Woman of Leisure cooks Moroccan food

Today I exercised my alter ego, Suburban Woman of Leisure. She woke up at 10am, lay on the couch reading until after noon, ate lunch out, got her hair did, went shopping, and fixed dinner (drink in hand). The whole lazy morning thing was not entirely my fault--I did get back from an airport pick-up last night at 2 am and then somebody swapped the coffee for that consummately useless substance, decaf. Any how, I could seriously get used to being Woman of Leisure. Even the dinner fixin' was simple because I had prepared it yesterday and just had to turn on the slow cooker to make it happen.

What did we have?  Well, we had a Moroccan-style meal inspired by two of my favorite sources of food information, Bon Appetit and Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker:

Moroccan Chickpea, Lentil, and Apricot Stew

Place in a slow cooker:
1T EVOO
1 medium onion, chopt
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
5 garlic cloves: 3 chopt & 2 whole
1c dried lentils, rinsed and picked
3c chickpeas (~2 15.5 oz cans or ~1c dried & reanimated)
1 14.5-oz can diced tomatoes, with liquid
1/2c dried apricots, halved
1t fresh ginger, peeled & minced
1t turmeric
1/2t cumin, ground
1/2t cardamom, ground
1-2 sticks cinnamon, broken into 1-2" pieces mom, 4 of the pieces you order
Enough vegetable stock to cover the entire mixture, ~4c
Stir everything up.

Leave in the fridge overnight. I'm not sure this part is necessary--the lentils were much softer than they typically are when I slow-cook them without a soak, though.

The next AM, add more veg stock as necessary to cover the solids.
Cook the mixture on low for 8-10 hours (set it and forget it!)

About 15 minutes before you plan to eat, season the dish with the juice of 1 lemon (~2T), salt, black pepper, and 1-2t harissa sauce (recipe below).  Garnish with fresh cilantro, chopt.

Harissa sauce
(also available in jars)

Soak 4 dried chiles in very hot water for 5 minutes (I used 2 anaheim, 2 arbol).
Cut chiles into a few pieces and place in your food processor.
Add the chiles, 2 large garlic cloves, 1T EVOO, 3T water, 3/4t ground coriander, 1/2t salt, and 3/4t ground caraway seeds.  Turns out celery seeds are a great replacement if you don't have caraway seeds or you don't know what caraway seeds look like, so you pick the only seed you can't identify and hope for the best.
Process until reasonably smooth.

I served it family-style over saffron rice with a side of roasted cauliflower. I left the remainder of the harissa sauce out so that people could choose-your-own-adventure the spiciness.

The flavors reminded me a little of one of our old favorites, Armenian lentil and apricot soup.
That harissa sauce really takes it to the next level, though. I could put that stuff on anything. I can't believe I'm just discovering it now! Reminded us a little of adjuka (no idea how to spell this), the hot pepper paste M. used to buy in Russia, a place where hot sauce is so scarce as to be more precious than gold.

Jamaican Pumpkin Soup

Got this recipe from a colleague at work, Layne.  She is a fantastic cook and is very generous with her creations!  Hers tasted somewhat different from mine, but both were good.

Sautee 1 chopt sweet onion in 2T butter
Add 2 cloves garlic, 1 small habanero pepper, and 1 red bell pepper, all chopt. Saute for another minute or two.
Add 1 15 oz can pumpkin and ~3c veggie stock. Season with thyme, salt and pepper. Stir, bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer for 20 min or so.
Stir in ~3 oz cream cheese.
Puree in the blender.  Replace on the heat.  Cook for a few more minutes and then serve with bread.

Note: after eating it for a soup one night, I reduced it, thickened it a little with flour, and served with pasta and veggie Italian sausage.  Delicious!

Lemony Red Lentil Soup

When I saw this recipe on 101 cookbooks, I knew I had to make it.  I knew because the dish looked fantastic, and I knew because my heart was warmed by Heidi's paeon to her family's old cat, who looks like he was far sweeter in life that my little ground-monster.  I made enough modifications to the recipe that I'll go ahead and re-write the whole thing here.  I would definitely use red lentils and not try to sub brown: the red practically melt away with just 20-30 minutes of cooking and blend with the yellow turmeric to create the most beautiful autumn hue.

Here goes: Lemony Red Lentil Soup
Cook barley (or another grain) or fetch leftover grain.
Meanwhile, in a large pot, melt 2T butter.
Chop 1 sweet onion, sweat it in the butter.
Add 2t ground cumin and ~1/2T mustard, cook for another minute or two.
Add ~7c veggie stock, 2c red lentils (rinsed and picked), and 1T turmeric.
Bring to a boil, and then turn temperature down to simmer.
Once the lentils are cooked through, add 2-3T (I pref. 3) lemon juice, a handful of chopt cilantro, and salt to taste.
Place a scoop of the grains in each bowl and cover with soup.  Stir in something creamy. I used goat cheese, which was FANTASTIC.  Cream cheese or greek yogurt would be OK, too.
I served it with kale on the side.

Makes ~6 servings.

Om nom!!

On a completely different note, tonight I plan to solve the mystery of which is the better Fright Night: '80s or '10s.  Stay tuned.

My Thanksgiving contributions

Per Mom's request:
*Apple pie
*Roasted cauliflower  Note: this is much better with full fat feta and cumin seeds rather than ground cumin)
*Raw kale salad.  I made this with two bunches dinosaur/lacinato kale and one bunch red Russian kale, omitting brussels sprouts for no other reason than that none of the ones at the store looked fresh enough to be tasty raw.  Also omitted the cheese, which I did not miss at all, and did a 1:1 lemon juice and almond oil ratio in the dressing (I believe they called for 1:2 or 1:3.)

Raw kale salad.  Just like the pilgrim raw-foodists used to eat.

Turkey 2011

Our turkey came to our humble table from Ayrshire Farm in Upperville, VA. I brined it in a ziploc bag, having boiled 1 1/2 c maple syrup, 1 c kosher salt, 1 c sugar, 3 bay leaves, 8 cloves, 1 t. crushed juniper berries, 1 t cracked pepper, 1 T allspice berries, sprigs of thyme from the windowbox, sprigs of sage, and 8 c. water for 3 minutes and added 8 c ice. A day later we took it out of the bag and brought it to room temperature. At that point Robin bailed to go to Manassas to get F&D off the train and Andrew took over, stuffing it with a meticulously diced mix of Seattle bread, onions, celery, savory, parsley, sage and a few other things and cooking it at 325 for 3 hours, basting with the brine and with vegetable stock. He observed that the skin crisped quite quickly (maybe due to the lack of body fat) and needed moisture to avoid overcooking.) Meanwhile Reeves made a gravy. The reaction at the table was "wow," as in an Andrew Zimmer wow. The sides were Suzanne's cauliflower/yogurt/feta/pomegranate dish and her raw kale salad, which I hope she posts, M's triumphant mac 'n cheese, cranberry/ginger/orange relish, Suzanne's beautiful latticed apple pie, Megan's excellent Pumpkin Praline Pie on a Pedestal, the chocolate turkey from Lexington (bashed by Marcella), and 3 cookie offerings: the cuccidati, chocolate bark with peppermint, and apricot/almond florentines. And a lot of wine. We put someone's Iphone on speakerphone in the middle of the table and called Jody and probably sounded too exuberant. But we missed her.

Made a stock overnight. There was minimal fat in this bird.

Cuccidati and their Saturated Fat-Free Cousins

Gail makes these at Christmas. I proposed that Suzanne and I make them. Predictably, Suzanne did most of the work while I served as sous-chef.

Aren't these lovely? Not ours. Copied from the web.

