirty on the Plate

Beer. Fizzy, foamy, wheat-hops-barley-flavored goodness that carried us through our college years and well into adulthood. And while our tastes may have changed over the years, the Cardinal Rule of Beer remains: No Beer Left Behind! This includes leftover beer from a party, maybe a half-full growler full of microbrew goodness from a local brewery -- it's been a couple of days, it's likely gone flat by now, but the College Kegger Spirit within you whispers in that Animal House/John Belushi voice, "Don't disappoint me. And hey... look, I'm a zit!" Party On, dudes and dudettes -- it's beer for dinner!

Chicken and mushroom beer-sala with pasta - CHEERS! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

UnRecipe: iStew and One-Pot Wonders

Baby, it's not just cold outside, it's kinda rainy and gross. The gloomy skies can be a bit of a downer, no thanks to the fact that despite Daylight Savings, it's still reeeeally dark out there. BLERG. The common complaint is that it's dark when you leave for work before 8am and dark by the time you get home after 5, making you wonder if the light of day ever made an appearance. DOUBLE BLERG. It's no wonder those annoying, sparkly Twilight vampires dig this place so much. But wait, there's a light at the end of the tunnel... and it's bubbling away in your stew pot.

Rich and hearty butter chicken, the cure for the Twilight Vampire Pacific Northwest - Photo by Wasabi Prime

UnRecipe: General Tsort-of's Chicken

Don't deny it. You have an illicit love for Americanized Chinese food. For as much food-snobbery you have over knowing the origins of obscure ethnic cuisine and how ingredients were introduced to different cultures, when you're in a typical American-style Chinese restaurant, your eyes glaze over with junkie-like glee for the dishes that have never set foot in the Asian Motherland. You even get excited when the fortune cookie shows up, because you love saying, "...in bed" after everyone reads their fortune aloud.

Team Americanized Chinese Food, Eff Yeah! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

My favorites have always been the following: Orange Chicken with its alarmingly traffic cone orange-colored glaze, Mongolian Beef that's so spicy that it makes me sweat until I weep blood, and of course, General Tso's Chicken. None of these dishes have ever seen the shores of China, and while they may have distant cousin-once-removed connections to meals from the homeland, the food we eat at restaurants with a combination of "panda," "bamboo" and "garden" in the name are pretty much as American as "Honey Boo Boo." I can't quite bring myself to buy the premade sauce that you can drizzle over fried chicken, instantly making it Orange Chicken, and every time I make a version of it at home, it's dull, given my lack of weird-ass preservatives and dyes that make that sauce so fantastic and disturbing. I can do a version of Mongolian Beef at home, which is basically beef + crazy spices = Bring on the Hurt. But General Tso's Chicken is a marvelously complex mixture of sweet, savory seasonings and textures, with the crispy fried chicken pieces and a mixture of vegetables. Most places don't even bother with the vegetables, it's just crispy chicken tossed with a spicy sweet sauce, but for an at-home version, I upped the produce level.

I cheat on what would arguably be the most important part, which is the fried chicken. I do a light coating of seasoned cornstarch and then do a pan-fry in a wok, just searing the outside of bite-sized chicken chunks until they're browned and crispy. But mixed in with a bunch of vegetables like carrots, onions and green beans, the lack of crispy chicken texture is negligible, plus I add in chopped peanuts at the end, to give it extra crunch. My focus is the sauce, which has to have that right balance of sweet-savory with a little bit of sour. I don't like General Tso sauces that are all sweet, like a sugary teriyaki sauce -- way too one-note. I made a sauce that was a mix of soy sauce, Korean kochujang (red pepper paste), rice wine vinegar, a little sugar, and chopped ginger and garlic. UnRecipe strikes again because I mixed the sauce and just tasted as I went, adding as I mixed to get the balance I wanted, but those were the ingredients to push-pull and design your own General Tso-Tasty sauce. A little cornstarch whisked in at the end, and into the wok-sizzling vegetables and meat it went to coat and tighten up from the heat.

Non-fried chicken and whatever vegetables you have on-hand. - Photos by Wasabi Prime

It wasn't the exact version of the beloved Americanized Chinese restaurant dish we all hate to admit we love, but it was a fair replica for at-home enjoyment. For as much at-home versions of food that's already been bastardized plenty enough, I never want to make a perfect version at home. Why rob myself of that perfect experience of eating all those culturally co-opted delicacies in an overly-decorated restaurant of bamboo and gold dragons, and the joy of saying, "...in bed" after everyone reads their fortune? I'm not going to deny my love for what is essentially American food -- I'm going to get my fluorescent day-glow orange chicken and fried spicy goodness that General Tso never once laid eyes on, and I'm going to enjoy every damn bite.

UnRecipe: My Universe is Ruled By Dogs

It's no secret that we have an overly-documented dog named Indy. And really, why shouldn't she be photographed a million times and clutter the Instagram-iverse? Dogs in general are my kryptonite. I get all weak-in-the-knees when I see their fuzzy faces and much like the annoying people who like to pinch everyone's babies (weirdos -- stop touching strangers' babies!), I'm one of those freaks who always ask to pet someone's dog. So far I've neither been gored by a face-chomp or an overly protective dog owner, so I've got that going for me. Which in a roundabout way leads me to today's post, about Italian-inspired cuisine, a couple of cute animated pups and what surprisingly came out of that whole thought process.

Herbed goat cheese-stuffed chicken inspired by Disney...Sort of - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I blame you, Walt Disney, in whatever cryogenic chamber you may be dwelling. I had caught a bit of that marvelous classic, Lady and the Tramp, a stunningly beautiful 1955 animated movie about Boy Dog meets Girl Dog and the undercurrents of class rivalry in canine form. I never realized how clever they were with the dogs-observing-humans-perspective until you realize the well-kept spaniel Lady, refers to her owners as Jim Dear and Darling. Terms of endearment between a husband and wife, but a dog doesn't know anything different, so of course that just seems like their proper names. We're no different at our house -- we've created our false nuclear family around Indy, so she knows me as Mamma and Brock as Daddy. We're not sick people, I swear.

