Flammkuchen

I recently read this NY Times article about a German deli/cafe opening up two locations in lower Manhattan.  Then a Gothamist article highlighted their Flammkuchen (which they oddly translate into "Flaming Pie."  I think Flame cake is probably the better translation)  Evidently, they used to be baked within stone hearths.  Blokey and I had the pleasure of eating too much Flammkuchen on our trip to Germany two years ago, during a short Rhine Valley wine tour.  So of course, I became obsessed with making some Flammkuchen ourselves.  (Training up into Manhattan to wait in line is not my idea of a fun Saturday evening).
I found a few recipes online but they mostly require some pork product.  (I had my Flammkuchen with Speck, which is a German ham).  Since Blokey is veggie, we relied on mushrooms, black olives, and red onions to do the trick.  I think I may have a new favorite.  They're not greasy, so I can see making a few of these in advance as casual food to bring to a party.

Flammkuchen

Dough:
2 c. of whole wheat flour
1 1/2 c. of white flour
2 1/4 teas of instant yeast* (one package)
1 1/2 c. of water
2 Tbs of olive oil
1 1/4 teaspoon of salt

Mix everything together and knead for about 6 minutes.  Cover with a wet tea towel.  Set aside for 30 minutes (FK typically has a crispy, not fluffy crust).

Toppings
-1/2 of creme fraise (which we didn't have.  I mixed together sour cream and lowfat plain yogurt. I've read that whipping cream plus 2 tbs of buttermilk mixed in the night before is a DIY creme fraise).
- 2 - 8 oz containers of cremini mushrooms (or your favorite), cleaned and sliced
1/2 red onion, very thinly sliced
6 oz. (usually a standard can) of black olives, drained and thinly sliced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
6 oz. of mild white cheese (usually a Swiss is good) grated
olive oil
flour for rolling
parchment paper

Pre-heat the oven as high as it goes (mine is about 550' F)
You can skip this first step, but I like to to saute the 'shrooms with olive oil and garlic prior to everything else.
Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces.  Using the flour, roll out into thin, long crusts (thinner than most thin crust pizzas.  Not quite a cracker).  Place one crust on the parchment paper.
Spread the creme fraise onto the crust.  Arrange 1/4 of the mushrooms, olives, and onions on top.  Sprinkle small handful of the cheese sparingly (this is no NY slice!) over the toppings.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly and browned.
Serve with a green salad.  (If you're in the party spirit- some Rhine valley wine!) The onions add a really nice crunch and sweetness, so please don't leave them out (even Blokey, who doesn't like to eat onions, agreed that they made the Flammkuchen even more).

Zucchini Kuchen

When I took a German class back in the day, we read a recipe in the "Kochen" chapter for zuccinni fritters. I forget the word for fritters now- it could be "Kuchen" (which is commonly used to for all cake like things- like potato pancakes are Kartoffel Kuchen) or it could be Schmalzgebackenes. Steven and I are going to Frankfurt to visit friends and for part of our "honeymoon," so I've had Deutschland on the brain. We got about 1 lbs. of local organic zukes the other day, so I looked up a zucchini fritter recipe, with minimal frying oils. They were easy and Blokey approved. They could probably be baked in the oven as well.

Lower-fat zucchini fritters (adapted from Spark Recipes)
1/3 c. of whole wheat flour
1/2 teas. of baking powder
1/2 teas. of salt
1/8 teas. of pepper
dash of paprika (Hungarian)
2 eggs, beaten (replace with appropriate amounts of Ener-G egg replacer or thickened ground flax seed to make vegan)
3 c. of shredded zucchini (about 3-4 medium sized ones)
1/2 small onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic
2 Tbs of fresh parlsey, chopped.
Olive oil for cooking


Method:
Mix together the whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, paprika, and eggs. Add the rest of the ingredients (except the oil) and mix well.
Warm up about 1/2 Tb of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Use a 1/4 measuring cup to drop rounds onto the skillet. I fit 4 into a 10" pan.
Cook about 3-4 minutes on each side.
Serve with apple sauce, plain yogurt, or some jam (seriously).

Borscht!

For some reason, we've been getting a lot of beets in our CSA. When Blokey's parents were in town, we went to Brighton Beach and we got some borscht for his gastro-adventureous mother. We've gotten these delicious, local and organic beets in our CSA pick up twice now.
This stuff fills me up but is actually quite lite. I recommend that you don't wear light colors while making this delicious veggie stew.

Ingredients:
3 large beets, washed and peeled (keep the greens, washed too)
2 potatoes or turnips, rinsed and diced
2 large carrots, peeled and grated
1/2 bunch of parsley, washed and chopped
1/4 c. of fresh dill, washed and chopped
2 onions, diced
2 Tbs of olive oil
1/2 head of cabbage, cored, and finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 c. of plain yogurt
pepper to taste
1/2 teas of oregano
6 Tbs of apple cider vinegar
water
caraway seeds
1/2 teaspoon of ground allspice (or 5 all spice berries)
3 bay leaves
2 teaspoons of salt (this has to be to your tastes though, don't just dump it in)
Dark rye or pumpernickel bread

Method:
Thinly slice the beets into match sticks. This will take time, but it's worth it.
Next start cooking the onions and 1 clove of garlic in oil in a large soup pot. Ours is coated with chemical goo, but it works. Cook over medium heat for about 2-3 minutes, until softened.
Add grated carrots and potatoes, and stir. Cook another 2-3 minutes, then add the beets. Continue to cook and stir for about 4-5 minutes (add more oil if you'd like) and then add the cabbage, and enough water to cover by 2 inches, all spice, bay leaf, pepper, oregano, caraway seed. Bring to boil, and then simmer for about 20-30 minutes. Add the beet greens, parsley, apple cider vinegar, and 1/2 the dill and simmer another 5-10 minutes, until everything is the desired consistency.
In the mean time, mix the other 1/2 of the dill with 1 clove of chopped garlic with the yogurt.
Salt the soup to your desire saltiness. Always undersalt, you can always add more. Add more vinegar if you desire (we generally add more).
Serve warm with toasted rye bread and garnish with yogurt. We usually butter the bread, but that makes the meal non-vegan.

