Meatless Monday: Eggplant Involtini

So good you’ll forget it’s meatless

I spent most of last year saying “I can’t believe it’s [fill in the blank] already” and now I am saying it again. It’s February 2013 already. Remember when you were little and the school year dragged on for eternity, and the summer was so blissfully long that you were actually a little bit excited to go back to school, and waiting for Santa/birthdays/summer camp/whatever was so agonizing you almost couldn’t take it? That was grand…

I made this months ago. MONTHS. And I have been wanting to tell you about it since the moment I tried it, because it is just so good. I don’t even know what it is about it that makes it so delicious, but trust…it’s delicious. Eggplant is pretty much the greatest. Whenever I eat eggplant I think, for a brief shining moment, that I could manage being a vegetarian. Just for a moment, mind you, but still, that is the power of eggplant.

This is from the Tartine Bread cookbook. I made a couple of changes, most notably that I totally forgot to add the breadcrumbs when I made it, but it was still so good that I didn’t realize I forgot to add the breadcrumbs until I went back and looked at the recipe again. I also used a different tomato sauce, because this one is so easy and delicious, I may never make another sauce again…but other than that, exactly the same! Mostly.

The Tartine Bread cookbook, by the way, is absolutely gorgeous. And obviously, not just about bread. The pictures are beautiful, I love the binding, and the recipes are great…if you are still not sure, see if they have it in your library and check it out, I bet you end up picking up your own copy.

Anyhoodle, this involtini is really, really delicious. It takes a little bit of time to salt and fry the eggplant before you are able to put it all together, so it may not be the best option if you need to complete the whole process after work and you still want to eat at a reasonable hour, but I suspect it would be no worse for the wear if you put it all together the night before. Perhaps one of these days I will give that a try and report back.

This would be a great dish anytime, really, but is very lovely for a meatless Monday (or meatless any day of the week.) Since I left out the breadcrumbs and was none the wiser, it could also be a really delicious gluten free option. I am also guessing it could be doubled, tripled or sextupled without blinking an eye.

Have I convinced you yet? Seriously. This is delicious…go forth and cook with eggplant.

The answer to your vegetarian prayers…

Things I’ve thought since last time:

The internet is the most amazing rabbit hole that I fall into pretty much every day. I think back to my days in college and how productive I was back then and it is always such a mystery that I can’t seem to get anything done these days…I have come to the realization that the internet might be the problem…

What I am reading: Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward. It is really good. And I read Gone Girl, which was an excellent page-turner. I both loved and hated the ending.

I mentioned it last time, but if you can, please give to a cause that is near and dear.

I didn’t really have a horse in the race, but I still wish the Superbowl turned out differently. The halftime show was the best I’ve ever seen though. Does Beyonce have a fan club? I’ve started one before, and I can do it again.

My 2013 goals are not off to a very good start. And it’s already February…

For those of you in the Boston area, IGNITE the NITE is going to be an excellent time…another good cause that I am very excited to be a part of.

It’s 31 days of Oscar on Turner Classic Movies. It’s pretty much the best thing about the month of February.

Downton Abbey is JUST SO GOOD. And I bawled my eyes out last week…this will come as a surprise to approximately no one who is familiar with me and the episode I am referring to. On the flip side, The Mindy Project and The New Girl make me laugh out loud by myself on the couch multiple times an episode. And I am going to miss the heck out of Liz Lemon. Good thing I still have Leslie Knope.

I have a girls weekend on the Cape coming up in two weeks and I can’t wait. I’d love to say how much I am looking forward to relaxing with my ladies, but I suspect relaxing will be secondary to ridiculousness…

Singles Awareness Day is the 14th! Be sure to acknowledge all the Singles in your life. Much like Administrative Assistant’s Day, the people generally responsible for reminding you of of Singles Awareness Day are the Singles themselves, and that’s just awkward; so don’t forget people, remember your Singles!

Until next time…

prepped

Eggplant Involtini (serves 3-4)

adapted from Tartine Bread Cookbook

Tomato Sauce of your choice (don’t use store bought – throw a can of whole peeled tomatoes crushed in your hands, a peeled onion and a stick of butter in a pan with salt. Turn on the heat to medium, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes – thanks Marcella!)

2 or 3 medium globe eggplants

1 cup fresh bread crumbs (optional) – don’t use the seasoned italian breadcrumbs, use panko if you don’t have any stale bread to make your own.

2 cups whole milk ricotta (or make your own!)

Zest and juice from one lemon

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves

1/4 tsp salt, plus additional for salting the eggplant

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

chiffonade of basil for garnish (optional)

olive oil for frying

Slice the eggplants lengthwise into 1/4 inch slices (you should have about 12.) Salt the slices generously on both sides and layer them in a colander or on paper towels. Let the eggplant stand for one hour to pull out the liquid.

Blot the slices dry with a towel and fry them over medium heat in a heavy skillet in approximately an inch of olive oil for three to four minutes until lightly brown on both sides. Let cool in the colander or on paper towels.

Meanwhile, mix together the breadcrumbs, ricotta cheese, lemon zest and juice, thyme leaves and 1/4 tsp salt.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Put the tomato sauce in the bottom of a medium sized baking dish. Place a spoonful of filling on each eggplant slice, and roll the slice around the filling. Put each roll seam-side down on top of the sauce and drizzle the cream on top. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the rolls are golden and the sauce starts to darken around the edges. Sprinkle with parmesan and basil and enjoy!

roll ‘em up

Stocking up for the New Year…Chicken, Beef and Vegetable Stock

Essentials for the new year…

Hola nerds!

How I have missed you! It has been a busy fall and winter, blah blah blah, excuses, blah, blah, travel, blah, unitentional hiatus…

Now that I have cleared that up, what’s new with you? I hope all has been well!

My brother recently said that I needed to post something asap, because he was really tired of looking at wings. I did not know that my brother was actually visiting the blog, but since he is, I certainly don’t want to cause fatigue and lose him as a reader, so here I am with a new post. This may not actually be what he had in mind, but beggars can’t be choosers.

This one is really more about technique, as there are myriad ways to make stock and pretty much all of them have already been documented on the interwebs, so instead of considering this a recipe, consider it a friendly reminder/suggestion. Make stock, put it in the freezer, use it until you run out, make stock again. Repeat ad infinitum. The work involved is minimal and the payoff is HUGE. The flavor is better than what you get in the store, your house will smell good while you make it, and people will be impressed. Actually, those three reasons pretty much make up the sum total of my rationale for cooking at all…

I value my “stock”pile (ahahahaha) so much that it is the only frozen item that made the move to my new place with me. I make the stock and let it cool and then measure two cup quantities in to quart-sized ziploc bags. Then each stock bag goes into a second ziploc bag to prevent freezer burn. Label with the type of stock, the quantity and the date, and there you go. This is not the most environmentally friendly storage method, but it is the best storage method, and if you label the INSIDE bag, you can use the outside bag again. (Label the bag before you add the stock. This is probably obvious to most, but in case it’s not, take it from me…) (Also, I know you are looking at the photo and saying “but Meghan, those don’t look like ziploc bags…” and you would be correct, but ziploc bags don’t photograph particularly well, so I dirtied some extra dishes for you. You are welcome…) Freezer bags are the best storage because they can be laid flat and stacked on top of each other in the freezer to maximize space. Two cups is a good amount because if you are making soup or risotto, two bags will typically do the trick, and if you need less than that, you will likely be able to use the rest of what you defrosted without it getting lost in the back of your refrigerator for many moons and going to waste…though maybe that kind of thing never happens to you, in which case, carry on.

