I made more mini quiche, again with mushrooms and potatoes.
This time I boiled the potato and rinsed it, and mixed it in with the mushroom-garlic that I cooked up. I also used gluten-free flour, and it didn't mix in very well so it'll probably be lumpy. I think it'll be better.
I also mixed in some hot sauce. I love hot sauce.
11/30/11
11/29/11
Tofu "bacon" (deliciousness)
I really wish blogger had subtitles. I need them. Everything I make needs a subtitle. Usually, I would make the subtitle the real title. Using this entry as an example -- the real title is:
HOW TO EAT AN ENTIRE BLOCK OF TOFU IN ONE DAY. But that doesn't tell you what it is. That is a subtitle. So I leave the title with the name of the thing, and my snarky comments don't draw attention.
But seriously. I did not know I could eat a block of tofu in ONE DAY until I made this, and could not stop eating it.
When I made this delicious baked item - kind of like a jerky (I really have no frame of reference so that's kind of bullshit), I knew it needed thin slicing. Usually when I bake tofu, I cut it into 8 slices. It is routine. Half, than imagine the halves halving, and voila-- 8 slices. But, I've realized, I don't like 8 slices. I want thinner slices. I think it was more than 20 slices, and I ate all of them in one day.
I actually started by pressing the tofu - something I don't do these days as often as I used to. I think this is in part because I don't rely upon tofu as much as I used to. It's not a once-a-week thing so much as a once-every-few-months thing, and I've been freezing it lately, which makes pressing pretty unnecessary. But for this, I used fresh tofu, and I pressed it, using a glass baking dish and some heavy tomato-something cans.
The marinade is from Vegan with a Vengeance, made for tempeh and not tofu, but I far prefer this.
3 T soy sauce
1/3 c apple cider
1 t tomato paste
1/4 t liquid smoke (I am generous)
2 cloves pressed garlic
HOW TO EAT AN ENTIRE BLOCK OF TOFU IN ONE DAY. But that doesn't tell you what it is. That is a subtitle. So I leave the title with the name of the thing, and my snarky comments don't draw attention.
But seriously. I did not know I could eat a block of tofu in ONE DAY until I made this, and could not stop eating it.
When I made this delicious baked item - kind of like a jerky (I really have no frame of reference so that's kind of bullshit), I knew it needed thin slicing. Usually when I bake tofu, I cut it into 8 slices. It is routine. Half, than imagine the halves halving, and voila-- 8 slices. But, I've realized, I don't like 8 slices. I want thinner slices. I think it was more than 20 slices, and I ate all of them in one day.
I actually started by pressing the tofu - something I don't do these days as often as I used to. I think this is in part because I don't rely upon tofu as much as I used to. It's not a once-a-week thing so much as a once-every-few-months thing, and I've been freezing it lately, which makes pressing pretty unnecessary. But for this, I used fresh tofu, and I pressed it, using a glass baking dish and some heavy tomato-something cans.
The marinade is from Vegan with a Vengeance, made for tempeh and not tofu, but I far prefer this.
3 T soy sauce
1/3 c apple cider
1 t tomato paste
1/4 t liquid smoke (I am generous)
2 cloves pressed garlic
Sweet Potato Gnocchi
1 lb sweet potatoes, baked until tender
1/2 t salt
1/4 t nutmeg
1 egg
2 cups whole wheat flour.
Put water on to boil.
Mash the sweet potatoes. Add salt and nutmeg, mix in egg. Add flour a half cup at a time and knead in the flour - you might not need two cups. I ran out of whole wheat so the last 1/2 cup was buckwheat.
Cut dough into four pieces and roll it out into a snake. Remember when you were a little kid and you had play-dough and you would make snakes? This is what you were practicing for. When they are thin enough, cut them into gnocchi-sized pieces. Professional gnocchi-makers will use the tines of a fork to dent in the sides, but I think my grandmother would've scowled at that. She was not Italian, though, so do whatever you want. Throw into the boiling water. The gnocchi will sink. When it floats, you can take it out.
Butter-sage sauce:
I did not have fresh sage... It would've been better with fresh. When I plant my indoor herb garden I will have seasonal herbs, and fall/winter will have sage.
Melt some butter in a pan. Add sage. Let it cook. I couldn't decide if it was done - it's supposed to "brown". Also, I didn't really care, butter is butter and it is always delicious. I would add garlic next time.
1/2 t salt
1/4 t nutmeg
1 egg
2 cups whole wheat flour.
Put water on to boil.
Mash the sweet potatoes. Add salt and nutmeg, mix in egg. Add flour a half cup at a time and knead in the flour - you might not need two cups. I ran out of whole wheat so the last 1/2 cup was buckwheat.
Cut dough into four pieces and roll it out into a snake. Remember when you were a little kid and you had play-dough and you would make snakes? This is what you were practicing for. When they are thin enough, cut them into gnocchi-sized pieces. Professional gnocchi-makers will use the tines of a fork to dent in the sides, but I think my grandmother would've scowled at that. She was not Italian, though, so do whatever you want. Throw into the boiling water. The gnocchi will sink. When it floats, you can take it out.
Butter-sage sauce:
I did not have fresh sage... It would've been better with fresh. When I plant my indoor herb garden I will have seasonal herbs, and fall/winter will have sage.
Melt some butter in a pan. Add sage. Let it cook. I couldn't decide if it was done - it's supposed to "brown". Also, I didn't really care, butter is butter and it is always delicious. I would add garlic next time.
Garlic Saffron Soup
I don't know about you, but I feel it's been awhile since I blogged about soup.
I love this soup. I first made it in the fall of 2003, back when I could buy eggs at the grocery store without having a panic attack. (Yes, I know, it's crazy - but I have to choose between organic-fed chicken eggs and vegetarian-fed chicken eggs? That is also crazy.) Since then, I've thought about it more than I care to admit.
I think it is in part because I absolutely love saffron.