Now isn't this cat cute? Not ours either, but we do seem to have a gallery of pictures of a certain cat in here, so I thought no one would censor this guy. Dan, of course, is a Cat of Rectitude. This one seems to have more in common with the Honeybadger, mentioned in a post of Suzanne's, below.

The honeybadger: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r7wHMg5Yjg

Anyway, all of the cuccidati got the same filling: Pulse 1 c figs and 1/4 c raisins. Stir in 3.4 c. mild honey, 1.4 c brandy, 1 1/2 t. finely grated fresh orange zest and 1 t. finely grated fresh lemon zest (Rob did a fine job on that), 1 T. ground cinnamon, 1/4 t. cloves (Rob may have forgotten that part b/c she found four cloves at loose ends in the spice grinder the next day), 1/4 t. grated nutmeg, and 3/4 c toasted almonds and 3/4 c toasted pecans, all coarsely chopt. (I suppose one could use coarse language while chopping them.) Let that chill for 8 hours. Sure. Plan ahead next time.

For the dough for the non-fat-free branch of the family, whisk or process 4 c flour, 1 c. + 2 T. sugar, 1 T. baking powder, and 1 t. salt. Add 2 lightly beaten eggs, 1/2 c. whole milk, 1 1/2 t. vanilla, and 1 t. finely grated fresh orange or lemon zest. Stir until you can gather it into a blob. Halve the blob and gather each half into a ball, then flatten each half into a rough 6 x 4 inch rectangle. This can fit into a plastic bag. Chill 8 hours. Now boys and girls, here's a tip: keep your flour in the freezer. Really speeds up the chilling process.

Another tip: This recipe quite elegantly matches the quantities of the dough and the filling. Those of us who are tempted to take pinches on the sly must purloin equally from the filling and the dough.

For the abstemious cousins, omit the milk and substitute 1/2 c eggbeaters and 1/2 c roasted almond oil. Whiz the liquids with that little bastard that sent me to the emergency room a few weeks back.

Preheat oven to 350. Roll out each rectangle of dough into 12" x 14" rectangles, and cut each rectangle into 3 lengthwise strips. A few rolling strategies: chill each blob in a 1 gal. plastic bag and roll it out to fit the innards of the sealed bag. If you can spread it any more (and those lithe fat-free guys were admittedly more supple), you can then cut open the bag (leaving the bottom seam intact), flop the square down on the sheet, remove the bag, and use it atop the dough to spread it further. Spread the filling down the middle of each strip, then close it up and pinch it shut. Roll the logs over so that the seams are on the bottom. Cut the logs into 1 1/2" slices, leaving the slices dough side down on a buttered (or for the fat-free folks, otherwise stick-free) cookie sheet. Bake until golden around edges for 16 - 20 min. If you forget to slice them, they take longer to cook, but they turn out ok anyway.

Sweet Potato Soup from the yogurt lid

From the Dannon peel-off foil:
Dice large onion and saute with cumin, ground or whole. Add 3 peeled and cubed sweet potatoes. I'd microwaved mine to facilitate the peeling. Add 1 1/2 quart vegetable broth, bring to a boil and simmer for 25 min. Puree solids with 1 1/2 cups yogurt and return to pot to mix with broth. Add chopt parsley or cilantro. Recipe suggests adding a sprinkle of pumpkin seeds. I didn't have any, but something salty and crunchy could be nice.

Soyrizo dip

M. and I used to LOVE the jalapeno poppers they served at Terrace F. Club.  In fact, I loved that there was always a tray of deep-fried something at the end of the buffet line.  Mozz sticks, fries, fried mushrooms... perhaps this is why both of us lost weight after college.

Last week, M. wanted to get a pint of hot peppers for our CSA (you get to pick 4 for ours.)  The farmer, Joan, is awesome.  When she saw Michael looking at the different types of peppers, she came up and started dumping pint after pint into our bag--jalapenos and two type of habaneros!  They're easy to freeze--just snap off the top.  But, of course, we wanted to use some of them fresh!

These two stories intersect (this is going somewhere, I promise!) tonight when I made jalapeno poppers.  One Straw Farm's jalapenos are REALLY hot so making poppers out of them was a mistake.  The filling, though, was incredible as a dip.  So I will share that.  In fact, I am considering squeezing the filling out of the poppers and using the cooked jalapenos separately in different dishes.  I ate only one and have been trying to freeze away the burning with cube after cube of ice.  Cooking fail.

Without further ado:

Spicy soyrizo dip:
Heat 1/2T EVOO in a saute pan over medium heat.
Saute 1/4 sweet onion and ~4oz/1/4 package soyrizo (sold at Walmart.)  Start with them on different parts of the pan, breaking up the soyrizo with a wooden spoon.  Once the onions have softened, mix the two together and cook for another minute or so.
Meanwhile, stir together ~4oz cream cheese, ~3oz cheese (I used a mix of mozz, cheddar, and parm left over from pizza night), and 2 cloves garlic (minced) in a bowl.
Stir in the onion and soyrizo when done.

We enjoyed this with tortilla chips.  It would probably also be delicious in jalapeno poppers, if you had normal jalapenos available, or in chiles rellenos.  Or stirred into scrambled eggs.

Cold Red Cabbage Salad

I LOVE the warm cabbage salad I made last weekend, but it's quite an undertaking.  So, later in the week, I opted to make something simpler with the remaining 1/2 cabbage.  I have always thought that red cabbage was too bitter/tough to eat alone, but turns out I am very wrong.  M. even preferred this salad to the more complicated warm one.  And it has such a beautiful color!  We had it with the remaining pumpkin soup.  Very healthy.

Shred 1/2 red cabbage and 2 carrots, peeled, in a food processor
Stir in a large handful of raisins, some sunflower seeds, some roasted pumpkin seeds, and ~2 oz crumbled feta.
Dress with 2T lemon juice and 2T hazelnut oil.
Serves 4

You could vary this a lot depending on what ingredients you have on hand.  I could see it with apples, parsley, raw beets, radishes... let me know what you try!

Food as dish

Today I present to you one of the prettiest meals I've made in a long time.  Note that I did not say tastiest--it was fine, but not omg this is incredible.  Also, pumpkin is stringy.  You don't notice this when it's pureed.

After completely selling it short, I will say that this dish would make the perfect centerpiece for a fall vegetarian feast.  You know, to avoid depressing people on Thanksgiving by not allowing a big hunk of meat to hold court on the side board, or frightening them by replacing said hunk with that most mysterious of beasts, the tofurkey. 

I was inspired to make this dish by a beautiful picture in Bon Appetit.  Their soup seemed pretty uninspired, so I made up my own.... which tasted sorta boring.  You need some oomph to balance out the somewhat bland, moist squash.  SO instead of writing down the soup that I actually made inside of the pumpkin, I will record a soup that I made with the leftover pumpkin, which was awesome. 

BA suggests using a "Cinderella, Blue Jarredahl, or Cheese" pumpkin.  You can find any of these varietals at your local bodega.  False.  I approached a large, bearded gentleman at the market standing in front of a truck full of various and sundry squashes to ask what he would recommend (/see if any of these breeds were real.)  He suggested the Long-Island Cheese.  As I was paying ($7 for a squash?? for serious?), I asked him why it was called a cheese.  "Because it tastes like cheddar!!" he bellowed, and started laughing.  I still don't get why it's funny, unless he meant C.H.E.D.D.A.R., which is just funny in principle.

Thar she blows:

Now, how does this become food?

First, we must prepare the pumpkin!
Cut open the top around the stem, as though preparing a Jack-O'-Lantern.  Remember to cut into the pumpkin at a bias in order to prevent the top from falling into the pumpkin later on.
Then, scoop all of the pulp and seeds out of the inside.  Rinse and save the seeds for roasting.

Step 2: fill the insides with soup.  And not the yucky bland soup in BA (white bread crumbs?  Seriously?)

