A Boston Blogger evening at UFood Grill

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If you read other Boston based food blogs you will have noticed a flurry of blog recaps of a dinner at UFood Grill, a couple of weeks ago.  I was there that night.  These are my favorite things that I tried.  Even now, weeks later I still want one of those smoothies.  Enjoy.

     
The bistro salad was DIVINE. 
The UFood Unfries – they were fantastic and not FRIED.
Go UFOOD!

Steak tips – tender, delicious and paired with
 simply whipped sweet potatoes.  Bliss.
The UFood Turkey Burger – Moist and delicious
in ways I was not expecting.  Eat This!
             
YUM.  Smoothie.
This is the “Berrylicious”
Yum More Smoothie,
this time Passionate Peach
Wildberry Tart Frozen Yogurt – So Good!
I wanted it to be warmer out just so I could justify seconds

A couple of notes about UFood: they make a concerted effort to be health conscious in everything they make, most of the food is fantastic, they are accommodating, and they try to serve locally-sourced products!  I love that.  They were fabulous hosts, and even set out extra entrees that were full-sized for us to photograph.  They are a locally owned company that makes delicious “un-fries” on the go. What more do you want out of your fast food?  Now go UFood it up, have a smoothie and a turkey burger.  Bring me with you.
*This meal was entirely complimentary from Ufood Grill but all opinions posted here are my own.

Thai-Peanut and Black Bean Chili

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I went to college in a minuscule town in Western Maine.  While school was in session it felt like there was a town of about 15k when school was not in session there were about 3000 people in the town.  My school was wonderful with small classes and professors who knew your first name it was the place you wanted to go after going to high school in an even smaller town, a stepping stone toward more.  But it was the town I was most enchanted with.  There was a cafe where I worked for a brief period, there were the brick structures of campus covered in English Ivy, there was the river I rode a giant blowup dinosaur named Lottie down one summer day – meandering slowly on it’s way somewhere I never went (Mexico, ME maybe?), and there was Soup For You.

In my senior year of college I took most of my classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, in class until 4:15 or so on Thursday and then later that evening from 6-9.  So in that little interim period from 4-6 I always walked downtown to Soup For You, ordered one of the daily soups (there are always 6 – 3 vegetarian options and 3 omnivorous options) and a coffee and sat in a booth and read, or chatted with friends there.  It was one of my favorite semesters, and I always hoped for this soup to be on the menu, especially on warm spring days.

Maybe I loved Soup For You because it was charming – with hand painted tiles and quirky-ness everywhere, or because they knew that I loathed soup-spoons so always gave me one of the miniature ones they held behind the counter for little kids, but I think the biggest reason I loved it is that it was introduced to me by a community.  That community was full of some of the strongest women I’ve ever met, and I am still close with several of them now.  They were my coworkers in the Women’s and Gender Studies Center, a work study job that is by far the best job I’ve ever had.  We held potlucks together, went to lunch, stayed well past or scheduled times just to hang out, published a literary journal called Ripple that focused on women in writing, we wrote poetry and we read.  I associate this soup with those girls. 

My first day in the Women’s and Gender Studies Center saw me, terrified (as usual) meeting everyone and trooping around the grand (read 2 or 3 streets) downtown of our little college town when one of the girls piped up that there was Thai Peanut and Black Bean Chili and Soup for You and they probably still had Corn Muffins.  So we stopped.  We all ordered the same thing 8oz of the chili and a corn muffin, then we sat down.  The warm spring sunshine on our backs and excited about our upcoming events and the new issue of Ripple.  So this soup is camaraderie for me, it’s comfort somewhere new, and it’s friends and mentors.  It’s my history.  It’s also a Soup for You specialty and totally made the internet fail me.  So this is as close an approximation as I can get.  Eat it with friends and a corn muffin.

Soup For You inspired Thai-Peanut and Black Bean Chili
Note: I love this soup and would eat it every day if I could.  It’s also quite close to Soup For You’s version, which is so exciting to me, since I can’t find anything half as good in Boston.

