I discovered something new the other day and gave it a try. It worked great, so I just have to share.
We all have had those pre-made biscuits in the can. You know, the ones where you peel the paper until the can POPS open. Well, I saw somebody on tv the other day use them to make flatbread. I figured I'd try it out.
On the show, they rolled out the biscuits with a mixture of flour and cornmeal, but I was going for something a little different than them, so I used a combo of flour and sesame seeds. I tried it with just flour, though, too, and that worked just as well. You just press them down a little and roll them out the way you would a pie dough. I used two biscuits pressed together to make the size flatbread I wanted, which turned out to be about a 6-inch circle by using two biscuits. If you roll the dough out paper thin, you get a crispier, thin flatbread. If you don't roll the dough out to within an inch of its life, maybe a quarter inch, it will instead puff up just a little, and be a little softer.
After rolling out the biscuit dough, you just cook them in a nonstick pan with a tiny amount of oil, or a couple sprays of cooking spray. You have to add more oil or spray when you flip the flatbread.
Once the flatbread is cooked, you can do all kinds of things with it. I caramelized some slivered onions with some butter, olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, and a little sugar to push the caramelization. Then I spread those on the flatbread and topped them with thin slices of fresh mozzarella, and a little basil. I baked them in the oven for about 10 minutes, and YUM, it was great! I am sure I could do all sorts of other things with it, too. I have all kinds of ideas.
The next time you have one of those silly little cans of biscuit dough, give this a try, you won't be sorry.
Happy Holiday eating!
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Christmas Traditions
Every family has their own Christmas traditions, and many involve food. In our family, the holiday festivities always began early. We had traditions that took place days or even weeks before the Big Day itself. For instance, we would have a tree-decorating party, and make a big deal of it. We'd get out all the ornaments, play Christmas music, and have a big spread of food and sparkling juice while we adorned the tree.
Another tradition was our Christmas Eve dinner, which was a much bigger deal for us than Christmas Day dinner. We always opened our gifts to each other and from others on Christmas Eve, and on Christmas morning, just the Santa Claus gifts were opened (and our stockings). Christmas Eve day was spent hanging out together, drinking, and eating. We always watched White Christmas in the afternoon with some appetizers. Then we'd have the big Christmas Eve feast, then dessert, after-dinner drinks, and present-opening.
Christmas Eve dinner was always fish or seafood in our house. It is a tradition that had been handed down from my grandmother's family. It is not a very common meal for Christmas; most people think of ham or turkey or something like that when they think of holiday meals (although I have heard that fish for holidays is a tradition in some Italian homes). For us, it was just normal. We sometimes had fish, but occassionally we would have crab legs. Alaskan King, of course. I never liked fish much, but I do love crab legs.
This year we are having Christmas Eve dinner at my sister's house in Ohio, and most of the family will be there. She told me they ordered tons of Alaskan King crab legs, and I'm excited! I'll definitely be cheating on my vegetarian diet this Christmas Eve. I didnt' even ask her what else we'll be having on the side, cuz really, who cares?!
On Christmas morning, after opening Santa gifts, we would sit down to our traditional breakfast of bagels, cream cheese, and lox. It is a simple meal that requires no cooking on a day when everybody has more important things to do than be stuck in the kitchen.
Whatever your traditions are, celebrate the season with joy, and be merry, but be safe!
Happy Holiday eating!
Another tradition was our Christmas Eve dinner, which was a much bigger deal for us than Christmas Day dinner. We always opened our gifts to each other and from others on Christmas Eve, and on Christmas morning, just the Santa Claus gifts were opened (and our stockings). Christmas Eve day was spent hanging out together, drinking, and eating. We always watched White Christmas in the afternoon with some appetizers. Then we'd have the big Christmas Eve feast, then dessert, after-dinner drinks, and present-opening.
Christmas Eve dinner was always fish or seafood in our house. It is a tradition that had been handed down from my grandmother's family. It is not a very common meal for Christmas; most people think of ham or turkey or something like that when they think of holiday meals (although I have heard that fish for holidays is a tradition in some Italian homes). For us, it was just normal. We sometimes had fish, but occassionally we would have crab legs. Alaskan King, of course. I never liked fish much, but I do love crab legs.
This year we are having Christmas Eve dinner at my sister's house in Ohio, and most of the family will be there. She told me they ordered tons of Alaskan King crab legs, and I'm excited! I'll definitely be cheating on my vegetarian diet this Christmas Eve. I didnt' even ask her what else we'll be having on the side, cuz really, who cares?!
On Christmas morning, after opening Santa gifts, we would sit down to our traditional breakfast of bagels, cream cheese, and lox. It is a simple meal that requires no cooking on a day when everybody has more important things to do than be stuck in the kitchen.
Whatever your traditions are, celebrate the season with joy, and be merry, but be safe!
Happy Holiday eating!
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Soup's On, Part V: Vegetable-Cheese Soup
There are a few different basic methods I use for creating cheese soup, but one of them is my own version of the cheese soup my mom used to make us when I was younger. It is yummy, and it also has (for me anyway) that nostalgic, remembered-taste aspect to it. It just uses Velveeta without any other cheeses, which you may think sounds silly, but it is really very good. It's the type of soup I make most often, which is really saying something. I like me some soup.
One key aspect to this soup is celery. I mix and match the veggies that go into this soup, but I never ever make it without celery. Celery, Velveeta, and a good-quality stock are essentials. Other veggies that go into the soup can be mixed and matched according to what is on hand.
The following amounts are approximate, and can be widely altered to suit your tastes or what is available:
3 stalks celery, thinly sliced
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 cup veggies: thinly sliced or shredded carrot, minced or chopped potato, chopped frozen broccoli, etc.
1 cup milk mixed well with 2 tbsp flour
4 tbsp butter
4-6 cups good veggie stock (or other flavor stock you like)
10-12 oz. Velveeta, cubed
Salt, pepper, parsley
If using potatoes, I often par-boil them in a separate pot first while I'm chopping the other veggies. Melt the butter in a large pot and add the fresh veggies according to cook time. Celery first, then onions, then carrots. When they are softened, add any frozen veggies and milk/flour mixture. Let that cook for a minute or two until it thickens. Add in stock, parsley, and par-boiled potatoes if using those. Let the stock simmer until all the veggies are cooked; that may be a minute or several. Once the veggies are where you want them, start adding the Velveeta a little at a time, with the soup over medium-low heat and stirring often. If you let a Velveeta sauce stand over heat for too long, you'll get burned brown pieces on the bottom of the pot. It's not the end of the world, but it's not very appetizing-looking, so just stir often as you add the cheese. Once the cheese is all melted into the soup, taste for seasoning and thickness; add more cheese, stock, or seasoning as necessary.
My mom would use chicken stock for this soup, but I obviously always use veggie stock. Another difference is that my mom used both grated potatoes and grated carrots. That's works fine, too, you just want to add anything grated in later, with the frozen veggies, and not cook the hell out of them, or they'll turn to mush pretty quickly.
One trick of mine is to either make the stock right before making the soup or to heat up the stock I'm using in another pot. Either way the stock is warmed when I add it to the soup, so it won't take the temperature down dramatically.
I'm hungry.
Happy Holiday eating!
One key aspect to this soup is celery. I mix and match the veggies that go into this soup, but I never ever make it without celery. Celery, Velveeta, and a good-quality stock are essentials. Other veggies that go into the soup can be mixed and matched according to what is on hand.
The following amounts are approximate, and can be widely altered to suit your tastes or what is available:
3 stalks celery, thinly sliced
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 cup veggies: thinly sliced or shredded carrot, minced or chopped potato, chopped frozen broccoli, etc.
1 cup milk mixed well with 2 tbsp flour
4 tbsp butter
4-6 cups good veggie stock (or other flavor stock you like)
10-12 oz. Velveeta, cubed
Salt, pepper, parsley
If using potatoes, I often par-boil them in a separate pot first while I'm chopping the other veggies. Melt the butter in a large pot and add the fresh veggies according to cook time. Celery first, then onions, then carrots. When they are softened, add any frozen veggies and milk/flour mixture. Let that cook for a minute or two until it thickens. Add in stock, parsley, and par-boiled potatoes if using those. Let the stock simmer until all the veggies are cooked; that may be a minute or several. Once the veggies are where you want them, start adding the Velveeta a little at a time, with the soup over medium-low heat and stirring often. If you let a Velveeta sauce stand over heat for too long, you'll get burned brown pieces on the bottom of the pot. It's not the end of the world, but it's not very appetizing-looking, so just stir often as you add the cheese. Once the cheese is all melted into the soup, taste for seasoning and thickness; add more cheese, stock, or seasoning as necessary.
My mom would use chicken stock for this soup, but I obviously always use veggie stock. Another difference is that my mom used both grated potatoes and grated carrots. That's works fine, too, you just want to add anything grated in later, with the frozen veggies, and not cook the hell out of them, or they'll turn to mush pretty quickly.
One trick of mine is to either make the stock right before making the soup or to heat up the stock I'm using in another pot. Either way the stock is warmed when I add it to the soup, so it won't take the temperature down dramatically.
I'm hungry.
Happy Holiday eating!
Friday, December 10, 2010
Veggie Meats
When I first became a vegetarian, a whopping 18+ years ago, there weren't a lot of good veggie-meat options. There were a few things out there, like veggie dogs, and veggie burgers that at the time still were obvious veggie patties... meaning, there weren't any veggie burgers that looked and tasted like regular burgers.
Since that time, though, the veggie meat possibilities have exploded. There are all kinds of options for a multitude of uses, and many of them are quite tasty. It could be debated whether they taste exactly like the original, but I don't think that's the point. I use veggie meat substitutes in the same way I would use it's real counterpart, but it doesn't have to taste the exact same as the counterpart - it just has to taste good (and they do). Many options, however, are close enough to the original that they actually fool meat-eaters. For your consideration: I made tacos with burger crumbles once, and at the dinner my carnivorous friend, chowing down on her "meat-" filled taco and noticing that I had "meat" in mine too, asked me if I wasn't a vegetarian anymore. I happily informed her that the taco meat was not, in fact, meat, and she was truly surprised. Then she talked all night about how yummy it was.
Now, none of these items are necessary to be able to create vegetarian meals. You can forgo the meat part entirely and live just fine on veggies, carbs, dairy, all the millions of food options that need no meat or meat substitute. Some would even say that using veggie meats defeats the point of being a vegetarian. But I am not really using veggie meat products simply because I have to make meat-based meals. I make a lot of meat-free and fake-meat-free meals. It's just that there happen to be lots of delicious, protein-packed, healthy foods out there that are tasty, and that vegetarians can use, and I'm gonna use 'em. If I am able to make classic meat dishes with veggie meats that still taste great, then that is a bonus. But, I'm not trying to keep the 'meat and potatoes' formula in our food at all times. I just eat what I like, and sometimes that's meat-free, and other times it is fake meat.
We are so lucky that we have so many good, healthy, tasty meat-free options, and I do use them often. I figured I'd give a little sampling of some of my favorites out of the hundreds I've tried over the years, in case anybody needs info on adding these healthier options to your meals. Even for non-vegetarians, they are tasty enough that it's justifyable to bring these to your kitchen to save a few calories and fat grams. As a bonus, they are way easier to cook than meat, making for much faster meal prep time. This is just a tiny sampling and review of some veggie meats I have tried, with some info to get you started:
Morningstar Farms
Morningstar Farms makes lots of products that are easy to use and readily available in most supermarkets. Many of their products are vegetarian, but they also have vegan versions of some of their products.
Burger Crumbles: MF's Burger Crumbles are frozen and will substitute for ground beef or other ground meats in chilis, tomato sauce, sloppy joes, taco meat, and lots of other things. They are cooked, so they just have to be brought to temp to be ready to eat. This is the veggie meat we eat the most of. I use Burger Crumbles for many, many things.
Chik'n Strips: MF's frozen chick'n strips are great to use in sauce-free dishes, like a simple stir-fry. They soak up sauce, so you don't want to let them cook in a sauce or they will get soggy. If you want a sauce on them, you have to sauce them when serving. They are great just to sautee quickly and serve with mashed potatoes. Their texture and flavor, in comparison to real chicken, is one of the best. Good stuff.
Veggie Bacon: MF's version of bacon strips is also frozen, and the most like the 'real thing' out of the various veggie bacons I've had. They can be sauteed on the stove, but an easier way is just to lay them on a plate and nuke them in the microwave until they are the texture you want - less time for softer, more time for crispier. Veggie bacon is great on BLT's or for a breakfast sandwich.
Veggie Dogs: I like Morningstar Farm's Veggie Dogs better than most other brands I've had, but they are harder and harder to find these days. They taste exactly like regular hot dogs, and should be used accordingly.
Boca Brand
I don't enjoy most Boca products as much as I do Morningstar Farms', but Boca does have a huge selection of items and a few that I really like.