Of course the most memorable scene of Lady and the Tramp is when there's a doggie date night and they go to an Italian restaurant populated by borderline offensive Italian stereotypes who serve up a heaping pile of spaghetti and meatballs. Nevermind that dogs can't actually slurp pasta or that a restaurant owner would set up an alleyway dining experience, complete with musical serenade for a couple of mangy-looking dogs -- we love the little nose-nudge of sharing a meatball and the inevitable pasta-kiss. Again, dogs don't really kiss, but whatever, this is the stuff that Disney dreams are made of, and when I saw that, all I could think of was: I want spaghetti and meatballs.

Animated inspiration and pasta swapouts - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Like most meal inspirations, they end up going in all kinds of crazy directions, because clearly what was made was not spaghetti and meatballs. I think my main craving was a fresh tomato sauce because we still had some leaves of basil that weren't chewed up by slugs. I had some skinless chicken breasts in the fridge that needed to be used, so meatballs became less of an option. I still had a dinner at Adam's Northwest Bistro lingering in my head -- one of my favorite things they do is a stuffed pork chop, which is the size of Florida, and will pretty much have you in a complete food coma for the rest of the night. Which means it's fantastic. A little hard to imagine something so rich and hearty during warm weather, but I love stuffed meats and wanted to make a more warm-weather friendly version. Not the same animal, nor the same ingredients, but inspiration is inspiration -- so far we have Lady and the Tramp and a restaurant in Monroe.

Mixing softened goat cheese with fresh chopped herbs made for a nicely gooey stuffing for the chicken. This is a great way to mix random herbs together if your garden is like mine, and just a mish-mash of things growing. I had these beautiful dark, blood-red heritage-descendant apples from the farmers market that I initially thought about using for stuffing the chicken breasts, but they were so delicious on their own, sometimes ingredients just never last long enough to get into a prepared meal. Goat cheese and herbs became the de facto filling, but that's not such a bad thing.

Dramatic fruit, a sumptuous feast and a longing-eyed beast - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Cutting little side pockets into the chicken and stuffing chilled clumps of the herbed goat cheese inside before using toothpicks to secure the seam, I let the chicken breasts quickly sear in an oiled pan for a few minutes, just to get a little color before pulling them out and setting them aside. The goat cheese will start to get melty and I didn't want it melting all over the pan's surface and burning. I moved on to an herbed tomato sauce that the stuffed chicken breasts would finish cooking in. I used canned tomatoes, but fresh herbs. I just wanted a quick sauce and tomatoes in a can work in a pinch. A little garlic, some salt and pepper, red pepper flakes for heat and a finishing sprinkle of fresh basil was all the sauce needed. Taste as you go, no measuring, just UnRecipe-ing the afternoon away. I turned the heat down before adding the chicken breasts back in and let it all simmer on low for a few minutes until the chicken was cooked through. The gentle liquid heat ensures the chicken doesn't get rubbery and some of the goat cheese oozes out and makes the sauce creamy, which only adds to the flavor. All in all, a fairly easy one-skillet meal with a lot of basic ingredients you have sitting around your fridge, pantry or backyard garden.

Roasted asparagus instead of pasta. Not the same as romantic noodles, but again, the weather was warm and pasta and breads make me bloat in the heat like a dead cow in a field. Besides, vegetables are good for you, eat up. Asparagus always makes for an easy vegetable side dish and they make a visually interesting surface for the food to sit on, so it's win-win for food bloggery.

As I sat down to eat this meal that came from a bizarre, convoluted string of inspiration, intention and already-eaten ingredients, I thought: while my personal universe may be ruled by dogs, my kitchen universe is thankfully run by chaos and confusion. And yes, sometimes those universes meet when Indy gets a little nibble from the plate because she's just so damn adorable.

Mixed Plate: Snowmageddon II: Return of the Snow-Sith

Aside from the fact that the made-up term, "Snowmageddon" inspires awesomely-bad SyFy Saturday night movies (it really was, the proof is on IMDB), we recently had our arses handed to us by an arse-handing-snow-monster called Winter. But never fear, bad weather doesn't always have to ruin things, if nothing else, it just makes you get creative over how to pass the time when you're sitting in a cold, dark house, such as.... oh I don't know... figuring out how to eat. And perhaps some scrapbooking was involved...

The meal before the ice storm, when there was still power to cook it - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I don't know why it's worth mentioning, as this is probably not news to many, but the fact remains that when snow hits, even a light dusting, Liz Lemon from 30 Rock floats down from the sky and shouts across Seattle in a shrill voice: SHUT IT DOWN, PACIFIC NORTHWEST. Because that's literally what happens. It's like the Rapture. Cars are abandoned on roadsides and grocery stores are ravaged for bread, cigarettes and beer. Because really, those are the basic necessities, right? But enough bad winter storms have got us learned-up over how to prepare a few days in advance if the weatherman is threatening a bad winter spell coming our way. Days before a supposedly bad ice storm was set to hit the area, people were stocking up in a calm, collected manner, sharing pictures of everyone's "Snowpocalypse Grocery List" on Twitter and Facebook, usually including some sort of combination of dessert cakes and liquor. The only snarl was the lines at the gas stations, where everyone was getting fueled up to make sure they had plenty of dino bone juice to power the overpriced generators they bought during the last horrible storm. The Boy Scouts had it right: Be Prepared. And have a beer keg tapped and ready to go.

