Cherry Spice Cookies

I have a few dried cherries left from a bag of dried Michigan cherries we bought.  I wanted to make some sort of cookies with them, and this recipe is what I ended up with.  I found a recipe online that sounded about right and then altered it to suit what I was going for, which included adding rum-soaked cherries.  Below is the final recipe.  These cookies are lightly spiced, and if you want lots of spice, you can double the amounts of cinnamon and ginger.  Another option is to use some other type of dried fruit, such as cranberries, or even some chopped up dried apricots.

Cherry Spice Cookies

2 T rum (or other liquor)
1/4 c dried cherries, roughly chopped (or other dried fruit)
2/3 c canola oil (or other neutral veggie oil)
1/2 c sugar, plus extra
1/2 c brown sugar
2 T honey
1 egg
2 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt

Pour rum over dried cherries in small bowl and allow to soak at least 10 minutes (up to a few hours for stronger flavor).  In large bowl, beat oil, sugars, honey, and egg until well mixed.  In separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, and seasonings.  Sift flour mixture ove wet ingredients.  Add cherries.  Stir batter until just combined.

Add extra sugar to shallow bowl or plate.  Make balls of batter about an inch to inch and a half wide, and roll balls in sugar.  Place on baking sheet (sprayed with nonstick spray) about 2 inches apart.  Bake at 375 for 14-16 minutes or until edges just barely start to get golden.  Allow to cool a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.

I hope you like my cookie recipe.  Happy holiday baking!

Blue Cheese Fritters And Stoplights

My sister might remember this, I don't know.  Long, long ago, she took me out to the tapas restaurant in Grand Rapids and then out to a few bars for my b-day.  My TWENTY-FIRST b-day.  Oh yeah.  Par-tay.  We had a few drinks.  I remember few things from that night, partially because it was quite a long time ago .  I remember having a shot called a stoplight at one point.  I vaguely remember running into some old high school classmates (that I wasn't even really friends with in hs) and to their astonishment, suddenly asking them for a cigarette for some reason (we'll blame that one on the stoplight).  Yeah, it was an interesting night.  But despite all that silliness, after a decade and a half, I clearly remember the blue cheese fritters we had at the tapas restaurant for dinner.

I love cheese. I love blue cheese.  And I've certainly had blue cheese in various forms in my possession many times over the last 15 years.  But for some reason I've never gotten around to trying my hand at making homemade blue cheese fritters, despite intending to all that time.  I really don't know why I never tried to make them.  Well, last night I finally did.  I had a little blue cheese in the house, and I was cooking, and I thought, 'hey, I could try to make those fritters I once had'.

I didn't use all blue cheese for the filling.  I used about half blue cheese crumbles and half shredded mozzarella.  I grated a little bit of onion into the batter.  I used a tiny bit of flour - a mixutre of chickpea flour and regular flour - with a tiny bit of egg to bind it.  Salt and pepper too, of course.  I added just enough egg until it seemed wet enough to hold together.  I formed little balls and then rolled the balls out to make oblong shapes, and refrigerated them until they were nice and firm so that I could coat and fry them without them melting everywhere.

I wanted the coating to be crisp, so I used panko.  I coated the fritters in more chickpea flour first, then egg, then the panko.  When they were fried, a few did actually melt a little out of the coating, but mostly they held together fine. 

I surprised Dan with my creation, and he and I both enjoyed the fritters while we watched a rerun of Big Bang Theory.  I had a spicy cherry sauce that I'd made to go with something else that also went fine with the fritters, but what really went well with them was a little balsamic glaze that I happened to have.  The vinegary tang really offset the richness and earthiness of the blue cheese. 

I can't believe it's been so long since I turned twenty-one.  I'm an old geezer.  But I'm an old geezer with lefttover blue cheese fritters in the fridge!!  Yum!

Happy eating!

Thanksgiving Is Here Again

The 6 weeks of the holiday season from before Thanksgiving though New Year's Eve is both wonderful and depressing for me.  It is my favorite time of year, but ever snce I moved to Colorado - and away from my family - the best part of the holiday season is mostly absent for me.  Spending time with my family and all our fabulous and silly traditions is obviously not happening out here.  A couple of times since my move I have been able to fly back to the Midwest to spend Christmas with my family.  However, I have not been with my family for Thanksgiving in a long time.  The loss is even more enhanced by the fact that my in-laws don't exactly welcome me with open arms.  The loving, warm family time the holidays are in my memory aren't an option for me out here.

Last year I hosted Thanksgiving at our house and had my husband's family over.  I made everything except the turkey and stuffing, which his father, the cook of his family, made and brought over.  It was hard work and I wore my sick little body out.  This year, even if I wanted to host Thanksgiving, there would be no way.  No matter how sick I thought I was last year, this year I am much more so.  Plus, it's been a particularly rough couple of weeks.  I have had three emergency room visits just this month, and almost ended up there yesterday (I still might).  I definitely am not hosting Thanksgiving.

Dan's parents are hosting the dinner this year.  I did tell them that I would bring something over if I had the energy.  I recently harvested lots of sage from my Aerogarden (to freeze before it went bad), and sage being such a quintessential Thanksgiving herb, I wanted to use that for my if-I-can-I-will dish.  So, I got the idea to make gnocchi, and serve it with a simple sage-butter sauce.  I figured I could make a butternut squash and potato gnocchi, and that would be festive.  Plus it coud be my main dish as obviously I won't be eating any turkey.  If I can find a couple of hours in the next few days in which I'm feeling not so sick, I can make the gnocchi and just freeze them.  That way if I'm not feeling great on turkey day I will still be able to bring the dish. 

I'm glad I can celebrate Thanksgiving with a festive meal, but I do seriously miss my family this time of year.  I am very thankful for my whole family and all their love and support.  I am also thankful for all the things that keep me going, even if I am sick: things like my dialysis machine, and my medications, and my awesome doctors.  I am well aware that 50 years ago, I wouldn't even be here.  So, despite my limitations, I can only be grateful for all that I have. 

I know this post is a bit more serious than most.  But on Thanksgiving, it's good to look around and take stock.  I am very thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving eating!

Simple Curried Vegetable Soup

Here's an idea for a simple way to jazz up your basic vegetable soup.  Adding curry seasonings and coconut milk turns a standard vegetable soup into something more interesting.  Make it a little spicy if you want, to perk you up on a blah, chilly day.  If you have them, some fresh herbs finish the soup nicely.

By the way, the same exact recipe works great for your basic tomato soup, as well.  Instead of broth, you can add tomato sauce or pureed tomatoes, fresh or canned.  Also delicious.

Curried Vegetable Soup

1 Tbsp each veg oil and butter
chopped fresh veggies, about 2 cups or so (potatoes, carrots, celery, peppers, squash, onion, etc.)
1 tsp curry powder or more
dash each: cumin, coriander, cinnamon, garlic, sugar, salt and pepper
4 cups veggie stock (or water and bouillion)
1 cup coconut milk
1 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro, basil, or mint (optional)

Depending on veggies used, sautee some and boil others.  Sautee onions, celery, and other similar veggies in oil and butter until just soft.  Add curry seasonings as desired to oil and stir until warm.  Add stock and remaining veggies (such as potatoes and carrots).  Bring to a boil and let simmer until veggies are cooked through.  Stir in coconut milk.  Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.  Stir in fresh herbs just before serving.

Happy eating!

Mushroom Stroganoff

When I was young, my mom's stroganoff was one of my favorite dishes.  When we got to choose the dinner on our birthdays, I sometimes chose stroganoff.  When she had a big pot of it bubbling away on the stove all afternoon, I loved the smell of it filling the house.  Since most people think of beef when they think stroganoff, it may seem odd to have it as a vegetarian dish.  But, the mushrooms are really the main flavor of the dish anyway.  Mushroom stroganoff is rich and delicious, but healthier and easier to make.

Here's my recipe for stroganoff.  You can use any mixture of button, crimini, and/or portabella mushrooms.  If you want beef in it, it's as simple as browning some and adding it with the liquids.

Mushroom Stroganoff

10-12 oz mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1/2 medium onion, sliced
1/2 small carrot, shredded
2 Tbsp each: veg oil and butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 c water
2 c veggie stock
1/2 c tomato sauce
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 bouillion cube or better-than-bouillion paste
dash each: dried marjoram, thyme, smoked paprika
corn starch
sour cream

In soup pot, sautee onions in oil and butter a couple of minutes.  Add mushrooms, carrot and garlic.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cook, covered, on low, about 15 minutes, stirring occassionally.  Add water, stock, tomato sauce, soy sauce, bouillion, and seasonings.  Simmer gently, partially covered, about an hour.

Scoop out about a half cup of sauce; mix with a little corn starch and sour cream to make a slurry.  Stir slurry into sauce to thicken as needed.  Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.  Serve over noodles or rice with extra sour cream.

Happy eating!

Cinnamon-Ginger Apple Crisp

The smell of apples baking in the oven is one of the best smells in the world, if you ask me.  When fall rolls around, it's the perfect time for baking apples.  Apple crisp is delicious, and easier to make than some other dishes, like pie, since it's freeform and very forgiving.

The only trick to apple crisp is to get the apples cut the right thickness so that the apples are cooked but not overcooked when the topping gets crisp.  If you want a thick and very crisp topping, cut the apples thicker.  A thinner or less crisp topping, the apples can be thinner.  It's not rocket science.

Today I made some apple crisp with not just cinnamon, but also ginger sugar that I happened to have leftover from making crystalized ginger.  I saved the remaining ginger-flavored sugar crystals.  But, it would be just as easy to mix regular ground ginger in with the cinnamon and sugar.  I've never used ginger in an apple crisp before today, and I absolutely loved it.  Dan enjoyed it, too; in fact he thought it would be good with a whole lot more ginger.  Maybe I'll go nuts with it next time.

