Kitchen Scraps

More Experiments, Better Results

2009-06-29T01:30:00.003-04:00

While rather little will eclipse the jackfruit ice cream of a few weeks ago, tonight's concoction certainly works quite well for the entree category. Through a lot of appliance issues this weekend I still managed to (sort of) make these tempeh cakes from Isa Moskowitz's newest book (BUY IT) Vegan Brunch. They were stellar, but as I lack a stove at the moment, they are a bit beyond my ability to recreate. So I moved on to a staple that does not require boiling or steaming to remove bitterness before cooking, chickpeas. We pretty much always have them in the pantry or freezer, though I've used so many this weekend that I need to make a fresh batch to restock our supply. Rather than season my chickpea cakes like crab cakes I wanted to make them more similar to chicken croquettes, which lead me to think of my mom's recipe for swiss chicken salad, a very versatile salad that can be served hot or cold and takes some simple flavors and milks them big time. The high points are croutons, mushrooms, celery, onions and a creaminess from a milk/mayo dressing and somehow I wanted to incorporate the flavors and the crunchy/toasty texture from the croutons into this dish. What I ended up with were baked patties topped with a sauce that while not pretty, highlights the creamy mushroom flavor and provides a nice textural contrast to the patties' somewhat crisp veggie bits and crusty exterior. I served this to myself with a side of steamed fresh green beans and mashed cauliflower, but they'd be good with just about anything. Smaller patties would work great as appetizers and larger ones make for easier serving for a main course. Either way, they are addictive and I will be making these fairly often. Perhaps next time they'll last long enough to take a picture, but I doubt it.
Do make these immediately before serving, otherwise make the batter but hold off on forming the patties and baking them until just before dinner. They taste fine reheated, but the lose the crunchy exterior in the fridge, so keep that in mind if you're trying to impress someone.
You would probably guess that these are vegetarian (or vegan, if you use vegan dairy products) but you probably wouldn't actually care. As I've said before, if Dad will eat it, pretty much anyone will. If he's lucky I'll actually let him try these, and I will definitely make them for a dear friend who just does not like the texture of mushrooms, as you get the flavor but not the big, squishy chunks that turn her off of the fungi.

Swiss Chickpea Patties
(makes about 10-12 3-4 inch patties)

Ingredients:
2 cups panko crumbs
1 large can chickpeas, rinsed and drained (about three cups)
1 medium onion, diced small
2 tablespoons vegenaise or mayonaise
1 rib celery, diced small
4 oz white mushrooms
1/8 teaspoon each paprika, garlic powder and black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spread about two cups of panko on a cookie sheet or toaster oven baking sheet in an even layer and spray with a fine layer of olive oil or cooking spray. Place in oven and toast until well browned, stirring frequently to brown crumbs evenly. While crumbs are toasting mash chickpeas until there are almost no whole peas left. Stir in onion, celery, mayonaise and spices. Pulse mushrooms in a food processor until thoroughly chopped, then stir mushrooms into chickpea mixture. Mix in toasted panko with a fork until a moldable dough forms--start with a cup, add more as needed, making sure to reserve some panko for dredging. Taste mixture and adjust seasoning if needed. Form mixture into patties of 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick and sized from 1 inch to 4 inches across. Press both sides of patties gently into toasted panko crumbs and arrange on a greased cookie sheet. Bake patties at 375 degrees for 20-30 minutes, flipping at least once halfway through cooking to brown evenly on both sides. Patties are done when crispy and brown on the outside (though it's rather hard to overcook them, so don't worry too much). Serve topped with mushroom sauce.

Mushroom Sauce

8 oz white mushrooms
2 ribs celery
1 tablespoon margarine or butter
2 or 3 tablespoons soy, rice or dairy milk
Salt and pepper to taste
About 1 tablespoon leftover toasted panko crumbs

Process the mushrooms and celery in a food processor until ground into a uniform mixture. Scrape into a microwaveable bowl and add the margarine, milk, salt and pepper and microwave on high for two minutes. Stir panko crumbs and serve on chickpea patties.
--If you have sauce leftover it is equally good on toast with or without scrambled or poached eggs or scrambled tofu for breakfast or brunch.

I scream...

2009-06-03T22:44:00.002-04:00

Ice cream is an important thing in our family, even if I don't eat it that often any more. As with everything, I've been experimenting with vegan versions and made this one tonight. And, oh, is it good. Possibly even better than the white chocolate champagne of parties past, and with less bad things in it. Though the reduced champagne would probably be great here too. Regardless, a second batch of this will be made this week. This base of almond milk would work really well with peaches, pineapple, banana or any number of squishy fruits that would taste good in ice cream. I fully intend to do some experimenting later, and eat the results over sliced strawberries. Because that's just the most perfect way to eat ice cream, ever.

Jackfruit Ice Cream
(makes about 1 quart)

Ingredients:
3 cups vanilla almond milk (or rice, soy or lowfat/skim dairy milk)
1/2 cup coconut milk (or soy creamer, cashew cream, heavy cream) OR another 1/2 cup milk
3 Tablespoons sugar or 1/4 cup syrup from fruit can
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 can of jackfruit (or equivalent amount of peaches, apricots, bananas, etc.), drained, syrup reserved if needed

Directions:
Pour all but 1/3 cup of the milk/cream into a saucepan along with the sugar and heat to near boiling. In a separate small cup or bowl mix the cornstarch and remaining milk into a slurry and set aside. While the milk and sugar heats up, either chop or process the fruit into the desired size and texture. Add slurry to hot milk, stirring often to keep from curdling. Taste the custard and adjust for sweetness or vanilla level if needed. Add the fruit to the custard and cook until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon and leave a distinct trail when you draw a finger down the back of the spoon. Remove custard from heat and chill in the fridge until ice cold. The recipe up to this point can be done well in advance of when you wish to freeze the ice cream. When it is cold, usually after two hours in the fridge, freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions for your machine.

Notes
-Home made ice cream starts out far softer than commercial, but freezes much harder when you put it away due to the lack of air being added while freezing. If it comes out of the freezer too hard to handle you can either let it sit on the counter for five or ten minutes or zap it in the microwave for 7-10 seconds. The lower the fat and air content the harder it's going to freeze, so keep that in mind if you're making this with straight skim milk--it will be a brick in the freezer. Freezing the super low fat/sugar versions in smaller cups has worked well for me in the past, and makes portion control/counting easy too. They also soften up a bit faster due to the smaller size.
-Alcohol can also impede the freezing, but might not be the best idea if you're serving this to your kids. Mango rum would be ideal here, or another lighter tasting spirit like plain old light rum or vodka. If you're going to use it, add 1/4 to 1/3 cup to the cooling custard so that the alcohol doesn't burn off. You might taste it, but it won't be enough to make you tipsy.

Pizza for the Masses

2009-05-29T19:04:00.004-04:00

This not-so-traditional pizza is one of those recipes I like to label "kitchen sink," as in everything goes on it but the proverbial sink. Casseroles and the like are great ways to use up leftover bits of things in your fridge and pantry but can get old quick or you can end up with just too much casserole and too many leftovers that don't get used. Pizza, on the other hand, doesn't usually last long enough to make leftovers for long even in single person households. To honor the upcoming non-holiday, unimportant weekend here is my take on super easy pizza.

There is no shame in using refrigerated pizza crust. These days most grocery stores carry them and some in several varieties. I'm a fan of the whole wheat, plain and garlic herb crusts at my local Trader Joes. The pictured pizza was made with a generic plain crust from a different chain. Most doughs for crust come in 1 pound quantities, so if yours is close to that then it should fit a pizza stone, pan or cookie sheet just fine. The pictured pizza was made on a cookie sheet, hence the rectangular slice. I find that if you are planning to have some leftover for lunch the next day the rectangles or squares from cookie sheet pizzas are easier to pack in lunch bags and boxes rather than the wedge shapes, but use whatever you've got handy. The point is easy pizza, after all.

The veggie combination I give here is the one I used for the pictured pizza. As long as you've got good coverage of toppings, use whatever sounds good together. Further suggestions are listed after the recipe.

Veggies and Leftovers Pizza
(makes a medium to large sized pizza, depending on how thin you like your crust and how loaded you like your pizza)

1 16oz ready made pizza crust
cornmeal (optional)
1 medium to large tomato, sliced thin
1/2 red onion, diced or sliced
12oz frozen artichoke hearts, cooked
1/4 cup pesto
olive oil
1 small or 1/2 large can sliced black olives (kalamata or black pearl work with this one)
6oz Tofu ricotta (recipe upcoming) or ricotta cheese OR 2-4oz feta, goat cheese or mozzarella

Preheat the oven and prep the dough according to your package directions. If desired, sprinkle some cornmeal over the baking sheet or pan you're using to bake the pizza. The cornmeal helps prevent sticking and adds that dusty crunch to the bottom of the pizza. Assemble whatever your chosen toppings are and layer them onto the pizza. I usually start with the tomato slices (and mozzarella, if using), then sprinkle on some onion and follow with whatever the chunkier bits are, finishing with the olives. Scatter the ricotta or other crumbly cheese over the pizza and drizzle the pesto over the top. A little extra olive oil is nice if you want it too. Then pop the whole thing into the oven and bake according to the package directions.

Suggested toppings:
Broccoli florets, tomatoes (grape, plum or regular), olives, leftover chicken, ham or ground beef or turkey, toasted slivered almonds (sounds weird, but really good), roasted garlic, sausage, pineapple, thin sliced pears, peanut butter, corn, frozen mixed veggie blends, curry sauce, raisins, zucchini, eggplant, peppers...etc. The choices are endless and limited only by what you have to hand.

Suggested combinations:
-Leftover chicken, fresh broccoli and toasted slivered almonds with white garlic or canned alfredo sauce and just a little mozzarella (Sounds odd, but this was my favorite pizza from my favorite takeout place in college)
-Pears, almonds or chopped hazelnuts, provolone or swiss cheese, and caramelized onions (bonus points for a little crumbled bleu cheese and/or a salad of mixed greens tossed with bleu dressing piled on top.)
-Apples or pears, peanut butter, raisins--the peanut butter can be spread thin before baking or after, just be careful to let it cool before eating. Also great with sliced bananas added after baking.
-Leftover chicken, curry sauce, raisins, chopped apples, cauliflower and leftover roasted potatoes
-Leftover barbeque chicken or pork, cheddar cheese, red onions and apples (apples optional)
-Caramelized onions, leftover roast beef and cheddar cheese
-Feta cheese, red onions, kalamata olives, tomato slices and grilled lamb or pork
-Leftover chicken, duck or pork, canned hoisin sauce, green onions and mozzarella
-Goat cheese, caramelized onion, sliced and/or sundried tomatoes

Almost Easter Muffins

2009-04-13T16:32:00.006-04:00

Another cross post, another one I actually took a picture of before figuring out that muffin liner=bad :)
I made these muffins for a treat, though they really weren't much work at all. The can be mixed with whatever berry type fruit you have floating around in your kitchen or in your freezer. The lemony body of the muffin is the perfect foil to the jammy pockets of fruit that result from the berries cooking in the oven--you don't even need to butter these to enjoy them. As breakfast pastries go, these are lower in fat than most using just two eggs or tofu and no butter or oil so enjoy without guilt.

If you don't already have a mini food processor in your kitchen it might be time to consider one. It makes the tofu version of this recipe a snap since all the liquids can be mixed together right in the processor bowl and cleans up very quickly due to its smaller size. I have one from cuisinart that I found in a thrift shop for $3, but I've seen them on sale for $20 or so fairly often. If you like having fresh pesto or making smaller batches of salsa or just don't like having to put together a huge machine to do a little job it might be the right appliance for you.

Lemon Berry Muffins

Ingredients:
2 c all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
zest of 1 lemon
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
2 eggs OR 1/2 cup warm water mixed with 2 Tablespoons ground flax seed
1 cup yogurt OR 6 oz silken tofu, blended smooth
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 Tablespoons applesauce
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1 c diced strawberries, cherries or other berries (frozen is fine)
cinnamon sugar, for sprinkling on top

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine all dry ingredients except zest in a bowl and set aside. If using eggs and yogurt mix all wet ingredients and zest together in a separate mixing bowl and stir in sugar until all is combined and there are no large lumps of brown sugar left. If using tofu and flax you can blend the tofu and wet ingredients together in a small food processor or blender until smooth, then scrape into a mixing bowl with the sugar and stir to combine. Stir in the dry ingredients until just combined, being careful not to overmix. Fold in berries until evenly distributed. Prepare muffin tins and fill cups 3/4 full. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and bake for 18-20 minutes until toothpick comes out clean and tops are light golden brown. Remove from tins and cool on a rack.

Notes:
-If using the tofu/flax option when making these muffins I highly recommend either greasing the bare tin or using silicone pans as the batter really likes to stick to the paper liners. If opting for the traditional eggs and yogurt paper liners should be fine, but the reusable silicone cups are adorable if you happen to have them floating around.
-You can use dried berries for this recipe, but plump them a bit in some warm water first so you don't get hard bits of fruit when you bite into your muffins.

Oh. My. God.

2009-04-02T22:44:00.005-04:00

I suppose I should preface this post by saying that I absolutely adore caramelized onions. I start nearly every soup I make by caramelizing an onion, I stir them into otherwise-boring pasta, lentil and rice dishes, pile them on top of polenta and potatoes and have even been known to stir them into mashed potatoes for special occasions (which is smashingly good, btw). The general rule of thumb for me is that if it comes smothered in caramelized onions I'm probably going to try it at least once. With this attitude, it was no surprise that one of my favorite lunches when I was in my old job was a goat cheese and onion tart from the cafe around the corner. It was heaven and combined just about everything you could want in a dish like that--buttery pastry (and I HATE piecrust, this was puff and therefore acceptable. Stellar, actually.), gobs of soft, almost gooey goat cheese swimming in a sea of caramelized onions and served with an exquisitely dressed salad of field greens that served to cut *some* of the richness of the meal nicely. I gave up the dish when I lost the job, as even though it was far from the most expensive thing on that menu I've not had any reason to go back to the restaurant since the loss of the job. Besides, I always figured I could make a perfectly good version myself and probably still could, if I tried. That said, I've not had much luck convincing myself to make a copycat version, as then I would know just how much butter and cheese I was consuming in one sitting and these days I'm not entirely certain I could comfortably stomach it. Don't get me wrong, I'd try, but still.

