Christmas Cheesecake and Quiche

For our Christmas meal, which we had on the 22nd, Steve and I made an onion quiche from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking and cran-raspberry cheesecake from the Joy of Baking website. They were both delicious. Here are some previews:



Onion Quiche

3 T butter
1 T oil
2 lbs. onions, diced
3 eggs
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup grated Swiss cheese
1 unbaked pie crust
2 T butter

Preheat oven to 375. Saute onions in oil and butter over very low heat until golden and soft; this will take about 1 hour. Beat together eggs and cream in small bowl. Stir in half of the cheese. Gradually add onions to egg and cheese mixture. Pour into pie crust. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Cut the 2 T butter into small pieces and dot over cheese. Bake for about 1/2 hour, until eggs are set.

Cran-Raspberry Cheesecake

Crust
1 c graham cracker crumbs
2 T sugar
1/4 c butter, melted

Filling
20 oz. fresh whole milk ricotta, drained
8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 c sugar
1 T cornstarch
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 t vanilla

Cran-Raspberry Sauce
3 cups frozen unsweetened raspberries
2 cups fresh cranberries
1/2 cup sugar
1 T cornstarch

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and butter, or spray with non stick cooking spray, a 9 inch (23 cm) spring form pan. Wrap the outside of the pan with two layers of heavy aluminum foil.

For Crust: In a medium sized bowl combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. Press the crumbs evenly over the bottom of the spring form pan. Cover and refrigerate while you make the filling.

For Filling: Place the ricotta in a fine-meshed strainer or else a cheesecloth-lined strainer that has been suspended over a bowl. Cover and place in the refrigerator to drain for several hours, or even overnight.

In the bowl of your food processor or electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), place the cream cheese and beat until smooth and free of lumps. Add the ricotta and sugar and beat until smooth (about 2 - 3 minutes), scraping down the bowl as needed. Beat in the cornstarch. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating about 30 seconds after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat in the lemon zest, vanilla extract

, and salt and beat until incorporated.

Remove the crust from the refrigerator and pour in the filling. Place the spring form pan in a large roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into the roasting pan to come about halfway up the sides of your spring form pan.

Bake for about one hour to one hour 15 minutes, or until the top of the cheesecake has nicely browned and the center of the cake moves slightly when the pan is gently shaken. Remove the pan from the water bath and cool on a wire rack. Cover and refrigerate until the cheesecake is cold, about 6 - 8 hours or overnight. Serve in small slices with a spoonful of Cran-Raspberry Sauce (if desired).

Cran-Raspberry Sauce: In a large saucepan combine all the ingredients. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the sauce thickens and is bubbly. Remove from heat and let cool. (Note: taste and add more sugar as needed.) Cover and store in the refrigerator. Makes about 2 cups (480 ml).

Read more: http://www.joyofbaking.com/RicottaCheesecakewithCran-RaspberrySauce.html#ixzz0b1is5vGg

As this recipe suggested, I baked the cheesecake in a water bath. However, even though I wrapped the spring form pan in foil, the water still leaked in a little bit. Others have told me that they don't use the water bath and the cheesecake turns out fine. I'm not sure which to recommend; I guess that's a decision you'll have to make on your own. But, despite the slightly mushy crust around the edges, the cheesecake was delicious!

No-yeast, (almost) no-knead, but Tasty Pizza Crust

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2/3 cups water
1/4 cup oil

Mix all ingredients together, knead a little bit. Roll out the dough and rub a bit of oil on it to prevent the sauce from soaking in, and go about your business of adding sauce, cheese, and vegetables. Cook at 425 for about 20 minutes. Yum!

Baked - Thanksgiving Leftover Edition

I'll begin with my favorite thanksgiving recipe: cranberry sauce. It's pretty simple. Buy a can of jellied cranberry sauce, open can, slide out can-shaped cylinder of jellied cranberry sauce, slice, and eat.

Now, you've probably just muttered "philistine" after reading that last sentence, so I will attempt to redeem myself with a "real" recipe. This is for something called Cranberry Crunch Squares (found here), which served as a way to utilize a large amount of leftover cranberry sauce at my parents house.

Stuff

1 Cup Oatmeal

1/2 Cup Flour

1 Cup Brown Sugar

1/2 Cup of Butter + Some For Greasing Pan

1/4 Cup Pecans

Orange Zest

1/4 Teaspoon Cinnamon

1 Can of Cranberry Sauce

Action

1. Put the oatmeal, flour, brown sugar, pecans, orange zest, and cinnamon into a mixing bowl. Cut the butter into the ingredients and mix until it becomes crumbly.

2. Grease a small baking pan. Cover bottom of pan with half of the mixture. Then slice up the cranberry sauce and lay it over the first layer of crumbs. Then spread the remaining crumbs on top of the layer of cranberry sauce.

3. Bake at 350 degrees, 45 minutes.

Thanksgiving Apple Stuffing

In honor of Thanksgiving, I thought I'd post my Grandma's recipe for Apple Stuffing. I've made this the past couple of Thanksgivings when my husband and I weren't able to travel home for the holiday, and it's fairly simple to make. I also think it has a lot more flavor than the stuff that comes out of a box :)

Many of the measurements are approximate rather than exact, so don't worry about experimenting with it. You really can't go wrong-- just taste and adjust while you're cooking. For vegetarians, leave out the bacon and substitute vegetable broth for chicken broth. For meat lovers, try adding your favorite sausage for extra flavor.

Ingredients

• 1 stick butter
• 3-4 slices of bacon
• 1 apple, chopped (small pieces, but you don't need to mince it)
• 1 onion, chopped (same)
• 1/2 cup celery chopped
• about 1/2 lb. bread in one inch cubes (Sometimes you can find the pre-packaged bread cubes for making stuffing in the grocery store. If you make your own, be sure to use older bread that is dry or put your bread cubes in the oven for a few minutes to dry them out.)
• about 1/3 cup dry white wine
• about 1/2 cup chicken broth
• sage, thyme, salt, and pepper to taste

In a large skillet, saute the butter, bacon, apple, onion, and celery for about 30 minutes over medium-low heat. The vegetables should soften. Stir often.

