This week’s recipe was not very exciting, but I got a kick out of the behind the scenes action at the NY Times. As a general matter, Bittman’s recipes usually occur on-line the Friday before they appear in hard copy. So I’d been on-line on Saturday morning (June 27) and got a preview of the recipe. On Monday (June 29), I intended on making it, but the recipe was not longer available. I thought that was a bit strange, but I just waited for Wednesday, and then it was back with a big “Correction Appended” at the top. Here was the correction:
Correction: July 1, 2009
A recipe on Page 4 today with the Minimalist column, about infused oils, corrects two errors that appeared in the recipe when it was published at nytimes.com on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The online recipe misstated the amount of time the oil should cook after it bubbles and the length of time it is safe to use after being refrigerated. The oil should be cooked five minutes, not “a minute or two,” and it should be kept in the refrigerator no more than a week, not “a month or so.” The corrected version can also be found at nytimes.com/dining.
And the accompanying video was even better – flashing big red text at the bottom of the screen with the corrections. I guess that’s what happens when you just whip stuff up in your kitchen and spread the word and then give it to the recipe checkers. It’s good to know that the Times is checking the food safety aspects of the recipes they publish. And in Mark’s defense, the accompanying article did end with the following: “Food safety experts recommend that you do not leave flavored oils at room temperature for more than two hours; refrigerate them, and use them within a week.”
Now, I don’t know about most people, but unless you’re making food for a mob, I think it’s unlikely that most of us would use a cup of specially flavored oil within one week of making it. And it also leads me to wonder what extra steps manufacturers take when making the infused oil they sell at the store, which doesn’t say it should be used within one week of opening. Oh well, I made the recipe as appended, but only made a half cup of oil. I used thyme, since my thyme plant has exploded in the past week and I like the flavor generally. I used the flavored oil in a simple vinaigrette, and I could tell a slight difference in the lasting herb after taste of the dressing. I’m thinking it would be a fabulous addition to cous cous with roasted vegetable or a simple focaccia. But I’m pretty sure I won’t use the rest of the oil in the next week, so I’ll have to decide whether to tempt the food safety gods….
Flavorfully Infused Oils
1/2 cup washed and dried fresh herb leaves: rosemary, thyme or oregano, etc., or dried bay leaf
Or
2 tablespoons whole spice: star anise, peppercorns, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, dried chilies, etc.
Or
4 garlic cloves, lightly crushed; or 4 tablespoons fresh ginger slices, roughly chopped shallot or scallion, etc.
Or
A combination of your choice
Pinch salt
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1. Combine ingredients in a saucepan over low heat. Warm mixture until it bubbles, then continue to simmer, the oil bubbling all the while, for at least five minutes.
2. Cool, then use a funnel to pour oil into a clean bottle or other container. Refrigerate and use within a week.
Yield: 1 cup.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Sunday, July 5, 2009
June 24 – Greek-Style Nachos
Nachos? Really, I have to make nachos? This was my first thought upon seeing this Bittman recipe. But then I started looking at the ingredients and found that it seemed to abide by my basic thinking about nachos as a toppings delivery system. Here were homemade pita chips topped with some nice Greek toppings – ground lamb, yogurt-feta “cheese sauce,” tomatoes, cucumbers, and olives. This was a nacho recipe I could get behind.
None of the ingredients were difficult to find. I decided to get some nice lamb steak and just grind it myself with the food processor, as Bittman has advocated many times in the past. The grinding itself was very easy, but I wasn’t sure how much fat to trim from the cut. In the end, I settled with trimming about half the fat. That seemed like a good call since the meat browned up nicely with just a bit of olive oil in the pan. I made one other small change from the recipe, buying Greek yogurt instead of plain yogurt. I love the rich, tart taste of Greek yogurt when I’m making sauces and dips, and I’m happy that many more grocery stores are regularly carrying it. However, after making the nachose, I should have chosen plain yogurt because it’s not as dense. My cheese sauce had a good flavor but was very goopy and couldn’t be drizzled over the chips. Thus, there were clumps of cheese sauce on some chips and none on the others.
