It’s been one of those weeks. I’ve spent most of my time in an office, fighting the good fight and dodging obstacles with a deftness that comes only with years of bureaucracy-battling experience. You’d think I’d be used to it by now, after decades spent being a professional problem solver; but finding and implementing solutions isn’t always graceful, and after a while it wears on you.

So at the end of the day, I’ve been grabbing whatever edibles aren’t going to take a lot of time or energy to procure. Some night it’s a healthy choice, but most evenings it’s just a quick shot of easy calories. I might make some pasta and homemade tomato sauce from the freezer, but I’m more likely to get Chinese takeout, a sandwich from the deli, or an expensive box of glop from the Whole Foods hot section. As a result, both my health and wallet are suffering.

I can’t help being super busy. I’m balancing life, love, work, freelancing, the book, and a few minor health snags. When life ramps up like this – or maybe it’s always like this and I just can’t admit it to myself – the first thing to suffer is my diet. Lately I’ve been stuffing myself with pastries, take-out, and a myriad of other non-healthy foods. No bueno, especially at a time when my body needs healthy food to cope with the day’s mega-stress du jour.

That’s where The Parchment Paper Cookbook comes in. This little book, packed with 180 recipes, is ideal for those of us just can’t find the time to eat well, or those that have time to cook but hate the cleanup that usually comes with preparing your favorite dishes. What’s a tired, busy, hungry girl to do? Consider cooking in parchment packets, that’s what. ... Read the rest of The Parchment Paper Cookbook: 180 Healthy, Fast, Delicious Dishes! on The Culinary Life.

Permalink | Posted in Gluten Free, Grain Free, Meat, Parchment on Nov/Thu/2011
Post tags: cinnamon, clove, cookbook, cream, garlic, Gluten Free, onion, pork, pork chops, pumpkin, recipes, sage
© Stephanie Stiavetti for Wasabimon!, 2011.

This week’s post is care of Thad Jones, also known as The Boy Who Eats the Food I Cook (and occasionally cooks for me!). While he grew up in Germany, for the past few decades his parents have lived Washington DC, where he visits for Christmas every year. Below, Thad shares one of his mom’s recipes for a beefy Russian cabbage stew, the perfect dish for those of you stuck in east coast storms this week.

Also, be sure to check out some of Thad’s other recipes: Bavarian Torte Recipe, German Cucumber Salad, Hippyfied Banana Bread

When I look out the window of the plane, I can see the entire Washington DC mall spread out below me, with all its memorials dedicated to various political figures. Flying into Reagan National is one of the best routes for seeing most of what DC has to offer. The mall looks so small from the sky, but having visited my parents every Christmas over the past 18 years, I’ve learned that it takes well over a week to see most of the major museums and memorials. If you aren’t a resident, there’s so much to do, and so little time to do it. I’ve seen almost everything you can imagine exists in DC, but I never tire of visiting the Natural History Museum every year, no matter the weather.

Okay, I have to backtrack a bit. Up till 2009, the weather in DC had been mild to say the least. In fact, for a long time it felt like Bay Area weather. Sixty degrees, with wind and rain, but not much more than that. Since 2009, however, the weather pattern has changed. Storms that whip up from the gulf, full of moisture, meet with the bitter Arctic air coming down from Canada, colliding right over the Atlantic states. The end result has been intense blizzards, or as they are called here, Nor’Easters. It’s like a hurricane of snow, and it can get so bad that entire swaths of eastern states completely shut down. Airports, government, even the reliable USPS. ... Read the rest of Beefy Russian Cabbage Soup, or Shchee/Shchi on The Culinary Life.

Permalink | Posted in European, Gluten Free, Meat, Soup on Nov/Thu/2011
Post tags: bay leaf, beef, beef shanks, cabbage, carrots, celery, garlic, lentils, onions, paprika, potatoes, russia, soup, sour cream, stew, thad, thyme, tomato, tomato sauce, turnips, washington dc, winter
© Stephanie Stiavetti for Wasabimon!, 2011.

I remember walking down a narrow cobblestone street in Florence, Italy, perusing the menus of the little sidewalk cafes that were just beginning to lay out the tablecloths for dinner service. The light had turned a deeper shade of blue, reflected off the darkening sky, while a warm breeze swept down the lane and kicked up spirals of tiny spring flower petals. I examined each menu carefully, overwhelmed by choices. So many lovely restaurants, so many amazing dishes, so many smiling waiters waving me down and begging me to come inside. “Ciao signora!” They called. “Che cosa vuoi per cena?”

In Italy, diners don’t eat until late; many restaurants aren’t even thinking of opening their doors until after 7:30pm. Americans, with our somewhat earlier dining habits, are often famished by the time Italian dinnertime rolls around, and the throngs of US tourists scuttling from menu board to menu board are always fun to watch. Tired of pizza, gelato, and fried risotto balls (or arancini ri riso), these hungry mobs just want a decent sit-down meal. And I was right there with them. ... Read the rest of Crock Pot Osso Busso with Quinoa on The Culinary Life.

Permalink | Posted in European, Gluten Free, Meat, Recipes, Slow Cooker on Oct/Wed/2011
Post tags: bay leaf, beef, beef shanks, beef stock, butter, flour, garlic, heirloom tomatoes, italian food, italy, leeks, osso bucco, quinoa, recipes, thyme, tomatoes, white wine
© Stephanie Stiavetti for Wasabimon!, 2011.

