This is going to be a very short intro for this recipe. Mainly, because I’m tired but also, because it’s a grilled sandwich and really, is there a lot to say about that? Not really. There’s cheese and it melts, so you know it’s delicious.

The original recipe called for making your own green olive tapanade, but hell, if you want to just buy some, I won’t tell anyone. That’s actually what I did. And the sandwich was still great!

I’m trying to post more but I’m busier for the next couple of months*, so it’s going to be a little difficult. I will (hopefully) get my French Fridays with Dorie post up on…Friday!

Anyway, here’s some spiced carrots, goat cheese, arugula, green olives and mozzarella. Mmmm!

Grilled Moroccan Carrot and Goat Cheese Sandwiches adapted from Gourmet Magazine 1 tbsp sugar 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice 1 tsp sweet paprika 1/2 tsp . . . → Read More: Grilled Moroccan Carrot and Goat Cheese Sandwiches]]>

This is going to be a very short intro for this recipe. Mainly, because I’m tired but also, because it’s a grilled sandwich and really, is there a lot to say about that? Not really. There’s cheese and it melts, so you know it’s delicious.

The original recipe called for making your own green olive tapanade, but hell, if you want to just buy some, I won’t tell anyone. That’s actually what I did. And the sandwich was still great!

I’m trying to post more but I’m busier for the next couple of months*, so it’s going to be a little difficult. I will (hopefully) get my French Fridays with Dorie post up on…Friday!

Anyway, here’s some spiced carrots, goat cheese, arugula, green olives and mozzarella. Mmmm!

Grilled Moroccan Carrot and Goat Cheese Sandwiches
adapted from Gourmet Magazine
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp sweet paprika
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
4 medium carrots
4 slices good-quality sandwich bread
2 tbsp store bought (or homemade) green olive tapanade
a handful of arugula or spinach leaves
2 oz soft mild goat cheese
2 slices mozzarella cheese
Olive Oil for grilling

Prepare carrots:
Whisk together sugar, lemon juice, spices, salt, and oil in a large bowl until sugar is dissolved. Halve carrots crosswise and then chop into 1/2-inch pieces. Cook carrots in a pot of boiling salted water until crisp-tender, about a minute. Drain well in a colander and immediately toss with dressing.

Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally, then marinate, covered and chilled, at least 4 hours and up to overnight. I just made my carrots the night before.

Make the sandwiches
Spread tapenade on two slices of bread and goat cheese on the other two slices. Top the goat cheese sides with some of the greens and then the carrots (you will have some leftovers) and the slice of mozzarella. Now, you may be asking yourself, “Do I really need two kinds of cheese on this sandwich?” Well, yes. Yes you do.

Turn the olive tapanade side on top of the mozzarella and heat up a heavy skillet. Add a little olive oil to the pan and grill each sandwich, pressing down a bit with a heavy lid or another pan (kind of like you were making a panini). It’s no big deal if you skip that step, but kind of nice if you do have something to press it down with a bit.

Grill until each side is golden and mozzarella starts to melt. Slice them up and you have dinner for yourself and a friend. Perfect! And we had our leftover carrots the next day for lunch with some fish, which worked out perfectly.

Mmmmm…melt-y cheese!

* One of the reasons I have been so busy lately is that I am taking a pottery class Thursday nights. It’s handbuilding (which I’ve always liked way more than wheel throwing).

I’ve been spending some of what would normally be blog-posting time, making odd chicken pots in the basement. Up next? Hopefully a pig pot.

Admittedly, I am not a big eater of potatoes. I think of them more as a vehicle for other things: cheese, sauces, crunchy. I don’t think I have ever boiled potatoes and just eaten them that way.

So, I was a little tentative about this French Fridays with Dorie. Surprisingly, I thought the broth gave these potatoes a lot of flavor. Unfortunately, it was mostly of the bay leaf, which I didn’t really like. If I make these again, I think I will omit that and maybe up the garlic? Yes. More garlic (the answer to every question, ever asked). YES IT IS.

Notes: 1. I halved the recipe, worked fine. 2. I used a mix of potatoes (like I did for the roasted chicken a couple of weeks back)! 3. We had the potatoes with some roasted broccoli and sauteed chicken, which was very good.

