Kaffir Lime Leaf & Lemongrass Sorbet

This post could also be entitled, "A Lesson in Reading Directions and Patience". The recipe is here. This dessert was supposed to be simple, quick, and refreshing ... but for the mistakes.

Mistake 1: Not having fresh lime juice on hand. Lime juice from concentrate does not provide the same glorious flavor. It is a lackluster substitute in this particular recipe.
Mistake 2: Not reading the directions about how long to boil the lime leaves/lemongrass/sugar solution which can and does lead to over-concentration of the syrup.
Mistake 3: Not reading the directions about NEEDING TO FREEZE OVERNIGHT. After attempting to freeze the sorbet unsuccessfully in the ice cream maker for ~ 1.5 hours, we finally checked the directions again and realize the folly of our ways.

I put the sorbet syrup in the freezer overnight, but it still didn't freeze which was further proof that my solution was too concentrated. I stirred in about another 1/2-3/4 c. of water and put it back in the freezer. Today it finally froze! I pulled it out, whirred it around in the food processor and tasted. It actually still tasted too sweet so I added a bit more water and refroze it.

End result? An intriguingly flavoured sorbet. The lemongrass flavour really comes through, while the ginger provides an oddly disparate sensation of heat following the cold temperature of the sorbet. Next time, I want to try adding mango to the mix as well as using fresh limes!

The Glee Finale

Yes it's true, Glee has ended for the season and I will miss it. And yes I was utterly crushed that they didn't even place at Nationals. Why was this the one storyline that they decided to imbue with some sense of reality???  Anyways, in order to celebrate the season finale, I made a fairly simple but elegant looking tart. Overall, loved the filling and the glaze, but not a huge fan of the crust as it was not as flaky/crispy as I had hoped. I also found the crust too sweet when paired with the filling and glaze so would either cut some sugar out of the filling or the tart crust the next time I made it; the other two commentators thought it tasted fine.

RE: The crust: it might be that I added in a bit too much liquid to the dough, or that the substitution of all-purpose for pastry flour was not correct, or simply that it should have been baked a bit longer, but it shrank an awful lot down the sides of the pan and became very thick in the centre despite chilling the dough overnight in the fridge.  I would recommend just using a basic tart recipe for the crust if in doubt.

Cream Cheese Tart with Marmalade Glaze
Crust:
1 1/2 c. pastry flour (if substituting all-purpose flour, reduce by 2 Tbs)
4 Tbs sugar
9 Tbs chilled salted butter (1/2 c. + 1 Tbs, or 1 stick + 1 Tbs)
1 egg yolk (ok the recipe called for 1/2 a yolk, but seriously, who measures out 1/2 a yolk? I think I would even try using the whole egg next time)
1-4 Tbs chilled water

Filling:
1- 8oz block cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 c. goat cheese (or marscapone)
1/2 c. sugar (reduce this down to taste)
1-2 Tbs fresh lemon zest
1/2 tsp vanilla

Glaze:
1/2 - 2/3 c. marmalade (I used a combo of half homemade with half store-bought plus a little apricot jam for good luck)
A little water (or juice) to thin it out if needed

You could also substitute about any jam/jelly filling you like with this or some combo of jam + fresh fruit

1. Blend the flour, sugar, and butter by hand (or make it faster by using a food processor) until the butter is evenly distributed in small crumbs. Mix in the yolk (and water as needed) by hand or pulse in a food processor until the dough comes together. Press into a flattened disk and chill at least 4 hours in the fridge (or overnight). Roll out the dough and press into a fluted tart pan (I greased and floured mine). Bake at 400 degrees F for 18 minutes until golden brown. Let cool.

2. Beat the filling ingredients until whipped, smooth , and soft. Spread into tart crust.

3. Prepare the glaze. If heated, let cool until thickened. I only waited til the marmalade had cooled to "warm", not actually "cool". Spread glaze over the filling and put the tart in fridge to chill for an hour.

Everything and the Kitchen Sink Lasagna

What to do when you make some kind of tomato based stew that despite your best intentions and efforts is just outright bland? Of course, the logical conclusion is to mix in the same quantity of spaghetti sauce and use it to as a lasagna sauce. (What? That didn't occur to you?)

Just to give you an idea of how extremely non Italian your stew can be and still make this work, my original crockpot stew was tomato based with onions, carrots, green lentils, chick peas, quinoa, and seasoned with some pesto (okay a little ITALIAN). We then added sauteed kale, mushrooms, and some more Italian seasoning to try and improve the taste. No luck. Finally, we poured in a whole jar of homemade tomato sauce, tasted it and voila! Perfect lasagna sauce!

DIRECTIONS
(1) Have some kind of tomato based stew that kind pass as lasagna sauce.

