I have a few friends who make their food preferences very clear. Truthfully, I like that… with all the options of things to cook for dinner, I appreciate the focus this gives me. I know Dina likes Smoked Chicken salad, and Matthew likes lamb.
Last week, we planned a picnic at Tanglewood, and I knew what to bring: Smoked Chicken Salad for Dina, and Tandoori Lamb for Matthew. Sure, I had just made it a few times already in the past month, but why not make the guy happy.
I often serve the lamb with raita or mint chutney. But with the first jalapeno in the garden, I decided to make another recipe from Singapore Food, Spicy Chickpeas.
Spicy Chickpeas 1 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons ghee or oil 1 onion, peeled and chopped 6 cloves garlic, chopped 1 tablespoon fresh ginger 1 green chili chopped ½ teaspoon ground cumin ½ teaspoon ground cardamom 1 teaspoon coriander ¼ teaspoon ground cloves 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 3 cups cooked chickpeas 2 tomatoes, finely chopped 1 sprig cilantro for garnish
1. Heat a large skillet with oil. Add onions, garlic, ginger and jalapeno, and cook for 10 minutes or until onions soften. Add spices and cook until aromatic, about 2 minutes.
2. Add chickpeas and ½ cup of water. Cover and let simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove cover and continue cooking until liquid is absorbed.
3. Stir in tomatoes, and cook just until they lose their raw edge.
4. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
Amazing things happen when animals can roam freely. From all this exercise, more blood flows through their muscles, yielding meat that is more is more flavorful and also has a little more texture. And when egg-laying hens roam freely, the eggs taste better too!
Cooking farm-fresh eggs is different than regular supermarket eggs. They cook more quickly. When used in cakes or other baked goods, the results are lighter. The yolks tend to be more orange and flavorful as a result of the grain and grass diet.
When I get fresh eggs, I tend to make egg salad or deviled eggs so I can really appreciate the flavor and texture. Lately, I’ve tired of my usual recipe and decide to branch out.
With a recent dozen, I made a simple deviled eggs, seasoning the yolks with mayonnaise, mustard and cumin… And the recipe from Oleana for Deviled Eggs with Tuna and Black Olives… Ana Sortun's Deviled Eggs with Tuna and Black Olives 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 1 cup minced fresh tuna (about 6 ounces) 1 scallion, minced 1/2 cup minced celery Tiny pinch curry Salt and pepper 8 hard-boiled eggs, split in half lengthwise, with yolks and whites separated 1 cup thick mayonnaise, preferably homemade 1 tablespoon chopped parsley 8 black olives, pitted and finely chopped 1 plum tomato, finely chopped
Heat oil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Add the tuna, scallion, celery, curry and salt and pepper. Cook until the tuna is just opaque, about 3 minutes. Cool and drain well.
In a small mixing bowl, mash the egg yolks with a fork. Stir in the mayonnaise, tuna, and parsley. Season with salt and pepper.
Season the egg whites with salt and pepper and fill their centers with heaping spoonfuls of the tuna egg filling. Top each with a black olive and tomato.
I never know how much fiddleheads and morels I’ll be able to get each year, so I always make sure to cook them at least once each Spring. But with the temperamental prices and my cooking schedule, I never know if the second opportunity will arise.
The first cooking, I keep simple. I want to savor the flavors and textures, uncluttered. The second cooking, I tend to be more “creative.” An elegant way to serve the morels is atop an asparagus vichyssoise.
Asparagus Vichyssoise with Sautéed Morels
1 qt. chicken or vegetable broth 1 tbs. olive oil 2 small leeks, chopped 1/4 cup potatoes, diced 24 asparagus spears, trimmed, tips reserved 2 sprigs parsley 1 cup spinach salt and pepper to taste
Morels 1/2 pound morels, wiped clean 1 large shallot, peeled and diced 2 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped 1/4 cup dry sherry
For the Soup: 1. Heat olive oil in large pot. Sweat leeks and potatoes. Add asparagus, parsley and chicken broth. Simmer for 15 minutes or until asparagus and potatoes are tender.
2. Put 1/4 cup spinach in the bottom of a blender. Ladle soup into blender and puree. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Repeat process until all the soup is pureed.
3. Bring a small pot of salted water to a boil. Blanch the asparagus tips for 1 minute. Drain and run under cold water to lock in the color.
