Ward Street Bistro

Rice and Pineapple Salad

2009-01-25T10:08:56-08:00

We recently replaced our 17 year-old Ducane grill (which Drake had rebuilt twice) with a beautiful new Weber S-450. We had been sans grill for a few months as we researched replacement options for the Ducane and were otherwise occupied with other things. So it was a bit of a celebration to have the S-450 set up and ready to go. But what should we make for our grill inauguration? We settled on fajitas and this refreshing rice and pineapple salad. What I love about this salad is that it's a lighter balance to Mexican entree--and alternative to rice and beans. It also contains jicama, which gives it a fantastic crunch.

You can go directly to the printable recipe, or I'll show you how to make it, step-by-step...

Here's what you'll need.

Tip: Start by getting setup for prep work.

Start by putting a medium saucepan over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil.

Measure in 1 1/2 cups basmati rice.

Stir to coat the grains evenly with oil.

Add 2 1/2 cups water...

...and 1 teaspoon salt.

Bring to a boil, stirring once.

Cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook the rice covered for 12 minutes. Remove from heat let stand (still covered) 5-10 minutes...

...until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender, but not mushy.

Transfer the rice to a large bowl and let cool.

Finely grate a generous teaspoon of lime zest.

Juice the lime...

...and measure out about 1 tablespoon of lime juice.

Add 1 teaspoon of honey...

...2 garlic cloves, minced...

...and 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Whisk the ingredients together and set the dressing aside.

Cut the top off the pineapple. Use the following procedure to quarter, core, and dice 1/2 of the pineapple:

Add the diced pineapple to the rice.

Cut the ends off of a jicama...

...and remove the peel with a sharp peeler or paring knife.

Cut in half lengthwise. Dice 1 cup of jicama as follows:

Add the diced jicama and dressing to the salad.

Thinly slice 1 small bunch green onions (white and small part of the green)...

...and 3 tablespoons minced cilantro.

Mix into the salad.

For the final touch, toast 1/3 cup raw pumpkin seeds in a small dry skillet over medium heat, just until they are fragrant (about a minute).

Serve the salad garnished with the pumpkin seeds.

Rice and Pineapple Salad

(Recipe adaptation from Cook's Illustrated)

Serves 6 to 8.

1 1/2 cups basmati rice (or long-grained white rice)
1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon grated lime zest
1 tablespoon lime juice (from 1 lime)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon honey

1/2 pineapple peeled, cored, and diced
1 cup peeled diced jicama
1 small bunch green onions, sliced (white and small part of the green)
3 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro leaves
1/3 cup raw pumpkin seeds

Put a medium saucepan over medium heat; add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add the rice; stir to coat the grains evenly with oil. Add 2 1/2 cups water and the salt. Bring to a boil, stirring once. Cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook the rice for 12 minutes. Remove from heat let stand (still covered) 5-10 minutes, until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender, but not mushy. Transfer rice to a large bowl and let cool.

In a small bowl, whisk together remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, lime zest, lime juice, garlic, and honey. To the rice, mix in the dressing, prepared pineapple, jicama, green onions and cilantro.

Toast pumpkin seeds in a small dry skillet over medium heat, just until they are fragrant (about a minute). Serve the salad garnished with the pumpkin seeds.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe! To view more step-by-step recipes, see the complete recipe index.

If you'd like to subscribe to future posts, you can do it here.

Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage

2009-01-03T14:32:49-08:00

The holidays are over and we're getting back to our normal routine, including simpler winter fare. This sweet and sour cabbage is my mother's recipe--I'm 51 so I'll let you do the math on how long I've been enjoying this cabbage--but it is a family favorite served with grilled sausages and a baked potato. Warm comfort on a winter evening for sure.

You can go directly to the printable recipe, or I'll show you how to make it, step-by-step...

The ingredients. A bit of caraway and nutmeg help make this dish special.

Start by shaving the ends off 1 medium onion...

...cut in half lengthwise...

...take each half and make lengthwise slices...

...and cut crosswise to dice.

Place a large (12") skillet or a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons of canola oil.

Add diced onion and saute until translucent.

While the onion is cooking, we can prep the cabbage. Cut a 3-pound red cabbage in half lengthwise.

Cut each half lengthwise again.

Remove the core from each quarter...

...and thinly slice each quarter.

