Black Bean & Sweet Potato Soup w/ Chipotle

As I write this, it's pouring down rain outside, and a perfect day for soup.  But actually, I made this soup a week ago and am just getting around to writing about it now.  Or I will, momentarily.

Today, I spent the afternoon preparing road trip food for Loretta Lynch's journey to Los Angeles tomorrow, which begins at 6 a.m.   We'll play three sets of music over the course of twenty four hours, and then high-tail it home.  Since our first set tomorrow begins the moment we spill ourselves and our gear out of the van, we wanted to be prepared with both breakfast *and* lunch without stopping, and without having to eat deep fried Highway 5 nastiness. Cause this is a band that likes to eat well!  So I happily spent the afternoon roasting peppers for sandwiches, and making a frittata w/ roasted mushrooms, shallots, thinly sliced potatoes & fresh dill, plus chipotle-roasted garlic hummus.  Hmmm... hope I can hold off on eating the stuff until tomorrow.  Better save some for the rest of the band!

The main reason for our trip is to play the grand opening of a new children's clothing resale store, Grow Kid Grow , owned by our incredibly talented pal Missy Gibson.  We'll also be performing a brunch set at the Redwood Bar & Grill on Sunday, sharing the stage w/ another fine & talented human, David Serby.  If you're in the L.A. area, or know people who are, send 'em along! 

For now, I'll leave you with this soup.  The perfect soup for a rainy day like today.  If only we had some right now....

Black Bean & Sweet Potato Soup w/ Chipotle
(printable recipe)

1 medium onion, diced

2 t. cumin

2 t. ground coriander

2 medium sweet potatoes, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 cups cooked black beans

3 cups water or stock of your choice

1 - 2 chipotles in adobo sauce

1/2 t. ancho chile powder

1/4 t. mustard powder

1/2 t. smoked paprika

salt to taste

Juice of 1/2 a lime, or to taste

Garnishes:  diced avocado & sour cream or yogurt

Saute' the onion in a splash or two of olive oil, until lightly brown.  Add the diced sweet potatoes, garlic, and cumin, coriander, ancho chile powder, mustard powder and smoked paprika.  Saute over medium heat for a few minutes, stirring frequently.  Add the three cups of water or stock, bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.  Let is gently simmer for about 15 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are tender.  Now add the black beans, chipotle chile, and salt.  Cook for another few minutes, until everything is well heated.   Turn off the heat and either blend it smooth with an immersion blender, or blend it in a blender or food processor.  Squeeze in the lime juice, taste it and adjust the seasonings.  You may desire more salt or spice, or it might be perfect just like that!  Serve it w/ a dollop of sour cream or yogurt and a sprinkling of diced avocado.   I bet it would be great w/ cornbread, so I might have to try my hand at that next time.

Bread Saves

I've posted about this recipe before, but it's been awhile, so I felt it was worth mentioning again.

I've been feeling a little on the cruddy side this week, but this bread cheered me right up.  I mean, just look at it!  It looks like it came from a *real* bakery for goodness sake!  But the real bakery is right here in our humble little kitchen!  Nothing like a slab of totally homemade and hot from the oven, crispy crackly crusty bread, steaming on the inside and slathered with butter, to cure what ails you.   At least until you try to button your pants.  Oh well!

Here's a link to the infamous recipe, originally posted in the New York Times, adapted from Jim Lahey.   Give it a try.  And try not to eat the whole loaf in one sitting.  I be you'll have a hard time with that.  But don't let that stop you.  Enjoy!

Polenta

Howdy from a 90 degree day in the Bay area.   I don't know the exact temperature, but it's darn hot.  So naturally, today would be the day that my culinary inspiration finally returned, causing me to use every burner on the stove, raising the temperature in our kitchen to something just beyond sweltering.  Thank goodness my friend Claire gave me all that delicious white wine to keep me cool!!

In addition to the compulsion I felt to make a big pot of fiery red curry today, I also thought I'd revisit my old friend polenta.  Growing up in my family,  it was called cornmeal mush and it was total peasant food.  It's still total peasant food - cheap and filling - and it was then, and still is, delicious!

Certainly everybody out there in blog land has their own recipe.  I can't say that I have one single recipe for polenta, but I thought I'd share with you what I made today.  As you can see, my dear old dog Spider thought it smelled delicious!

One of the things I love about polenta is that it's so versatile.  You can do what I did, or create your own take on the situation.  It's very forgiving and adaptable to your tastes.

First, you cook the polenta.  Many recipes say to use milk, but I prefer to cook it with water. Boil a good 6-8 cups of water with a pinch of salt, and slowly whisk in about 2 cups of polenta.

Now, cook it rather slowly over medium-low heat, whisking often, for a good long while - I cooked mine for about an hour.  It might seem like it's done after 30 minutes or so, but it really benefits from an extended period of simmering.  Just make sure to stir it often so it doesn't get all goopy and stick to the bottom.

Once it's nice & thick & porridge-like, I like to stir in some butter and grated cheese - cause what isn't better with butter & cheese?!  Today I used some jalapeno jack that was lying around. I used about 1 cup of cheese and half a stick of butter.  And then, I poured the hot polenta into a couple of buttered casserole dishes, and after letting it sit out on the counter to cool, put it into the fridge to solidify further.

While the polenta was cooling, I prepared the toppings, using what I had on hand.

I caramelized an onion ever so slowly, and thinly sliced some zucchini and mushrooms, and diced a handful of sun dried tomatoes.  I roasted the mushrooms in a skillet, and roasted the zucchini in a separate skillet along with the sun dried tomatoes, and set it all aside.

Once the polenta was cool, I spread a thin layer of caramelized onions on top, and followed it with the zucchini and mushrooms.  Then I topped it all with some feta and chives, cause that's what I had in the fridge.  Now it's sitting there just waiting to be enjoyed, along w/ that big pot of curry, and I'm torn between two lovers!  In any case, I'm happy to have leftovers after having had several days of eating too much toast and pizza.

Another thing I love about polenta is that it's a super cheap way to feed a crowd!  I made two casserole dishes of it tonight.  One pan alone is enough for us two eat for dinner tonight & lunch tomorrow, and I have another pan to take to a gathering later tonight.  And the whole lot of it cost something like five dollars!  So, three cheers for polenta.  And feel free to let me know how *you* like to make it!

40, and Counting

Um, I'm 40 now!  For some reason, I was really fearing it, but it turns out to be, so far, wildly better than I could have imagined.

I started celebrating in late March, beginning with my trip to Phoenix.  I never did write about all my delightful dining experiences while there, so I thought that the least I could do was post a few photos.

I finally made it to Pizzeria Bianco!  We waited three hours for our table, but it was oh sooooo good.  The pizza really is worth the wait.  And there was plenty of wine to help make the waiting not so terribly painful.

Then, it was back to the Barrio Cafe.  Mmmmmm yes to fine food and  tequila!

And speaking of tequila, that happened to be the theme of my 40th birthday party, and oh my, did my friends ever deliver.  They didn't only deliver an abundance of really fine tequila, but they showered me with love and warmth and kindness and a lot of really delicious food, too!

I had such an amazing birthday week - was lovingly bestowed with wine and flowers and delicious food - and gifts! I couldn't have imagined it getting any better, and then there was my party!

My honey and some other very dear and very talented friends put together a tribute band and played a set of my songs, with different folks sitting in on vocals, and I was stunned and amazed.  They say that life begins at 40, and I think I'm starting to believe that.  It's a good feeling!  