Enough snow for hot soup, some awkward shoveling, and a visit from Sno-toro - photos by Wasabi Prime

And the snow did come. Marching in with sort of a soft cadence, depending on where you lived. Since we live out in the Boonieville lands of Duvall, which is just on the outer reaches of BFE, we got about six inches' worth on the early end of the storm, while the rest of the Modern World got a light dusting. We had the luxury of enjoying it in a warm, heated house, with only a minor discomfort of periodic snow-shoveling. Not that either of our cars were going to be making it down the steep hill we live on. I think the shoveling was more about doing something other than sitting around and starting to write, "All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy" one hundred times over. But there was enough of the white stuff to make a Miyazaki-inspired bug-eyed Totoro from snow, which the neighbors called a cute owl. OK, whatever. And I managed to make one basic meal that in the back of my mind, I already knew had to be somewhat versatile, as the weather reports were only promising worse weather to come. But for the moment, things were under control, so I made a Southwest-themed meal with chili-rubbed chicken served on a warm corn and black bean salad. I also cooked up a side dish of spicy roasted tomato and pepper soup, using similar seasonings as the chicken, with plenty of avocado and cilantro to keep everything tasting bright and fresh. It was yummy, we ate well for at least one night, in the comfort of a house bathed with light, warmed with heat and not having to wonder if everything in our fridge would spoil. That was the next day.

Amid all this snow nonsensery, the Mister had developed a bad cold which of course blossomed into a lovely bloom of infection. Oh joy. His sinuses were in miserable shape, he was barely getting any good sleep, and then to top it all off, his eardrum ruptured. Double joy. All this on the eve of a bad ice storm, promising more snow and colder temperatures to just turn the melting snow into heavy, solid ice, which was the concern for power lines and the trees that would inevitably become heavy from the ice and tear down more power lines. There was no Neti-potting the sickness away with salt water and spiritual platitudes, he needed drugs before his head exploded like a giant zit, and luckily he was able to get to the ER and get some of the Good Stuff before hell broke loose. Or froze over, I should say. Because this is what the world looked like after the power went out and only snow remained:

When snow stops being fun and is just a big, fat jerk - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Not catastrophic by any means. But it was still disheartening to hear so many main roads were blocked from frozen/fallen trees, figures like "200,000" were being listed as the number of people without power, and it was only getting higher. The governor declared a state of emergency, to be able to enlist outside assistance to just get Western Washington back on the grid. Walking out into our own winter wonderland, you couldn't tell the difference between road and sidewalk, no plows were coming through, likely due to road closures -- not that anyone was driving around. I walked to see how far the outage was, in the hopes that it was just our grid, that others possibly had power, implying the outage wasn't too bad, but no such luck. Seeing a long row of bamboo that normally sits ten feet high, totally collapsed, either weighed down or broken by the weight of the snow and ice was something to see. And all the trees were encased in a layer of ice in the morning. Pretty super, right?

Before surveying the snow and reach of the outage, I opened our refrigerator for fifteen seconds, grabbing the leftover chicken, corn salad and soup, the last bits of a leftover pot roast, and a carton of milk. That's about all you want to risk, not knowing how long the power will be out, and wanting to keep everything cold for as long as possible. I took metal bowls and packed them with snow, placing them in the bottom of a large camping cooler, which was left outside on our front porch. Everything pulled from the fridge went into the cooler and I knew this would be enough to feed us for at least two days -- about the length of time I'd feel comfortable leaving the fridge without power, and then I'd have to consider cooking everything perishable in there and keeping it on ice on the porch. It sounds a little crazy, assuming days and not hours to get an outage fixed, but where we live is not considered a high priority fix when massive outages happen. Brock was in no condition to be moving around or walking to a cold weather shelter, so you hunker-down and do whatever needs to be done.


Keep Calm and Scrapbook, plus other power outage must-haves - Photos by Wasabi Prime

 Whatever needing to be done can include scrapbooking. Don't judge me, but I needed to keep busy and glue sticks are fun. It was like an analog version of Pinterest and the radio news stories were getting old. Brock was able to get our one emergency appliance working, an indoor kerosene heater. I have to say it makes you feel like a normal person in your own home, not freezing to death in the living room. And to repeat, it's indoor-safe; there's some fumes, but you leave a window partially opened to vent fumes and we only run it a few hours at a time. The propane burner Brock usually uses for brewing beer was set up on our porch, which became our ad hoc kitchen. We could have used our backyard BBQ, but snow was melting and ice was falling in large chunks, and we have an uncovered patio. Didn't need to add "headwound" or "massive concussion" to an already growing list of medical issues between us. We could boil water and keep it hot in a thermos for tea, as well as make French press coffee (thank god!). And the burner did a fine job of reheating the leftovers, which went from separate dishes to a hearty Southwest chicken stew. You'd never think this was a power outage meal, but it was. 

Dark times call for tasty meals - Photo by Wasabi Prime

We enjoyed our meals by candlelight, played some card games and reacquainted ourselves with Solitaire, like with real playing cards and not the thing you play on the computer, pretending to work. Of course, the power eventually came back on, thankfully it was just about 24 hours for us, which was a miracle compared to many who were without power for days. When we heard the low buzz and sudden "blip" of the kitchen microwave come on, half of me was cheering, but the other half stayed wary. We kept all the flashlights handy and the hand-crank radio close by. I left the propane stove and cooler on the porch just in case. The snow in the cooler never even melted, so that was comforting to know how insulated a basic beer cooler can be.

When something like a big power outage happens and you're basically trapped in your own home, not knowing when the lights will work again, you revolve that much more closely around food. It's the time of the day where you can feel normal again, just having a hot meal. All I can say is, it's been real, Winter -- let's not do this again anytime soon, okay?

The four stages of Snowmageddon - Photos by Wasabi Prime

OMG a Recipe: Harvest Delight

One of the best things about the holidays is the eagerness to get together with friends. Not that we don't do this throughout the year, but it feels more appropriate -- almost with a sense of urgency -- to spread the good cheer, lest Santa downgrade you to the Naughty list. Again. And so we had some friends over for dinner one chilly Sunday night. Nothing fancy, just evening spent 'round the table with platefuls of food!

The almighty mac n' cheese - this time with pumpkin! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Cold weather cooking is the best kind, because it's always full of rich smells and flavors of things slowly simmering on the stove or slowly baking away in the oven.  For the dinner we had planned, I wanted it to be a total harvest-themed meal, with a winter salad tossed with pears, pecans, dried cranberries and blue cheese; a creamy macaroni and cheese made with roasted pumpkin; a chicken flavored with rosemary, sage and sweetened with marsala; then to finish, a rustic pear crostata.

