Archive for May, 2009

Dress that Salad

Saturday, May 30th, 2009

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Excerpts from my column in the Register Star and Daily Mail:
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The salad days are here. The garden is young, green and hopeful. Our salad bed is quite jubilant. We’ve been harvesting our dinner salad almost everyday. Though I rarely get tired of freshly plucked greens, it helps to have an extensive salad dressing repertoire to ward off potential boredom.

I usually quickly whip up a salad dressing fresh for each salad. Most of the recipes listed are just enough to dress a salad for four. A couple of the recipes will make enough extra to keep on hand.

Balsamic Vinaigrette
Everyone should have a solid vinaigrette recipe in his or her arsenal. This is a nice one from my friend Dori. You can substitute other herbs for the thyme. Rosemary and basil both make excellent substitutions.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1-2 garlic cloves
1 – 2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Squeeze of fresh lemon (about 1/2 tablespoon)
Fresh thyme – 3 fresh sprigs, stripped (or 1/2 palm dried)
Freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Method:
Place all ingredients it in a mini-prep or blender. Blend until it creates a nice emulsion and let sit for at least 1 hour.

Makes enough for several salads. Keep refrigerated for up to two weeks. Bring to room temperature before using.

Simple Lemon Dressing
I’m particularly excited about our arugula crop. The peppery leaf is by far my favorite salad green. To dress it, I like to keep it very simple, allowing the flavor of the leaf to shine through.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1-2 teaspoons sugar or honey
Salt/pepper to taste.

Method
Mix all ingredients well and toss with salad.

Yogurt Blue Cheese Dressing
This is a good one to make on the fly. It’s a nice creamy change from the vinaigrettes we usually have.

Ingredients
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Dash or two of cayenne pepper
Salt, pepper to taste.

Method
-Mash the blue cheese with a fork. Mix all ingredients until the consistency is creamy. Toss with salad.

Lemon Vinaigrette
My friend Jan made this one day last summer. We are both from Virginia but now she lives in California and I live in New York. We met at Bonnie and Earl’s farm in Wake, Virginia. I’m not sure if it was the idyllic setting or the toasted cumin that made this dressing so delightful.

This goes traditionally on a Fattoush salad but toss it with any fresh greens and vegetables, throw in some feta cheese and you have a winner.

Ingredients
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic (about 1-2 cloves)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon white rice vinegar
3/4 teaspoon toasted ground cumin
5 ounces extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
-Toast cumin in heavy small skillet over medium heat until fragrant, about 30 seconds. You can toast the ground cumin, or toast whole cumin seeds and then grind them.
- Whisk the remaining ingredients together and toss in salad.

Lemon Tahini Dressing
I love this simple dressing on a spinach salad tossed with chic peas.

Ingredients
2 tablespoon Tahini
2-3 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon sugar or honey
1 tablespoon water
Salt/pepper to taste

Method
-Mix all ingredients well and toss with salad.

Vanilla-Pear Vinaigrette
My friend Sydney first made this vinaigrette for me a couple years ago. I was hooked at first bite. Luckily she gave me a bottle of it and the recipe so I could eat it to my hearts content. This dressing is great tossed with mixed field greens, thinly sliced red onions, walnuts and goat cheese.

Ingredients
1- 15 oz can pear halves in natural juice, undrained
1/3 c. white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Dash ground red pepper

Method
-Drain pears, reserving 1/3 cup juice
-Combine pears, juice, vinegar, and remaining ingredients in a blender, process until smooth
-Makes two cups and will keep for a couple months refrigerated.

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Posted in Condiments, Salad, recipes | 2 Comments »

Rhubarb Soda and Rhubarb Ice Tea

Friday, May 29th, 2009

I’ve been lucky enough to get two armloads of rhubarb lately. I picked the second bunch from my friend Hudson’s ancient rhubarb patch. What a beauty!

Rhubarb Soda
Ingredients
4 cups rhubarb, roughly chopped
1 to 2 cup sugar (depending if you want a sweet or tart soda)
3 cups water
Seltzer or other fizzy water

Method
-Place rhubarb, water and 1 cup of sugar in saucepan. Bring to a boil.
-Turn heat down and cook until rhubarb falls apart. Taste and adjust the sweetness.
-Strain and chill the syrup. (I keep the cooked down rhubarb and throw it in muffins.)
-Serve over ice with seltzer.

