Fried Rice. Wow.

Stop the presses, stop your diet, stop everything and make this rice.

Before today, I had never made the same dish twice in once evening. This rice, from Mark Bittman, forced me to. Seriously, it FORCED me. I absolutely could not not eat it again. "Let's have it again tomorrow night" suggested the ever-reasonable David (who, I might add, ate this faster than I have ever seen him eat anything). But waiting was just not going to happen. I ate the last bite of the first incarnation, and immediately put the rice on to boil for the second.

I know that I'm a little (a lot) late to this party, that every blogger and home cook worth their salt (including Smitten Kitchen and Sarah) has made it and raved about it. It has been on my "to cook" list since it was published back in January. The problem: we don't have leftover rice. You see, after a childhood of watching my mom throw away half a cup of leftover rice almost every night, I was determined to always cook the exact amount of rice--to get it down to a science. And I did! Which was great for my conscience, but bad for fried rice. Finally, last night, I remembered to make a couple of extra cups of rice, specifically for this dish. And now, I will probably never make exactly enough rice again. David says that he could happily eat this every night for the rest of his life, and I'm inclined to agree.

Ginger Fried Rice (adapted from Mark Bittman)

This recipe is perfectly adaptable to any kind of rice. The first time, I used leftover brown basmati rice, and the second time I used fresh sushi rice. Mark says not to use fresh rice, that it must be day-old, but I just stuck my fresh rice, uncovered, in the freezer while the leeks softened, and it turned out just fine. I originally halved it, but, obviously, making the whole thing should be just fine for two.

1/2 cup peanut oil

2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 tablespoons minced ginger

Salt

2 cups thinly sliced leeks, white and light green parts only, rinsed and dried

4 cups day-old cooked rice, preferably jasmine, at room temperature

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons sesame oil

4 teaspoons soy sauce.

1. In a large skillet, heat 1/4 cup oil over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp and brown. With a slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels and salt lightly.

2. Reduce heat under skillet to medium-low and add 2 tablespoons oil and leeks. Cook about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until very tender but not browned. Season lightly with salt.

3. Raise heat to medium and add rice. Cook, stirring well, until heated through. Season to taste with salt.

4. In a nonstick skillet, fry eggs in remaining oil, sunny-side-up, until edges are set but yolk is still runny.

5. Divide rice among four dishes. Top each with an egg and drizzle with 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil and 1 teaspoon soy sauce. Sprinkle crisped garlic and ginger over everything and serve.

Yield: 4 servings.

Sausage and Beans, Two.

Another sausage+legume combo, which is a favorite of mine. This is a really great winter dish, which manages to feel hearty while still being quite healthy. It also makes great leftovers. The remains of this particular casserole were living happily in the freezer over spring break when the electricity went off. For almost a week! It was with a heavy heart that I returned to Chicago and threw out frozen shrimp, a stash of good sausages, and many leftovers. (Not to mention two gallons of homemade chicken stock...)

Anyway, this dish is so easy and cheap to make that the leftovers weren't too much of a loss, and if this chilly weather keeps up I might make it again soon. Any kind of chicken sausage should be fine; I used hot italian, but only because it was the most interesting type to be had at Treasure Island.

Chicken Sausage and White Bean Casserole (adapted from Martha Stewart)

Note: the original recipe calls for fresh bread crumbs to top the casserole. I had no bread, which meant no fresh bread crumbs. However, I'm sure it would make this even better.

-2 tablespoons olive oil

-25-30 fresh sage leaves

-1 medium yellow onion, diced

-6 cloves garlic, minced

-3/4 chicken sausage, casings removed (in my grocery store, chicken sausage comes in 1.25 lb packages of 5 links. For this, I use 3 links and save the other two for grilling)

-1/2 cup white wine

-2 cans cannellini beans

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. When hot, add sage leaves and fry until crisp, then remove to a paper towel.

2. Add onion and garlic to the pan and saute until translucent.

3. Add the sausage and fry until no longer pink, breaking up with a spoon/spatula. Add beans and wine to the pan and cook about 3 minutes, until everything is heated through. Season with salt and lots of pepper.

4. Transfer sausage/beans to a casserole dish and top with the fried sage leaves. Bake 15-20 minutes and serve with parmesan and a vegetable of some kind.

Photography note: These pictures are better! They might even be good! All credit goes to the sun, which, these days, is sometimes out when I finish cooking. I've been taking pictures on the back porch, see.

<- Bike and Beans.