4. Garnish soup with asparagus tips and morels.
For the Morels: 1. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the morels. Sprinkle shallots, garlic and thyme on top. Season with salt and pepper. Let cook for 3 minutes without stirring or shaking. Stir a little and cook for another minute.
2. Deglaze the pan with sherry. Cook for another two minutes until the sherry is absorbed. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
If I have a third chance, I will serve sautéed morels with seared foie gras. I still have a small piece left over in the freezer.
Once a year, I retreat to Kripalu in the Berkshires of Western, MA for a weekend of yoga, relaxing and cleansing. The tranquil setting offers a respite from all the toxins of my urban lifestyle – noise, pollution, decadent eating and drinking.
I make no pretense that I would embrace this lifestyle in its entirety on a regular basis — though I very much enjoy the elements. But every once in a while, it feels great to refresh my body. I relinquish wine and red meat in favor of the light cuisine they offer in the cafeteria. Honestly, it’s the quintessential “granola-crunchy-health” food. I never cook this way at home, but it tastes great, and I feel refreshed after eating like I never do after a meal of foie gras and truffles.
I have no plans for visiting Kripalu in the near future, but definitely need a little detoxing – especially after Taste of the Nation and Foie Gras Three-Ways. A friend just unearthed the recipe their famous salad dressing. I made a salad full of virtuous ingredients. After this meal, I feel light and rejuvenated.
Salad (Serves 2 an invigorating lunch)
2 cups arugula or baby spinach 1 small can tuna fish, drained ½ cup cooked chickpeas 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds 2 tablespoons dried cranberries 1 cup steamed broccoli.
Kripalu Dressing 1 cup sunflower oil or grape seed oil 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil ¼ cup soy sauce ½ cup lemon juice ? cup sesame tahini 2 cloves garlic ½ tablespoon dry mustard powder ½ teaspoon salt ½ tablespoon chili powder pinch cayenne ½ cup water
Combine all ingredients and puree in a blender until smooth. Makes about 2 1/2 cups and lasts for a week in the fridge.
With only a handful of Brussels sprouts still growing on the stalk, I wanted just the right recipe to make the most of this special treat. Having recently come across some great ideas in the food-blogosphere, I opted to deviate from my usual Roasted with Bacon.
2 slices bacon, diced 1 shallot, peeled and thinly sliced 1/2 brussels sprouts, sliced. 2 tbs. balsamic vinegar salt and pepper to taste
1. In a medium skillet, add bacon. Cook over low heat until the fat starts to release. Continue cooking until there's about 1 tbs. of rendered fat. 2. Turn heat to high and add shallots. Cook, stirring regularly, until shallots and bacon start to brown. Drain off excess fat. 3. Add brussels sprout leaves. Cook until they turn bright green, about 2 minutes. 4. Deglaze pan with balsamic vinegar. Remove from heat. Season to taste with salt and fresh ground black pepper.
As I contemplate “Cook. Eat. Grow.” and how I’d like to reverse that trend, I consider my worst eating habit… snacking.
Now there’s nothing wrong with snacking. In fact, some diet experts suggest that regular snacks prevent excessive hunger and binge eating. My challenge is what I’m snacking on. The other day, I decided to prepare some healthy options. I roasted a spaghetti squash and made a batch of Fred Flintstone tomato sauce. I packed individual containers topped with a sprinkling of Parmesan. When the snack pangs hit, I could microwave a portion.
I was amazed at its high satisfaction quotient. A small serving – 1 cup of spaghetti squash and ½ cup of sauce – sated me for 2 hours…. Enough time to last me to the next proper meal. And the nutritional value is quite high.
Cooking Spaghetti Squash The microwave method: Cut spaghetti squash in half and scoop out the seeds and inner soft pulp with a large metal spoon. Place face down on a plate and microwave about 2 minutes per half (multiple batches should be necessary) until BARELY soft. Let cool, then plunge a fork longitudinally through the inside flesh and work it from end to end to make the “spaghetti”. Use a metal spoon to get out the last strands.
The oven method: Cut spaghetti squash in half and put cut side down on a baking sheet. Put into a 375F oven with enough water to cover the bottom of the pan. Bake for 40 minutes, or until just tender. Remove from oven and let cool. With a metal spoon, scoop out and discard the seeds and inner soft pulp. Then plunge a fork longitudinally through the inside flesh and work it from end to end to make the “spaghetti”. Use a metal spoon to get out the last strands.
