Archive for February, 2007
Brussels sprouts are one of my absolute favorite vegetables, but it was only recently that I developed such an affection for them. I know there is a significant number of people who dislike them because they’ve only had them over-cooked, which is a big sprout no-no. Overcooking any vegetable can make for an unpalatable meal, but sprouts, being cabbages, can reach a special level of grossness if cooked too long.
Cabbage contains sulfur compunds that become increasingly pungent the longer it is cooked. If you’ve ever been in a kitchen with over-steamed brussels sprouts, you know what I’m talking about. Not only can you smell it, but you can taste it too; it becomes bitter and generally unappetizing. Well, to me anyway.
The good news is that as long as you understand why this is happening, it’s easy to avoid. If you give your sprouts just a little extra attention (and a little less time in the pot), you’ll be rewarded with a nutty, almost sweet, tender-crisp miniature cabbage of love. But I’m biased, if you can’t tell.
However, no matter how expertly cooked they are, you need to start with quality sprouts to have satisfying meal.
Exhibit A: Three Sprouts of Varying Quality
The sprout on the left is what we’re shooting for, but let’s start with the middle one. Its leaves are loose, it feels light and airy. Even squishy. Squishy is bad. If you picked it up, you’d feel the loose leaves - it’s almost spongy. The sprout on the right has a similar problem, but it’s mostly due to its elongated shape. Trimming the end of this sprout causes it to fall apart completely, which is not what we want.
What we do want is the sprout on the left, round and heavy for its size. If you pinch it there is no give, since all its leaves are densely packed. Despite one or two around the base, all the leaves are held tightly together. Like, water tight. This is exactly what you want. Spend an extra minute picking out your sprouts so all of them look and feel like this. They should also be of similar size so they cook in the same amount of time. If you can’t find sprouts that meet these standards, it’s time to consider a different vegetable for dinner.
Trimming the sprout
With a sharp knife, trim off a small amount of the end of the sprout. Peel off the outer leaves (they might just fall off after trimming) until you see a slightly lighter green, clean, shiny surface emerge. Some sprouts will require you to peel off more leaves than others, but when in doubt, less is more.
Depending on what you’re doing with them, this might be as much prep as they need. In this state they can be steamed or roasted whole with great results. Some people use a sharp paring knife to cut a shallow X in the bottom of each one so they cook more evenly.
You can also halve them: (my favorite recipe)
Or hash them: (recipe)
So go! Hurry! The sprout season is ending! You don’t want to have to wait until next October to try these, do you?
February 15th, 2007
We don’t really celebrate Valentine’s day, but I hardly need an excuse to have little fun with dinner. I made this dinner around a Beet Challenge recipe submitted by Sew Wabi-Sabi. When she emailed it to me she said, “Since diced red beets bleed like crazy, they dye the rice a striking hot pink. (Perfect for Valentine’s Day!)” She was so right, but I think I like hot pink rice no matter what day it is.
I used jasmine rice instead of her called-for brown rice because I really wanted the color to pop. I’m sure it’d look smashing with brown rice, too. The best recipes are usually simple ones, like hers, but when they’re simple you really shouldn’t mess with them until you’ve tried it. I messed with it, because I was silly and forgot to pick up raspberry vinegar. I had already gone out in the sleet storm to get beets (and got a flat tire while I was at it) so I really didn’t want to go back for the vinegar. I ended up subbing rice vinegar with a mashed up (and strained) strawberry in it. It was good, but still, they were beets. Cute heart shaped beets, but beets nonetheless. Though, looking at that color, I’ve never loved beets more!
I couldn’t limit myself to just one heart shaped vegetable. I had some collards in the fridge that were begging to be used, so I tossed them together with these cute little carrots I cut out while the beets were roasting, slivered almonds, and some lemon juice. Again, simple but oh-so tasty. My usual dark leafy green of choice is kale, but these collards gave my kale a run for their money. And plus, more little hearts! These would be really cute in a salad if you have the patience for them.
Finally, the real star of the dinner, my one true vegetable love: brussels sprouts. I’ve talked about these before, more than once. I’ve even given a vague recipe for them before, but I paid attention this time so I could write it out all proper-like. You need to try these. If you love sprouts already, great, but if you don’t, consider trying them one more time. Hey, I’m eating beets! You can try a sprout. Tomorrow I’ll do a write up on selecting and prepping the cute little cabbages, so you have no excuse!
All three recipes below!