On the other hand, I could keep the Greek yogurt and make this as I now make most nachos – as a layered dip of the toppings with the chips on the side. Or I could do something akin to a pizza by toasting the full pita and spreading on the cheese sauce/dip and then layering the meat and other ingredients on top of that. With either of those preparations there would be a bit of each ingredient in each bite. I enjoyed these nachos but didn’t feel the real combination of flavors until the end, when I was collecting all the scraps on my final few chips…but what tasty scraps they were.
Greek-Style Nachos
4 pita pockets, white or whole wheat, cut into wedges
About 1/2 cup olive oil
Salt
4 ounces feta cheese
1/2 cup yogurt, preferably whole-milk
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
1 lemon
Freshly ground black pepper
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 pound ground lamb
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 or 3 medium ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 medium cucumber, peeled and seeded if necessary, and chopped
1/2 cup calamata olives, pitted and halved
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees Arrange pita wedges in one layer on baking sheets and brush or drizzle with a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Bake until they begin to color, turning once or twice, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with salt, turn off oven and put chips back in to keep warm.
2. In a blender or food processor, combine feta, yogurt, 1/4 cup olive oil, mint and zest and juice of lemon; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Blend or process until smooth. (You can also mash mixture by hand, with a fork.)
3. Put two tablespoons of oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and cook onions until soft, about 5 minutes. Add lamb and cumin and sprinkle with salt and pepper; continue cooking until meat is cooked through, about 5 to 10 minutes more. Put chips on a serving plate and top with lamb, sauce, tomatoes, cucumbers and olives if you're using them.
None of the ingredients were difficult to find. I decided to get some nice lamb steak and just grind it myself with the food processor, as Bittman has advocated many times in the past. The grinding itself was very easy, but I wasn’t sure how much fat to trim from the cut. In the end, I settled with trimming about half the fat. That seemed like a good call since the meat browned up nicely with just a bit of olive oil in the pan. I made one other small change from the recipe, buying Greek yogurt instead of plain yogurt. I love the rich, tart taste of Greek yogurt when I’m making sauces and dips, and I’m happy that many more grocery stores are regularly carrying it. However, after making the nachose, I should have chosen plain yogurt because it’s not as dense. My cheese sauce had a good flavor but was very goopy and couldn’t be drizzled over the chips. Thus, there were clumps of cheese sauce on some chips and none on the others.
On the other hand, I could keep the Greek yogurt and make this as I now make most nachos – as a layered dip of the toppings with the chips on the side. Or I could do something akin to a pizza by toasting the full pita and spreading on the cheese sauce/dip and then layering the meat and other ingredients on top of that. With either of those preparations there would be a bit of each ingredient in each bite. I enjoyed these nachos but didn’t feel the real combination of flavors until the end, when I was collecting all the scraps on my final few chips…but what tasty scraps they were.
Greek-Style Nachos
4 pita pockets, white or whole wheat, cut into wedges
About 1/2 cup olive oil
Salt
4 ounces feta cheese
1/2 cup yogurt, preferably whole-milk
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
1 lemon
Freshly ground black pepper
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 pound ground lamb
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 or 3 medium ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 medium cucumber, peeled and seeded if necessary, and chopped
1/2 cup calamata olives, pitted and halved
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees Arrange pita wedges in one layer on baking sheets and brush or drizzle with a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Bake until they begin to color, turning once or twice, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with salt, turn off oven and put chips back in to keep warm.
2. In a blender or food processor, combine feta, yogurt, 1/4 cup olive oil, mint and zest and juice of lemon; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Blend or process until smooth. (You can also mash mixture by hand, with a fork.)
