Quarantine Eating

So what have you been cooking for the pandemic?  It's clear that I gravitate to the kitchen and cooking for stress relief, but not sure that's it a net benefit considering how stressful grocery shopping has been.  Seeing empty shelves is kind of scary (on top of the risk of being out in public).  Plus we have been getting a good portion of our food delivered, mostly though Amazon Fresh, which is frustrating trying to find things in stock and getting delivery slots. But I have filled my freezer with plenty of soups and stews "just in case" and doing a better job that normal at using up all of the things in the corner of the pantry and bottom of the freezer. 

I am grateful for so many things ... so far my friends and family are all healthy, we have a nice house, live someplace where we can get out for walks and runs, great neighbors, technology that lets us get together virtually.    Now if it would just stop raining!

Some of what I have been cooking ... some new recipes and some old: 

 A new recipe, Pasta with Chickpeas  from Melissa Clark at the NYT cooking.

This one is destined to become a favorite.  I pretty much followed the recipe, although I only had a half bunch of parsley.  I did use fresh cooked chickpeas ... my neighbor had a couple of pounds in the back of her pantry that were "at least" a couple of years old and was unsure how to cook, so I volunteered to cook in my pressure cooker...  I soaked them for 12 hours and cooked for 12 minutes in the pressure cooker and they were great. I'm grateful for great neighbors! Of course I haven't seen dry chickpeas in the stores, but the local store here is starting to get canned ones again.

I also found a tart crust recipe I like. What's great about this is that you can just bake off one small tart and save the dough for later. I have not tried the filling in this recipe, the filling was a freezer discovery, some lemon curd that I made year, topped with some Greek yogurt and chocolate chips. I sometimes make things and put them into the freezer for a rainy day.  We had over 3 1/2 inches of rain last week, so that counts as a rainy day! 

I have been getting what are essentially CSA boxes from my favorite farmer at the Farmers market.. including lots of beets.   

My try at Pickled Beets was successful.
There have been lots of meals with green incorporated in them...

Like Curried Lentils (this is with beet greens). I was able to get lentils last week at the local store, and this recipe will work with green lentils too, its just not as pretty. And Spinach Swiss Chard Crusted Quiche with Fennel and Sausage.  In a stroke of genius, I oven roasted the fennel, onion, and sausage in the filling on a sheet pan (at the same time as cooking the crust) .. one less skillet to wash and less total time.  

And we have not had to sacrifice our lunch salads..   And in case you think every meal is all healthy and green like this, the salad is incorporating some left-over take-out fried chicken from a local restaurant (doing our part to support local business...).

There are also lots of meals with wheat and cheese ... 

Like pizza (I have been experimenting with a no-knead crust) and Macaroni and Cheese.


Also in the comfort food category was Meatloaf.    And the mini-loaf I froze came out great.  I thawed in a bowl of cold water (took about an hour), then it needed to bake for about 45 minutes. 

Plus some simple dinners, like a loaded baked sweet potato and the quesadillas  pictured with the beets. 

And the normal...Foil Grilled Fish, (using up some fish a neighbor gave us last fall)  Stir fry,  and "Whatever" Pasta. 

  
I've also been experimenting with no-knead bread ... but that's another post.   Stay well, and let me know how you are doing!

Stuffed Quesadilla

One of the current fads is #cook90...  basically it's a program to cook 90 meals in a month (breakfast, lunch, dinner), combined with a relentless stream of pictures posted on social media tagged #cook90.  Most people choose to do it in a month with 31 days, so there are a few passes.  I kind of snicker at this, because I guess that I typically "cook" over 80 meals a month.  The idea is mostly centered on not eating out, and the rules are pretty loose on what constitutes cooking (assembling a group of things counts, like yogurt, fruit and granola).

So while I snicker, there is a real challenge in finding a good combination of interesting, tasty, good-for-you food on the table day after day, and minimizing how  much time you spend in the kitchen cooking and cleaning. Because even if you enjoy cooking, there are days you just don't have the time or enthusiasm to do it.  For those days, you need to have a few go-to's that are quick and tasty. Leftovers can fit that bill, but that gets old.  And a lot of times, I have bits of things, not enough to make a full meal. And sometimes you need to be able to put something together from pantry staples. Quesadillas fit either of these scenarios.

And when you stuff quesos with more than just cheese it makes a hearty healthy-ish meal.

I typically start with some kind of extra protein -- most often, black beans (from a can - drained and rinsed) but sometimes leftover meat, then add some vegetable (pretty much any leftover cooked vegetable, roasted anything is especially good), or maybe raw green onions or red bell peppers (thinly sliced). Sun dried tomatoes add a nice pop.  I usually use sharp cheddar cheese, but sometimes use a mix of small bits of cheese that need to be used up, or will add some goat cheese.  And I like a little spice -- usually just some red pepper flakes, but roasted chilis are traditional (for good reason), or diced raw jalapenos.  I tend to avoid canned green chilis as they just seem too wet.

These go together quick, so it's best to get everything assembled before you start cooking. You can use any size tortilla, just accommodate the volume of toppings to tortilla size. I have never tried the "alternative" tortillas (like the colored wraps, or low fat, or whole wheat..), so I don't know how they work. For a large tortilla, I use a "big handful" of cheese (about 2 ounces), a small handful of meat or beans, and a handful of veggies.

I put a little oil (any kind) in a skillet large enough to accommodate the flat tortilla and turn the heat on medium high.  You want just a very thin layer of oil.

