Dumi & Joan's International Apartment of Cuisine: September

A quick note: when it comes to cooking, I tend to not take most measurements too seriously, and neither should you!  Don't get caught up in worrying about exact measurements, especially if you are new to cooking, you'll figure it out.  Most of these recipes are "cook and mix," so they are easily-alterable, even after they've been served. I hope you enjoy!


Orzo Pasta Salad with Summer Vegetables:

Orzo pasta salad with summer vegetables

Mix in a bowl: about 2 cups cooked orzo pasta, 1 diced and grilled zucchini, 1 diced and grilled eggplant (try to cut the eggplant smaller, because it takes a little longer to cook than zucchini), 2 red peppers cut long and grilled, an un-cooked tomato and fresh chopped dill.  Then squeeze some lemonjuice and sprinkle a sharp cheese on top.

Alice Water's Stewed Red Cabbage:

a delicious, surprisingly-flavorable and light side-dish

Thinly slice an onion and cook with 1 tbls butter for approx. 5 minutes.  Add an entire red cabbage, very thinly sliced.  Stir in 1 bay leaf, 2-3 tbls red wine vinegar, salt and pepper.  Let this sit for about 40 minutes, occassionally stirring.  Cabbage should be thoroughly cooked.  This is the most important part!  Skin an apple, then grate it on a regular-sized grater.  Add and stir into pot and let sit 5 minutes.

Bulgur Salad with Sundried Tomatoes, Peppers, Olives and Squash:

Directions: In a small/medium-sized pot, bring 1 1/2 cups bulgur and 3 cups water to a boil (or whatever amount you want, just make the ratio of bulgur to water 1:2).  Once it is boiling, bring the flame down to low and let cook for roughly 10 to 15 minutes, checking every few minutes to make sure it doesn't burn!
In a saucepan, lightly sautee 2 chopped zucchini and 3 or 4 red peppers.
In a medium-sized bowl, place chopped sundried tomatoes (best if you have the time to buy plain sundried tomatoes and drizzle them with olive oil, salt and pepper and let sit over night, but the prepared, oil-soaked kind you get in the store is also good), black olives, and the zucchini and red peppers.

*tip: this is actually about twice as good the next day, when the juices have all soaked together.


Student-style Salad Nicoise, or as Dumi calls is, "Peasant Food":


our student version of the salad Nicoise

this one is really not that complicated, but there are more factors!  in total, you will need: 4 or 5 eggs, 1 pound string beans, 5 or 6 yukon gold potatoes, 1-2 cups cherry tomatoes, 1 or 2 cans tuna, 1 cup nicoise/black olives, 1/3-1/2 cup capers.  Then for the dressing: 1/3 cup red wine vinegar, 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, 1 or 2 shallots, 1 garlic clove, 2 tsps thyme, salt and pepper.

Hard-boil 4 or 5 eggs (this entails bringing the eggs to a boil and boiling for about 7 minutes).  In another pot, bring about 3/4 of a pound string beans (we don't have string beans here, so we resorted to regular flat beans) to a boil and boil for about 5 minutes for crisp beans, 8 minutes for more thoroughly-cooked beans.  In another pot, place about 5 or 6 Yukon gold potatoes; bring to a boil and then simmer for 20-25 minutes. 

In a medium-large bowl, mix 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes that have been cut in half or quarters, the (de-shelled) eggs that have also been cut into quarters, 1 cup olives, 1/3 cup capers, 1/2 cup canned tuna (this is really why it's student-style, the real thing would have grilled tuna steaks).

Dressing: In a measuring cup, thoroughly mix 1/3 cup red wine vinegar, 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, 2 or 3 minced shallots, 1 minced garlic clove, 2 teaspoons thyme, salt and pepper.  refrigerate this until the very last minute (a tip I learned from my best friend, Emily).  When you are ready to serve the dish, mix almost all of the dressing in the egg/tomato/caper bowl...I like to save a little dressing to put on the table in case someone wants extra.

