Pumpkin Smoothie
I really enjoy this pumpkin smoothie, made with soymilk:
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
3/4 cup “milk” of some sort, I use unsweetened soymilk
1 Tbs. blackstrap molasses (1/2 Tbs. if you want it less ironific)
3/4 tsp. pumpkin pie seasoning (1/2 tsp. if you want it less “spicy”)
sweetener (if “milk” isn’t already sweetened; I use 4 drops stevia)
On my allergy-free month I tried it with oat milk instead of my normal unsweetened soymilk. It didn’t come out very well. It was just too sweet and not rich/thick enough. I wonder if an unsweetened, homemade nut milk would work better than the sweetened oak milk I used, which was incredibly thin, almost just like sweet water. I remember having a thicker oat milk before, but don’t remember what brand it was. Anyone have a recommendation?
Update May 5, 2006: I tried making almond milk this morning for my smoothie. I soaked 1 ounce almonds overnight, then threw them and the soaking water in the blender for a while, then added my pumpkin, molasses, spices and more water for the smoothie. The texture came out surprisingly smooth, not very gritty at all. The pumpkin smoothie is better than when I tried it with oat milk, but it still doesn’t taste right though~the flavors are kind of muddy rather than bright and pumpkin-y. Maybe a soy-less, dairy-less pumpkin smoothie is just impossible?
I tried another version with 1/4 cup full fat coconut milk + 1/2 cup water. It had a nice texture but the flavor was still off.
Rating: B for regular verision, C for modified versions
Today I tried some extra pumpkin puree mixed with vanilla nonfat yogurt. Blech. Disgusting. I added some pumpkin pie spice and molasses. Still pretty nasty. Drinkable, but not pleasant.
Tofu-less Chili (C)
I’ve had a craving for my mom’s chili recently, so decided to just try and make it allergy-free without the tofu or corn or peanut butter. Her recipe is somewhat inexact, but this is what I did:
2 cups pinto beans, dry (I used about a 1/3 black beans since I didn’t have enough pintos)
2 cups onions, chopped (about 1 large onion)
1.5 Tbs. olive oil
1 green bell pepper (I used 1/2 cup frozen)
1 jalepeno
1 Tbs. garlic
3 Tbs. chile powder
1 Tbs. cumin, ground
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 cup tomato puree
1 can whole tomatoes with juice
1.5 tsp. salt
water
It was a bit too salty, and maybe even too thin and tomato flavored. I was definitely missing the tofu. Clearly, if I leave the tofu and corn out and peanut butter out I have to replace them with something else for substance. Or at the very least increase the amount of beans. Maybe I should add some cooked grain? I saw a chili recipe recently where they added cooked kasha.
On my second bowl I added some red rice and it helped the texture. It’s still a bit powdery tasting though.
Rating: C
Burdock carrot slaw (B)
This recipe is originally from the Harmony Valley Farms CSA in Viroqua, Wisconsin. The friend who gave it to me said you have to let it sit for at least four hours for the flavors to blend and so the acid “cooks” the burdock. She said letting it sit a whole day ahead is even better.
The Vegetables:
1 cup burdock, scrubbed well, julienned
1/2 cup peeled carrot, julienned
2 Tbs. green onion or shallot, minced
1 tsp. sesame seeds, lightly toasted
The Marinade:
4 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp rice vinegar
2 Tbs honey
Sprinkle seeds over chopped veggies and toss with marinade. Chill 4 hours . Serves 4 – 6.
My notes: I used ume vinegar rather than soy sauce since I’m not eating soy right now, but otherwise followed the recipe, except I missed the part about letting it sit for at least 4 hours. Oops! And I ate the whole recipe (4-6 servings? I thought more like 2 servings. I guess it depends on how you measure a cup of burdock. I think a weight measurement might be useful in this case.) Anyhow, this was the first time I’d made a recipe with raw burdock, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was quite crunchy but not at all tough, and I loved the flavor of the raw burdock and carrot together. I liked the dressing as well but found it too sweet. I think one Tbs. honey would have been plenty. But maybe with soy sauce it would have been more balanced.
Rating: B
Update Sept 2007: Today I put in 9 ounces of burdock (about 4 cups julienned), 7 ounces of carrots (about 2 cups grated), 10 Tbs. green onion (about 3 large), 4 tsp. sesame seeds, 3 Tbs. soy sauce, 3 Tbs. sesame oil, 4 tsp. rice vinegar, and 1 Tbs. honey.
Black-eyed Pea Masala (B-)
Trying to use up some black-eyed peas, I came across this recipe for black-eyed pea masala:
http://www.recipezaar.com/116878
The flavor was very good, but the texture was quite unappealing. But perhaps my peas were just too old and it was my own fault, and nothing to do with the recipe.
Rating: B-
Quinoa Lentil Soup (B-)
A friend recommended this lentil soup recipe. It’s from the Fiber for Life cookbook by Bryanna Clark Grogan.
2 tbs olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 carrots, chopped (optional)
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 cups light vegetable broth
1.5 cups dried brown lentils
28 oz canned diced tomatoes
1/2 cup dry red wine
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp each: dried basil and thyme
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup quinoa rinsed and drained
1-2 vegetarian bullion cubes (optional)
1 cup chopped cooked greens
toasted sesame oil and parmesan cheese for garnish (optional)
In large soup pot heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add onions and saute until they begin to soften. Add: carrots, celery, garlic, and saute a few more minutes. Add: broth, lentils, tomatoes, wine, and herbs. Bring to a boil, reduce, and simmer covered for 1.5 hours. Taste for salt and pepper, add buillon cubes for flavor if necessary. Add the quinoa and greens and cook 15 more minutes. Garnish wil sesame oil and soy Parmesan, if you like.
The book says 8 servings, but my friend said it made 12 one cup servings:
My notes:
I really liked the combination of quinoa and lentils, but didn’t really care for it as soup. Plus I found the recipe bland; I had to add chili powder, garlic, and cumin to perk it up. I did, however, mistakenly buy whole red lentils instead of brown, if that might have made a difference. (Did you know that whole red lentils are actually brown on the outside, and if they’re not split open it’s hard to tell the difference?) Anyhow, I’m going to try creating a different recipe with lentils and quinoa, but will probably stick to my mom’s lentil soup instead of this one.
Rating: B-
Whole Grains for Breakfast
Below I’ve listed two different ways I like to eat whole grains for breakfast.
Quinoa Barley Crockpot Breakfast Porridge
This recipe is from Rebecca Wood’s cookbook Quinoa, the Supergrain. The barley turns ooey gooey but the quinoa stays light and fluffy, which makes a lovely textural contrast. I pour a bit of soymilk on top and sprinkle on a bit of (fresh or dried) fruit and pecans. I often want hot cereal, but I get tired of oatmeal. I haven’t liked the 7-grain stuff I get at my local coop, but this hits the spot.
Instructions
Place in a crockpot:
1/2 cup barley (I used hulled but not pearled)
1/2 cup quinoa
pinch of salt
4 cups of water
Set to “warm” and leave it overnight.
My notes
Seven hours later it was a bit burnt around the edges, but the middle was fine. If anyone knows any way to keep it from burning around the edges, let me know.
Update May 9, 2006: I tried a variant this morning, except I used 1 cup soaked steel cut oats, 1/2 cup hulled barley, and 1/2 cup quinoa. I also threw in 1/2 tsp. cardamom and a pinch of salt, and 5 cups of water. I left it on warm overnight. It made 6 cups cereal total, and it didn’t burn around the edges this time. The oats and barley, however, totally turned to goo, and I didn’t notice the nice contrast with the fluffy quinoa like I did last time. Also, I don’t know if it was the addition of the cardamom or the oats, but the flavor was much worse–they seemed muddier than the original barley/quinoa combo. I ate 1 cup with a fig and 1/2 ounce pecans, and it was edible but not particularly appealing. I read somewhere that to keep the oats from turning to goo in the crockpot it helps to start with ice water.
Update May 25th: I made the original recipe again, first spraying the crockpot with oil. I also woke up quite early randomly and so turned it off. It didn’t burn around the edges! And it’s a much more mild, less muddy flavor than when I tried it with oats and cardamom. It’s simple but light tasting and pleasant. There is a definite quinoa flavor that might take getting used to for some people, but I enjoy it. It made about 4.5 cups. I like to eat a serving as 3/4 cup, which is about 100 calories, that way I can add in another 100 calories worth of fruit and maybe 50 of a fat, and I have a filling, balanced, low calorie breakfast.
Update Oct 18th: I was too lazy to reheat my leftover porridge, so I just ate it cold. On 3/4 cup of porridge I poured 3 ounces of slightly sweet soymilk and 1 tsp. of maple syrup and mixed it up well. I really enjoyed it this way. It only has 6 grams of sugar but it tastes very sweet. It was a bit low on fat though. I should probably have added a Tbs. of nuts.
Oct 19th: I used 2/3 tsp. maple syrup and it was sweet enough. If I had unsweetened soymilk I think I would use 1-1.5 tsp of maple syrup.
Nov 2006: I ate a small serving with half a serving of cold cereal on top. Excellent combo!
Rating: B
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Nutrition Facts
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Serving Size: 1 serving |
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| Amount Per Serving | |||||
| Calories | 95 | ||||
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| Total Fat | 1g | ||||
| Saturated Fat | 0.1g | ||||
| Cholesterol | 0mg | ||||
| Sodium | 4mg | ||||
| Carbohydrate | 18.9g | ||||
| Dietary Fiber | 3.4g | ||||
| Sugars | 0.1g | ||||
| Protein | 3.4g | ||||
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Wheat berries for breakfast
I finally found a way I really like to eat wheat berries~cold, for breakfast, with regular cold breakfast cereal.
I made a stuffing with wheat berries, kamut, and a rice blend that includes short grain brown rice, wild rice, and purple rice. I toasted the wheat and kamut, then soaked them overnight, then added the rice blend and cooked them all together for about an hour (I think).
I had some of the plain grain mixture leftover so I’ve been eating it for breakfast cold. I use 1/3 cup of the grain mixture, and 1/2 my normal amount of a cold cereal. I add 1 Tbs. ground flax seeds and 3 ounces unsweetened soymilk. It’s delish! The chewy grains, and the way the wheat berries have that little “pop” when you bite into them, really adds something to the crunch of normal breakfast cereal. Plus, it is way more filling and satisfying than eating a normal bowl of cereal. When I eat a normal bowl of cereal I immediately want another (a mental thing), plus (even with a high protein/high fat cereal) I’m usually hungry pretty quickly (a physical thing). With the wheat berry mixture I’m very satisfied with just the one bowl (maybe it’s the extra chewing, or that it seems bulkier? who knows), and it holds me for much longer.
Finally, the stats are just what I aim for for breakfast. Depending on the cereal, the stats are about:
250-300 calories
25-30% fat (very little saturated)
15-20% protein
60-50% carbs
10.5g fiber
Southwestern Quinoa Salad (B)
A friend gave me this recipe which is very loosely adapted from a rice salad in the Joy of Cooking. It’s similar to the quinoa salad recipe in Berley’s cookbook, but a bit simpler. Once I tasted it I knew instantly that Derek would love it. It’s nutty and very cumin-y. Indeed, he loves it.
