Flour Tortillas

At my sister-in-law's last summer, I ate the best flour tortilla I've ever eaten. And since then, I've been disappointed in other flour tortillas. They've been lackluster. Dry. Thick. Dull.

So this: steps toward a better flour tortilla. I've noticed that some recipes use baking powder and others don't. I tried the leavened kind first and they were lovely. Like clouds or pillows. Elastic and soft. Also: gentle.

2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons grapeseed oil
3/4 cup warm water

Whisk together dry ingredients. Add the grapseed oil to the dry ingredients and stir until well combined. Add the water and stir/mix with your hands until a soft, shaggy ball of dough comes together.

Place the dough in the bottom of a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit for 30 minutes.

Lightly flour your work surface. Knead the dough until a smooth ball forms, then divide into 8-10 pieces. Form each of these into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and let sit another 10 minutes. While these rest, preheat a large, dry skillet over medium heat.

Roll each ball out as thin as you can (maybe 10 inches?). Then cook on the dry skillet for about a minute total, flipping once.

Stack and cover with a clean towel while you prepare the remaining tortillas.

Guest Post: Cabbage and Beet Salad

Today, another member of Emily's family generously shares a favorite recipe. As you've maybe noticed, I love a slaw. And I've mentioned before how [Emily's family and] I feel about beets (love). But setting aside the loveliness of the food in the photo below, can we pause for a moment and look at how beautiful Kodiak, Alaska is? Is that panorama what today's guest poster Sally gazes out upon each morning? The grasses! The water! The mountains!

Thanks, Sally, for taking time out from your beautiful view to share this recipe with us!


I'm Emily's aunt Sally who lives in Kodiak, Alaska. Most meals I make do include meat (venison, elk, caribou, salmon, halibut, crab, scallops, shrimp, musk ox, rabbit, ling cod, black bass, etc.) I have a long "trap line" of friends who kill wild game and I do fish (salmon & halibut & cod). But I do have a great salad that I love and was turned on to by a great friend I went to UCSC with.

1/2 large cabbage
1 small beet, or 1/2 large beet
2 carrots

Mandolin cabbage or FINELY slice cabbage. Shred on medium carrots and beet.

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

Dry roast over medium heat until you hear one pop then flip and turn off.

Dressing:

1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
1/8 cup soy sauce
1 TBS sesame oil

Since I am single, I make this all up and then eat for a few days, dressing as I need. Toasting a few more pumpkin seeds as I desire. As a "light" meal, place a "bed" of rice under.

Ramp Ricotta Ravioli with Garlic Sauteed Fava Beans

I talk so much about seasons here (and generally all throughout my life). I live in the upper Midwest. We get four solid seasons, and I like to feel them change.

So, feel this dish. It's April in food form. Labor intensive and built on two of spring's most illustrious early risers: ramps and fava beans. We've waited all year for this, pals. Let's celebrate by spending four hours making dinner on a week night.

Ok, it actually only took 2 and a half hours. But if you wanted to cut your time still more, consider buying cheese ravioli pre-made then sauteing the fava beans with the garlic and ramps, and finally, tossing it all together. Or how about mixing up a (warm or cold) pasta salad with ricotta, olive oil, garlic, ramps, and fava beans? That would be lovely too!

Anyway, here's the unabridged version. It was so good.

fresh egg pasta
1 1/2 cups ricotta
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
6 whole ramps (bulbs and leaves), finely chopped
salt

Put a large pot of salted water on to boil.

Combine the cheeses with the ramps and season to taste with salt.

With a teaspoon, scoop small piles of the ricotta filling onto the sheets of fresh pasta. Dip your finger in a little water and trace lines along the pasta where you will eventually seal it together. Fold the pasta over and press down around the filling to seal, pushing out any pockets of air. Trim the raviolis up with a pizza cutter, then boil for 3 minutes or so.

about 50 fava bean pods
6 cloves garlic
4 tablespoons butter
4 olive oil
salt

You might want to prepare the fava beans to be sauteed while the pasta dough is resting.

