Ragazzi, Annalena promised you all a recipe for an easy dessert, and as Mozart wrote "Sie kommt... sie kommt." You all know, however, that when Annalena has breaking news from the kitchen, she interrupts her regular programming to let her listeners - or viewers - know. And as last night's dinner qualifies as (i) "clean," (ii) healthy (iii) easy (iv) quick and (v) tasty, she has to stage an intervention. You add to this that when she posted a picture of it, a group that could not be more diverse responded to it, and the lady MUST act.
You will probably have to do some shopping for this recipe, but the items are all relatively easy to find. So, in breaking with her tradition, Annalena is going to first, provide you with a shopping list, since some of the responders to that original recipe are in fact of a "type" (wink, wink, nudge nudge), who need this kind of thing ( you know to whom she refers, don't you?)...
You will need
A scallion (buy a bunch of them and use the rest for something else, or steal one from a friend)
cilantro (MAYBE... see below)
limes - 3 or 4 of them
low salt soy sauce
rice vinegar, the unseasoned kind (more below)
fresh ginger
a pound of baby bok choy (again, more comments below)
a pound of flounder filets
You should also have the usual salt and pepper, and either dry white wine, or sake' in the house.
Now, cilantro is one of those things which can, and does, inspire great strife amongst Annalena's army. There are the afficionados (like Annalena), and the haters (like the Guyman). You CAN leave the cilantro out of this recipe if you like. Annalena made the sauce, took half of it and put cilantro in it, and left it out of the rest, with chopped cilantro on the side. The Guyman did add some and found it pleasing.
You are going to have to squeeze the limes. This may be Annalena's least favorite task in the world. She has every conceivable gadget for squeezing limes, and still hates doing it. But squeeze you must. You will need about a third of a cup of lime juice . The 3 or 4 limes is more than enough, but once you try squeezing them, and realize you need Ironman hands to do it, you will be grateful.
Of "low salt" soy sauce. It sometimes seems, to Annalena, that this is almost redundant. The pure, ridiculously salty soy sauce she grew up with (does anyone remember "La Choy?") probably still exists, but she never sees it. And you should have soy sauce in your home anyway.
Rice vinegar is much more accessible than you may imagine. Indeed, it is fairly ubiquitous, and you can find it in flavors, just like other vinegars. Avoid them. She will get in trouble here, but Annalena finds flavored vinegars an abomination. So, too, most flavored oils. Check the label very carefully. Make sure you're not getting, for example, rice vinegar flavored with ginger, or something like that (rice vinegar and rice wine vinegar are the same).
Everyone should have a chunk of fresh ginger in their house. If you don't, go and get some today. NOW. SOFORT.
"Baby" bok choi is one of those modifiers that means nothing. Annalena had two different "baby" bok chois. One was as big as her fist, the other, as big as her two fists. Here's one where you use what you have. If you have small ones, you'll cut them in half. Larger ones? Increase to three, or four.
Of wine, of course, the usual rules apply: use what you would drink. So, too, with sake'. If you were to use white wine, this will be good, although you may not feel it's all that authentic. You make the call, and see how much shopping you want to do.
OK. NOW TO COOK. Let's first turn the oven to 400 and make our sauce. We do this by slicing that scallion thin, and putting it in a bowl with the cilantro, a quarter cup, chopped, if you're using. Add the lime juice you secured with much cursing, three tablespoons of the soy sauce, and 2 of the vinegar. Chop up a tablespoon of fresh ginger, as fine as you can, and dump it in, and finally add 1.5 tablespoons of vegetable oil (She knows... it's not on the shopping list. You have oil in your house. Quiet.) Stir this all together, and taste it. Add salt, or pepper as you see fit, and put it aside.
Now, let's attack that bokchoi, and cut it into halves, thirds, or quarters, as the size dictates. You want to get the whole pound of them into a pan at once, if you can. If not, you'll do this in batches, and it won't be hard. Pour two tablespoons of oil into the pan, and when the oil begins to ripple or, if you can "smell" the oil (hard to explain, but you know the scent), put the vegetables in, cut side down, at medium heat. You want these to sear to brown, and it will take upwards of three to five minutes. While that is happening, portion out your flounder, if you need to (at least four pieces), and pat it dry. Then, sprinkle it with salt and pepper. Let it sit.
When the bok choi has browned, turn it over, and take the pan off the heat for the next step. That next step, is adding the wine or sake' directly to the hot pan. Keep it away from your face, in case of "back splash." And now, put the fish right on top of the vegetables, and put the thing into the oven, for 8 minutes if the fish is small, or ten if the pieces are big. That will be more than enough time for it to prep.
Protect your hands, and take the pan out of the oven. Now, this is best served in bowls, and this is how you do it. Get a flipper or paddle of some kind, and lift out portions of the vegetables and fish. When that's all been divided up, pour the remaining sake'/wine at the SIDE of the bowl, so it drops to the bottom . And now, take that wonderful sauce you made, and spoon it over your fish.
You can make this in less time than it took you to read it. And, let Annalena give you some more information. When she originally got this recipe, it said "serves four." She believes that "hobbits" should follow four. These are NOT big portions. And since each one has only 260 calories, they won't. So that whole pan of fish and veggies has 1040 calories. She thinks you can have a double portion. And some rice.
So, ragazzi, go and make this. Get your Asian ingredients and feel noble about the healthy, clean food you just made. And then you won't feel so bad when we have our cranberry cobbler.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Our cruciferous crusade continues with roasted curried cauliflower
Now if THAT title does not say "brought to you by the letter C," Annalena does not know what does. And aren't we all glad that Sesame Street and Big Bird are safe ? (Incidentally, ragazzi, if you want a little tear jerker moment, go to youtube and watch Big Bird singing "It's not Easy Being Green" at the Jim Henson memorial. Annalena is tearing up thinking about it now).
Ok, now that was way more of a digression than usual around here, wasn't it? Back to topic: as promised, (or threatened), we continue our survey of the cruciferous vegetables today. Every year, it seems, that a particular vegetable falls out for the Guyman and Annalena as the "veggie of the year." This year, it seems to be cauliflower. We like it, and we eat it, but this year, we seem to have eaten more of it than ever. We'll be eating it tomorrow in a simple puree under beef stew, for instance, and ate it last week as soup. And so on, and so forth. And when you use a particular item over and over again, you learn what works, and what does not. You have to.
Curries, and hearty, "heavy" spices work really well with cauliflower. Think of all those Indian cauliflower dishes. Perhaps it is the assertive nature of the vegetable, who knows? In any event, when Annalena first saw this recipe, she thought "ANOTHER curried cauliflower?" But the "roasted" brought her eye back. Especially when she saw that the roasting happened at 450. AND... the recipe contains coriander, which is, perhaps, the spice of the year. And it is good.
Here, a mild digression again, ragazzi. This recipe comes from epicurious.com, and Annalena would like to suggest that site to all of you, and a suggestion for any of these sites: if a recipe appeals to you, read the reviews. Inevitably, you will learn something that may change the way you do the recipe. Annalena did so here, because, well, she was just not interested in grinding her own spices for this one. The "zip" wasn't there. And, someone had written that she had used preground spices and didn't perform the toasting step either, and the dish was fine.
Annalena did toast, as you will learn, but if someone else thought you didn't have to, well then.
So, here we go. The recipe calls for four pounds of cauliflower. Honestly, ragazzi, that is not as much as you would think. It is either a very large head of the stuff, or two smaller ones. If you have a crowd, or you don't mind leftovers, do the full amount. If you don't, or do, (refer back to the prior sentence), cut the amount of veggie, but do not cut the other ingredients. You do need them all. And if you're not doing this with at least one large head of cauliflower, it is not worth doing.
Ok, break the florets off of your cauliflowers, while you preheat your oven to 450. Peel a very large onion, quarter it, and then separate the onion into individual leaves. It's kind of fun. Put them together with the cauliflower.
Now, if you're going to go "all out" for this recipe, get a teaspoon each of cumin seeds, and coriander seeds, and toast them in a small skillet, over low heat, for five minutes OR until you smell the toasty smell. This will probably not take five minutes. Get them off the heat immediately, and get them in the spice grinder. Alternatively, use a teaspoon of each, ground and toast it, or don't toast them at all. Put these in a bowl, and add - ready for this? 3/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil, and then whisk in 1/2 cup of red or sherry vinegar. Keep whisking and add a heaping TABLESPOON of curry powder (any kind you have, but make sure it is fragrant), and an additional tablespoon of hot paprika. The original recipe calls for Hungarian. Annalena had Spanish piccante, and liked it. Finally, whisk in two teaspoons of salt.
Spread out the veggies on a baking sheet. It will be tight, but you can do it. Pour the dressing you just made over them, and stir it all together with your hands (you could also add the dressing to a bowl with the vegetables, toss it, and then put that on the roasting pan. Your choice). Sprinkle on some pepper, if you like, and put it all in the oven.
Every ten minutes or so, stir the veggies a bit. You do this because the part touching the pan is going to brown much more than the rest, and you don't want this beautiful stuff to burn.