Add the sliced cabbage to the sauted onions. The pan will likely be very full-almost overflowing, but the cabbage will cook down and shrink.

Add 1/3 cup white vinegar...

...1/3 cup sugar...

...1 teaspoon caraway seeds...

...and 1 teaspoon of salt.

Cover and simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage has wilted.

Remove cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Finish by adding freshly-grated nutmeg to taste. This cabbage is wonderful served with pork or grilled sausages.

Sweet and Sour Cabbage

4 to 6 servings.

2 tablespoons canola oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 3-pound red cabbage, cored and thinly sliced
1/3 cup white vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1 teaspoon salt
freshly-grated nutmeg to taste

Place a large (12") skillet or a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the canola oil and onion; saute onions until translucent. Add cabbage, vinegar, sugar, caraway seeds, and salt. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until cabbage has wilted. Remove cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. Finish with freshly-grated nutmeg to taste.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe! To view more step-by-step recipes, see the complete recipe index.

If you'd like to subscribe to future posts, you can do it here.

Apricot-Cashew Fruit Cake

2008-12-22T10:57:54-08:00

It's closing in on Christmas Day, which means it's time for me to make my annual "fruit cake." I put that in quotes because it's more of a pound cake studded with dried apricots, golden raisins, and salted cashews. I've made this cake now for a good 20 years at Christmas--and it would not be Christmas with out it. In fact, if Christmas only consisted of our Christmas tree, Russian Tea Cakes, and this fruitcake, I think Drake and I would be happy enough.

You can go directly to the printable recipe, or I'll show you how to make it, step-by-step...

The ingredients. Note the bag of cashews on the right.

Part of the ritual of making this cake is paying a visit to the "nut man" in Pike Place Market for freshly roasted and salted cashews.

I also want to make a note about the butter. This cake does not contain any baking powder or soda: it relies on beaten egg whites and creaming the butter/sugar for leavening (both of which incorporate air into the batter). The New York Times published a wonderful article about the correct temperature of butter for creaming butter and sugar together. The butter should be cold to the touch, but still make an indentation when you gently press your finger on it. I find leaving butter out for about an hour at room temperature accomplishes this.

So before you begin this recipe, leave 3/4 cup butter to soften to cool room temperature.

Preheat oven to 275° F.

Start by generously buttering a 6-cup bundt pan...

...sprinkle in some flour...

...and shake it all around...

...so that it's nicely coated. Set the pan aside for now.

Measure out 1 cup of dried apricots. Cut into lengthwise strips...

...and cut those strips crosswise...

...until you have them all nicely diced. Set aside.

Coarsely chop 1 cup roasted, salted cashews and add to the diced apricots.

Measure out 1 cup of golden raisins, adding to the prepared apricots and cashews.

In a separate bowl, measure out 1 3/4 cup cake flour. The light texture of cake flour is absolutely necessary here.

Pour 1/2 cup of milk into a small measuring cup.

Add 2 tablespoons apricot brandy...

...and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Set aside.

Separate 3 eggs, putting the yolks in a small bowl and the whites in a medium bowl.

Measure out 1 cup of ultra-fine baker's sugar. As with cake flour, baker's sugar is very helpful in getting the right texture for the cake.

Here's the mise en place you should have ready before we begin.

Put the 3/4 cup softened, but still cold, butter into the bowl of an electric mixer, along with the sugar.

Cream at medium-high speed for about 3 minutes, until soft and fluffy.

Briefly beat the egg yolks with a fork...

...and with the mixer on low speed, mix into the butter/sugar.

Keeping the mixer on low speed, pour in 1/3 of the liquid ingredients and mix just until incorporated.

Follow with 1/3 of the flour, again mixing just until incorporated. Repeat the above steps (1/3 of wet ingredients, 1/3 of flour) two more times. Gradually adding these ingredients in this way will help keep the cake light.

To the mixer bowl, add the apricots, raisins, and cashews.

Mix on low just until combined. Set aside the batter for now.

Meanwhile, measure out 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar.

With an electric mixer, beat the egg whites just until soft peaks form.

Add the cream of tartar...

...and beat again briefly - the egg whites should form soft, but not stiff, peaks.

Stir 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter. Gently fold the remaining egg whites into the batter...

...and transfer to the prepared pan.

Bake at 275° F. for 1 3/4 to 2 hours, until lightly golden brown. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean. I generally start checking the cake with a toothpick at about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Cool completely in the pan.