Rhubarb Ice Tea
-Follow the recipe for rhubarb soda.
-Add three tea bags to the syrup while it is cooling. I like to use Earl Grey.
-Dilute with 2 quarts of water.
-Serve over ice

Refreshing!

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Rhubarb Sorbet

Saturday, May 23rd, 2009

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This first appeared in the Register Star and Daily Mail.
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I was very excited when Otto from Otto’s Market gave me a big bunch of rhubarb. I had been asking him every week whether his rhubarb was ready. Finally it was. Spring is here indeed! The stalks were a beautiful crimson and green. I was especially happy about the windfall because the rhubarb I planted last year in my shady backyard is currently all leaves and no stalk…not what you want in rhubarb (see below).

I love rhubarb for two reasons. One, I love anything tart, and rhubarb is indeed tart. Two, I love it because it’s unexpected. Botanically, rhubarb is a vegetable but it is used like a fruit. It looks like celery, but sure doesn’t taste like it.

To prepare, wash well, cut the tops and bottoms off (as you would with celery). The leaves are mildly toxic, so don’t eat them! (Yes, this is why my rhubarb plant is rather unfortunate). You’ll notice that it has a stringy outer layer. If you chop it finely, there is no need to peel this layer but you can peel it if the stalk is particularly thick.

Whenever I see rhubarb at the market, I pick up enough to make a few dishes now and extra to freeze (wash and chop before freezing). There is nothing better than a spring-like pie in the dead of winter!

Rhubarb Sorbet
This is a nice refreshing sorbet with a pretty dark pink color. The tartness of rhubarb and sweetness of strawberries is a classic combination. The fresh mint adds a refreshing layer. This sorbet is more sweet than tart. Adjust the sugar to taste. If you want a light and fluffy sorbet, whip an egg white and fold it into the mixture before freezing.

Ingredients
2 cups water
1 cups sugar
3-4 cups rhubarb, chopped
1/4 cup sliced strawberries
5-10 fresh mint leaves plus extra for garnish

Method
-Combine the water, sugar, rhubarb, strawberries in a medium saucepan, bring to a boil, and simmer for 5 minutes, or until rhubarb is tender.
-Add the mint leaves.
- Refrigerate and let cool completely.
-Puree in a blender.
-Transfer to an ice cream maker and churn until frozen (note, if you don’t have an ice cream maker, place mixture in lidded container and freeze.

Boo & Bing: Not ready for their close-up

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Posted in Sweet Stuff, recipes | 3 Comments »

Naan

Friday, May 15th, 2009

I’ve been experimenting with naan recipes. Some of my batches would be great for pizza dough, but tasted nothing like naan. This recipe is close to restaurant-style naan, but I think you need a tandori oven to really pull it off. Apparently if you have a pizza stone, you can get close to tandori-made naan. I don’t have a pizza stone, so I just used a baking sheet.

Ingredients
2 cups of flour (white or whole wheat)
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
3/4 cup lukewarm water
1 teaspoon melted butter or ghee

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 500ºF with pizza stone or baking sheet on the lower rack.
1. Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water and let it sit for about 5 minutes.
2. Sift together sugar, salt, baking soda and flour.
3. Add the oil, water/yeast mixture and yogurt and mix well.
4. Knead until the dough is smooth, about 5-6 minutes. Add more flour if the dough is too sticky.
5. Place dough in an oiled bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size, 3-4 hours.
8. Gently knead the dough for a couple minutes and divide it into six equal parts.
9. Take each piece of dough, and hand-flatten to a disk about 1/2 thick. Don’t worry if it isn’t even, that gives it character.
10. Place two pieces on the pizza stone/baking sheet at a time. Cook for 3-4 minutes, or until puffy and light golden brown.
11. Allow the stone/baking sheet to heat back up for a few minutes before making the next batch. Since I am impatient, I use two baking sheets. One sheet is heating up while the other is cooking the naan.
11. Remove naan from oven and brush with butter or ghee.
Serve hot.
Yu-umm.

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Grilled Blue Cheese Portobello Burgers

Thursday, May 14th, 2009

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This first appeared in the Register Star and Daily Mail.
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Last Saturday I was doing yard work in our backyard when I noticed a mushroom that looked suspiciously like a morel. Let me say that I know nothing about foraging for wild mushrooms. The real potential of picking a poisonous one has, to my Mom’s relief, scared me off. But THIS one, was too tempting to ignore. I did some research and determined that it was indeed a true morel…so we cooked and ate it (apparently it is wise to thoroughly cook wild mushrooms).