Vegetarian Refried Beans - a rough guide

I made it back from Phoenix, and as predicted, did a lot of good eating while I was there. I need to post about that soon, but in the meantime, I thought I'd share sort of a recipe for one of my ultimate comfort foods - refried beans. Considering how much I love them, it's rather shocking that I've never attempted to cook them at home until now. Though I generally stay away from meaty things, when I go to restaurants, I don't care if the beans have lard in them; I'll eat them anyway. But I really don't want to use lard at home. And I was skeptical that I could achieve the same dreamy flavor without using lard, but I was quite pleased with the end result, especially considering that I just threw in a bit of this, a pinch of that. That's why this is more of a guide than a recipe....but you can still click here for a printable version.

Start with the beans! I used roughly 2 or 3 cups of whole pinto beans that I'd cooked from scratch. Had them simmering on the back burner over low heat. In the meantime, in a cast iron skillet, I lightly browned half an onion, diced, and added a couple of cloves of minced garlic. Stirred it for a few minutes and then added a pinch of mexican oregano, a pinch of smoked paprika, a pinch of cumin, a pinch of salt, and a ladle full of the beans, along with some of the liquid in which they'd been cooking. Mashed it all up with the back of the wooden spoon, and continued to add the beans, a ladle full at a time, mashing all along. Once all the beans were in the skillet and fairly well mashed, it was a little thick for my taste, so I added the rest of the bean broth and stirred until it was perfect. Then, because I am addicted to chipotle, I stirred in a little bit of chipotle in adobo sauce, and a sprinkling of cheese. And then it was even more perfect.  I can't believe I waited so long to make these, and I'm sure it won't be too long until I make them again and again and again...

Cheap Eats

Damnit, I hardly cooked a thing this weekend. But man, did I do a lot of eating, some of which included some real bargains.

First, it was vietnamese sandwiches for lunch at Banh Mi Ba Le Vietnamese Sandwich Deli. You cannot beat the price, and the food was darn good. They don't have a web site that I know of, but next time you find yourself hungry and wandering the streets of El Cerrito, head on over to 10174 San Pablo Avenue, and bring your cash because that's the only kind of payment they accept. Sandwiches are like $2.50 each - can't be beat! I do believe that meat eaters could do quite well here, but we didn't do so bad either. I got the veggie/tofu sandwich, and my honey got the sardines. Both were packed full of pickled veggies and peppers, and we bought some of their house made kim chee and added it to our sandwiches - blasphemous, perhaps, but it was good! We also got an order of 3 shrimp rolls at $1 each, and although they weren't the best ever, they weren't bad for a buck.

Then for dinner, I finally, finally got to experience Shalimar, in all its Tenderloin glory. Where have I been, and how could I not have known about this place all these years? It's the real deal - authentic Indian and Pakistani food. We feasted to our hearts' content for a total of $17.00. True, the neighborhood is a little rough. And the restaurant itself, it's not much to look at. In fact, getting your food to take out might be a better option. But it's all about the food. Completely authentic, spicy, made from scratch, and just perfect. Plenty of great vegetarian options here, among them, the most excellent Palak Paneer, and the dreamy Bengen Bhujia (eggplant, roasted and stewed with "exotic" spices).

I've been trying to save my money cause I've got some serious eating to do when I go to Phoenix later this week. Hello, Bianco's Pizza! Finally going to get to eat there!

Homemade Barbeque Sauce

Yeah, I know. It kind of looks like a bowl of ketchup. But trust me, it's good! And you can make it too!

We've had some crazy perfect weather around here the last few days, and it's giving me the barbeque itch. And today, it occurred to me that I've always wanted to make my own barbeque sauce, and that perhaps today should be that day. And so it is.

Truth be told, there won't be any charcoal grilling going on here tonight. I have to inhale my food and dash off to a rehearsal, so I'm just gonna pull a couple of homemade white bean & quinoa burgers out of the freezer, fry 'em up in the pan and slather them with this sauce.

I think there's room for you to improvise here & there w/ this recipe - for instance, if you don't have liquid smoke, you could leave it out. And if you don't have molasses, you could substitute brown sugar. If you don't like it spicy, you could leave the chipotle sauce out. But one of the things I happen to like about this recipe is that it's both smokey and spicy. It's your barbeque though, so sauce it up any way you like! I think next time I'm going to experiment with throwing some beer into the mix.

Here's how you do it.
(printable recipe)

Combine all these things in a bowl and stir it up well:

1 cup ketchup
2 T. red wine vinegar
2 T. worcestershire sauce
1/2 t. liquid smoke
1 t. dijon mustard
1 t. chipotle sauce (that is, the sauce of canned chipotles in adobos sauce)
2 t. molasses
light sprinkling of garlic powder

Now heat it up on the stove and cook over low heat for about ten minutes or so, slather onto the food of your choice, and enjoy!

Curry Paste, How Do I Love Thee?

Let me count the ways...

So I finally got to dig into my new cookbook, Buddha's Table - and just two recipes into it, I think I'm in love.

This is what my kitchen island looked like on Sunday after I got back from shopping.



Between the advent of Daylight Savings time and a short detour for drinks overlooking the Oakland Estuary at Quinn's Lighthouse (thanks, Suki!), we didn't get around to eating dinner until like 10 pm, but boy, was it worth the wait. Homemade red curry paste! I made some, and so can you! It blows away anything you could buy in the supermarket. It features the tantalizing and complex combination of cumin, coriander, shallot, lime zest, garlic, red chiles and galangal, among other things. We blended it into a luxurious stew with kabocha squash, japanese eggplant and coconut milk, and trust me, this picture doesn't do it justice. It was a reason for living, I tell you.



We also made - from scratch! - a totally authentic green papaya salad, and I dare say it was as good as anything you could get in a restaurant. And I was glad we had leftovers because it tasted even better the next day.



The green papaya salad didn't use curry paste as an ingredient, but we did have some left over. So tonight, I smeared some of it onto asparagus that I roasted in a skillet along with some sliced shitake mushrooms, minced garlic and a handful of diced fermented black beans.



This might be one of my favorite dishes yet, and I'm going to post a more detailed recipe at some future point, but for now, the point is, homemade curry paste is my new favorite food! I am nothing if not obsessive, after all.

Yawn...

... I haven't been all that creative in the kitchen or at the keyboard recently, but I've been doing some good reading. Somehow I stumbled across a great blog called The Ethicurean. It's a great source for info. about sustainable eating, packed with lots of interesting and informative articles. Check it out.

And in order to keep feeding my cookbook addiction, I recently purchased two new cookbooks. I am especially excited about the book Buddha's Kitchen by Chat Mingkwan. I feel a Thai feast coming on!

Another cookbook that I'm looking forward to trying is Peter Berley's The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen. My cookbook cabinet is almost out of space. I should probably consider purchasing less cookbooks and doing more cooking...what a concept, eh?

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Nirvana

God I love these cookies...so much so that I've had to ban myself from baking any more for awhile, because I can't stop eating them when they're around, and yet I love them too much to give the majority of them away - how selfish of me! How fattening! You'll just have to make your own, and then, you'll see what I mean!

I did a bit of searching for the perfect recipe, and stumbled across this one by searching the web. I found this web site which claims the recipe is a direct re-print of the Cooks Illustrated recipe. I adapted it slightly because I don't like my cookies to be any sweeter than they need to be, so I reduced the amount of sugar. I also added vanilla extract because strangely, their recipe doesn't seem to include it. And, I added walnuts. A few other tips I recommend that weren't included in the original recipe: first, start with your dough very cold before baking - this makes nice chunky cookies, which I happen to love. Second, rotate the cookie sheet halfway through the baking process. This ensures more even baking.