Savory rainbow chard and mushroom tart with potatoes

Tonight, it finally got below 80 degrees, which is a big deal if you don't use the A/C your in-laws generously sent. We've lately become Stan Cox devotees (except on the train), so I baked now that it was a little cooler out. We got some rainbow swiss chard the other day and I really wanted to make an eggy, cheesy quiche. But since I stink at quiches, I made a tart instead.
This is an adaptation of the Fresh Direct recipe. Oops, did I fail to mention that sometimes, we get our groceries delivered? I have a lot of enviro-angst about this too, but since we don't own a car, and sometimes I am not always well served by the grocery stores in our neighborhood (and buying groceries in Manhattan and lugging them down to Brooklyn only makes sense during the school year), we resort to this sometimes.

Savory rainbow chard with mushroom tart
(approx 1 hr to prep, serves 4)


Ingredients
1 bunch of rainbow chard, washed and finely chopped (separate out the stems)
1/2 onion, diced
4 oz of baby bella mushrooms, rinsed and chopped
1/4 c. and 1 Tbs of olive oil
1/4 teas. of salt
salt, pepper, and oregano to taste
1 c. of whole wheat flour
3 large eggs
1/3 c. of finely grated parmesan
1/4 c. of crumbled feta
1/4 c. of milk

Preheat the oven to 400.

Mix 1 cup of flour, 1/4 teas. of salt, and 1/4 c. of olive oil in a bowl. It should get to be grainy but doughy. Press into the bottom of a pie plate and stick in the oven (to firm up a bit) for about 4-5 minutes.

Cook the onions in the remaining olive oil over medium heat, for about 3-4 minutes. Add the mushroom, and stir occasionally, another 3 minutes. Next add the chopped chard stems and stir. You can increase the heat a bit here. Add the leaves, stir, and cook until the liquid boils off.

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and cheese.

When the liquid is evaporated from the chard/mushroom mixture, empty the mixture on top of the crust in the pie pan.

Pour the egg/milk/cheese mixture on top, and bake for 40 minutes.

post baking goodness (it tasted meaty! But there was no meat!)

But in full disclosure, the "crust" was neither good nor necessary. Next time, I'll forgo the crust entirely and make it frittata, upping the recipe to 5 eggs.

Roasted Potatoes with Paprika
In the meantime, scrub and dice 4 medium potatoes. Toss with 1 Tbs of olive oil, and bake in the same oven for about 30 minutes. You can turn the oven onto broil and stick the pan in the broiler for 3 minutes to get the tops crispy. Season with salt, pepper, and paprika.

Our baby cat Buster really wanted the potatoes.

Speedy, no-cook dinner

Did you guys ever make "no cook" recipes with your ma when you were kids? Well, since it's been so hot out, we have been making more no cook dinners. It's too hot to even bother with take out.

We had a bunch of left over brown basmati rice sitting in the fridge from when Blokey's parents were in town, so I used it to make fake tabbouleh. If you leave out the feta, it's vegan.

No cook Middle Eastern style rice
Probably serves four as a side dish. We pigged it down just the two us together.

Ingredients:
About 3 c of cooked, cold rice
Juice of 3 lemons
Handful of parsley, chopped
2 tomatoes, diced
1 cucumber, diced
4 green onions, sliced
2 Tbs of olive oil
1 can of no added salt chickpeas
3 oz. of feta cheese, crumbled
1/3 c. of sliced black olives (or nice kalamata ones, if you've got them)
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything together with the rice in a large bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with yogurt-tahini sauce

Yogurt Tahini sauce
3/4 c. of plain yogurt
2 Tbs of tahini
juice of 1/2 a lemon
salt to taste

Mix everything together. If you want more tahini, add it until you reach desired nuttiness. Serve over the rice.

Quick meals for hot days

It's been warm and muggy in Brooklyn again. And Blokey and I have been working on projects, which means sometimes we snack all day and never eat a proper meal together. (Finn Crisp Rye crackers, what would my life be without you?) But over the weekend, I did get my act together to make a couple meals (Blokey's big mess o' rice and beans from Friday was also very popular).

Everything in the fridge Asian Noodles
We had some disparate ingredients, some udon noodles, and I was starving after a short jog, but we had to go grocery shopping for eggs and apples and stuff. So I threw together lots of stuff and it made me less likely to buy the whole store.

