Cooking without a Parachute

Fennel with White wine and Cherry Tomatoes

2010-05-04T18:08:00.000+03:00

I love fennel. It's crispy crunch when it's raw. Its delicate scent and smell differentiate it from its seemingly related cousin, celery. I like that it's not celery, which isn't one of my favorite vegetables although an admittedly important element of stocks and soups. Fennel is more of a chameleon though - roast it and bring out it's sweetness, braise it and it becomes tender and delightful and reminiscent of artichoke. Saute it and add it to soup and it melts into the background, providing mild flavor and aromatics.

Usually, we roast it, slicing in to cross sections, topping it with maldon salt and a drizzle of chili oil and a sprinkle of paprika. It's lovely that way but I was looking for something new. A braised dish where the fennel could present itself in a different way. I've made this every weekend for the past month, with a recent reinvention of the basic recipe with a mustard dressing with red wine but that's another story. Let me know what you think.

6-8 Fennel - halved top down. If it's a big bulb, cut it again in 1/2. This so you have enough surface area of the vegetable to brown. If a few outer leaves fall off that look good, cut them into think slices and add them into the pan with the peppers.
Olive oil (a bit of butter could be lovely as well)
Salt and pepper
White wine - about 1 cup
12-15 cherry tomatoes, halved.
Red peppers - 2, chopped.

Heat a heavy frying pan (or 2). I like cast iron for this recipe. Add a nice dollop of olive oil and lay the fennel in so that it can brown on one side. Wait about 5 minutes until they're nicely browned and turn the fennel and wait for them to brown on the other side.

Add the chopped pepper on top of the fennel, then the tomatoes and deglaze with the wine (which will make a nice sizzly noise when you add it in). If you need a bit more liquid, add a splash of either apple juice or water. Salt and pepper generously and cover tightly. Lower the heat and braise for about 10-15 minutes until the fennel is completely tender. Uncover and let the liquids cook out a bit - about another 5 minutes. Delish.

Weekend Menu Planning

2010-01-21T18:23:00.000+02:00

Weekend Menu – January 9^th, 2010.

This post was delayed or rather, it was lost and it took me a few depressed days before I had the time to recreate it. But here it is, useful for you perhaps for this weekend.

Friday Night - Dramatis Personae:

Just the family. It had been a busy week. As usual, we contemplated purchasing food but opted for vegetables. Gabe commented after the meal - that it was perfect, just what he liked.

Starter: Kept it simple with fresh sourdough rye and whole wheat breads and the usual spreads - humus, Turkish salad, olives and pickles. Will have to blog on our bread baking but essentially with use of the bread machine have demystified bread baking for every member of the family. Our breads are natural sourdough - thank you Iris Katzner for the starter - and we use 100% whole wheat flour in almost all of our breads. The dough is done in the machine, aged overnight in the fridge (it sweetens and develops the taste of the bread) and baked the following day after a short knead, warm up on the counter and quick rise. Each dough is divided so that we end up with 4 smallish loaves which are perfect for almost every meal of about 10-12 eaters. This week, the whole wheat bread was crusted with a grainy, fleur de sel sea salt for a nice, briny taste with every bite.

Main Course: Given that I'm not a bread eater, I was champing at the bit. The meal was simple and satisfying. Broccoli sauteed with ginger and garlic - ample amounts - and served atop of a bed of rice noodles with peanut sauce. We like Jack Bishop's Black Sesame Noodles from his A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen. The recipe is easily tinkered with - different vegetables can be added - and it has the requisite peanutty taste with the necessary acid punch of vinegar and soy sauce. Sauteed zucchini on the side - cubed and combined with sliced, rounds of hot pepper and lots of garlic and tempered with a splash of coconut milk. Make sure to saute the zucchini until lightly browned before adding the milk.

Dessert: Chocolate sorbet made by Natan. He's working his way through David Liebovitz's The Perfect Scoop, which in his mind is the perfect guide to the making of frozen desserts. The combination of cocoa and melted chocolate and just the right amount of sweetener makes for a great sorbet. Almond-flour based ginger cookies, adapted from Elana's Pantry. My changes? Add a nice hearty teaspoon or so of freshly, grated ginger and cut the oil to 1/4 cup and the sweeteners (I used only honey) to about 1/3 of a cup or more to taste. The cookies were firmer and crunchier this time, although they burned easily - the honey, I think - so make sure to rotate the sheets in the oven and take them out as they begin to brown around the edges. Don't wait for them to crackle - they won't, or at least mine didn't.

Saturday Lunch - Dramatis Personae:

Family. Henoch's - 4 (the kids really don't eat). Gabe's friend's, Zach and Steven. Natan's friend, Avital.

Starter: Bread and spreads. In this country, bread reigns supreme mostly likely from the days where it was about all anyone had to eat. Had a nice wedge of semi-soft, creamy cheese not well-ripened to go along with the bread. Nobody seemed to mind that it was too cold and not soft enough except for me. Had a nice, green salad with avocado, cherry tomatoes and pomelit - a sweeter and juicier cousin of the Pomelo. The dressing was sharp and tangy - balsamic vinegar based, according to Natan's taste buds. The rye bread, complete with a sprinkling of caraway seeds was a hit, although the kids tended to gravitate to the plain whole wheat bread.

Main: A mix. Mona made 2 zucchini/onion quiches - straightforward and dairy filled with a nicely browned crust, they were enjoyed by all. I made a kale and pumpkin tart with an almond crust that was really successful. We've had a real yen for Indian food recently - probably because we went for Indian food in Ramle and it was truly ho hum, even the Alu Gobi, and how do you ruin that? We've been using Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian, for a nice array of Indian recipes from all over India, in addition to other places where spicy foods abound. Made a pumpkin/cauliflower dish that was good and great curried mushrooms spiced with cumin, turmeric and coriander and thickened with grated tomatoes. Served over brown rice, it's simple, good stuff.

Almond-crusted Vegetable Pie:

(Note: My nice pics of the pie won't load. Sorry, I'll get better at this)

Filling:

1.5-2 lbs pumpkin, peeled and cubed.

1-2 bunches of kale, sliced thinly, stems reserved.

Onion - halved and sliced.

Garlie - 4-5 cloves, peeled and chopped.

White wine for splashing in the pan. Apple juice or water and lemon can be used in lieu of the wine.

Salt & Pepper

Thyme - fresh or dried

Custard: 2 eggs and one white, lightly mixed. Add some S&P and a scraping of nutmeg.

1 cup of soft-white cheese, or Greek yogurt (you choose the fat level) or quark style cheese, whisked in to the eggs until reasonably lump free. (If you don’t eat dairy, substitute in rice or soy milk for a nice milky quality, about 1/3 of a cup).

2-4 tbsp of Dijon style mustard for the crust (before adding the filling)

½ cup of grated, dry hard cheese – Asiago or Parmesan or Manchego would all be nice options. (You could leave out the dairy if you prefer.)

Egg Free/Sugar Free/SavoryCrust: (Adapted from the SCD Site)

Ingredients - this made enough to generously line a 10" round pan.

2 1/2 cups almond flour
3 -4 tablespoons butter*, cold and cut into pieces
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tsp dried thyme
*you may substitute coconut oil for butter or use a bit of both for a bit of butter taste with the good health benefits of the coconut oil.

Instructions

1. Mix ingredients, and flatten the dough into a round disk between two pieces of plastic wrap. Gently roll out the dough to an 11 inch round. 2. Put the dough on a baking sheet and refrigerate till firm. This really helps strengthen the dough for maneuvering it into the pan. 3. Invert it onto a pie pan and press in place. It may crack a bit, just pat it and patch it and don’t worry, it’ll taste just fine. 4. Bake for 10 minutes at 300 degrees F. (this might need adjusting if using coconut) until light brown in color. 5. Cool, then fill.

Assembly:

Smear Dijon mustard on the base of the crust. Let it cool for a minute before you do this as the hot crust will still be soft and won’t stay in place. Spoon the filling in with a slotted spoon so that it’s not too wet. Pour the custard on top, making sure to make it into the nooks and crannies. It’s not a lot of custard, it won’t fill everything. Top with grated cheese. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes until lightly browned.

Dessert: A lovely, raw Orange ‘Cheesecake’ with a chocolate crust and Natan’s piece de resistance, Roquefort Honey Ice cream from David Liebovitz’s aforementioned book. Quite the show stopper and really very tasty, especially with a drizzle of reduced balsamic vinegar syrup – boil a cup down slowly and carefully to about 1/3 of cup. It keeps forever, make a few cups and use a pedestrian vinegar – not the fancy bottle.

As to the cake, my only comments are that the crust took about ½ cup or so of dates to get it to come together and that the filling needed a bit more punch – I added the juice of a lemon and sweetened with honey and used ½ cup of coconut oil which was enough in my book and make it in an 8” spring form pan which made the cake a tad more shallow then what’s pictured on the post but rich enough for all of us eaters.

Food Discoveries

2010-01-17T17:50:00.000+02:00

Yes, I know it’s been a while since I’ve updated my food blog. I’ve all that new energy that comes with a new year, or just a desire to share all my food adventures of late.