Here are my photos and a . . . → Read More: FFwD: Broth-Braised Potatoes]]>

Admittedly, I am not a big eater of potatoes. I think of them more as a vehicle for other things: cheese, sauces, crunchy. I don’t think I have ever boiled potatoes and just eaten them that way.

So, I was a little tentative about this French Fridays with Dorie. Surprisingly, I thought the broth gave these potatoes a lot of flavor. Unfortunately, it was mostly of the bay leaf, which I didn’t really like. If I make these again, I think I will omit that and maybe up the garlic? Yes. More garlic (the answer to every question, ever asked). YES IT IS.

Notes:
1. I halved the recipe, worked fine.
2. I used a mix of potatoes (like I did for the roasted chicken a couple of weeks back)!
3. We had the potatoes with some roasted broccoli and sauteed chicken, which was very good.

Here are my photos and a link to everyone’s Broth-Braised Potatoes.

Braising liquid, heating up.

Not a lot going on here. Potatoes in, starting to cook.

I hit the potatoes with a little more salt and pepper after removing them from the braising liquid.

With broccoli and chicken. This chicken. Very good!

Veggie Grill Cedar Hills Crossing 3435 SW Cedar Hills Blvd. Beaverton, OR 97005

I was recently invited to attend a pre-opening lunch at the new vegan Veggie Grill restaurant in Beaverton (right by the Beaverton Powells). I brought jwa with me and we ate a lot of food and I took pictures (which is typically what happens when we eat out).

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when we showed up for our 1PM reservation, but it was a very enjoyable experience. After stepping inside, we got marked off the list, handed a menu and encouraged to order whatever we wanted at the counter. Dude actually said, “order one of everything!” Well, okay then. We didn’t quite do that but we did alright.

The booths were reserved for parties of 3 or more for this event, so we ended up sitting right at the counter. Because of this, we got to . . . → Read More: The Veggie Grill]]>

Veggie Grill
Cedar Hills Crossing
3435 SW Cedar Hills Blvd.
Beaverton, OR 97005

I was recently invited to attend a pre-opening lunch at the new vegan Veggie Grill restaurant in Beaverton (right by the Beaverton Powells). I brought jwa with me and we ate a lot of food and I took pictures (which is typically what happens when we eat out).

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when we showed up for our 1PM reservation, but it was a very enjoyable experience. After stepping inside, we got marked off the list, handed a menu and encouraged to order whatever we wanted at the counter. Dude actually said, “order one of everything!” Well, okay then. We didn’t quite do that but we did alright.

The booths were reserved for parties of 3 or more for this event, so we ended up sitting right at the counter. Because of this, we got to see a lot of the food as it was being prepared to be run out. The salads looked really fun — many had frizzly, fanciful looking…carrots? Something orange on top. Edible vegan whimsy! I approve.

Anyway, after much discussion, this is what we tried.

Uptown Nachos
Tortilla chips, chili, VG-cheese, corn salsa, avocado, soy cream, jalapeños.
I really liked these, but then it’s hard to find nachos that I don’t like. I hardly even missed the cheese. Probably my favorite thing that we ordered.

Buffalo Wings
Crispy chickin’, tossed in spicy buffalo sauce with celery sticks, ranch dressing.
This was jwa’s idea. I’m not a huge fan of real buffalo chicken wings so it was hard for me to compare these to anything, but they were not bad. Very vinegary; jwa thought they were a bit salty.

Santa Fe Crispy Chickin’
Fried chickin’, lettuce, tomato, red onion, avocado, spicy vegan mayo.
I liked this a lot. Super crispy. I’d get it again.

Side Steamin’ Kale
Steamed until just tender, ginger-miso dressing, roasted sesame seeds.
I loved the kale salad. The dressing was a nice sesame-miso type deal. The kale was tender and tasty. I would definitely get this again (and probably even try to recreate it at home).

VG-Cheeseburger & Red Cabbage Slaw
The V-Burger topped with VG-Cheese El Dorado Style upon request with jalapeños, caramelized onions, ketchup.
What jwa got. He ate it all. I think he liked it.

Dessert: Carrot Cake, Chocolate Pudding and Chocolate Chip Cookies
For dessert, they brought us out a sampler plate of tasty things. Well, I wasn’t crazy about the chocolate pudding (a little chalky), but the carrot cake and cookies were delicious!