(2) If you want to add roasted eggplant to your lasagna which is lovely, slice the eggplant thinly, salt it, let weep for 15-20 min and then rinse the salt off. Brush or rub the eggplant with olive oil and roast in a pan at 350 degrees F until TOTALLY cooked (think tender and mushy else you will be subjected to rubbery chewy eggplant in your otherwise delicious lasagna).

(3) For the ricotta filling, (a) I am usually too cheap to buy ricotta and (b) I am frequently trying to get more protein into my diet, so I have found that tofu makes an amazing ricotta substitute! At least one block of soft or medium firm tofu. Drain the water out (but don't worry about "drying it"), and then mash the tofu with 1 or 2 eggs, Italian seasonings, salt and pepper. I also like to add a bit of garlic powder. This time I also added in about half a cup of kefir cheese since I happened to have it sitting in the fridge. If I have Parmesan, I will stir some of this in as well.

(4) For the cheese topping: if like me you somehow manage to forget that lasagna uses mozzarella and parmesan (don't ask), and therefore did not buy any, you can use cheddar cheese! (I apologize to all the Italians out there who are having conniption fits.) I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the sharp taste of the cheddar with the lasagna. In a pinch, I would totally do this again.

(5) Use a 9x13" pan, starting with sauce on the bottom, then noodles, tofu, eggplant, repeat. Bake for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees F or until the sauce is bubbling at the edges. Continue to bake until the cheese is browned on top or put it under the broiler if you want to eat faster :)

Ingredient List
Lasagna Noodles
Some kind of tomato stew (or spaghetti sauce)
One medium eggplant (you could also use sauteed spinach, or zucchini)
One block of soft tofu
Ricotta (optional)
1-2 eggs
Italian seasonings (oregano, basil, thyme)
Cheddar cheese (or you could be traditional and use mozzarella/parmesan)

Whole Vegetarian Restaurant (AKA Bo Kong)

We were invited out to dinner on Sunday evening for some good old faux meat. (As an aside: it's so nice, as a vegetarian, being friends with vegans! You never have to worry about where they're going to invite you to dinner.) Not having eaten at Whole Vegetarian before, which in its previous incarnation was known as Bo Kong, it was quite a treat to eat at a place where EVERYTHING is vegan. Generally I am restricted to one or two dishes like the classic Buddha's Feast at other Chinese restaurants, but the standard bok choi, mushrooms, baby corns, etc in a beige, bland sauce gets boring after a awhile. But here, oh the options!

Our steamed rice came in some kind of classic 80s cartoon character giant thermos pail that got a laugh out of everyone and the rest of the dishes arrived fairly quickly (within 15 min or so of our ordering?) A must have dish: the sauteed shitake mushrooms - a giant plate heaped with shitake mushrooms in the most delicious sweet & sour sauce! (take that previously unresolved craving for sweet & sour chicken for the past 9 years) There was also the best fake chicken drumsticks I have ever had. Crunchy fried on the outside, amazing meaty texture on the inside and a big bamboo stick in the middle to simulate the bone! The fried bean curd in black bean sauce was also a dish worth repeating. Rolls of bean curd fried and served with mushrooms and bell peppers.

We also had the spicy fried green beans, which were not spicy at all much to my disappointment, though most of our table still enjoyed them, particularly the faux ham that came with them (which was not mentioned in the menu listing). We also had the chili tofu in sesame oil. This was the most disappointing of all of the dishes that we had in my opinion: giant tofu cubes that had no spice at all and were drenched in the same beige, flavorless sauce I have come to know and hate. The last dish we sampled was to my recollection called something like faux steak in black bean sauce. Another faux meat, fairly peppery, in a black bean sauce with cauliflower and broccoli. Well-received by all our table. Oddly enough at this point, I was more excited to see some simple steamed veggies on the table!

For 6 people, we had steamed rice + six dishes and ended up with a small container of leftovers. The meal came out to about $34 per couple (including tax and tip) which was pretty hard to beat for an evening out. Not to mention the post-dinner cookies included with the meal :) I would definitely return!

Apologies again for the lack of photos.

Yogurt Cake with Marmalade

Frugal tip # 1: There is no such thing as bad dairy when it comes to baking! My best scones have been made with soured milk or cream. I suppose health-wise there is probably some kind of rule about how long it should be baked ... but I go with the policy, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger! No seriously, I have yet to ever make myself ill in my frugal use of bad dairy.

With suspiciously textured yogurt sitting in my fridge, not to mention some very "fragrant" devonshire cream, I decided it was the perfect time to bake a yogurt cake. And yes, I know "baked good" was supposed to excised from my cooking vocabulary, but can I help it if it's my true love?

