Easy Butternut Squash w/Roasted Cumin

This is a quick and simple twist on my mom's slightly more involved Indian-style pumpkin dish.

1 bag cubed, frozen butternut squash (defrosted)
1 medium red onion, sliced thinly
2 tbs cumin seeds
2 tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
turmeric

In saute pan, heat olive oil. Add cumin seeds, watching carefully so they don't burn. Add a pinch of turmeric and onions; saute for 3-4 minutes on medium heat. Add squash, salt and pepper. Cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Serving suggestion: serve with rice or naan, and plain yogurt.

Cook's note: It was my first time using frozen cubes of butternut squash. They didn't hold their shape as I would have liked for certain dishes, so best used for pureed dishes or soups.

Cumin and Sea Salt (Baked) Tortilla Chips

1 12 oz package corn tortillas
olive oil in mister, or cooking spray
ground roasted cumin
sea salt

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. With kitchen scissors, cut each tortilla into 4 wedges. Arrange wedges on a cookie sheet, in a single layer. Spray surface of tortilla wedges with oil/cooking spray. Sprinkle with cumin and salt. Bake for about 7-8 minutes, watching closely so they don’t burn. Carefully flip chips over (they will be hot!) and continue baking for another 7-8 minutes.

I served these with a mixture of my mom’s roasted eggplant dish and plain yogurt, but they are great with guacamole, salsa, or any of your favorite dips.

Tomato-Zucchini Bake

Easy and healthy!

It was a gorgeous day yesterday and I guess I caught up in that good feeling and went a little crazy on my produce shopping. I came home with two full bags of veggies, including some type of squash I had never seen before. In fact I had to confirm with the guy at the stall that indeed it was a squash.

I went home, posted a picture of them on FB with the caption: "Picked them up at the farmers mkt yesterday- any suggestions on how to cook them? similar to zucchini?" It was of no help. Some guessed guava, while one guessed watermelon! Fortunately for handy dandy Google, I soon realized that they were just round zucchini.

Tomato-Zucchini Bake
-3 roma tomatoes
-4 medium round zucchini
-olive oil
-one clove of garlic, finely chopped
-1/3 tsp sea salt
-1/2 tsp fresh black pepper
-1/2 tsp dried basil

Pre-heat oven to 350. Spray medium sized baking dish (I used a 9" square glass dish) with cooking spray or oil mister.

Trim ends of zucchini and discard. Slice the rest and put aside. Slice the tomatoes in rounds. Alternate tomato and zucchini slices in layers. See picture above. Scatter the chopped garlic over the layers of tomato/zucchini. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and dried basil. Drizzle a bit of olive oil over the vegetables. Bake 25-30 minutes, or until squash is tender.

Potato Salad w/Roasted Cumin and Horseradish Vinaigrette

Baby new red potatoes tossed in this vinaigrette offers a light variation to your everyday potato salad.

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Every time I visit my parents, my mom insists that I take home some groceries when I leave. It's always something new -a couple of bananas, a ripe mango, a large filet of salmon. "I bought a large piece from Costco and divided it up for you kids." And by "kids," she means her three adult children. It's quite cute actually.

This time she packed up some new red potatoes, a couple of peaches, and a bunch of cilantro. I had forgotten about the potatoes until this morning, when I opened up the vegetable crisper in search of something and saw them rolling around. I decided to make a potato salad, but as I rarely have mayo on hand, I dressed it with a vinaigrette -olive oil, lemon juice, ground roasted cumin, salt, pepper and horseradish (yes, horseradish!).

6 small new red potatoes, boiled and quartered (skin on)
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
handful of cilantro, washed and chopped
1 tbs prepared horseradish
2 tbs olive oil
2 tbs lemon juice
1 tbs ground roasted cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh cracked pepper

Toss potatoes, onions and cilantro in bowl. Add salt and pepper. Whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, cumin and horseradish. Lightly toss into salad. Enjoy!

Parmesan-Crusted Frittata

I love fritattas because they're simple to make and you can use pretty much any combination of ingredients you like. It can be made ahead of time and served at room temperature, making it an easy dish for brunches, picnics, and dinners. This was my first time using parmesan in a frittata, but I happened to have some on hand and wanted to make the dish for a potluck I was going to. I think mozarella and pepperjack are still at the top of my choices for this dish, but the parmesan was a nice variation.

