No Passport Required: A Culinary Trip to France With a Splash of Asia

Changing things up completely from what we normally do, last night we went with a French-Asian themed meal. 

Szechuan Ratatouille 
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Sesame Oil
Yellow Onion
Garlic
Ginger Root
Mirin
Rice Vinegar
Hoisin Sauce
Black Bean Garlic Sauce
Cilantro
Fenugreek
Citric Acid
Tomato Sauce
Low Sodium Soy Sauce
Vegetable Stock
Mushrooms

Zucchini

Summer Squash

Fresh Green Beans

Bean Sprouts

Brown Rice


Cook brown rice. We use a rice cooker, but cook however you prefer.

Finely dice up one yellow onion and 5-6 garlic cloves. Mince ginger root. Add to wok with a dash of sesame oil and EVOO. Sauté  for about 5 minutes.

Dice up mushrooms, zucchini, summer squash and green beans. Toss into wok with onion and sauté for about 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Add bean sprouts, hoisin sauce, black bean garlic sauce, 3 oz. tomato paste and about 1/6 cup tomato sauce to the wok. Add about 1/6 cup of mirin to the wok. Let simmer for about 15 minutes. 

Add fenugreek leaves to the wok and let simmer. Add a pinch of citric acid, which will add a bit of tang to the dish. Let simmer for 10 minutes. About a minute before serving, toss chopped cilantro into wok. 

Chili Mirin Chicken

Chicken Breast

Sriricha Hot Chili Sauce

Mirin

Tomato Sauce

Dice one chicken breast into one inch cubes. Coat in Sriricha. Toss into pan and cook on medium heat. Add a splash of mirin. Add 1/2 cup tomato sauce. Let cook for about - minutes.

No Passport Required: A Culinary Trip to Italy

Pizza is something that we make about once a week. It has definitely evolved from the  original pizzas we made, which consisted of store bought dough, pizza sauce and pre-shredded mozzarella. We make our own dough from scratch, use fresh cheeses from mozzarella to Gouda, and incorporate pesto, garlic, fresh basil and whatever toppings we feel like for the night. Here is last night's culinary creation.

Pizza Dough

Bread Flour

Rapid Rise Yeast

Water

Pour one cup of bread flour into bowl. 

Add 1/2 cup of warm water to a measuring cup. Mix into one packet of rapid rise yeast. 

Combine bread flour and yeast/water, stirring with a spatula.


Let rise for one hour (the longer the better) Then roll out small circles of dough and let rise for another 20 minutes. 

Veggie Mini Pizza

Fresh Mozzarella 

Smoked Gouda

Parmigiana

Goat Cheese

Low Fat Ricotta

Pizza Sauce (Casa Visco is our favorite)

Bell Peppers

Orange Vine Tomatoes

Fresh Basil

Pesto

Shred mozzarella, Gouda, parmigiana and goat cheese. 

Dice bell peppers. Slice super thin slices of an orange tomato. Chop fresh basil. 

Turn grill onto medium low heat.

Spread pizza sauce on rolled out dough on a pizza peel. Spoon pizza sauce onto rolled out dough. Top with cheeses, peppers, tomatoes and basil. Spoon pesto on top. You'll want to do this quickly, as the dough (especially on larger pizzas) will stick to the peel if you leave it on too long.

Put pizza onto a pizza stone on the grill and spray crust with water. Close the grill and let cook. Every 2-3 minutes rotate the pizza until fully cooked. This can take anywhere from 10-15 minutes depending on the size of the pizza and number of toppings. 

No Passport Required: A Culinary Trip to India

The first time I had Indian food was while I was in my freshman year at Emory. I was taking a yoga seminar (I still can't believe I got 4 credits for that class by the way) and our class was going to a yoga studio and then to a nearby Indian restaurant together. Being my first time in an Indian restaurant and completely unfamiliar with the cuisine, I took a shot in the dark and ordered a vegetarian curry dish. I think I took a few bites to be polite and decided to call my relationship with Indian cuisine a good try but we should go our separate ways. Fast forward six years. My boyfriend, convinced I would like Indian food if someone who knew my flavor preferences ordered for me, took me to Taste of India. I ended up with the Saag Paneer, as well as some garlic naan and a vegetarian appetizer plate with samosas, vegetable & paneer pakoras and onion bhaji. Well I'll be damned I actually loved it. All of it. I couldn't believe I had been living without Indian food for the first 24 years of my life. We wound up getting Indian pretty regularly and after a few times I decided to switch up my order. I got the Shahi Paneer and it was love at first taste. The dish I now eat on a weekly basis stems from the Shahi Paneer but is so much healthier than the restaurant version. No ghee or cream in our Indian dishes, which means we can spoon more onto our plates without feeling stuffed. 

