August Feast

Chorizo and Bean Stew with Polenta

Polenta, chorizo, and something fruity. These were the cards picked for the first feast. Initially, I was like 'okay, polenta and chorizo...both are in the same ethnic family...this will be a cinch'. Little did I know that polenta is THE most hazardous thing to cook. Seriously. I'm not usually clumsy in the kitchen (unlike all other aspects of life), but for some reason I ended the evening with 2 cuts on my fingers (rather, slices), and 3 burns on my arm...from the dangerous polenta. I put about 2 cups of fresh milled polenta into a pot of boiling, salty, well-oiled water and started whisking away. Within about 30 seconds, it bubbles and POPS out in pockets of molten corn meal, flying every which direction, hitting my arm at a scalding temperature. Okay. Panic. The husband was off for a run while I prepared everything, so it was a surprise for him. All I could think was, great, he's gonna come home with polenta on the ceiling and me with 2nd degree burns. I realized as long as you whisk, it won't explode. So I whisked for 2-3 solid minutes (with my poor weak arm-sticks), then poured it all into a pan and set it to bake at 350. WOOSAH. This is when I started breathing again. I was still afraid the polenta wouldn't cook through because I took it off the stove quickly, but in the end, it all came together. So when I first thought about what to make, I thought to do something hearty and warm. I decided to make a stew-like concoction with the chorizo (which was lamb and beef). I stared with an onion-tomato base and broke down the chorizo in the mixture, added S&P, cumin, marjoram, and smoked paprika, then added cannellini beans. I let this all simmer down, and plated it with the stew on top of a mound of polenta. The sauce of the stew really soaked into the polenta, creating a creamy and savory end product.

Apricot Napoleon

For the something fruity, I decided to make a fresh apricot napoleon. This was as simple as it gets. You can literally recreate it by looking at the picture. One trick to keep the pastry from puffing up too much is to weigh it down with aluminum or another cookie sheet in the oven. Make sure to take it off for the last couple minutes to let the pastry brown a bit. I took it off a bit too early so they still ended up puffing a bit. Oh wells! Still tastes great. All in all, even though I felt like a contestant on chopped, we had a lovely dinner and all is good with the world.

What's in it:

-polenta (corn meal), sea salt, olive oil, lamb chorizo, cannellini beans, tomato, onion, cumin, paprika, marjoram, black pepper

-pastry dough, apricot, whipped cream

Chicken Lasagna

 Guess who's back? Back again. I am back. Tell a friend. This has been on hiatus, unfortunately, thanks to my enemy who we'll call 'Gabapentin'. Big G has stopped me from doing the things I love (cook, draw, take pictures) and also don't love (study, attend class, wake up). He's still in my life, but isn't making that big of an impact anymore...which isn't entirely good. I mean, it's good for you. You get this blog back. I just get a pain in the neck. However, I've also been on hiatus thanks to my not-enemy who we'll call 'Super'. Let's not get off topic though. Anyhow, I've made food, but haven't photographed it because I left my charger back home, and just now got it this past weekend. After nearly two months, what was the first thing I photographed? The pile of coins accumulating on my table. Cool, I guess.
The past couple weeks have been nothing short of chaos. Exams and life have pulled me under and buried me into the ground, but I broke through. Despite what people say, I got me some of that upper body strength...I can tear through six feet of dirt if needed! Last night, instead of studying for my physics exam, I decided I wanted to make food, while comforting myself. It took me less than five seconds to decide lasagna was the perfect solution. I swear, I was Italian in another life. Who knows, perhaps I was, perhaps I will be?    
Whatever it may be, lasagna is excellent when you don't feel like cooking anything that takes more than a single pan to make. I love the versatility of it: you can make it as healthy or as unhealthy as possible. I settled for something in between. I kinda went Parmesan-happy on the top (that's the unhealthy part, happy Super?), but I had chicken as the protein (that's the healthy part). Confession time. I cheated when I made this. I didn't have the energy to make things from scratch...so I used store-bought sauce...I know, blasphemy, blah blah. Don't judge me. Everyone has their lapse of judgment at one point or another. But you try making all that in under an hour with a physics exam looming over your head. I did, however, get the noodles to be cooked to perfection, thanks to a little trick I used for the first time on this lasagna. Yay for experimentation. It's 2:09am. I need to sleep. Goodnight all.

What's in it:         lasagna noodles, tomato/basil sauce, mushrooms, bell pepper, parsley, oregano, paprika, mozzarella, Parmesan, ground chicken