For about the first twenty (of what will be forty five minutes), you will wonder what the hell is going on. There will be no color change, no smell , no sizzle. NIENTE. BUT...at thirty, as if by wizardry, the stuff begins to darken and even blacken - a good thing. And at forty five minutes. OH do you have a wonderful side dish. Or main dish if you plan to eat this with rice and a green of some kind.
This was terrific warm, but Annalena thinks it would be better at room temperature. How about the first of you to make it, and leave it to cool, lets us all know what it's like?
Come on folks, if you are still going seasonally, you know our choices are limited. There's good cauliflower out there. Go get some, and make yourself a mess of this. YUM
Ok, now that was way more of a digression than usual around here, wasn't it? Back to topic: as promised, (or threatened), we continue our survey of the cruciferous vegetables today. Every year, it seems, that a particular vegetable falls out for the Guyman and Annalena as the "veggie of the year." This year, it seems to be cauliflower. We like it, and we eat it, but this year, we seem to have eaten more of it than ever. We'll be eating it tomorrow in a simple puree under beef stew, for instance, and ate it last week as soup. And so on, and so forth. And when you use a particular item over and over again, you learn what works, and what does not. You have to.
Curries, and hearty, "heavy" spices work really well with cauliflower. Think of all those Indian cauliflower dishes. Perhaps it is the assertive nature of the vegetable, who knows? In any event, when Annalena first saw this recipe, she thought "ANOTHER curried cauliflower?" But the "roasted" brought her eye back. Especially when she saw that the roasting happened at 450. AND... the recipe contains coriander, which is, perhaps, the spice of the year. And it is good.
Here, a mild digression again, ragazzi. This recipe comes from epicurious.com, and Annalena would like to suggest that site to all of you, and a suggestion for any of these sites: if a recipe appeals to you, read the reviews. Inevitably, you will learn something that may change the way you do the recipe. Annalena did so here, because, well, she was just not interested in grinding her own spices for this one. The "zip" wasn't there. And, someone had written that she had used preground spices and didn't perform the toasting step either, and the dish was fine.
Annalena did toast, as you will learn, but if someone else thought you didn't have to, well then.
So, here we go. The recipe calls for four pounds of cauliflower. Honestly, ragazzi, that is not as much as you would think. It is either a very large head of the stuff, or two smaller ones. If you have a crowd, or you don't mind leftovers, do the full amount. If you don't, or do, (refer back to the prior sentence), cut the amount of veggie, but do not cut the other ingredients. You do need them all. And if you're not doing this with at least one large head of cauliflower, it is not worth doing.
Ok, break the florets off of your cauliflowers, while you preheat your oven to 450. Peel a very large onion, quarter it, and then separate the onion into individual leaves. It's kind of fun. Put them together with the cauliflower.
Now, if you're going to go "all out" for this recipe, get a teaspoon each of cumin seeds, and coriander seeds, and toast them in a small skillet, over low heat, for five minutes OR until you smell the toasty smell. This will probably not take five minutes. Get them off the heat immediately, and get them in the spice grinder. Alternatively, use a teaspoon of each, ground and toast it, or don't toast them at all. Put these in a bowl, and add - ready for this? 3/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil, and then whisk in 1/2 cup of red or sherry vinegar. Keep whisking and add a heaping TABLESPOON of curry powder (any kind you have, but make sure it is fragrant), and an additional tablespoon of hot paprika. The original recipe calls for Hungarian. Annalena had Spanish piccante, and liked it. Finally, whisk in two teaspoons of salt.
Spread out the veggies on a baking sheet. It will be tight, but you can do it. Pour the dressing you just made over them, and stir it all together with your hands (you could also add the dressing to a bowl with the vegetables, toss it, and then put that on the roasting pan. Your choice). Sprinkle on some pepper, if you like, and put it all in the oven.
Every ten minutes or so, stir the veggies a bit. You do this because the part touching the pan is going to brown much more than the rest, and you don't want this beautiful stuff to burn.
For about the first twenty (of what will be forty five minutes), you will wonder what the hell is going on. There will be no color change, no smell , no sizzle. NIENTE. BUT...at thirty, as if by wizardry, the stuff begins to darken and even blacken - a good thing. And at forty five minutes. OH do you have a wonderful side dish. Or main dish if you plan to eat this with rice and a green of some kind.
This was terrific warm, but Annalena thinks it would be better at room temperature. How about the first of you to make it, and leave it to cool, lets us all know what it's like?
Come on folks, if you are still going seasonally, you know our choices are limited. There's good cauliflower out there. Go get some, and make yourself a mess of this. YUM
Monday, November 26, 2012
Another pumpkin bread, this time, with cranberries
Yes, ragazzi, Annalena is playing bait and switch with you again. And she doubts any of you will mind.
Last time around, Annalena promised to continue her survey of the cruciferous vegetables and provide a roasted cauliflower recipe. She will do that, but.... yesterday, she made another fresh pumpkin bread recipe, and posted pictures on her facebook account. The response was somewhat overwhelming. Recipe requests.
Now, NONE of Annalena's army could POSSIBLY be making this to eat now, could they? NO, not my healthy marauders. No, you're all looking for it to make for Christmas and holiday gifts, right?
Right. Well, to be honest, Annalena made hers to give to people, but also to try to cut down on her consumption of morning muffins, which come in at about 400 calories each (she checked). This bread comes in at 200 calories a slice, if you get sixteen slices out of a loaf (and good luck with that!). But... knowing that a loaf comes in at 3200 calories does allow you to make your own judgements. And, unlike the muffins in a store, you will know what you are getting. And here we go.
This is the recipe for two loaves, which you can half. Indeed, Annalena originally doubled the recipe, because whatever is good once, HAS to be better twice, yes? She used fresh pumpkin, which she had baked, scraped, and pureed. For those of you less dedicated (or crazy), you can use a can of pumpkin. And making two loaves is better in that case, because you need a cup of pumpkin for a loaf, and a can of pumpkin has two cups in it. So rather than let that half of the can languish in the back of your refrigerator until tendrils reach out and try to grab you, make the two loaves. You will be glad you did.
Let's start by putting the oven to 350. Now, in a very (and Annalena means VERY) large bowl, put three cups of all purpose unbleached flower, and three cups of whole wheat flour. Add a tablespoon and a teaspoon (or, 4 teaspoons), of baking soda. Also add a full tablespoon of cinnamon, and a teaspoon each of ground cloves and nutmeg. This may seem like a lot of spice, but it isn't. And, as always, please make sure your spices are fresh. Smell them. Add a teaspoon of salt, and fluff all of this together so that it's combined.
In a separate bowl, add two cups of pumpkin (if you are using the canned stuff, please make sure you use PUMPKIN and NOT pie filling), and four eggs, two cups of sugar and a cup of vegetable oil. Mix all of this together as best you can.
REVIEW TIME: what does it tell us about a recipe when oil, rather than butter is used in a cake, especially when the flavoring ingredient is arguably a vegetable? C'mon ragazzi, we've gone over this before. You know.
Stir it all together and then plop it into the flour mix, and stir it all together until it's just moist, and there are no dry spots visible. This will take longer than you think, but not long. Now, three cups of cranberries, be they fresh (if you are fortunate enough to live on the East Coast and have access to such at your farmers market), or bagged and frozen (if you are a West Coaster. Sorry folks, we may have winter but WE HAVE FRESH CRANBERRIES!!!!), and stir them all together.
Get two, 9x5 inch baking pans (these are so-called "quickbread" pans. They are the larger of the two sizes available, the other one being... ok, another pop quiz). Grease your pans well (confession here, bambini: Annalena forgot to grease her pans, but either the oil in the cakes was sufficient, or she has used her pans so often, lubrication was not necessary). Spoon the batter in equally, and get them in the oven.
The original recipe said this would be ready in an hour and a quarter. It lied. It was between an hour and a half and an hour and 3/4 for Annalena. And we know it's done, how...? OK, this one, she'll tell you: during the baking process, the cakes will rise , crest, and crack. Put a small knife into the center of the cake, and when there is no gunk sticking to it when it comes out of the pan, you're ready.
Let them cool for about five minutes, then turn them over carefully, protecting your hands. Let them cool on racks.
Try not to eat these the first day, as any cake based on spices can use a day for those flavors to develop.
Ok, so we can all feel good about our wholesome, natural selves, as we eat too many calories. Moderation ragazzi. And the treadmill. If you live in NYC, set it for Las Vegas.
Last time around, Annalena promised to continue her survey of the cruciferous vegetables and provide a roasted cauliflower recipe. She will do that, but.... yesterday, she made another fresh pumpkin bread recipe, and posted pictures on her facebook account. The response was somewhat overwhelming. Recipe requests.
Now, NONE of Annalena's army could POSSIBLY be making this to eat now, could they? NO, not my healthy marauders. No, you're all looking for it to make for Christmas and holiday gifts, right?
