Shulgum da Saag

I've been having a pretty crappy week. My phone fell to a watery grave, my bathroom sink is out of commission, and I was stuck unburying my car after yesterday's storm. And I didn't feel like cooking today.

I'd been planning to make this for a while. I had leftover turnips from another recipe and searched on that ingredient specifically. This curry dish - Shulgum da Saag - popped up. But today, I didn't feel like cooking, and I especially didn't feel like tweaking a recipe that wasn't quite working.

I followed it pretty much exactly, my only sub was 2 parsnips for 2 of the turnips (more leftover veg), and you know what, it was amazing in the end. Really, really tasty, healthy, filling, a nice thick curry, and so simple to make. I'm going to have to remember this as a quick meal option, too.

So it ended up being a nice ending to a long week. Yes, I'm ignoring that it's only Monday :)

Welsh Shearing Cake

The Encyclopedia of British Cooking was wrapped under the tree for me this Christmas. One of the things I love about British culture is their national passion for tea and teatime sweets. About a third of the recipes are dedicated to various sweet dishes :)

I had candied peel leftover from last fall's adventures in mince pie making, and decided I wanted to highlight it as a main ingredient. The next step was to find a recipe that did just that, and voila, I stumbled across Welsh shearing cake. The cake has a high flour to liquid ratio, resulting in a dense cake, perfect for dipping into tea or coffee :)

Deconstructed Tuna Salad

My parents found this recipe, it's pretty phenomenal. The ingredients are pretty simple, but their individual preparations really take this dish to the next level. 

Tomato

In-season summer tomatoes are sweet and juicy; their winter counterparts not so much. Winter tomatoes tend to be a bit bland. A quick marinade helps bring out the flavor of winter tomatoes, and you wouldn't hardly know the difference. Simply slice up a tomato, season both sides gently with sugar, salt, and chili powder, let them hang out for 15 minutes and voila - summer tomatoes :)

Onion

Raw onions have a bite, with red onions being the mildest of them all (and therefore best suited to eat raw). A 50/50 marinade of water and red wine vinegar softens up the flavor even further and adds a richness and complexity to the onions. Slice up the onions and let marinade for at least 20 minutes.

Capers

Capers are typically brined in a heavy salt solution. This preserves them, but if the salt flavor is too intense straight out of the jar, a quick rinse under running water helps make them more palatable.

Tuna

For this dish, we used tuna belly or fatty tuna or toro as it's known in sushi houses. It's a very desirable cut of fish, as it's oily and high in omega-3s. Even if using regular tuna, I always prefer to get the one that's been packed in oil rather than water. I find that tuna packed in oil tends to be more moist and has better flavor. Plus you can use a bit of the oil as part of the dish.

Parsley and Basil Dressing

The parsley and basil dressing came from this recipe. Ok, the entire dish was inspired by that recipe, but I didn't figure it out until now.. oh well.

Overall, this is a great lunch, snack, or light dinner, no matter the season. I'll definitely be making this again soon :)

Salmon, Leek, and Goat Cheese Tart

I've decided that for 2015, I'm going to focus on less is more and on participating in the activities that really make me happy and help ground me. This afternoon's yoga class embodied that perfectly but I also realized that my body is no longer capable of doing what it once could. I guess that's the point though - there's always room for improvement.

I usually eat salmon for dinner after yoga class. I'm not sure why or how it started, but it almost became an informal tradition. I typically swing by Whole Foods on my way home; today was no different. However, where I usually poach my salmon in a soy based liquid, tonight I decided to try something else.

I made a turnip soup earlier this week (note: this soup didn't turn out as I'd wanted and required a lot of futzing to make it taste good. Not repeating this one.) and had a bunch of veg leftover. This recipe for a mushroom, leek, and goat cheese tart caught my eye; the original didn't have salmon included but I thought it would be a perfect addition. And you know what? It was. The flavors came together so well, I know I'll repeat this combination again at some point.

I used pre-sliced smoked salmon for this, and just cut it up further into bite sized pieces. In the theme of experimentation, I wasn't sure whether to bake the salmon with the tart or to simply top it off once it had come out of the oven.. so I split the difference - half was baked, the other half went on top as is. The verdict? I actually liked the baked/broiled (for 3 minutes at 400) version better. I felt that the flavor integrated better into the overall bite. Altogether, I would definitely classify tonight's dinner as a win and a great follow up to yoga as well :)

Brownstone

Happy New Year! I'm back from England and back to work, too. Since I promised to keep blogging in the new year, here we go..

I was happily knitting away on Brownstone for a few days until it hit me that I never measured my gauge. I like that the pattern starts with the sleeves, which for me, doubles as a gauge swatch. Now, I hate swatching, but that also means I may have to deal with the reality of not knitting to gauge on the first try and ripping back. This project is no exception. (There are very few projects that don't get ripped back at some point.)

I've knit the first sleeve on US7 for the cuff and US8 for the body of the sleeve, and I'm measuring at 16.5sts/4in. I'm supposed to be at 18sts (meaning my gauge is too loose and the final fabric is too big). I've started the second sleeve on US6 for the cuff and will move onto US7 for the body to see what difference that makes. My plan so far is to block both sleeves when they're about equal length and then move forward with either one needle size or the other, but experience tells me it will likely be the 7s. At least I'm ripping back early! :)

On a separate note, I've finally also logged my past few projects into Ravelry, including this one.. and Brownstone is my 100th project!! xx