But seeing as I'm leaning towards less is more when it comes to dairy a full version just isn't going to happen. Fortunately for me and the other onion addicts everywhere my recent experimentation with tofu has lead to one of the best dishes I've ever made, hands down. This one was so good even my mom ate it, which is saying a lot when it comes to tofu-based alternatives. The version I made this evening used polenta as a base because that's what I had, and it came out damn near perfect. Tomorrow night I'm reverting to a dough-based alternative and using a purchased whole wheat pizza crust and making it more pizza-like. I'll grant, this isn't exactly low fat, but it's a great deal less fatty than the traditional version and the fats involved are of the good, olive oil kind. If you opt to make your own pizza crust you can make it more whole-grainy (I'm tempted to work a little millet into my dough to see how it goes and give it some more texture) and if you'd rather make your own polenta for the crust you can seriously cut down on additives, preservatives and sodium. Leftover polenta is a whole other post for another time, but I will advise that if you opt for quick cooking polenta you pay attention to those directions very carefully. Learn from my mistakes--the stuff sets up FAST compared to the regular old cornmeal version.
This recipe is really comprised of three separate recipes, all of which are worth making on their own. You can skip the gremolata pesto if you like, but I wouldn't since you'll find all sorts of things to top with it--pasta and seafood come to mind. Tossing some with some shrimp and linguini would make an easy and lively meal, especially with some good garlic bread. The ricotta-textured "goat cheese" tofu recipe makes enough to use for this dish, but doubling the batch would leave some excellent leftovers to use on pizza (there will be a post on that very soon), stir into pasta or spread on crusty bread. I have been known to clean out the processor bowl with a piece of fresh french bread for a quick snack, and it's even better when combined with Trader Joe's Eggplant Garlic spread.

Gremolata Pesto
Ingredients:
1 bunch flat leaf parsley
zest of two lemons
2 cloves garlic
1/8 teaspoon salt
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:
Chop the bottom half of the bunch of parsley off where the leaves start, discard the stems and rough chop the rest of the leaves. Smash the garlic cloves with the flat of the knife and place parsley, garlic and all other ingredients except for olive oil into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until all ingredients are chopped fine, scraping down sides with a spatula as needed. Add the olive oil to the bowl and process for 15-30 seconds until combined into a paste.

Tofu "Goat Cheese"-style

Ingredients:
4-6 oz firm or extra firm regular tofu (don't use silken)
1 Tablespoon gremolata pesto
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons capers
2 teaspoons caper brine
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions:

Crumble 6 to 8 ounces firm or extra firm regular tofu into the bowl of a food processor. Add all other ingredients and pulse until tofu is processed to a texture resembling ricotta cheese, about a minute to a minute and a half, scraping down the sides once or twice if needed. Taste for seasoning and add more salt, garlic powder, lemon juice or caper brine if desired to achieve the saltiness and tang of goat cheese. Allow to sit for at least fifteen minutes before using if possible.

Vegan Onion Tart

Ingredients:

One recipe tofu “goat cheese”
3-4 large sweet onions, sliced thin (about 2 pounds)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 whole wheat pizza crust, store bought or home made OR 1 sheet puff pastry
Balsamic vinegar
8 oz white button mushrooms, sliced
Coarse ground black pepper

Directions:
Make the goat cheese and set aside to let flavors meld. Caramelize the onions with the olive oil over medium to medium high heat, stirring frequently to prevent burning. When onions are golden and browning on the edges season to taste with balsamic vinegar—start with a tablespoon or so and add more if you like. While onions are cooking, stretch the dough into your preferred shape or line a cookie sheet with prepared puff pastry. Spread the tofu goat cheese in an even layer over top and distribute the sliced mushrooms and caramelized onions evenly over the cheese. Sprinkle coarse ground pepper over top and bake according to the package directions.
Serve warm or at room temperature.

Notes:

-Polenta based alternative: Pat cooled polenta (about 2 1/2 cups) into a greased 9 inch round cake pan, square casserole or 8x8 brownie pan into 1/2 inch thick layer. Set in the fridge to chill and firm up--overnight is best, but an hour or so will do just fine. Brush with a very thin layer of olive oil, if desired, and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Make the goat cheese and cook the onions while the shell bakes. Remove the shell from the oven and spread the cheese in the pan, follwed by the mushrooms and onions. Put back in the oven and bake for another 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove pan and allow to let cool for a bit before cutting into wedges. Serve warm or at room temperature.

-Feel free to add more onions to the recipe. The more, the better. The amount I've started with is good, but the true addicts will probably want to add more. Any onions you don't use will make for excellent sandwiches later with some more tofu goat cheese spread on a toasted baguette and whatever roasted veggies you can find to add.

In Other News...

2009-03-27T20:14:00.009-04:00

I no longer hold my old job of selling soap. I'm hoping to hear back soon on the prospect of another job selling different soap. Keep fingers crossed :)
And on other notes, the site I post on more these days is having some technical difficulties, so I'm going to post a few recipes on here that normally would have gone up on Busy Mommy first. And as another first on this site, I'm including a picture of the finished product. Because I finally had my camera handy and actually thought about it before finishing the meal I made for once. Enjoy :)

There are literally hundreds of ways to enjoy (yes, enjoy) eating tofu. This particular version is easy to make, tastes great and is a fantastic substitute for more traditional scrambled eggs and works equally well as breakfast or dinner. My version is based on bits and pieces of other recipes and a frozen version that I've eaten and liked over the years. If you're looking for an easy way to introduce tofu into your regular diet this is a great place to start.

My scrambled tofu tends to have a high proportion of vegetables incorporated compared to some recipes. I find it's an easy way to fit in an extra serving of vegetables (and who isn't trying to do that?) without having to resort to hiding them in anything. My favorite combination is the one I've given here, but do feel free to use this as a canvas to use whatever vegetables you have on hand. Grated carrots, frozen peas or broccoli, leftover sautéed leeks, zucchini, corn—they all work pretty well. The only vegetables I consider absolute musts when making scrambled tofu are greens and mushrooms. I'll use whatever mushrooms I have on hand, which is usually either sliced white buttons or rehydrated dried or fresh shiitakes. If you use dried mushrooms, be sure you've swished them well in their soaking water to remove any remaining sand. For greens I tend to use either fresh baby spinach straight out of the bag or a few handfuls finely chopped kale.

You can serve this scramble with toast, fruit and juice, soy milk (or regular milk) or coffee for a more traditional breakfast spread or use it to stuff a pita for an easy and portable pocket sandwich. It reheats well either in the microwave or on the stove (sprinkle in a little water if it's looking dry) and leftovers work great in breakfast burritos—either veggie style with some vegetarian sausage crumbles (or non-veg with regular sausage), cheese or soy cheese and salsa or even just wrapped on it's own. A one pound brick of regular tofu cooked like this should serve 3-4 depending on how many veggies you cram in and how hungry your crowd is.

Scrambled Tofu

Ingredients:

1 16oz package of firm or extra firm regular tofu, drained and pressed and cut into 1/3 inch dice*

Olive oil, canola oil or cooking spray

1 small to medium onion, chopped

2-3 cloves garlic, chopped

½ to 1 teaspoon turmeric

¼ teaspoon cumin

¼ teaspoon paprika

½ teaspoon dill weed (optional)

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast (optional)**

1 or 2 cups fresh mushrooms, sliced OR about 2/3 cup (two good sized handfuls) dried shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated in 2 cups boiling water

2 big handfuls kale, rinsed and chopped (this is usually 8 or so good sized leaves for me, I don't usually measure it in cups)

1 medium tomato, diced

Salt and Pepper

Directions:

Dice your tofu and chop your vegetables before you start with anything else. When your ingredients are prepped, spray or lightly oil a heavy pan and heat up over medium heat (cast iron is best, non-stick is fine). Add the onions to the pan and cook until they are translucent and just starting to brown, then add the garlic and spices except dill, stirring to combine. Add the tofu to the pan and stir to coat with the onion and spice mixture. Add the soy sauce and nutritional yeast to the pan (if using) and stir, adding a quarter cup of the soaking water from your mushrooms or plain water to aid in the distribution of the yeast and to keep the whole from burning. Add water to the pan in small doses as necessary throughout the rest of cooking to keep the tofu from burning or sticking—this allows you to refrain from adding any additional oil and allows the tofu to soak up the spices more thoroughly. Add the kale to the pan and allow to cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently to keep from sticking. If it's sticking a lot, lower the heat a bit. Add the dill if you're using it, taste for seasoning and add salt, pepper, soy sauce and/or turmeric to to your liking. Add tomatoes to the pan and heat through. Add a little more water if the mixture seems too dry for you, stir one more time and serve.

*A note on preparing tofu:

Normally pressing tofu can take a rather long time, and I'm not usually that patient in the morning. I've found that cutting the brick into 2-4 pieces, wrapping in paper towels and squeezing gently works just fine for getting enough water out to make this.

Dicing the tofu—this is me copying one of my preferred frozen versions. It's not entirely necessary, though it looks nice. If you're not in the mood to dice the brick, just cut it into large chunks and squish in your hand over the pan. The tofu will break up a bit during cooking, and the irregular lumps look more like scrambled eggs. Just break up any huge bits with the spatula or spoon as you go.

**A note on nutritional yeast:

This is a very common ingredient in many vegan recipes that gives a savory, almost cheese-like note to many dishes. It's easy to find in many vegan food websites, but is also available in many brick and mortar health food stores. I get mine from the bulk aisle of the organic food sections of my local Wegmans grocery store. If you can't get it, don't worry about it for this recipe—it's nice, but you don't absolutely need it. If you're interested in trying it, this might be a good time to hit up any vegan friends you have to get a little before you get stuck ordering a full pound of the stuff. I love it, but it can be an acquired taste. If you do end up with a good quantity of it and decide you're not a fan, try adding it to batches of chili, soups and even use it in the broth you cook crock pot roast beef in. It's a pretty common ingredient in dry soup mixes as well, so you can bump up the savory notes in onion dip or spinach dip with it as well. Or just feed everybody a batch of Vegan Mac & Cheese—someone's bound to like it.

A New Dawn, A New Day...

2009-03-20T17:56:00.003-04:00

...A new "tuna" salad.
I really need to post a bit more often. Much has happened in the literal months since I actually posted anything, and many recipes are sitting on the back burner waiting for me to write them up. One of the new things is that my more mainstream types of recipes are likely going to be posted at Busy Mommy, a site run by one of my dear friends who has opted to take me on as a writer for the Cooking Mommy page. I'm quite happy with the arrangement so far and am hoping she is too :)

On to more usual topics, or in this case, more experimental. I'm working more and more towards being a full out vegan, having only occasional lapses with cheese and even less occasional meals with meat. As such I've been branching out again and playing with more random foods, which lead to today's new staple recipe. I've been looking for all sorts of easy foods to replace things I am used to making on a regular basis. Tempeh has been making many appearances, but takes more time to prepare than I tend to want to give it for something like lunch. I was browsing around through a lot of vegan recipes on all sorts of sites and cookbooks and came across several for vegan "tuna" and "chicken" salads--almost all with the quote marks. The ones that were chickpea based appealed to me because I always have chickpeas on hand and have yet to meet a chickpea recipe I didn't at least like enough to finish. Most of them were rather complicated or had fairly long ingredients lists, so I ditched them and made this version, which I've stripped down to its simplistic roots. You could flavor this with whatever you want, but I'm sticking with just the pickles and hot sauce for the moment. Even my mother, who has not taken well to most of the stuff I give her to taste of late, liked this one and wanted to finish it with some crackers, a preparation I think would go over nicely. I myself stuffed it into a sandwich with tomato slices and were I ok with cheese right now I think it would make a great base to a melt with a slice of cheddar.

Vegan Tuna (or Chicken) Salad
Makes enough for about 3-4 sandwiches

Ingredients:
-1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
-1/4 cup vegenaise (or mayonaise if you so prefer, I don't)
-1/2 kosher dill, small dice
-salt and pepper
-1 teaspoon hot sauce (optional)

Directions:
Mash the chickpeas with a spoon or fork until there are no whole peas left. Mix in the vegenaise and stir, mashing as needed, until combined and the texture of tuna salad. Stir in the pickle and salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the hot sauce if using. Serve with crackers, salad greens or in a sandwich.

Notes:
-You can add in whatever you happen to add in to tuna or chicken salad. My mom's version favors chopped onions and celery along with the pickles for both tuna and chicken salads, and she makes an easy pasta salad by mixing the tuna salad with cooked medium shells. I imagine this would work pretty well in that too, though the color would be different.
-This doesn't look vegetarian, so would make an easy sandwich to take along for lunch that no one will question. I for one am a little tired of people's continued interest in my lunch as the afternoon's entertainment. This doesn't look odd, even if you put it on salad greens.
-I like my egg/tuna/chicken/whatever salads a little on the dry side so as not to have them leak all over the place when trying to eat them. And because I don't really like the taste of straight mayonaise. So this recipe starts with a small amount of mayo/nayo, feel free to add a bit more if you like.

Who knew?

2008-11-11T14:56:00.002-05:00

Oatmeal. The bane of many a child's morning existence. Mine included, though Mom took the hint pretty quickly when I was little that I was just NOT going to eat the stuff. Over the years she was the only one in the house that would, and then later when my sister was older she developed a taste for the stuff too. I still could not understand the appeal of a bowl of soggy warm mushy stuff and the only way I would eat oatmeal willingly was in the form of oatmeal cookies, sans raisins. I didn't like those much either. This has been the way of it for years, up until a few weeks ago when a random purchase at Whole Foods led to a new and kind of startling addiction.
Steel cut. Also known as "Irish Oats" in some packaging, with the most well known brand being McCann's with the expensive price tag and old-fashioned tin. Steel cut oats are what you get when you cut the whole groat into pieces rather than the steam and press method used to make rolled oats, which are what the usual paste-like mush comes from. Steel cut oatmeal takes a little longer to cook, but the result is a bowl of warm cereal with actual texture and to my tongue, a far more palatable taste, and a much better blank canvas for the addition of fruits and spices. I took a chance on a packet from bob's red mill, but have found a far cheaper source at trader joe's, and I'm sure it can be found elsewhere. McCann's is kind of ridiculously expensive here at around $8/can, but it does come in a lovely tin. I've not noticed any difference in taste or quality among the three kinds I've tried, so I'm going to say it really doesn't matter. This variety doesn't come in a quick version, so it's pretty much the same stuff no matter where you buy it.
I took a chance on steel cut primarily because my sister has been hounding me to try it for about four years now. She discovered it ages ago and has made oatmeal a staple of her breakfast pantry and has offered to make it for me dozens of times. I kept turning her down due to my prejudice against cooked oatmeal of any kind. Oops. When I finally made it myself, I was amazed at both how easy it was and how much faster it was to make than anyone made it out to be. In about 15-20 minutes I can go from raw ingredients to eating oatmeal out of a mug, so that's really not too bad. I've also stopped using it just for breakfast and have found it to be pretty good whenever. It's rather impractical to make just one serving of the stuff, so I routinely make a batch of three to four servings and just reheat it in the microwave as needed. Works just fine for me and saves time later.
An accidental side effect of my preferred ingredient list here is that my first several bowls were all flecked with the exact brown and orange of Bowling Green's chosen colors. Oy. I fixed that by adding cranberries to subsequent batches, so now it's just fall colors in a bowl instead of a daily reminder of my alma mater's colors. The ingredients I list here are my choices, but once you've got the oatmeal in hand you can mix in whatever you choose. I selected a variety of dried berries, cinnamon, vanilla and nuts because that's what I had and what sounded good. I chose goji berries, dried cranberries, walnuts and flax meal for their nutritional values as well as taste, and the resulting bowl tasted good and happened to be vegan and low fat. Everyone has heard over and over how wonderful oatmeal is for lowering cholesterol as well as being full of fiber and a whole grain, so this particular breakfast is one that is both filling and ridiculously good for you.