In brief, my biggest discovery for 2009 has been raw desserts – pies, cakes and other confections – that all share one major component they are not baked. I know this may sound more than just odd to many but it has been a boon for me and surprisingly enough, the whole family as well as various outsiders who’ve tasted some of our treats.

Raw desserts do what they need to do – they’re sweet, tasty and provide that punch of ‘fat’ and ‘sugar’ that make dessert eating so dear to many. I have found that eating raw treats has helped me tame my considerable sweet tooth and that I don’t desire the more typical sweets that are served to me – that I generally can’t eat anyway because of the gluten or various other ingredients that don’t suit me well.

Ah, you say, she’s one of those ‘I don’t eat this and that.’ Yes, it’s true; I am one of those and have been in one way or another for many years. The good news is that I’m at peace with it. I went predominantly raw after last Passover for about 4 months. I stuck with fruits, salads and a bit of cooked vegetable dishes. I tried not to go to wild with nuts and dried fruits – they don’t always agree with me. I felt okay but not great. In July, I started an unusual diet that should be better known for my gut – always my Achilles heel. Called the Specific Carbohydrate Diet or the SCD diet for those in the know, it essentially rules out all complex carbohydrates – like grains, potatoes, sweet potatoes, milk (although fermented products like homemade yogurts or Kefir are allowed as well as some hard cheeses), and all sweeteners except for honey which rates as a simple carbohydrate. The diet, which has lots of interesting science behind it, is considered quite effective for people with Crohn’s, Colitis, Celiac and gluten issues as well as all sorts of IBD problems. Of course, it tends not to be recommended by mainstream doctors – big surprise – and yet, you read positive story after story on the website, including fairly impressive ones from families with kids with Autism who adopted the diet and found their children’s issues greatly reduced and their overall health greatly improved.

It sounds horrible, right? No grains, no bread, no nothing. But there’s a lot left to eat once you settle in to the regimen; veggies, proteins (no tofu, sorry), fruits and nuts. I became very skilled at a host of nut breads and muffins (check out this blog for excellent recipes). My stomach calmed down – almost completely. Certain things still gave me pause – too many nuts (I cut back on the baked nut treats), too much raw stuff at times. I had to find balance.

And making raw treat after raw treat made me happy and reduced any real feelings of unhappiness. As long as I had something sweet to eat during the day – and I’ve found that I prefer my dessert these days earlier in the day during that mid afternoon energy lull, that I’m content. I’ve cut back and late night snacks – can’t digest ‘em and I suspect that many of us feel that way and anyway, I eat dinner too late to really have time to snack as well. I’ve kept dinners really simple since we eat late. The end result? I feel so much better. And that is truly something.

I’ll post some recipes over the next few weeks.

Meringues - Fluff n' Stuff

2008-10-06T15:43:00.001+02:00

Meringues
It's been meringue season around here. Given that I try to limit my gluten intake - makes my belly happier - I'm always looking for good dessert options. When Ira and I were in Stowe together back in February - ah, the memories, the snow, the margaritas, the time alone - we found these great meringue cookies in the local store. They had a great crunch and taste, punctuated by sweet, chewy raisins, nuts, and tart cranberries. And they were basically a meringue base although they had a nice cookie-like feeling. After much meringue baking these past few months - and let's not forget Pesach baking (okay, not for some time thankfully), it's become clear to me that's it's all about the baking time and what you fold into your cookies that will determine their texture and crunch. If you want a drier meringue, bake them in a low, slow oven and wait for them to dry out. If you like the bit of 'marshmallow' inside to your meringue, bake them less time and make them bigger so there's more of a gooey pocket inside.

I can add a new note to the baking process. We have a new oven - I am deeply thankful about this, in particular to our friends Robert and Mona, who in arriving in Israel with their worldly goods in tow, shlepped in said oven. Our last batch baked up...perfectly. They baked properly and with only a hint of brown to their white exteriors. They were, in a word, glorious. An airy pocket of sweetness with just a hint of softness inside. It's amazing what a well-calibrated oven will do for you. Thank you American Range.

As for the biggest problem with meringues, the leftover yolks, I no longer obsess about it. I often combine them with a few whole eggs for a dinner frittata or accept the loss or make these nut cookies (read the article and look all the way at the bottom to the last paragraph for these simple cookies) with them.

Recipe (adapted from Viana La Place's Dessert and Sweet Snacks):
3 egg whites
1 tbsp white vinegar
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2lb coarsely ground or chopped toasted almonds
1/2lb coarsely ground or chopped bittersweet chocolate

Notes:
We always double or even triple this recipe. We usually use chocolate chips because they are lighter and easier to combine in chip form but chopped chocolate is always lovely.
I usually combine 1 cup of ground toasted nuts along with 1/2-1 cup sliced toasted almonds. I also like toasting a cup of flaked, unsweetened coconut and grinding that along with the toasted almonds and/or hazelnuts. (To toast nuts, lay them on a baking pan and roast at 350 for 5-8 minutes, tossing them around every 2-3 minutes and sniffing in order to avoid burning them. Coconut will go quickly.)
1/2-1 cup cranberries are great along with the nuts and chocolate. Swapping in raisins or chopped apricots in part or whole for the cranberries also works just fine.

Preheat the oven to 250.
Beat the egg whites with the vinegar and salt until stiff but not dry. Meaning, they'll look fluffy like snow and have soft drifts in the bowl but not stand up at attention. Very gradually, add in the sugar and continue to beat until meringue forms stiff peaks. It will look like a craggy pile of marshmallow in the bowl - shiny and irresistible but you wouldn't really want to eat it. Gently fold in vanilla, nuts, chocolate, etc.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper and drop mixture by teaspoonfuls about 1" apart on the prepared pans. Bake until firm, without browning significantly, about 45 min. Cool and remove to cooling rack. Store in an airtight tin - don't put them away until they're really cool and if the day is humid, don't cover tightly as they'll get stickyish. Not that you can't eat them this way, but I like them dry.

Gracious Gratin

2008-04-10T10:05:00.002+03:00

This is an older post that I just rediscovered I had been in the middle of writing. I have to find a way to write regularly. I'm still cooking but life has made posting hard - I will endeavor because I like thinking about what I've been cooking and what's been working and what is seasonally interesting.

So, from April:
It's been a busy bunch of weeks and yet, Shabbat still shows up with regularity, complete with hungry guests and family members eager for that nice meal that they've been denied all week (as if I don't feed them anyway). My recent 'go to dish' has been a vegetable gratin - a simple saute of greens and peppers, or mushrooms and greens, or white beans, greens and whatever else catches my eye, bound together with a bit of tasty cheese (I have a large and lovely hunk of parm from Rome that I'm using judiciously), topped with some fresh bread crumbs and baked briefly in the oven to toast the crumbs and set the gratin.

Last week, along with a light soup - carmelized leek soup (nice this time of year) - fresh, crusty bread, a few spreads and side salads, it was a relatively easy meal. (If you make the soup, I don't use chicken broth, I fiddle with wine, veg broth and water as needed. Do use the butter, but you can combine it with olive oil.)

Master Recipe:
1 large onion, chopped
2-4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 bunches of cooking greens - Kale, Collards, Chard. Trim the stems and cut the stems off by the beginning of the leaf. Clean and chop the stems as if you were preparing celery and keep them separate from the leaves. Chop the leaves (I stack them and slice down the middle and then across and rough chop them further) and place them in a bowl with water to soak.
1-2 red peppers, chopped
10 oz sliced mushrooms, optional but tasty
1/2 cup grated hard cheese, like parmesan or manchego.
1 cup of fresh bread crumbs. Add 1-2tbsp of olive oil and season with salt, pepper and thyme.
(Toast the crumbs in the oven, spread on a baking sheet for about 3-5 minutes. Keep an eye on them but you do want them to lightly brown.)

Saute the onion and garlic, seasoning with salt and pepper, red pepper flakes and some fresh or dried thyme. Let the onions color a bit and begin to carmelize, 5-7 minutes. If things seem to dry in the pan, add a splash of white wine, water or apple juice/water and a squeeze of lemon (which is an old veg tip for the non-alcohol cookers). Add the stems and chopped pepper, stir a bit and let that cook a bit further. Another good way of adding some liquid is simply to cover and let the veggies soften and steam and then uncover to get some browning happening.

Add the chopped greens, lifting them out of the water and shaking lightly before adding to the pan. This way, the greens arrive with some water clinging to their leaves which helps things soften and cook down nicely. Even if it seems like too many greens for the pot, shove them in and cover them and let them cook down and soften but not turn to mush, stirring occasionally as they begin to collapse and fit into the pan better - about 7-8 minutes.

Strain the vegetables and add some cheese. You can add about 1/2 cup shredded parmesan and I recommend a dry and crumbly kind of parmesan to add lots of flavor in that 1/2 cup. You could go with a soft cheese and crumble in about 3-4 oz of soft goat cheese. Or, choose a hard cheese of your liking - smoked gouda or manchego, for example. The cheese is enough to bind this lightly without adding egg but you could add an egg or 2 mixed with a spot of milk for a more 'bound' gratin but that's more like a quiche and I wasn't looking for that.

