I used to think that Instagram was bad because it created a market for outrageous foods: multiple-patty smashburgers oozing lobster mac and cheese; garbage can nachos; and milkshakes topped with slices of cake and served in mugs with cereal, cookie crumbs, candy, or other do-dads cemented to it with frosting or chocolate. <insert eyeroll here>

Even before my first trip to New York, I was somewhat obsessed with Bleecker Street. It all started while I was in college, studying visual communications. A very famous illustrator who probably made pretty good money was a guest speaker at my school. During his talk, he dropped the fact that he lived on Bleecker Street in the West Village. Though I knew I didn’t quite have his talent, my life goals suddenly involved living in NY in an apartment on Bleecker. Looking back, I realize: 1) I had a bit of a crush on the guy; 2) He probably lived over a restaurant and existed in a constant fug of melted cheese and oregano. But what’s so bad about smelling like pizza all day every day? (I could probably rationalize it then. Now, not so much.)

I never did move to New York, but most of my visits to that city involve a stroll down Bleecker. In the days when a friend of mine worked at a now-defunct restaurant in the West Village, I liked to explore the neighborhood before meeting up with him for dinner. I would emerge from the Christopher Street station and, ninety-nine percent of the time, walk down a block and turn left onto Bleecker. A right turn would mean walking up the more expensive end of Bleecker, the one lined with clothing boutiques that are far less-interesting to me than restaurants. If you’re a Sex and the City fan, the original Magnolia Bakery is on that end, at W. 11th Street, but that’s about it as far as food is concerned. Unless you want to want to purchase pricey togs and accessories, head southeast.

There are also boutiques on the next two blocks of Bleecker, and I skip them all. Let’s face it--I’m a realist. I know I can’t afford anything in those shops, so there’s no use torturing myself by looking at any of it. But there are restaurants, too, like A.O.C., a little French joint where one can sit in an outdoor garden and enjoy a croque madame or duck confit while pretending to be in Paris. Modern Greek cuisine is offered down the street at Nisi Estiatorio. I like that I can get baklava oatmeal or grilled octopus for brunch and lobster moussaka for dinner.

Continue down to the next block for more food, though the walk can be mildly confusing with the criss-crossing of streets. The next intersection involves both Barrow Street and 7th Avenue. As you’re heading south(-ish, Manhattan isn’t on a straightforward N, S, E, W grid because the whole peninsula slants to the northeast), you’ll see Hummus Place and Bleecker Street Pizza on the left, though both are actually on 7th Avenue. Just keep walking straight. Once you’re across 7th Ave, you’ll see O. Ottomanelli & Sons, an old-school meat market that has been around forever. Next door is Ghandi Cafe, where the rather large menu of Indian favorites belies the rather cramped space. Bantam Bagels comes next, but you won’t find the NY classic with a schmear here--they specialize in bite-sized bagel nuggets filled with flavored cream cheese. Across the street you can eat sushi at Kumo, or, if you prefer your seafood cooked, there’s Fish next door. Craving pizza? John’s of Bleecker Street has been making coal-fired pies since 1929. You can’t get a slice there, only whole pies, but it’s worth a visit if your ultimate goal is similar to mine: taste all of the pizza NY has to offer (a lofty goal, I know.)

If you’ve ever had a hankering for ice cream flavored with, say, corn, or maybe sweet potato studded with bits of brie cheese, then you should hit up Cones. This shop specializes in helado--Argentinian ice cream similar to gelato--and sorbets, sometimes in unusual flavors. But also more familiar ones like pistachio, mint chocolate chip, and passion fruit.

Back across the street is Kesté, but this time the pizzas are wood-fired and Neapolitan-style. The crust is thin and blistered or “leopard-spotted,” and the toppings are plentiful. The menu boasts over 40 variations of white, red, and specialty pizzas including ones topped with housemade truffle burrata or porcini mushrooms and a walnut cream. There are over a dozen gluten-free pizzas, and a cheese-free vegan pie available, too. Also on this side of the block is my favorite tea shop, David’s Tea. The Canadian chain has three locations in Manhattan, but this one is my favorite. I like to snag something iced (or hot, depending on the season) to sip as I wander around, but usually end up buying quite a bit of loose tea as well. (Cardamom French Toast black tea and Coffee Pu’erh are two of my current faves.)