Oatmeal Chocolate-Chip Cookies

(printable recipe)

1 1/2 cups FLOUR
1/2 teaspoon SALT
1/2 teaspoon BAKING POWDER
8 ounces (2 sticks) UNSALTED BUTTER, softened
3/4 cup LIGHT BROWN SUGAR, packed
3/4 cup GRANULATED SUGAR
1 t. VANILLA EXTRACT
2 large EGGS
3 cups OATS
1 1/2 cups CHOCOLATE CHIPS
1/2 cup coarsely chopped WALNUTS

1. Preaheat oven to 350 degrees, and line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. Whisk flour, salt and baking powder together in a medium bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, by hand or by mixer, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars and beat the mixture until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time.

4. Stir dry ingredients into butter-sugar mixture with a wooden spoon or a large rubber spatula. Stir in oats and chocolate chips.

5. Place dough onto parchment-lined cookie sheets by large spoonfuls (about 1 heaping teaspoon each), leaving at least 2 inches between.

6. Bake until cookie edges turn golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes (in my oven, it took 21 minutes exactly, so I rotated the cookies after 10 minutes and then baked for another 11 minutes). Slide cookies (on parchment) onto cooling rack. Let cool, and store in airtight container.

Potato and Chic Pea Stew with Chipotle

I must be feeling good again. Today, for the first time in what feels like months, I spent the whole day in the kitchen, and boy did I cook and bake up a storm. Later I'll post my recipe for the BEST OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES EVER. But for now, I wanted to post my entry for this month's No Croutons Required Challenge. Each month, bloggers from around the world are invited to create a vegetarian soup or a salad recipe using the featured ingredient, which happens to be potatoes this month. So today, among other things, I made this delicious stew. It's simple, flavorful, hearty and a little bit spicy - perfectly wonderful and warming for a rainy day like today. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as we did!

Potato and Chic Pea Stew with Chipotle

(printable recipe)

1 - 2 T. olive oil

1/2 cup thinly sliced leeks

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup carrots - 3/4 cup of them sliced, 1/4 cup of them finely diced

1 celery stalk, finely diced

2 1/2 cups yellow finn or creamer potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch dice

2 T. tomato paste

2 cups chic peas

4 cups chic pea stock, water or vegetable stock

1 t. Mexican oregano

1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, finely diced

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a medium-sized soup pot, and add the leeks. Saute' for five minutes or so, and add the 1/4 cup finely diced carrots, the celery and the garlic, along with a generous pinch of salt, to create the soup base. Cook over medium heat for about ten minutes or so, stirring frequently, until everything starts to become nicely golden. At this point, if you wish, you can deglaze the pan with a little splash of sherry or white wine or stock.

Next, stir in the two tablespoons of tomato paste, and then add the two cups of chic peas, and the four cups of liquid. Since I had just cooked my chic peas from scratch, I used a combination of chic pea stock and water. If you're using straight water, you may need to add a little more salt, so adjust accordingly.

Add the potatoes and the carrot slices, plus the oregano and chipotle pepper. You could surely add more chipotle pepper if you'd like, but I think it's a good idea to start sparingly and work your way up. Bring it all to a boil and then reduce to a simmer, cover partially, and cook for another fifteen to twenty minutes, or until the potatoes and carrots are nicely tender. Taste it, and add a little more salt if you feel so inclined.

Since I like this dish to have a more stew-like consistency, I used my immersion blender to puree half the soup, but you could enjoy it as-is if you don't feel like taking that extra step.

If you're feeling extra inspired, you could garnish this stew w/ a squeeze of lime, a few cilantro slivers, and a crumbling of cotija cheese. I'll probably serve it that way the next time, but today I just served it straight up, and it got rave reviews. We had to save room for those cookies! Stay tuned for the recipe, my friends. And until then, be well!

Beat That Winter Cold...

... well, I didn't exactly beat mine.  In fact, it was quite the opposite.   I got my ass kicked HARD.  I was sick in bed for 6 days, getting worse each day instead of better, until finally I developed a fever, went to the doctor and discovered I had a sinus infection, which I am still getting over. I can't wait till I feel like myself again, because let me tell you, I have not one iota of inspiration, culinary or otherwise.

Maybe if I'd been following some of these tips sooner, my terrible cold wouldn't have turned into a terrible sinus infection.  May you remain healthy and not need these tips! But for what it's worth, here they are:

1.  Feeling a little (or a lot) congested?  Breathe steam.  It's a very simple and effective home remedy for helping to open your breathing passages and keeping your sinuses well lubricated.  When your sinuses dry out, bacteria can get trapped, and that's what helps to bring on those nasty infections.  Just boil some water and pour it into a bowl.  Hold your head over the bowl and cover it with a towel, and breathe deep.  An added bonus - it's great for your skin!

Another tip I learned from my friend Ari:  add a drop or two of essential oil of thyme to the water in the bowl - it has strong antibacterial properties and will provide added strength in fighting infections.  But use it sparingly for it's very potent - a little goes a long way!

2.  Got a sore throat, body aches, or inflammation?  Try a bromelain & turmeric supplement.  It's a natural way to reduce inflammation, and it's good for both your digestion and your liver.  Bromelain, which occurs naturally in pineapple, is also very good for both sore throats and sinuses.  If you don't feel like buying a supplement, just eat some fresh pineapple or drink some fresh pineapple juice.

3.  Be kind to your nose!  If you're sneezing crazily and blowing your nose endlessly like I was, trust me on this.  Rub the area around your nose with some nice soft lotion, or better yet, coconut oil, which in addition to being soothing and providing moisture, contains antibacterial properties.  If I had done this right from the start, I wouldn't have ended up with a red, swollen, blistered, scabby nose!

4.  In addition to the usual infection fighters such as vitamin C and zinc, try Andrographis.  Again, my friend Ari turned me on to this Ayurvedic herbal supplement which helps to strengthen the immune system, and like turmeric and bromelain, it is good for your liver and digestion.

5. Lastly, I wish that I had been using a neti pot right from the start.  If you can get past the weird initial feeling of using it, you'll be really glad you did.  And if you ever find yourself paralyzed with debilitating sinus pain, you might, like me, be willing to try just about anything to find relief.  Remember what I said earlier about keeping the sinuses from drying out, so as not to promote bacteria growth?  Well, here is a very effective way to do that, and it helps tremendously to relieve sinus pressure.  It helps move all that congestion out of your head so you can breathe and rest.  I can't recommend it highly enough!

I'm feeling a little bit better with each passing day, and really looking forward to the day when I feel inspired to create something good in the kitchen again. It's gotta happen soon!  Until then, may you stay healthy, my friends.

Curried Coconut Red Lentil Soup with Spinach

Thank goodness the last 8 years are behind us! I don't know who coined the phrase "The end of an error", but that sounds about right. I'd drink to that, if I was drinking this month. Damn. I'll have to eat soup instead. This morning I got up extra early and suddenly felt inspired to cook again, so I whipped up this soup before going to work. It's very hearty and warming, just in time for this much needed rain that's threatening to fall out of the sky. And also, it's delicious!!! Keep in mind that the flavor and spiciness of prepared curry pastes can vary greatly, so start out sparingly and work your way up. I used a green Thai curry paste, which was on the milder side.

Curried Coconut Red Lentil Soup with Spinach

(printable recipe)

1 medium yellow onion, diced somewhat fine
1 1/2 c. red lentils, rinsed
1 1/2 c. small red potatoes, diced to about 1/2 inch
1 - 2 T. curry paste
3 cups vegetable stock or water
1 cup coconut milk
2 cups spinach leaves, sliced into thin ribbons
Juice of 1 lime

Heat a couple splashes of olive or canola oil in a soup pot. Add the onions with a couple pinches of salt and cook, stirring frequently, for about 10-15 minutes, until the onions soften and turn a light golden brown. Stir in 1 T. of curry paste and add the lentils and the stock or water. Bring to a boil and then turn the heat down and simmer, partially covered, for 8 minutes. Add the potatoes and the coconut milk, and simmer for another 8 minutes. Stir in the spinach and cook for another 5 minutes or so. Stir in the lime juice, taste it and add more salt if necessary, and add more curry paste if you'd like.

