Potato Cake

Friend over for dinner. I wasn't too sure what to make, and I had just happened to see this recipe on Tastemade France. Therefore, I set about to make it.

Simply speaking, it is a cake made with mashed potato, flour, baking powder, and (soy)milk. I folded in dried tomatoes, olives, and mozzarella, and baked the whole thing until cooked through. The result was very filling, spongy, and savory.

Pseudo Terrine

 

Some of you might know how much of a manga fan I am. Lately, I've been reading a lot of Shokugeki no Souma. In there, one of the characters makes a terrine. Since I read that, I've been thinking of making a terrine for a while.

Some issues: most terrines use meat or gelatin or eggs to hold the layers together. Due to an excess of carrots, I decided to try to make a semi-mousse out of them. I used some peanut butter and corn starch as binding agents. Unfortunately, I had to add a lot of water for the carrots to blend properly. Then I didn't have time to chill the whole thing... so it kind of flopped.

The edge is made out of steamed eggplant slices. Then I had a layer of carrot "mousse," a mix if mashed peas and potatoes, some sliced mushroom, then another layer of carrot. This was served with an herb sauce (perilla, cilantro, lemon juice, and a bit of olive oil) and a quark sauce.

Maybe next time I'll add tofu to the carrot layer... and I will chill it properly with a weight for it to hold together better.

Casserole (step-by-step)

Remember the Lazy Student Casserole? I suddenly had an urge to eat it again today, so I did.

First, I looked at what I had in the fridge. Quite a few vegetables, so I selected a few and sliced them. In my assortment: zucchini, bellpepper, mushroom, eggplant, potato, and ripped-up iceberg lettuce. I also chopped tofu into thin strands, as I didn't fell like putting cheese on top this time.

First heat up a small pot, then take it off the heat and coat the bottom and a bit of the sides with some plain oil. Then layer your ingredients, making sure the potatoes are not the bottom-most. I think most casseroles have cheese, but not this time. I opted for some cilantro over the top of everything. You can season in the middle, wherever you wish. I put some Provincial herbs, salt, pepper, and dried chili flakes.

Cook on medium-low heat 15-20 minutes until veggies are tender. I had some troubles and put the heat too high, resulting in a burned the bottom layer, but it was good nevertheless. Portion out and serve!

Potato salad

Potatoes were starting to grow things out of their buds... way time to eat them. I didn't what to make for dinner anyways.

Am I going to start blogging my college meal every day? I don't think so. Just these days, I'm getting some kind of food creativity/motivation, so I keep on doing things that are more than simply veggies and rice.

And I'm posting this more more for me to be able to find the dressing recipe again if needed.

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RECIPE

  Ingredients (amounts according to how much is required)

• potatoes
• carrot(s)
• cucumber (leftovers from yesterday's sushi night)
• 1 tsp mustard
• 1/2 lemon's juice
• 1 tbs mayonnaise/vegenaise
• salt and pepper, to taste

  Procedure

1. Dice potatoes, carrots (smaller than potatoes), slice cucumbers however you ant.
2. Steam or boil potatoes until tender. Steam or boil carrots until just cooked.
3. Refrigerate carrots and potatoes until cold.
4. Mix with cucumber slices.
5. In a bowl, mix mustard, lemon juice, mayonnaise, and season to taste. Multiply quantities as required.
6. Mix into the potato salad, careful to not mash the potatoes.

Lazy Student Casserole

What do you do when you cook for yourself and you're lazy to stand by the pot and stir? You make a casserole. (Stove-top one, I don't have an oven yet).

It's really simple really. Just slice your veggies, layer them in a pot, cook on low heat. DONE! If anyone's interested, I got the recipe from a manga (Cooking Papa), once again. Even though it's never sure exactly how safe it is to test recipes from fictional characters, I like getting inspired by them.

With the potatoes inside, you don't even need any rice or anything. The veggies will leak out some juice, so it's not bad to mop up with bread if you're still hungry enough. Feel free to change the veggie type, just make sure the potatoes are not the bottom-most layer.

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What do you do when you're lazy (not counting instant noodles and such stereotypical student food)?

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RECIPE (full meal for one person)

  Ingredients

• 2 small potatoes (or 1 large one)
• 1/3 zucchini/courgette
• 3 white mushrooms (champignon de Paris)
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 1 piece tofu
• 150 g mozzarella
• salt, pepper, chili flakes, Maggi soy sauce, Provencal herbs
• neutral oil

  Procedure

1. Slice everything
2. Heat a small pot, then remove from heat. Coat the bottom with some mild oil (I used olive oil)
3. Layer your veggies (this is the order I used, the bottom-most one being the one at the bottom of the list):
                   Mozzarella
                   Tofu + soy sauce + pepper + chili flakes
                   Bell pepper
                   Mushroom
                   Potato + bit of salt
                   Zucchini + herbs
4. Return to the stove, close the lid, and let cook on low heat for 15-20 minutes or until all the veggies are cooked through
5. Enjoy~

Potato salad~

Sept 16, 2012

- Potatoes

- Carrot

- Celery (green celery makes it prettier, but I only had white)

- Lemon

- Salt, pepper

Dice the veggies. Boil the potatoes. Slightly cook the carrots until they aren't raw, but they aren't soft either. If you want to, do the same with the celery.

Mix everything together, add salt and pepper to taste.

My proportions:

3 medium potatoes + 1 carrot + ~1 branch celery + 1 lemon