Archive for December, 2007
I’m starting to miss summer veggies. We’re in a food rut over here. Today my husband turned to me and said, “Judging from the blog, people would never guess that all we eat is pasta.”
Clearly something needed to be done.
When I’m feeling the food blues, I like to make fancy things. Scratch that–I like to make things that look fancy, but are actually pretty simple. When I think of an easy lunch, I usually don’t think risotto. All that stirring… it’s definitely only a once-in-a-while thing for me. But baked risotto! A little prep then 25 minutes in the oven and voila. It’s a little different in texture than standard risotto, which is creamier. This is closer to a pilaf than anything, but it’s still delicious. I’m going to try making it with more liquid next time to see if I can replicate the creaminess of stirred risotto.
But back to lunch. The risotto practically cooks itself, so with 25 minutes of downtime I could prep some veggies to accompany it. I wanted to make the end of December feel more like the middle of July. Canned artichokes, a red pepper, and an eggplant all volunteered. These are all veggies that are great cooked simply, roasted or grilled with wee bit of olive oil and salt. To jazz them up a touch, I made a very easy (and very tasty) balsamic reduction to drizzle over the plate before serving.
If you’ve never made a balsamic reduction before, you should really give it a shot. It only has one ingredient (I’ll give you three guesses, and the first two don’t count). It can be prepared ahead of time, and it goes with all sorts of foods (even fruit!). And it looks pretty. Drizzle some messily on your dinner plate and you go from a nice looking meal to a gourmet looking meal immediately. See?
Chefs love to drizzle stuff all over plates. I don’t blame them. If you can drizzle something tasty, go for it. Extra points for a bright or contrasting color. Just make sure your drizzle-stuff is sort of thick and syrupy so it sticks where you put it. If it’s too thin it will run all over.
Baked Risotto With Grilled Veggies and Balsamic Reduction
Serves two to three
Risotto
1 Garlic Clove, minced
1/2 Red Onion, finely chopped (or 3-4 shallots)
2 Tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Cup Arborio Rice
1/3 Cup Oil Packed Sundried Tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp Dried Italian Herbs, your choice
1/2 Cup Cooking Sherry
2 Cups Hot Vegetable Stock, or water and veg bullion cube
1/2 tsp Salt (if needed)
Veggies
1 Small Eggplant*
4 Water Packed Artichoke Hearts
1 Bell Pepper (or jared, roasted red pepper)
Reduction
Balsamic Vinegar (at least 1/2 cup)
*I only used 2 slices of eggplant per person, so you won’t need an entire eggplant to make this dish.
Preheat your oven to 450º F.
Begin by sauteing the garlic and onion in olive oil in an oven safe sauté pan that has high sides and a tight fitting lid. While the onion is cooking over medium heat, begin roasting the pepper if you are using a fresh one. Instructions can be found here.
Once the onion has softened and browned, add the rice and stir to coat with the oil. Sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add tomatoes and herbs. Add the cooking sherry and stir until absorbed by the rice. Add the stock/water, stir, cover and bake for 25-30 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat a cast-iron grill pan with some olive oil. When the pan is very hot, add slices of eggplant and drizzle with olive oil. Grill until tender, remove from the pan. Slice the artichoke hearts in quarters and grill for a few minutes, set aside when completed. Sprinkle both lightly with salt.
To make the reduction, heat balsamic vinegar in a sauce pan, reducing by half until the vinegar is syrupy. The more vinegar you use, the easier it is to make, but the longer it takes. If you only use a small amount of vinegar, you can overcook it easily; keep a close eye on it. While the vinegar is reducing, check for consistency by drizzling some on a plate. If it is thick and syrupy, and tastes sweet and tangy, you’re ready to go. Try not to burn or completely caramelize the vinegar.
One the risotto comes out of the oven, remove the cover and fluff it with a fork. BE CAREFUL. While I was plating the dish, I had forgotten that the pan had just come out of a 450º oven and tried to move it out of the way. I plated, photographed, and wrote about this dish one hand because of that. Ouch.