I'm Back.

Hello! Did you miss me?

It has been over a month since I last posted, and I'm pretty embarrassed. I'm sure that some of you gave up on me (or at least on my blog) entirely. But, here I am, back from an eventful spring break and a painful transition into the new quarter. I started off this quarter fully intending to cut myself some academic slack, but four days in found myself having promised to sit in on an extra class, write an extra paper, and take on some extra hours at work. This isn't a personal blog, so I will (try) to keep the whining to a minimum, but I just wanted you to know that I haven't been spending all this time twiddling my thumbs, or whatever.

Today I'm back with cake, and in the next few days I will posting meals from the past month that I managed to photograph, but didn't manage to write up.

This cake. Oh man, this cake. I made for a party that I threw on Friday, for the Art History majors, obviously. This is by far the best chocolate cake that I have made, and it might just be the best one I've had. It is moist beyond belief, and the inclusion of cocoa powder AND melted chocolate... mmmm. I'm eating a slice of the leftovers right now, and it might just be even better after a day in the fridge.

The recipe is from Smitten Kitchen, of course, with no modifications, and the frosting is basic cream cheese. As for the successful decoration, that's thanks to SK as well. In one of her many, many helpful cake posts, she explains that smooth frosting is achieved using the "crumb layer" technique. A thin layer of frosting is spread on the cake, and the cake is then refrigerated/frozen until the frosting is solid. Then, a second, SMOOTH layer goes on. It works fantastically well.

Smitten Kitchen's Best Chocolate Cake

What to eat after a final.

A final for a class called "Plagues", no less.

It's no secret that I'm crazy for legumes. At the moment, my kitchen contains four types of canned beans, two types of dried beans, dried split peas and five types of lentils. Five types of lentils! I never claimed to be sane. But of all the uses for all the legumes, this might be my favorite.

The French green lentils are key here. I made this once with black beluga lentils, which are gorgeous and worth trying, but this dish is worlds better if you use the real thing. The quality of the sausages is key too. I use hot dogs, but not just any hot dogs. They come from my absolute favorite place in the whole city of Chicago--Gene's Sausage Shop. Seriously, this place is over an hour away and if it weren't for school I would go every other day. Actually, if I didn't go to school in Hyde Park I would move to Lincoln Square just to be closer to Gene's. They make their own meat everything, and stock awesome (and amazingly priced!) Eastern European beer, liquor, and groceries. Actually, my lentils came from here too. Anyway, if you're lacking a place like Gene's, use some kielbasa or other high quality smoked sausage.

We ate this with roasted brussels sprouts (probably the last of the season!), but it makes a pretty good meal on its own, and is also good cold. I've tweaked the original recipe quite a bit, adding more sausage, decreasing the lentils by a third (the first time I made it, we never got through the leftovers) and upping the mustard in the dressing.

Warm French Lentil Salad with Smoked Sausage (adapted from Use Real Butter)

serves 4

-1 cup French green (de Puy) lentils

-1/2 lb smoked sausage, cut into bite-sized pieces

-3 sprigs fresh thyme

-2 smashed garlic cloves

-2 bay leaves

-black peppercorns

-1 small onion, peeled and halved

-1 small carrot, halved

-1 and 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

-1 tablespoon dijon mustard

-1 tablespoon olive oil

-1 tablespoon walnut oil (or replace with more olive oil, if you don't have walnut oil around)

-1/4 cup chopped parsley

-2 scallions, chopped

-salt and pepper

1. Put the thyme, garlic, peppercorns, and bay leaves into a cheesecloth pouch or spice bag. Place in a saucepan with the lentils, onion, and carrot and cover with about 2 inches of water. Bring to a boil, and simmer 30-40 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, brown the sausage in a cast iron skillet, and make the dressing. Whisk together the vinegar, mustard, and oils. Add salt and pepper and more of oil or vinegar, to taste.

3. When the lentils are tender, drain and discard the spice pouch, onion, and carrot.

4. Mix together the lentils, sausage, parsley, scallion, and dressing. Serve!

Chicken, Bread, Cookies

Yesterday, I woke up to some very sad and unexpected news. I took off work but figured that I'd best keep busy, so I did the only thing that I knew would distract me--I cooked and cooked and cooked. There are unfortunately very few pictures in today's post, as I was too busy cooking, stuffing my face, and cooking more things to stuff in my face, but I do have three fantastic recipes to share.