I used this recipe from Epicurious, albeit adding slightly more flour (1 2/3 c.), and decreasing the oil to 1/3 c, as well as my haphazard yogurt substitutions. Also, I whisked the oil in with all of the other wet ingredients (and sugar), and then folded the wet mixture into the dry mixture. No need to separate those steps. The batter was still a bit lumpy when I poured it into the pan. It took my cake ~ 60-65 min to be done enough for a cake tester to come out cleanly from the centre, and I had to put foil on top to stop the edges from browning for the last 15 minutes. I did not use a glaze, but just spread marmalade on the slices that were served since my marmalade was homemade and already runny enough to be like a glaze. If you're using store-bought then you probably do want to thin it out a bit. The cake turned out marvelously! Perfectly moist inside, could possibly have used a bit more lemon zest in the recipe.

Kefir - The Experiment, Part 2

Okay, so correction to the last kefir post. I don't think you can actually make cheese just out of kefir the liquid. (Although I haven't tried heating it and pouring an acid in, which may have the same effect). It's actually about letting the batch ferment long enough. This time, with a new batch of kefir, I used about 1 c. of whole, organic milk poured in with the grains and I let it ferment on the counter for 48 hours.

And what did I get? Curds and whey!!!

Admittedly once I fished the grains out of the curds, I had about half as much curds as I thought I did, but after straining, a respectable sized ball of kefir cheese remained. I found the cheese smooth, soft, and refreshingly tangy. You could add some salt or other herbs, but I enjoyed it as it was, paired with a bit of blackberry jam on toast.

Sunshine + Tacos + Friends = Happiness

After many weeks of attempting to plan a lunch outing with a friend of mine and her daughter to finally try La Taqueria Pinche Taco Shop, we pulled it off with one day's notice and were lucky enough to coincide with gorgeous weather for outside eating. The shop, located on Hastings & Hamilton, appears modest and unassuming from the outside although the large mural provides a welcome splash of colour. The inside reveals an amiable/casual atmosphere that makes a great use of its limited floor space through lots of bars and narrow tables of turquoise lined with jarritos soda caps. It was absolutely packed with customers during the weekly lunch break, but the line moved at a surprisingly good pace.

The tacos are served on two layers of corn tortillas about 4-5" in diameter. You can either eat in on plastic "fiesta ware" plates or get take out. You can also bring your own container for takeout and save some plastic! I ordered one each of all the vegetarian tacos: mushrooms in chipotle sauce, tofu in a house sauce, poblano peppers with creamed corn, and cowboy refried beans with mexican cheese plus 2 fish tacos.

If I went back again, I would definitely get the mushrooms and poblano peppers tacos. WONDERFUL!  The fish tacos were also pretty darn good with a nice charred/grilled flavor on the fish and fresh salsa, sour cream, and guacamole topping it off. The downside of the tofu taco, much to my despair because who doesn't love having a tofu option (if you're a vegetarian), is that the sauce it was cooked in was really sweet and the raisins mixed into the tofu filling did nothing to alleviate the sweetness. I think I would have loved it had the tofu been cooked in the mole sauce accompanying the chicken (yes I did take a small bite of my friend's chicken taco for the sake of scientific research!) The pickled onions available as condiments were applied liberally to almost all of my tacos and definitely improved the flavour experience. There were also 3 grades of hot sauce and a pickled vegetable ensemble (jalapenos, carrots, cauliflower) of which I applied none, being the timid spice creature that I am.

Oh and before I forget, from the wee child's perspective, the two best tacos were the poblano peppers taco and the carne asada taco with lime juice.

I also ordered the horchata, which I found to be quite sweet, but horchata is as variable as chai, all depending on the preference of the cook! On the plus side, the texture was silky smooth, the cinnamon flavour was strong, and the chilled temperature was perfect for the warm day. Overall, I ended up spending $16.20 for my 6 tacos and horchata, including tax.  And no, I did not take any photos. A big apology to all my adoring blog fans (yes, all 3 of you) for being too lazy to do so!

Kefir - The Experiment, Part 1

In addition to canned peaches and a homemade lavender facial scrub (yes I am indeed blessed with the most thoughtful and generous of friends!), I also came home with my very own kefir grains!!! (And no, I did not confess to the border guards about the kefir grains. I thought they would be flummoxed enough by the 125 lbs of trail mix chocolate clay in my trunk, but they didn't bat an eye.)

So far I have attempted to read many websites and follow my friend's note card of instructions on care and use of kefir, but already I am at a bit of a loss, so I think I will document my learning experience with the grains.

(1) kefir grains: when growing, they look like tiny little cauliflowers, kind of squishy. Photo to come...
(2) kefir: my understanding is that this is the liquid/whey/curd portion that forms when you pour milk in with the grains and allow it to ferment. It is a slightly sour (think yogurt), fizzy beverage, that supposedly can also be allowed to ferment further and thicken? Though this is the part I'm less certain of. I have yet to see any curds form...