Plate the dish. I used a cooking ring to form the risotto, put the artichokes on top, and the eggplant and pepper next to the risotto. Drizzle with the reduction and serve.
Happy New Year!
December 31st, 2007
There ain’t no shame in a cheeseless pizza. But I didn’t know that until I started eating them.
I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, and it seemed every little strip mall (of which there were many) had it’s own independently-owned pizza place. They all made different styles of pizza, and they were all really freaking good. When we ordered pizza, we didn’t have to choose between huge pizza chain restaurants–none of them ever made pizza I really loved, anyway–we could pick a from several small owner-operated places. The pizza place nearest to my house was always everyone’s favorite. Lucky me! I’ve been trying to recreate their crust for a while now. Today was the closest I’ve ever come.
It’s rare that I post a recipe that isn’t either totally made up by me, or at least heavily adapted. This recipe, however, is straight from 101cookbooks.com, and I can’t thank Heidi Swanson enough for taking the time to adapt and post this wonderful dough recipe to her website. She got the recipe from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, a book that I’ve heard nothing but glowing reviews of. I’m about to buy a copy of it for myself. She’s whittled the many-page recipe down to the basics, and that’s what I’m sharing with you.
I’ve been searching for a crust: thin but not too thin, tender but not doughy or bready, crispy but not cracker-ish. Sometimes you needn’t look hard nor long to get the what you’re looking for. I typed in “best pizza dough” into google, and wham! The first result was Heidi’s page. I read it over, thinking that surely the first result wouldn’t be what I needed, but soon I was convinced that this was serious pizza dough. Even if it didn’t replicate what I was looking for, it’d still be damn good.
And it didn’t let me down.
While I’m going to re-post the recipe that Heidi posted on her blog, I have my own write-up, step-by-step photos, and tips below. But I do encourage you to take a look at what Heidi has to say as well, and if you’re really interested in all the details, pick yourself up a copy of The Bread Baker’s Apprentice.
There are a few things you need to know about this pizza dough: it needs to be prepared a day in advance, it makes enough for 6 pizza crusts, it preforms best on a pizza stone, and it’s not hard if you follow the directions carefully.
The dough does a slow rise/ferment overnight which gives it not only a lovely flavor, but an unbeatable texture. It’s a process you just can’t rush. The good news is that you end up making enough dough for six pizzas, and it can be frozen easily (directions below).
I’m going to urge you, just like Heidi does, to pick up a pizza stone. (If you’re really feeling fancy, get a pizza peel, too.) Pizza stones are great for all sorts of things. They cook frozen or fresh pizza perfectly, they’re great for flatbreads, and for re-heating food. Since they absorb and radiate heat, they also help even out hot and cold spots in your oven; just leave the sucker on the bottom of your oven all the time and everything will cook and bake more evenly. I picked up a wooden peel, too, because my local kitchen store was having a sale. I got the soapstone pizza stone and wooden peel for $25. Now I can not only make really good pizza, but feel really cool doing it at the same time. Surely that’s worth a one-time $25 investment!
Peter Reinhart’s Napoletana Pizza Dough
For six 6 oz Pizza Crusts
4 1/2 Cups (20.25 ounces) Unbleached High-Gluten, Bread, or All-Purpose Flour, chilled
1 3/4 (.44 ounce) tsp Salt
1 tsp (.11 ounce) Instant Yeast
1/4 Cup (2 ounces) Olive Oil (optional, I include it)
1 3/4 Cups (14 ounces) Water, ice cold (40°F)
Semolina Flour or Cornmeal, for dusting
In a large bowl, combine all the above ingredients. Mix well with your hands until all the flour is absorbed and a sticky, wet dough has formed. At this point, decide if you’re going to knead by hand or with a stand mixer. While I love kneading by hand, I used a stand mixer. This dough is very soft and sticky, and I don’t use my kitchenaid enough.