Right. Well, to be honest, Annalena made hers to give to people, but also to try to cut down on her consumption of morning muffins, which come in at about 400 calories each (she checked). This bread comes in at 200 calories a slice, if you get sixteen slices out of a loaf (and good luck with that!). But... knowing that a loaf comes in at 3200 calories does allow you to make your own judgements. And, unlike the muffins in a store, you will know what you are getting. And here we go.
This is the recipe for two loaves, which you can half. Indeed, Annalena originally doubled the recipe, because whatever is good once, HAS to be better twice, yes? She used fresh pumpkin, which she had baked, scraped, and pureed. For those of you less dedicated (or crazy), you can use a can of pumpkin. And making two loaves is better in that case, because you need a cup of pumpkin for a loaf, and a can of pumpkin has two cups in it. So rather than let that half of the can languish in the back of your refrigerator until tendrils reach out and try to grab you, make the two loaves. You will be glad you did.
Let's start by putting the oven to 350. Now, in a very (and Annalena means VERY) large bowl, put three cups of all purpose unbleached flower, and three cups of whole wheat flour. Add a tablespoon and a teaspoon (or, 4 teaspoons), of baking soda. Also add a full tablespoon of cinnamon, and a teaspoon each of ground cloves and nutmeg. This may seem like a lot of spice, but it isn't. And, as always, please make sure your spices are fresh. Smell them. Add a teaspoon of salt, and fluff all of this together so that it's combined.
In a separate bowl, add two cups of pumpkin (if you are using the canned stuff, please make sure you use PUMPKIN and NOT pie filling), and four eggs, two cups of sugar and a cup of vegetable oil. Mix all of this together as best you can.
REVIEW TIME: what does it tell us about a recipe when oil, rather than butter is used in a cake, especially when the flavoring ingredient is arguably a vegetable? C'mon ragazzi, we've gone over this before. You know.
Stir it all together and then plop it into the flour mix, and stir it all together until it's just moist, and there are no dry spots visible. This will take longer than you think, but not long. Now, three cups of cranberries, be they fresh (if you are fortunate enough to live on the East Coast and have access to such at your farmers market), or bagged and frozen (if you are a West Coaster. Sorry folks, we may have winter but WE HAVE FRESH CRANBERRIES!!!!), and stir them all together.
Get two, 9x5 inch baking pans (these are so-called "quickbread" pans. They are the larger of the two sizes available, the other one being... ok, another pop quiz). Grease your pans well (confession here, bambini: Annalena forgot to grease her pans, but either the oil in the cakes was sufficient, or she has used her pans so often, lubrication was not necessary). Spoon the batter in equally, and get them in the oven.
The original recipe said this would be ready in an hour and a quarter. It lied. It was between an hour and a half and an hour and 3/4 for Annalena. And we know it's done, how...? OK, this one, she'll tell you: during the baking process, the cakes will rise , crest, and crack. Put a small knife into the center of the cake, and when there is no gunk sticking to it when it comes out of the pan, you're ready.
Let them cool for about five minutes, then turn them over carefully, protecting your hands. Let them cool on racks.
Try not to eat these the first day, as any cake based on spices can use a day for those flavors to develop.
Ok, so we can all feel good about our wholesome, natural selves, as we eat too many calories. Moderation ragazzi. And the treadmill. If you live in NYC, set it for Las Vegas.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Easy continues: sweet and sour cabbage
As we've discussed, ragazzi, we are at that time of year where even those of us who ignored the "GET MAXIMUM FLAVOR WITH MINIMUM EFFORT!' banners, are looking. Much as we try, we cannot escape the rhythm of this season, which gets faster and faster and faster. And as all of us know, as we move, faster, and faster, we eat worse and worse. The stuff that's GOOD for us, takes time. And right now.... Well, you know.
Annalena is trying to rescue us from this. Yesterday's soup was one suggestion. Today, we turn to a neglected vegetable: cabbage. Annalena can hear the voices now "OH. I LOVE CABBAGE." Well, when was the last time you cooked it? Or ate it? And when was the last time you ate it in a form other than coleslaw?
Hmmmm. We have some work here. With an easy dish. REALLY easy. And really good. In Annalena's experience, cabbage and vinegar is one of those marriages like tomatoes and basil: it seems so obvious when it's done, but someone had to try it first. There was no manual of "what goes with what" that came down from the mountain with the Commandments, bambini. So, let's get to work with this dish, that really does take less than twenty minutes to make, and COULD (but shouldn't), serve as your whole meal.
Here come your ingredients: an apple. An onion. Some vegetable oil: two tablespoons of it. Half a cup of cider vinegar, and half a cup of sugar. You can get all of that together without too much trouble, yes? Now, the cabbage. You should look for smaller heads, and get two of them. You do this, rather than getting one, large head, because (i) smaller heads are easier to cut and (ii) you can mix the cabbages. Annalena did this with red cabbage and spitzkohl, but you could mix red with savoy, spitz with savoy, or do all of one kind. Essentially, you want about 2 pounds of cabbage in total. Cut the heads in half, lengthwise, and then cut the big core out of it. It's not hard to do. Then, turn the halves, cut side down and with your knife, cut narrow ribbons of the stuff. This will take you all of five minutes. Put it aside and get a grater. The three sided kind is best, and grate your apple. If you wish to peel it, go ahead. In Annalena's experience, if the apple is fresh and firm, you won't need to. Tart ones are better, but if you like sweet, do sweet. And the size of the apple doesn't really matter. Now, peel and slice the onion into thin rings.
We are ready to go.. Put the oil in a big wide pan, and get it hot. Add the onion and garlic at the same time. Stir them around, and watch for the onion to just take on some golden color. Now, add as much cabbage as the pan can hold, and the sugar and vinegar. Stir everything together. As the cabbage heats up, it will wilt, and you'll have room for the rest of it. When you can get it all in the pan, put a cover on it, lower the heat, and leave it alone for five minutes.
During that time, IF you are so inclined, chop up a little smoked ham, or prosciutto , or Canadian bacon, or anything you like. Take the cover off of the pan, taste the cabbage, and adjust for salt and pepper. Add some caraway seeds if you like, or go "wild" and add ginger. Finally, add your pork if you are.
And know what? You've got a really healthy, inexpensive side dish. Very tasty, very filling, and very good for you. With fish, with pork, or just with a plate of potatoes.
Go for it ragazzi. You could make this in the time it took Annalena to type the blog.
More cruciferous veggies coming up. And the world's easiest cobbler. You will thank Annalena for that one.
Annalena is trying to rescue us from this. Yesterday's soup was one suggestion. Today, we turn to a neglected vegetable: cabbage. Annalena can hear the voices now "OH. I LOVE CABBAGE." Well, when was the last time you cooked it? Or ate it? And when was the last time you ate it in a form other than coleslaw?
Hmmmm. We have some work here. With an easy dish. REALLY easy. And really good. In Annalena's experience, cabbage and vinegar is one of those marriages like tomatoes and basil: it seems so obvious when it's done, but someone had to try it first. There was no manual of "what goes with what" that came down from the mountain with the Commandments, bambini. So, let's get to work with this dish, that really does take less than twenty minutes to make, and COULD (but shouldn't), serve as your whole meal.
Here come your ingredients: an apple. An onion. Some vegetable oil: two tablespoons of it. Half a cup of cider vinegar, and half a cup of sugar. You can get all of that together without too much trouble, yes? Now, the cabbage. You should look for smaller heads, and get two of them. You do this, rather than getting one, large head, because (i) smaller heads are easier to cut and (ii) you can mix the cabbages. Annalena did this with red cabbage and spitzkohl, but you could mix red with savoy, spitz with savoy, or do all of one kind. Essentially, you want about 2 pounds of cabbage in total. Cut the heads in half, lengthwise, and then cut the big core out of it. It's not hard to do. Then, turn the halves, cut side down and with your knife, cut narrow ribbons of the stuff. This will take you all of five minutes. Put it aside and get a grater. The three sided kind is best, and grate your apple. If you wish to peel it, go ahead. In Annalena's experience, if the apple is fresh and firm, you won't need to. Tart ones are better, but if you like sweet, do sweet. And the size of the apple doesn't really matter. Now, peel and slice the onion into thin rings.
We are ready to go.. Put the oil in a big wide pan, and get it hot. Add the onion and garlic at the same time. Stir them around, and watch for the onion to just take on some golden color. Now, add as much cabbage as the pan can hold, and the sugar and vinegar. Stir everything together. As the cabbage heats up, it will wilt, and you'll have room for the rest of it. When you can get it all in the pan, put a cover on it, lower the heat, and leave it alone for five minutes.
During that time, IF you are so inclined, chop up a little smoked ham, or prosciutto , or Canadian bacon, or anything you like. Take the cover off of the pan, taste the cabbage, and adjust for salt and pepper. Add some caraway seeds if you like, or go "wild" and add ginger. Finally, add your pork if you are.
And know what? You've got a really healthy, inexpensive side dish. Very tasty, very filling, and very good for you. With fish, with pork, or just with a plate of potatoes.
Go for it ragazzi. You could make this in the time it took Annalena to type the blog.