Superfantastic Brussels Sprouts
2-4 Side Servings
1 1/2 lbs (ish) Brussels Sprouts, trimmed and halved
3 Tbs Oil
1 Cup Apple Cider or Juice
4 Tbs Earth Balance
1 tsp Dijon Mustard
1/4 to 1/2 tsp Salt
1 Tbs Flour
Trim the ends off the sprouts, remove loose and blemished leaves and halve. Heat oil in a very large saute pan, allowing the pan to get really, really hot, but not smoking. Place brussels sprouts in, cut side down, and let cook for 1-2 minutes, until seared with some color but not cooked through. Turn down heat to medium low, add apple cider and cover. Cook for 4 minutes, or until just tender - a knife inserted into the stem should go in with a little resistance, and sprouts should be bright green. Remove sprouts from pan into a large bowl with a slotted spoon, leaving liquid behind. A couple of stray leaves are fine.
Turn down heat a bit more and add in earth balance, mustard and salt. When earth balance is melted, sprinkle in the flour and whisk until smooth. Turn up heat and keep whisking until thickened, another couple seconds. Pour over sprouts, toss, and serve immediately.
Baked Beets and Brown Rice Salad Recipe from Sew Wabi-Sabi
1 pound red beets (3 medium)
2 1/2 Cups Cooked Short Grain Brown Rice
2 Tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tbs Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice
1 tsp Raspberry Vinegar, more if needed
1/4 tsp Salt, plus more if needed
2 Tbs Thinly Sliced Scallion Greens (optional)
2 Tbs Pine Nuts, for garnish
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Trim off any beet greens, leaving about a half-inch of stem intact. Rinse the beets. Wrap each beet individually in a tightly sealed aluminum foil packet. Set the beets on a foil-lined baking pan and bake until you can easily pierce them to the center with a paring knife, approx 60-90 minutes. (You can pierce the beets right through the foil.)
When they are cool enough to handle, gently rub the foil of each still-sealed packet against the beet. Slip off the beet skins along with the foil. Trim off the tail and stems ends. Cut the beets into 1/4-inch dice and set them in a bowl or storage container. Add the rice and toss until the rice is “dyed” beet red.
In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, lemon juice, vinegar, and salt. Toss the dressing with the beets. Adjust the seasonings, adding more vinegar and or salt, if needed, to intensify the flavors. Let the salad sit until the grains absorb some flavor, about 15 minutes. Stir in the scallion greens (if using) just before serving. Garnish with pine nuts. Serve at room temperature.
Sauted Colard Greens with Almonds and Carrots
1 Bunch Collard Greens, washed and de-veined
1 Tbs Oil
1/4 Cup Sliced Almonds
1/4 Cup Sliced Carrots
1 Tbs Lemon Juice
1/4 tsp Salt
Black Pepper to taste
Saute carrots and almnds in olive oil over medium heat for 1-2 minutes. Add greens, lemon juice, and salt. Stir well and cover for another few minutes, until greens are tender, stirring often. Serve Immediately with cracked pepper on top.
February 15th, 2007
A quick update before the “real” post tonight: I just wanted to let you know that I finally finished up adding posts to those categories over on the right. If you’ve looked through them before, you should check again. I’ve only been doing VeganYumYum in earnest since December, and there are already 48 posts with recipes!
I’ve been reorganizing ever since I moved over to veganyumyum.com, and my husband worked very hard to make sure the tranisiton was smooth; in fact, I think he did such a good job that it went mostly unnoticed! I am still in the process of cleaning house. Hope this makes it easier for you, my valentines, to enjoy YumYumminess!
February 14th, 2007
I’m sure cooked cabbage has its merits, but this is how I like it best, raw and shredded. We don’t buy cabbage often, so when Stewart came home from the store with a small head of the purple variety, I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. I’m happy with this salad since it’s pretty, easy and tasty, my favorite combination of adjectives when it comes to food.
The dressing is quite peppy - you really only need just enough to coat everything, which is nice because it won’t cover up the beautiful colors of this salad. If you have a food processor with a shredding and slicing disc, this really couldn’t be easier to make. Without it it’s pretty east too, so don’t worry. A sharp knife and hand held grater will suffice.
Purple Cabbage Salad with Currants, Carrots, and Almonds
Makes 4-6 Servings
1 Small Head Purple Cabbage, about the size of a softball
4 Carrots, shredded
Sliced or Slivered Almonds
Dried Currants* or Raisins
Dressing (Makes enough for two large-ish servings)
1 Tbs Balsamic Vinegar
2 Tbs Seasoned Rice Vinegar
1 Tbs Water
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Maple Syrup
2 Tbs Canola Oil
Trim off a small amount of the bottom of the cabbage, where the stem was. Quarter the cabbage, and cut out the thick white cores on each piece. Process through the slicing disc of your food processor, or slice thinly to make strips. Shred carrots by hand or via processor. Toss cabbage and carrots together in a large bowl. This makes a lot, I put half of it in a 1 gallon ziplock bag for the next day since there was only two of us eating it.