The most disappointing thing about this recipe is that you first toast bread, and then when it is baking it gets all soggy. This is probably because i don't use thick-cut french bread, but whole grain bread.
Here is the recipe:
4 cloves garlic, peeled but left whole
2 T olive oil
4 slices french bread (or 2 slices whole wheat, halved)
1 T paprika
1/4 t cumin
pinch of saffron
4 cups vegetable broth
4 eggs
Heat the olive oil, then brown the garlic on each side and remove.
Toast the bread in the oil and remove.
Add the paprika to the oil and stir for a minute.
Turn the oven to 450.
Add the other spices and vegetable broth, and cook for awhile, stirring, so the saffron has time to make it's way into deliciousness. (about 10 minutes?)
Divide the soup into four bowls. Crack an egg into each bowl, and top with the bread. Bake for a few minutes, until eggs are set.
CONFESSION(s):
The recipe says 3-4 minutes, but I want my eggs actually cooked. So I let them set longer. Like... not quite a half hour. But maybe 10 minutes. I check them. When the yolk doesn't look like it did when it went in the bowl, I know it's ready.
I forgot this, because I haven't made this in like 8 years, but I have found it works better to add the bread AFTER it bakes, because otherwise it just gets soggy, and what was the point of frying it in oil in the first place?
YUM.
I love this soup. I first made it in the fall of 2003, back when I could buy eggs at the grocery store without having a panic attack. (Yes, I know, it's crazy - but I have to choose between organic-fed chicken eggs and vegetarian-fed chicken eggs? That is also crazy.) Since then, I've thought about it more than I care to admit.
I think it is in part because I absolutely love saffron.
The most disappointing thing about this recipe is that you first toast bread, and then when it is baking it gets all soggy. This is probably because i don't use thick-cut french bread, but whole grain bread.
Here is the recipe:
4 cloves garlic, peeled but left whole
2 T olive oil
4 slices french bread (or 2 slices whole wheat, halved)
1 T paprika
1/4 t cumin
pinch of saffron
4 cups vegetable broth
4 eggs
Heat the olive oil, then brown the garlic on each side and remove.
Toast the bread in the oil and remove.
Add the paprika to the oil and stir for a minute.
Turn the oven to 450.
Add the other spices and vegetable broth, and cook for awhile, stirring, so the saffron has time to make it's way into deliciousness. (about 10 minutes?)
Divide the soup into four bowls. Crack an egg into each bowl, and top with the bread. Bake for a few minutes, until eggs are set.
CONFESSION(s):
The recipe says 3-4 minutes, but I want my eggs actually cooked. So I let them set longer. Like... not quite a half hour. But maybe 10 minutes. I check them. When the yolk doesn't look like it did when it went in the bowl, I know it's ready.
I forgot this, because I haven't made this in like 8 years, but I have found it works better to add the bread AFTER it bakes, because otherwise it just gets soggy, and what was the point of frying it in oil in the first place?
YUM.
11/28/11
Olive Orange Tapenade
I returned to a fairly empty fridge from my Thanksgiving vacation - garlic, an onion, and some potatoes.
My farm share comes tomorrow - I think it will be crimini mushrooms, cranberries, acorn squash, and mixed potatoes, but I have not yet gotten an official announcement. But I needed food for today. (It just dawned on me now that I should also have thought about food for lunch tomorrow, but it's too late now - I'll have to scourge around the various lunch locales near the office.)
So I stopped at the grocery store for things not coming in my farm share that I might need and also could eat for dinner - eggs, soy milk, an orange (all good cranberry dishes require oranges)... and then I walked by the olive bar and remembered having a massive craving for tapenade over the weekend. (I have been known to make it for Thanksgiving.) So I got some pitted kalmatas and came right home.
I actually made hash browns and an egg over medium sprinkled with mild cheddar for dinner. But I also made olive tapenade. YUM.
I first made this out of a recipe in the back of VegNews, a vegan food magazine, but I wouldn't recognize it with all the changes and substitutions I've made over the years. I do remember that it called for lemon juice. But I only remember this because I have never once used lemon juice to make tapenade - I didn't have a lemon that first day, so I used an orange, and it was so delicious that I could never make myself try to follow the real recipe.
So I've made this a lot, and I don't use a recipe, but there are some things to think about.
Pointers:
My farm share comes tomorrow - I think it will be crimini mushrooms, cranberries, acorn squash, and mixed potatoes, but I have not yet gotten an official announcement. But I needed food for today. (It just dawned on me now that I should also have thought about food for lunch tomorrow, but it's too late now - I'll have to scourge around the various lunch locales near the office.)
So I stopped at the grocery store for things not coming in my farm share that I might need and also could eat for dinner - eggs, soy milk, an orange (all good cranberry dishes require oranges)... and then I walked by the olive bar and remembered having a massive craving for tapenade over the weekend. (I have been known to make it for Thanksgiving.) So I got some pitted kalmatas and came right home.
I actually made hash browns and an egg over medium sprinkled with mild cheddar for dinner. But I also made olive tapenade. YUM.
I first made this out of a recipe in the back of VegNews, a vegan food magazine, but I wouldn't recognize it with all the changes and substitutions I've made over the years. I do remember that it called for lemon juice. But I only remember this because I have never once used lemon juice to make tapenade - I didn't have a lemon that first day, so I used an orange, and it was so delicious that I could never make myself try to follow the real recipe.
So I've made this a lot, and I don't use a recipe, but there are some things to think about.
Pointers:
- It's all about the olives. It's true. So, think about the things you're adding in as ways to extend the delicious olive flavors. Things that will compliment. Things that will extend the flavor.
- You may be tempted to put the ingredients in a blender or food processor instead of chopping them finely. Please resist this temptation. It never tastes as good - somehow the flavor gets ish. And it will look gross. And, sometimes, one of your pitted olives has a bit of pit, and it gets all ground up and nasty.
Necessary ingredients:
- Pitted kalmata olives that don't come from a metal can. A jar if you must, but seriously, find yourself a grocery store with an olive bar.