Eating wild mushrooms isn’t something to do wily-nily. If you want to go mushroom-hunting, do lots of research, find a guide and/or join a mycological club.

Luckily, you can get a variety of interesting mushrooms in the grocery store, no guide book or bug spray needed.

Mushrooms are an excellent source of B and D vitamins and a good source of many minerals including selenium, copper, potassium, phosphorus, and zinc. They are low in calories and are purported to have cancer prevention properties, so eat up!

Now I love a good burger, but I’ve been reading Mark Bittman’s “Food Matters” and want to incorporate less meat into my diet. Bittman encourages people to be “Lessmeatarians.” Bittman notes that global livestock production is responsible for more greenhouse gasses than transportation. He believes that small changes in people’s diet can help decrease global warming while improving your health. Eating less meat is one of the changes he recommends (cutting junk food out of your diet is another one). Bittman states “simple lifestyle choices (can) help you loose weight, reduce your risk of many long-term or chronic diseases, save you real money, and help stop global warming.” Sounds good to me.

A large portabella mushroom has about 30 calories. A 6-ounce hamburger patty weighs in at around 350 calories (more or less depending on how lean the ground beef is). Easy to see how the mushroom burger is a healthier choice. I won’t be swapping fungi for meat all summer, but once in a while it’s an inexpensive, flavorful, healthy substitute. Save the planet, slim your waist, and get a delicious meal all at the same time. That’s hard to pass up.

Ingredients

4 large Portobello mushroom caps, 4-5 inches in diameter
4 whole-wheat buns
4 thick slices of onion
1 cup Blue cheese (substitute your preferred cheese)
Few handfuls of arugula (or other greens)

Marinade:
2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon honey
1-2 garlic clove, minced
Dash cayenne pepper

Method

-Select burger-sized, plump, firm mushrooms. Avoid limp, dried or slimy looking ones (if not using right away, store in the refrigerator wrapped in a paper towel).
-Clean mushrooms with a mushroom brush or damp cloth and remove their stems (I save the stems in a freezer bag for stock).
-Place in a dish, stem/gill side up.
-For the marinade, whisk together the vinegar, water, honey, garlic, cayenne pepper and olive oil and drizzle the marinade over the mushrooms.
-Cover and marinate for 30 minutes or more, turning mushrooms once.
-Prepare a charcoal grill or heat a gas grill to medium high heat.
-Brush the grill with oil.
-Grill the mushrooms on medium heat for about 5 minutes on each side. The longer you cook the mushrooms, the meatier they get, just be sure not to burn them.
-With the gill side up, place blue cheese on the mushroom and cook until melted
-Place each mushroom on a bun and top with an onion slice, arugula, a tomato slice (if in season) and whatever condiments you prefer (like homemade mayo, ketchup, and mustard).

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Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009

These are not quite as fluffy as store-bought ones, but are delicious and quick…only 40 minutes from start to burger.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water (110° F to 115° F) 1/3 cup olive oil or melted butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon ground flax seeds
3 to 3-1/2 cups wheat flour (for a lighter bun, use white flour or a combination of wheat and white)

Method:
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add oil/butter and sugar; let stand for 5 minutes. Add the egg, salt and mix enough flour to form a soft dough.

Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 4-5 minutes. Do not let rise.

Divide into 8 pieces; shape each into a ball. Place on greased baking sheets and flatten. This dough tends to rise upward not out, so be sure the diameter is the size you want the bun. My first batch looked like golf balls.

Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Bake at 425° for 8-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool. Makes 8 buns.

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Posted in Bread, recipes | 2 Comments »

Cheddar-Millet Crackers

Sunday, May 3rd, 2009

I’ve become a big millet fan. I love the crunch it adds to baked goods. According to The World’s Healthiest Foods, millet is a good source of magnesium and like other whole grains has heart-protective properties and can lower the risk of type two diabetes.

I also added flax seeds and turmeric for an extra nutritional boost. Heck, unlike store bought crackers, these are actually good for you!

You can pretty much add whatever you want to crackers. You just need to keep a balance between the dry and wet ingredients so that you are able to roll them out thinly. (Too sticky? Add more flour. Falling apart? Add more liquid).

