Urad Dal Makhani

It's funny how cooking experiments go. The first time I made my beau dal with black lentils, AKA urad dal, it was a disaster. He could barely finish the plate, one of the few total flops in my cooking career with him. I was not going to let that happen a second time!

So I read carefully through many urad dal recipes (the uncooked dal was in the house, I wasn't going to waste it), and found Urad Dal Makhani, "Punjab truck stop food" as Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen noted, and it was a done deal. My beau lovvvvvved it. "Simple yet delicious and so satisfying." I asked him to say it again for the recording (just kidding!) But this is really one for regular rotation if you make dals. Even the teenager who doesn't like too much spice gobbled down leftovers!

I left out the traditional kidney beans because they don't agree with my digestion, but add them back in if you are a fan!

Herb Crusted Tofu Cutlets with French Mustard Sauce

If you have tofu skeptics in your vicinity, serve them this on the sly and see if they can guess what they are eating...chances are they will become converts or at least curious and eager tasters of your next tofu based meal!

Of course breading anything weighs the scales in the cook's direction. It's so hard to resist a crispy crunchy crust with a creamy inside and when you smother it in a Marsala wine Dijon mustard sauce, I mean c'mon, that's not playing fair at all!

Yup, that's how I do it. Leave nothing up to chance, pull out the big guns, and hit them with awesome flavor, texture, and mouth-feel. What else is great cooking for?

By the way, the French may consider this sauce "spicy" because of the mustard, but obviously they are not accustomed to Mexican hot sauces or Indian heat, which my family is. Needless to say, this was a savory pleasure that was not spicy in the least!

Baked Eggs Nested in Greens

Brunch was never that important in my early adult years and not until I shacked up with my current beau did the necessity of diversifying my weekend breakfasts become an item of interest for me.

But it's so easy, you may exclaim, there are a million ways to make eggs!

Yes, true, but I only like to eat them scrambled or in a frittata (or hidden in things like quiche or gougers). So things are not as varied as I would like them to be. Until I came upon Smitten Kitchen's post baked eggs with spinach and mushrooms. Of course she loves eggs all ways, but spying this picture I realized I could scramble my portion and make a baked (somewhat poached) egg for my beau. Which is exactly what I did! And all were happy in the land of brunch...

Wild Mushroom Pate

We can't get enough of the funghi in our family, which is why when Smitten Kitchen's wild mushroom pate cross my path, I knew it would make an appearance at our table in the very near future!

Sure, that looks like a thick chocolatey paste on that rice cracker, but think umami rather than sweetness, and you have the right kind of delicious heaven in mind. Adding some cream probably wasn't necessary, but since there happened to be some in the kitchen, I indulged. It truly was wonderful without it, so you can leave it out and know you're not missing a secret ingredient.

Do serve it at room temperature since when it is cold straight from the frig, it loses some of its nuances!

South Indian Sauteed Swiss Chard (Palakoora Vepadu)

Sauteed greens is such a bland phrase in comparison to reality of the dish pictured above. It's like calling  caviar fish eggs or truffles fungus. It almost insults it with such a minimalist term. This is food for the gods!

I happened to be browsing Saveur's website looking for a good naan recipe and happened upon the motherlode of authentic Indian cooking. The magazine had devoted an entire issue to exploring the country top to bottom and this greens dish is from Andhra, a state on the south east coast of the Indian Ocean. I will definitely be on the lookout for more dishes from that state to be sure!

Prior to finding this recipe my meal plan included a urad dal makhani dish (look for that next) from the Punjab, and unknown to me both dishes used similar spices so they made the perfect compliment.

While the list of ingredients is comparatively long it is sooooo worth it!! This will be going into our regular rotation, and what a great way to get some good greens in your meal!

Cilantro Grilled Shrimp with Polenta

Shrimp or prawns as the large shrimpies are called, are a favorite on our table. I'm always searching for new ways to prepare them. This version is similar to something we ate last Christmas Eve at a seven fishes Sicilian dinner and I've been wanting to duplicate it ever since.

If you don't have preserved lemons, make some soon! If that fails, just use the juice of half a lemon and the zest of 1 and 1/2 lemons. It's the zest that is important.

All my life I have never referred to large shrimp as prawns, but for some reason here on the North Coast they are really particular about calling them prawns (the correct term for sure). So let's acquiesce and be agreeable!