Boca Burgers: Boca brand veggie hamburgers are not my fave, but they seem to be really popular in general, so somebody obviously likes them. The reason I don't love them is that, for me, they tend to have a bit of an aftertaste (the same for Boca breakfast sausages), so I don't usually buy Boca burgers - I stick with Morningstar. They have a huge variety of flavors, and some of my friends love Boca's burgers, so it's worth it to give them a try.
Boca chick'n patties - this veggie version of the classic round, breaded, ready-for-a-bun chicken patty is a good substitute for the original. The breading is nice and crisp. The spicy version of chick'n patties have a nice kick to them. Great with mayo, ketchup, and cheese on a hamburger bun - old school.
Sausages - I really love Boca's selection of main-meal sausages. They have Italian, Bratwurst, and Smoked Sausages. Well, I don't know if they even make the smoked sausage anymore, because I haven't been able to find them. Which is a bummer, because I LOVED them. The Italian Sausages and Bratwurst by either Boca or Morningstar are great. They are super easy to heat and eat, and are perfect on a roll with your favorite toppings or served as-is next to a plate of noodles, sauerkraut, grilled veggies, whatever normally would go. I like to pair veggie Italian Sausage with my eggplant parmesan.
Worthington
Worthington is a company that has been around making veggie substitute products for a very long time. Almost all of their offerings are canned, instead of frozen. There is one product in particular that I love.
FriChik - I talked about using FriChik in my blog about Chicken Paprikash. Unlike MF's frozen chik'n strips, FriChik won't soak up all the sauce it's cooked in, making it great for dishes like Paprikash, or other stews, soups, and saucy dishes. FriChik is really moist and flavorful. It doesn't taste as much like chicken as some other chicken substitutes, but it's similar, and it doesn't matter anyway, because frichick istself is a very tasty item. I can eat it, sliced, straight out of the can. FriChik is super easy to use as it is already fully cooked and it's not frozen, so just heat and eat. However, FriChik can be much harder to find than Boca or MF products. I have had to order it online, but that's not difficult to do.
Weiners - Worthington makes cocktail weiners as well as full-size dogs that I have never had, but have heard are very good.
SmartDeli -
SmartDeli's vegetarian foods are usually refrigerated instead of frozen. Many supermarkets are carrying their products now, so they are easier to find.
Veggie Dogs - if I can't find MF's veggie dogs, my second choice is SmartDeli. Theirs are also a stealthy substitute for real dogs - Serve them and I bet no one would know the difference.
Lunch Meat - SmartDeli has a line of veggie lunch meats, most of which are quite tasty. The bologna is the closest match to the original, because bologna is so processed anyway, it's not hard to mimic. The turkey is also good. As a bonus, they are way less fatty than regular lunch meats, and have lots of healthy soy protein.
Chick'n strips - another type of veggie chicken in strip form, smartdeli's version is good for a few specific uses. They can handle sauces in the way that frichik can (unlike MF's chik'n strips), and they hold up well with frying. I make a breaded version of smartdeli's chick'n strips that tastes just like real fried chicken. I kid you not. When I want something homey, greasy and fried, I make smartdeli chick'n strip fried chicken. Ask my husband, and he'll tell you - it's good stuff.
Yves
This company makes several refrigerated items similar to what SmartDeli produces: lunchmeats, etc. These brands are often found right next to each other at the grocery store.
Pepperoni - when I need pepperoni, I use Yves brand. They can be used striaght from the package (no cooking needed, like most veggie meats) and put on pizzas, sandwiches, or just eaten straight up. The big difference between this and real pepperoni is that it doesn't ooze fat everywhere when you cook it. The taste is mildly spicy and very flavorful; it's not an exact match, but it fulfills the craving just fine.
Quorn
I'm not a huge fan of Quorn products. Unlike some other veggie meats which are soy-based, quorn's structure is based (if I remember correctly) on a fungus - a mushroom, I think- to get their protein structure. In any case, it is noticeably different with the texture than other brands, and I think they are very successful with the texture and overall look of the products. But, I haven't had a quorn product yet that was very tasty to me, or that I would replace with any of my other standbys. That's not to say that you shouldn't try quorn products, because they obviously do an ok busisness, so somebody is enjoying them. And, they have several unique items that other companies don't have: things like stuffed chick'n breasts, and other fully-prepared items.
Veat
Veat products have been around for quite a while, and they have several types of veggie meats that are, once again, frozen. I haven't tried all the veat products, but there is one that I use from time to time.
Veat Chick'n: The taste of veat chicken is not exactly like chicken; but it is a good taste. One handy thing is that they have various cuts of veat that are easy to use; you can buy veat chicken in little cubes for a stir fry or to skewer and grill, or buy long strips for chicken fingers or whatever. I don't buy veat often, but when I do, it's because they have the exact shape and style I need for a specific use.
Hopefully this helps explain a little about veggie meats and demystifies the idea of using them once in a while. Even if you are a meat-eater, there are plenty of veggie meats that anybody would love, meat-eater or not, and it's a great way to add some good soy protein into your diet and reduce some of the fat and cholesterol. Give them a try, you may be pleasantly surprised. And if you have a veggie burger that sucks, rest assured there are many out there that don't.
Happy eating!
Since that time, though, the veggie meat possibilities have exploded. There are all kinds of options for a multitude of uses, and many of them are quite tasty. It could be debated whether they taste exactly like the original, but I don't think that's the point. I use veggie meat substitutes in the same way I would use it's real counterpart, but it doesn't have to taste the exact same as the counterpart - it just has to taste good (and they do). Many options, however, are close enough to the original that they actually fool meat-eaters. For your consideration: I made tacos with burger crumbles once, and at the dinner my carnivorous friend, chowing down on her "meat-" filled taco and noticing that I had "meat" in mine too, asked me if I wasn't a vegetarian anymore. I happily informed her that the taco meat was not, in fact, meat, and she was truly surprised. Then she talked all night about how yummy it was.
Now, none of these items are necessary to be able to create vegetarian meals. You can forgo the meat part entirely and live just fine on veggies, carbs, dairy, all the millions of food options that need no meat or meat substitute. Some would even say that using veggie meats defeats the point of being a vegetarian. But I am not really using veggie meat products simply because I have to make meat-based meals. I make a lot of meat-free and fake-meat-free meals. It's just that there happen to be lots of delicious, protein-packed, healthy foods out there that are tasty, and that vegetarians can use, and I'm gonna use 'em. If I am able to make classic meat dishes with veggie meats that still taste great, then that is a bonus. But, I'm not trying to keep the 'meat and potatoes' formula in our food at all times. I just eat what I like, and sometimes that's meat-free, and other times it is fake meat.
We are so lucky that we have so many good, healthy, tasty meat-free options, and I do use them often. I figured I'd give a little sampling of some of my favorites out of the hundreds I've tried over the years, in case anybody needs info on adding these healthier options to your meals. Even for non-vegetarians, they are tasty enough that it's justifyable to bring these to your kitchen to save a few calories and fat grams. As a bonus, they are way easier to cook than meat, making for much faster meal prep time. This is just a tiny sampling and review of some veggie meats I have tried, with some info to get you started:
Morningstar Farms
Morningstar Farms makes lots of products that are easy to use and readily available in most supermarkets. Many of their products are vegetarian, but they also have vegan versions of some of their products.
Burger Crumbles: MF's Burger Crumbles are frozen and will substitute for ground beef or other ground meats in chilis, tomato sauce, sloppy joes, taco meat, and lots of other things. They are cooked, so they just have to be brought to temp to be ready to eat. This is the veggie meat we eat the most of. I use Burger Crumbles for many, many things.
Chik'n Strips: MF's frozen chick'n strips are great to use in sauce-free dishes, like a simple stir-fry. They soak up sauce, so you don't want to let them cook in a sauce or they will get soggy. If you want a sauce on them, you have to sauce them when serving. They are great just to sautee quickly and serve with mashed potatoes. Their texture and flavor, in comparison to real chicken, is one of the best. Good stuff.
Veggie Bacon: MF's version of bacon strips is also frozen, and the most like the 'real thing' out of the various veggie bacons I've had. They can be sauteed on the stove, but an easier way is just to lay them on a plate and nuke them in the microwave until they are the texture you want - less time for softer, more time for crispier. Veggie bacon is great on BLT's or for a breakfast sandwich.
Veggie Dogs: I like Morningstar Farm's Veggie Dogs better than most other brands I've had, but they are harder and harder to find these days. They taste exactly like regular hot dogs, and should be used accordingly.
Boca Brand
I don't enjoy most Boca products as much as I do Morningstar Farms', but Boca does have a huge selection of items and a few that I really like.
Boca Burgers: Boca brand veggie hamburgers are not my fave, but they seem to be really popular in general, so somebody obviously likes them. The reason I don't love them is that, for me, they tend to have a bit of an aftertaste (the same for Boca breakfast sausages), so I don't usually buy Boca burgers - I stick with Morningstar. They have a huge variety of flavors, and some of my friends love Boca's burgers, so it's worth it to give them a try.
Boca chick'n patties - this veggie version of the classic round, breaded, ready-for-a-bun chicken patty is a good substitute for the original. The breading is nice and crisp. The spicy version of chick'n patties have a nice kick to them. Great with mayo, ketchup, and cheese on a hamburger bun - old school.
Sausages - I really love Boca's selection of main-meal sausages. They have Italian, Bratwurst, and Smoked Sausages. Well, I don't know if they even make the smoked sausage anymore, because I haven't been able to find them. Which is a bummer, because I LOVED them. The Italian Sausages and Bratwurst by either Boca or Morningstar are great. They are super easy to heat and eat, and are perfect on a roll with your favorite toppings or served as-is next to a plate of noodles, sauerkraut, grilled veggies, whatever normally would go. I like to pair veggie Italian Sausage with my eggplant parmesan.
Worthington
Worthington is a company that has been around making veggie substitute products for a very long time. Almost all of their offerings are canned, instead of frozen. There is one product in particular that I love.
FriChik - I talked about using FriChik in my blog about Chicken Paprikash. Unlike MF's frozen chik'n strips, FriChik won't soak up all the sauce it's cooked in, making it great for dishes like Paprikash, or other stews, soups, and saucy dishes. FriChik is really moist and flavorful. It doesn't taste as much like chicken as some other chicken substitutes, but it's similar, and it doesn't matter anyway, because frichick istself is a very tasty item. I can eat it, sliced, straight out of the can. FriChik is super easy to use as it is already fully cooked and it's not frozen, so just heat and eat. However, FriChik can be much harder to find than Boca or MF products. I have had to order it online, but that's not difficult to do.
Weiners - Worthington makes cocktail weiners as well as full-size dogs that I have never had, but have heard are very good.
SmartDeli -
SmartDeli's vegetarian foods are usually refrigerated instead of frozen. Many supermarkets are carrying their products now, so they are easier to find.
Veggie Dogs - if I can't find MF's veggie dogs, my second choice is SmartDeli. Theirs are also a stealthy substitute for real dogs - Serve them and I bet no one would know the difference.
Lunch Meat - SmartDeli has a line of veggie lunch meats, most of which are quite tasty. The bologna is the closest match to the original, because bologna is so processed anyway, it's not hard to mimic. The turkey is also good. As a bonus, they are way less fatty than regular lunch meats, and have lots of healthy soy protein.
Chick'n strips - another type of veggie chicken in strip form, smartdeli's version is good for a few specific uses. They can handle sauces in the way that frichik can (unlike MF's chik'n strips), and they hold up well with frying. I make a breaded version of smartdeli's chick'n strips that tastes just like real fried chicken. I kid you not. When I want something homey, greasy and fried, I make smartdeli chick'n strip fried chicken. Ask my husband, and he'll tell you - it's good stuff.
Yves
This company makes several refrigerated items similar to what SmartDeli produces: lunchmeats, etc. These brands are often found right next to each other at the grocery store.
Pepperoni - when I need pepperoni, I use Yves brand. They can be used striaght from the package (no cooking needed, like most veggie meats) and put on pizzas, sandwiches, or just eaten straight up. The big difference between this and real pepperoni is that it doesn't ooze fat everywhere when you cook it. The taste is mildly spicy and very flavorful; it's not an exact match, but it fulfills the craving just fine.
Quorn
I'm not a huge fan of Quorn products. Unlike some other veggie meats which are soy-based, quorn's structure is based (if I remember correctly) on a fungus - a mushroom, I think- to get their protein structure. In any case, it is noticeably different with the texture than other brands, and I think they are very successful with the texture and overall look of the products. But, I haven't had a quorn product yet that was very tasty to me, or that I would replace with any of my other standbys. That's not to say that you shouldn't try quorn products, because they obviously do an ok busisness, so somebody is enjoying them. And, they have several unique items that other companies don't have: things like stuffed chick'n breasts, and other fully-prepared items.
Veat
Veat products have been around for quite a while, and they have several types of veggie meats that are, once again, frozen. I haven't tried all the veat products, but there is one that I use from time to time.
Veat Chick'n: The taste of veat chicken is not exactly like chicken; but it is a good taste. One handy thing is that they have various cuts of veat that are easy to use; you can buy veat chicken in little cubes for a stir fry or to skewer and grill, or buy long strips for chicken fingers or whatever. I don't buy veat often, but when I do, it's because they have the exact shape and style I need for a specific use.