More cruciferous veggies coming up. And the world's easiest cobbler. You will thank Annalena for that one.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Good, fast AND cheap: Annalena turns to cans for tomato chickpea kale soup
Do any of my ragazzi of a certain age remember an old industry saying: "Good. Fast. Cheap." Choose two. Indeed, if one thinks about it, it is true isn't it? If you want something done well, and fast, you must pay for it. If you want it fast, and cheap, don't expect it to be good. And so on and so forth. We can play all kinds of combinations, and on a day that is cold and windy (which seems to be the case everywhere today), it is perhaps a game to play.
But instead, let's apply it to cooking. We are all very much resting, restoring, after the craze that is Thanksgiving. So, while we may not WANT to cook , we really do. We just don't want anything elaborate. We want something warm, something easy, and after the excesses of the holiday, we want something good for us.
Can Annalena call a situation or what? This is why you love her. And she is coming to the rescue with a soup that is SO good, and SO good for you... you may just not be able to handle it.
Full disclosure here, ragazzi. Annalena has broken with her precepts and used canned beans rather than soaking the dry ones. In the frenzy of the holiday, she had forgotten to replenish her supplies of chickpeas. The soonest she could get them was today, and rather than let a day be lost with soaking them, she used organic ones. And know what? The soup is good. It is REALLY good, and it is better than it was supposed to be, because Annalena worked her magic and added greens.
Now, here we go. You can have this soup on the table in 30 minutes. You really can. You start with a small yellow onion, cut in chunks. Chunk cut two small or one large carrot, and two stalks of celery. Put them all in a food processor and pulse to dice them, or get your big knife and do it. Now, put them in a pot with a tablespoon and a half of olive oil. Stir in some salt, and let them cook, while you open cans... Yes, ragazzi, cans. Two one pound cans of chickpeas, and a large can of tomatoes. Puree, whole, or diced will all work. Pour EVERYTHING into the pot. EVERYTHING. And then add a big sprig of rosemary and a bay leaf. Finally, add a quart of stock. If you are keeping this vegan, use vegetable stock. Annalena has never found one she likes so she used chicken. And, finally, kale. Annalena had baby kale in the fridge, and stripped about 1/2-3/4 pound of the leaves, and tossed them into the soup. Bring it all to a simmer for twenty minutes. Correct the seasonings.
Now, you can eat this soup just as it is. It is big and chunky. BUT... if you puree it, you get:
Isn't that a pretty soup? The picture actually does not give you the true sense of the dark green in the stuff, but that's ok.
The more adventurous out there will see the opportunity for spicing this as you see fit, adding croutons, and so forth. Indeed, originally, the recipe called for a tomato chickpea soup with c rispy kale croutons. Remember "quick" above? Annalena has no time for kale chips these days.
You will wind up with 2.5 quarts or so, of a truly good soup. Go through that recipe again: 1.5 tablespoons of oil, for 2.5 quarts of soup. Beans. Vegetables. Broth. Can you go wrong? Annalena thinks not.
Go make a pot of this today. You will be VERY glad you did.
But instead, let's apply it to cooking. We are all very much resting, restoring, after the craze that is Thanksgiving. So, while we may not WANT to cook , we really do. We just don't want anything elaborate. We want something warm, something easy, and after the excesses of the holiday, we want something good for us.
Can Annalena call a situation or what? This is why you love her. And she is coming to the rescue with a soup that is SO good, and SO good for you... you may just not be able to handle it.
Full disclosure here, ragazzi. Annalena has broken with her precepts and used canned beans rather than soaking the dry ones. In the frenzy of the holiday, she had forgotten to replenish her supplies of chickpeas. The soonest she could get them was today, and rather than let a day be lost with soaking them, she used organic ones. And know what? The soup is good. It is REALLY good, and it is better than it was supposed to be, because Annalena worked her magic and added greens.
Now, here we go. You can have this soup on the table in 30 minutes. You really can. You start with a small yellow onion, cut in chunks. Chunk cut two small or one large carrot, and two stalks of celery. Put them all in a food processor and pulse to dice them, or get your big knife and do it. Now, put them in a pot with a tablespoon and a half of olive oil. Stir in some salt, and let them cook, while you open cans... Yes, ragazzi, cans. Two one pound cans of chickpeas, and a large can of tomatoes. Puree, whole, or diced will all work. Pour EVERYTHING into the pot. EVERYTHING. And then add a big sprig of rosemary and a bay leaf. Finally, add a quart of stock. If you are keeping this vegan, use vegetable stock. Annalena has never found one she likes so she used chicken. And, finally, kale. Annalena had baby kale in the fridge, and stripped about 1/2-3/4 pound of the leaves, and tossed them into the soup. Bring it all to a simmer for twenty minutes. Correct the seasonings.
Now, you can eat this soup just as it is. It is big and chunky. BUT... if you puree it, you get:
Isn't that a pretty soup? The picture actually does not give you the true sense of the dark green in the stuff, but that's ok.
The more adventurous out there will see the opportunity for spicing this as you see fit, adding croutons, and so forth. Indeed, originally, the recipe called for a tomato chickpea soup with c rispy kale croutons. Remember "quick" above? Annalena has no time for kale chips these days.
You will wind up with 2.5 quarts or so, of a truly good soup. Go through that recipe again: 1.5 tablespoons of oil, for 2.5 quarts of soup. Beans. Vegetables. Broth. Can you go wrong? Annalena thinks not.
Go make a pot of this today. You will be VERY glad you did.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
All hail to kale: white fish with kale and chorizo
As the winter approaches, Annalena is hearing more and more stories from people who belonged to CSAs, and were confronted with... kale. As one person put it, "bales and bales of kale." And yes, if that were to happen, even Annalena and Chris, the kale king, would probably get sick of the stuff.
BUT, ragazzi, facts are facts. And those of us who eat seasonally must face the fact that kale is one of the few greens that winters. In fact, some say that the colder it gets, the better the kale tastes. That's a matter of personal opinion, but it's here, it's kale, get used to it.
Not too catchy, huh? Oh well. Now, of course, these days we have to ask the question: WHAT KIND of kale are we talking about? For most people who are sick of the stuff, they are speaking of huge bunches of the big leafy green stuff that have either been cooked for too little, or too long a time. But there is purple kale, Russian kale (the stuff we're used to), black kale (cavolo nero), baby kale, and probably more than Annalena can think of. They will all work in the recipe that follows. As will other greens, like chard, beet greens, or even broccoli rabb. And other sausages will work as well. And so will other types of fish that are firm, and white.
The recipe is somewhat similar to a dish that is Iberian in origin. Indeed, the original recipe called for hake, which is a fish very common in Iberian waters. It makes its way to the East Coast from time to time, but chances are, you won't find it locally. Annalena didn't. So use cod, or monkfish, or what she used: pollak (probably spelled wrong). They will all work here.
Chorizo is standard, but there are many kinds of chorizo. And if you don't care for hot sausage, use a sweet one. Or, if you must, a turkey sausage although it won't taste as good. Annalena means it. You need the fattiness here, for what is essentially a very lean dish. But here we go.
You need a quarter cup of extra virgin olive oil, and a quarter pound of sausage. When you get your sausage, cut it out of the casing, and then cut the solid into thin rounds (you can take the casing off AFTER, but ...well, you'll be glad you did it first.). Get a medium yellow onion, peel it, and slice it into thin rounds. Slice up two cloves of garlic. You also need a BIG bunch of kale. Or a couple of small bunches. Bottom line is, you want enough kale so that, when you pull the leaves off of the branches, you will have a bout eight cups of it. This is 8 cups, piled up. No pressing the stuff down here.
Finally a cup of dry white wine, and a pound of the aforementioned white fish, cut into the number of serving pieces you need.
We're going to make the kale and sausage first, which will tell you that you can use this for other things as well. Eat it as a side dish, use it as a pasta "sauce," etc. All good here.
Put two tablespoons of olive oil in a big frying pan, and get it hot. Add the sausage. If you are using chorizo, the red color from the spices will leach into the oil, which is a good thing. Cook the sausage until it's beginning to crisp a little. (If you don't use chorizo, maybe a bit of paprika?). In all, 3 minutes or so will do. Then add the onions, and the garlic, stir it all together, and stir occasionally. Watch the onion for when it turns translucent. The 8 minutes the recipe called for, was way too long. Now, add the kale. You may have to do this in stages, cooking until it wilts. All in all, this will take about thre eminutes. Add a half cup of wine, and a quarter cup of plain water (I left that out up there. S orry). Cover the pan, and lower the heat. Let this cook for 20 minutes or so.
You can do the fish while this is happening, but the fish cooks quickly, so for your own mental health, Annalena suggests you wait. After the 20 minutes, the kale is going to look very black, and unappetizing. Add some salt and pepper and taste it, and you'll disagree.