Chicken in Milk (adapted from Jamie Oliver)

The idea of this sounds kind of gross, and to be honest, the result looks pretty gross too. The milk curdles with the lemon peel, making a strangely chunky, yellow sauce. But I promise that it is delicious. In order to make it more visually appealing, I took all the meat off the chicken and pureed the sauce with my handy immersion blender (thanks, Mom). I made a few changes to the original recipe, including stuffing the chicken cavity with the skinned lemons and leaving the lid on the pot. This was my first time cooking a whole chicken, and it was surprisingly stress free.

-3.5 lb chicken

-1/4 stick of butter

-2 tablespoons olive oil

-2 lemons, zested

-a large handful of fresh sage leaves

-1 pint of milk (I used 2%)

-10 garlic cloves, unpeeled

-small cinnamon stick

-salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Wash and season the chicken on both sides, and stuff the cavity with pieces of the skinned lemon. Heat olive oil and butter in a large, oven-safe pot with a lid, and brown the chicken on both sides. I needed a third hand to turn the chicken over in my deep pot.

3. Remove the chicken to a plate, and pour off the excess fat. Return the chicken and all of the other ingredients to the pot. Cook in the oven for an hour and half. I took the lid off for the last half hour, but next time I'll leave it on, as the breast got a little dry and the skin wasn't great anyway.

4. Tear the cooked chicken into small chunks and serve, topped with the sauce. I pureed mine, but it's completely optional.

This was great with some fresh bread to spread the garlic over and dip in the sauce.

Reliable, Homemade Bread (adapted from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day)

Making bread is easy, especially on Sunday. The rising times can be adapted to suit your needs--if you have to be gone all day, just put the dough in the fridge for the first rise. A long, slower rise will actually make the bread even better. This recipe makes four small loves, which are an ideal size for two. I baked two (one for the neighbors) and put the others in the freezer. To bake the frozen dough, thaw it overnight or all day and then proceed to step 5. Please don't be intimidated by the number of steps! Most of this is inactive time, and really, there's only about five minutes of kneading in the whole thing.

-6 1/2 cups flour

-2 3/4 cups water, at "body temperature" (I always microwave bread water for 20 seconds)

-1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast

-1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

-1 tablespoon salt

1. Combine water, yeast, salt, and sugar in a large bowl, and add flour a cup at a time. If your dough seems too wet to work with (mine often does), add another cup of flour by half-cups.

2. Stir/knead until the dough in moist throughout and completely uniform. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place for 2 to 5 hours, until the dough has doubled in size.

3. Punch down the dough and knead it a few times, then divide into three or four portions. To freeze some, form into balls and wrap tightly with plastic wrap.

4. Form the dough into loaves, and let rise another 40 minutes, or an hour if using frozen dough. If making pan loaves (my preference), roll the dough out to a large rectangle, and roll the rectangle up into the shape of the pan. Pinch all the seams, and tuck the ends under.

5. Let rise another 40 minutes to an hour, and turn the oven on to 450 degrees.

6. Here's the trick. A few minutes before you are ready to put the bread in the oven, place a roasting pan on the bottom rack. After you put the bread it, pour a good cup of cold water into the hot pan (which should be below the bread), and immediately shut the oven door. The steam helps a good crust to form.

7. Bake for 30 minutes or so. Check halfway through--if the crust is already browning, lower the temperature to 350 degrees for the duration of baking. The bread is done when the bottom sounds hollow when tapped (I grab it with an oven mitt and tap it with a wooden spoon).

Austrian Raspberry Shortbread Bars

The only change I made to this recipe was halving it (which I'm now regretting), so I'll just link you to the original post by the fantastic Smitten Kitchen. All of her cookie recipes are great.

Coming up on The Off-Campus Gourmet:

-Finals week! Finals are coming, but, hopefully, the blog won't go silent. I intend to share some of my most trusted (and FAST) last-minute recipes, as well as one or two huge dishes that can be frozen in anticipation of a busy stretch.

-More in organization and time management. I have a few days between the end of finals and a trip to New York, in which I hope to share more about my kitchen, the way that I plan meals and organize a pantry, and my general approach to cooking.

-Some recipes with these exciting new ingredients! Thanks, Mom & Tim.

The Best Curry I've Made

I've been sick. I haven't posted in a while. I'm sorry. I've been living mainly on oatmeal and a basic potato-leek soup that I had the foresight to whip up before it got bad. Poor David has been scrounging tacos and nachos and thai food. Yesterday, however, I started feeling better and up to cooking.