3. Put two tablespoons of oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and cook onions until soft, about 5 minutes. Add lamb and cumin and sprinkle with salt and pepper; continue cooking until meat is cooked through, about 5 to 10 minutes more. Put chips on a serving plate and top with lamb, sauce, tomatoes, cucumbers and olives if you're using them.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Back-to-Back Bittman
June 10 - Sautéed Squid with Garlic, Chili and Bread Crumbs
June 17 - West African Peanut Soup With Chicken
In an effort to catch-up on all my Bittman recipes before the new recipe came out today, I made back-to-back Bittmans for dinner on Monday and Tuesday night. I had anticipations for the meals as I was shopping on Sunday. I was excited to make the sautéed squid -- getting well prepared squid in restaurants is a treat but I've never made it myself. And I was less then enthused about the peanut soup -- I'm not a big soup fan in general, and a hot soup isn't the most appealing option for a summer meal in DC.
Neither recipe was difficult to make. The squid recipe had very few ingredients and preparation was really easy (less than 10 minutes total). While I had to do quite a bit of chopping and prepping for the soup, it was easy work and took less than 10 minutes. The cooking only took an additional 25 minutes, but 10 minutes of that was a largely unsupervised simmer.
These final products did a 180 on my expectations. The squid was nice, but nothing to special, while the soup was a better than I expected -- hearty but not too heavy with a nice combination of flavors and textures. Neither were 4 star recipes in my book, but I think I will probably make them again. I'll probably tweak the squid (perhaps switching out the basil for another herb), and I'd like to try the soup with a non-meat preparation (just leaving out the chicken or perhaps substituting some beans in its place).
--------------
Sautéed Squid with Garlic, Chili and Bread Crumbs
Time: 10 minutes
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2to 2 pounds cleaned squid, in rings (cut tentacles in half if large)
Salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon chili flakes, or to taste
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons minced basil
Juice of 1/2 lemon
About 1 cup freshly toasted coarse bread crumbs
1. Put oil in a broad skillet over high heat; a minute later, add squid, salt, pepper and chili flakes; cook, stirring, until squid is opaque, about 60 seconds (do not overcook).
2. Add garlic, basil and lemon juice and stir for about 30 seconds. Turn off heat, add bread crumbs and serve.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
--------------
West African Peanut Soup With Chicken
Time: About 45 minutes
3/4 cup roasted and shelled peanuts
2 tablespoons peanut or neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn
1 medium red or white onion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 pound skinless, boneless chicken (about 2 thighs or breasts) cut into chunks
Pinch of cayenne
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 cups stock or water
2 sweet potatoes or yams (about 1 pound), peeled and cut into thick slices
8 plum tomatoes, cored and halved (canned are fine; drain and reserve liquid for another use)
1/2 pound collards or kale, washed and cut into wide ribbons
1/4 to 1/2 cup peanut butter, chunky or smooth.
1. Chop peanuts, or crush them with the side of a knife, or pulse them in a food processor to chop roughly.
2. Put oil in a deep skillet or medium saucepan over medium heat; a minute later, add onion, ginger and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft, 3 to 5 minutes. Add chicken and continue cooking for another 3 or 4 minutes, until just coloring. Add 1/2 cup peanuts and the cayenne and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. Stir in the stock and the sweet potatoes, bring to a boil, and turn heat down to medium-low so the soup bubbles gently. Stir in tomatoes and collards, then cook, stirring occasionally, until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes.
4. Stir in 1/4 cup peanut butter. Taste, adjust seasoning (you may want to add more peanut butter at this point) and serve, garnished with remaining peanuts.
Yield: 4 servings
June 17 - West African Peanut Soup With Chicken
In an effort to catch-up on all my Bittman recipes before the new recipe came out today, I made back-to-back Bittmans for dinner on Monday and Tuesday night. I had anticipations for the meals as I was shopping on Sunday. I was excited to make the sautéed squid -- getting well prepared squid in restaurants is a treat but I've never made it myself. And I was less then enthused about the peanut soup -- I'm not a big soup fan in general, and a hot soup isn't the most appealing option for a summer meal in DC.
Neither recipe was difficult to make. The squid recipe had very few ingredients and preparation was really easy (less than 10 minutes total). While I had to do quite a bit of chopping and prepping for the soup, it was easy work and took less than 10 minutes. The cooking only took an additional 25 minutes, but 10 minutes of that was a largely unsupervised simmer.