Southwestern Quinoa Salad
1 cup quinoa
1.5 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
1 15-oz can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1/3 cup pine nuts (I often use pepitas)
1/2 cup chopped sundried tomatoes (I use dry not oil packed)
1 red pepper, chopped
1/4 cup chopped parsley or cilantro
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon cumin
dried red pepper flakes to taste
Combine the quinoa, salt and water in a pot. Bring it to a boil, then turn down to a simmer and cover. Simmer 15 minutes or until tender. Remove from heat as soon as it’s done–don’t let it sit covered on a still-warm burner like you would with brown rice.
While the quinoa is cooking, toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan. Chop and measure all the other ingredients into a big serving or mixing bowl, and then mix the warm quinoa into all the other ingredients. Be careful not to overcook the quinoa though!
My friend’s notes:
-Quinoa varies. Some needs to be rinsed first, to remove the natural bitter coating. Some doesn’t. The good news is, if you don’t rinse and it comes out bitter, you can just rinse the cooked grains and they’ll be fine.
-We actually cook quinoa in our rice cooker, and it comes out great. Same water-to-quinoa ratio.
-I like this best after I let it sit for a while, to let the flavors blend, but you can serve it right away. It also makes excellent leftovers, and I often take it for lunch and eat it cold.
-I tend to like strong flavors. If you want a milder dish, soak the chopped onion in a mixture of salt, water, and vinegar (about as salty as tears, and about 1/4 vinegar by volume). After a 20-minute soak, rinse them well, and they’ll be much milder. You can also saute the garlic instead of using it raw, and skip the red pepper flakes.
-This is very festive and pretty, so it makes a good veggie holiday dish.
My notes:
The Tablespoon of cumin sounds like a lot but it’s correct. It’s not too cumin-y, don’t worry. I found the onions tasty when I ate it right away, but by the next day they were way too strong for me.
The water to quinoa measurement seems a bit low, but it works well. The quinoa comes out a bit more chewy and al dente than normal, which is great for this salad. No need to toast the quinoa beforehand.
I like to replace the pine nuts with pepitas (toasted pumpkin seeds), which are also delicious, but cheaper, and are a great source of iron.
I gave this recipe to my mom and she was hesitant because she said it had “weird ingredients”, but once she made it she liked the flavor as well, although it doesn’t sound like she’d make it again.
Derek likes this recipe a lot, but only hot or warm. He does not like it room temperature or cold.
Update Dec 2006: I made this using Israeli couscous instead of quinoa. I couldn’t find the ratio of water/couscous anywhere, so I just boiled it like pasta until al dente. It turns out that one cup of Israeli couscous makes more than one cup of quinoa. Again, though, I could not find the yield for Israeli couscous anywhere on the web. If you know please post a comment and enlighten me. The salad was fine with the couscous, but I prefer the quinoa version.
Rating: B
Chocolate Souffles (C)
I love decadent chocolate desserts, so was very interested in trying this lower calorie version of chocolate souffles from Alice Medrich’s cookbook Chocolate and the Art of Low-Fat Desserts. Medrich says these souffles are dark and very rich in chocolate flavor, not at all light or ethereal. She also says they’re a good dessert when you need to make it ahead of time.
Chocolate Souffles
Serves 8.
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened dutch processed cocoa
2 Tbs. flour
1/2 cup lowfat milk
4 egg whites, at room temperature
1/8 tsp. cream of tartar
3 Tbs. + 1 tsp. granulated sugar
2 egg yolks
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2-3 Tbs. powdered sugar, for dusting
1. Position the rack in lower third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Spray eight 4- to 5- ounce souffle cups with vegetable oil spray.
2. Sift the powdered sugar, cocoa, and flour into the top of a double boiler. Add the milk and 1/2 cup water and whisk until smooth. Cook over very gently simmering water, whisking continuously, for about 10 minutes, or until thickened. Remove from heat. Set aside.
3. Beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually sprinkle in sugar, beating at high speed until stiff buy not dry.
4. Whisk the egg yolks nad vnaill into the chocolate mixture. Fold about a quarter of the egg whites in the chocolate mixture to lighten it. Fold in the remaining whites. Divide mixture evenly among the cups. It can cup to about 1/4 inch below the rims. (Souffles may be cooled, covered and refrigerated for up to 1 day).
5. Place the cups on a baking sheet and bake for 15 to 17 minute (19 to 20 minutes if souffles were refrigerated), or until souffles have puffed well above the cups and a bamboo skewer inserted from the side deep into hte center comes out with moist crumbs clinging to it. Do not overbake.
6. To serve: sieve a little powdered sugar over each souffle and serve immediately.
My notes:
My souffles turned out pretty bad. I’ve never had a souffle before so I’m not sure exactly what it was supposed to be like, but I didn’t like the texture at all, and the flavor had a funny off smell, I have no idea why. Maybe I made a mistake though, because it made about 1.5 times as much batter as it was supposed to. I actually just tossed them.
Rating: C
Frozen Hot Chocolate (B)
3This recipe is from Alice Medrich’s cookbook “Chocolate and the Art of Low-Fat Desserts.” It makes a thick slushy chocolate-y rich-tasting dessert, without much work or too many calories. For company, she suggests serving it in an iced goblet.
Frozen Hot Chocolate
Serves 6 to 7.
1/2 cup unsweetened dutch processed cocoa
3/4 cup sugar
2-3/4 cup low fat 1% milk
1. In a small saucepan, combine the cocoa and sugar. Stir in a few tablespoons of milk to form a smooth paste. Stir in all but 2 Tbs. of the remaining milk. Stir over low heat until the mixture is warm and sugar is dissolved.
2. Pour into a shallow pan or ice-cube trays, cover well, and freeze for at least 6 hours or overnight. (The mixture can be frozen for 1 week or more).
3. Break frozen mixture into chunks with a fork or a table knife. Place chunks in a food processor bowl fitted with the steel blade. Process with the remaining 2 Tbs. milk until no lumps remain and mixture is thick and light in color. Serve at once in frosted goblets as a spoon drink or scrape into a bowl, cover, and refreeze for at least 8 hours or overnight. Scoop and serve frozen.
Note: Increase or decrease the richness of this concoction to your taste by replacing some or all of the low-fat milk with whole or nonfat milk.
She lists a number of variations, and being a mint freak I tried her suggestion of adding a scant 1/4 tsp. mint extract in step 1.
Calories per serving: 144
Fat: 2.3g
Protein: 4.6g
Carbs: 29.6g
Cholesterol: 3.85mg
I used 2% milk since that’s all I had around, and here are the stats assuming 6 servings:
Calories 176
Total Fat 3.2g
Saturated Fat 1.9g
Cholesterol 9mg
Sodium 66mg
Carbohydrate 34.4g
Dietary Fiber 2.1g
Sugars 31.9g
Protein 5.9g
Vitamin A 5%
Vitamin C 2%
Calcium 17%
Iron 6%
Rating: B
Millet, Quinoa, and Burdock Pilaf (B)
This recipe is from Rebecca Wood’s cookbook The Splendid Grain. It doesn’t have the best nutritional stats in the world, but the stats certainly aren’t bad. I really enjoyed the dish when I first made it. I actually had a very hard time stopping with one serving. The instructions look a bit long but if you’re in the kitchen anyway this doesn’t actually take that much time or attention.
The wine adds sweetness, the millet provides a bit of a rough texture while the quinoa is softer, the sunflower seeds add a nutty flavor, and the burdock provides great depth of flavor. However, it was better eaten immediately. The flavors started to fade a bit over the next couple days.
1 plump burdock root, about 10 inches long (I used 2 cups chopped)
1.5 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 cup chopped shallots or onions
1 tsp. kosher salt (less if table salt)
fresh ground black pepper
2 cups unsalted vegetable or chicken stock (I used homemade vegetable broth)
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup millet, toasted
1/2 cup quinoa
1/4 cup sunflower seeds, toasted
2 Tbs. minced fresh tarragon
Heat the oil in a large saucepan (I used a 4qt pan) over medium heat. Meanwhile, wash and trim but do not peel the burdock and slice it into thin rounds. When the oil is hot, add the burdock and saute for 5 minutes or until it softens. Meanwhile, chop the shallots. Add the shallot and saute for about 5 more minutes, or until it is translucent. Meanwhile, toast the millet. Add the salt, pepper, stock, and wine and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, toast the sunflower seeds. Add the millet. Lower the heat, and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes. Add the quinoa. Simmer, covered, for 15 minutes, or until the liquid is absorbed. Let stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Add the sunflower seeds and tarragon and gently and gently mix, fluffing rather than compressing the grains. Serve hot or at room temperature.
Serves 4. I ate 1.5 servings and a green vegetable for a very satisfying meal.
Note: I found the tarragon flavor interesting, but not necessary to the dish. I would have liked it without it as well.
Amount Per Serving
Calories 225
Total Fat 6.6g
Saturated Fat 0.8g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 297mg
Carbohydrate 32.1g
Dietary Fiber 3.7g
Sugars 1g
Protein 5.4g
Vitamin A 0% Vitamin C 2%
Calcium 3% Iron 13%
Rating: B
Locro (South American Soup)
This is a recipe from the cookbook The Splendid Grain by Rebecca Wood. She describes Locro as a substantial South American soup-stew, traditionally eaten by “plucking small rounds of corn from the soup with the fingers.” She says Locro is a meal in one that always contains a grain and sometimes meat or fish. The combination of ingredients may seem a bit strange, but she claims that beans similar to anasazi beans as well as many varieties of seaweed are sold at Indian markets in Bolivia. Wood says to make this soup only in corn season, but I used frozen corn and enjoyed it nonetheless.
- 1/2 cup anasazi beans
- 1/3 cup whole or pearl barley
- 1 stick (3 inches) kombu
- 8 cups veg. or chicken stock
- 1 Tbs. sesame oil or extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tsp. anise seeds
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 small leek, sliced
- 2 shiitake mushrooms, chopped
- 1/2 cup peeled, diced celery root
- 1 ear fresh corn, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 new mexican chili, roasted, peeled, seeded, and chopped
- 2 cups chopped collards or kale
- 1 tsp. sea salt
- fresh ground pepper
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- Soak the beans.
- Put the barley in a saucepan over med-high heat and cook for about 5 minutes, or until grains begin to pop and turn a shade darker. Combine the barley, soaked beans, kombu and stock in a soup pot over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered for 1 hour.
- Warm the oil in a large saute pan over med. heat. Add the anise seeds and cook for 1 minutes, or until they become aromatic. Add the garlic, leek, mushrooms, celery root, and corn. Lightly saute each one before adding the next. Saute until vegetables just begin to soften, about 4 minutes. Scrape the vegetables until the soup, add the chili, and simmer for 30 minutes, or until the beans are soft. Remove and discard the kombu or chop it into bite-size pieces and return it to the pot. Add the collards and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook ten minutes more.
- Ladle into bowls and serve hot, garnished with cilantro.
My notes:
I used roman beans since I couldn’t find anasazi, and frozen corn rather than fresh. My favorite part of the soup were the mushrooms (I never would have thought to put shiitake’s in a south americna soup) and the celery root. The celery root got so incredibly sweet and delicious, next time I’ll increase the amount.
The ingredient list is long but I thought the soup was worth it.
I made this a second time, with a few substitutitions and changes. I used a whole Tbs. of anise seeds, which still wasn’t too much. The soup had a great anise flavor, but could possibly have used even a bit more. I love anise, and have almost no savory recipes that call for it (hint, hint, anyone have one to share?) I also added more shiitakes, used rutabaga instead of celery root, pinto beans instead of anasazi–and more of them, shallots instead of leek, and vegetable broth instead of water. The soup tasted very similiar. All the substitutions worked fine, except I didn’t think that pinto beans are the right bean for this soup. If I can’t find anasazi maybe next time I’ll try small red beans. Or navy beans maybe?