Spread the gratin into a large baking pan - 9x13 or thereabouts. Top with toasted crumbs and bake just to combine everything and melt the cheese and further brown the crumbs - about 20 minutes tops.

Fete du Kale

2008-03-02T13:46:00.002+02:00

Food in Israel is grand. Produce is local and fresh. The organic marketplace is growing and developing but the cooking greens leave a bit to be desired. The spinach is tasty but not delicate enough and the beet greens/mangold, are the only cooking greens regularly available. They're a bit like chard, without the lemony flavor, and while hearty and tasty, we all grow tired of them. I pine for collards and kale. Once last year, I caught someone who posted on Janglo, the local listserv of all that interesting and available, that they had a glut of kale in their garden. I went over immediately to investigate and found a rather unusual kind of guy, who had a massive garden in what was basically an empty and untended lot next to his garden apartment and who had ton of kale - curly and flat leaved varieties growing. I bought up 2 bags and went home and cooked and spent the rest of the year remembering the experience fondly.

I've asked Meir of Hachavah Haorganit a few times about varieties of greens and he's assured me that his growers are hoping to offer some alternatives. Two weeks ago, the kale arrived. Beautiful, flat-leaved and purple veined, Red Russian variety, kale. I practically swooned with pleasure. I had ordered 3 bunches of Kale along with 2 bunches of mangold and was ready to have my calcium and vitamin C raised along with my tastebuds.

Kale is lovely steamed and dressed or sauteed simply with or without onion and garlic and chopped red pepper, let's say, and then eaten (once it's been lightly salted and peppered and splashed with lemon juice). It's good roasted - develops and intensifies the flavors and yet sweetens the result through the roasting process. It's great, a la Marion Stein, sauteed - first saute onion and garlic, salt and pepper, then the kale stems, then add cubed new potatoes and stir-fry. Cover and let them cook for a bit, adding a bit of liquid as necessary - like white wine, or water as well. As the potatoes get a bit more tender, add the chopped kale and saute some more. Cover and cook until potatoes are fully cooked. Stir together, adding salt and pepper to taste and a squeeze of lemon juice and eat - either plain, or on pasta but I like it plain. Hearty and good.

Kale is great in soup and that's what I did with it over the past 2 weeks. It was chopped and added into a fish soup, then a veg soup and then my favorite - Sweet potato and Kale Soup.

Sweet potatoes - 3-4 chopped. (You could also use winter squash)
Carrots - 3-4 diced.
Celery - 2 ribs sliced.
Onion - 2 medium, diced.
Garlic - 3-4 cloves, chopped.
1 bunch Kale - Trim ends, chop stems and wash, reserving to saute with celery. Chop greens and soak in water, changing as needed if very dirty.
Water - 8-10 cups
Bay leaves, salt and pepper
Lemon juice - 1 lemon
Miso - mellow white or light colored variety (you can make the soup without this but it does give a lovely flavor and is quite good for you).

Warm olive oil. Saute onion for a few minutes, then add garlic. Stir fry for 2 minutes, not letting it brown. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Add carrot, celery and kale stems and saute for 3-5 minutes letting them soften slightly. Add sweet potatoes (or winter squash) and cook, stirring frequently for another 5-8 minutes. Add kale and cook, stirring until greens are semi-wilted, 3-5 minutes. Add water to cover, stirring as you add - you should be able to stir the veggies but still sense a chunky and not thin mixture. Add 2 bay leaves. Bring to boil and let cook until sweet potatoes are tender, 15-20 minutes.

Dip a cup of hot soup broth out of the pot and add 2 tbsps miso, stirring the miso up and pressing it against the cup to combine it with the liquid. Add the lemon juice and pour the mixture back into the pot. Taste soup. If you like it more miso'y, do process again - it's not necessary to add more lemon juice.

(If you're not doing miso, add some white wine when you add the broth water or puree a can of white beans - strained and rinsed - and add them to the pot for body and taste with some lemon juice and be prepared to add more salt and pepper as well).

This is a lovely soup and it ages well, too. Heat it up and add some noodles or cooked rice for some extra body as well.

Celeriac Salad

2008-02-26T16:06:00.004+02:00

Another misunderstood vegetable, unless you're French of course and have grown up eating it as celeriac remoulade - a light and tangy salad of shoestrings of celeriac dressed with a mayonaise-mustard sauce. Actually, a traditional remoulade is an offshoot of the ingredients that it takes to make an aoli or mayonaise, with boiled egg yolk added to thicken the texture and often combined with lemon juice, mustard and something to cream it up, like mayo or in a nod to modernity, creme fraiche or even yogurt which could be enriched with a few tablespoons of heavy cream for improved taste and texture without too much extra calories. Celeriac is great mashed, especially when combined with potatoes to help 'cream' up the texture, or with other root veggies in combination. It's flavor is most definitely celery-like as opposed to fennel which always surprises with it's clean crunch and flavor.

Courtesy of vegetable man Meir Todress, we had celeriac last week and it was a real cause for celebration along with the gorgeous kale!!! and fresh bulbs of garlic that arrived in our box. We cooked and enjoyed these late winter early spring offerings - kale in soup and sauteed with other veggies (I'll write about kale shortly).

Ira and I admired the celeriac and while I considered the various options, he decided that a salad was the best option and the most obvious choice. He proceeded to start julienning. If someone wants to julienne veggies, you don't argue, you make the dressing. I like blanching the veggies before dressing them but Ira wanted it raw.

Before you shy away from julienning - and everyone should own a good mandoline (we need a better one as it just doesn't julienne well). We tried upgrading to the Oxo one which was $75 and discovered that it just wasn't worth it. So, it's clear that it's a $150 investment for a European one or bust. Then again, there's always the knife.

Celeriac Remoulade a la Beth and Ira
1. Pare and Slice the celeriac as thinly as possible. You'll feel like you're cutting away a lot of the veggie as it's a fairly gnarly looking root veg but persevere, there will still be veg left for the salad.
2. Optional: Bring a pot of salted water to boil and blanch for about 2 minutes, just taking the 'rawness' out of the veg. Given that it's julienned you don't need to do anymore than that.
3. Whisk together mustard, mayonaise, lemon juice, salt and pepper, apple juice/water/honey (according to taste and how loose or thick you want the dressing). Dress the salad.
4. Finely mince fresh parsley (dill could be nice as well) and add in some capers (you can use their liquid as your acid instead of lemon juice or in combo if you wish). Mix. Let it sit for a bit before eating and enjoy.

Some variations that seemed respectable.
http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/000990celery_root_salad.php. With shredded apple/
http://thestonesoup.com/blog/2006/05/one-for-the-ladies/. Using creme fraiche.
http://www.greenchronicle.com/valentines_recipes/celeriac_salad_recipe.htm - the egg yolk method.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/11069. Nice looking option, no apple.

Cabbage Again

2008-02-20T22:30:00.002+02:00

Another head of cabbage around. Ira reported that while I was away (in the US), that he made Sweet and Sour cabbage. I checked out a few recipes and noted the essentials - butter, vinegar and sweetener of some sort.

My vegetables came today and they looked beautiful. I assessed the scene quickly and decided that plain cabbage didn't attract me but a few veggies added to the mix did.

1 large head of cabbage, sliced thinly and cut into small pieces
3-4 carrots, sliced thinly
2 onions, sliced
(garlic could be a fine addition)
winter squash or pumpkin, peeled and chopped - I used about 1.5 lbs
3 peppers - red and yellow, chopped
balsamic vinegar (or red wine vinegar) - 1/4 cup
apple juice - about 1/3-1/2 cup
lemon juice - 1 lemon
salt and pepper to taste
butter/olive oil
organic cane sugar - has a light brown look and flavor - 2-3 tbsp
(Sliced apples are another great addition - put them in before the cabbage so you can saute them a bit).

Warm the pan. Melt a knob of butter and add in 1-2 tbsp of olive oil. Add the onions and saute for 1-2 minutes. Then add the carrot and squash and saute, stirring for 1-2 min and then cover for 5. Add the pepper - stir, saute 1-2 min. Then, the cabbage which will fill up the pan and you'll doubt that it will be the right size but it will settle down. Cover and let it cook down, 10 minutes. Add the apple juice and vinegar and cover for another 5 minutes. Add the sugar, stir and cover for another 5. When things seem tender, uncover and let the juices cook down a bit.

Serve on rice or hearty, whole wheat or buckwheat noodles.

Slaw

2008-02-03T18:13:00.000+02:00

We had a run on cabbage. Ordered a big head a week ago and then ended up with another big head. What to do? Coleslaw is long a favorite at our house as well as cabbage soups but I wasn't in the mood to do stuffed cabbage, which I actually prefer to do with mangold greens (or collards in the US) - more digestible and easier to work with.

Our standard coleslaw has a vinegar based dressing, with a bit of fresh cilantro, scallions and jalapeno pepper to snazz it up and give it zip not generally known to the standard, heavier mayonaise coleslaws, which quite frankly hold no appeal to me. I want a salad with a fresh appeal, that will age nicely in the fridge, softening over the week as the acids continue to do their work making it continually appealing to eat when you peruse the shelves.