- Orange zest, and then juice to flavor but not to drown.
- Oregano. Fresh might be nice, I dunno, I've never tried. We've got leaf, we've got ground, it's all delicious.
Optional but suggested ingredients:
- Other citrus juice, if you really want. Grapefruit worked that time I tried.
- Capers!!! Deliciousness!!! But expensive. Luckily the old roommate left a whole jar. Yum.
- Onion. Preferably red, preferably chopped. I used to list this as "necessary" but it's not. Today I used onion powder in a jar. It was fine.
- Whatever you like with your olives.
That's all I've got. I like olives.
11/26/11
Flourless Chocolate Cake (w/ blackberry sauce)
This recipe exists in my e-mail, and was made upon request of my sister. I have copied exactly from my e-mail:
oven at 325, you'll need a round cake pan - it asks for 8 inch but i'm sure i've used nine (grease it). this recipe says specifically not to use a springform, but i bet it'd be awesome.) also, find a baking dish or roasting pan that the cake pan fits into comfortably that has an edge at least as high as the cake pan.
melt 1 lb bittersweet chocolate (i usually use ghiradelli 60%, but darker is even more delicious) with 10 tablespoons butter (calls for "unsalted" but i've never got complaints))
remove from heat (if you're using a double boiler, which i'd suggest) and whisk in 5 large egg YOLKS (save the whites, they're incorporated soon.
also, boil some water for the water bath you'll bake the cake in later.
in another bowl, beat the egg whites with 1/4 t cream of tartar until soft peaks form. add 1 T sugar. beat until peaks are stiff but not dry. fold a quarter of the whites into the chocolatey goodness, and taste (just kidding diedre), and then fold in the remaining whites (you've got to do it gradually so it doesn't collapse the fluffiness you just produced by beating the stinking whites.)
put it in your cake pan, and then set the cake pan in your baking dish or roasting pan, and then put it in the oven, very carefully, and then figure out a way to put the boiling water in the roasting pan (not more than half way up the sides of the pan). bake for exactly 30 minutes. that's what the directions say. i remember it took way longer the last time i made it. but this is the description, "the top of the cake will have a thin crust and the interior will still be gooey."
cool completely or chill overnight.
oh, and you should use a piece of parchment paper in the bottom of your pan, so it comes out easier. warm knife around the edges usually does it. and if it comes apart you can usually put it back together and nobody notices.
You can see my recipe-description style hasn't changed much. I could put recipes in a clearer format, but as I'm generally recording them for my own use, I don't see the point.
We cooked a little longer this time, and I think it was a bit dry. I was a little worried I overheated the chocolate, and/or added the yolks when it was too warm (cooking them too much too soon), but it turned out delicious.
For the blackberry sauce - I always use raspberries but we had both kinds of berries frozen at the Lazy WP, so I went for something new. I just threw in a bit of sugar and some cornstarch when I remembered it needed help thickening, and voila, the perfect chocolate cake. We also used whipped cream leftover from yesterday and some ice cream. I think maybe more whipped cream would've been delicious.
Perhaps there willb e pictures some day.
11/25/11
Lazy Thanksgiving
This is the least amount of cooking I've done on Thanksgiving since I became a vegetarian. Or even before that - I've always loved this holiday because it is about cooking. And I love cooking, so it's kind of my favorite holiday. But this year, I'm sitting in on someone else's already very-well planned and orchestrated Thanksgiving, with plenty of vegetarian forethought. So, I had very little to do. I ended up just making the vegetarian gravy.
I thought about bringing vegetable bouillon, but forgot, and didn't think of it at my sister's house, and so were bouillon-free. Luckily we had some mushroom stock and some chantrelle and morrell mushrooms, which I supplemented with soy sauce. I would've preferred a homemade delicious vegetable broth, but I found some parsley and sage so it was alright.
melt 1/4 c of butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
add about 1/4 c of chopped mushrooms and 1/4 c chopped parsley.
cook.
gradually add flour, probably about 1/4 c, until it's thick and bubbly.
stir in mushroom broth (and water when you run out) very very slowly, a splash at a time, stirring constantly, until it's a little thinner than what you'd want in a gravy. taste occasionally to see if it needs anything - i added a splash of soy sauce and some black pepper. raise the heat, still stirring constantly, until it boils and cook for a minute or two, to thicken to desired consistency.
remove from heat and serve immediately.
I thought about bringing vegetable bouillon, but forgot, and didn't think of it at my sister's house, and so were bouillon-free. Luckily we had some mushroom stock and some chantrelle and morrell mushrooms, which I supplemented with soy sauce. I would've preferred a homemade delicious vegetable broth, but I found some parsley and sage so it was alright.
melt 1/4 c of butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
add about 1/4 c of chopped mushrooms and 1/4 c chopped parsley.
cook.
gradually add flour, probably about 1/4 c, until it's thick and bubbly.
stir in mushroom broth (and water when you run out) very very slowly, a splash at a time, stirring constantly, until it's a little thinner than what you'd want in a gravy. taste occasionally to see if it needs anything - i added a splash of soy sauce and some black pepper. raise the heat, still stirring constantly, until it boils and cook for a minute or two, to thicken to desired consistency.
remove from heat and serve immediately.
Dinner for my Aunt & Uncle
Last, Saturday, my aunt & uncle were in town visiting my cousins and offered to take me out to dinner, but I had to refuse because, well, I had too many vegetables from my farm share to use up before I left for Thanksgiving. I ended up using up a pound of carrots & about 2 lbs (over half) of my butternut squash.
(If I were you I'd skip right to the carrots)
Butternut squash and onion tart - unfortunately I do not remember how I made this. I think i used 1/2 a stick of butter, a cup of whole wheat flour and 3/4 cup gluten-free bread flour to make the crust. I definitely pre-baked the squash which I realized later wasn't part of the recipe. I think I used a cup of vegetable broth but I'm not sure. I only used one onion. It was just a tart - kind of following a recipe in how to cook everything vegetarian. it was delicious in a bland way.