Enjoy!

Pantry Essentials

Some day, I'll get back to posting recipes. And for that matter, there is an abundance of great music I've been meaning to write about, too (Ah, nothing like starting a fresh new year with a smattering of procrastination.). For now, I've been in a mode of strictly cooking from cookbooks, namely, my most recent purchase: 5 Spices, 50 Dishes: Simple Indian Recipes Using Five Common Spices by Ruta Kahate. There are some real winners in this book, and a couple that didn't win me over so well, but overall, I've been digging it.

I came across this article the other day on one of my favorite blogs, Gluten Free Girl. It's all about essential pantry items, and it was inspired by this article by Mark Bittman at the New York Times. So I thought I'd post my own list of pantry essentials. And on this note, Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food has a whole section dedicated to this very subject. The premise is simple: with a few basic staples in your pantry, sometimes supplemented with some fresh produce or whatever you like, you are always ready to create a delicious meal. And that is a very comforting feeling.

So here are some of my pantry staples:

• Dried beans - usually of 3 or 4 varieties at any given time:  black beans, chic peas, red lentils, french green lentils, cannellini  beans, kidney beans are a few of my favorite.  I generally cook them in larger batches, and freeze them in smaller batches so that I always have some ready to use.
• Rice - basmati and brown rice
• Quinoa - highly nutritious alternative to rice.  Delicious when prepared in the manner of risotto!
• Pasta - I agree with Alice Waters and others who use only imported dried pasta
• Canned tomatoes - I like to use Muir Glenn organic tomatoes, and especially the fire roasted ones.  Many people recommend San Marzano tomatoes from Italy, but I  haven't been able to find them organic.
• Coconut Milk
• Rice noodles for use in Asian stir fries and soups
• Spices - well lately, I've been really into mustard seeds, cumin, coriander, turmeric and cayenne.  But also, I couldn't live without bay leaves, Mexican oregano, crushed red pepper & kosher salt.  And it's very handy to have paprika and saffron on hand. 
• Oils:  I use a lot of olive oil - I don't generally buy anything too fancy; I just like the organic extra virgin first cold pressed stuff.  I also keep canola oil around, and sometimes I make my own clarified butter, or ghee.  Although not as essential, I do like to keep sesame oil around, and a little peanut oil can't hurt either.
• Vinegars: my perennial favorite is good old red wine vinegar, but we also always have balsamic and rice wine vinegars too, as well as distilled white wine vinegar.  Did you know that last one is good for removing odors?  When I smash anchovies in my mortar & pestle, I soak it with water and vinegar to make the fishy smell go away!
• Garlic and onions - the world would not be the same without them! I like to use yellow onions for every day cooking, red onions for use in salads (and for pickled red onions, of course!) and white onions for Mexican cuisine. And shallots are nice to have too.
• And we can't forget:  flour, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and baking powder and baking soda so you bake something any time you are stricken with the whim.

And in the fridge and freezer, it's good to have:

• Panko bread crumbs - I know Mark Bittman isn't a fan, and it's true, you *can* make your own bread crumbs without too much fuss, but I love me some Panko!
• Lemons - a little juice, a little zest, there is no end to the ways you can make your lemons feel useful.
• Butter - I like to use organic, unsalted.
• Nuts - usually I have pine nuts, walnuts and sliced almonds, and sometimes cashews or pecans.  I use them in stir-fries and pasta dishes and salads and baking, and nuts are an essential ingredient in my homemade white bean & quinoa burgers. Yay for nuts!
• Tomato paste in a tube - I love this because you can just squeeze out the amount you need
• Anchovies and/or anchovy paste - some wouldn't consider this essential but I sure like to have it.  Great for caesar salads of course, and the anchovies in their whole form are great for adding to pasta or pizza.
• Parmesan - many recommend a nice hunk of imported Parmigiano-Reggiano, and I don't blame them.  But don't blame me if sometimes I'm low on funds and lazy, cause I say grated parmesan from Trader Joe's or the Berkeley Bowl is better than no parmesan at all!
• Capers - mmmmm salty goodness.  I love to add them to tuna salad, pasta or pizza.
• Olives - again, many recommend you buy fancy fresh ones, and sometimes I do, but it's nice to have an old stand-by jar of kalamata olives for adding to pasta or salads, or for making olive paste.  In fact, you could take some of the above staples - olive oil, garlic, anchovies, capers, olives, and pasta, and put it all together for a nice little meal, even adding some canned tomatoes if you feel so inspired.
• Fish sauce, soy sauce, hot sauce, miso, red chile paste - great for Asian-inspired stir-fries, soups, curries, etc. Miso also makes a nice addition to marinades or salad dressings.
• Vegetable stock - I make my own using scraps of carrots, celery, onions, garlic, shallots, and sometimes greens.  Saute in olive oil, add some water and fresh or dried herbs and a squeeze of tomato paste (or not!), a healthy dose of salt, and cook anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour.  Always good to have a stash of this in the freezer, and it's a great way to use those leftover vegetable bits!
• Frozen peas - oh, how I love them in stews and stir-fries and risotto. 
• Sherry or white wine for deglazing the pan after frying onions/garlic/etc.
• Chipotles in adobo sauce - they come in a can, and then I store them in a jar in my fridge upon opening - love that hot smokey, goodness.  It's great for spiking your chili, and good with soup, squash, and of course, black beans!
• Curry paste - there are several good brands that have no preservatives, and it's a great thing to have on hand for whipping up a quick curry or stew.  Saute some onions & garlic, add some diced potatoes and other veggies to the pot, add a couple of splashes of coconut milk and some curry paste, and cook until the veggies are tender. 
• Worcestershire sauce - mostly I use it in Steve Lucky's Lemon Caesar dressing, but it's also good to add a couple dashes to your homemade veggie burgers or salmon burgers, or, if you're the meatloaf sort, it's good for that too.

Well there you have it.   Damn, I'm getting hungry!

Love Your Liver

Greetings, and Happy 2009!

Around here, it's that time of year again - time to embrace all things non-alcoholic, now that the period of holiday over-consumption has passed. I decided against embarking on a full-fledged cleanse or fast, but I am doing my best to eat well and be kind to my liver, and thought I'd share some tips about how you can do that simply through eating and drinking the right stuff!

Fortunately, I've been cooking and eating an abundance of Indian food recently, and using turmeric frequently. Besides being a lovely shade of yellow, turmeric is a digestive aid, and assists in removing toxins in the body. It's also a great anti-inflammatory agent. In fact, turmeric has so many health-promoting qualities, that is listed as one of the World's Healthiest Foods.

Rosemary is another herb that has so many great qualities, it's another of the World's Healthiest Foods! Not only is it great with potatoes or in soups or sauces, but it's great for the immune system, has many anti-inflammatory properties, is great for digestion, and helps the liver to work more efficiently.

Artichokes may not be on the list of healthiest foods, but they sure can't hurt. Artichokes are great for the liver, gall bladder and kidneys, all helpful in detoxification. Plus, they taste great and are so much fun to eat!

I drink dandelion root tea year round, mostly cause I like the taste - it's kind of roasted-nutty tasting, and this works well for me in my post-coffee life. How nice to know that it also happens to be rich in minerals and vitamins A, C, D and B complex, and great for the liver, kidneys, pancreas and spleen.