I went through a serious curry phase a few months ago. It was delicious and I learned a lot, but there was one thing I could never get exactly right--curried lentils. I tried at least three recipes, before giving up. In every case, something was wrong. Too spicy, too bland, to mushy. I tried Mark Bittman. Eh. I tried Madhur Jaffrey. Eh. So I called it quits, until last week, when, bedridden, I became mildly obsessed with the idea of a red lentil and sweet potato dish. So I made one. It's fantastic, if I do say so myself.

Lentil and Sweet Potato Curry

serves 3-4

1 cup red lentils

1 medium sized sweet potato, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks

1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped

1 tablespoon (or more) fresh ginger, finely chopped or grated

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1-2 serrano chiles, seeds removed, finely chopped

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 can light coconut milk

1/2 cup to 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth

2 teaspoons cumin seeds, toasted and ground with mortar and pestle

1 teaspoon coriander seeds, toasted and ground

1 and 1/2 teaspoons turmeric

1 teaspoon salt

cooked rice, plain yogurt, and cilantro, for serving.

1. Boil sweet potato until tender. Drain and set aside.

2. Heat oil in a large, heavy saucepan and cook onion, stirring, until soft and just browned around the edges. Add chile, spices, garlic and ginger, and cook for another minute or so. Add lentils, coconut milk, and 1/2 cup of stock (save the rest to thin the curry at the end, if desired). Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, covered, for 15-20 minutes.

3. When the lentils are tender but not mushy, add the sweet potatoes and more stock if desired. Heat through, stir, and serve with chopped cilantro, yogurt, and rice.

Notes: The whole spices are important here. If you have to use pre-ground spices, use the best and freshest that you can find. Also, the yogurt topping is pretty great; don't leave it out. I use 2% greek style yogurt. Like most curries, this one reheats well.

Winter Vegetables

Winter in Chicago is long. Really long. By the end of January I go crazy for sun, and right about now I'm seriously craving the glorious vegetable bounty of summer in the Midwest. But I'm trying hard to be positive. I recently re-started ordering produce boxes from Fresh Picks. I used to get them regularly in the summer and early fall, but stopped once school started. I figured that I wouldn't have time to use up all the veggie, plus I didn't want what I imagined would be box after box of potatoes.

As it turns out, I'm cooking even more now than I did in the summer. I've also spent the last couple of months learning to love a lot of new vegetables, ones that I hated as a kid. Of particular note are brussels sprouts. I used to gag at the thought of them, but these days, we eat them at least once a week. Like many winter vegetables, they are glorious roasted, and pretty icky cooked almost any other way.

Getting to the (recipe) point. I started getting Fresh Picks deliveries last week. In my box, in addition to some beautiful lacinato kale, arugula, and cauliflower, was this huge bag of assorted root vegetables. As you can see, they are a far cry from the mounds of potatoes I had feared. At first, I wondered what I would do with three pounds of roots, but it has been going great so far. I made a big batch of chicken stock with some of the carrots and parsnips, enjoyed a beautiful celery root salad (more on this later), and, last night, we had this awesome dish. I happily took a large jar for lunch today, and I hate to eat the same thing two meals in a row. You should make it before winter ends.

Roasted Root Vegetable and Wheat Berry Salad (adapted from David Lebovitz)

serves 4

-1 and 1/2 pounds assorted root vegetables (I used purple carrots, parsnips, rutabagas, and turnips)

-1 cup wheat berries (or barley, quinoa, etc.)

-1 small yellow onion, finely chopped

-1 cup walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped

-large handful arugula, washed and roughly chopped

-1/2 cup dried cranberries

-1/4 cup olive oil + more for coating the roots

-squeeze of lemon juice

-1 tablespoon walnut oil (optional)

-salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425

1. Bring about 4 cups of heavily salted water to a boil, and add the wheat berries. Cook until tender, about 40 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, cut all the root vegetables into small, uniformly sized pieces, toss with a little oil and salt. Spread the vegetables out on a baking tray and bake for about 20 minutes, turning halfway through, until they are tender and browned.

2. Drain the cooked root berries, and toss with 1/4 cup olive oil, dried cranberries, onion, arugula, walnuts, and salt. Mix in the root vegetables.

3. Drizzle the walnut oil on top, squeeze a lemon over the whole thing, grind some pepper on, and serve. You may want to add a little more salt at this point, as the wheat berries taste odd if not sufficiently salted. We crumbled some feta on top, but that's completely optional.