Ingredients:
6 oz of Udon noodles, dry
leftover bagged spinach, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
3 green onions, cleaned and thinly sliced
1 Tbs of butter
salad leftovers
1 Tbs soy sauce (more to taste)
1 Tbs of sesame oil
2 Tbs of tahini
2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar
2 Tbs of water
2 teaspoons of honey
3 small radishes, peeled and thinly sliced
2 eggs, beaten
sesame seeds for garnish (optional)
Sriracha sauce (optional)


This was the stuff I took out to make into a meal.
Cook the noodles according to the directions.
Make a thin omlette with the two eggs in a wide frying pan (with butter, of course). Slice into quarters, and then thinly slice into matchstick sized pieces (maybe a bit wider than a matchstick).
In the same frying panm or medium sauce pan, saute green onions in butter over medium heat, under softened. Adjust to low heat. Add the tahini, water, soy sauce, honey, vinegar, and sesame oil. Stir until it becomes a sauce like consistency (you may have to add some more water).
Toss in cooked noodles and vegetables. Serve.


Big Salad
Remember how on Seinfeld, Elaine would get the big salad? I love a big entree salad. We got tree kinds of lettuce from our CSA, so I did something like a modified Salad Nicoise.
For 2

Ingredients:
A blend of lettuce (we used romane, boston, and green leaf). about 6 cups worth
Cooked or canned chickpeas: 1 1/2 c.
2 tomatoes, cut into quarters and sliced in 1/2
1/3 c. of thinly sliced black olives
2 hard boiled eggs, halved
1/2 avocado, chopped
Optional: 1/2 can of tuna (canned in olive oil) or 3 anchovy filets, finely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
dressing

Directions: Either toss all the ingredients together with dressing and serve (uglier, but well incorporated) or arrange all pretty like (aesthetically pleasing, but more of a challenge to distribute the dressing). I went with plan B. (Mine is the one on the right, with the wee bit of anchovy on top).


We don't buy bottled salad dressing, because they are usually full of sugar and corn syrup and taste funky. This is our standard salad dressing recipe

2 Tbs of olive oil
1 1/2 Tbs of sour (this usually lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, or balsamic. I did a combination of both)
1 garlic clove, chopped (did not use, because Blokey calls me Garlic Monkey. He has no idea how garlicky I am)
1 Tbs of fancy dijon, whole grain mustard (even better if there is some kind of German last name on the bottle)
salt, pepper, and oregano/Italian seasoning mix to taste

Mix all the ingredients in a used jam jar and shake (with the lid on). Pour immediately over salad.*

*I have tried 3 times to make mayonnaise. Oil and egg yolk emulsions are not my friend, as they require patience).

Vegan tapas

Two weekends ago, before my brother's wedding and the recent pork-a-thalon in Chicago with Anne and friends, I had some work friends over for a vegan tapas dinner thing. We made loads of food, but I only ended up taking a few pictures as things got a bit crazy. I promised our guests the recipes, but I never posted them!
Most folks think of delicious jamon serrano and tortilla espanola (and sangria!) when they think of tapas, but tapas are pretty vegan friendly. I mean, Spain was a poor country in Europe (after that whole age of exploration thing didn't work out so well), so there isn't a lot of rich food. Most of the food is vegetable and olive oil based, so it was easy to adapt or find vegan recipes and still have a diversity of flavors (and not rely on weird vegan substitutes, which my stomach generally rejects). We also got to use our pressure cooker several times for the beans.

Here's the lot of recipes. I only managed to snap up photos of the potatoes and the beans, but it was all very good!

Roasted eggplant/pepper dip:
Roast 2 eggplants and 1 large red pepper (pierce with fork) in a pan at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. Let cool, peel, and puree in a food processor/blender with 2 cloves of garlic, juice of one lemon, 1 Tablespoon of fresh cilantro, and 1 teaspoon of Spanish paprika.

Patatas bravas:
Cut about 2 lbs of potatoes (any kind) into 1/2" pieces and roast with 2 Tbs of olive oil in the oven for about 30 minutes, at 400. In the meantime, make a sauce by sauteeing 1 diced onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 teaspoon of red pepper powder, and 1 c. of red of wine. Add 15 ounces of crushed tomato and simmer for 10 minutes. Serve over the roasted potatoes.


Spanish mushrooms (Blokey's favorite)
Wash and cut 8 ounces of mushrooms (I used baby bella) into quarters. Sautee about 4 Tablespoons of olive oil over high heat for about 2 minutes. Lower to medium heat, and add 6 garlic cloves, 3 tablespoons of cooking sherry, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 1 dried red chili (seeded and crumbled), 1/4 teas of paprika, salt and pepper to taste. Cook until the mushrooms give off juice, and garnish with chopped parsley (2 Tbs).

Antipasto style white bean salad:
3 cups of Northern white or navy beans, cooked (or from a can, rinsed)
1/2 cup of roasted red pepper (from a jar), diced
1 can of artichoke hearts, rinsed and quartered
1/4 c. of red onion chopped
1/4 c. of parsley, chopped fined
1 tablespoon of dried basil
olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper.
Mix all the ingredients together, and use oilve oi, vinegar and salt and pepper to dress the salad to your tastes (we used about 1/4 cup of oil and vinegar)


Chickpeas and spinach.
Cut 2 pieces of bread (store bought) into cubes and fry in about 2-4 tables of olive oil, over medium heat. Add 3 cloves of chopped garlic, 1 teaspoon of cumin, some salt and pepper to taste, and 1 1/2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar. Add 10 ounces (one bag) of fresh or frozen spinach and cook down, adding water as necessary. Add 2 cups of chickpeas, and add salt and pepper to taste. (This looked kind of meaty but it was not)

Paella:
Fry 1 onion (chopped) and 2 cloves of garlic in 2 tables of olive oil. Add 2 chopped fresh tomatoes (or 1 1/2 cups of canned tomatoes), 2 cups of rice (we used basmati) and stir until the rice is well coated. Add 2 1/2 cups of liquid (we used water and vegetable stock), 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, a pinch of saffron, and cut up vegetables (we used yellow pepper, cauliflower, green beans, carrots, but frozen artichoke, peas, and broccoli are also good). Bring to a boil, lower to simmer, and cover for 25-30 minutes, until liquid is gone. Add pepper, paprika, and lemon juice to taste when cooking is completed.