Now take the rest of the oil, and put it in a separate pan. Pat the fish dry, sprinkle some salt and pepper, and sear it. Probably 4 minutes on one side, and three on the other. Take this off the heat now, and put the fish on a plate. OFF THE HEAT, add the remaining wine. On the heat, bring it to a simmer, and add the fish back, and cook for another three minutes or so. The wine will reduce to a few tablespoons, and the fish will become incredibly tender.
Now, you just assemble things. A mound of kale, a piece of fish. The flavors do bounce off of each other in the dish, so please don't leave out the sausage. It will taste a lot richer than it is.
Four tablespoons of oil (that's a quarter cup), and the sausage, and four servings. An ounce of sausage each. A tablespoon of oil Vegetables, fish. Not too bad?
Keep it in mind as you recover from Thanksgiving, or just make it for yourself and feel good as you enjoy something you might have avoided.
BUT, ragazzi, facts are facts. And those of us who eat seasonally must face the fact that kale is one of the few greens that winters. In fact, some say that the colder it gets, the better the kale tastes. That's a matter of personal opinion, but it's here, it's kale, get used to it.
Not too catchy, huh? Oh well. Now, of course, these days we have to ask the question: WHAT KIND of kale are we talking about? For most people who are sick of the stuff, they are speaking of huge bunches of the big leafy green stuff that have either been cooked for too little, or too long a time. But there is purple kale, Russian kale (the stuff we're used to), black kale (cavolo nero), baby kale, and probably more than Annalena can think of. They will all work in the recipe that follows. As will other greens, like chard, beet greens, or even broccoli rabb. And other sausages will work as well. And so will other types of fish that are firm, and white.
The recipe is somewhat similar to a dish that is Iberian in origin. Indeed, the original recipe called for hake, which is a fish very common in Iberian waters. It makes its way to the East Coast from time to time, but chances are, you won't find it locally. Annalena didn't. So use cod, or monkfish, or what she used: pollak (probably spelled wrong). They will all work here.
Chorizo is standard, but there are many kinds of chorizo. And if you don't care for hot sausage, use a sweet one. Or, if you must, a turkey sausage although it won't taste as good. Annalena means it. You need the fattiness here, for what is essentially a very lean dish. But here we go.
You need a quarter cup of extra virgin olive oil, and a quarter pound of sausage. When you get your sausage, cut it out of the casing, and then cut the solid into thin rounds (you can take the casing off AFTER, but ...well, you'll be glad you did it first.). Get a medium yellow onion, peel it, and slice it into thin rounds. Slice up two cloves of garlic. You also need a BIG bunch of kale. Or a couple of small bunches. Bottom line is, you want enough kale so that, when you pull the leaves off of the branches, you will have a bout eight cups of it. This is 8 cups, piled up. No pressing the stuff down here.
Finally a cup of dry white wine, and a pound of the aforementioned white fish, cut into the number of serving pieces you need.
We're going to make the kale and sausage first, which will tell you that you can use this for other things as well. Eat it as a side dish, use it as a pasta "sauce," etc. All good here.
Put two tablespoons of olive oil in a big frying pan, and get it hot. Add the sausage. If you are using chorizo, the red color from the spices will leach into the oil, which is a good thing. Cook the sausage until it's beginning to crisp a little. (If you don't use chorizo, maybe a bit of paprika?). In all, 3 minutes or so will do. Then add the onions, and the garlic, stir it all together, and stir occasionally. Watch the onion for when it turns translucent. The 8 minutes the recipe called for, was way too long. Now, add the kale. You may have to do this in stages, cooking until it wilts. All in all, this will take about thre eminutes. Add a half cup of wine, and a quarter cup of plain water (I left that out up there. S orry). Cover the pan, and lower the heat. Let this cook for 20 minutes or so.
You can do the fish while this is happening, but the fish cooks quickly, so for your own mental health, Annalena suggests you wait. After the 20 minutes, the kale is going to look very black, and unappetizing. Add some salt and pepper and taste it, and you'll disagree.
Now take the rest of the oil, and put it in a separate pan. Pat the fish dry, sprinkle some salt and pepper, and sear it. Probably 4 minutes on one side, and three on the other. Take this off the heat now, and put the fish on a plate. OFF THE HEAT, add the remaining wine. On the heat, bring it to a simmer, and add the fish back, and cook for another three minutes or so. The wine will reduce to a few tablespoons, and the fish will become incredibly tender.
Now, you just assemble things. A mound of kale, a piece of fish. The flavors do bounce off of each other in the dish, so please don't leave out the sausage. It will taste a lot richer than it is.
Four tablespoons of oil (that's a quarter cup), and the sausage, and four servings. An ounce of sausage each. A tablespoon of oil Vegetables, fish. Not too bad?
Keep it in mind as you recover from Thanksgiving, or just make it for yourself and feel good as you enjoy something you might have avoided.
Friday, November 16, 2012
Taking it slow and sweet: braised shoulder lamb chops with fruit
There is no question that we are moving into winter, ragazzi. Why is that? Well, when Annalena comes back from market SENZA POMODORI even though they are available (that is "without tomatoes" for those of you who have not picked up our native tongue here), it is decidedly winter. Yes, we are moving into the phase of darker, slower cooking, with deeper, stronger, more "comfortable" flavors. It seems to be a prelude to Thanksgiving time (by the way, if any of you have GOOD EASY recipes for gravy which do not involve synthetic products, let Annalena know), that we crave slower cooked dishes. All of a sudden, it doesn't seem to matter that the greens are dark green instead of bright green, or that they're soft, instead of crisp.
Make no mistake about it, Annalena does love her salads, and will continue to serve them forth, but the obsession with baby greens is over for the time being. Different greens, different techniques, different tastes.
And so it goes with cooking magazines. Farewell to the issues on grilling. It's already past the "your Thanksgiving for 35 people made SIMPLE!" headlines. Now, Annalena is collecting recipes on root vegetables, braises, and so forth.
And that is how she came to this one. See, Annalena is not a systematic recipe collector. No, no no. Essentially, she piles up the recipes she wants, until she looks at them in horror and says "OH MY GOD. They MUST be organized." Then there is a flurry, a promise to never fall behind again, and organization.
In the process of the last exercise along these lines, Annalena pulled out "recipes to cook NOW" as she always does. This is one such recipe (we will have another next). It combines two ingredients that work remarkably well together: lamb, and dried fruit. Indeed, the careful reader will find a recipe for a lamb shoulder stew with apricots on this blog. One might consider this the little brother of that dish. Annalena thinks of it as the weekday alternative, which in fact it was. You can have this dish on the table in less than an hour. It DOES take close to that, however. On the other hand, it also refrigerates beautifully. So, ragazzi, if you know that, for example, you are going to be pressed for time on Thursday, but you have an hour on Tuesday night, collect your ingredients, cook a mess of these chops, put em aside, and it is like living off of interest.
Annalena thinks. She is not there. Anyway, here we go. You need four pretty good sized shoulder lamb chops. At least a half pound each. You can go bigger, but you must keep in mind that all of these guys are going into one pan, and it is difficult to get a mass of chops into even the biggest of pans. Salt them and pepper them, and put them to the side while you gather your other ingredients.
These are a tablespoon of coriander seeds, which you will grind in your spice grinder (which should be an old coffee bean grinder). You also need 8 peeled cloves of garlic, which you shall half (this is about a bulb of garlic), and around ten sprigs of thyme. You don't have to be crazy about counting these out: just grab a bunch of them from the bunch you have.
Now, the key ingredients: a cup of zinfandel wine. Other wines will work, but zinfandel is best, because it has so much fruit in it, and...
you also need half a cup each of dried cherries and apricots. The apricots will need to be cut into pieces, so if you find them that way, bravissimo. Finalmente, two cups of beef stock.
OK, here we go. Put a few tablespoons of olive oil in a pan, and while it's heating, at medium heat, rub that coriander all over your lamb chops. Put the chops into the oil with the garlic and the thyme (it will be a tight fit). Turn the chops after three minutes, and brown the other side, and don't worry about the garlic and thyme. You want them to cook.
Be careful on the next step, perhaps even pulling the pan off of the heat and holding it away from your face. Add the wine and dried fruit, and then bring this all to a boil. (Lamb fat sputters terribly. You want to move this away from your flame and face because, as happened with Annalena, the fat may sputter with some wine, and the alcohol will flame the entire pan. No big issue if you're careful, but you can avoid it. ). Increase the heat and cook for about five minutes. Now, add the broth, lower the heat, cover the pan, and go away for a half hour. Actually, come back in fifteen minutes and turn the chops over.
After thirty minutes, take the chops out, and increase the heat. Boil the liquid until it's reduced to a few tablespoons. This will not take long.
Now, you can serve this as it is: just put the chops back into the sauce, or pour the sauce over them; however, if you do that, you have a good quantity of lamb fat in your dish. If that doesn't bother you, groovy. If it does, then you want to make this ahead of time, and let the fat cool, and coagulate, so you can get rid of it. That is in fact what Annalena did. And the chops were terrific.
So, ragazzi, give this a try. You could vary the fruit, but think before you do: think of the flavor of the cherries, and of the apricots, and try to replicate. And do not forget to serve the rest of that wine with your meal.