These final products did a 180 on my expectations. The squid was nice, but nothing to special, while the soup was a better than I expected -- hearty but not too heavy with a nice combination of flavors and textures. Neither were 4 star recipes in my book, but I think I will probably make them again. I'll probably tweak the squid (perhaps switching out the basil for another herb), and I'd like to try the soup with a non-meat preparation (just leaving out the chicken or perhaps substituting some beans in its place).
--------------
Sautéed Squid with Garlic, Chili and Bread Crumbs
Time: 10 minutes
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2to 2 pounds cleaned squid, in rings (cut tentacles in half if large)
Salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon chili flakes, or to taste
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons minced basil
Juice of 1/2 lemon
About 1 cup freshly toasted coarse bread crumbs
1. Put oil in a broad skillet over high heat; a minute later, add squid, salt, pepper and chili flakes; cook, stirring, until squid is opaque, about 60 seconds (do not overcook).
2. Add garlic, basil and lemon juice and stir for about 30 seconds. Turn off heat, add bread crumbs and serve.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
--------------
West African Peanut Soup With Chicken
Time: About 45 minutes
3/4 cup roasted and shelled peanuts
2 tablespoons peanut or neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn
1 medium red or white onion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 pound skinless, boneless chicken (about 2 thighs or breasts) cut into chunks
Pinch of cayenne
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 cups stock or water
2 sweet potatoes or yams (about 1 pound), peeled and cut into thick slices
8 plum tomatoes, cored and halved (canned are fine; drain and reserve liquid for another use)
1/2 pound collards or kale, washed and cut into wide ribbons
1/4 to 1/2 cup peanut butter, chunky or smooth.
1. Chop peanuts, or crush them with the side of a knife, or pulse them in a food processor to chop roughly.
2. Put oil in a deep skillet or medium saucepan over medium heat; a minute later, add onion, ginger and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft, 3 to 5 minutes. Add chicken and continue cooking for another 3 or 4 minutes, until just coloring. Add 1/2 cup peanuts and the cayenne and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. Stir in the stock and the sweet potatoes, bring to a boil, and turn heat down to medium-low so the soup bubbles gently. Stir in tomatoes and collards, then cook, stirring occasionally, until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes.
4. Stir in 1/4 cup peanut butter. Taste, adjust seasoning (you may want to add more peanut butter at this point) and serve, garnished with remaining peanuts.
Yield: 4 servings
Thursday, June 18, 2009
June 3 - Fresh Strawberries with Almond Crème Anglaise
There are few things I enjoy more than reading the Sunday NYTimes with a cup of good tea while sitting on my deck. This weekend I added some food to the mix, and it was a welcome addition. I’d gone to the store on Saturday and stocked up on all the ingredients needed to catch up on this recipe project, so there were fresh strawberries and cream sitting in my refrigerator when I went to grab some milk for my tea. I thought about the recipe and decided to whip it up for my Sunday breakfast.
As the kitchen filled with the comforting smell of toasted almonds, I separated the eggs. I used the shells to accomplish this task – I know that using your hands is easier, but I learned from my Dad to swish the yolk back and forth between the halved shells, and at this point, it’s instinct. I added the cream, milk, and sugar and whipped them all together. I was a little concerned about adding the mixture to the hot saucepan with the toasted almonds. While there was a moment of bubbling…okay, some would say boiling…when the mixture hit the pan, it quickly subsided and the rest of the recipe went as planned. I prepped the strawberries as the custard cooled and then layered the berries and cream in a small bowl and topped with some almonds.
The combination of ripe, sweet berries and creamy almondy sauce was perfect for eating on my deck chair while watching the birds in the trees, but it wasn’t really that filling. So I made some oatmeal and put the berries & cream on top. After finishing that bowl and drinking some more tea and doing a bit more newspaper reading, I was ready to tackle my to do list…and that’s the sign of a perfect weekend breakfast!
Fresh Strawberries with Almond Crème Anglaise
3/4 cup chopped almonds plus
1/2 cup lightly toasted slivered almonds
1 cup milk
1 cup cream
1/2 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
6 to 8 cups strawberries, washed, hulled and quartered
1. Put chopped almonds in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, shaking pan occasionally, until fragrant and beginning to toast, about 3 minutes.