Here's my basic recipe for apple crisp with ginger and cinnamon.  Play around with the flavors as you see fit.  You can add other fruits to the mix, or add oats or nuts to the topping. 

Cinnamon-Ginger Apple Crisp

4 baking apples, same or mixed, peeled, cored, and sliced
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp each: cinnamon, ground ginger, and sugar (or ginger sugar)
1 Tbsp butter, cut in very small pieces

topping:
1/4 c flour
1/4 c brown sugar
dash each: cinnamon and salt
3 Tbsp cold butter, cut in very small pieces

Sprinkle apples with lemon juice as they are cut to avoid browning.  Layer sliced apples evenly in small baking dish.  Sprinkle with seasonings.  Dot with butter pieces.

In bowl, stir together flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.  Cut in small pieces of butter and mix gently with fingertips until mixed but crumbly  (some pieces of butter should remain).  Sprinkle on top of apples.  Bake in oven until apples are cooked through and topping is golden brown and crisp, 20-40 minutes (depending on thickness of apples). 

Serve warm or room temp, alone or with ice cream.

Yum!  Happy autumn eating!

Baked Italian Sausage and Potatoes

I really love Morningstar Farms' Italian Sausage.  It is one of those vegetarian meats that I crave.  They really did a great job with the flavor and texture of the sausage.  I love to make Italian sausage sandwiches, but recently I wanted to try something new with the sausage.  After browsing recipe sites online, I settled on the idea to make something baked with potatoes.  I ended up making this dish, and I was very happy with the results.

Basically, it's a pile of potatoes, Italian sausage, bell peppers, onions, and other veggies, topped with a simple tomato sauce and then baked.  I melted cheese on top as well.  I suppose the same dish could be made with raw veggies and sausage and just baked for much longer, but I found it quite easy to par-cook everything and only bake it for a short time.  Finishing it all in the oven helped everything come together and allowed the potatoes to absorb all the great flavors. 

Baked Italian Sausage and Potatoes
4 Italian sausage links
2 medium russett potatoes, cubed
1/2 small onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3-4 fresh basil leaves, torn or chiffonade
dash each: salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, dried oregano
olive oil
16 oz diced tomatoes
8 oz tomato sauce
mozzarella and/or parmesan cheese (optional)

Boil the potatoes and carrots in salted water until just under al dente and drain well.  In the meantime, sautee sausage in a little oil until fully cooked and golden brown.  Add onions, peppers and celery to the sausage pan and cook just until soft.  Slice the sausages on the diagonal, making four pieces from each link. 

Drizzle a little olive oil in a medium baking dish.  Layer the potatoes and carrots on the bottom of the dish.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, oregano, and crushed red pepper.  Layer sausages on top of the potatoes.  Layer onions, peppers, and celery on top of the sausage.  Sprinkle on the minced garlic.  Pour tomatoes and sauce over the veggies.  Sprinkle again with salt, pepper, oregano, and red pepper.  Top with fresh basil. 

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until hot and bubbling.  Top with cheese if desired and return to the oven just until melted.  Serve in shallow bowls with bread.

I hope you enjoy this idea.  Happy eating!

Twice-Baked Potatoes

Potatoes are a great vegetarian staple.  They are universally useful as side dish or main, and there are a million ways to use them.  A simple baked potato with butter and sour cream is one of my favorite things.  But, if you have a few extra minutes, turning that baked potato into a twice-baked potato can really up the yum factor.

When making twice-baked potatoes, as in making regular mashed potatoes, it's important to remember that overworking the potatoes develops the gluten in them, which is what can make some mashed potatoes gummy.  You want to go ahead and mash them as much as you want, just don't keep going with it.  Some people use a food mill or potato ricer to accomplish this.  I don't have one, so I just use an old fashioned potato masher and just try to not overdo it.  I've seen some people put their cooked potatoes into a stand mixer, turn on the paddle, and let it go for 15 minutes.  For the life of me I can't imagine why you'd want to do that.  The potatoes will never be creamy and delicate again once you work the gluten that much. 

Twice-baked potatoes can literally be just the baked potato, mashed, and baked again, but when most people say twice-baked they also mean that they've added a thing or two to the mix.  I like to add a lot of stuff to the mix.  Cheese, sour cream, mustard, milk, butter, seasoning, you name it, I throw it in there.  I don't, however, usually put the potato mixture back into the original potato skin shells.  To get the potato out of the shell while leaving the shell totally intact is a difficult task.  I prefer to just scoop out all the insides and discard the shell, instead just baking the whole thing in a small baking dish. 

Here's a general recipe for twice-baked potatoes.  You can leave out any of the additions, except for milk or cream; at least a little moisture is needed for mashing the potatoes.  Otherwise, everything is optional.

Twice-Baked Potatoes

4 medium russet potatoes
2 Tbsp milk or cream plus extra
1/2 cup loosely packed shredded cheese(s) of your choosing
2 Tbsp butter or margarine, divided
2 Tbsp sour cream
1 Tbsp brown or dijon mustard
dash each: garlic powder, salt, pepper, paprika

Bake the potatoes as you normally would until fully cooked.  Allow to cool enough to handle; scoop out the insides and mash with a little milk or cream as needed.  Stir in 1 Tbsp butter, cheese, sour cream, mustard, and seasoning.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Spread potatoes evenly in a small baking dish.  To get brown parts, score or make peaks in the potatoes.  Dot the top of the potatoes with remaining 1 Tbsp of butter, cut into little pieces.  Bake until golden brown on top, 20-30 minutes.

Happy eating!

A Good Soup Is Hard To Find

It's so difficult to find a good vegetarian soup!  Anybody who reads this blog knows that I love me some soup.  Being a vegetarian, however, makes it very, very difficult to find a good soup that fits into my diet.  Vegetarian canned soups at the store are plentiful, but exremely disappointing.  Restaurant soups are almost always non-vegetarian.  I usually end up making my own soups at home.  But, when I want soup the most -- when I'm sick with a cold or a fever -- making soups is the last thing I want to do, or sometimes am even capable of doing.  Dan's always willing to run around like a crazy person all over town finding and getting me whatever I want when I'm ill, but the problem still remains that no soups that I want or can eat seem to be out there. 

I have been fighting off a cold or something for a few days now, and all I've wanted is soup.  After an exhaustive search online, Dan stumbled on a soup restaurant that we've never noticed before: Zoup.  It's a chain, and there is one in Denver.  It's not really near us at all, but the drive isn't so bad as long as it's not rush hour.  We checked out the online menu, and the first thing I noticed is that they marked each of their soups whether it's vegetarian.  They have numerous selections every day, and from what I've seen they have two or three vegetarian options daily, which for a (non-vegetarian) restaurant is actually quite a lot. 

Dan ventured out to bring home every one of their soups that I was willing to eat so I'd be stocked up when he went off to work.  Each soup was good.  I wouldn't say it's the best soup I've ever had, but it's good enough that I'm totally willing to establish it as a regular soup-getting place for when I can't make the soup.  And really, that's saying a lot.  Because it's so difficult to find a good vegetarian soup!!

The Problem With Raw

I'm sure you have all heard of the raw food movement.  There are plenty of references ro raw foodism all around us.  And who can forget the momentous moment in S&TC when Samantha first laid eyes on a certain sexy raw-food restaurant waiter?  It's a thing.  If there's a place where accuracy matters, it's health.  So I'm going to discuss raw food a little if you don't mind.  I'm no expert by any means, by the way, so forgive me if this all sounds a bit amateurish; I'm just tryin to sum up what I know of the subject.  If you want specifics, there is ample information on the topic to be found virtually everywhere.

I read a magazine article a few months ago wherein the author proclaimed that a raw food diet is in no uncertain terms healthier than, more nutritious than, and will allow you to live longer than a diet that includes cooked food of any kind.  He gave a temperature above which you shouldn't cook food (I don't recall his temperature, but many raw foodists say 104).  He was very certain that you shouldn't be cooking any of your food because the nutritional value will always go down.   (He also talked about killing 'beneficial food enzymes,' which, by the way, most scientists don't even believe are a real aspect of our nutrition.)

The raw food mantra of "cooking-reduces-nutrition" at first sounds logical and may be easy to accept as black-and-white truth.  But unfortunately, it's just not. We all know that if you take a piece of spinach and boil the crap out of it, many of the compounds in the spinach are now in the water instead of in the leaf.  That's why the water is green now.  And many of those compounds are things that are valuable to us nutritionally.  But the science of how compounds in foods react to cooking and interact with our bodies is much more complex than just "cooking reduces nutrients." 

If you measure certain nutrients in certain foods before and after cooking you might conclude that the nutrients in the food are reduced by cooking.  But the way, and even if, our bodies absorb and use those nutrients is dependent on a variety of factors.  For instance, some of the nutrients in some raw foods are blocked by other compounds. There is even a name for such blocking compounds: antinutrients.  In some foods, cooking can impair or negate the effects of the antinutrients, thereby making the beneficial nutrients more available to us.  This means that even if the nutrients measure lower when the food is cooked, the amount that our bodies will get from the item may be increased, even exponentially so.  Antinutrients are just one example of how the chemistry of cooking can sometimes work in our favor.
 
Another example of a benefit from cooking food is lycopene.  A raw tomato essentially has no lycopene; it is only there in cooked tomatoes. You will get more lycopene from ketchup than you will from a raw tomato.  Or, how about carrots.  Many of the antioxidants in carrots are made much more available to our bodies when the carrots are cooked.  Beans are another good example.  Beans are a superfood with many beneficial compounds that are totally locked to us when the bean is in it's raw state.  And, some minerals are barely affected by cooking or not at all.  These are just a few examples that I happen to be aware of.  I'm no nutritionist.