Let's get to the Indian dishes of the from last night. We make our own garlic naan, shahi paneer and chicken tikka masala that rivals any restaurant in flavor and beats them hands down in healthiness. Everything gets served with rice, mixed together and tossed onto a piece of naan. We also use tamarind chutney, which is my favorite Indian chutney. Both dishes start off with the same tomato base, so we make that all together and then separate and create two very distinct dishes.

Garlic Naan

Bread flour

Rapid Rise Yeast

Fat Free Strained Greek Yogurt
Garlic
Cilantro
EVOO

Combine one packet of rapid rise yeast with 1/2 cup of warm water. Add 3/4 cup of flour to a bowl. Pour yeast/water mixture into the bowl and stir using a spatula. Add a pinch of salt and stir. Then add 1/4 cup of yogurt to the mixture and stir. This should have a gluey type of consistency. 

Next, you will add about 1 cup of flour, a small amount of a time to the mixture, stirring often. Eventually you will end up with a doughy consistency. At this point you can knead by hand. Make sure there is enough flour so that the dough does not stick to your hand. Spray with a very small amount of olive oil and let sit under a lamp for an hour to rise. The longer you can let it rise the better, so if you have a few hours, two or three hours are great for this.

Mince garlic and chop fresh cilantro. Add a dash of extra virgin olive oil to a small dish, then add the garlic and cilantro. 


Take dough out of bowl and cut into 4 round pieces. Place under heat lamp and let it rise for 20 minutes. Turn oven on to 350. If you have a panini press, turn it on to high.

Put naan into the oven for about 4 minutes. Then take it out and put it on the panini press for 2-3 minutes. Then it goes back in the over for another 2 minutes. If you don't have a panini press, putting it on a grill or in the oven for about 8-10 minutes works. Just keep an eye on it.

Chicken Tikka Masala

Onion 

Garlic

Ginger Root

Cilantro

Strained Tomatoes

Tomato Paste

Chicken Stock

Chicken Breast

Fenugreek Leaves
Hot Curry Powder
Citric Acid
Garam Masala
Paprika

Dice an onion using a food processor. Cook with a small amount of EVOO on medium high heat until soft. Add minced ginger and garlic to the pot, stirring frequently. 

Add about 12 oz. of strained tomatoes and half a can of tomato paste to the onions, turning the heat down to medium. Add 1/2 cup of yogurt and stir. Put a cover on the pot and let simmer for about 20 minutes. 

Meanwhile, chop chicken breast into small pieces, sized at about 1" cubes. Put chicken in a mixing bowl, pour in lemon juice and add salt, and push chicken around until thoroughly coated in the juice. The acid in the lemon juice tenderizes the chicken and leaves it very juicy.


Next add hot curry powder, a pinch of citric acid, garam masala and paprika. Let simmer on medium low heat for about 15 minutes with the cover on. 


Add the chicken to the tomato base and turn the temperature down to low (2-3). Put cover back on and let cook for 30-40 minutes. Before serving, add a pinch of Fenugreek Leaves. Serve with white rice and naan.

Shahi Paneer

Onion 

Garlic

Ginger Root

Cilantro

Strained Tomatoes

Tomato Paste

Milk

Paneer

Chickpeas

Sweet Peas

Cashews

Garam Masala

Cardamom

Turmeric

Tandoori

Allspice

Fenugreek Leaves


Dice an onion using a food processor. Cook with a small amount of EVOO on medium high heat until soft. Add minced ginger and garlic to the pot, stirring frequently. 


Add about 12 oz. of strained tomatoes and half a can of tomato paste to the onions, turning the heat down to medium. Add 1/2 cup of yogurt and stir. Put a cover on the pot and let simmer for about 20 minutes.