So far, I've poured in 2 cups of milk (1%, straight from the fridge) with the grains into a glass jar and left it on the counter to ferment for 24 hours. The lid is put on loosely, and I give it a little shake once in a while. Then I will strain out the grains (again controversial - some websites say absolutely no metal can touch the grains, while others say a stainless steel strainer is okay), put them into a fresh jar and add new milk. The strained out liquid will go in the fridge where I am trying to stockpile a quart of it to make kefir cheese, which is also called "the champagne of cheeses". How fabulous does that sound??

Larabars

Even though I only had about 7 hours to spend at home with my parents, my mom was gung-ho to try this recipe with me when she realized it would let her use up all the dates she had sitting in the pantry (hmmm, I'm sensing some genetic similarities here!) so we pulled out the food processor and had a go at this basic larabar recipe. Fairly simple to make but I would suggest some changes to it. Although the original recipe used raw unsalted cashews, I think toasted salted cashews would be a far better balance to the sweetness of the dates. Also I might try substituting a quarter of the dates with dried apricots, and adding in a bit of shredded coconut.

• 16 oz Seedless/Pitted whole Dates
• 1 cup whole toasted salted cashews

Pulse the cashews in the food processor until they are crushed into small pieces, but be careful not to make cashew butter! Remove the cashews and put the dates in the food processor, pulsing until they become small chunks. Pour the cashews back in and pulse some more until they are well mixed. You may need to pull it out and knead the mixture a bit (it will be stiff) to ensure that nuts/dates/etc are uniformly distributed. 

Place on a large piece of saran wrap and press into a square or rectangle about 1/2" thick. Wrap up tightly and put in the fridge for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes cut into single size servings (I did bars about 4" x 1"). Wrap individually and store in the fridge. Makes about 14 bars.

And just because it was such a beautiful drive down to the Willamette Valley...

Garam Masala and Koftas

As part of my trip down to Oregon to visit one of my dearest friends, I brought a recipe that we could make together for a family dinner, not really thinking clearly about the length of time it would take to make the recipe, how much it would make, or the fact that small children probably wouldn't like it either. I mean who bothers to think of the practicalities when it's really all about, "I get to see my friend! I want to bring something fabulous and exotic to make!" Needless to say the dinner making process was more challenging than usual when punctuated by alternately screaming upset and/or shrieking ecstatic children, an unfamiliar kitchen, and a slightly distracted pregnant friend but I honestly wouldn't have traded it for the world! (and no there was absolutely no way I got a picture of this dish...)

The koftas and garam masala recipes came from Vij's at home recipe book with a bit of modification. The garam masala sauce was wonderful but the koftas needed a bit of finessing or maybe I just need to be more open minded when it comes to celery root.

Garam Masala (this makes a lot of sauce! for two people I would definitely cut this in half)
1/2 c. canola oil
2 c. pureed onions (about 2 medium)
2 c. pureed tomatoes
3 Tbs minced garlic
2 Tbs garam masala
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp salt
1 tsp cayenne
1 - 2 Tbs maple syrup (or fenugreek leaves if you have it)
1 can coconut milk
5 c. water
1 c. cashews pureed with about 1/4 c. water

Heat oil on high for 45 seconds. Add onions and saute, stirring regularly for 10-15 minutes until lightly browned. Add garlic and stir constantly for 2-3 minutes until golden browned. Add tomatoes, salt, turmeric, cayenne and garam masala and stir well. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 8 minutes or until oil glistens on the surface. Add water, stir and bring to a bowl. Reduce heat to medium-low and boil for 15 min or until oil glistens on the top again. Stir in the pureed cashews and coconut milk. Let simmer on low. Or turn off heat, cover, and set aside depending on how long it will wait.

Koftas (estimated to make 50-60 balls)
3/4 c. water
1 tsp oil
1/2 c. bulgur wheat or couscous
3 lbs celery root, peeled and finely grated
1/2 c. finely chopped onion 
3 Tbs finely chopped ginger
1/2 c. chopped cilantro (or more)
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp turmeric
1-2 c. chickpea flour 

Bring the water and oil to a boil, stir in the bulgur, cover and set aside for 10 minutes. Fluff the bulgur with a fork and cover, setting aside again. Stir together the celery root, onion, ginger, cilantro, spices, and bulgur. Then add in 1 c. of chickpea flour and continue adding chickpea flour and water until the batter is a consistency that holds together in a ball shape. Shape the batter into balls about 1-2" in diameter. You can either fry them in a skillet until golden brown on all sides or bake at 350 degrees F for about 30-40 min until browned. Mine didn't become very crispy using the baking method and I actually think they tasted better the next day when reheated in the sauce.

Serve with garam masala, rice, and yogurt.