When the skillet is warm (don't need to wait until its hot), put in the tortilla and quickly turn with your hand to evenly spread the oil.  Then start building:  spread the cheese over the entire tortilla.  Add the meat or beans on one size.  Add the veggies to the other side.  Add any other add-ins, like sun-dried tomatoes or chili's to which ever side is less full.  Add goat cheese (or even something like a bit of blue cheese) if that is what you want.  Wait for the cheddar cheese to melt.   Here are a couple of examples of what the assembled queso's look like:

Black bean, goat cheese, sun dried tom, green onion 

        Lamb, roasted veggies, sun dried tomatoes

When the cheese is melted, check underneath to see if the tortilla is browning.  When it looks like this, fold in half.

It's usually best to fold the veggie side onto the bean or meat side.  Press the folded queso with your spatula, and brown a bit more on each side.   When nicely golden brown, remove to a cutting board and slice into wedges.  Serve with garnish of choice -- avocado, salsa, a sprinkle of herbs, or maybe a salad.    If you go on to make a second queso, note that it will cook much faster -- be ready to turn down the heat.   I usually add a tiny bit more oil, and don't twirl the tortilla in the pan (or be really quick, as it's really hot fast).  

 Enjoy! 

Preserved Lemons

As many of you know, I have a large old lemon tree in my backyard, and always on the lookout for things to do with lemons.  Lots of lemons.  You can only drink so much lemonade.  So I decided to try making preserved lemons, which are a traditional food in North Africa (think a Moroccan tagine)... and when you have a giant jar of them in your refrigerator (not small expensive jars from a gourmet store) you start experimenting.  And now I get cravings for them, even though I have not tried making tagine yet!

Traditionally, to make preserved lemons, you "almost" quarter the lemons, then stuff with salt, then stuff the lemons in a jar.  This seems like a lot of bother.  Then I stumbled on this recipe where you just quarter the lemons... Eureka!  Actually, the recipe was for Meyer Lemons, but works just fine on Eureka lemons.  Next I am going to try with limes (and do a smaller batch).   Here is my short version of the recipe, click through the link for more details.

Preserved Lemons

15 lemons: quarter 12, the remaining 3 will be juiced
1 ½ cups Diamond Kosher Salt

Mix lemon quarters and salt in a large bowl.  Let sit at room temperature about 1 hour.
Tightly pack lemon quarters into a large 2 quart jar.  Use lemon juice to just cover (note – I use pickle weights to help hold down the lemons).

Let the jar sit at room temperature for about 7 days until lemon rinds are glossy and look translucent all the way through, then refrigerate.    They will be good for many months, at about a year they start getting mushy.
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So, what do you do with them?  The first key is to rinse off each piece when you are ready to use it, and remove the pulp... you just use the lemon rind (the pulp is pretty mushy and super salty, although there are some recipes that call for it), and usually dice into small pieces.  They have a bright, briny pop, and use them like you might use capers or olives.  You can add to most any pasta or grain salad, I also like them with green salads that have fish in them.  I sometimes throw them into the Chickpea and Vegetable Saute.   They go great on roasted vegetables.  I haven't tried this recipe yet, but it looks good:  Roasted Carrots with Lemon.

If you want to do something a bit more fancy (and unusual), try this recipe, inspired by El Farol: Tapas and Spanish Cuisine by Chef James Campbell Caruso (one of those cookbooks where every recipe I have tried is really good):

Preserved Lemon Goat Cheese Spread

1 large head of garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
8 ounces soft goat cheese (such as Silver Goat), at room temperature
1 tablespoon chopped preserved lemons (just the rind part)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Roast the garlic:   Preheat oven to 350F (can do in toaster oven).  Cut off the top of the garlic. Set the garlic in the center of a square of foil, drizzle with olive oil so that oil runs into the cloves.  Bunch (scrunch) the foil around the garlic head, leaving a bit of an opening then bake for 35 – 45 minutes until cloves are nice and soft.   Let cool.

Mix the remaining ingredients in a small bowl with a wooden spoon.  Slip the garlic cloves out of the skin and add to the bowl.  Mash them a bit on the edge of the bowl (you may or may not want to add the whole head depending on how big it is) then stir together.    Refrigerate the mixture for at least an hour to let the flavors meld, but let sit at room temperature for 20 minutes or so before serving so that is spreads more easily.

Serve on warm bread, crackers, or crudité.
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And last, if you want to go the trendy route with kale and a home-fermented food, try this salad, which was inspired by my favorite salad at our local chop house, Stake. While they do have good steaks, we are much more likely to go there and just have a flatbread and salad, or a roasted vegetable outside on the balcony... along with a nice bottle of wine.
 

Kale Salad with Almonds and Feta

Per person for a main dish salad: 

¼ cup almonds – either slivered blanched almonds or coarsely chopped whole almonds

Handful of kale ~ 4 leaves, thick ribs removed and cut into thin slices (1/4 inch or so)

Handful of cabbage – cut into ¼ slices, each about an inch or two long

1 quarter of a preserved lemon (peel only), diced

1 ounce feta cheese, crumbled

1 small carrot (optional) – 1/8 inch julienne or shredded

¼ cup chickpeas (optional) – plain or roasted

¼ of an avocado (optional) – diced.

Olive oil

Lemon juice – about ½ a lemon

Pepper

Salt

Roast almonds:  place on foil on a pan and toast in a toaster oven until light brown.  Alternatively, roast in a small skillet over medium heat, tossing frequently.  Or start with roasted almonds.

Massage kale leaves with a tablespoon or so of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt.  Let sit while you chop the remaining vegetables.  

Add the cabbage, preserved lemon, cheese and optional ingredients.  Add the almonds (they should be slightly cooled). Toss.  Add the lemon juice and a good grind of pepper, toss some more.  If the salad looks dry, add another bit of olive oil.  Taste to determine if more salt is needed (the preserved lemon and feta are pretty salty, so more salt may not be needed).  Serve in a handmade bowl.
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Happy New Year, and get your hand out of the bag

Happy New Year! I have to admit, I’m not the resolution making type. But the new year is a good time to think of changes to make, new things to try. You know I’m a fan of small changes, and I more and more believe that to maintain a healthy weight, the key factor is good habits (which I need to get back to after a somewhat gluttonous week or so!)

