I loaf life

So, I'm still on this baking kick. Or, rather, this I-don't-have-time-to-make-real-food kick. But hey, I can't say I'm bored! And now you won't be either. Onward ho!

First, zee bread:

Italian Olive Bread (adapted from the Natural Gourmet School cookbook)
Yield: 1 LARGE loaf

- 2 cups warm water
- 1 teaspoon warm maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon dry yeast
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1/2 cup pitted and chopped olives
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
- 1/3 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon sea salt
- 3 cups whole wheat bread flour
- 3 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1. In small bowl, combine water, maple syrup, and yeast. Allow to sit about 10 minutes until mixture is foamy.

2. Add oil, olives, rosemary, walnuts, lemon zest, salt, and just enough flour to create dough that pulls away from sides of bowl.

3. Knead dough on floured surface about 10-15 minutes or until firm, smooth dough has been created.

4. Place dough in large, clean, lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place for 45-60 minutes or until dough has doubled.

5. While dough is proofing, prepare loaf pan by lightly oiling.

6. Gently punch down dough (about 10-15 strokes) and return to bowl and loosely cover with plastic wrap. Allow to double in size for another 40 minutes.

7. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

8. Punch down dough again and form into a smooth ball. Place in loaf pan and cover with a damp cloth. Set aside to double in size once more (third proofing) before baking for approximate 30 minutes or until dough is golden and firm to touch.

9. Allow bread to cool completely on racks (out of loaf pan) before serving. Cutting into warm bread will ruin the crumb.

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Carrot Oatmeal Granola (adapted from 101cookbooks.com)
Yield:about 2 and 1/2 cups

- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 2/3 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- 1/2 cup shredded coconut
- 1/3 cup raisins
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
- 1/2 cup coconut oil, warmed till just melted

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and lightly coat a glass baking dish with oil.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together all ingredients except maple syrup and coconut oil. In a separate smaller bowl, combine maple syrup and coconut oil. Add this to the dry mixture and stir until combined.

3. Spread the mixture out along the bottom of baking dish and bake in on top shelf of oven for about 20 minutes, stirring once or twice throughout to ensure even baking.

4. Lay granola out on a large baking sheet to cool and dry overnight. Serve with plain yogurt and berries.

Pie on the sly

Bet ya didn't know I made pie! Well, I don't make a habit of it, but I did make a cranberry-pear tart for class this past Saturday, and it actually came out quite nicely. The recipe isn't really worth sharing, but the pictures are.


Thank you for admiring my pie! Now, if you'll please excuse my abruptness, it's past my bedtime, I met Savion Glover tonight, and I'm declaring this day officially DONE...ZZzzzzz

Quiche muffins

Once in a blue moon, when a muffin is feeling particularly sweet and bouncy, and quiche is all puffed up with eggs, the universe gives way to their love-child: THE QUICHE-MUFFIN! Inspired by a recipe for cottage cheese muffins, I put my own spin on the idea and came up with these tangy little numbers. My one suggestion for these is that you use paper cups to line the muffin tin -- the egg sticks like white on rice (there I go again, mixing food metaphors), resulting in some serious muffin mourning in the morning. Oy vey, I better stop this punny mess and cut to the chase:

Lemon Mint Quiche-Muffins
(yield: 1 dozen)

Note: While you can certainly seek out almond meal in the health/specialty food store, what I like to do is simply pulse blanched almonds in a food processor for a few seconds, to a medium-fine grind (sorta like ground coffee for a French press).
Also, don't be alarmed by how liquid the batter seems when you pour it in. It will work out, trust me.

DRY
- 1 cup almond meal
- 1/3 cup whole wheat (pastry) flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

WET
- 4 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1-3/4 cups cottage cheese (lowfat is fine)
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla

- 1/4 cup chopped dried apricots
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease muffin tin lightly and place a paper liner in each muffin cup.
2. Mix the dry ingredients and set aside. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl and add the wet ingredients; mix well. Combine the dry with the wet ingredients and stir just until the mixture is uniform. Finally, add the dried apricots, mint, and lemon zest and incorporate into batter.
3. Fill each muffin cup 3/4 full and bake in oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden on top and set in the middle.