Set a pot of water on to boil.

Remove the fava beans from their pods. This will take a while. Then, par boil those beans for 30 seconds or so. Plunge them in an ice water bath to stop the cooking and cool them. Then, remove the skins from the beans. You should be able to pinch the beans between your thumb and forefinger and squeeze the skins off.

You'll be left with lots of small, bright green beans. Take a look at what you started with. Yeah, fava beans take work. But they are worth it.

Over medium-low heat, saute the beans with the garlic for a couple minutes in the butter/oil. Season to taste with salt.

Place the fava beans in your serving bowls. Then, with a slotted spoon, scoop the raviolis from the boiling water directly onto the beans. Toss.

Serves 4-6.

More on Urban Farming in Detroit

Salon has a nice article about Detroit's urban farming and its potential for even larger-scale urban agriculture. It cites some well-worn but still shocking statistics about the amount of space Detroit has to potentially dedicate to urban agriculture: "an estimated 40 square miles -- more than 25,000 acres -- of vacant property."

As you've probably heard, Detroit is pushing a plan to intentionally shrink itself. Mayor Bing has said that this plan will refocus city residents and services in a smaller area and liberate land to return to prairie.

This was a Pizza Hut
Now it's all covered with daisies
you got it, you got it

[Talking Heads reminder via BoingBoing]

Arugula-Caper Pesto, Tomato, and Mozzarella Sandwich

I had some pesto left over, so I made this tasty sandwich of

ciabatta
pesto
tomatoes
and mozzarella

, toasted under the broiler.

(A pesto reminder:

2 cups loosely packed arugula
2 tablespoons capers
1 small clove garlic
2 tablespoons pine nuts
salt
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

In a food processor, combine the arugula, capers, garlic, and pine nuts with a little salt. Turn the machine on and stream the olive oil in until well blended. Check the seasoning, then spread onto a ciabatta slice.)

English Muffins

English muffins are a terrific thing to make as the weather warms. Rather than in a hot oven, you bake these slowly on the stovetop. That process produces something heavenly. Something light, soft, gentle.

Have I mentioned this summer will be Gentle Summer? English muffins are the mascot food for Gentle Summer. Eat them leisurely with a delightful Dennis Wilson tune and be nice to yourself.

1 1/3 cup milk
1 tablespoon honey
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil

Heat the milk until it feels just barely warm to the inside of your wrist. Whisk in the honey, then the yeast and let sit for about 5 minutes, until foamy.

Combine the flour and salt in food processor and pulse until mixed. Add the grapeseed oil and pulse another couple times. Then, with the machine running, add the milk in a steady stream. Allow the machine to continue running until a shaggy ball forms.

Place this ball in a large mixing bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel and let rise until doubled in size, 1 1/2-2 hours.

When the dough has risen, cut it into 12 roughly equally-sized pieces. Form each of these pieces into a 3-4 inch disk, then cover them all with plastic wrap or a damp towel and let rise for another 30 minutes until puffy.

Preheat a large dry skillet over low heat for about 10 minutes. Toss some cornmeal onto the skillet, then arrange the muffins in the pan. Cook them for a total of 15 minutes, flipping once or twice, until golden brown on both sides.

PS. In the back of the photo above are ricotta scrambled eggs. They are so good. You should make those too. Just mix some ricotta into your eggs and whip.

Guest Post: Spring Risotto with Leeks, Peas, Mint, and Preserved Meyer Lemon

Remember those awesome preserved Meyer lemons I was given a while ago? Well, they were a gift from today's lovely guest poster, Ingrid. I'm glad to have another cooking suggestion for them, but mostly I'm glad that Ingrid agreed to guest post this super-spring risotto. It seems like the perfect thing for a big Sunday dinner in coolish April. The kind of meal that says, gather round, loved ones. Let's eat some rice.