Murray’s Cheese is in the next block, next to Amy’s Bread, the perfect places to stock up for an impromptu park bench picnic in one of the green spaces nearby. If you’d rather eat your cheese indoors, Murray’s has a Cheese Bar up the block. The menu is predictably cheese-tastic, with items ranging from fondue and lobster mac & cheese to brie and mushroom soup, Buffalo cheese curds, and raclette for two. The dessert menu includes cheesecake, of course, but also s’mores made with a Spanish cheese called Arzua Ulloa. And now I’m seriously craving cheese, but as I’m on Whole30 right now, it’s verboten. [sad emoticon] [crying emoticon] [cheese emoticon]

A massive slice at Joe's

I have a couple of favorite places in the next block: taco joint Tacombi (with other locations in town if you can’t make it to this one); and Pasticceria Rocco. Going to Rocco’s is practically a tradition in my family; my Dad used to bring home boxes of their Italian cookies when I was a kid, and now I do the same. Their vaguely chewy hazelnut biscotti are one of my all-time favorite cookies, and I have a soft spot for their pignoli and meringue cookies as well. Rocco’s has gelato, too, but if that’s what I’m after, I go to Grom, on the corner of Bleecker and Carmine Streets. I’m a sucker for the pistacchio, but am happy with any flavor they offer. On that same block of Carmine is Joe’s Pizza, home to one of the best slices in the city.

While there are lots of tasty places on Bleecker itself, don’t be afraid to wander down one of the side streets. The first cross street after Christopher is Grove Street, and if you don’t wander, you won’t find Buvette or Via Carota, serving French small plates and rustic Italian fare, respectively. Turn left on Carmine after visiting Grom, cross 6th Ave, and you’ll find yourself on Minetta Lane which takes you to Macdougal Street and Minetta Tavern (home to one of the best burgers in the city), the enormous slices at Artichoke Pizza, plus several other eateries and cocktail lounges. The whole area is lousy with bars and restaurants that make up the many reasons I find myself exploring this area over and over again.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on June 12, 2013.

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I've been on a hummus kick lately, have you noticed? I really do love the stuff and would eat it more often if it wasn't normally made with chickpeas. Those little bastards give me such intestinal distress, I can't even look at them without getting gassy. In their place, I've been making hummus with just about every other bean under the sun, mostly with success.

Not long ago, we bought some edamame hummus from Trader Joe's, and man, that stuff was delicious! The best bean yet. So when I decided that our Memorial Day dinner would involve kebabs and various Mediterranean-inspired sauces, I put edamame hummus on the list of must-makes. Coincidentally, I received Louisville chef Edward Lee's new cookbook, Smoke and Pickles, at around the same time and the first recipe I turned to when I opened the book at random was his version of edamame hummus. It was kismet.

Lee makes his hummus chunky and uses it as a side dish. I wanted a more traditional dip/puree, so I added a bit more water to the food processor when I was blending. I also didn't need quite so much hummus, so I halved the recipe. Here's my take on it:

Edamame Hummus (adapted from Smoke and Pickles)

2 green onions, white and light green part, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup frozen edamame
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin

Saute the green onion and garlic in the olive oil until soft, 2-3 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients to the pan and bring to a simmer. Cook 6-8 minutes, or until beans are no longer crunchy. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

Puree the mixture in a food processor until fairly smooth, adding additional additional water to help the process. Taste the mixture and adjust seasoning with more lemon juice, soy, and olive oil, if necessary.

Serve at room temperature with unsalted tortilla chips or pita.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on November 5, 2012.

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I was in the mood for hummus. Not traditional hummus, mind you - I can't eat chick peas without suffering some painful consequences (I know, TMI) - but a reasonable facsimile.

My tastebuds were leaning toward a hummus flavored with tomatoes and red bell peppers, something Southwestern-ish, so I really wanted to use black beans. But lo and behold - I had none. I did have a cup of dried black eyed peas, however, and because I really wanted hummus (and was too lazy to walk to the store), I did a quick boil and soak, and then cooked the peas to tenderness. Beans are bland enough that just about any kind can be successfully used in a hummus-like preparation, but black-eyed peas are a little more South than Southwest.

Tahini is another traditional hummus ingredient, but just about any nut butter will do. If peanut butter is good enough for Alton Brown, then it's good enough for me. But I happened to have a can of tahini in the fridge, so that peanut butter hummus will have to wait another day. I did have bags of sundried tomatoes and sundried bell peppers (find them at nuts.com), which were rehydrated in boiling water, and the whole mess was bunged into the Magimix. (Sorry. Channeling Jamie Oliver there.)

Cumin and garlic are usually found in hummus, but to spice it up a bit more, I added some ground chipotle for a smoky kick. The result was quite luscious, and we scooped it up with chips made from stale flour tortillas.