Note, this soup doesn’t freeze terribly well, mostly because of the barley which ends up with a mushy texture. I’m not saying you can’t freeze it, but the texture is definitely degraded.
Serving Size: 1 serving (out of 6 total)
Amount Per Serving
Calories 168
Total Fat 2.9g
Saturated Fat 0.4g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 259mg
Carbohydrate 31.3g
Dietary Fiber 6.8g
Sugars 2.6g
Protein 6.8g
Vitamin A 25%
Vitamin C 55%
Calcium 8%
Iron 15%
Rating: B
Roasted winter squash
I’ve tried various ways of cooking winter squash–covered, uncovered, with water, dry, oiled… After all my experimentation I’ve decided that the best method is to coat the squash with a bit of olive oil, sprinkle it with salt, place it face-down on a cookie sheet, and roast it at a high temperature. So I felt vindicated when Cook’s Illustrated in their cookbook The Best Light Recipe came to the same conclusion. Make sure to cook the squash until well done to ensure the sweetest flavor and smoothest texture. The oil is essential to promote browning, but the foil is just for ease of cleanup, and can be skipped. This recipe can be made with many different varieties of squash, including acorn, buttercup, butternut, or delicata squash.
Roasted Squash Halves
- 1 Tbs. olive oil
- 1 medium or 2 small winter squash (2 pounds), halved lengthwise and seeded
- salt and black pepper
Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position (remove pizza stone if you have one), and heat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and brush the foil with half the oil. Brush the cut sides of the squash with the remaining oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place the squash cut side down on the foil. Roast until a fork can be slipped easily into the center of the squash, 30-50 minutes, depending on the type of squash. This yields squash with a good chewy texture and a sweet, carmelized flavor. Note that if your squash is really big (3-4 pounds), it might take a long time to cook it halved. In that case you might want to peel and chunk the squash before roasting it.
Diced Roasted Squash
The above recipe is for whole roasted squash. Below is Cook’s Illustrated’s recipe for roasted squash that is diced.
- 2 pounds winter squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch cubes (make sure all the greenish layer under the skin is removed)
- 1 medium shallot, minced (about 3 Tbs.)
- 1 Tbs. olive oil
- 2 tsp. minced fresh thyme
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/8 tsp. pepper
Adjust an oven rack to the lower middle position (removing any pizza stones you might have lying around) and heat the oven to 450 degrees. (Cook’s Illustrated says lower temperatures just take longer to cook but at higher temperatures the squash will burn before cooking fully.) Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Toss the squash, shallot, oil, thyme, salt and pepper together on the prepared baking sheet. Spread the squash pieces into an even layer. Roast, shaking the pan after 15 minutes, until the squash is tender and evenly browned, 25 to 35 minutes. Cook’s Illustrated says this recipe is best with butternut, buttercup, or hubbard squash.
Note: It’s better to toss the squash and oil on the baking sheet rather than in a bowl, because this oils the cookie sheet well and saves some dishes!
My Notes:
Butternut Squash Diced: I followed the Cook’s Illustrated instructions and really did not like how it turned out. The shallot burnt, and so did much of the squash. I admit, I had a hard time cutting it uniformly so some pieces were smaller, and some were larger, but squash is just hard to make into uniform pieces because it’s so irregular shaped. I think 450 is really too high for cooking diced squash, at least for 30 minutes. Maybe 450 for the first five minutes then 375 after that? Also, I really didn’t care for the fresh thyme (even when it wasn’t burnt to a crisp). Don’t get me wrong, I love thyme, but I felt like it covered up the squash flavor rather than augmenting it. I think sage goes better. Oh, just read back over the recipe and realized I forgot the foil. Since I have very dark pans that might have caused some of the burning. I’ll have to try it again with the foil. Or maybe I’ll try larger dice, or wedges. If nothing else, it will be faster to chop the squash up.
Kabocha Squash Wedges: Cook’s Illustrated didn’t mention Kabocha in their list of squash. I roasted kabocha squash once before, and I remember it coming out very moist, succulent, sweet, and delicious. This time I used quite a bit of oil (2.5 Tbs. for one squash) because I didn’t want it dry, and also sprinkled on salt, pepper, and seasonings like paprika and thyme. I scooped out the seeds and cut it into wedges, but didn’t peel it. I baked it in a 9×13 pyrex pan. I don’t remember the temperature or timing.
It’s not bad, especially with my black bean chili, but it’s somewhat dry and starchy tasting. My friend actually really liked it. The really nice thing is that I didn’t have to peel it. I’m pretty picky about squash peels but I don’t mind eating kabocha with the peel on at all. Not having to peel saves a lot of time. But I wish I could remember what I did before to get it to be so moist and succulent.
Update Sept 2009:
I roasted a butternut squash last night. It was a pretty big squash–I got about 2 pounds 10 ounces of edible squash out of it. I diced it into large cubes, about 1-inch square each. I started by preheating the oven to about 475. I tossed the squash with 1 Tbs. of olive oil, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. pace, and a sprinkle of fresh black pepper, then poured it onto a large cookie sheet lined with foil. There was a little bit more room on the cookie sheet, but not much. I don’t think I could have fit much more than 2 pounds 12 ounces on it without the squashing being too crowded and steaming rather than roasting. Immediately after I put the squash in the oven I turned the temperature down to 400, but I left the fan running. I baked the squash until it started to brown on top (maybe 30 minutes?), then flipped it and turned the temperature down to just keep the temperature warm. The squash turned out extremely well. The pieces were just a tad caramelized, but still plump and moist. The spices were good, but not perfect. I got about 4.75 cups of cooked squash out. I’d say that’s about 6 side servings.
The next day I tried to replicate what I did. I used 2 pounds 12 ounces of squash, diced into 1-inch dice. The cubes were perhaps slightly larger than the previous day. (Maybe I had done 3/4 inch dice before?) I tossed the squash with 1 Tbs. olive oil, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. cumin, and 1/2 tsp. chili flakes. There was still a little space on the pan, but maybe it was very slightly more crowded than the previous night. I preheated the oven to 500, then turned it down to 375 but kept the fan running when I put in the squash. I checked the squash after 25 minutes and it was extremely soft, and more steamed than roasted. I’m not sure what I did wrong. It also tasted less oily, and less sweet. It could have been that this squash was simply not as good, or I cooked it too long, or maybe last time I actually used more than 1 Tbs. of olive oil? Also, using cumin instead of nutmeg could have made it less sweet. I couldn’t even taste the cumin. The chili flakes were a bad idea, as they tended to burn.
Halvah
Halvah is one of my favorite desserts. When I was a kid my uncle used to bring us Joyva halvah whenever he came to visit and I was in heaven. Later I discovered chocolate covered halvah and realized that I had just thought I was in heaven before. However, halvah is a problem for me since I can easily eat 1/2 a pack or more at a sitting and it has exactly 4.5 gazillion calories. In any case I’ve always wanted to try to make it myself but never got around to it.
On my allergy-free month I’m not eating peanut butter, and so hit the tahini jar. I always forget how much I like tahini. It just sits in my fridge untouched except for sesame noodles and a sauce for kale, but it’s so good even plain. The tahini I get from the co-op starts to separate after it’s been sitting in the fridge for a while, and the non-oily thick paste on the bottom of the jar tastes pretty darn close to halvah, actually. So I added a bit of honey and it was even closer to what I remembered. I was actually amazed at how little honey it needs. Add too much and the great tahini flavor starts to fade away. So I love my tahini paste with honey and a little cinnamon, but I couldn’t serve this to friends. What would I do, give them a spoon and a tiny bowl and tell them to dig in?
So I needed to firm it up a bit so I could serve actual pieces of “halvah,” or in this case halvah balls. This is a guess at what I did. Many recipes I looked at called for white flour as a thickener, but that’s off limits due to the wheat, so I substituted teff flour instead.
Halvah Balls
3 Tbs. sesame seeds
1 Tbs. teff flour
4 Tbs. tahini
4 tsp. honey
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
In a small skillet toast 3 Tbs. sesame seeds until starting to get light brown and aromatic. Add 1 Tbs. teff flour and toast gently until that becomes aromatic. Remove from heat and transfer to a mortar. (I’m not sure if this would work in a coffee grinder. The texture might end up more oily. It might also be possible to just use tahini and teff flour, but I ran out of tahini so went for the seeds.)
Grind the seeds and flour in the mortar until they are a fluffy but coarse texture. Transfer them to a small bowl and add 4 Tbs. raw tahini, 4 tsp. honey, and 1/4 tsp cinnamon. (maybe cardamom would be good instead?) Mix well, then form the batter into 8 small balls. You can roll them in sesame seeds or black sesame seeds if you want to make them more decorative. Eat right away or refrigerate and serve later. From personal experience I can attest that they’re still good cold, but probably they’re best at room temperature.
They have about 75 calories each.
On a second try I used a different brand of tahini, roasted the sesame seeds to a darker color, and forgot the cinnamon. They were still good but tasted less like halvah and more like sesame balls.
On a third try I used unhulled sesame seeds, which are much more nutritious than the hulled perfectly white ones. They tasted basically the same to me. Derek at first didn’t like this recipe at all, particularly the texture which he said was too soft. He took one bite and that was enough for him. But the next morning he wouldn’t stop eating them, said they were firmer and delicious. He liked them better room temperature than right out of the fridge.
When making these in Chicago I used yet another brand of tahini, and it was much, much thinner than the previous ones I’d tried. I had to keep adding flour, and more flour, but no matter how much I added they seemed just too thin. The flavor was excellent though.
These aren’t really a great thing to serve at a party, for three reasons. First, many people don’t like tahini at all. Second, they’re very sticky. Third, even when rolled in sesame seeds for presentation, as Derek so pleasantly put it, they nonetheless bear a close resemblance to “tahini turds”.
My friend Shakti said she made them with cocoa and they turned out great, but I haven’t tried that yet.
Some interesting discussion on halvah
A supposedly joyva-like halvah recipe
Rating: B
Derek: A-
This halvah recipe is from the 25th Anniversary version of the Tassajara Bread Book.
- 2 cups unhulled sesame seeds
- 1 Tbs. unroasted sesame oil (optional)
- 1/4 cup or more honey or sugar
- 2 Tbs. butter or margarine or tahini
- Spices: (optional, to taste):
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp. cloves
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp. cardamom or coriander or nutmeg or mace
Makes 6-8 healthy but moderate servings.
Roast the seeds until they are crunchy–in a frying pan over moderate flame or on a baking sheet in the oven. Stir often enough that they roast evenly. Grind the seeds finely, but not so finely that you end up with sesame butter. Add the sweetening and the butter and sesame oil. Taste it. The basic recipe is not very sweet, so you may well wish to add more sweetener and some vanilla. If you want the halvah to have some spiciness, take your pick of the spices and season to taste. Shape into balls and roll in toasted sesame seeds, or press onto a cookie sheet and refrigerate before slicing.
