To Catch a Cook

Saag Paneer Becomes Quiche

In my house, the trick to eating up leftovers is through transformation.  I can’t turn water into wine (wish I could!), but I can turn Saag Paneer from Wednesday night into a great quiche on Thursday.  I used this saag paneer recipe from 101cookbooks.  It’s not terribly authentic, but the result was fresh tasting and spinach forward.  So the next night I took about two cups of leftover saag paneer (crumbling the cheese into bits), mixed in 1/4 cup of creme fraiche, 3 eggs, and 1/4 cup of crumbled feta.  I blind baked a pie crust, and then poured in the quiche mix.  I baked the quiche for 30 min at 425.  The result was just a touch runny (maybe some more eggs or cream next time?), but it tasted great.  A clever way to get two meals out of one, no?

Moroccan Mint Roasted Veggies

I was surfing one of my favorite cooking blogs, 101cookbooks.com, for new recipe ideas and came across this.  I followed Heidi’s recipe but substituted fresh mint for dried.  I served the roasted vegetables over couscous with a side of Greek yogurt.  The yogurt turned out to be critical for balancing the flavors of the dish.  Pretty tasty overall.

Fava Bean Soup

In case you hadn’t noticed, I’ve been on a soup kick recently.  This recipe from 101Cookbooks looked like a winner.  I decided to do some advance work so it would be easy to cook up for a weeknight dinner.  So last Sunday I did all the work of soaking and shelling my fava beans, roasting my vegetables, and preparing the chili sauce.  The chili sauce went into a small tub, and the rest of the ingredients went into a big tub in the fridge.  On Tuesday all I had to do was add broth to my soup, cook until the fava beans were tender, and top with cilantro, feta and chili sauce.  This one is definitely worth planning ahead for.

Pinto Bean Mole

Here’s a great Sunday supper recipe.  A couple of friends called, so we invited them over - it’s relatively easy to cook up a big pot and just stick it in the oven until it’s time to eat.  I served the mole over polenta.

Cashew Curry

It’s been a while since I made a curry, so I whipped this up on Thursday.  It doesn’t take long, so get your rice cooking first.  One improvement: I precooked the tofu by cutting it into triangles, pressing out the water, and frying in a dry skillet.  If the tofu is dry it will absorb the curry flavor better.  I made the mistake of using a vindaloo powder that was a bit too hot.  But it was my first time with this recipe, so another go or two is probably needed to perfect the dish.