Monthly Archives: September 2011

slow cooker season is upon us

Posted in soup, vegetarian by

This past Sunday it was rainy and gray and gloomy out so I decided to bust out my Crock-Pot and make some chili. 

I do not discriminate against different types of chili.  I like traditional beef chili, Texas style with steak, white turkey chili– they’re all good in my book.  However, the chili recipe I fall back on time and time again is actually of the vegetarian variety.

It involves not one, not two, no not even three, but four types of beans.  It’s very hardy and packed with protein so much so that you do not even think about missing any sort of meat.

The original recipe called for couscous to be added during the last few minutes of cooking but I didn’t have any so I substituted quinoa instead and I really like what it did.  It made it thicker, added some color, (I had red and white quinoa on hand) and added to the non-meat meatiness of it.  So if you haven’t already broken out your slow cooker this season, now’s the time!

Vegetarian Chili (adapted slightly from Robin Miller’s recipe found at www.foodnetwork.com)

  • 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
  • 4 cups reduced-sodium vegetable broth
  • 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 (15-ounce) can white (cannellini) beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 (15-ounce) can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 cup frozen baby lima beans or regular lima beans
  • 1 cup chopped onion
  • 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tablespoons chili powder
  • 2 tablespoons dried Mexican oregano or regular oregano
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1/2 cup quinoa
  • 1/2 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

In a slow cooker, combine all ingredients but the quinoa, shredded cheese and salt and pepper. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours or on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours.

Five to 10 minutes before serving (depending on temperature of slow cooker) add quinoa, cover and cook, until quinoa is tender. Season, to taste, with salt and black pepper.

Just before serving, top each serving with shredded cheese.

a chill is in the air

Posted in dessert by

Saturday afternoon I came home to find a pumpkin next to my front door.  Isn’t that sweet?  My upstairs neighbor left it for me and it got me in such a fall spirit I pulled out my fall wreath and put it on the front door and then decided it was high time to do some fall baking.

Fall is for sure my favorite season by far.  Mostly because of the food.  I love all things relating to the squash and root vegetable categories.  And while I am sad to see summer go I am more than happy to welcome back fall and all of the wonderful flavors it brings. 

About a month ago when it was approximately 92 degrees at 10 o’clock at night I came home to find a bat flying in circles in my living room.  Bats do not belong in my living room.  I immediately freaked out and shut myself in my bathroom calculating how long I could survive in there if need be.  Fortunately I had my cell phone with me and was able to call for back-up.  My friend volunteered her boyfriend to remove the bat from my apartment and that he did, ever so calmly.  To thank him I bought him a 6-pack of beer and decided to bake him pumpkin chocolate chip square bars.

Seems like a fair trade, right?  Well, fortunately he seems to think so too.

Pumpkin and chocolate chips compliment each other very well.  I have also used both ingredients in pancakes and muffins and they were equally as tasty.  These bars are dense and sweet with the distinct fall flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and all-spice. 

Makes that hot summer night and the bat seem like a distant memory…

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares (slightly adapted from recipe found at www.marthastewart.com)

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
  • 1 tablespoon pumpkin-pie spice (if you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, substitute 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, 3/4 teaspoon ginger, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1/2 teaspoon each allspice and cloves [all ground])
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
  • 1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips (I used mini chips)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line bottom and sides of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with foil, leaving an overhang on all sides.  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pie spice, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed until smooth; beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in pumpkin puree (mixture may appear curdled). Reduce speed to low, and mix in dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake until edges begin to pull away from sides of pan and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely in pan.

Lift cake from pan (using foil as an aid). Peel off foil, and use a serrated knife to cut into 24 squares.

a meal Michelle Obama would approve of

Posted in fish, vegetable by

I did a very bad thing last night.  For the first time in months I ate fast food.  I NEVER eat fast food but every now and again after a long week it just sounds good.  And even though yesterday was only Wednesday it had already been a long week and a few coworker/friends of mine and I decided that we needed to escape the office for a bit and indulge.  I’m feeling a little guilty (and tubby) this morning and decided to atone by posting on a very healthy meal I made over the weekend…

The healthy meal starts with lentils and you all know how I feel about lentils.  Delicious!