My Notes:
I tried grinding the seeds in my blender–didn’t work well at all. Then I tried my mortar and pestle. Although I can do a few Tbs. pretty easily, this quantity was way too much work to grind by hand. I ended up doing batches in my coffee grinder, which of the three ways I tried definitely worked the best. In the end the seeds were quite a powdery consistency–pretty dry not sticky like tahini. The honey and tahini I added made it thicker and stickier though. I also added a Tbs. of sesame oil off the top of the tahini that had separated. That also helped moisten the mixture. I added all the spices, and cardamom for the last option. I pressed the mixture it into a small square glass container.
The texture was not flaky like Joyva halvah, but was definitely sliceable and held together pretty well. The flavor was very roasted–maybe I roasted the seeds a tad too long. I couldn’t really taste the spices, but in general I thought the recipe was pretty good. It was much more sesame seed tasting than tahini tasting like the last attempt. These amounts makes a ton though. I’d consider a serving to be at most a Tbs. or two, so I’d cut this recipe in half next time, unless I’m serving a huge crowd.
Rating: B+
Derek says “delicious.” He liked it better than my previous attempts, because it was slightly drier and more like traditional flaky halvah. He thought the sweetness level was perfect.
Derek: A-
Update: July 2009
I talked to a guy in Israel who makes and sells halvah, and he says he just uses tahini and honey, but he cooks it. He told me the ratio of halvah to honey he uses, but I can’t find it. In any case, I got the feeling he was leaving something out–some secret that he wasn’t willing to divulge. His halvah was better than mine, but not really all that great.
Steel cut oatmeal with figs and cardamom (B)
I’ve never been a big oatmeal fan, and when I do eat oats I generally eat rolled oats because they’re fast. But everyone’s been telling me to try steel cut oats instead (also known as irish oats). So I decided to try this recipe my friend sent me, from the cookbook Moosewood Restaurant New Classics
Serves Four
Ingredients:
1 cup irish or steel-cut oats
4 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-2 Tbs. vegetable oil or butter (I used 4 tsp. canola)
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 – 1 cup chopped dates or figs (I used 6 turkish figs)
Instructions
In a 2-4 quart saucepan, bring 4 cups of water to a boil.
Meanwhile, lightly toast the steel cut oats in a saucepan with a little oil (put the heat on medium), just until there is a subtle color change to golden brown. This enhances the nutty flavor and chewy, satisfying texture of the oats.
Once the oats are toasted, add them to the water, reduce the heat to medium and cook them uncovered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally (don’t stir TOO often or you compromise the texture). I like to set my timer for 20 minutes and stir at the 10 and 5 minute warnings, and at 2 minute til.
In the meantime, chop the dates or figs. Cook the chopped figs or dates in 1/2 cup water. Let them come to a low boil and then simmer for another ten minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the ground cardamom once the fruit is simmering. After ten minutes, the figs or dates should have softened and the water reduced nearly to a glaze or thick paste. Add a little more water during the cooking process if needed. Once the figs/dates are softened to your liking, remove from heat and add the vanilla extract. (I like to wait to start chopping the figs until the oats have been cooking for ten minutes, since I don’t really need to be around for those first ten minutes. I can do the -5 and -2 minute stirs while I’m chopping, then I get the figs to a simmer about the same time I turn the oats down to low, and I can stir the oats and the figs at the same time.)
After the oatmeal has cooked for 20 minutes, reduce the heat to medium-low, add the salt and cook uncovered for another 10 minutes, stirring more frequently to make sure the oats don’t stick to the pot.
Remove the oats from the heat and stir in the date or fig mixture. Allow to stand another 3 minutes before serving.
My notes
A quarter of the recipe is probably enough to fill me up, but I must say I still wanted to eat more.
The texture is excellent, way better than my normal rolled oats I make. And I really like the texture and flavor of the figs in it. The cardamom, however, I could taste in only a few bites. I think maybe it didn’t mix well, and stuck to just a few of the figs. What would happen if I added it to the oats instead of the figs? Also, I found it just a bit too salty. Maybe next time I’ll try a heaping 1/8 tsp.
These reheat well in the microwave (and possibly on the stovetop too, although I have to check). You may have to add a little water though. However, when I ate the second half, reheated in the micowave, it wasn’t salty at all. Maybe I just didn’t mix my salt well and it all ended up in the other half. It also tasted less sweet…
Also a few questions from the laziest cook in the world, who never met a shortcut she didn’t like:
1) Why are the figs cooked separately? How would it be different if you just threw them in for the last ten minutes with the salt?
2) Couldn’t we just throw the cardamom it in at the beginning too? Does something happen to it when it hits boiling water?
Update May 06, 2006: The salt level seems fine when I use coarse kosher salt, but I’ve taken to adding the salt when I add the oats to the water to ensure that it gets mixed well. I’ve also started adding more cardamom and vanilla, between 1/2 tsp. and 3/4 tsp. each. This recipe is definitely better with the full 1 cup of figs, although even with 1 cup it’s still not particularlly sweet. Derek added about 1/2 Tbs. maple syrup to his. 3/4 figs is all right too, and lower calorie, but not quite as decadent tasting. Derek says this recipe is great.
Rating: B
Derek: A
Sunflower seed milk
I had a jar of sunflower seeds sitting on my counter forever, and my friend Shakti suggested I try making sunflower seed milk. She said to blend 1/4 cup of sunflower seeds in the blender to a powder, then add 2 cups of water and blend some more. It was a bit gritty but not gritty enough to go through the trouble of straining it. I’m not a big sunflower seed fan, but I found the “milk” surprisingly refreshing.
I tried using it for a smoothie, and added 3/4 cup frozen raspberries and some vanilla, but the combination wasn’t good. The flavors didn’t really go and the raspberry seeds made it even more gritty. What would be a better combination?
Rating: B-
Roasted Pineapple (B)
3I came across a recipe in Gourmet for roasted pineapple, and it sounded delicious. It said to butter the pan and then the pineapple, but I just used a little oil spray. The pineapple was intensely sweet and soft. I could not stop eating the stuff, even hot right out of the oven. It’s good by itself but I bet I could come up with a way to use it in a recipe…. Hmmm….
Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.
1/2 a pineapple, labeled “extra sweet”
1 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
Peel half of a pineapple but do not core. Trim ends and cut remainder crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Brush some butter ona baking sheet, then arrange pineapple in one layer over it and brush with the rest of the butter.
Roast pineapple slices in middle of oven until undersides are browned (tops will only color slightly), 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven and turn slices over. Cool on baking sheet on a rack to room temperature.
When I made it with for Derek (with just oil no butter) he said it tasted like “warm pineapple” and he probably would have just rather had the pineapple fresh, but that it was good nonetheless.
Rating: B
Derek: B
Perfect pan-fried broccoli (B+)
3I’ve always loved broccoli, but often when I cook it, it turns out either overcooked, undercooked, or unevenly cooked. A recent recipe from Cook’s Illustrated on how to pan-fry broccoli had a number of suggestions, which made my broccoli excellent the vast majority of the time. This is a variant of that recipe. When I was a kid I always wanted to just eat the florets, and left the stems on the plate, but with this recipe the stems are actually the best part! This recipe yields bright green, succulent florets and toasty-brown carmelized stems tasty enough to be eaten with just a little salt and pepper. I think one thing that really helps is adding the salt to water, then using the salted water to steam the broccoli by putting the lid on briefly. It lets the salt penetrate more completely and more evenly through the broccoli, flavoring it more deeply.
If your broccoli stalks are especially thick, split them in half lengthwise before slicing.
Serves 4
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 tsp. table salt (heaping if you like a lot of salt)
- 1/8 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes (optional, or use 1/4 tsp. for less spicy)
- 1-2 Tbs. garlic, minced (optional)
- 2 Tbs. olive oil
- 1 3/4 – 2 pounds broccoli (about 2 medium bunches) florets cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces, stems trimmed and cut on bias into 1/4-inch-thick slices or “flowers” about 1 1/2 inches long (about 5 cups florets and 3 cup stems)
1. Stir water, salt, and pepper together in small bowl until salt dissolves; set aside. In 12-inch nonstick skillet with tight-fitting lid, heat oil over medium-high heat until just about to smoke. Add broccoli stems and cook, without stirring, until browned on bottoms, about 5 minutes. Add florets, red pepper flakes, and garlic (if using) to skillet and toss to combine; cook, without stirring, until bottoms of florets just begin to brown, 1 to 2 minutes longer.
2. Add water mixture and immediately cover skillet; cook until broccoli is bright green but still crisp, about 2 minutes. Uncover and continue to cook until water has evaporated, broccoli stems are tender, and florets are tender-crisp, about 2 minutes more.
I like the broccoli by itself as a side dish, and also mixed with pasta for a tasty lunch or dinner. When mixing the broccoli with pasta, I use 5 ounces dry pasta, undercook it slightly, then throw it in for the last two minutes when the lid is removed. At this point, I remove the pan from the heat, and sometimes add in another tablespoon extra virgin olive oil or some toasted sesame oil mixed with a few teaspoons soy sauce or ume plum vinegar. This makes about 4 two-cup servings.
After a few days in the fridge the broccoli and pasta started to become slightly sulfurous tasting, and ironically somewhat bland. I sauteed up 1 bunch of collard greens in 1 Tbs. olive oil, then threw in 1/4 tsp. salt in 1 Tbs. water, and cooked until bright green, then mixed this with 2 servings of the pasta and broccoli and it was excellent. The collard stems are very slightly bitter and crisp, and the greens add an elusive, almost tangy quality. A delicious combination.
Nutritional info for 1/4 of recipe (not including pasta):
It’s 15% protein, 38% carbs, and 47% fat.
| Calories | 126 | ||||
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| Total Fat | 7.4g | ||||
| Saturated Fat | 0.9g | ||||
| Cholesterol | 0mg | ||||
| Sodium | 202mg | ||||
| Carbohydrate | 13.4g | ||||
| Dietary Fiber | 5g | ||||
| Sugars | 3.2g | ||||
| Protein | 5.5g | ||||
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Rating: B+
Authentic Teff Injera (B)
This recipe for traditional tef injera is from the cookbook The Splendid Grain by Rebecca Wood, but is almost identical to the tef injera recipe in the authentic Ethiopian cookbook I checked out of the library. Wood also has a quick injera that’s made using sourdough starter, but I haven’t tried it.
Wood explains about injera: “The national food of Ethiopia, this large flatbread is used as a plate with other foods placed on top. Another injera is served on the side and torn into pieces to scoop up the food. The bread is served cold accompanied with spicy-hot bean, vegetable and meat dishes.”
Instructions
Combine 2 cups tef flour, 3 cups of filtered water, and 1 tsp. yeast in a 2-quart ceramic or glass bowl. (Wood says if you’re grinding your flour fresh then you can omit the yeast since Tef’s symbiotic yeast provides leavening. ) Cover with a bamboo sushi mat or a clean cloth. Leave out on the counter for 2 days in a warm kitchen or 3 days in a cool kitchen, or until the sponge has a strong and distinctively sour aroma. Water will rise to the top. Slowly and carefully pour of this surface water.
Bring 1 cup of spring water to a boil in a small saucepan. Stir 1/2 cup of the tef mixture into the boiling water. Reduce the heat to med. and cook, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the mixture thickens slightly and is smooth. (I recommend using a whisk because mine had lumps). Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature. Stir this mixture into the soured batter. Add more water if necessary to make a thin batter as for pancakes. Cover and let rest for 1 or 2 hours or until the mixture rises.