Steel Cut Oatmeal
3-4 servings

Ingredients:
-1 cup steel cut oats
-3 cups water
-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1/8 tsp cinnamon (a few shakes of the bottle)
-1/2 to 2/3 cup of mixed dried fruit (my blend is equal parts raisins, dried gojis and dried cranberry pieces)
-walnut pieces
-brown sugar (dark, if you're doing this my way, or straight molasses if you don't want it too sweet)
-vanilla soy milk

Directions:
Put oats, water, vanilla, cinnamon and fruit into a medium sized pot. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to low for 10-15 minutes, stirring once or twice to keep the oats from sticking to the bottom. When cooked to your desired texture, remove from heat and stir in the flax. Scoop into bowls and top with a tablespoon or two of walnut pieces and as much brown sugar and soy milk as you'd like. If only using one serving, allow the remaining oatmeal to cool for a few minutes before decanting into a separate container and store in the fridge for up to three days.

Notes:
-You can add the fruit at the beginning or the end of cooking. I like the beginning because it imparts a little sweetness to the rest of the oatmeal while the fruit cooks and the berries soften during the process.
-Some people like to add salt to the oatmeal. I don't. It's up to you, but start with a very little bit if you've not tried it before, as a little goes a very long way here.
-Some people also sub out some of the cooking water for milk at the beginning. I don't particularly find that it adds anything, and the one time I tried it the batch burned badly to the bottom of the pan, so if you do try it, stir a bit more often. I like little soy milk when I'm topping it at the end, but as always, it's entirely optional and regular milk would be just fine, it just wouldn't be vegan anymore.
-Other options for add ins are endless. I'm also a fan of stirring in a spoonful of almond butter and a spoon or two of apricot jam, with or without the rest of the fruit added. The only things I've found that I don't like are tart apples (add at the beginning and they cook, add at the end and they stay crunchy) and bananas. Can't really explain the bananas, just did not like that one.
-If you don't like sweet breakfast foods, subbing some molasses for the brown sugar is a great way to get the taste without a whole lot of sugar. Molasses is sweet by itself, but it's more malty and smoky than anything else, and it doesn't take a whole lot to get a lot of flavor out of it, so start with a little and see how you like it. Maple syrup is also good here, but sweeter than molasses.
-To reheat, place however much you want into a bowl and mash it up a bit, then heat for a minute or two until it's reached your desired temperature. Dress it as you like and enjoy.
-In case you're keeping track, this breakfast has whole grain, fiber, antioxidants from the fruit (depending on what you choose), unrefined sugar and protein from the nuts and milk, making this comfort food that is good for you and way better than a donut. Add a cup of tea, milk or orange juice and you'll be set for hours.

More Fun With Flame

2008-10-16T19:57:00.002-04:00

I like grilling. It's one thing I did not do at all in my house, as we only had an electric grill, which in my mind was no better than propping a Foreman on a lawn chair. As such, I only got to really grill anything when babysitting the dogs at my parents' house which meant I feasted on things like margarita marinated tuna steaks and lots of fresh grilled chicken breasts and fire-roasted red peppers. For some reason, peppers were about the only veggie I ever attempted on the grill, despite the glut of zucchini, and I only attempted a peach once. It did not go well, so I never bothered with a pineapple despite having an interest in trying it sometime. Since I've returned to the family seat, I still haven't gotten to grill much as I'd like as the formerly impressive apparatus has a fairly serious issue with its starter. Namely, it doesn't. Not on its own. No, the way we light the grill here these days is by turning on the gas, tossing in a match and ducking. When I say "we" I mean Dad, as I refuse to do this, even with my own history of open flames and using gas under pressure. Fortunately for me my father has been quite willing to go risk his arm hair and eyebrows for me when I feel the need to cook outside. This has happened a lot in the last few weeks with the demise of the microwave. Yes, again. Yes, the third in four years, give or take. Anyway, the result of eating a bunch of grilled zucchini sandwiches in the recent past has led to some experimenting, resulting in a new combo I like to call a TZT. Tempeh, zucchini and tomato. Tempeh is still relatively new to me, but I like the method I've been using to cook it, especially in this sandwich. I started using the recipe for Hot Sauce Glazed Tempeh in Veganomicon, then started playing with the marinade based on what I had, what I didn't, and not sharing the same love of cumin those ladies have. The result is a slightly smoky, slightly spicy/tangy tempeh that takes to the gas grill even better than the original marinade, which kind of stuck to ours. The combination of the flavors in the marinade, the tomatoes, vegennaise and toast result in something akin to a BLTish concoction, minus the super crunchy bacon, which as much as I love the taste, leaves something to be desired when you're trying to keep your sandwich together as you're eating it. While the tempeh tastes best to me grilled outside, it's perfectly good pan fried or grilled indoors in a pan or electric grill. Pair it with a salad or some more grilled zucchini on the side, iced tea and a vegan ice cream sandwich. Actually, it would be bloody wonderful with the salad that Staci served at her wedding last weekend--spinach, pecan halves, dried cranberries and a wonderful mild cheesy dressing. The sweet and savory bits would be excellent paired with the smoky and creamy notes in the sandwich. Actually, damn near anything would be improved by being paired with that salad, though obviously no longer vegan due to the dressing. Worth the sacrifice anytime :)
On a random note, I find that I am eating way more sandwiches than I used to when eating meat-type foods. Part of that is probably from being gluten free and just giving up on bread, but part of it is that it's just so much easier to stuff things in bread and call it dinner. PB&J is the ultimate in vegan convenience food, as long as you know the source for the sugar in the jelly :)

Marinated Grilled Tempeh

Ingredients:
-one 8oz package tempeh (three-grain variety or plain has worked best, but use whatever one you can get a hold of)
-1/4 cup Franks Red Hot sauce or other quality hot sauce, or 1 teaspoon sriracha and four Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
-1 teaspoon olive oil
-3 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce
-1/4 cup lemon juice
-1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
-1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke (optional)
-1/4 teaspoon ground chipotle pepper or 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
-1/2 teaspoon italian seasoning

Directions:
Mix all ingredients except tempeh together in a glass pan or gallon sized plastic bag and set aside.
Slice the block of tempeh in half widthwise. If a burger-like slab is desired, leave the two squares intact. If a more sandwich-like portion is desired, split the slabs into half thicknesses so that you have four thin squares. If you want to use the tempeh for mini sandwiches or salads, slice the tempeh into triangles. When you've cut the tempeh to the shape and thickness of your liking, bring a medium sized pot of water to boil and add the tempeh. Cook for about 7 minutes for the half thickness and about 9 or 10 for the full thickness. Remove from the water with tongs carefully so as not to break apart the pieces and deposit into the marinade, making sure to coat all sides thoroughly. Allow to marinate at least one hour but preferably about 3-4 hours, turning pieces from time to time. Cook according to the method of your choice below:
Grill--If you're grilling small triangles, consider skewering them for both ease in turning and to keep them from dropping through the grill. If you have one of those dandy vegetable/fish cages, this would be the time to break it out. Preheat your grill for a couple of minutes on medium high, then carefully place your tempeh on the middle rack if you have one, or reduce heat to medium and place on grill. Cook for 4-5 minutes on first side, then flip and cook for another 3-5 minutes depending on thickness. Baste with marinade one or two times during the course of cooking, the last being about a minute before you're done. Remove from grill carefully with tongs, taking care not to break the pieces if possible.

Pan-Fry: Grease a medium skillet and heat over medium high heat. Cook the tempeh pieces for about 8-10 minutes, turning often to prevent sticking and periodically basting with marinade as you flip.

TZT
(2-4 sandwiches, depending on how you portion the tempeh)

Ingredients:
-one recipe grilled marinated tempeh
-2-3 small zucchini, sliced lengthwise into slabs
-tomatoes, sliced
-1 Tablespoon vegenaisse per sandwich
-2 slices white or wheat bread, toasted, per sandwich

Directions:
While tempeh is grilling, slice the zucchini and toss in the leftover tempeh marinade. Grill a few minutes per side, until cooked but still firm. Once zucchini is on the grill, throw your bread in the toaster and toast about three minutes before your zucchini and tempeh are ready. Spread the toast slices with vegenaise and assemble the sandwiches carefully, as everything but the tomato should still be hot. There is no right way to layer these, as long as the tomato isn't in the middle. Serve while still warm.

Notes:
-The sandwiches are drippy, as is anything made with both tomatoes and zucchini. Keep this in mind when eating :)
-Grill some extra zucchini. It's just so easy to use for so many other meals and reheats well. Doesn't freeze well though, so don't overdo it.
-Feel free to sub mayo for the vegenaise. I prefer the vegenaise myself, and the result is a BLT-like sandwich with no cholesterol, but if you're not a vegan or aren't watching cholesterol levels, it really doesn't matter. Don't skip one or the other though, as it keeps the toast from becoming soppy with tomato and zucchini juice, and makes up for the lack of cheese on a toasty sandwich.
-I got my dad to eat this. Really. If he'll eat it without protest you know it can't be that bad :) Mom is taking leftovers with her to the airport tomorrow. I have no idea if this is a good idea or not, but other than being colder than I'd like it should be fine, and definitely won't be a risk for food poisoning after sitting in her carryon for an hour or two.
-Coming soon: experiments with tempeh as the protein for something pretending to be reuben-like. At least, that's the plan, since there's a bucket of fresh sauerkraut in the fridge. Sauerkraut and mashed potatoes = good. Sauerkraut and tempeh = who knows, at least as yet.

Best Vegan Summer Sandwich. Ever.

2008-09-02T22:20:00.002-04:00

As I'm not living with my own kitchen anymore, inspiration has been rather little and far between, hence the huge gaps between posts. There's plenty of stuff I could just type up from memory and post, but I haven't felt like mentally revisiting things that I can't make right now due to lack of ingredients or the tiny problem of all my kitchen equipment living in four or five plastic storage crates stacked in the corner of my borrowed bedroom. About the only thing that has changed all of that is that two weeks ago I was told I could eat gluten again, as I had been given wrong advice based on my test results of almost a year ago. Oops. Not that being gluten free has been all the difficult, save for the occasional craving for a grilled cheese since I gave up on gluten free bread pretty quickly (gluten free brownies on the other hand, not so much :) ) but it's nice to be able to eat pasta and bread again along with not having to worry about ordering takeout or any of that in the future. The first thing I ate when I was allowed to reintroduce the stuff was a brie and apple sandwich on french bread. It was heavenly. And if you really need to know how that's made, just thin slice granny smith apple and stack that on one side of a split baguette and then spread brie on the other half (I scrape it off the rind, as I HATE brie rind) and squish the whole thing together. For a 14 inch or thereabouts sized baguette I usually end up using around one apple, if not a little less, but that's my taste. You can also use fontina cheese (though NOT the one from trader joes, it's just nasty) and vary the apples, but I like to have at least a semi-tart apple with the cheese. I've heard of people going so far as to make the sandwich with white bread, cream cheese and apples, but I've not done that yet.
Anyway, that sandwich isn't vegan, though it could be if you used vegan cream cheese :) The vegan bits come into play as I've decided to have most of my food come from vegan food groups with only the occasional foray back into vegetarian (cheese, eggs) and even less occasionally meat. Apparently I just don't know what to do with myself if I don't have some sort of dietary restriction anymore. I'm keeping a little of the dairy/meat stuffs as I really do like them, it's just getting expensive to eat the good stuff and I don't like subbing out cream cheese for brie. Not that produce is getting any cheaper, but with the international markets it's not so bad, and there's a lot of variety in those along with the farmers' markets that are booming around here right now. Summer means a lot of things, but mostly zucchini (as anyone who's ever planted it knows) along with tomatoes, corn, okra and all sorts of other good (and mostly green) veggies. Summer has usually been represented in my sandwich repetoire by a version of the zucchini sandwich my mom made a lot when we were little--fried zucchini and fresh tomato slices on buttered toast. That one is pretty damn addictive in and of itself, but not quite what I wanted the last few days. For one, we're out of sliced bread. Again. And no, it's not me that's eating it. For another, we stopped frying zucchini about a decade ago and now bake it, but in order to do either you have to dip it in beaten egg before dredging it in bread or cracker crumbs. Not vegan to say the least, and it doesn't stick if you don't do it (believe me, we've tried, usually by mistake). Cheese cracker crumbs also melt and burn to the cookie sheet, in case you're curious. So being that it's still summer (even if school is back in session) I decided that the zucchini in the fridge was going to be dinner, sandwich style. I've been reading a cookbook I've had for about a year now called Veganomicon and came across their recipe for white bean aioli, which is meant to be either a dip or a spread. If you like garlic and lemon, make it, it takes 10 minutes and a blender and is incredibly worth it. The other important modification was the bread. I ditched white bread slices in favor of bake-at-home baguettes (trader joes, I love you). These loaves are about 18 inches long and kind of skinny, even for baguettes, but bake up with a lovely crisp crust and soft innards, just the way I like it. Tonight I had this sandwich for dinner accompanied by a pea salad and chocolate cake. Yeah, you're really deprived if you go vegan. Brew a huge glass of iced mint tea and go outside to eat this truly yum dinner.