Keep warm, ragazzi.
Make no mistake about it, Annalena does love her salads, and will continue to serve them forth, but the obsession with baby greens is over for the time being. Different greens, different techniques, different tastes.
And so it goes with cooking magazines. Farewell to the issues on grilling. It's already past the "your Thanksgiving for 35 people made SIMPLE!" headlines. Now, Annalena is collecting recipes on root vegetables, braises, and so forth.
And that is how she came to this one. See, Annalena is not a systematic recipe collector. No, no no. Essentially, she piles up the recipes she wants, until she looks at them in horror and says "OH MY GOD. They MUST be organized." Then there is a flurry, a promise to never fall behind again, and organization.
In the process of the last exercise along these lines, Annalena pulled out "recipes to cook NOW" as she always does. This is one such recipe (we will have another next). It combines two ingredients that work remarkably well together: lamb, and dried fruit. Indeed, the careful reader will find a recipe for a lamb shoulder stew with apricots on this blog. One might consider this the little brother of that dish. Annalena thinks of it as the weekday alternative, which in fact it was. You can have this dish on the table in less than an hour. It DOES take close to that, however. On the other hand, it also refrigerates beautifully. So, ragazzi, if you know that, for example, you are going to be pressed for time on Thursday, but you have an hour on Tuesday night, collect your ingredients, cook a mess of these chops, put em aside, and it is like living off of interest.
Annalena thinks. She is not there. Anyway, here we go. You need four pretty good sized shoulder lamb chops. At least a half pound each. You can go bigger, but you must keep in mind that all of these guys are going into one pan, and it is difficult to get a mass of chops into even the biggest of pans. Salt them and pepper them, and put them to the side while you gather your other ingredients.
These are a tablespoon of coriander seeds, which you will grind in your spice grinder (which should be an old coffee bean grinder). You also need 8 peeled cloves of garlic, which you shall half (this is about a bulb of garlic), and around ten sprigs of thyme. You don't have to be crazy about counting these out: just grab a bunch of them from the bunch you have.
Now, the key ingredients: a cup of zinfandel wine. Other wines will work, but zinfandel is best, because it has so much fruit in it, and...
you also need half a cup each of dried cherries and apricots. The apricots will need to be cut into pieces, so if you find them that way, bravissimo. Finalmente, two cups of beef stock.
OK, here we go. Put a few tablespoons of olive oil in a pan, and while it's heating, at medium heat, rub that coriander all over your lamb chops. Put the chops into the oil with the garlic and the thyme (it will be a tight fit). Turn the chops after three minutes, and brown the other side, and don't worry about the garlic and thyme. You want them to cook.
Be careful on the next step, perhaps even pulling the pan off of the heat and holding it away from your face. Add the wine and dried fruit, and then bring this all to a boil. (Lamb fat sputters terribly. You want to move this away from your flame and face because, as happened with Annalena, the fat may sputter with some wine, and the alcohol will flame the entire pan. No big issue if you're careful, but you can avoid it. ). Increase the heat and cook for about five minutes. Now, add the broth, lower the heat, cover the pan, and go away for a half hour. Actually, come back in fifteen minutes and turn the chops over.
After thirty minutes, take the chops out, and increase the heat. Boil the liquid until it's reduced to a few tablespoons. This will not take long.
Now, you can serve this as it is: just put the chops back into the sauce, or pour the sauce over them; however, if you do that, you have a good quantity of lamb fat in your dish. If that doesn't bother you, groovy. If it does, then you want to make this ahead of time, and let the fat cool, and coagulate, so you can get rid of it. That is in fact what Annalena did. And the chops were terrific.
So, ragazzi, give this a try. You could vary the fruit, but think before you do: think of the flavor of the cherries, and of the apricots, and try to replicate. And do not forget to serve the rest of that wine with your meal.
Keep warm, ragazzi.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
GNARLY: Potato celery root gratin
Annalena has made no secret of her rather unwieldly cookbook collection. What she HAS kept secret is that, at this point, she rarely looks for recipes in them. This is true, ragazzi, and it is NOT because she is such an expert she doesn't need them. Rather, it comes from two points: first, she's too lazy to do so. Second, by and large, Annalena, as do all of you, rests on the same techniques and principles for her cooking. A breaded fish, is a breaded fish. Want pasta sauce? What's in the fridge? And so on and so forth. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? And it speaks to general principles: keep your fridge and pantry stocked with good stuff, learn some basics, and you'll never need to read Annalena for anything other than entertainment again.
Except... sometimes, she DOES go to them for inspiration. In deciding to make lentil soup, Annalena was tired of her regular recipe, so she looked for inspiration, and went to her collection of cookbooks from Greens restaurant. This is always something that can be very time consuming because, there's always "that" recipe that strikes her as something she should try. And THAT one. And THAT one... So it was, and you will be seeing this happen in days and even weeks to come, as Annalena looks for inspiration for her fall and winter vegetables.
This time, one of the books fell open to a recipe for "celery root gratin." Now, Annalena LOVES celery root. And this is not a vegetable that is easy to love. She thinks that "gnarly" may have been invented to describe it:
See what she means? All that green stuff, and all that brown stuff, will have to go off of the thing before you cook it. But what you will wind up with is something that tastes in between potatoes and celery. It is SO good. The French know this. They serve it raw, in celery root remoulade, which is essentially sliced celery root and mayonnaise. Nuthin wrong with that, huh kids?
But this recipe was intriguing: a baked cheese dish with celery root. EXCEPT... there was no cheese in it. Only as an option. It was, in fact, a vegan recipe which COULD be made dairy vegetarian. That is how Annalena made it. As with so many recipes here, it is easy. VERY easy. And if you are willing to take out a good knife and clean a couple of the above monsters, you will be rewarded with a beautiful, unique, and tasty dish. And Annalena asserts it belongs on your Thanksgiving table.
Here we go. First, you need a baking dish that will accommodate about three pounds of ingredients. Something like a deep dish 9 inch pie pan, or a 9x9 square should do it. If you have nothing that big, divide this. For ingredients, you will need about a cup and a half of a tomato product (we will come to this below), a pound and a half of potatoes (more on this below too), and about a pound and a half of celery root. That's probably two medium sized one, but ask your farmer to weigh them. And if you want the cheese option, 3-4 ounces of a good strong cheese, like gruyere, or a good swiss (which is what Annalena used).
Preheat your oven to 375 while you prep the ingredients. For the tomato product: the recipe called for a cup and a half of tomat sauce. Annalena had sauce on hand, but she also had a very large heirloom tomato, the second of two which were giving her the snake eye. So, she chopped it, salted it, and mixed it with olive oil. Fine, fine fine.
For your potatoes: you're going to be boiling them, so red skins are best, or yukon golds. Actually, anything but russets will do. The russets will fall apart on you, rather than stay in the slices you need.
Get a pot of water (don't heat it yet). Peel your potatoes, and slice them into about 1/3 inch slices. Get them in cold water, add salt, and bring them to a simmer. You will want to cook them for about five minutes, which will not completely cook them, but will get them started.
While that's happening, prep your celery root. No peeler here folks. Get a big strong knife. Cut the bottom half inch off to make it sit up straight, then the green stuff on top, and then just cut down like you're peeling a pineapple. After you have the large, white "thang," cut it in half, lengthwise, and then cut those into slices about the size of the potato slices.
By now, the potatoes should be done. Get them out with a strainer so you can reuse the water for the celery root (Hurricane Sandy did teach Annalean something). The celery root, too, cooks for about five minutes. And now, drain that.
You will have two, separate bowls of vegetables. You need to let them cool a bit, and then we can get started.
Put half of your tomatoes on the bottom of your dish. Now, layer potatoes and celery root, alternating slices, in rings. Pack it tight. If you are using the cheese option, put half of it, either in small chunks, cubes or grated, over this layer. Now repeat the tomatoes, the vegetables, and the cheese. You should be done with all. IF you have left over vegetables, toss them on top.
Put the whole thing, uncovered, into the oven for 45 minutes. Your home is going to smell wonderful and when it comes out of the oven... OH, MY. This is one where Annalena wishes she had taken a picture.
That did not sound like much work, did it? And it's not. You could do this in a little more than an hour, and your work time is on the order of twenty minutes.
Try something different, ragazzi. You will become acquainted with a vegetable which, Annalena warns you, may become an obsession...
Except... sometimes, she DOES go to them for inspiration. In deciding to make lentil soup, Annalena was tired of her regular recipe, so she looked for inspiration, and went to her collection of cookbooks from Greens restaurant. This is always something that can be very time consuming because, there's always "that" recipe that strikes her as something she should try. And THAT one. And THAT one... So it was, and you will be seeing this happen in days and even weeks to come, as Annalena looks for inspiration for her fall and winter vegetables.
This time, one of the books fell open to a recipe for "celery root gratin." Now, Annalena LOVES celery root. And this is not a vegetable that is easy to love. She thinks that "gnarly" may have been invented to describe it:
See what she means? All that green stuff, and all that brown stuff, will have to go off of the thing before you cook it. But what you will wind up with is something that tastes in between potatoes and celery. It is SO good. The French know this. They serve it raw, in celery root remoulade, which is essentially sliced celery root and mayonnaise. Nuthin wrong with that, huh kids?