Plus, aging coleslaw is great with tuna for a quick and zesty tuna salad. Just chop the slaw down a bit and mix with tuna and add a squeeze of lemon and perhaps another drizzle of oil and it's light and refreshing and again, not weighed down by mayo.

Coleslaw:
1 medium head of white cabbage, shredded. (If you're not one to shred, then slice the cabbage in half, through the stem edge (meaning top to bottom), slice thinly and then slice across to get small enough pieces).
1 small head of purple cabbage, shredded (not critical but the colors are nice).
1 lb/.5 kilo of carrots shredded or julienned or thinly sliced.
3-4 scallions, sliced, with the green
1/2 bunch of cilantro chopped
1/2 bunch of parsley chopped
1-2 jalapeno peppers or some equivalent fresh, hot pepper, seeded and chopped (use the seeds if you want it spicier).

Combine the vegetables. Whisk the lemon juice with the salt and pepper and cumin. Add in the oil, vinegar, apple juice, maple syrup and adjust the flavors to taste.
Let it sit at least 1 hour before serving, if you can.

Dressing:
Olive or Grapeseed oil - 1/4-1/3 of a cup.
Lemon juice - 1/8 of a cup
Splash of apple cider or rice vinegar
Salt and Pepper
Cumin - 1/2 -1 tsp according to taste
Salt and Pepper
Apple juice - 1/8 of a cup (give or take)
Dash of maple syrup (really gives it a great taste but honey could work as well or leave it out)

Cabbage Note:
If you really hate raw cabbage, you could dump the cabbage and carrots into a colander and pour boiling water over them to just reduce the 'rawness' of the salad to start. As well, you could salt the cabbage and put a weight on top (meaning stick a plate on the cabbage and a couple of cans of beans) for about 30 minutes and then rinse your cabbage and continue with the dressing. You can also make it raw and it will develop nicely on it's own over time.

If I still have cabbage left over, we can talk about soup later in the week.

Freshness - Storing your Stuff

2008-01-28T14:04:00.000+02:00

As a family of mainly produce eaters, we buy a lot of produce. I love to open up my refrigerator and admire the cabbage, or sniff the oranges - just to know that I have 'what to to cook up' at hand that day. Realistically, that means always keeping a fair supply of carrots and celery (for soups and stir-fry's), plenty of onion and garlic of course, as well as my favorite, fresh ginger, not to mention in the winter a selection of winter squashes and root vegetables (you already know I love my root vegetables). Add to that list some salad greens and a few peppers and some sort of cooking greens and you can see that my refrigerator always has a range of veggies that have different storage requirements to keep them fresh and ready to use.

And then there's Hachavah Ha'organit and my beautiful box of veggies that arrive freshly picked for my pleasure. Of course, organic veggies already taste better than their conventional counterparts, but how to keep the at peak flavor is the question of the day. The issue is ethylene, the gas emitted by some fruits and veggies which can cause other veggies to go bad. Proper storage in your refrigerator can keep your veggies fresh and happy for a few days.

Onions, garlic, butternut squash, sweet and white potatoes are easy - no refrigeration, which eases crowding but they do need air and dry conditions to stay in good shape. Try to keep them in open baskets (away from heat) with a good amount of air circulating and put a bit of toweling at the bottom of the basket to absorb moisture and prevent rot. As well, make sure that you get to the bottom - put the freshest stuff at the bottom and move last weeks' onions to the top of the pile. These vegetables are best kept away from light as well so that they don't start growing roots, which impact their flavor - once a vegetable starts concentrating on growing, it becomes tougher, tends to dry out and just change due to the work involved in sending out roots. That said, it doesn't mean you have to throw out those sprouting onions and potatoes. Cut out the 'eyes' and other sprouted parts and use them - they just may not have the same bang for the buck and occasionally there will be off or bitter flavors but in a pot of soup with other things, not such a big deal.

What about greens, you say...If you look in my refrigerator, you'll note a lot of unidentified plastic bags with various lumps and bumps in them. I tend to wrap much of my greenery in cloth towels to keep them fresh and long lasting. All salad greens, fresh herbs, celery and cooking greens get wrapped. BUT there are some caveats. Tender greens - young bunches of arugula, cilantro, certain kinds of lettuces, do best with a light toweling, even just paper toweling wrapped around them. They thrive being wrapped but if they're overwrapped, in a heavier towel, they just start to wilt. After they're wrapped, pop them into a plastic bag and fridge them and they'll be fine for a good few days. Cooking greens, romaine lettuce and other hearty greens, including parsley, will be fine in towel and plastic bag. Celery absolutely needs plastic or it just yellows and a lighter towel just helps keep the ribs crisper and leeks and scallions do well with a light towel and bag to keep them from getting slimy as the days pass. Air your veggies out while in plastic - a few holes in the bags will keep air circulating better.

Tough guys like cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage, do fine just in plastic - but don't wait too long to cook them or moisture will start to build up in the plastic that begins to break the vegetables down, yielding brown and unattractive produce - let alone no as tasty anymore. Peppers do well in plastic too - and if you're planning on using them quickly, just leave them out for a day or two, especially if you're house is as cold as mine.

Speaking of what should be left out, or in defense of ripening properly. There is nothing sadder than vegetables and fruits that are not given their due and allowed to ripen on the vine. They will never improve really, how can they, once they've been ripped from their 'homes in the field.' But we can allow the flavors to continue to develop or at least, give ourselves the best chance to eat produce at its peak of flavor. Store your unripened fruit - pears for example - out in the open, letting them lose their intense hardness and refrigerate when they're a bit softer. Of course, there are those who like their pears hard...

A few thoughts on the tomato - buy them in season. Summertime is tomato time and those reddish looking guys that you buy during the year, will not have the taste or the texture that you're really looking for. Don't refrigerate your tomatoes - they don't improve with refrigeration. Actually, studies show that they lose flavor with refrigeration. If you must buy your tomatoes out of season, stick to cherry tomatoes which will be tastiest. Don't buy them in bulk and eat the when they're the most intoxicating to sniff.

Another recipe with my next post.

Root Vegetable Stew

2008-01-20T18:56:00.000+02:00

Winter means warming stews, and in our house that's a succession of root vegetables in all of their winter glory. If you haven't rediscovered your 'roots' it's time. There are so many lovely options at the market, both here in Israel and in the US. From parsnips and carrots, to assorted winter squashes (think beyond butternut) to turnips, rutabagas and my current favorite, Jerusalem artichokes.

I went looking for new inspiration and found it in a recent article in Ha'aretz's magazine section. It was a recipe for root vegetables roasted with chestnuts. I fiddled a bit here and there, as I am always a fiddler and as I wanted to focus on certain flavors - bringing out the sharper and more strongly flavored roots. As for chestnuts, you can purchase them fresh in the market, score them and roast them in the oven and peel and use them or you can take the easy way out and buy them vacuum packed in the grocery store. They won't have the same texture and deep flavor though, but they will give good flavor even from the package.

Roasted Vegetable Stew:
J'lem Artichokes - I used about 2 pounds. Peeled and chopped into large 2-3" chunks. I rolled them as I chopped, so they had a nice edge and shape to them.
Sweet Potatoes - 2 pounds. Small ones are lovely here and you can either slice them from top to bottom and then in 1/2 or in chunks according to size.
4-6 small Carrots (or chunked as desired)
3 Turnips - peeled, halved and sliced.
6-8 cloves of Garlic, peeled.
6-8 small onions (you could use shallots, pearl onions or just chunk bigger onions), peeled.
Chestnuts - 2 dozen (or less according to taste)
Butter/olive oil for satueeing.
Mangold/Swiss chard - 1-2 bunches, chopped.
Lemon
Salt and Pepper
Thyme/Sage/Rosemary

Possible add ins - rutabaga, parsley roots, celeriac, parsnips, winter squashes.
Other additions that could be nice: slices of cabbage and fennel - (meaning 1/4'd pieces of the vegetables).

Saute at a high heat, in a heavy, deep bottomed pot or pan, the chunked vegetables in a few tbsp's of butter and/or olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and herbs (fresh or dried) - sage, thyme, rosemary and hot pepper flakes (or toss in a dried, hot pepper). Let the vegetables brown - stirring frequently. If things stick too much, add some white wine or a bit of water with a dab of apple juice and a squeeze of lemon.

Once everything is nicely browned, add water to the top of the vegetables and bring the pot to a boil, add a few bay leaves, then transfer to the oven and roast until tender and beautiful, about 30 minutes.

While it's baking, saute 2 bunches of chopped mangold in a bit of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Stir the mangold into the finished casserole along with some freshly, chopped parsley and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Serve with quinoa pilaf (I'll tell you how to do that another day) or a cooked grain of your choice.
By the way, this went beautifully with a rich, red cabernet sauvignon that we had been saving. The stew warmed our bellies and the wine went to our knees. A perfect winter combination. Enjoy.