Thad’s back again, with a note for all of you guys out there who don’t cook for your girlfriends: It’s simple, especially when you have an easy tilapia recipe! Below, he presents a healthy dinner that you can have done in about 45 minutes, though the amount of work it requires is only about 15 minutes. He made me this one night when I thought we just didn’t have time to cook, so wanted to go out for tacos. I guess I was wrong! Thad’s dinner was much healthier, and a lot tastier than the tacqueria down the street.

Sunday! The seventh day, and by it’s very nature, a day of rest. Perhaps a day of light errands at most. For Steph and I, our number one priority is waking up in time to hit the local farmers market, because I can’t live without pluots. Or nectaplums. As Steph would say, I really love those hybrid fruits. Probably a bit too much.

Last Sunday, though, we had the farmers market to visit, a barbecue party with old friends, and Steph had planned a surprise later in the evening that she refused to talk about. So as Sundays go, this one was non-stop busy; before we knew it, the sun was getting low. The time was near 6pm and that meant we needed to figure out a super quick dinner that would be fresh and healthy, with everything said and done by 8 so that we could be on the road by 9 for her surprise. I suggested we have fresh tilapia, brown rice, and some salad greens we bought at the market earlier that day. Being the gentleman and the scholar I am — *ahem* — I said I would cook the dinner while she tended to her never ending email problem. ... Read the rest of Easy Tilapia Recipe on The Culinary Life.

Permalink | Posted in Gluten Free, Meat, Seafood on Aug/Fri/2011
Post tags: brown rice, cardamom, cinnamon, cumin, dinner, fish, healthy, quick and easy, rice, thyme, tilapia
© Stephanie Stiavetti for Wasabimon!, 2011.

Ever since I received my copy of Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table, a lovely gift from Fine Cooking, I’ve been obsessed with the idea of roasting a chicken in a sealed Dutch oven. I mean, just look at the cover photo. That image embodies many of the things I try to convey in my cooking: freshness, comfort, and a thoughtful link to a tender place in all of our hearts.

One of my very best friends recently started learning how to cook, and being at the top of my list of favorite dishes, I was excited to show him how to roast a chicken. And since I’m obsessed with this idea of sealing the pot with dough, what method do you think I showed him?

Of course, my version doesn’t look anything like Dorie’s. Her perfectly smooth dough seal mocks my choppy, crackled version, but I don’t have her years of experience or a professional food stylist at my disposal (and contrary to the belief of some, I think the images in Around My French Table are gorgeous and look perfectly, and edibly, authentic). When I showed Ben how to create the seal, it was clear that I’d hardly perfected the art of the dough seal. ... Read the rest of Sealed Roast Chicken on The Culinary Life.

Permalink | Posted in European, Gluten Free, Meat on Jun/Mon/2011
Post tags: carrots, celery, chicken, flour, garlic, lemon, lemon peel, onions, polish sausage, rosemary, sage, sausage, sugar, sweet potatoes, thyme, white wine
© Stephanie Stiavetti for Wasabimon!, 2011.

Recently, my dear friends Johanna and Andre flew off to Budapest, a place where they spend as much time as humanly possible. Though neither is actually Hungarian, Andre was raised in the area and Johanna is a fervent Hungarophile. Of course, a perfect sendoff had to involve some sort of Hungarian cooking.

I’d never actually cooked a Hungarian meal before, so to give them a proper viszontlátásra, I thought I’d give it a try. Perusing Johanna’s myriad Hungarian cookbooks was a little overwhelming; while all of the recipes are in English, all of the titles are in Hungarian and the lack of headnotes made it tough to figure out what I was getting myself into. But I’m a sucker for a culinary challenge – yup, the longer the recipe, the more excited I get – so the idea of making a recipe with a dubious outcome actually turned me on. Yeah yeah, I should look into that.

In Hungary, rostélyos is a family of dishes that involve thinly-cut steaks in a number of possible formations. The steaks can be braised, fried, stuffed, or rolled, and cooked with a series of different ingredients. The cut of beef you use is flexible – I used sirloin, though a butterfly or skirt steak would work well, as long as it’s not too fatty or too dry. If you’re not rolling your steaks, you could even use a bone-in cut, like a T-bone. The key is to pound your steaks very thin with a meat tenderizer, which will allows them to easily absorb the flavorings in the recipe.

This particular Hungarian recipe, esterházy rostélyos, is modified from The Cuisine of Hungary, by George Lang. It’s an incredibly rich, savory dish that originally called for a quarter pound of lard and even more cream. I lightened it up a bit (yes, this is actually the low-fat version. Heh) by swapping out some ingredients, but the end result is relatively authentic, according to Hungarophiles Johanna and Andrea – thinly-pounded sirloin steaks, braised in a savory-sweet sauce of sour cream, onions, sweet root vegetables, pork sausage and mustard. My first bite almost caused me to bounce out of my seat, and for the first time in a very long while I thought, “OMG, this is the best thing I’ve ever cooked in my life.” Even though I’m prone to hyperbole and the occasional gratuitous superlative, I wasn’t exaggerating this time. ... Read the rest of Super Hearty Hungarian Cooking: Esterházy Rostélyos on The Culinary Life.

Permalink | Posted in European, Gluten Free, Meat on May/Mon/2011
Post tags: beef, carrots, eastern european, hungarian cooking, mustard, parsnips, pork sausage, recipes, rostelyos, sour cream
© Stephanie Stiavetti for Wasabimon!, 2011.