Carrots:
Heat 1/4 c of olive oil in the bottom of a saucepan, saute 1/4 of red onion. Add 1 lb peeled, diced carrots, 1/4 c of golden raisins, 1/2 of chopped dates, and a pinch of saffron and some water, cook 10 minutes. Delicious.
We also had a delicious salad, I forget sometimes that lettuce other than spinach makes a good salad.
(If I were you I'd skip right to the carrots)
Butternut squash and onion tart - unfortunately I do not remember how I made this. I think i used 1/2 a stick of butter, a cup of whole wheat flour and 3/4 cup gluten-free bread flour to make the crust. I definitely pre-baked the squash which I realized later wasn't part of the recipe. I think I used a cup of vegetable broth but I'm not sure. I only used one onion. It was just a tart - kind of following a recipe in how to cook everything vegetarian. it was delicious in a bland way.
Carrots:
Heat 1/4 c of olive oil in the bottom of a saucepan, saute 1/4 of red onion. Add 1 lb peeled, diced carrots, 1/4 c of golden raisins, 1/2 of chopped dates, and a pinch of saffron and some water, cook 10 minutes. Delicious.
We also had a delicious salad, I forget sometimes that lettuce other than spinach makes a good salad.
11/20/11
Mac&Broc&Cheese
I made this dish over a week ago and have been attempting to blog it ever since, without success. The truth is, I didn't like it very much, and I just haven't been able to admit that. But the point of this blog is not to document every recipe I make, whether it is delicious or not. The point is to instruct my future cooking. So here are some reminders to myself, the next time I make Mac&Cheese.
- You know how to make a cheese sauce and stir macaroni into it and brown breadcrumbs, so why the crap are you following a recipe? Follow your instincts.
- You might want to try the other mac&cheese method - layering cheese and macaroni and pouring a custard-type sauce over it to thicken while it bakes, for which you might need a recipe, but before you do that please try the above.
- Do add mustard to your cheese sauce, and a bit of cayenne (but not too much)
- Add broccoli to cooking mac 3 minutes before it's done cooking to begin cooking process.
- Use sharp cheese. You don't need a ton of it as long as it's sharp. (Also, don't use a gooey cheese - remember that time you tried this with gouda?)
- I know you know this but I'm just going to remind you - use actual milk. Don't use soymilk, and save the cheesy-beer sauce for toast.
Glorious Sunday: Football & Cooking
This week's farm share = carrots, butternut, potatoes, and broccoli. Yum. This week's cheese was mild cheddar.
So, the Packers are 10-0, which is the glorious part, but completely unrelated. It is a weekly trial to eat everything in my farm share. The good news is that I don't get a farm share this Tuesday. Because it's Thanksgiving, which is even more exciting. So today I cooked a few things knowing that leftovers could maybe be frozen for post-vacation eating... but I chose a couple of the recipes not to freeze, but because they will (hopefully) make it through airport security, so when my sister picks me up on Wednesday afternoon, I can offer her and her husband lunch. We'll see how much I can eat this week... I technically have 8 meals before I get on the plane... although I usually don't eat more than 2 meals a day.... so maybe i only have 5 or 6.
I was able to use half of the huge butternut squash I got on Tuesday last night, along with all of my carrots. I will probably have to blog out of that
But, as for foods I will have with me when I arrive in Oakland... this is what's in the fridge, and whatever i don't eat is coming with me:
Baked Potatoes and Beans (posted before)
Macaroni & Broccoli & Cheese
Butternut/Chickpea "salad" from smitten kitchen (posted before).
I think the mac&broc&cheese will travel the worst, so maybe I'll prioritize eating that... otherwise, I'm accepting comments.
So, the Packers are 10-0, which is the glorious part, but completely unrelated. It is a weekly trial to eat everything in my farm share. The good news is that I don't get a farm share this Tuesday. Because it's Thanksgiving, which is even more exciting. So today I cooked a few things knowing that leftovers could maybe be frozen for post-vacation eating... but I chose a couple of the recipes not to freeze, but because they will (hopefully) make it through airport security, so when my sister picks me up on Wednesday afternoon, I can offer her and her husband lunch. We'll see how much I can eat this week... I technically have 8 meals before I get on the plane... although I usually don't eat more than 2 meals a day.... so maybe i only have 5 or 6.
I was able to use half of the huge butternut squash I got on Tuesday last night, along with all of my carrots. I will probably have to blog out of that
But, as for foods I will have with me when I arrive in Oakland... this is what's in the fridge, and whatever i don't eat is coming with me:
Baked Potatoes and Beans (posted before)
Macaroni & Broccoli & Cheese
Butternut/Chickpea "salad" from smitten kitchen (posted before).
I think the mac&broc&cheese will travel the worst, so maybe I'll prioritize eating that... otherwise, I'm accepting comments.
11/16/11
Beans & Sweet Potatoes followed by Beans & Potatoes
It is not that I haven't been cooking, it is that I haven't had internet.
I used up all of my sweet potatoes in one good show - I think there were less in the share than the last time I got them, which was definitely not a problem for me.
I adopted a Bittman recipe.
I'm totally made up the measurements on the herbs, here. I just couldn't do it.
Oven to 325.
Mix 3 c rinsed cooked beans with 1 t thyme and 1 t herbes de provence in the bottom of a casserole dish. Peel and halve a sweet potato or two and slice fairly thinly into half moons. Spread in a single(ish) layer on top of the potatoes. Pour 1 c of vegetable broth (I used the Pink Stuff, I'm def going to miss it when I run out) over the potatoes and sprinkle with salt and pepper and more thyme. Then take 3 T of butter and put dabs of it all over the top, cover with foil, and bake for 45 minutes. Take off the foil and cook 45 minutes more.
Yum.