Heat a 9-inch crepe pan or skillet that has a tight fitting lid over high heat until a drop of water bounces on the pan’s surface. If using an electric skillet, heat to 420 degrees F. Slowly pour 1/3 cup of the batter into the pan in a thin stream, moving in a spiral from the outer edge of the pan toward the center of the pan. Then til the pan so the batter can flow and cover any gaps. Cover and cook over med-low heat for 2-3 minutes, or until the edges of the injera begin to curl away from the pan. Remove immediately and place on a clean coth to cool. When cool, wrap to keep moist. Stir the batter well, then cook the remaining breads in the same way.
If after combining the cooked and raw batters, you will not be able to cook the injera within 2 hours, refrigerate the batter for up to 4 hours, or until it rises. If you are unable to cook the batter when it’s ready, stir in 1/2 tsp. sea salt and refrigerate the batter for up to 24 hours.
She doesn’t say anything about storing longer than 24 hours, but I had leftover batter and just put it back in the fridge and have been making injera for lunch for quite a few days with no problems. It did get a bit more sour after a few days, but I still enjoyed it.
This is supposed to make 4 six-inch breads, but maybe I made mine too thin because mine made six breads. But it’s weird because I definitely used more than 1/3 cup mixture per bread. Maybe it’s because I never ended up pouring off any water. I know the injera is supposed to be soft, but when my friend made it he oiled the skillet a bit so the face-down side ended up a bit crisp, which I thought was tasty. Also, I liked it hot I think a bit better than the more traditional way of eating cold injera. The injera is pretty dark, since Tef is such a dark color, and noticeably sour, but I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Update: I tried making the injera again, but I only made 3/4 of the recipe. I let it sit for 2 days, but my kitchen was cooler than the last time. One mistake I made was adding the full 1 cup water instead of only 3/4 cup water, but that’s only an extra 1/4 cup, it doesn’t seem like it would make a huge difference. In any case, the batter was incredibly thin, almost the consistency of water. I’m not sure what could have made it so different from last time. Maybe I mis-measured the water initially? Another difference was that I made the injera after two days rather than doing the salt/refrigerate step for a day. But I don’t see why this would make the batter thinner.
Per serving (1/6 of recipe)
Calories 229
Total Fat 2g
Saturated Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 302mg
Carbohydrate 44.4g
Dietary Fiber 8.2g
Sugars 0g
Protein 8.4g
Vitamin A 0%
Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 10%
Iron 27%
Teff is obviously an iron powerhouse, and it’s not bad on calcium or fiber.
Rating: B
Celery Root Salad with Lemon and Cumin Dressing (B-)
I’ve started trying recipes with celery root (also called celeriac) recently, but this is the first time I’ve eaten it raw. This recipe is from the cookbook France: the Vegetarian Table, by Georgeanne Brennan.
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/8 tsp. ground turmeric
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbs. minced fresh parsley
1 large celery root (about 1 pound), peeled
In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the lemon juice, cumin, turmeric, salt, pepper, and parsley. Set aside.
Finely julienne the celery root. The slices should be no more than 1/16 of an inch thick, if possible.
Add the celery root to the lemon juice mixture and toss to coat well. Serve at once.
My Notes
Although this dressing has no oil and little salt, I thought it was pretty tasty. There was perhaps a bit too much lemon juice, though. This makes 6 small side servings, of a 1/2 cup each.
Rating: B-
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Serving Size: 1/2 cup, 1/6 of recipe |
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| Amount Per Serving | |||||
| Calories | 48 | ||||
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| Total Fat | 1.5g | ||||
| Saturated Fat | 0.2g | ||||
| Cholesterol | 0mg | ||||
| Sodium | 128mg | ||||
| Carbohydrate | 8.9g | ||||
| Dietary Fiber | 1.5g | ||||
| Sugars | 1.7g | ||||
| Protein | 1.3g | ||||
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Black bean chili (B-)
I was craving chili, and was all set to make my typical recipe when I came across a recipe in Gourmet Magazine for the black bean chili from Greens restaurant in California. I figured I had to try it.
The recipe says active prep time is 30 minutes.
1 lb. dried black beans (2.25 cups)
1 Tbs. cumin seeds
1/2 tsp. cayenne
2 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. dried oregano, crumbled
1 small dried pasilla chile, stems and seeds discarded and chile coarsely chopped
3 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbs. chopped chipotle chilies in adobo
1 Turkish bay leaf or 1/2 California bay leaf
6 cups water
1 14-ounce can whole tomatoes, drained, reserving juice, and chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1. Saok beans in water to cover by 2 inches overnight (8 hours). Drain in a colander
2. Toast cumin, cayenne, paprika, and oregano in a dry 10-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until fragrant and a shade or 2 darker, about 2 minutes (watch out: spices burn easily). Transfer to a small bowl
3. Finely grind pasilla in an electric coffee/spice grinder, then stir into spices.
4. Heat oil in a wide 5- to 6-quart heavy pot over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then saute onion and bell pepper, stirring occasionally, until golden, 6 to 8 minutes. Add garlic, chipotles, and spice mixture and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. Add beans, bay leaf, and water and simmer, covered, until beans are tender, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Ad tomatoes, including juice, with salt to taste and simmer, uncovered, 15 minutes, or until slightly thickened. Just before serving, stir in cilantro.
My notes: I thought it was odd that it called for cumin seeds but the other spices ground. I couldn’t find a pasilla pepper, so used one ancho pepper and one new mexican chile. Also, instead of the chipotle in adobo I used I think a 1/2 tsp. chipotle powder. I left out the cilantro as well.
Given the substitutions I had to make, I’m not sure how identical the final product was to the original recipe. Though it tasted more like black bean soup than chili to me, I did like it. I found it a bit intense to eat a whole bowl by itself, but when eaten with some baked winter squash the flavors were more balanced. The sweet squash contrasted nicely with the smoky soup.
I think I used about 2 tsp. salt, which was a bit too much. The recipe says it makes 4 servings, but I found that it made about 8 cups.
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Serving Size: 1 serving |
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| Amount Per Cup (about 1/8 of recipe) | |||||
| Calories | 264 | ||||
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| Total Fat | 6.3g | ||||
| Saturated Fat | 0.9g | ||||
| Cholesterol | 0mg | ||||
| Sodium | 136mg | ||||
| Carbohydrate | 40.7g | ||||
| Dietary Fiber | 10.1g | ||||
| Sugars | 3.6g | ||||
| Protein | 13g | ||||
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Rating: B-
Rhubarb compote with lemongrass and ginger (C)
I found a rhubarb compote recipe on the web that looked interesting. I had to make a few changes though:
Rhubarb compote with lemongrass and ginger
Yield: about 2 cups
7½ ounces sugar (I used 2 ounces agave nectar + extra water)
5 ounces water
1 vanilla bean (I used 1 tsp. vanilla extract)
1 piece lemon grass
Piece of ginger
5 ounces rhubarb, julienned (I only had 4 ounces)
Bring all the ingredients except the rhubarb to a boil. Let stand for 20 minutes. Strain. Take small juliennes of rhubarb and add to the above. Bring to a boil. Cool.
To serve, fill a small glass half way with the compote. Or, you may serve this with vanilla ice cream.
The syrup was very exotic tasting, with complex layering of flavors, almost like an alcohol or a wine I thought. I wasn’t sure if it would be sweet enough since I reduced the sweetener so much but if anything it was too sweet. But the rhubarb flavor still came through. It left that oxalic acid dry tongue taste in my mouth like chard does.
I enjoyed eating a little of this with a spoon at first, but the next day the texture was pretty weird and the flavor very cough-syrupy. Also, I’m not sure how I would serve it. Perhaps as a sauce for another dish? Even a savory one? Or as a amuse bouche in a shot glass? In any case, I’m glad I tried it.
Rating: C
White bean pate (A-)
I’ve had so many versions of white bean pate at vegetarian restaurants, and I generally find them bland and unappealing. I loved this one though. I could just sit there and eat bowls of it with a spoon. It reminds me a lot of the green been pate my mom makes on Passover. It’s pretty darn healthy too. This is a variant of the Pate Francais Recipe from a cookbook by Ron Pickarski.
Pate Seasoning Blend
1 tsp. white pepper
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. ginger powder
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. whole dried thyme
1 tsp. marjoram
1 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. clove powder
The Pate
1 cup walnuts
1 tsp olive oil
2 cups diced onions
2 cups chopped mushrooms
4 tsp Pate Seasoning blend (above)
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
2 cups unsalted navy beans or garbanzo beans (I prefer navy beans)
- In a mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients for the seasoning blend, stir well, and transfer to a covered container. You will have lots leftover. You can save it and use it for this recipe again, or the seasoning blend can be used with many other dishes: just add 1 tsp of the blend per pound of protein.
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spread walnuts on a baking sheet and roast for about 15 min or until lightly browned and very fragrant. Remove from oven and transfer walnuts to a container to cool slightly.
- In a 10 inch frying pan, heat the oil and saute the onions, mushrooms, seasoning blen, salt and beans over medium-low. heat for 10 min. There’s almost no oil since the walnuts provide plenty of fat, which means you have to be careful not to let the vegetables burn. Just keep it at low and stir occasionally. The onions should start to carmelize toward the end for optimal flavor. Remove pan from heat.
- Add the walnuts to a food processor and chop them coarsely. Then add the rest of the ingredients to the food processor bowl and process until smooth. I thought it was tasty hot, but it’s meant to be served cold or at room temperature, so refrigerate in a covered container for 1 hour or until chilled through.
The author estimated it to take about 40 minutes prep time and 1 hour chill time.
My Notes
It’s a bit annoying that the seasoning blend makes extra. I wonder if you could just put about 1/2 tsp. of each spice in the recipe, and 1/4 tsp. of cloves?
What to serve this pate with? I think it goes really well with raw green beans and with celery. Carrots and radishes are okay. Bell peppers don’t go as well. Not sure about other raw veggies. I tried it on Triscuits and couldn’t really taste it much. I wonder if it would work as a sandwich spread? Other ideas?
Derek said this was unusually flavorful for a veggie pate, but thought it was too salty. I just realized that I used canned beans the second time which were probably salted, vs. the homemade beans I used originally. No wonder it came out saltier.
I really love this pate—the texture, the flavor, everything. But I gave it to some friends at work and they seemed less enthusiastic. Ben said it had good depth but needed more brightness. They generally thought it was too subtle. I also brought it to a party and people didn’t touch it–they preferred the hummus and red lentil pate. If other people liked this more I would definitely rate it an A, as I think the recipe is perfect.
3Rating: A-
Derek: B+
I need to double check this, but I think I got almost 4 cups of pate in the end, so assuming fifteen 1/4 cup servings, for each serving:
Nutritional facts for 1/4 cup, made with navy beans:
| Calories | 103 | ||||
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| Total Fat | 5.9g | ||||
| Saturated Fat | 0.6g | ||||
| Cholesterol | 0mg | ||||
| Sodium | 234mg | ||||
| Carbohydrate | 10.2g | ||||
| Dietary Fiber | 2.6g | ||||
| Sugars | 1.1g | ||||
| Protein | 4g | ||||
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Un-goopy amaranth (B-)
In my previous experience amaranth has always turned out a goopy, sticky porridge, but not today. I kind of followed the directions for basic amaranth in the Passionate Vegetarian cookbook by Crescent Dragonwagon, and it turned out as tiny individual grains.