Add the bread cubes, wine, and chicken broth. Adjust or add liquids as necessary. Season with sage, thyme, salt, and pepper to taste.

Transfer the stuffing into a casserole dish and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Simple Garlic Hummus

Ingredients
4 Cups Chickpeas (canned, drained, but save some liquid)
1/2 Cup Olive Oil
4 Cloves Garlic, Peeled
1/2 Cup Lemon Juice
Salt & Pepper
1 Tablespoon Cayenne Pepper

Real simple. Put all this stuff into a blender. Blend until you have hummus. Add more garlic, lemon juice, or cayenne pepper, to taste. The only trick here, if it's too thick, you can add some of the liquid from the beans to keep it blending smoothly.

This is probably the most basic of many possible variations, but it turned out as good as the Trader Joe's garlic hummus we usually get. It was so easy, I'm not sure why we haven't been making it ourselves all along.

"The quintessential fall soup"

This soup is from a new cookbook that I got for my birthday called Clean Food by Terry Walters. The recipes are organized seasonally, so the ingredients they call for are only what is generally in season. From the fall section, I made Apple Squash Soup. It was simple and so yummy!

Apple Squash Soup

1 large butternut squash
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 tablespoons oil
4 large apples, peeled, cored, and chunked
4 cups vegetable stock
1 cup (rice) milk
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
sea salt

Peel squash, cut in half, remove seeds. Cut into 2-inch pieces. In large pot over medium heat, saute onion in oil until soft (about 5 minutes). Add squash, apples, stock, milk, coconut milk, and nutmeg. Cover; bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until squash is soft. Puree with blender or food processor. Cool slightly, season with salt and serve.

Creamy Potatoes with Eggplant and Cheese

Steve and I made this from the Mark Bittman cookbook a few weeks ago. We found this recipe in search of something to do with the potatoes we purchased for a different meal. It's actually a variation on a Greek dish, called pastitsio, usually made with pasta instead of potatoes. It turned out to be really, really delicious, but a bit time-consuming to make. We started making it late and ended up eating around 10'o'clock. Don't let the time of preparation scare you, though. This is seriously one of the tastiest things we've made.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more as needed
1 lb. eggplant, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 small red onion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon each ground cinnamon and cloves
cayenne or hot red pepper flakes to taste
2 cups chopped tomato (canned are fine)
4 tablespoons butter
1 lb. all purpose potatoes, washed, peeled, and cut into cubes
2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
1 1/2 cups milk
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
pinch of nutmeg
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup Parmesan

Put olive oil in a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add the eggplant, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally and adding a little more oil if necessary, until the eggplant it softened and browned all over, about 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon. Add more oil to the pan if needed to coat the bottom and return it to the heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 2 minutes. Turn the heat down to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens, about 10 minutes. Return the eggplant to the pan, taste and adjust the seasoning, then set aside. Put potatoes in a large pot, fill with cold water, and salt it. Boil the potatoes until softened, drain. Put the potatoes into a large bowl and toss with 1 tablespoon of the melted butter and 1 tablespoon of the breadcrumbs. Use some butter to grease a baking dish.

In a small saucepan or microwave, heat the milk until small bubbles appear. Reheat the remaining butter over medium-low heat in its saucepan. Add the flour to the melted butter and stir almost constantly with a wire whisk until the mixture turns golden, about 5 minutes. Slowly add the milk, whisking constantly; cook, whisking, until the mixture thickens, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the nutmeg and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Stir a couple of tablespoons of the hot sauce mixture into the beaten eggs, then a little more. Pour this mixture back into the sauce and stir. Add most of the Parmesan and stir again.
Put half the potatoes in the baking dish; cover with half the eggplant mixture. Cover with the remaining potatoes, then the remaining eggplant and all the cheese sauce. Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan and the remaining breadcrumbs. Bake for about 45 minutes, until top turns golden brown. Let rest for a few minutes before cutting and serving.

Stirred Custard

This recipe is from my mom. My two older sisters, Erika and Celeste, made a cookbook for her when they were little, and this is one of the recipes from it. If I had a scanner, I could post Celeste's drawing of the spoon with eyelashes and dressed in fringe, but I don't. Just use your imagination.

Ingredients
4 eggs or 3 eggs and 2 yolks, slightly beaten
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon flour (my mom leaves this out)
2 1/2 cups milk, scalded
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla

Combine eggs, sugar, and flour. Gradually stir in milk. Cook, stirring constantly, in double boiler over hot, but not boiling, water until mixture coats spoon. Remove from heat immediately. Cool slightly. Stir in salt and vanilla. Chill rapidly. Makes 4 to 5 servings.

Roasted Tomato Caprese Salad

I know this won't strike anyone as a very innovative dish, but I had to share it. I was watching the Food Network (my default channel) last week and watched the Barefoot Contessa (Ina Garten) cook up this deliciously juicy dish. We are all used to the typical tomato, basil, and mozzarella salad, but the difference here is that the tomatoes are slow roasted. Yummmm...the juices are locked right in and explode forth when you take a bite! Here is the recipe as it appears in one of Ina's cookbooks. (Sorry, I know these pictures look a little funky...we only have a video camera to take pictures and it doesn't have a flash :-/)

Ingredients

nocoupons

• 12 plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise, seeds (not cores) removed
• 1/4 cup good olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 16 ounces fresh salted mozzarella
• 12 fresh basil leaves, julienned

Directions

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F.