Grrrranola

2008-01-13T17:14:00.000+02:00

I love cold cereal. The crunch, the cool milk sliding down your throat, the sweet and saltiness of the grains in the bowl. As a kid, it was my favorite breakfast of champions (although my mother never bought Wheaties) from Cheerios, to the more sophisticated Raisin Bran to later health food store favorites. Cold cereal was the 'go to' meal when you just didn't know what else to eat. Over the years, I switched to soy and then rice milk and although I no longer ate much of it, I still enjoyed a bowl once in a while. Granola had of course entered the mix, although most granolas were always too sweet or too gussied up with ingredients that to my mindset, didn't belong in granola in the first place.

Belonging to the Park Slope Food Coop for 10 years, taught us a lot about granola. There were dozens, from the boxed types found in the cereal aisle, to the bulk section where at least 8-10 flavors were displayed. From Maple Almond to Rainforest Nut, there was a granola for every palate. And so, we bought granola - and ate with yogurt or applesauce or on it's own.

In Israel, there's a decent variety of granola but I wasn't wowed by any one brand. Some are more muesli style, with lots of nuts and flakes, with some roasted element to the grain and others are more seriously toasted with just a bit of dried fruit. They are all, like in the US, expensive and recently I decided it was time to make our own. I am now a certified granola maker, with a bit of help from Deborah Madison's recipes in Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. At the same time, our organic fruit and veg guy, Hachavah HaOrganit also decided to start making granola and mueseli too! His is good, very toasty with a serious crunch to the grains and nuts and a chew that takes time to become 'one with the milk.'

Here's ours.

Nutty Raisin Granola
6 cups rolled oats
1 cup of quinoa, rinsed well. (This works well and even the non-quinoa eaters, will eat it).
1-2 cup chopped nuts - I like sliced almonds, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seed in combination.
1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Salt
1-2 cup raisins and other dried fruit (chopped apricots, dates, and/or dried cranberries)
1/2 cup safflower or canola oil (I've also used grapeseed oil)
1/2-3/4 honey, maple syrup, agave nectar, apple juice concentrate.

Preheat the oven to 300. Toss the dry ingredients together except for the dried fruits. Whisk together the oil and syrup and combine with dry, tossing a few times to mix it through well. Spread onto a rimmed cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake, stirring every 10 minutes until golden and toasted - about 30 minutes. Add the dried fruits and cool completely before storing in a tightly closed container.
Note: We often double this with great success and just eat it faster. You can cut the oil down and fiddle with the sweetener but you need something wet to help give it a satisfying crunch other than just toasting it.

Happy 2008

2008-01-02T14:02:00.000+02:00

2008. We marked it with a party chez nous, 2nd year in a row except this time - as one friend put it, 'we had more friends.' It was a lovely night but I had worried about what to do food wise. Start time was after 9pm which meant that most will have eaten some kind of evening meal. Jess had pulled out all the stops for her Hannukah party - from bruschetta to apple fritters to frittata squares it was a well executed and tasty party. But I didn't want to spend my whole night attached to the stove.

Decided to focus on dips and desserts. Straightforward offerings like feta and pepper, spicy peanut, a perennial favorite and muhamara, adapted from Howard Solomon's recipe via Paula Wolfert. Natan said he'll blog about dips so I'll go no further on these. These worked well as early nosh along with sweet and spicy pecans, vegetables, crackers and thinly sliced, fresh baguettes from Lehem shel Tomer, the local artisinal baker. Along with a later arrival of spinach pie, people happily stood around the table and ate and drank from our array of wines - Golan shiraz, Dalton Red (which is a very acceptable table wine), and Dalton Canaan, their very drinkable but light white, and whatever else got opened, along with beers of every style and type (thanks to Raphi).
But it was desserts that I was most interested in. Specifically, I'll share with you my adventures in making Passion Fruit Parfaits - it was quite successful but required a few 'fixes.'
It was really delicious. Rich and creamy without being overly sweet because of the punch of the passion fruit.

Ingredients:

1 plastic bag of passion fruit concentrated juice - 395 grams. El Sembrador brand was recommended.

1 can of sweetened, condensed milk.

1 can of crema de leche

1 envelope of unsweetened gelatin. (Next time I'll try agar agar)

Heavy cream. We used at container which was about 25oml which is a bit more than a 1/2 pint.

Method:
Blend puree/juice and milk and crema de leche.
Heat 2 fingers of heavy cream - figure about 4 oz, and dissolve the gelatin into it. Stir and warm gently, about 5-10 minutes. Add two more fingers of heavy cream and mix.
Mix everything together and pour into small cups - I used 4oz plastic cups.
Refrigerate until firm - about 4 hours.

Topping:

Sliced strawberries. Macerate with a few tbsp of sugar and lemon zest. Let sit at least 1 hour.

Whipped cream. Whipped about 250ml/1/2 pint, with a few tbsp of sugar to a nice, billowy mass.

Assembly:
Top each parfait with a tbsp of strawberries and then pipe in a bit of whipped cream.
Was able to make and top about 30 parfaits.

A few comments on ingredients and substitutions. I used frozen passion fruit puree which was really nice as it had some body and also the crunchy seeds from the passion fruit. I did not have sweetened condensed milk - couldn't find, so I combined evaporated milk and about 1 & 1/2 cups sugar and gently heated them up for about 15 minutes until fully combined. My next problem was Crema de leche which investigation told me was essentially caramelized milk, South American style. If one has canned condensed milk, you can fully immerse the cans into water (closed) and cook them in hot water (making sure they stay fully immersed) for about 3 hours. When you open, you've reduced the milk into a luxurious dulche de leche. Another option has you take the opened cans and pour the milk into a pan and bake it in a water bath in the oven for an hour or so - alot safer as the cans can burst and that's a mess as well as being rather dangerous. I tried Method 3 and reduced the milk in a double boiler for an hour or so until it was creamy and if not completely as unctuous as I would have liked it sure looked and smelled good. I have investigated futher into what Crema de Leche, is and Melina who's from Beunos Aires, said that it's cream but a certain kind of cream. Online, I found this..."In English its just "cream" or heavy cream.....or even light cream, its what people pour into their coffees, or to make thick sauces." So, I guess, you could use light cream for the Crema de Leche but I don't think that my reduction plan was wrong but sweetness will be lighter which is not a bad thing.

Here are some other recipe options depending in what you have in the house. My plan is to keep my eye out for sweetened condensed milk, maybe it's in Tel Aviv in Tiv Taam and keep some on hand for future batches. As well, I think this would be great made with coconut milk. I'll keep you informed of future testing.

Homemade Condensed Milk

1 cup Hot water

4 cup Powdered milk

2 cup Sugar

1/4 cup Margarine or butter

Blend in blender until very well mixed.
Store in refrigerator or freezer.

---------OR----------

Sweetened Condensed Milk-Copykat Recipe

3/4 C. sugar

1/2 C. water

1 C. plus 2 T. powdered milk

Combine all ingredients.
Heat to boiling.
Cook until thick, this will take 15 to 20 minutes.
This equals one can.

---------OR----------

Homemade Evaporated Milk

1/3 cup powdered milk
1 cup milk
OR
2/3 cup powdered milk
1 cup HOT water

Mix well. Refrigerate.

Pumpkin Pie

2007-11-30T08:22:00.000+02:00

Yes, it's late but I didn't want to forget to report on our pie making experiences of Thanksgiving. Here, in Israel, many enjoy Thanksgiving, perhaps on Friday night if they can't manage Thursday with work and all, or like my brother, they might celebrate eventually, usually on Hannukah, this year conveniently close to Thanksgiving (and not, Xmas, which always annoys me - meaning, don't need any more association with Xmas than it already has) or not at all, as they've just sort of forgotten about it. But when you mention that you're having Thanksgiving dinner with friends, even the most 'Israeli'ized Americans' I know, will stop and say 'Really? Gee, I used to love Thanksgiving.'

We had a lovely dinner with friends, Alan and Lisa, my parents, studious yeshiva scholar Gella and her friend, Adam. It was fairly traditional fare with a few Israeli twists.

Starter:
Cornbread -made by Natan. It was nice and lightly dry with a good crumble.

Sauteed Pears and Onions with Arugula. That was really good. It kind of needed some cheese but it was a meat meal. Easy, easy. Just saute the onions forever (cover a bit to let them break down and begin to carmelize) and then add the pears, S&P, Chinese 5-spice powder, or, I used 'Hawaij for Coffee' a spice mix not disimiliar to what you'd use in chai tea (not to be confused with Hawaiij for Soup) some red wine, pinch of balsamic vinegar at the end to 'bring it up a notch.'
Mango Salsa. Lisa's favorite right now, in the waning moments of mango season here. Simply, chopped mangoes, tomatoes, cilantro, onion or scallion and juice, with a touch of oil. Perfect alongside the richer pear salad.

Main Course:
Turkey. Lisa's department.

Corned Beef. Ditto. I stuck to the side dishes for this lavish meal but everyone tucked into the meats happily.

Aunt Nora's Sweet Potatoes with some adaptations. Smooth and lovely, spiced the way they should be, a dab of melted margarine (oh well, but it had to be non-dairy) and fresh lemon zest, orange zest and orange juice (I used some sharply flavored clementines).

Butternut Squash Bread Pudding. Our stuffing.

Cranberries with Quince and Pomengranate. I liked this but remained unconvinced about the quince despite the almost intoxicating fragrance. The cranberries were specially imported for us, fresh and tart.