Hopefully this helps explain a little about veggie meats and demystifies the idea of using them once in a while. Even if you are a meat-eater, there are plenty of veggie meats that anybody would love, meat-eater or not, and it's a great way to add some good soy protein into your diet and reduce some of the fat and cholesterol. Give them a try, you may be pleasantly surprised. And if you have a veggie burger that sucks, rest assured there are many out there that don't.
Happy eating!
Monday, December 6, 2010
Spinach Dip: Cold
Now, my basic recipe for cold spinach dip. Most spinach dip you can buy at the store is so light on the spinach that it seems like you are putting just a blob of mayo on your cracker. I like my spinach dip to actually have some spinach in it, and since it is so damn easy to make, I always make my own instead of buying it.
I really like the crunch of water chestnuts in this dip. Adding chopped green onion, a kick of hot peppers, or fresh dill can make a nice variation.
1 (10 oz.) package frozen spinach, thawed and very well drained
1/2 c real mayo
1 tbsp milk or cream
1/3 c water chestnuts (canned), drained, chopped
1/4 tsp each salt, black pepper, and crushed red pepper
Stir everything together well and season to taste. Add more mayo for a creamier dip; add more milk for a thinner dip.
If you want to use fresh baby spinach for the dip instead of frozen, you can sautee chopped fresh spinach in a little butter or oil, tossing until the spinach is wilted. Just be sure to let it cool before using in the recipe.
I love cold spinach dip with water crackers, but like the hot version, it goes well on just about anything.
Happy Holiday eating!
I really like the crunch of water chestnuts in this dip. Adding chopped green onion, a kick of hot peppers, or fresh dill can make a nice variation.
1 (10 oz.) package frozen spinach, thawed and very well drained
1/2 c real mayo
1 tbsp milk or cream
1/3 c water chestnuts (canned), drained, chopped
1/4 tsp each salt, black pepper, and crushed red pepper
Stir everything together well and season to taste. Add more mayo for a creamier dip; add more milk for a thinner dip.
If you want to use fresh baby spinach for the dip instead of frozen, you can sautee chopped fresh spinach in a little butter or oil, tossing until the spinach is wilted. Just be sure to let it cool before using in the recipe.
I love cold spinach dip with water crackers, but like the hot version, it goes well on just about anything.
Happy Holiday eating!
Spinach Dip: Hot
I love spinach dip in all its forms, cold, hot, with or without artichokes... all kinds. Cold or hot, it's great for either a homey snack, or for a holiday party table. Plus, no matter how fatty it is, you can comfort yourself in knowing it is chock-full of healthy spinach. I am going to give my basic recipe for both hot and cold spinach dips. First, the hot.
For this recipe, you can use whatever cheeses you like, but white cheeses look best, I think, and parmesan is a must for sprinkling on top. You can also add other veggies to this basic format, such as red peppers, or the classic artichoke hearts.
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp finely minced yellow, white, or green onion
1 large bag baby spinach, washed, thoroughly dried, excess stems picked out, and roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, finely minced (or pressed in a garlic presser)
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
2 tsp fresh parsley, chopped (or 1/2 tsp dried)
a few grinds black pepper
salt to taste (about 1/2 tsp)
1 tbsp flour
1/2 c cream
2 oz. white cheddar, shredded
2 oz. mozzarella, shredded
1/4 c parmesan, grated, divided
In a large non-stick pan, sautee onions in butter for two minutes; stir in garlic, crushed red pepper, parsley, black pepper, and salt; add fresh spinach and toss until spinach wilts, a few minutes. (You can use frozen spinach, thawed and well-drained, instead).) In a small cup or bowl, mix flour into cream until fully incorporated. Pour spinach into a baking dish; stir in shredded cheeses, half the parmesan, and cream mixture; mix everything together. Flatten out the top of the dip, and sprinkle the remaining parmesan on top. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes or until dip is hot and bubbling. If you want, for a browner "crust" on top, you can then finish the dip under the broiler for 2-3 minutes.
Warm, bubbly spinach dip is great with tortilla chips, bread, or veggies. I like to serve it with pita I cut into triangles, lightly seasoned and toasted. This dip goes with just about anything.
Happy Holiday eating!
For this recipe, you can use whatever cheeses you like, but white cheeses look best, I think, and parmesan is a must for sprinkling on top. You can also add other veggies to this basic format, such as red peppers, or the classic artichoke hearts.
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp finely minced yellow, white, or green onion
1 large bag baby spinach, washed, thoroughly dried, excess stems picked out, and roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, finely minced (or pressed in a garlic presser)
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
2 tsp fresh parsley, chopped (or 1/2 tsp dried)
a few grinds black pepper
salt to taste (about 1/2 tsp)
1 tbsp flour
1/2 c cream
2 oz. white cheddar, shredded
2 oz. mozzarella, shredded
1/4 c parmesan, grated, divided
In a large non-stick pan, sautee onions in butter for two minutes; stir in garlic, crushed red pepper, parsley, black pepper, and salt; add fresh spinach and toss until spinach wilts, a few minutes. (You can use frozen spinach, thawed and well-drained, instead).) In a small cup or bowl, mix flour into cream until fully incorporated. Pour spinach into a baking dish; stir in shredded cheeses, half the parmesan, and cream mixture; mix everything together. Flatten out the top of the dip, and sprinkle the remaining parmesan on top. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes or until dip is hot and bubbling. If you want, for a browner "crust" on top, you can then finish the dip under the broiler for 2-3 minutes.
Warm, bubbly spinach dip is great with tortilla chips, bread, or veggies. I like to serve it with pita I cut into triangles, lightly seasoned and toasted. This dip goes with just about anything.
Happy Holiday eating!
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Soup's On, Part IV: Confetti Black Bean Soup
Instead of yellow or white onions, I like to use green onions in this soup, for their nice sharp flavor as well as bright green color. But, any sort of onion will do, even red onions if you like them. Most of these ingredients are things I keep around, but if I don't have them all, leaving something out here or there is totally fine. You should adjust amounts to your preference and ingredient availability, but here is a general format to start with:
Canola or other veggie oil
3 green onions, white and green parts, chopped
1 roasted red pepper (a few tablespoons), chopped
1/4 c sweet corn, frozen or canned
1 can black beans, with the canned liquid
2 tbsp mild green chiles, chopped
3-4 cups very good veggie stock, plus extra water
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
dash of garlic
black pepper
fresh cilantro
Sautee the onions in a few tablespoons of oil for just a minute or two, and then add in the other ingredients. I use the liquid from the canned beans, plus about 3 cups each veggie stock and water, to produce the broth for the soup. After the soup has simmered together for a few minutes, taste for seasoning, and add salt or seasonings as necessary. Fresh cilantro and some crunchy tortilla strips make a nice garnish for this super-easy soup.
Happy eating!
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Festive Decor
For my final Thanksgiving-related post, I wanted to show you a few of the things I did for decor. I rarely have a reason to really deck out the table, so I wanted to make the dinner special. I used my nice china (which isn't anything super exotic or fancy, but still, nice) and set the table with my pretty gold and silver snowflake napkins. I used a tablecloth instead of the matching snowflake placemats, and instead used one of the placemats as the base for a centerpiece.
The centerpiece was just the sparkly placemat with miscellaneous gourds which I had sprayed with gold glitter. Yes, I sprayed the gourds with glitter. It was more subtle than you might think. And, it added a little sparkle when the flames from the candles hit the glitter. I had several more gourds, but some of them started to get soft and rot. Bummer. By then, I couldn't find any more of those little gourds anywhere! The stores were cleared out. So my centerpiece was a little sparse, but it worked out alright.
One fun thing I was excited about, decor-wise, were these little mulitcolored leaf-shaped dishes I found. They are super cute. They don't really match the gold and silver color scheme I was going for, but I just couldn't resist. I used them on an appetizer tray to hold olives and gherkins.
Creating pretty decor and table settings helps make a meal special. Any young kid knows that it is fun to play dress-up once in a while; it's fun to do that with meals, too.
Happy eating!
Monday, November 29, 2010
Thanksgiving Leftovers
We had way too much food for Thanksgiving, and therefore way too much food leftover. The in-laws took the turkey home, as well as a whole cheesecake and miscellaneous other things, but we still had plenty to shove into the fridge. They don't seem like the normal holiday leftovers, though. Olives, cheeses, spinach, and tons of ricotta (Dan bought way more than what I needed for the cheesecake) peppered in with the green beans and potatoes that you'd expect.
Well, I have to start clearing some of that out, right? It's a tough job, but somebody's gotta eat it. I chopped some kalamata olives and roasted garlic that I had leftover and let it heat in some olive oil for a few minutes with black pepper, crushed red pepper, and a little salt - not too much, the olives are salty. One small can of tomato paste then gets stirred in with just a tiny bit of water, the tiniest bit, really. Letting the tomato paste cook for a minute on the heat brings the flavor out. The pasta then gets tossed in, and for a thick sauce like this, I like some sort of pasta that collects the sauce - shells, or penne, or something like that. A good cup or so of the pasta water goes in with the pasta to finish the sauce. See? You didn't need much water to start with, after all.
That would be a good sauce by itself, but I also threw in the rest of the leftover ricotta, and a couple of teaspoons of parmesan. Gotta use the leftovers, right? What a hardship.
Now that is what I call leftovers.
Happy eating!
Well, I have to start clearing some of that out, right? It's a tough job, but somebody's gotta eat it. I chopped some kalamata olives and roasted garlic that I had leftover and let it heat in some olive oil for a few minutes with black pepper, crushed red pepper, and a little salt - not too much, the olives are salty. One small can of tomato paste then gets stirred in with just a tiny bit of water, the tiniest bit, really. Letting the tomato paste cook for a minute on the heat brings the flavor out. The pasta then gets tossed in, and for a thick sauce like this, I like some sort of pasta that collects the sauce - shells, or penne, or something like that. A good cup or so of the pasta water goes in with the pasta to finish the sauce. See? You didn't need much water to start with, after all.
That would be a good sauce by itself, but I also threw in the rest of the leftover ricotta, and a couple of teaspoons of parmesan. Gotta use the leftovers, right? What a hardship.
Now that is what I call leftovers.
Happy eating!
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Ice Cream Flavorama
For our Thanksgiving dessert-fest I made pumpkin cheesecake, berry sauce, and two flavors of ice cream, in my new favorite way to make a cold creamy dessert: add alcohol. This way, the cream won't freeze solid, and you don't have to agitate the cream as it freezes to keep it from doing so. The alcohol does all the work for you.
This time I decided to try to stick to holiday-ish flavors. I made one ice cream with just loads of cinnamon, and that was deeee-lish. It went really well with the pumpkin cheesecake, or so pretty much everybody at my dinner thought, anyway.
The second kind I tried was cranberry. I was making homemade cranberry sauce, anyway, so I just made a tiny little second batch minus the orange juice/zest, and made it a little sweeter, and added it into the cream before freezing. Actually I added just the juice from the cranberry sauce, mixed it very well, and then added the berries at the end and just barely stirred it, so it was pretty and swirly. The cranberry ice cream was not as much of a hit as the cinnamon, because most of my guests said it wasn't sweet enough for them, but I liked it way better than the cinnamon. But that's me, I have never had much of a sweet tooth, so I almost always prefer less sweet things. The cranberry ice cream was also, I thought, really good with the berry sauce... which was just frozen mixed berries, sugar, and a bit of water, cooked down for a few minutes on the stove.
We attempted to have fresh whipped cream, but after Dan had beaten the cream to no avail for several minutes, I checked the carton, and it wasn't whipping cream at all. It was half and half. Next time I send Dan out for whipping cream, I'll be specific. Luckily my guests said that the cinnamon ice cream took the place of the whipped cream and that it was not necessary. Nice of them, but I still love me some homemade whipped cream. Next time.
Happy Leftover-eating, everybody!
This time I decided to try to stick to holiday-ish flavors. I made one ice cream with just loads of cinnamon, and that was deeee-lish. It went really well with the pumpkin cheesecake, or so pretty much everybody at my dinner thought, anyway.
The second kind I tried was cranberry. I was making homemade cranberry sauce, anyway, so I just made a tiny little second batch minus the orange juice/zest, and made it a little sweeter, and added it into the cream before freezing. Actually I added just the juice from the cranberry sauce, mixed it very well, and then added the berries at the end and just barely stirred it, so it was pretty and swirly. The cranberry ice cream was not as much of a hit as the cinnamon, because most of my guests said it wasn't sweet enough for them, but I liked it way better than the cinnamon. But that's me, I have never had much of a sweet tooth, so I almost always prefer less sweet things. The cranberry ice cream was also, I thought, really good with the berry sauce... which was just frozen mixed berries, sugar, and a bit of water, cooked down for a few minutes on the stove.