Ingredients
1 cup wheat flour (more if needed)
1/4 cup millet (rinsed)
2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3 tablespoons coconut oil or unsalted butter
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 tablespoon water (or more if needed)

Method
1. Heat oven to 400º F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (thanks Christine!).
2. Add flour, coconut oil or butter, salt, cheese in bowl of a food processor. Pulse until flour and butter are combined.
3. Add yogurt and pulse until mixture holds together but is not sticky.
4. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface until 1/4-inch (or thinner) add flour as needed to keep from sticking.
5. Transfer dough to prepared baking sheet. For a crispier cracker, roll the dough out a bit more on the baking sheet. I like them 1/8-inch. I find it easier to thin them out on the baking sheet rather than transferring the flimsy dough.
6. Score lightly with a knife or pizza cutter. Sprinkle with salt, fresh cracked pepper or other topping if you like (poppy seeds?) .
7. Bake until lightly browned. Start checking at 10 minutes. The thicker the cracker the longer they take. My last batch took almost 20 minutes.
8. Cool on a rack; and break apart. They should stay fresh for a few days.

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Asian Chicken Dumplings

Friday, May 1st, 2009

For those just looking for the video link I mentioned in my Register Star or Daily Mail column, here it is: Folding Dumplings.

For the rest of you, here is the dumpling recipe from my column.

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My friend Amy Goldberg made a version of these delicious dumplings for a party a few weeks ago. I happily parked myself right in front of a platter of them and ate more than my fair share. I wasn’t the only one doing it so I didn’t feel too bad.

Amy made everything from scratch, but if you’re short on time you can use pre-made gyoza wrappers instead. Look for them in the refrigerated section of your grocery store.

Click here for a video that walks you through the process. It’s not hard, but seeing someone fold the dumplings is helpful.

This isn’t a quick dish, but it is a very satisfying one. There are three parts, the dough, the filling and the dipping sauce.

Dough

Ingredients
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup boiling water

Method
-In large bowl, combine flour, salt, and 1 cup boiling water.
-Mix until dough forms a ball.
-Transfer to lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and shiny, 5 to 6 minutes.
-Wrap in plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes.

FIlling
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar (white vinegar will work in a pinch)
- 3 cups Napa cabbage (1/4 medium head), chopped (you may substitute bok choy, savoy or regular cabbage
- 2 cups cooked chicken, minced
- 3 scallions chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
- 1 tablespoons soy sauce
-1 tablespoon of fish sauce (you may substitute soy sauce)
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch

Method
In large bowl, combine all ingredients and mix. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Dipping sauce
Ingredients
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup rice or white vinegar
1 teaspoon Sriracha (chili sauce)
1 scallion chopped

Method:
In medium bowl, stir together all ingredients.

Filling the Dumplings
-Dust a baking sheet with flour or line it with parchment paper.
-Divide dough into 2 even pieces.
-On lightly floured surface, using palms of hands, roll each piece into 3/4-inch-diameter log. Cut each log into 1-inch-long sections. You should get 16-20 equal sized pieces.
-Roll each dough piece out on floured surface using floured rolling pin to a 4-inch circle and set aside on prepared sheet.
-Repeat with remaining dough sections.
-Hold a dough wrapper in palm of hand. Place 1 heaping tablespoon of filling in the center of wrapper.
-Using fingertip dipped in water, gently wet around the inside edge of wrapper. When the edges are pressed together, the water will help seal the dumpling.
-Fold wrapper in half. Gently push the filling down to keep edge of wrapper free of filling. You can simply press the sides together and seal the dumpling or you can be fancy and make nice pleats like they do in the instructional video.
-Set dumpling, sealed edge up, on baking sheet and repeat with remaining wrappers and filling.

Cooking the dumplings
-Heat about 2 tablespoons oil in a large sauté pan on medium-high heat.
-Gently set dumplings in the pan.
-Fry for 3 or 4 minutes, or until the bottoms are a nice golden brown. Shift dumplings occasionally to prevent from sticking. (These are sometime called pot-stickers because of their predilection for sticking.)
- Gently turn over and cook for a couple more minutes. Shift occasionally.
- Add 1 cup water to the pan. Cook until most of the water has evaporated.
-Remove from the pan and allow them to sit for a couple of minutes.

Serve dumplings warm with dipping sauce. Serve as an appetizer or add a salad and call it dinner. That’s what I did.

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