If you want to try to change just one habit, here is a recommendation: Don’t eat out of a bag. I know, this might seem almost un-American, as so eloquently stated on the Cobert Report.  But to help your mind make a connection with your stomach, make sure that you see what you eat.  If you want some chips, get a bowl, dish some up, put the bag away. If you get some fast food, take everything out of the bag before you eat it.

If you would like to try one new thing, start thinking of vegetables as being the main dish of a meal, the meat and starch as being a side. I find this thinking helps me keep the vegetable inventory under control. And helps me eat that half plate of veggies every meal.

For an example of a good vegetable main, I am sharing the recipe that I made for our Christmas dinner (yes, there was turkey to go along with it!). I adapted it from the December Fine Cooking issue, where I changed out onions for leeks (because I had a bunch of leeks), half and half instead of cream, and fresh (whole grain) bread crumbs instead of Panko. And re-wrote the instructions so the made better sense to me. So I don’t think I’m starting the year by violating copyrighted material.

Carrot and Sharp Cheddar Gratin

Serves 4

2 teaspoons olive oil
2 leeks, diced about ¾ cup
Salt
½ cup half and half
1 heaping teaspoon Dijon mustard
Pepper
1 ½ lbs carrots, peeled, cut cross-wise if large, in ½ inch pieces

2 ounces sharp Cheddar, grated

Crumbs:
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 ounce fresh bread crumbs, ~1 slice of bread
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped

Heat oven to 350F. Oil a 7x11 baking dish (or similar).

Heat oil in 10 inch skillet or medium sauce pan, add leeks and salt. Sauté until leeks are starting to brown, about 7 minutes. Add half and half, mustard, and pepper, stir well with wooden spoon to get any browned bits. Add carrots, bring to a simmer and cook until the carrots are tender-crisp, about 10 minutes.

Mix all the crumb ingredients together in a small bowl.  (side note - the food processor does an excellent job of making crumbs... Any bread will work, as long as its not too sweet, as it will brown too quickly)

Pour the carrot mixture into the prepared baking dish, scatter Cheddar over the top, then top with bread crumbs. Bake until the carrots are tender and crumbs are golden brown, about 30 to 40 minutes. Let rest a bit before serving.

How to not follow a recipe

I’m notorious for not following recipes.  Even my own.   I can’t help but mess with things, even perfectly good things. Sometimes it works, others not.  I roasted a chicken last week... It was small and I was late getting it into the oven. So I figured why follow the recipe I posted a week or two ago?  I'll just cook on 400 convection for the whole time!  Needless to say, in 50 minutes I had an overcooked chicken.  But still, I’m always on the lookout for an easier way to do something, or figure out how to make something with what I happen to have on hand.  A good example is a beet salad I made for lunch a couple of Sunday’s ago.  

But first, let me digress.  I got a great book for Christmas, called Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work.  It teaches you how to use all the cool toys in your kitchen, as well as chemistry behind certain foods and additives.  One of the cool ideas was to use your vacuum sealer for blanching vegetables.  The traditional method to blanch vegetables is to bring a large volume of salted water to boil, briefly cook (say 3-5 minutes for green beans), then remove the vegetable and put in an ice water bath.  Big pot + colander + big bowl = big mess.  Their idea is to put the vegetable in a vacuum bag, boil (using a pot that is just big enough) in bag, cool in ice bath.  The pot and bowl don’t really even get dirty, they just have water in them.  This hit me as a great way to cook beets for a salad, as the typical roasting process is messy and time consuming:  trim and scrub them, wrap in foil, roast in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour, cool, then peel and get beet juice everywhere.  They are quite tasty, but it takes a couple of hours.  I have tried peeling, quartering, and steaming in the microwave, but this makes a pink foam that escapes from the covered dish and gets all over.  You can also boil the beets, but it seems that you lose all the red goodness… especially if you drain and use an ice bath to quickly chill to use in a salad.     So… I quartered some small beets, lightly salted, put into a vacuum bag in a single layer, boiled in a covered pot just big enough to hold them for about 20 minutes, pulled out, ran under some cold water (since I was using right away I skipped the ice bath).  Beets ready to go into a salad in under a ½ hour!  And if you didn’t want to use them right away, not problem, they will keep for a few days sealed in the bag in the refrigerator!

So, back to the main story: How to Not Follow a Recipe.   I have a perfectly good recipe for beet salad, adopted from a recipe from a White House chef.  But it called for roasting the beets, plus fresh herbs I didn’t have, and feta cheese that I didn’t have.  And raw onions, which always seem to sharp in a salad.  First were the processes changes:  boil-in-bag beets (huge time saver) and the onions got a brief ice water soak to take out some of the bite.  I changed up the ingredients too:  used just lemon juice (I have lots of lemons) instead of lemon juice and vinegar.  If I didn’t have lemons, I would have used just the white wine vinegar.  I used the herbs that I happened to have on hand:  fresh mint, skipped the the parsley and cilantro (I would recommend having at least the mint or cilantro, they both have a strong flavor).  I did use the dried oregano it called for (one of the few dry herbs I keep around), but thyme or Italian seasoning would would too, and the cumin, a spice that pairs well with beets, but something I don't normally think of.   I used Romaine lettuce instead of spinach (its what I had on hand, pretty much any green would work), and goat cheese instead of feta (again, its what I had…  and pretty much my go-to cheeses for any salad are goat or feta). And I changed the ratio of beets to greens to make a main dish salad instead of a side salad.  The result?  A pretty good Sunday lunch.  Had I stuck to the recipe, I wouldn’t  have done it.  Was it as good?  Maybe not quite, but certainly better than just another PB&J sandwich!  