Last day of Spring Break

Not really. I have Monday off too but it's still back to work this week. In honor of Blokey and my 3 week anniversary, but mostly because Anne just made these beauties yesterday morning, I was inspired by the corn cake appetizers from our wedding reception (which did rock). Not much to report here, as Anne has already done an awesome job documenting the process.
Just a few of my thoughts.

• Corn cakes are really a southern corn bread recipe made on the stove, rather than baked. The light cooking in butter or oil makes them crisp and delicious. It can really be any Southern corn bread recipe.
  
• I accidently left out the wheat flour the first batch I made. I also put in slightly less sugar. The second batch, I added the flour and omitted the sugar (again, by accident). These were what the Germans might call "eine Katastrophe." OK, they weren't so terrible but I didn't let the fella eat any.
• We received many many wonderful wedding presents, one which included a yogurt maker. We haven't mastered that yet but we do have about a 1/2 gallon of kind of curdy yogurt in our fridge, so I used that as a faux buttermilk, and also adjusted the chemical leavening agents.
• It was good to make a quick bread, because my recent attempts at making yeast breads, a la Peter Reinhart, have also be ein Massaker.

Offensively uninteresting, like Jimmy John's bread. From Wednesday, I think.

Since we are practically vegetarian in this household, we served yummy corn cakes with a Cuban black bean stew (which I accidently boiled down to more like a side dish), avocado, and a homemade sweet pepper and cheddar sauce. There are few of these on the internet. I wanted something more smooth, but I made all this all in about 30 minutes, so I didn't have the time to make a a proper melted over the oven type cheese sauce. Into the food processor (thanks, baby Cousin and your hubs!) it went. It was pretty awesome anyway.

My "riff" on Anne's version of Wishbone corn cakes:

1 c. of fine corn meal
2 teas. baking powder
1/2 teas of baking soda
3/4 t. salt
2 Tbs. sugar
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup of buttermilk
2 Tbs of melted butter (and more for the pan)
1/2 C. frozen corn kernels, thawed
3 green onions, chopped

Mix the wet ingredients first, and then add the dry ingredients. Since I didn't use any flour, there is no gluten, so you don't have to worry about overmixing like with non-corn products (crazy, huh?). Warm up a trusty cast iron skillet with a bit of butter rubbed on top over low-medium heat and cook cakes, until lightly browned and flip. I somewhat burnt the first few but they were so tasty that no one minded.

Cuban black bean stew
1/2 package of dried black beans (or 2 canned)
1/2 thing of tomatoes (or 2 fresh ones, chopped)
1 teas of oregano
1/4 teas of cayenne or chili powder
1 teas or more of cumin
juice of one lime
salt to taste
onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
olive oil
ripe avocado

Cook the beans according to the directions (for us, it was toss them in the pressure cooker for 15 minutes) or drained and rinse canned beans. Saute over medium heat the onions and garlic in oil until soft. Add the spices (except the chili, unless you like pepper sneezing). Add tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes. Add the black beans, and enough water to cover about 2 inches, and let simmer until it reaches desired consistency. Add lime juice, salt to taste, and chili/cayenne. Orange juice would be awesome too. Garnish with some avocado slices.

Rad's rad sweet pepper cheddar sauce (quick)
3/4 c. of grated medium cheddar
1/2 of plain yogurt
1/2 of roasted red peppers
1/4 c. of mayo (or in my case, 1/4 of my attempt to make mayo. Damn you, effusive egg yolk and oil infusion!)
salt and pepper to taste
2 green onions, chopped

Blend everything in a food processor until it reaches the desired thickness. I read somewhere that some bacon would taste good in here. Add that if you're so inclined.

Ohio cooking

I've been in Ohio the past few days, working as a visiting assistant professor at a small, adorable liberal arts college. Since it's one the college's dime, we've done alot of eating out at nice places, but last night, after a large lunch with great students, we were fed up with dining out (ha). You know, restaurant mouth from a little too much salt and too much food.

Since Professor G is a vegetarian, we decided to make vegetarian Indian food, something that I often do on this blog. However, I was lacking my usual set of spices, so we made do with what was available at the local grocery store, mostly spice mixes. Flipping through one of her cookbooks, we choose the veggie biryani, lentils, and a raita recipe. I also saw pretty sprouts (which are woefully out of season but still called my name). I haven't been in a huge grocery store like that since I visited my parents over Christmas.
I also learned that small town video rental stores on a Friday night can be as slow as Brooklyn.