the beginnings of beef stock

Stock is pretty much the same regardless of type – the main ingredients, the aromatics and water get simmered together for enough time that the water becomes rich flavorful stock rather than boring, flavorless water. Which aromatics and vegetables you choose can depend on the stock you are making, but for the most part, if you have the holy trinity of cooking: onions, carrots and celery, and perhaps some garlic and herbs, you have what it takes. For chicken stock I like to make sure I add thyme, bay leaves, lots of peppercorns and, sometimes, ginger, to brighten it up. For lobster stock I like to add fennel and some tomato paste because they are so suited to lobster, and for vegetable stock I like to add mushrooms, because they deepen the flavor and add the umami-ness that is important when you aren’t including meat. The rules are the same: bring everything to a gentle boil, then reduce the temperature and let the goodness simmer for a couple hours until it’s stock. In the case of beef stock, you want to avoid boiling at all – you just want to bring it to and keep it at a simmer instead – but otherwise, the process is the same.

Make stock my darlings, if you’ve never done it before, it will revolutionize your cooking.

In other news…my 10 things:

I don’t like asking for things, but this one’s for Shania – I am so lucky to call her my homie: http://www.fundraiseforbcrf.org/faf/search/searchTeamPart.asp?ievent=1021963&team=5354081

BostonGLOW: an amazing organization that I am proud to be a part of…small now, but I’m certain it won’t be small for long…

My album of the moment is really not an album at all, just a playlist of ridiculous Top 40 amazingness.

What I am reading: I just finished Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo. Amazing and heartbreaking.

I want Tina and Amy to be my best friends. http://tv.yahoo.com/blogs/2013-golden-globes/tina-fey-amy-poehler-dazzle-hilarious-golden-globes-014640389.html

Pitch Perfect might be my new favorite movie. Best. Ever.

I guess I have to root for the 49ers in the Super Bowl? Not how I hoped that would go.

Resolutions are tricky, so I am setting goals instead. Because those will totally be easier. Financial, Work, Personal, Fitness, B&G, they’re all covered…we’ll see how it goes. Happy New Year!

It’s the beginning of free week at the casa! If you are new around here, free week is when I decide not to buy any groceries, and just fashion dinners out of what I have in the house. I did cheat and buy eggs today, but I figured that didn’t count, because you can practically buy eggs with pocket change. The menu for free week includes: Penne with fennel, tomatoes and olives inspired by this, cowboy beans from here, spaghetti carbonara (I think I might have figured out how to make this work every time! I will share) meatloaf, soy sesame noodles and sweet pea ravioli with pecorino romano. As you can see, it was high time for a free week. It will not be much of a sacrifice.

I guess that was only nine things…until next time, my lovelies…

Here’s to 2013. I have high hopes.

Be good to one another.

And to the recipes we go…

Beef Stock

Vegetable Stock

Basic Chicken Stock (makes about 3 quarts)

4-5 lbs chicken wings

2 medium onions, quartered

2 large carrots, peeled and roughly chopped

2 celery stalks, peeled and roughly chopped

6 cloves garlic, unpeeled

Handful of fresh parsley

2 dried bay leaves

1 tsp peppercorns

Add all ingredients to a large pot with 4 quarts of water. Bring to a gentle boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for two or two and a half hours. Strain the stock through cheese cloth, and store for future use.

Feel free to add leeks if you have them, ginger if you would like to add a little zip and bright flavor or thyme if you want a more herby flavor.

Meatless Monday: Eggplant and Tofu Stir-fry with Farro

Look how healthy I am!

Tofu never impressed me. It doesn’t look like it has much flavor. The texture looks weird. It’s “health food.” I eat meat, so I have never needed it for protein. It was easy to avoid, so I did. When the reaction from people who do eat it always seems to be “it’s alright, it tastes like whatever it’s cooked with” I never saw any reason to stop avoiding it. Tofu and me? Strangers. I was fine with that.

I have a favorite food truck that is parked a couple blocks from my office. It serves sandwiches (they admit they are not totally “authentic” banh mi, but they are really delicious) rice bowls and noodle salads. They are all so good. And it is cheap. Like $6 cheap (plus an additional $2 for the deviled tea egg that I have to get EVERY TIME and am trying my damndest to replicate. Stay tuned.) So I was eating there a lot. They offer a couple of different meat/topping options, one of which is tofu and shiitake mushroom, and there was one week that I ate there a couple of times and was starting to feel guilty about pork (my typical fave) for lunch three times in one week, so I decided to go healthy and try the tofu and shitake. And then I doubled down on the health and got brown rice. I know. I don’t know what happened. I figured the worst that could happen was that I wasted six bones and had to get something else. But I suspect you know where this is going…I liked it. And I didn’t just like it a little. I actually liked it. I liked the texture, I liked how it soaked up the flavor of what it was cooked in, I even liked the taste of the actual tofu! I have gotten it again! More than once! So there you go.

Buying lunch every day is expensive though, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. My complaint about their tofu/mushroom combo is not enough mushrooms, so I decided when I made it myself I was adding more mushrooms. Also eggplant because it is delicious and I love it.

So what to serve it over? I had white rice, glass noodles, and farro in the cabinet. Farro is having it’s day, man…I am not sure why it has suddenly been discovered, because it is certainly not a new invention. And I am sure there are plenty of people who have been eating it for years that think the recent “discovery” is hilarious, but whatever…put a sock in it farro-ites, nobody likes a know-it-all…but it is the new big thing, and it is very healthy and I succumbed to the allure and bought some from one of the bins at Whole Foods, but then it just sat and sat in the cupboard looking forlorn. Until now. It was time for it to shine.

And so there you have the winding round-about anatomy of this dish. I went looking for a good blueprint for my stir-fry, and came across pretty much exactly what I was going for in a recipe from Mark Bittman. I modified it a bit and I love the results. Not surprising at all, since Mark Bittman is the best. NY Times food section people…make it a part of your life.

This recipe takes a little bit of easy prep. I used dried shiitakes and had to soak them first. (I actually often prefer the dried to the fresh because I like the chewiness and they crisp right up when cooked, this is one of those times for sure.) I pressed the tofu for about an hour, and I cut and salted the eggplant about 20-30 minutes to remove the bitterness before I was ready to cook. But the cooking part was easy and pretty quick. Shiitakes into the wok first with salt and pepper. They get brown and a little crisp, and then come out of the wok, to be replaced with ginger, garlic and eggplant. This is the longest part of the cooking, as the eggplant needs to get nice and tender. Once that happens, the tofu gets added, and then the shiitakes go back in at the end. That’s it! The only liquid is some of the shiitake soaking liquid that gets added partway through the eggplant cooking time, and soy sauce and rice wine with the tofu. This is not super saucy, and honestly, if I eat it over farro again, I may try to adjust that a little, because  it’s a little drier than rice or noodles would be. But it was still delicious. Lack of sauce didn’t stop me from eating every bite. So there you go! Tofu and me…BFFs.

Also, since I’ve mentioned my new apartment which I absolutely love a couple of times…a preview.