olive oil and butter
1 1/2 cups of risotto rice, such as Arborio or Carnaroli
3 to 4 cups of broth
1 cup of drinkable white wine
1 medium onion
1 large leek
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2 lb of peas (frozen peas are perfect for this, as they tend to be frozen at the height of sweetness)
one bunch of mint (reserve some sprigs for garnish if you're serving it to company)
one bunch of flat leaf parsley
grated Parmesan or Pecorino cheese
preserved Meyer lemon, chopped (or, substitute with a squeeze of fresh lemon)
capers

Disclaimer: Everyone who cooks risotto with some regularity will inevitably develop their own methods, forgoing exact measurements in favor of what "feels right." For this recipe, I measured out the amounts that felt appropriate, for the sake of clear communication because when I try a completely new recipe, especially if it has to do with baking, I find directions like "knead until ingredients come together" or "boil until sugar reaches soft ball stage" annoyingly imprecise because I am afraid of failure. Despite what you might have heard, risotto is forgiving and open to on-the-fly interpretation. Besides adjusting the amount of olive oil and butter, rice and broth, you might experiment with adding herbs at different stages, using red wine in lieu of white, or even substituting pearl barley and farro for rice.

Bring the stock up to a simmer and keep it there throughout the cooking process. Meanwhile, chop the onion, garlic, and leek. Leeks tend to have dirt and grit stuck between their layers, so be sure to carefully wash between them before chopping.

Pour enough olive oil into a pan to coat the bottom. I like to use a 2.5 quart pan for this amount of risotto - you want to choose a pan that doesn't have too much "floor," or so much surface area that the liquid evaporates too quickly. Add a few tablespoons of butter, and when the butter has melted completely, toss in the onion, garlic, and leek. Cook on medium-low heat for about 5-8 minutes, stirring occasionally. You can use this time to wash and finely chop the mint and parsley.

With the broth simmering on a nearby burner and an open bottle of white wine at your side, add the rice to the leek mixture. Stir or toss for about a minute, coating the rice with oil and butter, then add a small handful of parsley, toss again, and add the white wine. Continue stirring until the rice has absorbed the wine, reduce the heat ever so slightly, and add a ladleful of broth. Stir until absorbed, then add another ladle of broth. Personally, I judge the rice ready for more broth whenever I can draw the wooden spoon across the bottom of the pan without liquid quickly filling in the space behind. (see image to the right) Keep up this process until the rice is al dente: tender, not crunchy, not mushy.

With the risotto now on very low heat, add the mint, defrosted peas, and capers. The peas come up to temperature quickly, at which point you can take the pan off the stove, add another pat of butter and about 1/2 cup of grated cheese, and whip the risotto quickly with your wooden spoon (in Italian, this step is called manticare).

Season the risotto with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Garnish with preserved Meyer lemon or a squeeze of fresh lemon to brighten up the flavors.

Asparagus and Poached Egg with Arugula-Caper Pesto

Asparagus is back, babies! With peppery-tangy pesto to boot. So good. So springlike.

I made this for dinner, but it would be terrific for a brunch or lunch. Add toast or a grain for increased heartiness.

2 cups loosely packed arugula
2 tablespoons capers
1 small clove garlic
2 tablespoons pine nuts
salt
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 pound asparagus
4 eggs

In a food processor, combine the arugula, capers, garlic, and pine nuts with a little salt. Turn the machine on and stream the olive oil in until well blended. (If you want a thinner sauce, add water). Check the seasoning and set aside.

Set a large pot of water on to boil. Once boiling, turn down the heat to a nice simmer. Crack an egg into a ladle, and with another spoon, swirl the simmering water so a whirlpool of sorts forms in the pot. Carefully lower the ladle into the swirling water. Cook the egg until the whites become opaque, longer if you want a harder yolk.

Gently scoop the egg out with a slotted spoon, shaking it a little to release any loose threads of egg white. Repeat with the remaining eggs.

Finally, steam the asparagus until just cooked. Top with a poached egg, some of the arugula pesto, some grated parmesan cheese, coarse salt, and freshly ground black pepper.

Serves four.