In the next farm share I got regular potatoes and I did the same recipe. I just think I learned a lesson: use sweet potatoes like regular potatoes, instead of making them sweet. Because I really don't like sweet things.
I used up all of my sweet potatoes in one good show - I think there were less in the share than the last time I got them, which was definitely not a problem for me.
I adopted a Bittman recipe.
I'm totally made up the measurements on the herbs, here. I just couldn't do it.
Oven to 325.
Mix 3 c rinsed cooked beans with 1 t thyme and 1 t herbes de provence in the bottom of a casserole dish. Peel and halve a sweet potato or two and slice fairly thinly into half moons. Spread in a single(ish) layer on top of the potatoes. Pour 1 c of vegetable broth (I used the Pink Stuff, I'm def going to miss it when I run out) over the potatoes and sprinkle with salt and pepper and more thyme. Then take 3 T of butter and put dabs of it all over the top, cover with foil, and bake for 45 minutes. Take off the foil and cook 45 minutes more.
Yum.
In the next farm share I got regular potatoes and I did the same recipe. I just think I learned a lesson: use sweet potatoes like regular potatoes, instead of making them sweet. Because I really don't like sweet things.
11/10/11
Squash Soup #2 + sandwiches
Alright, the last time I made squash soup it was with yellow curry powder (probably too much) and completely blended.
This time, I used Thai red curry paste, 2 c of Pink Vegetable Broth (which did not seem to discolor the soup at all!), one red onion, some fresh lemongrass and ginger and garlic, and the leftover carrots. I blended it and it is pretty tasty.
Now on to the real addition - I do not like blended soups. They're hard to eat. I like soup that is brothy with plenty of stuff to chew on. However, I'd rather have SQUASH blended into broth. The compromise? I added 2 c cooked brown rice and 2 c cooked rinsed red beans. Now I feel like this is actually a meal, not just a mushy hard-to-drink weird-to-eat-with-a-spoon concoction. There are beans! And rice! It's almost like a meal except I bet it would be delicious with a sandwich!
In other news, it is in the 30s, which means almost winter, and I am starting my official winter lunch: Soup and a cheese sandwich, since I have so many delicious cheese to choose from. I've got gouda, I've got smoked cheddar, and I've got something called "Bessie's Blend", which is made with goat and cow milk and is very tasty - I like goat cheese to an extent, and this is very mildly flavored. Good for sandwiches!
My favorite sandwich is roasted garlic spread on one slice of bread and whole-grain mustard on the other slice and cheese and spinach, or whatever vegetable I've got. That's it. Whole grain bread, of course! Yum. I better go make one so I've got a delicious lunch to look forward to.
This time, I used Thai red curry paste, 2 c of Pink Vegetable Broth (which did not seem to discolor the soup at all!), one red onion, some fresh lemongrass and ginger and garlic, and the leftover carrots. I blended it and it is pretty tasty.
Now on to the real addition - I do not like blended soups. They're hard to eat. I like soup that is brothy with plenty of stuff to chew on. However, I'd rather have SQUASH blended into broth. The compromise? I added 2 c cooked brown rice and 2 c cooked rinsed red beans. Now I feel like this is actually a meal, not just a mushy hard-to-drink weird-to-eat-with-a-spoon concoction. There are beans! And rice! It's almost like a meal except I bet it would be delicious with a sandwich!
In other news, it is in the 30s, which means almost winter, and I am starting my official winter lunch: Soup and a cheese sandwich, since I have so many delicious cheese to choose from. I've got gouda, I've got smoked cheddar, and I've got something called "Bessie's Blend", which is made with goat and cow milk and is very tasty - I like goat cheese to an extent, and this is very mildly flavored. Good for sandwiches!
My favorite sandwich is roasted garlic spread on one slice of bread and whole-grain mustard on the other slice and cheese and spinach, or whatever vegetable I've got. That's it. Whole grain bread, of course! Yum. I better go make one so I've got a delicious lunch to look forward to.
more Carrot Cupcakes & a treatise on white flour
This week's farm share was so completely reasonably sized that I didn't touch it until today. I hadn't used last week's carrots, though, so I made some Smitten carrot cupcakes.
What is most interesting is that I used real eggs and real butter and real cream cheese. However, I did not use real white flour, I used gluten-free white flour. The results are pretty delicious. The only other real thing I'd mention is that I used my microplane grater instead of the normal sized one, but that was mostly becuase the microplane is easier to use.
My gluten-free flour is specifically for cakes and cookies. it contains rice flour, brown rice flour, potato starch, tapioca flour, and xanthum gum. It's made in Appleton, Wisconsin and was delivered via my CSA.
I don't like white wheat flour. It is too much like paste. Maybe if I lived in France with a constant supply of croissant and crusty well-made white bread... but even then. I like grains in my bread. I like seeds and whole grain flavors and even nuts. I don't want my bread to be squishy like a sponge. I want crumbly delicious bread.
And a story -- I was in Argentina a few years ago and I got a "Greek Platter" that came with "Pita Bread" but it was not delicious. My exact reaction was "This Pita Bread is a little bit more like paste than Pita Bread I'm used to. Come to think of it, all bread in Argentina is a little bit more like paste than I'd like it to be." Upon coming back to America I realized I had judged too harshly. All white bread is more like paste than I want it to be. When I eat it I can't help imagining it turning to paste in my digestive system. Yuck.
Also, I will confess here, that I am pretty sure I do have a (probably very mild) gluten allergy, because when I make Seitan (which is basically wheat gluten) and mix it with my hands, they always get itchy and a little red.
I can't believe a technocrat is usurping an elected leader in Greece.
What is most interesting is that I used real eggs and real butter and real cream cheese. However, I did not use real white flour, I used gluten-free white flour. The results are pretty delicious. The only other real thing I'd mention is that I used my microplane grater instead of the normal sized one, but that was mostly becuase the microplane is easier to use.
