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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!