Tag: Spicy

Spicy Pan-Roasted Cauliflower

On By lukephillaryhIn VeggieLeave a comment
roasted cauliflower cast iron skillet NYT Food recipe
Cauliflower with a kick

Cauliflower is a versatile vegetable. Cauliflower can be steak. It can be mashed potatoes. It can even be pizza. Cauliflower rice is sneaking into recipes everywhere, turning carbohydrate laden meals into gluten-free miracles. But cauliflower is also delicious just as cauliflower. It needs no Hollywood movie before and after transformation. This recipe, courtesy of The New York Times, highlights cauliflower’s inherent sweetness and adds some kick. When cooked perfectly (which is easy to accomplish), you’ll have beautifully browned florets, tender but with a little bit of crunch. Quick and simple to make, we’ve been enjoying this recipe as a healthy weekday veggie meal. It’s also great as a sneakily addicting and seriously impressive side. Take a night to celebrate cauliflower for being cauliflower! It’s a star vegetable, all on its own.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cauliflower head
  • 2 TBS olive oil
  • salt & pepper, to taste
  • 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
  • 1 garlic clove, grated or finely minced
  • 1/2 tsp freshly chopped rosemary
  • 1/4 cup chopped parsley
  • zest of 1 small lemon
  • 1 red fresno chile, thinly sliced (optional, for a spicy garnish)
  • extra lemon, for serving

Directions:

  1. Quarter the cauliflower and cut out the core. Cut the quarters into 1/2-inch thick slices. Chop down the larger slices so that they are all about floret size.
  2. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. When oil is hot, add cauliflower, tossing to coat in the olive oil. Season generously with salt and pepper.
  3. Continue to stir and flip the cauliflower, letting the slices brown as they cook. Watch the heat – you want to keep the cauliflower pieces sizzling but not scorching. Cook until tender and can easily be pierced with a fork, about 10 to 12 minutes.
  4. Add crushed red pepper, garlic, rosemary, parsley, and lemon zest. Stir well to coat and cook 1 minute more. Garnish with sliced chile, if you like spice, and serve with lemon wedges.

Details: Serves 4 as a side, 2 as a main. Can easily be doubled to serve more!

Sweet Potato Tacos

On By lukephillaryhIn Hillary's DishesLeave a comment
Sweet potato and black bean tacos
Weekday deliciousness

I’ve been making this meal since college. It’s inexpensive, healthy, easy, and quite tasty. And with the sweet potato’s recent growth in popularity (in 2015, farmers produced more sweet potatoes than in any year since World War II) this recipe turns out to be in vogue as well! For Luke and I, sweet potato tacos are a reliable weekday meal. We often neglect this recipe, as it’s almost too basic. But, when we made it recently and spruced up our tacos with a couple extra fixings we looked at our plates and both said, “Damn! These tacos are kinda good looking!” Like, cover of a magazine good looking. We decided they’re worth sharing. This recipe is somewhat of an original, though the black beans are a riff on a Goya recipe, courtesy of the back of the can. Shout out to Goya Foods!

Ingredients:

  • 2-4 sweet potatoes (depending on size), cut into 1-inch pieces
  • olive oil
  • salt & pepper, to taste
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1 can black beans
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 jalapeno finely chopped (optional)
  • 1 TBS red wine vinegar
  • 1 1/2 tsp oregano
  • 1/4-1/2 cup water
  • 8-10 soft tortillas
  • cilantro, finely chopped (for topping)
  • feta cheese, crumbled (for topping)

Directions:

  1. Begin by roasting the sweet potatoes. Preheat oven to 425°F. In a bowl, mix the sweet potatoes with 1-2 TBS olive oil, cumin, chili powder, and 1 tsp salt and pepper. Move sweet potatoes to a large baking sheet and spread evenly. It’s best if each sweet potato has some breathing room. You don’t want them overlapping! Roast for 30-35 minutes, making sure to check halfway through. Give em a shake so they get a little brown on all sides.
  2. While sweet potatoes are roasting, make the beans. Heat 1-2 TBS olive oil over medium-high heat in a medium saucepan. Add onions, bell pepper, and jalapeno. Cook for about 6 minutes, or until onions are translucent and peppers are soft. Add garlic and cook 1-2 minutes more. Pour in the beans, with their juices. Fill the can with water a little less than halfway. Stir water around to make sure all the contents of the can are loose and pour into saucepan.  Add red wine vinegar, oregano, and 1 tsp salt. Bring beans to a boil and then simmer uncovered. Simmer for 15-2o minutes, or until sauce has thickened.
  3. When sweet potatoes are finished, mash slightly on the sheet. You want them to be a little chunky.
  4. While everything is finishing up, we advising warming up your tortillas. Either for 1 minute in the microwave, or a little nicer, individually in a skillet (this will give them a bit of charring).
  5. Assemble your tacos to your liking! We start with a base of sweet potatoes, a scoop of beans, a few drops of Valentina Salsa Picante, some freshly chopped cilantro, and a scattering of feta cheese.

Details: Serves 2-4. You’ll have plenty of beans, so roast more sweet potatoes if you’re trying to feed a few more mouths!

Hot Honey Shrimp

On By lukephillaryhIn Ode to NYT2 Comments
hot honey shrimp NYT Food recipe
Spicy, sweet, speedy – delicious!

Shrimp dishes are the ultimate quick and easy dinner for two. We make shrimp when we’re feeling lazy, haven’t done grocery shopping for the evening, and there’s a sale at Whole Foods. Yes, we shop at Whole Foods…occasionally. It’s a guilty pleasure. To cook our fancy, albeit discounted, shrimp we look to two of our favorite chefs for guidance. Mark Bittman’s Simplest Best Shrimp Dish and Melissa Clark’s Hot Honey Shrimp are delicious – impossible to screw up – recipes that use few ingredients and can be thrown together in a matter of minutes. While Mark’s dish had been our go-to for years, Melissa’s recently wooed us with her perfect mix of sweet and spicy. A side of rice is an absolute must for each. If you’re fully committed to making this one the the easiest dinner meals ever, stop by your local Chinese spot for a takeout box of white rice.

Ingredients:

  • 1-2 TBS honey
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne
  • zest of 1 lime
  • 1/2 tsp finely grated ginger
  • 1 garlic cloves, grated (use Microplane or finely mince)
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp freshly cracked pepper
  • 1 pound cleaned, deveined shrimp (the larger the better!)
  • 2 TBS cold butter, cut into small cubes (1 per shrimp)
  • lime wedges, for garnish
  • 1 jalapeño, thinly sliced, for garnish
  • 1 scallion, thinly sliced, for garnish

Directions:

  1. Heat oven to 450°F.
  2. In a medium bowl, combine honey, cayenne, lime zest, ginger, garlic, salt, and pepper. Toss in shrimp and mix until coated.
  3. Arrange shrimp on a large rimmed baking sheet and place a lil’ cube of butter on each shrimp. Roast until shrimp is pink and firm, about 5 minutes. Garnish with lime juice, jalapeño, and scallion.

Details: Enjoy as dinner for 2 or an appetizer for a intimate get together.