Arrange the tomatoes on a sheet pan, cut sides up, in a single layer. Drizzle with 1/4 cup of olive oil and the balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle with the garlic, sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Roast for 2 hours until the tomatoes are concentrated and begin to caramelize. Allow the tomatoes to cool to room temperature.

Cut the mozzarella into slices slightly less than 1/2-inch thick. If the slices of mozzarella are larger than the tomatoes, cut the mozzarella slices in half. Layer the tomatoes alternately with the mozzarella on a platter and scatter the basil on top. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Serve at room temperature.



This recipe was the centerpiece of what became a yummy Italian meal, perfect to enjoy during a pleasant Saturday evening with dinner and a movie. :-) Ben and I took a treat trip to Whole Foods (we're not regulars there for obvious reasons) and picked up some Cilantro-Lime Pesto for a simple pasta dish and splurged just a little on some special prosciutto. If you ever see La Quercia products at the grocery, consider treating yourself (esecially if your looking forward to a nice night in!). They come from Iowa, surprisingly enough, but critics agree that they give comparable Italian products a run for their money! The prosciutto was featured in Chicago Magazine and is truly oh so savory -- not stringy or chewy. It really just melts in your mouth like butter.

Top it all off with a delicious glass of Italian-friendly red wine and it won't disappoint! You don't have to do all this to enjoy that yummy Roasted Tomato Caprese Salad, though. It can certainly be savored anytime, anywhere!

Spicy Tomato Soup

This is probably the quickest and easiest soup I've ever made from scratch (about 15-20 minutes total prep and cook time) and it was so much tastier than something out of a can. It was warm and comforting-- perfect for a cool fall evening.

Recipe* (as seen on "Everyday Italian" on the Food Network)

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (26-ounce) jar Marinara sauce
28 ounces low sodium chicken broth (vegetarians can substitute vegetable broth)
1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed (These are white kidney beans. If your grocery store doesn't carry them, you can substitute navy beans or red kidney beans.)
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup pastina (small sized) pasta (I used little shells)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Warm the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, onion, and garlic and saute until soft, about 2-3 minutes. Add the jar of marinara sauce, broth, cannellini beans, red pepper flakes, pasta, salt and pepper. Simmer for 10 minutes. Ladle into bowls and serve.

(I recommend serving with grilled cheese or garlic bread. Keep it simple and yummy!)

Now that I've tried the recipe, I'll do two things differently next time. My husband thought it was a little too spicy, so I will go with 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes in the future. If you like more spice, of course, you can increase the red pepper flakes. Also, the carrots were a little al dente for my taste, so I will probably saute my veggies for 4-5 minutes before adding the liquids next time.

the simplest, most delicious cilantro tomatillo salsa EVER!

This salsa is simply delicious! Just be careful...once you start, it's hard to stop eating it!

Here's what you need:

• 4 medium (about 8 ounces total) tomatillos, husked, rinsed and quartered
• 1 large garlic clove, peeled and quartered
• Hot green chiles to taste (2 serranos or 1 jalapeño), stemmed and roughly chopped
• 1/2 to 2/3 cup (loosely packed) roughly chopped cilantro
• Salt

Combine tomatillos, garlic, chile and cilantro in a blender jar or food processor. Add ¼ (I tend to use less so the consistency isn't so thin) cup water and a generous ½ teaspoon salt. Process to a coarse puree. If using a blender, begin blending on low, at first pulsing to get the mixture moving evenly through the blender blades. Pour into a salsa dish and thin with a little more water if necessary (probably not necessary!) to give the salsa an easily spoonable consistency. Taste and season with additional salt, if you think necessary. Serve it right away!! YUM!! :-D

Try this right away! I PROMISE you won't be disappointed!

'Za' is an acceptable two-letter word in Scrabble

Short for pizza. This is a denouement of sorts from the inaugural post, which described an honest second attempt at the creation of fine French bread. It failed.

What we have here is a pizza, the dough of which a 4-year-old could make. I set my sights lower this time, and the aim was true.

A rundown of the (admittedly simple) ingredients:

3 cups flour

One packet of yeast (1.5 ozs., I think)

25 turns' worth of pepper on my Trader Joe's plastic grinder (about a tsp)

2 tsps. of dried basil leaves (fresh is better but I live in a land of Philistines)

2 tsps. salt

3/4 cup tomato sauce

1 small onion

1 tomato, thinly-sliced

4 cloves garlic

More salt

Combine the first five ingredients a mixing bowl with 1 and 1/4 cup water, and stir together with a spoon. It'll get clumpy after 5 or so minutes. Knead for 2-3 minutes, let rise for 20 minutes, spread by hand into something that resembles a pizza, place on pizza pan.

Spread tomato sauce, add the tomato, onion, garlic, and salt, and, and put in the oven. The oven should be as hot as it gets. (Mine goes to 550 degrees.)

Bake until brown and done (~8-10 minutes.)

The key with this pie is that it was cheeseless and I didn't use any oil, which means, I'd like to think, that it was something more than vegan. The dough was a little dry, but I blame that on lack of proper hydration in the oven. (The use of a pizza stone is recommended by many sources to rectify this problem, I've read, but I don't know what a pizza stone is.) My taste rating for this was an Ohio 7 out of 10, which is a New York City 2 or 3. The onions were important. They definitely shrunk during baking, so don't skimp when you spread pre-oven.

Maybe 40 minutes total of preparation, plus a time spent washing excess flour from one's digits. And you have to eat it quickly. Homemade pizza refridgerated overnight is quite literally for the birds.

Not for the Faint of Heart

About two weeks ago, Steve and I made something called "Really Spicy Tofu and Peas in Coconut Milk" from the, of course, Mark Bittman cookbook. I've given this entry its title not only because of the spiciness of the dish, but because we made our own coconut milk, which was a dangerous endeavor itself.