My kitchen…

my “office”

my living room (please disregard the mismatched rug and pillows, that will be fixed.)

my view…

I love it. I have big plans for the decor, still to come, but I love it.

It’s nice to be back home in blog-land…

Really delish

Eggplant Tofu and Shiitake Stir-fry over Farro (serves 2)

adapted from Mark Bittman

1 cup farro

2-3 tbl grapeseed or other neutral oil for cooking.

10-12 dried shiitakes, soaked in just barely boiling water, until softened – soaking water reserved, mushrooms sliced thin

1/2 lb extra firm tofu, pressed and drained, and cut in a 1/2 inch dice (I pressed the tofu in a colander with an appetizer plate and two cans of beans…seems to have gotten the job done.)

1 large Japanese eggplant, cut in 1/2 inch dice and salted for 20 minutes

1 tbl minced fresh ginger

1 tbl minced garlic

2 tbl soy sauce (plus extra for drizzle at the end if you’d like)

1 tbl Chinese rice wine

salt and pepper to taste

1-2 Scallions, green parts sliced for garnish

Cook farro according to the package instructions until cooked through.

Meanwhile, heat one tablespoon of the oil over medium high heat in a wok or saute pan. Add mushrooms and cook until they start to get brown and crisp, about 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add the rest of the oil to the pan and when it gets hot, add the garlic and ginger and cook, stirring for a minute until the mixture starts to sizzle and smell delicious. Add the eggplant and cook, stirring frequently, until the eggplant starts to caramelize. Add 1/4 cup of the shiitake soaking liquid and continue to cook, stirring often, until the eggplant is tender and cooked through, 5-10 more minutes. (You may need to add a bit more of the liquid if the pan gets too dry.) When the eggplant is cooked through, add the tofu, soy sauce and rice wine and cook for 4-5 more minutes until the tofu is warmed through. Add the shiitakes back in, and you are finished! Serve over farro and garnish with scallions (and sriracha for spice if you’re feeling it) and enjoy your healthy deliciousness! (This can obviously be served over rice or noodles or just about anything you’d like…)

Ginger Scallion Sauce

Oh hello. It’s been awhile…

What’s new? Not much here. Except apparently time travel, because suddenly I looked at the calendar and it’s April, which doesn’t seem possible. Oh also? Apparently Chrissy Teigen – gorgeous lady blogger, SI swimsuit model, fiancee of John Legend – somehow discovered the recipe for Spicy Sesame Noodles with Chicken on here and made them and loved them and then posted about them and linked back to here, so B&G blew up today. So many thanks to her. One of her tweets earlier was that she was packing for a trip to Australia with Erin Andrews and Brooklyn Decker and the background photo on her account is a gorgeous picture of her in her unders – our lives are exactly the same, but opposite – but we can clearly both enjoy the hell out of some noodles! (update: mystery solved – my awesome cousin Danny and his gorgeous girlfriend Kellie brought these to a party that Chrissy attended – my family is fancy…)

Um, so the last couple of weeks (months?)  have involved a trip to Denver to see the littlest, a trip to NYC for a birthday, quality time with my tiny boyfriends Baby L and Baby Dubs, working, the gym, and the other usual stuff. I have been thinking about the blog a lot, but have not actually been cooking all that much because it’s been so busy, so even had I not been suffering from some serious writers’ block (or a serious case of the lazies, not sure which…) I wouldn’t have had much to write about. But things are turning around! And B&G got a bit of a facelift, in case you haven’t noticed…it is making some of the formatting a little wonky but I’ll work on that…

I want to tell you about Ginger Scallion Sauce because it is the greatest thing ever, but in order to do that, I need to start with an apology for my one true chef/celebrity love, Dave Chang…

Oh my heavens.

David, I need to confess something. I’ve been unfaithful. I wanted to make this sauce the minute I first saw it, lo those several Christmases ago when I got your book. And I did, almost immediately. And it was fine, but not great, and I was sad, but wasn’t going to let it turn me away from you. It had to have been my fault right? I couldn’t blame you, I must have executed incorrectly, and you were likely as disappointed in me as I was in you. But it was ok, we would get through it. But then…my eye wandered, and THIS caught my attention. Deep down in my heart I knew it would be Francis. I’ve always had a wee bit of a crush on him too. And so I made his version. David, I’m sorry. It’s better. It’s heaven. But I hope you can forgive me the transgression. You’re still first in my heart. But I can’t promise it will be just that one time. This stuff is too good.

The ingredients

This is a condiment. One of the most flavorful condiments ever. I have mixed it with plain noodles and fried rice, and I’ve eaten it with steak and I’ve eaten it with fish. It would be awesome in soup, and I will add it to the ramen I plan to make later in the month. It is so good that I plan never to be without it again. It is equal parts minced scallions and minced ginger, both of which I did in about 30 seconds in the food processor. Then it gets an almost ungodly amount of salt, and hot oil is poured over it so it sizzles and removes some of the bitterness that ginger and scallions can have raw. It mellows them a little. That is where this version is better than the Momofuku version. I actually finished mine with a splash of light soy sauce as a nod to the version that inspired me, and it is perfection.

With steak and noodles.

Really I can’t say enough good things about this. Just make it and you’ll see.

With noodles and tuna.

Before we go on…

First things first. Please check out my awesome cousin Sam…wish I was half as talented and adventurous!

How come I’m not dating Seth Davis? How have I missed this guy? Anyone know anything about him? Like, for instance, his phone number? Now that March Madness is over he must have some free time, right?

I accidentally saw Tiffany in concert last weekend in New York. It was awesome. I love New York.

What I am reading right now: I am actually too embarrassed to tell you the trash book I’m reading, so let’s just leave it at The New Yorker…

What I am listening to right now: Portraits by The Wheeler Brothers – the band of a guy that studied with my sister in Spain…they are very good.

Craftiness of the week: pillow covers for Al and Dyl and their new apartment…pictures later.

I am in for a few nights of revelry over the next couple of days. It’s my birthday, and I decided drinking is a better option than crawling in a hole and crying. See you on the flip side.

Ginger Scallion Sauce (makes about 1.5 cups)

adapted from Francis Lam and Momofuku

1 ounce ginger, peeled and cut into one inch pieces

1 bunch scallions, roots and ends trimmed, both white and green parts cut into one inch pieces

1/2 cup peanut or grapeseed oil

Splash of light soy sauce

More kosher salt than you think you need

Pulse ginger in a food processor until finely minced. You do not want to puree it, so pay close attention as you are doing it. Put ginger into a large heat proof bowl. Not kidding about the large part or the heat proof part. Do both of those things for real. Pulse the scallions in the food processor (no need to wash it in between) until they are finely minced and add them to the ginger. Throw a good pinch of salt in the bowl and set aside while you heat the oil.

Heat the oil over medium heat just until you see the first wisp of smoke. Be careful. It will be quite hot at this point. Pour the oil over the ginger scallion mixture and step back because it will splatter and smell awesome. Stir the mixture together and add a splash of soy sauce and more salt and let it cool. Add it to everything in the world because it is so delicious.

 

Meatless Monday for any day of the week: Spanish Chickpea and Spinach Stew

comfort food - veggie style

We have previously discussed my thoughts on being a vegetarian (lovely for many, not for me) and my thoughts on meat (try to make good decisions about where it comes from, etc. I don’t have guilt about eating something that had a good life) but there is this thing that happens in the food blogging world called Meatless Monday, and today, I am contributing.