Turn the cooled cake on to a plate...

...and enjoy!

Apricot-Cashew Fruitcake

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened to cool room temperature
1 cup ultra-fine Baker's sugar (or superfine sugar)
3 eggs, separated
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons apricot brandy
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cup cake flour
1 cup dried apricots, diced
1 cup golden raisins
1 cup salted cashews, coarsely chopped
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 275° F. Grease and flour a 6-cup bundt pan.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar at medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. In a small bowl, briefly beat the egg yolks. With the mixer on low, add the yolks to the butter mixture.

In another small bowl, combine the milk, apricot brandy, and vanilla. Measure the flour and set aside. With the mixer on low, add the milk and flour in four alternating batches: 1/3 of the milk, 1/3 of the flour, etc. Stir in the apricots, raisins, and cashews.

Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Add the cream of tartar and continue beating egg whites briefly (the white should not be stiff). Stir 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter. Gently fold in the remaining egg whites.

Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake until tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 3/4 to 2 hours. Cool completely in the pan. Store at room temperature wrapped tightly in plastic.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe! To view more step-by-step recipes, see the complete recipe index.

If you'd like to subscribe to future posts, you can do it here.

Maple-Orange Granola

2008-11-30T07:40:35-08:00

I've been making homemade granola since the 1970's when I was literally a granola-munching (and vegetarian) college student. Over the years, my granola recipe has evolved, but now it's settled quite nicely into this maple-orange version. And I eat a lot of this stuff--almost every morning, in fact--with yogurt and fruit.

I'm posting the recipe now because I think granola is a tasty and healthy food gift for the holidays--an alternative to all the sweets and other rich food. Just pack it up into a pretty container or wrap it up in some decorative cellophane. You could include the recipe on a hand-written recipe card.

You can go directly to the printable recipe--or I'll show you how to make it step-by-step...

Most of the ingredients we purchase at our local food coop or at Costco. It is amazingly less expensive to make granola at home vs. buying it prepared. And, as you'll see, it is also amazingly easy.

~ Preheat oven to 275° F. ~

Start by adding 6 cups old-fashioned rolled oats in a large mixing bowl. It is important to use old-fashioned oats, not quick-cooking or instant.

Add 1 cup roasted unsalted soy nuts...

...1 cup raw sunflower seeds...

...1 cup raw pumpkin seeds...

...2 to 3 cups coarsely chopped walnuts...

... and 1/4 cup dried orange peel. Dried orange peel can be hard to find; we purchase ours at Whole Foods in the bulk section.

Stir the dry ingredients together thoroughly.

Into a 4-cup measuring cup, add 1/3 cup canola oil...

...2/3 cup maple syrup...

...1 teaspoon cinnamon...

...and 2 teaspoons orange flavor. We use the Simply Organic brand that is available at our Food Coop.

Stir to combine liquid ingredients.

Add the liquid ingredients to the dry...

...and stir.

Transfer to a 9" by 13" pan.

~ Bake at 275° F for 2 hours, stirring every 20 minutes. ~

Some Suggestions...

If you can't find dried orange peel and orange flavoring, add 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract to the wet ingredients instead.
Mix in 2 cups of dried cranberries to the baked granola--festive for holiday eating and giving.
My morning breakfast is 3/4 cup non-fat yogurt, 3/4 cup frozen mixed berries (thawed in the microwave for 30 seconds), 2 teaspoons maple syrup, and 1/3 cup Maple-Orange Granola.
Sprinkle granola on top of muffins before baking (takes about 3/4 cup granola per dozen of muffins). A great alternative to a streusel topping.
Substitute granola for chopped nuts in cookie recipes.

Maple-Orange Granola

Makes about 12 cups.

Dry Ingredients
6 cups old-fashioned oats (not quick-cooking or instant)
1 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1 cup toasted (unsalted, unflavored) soy nuts
2-3 cups walnuts, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup dried orange peel

Wet ingredients
1/3 cup canola oil
2/3 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoon orange flavor (we use Simply Organic brand)

Preheat oven to 275° F. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients. In a 4-cup measure, combine wet ingredients. Add wet ingredients to dry. Stir to combine thoroughly. Transfer to a 9" by 13" pan. Bake at 275° F. for 2 hours, stirring every 20 minutes.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe! To view more step-by-step recipes, see the complete recipe index.