We attempted to have fresh whipped cream, but after Dan had beaten the cream to no avail for several minutes, I checked the carton, and it wasn't whipping cream at all. It was half and half. Next time I send Dan out for whipping cream, I'll be specific. Luckily my guests said that the cinnamon ice cream took the place of the whipped cream and that it was not necessary. Nice of them, but I still love me some homemade whipped cream. Next time.
Happy Leftover-eating, everybody!
Friday, November 26, 2010
Thanks To Give
This year I was host to Thanksgiving dinner for the first time, ever. I went a little overboard with the preparations, I have to admit. I made all the side dishes, and both a pumpkin cheesecake and two kinds of homemade ice cream. Yeah, I went overboard. Luckily I didn't have to make the turkey; this vegetarian wouldn't even know where to start with that. So, my father-in-law made the turkey and brought it over.
For my contribution, I made homemade cranberry sauce, green beans almandine, toast with roasted garlic, redskin potatoes with butter and herbs, and blue-cheese stuffed roasted tomatoes. I also had an appetizer tray of cheeses, grapes, olives, etc., and before the dinner we had a salad, which I made of mixed greens, cranberries, walnuts, goat cheese, carrots, homemade croutons, and a delicious pomegranate vinaigrette. I will have several things to talk about from our Thanksgiving dinner, so I will leave most of that for later posts. Suffice it to say that I made way, way too much food, but it was, luckily, well-received. Now, I am tired, and my feet need a rest.
Happy Thanksgiving!
For my contribution, I made homemade cranberry sauce, green beans almandine, toast with roasted garlic, redskin potatoes with butter and herbs, and blue-cheese stuffed roasted tomatoes. I also had an appetizer tray of cheeses, grapes, olives, etc., and before the dinner we had a salad, which I made of mixed greens, cranberries, walnuts, goat cheese, carrots, homemade croutons, and a delicious pomegranate vinaigrette. I will have several things to talk about from our Thanksgiving dinner, so I will leave most of that for later posts. Suffice it to say that I made way, way too much food, but it was, luckily, well-received. Now, I am tired, and my feet need a rest.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Monday, November 22, 2010
Soup's On, Part III: Roasted Tomato Soup
A few posts ago I talked about how roasting tomatoes enhances their flavor. Roasted tomatoes are great by themselves, but there are also so many things that can be done with them. One option is turning them into soup. The other day, tomatoes were super cheap at the market, so I bought a whole bagfull with the intention of cooking up a batch of fresh, nummy roasted tomato and red pepper soup.
To roast tomatoes for a soup, I slice them in half, remove the base of the stem, any white or green areas, and as much of the seeds as possible. You don't want to remove the whole inside of the tomato- there is a lot of flesh there. Only the very wet seed areas get removed. I actually reserve the seeds and other parts that I remove, and let them drain in a mesh strainer over a bowl so I can collect the juice. A flat-bottomed bowl or small plate on top of the tomato parts helps facilitate the draining; leave it, and you'll have a good amount of juice by the time the tomatoes are done roasting.
The tomato halves get arranged skin side down on a baking sheet and drizzled with a little olive oil, salt, black pepper, herbs, and a touch of balsamic vinegar. Rosemary, parsley or basil are nice options. Roast them for at least 30 minutes at about 350; depending on the size of the tomato, they can be roasted up to an hour or so. I roast them longer for a soup than if I were going to serve them intact.
To start the soup, I sautee onions in a mixture of butter and veg oil, with salt and pepper to taste, until just soft. You can go for a whole mirepoix if you like for a base flavor, but I think a simple base of onions works well with this dish, as there is so much flavor developed by the roasting. I like to add red pepper flakes with the onions to give them time to flavor the oil. Then I toss in some finely chopped garlic and cook about another minute.
If I am making a roasted red pepper and tomato soup, the peppers get chopped and added after the garlic has cooked a bit. It is easy to roast your own peppers, especially if you are already roasting the tomatoes, but jarred roasted red peppers are a good option. It doesn't take much, since roasted red peppers have a strong flavor. After the peppers, the tomatoes go in. Once the soup has simmered for a few minutes, I blend everything together until smooth, then add as much of the strained tomato juice as I need to get the desired thickness.
Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary, and it is ready to serve! Or instead, you can make it into a cream soup by adding cream right before serving. For a garnish, fresh basil or green onions are nice. Grilled cheese is another nice garnish...
Happy eating!
To roast tomatoes for a soup, I slice them in half, remove the base of the stem, any white or green areas, and as much of the seeds as possible. You don't want to remove the whole inside of the tomato- there is a lot of flesh there. Only the very wet seed areas get removed. I actually reserve the seeds and other parts that I remove, and let them drain in a mesh strainer over a bowl so I can collect the juice. A flat-bottomed bowl or small plate on top of the tomato parts helps facilitate the draining; leave it, and you'll have a good amount of juice by the time the tomatoes are done roasting.
The tomato halves get arranged skin side down on a baking sheet and drizzled with a little olive oil, salt, black pepper, herbs, and a touch of balsamic vinegar. Rosemary, parsley or basil are nice options. Roast them for at least 30 minutes at about 350; depending on the size of the tomato, they can be roasted up to an hour or so. I roast them longer for a soup than if I were going to serve them intact.
To start the soup, I sautee onions in a mixture of butter and veg oil, with salt and pepper to taste, until just soft. You can go for a whole mirepoix if you like for a base flavor, but I think a simple base of onions works well with this dish, as there is so much flavor developed by the roasting. I like to add red pepper flakes with the onions to give them time to flavor the oil. Then I toss in some finely chopped garlic and cook about another minute.
If I am making a roasted red pepper and tomato soup, the peppers get chopped and added after the garlic has cooked a bit. It is easy to roast your own peppers, especially if you are already roasting the tomatoes, but jarred roasted red peppers are a good option. It doesn't take much, since roasted red peppers have a strong flavor. After the peppers, the tomatoes go in. Once the soup has simmered for a few minutes, I blend everything together until smooth, then add as much of the strained tomato juice as I need to get the desired thickness.
Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary, and it is ready to serve! Or instead, you can make it into a cream soup by adding cream right before serving. For a garnish, fresh basil or green onions are nice. Grilled cheese is another nice garnish...
Happy eating!
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Soup's On, Part II: Chili
Chili is always so good in the fall. I like mine piled high with shredded chedar cheese and saltine or oyster crackers. As a vegetarian, I make a meatless chili, but Morningstar Farms' Burger Crumbles are such a good substitution that my chili is a very similar product to the original, although obviously healthier and less greasy, which I think is a good thing.
Some people will say that traditional chili doesn't include all the modern add-ins, like beans, and shouldn't be made with chili powder, but I don't mind the additions. I think chili is great with lots of beans and veggies, and if you don't have fresh chile peppers around, a good chili powder is just fine.
I often use canned beans, but if I am using dried beans the first step is to soak them for several hours and then cook them with aromatics in lots of water. Recently I made a chili with Vaquero and Ojo de Cabra (Goat's Eye) beans from Rancho Gordo. That was a fun change, and the patterns on the beans made for a colorful pot of chili. When cooking dried beans for chili I like to throw in chile peppers with the other aromatics. I start the pot of chili by sauteeing diced onions until translucent. If using fresh chiles, they go in for a few minutes to flavor the oil. Occassionally I'll use other veggies as well, such as bell peppers, and I sautee those for a few minutes also. Then I add in the rest of the ingredients: diced tomatoes (fresh or canned), burger crumbles, tomato paste, beans, and seasonings. If using canned beans, I add in most of the juice they are canned in. If using dried beans, I add in some of the reserved (strained) pot liquor.
For seasonings, I like to use ground garlic, a little smoked paprika, and a mixture of dried ground chiles, even if I also use fresh. Ancho chiles are a classic in chili, and I use a lot of that. I supplement the ancho with whatever I'm feeling that day; urfa, aji amarillo, cayenne, or mild green chilis. Salt and pepper to taste as always.
I like a very thick chili, so I use tomato paste with the bean pot liquor to make a very thick, tomatoey broth. Once I have the consistency where I like it, I let the pot simmer for at least a few minutes, up to an hour or so. There's obviously no meat that needs to tenderize, and the beans should be cooked through, so there's no need to boil the pot away all day, but a little time simmering can help meld and develop the flavors.
Like I said, I eat my chili with a whole lot of shredded sharp cheddar and crackers. Even vegetarian, chili is a hearty, warming (and cheap) meal. Happy eating!
Some people will say that traditional chili doesn't include all the modern add-ins, like beans, and shouldn't be made with chili powder, but I don't mind the additions. I think chili is great with lots of beans and veggies, and if you don't have fresh chile peppers around, a good chili powder is just fine.
I often use canned beans, but if I am using dried beans the first step is to soak them for several hours and then cook them with aromatics in lots of water. Recently I made a chili with Vaquero and Ojo de Cabra (Goat's Eye) beans from Rancho Gordo. That was a fun change, and the patterns on the beans made for a colorful pot of chili. When cooking dried beans for chili I like to throw in chile peppers with the other aromatics. I start the pot of chili by sauteeing diced onions until translucent. If using fresh chiles, they go in for a few minutes to flavor the oil. Occassionally I'll use other veggies as well, such as bell peppers, and I sautee those for a few minutes also. Then I add in the rest of the ingredients: diced tomatoes (fresh or canned), burger crumbles, tomato paste, beans, and seasonings. If using canned beans, I add in most of the juice they are canned in. If using dried beans, I add in some of the reserved (strained) pot liquor.
For seasonings, I like to use ground garlic, a little smoked paprika, and a mixture of dried ground chiles, even if I also use fresh. Ancho chiles are a classic in chili, and I use a lot of that. I supplement the ancho with whatever I'm feeling that day; urfa, aji amarillo, cayenne, or mild green chilis. Salt and pepper to taste as always.
I like a very thick chili, so I use tomato paste with the bean pot liquor to make a very thick, tomatoey broth. Once I have the consistency where I like it, I let the pot simmer for at least a few minutes, up to an hour or so. There's obviously no meat that needs to tenderize, and the beans should be cooked through, so there's no need to boil the pot away all day, but a little time simmering can help meld and develop the flavors.
Like I said, I eat my chili with a whole lot of shredded sharp cheddar and crackers. Even vegetarian, chili is a hearty, warming (and cheap) meal. Happy eating!
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Soup's On, Part I: Beer-Cheese Soup
Soup is one of my favorite food categories, but unfortunately I don't often have access to one I like. Canned soups are rarely the fulfilling comfort food we wish they were, and restaurant soups are almost always made with chicken stock or some other meat ingredient... not that they're great, anyway. Whenever I want soup, I make it myself.
Cheese soup is a staple around here, and I make it many different ways. The base for cheese soup is to sautee veggies in butter and/or oil and then add flour to make a roux. For beer-cheese soup, I keep it simple, usually just onions and carrots. Bell peppers or celery are other good options. After the flour has cooked for 1-2 minutes, I add the beer, and cook another couple of minutes. Then, about a cup of veggie stock (or water and Better Than Bouillion), and once a little stock is incorporated, I start adding the cheese. Cheddar is great; I actually like a mix of cheddar and American for this soup. If you are using a rich beer, you can go with an aged, very sharp cheese that can stand up to a hearty beer. If you are using a more delicate beer, you may also want to go with a lighter-flavored cheese. Once the cheese is melted, I add more stock in small batches until it's the consistency I want.
To season the soup, I like to add crushed red pepper and plenty of fresh-ground black pepper for a bit of heat, and salt to taste. Here is a general guideline of ingredients, but it will vary depending on the beer/cheese used and personal tastes, of course:
3 tbsp butter
1tbsp olive or veg oil
1/2 small onion, diced
2 carrots, thinly sliced
3 tbsp flour
8 oz beer, poured into a glass and brought to room temp
6 oz mild cheddar
2 oz sharp cheddar
2 oz American cheese, cheeses all shredded or finely diced
4 cups veggie stock or water and bouillion, divided
1/2 tsp each: crushed red pepper, ground black pepper
Stay tuned for another soup recipe... Happy eating!
Cheese soup is a staple around here, and I make it many different ways. The base for cheese soup is to sautee veggies in butter and/or oil and then add flour to make a roux. For beer-cheese soup, I keep it simple, usually just onions and carrots. Bell peppers or celery are other good options. After the flour has cooked for 1-2 minutes, I add the beer, and cook another couple of minutes. Then, about a cup of veggie stock (or water and Better Than Bouillion), and once a little stock is incorporated, I start adding the cheese. Cheddar is great; I actually like a mix of cheddar and American for this soup. If you are using a rich beer, you can go with an aged, very sharp cheese that can stand up to a hearty beer. If you are using a more delicate beer, you may also want to go with a lighter-flavored cheese. Once the cheese is melted, I add more stock in small batches until it's the consistency I want.