Main Dish Beet Salad

Serves 2.  

½ pound beets (any kind), peeled and cut into bite size pieces

½ red onion thinly sliced

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 tablespoon fresh lemon juice or white wine vinegar

1 small clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon (each) chopped mint and / or cilantro leaves

1 teaspoon dried oregano, thyme, or Italian seasoning (or 1 T fresh)

1 teaspoon ground cumin

¼ cup kalamata black olives

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 cups romaine or spinach, shredded

1/3 cup crumbled goat or feta cheese

1. Bring a medium pot of water to boil.  Lightly salt the beets.  Place in a single layer in vacuum bag and seal.  Place in boiling water (the bag will puff up), cover the pot if you want.  Turn bag over after 10 minutes or so.  After 20 minutes, the beets should be cooked.

2. Remove the beets from the pot, and run under cold water.  If desired, put into ice bath.

3. While the beets are cooking, put the onion in a small bowl with a few ice cube and fill with cool water.
  

4. Mix oil, vinegar or lemon juice, garlic, herbs, and cumin into a large bowl and stir together.  Drain the onions and add to the bowl along with olives and beets.  Toss.  Add the greens and toss again.

5. To serve, divide the beet salad onto 2 plates and sprinkle the servings with equal amounts of goat or feta cheese.

Favorite Pizza Combo’s

We are a little off schedule this week, and had pizza on Sunday night. Just crazy. But we had one of my favorite combo’s tonight (salami and corn, one of those sweet-hot things), so that was a good reminder to follow-up on the pizza post:

Hot salami, fresh corn and onion. Cut fresh corn from the cob for this.

 Bacon and potato. Saute bacon pieces until the fat just renders out, and slice potato VERY thin (this takes about a half a potato). I like thyme as an herb for this, cheddar or jack works well for the cheese 

Mushroom, red pepper, onion, and sausage. This is my basic combo. Usually I use a link of left-over chicken sausage. Sometimes I throw some baby arugula or spinach on top right when out of the oven.

Roasted red pepper and 4 cheeses. Use whatever 4 cheeses that need to be used up! I usually fire up the grill to roast the pepper, you can also do using the broiler. 

Zucchini (or yellow summer squash) and sausage. Slice the zucchini very thin and put on top.

Grilled eggplant, goat cheese, and pine nuts. With basil as the herb.

Caramelized onion and goat cheese. Slowly cook 2-3 sliced onions plus a clove or two of garlic over low heat with some olive oil and salt. Add lots of thyme. Put this directly on the dough. Sprinkle with a couple of ounces of goat cheese and fresh ground pepper.

What are your favorites?

Friday Night Pizza

Both my proficiency and confidence as a cook has grown by making the same thing over and over, but never the same twice. Pasta is the best example… learning what goes together, how long to cook, how to be quick and efficient, how to use what’s in season and in the house at 6pm on a Wednesday.

Pizza is another dish that I make over and over, but never the same (although I do have some favorites).

We like pizza on Friday’s, when there are usually bits of this and that left around that go wonderfully on a pizza. I have written before about grilling pizza, and recently about the dough using natural starter I have been making… but never a blog on my everyday pizza. In part because I don’t really have a recipe, just a general technique. Which as I’m writing it down, seems long and convoluted, and I’m not even including making the dough. But don’t fear: if you are intimidated by making the dough, sliding the pie onto the stone, etc., let me tell you a secret: you can buy the dough, use a cookie sheet, and make wonderful pizza. Of course, it’s at the risk of getting hooked; next you’ll be keeping a pet named Blob in your refrigerator for natural dough, entertain making your own mozzarella, and fantasizing about a wood-burning pizza oven in your back-yard. But I digress. Let me start with the equipment, then the ingredients, then the process. I'll share some of our favorite combinations next time!

Equipment:

Oven (the only thing on the list not optional, although you can substitute the grill)

Pizza Stone (I use one I bought at one of those cookware parties… mine stays in the oven all the time, unless I really need the second rack)

Pizza Peels l (thing to slide the pizza onto and off the stone)

Cheese grater (optional)

Silicone Pastry Mat (optional… you can do on the counter if you like)

Rolling pin (maybe)

Spatula

Knife and cutting board (ok, not is not optional)

Ingredients (for one pizza, serves 2):

Base:

Corn meal (just a teaspoon or two)

Pizza dough (about a pound, which is half of these recipes: sourdough or yeast, or a purchased ball from Trader Joes or your favorite upscale grocery) ... if your dough is refrigerated, bring up to room temperature (leave out for an hour or so) first.

Sub topping*:

Olive oil (a couple of teaspoons)

Garlic (a couple of cloves)

Chopped Basil (a good handful) or other herb like thyme or chives, chopped

Black pepper or red pepper flakes (not too many)

* a tomato based sauce is also an option here, but not one I typically use.

Main Cheese: about 4-5 ounces of one or a combination, sliced or grated

Fontina

Fresh mozzarella (slice and put on paper towels to get some of the moisture out)

Whole milk mozzarella

Part-skim mozzarella (although avoid the rubbery ones)

Cheddar or Jack cheese

Toppings: (usually one meat and 3-4 vegetables):

Sausage (1 or 2 links of leftover sausage or cooked bulk sausage),

Leftover chicken, pork, beef

Salami, bacon (cooked until soft), prosciutto, etc

Onions, green onions, bell pepper, mushrooms (about a cup or so total, slice thin..)