If you'd like to subscribe to future posts, you can do it here.

Kitchen Basics

2008-11-15T11:35:48-08:00

The past month I've had a lot of fun building a Ward Street Bistro store with my favorite kitchen items and items top-rated by Consumer Reports, Cook's Illustrated, and Fine Cooking. I purposely decided to keep the number of items in the store small--a collection of versatile items that can serve as a backbone of a well-equipped kitchen. As you can see, our kitchen is cozy and compact; we don't have room for much in the way of specialized equipment. So what you'll find in the store reflects how we equipped our kitchen, with multi-functional basics that allow us to tackle almost any kitchen task.

I've organized the store into six task areas:

When you purchase something in the store, I receive a small percentage of the sales price. But because this blog is a labor of love (rather than profit), I'll be donating any store proceeds to two charities that my mother was particularly fond of: The Salvation Army and Little Brothers - Friends of the Elderly. (The same applies, by the way, to any advertising revenues.)

So I hope you'll take a look around the store. And I'd love to get any feedback on what's there.

Weekly Meal Planning

2008-11-11T06:04:05-08:00

Through our 25 years together, my husband Drake and I have been avid meal-planners. For us, that means we start the week with an idea of what will have for dinner each night, using Sunday as time to get a running start on "food for the week." I hadn't given our system much thought until a year or so ago, when I read an article in the New York Times written by a working mom who uses a remarkably similar system. She had "drawn a line in the sand," unwilling to surrender home-cooked meals for her family.

Given current times, it seems more people are cooking at home. I'm completely sold on the advantages of home cooking from a cost, health, and pure food enjoyment perspective.

For this post, I'll take you on a quick tour of our meal-planning routine--and share some great resources for developing your own meal-planning process...

The Start

Our planning cycle begins Saturday morning when we start evaluating what we might eat during the weekend and upcoming work week. This involves a loose evaluation that typically includes:

What's in the fridge? This is a great time to see what needs to be used--or what needs to be cleaned out.
What's on special at the market? Here we either check the weekly specials mailing we receive or view it online (many groceries post specials on-line).
What's in season? Many seasonal items are highlighted in the weekly mailer, but not all. We are not shy about calling the produce department if we have a question about what's available.
What's our schedule next week? Understanding the contour of the week is important. Some weeks we have more time for weekday cooking than others. Some days we may not be eating at home.

If the above seems protracted, in reality, it's not. It's typically a 5 or 10 minute routine that gets meal-planning in progress.

A Pattern to the Week's Menus

We have a baseline pattern to our cooking routine:

Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday tend to be cooking days.
Monday, Wednesday and Friday we are more likely to re-purpose leftovers.
Sunday typically involves a roast, stew, casserole (in cool weather) or a storehouse of grilled items (in warmer weather) to carry us through the first part of the week.
Saturday is more of a wild card food-wise. We may be entertaining or going out or just hanging around home.

Our baseline pattern is just a starting point, adjusted to each particular week.

Establishing a baseline pattern is important because it provides some constraints to work within. Facing the week's meal planning with a blank slate, I think, can be overwhelming. Another approach is to designate a specific type of dish for each day of the week. For example:

Monday: Vegetarian
Tuesday: Chicken
Wednesday: Pasta
Thursday: Casserole
Friday: Pizza
Saturday: Seafood
Sunday: Roast

With some type of a established meal pattern you are less likely to become paralyzed by choice in the planning process.

Scheduling Meal Plans

I recently started entering meal plans right into my appointment calendar (rather than working it out on paper separately). I enter each day's dinner as a color-coded "all day event" so it appears at the top of each day. The advantage of working right in my calendar is that more clearly fits meal plans into what else is going on during the week.

Preparing the Shopping List

Once I've figured out what we'll have for the week, I gather up the recipes I'll need and bring them into the kitchen to prepare the shopping list. By tackling the list-writing in the kitchen, I can easily to check what items I already have and what I need to buy. We have a stash of scrap paper that Drake (aka Mr. Thrifty) has cut-up for shopping lists. I like the "footprint" of a long, narrow piece of paper--less bulk to deal with at the grocery than a full 8 1/2" by 11" sheet.