Veggie biryani (adapted from Girl Can't Cook)
1 1/2 c. of basmati rice
4 tables of biryani spices (found in the glass jar in the "ethnic aisle" of a larger grocery store)
1 onion, diced
garlic and ginger, diced
1/2 c. of raisins
1/3 c. of slivered almonds
1 yellow squash, cut into thin coins and sliced in half again (they should look like half-moons)
2 carrots, also cut into 1/2 moons or 1 red pepper, cored and sliced
1/2 head of broccoli chopped
Oil/ghee
Juice of one lemon
3 c. Water

Cook the onions in the ghee/oil until soft, over medium heat. Add the spices and stir, another 2 or 3 minutes. Add the rice and stir until the kernels are well coated. Add the vegetables and water, and stir over high heat until it reaches a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, and cover for 30-40 minutes or until the rice is cooked and the liquid gone.

Raita (also adapted from Girl Can't Cook)
1 1/4 c. of plain yogurt
1/2 teas salt (or to taste)
1/2 teas of cumin
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 English cucumber, cored and grated
2 Tbs of cilantro
lemon juice


You can skip this step if you don't mind a water Raita (I don't), but if you do, combine the cucumbers, tomatoes and salt in a colander and let the excess water strain out (maybe like 10 minutes). Add the tomato/cumber mixture to a medium sized bowl with the yogurt, cilantro, cumin, and lemon juice. Add more salt to taste.

Roasted brussels sprouts with garlic
Olive oil
salt
3 cloves of garlic chopped
about 20 Brussels sprouts, with the ends trimmed off, cut in 1/2

Preheat the oven to 400. Add the chopped garlic and sprouts in a shallow baking dish, with the cut sides down. Drizzle with oil oil (about 1 1/2 Tbs) and bake for 25-30 minutes, until the tops and bottoms of carmelized (we overcooked ours just a bit but they tasted delicious). Add salt to taste when done.

Quick and easy dal (that I always make and force Blokey to eat)
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlice
1/2" of ginger root, grated (we didn't have that, rural Ohio seems to be missing this ingredient)
2 tomatoes chopped (or 1/2 of a tetra pack of chopped tomatoes)
1/4 c. of plain yogurt
1 1/2 T. of Madras curry spices (in a glass jar from the supermarket)
1/2 teas. red pepper (spice, not the bell variety)
lemon juice
1 c. of dry lentils.
oil

While the rice is cooking, bring 4 c. of water to a boil. Add the 1 c. of lentils and bring to a boil again, and then lower heat to a simmer and cover. They should be done in about 20 minutes. In a medium sauce pan, saute the onions in oil over medium heat for about 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and stir, another 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook until they begin to break down into a mush. Add about 1 1/2 Tbsp of the curry spices and stir. Remove from the heat until the lentils are done. Drain, and add to the tomato-spice mix. Cook again over medium heat until the spices and lentils are well incorporated. Add lemon juice, red pepper, and yogurt and stir.
The pictures aren't as appetizing as the food. As G said, it was a bit monochromatic, but the taste was anything but boring. We all ate too much and had to hold our bellies as we watched "Funny People."

vegetarian feasts

Lula doesn't approve of a vegetarian lifestyle, but digs e-commerce

I like cooking, but I don't always use recipes or cookbooks, so many times the ingredients and directions on this blog are approximations.
I was thinking about how I enjoy vegetarian cooking, because I see it as a challenge. I eat meats, but Blokey does not, so cooking vegetarian is about getting a good balance of flavors without resorting to sugar, fat or oversalting the ingredients (also known as the American processed food sucker punch).

The thing about veggie food is you need non-meat, non-uber processed substitutions for the savoriness meat provies. This can be olives, sauteed mushrooms, carmelized onions (carmelization in general is a great flavor booster), a small amount of strong cheese/dairy (stinkier the better, use a microplaner/zester to avoid too much fat), soy sauce, browned bread, and sour flavors (lemon or a good vinegar help to bring out flavors without too much salt). A little heat also helps.

This meal is great because it incorporates a lot of these flavor enhancers and avoids the usual short cuts. The pita is lightly browned, the soup and pate uses faux carmelized onions, vinegar and sour vegetables. I add no sugar, there's not too much fat, little salt, and lots of fiber and greens. I used up some of the ingredients leftover from our winter CSA share: potatoes, leeks, salad greens (from the hothouse), as well as some out of season stuff that I wish we could get locally year round (but I am unwilling to move to a temperate climate to do so). I used buttermilk, which is getting to be a favorite ingredient of mine (it is less than $2 at the store, you guys!), which is healthful because it is cultured, which has a lot of benefits. You can substitute regular milk or plain yogurt (or a mixture of this) if you don't usually have buttermilk on hand. I also made some lentil pate, which I riff off of the one I used to buy the Wedge co-op in Minneapolis (minus the walnuts).

This meal also marks the return of the Kitchen Aid immersion blender, which I mangled my hand in about 2 weeks ago. It is healing relatively nicely.

I used this recipe for the pita, although I added a bit more olive oil this time.

