Get Some Green! Cooking Challenge v2.0

[Trilt]

Let's bring this back from hiatus!

This week's theme: Herbs!

The premise is simple:
Each week will have a different food or theme posted, and the challenge is to prepare a dish within the theme. It doesn't have to be super detailed, difficult or super on topic - be creative, the point is to just get you trying out some new things! Your mind is your limit, I'll never yell at anyone for being off-theme.

Anyway: when you're done with the dish, just take a picture, chow down, and then post it on the thread, with comments and (hopefully!) a recipe. Easy peasy!

Additionally, the theme for the next week will be posted along with the current week, so anybody who doesn't have ingredients on hand can put them on their shopping list, or can just start planning what they want to make.

Current Week: Herbs
Current Week Dates: Monday, 3/25 through Sunday, 3/31

Next Week: Fusion (!)

Need Inspiration? Tastespotting, Foodgawker, Nibbledish, or Photograzing may help you out

Disclaimer: I'm stealing the weekly themes from /r/52weeksofcooking/ on Reddit. If you don't like them, don't yell at me!

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[cowgirla]

Perfect timing- just took a super yummy dinner out of the oven. Have another recipe that I'll likely share later in the week







Recipe:
3 cups dried black beans
1 small onion
2 sweet potatoes
1 cup uncooked quinoa
2 cups finely chopped cilantro
6 green onions, finely chopped.
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp. chipotle chile powder
2 tbsp. ground cumin
2 tbsp. thyme leaves
1 tbsp. black pepper
4 eggs
2 cups plain panko

Dressing:
2 avocados
1 cup plain greek yogurt
juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp. chipotle chile powder


Directions:
Soak black beans overnight, and simmer for ~80 minutes with an onion and pinch of salt or until soft.
Cook quinoa as directed and drain.
Bake sweet potatoes until soft and allow to cool before grating.

In a large bowl, mash black beans. Add cooked quinoa and grated sweet potato and combine. Add garlic, cilantro, green onions, thyme and spices. Mix well. Add in eggs and panko and stir until all ingredients are moist. Press into burgers and place on an oiled sheet. Bake at 400* for approximately 10 minutes. Flip carefully and bake for another ten minutes.

While burgers are cooking, mash avocado, add in other dressing ingredients and stir well. Refrigerate until needed.

Makes ~12 burgers.

Tips/tricks/substitutions -
This recipe is also awesome with garbanzo beans. Canned would probably work fine, but I only keep dried laying around
I've made it a few times with all different herb/spice combos so try whatever you have around! (Basil is yummy esp fresh from the garden but the cilantro/chipotle is prob my fave)
For egg subs google flax seed eggs. It takes a little more than the equivalent of 4 eggs to get decent "stickage"
Make sure sweet potato is grated pretty evenly - I use the food processor. If there are a lot of big chunks the burgers fall apart.
Regular bread crumbs will work if you can't find panko
If they fall apart when you flip them, just press back together with the spatula
They freeze well - to reheat just panfry with a little bit of olive oil


Enjoy!

 

[Trilt]

Making something for this this evening! Squash's in the oven already...

Edit: Squash was a dud. Maybe tomorrow.

 

[Trematode]

I made before but I omitted the raisins. I can't upload a photo on the forum but it exists, I swear.

Roasted Spaghetti Squash with Mushrooms

1 medium spaghetti squash, halved
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
8 oz. button mushrooms, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
red pepper flakes
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley, roughly chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil, roughly chopped (about 8-10 leaves)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
kosher salt & fresh cracked pepper
Preheat oven to 400F. Rub spaghetti squash halves with 1 tablespoon olive oil, sprinkle with salt & pepper and place on a baking sheet cut side up. Roast for 30 minutes, flip squash and roast for another 30 minutes, or until tender.

Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally til brown, 5-6 minutes. Add a pinch of red pepper flakes and garlic, cooking for about a minute. Turn the heat off, add the golden raisins to the pan and cover with a lid.

