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Snacking in the Kitchen

~ Culinary Adventures In & Out of the Kitchen. Recipes, Reviews, Culinary Musings.

Tag Archives: dinner

Roasted Beet Soup with Celery Cream

09 Friday Oct 2015

Posted by snackingkitchen in Uncategorized

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Tags

beets, cookbook, cookbook club, dinner, soup, winter

IMG_20150920_101615

I’ve loved beets ever since I was a toddler. In my family, we ate beets in a variety of ways from roasted, to shredded, to boiled, to pickled. And guess what? Nobody thought they tasted like dirt. To us, the beets were one of the main staple ingredients for soups and salads. But maybe that’s because I grew up in Russia.

Not until my move to the United States did I encounter people who despised beets, with passion.

As my love for beets continues to grow, I look for new ways and recipes to incorporate this brilliant root into my diet. I’ve discovered the golden beet, the striped beet, and I’ve loved each and every single one of them.

In the last few years, I’ve also tried raw beets. Either thinly sliced or shaved, marinated in olive oil with a dash of salt, they make for a perfect addition to salads.

My latest adventure in the beet world was with this recipe from Hugh Acheson’s cookbook “The Broad Fork.”

I invite you to look for the book at your local bookstore or library to get the exact recipe. Here, I’ll offer the general method and some thoughts.

For the soup, Hugh instructs to first boil and then roast the beets until perfectly tender. My recommendation is to stick to one cooking method. Either simmer the beets until tender or roast them. The double cooking method took extra time and equipment and in my opinion landed little to the recipe.

Once tender, the beets are added to sauteed onions and celery with chicken stock, bay leaves, thyme, and parsley. So far so good, but where’s the garlic, Hugh? If you are like me, and love garlic, here’s where you’d add a clove or two.

Also, keep in mind, that you can easily make this soup vegetarian and vegan by using vegetable stock (preferably homemade) in place of chicken stock. Also, use oil in place of butter for sauteing the vegetables.

For the final step in making this soup, you puree the vegetables until perfectly smooth. To take this up a level, Hugh suggests passing the soup through a fine sieve. Do as you wish, but I thought the soup felt quite nicely on the palate without being strained.

And lastly, I really enjoyed the soup chilled. Garnished with a boiled cold egg and celery cream, the soup was refreshing, breathtakingly gorgeous and well liked by many of the members of my cookbook club.

Don’t forget the salt!

I hope this recipe inspires you to try cooking with beets.

IMG_20150920_182130

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Malaysian Food in Seattle: Kedai Makan

26 Saturday Sep 2015

Posted by snackingkitchen in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

dinner, eating out, malaysian, restaurants, seattle

In all my culinary adventures, I have never experienced Malaysian food, until yesterday. How lucky we are here in Seattle to have this gem of the restaurant open, serving up the flavors of Malaysia.

Up until now, Kedai Makan was a small walk up, where you could pick up Malaysia’s traditional dishes, without much of an opportunity to sit down and enjoy the food right then and there.

Recently, the restaurant has moved to its new location, with plenty of tables for you to sit and enjoy the food. I might be a bit biased, but the combination of bright turquoise with the orange containers that hold silverware and napkins is fantastic!

Find Kedai Makan at 1802 Bellevue Ave, Seattle, WAIMG_20150925_164821

Being warned that the restaurant fills up pretty quickly, my friend and I showed up at 4:45pm, 5 minutes before they open, and were the first ones in line.

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What did I tell you? How gorgeous does the orange look against the bright turquoise walls and the dark, lacquered tables?

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We started with Padam Masala, a crispy papadum with tomato, cucumber, cilantro, chili, chat masala. Perhaps a version of Mexico’s chips and salsa. This was bright, crispy, light, and packed with flavor.IMG_20150925_184021

For our second course, we went with Roti Babi, bread stuffed with pork, mushrooms, coriander, and nutmeg. This whole sandwich is dipped in egg, and served with worscheshire and thai chilis. This was outstanding and I would be happy to eat it at any point for breakfast. Both my friend and I were not fans of the dipping sauce. Good thing, the sandwich didn’t suffer without it.IMG_20150925_194855

Finally, a bowl of noodles arrived at our table. Mee Hoon Kueh, the hard torn and pinched wheat noodles were served with mushrooms, ground pork, crispy anchovies and a bowl of earthy broth. And you know what? They put an egg on it! A perfectly poached egg that we stirred into with the noodles for a decadent sauce.

