So if you saw my post last Wednesday, you’ll know I love the restaurant Rasika here in DC. And I’ve now tried to replicate the two dishes I always order there – palak chaat and chicken tikka masala. And as amazing as I thought my palak chaat was, this was to die for!! I’ve also learned in the process of making this dish that it is semi unhealthy (sometimes it is better to be ignorant). But, hey, every once in a while this dish is worth it. So amazing!
Category Archives: Dinner
My Favorite Meal of the Week – Palak Chaat
Many of you may be looking at the title of this post wondering what it is. Well, it just so happens to be one of my favorite things to order at a particularly good (read: fancy, not greasy take out) Indian restaurant in DC, Rasika. The first time I went to this restaurant was for Dave’s birthday a couple years ago. And in typical Dave fashion, he researched the restaurant in advance on Yelp so that he showed up knowing exactly what to order. One of the dishes he ordered was the Palak Chaat. And I have to say, when he ordered this dish, I was skeptical. It was lightly fried spinach with a yogurt date sauce, which really just didn’t sound that good.
Oh dear god, was I wrong. I can’t even explain it, but this dish is seriously amazing. The spinach is so light and crunchy and all of the flavors are just unreal. The point of this whole story is that I love this dish so much that I wanted to at least try to recreate it at home. I went into the process knowing that I would never make something as delicious as the salad at Rasika, but I at least had to try. And I wasn’t disappointed. I read a couple of different recipes and combined them to come up with the following recipe. Also if you like Indian food, watch out for next week’s post – chicken tikka masala – my other favorite dish at Rasika.
My Favorite Meal of the Week – Short Ribs
So I know it probably seems like I have a lot of favorite foods, but the following recipe is one of those things that I LOVE to order at restaurants. But until this spring, I had never tackled making it myself (and by myself, I mean Dave did all the work and I assisted). The dish I am referring to is short ribs.
I love short ribs (sorry to my vegetarian readers). But seriously, the way the meat just melts in your mouth, it’s amazing. And I was kind of afraid that when we made them ourselves they would’t live up to the excellent quality of Blue Duck Tavern (an awesome restaurant in DC), but our version was absolutely just as good.
I think the trick is buying excellent meat. We got ours from a butcher at Eastern Market, and I definitely recommend trying to go to a local butcher and not just your generic grocery store. But just a warning, these are not easy to make. There’s a reason they are delicious, they’ve been cooked for hours. So only tackle this recipe if you’re willing to log some hours in the kitchen. But seriously, do it. It’s worth it. You’ll not only savor every bite, but you’ll seriously impress your guests. I promise!!
My Favorite Meal of the Week – Sun-dried Tomato Pasta Salad
Continuing from my post last Sunday, here is another great recipe for a Fourth of July BBQ! I used to think I didn’t like pasta salad, but turns out, I just don’t like the traditional mayonnaise based ones. But if you take out the mayonnaise, I’m a big pasta salad fan. A friend had made one last year for the Fourth that I loved, and after a lot of research I think I found a similar one.
My Favorite Meal of the Week – Tostadas
So before we get started, I have to share a very special picture with you that my dad just found this past weekend. I’ve decided this picture means that I was clearly destined to have a baking blog one day!
The adorable tyke in the red and white jumper is my younger brother, and the one on the stool is yours truly. This picture clearly documents an important teaching moment, that of the older sister to the younger brother about how to properly lick the bowl clean.
Ok, back to recipes. Today, I bring to you a HenderBarry family speciality – tostadas. We had these all the time growing up, and they were definitely one of my favorite meals. And I can see the appeal to my mom, fast and easy!
My Favorite Meal of the Week – Kale Salad and Cauliflower Salad
First of all, I want to say how happy I am to be back blogging (if you don’t know where I was, read this). Spending a week at the beach doing very little besides reading, napping, and eating gave me lots of time to do some thinking and planning for the blog. So get excited for a summer full of yummy recipes.
Ok, now onto today’s post. After nine days of heavy meals, I returned to DC very excited to eat light, healthy summer fruits and vegetables. It also just so happened that for my first night back, I was having a friend over for dinner who was about to leave for a work trip to Afghanistan (and thus would be missing out on all the same fruits and veggies I was craving). So in honor of this, I put together the following spread:
Featured:
– Homemade Pesto (with basil from our garden) and Smashed Tomatoes served on Toasted French Bread
– A Lemon Kale Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing
– A Cauliflower and Garbanzo Bean Salad
My Favorite Meal of the Week – Zucchini Fritters
Growing up in California, I ate a lot of home grown squash, zucchini, and eggplant. In the summers, people with big gardens were basically giving these vegetables away because they had so many. So I thought I’d seen most of the ways to use these guys.
But last summer, I discovered a new great recipe to use any extra zucchinis – zucchini fritters. And I’ve started making them again almost every week.
My Favorite Meal of the Week – Mixed Green Salad with Grapefruit Wedges, Goat Cheese, and Candied Pecans
This week’s favorite meal of the week post is all about the grapefruit. I have always liked grapefruits, but I’ve recently remembered why they are so great. They seem to be the only sweet (and relatively inexpensive fruit) right now. In college, they were sometimes the best fruit in the dining hall at this time of year. And right now, they seem to be the best fruit at TJ’s (the berries are too expensive, the apples and oranges are bad, and it’s too early for a lot of other good things).
Today’s meal is a mixed green salad with grapefruit wedges, goat cheese, and candied pecans with a honey dressing. Pretty simple, and nice and light for the summer.
My Favorite Meal of the Week – Quesadillas
For anybody who has lived with me (especially in my single days), you know that I used to subsist on a combination of tortillas, black beans, hummus, spinach and salsa for a good portion of my meals. I’d throw in some other random items when I had them in the fridge, but the majority of the week, I’d saute some spinach and throw it, plus some salsa, black beans and hummus into a flour tortilla and call it dinner. Fast, easy, and pretty healthy.But as you know, I’ve tried to up my dinner game since moving in with Dave. And while I have definitely upgraded, I still have to go back to my roots every once in a while. The difference is that now, I get slightly more creative about what I throw in the mix, and I take the extra five minutes to turn this deliciousness into a quesadilla instead of just throwing it in a cold tortilla. So in honor of Cinco de Mayo last weekend, here are a few of my favorite combinations for quesadillas (or dillas as they are lovingly called in our house).
My Favorite Meal of the Week – Spinach Salad
I’m all for the easy salad. Lately, we’ve been eating a lot of them (still making up for our trip to Charleston and in preparation of a vacation where we’ll be spending a lot of time in suits). My newest favorite salad involves spinach, bacon, caramelized onions, apple, blue cheese, candied pecans, and a balsamic dressing. I love the combination of flavors!
the petite croissant 