Turn heat to low and add garam masala, cardamom, turmeric, tandoori, allspice and fenugreek to the tomato base. Let simmer on low for about 5 minutes. Add about 1/4 cup of milk (I use skim). Let simmer for another 5 minutes.

Add the paneer cubes, peas and chickpeas. I only do about 1/4 cup of a peas & chickpeas combination. Put the cover of the pan and let cook slow and low (turn heat down to 1) for as long as possible. We normally let it cook on 1 for about an hour, but 20 minutes is fine if you're in a hurry. Towards the end, crumble some cashews up and toss in the pan. Simmer for a few more minutes and it is ready to serve.

No Passport Required: A Culinary Trip to Africa

As anyone who has eaten with us knows, our meals tend to take a long time to cook. We like to watch cooking shows like Chopped and Top Chef, hoping to be inspired and create our new favorite dish. We're often in the kitchen for three or more hours letting flavors develop slow and low. That is a technique that seems to work in any food preparation: super low heat and just let it cook for hours. You'll get amazing flavor that just doesn't happen in a 30 minute meal. Documenting our cooking should be a bit of a challenge since we tend to toss in a pinch or this here and a pinch of that there and are almost never able to recreate the dish. Here we go anyways.

The theme for tonight's meal? Africa. Some parts of this meal are old hat to us, specifically the Injera and Doro Wat. Others, the African Peanut Stew, are new creations that we borrow from a recipe and put our own spin on it that is often far healthier than the original recipe.

Injera

Teff Flour

Wheat Flour

Yeast

Salt

Unlike many other recipes will tell you, injera can be made in a few hours, as opposed to the traditional process that can take several days. All you need is a heating lamp of some type and it will speed up the process. Injera is basically a sourdough crepe and goes amazingly with the next two dishes.

Start with 1.5 cups of teff flour and 1/2 cup of wheat flour. Add one packet for rapid rise yeast. Slowly add warm water, all while stirring with your hand until you get a crumbly texture. Then add more (small amounts at a time) until you end up with a thick, gelatinous texture. You'll need to stir this mixture until it is a in homogeneous mixture. Continue adding small amounts of water until you can pull your hand out and the mixture will run off your hand. This is really a trial and error recipe that takes some time to get right. We've been doing it for a year and it doesn't always come out perfect. You will want to let this sit under a hot lamp for 2 hours. So if you want to eat earlier than we do, start that early. If you're really on top of this you could start it the night before and let it stand for almost a day.

Once the mixture has stood for a few hours (or days), get a large shallow pan out and turn the heat up high (and I mean high). Using a sea salt grinder, add salt to the hot pan. Next spoon about a cup of the mixture into the pan so it covers most of the bottom. Then lift the pan off the heat and rotate the pan so that the mixture covers the entire bottom. Place on high heat. The mixture should bubble like a pancake. This process takes about 2 minutes. However, you cannot take your eyes off of the pan, it goes from done to too done pretty quickly. Using a plastic spatula, try and lift the injera out of the pan. Once it is properly cooked it should come out relatively easily with the spatula. 

Doro Wat Recipe

Onion

Garlic

Crushed Fenugreek Seeds

Paprika

Cardamom

Salt

Pepper

Red Wine

Chicken Stock

Chicken Breast

Lemon Juice

Egg

Using a food processor, dice up an onion and garlic. You want this somewhere in between a puree and big chunks. Put it in a pan and let cook until almost soft and tender, but not caramelized. Add Red Wine, Chicken Stock, Fenugreek, Paprika, Salt and Pepper. Reduce to medium-low heat, and simmer uncovered stirring occasionally until liquid reduces in volume by about 1/3. 

Meanwhile, chop chicken breast into small pieces, sized at about 1" cubes. Put chicken in a mixing bowl, pour in lemon juice and add salt, and push chicken around until thoroughly coated, preferably a small enough bowl to submerged in the juice. The acid in the lemon juice tenderizes the meat and leaves it very juicy.  

When the mixture has reduced, add the chicken, reduce the heat and cover. Let simmer at low heat for another 1/2 an hour on low. 

Hard boil the egg, put in cold water on high, wait until its boiling, then turn heat off. Wait 15 mins then drain water, run egg under cold water. Peel shell off of egg. 