Tomato (sliced thin, shake out seeds and juice) or squash

Fresh corn (cut from cob), or potato (sliced very thin)

Grilled eggplant, roasted red pepper

Caramelized onions

Baby spinach or arugula

Accessories (optional)

Nuts (walnuts or pine nuts), ¼ cup or so

Olives

Strong cheese (An ounce or so of goat, feta, gorgonzola, parmesan)

Wine (Bordeaux is good, as well as a red Italian or Italian style wine)

Procedure:

Turn the oven on, 475^oF. The oven should heat a good 20 minutes, with the stone in it (hot oven + cold stone = broken stone). Get all the equipment and ingredients out.

Grate the cheese, mince the garlic, slice the vegetables, prep the meats and accessories. I usually assemble everything on a dinner plate (and one plateful is good for one pizza) The basil gets chopped very last so it doesn’t turn dark (I usually leave it on the cutting board and chop just before using).

Sprinkle some corn meal on the pizza peel.

To make the crust, dump the dough onto a floured matt (or board or counter top). Start pressing the dough with your fingers to spread into a circle. Turn it over, make sure the bottom has sufficient flour (after doing 20 times or so, you’ll understand what sufficient is). If the dough is fighting back, let it rest a little, and get the rolling pin out. Don’t get the middle too thin. Also important: don’t make the crust bigger than the peel.

Gently pick the dough up (I usually fold in half and lift, a little safer way is to roll over the rolling pin) and put on the peel. The dough should slide around.

(Note: if you don’t have a stone and a peel, or need to do this ahead of time, or if you just don’t need any more drama in your life, just put the formed dough on a lightly greased sheet pan)

Start building the pizza with a drizzle of olive oil, spread gently with a brush or your fingers. Add the garlic, pepper, and basil. Sprinkle with the main cheese. Add the toppings and accessories.

Put the spatula near the oven. The wine should be open, and a glass nearby. I know this seems like a lot... that's where doing it over and over helps, it really only takes about 20 minutes to get to this point with practice.

Put the pizza in the oven: It usually helps to pull out the rack with the stone. Put the peel near the back of the stone, tilt up, give it a little shake, and slide the pizza off the peel on the stone. Swear a little when it doesn’t come off. Grab the spatula and prod a bit (especially the bit that’s hanging off the peel). Push a little from each side from underneath. When it’s finally on the stone, push any toppings that are on stone the back on the pizza and quickly close the door. Have some wine. You deserve it!

The pizza will need to cook from 10 – 15 minutes, depending on how thick the dough is and how much toppings. To tell when ready: the crust should be brown on the edges and bottom, the cheese all bubbly, and toppings just starting to brown.

Pull out (use the peel… or if you are doing a second pizza and its already occupying the peel, just pull the pizza out with a pair of tongs onto a cutting board. Cut and eat!

Stuffed Mushrooms

Last night at a wonderful party with lots of friends, we were discussing seasonal favorites, and someone mentioned how often she makes "my" stuffed mushrooms and how everyone loves them.  I'm not even sure where I got the recipe, and have not made it myself in a long time.  But a good reminder of something yummy I should make for the next get together  -- especially convenient since you can make them ahead, and bake when you need them.   And maybe a good experiment when I get around to trying to make sausage (being that I can't do anything the easy way). 

Stuffed Mushrooms

3 hot Italian Turkey sausages, casings removed

1 clove garlic chopped

1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano

Olive oil

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about 3 ounces) 

6 ounces low fat cream cheese, room temperature

1 large egg yolk

48 small ( or 24 large 2-inch-diameter) mushrooms, stemmed

1/3 cup dry white wine 

Sauté sausage, garlic and oregano in heavy large skillet in small amount of oil over medium-high heat until sausage is cooked through and brown, breaking into small pieces, for about 7 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer sausage mixture to large bowl and cool. Mix in 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, then cream cheese. Season filling with salt and pepper; mix in egg yolk. 

Line cookie sheet with parchment. Brush cavity of each mushroom cap with white wine; fill with scant 1 tablespoon filling.  (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.)   Arrange mushrooms, filling side up on prepared sheet pan and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. 

Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake uncovered until mushrooms are tender and filling is brown on top, about 25 minutes.

Creamy Pasta Sauce

OK, so obviously I have not made the blog every day goal.  So I'm resetting the goal to blog every week...  at least until the end of the year.

Always an inspiration are recipes that I e-mail out to family and friends.   I was talking to my brother today, who had some chicken he needed to cook, and wanted some pasta for dinner.  I really like a creamy sauce with chicken and pasta (plus a few vegetables), so I recommended this:

Creamy Pasta Sauce

This is great to use up whatever you have on hand.  Also, it reheats very well

3-4 servings

8 oz pasta (linguine, spaghetti, corkscrew)

1 tablespoon butter

4 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon flour

1 ¼ cups low fat milk

¼ cup of low fat cream cheese (block or tub)

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup shredded parmesan cheese

Start water to boil for pasta.  For the sauce, melt the butter in a sauce pan or skillet.  Add garlic and sauté for a few minutes, then add flour.  Cook for about 30 seconds, then slowly add milk, stirring with a whisk. Cook until nearly boiling, add cheeses and cook until very thick.

Drain pasta (with optional vegetables) and return to pot, add sauce and other options.  Give a good twist of black pepper, add more cheese or toasted nuts if desired

Options:

• Vegetables (blanched):  Use up to 2-3 cups of asparagus, peas, broccoli, carrots or other vegetables to pasta and cook (need to judge how much time to cook the veggies, generally add 2-3 minutes before the pasta is done

• Vegetables (sauted): Use up to 1-2 cups of onions, shallots, mushrooms, and/or bell peppers, can put garlic here rather in sauce.  Place a small amount of oil in skillet, add red pepper flakes if desired, and sauté vegetables.  If it gets too dry, add a little white wine, or a bit of broth or water. Use the same pan to cook the sauce, remove the vegetables first (unless you are just using a little onion or shallots, then its ok to leave them in the pan).

• Herbs: whatever you like, add to sauce when it is done.