Vegan Zucchini Sandwich
(Serves 2-3, depending on who's cutting the sandwich)

Ingredients:
-1 small to medium zucchini, sliced
-seasoning salt or whatever seasoning blend you happen to like and have on hand--I use King Street Blues Rib & Butt Rub
-olive oil for sauteeing
-1 medium tomato, sliced
-white bean aioli (recipe follows)
-1 18 inch long baguette, split lengthwise

Directions:
Slice the zucchini into rounds, on the bias or flat strips. Whichever shape is easiest for you to work with is fine, but I wouldn't use tiny chunks like you'd cut for stir-fry, as they'll fall out everywhere. Sprinkle slices of zucchini with the spice blend of your choosing (at the very least salt and pepper). Sautee the slices in just a little bit of olive oil over medium-high heat until cooked to your liking--I prefer them to be al dente. Remove from heat and let cool a bit on a paper plate or paper towel to absorb some of the water and oil in them. While the zucchini is cooling, slice your tomato and spread the aioli over both halves of the baguette. Assemble sandwich by stacking zucchini slices and tomatoes on the dressed bread and topping with the other half of the baguette. Slice into whatever portion sizes you like and serve.

Notes:
-You may want to drain your tomato slices by pressing them with paper towels, as the sandwich can be a little drippy otherwise. If you don't, have a few napkins handy. If you don't want tomatoes, leave them out. The sandwich is still good.
-If your loaf is on the thin side, toothpicks are a good idea to hold the thing together when slicing and eating. Wrapping individual sandwiches in foil works too and can help catch the aforementioned drips.
-If you don't feel like making the white bean aioli for this, Vegenaise or any other vegan mayonaise works very well as a substitute (and no garlic). Just spread thinly over the baguette and proceed as normal.

White Bean Aioli
(Adapted from Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero, p62)

Ingredients:
1 15oz can navy or great northern beans, drained and rinsed (I used cannelini, they worked fine too)
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
Fresh ground black pepper, several pinches/to taste
2 Tbsp flax oil (original recipe calls for 1/4 cup olive, use whatever you have on hand or prefer)
6 cloves garlic, chopped (I used jarred)

Combine beans, lemon juice, salt and pepper in blender or food processor and puree until smooth, scraping down as needed. Set aside. Heat garlic and oil in a small pan over medium heat for about three minutes. Original recipe calls for you to heat but not brown the garlic, I browned mine intentionally the second time as the first time had a VERY garlic hit to it. The choice is yours. When garlic is cooked to your liking, scrape garlic and olive oil into the blender and puree. Taste for salt, lemon, pepper and adjust to your liking. Scrape out of blender and into a storage container and refrigerate until ready to use. Makes around 1 1/2 cups.

Notes:
-Ok, I lied a bit here. I didn't puree this in two batches, I just cooked the garlic and then dumped it in with the whole beans and did it all in one go. The second time I followed the two part directions. Honestly, couldn't tell a difference save that I cooked the garlic longer the second time.
-This comes out sort of hummus-textured/thick. If you want it thinner for a dippy/saucy consistency you can thin with a little water and whir in the blender to incorporate. For the sandwich this isn't necessary.
-This is the best artichoke dipper ever. By that I mean steam or microwave your artichoke, then dip the leaves into this instead of lemon butter or real aioli. WAY less guilty, which means you can eat another artichoke, which is always a good thing :) You may want to make it a little bit thinner and puree until it's totally smooth if you use it for artichoke leaves, but it's not necessary.
-Regarding oils--I don't think this needs as much oil as the recipe originally called for. It tastes really good with that much olive oil, and if you're using olive it might be worth it, but the creaminess of the beans themselves doesn't need much to make a good dip. I used flax oil because of the omega-3s, as this is a way to add a little extra without really noticing it. I'm all about finding new ways to use flax and flax oil right now, as I've discovered that I love the stuff and it happens to be good for you.

Garlic Pea Salad
AKA, this is what happens when I get bored...

Ingredients:
-1 1 pound bag frozen peas, thawed
-1/2 to 2/3 cup white bean aioli
-optional--handful of pitted kalamata olives, chopped fine or a few tablespoons of kalamata tapenade

Directions:
Thaw the peas on the counter, in the fridge or with warm water and a colander, but do not microwave--you want them bright green and fresh tasting. Stir the aioli into the peas, starting with a couple of spoonfuls and adding more until the peas are sauced to your taste. If using the olives or tapenade, stir into peas until evenly distributed. Serve cold.

Notes:
-This would be great picnic food, as there isn't anything that could make you sick after sitting outside for a few hours.
-I imagine this would also work very well for a potato salad made with waxy boiling potatoes. Ok, it would probably top a baked potato pretty well too. I like the aioli/olive combo on just about everything so far.
-Don't make this for a romantic date. It's just a bad idea. In fact, only make the cake on this page for a romantic date, unless you sub vegenaise for the aioli in the sandwich.

Amazon Cake
This is one of my favorite cakes, and I FINALLY found the original NYT article that I got it from forever and a day ago. Ah, New York, I miss you sometimes. I've only made one change from the recipe here, and that's to experiment with the oil called for. I've successfully used canola, olive, hazelnut and of course, flax, without any really noticeable difference in the taste, save for when I use straight olive if the oil itself is very strong. Light olive would probably be fine, but if you've only got a bright green extra virgin sitting around, you might want to cut it with at least 2 tablespoons of a lighter oil, otherwise it can have a somewhat salad dressing kind of aftertaste. I spent some time last year playing with this trying to make a sugar free or low sugar version, and I'm going to save you time now by saying don't bother, it doesn't work. Unrefined granulated will probably work fine, but agave, honey and splenda don't. This cake is vegan, but you'd never know it to eat it--it's very moist and very chocolatey. Honestly, if I gave it to you and didn't mention it, you'd never guess. My favorite way to serve this is with whipped topping (take your pick of which kind) and strawberries, but it's equally good eaten plain with a glass of milk (cow, almond, soy, whatever).

Adapted from ''Cafe Beaujolais'' by Margaret Fox and John S. Bear (I totally copied the recipe straight out of the article, as it's so easy there was no need to alter the directions)

Ingredients:
-1 1/2 cups flour
-1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
-1 teaspoon baking soda
-1 cup sugar
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-5 tablespoons corn oil
-1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
-1 tablespoon cider vinegar
-Confectioners' sugar.

Directions:
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, sugar and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, vanilla and vinegar with 1 cup cold water. Whisk in the dry ingredients, blending until completely lump-free. Pour into a greased 9-inch round cake pan. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the top springs back when pressed gently. Cool before removing from the pan and dusting with confectioners' sugar, or frosting if desired. Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

Notes:
-You can have this always at the ready by mixing up the dry ingredients ahead of time and keeping them in plastic bags. All you have to do to mix the cake in two minutes is to dump the wet ingredients into a cup, swirl around a bit to break up the oil and then whisk into the dry ingredients. I've even heard of people mixing this in the pan they bake it in. I've not tried it, but it can't hurt.
-Make this in a round cake pan. It does OK in square, but it just seems to like the round better.
-This is a very stable cake to use to make a layered chocolate something. I made a "German Chocolate Cake" out of this once by baking two of them and then frosting and filling with canned coconut/caramel icing. It went over well.
-I very rarely bother with the confectioner's sugar. It looks pretty and tastes fine, it's just more work than I bother with unless I'm using the cake for company.
-You can use other acids, but I prefer the apple cider. If you use lemon and olive oil, then it really comes out tasting oddly of salad dressing. The leavening in the cake comes from the acid/base reaction of the vinegar and baking soda, so an acid is a crucial ingredient here, but with so few ingredients the one you choose can be important. I've not tried it with orange juice yet, but will eventually and will post the results when I do.
-For a vegan ho-ho/devil dog kind of treat, use a cake leveler or a long knife to the cake into thin rounds and roll them with a little cool whip. This is a great way to use the bits you get when you level the cake for layering. Waste not and all that :)
-This also works very well with raspberry sauce made by pureeing frozen raspberries in syrup (strain out the seeds if you feel like it, but they don't interfere with the taste).

The Last Shebang Revisited

2008-05-03T15:41:00.003-04:00

The Last Shebang was a party that took place two weeks ago, and yes, it's taken me this long to get around to writing down the recipes for the stuff people liked. The theme of the dinner was pink, whether or not anyone else actually noticed. I'd say almost everything went over well, with some minor hitches involving the asparagus and timing. I had a lovely time, and I hope the guests did as well. For a last hurrah in Reston it will just have to do.
Here's the menu:

Appetizers
Herbed Goat Cheese on Endive leaves
Prosciutto & Melon

Entree
Peppered Beef Tenderloin
Roasted Garlic and Dill Baby Potatoes
Green Beans with Meyer Lemon Aioli (should have been asparagus...)

Dessert
White Chocolate Champagne Ice Cream with Fresh Strawberries

Drink
Blood Orange Punch

and on to the recipes...

Goat Cheese on Endive Leaves
This one isn't so much a recipe, as being specific as to what I used. I bought the fines herbes goat cheese from Trader Joes and mashed it up with a fork to distribute the herbs a bit more, then placed it on the broad ends of endive leaves in about half teaspoon sized lumps. A five or six ounce log served 8 of us pretty well as munchables spread over three heads of endive, using mostly the the larger leaves and not the tiny inner ones.

Prosciutto and Melon
Again, not really a recipe. Just chunk up some cantaloupe (or honeydew if you're adventurous) and wrap it with pieces of prosciutto. The prosciutto will stick to itself, so just make sure you've got pieces long enough to either get all the way around the melon or enough to layer all the way around.

Peppered Tenderloin

Ingredients:
-2-3 pound beef tenderloin
-4 Tbsp coarse ground black pepper
-olive oil
-kosher salt

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a 9x13 pan or roasting pan in foil (optional, but recommended). Place roast in 9x13 diagonally or in roasting pan's rack. Rub on olive oil to coat on all sides and cover in black pepper, making sure to get it on all sides as well. Sprinkle with kosher salt. Place in oven uncovered for 45-65 minutes depending on desired doneness. 45 minutes will be medium to medium rare, depending on the size of the roast. Check it with a thermometer if you're aiming for a specific level. I recommend cooking to medium or medium rare if you're going to use it for leftovers, as reheating will cook it further. The thin end of the loin will also be further along than the middle, so keep that in mind if you're cooking for people who prefer differing degrees of done. Remove from oven and allow to rest for at least ten minutes before slicing.

Roasted Garlic and Dill Baby Potatoes

Ingredients:
-2 heads garlic
-olive oil
-1/2 stick butter, softened
-3-4 pounds baby or new potatoes, the smaller the better, and red ones if your theme is pink
-2 Tbsp chopped fresh dill
-kosher salt

Directions:
Slice the tops off of the heads of garlic, drizzle the innards with olive oil and roast wrapped in foil in a 425 degree oven for 20-40 minutes until golden brown and soft. Allow the garlic to cool, then squeeze out the roasted cloves into a bowl and mash with a fork. Add the softened butter and mix thoroughly. Set aside.
Boil whole baby potatoes in a large pot. Drain and return to the still-hot pot. Scrape the butter/garlic mix onto the potatoes, top with the dill and shake the pot to coat the potatoes with the melting garlic butter and dill, tossing with a large spoon to make sure all potatoes have been coated. Sprinkle with kosher salt and shake pan to distribute.

White Chocolate Champagne Ice Cream
(This deserves a post of it's own, but it's here anyway. It is a bit on the extravagant/decadent side, but very much worth it. If you feel the champagne is too over the top, feel free to omit and just enjoy the white chocolate ice cream on its own. Serve this with fresh fruit, or possibly with cake or brownies or cookies. It's quite good alone, but sublime with fresh strawberries. This recipe started as an adaptation of the one in David Lebovitz's Perfect Scoop. I've said it before, I'll say it again--GO BUY IT. This recipe makes about 1 1/2 quarts.)

Ingredients:
-2 1/4 cups champagne, divided
-2 cups whole milk
-pinch of salt
-2/3 cup sugar, plus two tablespoons
-5 egg yolks
-8 oz white chocolate, chopped fine
-1 cup heavy cream
-2 pounds strawberries, cleaned and quartered

Directions:
Boil two cups of champagne until reduced to 1/2 a cup. Set aside to cool. Combine the milk, salt and 2/3 cup sugar in a saucepan and stir to dissolve sugar. Warm the milk until it is steaming, but not bubbling. In a separate bowl mix the egg yolks together and gradually add some of the hot milk while stirring constantly--I find a whisk useful for this. When you've added about half a cup to the yolks, stir them back into the saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a spatula or wooden spoon until custard thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon/spatula. Strain the custard into a bowl and add the white chocolate, stirring to melt. Stir in the cream and cooled reduced champagne and the last quarter cup of straight champagne. Cool the mixture completely and freeze according to your machine's directions. This ice cream won't freeze to rock hard in the freezer, so it can be made ahead and still be easily scoopable. Toss the strawberries with the remaining two tablespoons of sugar and allow to macerate for at least fifteen minutes. Serve the strawberries with the ice cream.

Blood Orange Punch
This was because I wanted something nice to drink and didn't want to have to serve a lot of alcohol, what with being a bit skint and all. The blood orange juice can be subbed with regular orange juice, but the color will need some help if you're looking for a bright punch. Made with blood orange juice, this punch is the color of sunrise--orangey pink and pretty.

Ingredients:
-1 liter blood orange juice
-4 liters ginger ale
-1/2 bottle grenadine

Directions:
Chill all ingredients and combine just before serving in either a punch bowl for a whole batch or a very large pitcher for half batches. Serve cold. Add a few drops of food coloring if you skip the blood orange juice in favor of regular orange juice.

Winding Down and Winding Up

2008-04-25T14:35:00.002-04:00

So...it's been a bit over a year and a half in this house, and I'm kind of ashamed to admit that I found a bottle of rice vinegar and a bottle of red wine vinegar in the back of my pantry that I am relatively certain moved in with me. Oops. I'm nearly done with everything--packing, consuming the last bits of my pantry and fridgestuffs and to be honest, I'm about done with things leftover or made from non-perishable goods. This morning I reached the end of my patience with that, so I made a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up some fresh veggies and a little fruit to make the last few days a little easier. Not that the huge batch of mujadara I made has gone over badly, but sometimes you just need something that hasn't been processed, dried, stored or in any other way preserved. As I've also been craving ratatouille for about two weeks now, I opted to make a quick-ish version of that to have for lunch today while finishing up my packing. It doesn't require much, just a little forethought in gathering ingredients, and I'm in no way claiming this is totally true to the provencal dish, but it is good, it's not bad for you in any way, it can be eaten at just about any temperature and for those of you that can eat bread, it goes very well with some good baguette or toast. I've also heard of it used for an omelet filling, topped with a poached egg for breakfast, stuffed into crepes, topping rice, couscous and pasta and my personal favorite, topped with a little goat cheese, which really sets it off. Today I lack the goat cheese, having used the last of it at my last dinner party, but it's perfectly serviceable served simply in a bowl with a spoon. I like it a little brothy, even though I can't dip bread in it, so if you are planning on using it as a stuffing, just reduce the liquid and make it a bit drier so it doesn't make your omelet or crepes or whatever soggy. If you're going to couscous/rice route, this version will work just fine.

