Derek Shepherd Pie

So. After 11 years (has it really been that long??) Inez and I are finally roommates. We've moved in with some friends into a row house in Brookland, DC and are just loving it. Now we are cooking together all the time and so don't need to post to show each other what we've been doing. It has, however, come to our attention that people other than ourselves read this blog, fancy that!

Another thing we get to do together now is watch Grey's Anatomy. Yes. We admit... we love Grey's. So this Thursday we decided to brink it all together by making a Derek Shepherd's Pie.

Yes, that is "Derek"written out in cheddar cheese. Yes, we are big dorks.

Here is the Joy of Cooking's recipe for shepherd's pie (paraphrased):

• Make some hash.
• Make some mashed potatoes.
• Put the hash, then the mashed potatoes in a dish.
• Bake.

Here's what we did:

• Cook up 1 1/2 chicken breasts with onions, garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, oregano, basil, cayenne, cumin, coriander (or whatever sounds good to you).
• Make some mashed potatoes.
• Chop and lightly steam some kale. (Can you tell wedidn't measure anything?)
• Chop and steam some carrots. 
• Grate some cheese (we used dill havarti and parmesan, just a little bit).
• Put a thin layer of potatoes on the bottom. Put everything but the rest of the potatoes in the dish. Put the potatoes on top.
• Write out "Derek" in cheddar cheese.
• Bake at 400 degrees for a while. 
• Watch Grey's Anatomy and enjoy.

[Inez] Beautiful baby

I had absolutely nothing to do with the creation of this beautiful little thing. The credit for that goes to my sister Ileana Mena Mora. Felicidades a ella por el nacimiento de su precioso gordito, Kaleb Arroyo Mena. (Congratulations to her for the birth of her precious fat baby, Kaleb Arroyo Mena.) Even his name is beautiful!

I'll try not to dwell on my completely impartial observations, but allow me this:
Look at those tiny fingers! That nose! That little chin! Look at that super rockstar pout!

[Inez] more garden, please

Hey Elise, how are your vegetables coming along?

My garden is doing pretty well, although I have to water it every single day because D.C. is SO HOT and doesn't seem to understand why rain is important.

[Inez & Elise] World Cup Brunch

With the second round of the world cup centered on last weekend, Inez and I decided to hold a small brunch. After the defeat of the U.S. by Ghana we needed a bit of a pick-me-up; Enter: Pancakes and Mimosas!

Okay, Inez here. Elise asked me to take the reins because I actually made the pancakes. How is it that we can both post about something we made and ate together? BECAUSE WE LIVE IN THE SAME CITY! Pretty cool, huh?

Anyway. Ricotta pancakes topped with orange-honey sauce and oranges and strawberries. Inspired by one of the best brunches out I've ever had, at Sweetie's Pie Diner in Philadelphia (which I just learned closed, how sad!). We also made (well, Elise and Colin made) a spinach salad with strawberries, inspired by the salad we had at Lounge of Three on U Street which is where Elise and I went to watch the first half of the USA-Ghana game because Nellie's was too full of Team USA fans and we were hungry.

These pancakes have no chemical leavening. No baking soda, baking powder, no yeast. Just egg whites. It's actually a really short ingredient list: flour, eggs, ricotta, sugar, zest, salt. it called for lemon zest but I used orange zest. I made a 1 1/2 batch of this recipe for 4 people with zero leftovers and full bellies. Here's how it goes: Mix the egg yolks, ricotta, sugar, and zest in a big ole bowl. Add the flour. Then, in a medium bowl, whip the egg whites with a couple pinches of salt until they hold stiff peaks and generally look like the most beautiful puffy clouds. Then you fold the clouds into other stuff and it all becomes cloud-like. Seriously, it's amazing. Elise can attest to the fact that I was groaning in awe at this point.

Oh yeah, while you're folding in the egg whites, heat a pan or two on medium or medium-low heat. When it's all mixed and beautiful, cook those little orange-ricotta clouds up. Tip: I used a 1/4 cup measure to keep the pancakes sort of the same size without ever having to double dip into the bowl (which would, if repeated enough times, make the clouds less cloud-like).

Oh my goodness, don't they look amazing? I recommend standing back slightly while cooking these babies so that you don't drool directly onto the pancakes.

I assure you, they are every bit as delicious as they look. For the orange honey sauce I just took the orange juice from an orange and a half or so and then I added some honey and threw it in a little saucepan and simmered it while I cooked the pancakes. Don't go overboard with the honey like I did -- let the orange really sing. Then top with fresh fruit and feel like you have a little bit of heaven in your mouth!

Oh yeah, and mimosas. Yum.

Strawberries and pink champagne sparkling wine waiting for orange juice.

[Elise] Guacamole and Sweet Potato Hash

The last few times I've been to the grocery store it's been sample day and they've been pushing this delicious (and expensive) guacamole. Every time I tell myself I'll look up how to make it and get ingredients next time I'm at the store... and then I forget to. Today I learned that you pretty much just throw delicious things together and enjoy. Yum.

 Guacamole (makes a bit more than a pint)

Two avocados
1/8 c sour cream
Juice of one lime
One pepper (sweet or hot, depending on taste)
1/4 vidalia onion
½ tsp cumin

There was also supposed to be one mango diced up, but the mango I has was rotten on the inside. It was sad. I also would have liked to add a bit of cilantro, which I really need to add to my herb garden because you can never just get a little bit at the store.

Next came the question of what to put under the guacamole. I decided to totally wing it and make a sweet potato hash. I diced one whole sweet potato, the other 1/4 onion (sticking the remaining half in the fridge for tomorrow) and some garlic, sautéed on med-low heat for about 10 minutes before adding one zucchini and sautéing another 10 minutes. A few minutes from the end I added cumin, oregano, lemon salt, and some fresh basil from my garden. I was pretty nervous how it would all taste together with so many different flavors. It was absolutely delicious: The lime came through the guacamole in a really nice way; The crunch of the fresh onion in the guacamole was great to have in contrast with the flavor of the sautéed onions; The lemon salt was coarse and didn't dissolve fully so would add little busts of lemon. It was all just smooth and wonderful with a nice variety of flavors and textures.

Yum!

[Inez] Beautiful: Cosmos!

Finally, I can put a pretty flower picture in here because I made this beautiful! Beautiful in this case is a noun not an adjective. Yeah, I just nouned an adjective. Ha! Ha! Hoo boy, at least I'm cracking someone up here.

I planted this seed. I almost forgot about it watered it diligently. I thinned and transplanted so that these babies wouldn't be too crowded. I weeded all the clover. I made this happen. Are you proud of me, mom?

[Inez] Strawberries and Cream, or, Yay, the Farmer's Market Is Open!

Today is the first day of the year that my neighborhood's farmer's market is open! My farmer's market is the best. It's pretty small, maybe 10-12 vendors, but it's got everything from produce to plants to bread to cheese and handmade filled pasta. And it's all local. I got some goat meat from a woman who had pictures of her goats grazing in a pasture. More and more I've been feeling squeamy about supporting the meat industry and putting its products in my body. Buying local, free-range (preferably organic, vegeterian-fed) meat is starting to feel like the only real option. So.. I bought some goat meat. I'll tell you how it is when I cook it.

The star of the farmer's market this week though was the strawberries. Beautiful little red shiny plump strawberries. Strawberries that look like they can hold their heads high and say, "I am a strawberry!" Not like the mutant steroidal strawberries you get in the grocery store.

I have some cream left over from I don't remember what, so I sliced the strawberries...

...and drowned them in cream.

Oh my goodness delicious.