Archive for January, 2009

Beans and greens tacos, with salsa verde and queso fresco

Saturday, January 24th, 2009

I love beans. I love all kinds of beans. And the great thing is, beans are pretty economical food. They’re cheap and filling with all their fiber and protein. Unfortunately I have developed a taste for more than your average 99 cent bag of supermarket pintos (although there will always be a special place in my heart for you little pintos). Once you’ve had heirloom beans, you will never be the same. And I’m actually not even that fond of beans out of a can anymore. Have you tasted the difference between canned garbanzo beans and the ones made from dry beans at home? It’s shocking. That’s why I bought a pressure cooker. I can have beans in like 30 minutes flat, which opens a whole new world of bean possibilities. Like cooking beans for dinner on weeknights!

This week I needed to use up a head of curly kale and I had a recipe on file from Amy Scattergood of the L.A. Times for Christmas lima beans tacos with wilted dandelion greens. Well, I had kale. And frankly, I had a rather traumatic experience with the only bunch of dandelion greens I have ever attempted to cook which I really don’t want to get into right now. So Christmas lima beans and kale tacos it would be. Sounds exciting doesn’t it? I know, it doesn’t, but trust me. These were really good. Shawn ate seven of them.

Now, about the beans: I don’t know exactly why they are called Christmas limas. Maybe it’s their speckled red and white coloring. Or maybe it has something to do with their meaty chestnut flavor. Steve Sando of Rancho Gordo says that if you think you don’t like lima beans, you owe it to yourself to give these a try. Needless to say, you can’t buy these beans just anywhere. You can order them from Rancho Gordo (if you do, be prepared to place an order to try out several varieties of their beans to justify the hefty shipping charge). You may also be able to find them at a well stocked grocery store like Whole Foods or at Central Market if you live here in Texas. I got mine at Central Market for $4.99 for a 12-oz bag. You could also try this application on a different variety of bean. Black beans, pinto beans, or borlotti/cranberry beans would also be good.

To get started, cook your beans. If you are using the Christmas limas, follow along with me. If you are using a different kind of bean and you have a favorite way of cooking them, that’s fine. If you are cooking the Christmas limas, all they really need for flavor is a generous cup of diced onion and a few cloves of garlic. Sweat the aromatics, add the beans and about three cups of water (or enough to cover) and cook 45 minutes or 15 minutes or so in the pressure cooker on the highest setting.

At this point add about a tablespoon and a half of kosher salt to the pot, add more water if needed to keep the beans covered and put the lid back on. There are all sorts of arguments about when to salt the beans. I don’t really think it matters. If you think that is blasphemy, do it your way. Bring the beans back to a simmer (or back up to pressure if you’re using the pressure cooker), put the lid on and cook for 45 minutes to an hour more or another 15 minutes on high in the pressure cooker.

In the meantime, wash your kale really well and wilt it in a pan with some garlic and olive oil. Add a small amount of water and a lid and cook just until the greens are tender. Add salt to taste.

To assemble each taco:
1. Place 2 corn tortillas per taco on a plate (or 1 flour tortilla per taco if you prefer) 
2. Fill each taco with about 1/3 cup of beans and some of the kale
3. Top each one with a little prepared salsa verde (I used Herdez in a small can)
4. Crumble some queso fresco on the top or another cheese of your choice. Goat cheese or feta maybe?
5. Squeeze some lime juice over the whole thing

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Posted in budget recipes, main dishes, mexican, vegetables, vegetarian | 1 Comment »

Vietnamese Spring/Summer/Winter rolls

Friday, January 23rd, 2009

Vietnamese salad rolls or Goi Cuon make a light, refreshing meal. In the spring. That’s why people call them spring rolls. But don’t get them confused with Chinese spring rolls, which are fried crispy. They’re also good to eat in the summer, which is why some people also call them summer rolls. Get it? And now it’s winter so … sorry. I know that was lame, but I couldn’t resist. Apparently this has been a topic of some contention. Really, I don’t know what the seasons have to do with these crunchy, fragrant little rolls, but if you took the wrapper out of the equation you would be left with … salad. Not only does the name “salad roll” make the most sense, but apparently this is also the literal translation of “Goi Cuon.” Besides, you’re supposed to eat them year round.

