Sometimes, when I have the most exciting things to write, like now, writer’s block strikes. Not to mention, I have the critical eyes of two of my best friends (since elementary school, for life) peering over my shoulder. They joined us for dinner in lovely, 70-degree Bethesda, MD. I digress. Excitement: We are back from our blogging hiatus! Also, blogolutions to announce. And finally, food.

So as mentioned, we feasted tonight in Bethesda. Alex is here visiting, and we’ve ousted my parents from the kitchen for two nights in a row (thanks, and also sorry for yesterday’s falafel mishap). Tonight, we cooked up some delicious Asian dishes, complemented beautifully by some homemade sushi brought by my friend, Whitney. She’s convinced us to attempt it solo when we return to school, so stay tuned. For our contributions, we made chicken satay with a peanut sauce and a superb orange and avocado salad, inspired by an amazing ceviche dish at Genji in Philly. Because we are just so thrilled about our return to the blogosphere, we’re posting it all tonight. The blogolutions are coming in a post or two.

Firstly, the satay. We were a bit surprised at how well this came out (maybe because after the great falafel disaster of yesterday, we thought our skills had disappeared). The chicken was tender and well-flavored, and the sauce was so great that we kept sneaking it on to everything. Whit and Emma agree that it was peanuty, but not too peanuty, just the right amount, “like Goldilocks.” We compiled our recipes from across the internet and the brain of Alex’s father; we’re pretty into them.

Ingredients (chicken/marinade):
6 chicken breasts
1/4 cup minced lemongrass
1 small onion, quartered
1 thumb-sized piece ginger
1/2 tsp dried tumeric
2 tbsp ground corriander
2 tsp cumin
3 tbsp soy sauce
5 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs lime juice
skewers (about 30)

Ingredients (dipping sauce):
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup coconut milk
6 tbsp lime juice
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp water
1 tbsp red curry paste
1 tbsp grated ginger
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

Instructions:
To make the marinade for the chicken, combine all of the ingredients (minus the chicken and skewers), and process them in a food processor until combined. Cut the chicken breasts into thin strips. Pour the marinade over the chicken, and let it rest for 1 hour to 10 hours. Meanwhile, soak the skewers in water. When you are ready, preheat the grill. Skewer the chicken onto to the sticks, and grill for 5-6 minutes on each side over medium heat, until cooked. To make the dipping sauce, mix together the peanut butter and coconut milk. Then add the other ingredients, and stir until combined. Serve the chicken with the dipping sauce.

We are equal-opportunity holiday cooks. We don’t discriminate against holidays based on religious affiliation, season, Hallmark-saturation, or any other means of bias. Has food, will celebrate.

Given this policy and the fact that we’ve been celebrating Hanukkah anyway by opening presents (thanks Mommy, thanks Hanukkah Dog), we thought it would be shameful if we didn’t make a solid effort at frying up some shredded potato.

Neither of us had cooked latkes without parentnal guidance before, so we spent some time reviewing recipes and conceptualizing the perfect potato pancake. If you are an experienced latke eater, you know that when cooked poorly, latkes taste both burnt and raw, flavorless and oily. When cooked well, however, they taste both fluffy and crisp, savory and light. Among foods, there are few things worse than a bad latke, and few things better than a great one. We decided that our safest and healthiest bet would be searing the latkes quickly in a bit of oil to give them a strong latke flavor, but then baking them to crispy perfection in the oven. We knew that this would mean making our latkes thin, and working quickly. Also, we knew that since the latkes wouldn’t have much time to cook in the oil, we needed a recipe that ensured our pancakes would hold together well. We chose this one with matzo meal from Smitten Kitchen, and I’ve reposted our baked, modified version below.

For toppings, we decided go festive with a barely modified cranberry applesauce from Epicurious that was unbelievably easy to make (30 minutes, tops), and absolutely delicious. Sour cream is a must, and though we chose scallions mainly for color contrast, they added a great flavor as well.

Latke Ingredients (makes about 50 laktes):
10 golden russet potatoes
5 onions
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
5 tbsp matzo meal
5 eggs
7 1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp pepper
oil for frying (we used Smart Balance oil, which blends canola and olive oil)

Latke Instructions:
Line a large baking sheet with paper towels and set aside. Preheat the oven to 400. Peel the potatoes. In a food processor or with a grater, shred the potatoes and onions, and transfer them to a colander. Squeeze dry. Wait two minutes, and squeeze dry again. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl, add flour, matzo meal, eggs, salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Pour about 1-2 tbsp oil in a large frying pan, and turn the heat on high. When the oil is hot, drop teaspoon-sized balls of latke mixture into the pan, and press to flatten with the back of a spoon. Cook latkes for about 1 minute on each side, until the outside is lightly browned, then transfer to the baking sheet. When you have enough latkes to fill a baking sheet, press a paper towel on the top side of the latkes as well to soak up extra oil, then remove the paper towels and assemble latkes on the sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes on each side, until crispy. Repeat (adding oil to the pan as necessary) until you’ve used up the mixture, we made about three batches.