By Hand
Dip a metal spoon in cold water and beat the dough with it, re-cooling the spoon as you go. While beating the dough, spin the bowl in the opposite direction with your free hand. Reverse the spin every-so-often. “Knead” the dough in this fashion for 5-7 minutes, until a smooth but still very sticky mass has formed.
Stand Mixer - My preferred method
Using the dough hook, beat the dough for 5-7 minutes on a medium speed, or until a smooth, sticky mass has formed. While the dough is being kneaded, it should look like a tornado; it should clear the sides of the bowl, but still be attached to the bottom of it, forming a dough tornado up the dough hook. If the dough is still sticking to the sides of the bowl, add flour, little by little, until the sides release. If the dough isn’t sticking to the bottom of the bowl, add water, little by little, until it does.
Scrape the dough out onto a well-floured surface.
With a wet chef’s knife, cut the dough into 6 equal hunks. Each hunk should weigh 6 oz, if you’re anal like that. Generously dust the dough with flour.
Flour your hands well and gently shape each hunk into a sphere. If the dough is sticking to you or anything else, use more flour.
At this point, prepare any dough you want to freeze for later. In a small bowl, add a few tablespoons of olive oil. Roll the dough ball in the oil and place in a freezer bag - one ball per bag. Freeze immediately for up to three months. The day before you want to make pizza from the frozen dough, remove it from the freezer and into the refrigerator to defrost overnight.
The dough you’re going to use within in the next three days should be placed on parchment paper, covered in oil, and wrapped with plastic wrap. Let dough rest in the refrigerator overnight, or for up to three days.
Through the magic of the internet, time passes immediately
Two hours before making the pizza, remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it sit on the counter at room temperature. 45 minutes before making the pizza, pre-heat the oven with the pizza stone in the bottom (or on the lowest rack) to 450-500º F.
Press dough, still on the parchment paper, into a disc. Remove the plastic wrap and dust liberally with flour.
Gently press the dough out, enlarging it into 9″ - 12″ in diameter. My dough was really soft, so pressing sufficed. If your dough is firmer, you can try picking it up and spreading it over your knuckles, or just using a rolling pin.
Now for a fun trick. I’ve always had trouble getting soft, uncooked pizza dough onto a peel (or the back of a cookie sheet) and into the oven without destroying the pizza. Here’s how I’ve learned to do it successfully. Dust the top of the dough (which will soon be the bottom) with cornmeal.
Place the peel over the top of the dough.
Flip the dough over, so the bottom of the dough that was coated in cornmeal is now laying on the peel. Give the peel a little shake, the dough should slide freely! If it does, you’re in luck.
Top your pizza mosdestly - 3-4 toppings including sauce! We like to top our pizzas with tomato sauce, sundried tomatoes, pineapple chunks, and pine nuts.
Check to be sure your pizza still slides easily on your peel. If it does, gently slide the pizza off the peel onto the hot stone with small but firm jerks of your arm. Bake at 450º for 5-8 minutes, until crust is lightly browned around the edges.
Top with freshly chopped herbs and a drizzle of olive oil. Enjoy!
December 28th, 2007
I’m forever combining kale and tofu. I always seem to have both on hand, probably because I love both ingredients. Today, Christmas day, we wanted lunch but certainly couldn’t make a trip to our little (very closed) grocery store. Time to play with kale and tofu again.
I’ve been trying to perfect pan-fried tofu. It doesn’t sound like something that would be all that hard, and really, it’s not. It’s a simple concept. But like all simple things, small changes can make a huge difference in the final result. I like my tofu a little crispy on the outside, and chewy and flavorful on the inside. There are three things I’ve discovered to help me achieve this: a cast-iron pan, a decently long cooking period, and a rest period afterwards.
