I scream...

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.

Oh. My. God.

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...

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...

...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.

The Last Shebang Revisited

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.

Refined Unrefined

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

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...

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

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.

The Joys of (Not) Cooking...

...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.

Simplicity, Elevated

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.