Cranberry Applesauce Ingredients (makes about 6-7 cups):
7 large fuji apples (about 5 pounds), peeled, cored and chopped
2 cups fresh cranberries
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
3 cinnamon sticks
6-inch strip of lemon zest, finely chopped

Cranberry Apple Sauce Instructions:
Cook everything together in a large pot for about 25 minutes on moderate hat, until the apples are very soft. Remove the cinammon sticks and mash the mixture together with a potato-masher until it is as mushy as you want it. Serve warm or cool.

After tasting some delicious gnudi during brunch at Philadelphia’s London Grill on Sunday, we decided to attempt a re-creation.

Gnudi? You may be thinking. What IS that? A google search links to a thread on Chowhound.com entitled “gnudi- what is it, exactly?” and answers range from “I don’t know, but gosh it sounds like fun” to “A dish that is precisely ravioli without the pasta wrapper.”

We’re still confused. Even while eating them, we likened them to mozarella sticks, dumplings and spinach cookies. But here’s what we’ve devised: Gnudi are essentially dough balls of cheese and spinach. The recipe we found online called for boiling them, but skeptical, we divided the batch and baked half in the oven with far better results. These would make a great appetizer, but preparing them for dinner left us slightly wanting. Also, we dunked them in pasta sauce, but you could also dress them with pesto.

We found our recipe from the food network, but there are a few others floating around the interwebs as well. If you do use this one, instead of boiling the gnudi, bake them for about 30 minutes at 350. Additionally, to get the beautiful, round shape, put the each piece dough into a wine glass with a bit of flour and shake it around until it forms a ball. Happy gnuding!

Gnudi dough (egg, cheese, spinach, spices)

Forming gnudi in a wine glass…

Well-shaped gnudi, ready for baking

The final product! Crispy, savory gnudi

It was gross. We wanted to make cauliflower puree, basically a low-cal version of mashed potatoes. The spaghetti squash had subbed in for carbs so well that we thought we were golden, but we were wrong. We even found the most beautiful yellow and purple cauliflower in at a farmer’s market in Brooklyn this morning. They were so lovely steamed, but we ruined them in the food processor and by adding wasabi and ginger flavoring. Never again.

We weren’t even going to post such a disaster, but smitten kitchen botched her latest attempt too and inspired us to fess up.

Also, the photos are too pretty to waste. Maybe we’ll post some peanut butter fudgies later to compensate.

The general rule is that we don’t recycle recipes. It forces us to try new ingredients and methods, and there is something thrilling about not knowing how a meal will turn out. As we love to say: “It could be good, it could be sick.”

That said, sweet potato fries are the exception to the rule. We make them year-round, for groups and for ourselves, for dinner and for snack. They have enough flavor to stand alone, but swiping them through ketchup is also delicious. I found these sweet potatoes at an on-campus farmer’s market, and couldn’t resist.

Ingredients:
4 sweet potatoes
1 tbsp olive oil (I like less, but depending on the potato size, you could add a touch more)
1 1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 400. Slice the sweet potatoes into fry-shaped wedges. Basically, cut the potato in half lengthwise and then do it again to each half. Then cut these pieces into strips. Put them in a bowl, and add all of the other ingredients. Mix it all together. Put the potatoes on a baking sheet and roast them in the oven for about 25-30 minutes, until they are soft yet slightly crispy.

Note: The measurements of the spices can be adjusted to taste.

Much to our surprise, people started asking us when we would start posting again. So Kate, Ryan, Chris Perez — this is for you. We officially become seniors in two days (!), but the opportunity to procrastinate on work should lend itself well to a semester of blogging delicious food. Woot, we’re back.

Orzo with everything is perfect to cook for crowds or pot luck events. It is tastes very gourmet but isn’t overly heavy. And the colors are pretty for any season. Alex whipped together a batch for my neighborhood’s block party this afternoon. It’s easy, just a lot of chopping. Don’t burn the pine nuts.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups orzo
1/3 cup packed sun dried tomatoes
4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vineagar
1/4 cup packed kalamata olives
1 cup finely chopped radicchio
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 large garlic cloves pinced

Instructions
Cook the orzo like you would cook pasta, and put it in a large bowl. Chop the sun-dried tomatoes and olives, and add them to the bowl with oil and vinegar. Let it stand until cool, and then add chopped radicchio and basil, bine nuts, cheese and garlic. Season it.