Friday, January 31, 2014

ground beef and broccolified quinoa curry


Let me 'splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. {Name that film.}

Let's just eat!

A Mamatouille original...

You'll need:

  • 1 cup uncooked quinoa, any color (rice would work here, too)
  • olive oil
  • one head of broccoli, cut into tiny deciduous-treelike florets
  • kosher salt
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 peeled and grated carrots
  • pinch of saffron threads
  • 1 chicken bouillon cube
  • black peppercorns, for grating
  • 2 t. curry powder
  • 1 t. powdered cumin
  • 1 t. powdered coriander
  • 1/2 t. onion powder (or 1/2 chopped onion--if you use chopped onion, add in with the ground beef and garlic at the beginning of browning in the frying pan)
  • sprinkle of Saigon cinnamon (or regular cinnamon)
  • 1 t. turmeric
  • sprinkle of spicy Chinese mustard powder
  • 1 lb. ground beef
  • juice of 1/2 lemon

Do this:

Tell your rumblin' tum to simmer down, 'cause you're gonna love the outcome!

Toss your broccoli with some olive oil and roast in a 400-degree oven until soft and fox-colored (as they say in Japanese), about 20-25 minutes. Sprinkle some kosher salt over all.

Meanwhile, rinse your quinoa in a mesh strainer until it stops foamin' (at the mouth), then scrape into a pot on the stove and add two cups of water. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer about fifteen minutes, till soft.

As the quinoa and broccoli are doing their thang, brown the ground beef and minced garlic in a frying pan, then add the grated carrots till softened up a bit.

Throw in a pinch of saffron and crumble in a chicken bouillon cube. Continue stirring, and then add freshly grated pepper, curry powder, cumin, coriander, onion powder, a sprinkle of cinnamon (Saigon has a lovely flavor), turmeric, and a sprinkle of Chinese mustard powder. Simmer a few minutes.

Turn the beef mixture down to low, add the broccoli and quinoa, and squeeze the juice of half a lemon over all. Stir, serve in bowls with spoons and little colorful organic heirloom maters.

Generously serves four.

Use your broccoli-roasting oven heat for a good cause: We had a Paleo mixed-berry crumble for dessert. Mmmm, mmmm, deeeeeeeeelish.


Monday, January 6, 2014

kimchi-rockin' breakfast


Come and listen to a story about a breakfast named Eggs...

Poor Eggs was lonely--he never liked to be solitary. So he went to his mama and asked her to help him find some friends.

This is her answer.

Eggs, you'll need:
  • A dollop of bacon fat
  • 2 of your kind
  • A slice of ham
  • Organic dandelion greens, washed and torn into small pieces
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
  • Kimchi 
Do this:

Grab your favorite frying pan, heat her up, melt some bacon fat, and crack yourself and another Egg in. Mama says break the yolks, then put half a piece of ham on top of each egg plus some dandelion greens. Put the lid on and partay! Wait till the Eggs set a bit, then flip the Eggs, ham, and greens. Season and then consume with kimchi.

It was a friend-match made in heaven, and Eggs was so ecstatic about the kimchi that he wrote a little haiku about it:

Crimson, white, and green:
The food flag of Korea
waves joy in my tum!