To season the soup, I like to add crushed red pepper and plenty of fresh-ground black pepper for a bit of heat, and salt to taste. Here is a general guideline of ingredients, but it will vary depending on the beer/cheese used and personal tastes, of course:
3 tbsp butter
1tbsp olive or veg oil
1/2 small onion, diced
2 carrots, thinly sliced
3 tbsp flour
8 oz beer, poured into a glass and brought to room temp
6 oz mild cheddar
2 oz sharp cheddar
2 oz American cheese, cheeses all shredded or finely diced
4 cups veggie stock or water and bouillion, divided
1/2 tsp each: crushed red pepper, ground black pepper
Stay tuned for another soup recipe... Happy eating!
Baked Feta
A dish I have been making for a long time is my baked feta. I made a batch last night for our game night, and it was a hit. I figured I would share.
The first time I had this dish was years ago at one of my favorite restaurants in Kalamazoo. I loved it so much that, besides ordering every time I was there, I experimented and came up with my own version at home, and have been making it regularly ever since. Essentially it is a layer of feta cheese topped with veggies and herbs, and then baked.
If using brine-packed feta, drain it well and then dice or crumble it. I don't recommend using packages of pre-crumbled feta, because that usually has starch on the crumbles to keep them from clumping, and it affects melting; that type of feta is best for cold preparations. After draining and crumbling the feta, layer it about an inch or so high in a small baking dish.
The veggie topping is sauteed in a pan before layering on top of the feta. I like to use minced onion, diced tomatoes (peeled), finely minced garlic, and chiffonades of basil and spinach. I sometimes also add chile pepper, or minced roasted red pepper. The onions get sauteed in good olive oil with salt and pepper; when they are soft I add the other veggies and herbs and sautee for just another minute or two. The dish is forgiving so you can really play with the toppings; add or subtract; you can even reduce it to just the basil and tomato. I like more stuff, but it's easy to alter it to your tastes. I do recommend going easy on the salt, though, as feta tends to be salty enough.
Anyhoo, about equal parts of the tomato mixture and feta are layered, feta on the bottom, in a baking dish, and baked until the edges get bubbly; for a 6-inch dish I give it about 20 minutes at 350. I love it on slices of bread; either crusty breads or soft, like focaccia, work equally well. Crackers are good too. Even tortilla chips or veggies work. I don't think there is much that this spread doesn't go with, but I do tend to stick to my fave, bread.
Happy eating!
The first time I had this dish was years ago at one of my favorite restaurants in Kalamazoo. I loved it so much that, besides ordering every time I was there, I experimented and came up with my own version at home, and have been making it regularly ever since. Essentially it is a layer of feta cheese topped with veggies and herbs, and then baked.
If using brine-packed feta, drain it well and then dice or crumble it. I don't recommend using packages of pre-crumbled feta, because that usually has starch on the crumbles to keep them from clumping, and it affects melting; that type of feta is best for cold preparations. After draining and crumbling the feta, layer it about an inch or so high in a small baking dish.
The veggie topping is sauteed in a pan before layering on top of the feta. I like to use minced onion, diced tomatoes (peeled), finely minced garlic, and chiffonades of basil and spinach. I sometimes also add chile pepper, or minced roasted red pepper. The onions get sauteed in good olive oil with salt and pepper; when they are soft I add the other veggies and herbs and sautee for just another minute or two. The dish is forgiving so you can really play with the toppings; add or subtract; you can even reduce it to just the basil and tomato. I like more stuff, but it's easy to alter it to your tastes. I do recommend going easy on the salt, though, as feta tends to be salty enough.
Anyhoo, about equal parts of the tomato mixture and feta are layered, feta on the bottom, in a baking dish, and baked until the edges get bubbly; for a 6-inch dish I give it about 20 minutes at 350. I love it on slices of bread; either crusty breads or soft, like focaccia, work equally well. Crackers are good too. Even tortilla chips or veggies work. I don't think there is much that this spread doesn't go with, but I do tend to stick to my fave, bread.
Happy eating!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Blue Cheese Stuffed Roasted Tomatoes
This one's a good one. Super easy, but beyond delicious. Blue cheese and tomatoes, how could you go wrong, right? Do it right and it's amazing, really. As a vegetarian, I serve these as either a main course or a side dish.
Roasting tomatoes is a magic act. Even bland and out-of-season tomatoes become sweet and delicious with roasting. So, you don't have to be too picky about the tomatoes you buy for this recipe. Get exactly the right size and shape, or the cheap ones, it doesn't matter, they will all taste good.
For the filling, rip up crusty bread into large bread crumbs. Day-old bread is fine. For two small tomatoes (that's four halves), I use just one slice of bread. It doesn't take much. In a bowl with the bread, I mix in an equal amount of crumbled blue cheese, and then about a tablespoon of chopped fresh rosemary. I like to use an artisanal blue cheese, something that's creamy and a little sweet, but regular old storebought crumbles are ok too. After stirring the blue cheese mix together, press it together in the bowl, and leave it sit for just a few minutes so that the bread crumbs hydrate a little and the mixture sortof comes together as a whole.
The tomatoes get sliced in half. For roma tomatoes, which I like for this, I slice them lengthwise. Take out the stem base, seeds, and any white or green flesh. No need to scoop out the whole inside of the tomato; just the seeds is fine. Drizzle the tomato halves with olive oil, salt and pepper, and then just top them with pressed spoonfuls of the blue cheese mixture. This can be done well ahead of time and put in the oven later. See? Easy.
The roasting time depends on the size of the tomatoes and how done you like them, but for small romas I would say about 20 to 30 minutes. I like them so that the tomatoes still have some structure to them. You can sprinkle them with some more fresh rosemary or parsley at the end. If you really want to get crazy you can drizzle them with a little balsamic. But they are great just as is. I'm telling you, it's nummy. Give it a try sometime, you will not be disappointed, I guarantee it.
Happy eating!
Oh, and Happy Halloween! Enjoy your candy, and be safe out there everybody!
For the filling, rip up crusty bread into large bread crumbs. Day-old bread is fine. For two small tomatoes (that's four halves), I use just one slice of bread. It doesn't take much. In a bowl with the bread, I mix in an equal amount of crumbled blue cheese, and then about a tablespoon of chopped fresh rosemary. I like to use an artisanal blue cheese, something that's creamy and a little sweet, but regular old storebought crumbles are ok too. After stirring the blue cheese mix together, press it together in the bowl, and leave it sit for just a few minutes so that the bread crumbs hydrate a little and the mixture sortof comes together as a whole.
The tomatoes get sliced in half. For roma tomatoes, which I like for this, I slice them lengthwise. Take out the stem base, seeds, and any white or green flesh. No need to scoop out the whole inside of the tomato; just the seeds is fine. Drizzle the tomato halves with olive oil, salt and pepper, and then just top them with pressed spoonfuls of the blue cheese mixture. This can be done well ahead of time and put in the oven later. See? Easy.
The roasting time depends on the size of the tomatoes and how done you like them, but for small romas I would say about 20 to 30 minutes. I like them so that the tomatoes still have some structure to them. You can sprinkle them with some more fresh rosemary or parsley at the end. If you really want to get crazy you can drizzle them with a little balsamic. But they are great just as is. I'm telling you, it's nummy. Give it a try sometime, you will not be disappointed, I guarantee it.
Happy eating!
Oh, and Happy Halloween! Enjoy your candy, and be safe out there everybody!
Sunday, October 24, 2010
French Onion Soup
Now that cool weather is here, it's soup season, and that means French Onion Soup. It is so common these days to find French Onion Soup made with beef broth as the base that some may think that it's not easy to make vegetarian. But actually, since the main flavor should be the onions, it makes sense that French Onion Soup can easily be meatless, and I actually make it regularly. And, it's actually quite easy to make.
French Onion Soup starts with caremelizing the onions which brings out their rich sweetness and develops the lovely rust color. This is actually the most important part, as it is the base flavor for the whole soup. Some places throw onions into beef broth and call it a day, but good French Onion shouldn't fall back on the broth; the flavor has to come from the caramelized onions. You have to just take your time and do it. I like to use a combination of butter and vegetable oil to slowly caramelize the onions, which helps prevent the butter from burning. Once the onions are caramelized, I throw in a couple of cloves of finely minced or pressed garlic, to sautee with the onions very briefly. The garlic goes in at the very end, as garlic always does, so that it doesn't burn.
Into the pot with all the onions goes a little veggie stock, to deglaze the pot. Then fill the pot up with veggie stock and water, about equal parts of each. The taste of the veggie stock is important; homemade stock is best. If you don't have that, boullion and water is ok. 'Better Than Boullion' pastes are a favorite boullion alternative. However, there are very few canned veggie broths that I think are good. Salt and pepper to taste, and I use some herbs, like thyme or herbs de provence, depending on what I'm feeling like. If I want a bit of heat, I add crushed red pepper. No matter what, I always add wine. White wine works great; cooking sherry is fine, too.
After simmering the soup for a few minutes, all that is left is to build the bowls. I do the traditional cheese-on-bread-on-soup structure. I like to use a bread that is crisp but not too crusty, or it will be too hard to "cut" with the spoon. The bread is cut to fit into the bowls, and then laid on top of the soup, which fills up about 2/3 of the bowl (or mini crock or whatever), and then slathered with cheese. For the cheese, I like to use a combination of mozzarella and gruyere (or swiss). To get it melty, the bowls get placed under the broiler for about 3 minutes or until the cheese is bubbling and golden brown on top.
Soup, bread, cheese - there is nothing wrong with that, ever. I think I want some right now... I have made myself hungry just talking about it!
Happy eating!
French Onion Soup starts with caremelizing the onions which brings out their rich sweetness and develops the lovely rust color. This is actually the most important part, as it is the base flavor for the whole soup. Some places throw onions into beef broth and call it a day, but good French Onion shouldn't fall back on the broth; the flavor has to come from the caramelized onions. You have to just take your time and do it. I like to use a combination of butter and vegetable oil to slowly caramelize the onions, which helps prevent the butter from burning. Once the onions are caramelized, I throw in a couple of cloves of finely minced or pressed garlic, to sautee with the onions very briefly. The garlic goes in at the very end, as garlic always does, so that it doesn't burn.
Into the pot with all the onions goes a little veggie stock, to deglaze the pot. Then fill the pot up with veggie stock and water, about equal parts of each. The taste of the veggie stock is important; homemade stock is best. If you don't have that, boullion and water is ok. 'Better Than Boullion' pastes are a favorite boullion alternative. However, there are very few canned veggie broths that I think are good. Salt and pepper to taste, and I use some herbs, like thyme or herbs de provence, depending on what I'm feeling like. If I want a bit of heat, I add crushed red pepper. No matter what, I always add wine. White wine works great; cooking sherry is fine, too.
After simmering the soup for a few minutes, all that is left is to build the bowls. I do the traditional cheese-on-bread-on-soup structure. I like to use a bread that is crisp but not too crusty, or it will be too hard to "cut" with the spoon. The bread is cut to fit into the bowls, and then laid on top of the soup, which fills up about 2/3 of the bowl (or mini crock or whatever), and then slathered with cheese. For the cheese, I like to use a combination of mozzarella and gruyere (or swiss). To get it melty, the bowls get placed under the broiler for about 3 minutes or until the cheese is bubbling and golden brown on top.
Soup, bread, cheese - there is nothing wrong with that, ever. I think I want some right now... I have made myself hungry just talking about it!
Happy eating!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
The Best Things To Put In Tomato Sauce (Besides Tomatoes)
I eat Italian food (read: Americanized Italian) all the time. Not only is it often simple and cheap to make, but also it's so easy to prepare Italian food that is vegetarian.
A pasta and tomato sauce is a standby around here. Whether for baked rigatoni, pasta shells stuffed with manicotti, or just a big bowl of spaghetti, I end up making tomato sauce often. I don't start with fresh tomatoes; I use canned. But, canned tomatoes are one of the few vegetables that are actually really good when canned. They are tasty and consistent and also super easy to use. Now, what to flavor them with?
I love to use red wine in my tomato sauces, especially if I'm making something very hearty. Let it simmer in the tomato sauce for just a few minutes and the bite of the alcohol cooks away, and you are left with a rich undertone. This is a great way to use up that little bit of wine you have left over from your very frequent and very fancy dinner parties. (You do have very frequent and very fancy dinner parties, right?) Sweet or dry wines can work well in tomato sauce, depending on how it will be used. I know this isn't a bombshell for anyone - red wine in tomato sauce, that's old news - but it is something I do a whole heck of a lot, and it's always good.
Another favorite thing to put in tomato sauce is cream cheese. Perhaps that's a bit more revolutionary for some people than red wine. Cream cheeese? Yes, cream cheese. We all know that a tomato cream sauce is awesome. Tomato sauce, cream, what could be wrong about that? But I don't always have cream in the house. I almost always have cream cheese, and it works really well, too. Just a little goes a long way. It adds a creaminess but also a bit of a tang. I have discovered that the soft, spreadable tub cream cheese melts into a sauce a bit easier than traditional block cream cheese, but both work. Try it sometime, you won't be disappointed.
Happy eating!