Big Discovery: Uncooked Oatmeal

I've discovered the most amazing way to make slow-cooked oatmeal...without any cooking! You just soak one part oatmeal to two parts liquid (milk, water...) overnight, covered, in the refrigerator, then the next morning you scoop it out, heat it up in the microwave for a minute or two and BLAM there you have it. Seriously. It's amazing, especially if you put raisins in with the oats to "cook" overnight - the raisins get big and fat and release their sweet goodness into the oatmeal. This makes a healthy, whole foods breakfast much, much simpler, and it's just such a fascinating method: the NON-COOKING method!

(By the way, I've added this to my "Kitchen Shortcuts" - it definitely ranks up there as one of the most useful, I think.)

Valentine's pears

I'm not too keen on this precious little Hallmark holiday, but it's hard to deny the association between these sexy poached pears and the date (2/14/09) on which they were made. So, tip o' the nib to old St. Valentine, just this once.

PEARS POACHED IN RED WINE

Yield: 6 (whole pear) servings

This recipe pretty much reads like mulled wine, with the addition of a few submerged pears that ultimately surface as the main event. It's a lovely winter dessert that tastes totally sinful but is still quite healthy.

- 6 bosc pears, peeled and trimmed of bottom 1/4" (in order to stand up on a plate)

- 1 lemon, juice and rind separate

- 1 (750 mL) bottle Merlot

- 3 cups apple juice or cider

- 2 cinnamon sticks

- 2 anise stars

- 6 whole cloves

- 4 cardamom pods, smashed open

(Equipment: sheet of parchment paper)

1. Peel the pears and immediately submerge in cold water acidulated with lemon juice (to prevent browning).

2. In a medium saucepan, empty the bottle of wine, add the juice/cider and spices, and start to bring up to a very weak simmer on medium-low heat. The key is to never let the liquid actually bubble, just form steam and release miniscule bubbles - a sort of pre-boil. If you'd like, use a thermometer, and try to keep the liquid around 160-180 degrees F.

3. Add the pears carefully, and spread across the top of the saucepan a circle of parchment paper fitted to the size of the opening, with a small hole in the center to allow steam to release. This is to ensure that the pears remain completely submerged as they cook.

4. Continue cooking, keeping a close eye on the liquid temperature, until a knife easily slides into a pear - about an hour, depending on ripeness. If the pears take longer to soften, don't be discouraged. Just make sure you keep checking so that they don't begin to fall apart into the poaching liquid.

5. Once finished, removed the pears with a slotted spoon and set aside on a large platter to cool. Strain the poaching liquid to remove spices. Return liquid to pot and turn up the stove heat to high to bring the poaching liquid to a fast boil. Reduce liquid until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon - this is called nappe (pronounced nap-ay).

6. Pour the sauce over the pears and serve as is or with vanilla ice cream.

The Great Monday Munch

On Monday (yes, I'm that slow to post) I made this meal for my friend Vinitha and me. Everything was excellent, so I suggest you give either of the two a try: Carrot-Orange Salad or Swiss Chard Lamb Rolls. The latter is more hands-on and fun to make, the former comes together quicker. Take your pick, or be a champ and try both!

Carrot-Orange Salad (adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites)
yield: 4 appetizer plates

*Note: two handy tricks are introduced here. First, the carrots. To produce beautiful ribbons of carrot, simply peel off the skin, discard, and continue going down the carrot in long strokes with the peeler until you've milked that carrot for all its worth (I really shouldn't mix food metaphors, should I?). For the oranges, slice off the top and bottom ends, and sit the orange down square on the cutting board, on the flat-cut bottom side. With curved strokes from top to bottom, cut off the peel and all the pith of the orange, leaving a neat orange globe (you'll be surprised how small it is now). Then, carefully slide your knife between the flesh and the membrane on one side of a section, then on the other, and slide the section, free of all membrane, out. Continue all around, for each section. You'll be left with a bunch of membrane and some beautiful supremed orange pieces.

