Day 18: Too Much Cookin', Not Enough Bloggin'

Whew! The past few days have been biz-zay. On Saturday, Dara and I threw a very excellent (if I do say so myself) barbecue, complete with beautiful weather, pleasantly drunk people, and lots of good food and fun. I learned how to make baked beans. I also learned...

• that beans take a loooong time to cook.
• that they're worth the wait.
• that, if you think starting with two POUNDS of dried beans is excessive, you're probably right.
• that people really like baked beans.
• that I actually like baked beans more than I thought!

Yesterday, the weather turned cold and rainy. Such a gray May day (yup) seemed perfect for lentils, since they're all warm and homey. I followed this recipe from Epicurious, though I left out the lamb. Thanks to Dara for all the documentation!

I had to work hard to chop the carrots, onions, and celery:


Seriously, do you own a food processor yet? No? Go get one. Go now. I don't care if it's midnight; Amazon is open 24 hours a day. Never mind the fact that it can chop anything and everything in mere seconds - you can make cookie dough in this thing!

So yeah. "I" chopped all the veggies. Then I checked the recipe, and my documentarian went to the fridge for a beverage:




How is it that we threw a party and ended up with more beer than when we started? We need less generous (or harder-drinking) friends.

Where was I? Oh yeah. I started sauteing the veggies, then, after a few minutes, added the lentils and a cup of wine:



After that, the lentils cooked slowly, sort of like risotto - a ladleful of liquid at a time. It was fairly slow going, since lentils, like beans, take a long time to absorb liquid and come to the right texure. In the end, we had a nice, tasty dish; the taste of the wine made it particularly rich. Dara ate hers with sauteed spinach, and I had mine over raw spinach with some feta mixed in:


And everyone was happy:

Day 10: I'm Not a Vegetarian...

...but I apparently eat like one when I cook at home.

There have been periods in my life where I have wanted nothing but meat. When I (finally) grew, for example, in high school, all I wanted was steak and milk. It was awesome. There have been other phases, though, where, no matter how good I know it is, meat smells and tastes rotten. These times are also awesome (I do love me some tofu!), even though they involve less bacon.

Either way, though, I've never been inclined to actually cook that much meat. I'm pretty sure that I've never made red meat in this house, and we've lived here since September. It doesn't feel like anything is lacking - I just don't look at a steak in the grocery store and think, "You know, that's gonna be dinner tonight." And I realized today that much of MIMM, perhaps even more than my normal cooking, has been vegetarian. Today, in fact, was 100% so: toast and a banana for breakfast, leftover saag tofu and rice for lunch, and broiled polenta with roasted red pepper sauce and goat cheese and a little steamed broccoli on the side for dinner. It sounds fancy, but it's really easy to make, yields a ton of leftovers, and is really delicious:



Maybe I'll mix it up and go for an all-meat week four, but then again...maybe not.

Broiled Polenta with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Polenta
1 1/4 cups cornmeal
3 1/2 cups water
1 tsp. salt

1. Mix the cornmeal and one cup of the water in a bowl; set aside.
2. Combine the salt and remaining water in a pot; bring to a boil.
3. Add the cornmeal mixture slowly (watch out for splashing), stirring constantly. Allow it to return to a boil, then turn the heat to low and continue to stir for five straight minutes. It's going to hurt - the polenta will thicken considerably. You didn't need to go to the gym today.
4. After five minutes, remove the polenta from the heat. Spread it in a lightly greased 9x13 pan; smoothe to the edges. Put the pan in the fridge to cool. While it's cooling, make the...

Sauce
1 red bell pepper
1/2 an onion, coarsely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
3 basil leaves
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
Goat cheese (optional)

1. With a long fork (or something else to hold the pepper - I stabbed it through the bottom with a pair of scissors), roast the red pepper by holding it directly over the stove burner. Turn consistently, as if you are roasting a s'more; the skin should pop, blister, and blacken. Try to blacken as much of the skin as possible.
2. Put the roasted pepper in a bowl and cover the top with plastic wrap; you want to trap the heat and moisture.
3. When the pepper is cool enough to handle - about 30 minutes - rub off the blackened skin. It should come off easily; running the pepper under cool water can help.
4. Position an oven rack as close to the top of the oven as possible; turn on the broiler. This is important for a little while from now.
5. Saute the onions and garlic in olive oil until soft.
6. Combine the pepper, onions, garlic, basil, salt and pepper to taste, and a splash of olive oil in a food processor or blender. Blend until the sauce reaches your desired consistency; add a little more olive oil or a tablespoon of water at a time if you like.
7. By now, the polenta should be cooled and solid. Cut it into small squares or diamonds and transfer to a cookie sheet; brush the top with a little olive oil. Broil for seven to ten minutes, or until the top has developed a golden brown crust.
8. If necessary, reheat the sauce; serve with the polenta and a few crumbles of goat cheese, if desired. It's pretty tasty without, but nearing sublime with.

Note: Dara gives this dish two thumbs up!