Paula Deen on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me

This gem of an "interview" aired on my all time favorite radio show, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, about a year ago. But I just thought of it again yesterday.

In this clip, Peter and all the panelists take turns verbally gawking at the high-fat recipes in Paula's oeuvre. Though certainly entertaining, the whole affair is sort of weird and fetishistic. But where it could get a little uncomfortable, Paula steps in and turns it right around.

Take this exchange, for instance. One panelist asks what could be a smug I'm-making-fun-on-you (and-also-limiting-your-identity) question about her new furniture line:

"How do you deep fry an ottoman?"

And instead of responding with any kind of defense, hardy-har, or eye-rolly comment, the witty and utterly self-aware Paula says:

"Oh it's easy honey, you just dip it in egg first."

Love.

Hummus with Baked Pita Chips

I've been making hummus since I "worked" at the "Halfass" in the basement of my college dorm. The Halfass is sadly gone now. But at least I've become a better cook.

The giant batches of hummus that we made in that grimy basement were pretty good, but had a persistent, chalky mouthfeel. It didn't hurt the flavor, but the chalkiness really bothered me. I think I might be extra sensitive to this particular feeling, which feels like eating an unripe banana. I'm shuddering just thinking of it.

I never knew what produced this feeling, until I made hummus with Emily one lovely afternoon in her little house in Indiana. She showed me how to remove the skins from the garbanzo beans. We did this, and the hummus we made was creamy, smooth, chalk-free.

So, I encourage you to take the tedious time to pull the skins from your beans. It takes a while, but it's pretty easy. Just pinch the bean between your thumb and index finger. The skin will slide right off.

This is a basic recipe. If you want, dress it up. With roasted red or chipotle peppers. With sun-dried tomatoes. By substituting other beans. By adding a pesto. Etc. Etc.

2 (14 ounce) cans garbanzo beans, drained (liquid reserved), rinsed, and skins removed
1/2 cup tahini
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
juice of two small lemons
2 cloves garlic
salt + black pepper to taste
sweet paprika to garnish

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. Add a little of the reserved bean liquid along the way to loosen if necessary.

3 pitas, cut into 6 triangles
olive oil
cumin
paprika
red pepper flakes
sesame seeds
coarse salt

Preheat your oven to 375° F.

Paint the pita pieces with olive oil and lay them on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle with the cumin, paprika, red pepper flakes, sesame seeds, and salt. I'd say about a 1/2 teaspoon of each or as you like it.

Bake until crispy, 15-20 minutes.

Barbecue Tofu and Sesame Slaw Wrap

I'm into this combination. Where "into" means I have a lasting, long-arc love for crunchy slaw + tangy barbecue.

For this turn, I made an Asian-inspired slaw and put it all in a wrap because, well, I'm kind of into wraps right now. Where "into" means a current, possible trend-length, heightened appreciation for large thin tortillas.

2 carrots, cut into matchsticks
2 cups cabbage, shredded
2 scallions, chopped thinly crosswise
1/2 pear, cut into matchsticks
1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted
1 teaspoon freshly chopped ginger
1 tablespoon rice wine or apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon spicy yellow mustard
1 1/2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Combine all the vegetables in a large mixing bowl. In a separate, small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, mustard, oil, soy sauce, and red pepper flakes. Pour the sauce over the vegetables and toss to combine. Don't worry if your pear is on the soft side -- mine was and the fruit sort of disintegrated into the salad, spreading its subtle sweetness all throughout. It seems, perhaps, better that way.

Chill for at least 1/2 hour before serving.

8 ounces extra firm tofu
1-2 cups barbecue sauce

Preheat your oven to 350° F.

Remove tofu from its packaging and wrap it in a clean kitchen towel. Place it between two plates and weight the top one with something heavy, but stable. Let it sit like that for a while (perhaps while you make the slaw) to drain some of the moisture.

Remove the tofu from its towel wrap. Cut it into four pieces*. Lightly grease a non-stick baking sheet, then place the tofu on the sheet. Paint it with your favorite barbecue sauce.