Season squash however you like, here are two options:
1. Salt, butter and parmesan cheese. 2. Capers, toasted garlic and olive oil
Just this morning, a friend lamented the vast quantities of celery root in his organic produce delivery box. For the benefit of my friend and the other customers receiving deliveries from Boston Organics, I've put together this compilation of recipes. Feel free to add your favorite recipe suggestions in the comments.
With a mild celery flavor, celeriac looks similar to a jicama, and is often confused at the supermarket. But its fuzzy exterior and knobby roots on the bottom distinguish it. And if you still can’t tell the difference, take a whiff – you’ll get a faint smell of celery. The celery root comes from the leaf celeri variety, which is different than the variety from which we get stalks.
The root’s minimal starch content makes this an easy vegetable to cook. And my favorite preparation, pureed with a little cream and lemon juice, capitalizes on this. Pureed celery root is a great side dish for pork, duck, braised short-ribs or salmon. Mine second favorite preparation: served with smoked salmon as an appetizer or hors d'oeuvre.
Alternatively, you can cook the celery root in cream and use the cooked root and cream to toss with pasta. No matter how you cook the celery root, it’s best to cook it in liquid. And like all root vegetables, start with cold water.
Celery root can also be eaten raw. Most commonly, it’s sliced into thin strips (julienne) and tossed with a mayonnaise based dressing: a French variation of coleslaw called Remoulade.
Celeriac Puree 2 knobs celery root (celeriac) ½ cup cream salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste
Using a paring knife, peel celery root. Cut into 1/8th.
Put celery root in a pot and cover by one inch with cold ,salted water. Boil the be-jeebies out of it, approximately 15 minutes (more or less depending on how small the pieces are). When you can easily poke the celery root with a fork ,they’re tender. Drain, reserving about ½ cup of water.
Put in a food processor, and puree with cream. Adjust consistency with water. Add lemon juice, 1 squeeze at a time, until it is seasoned to your taste. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
When serving celeriac puree as a side dish to salmon, duck or pork, consider one of these two wine sauces which will further enhance the flavors:
Wine Sauce 1 cup red wine or port 1/2 lemon juiced 1 large shallot, minced 1/4 cup chicken broth, cream or water (or combination) 1 – 2 sticks butter
Melt 1 tbs. butter in a sauce pan. Add shallots and cook for 1-2 minutes or until soft. Add wine, and let it reduce to about 2 tbs. Add chicken broth (or other liquid) and bring to a boil. Turn off heat and whisk in butter, 2 tbs. at a time – for a total of 1/4 -1/2 lb. depending on your taste. Adjust seasoning with salt, pepper and a small squeeze of lemon juice
Caramelized Balsamic Sauce ½ cup sugar 1 tbs. garlic, chopped 1 cup balsamic vinegar 1 tsp. juniper berries, crushed
Put sugar and garlic in a pot, with 1/2 cup of water. Put over high heat, and stir just until sugar dissolves. Continue cooking without stirring, until sugar turn a deep golden color. Add balsamic, carefully, and juniper berries. Simmer sauce for 10 minutes, until sugar redissolves, and the sauce reduces by 1/4. Remove from heat, and keep in warm place. Strain out juniper berries before serving.
Celery Root Remoulade 1/4 cup mayonnaise 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley leaves 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice 1/2 teaspoon drained bottled capers, minced 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard 1 tsp fresh tarragon, minced, or ¼ tsp. dried. 2 small celery roots, peeled and cut into matchstick pieces or shredded coarse
In a small bowl combine ingredients for dressing: mayonnaise, parsley, lemon juice, capers, mustard, tarragon, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix until combined well. Toss with celery root. Chill until ready to serve. Makes a great side dish for crab cakes or grilled fish.
One of the biggest challenges in entertaining at home is timing everything. First, one must assume that the guests will arrive on time, and then as host, you need to create a time-line of when the meal must go in and out of the oven so that everything’s ready and hot at the same time. Yeah, right!
As I get away from professional cooking, and focus more on recreational cooking, my style of entertaining has evolved. After all these years of being in the kitchen for the party, I want to spend time with the guests. While the food is still important, I value other aspects of a dinner party – a relaxed and convivial atmosphere that encourages lively conversation. The food becomes the backdrop for the evening.