Pumpkin filled with ingredients for a bland soup:

I suggest filling it instead with the following concoction, based on "Spicy White Bean and Sweet Potato Stew with Collards" from this jawesome book.
 Preheat the oven to 350.
Saute 1 chopt sweet onion until soft (~5 min) in 2T butter.
Add 2 sliced garlic cloves, 1 chopt red habanero (milder than green) or other hot chili, and 1t grated fresh ginger.
Cook for 1 or so min until it starts to smell really good.
Add in 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (w/ juice... just pour that whole can on in there) and ~3c navy or other white beans
Sprinkle on 1t brown sugar, 1/2t allspice, 1/4t coriander, a little salt, and a little white pepper (be careful, a little goes a long way).
Let simmer for a little while.
Smear the inside of the pumpkin with 2T or 1/4 stick softened butter (please don't tell Dad)
Fill the pumpkin with the vegetable mixture and 3c veggie stock (make sure to leave a few inches at the top--you don't want to be sloshed with hot stock as you take this from the oven)
**Note: if all this soup won't fit inside your pumpkin, save it--the pumpkin flesh to soup ratio is pretty high, so you can just mix it with leftover pumpkin later int he week.
While the pumpkin is cooking, cut some collard greens into thin strips (after removing the stems) and simmer for ~5 min if they're fresh, longer if they're nasty.

Step 3: Cook your masterpiece
Replace the lid on the pumpkin.
Place in a casserole dish.
Roast for 1 hour.
Remove lid, place in dish next to the pumpkin proper.
Roast for another hour or so, or until the flesh pierces easily (make sure not to pierce the skin of the pumpkin while you're checking.)
Once the pumpkin is out of the oven, stir in the cooked collards.

All doneskies:

Step 4: Serve it
Place the lid back on the pumpkin and bring the whole casserole dish to the table.
Serve with a ladle: first pour soup into a bowl, then scoop out a big hunk of pumpkin to put in there, too.

I served it with fresh bread and warm red cabbage salad.

I ended up with a whole lot of pumpkin left after we finished the soup.  I was able to scoop it from its rind and freeze it.  It awaits further adventures in the freezer (stay tuned for pumpkin risotto!)

If you make this, tell me how it turns out!  What did you do for the soup part, and was it tasty?  Did you find a pumpkin varietal that has less stringy flesh?  My dream is for a pumpkin that is actually a butternut squash shaped like a pumpkin, for butternut is the king of squash.


Well, since I've already made this load really slowly with so many pictures (insert old-timey dial-up sounds here), I may as well show you what Dapper Dan's been up to.  He has entered every box and bag he can find, but was not satisfied.  He has now entered the last container frontier... an ENVELOPE:

Oh Dan, what WILL you do next?

Ethiopian food

I made Ethernopian food for the first time last night.  I made yellow split peas and collard greens. The collards were tasty, but not all that interesting. I loved the split peas, though.  There's just enough flavor--bright notes of ginger tempered by warm turmeric.  Plus, when you cook it for the full hour suggested in the recipe, it gets very soft.  Perfect winter comfort food.  Healthy, too--vegan and calls for only minimal oil. 

I stuck with both recipes pretty faithfully.  Cut the oil from 4T to 2T for the collards and did not steam them before putting them in the skillet.  Considered swapping out the water for veggie stock in the peas but ended up forgetting.  Served it all over rice b/c I was too lazy to try and make Injera.

Tasty roasted cauliflower!

I got this recipe for roasted cauliflower with feta yogurt, mint, and pomegranate seeds from Smitten Kitchen blog.  Tried it out on Mom & Michael to test it out for Thanksgiving--it was a winner! The three of us ate an entire head of cauliflower in the space of a few hours.

See you in November, tastyfoods.

Ribollita and Grasshopper Brownies, or a post of re-posts

I made two delicious recipes yesterday, one each from my two favorite food blogs.  I didn't take any pictures, because Heidi and Deb (authors of the aforementioned blogs) have already done such a beautiful job.  Do not despair, though, for I have an adorable picture of Dan saved up for your viewing pleasure.  I caught him in the act of messing with the flowers we got Mom for her birthday.

It's a small miracle they made it to her intact, given the abuse they received from the kitty prior to her arrival.

Anyhow, as a reaction to the cold weather and in anticipation of an upcoming trip to Tuscany, I decided to tackle ribollita for last night's dinner.  For those of you not familiar with the dish, it's a hearty tuscan soup of white beans, greens, and bread.  Ribollita is a theme more than a particular dish -- there are many variations.   The name itself references reheating (or so I've been told) and the soup makes for excellent leftovers.

I changed the linked version in the following ways to add a little more flavor:

• I added 1/4t white pepper, 1/4t black pepper, 1/4t dried rosemary, & 1/4t dried thyme when I added the bread.
• I topped with grated parmesean.

Other notes:

• If you have some available, throw in parmesean rinds--they'd be great.
• If you aren't opposed to causing the suffering and death of cute and charming pigs in the name of culinary excellence, then a ham bone would be a magnificent addition.
• I used the recommended tuscan/dinosaur/lacinato kale.  I love it.

I paired it with roast turnips and beets (peel and roast 30" on 475 with a splash of EVOO, salt 'n' peppa).  Nothing else is needed--it makes a pretty complete meal on its own!

Nothing else is needed, that is, except a decadent chocolate dessert.  I spent most of the afternoon making grasshopper brownies.  This is similar to a popular treat in Canada known as "Nanaimo Bars."  I knew somebody from Nanaimo.  It is supposed to be gorgeous.  But this is America, not Canada, so we name it for a cocktail.  These brownies took a long time to make (maybe 2 hours all told?) so should not be attempted by the faint of heart, the busy, or the honey badger, who just don't care.  They are dense, chocolatey, and so rich that you can cut them into really small and cute portions.  And then eat a whole bunch of them.

Notes:

• I did not find bittersweet chocolate at my local grocery store, so I used unsweetened chocolate instead.  If you find yourself in the same predicament, use 6 oz unsweetened chocolate + 1/2c granulated sugar in both the brownies and the ganache in place.
• Be VERY careful with the white chocolate!  If you overheat it, the chocolate will be ruined, which is especially frustrating if you follow Deb's recommendation and buy the good stuff.  I poured hot cream (heated in the microwave) into the white chocolate and found it did not melt.  I heated the mixture in a double boiler, stirring constantly, and then took it our before it was all melted and continued stirring to success.  Note that if you don't have a dedicated double boiler (like me), you can make your own by putting the chocolate & cream mixture into a heat-proof container (like a pyrex measuring cup), placing it in a large saucepan containing ~1" water, and put it over high heat.
• For the white ganache, like Deb, I omitted the creme de menthe and added a few drops of green food coloring.
• I used 3/4 the amount of recommended cream in the ganaches to keep them firm (3/8c in the white and 3/4c in the dark)
• As recommended in the original post, cut of the hard edges of the sheet of brownies in order to make precise, soft little squares.  Then eat all the trimmings.  Better make sure you cut those edges wide.

Bon appetit!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

This week, I wanted to make birthday cookies for a friend at work. Her favorite were oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, so I decided to give it a go.

My oatmeal cookies have never turned out well--always too dry or too healthy-tasting (seriously, not a good thing for cookies.) I started making the basic oatmeal cookies from joy of cooking but then realized that SOMEBODY had used the rest of my brown sugar. Ehem. Thankfully, I had something else that was brown and sweet: molasses. It brought some much-needed flavor and moisture to the cookies. I might still tinker with the ratio of sugar to molasses, but here's what I did--it was quite a hit!

This is a half recipe (~24 cookies), but makes plenty for 5 people to enjoy for a couple of days.

