Sides

Lentil Tabbouleh

June 22, 2010 by Charles 2 Comments

The Palouse region along the Idaho-Washington border is lentil country. In field after field, the tiny, green-coated legume covers the land.

The Palouse region counts roughly 200 miles of land, and is home to over 3,000 family farms. Between them, these farms account for nearly 90 percent of the lentils grown in this country. But sadly, few of these lentils ever find their way onto American plates or palates. Nearly the entire lentil crop is exported – to countries like Spain, Italy, Greece, and India – countries that appreciate the culinary qualities of the lentil.

And the lentil is worthy of appreciation. Unlike beans, lentils cook quickly and do not require soaking. They pair with almost any dish, and …

New York Strip Steak with Asparagus

May 31, 2010 by Charles 7 Comments

I am such a mess sometimes.

Yesterday I treated myself to a steak. This was the first steak I’d ever made for myself, so I spent the morning looking online and through several of my cookbooks, hoping to get my steak just right. I wanted to learn the perfect marinade, the precise cooking time, and how to get the steak done at the ideal temperature.

The best steak, I learned, should be cooked until medium-rare. According to the finger-method,this happens when the feel of the steak approximates the feel of your index finger pressed into your slightly clenched palm. According to the meat thermometer, this happens anywhere from 145 degrees to 125 degrees — depending on whom you ask. Cooking Light’s Grilling, and Steven Raichlen’s How to Grill call medium-rare at 145 degrees. But in James Patterson’s Cooking, it’s 125 degrees, while an online source says it is between 130 and 135 degrees. For what it’s worth, the U.S.D.A. recommends that steaks be cooked until they reach an internal temperature of 145 degrees. The lower temperatures may reflect the willingness to sacrifice absolute food safety in the name of greater flavor and tenderness. Fortunately, Peterson and Raichlen both ascribe to the finger-poke method, so I may try to become comfortable with that method.

But for my first grilled steak, I decided that I should play it by the numbers, and settled on 145.

I grabbed the steak, a little oil …

Roasted Cauliflower

February 24, 2010 by Charles 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, …

Brown Rice

January 30, 2010 by Charles 2 Comments

Making the perfect pot of rice is no easy task. In my first few attempts, it boiled over, came out gummy, and stuck to the bottom: the trifecta of bad rice. But with some practice, and a few google searches, I came to perfect my rice.

Rice is finicky, like a set of rabbit ears on an old television. The more you handle the rice, the worse it turns out. With rice, delicacy is the watchword. Like those thin metal rods, you need to place the pot of rice in the right place, and then leave it alone, trusting it to work as it should.

In practice, this means …

Vanilla Mashed Sweet Potatoes

December 7, 2009 by Charles 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 …