I toasted 3/4 cup amaranth and 3/4 ounce grated coconut in a small saucepan until starting to brown and aromatic. I added 1 cup of water and brought to a boil, then turned down to a simmer, covered, and cooked about 8 or 9 minutes. Then I let it sit covered for another 10 minutes, and stirred in 1/2 Tbs. maple syrup. The texture is a bit strange, but I like it. I ate a 1/3 of the recipe for breakfast and it was weird but not bad.
Rating: B-
Pilaf of Oats with Ginger and Jalapeno (B-)
3I normally just eats oat for breakfast, but I was looking for something radically different to do with ginger and came across this recipe. It’s supposedly a “pilaf”, but it’s more wet and less light than a normal pilaf. The texture of the oats is great though, and the flavors come together in a way that I can’t quite pick out any one flavor but they make a new delicious one!
Pilaf of Oats with Ginger and Jalepeno
This is from the cookbook Passionate Vegetarian from Crescent Dragonwagon. She says this recipe defies tradition with both the texture and flavor, which is very bright. The unique texture is obtained by first toasting the oats (a critical step), then cooking them in less water than is typical. The flavors are a combination of South Indian and Central American/Spanish.
1 cup rolled oats
1 to 2 1/2 tsp. olive oil (I used 1.5)
2 tsp. black mustard seeds (I used 1 Tbs.)
1 onion, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, diced
1 Tbs. peeled, diced ginger
1 cup canned crushed tomatoes, with garlic, with the juice (I didn’t have any with garlic so I added an extra clove)
1 1/2 cups water
1 tsp. salt (I cut back on this a bit)
1. Place the oats in an ungreased skillet and toast them over medium heat, stirring constantly, for about 3 minutes, or until aromatic and slightly browned. (Oh, the aroma!) Pour into a bowl and set aside, leaving the heat on.
2. Spray the skillet with cooking spary. Add the oil to the skillet and heat. when it’shot, add the mustard seeds and heat for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly, until they pop. Add the onion and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add the jalapeno and ginger and stir-fry for about 1 minute more. Then add the tomatoes, water, and salt.
3. Bring to a boil, then stir in the toasted oats. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, covered, until the oats have absorbed most of the liquid, about 10 minutes. Let the skillet stand, covered for 10 minutes, then serve.
Serves 4.
My version nutritional stats:
Calories 136
Total Fat 3.2g
Saturated Fat 0.2g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 573mg
Carbohydrate 23.6g
Dietary Fiber 4g
Sugars 5.6g
Protein 5.1g
Vitamin A 13%
Vitamin C 65%
Calcium 2%
Iron 8%
I ate two servings for dinner, plus some collards, and I’m stuffed!
Okay, a post-comment. I didn’t like it nearly as much the next day, not sure why. Maybe I wasn’t as hungry? I did think, however, that this basic idea would work very well as a carrier for chiliquiles flavors. I’ll have to make it for Derek and see what he thinks. It might be a good corn-free, wheat-free version of chiliquiles. I could still use tofu if I didn’t want it soy-free though.
Rating: B-
Peanut Butter Cookies (B+)
3This is another recipe from Alice Medrich’s cookbook Cookies and Brownies. She says her ideal peanut butter cookie is crunchy, very peanutty, and not too sweet, and that’s a pretty good description of these cookies.
Shey says it makes about 3 dozen 2 1/4 inch cookies. (I made 30 cookies.)
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
8 Tbs. unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar, lump free, or 1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar with dark brown sugar or 1/2 cup with light brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups natural chunky peanut butter (She doesn’t say but I think it should be unsalted)
1. Mix the flour and baking soda together thoroughly with a whisk or fork. Set aside.
2. Using the back of a large spoon in a large bowl or with an electric mixer, mix the butter, the brown and granulated sugars, and salt until smooth and creamy, not fluffy. If your peanut butter is salted reduce the salt appropriately. 1/2 tsp = 1200mg of salt. Add the egg, vanilla, and peanut butter and mix until homogenous. Add the flour mixture and stir just until incorporated. Wrap and refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours, if not 12 hours. Chilling the dough improves the flavor, but if you must mix and bake the cookies immediately, use melted instead of softened butter to boost the flavor, and expect a slightly chewier cookie.
3. Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees fahrenheit. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
4. Scoop (slightly more than 1 level Tbs.) and form dough into 1 1/4 inch balls. Place the balls 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Flatten each ball to a thickness of 3/8 inch with a fork, pressing the back of the tines into the dough in two directions. Bake for 14 to 16 minutes, or until colored on top and golden brown underneath. Rotate the sheets from front to back and top to bottom about half through to ensure even baking. Cool cookies completely before stack or storing. May be stored, airtight, for at least two weeks.
Rating: B+
Sad, Sad Stuffing (C)
After I had jaw surgery my absolute favorite thing to eat was stuffing and gravy…. blended. But even though I love stuffing, blended or not, I unfortunately have no idea how to make it. I tried improvising.
I used Ezekiel bread and celery and onions, poultry seasoning as well as added thyme and savory, dried cranberries and an apple, and a cup of vegetable broth. It was obviously too much broth because it was kind of soggy. In addition, it :
- didn’t have enough stuffing “flavor”
- was too greasy tasting
- didn’t hold together at all
- had about a million calories for what I think of as a normal serving, about 1/4 of a cast-iron pan.
Clearly this is an ongoing project.
Rating: C
Grilled bitter melon stuffed with kamut and coconut (D)
I had seen these strange “gourds” in the Indian grocery but never knew what they were. They reminded me a little of green vegetable sea slugs. Then I was looking for a kamut recipe and found this fascinating recipe in Rebecca Wood’s cookbook The Splendid Grain: bitter melons stuffed with kamut and coconut. I read about bitter melons (also called bitter gourd or balsam pears) and discovered they’re very nutritious. www.bittermelon.org says that “Bitter Melons are rich in iron, they have twice the beta carotene of broccoli, twice the calcium of spinach, twice the potassium of bananas, and contain Vitamins A, C, B1 to B3, phosphorus, and good dietary fiber.” The reason they’re bitter is that they have a lot of quinine in them, which is one reason they’re considered healthy in tropical climates.
So I bought some of these funny nobby bizarre looking “gourds” for the first time, from Kholi’s. The recipe says to cut off the ends, and stick a chopstick or a finger through the gourd to pull out all the seeds and create a channel that can be stuffed. First two went fine. It was actually kind of fun pulling the seeds out! Then the third one. I stuck my finger in… and out came… blood! No wait, it’s red, it looks like blood, but… what is it… is it supposed to look like that? The first two had pale yellow seeds and stringy squash stuff, but the next two had these bright red seeds and stringy stuff that looked a whole lot like blood. As a lifetime vegetarian, I felt utterly disgusted. I felt like I was pulling the innards out of some poor little nobby green cute-as-an-ugly-button squash. I felt like a traitor.
See some pictures here252 of the outside (except mine are pale green not yellow) and the blood-seeds!
I wished someone had warned me about the color thing! I think the last ones were different than the first ones because they were more ripe: the less ripe ones have yellow seeds and the more ripe ones turn red. This picture shows the growth stages253
I had to let them sit overnight so I had a while to come to terms with my actions before the final act of bitter gourd murder. Anyway, here is the recipe:
Makes 20 appetizer servings
5 bitter melons (4 to 5 inches each)
2 tsp. sea salt
1 Tbs. sucanat or light brown sugar
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
2 Tbs. unsalted butter or Ghee
1/4 tsp. ground coriander
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. ground cardamom
1 small onion, minced
1 jalapeno, minced
2 tbs. unsweetened coconut flakes
2 Tbs. toasted pine nuts
1/2 cup steamed kamut
freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 Tbs. minced fresh cilantro
Cut both ends from the melons and, with your fingers, push the inner core of seeds to one end. Discard the melon tips, which tend to be particularly bitter, and the seeds. With a chopstick, finger, or the handle of a wooden spoon, push out all of the seeds to create a hollow channel.
Combine the salt, sucanant, 1/4 tsp. of the turmeric, and the lemon juice in a small bowl. Rub this mixture into the core of each melon. Place the melons on a plate. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.
Gently squeeze the melons to extract as much juice as possible, taking care not to crush them. Rinse thoroughly. Drain and set aside.
Heat the butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the corinader, cumin, cardamom, and the remaining turmeric. Saute for about 2 minutes, or until the spices release their aromao and are a shade darker. Add the onion and saute for 5 minutes or until limp. Add the jalapeno, pine nuts, coconut, and kamut. Saute for 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat. Stir in the cilantro and let stand until cool enough to handle.
Preheat the grill or broiler.
Divide the kamut mixture in five and tightly pack each melon center.
Place the melons over a medium-hot grill and grill, turning frequently for about 8 minutes, or until evenly browned. Remove from the heat. If you don’t have a grill panfry the stuffed melons in a skillet with 2 Tbs. ghee.
When cool enough to handle, slice each melon into 4 rounds. Arrange on a platter. Serve while still warm.
I was worried about the gourds being bitter so I soaked them in cold water for 30 minutes after removing them from the fridge. Also, I put them under the broiler rather than grilling them.
The filling is rich but delicious. I had extra filling and my guests proceeded to sit there with a spoon and down it in just a few minutes. The stuffed gourds were beautiful. It was truly an exotic looking appetizer. Hard to eat though because the filling would come out if you weren’t careful. The bitterness level of the different gourds varied dramatically. I’m not sure if it was because some were cooked better than others, or if it just depended on how ripe they were to begin with. Some were inedible. One bite was seriously painful. Others were very bitter, but edible. I ate a few bits and my guests were polite enough to taste them, but most of it got thrown out unfortunately.
However, I love the filling and the presentation so much that I do want to try making these again, if I can figure out how to make them less bitter. I think I’m going to try blanching them next time, and using more filling per piece. My guests thought if I blanched them they might be too soft to stuff and cut into pieces, and that I might be better off cutting them in half and stuffing them like zucchini boats. I’ll consider it.
Rating: D
Pasta with Beets, Soybeans, and Lemon
I found this recipe online when I was looking for something to do with edamame and beets. The author said it had “Odd combination but great flavor.”
- 1 package of fresh pasta, ideally, but one package of regular if you don’t have access to fresh. I use spinach flavor.
- 3 beets, red prefered
- 1 onion
- garlic, as many cloves as you like
- 2 lemons, use both the liquid and thin peel of one half lemon
- 1 cup grated parmigano cheese from the deli section, Kraft won’t do here.
- 1/4 of lite whipping cream or nonfat milk, depending on how creamy you want the end result to be.
- 1T red chili flakes, I like there to be heat
- 1T black pepper
- 1t olive oil plus 1T
- 1.5 cups frozen soybeans
- basil for garnish
- Clean the beets and chop of top and end, where it begins to get thin. Don’t worry about peeling yet. In a foil bag (just take a large piece of foil and make into an envelope of sorts) put beets, as many garlic cloves as using (still in skins), 1t of olive oil and squirt of lemon. Place in oven for roughly an hour.
- When getting near the end of the hour put water on to boil. In a saute pan use remainder of oil (1T) and sautee up chopped onion till it begins to brown slightly. Add in chili pepper flakes and black pepper. Add grated lemon peel. Take cooled beets and pop out of skins and cut up into bite size pieces. Toss into sautee pan along with soybeans and lemon juice. Mush the baked garlic into the sauce.
- Cook pasta according to directions.
- Mix in 1/4 of lite whipping cream. The sauce will turn pink. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.