Bake for about an hour, or until the edges are crispy.

Cut each piece of tofu into smaller pieces, then combine it with the slaw and a little more barbecue sauce in a large, thin tortilla.

* Not tested, speculation approved: since I usually bake tofu in pieces of this size, it was what I naturally did with these. But reflecting on this wrap, I think it would actually be better to cut the tofu up into smaller pieces to begin with, then sauce and bake them. I suspect smaller pieces would need less time in the oven. Keep an eye on them and take them out when the corners are crispy.

Serves 2-3.

Guest Post: Fresh Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Just in time for pre-summer (80° in Chicago again today!): I bring you this fresh-minty guest post from my great friend Heather. Heather's an ice cream pro. Well, actually she's a PhD student. But also a professional-level ice cream hobbyist! As she'll tell you below, she uses an inventive method to extract the mint flavor for this ice cream. And the end result sounds subtle and dreamy. Check out more of her creations on Ice Cream Recipe Exchange.


Fresh Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

I heart ice cream, and mint chocolate chip is my favorite flavor. Treasure Island had huge bunches of fresh mint this weekend, so I decided to try making my favorite ice cream by steeping the mint in the milk. It works for hazelnut chocolate ice cream and earl gray crème brulee, so why not mint?

The end result is completely different from your usual mint flavor. It’s very green and fresh. Mint extract will give you that cold sharp feeling in your mouth, but this is gentler, if not exactly subtle. My friend Kevin said it tasted like eating catnip. Scott loves it. I wasn’t a huge fan at first, but the flavor grows on you. Just don’t mentally compare it to traditional mint when you’re eating it, but think of it as a new flavor.

1 large handful mint leaves (still on the stems)
1 pint heavy cream
1 cup milk (I use 2% because it’s what I usually have around the
house, but most cookbooks recommend whole)
4 egg yolks
2/3 – 3/4 cup white sugar
1 cup (more or less if you like) mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, or
any other chocolate you like

Wash and pat the mint dry. Add to the cream and milk and scald in a medium-sized pot. Remove from heat and let steep for as long as you like (I let mine steep for about 4 hours sitting out; if you let it steep longer, I’d put it in the fridge once the milk cools to room temperature). Once it is done steeping, fish out the mint and squeeze out all the liquid from it.

Whisk the egg yolks until they look very yellow and smooth. While whisking, slowly pour in the sugar. Keep whisking until the mixture is at the ribbon stage (pale yellow, flows smoothly off the whisk when you lift it up). You could also use an electric mixer.

Reheat the mint cream mixture until it is steaming. Temper the egg/sugar mixture by slowly drizzling in the hot milk while stirring the eggs. Once it is all combined, put it back on the stove and bring the mixture back to up to steaming (don’t let it boil or the eggs will curdle). When the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a
spoon, take it off the heat, pour into a bowl, cover with saran wrap (to keep pudding scum from forming).

When the custard is cold, churn in ice cream maker following manufacturer’s instructions. When the ice cream is almost finished churning, add in chocolate chips. Freeze. Enjoy.

Homemade Pop Tarts

Since Gourmet died and along with it, its newsletter, I've been subscribed to the sadly not-as-terrific Bon Appetit newsletter. I hadn't made anything from it until last weekend when I saw a recipe for homemade pop tarts. Yeah, I know.

The newsletter marketed these as a "really easy" dessert. And I guess they are, if you consider making pie crust "really easy." I've made tons of pie crusts, but I still wouldn't call them easy.

But no matter. Easy or sort of hard, these are worth making. The crust is salty and crispy. And is totally awesome with fresh preserves that you can easily (I swear this is actually easy) make while the pie dough rests. I forwent the powdered sugar at the end and it wasn't missed.

You can find the recipe here. Make these and take them to a birthday brunch. I promise whomever you're celebrating will love them as much as my friend Ben did.

Dining Out Post

Meals; for Moderns is a blog about home cooking and eating in. But I'm blogging about eating out over at the Huffington Post this week. What are you favorite vegetarian restaurants in Chicago (or elsewhere)?

