Uncle Rob's Go-Get-It Cabbage Salad

This is a Robbie special. In an email from Uncle: "Of course, a guy who can present good food is going to score points with the ladies!" Let me just say, this was an instant hit with Lakshmi. It's also super quick after you make it a couple times.

Dressing (make first):
¼ cup rice wine vinegar
1-2 tablespoons soy sauce(start with 1)
1-2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1-2 tablespoons honey or sugar
¼ cup olive oil (optional)

Salad:
Dry heat ¼ cup of sesame seeds and ¼ cup sliced almonds in a frypan.
Cut a fistful of mushrooms into flat sections
Fine slice, then chop a quarter red onion (fine=2-3mm)
Fine slice a whole red capsicum, into strips 2-3 inches in length.
Place all of these in the bottom of a curved bowl, and pour enough dressing to marinate the above.
Very finely slice a Chinese cabbage from its flower end into thin frills (3-4mm) until about 3 cups. Then from the lower stalk end, chop off the stalk, and less finely slice about 4 rounds of the crunchy white leaf bases. About 1 cup.
Throw the cabbage on top of the marinating veges, but don’t mix in as yet.
Throw the seeds and nuts over the top of the cabbage.
Throw about ¼ cup of dry fried noodle on top (Top Ramen does the trick too)
Just before eating, mix the dressing in from the bottom.

Kale Smoothie

Lakshmi likes kale. Thanks to her good influence, and the cutting flavor of orange juice, Charles does too!

1 head of kale (slice the leaves off the stems)
1 large apple
Lemon juice
2 tablespoons chia seeds (see Born to Run)
1-2 cups orange juice
4 ice cubes*

*Note: The ice cubes are optional. Charles thinks they add a crispness to the texture. But his acupuncturist, Dr. Peters, says that cold beverages block his spleen channels.

Midnight Charles Quesadilla

When I'm hungry in the middle of the night, and there's no leftovers, I get furiously creative. I pretty much put these things in a pan, one after another, as fast as I can. Cooking time: 5 minutes.

Tortilla
Grated sharp cheddar cheese
Whatever meat I can find in the fridge
Sliced avocado
Salsa (or the Patak's Indian pickle that Mel buys)
Garnish with lime

Seed of an Idea: Cookbook of "Mommy Recipes" illustrated with family photographs

Charles, it is totally awesome that you are illustrating recipes!!

Mel asked me to make her a baby shower gift of handwritten mommy recipes .. illustrated with photos from our past .. eg. you and John eating spaghetti with my Mom's recipe for meat ragu. I am really excited by what a nostalgic project this will be. My stash of photos keeps yielding possibilities! MomPom xx

Mozzarella Salad

This is the simplest salad in the world. You cut up some mozzarella, tomatoes and basil, mix them in a bowl, and pour a half olive oil half balsamic vinegar emulsion over the top. Voila! You're done!!

There is one tricky part though. You have to acquire a plot of land in a beautiful Mediterranean climate, turn your back yard into several wood-divided beds of rich and fertile soil, plant some heirloom tomatoes, wait until they're perfectly ripe, and pick them! If you don't have time for all that, you can visit the Narayan family farm (Fremont, CA) in the middle of September, and they'll have some waiting for you.

Fruit Soup

Fruit is delicious. So if you add a ton of fruit to a pool of fruit juice, it turns out pretty well. That was the line of reasoning a little mommy followed one morning in her kitchen when she dreamed up this banger of a recipe. My favorite fruit soup is as follows:

Fruit:
2 large grapefruits
2 large peaches
2 fuji apples
1 pint of strawberries
1 pint of blueberries
a big bunch of grapes
*note: none of the individual ingredients are absolutely essential except grapes.

Broth:
Bathe it all in mango juice. I usually use Odwalla, but whichever kind tastes fresh and has a thick and pulpy consistency.

Goddess Dressing

Homemade goddess dressing is so good that we have magnet-attached the recipe to our refridgerator door. In fact, it's so good that it once got Lakshmi the Salad Monster out of a grave salad slump. It's delicious on any salad, though my favorite is a fresh fig salad with goat cheese, heaped with sunflower seeds. Here's how the dressing goes:

1/2 cup of tahini
1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons parsley (preferably fresh)
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup olive oil

*Once we were all out of tahini and were scrambling to replace it. Peanut butter, it turns out, does the trick. Ever since we started adding a large spoonful or two.