Shopping

Armed with shopping list, it's off to the grocery store. We are lucky to have a neighborhood market that features fresh, local produce. Even after reviewing the weekly flyer, sometimes there is a special or other featured item that causes me to re-think a planned meal. In this case, I'll shift gears. Pre-iPhone, I sometimes wandered over to the magazine section, browsing food magazines for inspiration. Now, I get out my iPhone, search for the ingredient in my Evernote recipe data base, and pull up likely recipes. I find grocery shopping a bit of an adventure, full of meal ideas and surprises, so if I don't mind re-thinking plans once I get to the store.

Cooking

While I love to do more leisurely cooking on the weekends, weekdays don't normally provide that luxury. Sunday afternoons are typically reserved for a "big cook" - prepping and cooking ahead to the extent possible for the week. My goal is to keep weekday food preparation down to 30 minutes or less. Any longer than that and it pushes dinner later, which not only disrupts the evening but I am more likely to snack or get over-hungry when dinner runs too late.

The Best Laid Plans...

Sometimes, we don't get much of running start to the week--for example if we've been out of town for the weekend. Or, we have some unexpected schedule change. For these situations, we have a repertoire of quick meals we can prepare with items we typically have on-hand. (Coming soon: a recipe series on our favorite pantry meals.)

Frozen Vegetables: The Other Fast Food. I think frozen vegetables are a seriously underrated alternative among food purists--and I much prefer them to the prepped and bagged "fresh" vegetables in the grocery. This topic warrants a post of its own, but suffice it to say that tossing some frozen vegetables in a skillet with shredded rotisserie chicken and a favorite stir-fry sauce beats most prepared food and fast-food alternatives. In my humble opinion anyway.

Resources

There are all sort of resources available to help with meal-planning--from paper forms to software applications to services that do the meal-planning for you. I've listed a sampling of these below.

Articles & Blog Posts

A Mom Puts Family on Her Meal Plan (New York Times)

How to Start Meal Planning with Google Calendar (eHow)

Creating a Weekly Meal Plan (Unclutterer)

Meal Planning Forms

"Traditional" Meal-Planning Form (OrganizedHome.com)

"Fun & Funky" Meal-Planning Form (Future Girl Craft Blog)
I love this form!

Tasty Planner
Tasty Planner is a well-designed (and free) web application that lets you add recipes to a weekly meal planner. Ingredients required for recipes are automatically added to an (editable) grocery list, which you can print, email, or view on your iPhone. With Tasty Planner you can also add your meal plan to any calendar that supports the iCalendar standard, including Apple iCal, Microsoft Outlook, and Google Calendar.

Recipe Management Software
Many recipe management programs include meal-planning functionality: MacGourmet (OS X only; meal-planning is a separate plug-in to the core product), MasterCook (Windows only), Shop 'N Cook Menu (OS X and Windows).

Meal-Planning Services
If the thought of figure out all the meals and putting together shopping lists is daunting, there are web-based services that do this groundwork for you (for a subscription fee). These include Saving Dinner, Dinners in a Flash, and Meal Mixer.

How do you plan meals?

I'd love to hear how you plan meals. Do you have special tips and tricks? Feel free to comment and share your ideas.

I hope you enjoyed this post! To view my full list of step-by-step recipes, see the complete recipe index.

If you'd like to subscribe to future posts, you can do it here.

Pasta with Roasted Radicchio

2008-11-05T18:19:36-08:00

I love the warm and cozy flavors of Fall, which I think come together perfectly in this pasta with roasted radicchio, sun-dried tomatoes, and olives. To complete the meal, I serve it with classic baked acorn squash. The flavors are a study in contrasts: the slightly bitter radicchio, the sweet tomatoes and acorn squash, the salty olives. To top it off, the pasta is garnished with Parmesan cheese, toasted pine nuts, and some fresh basil.

You can go directly to the printable recipe or I'll show you how to make it, step-by-step...

The ingredients. For this dish I have a preference for the pasta shape: orecchiette ("little ears"), the shape of which holds the chunky sauce. If you can't find orecchiette, any medium shaped pasta will do (bow-tie or medium shells).

Preheat the oven to 400° F. We'll roast 2 medium-to-large heads of radicchio. Raw radicchio can be somewhat bitter and spicy, but roasting mellows its flavor.

Cut the radicchio in half lengthwise...

...and cut each in half again lengthwise...

...so that you have four quarters.

Place the cut radicchio on a sheet pan and brush generously with olive oil.

Season well with salt and pepper.