Then you add some carrots, garlic, and onions.  Sounds good so far!

While that was cooking I got started on a favorite side dish of mine that I learned from a friend who made it for a dinner she hosted years ago.  It involves spinach, raisins, pine nuts (I did not have any on-hand so substituted walnuts) and onions.  It’s tasty and healthy!

The combination is savory, sweet, salty, crunchy, and overall packed with things that are good for you.  I love it when things that are good for you actually taste good too!

Back to the lentil dish… it also involves pan-grilled salmon but this morning I realized that I did not get a photo of the actual salmon.  Oops.  The salmon is in the picture below but you can’t tell because I buried it with the cooked lentils and it turns out I was supposed to put the salmon on top of a bed of lentils.  I’m not running a restaurant here, people– it doesn’t always look pretty.  But it tasted pretty darn good and it almost makes me feel less bad about the chicken fingers, sweet potato fries, and custard/cookie dough concoction that I ate last night.  Almost.

Pan-Grilled Salmon Fillets with Lentils (adapted from recipe by Mark Bittman in “How to Cook Everything”)

Makes 2 servings

  • 1 cup green lentils, washed and picked over
  • 2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into ¼-inch cubes
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 ½ teaspoons mixed dry herbs (I used Herbs de Provence)
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • Coarse salt
  • 2 center-cut salmon fillets, 6 to 8 ounces each, skin on (but scaled) or off, pin bones removed

Place lentils in a large, deep saucepan with water to cover.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften, 15 to 20 minutes, then add the carrots, onion, garlic, and herbs.

Continue to cook, adding water if necessary (keep this to a minimum), until lentils and vegetables are tender, 30 to 40 minutes total.  Season with salt and pepper, add the olive oil, and keep warm.

Heat a large non-stick skillet (I don’t own non-stick cookware so I put a little olive oil on a non non-stick skillet to coat the pan) over high heat for about 5 minutes.  Sprinkle the bottom of the skillet with coarse salt, then add the salmon, skin side down.  Cook over high heat until well browned on the bottom, about 5 minutes.  Flip the salmon and cook 1 additional minute.  Place about 1 cup of lentils in the center of each of four serving plate and top with a salmon fillet (I mistakenly did the opposite.  It will be much more attractive if the salmon is on top!)

Spinach with Pine Nuts and Raisins (found at www.epicurious.com, original recipe by Joyce Goldstein in “Cucina Ebraica: Flavors of the Italian Jewish Kitchen”)

6 servings

  • 2 1/2 pounds spinach
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 small yellow onions or 6 green onions, minced
  • 4 tablespoons raisins, plumped in hot water and drained
  • 4 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted (I did not have pine nuts on hand so substituted walnuts, I have also used pecans in the past and they were good too)
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Rinse the spinach well and remove the stems. Place in a large sauté pan with only the rinsing water clinging to the leaves. Cook over medium heat, turning as needed until wilted, just a few minutes. Drain well and set aside. Add the olive oil to the now-empty pan and place over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until tender, about 8 minutes. Add the spinach, raisins, and pine nuts and sauté briefly to warm through. Season with salt and pepper and serve warm or at room temperature.

marshmallow-y goodness

Posted in cake by

You would think with a title like “marshmallow-y goodness” this post would be about a recipe that revolved around marshmallows, right?  Well in this case, you’d be wrong.  We won’t even get to the marshmallow part for a while, but once we do it will make perfect sense.  Stick with me here folks. 

Last week there were two birthdays that I wanted to bake for and since it was for two separate people and the birthdays were celebrated in two separate places and because you can’t nicely cut a birthday cake in half and take one half to one party and the other half to the other party I opted to simplify things and make cupcakes instead.  Red velvet cupcakes.  I hadn’t made them in quite some time and they sounded good– plus, they’re usually a crowd pleaser so it seemed like a safe bet.