Part of my success, or so my friends tell me, is that I’m a calm hostess (I think it’s that I serve copious amounts of wine). I’m not anxious about the meal, nor am I racing around when the guests arrive trying to put the finishing touches on a recipe. Much of this is my professional training. But a lot has to do with the menu. I opt for resilient recipes – These could be dishes that don’t suffer from pre-cooking and last minute reheating. Or recipes that have a large window of “doneness” – think chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts. Better yet, during the winter, I make stews that actually get better the longer they cook.
Such is the recommendation I offered my friend R who just got engaged. She’s hosting her parents and future in-laws for dinner – the first meeting for the two sets of parents. One can never predict how the evening will go… will the conversation be lively during the hors d’oeuvres and delay dinner? Will the silence be deafening and encourage an earlier start to the meal? For sure, let’s hope for the former. And with a stew gently staying warm in the oven, she can enjoy the company and know that the meal will be even better.
Beef Stew (serves 4-6 guests)
2 pounds cubed beef stew meat 1/4 cup flour 3 slices smoked bacon 1 large carrot, peeled and sliced 1 onion, peeled and diced 1 large shallot, peeled and chopped. 1 celery rib, chopped 1/4 lb. mushrooms, quartered 1 cup chicken broth 1 – 10 oz. can tomatoes 1/2 bottle red wine 1/2 cup brandy 2 sprigs thyme 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds 1 tbs. plain oil. salt and pepper to taste
1. Season beef with salt and pepper. Dust with flour. Dice bacon, and put in a large skillet with high sides. Brown bacon over high heat. Remove bacon and set aside
2. Add oil and beef, and brown beef (on high heat) for about 4 minutes on each side. Add onions, shallots, carrot, celery, and cook for about 5 minutes more.
3. Turn heat off, and deglaze pan with brandy and red wine. Scrap all of the browned bits off the bottom, this is good stuff. Add chicken stock, thyme and cumin. Turn heat back to high, and bring liquid to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, cover pot. Put in 325 oven. After about 1 1/2 hour, add mushrooms. Cook covered for another hour or until meat is tender.
4. Serve stew over egg noodles or with grilled bread.
If you have celiac disease or gluten intolerance, you can omit the flour. Potatoes would make a great side dish as well.
Russo’s Market in Watertown has an extraordinary produce selection – appealing to just about every ethnic group from South East Asian to Armenia to Europe and the Americas. I can often find unusual herbs and vegetables that I’ve seen in my travels or in ethnic cookbooks. It makes for more adventurous culinary experimentation. There are several things I see on a regular basis that I have no idea how to use. One such thing is methi leaves.
When I signed up to participate in “Taste & Create,” I didn’t expect to encounter such exotic ingredients. Taste & Create is a monthly food blog event, in which participants are randomly paired with other food bloggers and asked to choose and prepare a recipe from their partner's blog. I was paired with “Tasty Curry Leaf.” The recipes on this blog have a decided Indian, vegetarian bent. As I browsed through the recipes looking for something fun to try, and I was beside myself to find a recipe that used an ingredient I had seen in the markets, but had never cooked.
I’m not as familiar with Indian cooking so I was intrigued by some of the techniques. Most notably, the raw potatoes are salted before cooking. The excess water is squeezed out. And unlike typical French fried potatoes, the salty seasoning penetrates and satiates.
The methi leaves are considered a vegetable and not an herb. As they are sold with the roots attached, like cilantro or basil, this was not overtly obvious. When cooked, they retain more substance than spinach but have a similar texture: a cross between crunchy and creamy. If you can't find methi leaves, watercress would make a fine substitution.
Though the spice combination is straightforward, the flavors are quintessential Indian: a wonderful and simple recipe. The one modification I made was the addition of a few drops of lemon juice. The next day, we made omelets with the leftovers.
Ingredients:
Potato:1 cubed Eggplant:1 cubed (long purple Chinese eggplant/long green eggplant) Methi leaves: 1 bunch Onion: 1 medium Tomato:1 medium Chilli powder:1/2 tsp Coriander Powder:1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder:1/4 tsp Salt:as per taste
Preparation:
Cube the potato and eggplant.Apply salt to them and deep fry in hot oil after squeezing them.For potato cubes,you soak them in salted water in order to season them and also prevent them from turning brown. For eggplant you simply apply salt and keep aside.You squeeze the salted eggplant to remove the bitterness if any.Make sure you squeeze the potatoes and eggplants as well before deep frying.
Now you can avoid deep frying by roasting them in the oven.This is my enhancement to the masala.You squeeze the salted potatoes and eggplant cubes and roast them in a 475F oven for 20 minutes (potatoes) and 10-15 minutes for eggplants in a greased dish.