Tomato Salad. Lisa's fave. Halved, sweet cherry tomatoes, simply dressed.
Was there anything else? Maybe, can't remember

Dessert - here's where the pies come in:
I used to make the Cooks Illustrated pumpkin pie which shockingly used canned filling, which when heated and spiced, suddenly became delicous. Then of course, there was always the decision of what kind of pastry crust to use, which Cooks added more the mix this year with coming up with a daring new idea - vodka in the crust instead of other liquids - alcohol bakes off better, less moisture, better crust, etc..

Spice-kissed Pumpkin Pie - This is a great recipe off of a blog that I really like. A few comments. I didn't think the hazlenut base (I used toasted pecans) did that much. The filling though, was stupendous - creamy and unctuous with a fabulous mouthfeel. I used an oil based crust as a way of avoiding the whole margarine thing as margarine is, to me, unpleasant tasting and a completely unhealthy food, although at least buy a trans-fat free marg if you must. I combined spelt and rye flours which gave a nice savory note but I think in the future, I'd add my ground nuts into the crust where the flavor would shine more.
Note: I/we made a bunch of these pies and the one that was baked in a deep dish stoneware pie plate was the best - most filling and therefore the richest in flavor.

Shaker-Lemon Pie - this is a recipe with alot of history when I looked it up online later. Too bad I didn't look it up beforehand. I remembered it fondly from eating it with Iris Katzner and I could have sworn that I had made it successfully. The recipe is simplicity itself. You slice lemons paper thin, macerate in sugar, beat in eggs and then load into a prepared crust and top with another crust and bake. The inside sort of forms its own lemon curd that is punctuated by the sharper rind.

Well, not for me. Granted I don't shop at the food coop anymore where I could have used Meyer Lemons which have a very thin rind but I did slice thinly. From my analysis, it seems that macerating for a longer time is called for - as much as 36 hours - and that some retakes of the recipe have you zest the lemons, then slice them thinly and then macerate. That would be more successful, I think because you wouldn't be fighting with each slice when you eat it, which is what happened here, between the rind and the membranes of the fruit, etc. Also, just too much crust for me - top and bottom - although others did not feel that way and it did get eaten.

Lisa made a tasty, traditional apple cake which was also enjoyed.

Tale of a Sweet Potato

2007-11-30T08:06:00.000+02:00

Here in Israel, sweet potatoes are everywhere. They're tasty, inexpensive, not to mention good for you and are featured on almost every menu - the ubiquitous 'orange soup' or roasted and dipped in some way.

Here, chez nous, we roast them and soup them as well. We've gone in many directions in terms of roasting over the years, from the simple, 'chop, drizzle with olive oil and salt,' and roast. We've tried maple syrup and piquant spicing, as well as herby combinations to complement that vegetal/sweet nature of the sweet potato. The current favorite is simple but effective.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes:

Sweet potatoes - scrubbed and chopped (size doesn't matter here but the larger the hunk, the longer the cooking. On the other hand, smaller chunks fall apart too easily). Peeling is up to you. If you buy organic than you get the tastier sweet potato, the goodness of the peel and less work.

Spread them in a baking pan that is lined with parchment paper (makes cleanup alot easier).

Drizzle a decent amount of olive oil on top. If you have a full pan of potatoes (3-4 good sized), than you'll use 1/4 cup of olive oil. You can use less accordingy to your taste.

Cinnamon. For one pan of potatoes, as much as 1/4-1/3 of a cup, but we really like cinnamon.

Coarse salt. Maldon salt is my favorite. It has a lovely flake and a really good taste. You can eyeball this and feel free to sprinkle with abandon as the salt crunches between your fingers and the marriage of the carmelized sweet potatoes, spicy/sweet cinnamon, salt and olive oil is just wonderful.

Roast at 425 until you forget about them and begin to smell this wonderful aroma emerging from your oven. If you do remember them, stir them every so often and if they're taking a while to get started, cover with foil for about 30min and then uncover to let them brown. 2 sheet pans can take 60-90 minutes.

Note: I tried a variation last night and it looks promising. I drizzled the juice of 2 lemons on top of my sweet potatoes, then olive oil, then finely grated ginger (juice and all), chopped garlic, cayenne pepper and salt. When I tasted them, the ginger fairly jumped off the plate and the lemon provided a nice way of tuning down the sweetness of the potatoes.

Fruit Crumbles, for Thanksgiving and Whenever

2007-11-25T02:53:00.000+02:00

Most evenings, I come home from work and cook dinner—that’s how I unwind. This afternoon, however, Roger emailed me and said he was craving a burrito from Buddy’s—could we order out? I was happy to oblige, but after dinner I felt this compulsion to cook something, so I actually followed a recipe and made an apple cake. It’s almost done now, and it smells great.

I like to bake, but it doesn’t give me the same creative rush as cooking—it’s harder to improvise. So if I do make dessert, I’m more likely to make something that can be improvised, and my standby is fruit crumble. Whatever fruit I’m using, I peel and slice it up and pile it in a pie plate or my round deep-dish stoneware. In the fall, it’s likely to be apples, pears, or a combination. In the late summer I love to make a crumble with apples and raspberries—just toss a handful of berries over the apples before adding the topping; in the fall or winter, cranberries are an interesting substitute.

And here’s the real seat-of-the pants aspect of the recipe: the topping. If I’m making a little light dessert for the family, I go light on the crumble. I melt a couple of tablespoons of butter, then right in the saucepan, I mix a couple of tablespoons of sugar (brown or white) and a couple of tablespoons of flour. If I have some ground nuts around, I’ll throw some in as well. A little cinnamon and then check the consistency. Still too wet? A little more sugar, a little more flour, until the crumble is, well, crumbly. This makes just enough topping to strew over the fruit and make it look festive and interesting. For company, I’d probably make a more comprehensive topping, starting with as much as six tablespoons of butter and increasing the sugar and flour accordingly. (Some like oats in their crumble topping, and if you do, be my guest. I’m a purist, and I like to stick to sugar and flour.)

Lately I’ve been doing something a little different—making a streusel topping and using it on fresh or poached fruit. A basic recipe is equal parts by weight of butter, sugar, flour, and ground almonds. In this case you need to use cold butter and cut it into the flour and sugar—fussier, but the results are great. When the butter is evenly distributed through the dry ingredients, spread the topping on a cookie sheet and bake at 350. If you let it bake like this for too long, you end up with one big cookie—it’s not the end of the world, you can break it up into pieces and use them as a topping. Instead, though, pull the tray out of the oven after about ten minutes, and chop up the topping with knife. If you do this a couple of times, you end up with a great streusel topping that keeps very well in a plastic container, and you can use it to dress up lots of simple desserts. We’ve been making parfaits, in a set of glass parfait dishes I inherited when my father and stepmother sold their house last summer. Some vanilla ice cream topped with a poached pear, some streusel sprinkled on top—very elegant.

P.S. I wrote this a couple of weeks ago but didn’t have a chance to post it. Here’s a post-Thanksgiving addendum: My sister and brother-in-law hosted on Thursday, and the food was fabulous (they served turducken!). At their request I brought an apple crumble, but of course it had to be pareve. I bought the best quality margarine I could find, and the result not only tasted great—it looked really beautiful. However, no one but me saw it in all its glory. I transported it in my Pampered Chef carrying case and put it on the kitchen counter, where my sister's cat promptly curled up on top of it (on top of the carrying case, with the crumble still in it). When we removed the crumble from the case, it had turned into a slump—the topping was completely flattened. However, warmed in the oven and served with pareve vanilla ice cream, it was still delicious. Happy Thanksgiving!

Supper Salad or, the Kitchen Sink

2007-11-05T14:17:00.000+02:00

It was a 'what's for supper night?' That is, we were all getting hungry - those of us who were home and pickings were slim. We'd cooked a nice amount for the weekend but it had gotten eaten - much of it, that is, by the Sunday lunch eaters (the nerve of them) and Akiva. for dinner.

What to do? Upon examination of the refrigerator, things weren't as grim as they seemed. We composed a lovely, filling salad for dinner. It took some time but Gabe and I chopped together and considered the ingredients as we went.

It was a really good meal and it's always good to remember that salad is an excellent fall back. Even if you buy ready seasoned tofu to add, or some sort of prepared pickled vegetable or add a jar of roasted peppers, it will marry well, with some dressing on top pulling it all together. Many of us eat dinner much to late and salad will go down much better digestively, than a heavier meal, especially if you're sitting down to eat after 8pm - as we almost always do. If you want to gussy things up, serve your salad with some good, whole-grain bread and a wedge of cheese on the side or even shaved on top of the salad plate.

Supper Salad

1 head of lettuce - we used a Romaine style

1 bunch of arugula - we had a nice, leafy bunch and it was peppery and good.

Avocado - always beefs it up nicely and turns nice and creamy when it's gets smushed up with the other components.

Hard boiled eggs. This is key as the eggs, when sliced and chopped and added, fall apart a bit, especially once the dressing goes on, and really enriches the greeny taste of the salad, as well as adds some protein to the meal.

Diced, cooked tofu. We had some from the weekend. No reason not to add it.