Preheat oven to 350.
Cream ~1 stick unsalted butter
Add 1/2c + 2T sugar and 1/4c molasses, continue to beat
Add 1 egg and 1 1/4 t vanilla, beat more
Stop the mixer
Add 3/4c flour + 2T all purpose flour, 3/4t baking powder, 1/4t salt, and 1/4t cinnamon.
Mix around lightly with a finger (or a fork, if you're feeling sanitary), then mix on low until just combined
Then, add 1 3/4c oats (not instant), a scant 1/2c pecans, and a generous 1c chocolate chips.
Stir until incorporated.
Spoon onto a greased cookie sheet

Cook for 12-14 minutes until they lookin' good. Don't be shy about taking them out if they still look a little moist, you don't want to completely dry them out

Daquiris come in mango, too!

M. just made me a mango daquiri and it was fabulous!! I highly recommend it. He followed the recipe exactly except he used frozen pineapple instead of pineapple juice and upped the rum to 1/2 cup.

Leeks in the crockpot

A simple post. If you slice leeks and leave them in the crockpot on high for 5 or 6 hours, they seem almost to caramelize. Suzanne had some of the resulting leek pie today - - just the leeks, some egg beaters poured on top of them after I put them in a bread-dough-lined casserole, and red peppers on top, cooked for 40 min. They would have been better with some hummus, but they were good nonetheless.

Bare Cupboard Bean Soup

Old Mother Hubbard
went to the cupboard
after getting home from work to learn that "due to hurricane-related telecommunications issues" (at least Mother H never had to worry about those), Peapod had not delivered groceries. Hence, bean soup.
Soak 16 oz pinto beans by adding water to the top of the pot, bringing to a boil, boiling for 3 min, then leaving mix on very low heat for 1 hr. Add 6 cups veg. stock to crockpot (on high). Process 1/4 jalapeno and 3 cloves garlic until fine. Add and chop 1/2 onion. Slice 1 bunch celery and leaves and 6 carrots. Place in crockpot. Add 1/4 c. pico de gallo or other salsa. Add thyme. Put dishtowels over crockpot to speed cooking. Add drained beans after they have softened and cook for another 3 hours.
Michael thought it would have been nicely complemented by white pepper, which the cupboard didn't have. I added my serving of quinoa (for 3 servings: 1 c. quinoa, 1 c. water, 1 c. wine, rosemary) to my bowl. Slices of swiss cheese would have been nice with the piquancy of the celery.

Gazpacho

I've been making gazpacho for years but have hesitated to write down a recipe. I like changing it up each time depending on what veggies I have available (/remember to buy). I only make it about once a year, at the peak of summer when all of the ingredients are at their ripest. Having awesome tomatoes is key. At the suggestion of Joan at One Straw Farm, our CSA purveyor, we've been using a combination of big pink heirloom tomatoes (pink brandywine?) and more garden-variety, tart red tomatoes. The pink brandywine have a sweet, delicate flavor and beautiful color. They keep the soup from becoming too tangy.

One of my favorite things about making gazpacho is how the color changes with every ingredient you add: pink with the tomato juice, green with the cucumber & green pepper, purple-flecked with the red onion, and then back to red with the addition of the tomato chunks. I always have a moment where I'm afraid the red + green +purple soup will turn icky brown, but, defying laws of physics and art, it never does. I wish I had taken photos. Today's project was a messy business, though, and had I tried, my camera may have died a juicy, delicious death.

Gazpacho
(inspired by Joy of Cooking and One Straw Farm)

Find a large bowl or pot in which to mix your soup and a food processor or blender in which to prepare the ingredients. I used a blender today, but I think a food processor is a better choice because you have more control over how fine to chop your ingredients.

Peel and seed  tomatoes (about 5 lbs), two cucumbers, two green bell peppers, and 1 jalapeno.
Make or pour 2c tomato juice (I blend one brandywine pink tomato.)
Finely process and add two cucumbers, two green peppers, and 1 jalapeno pepper (I process them to just short of a puree.)
Finely process and add 1 small red onion, a full 1/3c parsley, and 3 cloves garlic.
Coarsely process and add ~4 lbs tomatoes (I used four medium-sized red tomatoes and one large pink)
Add 1/4c EVOO, 1T lemon juice, 1T balsamic vinegar, and 1T red wine vinegar.
Add 1t salt.

Refrigerate for 2+ hours before serving to allow the flavors to blend.

Enjoy!

Fried Green Tomatoes

Last week, friends of ours kindly volunteered to pick out our CSA veggies while we were out of town (eating a delicious, fancy schmancy brunch at the "Tabbard Inn" in DC. Just thinking about that brunch... mmmm...) They chose some beautiful, green/orange tomatoes. Here they are with some nectarine-friends:



After oo-ing and ahh-ing over how perfect they looked and smelled, I realized I had no idea what to do with them. So, like a good Southerner, I turned to my Hoppin' John cookbooks for inspiration. He has fried green tomato (of course) and green tomato soup recipes. I made both! Well, I didn't make his fried tomato recipe, but he inspired me to try my own. I don't like deep frying things because having that much hot oil on my stove makes me nervous. I used the same technique I use to fry tofu, inspired by this 101 cookbooks hit.

First set up your fry-station with one scrambled egg in a shallow bowl, Italian-herbed bread crumbs mixed with some Parmesan cheese in another, and 1-2T EVOO in a frying pan. I liked to line them up along my stove in that order with a stack of paper towels at the end.



Heat the oil over medium heat. Slice your tomatoes ~1/2" thick. Dip each slice in the egg, then the bread crumbs, and then drop them into the oil. After a few minutes, the first side will look golden-brown. Flip them to fry the other side, adding more oil if needed. When the second side is done, remove the tomatoes and place them on the paper towel stack.



This blots away some of the oil, making them more crispy and less greasy. Another tip I've heard to make fried green tomatoes less greasy is to chill the tomato slices in an ice bath before frying them. I'm too lazy to try this, but I bet it would work well.

Here's the finished product:



We had them with the 101 cookbooks soba noodle recipe linked above, one of my all-time favorite.

Yum!

Menu: Mom's Midweek Visit

Mom came up for a midweek visit. Dad's away on business and, well, when the cat's away the mice will play. Or something. In preparation for my shopping, I asked her what she wanted. She thought for a moment and very forlornly said, "cheese?" I'm always happy to oblige requests for cheese. I decided to up the ante with some chocolate, too. Living large. Anyhow, I thought the menu came together very nicely so I figured I'd post the whole thing!

Appetizer: whole wheat toast + Ghirardelli 60% cacao squares + EVOO + sea salt, placed under the broiler for 2-3 minutes. Kate and I made something similar to this years ago out of a tapas cookbook she had.

Dinner: kale salad (courtesy of mom), salmon (the same), grilled tuna, and panzanella. I've seen panzanella all over the place lately--smitten kitchen, bon appetit, ads for tuna. I figured it was time. Anyhow, I used Joy of Cooking's recipe and added feta. It was amazing.

Dessert: blue cheese & seed crackers, almonds, dried apricots, & more chocolate.

Yum!

Potato Salad Success (or, what I ate on Saturday)

Once again, Saturday was my red letter day for cooking. The day started out with a trip to the farmer's market, as per usual. Our brunch was waffles with sauteed apples. I'm not satisfied with my waffle recipes yet. I've been working mostly out of Joy and usually use at least some whole wheat flour. They taste good but aren't nice and crispy. Does anybody have any tips for making a crispier waffle?