This all makes me think of the episode of Good Eats in which he showed how the Mayans processed corn to make masa flour which was the foundation of their diet.  By processing the corn kernels in a certain way (as I recall it included slaked lime), they totally changed the kernels' chemical makeup (without realizing it of course).  Without processing it that way, the corn's important nutrients would have been totally unavailable; the treatment made the compounds locked inside the corn nutitionally availabe to the human body -- and basically allowed the Mayans to thrive as a massively successful society.  But I digress into anthropology.  Anyway, it just goes to show that chemically altering foods - which is what cooking is - can sometimes have very positive effects. 

Now, I'm obviously not saying that all foods are dietarily better when cooked.  There are, of course, plenty of instances in which a particular nutrient may be more available in something raw than in the cooked version.  It's just that, it drives me up a wall when I see a raw foodist make the proclamation that cooked food is always less nutritious and less healthy than raw.  It's very, very untrue. 

The chemical changes that cooking can impart are many.  There are multiple aspects to consider.  Some dietary benefits might be increased with cooking, and other benefits can be reduced.  Like most things, it's foolish to try to narrow down the complex chemistry of our dietary intake to a single, simple rule.  The truth is, variety is the spice of health.  To have a balanced and healthy diet, we are supposed to eat a wide variety of foods.  For instance, we'll get the widest nutrient range if we eat many types of fruits instead of just one.  In kind, our diet should also include foods with a range of preparations.   If we eat that way, we will be offering the widest possible selection of nutrients to our bodies.  Go ahead and eat your raw carrots, but eat your cooked carrots, too, and you'll get the best of both worlds.

The last thing I want to mention is this: The raw food movement is in part a reaction to our culture's increasing dependence on food that is overprocessed, overpreserved, over-everything.  I think getting back to fresh, natural food that is real and simple is a very good idea.  It's great to focus our efforts on eating fewer processed foods, fewer preservatives and trans fats, more homemade meals, more fresh fruits and veggies.  But those who say that cooking is the enemy are unfortunately misguided. 

Thanks for reading.  Happy eating!

Crystallized Ginger

In my continuing adventure into the wonders of sugar work, I tried my hand at making my own crystallized ginger the other day.  It was successful and the results delicious, but most of all it was really, really fun!  If you've never crystallized anything, you might want to try it once just for the heck of it, to see how it works and what fun it is.  It's more effort than just candying things, which I did with orange peel a few days before, but it's definitely more fun.  It's like a little science experiment. 

What happens when you candy something, like the peel, is that you cook it in a sugar syrup so that it gets infused with the sugar.  It's often coated in granulated sugar.  The difference with crystallizing something is that when you cook it in sugar syrup, you let all the water evaporate away.  This means that all the sugar, which is dissolved in the water, re-crystallizes out of the water as the water evaporates away, and the sugar crystals cling tightly to whatever is there.  It's the same idea as evaporating sea water to make salt.

I have seen crystallized things made on cooking shows, but in person it was way cooler than I expected it to be.  I don't know, maybe that's just the science geek in me, but as the last of the water bubble away and all of a sudden there was sugar everywhere, I was very giddy.  I even called my husband into the kitchen so he could see, and I kept asking him, "isn't that cool?  Isn't that cool?"  He assured me over and over that yes, it was indeed cool.

For this first dive into the magic which is crystallization I crystallized some ginger.  I sliced the ginger thin and then boiled them in plain water for about 20 minutes.  The water became a very deep golden colored and strongly flavored.  I saved it when I drained the ginger slices.  The ginger then was simmered in the sugar syrup, which is about as much sugar as ginger and maybe a fifth as much water.  Then, like I said, you just wait for the water to evaporate.  When the water is almost gone, it begins to look like it's foaming rather than boiling.  Then all of a sudden, there is no liquid, and there is sugar everywhere.  You have to turn off the heat, and quickly scoop the ginger out of the pan.  It can cool on a wire rack or even just some wax paper.  Separating the ginger while it's still warm will help keep it all from sticking together, but you have to use tongs or utensils, as hot sugar is a dangerous weapon.

I obviously had a lot of fun crystallizing ginger and now I want to crystallize everything.  I already went to the store and stocked up on almonds, lemons, and more oranges.  Everybody better watch out, everything I make is going to be coated in sugar from now on.

For B&D&J if they are reading this: I'm bringing a load of crystallized stuff to our game this weekend, so get ready for a sugar high!

Happy eating!

Candied Orange Peel

I made candied orange peel for the first time a couple of days ago, and brought it to our game night to share it with friends and get opinions on how it came out.  I got good feedback, even though  I definitely cut the strips too small, as they shrunk during cooking and ended up teeny-tiny. 

It turns out that making candied orange peel is not very difficult, just very time-consuming.  There are several steps.  After doing a little research, I found that recipes for candied peel vary widely, including some recipes that take a whole day.  I am inexperienced in this sort of thing, but this is the general outline of what I did, and luckily, it worked for me. 

Candied Orange Peel
1.  Cut the peel from the orange(s), being careful to remove as much of the white pith as possible.  Cut the peel into strips.
2.  Bring a small pot of water to a boil.  Add the orange peel and boil for five minutes.  Drain the peel, discarding the water, and rinse the peel with cool water.  Refill the pot with fresh water and again bring to a boil.  Add the peels to the new boiling water and again boil for five minutes, drain, and rinse. 
3.  Boil, drain, and rinse the peels as many times as needed, using fresh water each time, until they are a little less soft than the desired texture, 10 to 20 minutes total boiling time.
4.  For every two oranges' worth of peels, measure a third cup water and a half cup sugar.  Bring the sugar and water to a gentle simmer in the small pot, making sure it all dissolves.  Add the peels and simmer about 10 to 15 minutes.
5.  Be very careful - the hot sugar solution will burn skin.  With tongs or spider ladle, carefully transfer peels to a bowl of regular granulated sugar, tossing to coat each peel; transfer to wax paper or silicone mat.  Be careful - boiling sugar is dangerous and will burn skin quickly!
6.  Allow peels to cool.  Dip in chocolate if desired.  Keep in a closed containter.

I've been slowly venturing into the realm of sugar work, and this is one thing I have been wanting to try my hand at for a while now.  I rarely have oranges around the house because I have to be so careful about how much potassium I take in (because of my kidney disease), so it took me a while to finally get around to try actually making candied orange peel.  I'm glad I finally did.  Now that this was successful, I may try similar things -- candied ginger comes to mind.  And next time, my candied orange peel will be a normal size, not the strangely tiny bits I ended up with this time.  Live and learn.

Happy eating!

Picky About Pickles

I enjoy pickles as much as the next person, but I have a strong opinion about them.  I will eat most pickles, including the sad, yellow ones you get at some lower-class sandwich joints, but what constitutes a very good pickle is, in my mind, very specific.  By the way, I know that anything that is pickled technically constitutes a pickle, but I'm just talking about cucumber pickles.

In Michigan, my family usually bought Claussen pickles.  Their commercials make a big deal about Claussen pickles being packed and transported cold, and they're in the refrigerated section of the grocery store.  I don't know if it's the refrigeration or their brine or the exact dna of the pickles, but Claussen are way better than some other national brands, for instance, Vlasic.  I'm not saying Claussen are the best pickle, but for your basic grocery store brand pickles, they're the better ones.  If I need pickles, I will certainly use whatever is available, but ever since I moved to Denver I've been bummed that I've had to resort to buying Vlasic.  My husband is the one who usually does the grocery shopping, and for four years he's told me that there are no Claussens to be found.

Well, we both went shopping today, and as it turns out, Denver does have Claussens after all.  Right there in the refrigerated case.  Either Denver just got some Claussens in or Dan didn't look in the right place.  No biggie.  I'm just glad to have them! 

Another favorite type of pickle is the gherkin, the little sweet ones.  My grandma used to serve them every Thanksgiving, so no matter what the season, gherkins make me nostalgic.  Like dills, however, certain gherkins are better than others.  Mt. Olive sweet gherkins or regular gherkins are good.

For the record, some of my absolute non-grocery pickles come from the Spicy Pickle sandwich shop.  Their pickles are, of course, spicy.  Every sandwich comes with a spicy pickle, but sometimes I'll just buy a bunch of the pickles sans sandwich.

I've tried making my own cucumber pickles but they are just never right.  I've tried a few recipes and just haven't gotten the taste correct.  It might be that I have to find the right sort of vinegar.

Does anybody out there have a favorite pickle, or great pickle recipe?  And if you make your own cucumber pickles, what sort of vinegar do you use?  Let's talk pickles.

Happy pickle eating!

Hummus & Cheese Crostini

Here's an idea for a snack or appetizer that is super delicious and super easy.  And, actually, since I first discovered this combo, I've eaten these as the main portion of a dinner, too, not just as a snack.  It was a happy accident that I happened to find how well these ingredients are together.

I went into the kitchen the other day to find a snack, but was greeted with a mostly-empty pantry and fridge.  We just had a few miscellaneous things.  We had a couple of onion bagels, a little bit of hummus, and some gruyere cheese leftover from when I made French onion soup a few days before.  I was sortof in the mood for melted cheese (I'm almost always in the mood for melted cheese), so I thought I could make some sort of melted-cheese bagel something-or-other. 

The first thing I did was slice an onion bagel into thin pieces.  I drizzled the bagel slices with a little olive oil and baked them in the oven to make little toasts.  Then I spread them with a little hummus - it happened to be roasted garlic flavor - and topped each one with a slice of gruyere cheese.  I also sprinkled each with a little salt, pepper, and paprika.  Then I put them back in the oven to get the cheese melted and bubbly.

I thought I was just making do with what I had, but it turns out it was a super yummy treat!  These little bagel crostinis were so good, I could hardly wait to make them again to show Dan (he was at work at the time).  So I made them again for the both of us a few days later, although this time I used everything bagels instead of onion.  He loved them, too.  Now they are part of my repertoire.  I am sure they'd be good with other kinds of toasted bread besides bagels, but for whatever reason, bagels do happen to taste great with the hummus and gruyere.  Turns out leftover night is sometimes not so bad!