2. Add milk, cream, sugar and egg yolks, and whisk well to combine. Cook, whisking almost constantly, until mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Do not let it boil.
3. While sauce is still hot, strain it through a sieve and let cool a bit. To serve, put a cup of strawberries in each dish, drizzle with warm sauce and garnish with slivered almonds. Sauce will keep, tightly covered, in refrigerator for up to 3 days.
As the kitchen filled with the comforting smell of toasted almonds, I separated the eggs. I used the shells to accomplish this task – I know that using your hands is easier, but I learned from my Dad to swish the yolk back and forth between the halved shells, and at this point, it’s instinct. I added the cream, milk, and sugar and whipped them all together. I was a little concerned about adding the mixture to the hot saucepan with the toasted almonds. While there was a moment of bubbling…okay, some would say boiling…when the mixture hit the pan, it quickly subsided and the rest of the recipe went as planned. I prepped the strawberries as the custard cooled and then layered the berries and cream in a small bowl and topped with some almonds.
The combination of ripe, sweet berries and creamy almondy sauce was perfect for eating on my deck chair while watching the birds in the trees, but it wasn’t really that filling. So I made some oatmeal and put the berries & cream on top. After finishing that bowl and drinking some more tea and doing a bit more newspaper reading, I was ready to tackle my to do list…and that’s the sign of a perfect weekend breakfast!
Fresh Strawberries with Almond Crème Anglaise
3/4 cup chopped almonds plus
1/2 cup lightly toasted slivered almonds
1 cup milk
1 cup cream
1/2 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
6 to 8 cups strawberries, washed, hulled and quartered
1. Put chopped almonds in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, shaking pan occasionally, until fragrant and beginning to toast, about 3 minutes.
2. Add milk, cream, sugar and egg yolks, and whisk well to combine. Cook, whisking almost constantly, until mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Do not let it boil.
3. While sauce is still hot, strain it through a sieve and let cool a bit. To serve, put a cup of strawberries in each dish, drizzle with warm sauce and garnish with slivered almonds. Sauce will keep, tightly covered, in refrigerator for up to 3 days.
May 27 - Southeast Asian Mussel Salad
So I was a couple weeks behind on my recipes (temporary interruption as I helped my husband get ready for an 8 month trip to the deserts of Kuwait), but this recipe was just the thing to get me back on track. There is something magical about a simple recipe that quickly and easily provides you with a wonderful meal…and it’s all the better if the recipe can be adapted for other purposes. That was what I found with the Southeast Asian Mussel Salad.
When I first saw the recipe, I was excited because I love mussels. But I rarely diverge from the basic preparation – in a large stockpot, add a couple cloves of crushed garlic + can of diced tomatoes + cup of wine + bag of mussels, bring to simmer, cover, and steam until mussels open, then serve with crusty bread and a simple salad or crispy green beans. It’s a great meal, but I was interested in mixing it up a bit.
Imagine my surprise when I finished with this salad and realized that while the mussels were good, they weren’t what kept my interest. The simple salad was the supporting actor that stole the show. The lime and chili mixed with just a bit of coconut milk was the perfect dressing for the mixed textures of the salad. The next day, I used the left over produce to make it again with shrimp. It great both times – light but filling, simple but flavorful. I think you could add almost any mild protein and have a successful meal. I have no doubt I will be making this again – it’s my Simple Summer Salad, the 2009 edition.
Southeast Asian Mussel Salad
4 pounds mussels, well scrubbed
1/4 cup coconut milk
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
2 to 3 tablespoons fish sauce, or to taste
Zest from one lime
1 to 2 fresh Thai chilies, minced
1 cup mung bean sprouts
1 cup cucumber, diced
1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1. Put mussels in a large pot with a lid. Pour 1/4 cup water over all, cover, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to maintain a steady bubble (you will hear it and see some steam escaping). Shake pot now and then.
2. Meanwhile, combine coconut milk, lime juice, fish sauce, lime zest and chilies in a large bowl; add bean sprouts, cucumber and red pepper.