Anyhow, the real success of the day came with dinner. One could call it "Farm Box Reject Variety Show" or, more flatteringly, "A Summer Salad Spectacular." I had a few farm box items that, for a variety of reasons, had been lurking in my fridge for >1 week and seriously needed to be used. Part of the problem (if this is really a problem) is that I had some unexpected free food opportunities over the past week. Anyhow, I needed to get rid of a sliver of red cabbage, some beet roots, lettuce, a pepper, and potatoes stat. I created a beet and red cabbage salad based on Jo's recipe, though of course I substituted red cabbage for the carrots. I also used almond oil rather than walnut, added sunflower seeds, and topped with sliced purple/green bell pepper. It made for a lovely presentation when placed atop some large red cabbage leaves in a bowl.

I also made a french potato salad based off of Ina Garten's recipe in The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook (referred to below as BCC). Let's get this out of the way right now: I love Barefoot Contessa and I love this cookbook! Everything I've made from this book has been fabulous, and Garten's style conveys her love of food so much that it makes you love it, too. Ok, plug over. Anyhow, I started with her recipe and adjusted the ingredients to fit my pantry and taste. My version has significantly less oil, uses different herbs, and adds celery and eggs. I include her original ingredients next to mine when I made a substitution of necessity so that if you are blessed with a fuller pantry you can decide between the two. Either take is an entirely different beast from the American mayo-ful potato salad.

French Potato Salad



1 qt small red potatoes
2 eggs
1.5 stalks celery
2T wine (I used red, BCC calls for white)
2T veggie stock
3T rice wine vinegar (BCC: champagne vinegar)
1t Dijon mustard
1/2t salt
1/2t black pepper
3T EVOO
Some (8-10ish) chives, chopped
Some (6-8ish) basil leaves, chiffonaded

Boil potatoes in salted water until cooked through, 20-35 min.
Hard boil eggs (I use Joy's cold water start method)
When potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut into quarters (or halves, or 8ths, depending on the size/your preference). Do not drop a potato into your toaster (how did that even happen?)
Place in a bowl, drizzle with the stock and wine, and toss gently with a spoon.
Allow the liquids to soak into the potatoes before adding any more ingredients.
Make the dressing by whisking together vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper. Pour over the potatoes.
Slice the eggs and the celery and add to the potatoes.
Add the fresh herbs.
Toss gently with a spoon to mix.
Serve over a bed of lettuce or eat solo.



You could monkey around with this recipe a lot, depending on what you have available. Tomatoes and dill would be a good addition, as would green onions and parsley if you leave out the celery and chives. Or how about olives? I think I should make it again next weekend and find out.

Until next time (next Saturday?) !

Tomato Pie and Seared Cabbage

Saturday was another good day for food (this seems to be a pattern). I took the bus to the farmer's market, which means that instead of scurrying away after picking up my farm share, I had time to loiter. I found a stand that has "seconds" tomatoes--I got 5 big, ripe, juicy tomatoes for $2 and they were only slightly bruised. In fact, had I grown them, I would've been quite proud that something so pretty had come out of my garden. Also found some okra. With those finds, plus this week's farm share, plus the stuff left over from last week, I have committed us to eating a lot of veggies this week.

We decided to start with a tomato pie. I've been talking about making one since I saw this recipe in the Post last week. I've only had tomato pie once before, when I ordered it at PJ's Pancake House and thought I was getting a slice of tomato pie (in fact, I got a whole pie. Oops.) The below recipe was adapted from the recipe from the Post. My pie crust was a little shallow so I used only two layers of tomatoes, but you could do more.

Tomato Pie

Preheat the oven to 350
Ingredients:
Pie crust (I used a "Best Yet" frozen pie crust that I think brought the whole dish down... next time I would make my own or do without and serve the crustless pie with bread)
~1.5 cups of cheese, grated (I used cheddar, mozzarella, and parmesan)
1/4c diced sweet onion
~2.5 tomatoes, seeds and pulp removed, sliced 1/2" thick
~16 chives, chopped
Oregano, salt, pepper

To assemble:
Cover the bottom of the pie crust with 1/2c cheese
Cover with a layer of tomato slices
Sprinkle with ~1/2 of the onions, ~1/2 of the chives, oregano, salt, and pepper to taste
Repeat the above three steps
Finish with a final layer of cheese.


Ready for the oven

Bake in the 350 degr. oven for about 30 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the crust is toasty brown. I put mine under the broiler for two minutes to brown the cheese.


Delicious!

I could see using fresh basil instead of oregano, as well.


I accompanied it with seared red cabbage. Here it is in the pan.

I like how this preparation softened the stems and gave them a mild flavor, sort of like turnips. Be careful when cutting the cabbage--you need to leave a little bit of stem with each piece to facilitate flipping. I messed up with about 1/3 of the cabbage, which is now in the fridge, waiting to become slaw.



Bon appetit!

Swordfish stew (and other food news)

Saturday was a good day for food. I hardly cooked all week, so felt like I had some serious pent-up culinary excellence to let loose. We started the morning with a trip to the farmer's market to pick up our farm box, and then returned home to make chocolate chip pancakes. During the afternoon, I made rye bread. Turns out if you're out of molasses, it tastes great made with brown sugar. I used that to make myself a snack of rye bread, butter, sliced radishes, and sea salt, which apparently is a thing. I still don't love radishes, but this was actually delicious. Maybe it was because I had some unusual white radishes, which are milder than the bright red kind you usually see at the grocery store. Still don't think I'll be seeking out radishes much in the future, but if I ever end up with a bunch of them, I will set to work on some rye bread immediately.

This all leads to the piece de resistance of my day in the kitchen, the namesake of this blog post, the jester of Tortuga: swordfish stew. I found this recipe in the New York Times years ago and Mom used to make it before The Great Oil Taboo. I decided to make it when I fortuitously had three ingredients I rarely purchase: swordfish, olives, and grape tomatoes. What, you may ask, lead me to have random, unspoken-for swordfish in my fridge? Well, I made one of my monthly-or-so hikes to Whole Foods on Friday and picked up some "Whole Catch" frozen fish. That stuff is so good! It's only $8 for 12 oz and, unless you're busting the bank and getting the best stuff, it's just as good as fresh fish.

As an FYI: the recipe calls for making this dish 24-48 hours ahead and allowing it to marinate in the fridge that whole time. I made it 6 hours ahead this time and it tasted exactly the same.

So without, further ado, Swordfish Stew:
Thaw 12oz swordfish. Season with salt and pepper.
Place fish in a (preferably heavy bottomed) sauce pan. It should fit snugly but not be all crammed up in there.
Cover with 1/2 yellow onion, thinly sliced; a generous handful of olives; about a half pint of halved grape or cherry tomatoes; 2 bay leaves, and ~1t dried oregano. Drizzle w/ 3T EVOO.
Let marinate in the fridge for 24-48 hours (or 6 hours... whatever.)
Take out of the fridge ~1 hour prior to cooking to warm to room temperature

Here's the pan all ready to go:


Cook, covered, for ~1 hour on low heat, or until the swordfish is cooked through. (We have to put our gas burner on the very very smallest flame possible to get a low enough temperature to prevent burnage & stickage).
Remove from heat and allow to sit for 30 min (or just eat right away, like we did... again, whatever.)
Serve on top of garlic bruschetta. This is how you make that:
Marinate 1 clove minced garlic in 2T EVOO for 5-10 minutes
Brush the mixture onto a thick slice of bread (we used rye... see above)
Broil 1-2" (keep an eye on it--bruschetta burns fast)
Serves 2-3.

The resulting stew is delightful--warm, filling, flavorful. We enjoyed ours with sauteed spinach on the side.



Remember to save a piece for your cat!

Father's Day Brunch

Suzanne made Father's Day Brunch. Muffins: from the Hodgson's Flax Seed box, and delicious. Fruit Salad: mint, nectarines, blueberries and black raspberries from the garden that gave the nectarines a flaming red blush. Served with a yogurt/lavender honey sauce. Eggs with parmesan and herbs. Veggie sausage patties. Delectable.