Happy eating!

Sage Cream Sauce

I made gnocchi for the first time last week, and the first sauce I made to go with them was a sage cream sauce.  Gnocchi go great with all kinds of sauces, but especially with cream sauces, I think.  I have been wanting to use my (Aerogarden) sage plant to make fried sage, and I figured this was the perfect opportunity to give that a try.  So, I made a simple cream sauce flavored with fried sage, and it turned out absolutely delicious!  It sounds fancy, but it was one of the simplest sauces I've ever made.  Here's the recipe:

Gnocchi with Sage Cream Sauce
2 servings potato gnocchi
2 T butter
1 T olive oil
2 T onion, finely minced
2 small or 1 large garlic clove
about 10 small or 6 large sage leaves
1 tsp fresh tarragon or parsley, chopped
salt, pepper, crushed red pepper
1/2 cup cream or half and half

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  In a large pan or saucepan, heat oil and butter on medium heat and add onions, sage leaves, and whole garlic cloves.  Season with a dash each of salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper.  Cook sage leaves about two minutes, then remove with tongs and drain on paper towels.  Cook onions until soft.  Remove garlic cloves with tongs and discard. 

Add gnocchi in two or three batches to the boiling water and boil until they float.  As gnocchi float, scoop them out and transfer to the butter sauce in the saucepan..  When all the gnocchi are in the saucepan, add cream and fresh herbs, and stir.  Season to taste; top with crispy sage leaves.


Frying sage is as delicious as it sounds like it would be.  Gnocchi with cream sauce is definitely not one of those dinners for the days you feel like you're supposed to be eating fresher, healthier foods.  But it sure is good!
Happy eating!

Holy Cr@p, I Made Gnocchi...!

I'm very proud of myself! Last week, I successfully made homemade potato gnocchi! It's especially an accomplishment considering I've never even made regular pasta homemade, much less potato pasta. There seems to be this mystique around gnocchi and I've always assumed it was difficult to make correctly. I had this idea in my head that unless you are an Italian grandmother, your gnocchi will turn out gummy or heavy or something. But as I found out after giving it a shot, it's actually not too hard to make - although it does take a little time.

After making the gnocchi, I made a simple but yummy herbed cream sauce to go with them.  I'm going to talk about the cream sauce recipe in my next post.  Today, I want to give the recipe for the gnocchi themselves. 

Gnocchi, by the way, can be made with all kinds of different ingredients, not just potato.  I've seen recipes for ricotta gnocchi or for gnocchi with vegetables in them, such as spinach or other greens.  I've even seen corn gnocchi which is very similar to polenta.  Maybe I'll try some of those versions someday. 

When making potato gnocchi, just like when making mashed potatoes, it's good to remember that the more the potatoes get worked, the more gluten forms.  As you know, gluten is what makes the difference, for instance, between cake and bread: it creates the structure.  It's why you have to knead bread dough and why you don't want to knead pie crust dough.  In pasta dough - which is what gnocchi dough is - you want to work it a little, just enough so that the dough holds together, but not too much.  Once the dough comes together, you're done.  There's no magic to it; you are just combining ingredients. 

There's actually no set-in-stone recipe for gnocchi because the amounts will vary based on how starchy the potatoes are or even how humid it is that day, but you can use the amounts below as a general guideline. 

Potato Gnocchi
1 pound russett potatoes
1 egg, beaten
about a cup of flour or more
salt and pepper to taste
2 T each parmesan and mozzarella cheeses, grated (optional)

Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil.  Boil the potatoes until very tender, peeling either before or after boiling.  Drain and rinse gently.  Allow to cool to room temp.  Mash the potatoes gently until just smooth; don't over-mash.  Add a little water or milk if needed.

Fold a half cup of flour, the egg, cheeses, and salt and pepper into the potatoes.  Add more flour a few spoonfuls at a time just until the dough is not too sticky.  Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead very gently, adding more flour if necessary, just until the dough comes together.  Do not overwork. 

Divide the dough into palm-sized sections; roll sections with your palms against the floured surface to make a long strand.  Cut the strand of dough into half-inch sections.  Roll on a gnocchi paddle or fork to create ridges, if desired.  To cook, boil the gnocchi in a large pot of salted water for a few minutes, until they float.  Scoop them out as they begin to float; sauce and serve.

Here's a tip: As you form the gnocchi, place them on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper and sprinkled with a little flour. Then when the gnocchi are formed you can cover them and store them in the fridge to cook later, or carry them to the stove to cook right away. You could also place the cookie sheet of gnocchi in the freezer, and when the gnocchi are frozen solid, transfer them to plastic bags and keep in the freezer for later use.

Next time I will talk about a cream sauce I made to go with my gnocchi.  Happy eating!

Compound Butter for Salmon

I've never liked most fish and seafood, but it's a moot point anyway, since I'm a vegetarian.  But, my husband love, love, loves fish, so we do occassionally buy it.  He doesn't know how to cook for the most part, so even though I don't eat the fish, I do usually end up cooking it.

We ended up with some salmon in our freezer because we bought some on sale and I knew we wouldn't use it up in time.  So, I portioned it and froze it.  The other day, I saw an idea on a cooking show for a simple way to cook the salmon if the skin is still on - which it was, as I left the skin on when I portioned it.  So, I pulled a salmon portion out of the freezer to let it thaw in the fridge for the next day.

The idea I saw was to make a compound butter which gets slathered on the skin of the salmon, and then the whole thing is baked.  As the butter melts it coats and flavors the salmon as well as crisping the skin.  Sounded like something Dan would like.  You all know what compound butter is - just butter mixed with whatever sounds good.  I love making herb butter.  That day I happened to make it with lemon basil, tarragon, and a little bit of mint and oregano, since those are the fresh herbs I currently have in my Aerogarden.  I also added a bit of spicy brown mustard and a dash of lemon juice, and of course salt and pepper.  It's easiest to make the compound butter when the butter is room temp, but then I let the butter chill in the fridge for a few minutes before using it on the salmon, so that it would be firm and cold when it went into the oven.  The salmon, on the other hand, I let sit out to get to room temp so it would cook evenly.

I spread a generous layer of the mustard-herb butter right onto the skin of the salmon (after scoring it so it wouldn't curl) and put just a tiny dollop of butter underneath the salmon to help keep it from sticking.  The salmon cooked for maybe 10 minutes or so - that depends on how done you like it.  The butter oozed all over and made the kitchen smell delicious.  Dan got home and dug in, and loved it.  He said the skin got crispy and the herb butter was great.  I didn't taste it at all but he said he loved it.  I'll keep that in my arsenal for cooking skin-on fish in the future.

Happy eating!

Goulash Potatoes

Recently I was looking for the same paprika pastes that my mom brings us when she has business in Hungary, and I instead ended up with one correct tube of paste and two jars of things that are not what I was looking for, but nonetheless delicious.  One is something called "Goulasch Creme" and the other is basically hot paprika peppers ground up.  The Goulasch Creme is made from mild paprika peppers with tomatos, onions, salt, and other seasonings and flavors.  It's delicious and I've incorporated it into numerous things. 

One thing I used it for recently is breakfast potatoes.  It turned out just delicious!  I love potatoes for breakfast or brunch and there are a million ways to make them.  This particular day I diced two potatoes and sauteed them with lots of butter.  Two small spoonfuls of the goulasch creme and one small spoonful of the ground hot paprika peppers coated the potatoes and helped the edges to carmelize as the potatoes cooked.  I also added pepper, salt, garlic, and ancho chiles. 

These potatoes were absolutley yummy and perfect.  If you happen to find yourself with paprika paste, goulasch creme, or anything similar, I would definitely give it a try on potatoes.  I ate them with sour cream but I'm sure they'd be great with ketchup or whatever other thing you like potatoes with. 

Happy eating!

Basil Lemonade

Yeah, I know, more lemons.  I have been on a bit of a lemon kick lately.  I guess it's cuz it's summer.  And also, we get them cheap from our beloved Asian market.  Here's what I did with them yesterday.

I was about to make a couple of glasses of fresh lemonade with the lemon I had leftover, and remembered that one of the herbs I have in my Aerogarden is lemon basil.  Regular basil - usually Genovese basil - could be described as somewhat lemony, but actual lemon basil varieties have a very distinct lemon scent and flavor.  I decided to make infused simple syrup with the lemon basil and with the lemon peel.

 Making a flavored simple syrup like this is very easy and I'm sure you already know how, but in case you want to hear about it, here's how: simply heat water and sugar (1 part water to .5-1 part sugar) in a stainless steel saucepan until just under boiling and shut off the heat.  Don't let it boil.  Stir gently if you need to help the sugar dissolve.  Add whatever flavorings you are using, cover, and let it steep for at least 15 minutes and up to an hour.  Strain with a fine mesh strainer and store in a tightly lidded container for up to a week in the fridge. 

For about a cup of syrup I used the peel from one lemon and about 2 tablespoons of lemon basil.  Bruising the basil a little before adding it helps infuse the flavor a little quicker.  I mixed the juice of one lemon and some water and ice with a few tablespoons of the lemon basil simple syrup and it was absolutely delicious.  The bonus is, I have plenty of the syrip leftover to do other silly things with all week!  Bring on the silliness.

Happy eating!

Vermicelli With Lemon & Roasted Garlic

A few months ago I watched someone make a lemon sauce for spaghetti and thought it sounded great.  They made a simple sauce with fresh lemon juice and cream.  I described it to Dan and he said it sounded delicious, and I agreed, so I've been meaning to give it a try.

I mentioned in my previous post that I had zested a few lemons to make limoncello.  This obviously left me with these zest-free lemons with which I had nothing to do.  So, it was a perfect time to try making a lemon pasta sauce.  I also wanted to add roasted garlic to the sauce for a sweetness and richness.  I just roasted the garlic the standard way and in the meantime juiced the lemons.  I also minced a little onion, and chopped some blanched string beans.  Then, as the pasta cooked (I used vermicelli), I began making the sauce.