Ingredients
3 large onions, quartered
One 28- or 35-oz. can tomatoes with their liquid
2 T neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 T garam masala or curry powder
1 1/2 - 2 lbs. firm to extra firm tofu, cut into cubes
1 1/2 c peas
1 1/2 c coconut milk
chopped fresh cilantro leaves for garnish
~5 cloves of garlic
1-3 dried chiles

Put the onions, tomatoes, garlic, and chiles into your food processor or blender and blend until smooth.

The more chiles you add, the spicier it will be, so be careful. We actually kept ours pretty tame, only adding two chiles. I think next time we'll add more.

Put the oil in a deep skillet or saucepan. When hot, add the tomato mixture, salt and pepper and spices. Cook until it becomes thick and sauce-like, about 10 minutes. Add the tofu and peas, cook for five minutes. Then comes the time to add the coconut milk. We made our own, which can be accomplished by blending about 2 cups of boiling water with shredded, dried, unsweetened coconut (we had some laying around so we thought we'd use it instead of buying the milk). But be careful! We're not sure what happened, but we think it may have been the very hot water - when we turned the blender on, a very powerful force made the top blow off (even though I was holding it down) and we had coconut shreds all over the kitchen.

After you wait for the water to cool down and you can blend it enough, you strain out the shreds and you have your coconut milk.

So after you add the coconut milk to the pan, you bring it to a boil, adjust seasoning, and serve. Voila! It was very yummy, reminiscent of some sort of Indian dish. We definitely recommend the recipe, but suggest that you just buy your coconut milk instead of trying to make it.

Strong To The Finish: Olive Oil Cake

This was my first time baking anything on my own, as far as I can remember. Baking involves a certain alchemy and hidden process that I find completely counter-intuitive, the translation between what you mix up in a bowl and what you pull out of an oven is difficult imaginative leap for me. The olive oil cake below is, admittedly, not a very flashy cake recipe, but it served as a birthday cake for someone who is now closer to 30 than 20, so more toned down tastes were required. What resulted was a good, versatile cake, chosen largely for the novelty of using olive oil as a flavor.

Ingredients
Butter (to grease pan)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup sugar
4 eggs, separated
1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 teaspoons grated orange zest

Steps

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9 x 13 inch pan. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside.
• Use electric mixer to beat olive oil with 3/4 cup of the sugar until creamy. Add egg yolks and beat until thick.
• Mix in the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt) until smooth. Stir in orange juice and zest.
• In separate bowl, beat egg whites until foamy, then mix in remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and beat until it has soft peaks[1]. Then stir eggs whites into batter, which is going to be very thick.
• Pour into pan and bake for 35 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 15 minutes.
  
• Frost or glaze as you like.[2]
  

[1] I only found out after I was done what "peaks" meant, something like the surface holding it shape somewhat.

[2] I say as you like, particularly, because I underestimated my abilities and made a pretty lame sugar & milk based frosting. Mostly, I would say don't over do it, if you want to appreciate the olive oil and orange flavors.

Taco Dip (Vegetarian)

Here's a recipe from my mom, another recipe that makes for a good labor day cookout dish or, as I can attest, goes well with sporting events. I prefer it with Ohio State victories over Michigan, but you can adjust your spectator sport of choice to taste.

Step 1
Spread 1 can of Refried Beans on the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan.

Step 2

Mix 2 large Cream Cheese (softened) and 1 large Sour Cream, and Taco Seasoning of your choice, hot or mild. (Use hand mixer for this) Spread this mixture on top of the refried beans in the pan.

Step 3
Dice up tomatoes and onions, shred lettuce. Make the next layer consisting of these items.

Step 4
Top with shredded cheddar cheese.

Step 5
Dip Tortilla Chips in and Enjoy!

Au Gratin....aka Freedom Breadcrumbs

This, like my last post, is more of a tip than a recipe. The tip is basically this: if you've got some vegetables or leftovers you're not sure what to do with, make it au gratin and you've got something new. Here's an example:

Grease a baking dish. Add the vegetables that you want to gratin-ize. Here we used broccoli and canned asparagus (dented can from "local" big box store, $.85). Cover with a layer of cheese and a layer of breadcrumbs. Broil for 5 minutes. Enjoy.

Our Labor Day Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

I've made this pie a few times before (a recipe I cut out from a Woman's Day magazine :) years ago) and it's one of our favorites. Wes asked me to make it and I was especially excited because I thought I might be able to get some fresh rhubarb at the farmer's market. Sadly, there was no fresh rhubarb to be found at the market or Whole Foods, so I had to resort to the frozen stuff. The pie did turn out wonderfully and the frozen rhubarb tastes just as good!

Ingredients
1 refrigerated read-to-use pie crust

Crumb topping
1 c flour
3/4 c uncooked rolled oats
1/2 c sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 stick (1/2 c) butter, melted

Filling
1 c sugar
1/4 c cornstarch
4 and 2/3 c one half inch pieces fresh rhubarb or 1 bag (20 0z) frozen rhubarb, thawed, drained and patted dry
2 pt (12 oz each) strawberries, halved (I cut them smaller, depending on the size of the strawberry)
1 Tbsp grated orange peel (not completely necessary)

Directions
1. Heat oven to 400 F. Fit pie crust into a 9-in deep-dish pie plate and flute edges. Line a baking sheet with foil.
2. Topping: Mix first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl. Add butter. Toss with a fork to form crumbs.
3. Mix sugar and cornstarch in a medium saucepan. Stir in rhubarb. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and, stirring often, cook about 3 minutes or until juices have thickened. Add strawberries and orange peel. Toss to coat. Pour into crust.
4. Gather crumbs, a handful at a time, and squeeze gently to clump. Break in small pieces, sprinkle over pie. Place pie on lined sheet to catch drips, and believe me, it definitely will!

5. Bake 50 to 60 minutes until fruit bubbles around edges and topping is golden brown (cover with foil if it looks like it's getting too dark too soon, you can always uncover it later on to finish browning crust). Cool on a wire wrack. Serve warm or at room temperature. We recommend serving it warm with vanilla ice cream. Happy Labor Day!