Nectarine Salsa

Ingredients
1 1/4 pounds ripe nectarines (3 large or 4 medium), pitted and chopped
1/2 cup chopped white onion
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh serrano chile, including seeds
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
Preparation
Stir together all ingredients and let stand at room temperature, 1 hour, to allow flavors to develop. You may make one day ahead and keep in fridge until ready to serve.

Recipe by PCC Natural Markets

Source: Sound Consumer, August 2011

Fettucine with Fresh Corn Pesto

Fettucine with Fresh Corn Pesto

5 bacon slices, cut lengthwise in half, then crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces
4 cups fresh corn kernels (from about 6 large ears)
3 medium garlic cloves, minced
1/2 small onion
1 1/4 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus additional for serving
1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted (you may substitute toasted walnuts)
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
8 ounces fettuccine or other favorite pasta
1 cup coarsely torn fresh basil leaves, divided
Preparation
Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp and brown, stirring often. Use a slotted spoon to transfer to paper towels to drain. Pour off all but about 1 1/2 tablespoons drippings from skillet. Add corn, garlic, onion, salt and pepper to drippings in skillet. Sauté over medium-high heat until corn is just tender but not brown, about 4 minutes.

Transfer 1 1/2 cups corn kernels to a bowl and set aside. Transfer remaining corn mixture to a food processor. Add Parmesan and pine nuts. With machine running, add olive oil through feed tube and blend until pesto is almost smooth. Set pesto aside.

Cook pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water until al dente, stirring occasionally. Drain, reserving 1 1/2 cups pasta cooking liquid. Return pasta to pot. Add corn pesto, reserved corn kernels, and 3/4 cup basil leaves. Toss pasta mixture over medium heat until warmed through, adding reserved pasta cooking liquid by 1/4 cupfuls to thin to desired consistency. Season pasta to taste with salt and pepper.

Transfer pasta to a large, shallow bowl. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup basil leaves, bacon and more grated Parmesan. Serve immediately.

Recipe by Adapted from “Bon Appétit”

Source: PCC Sound Consumer, September 2011

Chilli Noodles

Chilli Noodles
(UK Homes & Gardens May 1999 p.134)

500g (1 ¼ lb) Chinese egg noodles (dry weight)
4 T peanut oil
2 T chilli oil
1 small red chilli, de-seeded and finely shredded
1 bunch coriander leaves, roughly chopped
2 T light soy sauce
juice and shredded zest of 2 limes
50g (2oz) sesame seeds, toasted
s & p

Cook the noodles . Mix all other ingredients together, adding plenty of salt and black pepper, and toss into the cooked noodles. The noodles can be served hot or cold, and will keep for 5 hours in the fridge. Serves 6.

Something's Fishy Pasta

When I first invited Lakshmi over for dinner, before we started dating, I tried pretty hard to impress her. Did I give myself away with the smoked salmon and goat cheese pasta? Maybe she thought something fishy was going on.

If you're trying to woo someone, here's how to make it:
Cook some pasta. If you're really going for it (which you should be), use fresh pasta.
Fry an onion and a few cloves of garlic.
Break the salmon into small chunks and add it to the pan with a handful of capers.
Turn the heat off and add the goat cheese so it warms but doesn't melt.
Put it on your pasta and eat right away!

Courtship Bolognese

Last January, when my buddy Judson and I went on the inaugural Bros In Snow ski trip, he asked me whether Shmi and I were dating. I told him we were. "I thought something was up when you brought home-made spaghetti sauce," he said, recalling an after-winter league dinner we had at Shmi's house. It's a recipe from my maternal grandma, and it's actually a super easy to make. And it's delicious! It lasts for days (or indefinitely in the freezer). In fact, it gets a bit better after a day or two--the flavors start to really come out. Here's how she made it:

Use a really big pot to do the cooking.
Fry 2 yellow onions in a couple lugs of olive oil.
After 5m or so, add half a head of chopped garlic.
Add 1 lb ground pork and 1 lb ground beef and cook until browned.
Add salt, basil (fresh and roughly chopped), pepper, oregano, marjoram, rosemary (a few branches from outside Stanley hall do the trick) and cook for a few more minutes.
Add 6 oz tomato paste and 1 quart of diced tomatoes, give it a stir, and allow to simmer for about 45m.