My friends in the Australian band UV Race, came and played a show in town on my birthday at the beginning of the month. FUN but for the crazy guy riding his bike down the street shooting off his gun! I was lucky enough to see the UV Race again this past weekend in NYC. they will make a final trip back to Chicago on the 29Th. They are playing at Reckless Records on Milwaukee Ave at 6 and Crown Liquors later that night. GO SEE THEM, they are GREAT! I made a lot of food for the road weary bunch but I forgot to take pics of the final dishes...
Most of the day I listened to the Stooges, Skull Control and the Dicks. Post show we listened to the Adolescents, Homostupids and Hawkwind amongst others. Right now I am listening to Day for Night by Quixotic. The songs sung by Christina and Mira are my favorites...particularly We are Alone and What's so Good About Goodbye.
Spaghetti Squash with Garlic Sauce
Spaghetti squash, I assume, gets its name from the final texture of cooked squash, which is much like angel hair pasta.
Preheat oven to 350
Lightly oil a cookie sheet or pizza pan.
Cut the squash in half. Do yourself a favor and just use the biggest knife in the cutting block. For some reason, my mom has always had an aversion to using large chopping knives and is forever cutting up every food with a teeny tiny paring knife. You will save time and stress on your wrists if you just use the right knife for the job.
Use a fork to poke holes on the outside of the squash. The recipe that I stole this from (natural health magazine) did not call for this but I sprinkled salt and pepper on the cut side of the squash.
Place the squash cut side down on the pan and roast for 30 minutes. The squash is hot as fuck when it comes out so you really need to let is sit for at least 5 minutes before you try to scrape out the flesh. Once the squash is manageable, hold it in your off-hand in a towel, take a regular dinner fork and scrape the flesh away from the skin. If its been roasted long enough, you should have no trouble here. I leave all the "spaghetti" in the skin until I am ready to throw it all in the sauce.
In a frying pan or cast iron pan on the stove top mix
1 1/2 Tablespoons olive oil
4 minced cloves garlic
1 teaspoon or more (if preferred) red pepper flakes
Heat all on LOW
The recipe also calls for 1/4 cup of pine nuts but if you are allergic, you can substitute roasted sunflower or pumpkin seeds.
I roasted some pine nuts for a few minutes in a separate pan in the oven while the squash was roasting. Its easy, just use a small baking dish and spread the nuts in one row so they all cook evenly. They only take 5-7 minutes, toss around about half way through. Add to the sauce for the last minute of so.
Toss it all together and add a healthy handful of fresh chopped basil. This is good just as it is but I heated up some jarred pasta sauce on the side just for a little extra flavor. It also helped some skeptics get over the idea of eating SQUASH...due to privacy and slander matters the folks, who enjoyed it, will remain nameless. You're welcome!
Red Lentils in Coconut Milk and Cardamon Rice
Rice (start this first since it takes a little time)
I used brown basmati rice cause there were vegans and vegetarians eating so I was trying to be mindful of the healthy, legume brown rice protein punch this combo can be.
Follow the water/rice ratio as instructed on the rice package, typically 2 to 1 water to rice.
Add a little olive oil and salt to your water along with enough cardamon pods to actually make a difference. Just remember to tell your guest that they are in there cause chomping down a whole pod can be a little intense...
I heat the water, rice and seasoning all together until boiling then turn down to the lowest of the low, cover and cook for at least 45 minutes (again just check the rice instructions for cooking time) to ensure that all the water is absorbed. Its pretty important to keep the lid on the whole time despite your (or really my) OCD desire to double and triple check everything as its moving along.
Red Lentils and Coconut Milk
1 medium onion chopped
2 tblsp olive oil
Saute on low for 6 minutes then add
1 tblsp fresh chopped ginger
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
Heat all in a large frying pan on LOW. I crush the garlic first then chop. I break off a decent sized knuckle of ginger and peel the skin off first, then chop. I leave the skin on in some recipes or in tea but its a little too woody for this one in my opinion.
After a about five minutes add
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1 tsp tumeric
1 tsp salt
combine and cook on LOW for another few minutes.
Then chop one jalapeno or Serrano pepper.
Remember the innards are the hot part. I usually make a double batch of this so I chop one jalapeno, seeds, innards and all, add. I remove the seeds of the second pepper to make sure the final dish isn't overwhelmed by heat.
Saute all for a few minutes then add
2 c water
1 1/2 c dry red lentils
1 can of coconut milk
heat all on medium heat, cover and cook for 5 minutes
Chop two small zucchini into quarters (in half then in half again, duh) and add, cover again and cook all for 15 minutes on medium stirring occasionally.
In the meantime, chop a good amount of cilantro and throw in once you are done cooking...
This is so tasty, it reminded me how I got to be a fat vegetarian...
By request I also got a deep dish pizza for the curious non-Midwesterners. We ate a lot and drank a lot.
I made my new favorite drink thanks to Paula- Whipped Cream Vodka and Ginger Ale. As there were a lot of us this evening, and since I planned on drinking a few, I just used diet ginger ale but when I am enjoying this one in a small group of say one, I use ginger brew instead cause its so delicious. Throw in a few maraschino cherries for good measure. MMMMM.
Finally I made Apple Cranberry Crisp. I made it vegan but you can make it "regular" by using butter instead of vegan margarine. I used my mom's recipe but I warn you it was SO FUCKING SWEET. Since I hadn't made it in awhile, I forgot that I normally only use 1/2 of 3/4 of the sugar called for below.
Preheat over to 375-400 and spray/oil a square baking/brownie pan
5-6 apples peeled and cored. I DO NOT USE red or golden delicious for this. I think macintosh are the tastiest cooking apples but fuji and granny smith are also good. I used a combo of all for this one.
Healthy handful of dried cranberries (use fresh if you want, I just had dried available).
I put about half the fruit in, pat with butter or margarine and cover with half of the crumble listed below. Then add the remaining fruit and cover with the remaining fat, crumble and sprinkle with extra cinnamon.
3 tblsp butter/margarine
3/4 c. flour (I used whole wheat pastry in this one)
2/3 c. white or brown sugar (I used 1/3 c of each)
1 package of plain instant oatmeal or about a 1/4 cup quick oats (I only have the quick oats)
Cinnamon, nutmeg and clove to taste (I like ALOT of all of them)
Bake 25-30 minutes until the top is browned. Fall is my favorite season for cooking!