Serve Chicken mix with the hard-boiled egg served on a piece of the Injera!

African Peanut Stew

Onion

Ginger

Garlic

Chopped Tomatoes (Pomi Chopped Tomatoes are my favorite)

Vegetable Stock

Basmati Brown Rice

Extra Chunky Peanut Butter

Paneer (this is an Indian cheese you can buy online if there isn't an Indian market close by)

Sweet Peas

Corn

Carrots

Using a food processor, chop the onions and garlic into small chunks. Put on a high heat and sautee until soft. Then add minced ginger root and chopped tomatoes to the mixture. Add 5-6 cups of vegetable stock (you can use chicken stock if you aren't cooking for any vegetarians like myself). At this point you want a very soupy consistency, since we'll be cooking rice with this mixture. Add Salt and Pepper to this, mixture and bring to near a boil. When it starts bubbling, turn it down and let simmer for about 1/2 an hour.

Add 3/4 cup of the brown basmati rice to the mixture, cover and let simmer at about 40% of the max heat for about twenty minutes, or until the rice is tender. 

Next you the peanut butter to the pot. Stir it into the soup base until it has been evenly distributed into the mix. Add sweet peas and corn (frozen is fine) to the mixture and stir. Now shred a carrot and add it to the mixture. Stir in and let simmer on low. Cut Paneer into small cubes and add to the mixture, stirring it in. Let simmer on low (1-2 max on your stove) for about 15 minutes or until the cubes of paneer are tender. 

Basic Rules That Define Our Meals

So a little background into our cooking style, preferences and standard practices before we delve into our first dinner post. For starters, I am a vegetarian. That tends to pose some problems for your less adventurous or creative cooks as many have no idea what to cook for a vegetarian. For years it felt like my only meal options at restaurants were sides. As fun as it is to have a meal composed entirely of sides, unless it is a tapas restaurant the food tends to be pretty basic and unexciting. On the other side of things, my cooking sidekick and chef extraordinaire (not professionally) boyfriend eats fish and poultry, but no red meat. Self-imposed dietary restrictions aside, we also like to infuse flavor through flavorful and fresh ingredients instead of fat, which few if any restaurants (and likely people) do. 

Here are a few of our tricks we use on a nightly basis to creating healthy but amazingly flavorful and tasty meals:

1. Anytime a recipe calls for cream or sour cream, we substitute in plain strained fat-free Greek yogurt. It is an amazing ingredient that seems to make its way into almost all of our meals by adding creaminess and thickness without adding lots of fat. Our go to: Fage 0% Greek Yogurt

2. Anytime a recipe calls for butter, we substitute extra virgin olive oil. It's full of healthy fats that are far and away better for you than any amount of butter. 

3. If a recipe calls for salt, we substitute Herbamare. It is a sea salt based spice that also contains herbs and is way less salty than salt, but adds a great flavor when a bit of saltiness is necessary. 

4. The base to a great many of our dishes consists of onions, garlic and ginger root. It's hard to go wrong with that kind of base and the flavors work with just about ever flavor profile we're going for. 

5. Always go with the freshest option available. When we get cheese, we always buy it from the deli. Fresh mozzarella is so much better than pre-shredded packaged mozzarella. Takes a bit longer to prepare, but believe me it is worth it. The same goes with herbs. We buy fresh cilantro, basil and chives every few days. 

6. As a general rule of thumb, we love to use herbs and spices in every dish. Always going for a super flavorful meal is standard for us. If you don't believe me, check out the "spice rack." Two full cupboards filled to the brim with spices. We've also got a small drawer or extra spices that wouldn't fit. 

A Blast From My Traveling Past: Puerto Morelos Edition

You know how they say the past is a good indicator of the future? When it comes to travel I think you can throw that rule out. I say (well technically write) this because of our trip to Puerto Morelos and an all-inclusive resort and our subsequent decision to do another all-inclusive in a different country (Jamaica) and a different resort (The Jewel Dunn's River Falls). More on that trip another day. Spoiler alert: it didn't come close to the experience we had at Dreams. 