Energy Bar Fail

We're going on a road trip this summer! To Saskatchewan! When I say this to most Canadians, they look at me kind of oddly, but I am excited. We already have our full route east planned out; now we just need to get the route home finalized. And as I envisioned other long weekends of camping and hiking over the summer which WILL start at some point (I BELIEVE! I BELIEVE! The continual rain in the middle of May will not stop the seasons from progressing to sunshine and heat and beach days and other recognizable characteristics of summer), I had a hankering to make some energy/granola bars that are far cheaper than buying a bunch of PowerBars.

Unfortunately, it was one of those times where it was late at night and I really should have followed the recipe more closely and I didn't and now I regret it ... Instead of energy bars that have a consistent amount of almond butter and honey holding them together into recognizable, easy to handle and consume squares of goodness, I have clumps of energy bars surrounded by granola. Oh well. I will give you the recipe as it SHOULD have been done.

Mom's Energy Bars
2/3 c. honey
1/2 c. almond butter
1/4 c. spelt, oat, or whole wheat flour (flour for all three!) 
1 c. raisins
1/2 c. other dried fruit (apricots, currants, coconut, etc.)
1 c. sunflower seeds
1/4 c. sesame seeds
1 c. walnuts, almonds, or pecans etc. chopped
 optional: flax meal or flax seeds

Heat the honey and almond butter together. Mix well! Then stir in all the other ingredients. Press into a greased 9x13" pan (I'm going to recommend pam or canola oil to grease as butter did not work too well for me). Bake at 300 degrees F for 30 min. Let cool for a bit and cut into squares before fully hardened.

Pesto Carrot Salad

Potlucks are always great motivators to try out new salad recipes - economical, easy to transport and serve, and endless varieties! Hence the pesto carrot salad. I used the Grit Cookbook for this one and loved it; something about creating pesto with sugar for once was a marvelous spin on something so familiar. I also loved the vinaigrette that goes in the salad with the pesto, but all in all there was a lot of food processor activity to make one supposedly simple salad.

Pesto Carrot Salad
4 c. grated carrots
2 c. grated sweet potato (or 6 c. grated carrots in total)
2 Tbs fresh lemon juice
1/2 - 1 tsp salt

PESTO:
a small fistful of fresh basil leaves
3 Tbs parmesan
1/2 c. walnuts
1 1/2 tsp sugar
olive oil (I would try a bit of flax seed oil next time)

VINAIGRETTE: (cut this recipe in half to prepare enough dressing for the salad and have about 1 c. left over to use on other salads)
1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
2 Tbs each balsamic and red wine vinegar
1/4 c. water
1/4 c. minced red onion
3 garlic cloves minced
large pinch each: dried parsley, oregano, basil, thyme
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbs sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c. canola oil + 1/2 c. olive oil

I used my food processor to grate the carrots and sweet potato. Then just changed the blade and didn't bother rinsing before making the pesto. Ditto for switching between the pesto and vinaigrette making.

Grate the carrots and sweet potatoes. Place in a large bowl and mix in the lemon juice and salt.

For the pesto, blend everything except the oil until the nuts are ground fine. Then add the oil in a slow steady stream while the food processor is going until a smooth pesto is created. Add only half of the pesto into the grated carrots/sweet potatoes to start. Set the rest aside.

In the food processor, blend the vinegar though salt. Add the oil in a slow stream until the dressing is smooth and a bit thick. Take 1/3 c. of dressing and add it to the carrots/sweet potatoes. Stir and taste, adding more dressing or more pesto as desired. Chill in fridge for at least an hour before serving. You can save the rest of the dressing in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Note if you want the pesto to stay pretty and green on your carrots, blanch the basil leaves for about 30 sec before making the pesto. Thanks Cooks Illustrated for teaching me that trick!

S'mores Brownies

Okay so I actually didn't think this recipe could possibly be good when I read it on joythebaker's blog, it was more of a (1) it's date night and I really want some chocolate and (2) it's so bizarre sounding I have to try it out just so I know.

My advance comments: following the recipe as given means the graham crackers become mushy, thus losing the nostalgic crunch of graham cracker contrasting with the gooeyness of marshmallow and melted chocolate. I would try a new version where I either baked a graham cracker crumb crust underneath as a base (like a cheesecake), or make a graham cracker crumb/butter topping (like a crumble) that would get crispy.

However, if one wants to put marshmallows on top, I'm not sure how you combine that with the graham cracker crumb idea. I feel the marshmallows stirred into the batter were better because they dissolved creating pockets of moistness, while the marshmallows on top, although aesthetically pleasing when freshly baked are plastic-y the following day.

Lastly, since I was short an egg, I made the recipe with 4 eggs. With 1 egg less (or possibly since I didn't pack the brown sugar), the cooking time seemed far too long and the brownies had a more cake-like texture than fudgy. So if you use 1 less egg (because that's all you happen to have), cook for 20 min and test doneness. Maybe adding some chocolate chips into the batter itself would also more closely recreate the s'mores concept...  as it is, the recipe was surprisingly not that sweet.