For the sauce, I heated a few tablespoons of olive oil (including the oil from the roasted garlic) in a medium sized skillet and cooked the onions just until they were soft.  To that I added the roasted garlic (which I mashed into a paste), some crushed red pepper, the beans, salt and pepper.  I sprinkled on a little flour and then added some milk to make a creamy sauce.  After letting that bubble for a couple of minutes, I stirred in the lemon juice.  When the pasta was about a minute underdone, I transferred it to the skillet with a little bit of pasta water and tossed it all together for a couple of minutes in the simmering skillet.  Tasted and adjusted seasoning, and finished it with a sprinkling of fresh basil.  That's it.  Pretty simple. 

It came out exactly as I expected: very tangy and lemony, with a little background flavor of the sweet roasted garlic.  I thought the pasta was good, but it could have used a little more roasted garlic and a little less lemon.  It's always so hard to tell exactly how strong or weak the flavor of any fresh produce is going to be, though, so for my first attempt at this type of dish, I think it was well within the successful range.  Unfortunately, Dan didn't love it.  That is rare - he almost always loves what I cook.  He had originally said the idea of lemon pasta sounded delicious, but I guess he didn't really understand what that meant, cuz it was exactly as described but he ended up not loving it.  Not that he hated it, he just didn't love it.  I, however, thought it was good, although I think next time I'll adjust the lemon and garlic ratios like I said.

I'm glad I gave this a try.  I served it as a main dish, but I think it seemed more like a side.  I served it with my blue cheese stuffed roasted tomatoes, which was a nice, rich accompaniment to the very brightly flavored lemony pasta. 

Happy eating!

Lime-Limoncello

I learned from Alton Brown that Limoncello is easy to make.  (Unnecessary aside: Alton Brown is awesome.  I'm a little in love with him.  Sorry, Mr. Flay, you've been replaced.)  Limoncello is a lemon-infused sweetened alcohol from Italy that has been a bit of a fad lately.  It can be made with just vodka, fresh lemon peel, sugar, and time.

I actually learned the process for making Limoncello long ago, although I didn't know it at the time.  Years ago when I was living in Kalamazoo a friend explained to me how she made cherry cordial.  She soaked cherries in vodka for a couple of weeks and then added simple syrup.  Essentially, Limoncello is a lemon cordial.  I saw it made on an episode of David Rocco's Dolce Vita, but I didn't feel inspired to make my own Limoncello until I saw Alton Brown explain the steps in detail on his show Good Eats.  I realized how simple it is, and the next time I had some leftover citrus with which I had nothing to do, I decided to give making my own alcohol cordials a try.

I didn't have lemons, I had limes, so I went for it with limes instead.  It's important to zest the fruit while avoiding as much of the white pith as possible, just getting the green (or yellow) parts - since the pith is quite bitter.  Alton had suggested several lemons for about 700 mL of vodka, so using three limes for about half that much vodka seemed about right.  After carefully zesting as much of the lime peel as I could get off of them, I added the zest and the 350 mL of vodka to a very clean mason jar.  A tight lid and a couple of weeks in the pantry is then all it needed.  Obviously, since it's alcohol, there's no reason to worry about it going bad.  The alcohol works on the peel to extract all the oil and flavor.  Alton said to let the jar sit for at least a week, but I left mine for almost three weeks. 

Then, just today, I carefully strained the beverage through a coffee filter and then added some simple syrup.  I made the simple syrup with equal parts sugar and water, and added about a third as much syrup to the jar as there was cordial.  Dan sampled it and said he really liked it.  It also smells delicious.  There is no better potpourri than fresh citrus oils.

As an interesting coincidence, I now found myself with extra lemons in the house, and with my successful lime cordial experiement, I decided to try my hand at making actual limoncello, too.  So I peeled a couple of lemons, mixed it with vodka in a jar, and into the pantry it went.  The lime cordial is now in the fridge to keep it nice and cool for sipping or mixing.

I can't believe it took me so long to give this a try.  I have some blackberries in the freezer that I'm eyeing for yet another cordial experiment.  I'm excited to share my concoctions with my parents when they visit in a few weeks. 

Has anyone else out there made limoncello or vodka cordials?  I'd love to know what you made or how it went.

Happy eating drinking!

Last Night At Dinner I Discovered String Bean Theory

Last night at dinner I discovered String Bean Theory.  Ha!  That's a little joke for all my multiverse-minded friends out there.  I didn't really discover anything.  But I did buy a big package of fresh green sting beans at my favorite Asian market. 

I don't often cook with string beans, even though I do like them.  I'm not sure why I don't buy them more often and I think I probably should.  But, I don't have many options for what to do with them.  I usually just boil or steam them and have them with salt and maybe a little butter.  Add a few almond slivers on top and you have green beans almondine. There's always Phyllis Beans, which is my family's name for your standard cream-of-mushroom green bean casserole.  (See, when my mom was taught how to make it by her mother-in-law, my gma Phyllis, she didn't know it was a fairly common thing.  She thought it was my gma's special recipe, so she always called them Phyllis Beans, and so did we.  I therefore didn't know other people made it, either, until I was well into my teens.)  Or, I could cook some sort of string bean stir-fry, which was my purpose for this particular bean purchase.

But, I don't know many other uses.  Maybe it's time for a search on Epicurious.  I wanna know what fabulous ideas you all have for string beans.  There must be some good ideas out there.

Happy eating!

Little India Review, AKA Nomnomnom

I've mentioned before that when I first moved to the Denver area, one of my first orders of business was to find an Indian restaurant that had a Malai Kofta that I loved as much as the one I regularly had in Kalamazoo.  I occassionally get a severe craving for it, and it's important to me to have a place I can count on when that happens.  After sampling the food at several restaurants, I finally found Bombay Clay Oven in the Cherry Creek area.  Their Malai Kofta is exactly how I like it, and as a bonus, several of their other dishes are just the way I like them, also.  I can be picky about food, and especially certain foods, like Indian cuisine.  Once I found Bombay Clay Oven, I stopped going anywhere else.  Until yesterday.

Dan and I had an Indian feast all day yesterday.  It started when a local Indian restaurant, Little India, left a delivery menu on our doorstep last week.  Since then we've been looking at it and wanting to give it a shot.  They have a daily lunch buffet and so we figured what the heck, that might be a way for us to try out multiple different dishes. 

We went yesterday, and we were glad we did.  First of all, I was thrilled because out of the 15 or so offerngs in the buffet, only two weren't vegetarian.  The Little India buffet had a selection of fresh veggies and fruit, vegetable pakoras, sauces and chutneys as starters, as well as dal soup (which is a lentil soup).  For entrees, there was channa masala (masala chickpeas), saag paneer (spinach with cheese), pakora curry, and others.  There were also a few desserts.  I liked everything I had.  Dan had the two meat dishes - tandoori chicken and chicken curry - and liked both of them.  My favorite thing on the buffet was the veggie pakoras, with the channa masala as a close second.  They also served a basket of fresh naan to everyone getting the buffet.  Bonus!

We were happy enough with the lunch buffet that we decided to order some things for dinner.  I of course had to try the mala kofta, but we also got papadum, veggie momo with onion chutney, aloo naan (potato-stuffed naan), paneer makhni, and navratan korma, which is a veggie korma.  Everything was good, but a few things were best.  The aloo naan was just perfect.  I even liked it slightly better than Bombay Clay Oven's naan.  The papadum was very similar, even down to the dipping sauces, but I have to give the edge to BCO on that one, just barely.  The malai kofta was good at Little India, but I prefer BCO's for sure.  I'm just so picky.  The veggie momo was perhaps my favorite of our ordered items.  So good!  Especially with the onion chutney.  The other dishes were also good.  Dan preferred the korma and I liked the paneer. 

All in all, I liked Little India very much.  I can see why they have received Best Indian Food and Best Buffet from a slew of various places - 5280, Best of Denver, etc. - repeatedly for many years now.  However, no matter how good the food is generally, I still have to go to the place where the malai kofta is exactly how I like it, so I'll probably stay with BCO for that.  But, I'm sure Dan and I will be eating at the Little India buffet again.  There are four locations of Little India in the Denver area, so I highly recommend giving them a try if you live near Denver. 

Happy eating!

The Lasagna Bechamel Experiment

Today I went into the kitchen and had no idea what I was going to make for dinner.  I had gorgonzola cheese left over, and a few mushrooms, and hey, those go together great, I thought.  Maybe a cheesy base of some kind with a mushroom sauce on top?  But what to put it on?  I went to the pantry, where I found a variety of half-empty boxes of pasta.  One was lasagna noodles.  Hey, thought I, I could make a lasagna out of that.  So I got to work.

I usually make lasagna with tons of cheese and a simple tomato sauce.  Sometimes I add veggies.  But I have never made lasagna bechamel before.  Bechamel, as you all know, is a basic white sauce made from butter, flour, and milk (or cream).  In the northern parts of Italy, lasagna made with bechamel is common, unlike the central areas of the country, where tomato sauce is more prevalant (as I've learned by looking it up on the interwebs just now).  Apparently, there are other areas where lasagna is frequently made with pesto instead.  The variety is, apparently, endless.

So anyhooo, I got to work on all my sauces as my lasagna noodles cooked.  I made a mushroom ragu with finely minced carrots, celery, green pepper, and garlic, plenty of olive oil, some dried herbs, and of course the mushrooms, sliced.  I also add some smooshed tomatoes.  I made a gorgonzola sauce similar to a bechamel with milk, flour, and olive oil, beaten egg, and a few miscellaneous things.  Then I made a classic bechamel also.