I am not sure how Meatless Monday came about, but I think the theory behind it is to go a day without meat because it is good for our human selves and the earth. I can get behind that. The funny thing is I actually eat vegetarian plenty of the time. I probably only eat red meat a couple of times a month, maybe once a week, if you count cured meats and the like. I eat a lot of chicken for sure. But I eat meat free meals fairly regularly, especially if I am allowed to count eggs as meat free. My pasta is almost always meat free and I eat that all the time. I just rarely make the connection that what I am eating is vegetarian. I like the idea of Meatless Monday as a broad idea for the betterment of humanity. My only issue with it is maybe the Monday part. As my good friend M said “umm, Meatless Monday drives me crazy because Monday is the day after I grocery shop and when I am most likely to have meat.” Touché M.

This is a long way of saying that this recipe would be an excellent addition to a Meatless Monday repertoire, even if you choose to make it a Meatless Thursday instead.

chickpea and spinach stew

I discovered I like chickpeas fairly recently (I think I have mentioned the deep dark secret I carried around with me for the entirety of my youth and into my adult years as a cooking and food obsessed human – there are plenty of things I did not like at all, but I just never really discussed it, so I don’t think anyone knew…curries, and “Indian Food” more broadly, chickpeas, sauces with yogurt in them, feta cheese (still HATE this one) game meats, sun-dried tomatoes (still not sold) roe of various things, roasted red peppers, smoked salmon (STILL, blech) avocados(?!?!?)) but I am coming around. My palate is expanding. I think my distaste for chickpeas comes from their customary spot in a salad bar. When chickpeas are on a salad bar they look rubbery and shiny and weird and generally unappetizing, so I assumed I did not like them. I still do not like chickpeas from a salad bar, but chickpeas in food are something I can get behind. I started with Chana Masala, and fried chickpeas, and one of my regular “I just got home and I am already so hungry I could eat my hand” thrown together dinners is chickpeas fried for a moment, spiced with ras el-hanout or curry powder, with red onions thrown in the pan to wilt, and then tossed with olive oil, lemon juice and shaved parmesan cheese – so random and really quite good. So when I saw, in my meander through old Food & Wine mags, a recipe for Spanish tapas inspired chickpea stew I decided to give it a go. I am quite pleased that I did. I have already made it a couple of times, it reheats really well for lunches, and it is very comforting while still feeling healthy. And it’s quick!

And now, I bid you adieu. Many apologies if this sounds like it was written by a crazy person, I worked 13 hours today and I am a little punchy…

Before we get to the actual recipe…so many things!

Downton Downton Downton Downton. Oh Downton Abbey how I love thee…

Yo soy fiesta.

One month til Denver to visit the littlest…I can’t wait.

Portlandia? Supposed to be the funniest thing ever? Am I doing it wrong?

I hope you are reading the City Kitchen columns by David Tanis in the New York Times. I want to make everything immediately.

Remember the ginger chicken soup I had on the stove? Umm, I think it might cure colds. I have a sample of one so far, but it definitely worked. If I get another cold I will try it again and let you know.

Chickpea and Spinach Stew (serves 4)

Adapted from Food & Wine

2 large garlic cloves, crushed

Kosher salt

Pinch of saffron threads

2 teaspoons sweet paprika

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

Pinch of ground cloves

Pinch of freshly ground pepper

Two 15-ounce cans chickpeas with their liquid

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 14 oz can diced tomatoes

1/4 cup golden raisins

10 oz baby spinach

Use the flat side of a large knife and mash the garlic to a paste with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and the saffron. Transfer the garlic paste to a small bowl. Add the paprika, cumin, cloves and black pepper and mash until combined. Stir in 1/4 cup of the chickpea liquid.

Wipe out the skillet. Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil to the skillet and heat until shimmering. Add the onion and tomato and cook over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until they are softened, about 3 minutes. Add the spiced garlic sauce to the onion and tomato in the skillet and cook for 1 minute.

Add the chickpeas and the remaining liquid to the skillet. Add the raisins and bring to a boil over moderately high heat. Add the spinach, reduce the heat to moderate, and simmer for 15 minutes. Transfer the chickpea stew to 4 deep bowls, drizzle the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil on top, and serve.

July project: Canning – Dilly Beans, Sweet Hot Mustard, Plum Jam and Zucchini Relish

You guys! I missed you! Work has been total madness! I have the emotional constitution of a pubescent pre-teen this week! Fighting off a nervous breakdown at every turn! I don’t know what’s wrong with me…but I missed B&G for sure. It’s the weekend, and I needed one bad. So things are on the mend…

First, some housekeeping…

1. Happy Blogiversary B&G! Bread & Ginger turned two years old on July 21st. I should have posted that day. I didn’t.

2. Happy 100th post B&G! That happened with my previous post on July 20th. Fun coincidence!

3. In which I am over “In which…” it’s too binding. When I started it, it was a nod to something that quite frankly, at this moment I cannot recall…Peace out “in which…!”

4. B&G is on Twitter! Follow me @bandgmeg

5. B&G is also on Facebook, but you may already know that…

6. And lastly, if you scroll down to the bottom of this page, you will see that I added a Widget that allows you to donate to the World Food Programme to aid the crisis in the Horn of Africa. Everyone has their charitable causes that they choose to support, as you can imagine, many of mine involve food or hunger. The pictures of the crisis are devastating, I can’t think about them without tearing up, so I figured I would just offer up the opportunity to donate if you are able. Just 50 cents is a whole meal, or something crazy like that. It doesn’t take much.

It is amazing what I am lucky enough to be able to take for granted.

7. I may have made a grave error. I started watching “Friday Night Lights” on Netflix. What in the name of Gracie Belle Taylor took me so long? I am obsessed, and will probably get nothing accomplished until I finish all five seasons.

So hello!

I embarked on a project last month. I am hoping to do that more regularly. I already have a good one in the works for this month. In July, I took on canning.

the results

As in: putting stuff in jars, and then sealing them with a water bath, so that they can hang out in the cupboards for awhile, and then in say, February, when you get a hankering for the taste of summer, you can open up a jar of dilly beans, and snack away.

At the ready.

This all came about because my family went up to Portsmouth, NH earlier this year to visit my sisters, and we went to lunch and several people at the table ordered bloody marys. The bloodies at this particular establishment came garnished with a delightful looking green bean that I snatched off of one of my unsuspecting siblings, and I was hooked. It was awesome. A green bean pickle with some spice. I wanted to replicate them immediately. As you can imagine, immediately turned into several months, and I decided that my July project would be canning. I had never done it before, so I called in an expert. My aunt and I picked a Saturday (the hottest in creation) and four recipes.

I planned on making dilly beans and my Aunt El’s (by way of my Aunt Col) sweet hot mustard that is to.die.for. My aunt picked plum jam and the my grandmother’s zucchini relish, which is a favorite in our fam.

Canning is not difficult by any stretch, but it requires a fair amount of time, and it has to be done correctly, because there is some risk involved. But as long as you pay attention, it really is quite simple. The jars must be sterilized, and the contents must be hot enough to create a seal as it cools. The pop of the top sealing as it cools is a delight after all the hard (and hot) work of canning. If you are going to give this a whirl, I recommend grabbing a book and doing a little reading. The Ball Blue Book is a classic authority, but there are tons of good ones out there. There are some little important steps in the process that you want to make sure you check off the list. Botulism would blow, I suspect.