These mofos puffed up nicely

Before cooking, I sauteed 1 1/2 large chopped onions and 4 or so chopped cloves of garlic in 2 Tbs of butter (and added water as necessary) over low-medium heat for about 15 minutes (and continued to stir ocassionally while copping other things).

looks pukey, tastes bitter-lovely

Salad greens and Arugula potato leek Soup (roughly adapted from here)
Ingredients:
about 1/2 of the carmelized onions
about 1/2 of a bag of wild arugla (approx 4 oz.)
handful of salad greens (mine had mustard greens in it)
2/3 c. of buttermilk
2-3 chopped and scrubbed potatoes
2 teas. of olive oil
2 leeks (the white and light green parts- I eat lot of it), well washed and sliced (I slice lengthwise once, and then chop into 1 cm long bits)
salt, pepper and paprika to taste
3 c. of water
handful of chopped parsley, washed (optional)

Method:
1) Sautee the leeks in olive oil over medium heat in a medium saucepan. While this is cooking (about 5 minutes) roughly chop the salad greens. Add potatoes and the quasi carmelized onions.
2) After another 2-3 minutes of sauting the potatoes, add the water and increase the heat to a boil. Lower to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes (until potato can be pierced with fork, but before it gets mushy)
3) Add the salad greens and argula. Add buttermilk (it will curdle a bit and then turn into crazy delicious fresh cheese. Don't worry, we'll blend out the lumps). Simmer another 10 minutes.
4) Use the immersion blender to make it fairly creamy and get rid of most of the potato lumps. Salt, pepper, and add paprika and parlsey to taste.

lentil-licious

Lentil Pate
Ingredients:
the other half of the onions/garlic mixture
about 1 1/2 c. of dry lentils
bay leaf
5-8 baby bella mushrooms
olive oil
1/4 c. of roughly chopped and washed parsley
1 Tbs. of dried oregano
1-2 Tbs. of olive tapenade
salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste
lemon juice

Method
1. Cook lentils with bay leaf. You can do this as you're starting the process for the soup. They take about 20 minutes. During this time, saute the mushrooms in about 2 teas. of olive oil (and season), and set aside. Drain and remove bay leaf.
2. Put lentils and the onions/garlic, parsley, mushroom, and oregano. Pulse until it is smooth.
3. Season with salt, peppers, and lemon juice. Add the olive tapenade about 1 Tbs. at a time (I only used one). This adds a great oomph to the pate.
4. Serve cold or room temperature. Yummy with pita, crackers, or veggie crudites.

Blokey liked his arugula soup with a wee bit of sheep's milk feta swimming on top

recent adventures with cabbage

Sadly, my New Year's resolution to blog more often hasn't been great, but I have been cooking a lot (having a dining companion helps), although sometimes we have to go into the city to run errands and we end up having some kind of bland (but kinda cool in a retro way) diner food.
I have a bit of backlog now, and one of the more interesting "meals" we ate last week was my attempt to make pirogies/piroshkies after reading this NYTimes article about Veselka in the East Village. Blokey and I stumbled upon it once after "going out" in the Lower East Side last summer, and as a 24 hour place, it's a favorite for us after seeing a late movie at Film Forum or the IFC Center (both of which he likes less than BAM).
Anyway, it was cold that night, and I wanted pirogies or something else Eastern European and potatoey. I dragged myself to the late night grocery store and picked up cabbage, and from there, appropriated this baked pirogy dish, which ended up seeming like Jamaican patty or broadly pan-Latin empanada. Delicious nontheless.

Multi-Kulti hand pie
Potato filling:
2-3 potatoes, peeled, cut up and boiled
1/2 cheese
1/2 onion, diced
2 Tbs butter
1/4 buttermilk or regular milk
salt and pepper to taste
chopped (or dried) parsley
Directions: Sautee the onions in a bit of oil until soft. Add the potatoes and mash with a fork or a potato masher thing. Add cheese, milk, and butter, and stir until well blended. Season to taste.

Dan Quayle's favorite

Cabbage and Chickpea filling
2 c of cooked (well done) chickpeas
1/2 head of cabbage, cored and sliced
salt
pepper
olive oil
Hungarian paprika (or regular)
buttermilk or tomato paste
the other half the onion, diced
Saute the onion in the olive oil until soft. Add the cabbage and stir fry until it gets kinda golden around the edges. Add the chickpeas and sort of mash them down as you cook with a wooden spoon (it won't get as smooth as the potatoes). Add paste/milk (I did not, so it was too dry, so don't make my mistake), salt, pepper, and paprika to taste.

Cruciferous goodness

Outside dough
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 c. all purpose flour
3/4 teas salt
1/3 c. of olive oil
1/2- 1 c of buttermilk or milk
Add the first 4 ingredients together roughly until the form coarse crumbs. Add the milk about 1/4 cup at a time until a dough with pie crust consistency forms (you may end up not using the whole cup of milk). Save some flour for rolling out the dough.

Roll out balls of the dough (I made about 4 balls) quite thin, like a pie crust. Be sure to flour your surface and the pin.

The next part is kind of tricky. I placed generous spoonfuls (like 2-3 tablespoons) of filling in the dough, and then I just cut it in half diagonally and pinched the seams. See? It was very empanada-esque.


Preheat the oven to about 400 degrees
I baked these little fellas for about 15 minutes, until golden brown. Some of them split open.
Serve with your favorite bright red horseradish-beet condiment, and yogurt or sour cream with dill and a bit of salt. I had loads of that cabbage mess leftover, so I served it as a messy side salad.

