another tiny kitchen!

i just moved to a studio in prospect heights (brooklyn) and have a new tiny kitchen! soon to come will be some of the meals i create/recreate in a place with no counter space to speak of.
for now, the amazing dinner i shared with friends the other night. Pretty much all of it was my friend Julianna's inspiration, and Sarah and I helped.

(i am not in this picture, obviously)

Our menu:
-cheese odds and ends from Zabar's and Ak-Mak crackers (leftover from my mom's recent visit)
-two bottles of two buck chuck
-kale chips
-"brewer's yeast" tofu fillets
-roasted tomatoes with pesto and fresh mozzarella served over quinoa
-oranges and strawberries with melted dark chocolate

The kale chips were very easy to make and so delicious. I had never had kale before and it was a great introduction. There is a recipe here that is similar to what we did- though we just winged it. We used cayenne pepper, salt, and black pepper instead of seasoning salt.

The tofu fillets are Julianna's mom's recipe. They are basically thinly sliced tofu breaded in "brewer's yeast" (what Julianna calls it, but really nutritional yeast) and fried in olive oil. She added tamari sauce to them when they were almost done. I remade these a few nights later and added cayenne to the nutritional yeast breading, which was delicious. I ate the leftovers with quinoa.

The roasted tomato dish was also amazing, and also something we made up as we went along. We roasted halved tomatoes in the oven for what seemed like forever (we were hungry) and when they were almost done we put pesto on top and let them bake a bit longer. We layered them on quinoa and added sliced fresh mozzarella to the top. They tasted like lasagna, or maybe artisan pizza. it was a great meal to break in my new kitchen!

potato latkes

here i am. i made dinner with my friend sarah tonight and it was delicious, so i must post it.
about a year ago i found out that i'm gluten intolerant, and have slight dairy intolerance, so i'm not eating gluten and i'm cutting out most dairy. this has parmesan, which has been ok for me.

innies
1/2 cup minced onion
1 egg
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sourgum flour (or all-purpose substitute, or all-purpose flour)
pepper to taste
3-4 cups leftover mashed potatoes
2-3 tablespoons grapeseed oil
sprinkling of shredded fresh parmesan

the way
mix the onion, egg, pepper and salt in a bowl. add the flour. Add the mashed potatoes (best if they are close to room temperature) and mix well. the mixture should be a little thick, but if it is not, add a bit more flour.
sprinkle a cutting board or other surface with flour, and sprinkle some pepper on it. take small handfuls of the latke mix and form patties, flouring the surfaces.
heat a large skillet pan with a tablespoon of the grapeseed oil on medium heat. using a spatula, place the latkes in the oil and cook until brown (probably 8 minutes until brown, then flip).
after you've flipped the latke over, sprinkle a little parmesan on top. serve hot, serves 3-4.

sarah ate hers with sour cream and hot sauce. i had a little butter and some hot sauce for dipping. we ate 2 each and had 4 leftover. i heart you leftovers.