A pasta and tomato sauce is a standby around here. Whether for baked rigatoni, pasta shells stuffed with manicotti, or just a big bowl of spaghetti, I end up making tomato sauce often. I don't start with fresh tomatoes; I use canned. But, canned tomatoes are one of the few vegetables that are actually really good when canned. They are tasty and consistent and also super easy to use. Now, what to flavor them with?
I love to use red wine in my tomato sauces, especially if I'm making something very hearty. Let it simmer in the tomato sauce for just a few minutes and the bite of the alcohol cooks away, and you are left with a rich undertone. This is a great way to use up that little bit of wine you have left over from your very frequent and very fancy dinner parties. (You do have very frequent and very fancy dinner parties, right?) Sweet or dry wines can work well in tomato sauce, depending on how it will be used. I know this isn't a bombshell for anyone - red wine in tomato sauce, that's old news - but it is something I do a whole heck of a lot, and it's always good.
Another favorite thing to put in tomato sauce is cream cheese. Perhaps that's a bit more revolutionary for some people than red wine. Cream cheeese? Yes, cream cheese. We all know that a tomato cream sauce is awesome. Tomato sauce, cream, what could be wrong about that? But I don't always have cream in the house. I almost always have cream cheese, and it works really well, too. Just a little goes a long way. It adds a creaminess but also a bit of a tang. I have discovered that the soft, spreadable tub cream cheese melts into a sauce a bit easier than traditional block cream cheese, but both work. Try it sometime, you won't be disappointed.
Happy eating!
Monday, October 18, 2010
Red Dragon Cheese Review
Last week, Dan and I bought a cheese called Red Dragon. I had seen it at the cheese counter before, and was always drawn to it because of its name and because of the bright red wax that coats it, which makes it stand out against the forest of white and yellow cheeses. I had been hesitant to get it in the past because it is made with lots of mustard seed, and I am not always a fan of mustard.
We finally decided to give it a try and I am so glad we did! It is absolutely delicious. As it turns out, the mustard taste is not overwhelming at all. The cheese is a light yellow, soft paste speckled throughout with the mustard seed. It is also made with ale. The combination of the ale and mustard flavors adds a nice bite to the background of Red Dragon, but the base cheese stands up to these added flavors nicely. At room temperature the cheese is just spreadable but also sliceable, and the robust nature of the cheese lends itself well to a hearty bread or cracker. No need for delicate wafers with this cheese.
The look of Red Dragon makes a striking conversation piece on a cheese tray. I imagine it would be accented nicely with a dry white wine, but a hard cider or (obviously) a beer is even better. Even a porter would not overwhelm this hearty cheese. I am so happy that we decided to finally give Red Dragon a chance!
Happy eating!
We finally decided to give it a try and I am so glad we did! It is absolutely delicious. As it turns out, the mustard taste is not overwhelming at all. The cheese is a light yellow, soft paste speckled throughout with the mustard seed. It is also made with ale. The combination of the ale and mustard flavors adds a nice bite to the background of Red Dragon, but the base cheese stands up to these added flavors nicely. At room temperature the cheese is just spreadable but also sliceable, and the robust nature of the cheese lends itself well to a hearty bread or cracker. No need for delicate wafers with this cheese.
The look of Red Dragon makes a striking conversation piece on a cheese tray. I imagine it would be accented nicely with a dry white wine, but a hard cider or (obviously) a beer is even better. Even a porter would not overwhelm this hearty cheese. I am so happy that we decided to finally give Red Dragon a chance!
Happy eating!
Monday, October 11, 2010
Tomme de Savoie Cheese Review
Anybody who knows me knows how much I love cheese, and anytime I get near a good cheese selection I can go a little nuts if I'm not careful. Therefore Dan and I are frequently trying new cheeses.
The other day we came home with a few new ones, one of which was Tomme de Savoie. Tomme cheeses are a type of cheese made in Europe that were traditionally made from less fatty milks and named for the location they are traditionally made, i.e., Savoie in France. Now they can be made with skim or full-fat milk depeding on the specific maker.
Tomme de Savoie comes in small wheels of creamy, off-white paste speckled with small eyes. At room temperature, our Tomme de Savoie was not quite spreadable, but quite soft, and a little stretchy. It has a buttery, nutty taste, more pungent than I expected, with a distinct grassiness that comes from the pasture feeding of the French Alpine herds. It went well with either bread or crackers, but I preferred it plain rather than with fruit or jam.
Something that appears to be Tomme de Savoie may not be actually be from Savoie; if you want the real deal, you have to check the wheel's label to ensure it has the designation of origin. "Fabrique en Savoie" means it is made in Savoie; "affine en Savoie" means it probably isn't authentic.
If you like grassy, earthy cheeses, this one is a nice option. I imagine it could hold up to a simple sandwich or salad as well as it dresses up a cheese plate.
Happy eating!
The other day we came home with a few new ones, one of which was Tomme de Savoie. Tomme cheeses are a type of cheese made in Europe that were traditionally made from less fatty milks and named for the location they are traditionally made, i.e., Savoie in France. Now they can be made with skim or full-fat milk depeding on the specific maker.
Tomme de Savoie comes in small wheels of creamy, off-white paste speckled with small eyes. At room temperature, our Tomme de Savoie was not quite spreadable, but quite soft, and a little stretchy. It has a buttery, nutty taste, more pungent than I expected, with a distinct grassiness that comes from the pasture feeding of the French Alpine herds. It went well with either bread or crackers, but I preferred it plain rather than with fruit or jam.
Something that appears to be Tomme de Savoie may not be actually be from Savoie; if you want the real deal, you have to check the wheel's label to ensure it has the designation of origin. "Fabrique en Savoie" means it is made in Savoie; "affine en Savoie" means it probably isn't authentic.
If you like grassy, earthy cheeses, this one is a nice option. I imagine it could hold up to a simple sandwich or salad as well as it dresses up a cheese plate.
Happy eating!
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Crab Benedict
This morning when I told Dan I was hungry and he asked what I was in the mood for, for some reason I blurted out, 'crab benedict.' I first had eggs benedict with crab on a trip to Hawaii in 2001. The seafood is abundant and so fresh in Hawaii, and it was one of the best breakfasts I'd ever had, especially given my love for fresh, sweet king crab legs.
Eggs benedict isn't really difficult; it's mostly time consuming. The hollandaise sauce seems like it would be the most difficult part, but I think it's more about patience. The key is to heat the egg yolks very slowly. Some recipes calls for taking the yolks on and off the heat as you heat and whisk, and that method works for me. Then of course, the butter starts to get added in, as well as lemon juice, and then some people put in herbs or other seasonings, like cayenne. I tend to like a good amount of lemon juice, and I often use thyme. Tarragon is good, too.
Strangely, the hardest part of benedict for me is poaching the eggs. I am always hit-or-miss with poached eggs. A bit of vinegar in the water helps to hold the eggs together correctly, but I have never quite found a perfect method for poaching. Today, I messed up the first batch, but the second batch came out fine.
If you get the hollandaise and the eggs right, there isn't really anything other than assembly. Crab benedict requires fresh crab, never canned, and certainly not imitation. I like a toasted english muffin with the crab right on top. Then the egg, and then pour on the hollandaise. Nummy nummy good! It's a great way to use up a little bit of crab, for instance if you have some left over after a dinner, or if you find one of those little packs of smaller crab leg chunks discounted at the store like they sometimes do.
Mmmmbreakfast. Happy eating!
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Ice Cream
I learned a recipe for making margarita ice cream the other day that sounded simple. Cream, lime juice, sugar, tequila, and a few other things were mixed and then just left in the freezer to ... well, freeze. Normally you can't just stick your ice cream mixture in the freezer and forget it, because it won't make creamy ice cream. Mechanical ice cream makers agitate the mixture while it cools it so that it gets the right consistency. Without an ice cream maker it's do-able, just much more work.
It dawned on me that the reason the margarita ice cream didnt need a lot of effort was that the alcohol in it kept the cream from freezing into a solid block. That was the eureka moment - I bet I could make all kinds of fun ice creams like that, using alcohol! I immediately sent Dan out for some heavy cream.
The basic format is to mix powdered sugar or simple syrup with the alcohol and whatever fruit or flavoring, then whisk in heavy cream and continue to whisk until it gets thicker and somewhat airy (not nearly as thick as whipped cream). Then it just goes in the freezer for at least a few hours.
I made one ice cream with rum and bananas and another with rum, coconut, and coconut milk. I liked the coconut best, and Dan said he preferred the banana, but they were both yummy, especially with the fresh cherry sauce I made. I am usually not much of an ice cream person, but when it tastes like fresh fruit and has rum in it - well, sign me up.
Happy eating!
It dawned on me that the reason the margarita ice cream didnt need a lot of effort was that the alcohol in it kept the cream from freezing into a solid block. That was the eureka moment - I bet I could make all kinds of fun ice creams like that, using alcohol! I immediately sent Dan out for some heavy cream.
The basic format is to mix powdered sugar or simple syrup with the alcohol and whatever fruit or flavoring, then whisk in heavy cream and continue to whisk until it gets thicker and somewhat airy (not nearly as thick as whipped cream). Then it just goes in the freezer for at least a few hours.
I made one ice cream with rum and bananas and another with rum, coconut, and coconut milk. I liked the coconut best, and Dan said he preferred the banana, but they were both yummy, especially with the fresh cherry sauce I made. I am usually not much of an ice cream person, but when it tastes like fresh fruit and has rum in it - well, sign me up.
Happy eating!
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Watermelon Spritzer, Part II
I made another tasty watermelon drink with some of the same ingredients I used for the white wine spritzer the other day, but this time, no wine.
I put a few watermelon ice cubes in a glass and sprinkled on a few mint leaves that I had just bruised, by squishing them in my fingers to release some oils and flavor. Over that I poured about an eighth of a cup of still-warm simple syrup, to start melting the watermelon juice from the cubes and to release more mint flavor. Then I just filled the glass with club soda.
It was almost like a watermelon mint julep, without the alcohol, of course. Actually super tasty. I'm having fun with this watermelon ice cube thing!
Happy eating!
I put a few watermelon ice cubes in a glass and sprinkled on a few mint leaves that I had just bruised, by squishing them in my fingers to release some oils and flavor. Over that I poured about an eighth of a cup of still-warm simple syrup, to start melting the watermelon juice from the cubes and to release more mint flavor. Then I just filled the glass with club soda.
It was almost like a watermelon mint julep, without the alcohol, of course. Actually super tasty. I'm having fun with this watermelon ice cube thing!
Happy eating!
Saturday, October 2, 2010
The Best Dessert Ever?
I am not a big dessert person, and I will choose something like fresh berries and cream over a chocolate cake anyday. But, there are a few simple, fresh desserts that I do love. Lately I've been digging on granita, because it is simple and also refreshing in this hot weather we've been having.
I had a moment of inspiration a few days ago and ran with it, and I ended up with something awesome. I love coffee - who doesn't, right? - so I made a coffee granita. I used extemely strong coffee (the equivalent of 6 cups of coffee in about 2 1/2 cups) and about a half cup of simple syrup, made with half regular and half vanilla sugar.
On top of the granita went a big dollop of a spiced whipped cream that I made with cardamom, cinnamon, and clove. I also sprinkled on some crushed toasted macadamia nuts.
The whole thing was beyond awesome, if I do say so myself. Dan and I both sat there spooning it into our faces, just saying 'oh my gosh,' and 'wow this is good' the whole time. I have to admit, I was pretty proud of myself for this one. If you are a coffee person, or if you prefer a little savoriness instead of heavy sweetness in your desserts like I do, I highly suggest giving this a try. Total home run.
Happy eating!
I had a moment of inspiration a few days ago and ran with it, and I ended up with something awesome. I love coffee - who doesn't, right? - so I made a coffee granita. I used extemely strong coffee (the equivalent of 6 cups of coffee in about 2 1/2 cups) and about a half cup of simple syrup, made with half regular and half vanilla sugar.
The whole thing was beyond awesome, if I do say so myself. Dan and I both sat there spooning it into our faces, just saying 'oh my gosh,' and 'wow this is good' the whole time. I have to admit, I was pretty proud of myself for this one. If you are a coffee person, or if you prefer a little savoriness instead of heavy sweetness in your desserts like I do, I highly suggest giving this a try. Total home run.
Happy eating!
Friday, October 1, 2010
Watermelon Spritzer
Recently Dan came home from work with a whole watermelon. It's a long story. But in any case, I had a bunch of watermelon with which I had to find something to do. Here's one fun thing I did.
I seeded the watermelon (which is easier than you'd think), and blended about a cup or so in the blender to make a juice. Then I just poured that into an icecube tray and froze it to make watermelon ice cubes. Nifty! The juice can be strained through a mesh strainer to make it a little thinner and clearer if that is preferred.
I made a little more juice, about a half cup total, and shook that in a cocktail shaker with a cup of chilled white wine, a few tablespoons simple syrup, about a half cup of club soda, and a few ice cubes to make it ice cold. You probably already know, but simple syrup is made by heating equal parts water and sugar in a saucepan until it just simmers, then, in this case at least, letting it cool.
