FoodFash

Polenta Sliders

July 8, 2014 by Kristin

Do you ever have one of those days that you feel like you squished multiple days into a single day? And you look back on your very first thing you knocked off your list and it seems like ages ago? Today was one of those days. It started with waking up in Florida, returning a rental car, and heading to the airport and ended with cleaning out cabinets in Austin, a mini trip to Fresh Plus, a 4-mile Shoal Creek trek with Skylar, and a fancy little dinner. The stuff that happened in between went something like work, work, work, wondering how I could be so homesick after 5 days at home, work.

When I was cleaning out the cabinets {homesick therapy}, I found a tube of polenta that served as inspiration for dinner. And then the thought progression continued like so: burgers -> arugula & spinach -> mushrooms & onions.

I put my oven to work by simultaneously sautéing, grill-panning, and broiling. And when everything was cooked to perfection, I assembled the mini towers of goodness and served to Skylar and Max.

I liked changing up a plain old meat/veggie combo with the texture of polenta. And I totally dug the addition of greens and sautéed veggies, but a classic topping of lettuce, tomato, pickle, and onion would be equally as delicious.

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White Sweet Potato Curly Fries

June 30, 2014 by Kristin

If you’re going to make homemade ketchup, then you must also make a homemade something to dip in said ketchup. Like curly fries. White sweet potato curly fries.

I was drawn to the palest sweet potatoes in the stack {labeled Japanese sweet potatoes}, assuming they’d be less sweet than the typical orange variety. A little Google research validated the less-sweet hunch, but left me confused on what variety of sweet potato I picked up from the stack. Although Japanese sweet potatoes have a white flesh, their skin is super purple. A Japanese sweet potato, my potato was not.

Another mission was to make a crispier fry than I had made in the past. I used this recipe {that called for eggs whites in lieu of corn starch} and a crispier fry is exactly what I got. And although the spiralized slightly sweet potato fry was delish, it was a bit too time consuming for me. I’ll likely stick to the traditionally shaped fry in the future.

Homemade Chipotle Ketchup

June 27, 2014 by Kristin

There is no shortage of housemade ketchup in Austin. So much so, that I’ve not only developed a taste for the condiment, but the desire to make my own has crept upon me as well.

And since I still had leftover chipotle peppers in the freezer {from salsa making} and I still can’t get enough of that smoky spice, I decided chipotle ketchup was the way to go.

I was surprised how much the ketchup lightened after a few seconds in the Blendtec. But after the initial confusion of red turned orange, I fell in love with my housemade ketchup. I jarred some up for a friend’s party this weekend and added ketchup to my unpublished list of store-bought things I plan to home-make from now on.

Curly fry recipe coming soon.

Recipe adapted from Epicurious.

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Shepherd’s Pie

June 24, 2014 by Kristin

Resisting the most adorable casserole dish in the world, I could not. I scooped it up without concern that I rarely make casseroles. I’d figure something out, right? Pinterest would certainly guide me in the right direction.

While I didn’t find the recipe on Pinterest, it did spark a memory of Shepherd’s Pie. I’d often seen it on menus, but couldn’t recall if Shepherd’s Pie was something I had ever actually tried. I sifted through recipes and came to the conclusion that anything topped with mashed potatoes was worth giving a shot.

I settled on Alton Brown’s Shepherd’s Pie recipe. Partly because I trust Alton Brown, but mostly because I was excited about cooking with ground lamb.

I swapped out {more than} a handful of ingredients to make this dish void of dairy and gluten. There were initial nerves about how mashed potatoes with coconut milk and oil would taste. But after whipping them up and sampling the meat/veggie mix, I knew I was 25 baking minutes away from the coziest of meals in the coziest of casserole dishes.

A modified version of Alton Brown’s recipe is below:

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