San Mateo Bean Dip

This bean dip is in honor of the start of football season. (Go Irish! 35-0 yesterday! :) It's one of my husband's favorite football snacks. It also makes a great appetizer for a party. The dip is probably devoid of any real nutritional value, but it's pretty darn tasty, and sometimes that's all that matters, right?

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 can of Frito's plain bean dip
• 1 package of McCormick's Original Taco Seasoning
• 3/4 cup of grated sharp cheddar cheese
• 3 chopped scallions (optional)
• 10 drops Tabasco sauce (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and beat with mixer until thoroughly combined. Put dip in casserole dish. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Serve warm with tortilla chips.

(Sorry there's no picture. Kendall started eating it before I could take one!)

This Pizza is F'ing Awesome

I've always liked making my own pizza. I used to get those pre-made pizza crusts when I was in college and add toppings. I never thought they were all that good and they are pretty expensive for what you get. The I started picking up a ball of pre-made dough from Trader Joe's (only costs like a buck) but I could never make it taste like much more than cardboard. So I ventured online to find a recipe for a homemade pizza crust and -- I found a great one (who knew the internet could be so helpful?) The downside is that it takes some time. This is a recipe found on allrecipes.com (not a bad site, I've used it a few times).

It goes like this:

INGREDIENTS

• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water. Sprinkle yeast over the top, and let stand for about 10 minutes, until foamy.
2. Stir the olive oil and salt into the yeast mixture, then mix in the whole wheat flour and 1 cup of the all-purpose flour until dough starts to come together. Tip dough out onto a surface floured with the remaining all-purpose flour, and knead until all of the flour has been absorbed, and the ball of dough becomes smooth, about 10 minutes. Place dough in an oiled bowl, and turn to coat the surface. Cover loosely with a towel, and let stand in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
3. When the dough is doubled, tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and divide into 2 pieces for 2 thin crust, or leave whole to make one thick crust. Form into a tight ball. Let rise for about 45 minutes, until doubled.
4. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Roll a ball of dough with a rolling pin until it will not stretch any further. Then, drape it over both of your fists, and gently pull the edges outward, while rotating the crust. When the circle has reached the desired size, place on a well oiled pizza pan. Top pizza with your favorite toppings, such as sauce, cheese, meats, or vegetables.
5. Bake for 16 to 20 minutes (depending on thickness) in the preheated oven, until the crust is crisp and golden at the edges, and cheese is melted on the top.

Just a few notes: this obviously makes two crusts. So, you may want to freeze one. The time to do that is after the first rise when you separate them. Then when you thaw it, you let it rise for the last 45 mins. If you don't freeze it, it keeps for a few days in the refrigerator.

Completing the pie:

We've tried a couple variations: standard pepperoni, jalapenos, tomatoes, mushrooms with store-bought sauce.

Tonight we tried something different and it was awesome. Here's how to replicate the awesomeness:

Instead of using a store-bought sauce, I made an oil based sauce (olive oil, pepper, salt, crushed garlic, grated parmesan cheese) and brushed it on the crust with a pastry brush. Then we added lots of fresh tomato slices, mozzarella cheese and grated parmesan flakes on top. Then bake until the cheese is a little browned and add fresh arugula leaves to the top.

This was a really good change inspired by a pizza my sister made a few weeks ago. I hope you'll try it!

Varada's Palak Paneer

This is a delicious recipe from my good friend Varada. She makes lots of wonderful dishes with paneer, and this is one of my favorites.

Ingredients
1 package paneer* (about 200 grams)
2 bunches of palak, i.e. spinach (I just used 2 bags of spinach)
1 onion (I only had green onions and they worked well)
1 tsp ginger garlic paste (I used a tsp of both ginger powder and garlic paste as a substitute)
2 med-lg tomatoes
1/2 c milk
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp garam masala*
a few tablespoons of oil
salt to taste
a little lemon juice is also good to add to taste
*likely only available at an Indian grocery store
Oh, and you'll want some rice too. I served my palak paneer over jasmine rice and it was perfect!

Directions
Go ahead and start your rice first so it's ready when you finish the palak paneer.

1. Pick, wash and boil palak leaves in minimum water for about 8 minutes. (I used one of my larger pots and filled it will a few inches of water. Two bags of palak does sound like a lot but it cooks down quite quickly. Also, don't worry about putting too much water into the pot, you can always drain the palak in a colander and squeeze out any excees water with a spoon, see photo below.)

2. Grind boiled palak coarsely. (I used my food processor but a blender should work well too.)

3. Cut the paneer into cubes and deep fry until golden brown. (I heard about a different trick for cooking paneer that I prefer and always use when I make paneer now. Simply bring a pot of water to a boil, turn off heat, add paneer cubes, let sit for about 15 minutes, and drain. The paneer turns out soft and slightly chewy without all of the grease and mess of deep frying!)


4. Chop onion. Puree the tomatoes. (Again, I used a food processor for the tomatoes but a blender will work too.)

5. Add oil to a large saucepan and heat. Add the chopped onions.

6. When the onion has cooked some, add the ginger garlic paste and chili powder.

7. Next add the tomato puree and cook until oil leaves the pan.

8. Now add the garam masala powder and palak.
Mix well.

9. Add milk and let cook until it is of thick consistency.

10. Add salt to taste and perhaps a bit of lemon juice if you like. I played around with the spices a bit, adding more chili, garam masala, and garlic to taste. Add paneer just before serving and enjoy!