I have been meaning to make these for some time. The first time I ever made them we used rice noodles that were too thick and they were quite chewy. And to further add to the naming confusion, my very clever father in a fit of hilarity dubbed them, “rubber rolls.” We rolled and chewed and chewed and giggled and then chewed some more. We even took a nice photo.

When I got this lovely book in the mail a while back, I saw there was a recipe for rubber … er salad rolls and also vietnamese baguette sandwiches or Bahn Mi. They call for a lot of the same ingredients, so recently when I decided to try my hand at salad rolls again, I made plans to have Bahn Mi the next day to use up the leftover herbs and vegetables.

These were really tasty. In fact they were so tasty and I was so hungry that I failed to take a clear photo. In the midst of eating them I decided I had better get up and take a picture, but I didn’t have the patience to make a nice pretty roll for the photograph. Instead I took a big bite out of the fat, lop-sided roll that was sitting on my plate, held it still (I thought) and snapped a photo in my dark kitchen. I didn’t zoom in to make sure it was clear. I just put the camera away and continued to polish off my dinner as if I were a starving child in Africa (my apologies if any starving children in Africa are actually reading this). So I present to you this seemingly chubby hand (and why is it that my hand always looks chubby in photographs?) holding a half-eaten lop-sided blurry salad roll. Taa daaa!

I know. Hold your applause. I also meant to mention before that I was inspired to make salad rolls again when I saw this post at ChezUs. Notice the pretty pictures, the nice even rolls and the non-chubby hands.

Vietnamese Salad Rolls

Disclaimer: This is not really a recipe. It’s more like a starting point for how to make your own salad rolls written in recipe format. People put all kinds of things in salad rolls. The most basic recipe includes cucumber, carrots, a few herbs and boiled shrimp or pork (or both). Add or substitute other meats, herbs, veggies, or fruits, keeping in mind color, texture and flavor. Many rolls are made with bean sprouts or bell pepper. Jicama might be a nice variation and I’ve even heard of adding mango. P.S. A mandoline is a good thing to have for julienning the vegetables. Watch those fingers!

Rolls

1 large carrot, julienned 

½ english cucumber, julienned 

2 large radishes, julienned 

1 head boston lettuce 

4 oz rice vermicelli 

1 lb shrimp, peeled and de-veined 

fresh mint 

fresh cilantro 

2 tablespoons hoisin sauce 

1 clove garlic, minced 

1 fresh jalapeno or serrano, minced 

1 package of rice paper wrappers

Dipping Sauce

⅓ cup lime juice 

2 tablespoons sugar 

3 tablespoons fish sauce 

1 tablespoon soy sauce 

1 clove of garlic, minced 

1 fresh jalapeno or serrano, minced

1. In a small bowl combine the shrimp with the hoisin sauce, garlic and jalapeno. 

2. Place the vermicelli in a large bowl and add boiling water to cover. Soak for 15 minutes or until the noodles are tender. Rinse in cold water and set aside. 

3. Prep the veggies and carefully wash and dry the herbs and lettuce. Cook the shrimp in a small skillet until they just turn pink. Allow to cool. 

4. In a small bowl combine the dipping sauce ingredients. 

5. To serve, assemble all the fillings. Place a large, shallow bowl of hot water on the table and allow each person to make their own. 

6. To make a roll, dip a rice paper round into the water for a few seconds to soften and then lay it on a plate. The wrapper should not be softened entirely in the bowl. It will continue to absorb residual water and soften as it sits on the plate. 

7. In each wrapper place three shrimp, a lettuce leaf, some rice noodles and a small amount of each of the veggies and herbs. Fold the sides of the wrapper in and roll like a burrito. It may take some practice to create a tight roll without tearing the wrapper. Rolls that are not pretty still taste good (see chubby hand photo as evidence). 

8. Dip in sauce and eat.

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Posted in appetizers, asian, seafood, vegetables, vietnamese | 1 Comment »

(Grilled) Pizza Party

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

Okay, I know Shawn’s birthday was last month, but I’m just getting around to writing this post. And I have to tell you about the awesome pizzas that we made. Last year we were in Kansas. When that happens his birthday is sort of a collaborative effort. Usually he wants his mom to cook him something, and his aunt makes really pretty cakes that don’t involve cursing. This year since we were at home, it was my turn and I was in charge on my own. So I wanted to do something different.