3. Mussels will be done in 5 to 10 minutes, or when all or most of the shells have opened. Remove and let cool slightly, reserving cooking liquid. (If there is a great deal, reduce it while you shuck mussels.)
4. When mussels are cool enough to handle, remove them from their shells and add them to bowl with vegetables and dressing. Add cilantro and as much of the reserved cooking liquid as you need to make mixture saucy. Toss well to combine, adjust seasonings and serve, or refrigerate for up to a few hours.
When I first saw the recipe, I was excited because I love mussels. But I rarely diverge from the basic preparation – in a large stockpot, add a couple cloves of crushed garlic + can of diced tomatoes + cup of wine + bag of mussels, bring to simmer, cover, and steam until mussels open, then serve with crusty bread and a simple salad or crispy green beans. It’s a great meal, but I was interested in mixing it up a bit.
Imagine my surprise when I finished with this salad and realized that while the mussels were good, they weren’t what kept my interest. The simple salad was the supporting actor that stole the show. The lime and chili mixed with just a bit of coconut milk was the perfect dressing for the mixed textures of the salad. The next day, I used the left over produce to make it again with shrimp. It great both times – light but filling, simple but flavorful. I think you could add almost any mild protein and have a successful meal. I have no doubt I will be making this again – it’s my Simple Summer Salad, the 2009 edition.
Southeast Asian Mussel Salad
4 pounds mussels, well scrubbed
1/4 cup coconut milk
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
2 to 3 tablespoons fish sauce, or to taste
Zest from one lime
1 to 2 fresh Thai chilies, minced
1 cup mung bean sprouts
1 cup cucumber, diced
1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1. Put mussels in a large pot with a lid. Pour 1/4 cup water over all, cover, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to maintain a steady bubble (you will hear it and see some steam escaping). Shake pot now and then.
2. Meanwhile, combine coconut milk, lime juice, fish sauce, lime zest and chilies in a large bowl; add bean sprouts, cucumber and red pepper.
3. Mussels will be done in 5 to 10 minutes, or when all or most of the shells have opened. Remove and let cool slightly, reserving cooking liquid. (If there is a great deal, reduce it while you shuck mussels.)
4. When mussels are cool enough to handle, remove them from their shells and add them to bowl with vegetables and dressing. Add cilantro and as much of the reserved cooking liquid as you need to make mixture saucy. Toss well to combine, adjust seasonings and serve, or refrigerate for up to a few hours.
Monday, May 25, 2009
May 20 - Mexican Chocolate Tofu Pudding
Confession: I am removing my previous (bad) review of this recipe because I realized that I made the mistake of using regular, and not silken tofu. A friend with lots of vegan cooking experience queued me into my mistake. I will make the recipe soon using silken tofu and post a new review. In the meantime, please re-watch some great videos from Kitchen 4B (Jill Santopietro is so cute!).
Mexican Chocolate Tofu Pudding
3/4 cup sugar
1 pound silken tofu
8 ounces high-quality bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon chili powder, or more to taste
Chocolate shavings (optional)
1. In a small pot, combine sugar with 3/4 cup water; bring to a boil and cook until sugar is dissolved, stirring occasionally. Cool slightly.
2. Put all ingredients except for chocolate shavings in a blender and purée until completely smooth, stopping machine to scrape down its sides if necessary. Divide among 4 to 6 ramekins and chill for at least 30 minutes. If you like, garnish with chocolate shavings before serving.
Mexican Chocolate Tofu Pudding
3/4 cup sugar
1 pound silken tofu
8 ounces high-quality bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon chili powder, or more to taste
Chocolate shavings (optional)
1. In a small pot, combine sugar with 3/4 cup water; bring to a boil and cook until sugar is dissolved, stirring occasionally. Cool slightly.
2. Put all ingredients except for chocolate shavings in a blender and purée until completely smooth, stopping machine to scrape down its sides if necessary. Divide among 4 to 6 ramekins and chill for at least 30 minutes. If you like, garnish with chocolate shavings before serving.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
May 13 - Asparagus with Morels and Tarragon
It’s been a week since I made Bittman’s Asparagus with Morels and Tarragon, and the very thought of the dish still makes me salivate. It was that good -- combining wonderful spring flavors with year-round fatty comforts!
