Last Supper.

Wild Shrimp with a Golden Tomato Sauce over Purple Basmati Rice. 

Well I gotta say, this dish beats the hell out of bread & wine. It's my last full cooking venture for many suns and moons. I've been, as you can see by this blog, eating very well. Perhaps too well though. I've been feeling kinda gross and bloated lately. It happens to the best of us right?

I watched the documentary Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead last Thursday afternoon. I was inspired to do a 30 day juice fast about a half hour into the film. It's going to be tough 30 days dudes, but I'm psyched for the challenge! I might do before & after photos but I make no promises.

Taco Time.

It's summer, it's grossly hot, there's so much cool shit going in the city. Who wants to sweat it out in the kitch all day? I made two different taco styles. The first is a steamed shrimp taco with yellow peppers and carrots. The second is a veggie beef taco with shredded carrots, sauteed red onions, and corn.

Both are topped with a simple fresh salsa made from plum tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, freshly chopped garlic, lime juice, and salt. Light, filling, and I barely broke a sweat. {Ha, yeah right. Not in my hot ass apt!}

  Lastly, let me say,what a difference 11 megapixels makes.

Shrimp Taco w Fresh Salsa

"Beef" Taco w Fresh Salsa

It looks like this blog is about to get a whole lot more delicious!

The Soul's of Black Folks.

Happy Black History Month! Some sixth sense must have kicked in this weekend because I started cooking a bunch of black folks food. See below. By the by, there are a bunch of shots of collards because I think they're gorgeous. And shit it's my month, I can do what I want, hahaha.

I rolled about 4-6 leaves into cigars then cut them into thin strips. 

This is about a pound and a half. 

There goes Mr. Steamy. I put a few shrimp in the mix.

Meanwhile, on another burner. Black Eyed Peas from scratch simmering w red onion & green pepper.

I added the steamed collards to a butter, garlic, kosher salt, chopped peanut sauce. It's the best!

Look who's back in black {eyed peas}.

Coconut Sweet Potato Custard Pie. Nuff said!

Are You Calling Me Yellow?!?!?

I'm sure some of you have noticed I love curry & turmeric powder. I made a quick fish & veg dish last night and I had to restrain myself from adding a dash. It's such a bright, fragrant spice it's hard to resist. Here's an amazing, yes amazing, dish I threw together last week.

I simmered some onions & peas in sauce of turmeric, garlic powder, kosher salt, cumin, cream of coco, & water. I then added some cooked basmati rice & the pan. 

                                      
I added some chopped plum tomatoes after cooking the sauce so they would retain texture & vitamins.

                                      
Lastly I mixed in some soy sausage I sliced and crisped in the oven. You can easily                                                                                 replace the sausage with a crispy tofu, real sausage, chicken, etc. Definitely a new favorite.
{Dude I don't know what's going on with the text. Sorry it's all wonky.}

Shit, Paula Deen Was Right . . .

I'm not so much of a Paula Deen fan since I'm convinced she's trying to kill all of us with tacky greasy food. But, I will agree with the bitch about one thing, butter does make it better. I was vegan for many years and became accustomed to using soy margarine. Then one day my sister was talking about how she prefers butter to margarines since they are highly processed. And alas a light bulb went off. I took me a bit to embrace the creamy, salted ingredient mainly because of price but Whole Foods produces a delicious non RBST butter that's only $2.49 a pack. Here's what I made last Sunday:

I rough chopped some cabbage & a Spanish Onion

Melted about 2/3 of a stick in a pan on a low simmer & boiled some basmati rice. 

Spices used: garlic powder, turmeric, cinnamon, kosher salt, & cayenne pepper

I added the onion then cabbage to the butter and lightly sauteed. I really had to keep stirring to make sure the butter was equally dispersed. You may need to add more butter and I suggest covering the pan so the cabbage will sweat a bit and add to the sauce. Then I added the spices, let them simmer and become friendly. Next in the pan was the shrimp, followed by some corn, and finally the rice. 

