Orinoco - Venezuelan

A few years ago when I was living in Brookline I was so excited when I heard that Orinoco was opening up a 2nd post in Brookline Village. I had the same exact feeling when I found out that Orinoco was opening a 3rd post in Harvard Square! It's a Venezuelan restaurant (named after one of the longest rivers in South America) - and most people probably don't know what exactly that means, but that's okay - you only need to know that it's delicious! Their cocktails are delicious - with lots of freshly muddled fruit options. None of their locations are huge - and they all get busy. I recently tried out the Harvard Square spot for lunch and while the service was a bit slow, the food was as delicious as always! The menu might have some new sounding dishes that aren't familiar to you - like arepas and empanadas, but take a risk and try something new!

Orinoco
56 JFK Street, Harvard Square
22 Harvard Street, Brookline
477 Shawmut Ave, South End

As usual, I had a tough time deciding what to order. I really like plantains and they aren't an item that pops up on menus a lot, so I ordered a side of these for the table to share - here they call them 'Tajadas' - fried sweet plantains. They also have 'Tostones' - crispy green plantains mini-cakes with garlic mojo. It's a good size portion to share!

Strawberry Orange Muffins

It seems like when I bake with strawberries I have mixed results - probably because I'm often times not following a recipe. Strawberries add a lot of moisture to whatever you're baking so you have to be careful - I've tried making a strawberry banana bread without much luck, though just last week I made a lemon strawberry tea cake that came out delicious! A while back I found a recipe for these muffins which used the pureed strawberries as the liquid in the recipe which was a smart way to use them and keep the recipe healthy at the same time!

Strawberry Orange Muffins
1 1/4 cups strawberries, hulled
3 TB butter, melted
3 tsp orange rind, grated
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups whole wheat white flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
cinnamon sugar to sprinkle on top

Asparagus and Eggs

These two ingredients pair so well together - and have a long list of different ways in which they can be prepared. This article in the New York Times says it all. This dish is a little inspired by this asparagus dish I had at an Italian restaurant, which had roasted the asparagus and served a cheesy polenta over it. Not quite polenta, but it has the same richness and yellow color, plus I was trying to come up with something breakfasty so I paired eggs with the asparagus instead!

Roast the asparagus in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes. Rinse the asparagus and cut off the tough, thick ends. You can toss it with a little olive oil, salt and pepper but the actual act of roasting the asparagus brings out its flavors more so than sauteeing or boiling or any other form of cooking.

Banana Chocolate Chunk Nutella Filled Cookies!

My friend Lisa recently gifted me a giant jar of Nutella, which I always associated with Europe and my semester abroad, so I don't know a lot of uses for it. I'm not one to take a spoon to the jar and eat it by the spoonful - but I have liked it melted over ice cream. I've been meaning to try out making nutella cookies, which sounded like they would be good - I set to looking for what seemed like a good recipe and everything that was popping up seemed a little boring. Combine that with a way over ripened banana I threw in the freezer earlier that week and some pumpkin pie puree I had leftover from my Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal - and this was the result!

Banana Chocolate Chunk Nutella Filled Cookies (makes 24 good size cookies)
1 stick butter (1/2 cup), at room temp
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 banana, mashed
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup pumpkin pie puree/filling

2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
dash of cinnamon
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks
Nutella!

Potato Leek Soup

After buying an excessive amount of leeks for a latke recipe, I had to find something to do with all of the leftovers. I've been meaning to try out a recipe for potato leek soup, so now seemed as good a time as ever. It's a pretty hearty soup because so much of it is made out of potatoes, but in small amounts it's good. A very wintery dish.

Use only up to the light green part of the leek

Potato Leek Soup
1 leek (discard the thick green part) = about 2 cups sliced
3 cups diced white potato
1 TB lemon juice
1 tsp minced garlic
2 cups chicken stock
salt and pepper
pinch of rosemary and/or thyme
1 TB olive oil
1/2 - 3/4 cup skim milk