Meals; for Moderns

Guest Post: Pear Gingerbread Upside-Down Cake

2012-01-27T13:03:00.001-06:00

At my local food co-op the other day, I got one of the best check out people. (Although, they are all kind of the best. But this one. This one.) She's best because of how excited she gets about your purchases.

"Triple cream!? Come on!"

"Barbecue chipotle!? Ohhhhh shit!"

She is like the locally sourced version of the four-on-the-floor capitalism club music they play at cheap clothing chains to get you SO PUMPED for buying. It works. I swear I would buy all the groats that bulk bin has to offer if it would please this woman.

And how she appears to feel is exactly how I feel whenever a guest post from Sabra shows up in my email. "Pear gingerbread upside-down cake!? Girl, yes!"

It’s true, I love making upside-down cakes (see my Peach Cornmeal Lavender Upside-Down Cake post). They never fail to look impressive, although they are deceptively easy. This recipe is no exception. The trick lies in using a well-seasoned cast-iron pan. I have made this cake many times, most recently for a Christhanukkahmus celebration with my partner. Although we had our fair share of it for dessert, I brought the leftovers to two other events the following week, where it received rave reviews. This is truly a delicious recipe. The pears become caramelized, perfectly complementing the gingerbread cake underneath. The leftovers are also nice for breakfast, alongside a steaming cup of coffee. The recipe comes from Epicurious, one of my go-to websites for cooking (and baking) inspiration. It originates from my favorite magazine Gourmet (may you rest in peace, dear foodie magazine!). Enjoy!

Topping:
2 ½ firm Bosc pears, cored and cut into 8 wedges each
½ stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
¾ cup packed brown sugar

Cake:
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp salt
1 cup molasses
1 cup boiling water
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten

For the topping, melt the butter in a 10-12 inch cast-iron skillet over moderate heat until the foam subsides. (Note: as I emphasized in my last upside-down cake post, using a well-seasoned cast-iron skillet is a must! Otherwise the cake will stick when you try to invert it). Reduce the heat to low, and sprinkle the brown sugar over the bottom of the skillet. Cook it, undisturbed, for 3 minutes (not all of the sugar will be melted). Arrange the pears decoratively over the sugar and cook them, undisturbed, for 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.

For the cake, preheat the oven to 350˚F. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk together the molasses and boiling water in a separate small bowl. Beat together the butter, brown sugar, and egg in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Then alternately mix in the flour mixture and molasses in three batches at low speed until smooth.

Pour the batter over the topping in the skillet, spreading it evenly. Be careful not to disturb the pears! Bake the cake in the middle of the oven until a tester comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes.

Cool the cake in the skillet on a rack for 5 minutes. Then run a thin knife around the edge of the skillet. Invert a large plate with a lip over the skillet. Use pot holders to hold the skillet and plate tightly together while inverting the cake onto the plate. (Note: an extra pair of hands can be useful for the inverting process). Replace any pears that stick to the skillet.

Serve the cake warm or at room temperature, with vanilla ice cream on the side.

Lunch-lunch Souffle

2012-01-23T16:00:00.001-06:00

Oh man you guys. I'm really back now. Backlogged with things to internet-show you.

Including: I made this lunch the other day. And it was shortly after hearing a Splendid Table episode (new to my Pennsylvania local station, or new time and I caught it? something?) that talked about a tea room, and tea rooms in general, which, as they describe it, are few these days.

Few, but powerfully nostalgic for a certain kind of lunch.

You know. Lunch-lunch. Pale. Dainty. Light but not in the low-fat way. Bits. Pieces. Crocheted. Careful.

I've never been to a tea room, but, as a part of the development work I used to do for my dear art historians of yore, I sometimes did get to eat these sorts of elegantly-remembering lunches. While listening to lectures. Bonus!

So, when some friends were coming over for lunch the other day, I wanted to try to make a lunch like those lunches. A lunch-themed-lunch.

And I did. Cucumber sandwiches. Endive almond salad. Carrot soup. This souffle. And another very special thing that will appear here later.

Lunch-lunch ruled.

And, by the way. Don't be afraid of the souffle. They are so not hard to make and not as finicky as people make them out to be. If you can work an electric mixer you can pretty much make a souffle. Just take the steps one at a time and find sophisticated, savory success on the other end.

Get the recipe for these cheese + chive souffles here.

Carrot and (Sweet) Potato(es) Curry

2012-01-16T10:38:00.002-06:00

Where did I go. I wonder this. Perhaps you do. Or you've forgotten or gotten tired of food and want to eat only fashion blogs from now on. These are things that can happen in a mild winter away.

I, I've been away. And then sick. And I have really not cooked anything almost at all since I was in Michigan and making mostly old hits and hotstuffs for my family that weren't really novel-to-this-blog enough to be worthy of posting. Although!, there was this one thing: The Awl's tofurkey, which I made for Christmas dinner and was seriously perfect but left unphotographed.

I used to wonder what people ate when they were the same people who said "I don't cook" and as I became, momentarily, one of those people, I will tell you that the answer is take out and bagels and, oh, oh, things from the freezer. I've been sick, ok? By the way, have you seen Buffy the Vampire Slayer (television)? Because it's the other thing I've been mostly doing during this of-late sickness break. It's so good, isn't it?

Anyway. Today I'm doing this (blogging). And last night I did this (above/below) and that, in general, is better. And this (above/below, curry) was terrific for the sudden pang of real winter that is greeting my reemergence.

Hey. Welcome back. It's 2012. Let's eat some food together.

2 tablespoons neutral oil like grape seed or canola
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 small carrots, peeled and chopped
1 jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped or red pepper flakes to taste
2 teaspoons curry powder
1/4 teaspoon dry ginger
salt
3 or 4 new potatoes, chopped
1 small sweet potato, peeled if the skin is tough, and chopped
1 can unsweetened coconut milk
2 tablespoons toasted dry shredded coconut
1/2 teaspoon agave nectar
cooked brown rice for serving
cilantro, chopped

In a large pot, heat the oil over medium. Add the onions, garlic, carrots, and spicy pepper along with the dry spices and a pinch of salt. Stir to combine. Cover and continue cooking until the carrots, in particular, are beginning to soften and release some moisture. You may need to stir intermittently.

Add the sweet and regular potatoes and continue cooking until they are just beginning to soften. At that point, stir in the coconut milk, making sure to scrape the pot to get the spices mixed in. Bring to just under a boil, then lower the heat and simmer until all the vegetables are cooked through.

Stir in the toasted coconut, along with more salt and a bit of agave nectar or another sweetener if desired.

Serve over rice. Garnish with cilantro.

Serves, oh, about three.

Dorothy's Butter Cookies

2011-12-21T12:48:00.000-06:00

In case you wanted to make some last minute cookies and happened to have a cookie press laying around. The two are not mutually exclusive, no-oh.

Dorothy was my grandmother. She was kind and jolly and I loved her so much. These are some cookies she used to make, which, like everything she made, cut straight to the heart of things. They're called butter cookies for a reason, and when my mom and I doubled the batch the other day, we gazed down upon six sticks of butter in the bowl, then moved slowly forward.

You'll eat them much faster. Happy Christmas, friends.

3 sticks salted butter, softened (add salt--I'm not sure how much--if you are using unsalted butter)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla
4 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat your oven to 400° F.

With an electric mixer, beat butter in a large bowl until soft and fluffy. Gradually add the sugar, beating as you go. Beat in egg, and finally, the vanilla.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and baking power. Gently beat these dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, a little bit at a time, until everything is combined. It should form a very thick dough. We used a standard hand mixer (actually two, as our first one was broken by this dough) but if you have a stand mixer, you may want to give the dough hook a try at some point.

Refrigerate the dough for 15 minutes or so.

Spoon the cooled dough into a cookie press and press cookies out onto ungreased baking sheets.

Decorate, then bake the cookies in batches, about 7 minutes per batch.

Makes approximately 5 dozen cookies.

2011-12-20T09:43:00.003-06:00

This momentary pause turned in a mostofDecember pause. I'll be back, though, I promise. For now, some merriment.

2011-12-02T11:17:00.001-06:00

Momentary pause, my friends. Instead of writing leisurely about food I'm writing writing writing writing feverishly about poetry, and art, and the places they overlap. It's good, consuming. Sometimes I eat pizza at my desk. See you when I emerge.

Meanwhile, here is a song for you to listen to.

Apple Ricotta Quick Bread

2011-11-22T19:11:00.000-06:00

I hope you cuties have super Thanksgivings. As a pre-holiday-awaying note, here is a so-simple, so-tasty apple quickbread for you to make in case you're interested in eating something other than apple pie for breakfast.

Although, really, why would you be? Best save this one for next week and just go ahead and fall face-first into that breakfast pie.

Now I better get back to my vacation hat.

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup whole milk ricotta
1/2 cup 2% or whole milk
2 tablespoons canola or grape seed oil
2 large apples, cored and chopped (leave peels on), about 3 cups

Preheat your oven to 400° F. Line or grease a standard bread pan.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flours, salt, baking soda, and cinammon.

In a larger bowl, whisk together the sugar, egg, ricotta, milk, and oil.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stirring to mostly combine. Toss in the apples and finish stirring until all is just incorporated.

Bake for about 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. About 30 minutes in, check and if the top is browning too quickly, cover with foil and finish cooking at 350° F.

2011-11-21T21:34:00.001-06:00

I wrote this recipe for the Huffington Post. (Um based on one I had already written for you, my first loves). Check it out!

Guest Post: Red Lentil Soup, Spicy and Sweet

2011-11-18T06:06:00.000-06:00

I'm working on something Thanksgivingish at the moment for our old pals at the Huffington Post (which I always type as "Huggington Post," a typo so heartwarming, I had to share).

So, Maggie is here today--all the way from Copenhagen, land of, among other things, inspiring cyclists and amazing-sounding produce. I've never cooked anything but baked goods with dried fruit, but the apricots here seem so perfect. I must try this. Oh, Maggie. Come back soon, ok?

P.S. If you're looking for Thanksgiving inspiration, try the archive at the right (all the 10s/11s/12s will get you to some cool weather foods). Or check back Monday to see what I've cooked up for the HuggPo.

I’ve recently relocated to Copenhagen and am still working out the kinks in my cooking groove. The other day I made big strides after biking home with 5kg of fresh organic produce from Københavns Fødevarefællesskab. This translates to something like Copenhagen’s Food Community, and, as the name suggests, it’s a lot like a CSA. But there are two big differences. The first is that instead of being linked to a specific farm, it’s organized by the purchasers who source from a rotating set of farmers. This means that, and here’s the second difference, rather than signing up for a season, you sign up each week. You can skip whenever you want, or double up if you’re expecting guests or planning a dinner party. And since the whole thing is run by the buyers, joining the community means not just dropping dough for your weekly share, but donating three hours each month to help keep things running (assembling produce bags, signing up new members, etc.).

First bag was a treasure trove: apples, parsnips, spaghetti squash, chili peppers, tiny red onions, potatoes, and the most oystery-looking oyster mushrooms you ever did see. A bunch of these things went into this great red lentil soup, perfect for foggy autumn nights—

2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tiny red onions, or 1 medium sized regular one
6 small potatoes chopped into ¾ in chunks
2 large garlic cloves
Salt
Pepper
1 red chili pepper
9 black apricots, dried
1 cup red lentils, dried
1 can diced tomatoes
3 cups vegetable broth

Heat the olive oil in a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat. Dice the onions and throw ‘em into the pot once the oil is hot. While they’re browning, wash, peel and cube the potatoes. Throw the potatoes in the pot and let them sauté for a bit while mincing the garlic. (If it seems like anything in the pot is starting to burn, pour in a few splashes of water.) Stir in the garlic along with some salt and pepper (I like more of both, you may like less). Seed and mince the chili pepper and put it in the pot along with the vegetable broth, the diced tomatoes and the lentils. Chop up the apricots into small pieces and then add them to the pot. Give the mixture a quick stir or two and then cover and let the combo simmer for 40 minutes or so. It’ll probably be ready to eat when the lentils have cooked after 20, but the longer you leave it on the stove, the more the broth will thicken and the apricots will plump and start to fall apart.

Makes 2 hefty servings.

Celery Root "Stuffing" Strata

2011-11-11T06:30:00.000-06:00

Every time I make a strata, I worry that we've all forgotten what a strata is. To hedge that worry-bet, trace these breadcrumbs home. Then come back. Because I know I said that cauliflower one was "like" stuffing. But this is "a lot like" stuffing. Which makes it better, obvs.

But, no, actually, that cauliflower one was really good. So is this. Take away: you can put almost anything into a strata and make a terrific meal for yourself. Like, one time, my friend Denise made a basil mozzarella one that, oh, oh. That. Oh.

What do you have in your refrigerator? Tell me in the comments and I will write you a strata recipe. As long as you have eggs and stale bread. I swear. Call my bluff. Try it.

Here's what I had in my refrigerator. It's a smaller serving, as I'm cooking for one at the moment. Double up if you've got a group.

Oh, also, I diced my vegetables, but I think they would be better grated, so they can kind of melt into the dish. Directions adjusted below. Dicing works too, of course, it just becomes a bit harder to eat without it all falling apart all over the place/plate.

about 3 cups chopped stale bread
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup grated celery root
1 small onion, grated
1 carrot, peeled and grated
1/4 cup packed finely chopped par-boiled & drained kale or other hearty greens (or about 1 cup fresh spinach)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
leaves from about 2 sprigs of thyme
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/8 cup grated parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 375° F.

Place the bread in the bottom of a small baking dish.

Whisk together the eggs and milk. Stir the vegetables and herbs into this mixture and add a good amount of salt and pepper.

Pour this mixture over the bread pieces. Stir well to coat.

Bake until slightly puffed up and golden brown, about 40 minutes (a bit longer if you are doubling the recipe). Let rest on the counter for 10 minutes prior to serving.

Serves 2-3.

Spicy Pumpkin and Black Bean Tempeh Chili

2011-10-31T19:22:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween, pals. I'm sure you're celebrating right now and creeping people out in a hilariously clever way. You think ahead like that.

Me, I'm hiding in the dark from trick or treaters because of how I'm terrible at Halloween and slipping quicker than I'd like into the type of miserly neighbor who does things like, oh, for example, cook dinner by flashlight so as not to make myself visible to the children and teens--oh God, especially the teens--who only want to spread and receive joy and/or mischief.

You have to understand, though. Since college, I've lived mostly in apartment buildings with other young (but not that young) people and no one trick or treats in those kinds of buildings. And now, I live in a small house with a couple of apartments on a street with REAL people. And it didn't occur to me that some of these REAL people would come by and want candy until they were coming by and wanting candy. And I wanted, badly, to go to them with high fructose corn-syrup and smile and be so excited about their costumes. I wanted this badly.

But, as I've explained, that didn't really work out. Although, I did make a totally so-great chili with like everything in my refrigerator. Including pumpkin! YEAH. So, I guess the night turned out alright.

And next year, I am going to get all the candy. Swearsies.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small carrot, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 red jalapeño or other pepper, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon coriander
salt
4 ounces tempeh, crumbled
about 6 crimini mushrooms, chopped
1 (14 ounce) can whole tomatoes, with their juice
1/2 (14 ounce) can black beans, no juice
1/2 cup corn
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup cilantro

Heat the olive oil over medium-low in a dutch oven or other heavy soup pot. Add the carrot, onion, jalapeño, and garlic. Stir a bit, then add the dry spices and a sprinkle of salt. Continue cooking until the onions begin to soften.

Add the tempeh and mushrooms and continue cooking, browning these things, for a couple of minutes more. Stir in the tomatoes, beans, corn, and pumpkin, breaking up the tomatoes with your spoon. Simmer all for about 15 minutes or so, until the flavors are blended and the carrots have cooked.

Season to taste with more salt. Garnish with cilantro. Yours might not even be wilting!

This is vegan, but not if you also garnish with cheddar cheese and sour cream, which really help you forget your accidental mean-neighborness.

[With thanks to.]

Guest Post: The Best Lemon Bars I've Ever Made

2011-10-28T05:48:00.000-05:00

How's the weather where you are? Oh, is it good? Oh, that's awesome for you.

Because here, it's wintry mix--a special kind of unkind in this, only-October. Though lucky for us, our favorite dessert lady, Sabra, is dropping by to breathe some sunshine (I'm here to mix some metaphors, as usual) into these cloudy clouds.

My parents are visiting this weekend. If we get stuck inside, making and eating some of these sounds like a pretty good way to spend a day with the people you love.

I made these barsrecently as a last hurrah to summer. I brought them to a departmentpotluck, where only a few people knew my reputation as The DessertLady. At the potluck, I overheard one person call them “lemoncheesecake bars,” and another person call them “delicious squaresof sunshine.” I completely agree with both descriptions, thoughthey are not actually made of cheesecake. Since my discovery of thisrecipe a few years ago, I have made it many times – usually duringthe summer months for barbecues and picnics. But these bars areappropriate for any time and place. The recipe is easy, but takessome planning ahead because of the refrigeration process – they arecompletely worth the extra time! The original recipe (from myfavorite baker, Martha Stewart) calls them “Creamy Lemon Squares.” But I just call them “The Best Lemon Bars I’ve Ever Made.” Enjoy!

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, roomtemperature

1/2 cup powdered sugar, plus more fordusting

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup flour

4 egg yolks

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from about 3lemons)

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Butter an8-inch square baking pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper,leaving an overhang on two sides. Then butter the paper. (It seemsstrange to take the time to line the baking pan, but it’s the onlyway to get the bars out of the pan neatly).

The Crust:

Using an electric mixer, beat thebutter, sugar, and salt until light and fluffy. Add the flour andmix on low until just combined. Press the dough into the bottom ofthe pan and 1/2 inch up the sides. Prick the dough all over with afork. Bake the crust until lightly golden, 15 to 20 minutes.

The Filling:

In a large bowl, whisk together theyolks, condensed milk, and lemon juice until smooth. (Fresh lemonjuice is the key to this recipe. The bars won’t be the samewithout it, although I bet they would be delicious with fresh limejuice instead!). Pour the mixture over the hot crust in the pan. Return it to the oven and bake until the filling is set, 25 to 30minutes. Cool completely in the pan.

Refrigerate until the filling is firm,about 2 hours or up to 3 days. Using the paper overhang, lift thebars out onto a work surface. Cut them into 16 squares, and dustwith powdered sugar, using a sifter.

Green Grape Salsa

2011-10-21T15:01:00.001-05:00

I've been making so many quick salsas like this one lately. And one just like this but with maybe two large pears instead of grapes. And one like this. And others. And eating chips and salsa for lunch at 4:30 while I figure out what I can eat for dinner in an hour.

Lunch is hard to eat sometimes. Life is so busy. Life and lunch. LIFE AND LUNCH.