Did I mention that I am a vegetarian? Just getting that out of the way because, you know, I'm not going to be able to tell you how the sear a steak. But aside from actual how-to meat-eating, I hope to tell you lots. To begin with, eating vegetarian is no longer a narrow niche. Particularly in Chicago, where even places with menu items called Pig Destroyer can serve you a veggie burger ten ways.

So, below, I bring you a non-exhaustive round-up of my favorite vegetarian restaurant options in the city, organized by 100% arbitrary categories that I just made up.

(Read on)

Blueberry Lemon and Raspberry Orange Preserves

Last weekend, on the most beautiful day ever, for a friend's birthday brunch, I made homemade pop tarts. More on those to follow Wednesday, but here's the first piece: berry preserves for the filling. Make these on the next most beautiful day ever. And while they're cooling, watch this.

3 cups blueberries
1 1/2 cups sugar
zest of one lemon
a couple tablespoons of water

3 cups raspberries
1 1/2 cups sugar
zest of half an orange or grapefruit
a couple tablespoons of water

In a large saucepan, combine the berries, sugar, and zest. Add a little water to loosen the mixture and begin heating it over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Slowly turn up the heat (but not too much!) until the mixture begins to simmer. Then cook until the fruit breaks down and the syrup thickens, about 20 minutes. The syrup should be thick enough that it holds to the spoon a bit. It will solidify more as it cools.

If the syrup isn't thickening enough after 20 minutes, strain the fruit from the mixture and cook the syrup only until properly thickened. Then pour the syrup over the fruit and cool. (I had to do this with the blueberries, but not the raspberries).

Store in a glass jar. If you're making a big batch to keep around for a while, make sure to follow proper canning procedures.

Mini Morning Buns

I love morning buns so much. I prefer their crunchy outsides to the better-known, and doughier, cinnamon roll. And for five years now, I've been buying morning buns at the French Bakery in Hyde Park nearly every week. I'd never tried to make them, even though it was clear they were puff pastry and probably pretty simple to prepare.

Until last weekend. And now I could make them every weekend, they are so simple indeed.

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed (or homemade)
1 egg, beaten
cinnamon-sugar (about a cup?)

Preheat your oven to 400F and line a muffin tin (regular or mini size will work fine) with muffin cups. (Is that what those are called? It sounds so strange as I say it now.)

Lightly flour your work surface, then roll out the puff pastry until it's about 1/8" thick. With a very sharp knife or a pizza cutter, cut the puff pastry sheet in half lengthwise, then cut it into about 6-7 strips crosswise, for a total of 12-14 strips of dough.

Pick up a strip of dough and loosely roll it up. Pinch the seam on the outside to seal, then dip the dough roll in the egg wash, followed by the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place this, spiral end up, in a muffin cup. Repeat with the remaining strips.

Bake for about 20 minutes, until the morning buns have puffed up and crisped on the outside.

nb. If you want bigger morning buns, just cut bigger strips!

Guest Post: Whole Wheat Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today's guest poster, Maggie, is a student in the department where I work at the University of Chicago. I love to chat with her about food and to swap Chicago restaurant recommendations. She's an absolute delight (and the super genius who brought this gem into our lives). I've been bugging her for a while to do a guest post, and am so pleased that she agreed to share these cookies. Typically, and sadly, I don't get to try the food prepared by our guest posters. But these cookies! Maggie stopped by with a sample a few weeks ago and, friends, I was 100% smitten.

--

Three years of graduate school has taught me the following—

1. Cookies and books are an even better pairing than cookies and milk.


2. It’s pretty easy to inhale an entire row of Oreos before finishing the preface.
   

Unfortunately, that kind of sugar/corn syrup habit is gross and unsustainable. This recipe for whole-wheat almond chocolate chip cookies is a better alternative.