After shaking, I strained the wine mixture over a few watermelon ice cubes in glasses and garnished with - what else - a little watermelon wedge. I thought it would also be cute to garnish with little watermelon balls on a toothpick, but alas, I don't have a melon-baller. I'll have to put that on my wish list.
So, we had lovely watermelon white wine spritzers with our dinner last night. Dan said they were "very refreshing." It was a nice beverage for this unseasonably warm extended summer we've had.
Happy eating!
I seeded the watermelon (which is easier than you'd think), and blended about a cup or so in the blender to make a juice. Then I just poured that into an icecube tray and froze it to make watermelon ice cubes. Nifty! The juice can be strained through a mesh strainer to make it a little thinner and clearer if that is preferred.
I made a little more juice, about a half cup total, and shook that in a cocktail shaker with a cup of chilled white wine, a few tablespoons simple syrup, about a half cup of club soda, and a few ice cubes to make it ice cold. You probably already know, but simple syrup is made by heating equal parts water and sugar in a saucepan until it just simmers, then, in this case at least, letting it cool.
After shaking, I strained the wine mixture over a few watermelon ice cubes in glasses and garnished with - what else - a little watermelon wedge. I thought it would also be cute to garnish with little watermelon balls on a toothpick, but alas, I don't have a melon-baller. I'll have to put that on my wish list.
So, we had lovely watermelon white wine spritzers with our dinner last night. Dan said they were "very refreshing." It was a nice beverage for this unseasonably warm extended summer we've had.
Happy eating!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
That's My Kind of Dinner
Like I said, I have had a rough time lately. I've been even sicker than usual (I'm always some level of sick these days), and most of all I've been weak and dizzy. We had to cancel plans with friends the other day so that I could stay in bed and rest. I obviously couldn't do any cooking (despite all the changes to our bedroom to accomodate my needs, we still haven't dragged the stove in there. Maybe someday), so we made a feast out of non-cooked items. In my world, that means cheese, cheese, bread, fruit, and oh yeah, some more cheese.
I had all the ingredients for caprese salad, but wanted something a little more user-friendly for an in-bed picnic, so Dan helped me quickly throw together some toothpicks with halved cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and fresh basil. One nice thing was that the tomatoes I had were a rainbow of colors. The tray of them was drizzled with a mixture of lemon juice and olive oil.
The rest of our picnic was made up of Cambozola cheese (that's Camembert with a Gorgonzola mold), dilled Havarti, strawberries, berry-serrano jam, macadamia nuts, and bread and crackers. Since we were suddenly having this fabulous picnic, we decided to bust into a bottle of Michigan cherry apple hard cider. What the heck, right?.
We ate and watched Dancing With The Stars. It turned out to be not such a bad night after all. For once I was not as sad to be so weak that it kept me in bed.
Happy eating!
We ate and watched Dancing With The Stars. It turned out to be not such a bad night after all. For once I was not as sad to be so weak that it kept me in bed.
Happy eating!
Wine-Poached Pears With Brandied Cream
I have a recipe for a delicious and elegant dessert that is much easier to make than it appears. It does take a long time to prepare, but almost all of that time is the food being in the oven. Actual hands-on preparation time is almost nil.
Step one is to peel the pears. That can be done the same way as tomatoes: score the skin and then let the pears sit in simmering water for perhaps a minute, and then shock them in ice water. The skins literally fall off.
Then you prepare the poaching liquid, which is as easy as heating equal parts wine and water on the stove. You need enough liquid to just cover the pears, about 6 cups for four pears. A nice semi-dry red wine works great. You don't want to use a super cheap wine, but it doesn't have to be expensive. You want to use something that you'd be willing to drink. Two tablespoons of honey and a tablespoon of sugar go into the cooking liquid also.
The pears can be served on their own or with whipped cream. Creme fraiche is another tasty option. And, of course, drizzle the whole thing with the nummy reduced syrup.
Here I have a pic of the pears sitting on a bed of brandied cream with just a dollop of vanilla ice cream on the side. I made the brandied whipped cream by mixing 1 tablespoon of brandy per half cup of whipping cream, and whipping as usual. I also used vanilla sugar in place of regular sugar for the whipped cream.
For as little effort these pears take, they are a huge payoff. So yummy-nummy.
Happy eating!
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Veggie Stock
Sorry for my absence, fellow foodies. I have had a bit of a rough week, and haven't had a lot to post about. Today, though, I want to talk about vegetable stock.
Stock simply means a strongly-flavored broth made by boiling whatever in water, sometimes with salt, and then straining. While I was watching a cooking show a few months ago, the host casually mentioned that she always has veggie stock on hand because she always saves her unusable veggie bits - peels, etc. - and every few days she makes stock. I had a total 'doh!' moment. Why hadn't I been doing this?
Since then, I've been saving all my normally thrown-away veggie bits. Onion peels, carrot peels and tops, trimmed ends of garlic cloves, the centers from bell peppers, etc. I just boil them for a while, usually adding just a couple of pinches of salt, and then strain it really well. It can go into tupperware to save in the fridge if I think I'm going to use it soon, or into zip-top baggies and frozen, to thaw and use later. It can even be measured out into one or two cup portions so I know exactly what I am thawing. The stock can also be canned so that it keeps for a long time without taking up space in the freezer.
I seriously have no idea why I wasn't doing this my whole life. It's the easiest thing ever, and I never have to buy veggie stock again.
Happy eating!
Stock simply means a strongly-flavored broth made by boiling whatever in water, sometimes with salt, and then straining. While I was watching a cooking show a few months ago, the host casually mentioned that she always has veggie stock on hand because she always saves her unusable veggie bits - peels, etc. - and every few days she makes stock. I had a total 'doh!' moment. Why hadn't I been doing this?
Since then, I've been saving all my normally thrown-away veggie bits. Onion peels, carrot peels and tops, trimmed ends of garlic cloves, the centers from bell peppers, etc. I just boil them for a while, usually adding just a couple of pinches of salt, and then strain it really well. It can go into tupperware to save in the fridge if I think I'm going to use it soon, or into zip-top baggies and frozen, to thaw and use later. It can even be measured out into one or two cup portions so I know exactly what I am thawing. The stock can also be canned so that it keeps for a long time without taking up space in the freezer.
I seriously have no idea why I wasn't doing this my whole life. It's the easiest thing ever, and I never have to buy veggie stock again.
Happy eating!
Monday, September 20, 2010
Vaquero Spring Rolls with Chipotle-Citrus Dipping Sauce
The other day as I was trying to decide what to make for dinner, I noticed the spring roll wrappers I had gotten at the Asian market last month in the freezer, and thought I should make something with those. I also noticed all my lovely Rancho Gordo beans in the pantry, and thought I should make something with those. It finally hit me that I could make southwest-style spring rolls. Of course!
My Vaquero-bean spring rolls turned out to be super simple, especially since I even had some leftover Spanish rice that I could use, so I didn't even have to make that. The beans were soaked and then boiled with some aromatics and a chipotle (canned, in adobo). I grilled some onions and quickly sauteed julienned carrots, just a little, so they were still crunchy. Into the spring rolls went a couple scoops of the Vaquero beans, a scoop of rice, a scoop of corn, some grilled onions and a few strips of carrot. Wrapped and sealed, spring rolls can be fried right away or refrigerated for a little while, so they can easily be done ahead of time.
For a chipotle-citrus dipping sauce, I pureed a couple of the in-adobo chipotles in my food processor with honey, garlic, lime juice, orange puree, and a couple of other things. Woah, spicy! But, great with the spring rolls.
Dan and I both love-love-loved my Vaquero-bean spring rolls and the sauce. I think I'll play around with that concept and make more types of spring rolls.
Happy eating!
For a chipotle-citrus dipping sauce, I pureed a couple of the in-adobo chipotles in my food processor with honey, garlic, lime juice, orange puree, and a couple of other things. Woah, spicy! But, great with the spring rolls.
Dan and I both love-love-loved my Vaquero-bean spring rolls and the sauce. I think I'll play around with that concept and make more types of spring rolls.
Happy eating!
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Granita
I mentioned in the previous post that I had made a dessert to go with my simple, but tasty, special crab legs dinner. I wanted to make a dessert that was equally as simple. On a hot summer day, that equals granita.
Granita is a simple sorbet-like dessert that takes just water, sugar, flavor, and a freezer. Unlike sorbet, it is scraped with a fork intermittently as it freezes to maintain a granular texture, and is not run through an ice cream machine. Whenever I have made granita, it has been with fruit as the flavor, but I understand it can be made in nut flavors, or even chocolate.
After our crab legs, I served strawberry-yogurt granita with fresh peaches. I made the strawberry granita with frozen strawberries which made it super simple. The only difficult part, if you can even call it that, was to make sure to scrape the granita about every 20 minutes or so as it froze.
Tonite, we had spicy spring rolls (later post), and I again wanted something simple, and also cooling to chill us down after the spice from dinner. I made a watermelon-ginger granita out of fresh watermelon, and served it with vanilla cream and toasted almonds. I made the vanilla cream with fresh vanilla beans and vanilla sugar. (It is super easy to make vanilla sugar, by the way: After scraping the insides of vanilla beans for your recipes, put the pods in a container with sugar; replace the sugar as you use it up.) You might not think watermelon and ginger would make a good pair, but trust me, they are tasty together. The watermelon-ginger granita was perfect for this hot summer night after our spicy southwestern meal. Dan raved about it on and on. It is so easy to make granita; I highly recommeng giving it a try on one of the few hot days we have left this year.
Happy eating!
After our crab legs, I served strawberry-yogurt granita with fresh peaches. I made the strawberry granita with frozen strawberries which made it super simple. The only difficult part, if you can even call it that, was to make sure to scrape the granita about every 20 minutes or so as it froze.
Happy eating!
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Vegetarian Crab Legs
Just kidding, there are no such things as vegetarian crab legs (that I am aware of). I do occasionally cheat on my vegetarian diet and let myself have fresh-caught Alaskan King Crab legs. I feel ok with that because I'm not supporting factory farms. Even then, I only end up eating crab once in a blue moon. I think this time it's been at least two years since I had crab.
To go with our Alaskan King Crab, I made a nice salad with spring greens and lots of veggies, and blue cheese dressing (homemade, of course - the only way to go). We also had fresh buttery garlic bread, and green beans almondine. I wanted to make some sort of special beverage to go with our nice meal, so I made a lemon drink with rum and a few other things in it. I also made a dessert, but that will be a different post. The meal was delicious, and each item was relatively easy and quick to make... a simple but satisfying anemic-chef meal!
There is one leg left, so Dan and I plan on having some crab salad later, served with some crackers and what is left of our lovely Maytag blue cheese that we used for the salad dressing. I'm looking forward to our late-night snack already!
Happy eating.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Coconut and Cheese Dessert
I threw together a quick dessert the other day with things from my pantry because I was in the mood to experiment. It actually turned out well, so I figured I would share.
I made a syrup by simmering equal parts water and sugar, and added an equal part shredded coconut. I poured about a centimeter of that into two ramekins and let it set in the freezer for a while for the syrup to harden a little and the ramekins to get very cold. In the meantime, I mixed a couple of tablespoons of cream cheese with a tiny bit of powdered sugar, about a tablespoon of coconut milk, and the seeds of half a vanilla bean. Separately, I ground up some leftover sugar cookies and stirred in some melted butter.
After the ramekins had been in the freezer for a little while, I pulled them out and spread the cream cheese mixture carefully over the firmed syrup. Then I topped that with the cookie-crumb crust, and put the ramekins in the fridge to set for a couple of hours. When Dan got home, we had dinner, and then I pulled out the little coconut-cheese ramekins, turned them out onto plates, and they didn't come out too bad. I was hoping the syrup would harden a little more, more like coconut toffee which is made similarly, so that it would make a bit of a crust on top of the cheesecake-like layer, but instead some of it thickened while some of it stayed syrupy. But, that worked out just fine. I also toasted some coconut to add at the end.
I think my made-up dessert counts as a success. It was really creamy and sweet, and the hint of the fresh vanilla bean added a nice subtle taste in the background. I'm not very into sweets, but once in a while I do like something like this, where I can enjoy cheese for dessert. Perhaps I'll try something like this with a citrusy spin.
Happy eating!
After the ramekins had been in the freezer for a little while, I pulled them out and spread the cream cheese mixture carefully over the firmed syrup. Then I topped that with the cookie-crumb crust, and put the ramekins in the fridge to set for a couple of hours. When Dan got home, we had dinner, and then I pulled out the little coconut-cheese ramekins, turned them out onto plates, and they didn't come out too bad. I was hoping the syrup would harden a little more, more like coconut toffee which is made similarly, so that it would make a bit of a crust on top of the cheesecake-like layer, but instead some of it thickened while some of it stayed syrupy. But, that worked out just fine. I also toasted some coconut to add at the end.
I think my made-up dessert counts as a success. It was really creamy and sweet, and the hint of the fresh vanilla bean added a nice subtle taste in the background. I'm not very into sweets, but once in a while I do like something like this, where I can enjoy cheese for dessert. Perhaps I'll try something like this with a citrusy spin.