But, this salsa is so easy to make and totally great to eat. It's also really wonderful to pronounce: green grape salsa. Its alliterative beauty beat out the pear version to make it onto this internet. But the pear version is good too. Try them both and love them.

Hey, P.S. I've been playing around with the look of ye olde M;4M. And now the (newer) pictures are bigger. Which is sort of weird because close up giant food pictures are sometimes bigger than lifesize but, whatever. Bigger/better, yes. Take a look if you are reading on a reader.

about 1 1/2 cups seedless green grapes
1 small clove garlic, peeled
1 small onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 jalapeño pepper, roughly chopped
1/4 cup cilantro leaves
juice of about 1 (or so) lime(s)
salt to taste

Put these things in a blender or food processor. Blend.

Makes two cups or something.

Acorn Squash Ricotta Tostada

2011-10-14T09:15:00.000-05:00

Do you guys have imaginary restaurants? I have elaborate plans for mine. To make it as impractically expansive as possible, it would be open from breakfast to bar time and serve all the delicious vegetarian Americana. Basically, it's the Handlebar, except, you know, imaginary, which sadly the Handlebar is also nearing for me, so far from Chicago as I am, so deep into nostalgiatown as I am.

And this. This is definitely going on the imaginary menu. I love acorn squash so much. And with Mexican flavors even more.

Today is my birthday. It feels good to tell you that. And now I will use your sympathies to go on this nostalgic tangent. The first time I ate acorn squash, as a child, was horrifying. I could not believe what it was doing to me. Trying to kill me with its disgusting tastes as I choked it down with water.

There's really no lesson there, except, we all grow older, yes, we age. And thankfully I aged into loving squash because: THIS. Did I tell you how awesome it was?

1 small acorn squash
olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon (or to taste) red pepper flakes
salt
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
corn tortillas
guacamole (oh look, here I am talking about the Handlebar again)
arugula

Cut off the stem end and bottom tip of the squash. With a vegetable peeler and patience, peel it. Cut it in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Clean and discard the pulp, and reserve the seeds.

Chop the squash into about 1/2 inch cubes. Do your best. Exactness not required.

In a large saute pan, heat a tablespoon or so of the olive oil over medium-low. Add the garlic and onion, along with the cumin, coriander, and red pepper flakes (not the chili powder). Stir a little. Cook this until the onions begin to soften, then add the squash. Sprinkle with a little salt. Cook it like that, mostly leaving it alone, but tossing it occasionally, until the squash is soft to a knife-poke. Maybe 20-30 minutes?

Meanwhile, in a smaller pan, heat another tablespoon or so of the olive oil over medium-low. Add the chili powder to this, then the reserved squash seeds. Toast these up for about 10 or 15 minutes, until they puff up and begin to pop. Season to taste with salt. Eat some of them while the squash continues cooking.

Now, fry up a corn tortilla, flipping it once with tongs., until crisp. Drain on a paper bag. Fry up another. You probably have enough squash to make about 6 tostadas. Keep going, or save some for later.

Spread a layer of ricotta on your tostada. Spoon some squash on top. Spoon some guacamole on top of that. Add some arugula. Maybe some hot sauce. And some of those seeds, if you haven't eaten them all already.

Vegetable Rice Soup

2011-10-07T10:15:00.000-05:00

Oh, hey fall. Hey, hey soup.

I'm sick. This is a thing that happens each fall because I work at a university and all the students are living on top of each other, breathing the same bad air, sharing toothbrushes, and having makeout parties. Or whatever the kids are up to these days.

I'm a week away from 29 but I've already become insufferably 'Kids these days!'-ish. I'll just go back to eating soup at 4:30 and reading until I fall asleep at 8:00. Don't mind me and my housedress.

Ok, but this soup ought to appeal to all ages. It is timeless and kind. And thanks to its particular mix of ingredients and spices, tastes a lot like Thanksgiving, which: yes. And it's so easy. And if you chop everything up so small, it cooks so quickly. And it's endlessly adaptable. I made basically the same soup a week later, but that time with dry basil as the spice and kale instead of corn or spinach. It was also delicious and kind to me.

This particular version, though, is really nice thanks to the corn. It was sort of a last minute addition, but it added this great, gentle sweetness to the soup that deepened and rounded the broth. Whatever that means. You'll know when you taste it, though. And it means something good.

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 average-sized carrots, peeled and finely chopped
the heart (leaves and all) of one celery bunch, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon dry sage
1/2 teaspoon dry thyme
1 large red skin potato, chopped
1 cup corn
1 cup finely chopped seitan
about 4 cups low sodium vegetable broth
salt
pepper
cooked brown rice
fresh spinach

In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium. Add the carrots, celery, and onion. (Nice mirepoix you got there!) Add the dry spices and a sprinkle of salt. Stir and continue cooking until the vegetables begin to soften.

At this point, add the potato, corn, and seitan, and allow these to cook with the aromatics for a couple of minutes. Then add as much vegetable broth as seems right to you. Bring the soup to a boil, then simmer until the potatoes are cooked through, 10 or 15 minutes.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.

In each serving bowl, spoon a heaping tablespoon of rice (it won't seem like much, but rice does this thing where it drinks up your entire soup before you can, so, it's enough, definitely). Top with the soup, then garnish with some fresh spinach.

I served this with whole grain toast. I am so into toast right now, you guys.

Serves four to six.

Whole Wheat Pizza

2011-09-29T07:09:00.000-05:00

I left my pizza stone in Pennsylvania. Bury my heart at wounded pizzas. Or something. Or, right, that's how I felt about things, if you'll run with me along a very tenuous metaphor. Making pizza without a pizza stone is not delicious. I mean, it's made of pizza parts so it's not like terrible, but those parts on that stone are definitely more delicious.

Stone-hot-bettered. But I can't buy two of everything when, in summer, my things and loved ones will all rejoin/joice. So, I'm figuring out how to make a better pizza without a pizza stone and here is what I figured: bake the pizza on a cookie sheet, sitting on the bottom of your oven, not on a rack, for a while, then move it up to a rack near the top of your oven. CONDUCT/CONVECT, that is our aim.

And, pals, this method is totally awesome. I'm almost smug when thinking about a pizza stone now. But not really. But, yeah, really. Here, the bottom crisps. The top browns. All the parts, at their best.

(UPDATE: I just realized this only really works for gas ovens, as electric ovens have a winding metal heat element at their bases that you should not put a pizza directly onto, probably. Electric oveners, your best bet is, I would guess, to put the pizza on the lowest rack for a little while, then the top rack for a little while. Or get a pizza stone, for reals.)

Here's a recipe for the crust you see above.

1 1/8 cups warm (not hot) water
1 packet active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons olive oil

In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine the water, yeast, and sugar. Let sit for 5-10 minutes until the yeast has dissolved and the mixture looks milky and smells like bread.

In the bowl of your food processor, combine the flours and salt. Pulse the machine a few times, then turn on and slowly add olive oil, followed by the yeast-water mixture. Knead with the processor until just after a ball of dough forms.

With your pizza stone inside, preheat your oven to its hottest (non-broil) setting.

Place the dough in the bowl, covered with plastic wrap or a damp towel, to rise for an hour or an hour and a half. The dough should be doubled in size.

Remove the dough from the bowl and set it on a clean, floured work surface. Divide the ball in half. (This recipe makes two pizza crusts. What will you top yours with?.) Then, gently press one of the dough balls out into a large round, turning it as you go and adding flour (not too much!) as needed.

Generously sprinkle a cookie sheet with cornmeal and transfer your pizza crust onto it. Top as you wish. This one has chopped canned tomatoes, dry basil, garlic, onions, and fresh mozzarella.

Bake the pizza for about five minutes on the bottom of your oven and for another few on the top rack until browning all around.

Sweet Potato Pancakes

2011-09-23T10:56:00.000-05:00

I guess I'm a once-a-week blogger now. Maybe more in some aspirational future. We'll see, but for now, here's something for you to think about this week. Sweet potato pancakes.

When I went to make these, I went to my blog, as I do, to follow the recipe I surely had already recorded here. But I couldn't find one, though I'm still not totally convinced I never posted one before, because, seriously? Potato pancakes are my number one jam, as you know, well, besides tacos, obviously, but we're on a stomach-lining-healing break.

So, anyway, here's the recipe I and you can look to in some future month when I and you want to eat these again. Which I and we will. Because they are great.

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
several turns of freshly cracked black pepper
1 cup milk
1 egg, beaten
1 pound sweet potatoes, grated
1 small onion, grated

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, salt, and black pepper.

In a separate, smaller bowl, whisk together the milk and egg. Stir in the potatoes and onion. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients and stir to combine.

Spoon batter onto a hot, oiled griddle. Cook on each side for a few minutes, until golden brown.

Serve with sour cream and applesauce.

Makes approx. 15 pancakes.

Potato Broccoli Gratin for One-ish

2011-09-16T10:00:00.000-05:00

Cooking for one is hard to get used to when you've been cooking for two, but more like four, because you always had leftovers anyway.

While I'm being-in grad school, I'm cooking for one much of the week, and this became an issue almost immediately when I hadn't yet managed to size down and seriously could not eat anymore of that now-molding hummus that I made three weeks ago. Or, also, when I only ate tacos for every meal, because, when it's just you, why not eat only the thing you love most, until you have a terrible stomach ache and realize maybe that's why you shouldn't eat so many habaneros. (I'm still hoping for a proof of the daily-spoonful-of-poison-leads-to-strength theory--that theory's been killing it for years. It, people, whatever.)

Anyway, the other day, I worked very hard to make a small meal for just myself that was not made of hot peppers or sadness-chickpeas and this is what I made. And it actually worked. It was enough for a little more than one serving--the right amount for one person who wishes not for a gratin albatross. Double up if you're cooking for a small group.

And this was awesome. It's fall! Let us inaugurate with warmer foods and by returning to the every-Septemberly Will-Oldham-only listening project (below).

3 large-egg-sized red skin potatoes (or about one average-sized russet potato), sliced crosswise, 1/8 inch thick
1 cup sliced broccoli florets
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
3/4 cup milk
salt
pepper
2 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat your oven to 350° F.

Over medium heat in a small sauce pan, melt the butter. Spoon in the flour and cook, stirring all the while, for about two minutes. Whisking constantly, pour in the milk. Whisk until the sauce thickens and reduces a bit. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Spoon some of the sauce into the bottom of a small oven-safe dish. Place a layer of potatoes over the bottom of the sauce and dish, then spread the broccoli over the potato layer. Finish by arranging the rest of the potatoes around the dish in some lovely way. When everything is packed in, carefully pour the sauce over the top of the vegetables. Sprinkle with cheese and you're done.

Bake for 45-60 minutes until it's easy to poke a potato with the tines of a fork.

Guest Post: Plum Clafouti

2011-09-08T07:58:00.002-05:00

Today, a lovely guest post from our old friend Sabra. There's time yet to get your hands (jaws?) on some delicious plums and feel the summer still. After looking at this, I'd recommend you do that.

A few weeks ago, I decided to take advantage of the summer stone fruits and pull out a favoriterecipe from my cookbook, Wanda’s Pie in the Sky (previously mentioned in relation to the KateHudson sighting in my Lemon Tart post). The first time I made a clafouti, I was struck by therunniness of the cake batter, and the resulting resemblance to custard. In essence, a clafoutiis a custardy cake topped with fruit and powdered sugar. The original recipe calls for pittedsweet cherries, which is how clafouti is traditionally made, but I opted to make it with plumsinstead. As I do with many of my culinary creations, I brought this one to my weekly Tuesdaydinner potluck. Reviews ranged from “I like the fruit, but the cake part is too custardy” to theopposing “I like the custard better than the fruit,” but everyone seemed to agree that the dessertwas delicious. (It was also pretty enough to photograph and submit for this blog post!). I hopeyou enjoy it!

2 TBS butter, softened
5 eggs
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp almond extract
1 ¾ cups milk
2 TBS amaretto or kirsch (I used whiskey instead)
¾ cup flour3 medium-sized plums, cut in half with the skins on, but pits removed
¼ cup powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 425˚F. Spread the softened butter in a 10-inch cake pan or baking dish. (Iused a 10-inch springform pan so that I could plate the dessert without the pan, but if you chooseto go this route, be sure to put the springform pan on a rimmed cookie sheet, because it willlikely leak).

Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs, granulated sugar, vanilla, almond extract, milk, andliqueur until combined, 2-3 minutes. Add the flour and mix until smooth. Pour the batter intothe prepared pan and arrange the plum halves on top, cut-side up. (They will probably sink tothe bottom of the pan instead of sitting on top of the batter, but will rise to the top again duringthe baking process). Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the cake is set when lightly pressed inthe center. When you remove the cake from the oven, it will be quite puffed up, but will deflatesomewhat as it cools. Sprinkle with the powdered sugar and serve warm.

Ricotta Grilled Cheese

2011-09-01T06:01:00.001-05:00

Have you ever put ricotta in a grilled cheese? Because it's perfect, especially paired in contrast with a sharper cheese (in this case, cheddar). Its creaminess! It's creaminess!

Ricotta is just the best.

That's all for now, except, no--Hi, how are you? What are you up to this Labor Day? Last gasping? Standing before the sublime or some such? Eating with family, eating with friends? Celebrating your (my) loved one's thirty-first year? I hope it's lovely--all of it.

See you again sometime, summer.

Multi-Grain Salt and Pepper Crackers

2011-08-24T07:57:00.000-05:00

I have these new measuring cups and I'm not used to them and, as a result, instead of measuring 1/2 cup plus 1/4 cup to make 3/4 cup of each of the flours below, I measured 1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup which makes a number that you can discover on your own. Math!

And by the time I realized my mistake, these had already been made and were not disgusting! No! They were terrific, just as I had hoped. So, below are the weird measurements that add up to something great. A slightly-spicy cracker that you can eat in a hunger panic because, in your new home, you are accidentally getting way more exercise than you are used to (any) and are in a constant hunger-panic, basically. Not to mention that you need something to do with all those sauces.

1/2 + 1/3 cup cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1/2 + 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup medium-ground cornmeal
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons pure cane sugar
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick cold unsalted butter
3/4 cup milk

Place racks at the top and bottom third of your oven. Preheat to 350°F.

Whisk together all the dry ingredients.

With the large holes of a box grater, grate the cold butter into the dry ingredients and stir a bit to combine. Add the milk, stir a bit more, then gently knead the dough a few times until it comes together. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

Lightly flour two baking sheets and set aside.

In pieces, roll the chilled dough out until it's about 1/8 inch thick. Cut into strips about one inch wide (or another shape, though that may affect baking time).

Place each strip of dough carefully onto the prepared baking sheets and prick a few times with a fork. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, swapping the positions of your baking sheets halfway through, until crackers are browning and crisp.

Cool before using, perhaps dipped in hummus or another awesomesauce.

Makes about 60 crackers.

Peach-o de Gallo

2011-08-17T13:17:00.006-05:00

Have I told you how much I love sauces. SAUCES. They are like the belts of the culinary world, which is an analogy that perhaps needs an explanatory anecdote:

My friend Amanda's thrifting mantra: just belt it. Dress too big? Just belt it. Kind of plain but the cut is good? Just belt it. It works for other things too, such as, back-to-school anxiety? Just belt it. That's an example off the top of my head, you know, not that I have b-t-s anxiety or anything. OR ANYTHING.

Where were we? Sauces!

Sauces make everything better. Especially anxiety, and also food. All I want to eat are things with sauces on them and salsas are probably my top category of sauces. Or maybe chutneys, which, now that I think about it, these flavors could easily make a chutney. But today, let's just call it a salsa. Or what I called it when I titled this post and was feeling fance: peach-o de gallo.

Peaches are awesome right now, by the way.

2 peaches, peeled and finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed into a paste
1 jalapeño, minced or red pepper flakes to taste
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
salt
juice of about 1 lime, or to taste

Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl.

Purple Tomatillo Salsa

2011-08-12T11:09:00.002-05:00

I'm packing again so I'll keep this short because I've got to get back to deciding who gets what Doobie Brothers album to miss the other by.

I saw these purple tomatillos at the farmer's market the other day. These, to be precise. I'd never seen a purple tomatillo before. Had you?

Well, it turns out purple tomatillos taste pretty much like green tomatillos but they are purpler, yes. (But still quite green looking, no?) You can make a regular old tomatillo salsa with them and love it:

about 3/4 pound purple tomatillos
1 small onion, roughly chopped
2 pickled (or fresh) jalapeños, roughly chopped
1 small clove garlic, roughly chopped
1/4 cup cilantro
about one lime's worth of juice (or to taste)
salt to taste

Put a large pot of water on to boil. When the water is boiling, carefully drop the tomatillos-in-husks into the water and cook four just about one minute. Remove them with a slotted spoon and peel them with ease.

Toss these, along with the other ingredients, into a blender or food processor and blend/process. The end.

Spicy Zucchini Corn Bread

2011-08-08T14:02:00.005-05:00

This time of year, I'm sticking zucchini into just about anything. That I cook, I mean.

Here's one such thing. The zucchini sheds some of its moisture on the way in, but retains enough to make this the un-dry-est corn bread you ever ate. Also into this: pickled jalapeños, which were totally delicious, by the way, which, of course they were. If you use fresh jalapeños for this, you might want to add just a tiny pinch more salt, since the pickled peppers add a bit of that to this.

This and that. This: super tasty, kind of perfect. You don't even know the zucchini's there, unless you want to smugly reflect upon how undercover-healthy you are as you eat only slices of this for lunch.

I mean, I made it my lunch. It's balanced, yes? And it tastes like summer and it's good to eat in the gentle breeze while you listen to this song (below), which is a bit of sad song, but lovely and gentle as the summer, as its singer.

2 smallish zucchini or yellow squash (about 1/2 pound)
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
1 cup coarse ground yellow corn meal
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
several fresh grinds black pepper
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup milk
1 egg
2 minced pickled or fresh jalapeños
1/4 cup butter

Preheat your oven to 400°F.

Trim & discard the ends and finely grate the zucchini into a fine mesh strainer. Toss the zucchini with the coarse salt and let it sit in the strainer, over a bowl, to drain while you prepare the remaining ingredients.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the corn meal, flour, sugar pepper, baking powder, and baking soda.

In a smaller bowl, whisk together the milk and egg.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Return to the draining zucchini and squeeze as much additional water from it as you can. Fold in the jalapeños and drained zucchini.

Place the butter into a ten inch pie plate or cast iron skillet and put this in the oven to melt. When the butter has just melted, carefully remove the pan from the oven and pour the melted butter into the batter, leaving just a bit left in the pan. Stir to combine, then pour the batter into the pie plate.

Bake for about 20 minutes, until the crust is browning and cracking.

