Weeknight Delicacies

Don't get me wrong- I definitely don't miss being unemployed. But working sure puts a cramp in one's cooking style. It's one thing to whip up a fabulous dinner when you have all afternoon to putz around, boiling beans, caramelizing onions, or picking up exotic ingredients from lazy walks to the market. Now that I have a moderate level of employment that takes up the better part of a day, its sometimes a struggle to make something for dinner that is not totally half-assed. Luckily, this is where other people's hard work on recipes comes in  handy!

Sweet Potatoes and Onions with Garlicky Tahini Sauce

I just recently got a really lovely new cookbook from Berlin's biggest English bookstore, where I like to spend aimless Saturday's reading England's best-sellers, which include more than a few books about Downton Abbey as well as one too many books about World War II. As far as cookbooks, they usually have a bunch of Jamie bloody Oliver and Nigella Lawson picture books and use the metric system and its just not appealing to me. But this time they had a really huge and gorgeous cookbook called "Jerusalem" from Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi and I fell in love. Its not vegetarian, but its packed with vibrant combinations and fresh techniques and quite a few of them would only need some tweaking to make it suitable for vegans. The above recipe, the first one I tried, is broiled sweet potatoes and onions covered with a simple tahini sauce and spices... its pretty much a starter, but it was so delectable that I'm totally thrilled to try to the rest of the recipes, especially when Spring comes and we can get a decent tomato up in this joint.

Manhattan Glam Chowder

Another recipe genius I don't mind exploiting is Isa Chandra (Miss Moskowitz if yr nasty) who has a veritable treasure trove of quick and tasty (yet still exciting) weeknight meals. I've been particularly enjoying her soups lately, and especially those ones imitating fish soups. Last week I tried the Bouillabaisse with Roasted Yellow Squash as well as the Manhattan Glam Chowder from Appetite for Reduction (pictured.) Both rich, tomatoe-y and soul-satisfying, I would recommend both. (The Bouillabaisse was particularly surprising- who knew roasted squash was such a flavor booster? Not I.)

Spaghetti and Bean-balls with nooch

Also from Isa is the famous mock-meatballs "Spaghetti and Beanballs" from V'Con. Never tried this recipe before despite having worn out the book from cover to cover, and discovered it was an easy and crowd-pleasing weeknight supper, especially if you have your own favorite tomato sauce recipe down-pat.

Sweet Potato and Mushroom "Quesadillas"

I also came up with another simple after-work supper- Sweet Potato Quesadillas. This would be as flexible as the ingredients you have on hand. I sauteed some mushrooms, peppers, onions and garlic for a nice sofrito, while boiling a huge sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks. When the sweet potato was fork-pieceable, I drained it and mashed it with a bit of soymilk, margarine, cinnamon and cumin.

To assemble and cook, you preheat an oiled frying pan to medium high heat and throw a tortilla in there. Plop some sweet potatoes in there and spread out a bit from the center, then add in the sofrito. Cover with the next tortilla and press gently to spread out the filling. After a 2-3 minutes, flip and fry on the other side until nicely browned. You could serve this with salsa or sour cream- I served it with smashed avocado and lime.

Domestic dominance and work aptitude? CHECK!

 Song of the Day: Two Door Cinema- What you know