- When pasta is done, drain and toss into the sauce, adding lemon juice as needed, along with cheese and basil. I will sometimes also add in other veggies (asparagus is good!) and a little more cheese on top with some pepper.
My notes:
I didn’t follow the recipe to the T, but I used the basic ideas. The sauce (using 2% milk) was very lemon-y and tasty before I added the beets and edamame and pasta. I’m definitely going to try making a lemon sauce like this in the future. But then once I added all the ingredients I found it a little boring, like it needed more fat and salt! I guess I should have used the cream! I couldn’t really taste the edamame, but the texture was interesting. I thought adding beets to pasta was an interesting idea, and I’ll definitely be trying it again. It added a very subtle sweetness to the whole dish. One warning: I only used half the red chile flakes and it was still very spicy.
Update: this was pretty tasty cold. Spicy, a little sweet, a teeny bit lemon-y. I didn’t want to stop eating it. Needs some work but perhaps it should be served cold instead of warm.
Rating: B-
Perfect Polenta
I was having a new group of friends over for dinner and wanted to make at least one dish I was positive that even the pickiest eater would enjoy. Thus, out came the polenta.
1 cup coarse polenta
4 cups water
1 tsp. salt
ground fennel seeds (optional)
paprika (optional)
cayenne (optional)
parmesan (optional)
I’ve been quite confused lately about the difference between cornmeal, grits, hominy grits, and polenta, but what I can tell you is this: the polenta I buy at the co-op is bright yellow and a very coarse grind. I store it in the refridgerator because I noticed that it starts to smell rancid very quickly if I leave it in the pantry.
In every polenta recipe there is always a discussion of lumpy polenta, but I don’t understand the obsession. Just add your polenta to cold water and voila!– no lumps. Another key ingredient is salt. Undersalted polenta is boring and tasteless, but use a sufficient amount of salt and your polenta will be addictive. I’ve been using 1 cup of polenta, 4 cups of water, and 1 tsp. of salt to make hard polenta. This sounds like a lot of salt, but you have to remember that this recipe makes about 5 cups of polenta (check this amount), so it’s not quite as crazy as it looks. It’s very tasty, but quite salty, so I might try with 3/4 tsp. salt and see what I think. Another common addition is olive oil, but I couldn’t detect any difference when I added it to the mix, so might as well leave it out at this step.
Stirring–another matter of debate. They say if you want a quick recipe than you can just keep the heat up and stir constantly, but I’ve found that with a coarse-ground polenta this is a lot of work and that no matter how much you stir the texture always comes out a bit gritty. A better strategy is to stir only while you bring the water to a boil initially. You should keep the heat quite high, and keep stirring, until the water and polenta congeal into one solid mass. Then immediately turn the heat as low as it will go (I use 1/2 of my warm setting on my electric stove), cover, and don’t touch it for an hour. Most cookbooks say to stir every 10 minutes or so, but I haven’t found that it makes any difference. It sticks in either case, so I might as well just not touch it. So I lose a bit of polenta at the bottom of the pan, no big loss. Just soak the pan for a few hours and the stuck bits will peel right off. Many recipes say to cook it for 40-45 minutes, and it will definitely be cooked by then, but I’ve found that with a coarse ground polenta 60 minutes is even better.
When it’s done it will be soft and porridge-y, a total comfort food. This is the point when high fat ingredients like cheese, butter, and cream are typically added. I’ve found that all that is needed for marvelous flavor is a little grated parmigiano-reggiano. It doesn’t take much to infuse the whole dish with great flavor, maybe 1 ounce of cheese, grated? Put that cheese in and stir to mix, because the soft texture won’t last for long. The polenta is delicious at this stage. Top with some sort of sauce or vegetable saute for a marvelous, comfort-food dinner. However, as soon as it starts to cool it will firm up, so pour whatever you’re not going to eat immediately into a 9×13 pyrex pan or onto a cookie sheet to cool. Sometimes I pour it into a 9×9 square pyrex pan, then when I cut it into squares I cut the pieces in half midway through to halve their height and ensure that the final pieces are nice and crispy. If you only want soft polenta you can start out with more water, I’ve heard 8 cups water to 1 cup polenta is a good ratio, but I’ve never tried it myself because the 5 to 1 ratio gives you the best of both worlds. Soft polenta right when it’s done and hard crispy polenta at another meal.
Once it’s firm you can cut it into square or triangles, place them on a lightly oiled cookie sheet of the polenta with olive oil as well. Cook at 425 degrees until crisp, or under the broiler if you really watch it. Flip to crisp the other side, then serve. They’re great hot right out of the oven, but also marvelous once they cool as well.
I still need to figure out exactly how much oil is needed (if any), and how long it takes to broil.
I made this recipe for a party lately, and everyone really liked it. It was the first thing to get eaten. I followed the seasoning suggestions of my friend Amy and added ground fennel, paprika, and cayenne to the polenta as well. This really “kicked it up a notch”… but in a good way.
Nutritional Info for Polenta from Bob’s Red Mill. According to this site one cup of coarse-ground polenta has 520 calories. An ounce of parmesan has about 129 I think, and if you use one tablespoon of olive oil to bake the polenta, that’s 119 calories. All together that’s 768 calories. That’s under 100 calories a person for 8 servings and under 200 calories a person for 4 servings (each of which is extremely large). Pretty low calorie for an amazing, perfect polenta.
What happens if you want to serve soft polenta, but not as the first course at a dinner party? Can you just leave it on the barest heat until you’re ready to serve? I’ll have to test this. An alternative (baking the polenta) is discussed by the author of the Vegetarian Epicure. I saw another tip that it’s best to use a mixture of cornmeals to get the best texture, say 75% coarse and 25% fine. I’ll have to try this and see if it’s any different.
Update Dec 2006: I tried a recipe for polenta in one of my cookbooks that called for 1 cup of polenta, 5 cups of water, and 1 cup of pumpkin puree. I used frozen butternut squash puree. I tasted the polenta when it was done and it tasted pretty normal, maybe just a tad sweeter than usual. When I baked it in the oven I couldn’t tell it had pumpkin puree in it at all–it crisped up the same as always, and tasted identically. I’ll have to keep this in mind next time I have extra pumpkin or squash puree around, or if I just want my polenta to have more beta carotene. I might even try more than 1 cup next time since it was barely detectable. The same recipe also called for topping the polenta with a few spoonfuls of black bean salsa. I made the salsa according to their directions, and it was nice, but I didn’t like it on the polenta–it just overpowered it, so I couldn’t taste the polenta at all, just the black beans. The minced jalepeno, on the other hand, went wonderfully with the polenta. I think I should one jalepeno in next time I make it, like people do with cornbread.
Update 9/2007: I used Bob’s Red Mill Corn Grits. In a 3 quart pot I combined 1.5 cups of grits and 6 cups of water. with 1.5 tsp fine salt, 1 tsp. ground fennel, 1 tsp paprika, and 1/8 tsp. cayenne. Brought to a boil until water combined with corn, then reduced to very low, covered, and cooked for 1 hour. The amount of fennel flavor was good, as was the cayenne. It was definitely salty but not too much for me. It had just a little kick from the cayenne, which wasn’t noticeable at first but after you finished a bit warmed your mouth nicely. If you’re feeding someone who doesn’t like any spice at all it might be too much. I didn’t like the texture of the soft polenta at all–way too thick (you could stand a spoon up in it) and fluffy, with big noticeable corn bits rather than a perfectly smooth, almost pourable consistency.
Rating: B
The Search for the Perfect Matzoh Ball
Matzoh balls are a simple combination of matzoh meal, eggs, and fat, and yet small differences in proportions and technique make the difference between golf ball “sinkers”, or huge, fluffy, and airy “floaters.” There are lots of theories out there about how to achieve each type, but I suspect many of them are urban myths. One suggestions I’ve read recently: to get denser matzoh balls make sure to let the dough sit in the fridge for a while, as it gives a chance for the liquid to hydrate the matzoh meal, which somehow leads to denser, firmer balls. I’d love it if cook’s illustrated would weigh in on this topic, but I doubt they ever will as matzoh balls are not all-American enough for them. Perhaps someone else has done a scientific study of the matzoh ball? Anyone know? I have some notes below from a recipe taste test Epicurious did, but I think their results are bogus.
Here is a very standard recipe, posted on about.com. In my hands, it makes firm but not rock hard matzoh balls.
Ingredients:
* 4 eggs, lightly beaten
* 1 cup matzo meal
* 1 – 1.5 tsp. salt (I like 1.25 tsp. but it depends on your salt tolerance)
* 4 tablespoons olive oil
* 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley, or 2 teaspoons chopped dried parsley
* 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated or ground nutmeg
* 2 quarts vegetable broth for serving
Preparation:
In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, matzo meal, oil, parsley and nutmeg, and stir until well-combined. Cover the bowl and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes for lighter matzo balls (“floaters”), or for two to twenty-four hours for the denser “sinker” variety. If you like sinker-floater hybrids, with a firm, toothsome interior but a fluffy exterior, chill the mixture for about an hour.
Bring a large stockpot of vegetable broth to a boil. In the meantime, form the matzo balls: Using clean hands, lightly roll small lumps of the chilled mixture between your palms to make balls about the size of walnuts. The more you compress the mixture, the denser your matzo balls will be. Handle gently for floaters. Pack firmly for sinkers.
As you work, drop the matzo balls into the boiling water, taking care not to crowd the pot. The matzo balls will initially sink to the bottom, but will rise and float as they cook.
Once you’ve added the matzo balls to the pot, return to a boil, then lower the heat, cover the pot, and simmer the matzo balls for 25 to 30 minutes, until the matzo balls have cooked through, lightened in color, and expanded to about twice their original size. You can gently simmer the soup for up to a few hours, until ready to serve.
Makes 24 – 28 matzo balls. Allow 2 – 4 matzo balls per person to serve 6 – 14. Feel free to double or triple the recipe as needed.
Original post:
In honor of Passover next week, Epicurious.com has done a matzoh ball “cook-off”, comparing four different recipes. The entire results are online, but the tips I found most notable are:
- don’t add water or seltzer as it makes them greasy by preventing the fat from combining properly with the matzoh meal
- for more flavor without chicken fat add grated onion and cook the balls in vegetable broth
- two ways of getting a good fluffy texture are to beat the egg whites but then roll the balls to make them compact -or- use fewer eggs but add baking powder and handle very gently
- adding enough salt is key. Almost 1 tsp. is needed for a typical recipe.
I tried Sara Kagan’s recipe and I wasn’t that impressed. I did add slightly more onion and slightly more matzoh meal (but just barely), and they didn’t hold together very well, and weren’t “toothsome” at all. Obviously more work is needed. I’d rate it a B-.
BTW, I was trying to use up some cabbage today so shredded it and put it in my soup while it was warming up. I also threw in one scallion, sliced. So good! I’ll have to remember that in addition to carrots, parsnips, and peas in matzoh ball soup, cabbage and scallions go great. And they make it more “substantial” too.
I found a recipe on Recipezaar for Kosher, perfect matzo balls that gives instructions for either firm or fluffy matzoh balls.
- 1 cup matzo meal
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 tablespoons oil
- 2 teaspoons baking powder (only for fluffy matzoh balls)
- 4 tablespoons water or broth (only for firm matzoh balls)
- Optional Ingredients — all some or none
- 1 teaspoon onion powder (optional)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder (optional)
- 1 tablespoon dried parsley (optional)
- 1 teaspoon dill weed (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper (optional)
- Measure and mix dry ingredients into a bowl.