Spices take on double duty, hopping across the Mason-Dixon line of sweet and savory, especially ones like nutmeg and cinnamon. I love how a good pumpkin pie isn't all sugar, and that you can taste a bit of the squash, married with all the added spices. So I got all Dr. Moreau in the kitchen, hybridizing the spice and flavor of pumpkin pie with macaroni and cheese. Not as weird as you'd think, it was quite tasty. I've been on a steady kick of roasting sugar pumpkins and other squash. The trick of shoving the whole squash into the oven for about twenty minutes at 375 degrees, just to soften slightly, has made it much easier for me to halve them without worry of personal injury. Seriously, doing a Norman Bates on a large squash can be hazardous to the squash-killer's health! So the pre-softening helps, then you can halve it, remove the seeds and let the oven finish the rest of the roasting. I'll do several at a time to try and be more energy conscious about the oven. I'll scoop out the roasted squash and freeze it for later use. I've gotten to be pretty good at recognizing the color and texture of frozen squash, because for all the preparation I do, I neglect to label anything, and our freezer just looks like we're obsessed with quarts of plain yogurt. Dear Santa: for Wasabi, a lifetime supply of Sharpie markers. Stat.

Cold weather comfort dinner at home with friends - Photos by Wasabi Prime

The pumpkin macaroni and cheese gets a nice, light sweetness from the roasted pumpkin. Additional sweetness and texture is added with the help of caramelized onions and diced apples. I know -- is this mac n' cheese or a pie? You often see recipes of apple pies with cheddar cheese mixed in the crust, so cheese and apple are no stranger to one another, and when you cook with apples, it's not overly sweet, especially if you're using tart Granny Smiths. I think our tastebud brains get a little tastebud brain-washed by processed fruit products and baked goods, which add a ton of extra sugar to make it abundantly clear it's dessert. So, hey, go crazy. Add an apple into something!

Dish up - chicken with mushrooms, herbs and marsala - Photos by Wasabi Prime

The main course was just a chicken broken down into all its edible pieces -- I'm weird that way, I don't like cooking the whole thing, I like breaking it down like Kid N' Play, and cooking the parts accordingly. I just had a small fryer chicken, whose parts were salted and peppered generously before being put into a hot pot to brown up. I wanted a nice sear of crispy skin, locking in all the moisture. I didn't cook the chicken all the way, just wanted to get some color, then set the birdy aside to deglaze the pot with marsala. I added aromatics like diced onion, garlic and chopped sage and rosemary. I threw in halved mushrooms and let everything simmer and cook off some of its liquid before nestling the chicken parts back in, covering the pot and shoving into the oven to finish. Sort-of chicken marsala? I guess that's the best way to describe it. I just love the combination of sweet marsala wine with flavors like rosemary and sage, which can pack quite a punch -- they balance out nicely. It's like all the flavor-kids meet up in the park and plays nice... right before you eat them!  

Pear crostata, my favorite lazyman dessert - Photo by Wasabi Prime

As for dessert, pear crostata was an easy thing to make. Flat rolled-out dough, layering of sugared fruit, fold up the edges, and bake. No pie dish needed and who cares if it looks like someone ran over Grimace with a steamroller -- it's rustic.  I've been making a lot of pies lately, what with the holidays, and most recipes for pie dough gives you two rounds. I tend not to do the lattice top, so that just means: two pies. Boo-hoo, right? It's still pears aplenty in season, and since apples were in the mac n' cheese, I thought pears would make for a great dessert. They're creamy, the sweetness is more complex, and it just sounds more fancy when you make a pear dessert. And that's all that matters when it comes to desserts -- it sounds fancy. Secret of Life = Revealed.

Wham, Bam, thank you for dessert, ma'am - Photos by Wasabi Prime

The dinner was really nice. Holiday season of good cheer, but no holiday meal pressure to make something over the top. Lots of food and quality time with friends we hadn't seen in a while. It's a couple who's always so good to invite us over and we were overdue to return the favor. It was also a good night to sample beers -- they're a couple who does a bit of homebrewing and were the ones who taught Mr. Wasabi how to start brewing his own beer, also known as, the filling of our garage with mad scientist equipment. If you are a homebrewer or live with one, you know what I'm talkin' about -- can I get an a-men, sistahs and brothas??

But to the real matter at hand -- Wasabi's gonna lay some knowledge down on your cranium. What-what? Aw yeah, so here's the recipe for a pumpkin macaroni and cheese:

Ingredients for the Sauce:
1/2 stick unsalted butter
3 tablespoons flour
4-5 cups whole milk, warmed
1.5 cup pumpkin puree - from a can is fine, just make sure it's not sweetened!
2 cups grated Gruyere cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
pinch of cinnamon
salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients of Chunky Goodness:
2 large onions, thinly sliced (about 2-3 cups' worth)
1 large apple, peeled, cored and diced (about 1 cup; can be any apple, but Fuji is really nice)
1 tablespoon butter

1/2 pound medium-sized shell pasta or 1 pound of small elbow macaroni
1 cup of panko bread crumbs to top before baking

Caramelize the onions first, they take the longest time -- ake a large pan and set to medium high to melt the butter and start to cook down the onions. Stir constantly, moving them around in the pan; they'll wilt, turn translucent, and start changing color. When they start to brown slightly, drop the heat to medium-low. You want to slowly caramelize, not burn them. When they're evenly browned, add the apples in. You just want to reduce some of the liquid in the fruit, no need to brown them. When they're slightly softened, remove from heat and set this mixture aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Set a large pot of salted water on the stove, set to high heat. When it's boiling, add the pasta. Cook until still somewhat firm, a little more than al dente. The baking will finish it off, and it will continue to absorb the flavors of the sauce.