• Meat: Sauté chicken chunks, black forest ham (cut sandwich slices into strips), or use other leftover roasted meat.

• Cheese: the original recipe called for Gorgonzola, but I’ve never actually tried this.  Usually I use a hard cheese, plus will throw in scraps if we have any left from a cheese appetizer.

• Nuts:  A nice addition if there is not any meat in the sauce.  Walnuts or pine nuts, toasted in the toaster oven (1 cycle through “toast” on a foil lined pan) are good.

Too busy to blog…

Seems I have been either seriously goofing off, or seriously working.  Either way, it doesn’t seem like I have had much time to blog, even though goofing off gives me so much blog material!

In the category of “goofing off”, I attended a cooking class held at Lavender, a French restaurant in Green Valley, AZ.  (This was just previous to the 2-day golf tournament I played with Mom, which …ahem… we won!   Please no sandbagging jokes).

Lavender’s is at the Green Valley Country Club, and is open to the public.  It is owned by a husband and wife, Chef Frederic and Graciela Lange. I was impressed by the huge kitchen, and always happy to find some place that is cooking interesting food (sometimes it seems hard to find a restaurant that even really cooks). They do a great job on simple food – like the lunches for the golf tournament.   I still have not tried them for dinner (but will soon), and hope that the meals reflect what we saw in class – good ingredients, honestly prepared.

Chef Frédéric Lange prepared an ambitious list of appetizers in the 1 ½ hour class:

Eggplant Dip
Truffle Calzone
Party Pizza
Croque Monsieur
Brie with Caramel and Nuts
Shrimp-stuffed cucumber

The eggplant dip was my favorite, and I now know how to easy it is to quickly cook large eggplants.   I like eggplant dips and occasionally make them when have friends over, they are a nice (and healthy) alternative to cheese and crackers, but have always struggled with cooking the eggplant.   The truffle calzone was just indulgent… mascarpone cheese and herbs and truffle oil.  And, even though I make pizza all the time, the pizza demonstration taught me a few new tricks.  Like AJ’s carries fresh yeast, and that you really don’t need to let the dough rise for an hour. That you really can put potatoes on a pizza, and that I need to use more liquid when I make my dough with the Kitchen Aid.  And another way to shape the pizza for serving small pieces for hors d'oeuvres.  The Croque Monsieur is French version a grilled ham and cheese, Chef Frederic jazzed it up with some thin slices of pear – and cooked in the oven which is a great way to do for a crowd.  The Brie with Caramel was fun to watch – mostly how to bring back caramel sauce from the brink of disaster (overcooking). 

In the end, the best part of the class was watching someone who is a master – do the simple things like smash garlic, use a mandolin and knife -- while sharing their knowledge in a fun (and tasty) way.   Chef did not have written recipes…  most of these are things that are simple and you can make up as you go.  Following is my interpretation of what he prepared, and hope I have not forgotten anything too important (also, I have not yet tested these in my kitchen, so if something seems strange or missing, call me).

Eggplant Dip

3 large eggplants
9 cloves garlic
Salt, pepper
¾ cup olive oil
2 cups roasted red peppers
Herbs to taste – basil, parsley, thyme, pesto if desired
Parmesan cheese

Slice eggplant in half the long way, leaving the stem on.  Score flesh in diamonds (3 to 4 cuts, through meat but not skin.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic, making sure to get down in the cuts.  Drizzle olive oil on top, again, getting down in the cuts.

Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350F.  Put peppers on top, and bake another 5 minutes.  Eggplant should be soft.

Next remove the eggplant from the skin:  make small cut through the flesh near the stem. Hold by the stem, and with a large spoon, scoop out the flesh.  Best to do this on a plate to catch the juice.  Place everything in a large bowl.  Stir and mash with a fork, intention is to keep chunky (rustic).  Add herbs and parmesan cheese, stir, then taste for salt, add more if needed.  To serve, place in shallow bowl, add more cheese and a drizzle of oil on top.  Serve with toasted fresh bread (crostini).

Party Pizza

For the dough, the basic formula is 2 parts flour to 1 part liquid (water and oil).  You can also use dry yeast, but it will take less (my guess is ~ 2 full teaspoons based on my other recipe).

4 cups flour
1 ½ cup warm water
½ cup olive oil
30g fresh yeast
3 teaspoons kosher salt (less if table salt)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

Preheat oven to 425F.

Dissolve yeast in water.  Place flour in bowl of mixer, add remaining ingredients.  Mix using stand mixer with dough hook until it comes together in a ball, about 3 minutes total.  Cut into 3 pieces.  Let the dough rest while you prepare the toppings (about 30 minutes or so).

On a floured board, roll each piece into a long rectangle (as long as a big cookie sheet).  Put some olive oil on a large rimmed cooking sheet, place the dough on the oil.  Add the toppings (see below for ideas), and bake for 12-15 minutes.  Cheese should be melted, and if you look underneath, the bread will be brown.

Remove from the oven and place on a large cutting board.  Slice in half the long way, then crosswise into 2 inch pieces.

Toppings…

Bacon and Potato  (enough for one long pizza)

6 slices of good bacon
1 or 2 small potatoes (like Yukon gold)
Parmesan cheese (about a cup of finely grated)
Olive oil
Salt, pepper, herbs (thyme, parsley, basil, etc)

Chop the bacon in 1 inch pieces, and cook in a small amount of olive oil.  Cook until fat has started to render, but bacon is still soft (it will get crisp later when on the pizza).  Slice the potato (no need to peel) into very thin slices, preferably with a mandolin.  Do just before using so they don’t turn brown.   Put some olive oil on the pizza dough, then salt (optional – for me the bacon and cheese provided plenty of salt), pepper and herbs.  Put on some cheese, the bacon, potato slices, some more cheese.  Optional – add some of the bacon grease.  Bake as directed above.  Garnish with more herbs if desired.