We started with the zucchini as it has to sit for a couple of hours at two different points during the process. The zucchini, onion and red pepper are sliced thin, tossed with salt, covered with water and left to sit for two hours.

relaxing

And beans were prepped. Lots of them.

beans

The beans were the easiest to prepare actually. Once I trimmed them, I stood them upright in the jars…

lined up, ready to go.

and then added garlic, dill seeds and cayenne (lots of cayenne. These are SPICY. I might add a bit less next time.)

spicy beans

The liquid is boiled (vinegar, water, salt) and poured over the beans, the lids are put on the jars and the jars are processed in a boiling water bath for five minutes. And voila! I just opened these up the other day after letting them sit and develop flavor for a couple of weeks. Delicious! And quite spicy.

dilly beans!

Back to the zucchini…the process is similar to the dilly beans. We drained the water off the zucchini and boiled the pickling liquid, poured it over the vegetables and let it sit again for two more hours.

brewing

And now the plum jam, which I don’t have very many pictures of. The jam had the fewest steps. Boil the fruit, add a bonkers amount of sugar, boil some more, and voila! Jam! The recipe we were following did not call for pectin. In hindsight, we probably would have used it, because this is not super thick, but it is super delicious.

plums

The interesting thing about the jam is that they get wax tops. Paraffin is melted and poured over the top of the jam, and that is what seals it. It’s very cool.

in jars

The last of the day was my Aunt Col’s (or apparently Aunt El’s…unsure) sweet hot mustard. This stuff is SOO good. It is perfect with kielbasa. It is hot and sweet at the same time, and in a bizarre twist, it has eggs and butter in it. I was very surprised to find that out.

Dry mustard powder, horseradish, vinegar, water combined, boiled up, and then eggs and butter are added and then, because of the eggs, we processed this in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes to make sure the eggs were cooked. (Eggs are pasturized at 140 degrees for five minutes.)

mustard in jars...

Overall, the canning project was awesome. I will absolutely be doing this again. Yes, there is work involved, and you do have to pay attention, but it is so worth it. Look at all the good stuff…

savory...

sweet.

The jam is perfect in the mornings, the zucchini relish is awesome with a sandwich or on a hot dog, the mustard is amazing with sausage, a ham or turkey sandwich, pretty much anything you can imagine, and the dilly beans are a fantastic snack. Success! And there is something very satisfying about canning. It’s so pioneer-like. And like I said, it’s not hard, exactly, but it is precise, and you want to leave yourself some time to do it, to make sure you do all the steps. The jars have to be sterilized by boiling, they have to be clean when they get sealed, and the water bath has to be at a rolling boil. The alternative is botulism, so this is one you definitely want to do correctly. But sally forth and can stuff! It is very satisfying, and you get to enjoy the fruits of your labor for months! And your friends will be so impressed when you hand them a homemade hostess gift! I think I am going to give it another try in September…I need to start planning my recipes.

A couple more things, since it has been so long since we’ve talked…

I have a very funny friend with a very funny new blog…you should def check it out.

I know I mentioned it already, but seriously, Friday Night Lights? Oh. Ma. Gah. For real, how did I miss this the first go round? This show is amazing. And perfect (except for the slightly creepy feeling I get when I realize that I am totally gaga for Tim Riggins, a character that is supposed to be in high school. Granted, the most age inappropriate high schooler in the history of high school, and also, the actor is actually like 28, but still, squicky.)

Dilly Beans (makes four pints)

Adapted from Food In Jars

2 pounds green beans, trimmed to fit your jars

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (you can use more, but know that I used a generous 1/4 teaspoon for each jar of beans, and they are quite spicy, so you may want to restrain yourself.)

4 tsp dill seed (not dill weed)

4 cloves garlic

2 1/2 cups white vinegar (5% acidity – it says this on the label, and is the standard for white vinegar, but you want to confirm, since the acidity of the vinegar is what helps keep canned relishes preservable and safe.)

2 1/2 cups water

1/4 cup plus 1 tbl kosher salt

Place your jars on a rack or a towel on the bottom of a large stock pot or canning pot, and fill it with water. Bring to a boil to sterilize the jars while you prepare the rest of your ingredients.

Wash and trim your beans so that they fit in your jar.

Combine vinegar, water and salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. As you wait for the brine to boil, pack your beans into the jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace (distance between the tops of the beans and the rim of the jar). Add 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1 clove of garlic and 1 teaspoon dill seeds to each jar with the beans.

Pour the boiling brine over the beans, making sure to leave that 1/2 inch headspace. Use a plastic knife to remove air bubbles from jar by running it around the interior of the jar. Wipe the rims and apply the lids (which have been sitting in a small saucepan of water at a mere simmer for at least ten minutes in order to soften the sealing compound) and rings.

Process for 5 minutes in a boiling water bath (timing doesn’t start until the pot has come back to a roiling boil).

Let the beans develop flavor for a couple of weeks, then enjoy!

Zucchini Relish (makes four pints)

Recipe from my Gram

2 lbs zucchini sliced thin

1 medium onion (about 1/2 lb), sliced thin

1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced thin

1/4 cup salt

2 cups white vinegar

3 cups sugar

1 tsp celery seed

1 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp mustard powder

2 tbl mustard seed

1/4 tsp ground cloves

Toss the vegetables with the salt, cover with water and let sit for two hours or overnight.

Boil vinegar, sugar and spices. Drain salted vegetables well, and pour hot brine over the top. Let vegetables stand in the brine for two hours.

When the two hours is up, sterilize the jars, boil the vegetable mixture again, and pour hot mixture into the clean jars. Make sure the edges of the jars are wiped and clean, and cover with lids that have been simmered in hot water to soften the seal for 1o minutes. Twist rings in place and process in a boiling water bath for five minutes (timing starts when water returns to a rolling boil.) Voila!

Plum Jam (makes about 4 pints, but I would use half pint jars for this, a pint is a lot of jam)

Adapted from a book that I can’t remember the name of right now…I’ll get back to you

3 1/2 lbs ripe but firm plums

2 cups water

3 1/2 cups sugar (this is REALLY sweet, super crazy delicious, but quite sweet, if you like your jam a bit more tart, feel free to cut this down a little.)

1 tsp butter (apparently reduces the foaming that jams like to get in to)

Cut plums in half and remove the pits. Crack some of the pits (you will need a hammer), remove the kernels inside, and set aside (ok, so this step seems a little suspect and unnecessary…though, I would recommend it if only to smell the kernels. No joke, they smell so good and so purely of plum, it really is crazy. If you are going to do this, wrap the kernels in cheese cloth so they don’t get lost in the jam, and then fish them out when the jam is cooked.)

Put the plums, water and kernels in a large pot. Bring to a boil, the reduce the heat and simmer for 40 minutes. Add the sugar and heat gently, stirring frequently, until sugar is completely dissolved. Add the butter and boil rapidly for 15 minutes until the setting point is reached, skimming any foam off the top. Pour into the sterilized jars and let cool for 10 minutes. Seal with wax tops, or process in a boiling water bath with regular lids and rings, for 10 minutes.

Sweet Hot Mustard (makes 2 quarts)

recipe from my fabulous Aunts, El and Col.

