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.