A Tasty Little Egg Sandwich

Breakfast happens to be one of my three favorite meals, so I tend to experiment a little when I'm cooking it. This is a simple little breakfast sandwich that tastes great. I'll admit I feel like it's a little unnecessary to tell you how to assemble a sandwich, but maybe you wouldn't have though of this. All you need is:

1) A bagel ( I used a "the works" bagel)

2) Sliced Cheese (I used Asiago)

3) 1 tomato (sliced)

4) 1 egg

5) Cream cheese

Start by toasting 1 bagel. While it's toasting, I just cooked the egg over-medium (I normally break the yolk after the white is mostly cooked just so it's not really runny. And then I flip it and remove it from the heat quickly).

When the bagel is toasted, you can put cream cheese on one half and sliced asiago on the other (I know that it seems a little overboard to use both cheeses, but trust me, the cream cheese makes it). Then put your cooked egg on top of the asiago half (to melt the cheese). Now just put a couple of tomato slices on top and make into a sandwich. It was a pretty good breakfast. I think I'll save this one...

Who Made the Cheese?

Continuing our adventure through Mark Bittman's cookbook, on Friday night, Steve and I made cheese. Yes, that's right, cheese. It took us back to our German roots, though the result was something more akin to Indian paneer or Mexican queso fresco - a very mild, crumbly white cheese.

To make cheese, all you need is 1/2 gallon of milk (preferably whole), 1 quart of buttermilk, and a pinch of salt. You begin by boiling the milk, which should take 10 to 15 minutes, but ended up taking us about 45. We're not exactly sure why - could have been our electric stove's unreliable heat, the pot-cookie sheet combination we were using to provide a thicker bottom to the pot so that the milk wouldn't burn (do not try this at home! not a good idea, as we found out when we nearly burned a hole through our cookie sheet), too much stirring...I don't know. It did seem interminable though.

This is Steve stirring the unboilable milk.

During the boiling, I sustained an injury because I grabbed the hot cookie sheet without using a hotpad. You'll see evidence of that later. After the milk finally boils, you add the buttermilk and stir constantly until it separates into curds and whey.

Here you can see the cold washcloth wrapped around my finger.

The curds and whey will look like cooked egg whites floating in a slightly yellowish liquid. Then you strain the curds from the whey by pouring it through a cheesecloth lined colander. After straining, it should look like this:


The next step is to gather up the ends of the cheesecloth to form the curds into a ball, twisting the top to help squeeze out any extra whey. You can run the ball of curds through cold water so it's not too hot to handle and then just continuing squeezing out the whey until it feels firm and dry.



After you've squeezed out as much whey as you want (you can squeeze less out and it will become cottage cheese), tie a string around the top to keep the ball from opening and then tie that string to a wooden spoon. Place the spoon over the sink or a bowl to let the remaining whey drain out. Let it sit for about an hour and a half undisturbed.


Then remove the cheesecloth and taste your homemade cheese! You'll feel very accomplished!

Tofu-reeze Or Not Tofu-reeze

Last night I made some fairly unremarkable cabbage and tofu stir fry, but as with most stir fry dishes, its hard to go wrong. The big revelation for the night, however, was the magical effects of freezing your tofu and then letting it thaw before you cook it. It completely changes the texture, making it tougher, as well as causing it to better soak up flavors. I'm not sure how I could be a vegetarian for this long and not know about this. For the details of freezing tofu, you can read another blog's post about it here.

A Cake as Light and Airy as a Ballerina

As a continuation of postings for Steve's birthday, I have to add this recipe for Pavlova, which served as his birthday cake. The Pavlova was named for the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova when she was on tour in New Zealand and Australia in the 1920s. It seems a very appropriate cake to be named for a ballerina, as it is made of meringue, thus very light and delicate. To this day, debate continues as to which nation gets to claim the dessert as its original invention (according to Wikipedia, New Zealand is the rightful claimant). I found this recipe at the Joy of Cooking website (listed on the sidebar of our blog). It turned out to be a bit of a challenge. To learn why, read on.

Pavlova
Meringue Cake
4 large egg whites
1 cup superfine caster sugar (I used regular granulated white sugar)
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1/2 tablespoon cornstarch

Topping
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
fresh fruit (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, etc.)

Preheat oven to 250 degrees and place rack in center of oven. Line baking sheet with parchment paper and draw a 7-inch circle on the paper, like so:
With electric mixer, beat eggs on high until they hold soft peaks. Add sugar one tablespoon at a time until the meringue holds very stiff peaks. (Test to see if the sugar is fully dissolved by rubbing a little of the meringue between your thumb and index finger. The meringue should feel smooth, not gritty. If it feels gritty, keep on beating.) So the egg whites and sugar mixture should go from this:

To this:
It took me quite a while to get all the sugar dissolved, probably because I just used granulated white sugar instead of the caster sugar. If you don't want your arm to be exhausted by the end of this process, I suggest going for the caster sugar. Next, sprinkle the vinegar and cornstarch on top of the meringue and fold in with a rubber spatula. Gently spread the meringue inside the circle drawn on the parchment paper, smoothing the sides and making them higher than the middle so you have a place to put your whipped cream and fruit later. Bake for one hour and 15 minutes, until the outside is dry and it takes on a very pale cream color. Turn the oven off and leave the door slightly open. Let the meringue cool completely in the oven.

This where I had some difficulty. I really don't know why this happened, but at some point while the meringue was cooling in the oven, the middle fell in, like this:
I was quite disappointed, but we still made it work. I still don't know what happened though. I guess you shouldn't really expect things to come out perfectly when you try them for the first time, especially this cake, which seems like a chemistry project, with all the changes in form and matter.

After the cake is cooled, place it on a serving plate. Then, to make the topping, beat the cream with the electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add the sugar and the vanilla and then mound on top of the meringue cake. Decorate with the fresh fruit however you wish. Serve soon as the cake will not hold for much longer than a few hours.