S'mores Brownies
1 1/2 c. flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 c. salted butter  (alternately you could do the more professional baker thing and use 1 c. unsalted plus 1 tsp salt)
6 oz unsweetened chocolate chopped (I used 5 oz unsweetened, 1 oz semi-sweet)
1 1/4 c. brown sugar (I did not pack the brown sugar)
1 c. granulated sugar
4 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 c. graham crackers, roughly broken up by hand
12-18 large marshmallows (4-6 diced up - e.g. quartered or eighth-ed, and the rest to go on top)


Preheat oven to 350o F. Beat sugar, eggs, and vanilla together. Melt butter and chocolate together, either overt he stove, or the lazy method, in a glass bowl in the microwave. If you use the microwave method, make sure the chocolate is chopped to similar sizes and butter is chopped too. Microwave for 40-45 seconds at a time, stirring in between and let sit for a bit. If it's very hot when you're done, let cool before stirring into the egg mixture. Once the chocolate mixture has been added to the eggs/sugar, stir in the dry ingredients. Then fold in the graham crackers and marshmallows. Pour into greased 9x13 pan and bake for 20-30min. If you're putting marshmallows on top of the batter, wait until about 5 min from the end of baking time to add them to the top of the brownies.


 

Beans! Part 3

I did it! I continued on with the Cooks Illustrated recipe for Cristianos & Moros and it was completely worth it! I don't think I've ever seen my wife enjoy any version of rice & beans nearly so much. I apologize that this post is spread across 3 postings, a complete ingredient list is given at the very end of this post.

So continuing from Beans! and Beans! Part 2, at this point, I had already soaked the beans overnight (1 c. black beans in 2 quarts water + 1 1/2 Tbs salt), then rinsed them the next day and put them back in the dutch oven and simmered with 4 c. water, half a bouillon cube, 1/2 onion (whole), 1/2 head garlic (whole), 4 bay leaves, 1/2 bell pepper (whole) for 30 min until the beans were just soft. *By (whole) I mean don't chop any of those vegetables up! Remove the bay leaves and veggies when the beans are done. Drain the beans, SAVING THE BEAN STOCK. You can leave the beans in the dutch oven in the fridge for a couple of days until you're ready to continue with the recipe if need be. 

To finish cooking:
Take the beans out of the dutch oven. Do not clean the dutch oven, but let it come to room temperature (if it's coming out of the fridge). While it does that, you can prep the veggies and rice:

1 large onion halved, chopped into 1/4 in pieces (or 1 whole med onion)
1 1/2 green bell peppers, chopped into 1/4 in pieces (I used 4-5 small yellow bell peppers!)
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 c. long grain rice
canola oil
1-3 Tbs tomato paste (or salsa? I used homemade catsup... yep all about emptying the fridge out!)
4 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp dried oregano
2 Tbs red wine vinegar

1) Adjust the oven rack to the middle of the oven and preheat to 350o F. Rinse the rice under cold running water for ~1 1/2 minutes until the water runs clear. Shake to remove excess water. Set aside.
2) Place dutch oven on stove top burner and heat to medium. Pour in canola oil (2-3 Tbs?) and saute the onion until browned and soft (15-20 min with lots of stirring). Add in the bell pepper, garlic, oregano, and cumin and saute until the pepper is softened. Add tomato paste and rice, stirring to coat for ~30 sec. (if you need to add a bit more oil to keep things from sticking to the pan during this process, it's fine, add more oil!)
3) Stir in the beans, 2 1/2 c. reserved bean cooking liquid, vinegar, and 1/4 tsp salt. Bring contents to a simmer (may  need to turn up the heat on your stove), but stir a couple of times to make sure there is no burning on the bottom of the pan. Cover and put in the oven. Bake for 30 min (liquid should be absorbed and rice cooked). Fluff with a fork and leave covered for 5 min, then serve.
Lime wedges and tortillas go excellently with this meal.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Total ingredient list:
1 c. black beans (uncooked)
2 c. water
2 c. broth
4 bay leaves
salt
1 large onion
2 large green bell peppers
1 head of garlic
1 1/2 c. long grain rice
canola oil
1-3 Tbs tomato paste (or salsa? I used homemade catsup... yep all about emptying the fridge out!)
4 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp dried oregano
2 Tbs red wine vinegar

Asian Salmon Cakes

In addition to the wide selection of UGO's that I inherited from my last friend who moved, there was also a can of salmon, which has lingered on our shelf for the last 9 months. Today I resolved to clear it off the shelf by making some asian influenced salmon cakes. Little did I know what awaited me by opening the can... apparently I have only dealt with canned tuna up until now. Salmon in a can is so frightening! Full of bones and skin that is supposed all soft and chewy ...  umm no. So after picking out about half of the contents of the can and deeming them suitably satisfactory to be consumed, I whipped up some fast & easy salmon cakes! The cat was very happy to help out with the other half of the can.