Ratatouille

Ingredients:
-3 Tbsp olive oil
-1 small/medium onion, diced
-1 Tbsp chopped garlic, or 3-4 cloves chopped (feel free to add more if you like a lot of garlic)
-1 red or green pepper, diced
-1 Tbsp tomato paste
-3/4 cup broth, stock or tomato juice
-1 italian eggplant, quartered and cut into 1/2 inch or so chunks OR about 2 cups eggplant chunks
-1 medium zucchini, quartered and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
-1 medium yellow squash, quartered and chunked
-1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes, drained (regular fine too, just no seasoned ones--get the plain kind) OR 2-3 good sized ripe tomatoes, seeded and diced
-2/3 to 1 Tbsp dried herbes de provence OR italian seasoning mix OR 2 Tbsp of a mix of chopped fresh basil, thyme and parsley

Directions:
Heat the onion, garlic and pepper in the oil in a medium or large saucepan until soft and starting to brown. Stir in the tomato paste, working it in with a spoon or spatula until the veggies are coated. Add the broth or juice and stir to lift any browned bits of paste or onion that remain on the bottom of the pan. Stir in the eggplant and simmer for a few minutes to allow it to start to release it's liquid into the pan. After five or ten minutes, add the zucchini and yellow squash and stir to coat thoroughly. Simmer for another five minutes or so and add the tomatoes and whatever herbs you've chosen if they are dried. Put a lid on the pan and allow to simmer for a few minutes more, until zucchini and squash are tender but not disintegrating (eggplant falling apart is ok). If using fresh herbs, stir in for the last two or three minutes of cooking to keep them from completely melting into the pot. Add salt and pepper to taste. Ratatouille should resemble stew when you're done, serve warm or allow to cool as you please. As with many stew-ish recipes, this will improve overnight in the fridge, so don't worry about not finishing it all in one meal. This quantity makes about enough for three or so dinner servings, and four to six as a side depending on whether or not anyone wants to stop at one serving.

Notes:
-Alter components as needed. As long as you have eggplant of some kind and some tomatoes and squash (yellow or zucchini) you're pretty much set. Peppers can be any color depending on your taste or available stock. As for liquid, just about anything up to and possibly including water can be used, though I wouldn't use as much water if you go that route.
-Goat cheese, feta, parmesan--try topping it with one of these at least once. Mmmm...
-This is best in summer when all of these veggies are in season. Technically, it's a bit early for this, but if you happen to grow zucchini and just can't stand another batch of zucchini bread at the end of the season, this is one way to do something different with the excesses.
-Bonus--This one is vegan, gluten free, and lowfat/good fat as long as you don't overdo the additional cheese at the end. Therefore, enjoy as often as you like :)

Refined Unrefined

2008-04-13T16:12:00.005-04:00

David Lebovitz, I love you.

No, I've never met David, and likely never will, but he has earned my undying affection for writing this lovely book. Buy it. Even if you never think you'll ever make ice cream on your own, even if the thought of eggs and milk coming together to make custard is just too damn hard. Your mind will be changed, you will want to rush out and buy an ice cream machine as soon as you read through the second chapter. The Perfect Scoop is just one of those cookbooks that you must have on your shelf for instruction and more importantly, inspiration to make the kinds of desserts you have always wanted to try and never had the guts to attempt. Ice cream has to be one of the easiest foods on the planet that everyone likes and almost no one makes at home. We'd rather give another few bucks for a pint of Ben & Jerry's or Haagen-Daz or some other random commercial kind and not bother with the "monumental" effort that making our own would involve. My memories of homemade ice cream revolve almost exclusively around Ohio and summer visits to my grandparents and a huge bucket filled with rock salt and ice and a huge mess to deal with afterwards. No more. The smaller no ice/salt countertop ice cream makers mean never having to try to get the dasher out without getting salt in the freshly churned ice cream and relatively little forethought needed to make a much smaller quantity of simply wonderful ice cream, frozen yogurt, sorbet or whatever else you want to make. I picked up this model which has a 1.5 quart capacity and only needs to have the core frozen overnight to be ready for whatever I do to it. I chose Linens n' Things simply because I know they always have a 20% off coupon floating around somewhere, and since I could purchase online but pickup in store, I was able to use the coupon, go through fatwallet for that rebate and still not pay shipping. The recipe below was the one I made up to christen the machine. Inspiration and guidance came from David Lebovitz's recipe for frozen yogurt (page 49) and the contents of my fridge. I've been eating a lot of greek yogurt of late, and have just about totally given up on the dannon/regular kind as I find I really don't like it all that much, so greek was the base for this frozen one. I picked up some meyer lemons in New York not too long ago and they've been living in the crisper since while I tried to figure out what I could do with them that would make the most of their bright flavor. As nearly everyone I know is trying to reduce their consumption of refined sugars, myself included, I decided to use honey instead of sugar (it was also on my counter instead of in a drawer, so it volunteered for the job). I wanted a VERY lemony, tangy result, and I got exactly what I wanted with this one. I'm fairly certain it will work with plain old everyday lemons, but as with all things, taste before you freeze to make sure the balance of acid/sweet is to your liking. If you're not using meyer lemons, you could add some orange zest to help bring it back from the edge of lemony oblivion. Check the notes for some other variations I'm going to try soon.

Meyer Lemon Frozen Yogurt
(makes a little over a quart, so make sure your machine's capacity is at least 1.5 quarts to be safe)

Ingredients:
-4 cups greek yogurt (see notes)
-juice of 2 meyer lemons
-zest of 2 meyer lemons, chopped as fine as you can
-1/2 to 2/3 cup honey (or equal amounts of agave syrup, or 1/2 cup sugar)
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional, see notes)

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine, making sure sugar is dissolved if you're using granulated. If you do this quickly and the ingredients are still cold when you're done, assemble your machine and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. If you are making this ahead, stick the mix back in the fridge for up to two days, but you won't want to wait that long.
Eat. You do not have to wait for it to freeze more in the freezer, though you can if you want to. Do keep in mind that since home machines do not introduce nearly as much overrun (air) into the mix while churning the ice cream will be harder than usual when you pull it out of the freezer. Either let it sit on the counter for a few to soften up a bit, or if their's room in your container and you lack the patients, jam a butter knife into it to break it into liftable chunks. Don't worry if this one starts to melt, it's just going to melt back into soft yogurt instead of the usual watery, sticky mess. Eat it anyway :)

Notes:
-I didn't use the vanilla for this round, but it would tame some of the sharpness of the lemon and add a lovely creamy flavor to the whole thing. Citrus and vanilla go quite well together, so don't have any fear of using it, especially if you opt to make this orange instead of lemon. Creamsicles are popular for a reason.
-To convert this to orange, use about 1/3-1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice from the best tasting oranges you've got, or a Tablespoon or two of frozen concentrate and the zest of two oranges. To make a lime version, zest and juice two to three limes (depending on size/potency of your limes) and sub them for the lemons and follow the rest of the directions.
-Chop the zest into tiny bits if you can, rather than just long skinny ribbons. The reason I do this is that in my machine, the long bits can get stuck around the dasher, while the little nibbets go whizzing merrily by. If you do get a clump of zest, just stir it back into the rest of the yogurt when you put it out of the machine.
-If you can get citrus fruit that hasn't been sprayed, use it. I like a lot of zest in my citrus glaze, yogurt and all that, so use as much as you like, but definitely use some.
-If you can't use zest or can't abide the little bits in your yogurt, try to find some citrus oil and use about 1/8 tsp to start, adding just a drop or two at a time if you want more since it is potent stuff. It won't be the same, but it will still be good.
-Greek yogurt--I love this stuff. It's richer than the regular kind, even for the 0% versions. I'm a huge fan of Fage brand, but trader joe's carries a perfectly acceptable version that is cheaper. For this batch I used 2 cups 0% and 2 cups 2% because that's what I had in my fridge. I may try to use all 0% soon, but the creaminess that comes from the 2% just makes the yogurt that much better. For all out decadence, use the whole milk version. If you don't have access to any greek yogurt, you could use strained yogurt. For that, put double the amount of yogurt you need into a colander lined with cheesecloth (paper towels work in a pinch, but be VERY careful scooping out the finished product). Put the colander over a larger bowl and leave in the fridge to drain for about six hours. So for this recipe, you'd need 8 cups of regular yogurt to yield 4 cups of strained. If you're going to strain it, use whole milk yogurt, or at the very least use the lowfat. Fat free just tastes odd when you do this to it. Ok, if you don't want to strain it, you can just use whole milk yogurt and be done with it, but in my opinion it won't be as good. The heft that comes from greek/strained is worth the extra effort or few extra bucks.
-Yes, I did tag this as breakfast. If you eat yogurt with honey for breakfast, then what's wrong with eating the frozen version with some added lemon for breakfast as well? This would probably be wonderful stuffed into crepes for brunch too. Or dessert. Whatever floats your boat.
-Check back soon for my continued experiments with this thing as I clean out my pantry. And go read The Perfect Scoop. You'll thank me when summer rolls around, and you'll worship David when you reach the bottom of your bowl.

Crabby Day Soup

2008-02-26T16:26:00.004-05:00

Another Tuesday, another morning at the doc's office. This time I left with far less needle sticks, so I was in a much better mood than last week, but still feeling the sting. I dropped off my prescriptions at the Target by my house and figured I may as well pick up milk and cooking spray there, rather than run out somewhere else. I also picked up a foil packet of crab meat, which I'd never noticed anywhere before, figuring that I could throw something together with it to make lunch. The weather here is dreary to say the least right now, so on the way home I decided to make soup. It's great weather for it right now, chilly and rainy and the kind of day best spent curled up with a blanket and a book. A perfect day for a soup lunch. When I got home I found my roommate's sister in the middle of removing some of her furniture from the house, so once all the hustle and bustle was over with I was more than ready to settle down with a bowl. I've been craving chowder for a few days, so potatoes were the first obvious ingredient. I had some corn from trader joe's, which is always a good pairing with crab and a bunch of asparagus as well. Everything was chopped and drained and thrown into a pot and out came a pretty decent soup, if I do say so myself. I wanted it a little lighter than a cream-based chowder, so this one is thickened a bit with some smashed up potato and finished with a little milk. I made mine with a little bit of a kick to it, but if you're making it and planning on sharing it, you may be better off just spiking your bowl with pepper sauce instead of the whole pot. I would LOVE to have some crackers with this, but the gluten-free cornbread my mom picked up was alright. Regular cornbread would go well, as would toast or crusty bread.

Crab and Corn Chowder

Ingredients:
-3-4 red potatoes of middling size, cubed, enough to make about 2 1/2 cups
-2 1/2 cups water
-2 chicken bouillon cubes or a spoonful of paste bouillon
-1 can of corn, drained or 1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels
-1/3 bunch of asparagus, trimmed and cut in to 1 inch pieces
-1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
-3.5 oz foil pack of crab meat, drained (about 2.5 ounces dry)
-fresh ground black pepper to taste
-1/4 teaspoon pepper sauce
-1 teaspoon butter or butter substitute
-2 tablespoons light cream cheese
-1 cup milk
-Old Bay (optional)

Directions:
Put potatoes, water and bouillon in a medium sized pot and bring to a boil. Cook until potatoes are tender, about ten minutes or so depending on how small the potatoes are cut. When potatoes are starting to get soft, mash a few chunks against the side of the pot and stir to thicken the broth. Add the asparagus, corn, crab meat, nutmeg, pepper sauce and black pepper and simmer for another 8 minutes or so, until asparagus is cooked to your liking. Stir in the butter and cream cheese, making sure the cream cheese is melted and incorporated. Add the milk and taste for seasoning, adding more pepper sauce, nutmeg or black pepper as desired. Alternately, you could add a little bit of Old Bay seasoning.

Notes:
-This could very easily make a vegetarian corn chowder if you sub vegetarian bouillon for the chicken base and skip the crab meat.
-Don't add lemon to this unless you plan on omitting the milk. I've done it before. It will curdle. It will be too nasty looking to eat.
-You could get the creamy chowder by using things other than milk and butter, such as a dollop of yogurt at the end. However, if you do opt to use yogurt, do NOT add it when the soup is still boiling and don't expect it to reheat well. It can curdle when heated too high, so if you do opt to use yogurt, make the soup and only add yogurt to the portion you'll be eating if you won't be using it all at once. I prefer greek yogurt when doing this, as it's not quite as tangy as some of the other kinds and less overwhelming when mixed into soup.

Life, continued...

2008-02-22T21:53:00.004-05:00

So...it's been a very long time since the last post. A lot has happened since then, which some of you know about and some of you don't. Since I find myself suddenly jobless, you'd think I'd have gotten around to posting more. Obviously not. I've also run into the slight problem of having recently discovered that I can't have gluten in my diet, which has thrown a wrench into most of my go-to recipes. I'll still post recipes that contain gluten from time to time, but there will likely be more gluten-free ones than not. As I'm in the process of planning a move, I'm also working my way through my pantry goods, so those are likely to be making more frequent appearances on here as well, starting with the recipe I'm going to post today. I made it for lunch on Tuesday, a day when I was sorely in need of a hug. The abbreviated version involves a fall and accompanying strained ankle and bruised knee, five needle sticks for two blood tests (and another good sized bruise on my right arm from that), a freezing cold house and a general sense that it was only going to get worse, so I may as well make some noodles and hide for the rest of the day. Fortunately, one good thing besides the noodles did happen--my first sale from my etsy store. This also explains why there is suddenly an ad from Etsy on the side of the page here. It links to my store so feel free to poke through if you're so inclined. Other than job hunting, online training, cleaning and figuring out that I'm never going to bother with GF bread again, that's how I'm spending my time these days.

Coconut Noodles

This is one of the easiest recipes I think I've ever made, hands down. It takes as long to make as your noodles take to cook, involves all pantry goods to get started and could be fixed to satisfy a variety of cravings. Original inspiration for this came from here but I've altered proportions quite a bit and eliminated things I either did not have or just forgot to add.