I’ve been on the fence about using food coloring for some time now.  I don’t use it except for red velvet cake and to color icing for Christmas sugar cookies but ever since I overheard a coworker say she made a connection between red dye in foods she’s consumed and her subsequently getting nightmares after consumption I’ve been even more freaked out.  But a little bit a couple of times a year can’t be too bad for you, right?  And how the heck can you make red velvet cupcakes if they aren’t red?  No one would know what to think.  (Yes, the thought has occurred to me to try using beet juice or some other such natural dye.  Some day when I have loads of time I will try this…)

My compromise was to use less red food coloring than the recipe called for.  The result was more of a burgundy-colored cupcake which I found to be quite aesthetically pleasing.  And no one questioned what kind of cupcakes they were– there was just enough red to them. 

Now here is where the title subject comes in… Years ago I was doing my usual routine of watching the Saturday morning Food Network lineup and Paula Dean made red velvet cake with a cream cheese frosting and to that cream cheese frosting she added melted marshmallows.  Eureka!

Paula’s recipe calls for one cup of melted marshmallows but if one cup is good two is even better, right?  The answer is yes, yes two cups of melted marshmallows in cream cheese frosting is supreme.  And to continue with my kick of substituting mascarpone cheese for cream cheese in frosting I tried that here too.  It’s to die for.  Heck, I even forgot to sift my dang cake flour before mixing so the cake from my batch of cupcakes was a little dense but the heavenly frosting more than made up for it.  No complaints whatsoever from the birthday peeps!

Red Velvet Cupcakes (adapted from Red Velvet Cake with Raspberries and Blueberries found at www.epicurious.com)

  • 2 ¼ cups sifted cake flour (sifted, then measured)
  • 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1/2 tablespoon red food coloring
  • 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup sugar
  • ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line muffin tins with muffin cups (this recipe makes about 18 cupcakes) and set aside.

Sift sifted flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into medium bowl.  Whisk buttermilk, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla in small bowl to blend.  Using electronic mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until well blended.  Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until well blended after each addition.  Beat in dry ingredients in 4 additions alternately with buttermilk mixture in 3 additions.

Pour batter into prepared muffin cups.  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the cupcakes spring back when touched.

Remove from oven and let cool for about 10 minutes, then turn the cupcakes out of the tins and onto a rack to finish cooling completely.  Frost with Mascarpone Marshmallow Frosting (recipe below).

Mascarpone Marshmallow Frosting (adapted from Grandmother Paula’s Red Velvet Cake Icing recipe found at www.foodnetwork.com)

  • 1 (8-ounce) package mascarpone cheese
  • 1 stick butter, softened
  • 2 cups melted marshmallows
  • 1 (1-pound) box confectioners’ sugar

Blend mascarpone cheese and butter together in a mixing bowl. Add marshmallows and confectioners’ sugar and blend.

final burst of summer

Posted in dessert, fruit, pie by

How can it be Labor Day weekend already?  Didn’t summer just get started?  Just a few weeks ago I bought raspberries, blueberries, cherries, and yes even strawberries at the farmer’s market and now the only fruit I can find there is apples?  What???

No matter.  I didn’t let a little lack of fruit at the farmer’s market stop me from making something I wanted to ever since I saw a picture of it in July’s Bon Appetit magazine: hand pies.  And not just one batch of hand pies– I went full-on and did a double batch for a bbq I attended and made both blueberry and cherry varieties. 

And what does every pie start with?  Crust of course.

I made a lot of crust.  I knew there were going to be a lot of people at the bbq and since the recipe only made 12 individual pies I didn’t want anyone to feel left out so made 24 little hand pies.  What was I thinking?

The making of the crust was pretty simple, as was the making of the fillings.  In general, I find pies to be one of the easiest and quickest desserts to make and the thought of individual pies just seemed so quaint and fun that I couldn’t help myself.

I had visions of wrapping them all cute in individual wax paper bags and serving them from a basket lined with a vintage dish towel with some fun floral pattern on it.  Sounds lovely and charming, right?