Have you ever noticed that your baked tofu firms up a bit when it cools? Just out of the pan or the oven, it can still be a little floppy, a little mushy, a little… bleh. Let it sit out on your cutting board for a few minutes and it’ll firm right up, giving a chewier texture. I’ll give more details in the actual recipe on how to get your pan-fried tofu to turn out like the picture shows.
These noodles are stir fried and only lightly flavored - I made a dipping sauce to go with this dish inspired by the one P.F. Changs makes when you sit down. I’s a mixture of soy sauce, vinegar, mustard, and chili sauce–well, at least that’s what my mixture is. I have no idea what P.F. Changs actually uses.
The marinade for the tofu is similar for the dipping sauce, but the resulting baked tofu is complimented by the sauce, instead of tasting like more of the same. I love pouring a bit of the dipping sauce over the noodles and tofu while I’m eating for a little extra zing.
Pan Fried Tofu, Kale, and Stir-Fried Noodles
Serves Two
1 Package Extra/Super Firm Tofu
1 Head Kale, deveined and torn
5 oz. Dried, Wide Rice Noodles (Mine come in 10 oz packages)
Sugar
Soy Sauce
Tofu Marinade
1/4 Cup Water
1/4 Cup Soy Sauce or Tamari
1 Tbs Thinly Sliced Ginger (or minced)
1 Tbs Maple Syrup
1 Tbs Oil
1 Tbs Seasoned Rice Vinegar
1 Garlic Clove, minced
1/2 tsp Mustard
1/4 tsp Sriracha or Hot Chili Sauce
Black Pepper, to taste
Dipping Sauce
1/4 Cup Soy Sauce or Tamari
1/4 Cup Water
1 Tbs Seasoned Rice Vinegar
1 tsp Mustard
1 tsp Sriracha
Begin by pressing the tofu. I wrap my tofu in a single paper towel, then in a bar towel, and place a cast iron pan on top for 15 or so minutes. The paper towel prevents bar towel fuzz from getting on the tofu, while the terry cloth bar towel sucks out a ton of water.
While the tofu is pressing, whisk together the marinade. I used a mandoline to cut the ginger into paper-thin slices: that way some cooks with the tofu and you get mild bits of ginger on the finished tofu. You can mince the ginger if you don’t have a mandoline available.
Cut the tofu into 8 equal sized rectangles and let it sit in the marinade for about 30 minutes, turning halfway through. Meanwhile, boil the rice noodles and cook for 6 minutes, until just tender. Rinse in cold water and drain as well as you can, set aside. I also cut my noodles with scissors to prevent them from being too long.
Whisk together the dipping sauce, and set aside.
Heat a large cast-iron pan over medium-high heat. Lightly oil the pan, just enough so the it’s shiny. Once the pan is very hot, add the tofu. If your pan is seasoned, you shouldn’t have any issues with the tofu sticking. Brown the tofu on one side, flip, and brown on the other side. I then spoon extra marinade over the tofu and flip every few minutes. In all, I cook the tofu for around 10 minutes, until it looks like the tofu will be burnt if I leave it on any longer. Remove tofu from the pan and let it rest while finishing the dish.
Heat a little more oil in your pan, add the kale. Once softened, add the noodles and toss. If they stick, that’s okay. Use a metal spatula to remove them; the crispy bits are tasty. Add more oil, enough to coat the noodles, if needed.
Flavor the noodles lightly with a sprinkle of soy sauce and a pinch of sugar. Plate the noodles and kale. Slice the now firmed (but still warm) tofu and place on top. Serve with dipping sauce.
Leftover tofu is wonderful in sandwiches. Happy holidays!
December 25th, 2007
I love versatile recipes. This simple chickpea mash can be made into an elegant hors d’oeuvre or eaten plain with a spoon in your pajamas. I must confess, the latter is usually how I eat this dish, but I didn’t think you wanted to see a picture of me in my pajamas on my couch eating mashed chickpeas. So you get to see the fancy version.