Cukes - diced.

Carrots - we had some leftover Levantine carrot salad (from Molly Katzen's Still Life with Menu). This was a nice touch as it bulked things up a bit and the carrots were dressed and added a tangy taste. Not critical though as this is a 'whatever you've got' sort of dish.

Fruit - this was really nice by the way. We chopped in 2 persimmons and 2 mangoes and it was really tasty with everything else.

Toasted nuts. Usually, we have some toasted sunflower seeds for garnishing but we were out
last night and went nut less but if you have something of that ilk...raw or roasted, it adds both protein and flavor, not to mention a pleasing chew.

Dressing

Olive oil - 1/4 to 1/3 a cup.

Lemon juice and orange juice - 1/2 cup of mixed citrus.

Salt and Pepper to taste.

Honey mustard - 2-3 tbsp.

Whisk together and adjust. This made a lightly sweet dressing that went well with the fruit as well as the vegetables.

Marinades

2007-11-05T13:01:00.000+02:00

Whipping up a marinade, or a dressing is something we do all the time. You make a quick salad, a stir-fry, some tofu, roasted sweet potatoes, all of these taste better with a little something on top. The usual option for a salad dressing is to throw together lemon juice, olive oil and maybe a little salt. Couldn't be simpler. But sometimes it's fun to look into the fridge and try something you haven't done before.

Take Coleslaw. Coleslaw is usually dressed in a heavy, mayonnaise-based dressing. While this can be lovely, sometimes it's nice to make something a bit lighter. The standard in our house is a basic citrus/oil combination a bit of cumin for flavour. Amounts depend on how much coleslaw you have.

Cumin Coleslaw Dresssing

Equal parts olive oil and lime juice, depends if you want it more oily or more citrusy. Lemon juice also works, but limes have a stronger flavour that works well with the cumin.

Salt and pepper to taste

A dash of vinegar, probably rice wine vinegar

Some sweetener, we like apple juice or maple syrup. The sweet shouldn't overpower the sour, just provide a slight balance.

A touch of cumin

Tofu is tough one. If you don't have the time or the energy to let the tofu sit in a marinade overnight, and we rarely have either, it's very hard to make something powerful enough to actually imbibe the tofu with flavour. One method is to just make a marinade with a very dominant flavour, such as rosemary or cayenne pepper, throw the marinade on the tofu and let it cook for ages, covered and un-covered. Another method is to pan-fry the tofu in a bit of oil and then throw on the marinade when the pan is very hot and cover it immediately. We always made tofu on the stove, but you can make it in the oven too. In any case, here are some tried and true marinades that should hopefully give you a tofu that doesn't just taste like mushed up soybeans. Recipe amounts should depend on how much tofu you're making; when the marinade is poured in the pan, it should just cover the tofu.

Sweet and Sour Tofu

A good amount of tamarind paste. Tamarind is very sour and is a key ingredient in Worcestershire sauce. Use it in moderation, but it is the "sour" in the "sweet and sour".

Apple juice concentrate. Another sweetener can be substituted and it doesn't necessarily have to be a concentrate. I find apple juice's flavour goes well with the tamarind. The tamarind paste to apple juice concentrate ratio should be about 2:1.

Lemon juice, I find a splash of lemon juice brings out the flavour in almost anything.

A bit of olive oil

Other condiments can be added as necessary. Experiment with amounts, I like this very strong.

Curry Mustard Tofu

Equal parts mustard and red curry paste. I usually use a lot of these ingredients as they are the key parts to the marinade. Mix them up together beforehand, it's harder to add them in when the mixture is thin. Yellow curry paste can also be used, but it tastes different than the red variety.

A good amount of orange juice. The orange juice is the base of the marinade, so there should be roughly two times orange juice to the amount of the mustard/curry paste mixture.

Pepper to taste

A splash of apple cider vinegar and/or lemon juice. This is a matter of taste, I find that the vinegar and lemon juice always bring out the flavour of everything else.

Lemon Rosemary Tofu

Equal parts lemon juice and olive oil. We always cut the olive oil a bit, but that's personal choice. Lime juice may also be used.

Soy sauce/tamari to taste

A very healthy portion of chopped fresh rosemary. Dried rosemary could be used, but I doubt it would pack the same intense punch as the fresh.

Salt and pepper to taste

Any of these recipes can be adapted to fit your own tastes or put on something else. I'm a vegetarian, but I'm sure the carnivores out there could adapt one of these recipes for some meat dish. Experiment. Another tasty marinade or dressing is mustard, orange juice and a prepared sweet and spicy chili sauce - usually you can buy that in a supermarket. We like the Healthy Boy Brand Chili Sauce, it has the consistency of duck sauce but has better ingredients and is less sweet. You could also try olive oil, thyme and zahtar.

Happy cooking.

Improvising with Bread Pudding

2007-11-01T03:00:00.001+02:00

One of the recipes that Beth and I jointly developed for improvisation is the savory bread pudding. It all started many years ago (at least 17, because I made this dish when Marion and I catered Natan's bris) with a Gourmet Magazine recipe for a sweet bread pudding. Having mastered it and made it our own, we forged ahead and adapted it for savory purposes. I stopped using a recipe a long time ago, and now feel comfortable just using the technique and throwing in whatever's around.

So, I had some squash in the house--a kabocha and a butternut--and they weren't getting any younger. And a big, stale loaf of crusty bread. And a large group of people coming for dinner in the Sukkah--yes, this was during Sukkot. So I tore the bread up into chunks, put them in a big bowl, covered them with cold water and let them soak. (If you're looking for a measurement, I think six cups of cubed bread is about right.) I peeled the two squash (squashes?) and laboriously cut them into biggish cubes (the only laborious part of the recipe). I then roasted the squash at 400 degrees with lots of whole garlic cloves and olive oil. While it was roasting, I sauteed a mess of leeks with rosemary (onions or shallots would have been perfectly acceptable, or any combination thereof; also sage would be a lovely alternative to the rosemary).

I drained and then squeezed as much water as possible out of the bread, and threw the mush into a big baking dish (Pampered Chef stoneware, Beth!). On top of this I tossed the leeks, the squash once it was done, and about a cup of grated cheddar. I mixed the whole thing through (taking care to mash up the squash a bit, and especially the roasted garlic cloves), then made a custard of milk and eggs and poured it on top. Probably 4 eggs and 2 cups of milk, but I'm not entirely sure. The key is to add enough milk and eggs so that everything is floating comfortably but NOT drowning or even completely covered in liquid. I'm sure I salted at some point, probably both the squash before I roasted it and the leeks while they were sauteeing.

The bread pudding goes into the oven at 350, uncovered, and bakes for a good long time. Probably at least 45 minutes. It's ready when the top is crusty and browned, and even the center of the dish is firm, not jiggly. It was beloved by all (except Elliot, who wouldn't touch it, but would you expect him to?), and it made great leftovers.

You can make a savory bread pudding with virtually any combination of vegetables and cheese. Two of my favorites are mushrooms with gruyere and spinach with goat cheese. The proportions aren't that important. Onion, to my mind, is crucial. But whatever vegetable is languishing in your fridge, it would probably make a great bread pudding, combined with those leftover heels of bread getting stale in your breadbox, and the bits of cheese crammed into the cheese drawer in your fridge. It's the perfect vehicle for all your odds and ends.

6 cups bread, roughly torn into cubes, soaked in cold water and drained

2-3 cups cooked vegetables

an onion or leek, sliced and sauteed until soft

cup of grated cheese

4 eggs

2 cups of milk

Combine in a baking dish, bake at 350 until firm with a crisp, brown top.

Market Day - Sauteed Cauliflower with Cumin Seed

2007-10-31T13:37:00.000+02:00

I had no food in the house today. Well, that's not entirely true. I had no produce. I just went and spent 160nis - or about $40, buying produce. Shocking, no?

When it comes to a quick shop, there are a few options in the neighborhood. Any of the local grocery stores - we really only like one for big shopping as their produce is excellent and their selection of dry goods is adequate for our needs. There are also a number of bodega type stores, with everything from fruits and veggies to dairy goods and decent wines. They tend to pricey but convenience always comes with a price tag. Nothing is like the shuk but one can't shlep to the shuk everyday.

Thankfully, Ira has a 2 day a week Ulpan that meets near on 'yarkan'/veg seller that we like. I met up with him and we brought a nice pile of produce home - greens and some crisp apples, persimmons (of course), cukes (slim, small, crunchy Israeli cukes), cauliflower and d'lat (pumpkin). Fresh thyme, fennel and medium sized portobello mushrooms to round it all out.

I bought 2 beautiful heads of cauliflower as well. I have been experimenting with cauliflower again as it is readily available here and always looks beautiful here. I like roasted cauliflower but last time I tried it, first I did a quick saute to take the raw crunch out and then roasted the flowerets the rest of the way but felt it got too soft. It was tasty though.

This time, I did it all the way in the pan and was happier with the results.

2 large heads of cauliflower (this ensured some lunch leftovers), broken into smaller flowerets and the stems trimmed and chopped down.

Peeled and chopped fresh ginger. I would say between 2-4 tbsps, depending on how much ginger you like.

