Summer Cookup Collection

I did a lot of cooking last spring semester. A lot of it wasn't chronicled, but why should every dinner be? Now, that'd be a hassle. I have a couple of pictures of experiments I've tried this summer. I finally decided to stop procrastinating and post them up. I don't know if I have the recipe for all of them, but I can give a gist of what they are and what I did.

Banh Da Lon (Vietnamese Pandan and Mung Bean Layered Cake)

This is a steamed cake, made by alternating layers of coconut-pandan rice cake and mung bean paste. I didn't have green food coloring when I made this, so it doesn't look like the typical one you see in Vietnamese stores, but it came out all right. Steaming was a little hard, and I had a tiny pie pan, so I couldn't do many layers. It came out all right. Will definitely have to keep practicing.

(Recipe courtesy of ch3rri-blossoms)

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Mushroom Ragu(?) over Cornmeal Mush

I actually can't remember what I did with this and where exactly I got the inspiration. I think I basically put cornmeal in boiling water, then added garlic parmesan dry mix from Costco. The mushrooms were sauteed in olive oil with onions and garlic, and maybe some wine. It came out kind of bland and tough to eat, actually. Won't make this again. Plus, I need to cut off the stems of shiitake mushrooms. Those were the tough part to eat. This was like eating some kind of savory cream of wheat again. Not that great, but pretty in the picture at least.

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Strawberry Jam Cake

I can't remember where I got the recipe for this. It was a cake with a swirl of strawberry jam through it. It was tasty and pretty, but not sweet enough. I added icing (lemon, milk, confectioner's sugar, butter) on top to make it more dessert-like and it was perfect.

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Homemade Tomato Sauce and Broccoli over Spaghetti

This was a simple, quick, and tasty throw-together. Just put cut-up tomatoes, sauteed with garlic and onions. Cooked with tomato paste and Italian seasonings and salt. Served with steamed/boiled broccoli, parmesan cheese, and spaghetti. Very easy but probably the tastiest of my Spring 2010 cooking attempts.

Next post up is my collection of summer attempts, hits and misses, including my first FANCY CAKE! Here's a preview :D See you soon!