A word to the wise: do not make these when you are slightly pressed for time.  Also it’s probably a good idea not to make them the first time you meet your future in-laws, say, or when you’re trying to impress your new boss.  Neither of those things was the case with me, I’m just trying to think of scenarios when it might not be a great time to try something so meticulous as crafting hand pies.

The rolling out of the dough and the slicing up into squares went well.  Dropping filling onto the squares even went pretty well, too.  (Note the below image was the last batch I put together.  The first few go-rounds were definitely not so photo-worthy…)

I’m a generous person and I want everyone’s pie to have a generous portion of filling.  That is not a good way to think when making hand pies.  A little dollop will do in this case.  Anything more than that will ooze out the side of the pie and prevent you from being able to seal it.

Sealing the pie is key.  Above is one of the few pies that actually looked halfway decent.  Below you will see the finished product when pies are not sealed properly.  Not the prettiest, but thank goodness for that parchment paper.  That saved me from having to scrub the baking sheets afterwards.  Thank you parchment  paper!

Fortunately the pies were not so unattractive once peeled off the parchment paper.  In fact, they were even kind of cute.  I ran out of time for the whole wax paper bag thing, but in the end it didn’t really matter– they were a hit at the bbq.  Happy Labor Day weekend and I hope you enjoy these last moments of summer!

Hand Pies (adapted from Blackberry Hand Pie and Cherry Hand Pie recipes from www.epicurious.com)

  • Pastry dough for a double-crust pie (see recipe below)
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • 2 tablespoons raw sugar

Blueberry Hand Pie Filling

  • 2 ½ cups blueberries
  • 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon tapioca flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 6 tablespoons sugar

Cook blueberries, tapioca flour, cinnamon and sugar in a 2-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring frequently, until mixture just boils and is thickened, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a shallow bowl to cool.

Cherry Hand Pie Filling

  • 1 1/2 tablespoons tapioca flour
  • 2 cups fresh cherries, stemmed and pitted, or about 12 ounces frozen pitted cherries, unthawed
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Combine fresh cherries, sugar and salt in a large saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until cherry juices are released, about 5 minutes. Add tapioca flour; bring to a boil, stirring often. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.

Hand Pie Instructions

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 375°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Roll out half of dough 3/4 inch thick on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 16- by 11-inch rectangle, then trim into a 15- by 10-inch rectangle, reserving scraps. Cut into 6 (5-inch) squares. Place a heaping tablespoon of fruit filling in center of 1 square. Moisten edges of square with milk and fold into a triangle, pressing edges to seal. Transfer to a lined baking sheet and press tines of a fork around edges of triangle. Make 5 more triangles in same manner, arranging them 1 inch apart on baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough and filling, rerolling all of the scraps together once to make 12 triangles total.

Brush triangles with milk and sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons raw sugar. Bake, switching position of pans halfway through baking, until pies are golden, about 30 minutes total. Transfer pies to racks to cool.

Pastry Dough (found at epicurious.com)

  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
  • 1/4 cup cold vegetable shortening (preferably trans-fat-free)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 5 to 7 tablespoons ice water

Blend together flour, butter, shortening, and salt in a bowl with your fingertips or a pastry blender (or pulse in a food processor) just until mixture resembles coarse meal with some small (roughly pea-size) butter lumps. Drizzle 3 tablespoons ice water (for a single-crust pie) or 5 tablespoons for a double-crust pie evenly over mixture and gently stir with a fork (or pulse) until incorporated.

Squeeze a small handful of dough: If it doesn’t hold together, add more ice water 1/2 tablespoon at a time, stirring (or pulsing) until incorporated. Do not overwork dough, or pastry will be tough. Turn out dough onto a work surface. For a single-crust pie, divide dough into 4 portions; for a double-crust pie, divide dough into 8 portions. With heel of your hand, smear each portion once or twice in a forward motion to help distribute fat. Gather all dough together with pastry scraper. For a single-crust pie, press into a ball, then flatten into a 5-inch disk. For a double-crust pie, divide dough into 2 pieces, with one slightly larger, then form each into a ball and flatten each into a 5-inch disk. If dough is sticky, dust lightly with additional flour. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and chill until firm, at least 1 hour.