Pizzas on the grill had been on my list of things to do pretty much since the day we bought a grill, but I had been hesitant to try it. We didn’t have a peel (you know, the scoopy thing), so I was worried about transferring the pizzas onto and off of the grill. And the only pizza crust recipe I had ever made took forever with all of the rising and kneading, and it came out all soft and bready. That’s fine I guess, but I really prefer a thin crispy crust on pizza. Not only is it more pleasing to eat crispy pizza, but if you make a really thin crust you can eat a lot more pizza because you’re not full of crust. And everybody wants to eat more pizza. Right? 

The solution to the first problem was easy. Buy pizza peel. Wrap in Christmas paper. Give to Shawn for birthday gift. Done! The crust issue, on the other hand, was not so simple. At least I didn’t think it was.

Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks claims that Peter Reinhart’s Napoletana pizza crust recipe makes the best crust ever. And, as usual, she’s right. In fact, after making this crust, I don’t know that I will bother with any other recipes, unless someone knows of one that makes itself.

You wouldn’t know by reading Peter Reinhart’s original instructions (sneaky Peter, sneaky!) how ridiculously easy this is. The instructions are so long I didn’t even want to read them at first. But after making two batches of this crust, I think I could do you a favor and take away most of the reading right now. So here is Peter Reinhart’s thin crust pizza, the abbreviated version.

Crispy Thin Crust Pizza Crust

Adapted from Peter Reinhart’s Bread Baker’s Apprentice. This recipe also has the weight measurements for the dry ingredients, but I only weigh the flour. You really don’t have to weigh anything if you don’t want to. You could also stop reading this right now and dial 459-22 … Kidding! Don’t do that. Nasty! Shame on me. 

Makes 6 thin 12-inch pizza crusts.

4 1/2 cups (20.25 ounces) unbleached high-gluten, bread, or all-purpose flour, chilled 

1 3/4 (.44 ounce) teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon (.11 ounce) instant yeast 

1/4 cup olive oil, plus more for oiling the dough

1 3/4 cups water, ice cold

cornmeal for dusting

1. Measure the flour, salt and instant yeast into the bowl of a large stand mixer and whisk them together. Alternately, if you’re insane, you could mix this up by hand in a bowl with a wooden spoon, but it’s really not the best idea and you might sweat into the dough.

2. Fill a two-cup measuring glass with cold water to 1 3/4 cups. Add ice cubes and stir to make the water as ice cold as it will get. Fish out the ice cubes and pour off water as necessary to make 1 3/4 cups. Add olive oil to the glass to make two cups.

3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix on low speed with the paddle attachment until combined. Switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for 5 to 7 minutes (or stir it vigorously with your spoon for the same amount of time, rotating directions every minute or so … I told you it was a bad idea).

4. After about five minutes start looking at the dough. It should cling to the bottom of the bowl, but not to the sides. If you’re getting side-stickage add flour, a tablespoon at a time, until the dough only sticks to the bottom. If it’s too dry and doesn’t stick anywhere, add water, one tablespoon at a time.

5. Dump the dough onto a well floured cutting surface and cut it into 6 equal pieces. Roll each piece in a bowl with some olive oil in the bottom and make sure the dough is well coated with oil. Wrap loosely in plastic and refrigerate at least 24 hours, or up to three days. The dough will expand in the refrigerator a bit. DO NOT wrap the plastic around the dough tightly or it will explode out of its wrappings all over the place and you will be pissed.

How to Grill Pizza

1. Remove your crust from the fridge preferably two hours in advance. I actually don’t think this part matters that much, so if you don’t have two hours or you forget, don’t let it stop you from making pizza.

2. Assemble your toppings and turn on your grill to medium low. Keep the toppings simple. Too many toppings = soggy pizza.

3. Over a well floured surface, begin to stretch the crust out into a circle. Its final size should be about 12 inches across. Stretch it out about two-thirds of the way and then transfer it to a pizza peel dusted with cornmeal.

4. Finish stretching the crust out as thin as you can make it without creating holes. Do not cry if you get a hole. It will be okay, I swear.

5. Using the peel, carefully slide the crust onto the grates of the grill making sure it doesn’t fall in the cracks. Do not touch it until it begins to set up. Once it starts to brown it will release itself from the grill and will become easy to handle. Flip it over and lightly brown the other side. This pre-cooking helps ensure a crispy pizza.