My favorite cookie recipes are the ones written on the back of chocolate chip packaging. Trader Joe’s semi-sweet chocolate chips supplied the foundation for this variation, which substitutes whole wheat flour for white and uses half the fat. In the Meals; for Moderns spirit, I replaced the original recipe’s two sticks (1 cup) of butter with ½ a cup of grape seed oil. The switch had a substantial effect on the consistency: moist and chewy cookies, particularly satisfying given that they were made with all whole-wheat flour (none of that part-whole-wheat-part-white crap). The trick seemed to be first adding ¼ cup of 2% milk to loosen the batter and then sticking the dough in the fridge for an hour and a half before baking. What came out of the oven has been called, “chewy, light, not coarse or dry. best whole wheat cookie [Becky’s] ever eaten.”

(Too bad the pictures suck. Nabisco’s got better photographers.)


Whole Wheat Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from the Trader Joe’s choco-chip bag, by Trader Joe

2 ¾ cups white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ cup grape seed oil
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup of 2% milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
¾ cup sliced toasted almonds

Preheat the oven to 375. In a small bowl, mix together the whole-wheat flour, salt, and baking soda. In a second, large bowl, cream the grape seed oil, brown sugar, white sugar, milk, and vanilla. Beat in the eggs. You can do all this mixing with a wooden spoon.

Now add the dry ingredients to the wet ones. Stir in the chocolate chips and almonds. Cover the dough and let sit in the fridge for an hour and a half or so. Using a teaspoon, scoop the dough onto a lightly greased cookie sheet—I use grape seed oil for this too—and bake 8-10 minutes.

When they come out of the oven, let the cookies cool on a cut-open brown paper bag. There’s not much excess grease to these cookies but the paper bag will absorb whatever there is.

Once the cookies have cooled for a minute or two, eat a thousand of them.

Here, try one:

Barbecue Tempeh Stir Fry

Yesterday, the weather report on NPR said it would be a high of 80 and sunny. But when I ventured out on my lunch break to return eight overdue library books, it was grey and cold(ish). The weather, combined with the book return, made me feel gloomy. These were the books I'd carried around with me since last Summer when I began translating Fanny Rubio. And their renewal limit was up.

So, I returned them. And yes, I can check them out again. But this return felt like a first major step of many more to come. The steps of closing out our lives in Chicago. They're sad steps.

Thankfully, by the time I left work, it was near 80 and sunny. I made this quick stir fry in the kitchen with the window open, and we ate it on the porch. Porch life=the life. There must be porches in Pennsylvania. And I know there is tempeh. I rejoiced in the grocery store when we spotted it.

Marinade
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
1 jalapeño, minced
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons water
1/4 cup mirin
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon sesame oil

Combine the ingredients above in a sauce pan over medium low heat and whisk until the sugar dissolves.

1 carrot, cut into matchsticks
1 cup loosely packed shredded savoy cabbage
8 ounces tempeh, cut into strips

Pour the marinade over the carrot, cabbage, and tempeh. Marinate for at least 30 minutes. Then cook all in a wok, or large saute pan, over high heat for about 5 minutes, or until the sauce cooks down a bit and the tempeh is warmed through.

Serve over rice. Top with toasted sesame seeds and chopped scallions.

(this recipe with thanks to The Vegetarian Times and Gourmet)

Textile Girls Cooks!

A couple weeks ago I did a weird and wonderful project with my pals, the Textile Girls. Below, the video result. I really love the way it turned out. It was super fun to juxtapose the cooking "show" against the loud-loud music and masked musicians. I like the contrast of the cooking (creation!) with the literal destruction of the kitchen cabinets and other furniture.

It was really fun to put this together. My husband was filming and I kept watching his reaction to what was going on behind me. It was so, so hard not to laugh, crack a smile, or react to the incredibly loud and unexpected banging in the background. But I got through the single take (mostly) without acknowledging the band in the kitchen and (bonus!) with my ear drums still in tact.

We might do more of these videos, or possibly a stage show. Stay tuned. It's the Textile Girls experience.