Peeled and chopped fresh garlic. 4-6 good sized cloves.

1-2 tbsp of cumin seed.

Canola oil. I think that for something like this, which is Indian in style, I would go for canola or even ghee if you have any in the house but olive would work as well.

Heat your pan and add the oil (2tbsp should do it). Saute the ginger and garlic, watching that they only lightly brown and not burn. Add the cumin seed and saute until the aroma is nice and toasty (2-3 minutes), again watching that it doesn't burn. Add the cauliflower and saute at a high flame, letting it brown a bit, stirring it up every few minutes. When it's brown to your liking (5 min or so) and beginning to get a bit cooked, cover the pan and let the cauliflower cook to your preferred crunch. If the bottom of the pan is too dry, a splash of white wine or just water will work just fine to keep things from scorching.

Beans, beans

2007-10-30T23:24:00.000+02:00

I tried to gussy up a pot of beans the other night but it wasn't as inspired as I might have hoped. I combined celery, carrots, the ubiquitous dl'at, or pumpkin, and black beans, with some onion and garlic and red wine and a tad of sweetening from apple juice concentrate. Seasoned it with herbs and some hot pepper flakes, thyme and fresh rosemary. I was looking for an 'herby' taste, that would marry nicely with the veggies and figured we'd have it over a grain - we cooked up a mix of light buckwheat (my new fave and a great improvement over the dark kasha of my youth) and millet (which added a nice crunch and toasty taste).

I tasted the stew and wasn't overawed. I decided to try a fruit element and added in a few fresh, mission figs that were firm and pleasantly sweet. Then, when all was cooked, I tossed in 2 chopped persimmons and a squeeze of lemon.

It wasn't bad. Not perfect - needs some more thought. The figs were nice with the veggies and beans but the whole stew needed some more punch. More wine and more stewing to develop early flavors might have gotten me what I was looking for.

The good news is that we ate it last night and munched on it today as needed and now it's all gone.

Tomorrow is another day.

Gabe's Stir-fry with Toasted Orzo and Tofu

2007-10-29T09:47:00.000+02:00

I continue to encourage my children to get involved in dinner preparation. True, I get bored and so do they, with my own quick and easy interpretations of stir-fries, grains and veggies, tofu and what generally constitutes a fast meal during the week.

Gabe, who is 14, cooked last night, with a bit of instruction and advice from me. I'm pleased to report that he made a good meal and we ate up every last scrap. I suggested that he write it down so that we could share the recipe.

Stir-fry:

(Gabe didn't want to chop, so he used frozen vegetables even though we had plenty of interesting things in the house...you decide what's best for you)

1 large onion, diced

3-4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 20oz bag of frozen mixed veggies - cauliflower, broccoli and baby carrots

Dried thyme, salt and pepper and Gabe's favorite, hot paprika

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until lightly browned. Add a healthy pinch or two of dried thyme, rubbing it between your fingers to release the oils, a pinch of salt and 5-10 grinds of black pepper. Sprinkle in hot paprika to you taste. Stir.

Add your veggies in (if you were using fresh, I might suggest sauteing some mushrooms, red peppers and zucchini, or carrots, winter squash and celery, for example) and cover. Cook until tender to your taste. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Orzo:

1 medium onion, diced

Yellow curry paste

3 cups orzo - we use a whole-grain, spelt variety, which is very tasty.

4 1/2 cups boiling water

Toasted sesame oil

Saute onion with toasted sesame oil. Stir in yellow curry paste to your taste - Gabe suggests 2 tablespoons which is pleasantly hot - then add the orzo and toast for a couple of minutes in the pan, stirring continuously. Pour in the boiling water - watch out for the sputter - cover, and cook on a low flame for about 8 minutes, until tender.

Tofu:

1 block of firm tofu, cubed

Chili oil

Canola oil

Sesame seeds

Tamari

Saute tofu in canola oil with a drizzle of chili oil mixed in. As tofu begins to brown, sprinkle in sesame seeds and toast alongside the tofu, watching carefully (this will all happen quickly). Once the tofu is browned to your liking, add a few splashes of tamari to your taste.

Serve:

Pile it up. Orzo, topped with veggies and a few cubes of tofu. Great job, Gabe.

Fall Salad

2007-10-28T18:25:00.000+02:00

The fall means new produce wherever you live. In Israel, where the summer heat continues to hold on, at least during the day, the markets fill with bounty in time for the Jewish New Year. Ruby red pomegrantes, yellow-green quince, various sexy and appropriately looking mysterious tropical fruits in shocking fuschias and pinks, that invite investigation and tasting. Then, there are the standards - the new crop of citrus fruits and winter squashes, which in those heady moments of fall, seem so exciting, months away from inducing winter blues.

This Friday, I gazed into the refrigerator and considered what would compose an appropriately fall-like salad. I wanted something refreshing and clean on the palate, that wouldn't weigh us down to much before we launched on our heavier main course. I used my new oranges, navel like in their look but ultimately a new variety that I have to ask my fruit/veg guy more about. I've been getting some of our produce through a guy who gets organic fruits and veggies from different places. He claimed he'd get some exciting oranges this week and they were good but as usual, still a bit green and not quite as sweet as what they'll be in another month or two. But tasty nonetheless, with a pleasantly, astringent quality.

Ingredients:

Romaine Lettuce - always readily available and it offers a certain bitter quality that makes it, to me that is, more interesting than regular red and green leaf lettuces. It also has a nice crunch as well.

Arugula - what can I say, I almost always use arugula and it always tastes good to me, but one could use other lettuces as well. Watercress can be excellent with this preparation and it's sharp, almost bitter quality makes a nice foil to the oranges.

Oranges - Peeled, pith removed and sliced across the circumference into circles and then cut into half moons.

Green olives - Israel is the land of olives of all varieties. I was fortunate to get young, green olives, still developing in their marinade, along with sliced garlic. (You could also choose an oil cured black olive, which will be saltier and stronger in taste but still good, or herbed, green olives with a crunchier bite).

Sliced, toasted almonds - Just toast them in a frying pan, keeping a careful eye, or in the toaster oven for 5-7 minutes at 300.

Optional add ins - Sliced scallion or purple onion.

Dressing:

Olive oil

Orange juice/Lemon juice: Depending on how many plates you're dressing, figure on the juice of 1-2 oranges and 1-2 lemons. You can decide how puckery you'd like the dressing.

Honey to taste.

Splash of apple cider vinegar to even out the taste.

Dijon mustard. 1-2tbsps.

Salt and Pepper.

Whisk together, taste and adjust. I kept it lightly sweet and only mildly tart to accent the not so sweet oranges and the very sharp olives.

Serving:

You can mix this all up into a big bowl or arrange plates, which is my preference. Mix together your greens separately and then arrange a casual pile on each plaste. Toss some orange slices on top and then some green olives. Dress each plate with a couple of tablespoons of dressing and freshly, ground black pepper. Enjoy.

What's for lunch?

2007-10-25T15:32:00.000+02:00

Oh, that feeling that comes around at different points each day. What's for lunch? Translation, is there any food in the refrigerator? Any good leftovers still lingering from dinner last night...what will I do to stave off starvation?

A few months ago, on a whim really, we purchased a panini press. I figured it would be a fun thing to own but wondered if it would pay off in terms of usage within the family. Four months later, and I can say that it's one of the best investments we ever made, appliance wise, for the whole family. Everyone can operate it - it only has an on and off switch - and in 5 minutes, lunch is ready.

Thing is, toast and cheese, while always a perfect combination, can become a tad old. We've played with the standard list of additions - cheeses of all kinds, sliced olives, roasted peppers, various spreads of interest from mayo and garlic butter to humus and mustard and one novel addition of Natan's, sliced hard boiled egg which adds a nice 'soft' note to the palate as well as a nice bit of protein. We've slipped in sliced, cooked tofu when it was available in the house and have worked with tuna, both salad style and smoked, which was rather swishy and added a nice punch of salt.

Today we looked in the refrigerator for inspiration and after lining up the usual suspects came up with today's recipe.

Pear and Peppered Goat Cheese Panini

Sliced Bread - we used an excellent, whole-grain, pain de mie, baked in long oblong pullman pans to create these huge rectangular breads. The slices are satisfyingly large, although my husband said he would have preferred a softer textured bread for his panini, even though he liked the flavor of the bread. We told him that was because the bread was from the freezer (in the time that it took us to decide what kind of panini to make, it defrosted nicely, even if the texture wasn't perfect).
Grainy Mustard - we slathered it, but use it to your own taste on ONE of the slices.
Quark Cheese or some other soft, spreadable cheese. Here, in Israel, that means labne, which is a lightly, soured cheese that comes in both goat and cow's milk versions, in lower and higher fat varieties as well. We spread this on the OTHER slice of the bread.
1/2 firm pear, sliced thinly (peeling optional).
Baby greens, with some rocket/arugula mixed in.
Some slices of crumbly, lightly aged, goat cheese. Our
variety, had some peppercorns mixed in for a nice, peppery bite.

We served it with some greens on the side and pickled cucumber salad from a few days ago, spooned on top. Lovely, filling and tasty.