My gluten-free flour is specifically for cakes and cookies. it contains rice flour, brown rice flour, potato starch, tapioca flour, and xanthum gum. It's made in Appleton, Wisconsin and was delivered via my CSA.
I don't like white wheat flour. It is too much like paste. Maybe if I lived in France with a constant supply of croissant and crusty well-made white bread... but even then. I like grains in my bread. I like seeds and whole grain flavors and even nuts. I don't want my bread to be squishy like a sponge. I want crumbly delicious bread.
And a story -- I was in Argentina a few years ago and I got a "Greek Platter" that came with "Pita Bread" but it was not delicious. My exact reaction was "This Pita Bread is a little bit more like paste than Pita Bread I'm used to. Come to think of it, all bread in Argentina is a little bit more like paste than I'd like it to be." Upon coming back to America I realized I had judged too harshly. All white bread is more like paste than I want it to be. When I eat it I can't help imagining it turning to paste in my digestive system. Yuck.
Also, I will confess here, that I am pretty sure I do have a (probably very mild) gluten allergy, because when I make Seitan (which is basically wheat gluten) and mix it with my hands, they always get itchy and a little red.
I can't believe a technocrat is usurping an elected leader in Greece.
11/5/11
Marrow Kofta
I have several things that are unrelated to each other to mention about this recipe.
First off, I think this is weird, and disgusting, but the 2 definitions for marrow are:
First off, I think this is weird, and disgusting, but the 2 definitions for marrow are:
1. something I would never mention in a food post!!!!!
2. a white-fleshed green-skinned gourd, eaten as a vegetable.
I only found the recipe because when I couldn't find "squash" in the index i looked for "pumpkin" and found a pumpkin variety of a "marrow" dish. I think the cookbook was Australian or British. I used Acorn squash. I was trying to convince my roommate to eat this particular squash before she moved away, but alas... it is still here, yet she and the cat texted from Wyoming today.
Second unrelated thing: I have tried to make the Indian dish Malai Kofta before, maybe just once... and it was not this good. Malai Kofta is a delicious dish, but to me the deliciousness is in the creamy tomatoey sauce, not the Kofta balls that occasionally intrude upon your enjoyment of the sauce, although you can find some good Kofta to go with your delicious sauce. This recipe provides delicious, sweet kofta balls that don't taste over-fried, and it is my favorite squash recipe so far. Yum.
Third: this is the first time in a very long time that I stopped cooking to write down a recipe while still cooking. I have an original recipe that one of the Indian cookbooks my sister passed to me when she circled the globe had in it, but I ended up adjusting it a lot. The original recipe called for coconut powder, cream, tomato puree, and fresh tomatoes, but I don't have any of those things on hand. I have tomato sauce, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, flaked (not sweet) coconut, and coconut milk, so I did a little replacing to come up with this very delicious concoction.
I also decided not to follow the cooking instructions for the sauce, which were to pulse in a food processor the onions and spices with some tomato puree and cook it in 5 T of corn oil, and then add cream and fresh tomatoes. I just could not do that, as you will see in the sauce portion of the recipe.
First, the Kofta:
1-1.5 lbs cooked peeled seeded squash
2 T garbanzo (gram) flour
2 T wheat flour
1.5 t coriander
1 t chilli powder
1 t garam masala (but i couldn't find it while making the kofta so put it in the sauce instead)
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1/4 t turmeric
Mash everything together with a potato masher and your hands. shape into golf-ball sized balls (I think I made 12).
Heat 6 T corn oil in a cast iron pan over medium heat. Constantly turn them to brown on all sides. Carefully remove them, and pour out the oil. (I measured it, it was a quarter cup, which means 2 T got soaked into the kofta, which (if it weren't corn oil) would not be that bad, since that is all the oil I used.)
For the sauce, use the same pan with the oil that remained in the pan. Cook:
1 lg red onion - chopped very very small
2 cloves garlic - smashed
until soft
add spices:
1.5 t coriander
1 t cumin (although i didn't measure... just a guess)
1 t chili powder
1/2 t cayenne
1 t garam masala (couldn't find earlier... but was also good in sauce)
2 lg dried red chiles, whole (to be removed later)
cook until spices fragrant (2 mn)
add:
1 13.5 oz can coconut milk
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
and cook for awhile until it thickens.
add the balls and enjoy.
Next time:
chilis? cilantro? even maybe parsley.
Second unrelated thing: I have tried to make the Indian dish Malai Kofta before, maybe just once... and it was not this good. Malai Kofta is a delicious dish, but to me the deliciousness is in the creamy tomatoey sauce, not the Kofta balls that occasionally intrude upon your enjoyment of the sauce, although you can find some good Kofta to go with your delicious sauce. This recipe provides delicious, sweet kofta balls that don't taste over-fried, and it is my favorite squash recipe so far. Yum.
Third: this is the first time in a very long time that I stopped cooking to write down a recipe while still cooking. I have an original recipe that one of the Indian cookbooks my sister passed to me when she circled the globe had in it, but I ended up adjusting it a lot. The original recipe called for coconut powder, cream, tomato puree, and fresh tomatoes, but I don't have any of those things on hand. I have tomato sauce, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, flaked (not sweet) coconut, and coconut milk, so I did a little replacing to come up with this very delicious concoction.
I also decided not to follow the cooking instructions for the sauce, which were to pulse in a food processor the onions and spices with some tomato puree and cook it in 5 T of corn oil, and then add cream and fresh tomatoes. I just could not do that, as you will see in the sauce portion of the recipe.
First, the Kofta:
1-1.5 lbs cooked peeled seeded squash
2 T garbanzo (gram) flour
2 T wheat flour
1.5 t coriander
1 t chilli powder
1 t garam masala (but i couldn't find it while making the kofta so put it in the sauce instead)
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1/4 t turmeric
Mash everything together with a potato masher and your hands. shape into golf-ball sized balls (I think I made 12).