Turn each piece so that a cut side is down on the sheet pan.

Roast in the preheat oven for 10 minutes; remove and turn the pieces over (so that the other cut side is down). Roast for another 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

With the oven still at 400° F, measure out 1/2 cup of pine nuts on another sheet pan.

Toast the pine nuts in the oven for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and shake the pan. Toast for another 3 to 5 minutes, until fragrant. Watch the pine nuts carefully the last few minutes; they can go from perfect to burnt in a matter of minutes. Set the pine nuts aside.

Coarsely chop the roasted and cooled radicchio and set aside.

Measure out 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil.

Slice the tomatoes into lengthwise strips...

And then cut crosswise to dice. Set aside.

Measure out 1/2 cup Kalamata olives, cut into lengthwise slivers, and set aside.

Finely mince 3 cloves of garlic.

Place a 12" skillet over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Add the garlic to the skillet; saute for a couple of minutes, just until softened (and not browned).

To the skillet add the chopped roasted radicchio...

...the diced sun-dried tomatoes...

...the slivered olives...

...and 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar.

~ Stir to thoroughly combine all ingredients. Remove temporarily from heat while getting the pasta water ready. ~

Prepare 1 pound of orecchiette pasta according to the directions in Pasta 101, reserving about a cup of the pasta cooking liquid.

While the pasta water is heating, prep 1/2 cup fresh basil. Pile up several basil leaves on top of each other...

...and tightly roll together.

Cut the roll crosswise into thin strips. Repeat until you have 1/2 cup of loosely packed basil.

~ About 10 minutes before the pasta is finished cooking, re-heat the sauce in the skillet over medium heat. ~

Add the cooked pasta to the skillet, adding some of the reserved pasta cooking water as necessary to moisten.

Garnish with the toasted pine nuts, basil, and grated Parmesan cheese.

Pasta with Roasted Radicchio

Serves 4 to 6.

2 medium-to-large heads radicchio, cut lengthwise into quarters

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and chopped

1/2 cup Kalamata olives, cut into slivers
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 lb. orecchiette pasta (or other medium-sized shaped pasta such as bow-tie or medium shells)

1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/2 cup chopped or shredded fresh basil
Grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400° F . Place quartered radicchio on a sheet pan; generously brush with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Turn radicchio so that a cut side is face-down on the sheet pan. Roast for 10 minutes in the preheated oven; remove and turn so other cut side rests on the sheet pan. Roast for an additional 10 minutes. Set aside and let cool slightly.

Place a 12" skillet over medium heat. Add the 2 tablespoons of olive oil and garlic. Saute garlic for a minute or two until it is softened; do not let it brown. Add the roasted radicchio, sun-dried tomatoes, Kalamata olives, and the 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar.

Prepare pasta according to package directions, keeping sauce warm. Combine cooked pasta and sauce in the skillet; garnish with pine nuts, basil, and Parmesan cheese.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe! To view more step-by-step recipes, see the complete recipe index.

If you'd like to subscribe to future posts, you can do it here.

New Recipe Index

2008-10-25T18:33:58-07:00

It took 50 years, but I broke my first bone (an ankle) last Monday. So, while it's not quite as easy for me to get around in the kitchen these days, I took at least part of my convalescence to update the Ward Street Bistro recipe index. It now includes both photos and text links, organized by recipe category. I think this will be much easier to browse than the previous text-only index.

Apple Cider Cupcakes

2008-10-25T14:08:38-07:00

I've been food blogging since March of this year and it's been an absolute blast. One aspect I've especially enjoyed is getting acquainted with other food bloggers. There is some serious talent on the Internets when it comes to food blogging!

For this post I'm pleased to feature a recipe from Rachel Rappaport of Coconut & Lime. She graciously agreed to "adopt" me as part of Dine & Dish's Adopt-a-Blogger event. There are so many great recipes on Coconut & Lime, but given that Fall is upon us, I decided to feature Rachel's Apple Cider Cupcakes. I took these to a pumpkin-carving party last weekend and boy, were they tasty!

I'll show you how to make these wonderful Fall cupcakes step-by-step...

The key ingredient for these cupcakes is apple cider. It's important here to use real apple cider, which is seasonally available (in the Fall) and contains pulp and sediment that apple juice lacks.

~Before you begin, leave 1/2 cup unsalted butter out to soften until it is at cool room temperature (this takes about an hour).~

Start by either greasing a 12-cup muffin tin or use muffin-cup liners.