But this recipe was intriguing: a baked cheese dish with celery root. EXCEPT... there was no cheese in it. Only as an option. It was, in fact, a vegan recipe which COULD be made dairy vegetarian. That is how Annalena made it. As with so many recipes here, it is easy. VERY easy. And if you are willing to take out a good knife and clean a couple of the above monsters, you will be rewarded with a beautiful, unique, and tasty dish. And Annalena asserts it belongs on your Thanksgiving table.
Here we go. First, you need a baking dish that will accommodate about three pounds of ingredients. Something like a deep dish 9 inch pie pan, or a 9x9 square should do it. If you have nothing that big, divide this. For ingredients, you will need about a cup and a half of a tomato product (we will come to this below), a pound and a half of potatoes (more on this below too), and about a pound and a half of celery root. That's probably two medium sized one, but ask your farmer to weigh them. And if you want the cheese option, 3-4 ounces of a good strong cheese, like gruyere, or a good swiss (which is what Annalena used).
Preheat your oven to 375 while you prep the ingredients. For the tomato product: the recipe called for a cup and a half of tomat sauce. Annalena had sauce on hand, but she also had a very large heirloom tomato, the second of two which were giving her the snake eye. So, she chopped it, salted it, and mixed it with olive oil. Fine, fine fine.
For your potatoes: you're going to be boiling them, so red skins are best, or yukon golds. Actually, anything but russets will do. The russets will fall apart on you, rather than stay in the slices you need.
Get a pot of water (don't heat it yet). Peel your potatoes, and slice them into about 1/3 inch slices. Get them in cold water, add salt, and bring them to a simmer. You will want to cook them for about five minutes, which will not completely cook them, but will get them started.
While that's happening, prep your celery root. No peeler here folks. Get a big strong knife. Cut the bottom half inch off to make it sit up straight, then the green stuff on top, and then just cut down like you're peeling a pineapple. After you have the large, white "thang," cut it in half, lengthwise, and then cut those into slices about the size of the potato slices.
By now, the potatoes should be done. Get them out with a strainer so you can reuse the water for the celery root (Hurricane Sandy did teach Annalean something). The celery root, too, cooks for about five minutes. And now, drain that.
You will have two, separate bowls of vegetables. You need to let them cool a bit, and then we can get started.
Put half of your tomatoes on the bottom of your dish. Now, layer potatoes and celery root, alternating slices, in rings. Pack it tight. If you are using the cheese option, put half of it, either in small chunks, cubes or grated, over this layer. Now repeat the tomatoes, the vegetables, and the cheese. You should be done with all. IF you have left over vegetables, toss them on top.
Put the whole thing, uncovered, into the oven for 45 minutes. Your home is going to smell wonderful and when it comes out of the oven... OH, MY. This is one where Annalena wishes she had taken a picture.
That did not sound like much work, did it? And it's not. You could do this in a little more than an hour, and your work time is on the order of twenty minutes.
Try something different, ragazzi. You will become acquainted with a vegetable which, Annalena warns you, may become an obsession...
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Look to the lentil: Annalena makes lentil soup
It is that time of year where we would all normally be looking for comfort. Let us face it, ragazzi, once November 1 comes around, it's a sprint to the end of the year - for ALL of us. And in that sprint, how many of us feel "I'm not taking care of myself," or "I'm not getting what I want."
Are you looking around? Lots of hands going up. Well, Annalena hopes that this recipe is going to help fix that, at least a bit.
One of the ways we try to "take care of ourselves" is by spoiling ourselves, or reaching for what we feel is comfort food. And, let us face it: there are not many of us who equate celery sticks, crispy apples, and low fat yogurt with comfort. In fact, maybe there are NONE of us. During trying times, we eat to feel good. Annalena was struck by an article she read last week that said that many people were commenting on the weight they had gained during the recovery from Hurricane Sandy. Reaching for cookies, french fries, and so forth, had much to do with it.
Annalena is proud to say that in fact, she and the Guyman LOST weight during that period. It was the 12 flights of stairs, up and down, 5- 6 times a day, every day. And the attempts to keep to routine.
But that goes off track a bit. Let's go back to comfort food, and think about it for a minute: soup. Is there anyone who does not feel cuddled, and in fact, HUGGED, by a bowl of good tasting, hot soup? Annalena thinks not. BUT... we do not often think of it when we reach for comfort food for a couple of reasons. First, it is difficult to find GOOD soup when you buy it. Soup prepared in huge 40 gallon portions, does not taste good, and it can't. The stuff you make at home is going to be much better. BUT... Annalena can hear you saying now "it's so hard... " and "it takes too much time.'
Well, no, it's not, and if you spent an hour playing online, you could have been making soup. And enough for more than one meal. And we're going to be making lentil soup today, adapted from one of Annalena's cookbooks from the wonderful "Greens" restaurant. It is called Moroccan Lentil soup, although Annalena does not know why. Follow through this ragazzi, and make your own variations. It is a VEGAN soup that is very low in fat, and very high in all that is good for you.
There is only one thing that you need to be careful of: BUY GOOD LENTILS. If you have made lentil soup before, and found it unsatisfactory, it was probably because you used those lentils you can buy in a bag for 69 cents.
You get what you pay for. Buy good lentils. For this soup, Annalena recomments brown lentils from Castellucio Italy . You can find them in any good Italian market. They will set you back about 3.00 for a pound, which is enough to make about six quarts of soup.
You will need a cup of the dried ones for this. (Incidentally, you could use the red ones, "dhal", or the green ones "lentils du Puy" here as well. The red ones will give you a very soft soup, the green ones, a thin one with chewier lentils. It is up to you. ). Measure them out, and put them aside whilst you prepare your vegetables and spices.
For vegetables, dice up a large onion. You want about two cups. Also, dice a couple of carrots, to get a cup, and a few stalks of celery. If the celery is less than the amount of carrots, don't sweat it. Put these aside, and measure out your spices.
Here, Annalena will tell you what she used, but you can vary this. You really can. Annalena had a quarter teaspoon of cayenne pepper, a heaping half teaspoon of cumin and ground coriander, and a half teaspoon of tumeric. You should have the pepper and cumin in your house. If you don't, get some. Annalena does not expect you to have the others. You can use ginger, or curry powder, or anything you like, as long as it's fresh, and honest.
You will also need a cup of tomato product of some sort. Annalena cut up a huge heirloom tomato that was giving her the stink eye. Canned tomatoes , crushed, will work, as will tomato sauce. And, finally, get some fresh ginger.
Ok, now we're ready to cook. Put the lentils in a pot with six cups of water, and a teaspoon of salt. Start them cooking. About twenty minutes.
Next to them, put two tablespoons of olive oil in a pan, with the onions, carrots and celery, together with a pinch of salt, and the cayenne pepper. Start these cooking, until the onion just begins to brown. Now , add those spices, and stir, for about three minutes, to release the flavor of the spices. You'll smell it. And now add the tomato and a big tablespoon of fresh grated ginger, and cook again, for another five minutes. Probably, the lentils and your vegetables, will finish up at the same time.
Don't drain the lentils. Rather, combine the water, the lentils, and those vegetables, and then cook them, at low heat, for another half hour. Chances are, your water levels will go down and you'll need to add more. Indeed, Annalena added a full three additional cups over the course of cooking this. Adjust the seasoning as you go. As you add more water, you will need to add salt. You may want to add more ginger. But at the end, you will have nearly two quarts of delicious, healthy soup.
If you like, you can add things, like chopped up leftover chicken to this, or cooked greens (a combination Annalena heartily recommends), or anything you like.
You will have been in the kitchen for an hour. You will have enough soup for you and at least one friend, and you WILL feel hugged. And know what? You don't have to feel bad or guilty about it.
These days, we all need hugs, and no one needs to feel guilty about what they put in their mouths. Be a bit empowered, ragazzi. Annalena wants you all to make soup this week.
Are you looking around? Lots of hands going up. Well, Annalena hopes that this recipe is going to help fix that, at least a bit.
One of the ways we try to "take care of ourselves" is by spoiling ourselves, or reaching for what we feel is comfort food. And, let us face it: there are not many of us who equate celery sticks, crispy apples, and low fat yogurt with comfort. In fact, maybe there are NONE of us. During trying times, we eat to feel good. Annalena was struck by an article she read last week that said that many people were commenting on the weight they had gained during the recovery from Hurricane Sandy. Reaching for cookies, french fries, and so forth, had much to do with it.
Annalena is proud to say that in fact, she and the Guyman LOST weight during that period. It was the 12 flights of stairs, up and down, 5- 6 times a day, every day. And the attempts to keep to routine.