I won't lie - I miss wine & beer, damnit! And for that matter, I miss pizza and french fries and cookies! But despite that, it does feel nice to be doing good things for my body. And on that note, I'm off to make a cup of dandelion root tea!

Happy 2009!

Here's wishing all of us a most wonderful 2009! The holidays have sort of swallowed me up a bit recently, so please forgive the infrequent postings.

At our house, the Christmas feast was a five course Indian meal that we spent two days preparing - that's my idea of a good time! In fact, we've been refining and combining different recipes to come up with the perfect palak paneer, and we think we've finally hit the jackpot! So hopefully I'll post that recipe in the near future. If you are not familiar with palak paneer, it is a spinach and cheese curry that uses homemade cheese, and it's a total comfort food, yet bursting with flavor and texture. I'm telling you, our house STILL smells amazing from all the food we cooked, days later!

But what's a person to do when they don't actually have two days to spend in the kitchen? Thankfully, my obsession with Indian cuisine recently led me to yet another cookbook that I am very excited to enjoy: 5 Spices, 50 Dishes: Simple Indian Recipes Using Five Common Spices by Ruta Kahate. The recipes in this book feature coriander seeds, cumin seeds, turmeric, cayenne, and mustard seeds. I'm very excited to start trying some of the recipes, particularly because the recipes are simple, in that you can whip them up any night of the week in an hour or less. But simple doesn't have to mean simplistic, and I'm sure this is true, because I actually had the good fortune to take one of Ruta's cooking classes in Berkeley several years ago, and I have tasted the results. I'm sure you'll be hearing more about my adventures with this cookbook before too long.

For now, I'm off to get ready to ring in the new year, and wishing everyone a safe and happy and prosperous - and well fed - journey into 2009!

For That Special Coffee Drinker In Your Life...

... I thought my friend Berge was kidding when he told me about Weasel Puke Coffee, but it's the real deal.  Maybe now I can start drinking coffee again?  On second thought.... maybe not. Somebody out there must love the stuff, because apparently, it's currently sold out!

In case you're too lazy to click on the link (cause maybe you need a little jolt of caffeine?), here it is in a nutshell:

"There's a little animal in Vietnam which has magical properties. Locally, it's called a weasel (though technically, it's a type of civet, but let's call it a weasel like the locals) and it sure likes to eat the fruit of the coffee plant. But the seeds don't sit well in its tummy, so it vomits them up. And that's where the fun comes in - for local coffee folks gather up the beans and lightly roast them. The stomach acids seem to wear away the bitter taste of the coffee beans, and the resulting coffee is delicious and smooth.

Ok, right now you're probably thinking we're full of crap. But nothing we've written above is false. Weasel Puke Coffee really is made of beans thrown up by local Vietnamese weasels. And it really does give the coffee a different taste - a rich chocolaty flavor. Weasel Puke Coffee is truly a gourmet treat. And if the thought of drinking puked up coffee makes you throw up in your own mouth a little, then you are just the person to try this. Because puke makes the coffee better. Trust us."

On second thought, I might just stick to tea...

It's Pizzelle Time!

I am a bit of a scrooge. And also, I'm not hugely into sweets. But every December, I find myself craving pizzelles - a "traditional italian wafer cookie" - typically flavored with anise and lemon or a combination of the both. Every December, usually thanks to my mom or my sister, I nearly o.d. on these things (And of course, every January, I curse that extra fat roll!).

I've never baked them myself but this year I realized that if I want to eat them, I'm going to have to learn how to make them, because I won't be seeing my family for the holiday. So tonight I pulled out the pizzelle iron that my mom gave me for Christmas several years ago, and I finally took it out of the box. Thanks, Mom!

In my search for the perfect recipe, I found this interesting article. But that's just an aside, because the perfect recipe of course, is my family recipe! I don't know exactly where it came from, but tonight I called my sister and she dictated it to me, and told me to follow it exactly, and I did... almost. The recipe calls for lemon extract but I was too cheap to cough up $7.99 for a bottle of lemon extract, and I happened to have a bunch of nice, thick-skinned lemons on hand from my friend Thomas' tree, so I used lemon zest instead, and I think it the results are fabulous.

So remember, you have to have the pizzelle iron in order to make these things. And once you do, you make them like this: (click here for printable recipe)

Melt 2 sticks butter, and let it cool.

Put 1 3/4 cups sugar in a bowl, and pour the butter into it and stir.

Add 6 eggs to the butter & sugar mixture, and mix it well.

Add to the above mixture: 1 1/2 t. vanilla extract, 1 1/2 t. anise extract, and 1 1/2 t. lemon zest.

Now add to the mix: 3 cups flour, 1/2 t. baking powder and 1/2 t. salt. Mix it well.

Heat up the pizzelle iron, and drop the batter by the small teaspoonful, a plop on each side. Clamp the lid down and let it do it's thing for about 30 seconds. Don't worry if the first few come out funky - the pizzelle iron just needs to get into its groove. Remove the pizzelles with a spatula (plastic or wood only please!), and let cool on a cooling rack. You'll notice that they come out of the iron soft and pliable, but within a minute or two on the cooling rack, they'll be nice & crisp, and you probably will eat them as fast as you make them. So much for giving them away as gifts. So much for your diet! If you do manage to refrain from eating every last one, once they are completely cool, store them in an airtight container. They should last for several weeks, except they won't, because everyone will love them!

Roasted Beets with Horseradish...

... the recipe couldn't be more simple.  Dice some beets and toss with a little kosher salt, roast till they're nicely tender but still have a bit of texture, and toss with fresh grated horseradish, a bit of olive oil and some chopped fresh basil.

Upon seeing this dish prepared, I learned about one of the great culinary mysteries, that being the relationship between beets and horseradish - when you combine them, they transform one another.

If you've ever been within a few feet of someone grating fresh horseradish, then you've felt the way it burns your eyes and nose.  This shit is HOT - sinus clearing hot.  It makes your eyes water and your nose run just to be near it, to say nothing of consuming it.  So naturally, I expected this dish to be hot in the same way.  But in fact, it was subtle as can be.  Something about the sweetness of the beets just completely mellows the horseradish, and the horseradish somehow mellows the sweetness of the beets.  It's a match made in heaven.

I learned this simple recipe while assisting my friend Phil Gelb at his underground restaurant concert series last weekend.  It's been quite awhile since I've worked a food gig, and I must admit that it was nice to just show up and chop and slice and dice and serve, instead of being in charge of the whole affair.  And the bonus, besides  working with Phil and enjoying the delicious food, was being able to enjoy two sets of music by Amy X. Neuburg.  This is a woman who has an amazing voice and uses it masterfully, and her compositions are sophisticated, entertaining, and moving.  I found myself at different points during her set with goosebumps, and then tears in my eyes, and then laughing out loud.  Amy is a uniquely talented composer, vocalist and entertainer, and it was a pleasure to enjoy her music two nights in a row.

On other fronts, it seems the cold winter temperatures have finally arrived.  That means I'm laying low whenever possible, and baking lots of squash in an effort to keep warm.  I'm sure I'll emerge from the cocoon at some point with a new recipe or two.  Until then, be well and stay warm!

Kitchen Improv: Indian Spiced Cauliflower, Fennel and Red Lentil Stew

Anyone who knows me knows that I don't do a lot of improvising in the kitchen.  I like to follow recipes; I guess I'm not the biggest risk taker.  When I do create my own recipes, it usually involves a fair amount of testing and refining until I get it right.  But once in awhile,  a meal just magically comes together despite my skepticism, and last night was one of those nights.