Cumin-Lime Sour Cream

2011-08-05T07:40:00.001-05:00

The other day, my friends Denise and Robin were talking about a simple, delicious sour cream that Robin makes. It goes like this: spoon some sour cream into a small bowl. Sprinkle it with cumin. Squeeze it with lime. Stir it up. Sprinkle some more cumin on top so people (you) know this is no ordinary sour cream (as you eat it all yourself).

And I'm not really kidding inside those parentheses. The amount that these small additions increases the taste-terrificness of the humble (but already terrific) sour cream is not proportional to their size. This is the sour cream of sweet dreams, or something like that.

Oh, and I've already shown you how to make a pico de gallo.

Pickled Jalapeños

2011-08-03T14:09:00.003-05:00

For the moment, I don't have a real camera-compatible-computer. So I have just this high-on-style, low-on-focus modern phone photo for you.

Also! I haven't tried these. I just made them. They are not even cool on the counter as I type.

So they might be terrible, but we can all find out together. (& probably they won't be terrible). Likely they'll even be great because I trust David Lebovitz would not put a secret trick pickle recipe on his blog.

And with a recipe this straightforward, there aren't many places to stash a surprise anyway. I'm into pickling lately, and I like learning about brines and the subtle differences between them. Last week's pickles, for example, were sweet and mustardy. This week's will be less sweet and, with the pepper's natural heat and the coriander seeds (which come from the same plant as cilantro), more congenial in Latin or South Asian cooking. Or, we'll see in a week anyway...

Get the recipe here.

Guest Post: Zucchini Pickles

2011-07-26T12:03:00.005-05:00

A couple weeks ago, today's guest poster, Amanda, came to the cabin in the dunes. And she brought these pickles. This exact jar, even. And they were the possible-best pickles I'd ever eaten. And they were the affirmative-best zucchini I'd ever eaten.

It's not always my thing, you see. But the level of love I have for these pickles exceeds even their category. These are no, pretty-good-for-zucchini. These are super-good-for-eating.

After we ate all the pickles in the dunes, which took about a day, I sliced up another zucchini and shoved it into the old brine. Is this food-safe? (UPDATE: Commenter Cathy shares some wisdom & a helpful link on this topic below!) I don't know! I just know it was delicious. And now that I have the original recipe, I'm going to make my own. Later today.

We're back in Pennsylvania. Yes, we are home, for a few weeks before I move again, north to Ithaca, pickles in tow.

I had been wanting to pickle for a long time, but had always been too intimidated to try. I thought that some sort of special knowledge and/or equipment was necessary and that learning the process would mean another lost weekend in the kitchen. If you are how I was, fear not! I recently discovered that anyone can learn to make pickles quickly by doing. This recipe is for the perfect gateway pickle - relatively fast, pretty much foolproof, and totally delicious. I followed the recipe almost exactly, but used sea salt instead of kosher. I also used half apple cider vinegar and half white vinegar.

Eat your gateway pickles on veggie sausages, baguettes with cheese, corn chips, or by themselves. Taste the summer.

Vegan Pesto with Olives

2011-07-22T12:41:00.004-05:00

Out of parmesan the other night, I wanted a salty substitute for a pesto I was making. And olives were IT. I had a mix of kinds, left in the cabin by visiting friends, but I think green would work best generally, with their lighter flavor and color match. A good kind, not the taste-lacking-pimento-stuffed kind, ok?

We're out of here in just a few days and then the reality of re-moving, impending fall, and re-transitioning rains down on us. Oh summer. Stay forever.

Eating lots of pesto is one way to prolong the summer feelings I think. Listening to nothing but Grateful Dead tapes is another.

2 tablespoons walnuts, toasted in a dry skillet
2 cups loosely packed fresh basil
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons pitted & chopped green olives
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt to taste

In a food processor, combine the walnuts, basil, garlic, and olives 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 store or use.

This should make enough to cover about a pound of pasta.

Cherry Clafouti

2011-07-18T06:45:00.000-05:00

You can really feel the weather at the cabin in the dunes. It is permeable. And it's been hot, it's been humid, it's been slightly-but-intensely stormy. A tree fell in the forest. I saw it happen, really. We've been witness to the weather in this way.

And this kind of witnessing demands you work with the weather. There's no against, no resistance. I'll not try, for example, to make a pizza in this humidity. It will not work and I will not work.

But there are still things that can be made with ease and speed while witnessing what summer really feels like among the trees. There's grilling, which, yeah, obviously. And there are quick simple things. Unfussy, untempermental baking. There's this. The Cherry Clafouti.

If you have a cherry pitter, or pitted cherries, this will be even easier. I did not. But, you know, it just takes longer that way. It's not very strenuous to pit a cherry even without the proper tools.

So, basically, you place the cherries in a pan, you pour the custard over them. You bake it for not-too-long, and you eat it at any temperature. The recipe I used suggests hot or room temperature, but the best bite I had was a cold one from the refrigerator the next day. The cold custard. The cold custard.

Find the recipe here.

Vegetarian Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

2011-07-14T04:09:00.002-05:00

Sometimes, when I am visiting my family, I cook meat. Like one time I made pork chops. Pork chops! Or like last night, I made my dad "Chicken & Biscuits" and spent the evening with him, listening to his stories about memorable camp foods he ate while deer hunting in Colorado. Deer hunting!

I like cooking meat for my family because I like learning about how those processes work. But I don't taste it, so there's always quite a build up to the point when the meat eater takes his first bite. Does it taste insane?

No. My dad loved chicken and biscuits even more than he loved chicken and dumplings by the fire, and definitely much more than the stew that blew the lid off the pressure cooker and coated the inside of the tent, deliciously baiting the mountain's bears.

But this post is not about deer hunting. It's about vegetarian biscuits and gravy. And it's about how seriously good they are. These biscuits, which I've adapted from this recipe, are crazy crumbly, and crispy too. With the sausage we made earlier this week (or any other veggie sausage, or I suppose even veggie chicken-approximation, for the dad-like version) this gravy is tops. Tops! Eat this for breakfast or dinner or lunch or while camping or by a fire or with your loved ones.

The vinegar+milk combination below is a substitute for buttermilk, because I didn't have any around when I was making these. But you could use real buttermilk, of course.

1 tablespoon white vinegar & just under 1 cup milk OR about 1 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 cups whole grain pastry flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick or 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold

Preheat your oven to 425 °F.

Pour the vinegar into a liquid measuring cup. Add milk to that until you have one cup total of the mixture. Let this sit in the refrigerator for five minutes while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Whisk together the dry ingredients. Into that mixture. coarsely grate the cold butter. Stir to combine.

Pour the "buttermilk" into the dry ingredients and butter, beginning with about 1/2 a cup, and adding more as needed (you may not need the whole cup). Once a dough begins to form, turn it out onto a lightly floured, clean work surface and gently knead a couple of times.

Pat the dough out until it's about 1/2 and inch thick, then cut your biscuits with a 2 inch or so biscuit cutter. Gather the scraps and re-pat them out, repeating the process until you've used all the dough.

Bake for about 12 minutes, until golden and puffed.

1 vegetarian sausage, cut into small pieces (or one package vegetarian sausage crumbles)
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups low sodium vegetable broth
1/2 cup milk
salt
pepper

Lightly brown the sausage in a little olive oil over medium heat. Set aside.

Meanwhile, melt the butter over medium-high heat in a medium saucepan. Add the flour to the butter and whisk constantly for a two minutes or so. Pour in the vegetable broth and the milk and whisk constantly until the mixture thickens--about five minutes.

Add the sausage to the gravy and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Pour the sausage over a couple of biscuits, adding a fried egg on top if you're serious about breakfast.

Vegan Italian Sausages

2011-07-11T07:01:00.001-05:00

Hello. I am back, and with your impressive vegan barbecue contribution of summer '11. This is the second time I've made seitan sausages. The first time, I baked them, and they exploded. Some of them anyway.

The second time (ok, directions below actually represent my third go at it, though the photo above is of the second; I used the same recipe with two different cooking methods), I baked them and pricked their foil casings all over with a fork beforehand, and only one partially exploded and continued cooking, resulting in a startlingly anatomical sculpture that I've not photographed for you today.

This third time, I tried another method of cook-by-boil and there were no explosions, which was definitely a plus. This method demands a bit more on the materials side (cheesecloth, string) but it's quicker and less temperamental than the other.

The end result is awesome, again. You really should make these for your next vegan pool party or afternoon in a tiny forest glen, just before the rains come.

10 ounces vital wheat gluten (a powder)
2 tablespoons toasted fennel seeds
1 tablespoon paprika
2 tablespoons dried onion flakes (available in spice aisle)
1.5 teaspoons garlic powder
3 teaspoons red pepper flakes (or to taste)
3 tablespoons tamari
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/4 cup low sodium vegetable broth
cheesecloth
kitchen string

In a large bowl, whisk together the vital wheat gluten and dry spices.

In a liquid measuring cup, combine the tamari, olive oil, and vegetable broth.

Pour the liquid mixture over the dry ingredients and stir, switching to kneading when the dough begins to come together. Continue kneading until a solid, stretchy, wet dough ball forms.

Cut this ball into about 8 pieces and sort of loosely shape them into oblong, sausage-aspirational pieces. Make sure you have enough cheesecloth to wrap eight sausages. Actually, you probably should have already done that. Cut the cheesecloth into eight pieces and have some kitchen string (16 pieces) handy.

Put about 2 additional cups vegetable broth and 4 cups water on to boil (together) in a very wide saucepan or dutch oven big enough to accommodate the sausages in a single layer.

Tightly wrap each sausage in cheesecloth, shaping it into an actual link shape as you go. Tie each end securely with kitchen string. Set aside.

When all eight are ready to go, set them in the cooking liquid, turn down the heat to a simmer, and allow them to cook for about 50 minutes, until firm to the touch. You may need to add a bit more water intermittently throughout the process.

When the sausages are finished, carefully unwrap them and finish cooking them as you would other sausages--with some oil in a pan or on the grill, for example. I stored these for about a week wrapped tightly in foil in the refrigerator. I imagine you could freeze them as well.

[with thanks to]

Breakfast Quesadilla

2011-07-06T07:00:00.001-05:00

Did you ever stop and think, 'oh, I should put a fried egg into this quesadilla because that will be so great?'

Take a moment and think it.

That's all I got for now. It is so great, so it's not like I'm slacking or anything. But I'm at the cabin in the woods and I need this time to eat a mostly snacks-made-diet and go swimming in the lake and maybe in a few days I'll cook something again.

Guest Post: Fruit Tart with Pastry Cream

2011-06-28T06:51:00.000-05:00

I'm still moving. My whole life is moving. You know, we didn't even need to buy any boxes for this move because we now carefully dissemble and store all our boxes, knowing we're going to move in another 11 or 12 months. When we pack up the boxes, I have to label them by year--"Kitchen 2011"--because last year, that box held books or records or hopes and dreams. Yeah. This time, we're even packing boxes that we don't plan on unpacking until stability comes. And, babies, stability's not coming for a while. See you in ten years, Grandma's dishes.

So, let's hold tight to the things we can count on. Like Sabra being awesome at baking beautiful delicious things that make us all feel great when we look at them.

Sabra, take the wheel.

A few weeks ago, a dear friend visited Madison to celebrate her birthday. We threw her a potluck, and among the delicious contributions was an upside down rhubarb cake served with pastry cream, made by my lovely upstairs neighbor, whom I like to call “Upstairs S”. (She calls me “Downstairs S,” in return). At the end of the potluck, we ended up with far more pastry cream than cake, and I offered to adopt it for a baking project. I’d always wanted to try making a fresh fruit tart, and here was my chance! When I was younger, fresh fruit tarts were my dessert of choice when we visited bakeries. They were the prettiest thing in the pastry case! But, despite my growing experience as a pậtissier, I never tried to make one myself. I couldn’t find a fruit tart recipe that was satisfactory, so I just found a good crust recipe and improvised the rest. This project was surprisingly easy, although it should be noted that Upstairs S did the hard part with the pastry cream. The instructions below for the pastry cream are from her. Enjoy!

Tart Dough
(from Seasonal Fruit Desserts, by Deborah Madison)

¾ cup white pastry flour
¼ cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 TBS dark brown sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1 stick (8 TBS) cold unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
1 TBS cold water mixed with ½ tsp vanilla extract and ¼ tsp almond extract

Put the flour, sugar, salt, and zest into a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until it is broken up into small pieces, the size of peas. Drizzle in the water-vanilla-almond mixture and pulse until large, moist-looking crumbs have formed.

Gather the crumbs into a mass (they should stick together). If there is any dry flour left in the bowl, add a few more drops of water to bring it together, then add it to the rest of the dough. Shape the dough into a disk about 1-inch thick and refrigerate until ready to use.

To make the tart shell, put the dough in the center of a 9-inch round tart pan with a removable bottom (or a rectangular tart pan of comparable size). Start pressing the dough outward to the edges with the heel of your hand. When you get to the edge, begin building the dough up the sides. The walls should be about ¼-inch thick. It might take some going over the dough to get it evenly distributed. Remove any dough that rises over the rim and use it to patch another part of the tart that looks thin. Use your finger to make a slight impression at the base of the rim so that when the dough slides down during baking, it won’t get too thick in that part of the tart. Refrigerate until ready to bake.

To bake, preheat the oven to 375˚F and set the tart shell on a sheet pan. Line the tart shell with foil and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 15-20 minutes, then carefully pull the foil away from the dough. If the dough sticks, return it to the oven for a couple minutes until the foil comes away easily. After removing the foil and pie weights, return the tart shell to the oven for 20-25 minutes, until it is golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool completely.

Pastry Cream
(from Tartine, by Elisabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson)

Yields 2 ½ cups (20 fluid oz.)

2 cups whole milk
½ vanilla bean (makes a sublime cream, but you can also substitute 1 tsp pure vanilla extract)
¼ tsp salt
4 TBS cornstarch
½ cup + 1 TBS sugar
2 large eggs (if you want a richer, more traditionally French cream, use 4 yolks)
4 TBS unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons

Note: Never use an aluminum pan for pastry cream. The yolks react with the metal and turn the cream gray.

Have a bowl ready for cooling the pastry cream with a fine-mesh sieve resting on the rim.

Place a slightly damp kitchen towel on your counter top. Place a medium mixing bowl on the damp towel; this will stabilize the bowl of eggs as you whisk the milk into it, freeing both your hands for pouring and whisking. Place the cornstarch and sugar in the bowl and whisk together. Add the eggs (or yolks) to the bowl and whisk until smooth.

Pour the milk into a heavy saucepan. Split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and use the tip of a sharp knife to scrape the seeds from the pod halves into the milk. (Alternatively, simply add the vanilla extract to the milk). Add the salt, place over medium-high heat, and bring to just under a boil, stirring occasionally and making sure that the milk solids are not sticking to the bottom of the pan. Do not let the milk boil.

When the milk is ready, slowly ladle about one-third of the hot milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Pour the egg-milk mixture back into the hot milk and continue whisking over medium heat until about 2 minutes. In order for the cornstarch to cook and thicken fully, the mixture must come just to the boiling point. You want to see a few slow bubbles. Remove from heat and immediately pour through the sieve into the bowl. Let cool for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to release the heat and prevent a skim from forming on top.

When the pastry cream is ready (it should be about 140˚ F), whisk the butter into the pastry cream, 1 tablespoon at a time, always whisking until smooth before adding the next tablespoon.

To cool the cream, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap directly onto the top of the cream (the plastic wrap prevents a skin from forming on the surface). Chill. Pastry cream will keep, well covered, in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

To Assemble the Tart

Wait until the tart shell has cooled completely. Remove the tart shell from the pan by carefully pushing up on the base until it comes away from the rim. Then, hold the base in your hand and let the rim slide down your arm. Place the tart shell on a plate and fill with the pastry cream, up to about ¼-inch below the top of the crust edges. (Use the extra cream for another baking project!). Arrange fruit and/or berries on top of the pastry cream. Any fruit or berries will work; I used strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. Chill and serve.

Yuca with Orange-Lime Mojo

2011-06-24T06:02:00.001-05:00

I first had yuca (also known as cassava) with mojo a few years ago, when some friends invited us over for Cuban food. I was, quite immediately, taken. I mean, we know I love garlic, and making sauces out of almost naught but garlic and fat.

The addition of the sour citrus to the garlic+fat combination is pretty much perfect.

Yuca, if you've never had it, is sort of like a potato, but more fibrous and starchier. Typical preparations include boiling and frying. In this case I boiled it. It's not terribly flavorful on its own, but with the mojo sauce, it's a terrific side to a Latin meal.

1 pound yuca
juice of one orange
juice of two limes
1/4 cup olive oil
3 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/4 teaspoon cumin
salt+pepper to taste
cilantro, chopped

Put a medium pot of salted water on to boil. Peel the yuca with a sharp knife. It has a thick skin that is often waxed. A vegetable peeler won't cut it (pun intended).

Chop the peeled into thumb sized pieces (gross image?) and boil it until tender. It should be easily pierce-able with the tip of a knife.

Combine the juices in a small bowl.

When the yuca is just about done, heat the olive oil over medium heat in a medium sized sauce pan. Add the garlic and cumin and cook for just about 30 seconds. Stir in the citrus juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Pour this over the drained yuca and garnish with cilantro.

Serves 2-4 as a side.

Farfalle with Garlic Brown Butter and Basil

2011-06-22T05:12:00.003-05:00

Here's an easy summer pasta that you can make when you are moving (again) and you only have odds and ends laying around and then your so-kind&generous colleague, April, gives you some basil from her garden, or maybe you have your own garden, or maybe you just buy your basil at the store because you've not banned grocery shopping for the next two weeks.

Whatever the case. Brown butter is really delicious. Garlic and basil too.

1/2 pound pasta
3 tablespoons butter
3-4 cloves garlic, sliced very thinly crosswise
1 cup loosely packed, julienned fresh basil
salt + pepper
parmesan cheese

Put some salted water on to boil. Have everything ready as it will take the butter about as much time as the pasta to cook. You want to toss the pasta in, then get going on the sauce right away.

So, do that. Toss the pasta in.

Then, melt the butter over medium heat. Continue cooking the butter, stirring with a wooden spoon, until a foam forms and then subsides and the butter is browning. Add the garlic at this moment and remove the sauce from the heat.

Check the pasta. About done? If so, add most the basil to the butter sauce and pour this into a good sized serving bowl. With a slotted spoon, scoop the pasta directly from its cooking water into the butter sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and top with some parmesan cheese if you would like. Garnish with the remaining basil.

Serves 2-3.

Orange Rhubarb Galette

2011-06-16T05:53:00.002-05:00

Another season closer. This is probably the last of the rhubarb for now. We will miss it, but, some eleven months from now, it will be spring again in another town and the rhubarb will be very important in that moment. Reassuring that summer might come again that year.

Speaking of summer, I hope you saw the NPR link about Swedish midsommar-ing that I posted yesterday on Facebook. Because, really, you ought to go out and celebrate the length of the days. With the last of the long-stalky-things of spring. Or some other way.