South x Southwest Hummus

1/2 cup loosely packed sundried tomatoes
1/2 cup loosely packed sundried red bell peppers (or 1 jarred or freshly roasted red bell pepper)
3 tablespoons tahini
2 cups cooked or canned black eyed peas (or your favorite bean)
1 clove garlic
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle pepper (or 1/2 canned chipotle in adobo)
extra virgin olive oil, as needed
salt to taste
chopped scallions

Place sundried tomatoes and peppers (if using) in a saucepan with about a cup of water. Bring to a boil, then turn down heat and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to come to room temperature.

Drain tomatoes and peppers and chop coarsely. Place in the bowl of a food processor with the tahini, beans, garlic, lemon juice, cumin, and chipotle. Blend until well puréed, adding olive oil to aid the process. (If you're using jarred bell pepper, you'll need less oil than if you use the sundried.) The texture should be thick enough to be scooped with pita or tortilla chips, but not so thick that the chip would break. Add salt to taste.

Serve drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and garnished with chopped scallions.


Posted on Minxeats.com.

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on June 7, 2013.

Beef kebabs with shakshouky, tzatziki, and tomato and cucumber salad, on pita.

It seems traditional to drag out the grill on Memorial Day. While many people are content with burgers and hot dogs, I think if Mr Minx is going to go to all of the trouble to fiddle with charcoal and have a dirty grill to clean afterward, the food had better be a bit more interesting than the usual.

I've been enamored of ground meat kebabs recently and decided to make two types - lamb and beef - based on recipes from Silvena Rowe's Purple Citrus and Sweet Perfume: Cuisine of the Eastern Mediterranean. Pictured above are the beef kebabs, flavored with cumin, paprika, allspice, and cinnamon, (this recipe, minus the herbs, fruits, and nuts, plus 1/2 teaspoon cumin). The lamb kebabs were based on this recipe, minus the cumin and pistachios.

To accompany the kebabs, I made four sauces/dips that I like to make, and it struck me that they came from different countries along the Mediterranean Sea. There was Romesco from Spain, Tzatziki from Greece, and Shakshouky and Hummus, popular in various North African countries. I also chopped up a seeded hydroponic cucumber and a pint of cherry tomatoes, dressed it with salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar and called it a salad, and there was feta cheese, too.

The recipe for shakshouky is linked above, and there will be a post next week on the hummus. The other two sauce recipes follow.

Romesco Sauce

I cheat when I make Romesco. Rather than roasting the vegetables myself, I use jarred roasted red peppers and canned fire roasted tomatoes. Here's the recipe I usually use. I didn't have almonds in the house, so I used 2 tablespoons of Trader Joe's almond butter instead. Worked like a charm.

1 small onion, chopped
2 jarred roasted red bell peppers, torn into chunks
1 15-oz can chopped fire roasted tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, crushed
¼ cup blanched slivered almonds
1 ounce white bread, toasted, crust removed
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon pimentón (Spanish sweet paprika)
olive oil
salt

Sauté the onion in a bit of olive oil until lightly browned. Place in blender or food processor with the next seven ingredients and purée, drizzling in olive oil until a thick sauce is formed. Add salt to taste.

Makes about 2 cups of sauce.

Very Simple Tzatziki

1 hydroponic cucumber
1 cup Greek yogurt
1 clove garlic, minced
kosher salt

Cut the cucumber in half and scoop out the seeds. Puree the flesh in a food processor, then dump it into a tea towel and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Put the cucumber back into the food pro with the yogurt and garlic and puree until well combined. Season with salt.

Makes about 2 cups of sauce.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on June 12, 2013.
I've been on a hummus kick lately, have you noticed? I really do love the stuff and would eat it more often if it wasn't normally made with chick peas. Those little bastards give me such intestinal distress, I can't even look at them without getting gassy. In their place, I've been making hummus with just about every other bean under the sun, mostly with success.

Not long ago, we bought some edamame hummus from Trader Joe's, and man, that stuff was delicious! The best bean yet. So when I decided that our Memorial Day dinner would involve kebabs and various Mediterranean-inspired sauces, I put edamame hummus on the list of must-makes. Coincidentally, I received Louisville chef Edward Lee's new cookbook, Smoke and Pickles, at around the same time and the first recipe I turned to when I opened the book at random was his version of edamame hummus. It was kismet.