Chop onions into long thin pieces.Cube tomatoes as well.You can also use tomato puree or tamarind paste/concentrate instead of tomatoes.Chop the methi leaves.Keep aside.
Heat oil in a pan.Add chopped onions,saute till brown.Then add tomatoes cubed/pureed/tamarind concentrate,fried /roasted cubes and salt and powders.Saute till oil separates,add methi leaves and saute for a second then add water and cook till done.
Over at Very Good Taste, they have a little challenge. They put together a list of 100 foods that they think every good omnivore should try at least once. I could add a few things to this list — based on strange, and usually unfortunate things I've eaten — like beaver, cow's foot or steak and kidney pie.
Want to play along? Here’s what you do:
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions. 2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten. 3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating. (Julia’s note: I’ll try anything once… at least a small bite) and let me know the things you think are missing from the list!
The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:
1. Venison (I even have a few pictures of the deer, but I don’t think you want to see them J) 2. Nettle tea 3. Huevos rancheros 4. Steak tartare 5. Crocodile (probably when I was 19) 6. Black pudding 7. Cheese fondue 8. Carp 9. Borscht 10. Baba ghanoush 11. Calamari 12. Pho 13. PB&J sandwich 14. Aloo gobi (see below for my recipe) 15. Hot dog from a street cart 16. Epoisses (yummy, creamy, salty goodness) 17. Black truffle 18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes (and I don’t particularly recommend it) 19. Steamed pork buns (best part of Chinese Dim Sum) 20. Pistachio ice cream 21. Heirloom tomatoes 22. Fresh wild berries 23. Foie gras 24. Rice and beans 25. Brawn, or head cheese 26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper – I’ve eaten other varieties raw. 27. Dulce de leche 28. Oysters 29. Baklava 30. Bagna cauda 31. Wasabi peas 32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl 33. Salted lassi 34. Sauerkraut – though I do prefer my Reuben’s with coleslaw. 35. Root beer float 36. Cognac with a fat cigar 37. Clotted cream tea 38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O (I’m thinking I had one during my college years, but I must have black it out) 39. Gumbo 40. Oxtail 41. Curried goat 42. Whole insects (- chipolines in Oaxaca Mexico) 43. Phaal 44. Goat’s milk 45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more 46. Fugu 47. Chicken tikka masala 48. Eel 49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut 50. Sea urchin 51. Prickly pear 52. Umeboshi 53. Abalone 54. Paneer 55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal (I must have had one when I was in junior high school) 56. Spaetzle 57. Dirty gin martini 58. Beer above 8% ABV 59. Poutine 60. Carob chips 61. S’mores 62. Sweetbreads 63. Kaolin 64. Currywurst 65. Durian A most unfortunate experience. The durian barely hit my tongue before I spit it out. 66. Frogs’ legs 67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake 68. Haggis 69. Fried plantain 70. Chitterlings, or andouillette 71. Gazpacho 72. Caviar and blini 73. Louche absinthe 74. Gjetost, or brunost 75. Roadkill 76. Baijiu 77. Hostess Fruit Pie 78. Snail 79. Lapsang souchong 80. Bellini 81. Tom yum 82. Eggs Benedict 83. Pocky 84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant. So close, I had a tasting menu at Le Bristol in Paris, only a two star restaurant 85. Kobe beef 86. Hare 87. Goulash 88. Flowers 89. Horse 90. Criollo chocolate 91. Spam – I’m proud to say no! 92. Soft shell crab 93. Rose harissa 94. Catfish 95. Mole poblano 96. Bagel and lox 97. Lobster Thermidor 98. Polenta 99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee 100. Snake – In the bayou country of Louisianna
For a grand total of: 81! What's your score?
1 lb. cauliflower, separated into florets 3 tbs. ghee ½ tsp. brown mustard seed ½ tsp. cumin pinch fenugreek ½ tsp. turmeric 3 slices fresh ginger, minced 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1 onion, finely sliced 1 tomato, chopped 1 fresh green chili, sliced ½ tsp. salt Heat ghee and fry mustard seeds until they start to pop. Add cumin, fenugreek, turmeric, ginger, garlic and onions. Cook, stirring frequently, until onions are soft. Add cauliflower, and stir until well coated. Add tomato, chili, 1/4 cup of water and salt, and cook covered for 15 minutes, or until cauliflower is tender.