Asian Salmon Cakes  
1- 213g - can of salmon (or fresh if you're lucky)
1 green onion finely chopped (white and green bits)
1/2 tsp minced ginger
1/4-1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp salt (?)
1/4-1/2 c. panko (or breadcrumbs)
1 egg, beaten well
sesame oil (or canola oil)
flour
sweet chili sauce

Stir salmon, green onion, ginger, garlic and salt together. Mix in egg and panko. I added panko until it was a consistency that I could shape into a burger, then pat the outsides with a bit of flour to help get a crispy edge. Form 3 salmon cakes. Heat oil in a skillet on medium heat. Place salmon cakes in the skillet and cook until browned/crispy on one side, flip, and repeat. Serve with sweet chili sauce.

Beans! Part 2

Well, I wasn't home to finish transforming the beans into a meal so I left my wife in charge, which is never a good idea. I may have recipe ADD, but she has domestic blindness when it comes to ingredients, especially ingredients that I've gone ahead and prepared to save her work!!! Never finds them in the fridge, or remembers that I told her that I prepped them. But I love her anyways because she still goes out of her way to complete the recipe despite the "missing ingredients".

Unfortunately I did not get to taste the stock from the crock pot beans, but she claims the beans were tasty so we'll go with that. I imagine that if you were going to serve the beans direct from the crock pot, they might actually need some more flavor like some fried onions, cumin, etc, but they did work wonderfully well in the "burgers". This is in quotes because they're really more like pancakes. They don't achieve a thickness that's quite satisfying for layering toppings on and stuffing in a bun, but don't let that deter you from their tastiness!

Black Bean Sweet Potato Burgers (adapted from Extra VeganZa)
2 c. cooked black beans (which means starting from 1 c. raw black beans or using a 14 oz can)
1 c. sweet potato, grated (I used the large grater size)
1/2 c. natural peanut butter (or almond butter)
1/4 c. black olives, diced
1/4 c. whole spelt or whole wheat flour (we ended up adding 1/2 c. in total -- I think  some combo of flour and bread crumbs might work well also)
2 tbsp tamari (or a mixture of soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce to taste)
3 cloves garlic, diced
1 tbsp fresh grated ginger

Mash the beans in a medium sized bowl and then stir in the remaining ingredients. Make sure the thickness is appropriate. Heat a cast-iron frying pan to medium heat and add a bit of canola oil. Scoop 1/3 c. of batter for each burger into the pan and fry for ~3-5 min on each side until browned, then flip and brown the other side. (We actually flattened the burgers in the pan, but the original recipe may suggest just leaving it as the ball of batter that emerges from the scooping process since it wanted you to fry each burger for 7-10 min on one side...)  Make sure the burgers are cooked through. You can always turn the heat down if the outside is cooking too quickly. Serve with sweet chili sauce on buns or alone!
Makes 10-12 burgers.

Oh and the other pot of beans in the dutch oven was rinsed after almost 24 hours of soaking, put back in the dutch oven and simmered with 4 c. water, half a bouillon cube, 1/2 onion, 4 bay leaves, 1/2 bell pepper for 30 min until the beans were just soft. I think the beans would have been amazing if I had used homemade veggie stock for the cooking process, but at this point I'm not sure if they will become rice in a very basic rice & beans dish or if I will muster up the courage to continue with the Cooks Illustrated recipe! 

Beans!

Once again, recipe ADD has me in a tizzy this week - I've somehow managed to purchase ingredients for curried lentils and potatoes, black bean sweet potato almond burgers, and chickpea quinoa burgers... ACK! I've decided for now to go with the black beans. Luckily enough, my first copy of Cooks Illustrated arrived this week with an article on how to make the best Cristianos y Moros (rice & beans in less than PC terms) using a dutch oven. I decided to use their method of flavorful bean cooking as the base for my burgers.  But, since I would prefer to be able to cook beans in the crock pot while I'm at work, I started a similar batch that will be prepared with the exact same ingredients in the crock pot. Then I can compare the two versions! That is, if I can resist converting the dutch oven version to the Cristianos y Moros recipe...

The beans are currently spending the night soaking (1 c. black beans in 2 quarts water + 1 1/2 Tbs salt. I may regret the high salt amount later....) Tomorrow, the cook off!

Update: The crock pot beans were rinsed after a 10 hour soak and put back in the crock pot with 6 c. water, a half onion, a large chunk of carrot, a rib of celery, 5 garlic cloves, 4 bay leaves, a 1/4 - 1/2 cube of veggie bouillon and half a red pepper. Turned them on for 8 hours on low.

Dutch oven beans continue to soak while I am at work...