But that goes off track a bit. Let's go back to comfort food, and think about it for a minute: soup. Is there anyone who does not feel cuddled, and in fact, HUGGED, by a bowl of good tasting, hot soup? Annalena thinks not. BUT... we do not often think of it when we reach for comfort food for a couple of reasons. First, it is difficult to find GOOD soup when you buy it. Soup prepared in huge 40 gallon portions, does not taste good, and it can't. The stuff you make at home is going to be much better. BUT... Annalena can hear you saying now "it's so hard... " and "it takes too much time.'
Well, no, it's not, and if you spent an hour playing online, you could have been making soup. And enough for more than one meal. And we're going to be making lentil soup today, adapted from one of Annalena's cookbooks from the wonderful "Greens" restaurant. It is called Moroccan Lentil soup, although Annalena does not know why. Follow through this ragazzi, and make your own variations. It is a VEGAN soup that is very low in fat, and very high in all that is good for you.
There is only one thing that you need to be careful of: BUY GOOD LENTILS. If you have made lentil soup before, and found it unsatisfactory, it was probably because you used those lentils you can buy in a bag for 69 cents.
You get what you pay for. Buy good lentils. For this soup, Annalena recomments brown lentils from Castellucio Italy . You can find them in any good Italian market. They will set you back about 3.00 for a pound, which is enough to make about six quarts of soup.
You will need a cup of the dried ones for this. (Incidentally, you could use the red ones, "dhal", or the green ones "lentils du Puy" here as well. The red ones will give you a very soft soup, the green ones, a thin one with chewier lentils. It is up to you. ). Measure them out, and put them aside whilst you prepare your vegetables and spices.
For vegetables, dice up a large onion. You want about two cups. Also, dice a couple of carrots, to get a cup, and a few stalks of celery. If the celery is less than the amount of carrots, don't sweat it. Put these aside, and measure out your spices.
Here, Annalena will tell you what she used, but you can vary this. You really can. Annalena had a quarter teaspoon of cayenne pepper, a heaping half teaspoon of cumin and ground coriander, and a half teaspoon of tumeric. You should have the pepper and cumin in your house. If you don't, get some. Annalena does not expect you to have the others. You can use ginger, or curry powder, or anything you like, as long as it's fresh, and honest.
You will also need a cup of tomato product of some sort. Annalena cut up a huge heirloom tomato that was giving her the stink eye. Canned tomatoes , crushed, will work, as will tomato sauce. And, finally, get some fresh ginger.
Ok, now we're ready to cook. Put the lentils in a pot with six cups of water, and a teaspoon of salt. Start them cooking. About twenty minutes.
Next to them, put two tablespoons of olive oil in a pan, with the onions, carrots and celery, together with a pinch of salt, and the cayenne pepper. Start these cooking, until the onion just begins to brown. Now , add those spices, and stir, for about three minutes, to release the flavor of the spices. You'll smell it. And now add the tomato and a big tablespoon of fresh grated ginger, and cook again, for another five minutes. Probably, the lentils and your vegetables, will finish up at the same time.
Don't drain the lentils. Rather, combine the water, the lentils, and those vegetables, and then cook them, at low heat, for another half hour. Chances are, your water levels will go down and you'll need to add more. Indeed, Annalena added a full three additional cups over the course of cooking this. Adjust the seasoning as you go. As you add more water, you will need to add salt. You may want to add more ginger. But at the end, you will have nearly two quarts of delicious, healthy soup.
If you like, you can add things, like chopped up leftover chicken to this, or cooked greens (a combination Annalena heartily recommends), or anything you like.
You will have been in the kitchen for an hour. You will have enough soup for you and at least one friend, and you WILL feel hugged. And know what? You don't have to feel bad or guilty about it.
These days, we all need hugs, and no one needs to feel guilty about what they put in their mouths. Be a bit empowered, ragazzi. Annalena wants you all to make soup this week.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Survival salad
Well, that WAS an interesting time there, wasn't it, ragazzi on the Northeast? Annalena is still recovering from it, in the mental and psychological sense. Her power is back on, lights are on, there's hot water, heat in the apartment, and the trains are pretty much here again. But the memories of that week will "linger," although Annalena would prefer to use the word "fester." In her 55 years on this planet, the lady has never experienced anything like that. Walking up and down twelve flights of stairs, up to six times a day was less an inconvenience than one would think. Flushing the toilet once a day, with two gallons of water, was moreso. Listening to the empty news reports was frustrating, as was realizing that she and the Guyman had not prepared properly for this. Tossing out thawed meat that had cost her a small fortune was sad, but needed to be done, and Annalena did it ruthlessly.
Everyone has his or her breaking point, and to be honest, Annalena's came at a very odd point. She and the Guyman had had dinner in midtown, since they assumed that their neighborhood was, essentially, closed. She had ordered a car to pick them up afterwards, because cabs were scarce. The car never appeared. A frantic call to the company (who will not be named), indicated they had lost the reservation, but could send a car "in 1-3 hours." Really? Anyway, the Guyman and Annalena found a cab, and the image, upon arriving home, of power and light two blocks away, but not for her, sent Annalena over the edge. It truly did. She's not proud, but not sorry. Everyone has theirs.
Ok, enough of that. To food. Annalena's oven was out of service for the duration, but her cooktop is gas powered, so she and the Guyman ate well. They ate very well. But with nothing to buy at the markets, there came a time where Annalena began to be stumped. This salad, born from what was in the house, turned out to be much better tasting than it has any right to be. In fact, it is so good, that we will have it again.
Calling it "survival salad" is too dramatic, but it will get you to read this. It's a good salad. Annalena wants you to make it. Please.
You start with cherry tomatoes. Half them, and then look at how many you have. This is how you will measure the two next ingredients, which are green olives, and celery. You want half as much of each of these, as you have tomatoes. For green olives, ragazzi, we do NOT use olives from a can, and we do NOT use pitted olives. (Although Annalena will admit that pitting olives by candlelight is an interesting sport). Crush the olives with your big knife, and don't worry about the shape they're in. Toss them in a bowl, with the cherry tomatoes. Now, celery. Smaller ribs, please. Cut thin half moons of the stuff, to a quantity equal to the olives. And, finally, one large red or pink grapefruit. Peel it, segment it, and mix it in with all of the other ingredients. Now, make a dressing. Mustard, please. White vinegar, and olive oil. Heavier on the olive oil than you might think, because you are getting acid from the grapefruit. Taste, and salt as you need (and in a stressed situation, you will want more).
This is delicious. The ingredients are available just about always, so while we can call it local with farmers market tomatoes (still there!), you can make it any time of year. It also keeps well in the refrigerator, even one that doesn't work, and tastes great on toasted bread as a left over.
Enjoy it, ragazzi! Annalena hopes that everyone who experienced this traumatic event, learned something from it. She also hopes that all of you did something good for someone else during the week, because if you did, it will come back to you. It did for Annalena.
Everyone has his or her breaking point, and to be honest, Annalena's came at a very odd point. She and the Guyman had had dinner in midtown, since they assumed that their neighborhood was, essentially, closed. She had ordered a car to pick them up afterwards, because cabs were scarce. The car never appeared. A frantic call to the company (who will not be named), indicated they had lost the reservation, but could send a car "in 1-3 hours." Really? Anyway, the Guyman and Annalena found a cab, and the image, upon arriving home, of power and light two blocks away, but not for her, sent Annalena over the edge. It truly did. She's not proud, but not sorry. Everyone has theirs.
Ok, enough of that. To food. Annalena's oven was out of service for the duration, but her cooktop is gas powered, so she and the Guyman ate well. They ate very well. But with nothing to buy at the markets, there came a time where Annalena began to be stumped. This salad, born from what was in the house, turned out to be much better tasting than it has any right to be. In fact, it is so good, that we will have it again.
Calling it "survival salad" is too dramatic, but it will get you to read this. It's a good salad. Annalena wants you to make it. Please.
You start with cherry tomatoes. Half them, and then look at how many you have. This is how you will measure the two next ingredients, which are green olives, and celery. You want half as much of each of these, as you have tomatoes. For green olives, ragazzi, we do NOT use olives from a can, and we do NOT use pitted olives. (Although Annalena will admit that pitting olives by candlelight is an interesting sport). Crush the olives with your big knife, and don't worry about the shape they're in. Toss them in a bowl, with the cherry tomatoes. Now, celery. Smaller ribs, please. Cut thin half moons of the stuff, to a quantity equal to the olives. And, finally, one large red or pink grapefruit. Peel it, segment it, and mix it in with all of the other ingredients. Now, make a dressing. Mustard, please. White vinegar, and olive oil. Heavier on the olive oil than you might think, because you are getting acid from the grapefruit. Taste, and salt as you need (and in a stressed situation, you will want more).
This is delicious. The ingredients are available just about always, so while we can call it local with farmers market tomatoes (still there!), you can make it any time of year. It also keeps well in the refrigerator, even one that doesn't work, and tastes great on toasted bread as a left over.
Enjoy it, ragazzi! Annalena hopes that everyone who experienced this traumatic event, learned something from it. She also hopes that all of you did something good for someone else during the week, because if you did, it will come back to you. It did for Annalena.
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