In this recipe, I make use my my pal Elaine's amazing grated-butter crust trick and a suggestion from another friend of the blog, Joe, to parboil rhubarb before baking as a way of cutting into its tartness. The sugar helps with that too, obviously. Together, all these things made a terrific summer pie, whose making felt casual and haphazard, almost slackery, with none of the associated downsides. (That = summer, yes.)

Filling
about 5 good sized stalks rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
zest of one orange
scant 1/2 cup granulated sugar

Bring a small pan of water to boil, then toss in the rhubarb for max one minute. Take it out after that minute, even if the water hasn't come back to a boil.

Drain the rhubarb, then toss it with the orange zest and sugar. Allow this to rest in the refridgerator while you prepare the dough.

Crust
1 stick cold unsalted butter, grated with a box grater and re-cooled in the freezer
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon sugar
about 4 tablespoons ice water

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and sugar. Stir in the cold butter, then the water. You may need more than four tablespoons of water, but proceed slowly, until the mixture just comes together. It should hold for a moment if you squeeze it in your hand, but still be slightly crumbly.

Turn the mixture out onto a sheet of plastic wrap. Quickly form it into a disk, wrap tightly with the plastic, and refrigerate for at least one hour. If you're short of time, you can freeze this for half an hour, but I find that it's more difficult to work with when I take that route.

Preheat your oven to 375° F.

After the dough has rested, unwrap it on a clean, floured counter. Sprinkle the top of the dough and your rolling pin with flour. Quickly, but carefully, roll out the dough. Give it a quarter turn after each roll. If the dough starts to stick, carefully pick it up (a bench scraper is a great tool for this) and sprinkle more flour beneath it. If holes or cracks form, seal with a little ice water, a scrap of dough, and more flour.

When the dough is about 12 inches in diameter, lay it out on a floured baking sheet or into a pie plate or casserole dish (so rustic! do what you want!) and spoon the filling into the middle. Fold the edges of the dough up over the filling and bake in the center of your oven for about 40 minutes, or until the crust is goldening and the filling is bubbling.

Fritatta of Potato and Asparagus

2011-06-14T05:48:00.002-05:00

Hurry and you can catch the end of asparagus season.

Then toss those stalks into this frittata. You won't regret it. Not when it's this cheap, filling, rustic-yet-strangely-fance, and good.

Then put those stalks away until next spring. The more seasonally you eat, the more you'll like food, I swear. Most obviously, when a food is in season, it's at its best. But also, it's hard to get sick of a food if you don't overdo it on mid-winter Peruvian imports. Just gently eat what's best for a couple lovely months and then move onto the next best thing.

Current waning best:

olive oil
1/4 small onion, finely chopped
1 large clove garlic, finely chopped
1 small sweet pepper, finely chopped (about the size of a jalapeño)
6 baby yukon gold potatoes, sliced crosswise into 1/8 inch-thick slices
8 or 10 stalks asparagus, sliced on a bias into 3/4 inchish pieces
7 eggs, beaten
salt
pepper

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

Drizzle a good amount (two or more tablespoons) of olive oil into a 9 or so inch non-stick or cast iron pan with a metal handle and heat over medium-low.

Add the onion, garlic, and sweet pepper to the oil and cook until just softening. To this mix, add the potatoes. Saute the potatoes until they are almost tender (10 minutes maybe), then add the asparagus. Continue cooking until all the vegetables are just about cooked through.

Pour the beaten egg into the pan and constantly stir it around, scraping the bottom of the pan, with a wooden spoon for about 30 seconds. Then leave it alone and let it cook until the bottom is set and the sides begin to brown and pull away from the edges of the pan.

Finish the frittata in the heated oven until the top is set. For added browning, turn broiler on for the last minute. But only a minute.

Serves four.

Q&A: Mango

2011-06-07T16:37:00.003-05:00

Here's a question I got via twitter from a friend and reader who is stationed with the Peace Corps in Thailand, where, apparently, her mango cup runneth over.

If you have questions you think I can answer, let me know!

What would you do if you had 40+ #mangos in your fridge and no oven?

I thought of salsa first, as I can't get enough of spicy + mangoes, especially with Joe's recent guest post rattling around in my brain. Salsa can be canned or frozen (if you have a freezer) to last longer and could make a great, cheap gift for the new people you are meeting over there. Not to mention how terrific it would be with classic thai flavorings, peppers, and other veggies.

Along the same lines, I was imagining a chutney. In general, cooked sauces are a great way to use up over-bounties. Everything cooks down to slightly less than everything, making your haul more manageable. That's how I got into making ketchup and tomato chutney last fall, when CSA tomatoes kept coming and coming.

On the fresh end, I love a smoothie. These are so, so easy. So, so good, especially in this heat. Is it hot there? It is HOT here at the cabin in the dunes.

And if you want to hold onto those smoothies for a while, you could easily convert them into popsicles. Double the refreshment, double the storage convenience.

Even without an oven, you could still do a little baking, as long as you have some kind of skillet and a stove. Think pancakes with mango thrown in, dutch babies, sweet-savory fritters, skillet cornbread that you carefully flip rather than finishing in the oven. You could even bake a (crepe) cake if you're feeling ambitious.

Let me know how it goes, friend! And everyone else: share your mango suggestions in the comments.

[Photo via flickr user dihlie]

Grilled Tofu

2011-06-06T16:03:00.002-05:00

Dispatches from the cabin in the dunes. Less a recipe than a technique, a thing I recommend you do:

Grill tofu (extra firm). Cut it so it's maybe 1/2 an inch thick. Drain it wrapped in a clean towel. Marinate it. Oil your grill. Grill your tofu.

You should be grilling asparagus, too, in case you'd not thought so. Yes. It is good.

I've been kind of into tofu lately, which is actually an of-lately thing, as I had not really loved it much in years past. You/I've just got the find the good ways to prepare it and hone in on those and keep focused. Hone in there. On the good ways.

Grilling it is one good way. I'd never tried it before the other day. Just never. But then I was in Chicago last weekend and went to try out the new Bite, and they had a grilled tofu with an asparagus soubise and it was beyond my farthest hopeful gaze, this dish. I had ordered it expecting it to be bland, and desiring as much, after an all-day-&-into-the-night porch party the day/night prior. But it was stunning. The smoky grill marks, the crispy exterior, the custard-like interior. The tastes.

You can have these too, just grill. Leave it on the one side for a while. Then flip it. Samesies on that side. Then serve it.

Guest Post: Spicy Seasonal Menu

2011-06-03T09:26:00.006-05:00

I'm so glad our friend Joe is back today, sharing this spicy, summery dinner with us. It's really summer now, no? Look at us, being-in-June.

I love a spicy pepper, and even more, I love a slow spicy journey of a meal and I can't wait to give these recipes a try, especially the rice pudding with salsa!

Even as a confirmed chili-head, I tend to avoid actual pain in eating, hence my avoidance of the scotch bonnet and its equally evil cousin the habanero, which is a shame really. They are among the prettiest of the more piquant peppers in the world with colors ranging from fiery red to pink, orange and white with a citrus-like taste that blends really well with a variety of foods. Now there are hotter peppers in the world, but not all have the complexity of this pretty little monster.

Now that I am at the point in my gastronomy where I put whole chipotle peppers with adobe sauce on top of my cottage cheese as a late night snack I figured I had the palette and fortitude more so than when I was younger. I decided to give this a springtime theme with two dishes, both Asian inspired and including the badass of the Scoville Scale, and a simple healthy dessert to finish up. All dishes serve 2-4 as a light dinner.

Spring Rolls of Michigan Asparagus with Mango Salsa

10 stalks blanched asparagus
5 softened rice papers
½ C shredded carrot
1 T chopped cilantro plus whole for garnish
½ habanero pepper chopped finely
1 ripened mango ¼ diced
Dash sesame chili oil (available in most stores in the Asian section as well as the rice paper)
¼ red bell pepper juliened
Juice of 1 lime

Combine the mango, habanero, cilantro, lime juice and sesame oil into a bowl and mix well. Adjust seasoning if you feel it's not hot enough, which will be unlikely as these bastards rarely disappoint

Soak each rice paper till pliable and opaque, about a minute. Tap dry with a towel and cut into a half moon. Spoon the salsa near one of the straight edges into a line, placing the red pepper, asparagus and carrot next. To it and roll somewhat tightly being careful not to tear the paper. I recommend soaking two or three extra papers just for screw ups and practice. Don’t worry there’s always extra prep to eat your mistakes with.

Arrange spring rolls on plate and spoon the remainder of the salsa with them in a eye pleasing manner or just go caveman style. Serve soy sauce with the rolls as well, for the sodium will balance the sweet heat of the salsa.

Iron Skillet Seared Tofu with Soba Noodles in Fire Broth

1 12 ounce brick extra firm tofu pressed over night to extrude additional water
3 cups vegetable stock
4 crushed garlic cloves
1 small white onion, sliced or 4 chopped scallions
1 medium Portobello or ¼ pound shitakes, sliced
1 to 2 stalks bok choy with leaves, sliced
½ bunch cilantro roughly, chopped
½ zucchini and ½ summer squash, sliced
Rest of the red pepper you didn’t use for the spring rolls, diced
2 to 3 bunches soba noodles, blanched ahead of time but not rinsed
The other ½ of the habanero or another whole one if you want, fine mince

In a medium large pasta pot add the stock, onions, garlic and bring to a high simmer for 15 minutes. Heat cast iron skillet to blazing hot and add 1 T of the chili oil, make sure to pat your attractively sliced tofu dry before adding to the pan. Get a nice brown sear before turning to the other side.

Meanwhile, you can add the rest of the vegetables and cilantro to the pot and cook till just al dente, round 4-5 minutes. Ordinarily I’d recommend sautéing all of them first but unless you have awesome restaurant quality ventilation, you will gas yourself out of the kitchen.

Place a nest of noodles into individual bowls and top with the tofu, ladling the steaming hot broth and vegetables right over top. Please reuse your chopsticks

5 Minute Rice Pudding

1 cup cooked and chilled brown rice
2 cups organic vanilla yogurt(if substituting plain add a little vanilla extract and some brown sugar)
1 sliced banana
1 sliced pear

Combine all ingredients being careful not to mush the fruit. Place into individual dishes and garnish with a little granola if desired, or, even better, reserve some of the mango habanero salsa to top it with

Enjoy

Guest Post: Sugar; for Those Going Without Sugar

2011-06-01T19:34:00.005-05:00

I'm on a bit of a blog break at the moment, so I have a couple of guest posts for you this week. Including this lovely non-toxic one from my great pal Gina, music blogger and human being extraordinaire.

If you're like me and 88% of everyone I know, that NYT article about sugar being toxic scared the jar of Nutella right out of your hand. You probably either just finished a processed sugar fast/are currently in the midst of a processed sugar fast/are about to start a processed sugar fast. Furthermore, said sugar fast did/is/is going to drive you insane.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

After six days of no pancakes, cereal, yogurt, whiskey and York Peppermint Patties, my fiance and I were ready to mainline some Pixie Sticks in a back alley just to get a fix...and I don't even like Pixie Sticks. In a desperate attempt to assuage the craving, I tried to take it back to the classic pre-Domino days: fresh fruit and hand-whipped cream. This dessert might be a little bit, well, cheat-y. Instead of causing you to accumulate a fatty deposit in your liver that heightens your chances for diabetes, it may instead straight up clog your arteries with heavy cream. This small detail is of minor consequence when you're considering breaking your own (kind of insane) self-imposed rules. Just please, please, please do NOT read the dietary information on the side of the heavy cream. This dessert is just so delicious and it's simply not worth the pain.

What you need for 2-3 servings:
Heavy Cream (roughly 10 oz) –avoid ultra-pasteurized if possible as it makes for difficult whipping
Fresh Kumquats
Fresh Strawberries
Fresh Mango, Bananas, Raspberries, etc. (optional)
Butter/Earth Balance/Butter-like Substance
½ Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1. Make the Kumquat Strawberry Sauce:
Slice 5-8 kumquats and cut up 5 or 6 berries. If you have some sad looking ones, this is a great place for them.
Throw some butter in a pan on low-med heat.
Once the butter starts simmering, add the kumquats and berries. Keep a slight eye on these, stirring every so often to keep things for sticking to the pan.

2. Make the Homemade Whipped Cream:
Chill the cream. If you have a metal bowl that can be thrown in the freezer, go ahead and do this too. It will make the cream easier to whip.
Pour the cream in the bowl.
Add 1/4-1/2 TSP of vanilla extract to the cream.
Make like Drew Barrymore and whip it! If you have beaters, use them because it will be easier. Start slow and get faster as the cream gets thicker. If you only have a hand whisk, that'll work too...and bonus: you'll feel better about yourself after burning off all those calories first.
The cream will get foamier and then start to look like something resembling the off-limits Ready-Whip of your youth. As it gets close, slow down. You don't want it to separate/become butter.
Once the cream is whipped, throw it in the freezer while you complete the final step.

3. Cut up Fresh Fruit:
Decide what fruit you'd like to use as your base. Just strawberries works very well, but it would also work well with mangoes, bananas, raspberries—whatever your heart desires, really.

4. Combine This Deliciousness:
Chop up enough to cover the bottom of your favorite bowl.
Pull the whipped cream out of the freezer and put a few hearty dollops on top of your fruit.
Finally, drizzle the sauce and cooked fruit on top.

Hooray! Now, you can stop shaking uncontrollably and having nightmares involving S'mores!

Pop Tart Memorial Day

2011-05-27T12:38:00.002-05:00

Have a good weekend pals! It's dune life and a homemade pop tart reprise for us. Lots of other pie and barbecue ideas via the links at the right.

Strawberry Rhubarb Bread Pudding with Maple Cream Sauce

2011-05-26T06:03:00.002-05:00

This bread pudding is rustic. Rustic because I used totally-very stale baguettes, including their hard crusts. I liked it that way and wanted specifically to use up so many stale baguette ends I collected through the winter, but many bread pudding recipes use soft egg breads like challah. That approach will yield a more delicate, pudding-er bread pudding.

Proceed toward your own aim. All points along the bread pudding spectrum are delicious.

4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups 2% milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar (divided)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
about 6 cups stale baguettes, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
about 1 pound total (not each) of rhubarb and strawberries, cut into 1/2 inch pieces (I used about 6 smallish stalks rhubarb and 9 strawberries)

1/2 cup heavy cream
6 tablespoons real maple syrup
pinch of salt

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, cream, 1/4 cup of the sugar, vanilla, and salt.

Add the stale bread to this mixture, stirring to combine. If, as mine was, your bread is really stale, like months-old stale, let sit for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Grease a 10 inch round spring-form or cake pan. Preheat your oven to 375° F.

In a medium bowl, stir together the rhubarb, strawberries, and 2 tablespoons sugar. Gently stir this mixture into the custard-soaked bread mixture to combine.

Pour the bread pudding into the pan, pressing down and spreading it out. Bake for about 45 minutes and let cool for at least 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine the cream, maple syrup, and salt in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, and, stirring constantly, continue cooking for about 5 minutes, until the sauce has thickened slightly. This will keep in the refrigerator for a few days.

Makes about 6 or 8 servings.

[With thanks to.]

French Fries

2011-05-23T06:13:00.001-05:00

Last week, we dry fried. This week, oil is back.

I first read about this frying method a year ago and immediately flashed to a moment of horror I'd had years earlier, when I witnessed uncooked potatoes being dropped into cold oil. I had learned, you see, that one must only fry in very hot oil. That anything other than very hot oil was just a siren song at the rocky coast of heartdiseasetown.

Maybe so.

But even so.

We're going to drop some uncooked potatoes into cold oil. This is exposure therapy for the oil averse.

To make these fries--these best fries--cut the potatoes about 1/3 of an inch thick. Leave the skins on. Or don't. But there's a reason why potato peeling is the ultimate symbol of menial task.

Then, place these uncooked fries into a pot of cold oil. Make sure the pot is big enough for the fries to move around in. And just cover the fries with the oil (I like grapeseed; canola or any other light-colored oil will work too)--no need to deep-deep fry these.

Now, turn the heat to low.

5-7 minutes later, turn the heat to low-medium-low.

5-7 minutes later, turn the heat to medium-low.

You get the idea. Proceed like this for about 45 minutes until you near high.

But here's a very important note: do not move the fries. Do not touch the fries while they are cooking. They will look like they are stuck to the bottom of the pan because they will be stuck to the bottom of the pan. And if you attempt to un-stick them mid-process, the fries will disintegrate. Just, don't touch them.

Until. Somewhere around medium-high, the fries will unstick themselves. (!) That's when you know they are crisping up and almost done. Keep an eye on them at this point, watching to make sure they don't overbrown (in which case, you'll lose the soft interior I assume you're also aiming for).

After the fries are floating and just brown enough, drain them on a paper bag, salt them, and eat them.

And because you didn't mess with the fries while they were cooking, your oil is mostly-pretty clean still. Strain it and save it for next time!

Dry Fried Tofu

2011-05-20T05:14:00.000-05:00

I've been cooking tofu for, like, one hundred years. And in those one hundred years of soy-itude (sorry, had to!), I've tried a lot of methods. Pat dry and fry, squeeze dry and fry, squeeze dry marinate and fry, bread and fry. The oily list goes on. Also, baking, which is awesome, but takes a while.

Despite these many methods, I desired something better. A better tofu. A best tofu. So I googled "best tofu" and came across this. The dry fry. Oily list ends here.

Dry frying was yes. It was what I wanted. It is what you want for your next stir fry or pad thai.

Below is a really basic marinade I made for the tofu, but you could sub in whatever you preferred.

1 (14 ounce) package extra firm tofu

1 large clove garlic, minced
same amount of minced fresh ginger
1/2 cup tamari
1/4 cup sesame oil
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon agave nectar
1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce
1 tablespoon vinegar (rice wine, or apple cider)
toasted sesame seeds

Remove the tofu from its package and wrap it in a clean dishcloth. Place this between two plates and weight the top one with a heavy book.

Meanwhile, whisk together all the marinade ingredients except the sesame seeds.

Unwrap the tofu and cut it into whatever shape you like. Preheat a nonstick pan over medium heat. Place the tofu pieces into the pan--no oil! Slowly cook the tofu, pressing down the pieces intermittenly with the back of a spatula. Once the bottom is browning, flip and repeat on the other side.

Cook like this until both sides are golden brown and it seems much of the moisture has been cooked out of the tofu.

Drop the dry-fried tofu pieces into your marinade and let rest for 30 minutes or so, while you prepare the rest of your meal.

Reheat the tofu (with or without oil; oil isn't even necessary at this point) and sprinkle with sesame seeds before serving.

Serves 2-4.