Lee makes his hummus chunky and uses it as a side dish. I wanted a more traditional dip/puree, so I added a bit more water to the food processor when I was blending. I also didn't need quite so much hummus, so I halved the recipe. Here's my take on it:

Edamame Hummus (adapted from Smoke and Pickles)

2 green onions, white and light green part, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup frozen edamame
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin

Saute the green onion and garlic in the olive oil until soft, 2-3 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients to the pan and bring to a simmer. Cook 6-8 minutes, or until beans are no longer crunchy. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

Puree the mixture in a food processor until fairly smooth, adding additional additional water to help the process. Taste the mixture and adjust seasoning with more lemon juice, soy, and olive oil, if necessary.

Serve at room temperature with unsalted tortilla chips or pita.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Mother's Federal Hill Grille is one of those long-time hangouts that the Minx and I never got around to visiting, mostly because we don't have the opportunity to venture down to Federal Hill that often. Recently though, we were invited to try out the new Mother's North Grille just off Padonia Road, which is a quick drive up 83 North for us. Built in a former Applebee's, the decor in Mother's North Grille is sleeker and more modern than it's exposed-brick-and-wood-columns counterpart in Federal Hill. The food, however, is very much in line with the upscale pub food philosophy that all locations share.

We started with some appetizers, including their Blechman's Famous Hummus Platter. The creamy hummus is flavored with roasted garlic and paprika sesame oil. A side of kalamata olive and roasted red pepper salad compliments the hummus and there are plenty of veggies and naan to scoop up the delicious dips.

We also indulged in two styles of wings from their ample wings selection. The Old Bay® wings have a dry rub which I prefer and the spice has a nice kick to it. The Sriracha BBQ wings also had the right amount of spice, but I'm glad the waitress brought us wet-naps since the sauce is pretty sticky.

One of our tablemates ordered the Double Phat Crab Cake Dinner. While it normally comes with two meaty cakes, she went for the single cake option after our filling appetizers. The cake is loaded with jumbo lump crabmeat and very little filler and is lightly broiled.

The fresh fish options vary daily based on what can be obtained. Salmon and swordfish were the two choices the Minx and I went for. I took my salmon sesame seared with a soy glaze, while the Minx's swordfish was blackened and served with a Cajun remoulade. Both flavor profiles worked well with our respective seafood, the blackening seasoning being a particular standout.
The Minx was dieting and decided to forgo dessert, but I couldn't resist trying their homemade ice cream created from a recipe passed down from the owner's grandfather. I selected the chocolate, which is always available, and one of their flavors of the day, red velvet. As I had hoped, the ice cream was rich and creamy, and the chocolate really tasted of chocolate. I know that may sound funny, but some chocolate ice creams I've encountered taste like some abstract notion of chocolate rather than the real thing. This was the real thing. Red velvet is a fairly subtle flavor, but I think this ice cream got it right.

I'm happy to see that some of downtown's long standing establishments are starting to venture into the 'burbs. First Birroteca set up an outpost in Belair, then Bagby's Pizza opens a location in Pikesville, and now we have a Mother's in Timonium. I hope this becomes a trend. It's always nice to have some downtown flair in the strip malls of Baltimore County.

Mother's North Grille
2450 Broad Avenue
Timonium, MD 21093
443-991-5256



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Once again the end of the month showed up and that meant another stitch-n-bitch get-together with friends. Regular Minxeats readers know that I like to make both something dippy and something sweet for the ladies. Dippy, because it keeps the hands relatively clean, and knitters need clean hands. Sweet, because we all seem to have a sweet tooth.

This month's dippy component was homemade hummus, as it often is. I wanted to try something really different this time and leave out the beans completely. I had a bag of parsnips without a purpose in the fridge, so decided to use them. They were already hummus-hued, so why not?

It's best to par-cook the parsnips until they are quite soft, so the food processor doesn't have a hard time breaking them down (especially if  you use a Cuisinart mini-prep, like me). Parnips are denser and dryer than beans, so you'll need to use a bit of water to help in the processing, as well.

The resulting texture is much smoother than a hummus made with beans, but the flavor was somehow quite hummus-y. I was too lazy to cut up vegetables so I served it with Wild California brand Twice Baked Apricot Ginger Crisps. I had picked up a bag at the fancy food show in July and was waiting for the perfect occasion to serve them. Parsnip hummus seemed to be it. The light sweetness of the crisps worked well with the light sweetness of the hummus. The chips are also quite nice on their own, or eaten with cheese. If you've tried the Trader Joe's brand of crackers with fruit bits in them, then you already have an idea of what the Wild California ones are like.

This recipe makes about 1 1/2 cups of hummus. We put a dent in it, but we absolutely demolished the bag of crisps.