When the spaghetti squash is done, let cool for 5 minutes. With a fork, shred the meat of the squash and place it directly into the pan of mushrooms. Add the Parmesan, parsley, basil, and remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Stir well to combine. Season with salt & pepper and serve.

http://www.shutterbean.com/2011/roasted-spaghetti-squash-mushrooms/

 

[equineconstant]

How I made Almond & Herb-Encrusted Tilapia:
~Chop about a teaspoon of lemon thyme and a tablespoon or two of parsley. Mix with enough sliced almonds to cover the plate. I’d guess ¾ to 1 cup, but I didn’t measure.
~Dip each tilapia fillet in butter, then press each side into the almond mixture and place on a foil-lined baking sheet. The almonds don’t actually stick very well, so I had to spread a bunch more almonds on top once I put it on the sheet.
~Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, until white and flaky.

How I made Mashed Potatoes with Herbs and Stuff In: (yes that is what I’m calling it)
~Chop 3 potatoes into chunks and add to a large pot of boiling water. Boil until they’re soft when you poke them with a fork, then drain and return the potatoes to the pot.
~In the meantime, work on the aromatics for the potatoes. Thinly slice about an inch of a leek, then slice all the thin little rings in half so you have nice strings of leeks. You might want to chop them smaller since they stay strings and don’t mash with the potatoes, but as long as you slice thinly enough I think the strings are fine. Also mince 2 medium cloves of garlic. Cook the garlic first in a small pan with butter until it starts to brown, then add the leek slices and cook until nice and soft.
~Mash the potatoes and aromatics together. Also mash in about half a tablespoon of butter and 3+ tablespoons of half and half (I kept splashing in just a little more, so I didn’t track the measurement well). For the herbs, I added a good bit of parsley and about half that amount each of thyme and basil (all dried). Mash it all up and stir it together.

I also put some of the fresh parsley and lemon thyme to the salad, too, because why not?

 

[Psorophoraferox]

Limited ingredient tabouleh! Limited because I didn't have any mint or cucumbers, and I just didn't feel like chopping onions. And I didn't have any fresh tomatoes, so I used canned. Sacrilege! Delicious sacrilege.

Limited Ingredient Tabouleh

Ingredients:
1 bunch of parsley
1/4 can of diced tomatoes
1/2 cup bulgur wheat
1 cup water
Olive oil, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
Boil water, add the bulgur wheat, and remove from heat to soak for ~10 minutes. Drain the bulgur wheat and put in the refrigerator to cool (about 15 minutes). Wash parsley and shake off as much water as you can, or until you get bored. In a food processor, pulse parsley (stems and all!) until finely diced. Remove parsley and put in a medium-sized bowl. Pulse tomatoes until finely diced. Add the tomatoes and cooled bulgur wheat to the parsley, then add olive oil, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Go easy on the olive oil, you want it way more lemony than oily. Mix well. Serve cold or at room temperature. Brush teeth after eating, 'cause you got a little parsley stuck in your incisors.

--From: http://herbivoracious.com/2010/11/real-tabbouleh-recipe.html who is probably totally scandalized by how laid-back this tabouleh (aka tabbouleh aka tabbouli) is. You guys, you will NOT ruin your tabouleh if you don't get every drop of water off the parsley or wring out the bulgur wheat. Chill.



BONUS HERBS:
In a lovely moment of coincidence, the commissary staff put parsley in the primate diets today! So the siamang gibbons are also participating in this week's challenge. Here they present their fresh parsley in a puzzle cube feeder, lightly tossed with chopped apples and romaine lettuce, served on a bed of honeysuckle vine (background).

 

[EngrSC]

I need to get in on this! What's this week's theme ... fusion?

 

[Trilt]

Yes, fusion! My internet at home is being wonky, so I'll post the next week as soon as I get to school tomorrow... Not dealin with typing all that up on my phone!