To make the sauce, put a medium sized, uncoated pot on the stove, set to medium. Melt the butter down and sprinkle in the flour. Mix well, making sure all the flour is coated in the butter, resembling a light paste. Use a whisk and slowly drizzle in the warm milk, whisking vigorously to make sure there are no lumps. Keep whisking until all the milk is incorporated and the sauce is smooth, this may take a few minutes. Then slowly add the shredded cheese, one small handful at a time, continuing to whisk, ensuring it melts evenly. Lower the heat to medium-low and add the nutmeg and cinnamon. Taste to see if it needs salt or pepper. Carefully scoop in the pumpkin puree and mix until it's fully incorporated. The sauce should be thick, but not stiff, as it will need to coat the pasta evenly -- add more milk to loosen.

In a large bowl, combine the cooked pasta and onions with apple, and carefully fold in the sauce. Gently mix, so you don't break up the pasta, it just needs to be coated and the apple and onion distributed. Pour the mixture into a large baking dish and sprinkle the top with panko crumbs. Place the dish into the oven to bake, until the top is browned, about 15-20 minutes. You can also refrigerate the mixed pasta and sauce, if you're making it a day ahead, and then bake in the oven to finish and brown.

UnRecipe: Lazy Sunday of Lazy Chicken and Waffles

Whew. Another Christmas come and gone. It feels like tornado came and went; a storm of energy and fury, and then... nothing. But of course, plenty of leftovers and several more days of downtime to throw together creative ways to not eat the same things twice. Result? Chicken and waffles.

Cheater, cheater, chicken n' waffle eater - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I never grew up eating chicken and waffles and was somewhat confounded at the idea of the combination the first time I'd heard of it. But it's kind of awesome, with the mix of crispy, savory-sweet deliciousness. My at-home version was a waffle batter made up of whole wheat and oatmeal flours mixed with a bunch of pumpkin pie spice, hence it's darker color. Combined with the maple syrup, it makes for a richer flavor. And don't skimp on the maple syrup. The Mrs. Butterworths stuff is not, in fact, maple syrup, just a caramel-dyed plastic tube of corn syrup goo. I was raised on the corn syrup goo for so many years, and when I finally had the real stuff, I felt like a light from the heavens shined down upon me and slapped me upside the head and said, Stop buying that crap, Wasabi. Thanks, heavenly light. Duly noted.

The chicken, however, was a total cheat. It was just torn up leftovers from a store-bought fried chicken. Boo, right? Ain't no shame in not wanting your kitchen to smell like a fast food restaurant, coated in a light spray of fry oil. When I have leftover chicken, it tends to wind up in things like chicken salads and this was just a different way of enjoying it outside of the household norm. Most cold chicken tends to mysteriously disappear from the fridge, as Mr. Wasabi just snags pieces of it and eats it as-is. Yet another ritual of comfort food eating I have yet to appreciate -- cold chicken or pizza. I appreciate that it's a well-loved appreciation likely honed during college, I just have yet to acquire a taste for it. And I know I'll never look as good as Nigella Lawson when she does it during the closing credits of her cooking shows. That biyotch makes anything look good, even digging around the fridge in your jammies at midnight with a cold turkey leg wedged into your mouth.

Adding a bit o' spice to waffles - Photos by Wasabi Prime

It was nice to use the waffle iron again -- we so rarely do, so it's a treat to bust it out. This applicance was a windfall from a friend who had an extra one after her wedding. It's a Belgium waffle maker, so it makes those big, beautifully puffy waffles with the hefty divots. Although I like a bit of crunch to my waffles, so I'll make the waffles and then put them in either the toaster oven or whole batch in the oven for extra crisp time. At some point, I'll have to see about making a savory waffle, maybe doing a ham and cheese sandwich between fluffy bread, pressing it in the waffle iron and creating a strange waffle/panini hybrid. It sounds more like a hangover special, but whatever, I'll take my carbs however I can have 'em.

Looking at the week, I see one more holiday hoop to jump through -- New Years. We're keeping it local, as in our living room, likely with all three Lord of the Rings movies back-to-back. Maybe by the time the walls of Helms Deep are being stormed by the angry horde, we'll be chowing down on some ham and cheese waffle/paninis.

Mixed Plate: Oktoberfeast at Wasabi's and Taking a Vacation

Due to work and a busy schedule, we missed a lot of the big public events celebrating Oktoberfest, including something called the Sausagefest over at Redhook Brewery, which would have been funny to have come up with multiple ways of sounding as juvenile as possible, had we gone. Instead, we celebrated the harvest season in our humble abode, with a Beer and Mushroom Sauce Chicken, served with Maple Bourbon Butternut Squash and Zucchini Fritters. Beer and liquor on the dinner table, together at last.

Oktoberfestivus for the Beer-Drinking Rest of us - Photo by Wasabi Prime

It was also a chance to use recipes from two local cookbooks -- the zucchini fritters from Lorna Yee and Ali Basye's Newlywed Cookbook  and the carrot cake recipe from The Grand Central Baking Book, a favorite Seattle bakery sharing its secrets in a really amazing book. The zucchini fritters were a great way to use the last major harvest from our garden, as our zucchini is on its final push. As a side dish, they were a nice savory cake to enjoy with the main course before we were promptly stuffed silly with slices of rich, cream cheese frosting-topped carrot cake.

The main course was simple enough -- chicken breasts pounded flat and a simple mushroom sauce made with a beer reduction, similar to a marsala wine sauce, just substituting a rich flavored beer like a porter or dark ale. Butternut squash was roasted down with a drizzle of maple syrup and bourbon, and then buzzed with cream into a smooth puree for a pretty presentation.

Meet your maker, Mr. Zucchini - Photo by Wasabi Prime

We weren't alone in our Oktoberfeasting -- Mr. Wasabi had just harvested his home-grown hops, so we had our homebrew friends Mr and Mrs. K  + J over to both talk about and drink beer. We sampled some older beers Brock had made, as well as enjoyed a cocktail or two, mixing our alcohol much like the meal. But it was on a full stomach, so don't worry, liquor + food + beer = never fear.