Parsnip Hummus

1 lb parsnips
Extra virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons almond butter
Lemon Juice
Garlic powder
Cumin
Salt
Pepper
Harissa powder or cayenne

Peel the parsnips and cut into chunks. Put into a saucepan with water to cover. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until parsnips are very tender, about 20 minutes. Drain parsnips, but reserve some of the cooking water.

Allow parsnips to cool to room temperature and put them into the bowl of a food processor with a few tablespoons of cooking water and a glug of olive oil. Process to a fairly smooth texture, adding a few more spoonsful of water or olive oil, if needed, to move things along. The consistency should be thick, not runny. Add the almond butter and process until completely incorporated. Season with a fair amount of lemon juice, plus garlic powder and cumin to taste (start with 1/2 teaspoon each). Salt and pepper, of course, also to taste, and if you want a bit of heat, add a bit of harissa powder or cayenne.

Scrape into a bowl and drizzle on some olive oil. Serve with crudite of your choice, crackers, pita, whatever.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

I've been on a hummus kick lately, have you noticed? I really do love the stuff and would eat it more often if it wasn't normally made with chick peas. Those little bastards give me such intestinal distress, I can't even look at them without getting gassy. In their place, I've been making hummus with just about every other bean under the sun, mostly with success.

Not long ago, we bought some edamame hummus from Trader Joe's, and man, that stuff was delicious! The best bean yet. So when I decided that our Memorial Day dinner would involve kebabs and various Mediterranean-inspired sauces, I put edamame hummus on the list of must-makes. Coincidentally, I received Louisville chef Edward Lee's new cookbook, Smoke and Pickles, at around the same time and the first recipe I turned to when I opened the book at random was his version of edamame hummus. It was kismet.

Lee makes his hummus chunky and uses it as a side dish. I wanted a more traditional dip/puree, so I added a bit more water to the food processor when I was blending. I also didn't need quite so much hummus, so I halved the recipe. Here's my take on it:

Edamame Hummus (adapted from Smoke and Pickles)

2 green onions, white and light green part, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup frozen edamame
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin

Saute the green onion and garlic in the olive oil until soft, 2-3 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients to the pan and bring to a simmer. Cook 6-8 minutes, or until beans are no longer crunchy. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

Puree the mixture in a food processor until fairly smooth, adding additional additional water to help the process. Taste the mixture and adjust seasoning with more lemon juice, soy, and olive oil, if necessary.

Serve at room temperature with unsalted tortilla chips or pita.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Beef kebabs with shakshouky, tzatziki, and tomato and cucumber salad, on pita.

It seems traditional to drag out the grill on Memorial Day. While many people are content with burgers and hot dogs, I think if Mr Minx is going to go to all of the trouble to fiddle with charcoal and have a dirty grill to clean afterward, the food had better be a bit more interesting than the usual.

I've been enamored of ground meat kebabs recently and decided to make two types - lamb and beef - based on recipes from Silvena Rowe's Purple Citrus and Sweet Perfume: Cuisine of the Eastern Mediterranean. Pictured above are the beef kebabs, flavored with cumin, paprika, allspice, and cinnamon, (this recipe, minus the herbs, fruits, and nuts, plus 1/2 teaspoon cumin). The lamb kebabs were based on this recipe, minus the cumin and pistachios.

To accompany the kebabs, I made four sauces/dips that I like to make, and it struck me that they came from different countries along the Mediterranean Sea. There was Romesco from Spain, Tzatziki from Greece, and Shakshouky and Hummus, popular in various North African countries. I also chopped up a seeded hydroponic cucumber and a pint of cherry tomatoes, dressed it with salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar and called it a salad, and there was feta cheese, too.

The recipe for shakshouky is linked above, and there will be a post next week on the hummus. The other two sauce recipes follow.

Romesco Sauce

I cheat when I make Romesco. Rather than roasting the vegetables myself, I use jarred roasted red peppers and canned fire roasted tomatoes. Here's the recipe I usually use. I didn't have almonds in the house, so I used 2 tablespoons of Trader Joe's almond butter instead. Worked like a charm.

1 small onion, chopped
2 jarred roasted red bell peppers, torn into chunks
1 15-oz can chopped fire roasted tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, crushed
¼ cup blanched slivered almonds
1 ounce white bread, toasted, crust removed
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon pimentón (Spanish sweet paprika)
olive oil
salt

Sauté the onion in a bit of olive oil until lightly browned. Place in blender or food processor with the next seven ingredients and purée, drizzling in olive oil until a thick sauce is formed. Add salt to taste.

Makes about 2 cups of sauce.