Strawberry Spinach Salad

The beautiful box of strawberries intended, but unused, for our fabulous tea sandwiches was begging to be used, so I happily obliged with the most standard salad pairing: spinach! Beautiful bright green tender bunches of leaves and now that I know sorrel can be a stand-in, I will be using that as well next time. I modified a recipe from Extra VeganZa, which I haven't used much yet, but intend to soon!

Walnut Strawberry Spinach Salad
1 bunch fresh spinach, cleaned and stems removed
strawberries, stems removed and thinly sliced (for an individual serving, about 4-5 strawberries)
walnuts, coarsely chopped (untoasted) (for an individual serving, about 1/4 c.)
red onion, thinly sliced (you won't need more than 1/2 of a red onion for a large bowl of salad, for an individual serving, just a sprinkling)
*goat cheese is optional*

Dressing
1 1/2 tbs raspberry wine vinegar (red wine vinegar would also work)
1 1/2 tbs cider vinegar (used because I ran out of raspberry wine vinegar)
1 tbs olive oil
1 tbs canola oil (again you can use 2 tbs of either oil if preferred)
2 tbs maple syrup
1/4-1/2 tsp seal salt
1 tbs poppy seeds
 2 tsp Dijon whole grain mustard 

Place the spinach in a large bowl (or small plate) and top with strawberries, red onion, walnuts, and optional goat cheese in desired quantities.
For the dressing, whisk together all ingredients (or shake in a lidded jar). Pour over salad before serving. Note that the poppy seeds don't really settle into the dressing, so if you're only using part of the dressing, for an individual salad, I recommend gently whisking while pouring to ensure some of the poppy seeds stay in the jar :)

Confessions

After reviewing a couple of my recipes, I feel the need to apologize that many of the ingredient quantities listed in my recipes are vague! It's because I always start with a base amount and continue modifying with certain ingredients until it tastes the way I want it to. We all have different tastes in food so why not give a range that expresses the flexibility needed to suit different people? And I promise that it's not because in the process of modifying, I don't precisely measure how much more salt I have added, or that last amount of garlic... what kind of type A, scientist person would do that?

Similarly, I have to confess a need to bake less. We simply don't have enough people to fob off baked goods onto, or people who are into spontaneous eating fests. The quantity of baked goods consumed by the two individuals in our household is becoming too great relative to the amount of exercise the two of us get. I am going to TRY to focus more on non-dessert and non-baked goods items. *Fingers crossed* We'll see how long it lasts...

And just because I can post it here: the new giant kitty tree that dominates our living room. Molly loves it, to say the least.

Oh, and not that I made it, but because I'm so impressed with my wife's pasta making skills!

To dress the pasta, we had sauteed onion, leeks, button mushrooms, and zucchini in a rosemary infused olive oil and homemade pesto.

Lavender-Earl Grey Scones for a Royal Wedding

Once again an evening or afternoon spent with M. always seems to end with all of us completely overstuffed and certain food items on the menu remaining unmade or uneaten due to our complete inability to plan a rational amount of food for a gathering of 3 people. Exhibit A: Good Friday Fish Supper. Exhibit B: Gathering to watch the Royal Wedding (and yes, I was only there for the food). The menu included: cheese scones, lavender earl grey scones, whipping cream & jam to top the scones, deviled eggs, watercress and cucumber sandwiches, salmon sandwiches, strawberries and baslamic cream cheese sandwiches, chips, vegetables & dip, oh and donuts. Ridiculous, yes??

In the end, we didn't make any of the planned tea sandwiches, but the scones were a smashing success. I used my basic scone recipe from the buttermilk chai ginger scones, and added decaf earl grey tea and a lavender-tulsi tea. I think next time I will try to add a bit of orange zest and leave out the lavender altogether.

Lavender Earl Grey Scones
2 c. all purpose flour
1 Tbs baking powder
1/3 c. sugar
a dash of salt
1-2 tsp earl grey tea (from a tea bag - if you use whole leaves, grind them in a coffee grinder first)
1/2-1 tsp lavender tea (same as above)
1/3 c. butter
1 c. buttermilk (I rarely buy buttermilk and just use 1 c. milk to which 1 Tbs. vinegar, white or cider, has been added and let sit for 5 min or so)


1 heaping tsp (total) earl grey/lavender tea steeped in 1/4 c. boiling water

Steep the tea and boiling water for ~1/3 min. Remove tea bag (or strain if using loose leaf tea). Set aside.

Sift the dry ingredients together and stir in the tea. Cut butter into the dry ingredients until a coarse crumb texture is achieved. Mix in the dry tea leaves. Use 1 Tbs of the steeped tea stirred into the buttermilk. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir just until mixed. Knead on a lightly floured surface gently, adding a bit more flour if the dough is too wet, and then press into a circle ~ 1/2" thick. Cut into 8 wedges and place on a baking tray. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 min until golden brown on top. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack before wrapping.