Pan-fried garden goodness - Photo by Wasabi Prime

As to the second part of the post title -- yes, the Prime is taking some time. Off, that is, so Peace-OUT till the end of the month. It's that great time of year when it's before the holidays so airfare hasn't gotten to the point where I need to sell an organ just to visit my family in Hawaii, so I'm taking off these next couple of weeks to spend time with Wasabi Mom and Dad in Hilo-town. But never fear, I will remain active via Twitter (@WasabiPrime) and plan to intake massive amounts of Island Grindz and whatever Wasabi Mom is feeling like cooking -- it never matters because everything tastes so ono when you're with family. I will also be around for at least one University of Hawaii football game, which my parents always host a gathering for, so send some wishes of good luck for UH on their game at Utah State on Saturday the 23rd. While I didn't go there for school, I still want to show some ohana for the 'Bows. Go Warriors!

Carrot cake - the best way to eat your veggies - Photos by Wasabi Prime

UnRecipe: Dinnertime Weeknight Boogie

We all have those weeks. The ones where we bury our heads in a computer or a stack of documents and after what feels like a nuclear half-life, we raise our eyes to the horizon, see that the evening dusk has fallen and realize: Holy Craptown, it's dinnertime; what am I going to cook? OK, so not everyone says that, nor do they always make most of their meals at home, but seeing as how my day is split up into half-professional/half-Suzy Homemaker, I forget to clock out from the business end of the day and segway properly into the process of preparing something to banish the day's hunger. This is not a unique problem and I'm willing to bet everyone runs into this on a daily basis, so here are some examples of fast MacGyver Meals I've had to throw together over the recent months.

The thrill of the grill - Photo by Wasabi Prime

During the intermittent heatwave days of summer, I definitely take advantage of the grill. I know some people grill in the dead of winter, when it's pouring outside, taking on the Post Office "Neither rain, sleet, nor snow" attitude for cooking outdoors. I should adopt this attitude, given the BA-Barracus-grill that Mr. Wasabi chose for our household, but most times, I'm lazy and don't feel like rousting the family of spiders who have inevitably taken residence around the grill, nor do I relish trying to wrestle the awkwardly large cover back onto the grill when it's time to put it away. It's not a lot of effort, I realize, but in a post-dinner food coma, even the slightest bit of chores makes me cringe. But laziness be damned, I'll fire up the grill now and then, however instead of cooking one meal at a time, I choose to load up every square inch of those cast-iron grill plates and make something that will last the week.

The easiest, minimal-prep item is, of course, the ubiquitous chicken breast. Light on taste, low on fat and somewhat boring, the grill brings out flavors from the lowly chicken breast unseen in most cooking methods. A bit of salt, pepper, a light toss in oil, and the char of the direct flame helps produce some much needed flavor out of the paltry poultry. Plus it's the only way I've been able to really keep the meat juicy, since the quick and intense heat locks in both flavor and moisture. The rest of the grill is taken up by vegetables like zucchini sliced lengthwise, seasoned similarly, and this simple supply of meat and vegetables carries us through several meals, from eating it as-is or sliced up and tossed in salads.

Pseudo saltimbocca, done casserole style - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Another last-minute prep meal is anything that doesn't require a lot of messy prep. Who loves doing dishes? I don't see many hands going up. A recent night of frantic meal prep found the Prime throwing open the refrigerator and having an Iron Chef moment. Except that it wasn't so much what Chairman Kaga presented, it was more like, this is what's sitting on the shelves. Without the flourish of a man dressed like Liberace or even a dramatic unveil, I had before me: several defrosted chicken breasts, leftover slices of prosciutto, sweet potatoes, the last bits of pesto, and plain yogurt. Sounds unappetizing at first, but I made a saltimbocca-inspired dinner, using seasoned, lightly seared chicken breasts wrapped in prosciutto, layered with some fresh sage plucked from the garden, laid upon a bed of oven-baked diced sweet potatoes, with a sauce of pesto and yogurt, watered down with a little milk. Sounds a bit crazy, I know, but it turned out fine. The fatty cured pork kept the chicken moist as the oven did its work, cooking the chicken all the way through. Juices from the cooking meat mixed with the yogurt sauce and helped further flavor and cook the bed of sweet potatoes which had a head-start, roasting in the oven while I seared the chicken breasts in a pan.

Pork tenderloin and lots of colorful veggies - Photos by Wasabi Prime

My third MacGyver/Pan-to-Oven quick dinner is with the Other White Meat, using pork tenderloin. It's a good thing to make on a cool night, especially now that we're starting to see the evenings chill down a bit more. I toss some root vegetables in oil with some salt and pepper and let them roast in the oven for a bit. Then I'll season up a pork tenderloin with whatever favorite seasonings I have on hand and sear it on all sides in a pan. I'm not looking to get it fully cooked, just get a nice crust, and then move it into the oven, sitting atop the vegetables that have already started roasting. I deglaze the pan with a bit of beer and then toss in some thinly sliced red cabbage, which is one of my favorite inexpensive go-to side dish veggies. It holds up nicely to the cooking process, just wilting but not totally falling apart, plus the color remains incredibly vibrant. If I have shallots, a bit of onion or even apples, I throw those in as well. A bit of cider vinegar and either sugar or honey to balance the sweet to sour, and the remainder of the beer helps cook everything down. Pork tenderloin, roasted vegetables, and a side of bright purple-red braised cabbage -- again, not fancy, but it can be done as a weeknight meal with plenty of leftovers for the next day's lunch and dinner.

I always talk about the magic of leftovers, and maybe it's too gauche a thing for the art of fine cuisine, but most of our meals are basic out of necessity and the lack of time. I end up spending more time figuring out ways to take shortcuts, but also not rely on a lot of processed things for those shortcuts. And yes, it results in a lot of UnRecipes where exact amounts and increments don't exist, but I think like most home cooks, we get inspired by seeing what others do, and just make up the recipes on our own while we tinker in the kitchen on our own last-minute meal prep -- wouldn't you agree?

UnRecipe: Doing Minimal Harm With Chicken Parm

Minimal harm to one's waistline, anyways. I had been feeling my tummy's yearning for Italian food and threw something simple together for a quick meal that resulted in some minor respiratory difficulty and tasty Chicken Parmesan and Roasted Zucchini.