Preheat the oven to 350° F.

Measure 1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour in a medium bowl.

Add 2 teaspoons of baking powder...

...1 teaspoon of cinnamon...

...and 1/2 teaspoon of table salt.

Whisk to combine the dry ingredients and set aside.

Measure out 1 cup of apple cider and set aside.

Place the 1/2 cup of softened butter into the bowl of an electric mixer.

Add 2/3 cup sugar.

Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy.

With the mixer running, add 2 eggs (one at a time).

Reduce the mixer speed to low and add in about 1/3 of the reserved flour mixture...

...and then add 1/2 of the apple cider. Repeat these two steps, mixing in the remaining flour mixture and cider, ending with the flour.

Fill the prepared cupcake tin with the batter.

Bake the cupcakes at 350° F for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.

Use a paring knife or skewer to remove the warm cupcakes from the tin and cool completely on a rack.

~ The above recipe is available on Coconut & Lime. ~

Frosting Options

Rachel's original recipe uses a caramel frosting, which sounds fantastic (I mean, apples, caramel - is there a better flavor combination?). I was curious, however, to try an apple cider frosting recipe I found on Epicurious, which uses cream cheese, powdered sugar, and apple cider that's been reduced from 2 cups to 1/4 cup. The frosting recipe as written on Epicurious turned out very thin - more of a glaze for drizzling than a frosting. I wanted something more spreadable. Following the advice of a commenter, I increased the amount of powdered sugar for a stiffer texture. I was very pleased with the result - the frosting still retained a wonderful tang and apple flavor from the reduced cider. But the additional powdered sugar also made a huge amount of frosting, so I've adjusted the amounts below.

Cider Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted from Epicurious

1 cup apple cider
4 oz. cream cheese, softened but still cool
1 - 2 cups powdered sugar
a pinch of salt

Put the apple cider in a small pan and bring to a boil over high heat. Continue to boil until the cider is reduced to about 2 tablespoons (it will be slightly syrupy). Set aside to cool completely.

With an electric mixer, beat together cooled reduced cider, cream cheese, pinch of salt, and 1 cup of the powdered sugar. Add enough additional powdered sugar for desired frosting texture.

My final touch was garnishing the frosted cupcakes with some chopped toasted walnuts. Optional of course, but they added a nice bit of crunch.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe! To view more step-by-step recipes, see the complete recipe index.

If you'd like to subscribe to future posts, you can do it here.

Organizing recipes with Evernote

2008-10-13T16:40:52-07:00

There are countless ways to organize your recipes online and off. I want to share with you a method that automatically syncs my recipes between a website, my home Mac, my work PC and my iPhone. And best of all, I'm doing this all with a single tool: a free version of a program called Evernote.

The reason I'm so thrilled with this system is that it lets me plan meals where ever I happen to be: at home, at work, out and about. If I see something at the market that catches my eye - a seasonal goodie or an item on special - I can easily type in the ingredient and pull up recipe options on my iPhone. But even if you don't have an iPhone, Evernote has the advantage of giving you both online and off-line access to your recipes.

I'd like to step you through my system, step-by-step...

Sign up for Evernote

First stop is the Evernote web site. I suggest viewing the "Quick Introduction to Evernote" video (4 minutes) on the Evernote homepage. It will give you a general idea how Evernote works. Though I'm showing how to use Evernote for recipes, it's handy to store all sorts of reference information.

Next, use the Evernote web site to create an Evernote account. This will give you access to the web version of Evernote (Evernote Web).

Here I've logged into Evernote Web with my account. I store information in several Notebooks - the largest of which is my Food Notebook.

Enter and Save a Recipe Manually

To create a new recipe from scratch, click New...

...type in a recipe...

...and Save Changes. So far, it's not much different than a lot of other online storage options for recipes. But let's continue on...

Install the Web Clipper

Go to the Evernote download page and choose Web Clipper. Here you have two options: a bookmarklet that works with most browsers - and a browser extension for Firefox. Follow the instructions (refer to the the handy video) to install either one of these web clippers.

I use Firebox, so I installed the Evernote Firefox Web Clipper, which sits helpfully in my browser toolbar.

Capture and Save a Recipe with the Clipper

The Web Clipper is super for capturing recipes you might want to try. Recently I saw this fantastic-looking recipe for Roasted Pear Frozen Yogurt. To capture this in Evernote...