Olive oil
1 Medium white onion, finely diced
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs Ginger Juice, or 2Tbs fresh grated ginger (I LOVE GINGER, you may not so go lighter on this if it’s not your flavor)
1/2 red pepper, finely diced
2-3 medium carrots, sliced thinly into coins
1 can full fat coconut milk
zest of 1 lime
zest of 1 lemon
2 cans of black beans, 1 drained and 1 with liquid
1/4-1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (use more, less, or none depending on the heat you like)
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup dry roasted unsalted peanuts
handful of cilantro (optional)

In a large pot heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onion, garlic, red pepper, carrot, and if you are using fresh ginger add that too and allow them to soften, stirring occasionally – this should take about 5 minutes.  Add the coconut milk and the zests and stir to combine.  Make sure you get everything in the pot evenly distributed throughout the coconut milk and allow the whole pot to come to a gentle simmer.  Add the black beans and red pepper flakes then allow the pot to come back up to a simmer, allow it to simmer like this for 10-15 mins.  Add the peanut butter and allow the chili to come to another simmer.  If you think your chili is a little thin you can add more peanut butter, but that is up to you, regardless stir the peanut butter in well – it s the star flavor here.  Add the dry roasted peanuts and let them cook for 10 minutes or so – you want them to be warm but still have crunch.  Serve the chili with a corn muffin on the side and a sprinkling of cilantro on top.  Don’t ever look back.  Its vegan and delicious.  Win.

Whipped Feta Dip and Pita Chips

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So, about a month ago I got together with Megan and Amanda for an awesome and truly delicious Bake Date.  We ate croissants and pop tarts, drank hot cocoa, and played a ton of banana grams (if you haven’t played that game you really should, it’s super fun and lots of indignation will happen).  I also made some dips and  homemade pita chips to make our bake date not kill us with sugar.  At least that was the plan.  I made two dips actually but I’m only going to write about one of them – ever probably, number two was not good.

A while ago (after blogger brunch at Dorado Tacos actually) I ended up hitching a ride to Russos with Renee and we talked about whipped feta dips.  Batting ideas back and forth over the ways feta could be used to make a dip and which feta would be best for it.  She ended up making one with beets (which is a fabulous shade of pink and I totally need to make).  And I made one with roasted red peppers (unbeknownst to her, admittedly, but it was this conversation that inspired me to actually try it).  I chose roasted red peppers because in the handful of times I have gone to Sofra I have gotten this mezza as an appetizer and it makes me giddy, fresh pita chips and some of this dip and I’m set.  Give me a book and I’ll read, and munch, for a good long while (well until the dip is gone anyway).

The pita chips were merely an experiment to see if I could do it.  There was no recipe to go by, just an idea that if I was spending $2.50 per bag on pita chips wouldn’t it be better to make them myself?  I was right.  It was worth it.  They were delicious, and I was lucky I was able to save any pita chips and feta dip once BF tried them.  Both the chips and dip were so remarkably simple I’m surprised I hadn’t tried them sooner. Now I strongly recommend you try them too.

Kathy’s Pita Chips
Note: This recipe just deals with one “bag” of pitas but you can easily make more. It’s also a very fast process so don’t go wandering too far while the chips are baking.

2-3 pocket pitas, cut into triangles and separated (I get mine at Arax where they get fresh breads delivered daily but wherever you can find the pita go for it, Thomas’ is a decent nat’l brand)
olive oil
garlic, salt, rosemary, whatever you like… cinnamon and sugar would be very good

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees farenheit, make sure you let the oven come up to temperture – it is critical with these chips or else they’re wilty (trust me, I got impatient so I threw the pitas in the warming oven and was hugely disappointed in the results).  While the oven heats cut your pitas into good chip sizes, I recommend basically making a pizza with 8 slices so you have triangles… or an approximation of them.  layer the pita “chips” in a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet and spray/brush/drizzle olive oil on the pitas.  I use a regular spray bottle I picked up at the grocery store for this and it gets the job done, it’s not nearly as good as having a Misto (hey family *nudgenudgewinkwink*) but it works in a pinch.  Sprinkle whatever spices you like on your chips, I like mine with salt, rosemary, and garlic powder but I think cinnamon and sugar would be awesome, though they wouldn’t go with the feta dip (maybe a slightly sweeter spiced cream cheese dip, like frosting, eh?).   Put the chips in the oven for 3-7minutes, checking them every minute or two for doneness.  DON’T WALK AWAY.  These go from done to burnt in literally 10 seconds, but are worth it.  When the chips are a nice light-medium brown pull them from the oven and let them cool on the pan, this should only take a couple minutes.  Then eat them with the following dip.  Unless you made the cinnamon-sugar ones, then you’re on your own 😛