- 3 carrots, peeled of skin and peeled into ribbons (see Note)
-2 oranges, supremed (see Note)
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- dash cayenne
- salt to taste

Mix carrot ribbons and orange sections in a medium bowl. In a separate dish, whisk together the lemon juice, maple syrup and spices. Pour over the carrot/orange and toss to incorporate. Let marinate about 30 minutes before seasoning with salt to taste and serving, chilled or at room temperature.
Swiss Chard Lamb Rolls
Yield: Twelve 2" x 1"rolls

- 12 Swiss chard leaves, trimmed of stem and blanched for just 30 seconds till soft

- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp. each ground cumin, coriander, cinnamon, chili
- 1 lb. ground lamb
- 1 bunch dill, destemmed and chopped
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- salt to taste

- 1 cup uncooked bulgur
- 1/3 cup raisins

- 1/2 cup mirin
- 1/4 cup umeboshi vinegar
- 1/4 cup water

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and lightly oil a baking dish. Clean, trim, and blanch the swiss chard leaves and set aside to dry.
2. Bring 2 cups of salted water to a boil, add the bulgur, remove from heat, and let sit about 20 minutes, till all liquid is absorbed. Transfer to a bowl, mix in the raisins, and set aside.
3. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a wide sauce pan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook while stirring, until soft and fragrant. Add the spices and stir to incorporate. When very fragrant, add the lamb, breaking up clumps as it cooks. Cook a few minutes more, till lamb is cooked through and the liquid has released and cooked off. Remove from heat and mix in the dill, lemon juice, and salt. Incorporate into bulgur.
4. Once the lamb-bulgur mixture has cooled, lay out a swiss chard leaf vertically on a cutting board, with the bottom of the leaf facing you. Put about 2 tablespoons of lamb mixture onto the bottom of the leaf and start rolling tightly from the bottom. When halfway up the leave, fold in the two sides and finish rolling to the top. Place the roll seam-side down in the baking dish. Continue with all remaining leaves.
5. Mix together the mirin, umeboshi vinegar, and water and pour over the rolls. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake about 30 minutes, then remove foil and finish baking uncovered 10 minutes more. Serve hot or room temperature.

Shortcuts

After my cooking buddy Genna hinted that I might have a good-sized collection of useful kitchen pointers buried in my brain, I've decided to go digging for these acquired nuggets and bring them out into the daylight for public consumption. Thus, I shall start a running list of cooking shortcuts (and no, I don't mean web links, you internet fiends! Just plain old tricks you can use around the kitchen), which I've picked up here and there and, along the way, have allowed to sink into that homogeneous soup of implicit knowledge. I'll post a link to it on the WCIYA homepage and update it as things occur to me, which tends to happen when they fly out my mouth and into the hungry minds of other cooks. If you have some tips to add (and I know you do), please leave a comment and chime in!

Shortcuts to Use in the Kitchen

1. To avoid crying over your cutting board when slicing onions, store them in the fridge. I swear, it's the only trick that actually works!

2. To finely grate ginger (or any other stringy substance) without totally messing up your grater (the fine hairs never come out), lay a piece of plastic wrap over the tool and grate as you normally would. When you are satisfied with the amount of ginger that's been grated, simply remove the plastic wrap from the grating and scrape the ginger bits off the plastic with a dull knife. The plastic wrap is intact, but the ginger is not! It's magic.

3. To pit an olive, press down on it with the side of a wide chef's knife (as you would to smash a clove of garlic) until you feel it pop. The pit will have either shot out the side or can be easily removed from inside the split-open olive meat.

4. To keep a pot of liquid from boiling over, lay a wooden spoon over the top of it. The bubbles will stop at the spoon, thus saving you a big hot mess.

5. For cooling soup or stew quickly, put a glass or durable plastic bottle filled 3/4 full with water in the freezer and, once frozen, use it to stir and chill stuff without diluting it, as ice cubes would.

6. Instead of buying a funnel for filling pepper mills, etc, just cut out the corner of a ziplock bag or envelope and pour the stuff into the bag/envelope opening.

7. Peeling beets stinks. So try this less-messy method: boil the beets in salted water for a good long time (till easily pierced with a knife), then drain the water out and put the beets back into the empty pot, covered, for another 20-30 minutes. What you're doing is essentially steaming the beets, so the skin rubs right off in a pinch.

8. I've discovered the most amazing way to make slow-cooked oatmeal...without any cooking! You just soak one part oatmeal to two parts liquid (milk, water...) overnight, covered, in the refrigerator, then the next morning you scoop it out, heat it up in the microwave for a minute or two and BLAM there you have it. Seriously. It's amazing, especially if you put raisins in with the oats to "cook" overnight - the raisins get big and fat and release their sweet goodness into the oatmeal. It makes breakfast so much easier and it's just such a fascinating method: the NON-COOKING method!

It's all Greek to me!

