No Recipe This Week

Sorry, dear readers, but there will be no recipe this week. I had been working on pasta sauce with almonds and asparagus, but just couldn't get it quite right. And I couldn't bear to send you off to the kitchen with a mediocre recipe!

Stay tuned for next week. I'm feeling inspired after my new man and I made two cast iron pots of seafood paella last night, accompanied by Spanish cheeses, delicious wine, and an orange-cardamom yogurt cake. We're off to NYC tonight for what I'm sure will be a hedonistic extravaganza. I expect to bring back some good ideas!

Spinach and Sorrel Gratin

I prefer my vegetables unadulterated: steamed artichokes with butter for dipping, lightly salted asparagus spears eaten with my fingers, or spinach sauteed with a drizzle of olive oil. I like simple vinaigrettes for my salads and never eat corn on the cob with butter. But every now and then a dish comes along that gives me pause and makes eschew these basic vegetable preparations for something more elaborate.

A new friend had recently suggested I consider including foraged food in some of my recipes. Brilliant. As a medical student and soon-to-be resident, he pointed out that foraged food was perfect for the student budget because it's free! True, you do need to know where to look and take the time to actually forage, but we can't spend 12 hours a day chained to our desks. That just wouldn't do.

As fate would have it, my mother had brought me a bunch of sorrel this weekend from the Berkshires. Tangy and lemony sour, it tastes like spring. Taking inspiration from my latest culinary obsession Jerry Traunfeld, I adapted his recipe for Spinach and Lovage Gratin to make a healthier spinach and sorrel gratin. Although you can buy sorrel at the grocery store, here is more info on how to forage for it. I love sorrel, but it becomes a rather drab army green when cooked, so spinach is the perfect foil for keeping it bright. The active time for this dish is minimal, about 10 minutes, but you will need to bake the gratin for about 15-20 minutes. I think this would be a nice side to a pasta main course, like last week's Whole Wheat Pasta with Rosemary and Garlic.

Spinach and Sorrel Gratin
serves 4 as a side dish

Special equipment: 4 small ramekins or 4-cup baking dish

• 1 T olive oil
  
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 10 oz bag large leaf spinach
• 1 T butter
• 1 T flour
• 3/4 c 1% milk
  
• 1 generous cup chopped sorrel
• 1 T olive oil
• 3 T panko bread crumbs
• 3 T grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375 F. In a saute pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and saute until coated in oil and fragrant. Add spinach and stir until completely wilted (using tongs makes this easier). Remove to separate bowl. Return pan to heat and melt butter. When completely melted, add flour, stirring mixture constantly. The flour will begin to darken just a shade, then immediately add milk, stirring vigorously to dissolve flour and butter. Let milk come to a boil and thicken. Add sorrel and spinach mixture. Toss to coat and then divide among ramekins. Combine remaining olive oil, bread crumbs, and cheese in a small bowl then sprinkle over the top of the spinach. Bake 15-20 minutes or until tops are golden brown.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Rosemary and Garlic

My apologies for the delayed post this week. Five days of epic eating in Seattle will do that to a girl. I ate some truly inspiring meals that made me want to give up my East Coast life and flee West where the oysters are melony sweet. The stand out meal was at poppy, where I was tempted to lick clean every dish of the wondrous thali prepared by chef Jerry Traunfeld. But since being back, I've felt the need to eat a bit more simply and a little bit lighter, Italian sausages at Fenway aside.

Waking up a little hungover this morning (the joys of my pre-med school life), all I've been craving is pasta. I immediately thought of this dish, which is yet another week night staple taught to me by my parents. I'm not typically one to advocate whole wheat pasta, as I love the full-carb bleached white flour version, but this dish is different. The ingredients are so simple that you need the nuttiness of the whole wheat pasta to round out the flavors. My mom recently turned me on to the Whole Wheat Organic Italian Pasta from Fratelli Mantova, which resembles a whole wheat linguine. It's sensational and I would urge everyone to seek it out.

A special thanks to my darling friend Lex for being an eager taste tester over lunch. I love when my friends are free during the day and put up with my propensity to make food too spicy at times.
Whole Wheat Pasta with Rosemary and Garlic
serves 2

• whole wheat pasta for 2 people (about 2 quarter sized bunches)
  
• 4 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 2 t finely chopped fresh rosemary
• 1/8 - 1/4 t red chili flakes depending on how much spice you can tolerate
  
• 4 T olive oil
• Parmesan cheese for serving
  

First things first, get the pasta going according to the directions on the package. When the pasta has begun to cook, start on the sauce. Heat a medium saute pan (I use my cast iron skillet) over medium-high heat until warm. Add olive oil. When olive oil is hot and shimmery, but not smoking, add the garlic, rosemary, and chili flakes. Stir constantly just until garlic starts to turn brown and then immediately remove pan from heat. Drain pasta and add to the saute pan. Toss to fully coat in sauce. Serve right away with Parmesan cheese.