The Ithaca Post

2011-05-19T05:21:00.006-05:00

Cayuga Lake:

Yesterday, I said something about giving you big news today, which meant I publicly committed myself to delivering on that something-said. And, you know, it's not really that big of news and I'm sure it doesn't measure up to whatever you were imagining in your minds' eyes (which, let's face it, was probably nothing. And nothing is big. It goes forever.), but here, I will tell you:

I'm moving to Ithaca this late summer, to go to grad school. Round two. This time, I'm doing a PhD in Comp Lit.

I don't really know what this will mean for Meals; for Moderns. I know I'll be on a reduced(er) budget. And cooking for one more frequently, as my husband will remain in Pennsylvania most of the time, finishing his coursework and being super awesome in his own graduate program.

You'll remember that when we came to State College for the first time, I was all, the grocery store sells tempeh. All is well. Ok, I can live here. Yes. Something about nachos. Let's do this. Well, Ithaca is certainly not short on vegetarian symbols of comfort (hippy stuff!). I hear it has a super farmer's market, and of course, there is the iconic Moosewood, where I was taken during my visit, and which I was taken with during my vist, some months ago.

So, I do plan to keep making all the modern meals for you. And maybe for the people I meet next year, as a way of endearing them to me. (Future friends, hello! I want to be friends with you!) But, you know, there may be some changes around here. We'll all find out together.

Meanwhile, it's summer! Summer yes. I'm winding in and around all summer. Meals will be made, perhaps with more languor than usual.

I don't think I've said this here before, but I am really grateful for the piece of my life that includes this cooking and you, a mostly invisible, but generous and kind, audience. You make a big impact on me. I'm glad you're here. Safe harbor, wind beneath my wings, spirit animals, etc. Thanks.

If any of you know about Ithaca things, tell me about those things. I want to know that secret place you go to late nights just when spring finally makes good on its promise of warm. Do you go to the place pictured above? Which surely now is green and lush and encouraging and gentle?

Strawberry Rhubarb Citrus Tart

2011-05-18T06:08:00.001-05:00

And with this, I'm really back. And it's practically summer. Nice things, those.

What are you pals doing for the summer? I'm planning lake/dune/park/forest life. And I have some big news that I'll tell you about tomorrow.

In the meantime: this is a simple tart, a variation on one I've made before. But this time, I added strawberries, and packed way more fruit onto the tart itself. I had originally planned to use this fruit for two tarts, but didn't quite have enough for that, so I just jammed it all onto one, made with half a sheet of puff pastry. If you wanted, you could add a bit more fruit to what I list below, jam a little less onto each tart, and use that whole sheet of pastry.

That seems like the planning-ahead thing to do. Maybe I'll try that next time. Try to try that next time.

3 stalks rhubarb, thinly sliced crosswise on a bias
16 strawberries, thinly sliced lengthwise
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 of one sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

Combine the rhubarb, strawberries, juices, and sugar in a bowl and allow it all to marinate for 30 minutes or so.

Roll out the puff pastry until it is about 5x12 inches long. Lay it on a floured non-stick cookie sheet and put it in the freezer to harden for ten minutes or so.

After it's been frozen, carefully cut a border around the pastry about 1/2 inch from the edge of the dough. Cut almost all the way through, just so the edges will rise, but not enough to sever them from the tart. Prick the middle of the dough all over with a fork.

Drain the fruit, reserving the soaking liquid. Pour the marinade into a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Let it continue to boil over medium-highish heat until it has cooked down to about 1/4 cup (15ish minutes).

Meanwhile, decoratively lay the fruit out in the tart. Bake in the middle of your oven until the pastry has puffed and is browning, about 25 minutes.

Brush tart with the citrus glaze and allow to cool on the pan before transferring to a plate (or the warm pastry might come apart).

Serves 4.

Farfalle with Arugula-Artichoke Pesto and Navy Beans

2011-05-16T06:04:00.001-05:00

Hey everybody. Thanks for your supernice comments and notes about Pinky. She is doing fine. She will get her stitches out soon and then will be a forever-living supernatural frankendog. Right? Right.

Here's some easy pasta I made last week. Really, it's so easy. You can make it even amid emotional exhaustion. And it's good. And vegan.

Welcome back.

4 artichoke hearts
1/4 cup arugula
3 clove garlic
4 tablespoons olive oil
lemon juice (from about 1/2-1 small lemon)
salt
pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 pound pasta
1/2 cup or so navy beans

Combine the artichoke hearts, arugula (saving some for garnish), garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice in a food processor and process until a smooth paste is formed. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then stir in the Parmesan. Set aside.

Boil the pasta until al dente. Reserving some of the cooking water, toss the pasta with the artichoke pesto and navy beans. Add some cooking water to thin the sauce if desired. Sprinkle with remaining arugula to garnish.

Serves 6-8.

Pinky Pause

2011-05-09T06:38:00.000-05:00

Our poor dog Pinky was hit by a car this weekend. She is healing, and we're on a healing-her-break.

Be back soon, internet.

Guest Post: Chocolate Almond Torte

2011-05-05T07:05:00.003-05:00

I'm still on the mend, slowly easing back into real food. But after seeing Sabra's cake, I'm considering, once well, jumping right over real food and straight into cake. Good idea y/y?

I realize this is coming a little late for Passover, but tuck it away for next year, or maybe just next weekend.

Also, how lovely is that cake stand? It puts my cutting-board-precariously-balanced-on-overturned-bowl to shame. Something to scout for on summer thrifting adventures. Thanks for the (many different kinds of) inspiration, Sabra!

A few weeks ago, I was faced with the task of bringing a dessert to a Passover seder. Having recently bought a new cake stand (pictured here) at an antique store in Minneapolis, I was determined to make use of it as soon as possible. After some searching through my now extensive trove of dessert recipes, I happened upon this cake recipe. I originally tucked this recipe away as a nostalgic nod to my time spent studying abroad in Italy. But as I discovered upon second glance, it was conveniently Passover-friendly, with no flour or other leavening. I made it for the seder and it was a hit! I ended up with an invitation to another seder a couple nights later, and made the cake again, this time using my first cake stand of pretty white porcelain. (Some people have five bicycles, I have more than one cake stand). The original recipe comes from Bon Appétit, via Epicurious . Enjoy!

Chocolate Almond Torte
1 ½ cup sliced or whole almonds
1 cup sugar
8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used chocolate chips)
5 large eggs, separated
½ tsp almond extract
½ tsp grated lemon peel
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, cooled
¼ tsp salt
Powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 10-inch spring form pan (a smaller pan may be used, and the cake will be taller). Blend the almonds and 1/3 cup sugar in a food processor until the almonds are finely ground. Transfer the almond mixture to a medium bowl. Without cleaning the food processor, blend the chocolate and another 1/3cup sugar until the chocolate is finely ground, but not clumping (about 45 seconds). Mix the chocolate mixture into the almond mixture.

Using an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks with the remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a large bowl, until the mixture falls in heavy ribbons when the beaters are lifted(about 5 minutes). Beat in the almond extract and lemon peel. Fold in the chocolate-almond mixture and melted butter. (The trick to a less dense cake is gently folding, rather than stirring, in each of these ingredients).

Using clean dry beaters, beat the egg whites and salt in another bowl until stiff, but not dry. Fold the whites into the chocolate batter in three additions. (Again, folding in the egg whites is important for a lighter texture). Transfer the batter to the buttered pan.

Bake the cake for about 40 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs attached. Cool the cake completely in the pan on a rack. Cut around the pan sides to loosen, and release. Sift powdered sugar over the top of the cake.

Toast, Dry Toast

2011-05-03T17:48:00.004-05:00

Hey, so, I'm hoping, for your sake and mine, that I'll be back soon. I got what I've been calling a terrible stomach 'thing' over the weekend and it's sadly still with me. So I've been eating toast, dry toast, peanut butter toast (in an ambitious moment), crackers, and rice. It's a regular hot ham water week around here.

Bland.

Her?

(I've been watching a lot of Arrested Development from my sick bed.)

See you soon, I hope.

Egg Salad with Ramps

2011-04-29T06:30:00.004-05:00

Hey! Here's a recipe for egg salad. It has ramps in it, so that makes it kind of special but mostly it's just regular and comforting in the way that egg salad is.

Egg salad reminds me: when I was first out of college I had this job auditing nursing home records in the greater NYC area. The job was to go into a room at a nursing home and look through all the records and write down how many times patients had their blood sugar tested. Or sometimes other kinds of medications/tests. But mostly blood sugar.

Can I tell you, for a moment, that you have to be kind of tough to do a job like that? Not as tough as actual nurses, of course. Just, medical records have pictures. There are things you can't unsee. I'm sorry, eyes.

But, anyway, the point of all this is that I would often be served lunch from the nursing home kitchen. And, being a vegetarian, this was kind of hit or miss. The nursing homes with naught but lettuce salads were the worst. The nursing homes with egg salad were the best. Wait, no, one nursing home in Harlem that had all these amazing vegetarian meat substitutes, that one was the total best.

And that is the story of how egg salad became so comforting for me.

6 eggs
1 large radish, finely chopped
1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped
2 slender ramps, finely chopped
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Carefully place the uncooked eggs in a large saucepan and cover them completely with cold water. Put this pot on to boil. As soon as the water comes up to a boil, turn off the heat and cover. Let the eggs sit for 10 minutes, then submerge in ice water to cool.

Congratulations, you just made a perfectly hard-boiled egg with no sad grey yoke-lining.

Chop the eggs and toss with the other ingredients. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve as a salad or sandwich. You know, whatever you like.

Serves three-ish.

Bean and Corn Mix for Dips, Nachos, Quesadillas, Et Cetera!

2011-04-27T06:00:00.004-05:00

Did you ever imagine a life where you ate nachos all the time and then you ate nachos once and then you kind of did start eating nachos all the time?

Cause, that's kind of happened to me this spring.

And when I make nachos, and sometimes quesadillas too, I mix together something like the below first and let that sit while I go to the store for more tortilla chips. If you mix all these things together first, then tuck them into your dinner before it "cooks," you will have a delicious junk food meal that is also full of vegetables.

Amounts below are approximate. If you added some lime juice, this would be a great salad-y salsa too.

1/2 (14 ounce) can black beans, drained
2 scallions, chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 bell pepper, finely chopped
spicy pepper or red pepper flakes
1/2 cup corn
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped

Combine all ingredients. Spoon the mix onto nachos or into a quesadilla or eat it raw in tacos or as a dip or however you please.

Makes enough for a giant pile of nachos or maybe 4 large quesadillas.

Whole Wheat Three Cheese White Pizza with Ramps

2011-04-25T06:23:00.001-05:00

It's ramp season. This is very exciting in that ramps are pretty tasty but mostly in that it is actually spring, and around this Northeast, things are growing.

I didn't forage these, though ramps are easy to spot in the woods and I have dug a few up in years past. Sustainably.

No, these I bought at the store. They were very slender with not-yet-red stems and must have been picked just as they were appearing. So, if you have bigger ramps, maybe two are enough here. Their flavor is strong, but earthy and mellow. It goes great with creamy things, as in this pizza that was more delicious, even, than I might have expected or hoped. I really loved this.

1 1/8 cups warm (not hot) water
1 packet active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons olive oil

olive oil
coarse salt
1/2 cup cubed fresh mozzarella
1/3 cup whole milk ricotta
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 small ramps

In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine the water, yeast, and sugar. Let sit for 5-10 minutes until the yeast has dissolved and the mixture looks milky and smells like bread.

In the bowl of your mixer, whisk together the flours and salt. Switch to the dough hook, turn the machine on a low speed and slowly add the yeast-water mixture. Continue machine-kneading on a lowish speed until the dough balls up around the hook, then add the olive oil. Continue kneading until the olive oil is absorbed into the dough.

With your pizza stone inside, preheat your oven to its hottest (non-broil) setting.

Remove the dough hook, and leave the dough in the bowl, covered with plastic wrap or a damp towel, to rise for an hour or an hour and a half. The dough should be doubled in size.

Remove the dough from the bowl and set it on a clean, floured work surface. Divide the ball in half. (This recipe makes two pizza crusts. Repeat with the second one or try something different.) Then, gently press one of the dough balls out into a large round, turning it as you go and adding flour (not too much!) as needed.

Combine cheeses with ramps, leaving some of the chopped green leaves aside for garnish after the pizza has cooked.

Transfer the dough to a sheet of parchment paper on top of a pizza peel or rimless baking sheet. Brush the dough with olive oil, then sprinkle with coarse salt. Spread the cheese-ramp mixture over the pizza with the back of a spoon. With the pizza peel, slide the pizza and parchment paper onto your pizza stone and bake for 10 minutes or until the crust begins to brown and the cheese bubbles.

Torta with Black Bean and Egg (with recipe for Refried Black Beans)

2011-04-22T06:09:00.004-05:00

The word 'torta' refers to different foods in different cultures and languages, but for our purposes today, it's a Mexican sandwich. These tortas are typically made with crusty bread/a crusty roll with an airy crumb. Inside can be all kinds of things. I really like mine with a fried egg, though this would certainly be great vegan with tofu or tempeh or just without the egg and sour cream. Also, generally, I'm really into cabbage on sandwiches lately. Its crunch! It's crunch! You know?

Here are the things I put on my torta, from bottom to top. You can see, above, that I kind of smashed my avocado into the bread. I like the texture of a not-smashed avocado a lot-lot, but slices of the fruit always slide out the side of my sandwich just as I try to take a bite. So I make use of this method. Better to have smashed than lost.

Also, one time I went on a rant about not muddling a sandwich with more than five ingredients. And, well, things are very complex. We really shouldn't make any hard and fast rules about how to live in the world. Rant take-back.

bread
sour cream
carrot habanero hot sauce
beans (below)
fried egg
tomato
radishes
red onion
cabbage
cilantro
avocado
bread

Refried Black Beans
olive oil
1/2 a red, orange, or yellow bell pepper, chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 hot pepper or red pepper flakes to taste (optional)
1 (14 ounce) can black beans (or equal amount of cooked black beans)
salt

Heat the olive oil in a large sauce pan over medium-low heat. Add the bell pepper, onion, garlic, and hot pepper and cook until softening. Add the beans with their water and mash with a potato masher. Keep mashing/cooking over low-ish heat until the beans have broken down/come together/warmed. Season to taste with salt.

Ricotta Banana Nut Muffins

2011-04-18T06:39:00.001-05:00

Ever since Maggie shared her Big City Banana Bread, I've been wanting to try baking with ricotta in this way. So this weekend, I finally thawed out the brown bananas that had been in my freezer (YES! Freeze those quickly rotting bananas until you can use them. I thawed mine in a glass bowl in the oven while it preheated. Couldn't be simpler.) since February and baked these muffins.

They were great. The ricotta adds richness. The ricotta adds greatness.

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup whole milk ricotta
2/3 cup 2% or whole milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons melted butter
about 3 ripe bananas
1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

Preheat your oven to 400° F. Line or grease a standard 12-muffin baking pan.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and cinammon.

In a larger bowl, whisk together the sugar, egg, ricotta, milk, vanilla, and melted butter.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stirring to mostly combine. Toss in the bananas and walnuts and finish stirring until all is just incorporated.

Bake for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Vegan Lentil Burgers

2011-04-13T06:38:00.002-05:00

Get your food processor out. You're going to use it three times.

I'm on a quest--well, not really a quest. Maybe a quest-lite. ?uestlite--to make a better veggie burger. This one is on its way. Vegan, packed full of protein, holds together in the skillet, tasty. Pillars of the quest, those.

1 cup dry french lentils, well rinsed
2 1/2 cups water
salt
3/4 cup rolled oats
about six ounces prepared seitan
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for frying the patties
1/2 medium red onion, minced
1 medium carrot, peeled and shredded
2 cloves garlic, minced
black pepper
2 teaspoons soy sauce

Combine the lentils and the water with a little salt in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down, partially cover and simmer until the lentils are cooked through.

Grind the oats to a powder in your food processor. Set aside.

Grind the seitan intro mealy sized grounds. Set aside.

When the lentils are finished cooking and the water is all absorbed, scoop about half of them into your food processor and process into a paste.

Stir together this paste, the reserved lentils, the oats, and the seitan with the remaining ingredients. Season to taste with salt (or more soy sauce) and pepper.

Form the mixture into about 8 patties. (These can be wrapped in plastic wrap and frozen for later).

Fry each patty in a little olive oil on a skillet over medium-high heat until brown on both sides. Serve in a soft bun (unlike the one pictured).

Serves 8.

Dutch Baby with Lemon Sugar

2011-04-11T06:07:00.001-05:00

The other day, a friend posted a picture of his Dutch baby on Facebook with the caption, "My Dutch baby is bigger than yours."

My brain set that caption to the tune of the song below, playing it over and over, then demanded a Dutch baby of its own. I'd never made a Dutch baby before, & had potentially never eaten one, though the idea of the baby felt familiar.

So anyway, I made one, adapting from a couple of different recipes, based on what I had around. Mine didn't rise as outrageously as my friend's, but it tasted totally delicious. It looked dry on the outside but the inside was custard-soft, fantastic.

The lack of outrageous rise, I think, was because I didn't blend enough air into the eggs. Like a souffle, air-in-eggs is the rising agent here. Also like a souffle, the Dutch baby will fall after you pull it from the oven, but it should rise while it's in there, in the heat.

Oh, and lemon sugar? Just the best condiment I ever made. No big deal.

3 tablespoons sugar
zest of one lemon
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup milk, at room temperature
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Stir together the sugar and lemon zest in a small bowl and set aside.

Turn your oven to 375° F. Coat a ten-inch cast iron skillet with two of the tablespoons melted butter. Place the buttered pan in the oven as it preheats.

Pour the other tablespoon of butter, and the vanilla, into the room-temperature milk. Stir to combine.

Beat the eggs with an electric mixer on high until the eggs are pale and frothy. (This is what I did, but perhaps not long enough. Maybe you want to put them in a blender with all the other ingredients and blend for 30 seconds? That's an option too.) Beat in the milk mixture, flour and salt.

Remove the hot pan from the oven. Carefully pour the batter into the pan, then return it to the oven. Bake for about 30 minutes until the edges are puffy and browning.

Sprinkle with reserved lemon sugar.

Serves two.

My Father's Laughter

2011-04-08T06:41:00.002-05:00

"I first had a version of this at a Japanese monastery during a silent retreat—don't ask, it's a long story."

Pals. It's way busy this week. Apologies for taking it easy on this end.

Meanwhile, let's all bask in some of Paltrow's goopy wisdom. (And yeah, I know I am as lampoonable as anyone. Food writing is ridiculous. And yet...)

[Eater via Jezebel]

Polenta and Fried Egg with Sauteed Bell Peppers, Onions, and Vegan Chorizo

2011-04-04T06:04:00.002-05:00

I was just reminded of the fantastic polenta hash at Flo, a super tasty Mexican-leaning breakfast place by (one of) our old apartment(s) in Chicago.