Here's the happy birthday boy with the finished product:
(You can find the original recipe here: http://www.joyofbaking.com/Pavlova.html)

Hotter & More Sour Than A Town Hall Protester

This is a recipe from Mark Bittman's book, but with a number of substitutions based on what we had around. Substitutions were done under the influence of birthday drinks and should be taken with a grain of salt (does that count as another recipe variation?). I'm not sure if Bittman would recognize the end product or not, but it turned out pretty well, so I'll post it as we did it.

Hot and Sour Braised Tempeh

What You Need:
3 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
8 ounces (about 2 cups) Tempeh
4 ounces Whole Wheat Spaghetti, already cooked
1 Tablespoon fresh Ginger
1 Tablespoon minced Garlic
1/2 Tablespoon Cayenne Pepper
1 Tablespoon Sugar
2 Cups Water
1.5 Cups Vegetable Stock
1/4 Cup Soy Sauce
1/8 Cup Rice Vinegar
1/8 Cup White Wine Vinegar
3 Cups Chopped Cabbage
1/2 Cup Onions
Basil - A liberal sprinkling (liberal as in Ted Kennedy liberal...you know, the real thing)
Salt/Pepper

Step 1
Heat oil at medium-high in deep skillet. Crumble tempeh into hot oil, stir frequently and cook until brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in ginger, garlic, cayenne pepper, sugar, salt, and pepper. Stir and cook for another minute or two.

This is what the tempeh will look like after step one

Step 2
Add vegetable stock, water, soy sauce, and vinegars. Bring to boil, then lower heat slightly so that it keeps bubbling. Leave uncovered and cook for about 10-15 minutes, until liquid cooks down.

Step 3
Stir in cabbage and cook for a minute or two. Then add noodles, basil, and onion. Bring to bubble again, cook for another two minutes.

This is what the end product looked like, a kind of lighter version of lo mein. You can make it spicier by adding more cayenne pepper, but you don't want to loose the sour part of the hot & sour flavor. Best served with Woody Allen movies and Trader Joe's beer.

Recipes from a Sister

The recipes below are from my sister Erika. There were some technical difficulties in posting them, so they're coming from me (Hillary), but they're actually from her.

"This first one is a recipe a good friend and I found years ago. At first it sounded strange, but one night we decided to try it and it became a favorite snack while we cooked together or as an appetizer with company.

Roasted Red Onion with Thyme and Butter

Get 6 equal sized medium red onions. Remove the first layer of skin. Then cut off the core end of the onions to give them a flat base and make two deep cuts nearly but not all the way through the onions in the shape of a cross, so that the onions are nearly quartered. Push chopped and freshly grounded fresh thyme in between the layers of the onions, followed by generous amounts of butter. I usually get quite a bit in there so that the onions look like little flowers with the layers separated with butter. When I've patted butter into a couple layers I sprinkle with coarse salt, then squeeze the whole thing as close back together as possible. Then individually wrap the whole onions in tin foil and place in an earthenware dish. The dish will catch the dripping butter, but individually wrapping not only holds the onions together but also heightens the flavor because it keeps most of the butter sizzling in the onions instead of immediately dripping off. Place in oven at 400 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes. Onions are ready to come out when they are tender and literally begin to melt in your mouth. Sprinkle with Parmesan, pepper and perhaps a little more salt to taste. The petals can be eaten by themselves, or on fresh baguette. Yummy!

When my father was stationed as a medic during Vietnam he got a lot of recipes from the locals. this one is for Joak, a thick rice soup. It has meat in it, but I could see substituting veggie broth for the chicken stock and tofu for the pork.

Joak

1 cup rice

1 tsp salt

5 quarts chicken stock

1 pound ground cooked pork

2 stalks green onion

12 water chestnuts

1 tbs dark soy sauce

Rinse rice and soak over night. Mince onions and chestnuts then mix with soy sauce, salt, and cooked pork. Bring stock and rice to a boil, then lower the heat and let it simmer for about 2-3 hours until thick and creamy. Then heat up and add the pork mixture in teaspoon sized balls for about 5 minutes or until the balls are cooked through. Adjust seasoning to your liking and serve."

BBQ Spareribs x2

First of all, let me apologize to the vegetarians for a meat-eater recipe. I'll try to come up with a more veggie-friendly one next time. I was just excited to share because I love trying new recipes, and these ribs were this week's experiment. They were delicious, by the way. My husband liked them, and he's one of the pickiest eaters I know :)

There are two recipes here. The BBQ Spareribs are way more than two people can eat, so the BBQ Pizza helps use up the leftovers. I got these recipes from my crockpot cookbook and the Food Network. (By the way, if you don't have a crockpot, I really recommend getting one. We got one for our wedding, and it's very convenient. Kendall and I can let dinner cook all day while we're at work and come home to a nice meal.)

Slow-Cooked Pork Spareribs

Ingredients:
A 3-4 lb. slab of pork spareribs
One onion
16 oz. barbeque sauce
Salt & pepper

Preheat broiler. Season ribs with salt and pepper. Separate ribs into serving portions. Broil for 15 minutes until ribs have browned. Drain fat.

Slice onion and place on the bottom of the crockpot. Place browned ribs on top of onion. Pour barbeque sauce over the top. Cook on low 8-10 hours or high 4-5 hours.

Meat should be tender and easily fall off the bone.

BBQ Pizza

Ingredients:
A store bought pizza crust
6 tablespoons BBQ sauce
1 cup cooked BBQ pork, shredded (can use leftovers from BBQ ribs)
½ cup corn (fresh or frozen and thawed)
1-1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place pizza dough on large baking sheet or pizza pan. Spread BBQ sauce on crust. Top with cheese, pork, and corn.

Bake 8-10 minutes until crust is golden brown and cheese is bubbling. Top with fresh cilantro.

If you like more heat, you can also add jalepeno or other peppers. This is really a nice change from your average tomato sauce and mozarella pizza.

Happy cooking everyone!