The resort at night

We stayed at Dreams Riviera Cancun in Puerto Morelos, Mexico in March of 2010 for nine days. And we were happy to get out of the snow and freezing weather and into some sunshine and heat. Mexico delivered. We arrived on a Sunday to warm weather (in the 70s if I recall correctly), cool drinks and mega relaxation, and not a day too soon. The next day Bangor, Maine (where I'm from and a few miles from Orono where we both went to grad school at the time) was voted the worst weather in the country. Like I said, not a moment too soon.

Birds birds everywhere

The weather cooperated the whole time we were there and hung out in the 70s and sunny region all nine days. The water was a beautiful blue that I'm certainly not used to having grown up in Maine. We got to hang out on the beach and by the pool all day, then shift into even gear and have drinks and delicious food at night. Once again that pesky vegetarian thing came up, but I ate really well while we were at Dreams. For an all-inclusive, the food was pretty incredible.

The cactus dish  

We went to the Mexican restaurant and I got cactus. Yup, cactus. That prickly green thing you're supposed to avoid. I ate it. And it wasn't half bad. Definitely unlike anything I had ever had before, but I'm all about trying new foods as long as they're vegetarian. After years of eating the same stir fry since I didn't know what else to make, I love trying new foods any chance I get. Back to Dreams. They also had a Japanese restaurant complete with sushi and hibachi. There was also an Italian restaurant that had some amazing options. And since it's an all-inclusive we never felt limited in what we should order and how much ended up on the table. For me, the food never got boring or monotonous, which is a definite possibility at an all-inclusive (and how it felt at The Jewel). 

On our third or fourth day there, we decided to take a long walk down the beach to the town center. We took off around 11 am and didn't end up getting back to the resort until 2 o'clock. It was a loooooooong walk and while it provided us with some of our best pictures from the vacation, it also wound up giving Dan a pretty terrible sunburn that lasted well after we got back home. Note to self: wear sunscreen like crazy the closer you get to the equator. Thanks to the all-inclusive and the free drinks that came with it, every night from that day on we would hit up the lobby bar for pre-dinner drinks and snacks, while Dan would have the same order for our server, "Dos shots of 1800 por favor." It seemed to do the trick and numb his back long enough to get though dinner. Who needs pain reliever when you've got unlimited tequila at your disposal?

So, after this trip went some swimmingly minus the sunburn, we decided to do another all-inclusive this March. I was wiped out from school and didn't want to do much but be warm, relax and lay out in the sun. While that was mission accomplished, the resort left something to be desired. If you really want to know the dirty details, check out my review on Trip Advisor. I used Trip Advisor for both trips, had one great one and one that left a lot to be desired. So take every review with a grain of salt, but also make sure you read every class of review (from excellent to terrible).

After this last trip we both decided we wanted a very different type of vacation for our next trip. Something a bit more culturally stimulating and definitely not an all-inclusive. We want to go explore and try new places (restaurants and otherwise). I'm taking suggestions, but keep in mind that I hate the cold. 

A Blast From My Traveling Past: Disney Edition

I think I have traveled more in the past two years than I have in the past ten. Once I hit high school family vacations came to a halt since I played sports year round and we could never seem to get the time to go anywhere. That all changed about two years ago when I joined my boyfriend in Orlando for his birthday and the final day of InfoComm, the convention we're heading back to the day after I get back from France. We stayed for ten days in late June (possibly the worst time to travel to Disney World) and started our first vacation together at the so-called happiest place on earth. 

Our savanna view from the room

We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge with a view of the savanna that only belongs in Africa. It was pretty surreal to wake up every morning and have the kind of view you only get on an African safari. We actually saw a giraffe fight, which was as odd at it sounds. I highly recommend googling a video of it. They basically just swing their entire necks and whack each other with them. 

The food at Jiko was incredible. It being Disney, they even had a completely separate vegetarian menu that had some delicious choices on it. I'm always surprised to go to a restaurant and have options. We had some crazy good food there and ended up going back again for another dinner, which is saying something since we like to switch things up a lot night after night. 

Here are some pictures from our visits to the Animal Kingdom Park, Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Hollywood Studios.  

The obligatory picture of Cinderella's castle.

My favorite ride at Magic Kingdom: Splash Mountain

Tower of Terror: I loved, love and will continue to love this ride. Dan, not so much... 

At Epcot's Around the World: China

A black swan, a few years before Black Swan, the award winning film. These birds are vicious by the way!