*8 eggs
*3 tbs milk
*1/3 cup fresh grated parmesan
*1/2 cup chopped cilantro
*1 small yellow or red bell pepper, diced
*6 small red potatoes, peeled and sliced
*1 small onion, peeled and sliced
*olive oil
*1/2 tsp salt
*1/2 tsp pepper

Preheat broiler. Heat 2tbs olive oil in skillet, cook potatoes for 5-7 minutes, until slightly tender. In separate pan, heat 2 tbs olive oil and saute onions and bell pepper, about 4 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk eggs, half of the parmesan, milk, salt, pepper and half of the cilantro. Once potatoes are semi-cooked, use spatula to arrange them flat in the pan. Top with remaining cilantro, and followed by the sauteed onions and bell peppers. Add egg mixture to skillet. Cook until almost set. Sprinkle remaining parmesan and broil until frittata is puffed and cheese begins to turn golden, about 3-5 minutes. Cut into wedges and serve.

Roasted Cumin Pork Chops w/Fresh Cherry Sauce and Brussel Sprouts with Red Pepper Flakes

I had never made pork chops before, but I wanted to make a nice dinner for my sister so I thought I'd experiment with something new. It actually didn't take that much time -as soon as I put the pork chops in the pan, I started on the sauce in one pan and the brussel sprouts in another. From start to finish, everything was done in under forty minutes.

Roasted Cumin Pork Chops:
2 tsp ground roasted cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
olive oil
2 pork chops

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Combine first five ingredients and two tbs olive oil in small bowl, creating a paste. Pat pork chops dry and apply the rub to each side. Heat two tbs olive oil in a large stainless steel pan. Place pork chops in pan, cooking each side 3 minutes. Transfer to shallow baking dish and bake for 12-15 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand five minutes.

Brussel Sprouts
10-12 brussel sprouts
1 clove garlic, minced
olive oil
salt
red pepper flakes

Cut ends off of the sprouts, and halve them. Blanch for 3 minutes and drain. In saute pan, heat 2 tbs olive oil and add garlic. Brown for a minute, then add the sprouts. Salt and red pepper flakes to taste. Saute for 5-7 minutes, then remove from heat.

Cherry Sauce
1/2 cup cherries
1/4 cup red wine
1 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs balsamic vinegar
2 tbs water
pinch ground cardamom

Pit cherries. You can do it like I did -by hand- and have cherry juice running down your fingers, or you can invest in a cherry pitter and make life a bit easier. Apparently you can get one of these handy gadgets at my favorite housewares store, Williams-Sonoma:
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/oxo-olive-and-cherry-pitter/

Combine all ingredients in sauce pan and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes, smashing the cherries after about ten minutes.

The perfect bite. I'm a big fan of the perfect bite -one where all the flavors compliment each other and create a buzz of joy in your mouth. Here, the spices from the spicy, succulent pork, the sweet cherry and the peppery, crisp sprouts all came together for a great flavor combination.

Missin' My Kitchen

I've been out of commission for almost a month now, due to an old back injury that's acted up. It's amazing how much physical pain can affect you psychologically; I just haven't been feeling like myself. Today, I decided I needed to pull myself out of the pity party. I went for a short walk and started a mental list of all the things I'm grateful for. The list was pretty long, and soon I was smiling. I realized that "life as I know it" isn't over. It's just on pause for a bit while my body heals.

This evening, I was looking through some old pictures and came across this one. It was taken back in November, a pre-Thanksgiving Day dinner at my home with some friends I used to work with. My immediate thought was, "damn, I miss my kitchen." I haven't cooked in almost a month now, and I miss it. I miss the slicing, the dicing, the planning, the cooking, the rummaging through the refrigerator trying to figure out what my latest creation will be. As these thoughts went through my mind, I felt a slight shift in perspective -from one of hopelessness to one of hopefulness. I look forward to being pain free again so I can wander my farmer's market on Sundays, a ritual I have come to look forward to every week. I'm inspired to get well soon so I can get back to doing what I love doing. It helps to look at the smile on my face in the picture and remember that joy.

So... here's to good friends, good food and good health. Salud!