Very Simple Tzatziki

1 hydroponic cucumber
1 cup Greek yogurt
1 clove garlic, minced
kosher salt

Cut the cucumber in half and scoop out the seeds. Puree the flesh in a food processor, then dump it into a tea towel and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Put the cucumber back into the food pro with the yogurt and garlic and puree until well combined. Season with salt.

Makes about 2 cups of sauce.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

I am a horrible, mean-spirited, and cruel person. But you knew that already.

My husband hates strongly dislikes sweet potatoes. And after eating the hoppin' john I made for good luck in the new year, he's decided that he hates is not fond of black-eyed peas, either. Mostly their funky rotted vegetable smell. Meanwhile, I love both, farty fragrance and all, and decided to make hummus with them.

If hubby didn't like it - more for me! Bwahahahahaha!

Hummus makes a terrific snack or lunch, with some carrot sticks or pita or even tortilla chips. It's pretty filling, and if its not made with a ton of oil, relatively lean. And when the nutritional power of a sweet potato is added, hummus is good for you, too. 200g of sweet potato offers 65% of the RDA of Vitamin C, and 769% of Vitamin A. The tortilla chips, not so much. But tasty! Especially the Toasted Sweet Potato ones (Bachman brand) we bought recently, which were a perfect pairing, emphasizing the sweet potato flavor.

Even Mr Minx had to admit that the combination of sweet potato and black-eyed peas was pretty darn good, although it was hard for him to come right out and say it. Especially since his mouth was full of hummus.

Sweet Potato Hummus

1 medium sweet potato (about 1.5 cups cooked pulp)
1 15-oz can black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
3 tablespoons tahini
1 large clove regular garlic or 5 cloves black garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice (+ more to taste)
1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon salt + more to taste
extra virgin olive oil

Poke holes all over the sweet potato with a fork. Put potato on a microwave-safe plate and nuke for 8-10 minutes, until tender. Allow to cool, then remove skin.

Put the black-eyed peas in a food processor with the tahini, garlic, brown sugar, lemon juice, spices, salt, and about 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Pulse until the mixture forms a relatively smooth puree. Add the sweet potato and pulse into a smooth puree, thinning with a bit of water if it seems too thick. Taste for seasoning and add more lemon juice and/or salt, if needed.

Serve in a bowl, top with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of fresh parsley.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

One of my favorite features of the New York Magazine Web site is the "Grub Street Diet." Every week, some NY-based celebrity (actor, musician, director, media mogul, etc.) is asked to keep track of everything he or she eats during the week and submit it to the magazine in essay format. Some folks have an interesting life but a boring diet, and with some others it's vice versa.

Recently, Mr Minx and I found ourselves eating in restaurants a lot more than usual, which made me think of the Grub Street Diet. We're in the "interesting diet, boring life" category, as you'll see.

Monday, April 15
Monday is usually Panera day, and my regular order is a large coffee and a breakfast sandwich. I've been stuck on their Mediterranean egg white, which has pesto, spinach, cheddar, and roasted tomatoes on ciabatta. It's quite a tasty combo - love the roasted tomatoes - and plenty filling to satiate me until lunch.

Around 1pm, lunch was a Voskos exotic fig non-fat Greek yogurt. It tasted ok, but the fig seeds made it unpleasantly crunchy.

Mr Minx always has dinner in the works when I get home from work. This evening, he was in the process of making a day-glo yellow Curry of Indeterminate Origin from a recipe he found on teh Innernets. He insisted it was supposed to be a Thai-style curry, but it looked Indian. Smelled Indian, too. In any case, it was brightly colored and slightly sweet and went nicely with a big pile of basmati rice. It also used up the block of super-duper-firm tofu we picked up at Trader Joe's a few weeks ago that was on the verge of expiration.

Tuesday, April 16
Today, I went to Au Bon Pain for my coffee. I like iced coffee when the weather is warm. ABP only offers the caffeinated stuff, so I make my own by overfilling my cup with ice and mixing hot decaf and their Irish cream flavor half and half (their hazelnut is rather flavorless) with some milk. Their large iced drinks are so huge, I end up finishing it with lunch. But first, breakfast, which is a boring cup of Muller FruitUp yogurt in the Peach Passionfruit flavor. It's tasty enough, I suppose, though the fruity part on the top is a bit gelatinous. And now that I've gone to look for the nutrition label online, I've decided that I can no longer eat this particular yogurt. Why? Because it contains tilapia. Yes, I realize that is a fish, but I wonder if Muller knows that?

I was hoping that the UMB farmers' market would have started up already so I can get my summertime fix of two tacos from Ruben's Mexican Food. Instead, I ate the lunch I brought, which was home-made sweet potato hummus with baby carrots and sweet potato tortilla chips.