Roasted Red-Pepper Feta Dip
Note:  I made this after eating it at Sofra.  It’s delicious.  If you don’t have a food processor get it, if only to make this dip, though I suppose it could be made in a blender.  If you were watching it.  Also, a note about feta – get it fresh, it tastes worlds better and is very easy to get in the Boston area – ANY middle eastern market will have it, I know of 4 places in Watertown that do.  Another feta note, I recommend using Bulgarian Sheep’s milk feta for this (it’s not as salty as the cow’s milk, maybe the brine is different?  Anyone know?) but if you can’t find that – rinse your cow’s milk feta to lose some of the saltiness, the second time I made this dip I used mostly cow’s milk and didn’t rinse which left me with overly salty dip which needed to be modified, a lot.

1/3-1/2 pound Bulgarian feta – this is more creamy than cows milk/domestic feta if you can get it.  It is the superior choice.
1-2 whole roasted red peppers, without skin and cored, in oil if you purchase them
1-2 Tbs Oil, from the peppers, or Olive oil
1-2 pieces of Roasted tomato, if you have them if not don’t worry but they lend great flavor
1/2 tsp garlic powder or 1 small clove fresh garlic, more if you want the garlic strong

Break the feta up into large-ish chunks (the size of a clove of garlic is good) and add them to the bowl of a food processor, incidentally I cannot recommend enough that you get a food processor – they are so wonderful from grated potatoes for latkes to this decadent dip they get the job down extraordinarily well.  Chop the roasted red pepper into 4-6 pieces enough so that the processor doesn’t hate you.  Add the pepper, roasted tomato, and garlic to the feta.  Turn the food processor on for 10-15 seconds, then check the consistency of the dip – is it stilla little chunky – whip it some more, is it still a little thick – add a bit of oil.  Add the oil in a slow drizzle while the food processor is on, much like making pesto, until the dip has reached the consistency you want – I like my dip a little stiff but soft enough to pick up with a pita chip, this is about 1 tbs – more if the feta is dry.  After mixing in the olive oil taste the dip – does it need salt, most likely no but if your feta is tangy it may, is it salty?  If you find your dip salty I was able to neutralize that fairly easily with some plain yogurt about 1/4 cup.  The important thing for this dip is that you keep trying it until the flavor is what you like, since you will be eating it and having to throw this sort of thing away is sad.  It will be orange, that’s ok it’s still delicious.  Eat it while, of course, playing Bananagrams with friends.

Thoughts On Kathy Can Cook Turning One

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Last week was my blogiversary.  And I just let it pass with no fanfare.  I realize that I don’t blog as often as I, or you, my readers, would like me too.  I’m working on that.  Kinda.  But I just wanted to use my blogiversary to say thanks. 

I started this blog after much thought about grad school as a way to determine if food was an obsession (absolutely) or just a passing fad (totally sticking with it, this love of food and I are permanant).  I wanted to make sure sinking 40k into my love of food would be a wise decision.  I did not expect to make friends and find such a network of support. When I started this blog I was also lonely – to a fault, I was scared of the big crowds of this city and missed my small hometown with it’s big blueberry fields and few people.  I wanted the safety of friends around me all the time. I started this blog when I had like 3 people I saw on a regular basis (coworkers discluded) and I was debating moving because I was so unhappy.

Then I went to a Boston Local Food Festival meeting where I met Michelle, Robin and Jon and realized that Boston had an amazing and supportive food community.  I went from knowing virtually no one, to being able to chat all day (probably to my detriment and BF’s irritation) about food, culture, news, and whatever else I thought of.  My eyes were opened.  I’ve spent the past year cooking a lot, putting on more butter weight than I should, meeting simply stunning people, and learning from all of you, commentors, bloggers and friends.  I’ve started swapping canned goods with people (most notably Brian and a debacle involving nearly-missing Blood-Orange Curd).

So thanks Boston Food Community, for giving me a reason to keep blogging and to stick around.  Thanks for reintroducing me to a city that is now firmly home, where I get together for cookie swaps, brunches and bake dates with friends.  Where bananagrams is played ALL. THE. TIME.  And where spring now means I have another birthday to celebrate (my own and Kathy Can Cook’s), which means more cake and another reason to eat out.  I appreciate everything this community gives me – from support on bad days to photography lessons.  You’ve all made me a better and less fearful person.

Now I think I need a cupcake, or at least a cookie.