It was getting towards the end of the week, and the fridge was looking a bit bare, but it did hold some cauliflower and fennel and half an onion.   In the freezer, there were cooked red lentils that were left over from my last pot of Indian soup (a recipe for curried red lentil and tomato soup with perfumed spice butter,  from my recent cookbook purchase "Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking" by Julie Sahni), and also, frozen peas.  In the pantry there were black mustard seeds, cayenne and cumin seeds, and an abundance of Garam Masala, plus there was ghee.  It wasn't long before dinner was on the table, and wow, was it good!

I was skeptical about combining cauliflower and fennel - I don't know why, but it seemed like a combination of flavors that could go either way, delicious or god-awful.   Thankfully, it was delicious.  What follows here is more of a guide than an actual recipe.  Serve it with some basmati rice and you're good to go.

One thing to note about red lentils - they cook much differently than the standard green or brown lentils, which generally hold their shape.  Red lentils cook a little more quickly, and develop a thick, creamy consistency as they cook - so they are perfect for a nice, thick stew like this one.  Also, don't be alarmed when your red lentils lose some of their color as they cook.

I wish I'd gotten a picture, but alas, my camera batteries were dead, so I'll just have to make more of this another time!

First, cook your red lentils.  I did this according to the recipe in the aforementioned cookbook, and basically it involves rinsing about a cup and a half of red lentils, covering with about 4 cups water and a pinch of turmeric, bringing to a boil and then simmering over lower heat, partially covered, for about 35 minutes or so.  Note:  skip the turmeric if you're not going to use the lentils for an Indian preparation.

Cut up half an onion into a small dice, plus a couple of cloves of garlic.  Set the garlic aside.  

In a heavy-bottomed soup pot, heat about a tablespoon of ghee, butter or olive oil.   Over medium heat, saute the onion, stirring frequently, for about 10-15 minutes, until it's soft and nicely golden brown. 

Now, add to the pot:  about a teaspoon of cumin seeds, and about the same amount of black mustard seeds, plus a bit of cayenne, depending on how spicy you like it.  Keep stirring, and after a minute or so, add some chopped fennel and chopped cauliflower.  I used about 1 1/2 cups of each. 

Add the garlic and a generous sprinkling of salt, and keep stirring for about 5 minutes, and then, add some water - about enough to cover it all by half an inch.  Simmer over medium heat for about 10 minutes or so, until the cauliflower and fennel have started to become nicely tender.

Now it's time to add the lentils - I used what I had on hand, which was about 2 cups or so.  I also scattered about 3/4 of a cup of frozen peas into the mix, along with about a half teaspoon of Garam Masala.   Cook for another 5 minutes or so, and it'll be ready to serve.  It's nice when things turn out that way, isn't it?

And Speaking of Wine Lovers...

... a friend of mine is not only a wine lover and collector, but she also makes her living selling wine.  Occasionally she has more wine in her personal collection than she knows what to do with, and a couple of times, she has been known to pawn some of it off on me.  Or maybe she just takes pity on me because I told her that I recently bought a bunch of wine (or rather... swill!) at the Grocery Outlet.  Of course, that was before I knew about The Wine Mine!

Anyway, said friend was kind enough to hip me to an opportunity to enjoy a fabulous meal at a brand spankin' new restaurant last night - this restaurant is so new in fact, that it isn't even open to the public yet, so it was a very special treat.  The place is called Marzano, and they specialize in wood-fired pizza, so naturally I had to take a break from my post-Thanksgiving diet.  I had planned to make stir fried vegetables and tofu last night, but those plans were quickly and happily abandoned when I got the call that there were 2 seats available for a test drive before the place officially opens tomorrow.  How could I resist?

Here are a few things we got to enjoy, and truly, every bite was savored.

House cured monterey bay sardines with giardiniera valencia orange, almonds, golden raisins, saffron - it's not a combination that I would have thought of, but it was exploding with vibrant flavors and contrasting textures.  Salty and sweet, crunchy and tender all at once. 

Tricolore salad with treviso, frisee and wild arugula lemon-anchovy vinaigrette, pane grattugiata pecorino romano - just say the words "anchovy" and "arugula" in the same sentence, and I'm there.  And this salad did not disappoint.  I had to refrain from licking the plate.

Quatro formaggi pizza with mozzarella, fontina, pecorino, roasted wild mushrooms & sage - This pizza was dreamy.  I rarely cook with sage and every time I taste it, I am reminded that I really ought to cook with it more!  Together with the roasted mushrooms and cheeses, this was a perfect flavor combination.

Napoletana pizza with tomato, anchovy, capers mozzarella, black olives, chili flake - Once again, I couldn't pass up more salty, briny goodness and this pizza did not disappoint.  In fact, it was a good contrast to the 4-cheese pizza, because as far as I could tell, this one had no cheese except perhaps for a light sprinkling of parmesan.

I'm looking forward to enjoying more meals at Marzano.  Another nice thing about this place is that it doesn't break the bank, and also, the service is great. I'm no restaurant critic (not that I'd mind getting paid to eat!), but that's my two cents.

For Winos and Those who Love Them

Since I made a little trip the Wine Mine today, and also read a good article and watched a video about frugal wine buying, I thought I'd help spread the good word.

First, about the Wine Mine.  I just discovered this place, which is not much more than a hop, skip and a jump away from where I live.  It has apparently been there for over a year, but some of us are slow learners!  I finally wandered in recently, and am so glad I did.  The service is great. You can read all about the owner, David Sharp, on the Wine Mine's web site.  David offers a wide selection of great quality wines at reasonable prices -  from $5 - $205.  He's knowledgeable  and friendly, and so far I haven't bought a bottle from him that I didn't love, even in the $7-10 price range.  

If you don't live in the Bay area, fear not!  I read this great posting on the Get Rich Slowly blog today (yes it's true, I have a secret love of blogs having to do with personal finance!).  The article is entitled Finding Good Wine at Great Prices: Expert Advice for Frugal Wine Lovers, and features a video from Gary Vaynerchuk at Wine Library TV.  I didn't previously know about Wine Library TV, but am glad I do now.

So let's hear it for good wine that doesn't break the bank - I'll drink to that... tonight, in fact!

Holiday Gifts for the Foodies you Love

Is it too early to start talking about holiday gifts? Can any of us even afford to buy gifts in light of the fact that the economy has gone down the toilet? I'll leave those answers up to you, but I will suggest that if you're going to give gifts, why not give gifts of food and drink, because who doesn't love food and drink? I've written about all the products below at some point or another on this blog, but thought I would compile them into one handy list of some of my most favorite consumables. Tested and loved by me, and sure to be loved by you and your favorite foodie.

• Katz's jams, honeys, vinegars and gift boxes -
  

Oh, how I love anything made by the Katz company, based right here in Northern California. I first learned of their products when my friend Denise gave me a jar of their citrus blossom honey for my birthday a couple of years ago, and I have been smitten ever since. Besides their honeys, they make exquisite fruit preserves and artisan vinegars and oils. They also have beautiful gift boxes, brimming with deliciousness. If you're fortunate to live in the Bay area, you can find their honeys at the Berkeley Bowl. But if not, don't fret. Just wander on over to their online store and have yourself a ball.

• Agrumato Extra Virgin Olive Oil Pressed with Lemons
  

Bless that Denise; she is a woman who knows her food! She's also the one who turned me on to this superb olive oil, and I swear since she gave me that bottle, I must've bought another 10 bottles that I've given as gifts over the last couple years. This oil is great for dipping bread or using to dress a salad; it's wonderfully fragrant, tangy and refreshing. If you live in the Bay area, you can find it at Berkeley Bowl or at The Pasta Shop. You can also find it on Amazon.com.

