Veggie Shepherd's Pie

This was kind of a spur of the moment dish, made for a vegetarian friend.

3 things that make this different from your normal Shepherd's Pie:

1. No meat (instead I crushed up some vegetarian meatballs from Trader Joe's)
2. Actual crust
   
3. It is gigantic

The basic assembly first required cooking both the meat/veggie filling and the mashed potato topping separately. The filling is sauteed onions, carrots, meat (or meat substitute), broth, tomato paste, flour/corn starch, and some frozen peas and corn.

The filling was the first to go into the pie shell. Unfortunately, it almost came up to the brim without any mashed potatoes. The potato topping ended up being pretty swollen looking.



Looks amazing when cut into:



And even better just prior to entering my mouth!

Getting huge

I went on a weight-lifting stint this winter in order to add some body reserves before I start residency this summer. My goal was to evenly distribute 10 lbs more to my frame. The easiest way to do this?



Protein! This stuff actually worked pretty well as a work-out shake, and was generally pretty palatable. But Table Vibrations is not about filling your body with chemicals produced in some factory (my friend refers to the term "edible food substitute").

I decided to turn to the good old egg to fuel my muscle-building adventure. How do you make an omelet in 5 steps?

Beat eggs --> scramble briskly in preheated nonstick pan for 10 seconds --> add ingredients down the center --> fold one third of the egg over the ingredients and wait --> flop it onto your plate free edge first, so you complete the 2nd fold.







I think I gained about 3 lbs and promptly lost it all after a week of working again. Foiled by my own metabolism!

Shortbread cookies

Thanks to the Grand Central Bakery Baking Book I received for Christmas, I decided to try these chocolate shortbread cookies. I've never made roll cookies before. Drop cookies, sugar cookies, slice and bake Tollhouses, but never authentic shortbread cookies.

Basically, sugar + butter + chocolate + refrigeration. They turned out alright, but I think I'm more of a soft/chewy cookie guy. These are more crumbly, though the chocolate flavor was amazingly rich.

Before: (insert obvious joke here)



After:

Popcorn

After college, I decided that popcorn did not have to be made in a microwave covered in yellow, salted trans-fats. However, it took me a while to figure out how to make popcorn just as tasty as the gooey disgusting kind that comes from a paper bag.

I tried regular stove top popping. This requires some skill, patience, and the right vessel (I use a nice large saucier). It turns out nicely, but you need a high smoke-point fat like peanut oil and plenty of practice using a lid as a shield against over-excited kernels. Plus, there is a good amount of clean up involved.

You might ask why I didn't try one of these stovetop popcorn contraptions. I live in a studio apartment...there's no room for that unitasker.

DIY microwave popping was next. Throw some kernels in a paper bag, staple it shut and hope for the best. This never seemed to give me a high enough kernel yield. Plus, it seemed like cheating.

Air popping was the next logical solution. I dropped some dough on a used air popper and it turns out to be almost exactly what I wanted.

I use a mixture of yellow and blue popcorns - both organic and locally produced by the Pennsylvania Dutch. It adds some variety of texture and flavor.



Remember to use a big bowl to catch the popcorn - you'll need it to distribute the toppings later.



After some topping experimentation, I've found that equal parts butter and olive oil, microwaved for 40 seconds and mixed with a pinch of sea salt works well.



Shake it up. Then add another sprinkle of salt and/or black pepper. Shake it again (but not too vigorously this time).

Potato Leek Soup

This recipe is unbelievably easy (read: you can buy everything at Trader Joe's), and makes for a good couple of meals because it reheats so well. Non-pureed soups often don't reheat well because the chunky ingredients tend to get soggy after sitting for a while.



Saute leeks --> diced potatoes --> wait for a touch of color --> season --> veggie broth --> add whole peeled potato -->



45 minutes --> remove and finely dice cooked whole potato --> immersion blender! --> add dairy (cream, buttermilk) and potato pieces --> serve with chives



Eat with fresh bread (made in the same dutch oven earlier that day).


Original recipe courtesy of Alton Brown.

Christmas time is here

Ginger molasses cookies with orange zest. Very tasty. I was too lazy to take an "after" picture, but the "before" picture looks like space boulders or something. Credit goes to my sister for helping to tackle this cookie job.

Yelp!

I'll admit, it's hard to keep up with a blog. Though it's not an excuse, I've been moonlighting as a food writer on Yelp. Check out my reviews, which have been featured a couple of times on the Philly website.