Puff Pastry Apple Tart

This is the first of two puff-pieces I made for Easter this weekend. This one: dessert following a pizza and basketball party Saturday night. It certainly sweetened the evening after MSU's loss. My brother is in college there, so my family had been rooting for a Spartan win.

But an underdog story and an apple tart were really not too bad either.

4 apples
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 sheet puff pastry, defrosted (you could also make your own)

Preheat your oven to 400 F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Peel, core, and roughly chop two of the apples. Place these, with a little bit of water and the cinnamon, into a sauce pan. Cook over medium-low heat until the apples break down. All apples are different, so some may break down more quickly than others. You want a thick and relatively dry applesauce. When this comes together, set aside to cool.

Peel and core the remaining two apples, then slice them very thinly. You could drizzle these slices with a little lemon juice if you like.

Lightly flour your work surface, then roll out the puff pastry until it's about 1/8" thick. About one inch from the edge, cut into the dough with a sharp knife to create a border. Prick the dough inside that border all over with a fork, then spread with the apple sauce. Place the apple slices on top of the apple sauce, then bake for 15-20 minutes, until the crust is golden brown.

When this is finished, you could glaze the apples with a little apricot jam mixed with warm water. I didn't have any, and the tart was fine without it, but the jam would give you a shinier end result.

Lentil Meatballs

This recipe is a semi-fail. These meatballs held together much better than the last ones, but they tasted a little more like falafel than meatballs. Yes. They tasted like falafel on spaghetti, which wasn't a terrible taste, but not really what I was going for either.

One day, friends. I promise I'll find that vegetarian meatball recipe yet.

1 cup dry lentils
2 shallots
1-2 cloves garlic
3 tablespoons parsley
2 tablespoons chives
salt and red pepper flakes to taste
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons seasoned bread crumbs
1 egg, beaten

Cook the lentils, then puree them. Allow them to cool, then combine with the remaining ingredients. Form into balls and fry them in neutral oil in a hot skillet.

Guest Post: White Rabbit Ginger Ale

Our old pal Amanda is back with a seasonal offering to this most lovely weather. Can't you just picture yourself drinking White Rabbit Ginger Ale on a hillside, in a park, by a river, lake, or sea? O! Spring! Thanks for coming back this year.


White Rabbit Ginger Ale

Don't worry, this recipe is vegetarian. I call it White Rabbit Ginger Ale today for four reasons:

1. This beverage would make a lovely addition to your Easter brunch table;
2. I have recently seen various versions of Alice in Wonderland;
3. I have been listening to Jefferson Airplane;
4. Today is the first of the month. Nobody likes a fool and nobody likes to feel like a fool, so rather than focusing on the Aprilness of it, I'm focusing on the good luck charm of it (if you don't know what I mean, check out this Wikipedia article on rabbit rabbit white rabbit).

Recipe makes 1/2 liter of ginger syrup (or a little more)
Time investment: 5 hours or so (including simmering and cooling time)
Hands-on time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
1 liter of filtered water
1 large stalk of fresh ginger, scrubbed clean and cut into medallions (it's not necessary to peel)
1 12 ounce container of agave nectar (or 1+ c. sugar)
Your favorite seltzer water (I like Topochico)

Bring to boil, in a large pot, the filtered water and ginger. Reduce heat and simmer without the lid for 1.5-2 hours. You can't really overcook; the longer you simmer the spicier your syrup will be. I usually can tell that it's time to stop when it starts to smell earthy.

Strain the brewed ginger water into another large pot so that all medallions and bits of peel are removed.

Add the agave nectar and stir. You can add less or more, depending on how sweet you like your drink.

Bring the liquid to a boil, again, and simmer for around twenty minutes or so.

Pour the hot ginger brew into a glass pitcher and cool on the counter before putting it in the fridge for several hours.

When you're ready to serve, fill a glass with ice and pour it half-full with the ginger concentrate. Top it off with your favorite seltzer water. Feed your head.

Garnishes worth considering: lemon, crystallized ginger, dried pears, raspberries, bourbon. Syrup will keep in fridge for about a week.