Like A Young Dylan, Chasing The Ghost of Woody Guthrie…Through Beans

I’m not sure if making beans is as back-to-basics as Erik’s attempts at making bread, but there is something fundamental about beans. You can do pretty much anything to them and they have great bang-for-your-buck when it comes to protein. And, as I mentioned to somebody the other day, the economy of beans brings to mind some kind of depression era, Woody Guthrie, box car jumping type of diet. And the recipe below adds to that boxcar feel by including beer as an ingredient[1].

Beer-Glazed Black Beans w/Tomatoes[2]

What You Need

2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Onion, chopped
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
1 Cup Beer (in this case, Oranjeboom)
3 Cups Black Beans (canned or cooked)
1 Tablespoon Chili Powder
1 Tablespoon Honey (bear shaped container optional)
2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste (fresh or canned work as well)
Salt/Pepper

Work
Cook onion until soft. Add garlic and cook for minute. Then add beer, beans, chili powder, honey, tomato paste, salt, pepper. Bring to steady bubble, cook until it thickens, about 15 minutes.

Assessment
Turned out well, not much to screw up here, this is more utilitarian than foodie. But, a good way to spice up black beans. The tomato element is optional, but I recommend it. Could work as a side, or serve on rice as we did and it will go a long way.

[1] Note: if you are further interested in embracing the boxcar lifestyle, a good first step is to live on a grad school stipend, see evidence here
[2] Another Mark Bittman recipe

Beyond Minimal

A very simple first recipe from me, but what can I say, this was last night's dinner. Roasted corn in the oven (500 degree, 10-15 minutes, wish we had a grill). The real discovery was just that chili powder makes a great condiment for corn-on-the-cobb (along with the staples, butter, salt, pepper, etc).

Breadcrumb Trail

Because I live alone, and it's a Sunday, and I've already seen the best movie at the nearest cineplex ("Inglourious Basterds," which is the most horrible thing I've seen all year, and, on second thought, probably doesn't hold a candle to "G.I. Joe," which is on two screens), I'll be the third to post something, embarrassing as the facts of life are.

I made bread this weekend, for the second time. The simplest possible recipe: Gold Medal's Better For Bread™ Flour, Hain Pure Foods' Iodized Sea Salt, and 1/4 oz. packet of Fleischmann's RapidRise™ Highly Active Yeast. If you do it by hand like I did, and not mixer or food processor, which most people recommend, it's a satisfying, medieval sort of process since the above ingredients, in non-branded form, have been around for millenia and used in exactly the same way. The mixing is simple enough: throw 168 parts flour, 48 parts water and two parts each salt and yeast into a bowl and mix (3 1/2 cups flour, 1 cup water, two teaspoons salt and yeast: Bittman's recipe. I'll out myself as the friend.) You'll think you have too much flour at first, but you don't. After about 5-10 minutes with your right bicep and a wooden spoon it'll get clumpy and begin to all congeal together, at which point you start to knead. (I don't know how to explain kneading without visuals, but it's mostly a process of folding the dough in on itself over and over again.) And this is, I suppose, the point that separates the men from the boys (or the heroes from the zeroes, or whatever) because you have to decide what is moist enough but not too dry, adding flour or water commensurately. Twice through, I have no fucking clue. Suffice to say I've gotten to the point where my dough is what I consider "good enough" -- smooth but fairly moist -- at which point I put it back in the mixing bowl and let it sit, covered for 2-3 hours at room temperature, while it's supposed to rise.

And it is at this point in the process where, two times out, I've ruined what could've been decent bread by not waiting long enough for the rise. The first by just putting in the oven, because I was drunk and rash. The second time (last night) by allowing for the requisite 2-3 hours, but not allowing for another hour or two for it to rise after shaping the bread for the oven. I've had a little less than 24 hours to think about these mistakes and mostly shudder. The resulting boulé, cooked at 375 degrees for about 55 minutes, was not inedible -- tasted fine -- but dense as hell. Each portion the size of crouton felt like swallowing a rock. I don't have pictures, because I'm compulsive, and might have already eaten it all.

All to say: be patient and let that shit rise. My mom was no help. I'm certain the third loaf (likely next weekend), will, at the very least, be airier. At around 3:30 p.m., I looked like the guy below, with colored hair and Eugene O'Neill instead of the God stuff.

Chilaquiles

So our first recipe to share is from Mark Bittman's cookbook. Steve was at a friend's house, flipping through this cookbook when he found this recipe for chilaquiles. Apparently, there are many different variations on this traditional Mexican dish, but the base of all of them is bits of fried tortilla. This especially grabbed Steve's attention because we were in the possession of some stale tortillas that were no longer good for anything else. All you need for the recipe are some tortillas and eggs. It turned out really tasty, despite it's simplicity.

Chilaquiles (Scrambled Tortillas)
6 small corn tortillas (stale is fine)
1/2 cup corn oil or olive oil
4 eggs
2 tablespoons cream or milk
salt/pepper

Cut tortillas in half, then in 1-inch strips. Put oil in skillet over medium high heat. When hot (not smoking) fry strips until golden brown and crisp. Work in batches to prevent crowding. Use slotted sppon, place on paper towel. Lightly beat eggs with salt, pepper, and other seasonings, if you choose. Pour off oil from pan. Turn to medium heat. Add eggs and fried tortilla bits, stirring frequently. To make spicy, add scallons or chiles to eggs. Top with salsa, cheese, hot sauce, etc.

(From How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman)

Welcome to The Food Stories!

Steve and I decided (perhaps inspired by Julie and Julia) that it would be fun to start a blog to share recipes with friends and family. We recently got a new cookbook from the library called How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman, who writes 'The Minimalist' column in the New York Times. We'll be exploring the recipes in that cookbook in the next few weeks, along with many others, and we'll post pictures and recipes in order to share our experiences with you. We hope that you will do the same, so that we can all learn new food ideas from each other, even if we're not close enough to actually taste each others' creations.