• Chocolate Santander
  

I wrote about this chocolate recently, and I meant it when I said it ruined me for all the other chocolates. There is just no comparison. This Colombian single origin chocolate is like no other. Their 70% dark chocolate bar is smooth like velvet, deliriously dark and delicious. As far as I can tell, you can't purchase their chocolate from them directly on their web site, but you can get it from Chocolate.com, Chocosphere.com, or even Amazon.com.

• Cha-no-Aji - The Taste of Tea
  

I first learned of this tea through my friend, vegan chef extraordinaire Phil Gelb. One sip and I was hooked. I am a big fan of their Night Blooming Jasmine tea - so delicate and fragrant. They have so many wonderful varieties of tea that you'll find it hard to choose just one. They also carry many lovely teapots and cups. To the best of my knowledge, you can only buy their teas directly from them, via their online store.

So that's my two cents, for what it's worth.  Hope everyone out there has a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Although I always enjoying cooking a feast, I'm happy to be able to enjoy someone else's feast this year.  Tomorrow I'm headed to Palm Springs to spend the holiday w/ the family of my sweetie, who's mother's husband is a fabulous chef, and whom I'm told has been already cooking for days.  I can't wait!

Until next time, cheers to one and all.

Green Beans with Garam Masala, Garlic and Slivered Almonds

If you read my last post, you may be wondering just what a person would do with such a large quantity of garam masala. Well I don't have a definitive answer to that question, but I can tell you about a delicious way to use a couple pinches. It does not involve mac & cheese! But I couldn't help but post my photo of the mac & cheese I made the other night to enjoy w/ my wonderful friends. It's the recipe from Cook's Illustrated. I love Cooks Illustrated because their recipes are tested exhaustively, tried and true. You follow the directions, and you get the results. You have to be a member in order to access their recipe, or, you could do like I did and buy one of their cookbooks.

But see, the thing about mac & cheese is that there's no getting around the fact that it's a high fat, high carb food. Delicious, yes. Fattening beyond belief, yes. And definitely, it's a dish that I like to make some sort of attempt to balance out by serving it with not only a big green salad, but also, a side dish of some other green vegetable. That's where the green beans come in. And the garam masala. And while we're at it, a little ghee if you've got it, and some garlic and slivered almonds. Alright, truth be told, if we were counting calories, we'd be eating steamed broccoli, but hell, where is the fun in that? We didn't come here to count calories!

Green Beans with Garam Masala, Garlic and Slivered Almonds

(click here for printable recipe)

1. Clean and trim a whole bunch of green beans. I used a little over 2 pounds to feed 7 people. Set the beans aside.
2. Mince several cloves of garlic and set aside.
3. In a large, heavy skillet (like, say... Adam's orange Le Creuset!), either melt a big plop of ghee or a big splash of olive oil over medium-high heat.
4. Add the green beans to the pan and cook over medium to high heat for about 10 minutes or until they start to become tender.
5. Keep the heat high and add 2 or 3 cloves minced garlic and the almonds - about 1/2 to 3/4 cup - and keep stirring till everything is nice and golden brown. The trick is to stir it enough so that the garlic doesn't burn, but not so much that the green beans won't brown. I can't claim to be an expert on how to achieve this, cause it seems like every time I make this dish, I arrive at my results in a different way. Isn't that extremely helpful?
6. Once the beans are more or less done, which means nearly tender but still a little crunchy, and somewhat golden brown, turn off the heat.
7. Sprinkle with kosher salt and several pinches of garam masala. Toss it well and serve it up with your mac & cheese, and enjoy in the company of fine friends and fabulous four-legged creatures who would never dream of begging!

Garam Masala

I can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday morning than standing in the middle of my kitchen with the stereo cranked, measuring out spices and roasting, toasting and grinding them, filling the house with the most incredible perfume. But, that's just me. I'm a little nutty that way. Lucky for me, the man I love is also nutty that way, or at least if he isn't, he's perfectly happy to indulge me.

See, our new cookbook Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking finally arrived, and we couldn't wait to make an Indian feast, and Saturday was the big day. So we spent the day in the kitchen making ghee and homemade cheese, and chopping ginger and garlic and onions in crazy quantities, making yogurt mint sauce and chic peas with tamarind, roasting eggplant and toasting and grinding spices. That is my idea of a good time, and a good time it was! I couldn't begin to go into detail about all the recipes we enjoyed, but I thought I'd share the process for making garam masala, since I got some nice photos.



First, measure out the spices:

1/4 cup cumin seeds
1/4 cup coriander seeds
1 1/2 T. cardamom seeds (black or green)
2 whole cinnamon sticks, 3 inches long
1 1/2 t. whole cloves
3 T. black peppercorns
4 bay leaves, broken up
1/2 t. ground mace





Next, dry-toast the spices in a big cast iron skillet over medium heat, stirring constantly. You don't want the spices to burn, but you do want them to turn several shades darker, and to begin to give off a very spicy aroma.






Once the roasting process is complete, pour the spices into a bowl and let them cool.







Once completely cool, grind the mixture in small batches in a spice grinder or coffee grinder, and transfer to an airtight container.

Now mind you, this is a crazy large quantity. I don't even know how we're going to begin to use it up, but we'll have fun trying. You could easily cut this recipe in half, or if you're feeling crafty and creative, you could double the recipe and distribute into small jars to decorate and pass out as holiday gifts along with your favorite curry recipe. Or you can do like we're going to do, and get obsessed with seeking out dishes that use this wonderful spice. Whatever you do, enjoy the incredible scent that is sure to permeate the air in your kitchen, and have fun!

Yes, We Did!

It's a whole new world since my last posting, eh? I'm thinking it's a better world now, and I'm excited to see the way the next four or eight years unfold.

I haven't been spending much time working on my own new recipes recently, but I do have two new cookbooks on the way, and I can't wait to see what I'm going to discover inside their pages. The first is Julie Sahni's Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking. The second is Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian: More Than 650 Meatless Recipes from Around the World.

Now that winter seems to be beckoning, I find I'm much more frequently in the mood for warm, spicy dishes. And although I have several Indian, Thai, and even Vietnamese cookbooks, none of them are exclusively vegetarian, and in fact many of them are quite meat-centric. So I can't wait to crack these cookbooks open and start using them to warm my kitchen and my belly!

In other news, if you didn't already watch my goofy cooking video and cast your vote for me out of pity, it's not too late! Go to the KTEH Cooks with Garlic page, watch as many cooking videos as you can stomach, and cast your vote!

Until next time, cheers!

Stuffed Squash Strikes Again

Yesterday we had our first rainfall of the season here in the Bay area, and here's hoping there's a hell of a lot more where that came from, because we need it!

Anyway, after a wet and windy bike ride home from work, it was the perfect evening to make what is now officially one of my favorite dishes on earth: stuffed squash - stuffed kabocha, in this case. My love for kabocha squash borders on fanaticism; in fact I can be perfectly happy eating a very simply roasted kabocha squash, with nothing more than a little olive oil, salt and pepper. But what I love about stuffing a squash is that you can easily turn it into a one-pot, very satisfying meal, using a little bit of whatever you happen to have on hand. I happened to have some cooked lentils and some chard, plus some slivered almonds and cooked quinoa, and I mixed it all up with a sprinkling of breadcrumbs and parmesan, and it was so delicious. Here's a basic recipe that you can alter as you see fit, using what you have in the house and using what inspires you - in fact I'd love to hear your ideas for varying this recipe, so bring 'em on!

Stuffed Winter Squash

Pre-heat the oven to 375.

Begin with one medium-sized winter squash, such as kabocha or butternut. You could also use delicata or acorn, but since those varieties tend to be smaller, you may want to use one squash per person.