Cheesy Biscuits

Michael and I made an AMAZING breakfast today. At first we were just going to have eggs, but we didn't have bread with which to make toast. So, I decided to make biscuits to go with the eggs. I'd had my eye on this recipe for Cheddar Biscuits on the back of my King Arthur white whole wheat flour bag for quite some time. This seemed like an opportune time to try it out. I left out the sausage (obviously) and opted for the buttermilk. I also omitted the pizza dough flavor (what does that even mean?) The finished product:

They were SO good! Cheesy and soft. I liked the effect of using diced rather than grated cheddar--you get these little bursts of flavor. Plus, the bits of cheese on the edges and bottom of the biscuits get nice and toasty. I can't think of any way to improve them. I could see myself throwing in some coarse ground black pepper or using blue cheese instead of cheddar, or maybe adding some chives.

By the time we had the biscuits and eggs, we thought we may as well do some grits, too. The finished meal included biscuits, veggie sausage patties, fried eggs, and blue cheese grits (Michael's creation--fabulous!) We both made little sandwiches with the sausages, eggs, and biscuits. A 5-star breakfast if I may say so myself!

Mother's Day Lunch

Dad looks hungrily at my salade nicoise!

To celebrate Mother's Day, I had Mom and Dad up to B'more. We started with Kier Royales, homemade bread, hummus, and minty pea spread with mint from Mom's garden. Next, we had salade nicoise. It tasted really good, but the most appealing part was probably the presentation. The preparation involved a bit of a splurge at whole foods, too, which may have contributed. I spread a base of Boston butter lettuce and watercress over a platter. I then added boiled small red potatoes, grape tomatoes, haricots verts, a few chives, hardboiled eggs, and nicoise olives with herbs de provence. I finished it off with grilled tuna. I tried to get fresh tuna, but they were out, so I used the "fresh catch" frozen kind from Whole Foods. It actually tasted really good--I thawed it in the microwave, brushed with oil, seasoned with salt and pepper and then cooked 2-3" on each side on my stovetop grill. The only downside was that I feel like you need to cook the frozen kind all the way through rather than just sear it, like some people like. I make a simple dressing --3T red wine vinegar, 2t Dijon, 3-4T EVOO, fresh rosemary, and salt & black pepper to taste. We finished with a Dan cake (not shaped like Dan but that same recipe).

This ended badly,

I was making my date dip - - dates, almonds, orange zest and sherry. I reached for the sherry - - hmmmm - - - that little bottle in the pantry - - - and poured some into the mix. Looked fine. Tasted horrible. I'd used sherry vinegar. I tried to remedy the mix with Drambuie. The vinegar was undaunted. Into the disposal.

Raw Kale Salad with Tahini

Have we exhausted the topic of raw kale salad? Perhaps. The quest for tasty and interesting preparations for healthy food, however, is a noble one, and raw kale is a king amongst nutritious food. This version features a hearty tahini dressing and was based off this recipe from the blog "live natural." I liked that it is hearty and, depending on what you add, could be a stand-alone meal. I feel like the dressing could use some tweaking--depending on whether you prefer a tangier flavor or a sweeter one, you could add garlic or honey.

Of the lessons I've learned with all this kale-perimentation, it's most important to remember: 1) remove the stems, 2) chop the kale finely, 3) allow the kale to marinate for a while before eating, 4) consume the kale within 3 days or so of preparing, and, last but not least, 5) the quality/freshness of the kale truly makes a difference.

Make dressing:
Whisk together 3T tahini, 1T EVOO, 2T lemon juice, 1T soy sauce, 1T apple cider vinegar.

Make salad:
Remove the stems from 1 bunch of kale
Process in the food processor to small pieces
Add 1 handful raisins or 1 chopt apple, 2 grated carrots
Toss with dressing. Allow to sit for at least 30 min prior to nomming to allow the kale to tenderize

Easter Festivities

So, pagan that I am, when easter hit the west coast this year I was in a bar playing pool with Laura and some guy who introduced himself as Jesus. Turns out his real name is Sky Strong (names like these are the sad enduring legacy of your generation, mom). Sky was appropriately hustled at the pool table, but the faith is strong in Laura, and I was forced to remain at the Missouri lounge dancing with to old school hip hop with L. And yes, we were pretty much the only ones dancing. Amazingly, I did this all very sober because I wanted to wake up and going running this morning before I had brunch with Liz Kelley.

Liz and I have a bit of an easter brunch tradition going. This year it was just me and her, which was completely lovely and relaxing. She came over to my place. I had a major bakery fail when I tried to buy hot crossed buns at La Farine. Despite having a huge sign out front saying "Easter special! Hot crossed buns" when I finally got to the front of the line I was denied. They were out, which would have been totally fine, but the lady at the counter was annoyed that I even asked for them, as if I should some kind of spidey sense which would alert me to the fact that they were sold out. Anyways, I left with some other random buns which turned out to be tasty. I also made scrambled eggs (props to Emina's chickens) with leeks and mushrooms in them. Liz brought some fruit and juice and everything was delicious. Liz also brought me some homemade granola which looks amazing. Praise the lord.

Irish (Potato) Nachos

Sometimes I make myself nachos for dinner. I feel kinda bad about this, because are chips really a meal? Not so much. But can potatoes and beans be a meal? Indeed!

Tonight, Potato Nachos came to the rescue for the funky potatoes in my fridge, the old beans in my freezer, and myself, a very hungry lady. I based them off of this recipe. Don't be thrown off by the website--the blinking graphics, the Suzy (ha) Homemaker language and the Potato Council propaganda belie the tastiness of the dish. This would make a fabulous dish for football watching, Cinco de Mayo celebrating, and comfort eating. The version below should serve two (for me, it served one). Basically, you bake some spicy potato wedges, top with nacho fixins, melt it all together.

Preheat oven to 425.
Scrub 2 baking potatoes (I have no idea what kind I used) and cut into thin wedges.
Place potatoes in a casserole dish or rimmed baking sheet.
Coat with 1-2 capfuls of EVOO.
Toss in 2 cloves garlic (minced) and 1/2 onion (sliced).
Season with chili powder, cumin, black pepper, oregano, and salt.
Bake for 25-30 min until soft on the inside and, if you're lucky, crisp on the outside. Stir occasionally.
Top with a handful of black beans, ~1/2 can of tomatoes (or 1 diced tomato), 1 sliced jalapeno, and cheese (I used cheddar and pepper jack). Green onions, olives are optional.
Place back into oven for 5 min or until the cheese is melted.
Serve with cilantro and hot sauce.

For everybody?

 No, just for you:

(pictured above with kale.  Kale out of that glorious, <$4, 2lb bag of kale I get from Walmart.)

Vegetarian Tamale Pie

I have fond memories of the beef tamale pie that Mom made us as children (yes, there was a time when Mom cooked beef!) Thick, meaty filling with a crispy corn bread topping. In continuance of my quest to find filling, tasty vegetarian meals, I decided to try to recreate this dish without meat. Turns out plenty of other folks on the internets have tried this before. I used this recipe from the blog "eggs on sunday" as a jumping off point. Basically, I used her topping/baking instructions but riffed on the filling a little. Here's what I used:

Heat 2T EVOO
Add 1 chopt onion, saute ~5 min until soft
Add a handful of frozen peppers or one chopt pepper and a chopt jalapeno, seeds removed.
Saute a few more minutes to allow the peppers to melt and soften.
Add 1/2 package soyrizo and additional EVOO if needed.
Sprinkle 1T chili powder, 2t cumin, and 1/2t cinnamon. Allow the spices to toast for a minute or two.
Stir in 1c tomato sauce, 1/2c water, 1c corn, 2c black beans, and a sprinkle of salt (next time I might use tomato paste & water for a stronger flavor, or also add 1 can chopt tomatoes).
Bring to a low boil. Add 1/2 pkg spinach, torn, and cover to allow the spinach to wilt.
Uncover and stir in 1/3c chopt cilantro.
Top with 1c grated cheddar and 1c monterey jack.
Top with cornbread mixture as described in the link above.

