Tag Archives: Roasting

Weeknight Spaghetti with Roasted Butternut Squash

Posted on November 6, 2011 | 3 Comments

This meal answers that important, incessant, weekday question.

After braving our respective routes — Caitlin, the Red Line, I, the Beltway — we arrive home around 7:00 p.m., tired from the day’s activities.  After a quick moment of reprieve, we often head down to the apartment gym to get some much-needed exercise.

Once we’re back upstairs, the question rears its head.  The question that creeps into our minds every night, demanding an immediate answer.  The question is bandied about Continue reading →

→ 3 Comments

Posted in Entrees

Tagged , , , ,

Roasted Beet Salad

Posted on June 30, 2011 | 3 Comments

It seems like most of the restaurants we’ve been to lately offer a beet salad.  And I really like them.  There’s just something about the vibrant red colors and that soft, sweet taste that I find mesmerizing.  So, as with any good dish I’ve seen on the menu, I asked myself if I could make it at home.  The answer, resoundingly, was Continue reading →

→ 3 Comments

Posted in Salad

Tagged , ,

Sirloin Steak with Israeli Couscous

Posted on April 25, 2011 | Leave a comment

Every so often, I like to treat myself to a steak.  During the week, I often settle for a cold sandwich of almond-butter and jelly, chicken salad, or sliced turkey.  Lunch is unabashedly dull.  If I have the energy, I try to make something more exciting for dinner: fish, perhaps, or even arepas, the Venezuelan corn cakes that I recently discovered.

Fish and arepas are appealing because they are quick and easy to cook.  But so is steak and so is couscous (provided I don’t make it more complicated than necessary).  And unlike a broiling fish, there’s a certain pleasure in hearing the sizzle of the steak, as the hot iron meets the cool, raw side of the meat.  After a quick flip and a few minutes in the oven, the steak is cooked, leaving you five minutes of  eager anticipation, as the steak cools and cooks under its foil tent.

If you remember to marinate the Continue reading →

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Entrees, Sides

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Simple Roasted Sweet Potato Fries

Posted on November 7, 2010 | 7 Comments

It’s no secret that I love sweet potatoes.  I’ve featured them mashed, baked, and grilled.  I’ve also folded them into phyllo dough, and into a bundt cake.

Out of all these variations, one of my favorite ways to prepare sweet potatoes happens to be one of the simplest: sliced and roasted.

As the days start to darker and the weather cooler, these sweet potato fries are a quick remedy.  Simple and quick to make, these warm and healthy fries are the quintessential comfort food, a sizzling side, and an awesome appetizer.

Last week, I Continue reading →

→ 7 Comments

Posted in Sides

Tagged , , ,

Crostini

Posted on September 1, 2010 | 1 Comment

Sometimes you just have to say, “Prego,” and go for it.

Between switching jobs, moving, and studying for the bar, Caitlin and I were having a whirlwind summer.  Which is why, perhaps, it was only fitting that we decided to book a trip to Italy and Croatia with only two weeks to plan for it.  But sure enough, a day after the bar exam, and three days after my belongings and I arrived in Cincinnati, we were on a plane headed to Florence.

As I said, sometimes you just have to say, “Prego.”

We arrived in Rome Friday morning, and scrambled Continue reading →

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Appetizers

Tagged , , , ,

Roasted Cauliflower

Posted on February 24, 2010 | 6 Comments

Hello, all – it’s Caitlin here!

Charles has graciously ceded the wheel to me for today’s posting, thus giving me the opportunity to discuss one of my favorite dietary topics: fiber.  I’ll preface this discussion by saying that Charles eats a very healthful diet, with oatmeal, sweet potatoes, and bananas ranking among his favorites.

Yet, when I suggested that he swap his white bread for a whole grain alternative (more fiber!), he balked at the suggestion and characterized my beloved wheat bread as “cardboard” (blasphemy!).  Despite these accusations, Continue reading →

→ 6 Comments

Posted in Sides

Tagged , ,

Maple-Roasted Winter Squash

Posted on December 24, 2009 | 3 Comments

Cooking offers the chance to learn something new.

Sometimes, it’s a new cooking style – broiling or deep frying, perhaps.  Other times, cooking offers the opportunity to try a new spice or a new vegetable.  When I learned the difference between sweet potatoes and yams, I went out and bought two different types of yams.

Not surprisingly, when I learned the difference between the different types of winter squash, I went out and bought three different types of squash.  Among them were two varieties I had never tried: acorn and ambercup.

Roasting different varieties together has its advantages.  It offers the chance Continue reading →

→ 3 Comments

Posted in Entrees

Tagged , , , , , ,

Vanilla Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Posted on December 7, 2009 | 5 Comments

If you know me, you know I love sweet potatoes.  So, when it came time to create a Thanksgiving menu, the question wasn’t whether I was going to serve sweet potatoes, the question was simply what recipe to choose.

I wanted something fairly simple to make, but that would nonetheless impress.  I also wanted it to be something unique and fun.  This recipe met Continue reading →

→ 5 Comments

Posted in Sides

Tagged , , , ,

Apple Cider Brined Roast Turkey

Posted on November 29, 2009 | 5 Comments

Thanksgiving is no time for experiments.  On any regular Thursday, the pizza parlor is just a phone call away.  But on Thanksgiving, there is no such luxury.

This year, I stuck with Ina Garten’s recipe for roast turkey.  Though, unlike the two previous years, I decided to brine my turkey – a technique which I had not yet tried.  Brining – the process of immersing the meat in a salt-water mixture – works to dry and salt the meat by osmosis.  That is, excess salt from the juice flows into the meat, while excess water from the meat, flows into the juice.  Which doesn’t sound great: who wants dry, salty meat?

Fortunately, the osmotic process is not finished.  As the salt enters the meat, Continue reading →

→ 5 Comments

Posted in Entrees

Tagged , , , ,

Roasted Asparagus

Posted on September 21, 2009 | 4 Comments

Roasted Asparagus

Roasting is one of the best ways to enhance both the color and flavor of an item.  In this case, just a little time and olive oil brings out the crisp crunch and sharp green of asparagus spears.  These roasted asparagus spears can be served in their own right, or Continue reading →

→ 4 Comments

Posted in Sides

Tagged , , ,