The weather here has been oscillating between sunny, blue skies with the heat lapping at your toes like eager little puppies and ominous, overbearing clouds punctuated by angry outbursts of rain. Which also means my food planning is a little out of whack, swinging from extremes of cool salads of greens, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, apples, pecans and cheese to hearty hot dishes like lentils and potatoes. Here's the rainy side of the menu...
Lemony Lentils and Potatoes (Extra Vegan-Za)
1 c. green lentils
2 c. water
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
Bring water, oil, salt to a boil and stir in the lentils. Cover and simmer on low for 45 minutes until the lentils are done. Check at about 30-40min to make sure the pan is not burning dry. In retrospect I would have stopped cooking them at the al dente stage so there was less tendency to fall apart in stage 2 of cooking.
4 c. chopped red potatoes
water and salt to boil in
Bring water and salt to a boil. Cook the potatoes for 15-20 min until just tender. I transferred mine to cold water to try and stop them from cooking further.
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp garam masala (alternately 1 tsp garam masala and 1 tsp curry powder)
1 tsp turmeric
1-2 tsp fresh ginger (grated or minced)
1/4 c. fresh lemon juice
parsley, chopped, a goodly handful
salt to taste (~1/2 tsp?)
Heat canola oil on medium-high til hot. Saute onion until tender and translucent. Add in garlic, ginger, and spices. Saute 2-3 minutes more. Stir in potatoes and lentils. Add lemon juice and parsley and mix in gently. Serve over rice. Delicious! The lemon juice/parsley/curry spice combo is delightfully light on the taste buds.
Extra note: I cooked both the lentils and potatoes the day before and diced up the onion/stored it in the fridge. This made it much faster to prepare as a dinner meal in a limited amount of time.
Thursday, June 02, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
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!
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!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
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.
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.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
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)
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)
Monday, May 23, 2011
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.
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.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
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.
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.
Friday, May 20, 2011
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.
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.
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