The Tree of Life at Animal Kingdom Park

T-minus 17 days until France

As the final component of my MBA Program with the University of Maine I have to go on an international trip. I was originally supposed to travel to Japan, but the tragic tsunami changed my plans. Since this is the last part of my MBA, I was given the option to join another international trip just in case the trip to Japan was cancelled. Not wanting to drag my graduation date out even further after some twenty years of schooling, I opted to join the University of Southern Maine's MBA trip to France from June 4-12. I am hoping I won't have to brush off my French skills from high school since they are beginner at best at this point. 

Here is a quick preview of what my week in France will look like:

Saturday - June 4th

Fly from Boston to Paris

Sunday -  June 5th

Train from Paris to Brest

Monday - June 6th

Conference at UBO

This is the Univeristy where I believe we are staying for our time in Brest. Try as I might, I can't find any information on the residence halls there. While I know they won't be 5 star accommodations, I have no idea what French residence halls are like. My only experience with dorms are the ones I lived in while studying at Emory University. Suffice it to say, it's not an experience I ever want to repeat for an extended period.

Visit to Roscoff

ALGO PLUS

This place looks....interesting. From what I understand from their website, they harvest and process food algae. I won't be surprised if there is some taste testing. However, I will be surprised if I end up taking a bottle home with me. My idea of algae is green, slimy and inedible. I'll make sure to have some strongly flavored mints or gum at the ready just in case.

Tuesday - June 7th

SCARMOR
No website for this company, which always surprises me in this day in age. From our trusty trip itinerary, I know that it is a logistics facility for E.Leclerc, a hypermarket chain in France and that we will be visiting the logistics platform.

SAVEOL
An agricultural cooperative specializing in high-quality tomatoes and other vegetables. So this day seems to have a theme: food. Given that both lunch and dinner consists heavily of vegetables everyday for me, I won't mind some afternoon samples from Saveol. We are going to the Packaging Station of Saveol, which should be interesting. Having watched a lot of How It's Made courtesy of my engineer boyfriend, I've got a whole new appreciation for how packaging plants work. It amazes me what kinds of machines have been designed and built just to package a product that I buy on a pretty regular basis.

Wednesday - June 8th
Visit to Quimper

MANOIR DU KINKIZ

This is a cider house, where we will be doing some taste testing. They've got apple cider, water, brandy, and some other apple based alcohols. Nothing like liquor in the morning, or whatever time it is back home. Oh it's 5 o'clock somewhere. When in Rome, right? 

ARMOR LUX
As anyone who knows me knows I am a clotheshorse. I have too many and it is still not enough. So I'm sure I'll be coming home with some souvenirs from Armor Lux, which sells on asos, a favorite online shopping destination of mine based in the UK. I'm kind of digging this dress...the stripes are so French.

Thursday - June 9th

OCEANOPOLIS

This is by far what I'm most excited about. I haven't been to an aquarium since I was a child. And given that working with sea creatures was one of the many careers I proclaimed would be mine while growing up, a dolphin trainer at SeaWorld to be precise, I can't wait to visit Oceanopolis. They are going to do a 30 minute presentation on marketing at Oceanopolis and then we get a 3 hour tour of the pavilions. 

Friday - June 10th

Train from Brest to Paris

Visit the US Embassy in Paris

My knowledge of what goes on at a US Embassy abroad is sadly limited and mostly comes from action movies and television shows. Screaming "I'm an American citizen"  as you bang on the impenetrable gate with the enemies hot on your trail. I've got a sneaking suspicion it will be absolutely nothing like that and far less exciting. All I know is I am going to hang onto my Visa like nobody's business so this visit is pleasure, not business. 

Saturday - June 11th

Free day in Paris

Given that this is my first trip to Europe, I want to try and soak in as much of Paris as possible. The Eiffel Tower or La Tour Eiffel as I should call it, the Louvre, Notre Dame, and of course, I've got to find some good shopping spots. 

Sunday - June 12th

Fly back to Boston

This is the day I'm both dreading and simultaneously looking forward to. It will be nice to get home, but the following day I'm off to Orlando for InfoComm, an audio/visual convention. With the time change and hours on a plane, followed by even more hours on a plane, I'm anticipating major exhaustion. All in a day's work I suppose.