Allelouia! Finally, I've made a beautifully elegant, decadently delicious, and weeknight-easy soup for two! The egg technique you need to apply here is called tempering. It's what distinguishes the velvety texture of this traditional avgolemono (Greek lemon-egg soup) from, say, stracciatella, the Italian egg-drop soup. To temper an egg, you cook it by heating it ever-so-slowly, so that it's just steaming, but doesn't ever get hot enough to curdle into "drops." One way you can temper egg is by whisking it in a metal bowl balanced over a pot of boiling water - the steam heats it gradually (the same can be done with chocolate, for insta-fondue!). Another way is by slowly whisking hot stock into the beaten eggs, which is the method I opted for here. Try it out! You'll be surprised at how easy tempering is, and how lickety-split the soup comes together (about 15 minutes). Just don't forget to say "Opa!"

Avgolemono (Greek lemon & egg soup)
Yield: 2 generous bowls

As a side note, for those of you who are sick of buying boxes of stock (for whatever reason - health-related, environmental, budgetary, etc.), I'll let you in on a little secret: there's nothing to it! For a simple chicken stock, which works well with this soup, boil a pot of water, add a couple of cut carrots, some chopped onion, a bay leaf if you have it, and a piece of raw chicken (or some leftover chicken bones). Bring back to a steady simmer and, after about 15 minutes, lower heat and let sit covered for another 20. Strain out the solids, let your stock cool, and there you have it! (Bonus: If you use chicken breast to make your stock, you can use the resulting cooked chicken to make a homemade chicken salad sandwich for lunch the next day.)

- 3 cups stock (see headnote)
- 1/2 cup whole grain (bulgur, quinoa, brown basmati, etc.)
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 green cardemom pods, split open
- juice of 1 lemon (about 1/4 cup)
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest
- salt
- 2 eggs, at room temp.
- 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped

1. Bring stock to a boil over medium-high in a pot.
2. Add the grain, bay leaf, cardemom pods, lemon juice and zest, and salt to taste. Simmer covered, 8-10 minutes. Discard bay leaf and cardemom pods and bring back to a simmer.
3. Meanwhile, beat the eggs well, and slowly ladle 1 cup of stock into the eggs, whisking continuously until completely homogenous.
4. Reduce the heat to low and gradually whisk in the egg-stock mixture. Be sure to continue whisking continuously, so as not to allow eggs to curdle while cooking.
5. Let the soup simmer, continuing to stir, for another 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat, adjust seasoning with salt if necessary, fold in the mint, and serve immediately.

It's what's for dinner

I had eaten shakshouka, a Tunisian and Israeli dish of cooked tomatoes, spices and eggs, at Sunday brunch, but wouldn't have ventured to make it myself had my co-worker not successfully done so and given it an enthusiastic Two Thumbs Up. Once I realized that there really wasn't much to it - just slow-cooking some tomatoes (either fresh or canned will do), spices, and adding an egg or two on top to essentially poach in the stewing vegetables - I couldn't deny what a deal this was: a fast, healthy and delicious weeknight dinner for one. Major duh here, people.

So I set about making the dish, of course adding some splatters of culinary paint to the blank canvas, such as a glug of red wine into the tomatoes, a few handfuls of fresh spinach for color and texture, and a few sprinkles of red pepper flakes for zing. And the final product:



Drunken Shakshouka with Spinach
Yield: 1 dinner serving

- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 15-oz can of whole peeled tomatoes (go for organic, no-salt if available)
- 1/4 cup dry red wine
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 3 handfuls fresh baby spinach/arugula leaves
- 2 eggs (organic, free-range is the best)
- dash of crushed red pepper (optional)
- salt to taste

1. Set a large saucepan (with a lid) over low heat. Add the oil after a minute or two and swirl around to coat bottom of pan. Add the garlic and stir 2-3 minutes, until fragrant and just sizzling. Add tomatoes and raise heat to medium-low. Cover pan and let the tomatoes break down about 10 minutes. Open lid, pour in wine, and raise heat to medium-high to allow for alcohol to cook off, stirring frequently. Once the tomato sauce starts looking thicker, add the spinach on top, turn the heat back down to medium-low, and cover the pan to allow the spinach to wilt, about 2 minutes. Uncover and stir to incorporate the wilted spinach into the tomato sauce.