With that in mind, this dish, less a hash than a corny food pile, was born. The fresh mozzarella makes the polenta extra creamy, extra breakfast-nodding, and the spicy peppers and vegan chorizo contrast the creamy in exactly the right way.

If you have left over polenta (I note below that we did), this can serve as the underdish for so many other kinds of promising piles. But do make this one first. It's great.

1 cup milk
salt
1 cup coarse cornmeal
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup corn
1/4 cup cubed fresh mozzarella

Bring milk to a boil with 2 cups water in a medium saucepan and add a large pinch of salt. Turn the heat down to a simmer. Add cornmeal in a steady stream, whisking all the while. When it has all been added, let mixture return to a boil, then turn heat to low. Polenta should be just barely simmering.

Cook, stirring occasionally and being sure to scrape sides and bottom of pan, for 15 to 20 minutes, until mixture is creamy and cornmeal tastes cooked. If mixture becomes too thick, whisk in some water, about 1/2 cup at a time.

Taste and season polenta as necessary with salt and pepper. Turn the heat down to low, stir in corn and cheese and cook until the corn is warmed through.

This polenta recipe will make enough to serve six people. I just made the pepper/onion topping for two, and it's very flexible, so I'm leaving off the amounts below. Make it for as many or as few friends as you like.

olive oil
mixture of bell peppers, sliced very thinly
onion, sliced very thinly
vegan chorizo
chili powder
red pepper flakes

Over medium-high heat, cook the peppers, onions, and sausage, sprinkled with chili powder and red pepper flakes to taste, in a tablespoon or two of the olive oil. The peppers and onions should wilt a little, but take them out before they become soft. Their snap is a nice contrast to the creamy polenta.

Top with one fried egg per serving.

Hickory Bourbon Barbecue Sauce

2011-03-30T06:18:00.003-05:00

The other week, my coworker April (previously of best-ever ricotta gnocchi fame) and her husband gifted me a mysterious little bottle of shagbark hickory syrup. I'm a big fan of maple, as you know, but I had never heard of a hickory version.

I did a little research and discovered that nearly everyone who talked about the syrup did so in hushed, awed tones. Like the unicorn of the forest (do unicorns live in forests aleady?) shagbark hickory syrup was, until a few years ago I gather, the stuff of legends. It's made not from the sap of the tree, like maple, but through some magical method of boiling the bark.

Hickoryworks, in Indiana, claims to be the only commercial producer of the syrup, but the one April gave me comes from Pennsylvania, and is also available for sale online: Razz's.

Its flavor is tangier, hitting higher notes than the similar maple, and perfect in savory/sweet applications. Though I don't think it's actually smoky tasting, the association is strong, as hickory wood is often used in smoking. I've been thinking lately that vegetarians miss out on smoky-as-flavor, since it's mostly meat that is smoked. This hickory syrup is a great way to reference that flavor, and, bonus!, without the associated carcinogens.

I used the hickory syrup as the base for a barbecue sauce I made the other night. This was hands down the best barbecue sauce I've ever tried making and better than many I've bought. If you don't have any shagbark hickory syrup--and I'm assuming that's likely--I'm sure this would be good with maple as well. This makes a relatively small amount of sauce (1 cup?). I wasn't sure how it would turn out and didn't want to waste the syrup. Double up if you desire!

1/2 cup shagbark hickory syrup
1/2 cup bourbon (I used Knob Creek)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons dijon mustard
2 tablespoons vegan Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons spicy paprika
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon celery salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion flakes (dried onion; find this in the spice aisle)
1/2 cup water

Whisk together all the ingredients in a sauce pan. Bring to a simmer, and cook until the sauce has reduced by half or so, or until it gets to whatever thickness you like.

Meyer Lemon Blackberry Muffins

2011-03-28T06:45:00.004-05:00

I saw some meyer lemons in my grocery store the other week and bought them with some foggy sense that I would bake them into some unclear but delicious thing. Perhaps I'll be more ambitious with the rest (marmalade?), but these muffins were so easy to make the other morning, and so fantastic, maybe I won't.

Meyer lemons go great with blueberries, but I had some blackberries in the freezer and figured I'd give those a try here. I was worried they might be too tart, but that wasn't the case at all. Meyer lemons are sweeter than regular lemons, with a soft, fragrant peel. They were made for blackberries, if partly because dark purple and dark yellow are so lovely to look at together, but mostly because the flavors strike very similar notes: a bit bitter, a bit sweet, tangy, bright.

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled a bit
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
zest of two meyer lemons
juice of one meyer lemon (about two tablespoons)
2 large eggs, beaten
10 ounces blackberries (if frozen, thaw them and sprinkle them with flour before incorporating)
3 tablespoons coarse turbinado sugar

Preheat your oven to 375°F. Grease or line a standard muffin pan with paper liners.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, buttermilk, lemon zest, lemon juice, and eggs.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

Very gently fold the blackberries into the batter.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin pan. Then, sprinkle evenly with the coarse sugar. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes.

Makes 12 muffins.

Guest Post: Cheesecake

2011-03-25T06:03:00.001-05:00

My friend Sara is here today with an old family recipe for cheesecake that looks almost as lovely as the tea towels it's pictured with--tea towels Sara makes and sells on her Etsy site along with other, truly gorgeous textiles and note cards. (Here's a direct link to the towels pictured below.)

I realized just now that I've never made a cheesecake. I can't wait to try this recipe!

This variation on the New York-style cheesecake is from my mom's mom's sister's son. It's the perfect amount of rich but not too sweet, and I always loved it when my mom made it. Now I've taken the recipe (and the well-used and -stained recipe card) for my own.

Crust:
1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs
4 tablespoons of butter, room temperature

Filling:
4 packages (8 oz each) of cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
4 eggs

Topping:
16 oz sour cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla

Pre-heat oven to 300.

Crust:
In a small mixing bowl, use a fork to combine the butter and graham cracker crumbs. Use your fingers to press it firmly into the bottom of an ungreased springform cheesecake pan.

Filling:
In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients using an electric mixer. Mix well until all lumps are gone. Pour on top of graham cracker crust and shake pan to evenly spread filling. Bake for 50-55 minutes with an ovenproof bowl or quart measure full of water.

Topping:
Mix together all ingredients using a whisk. Beat until all lumps are gone. After cake has baked 50-55 minutes, pour topping on top of cake and bake an additional 7-10 minutes.

Let cool for one hour, then cover and refrigerate for 24 hours before serving. Yum!

Pennsylvania Egg Sandwich

2011-03-23T06:13:00.005-05:00

I've been eating a lot of eggs lately, because, as the great and almost-too-darling Jacques Pépin has said, "if we don’t know what to do, there are always eggs."

I've also been reading a lot of Serious Eats lately. I love their mix of high and low, though the low tends to make me want to eat junk food all the time. I probably think about their stadium cheese recipe every day of my life.

And I think it was from Serious Eats that I first learned about Primanti Brothers, the Pittsburgh sandwich makers who pile their piles extra high with cole slaw and french fries. I've not actually been to Pittsburgh since I moved to Pennsylvania, but that doesn't mean I can't aspirationally approach their sandwiches.

This one, unfortunately lacks french fries. I would have put them on if I had potatoes, but I didn't. But please, don't let that stop you. Make your sandwich super, like the falafel place in Ann Arbor that would stick fries in any of their sandwiches and call them Super Falafel, for example. Super indeed. Super Pennsylvania Egg Sandwich. That's what you should make.

Here's what I made, from top to bottom.

top slice ciabatta bread, toasted
thousand island dressing (which in my case was just mayonaise and ketchup mixed together with some dill. Don't judge!)
carrot cabbage Slaw
tomato slices
shredded lettuce
fried egg
Swiss cheese melted onto
bottom slice of ciabatta bread, toasted

Serves one, awesomely.

Poached Eggs with Cumin Roasted Potatoes and Spicy Cilantro Sauce

2011-03-21T06:38:00.002-05:00

More cilantro sauce! This March, I'm into its bright tang more than I already am all the time.

Caveat one: this weekend, I forgot how to poach an egg, so I've linked to YouTube's entire encyclopedic output on the subject below. Study up, then choose your method. Mine is usually to swirl the water, then crack the egg into a ladel or large spoon, gently lowering it into the water. I forgot about that step in a Sunday morning haze and cracked the egg directly into the swirling water, only to break the yoke both of the times I tried. But, look, I'm not about to toss an ugly egg for your aesthetic benefit. So you get this photo.

Caveat two: Though not pictured this way, I recommend tossing the roasted potatoes in the cilantro sauce. A little of this sauce goes a long way, and spreading it out more gives you just the right amount with every bite.

Ok. Onward.

2 average sized russet potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 425°F. Lay the potato cubes out in a roasting pan, so they form a single layer. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with cumin, salt, and pepper. Then toss to coat. Roast for about 30 minutes, or until browning.

3/4 cup cilantro
1 clove garlic
1 small shallot
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or a chopped hot pepper)
2 tablespoons olive oil
lemon juice to taste
salt to taste

Combine the cilantro, garlic, shallot, and red pepper flakes in a food processor. Turn it on and add the olive oil and lemon juice. Process until it forms your desired consistency. Stir in salt to taste. A warning that a little of this sauce goes a long way. This will seem like a very small amount, but will, truly, be more than enough for two servings of potatoes. You could halve this, but only if you have a super tiny food processor.

2 eggs, poached

Serves two.

Spicy Lentil Cakes with Garlic Cilantro Yogurt Sauce

2011-03-18T06:47:00.005-05:00

More from the stir-together-and-fry family. It's late winter, or early spring for the glass half full set, and I'm trying to cook into my pantry. To make way for: oh man, I can barely dare to think about farmer's markets.

I have said and will continue saying this: fritters/croquettes/savory pancakes will accept all your hopes and deferred pantry dreams and turn them into a terrific meal that feels special and exciting. Or maybe that's just the part where you fry these things. Either way: yes.

These foods are so easy to make. And they are good. And it's not just the frying. The mashed-togetherness brings out new flavors, making what is really just a small, humble food into something complex and interesting. Try your hand at these! With this even simpler, even delicious-er yogurt sauce, these are dinner party fare, for sure.

1 cup pureed, cooked red lentils
2 average sized carrots, peeled and grated
1 large leek, white and light green parts finely chopped
1 habanero pepper, finely minced (wear gloves for this)
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 beaten eggs

Stir all the ingredients together until a smooth, thick batter forms.

Shallow fry large spoonfuls of the batter in olive oil over medium-high heat until cakes are golden brown on both sides. Drain a bit on paper towel before serving with the following sauce.

1 cup whole milk plain yogurt
a squeeze of lemon juice, to taste
1 small clove garlic, minced and then crushed into a paste with a little salt
1/3 cup loosely packed cilantro, chopped
salt + pepper to taste

Stir all the ingredients together. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Makes 8-10 cakes.

Split Pea Soup with Mini Smoked Cheddar Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

2011-03-16T05:24:00.001-05:00

I've been meaning to make split pea soup for my whole life or something. And for the last several years at least. And, certainly, for the last several weeks during which time a bag of the lovely green peas has been waiting on my shelves.

Finally, today, in honor of St. Patrick's Day, I have this green soup for you. Like so many soups, it's shocking how easy it is to make. It takes not advanced skill, just time and care.

Time can be a challenge, in these times, you know, I know. But I made this the other night, as the sun was staying out longer. And did my lesson planning and read some reading while the soup simmered for a long time. And that process is comforting. The promise of reward and the warmth. It will be spring soon, but for now it's still winter. I may not make a soup again for months. I'm glad a made this one.

You can find the recipe here. I followed it exactly except for using 1 quart of vegetable stock (plus 2 of water). And it was exactly as I would want split pea soup to be.

Smoked cheese subbing into the traditional role that pork might have played was excellent. I had some smoked cheddar with a paprika rind that was waiting to make sense in this way. Mini-grilled cheeses, like most things mini, are more fun than their average-sized forebearers.

Potato Leek Pancakes

2011-03-14T05:42:00.002-05:00

Hello, pals, I am back. With a new variation on one of my favorite foods ever. Leeks are less sweet here than the more typical onions, but they keep their crunch and add some terrific textural interest to the cakes.

1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 egg, beaten
1 pound yukon gold potatoes, grated
1 large leek, sliced in half lengthwise, then sliced crosswise into narrow half moons

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and black pepper.

In a separate, smaller bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and egg. Stir in the potatoes and leek. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients and stir to combine.

Spoon batter onto a hot, oiled griddle. Cook on each side for a few minutes, until golden brown.

Serve with sour cream and applesauce.

Makes approx. 15 pancakes.

Huffington Post Hot Sauce Love

2011-03-09T19:13:00.002-06:00

Hey pals, I'm on vacation (spring break woo) for the rest of the week. But in the meantime, check out this nostalgia-filled blog I did for my old friends at the Huffington Post!

Vegan Tangelo Cake with Apricot Glaze

2011-03-07T05:07:00.000-06:00

Do you want to make the easiest seasonal most delicious cake that is also vegan? Good. Here is a recipe for that. I used tangelos and apricot glaze because I had them on hand. But you could use oranges and marmalade if you have those things hanging around. Or maybe even grapefruits.

This cake will be super moist with a big, hearty crumb.

1 1/2 cups whole grain pastry flour
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
zest of one tangelo (or orange)
1 cup freshly squeezed tangelo (or orange) juice
1/3 cup grape seed oil
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350° F and grease a 9x9 inch round cake pan.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients and the zest. In a separate, smaller bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and stir to just combine.

Pour batter into prepared dish and bake for approximately 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool in the pan until just warm, not hot. Remove cake from pan and glaze:

1/8 cup apricot jelly
2 teaspoons water

In a small saucepan, heat the jelly and water until bubbling. Pour over the top of the cake.

[With thanks to.]

Artichoke Spread on Toast with Arugula and Fried Egg

2011-03-04T06:37:00.003-06:00

With winter waning, the fall of dips is back! Spring of dips!

Tangent time: "Spring of dips" just sonically reminded me of "Briggy Dip." For your listening pleasure, below.

But back to dips, or spreads, as it were. Much like my other favorite food family--croquettes/pancakes/fritters--you can make a dip out of practically anything. Artichoke dip is a classic, but often verges dangerously into this kind of classic. (That reminds me -- I should share more gems from C42.) It's big-R Rich. And there's really no reason to cloud the delicious artichoke. It is, on its own, quite good. With lemon and garlic: even better. And vegan!

With an egg, not vegan. But certainly appropriate for any meal. Breakfast for dinner! Dinner for brunch! Briggy dip!

4 artichoke hearts
1 clove garlic
4 tablespoons olive oil
lemon juice (from about 1/2-1 small lemon)
salt
pepper

Combine the artichoke hearts, garlic, olive oil, and some lemon juice in your food processor and process until a smooth spread forms. Stir in more lemon juice, salt, and pepper to taste.

Spread this onto toast and top with arugula and a fried egg.

Makes about 3/4 cup of dip.

Celery Root Rémoulade with Breaded Tofu Cutlets

2011-03-02T05:21:00.004-06:00

This is a classic way to prepare celery root, though I've made it vegan with a slight substitution. This salad, like Monday's casserole, is wintery but with a glance toward spring. It's lemony! It's bright! Like the sun!

Céleri rémoulade is often served with fish, so with a nod in that direction, I've paired it with tofu "cutlets," partially inspired by a recent bestmealever at Founding Farmers in DC. They have a secret vegan menu there! Ask for it! Then order a giant basket of vegan fish and chips. It comes with three kinds of fried: British potato "chips," American "potato chips," and breaded & fried tofu. Vegans need junk food sometimes too.

1 pound celery root, peeled and cut into matchsticks
1/2 cup veganaise
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
juice of 1/2 a small lemon
coarse salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon or so finely chopped arugula (or parsley if you have that)

Stir together the veganaise, mustards, and lemon juice with salt and pepper to taste. Pour over & toss with the celery root, then sprinkle with the chopped arugula or parsley.

8 ounces extra firm tofu, sliced 1/4 inch thick and cut into triangles
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon dry dill
coarse salt
olive oil

Preheat your oven to 400° F.

Gently dry the tofu by wrapping it in a clean dish cloth and applying some even pressure. Perhaps by placing a plate on top and then weighing it down with the Joy of Cooking.

On a plate, stir together the breadcrumbs, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, dill, and salt to taste.

Brush each triangle of tofu with olive oil on both sides, then place it in the bread crumb mixture to coat. Once coated, set each piece of tofu on a non-stick or oiled baking sheet. Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Serves 3-4.

[With thanks to.]

Gemelli Pasta Casserole with Kale and Mozzarella

2011-02-28T06:25:00.001-06:00

Hey so, it's still winter. I'm almost to the point where I begin refusing sweaters and tights and demand ankle length pants, no socks, natch, and then become ill and wait for the warm winds to heal me. But not quite. Maybe, even, this year I will continue to dress for the weather I have and not the weather I want. But probably not, because we all know using the secret via aspirational dress gets you what you want!

My menu-making is taking a slight turn toward the forceful shedding of winter too. I notice I've begun cooking with winter vegetables in a lighter, perhaps springlike manner. Take this. It's a casserole but absolutely lacking the heft of things we might have been drawn to in November. By adding the raw onions and garlic to the still cooking pasta, the whole dish gets flavor-infused in a results-enthused kind of way. It's warm and comforting and whole. But also springward looking. Like us. And it might even counteract our reckless, but hopeful late winter sartorial choices. RIGHT?!?

Sure.

1/2 pound short pasta of your choosing
1/2 bunch of kale
1/4 medium onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
8 ounces mozzarella, 1/4 inch cubed
1/4 cup milk
salt, pepper
parmesan cheese

Preheat your oven to 400° F.

Cook the pasta until about halfway done--still a bit crunchy in the middle. Remove with a slotted spoon, leaving the pasta water behind.

Into the pasta water, toss the kale. Boil for about two minutes until bright green and beginning to soften.

Meanwhile, combine the pasta with the chopped onion and garlic in an oven-safe dish. When the kale is done boiling, remove, shake off excess water, and finely chop (you could also do this before it cooks, but I think it's easier to get a handle on the greens once they are wilting). Stir the kale into the pasta mixture, then add the mozzarella, milk, salt, and pepper to taste. Stir to mix all. Grate some parmesan cheese over the top of the dish.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until beginning to just brown on the tips of the pasta.

Serves four.

Almond Raisin Granola Bars

2011-02-25T06:45:00.004-06:00

On June 23, 2010 I said I would make granola bars later that week. Instead I ate all the granola as cereal and called it a night (morning?). I called it a night/morning for eight long months.

Pals, it is now February 25. And I finally made granola bars. What. Took. Me. So. Long. ?