While it looks fancy, it’s dead easy. Mash the chickpeas with yummy stuff (recipe below), place a small amount on a cracker, add a slice of a fun veggie, something leafy, and voila! Party food!
I got these breathtaking radishes (I never thought I’d describe a radish as breathtaking. Ever.) from my CSA. They called them “storage radishes.” I don’t know about you, but something called “storage radishes” doesn’t exactly excite me. Imagine my surprise when I sliced one open and was greeted by a shocking pink center. Storage radishes? That’s really the best they could do? What about “Super Awesome Party Radishes” or “Ridiculously Fun Magic Radishes”?
When I sliced them I thought that they looked like watermelon, and sure enough, a google search for “watermelon radish” yielded photos that look very much like these. Watermelon radish is a much better name. In terms of taste, they’re mild and crispy, and a teeny bit sweet. Personally think that makes the perfect as a garnish, since they won’t overwhelm any other flavors in your dish.
There are a few different ways I eat this chickpea salad.
As Hors d’Oeuvres, shown. As a simple dip with crackers or veggies. On open faced-sandwiches. Or–my husband’s favorite–chickpea melts: spread the chickpea salad on slices of bread. Top with your favorite vegan cheese, and bake at 350º F for 10 minutes. Broil to finish, serve immediately.
I use a prepared vegan mayonnaise in this recipe. There are a few different brands out there, but for this I recommend Vegenaise. Nayonaise is a little thinner and has more tang, and while I like it on sandwiches, it’s not the best match for the chickpea salad. I hear Trader Joe’s has an accidently vegan mayo (I think they just bill it as Low Fat, but it happens to be vegan), but I haven’t tried it yet so I can’t recommended it.
Feel free to be creative with your toppings. Carrots, chives, sesame seeds, paprika.. whatever. Think about color, texture, and flavor. There are a million different (and easy) ways to make party food look fun without over-complicating things. But if you can find watermelon radishes, I highly recommend them. They look like regular white, round radishes, but the long root has a pink tinge. Here’s a photo of a whole watermelon radish.
Chickpea Salad
1 15oz can Chickpeas, rinsed well
3-4 Tbs Vegenaise (vegan mayo)
2 tsp Fresh Lemon Juice
1 tsp Mustard
1 Tbs Nutritional Yeast
1/2 tsp Paprika (sweet, hot, or smoked)
1/2 tsp Salt
Fresh Craked Black Pepper
Mash all the ingredients to form a chunky spread. Refrigerate or serve immediately.
December 17th, 2007
I’ve been thinking about flavor. More specifically, how to get the most flavor out of each ingredient used in a recipe. This is especially important when you want to make a meal and only have a few things on hand. If you can make each ingredient really count, it doesn’t matter if your only throwing a handful of them together.
(Can you tell I need to make a trip to the grocery store really, really badly?)
The recipe I’m going to use as an example of making your ingredients count is a simple minestrone. Before I made the soup I asked myself, “So what technically makes a minestrone?” The answer turned out to be “Almost whatever you want”–which makes it the perfect soup to make when you find your fridge a little more bare than you’d prefer. Minestrone started as the classic “garbage soup.” I prefer to call it these kinds of soups “clean out the fridge soups” myself. The idea is that you do not go grocery shopping to make minestrone. You use whatever you have on hand, be it extra vegetables, canned goods, frozen things, or leftovers.
So how did I get the most out of the ingredients I had?
Caramelized Onions
The extra time put into caramelized onions really pays off. The longer you cook them, the more complex their flavor becomes. I saute my onions for at least 10 minutes in olive oil, until they are a lovely reddish-brown and very soft. It is SO worth the extra few minutes of cooking before you proceed with your meal. Spend the 10 minutes prepping your other veggies to make the rest of the meal go smoothly and quickly.