Heat 6 T corn oil in a cast iron pan over medium heat. Constantly turn them to brown on all sides. Carefully remove them, and pour out the oil. (I measured it, it was a quarter cup, which means 2 T got soaked into the kofta, which (if it weren't corn oil) would not be that bad, since that is all the oil I used.)
For the sauce, use the same pan with the oil that remained in the pan. Cook:
1 lg red onion - chopped very very small
2 cloves garlic - smashed
until soft
add spices:
1.5 t coriander
1 t cumin (although i didn't measure... just a guess)
1 t chili powder
1/2 t cayenne
1 t garam masala (couldn't find earlier... but was also good in sauce)
2 lg dried red chiles, whole (to be removed later)
cook until spices fragrant (2 mn)
add:
1 13.5 oz can coconut milk
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
and cook for awhile until it thickens.
add the balls and enjoy.
Next time:
chilis? cilantro? even maybe parsley.
Cranberry-Orange Relish
The 2 main dishes I made today used traditional Indian spices (Spiced Potatoes and still-to-come Marrow Balls in coconut cream sauce) so when I tasted this today I couldn't help thinking it's similar to a chutney. A little tangy, strong in flavor, probably a good accompaniment to a spicy main dish.
In any case, this is one of my mother's favorites for Thanksgiving - you take a bag of raw cranberries, a whole orange, and a bit of sugar, and throw it in the food processor. (I had to use a blender but it worked alright.)
I'm guessing it was about 1 1/2 to 2 cups of cranberries, and it was a whole orange although i only used some of the skin (and all the juice) which was mostly because I thought it would help the blending process. I just sprinkled some raw sugar after it was blended to taste, but it's still pretty tart.
I think, once I make the Marrow Balls, I will have myself a delicious dinner of rice with Marrow Balls, spinach-potato spice side dish, and cranberry relish chutney. I'll let you know if it works well together when I post the Marrow Balls recipe!
Eventually I will show you what I am cooking using photographs
I do not own a camera.
I had a blackberry that took beautiful pictures, it had a flash.
My current blackberry does not have a flash.
Blackberries are pieces of crap (not the fruit, though, the "technology").
My work phone will soon (maybe not until after Christmas) be upgraded to an iPhone (but probably not until after Christmas). So then maybe I will post pictures on the blog, eh?
Or, I could buy a digital camera, but that seems like too much trouble.
Spiced Potatoes and Spinach
I was thinking of making potato salad today, with a vinaigrette rather than mayo-based dressing. i was actually looking for an old recipe i once had... and couldn't find... but i found a recipe for spiced potatoes, which also called for spinach, and ended up making this instead:
boil
1 lb yukon gold potatoes, chopped into bite-sized pieces
until just beginning to get tender
cook together on the stove for a minute or two - just so the butter melts and the spices begin to excrete their enticing smells:
2 T earth balance
2 t fenugreek
2 garlic cloves, pressed
2 t grated ginger
1 T black bustard seeds
pinch saffron
mix together well and bak at 350 for about 45 minutes.
remove from heat, toss with 1 oz fresh spinach.
i am hoping it is still good tomorrow, as I made hashbrowns with the leftover potatoes while they were baking and now am not hungry. (but it's good to eat when you're hungry and not wait!
boil
1 lb yukon gold potatoes, chopped into bite-sized pieces
until just beginning to get tender
cook together on the stove for a minute or two - just so the butter melts and the spices begin to excrete their enticing smells:
2 T earth balance
2 t fenugreek
2 garlic cloves, pressed
2 t grated ginger
1 T black bustard seeds
pinch saffron
mix together well and bak at 350 for about 45 minutes.
remove from heat, toss with 1 oz fresh spinach.
i am hoping it is still good tomorrow, as I made hashbrowns with the leftover potatoes while they were baking and now am not hungry. (but it's good to eat when you're hungry and not wait!
11/3/11
Roasted Garlic
I meant to order garlic the first two weeks of my farm share as an extra, because, well, you can never have too much garlic. But my first order got messed up, and I forgot to order the following week, and now, finally, I ordered garlic. I think because I kept messing it up and, well, you can never have too much garlic... I put in for 2 orders of garlic. Which brought 10 heads of garlic to my kitchen.
Also, I found out yesterday I am getting garlic next week as part of my "basic" share. So... I'll have even more. The good news is that garlic will actually stay good for a long time. So I'm really just stocking up, right?
While the Sweet Potatoes and Cranberries were cooking on Tuesday night, I decided it might be a good plan to roast some garlic at the same time... and there went 3 of the 10 bulbs. I chopped off the tops so all the cloves were exposed (these heads only have about 5 really huge cloves) and poured 1 T of olive oil into the exposed cloves, wrapped in tin foil, and baked until the fire alarm went off.
So far I have used the roasted garlic as a sandwich spread. I'm thinking of adding vinegar and oil to the jar of roasted garlic in the fridge and making some salad dressing.
I have plenty of garlic. I can always roast more.
Mushroom-Leek Risotto
I anticipate a lot of risotto in my future. There are many reasons for this - next to soup, it is my favorite whatever-vegetables-you-have dish. I like standing in the kitchen and stirring a big pan and watching it absorb the liquid, and my kitchen is set up in a way that allows me to both watch tv and stir the risotto constantly. Plus Risotto has a ton of flavor.
I used up all of my Arborio rice, but there is so much other rice - especially brown rice. I read in Bittman's vegetarian book that cooking brown rice for awhile before using it in a recipe allows you to replace white rice for it in recipes, and that included risotto. And another cookbook I have advised me, when cooking brown rice for dinner that day, to pour boiling water over it in the morning and let it set so that when I get home at night it only takes 15 minutes to cook.