As soon as I saw the recipe, I thought it had real potential. I love crisp spring asparagus, and I still long for the early summer childhood days when we’d go morel hunting in the woods near my grandma’s house. We spend a few afternoon hours hunting for them, usually finding them at the bases of big trees that were growing in a shady clump. We’d gently place them in small cloth bags that were probably just flour sacs that my grandma had stitched up for the purpose. My grandma would clean off our sac of morels and sauté them whole in a pan with some margarine. (Confession: I come from poor-to-working-class Midwestern roots, and I don’t think I understood the superiority of butter to margarine for most needs until my mid-20s. But I still use a 50-50 mix of butter and Crisco in my cookies to achieve the perfect combination of crunch and chew.) We’d eat them right out of the pan with a side of toasted sandwich bread…yum!
It’s only now, when I see morels at the farmers market priced at an arm & a leg per ounce, that I realize how lucky I was back then. But with this little project, I had an excuse to splurge and re-create a memory…although my hunt here involved nothing more than asking the Harris Teeter produce man to point me in direction of the dried morels.
I found the precious 1 oz bag ($10!) located below the display of fresh mangos and proceeded to rounded up the other ingredients:
1/4 to 1/2 ounce dried morels or porcinis, or a combination
1/4 cup ( 1/2 stick) butter
1/2 cup chopped shallots
1 pound fresh shiitake or white button mushrooms or a combination, cleaned, trimmed and sliced
1 to 1 1/2 pounds asparagus, trimmed, cut into 1 1/2 -inch lengths
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon chopped fresh tarragon
Salt and pepper to taste
Needless to say, at $10 for one ounce, I cut back a bit on the suggested amount of morels. Mark had said you could make this dish with as little as 6 morels and still have a wonderful flavor. I used about half the package (or 1/8 of an ounce), which was about 12 small-to-medium dried morels. I decided I didn’t want to other strong mushroom flavors to invade the morels space, so I just used morels and fresh white button mushrooms.
1. Put morels, porcinis or both in a bowl with very hot water to cover; soak until soft, about 20 minutes. Drain morels and reserve soaking liquid. Cut morels in half; if porcinis are large, chop them roughly.
While the morels were soaking, I started a pot of quick-cooking barley. I figured it would bulk up this side dish into a main course while soaking up any remaining creamy-mushroomy sauce.
2. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat; when butter is hot and foam has subsided, add shallots and reconstituted and fresh mushrooms to pan. Cook until shallots soften and fresh mushrooms have released their liquid and it has cooked off, about 10 minutes.
This step went off exactly as described. At first it seemed like the mushroom liquid would only increase and never cook off. But in the last minute or so, it started looking like mushrooms and shallots in a slightly greased pan.
3. Add asparagus and 1/2 cup reserved liquid to pan. Bring liquid to a boil, cover, reduce heat so mixture simmers, and continue cooking for another 2 to 4 minutes, or until asparagus is crisp-tender. Add cream and tarragon or chervil and continue cooking, uncovered, until sauce thickens slightly and asparagus is tender, about 4 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper and serve.
After the first 4 minutes, the asparagus was still pretty tough – 1/2 cup liquid wasn’t really enough to get a good steam. But 4 minutes after adding the cream, it was bright green and gave to a fork with a bit of pressure. I wanted the morel and asparagus flavors to shine through the creamy sauce, so I only added a bit of salt and pepper and then spooned it over a thin layer of barley. It looked and smelled wonderful!
And it tasted even better! The mushroom flavor shone again the fatty, delicate sauce and the asparagus provided just the right amount of crunch...and the barley at the bottom of the bowl made sure none of that goodness when to waste. It was all I could do not to go out and buy another bunch of asparagus the next day, so I could make it again. (Thank goodness for book club and Neeta’s yummy pasta and brownies!) While the prohibitive price of morels will keep this recipe from becoming a weekly occurrence, I’ll definitely bring it out every May, when asparagus is in season and morel-hunting memories abound!