Add currants and almonds in whatever amounts please you. I did about 2 handfuls of almonds and 1 handful or so of currants after I cut the carrot/cabbage mixture down by half.
Whisk all the dressing ingredients together save for the oil. Slowly drizzle the oil in while whisking to emulsify. I’ve found that balsamic vinegars vary drastically in flavor. Some are tart and thin, some are sweet and thick, so adjust the dressing as needed to suit the vinegar you have.
*Dried currants in the U.S. are usually not currants. You’re most likely going to find something called “Zante Currants”, which is just a variety of small seedless grape made into raisins. The currants I bought at Whole Foods were indeed labeled “zante”, but sometimes you won’t find this distinction at all, leaving you to guess if you’re purchasing real, tart currants, or sweet miniature raisins. This recipe really calles for miniature raisins, so the regular-sized ones would be a good substitute. If you make this with real currants, let me know how it tastes (and where you found them!).
February 13th, 2007
The more I learn about cooking, the more I discover how everyone has the “right” way to do something, from cooking pasta (oil in the water? do you rinse it after draining?) to prepping eggplants (peel them? salt and drain them?). Some of the techniques are actually useful, and some are just kitchen voodoo that doesn’t improve anything, but doesn’t hurt either (e.g. cold water boils faster. In what universe is that true?!).
It doesn’t surprise me, then, that everyone has their own opinion on how to clean a mushroom. Do you wash them? Soak them? Brush them or pat them or blow on them? I was always told to never soak or rinse fresh mushrooms, since they’ll suck up the water like little sponges and you’ll be left with soggy fungus. Soggy fungus? That phrase was enough to prevent me from ever letting a drop of water to touch my mushrooms
With washing out of the question, I had a hard time deciding how to clean them. I’ve tried wiping them with cloths, rubbing them with damp paper towels, and I even once bought a mushroom brush to flick away the dirt. Brushing seems to be more effective than wiping, but it’s all a pain in the rear.
One day I was in my sister’s kitchen and she did something I had never seen before.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m peeling mushrooms.”
“You’re… what?”
“I’m peeling mushrooms. I always peel them.”
I had never heard of peeling mushrooms! She showed me how to do it, and not only was it easy, but it also removed ever bit of dirt-ridden flesh from each and every one. It’s still a little bit time consuming, but it really gets them clean Here’s how:
First you’ll need to remove the stem from your mushroom. This is my favorite part; it has the same appeal as popping bubble wrap. Simply press on one side of the stem with your thumb. You might need to press again on the opposite side to get a clean break.
This is a picture of a mushroom that’s already half-way peeled. On the right, you can see the part of the peel that hasn’t yet been removed. It almost looks like the hem of a skirt. Simply grasp the edge of the skirt and pull to peel your mushroom, it will come off in strips.
Here’s what it looks like from the top. The strip that comes off is very thin, thinner than it looks like it is in this picture. This also works on larger mushrooms like portobellos.
So, is peeling mushrooms worth it? Probably not. Doing some research for this post, I stumbled upon more than one person insisting that it’s okay to wash mushrooms! Gasp! This page says:
According to the USDA Nutrient Database, mushrooms are already 92.5% water by weight, so even if they absorbed 1/3 of their weight more, they would still be less than 95% water. In his book “The Curious Cook: More Kitchen Science and Lore”, Harold McGee describes an experiment in which he soaked 252 grams of mushrooms for 5 minutes, blotted the moisture of the surface and re-weighed them. In total, they had soaked up only 6 grams of water. Their moisture content had increased by only 1/5 of 1%!
This probably depends on how dry the mushrooms were before they were soaked. I imagine a fresh mushroom has a higher water content than one that has been cut, packaged and shipped across the country to sit in a refrigerated case for a few days before you or I purchase it. Still, there is a certain amount of logic to this. After all, don’t mushrooms grow outside? In the rain? This site says that it’s not only okay to soak them, but some varieties actually taste better after a brief salt water bath before cooking.
My new mushroom mantra is this: it’s okay to wash them. Or peel them. Or brush them. Or simply wish them clean. They’re your mushrooms, and I’m sure dinner will come out just fine no matter what technique you choose. Personally, I think I’ll be peeling when I have the time (because it’s kind of fun), but a short dip in bowl of water is most definitely acceptable. Thank god.
February 12th, 2007
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