6. Remove the crust from the grill with the peel. Add toppings (don’t put toppings over holes) and carefully slide the pizza back onto the grill. Close the lid and grill until the cheese is melted and all the toppings are hot.

TIP: If you’re making the pizzas consecutively, like for a crowd of ravenous monsters guests, and if your grill is large enough, you can time your pizzas so that every time you put a pizza crust on the grill, you have a finished pizza to take off. Get it? It eliminates the waiting between pizzas.

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Posted in baking, grilling, main dishes | 3 Comments »

The End of Cabbage, At least for now

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

Coleslaw doesn’t happen in my house very often, because oddly enough, everyone I cook for outside of my immediate family has a ridiculous aversion to cabbage—especially it its raw state. This is why New Years Day is one of my favorite meals of the year. As a good-standing citizen of the American south, I can make the people I love eat the vegetables they hate under the threat of suffering a whole year of poverty and misfortune.

On the rare occasions that coleslaw does make it onto the dinner table, it is usually alongside fish tacos or pulled-pork sandwiches. Because I had so much cabbage to use up, we had it with both. If you’ve been doing the math (and I truly hope you have better things to do than keep track of how much cabbage I have), I had one head of cabbage left from Greenling. So I made two separate batches of coleslaw.

The first batch was served on top of some delicious pan fried grouper inside warm El Milagro corn tortillas. The second batch gave a little crunch to our New Years Day feast of pulled pork that Shawn smoked for eleven and a half hours. And to satisfy me, everyone ate at least one bite of their coleslaw, collard greens and black-eyed peas. Someone did try to ruin my fun by telling my friend Ryan, who is by far the biggest baby of all when it comes to eating cabbage, that he could secure his financial future with collard greens alone. Not on my watch. Tisk, tisk.

Jalapeno Coleslaw

½ head of cabbage, shredded

2 carrots, grated

4 radishes, grated

2 green onions, thinly sliced

2 jalapenos, minced

½ bunch cilantro, chopped

Dressing

⅓ cup mayonnaise

2 teaspoons dijon mustard

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (about 3

key limes or one regular)

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon cumin

dash of hot sauce

1. In a large bowl, combine the dressing ingredients.

2. Add the coleslaw ingredients to the dressing and toss.

3. Refrigerate one hour to blend the flavors. Taste before serving and adjust seasonings. Serve as a barbecue side dish, on a pulled pork sandwich, or in a fish taco.

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Posted in seafood, vegetables | 1 Comment »

Seeing Red Velvet

Friday, January 2nd, 2009

Bobby Flay likes to say that chefs don’t know how to bake. This was my excuse to myself as I cursed my spatula trying to ice Shawn’s birthday cake. I had just knocked a chunk out of the top layer. The layers all came out a little too crispy around the edges, except for the middle one, which I baked in a silicone pan. It was consequently the only layer that stuck. The icing was warm enough to spread, but too warm to hold the layers firmly in place. As I trimmed the crispy edges off, the cake would begin to lean to one side. Then I would trim that side off and it would begin to lean to the other. If you have ever tried to ice a cake with layers, you know what I’m talking about.

And THEN, already in a state of extremely annoyed, I barely tapped the side of my thumb with my new, very sharp bread knife (free from Central Market with $50 purchase). The resulting nick was very small, but stung just enough to send me over the edge. I then declared,“this cake looks stupid. And it doesn’t even taste that good. And if the top layer slips off and falls on the floor, your birthday is over!” At that moment Shawn suggested that I put the cake in the freezer to stiffen up the icing and try again later. Of course I did and it worked like a charm. The cake came out of the freezer an hour later and I calmly spread another batch of icing over the ugly crumb layer. Then I proceeded to decorate the sides and the top without incident.

This is the normal stream of events that occur when I make a cake. Why do I allow the cycle to continue? For one, because people like cake. And for two, because I like cake. And this particular cake came out nearly perfect. It tasted good and it even looked pretty, which is an accomplishment in itself.

Red Velvet Cake

This is another baked delight adapted from Smitten Kitchen, who adapted it from “The Confetti Cakes Cookbook” by Elisa Strauss via the New York Times. I’ve increased the amount of cocoa by 1/4 cup and decreased the amount of oil (the original called for two cups). It comes out with more chocolate flavor and is still very moist thanks to the buttermilk. NOTE: The baking time says 40 to 45 minutes. My cakes were crispy around the edges before this time was up, but unfortunately I did not pay attention to when I took them out of the oven. I would check the cakes at 30 minutes to see how things are progressing and to avoid over cooking.