I asked jwa, since he works in Beaverton, if he would go there again and he said yes and even told some vegan co-workers (grrlvegangang) about it. If I worked/lived nearby I would probably go again for lunch too.

Seriously, I might even head out there again specifically to try the large kale salad with all the extra what-nots on top, because that sounds really good (extra what-nots: Marinated kale and red cabbage, corn salsa, agave-roasted walnuts, ginger-papaya vinaigrette). See? Really tasty sounding.

Hey, it’s the first French Fridays with Dorie of 2012 (for me, anyway)! And this week….M. Jacques Armagnac Chicken. This is a pretty easy and delicious weeknight dinner. I typically prefer roasted-type birds with golden, crackly skin, but to its credit, this was one helluva moist bird. And, with the new year’s resolutions and all, it’s probably best to not be tempted to eat all that tasty, golden, crackly skin.

Notes:

1. My bird was about 2.75 pounds and I roasted it for 55 minutes. It came out perfectly done and super moist. 2. I used a mix of gold, red and purple potatoes and two rosemary sprigs (no thyme). 3. I added garlic to the pot (duh). 4. I only had fairly cheap brandy. I used that, although, I did contemplate using some marsala wine instead. The cheap brandy seemed to work fine. 5. I wish I had salted . . . → Read More: FFwD: M. Jacques Armagnac Chicken]]>

Hey, it’s the first French Fridays with Dorie of 2012 (for me, anyway)! And this week….M. Jacques Armagnac Chicken. This is a pretty easy and delicious weeknight dinner. I typically prefer roasted-type birds with golden, crackly skin, but to its credit, this was one helluva moist bird. And, with the new year’s resolutions and all, it’s probably best to not be tempted to eat all that tasty, golden, crackly skin.

Notes:

1. My bird was about 2.75 pounds and I roasted it for 55 minutes. It came out perfectly done and super moist.
2. I used a mix of gold, red and purple potatoes and two rosemary sprigs (no thyme).
3. I added garlic to the pot (duh).
4. I only had fairly cheap brandy. I used that, although, I did contemplate using some marsala wine instead. The cheap brandy seemed to work fine.
5. I wish I had salted everything just a smidge more.

Okay, onward to the photos and here’s a link to everyone’s chicken posts.

Onions, carrots, potatoes and rosemary in the pot. Is there room for the chicken?

Yes. If it’s tiny. Notice the sliced garlic cloves.

I put foil around my lid nob knob just in case it wouldn’t be oven-safe at 450 degrees F.

After almost an hour…chicken-y deliciousness.

After removing the chicken and adding water (if I had any chicken stock on hand, I would have used that, I think).

Oh look how moist the white meat is!

Plated and ready for dinner.

This week’s French Friday with Dorie is kind of neat — a Spanish Tortilla made with potato chips instead of slices of potato! You basically crush a bunch of chips and add to eggs, onion, spices and pop into a pan to cook! I’d go so far as to say that if you crushed your chips on the larger side and didn’t tell anyone that you’d used potato chips, they might not even be able to tell.

I used a mix of red onion and green onion in mine and I was very tempted to try this with the multicolored vegetable chips, but after reading the label, decided against it as they were higher in calories, fat and carbs than these olive oil potato chips. Go figure.

Anyway, here’s a link to everyone’s posts and here are my photos below!

Trader Joe’s . . . → Read More: FFwD: Potato Chip Tortilla]]>

This week’s French Friday with Dorie is kind of neat — a Spanish Tortilla made with potato chips instead of slices of potato! You basically crush a bunch of chips and add to eggs, onion, spices and pop into a pan to cook! I’d go so far as to say that if you crushed your chips on the larger side and didn’t tell anyone that you’d used potato chips, they might not even be able to tell.

I used a mix of red onion and green onion in mine and I was very tempted to try this with the multicolored vegetable chips, but after reading the label, decided against it as they were higher in calories, fat and carbs than these olive oil potato chips. Go figure.

Anyway, here’s a link to everyone’s posts and here are my photos below!

Trader Joe’s chips with olive oil…a good choice!

Crushed chips, green onion, red onion and other stuff…

Now the eggs, paprika, salt and pepper are added to the mix.

In the pan, cooking up with some olive oil.

After being under the broiler for a few minutes.

A bit of chopped parsley on top for some color.

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