Happy eating!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Carrot-Ginger Soup
I have been feeling run-down and generally icky the last couple of days, and despite the very hot weekend we've had, I just needed some soup. Luckily, soup is one of those things that can be very simple to make, so even when I am sick, I can whip some up.
Carrot and ginger are natural together in soup, and also can be made with ingredients that are staples, at least at my house. I keep a big knob of ginger in the freezer at all times, because it is something that I don't use all the time, but when I want it, I want it. It keeps great in the freezer and can be grated frozen, so I just grate what I want and stick it back in the freezer. Other than carrots and ginger, I use onions (white, green, combo, whatever) and veggie stock or water and bouillion. Then it's really just a bunch of seasonings. For carrot soup, I like cardamom, garlic, fennel, clove, and maybe a little chile pepper or curry powder.
I cook my carrot soup much like my mushroom soup, except the carrots don't get cooked in butter for a long time; just simmered in the veggie broth until soft. Then everything gets blended up until creamy smooth. At the end I sometimes need to adjust the thickness by adding more water, and of course season to taste. I like to serve it with a little yogurt on top and some chopped green onions or chives for garnish.
Carrot soup can be served chilled or hot. Because I was feeling sick, I had a bowl of it hot, but Dan had been working outside in the sun, so he got a chilled bowl. Tasty and refreshing, with just the faintest kick from the fresh ginger. Very nomnomnom.
Happy eating!
Carrot and ginger are natural together in soup, and also can be made with ingredients that are staples, at least at my house. I keep a big knob of ginger in the freezer at all times, because it is something that I don't use all the time, but when I want it, I want it. It keeps great in the freezer and can be grated frozen, so I just grate what I want and stick it back in the freezer. Other than carrots and ginger, I use onions (white, green, combo, whatever) and veggie stock or water and bouillion. Then it's really just a bunch of seasonings. For carrot soup, I like cardamom, garlic, fennel, clove, and maybe a little chile pepper or curry powder. Carrot soup can be served chilled or hot. Because I was feeling sick, I had a bowl of it hot, but Dan had been working outside in the sun, so he got a chilled bowl. Tasty and refreshing, with just the faintest kick from the fresh ginger. Very nomnomnom.
Happy eating!
Friday, September 10, 2010
Food Is Love, Love Is Food
When I met my now-husband it became clear early-on in our friendship, before we were even dating, that we had had two very different upbringings. One difference is how we think of and interact with food. In my family, it always seems that whenever we are together, the whole focus is on the food. We've always been like that. We plan a gathering or meal and plan the food. Then we talk about the food that we are going to be having. We prep and plan and shop for the food, then we cook the food (with as much flourish as possible), we eat the food, talk about it, and then talk about what we will eat next time. We don't just eat food, we really get into it, discuss it, almost worship it.
Besides food being enjoyable to eat, for us it's also always been an occassion. Since a young age my sisters and I knew how to order at nicer restaurants... and what to order, too. (Alaskan King Crab Legs and Baked Brie for my 10-year-old self was a fave. ooolala.) We simply don't have any sort of family get-together without whipping out some fabulous new dish. We have gone wine-tasting as a family more than once. Food-related items have taken up a large percentage of Christmas gifts over the years.
Why? Are we snobby foodies? Are we trying to outdo Giada DeLaurentis with our faboo creatons? Hardly. I know that each and every member of my family can whip up a gourmet meal, but they are also fine eating a cheese sandwich and some chips. I don't think it's just about liking food, either. We all like food, right? Dan's family likes food a lot, but they don't treat it the way the Grunds do... it doesn't become a huge event in itself.
I think it's more about the way we feel about each other. The older I get the more I realize how great our family's bond is. Even now, when we are all spread across the country and don't see each other nearly as often as we'd like, I still feel very close ties to my family. And the thing I miss most is sitting down to a tableful of food with each other and feasting. Food is one way we communicate with each other. I cook for people to show I care about them. I want to make something they will love and that will make them happy. I try new things and add special touches because I want it to be special for them. When I lived on my own and had no one to cook for, I wasn't cooking much of anything interesting at all. I had a few standbys that I cooked repeatedly. Now that I am married and we have friends coming over once in a while, I make a point of making dishes I prepare for others a little more special. Even if it's not the most exciting dish, it still comes from the heart. Food really can be a language.
This is one aspect of our family, that we enjoy celebrating and spending quality time by cooking and sharing fabulous food. I still treat food that way even if I'm nowhere near my family. Dan didn't really get the way I felt about serving food at first, but I think he's starting to understand that food for me is communication. Cooking something special for the people I love, or sharing quality time over a great meal out, that is love to me.
 |
| Thanksgiving 2006 |
 |
| We always hang out in the kitchen Christmas 2006 |
+of+Laurie_dan_wedding_015.jpg) |
| The spread at Dan's and my casual wedding reception, August 2007 |
 |
| Thanksgiving Dinner 2007 |
This is one aspect of our family, that we enjoy celebrating and spending quality time by cooking and sharing fabulous food. I still treat food that way even if I'm nowhere near my family. Dan didn't really get the way I felt about serving food at first, but I think he's starting to understand that food for me is communication. Cooking something special for the people I love, or sharing quality time over a great meal out, that is love to me.
 |
| The Grund Girls feasting at 9th Door, Spring 2009 |
Food is love, and love is food.
And, seriously, people... HAPPY eating!
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Tex-Mex Fiesta
It's hatch chile season here in Colorado, and we ended up with a big pile of them. With too many for us to use up in the near future, I roasted and froze several, so we can have fresh-roasted chiles anytime we want. I kept a few out of the freezer to use for dinnner tonite. I had a few jalapenos in the pantry, too, so I roasted those as well. The kitchen has smelled like roasted peppers for two days!
The jalapenos got made into a roasted jalapeno cream sauce to go over some Rio Zape bean and rice cakes that I made for dinner yesterday. I was excited to finally get to use my Rancho Gordo beans, and the Rio Zape didn't disappoint. I thought they went really well in the bean and rice cakes. I guess my husband and guests liked the cakes too, because after making 14, I only have 2 left.
This evening for dinner I continued the Tex-Mex theme and made a few of my roasted hatch chiles into rellenos. I have never used hatch chiles for rellenos before, and it turned out to be quite a chore. Unlike peppers I have used in the past, the hatch chiles I had really started to fall apart after roasting, and I had to be very careful whenever I handled them to make sure they retained their shape. I stuffed each one with a large wedge of queso enchilado, and made a very thick batter to coat the stuffed peppers. I usually don't make a batter quite as thick as this one, but since the chiles were so fragile, I wanted to make sure I had a thick batter to coat the whole thing so that the cheese wouldn't fall out into the hot oil.
It's key to have very hot oil to fry rellenos so that the batter seals up quickly to keep the cheese in, and also for the rellenos cook quickly so that they don't absorb too much oil. Despite the difference from the batter I would normally use and the delicate chiles, the rellenos came out great, golden brown and of course cheesy.
To go with the rellenos I made a Vaquero bean and avocado soup. The Vaquero are yet another fabulous bean from Rancho Gordo, with a beautiful black and white mottled skin. I made a tomatoey broth with onions, garlic, and freshly-toasted cumin. The beans retained most of their interesting coloring and tasted great in the broth. I poured the soup over small cubes of avocado and garnished it with fresh cilantro. I wish I had a picture for you, but we ate it all up before I could grab the camera!
The Rio Zape bean and rice cakes, roasted jalapeno cream sauce, Vaquero bean and avocado soup, and chile rellenos all got two thumbs up from the hubbie. Now, I think I need to rest...
Happy eating!
 |
| Rio Zape Bean-and-Rice Cakes with Roasted Jalapeno Cream Sauce |
This evening for dinner I continued the Tex-Mex theme and made a few of my roasted hatch chiles into rellenos. I have never used hatch chiles for rellenos before, and it turned out to be quite a chore. Unlike peppers I have used in the past, the hatch chiles I had really started to fall apart after roasting, and I had to be very careful whenever I handled them to make sure they retained their shape. I stuffed each one with a large wedge of queso enchilado, and made a very thick batter to coat the stuffed peppers. I usually don't make a batter quite as thick as this one, but since the chiles were so fragile, I wanted to make sure I had a thick batter to coat the whole thing so that the cheese wouldn't fall out into the hot oil.
It's key to have very hot oil to fry rellenos so that the batter seals up quickly to keep the cheese in, and also for the rellenos cook quickly so that they don't absorb too much oil. Despite the difference from the batter I would normally use and the delicate chiles, the rellenos came out great, golden brown and of course cheesy.
To go with the rellenos I made a Vaquero bean and avocado soup. The Vaquero are yet another fabulous bean from Rancho Gordo, with a beautiful black and white mottled skin. I made a tomatoey broth with onions, garlic, and freshly-toasted cumin. The beans retained most of their interesting coloring and tasted great in the broth. I poured the soup over small cubes of avocado and garnished it with fresh cilantro. I wish I had a picture for you, but we ate it all up before I could grab the camera!
The Rio Zape bean and rice cakes, roasted jalapeno cream sauce, Vaquero bean and avocado soup, and chile rellenos all got two thumbs up from the hubbie. Now, I think I need to rest...
Happy eating!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Paprikash
When I moved to Colorado, I had to rebuild my list of go-to stores for my standard vegetarian items. I used to buy a chicken substitute called FriChik at my local health food store in Kalamazoo, but I couldn't find it anywhere near my new home. And by "anywhere near," I mean within a two-hour radius. Luckily, I was finally able to find an online retailer that could ship some to me. I just got my delivery last week, and one thing I wanted to do with my FriChik was make paprikash.
Paprikash is a traditional Hungarian chicken dish. The chicken is stewed in a sauce made with lots of Hungarian paprika. There are many variations of the dish, but the versions that Americans are most familiar with are usually made with tomatoes and sour cream.
There are numerous vegetarian chicken substitutes, and I have a few that I use regularly. Each has its own pros and cons, and is good for some things and not others. For instance, Morningstar Farms Chik'n Strips are great for stir-frying, but not for very saucy dishes, as they soak up liquids and can become soggy. I like using FriChik for saucy dishes because it holds up really well to liquids, but also because the taste works quite well with the paprikash sauce.
I make my paprikash with chopped onions and bell peppers sauteed in oil and butter, lots of paprika, a little bit of some type of chile pepper (crushed red pepper, ground ancho, or something else), garlic, salt and pepper, some type of tomatoes, and veggie stock or water. I use canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, or tomato paste depending on what I have in the house. After the sauce has simmered a little I add several pieces of FriChik and simmer some more. Then at the very end I mix together sour cream, milk, flour and a little of the paprikash sauce, stir it into the pot, and let it come back up to a gentle simmer briefly just to thicken the sauce a bit. One bonus of using vegetarian meat substitutes is that I can make a dish like this, which usually will have to cook on the stove for an hour or more, in only about 20 minutes, since the veggie meat is already cooked. Paprikash is traditionally served with spaetlze-style dumplings, but I serve mine over egg noodles, which is also very good.
Dan had never had paprikash or FriChik before, and he gave both two thumbs up. If you like paprika, paprikash is a very simple-to-make and satisfying dish. And, luckily for me and other veggies out there, we do have some good chicken-substitute options, so that we can enjoy this type of dish, too.
Happy eating!
Paprikash is a traditional Hungarian chicken dish. The chicken is stewed in a sauce made with lots of Hungarian paprika. There are many variations of the dish, but the versions that Americans are most familiar with are usually made with tomatoes and sour cream.
There are numerous vegetarian chicken substitutes, and I have a few that I use regularly. Each has its own pros and cons, and is good for some things and not others. For instance, Morningstar Farms Chik'n Strips are great for stir-frying, but not for very saucy dishes, as they soak up liquids and can become soggy. I like using FriChik for saucy dishes because it holds up really well to liquids, but also because the taste works quite well with the paprikash sauce.
I make my paprikash with chopped onions and bell peppers sauteed in oil and butter, lots of paprika, a little bit of some type of chile pepper (crushed red pepper, ground ancho, or something else), garlic, salt and pepper, some type of tomatoes, and veggie stock or water. I use canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, or tomato paste depending on what I have in the house. After the sauce has simmered a little I add several pieces of FriChik and simmer some more. Then at the very end I mix together sour cream, milk, flour and a little of the paprikash sauce, stir it into the pot, and let it come back up to a gentle simmer briefly just to thicken the sauce a bit. One bonus of using vegetarian meat substitutes is that I can make a dish like this, which usually will have to cook on the stove for an hour or more, in only about 20 minutes, since the veggie meat is already cooked. Paprikash is traditionally served with spaetlze-style dumplings, but I serve mine over egg noodles, which is also very good.
Dan had never had paprikash or FriChik before, and he gave both two thumbs up. If you like paprika, paprikash is a very simple-to-make and satisfying dish. And, luckily for me and other veggies out there, we do have some good chicken-substitute options, so that we can enjoy this type of dish, too.
Happy eating!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)