3-4 tbl prepared horseradish

1 2/3 cups dry mustard powder (Coleman’s)

1 1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp white pepper

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1/4 cup water

2 cups sugar

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups white vinegar

3 eggs

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

Combine horseradish, mustard powder and peppers in a large pot. Whisk in the water to make a paste (break up any lumps of mustard powder.) Add the sugar and salt and stir, then whisk in the vinegar (the mustard powder does, in fact, want to lump up, whisk vigorously.)

Bring this mixture to a boil, stirring constantly so it doesn’t burn. Beat the eggs in a small bowl, and slowly, while whisking, add about one cup of the hot mustard mixture to the eggs to temper them and prevent curdling (I was only mildly successful at this part.) Pour the tempered egg mixture back into the hot mustard mixture, add the butter and stir until the butter melts. Pour the mustard into sterilized jars and process in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes (I couldn’t be too careful here, what with the raw eggs, and all – though the hot mustard cooks them. I am a nervous person.) Note, my mustard seemed a little runny, and did separate once in the jars. Don’t fret! It firms right up in the fridge and if it separates just shake shake shake before serving! This is best served cold anyway, so stick it in the fridge before you are going to use it. That should keep it from separating as well.

So there you go! Can away! I will totally be doing this again…there are pretty limitless options!

Chicken with Caramelized Shallots: In which I share my first installment…

Weeknight chicken vol. I

So I had this idea. As you may have figured out, my ideas often stop there, so I won’t make any promises, but I’m hoping to start some kind of regular (meaning weekly? I know! It would be unbelievable!) weeknight chicken posts around here. I eat A LOT of chicken, and I suspect a lot of other meat eaters do too. Chicken is popular, not fussy, easy to find, cheap compared to other animal proteins and so amenable to variation. I find, in theory, chicken bores me a little, probably for all of the aforementioned reasons, but in practice, I love it, probably for all the same aforementioned reasons…

I almost always have chicken in the freezer. I buy chicken legs or chicken leg quarters in bulk and freeze them in pairs so that I have them whenever I need something. Whole Foods has very convenient perforated packages of two, or if they are having a sale on bulk wrapped, I just bring them home and separate them. And I definitely prefer chicken legs and dark meat to breasts. They don’t dry out as easily and have way more flavor.

I am always on the look out for easy but delicious sounding post-work chicken options, the orange chicken is one, the chicken dopiaza qualifies too. I’ve mentioned chicken and leeks on here, and I will definitely blog about that one day, and I have a couple other recipes that I am excited to share with you that would fall into this catagory too. A couple caveats: easy weeknight chicken, in this case, doesn’t necessarily mean it is going to be on the table 15 minutes after you get home, but I would count it as easy weeknight chicken if it can be on the table (or coffee table, or tray table or lap) in an hour, and you are not chained to the stove for that entire hour. Recipes that you can easily consider making after work, that don’t require hours of free time on a Sunday to prep and then cook…a couple of them might require some quick prep the night before for marinating and what not, but it only counts if that is minimal too. Those are my guidelines…if your guidelines for weekday meals are different, take this with a grain of salt (or a take out menu or a box of pasta or whatever you have time for after work!)

This one came from David Lebovitz (of the ice cream fame and I just noticed when I went back to find that link that I totally spelled his name wrong…sorry David, I was a young naive (and apparently rude) blogger…my sincerest apologies!) If I wasn’t sold when “caramelized shallots” was right in the name of the recipe, the fact that the recipe included soy sauce, the holy grail of condiments, closed the deal. Also, that it looked so easy – one pan, not much to clean up – SOLD.

The recipe calls for a whole chicken in eight pieces. I used chicken legs and since it was just for one, I cut down on the other ingredients too – not by half, because I wanted lots of shallot-y goodness, but by about a third. It initially calls for four large shallots. I am not sure what they mean by large but we get some doozies around me. They are more like small onions than shallots, if you ask me. Big. I used three for this, and there were a lot of them.

Anyway, the shallots get minced and mixed in the bottom of a baking pan with oil, vinegar and soy sauce, and then the chicken gets tossed with that mixture.

extra shallot-y

At this point it goes into the oven for 20 minutes, after which the chicken gets flipped over and it cooks for another 20 minutes while the chicken cooks through and the shallots get very soft and delicious. And that’s it!

I served with pearl couscous that I cooked and then sauteed quickly in a little bit of brown butter, and miso-glazed carrots, which also couldn’t be easier, just carrots simmered until cooked through, then miso and butter gets added to the remaining cooking water and it reduces for another minute or two until carrots are glazed and tasty. Easy!

glazed

Leftovers are great, and I used two chicken leg quarters and a box of pearl couscous and got dinner and three lunches out of it. (I used four carrots and got two servings out of those…) I would say a whole chicken would easily serve four, though I suppose if there are some very hungry individuals in that group they might disagree with me.

weeknight dinner is served

1. So I have taken to drinking my gimlets out of mason jars.

sample in a jar

I don’t know if it’s cute in the manner of Coastal Living, or if it is so twee that I deserve a face smash. Please advise.

2. When is it going to get warm here? It’s mid May…I’m ready.

3. I made something RI-donculous this weekend. Leek and lobster bread pudding. Are. You. Kidding. Me. Add it to the list of things I need to tell you about…

4. There are days that I wish that the only thing I had to accomplish was reading my book. Today is one of those days. (My book right now is Freedom by Jonathan Franzen. It is a monster. I think I am loving it?) Related: I am having a hard time switching exclusively to Kindle, both because I really love books, and because of the number I books I have to read at home already that aren’t on my Kindle. It may be a long transition, though my New Yorker subscription is on it, so it gets some love every day too.

5. Music recommendation of the day: Neko Case. Anything she does is great. I love her voice. (Eek! She’s coming to Boston. Yay!)

Chicken with Caramelized Shallots (serves 4)

From David Lebovitz

3 tbls olive oil

3 tbls red wine vinegar

1 tbl soy sauce

4 large shallots, peeled and minced

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

One whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces (or eight of your preferred chicken pieces)

A handful of coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley

Preheat the oven to 425ºF (220ºC).

In a baking dish that will hold all the chicken pieces in a single layer, mix the olive oil, vinegar, soy sauce, shallots, and some salt and pepper. Toss the chicken in the mixture, so they’re completely coated with the shallots. Turn the chicken pieces so they are all skin side up.

Roast the chicken for about twenty minutes, until it starts to brown on top. Turn the pieces of chicken over. Scrape any juices and shallots over the chicken that may be clinging to the pan, and bake for another twenty minutes, or until the pieces of chicken are cooked through and the shallots are well-caramelized. Remove from oven and toss in the chopped parsley, then serve.

Miso Glazed Carrots (serves 2)

(I got this idea from somewhere, couldn’t begin to tell you where…)

4 carrots, peeled and sliced on the diagonal into half inch rounds

2 tbl butter

1 heaping tbl white miso

pepper to taste

Put the peeled carrots in a small saucepan with about 1 1/2 cups water, and simmer, over medium heat, until carrots are almost cooked through (the water will have reduced significantly, you still want some in the pan to make the sauce though, so if you need to add more, do.) Add the butter and the miso to the still simmering water, and stir until both are incorporated into a sauce. Continue cooking until carrots are cooked through and sauce is reduced slightly to a glaze. Add fresh pepper and serve.

In which I have that first day feeling…

What did you do on your summer vacation?