Ingredients:
-One 16 oz or two 8 oz packages of rice noodles (not flake noodles or thin strands)--see Notes
-1 can coconut milk (13 oz or so)
-4 Tbsp tomato paste
-1 tsp chili powder
-3/4 tsp salt
-1 pound cubed chicken breast or one block of tofu, cubed
-3 or so green onions sliced thin (on the bias looks prettier)

Optional:
-chopped cilantro or basil
-lime juice
-flaked coconut, plain or toasted
-chili sauce or chili paste
-thin sliced red pepper strips
-ground peanuts
-finely shredded kaffir lime leaves (available in freezer sections of international markets and online)
-diced banana (don't knock it til you've tried it once)

Directions:
-Cook your rice noodles according to package directions and make the sauce while they are cooking. When they've reached the desired consistency, drain the noodles and rinse with cold water, picking up handfuls and making sure all noodles are separated.
-In a good sized saucepan combine coconut milk, tomato paste, chili powder, salt and chili sauce, if using (start with 1/4 teaspoon and add more later if needed). Bring to a boil over medium heat.
-When sauce is boiling, add chicken or tofu and toss to coat and reduce heat for 8-10 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Add lime juice, if using. Taste sauce and adjust for seasoning.
-To assemble, toss noodles with sauce to coat. Sprinkle with green onions, cilantro/basil, coconut and/or pepper strips, if using.
-8 oz rice noodles will yield 3 or 4 servings, in theory. In practice, you'll probably want twice that.

Notes:
-Rice noodles--Make whatever amount you need for immediate use. The sauce will keep well in the fridge for a few days, but the rice noodles do not like being re-heated, or more specifically, really do not like being refrigerated, as it changes their texture for the worse. Reheating will soften them back up, but they will be brittle and will break up. This doesn't affect taste much, but the whole dish is much better if it's avoided. I found that the one can of coconut milk makes enough sauce for a full 16 ounce package of noodles, albeit not to coat very thickly. If you like a lot of sauce on your noodles, plan to use it with 8-12 ounces instead.
-Variations are endless. Sub some curry paste for the chili powder (red or penang is particularly good), but if you do, start with 1/2 teaspoon and work your way up, as they are far spicier than straight chili powder. If you do use penang, melt a tablespoon of creamy peanut butter into the sauce as well and definitely use the lime leaves if you have any.
-Add ins and equally endless. You could use some peeled and deveined shrimp if you use green curry paste instead of chicken and chili powder. You can fry the tofu for more texture, or use more vegetables. Just about anything that would work in a thai curry sauce will fit the bill here, so add whatever you want to. With this recipe, whatever tastes good should go in. Here are some variations I plan on trying:
penang paste/chicken/red pepper/snow peas
yellow paste/tofu/banana/raisins/peanuts/lime leaves
green paste/shrimp/peppers
peanut butter/lime juice/tamarind paste/chicken/peanuts/cucumber/pepper strips/snow peas/bean sprouts
-Do not in anyway think that this is health food. Mental health food maybe, but that's about it. It is moderately redeemed by the rice noodles not being fried, but that's countered by the coconut milk. It's certainly not going to kill you, but it's probably not the best idea to eat it daily.
-If you do bulk up the veggies, particularly if you're adding a huge amount of bean sprouts, budget the sauce back to the 8oz of noodles to be safe, and assemble your whole bowl at once.
-This is best served alone or with someone you don't mind being a bit messy around. An ideal accompaniment is a rainy or cold afternoon or evening and a showing of When Harry Met Sally or something equivalent.

Thanksgiving, Part 2

2007-12-23T01:07:00.001-05:00

As usual, December has been beyond crazy, so the Thanksgiving recipes have been a little late in coming. That said, here in time for Christmas are a few more.

Brined Turkey (Gluten Free)

Brine:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Turkey-Brine/Detail.aspx
(This is the brine recipe I used, though I subbed fresh herbs for the dried since that's what I had. I just fished out the herbs with tongs before I used it. I also found that a wine box that formerly held a dozen bottles of Charles Shaw merlot made the best vessel for containing the turkey and brining bag. Just line the box with the bag, folding the edges back over the rim, place bird in box (may be a tight fit if you're over 18 pounds), pour in brine, seal bag and place in fridge. If the box is too tall, you can split it at the corners and fold down the sides to get it in. Worked perfectly, didn't cost a dime and was disposable.)

Turkey:
After draining the turkey in the sink and patting dry with paper towels, I treated my weighty friend with a butter massage. I slipped about two tablespoons of softened butter under the skin and spread that around and then rubbed a thin coat of butter all over the outside of the bird. Oil would be fine, I just had butter floating around and used that instead. I gave him a little salt sprinkle internally and externally and placed him in a roasting pan with a rack. Once he was settled, I turned his wings back behind him (he was resting breast-side up) and stuffed him with a quartered onion and half a juiced orange (a lemon would have worked too). He went into a 375 degree oven for the first 20 minutes or so, then was treated to a foil tent and reduced heat for the last two hours of cooking time since he browned faster than intended due to the minscule nature of my oven and the proximity of the upper element. He came out mahogany brown and rested for half an hour before he was carved.

Cranberry Relish (Gluten Free)

Ingredients:
-12 oz bag of fresh cranberries
-2 sweet apples, peeled and diced
-1/2 cup apple juice or apple cider
-1/2 to 2/3 cup sugar, depending on taste
-2/3 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:
Combine cranberries, sugar and juice in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. When berries are starting to burst and the liquids are thickening stir in the apples and walnuts. Cook for another five minutes, stirring a few times to combine and remove from heat. Chill before serving. This can be made a day or two in advance and is lovely on toast and muffins as well as with the turkey.

Braised Leeks (Gluten Free):
Clean leeks by trimming off root end but not enough that they fall apart. Trim the dark green leaves off the top, leaving the white and light green. Split the leeks down the middle and rinse under running water, being sure to get into all the layers to rinse all the sand out. Drain in a colander as you go. When all leeks are cleaned, bring a large, heavy-bottomed/oven safe pan to high heat with some olive oil. Throw in the leeks and brown a bit, turning frequently (tongs work best here). When browned to your satisfaction but not cooked through, pour a liquid into the pan and toss the leeks around to coat them thoroughly. You can use broth, a broth/wine mixture or whatever sounds good. Mix in a few tablespoons of cream if you're willing, but not the fat-free half and half or milk--they curdle. There should be just under half an inch of liquid in the pan. Turn leeks and swish around a bit to evenly coat in broth/cream mixture. Place the pan in a 400 degree oven for 25-40 minutes, turning the leeks once or twice to promote even carmelization and redistribute the sauce. The leeks are done when soft, caramelized and most of the sauce is absorbed. Remove from oven and let cool a bit--this will be harder to do once you've tasted them. Serve as a side dish to whatever sounds good, on their own, or my personal favorite, chopped up and served on toast with loosely scrambled eggs on top.

Sweet Potato Biscuits--I'm not going to provide the recipe I used, as I didn't really end up liking them much. If you really want to know, ask and I'll send you the site.

Caramelized Onion Tart

Ingredients (9x13 sized pan):
-2 tubes of crescent roll dough
-3 pounds of onions, sliced thin
-2 1/2 TBsp olive oil
-dash salt
-5 oz goat cheese, softened

Directions:
First, assemble your crust. Unroll the crescent dough, trying your best to keep the sheet intact, and line a lightly greased 9x13 casserole dish with the dough, making sure to come up the sides a bit. You may have to be a little creative here to get the whole thing lined. Make sure all seams are pressed together as well, so that the whole thing bakes into one piece. Follow baking instructions on your package, taking care not to overbake and cover the edges with foil if they start to brown too much.
While the shell is baking caramelize the onions. Heat a large pan over medium heat, add the olive oil, onions and just a touch of salt and toss to combine. Stir the onions frequently to prevent burning and cook until deeply caramelized.
Allow the crust and onions to cool before you assemble the tart. To do this, spread the goat cheese evenly over the pastry and spoon the onions over the cheese, spreading into an even layer. To finish, cover pan in foil and reheat tart in a 350 degree oven until hot and a bit bubbly, about 15-20 minutes.

Notes:
-For a smaller tart, halve the ingredients and use a nine inch pie plate or square or round cake pan instead. Be creative in fitting the crust in and proceed as usual.
-Variation--This also works well with roasted tomatoes instead of or in combination with the onions. Slow roast enough tomatoes to fill whatever sized tart you'd like to make, rough chop them and use them to top the goat cheese. To make slow roasted tomatoes, halve ripe (even ripe winter specimens) tomatoes from stem to bottom, removing the green bits of stem. Toss lightly in olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper and/or steak seasoning and place in a 200 degree oven for 10-12 hours (overnight works great). Tomatoes should appear shrunken and somewhat drier than when you put them in. The flavor will have concentrated and the texture will have softened. These are great on their own as well and will probably get their own post in time. Make a huge batch, you'll find uses for them.

Thanksgiving, Part 1

2007-11-26T00:47:00.001-05:00

This year I hosted Thanksgiving for the first time, and I'm happy to say that everybody seemed to have been ok with the menu. For the record, this was the menu:
Roast Turkey
Cider Gravy
Cranberry Apple Relish
Sausage Apple Cornbread Stuffing
Braised Leeks
Roasted White Asparagus
Sweet Potato Biscuits
Mashed Potatoes
Candied Sweet Potatoes
Onion Tart
Pecan Pie
Cherry Pie
Mini Pastries (thank you, trader joes...)
Butter Cookies

I've been asked to provide recipes for all of it, so I'll try, though this will probably take a bit. First up is the most-requested one--the stuffing. (By requested I mean begged and demanded, repeatedly.) It was a bit labor-intensive, but more than made up for it in both quantity and result. Here goes:

Sausage Apple Cornbread Stuffing

Ingredients:
-1 pound bulk sausage (pork, turkey, doesn't matter, as long as it's not in casings)
-1 large or two small onions, chopped
-1 large or two smal bulbs fennel, chopped
-4-6 ribs celery, chopped
-2 handfuls shredded carrots or 2 medium carrots, chopped fine
-4 granny smith apples, peeled and cubed
-5 cups chicken broth
-1 bag Pepperidge Farm Cornbread Stuffing mix (or some other similar one)

Directions:
Brown the sausage in a large saucepan over medium heat, breaking it into marble-sized bits and cooking until there is no pink left. Drain sausage of as much grease as you can and remove from the pan and place in a bowl. Pour off remaining grease from the pan and toss in onion, fennel, celery and carrots, if using chopped and not shredded. Cook the vegetables over medium-high heat until browned and nearly cooked through. Remove vegetables from the pan and toss in the apples. Sautee the apples until the edges are browned but the apples aren't cooked through. Pour the chicken broth into the pan and allow it to come to a boil with the apples. In a large (VERY LARGE) bowl combine the stuffing mix, sausage and vegetables and toss to combine. When the broth has come to temperature pour it and the apples over the stuffing mixture and stir to incorporate the broth and apples into the stuffing. Add more broth if the mixture is too dry. As there is nothing left that isn't cooked, the stuffing could easily be eaten at this point, but to finish it off in true thanksgiving fashion, load the whole lot of it into a greased 9x13 pan and bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes. This will brown the top a bit and get the edges a little crusty, as baked stuffings should be.

Notes:
-The whole thing can be made up to the point where you'd bake it and then thrown in the fridge. Just keep in mind that it will take longer to all come to temperature in the oven that way and it will need some extra time. No worries if it doesn't all heat up though--there is nothing in it that hasn't already been cooked and no eggs to worry about not setting up.
-This stuffing will probably have a texture different to what you're used to if you generally make bread stuffings. It comes out chock full of veggies bound together by the cornbread.
-This may well taste fine if you use regular bread crumb stuffing mixes and not cornbread. I just prefer cornbread myself and I think it goes well with the apple.

And second up, the gravy:

Cider Gravy

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/recipes/2007/11/14/cider-herb-gravy/
(I'm being lazy about typing for this one)

The gravy was based on the above recipe from the Washington Post, with the following changes:
1. I didn't have parsley or brandy, so I left them out.
2. I didn't see the point of putting in butter, so I didn't.
3. I made the base pretty much as instructed, minus the butter and thickened it with a few tablespoons of cornstarch mixed in with the cream to form a slurry. As I didn't feel like taking the time to chop herbs, I put a whole sprig of rosemary, two or three of thyme and two stems of sage into the simmering broth and pulled it out with the tongs right before I thickened it. The cider/broth mixture was infused, but there weren't any hard bits of rosemary leaves or thyme stems left floating in it.
4. I didn't measure my drippings, but I did skim the fat off of them as best I could, which left me with about two cups or so (it was a big turkey). I combined that with another two cups or so of chicken broth and the gravy base and heated the whole thing through. It was a touch runny for my taste, so I added some more cornstarch slurry and that thickened it up nicely. A little sherry or brandy may have been a nice addition at that point, but it certainly wasn't missed.
5. This whole thing resulted in about 4 or 5 cups of gravy, which in our family was just about perfect for the amount of leftovers we had.

Coming soon: Turkey, Cranberry Relish and Braised Leeks

Everything, Up To and Including the Kitchen Sink...

2007-11-14T22:51:00.001-05:00

So, this week hasn't quite gone as I'd like it to. Some of you watching this know why, some don't. I'll spare the details, but the short version involves shit hitting the fan in several aspects of my existence and my resulting displeasure with a lot of things in my life. The result? A continued lack of motivation when it comes to cooking anything more than twice a week, at least when I'm at home. While I'm at work I find lovely recipes for things like pasta carbonara, almond cakes with grapes, panko-crusted baked salmon and all sorts of things that take actual work were I to make them when I come home. Right now, that's just not going to work. My solution this week is to make a huge batch of mujadara and a veritable bucket of kitchen sink curry. This is a japanese style curry that is about as short-cut as you can get. I use an instant curry sauce and throw in whatever looks good or almost dead in my pantry and crisper. This week's version combined chickpeas, potatoes, onion and cauliflower. Ladled over a bowl of basmati rice at the end of a long, cold day it's just about as close to perfect as I'm likely to get this week.

Kitchen Sink Curry

Ingredients:
-olive or canola oil, for sauteing
-1 onion, roughly chopped
-4-6 medium (tennis ball sized) yukon gold potatoes, cut into bite sized chunks
-1 15 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
-1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
-1/2 pack vermont curry, or any similar curry sauce in whatever heat you prefer
-3 1/2 cups water (or whatever amount your sauce pack calls for)
-basmati rice

Directions:
In a very large saucepan (15 inch, at least) or dutch oven heat just enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan on high. When hot, add onion and potatoes and saute for 3-5 minutes, just until the edges start to brown. Add the curry sauce cubes and water and stir until the cubes are dissolved and the sauce starts to thicken. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the chickpeas and cauliflower and simmer for an additional 10-15 minutes until potatoes are soft and cauliflower is cooked. Give it a last stir and ladle over basmati rice.

