Stop Motion Experiment!

I just made my first stop motion video! It's nothing fancy, obviously, but I'm so glad I tested the waters. One day, I'll use my roommate's good camera and have him help me set it up to be done correctly, but in the meantime, I don't think this is half bad! I made a few more that I've shot but not looked at or imported into Adobe Premiere, so hopefully I'll get to those soon.

Anyway, this was sort of trial and error. I set up my camera on a tripod and shot a picture with every step I did. Then I imported the pictures into Adobe Premiere (a la this youtube video explaining what to do). Select everything and make a new sequence, which drops it into the timeline. You can ripple delete any frames you don't want in the final video. Then I shortened the speed/duration down to 10 seconds, which still feels a little slow. I did a brief color correct (a la this youtube video) but still have much to learn on that front as the color is still off here, but I just wanted to get it done. Then I added in a title and exported it out to a quicktime before uploading to youtube. Et voila!

purple potatoes three ways

Well, to be totally frank, I made the potatoes sort of three ways and then turned one into one that I already had, so I really mostly ate them two ways: roasted and mashed. And they are so good that way. The third way, that semi-involved a recipe that I mostly didn't follow, was fork-mashed and with a zesty flavor profile as per this SK recipe. I didn't quite have everything on-hand to make it, so when it didn't seem stunning, I just made them creamy and mashed and delicious. While they look like a weird purple yogurt when mashed, they taste pretty yummy, so I don't mind. They were also delicious roasted. What vegetable isn't delicious roasted? I have yet to meet it. It's such a simple and elegant solution to any veggie "problem," and I never have any problem cleaning a plate full of roasted vegetables. They just hit some flavor spot that my mouth is a big fan of and my conscience feels great about.

So... so much for a recipe. Here's some pics of roasted purple potatoes and squash (some with olive oil and spices, some with olive oil and cinnamon sugar). And some other veggies that got roasted and eaten straight off the foil in a dignified manner.

iphone hipstamatic or nice olympus picture?

I honestly can't decide which is better, which is frustrating...

Spicy Roasted Pepper Sauce

I saw this recent post on Smitten Kitchen about a roasted pepper sauce, and because I still had a plethora of veggies laying around (down to potatoes, a squash, and maybe a couple peppers or something), I thought I'd wing this recipe with what I had to use up all my peppers. I appreciate peppers, but I'm not a huge fan, so I wasn't really eager to just eat them raw or in anything else because that's just not what my taste buds liked. I haven't, in the course of the week, really found a use for it yet - but I think that is more because smoky, spicy, pepper flavor isn't my bag and not because this isn't totally delicious and worth having on your food.

 how cute beyond cute are those little guys?

also, I think they are the spiciest ones, so big things in small packages, etc.

Yield: 1 2/3 to 2 cups steak sauce.

1 red bell pepper, small was suggested [I had 3 tiny peppers, 2 small green bells, and 1 larger yellow bell pepper]
2/3 cup canned or fresh tomato purée
1/4 cup orange juice [I used lemonade because that's what I had]
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon molasses [I didn't have any so I used syrup]
3/4 teaspoon table salt or more to taste
1 teaspoon ground mustard [I just used some dijon]
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger [didn't have]
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon onion powder [didn't have]
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice [didn't have]

Preheat your broiler. Place your pepper on a baking sheet and cook it under the broiler until all sides are charred, turning with with tongs as needed. Don’t skimp on the charring as this skin will add a fantastic flavor dimension. Mine took about 15 minutes, but I have a terrible broiler [I think mine were in there for like 45 minutes, but I just had them in the oven at 400 with other veggies to roast]. Yours might only take 5 to 8 minutes. Transfer pepper to somewhere to cool until you’re able to handle it, about 15 minutes.