Greek (enough for one long pizza)

I have made one change.  Chef put the basil on last, and in the oven it turned brown to black (just the nature of basil).  When I put basil on pizza’s, I always put it on first, just after the oil, and it stays green and keeps its flavor.

Cherry or Grape Tomatoes -- about a pint, sliced in half
Olives (Kalamata or your favorite) – half a cup, maybe more
½ Small red onion, sliced
Garlic, 3 cloves, smashed and chopped
Feta cheese, about 4 ounces, cut in chunks
Basil
Olive oil

Put some olive oil on the pizza dough.  Don’t salt – the feta cheese will add plenty of salt.  Put some roughly chopped basil and garlic on the oil, then layer on the tomoatoes, olives, onions, and feta cheese.  Bake as directed above, then add some more chopped basil on top.

Truffle Calzone

Pizza dough (probably about ½ of above recipe)
Mascarpone cheese, room temperature, about one cup
Herbs – Thyme, basil, parsley, other as desired
2 tablespoons heavy cream
Scant ¼ cup of truffle oil

Preheat oven to 425F

Roll half the dough into a 12 inch circle.  Place on oiled sheet pan.  Spread the cheese on the dough, leaving the outer inch of dough uncovered.  Top with herbs, cream and truffle oil.  Brush the outer edge with water.  Roll other half of the dough into a 12 inch circle and place on top. Crimp the edges.  Dock (make holes) with a fork.  Bake for 12-15 minutes.  Cut into wedges or squares to serve.

Croque Monsieur

Originally served as fast food in French bars and cafes.

Good quality whole grain bread
Ham (like black forest)
Cheese – preferably Gruyere or Emmentaler,
Bosque pear (needs to be firm, do not use a juicy pear) halved, cored and cut into thin slices
Spicy brown mustard
Butter (room temperature)

Spread each slice of bread with mustard.  Build sandwich in following order:   Ham, cheese, pear, cheese, ham.  Put butter on outside of each sandwich.  Place on sheet pan, and bake.  (I’m guessing on time and temperature, but I think 425 for 10 minutes… not sure if they turned them or not).  To serve as appetizer, cut into 6 - 8 squares, stick with a tooth pick in each square.  Place on a platter to serve.

Brie with Caramel and Pecans

2 cups sugar
½ cup water
½ a large round of brie cheese, cut into 2 quarters
Pecans, chopped and toasted

Make caramel sauce:  mix sugar and water, and place on heat.  Do not stir.  Bring to a boil.  Brush some water on the pan just above the sauce to prevent crystallization.  Cook until it starts to turn brown (~10 minutes) and remove from heat.  It will continue to brown (if it starts to get too brown, add some water… this will splatter).  Cool slightly.  Arrange brie on rimmed serving platter, put a couple of handfuls of nuts on top and pour caramel over top.  Place inverted bowl over the top, and let sit for an hour or so (this should soften the caramel).  Serve with crackers.

And yet more ways to cook greens

Believe it or not, I’m not tired of eating greens even with 3 big bunches of greens ever week (last week it was arugula, spinach, and beet greens… plus romaine lettuce and baby lettuce mix).  There are just so many things to do with them. I am doing better on using the beet greens than the beets!
I love quiche, and used to make quiche the normal way with a pie dough crust, and then always put spinach in the eggs (aka Quiche Lorraine).  But pie dough (as wonderful as it is) has a lot of butter, which is not a big deal if you are eating a small sliver, but I like about a quarter of the pie for dinner (which, using my pie crust recipe, would be 1½ tablespoons of butter), which is why I tried this recipe.  I was a bit hesitant because it looks weird (flour and bread crumbs… no egg and just a bit of oil to hold it together?), I really did not think it would work, but I trust the recipe book I adopted it from...   The New Enchanted Broccoli Forest (Mollie Katzen's Classic Cooking). I have made it several times, and it’s always come out great (even the leftovers).

One last note – it’s easy to make the bread crumbs.  Use the crust and end pieces from whole wheat sandwich bread – let dry on the counter for a couple of days (break into chunks to make sure they are really dry) and put them in a plastic bag until you are ready to use (like in a month or two).  If you are really channeling your depression era grandmother, you will use the plastic bag the bread came it.  When ready to use, just crush them (a rolling pin while they are still in the bag works great).

EDIT: Better way to make bread crumbs:  cut bread (any kind, stale is fine) into chunks, and put into food processor.  Process in bursts until broken up into crumbs.  Place crumbs on parchment lined sheet pan, place into a low oven (275F, convection if you have it) until dry but not browned. Check every 10 minutes and toss the crumbs (I think it takes 20-30 minutes).  Store excess crumbs in the freezer.

Spinach Crusted Quiche

Crust part:
2 Tablespoons olive oil
¾ lb fresh spinach or other greens, finely minced
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup flour
¾ cup dry bread crumbs
Fresh nutmeg
Heat oven to 375F.  Lightly oil a 9 – 10 inch pie or quiche pan.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet.  Add the spinach and salt, saute over medium high heat until the spinach is limp.  Add a bit of water if it’s too dry.  Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients and mix well.
Pat into the oiled pie pan.  Use a fork at first, and then your fingers to mold the crust.

Prebake for 25 minutes.  No need to cool before adding filling.

Quiche Part:

Layer the following in the crust:

Cheese:  ¼  pound or a bit more (grated).  I like Swiss types, like Jarlsburg or Gruyere.

Meat (optional): ¼ lb or so of ham or prosciutto, or a bit of bacon, or leftover chicken.

Vegetables: 1 cup or bit more.  onions, mushrooms (need to sauté first), asparagus or broccoli (lightly steamed), and/or chopped red peppers, plus herbs as desired.