Cupboard #3

Where: Capitol Hill, Seattle, WA
When: 5:30 PM, Sunday
Who: Melissa & Dan, Sinophile/project manager and physician, foodies
Favorite quick meal: cabbage with a fried egg on top

Daddy's Seitan Sandwiches

In honor of my father turning the big 6-0 today, I thought I'd post a recipe he taught me. In fact, eating this seitan sandwich is one of my earliest food memories with him (second only to his famous omelets, which is for another time). I know some people are going to be incredulous about cooking with seitan. If you think about it as meat substitute, then yes, I'm with you that eating meat would be preferable. But if you think of it as just seitan, then I believe you will be surprised at how much you like its pillowy texture and slightly sweet flavor.

I grew up in a quasi-vegetarian household where Dad's non-meat-eating habits usually predominated. Mom also tended to eschew dairy and simple carbohydrates (this was way pre-Atkins, mind you). Sauteed seitan with onions and BBQ sauce on a (white) baguette was a happy medium. I don't remember ever really eating red meat as a child, so I was delighted with these spicy and savory sandwiches that Dad made. Tofu, tempeh, and seitan were all weekly stars at the table.

For all you students and folks on a budget, seitan gains additional bonus points for its price, which is pretty dang cheap. I found mine at Whole Foods, though I'm sure it's available at most health food stores and co-ops. For BBQ sauce, I'm going to give a shameless plug for KC Masterpiece, which was developed by a physician, no less. A second good option is Bone Suckin' Sauce. Buy a really delicious crunchy loaf of French bread. It will take the sandwich to a whole new level.

Daddy's Seitan Sandwiches
generously serves 2

• 2 T olive oil
• 1 large Spanish onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 1 oz package seitan, sliced into thin strips
• 1/3 c your favorite BBQ sauce
• 1 loaf French bread

In a medium saute pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and saute, stirring occasionally, until soft and beginning to caramelize, about 10-12 minutes. Add seitan and cook until just warmed through. Add BBQ sauce and stir to coat onions and seitan. Serve immediately in French bread. Leftovers are good reheated the next day!

This Week's Recommendations

I can never say no to a Mark Bittman recipe. That man always seems to be one step ahead of me, anticipating what I might desire to cook before I even know myself. I just picked up tamarind paste to make this pad thai.

This next recipe might be a little advanced/involved, but if there's anyone who has wanted to attempt baking bread, this Buttermilk Oatmeal Bread from food52 is incredible. I made it last week and ate the whole loaf myself in 48 hours.

I recently made this fragrant squash dish from Saveur: Kabocha Squash with Ginger. I used butternut squash and was amazed at how simple, but flavorful it was. This would be great served with another Asian-inspired dish, such as last week's Furikake Tofu.

Also, I just discovered that the Monterey Bay Aquarium has a whole slew of recipes for sustainable fish developed by all-star chefs. The halibut with herbs and flowers looks especially gorgeous.

Alright, now go forth and cook!

This Week in the Blogosphere...

I officially have stopped subscribing to cooking magazines. With the exception of Saveur, I just don't find them relevant anymore. Most of their recipes you can find online and I've grown weary of the stacks of bookmarked magazines that accumulate on my bed, coffee table, and counters. Our generation is going paperless, last I heard. Of late, I prefer trawling through the interwebs for tonight's dinner inspiration, cheering on my fellow foodie bloggers and picking up a few tips along the way. Every week I'm going to share with you my finds, keeping in mind the Student Epicure's mission: to cook delicious meals that won't leave you strapped for time or cash.

Here's is what I've stumbled upon this week:

Cambridge-based blogger Oui, Chef creates a current twist on a classic with Quinoa Tabbouleh. Looks good for a weekday lunch.

Dr. Winnie of Healthy Green Kitchen blends up a quick & healthy breakfast with her Cherry Flax Smoothie.

From the kitchen of the inimitable 101 Cookbooks comes a hearty fragrant Coconut Red Lentil Soup.

I recently discovered James Ramsden and who could not be somewhat seduced when he describes the kind of goat cheese you should use for his tomato & goat cheese gratin as " one that honks like an entire stenchy herd and crumbles when prodded." Delight!