- Individually break the eggs into a clear glass, discarding any with blood spots, and then pour into a second bowl. Add oil (and water or broth for firm matzo balls) to the eggs and stir gently with a fork until the yolks are broken and the oil just mixed.
- Pour egg mixture into the dry mixture and gently mix with the fork. DO NOT OVER MIX. Treat it like a muffin mixture; if you over mix they will be tough.
- Place in the fridge for 1 hour.
- Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil on the stove.
- After matzo ball mix has set, gently remove teaspoon fulls of the batter and roll into 1-2″ balls and drop into the water.
- When all the balls are in the water leave it to boil until all the balls float to the top, then lower the temperature to a rolling simmer for 40 minutes and your matzo balls will be ready. DO NOT STIR AT ANY TIME.
- The matzo balls may be removed from the water with a slotted spoon and served in soup, with a stew, as a side dish with gravy or placed on a cookie sheet and frozen covered for a later use.
I followed the recipe except I used 1.25 cups matzo meal and so upped the salt a tad and added 1/4 tsp. nutmeg. Of the optional ingredients I used onion powder, parsley, and pepper. The recipe says it makes 18-24 balls but I only ended up with about 14, at about 100 calories each. My balls were about 1.25 inches in dimeter. I thought the texture was very good–firm, toothsome, but not rock hard. Notice that despite the “tips” above adding the water did not make the balls at all greasy. Derek said the flavor was bland–he didn’t taste the matzoh, he claimed. Not sure how to fix that? He thought maybe they were too salty, which was obscuring the matzoh flavor. Neither of us could taste the nutmeg. I cooked the balls in the soup which was perfectly fine. In the last ten minutes I threw in the root vegetables, and the cabbage and peas in the last five minutes.
In my soup this time I put carrots, parsnips, peas, cabbage, scallions, and fresh parsley. I thought the vegetable combination was quite nice.
Rating: B
Update August 2007: I attempted to make the vegan matzoh balls from Vegan with a Vengeance. It was an unqualified disaster. I followed the recipe to the T as far as I know, except for leaving out the grated carrot. I made the dough and let it sit in the refrigerator over night. The dough felt pretty firm and solid as I was forming the balls. I brought the broth to a boil and turned it to a rolling simmer and added the matzoh balls, then covered the pot and (as instructed) did not open the pot for 40 minutes. When the 40 minutes were finally up I lifted the lid only to find–toxic matzoh ball sludge! That’s right, the matzoh balls had completely disintegrated and left me with a thick matzoh ball sludge. I tasted it and the flavor was excellent–if only the balls had stayed balls I think they would have been delicious. I’m afraid to try again, however, and waste all that food for a second time. The reviews on the ppk website seem universally positive. How could I be the only one who screwed it up? I looked around online and many of the other vegan matzoh ball recipes I found suggested baking the balls since otherwise they tend to fall apart. An idea for next time. I also came across this gluten-free matzoh ball recipe with potato starch and ground almonds that looks intriguing.
Update March 2009: I made the lemongrass consomme with matzoh balls, leeks, and shiitake mushrooms from Epicurious. I followed all the instructions carefully, except I used water instead of chicken broth for the consomme, and I cooked the matzoh balls, leeks, and shiitake mushrooms in the consomme (adding the vegetables in the last 10 minutes of cooking). The first taste I took of the broth was disgustingly salty–I had to add a few cups of water to thin it out and reduce the saltiness, which also ending up weakining the lemongrass/lime flavors as well. The broth still had a bit of an Asian flair, but it was subtle. I didn’t care for either the leeks or the shiitake mushrooms in the soup. The leeks had the texture of worms, and didn’t look much better. The shiitake mushrooms had a nice silky texture, and look pretty, but had almost no flavor. The matzoh balls came out well. I followed the recipe except that I used only 1.5 tsp. salt and I added a bit more matzoh meal because the batter looked a tad thin to me, and I wanted slightly firm matzoh balls:
- 4 tablespoons canola oil
- 4 large eggs
- more than 1 cup matzoh meal (maybe 1.25 cups?)
- 1.5 tsp. coarse sea salt
The matzoh balls were somewhat fluffy, but not light-as-air. Derek said he would like them firmer, but they were a reasonable compromise. He thought it was a good good all-purpose matzoh ball recipe that wouldn’t offend anyone too much, and he could taste the matzoh meal quite well he claimed. I thought that the salt level was fine, despite my reduction, but the matzoh balls needed some herb or spice to liven them up a bit.
Refridgerating carrots: a seditious act?
I get carrots in my CSA box that were just pulled out of the ground, and I usually nibble on them on the way home. They are wonderfully sweet and just oh so good. When I get home I refrigerate them. However, if I try them the next day they tast so different! Much more bitter. Like a different vegetable, almost. Has anyone else experienced this? I know you’re not supposed to refrigerate tomatoes, but I’ve never heard that it does anything to carrots? Is it in my head? Next time someone gets carrots at a farmer’s market that were just picked do a test and tell me if I’m hallucinating.
Or maybe it’s not the act of refridgerating them, but just what happens over time after they are picked. If I had a root cellar I could do a real taste test to compare the results, but without it I think any carrots I leave out overnight will be dried out and floppy.
A friend also suggested that it could be the carrots are just better at room temperature. I don’t think that is it but it is easy to test.
Basic Kamut: An Ancient Wheat (B-)
My journey to conquer all the known grains is one step closer to completion. Kamut is an ancient form of wheat. The story of how it was discovered was quite interesting, as is the fact that many people with a wheat allergy can eat kamut (but not those with gluten sensitivities).
I followed the directions in Rebecca Wood’s Splendid Grain cookbook and toasted it first, but as usual, I flaked out and ended up burning some of it. Ah, when will I learn. After toasting I did a “quick soak” by bringing it to a boil and letting it sit for an hour. Many of the grains popped open at this point, so I’m not sure if the soak was necessary. Then I cooked it until soft by boiling then covering and simmering just like rice. The cooked kamut had great flavor–I thought it tasted like a cross between peanuts, corn, and brown rice, but maybe the peanut association was because I burnt it slightly.
1 cup kamut berries
1.5 cups water or unsalted stock
salt to taste
Toaste the kamut in a saucepan or wok over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, for about 4 minutes, or until you hear many grains popping and the kamut is aromatic and turns a shade darker. Rinse and rain well. Put the kamut in a medium saucepan, add the water, and let soak for at least 1 hour or overnight. Bring the kamut, soaking water, and salt to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the liquid is absorbed and the grains are tender but still a bit chewy. Remove from the heat and let steam, covered, for ten minutes. Serve hot with gomasio as a side dish.
Put any leftover kamut in a glass bowl, loosely cover with a cotton cloth, and leave out at room temperature for up to 24 hours. Within 4 hours of cooking, the kamut may be used in salad; thereafter, use in a stir-fry or stuffing.
I made one dish with kamut and tofu in a leek and mushroom sauce that was very tasty, and also used it with coconut and other spices to stuff bitter gourd. More about that adventure soon.
Rating: B-
Whole Teff porridge (C)
I have a goal to try all the known grains, or at least all that I can get my hands on.
Teff is a teeny tiny chocolate brown grain that is most well-known for being the traditional grain that is used to make injera, the spongy fermented bread that is served at every Ethiopian restaurant.
Rebecca Wood in her cookbpok The Splendid Grain says she’s found no precedent for eating teff as a whole grain rather than ground to a flour, but that she serves it occasionally at very “adult” dinners. I tried her recipe for “steamed” teff which is really boiled teff, then you let it sit and “steam” afterwards.
1 cup whole tef
1 cup boiling water or stock
pinch of sea salt
gomasio for a garnish
Toast the tef in a hot skillet, stirring quickly, for 2 minutes, or until the sounds of popping grains is at its height. Pour the tef into a saucepan with boiling liquid, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook, covered, for 7 minutes, or until the liquid is absorbed. Remove from the heat and let stand for 5 minutes. Serve with gomasio.
This is supposed to serve 2, but I thought it made 4 servings.
I’m not positive I followed the recipe correctly, because it turned out awful. The texture was like wet sand. So I looked on the web and they generally recommended adding much more water (3 to 1) and cooking it much longer (at least 20 minutes). With more water and another 20 minutes the teff turned into one large porridgey mass, which reminded me a lot of amaranth. The texture was similar since they both have all those tiny seeds, but the teff wasn’t quite as gooey, and the flavor was different. I thought the flavor was actually more mild than amaranth, and not unpleasant, but not exciting either.
I tried adding some cocoa powder and sweetener to the hot cereal. Blech. It was better plain with a little soymilk.
This morning I had it cold with soymilk and some Ezekiel-brand “grapenuts”. It was pretty nice. It seemed healthier than eating just grapenuts, but the addition of grapenuts gave it some much needed crunch. The textural contrast was quite enjoyable.
I’m definitely going to buy teff again and keep experimenting, but nothing I’ve tried so far has really excited me.
Nutritional Info for Teff
Teff Whole Grain (uncooked)
Serving Size 1/4 cup (45g)
Calories 160.00
Calories from Fat 5.00
Total Fat 1.00g
Saturated Fat 0.00g
Cholesterol 0.00mg
Sodium 10.00mg
Total Carbohydrate 33.00g
Dietary Fiber 6.00g
Sugars 0.00g
Protein 6.00g
Vitamin A 0%
Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 5%
Iron 13%
The vitamins and minerals are based on 1/2 cup Teff flour, which was a guess. The only grains I know of that have more iron are quinoa (3.6g for 160 calories), amaranth (3.3g for 160 calories), and wheat germ (2.8g for 160 calories). The web claims that Teff is a good source of niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, zinc, magnesium, copper, manganese, boron, phosphorous and potassium. Another cool thing about teff is that it is too small to remove the bran or germ, so when you’r eating teff you know you’re always eating a whole grain.
I’d like to try cooking with teff flour, and also using the teff like poppyseeds in baking.
Rating: C
Sweet potato and parsnip oven fries (B)
I cut two parnips and a (peeled) sweet potato as thinly as I could, placed on a cookie sheet and tossed with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper, then baked at 400 degrees. The small parsnips started to get crispy way before the large rounds of sweet potatoes (especially since the sweet potato had way more water than the parsnips). I kept pulling the crispy pieces off and putting the sheet back in the oven. And the smaller sweet potato slices went from crisp to totally black burnt quite quickly, so I lost a few that way. The fries were quite tasty, especially the very crisp parsnips (I’m not sure I’ve ever “fried” them before). However, clearly if I make this again I need to get my sizes more even, with the parsnip pieces larger than the sweet potatoes. Maybe I’ll even try again today for lunch!
Okay, I tried it today with the sizes a bit more even, but still there was enough variation for some sweet potatoes slices to turn black while others were totally soft. My guess is using more oil would help things cook more evenly?
A third try rather than cutting the veggies into round slices I diced them pretty fine, so they’re much more even. I started them off in my cast iron pan on the stovetop with a bit of canola oil spray, then when i had them all cut up added a little salt and pepper, and put them in the oven at 400 degrees. They got a bit dried out but definitely not burnt. The combination is really quite nice. The parsnip cuts the sweetness of the sweet potatoes quite a bit, but both flavors come through quite well.
Rating: B
Derek: B+
