Greek Style Taco

I love the way the yogurt sauce in this taco really balances with the vegetables and creates a very refreshing meal. I stir fried the vegetables with onions, red pepper, black beans, and garlic with a little cumin. The black beans were Rancho Gordo beans from the ferry building farmers market. We had some leftover tortillas from enchiladas we made before and I was inspired by the crisp cucumber waiting in my fridge to be eaten. I added the yogurt and diced cucumber with some salt and pepper and put it on the taco as a finishing touch. The crunch from the cucmber also gave the taco that extra pizzaz. Here is the recipe:

Half and Onion
one green pepper (or other colored peppers)
1 clove garlic
black beans (soaked and pre cooked)
corn torilla
nonfat yogurt
english cucumber
salt and pepper

Saute the chopped onions and garlic in olive oil. Add the cumin unti aromatic, about 2 minutes. Add the chopped pepper and let soften about 5-10 minutes. Add the black beans and stir. Meanwhile, made the yogurt sauce with cucumber, salt, and pepper (you cad add dill or vinegar as well). Cook the corn tortilla on a pan with a little olive oil until crispy, about 5 minutes. Put the begetable and bean mixture in the corn tortilla and spoon over the yogurt sauce. Enjoy and make seconds!

Seafood Paella

We finally made Paella! I've been meaning to make paella for a long time now and haven't had the occasion or the excuse to feed that many people. When the roommate bought special paella rice and saffron, I new it was in the works. We used the Trader Joe's seafood mix in the freezer section and it worked out really well. Chicken, peas, and peppers also accompanied our Paella and in the end we had a fabulous Spanish feast. I made arugula with lemon Parmesan vinaigrette inspired by my two favorite food bloggers Alanna and Alex and their blog Two Fat Als. The Paella is also from their site:
Paella Recipe

We modified it slightly but really you can add to this dish anything you have lying around. It is meant to be a dish that can take on many flavors and feed lots of people. Feliz Cocinando!(maybe too much of a literal translation but you get my drift)

Easter Salad

This salad was super easy to put together, mostly because everything was already cooked and I just had to assemble. It's a bit of a hodgepodge of ingredients but each one added it's own character to the salad. I brought everything together with a bit of lemon vinaigrette. The eggs were soaked with beet juice so they turned a pretty shade of pink which makes this salad perfect for Easter.

the ingredient list:

spinach
Trader Joes frozen sweet corn (it's super yummy)
red beets
sauteed tofu
parsley
green onions
artichoke
carrots
boiled egg

Vinaigrette:
Lemon juice
olice oil
salt , pepper

Miso Soup

I had the urge to make miso soup ever since I saw it on 101 cookbooks. I'd never cooked with miso paste, and it seemed like the variations on the dish were endless. I made this miso soup with soft tofu, green onions, brown mushrooms, soba noodles, white miso, and leeks (but only because I had them leftover) . It would have been nice to add bok choy or something else green. I topped it off with cilantro which added a really fresh flavor kick at the end. The trick to miso soup is getting the miso concentration just right. I added about 2 tablespoons of the miso paste, let is simmer for about 5 minutes, and then taste. I continued to add more little by little until it reached the right taste profile. But be careful, it's easy to add too much miso. Here is the recipe.

Saute 1 bushel leeks or bok choy, mushrooms, and tofu in a pan with a little oil until wilted (leeks take a fair amount of time to get tender)
Pre-cook soba noodles (boil for about 5-10 minutes in salted water)
Add sauteed greens, mushrooms, and tofu to the noodles in water.
let simmer for 5 minutes
Add 2 tablespoons miso paste and stir until dissolved.
Add more miso to taste.
Serve with chopped fresh cilantro and more chopped green onions.

Enjoy!

You can really add anything in the miso to make it your own. Some other ideas are:
egg drop
parsley
snap peas
ginger
sprouts

Beer Can Chicken

We made this for Grace and Rene's Birthday party. It was inspired by our trip to Napa and our dinner at The Bounty Hunter. In an idea world, this would be cooked on a grill. I cooked it in the oven and it worked out great. The key is to cut the top off the beer can with a can opener. Then pour half the beer out and put some of the seasoning inside. Then place the chicken sitting upright over the beer can. The whole point is that the beer will boil up and flavor the chicken. Make sure you have a good rub for the chicken as well. I used the following:

cumin
chili powder
tumeric
brown sugar
paprika
salt
pepper

The Beer: Tecate

The result: delicious!

Strawberry Balsamic Cake with Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

I made this cake for a birthday party we had for both of my roommates. I got this recipe from my sister, the queen of cakes as far as I know. As you can see by all our cake posts, she's quite accomplished, so I knew she would have the perfect cake recipe. I altered the recipe slightly because I love the flavors of strawberries and balsamic. It turned out really well, and the cream cheese in the whipped cream frosting has a slight tangy flavor. The cake base is very light due to the whipped egg whites. The strawberry filling has just the right amount of tang and sweetness to complement the yellow cake base. Here are some pictures that show how the cake is put together.

Hazelnut Mousse Torte

I decided to call this a torte because it justifies how rich this cake was. It's very important to give dishes and cakes the right name because it has a huge psychological effect on the eater. I just made a devils food cake (split into 3 layers) and filled it with a nutella mousse. Then I gave the cake a ganache blanket for the icing. I used spun sugar and sugar curly q's to make the design. And finally, I topped it with a few chocolate curls and pressed some toasted chopped hazelnuts around the edge. This cake was featured at the neighborhood inagural ball.