To paraphrase Billy Madison “Back to work, back to work, to show my dad that I’m not a jerk…*” Retirement was F-U-N, but it’s time to get back to life. And a paycheck. I ironed my outfit, and set my alarm for 5:30 (5:30? Yeah, you heard me) and made my lunch, and cleaned most of my apartment, and I was as ready as I was ever gonna be. But I am not going to lie. I think this going back to work thing is taking a toll on me. My feet are a mess, totally not used to real shoes. They like flip flops, and in re: the four-inch heels I picked out for today that perfectly match my necklace and my toe nail polish? Pissed. Additionally, I had a dream last night that I got a $36.56 ticket for skinny dipping. Did you know they give out tickets in the amount of $36.56 for that? I was in a pond with a large group that included Zachary Levi, the actor that stars in Chuck, who also received a $36.56 ticket for skinny dipping. The others received no such ticket, as they were clothed appropriately for public swimming. Lastly, some crazy lady in striped socks and a Hawaiian shirt was staring maniacally at me this morning as we were all walking to work. Lady, it is 8 am, keep your eyes to yourself. Also, you are about to walk into something.

*Don’t be alarmed. My dad would never think I was a jerk. He is incapable of doing so, even when I am a jerk. Rent Billy Madison, then you’ll understand.

Going back to work is  not for the faint of heart. But luckily, I have this to help me through the day.

oh man oh man oh man oh man oh man...

That was my first day of work lunch. It is also my second day of work lunch. It is ratatouille, and it is a delight.

Ratatouille is perfect for this time of year because it is a stew of sorts with eggplant, summer squash, tomatoes, peppers, garlic, onions and herbs, and even thought it is cooked, you want to use the best and the freshest. You can roast everything, or saute everything, and the big debate is whether all the ingredients should be cooked together, or cooked separately and combined. I had a recipe all picked out, I was going to saute, and then I was reading Salon.com and an article by Francis Lam just happened to pop out at me. He has a recipe for ratatouille that he calls “weapons-grade” and it looked intriguing. I couldn’t resist, and I am so glad I didn’t, because this is the most delicious thing I have made in a long time. I am planning on stopping at the farmers’ market again tomorrow to pick up more vegetables because it is that good and I want to make gallons of it so I can stuff it into my freezer that is already so full it throws stuff at me every time I open the door. Anybody want some frozen cupcakes?

This ratatouille is a commitment. It took some time, but I did not have to be singularly devoted to it. I was able to do other things while I was making it, like cleaning, filing, watching a classic General Hospital marathon (Brenda’s back!) and planning my outfits for the week, but I would say total cook time for this is close to 3 hours. WORTH IT. It is really delicious. And even thought it has a fair amount of oil in it, it feels really healthy, which is good for the new me. The one that is going to celebrate the new job with a new workout routine. The adipose cells that have found me are getting a little too comfortable…

With ricotta and toast...lunch perfection.

Ratatouille (makes a lot – for my first attempt I halved this recipe.)

adapted from Salon.com

1 head garlic, minced

3 shallots, minced

1 large onion (about 12 ounces), minced

3/4 cup of extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

2 large red peppers, stemmed, seeded, roughly chopped and puréed in the food processor

4 pounds of very good tomatoes, cored and puréed in the food processor

2½ pounds of summer squash and zucchini, ½-inch dice

1½ pounds of eggplant, diced into ½-inch cubes

Thyme and basil to taste

Start by cooking the garlic, shallot and onion in ½ cup of the olive oil over medium-low to low heat in a heavy pot so that they soften and give up their liquid. Stir and try not to let them brown. (This takes awhile.) Season lightly with salt and pepper.

Once they became pale golden and look sticky, add the puréed red pepper and stir to combine. Season lightly with salt and pepper. The pepper should have a ton of water, so let it cook down, stirring every few minutes to make sure nothing gets too caramelized and burned, you’ll have a rich, rusty jam.

Add the puréed tomatoes. Bring it to a boil, and turn it way down to cook off all its liquid. Season lightly with salt and pepper. This already tastes awesome, but you are going to continue cooking for a long time. Around this time, heat your oven to 450. Continue to stir the tomatoes occasionally, just so they don’t burn at the bottom.

Meanwhile, toss the zucchini with salt, pepper and half of the rest of the olive oil. Spread in one layer on a baking sheet (roast in batches if you have to.) Roast until the sizzling starts to slow down and the squash is browning underneath. Take it out and let it cool a bit before putting it in a big bowl. Then do the same with the eggplant, putting it in the same bowl.

When the tomato mixture has cooked down a ton, looks really thick and drier and  tastes even more delightful (you’ll know it’s ready when it gives the oil back up, and sounds squishy when you stir it) chop up some thyme and basil, as much as you like, and stir the herbs into the tomato base. Carefully combine the tomato with the rest of the vegetables so that you don’t mash up your zucchini and eggplant. Serve. It’s even better the next day. Can also be frozen.

In which it is really summer…

panzanella

Well, that’s what I get for procrastinating. That is a Landon Donovan t-shirt. That was taken Tuesday night, when he was my hero. Now Landon, no offense, but it just reminds me of a crushing disappointment. Don’t worry. It’s not your fault. You are not a defender, one of the men who repeatedly forget their purpose in the first half of games and extra time, even if the World Cup hopes of a nation depend on it. I’ll get over it if you guys get a new defensive side. Fair trade, I think.

So now I’ll just talk about the panzanella. This is a food blog, after all.

Panzanella is a great summer salad, because it showcases tomatoes, can be modified pretty much anyway you’d like and can serve as a side, or a light meal. The basics are tomatoes and bread, but other than that, the world is your oyster. I did a fairly straightforward version with bread, tomatoes, mozz and basil. I added olives and quick cooked some red onions, and dressed it with olive oil and sherry vinegar. You could add cucumbers, shrimp, roasted vegetables, various cheeses, really, whatever floats your boat.

I like to use toasted croutons rather than stale bread. It gives it a bit more texture and flavor. I have the ability to add garlic without using raw garlic right in the salad, which can be a bit much. Same with onions. I start with about 4 cups of bread cubes. I prefer crusty bread like ciabatta. I heat a fair amount of olive oil in my cast iron pan, and add garlic and let it start to brown and flavor the oil.

creating flavor

When the onion starts to brown and get fragrant, I add the bread cubes, and let them start to brown and soak up the oil. Right before the bread is finished crisping and browning, I add a splash more olive oil, and some red onion.

building flavor.

I let the onions just start to sweat and soften, and the bread finish cooking, and then I took them off the heat and added the rest of the ingredients. In this case, fresh mozzarella from the farmers’ market, ripe tomatoes (if you hold out until August they’ll be even better-or slow roast them, that would also be awesome) pitted kalamata olives, fresh basil and dress it with the olive oil and vinegar of your choice. Hit it with some salt and pepper and you are in business. This requires almost no effort other than a bit of chopping and crouton watching. No muss, no fuss and limited need for heat, which is always nice in the summer. This is best eaten fairly quickly, as you want the bread to absorb the flavors and juices, but not get soggy. The croutons do help mitigate the sogginess which is nice. I ate the leftovers the next day for lunch and they were still great, even with the soggier bread.