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 cups canola oil

2 1/4 cups granulated sugar

3 large eggs

6 tablespoons (3 ounces) red food coloring or 1 teaspoon red gel food coloring dissolved in 6 tablespoons of water

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/4 cup buttermilk

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour 3 round 9-inch cake pans.

2. Whisk cake flour, cocoa and salt in a bowl.

3. Place oil and sugar in bowl of an electric mixer and beat at medium speed until well-blended. Beat in eggs one at a time. With machine on low, very slowly add red food coloring. Add vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk in two batches. Scrape down bowl and beat just long enough to combine.

4. Place baking soda in a small dish, stir in vinegar and add to batter with machine running. Beat for 10 seconds. (WHY? I have no idea. If you know, please leave a comment).

5. Divide batter among pans, place in oven and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes (see note above about timing). Let cool completely in pans before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Deb’s recipe says that you may have to double the cream cheese frosting. I had to do this or else my cake would not have been covered. After coating between the layers, on the sides and on top and also piping some on top and around the base, I still had some icing left over. You can either eat it, give it to someone else to eat (my choice) or put in the freezer for another time. The room temperature thing is important unless you LIKE icing that looks like butter with cream cheese swirls.

Two 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature

3 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Place cream cheese and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat for a few minutes on high speed to combine. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and beat for another minute to make sure it’s all mixed together. With the machine on low speed add the vanilla and add the sugar 1 cup at a time.

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Posted in desserts | 5 Comments »

When Life Throws You a Whole Crap Load of Lemons, Make Lemon Bars.

Friday, January 2nd, 2009

Okay so “life” hasn’t necessarily been throwing lemons, but Greenling sure has been handing out a lot of them. I’ve been accumulating lemons every week now for about a month. As it turns out, I don’t use them nearly as fast as they come. And these aren’t just any lemons, they’re meyer lemons. Ever since they were little buds on the lemon tree they knew they would become something more than just lemonade.

I made lemon bars once, about four years ago. When they came out of the oven, much to my dismay, they had more or less become “one with the pan.” I couldn’t get them out. After about a half hour spent scraping and prying with every utensil imaginable (including some that are not normally found in a kitchen), I finally managed to extract a few for a taste test. What I then experienced was most unpleasant. The caustic, biting flavor of too much sour lemon was accompanied by a dose of saccharine sweetness I had not experienced since my days of hiding in the pantry munching on sugar cubes. These were not, in my opinion, the way a lemon bar should taste.

I was willing this year, at my mom’s request, to try again. And this is where Meyer lemons come in. Substituting them for the original in a lemon bar recipe results in a much more pleasing balance between sweet and sour. Try it. I think you’ll like it.

Meyer Lemon Bars

Even though this particular recipe (adapted from Smitten Kitchen who adapted it from Ina Garten) calls for a whole cup of lemon juice, with the use of meyer lemons, the sour flavor is not overpowering. The shortbread layer also has less sugar, which puts the focus exactly where it should be—on the lemon curd. Also note that you can save yourself a lot of frustration by lining your baking dish with a sheet of parchment paper. If you don’t have any parchment paper, I hope you have a chisel instead.

Crust

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 cups flour

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Filling

6 extra-large eggs at room temperature

2 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 tablespoons grated lemon zest (4 to 6 lemons)

1 cup freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice

1 cup flour

Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease a 9 by 13 by 2-inch baking sheet or casserole dish. Line with parchment paper.

2. For the crust, cream the butter and sugar until light in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Combine the flour and salt and, with the mixer on low, add to the butter until just mixed. Dump the dough onto a well-floured board and gather into a ball. Flatten the dough with floured hands and press it into the greased baking sheet, building up a 1/2-inch edge on all sides. Chill (Note: I skipped this step with no ill effects).

2. Bake the crust for 15 to 20 minutes, until very lightly browned. Let cool on a wire rack. Leave the oven on.

3. For the lemon layer, whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and flour. Pour over the crust and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or about five minutes beyond the point where the filling is set. Let cool to room temperature.

4. Cut into small squares and dust with confectioners’ sugar, just before serving.

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Posted in desserts, fruit | 1 Comment »