Enjoy with additional cilantro and hot sauce.

Serves 4-6. We ate about 2/3 in one night, which may have been ill-advised.

A note about the topping: perhaps we didn't bake it long enough, but our topping ended up being more of a soft polenta than a crispy cornbread. I liked it that way (A LOT), but it was not very cornbready. I might try cooking it longer or changing recipes if I wanted more of a cornbread texture next time.

Baked Oatmeal

I have been doing a lot of cooking lately. I tried this baked oatmeal recipe from Heidi Swanson's new book, Super Natural Cooking via the adorable blog Lottie + Doof. It was so tasty! I'm posting it because I think it'd be a great dish to put on a brunch spread--a more elegant way to serve goatmeal. You could mix it up with all kinds of fruit, nuts, spices, whatever. Truthfully, I can't imagine myself making it on a regular basis because it only tastes a little better than basic oatmeal but takes much longer to prepare. Still, a good recipe to have in one's back pocket for leisurely weekend brunches.

Preheat the oven to 375.
Generously spread a ~8x8" casserole dish with butter (oh fine, use nut or canola oil)
Cover the bottom with sliced bananas. 2 should do it.
Sprinkle 1c frozen or fresh blueberries (or any other fruit)
In a bowl, mix together 2c oats, 1/2c nuts (if you have them), 1t baking powder, 1.5t cinnamon, and 1/2t salt. Sprinkle this mixture over the fruit.
Then, in that same ol' bowl, whisk together 2c milk (I used almond), 1 egg, 2T melted butter (optional), and 2t vanilla. Pour this into the casserole dish on top of everything else.
Give the dish a little shake to settle it all out.
Dot with 1T butter (optional).
Bake for 35-40 min until the oatmeal is cooked through and it gets crispy on top.
Serves 4.

Slow Cooker Lentil Bolognese Sauce

I wasn't going to post this recipe at first, but it really grew on me. I do believe I have eaten it five times during the past week. I make vegetarian tomato-based pasta sauce regularly, but this one stuck out as particularly hearty. Mom, this one would be great to make for Dad. It's thick, smoky, and filling.

Adapted from "Fresh From The Vegetarian Slow Cooker" by Robin Robertson

Heat 2T EVOO in a large skillet
Add 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 celery, and 2 garlic cloves, minced (I used a food processor)
Cook until softened, ~10 min. Add 1/2 cup cheap (dry?) white wine and simmer for 2 min.
Transfer to a slow cooker. Add a 28-oz can of crushed tomato, ~1c tomato sauce (or 2T tomato paste in 1c hot water), 1c dried brown lentils, a sprinkle of nutmeg, and season w/ salt, pepper, and oregano.
Cover and cook on low for 8h.
While the lentil sauce is cooking, blend 1/2c white beans (I used Lima) +/- 1/4c milk.
Just before serving, add white beans, 1/2t liquid sauce, and 2T minced parsley leaves (if you have them).
Serve over whole wheat pasta (I liked it with rotini) and top with cheddar cheese.
I used a generous 1/2 cup of sauce to one serving of pasta.

One caveat about this recipe: even with the sauce cooked through thoroughly, the lentils still came out a little crunchy. If you like your lentils really soft, I might precook them a little (maybe ~15 min).

Farro casserole

I haven't posted for a while. I've been traveling (spring break Boston woo!!) and I've also just been cooking uninteresting, uninventive dishes. Today, this dreary Baltimore day, I decided to break that funk. I made myself an incredibly tasty lunch adapted from (what else?) this 101 cookbooks recipe. The original recipe calls it a "risotto," but I'd say it's more of a rice casserole. It'd make a great pot-luck dish.

Preheat the oven to 400.
Prepare a casserole dish (8x8 or so) with EVOO and lemon juice (the original recipe suggests lemon zest, which would probably be better if you have it)
Chop 1 onion and 2 cloves of garlic.
Heat 2T EVOO in a medium saucepan.
Saute the chopt onion and garlic wth a pinch of salt until the onions are soft and beginning to become clear.
Add 1.5c uncooked farro and saute for a minute or so more.
Stir in 1c (1 can) tomato sauce and 2.5c veggie stock.
Allow this to come to a simmer while seasoning with black pepper, oregano, basil, rosemary and salt.
Remove the pan from the heat and stir in 1/2c Parmesan and a GENEROUS 1/2c mozzarella (I cubed some fancy mozzarella--amazing!).
If desired, stir in 5 chopt cherry tomatoes and a handful of chopt olives.
Pour this mixture in to the prepared dish, cover with foil, poke holes into the foil, and bake for 40 minutes or until the farro is soft. Take the foil off for the last few minutes of the baking time in order to make the top nice and bubbly.
Serve topped with shaved Parmesan.

The finished product:


My first helping:


So tasty and so perfect for a chilly winter's day!

Finally, edible tofu

Tonight's tofu trial was tolerable. Saute 3 leeks until soft. Mix in some hummus. Meanwhile, cube tofu in a casserole and add diced tomatoes and some salsa. Mix in the leek/hummus mixture. Top with Brad's Dried Kale Chips - - doubtless the planet's most expensive snack food per unit weight. Cook at 350 for 30 min. I served it with rice cooked with onion, chopt apricots and ginger. And a Rioja. Actually pretty good.

Libby commented!

On Dan: The Cake.
Hello Libby!

Real Chinese Food

By "Real Chinese Food," I do not mean food that is real Chinese. I mean food that tastes like the food I expect Jimmy's Chinese Food Carry-out down the street would sell if it was ever open (and not a front for something criminal.) Tonight I made a version of the Joy of Cooking's "Broccoli Stir Fry" that tastes a little salty, a little sweet, and kinda greasy: exactly like good ol' American Chinese food. Granted, it contains no MSG and nothing was deep-fried, but I think that's for the better. I bet this recipe would taste excellent with bok choi substituted for broccoli, as well.

Stir together in a mug: 2T water, 2T cornstarch
Stir together in another mug: 1/3c wine (I used white, red would prob. taste better), 3T soy sauce, 2T brown sugar
Heat 3T vegetable oil in a skillet or wok over high heat
Add ~1T minced ginger and 4 large garlic cloves, sliced. Stir for a moment, then
Add 1 big crown (1 head) broccoli (cut into medium-sized florets) and 4 sliced mushrooms
Add a generous sprinkling of red chili flakes (or a real pepper)
Cook until the broccoli is somewhat softened but still crunchy on the inside
Pour wine mixture into the pan, stir in 1/2 pkg (~7oz) cubed firm tofu
Cover, reduce heat to medium, and cook for 30 seconds
Stir in the cornstarch mixture
Cook, uncovered, until the sauce thickens, 1-2min

Top with sunflower seeds. Nom over rice.

DAN: THE CAKE

This cake derived from an old clipping for a lemon crunch cake. First, make a crumb topping. I used 3 T. almond oil in lieu of butter, which sort of worked, and 1/4 c. flour, 2 T brown sugar, 1 t. cinnamon. Then I separately mixed 1/2 c. eggbeater (recipe called for 2 egg yolks), 1 package of tofu (recipe: 14 oz. condensed milk, for which I used to substitute ricotta), 1/3 c. lemon juice, and 1 t. lemon zest. Again separately, I mixed 2 1/4 c. flour, 1 t. baking powder, 1/2 t. baking soda and 1/2 t. salt. Again separately, I mixed 3/4 c. eggbeaters (recipe: 3 eggs) and 2 c. sugar with the mixer. I added 1. c. almond oil,another 1 t. lemon zest, and 2 t. vanilla. The recipe also called for 1 c sour cream, which I skipped. I mixed the flour mixture into the egg-sugar=oil mix, then swirled in the tofy mix. I used 2 cake pans and cooked it at 325 for 35 min, then sprinkled on the crumb topping and cooked it for another 35. Then I sculpted Dan. Voila. Happy Birthday, Suzanne!