Notes:
-Use whatever you want to make this. In my experience, rather little that lives in your pantry goes badly with yellow curry sauce. I recommend lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans, peas, really most beans and legumes and leftover carrots. Cashews can be thrown in when you first start cooking it, as can drained tofu. Just brown the tofu and then throw in the rest so the tofu doesn't break down too much. Not that that would hurt it anyway.
-I've used up frozen bagged mixed veggies this way, but it's just not as good, in my opinion. This is a good recipe to use up nearly dead cruciferous and root veggies, but watery ones don't seem to like it as much. They still taste fine, I just don't like the textures. Carrot/Lima/Corn/Pea mixes work ok, frozen cauliflower/broccoli/carrot mixes not so much.
-I've made curry noodles by mixing cooked lo mein noodles into the pot at the end of this and letting them soak up some sauce. My ratios were 1 bag frozen mixed veggies/1/2 pack curry sauce/1 pound pack noodles. It made a lot.
-Bonus--The curry sauce can be made one 12th of a packet at a time, which is just a perfect amount for either dipping french fries or dressing a few baked/boiled potatoes. Yellow curry sauce and potatoes go together really, really well.
-Vermont curry--This is a product that I buy from my international market, but isn't too hard to find in the international aisle of some supermarkets (it's just a lot more expensive). I've started keeping a pack in my pantry for whenever I get hungry and don't really feel like making something terribly involved but still want something that tastes good. This particular brand claims to have an apple flavor--hence the designation as "vermont curry." I don't taste it, but I like it anyway.

The Joys of (Not) Cooking...

2007-10-21T22:09:00.001-04:00

...or not. Some of the people who read this know what's been going with me for the past month, some not so much. What I will say is that I've been ridiculously busy and as a result haven't been keeping up with much of anything, let alone this blog. For those who read it or check it regularly, my deepest apologies.
I was going to try to post a lovely recipe to make up for it. I really, really was. Sadly, life has decided that that is just not going to happen this week. I'm officially not allowed to cook much of anything right now, as I've managed to somehow screw up nearly everything I've cooked in the last week. I even messed up apple cake--one of the easiest things in the world to throw together. Other casualties included my thai chicken/garlic noodles (probably the most painful one on this list), tuna casserole (again, really bloody simple, really not edible result) and scrambled eggs. The more pathetic this got, the more I realized that I just can't keep doing this this week. I'm going to be relying mostly on frozen foods or takeout this week. I think the only thing I can't screw up is linguine with garlic butter, though I've not tried it yet. I'm going to take some time this week to try to unwind enough to stop messing up the simplest of tasks. In the meantime, I am taking inspiration from my reliance on freezer staples to post my green beans. I've been known to make a meal of a plate of these, but when I was little I was known to make a meal of a can of barely warmed green beans. I'm not quite that bad anymore, and these green beans have definitely grown up.
For the next post (probably, anyway) I'll offer up a nearly-foolproof chocolate cake recipe. Assuming I don't screw it up.

Skillet Green Beans
These are quick and pretty hard to mess up. Quantities are approximate (other than the bag) and are dictated by your preference and the size of your pan.

Ingredients:
-1 Bag of Haricots Verts Green Beans from Trader Joes (still frozen) or a skillet full of fresh green or string beans, cleaned but not cut shorter than 4 inches or so long
-2-3 Tbsp olive oil
-1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil
-2 Tbsp chopped garlic (jar is fine, powdered is not)
-1-2 Tbsp soy sauce (optional, I use Healthy Boy brand Mushroom Flavored, gluten free tamari is fine too)
-1 Tbsp sesame seeds (optional, for sprinkling, toasted or not is up to you)

Directions:
-Heat enough olive oil to thinly coat the bottom of your large skillet (I use the 12 inch skillet/about 2-2-3 Tbsp for this) on high. When smoking hot, add a spoonful or two of chopped garlic, depending on your taste. Swirl the garlic in the oil quickly and add the green beans all at once, tossing with tongs to coat with oil and garlic.
-Keep the beans moving around the pan and drizzle with a bit of the toasted sesame oil. This has a very strong taste, so start with just a bit if you've not used it before. Start with 1/4 teaspoon or so, you can always add more later.
-Sprinkle beans with soy sauce, if using. I usually start with about a tablespoon.
-Keep the beans moving. (I can't stress that enough). When they are starting to brown/toast/blacken in places and have absorbed all the liquid, you are done. This usually takes around 10 minutes when I use frozen beans, if yours are fresh the cooking time will be less, so keep an eye on it. The goal is not to cook your beans to mush unless you want them that way, just to crisp up the outsides a bit and heat them through.
-Turn beans out into a large bowl or platter, sprinkle with sesame seeds and dig in, or just decant directly onto dinner plates with the tongs. These things give off a wonderful garlic/sesame smell when cooking, so you likely won't be alone in your kitchen when you're finished. Taste the beans and adjust sesame oil or soy sauce if needed. Sprinkle with sesame seeds if using.
-In my family, the bag usually serves 4-6, depending on whether or not there is another side dish available. You can make as much or as little as you like or your pan dictates.

Notes:
-I've seen my dad eat these. Honestly. If he'll eat them, most veggie-haters have a chance.
-This is vegan/vegetarian, all the fat in it is good for you, and it's a lovely way to jam some more green vegetables into your diet. Enjoy it often.
-Green Beans--You cannot used canned for this. Sorry. Make green bean casserole with those. For this you need long pieces of uncooked or frozen beans so that they brown without mushing. You can use this method with string beans just as easily as green beans and I've used a similar method on asparagus with some success (and a lot more browning).
-A note on soy sauce: La Choy sucks. NEVER use it. If you aren't lucky enough to have an Asian grocery nearby and must subsist on supermarket offerings, at least use Kikkoman. If your supermarket has an international foods section, look for other brands of soy sauce to try. I am a big fan of Healthy Boy (Thailand) which can sometimes be found there, as it's a very common brand outside this country and Lee Kum Kee. Just about anything with the Healthy Boy brand is a safe buy, whether it's dark or light soy, bean sauce, fish sauce and what have you. Also, pay attention to whether you are buying dark or light soy--there is a difference, and you're most likely used to using light soy. The one I mention in this recipe is a light soy sauce with a slight mushroom taste and is my go-to soy sauce for just about everything. Seriously, the Asian soy sauces may cost a little more (unless you're in an international market) but actually liking the food you dress with it is worth way more than the bottle costs.
-A note on garlic--Props to you if you have fresh garlic always on hand and the time to clean unknown quantities. I LOVE fresh garlic, but don't always have a head on hand. Other than Polaner, I have found most jarred chopped garlic to work just fine in this and many other recipes. If I ever post anything that requires fresh heads of garlic, I'll mention it, but otherwise, go ahead and use the jarred if that's what you have on hand. I've also made wonderful caesar salads, pasta, steaks and soups with the stuff. Jarred basil and other leafy herbs on the other hand are best left in the grocery store. The tubes of pastes of basil, oregano and such I've not tried, but the frozen cubes are usually pretty good if you're going to be cooking the herbs into something anyway, obviously less so if you're meant to chop and sprinkle over a finished dish.
-While these beans have a slightly Asian profile because of the sesame, they go pretty well with just about anything, so don't let the sesame stop you from pairing this with quesadillas if you so choose. It will probably be delicious.
-Tongs make this a lot easier. You'll be fine with a spatula, but if you do have tongs in your kitchen, use them for this.
-Super-secret hidden bonus non-recipe recipe: If you happen to be living within the vicinity of a Crisp & Juicy restaurant, or have a recipe for mild, creamy aji-pepper sauce, you can make the one dish that DID work for me in the last two weeks. First, find some spinach or asparagus and cook to your preference. Then toast some bread or an english muffin and poach 1-2 eggs. Assemble starting with bread, then greens, then egg and top with a hearty spoonful of the sauce. Definitely not hollandaise, definitely not benedict or quite florentine, definitely not remotely healthy, but very, very good.

Summer, Wrapping Up

2007-09-12T11:53:00.001-04:00

This recipe was inspired by persistently hot temperatures, boredom, hunger and a post over on Orangette about Brandon’s soba noodles. I made the sauce to see if it was something I’d like, since I’m a little suspicious about peanut sauces much of the time (too peanutty—I know, I’m weird). This one looked safe, given how acid it promised to be and the simple fact that it had sriracha in it. I ditched the chili-garlic sauce right away, as that stuff is far too hot for my tastes, even in small quantities. A little (ok, a LOT) of tweaking over last weekend and I’m happy to say I’ve got a version that is very close to the kind I used to order all the time when I lived in New York and have bought from the Giant deli too many times to coung. This version is far cheaper to make and easier to modify to my tastes or supplies that day. I ate this warm the first time I made it, as I was hungry and didn’t feel like waiting for it to cool off, but it’s meant to be eaten cold and is quite good anywhere in between. It’s definitely one of those dishes that doesn’t suffer from being in the fridge for a few days. Added benefits: it’s vegetarian, easy to throw together (the longest part of prep is cutting up whatever veggies you want) and could possibly get away with being vegan if you use soba or dig up some brown rice spaghetti or linguini to make it with. Even easier bonus: The peanut sauce recipe could easily be doubled, leaving you with plenty of leftover sauce to use for the Thai Chicken Wraps that are posted over on Simply.Live (they sound wonderful, and just as easy to throw together as these noodles, if not more so) and even as a dipping sauce for plain old chunks of grilled chicken.

(Almost) Sesame Cold Noodles

Sauce:

-½ cup creamy peanut butter-1 Tbsp. soy sauce
-1 Tbsp sweet soy (or use another ½ Tbsp soy sauce and ½ Tbsp brown sugar)-1/2 tsp. pressed garlic (about 1 small clove) or ¼ tsp garlic powder-½ cup fresh lime juice-½-1 tsp. sriracha or a similar hot sauce, or more to taste-2 tsp. olive oil-1 tsp. water

For the noodles:

-½ to ¾ lb. soba noodles OR 1 lb lo mein noodles OR ¾ to 1 lb linguini
-2-3 large handfuls of bean sprouts
-1 cup julienned snow peas
-3 scallions, cut into inch long strips
-1 red or green pepper, julienned
-1 medium carrot, julienned
-1-2 Tbsp Sesame Seeds
-1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and julienned
-Fresh cilantro or basil leaves, for serving (optional, but nice)

Directions:

First, make the sauce. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, and whisk to blend well. Keep at it for a minute, it will be lumpy at first but will blend into a smooth sauce. You could do this in a blender if you really want, but that will add extra dishes. Taste, adjust to your liking and set aside.Meanwhile boil water in a large pot and cook your noodles. If using soba, be careful, as they are rather delicate compared to the other types and will cook quickly. Do not overcook your noodles, regardless of which kind you use.

Drain the noodles into the colander in the sink. Then immediately wash them in cool water. Turn on the faucet use your hands to pick up small handfuls of noodles and separate them between your fingers, taking care that each noodle is rinsed. Washing the noodles is most important to lo mein or soba, but helps to stop the cooking in the linguini and to remove any starchy residues to keep the noodles from clumping. Shake any excess water from the noodles, and turn them into the bowl of sauce. Using two forks, gently toss until the noodles are evenly coated. Add the vegetables (except cucumber) and however many sesame seeds you wish and toss gently to combine. Top with cucumber strips and fresh cilantro or basil, if using, and serve.

Notes:

-This is one of those recipes where you can use pretty much whatever veggies you want. The ones I’ve chosen are based on my own tastes. I wouldn’t recommend broccoli, cauliflower, peas or corn, but nearly anything else that can be cut into strips would be perfect. Bok choy, cabbage, spinach, radishes, celery, even peeled and seeded tomatoes are pretty good. Whatever you’ve got in your crisper will probably work out just fine, just pick what looks good and run with it. Pre-cut veggies are great here too. In fact, the only way I'd recommend broccoli in this is if you use the broccoli slaw mix, as the hard work is already done and the shape is just about perfect.
-Bean sprouts. You can jam as many as you like into this recipe, and I’m tempted to try it sometime without any actual noodles. Because of their shape they virtually disappear into the mix here and their mild flavor blends very well with the citrussy-tart peanut sauce. They retain their crunch as well, but aren’t as noticeable on their own as they might be in other recipes. Definitely a good way to use up a bag of them or feed them to someone who wouldn’t normally go for them.
-I like my noodles a little drier than other people when it comes to peanut sauces, so if you feel the need for more sauce, it’s pretty easy to make a little more and toss it in. It’s also pretty easy to overdo it, so keep an eye on how much sauce is sitting in the bottom of your bowl before you drown it.
-You could easily sub out the peanut butter or part of it for other butters, including tahini. I haven’t made it with straight tahini yet, but if a whole lot of sesame is your thing, go for it. If I want a bit more sesame punch, I’ve added a tablespoon or so and a little extra lime juice. That’s enough for me, but again, make it however you want it.
-Lime juice is far from the only acid you can use in this sauce. Lemon works pretty well, and I’ve read in other places that you can even use orange juice, but you’ll need to up the acidity with rice vinegar.

For Rachel...

2007-08-22T11:45:00.001-04:00

Because she wanted this one :)

This icing first made the rounds of my family a few years ago when my sister discovered it hiding in the pages of a lovely book called The Cake Mix Doctor by Ann Byrn. There was also a version of this that my grandmother made quite a long time ago (as in, I don't remember eating it) that was more of a butterscotch fudge recipe than an icing. After several years of mutual experimentation the recipe below is the one we usually stick closest too. Mine can come out soft or so crackly it falls off of the cake, my sister's tends to be softer and grainer due to her use of a spoon over a mixer and mom's can be anywhere in between.

Ann Byrn's book is a great one to pick up if you're not much of a baker but want to be or need to be quickly. The recipes feature a box cake mix as a base and ways to "doctor" them that render truly wonderful desserts. One I found all over the place in conjunction with her version of this icing was a banana cake topped with caramel icing and salted pecans. Sounds good to me. My sister's most requested accompaniement to this icing is a chocolate cinnamon banana cake. Sounds odd, but the whole thing comes together very well.

Caramel Icing
(Start to finish, this takes about 10 minutes)

Ingredients:
-8 tablespoons (one stick butter)-1 cup packed brown sugar (light, dark, doesn't seem to matter too much. use whichever one you like)
-1/4 cup milk (skim, whole, half & half--whatever is on hand)
-1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
-2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

Directions:
Place the butter and the brown sugar, milk and vanilla in a medium-size heavy saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. Boil for one minute and remove from heat. Add the confectioners' sugar. Beat until smooth. You can use a spoon for this, but I have my hand mixer set up and waiting when I start and use that.

