Recipe Reduction 141...140

 
Plantain, Avocado and Black Bean Bowl
from A Modern Way To Cook

I'm told that trendy, big-shot chefs tend to use a lot more acid on food than we ordinary people do.  But anyone who'd put an entire lime's juice on a two avocados is just plain sick, don't you think?  I'm certain she meant "add lime juice to taste", but that's not what the recipe said.  It was hideous.

Once I scraped the bitter avocado off the top, the rest of it--leeks, black beans, and caramelized plantains--tasted okay.  Barely okay.  It needed the avocado, but done correctly with just a drop or two of lime juice, a minced onion, and a few leaves of cilantro.

Also, this was the first of my timed recipes from A Modern Way to Cook.

According to her: 20-25 minutes.

I messed up little by cutting my leeks the week before, so my stopwatch didn't include the amount of time it would take to trim, wash, and slice the white parts of two leeks.  My guess is, for an experienced cook, 5 minutes, but for me, at least 10.  So...adding on that 10 minutes, here's my time:
    39 minutes and 51 seconds.

That's a 60% margin of error.


Chinese  Nine-Vegetable Hot and Sour Soup
Adapted from The Moosewood Restaurant Cooking for Health

It's certainly very healthy.  Actually the soup is nutritious; it's me whom it makes healthy.  It makes a huge pot of yummy soft vegetables; I'll be eating on it for two weeks.

But as a recipe, it's not a keeper.  Too much stuff going on in there. Cabbage and bok choy?  Carrots and sweet potatoes?  I like my simple recipes better.