I like granola bars. You can keep them in purses and drawers and backpacks and eat them in the afternoon when you have a hunger/screen-stare headache, and feel cured. But granola bars (and granola cereals) are expensive. Like five doll hairs for one cup of granola that you will eat one late night and then in the morning, out of cereal, be forced to eat a stale piece of naan for breakfast while quickly walking your dog along an icy road. Or something.

Where was I? Oh, making your own granola and bars = cost effective. And better tasting than not. Way better. Delicious. And really not very time consuming or difficult. What do you have to lose?

2ish cups granola
1/2 cup almond or peanut butter (I actually used a mix of the two)
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup raisins

Line an 8x8 inch baking pan with parchment paper, plastic wrap, or foil.

Combine honey and almond/peanut butter in a saucepan. Heat over low heat, stirring, until it's incorporated and pour-able.

Combine the granola, coconut, and raisins in a large mixing bowl. Stir to incorporate. Pour the butter-honey (BUTTER HONEY!) over the granola mixture and stir to thoroughly combine. Pour/press this mixture into the prepared baking pan and refrigerate until cooled.

Once cooled, you can lift the parchment and the granola block out of the pan and cut into 12 or 14 bars. Wrap each in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for maximum hold-together-ness. They'll keep fine at room temperature too, but might be a little bendy.

Vegan if you eat honey. Or sub in more maple syrup.

Ricotta Gnocchi

2011-02-23T05:23:00.005-06:00

My colleague, April, brought ricotta gnocchi into my life. In the form of a family recipe straight out of the old country. So thankful to her.

I've made (potato) gnocchi before, with varying degrees of success. I mean, it's mostly turned out ok, but I can never get all the tiny lumps out of the potatoes and so it's never been quite as pillowy-dreamy as I've hoped. I think the answer to this is to get a potato ricer. But why bother when I can toss the potatoes out altogether and proceed with ease and speed toward exactly what my dreams would conjure?

Ricotta gnocchi is it. It.

You can mix up the dough in less than ten minutes and be rolling and boiling before the night is over. The end result will be soft and light without a bulky, $30 potato ricer.

I garnished this with arugula, cause that's how I do. Sauce with your favorite tomato sauce, or try the brown butter and sage option Mark Bittman suggests. (By the way, the recipe I list below uses more flour than Bittman's, making for a firmer, less sticky dumpling.)

1 pound whole milk ricotta
salt
pepper
2 eggs, beaten
about 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Combine the ricotta, salt, pepper, and eggs. Add flour about a half cup at a time until a dough comes together and begins to hold its shape. Knead it gently a few times on a clean, floured surface, then cut the dough into 8 or so pieces and roll each into a long log, about a 1/2 inch in diameter.

Slice the log into inch-long pieces, then roll each piece off the tines of a floured fork to create indentations. I'll let the NY Times explain:

Take a dinner fork with long, slim tines, rounded if possible," she writes. "Working over a counter, hold the fork more or less parallel to the counter, with the concave side facing you. With the index finger of your other hand, hold one of the cut pieces against the inside curve of the fork, just below the tips of the prongs. At the same time that you are pressing the piece against the prongs, flip it away from the tips and in the direction of the handle. The motion of the finger is flipping, not dragging. As the piece rolls away from the prongs, let it drop to the counter. If you are doing it correctly, it will have ridges on one side formed by the tines and a depression on the other formed by your fingertip.

Boil the gnocchi in salted water, in batches, for just a couple of minutes, until they float to the surface. Eat immediately.

Alternately, you can freeze the raw gnocchi on a floured cookie sheet, then store them in plastic freezer bags to use later.

Serves 4-6.

Oat & Orange Pancakes

2011-02-21T06:59:00.002-06:00

These look like regular pancakes, but tucked inside are oats, and orange zest. Two simple additions that make these pancakes irregular, lovely, perfect for cold winter mornings.

The cold is back here. Is it back where you are? Let's fortify with pancakes, these. Orange + maple syrup is number one best. The oats add integrity, without making these cakes dense or tough. They are hearty but bright. They are right.

Also, here's a tip: reheat leftover pancakes in the toaster. They are just as great the next day, slightly crisped.

If you don't have whole grain pastry flour, you could just do all-all-purpose plus the oats, or use regular whole wheat flour if you have that on hand.

2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled a bit
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole grain pastry flour
1/2 cup rolled oats (not quick cooking)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
zest of one orange

Whisk together all the dry ingredients.

In a separate, smaller bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients and orange zest.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ones until everything is just combined.

Cook on a hot, buttered griddle, scooping about 1/4 cup batter per pancake.

Serves 2-4.

Vegetarian MMA

2011-02-18T12:26:00.002-06:00

Well here's something to think about.

This trend, if we can call it that, calls into question the assertion that, because meat = manly (naturally!), vegetarianism is un-manly, feminine, lacking strength. Not to mention vaguely sciencey claims that muscles can only be built by eating other muscles.

Basic Seitan

2011-02-16T05:37:00.005-06:00

The first time I made seitan from scratch, just a few short weeks ago, I went straight for sausage. Its ambition was balanced with ease and I was super happy with the way things turned out.

But the seitan I have commonly cooked with, as bought from the store, was something less dressed up. Chewy strips that you can stir fry and saute or pack in a dumpling, taco, or pot pie. Basic seitan. Something you dress up later.

Here's a recipe for that.

10 ounces vital wheat gluten powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 1/4 cups low sodium vegetable broth
3 tablespoons tamari
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
4 cups vegetable broth + water as needed

Whisk together the vital wheat gluten, garlic powder, and paprika. Combine the (1 1/4 cups) vegetable broth, tamari, and sesame oil, then add it to the dry ingredients, stirring to combine.

When the dough comes together, begin kneading. Knead for a few minutes, then allow the dough to rest for a few more minutes.

Knead again for another several minutes, then let the dough rest for about ten.

Meanwhile, bring the four cups of vegetable stock to a boil.

Cut the seitan into long strips and add it to the boiling water. Reduce to a simmer and continue cooking like that for 45 or 60 minutes. You may need to add water during this time, if it begins looking low.

Store this in its broth, in an airtight container, in the refrigerator, for up to a week or so. It makes a lot of seitan. Not kidding.

Make this barbecue seitan sandwich by sauteing some of the finished seitan, chopped, in olive oil with some garlic and shallots. Add barbecue sauce. Top with carrots and iceberg.

[Adapted from.]

Bánh Mì(-ish)

2011-02-14T06:29:00.002-06:00

I used to live next to a small Vietnamese neighborhood in Chicago. During the last year or two I was there, a little bánh mì-selling deli moved in, to my great delight. These delicious sandwiches, born of the culture collision that took place in Vietnam under French colonial rule, were so easy to grab on the walk from my train stop to my apartment. I ate them at least every week.

There are no bánh mì in the town where I live now, at least, not unless I make them. This is really just an approximation, but a pretty tasty one. The amounts below are ballpark or unlisted. It's a sandwich! Put as many pickled carrots on as you like (I like lots!)

4 ounces prepared seitan
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 small shallots, thinly sliced
pickled carrots, cut into matchsticks
pickled radishes, cut into matchsticks
cucumber, cut into matchsticks
a spicy pepper, such as a jalapeño, thinly sliced
cilantro
mayonaise
2 mini-baguettes or crusty sausage buns

Slice the seitan into thin strips and saute it with some oil and the garlic and shallots until warmed through and flavorful.

Pile all the ingredients into the buns and eat and love it.

P.S. Happy Valentine's Day to all you cuties out there.

Radicchio and Cabbage Citrus Salad

2011-02-11T06:56:00.004-06:00

I got the idea for this salad from one of my new favorite food blogs, Pimienta Rosa. Even if you can't read Spanish, it's worth taking a look at. The recipes are down-to-earth and, for the most part, simple. I love their take on this, with peeled grapes and manchego. I modified for what I had on hand and came up with my new favorite winter salad, edging out last year's citrus salad favorite, with kale.

I was reading the other day about--forgive me; this memory is kind of foggy--someone discovering something that could systematically eradicate the flavor of bitter. Or maybe it was about someone wanting this to happen. Whichever it was, I remember most acutely my reaction: don't take bitter away. Bitter has value. No, I don't want to taste only bitter for all days, but bitter makes a great component flavor-part. As in this salad: the bitter radicchio is balanced with sweet in-season oranges, crunchy cabbage, tangy garlic, and earthy-salty parmesan. All part of the chorus, friends. Let's hang on to bitter.

1 head radicchio, cored and chopped
about the same amount of green cabbage, chopped
1/4 cup toasted walnuts
3 average sized oranges
zest of one of those oranges
1 small clove garlic, finely minced
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
5 tablespoons olive oil
salt + black pepper to taste
1/8 cup grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Combine the radicchio, cabbage, and toasted walnuts in a large salad bowl. Carefully cut the peel away from the oranges, then slice them crosswise. You can halve these slices if they seem too big to you. Toss the oranges with the radicchio mix.

In a jar with a tight lid, combine the orange zest, garlic, vinegar, oil, salt, and pepper. Shake well to emulsify.

Pour the dressing over the salad, then toss with the parmesan.

Wait at least 30 minutes before eating so the vinegar can soften the cabbage and radicchio.

Serves 4-6 as a side salad.

Guest Post: Famous Secret Vegan Chili

2011-02-09T06:17:00.001-06:00

Author of the best ABC book about cheese that ever was written, my friend Paul is here today, sharing a chili recipe that is at once famous and secret. The JD Salinger of chilis, if you will. Eat it at your next winter dinner party and hope that things don't end like this.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

.5 cup Olive Oil
2 packages Ground Beef Substitute (approx. 2 lbs.)
1 large Yellow Onion, chopped
1 tbsp. Garlic, minced
1 8 oz. can Tomato Sauce (use empty can to add water)
3 empty 8 oz. tomato sauce cans full of Water

.25 cup Chili Powder
2 tsp. Cumin
1 tsp. Salt
.5 tsp. Black Pepper
.5 tsp Dried Oregano
.5 tsp Cayenne Pepper

1 16 oz. can Great Northern (White) Beans, drained and rinsed
1 16 oz. can Kidney Beans, drained and rinsed
1 16 oz. can Diced Tomatoes, with juice
1 large Red Bell Pepper, chopped

4 Jalapeno Peppers, roasted, and diced (discard seeds)
1 tbsp. Masa Flour
.25 cup Lukewarm Water
.5 cup Creamy Peanut Butter

Directions

In a big pot, heat Olive Oil over medium heat
Add Yellow Onion and Ground Beef Substitute, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until onions start to soften and beef starts to brown. (about 7 minutes)
Add Garlic, Tomato Sauce, and three 8 oz. cans of water. Stir.
Add Chili Powder, Cumin, Salt, Black Pepper, Dried Oregano, and Cayenne Pepper. Stir.
Add all Beans, Diced Tomatoes with juice, and Bell Peppers. Stir.
Simmer lightly, covered, for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
Add Jalapeno Peppers.
In a small bowl, mix Masa Flour with .25 cup Lukewarm water until dissolved. Add to the pot.
Add Creamy Peanut Butter.
Simmer lightly, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
If Chili is too thin, simmer longer.
If Chili is too thick, add water.

Editor's note: the chili pictured here is garnished with fritos and [vegan] cheese. Delicious.

Spicy Dark Chocolate Brownies

2011-02-07T06:02:00.000-06:00

These brownies are deeply darkly chocolated. The cayenne pepper is slight -- registering as a background note in the back of your throat and literally spicing things up. The consistency of these isn't fudgy but is not dry either. And they'll last for several days after baking, just as densely darkly chocolatey a few days later.

6 ounces 70% cacao bittersweet chocolate
6 tablespoons grape seed oil
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon ground espresso
1/4 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon fine salt
1/4 teaspoon (or to taste) cayenne peper
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

Preheat your oven to 350°F, Grease an 8-by-8-inch baking dish (I used a 9 inch round tart pan because that's what I had available and it worked out fine, but lowered the cooking time a bit). Prepare a double boiler by placing a glass bowl over a small saucepan filled about 1/3 of the way with water that is just gently boiling. Melt the chocolate in the glass bowl over the boiling water (the bowl should not be touching the water, just sitting over its steam), stirring frequently, until evenly melted. Remove from heat and let cool a bit.

Combine eggs, sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, espresso, salt, and cayenne pepper in a large bowl and stir until just mixed. Add melted chocolate and mix until evenly combined. Add flour and stir until just incorporated.

Pour batter to the baking dish and bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 25minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool before cutting.

[Adapted from.]

Us by Cakes

2011-02-05T16:47:00.001-06:00

Us by Cakes.

Guest Post: Big City Banana Bread

2011-02-04T05:53:00.002-06:00

Yes! Our friend Maggie is back to guide us gently into the weekend with this banana bread recipe. I love the ricotta here. Ricotta is so capable. I almost always have it on hand and hope to try it out in this recipe some light-filled Saturday morning soon. See you next week, friends.

Big City Banana Bread
(a riff on this Kitchen Sink recipe)*

When I was home for the holidays I was cooking out of my parent’s strangely-stocked kitchen. It’s the kind of kitchen that’s typically missing staples like butter, but is never short on wheat-y oats and grains, dried fruit and nuts. It’s inspired some experimentation, like this banana bread—

1/8 cup olive oil
1/4 cup honey
1/8 cup brown sugar
2 (over)ripe bananas, mashed
1 egg white
1/4 heaping cup whole milk ricotta
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup whole-wheat flour
1/3 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup pecan pieces

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease or spray a 9 inch loaf pan and set aside

With a wooden spoon mix the olive oil, honey, and sugar in a large bowl (it will have separated by the time you integrate the other ingredients but at that point you can just give it a couple more quick stirs). In a medium bowl, mix together the mashed bananas, egg white, ricotta, and vanilla. In another medium bowl, stir together the flour, oats, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Once you’ve got your three combos prepared, re-mix the olive oil, honey, and sugar before adding in the banana mixture. Mix just until well integrated and then add the flour mixture, stirring until just combined, and then mix in the pecans.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 40-ish minutes, or until a knife comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for five minutes before turning out the big city bread onto a cooling rack.

* I wanted this quick bread to be really banana-y and only had two post-prime bananas to use. So I halved that Kitchen Sink recipe before modifying it. You could easily double this if you wanted a bigger yield, though that would probably require lengthening the baking time.

Black Kale and Potato Burritos

2011-02-02T05:24:00.001-06:00

I fell off on Monday, though I've been posting over on the Meals; for Moderns' Facebook page. (Like us!). But it's not because I wasn't cooking. I was. And these kale-potato burritos were so super awesome and full on health that it's a shame I waited until today to tell you about them. Because don't you a) want to eat burritos all the time, b) want to eat potatoes and kale together all the time, and c) want to eat burritos all the time? (When you're not eating argula garlic knots, that is). Oh, and d) want to eat that hot sauce you made last week on everything constantly?

Cause yeah:

2 average sized russet potatoes, diced to 1/2 inch cubes
olive oil
1/2 bell pepper, finely chopped
1/2 large onion, finely chopped
4 large cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 head kale, tough stems removed and discarded, leaves chopped

Boil the potatoes until tender.

Meanwhile, heat the oil over medium in a large pot. Add the bell pepper, onion, garlic, and dry spices and saute until softening. Add the kale and continue cooking until dark green and tender.

Drain the potatoes, then mash them into the kale mixture.

Serve in burritos or tacos or however you like with garnishes of your choosing. I like carrots, iceberg lettuce, cilantro, lime, and tomatoes. And hot sauce, obvs.

Bosc Pear and Sage Vegan Sausages

2011-01-28T05:32:00.000-06:00

Though I've eaten a fair share of seitan in my life, I've never made it from scratch myself. But if I had known how easy it was, I would have. And now that I know this, I will. Seitan = wheat gluten. And wheat gluten isn't for everyone, especially in so concentrated a proportion. But it is something special. In breads, gluten is what lends elasticity. It's what makes a pizza dough stretchable. And, when isolated, it has the potential to be meat-like, in that its stretchability turns to something like fibrousticity. Pretty much as soon as you add water to the powder called "Vital Wheat Gluten," which can be found wherever your local hippies shop, it begins to manifest this change. And that change is pretty amazing. Like how sometimes you wonder, really wonder, at the chemistry of cooking, or ask yourself how in the world people ever came up with baking soda. (Local hippies found here).

Seitan is basically flavorless, like many vegetarian proteins. So it will take on whatever flavors you imbue it with. As far as meat approximation goes, people seem to agree that sausage is a good bet. Because the flavor is, with meat and not meat alike, all about the flavorings. It's been so long since I ate meat, and in the 12 or so years of my life that I did, I doubt I ever ate a fancy sausage. But that's what people tell me anyway.

This version with bosc pears and sage takes advantage of winter flavors and was better than I could have imagined. Tamari adds umami, but soy sauce, vegan worcestershire sauce, or bouillon powders would also do this work.

1 large pear, shredded (peel on)
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons fresh chopped sage
3 tablespoons tamari
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon onion flakes (dry minced onion) -- you could also use fresh minced onion, but you might want to go easy on the vegetable broth, to avoid over-moisturing)
10 ounces vital wheat gluten
1 cup low sodium vegetable broth
1/4 cup olive oil

Combine the pear, garlic, sage, and tamari in a small bowl.

In a larger, separate bowl, whisk together the fennel seeds, paprika, red pepper flakes, onion flakes, and vital wheat gluten powder.

Combine the vegetable broth and olive oil, then pour these into the wheat gluten. Stir and watch the transformation begin! Then knead in the pear mixture. Knead by hand for about five minutes, until all is well combined and the gluten nicely developed. If too wet when kneading, you can add a dusting of flour like you would for kneading bread.

Preheat your oven to 325° F.

Separate the dough into 4 or 6 sections. Kind of loosely form those into sausage shapes, then wrap each tightly in foil, twisting the ends of the foil to seal. Poke the foil all over with a knife. (Don't make the mistake I made and skip this step: the sausages will explode all over. Yeah, I know.)

Bake the sausages for about 80 minutes.

When they are done baking, you can toast these up in some oil in a hot pan, like you would prepared sausages.

Serve in a bun or any which way you like.

Carrot Habanero Hot Sauce

2011-01-26T05:33:00.000-06:00

Ever since I taste-tested Co-op hot sauces at my old Chicago neighborhood's organic grocer, I've been hooked. They have a number of varieties and each is terrific. These hot sauces were the first to show me what lied beyond the ubiquitous, thin, vinegar-driven versions of diners everywhere. Not that there's anything wrong with those. Just, once you go beyond them, you realize what a hot sauce is really capable of being.

I've missed so much about Chicago. But it's not hyperbole to say Co-op hot sauces are among my top ten most missed, if you'll allow me such broad categories as loved ones, good restaurants, and lakesides, for example. In October, Amanda, our pal, sent me a care package which included two lovely Co-op sauces, but the supply had dwindled, and, though it's possible to order the sauces online, I figured I would try my hand at making a version. One of my favorites (secret: they are all my favorites): the carrot habanero.