I highlight the text of the recipe on the web page...

...and click my browser's Evernote Web Clipper.

The Web Clipper displays a little pop-up that lets me edit the title, assign the note to a notebook (in this case my default Notebook, Food) and tag it. Because this is recipe I want to try, I put an asterisk in front of the title. Alternatively, I could tag it with "to try" but I like seeing at a glance which recipes are tried-and-true and which aren't.

Once I save the note, it's available in Evernote Web.

Automatic Syncing Between Versions

But, here is the cool thing. I actually have 3 other versions Evernote installed...

Evernote PC (at work)
Evernote Mac (at home)
Evernote iPhone (mobile)

So, when I captured the frozen yogurt recipe, Evernote automatically synced it not only to Evernote Web, but to all the other versions I have installed. That means I can access this recipe where ever I may be. (Go to the Evernote downloads page to install any of these versions.)

I'll be honest, what is really killer about Evernote for me is having access to my recipes on my iPhone. It lets me go to the market, see what's looking good, and browse for meal ideas right then and there.

Formatting Text for Easy Recipe Reading

The other thing I've done that is use a standardized font style and size for my recipes so that it's easy for me to read the print-outs in the kitchen (Georgia 14 point for body text; Georgia 18 point bold for the recipe title). For whatever reason, these are referred to Georgia Medium and Georgia Large in the Web version and Mac client.

Using and Filing Recipe Print-Outs

I keep my recipe print-outs (of recipes I've tried) stored in a desktop file in our office. If it's a recipe I'm using for the first time, I'll make notes on the print-out about any changes I made or would want to make in the future. I type those notes into Evernote, print out an updated version of the recipe, and slip it in the file.

Evernote Search is Killer

Another killer feature of Evernote is its search capabilities. There is no need to tag recipes with terms such as ingredients that are already contained within the recipe. That's because it's super-fast to search for terms contained within a note.

Let's say I'm looking for something to do with apples.

I just start typing "apples" and all the recipes containing that word automagically appear.

I do use tags to indicate information that is not typically in the recipe text itself: cuisine type, course, seasonality/holiday, etc.

You can also save searches you are likely to perform a lot: for example "quick entree" or "holiday dessert".

Even Text in Images is Searchable

But wait, there's more. I'm a bit fussy about formatting my recipes for print-out, so I don't use this feature for recipes. But if you have a lot of recipes in non-digital format, you can take a picture of them, store the image in Evernote, and Evernote will recognize the text in the image. This means the text of the recipe - even though it's in a graphic format - is searchable. If you haven't viewed the short introductory video on the Evernote home page, check it out now. This is a seriously cool feature.

Disadvantages

Evernote is a general information-capture program, not a specialized recipe storage system. As such, it lacks features such as changing quantities, calculating nutritional information, generating a shopping list. And while you can publish an entire notebook so that it is public, you can't selectively choose what to share and what to keep private. (Public notebooks contains ads unless you opt for a premium membership.)

Data Portability

There is one other very important caveat, which is while Evernote states that it plans to fully support exporting data, exporting is only partially supported currently Windows desktop program and not at all in the Mac version. There is more explanation on this here. Without the ability to export data, you run the risk of data lock if the company goes out of business or otherwise stops supporting the product. Most online and many off-line solutions run the risk of data lock. So at least currently the advantage of storing your information locally - on your own computer - is only partially realized with Evernote. I decided to take the CEO at his word about the company's commitment to providing full data import/export functionality in the desktop applications. But as yet they have not announced a date on when it will be available.

Update: Please note the comment by Phil Libin, CEO of Evernote, who points out that data portability is now available.

From the Evernote Blog, Oct. 1, 2008:

Both Evernote for Mac and Evernote for Windows are now in the import/export business. You can export and import notes and notebooks from Evernote for Windows to Evernote for Mac and vice versa. The file is a well-defined XML, which means that your Evernote data is completely portable. This also means that developers can build tools to import notes from various applications into Evernote.

So, there you have it. One way to organize recipes. Like any system, there are trade-offs. But for me it is a relatively simple, flexible set-up that helps me plan meals quickly and more easily.

I hope you enjoyed this post! To view my full list of step-by-step recipes, see the complete recipe index.

If you'd like to subscribe to future posts, you can do it here.