I layered the lasagna with pasta, bechamel, pasta, gorgonzola sauce, pasta, bechamel, pasta, mushroom ragu, pasta, gorgonzola, pasta, and topped the whole thing with more bechamel, and into the oven it went.  I had a small pan of it, so I cooked it at a medium-high temp (about 400) for about 25 minutes; if making a full lasagna pan, I would bake it at a lower temp for longer.  When it looked done (meaning the edges were golden brown and bubbly), I pulled it out and let it rest for about 5 minutes.  Then we dug in!

And, happily, it was delicious!  I guess you can't go wrong with cheese, mushrooms, and white sauce.  The egg in the cheese sauce helped thicken it and give it structure, and the bechamel was creamy in the center and nice and golden brown on the edges.  The mushroom layer was garlicky and delicious.  I was worried that the gorgonzola would be too strong and overpower everything else, but actually it was extremely subtle and subdued.  I could have added a lot more, actually. 

I am thrilled with the way my lasagna experiement turned out.  My parents are coming to visit next month, and I think I might make this, or a version of it, when they are here.  I'll definitely have to add it to my repertoire.  So, take it from me, lasagna bechamel needn't be intimidating - it's actually just as easy as regular lasagna, and certainly just as delicious! 

Happy eating!

Ice Creamy

I love the show "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" on the Food Network.  This evening I watched the episode entitled, "The Best Thing I Ever Ate... Ice Creamy."  Lots of gut-busting sundaes and frozen concoctions on this episode, that's for sure!!

Perhaps it's the fact that I just visited my parents and grandmother, who have a history in the Ludington-Scottville area; or perhaps it's because I spent part of the week enjoying summer fun at a beautiful Lake Michigan beach... but I gotta call it:  House of Flavors in Ludington, Michigan. 

When I was a kid, we spent lots of time in Ludington.  There is a beautiful State Park there.  There are plenty of cute little cabin-rental resorts.  And there is a great old mini golf course.  We would enjoy all of that.  But I still can't mention Ludington without talking about House of Flavors.  House of Flavors is an old ice cream parlor in downtown Ludington (the 3 blocks which count as "downtown").  We didn't visit Ludington without going there.  It had the cutest interior, very old-fashioned ice cream parlor-looking, bright white and primary colors.  House of Flavors was the one place our family went where my sisters and I were allowed to choose something from the ice cream menu in lieu of an actual meal. 

They have always had a thing at the House of Flavors called the Super Pig which is 7 scoops of ice cream plus a load of toppings, which comes in a trough.  If you finish it you get a button.  There are smaller versions, too.  As fabulous as that is, that's not my favorite.  The Best Thing I Ever Ate... Ice Creamy is: The Cherry Bon Bon sundae, at House of Flavors Ludington Michigan, BUT (and this is VERY important) with Black Cherry ice cream instead of the standard vanilla which normally comes on the Cherry Bon Bon sundae.  Black Cherry ice cream is my favorite by a long shot.  Seriously, a good black cherry ice cream is so good that I could almost call that as the best ice creamy thing I ever ate.  But, add hot fudge, cherry sauce, and whipped cream, and really, it's the best possible ice cream combination I can think of.  I honestly can't think of a sundae that could be better than that.  And I'm not an ice cream person, at all.

So that's my vote.  What is the best ice creamy thing you ever ate?

Picada

I learned of a new thing the other day that I just knew I needed to add to my repertoire.  I was watching a show about Spanish food and a man made a paste in his mortar and pestle that looked and sounded delicious.  They called it a picada.  I asked Dan if he'd ever heard of a picada and he said yes, it's a name for a preparation of some meats - and I said, oh, no, that's picata, like 'veal picata.'  I hadn't even realized that of course, it's pronounced the same.   

This new 'picada' is not the name of a preparation, but a paste used in cooking.   It was made with fresh garlic, almonds, stale bread, parsley, and a little of the cooking liquid from the dish he was making.   The man went to town on it in the mortar and pestle until it was a beautiful, smooth paste.  He also added some saffron. 

I was so entranced by this thing that I looked it up right away.  It turns out that the picada is an important part of Catalonian cuisine.  It's always made with bread, nuts (usually almonds), and cooking liquid, and sometimes also with garlic, parsley, and saffron; sometimes it is made with other things, but that's the standard.  It is usually used to thicken and/or season a dish, or sometimes as a a topping, such as on top of a casserole while the dish finishes, but isn't eaten raw - always used to cook with.  At least, that's what all the stuff I looked up said.

All I could think was that it sounded freaking delicious.  I actually made some that very night.  I used it as a topping for a layered eggplant dish I made.  I didn't get it as smooth as I wanted, and I'll just blame that on my weak little arms - I actually used my mortar instead of a food processor, because I was trying to be authentic.  I could get it smoother if I used the processor, and I'll try that next time.  So it was a little chunky, but it was tasty.  Very garlicky! 

I think I will try making something like that as a thickener one of these days when I make soup.  That could be interesting.  At any rate, I've learned something interesting about Spanish food that I'd never heard of before.  I hope you have, too.

Happy eating!

Canning Queen

I am not a Canning Queen, and most likely never will be.  When I was a kid, my mom canned things occassionally.  She also did things like bake homemade bread, and make homemade applesauce, etc.  We didn't eat much packaged foods.  Cakes, pasta sauce, pretty much everything, was from scratch. 

When we were a little older and my mom went back to college to get her degree (go mom!), more packaged foods found their way into our lives.  Eventually it became just normal instead of 'convenience food.'  I suppose it's like that for everyone now.  Even those of us that grew up eating nothing out of a box, eat things out of boxes all the time.  And canning food?  Who does that anymore?  Not me, that's for sure.  I don't think there's ever been a moment in my life when I was at the grocrey store and saw a great deal on tomatoes and thought, hey, I could can those, and save myself some money, and help the environment.  We don't can things!  We are not a canning people.

I freeze things, though.  I freeze things all the time.  If I have extra veggies, I chop them and throw them into a baggie, into the freezer.  When I have leftover veggie peels and veggie bits I boil a pot of stock, divide it into baggies, and into the freezer.  I suppose canning isn't much different in principal.  Why shouldn't I be canning things once in a while?  Technically, canning is better for our health, even better for the environment, than buying veggies at the grocery store that someone else canned. 

I actually already have a bunch of canning jars in the pantry because I needed a couple for something last year.  Maybe I'll give this canning thing a try.  I don't have a pressure cooker so I apparently have to stick to "high-acid" stuff like fruit and pickles, but this vegetarian wasn't about to try to can meat anyway, so it's all good.  I think today I'm going to try out a recipe for giardinerre (is that how you spell that?) - spicy pickled veggies.  If I can get the recipe right, maybe I'll can a few jars. 

Does anybody out there can anything?  What do you can?  I bet you don't.  Nobody cans anymore.  We are not a canning people!

Happy eating!

Pea Soup With Crispy Chickpeas

Maybe if I were a chef I wouldn't serve chickpeas on top of pea soup, as it's a little redundant.  But I'm not a chef, and I don't care that it is legumes on top of legumes.  It's tasty.  So I'm sharing.

Most people's idea of pea soup is that it is extremely salty and porky.  It always has ham, bacon, or some other pig item in it, adding not just saltiness but also smokiness.  As a vegetarian, obviously my pea soup doesn't end up that way.  I'd like to think mine is a little more refined - since I am not hitting you over the head with cured pork flavor, the flavors of the seasonings and veggies can really shine.   I also like to make pea soup that is a little thinner than traditional pea soup. 

I use specialty salts to mimic some of the expected flavors of salted pork.  In particular, smoked salt really adds a nice smoky flavor.  I have a Hickory smoked salt which is very strong, and is perfect in this type of application.  I also like to add some very mineral-y sea salt which helps to add more flavor.  I have a black Hawaiian lava sea salt which is nice to use for this.  I also keep it around to sprinkle on the top of the soup when serving, which is really beautiful. 

The soup itself is pretty simple.  Dried split peas can take an hour or more to cook, but once they are soft, it's just a matter of blending the soup, and then seasoning it.  The soup can be served hot, of course, but it also is fine chilled.  Dollop the chilled soup with a spoonful of sour cream and sprinkle it with your decroative sea salt, and it's quite a charmer.  As a garnish for the hot soup (don't use sour cream on the hot soup), I like crispy fried chickpeas and a drizzle of the seasoned chickpea oil.  Delicious!!

Pea Soup With Crispy Chickpeas
1/2 lb dried split peas
2 Tbsp butter or margarine
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic
6 cups water
2 cups vegetable stock (or water and boullion)
2 bay leaves
2 peppercorns
1 tsp smoked salt
1 tsp flavorful sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp lemongrass curry powder (or other mild curry powder)
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp dried thyme
Crispy Chickpeas:
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained well
1/4 c veg oil
1/8 tsp each: black pepper, smoked paprika, garlic, dried chile flakes, cumin, cinnamon, dried parsley, dried dill, salt

Pick through and rinse the peas.  In a medium soup pot, melt butter over high heat and add carrot and onions.  Cook a few minutes, until caramelized on the edges.  Add garlic clove and cook until just golden brown on the edges.  Add water and veggie stock and bring to a boil.  Add peas, bay leaves, and two peppercorns, reduce heat, and simmer until peas are very soft, one to one and a half hours. 

In the meantime, cook the chickpeas.  Heat veg oil in a small nonstick pan, and add the seasonings.  Be sure the chickpeas are very dry by patting them with paper towels.  Add the chickpeas to the oil and cook over medium heat for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown and crisp.  Carefully scoop out the chickpeas and drain on paper towels.  Reserve the seasoned oil to use as a garnish.

When peas are soft, scoop out bay leaves and discard.  Scoop out about a half cup of cooked peas and set aside.  Using a blender or immersion blender, puree the soup until very smooth.  Pour reserved peas back into the soup.  If needed, add more water or stock to make a thinner soup, or thicken soup by either reducing it or adding a little corn starch slurry.  Season soup with salts and seasonings.  Taste and adjust salt or seasonings as necessary.