Stop coughing, you big baby, it's just red pepper flakes turned into an airborn weapon - Photo by Wasabi Prime

So the "minimal harm" part is a half-truth. I made a pantry marinara sauce with the last can of chopped tomatoes and a couple of cans of tomato paste, along with some dried herbs. Nothing fancy, I just needed red sauce and it seems silly to buy the premade stuff in bottles (more than likely sweetened with corn syrup) when there's canned tomato goods available. Before the tomatoes came into the picture, I added chopped garlic into olive oil warming in a pan, as well as red pepper flakes. Unfortunately, the oil was warmer than it should have been and I was very liberal with the red pepper flakes, creating an airborne pepper spray effect that permeated the kitchen and living room. It sent Mr. Wasabi into a coughing fit and while I was holding back my own desire to hack up a lung as I fanned the fumes into the stove vent, I insisted it was nothing and he just needed to cowboy up. Once again, a strong, healthy longterm relationship built upon the foundation of denial and insults. Dr. Phil, eat your heart out.

Aside from that kitchen incident, the meal was pretty straightforward. I had defrosted some chicken breasts and split them lengthwise to make them thinner. Lightly breading them and browning them in a pan, they chilled out until the anthrax marinara sauce was ready, and then nestled the little chickadees into the saucy pan. I layered the chicken with slices of Provolone cheese and shreds of Parmesan, and placed the whole pan under the broiler until melted and bubbly. I'm pretty sure this isn't the official way to make this dish, but I'm somewhat certain that if you went to Italy and asked for chicken Parmesan, they'd look at you like a crazy person and tell you to go back to America for your bowl of Spaghetti-O's, so I don't feel too bad about not being particularly authentic about this UnRecipe.

Cheesy, melty, roasty deliciousness - Photos by Wasabi Prime

As for the roasted zucchini, this was the voice in my head saying, "These roast beautifully and they'll be a healthy pasta substitute." I'm pretty sure this imaginary voice in my brain is a liar-liar-pants-on-fire. There is nothing as good as pasta. But I also enjoy having a meal and not having my stomach feel distended and in pain, as I seem to be suffering from both discomforts when I have bready things lately, so the zucchini won out. I'm starting to discover the particulars with the way we eat, with the extreme cutback of breads and pasta, seem to lead towards my stomach becoming Ground Zero for much umbrage when I do indulge in something carbo-licious. Does it stop me from having baked goods and other tasty treats? Hell to the no. Just beg my pardon in advance for switching into drawstring sweatpants immediately after a meal and stretching out on the couch as I fall into a deep food coma.

OMG a Recipe: How to Eat your Veggies (with liquor) and Getting into Drink Me Magazine

So, along with celebrating America's independence from our British overlords and a massive global alien invasion (thanks to Will Smith), the Prime is happy to celebrate a recipe getting published in Drink Me magazine, a booze-a-riffic publication based out of Northern California that has a jazzy way of celebrating the culture of potent potables. In their recent Issue 8 "Colors" theme, you can check out the Bourbon Roasted Chicken recipe, along with a side of carrots, because we all should eat our veggies when we're eating our booze.

Look Ma, I'm published! Get thee to Drink Me's website to download a copy!

Calm down, the alcohol gets burned off from the crazy heat of the oven or grill, if you decide to adapt this recipe for outdoor cooking. The resulting flavor is an oaky sweet glaze that makes for tasty eating. You can find all the details in the magazine, which you can download a copy online, on Drink Me's website. If you're in the California area, I hope you're able to track down a printed copy.

I hope you dig the recipe, I hope you don't burn the house down from saving too much Maker's Mark for yourself while cooking up some boozy chicken, and I hope you all had a great Fourth of July weekend and blew stuff up real good. Kaboom!

Seasoning the chicken and seasoning one's liver - Photos by Wasabi Prime

UnRecipe: Slow Cooker, Take Me Awayyyyyyyy!

Welcome Home, Wasabi! Honestly, I'm lookin' a tired mess, so you'll forgive my lack of Island vigor to immediately post stuff related to the sights, sounds and tastes of my visit with family in Hawaii. Much Mahalo Plenty props to those who were keeping up with Tweets. I promise to do a proper post about this visit soon, but until then, I'm in lazy cook mode. For that, I rely on the trusty slow cooker and a bottle of premade curry sauce thrown together with some basic ingredients. Lazy Wasabi's Chicken Curry, here I come! 

Chicken Curry - everything looks better with a macro lens! Photo by Wasabi Prime

I don't often make curry sauces from scratch, as I end up craving it in my laziest of moments, so I rely on a particular store-bought brand. I know other bloggers have given props to it, so I know I'm not the only one to love the power of  Patak's. I used their Korma Curry sauce this time, but normally I stick with their Tikka Masala because it's got a nice spicy, tart flavor.

The reason why this qualifies as an UnRecipe of MacGyver Cooking proportions is because I literally throw roughly-chopped carrots, yams, onions -- basically whatever's in the pantry or refrigerator -- and two chopped chicken breasts into the slow cooker, pour on the sauce, and add an extra can of coconut milk for richness. Let the slow cooker do its work for a few hours, and the meal is done, son. The coconut milk also helps stretch out the sauce's portion amounts, along with a healthy dash of salt. If I have a can of chickpeas, I throw those in later, when the stew is almost done, otherwise they just get too soft. Poured over some couscous or rice, a sprinkle of fresh cilantro, and dinner is served with many portions leftover for lunch throughout the week.

While not particularly fancy or gourmet, this often becomes the kind of go-to dish I make before or after a trip, when I'm too tired to prepare a complicated meal and don't have a lot of fresh things in the refrigerator. Is it really cooking since I'm using a premade sauce? Honestly, I'm too tired to think about that question and just want to continue shoveling tasty curry in my gaping maw. Om-nom-nom-nom...