Use icing immediately. As soon as the powdered sugar is incorporated the icing will change texture and become creamy/pasty instead of just liquid. To ice a cake I usually just pour the icing directly from the pot onto the cake. this works best for bundt cakes and sheet cakes that are still in the pan. If you've got a rack you can set the cake on while you pour you'll have a cleaner edge to the bottom of your cake, but where's the fun in that? Work as quickly as you can without burning yourself, and if you need to spread the icing do it as soon as it hits the cake--it will set in seconds. If you want a smooth finish, be careful and pour evenly.

Notes:
-Sift the powdered sugar. If you don't, you'll have little bits of clumped powdered sugar all throughout the icing, and it's not pretty. Tastes fine, looks creepy. If you're icing a cake for halloween that's supposed to look awful, then not sifting and not quite mixing thoroughly is the way to go.
-Fill the pot with water as soon as you're done with it. Trust me on this one. It's far easier to clean out later if it soaks for a while, as this icing is very nearly a fudge recipe and scrubbing candy off a pot that has had time to cool and dry is a royal pain.
-Have a spoon on hand to scrape out the pot a bit before you stick it in the sink. The benefit here is two fold: there's less in the pot to scrub out later, and the icing that hardens on the spoon is quite good on it's own.
-This should probably go without saying, but if you use a mixer, use caution. Boiling sugar and skin do not mix well, so start it at a low speed. I like using a mixer because it does such a thorough job so quickly and results in a smoother texture. Using a spoon is fine, but results in a slightly grainier finish to the icing. Either way, it tastes great.
-Cupcakes. My sister has iced cupcakes with this, and it's quite good that way. To do that, put the pot back on the stove when the icing is mixed and keep it on low and stir frequently to keep it malleable. Use the spoon to drizzle globs of the icing over the cupcakes, but keep the cupcakes in their tin while you do so. This saves your counters from drips (mostly).
-If the icing seizes up too quickly and you still have a large portion of it in the pot, you can warm it on the stove and melt it back into useablility. You can add a spoon of water or milk, but if you add too much that will change the texture.
-The longer the sugar boils the harder the icing will set. One minute or so will yield a firm, breakable icing when it sets. if you want it softer, don't boil it quite so long. You will probably need to make this a few times to get the hang of how it will react and what consistency you like best. I have found that this is a very easy way to finish a cake that just about everyone loves, so getting failed experiments out of your kitchen shouldn't be too difficult, assuming whoever else might be in your house lets you.

Simplicity, Elevated

2007-08-13T11:32:00.001-04:00

Ok, so it's been a really long time since the last post. Apologies if anyone is actually watching this. I've got a handful of things to post over the next few days, but thought I'd start with a recipe for mujadara, a Lebanese lentil, rice and onion dish that was one of my staples a while ago and I started making again a few weeks ago and can't get enough of. The method is time consuming, though fairly simple, and the results are worth exponentially more than the sum of the parts.
Bonus points: This is really cheap to make, especially if you happen to find a 10 pound bag of onions for $3, as I did this weekend. If you've not already found your nearest international grocer, you may want to start looking. The produce alone is usually worth it, as are the wonderful deals on all sorts of ingredients you'll never find in a regular grocery store.

Mujadara

Ingredients:
-¼ cup olive oil
-about 1 ½ lb. finely chopped yellow onions (2 medium/large ones, or about 4-5 small)
-1 cup brown or green lentils, picked over
-1 cup basmati rice
-1 tsp. salt or 2 bouillon cubes (vegetarian, beef or chicken)
-3 1/2 cups water

Directions:
In a large (at least 12 inch, with lid) saucepan or dutch oven warm the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until very caramelized. burnt in spots is fine, and encouraged. you want the onions very brown, as the caramelized onion flavor is the backbone of the dish. This could take anywhere from 30-50 minutes, depending on your stove and your pan. While the onions are cooking, place the lentils in a medium saucepan, add water to cover by an inch or so, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce to a simmer and cook, undisturbed, for 20 minutes. Drain the lentils, and set them aside. When the onions are ready, stir in the rice. Then add the cooked lentils, along with 3 1/2 cups of water and the salt or bouillon cubes. Stir to mix well, and bring the pan to a boil. Reduce the heat to a low simmer, cover, and cook. This can take anywhere from 25-40 minutes, depending on the pan you've chosen. The wide saucepan I use takes 25 minutes, a dutch oven will take longer. The dish is done when the liquid is absorbed and the rice is no longer crunchy. If you check and the liquid is absorbed but the rice is still underdone, add 1/4-1/2 cup of water, recover the pan and allow to steam for another ten minutes or so before you check again.

Serve with additional salt--this is one of those dishes that blooms when a little additional salt is added at the table.

Notes:
-This dish will make a full pan if you're using the saucepan, so enough for 4-6 servings depending on whether you're having it as a main dish or not. Round out the meal with a salad of chopped romaine, tomatoes, cucumbers and feta dressed with olive oil and lemon juice. I recommend finishing with a dish of greek yogurt with honey and peaches.
-Mujadara can be eaten cold, warm or hot. This makes it excellent packed lunch/picnic fare.
-This recipe is vegan if you use veggie bouillon or just salt.
-You can use this as a base for other toppings to make a more substantial meal, if you feel the need. One thing I like do to it is to top it with a poached egg. It adds some protein (and uses up an egg). Not quite eggs and toast, but you get the idea.
-This is one of those dishes that improves with a day or so in the refrigerator. It doesn't have much opportunity to do that in my house, but it does make for fantastic leftovers straight out of the fridge.

The Best Garlic Bread Ever

2007-07-01T13:52:00.001-04:00

We've all made garlic bread, and let's face it, it's one of the easiest and most satisfying accompaniments to almost any meal. At its most basic, all you really need is some form of bread, butter or a substitute, salt and garlic powder, and it comes out pretty good. However, it's incredibly easy to take this from meerly good to fantastic, though admittedly it's harder to do this for a crowd than for one or two people. This is my go-to method when I want or need really good garlic bread and don't want to make a whole loaf's worth. It does take a little effort, but the outcome is worth it and it also makes for some really excellent croutons.

Garlic Bread

Ingredients:
- Crusty Bread, sliced 3/4-1 inch thick. French, Italian or whatever you would like to use, except for sliced sandwich bread
- Olive oil
- Garlic clove, split open or partially smashed
- Salt (optional)

Directions:
Brush the olive oil on one side of the bread. Try to do this thinly, and use a pastry brush. If it's too much, it will just be sopped in oil and soggy after you're done. Lightly salt the bread on the oiled side if you so desire. Toast the bread in a hot skillet, as you would with grilled cheese sandwiches. When it's crisped and browned to your liking, remove from the pan and rub the raw garlic clove over the grilled side. Rub a little, it's just a little garlicky, rub a lot, it's a lot.

Notes:
- Learn from my experiments, and don't try to do this with an olive oil spray. It's an easy way to build up a thinish layer of olive oil, but it doesn't taste as good when it's done. Ideally, you're using a half-decent olive oil for this anyway, such as one that you'd use for bread dipping.
- To make this into croutons, just cube it up after you're done cooking it. If you're making it specifically for crouton purposes, oil both sides of the bread as lightly as you can, and grill both sides.

Turkey Goulash

2007-07-01T13:28:00.000-04:00

Ok, so this is completely ripped off/adapted from Paula Deen's recipe here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_36300,00.html?rsrc=search

After getting over the shock that this is a dish of hers that does not contain butter, I've changed the beef to de-fatted ground turkey and halved the recipe. When I made the full batch I had enough to feed about a dozen people, despite Paula's note that this serves six. Either way, it took a little while to prepare, but was pretty simple and came out really well and will freeze nicely. This is about as low-fat/healthyish as comfort food can get, and you can keep the sodium down if you use low-sodium canned goods.
I also will second Paula's suggestion to serve this with salad and garlic bread--it just makes this meal perfect.

Turkey Goulash

Ingredients:
- 1 pound lean ground turkey
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 1/2 pack sliced mushrooms (4oz) or 1 large can sliced mushrooms, drained (optional)
- 1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 (15-ounce) cans tomato sauce
- 1 (15-ounce) cans diced tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1/2 tablespoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 tablespoon seasoned salt OR 2 chipotle flavored boullion cubes
- 1 cup elbow macaroni, uncooked

Directions:
In a LARGE pot, saute the ground turkey over medium-high heat until no pink remains. Break up the meat while sauteing. Drain any grease. Add the onions and garlic (and mushroom, if using) to the pot and saute until they are tender. Add water, along with the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, Italian seasoning, bay leaves, soy sauce, salt, pepper, garlic powder and seasoned salt (or boullion, if using). Stir well. Place a lid on the pot and allow this to cook for 15 to 20 minutes. Add the elbow macaroni, stir well, return the lid to the pot, and simmer for about 30 minutes. At this point, it's ready to eat, or if you're following the Paula method, allow it to sit for 30 minutes.
Garnish with sour cream and paprika, if desired (I didn't think this was needed).

Crock Pot Chicken & Dumplings, The Easy Way

2007-06-13T01:22:00.003-04:00

First, go out and get yourself a crock pot. I like the ones from Rival, even the cheapest one you can find at Target. They hold up forever, take a serious amount of abuse, and if you're really lucky, they come with an adorable carrying case. Just make sure you get one that has a removable crock, I didn't really get going with this little gem until after the one I inherited from my mother without the removable innards died and was replaced with his grandson whose crock can go in the dishwasher. The crock is probably the most used appliance in my kitchen, after the blender. It's the least involved cooking method I have in my repertoire, everything I make in it tastes like I slaved and best of all, it doesn't heat up the kitchen but you can still have hot food. Right now, that alone is reason enough to dig it out and not have to stand over a stove making dinner when I get home from work.
The recipe below is for a four quart crock. Feel free to scale up or down to fit yours, though you may need to make the dumplings themselves on the stove if you go below the 4 quart size.

Crock Pot Chicken & Dumplings

Ingredients:
- 4-6 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
- 2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup (low fat/no fat versions are fine)
- 1/4-1/2 can water
- 1 cube chicken bouillon (the big soft kind, not the little Wylers pebbles)
- 2 small or 1 big roll of refrigerated biscuits (low fat version at your own risk here, they aren't nearly as good)
- Salt & Pepper

Directions:
- Empty the soup, water and chicken bouillon into the crock, stir together until smooth.
- Add the whole chicken breasts to the pot and stir to coat them with soup mixture.
- Set crock pot on low and leave covered for 8-10 hours or overnight/all day. Chicken is done when it falls apart easily when pulled apart with a fork.
- Remove chicken from crock and set aside in large bowl or plate.
- Set crock pot to high.
- Cut biscuits into bite sized pieces while crock is heating up.
- Dump biscuit pieces into crock and stir briefly to break up and coat with the soup. Put lid back on crock and allow dumplings to cook 20-30 minutes until cooked through.
- While dumplings are cooking, shred chicken with forks.
- When dumplings are finished cooking, return shredded chicken to the crock and stir to incorporate.
- Taste for salt and pepper, adjust seasonings as desired.

Notes:
-This doesn't have vegetables in it. If you want them, I'd recommend some baby carrots/potatoes/onion/mushrooms go in with the chicken, and anything else get added when you add the biscuits. Frozen mixed veggies work quite well if you feel the need, I use a blend of peas, corn and carrots most of the time. Add frozen veggies during the last half hour, they'll disintegrate if you add them in the beginning.
-This freezes very well, so make the whole crock even if it's just you eating it and freeze the rest in individual portions. You'll save yourself some time later, and who knows when the need for some true comfort food will hit?
-As this doesn't have vegetables as a required ingredient, it goes very well with a salad or some other form of edible plant life. I like steamed or frozen myself to help balance out the heaviness inherent in chicken and dumplings and other comfort foods.

The Ultimate Banana Oat Loaf

2007-06-13T00:47:00.000-04:00

So I've been experimenting with a banana bread recipe that called for the addition of oatmeal. The first batch I made by roughly following the recipe (but doubling the oatmeal) came out pretty well, but wasn't quite substantial enough for my personal taste. I wanted something I could eat for breakfast and really not be hungry afterwards. After three more batches, here's the rib-sticking result:

Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Loaf

Ingredients:
1/2 stick butter, softened
3 eggs
6 or 8 very ripe bananas (frozen works just fine too, just let them thaw completely first)
2/3 cup brown sugar or honey
1 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 1/2 cups oatmeal
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cloves
1/2 cup dried cranberries (a couple of handfuls out of the bag)
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (a couple handfuls)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional...but recommended)

Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Combine butter, eggs, bananas and sugar in a LARGE bowl.
- When combined, add the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, oatmeal and spices.
- Continue until well mixed, and add in the cranberries, nuts and chocolate chips, if using. Batter will be thick and gloppy, but will just get more soggy the longer you let it sit as the oatmeal absorbs the liquid. Don't worry, it turns out fine.
- Scrape into a well-greased bundt pan or 9x13 pyrex. Do not skimp on the cooking spray here. This batter will rise, but not too much. As long as you're not overflowing or too close to the lip of your pan it should be fine.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes for a 9x13 or 50-55 minutes for a bundt. It's done when a toothpick to the center comes out mostly clean and the edges are browned a bit. It's ok to slightly underbake this, as it will not give a perfectly clean toothpick and it's better slightly under than burned.
-If using a bundt, turn out the loaf and allow to cool on the counter or a rack.

Notes:
-You can use whatever kinds of dried fruit you have taking up cupboard space. I just don't like raisins, but think this might be quite good with dates or dried apples or chopped dried apricots.
-This loaf is HEAVY. It comes out mostly oatmeal, held together with some eggs and kept moist with bananas. It will in no way resemble cake, hence the "Loaf" designation in the title.
-I imagine you could try subbing apple sauce for the butter, at least for some of it. I'm trying that as soon as I restock the oatmeal and buy some. I'd up the sauce to half a cup or so though.
-This recipe is pretty easy to halve, just use a loaf pan, 8 or 9 inch cake pan or pie plate to bake it.
-This stuff stays moist uncovered on the counter for days, freezes just fine and is delightful with a cup of tea at my desk for breakfast.

Most of all, use this as a jumping off point of your own. I've found that so far, no matter what I do to it, it stays completely edible, so you can add whatever kinds of things you like to the banana/oatmeal batter and it should come out fine as long as it's good and set in the middle when you take it out of the oven. Enjoy it, this is supposed to be fun :)