Mr Minx picked me up from work today. When I asked what he wanted to do for dinner, he suggested we could eat the leftover pasta from Friday. Except for the tilapia in my yogurt this morning, I hadn't eaten meat since Saturday, so really wasn't in the mood for that particular pasta, which had a vegetarian goat-cheese-and-tomato sauce. Mr Minx then suggested we go to Burger Brothers, which at that point on our ride was about a block away, so that's what we did. The first time we ate there, the burgers and fries both were super-salty. This time, the saltiness of my cheeseburger with bleu cheese, pickles, and tomato was my own damn fault, since bleu cheese is salty, but it wasn't anything like the first time. The fries were pretty good, too.

Wednesday, April 17
On Wednesday, I took the day off work so we could get a bunch of errands done. Breakfast was a bowl of cereal - a handful of Honey Bunches of Oats to finish off the box, and another handful of Mini-Wheats, topped with 2% milk.

Squire's everything pizza

We then went to Home Depot to pick up stuff for our new vegetable garden, made a trip to the storage locker to pick up some furniture, including a much-needed office chair. We had been using one of my Dad's old chairs from probably the late 80s. It was so wonky that after sitting in it for more than ten minutes we found ourselves sliding so far forward our knees were in danger of hitting the ground. That one was disposed of in a quick trip to the dump. We had borrowed my brother-in-law's truck, so after returning that to him, we visited with my mother-in-law who lives in the same area. By the time 3pm rolled around, our stomachs were growling and Mom suggested we order a pizza from Squire's, which we did. Almost nothing satisfies a ravenous appetite more than one of their hearty "everything" pizzas topped with pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, and meat sauce. I was a pig and ate three slices, but other than the cereal, didn't eat anything else all day.

Thursday, April 17
I was home on Thursday, too, and after a breakfast of toasted Panera honey wheat bread topped with a bit of Richard Blais's recipe for pimento cheese (post on that coming soon!), I decided to tackle a recipe from a cookbook that I received for review. The pineapple upside-down cake from Tate's Bake Shop: Baking for Friends turned out extremely well. Except for the part when the caramel oozed up the side of the pan and out onto the bottom of my oven. Luckily, it was lined with a sheet of foil that caught the now-burning and smoking caramel, and I quickly whipped it out and replaced it with a fresh sheet, all without: 1) burning myself; 2) causing the cake to fall.

No lunch again today because we planned to have dinner with my brother at Birroteca. He's been threatening to move out of town and has been trying to eat at as many of the restaurants I've recommended as possible. Earlier in the year, Mr Minx and I had a terrific meal at Birroteca with our friend Melinda, but it was mostly vegetarian in nature. This time, we ordered dishes fit for a carnivore (and a post about that meal will be forthcoming). We again ate the calamari alla plancha because it's so freakin' good, but we also tried the meatballs, the duck duck goose pizza, and the Thursday special of Sicilian steak.

Friday, April 18
I was back to work today and had an Oikos Café Latte yogurt for breakfast. No fish in that yogurt, but it does have "black carrot" juice for color. Huh? It was really good - I'll buy this one again. Lunch was leftover hummus from Tuesday with more baby carrots.

For dinner, we had the leftover pasta that we eschewed on Tuesday, beefed up (literally) with some of the steak left over from Birroteca. We try to be really good about eating all of our leftovers, whether they come from meals eaten at home or in restaurants. There's too much waste in this country as it is.

Four days a week, we eat nothing between dinner and bedtime, but on the weekends, we indulge in a bit of ice cream. Tonight we had it with some of the pineapple upside-down cake from Thursday.

Saturday, April 19
Breakfast was leftover black bean enchiladas from last Sunday's dinner, topped with a fried egg. We need the protein for the day ahead.

For the past three Saturdays, we've been attempting to downsize our storage locker. This week, we made still more progress before calling it quits and going home to wash up a bit. Honestly, I can deal with dust and grime for only so long before my dirty hands trigger my semi-compulsive need to wash them.

After washing up, we decided to have dinner at Earth, Wood, & Fire. The last time we were there, I fell in love with their coal-fired chicken wings. They're perfectly cooked, tender and juicy, with a nice crisp skin with patches of char and a light smack of cumin. I had some of those with a small arugula salad with bleu cheese and seedless grapes.

Late night dessert was a bowl of ice cream with pineapple upside-down cake.