As soon as I saw the recipe, I thought it had real potential. I love crisp spring asparagus, and I still long for the early summer childhood days when we’d go morel hunting in the woods near my grandma’s house. We spend a few afternoon hours hunting for them, usually finding them at the bases of big trees that were growing in a shady clump. We’d gently place them in small cloth bags that were probably just flour sacs that my grandma had stitched up for the purpose. My grandma would clean off our sac of morels and sauté them whole in a pan with some margarine. (Confession: I come from poor-to-working-class Midwestern roots, and I don’t think I understood the superiority of butter to margarine for most needs until my mid-20s. But I still use a 50-50 mix of butter and Crisco in my cookies to achieve the perfect combination of crunch and chew.) We’d eat them right out of the pan with a side of toasted sandwich bread…yum!
It’s only now, when I see morels at the farmers market priced at an arm & a leg per ounce, that I realize how lucky I was back then. But with this little project, I had an excuse to splurge and re-create a memory…although my hunt here involved nothing more than asking the Harris Teeter produce man to point me in direction of the dried morels.
I found the precious 1 oz bag ($10!) located below the display of fresh mangos and proceeded to rounded up the other ingredients:
1/4 to 1/2 ounce dried morels or porcinis, or a combination
1/4 cup ( 1/2 stick) butter
1/2 cup chopped shallots
1 pound fresh shiitake or white button mushrooms or a combination, cleaned, trimmed and sliced
1 to 1 1/2 pounds asparagus, trimmed, cut into 1 1/2 -inch lengths
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon chopped fresh tarragon
Salt and pepper to taste
Needless to say, at $10 for one ounce, I cut back a bit on the suggested amount of morels. Mark had said you could make this dish with as little as 6 morels and still have a wonderful flavor. I used about half the package (or 1/8 of an ounce), which was about 12 small-to-medium dried morels. I decided I didn’t want to other strong mushroom flavors to invade the morels space, so I just used morels and fresh white button mushrooms.
1. Put morels, porcinis or both in a bowl with very hot water to cover; soak until soft, about 20 minutes. Drain morels and reserve soaking liquid. Cut morels in half; if porcinis are large, chop them roughly.
While the morels were soaking, I started a pot of quick-cooking barley. I figured it would bulk up this side dish into a main course while soaking up any remaining creamy-mushroomy sauce.
2. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat; when butter is hot and foam has subsided, add shallots and reconstituted and fresh mushrooms to pan. Cook until shallots soften and fresh mushrooms have released their liquid and it has cooked off, about 10 minutes.
This step went off exactly as described. At first it seemed like the mushroom liquid would only increase and never cook off. But in the last minute or so, it started looking like mushrooms and shallots in a slightly greased pan.
3. Add asparagus and 1/2 cup reserved liquid to pan. Bring liquid to a boil, cover, reduce heat so mixture simmers, and continue cooking for another 2 to 4 minutes, or until asparagus is crisp-tender. Add cream and tarragon or chervil and continue cooking, uncovered, until sauce thickens slightly and asparagus is tender, about 4 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper and serve.
After the first 4 minutes, the asparagus was still pretty tough – 1/2 cup liquid wasn’t really enough to get a good steam. But 4 minutes after adding the cream, it was bright green and gave to a fork with a bit of pressure. I wanted the morel and asparagus flavors to shine through the creamy sauce, so I only added a bit of salt and pepper and then spooned it over a thin layer of barley. It looked and smelled wonderful!
And it tasted even better! The mushroom flavor shone again the fatty, delicate sauce and the asparagus provided just the right amount of crunch...and the barley at the bottom of the bowl made sure none of that goodness when to waste. It was all I could do not to go out and buy another bunch of asparagus the next day, so I could make it again. (Thank goodness for book club and Neeta’s yummy pasta and brownies!) While the prohibitive price of morels will keep this recipe from becoming a weekly occurrence, I’ll definitely bring it out every May, when asparagus is in season and morel-hunting memories abound!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)