Canned Tomatoes
Keep a stock of canned tomatoes, if you don’t already. If you buy stewed or fire roasted tomatoes, you already have a leg up. These tomatoes are already partially cooked and have a lot of flavor in a convenient package. Unless it’s mid-summer and I have gorgeous vine-ripened tomatoes, I always go for the canned stuff. It’s easy, cheap, consistent, and tasty. At the risk of sounding like Rachel Ray, it really does help you get “all day flavor” in just a few minutes.
Herbs and Spices
I rarely have fresh herbs available (they’re expensive and I’ve failed at growing my own), but when I do, I try to get the most out of them. Don’t add fresh herbs until the very end of cooking. The delicate flavors will be most enjoyable if you toss your freshly chopped herbs in at the end of whatever you’re making. The residual heat from the dish is enough to carry the flavors through. This applies to pepper, too. Try out fresh cracked pepper, from whole peppercorns, added at the end over your dish. You’ll be astounded at the difference in flavor compared to pre-ground pepper.
How many dishes do you make that start with a bit of oil heated in the pan? If you’re using dried herbs or other spices, try throwing them in at the very beginning, in the oil. Tossing dried herbs and spices into oil and sauteing for a minute or so (longer with whole spices) flavors the oil itself and brings a whole new dimension to your cooking. The majority of Indian dishes start this way, and for good reason.
Salt and Vinegar
I admit that I’m a bit of a salt whore. I love it. But it really is amazing stuff. It doesn’t just make things salty, it actually enhances other flavors. I can taste all the other flavors in my dish much better when it is sufficiently salty. Even pasta cooked in salted water tastes better to me.
I also use vinegar in conjunction with salt. I use the term vinegar loosely to mean nearly anything that’s sour. I keep balsamic vinegar, white wine vinegar, rice vinegar and apple cider vinegar on hand at all times, but lemon juice works great on it’s own in many occasions. Vinegar can be a lifesaver if you over-salt something by accident, but I like to use salt and vinegar together to really punch up a dish’s flavor. They’re a great team. If your dish needs a little “something” and you don’t know what that is, try salt and/or vinegar and see where that gets you. I think it’s easiest to balance the flavors if you add the salt before the vinegar.
Minestrone Soup
Serves 4
Olive Oil
1 Sweet Yellow Onion, diced
1-4 Clove(s) Garlic, minced
1 Can Stewed or Fire Roasted Tomatoes (15 oz), blended
1 Large Carrot, diced
6 Cups of Hot Water or Veg Stock
1 Tbs Tomato Paste
1 Bay Leaf
1/4-1/2 tsp Celery Salt
2/3 Cup Elbow Macaroni
2 Cups Kale, packed
Salt to Taste (I used 1 1/2 tsp)
1/2 Cup Frozen peas
2 Tbs Fresh Herbs (I used marjoram and rosemary, 1 Tbs total after chopping)
Lemon Zest
Black Pepper
Add a few tablespoons of olive oil in the bottom of a soup pot that has a lid. Heat oil and add onions. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. In the last minute of cooking, add the garlic.
Tip for mincing garlic: After removing the skin (smash it lightly with the flat side of your knife to do that), chop the garlic with a pinch of salt. The salt acts as a tenderizer and the friction of the granules break down the clove to help you achieve a fine mince.
Add the tomatos to the onions and garlic and simmer for another 4-5 minutes. Add the carrot and the water/broth and bring to a boil. Add the tomato paste, bay leaf, and celery salt cook until the carrots begin to soften. Then add macaroni and stir often, making sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Add kale.
Add salt to taste. I used water, and therefore added 1 1/2 tsp of salt. If you used vegetable broth or bullion, you may not need this much salt. Simmer, covered, until the pasta is cooked. Add the peas at the end, they’ll defrost in a matter of seconds. Turn off heat, add fresh herbs.
Ladle soup into bowls and grate some lemon zest over the top of each serving. Sprinkle pepper over the top.
December 12th, 2007
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