Not quite Veselka, but decent faux Eastern European food for Bed-Stuy

Cold ass NY

It's been fricking cold out in NY. Like makes your eyes water cold. This is the best kind of weather for roasting vegetables in a cast iron skillet, warming up your long skinny apartment with oniony odors. Yum.
Saturday night's dinner was nothing new, except I had to vegetarianize my favorite lentil salad. As I stole off Mark Bittman's blog, there's nothing like a good bacon and lentil salad, with dijon mustard and not much else. However, Mr. LC doesn't like bacon or other dead animals in his food. He's missing out, I know. I don't like paying for or eating meat analogs (although I plan to do vegetarian biscuits and gravy soon, whenever I can get my hands on some Gimme Lean veggie sausage, as my buttermilk is chillaxing in my fridge), so I try to get my savory other ways.
Enter the humble baby bella mushroom. Satuee these suckers up with some onion and butter, and you'll be rolling in the animal-free umami (the meaty, savory taste that we enjoy in meats, cheese, coffee, etc.). Also, cheese helps as well.

Vegetarianized Bittman's lentil salad
1 1/2- 2 c. of dry lentils
handful of parsley, chopped
juice of half a lemon
salt
pepper
cayenne (optional)
3 oz. of feta cheese, crumbled
dijon mustard
1/2 onion
butter
8-9 baby bella mushrooms

1. Boil and cook the lentils. If you start now, they'll be done once you finish prepping the rest of the salad.
2. Dice the onion and cook in butter (about 1 Tbs) over medium heat. Clean and chop the mushrooms, in the mean time. As the onion starts to become soft, add the 'shrooms. Mix occassionally. Cook for a while, maybe 7 minutes, until they get really soft. Turn off the heat.
3. Season the onion and mushroom mixture with salt and pepper. Add parsley.
4. When the lentils are done (they can be a bit al dente, or softer based on your preferences), drain and rinse (like pasta). Add to the mushroom mixture. Stir it all up. Crumble feta on top, add lemon juice, and mix in dijon to taste. Season with more salt and pepper if you'd like.

I served this with roasted potatoes and brussels sprouts. We were in cold weather food heaven.

New Year's Dinner, take two

Since I was too mangled too make a spinach pie on what was left of New Year's Eve, we made the spinach pie on New Year's Day, which I thought wasn't a bad deal.
I've tried many versions of spinach and cheese over the years. Delis in midtown west around my work serve alot of spanikopita, which requires buttery, flaky layers of phyllo. Tasty but complicated, fussy, and kinda price to DIY. Plus, blokey doesn't care for it. I've made regular pie crusts (doubled), and soda bread style whole wheat crusts. For this recipe, I used the leftover pita dough (half of the recipe) as the crust, and it came out as something between a pizza, a calzone, and a galette/tart. It was good, and I mostly fudged the recipe.
LeftyCook's 2010 Spinach pie
Ingredients:
1 standard supermarket bag of baby spinach from that organicky brand (or two washed, rinsed, chopped heads of spinach)
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
6-8 baby bella mushrooms (optional),
1 Tbsp of butter
1/4 c. of walnuts, crushed (for crunch, also totally optional)
salt
pepper
Hungarian paprika
3 oz. of feta cheese
1 egg
1/2 of the mostly whole wheat pita dough (see previous post)

cook off, liquid!

Method:
Preheat oven to 375
1. Saute onions and garlic in butter over medium heat, until fragant and soft/translucent. Add the mushrooms. If it seems dry, add more butter. Cook, stirring occassionally, until mushrooms begin to give off liquid.
2. Add the spinach. This will start to wilt and also give off liquid. The key to this recipe is you want to cook of as much liquid in the pan so it doesn't soggy up your pie. Ick.
3. After the liquid is mostly cooked off, add salt, pepper and paprika to taste.
4. Beat the egg in a small bowl. Add most of it to the spinach mixture, but not all of it or it will get all sogg again.
5. Divide the dough into 2 balls. Roll out until relatively thin but not breaking
6. This gets difficult. Spoon about half the spinach mixture into each dough circle. Then try to close it. As this fails, do the best you can to make a crush or galette type encirclement on top.
7. Bake about 20-30 minutes at 375 degrees or until the mixture is set.
Serve with a tomato salad (chopped cherry tomatoes, chopped parsley, olive oil, lemon and salt), some olives, and cucumber/yogurt sauce (see previous post)

rollin' out the dough

more like a chicago-style deep dish spinach pie

this one is more like a rustic gallette spinach pie

New Year's Eve Fail

Not from an exclusive club's NYE bash

Yesterday, Mister and I were trying to figure out what to do for New Year's Eve. There was a hipster art thing in the Lower East Side that was big on the agenda, but we spent the afternoon hoofing all over lower Manhattan because the weather was perfect (a little bit of a snow, just a little bit of sun, no wind, and low 40s) and Mr. had a desire to buy construction, DIY equipment. When we finally got home at 6, we didn't have the energy to go back out in an hour to get to the venue at 8. So I decided that a low key, vegetarian meal for two would be perfect, and we could listen to the neighborhood revelry from our windows at midnight. I was even going to blog about baked falafel, homemade pita, spinach pie, and other deliciousness.
But instead, about 2/3 of the way through blending up the parsley, spices, onion/garlic, and fresh chickpeas, my hand blender got stuck. I turned it around, and stuck my finger in it, like a genius, and accidentally pressed on. Ow.
So, after a short negotiation and a few pit stops, we ended up in an upper east side emergency room. In and out. Three stitches.


Back in Brooklyn by 10:30. Blokey made me eat a gross egg sandwich just outside the hospital and it tasted like shite, so we finished the meal best we could and ate a much better NYE dinner, modified. Included relatively successful homemade pita.

