The Most Amazing Vegetables EVER

I am SO excited about my dinner today, you have NO idea. I mean, everybody who knows me, knows that I HATE to cook. As in, I'm perfectly fine eating the exact same thing every.single.day. (Which is what happened last year. I would switch up my menu every 3 months or something, and that's it).

But yesterday, I had orientation and I was STARVING during break, so I ran next door to Milano's Market (on Broadway and 112th).

Source

I got their Grilled Marinated Vegetables and I literally wanted to lick the container they came in (and I was eating in the full-to-the-seams auditorium. So you can see how much I loved them. And this was all happening while some lady was droning on and on about academic integrity. I mean, we. get. it. Don't cheat, don't plagiarize, blah, blah, blah. You'd think that since we've already completed one degree, apparently without any academic felonies, that we kind of know what's going on. Anyways, that's beside the point).

These vegetables were SO delicious that I, proclaimed non-cook and hater of innovation, had to try making them IMMEDIATELY.

Recipe:
- 1 eggplant
- 2 red bell peppers
- 1 yellow bell pepper
- 1 green bell pepper
- 0.5 onion

For the marinade:
- 0.5 cups olive oil
- 0.25 cups balsamic vinegar
- 3 tsp soy sauce
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 0.25 cups onion

Cut up the vegetables into medium sized pieces. I love me a nice long piece of eggplant and pepper, so I sliced peppers lengthwise only, and the eggplant as well (although I cut it into two parts first).

(Note, with the eggplant, I rinse the pieces, then layer them in a saucepan, putting salt onto the pieces in between the layers; I let it rest for 15 minutes and then rinse the pieces thoroughly. This takes out the bitterness that cooked eggplant can sometimes have).

Combine everything for the marinade, and whisk it up a little bit (to make sure the vinegar and the oil mix).

Then pour the marinade all over the vegetables and really dig in with your hands to mix it up together. I left mine in a bowl; some recipes suggest ziplock bags. Mind you, you'll need a giant ass bag for all of these delicious veggies.


Leave to marinade for 1-2 hours. (You can even leave it longer, I'm sure that'll make them even more delicious. Not that it's possible).

Note: I don't own a grill, so these instructions are for a frying pan. I'm sure actual grilling would be even more amazing.

Fry the veggies up in a frying pan on medium heat (cover with a lid to make sure the veggies get soft enough). Make sure to put only 1 layer of vegetables onto the pan at a time. Cook for 10 minutes.

Put in tupperware and let chill for a couple of hours.

YOU'RE DONE.

These veggies taste amazeballs when cold, you don't even need to heat them up.

GOBBLE GOBBLE GOBBLE.

Well, what are you waiting for? You need these in your life RIGHT NOW.

Of My Culinary Triumph

I fear this may be turning into a food blog. Because peeps, I've been cooking ... and I've been liking it! Well, not the cooking process, but I've been actually liking the food I'm cooking. Until yesterday. Since then - I've been LOVING it.

You know why? Because I made katlety (Russian meatballs). Now as we all know, a good Russian girl must know how to cook Borscht (but ew, I don't like that kind of soup), plof (which is rice pilaf and all sorts of delicious and bad for you) and ... katlety. She must also listen to her parents and take care of husband and all other sorts of crap, so I'm not calling it my go-to guide to living, but let's focus on the katlety.

Before I fall over myself praising these meatballs (and myself, for making them), here's the recipe that I used:

(Oh and side note - if I can make these and they turn out DELISH, absolutely ANYONE can make these. So go and make these. DOOOOO IT.)

Ingredients:
2lbs ground beef (extra lean - but of course, you can go as fatty as you like!)
1/2 cup chopped onion
3/4 clove of garlic (you can use a whole clove for extra flavour)
1 egg
2 slices of bread
1/2 cup milk
1 tbsp of flour

Directions:
1. Take the 2 slices of bread and shred them into crumbs (don't worry, they don't have to be extra small, that's what the next step is for!).

2. Put the crumbs in a big bowl and pour the milk over them. Let them sit for ~10 minutes, and then use your fingers to really make it a smooth mixture (i.e. shred the bigger chunks of bread into smaller bits. It should be easier now that they are soaked in milk).

3. Pick up the glob of bread crumbs you have now and pour out the remaining milk from the bowl. Also, squeeze a bit of the milk out of the glob of bread crumbs too, so the meatballs aren't too soggy.

4. Put the glob of bread crumbs back in the bowl. Add the egg, the onions, and the meat on top. Grind the garlic clove on top of that

5. Now get down and dirty and really mix it up with your hands. Ooooh yea.

5. Dust a cutting board with a bit of flour. As you make the katlety shapes (it's really a shape between a flat hamburger patty and a meatball), roll them a bit in the flour.

6. Cook on low heat in a frying pan with a bit of oil (you don't need too much, because the meatballs will release their own juices).

7. Cook until the insides aren't pink anymore.

8. EAT ALL THE MEAT!