2. With heat still on medium-low, crack one egg into a cup and carefully slide it into one side of the pan. Do the same with the second egg, on the other side. Cover and let the eggs cook 3-7 minutes, depending on your preference. (I went for an even 5 minutes and got egg yolks that were still gooey but totally set - just the way I like them!) After the eggs are cooked to your liking, transfer the contents of the pan to a large dinner plate (carefully, to not upset the eggs), sprinkle with red pepper (if using) and salt to taste, and enjoy with a slice of whole grain toast.

Ironing out the Beef Situation

Thus begins my first communique involving beef (just as a friendly warning to those who might not be so keen on the idea)...

Beef is a pretty sticky situation in this day and age: Overcrowding, injections of antibiotics and other mystery drugs, fecal run-off, deforestation, e. coli - and on and on. Why would I even suggest eating such nasty stuff, you ask? Well, in my case, my propensity to be iron deficient - and my doctor's admonitions - require that I do so. But the stuff's not all bad, as long as you know what to look out for. Here are a few helpful guidelines:

GRASS FED: Cattle that are pasture-raised naturally subsist on a diet of grass, rather than industrial feed. Mass produced beef tends to be fattened up with soy and corn by-products and kept in tiny pens indoors, away from the sun, with no room to even turn around (thus the need for such excessive amounts of antibiotics). What is wrong with this? Well, for one, it's cruel. Furthermore, Americans eat far too many refined corn and soy products to begin with (high fructose corn syrup, chemically altered soy derivatives, cornstarch, etc. etc.) which is partly responsible for our current obesity dilemma. And what the cow eats, you eat. Thirdly, pasture-raised cows, if they truly are that, are more environmentally sustainable, because you can't keep thousands of grazing cows on one farm, however huge, meaning there is less fecal matter that runs off into our water systems. (However, the "grass-fed" label can lie: it might mean that the cows are left to graze for only the first few months of their lives, and are henceforth confined to cattle pens - so better yet, look for "grass-finished"). As an added perk, if the farmer adheres to a crop-rotation system, once the cattle have completely trampled and eaten up all the grass, the manure they leave behind can be used as natural fertilizer to grow crops in the very same swath of land, which makes use of the important carbon-nitrogen cycles that for centuries have supported the sustainable use of limited tracts of farmland.

LOCAL: If you can't find grass fed stuff at the supermarket, go to your local farmers market and start poking around there! Since local probably means small (unless you live next door to a big cattle factory), any way you slice it, this beef will have had less of an impact on our planet than the supermarket options. Also, it's fun to get involved in the resurgence of local agriculture and support the fight that these folks have ahead of them against the big-name, US government-subsidized agri-evil-businesses.

ORGANIC: If all else fails, go for organic - an unfortunately increasingly meaningless label. What you'll be getting: beef from factory-raised cattle that never saw the light of day, were fed feed (albeit organic) rather than grass, and may or may not have been shot up with cocktails of drugs during their lifetime. Oh, you thought organic meant drug-free? No sir. Another battle won by the commercial cattle-farming industry and another blow to the USDA's waning integrity.

Okay, now that you're thoroughly disheartened, I'll show you the beef dish I made, which used a grass-fed (I couldn't find grass-finished) lean bottom round cut.
Deconstructed Beef Negimaki

A bottom round cut of beef holds up well in stir fries because it's extra-tough and marbles nicely. This recipe can be doubled, tripled, even quadrupled - just make sure you have a large enough wok or saute pan to pull it off without overcrowding the pan; doing so could leave you with a steamed mush of meat.

- 3/4 lb. piece of bottom-round grass-fed beef, cut into thick slices
- 6 scallions, white part minced and green part chopped (separated)
- 2 tablespoons shoyu (soy sauce)
- 2 tablespoons (brown) rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- pinch salt to taste

Start off by heating a large wok or high-sided pan over medium-high heat. When a drop of water will sizzle, lay the beef slices out in the pan. Do not try to move them until the juices have released a bit - otherwise they will stick and tear. (You can judge if they've released by lifting the corner of a piece slightly with a spatula) Flip and continue to cook a few minutes more.

Meanwhile, mix the white part of the scallions, shoyu, rice vinegar, and sesame oil in a bowl and add to the cooking beef. Move around with a spoon or spatula, lowering heat slightly if the scallion starts sticking to the pan or the sauce scalds . Keep moving around until the pieces are all well coated and the sauce thickens a bit, 3-5 more minutes.

Turn off the heat, move pan from the burner, and sprinkle with scallion greens. Serve immediately over brown rice or rice noodles.