Baked Falafel: not perfect. Needed tahini and more olive oil (and salt)

Spread

the one on the lower left failed to puff

Recipe:
mostly Whole Wheat pita (adapted from the Kitchn)
1 c of lukewarm water (use your wrist, not your fingers, to test)
2 c. of King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour
1 c. of white flour
2 teas of dry active yeast
1 1/2 teas of salt
2 teas of olive oil
1 glug of honey

1. In a small bowl, mix the warm water, honey, and yeast. Let set about 10 minutes until frothy and beer smelling. Then add the olive oil.
2. Mix with all but 1/4 c. of the flour. Start to knead by hand (the fold in half and the knead with the heel of the hand method) for about 10-12 minutes. Add the extra 1/4 c. as needed. Cover with warm tea towel and let rise for about 1 hour, or until doubled. Punch down. Refriderate until just before read to bake.
3. Preheat oven to 500. Stick in a baking stone or cast iron skillet if available (I just used cheap aluminum foil lasagna covers for the shiny surface). Divided dough into 8-10 balls. Roll out with a rolling pin until about 1/4" thick. Bake about 7 minutes, or a few minutes past puffy. They should pocket up.

Cucumber yogurt sauce:
Make your boyfriend grate a picking cucumber and mince 1-2 cloves of garlic. Press out some of the water. Add plain yogurt to incorporate the ingredients. Add salt, parsley, lemon juice, and tahini to taste.

Serve with fancy feta cheese (I got Bulgarian because it's cheap), olives, cherry tomatoes, and spinach (Spinach pie has to wait for a non-gimpy evening).

Ital dinner

(the most exotic ingredient, the Scotch bonnet peppers, the lower left corner).

I live in Crown Heights, which is a really cool [not corny, gentrified, or expensive] neighborhood just east of Prospect Park on the gorgeous, scenic Eastern Parkway. Olmsted and the other dude, who did Central Park and Prospect Park, supposedly designed Eastern Parkway (and it anemic brother, Ocean Parkway) after the Champs-Élysées. But this ain't no tour guide blog. I love my neighborhood because of the Carribean community who lives here, with their music, accents, style and of course cuisine. (Does this sound like some thing a shitty gentrifier might say? gah!)
I went to a famous Jamaican restaurant the Islands with JK when she visited in February, and I was considering a vegetarian option, but she gently mocked me in her adorable "I'm so English" accent and instead we gorged ourselves silly on curry goat and shepherd's pie. About a month ago, I was too lazy to cook, so I got some curry goat for me and the only veggie option available for Blokey, called "Stew peas." The curry goat was less appealing this time around, but we scarfed down the Stew Peas and cabbage and rice. I vowed to learn how to make this fragrant coconut-milk based bean stew in the future.
Traditionally, like many bean dishes, Stew Peas are made with ham hock or other meat flavoring, but I was lucky to find an Ital recipe online (Ital is the vegan lifestyle of Rastafarians. Their food is amazing although I don't know how healthy it is, since they tend to go crazy with sugars and oil. I dig Imhotep for good, fast cheap Ital in the neighborhood). I was able to use the beautiful potatoes and the long green onions I got from our CSA this afternoon. The other ingredients are from local groceries.


Ital Stew Peas (adapted from Jamaica.com)
serves alot of frickin people (invite your neighbors and create good karma). I'll guess about 6 hungry hippos

1 bag of dried* beans (I used the many bean soup mix that Goya makes)
2 whole scotch bonnet peppers (I cut the tops off). Alternately, you could use a habenero, or maybe those light green ones)
¼ cup water
3 c. coconut milk (that's approx 1 1/2 cans)
3-4 bay leaves
12 pimento grains (allspice)
5 whole or halved cloves of garlic
3 scallions (the white parts only, with hairy bits chopped off)
1 onion chopped
3 sprigs of thyme (I used 2 pinches of dried stuff)
½ teaspoon black pepper
3/4 teaspoon natural sea salt (caution, this is SALTY, so please season to taste)
2 potatoes cubed
3 carrots sliced

Rice for serving
1/2 head of cabbage and 1/2 onion (for optioned cabbage side dish- which they always serve at Islands)

METHOD:
1. Soak the beans (I put them in a pot covered with water, heat to boil, take off the heat, add the lid, walk away and a few hours later they are basically soft). Drain off the soaking water.
2. Place coconut milk, bay leaves, scallion, pimento grain, whole garlic and pepper in the pot.
3. Slowly boil and simmer for 20 minutes or until the peas are tender.
4. Season by adding the onions, crushed garlic and thyme.
5. Add carrots and potatoes
6. Let simmer for 20 minutes (until potatoes are done).
7. Remove the scallions, bay leaves and hot pepper before serving.


In the mean time, add 1/2 onion (diced) in a large, deeper frying pan with 1 Tbs of butter. Add half a head of roughly chopped cabbage. Stir fry until tender. You can season with a bit of salt, pepper and thyme, but since this will complement a vary well spiced and seasoned stew, there's no real need.

Serve stew with cabbage and cooked rice (I used white basmati).

That's Blokey's hand in the picture. And our dingy kitchen floor. Blokey claims its as good as the Islands, but I don't know about that. I bet it tastes better tomorrow.
Ow, I ate too much and now my tummy hurts. It's that good.

*Please do not use canned beans. Even though Mark Bittman has changed his stance on this dusty cupboard staple, they will turn into mush in this soup. Plus, they are super salty and this may overwhelmed the spices.