Ladle hot soup into bowls and drizzle with seasoned oil.  Sprinkle with a few chickpeas and extra chickpeas on the side.  To serve the soup chilled, top instead with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of black sea salt.

Happy eating!

I'm Supplying My Restaurant

Yesterday Dan and I were up at an unusual time - 8am - because we've been living through a plumbing/water leakage disaster and our schedule is all wonky.  We decided to get some errands done, one of which was to find a new olive oil dispensing bottle, because mine has fallen apart and I badly want a new one.  The other day at an Italian restaurant, I was tempted to grab theirs off the table.  (Don't worry, I didn't.)  At any rate, we found ourselves driving all the way to the north side of Denver to a restaurant-supply store.  I'd been wanting to check one out for a while now anyway, and here we were with an actual morning to fill, so what the heck.

The restaurant-supply store was awful.  It was extremely quiet, which made for very awkward shopping, but mostly it was just... nothing.  I thought there'd be giant aisles with stacks of inexpensive pots, pans, dishes, and giant whisks, but they barely had a thing.  They had a couple of very tiny oil bottles, but they weren't big enough, nor were they a deal.  I looked at a $40 fine mesh strainer in the section titled "Asian Cooking," and a plastic pitcher in the "Pizza Making" section... let's just say, not organized.  Nobody helped us or asked us if we needed anything.  We knew of a different company, on the other side of town, so we trekked over there, hoping for better results.

We were so glad we trekked across town!  As soon as we walked in to the second store we were like, ooh ahh.  It was huge, and most importantly, it was filled with giant aisles with stacks of inexpensive pots, pans, dishes, and giant whisks.  They had two huge aisles with just the super-discounted stuff.  After walking up and down those two aisles we had half the items on my shopping list - all very cheap.  We also found several other items on my list.  This place is great - it is well organized, they have just about everything you could want, and the prices of the things we looked at (we couldn't look at everything, it was too large a store) were either good or great.  For instance, I got a salad spinner for $3 and a fine mesh strainer for $6.  Also, we got friendly help from the employees, and the cashier was extremely nice.  After the horrible previous store, this one was a dream. 

I'm thrilled we found this store in the Denver area.  I will definitely head there first the next time I need something for my kitchen, rather than going to Bed Bath & Beyond or something like that.  For those in the Denver area who want to give it a shot, it is called Standard Restaurant Supply and they have one in Lakewood and one in Denver proper (we were at the one in Lakewood).   The "bad store" was called Restaurant Source.  Don't go there unless you are a restaurant.

Happy shopping!

10 Annoying Food Trends

This article outlines a certain food critic's take on some recent food trends that he is not a fan of, to say the least.  Like I did for the homemade-versus-packaged-food list, I had a few thoughts about this one and figured, what the heck, maybe I'll blab about them here.  You guys can share your thoughts, too.

1. Restaurants refusing any and all substitutions - Once some peeps and I were in the U.P. at a bar, having beer and snacks.  I wanted something more substantial but their menu was not vegetarian-friendly.  I saw a ham and cheese sandwich on the menu so I told the server I'd like just the cheese on it.  She literally told me no, and said that that's how it came and there was no freaking way they would bring it to me without the ham.  What the heck?  I totally agree with the chef on this one, both that it's annoying for customers to go all circus on a menu and that it's annoying for a restaurant to be excessively stingy about reasonable requests.

2.  Sous Vide - apart from the annoying infomercials that I've seen for one particular brand of Sous Vide machine, I have no reason to be annoyed by anything Sous Vide, because I'm not a meat eater.  I can't say if it's good or bad since I don't eat meat, so I'll stay neutral on this one.

3.  Untranslated Menus -  A restaurant needs to do what it has to to serve it's customers, and that includes communicating with them.  If they decide to ostracize a huge portion of the population by not including whatever language that population speaks, then that is their potential loss.  It's not wrong, it's just a strange business decision, in my book.

4.$5 Tap Water: I don't know if this is what this particular writer is referring to, but there was a big news story recently about an Australian restaurant chef who is getting hate mail because he is serving what people perceived to be "$5 tap water".  It was actually that he removed all bottled water from his restaurant and replaced it with a fancy filtration system, so when you order the $5 water you get a specially filtered glass of water with unlimited refills.  You could also order the unfiltered tap water for free.  He wanted to replace the bottles with his own filter system to be more green.  Why are people going nuts over this?  I don't see him doing anything wrong.  Besides, a huge portion of the bottled water you drink is just tap water that goes directly into the bottle, but as long as it's in a bottle we think we should pay more for it.  This guy is filtering it; that's at least a service to pay for.  He got threats of bodily harm.  Let's all just get a grip, people.

5.  Bartender Overreach: Agreed.  Annoying.

6.  Chef Overreach:  Agreed.  Annoying.

7.  Serving Depleted Seafood:  Very much agreed. 

8.  Truffle Oil:  Truffles, perhaps the most expensive food on earth, don't make oil.  "Truffle Oil" is any sort of oil, sometimes olive or some other vegetable oil, which is infused with truffles to take on their flavor.  Except these days it's usually not actual real truffles, it's synthetic truffle flavor made out of other things.  I have learned in the last few months that when a chef has an opinion about truffle oil, s/he REALLY has an opinion about truffle oil.  I saw a tv chef chew someone out for several minutes for using it.  It is apparently evil incarnate and anyone who would dare touch it is the dumbest person to ever live.  I wouldn't know, I have never used it, nor have I ever been priviledged to eat a real truffle.  I have heard that there is the "real thing" out there, made with real truffles, so it's feasable to me that some truffle oil somewhere tastes good.  But, again, I just don't know.  Maybe one day when I have two thousand dollars lying around I'll buy some real truffles and a few types of truffle oil and give it a taste test.  But then again, I'd rather buy two thousand dollars' worth of cheese.

9.  Fancy-schmancy coffee:  Sortof agreed.  Like many indulgences, there is a time and a place for the fanciest version of something, but 99% of the time most of us will not be any happier with a $10 cup of coffee than we will with the $2 one.  Mind you, he's not talking about lattes and Starbucks - but about the trend in very fancy roasting and brewing techniques in extreme specialty shops.  The type of thing you find at Blue Bottle, for instance.  Not that there's anything wrong with Blue Bottle - it's just that the truth is, you can get good quality coffee quite easily for pretty cheap these days.  Which is why, I suppose, these places are suddenly popping up... when everybody can make their own quality coffee, you have to do something unique if you want a customer.  Hmmm.  I just realized that.

10.  Molecular Gastronomy:  Ahh, Molecular Gastronomy!  I was WAITING for this one.  I didn't know that "chefs prefer Modernist Cuisine."  I always just say Molecular Gastronomy.  I've actually talked about it with Dan a lot, because it's been popping up here and there, and everybody seems to have their own opinion about it -  including me. I don't want to get into the whole thing so I'll try to hit a few basic points. 

The other day I heard somebody talking about MG say, "that new science stuff belongs in the lab, not the kitchen" I thought, if baking soda or gelatine were invented today they would be considered Molecular Gastronomy.  I think the problem with MG is that some chefs take it too far and make the process the focus, rather than the food, like, "look at the cool thing we are able to do."  Just like every other cooking technique, which at one time or another must have seemed very science-ey, the point is to have delicious, appealing food, and everything you use to get there is just a tool.  If you make the tools or the process the main event, then it's no wonder the food is not so great at the end.  My prediction is that certain MG techniques will get incorporated into most cook's repertoires and become more commonplace and nobody will think it's a big deal anymore, while other techniques will still be weird, because they are weird.  So I guess my answer is, that I really don't mind MG, but I do mind the chefs who make it the entire focus.

Feel free to blab all your own thoughts about any of the above in the comments. 

Happy eating!

Fried Zucchini Blossoms, or I Don't Have A Black Thumb Anymore!

I have been talking a little about my Aerogardens and how I hope they cure me of my notorious Black Thumb.  I just have never been able to keep plants, indoors our outdoors, alive for very long.  When I first got my Aerogardens, I used one of them for planting starter seedlings that I then transplanted to larger planters.  They were indoors for a while but now they spend most of their time outside on the stoop.

And guess what?!  They aren't dead!  A couple of the plants that I transplanted didn't make it, but most of them are doing fine!  I have even started to get lovely little blossoms on them, and a few of them are turning into actual little veggies.  Fantastic!  Nobody is more surprised than I am. 

I planted a couple of types of zucchini plants in my planters, and that's in part because I purposely wanted to get the blossoms to eat.  I've been seeing all kinds of things about zucchini blossoms on various cooking shows and thought it sounded like a great idea to cook with them.  I saw yesterday that I had a few usable zucchini flowers so I planned to make them into a dinner tonite.

Zucchini blossoms are the bright greenish-yellow flowers which bloom on the zucchini plant; the zucchini sortof sticks out of the back of the flower.  They are shaped a bit like a bulb, which make them a natural shape to stuff but also to hide fun things like bees or spiders - not usually, but once in a while, so keep your eye out.  Carefully open it by peeling the petals apart and gently clean it out.  Gently cut or pull out the stamen.  Wipe off any dirt.  You can rinse them under water very carefully if you want but it isn't necessary.  You want to handle them very delicately.

As a filling, I used a basic ricotta filling - ricotta, egg, parmesan, salt, pepper. But, instead of a basic ricotta filling, you could always add something else - other cheeses, bacon, ham, red pepper, spinach, anything you might think of putting in ricotta for some other dish.  Or, you could use blue cheese, goat cheese, or some other creamy cheese instead of ricotta.  Tonite, I just used ricotta.

I found out that stuffing them is not super easy.  They are very very delicate.  The trick is to hold the flower in your palm to support it while one petal is folded down, and fill the "cup" of the flower by using a bottom-to-top motion with your spoon, dropping the ricotta in gently.  Then close the petal over the filling and press a little.  If a little cheese comes out it's fine; in fact, it will.  It's fine.