Cut the squash down the middle, scoop out the seeds, drizzle with a little olive oil, season w/ salt and pepper. If you'd like you can press a little minced garlic into the flesh. Now place the squash into a baking dish, cut side down, and roast for about 30-45 minutes, until the squash starts to become quite tender and almost looks like the flesh is puckering.

While the squash is roasting, get your stuffing together. I like to use the amounts that are on the larger side, so I can have extra stuffing to eat the next day. Set aside a good sized bowl to mix your stuffing, and add to it:

1/2 an onion, sauteed slowly till it's sweet and golden brown
1 to 1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa, rice or couscous
1 to 1 1/2 cups cooked lentils or chic peas
1/4 to 1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds or pine nuts
1/4 to 1/3 cup bread crumbs - Panko works especially well
1/4 to 1/3 cup grated parmesan

And then, here is where you get to be creative, by adding any of the items below, or any combination of them:

1 bunch chard, cut into small ribbons, and quickly sauteed with a little olive oil and minced garlic
1 cup or so of sliced shitake mushrooms, sauteed or pan roasted in a little butter
1 cup or so of sweet corn or peas
1/2 cup currants or dried cranberries
1/2 cup halved cherry tomatoes
Or, maybe you have your own ideas about what to add!

Mix the stuffing well, season it with salt and pepper, and here, you can also be creative with your seasonings. I added a couple dashes of tamari, and, believe it or not, a couple dashes of fish sauce, which added a little depth and most certainly did not lend any sort of fishy flavor, for the record! But you could also add fresh herbs or dried herbs, and/or a little stock or broth. You don't want the mixture to be too moist, but you do want it to be moist enough to hold together somewhat.

Now, it's time to stuff the squash. Take it out of the oven after 30-45 minutes of roasting have passed. Turn it over and spoon the stuffing into the squash. Hopefully you'll have extra stuffing which you can spread into the rest of the pan outside the squash. Drizzle everything lightly with olive oil, add another light sprinkling of bread crumbs and parmesan, and bake for about another 30 minutes or so, until the stuffing becomes nicely golden brown and the squash is meltingly soft.

And now, it's time to eat! And in case you didn't know, you can eat the skin and all, as long as it's well cooked. Enjoy!

Vote for Garlic!

Friends, Family, Countrymen...

You may not know it, but there's another very important election taking place in the near future.  This one involves something we can all get behind:   garlic!!!

See, I heard about this contest where a local PBS station was soliciting folks to send in their garlic recipes, and so I did, and I was one of a group of people they chose.  I and the others got to make and post a video of ourselves preparing our recipe, and you, the viewers, get to vote on which ones you like the best.  The winner(s) will be invited into the station to prepare their recipe live on the air.

Truth be told, I didn't know what the hell I was doing, but I had a lot of fun and learned quite a bit in the process!  In fact, the biggest thing I learned just might be that I like writing about food more than standing in front of a camera trying to teach it, but c'est la vie!  So really, I'm only asking for your vote if you feel my video is the best, and the jury's still out on that...probably if I'd had a few more glasses of wine, I would've been MUCH livelier, but I didn't want to cut off any fingers, so I just did the best I could, and let's just say I'm no Rachel Ray.

Anyway, with that lovely disclaimer, I'm asking you now, with all your infinite spare time, to sit back, grab a glass (or a bottle) of wine, and watch some videos that will no doubt make you crave garlic.  And then, vote if you feel inspired.  I'm told the voting begins on Nov. 1st.

Click on this link to watch the videos. You'll need to scroll down a bit to see mine. Look for Val's Kitchen Cooking Show: Chipotle Roasted Garlic Hummus. I'm told the voting begins November 1st, so stay tuned for updates!

I wish I had more to report, but I've been insanely busy and not all that creative in the kitchen this month - but I'm looking forward to some much needed down time in November and December, and expect to spend a lot of that time cooking and baking up a storm, so I'll keep you posted!

Squash Season is Here...

... and I sure am happy about that.  There's been quite a nip in the air over the last couple of days, and I've been keeping the  house warm by cooking up a storm.  I haven't been posting much because almost all the recipes I've made lately have been straight-up out of cookbooks w/ no adaptation whatsoever, but recently I did fool around with a recipe from the Moosewood Low-fat Favorites, and the results were splendid.

This recipe for a Basque White Bean and Squash Soup was pretty tasty on its own, but both the sweetheart and I found the texture a bit off. Now mind you, neither one of us has anything against cubes of butternut squash, but we both found the soup a little lacking.  It felt more like a thin soup with chunks of squash, rather than the hearty stew that we wanted it to be on a crisp fall evening.  So, at the suggestion of my culinary advisor and partner in crime, after we'd eaten the soup as it was, I fished out almost all of the squash, plus a little broth and a little of the other vegetables, and pureed it until it was smooth as silk.   Then I added it back into the soup pot, and I swear it was 100% better!  NOW, it was stew!  Fortunately there was more than enough for both of us to enjoy for several meals, and today seems to be just as chilly as yesterday, so I know what I'll be having for lunch...

Basque White Bean and Squash Stew - adapted from Moosewood Low-fat Favorites

2 T. olive oil

2 cups diced onions

4 large cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon ground fennel

1 teaspoon dried thyme

4 stalks celery, with leaves, sliced

1 cup green cabbage, sliced thin

1 cup diced red bell pepper

1 butternut squash, peeled and diced

5 cups vegetable stock

2 cups cooked cannellini beans

A pinch or two of saffron

A generous teaspoon or two of Better Than Bouillon stock (optional)

Sautee the onions and garlic in the oil until golden brown, and then stir in the fennel and thyme, followed by the cabbage and celery.  Cook over medium-low heat, covered, for about 5-7 minutes, then add the peppers, squash and stock.  Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for about another 10-15 minutes, or until the squash is tender.  Now add the beans, crumble the saffron into the pot, and season generously with salt and pepper.  When I made this, I found that the stock was a little thin tasting even once seasoned with salt and pepper, so I added a plop of the Better Than Bouillon Lobster stock base that I happened to have in the fridge.  It didn't so much lend a fishy flavor as it did a subtle, savory depth. 

At this point, you can do one of three things:

Eat the soup just as is...

or...

Scoop out all the squash plus some of the broth and veggies, and puree it in your blender and add it back into the pan...

or...

Grab your trusty immersion blender, and blend some of the stew right there in the pot.

Top your stew a little crushed red pepper, and enjoy!

The Chocolate to End all Chocolates

My, where does the time go? It feels like I just blinked, and suddenly it was ten days later.

And also, I blinked, and suddenly, I was a chocoholic. I didn't used to be, but that was before I tried Colombian Single Origin Dark Chocolate from Chocolate Santander. I think I can safely say that now I'm ruined as far as the other chocolates are concerned. A friend from work happens to be fairly addicted to this chocolate, and was kind enough to share a bar with me. And then it was all over. I suggest you get your own bar and taste the glory yourself, or buy some for that special chocolate-addict in your life.

Mind you though, I'm talkin' dark chocolate here - my personal fave is the Dark Chocolate 70% Cacao with Cacao Nibs. I could try to wax poetic but I'll leave it at this: this stuff slays me!

In other news, I did it! I finished my very first cooking show episode (a BIG thanks to my friends Steve & Patsy for lending me their camera!)! And oh, how perfect it is not! But it feels really good to have completed it, for better or for worse. I learned an awful lot in the process, and I can't wait to do it again. And soon you'll be able to view it. And maybe even vote on it, if you feel so inspired. Or, just watch it and laugh at me. Whatever moves you.

Soon I'm headed for a mini-visit with my family in AZ, and with any luck, I'll have some good eating to report back about next week.

'Til then, cheers!