Sometimes I add a bit of cheese to risotto but it was so delicious it didn't need it. I did ask a roommate's advice on the herbs, and she was totally right - the rosemary and thyme complimented the leeks and mushrooms beautifully.
the recipe --
A bit of olive oil
1 large leek, chopped pretty small
about 1 c chopped button mushrooms (the smaller the better)
1.5 c Arborio rice
3/4 c red wine
4 c vegetable broth
1 c water
thyme
rosemary
i cooked the leeks and mushrooms in oil first, and forgot to add the rice before i added any liquid, but i don't think it was a huge deal. risotto calls for white wine, and i actually wasn't planning on using any wine, but my roommate had some red she didn't wasn't going to drink, and since the vegetable broth i used is pink anyway the color didn't seem to make a difference. i did warm the broth, which is recommended but I haven't ever really done before. This was in part because the broth had been in the freezer. I could probably have gotten an intensely-delicious risotto replacing half of the vegetable broth with water. After using 4 c of the broth I switched to water - the risotto was almost done but it just wasn't creamy enough so I added some water and cooked it a bit longer.
Oh, I meant to use up a lemon I had in this recipe, but it certainly doesn't need it. I only remember because I found the lemon in the crisper drawer today.
Yum.
I used up all of my Arborio rice, but there is so much other rice - especially brown rice. I read in Bittman's vegetarian book that cooking brown rice for awhile before using it in a recipe allows you to replace white rice for it in recipes, and that included risotto. And another cookbook I have advised me, when cooking brown rice for dinner that day, to pour boiling water over it in the morning and let it set so that when I get home at night it only takes 15 minutes to cook.
Sometimes I add a bit of cheese to risotto but it was so delicious it didn't need it. I did ask a roommate's advice on the herbs, and she was totally right - the rosemary and thyme complimented the leeks and mushrooms beautifully.
the recipe --
A bit of olive oil
1 large leek, chopped pretty small
about 1 c chopped button mushrooms (the smaller the better)
1.5 c Arborio rice
3/4 c red wine
4 c vegetable broth
1 c water
thyme
rosemary
i cooked the leeks and mushrooms in oil first, and forgot to add the rice before i added any liquid, but i don't think it was a huge deal. risotto calls for white wine, and i actually wasn't planning on using any wine, but my roommate had some red she didn't wasn't going to drink, and since the vegetable broth i used is pink anyway the color didn't seem to make a difference. i did warm the broth, which is recommended but I haven't ever really done before. This was in part because the broth had been in the freezer. I could probably have gotten an intensely-delicious risotto replacing half of the vegetable broth with water. After using 4 c of the broth I switched to water - the risotto was almost done but it just wasn't creamy enough so I added some water and cooked it a bit longer.
Oh, I meant to use up a lemon I had in this recipe, but it certainly doesn't need it. I only remember because I found the lemon in the crisper drawer today.
Yum.
11/1/11
Cranberry-glazed Sweet Potatoes try to burn down the house
I found this when I googled "cranberry sweet potato," and was sold at the word "bourbon" and thought maybe fate intervened when I saw "cayenne". Spicy, bourbony, sweet potatoes and cranberries? Using two of my four farm share items!? Fate?
Nope, the gods are playing tricks on me. I mean, don't get me wrong, this is pretty delicious. I only had a bite or two so far, but it was candied deliciousness. It was the baking process that woke up the neighborhood. But before I get to the fire part...
Alterations I made:
* I used a 1/4 cup instead of a 1/3 a cup of brown sugar. I'd like to say it was intentional - sweet potatoes are sweet enough - but the truth is I didn't double-check. And I probably didn't double-check because I could never rationalize using more than 1/4 c of sugar in any recipe. (When I post my grandmother's Company Meal Sauerkraut recipe, I will reiterate this point.)
* Instead of using 2 T of bourbon and 4 T of butter, I used 2 T of oil and 4 T of bourbon. I realized going in that this may effect the "glaze" aspect... esp with my reduced sugar... but I figured bourbon evaporates quicker than water. Also it is 100 times more delicious.
* The dish was too watery from the get-go. I ended up dumping out some of the liquid before the glaze step because it wasn't getting soaked in, but the potatos were fullly cooked so I had to move on. I'm waiting to see what happens when it cools completely.
And now, the punchline:
So the second-to-last time I took it out to reglaze, I was a bit too flippant about throwing it back in the oven. Some of the liquid spilled on to the oven floor. I wet a paper towel and tried to get it off and turned on the vent fan and thought it'd be fine and went away and I was wrong. Smoke detector. Loud. Roommates woken. Windows are now open, so luckily it was 73 in here after the oven had been on for an hour, and a fairly mild first of November.
Everything turned out alright. Especially the sweet potatos.
Nope, the gods are playing tricks on me. I mean, don't get me wrong, this is pretty delicious. I only had a bite or two so far, but it was candied deliciousness. It was the baking process that woke up the neighborhood. But before I get to the fire part...
Alterations I made:
* I used a 1/4 cup instead of a 1/3 a cup of brown sugar. I'd like to say it was intentional - sweet potatoes are sweet enough - but the truth is I didn't double-check. And I probably didn't double-check because I could never rationalize using more than 1/4 c of sugar in any recipe. (When I post my grandmother's Company Meal Sauerkraut recipe, I will reiterate this point.)
* Instead of using 2 T of bourbon and 4 T of butter, I used 2 T of oil and 4 T of bourbon. I realized going in that this may effect the "glaze" aspect... esp with my reduced sugar... but I figured bourbon evaporates quicker than water. Also it is 100 times more delicious.
* The dish was too watery from the get-go. I ended up dumping out some of the liquid before the glaze step because it wasn't getting soaked in, but the potatos were fullly cooked so I had to move on. I'm waiting to see what happens when it cools completely.
And now, the punchline:
So the second-to-last time I took it out to reglaze, I was a bit too flippant about throwing it back in the oven. Some of the liquid spilled on to the oven floor. I wet a paper towel and tried to get it off and turned on the vent fan and thought it'd be fine and went away and I was wrong. Smoke detector. Loud. Roommates woken. Windows are now open, so luckily it was 73 in here after the oven had been on for an hour, and a fairly mild first of November.
Everything turned out alright. Especially the sweet potatos.
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