Last night I wanted something with vegetables, so on reviewing what I had on hand I decided on some quick stir fries.  The first one started with a bag of “brocco-slaw” which you can pick up in most grocery stores.  It’s basically shredded broccoli stems, with some carrot and purple cabbage for color.  It makes a great stir fry, and it’s zero work.  I through some oil and garlic in the wok, fried the garlic briefly, chowing all the while.  (Chow is the technical wokking word for “tossing quickly so it doesn’t scorch”.)  Once the garlic had browned, I tossed in the bag of broccoli bits and chowed them until they softened up a bit.  I added some soy sauce, oyster sauce, and a little toasted sesame oil.  Once everything looked pretty much “cooked” I added a cubed block of firm tofu, and heated it through, then served (with rice). 

The second dish was one of my quickie favorites, spicy stir-fried cucumbers.  Peel a cuke or two, cut them in half length-wise, and remove the seeds with a spoon.  Then chop them into bite-sized pieces.  In the wok, heat up some oil, then throw in the cukes.  Add some soy sauce, your favorite chili paste (I use a Chinese garlic/bean/chili paste) and maybe a dash of sesame oil.  Chow until the cucumbers just start to soften a bit, maybe 3–4 minutes.  We don’t usually think of cucumbers being cooked, but it’s a very simple and very tasty way to use up some cucumbers you may have on hand.

It’s been ages since I’ve made pizza from scratch.  Like a really long time.  Back when my wife and I were first married (lo these 13 years ago) I used to make pizza all the time.  Like once a week.  And I’m not talking putting stuff on a pre-made crust, I’m talking from flour and yeast to the pizza stone in the oven.  But I remember it being a lot of work, and ever since I started seeking out low-glycemic foods, pizza pretty much fell out of rotation.

You can probably see where this is leading, but I’ll cut to the chase.  My daughter has been suggesting (forcefully) that she really wants me to make pizza, so last night I dusted off the old peel and went to work.  It wasn’t as much work as I remembered, possibly thanks to the dough hook on my trusty KitchenAid, although it did make quite a mess. 

I decided on one half “just cheese” and half Hawaiian for the kids, and a whole wheat version with mushrooms, olives, red onion and sausage.  Overall, it went pretty well.  The dough came together easily, I found all the tools, etc.  I think the white flour dough was a little too soft, however, which combined with my lack of practice with the pizza peel to pretty much explode the first pie all over the inside of my oven.  There was much wringing of hands and recriminations (all on my part, my daughter was un-phased), but I managed to salvage most of it.  It was an awfully strange shape, but pretty edible according to reports.

The second one came off without a hitch, thanks to stiffer whole wheat dough and way more flour on the peel. 

It was easy enough that I just might have to try it again.  My son’s been demanding a taco pizza, so maybe that’ll be the next round.

Having had pretty decent success with bean-and-beef dishes, I decided to try it with a pork shoulder roast last weekend.  It came out pretty well, and couldn’t get much easier. 

I soaked about a cup of “cranberry” beans overnight in water to start with.  You could use whatever bean you have handy…I had cranberries.  Pinto or calypso, or Anasazi beans would also come out well.  I love heirloom bean varieties, and have tried a bunch.  I really like the ones with groovy names, like Rattlesnake, buckskin, etc.  You can find tons of them at Bob’s Red Mill in Portland.  But I digress.

Once the beans were soaked, I threw them in a Dutch oven with the pork shoulder roast (mine was about 3 pounds), a big can of Mexican-style hominy (posole) and a packet of “red enchilada sauce mix” I picked up at New Seasons.  Threw in enough water to cover, slapped the lid on and brought it up to a boil on the stove top. 

After it boiled, I moved it to a 350° oven for 3 hours.  At the end of the 3 hours, I threw in salt to taste, and about 1/3 cup of white wine vinegar to bring out the chiles in the enchilada sauce mix.  You could also use canned enchilada sauce, in which case I’d leave out the vinegar and some of the salt.  Back in the oven for another hour, and it was ready to serve.

I served each person a hunk off the roast, and some of the beans/posole from the pot.  You could also shred up the pork and mix it all together. 

Low effort, and both tasty and filling.  I’d like to try it with green sauce some time, either from scratch or just canned.  I think tonight the leftovers are going to find their way into burritos. 

Big success last weekend.  I made a big batch of Persian Rice and Lentil pilaf.  You cook the rice and lentils, and separately back some lamb or chicken with onions and spices, then serve them together at the end.  It came out really well, and we had so much rice left over that I cooked up a second batch of meat a few days later. 

Persian pilafs are a lot of work, but well worth the effort.  You boil the rice with lots of water like you would pasta, about 6–10 minutes, then drain it, and pile it in a mound in a heavy pot with lots of butter.  Then you let it steam over low heat for about an hour.  The result should be very light and fluffy rice with a hard crust on the bottom that is the best part.  I’d never tried it with lentils before.  It made a nice contrast in color and texture. 

The meat was super easy.  Throw some stew lamb, shanks, whatever (or chicken parts) in an oven proof container with some salt, pepper, cinnamon, cumin, tumeric, and some onions and garlic and bake at 350 for 2 hours.  Simple goodness!