Cute food alert

I haven't found any new or blogworthy recipes lately, but I have had some great moments in cute food. Below are some of the cookies I made for my dear sister for Valentine's day (not pictured: psychedelic unicorns).

Also, Mom made me an AMAZING birthday cake. It was a lemony, cholesterol-free cake shaped like our favorite feline!! I hope she'll post the recipe soon.

The Egg Project, Installment #1

I don't like eggs. Never have. I don't order eggs, I don't make eggs, and when I buy them they typically sit in the fridge for about six months, at which point I question if they are safe for consumption, discard them, and then purchase more eggs which I will not use.

I would like to change. Eggs are cheap, nutritious, and can be sustainable. Also, chickens are all the rage right now in berkeley (you know you're a hippy when you have chickens in your backyard. Well, I guess you could also be a redneck). I have several friends with more eggs then they can handle, thus the local, organic, sustainable egg glut in Berkeley. I'd like to take advantage of this situation.

I'd also like to be the kind of person who can casually say, how do you like your eggs? And then create a perfect specimen. This will also be convenient once I get a Ph.D., when I can take my over-educated, unemployed self and go to work as a short order cook.

So I'm going to endeavor to cook eggs in many different manners as the mood strikes me. Enough people out there like eggs; there must be a way of cooking them that I will like.

First up, scrambled eggs. Seems easy enough. I didn't bother doing any research on the subject. I just melted some butter in the pain, cracked in the eggs, added a little bit of goat cheese, and whisked it around with a fork until they no longer looked wet. Then I salted them. I also sauteed some veggies to go along with the eggs.

Here are the results:



My conclusions? Well, I ate everything. And it was pretty good when mixed with the veggies and put into a pita. However, the grapes were definitely the first thing to go.

A quick internet search after the fact revealed that I didn't use the right technique at all. People have strong opinions about what the best method is and my didn't align with any of them. So I think I will revisit scrambled eggs and see if I can do better.

Other egg dishes I'm excited about trying include sunny side up, over easy, fried, poached, and coddled eggs. Then of course there is the omelet.

Some of these things might be the same, or require special equipment or patience, I really have no clue. I really do hope to become an egg lover by then end of it. However, I don't think anything could ever make me give hardboiled eggs a chance. I will close with an apt biblical quote: Thou shalt not put into thy salad eggs which come from beasts with feathers, for hardboiled eggs in salads are an abomination unto the Lord (Deuteronomy, 22:5).

Best cocoa brownies I've ever made

These brownies from bon appetit were amazing! The browned butter is the secret. It didn't even add too much time to the prep work. We topped them with French vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, and rainbow sprinkles. Yum!

Noodle bean soup: another win from 101 cookbooks!

I just made this recipe from 101 cookbooks. I've been home today with a flu-ish thing and it hit the spot! I made a few changes to the ingredients as I did not feel like shopping. I used 1.5T lemon juice instead of lime, added 1/2t coriander, used just a few sprigs of cilantro, substituted sunflower seeds for the walnuts, used whole wheat thin spaghetti rather than egg noodles, and used yogurt rather than sour cream/creme fresh. I think the caramelized onion topping made a big difference, so don't skip out! Mom, I bet this would still be good without oil, and you could probably adapt it for the slow cooker.

Bangers and mash

I don't know how "bangers and mash" are traditionally configured, but I like this spicy, peppery version. I got to try out a new type of soysage (smoked) and use up leftover mashed potatoes, too!

Saute in 1.5t EVOO:
1/2 jalepeno, sliced
~1/3 bag frozen pepper and onion slices
Add:
~1T tomato paste
oregano and black pepper to taste
Spoon these ingredients into a separate container.
Saute in 1T EVOO:
2 smoked soysages, sliced into ~1" pieces
Once these crisp up, add back the veggies.
Serve with mashed potatoes and hot sauce.

Om nom nom.

PS: why does it feel wrong to blog about food while watching the biggest loser?

A party and Semi-Indian Cooking with Suzandra V

I have been doing LOTS of cooking. Last Saturday I had a dinner party with some dear friends from church. I didn't make anything super blog-worthy, as I mostly stuck with dishes I had made before. My one bold move was serving neat loaf. I LOVE neat loaf, but I wasn't sure how meat eaters would react to it. Seemed to be a hit. Viva la f'meat.

The menu:
Hummus + Crudite
Roasted root veggies (beets + squash + red onion + rosemary + oil + vinegar + salt + white and black pepper)
Rosemary buttermilk mashed potatoes (note to self: microwaving potatoes just isn't the same as boiling them, sadly. I need to quit doing that--leaves little bits of uncooked potatoes in the mix)
Neat loaf
Salad (spinach + craisins + goat cheese + cashews) + dressing (oil + balsamic vinegar + mustard + honey + rosemary + salt + pepper)
Rosemary Rolls a la Pioneer Woman (this time I used Sister Schubert parkerhouse style rolls. I think a traditional freezer roll would've been a better base)
Boxed cookies
Berries w/ whipped cream
Apples-to-Apples

The fun didn't stop there. I am now trying to use up the odds and ends of leftovers in my fridge after the party and other cooking adventures. Today I made a semi-Indian (with Sandra Lee?) meal that used up THREE different left-over ingredient foods (beet greens, coconut milk, piece of squash). It turned out surprisingly well given the recipes were all improved.

Semi-Indian Stuffed Squash:
For the filling, mix 2c cooked quinoa (cooked in stock), ~1/4c coconut milk, handful craisins, 2 handfuls chick peas, and a sprinkling of curry powder.
Stuff this into the bulbous part of butternut squash, sliced in half lengthwise and seeds removed.
Cook on low for 8h in the slow cooker.
Serves 2.

I've always thought stuffed butternut squash would be weird since it's too much for one person. Today I just had the bulbous bottom part of the squash left, though, making two perfect portions. It was tasty and super easy! I bet it could handle all kinds of variations, too. I served it with...

Semi-Indian Beet Greens:
Heat ~1/2T EVOO in a saute pan
Add the greens of 3 beets
Sprinkle with turmeric, cumin, cayenne pepper, and salt.
Pour in ~1/4c coconut milk.
Saute until the greens have reached the desired texture.
Serves 2.

Sadly, I did not take pictures of any of this tasty tasty food! I was too hungry.

So, here is a photo of Dan in a bag:


O NOZ, SOMEBODY LET TEH KITTEH OUT OF TEH BAG!

Friday Feast: Roasted Pear and Butternut Salad

Suzanne and Michael joined us for dinner on Jan 7. We ate More Mole (previous post), salmon from Suzanne's Indian cookbook, and a salad of mache topped with roasted pear and butternut squash, with a pear vinaigrette. Enough for the 4 of us came from

- - 10 oz package of frozen butternut squash cubes
- - 3 pears (I used d'Anjou, but the recipe called for Bartlett), peeled, halved and cored

I added a little oil to the squash cubes and roasted those plus the pear halves, turned upside down, in a 350 oven for 1/2 hour. Then I turned the pears over and roasted another 10 min until it was all a little brown.

One pear half went into the blender with 2 T. cider vinegar and 1T. honey and some pepper. You can add 1 T. oil.

The trick was how to split the remaining 5 pear halves among the 4 plates.