a week of smitten kitchen

After eating this pasta every day for a week, it didn't take me long to realize that I need to cut recipes in half. 

That strategy worked. 

Sort of. 

It just meant that I ate ratatouille 3 days in a row. 

And after that, corn risotto-stuffed poblanos for another 3 days. I'll get the hang of this someday.

The recipes this week are all from Smitten Kitchen, one of my favorite cooking blogs. Deb Perelman writes the best stories to go with each recipe, takes great pictures, and I think she's funny and down to earth. Both of these recipes are from her new cookbook, The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. 

To accompany my poblanos, I made black beans. I winged it here and simmered black beans in veggie broth, sauteed onions, garlic, and cumin. Drew would be so proud of me for forgoing a recipe (though doing so was admittedly difficult). I also added a couple chopped tomatoes, fresh picked from the garden.

In addition to the ratatouille and poblanos, I also made vinegar slaw, breakfast apricot crisp, and a spring salad with potatoes. As you can see, I'm a big fan of the Smitten Kitchen. The recipes are fairly low maintenance, but Perelman doesn't resort to shortcut cooking or baking. Some of the recipes are pretty standard, but she also has ones with interesting twists. I will always have a soft spot for Smitten Kitchen. After all, it was after consulting Perelman's tutorial that I finally mastered pie crust.