Custard: 3 eggs plus 1 cup milk (can use regular milk, half and half, unsweetened soy milk, low fat milk or a mix), whisked together.  Pour evenly over the filling.

Cook for 35 minutes or until firm. Cool for 10 minutes before slicing.  Can be served any temperature.

Comfort Food – Mac and Cheese

I’m sure that everyone has their favorite, mine is Mac and Cheese.   We ate of lot of the Kraft version while in college (seemed so much more like food than ramen noodles), but once we had real jobs, we swore off the Kraft , something about that unnatural orange power (we moved on to Stouffer's Frozen).   But now, job or not, there is no going back to the boxes!    Here is our favorite.  Once you have done it 10 or 20 times, it goes together pretty quick, but does need to bake for 45 minutes or so.

Macaroni and Cheese

 I like that you don’t need to cook the macaroni separately.  No need to clean the food processor between jobs.

1 ounce (about a 1x1 cube) Parmesan cheese
1 slice of bread

½ a medium-large onion
4 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar cheese

1 carton 1% cottage cheese
1 ½ cups buttermilk
1 teaspoon dry mustard
pinch of cayenne
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

½ pound uncooked elbow macaroni

Preheat the oven to 375oF.  Prepare a 9-inch square baking pan with a light coating of Pam.

Grate cheese in food processor with blade.  Tear bread in large chunks, add to cheese and process until bread is turned into medium crumbs.  Pour into small bowl and set aside.  Using shredding disk, grate the cheddar cheese and onion.  Place in large mixing bowl.

Using blade, process the cottage cheese, buttermilk, and spices until smooth.  Place in bowl with onion and cheddar cheese.  Add macaroni to bowl and stir. Pour into prepared baking pan.  Sprinkle bread crumb mixture over top. 

Bake for about 45 minutes, until the toping is browned and the center is firm.  Let sit for a few minutes then serve.

Grilling Pizza

My latest adventure in grilling has been pizza’s on the BBQ.  Pizza has become yet another way to use up odds and ends of cheese, vegetables, and cured meat at our house (along with pasta, salads and soup).  But it does heat up the kitchen in the summer (the A/C can keep up with baking most things, but not a 475F oven).  And its not great for doing more than one or two since they take 12 minutes each to cook.  I was considering buying a grill pizza stone from Williams-Sonoma, but after checking on the Chowhound board, it seemed possible to cook right on the grill.  So I started to experiment…first on my self (lunch at home… I love this sabbatical thing, the loud crying you hear on Nov 5 will be me going back to work), then Roy, then on unsuspecting relatives in New Jersey… where I made 6.

So, to start, I use my basic Pizza dough (see below..  its really quick with the Cuisinart).    Here’s the basic technique (and tricks):

1. Get your toppings ready..  have by the grill when you start to cook.  On toppings… I usually use olive oil (no tomato-based sauce, but you can), some herbs (like basil), a “melting cheese” (think mozzarella or fontina) plus a flavor cheese (parmesan or goat or peccorino), plus a couple toppings of choice… salami, onions, eggplant, bell pepper, olives, sliced tomatoes, mushrooms.  The important thing is not too much or too many toppings.  Too much and the bottom is burnt before the top is done, too many and the bottom burns before you are done getting toppings on (but… if you really want 6 different things or are just slow, you can take the pie off grill, put on the toppings, and then back on).

2. Roll the dough thin, going for a 12 – 14 “ pizza.  Don’t worry about perfection, square-ish pieces fit better on the grill.  When you are done, roll onto a piece of parchment paper to help support the dough to get it on the grill.  If you are doing multiples, just stack them up. 

3. The grill should be at medium / medium high depending (good and hot, but not nuclear hot).

4. Flop a piece of dough directly on the grill (no need to oil, but you can), peel off paper, close the lid, and wait 3 minutes.  You can do 2 at time.

5. Check to make sure the bottom is nicely brown, then flip the dough with tongs (it has enough structure by this point to do easily).  Brush with olive oil, add herbs, cheese, toppings.  Close the lid, cook for another 4 minutes or so.  Its done when the bottom is brown and cheese melted…  it the cheese is not melted, its done anyway if the bottom is brown.  Pull the pizza off (tongs work) on to a plate or tray.  Slice and eat!

Figure 1 pizza per person it they are hungry…  less for polite eaters or if there is lots of other food. 

For a party..  the dough gets soft and puffy and hard to get on the grill if you let it sit after rolling.  I would recommend putting in the fridge if you are looking at more than 20 minutes between rolling and cooking, you might also try pre-cooking the one side and setting aside (I have read about this, but never attempted)

Also – you can just cook the bread (no toppings), add a little olive oil and salt when you are done for a nice bread side dish. 


Pizza Dough.      Cook pizza at 475 F.  This also is good for calzone’s.

Makes 1 ¾ pound dough – enough for 2 pizza’s (in the oven) or 3 pizza’s (on the grill)

2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 ¼ cup warm water (105 – 115 oF)
3 1/3 cup flour  (ok to replace up to 1 cup with whole wheat flour)
1 ½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons olive oil, plus more for bag

Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water, let stand until foamy – about 3 – 5 minutes.  Coat inside of large zip-loc baggie with oil.

Insert dough blade in work bowl of food processor and add four, salt and oil, then mix.

With machine running on dough speed, pour liquid through small feed tube as fast as flour will absorb it.  Process until dough cleans sides of work bowl and forms a ball, then process for 30 seconds to knead dough.  Dough will be a little sticky.  Put into baggie and seal.  Let rise for about 45 minutes.

Note: Dough freezes well.  Put ½ of dough in quart baggies (coated w/ oil) and freeze. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, let sit out ~ ½ hour before using.  It will also keep in the refrigerator for several days.