A Lazy/Hungry Meal, Courtesy of the Slow Cooker - Photos by Wasabi Prime

OMG a Recipe: Chicken Puttanesca, Making Good Girls Go Bad

Why do only the naughty ladies of the night get to enjoy a puttanesca sauce? The story behind pasta puttanesca is that it was a simple-to-make sauce comprised of pantry staples, supposedly made by prostitutes between their clients' visits, because of its quick preparation time and inexpensive ingredients. If this is true, I must say the working girls of Italy knew their business because it's a delicious combination of flavors that makes a good girl wanna go bad. Well, not totally bad -- this version of puttanesca has the sauce made with chicken, served over a bed of roasted cauliflower puree; probably a little more involved than the original recipe. We'll just call this one the Heidi Fleiss of Chicken Puttanesca.

So delicious, this dish doesn't need to charge by the hour - Photo by Wasabi Prime

The obvious question is: where's the heck's the pasta? We are still the annoyingly reduced-carb couple, Mr. Wasabi and I. We indulge in bready, pasta goodness once in a while, more as a treat, but if nothing else, I will say this way of eating has made a more resourceful cook out of me. I could have made this dish more traditional and made a bed of polenta for the chicken to sit upon, but a puree of cauliflower seemed a more carb-conscious choice, plus I had been looking for a reason to be creative with cauliflower.

Cauliflower - not as boring as you'd think - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Cauliflower can often be overlooked, which is a shame, as it's a versatile ingredient, roasts up nicely with a nutty finish, and can be a less starchy and more vitamin-rich alternative to a potato. It's also wicked-cheap at the grocery store and keeps for a while in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator. For the side dish, I removed the green stems of two heads of cauliflower and cut everything down into small, relatively equal-sized pieces, and tossed with oil and herbed salt so they would roast evenly in the oven. A couple of garlic cloves were also added, so they could caramelize. Once softened and slightly browned, everything was promptly buzzed down with some milk and shredded asiago cheese in a blender. It was easier to keep the consistency loose, so the blender could churn through everything and pour smoothly into the plates.

Do not fear the anchovy -- they come in peace. And small pieces. - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Yes, there's anchovies in this. Don't be scared. They won't bite, I promise. I was given a little jar of Crown Prince anchovies by a friend, and these little guys really do add a savory, rich flavor to things, whether it's in sauces or something as basic as a chicken Caesar salad. The wee bitty filets, chopped up small, literally melt into the sauce, giving it a salty richness that's not at all fishy if you're just adding one. Puttanesca sauce traditionally includes these, capers, chopped olives, garlic and tomatoes. It makes for a perfect pantry/MacGyver meal, as much of these items are available in most cupboards.

As for the chicken, breast meat was split lengthwise and pounded flat into paillards, lightly seasoned with salt and pepper, seared in the pan with some butter. Once browned, the chicken was removed and the pan was deglazed by the making of the puttanesca sauce, giving this the one-pan meal gold star of approval. The chicken was added back in once the sauce was reduced, so that it could absorb the sauce's heavy flavor.

For the sake of food blogging, the cauliflower puree was poured into an artful little pool and the chicken and sauce was layered on top, with a final sprinkle of chopped parsley and asiago cheese. I guarantee it doesn't need much fussing, as the first tasting of this in an artful plating was just as rich and delicious as when it was eaten as a leftover out of some Tupperware. This dish could easily be modified with using pasta instead of the cauliflower puree, but if you have a chance to make this side dish, you'll find it's creamy, delicious rewards are definitely worth the preparation time.

Nice Girls' Chicken Puttanesca
(serves 4 on its own, 6 if you have the cauliflower puree)

2 chicken breasts, split lengthwise and pounded flat, cut into 6 small pieces
2 14.5 oz cans of chopped stewed tomatoes
1 cup of chopped kalamata olives, pits removed
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 teaspoons capers, chopped
1 whole anchovy fillet, minced
1 tablespoon of butter for browning chicken
salt and pepper for seasoning chicken
minced parsley for garnish
1/4 to a 1/2 cup of shredded asiago or parmesan cheese to finish

Heat a large pan on medium high over stove and melt butter. Sprinkle each flattened piece of chicken breast with salt and pepper, and cook in batches, browning each side of the chicken until mostly done. Set the chicken aside, lower the heat of the burner to medium, and add the cans of chopped tomatoes to deglaze the pan. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to scrape up the brown bits. Let the heat reduce the liquid of the tomatoes down for five to ten minutes and add in the chopped olives and minced garlic and anchovy fillet. Stir the sauce for several minutes, letting the liquid continue to reduce. When the sauce is thickened, add the chicken back in, nestling it into the sauce, and let it sit on a low temperature for a few minutes to let flavors combine. Sprinkle with the shredded cheese and parsley before serving.

Creamy Roasted Cauliflower and Garlic Puree
(serves 6 as a side dish)

2 heads of cauliflower, stems removed, and cut into bite-sized pieces
2 tblsp of olive oil, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper to flavor cauliflower
2 cloves of garlic (more if you want to keep the vampires away)

1 1/2 cup warmed milk (skim is fine, but whole milk is better)
1 cup shredded asiago cheese
salt and pepper to taste
Chopped parsley for garnish

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Toss garlic cloves and cauliflower pieces with olive oil, salt and pepper, and spread out onto two baking sheets. Place in oven and check every few minutes to make sure oil is not burning. After fifteen minutes, remove the trays of cauliflower and toss pieces to get an even browning on the pieces. Place back in oven for another ten to fifteen minutes. When the cauliflower and garlic are fork-tender, remove from oven.

Use a blender to slowly puree the hot cauliflower and garlic in batches. Drizzle in the warmed milk to help the blender go through the roasted vegetables. Be patient, it may take a few minutes. Add in the shredded cheese in batches so everything blends together and the cheese has a chance to melt down. Sprinkle in salt and pepper to taste; the cheese is salty, so it may not need much seasoning. The finished mixture should have the consistency of a thick cake batter. Serve as a side dish, sprinkled with chopped parsley.

So delicious, you won't miss the pasta! - Photos by Wasabi Prime