At the end, I wish we had more room in our stomachs and could order more food. Alas, we were happily full. Which only means, we’ll be back to try out more dishes on the menu!

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One-Skillet Simple Roasted Chicken Dinner

05 Tuesday May 2015

Posted by snackingkitchen in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

chicken, cooking, dinner, healthy, recipe, recipes

I just came back from a short trip to Vancouver, Canada. For a few days, I walked around the city and ate. And drank. And then I walked some more and ate more food. There was the Korean hot pot, the Japanese blossom sushi roll, the Mediterranean spread, and the chocolate hazelnut croissant. And these are just the highlights.

Back at home, the refrigerator didn’t offer much in terms of produce. But there was a package of frozen chicken breast halves, some potatoes, carrots, and a few sweet peppers. There was also a grumbling stomach and the desire to eat a few healthy, wholesome meals.

One skillet chicken dinner2

With this, I present you this super simple and super satisfying meal of One-Skillet Roasted Chicken Dinner.

Ingredients

1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
3 large carrots, peeled and chopped
1.5 pounds baby red potatoes
6-8 mini sweet bell peppers
1 jalapeno
4-6 garlic cloves, peeled
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra for the chicken.
salt and ground black pepper to taste
2 chicken breast halves, skinless and boneless (this will work awesome with chicken thighs and legs)
fresh sprigs of thyme and rosemary
lemon slices

Directions

1.  Preheat the oven to 400 F. Place a cast iron inside the skillet.

2.  Combine vegetables with olive oil, salt and pepper.

3.  Transfer the vegetables in a single layer to the preheated skillet. Top with chicken breasts. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and top with lemon slices. Tuck herbs around the chicken.

One skillet chicken dinner3

4.  Roast in the preheated oven until the chicken registers at 165 F and the vegetables are tender, 45 to 60 minutes.

And that is all. Roasted, juicy chicken with a medley of vegetables. Eat it hot as it comes out of the oven the first night. Second night? Chop it up, stir it up, and make a roasted chicken salad out of this.

One skillet chicken dinner

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Pizza Time – Roasted Vegetable and Ricotta Pizza

11 Wednesday Dec 2013

Posted by snackingkitchen in Appetizer, Arugula, Cheese, Pizza

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Tags

cheese, dinner, italian, pizza, vegetarian

roasted vegetable and ricotta pizza recipeYesterday was another Hanukkah Pizza Night hosted by my friend Alla.  Crusts, tomato sauce, varieties of cheese and toppings, abound, all you really needed was your imagination and extra oven space.  This year, I went vegetarian route with Roasted Vegetable and Ricotta Pizza.  The combination of toppings is pretty flexible to fit your tastes, but I would advice against tomato sauce and too much cheese.  You really want to taste the vegetables.

I grilled slices of eggplant but took the shortcut of buying roasted red bell peppers.  Feel free to roast your own, if you wish.

Roasted Vegetable and Ricotta Pizza

Ingredients

1 thin pizza crust, pre-baked

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese, divided

1 1/2 cups arugula

1 cup ricotta cheese

6-10 slices roasted eggplant

2 roasted red bell peppers, sliced

6-8 cherry tomatoes, halved

4-6 marinated artichoke hearts, quartered

roasted vegetable and ricotta pizza recipe 2

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2.  Spread olive oil over the crust and sprinkle with half Parmesan cheese.

3.  Top the cheese with arugula and dollop with ricotta cheese.

4.  Lay eggplant slices over dollops of ricotta cheese.

5.  Arrange peppers, tomatoes, and artichoke hearts over the pizza and sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan cheese.

6.  Bake directly on the oven rack for 10-12 minutes, until cheese is melted and the crust is crisp.

7.  Cool slightly before slicing.

This was really fresh and delicious.  I would sprinkle the baked pizza with fresh basil and a handful of red pepper flakes.

What’s your favorite pizza?

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