Then just dip the whole thing in beaten egg and breadcrumbs; or in batter, whatever you prefer.  Fry in shallow oil until golden brown, handling them, as always, very gently.  I served them with a drizzle of a glaze I made out of equal parts honey and that jalapeno jelly I got at the farmer's market a couple weeks ago.  It was yummy.  We also had pesto pasta and caesar salad.  A yummy summer night's meal.

I'm so glad I kept my zucchini plants alive long enough to cook something from them!  As a bonus, I also picked a tiny baby zucchini - I mean it, it's like, two inches long and so so cute - that I am going to fry up when we have pakoras as a snack later tonite.  So that's two things I grew!  Yay me!

Happy eating!

Garam Masala

Yesterday I talked a little about Indian food, so I have Indian spices on the mind.  I used up my last little bit of Garam Masala that I had premade in my cabinet and so I made up a fresh batch last night.  So today I figured I'll talk a little about this versatile Indian spice blend.

Garam Masala is a spice mixture that finds its way into many Indian dishes.  'Masala' means 'mixture,' and garam masala means 'warm mixture', the warmth coming from the fact that it has some spiciness - although it isn't meant to be crazy hot.  Garam Masala is also the base for other masalas.

There are endless versions of Garam Masala out there, as it is a very general term.  It's sortof like saying "Italian seasonings."  It conjures up a set of flavors and ingredients which are often similar, but it won't be the same exact mix every time.  I've heard that each Indian family has their own recipe for Garam Masala.  Some have just 3 ingredients, and some can have 15 or more.  Bal Arneson, from The Spice Goddess, says that she has at least three different recipes for Garam Masala.  I make my recipe with about 10 ingredients.

The great thing about having no hard and fast rules to how Garam Masala has to be is that it is easy to find one to suit your tastes or to make one exactly how you like it.  You could also use different types of Garam Masalas for different things.  My favorite spice store, Savory Spice Shop, has an interesting Garam Masala which has a few unusual ingredients.  I make my own Garam Masala, but I also buy theirs because frankly, it isn't quite like Garam Masala to me.  They use non-standard items like charnushka, cloves, and mace, for instance.  The extra ingredients add a unique flavor, and even though I don't like it as a traditional Garam Masala, I do like the flavor of their mix in a couple of things.  I like to add it to certain batters, such as the one I use for my pakoras, and sometimes for crepe batter, and a couple of other things.  But when I want a traditional Garam Masala for use in a curry or sauce, I make my own.

Since I already have the ingredients in my pantry for Garam Masala, there is no reason not to make it myself as long as I have a few minutes to toast the seeds.  Also, like I said above, once in a while when I have time I make up a larger batch to store and save so it's always there.  When you toast and grind whole spices yourself, you get a fresh, aromatic result that you just can't get if you buy the pre-ground mixes.  It's easy to buy a pre-made blend and many of them are quite good, but if you want to give making it yourself a shot, this is my simple "recipe."

A few notes: use any dried chile you like, but be sure it is very dry.  Kala Jeera is also known as "black cumin" but isn't actually cumin; if it isn't in your store's spice aisle, it can be found in specialty spice stores (which might be better anyway so you don't have to buy a whole jar of it).  Most of the heat comes from the peppercorns; I like black and white, but use whatever peppercorns you like, and increase or decrease the amount based on the heat level you like. 


Laurie's Garam Masala
1 Tbsp each: coriander seed and cumin seed
1 tsp each: yellow mustard seeds, cardamom seeds, dried curry leaves, kala jeera seeds
1/2 tsp each: ground cinnamon, black peppercorns, white peppercorns (adjust heat as desired)
1 dried chile (optional)
(multiply amounts as needed to make the size batch you want ; this makes about a quarter cup)

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, bending up the sides of the foil to make an edge to hold in any stray rolling seeds.  Measure everything directly onto the aluminum foil.  Toast in a 300 oven for 4-6 minutes.  (Don't overcook - seeds should be very fragrant and barely golden but not brown or burned-smelling.) Let cool slightly before pouring gently into spice grinder, flavor shaker, or mortar and pestle.  Grind to desired consistency.  Store in a tight jar in a dark, cool place.  The sooner it gets used the better it will taste.

Here is a great recipe for a seasoning mixture using the basic Garam Masala recipe above.

Pita / Naan Seasoning
2 tsp Laurie's Garam Masala
1/4 tsp each: ground cinnamon, turmeric, finely ground salt (regular salt put through a spice grinder)

Stir seasonings together.  Brush 3-4 whole pita or naan with oil or melted butter, place on baking sheet, and sprinkle with seasoning mix.  Bake at 300 for about 8 minutes or until warmed through.  Cut into halves or triangles with pizza cutter.  Serve with curry, hummus, dip, etc.

Happy eating!

My First Koftas

Well, I've eaten koftas before... lots and lots and lots of them.  But I've never made them before.  Until yesterday.  Hence, "My First Koftas."

Some of you Indian food lovers out there will already know that the word "kofta" is a term used for a patty of some kind.  Koftas are very much like we think of meatballs here.  They can be made of a variety of different ingredients, such as meats, cheeses, or veggies, are often grilled or sauteed and then can be served a variety of ways, sometimes in a sauce, sometimes on a skewer, but the possibilities are endless.  Kofta really just means that it's a ball of something.

One of my favorite Indian dishes for a long time has been Malai Kofta.  I have had mulitple versions of this dish, but generally it is koftas made of potatoes, paneer, and veggies with lots of seasonings, in a creamy, tomatoey sauce.  The word 'malai' refers to the cream used in the dish. 

I finally tried my hand at making this dish myself.  I am a crazy person who should be committed to a mental institution, so I decided not to consult any recipes - just to go for it.  What the heck?!  I know.  I'm so weird.  I probably could have had an easier time of it if I looked at a recipe, but I was just sortof going for it in the kitchen.  Luckily it was not a disaster.  I know I didn't do everything super authentic, however.  For starters, I didn't use actual ghee, which is clarified butter.  I used regular butter.  I also didn't use cream, especially Malai cream - I instead used a combination of milk, flour, and yogurt.  And my final atrocity was that I used a little flour and egg to get my koftas to stick together, because they weren't doing so otherwise.  I think my potato wasn't starchy enough. 

At any rate, the day before, I had made a batch of homemade paneer cheese.  The main bulk of the koftas was a combination of smashed russet potato, paneer, and minced cauliflower.  I also added minced green onion, carrot, and ginger, as well as a blend of spices such as cardamom, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, etc.  Once I got the mixture to hold together I sauteed dollops in a shallow amount of oil til golden brown on all sides.  I made a simple creamy sauce with tomato sauce, garlic, ginger, onions, the same seasonings as in the koftas, and the milk, flour, and yogurt.   I then smothered the koftas in the sauce, and we dug in.

Luckily, they were yummy despite my silly decision to go commando.  They were a little soft.  Even after adding the flour and egg, they still needed some firmness and structure.  Perhaps I should have cooked the potatoes a little less or perhaps I should mix in a little chickpea flour.  I will consult some kofta recipes (heh) and see what they do for theirs so perhsps next time mine won't need the egg.  I got the flavor right on, though, so I will stick to the seasonings I used and the amount of ginger, garlic, etc.

I'm glad I finally tried to make koftas at home because it was much easier than I thought and I can use the basic idea to make all sorts of different kinds of koftas.  I have been thinking of these as Malai Koftas but I'm not sure if they qualify.  Technically I could call them Aloo Gobi Paneer Koftas if I wanted, which means Potato Cauliflower and Cheese Koftas, but that's a mouthful.  The Spice Goddess made some out of just cauliflower and paneer - gobi paneer koftas - and they sounded like something to try; also I was thinking about adding tofu to some.  We'll see.

Happy eating!

Time For Tapas

Tonite I decided to throw together a tray of tapas as a surprise instead of a regular dinner.  While Dan worked on his computer I got several things together, and then we had a bit of a feast, right there on the bed while we watched tv.  We do dinners like that once in a while and it's always great.

Today I put together several different items.  First, I put out a couple different types of olives.  I then stuffed peppadew peppers with a mixture of cream cheese, ricotta, and fresh basil.  I made patatas bravas (crispy seasoned potatoes) and made a quick seasoned aioli to go with them.  Dan loves deviled eggs so I made a few of those, with a simple mix of Spanish seasonings. 

When we do this type of tapas meal we always have a selection of cheeses.  Tonite we had havarti, a cheddar seasoned with habanero, some aged pecorino romano, and cubes of feta that I marinated in a mixture of red wine vinegar, olive oil, and seasonings.  I seasoned honey with crushed red pepper because I had heard that it goes well with the pecorino.  Very true - the spicy honey was delicious with the pecorino romano.  I know those cheeses aren't Spanish - but it's the idea of the style of the meal that's Spanish, not all the food has to be.  It's all good!

I also threw together a pitcher of sangria with the miscellaneous fruits and fruit juices we had in the house.  I used orange, pineapple, and lime juice, a touch of sugar, a few splashes of spiced rum, and plenty of Rose wine, along with sliced peaches, limes, and apples, and a bit of tonic water for fizz.  Despite being put together on a whim with makeshift ingredients, it accidentally turned out to be the best sangria I ever made.  It was a pleasant surprise.

So, I piled everything on a tray and told Dan to step away from the computer.  He was surprised and pleased with the feast.  His favorite thing was the marinated feta; mine happened to be the pecorino with the spiced honey. 

If you want to do a tapas meal like this, there are plenty of great tapas recipes, but you don't have to do an ounce of cooking if you don't want to.  You can pick up olives, cheeses, nuts, even seasoned potatoes and sauces, all at the store.  Throw in a little bread and a glass of wine and you are all set.  You can never go wrong with tapas!

Happy eating!