Panzanella (serves 4 as a side, 2+ as a meal)

1/4 cup plus 3 tbl olive oil, divided

3-4 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled, left in large pieces

4 cups bread cubes from crusty bread

Scant 1 cup sliced red onion

6-8 oz fresh mozzarella, cubed

1 lb of the best tomatoes you can get, in a large dice (if using cherry or grape tomatoes, halve them)

1/4 lb (1/3 – 1/2 cup – or to taste) pitted black kalamata olives

Chiffonade of 8-10 large leaves of Basil

2 tbl sherry vinegar, or to taste

salt and pepper to taste

Heat 1/4 cup oil in a large (preferably cast iron) frying pan over medium heat. Prepare bowl (wooden works great if you have one) for serving by rubbing the inside with a clove of the cut garlic, and set aside. Add all the garlic to the oil and let it cook, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching, until the garlic is browned and the oil is fragrant. Add the bread cubes and cook, turning the cubes for equal browning, until they are toasty and browned. Remove the garlic as it starts to blacken and burn. As the bread finishes toasting, and has absorbed all the oil, add another tablespoon of oil and the red onion, tossing to soften the onion until it just begins to sweat. Make sure all the garlic has been removed, and transfer the croutons and the just cooked onion to the serving bowl. I like to immediately add the cubed mozzarella so the heat from the bread softens it a bit. Then add the tomatoes, olives and basil and toss to combine flavors. Add just enough olive oil to so the salad isn’t dry, about 2 tbls. It won’t need much because of the oil used to toast the bread and onions. Add the sherry vinegar and toss again to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste, let it sit and meld while you set the table and pour a glass of wine, and then enjoy!

summer perfection

In which that’s how I feel about that…

hated it!

I must get something off my chest. Please bear with me.

***

To: Lady Gaga

From: Me

Re: I’m trying, really.

Dear Gags,

May I call you that? Gags? Thank you. We must speak, and quick. I’m trying, really, truly trying. I learned to love you begrudgingly. I had to get past Just Dance, which has never been my favorite, and you burst onto the scene opting to forego pants, which, in my opinion, is mostly unforgivable. But then something shocking happened. I started to pay attention and I realized you actually have talent. And you started reeling me in with Poker Face, and I was hooked. But then there was this. I assure you, I never thought I would be in the position of telling anyone what is right or wrong in the face of royalty, but I promise you, that was wrong. And I was angry, and I decided I had no time for you or your shenanigans. But damn you Gags! You performed with Sir Elton at the Grammies, and it was awesome, and then Bad Romance got me again. So you win. Gaga: 2, Me: 0. So perhaps you are a genius, but still, that doesn’t mean I will sit quietly by and abide by this. It can’t go on. It makes me tired. You have TALENT! Make that your schtick! Stop with the outfits! You look ridiculous! It makes me want to poke myself in the eyes! And use lots of exclamation points! And that is unforgivable!

That is all, please go back to making delightful music, and perhaps invest in some pantsuits, at least when you are not performing.

Fondly,

Me

***

Many apologies for that brief interlude, it has nothing to do with food aside from the fact I was thinking about Lady Gaga while eating dinner and perusing the interwebs the other night, and I had to use this, my only public forum, to get that off my chest, because that’s how I feel about that.

And now on to better things. I know I have been MIA, but I have an excuse. This happened.

playing with fondant

Because this happened:

congratulations pretty girl...

That is the littlest. She is now a college grad. I think she is having very mixed feelings about it. But it was a lovely day and we had a little shindig for her afterwards and there was a vanilla cake with nutella filling at the graduate’s request. So I got to play with fondant again. And I get a couple more opportunities to play in the next couple of weeks. Fun will abound. I will keep you posted.

But until then, I would like to discuss this amazing ginger fried rice with you. I feel almost as strongly about it as I feel about Lady Gaga, but my emotions are not mixed, they are unequivocally positive. Overwhelmingly positive even.

a-mazing

This is a recipe I discovered on Smitten Kitchen. It is a Mark Bittman adaptation of a Jean-Georges recipe, and it is remarkable in its simplicity and deliciousness. You use leftover rice. I like (and the recipe calls for) jasmine, but it is a great use for any leftover rice you have on hand. Like all fried rice recipes, you need leftover rice for this. Freshly made rice will end up too mushy.

There are only a couple of other steps to this, and the whole thing comes together quickly. It differs from standard fried rice because it is much simpler, has much cleaner flavors, seems lighter, and in this recipe the ginger and garlic are actually garnishes.

ginger bits

They get fried to little brown crispy bits at the beginning (or ahead of time, if you make extra the first time you make this, they last awhile, and you can cut down further on the steps for next time….super quick!) and then sprinkled over the rice studded with leeks and sprinkled with soy sauce and sesame oil, and served with a fried egg. You can even get fancy like I did and mold the rice in a ramekin, which looks very cool and professional. Take a look.

molded

This really couldn’t be easier. You fry the ginger and garlic, remove them from the pan, add a bit more oil and soften the leeks for about 10 minutes. You then add the rice to the pan to warm through and get a little crispy, as you fry and egg (or as many as you need) in a small pan, then voila! You just plate everything and dinner is served. I used one of my larger ramekins and thought there could have been a bit more egg to rice ratio, so I think I will stick with the smaller six-ounce ramekins as molds in the future, but putting it together couldn’t have been easier. I rubbed the inside of the ramekin with just a little bit of oil, and packed the rice/leeks combo in so it was fairly tight quarters in there.

molded

I covered the ramekin with a plate, and turned the rice over onto the plate, it slid right out and kept its shape. Then I sprinkled the rice with the soy sauce and sesame oil, topped with the fried egg, and sprinkled the whole thing with the browned garlic and ginger bits.

quick perfection

This really was so easy and good. And I will be making it again and again and again. And I recommend you do as well. It is an easier, and seemingly lighter, version of more traditional fried rice. Which I also love, but I think I love this one more. (You can see just how much I love this in the very top photo. My plate has looked like that both times I have made this.) It is easy to scale down for one, and makes a really great quick dinner.

Ginger Fried Rice (serves 4, technically, but like I said, I prefer the ratio of a 6-ounce ramekin to one egg, so this might serve six if I was serving it-and then they might want more because that is not enough to fill one person, but adjust at your leisure)

From Mark Bittman in the New York Times, inspired by Deb’s rendition on Smitten Kitchen

1/2 cup peanut oil (I used canola and it was just fine, but peanut would be very good.)

2 tbl minced garlic

2 tbl minced ginger

Salt

2 cups thinly sliced leeks, white and light green parts only, rinsed and dried (I use one good-sized leek when I make this for one.)

4 cups day-old cooked rice, preferably jasmine, at room temperature

4 large eggs

2 tsp sesame oil

4 tsp soy sauce

In a large skillet, heat 1/4 cup oil over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp and brown. With a slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels and salt lightly. (Can be done ahead, feel free to make extras to cut down on this time for the next time you make this. Just store them in an airtight container or plastic bag.)

Reduce heat under skillet to medium-low and add 2 tablespoons oil and leeks. Cook about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until very tender but not browned. Season lightly with salt.

Raise heat to medium and add rice. Cook, stirring well, until heated through and starting to get crispy. Season to taste with salt.

In a nonstick skillet, fry eggs in remaining oil, sunny-side-up, until edges are set but yolk is still runny.

Divide rice among four dishes. Top each with an egg and drizzle with 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil and 1 teaspoon soy sauce. Sprinkle crisped garlic and ginger over everything and serve.