Once the potatoes are cooked, peel the skins off and dice.  Once the beans are cooked, drain and drizzle 2 or 3 spoonfulls of the dressing on the beans and mix.

To serve: place lettuce leaves on plate, serve potatoes and green beans, then the egg/tomato/carper mixture. Enjoy!

Dumi's Mushroom & Blue Cheese Pasta:

Chop a big onion and fry it for 3-4 minutes and add finely chopped garlic (i would add 3 cloves but if you are a garlic fan put more and use a medium size onion so it wont steal away the garlic taste). add the mushrooms and fry them with the onion and garlic until they get nice and tender. if they are too watery throw some of the juice and add the cream. cook for another 10 min with the cream and add the danish blue cheese (maybe the last 5 minutes). i wouldn't use too many spices because the blue cheese eliminates most of the other flavors. i would throw some dill in(besides salt and pepper of course) it goes great with cheese. i usually estimate the quantities and the cooking time according to mood, resources and level of hunger.

enjoy!

Mrs. Lemles' Mediterranean Pasta Salad:

Directions: In a pot cook about 2 cups of pasta.  In a bowl, place 1 can tuna, 1/2-3/4 cup olives, 1/2 cup capers, 1-2 chopped tomatoes and 1-2 chopped roasted red bell peppers (or just sautee fresh ones).  Mix the pasta in the bowl with the other ingredients, and add some parmesan if you like!
*tip: because this dish has salty products such as capers and olives, and oil from the tuna and peppers, it should be good to go without extra oil or salt additives.

Wild Rice, French lentils and Eggplant with Onions:

please forgive the shadow!

This was definitely a surprise favorite.  Dumi and I looked in the fridge and picked this random assortment of legumes, vegetables and rice to throw together - added bonus: the fact(?) that the rice+beans combo supposedly gives the same protein combination as that of meat.

Again, this is pretty simple, it's basically a cook and mix recipe, like the others.  In one pot place 1 cup(cleaned) french lentils with 1 cup water; add 1 tsp salt and simmer until lentils absorb the water. (you may need to drain some leftover water from the french lentils)

In another pot, place 1 cup white rice and 1/2 cup wild rice with about 3 cups water and 1 tsp salt; bring to a boil, immediately bring down to simmer, stir once and let sit for 20-25 minutes.

In a saucepan, sautee 1 chopped onion in olive oil.  When the onion is soft, add chopped eggplant and sautee for about 20 minutes.  Add oregano, salt, pepper.

When all three pots/saucepans are done, place all three (cooked french lentils, wild rice combination and eggplant/onion mixture) in a bowl, stir and serve!


Baked Apples with Cinnamon, Raisins and Sugar:

This one is really all in the title and is a great last-minute dessert.  Take an apple (or however many you want to make) and cut out the top, you can cut all the way down to take the entire core out if you like.  Place inside: brown sugar and raisins, and sprinkle with cinnamon (I do a little more than just sprinkle).  Put your apples in a baking dish and take a couple spoonfulls of water and pour directly on top of apples.  I sometimes put more cinnamon on top after this because it sticks better.  Now take about a cup or two of water and pour directly in the dish, so the apples are sitting in a little bath.  Bake for approximately 25 minutes at 200 degrees - or whatever you find works to make your apples nice and mushy-delicious :)

Homemade Cinnamon Applesauce:

applesauce

My favorite Fall recipe and the best American comfort food.  WARNING: you will never be able to go back to eating pre-made applesauce from the store.  Throw in big pot: 10 apples, quartered and sliced into smallish chunks (I like leaving the skin on), 1 cup sugar (white or brown), 3/4 cup lemon juice (fresh-squeezed), 2-4 tbls cinnamon, cloves if you have them.
bring to a boil, bring down to medium heat, stirring on occasion for approximately 20 minutes (I sometimes leave them on for up to 40 minutes to get them nice and mushy).  serve with fresh whipped cream!