And I did. And, well, you're going to want to wear gloves for this.

Hot, sweet, richly textured. And orange. Look how gorgeously orange. This hot sauce is best ever, keeping company with the other best evers, of course.

4 habanero peppers, roughly chopped, while wearing gloves
3 small carrots, peeled and pretty well chopped
5 jalapeño-sized sweet (Not Spicy!) peppers, chopped (or maybe one large bell pepper)
1/2 medium onion, roughly chopped
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup water

Put these things in a blender. Blend it real good. Add salt if you wish.

Butternut Squash Flatbread with Shallots, Ricotta, and Sage

2011-01-24T05:17:00.000-06:00

This is definitely more flat bread than pizza, distinguishing only on the basis of moisture. This is dryer than pizza tends to be, so set your expectations accordingly. Or, make it more pizza-like by turning the squash into a sauce, thinning it out with some vegetable stock or by mixing ricotta right into it. Wherever you want to take this, you know? Take it there. Because atop the mountain of squash+ricotta+sage, magic is made, friends.

pizza dough
1 small butternut squash
olive oil
salt + pepper
2 shallots, roughly chopped
about 4 ounces ricotta
15 sage leaves, roughly chopped

Preheat your oven to 400°F

Halve the squash lengthwise, scoop out the seeds, then slice the squash crosswise into 1 inch thick strips. Lay these out in a roasting pan, toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast until the squash is tender, 20 minutes or thereabouts.

Turn your oven up as hot as it will go.

Scrape the squash from its peel, mashing it. Roll/press out the pizza dough. Spread the squash onto the dough, top with shallots, cheese, and sage.

Bake on a pizza stone for about 10 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown.

Monsanto in Haiti

2011-01-21T05:50:00.001-06:00

Monsanto donated tons of corn and vegetable seed to Haitian farmers and has committed to donating hundreds of tons more in the coming months. But these seeds are hybrids, engineered not only so that they cannot naturally reproduce, but to assure Haitian farmers remain in hock to Monsanto in the future. Of this donation, Monsanto had the unbelievable balls to claim “There are no contractual obligations between Haitian farmers and Monsanto since this is a donation." Responding to whether or not the donated seeds will force farmers to need "additional inputs" (i.e., trademarked Monsanto products), the company said "technically, it can be planted without any additional inputs."

(more here.)

Arugula Garlic Knots

2011-01-19T05:44:00.001-06:00

Look, you guys, I really love arugula. You probably already know this because I put it on literally everything. But, yeah. I really love it. It's a most versatile herb/green. It pairs with virtually every kind of cuisine. And generally, it is awesome. It's peppery and bright, but neither of these things to an unpleasant superlative. It's balanced. It's great.

And here, with garlic knots, it is seriously perfect. Parsley be damned. I want to eat these. And only these. For the rest of my life. I want to eat only these.

pizza dough (yeah, another arugular pizza)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
5 cloves garlic, minced
coarse salt
1/4 cup chopped baby arugula

Prepare the pizza dough (that recipe makes two crusts, fyi). Preheat your oven to its hottest non-broil setting.

When the pizza dough is ready, roll or press it out as you would any other pizza. With a pizza cutter, cut the uncooked dough in half, then cut it crosswise into 1 inch-wide strips. Tie each of these into a loose knot. Don't worry if the knots seem messy or too thin--they will plump up in the oven.

As you go, set each of the dough knots on a non-stick baking sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until golden brown.

Meanwhile, melt the butter with the olive oil. Add the garlic and cook until just fragrant, 30 seconds or so. Pour this into a large mixing bowl, along with some coarse salt, and the chopped arugula. Stir to combine all.

Toss the hot garlic knots in this garlic butter mixture until well-coated. Eat right away and continue eating for the rest of your life. Which may be shortened as a result of such a limited diet. But no matter.

P.S. These could easily be made vegan, substituting earth balance or similar for the butter.

Guest Post: Actually Easy Fresh Baked Bread

2011-01-17T05:14:00.004-06:00

Hello Monday friends. A guest post today, from our old pal Emily, whom I had the pleasure of seeing a few weeks ago in Wisconsin. There, we pickled carrots--and maybe I'll share the recipe for those in the future. But first, this bread recipe, which I made as soon as she sent me this post, and adored. It was super moist/super easy/terrific/exactly as hoped.

My brother makes a really mean bread, and now I do, too. Every time I read a recipe that says, 'this is easy!', for some reason, I'm skeptical. So, I won't write that here, even though I think it actually does apply in this case. Don't be fooled by the quantity of text below--it only takes about 15 minutes of actual attention ('work'), over about 4-6 hours time. Anyhow, below find instructions, in my own words. For more detailed instructions and variations, see here.

Ingredients:
3 c. water
1.5 T dry active yeast (or 1.5-2 packets)
1 t sugar
6.5 c. white flour
1.5 T salt
olive oil, if desired
sesame seeds, if desired

And, pizza stone and cast iron pan, if you've got it, otherwise well-greased bread pan.

First, 'proof' the yeast. This means making sure its awoken from its dormant state in the packet. Add 1-2 packets yeast to 3 c. water with about a teaspoon of sugar, in a pan on the stove. Heat it up to ~110-120F. [Editor's note:I don't have a thermometer, but have found that it works to warm water up so that it feels like nothing as it runs over the inside of your wrist. And that's about as hot as I think is necessary.] I use a meat thermometer, because that's all I have, and the minimum temp on the thermometer's scale is 130F. But, I still get it close enough even with this inadequate range, so don't be concerned with achieving the exact water temp. If you heat the water to > 140F, you risk damaging the yeast. I heat the water to the desired temp, then turn off the heating element on the stove and just keep the pan there so it stays warm.

So, heat the water and wait 10 minutes to see what happens. If the yeast is good, it will look frothy and homogeneously distributed across the surface of the water within 20 minutes or so. If it doesn't look like that, there may be a problem with your yeast. When this happens to me, I just start over with new packets. After you determine you have active yeast, combine in a large bowl the remaining ingredients, except for the sesame seeds. As far as I can tell, order doesn't matter, but adding the everything but the flour first might be a little easier from a mixing perspective. For the flour, add just a cup at a time, and mix it up before you add more. When you get all the flour in, it can be easier to mix with your hands, instead of with a spoon.

Then let the dough rise. Keep it in the bowl you mixed it in, and at room temp, and let it sit for 2-5 hours. After dough rises, preheat your oven to 450F for the pizza stone method (with pizza stone inside preheating along with the oven, and a cast iron pan of water in there too), or to 350F for bread pan method. The pan of water makes the outside of the dough crispy, from what I understand, but there may be more to it than that.

Finally, get the dough ready to bake: tear off ~ 1/3 dough and form it into a round loaf ('boule'). Its a little hard to describe this in words, but you want to pull the top of the dough towards the bottom, stretching out the top of the loaf, and do this evenly around the loaf. So, you're 'tucking in' dough to the bottom, and stretching out the top. This also has the effect of mixing the dough more. After doing this action for a minute or two, set the loaf on a flat surface and let it sit for some minutes, until your oven is heated. The final boule will be smooth on the top surface and pretty close to spherical, but a little flat in the vertical direction, due to gravity. Do this for the remainder of the 2/3 dough IF you want to end up with three loaves, as pictured. For a bread pan, do the same action, but make the loaf a little oblong, and just set it in the pan. The dough is a 'wet' dough, a little sticky but still fairly easy to shape without getting dough all over your hands.

When your oven is preheated, open it up and sprinkle some flour on the pizza stone. Then, pick up your loaves. If they stick to the surface, re-form them as described above, and then set them on the pizza stone. IF they don't stick and maintain their shape, just transfer them directly to the stone. If you want to put sesame on the surface of the bread, sprinkle sesame seeds on a flat surface, take a formed boule, turn it upside down, and press it onto the seeds, until its covered to your liking. Then, put the loaf on the stone.

If you're doing the bread pan method, just put your bread pan into the oven.

The last step is to cross-hatch the dough using a serrated knife. The purpose is so that the bread expands evenly. Just cut through ~ 1/4" to 1/2" of the tops of the loaves before closing the oven.

Bake for ~ 25-35 minutes (or until top of bread is brown) for pizza stone method OR
Bake for ~ 60 minutes for bread pan method.

And enjoy!

Plus--you don't have to bake all of the dough at once. If you like fresh bread all the time, just keep the dough in the fridge in an airtight container. This is supposed to improve the taste of the bread, too. See the link above for more details about storage.

A Better Quick Tomato Sauce

2011-01-14T06:35:00.001-06:00

Most of my life does not support a day-long simmer. So quick tomato sauce is mostly the only kind of tomato sauce I make. I've always liked the quick sauces I've made, but they have also always tasted their speed. I figured that was par for the 9 hole course, until I watched an episode of America's Test Kitchen that suggested using a can of super basic "tomato sauce." This is not the Prego of your (my?) youth, but something much simpler: I used this one, along with some tomato paste to underwrite the depth of this sauce. And it was great. It tasted like a fully formed sauce. I loved it.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 large onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
salt
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon dried basil (or fresh, added at the end, if you have it)
1 heaping tablespoon tomato paste
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes
2 teaspoons brown sugar

Over medium heat in a large saucepan, saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil, with a pinch of salt, until just softening. Add the red pepper flakes, basil, and tomato paste. Stir to thoroughly combine, and cook for another 4 or 5 minutes. Add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and sugar and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, for 15 or 20 minutes, until the sauce comes together, thickens a bit, and tastes done. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve 6-8.

Garbanzo Burritos

2011-01-12T05:18:00.004-06:00

Have you tried garbanzos this way? As a substitute for the more common black or pinto beans? Because they're kind of great. No, they're just: great.

Garbanzos are firmer than black or pinto beans, so to get everything incorporating, I roughly mashed some of them in the pan while they were cooking. This dish is super tasty, quick to cook, and the end result is almost chili-like. Garnish however you wish. It being winter, I used a combination of carrot and watermelon radish, along with brown rice, cilantro, mozzarella, and sour cream. The garbanzos are vegan, though, so feel free to prepare this dairy-less if you are so inclined.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon cumin
red pepper flakes (or a minced hot pepper) to taste
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 small tomato, diced
1 (14 ounce) can garbanzo beans, water reserved
2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
salt

Saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil over medium heat until the onions are just softening. Stir in the dry spices and continue cooking for a minute or two more, then add the tomatoes and garbanzos, along with a couple tablespoons of the bean water. Bean water! So elegant.

Mash some of the garbanzos, then continue cooking the mixture over medium heat until the beans are warmed through and the liquid has mostly incorporated/evaporated. Stir in the applesauce. This is optional, but I thought the applesauce's slight sweetness balanced the sharper flavors of the bean mixture. Season to taste with salt.

Serve in burrito-size tortillas with garnishes of your choosing. Makes about 5 average size burritos; 2 or 3 large ones.

Polenta with Morels and Shallots in a Red Wine Reduction

2011-01-11T05:29:00.002-06:00

Polenta. Yes. Corn that I had frozen after cutting it from the cob last summer. Yes. Morels foraged last spring. Yes. Shallots that I got from the grocery store. Yes. Even ye of average narratives.

This meal was so awesome. Once I began adding fresh corn to polenta I never looked back. It adds some much needed textural and taste-ural complexity to the meal (pun intended). And I love the combination of mushrooms and corn.

1 cup milk
salt
1 cup coarse cornmeal
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup corn
1/4 cup or more freshly grated Parmesan, optional

Bring milk to a boil with 2 cups water in a medium saucepan and add a large pinch of salt. Turn the heat down to a simmer. Add cornmeal in a steady stream, whisking all the while. When it has all been added, let mixture return to a boil, then turn heat to low. Polenta should be just barely simmering.

Cook, stirring occasionally and being sure to scrape sides and bottom of pan, for 15 to 20 minutes, until mixture is creamy and cornmeal tastes cooked. If mixture becomes too thick, whisk in some water, about 1/2 cup at a time.

Taste and season polenta as necessary with salt and pepper. Turn the heat down to low, stir in corn and cheese and cook until the corn is warmed through.

8 dried morels
1 tablespoon butter
2 large shallots, finely chopped
leaves from three sprigs thyme
salt
1/2 cup mushroom stock
1/2 cup red wine

Soak morels in 1/2 cup warm water until rehydrated.

Melt the butter in a small saute pan and stir in the shallots and thyme. Wring the water (reserving it) from the morels, chop them, and add them to the shallot mixture. Continue cooking for a couple of minutes until the shallots are softened. Then pour in the reserved mushroom soaking water (a/k/a stock) and the red wine. Just pour the wine from the glass you're drinking. Now fill your glass up. Nice work.

Cook the mushrooms over medium-high heat until most of the liquid has evaporated.

Scoop polenta into bowls, spooning the mushroom mixture on top.

Serves four.

Wonton Pierogi

2011-01-07T05:56:00.001-06:00

So I tried to make pierogi dough and it completely fell apart. Win/lose some, you know?

But then I had wonton wrappers and I figured, hey, this couldn't be horrible, could it? It could be ok.

And it was ok. The dough was thin, but not off-puttingly so. And in some ways, it made the dish more accessible. Certainly easier to make. And also less intense of an eating project, which is what eating pierogi feels like to me. In a good way, obvs. But we're taking it easy this January, right?

Here's what I filled the wonton wrappers with:

1 largish russet potato, chopped into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 small onion, minced
3/4 tablespoon unsalted butter
salt and pepper to taste

Boil the potato until very tender. Meanwhile, sweat the onions in the butter over medium-low heat until soft. Mash the potato with the onion/butter. Season to taste with salt and pepper and allow to cool.

1 sweet potato about the same size as the other potato
1/2 small onion, minced
3/4 tablespoon unsalted butter
salt and pepper to taste

Boil the sweet potato until very tender. Meanwhile, sweat the onions in the butter over medium-low heat until soft. Mash the sweet potato with the onion/butter. Season to taste with salt and pepper and allow to cool.

8 ounces farmer cheese (Farmer cheese is a lot like ricotta, but dryer and saltier. Ricotta could sub in if you can't find farmer cheese)
1 tablespoon seasoned bread crumbs
salt and pepper to taste

Stir the ingredients together until combined.

1 package round wonton wrappers

Spoon about a teaspoon of filling into each wrapper. Dip your finger in a little water and run it around the edge of the wrapper, then fold in half and seal.

Cook dumplings by boiling until they rise to the top and the wrappers appear translucent. You may wish to cook more onions slowly in butter to serve with the pierogi, along with sour cream and apple sauce. You could also cook the pierogi by sauteing them in butter. Butter.

Makes about 50-60 dumplings.

Beet and White Egg Turnip Salad with Blood Orange-Infused Olive Oil

2011-01-05T05:11:00.001-06:00

Here's something for the new year that is actually healthy, for those of you who are making resolutions, or at least quieting the raucous party of over-doing-it that comes each November/December.

I too am making resolutions, by the way, and they have mostly to do eating my food. Eating it before it goes bad. Not wasting food. Planning more carefully and eating up odds and ends. Because they are food too. In 2010, I discovered I could freeze food. All kinds of foods that were too much or too little or just not now, please. This was a great discovery. In 2011, I hope to discover that I can eat food without so much ceremony, can just eat and appreciate the food that's lying there, lacking the shiny appeal of just-brought-home. You see, one drawback of having this blog is that I've developed a sort of this-must-be-the-most-delicious-thing-I-ever-ate attitude that is help/hurtful.

So here's a salad I made with the roots left from our last CSA pick up in November. Still great. It resembles other grated beet salads I've made before. And I'll tell you, it's a winning formula.

3/4 pound raw beets, peeled and grated
1/2 pound white egg (or other) turnips, peeled and grated
3 scallions, roots removed and sliced thinly crosswise
2-3 tablespoons orange-infused olive oil (or the olive oil plus zest from one small orange)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper

Combine all the ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Allow to sit for at least 30 minutes for best flavor-combining.

Serves six as a side salad.

Eating Maps

2011-01-04T05:55:00.002-06:00

Here's something interesting.

[via]

Aïoli, from scratch

2011-01-03T05:58:00.000-06:00

Hey. Hey there pals. Good holiday-times?

How about some mayonnaise to welcome the new year? Since we're making resolutions, you know: something light and bright.

This is Bittman's recipe. And you'll excuse me for easing back into my own if I tell you that the key to making mayonnaise (or in this case, the be-garlicked aïoli) is a room temperature egg yolk. Room temperature --> emulsion. Cold --> well, what happens to an emulsion deferred? It disintegrates. Or, rather, never really comes together.

Warm your yolk by warming your egg. By leaving it out or running it under warm water for a few minutes.

Aïoli is good on everything, always. Swearsies.

Christmas, break

2010-12-17T05:53:00.000-06:00

You guys, I'm taking a break. Until 2011. It's possible I'll post before then, but it's likely I won't. I'm going on a real vacation:

Snowmobiling with Todd Palin, natch. Just kidding. Or not?

If you're looking for Christmas ideas, check the archives of winter's past. That numbered list to the right, it stands for months of the year. Try Nov-Feb for some wintry ideas.

Potluck Salad

2010-12-16T05:14:00.002-06:00

For lack of a comprehensive-but-not-too-long name, I titled this in honor of the office potluck it appeared at/for. I also photographed it under said office's florescent lights. So it looks a little like the 1970s. If Led Zeppelin ate salad--and obviously they eat nothing but the raw hearts of big game--they might eat this salad, after a good hair feathering.

I was just talking about Tolkein. So were these guys.

But. Anyway. This salad is modern, super tasty. In no way feathered or Mordor-like. Panzanella-inspired with homemade croutons and some amazing, big capers. The biggest capers I've ever seen. Three times the size of your average caper.

1 loaf country bread, crusts removed and cut into 1 inch cubes
2 tablespoons butter + 1 tablespoon olive oil (or all oil/all butter/etc)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon julienned sage
leaves from 1-2 sprigs of thyme
salt, pepper

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.

Melt the butter with the olive oil. Stir in the garlic and herbs and cook for just a minute until the garlic becomes fragrant. In a large mixing bowl, toss the bread cubes with the butter mixture.

Spread these out on a large baking sheet. Bake for 10 or 15 minutes, until the bread begins to brown.

1 regular-sized package salad greens (you know what I mean by regular sized right?)
1 cup navy beans
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved lengthwise
3 tablespoons capers
1/2 cup fresh mozzarella, cubed (optional)
salt, pepper
balsamic vinegar, olive oil

Combine the greens, beans, tomatoes, capers, and cheese in a large salad bowl. Sprinkle with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Dress with oil and vinegar to taste (I usually do a 2:1 oil:vinegar ratio, though 3:1 is more canonical).

Toss with the croutons.

Serves 8 as a small side salad.