Tear open the pepper and remove the seeds and membranes with your fingers or a paring knife [mine were so soft this was crazy easy]. Add the pepper (with its skin) to the blender along with the remaining ingredients. Puree mixture until as smooth as possible. Transfer mixture to a small saucepan. Simmer it gently over low heat for 15 minutes, stirring from time to time. It will yield a fairly smooth that can be used as is, but if you’d like a smoother consistency, you have two options: running it back through the blender or food processor again (I got a smoother blender after the fibers had cooked down more on the stove)[this is what I did] or pressing it through that fine-mesh sieve (I started doing this, then decided it wasn’t worth the trouble).

Store in an airtight jar in the fridge for one week, though I suspect it will keep for two.

squash, zucchini, and eggplant rice gratin

As you can see in the last entry, I have quite a few veggies on my hand. In an effort to cook with them and waste as little as possible (advice, please!), I wanted to make something that would use quite a few tonight for dinner. This recipe took me about 2 hours and involved me being pretty darn hot in my kitchen for a lot of it (when I'm cooking, I just keep my a/c off and the windows open and fan on; save the electricity costs and I'll be hot regardless). The biggest "failure" of the recipe was the rice - but that is because, try as I might (and I do, oh I do), I am so bad at cooking rice. Every time I read someone's foolproof recipe and try my darndest to follow it exactly, but it still burns. At best, it's a bit soggy and I'm just thrilled it doesn't taste like burned popcorn. Tonight was more of a burned night. So that brought the dish down a bit to have slightly crispy, burnt popcorn flavored rice. One day I will prevail!

I love love love roasted veggies, though, and I could probably have eaten them all right off the sheet after the oven (so good), so that part of the recipe went well. I didn't have enough cheese for it to be really cheesy, so I added in a bit of my whole organic yogurt instead of cheese to the egg mixture and then just grated some cheese on top. I also didn't have tomatoes (I sure as heck wasn't going to buy more veggies), and so while that certainly changed the recipe, I don't think it was really a negative effect. I wouldn't recommend using the cast iron skillet to cook it in, but I just was overrun with dirty dishes and didn't care. I am sure the recipe as she has it is delicious and one day I hope to make it. But this was good and different, and I enjoyed giving it a try in between crying over the Olympics (I'm just such a sucker for sports).

1/3 cup white rice, long-grain is suggested but use whatever you prefer
5 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 pounds zucchini (about 3 medium), sliced 1/4-inch thick
1/2 pound plum tomatoes, sliced 1/4-inch thick
Table salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 medium onion, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
1/2 cup grated Parmesan, divided

Preheat oven to 450°F. Cook the rice according to your favorite method. The package directions work in some cases, but check my notes above about adjustments I find I have to make. If you cook the rice in a large, wide-ish covered skillet, it might cook even faster but you’ll have the chance to use it again (and save on dirty dishes) when you need to cook the onions in a bit.

While rice cooks, coat two large (or, if you have the same pitifully small oven as I do, three smaller) baking sheets each with a tablespoon of a of olive oil (a bit less for smaller pans). Spread zucchini and tomato slices on the baking sheets in as close to a single layer as you can. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Roast tomatoes for 10 minutes and zucchini for 20. Flip zucchini halfway through; it’s not worth the messy effort for the tomatoes. Leave oven on.

Heat large, heavy skillet (such as the one you used to cook your rice) over medium heat. Once hot, add 2 tablespoons olive oil, heat oil, then add onions, garlic and 1/4 teaspoon salt to pan. Cover and reduce heat to low, cooking onion until limp and tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Combine onion mixture, rice, eggs, thyme, half of your grated cheese and a half-tablespoon of olive oil in a bowl. Add a good amount of freshly ground black pepper. Use the remaining half-tablespoon of olive oil to coat a shallow 2-quart baking dish. Spread half of rice mixture in bottom of dish. Arrange half of roasted zucchini on top. Spread remaining rice mixture over it and please don’t worry about being neat about this; dinner will be “rustic” tonight! Arrange remaining zucchini on top, then tomato slices. Sprinkle with remaining grated cheese and bake until set and golden brown, about 20 minutes. Each oven varies, but I find mine does the very best browning when the dish is on a rack near the top of the oven.