Chorizo y Veggie Sautee

1. Throw as much or as little chorizo as you'd like in the pan. The goal is to get as much flavor (oil) out of the chorizo as possible, so it's up to you; if you want your sautee more meaty, pile it on! More veg? A two to three inch piece of salchicha will do.

2. Once you're able to break up your chorizo into bite-size pieces, it's time to start adding veggies. This isn't hard and I know you know how to do this, but just in case, I'll just give you an order to follow:

(*) The first thing I would usually tell you to do is add onions, just because they provide a good, meaty foundation of flavor when it comes to building any veggie dish. But I know you are not the biggest fan of onions so I leave it to you. If you decide to add onions, just chop them as coarsely or as finely as you like them and add a good handful to your pan.

i. Plantains (half a plaintain works fine)
ii. Mushrooms (half a cup is plenty)
iii. Spinach (half a cup at least)
iv. Tomatoes (just one lightly seeded will do just fine)

Salt and pepper to taste and you're done!

The best part about this dish is that the spinach is so silky and moist, that you don't really end up missing any sort of sauce.

If anything, add cheese. The best option would be any sort of good, light melting cheese like jack, mozzarella, muenster or provolone. But you can play with the flavor profile as much as you like with this dish. I mean did cheese really ever ruin anything?

Possible Substitutions/Variations:

• Don't have spinach? Steamed broccoli would work really well. Boiled cabbage also. Try iceberg lettuce cut into strips, just don't cook it, gross.
  

• Slice zucchini, yellow squash or grey squash paper thin and then add it at the same time you would the spinach and you'll end up with essentially the same effect.

• POTATOES. You can boil them or steam them for ten minutes just to get them going but lord would that be good or what. I would dice them first, boil them, and then add them as soon as it looks like half of your meet has cooked, then add the rest of your veggies.

• This dish is really great over pasta or rice, but if you want to broaden your horizons a little bit, try orzo. It's kind of like pasta that wants to be rice; so you get soft, pillowy rice-shaped bits of lovelyness in every bite.

• Want to brighten the flavor? Add lemon or lime juice ONLY at the end. These juices get bitter when cooked so hold off on the juice until the very end if you're going to add it. Also: lemon or lime zest, basil, parsley, cilantro.
  

Super Easy Cheese Souffle

Super Easy Cheese Souffle

*Preheat oven to 350° F

*Butter and flour two small ramekins and set aside

Pretty much any and all souffles are egg based. Eggs hold their structure when whipped and then cooked, which is what gives souffles their lovely light and airy texture.

I find it easier to beat the eggs beforehand because making the roux requires constant attention and you're really not going to be able to find a big enough chunk of time to beat your eggs between melting your butter, adding your flour spoonful by spoonful and keeping your roux moving so that it doesn't burn.

1. So separate an egg and a yolk into two separate bowls. Beat the yolk with a good pinch of salt and pepper just to get that step out of the way. You'll know you're done when the yolk lightens at least one shade.

2. Beat your whites until you have stiff peaks. Now if you're beating your eggs by hand, this is going to take TIME. Trust me it feels like for-ev-er; lord knows I thought my arm was about ready to fall off, but I promise you, the cramps will be well worth it when you see those beautiful white peaks stand up on their own.


The next step to any savory souffle is making a roux, super easy:

1. Melt a couple pads of butter in a saucepan over low heat. You can start with the pan relatively hot just to melt the butter, but make sure it's had time to cool down before you start the next step.

2. Once butter has melted, slowly add (a spoonful at a time) five heaping spoonfuls of flour, or until the mixture has thickened. If your butter and flour mixture starts to look too thick, just add some oil and/or turn down the heat.

3. It's going to be tempting to turn the heat up at this point, but resist! If you turned up the heat at this point, you'd probably wind up making a pancake and while pancakes are delicious, we're trying to make a roux. So, keep the heat low and slowly add your milk until your mixture starts to look like white gravy.

4. Then again very slowly, add your cheese until it looks like you're ready to put it over pasta and call the family in for some cheesy mac. Turn off the heat.

The next step is tempering. All tempering means is slowly bringing beaten eggs up to a higher temperature without cooking them.

1. Add four big spoonfuls of your roux to your beaten yolk, spoonful by spoonful, folding in the mixture after each addition.

2. Then add all of the egg and roux mixture you just tempered back into the saucepan of remaining roux.

3. Add what you have in the saucepan to your egg whites spoonful by spoonful until you get through about half of your saucepan mixture. FOLD. DO NOT WHIP/MIX/BEAT. After you get through half of it, you can just add the rest to the egg whites.

*Pour your souffle mixture into your ramekins, top with some cheese and pop them in the oven for about 20 minutes or until golden brown on top.


Possible Variations/Substitutions:

• You can add just about everything but the kitchen sink to this recipe: ham, turkey, mushrooms, spinach, bacon, caramelized onions, squash, and the list goes on and on.
  

Tuna Bean Cakes

Tuna Bean Cakes

1. Drain one can of white beans
*Set aside about 2/3 of the can for this recipe

2. Drain a can of tuna

3. Use a fork to mash the beans with a couple heaping tablespoons of mayonnaise

4. Break up the tuna and mash it into bean mixture

*Salt and pepper to taste

*Set saucepan to medium heat and add enough cooking oil just to cover the bottom of the pan

5. Form the tuna and bean mixture into 1" thick patties

6. Dredge in bread crumbs or cornmeal

*Fry until the bread crumbs or cornmeal crisp to a medium dark caramel

*Make sure to let the cakes rest on a paper towel as they come out of the pan to avoid any excess oil


Possible Substitutions/Variations:

• Don't feel like tuna? Use imitation crab meat or any kind of flaky fish (salmon, swordfish).

• Any kind of whole bean will work with this recipe. Try peruanos, navy beans, black beans.

• You can also replace the beans with boiled potatoes if you have them.

• If you have a left-over packet of wasabi paste go ahead and add the whole thing to this recipe, it won't make it spicy...really. A tablespoon of Sriracha would also do well in this recipe.
  

• Add chopped celery, cucumber, onion or carrot for a crunchy bite.
  

Hi!

Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3...