Sunday, April 20
The original plan was to meet my brother and Dad at the Nautilus diner for breakfast. Mr Minx and my brother were then going to head down to the Orioles game and Dad would drive me home. But Dad wasn't feeling well, so I stayed home with the dog. While the boys ate omelettes and bacon, I made myself a sandwich with pancetta, a fried egg, and a spoonful of Blais' pimento cheese on toasted rye. While the Nautilus is fine and dandy, I dare say I probably got the better end of the breakfast deal.

After taking quite the long walk with the dog in order to obtain one of those horrible "e-collar" thingies so he won't scratch his eyes out (he has terrible hay fever), I spent the afternoon reading cookbooks before heading to the kitchen to work on dinner. I wasn't sure if the boys would be up for dinner after the game, but I made enough for several people anyway - red-braised chicken thighs, smashed marinated radishes (both from Fuchsia Dunlop's latest Chinese cookbook) and some oven-roasted asparagus with sliced garlic. I fixed a "beauty plate" for photographing, then ate that as my dinner, along with the lion's share of asparagus.

We finished up our ice cream stash with more cake before hitting the sack a bit earlier than usual.

See. Boring. And long-winded, to boot.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

I was in the mood for hummus. Not traditional hummus, mind you - I can't eat chick peas without suffering some painful consequences (I know, TMI) - but a reasonable facsimile.

My tastebuds were leaning toward a hummus flavored with tomatoes and red bell peppers, something Southwestern-ish, so I really wanted to use black beans. But lo and behold - I had none. I did have a cup of dried black eyed peas, however, and because I really wanted hummus (and was too lazy to walk to the store), I did a quick boil and soak, and then cooked the peas to tenderness. Beans are bland enough that just about any kind can be successfully used in a hummus-like preparation, but black-eyed peas are a little more South than Southwest.

Tahini is another traditional hummus ingredient, but just about any nut butter will do. If peanut butter is good enough for Alton Brown, then it's good enough for me. But I happened to have a can of tahini in the fridge, so that peanut butter hummus will have to wait another day. I did have bags of sundried tomatoes and sundried bell peppers (find them at nuts.com), which were rehydrated in boiling water, and the whole mess was bunged into the Magimix. (Sorry. Channeling Jamie Oliver there.)

Cumin and garlic are usually found in hummus, but to spice it up a bit more, I added some ground chipotle for a smoky kick. The result was quite luscious, and we scooped it up with chips made from stale flour tortillas.

South x Southwest Hummus

1/2 cup loosely packed sundried tomatoes
1/2 cup loosely packed sundried red bell peppers (or 1 jarred or freshly roasted red bell pepper)
3 tablespoons tahini
2 cups cooked or canned black eyed peas (or your favorite bean)
1 clove garlic
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle pepper (or 1/2 canned chipotle in adobo)
extra virgin olive oil, as needed
salt to taste
chopped scallions

Place sundried tomatoes and peppers (if using) in a saucepan with about a cup of water. Bring to a boil, then turn down heat and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to come to room temperature.

Drain tomatoes and peppers and chop coarsely. Place in the bowl of a food processor with the tahini, beans, garlic, lemon juice, cumin, and chipotle. Blend until well puréed, adding olive oil to aid the process. (If you're using jarred bell pepper, you'll need less oil than if you use the sundried.) The texture should be thick enough to be scooped with pita or tortilla chips, but not so thick that the chip would break. Add salt to taste.

Serve drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and garnished with chopped scallions.


Posted on Minxeats.com.

We're big fans of nut butters. I couldn't tell you how many giant tubs of peanut butter we (Mr Minx) goes through during the course of a year. Not only do we eat it straight out of the jar, either on bread or right off the spoon, but we also use it in cooking.

Unfortunately, my brother is severely allergic to peanuts and I always have to remember to skip those yummy Asian peanut noodle salads when I'm making party or pot-luck food. Anaphylactic shock is not a good thing. Sometimes I use almond butter, but then I'm disappointed that the flavor isn't quite as rich and nutty as when I use peanut butter. But I found a perfect substitution: sesame butter. Most folks know it as tahini, an essential ingredient in Middle Eastern food, particularly hummus.

Golden Millstone Sesame Butter is made from organic sesame seeds grown in Ethiopia, crushed using a 90-year-old millstone. It's free of additives and other nuts, and is both delicious and healthy.

If you'd like to try GM Sesame Butter for yourself, I have an exclusive 40% off discount code for Minxeats readers. Just go to http://sesamebutter.com and enter MINXEATS at checkout to receive your discount. And while you're at the site, check out the recipe section, including this one for Cold Chinese Sesame Noodles.

Posted on Minxeats.com.