Collards & Black Beans 2.0

Hey now! So the first post was probably my second or third time ever cooking collards {I know, I'm surprised my black card wasn't revoked earlier.} and I cooked canned black beans. Last Friday I made collards again {they came out brilliantly}, black beans from scratch {also brilliant}, and I sauteed some shrimp in butter and tumeric {so f'n good!}. I've been eating this meal everyday for about a week now and I still love every bite of it. 

Sweet Jesus, How Was I Ever Vegan?

Oh the lusciousness that is alfredo sauce. I really cannot understand why people buy jarred alfredo when it is so easy to make at home. Basic recipe: butter, half & half or heavy cream, chopped garlic, & parmesan cheese. Melt the butter, add the cream, let them simmer, then add garlic & cheese. Come on now, how simple. I added steamed broccoli, sauteed shrimp, and linguine to the sauce.

Shrimp over Angel Hair Pasta w Kalamata Tapenade Sauce.

If this dish sounds complicated, you're on to something because it kinda is. But the time and effort are more than pays off in the end. I had a ton of kalamata olives from a dish I made over a month ago and will someday post. I don't snack on olives too often so I realized I better cook them in something before they go bad. First thing I did was hand peel and de-pitt about a cup and a half of kalamata olives. Boy oh boy better put on some fun music for this task. It's quite time consuming, you might want to buy the pitted ones, but they are more expensive. I put the olives in my blender with 5 fresh garlic cloves, I'd say about 3 or 4 tbsps of olive oil, and 1/4 of a cup of pecorino romano cheese until it was nice and smooth. Then I added the tapenade to a large can of Italian chopped tomatoes that was simmering on the stove. I let them get friendly, then I boiled some angel hair pasta and sauteed about 12-15 shrimp. The rest is pretty self explanatory and may I add AMAZING! Enjoy mes amis!

Shrimp & Strings in Black Bean Sauce.

So you may remember I made a huge batch of black beans a few weeks back. I used most in a veggie chili and had a hankering to make an Asian black bean sauce with the rest. Funny enough, there aren't many recipes for it online. I whipped together a pretty good one on the fly. I warmed the black beans with fish sauce and roasted red chili paste. The sauce & paste are rather salty so be gentle with them. I let the ingredients simmer and mashed the beans up once they became softer. Add water the mix becomes more of a paste than a sauce. So once it was all good & wicked, I threw in the shrimp and string beans. Very delicious & not too backbreaking. 

Spicy Shrimp Tortillitas

So, in the spirit of food exploration, I bought some chickpea flour from Sahadi's the other day. {More on that wonderful place soon.} I couldn't remember the recipe that called for it and when I did a google search for chickpea flour, of course a Bittman recipe for tortillitas with shrimp was one of the first to pop up. This delicious Spanish treat is fairly painless to prepare. Ya'll know me, I had to make the recipe my own. I used cayenne pepper instead of black and half a cup of whole wheat flour instead of white. You will need to add more water since the flour is heavier. I used a generous amount of olive oil on the first pancake as Bittman instructed. As you can see below, it spilled over a bit, but it's actually a good thing. I used less oil on the second pancake and it wasn't quite the same consistency. They are brilliant. Explore & Enjoy!

Don't mind the oil on top, it helps cook the other side.

I almost never make pancakes, but I flipped this b like a pro!

Great color & texture. Try it with a small salad.

Dark & Lovely!

Mmmm, sweet lusciousness! Sometimes I like my beans how I like my men, dark & delicious. This was my first attempt at making black beans from scratch. I must admit, it started out as a bit of a disaster. I used maggi cubes which gave them a strange taste. But this bitch can cook her way out of most situations. I had a friend over so I was a tad distracted, but I think it went something like this: chopped garlic, olive oil, kosher salt, maggi cubes {would not necessarily suggest, but a veggie bouillon cube does the trick for my friend Camilla.}, cream of coconut, fresh carrots, and I feel like I threw in some coriander. They grew more and more delicious as the spices settled. Then I paired the beans with some maduros {sweet fried plantains}, pan seared shrimp, and basmati rice. It was heavenly!